Their parents did call a little later, though the conversation was brief and not particularly reassuring. Mom and Dad expressed sympathy over what had happened, but gone were the promises that they would arrive soon.
"Edgar says it may not be safe for a while," Dad said. "You know him well enough to know that he'll get his way. There was an explosion, wasn't there?"
"Sorta," Kara answered. "It wouldn't have happened if he didn't send someone to mess with the baby. It was just like with me all over again. They're lucky none of them got turned into horses."
Their parents watched the camera, oddly subdued. Mom rested one hand on the screen. "You two take care of each other. We'll be up there to see you as soon as we're allowed. But you were always tough.” That was it.
Fay didn't wake again for her evening meal as usual. That left Kyle feeling cramped and bloated, but she could cope with one missed meal. Any more than that, and she'd have to relieve the pressure some other way. But if I have to ask for one of those machines from Grandpa, I'll die of embarrassment first.
Kyle made her way over to the laptop late into the evening. She hadn't technically finished her new spell, though she now had some ideas for what to do. Maybe she should sleep, as Kara was already doing, but it felt like her world was rapidly decomposing around her.
Akiko is never going to do this for us. Every time she tries something it goes badly. At least if she kept up her present record; things got progressively worse in each successive attempt. A few weeks down the road, they would probably all die in a fiery explosion. Whatever we do, I'll have to figure it out myself.
Monday hadn't given her any of the pieces necessary to make a transformation spell. But given Grandpa had wizards working for him, maybe changing back would be a bad idea. Maybe the smartest thing to do was make herself as strong as possible as fast as possible.
After seeing what Akiko did, only one possible spell came to mind: a weapon. Maybe they could use it to break out of the Lodge, and flee into the forest.
She still wasn't convinced it would ever be necessary. Maybe Edgar really did have their best intentions at heart, but his people were just a little clueless. Or maybe they should've realized they'd been trapped in jail this entire time.
At least in some ways we're better off to be here. If Fay did that at home, the house would probably collapse. Or else be transformed enough on the outsides that the neighbors would see and the authorities would be there.
But the more Grandpa pushed, the more Kyle doubted that things were necessarily better than just letting the government get involved. Just because first contact went bad in all the movies didn't mean it would do that in real life, right?
Monday sounded like they wanted Kyle to memorize all the early runes, even the ones she hadn't used. She skipped that step now, focusing only on the ones that would help with her makeshift weapon.
There was a section here for application of force, like what she did to levitate things with her horn. Maybe she could take those symbols and apply some instantaneous acceleration?
Even if Monday doesn't come to help, we could use this.
Kyle scribbled out the spell on a single sheet of notebook paper, erasing and crossing things out and moving sections around. But she didn't want to cast it out in the open. Once Fay woke up, she'd try it in the converted space, where cameras couldn't reach. I still trust you, Edgar. But I don't want you to know what I can do.
If it worked, Kyle could memorize this spell just like the light one, adding one more tool she could call on. What else could her basic symbols teach?
Once she'd checked and rechecked the spell itself, Kyle typed up a quick email, explaining everything that had happened with Fay and the appearance of Akiko.
She finished with “You said we may have to defend ourselves. My homework assignment will be a spell I hope to use to protect myself if I must. I'll send a copy once I test it and make sure it works, I don't want to look like an idiot. But if you want to send me the pieces for transforming my sister and I back to normal, maybe you should. We might not have long before Akiko blows us up."
It might be a little dramatic—but she'd seen the need on Akiko's face. She had kept that scanning spell going until the last possible second, even while Fay's wild magic was already lashing through the Lodge, transforming everything it touched. That level of commitment to an experiment was insane.
She slept uncomfortably—as much because Fay hadn't eaten as because of her fears of what might come next. Was a magical pen-pal sending tips really going to be enough to teach them a way out?
At least the new bed was comfortable—finally she had something to sleep on that had the right level of firmness for her massive body, with blankets that always felt cool against her coat and never caught on her hooves. It was so big that she didn't even mind sharing it with Kara on the other end—though if they'd fallen asleep at the same time, it probably would've been awkward.
She woke to Fay's cries in the early morning—she was hungry, even more than usual. She took the baby out into the hallway, searching for an intact cushion to rest on while she fed her. Fay didn't look like she was still upset. But that didn't mean she couldn't hold a grudge.
A half hour later she'd finished. Instead of exploring the new space, Fay took Kyle over to her crib, lifting her toy ferret out from inside.
It looked the same as the one that had been in the nursery. Though many of the other parts of the master bedroom were luxury beyond common description, Fay's toys hadn't changed.
Fay levitated the little doll down into her hooves herself, squeezing it tightly up against her chest. She glanced only nervously up at Kyle, and instead of her usual energetic self, just watched her.
"I won't let them do that again," she promised. "It wasn't supposed to be so hard. They were just trying to learn more about you, that's all."
Fay didn't react. At least she didn't run away, or otherwise act sour with her. She followed Kyle, keeping her toy with her. She doesn't hate me. She doesn't feel safe anymore. It's exactly the opposite.
She wasn't sure how to read alien horses, but animals made plenty of sense—Fay no longer felt safe in the Lodge. Kyle couldn't blame her.
At least her grandfather hadn't disabled their power, or their internet access. But I don't know for sure that he isn't somehow listening to all of this.
Kyle took a little longer than usual to go over the laptop before she checked her email. It had been a long time since she ran her old security tools, but they were still installed. Nothing was out of the ordinary. But did that mean she was safe, or just that her grandfather's people had better software than a few free utilities?
There was nothing to do short of asking—if she trusted Grandpa enough to answer truthfully, she could trust him not to spy on them.
When she finally called up the courage to check, she was somewhat unsurprised to see there was a message waiting for her.
Its content, however, was anything but reassuring.
Kyle, Apprentice, whatever. Listen to me.
I'm completely out of my fucking depth here. I had no idea the scope of this thing—but now I do, and we're in trouble. I know you're hoping for me to tell you not to panic, but I can't. Panicking might be the right reaction.
I intended to talk to a contact of mine with the Consensus yesterday. We've been covertly hunting for you, or something I think was you, since this whole thing started. I wasn't sure yet if I were going to tell them I'd been in touch with you the whole time, or maybe lead them off your trail if it looked like they weren't going to be on your side.
It's irrelevant. The giants are in the playground now, and all we can do is look up and stare.
I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to tell you. Let's just say that there's regular wizard types like me, and then there's people so far above us that we're like gnats. They're the invisible masters—so big and important that anything they want is probably impossible for the rest of us to understand.
I wouldn't tell you about them if they weren't involved. The Consensus says orders just came down for everyone to stop. No interference. We let it happen. If we try to stop it, they'll nuke the whole thing and everyone involved.
What do we let happen? That's the scariest part. It's been all over the news. Sightings of these weird... creatures. Horses with extra parts and strange colors, which walked right up to ordinary motorists and apparently talked to them?
Forces it would take too long to explain are already trying to make the whole thing go away. They're trying to explain it as viral marketing for a new kids’ movie—reviving some dead eighties property, details don't matter. What does matter is where these creatures were seen.
What followed was a few Google Maps photos, zoomed out far enough to show ten square miles or so. But Kyle didn't need nearly that much space to see the important part. It was right down the street from his house—less than a mile, depending on where in the circle she was trying to connect.
I think you know where this is. None of the witness accounts are consistent, and I'm pretty sure powers above mortal are trying to discredit this as fast as they can. But there was at least one account of them asking for a baby.
You were worried that maybe your little alien was here to bring the end of the world. I can't say she is, I haven't even seen her. But I think her kind have finally missed her, and they're coming. Unicorns, from a realm where they never went extinct. Maybe even where they're the dominant form of life. Not sure. They didn't attack anyone, and that's a little weird for unicorns. No way everyone on that motorway was pure of heart.
I'm not.
But you might need help. I think I'm going to do something fucking insane. As an interesting fact, did you know that our bond forms a powerful sympathetic connection that always allows me to feel the path to you? It works in both directions, but you won't know how to use it.
There's no time to send you any more spells. Once I'm done typing this, I'm getting on a plane.
My final lesson as your master is this: any magic, no matter how powerful, can be ground out with a counter-spell. Study the runes marked with death as hard and fast as you can. I didn't give you anything to kill people, but you should be able to figure out how to kill magic. In your next few weeks, that will probably be far more important.
Monday
PS: I've never heard Akiko's pseudonym before. But working with regular people is sketch as hell. If your grandfather is near her unprotected, she could blast him into paste. He must have something big over her to get her to work for him. If you figure out what it is, you could get rid of her if you must.
Well, not necessarily, but how much reason is there to think it'll go any better?
They're calling in the Order of the Stick?
The Illuminati were behind Friendship is Magic the whole time!
In all seriousness, we have confirmation that both plotlines are occurring in roughly the same timeframe, and that the situation has escalated to low Earth orbit. Which means the higher-ups are prepared to nuke the whole site as the only way to be sure. Kyle has best study those counterspells as much as possible. More than just her survival may hinge on her ability to play blue control.
Things are definitely speeding up! Can’t wait to read more!!
No one expects the pony inquisition.
P.S: As always the government is stupid, instead of trying diplomacy, they think about nuking everything to make the aliens angry and create the Dimension War
10425283
I don't get the impression that The Consensus is a government agency. More like, your basic magical illuminati. Too important and occult to be nailed down with petty issues like governance and accountability.
10425283
Funny how you think it’s the government without a single mention of them
If I didn't trust Monday before, I absolutely do now.
But also, this is huge. Kyle knows they are coming and can plan around that instead of acting alone.
I hope Monday is this world's Sunset, the encounter's bound to be interesting.
They did fine through as she would. Sound something really, really stupid to try to save the (likely) only one they've given a damn to in a long, long time.
Let's hope they don't get utterly screwed in the process. I bet a permanent trip to equestria might be on the menu.
10425244
Amusingly enough, that name is a reference to Babylon 5. Giants in the playground... in reference to Elder Races deploying planet killers to get their point across in an interstellar war.
10425358
Same. Anything that raised flags could be dismissed as tiptoe-ing around these "Masters", and what we saw of them was far less encouraging.
This coverup? Pretty sure they count as straight villains now. Not necessarily because of the coverup, but because if they were both good and this powerful, Cadance would've already had her kid returned. No, they're planning something, for the equines...
Oh man. Ohmanohmanohman. This is certainly going to be interesting. They're here; now the question is, how many obstacles will there be between them until they finally meet?
10425244
10425283
10425380
I think that you missed something critical.
The Invisible Masters aren't trying to do a cover-up. In fact, they seem to want the exact opposite.
My final lesson as your master is this: any magic, no matter how powerful, can be ground out with a counter-spell. Study the runes marked with death as hard and fast as you can. I didn't give you anything to kill people, but you should be able to figure out how to kill magic. In your next few weeks, that will probably be far more important.
Kyle better remember this for later, seems like it'd come up later. Maybe after getting his flank kicked as retribution for what happened to flurry heart. With regards to flurry heart, of course she doesn't feel safe.
Sometimes animals can sense the intentions of those around them and she knows something's up. At least I think they can, not sure if that's a myth or not. Just know animals can smell fear so they probably can or is that a myth to.
"Giants are on the playground"
Oh no...
10425329
Is always the government
Okay. Time to reassess the situation. So we know both storylines are synced more or less. I wonder if there's anything to that earlier unicorn sighting though? Magical Illuminati seems intent to watch a little bit more. It'd be more of a relief if they weren't willing to wipe out everyone. At first glance, it seems like they want the ponies to reunite with Flurry and be done with it. This chess piece is too dangerous. If everyone simply sticks to the plan, everything should sort itself out. Monday earned a few trust points today. Though he/she should probably follow orders. Looks like Monday wants to make a power play if he/she is willing to get nuked for it. And we're not even mentioning what Edgar and Akiko wants.
Don't know what their goal is but for now it seems they don't want a new variable introduced into their game.
Should at least be useful against the Earth factions that want to take advantage of Kyle and Flurry. Mixing it with a little Alicorn push, it might keep a certain anxious Alicorn mother at bay if she misinterprets something badly.
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10425405
Until more is revealed, I'm guessing we could interpret their actions as:
1. They believe leaving it be will inevitably get Flurry reunited with her family or having the problem solved another way and remove a highly unpredictable and possibly dangerous variable from the board.
2. They're minimizing the chances of them and the entire magical organization being discovered by forcing everyone's hands off this. Not much can be done about ponies but they can at least remain in the shadows. Of course there had to be idiots making some sort of power play from all of this.
10425414
Sort of, keeping your guard up during sketchy situations or around sketchy people is more or less that. It's flawed of course, but apparently evolution prefers flawed perceptions over being dead.
Wonder how much force or violence the counter-spells puts to the "victim". If its low enough it might be acceptable for mitigating the amount of damage Flurry does during her magical outbursts, of which we can be sure there will be more.
It's gettin guuud
10425481
Definitely. I REALLY look forward to what's coming now.
10425477
In the show Sunburst mentioned a spell to use to keep Flurry Heart's outbursts under control. 'Parent's Forbearance' or something like that? So it's probably *possible* to negate it gently.
10425452
Here comes the charop...
10425477
just hyping up that cadance vs kyle fight, maybe some 3 pony action with twilight when they do meet up. I don't see any way of it not happening mostly because I want to see it happen.
Also Kyle Is going to need some way of fighting back against Cadance and Twilight who have the magic but no combat training so counter-spell can balance out the magic which leaves hoof to hoof combat.
Kara's reaction when she hears about the antagonists closing in:
derpicdn.net/img/view/2020/9/8/2440819.png
10425328
They might not be an Official government, but they have power and authority enough to create laws and enforce them, inside the domain of another government, without being stopped.
Past that, from Drawn with the Night by Dan_s Comments
"I am reminded about an old definition of government: 'They who can deprive you of life, liberty and property, and as long as they follow their procedures, will suffer no consequences.' That's what I have here, a furious ruler who could kill me herself, and only suffer a scolding at most."
It hardly matters if it is an illuminati expy organization or a secret magical government or the actual, official, public government. They have power, and likely believe they have the right to do various things that our protagonist would not particularly appreciate.
10425384
I doubt any of them could prevent either teleportation or blast from angry parents.
I get the feeling that Spike’s assessment of them all being weak is gonna bite him in the tail-scales.
Well if they figure out what Edgar has done to take fealty from Akiko, maybe they can do better than merely "get rid" of her.
On the plus side, now there's hope! They just don't know it yet.
Keep going! ;)
Aaaand right here makes me believe the Invisible Masters don’t have good intentions. It sounds like either they don’t want people making it worse, or they don’t want people finding out/stopping what they’re doing...
Well there's one good thing at least.
Monday is starting to look trustworthy.
10425378
Who knew they were French?
All coming to a head now. Oh boy
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I'm not the artist. It was drawn by an artist named Stellar Dusk. https://derpibooru.org/images/2440819
Weird that the parents had nothing to say about the new magical horse incursion. I wonder if they're also being held incommunicado.
Ahh, there we go.
It's super interesting that the entire magical community from the head honchos on down is so united in allowing the interdimensional horse rescue to happen. I wonder if Grandpa will be similarly cooperative
10441677
Honestly, I don't think their parents seem all that attached to them anymore.
10499947
"Their" kids are already dead. Killed by the tiny alien horse baby.
10582291
At least with the dad, it did seem for a bit that the mom was at least concerned about her kids but she's scared as all get out. It's a wonder that the dad had any interest in his son at all, definitely never going to hear "that's my boy" from him.
Congratulations: we've crossed the Godzilla threshold.
Wait wha?? I thought it's explicitly stated that none of them give their real names to each other. Isn't Kyle supposed to be Mirage or something?