Chapter 18: Out on the Town
“...and that’s my report, Sir,” Rios finished saying over the secure phone to the White House.
“So let me get this straight, because I really want to make sure I understand what you’re saying,” responded the President. “A princess has contacted a noble warrior in his dreams, begging him to undertake a quest to rescue three children from an evil spirit that is possessing the transformed body of a sorceress and has turned her to the dark side of the Force.”
“SIR!” Rios exploded in shocked outrage, instantly regretting that he had been completely open about his conversation the night before.
“Easy son,” laughed the President, while Captain Rios tried not to growl. “I’m kidding. Your conversations with Princess Luna have been a source of valuable intel in the past and your report only adds to an already impressive amount of work.”
“Sir, I violated a trust telling you about Foxfire. I did it because you’re in my chain of command, and I felt you had the need to know, but I don’t—” Rios shot back, anger overriding common sense.
“You don’t like being laughed at for something you already don’t feel so good about,” the President commiserated, his tone soothing.
“Yes sir, sorry sir,” Rios replied in apology.
“I can see why Her Highness has taken a shine to you, Captain,” the President added, continuing in the tone of a father giving advice to a wayward son. “And I understand how telling me something she asked you to keep under your hat grates a bit, but you made the right call. I am your President and I need good, honest information if I’m ever going to have a chance to make good calls myself.”
“Yes sir,” Rios responded, tersely. “Your orders Sir?”
“Start making preparations to travel to Brightly. I’ll clear it with your superiors, who will get you all the details,” commanded the President, realizing that the good natured approach was a dead-end for now. “I don’t have to tell you how important it is that we make sure that this new crop of Equestrians are safe and cared for, or that a lot of this depends on the Canadians being willing to cooperate with us.”
“You think they’ll refuse?” Rios asked, considering his options and what he would need for a trip back to Canada.
“Oh, I don’t think the Canadians liked their brief brush with being an international pariah,” explained the President. “They need international trade to keep their resource based economy afloat. Justin is like his father, a realist. He’ll deal.”
“Yes sir,” responded Captain Rios, who decided to take a chance and ask a question. “Sir, a few days ago I had an encounter with a Major Donavich, who suggested he was going to Brightly. May I ask…”
“The major is involved in a joint intelligence task force with some of our friends in Langley,” the President said. “Should you encounter him again you will show him the respect due his rank and avoid interfering with his orders. Understood?”
“Understood, sir,” was almost all Rios could legally reply with. “I’ll remain here until I receive new orders.”
“Good day, Captain,” the President finished, closing the connection.
It was an early afternoon on the east coast of the United States and sunshine poured through the windows of the Oval Office, threatening to overwhelm the air conditioners trying to provide twenty-first century environmental control to a building dating from the early 1800s. The president of the most powerful nation on the planet simply sat for a moment, appreciating the ironies of his situation before his companion in the room spoke up.
“Got to admit, I’m glad you’re sitting in that chair right now, and not me,” commented the man on the couch, his face a study in smooth, coffee coloured planes. “How do you want to handle this Joe?”
“You and Justin had a pretty good working relationship,” noted the President. “How do you think he’ll react to this?”
“He probably knows, or is going to know about the swap of one set of Equestrians for another. So I wouldn’t try to keep any of that from him,” suggested the President’s old boss. “But as for the rest… As long as you treat the Canadians as an equal partner their PM won’t hesitate to publicly support you.”
“And privately?” queried the leader of the free world.
“Privately, Justin Trudeau is as smart a political operator as they come,” replied the black man. “At least half of his success in politics is from people underestimating him. Treat him as someone whose abilities you have to respect, and you’ll do well and get along well with him. Act like he’s a lightweight and he’ll roll right over you.”
“Well, guess I’ve got a call to make,” stated Biden, raising a questioning eyebrow to his old boss. “You want to stick around?”
“Nope. Michelle hates it when I come back here, so I’d better get going,” Obama said, getting up to shake his friend’s hand. “Just wanted to swing by to invite you and Jill to dinner on the Fourth.”
“We’ll see you then. Give Michelle and the kids my best,” Biden responded warmly, escorting his guest to the door, and calling to his receptionist. “Dolores, please call Ottawa and get me Justin Trudeau, thank you.”
“Mr. Prime Minister,” the President was saying a few minutes later. “Thank you for taking my call.”
“Always good to hear from one of our oldest friends,” replied the Prime Minister. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
For the next few minutes the president explained to the Canadian leader what Rios had told him about his dreaming conversation with Princess Luna, including the warning regarding Foxfire and Luna’s request that the warning be kept confidential.
“We had heard rumors about there being unaccounted for ponies in Brightly, but with all of yesterday’s chaos we hadn’t had a chance to confirm anything,” stated Trudeau, before adding, “However, we have heard about this ‘dark spirit’ before. It’s called an ‘umbral’ and apparently they live in a sort of symbiotic relationship with powerful unicorns.”
“So it’s real,” commented Biden, snorting a moment. “I’d had my doubts, to be honest.”
“I don’t blame you at all, sir,” Trudeau replied, a touch deferentially. “This whole situation sometimes makes me wonder if we’re all in a cheap fantasy novel.”
“Any idea why the Princess wanted her warning kept on the quiet?” asked the older man.
“From what we’ve gathered umbrals tend to be a corrupting force, usually turning their hosts into paranoid powerhouses. The reports I’ve seen said Foxfire had been able to resist that influence,” Trudeau supplied, adding, “up ‘til now.”
“So it would make sense that the Princess would want three of her citizens safeguarded, but at the same time not letting on that we knew that we were on to this… ‘umbral’ thing,” concluded Biden. “Justin, I’d like to send my Captain Rios to Brightly to do just that. The Princess asked for him personally, and he’s a straight shooter.”
“Yes, after his incursion onto Canadian territory I had CSIS pull the dossier they have on him and show it to me. He’s been involved in quite a few things, hasn’t he?” Trudeau asked, rhetorically.
“You know I can’t comment about any of that,” stated the elder politician, playing the game.
“True, but I also can’t allow an armed member of a foreign military to wander about freely on Canadian soil,” Trudeau responded, and Biden could almost see the small smile on the face of the Canadian PM. “At least not without an equally armed escort.”
“What do you propose?” Biden asked, keeping his voice open.
“I’d like to team your Captain Rios with our Commander McCrae,” offered Trudeau. “A sort of joint ‘Army of Two’ as it were.”
“Commander McCrae?” Biden asked curiously, and a nearby staffer punched a query into a touchpad.
“Commander McCrae is a member of the Canadian Rangers,” the PM supplied, even as Biden’s staffer showed his boss an entry on the Canadian soldier. “He’s familiar with the area and pony abilities, and is used to operating independently.”
“Not to mention he’s a pony,” added the president, speed reading the entry his staffer had quickly researched. “Codename ‘Polaris’, and he’s the one who got the initial shot in on the Godwindigo creature. Would he have any problems working with Captain Rios?”
“I don’t see any real issue there, but I was wondering one thing though,” Trudeau said, voice calm and even. “I know we had some issues with the previous administration and… unannounced members of your armed forces on Canadian soil. I’d like to ask if you intend to continue that policy.”
For a moment the president gripped the handset of his phone tightly, before forcing himself to relax.
“Any American service personnel in Canada will either be there openly or on personal business that is of no concern to me,” Biden assured the other man. “This call is the first step of that policy.”
“Glad to hear it, sir,” responded the Prime Minister, leaning back in his chair. “Well, I have a vote coming up in the House, and we should probably let our people get to arranging things for Captain Rios and Commander McCrae to meet. Always a pleasure to hear from you.”
“Always good to talk to a friend,” the President replied in kind. “Good luck with your vote, have a good day.”
“You as well,” concluded Trudeau, closing the connection.
For a few moments silence reigned in the Oval Office as the president’s staffers mentally digested and analyzed what they had just heard. A moment later, one of them spoke up.
“I noticed you didn’t tell the Prime Minister about Team Mercury,” commented a well-dressed woman, freezing a moment as the eyes of the most powerful man in the world focused on her, and her alone.
“Team Mercury isn’t a covert operation. They’re in Canada openly,” replied the President, the corner of his mouth quirking upward for a second.
“Yes sir, understood sir,” replied the staffer, in understanding.
Meanwhile in Ottawa, another staffer was talking to the other head of state involved in the just ended conversation.
“Sir, the vote on Bill C-12 isn’t for three more hours,” noted the staff member, a younger man with a harried look to him.
“That means we don’t have much time,” Trudeau stated, sitting up at his desk, energy crackling in his frame. “We need to confirm what the President said is true, that there are three entirely different Equestrians in Brightly right now. We’ve gotten entirely too little information on what happened there yesterday and what’s going on there. That changes immediately. Understood?”
“Yes sir,” answered the staffer, obediently. “I’ll make some calls and get a detailed report for you right away.”
“Good,” stated the Prime Minister, before turning to the second staff member in the room. “Contact Premier Horgan and ask him to send someone to Brightly to look into the health and well-being of any new Equestrians he might have heard of, and start putting together travel arrangements for three ponies to come from Brightly to Ottawa, along with escorts and appropriate lodgings.”
“Understood sir,” responded the other staff member, a First Nations woman in a conservative blouse and slacks. “But if I may ask, why move any new ponies from Brightly to here. Wouldn’t we want them to help set up the Equestrian Embassy or something along those lines?”
“You can always ask me questions, Leona, even if I can’t give you the answers,” Trudeau assured the woman. “In this case though, we need to find out who this Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are. We need to know if they are members of the Equestrian government or if they are civilians, which would be preferred.”
“Wouldn’t we want members of their government to be here?” asked the staffer, the byplay drawing the interest of the others in the room. “I mean, so we can work with them on improving relations with their kingdom.”
“We’ve already done that with their princesses,” Trudeau answered, a self-assured smile coming to his face. “But if you remember, that initial photo of me with Princess Luna and Princess Celestia gave us a ten point lift in the polls. And that was with members of a government who had their own agendas along with powers and abilities we are just beginning to understand. Think of what it will do for our popularity if we can have three ordinary, civilian ponies standing in the visitor gallery in the House of Commons, while wearing Liberal Party of Canada pins and shirts and being openly taken care of by a Liberal government.”
“A majority government in the next election,” concluded the woman, following the logic chain.
“A majority government,” repeated Trudeau, nodding. “One where we don’t have to worry about the Conservatives finally putting themselves back together. Where we don’t have to worry about appeasing either the Bloc, or the NDP. One where we can enact our policies without having to worry about every vote.”
“I’ll get right on it,” replied the woman, gathering her notes together. “Thank you for letting me know your reasoning, sir.”
“Not a problem,” the Prime Minister said, before adding, “on your way out, could you tell my secretary I need to speak with the Minister of Defence. Thank you.”
Play is a thing that crosses lines of culture, nation, and even species. Most mammals play, as do many birds. Play occurs at all stages in life and is one of the most important and common ways to develop the mind and body in young individuals. Everyone and everything that plays does so in their own unique way and it is the learning how to enjoy another’s way to play that brings thinking beings together into a community, and family.
“Can we go outside and play?” Darter asked, flexing his all but useless wings. “I’m bor-”
A silver tipped wing flashed into place in the pony’s mouth, effectively silencing him.
“What the hay did you do that for?” Apple Bloom demanded.
“Everytime my brother says that word something weird happens,” Skylark quietly explained.
“You remind me a lot of Fluttershy,” Sweetie Belle commented. “Like a whole lot.”
“Who?” Skylark asked, taking a moment to remove her wing from her brother’s mouth. Awkwardly, she tried to find a spot with some space in the crowded room, but with the full complement of Power Ponies, plus the Cutie Mark Crusaders, there were a total of eight little ponies in the rec room, making for some cramped quarters.
“Fluttershy,” echoed Scootaloo. “She’s real quiet when she’s around other ponies, but really good around animals. Then she’s really intense.”
“Yeah, like the time we all had that sleepover at her place,” Apple Bloom began, before a sudden thought struck her causing her happy demeanor to sag into sadness. “Ah wonder if Ah’m ever gonna see her cottage again. Or Big Mac. Or Granny. Or… or…”
The red maned earth pony collapsed into sobs as it sunk in just how far away from home she really was. It took only a moment for Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to wrap their friend in a comforting hug, fighting off their own tears in an effort to be brave for their friend. Another heartbeat later found the trio wrapped in another layer of hugs as the Power Ponies added their own layer of reassurance.
“You’ve got friends here,” Shield Maiden told the trio. “And I bet a lot of smart people are already working on ways to open the portal back up.”
“Twilight always says that friendship is magic,” sniffed Sweetie Belle. “I guess that’s the only kind of magic we’ve got a lot of around here.”
“Tons and tons of it,” Darter piped up with. “We’ve got plenty to spare.”
For several minutes the eight remained just as they were, a pile of fur and feathers engaged in mutual reassurement and pledges of friendship and loyalty as the three and the five became a herd of eight.
“Hey, is everybody okay?” Thunder asked, walking into the room to see what the commotion was about. The stallion was a little bleary eyed, having spent a sleepless night determining if he and his family were going to stay as ponies when the sun came up, which they had.
“The Crusaders are missing home,” Darter blurted out, as fast as ever on the verbal draw.
“Home is where the heart is,” Thunder opined, drawing more than a few looks of confusion, prompting him to continue with, “what it means is that as long as you keep your home and your loved ones in your heart, they will never, ever be far away.”
“Ah know you’ve gone and opened up yer home to us, Mister Thunder, and offered us a place here. And we sure are grateful,” began Apple Bloom, still recovering her emotions, in spite of being at the bottom of the warm pony pile. “An’ Ah get what ya mean about home and heart, but Ah just kinda wish mah heart was where mah home is. Ya know?”
“I know what you mean,” Thunder answered, hopping up on the chesterfield in the room and yawning widely.
“I have a bit of an idea for you all,” offered Windweaver, her silver wings a bold contrast against her metallic black body. “Shield Maiden, why don’t you and the others show Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo around town? Take them to see the sights and maybe Brightly will become a little more familiar and a little more like a place to stay for awhile.”
“Um, I’ll have to ask my dad if it’s okay,” Iron Hoof mentioned, from somewhere in the pile. “He’s at home resting.”
“I’ll give him a call,” Windweaver stated, drawing a blanket over her husband with a wing. Who looked at her for a moment with a look of betrayal before realizing his wife knew best. “Besides, I want to drop in on him anyway and ask how he and Foxfire are doing.”
“Mom’s okay,” Seeker offered. “Medevac is just keeping her at the clinic for obs… obsar… observation.”
Windweaver took a moment to give an approving smile to Shield Maiden for letting her sister work out the difficult word on her own. Windweaver’s smile grew and her voice dropped to a near whisper as she said, “I’ll go see him anyway. Having all of you out exploring and me out of the house will give my husband a chance to sleep.”
All eyes shifted to Thunder, who had snuggled into the blanket with closed eyes and deep breathing showing that all it had taken was a small push from Windweaver to drop him into a deep, restful sleep.
“... And that’s Tarbells’ Hardware,” Darter was saying an hour later. “They sell parts for bikes of all kinds there too.”
“Wow, you sure do a lot here without magic,” Sweetie Belle commented. “What was it like when there was magic all over the place?”
“Different,” was Skylark’s single word answer. Her actions were more eloquent though, as she nudged her brother, giving a significant glance to a nearby shop.
“Hey, does anybody want to get something cool?” Darter asked the group, used to interpreting the non-verbal communications of his sister.
“Ah cain’t get over how y’all don’t use ‘anypony’ when you talk,” mentioned Apple Bloom, taking a moment to add, “Ah could go fer somethin’ cold, but we ain’t got any bits.”
“Bits?” Shield Maiden asked, curious. “Do you mean money?”
A quick discussion ensued about different sorts of money, types of exchange and so forth, resulting in an outburst of, “Wait, you use pieces of paper as money?”
“Not always,” answered Iron Hoof, eyeing with curiosity a uniformed man and woman who had just stepped out onto Brightly’s main street. “Sometimes we use plastic cards.”
“Okay, now I know you’re pulling my wing,” Scootaloo declared, shaking her head. “No way nopony uses that for money.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Darter assured all present, before another boring discussion could break out. He might not be allowed to say the word “boring”, but he could definitely think it, and the talk about paper versus coins made his head spin, and that was before Shield Maiden started in about something called the gold standard. “My dad has a farm account with Marocci’s Grocery over there and we can get some freezies and put them on the account.”
“As long as we pay Dad back later,” Skylark added.
“Let’s go!” cried Seeker, the eight needing no further urging and the herd surged toward their target as a single body of pony drive. Their enthusiasm drawing bemused smiles from most of those in visual range, including the uniformed American service personnel and the two women who now accompanied them.
“Was that them?” gushed Captain Watson, US Veterinary corp. “They’re adorable!”
“I can see the attraction,” commented Major Donavich, a light smile on his lips beneath calculating eyes that had noticed something unexpected. “There's Skylark, but who is that with her? Prism, do you recognize any of them?”
“Nyet,” came the accented reply. “I recognize the Power Ponies from their file, but the other three do not match any known Brightly residents.”
“Interesting,” commented Donavich, before adding, “There is something unusual about them as well. They seem more... pony, than any of the others. Thoughts?”
"They move better than the rest," Sunday stated, as she watched the group of youngsters enter a nearby store. "It's subtle, but they definitely have a smoother gait than the others."
"We need more information before we approach Skylark and the rest of her group. Especially those three newcomers," Donavich concluded, turning toward Empress. "Has the Agency sent you any updates since this morning?"
"There is an asset in Brightly we can contact directly," supplied Pjetrovic, cutting off Nao before she could speak.
"I wasn't going to mention them, but Prism is right," Nao admitted, clearly not happy with her fellow agent's revelation. "We have a humint asset in town. A local resident. Codename: Rider."
"Excellent. Let's go see this 'Rider', and see if they can help us get a saddle on some ponies," Donavich declared with a pleased smile on his face.
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....is the libs in a majority government right now also is covid a thing in this
Oooooh boy, Mercury is going to go after the CMC, aren't they?
10863759
It's a weird sort of situation right now. The Liberals are the majority party, but they don't have a majority government. Even though they are very much acting like it. Mainly because the opposition parties are unable to work together effectively. As for Covid, currently no. I have been debating whether or not to include it, but so far, no.
Covid is a weird thing in popular culture. I was reading a story, and when the plot advanced into March-April 2020 and there was no pandemic, I was immediately taken out of the story.
Of course that was quickly followed by Wait. You're reading a series about a young woman who can turn into a mountain lion and/or teleport due entirely to a rare combination of recessive genes and this is where you draw the line?
You definitely made the politicians out to be more competent then they are IRL. :P
10864183
Yeah, in some media, its outright COVID. In some its only alluded to that there is a disease in Asia that COULD lead to a pandemic, in other times, its basically a standin for COVID.
10864078
You know, its so weird seeing real figures pop in fiction, original or fanfic. Like, I know, especially ones explicitly set on our Earth, you tend to have expies, but It was so surreal to see Biden and Obama in a serious fic about ponies....then again, Treudeu
10863831 It will be interesting to watch, form a safe distance, like the next universe over.
10873394
Your name wouldn't be a reference to Slippery Jim DiGriz, would it?
10873821 Actually no. I love the Stainless Steel Rat series, but my fursona is more closely a Full Metal Alchemist.
well things are about to hit the fan.