• Published 22nd Jul 2018
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Pandemic: Aftermath - ASGeek2012



The ETS pandemic has been over for six months, but humanity has yet to fully deal with its large pony population.

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Chapter 35 - Conspiracies Unraveled

"So I want it to be ready by this afternoon when I get out of school," said Bob early Friday morning as he met with Whisper Touch and a stocky earth pony stallion named Stone Works. "Is that possible?"

"I can have it ready for you by then, sure," said Stone. "We found a buncha cinder-blocks that'll do the job nicely. Should be able to block the kinda blast you described."

"What about the cement used to hold everything together?" Bob asked.

Stone smiled. "One of my masons has a natural talent for mixin' up that stuff. Don't know how he does it, but he makes it dry within minutes. Should be hard as a rock by the time you need it."

Bob nodded. "Good. Whisper, can you gather the crystal ponies by then?"

"Not only that, but I can provide double the number you had before!" Whisper said with a hint of pride. "We've had a bigger influx of my brethren than I had expected, and they're all eager to help."

"We may need more than one unicorn providing magic."

"I've already sent out some discreet inquiries, though word is starting to get around that something is up. I daresay you may have some spectators."

"That's exactly what I don't want," said Bob.

"I know you were keen on secrecy in this endeavor, but I don't believe we can keep this hidden much longer."

"It's more safety considerations. Despite the precautions I'm taking, the fewer ponies we have other than those who are absolutely necessary, the better."

"Then I suggest setting aside an area for those who want to watch," said Whisper. "You can place it as sufficiently far from the spectacle as you wish."

"I'd rather it not be considered a spectacle," Bob said. "This is inherently another experiment. I fully expect there to be a chance of failure."

"I can extend the length of the wall if you think it will help," said Stone. "We got the supplies for it."

Bob considered. "I suppose another pony-length if you can do it."

"No problem."

Whisper stepped closer to Bob. "Do you really believe this might fail? You seemed pretty sure of yourself when you spoke to me yesterday evening."

"I was, yes," Bob said. "But after I started looking over my notes this morning, I feel like I missed something."

"Do you need to postpone the experiment?"

Before Bob could reply, his ears pricked at a set of approaching hooves. He turned his head in time to see Susie trotting towards them.

"Good morning!" Susie called out.

Whisper turned towards her. "Ah, Susie, good morning. I was not expecting to see you until I arrived at the office."

Susie smiled as she approached. "I thought I would drop by to see how preparations were coming along. I'm rather excited about this."

"Perhaps it's best not to get your hopes up too much," said Whisper.

"Oh?"

"Bob was expressing some reservations about proceeding."

"No, we'll still do this," said Bob. "The only way to know if what I've come up with will work is to try it. I just wanted to manage expectations about the outcome."

"Is there a problem?" Susie asked with some concern in her voice.

Bob caught movement overhead. He glanced up in time to see Tina winging her way down. He smiled briefly before turning his attention back to Susie. "It would take too long to explain. Suffice it to say, I'm having some last-minute reservations about my calculations."

"I did want to ask you something about that," Susie said as Tina landed nearby. "Have you written down everything you've been doing?"

"I've been making notes, yes," Bob replied. "Why?"

"We need a way to convey the information to other unicorns."

"If I successfully create a thaumically-aware crystal, I fully intend to train as many unicorns as possible in the technique."

"It was always our intent to spread this information far and wide," said Whisper. "The only reason we initially maintained secrecy was to avoid trouble from human authorities."

"Oh, no doubt about that," said Susie. "My concern is, well, not to be morbid, but if something should happen to Bob, it would be best if we had a written record that could be passed along."

Tina stepped over to Bob and gave him a wing-hug. "Would anypony be able to understand what Bob wrote?" she asked. "I know it makes my head hurt just hearing about it."

"The underlying principles involved have no words in English adequate enough to describe them," said Bob. "I've had to come up with a whole new way to explain the concepts, much like the way calculus was invented to explain its concepts."

"And people have been learning calculus for centuries now," said Susie. "I'm confident you could put something together that somepony else could understand. In fact, perhaps that should be more of a priority than the experiment."

"I'll have to disagree with you, Susie," said Whisper. "Nothing is better than hard data, and that's exactly what we'll get this afternoon, regardless of whether or not the experiment is a success."

"Why so adamant about this?" Tina asked. "You've never been this concerned about it before."

"Have you heard about recent events?" Susie asked. "I'm sure Bob has, considering his family is involved."

"That's the reason I came over. I wanted to see how Bob was holding up."

Bob had indeed heard the night before about what the news media had dubbed the "Magicgate" scandal, and that both Sunny and Jenny had been involved. While he had not heard from them directly, the latest news report had suggested that lawyers representing the people incarcerated in the FBI operation were pushing for them to be released as early as that day. There was also talk of presidential pardons for whatever crimes they may have actually committed due to the unusual circumstances.

"I'm doing fine," Bob said. "I'll feel better when I hear from my family directly, but it sounds like they're safe."

"You're not concerned there may be more mentally compromised agents still out there?" Susie asked.

"Of course, it's a concern. Most of the settlements in the Homestead lands have more pegasus patrols running."

"I even volunteered for one myself," said Tina. "I have to report to Rainy Skies in a half hour for my shift."

"So I'm sure they'll spot someone long before they become a threat, especially this far from human territory," said Bob.

"Just the same, it never hurts to be careful," said Susie.

"I'll meet you halfway," said Bob. "I'll start organizing my notes today during breaks in my class schedule. I just won't be able to finish it today."

Susie nodded and smiled. "Well, it's a start, that's what counts. Anyway, I was going to head over to Heather's office, since I'll need to cover for her while she prepares for her visit to the school later. Did you want to accompany me, Whisper?"

"If Bob believes we're finished here," said Whisper.

"I think we've covered everything," said Bob.

"And I've got a wall to build!" Stone declared with a grin. "See ya this afternoon, champ."

Tina drew close to Bob as the other ponies headed away and murmured, "Really strange."

"What is?" Bob asked.

"Susie. She was really hung up about you writing that stuff down."

"I can understand her concern."

"But it's not like her. She's usually pretty carefree about everything."

Bob turned towards Tina. "You may be reading more into it than is warranted."

Tina smiled faintly. "Well, I hope so. Um, by the way, I heard your adoptive parents are going to be in town soon."

Bob nodded. "Yes. Apparently, Heather was serious when she said she would contact them if I didn't."

"You, uh, gonna tell them about us?"

"They already knew we were dating."

Tina's smile widened. "Yeah, but it's kind of more serious now, you know?"

Bob smiled. "I'll tell them when I have the chance. I have a feeling they'll have a few things to say to me first about the experimentation I've been doing."

"Too bad I can't tell them I beat them to it."

Bob laughed. "I don't think that would work, but thanks."

Tina leaned forward, and they shared a lingering kiss before Tina stepped back and unfolded her wings. "I better get going. Have a nice day at school."

"Thanks. Good luck with the patrol."

"Hopefully it'll the yawn-fest I suspect it'll be." Tina waved a wing at him before taking off.


Trixie was on her third cup of coffee by the time she reached Canterlot Station despite how terrible it tasted. She wondered how Equestria could be the epitome of magical progress, and yet it was still impossible to get a decent cup of coffee on the train. She could at least console herself that it was better than Earth airline fair.

She had not gotten to bed until after midnight the night before, yet she had to be up early to get the first train that morning if she had any hope of accomplishing this task for Prince Blueblood. She could have stayed in Canterlot overnight after arriving by portal, but she had wanted to at least keep up appearances of attending to her "family emergency" by staying overnight at her sister's place.

Trixie headed straight for the palace. With both humans and ponies coming and going, security had been tightened. As she approached the entrance, she was challenged by two Royal Guards who crossed their spears before her, a Canterlot mage and a human standing nearby. "Halt. State your name and your business here."

"Trixie Lulamoon," she said, though she thought it should go without saying. "Research in the Canterlot Archives."

The mage stepped forward and lighted his horn, a beam of magic sweeping over Trixie. The human waved a metal detector over her from mane to tail. Both stepped back and nodded to the guards.

The guards lifted their spears. "You may pass."

Trixie stopped at a kiosk that was selling coffee -- really good coffee, as Princess Luna would be absolutely insulted to have anything less in the palace -- and with the cup in her magic, she headed straight for the Archives.

A wizened old pony stood at a podium next to the entrance. "Good morning, Miss Lulamoon," the pony said. "Research for Miss Glimmer again, I take it?"

"Yes, and I don't wish to be disturbed," Trixie said to cut off any offers of help which this pony invariably tried to give.

"Sensitive stuff, eh?"

"You could say that, yes."

"Need access to the restricted section?"

"Yes, and this is a fairly urgent matter, so do be quick about it."

The pony pulled a form before him and grabbed a pen in his teeth. He quickly dashed off a few notes, and then a signature at the end. He put down the pen and pushed the form forward with a fore-hoof. "Here you go."

Trixie levitated the permission slip and headed inside.

She dared not run; the library attendants were very strict about not causing the least disturbance to the patrons. The place was so quiet, she was sure she could hear the wings of a fly from across the room.

She gave only a cursory glance at the other patrons, though when her gaze fell on a bright red-orange coat, her gaze lingered. She arched an eyebrow slightly as she recognized the unicorn as Sunburst.

Sunburst looked up from his book, smiled, and waved.

Trixie gave a perfunctory wave in return. While that was the first time she had ever run into Sunburst in the Archives, it wasn't the first time she had seen him in Canterlot. She gave it no further consideration before approaching the restricted section.

A single pegasus from the Royal Guard stood watch at the narrow entrance to the area. Trixie presented her permissions slip, which the guard looked over with annoying thoroughness before finally nodding once and gesturing with a wing for her to proceed.

Trixie smiled as she looked around her. Most of the scrolls were quite old, dating back to the time when Sombra was still around and mages worked to understand and counter his dark magic. She wished she had the time to peruse everything this section had to offer. Not that she was at all interested in wielding dark magic, simply that it was a treasure trove of information. She had come to learn that information was power in the modern world.

As she searched, another guard eyed her. He stood watch at a closed and locked wrought iron gate. Very little in the way of magical knowledge was forbidden in Equestria, but what there was lay beyond that gate in a chamber enchanted against anything less than alicorn-strength magic. It could not be physically breached by the strongest earth pony nor teleported into by the most powerful unicorn.

Beyond it lay powerfully corrupting scrolls authored by King Sombra, found in chambers deep in the earth under the Crystal Empire; the time travel spell Starlight Glimmer had used in an attempt to remake the world in her own image; the mind magic spell Celestia had used to make a world forget about Sunset Shimmer; and the only known copy of the original ETS spell.

Trixie turned away from the gate and found the section where Sunset's earlier research lay. She levitated a promising scroll and extracted a blank scroll from her saddlebags. She cast the copying spell effortlessly, yet frowned when she peered at the result. The copy was riddled with redactions via black bars replacing parts of the text. She had wondered why there had been no blanket restrtiction on making copies of the information here. Now she knew.

It would have to be good enough.

She gathered a few more scrolls, then headed over towards a table in the corner where she could work undisturbed. She levitated out more blank scrolls from her saddlebags and got to work.


"I've been informed that the Ponyville sheriff has obtained a sworn deposition from Aloe and Lotus Blossom," said the Royal Guardspony who had approached Sunburst after Trixie entered the restricted section. "They confirmed that Miss Lulamoon and Mrs. Rich had shared the steam room together just prior to Miss Lulamoon and Miss Glimmer leaving for Earth."

"Did they have any idea what was said between them?" Sunburst asked.

"They stated that Mrs. Rich had made it clear they were not to be disturbed," said the guard. "They said this was typical for Mrs. Rich's visits to the spa, as she often did business deals on behalf of her husband."

"So no absolute proof that Spoiled Rich was acting as a proxy for Prince Blueblood."

"It doesn't appear so at the moment, but that might change. The sheriff reported that Miss Hooves ran into Fancy Pants -- quite literally -- while delivering mail to the Rich family. The sheriff was planning on interviewing the mailmare."

Sunburst frowned. "It's still circumstantial. Unless Derpy overheard anything, the meeting could've been about anything."

"The Royal Guard is following up some leads here in Canterlot," said the guard. "Fancy Pants is not exactly the most subtle or secretive among the nobles. He might have left a trail."

"I certainly hope so, as Twilight is counting on us to get to the bottom of this while she deals with the fallout of recent events on Earth." Sunburst glanced towards the restricted section. "Best we finish this up before Trixie emerges. Do you have anything else for me?"

"We'll be monitoring both Miss Lulamoon's and Prince Blueblood's location and movements," said the guard. "Part of that surveillance team will be a mage sensitive to the kind of magic given off by a Farhearing Stone. If they try to contact Earth, we'll know about it."

Sunburst nodded. "Good. We absolutely cannot let them transmit any sort of sensitive information."

"But how much do we need to worry about? Doesn't a Farhearing Stone transmit only audio? If they're interested in delivering advanced magic to the ponies of Earth, wouldn't they need to send visual data as well?"

"Yes, that's a good point," said Sunburst. "I know Twilight had plans to modify the spell to allow images to be transmitted, but I don't think she had the time to complete that work before she had to deal with matters on Earth."

"So would it be okay to let them continue if the mage detects a Farhearing Stone?"

"Isn't that an odd question?" Sunburst asked. "Isn't using such a thing to covertly contact Earth illegal? I would think you would want to stop it at once."

"It may be a way to collect evidence," said the guard. "The mage can record the fluctuations in the energy from the stone and analyze it later to determine where the signal was directed and roughly the content."

Sunburst adjusted his glasses. "Really? I didn't know you could effectively eavesdrop on a Farhearing Stone conversation. Quite extraordinary!"

The guard smiled. "Thank Princess Twilight for that." He swung a foreleg towards the shelves just outside the restricted section. "She noted down in great detail how the spell worked."

Sunburst's ears swiveled. "I think I hear hoof steps. Best you go now. Let me know the moment you learn anything."

"I will," the guard said before heading away.


Trixie looked over the copied scrolls with no small degree of satisfaction. While the redactions likely made it impossible to generate Sunset's transformation spell from the data anytime soon, it still represented a treasure trove of advanced magical knowledge. That alone would advance the ponies of Earth by leaps and bounds.

She returned all the originals to their proper locations and packed up her copies in her saddlebags. She headed towards the door, where the mage stationed just inside stopped and scanned her. Satisfied she was not smuggling out any original scrolls, he nodded and waved her through.

As she stepped out of the restricted section, Trixie glanced towards where she had seen Sunburst. He was still sitting at the same table perusing the same book. A Royal Guardspony was walking away from him. She didn't think anything of it and turned away.

She needed two more items, and fortunately neither was at all restricted. She smirked as she realized how much she had to thank Twilight's insistence on analyzing everything to the last possible decimal point.

Trixie soon located what she needed not too far away and levitated the scroll from the shelf. She opened it and smiled. Twilight had gone into such meticulous detail about her Farhearing spell that even Trixie could understand it. She believed Twilight's planned enhancements could be completed and applied to Blueblood's stone.

She took out another blank scroll from her saddlebags, and a few moments later, it held a copy of the information. She set the original back and set about her last task, one that had been conveyed to her at the last minute. Fortunately, it was more or less public knowledge in Equestria by then; only human authorities were silly enough to believe it should be restricted.

She found the information easily, but was confronted with a new conundrum. Thanks to Twilight's copious writings, where once they had been maybe two scrolls about the Tree of Harmony, now there were dozens.

Trixie frowned. She didn't have time to copy all of them, nor peruse them to tell which ones were more relevant. She picked a few at random and made copies, all the while glancing at the large clock on the wall. She settled on copying five scrolls and finally turned back towards the entrance.

Trixie caught Sunburst lowering his head. She frowned. Had he been watching her? Was it really just a coincidence that he happened to be in the Archives the same time she was?

Trixie shook her head. She was just being paranoid. If somepony really did know what she was doing, they would have stopped her by now.

She headed out of the Archives, not giving Sunburst a second thought.


At the head of the class, several large pony anatomy diagrams had been taped to the chalkboard. A smiling Butterscotch trotted before them until she stood beside Heather. "Good morning, class. Today, we have a guess lecturer. I am very pleased to have Heather here."

Heather smiled softly. "Thank you, Butterscotch, though I warn you, I'm not much of a teacher. I hope I don't put them all to sleep."

A wave of laughter briefly crested among the students, and many eagerly leaned forward.

"Doctor Whisper Touch was gracious enough to allow us to borrow his diagrams," said Butterscotch. "So that we may introduce you all to the concepts of pony anatomy."

A spate of excited whispering rose briefly, a few young ponies pointing to the diagram of their own tribe. Bob looked up from his notes only when Whisper's name was mentioned, and he had to take a few moments to reorient himself as to what was going on.

"Now, you may be wondering, why are we not breaking you out by tribe as we do when we, say, teach magic spells, weather control, or earth magic?" Butterscotch continued.

Bob had wondered about that as well, especially when he saw that ponies from across the grades had been told to gather in one large classroom. Cross-grade classes were generally for tribe-specific lessons.

"Before I answer that, can anypony tell me what some of the important aspects of friendship are?"

Several ponies raised their fore-hooves.

"Gina?" Butterscotch said.

"Being there when your friends need you!" Gina called out triumphantly.

"Yes, very good. Anypony else? Yes, Green Fields?"

"Trying to understand their point of view," said Green.

"Excellent," said Butterscotch. "And you both helped answer the question I posed. If you had a friend who -- Luna forbid -- got seriously hurt, it would help if you understood their anatomy so you can get them the proper help faster. That hurt friend is not always going to be of the same tribe as you."

Bob knew he should be paying attention, as this was likely going to lead to a lesson in first aid, but he was still too troubled by his last-minute doubts concerning his calculations. The more he looked them over, the more he felt something was missing, and any potential success hinged on it.

"With that, I now turn over the class to Heather," said Butterscotch as she stepped aside.

"Thank you," said Heather. "Now, first off, don't be too daunted by the complexity of these diagrams. I won't be expecting you to understand them in such intricate detail."

Gina raised her fore-hoof. "Does this mean we won't be tested on it?"

Other ponies chuckled around her.

Heather laughed. "No, Gina, I won't be testing you on it. I present this information in hopes that it will be useful and interesting. Even if you never have to put it into practice, it helps to understand how your bodies work."

Bob did have some mild interest in the subject matter. He was already gazing at the anatomical diagram of a unicorn. As he had suspected, a blood vessel ran through the center of the horn. Equestrian physicians had already warned unicorns to avoid anything that would risk them breaking their horn. While they knew of unicorns who had survived a horn breakage, it was only when others were immediately on hoof to staunch the blood loss.

He also spotted something that looked like nerve fibers running in a pattern which matched the outward spiral of the bone. He already knew these were not nerves but mana channels, conduits for magical energy that the horn could directly project. He looked at the diagram of the pegasus and saw similar fibers running through their wings.

Bob looked down at his diagrams. In a way, his manipulations of the quartz crystal were attempting to install something similar to mana channels to allow the material to act as a conduit for magic. As with a pony, the placement of the channels was crucial for anything to work.

He frowned as he realized what the real problem was: he was still working off intuition. Despite knowing that this was effectively a requirement for working with magic, the old human scientific side of him refused to give up its quest to truly understand what he was doing.

It had to be possible. Twilight herself had hinted that there had been Equestrian unicorns in the past who gained a very intricate understanding of thaumatologic structure at its most basic level. Sunset had to have done it, otherwise she would not have been able to build the portal to Earth.

He forced himself to tune into the lecture again. Heather pointed a fore-hoof towards the pegasus diagram. "It's the presence of these channels that enable a pegasus to fly. For those pegasi among you who have started to master flight, I don't have to tell you how important that is to you."

Several pegasi smiled and nodded.

"These channels are deeply buried in muscle and bone," said Heather. "They're very hard to damage. There are even special fibers wound around critical wing bones that prevent a bone fracture from damaging the channels too much. That's why most pegasi recover from wing injuries. They're grounded only as long as it takes the wing to heal and allow for proper projection of pegasus magic."

Bob found an apt analogy to his work. The channels he was dealing with could be thought of as buried, except in this case they were wound up tightly at the quantum level. He suspected they were closely tied with the multiple dimensions some physicists suspected existed in that realm.

"However, there are points where the channels travel closer to the surface," said Heather. "Especially at the joints. Always, always treat any serious joint injury of a pegasus wing as a medical emergency. Mana channels can recover from injury, but only if treated quickly."

And that was the crux of Bob's remaining nagging doubt. He had already learned that his adjustment of the material had to be complete and near-instantaneous. Yet there were places where the energy he applied could effectively "leak" outside the matrix, usually those close to the surface. Enough such leaks, and the matrix would destabilize, causing the material to explode violently outward.

He was not sure he could catch enough of those leaks to achieve a successful conversion. He thought he had it, but the more he considered, the more he realized he still did not have as full an understanding as he had believed. He was potentially setting himself up for another failure.

"Yes, Star Flier?" Heather said as she pointed to a pegasus filly with her fore-hoof raised.

"I have a cousin who busted up his wing pretty bad a few months ago," she said. "He was treated by an Equestrian surgeon. He had damaged his mana channels, and they had to do something called, um, what was it ... oh, I've got it! A reflective channel rebalancing."

Bob's eyebrows rose.

"Do you know what that means?" Star asked.

"I'm familiar with it, yes," said Heather. "Mana channels are complex enough at the cellular level that it's hard to regenerate them. What they did was use the patterns of mana channels found in his good wing to fix the ones in the injured wing."

Bob leaned forward.

"How does that work?" Star asked.

"I've never had it formally explained to me," Heather said. "But I've gleaned some understanding on how mana channels work from my experience in dealing with surging foals. It has to do with a symmetry that exists in the structure of the channels."

Bob blinked. He looked down at his notes.

"That's really over-simplifying it, to be honest. Has your cousin recovered from the surgery?"

"Mostly," Star said in a subdued voice. "He still has trouble staying balanced in the air."

"That's likely because the healing is incomplete. The reflection technique doesn't catch all the subtleties of that symmetry. It's like looking into a mirror that's slightly warped."

Bob stared at his notebook in astonishment.

That's it.

That's it.

That's what he had missed: the symmetry. He had expected that the thaumic matrix would follow the natural contours of the material. He could see now that it wouldn't. It had to impose its own structure. It had to literally reshape the material to work with the matrix. That's why normally it would take centuries for thaumically-aware material to appear naturally. Not only did the thaumic matrix have to come into being, the material itself had to change to conform to it.

It wasn't a simple symmetry at all. It was like a fractal, extending indefinitely no matter how far he went. Yet there had to be a formula that would lay it out for him, something he could apply that would make it stand out in his own mind.

He looked up but could barely pay attention to the lecture anymore. His mind was whirling with ideas. He needed time to write down his musings and see what stuck. He would likely have to cancel the experiment that afternoon, as now he knew it would fail.

He was never so anxious to get out of school.


Prince Blueblood paced before his receptionist's desk. "Where is that infernal showmare?! She's had all morning to retrieve the information I need!"

Quick Quill looked on anxiously, fidgeting. "Perhaps she had difficulty in finding what you needed, Your Grace," she said in a delicate voice. "It is supposed to be restricted information."

"Bah!" Blueblood scoffed. "Auntie Tia has always been so obsessed with having as much magical information as possible remain free to access despite the consequences, and I doubt she's changed much. It's how Sunset Shimmer accomplished what she did in the first place!"

"But I understand they have additional controls, Your Grace."

"A mare of Trixie's resources should be quite capable of getting around them. The fact that she was allowed back into Equestria at all speaks well of her abilities."

"I'm not sure I understand, I'm sorry."

Blueblood considered explaining it to her, as close as he was towards realizing his goal. Instead, he decided it was wise to keep the secrecy going a little while longer. After all, it could be mere days before he stepped through the portal as the proud governor of the Equestrian Earth Protectorate. There would be plenty of time to brief Quick by then.

Blueblood waved a fore-hoof in the air. "It matters not. Perhaps we should consider sending somepony to look for--" He cut himself off as he caught a glow out of the corner of his eye. He turned in time to see the door latch turn and the door open. His eyes narrowed as Trixie stepped inside. "It's about time you showed up."

Trixie frowned as she shut the door behind her. "Give me a break. They've really tightened security since the last time I visited the Archives."

"Did you get what I asked for?"

"Mostly."

Blueblood arched an eyebrow. "I beg your pardon?"

Trixie levitated several scrolls into view and started to unroll one.

Blueblood frowned and overrode her action with his own magic. "Not here. This way." He led her into his private office and cast a sealing spell on the door that would also give them better privacy. "Now what exactly is the issue?"

Trixie unrolled a scroll before him. "This is part of the problem."

Blueblood snorted at the redactions. "It will simply have to do. You do realize it will need to be translated. I doubt these ponies are quite civilized enough to know proper Equish."

Trixie let the scroll roll up and set it aside. "I'll start on the translation spell now."

"Yes, and be quick about it."

"I haven't done this sort of magic very much. You'll just have to be patient."

Blueblood stepped over to his Farhearing Stone. "Time is of the essence. I am now dealing with a new leader of that faction, one who is hesitant about continuing this association. We must make it appear as if we are giving them a treasure trove of magical information. On that note, were you able to secure information concerning the Tree of Harmony?"

Trixie levitated five more scrolls onto the table. "This is what I was able to get."

Blueblood frowned. "Surely there was more than this!"

"This is all I had time for!" Trixie cried in a voice tinged with desperation as she arranged her copied scrolls on the table. "Now stop pestering me, I need to concentrate."

Blueblood normally would have taken a pony to task for daring to speak to him in such an insolent manner, but he needed her skills more than he cared to admit.

As he watched Trixie labor over spells more complex than she normally could handle, Blueblood smiled. No matter what the outcome at this point, he was sure he could place himself in a position of strength when it was over.


"Miss Lulamoon is with Prince Blueblood in private conference," said the guard to Sunburst as they trotted down the hallway. "They have a spell in place to give them privacy, but any activation of a Farhearing Stone will still be detectable, as it has to go outside that spell to operate."

Sunburst nodded, having heard the words but was slow to parse them.

"Unfortunately we have no way to know what is being said between them," the guard continued. "We can only go by what they do concerning outside contacts."

"Yes, of course," said Sunburst in a distracted voice.

"Is something the matter?"

Sunburst glanced back the way they had come. "Something is bothering me, and I can't quite put my hoof on just what."

The guard followed Sunburst's gaze. "Something concerning the Archives?"

"I was observing Trixie after she left the restricted section. She didn't head right out as I had expected she would."

"What did she do?"

"She appeared to look over some other scrolls in the public section and copied at least one that I could see," said Sunburst.

"While some information in the public section is considered restricted by human authorities, it should be far less harmful than anything in the restricted section," said the guard.

Sunburst nodded slowly and turned around. "I'm going to have a look to see if I can figure out what she had copied in case it's of any significance. Please come find me if anything else develops."

"At once," said the guard as Sunburst headed away.


Bob hurried into his room as soon as he had left the school that afternoon, immediately snatching up his notes and the tiny shard of crystal, taking them outside so as to be free of the distraction of the ambient magic of other ponies. He needed a clear head if he was to work out what he thought was the ultimate solution.

He wandered from the house until he found a small clearing among the denuded trees. His horn glowed, and he swept an area clear of leaves and tossed some rocks to the side to give him some level ground. He dropped to his haunches and arranged his notes before him. He levitated a few loose pages in front of him as his notebook flipped through pages as if under its own power.

Bob let all other distractions fall away. His pencil scratched as the concepts which now coalesced in his mind crystallized on the page. What had been a set of separate diagrams describing different aspects of his theories now came together in a single, cohesive vision. What had only been guesses or constants thrown in just to make things work now gave way to thaumatological truth.

He had no idea how much time passed. It had no meaning to him. This task was the only thing that mattered. He had already intended to cancel the experiment that afternoon. Even after he completed this work, some refinement would be needed. He was inventing terms and symbols on the fly for concepts of which he had only the barest grasp until that inspired moment in class earlier. Time would be needed to clean it up and get it into a form that was more easily explained to others.

And then, he was done.

All his other notes wafted to the ground as they were released suddenly from his magic. His pencil clattered to his still open notebook. He held a single page aloft, upon it a complex diagram of lines, curves, runes, and symbols. Bob stared at it for a long moment. He shuddered as he realized what he was looking at. It was nothing less than what thaumically aware material should look like on a scale unimaginably small. It was almost like peering into the structure of a single quark.

He had to give it a name.

Bob almost chuckled. For some reason, his thoughts had been drawn to the old movie Back to the Future. He remembered the scene with the diagram that showed the one thing that would make it all work, the so-called "flux capacitor." In a way, he was looking at something similar, but he was not about to call it that.

He picked up the pencil in his magic without taking his eyes from the diagram. After a moment's thought, he wrote the words "Thaumatic Subatomic Matrix" at the bottom of the page.

Bob let out the breath he had been holding as he was writing. The matrix wasn't just lines on paper. He levitated the small bit of crystal he had created the other day during that first experiment. He could sense that same structure. Moreover, he felt confident he could create it. He knew what he was doing now.

His ears pricked as he heard hoof-steps, and his heart leapt. He was hoping it was Tina, so he could share this wondrous moment with her. Yet when the breeze rose, a different scent came to him. He stood and turned, calling out the name before even seeing her. "Susie?"

Susie stepped into view, smiling. "Hello, Bob."

Bob arranged his notes into a neat pile. "What are you doing out here?"

"I was coming to look for you," Susie said. "The cinder block wall is ready. It looks like all the cement has set."

"Oh, um, thanks, but I think I'm going to put that off for another day."

Susie tilted her head. "Is there a problem?"

Bob smiled. "No, quite the opposite!" He levitated the page with his matrix diagram and showed it to Susie. "Look!"

"Oh, have you taken my suggestion to heart and started writing everything down in a more cohesive format?"

"Well, sort of. Mostly I was consolidating everything I knew into this single representation of my insights."

Susie peered at the page. "Thaumatic Subatomic Matrix. Is this the final form of your notes?"

"In a way, yes." Bob lowered the page and placed it atop the pile. "These are all the notes which led up to this point."

Susie nodded. "So one could glean how your research led you to this point from reading the other notes, yes?"

"If the person reading them had a good grasp of advanced thaumic mechanics. I'm not trying to toot my own horn here, but there are not many unicorns like that in the world."

"Yes, that's true," said Susie. "But there are other entities who may have a grasp of them."

Bob looked askance at Susie. "Like who?"

"Some humans who have been studying magic," Susie explained as she stepped closer. "Like some in the government."

Bob gave her a wary look. "If you're concerned these will somehow fall into their hands--"

"Not at all, because I know they will."

Before Bob could ask her what she meant, Susie suddenly blazed full crystal, her body sparkling and translucent. Bob stumbled back a step, his pupils shrinking as he realized his whole body felt like a lead weight that was only getting heavier. When he tried to light his horn, only a few faint sparks flew from its tip.

"Susie, wh-what are you doing?!" Bob cried in a weak voice.

"Please, don't make this more difficult than it needs to be," Susie said. "It's best you don't fight it."

Bob looked towards his pile of notes and clenched his jaw hard as he poured all his rapidly draining magic into a single spell. A feeble glow started to surround his notes, but they had lifted only a few inches before Susie placed her fore-hoof on them and pushed them back to the ground. Bob moaned and fell to his belly as the levitation spell was broken in a shower of sparks.

"I'm really sorry, Bob," Susie said in a distressed voice. "I didn't want to do this, but my duty to my country has to come first."

Bob gasped as the horrible draining sensation continued, his vision starting to gray. He tried to right himself on his hooves, but it had gone beyond just sapping his magic. He struggled to put all his waning energies into his voice. "B-but you never ... we never ..."

"I guess I'm what you would call a 'sleeper agent'," said Susie. "I never thought I would be activated. I really wanted you to succeed. And you have, but the benefits need to go the right people."

"S-susie, please ..."

"Now, this won't hurt," said Susie, her words becoming fuzzy. "It will feel very much like falling as--"

Suddenly, the draining sensation was gone.

His magic didn't return to him all at once. Ponies drew on it at a steady but slow rate from the universe's thaumic field. He had only enough energy return to him so he could stand up, and even then his legs were shaky. He was vaguely aware that a scuffle had taken place. It was only when he heard Tina's icy voice that he understood what had happened.

"Get away from him, you bitch."

Bob panted hard as just standing up felt like galloping at full speed. He tried to understand the situation, but his vision was a little fuzzy. Tina stood with her hooves splayed, her wings spread, her teeth bared. Susie was still crystal, her fur and mane ruffled, some leaves and twigs clinging to them.

"I can easily handle you as well," Susie said in a breathy voice, even as her coat brightened. "They didn't send in an amateur for this."

Tina growled and launched herself towards Susie, only to immediately falter and crash to the ground, wings flapping uselessly. She rose to her hooves but stumbled as she tried to gallop forward, Susie needing only to back up a few steps to avoid the attack.

"This is going to make things harder for you," Susie said. "I can't be as delicate when I'm working on two at once. I didn't want this to hurt."

Bob's heart ached as he watched Tina still struggling just to stand, her wings limp and dragging as if she had lost all control over them. He started to feel the draining sensation come over him again. He could at least be content with the fact that he had admitted his feelings to Tina before it was all over.

Suddenly there came a very loud, sickening crunch, a thud, and the draining sensation vanished once more.

He blinked rapidly to clear his vision. Susie lay on the ground on her side, moaning, a trickle of blood oozing from her mouth. Her muzzle bore a hoof-shaped bruise. Then a very welcome sight stepped between Bob and the crystal pony.

"Touch my son again," growled Harold Tanner. "And I'll use my rear hooves instead."

Bob felt himself being hugged, and he was more than happy to take in his adoptive mother's scent.

"Bob, are you okay?!" Sarah cried. "We came looking for you soon as we arrived, but we never expected this! Heather, can you help, please?"

Bob had already heard the other approaching hoof-steps. "He's been pretty badly drained, Sarah," Heather said as she stepped into view. "Nothing permanent. He'll just need some time to recover. I'll go check on Tina."

Susie started to get up. Bob flinched when Harold socked her a second time, making her whimper. "Stay the hell down on the ground. If I sense you even trying to drain anypony, it will be the last thing you ever do."

Bob shuddered. He had never heard Harold so angry in his life.

"I'm not at all sorry we came now," Sarah said. "I was worried you'd see it as an intrusion in your life, but after this, I realize we should have come back on our own as soon as we got word you were up to something."

"You knew?" Bob asked in a weak voice.

Sarah smiled. "It was not terribly hard to put two and two together."

Tina managed to stumble over to them with Heather's help. "Tina is not quite as bad off, but she's going to be grounded for a bit while she recovers," said Heather.

Tina gave Bob a wry smile. "So much for me acting like the cavalry swooping in to save the day."

Bob smiled and gestured for her to come over. As soon as she was close enough, he drew her into a tight hug. "I guess you'll need someone to help with preening your wings so you can get them back into shape again."

Tina chuckled weakly and smiled. "And you'll have to take extra time at it since you won't have your fancy horn for a bit."

"I look forward to it."

As they shared a kiss, Bob heard Sarah clear her throat awkwardly.

Bob broke off the kiss and looked back towards Sarah, blushing. "Um, yeah, about Tina and I ..."

"It can wait," Sarah said softly. "I'd rather know why that crystal pony was attacking you."

Bob looked towards his notes, which had become scattered in the scuffle. "Before I answer, can you please collect all of that? It's very important to me."

Sarah nodded, and her horn glowed as she gathered up the pages and placed them in a neat pile nearby. Heather glanced at it and said, "I suspect this has everything to do with what Bob was working on recently."

"Susie is some sort of sleeper agent," said Bob.

Sarah's pupils shrank slightly. "She works for the government?"

"Yes."

"So the government already knows what Bob is doing," Tina said sourly. "Just great."

Sarah glanced at the pages and let out a slow breath. "I can help protect him."

Bob stared. "You can?"

"I just need to get close enough to a cell phone tower to make a call."

"Uh, to who?" Tina asked.

"Let's just say the person who's currently financing me has connections and leave it at that," Sarah said.

"Sarah, I won't begin to say I understand what's going on around here," Heather said. "But I think this is a good case for Bob to stop what he's doing for now."

"I can't just abandon this," Bob protested. "Not after what I just figured out today. I know this will work now!"

"It's going to be a few days before your magic fully returns," said Heather. "You're going to have to wait at least that long anyway."

"And that will give me a chance to see to it that Bob remains safe," said Sarah.

"Regardless, we can't let ourselves be frightened into doing nothing," said Bob.

"Bob, I promise, if this is that important to you, you'll have a chance to do it."

Bob sighed but nodded. He trusted Sarah enough to know she would never outright lie to him. He looked towards Susie and Harold. "What are we going to do about her? Dad can't keep knocking her down every time she gets up."

"I'll go back to town and fetch Whisper Touch and the other crystal ponies that are in town," said Heather. "We can keep her in check until the Pony Hope sheriff decides what to do with her." She sighed. "Harold, Sarah, I am so terribly sorry about this. I was the one who hired her in the first place."

"Don't blame yourself, Heather," said Harold. "If it wasn't you, she would've found some other way to get into town."

"What about Whisper Touch?" Tina asked. "Do we need to suspect him as well?"

"I know much more about his background than Susie's," said Heather. "I think he's sincere, but my fellow crystal ponies and I will check into it."

"Whisper Touch is not affiliated with me," Susie croaked. "I'm working alone."

Heather frowned. "You'll forgive me if I don't take you at your word. It's ponies like you who give our whole tribe a bad name. I went in on this specifically to better other ponies' opinions of us. You just helped destroy that effort."

"And ponies like you are working to undermine our government."

"I don't want to hear it." Heather turned away. "I'm going into town now, if for no other reason than I can get her to shut up sooner."

As Heather headed away, Bob slowly broke from Sarah's embrace. "I think I can stand now." He tried a simple light spell, but his horn only sparked. "Still no magic, but at least I can move on my own."

Sarah reluctantly let go. "At least now we'll be able to see what you've been working on."

Bob caught his adoptive mother glancing at his hindquarters, which answered his next question. Despite his breakthrough, he had yet to receive a cutie mark. He had no idea if that was still his own reluctance to obtain one despite his recent decision regarding his future, or if he had to put his theories to the test first.

He was actually looking forward to finding out.


Trixie was sweating by the time the glow of the translation spell had faded from the last document. She fell to her haunches panting hard, rubbing her hoof near the base of her horn where a dull headache had begun.

Blueblood had been lurking about in the background making impatient noises, much to her annoyance. He now strode forward and levitated one of the documents before him. He clicked his tongue as he looked over the scroll. "There are still some words in Equish upon this page."

"They don't have a direct translation into English," said Trixie.

"Surely they can be explained in some other way."

"You need a more complex spell for that."

Blueblood arched an eyebrow as he set down the document. "Or perhaps simply a better mage."

Trixie ground her teeth but said nothing.

Blueblood sighed. "I suppose it will have to do. Do you have the Farhearing enhancement spell ready?"

"Give me a minute! This is exhausting work. I need a moment to rest."

Blueblood stepped past her towards the Farhearing Stone. "Rest is a luxury we don't have." He waved his fore-hoof over the stone, and it began to glow. "I will attempt to establish contact. Be ready with that spell when I do."

"Yes, Your Highness," Trixie said in a mocking voice. As much as she was dedicated to the cause of assisting the ponies of Earth gain more magic, she would be glad when she could end her association with this insufferable fop.


Sunburst scrutinized the shelves he had seen Trixie perusing upon leaving the restricted section. Much of it was authored by Twilight Sparkle, some by Starswirl the Bearded. It was hard to tell exactly what would be of interest to Trixie.

He had to use an indexing spell to see if he could find what he was after. First he tried the subject of transformation. He found something by Starswirl, but it spoke only of the traditional temporary transformation spell in the context of researching a theory that it weakened the morphic resonance with repeated use. He doubted that would be of any interest.

Next he tried thaumic theory. That could be of interest to the foreign ponies if they had any unicorns who were advanced enough to understand the concept. Here again something by Starswirl popped up: his famous Thaumatic Subether Matrix which explained how Equestrian materials could hold magic.

Sunburst considered. Yes, that might be something she would try to send along, but it would take a very long time to transmit orally, perhaps hours. Not to mention it had a lot of visual diagrams which were required to understand the material.

This made him think about the artifact he suspected Trixie had sent along to Earth. He set his indexing spell to the Farhearing Stone.

Immediately several works by Twilight stood out. He blinked in surprise, not realizing that Twilight had written so much on the topic. Just where did that mare find enough hours in the day?

He started to peruse them. Many were explanations of the underlying thaumic mechanics on how it worked, nothing the ponies of Earth couldn't figure out on their own if they scrutinized the actual stone itself.

He looked at the last scroll that Twilight had written. It detailed a theoretical enhancement to the way the stone worked to allow it to send ...

"Images?!" Sunburst cried as he stared at the scroll. "Oh, my word!"

Sunburst shoved the scroll back onto the shelf and galloped out of the Archives, ignoring the admonishment by its caretaker. He almost collided with a Royal Guardspony as he was coming around the corner.

"I was just coming to inform you, Sunburst," said the guard. "We've detected the activation of the Farhearing Stone and are attempting to ascertain--"

"We must shut them down at once!" Sunburst cried.

"But we need to build up a case for collusion with Earth."

"Yes, yes, but there's the danger that they are sending much more information than we originally thought possible!" Sunburst cried.

The guard's pupils shrank slightly. "The mages did report they were sensing some additional energy patterns that they didn't recognize. They thought it was some form of interference."

"It's not! They're transmitting images!"

"Then we do need to stop them! I'll inform them at once!"

"I'll come with you," said Sunburst.


"Can you bring that into a little more focus?"

Trixie sighed as she levitated the document in the scanning light of the Farhearing Stone at the request of the pony who had identified himself as Water Wings. She nudged it slightly closer to the stone, trying to ignore the pounding in her head.

"There, that's good," said Water.

"I trust you have the ability to take some sort of photograph of the image you're seeing?" said Blueblood.

"Yeah, I have another pony here with a camera on her cell phone. Hang on."

The pause that followed dragged on. Trixie felt a slight itchy sensation along her horn, the beginnings of mana burn.

"Got it," said Water. "You can go to the next one."

Trixie had already lowered the first document at the word "got" and struggled to position the next one properly in the scanning beam.

"Don't dawdle," Blueblood snapped. "We need to get this done."

"I'm trying!" Trixie said through clenched teeth. She thrust the next one into the light. "Here!"

"It's out of focus," said Water.

"Rrgh," Trixie growled. She adjusted the document.

"Almost."

Trixie gritted her teeth and adjusted it again.

"Okay, that's good. We're getting another picture." After a pause, he added. "Awful lot of redactions there, Your Highness."

"I am sure you have enough competent unicorns who can fill in the blanks," said Blueblood with a smile.

Trixie doubted Blueblood believed his own statement. To him, this was just a means to an end. Only she really cared about giving these ponies decent magic. She wished she could have included something more useful. Trying to reconstruct Sunset's original transformation spell from this mess would be impossible and distract them from learning real, practical magic.

"I suppose so," said Water, his own voice suggesting he didn't believe it, either. "Okay, ready for the next one."

Trixie had a better idea now about what part of the beam would afford the best image, so this one went a little faster.

"Got it," said Water. "How many more documents are there?"

"Eight," said Blueblood. "That is including the information you desired concerning the Tree of Harmony."

"All right, keep them coming."

Trixie was about to raise the next document into the beam when she heard muffled voices beyond the door to the chamber. One of them was Quick Quill, quite obviously protesting. Trixie snapped her head towards the door when she heard Sunburst's voice.

Blueblood had noticed the verbal scuffle as well. He narrowed his eyes, drew himself up to his full regal height, and strode towards the door. "I'll handle this. You keep getting those documents transmitted."

"But that was Sunburst I heard!" Trixie said in an urgent whisper. "He was hanging around in the Archives the whole time I was there! What if he was spying on me?!"

"Is something wrong?" Water asked.

"No," Blueblood declared. He loomed over Trixie. "I said, I'll handle this."


"His Grace said he was not to be disturbed!" Quick declared as she stood in the path of Sunburst and the three ponies who accompanied him, a mage and two members of the Royal Guard. "I cannot let you into his private chambers."

"This is a matter of Canterlot security," one of the guards declared. "We are detecting illicit magic use."

Quick gave him a haughty look. "His Grace has royal privilege. You cannot hold him to the same rules that apply to the common masses. Would you dare to do such a thing to Princess Celestia? Or Princess Luna?"

"We are operating under the auspices of the Diarchy," said the mage. "It is their decree that there be no unauthorized contact with Earth. There are no exceptions!"

Sunburst was only half-listening to the argument. He was noting down his observations of the energy stream he detected from the Farhearing Stone, wishing for all the world that he had his laptop instead of just a scroll and quill. His thoughts now seemed to get ahead of what he could write.

He looked up only when the argument abruptly stopped, and he flinched when his eyes fell on Prince Blueblood. Sunburst adjusted his glasses, realizing the Prince stood a little taller than he had thought. Little wonder he could appear imposing in the presence of others.

"What appears to be the problem?" asked Blueblood, having lost none of the regal bearing in his voice.

The lead guard stepped up to him. "Your Highness, you are engaged in illegal contact with Earth. You're to cease this activity at once."

"I know of no such activity taking place here."

"We have detected the magic, Your Highness," said the mage, his voice still respectful despite its urgency. "And Sunburst can attest to it as well."

Sunburst managed not to wither under the scrutiny when Blueblood's imperious gaze shifted towards him. He paused only a moment in his computations before his quill was back at work. By now it was clear that Blueblood was stalling, and Sunburst might have to provide the means to shut down the magic stream remotely.

"Regardless of what you believe, I am sure I heard my assistant inform you of the privilege that comes with my royal standing. You can consider it as good as if Princess--"

"Not in this case, Your Highness!" the guard declared. "I am operating under the direct authority of the Diarchy, and if you do not let us by, I am authorized to use force."

Blueblood narrowed his eyes. "You would not dare."

The guard gestured to his companion, who stepped beside him. Both raised their spears as the first guard said, "Don't put to the test, Your Highness. You will not win this one."

Blueblood's eyes flicked between the two spear tips. "Very well." He raised his voice. "I will let you into my private office, but you will find nothing there!"

"I'm very glad you have listened to reason, Your Highness," said the guard as Blueblood slowly turned in place before stepping towards the office.

Sunburst's quill suddenly stopped. He exchanged an alarmed look with the mage. "The energy stream is gone!" Sunburst cried. "The Farhearing Stone has stopped transmitting!"

"Get us into that office at once!" the mage shouted.

The guards barreled past Blueblood, Sunburst and the mage following. When presented with the shield at the door, the mage's horn blazed, and an almost blinding beam of magic struck the door and dispelled the privacy seal in a shower of sparks. The guards bucked open the doors and rushed inside.

Sunburst's gaze fell first on a harried and nervous Trixie, who gave them an uneasy smile. "Um, hi! I-is there a problem?"

The mage stepped forward, horn still glowing, his head whipping around. "Where is it?"

"Uh, where is what?" Trixie asked in a quavering voice.

The mage frowned and turned towards Sunburst. "Are you sensing it at all?"

Sunburst lighted his horn and stretched out his magical senses. "No, it's not here."

"And perhaps it was never here in the first place," declared Blueblood as he stepped into the room.

The head guard turned towards the Prince. "We have proof of your activities, Your Highness. Whatever ruse you just did to hide the evidence won't help you."

"Please cease your idle threats," Blueblood said in a haughty voice. "Whatever so-called crime you believe I have committed, I will be vindicated in the end."

"The gem must still be in the palace somewhere," said Sunburst.

The mage narrowed his eyes at Trixie. "Unless this one is shielding it from us somehow."

"I'm not shielding anything from you!" Trixie protested.

"Ah, I would tend to agree," Sunburst said.

Trixie gave the mage a smug smile. "See?"

"Trixie is nowhere near good enough to do something like that."

"And that's exactly what -- hey!"

"I was still able to sense the gem for a short while after the energy stream had stopped," Sunburst continued. "It felt like it was falling away, becoming more distant."

The mage stepped up to Sunburst. "Please assist me in searching the palace. While we don't necessarily need that artifact to prove our case, it would be best if it were secured."

Sunburst nodded. "Yes, I concur."

The mage turned towards the Prince. "And as for you, I will be stationing both a mage and some guards outside your office who will trail you wherever you go. If you try to do this again, we'll know about it and stop you."

Blueblood snorted. "If you feel you must waste your time in a fruitless search for a crime that doesn't exist, be my guest. For now, I insist you leave. This is my private office, and matters I conduct here are not for your ears."

Sunburst left with the mage, who asked, "If we retrieve that gem, can you figure out exactly where it was aimed on Earth?"

"An approximate area, yes," said Sunburst. "But we must find it soon or the resonance of its last use will have worn off."


Trixie felt no sense of relief after the guards had left. Blueblood spoke before she could voice her distress. "I see you remembered what I had told you about the serving lift in case of emergency. Excellent."

The palace was riddled with shafts that once housed lifts to allow meals to be served in private. It had seen much use during the "Old Period" prior to Luna's banishment when her and Celestia were much more formal, and the nobility had far more privilege. Most had been sealed up, but Blueblood had his specifically reopened for situations like this.

"Not that it will matter," Trixie muttered.

"Yes, they will, in time, retrieve the gem," said Blueblood. "It matters not. It has served its purpose. Once I receive the formal request by the Shimmerists to have a protectorate--"

"I don't mean that!" Trixie cried in a shrill voice. "I mean they already know what you were doing. What I was doing!"

"And this matters ... why?"

Trixie clenched her teeth and marched up to Blueblood. "Because I never intended anypony to find out I was involved in this until you had what you wanted!"

"I will have exactly what I want," Blueblood said. "And you, I might add, now have what you want. The ponies of Earth will receive the advanced magic that they so rightly deserve, all thanks to you."

"And how am I supposed to enjoy those accolades if I'm in the Canterlot dungeon?!"

"You're being ridiculous. Auntie Tia hasn't put something there in ages. Atone, forgive, and forget is her mantra. Now, just how much were you able to transmit?"

Trixie had to take a moment to calm herself or she would just lash out at him again. "I'm not sure."

Blueblood frowned. "How can you not be sure?"

"I was under a lot of pressure! First I had to hurry to finish all the documents, then I had to scramble to dump the gemstone. I lost track."

"Then take your best guess."

Trixie sighed. "Most of the transformation research. I might have missed one document. Some of the Tree of Harmony stuff. I think I managed three out of the five scrolls."

Blueblood clicked his tongue. "I suppose it will have to do."

"And you're not at all worried that they already know what we sent to Earth?"

"Even if they were monitoring the transmission, it will take them some time to unravel it, more than enough time for my plans to come to fruition."

Trixie narrowed her eyes. "You better be right, or we're both going to be in a lot of trouble."

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