> The Conversion Bureau: Project Thesan
>  by Cloudhammer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 01 - Desperate Times
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Year 6, Week 5, Sunday

The heavy door swung open, the lab-coated man pushing it talking animatedly with the midnight blue alicorn following him. “Well, there was some... peculiarities with the last test that Azure discovered, I think you’ll be very interested to hear this, Luna. The diamond dog's DNA is incredibly stable.”

Luna tilted her head as she entered the laboratory, an armored pegasus and two tall, doglike humanoids following her. “What do you mean by this, Dr Lewis?”

“I mean, their DNA is highly resistant to thaumatic radiation. Regrettably, this resilience does not prevent the eventual alteration of human DNA, only prolongs it. However, this stability might well prove to be useful in it’s own way.” Lewis led the group to a bank of monitors showing DNA strands, analysis diagrams, and a dozen other reports.

“Forgive us, Doctor,” Luna said as Cloudhammer, K’rik and Ferrik all tilted their heads in simultaneous confusion, “but what exactly do you mean by this DNA’s stability being useful?”

“Ah, well, give me a second...” Lewis led the group into an adjacent viewing room, where piles of folders were neatly stacked. Searching through the stacks, he found what he was looking for and picked one up. “I’ve been studying the reports from Arcane Light and Steel Glimmer, back from the expedition to Africa. Their hypothesis on the attraction of magic to thinking minds is I think on the right track. The problem I’ve encountered from my models, which I must stress are incomplete with regards to humans, is that even with an unconscious mind, magic is still drawn to the body in uneven doses, which is the root cause of thaumatic radiation poisoning.”

“I believe I understand what you mean Doctor,” Luna said quietly. Behind her, Cloudhammer spoke quietly to the two diamond dogs, whose expressions remained perplexed.

Lewis nodded. “Unfortunately, it’s not as if we can just turn the brain off, give their body time to become acclimated to thaumatic radiation, and then wake them back up.” He sighed, looking at the last page in the folder. “However, there is an alternative, which might work...”

Luna just stood there quietly, waiting for Lewis to finish.

“Essentially, the idea is we would saturate a human embryo, the closer to conception the better, with thaumatic radiation. Because the embryo doesn’t have a functioning brain, it would be unaffected by the poisoning. Then, we would take the now-saturated embryo, and implant it into a surrogate mother who is resistant to magic. The process is called in vitro fertilization, it’s normally used for women who can’t naturally have children.” He looked up at the ponies and diamond dogs in front of him, taking a deep breath. “My idea would be to use diamond dog females to act as the surrogate mothers for the saturated embryos. Their physiology is closer to a human’s, not to mention their size making it easier for them to carry a human child to term than it would be for a pony. The canid DNA is stable in the presence of thaumatic energy, therefore, I think that they would serve best for surrogate mothers. Now, it’s still early to say for sure without further testing, but I’m starting to believe that this might well be a chance to save the human race from extinction.”

Cloudhammer translated for the diamond dogs, his eyes neutral, while they stiffened and growled at each other for a few seconds. K’rik finally snarled something, and Ferrik lowered his head submissively.

Luna’s eyes narrowed. “I admit that I’m not familiar with some of humanity’s advancements, but it strikes me that this method was not intended for something like this. Is there any assurance that you’d even be able to ensure the safety of the embryo? Or that of the surrogate?”

Lewis nodded. “Well, you’d be partially right. We have had instances of implanting wild zebra embryos into horses, horse embryos into donkeys and the like. But for something like this, no, it’s never been attempted before. But this is the continuation of my species we’re talking about. If there’s something, anything that I can try that might work, I’ll try it.”

“Your resolve is admirable, Dr. Lewis,” Luna said softly. “My only admonition is to not allow yourself to become blind to the long-term consequences of your decisions. I did, once, and still carry the weight of that choice on my conscience to this day.”

Lewis sighed, scratching the back of his head as he glanced over at Cloudhammer and the two dogs. “I’m well aware of that. But from where I stand, if the chance exists, I’d want to at least try and fail, rather than not try at all. Even with the fact that we’ve still got a little under fourteen years till Rejection, every day we wait is time lost.”

Luna opened her mouth to reply when there was a knock at the door. Everyone turned as it swung open, a man in a military uniform entering. His shoulder epaulets marked him as a colonel, and to his credit he only stopped for a second as he saw the two canids. Turning to Luna, he inclined his head slightly. “Colonel Harkness, your Highness. Our ‘guest’ has arrived, and will be here in a moment.” He scowled. “I want to voice my concerns about using a convicted terrorist for this mission.”

“Your concerns are noted, Colonel Harkness,” Luna said calmly. “However, Steven Rangel’s candidacy was discussed at length between myself, my sister, President Foster, and your Joint Chiefs. His actions during the St Louis Massacre make him suitable in my eyes for such a mission, where independent thinking might be needed. And,” her voice grew harder, “should the Conversion fail, or he not return, then his loss is more easily mitigated.”

Before anything else could be said, the door to the lab swung open, two guards escorting a man wearing a prison jumpsuit in. Luna carefully schooled her expression and gestured toward the door. “Shall we?”
> 02 - Desperate Measures
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 6, Week 5, Sunday

Ferrik sneezed as the newpup vanished. “Ferrik never get used to pony magic,” he growled softly.

K’rik growled sharply at his beta, then turned back to face Luna and Dr. Lewis squarely. “Now, K’rik must know where the female for this...” he paused, eyes narrowed as he focused, “‘ex-pear-a-mint’,” he clumsily spat the human word, “will come from.”

Luna glanced to Dr. Lewis, the two speaking briefly before the alicorn turned back to the diamond dogs. “We had hoped to ask you for a volunteer or two of your pack-” she was cut off as Ferrik growled, his upper lip pulling back. Azure huddled behind Dr. Lewis, ears flat as he watched the two predators nervously. Luna’s expression never changed, the alicorn meeting the taller dog’s eyes calmly.

“Females vital to pack. Cannot, will not give them up for this.” K’rik’s eyes were hard as he glared at the two of them, the human taking a step back nervously. He decided that he was starting to lose his interest in these humans already, if there were more like this one out there. The ones carrying weapons he could understand better.

Luna stared at him for a long few seconds before she nodded. “Alright, we shall find a volunteer elsewhere.”

Lewis gulped, starting to open his mouth to remind Luna that they didn’t have any other volunteers, but chose to keep his mouth shut as she turned to face him.

“We are glad to see that this research has borne fruit, Dr. Lewis. We will return to Equestria with K’rik, and leave Ferrik in Hawaii to oversee Steven’s training. I look forward to your next report.” She spoke with K’rik and Ferrik, and the three of them, along with Cloudhammer, trotted to the designated teleport area beside the base’s Beacon Stone. In a brilliant flash of azure light they were gone, and Lewis allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief.

“So now what do we do, Walter?” Azure asked as he trotted out from behind him. “We were counting on having a native diamond dog volunteer, after all.”

Lewis sighed, running a hand through his hair. “We’ll call a team meeting, figure something out.”





“So then what do they expect us to do?” Arcane asked hotly, stamping a hoof on the table. “It’s not like we have candidates lined up waiting for this!”

Colonel Harkness sighed and rubbed his face in aggravation. “I asked you, repeatedly, if you had a backup plan in mind for this. You assured me that this wouldn’t be an issue, that K’rik’s pack was large enough he could afford to let one of his females go. This is what I get for listening to you!”

“Look, getting angry and pointing fingers won’t change anything,” Elizabeth Ross got to her feet and started to walk around the table. “We should have anticipated this happening, but we’ve only been working on this idea as a solution for barely a month. There’s just not been time to evaluate this seriously as a project while we were developing the canification serum.”

“Umm, I’ll do it...” The quiet voice, coming from the slightly overweight woman two seats down from Azure, went unheard.

“We could seed the nearby Bureaus with opt-in forms for single women seeking Conversion, see if any of them would be willing to help test out a new serum,” Dr. Splein, one of the team’s two virologists, chimed in. “Conduct a background check and select the best of them. Any who refuse can be ponified and shipped to Equestria.”

“You can’t honestly be considering that, Albrecht,” Steel Glimmer said with a snort. “We can’t be forcing people into this.”

“Nor will we tolerate just picking up anyone from the street,” Colonel Harkness said angrily.

“I’ll do it...” the woman spoke up again, trying to make herself heard.

Azure flicked his ear, glancing over to the woman. “What did you say, Heather? Hey, everyone quiet down a second!”

As the voices quieted down, all eyes turned to the other virologist on the team, Heather Douglas. She’d been brought onto the team developing the canification serum from Johns Hopkins, and had come highly recommended. She’d been instrumental in developing a new binding agent for the diamond dog DNA, though her quiet demeanor sometimes slowed down the rate of development.

Under the focus of everyone in the room, Heather squirmed a little lower in her seat. “I said I’d...” she took a deep breath, “that I’d do it.”

Elizabeth blinked. “Heather, are you serious? What about y-”

“It’s unacceptable is what it is!” Splein shouted. “No one else on this team, myself excluded, is as qualified in virology as her.”

Heather shook her head. “But I can stay with the team here, help refine the serum... can’t I?” She glanced at Colonel Harkness.

“No, the plan is that once the first subject has been impregnated, they will be taken to Equestria so that they will be safe. The other reason for that is to ensure the fetus develops in an environment saturated in thaumatic radiation,” Harkness said with a sigh. “Although, this does solve the issue of maintaining program secrecy...”

“See?” Heather said brightly. “This is the best solution, and besides, it’s not often you get the chance to save your own species.” She smiled weakly at her attempted joke.

Splein fumed, but couldn’t seem to find anything to say. He lurched to his feet and stormed out of the conference room, not even bothering to close the door behind him.

Heather looked like she wanted to go after him, but Arcane got to her hooves. “Don’t worry about it Heather, I’ll go talk to him.” She trotted out the door after him, closing it behind her.

Dr. Ross took a breath, then looked back to Heather. “Now, Heather, are you really sure about this? This isn’t something to be done lightly, even if it were a normal Conversion.”

“I understand, Liz, really.” Heather glanced to the door. “But this isn’t just about me, anymore. I couldn’t forgive myself if I did nothing, if I let the human race fade into history. I know that we’ll eventually begin selecting more candidates, but I can’t just sit on the sideline anymore.”

Dr. Ross stared at her colleague for a few seconds, then looked over at Colonel Harkness. “Well, what do you think?”

The officer shrugged. “Honestly, this is better than picking up random women from the Bureaus.” He turned to face Heather squarely. “Dr. Heather Douglas, should you choose to volunteer for Project Thesan, you do understand that you will need to relocate to live in Equestria for the duration of your pregnancy, and that depending on the success or failure of the project, that your country may need to call upon your help in instructing other women enrolled in the program?”

Heather nodded slowly. “I do.”

Harkness nodded, his expression sour. “Still can’t fuckin’ believe this is what we’re reduced to.” He turned and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

Lewis sighed as he stood up. “Well, Heather, if you’re really serious about this, then we can Convert you once we prepare an embryo. I take it no one objects to one of Heather’s eggs being used?” Everyone at the table shook their heads. “Alright. Now, there is the issue of who our male donor will be. Right now, there’s only myself and Albrecht on the staff who are capable...”

“We’re not using Splein.” Dr. Ross’ voice was firm. “He’s a brilliant virologist, but his personal behavior is... eccentric at best. I nominate using Dr. Lewis as the male contributor, any objections?” At the silence she nodded. “Well, looks like you’ll be having a kid after all, Walter.”

Dr. Lewis sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his head. The enormity of the choice that loomed in front of him weighed down on him. Granted, Liz had it right with him wanting a kid, but something like this... It was all too crazy to really wrap his head around. Not to mention being thrown into it with Heather out of the blue. “Are you really okay with this, Heather?”

Heather stared at the table for a few seconds, then looked up at him and nodded. “Y-yeah... I mean, it’s not the perfect solution, but we have to try.”

Dr. Lewis held her gaze for a second, then nodded. “Alright. Well, I’ll go take care of business. Liz, think you can help Heather with her part? We’ll get the Conversion underway once we’re done.” He got to his feet. “We’ll also need to take some blood samples, and prepare the instructional material for the Canterlot doctors.” The rest of the team rose and began to disperse.

“A-are you sure about this, Walter?” Azure asked quietly, ears half-folded back. “I mean, Rangel’s Conversion was pretty rough. And he did hit you pretty hard.”

Lewis touched the bruise on his head and winced, but smiled anyway for Azure’s sake. “Well, it’s not that bad. But now that we know what to expect, we can take precautions.”

“Well, if you say so...” Azure didn’t seem convinced, but squared his shoulders.

Heather got out of her chair and hugged Azure. “I promise, I won’t hurt you. This’ll work out, I know it.”
> 03 - In-Flight Entertainment
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 6, Week 6, Monday

Dr. Lewis nodded as the screen image finally resolved. He glanced down at his watch, then scribbled the time. “Okay, we have successful binding to the uterine wall. You can remove the probe, Liz.”

“Alright.” Behind the privacy screen, Elizabeth gently removed the fiber optic camera and set it in the tray. “You’re doing great, Heather, just let me close the incision.” She picked up the pre-threaded needle and got to work.

“I’m just glad we’re almost done here,” Heather grumbled as she leaned back in the surgical chair. She idly tapped her fingers on the chair’s arm.

“Heather.” Dr. Ross was staring at the arm of the chair, her eyes wide. “Heather, stop. Right now.”

Heather glanced down and stiffened. The nails on the end of her new fingers had elongated, forming a set of curved talons. She jerked her hand back, curling her fingers into a fist as the claws retracted. “I’m sorry Liz. I can’t help it sometimes.”

“We know Heather... just, try to keep it in mind, okay?” Dr. Ross finished stitching the incision closed. She put the needle in the same tray as the optic probe, and began to take the gloves off. She looked at Heather and again tried to reconcile that the canine creature sitting there had been the heavyset, quiet woman who just yesterday had volunteered to undergo the Conversion. She now stood at approximately five feet, five inches, and her body had replaced the fat with solid bands of muscle. They’d weighed her once she’d overcome the shock of her Conversion, and discovered that for her size, she was too heavy. Dr. Lewis had taken a bone sample for analysis, but the results were still being compiled.

“Right. Sorry.” Heather mumbled, scratching an itch on the back of her head.

Dr. Ross put on another pair of gloves, and cleaned the small shaved patch of skin. The brown hair around it pricked at the gloves, almost like a stiff bristled brush rather than fur. “Okay, and all set. Now, we just need to wait about nine months, see how this works.”

“I’m already looking forward to spending it in hiding,” Heather muttered as she pushed herself upright, again twitching at the alien feeling of her tail as it wagged slowly.

“Well, you’re not entirely right.” Dr. Ross and Heather glanced over at Dr Lewis pulled the privacy curtain aside. “It’s been decided that at the very least, you’ll be allowed to tour the city, with escort of course.”

Heather growled as she climbed to the floor, her body tensing as the pads on her feet touched the concrete. “Okay, that is something that I’m never getting used to either.” She looked intently at Dr. Lewis. “Is Albrecht still not talking to anyone?”

Dr. Lewis sighed. “Yeah, he’s coming out of his room for food at least, but otherwise he’s kept to himself.”

Heather’s ears drooped. “Oh.”

Dr. Ross patted her on the shoulder. “We’ll talk with him, get him to send you a letter once you get settled in at Canterlot. I admit, I kind of envy you. I heard a lot about it from Twilight and the others when we were working on the serum, and I do want to see it someday.”

“Well, you’ll get your chance. Less than fourteen years to go and all.” Heather took a few deep breaths, her nostrils flared. “So not looking forward to teleporting,” she muttered as arcs of light began to appear in the designated teleport area. A burst of light forced everyone to shield their eyes as four glowing shapes settled lightly onto the concrete floor. As her vision cleared, Heather sneezed and opened her eyes, meeting the stares of the four unicorn guards levelly.

Dr. Ross hesitated for a second, slightly disconcerted by Heather’s newfound confidence, before she turned to face the guardponies. “Hello, and who might I be speaking to?”

One of the guards trotted forward and saluted. “Ma’am, Sergeant Henry Carlisle, on orders from General Amber Dusk to serve as bodyguards.” He turned to Heather. “Miss Douglas, all four of us are combat veterans, well trained on the Hawaiian Islands. Our duty is to ensure your safety in-flight. You have nothing to worry about.” His accent placed him as British, probably one of the original volunteers from the first mass-test of the serum.

“In-flight?” Heather tilted her head. “I thought we were going to teleport there?”

Sgt. Carlisle shook his head. “No ma’am. The decision was made by those above my pay grade. We were ordered to escort you to the John F. Kennedy, then from there to Equestria proper via pegasus chariot. That’s not going to be a problem, is it?” His tone of voice made it clear that there wouldn’t be.

“No, of course not,” Heather muttered, scowling.

“Excellent. Then we will need transport to the airport. A plane is waiting,” Sgt. Carlisle said tersely, turning toward the door.

Heather looked pleadingly at Dr. Ross as the unicorns formed up around her and began to escort her toward the exit.

“Relax Heather, it’s only for a little while, then you’ll have your feet on the ground!” Dr. Ross called out. As the heavy door swung closed, she shook her head wryly. “Those poor ponies have no idea what they’re in for.”





The plane angled gently toward the Kennedy’s flight deck. For the unicorns inside, it was a welcome sight.

“Ms. Douglas, please, calm down,” Sgt. Carlisle urged, the other unicorns formed up behind him in case they were needed.

Heather was backed into the corner, the fur on the back of her neck standing up straight. “You calm down! This doesn’t feel right at all!” It was strange, she could feel the metal of the plane under her paws, but there wasn’t anything supporting it. She knew, logically, that the plane was fine to not have anything beyond it but the sky, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of being disconnected, like she was in freefall.

“Ma’am, the plane is fine. We’re making our approach now,” Sgt. Carlisle paused as the plane jerked abruptly as the wheels made contact, “and here we are. Now, come on. I promise you, we’re almost to Equestria, it’s just one more pegasus chariot flight to Manehatten.”

Heather seemed to perk up a little at that. “Okay, okay.” She got to her feet and tentatively walked forward, the unicorns moving ahead of her to the door. She paused on the top step, her nose flaring as the salty wind brushed past. Her feet tingled as the metal ladder practically sang to her, the vast bulk of the carrier beneath it providing a deep counterpoint. She climbed down after the unicorns, but froze as she made contact with the carrier deck itself. The metal thrummed and sang, but there was a single burning heartbeat at its center that nearly overwhelmed her.

“Everything alright?” Sgt. Carlisle asked, the unicorn staring at her curiously, along with everyone else on the deck.

Heather shook her head to get her orientation back, and looked up from the spot she’d been staring at. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.” She followed the unicorns across the deck to the waiting chariot, her expression darkening with each step. “I’m looking forward to finally getting some solid ground back under my feet.”

Sgt. Carlisle saluted smartly as Heather climbed into the chariot. “Safe journey ma’am.”

“Thanks,” Heather said with a small smile, flinching lower as the pegasi hitched to it leaped forward and into the air. As they picked up speed, she found herself gripping the railing tight, the wind in her eyes almost unbearable. Soon, the chariot leveled off, the howling of the wind faded somewhat, and she was able to look around. The carrier behind them rapidly grew smaller, the tiny form of the plane she’d arrived on already taxiing into position to take off. “Well, I guess there’s not a lot to do until we land, is there?” She asked idly.

For a few moments, the pegasus guards were silent, and she’d resigned herself to spending the whole trip in silence when one of them spoke up. “Not really, ma’am.”

Heather glanced up. “Well, at least you’re honest about it. What’s your name?”

“Firesong. Sergeant Firesong,” he said with a touch of pride in his voice.

“Let me guess, you just got promoted?” she asked with a toothy smile.

“Yep!” He glanced back at her and grinned. “So, what exactly has you coming out to Equestria?”

Heather wrestled for a second with how to answer. She knew that she wasn’t supposed to explain why she was really coming. “Well, I’ve always wanted to come, and with the testing of the Canification serum, I volunteered on the condition that I get to see Equestria.”

Firesong stared at her for a second, and she worried that he wasn’t going to buy it, but he nodded. “Well, Equestria’s a beautiful place, though I suppose I’m biased. Haven’t set hoof outside of it until this deployment, actually.”

“Well, there’s plenty to see here on Earth,” she grinned back. “What about you, what’s your name?”

“Corporal Ozone,” the other pegasus replied. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. We natives don’t usually get the chance to see that many of your species.”

“Which one?” Heather asked with a wry chuckle.

“Either,” Ozone replied with a wink, “though that’s changing every day.”

Heather laughed. “You got that part right.” She looked out over the water, the sunlight glinting off its surface. “So tell me, what’s it like?”

“What, Equestria?” Ozone asked curiously. “Well, like Firesong said, it’s a beautiful place. To be honest, we’re a lot like you humans, though in our case they pay us to do a pretty easy job. I hear your police officers can have a time of it!" He glanced ahead, wings fluttering. “We’re about to enter the thaumatic field, best keep a hold on the chariot.”

Heather was about to ask what he meant when the air suddenly... changed. The fur on the back of her neck stood up, and she took a few deep, almost contemplative sniffs. The wind seemed to carry just the faintest hint of... fresh, was the closest that she could describe. Like the way things smelled just after a good, heavy rain. “It’s... wow.”

Ozone and Firesong laughed good-naturedly. “It’s good to be home,” Ozone remarked with a happy sigh.





Heather leaned forward in the chariot, squinting as she peered at the faint smear of land ahead. “So, that’s Equestria?”

“Yep. We’ll be landing in Manehatten soon, where another team will take you to Canterlot.” Ozone replied, a hint of exhaustion in his voice.

“Well, you two have done really well,” Heather said with a smile, though that fell into an open-mouthed stare at the city that took shape before her. Towering skyscrapers loomed, remarkably similar to those found in human cities, though scaffolding covered a number of them. “So what’s the scaffolding for?”

“Well, last I heard, a couple newfoals from some civil engineering company got contracted to work on fixing up some of the cities around Equestria. Our engineers are good, but you humans got us beat there,” Ozone replied.

Heather chuckled. “Sure, our engineers are good, but don’t discount our medical expertise.”

Ozone laughed. “They may know a thing or two, but don’t count the Medical Corps out: they got eight hundred years of practice behind em.”

“Alright you two, we’re going to be descending, so we gotta focus,” Firesong said sternly. Then he shot a smirk back. “Besides, everypony knows our best talent is in the weather patrol.” The three burst into laughter as the chariot banked toward the city.

Heather leaned over the side a little, eyes wide as she stared at the buildings drawing closer. They looked like they could have been plucked right out of New York, the pony-shaped statue looming over the harbor only serving to seal the resemblance. “Are you sure there’s not any time to see more of the city?”

“Sorry. Orders are to get you to Canterlot as soon as possible. Besides, after a flight like this, I’m gonna want to sleep for a week,” Ozone grumbled as they angled toward a small, walled-in compound on the outskirts of town. A small landing strip ran along the cityside wall, another chariot waiting there patiently..

The chariot thumped to a stop, Ozone and Firesong letting their wings droop in relief as they unhitched themselves. “Well Heather,” Ozone said as he stretched his wings tiredly. “I hope you enjoy Canterlot. Lemme tell ya, Manehatten doesn’t have anything on it.” He and Firesong trotted toward the barracks with a wave. Heather waved back as she climbed down from the chariot, again cringing as her feet touched the bare dirt. Though this time, the feeling was... diminished somehow. “Huh, that’s weird.” She crouched down onto all fours and sniffed at the ground curiously. She realized that, like Rangel and the two diamond dog leaders had demonstrated, she was feeling the stone under the dirt. “That makes sense...” She glanced up and her ears swiveled back sheepishly as she saw the nearby guardponies looking at her curiously. “Right, sorry about that. So, when do we leave?”

One of the pegasi stepped forward and saluted. “Corporal Cirrus, ma’am. I’m in charge of ferrying you to Canterlot, along with Sergeant Whitefeather.” The dour-faced pegasus next to him nodded sharply. “We’ll depart immediately, so we can reach the city by nightfall. The expected flight time is only about three hours.” His English was a little rough, but easily understandable.

Heather winced. “Umm, is there any way I could use the bathroom first? The flight from the Kennedy was brutal enough.”

The ponies looked at each other before Cirrus pointed toward the low structure beside the landing strip. “Right this way, ma’am.”

After taking care of business, which proved awkward in itself given the nature of pony restrooms, Heather found herself climbing back into a chariot. After settling themselves into the harness, Cirrus and Whitefeather started to gallop and leaped skyward, their ascent sharper than Heather expected.

“Try to warn me next time!” She shouted over the howling wind.

“Sorry, but we’re burning daylight!” Cirrus called back. “Let us know if you need anything!” The pegasi leaned forward as they picked up speed.

Heather huffed, but turned to watch the city as it steadily got smaller. She decided that once she was able, she’d take some time to herself and enjoy the sights a little, maybe get Dr. Ross a souvenir.

After a few more minutes, the city was a grey smudge on the horizon, and was soon lost to sight. Heather looked down at the network of small towns spread out over the landscape, larger farms dominating much of the countryside. “Wow, I’ve heard the stories, but didn’t expect it to be so... developed.”

“What do you mean?” Cirrus shouted back.

“Well, all of this really,” she gestured as they passed over a particularly large farm, “From the way the natives talk, it sounded like you live in harmony with the land.”

Whitefeather glanced back. “We do. What did you think that meant?”

“Well, that you co-exist with nature, as opposed to taking control of your environment and developing it.” Heather pointed out.

“Well, the ancient pony tribes were like that, but as time went on, we had to band together into larger nations to deal with threats like the griffons, dragons, and worse,” Cirrus’ ears folded back for a second. “And as our numbers grew, we had to develop more and more land. Things were hard for ponies back then, but they were well on the way toward a decent future. But then He came.”

“Who?”

Whitefeather chose to chime in. “Discord. The Father of Chaos, the Oncoming Storm and The Ruination of All.”

Heather tilted her head. “Hold on a second. Now I’ve heard of Discord, but I thought that was more a conceptual thing, like the bogeyman. You mean he actually existed?”

“Oh he existed alright. You can see him in the Canterlot Sculpture Gardens, if you want,” Cirrus said with a snort.

Whitefeather shook his head and continued. “Anyway, if the old legends are true, the three tribes had finally begun to accept Princess Celestia and Princess Luna as our leaders. However, a series of disturbing reports began to leak in from the south, tales of rain turned to chocolate milk one second and more foul substances the next. Of whole crops brought to life, only to burst into flames, or begin sweeping balletic pieces. Celestia and Luna sent a contingent of the three tribes, escorted by a company of Royal Guard, to find out what was going on.”

“Let me guess, they never came back?” Heather asked.

Whitefeather snorted darkly. “Oh no, they came back. As a roiling, evershifting mass of flesh mixed with gold and gems, shaped into a throne. Upon it sat a creature unlike anything seen before, seemingly made from all manner of animals. It proclaimed itself King, and demanded that Celestia and Luna bow to him. Needless to say, the Princesses immediately launched an attack against him... and he swatted them aside as if they were nothing. He moved to finish them off, but they managed to flee to Tartarus knew where.”

Cirrus folded his ears back. “The time that followed is what was known as the Reign of Chaos. Nopony knows really how long it lasted. It could have been a millennium in the span of five seconds, or vice versa. What we do know was that entire villages would wake up with the air in their lungs replaced with gelatin, or adults trading ages with their foals, or sometimes simply erased from existence, just because Discord wanted to see what would happen.” He shook his head ruefully. “Some of the stories in there are so impossible, you want to believe they couldn’t have happened, but you have to admit they likely did.”

“That’s... awful.” Heather said, her eyes wide.

Whitefeather nodded. “But, eventually, Celestia and Luna returned, bearing what became known as the Elements of Harmony, and leading armies from every nation. Zebras, diamond dogs, griffons, even the beasts of the wild rose up against Discord’s madness. We ponies flocked to join the battle, and didn’t have to wait long before Discord unleashed the full breadth of his power. It was... chaotic, to say the least. To this day nopony can really explain what was actually fought, from such things as the Never-Weres, the Horde of Insanity, the Ever-Hungry Shadows, and much worse. However, in the end, Celestia and Luna’s alliance drove Discord into the very center of his power, and cast him down, sealing him away.”

Heather was silent, her eyes vacant as she tried to process the story she’d just been told. She’d heard plenty of the stories of how wonderful Equestria was, but nothing anywhere approaching this. “So, even if I believe all this, how does that have to do with Equestria being in the condition it is now?

Whitefeather shot her a glance. “The alliance was battling against a monster that could literally reshape reality at the snap of his fingers. As the battle turned against him, he began literally unmaking the world. In the aftermath, the survivors were forced to take more direct stewardship of their lands. With the guidance of Celestia and Luna, Equestria was able to recover quickly, but some regions remained tainted irrecoverably by Discord’s corruption.”

“What about the other nations?” Heather asked.

“We initially aided in the recovery of the others, but after Nightmare Moon arose, the other nations broke all relations with us,” Cirrus said with a sigh.

“And no one tried to make contact for a thousand years?” Heather shot back incredulously.

“Of course we did. But trying to make amends when one of your goddesses tried to darken the sun and conquer the world is a little difficult. Eventually we settled into a sort of tense neutrality, and eventually that just became how things were.” Whitefeather said matter-of-factly.

“Though I’ll admit, Emergence went a long way towards bringing the nations together, Conversion even more so,” Cirrus said with a wry smile. “In a way, we owe you humans for that.”

Heather started to reply, but suddenly lurched forward, leaning over the front edge of the chariot. “Is that what I think it is?”

Ahead of them, a towering mountain chain was taking shape. A city jutted from the side of the tallest, clinging to it in clear defiance of gravity. A waterfall flowed out from under the gleaming edifice and plunged to the valley below. As they drew closer, Heather could make out tiny shapes that had to be pegasi darting back and forth, and chariots making their way along the streets.

“Welcome to Canterlot, ma’am,” Cirrus said, a touch of pride in his voice. “Center of Equestria for over a thousand years.”

With a few beats of their wings, the pegasi angled the chariot downward, swooping toward a landing strip at the back of the city, gold-armored bodies everywhere. Heather just stared blankly, her mind trying to wrap itself around the fact that the city should be impossible. Finally she decided she’d just have to accept it on general principle. “I’m definitely going to get Elizabeth a nice souvenir.”
> 04 - A Night on the Town
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 6, Week 14, Tuesday

Heather paced around the room, her nostrils flaring occasionally. Everything smelled right, the cleaning staff was very punctual and efficient. Not a thing was out of place either.

It was all so boring.

The room itself had nothing to do with it. Located a mere two floors down from the Royal Chambers, she’d been flabbergasted by how opulent the room was. The bed was a four-poster, easily large enough for two or three humans to sleep comfortably in. The carpet was thick, which thankfully had helped alleviate the worst of the stonesense.

The boredom came from everything else. She’d tried to go out into the city on her third day, and had to be escorted back to the castle under guard as the nobleponies had very nearly thrown a riot at the sight of her. She still got a surge of anger at the memory of the one haughty unicorn who’d called her a cur. She’d nearly snapped her teeth at him before she caught herself, shocked at her own display of violence. Once back in her room, she’d remained there for the past two months, and it was finally starting to wear on her.

She’d tried striking up conversation with the staff ponies that came and went, but they offered little more than a few nervous words before excusing themselves. The guards assigned to her weren’t much better, which surprised her given how talkative the ponies who flew her here had been.

“Okay. Definitely going out of the castle.” She paused in her circuit. She didn’t want to go out with the guards, they drew too much attention. But there was no way they’d just let her walk out without them. So that only left her with one option: sneaking out.

She stopped next to one of the chairs and practically fell into it. Was she really contemplating doing this?

Not so long ago she wouldn’t even think of sneaking out like this, but now, between her strange new surroundings, pregnancy, the related hormones, and being an entirely different species she found herself doing things she wouldn’t even have considered before. Would her old self even recognize her new self, now? What about her friends, her family? She was even beginning to miss Albrecht’s tempestuous nature.

However, despite her misgivings, she did have to admit, the idea of trying to sneak out was beginning to become more attractive, her new instincts growing stronger as time went on. However, the obstacle of the guards remained in place, and would take some thought to work around.

“Ugh, I really need to get some fresh air,” she muttered, before her eyes locked onto the rug in the center of the room. As an idea began to form, she smiled toothily.





“Ms Douglas? Your dinner is ready,” the guard said as he pushed the cart into the room. He glanced around, seeing the bathroom door closed firmly. “Ms Douglas?” He trotted over and rapped a hoof on the door. “Well, I’m going to leave the cart here for you, just let the guards know when you’re finished with it.” He turned and trotted back across the rug, only to cry out as he half-fell, the rug sagging into the floor. The other guards rushed in and helped him to his hooves.

“What happened, Private?” One of the unicorns barked.

“I don’t know sir,” Javelin replied, flexing his leg to alleviate some of the pain. “I was just walking across the rug when I fell in.” He pointed to the obvious sag in the rug.

With a snort, the unicorn yanked the rug aside, scowl deepening as he saw the hole bored into the marble floor. “Horseapples, this isn’t good. I want you to go to the barracks, shake all of their lazy flanks loose, we need to find her right away.”

“That won’t be necessary.” A new voice came from the doorway, smoothly dangerous as a moonless night.

“And just who are you to tell me that-” the unicorn froze as he saw the pony standing in the doorway. Instantly bowing his head and falling to a bow, the assembled guards refused to meet the eyes of the newcomer. “Then what are your orders, ma’am?”

“See to fixing the floor. Discreetly. I’ll personally locate our wayward guest and bring her back.” The newcomer turned and trotted silently down the hall.

Once they were sure they were safe, the guards sagged in relief. Javelin looked at the others in shock. “Just what is she doing here?”

Sergeant Rain Kicker snorted. “Bit of advice, if she’s here, best do what she says and keep our heads down.” He glanced nervously to the door, and muttered, “Celestia take mercy on the dog, she’ll need it.”





The side street was quiet, a few birds picking through the crumbs around the dumpsters. One spotted a chunk of bread squished between two paving stones and hopped closer, only to take off in a flutter of wings as the stones suddenly bulged upward. A furred paw pushed free, followed by the rest of her as Heather pulled herself free of the tunnel. She glanced around as she shook the dirt off.

“Okay, looks like I’m good for now.” She looked up to the castle, a deep purple glow surrounding it as the sun slid behind the mountain. Her ears folded back as she realized how much trouble she was going to be in when they found her. Shaking her head, she took a deep breath. “Well, might as well get a look around, see a few of the sights.” She walked out onto the main street, eyes wide as she examined the buildings all around her. As she started to walk down the sidewalk, she froze, her nose twitching as she turned around. A pony couple stood there, staring in shock at her. It was the same pony couple from her last excursion into town.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me. That’s just not fair.” She tensed and took a few steps back as the two unicorn’s eyes widened.

“Do something, Jet!” the mare shrieked as she skittered away.

“Get back, I’ll call the guards on you!” the stallion said angrily. The idea took a second to sink in, then he started shouting at the top of his lungs, “Guards! Guards!”

Heather spun around and ran, claws digging grooves into the stones as she took the next corner at speed.

“What do we do now Jet? We can’t let that beast run loose like that!” Upper Crust whispered nervously.

“Is something the matter? I heard you calling for the guards, thought I might offer assistance,” A soft voice asked from behind them.

“Thank Celestia, a punctual response for once...” Jet Set trailed off as he turned around. “Y-you’re...”

“There’s no cause for alarm, citizen,” The voice’s owner lightly trotted past them, “I can assure you the situation is well in hoof.”

Jet Set and Upper Crust barely waited for the voice to finish before bolting, galloping towards their home.

The owner of the voice snorted derisively. “Nobles.”





Heather finally stopped to catch her breath. She couldn’t really remember what turns she’d taken, but she’d managed to avoid the silver-trimmed unicorns patrolling the streets. What had surprised her was that they seemed to not be searching for her. She was certain that by now, somepony should have heard the shouting from those two ponies. She glanced around a corner, seeing the road sloping up toward what looked like an open space. Even better, there were no guards in sight.

She quickly made her way up the street, ears pricked forward despite her optimism. As she entered the open space, she saw that it was a large courtyard, with nothing beyond it but the night sky. She walked forward slowly, resting her hands on the cool marble wall as she looked out over the view.

Slightly to her left in a broad valley, she could see a few dim points of light grouped together, maybe a small village. On the other side, the plains ran on to the horizon, where a dim glow could be seen. Lifting her head, she could see the stars in the sky shining brightly and smiled, not remembering the last time she’d just stopped to look.

“This is nothing, you should see it when Lady Luna is in charge,” a voice from right next to her suddenly chimed in.

Heather practically jumped out of her skin, instinctively moving to put some distance between herself and the voice. However, the wall got in the way of that, and she nearly fell over it but for a pair of hooves that pulled her back onto her rump.

“You had best be careful. The winds up here can get pretty intense at times.”

Heather just stared, trying to process the pony that had just saved her. It was obviously a mare from her shape, and the wings a clear giveaway as to what tribe. What she did not expect to see was the purple and silver armor, the slitted yellow eyes, or the leathery wings instead of feathers. “You’re a... a....”

The pony snorted. “Think we can skip the whole ‘You’re a bat!’ thing for once? I’m a pegasus, much as you’re a diamond dog, Heather Douglas.”

“H-how’d you know my name?” Heather asked as she pushed herself to her feet.

The pegasus tilted her head. “Well, where should I start? You’re not only a diamond dog in Canterlot, which is rare enough in itself, but we all studied your profile as part of the project.”

“We? Who’s we?” Heather asked curiously.

“It’s not important. Now, if you don’t mind, I think you’ve had your fun, and should come with me back to the castle.” It was clear from the pegasus’ tone that it wasn’t a request.

“A-alright.” Heather followed the pegasus as she led her down the sidewalk toward the castle. As they walked, she tried to avoid it, but ended up staring anyway, trying to make sense of her appearance. She remembered the various talks and briefings she’d attended as a member of Project Thesan, and before that on the serum refinement teams, but none of them had mentioned guards like these. It was right on the tip of her tongue though, she knew she’d seen this somewhere before.

It hit her as they passed a small bookshop. “You’re one of the Nightguard, aren’t you?”

“What was that?” The pegasus asked noncommittally, though Heather picked up a change in her scent, which raised a question on it’s own.

“I read a bunch of Equestrian books a while back, including a few foal’s books. One of them had a picture of Princess Luna with two pony guards who looked like you.”

“Is that so?” The sarcastic tone wasn’t lost on Heather, who decided to take a different direction of conversation.

“How come I couldn’t smell you back there?”

“Sorry, that’s classified.”

“Oh... alright.” Heather took another few sniffs, each time getting the usual scent she’d come to associate with ponies. She filed that away, and quickened her pace to walk beside the pegasus. “Well, since you know my name, is it alright if I ask yours?”

The pegasus sighed. “If I tell you, will you stop with the questions?”

“S-sure,” Heather replied.

“It’s Eclipse, Ms Douglas.” The two walked in silence for a little while more before Heather finally couldn’t stand it.

“You can call me Heather, if you like.” She tried not to flinch as the slitted eyes swung up to meet hers.

“If you want, Ms Douglas.” It was hard to see, but Heather could practically smell the mild amusement coming from her.

“So, and I know I said I would stop with the questions, but how come the guards here aren’t like you? I’ve had better conversations with the bathroom door,” Heather remarked with a short laugh.

Eclipse let out a laugh of her own. “Well, the Dayguard have their way of doing things, we have ours.” The two continued on, though the silence was a lot less awkward this time around.

“So, you were following me the entire way out here?” Heather asked suddenly.

“Of course. You’re far too important to have anypony other than the best keeping an eye on you. Although, I may have to have a word with my superiors about your escape. I will admit, we did not account for your idea to tunnel out. What made you think of it?”

“Well, while we were developing the serum, we talked with some of the native diamond dogs about their physiology. So, I remembered how they can burrow through solid stone, figured why not marble, and let my instincts do the work.” Heather paused for a few minutes. “I’m in a lot of trouble, aren’t I? I mean, for sneaking out and ruining the floor.”

Eclipse nodded. “Oh yes. But I suppose, given the circumstances, we could consider a stern warning about the dangers of sneaking out and a promise from you to behave in the future sufficient enough. Equestria is a nice place, but ponies are still fallible, and tend to be nervous of the unknown.”

Heather nodded, remembering the two ponies from before.

“If it was a chance to see the city you wanted, why did you not simply ask?” Eclipse asked. “You know that it would have been granted.”

“Well, I tried that when I first arrived, but I just... I felt like...”

“Like something on parade, ponies staring at you like you’re something in an exhibit.” Eclipse said with a wry snort.

“Y-yeah.” Heather agreed. “I’m sorry if I said something I shouldn’t.”

“Don’t be, it’s just something I’m familiar with.” Eclipse flexed her bat wings a little as the pair came into sight of the castle, the guards stationed at the entrance trotting forward. “Relax boys, I’m in charge of Ms Douglas’ safety. Just going to take her back to her room now.”

“Yes ma’am.” The guards returned to their posts as Eclipse and Heather walked through the massive double doors.

Heather stared at Eclipse as she was led down the halls toward her chamber, mind racing a mile a minute at the revelations she was given. Obviously Eclipse carried a lot more weight around the castle than she’d thought. Finally, they stood before the open doors to her room, Heather avoiding the reproachful stares of the ponies who were finishing the repairs on the hole she’d dug. “Well, Eclipse, thank you for everything, I’ll... see you around, I guess.”

“Perhaps... Heather.” Eclipse turned and trotted off down the hallway, as Heather stared blankly after her. After a moment she shook her head in resignation and walked into her room. The tunnel that she’d dug had already been filled in, and she made a note to apologize to the guards and staff for the stunt. She closed the cover on the lantern, crawled under the sheets, and after a few minutes to get comfortable was fast asleep.





Eclipse trotted down the quiet hallways, not acknowledging the ponies who crossed to the far wall to avoid her. As she’d said, it was just something that came with the job. She arrived at her destination, a set of heavy doors bearing the simple motif of the crescent moon, and pressed a hoof to it. The door easily swung open, well-tended hinges offering only a whisper of protest. She trotted in and took a moment to let her eyes adjust to the darkness within as the door closed behind her.

“Welcome back, Eclipse,” a voice called from farther in the room, “I trust that you were successful?”

“If I hadn’t, I would not be here,” Eclipse whispered as she sank into a bow.

“Come now, there is still no need for such formality in this room.” There was a faint ruffling of wings as a figure rose from behind a massive desk.

“As you wish, my Lady.” Eclipse did not rise from the bow as Luna walked around the desk, other shapes rousing themselves and following her.

“And what did you think of Heather Douglas? Is her adjustment to life here going well?”

Eclipse nodded as she rose from the bow. “She’s still unsure of herself, but her adjustment to her body is progressing quicker than the Dayguard planned. Her tunneling out of the room was not accounted for, and I would recommend that the security be... adjusted.”

Luna tilted her head. “You know that we cannot simply increase the guard, the rumors are already flying about her presence.” She glanced to another shadowed figure. “Umbra, do you have any update on the operation to discredit those rumors?”

The unicorn shook his head. “Right now we’re continuing to simply drown them out with more of our own. Thus far, nopony has shown any indication of coming close to guessing why Ms. Douglas is here, though we remain vigilant.”

“Very good. All of you continue to perform above and beyond your station, and I remain proud of you all.” Luna turned to make her way back to her desk, but stopped when Eclipse spoke up.

“Lady, we may not be able to increase the number of guards, but perhaps we can change who is guarding her.”

Luna glanced back. “Explain, please.”

Eclipse took a breath, though she had a suspicion Luna already knew what she was going to say. “Assign me to guard Ms. Douglas. Any increase in rumors caused by my assignment can be mitigated by Umbra, and you know that I am more than capable of protecting her better than another squad of Dayguard can.”

“Be respectful of your brothers and sisters, Eclipse,” Luna said sternly, though the corner of her mouth twitched upward. “And you are aware of the enormity of the task you lay claim to? Failure is absolutely not an option.”

“I understand, my word is my oath. I will not allow anything to happen to Heather so long as I draw breath,” Eclipse replied instantly.

“Oh, so it’s Heather now?” One of Luna’s twin shadows spoke up with a chuckle.

“Oh, shove it up your backside, Starstruck,” Eclipse grumbled.

“Now now,” Luna smiled with the patience of a parent watching her children squabble, “there is no need for such behavior. Your request is approved, Eclipse. Go with my blessing.”

Eclipse bowed to the floor again. “Thank you, my Lady.” She turned and trotted out of the room, blinking as her eyes had to re-adjust to the glare of the outer hallways.

Behind her, Starstruck glanced up at Luna. “So why did you approve Eclipse’s request, really? There’s dozens of Dayguard as talented as her.”

Luna smiled down at him as she walked back to her desk. “Because, you know as well as I do of her ambition. So, I felt it reasonable enough to humor her and allow this chance to prove herself.”

“If you say so,” he muttered as he followed after her and settled back into his usual spot.
> 05 - Girl Talk
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The Canterlot castle kitchens were always in a state of chaos, fit to please even Discord himself. Between serving dozens of nobleponies, hundreds of Royal Guard, and three alicorns, the staff was more than adequate to handle any culinary need imaginable.

“That’s it! I’ve had it!” Garlic Crouton exclaimed as he tossed his head irritably. “I cannot keep meeting these ridiculous requests for our... guest.”

The pot sat innocently on the stove in front of him, it’s contents simmering quietly. The rest of the staff kept a healthy distance from it, their noses wrinkled in disgust.

“Complaining about it isn’t going to change it,” Eclipse remarked as she trotted past for a peek inside. “You’ve been given an important responsibility, after all.”

“I don’t rightly care how important it is,” he bellowed back. “This gunk ain’t food, least not for proper ponies!”

Eclipse narrowed her eyes. “And I’ll remind you that our guest is not a pony. They are here at the pleasure of the Princesses, and you would do well to remember it. Now, I trust that it is ready?”

“Aye, it’s done. Now get it out of my kitchen,” he grumbled as he trotted to another oven, a large sheet cake visible within. “Got enough work as it is, pleasin’ three Princesses.”

Eclipse nodded to one of the waiters, who carefully dished the contents of the pot into a serving bowl. He set the bowl onto one of the waiting delivery carts and gripped the handle in his mouth. The two ponies trotted out the door and down the hallway toward the residential wings.

“So, what exactly is this diamond dog doing here, ma’am?”

Eclipse turned her head slightly and fixed him with a cool stare, but was otherwise silent. The waiter grew steadily more uneasy until he glanced down at the floor apologetically. The rest of the walk passed in silence until they finally came to a stop at Heather’s door. Two unicorn guards stood firmly at attention, not even twitching a muscle at their approach.

Eclipse nodded to the waiter, who turned and trotted back down the hall, disappointment on his face. Once she was sure he was out of earshot she turned back to the guards. “So, anything new to report?”

“No ma’am.” The unicorn on the left coughed slightly, and his counterpart sighed. “Well, there was the sound of furniture scraping approximately an hour ago.”

“Well, did you think to open the door, and see what it was?” Eclipse tilted her head expectantly.

“Umm, no ma’am. Our orders were very specific that she be left alone.” The guard on the right said at last.

“I see.” Eclipse stared at them for a long second. “Right. You two are dismissed.”

“Ma’am?” The two spoke in unison.

“I know I didn’t stutter.” She took a step closer, fixing them both with a glare. “You two are relieved. Tell the watch officer I want somepony competent sent here to cover your shift.”

The two guards tensed, and seemed ready to challenge her, but she stood her ground. After another few seconds they snorted and walked away, muttering under their breath. Eclipse stared after them for a few more seconds, then turned and nosed open the door. She grabbed the cart with her mouth and pushed it into the room. “Heather? Your dinner’s ready.” She closed the door behind her with a leg. “Have to say, the staff is not going to like what you’ve done with the place.”

Heather glowered at her from the bed, which had been pushed back against the farthest wall. In front of it was the rest of the furniture, forming a crude den of sorts. The whole setup looked ridiculous, and Eclipse couldn’t help a bemused sigh as she pushed the cart across the room.

“And I understand that you’re having your cravings and all, but do keep in mind how tough it is for the castle kitchens to prepare your... meals.” Eclipse lifted the lid off the serving bowl. “Although, calling beef stew with marshmallows, bananas, and iced pickles a ‘meal’ is a bit of a stretch.”

“Oh, shut up,” Heather grumbled with a half-snarl as she climbed off the bed. She froze a half-second later. “Sorry, I’m not sure what came over me. Just all of this is starting to get a little stressful and-”

“You don’t have to apologize.” Eclipse trotted to her usual spot by the window so she could see the moonrise. “You’re acting just as you should be. Well, aside from your bizarre taste in food.”

The two laughed, and Heather started to dig in on her food. As she ate, she glanced at the pegasus sitting there, her eyes distant as she gazed at the moon.

“So, what’d you mean?” Heather asked between mouthfuls.

“Exactly what I said,” Eclipse replied without turning around. “You’re not a human anymore. Did you think that you’d just be the ‘you’ that you were after this? With no consequences or changes?”

Heather glanced at the floor for a second. Eclipse did have a point, sort of. She’d thought she’d prepared herself for the choice, but at the end of the day, had she really thought it through? Who, or what, was she becoming?

The sound of hooves on marble brought her head back up as Eclipse crossed the room to stand in front of her. "Look... This is something I learned a long time ago. You are who you are, and nopony changes that. Not Celestia, not Luna, not Discord. What you are doesn't matter." She tapped her hoof on Heather’s chest. "Who you are comes from here."

Heather sighed, and pushed the cart to the side. “I have to say, that is by far the most cliche thing I’ve heard since I got here.” She got to her feet and walked over to the window. The city was mostly dark, a few ponies visible as they made their way home. “So tell me, Eclipse, how goes life in Equestria?”

Eclipse snorted. “Trees grow, ponies go about their lives, and I’m still stuck playing babysitter to an overgrown, pregnant mutt.” The two glared at each other for a second before they started snickering, then outright laughing.

The conversation died down while Heather finished her meal. As the spoon slid to a stop at the bottom, Heather found her thoughts again drifting to the only question that Eclipse had never answered. “Hey, Eclipse?”

She glanced over. “What’s up?”

“Listen, I know I asked this once before, and you shut me down on it. But I really want to know more about the Nightguard, and what happened when Luna came back.”

Instantly, Eclipse stiffened, her eyes growing hard. “Heather, I’ve already told you. That question isn’t one we answer for outsiders. Ever.”

“I know, but I mean, I’d at least like to know a little about you,” Heather muttered, annoyed. She scratched irritably at her stomach, which had finally begun to show.

Eclipse glared at her, then rose to her hooves and trotted out the door, not even looking back as the heavy door slammed shut.

Heather stared plaintively at the door for a few minutes before she sighed and climbed back into bed. “Just great Heather, way to piss off the only real friend you’ve made around here.” She rubbed at her temples for a few seconds before closing her eyes and dozing off.

What felt like five seconds later the door banged open, accompanied by the sound of hooves on marble. Heather sat up, her expression sour as she saw Eclipse, dark blue saddlebags draped across her back. “Eclipse? What’s going on?”

She sighed and dropped the bags on the floor. “Look, I won’t tell you everything, but... you do have a point. So, I decided I’ll talk. About myself, not the Nightguard of course.” She dug a book out of the saddlebags and tossed it to Heather.

“When I was just a filly, I believed my parents to be simple ponies. My mother worked in the mail distribution center, while my father was one of the accountants for the treasury. But eventually, I got old enough to stay awake later,” she explained as Heather opened the book. Inside, the first page bore an aged photograph, a pegasus filly beaming at the camera while a pegasus mare and a unicorn stallion smiled at her. She flipped through the book as Eclipse continued, “Well, one night, I was trying to stay up for when my father was supposed to come home, but he never showed up. So, my mother put me to bed, and I pretended to fall asleep. Once I heard my mother go to bed, I snuck out of my room and down to my father’s study, hoping to surprise him when he did get home.” She chuckled at the memory.

“Well, you can guess how short the attention span of a six-year old filly can be. So, I started to look around the study for something to do. I pulled open his bottom desk drawer, but got a little overeager and pulled the whole thing out, spilling stuff everywhere. Mostly odds and ends, but one in particular caught my eye as it rolled to a stop in the moonlight.” She reached up and lifted a small pendant from under her armor. It was a simple disc, with a crescent moon emblazoned on the face. “This disc is the first thing given to a Nightguard recruit. It’s... a mark of their initiation, you could say. Well, to me, it was just a pretty coin, and so I was in the middle of reaching for it when my dad opened the door.”

Heather winced. “So, I take it he was mad you nearly picked up the disc?”

Eclipse cocked her head. “What do you mean nearly? By the time my dad realized it I had the disc in my hooves.” She turned and walked slowly across the room to look at the moon again. “Oh, he was furious with me, and punished me pretty harshly, but what was done, was done. By touching the coin, I’d been marked.”

“What do you mean?” Heather asked quietly.

“Well, like I said, the discs are given to a Nightguard recruit as the first part of their initiation. It was once tradition for Luna to fashion one for each new recruit, however with her banishment, we had to improvise. So, the discs were used with all of the recruits and agents for a thousand years. Every pony who touches one is marked for the Nightguard in some way. Even me.”

Heather just stared. “So you mean... they had you start working for-”

Eclipse shot her a puzzled look. “Are you crazy? I was six. It was just a marking, not like I signed up to put the armor on. That came later.” She grinned. “But it did necessitate some awkward conversations about what dear old dad really got up to.”

“So... when did you decide that becoming a guard was really for you?” Heather asked curiously.

“Well, I finished all my schooling, got my special talent, all a normal, everyday life. But I dunno, it just wasn’t doing it for me. I needed something more, something... exotic.” Eclipse took a deep breath and stretched. “So, I made my choice. Took some getting used to, but I don’t regret a second of it.”

Heather blinked. “That... doesn’t really answer my question. At all.”

Eclipse laughed. “Now you’re getting it.” She trotted back to the saddlebag and dug out another book. “I figured that this might be something nice to pass the rest of the night with.” She tossed it over, and Heather groaned once she saw the title.

“Really? Yet another language lesson?” She glowered at Eclipse, who only shrugged.

“Hey, don’t get your tail in a twist about it. You’re getting better, but you still need some work. After all, the little one’s going to be the first of the continuation of their species. No sense in letting their mom be some poor, uneducated dog from the hills, right?” Eclipse smirked and ribbed her with a wing.

Heather growled, but there wasn’t any threat behind it as she flipped open the book.

Outside the door, Guiding Light reeled back, his eyes wide at what he’d heard. The rumors had been flying that the diamond dog was pregnant, but the scuttlebutt had assumed it was just some peace effort to unite two of their packs.

But this... this was something beyond anything he’d ever feared. He’d sworn an oath to serve the throne, but if the throne was seriously contemplating doing something like this... no. No, this was something bigger than him. He was in a position to do something, prevent a horrible mistake from coming to fruition. And he couldn’t let himself be weak, he’d been weak when Firefly Dreams had gone Earthside. He closed his eyes as the memories came back, turning up for duty to see the other guards giving him that look. He still couldn’t forgive himself for letting him go...

He practically jumped out of his skin as the sound of hooves on tile brought his focus back to his fellow guard, trotting back from the bathroom. 

“Hey, sorry bout that, kind of didn’t anticipate having to be shaken loose this time of night, and well, when nature calls,” the stallion laughed. “So, did I miss anything?”

His mind racing, he forced his face to remain stoic. “No, not really.” Inside, he pulled himself back under control. Okay, he had this knowledge now, and the responsibility for it. 

He had to tell somepony.
> 06 - Opening Gambit
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, once we finished cleaning up the mess, Albrecht turned around and slipped in the water!” Heather finished with a laugh, though it turned into a hiss as she put a paw on her stomach. “Jeez, this little guy’s kicking hard.” She rubbed the bump irritably, which had swelled out as she passed the seventh month of the pregnancy.

“Must take after his mother,” Eclipse said with a bemused snort. “Glad to see your cravings finally swung back to normal. You should have seen the look on Garlic’s face when I passed along your last... request.”

Heather chuckled as she grabbed the last of the oranges from the cart. She peeled it idly as she leaned back. “Hey, I’m still pretty sure hydra meat would taste good… Maybe with enough barbeque sauce?”

Eclipse snorted. “Trust me when I say it wouldn’t. I’ve heard of barbeque sauce, but I somehow doubt it’s ability to cover the stench.” 

Heather shrugged. “Plenty of things smell bad but taste great.” She kicked her legs idly, staring at the thick-woven shoes on her feet. “Barely two weeks in and I’m already sick of these shoes.”

“I’m not,” Eclipse said with a snort. “I still have ringing in my ears from the last time you tried to walk on marble.”

“Oh come on, how was I supposed to know my paws would be that sensitive?” Heather complained as she tossed the last of the orange peel into the garbage can. Her ear flicked as she contemplated the question that had burned in her head ever since she’d become friends with the pegasus. “Hey Eclipse, I figure you know what I’m going to ask, but-”

Eclipse sighed. “And my answer remains the same, Heather. It’s not something we talk about with outsiders.”

Heather growled irritably. “And you and I have spent the past four months just hanging out every night, taking me on strolls when there’s no one on the streets, so I don’t get bored or wander off? Surely you can tell me something? Don’t you trust me?”

“I do, and you know better than to ask that question,” Eclipse replied, her tone reproachful. She stifled a yawn as she glanced out the window, where a thin line of red could be seen on the horizon. “Look, it’s getting pretty close to sunrise, and I need to get some sleep. I’ll see you at sundown. Try to stay out of trouble, okay? And don’t forget your medicine!”

“See you tomorrow.” Heather waved dismissively as Eclipse trotted out the door. She flopped backwards onto the bed and stared at the ceiling, her eyes heavy even as her baby kicked a few more times. She reached over to the end table, where a pair of pills sat next to a glass of water. With a sigh she popped them in her mouth and took a swig, her lip curling back. “Definitely looking forward to not needing those anymore.” Relaxing back onto the bed, she was soon fast asleep, snoring like a train engine.

Outside the room, Eclipse shook her head. “I swear, it’s amazing that she can even sleep through that racket.” She turned to face the two guards, her eyes hard. “I’m leaving her in your care for the day, keep an eye on her. You have active command, Dawn.”

Dawn Breeze saluted. “Yes ma’am.”

“Excellent, don’t let me down, First Lieutenant.” Eclipse turned and trotted down the hallway, finally allowing herself another yawn as she rounded the corner.

“Don’t worry about a thing,” Dawn replied as she settled into her position. She glanced over at her compatriot, “Hey, are you feeling alright, Guiding? You look a little tense.”

Guiding Light shook his head and faked a yawn. “Yeah, just a little slow to wake up this morning.”

Dawn nodded. “Well, at least we got an easy assignment today.”

Guiding stared ahead, his eyes distant. “Yeah.”

Dawn thought about pressing him on it, but she decided that he just needed his space and returned to staring at the opposite wall.





Heather sat up and stretched, feeling her shoulders pop as she rotated her arms back. She raised an arm to block the sunlight streaming into the room as she checked the sun. “Well, guess that means I’m not sleeping today.” She glanced down at her stomach as her legs tingled. “What do you say we go out for a little walk? Just down a couple side streets, get some fresh air?” She smiled as she heaved herself off the bed, wincing a little as she made contact with the floor. The shoes had gone a long way in suppressing her stonesense, but her feet had gotten so sensitive that she could still feel it, like pins and needles on her pads.

With a muted growl of dismissal, she padded across the room to the door. She pushed the door open and leaned toward the unicorn guard standing there. “Hey, I was wondering, think I could go get some time outside?”

The unicorn initially seemed dismissive, but then something seemed to click and he nodded. “I’ll go get clearance, Dawn. You wait here.” He turned and trotted down the hallway without another word.

Heather glanced at Dawn. “Is it something I said?”

“No, he’s been that way for a while now.” The pegasus’ tone softened a little. “His brother, Firefly Dreams, was stationed as security chief for a Bureau stateside. There was an anti-Conversion demonstration, and like you’d expect, things got heated. Before anypony had a chance to establish order, someone pulled a gun.” She shook her head as Heather winced. “Oh no, nobody got killed; but he panicked and threw up the strongest shield he could. The bullet simply ricocheted. But that much magic put a lot of people in the hospital from thaumatic exposure. The investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing, but he took it personally and resigned, hasn’t spoken to anypony about it since. Too bad too, he was a good Guard.”

Heather glanced back down the hall, a small whine escaping her throat. “Is there anything I could say?”

“Honestly, not likely. Just let him be,” Dawn Breeze remarked. “He’ll work through it on his own.”

Guiding rounded the corner, and once he was sure nopony was watching, he ducked into a storage room. Closing the door, he reached under his armor and withdrew a small mirror. He concentrated, letting his magic run across the surface, then into the glass. “Is anypony there?” he whispered, and smiled as a faint voice replied. “Yes, I have an opening. I’ll bring her to Solar Avenue. Be ready.”





Digger growled irritably as he pushed forward, his claws scraping the dirt aside. He hated going to the surface this close to the giant pony city. But the massive deposit of gemstones underneath the mountain was simply too good to pass up, and they’d taken up residence there. However, there were some things a proper Diamond Dog needed, and those things only came from above ground.

Finally, he felt his paws break free into the open air, and soon forced his head above ground. He took a few deep sniffs to make sure he was safe, then pulled himself free. He shook himself vigorously, clumps of dirt and a cloud of dust flying everywhere. Sneezing to clear the dirt from his nostrils, he glanced toward the gleaming white spires and shook his head dismissively.

“Ponies soft, they need walls and roofs.” He turned, a much more interesting trail catching his nose. There were berries nearby, and he still had his work to do. Maybe he could get back before Scruff ate all the aquamarine.

He carefully picked his way along the edge of the path, pausing every time he caught scent of a pegasus. He was confident that he’d be able to escape one if spotted, but Shale had been very clear. The ponies would not hesitate to hunt them down if they discovered them, and so they had to remain hidden. Digger hated that, but the claw marks carved into his side from the last challenge he had issued were a painful reminder of confronting the bigger dog. So for now he would bide his time and follow orders.

The scent of a thick clump of berry bushes caught his nose, and soon he was huddled on his knees before them. He hurriedly stuffed the plump fruits into his satchel, drool forming at the corners of his mouth at the thought of the reward Shale would give him.





Heather had to admit, the summertime air was doing wonders to improve her mood. And even better, only a few tourists were giving her strange looks. “So, how long have you been in the Guard, Dawn?”

“Hmmm?” She tilted her head. “Well, I joined up when I was eighteen. My parents both worked in the Cloudsdale Weather Factory, but I got bored with that really fast. The Guard recruiters came by and I decided that I would give it a try. Haven’t looked back since.”

“Do you ever miss it?”

“Well, there are times that I wonder what it might have been like, but no. I’m good at what I do, and I have a chance to make a difference in ponies, and people’s, lives.” She shot a grin at Heather. “Plus, lets me get out there and see the world, or have the world show up to see me.”

Guiding Light was silent as the two laughed, the unicorn glancing about as they approached the next intersection.

“Hey, Guiding?” Heather spoke up as they turned the corner. “I heard about what happened to your brother, and just wanted to say I’m sorry.”

Guiding flicked his ears, but was otherwise unresponsive.

“Well, can’t say I didn’t try,” Heather muttered as she glanced at Dawn, who shrugged in reply.

As they walked down the street, Heather started to feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Glancing around, she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but the sensation wouldn’t leave her. She looked around, her fingers starting to curl reflexively.

“Something wrong, Heather?” Dawn asked, though from the way her wings fluttered, she was starting to feel it too. Then it hit her: The street was decidedly emptier than the ones they had been on before. She shot a look up, where three grim-faced pegasi could be seen herding others away. She snapped her wings out and tensed her hindlegs. “Guiding, send up a signal, we might have—”

She never saw it coming, as the pale green bolt of energy struck her square in the back of the head. She collapsed to the ground in a clatter of armor, while Heather turned around incredulously.

“I’m sorry Dawn, but this is how it has to be.” He turned to face Heather as the other pegasi landed in the street. More ponies trotted out of the alleys to surround her in a loose arc. “Heather, I wish that it hadn’t come to this, but what you’re doing is wrong.”

Heather took a few steps back, her tail brushing against the wall. “What in the world are you talking about, Guiding?”

The unicorn opened his mouth to respond, when an older unicorn trotted forward with an angry snort. “We know everything, you cur. The thing you carry in your belly will be the doom of Equestria, and we will not allow it to pollute our country.”

Guiding stamped his hooves and pushed the older stallion back. “Hearthstone, stop. I know you’re angry, but we have to be better than this.” He turned back to Heather. “Look, just surrender peacefully, and you will not be harmed. You have my word.”

Heather was silent, her left paw flexing while her right settled over her abdomen. Her nose twitched as she caught his scent on the air. It stung with the odor of a lie, and she shook her head, lip curling back slightly.

“Heather, don’t do this. You’re outnumbered. I don’t want to hurt you.” Guiding urged as he took a step forward.

She took a breath, looking at the ponies surrounding her, before she made up her mind. She might not be able to escape, but she wasn’t going to go quietly. She lowered her head, seemingly in submission, and took a breath as Guiding’s magic faded. 

“Thank you, Heather, I know you might not understand, but—”

Guiding was caught completely by surprise as Heather threw her head back, chest puffing out before she howled. His ears folded back on instinct, though too late to save his hearing. Reacting quickly, he recharged his stun spell and struck her in the chest; the howl fading as she slumped to the ground. He could make out confused shouts and felt Hearthstone shoulder him roughly.

“Move it, Guiding! The guard will be here any moment!” He turned, lifting Heather’s body. “Give me a hoof here!”

Guiding flicked his ears as his hearing returned and lent his magic to Hearthstone’s. “Damnit, Heather, you should have just come quietly,” he muttered as they hurried down the street.

On the mountainside, Digger’s ears stood upright, frozen stiff as he looked toward the city. The sound was off slightly, but that was definitely a female crying out for help. He felt a smile growing as he wondered how Granite would reward him for bringing a female to the pack. 

He turned about and began to dig, the berries forgotten. If he could just find a way into the city, he was sure he could find her— he stopped abruptly as Shale’s threat against entering the city tore through his thoughts. Their pack didn’t have an agreement with the ponies to harvest from the caverns, after all. The last pack who had tried to poach gems had learned well the hazard of drawing attention, and Granite had no desire to repeat their mistake.

He grumbled as he tried to think of a way to defy Shale without being caught; and grinned as an idea began to form. Shale had forbidden the pack to be seen entering the city, but the other day the pack had accidentally dug through one of the ponies’ drain pipes. After making sure it wouldn’t flood their tunnels, they’d made sure to find all the others. But there was one trait all the pipes shared.

They all led up.





Eclipse’s eyes snapped open as the howl reverberated through her window. As she bolted awkwardly to her hooves, she shot a glance toward her heavy curtains. “Luna curse it, she went outside. I told them, make it orders she stays inside, but no, nopony listens to me.” She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she hurried toward her armor. “If she’s gotten herself hurt I’m going to make sure she’s okay, then hurt her again.”

She practically threw the plates on, and closed her eyes as the enchantment washed over her. After a moment to adjust her wings, she trotted out into the hallway, other Nightguard doing the same.

“Is it Heather?” Starstruck asked quietly. At Eclipse’s nod he snorted. “Figures. I’ll inform Celestia; you get out there and find her. You have authority over any Dayguard in the vicinity.”

Eclipse saluted and took to the air, darting through one of the windows at the end of the hall. As she spiraled down toward the city, she spotted half a dozen Dayguard pegasi coming her way.

“Ma’am, what’s going on here?” the pegasus in front shouted as he slowed to a hover.

“Sorry, that’s classified, orders from the top.” Eclipse replied as she dug out a small scrollcase and tossed it to him. “I need your unit to follow me, we’re going to get this situation under control.”

The pegasus opened the scroll and read it, his eyes narrowed. To his credit, he only blinked once and then nodded sharply. “Of course ma’am, what are our orders?” Eclipse gave thanks for having a veteran be in charge. At least they knew the drill.

“Have we identified the location?”

“Yes ma’am, down on Solar Avenue. We have unicorns and earth ponies enroute, but they’ll be another few minutes.”

“Okay. Set up a perimeter, and let me know once the unicorns arrive,” Eclipse didn’t even wait for the reply as she banked into a steep dive. As she flew over the city, she could see fleeing ponies crowding into buildings or just galloping away from the street in question. “Well, I’ll give it to her, she knows how to liven things up.” Her hooves scraped the last rooftop as she entered the street, eyes alert.

The street was empty, Dawn Breeze’s body set against the wall. Eclipse trotted forward, careful to not disturb any potential evidence. However, she didn’t find anything too telling aside from the tingle of recent spellcasting. “Damnit Heather, where are you?”

Her ear flicked as Dawn groaned, and she moved to assist her fellow guard. “Take it easy there, you’re safe.”

Dawn’s eyes snapped open and she tried to sit up. “Guiding! Heather! What happened?” Her eyes didn’t seem to want to focus and she sagged back.

“Don’t worry, we’re going to find out,” Eclipse said as a squad rounded the corner. She waved them over as Dawn’s eyes started to close. The unicorns began to fuss over her while she surveyed the street again. There wasn’t much to show what had happened after Dawn had been attacked, but a section of sidewalk caught her eye. The usual detritus that a city would accumulate was gone, either blown or dragged away.

Eclipse scowled as she trotted closer, picking out something against the white stone of the shop. A few brown hairs waved, caught on the corners, and she turned toward one of the unicorns. “Do any of you know tracking spells?”

“No, ma’am, sorry ma’am,” the squad leader said. “We’ve got another squad coming soon—”

Eclipse’s hoof cut him off as she spun toward the closest alley, her ears pointed forward. She prowled forward, all of her senses focused with lethal precision.

“What is it, ma’am?” the squad leader asked.

Eclipse didn’t reply, only waving a wing for silence as an ear twitched. Then she heard it again: a faint scraping of metal. She hissed under her breath and leapt forward, bounding into the alley with her wings spread, ready for a fight.

Nothing but some boxes and garbage greeted her, though her nose wrinkled at the smell coming from a drainage grate. She trotted over and peered down, though couldn’t see more than a few feet inside. “Hmm…”

“What did you see?” the squad leader asked again.

“Nothing… how long until the trackers get here?”

“Any moment, ma’am.”

“Good,” Eclipse said quietly as she turned away. “I hope I’m just imagining things, but I feel like we’re not the only ones interested in what happened here…”

Down in the pipe, Digger clung to the wall, arms and legs locked stiff. It’d taken all of his willpower not to mark when the nightmarish bat-pony mare had appeared, but the darkness had helped him. He knew the female’s scent now, and would lead the pack to her.
> 07 - Collared
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The wind howled around her, cutting through coat and skin to chill her to the bone. Yet she could not move, paws rooted in the snow. It wasn’t the cold that held her in place, though, but the presence that circled her slowly. Claws as big as her paw dug into the soil, though the snow remained undisturbed.

“So this whelp is the future of my children?” the snarling voice asked from behind her. “To say I am disappointed would be a gross understatement.” Gradually, its owner completed another circuit, stopping in front of her.

She wished that she could call it a wolf, even if it was as large as a bus. It would have been a comfort, however small, to be able to use such simple words. But in the face of a god, words just couldn’t hope to describe its sheer presence.

Sirius practically radiated feral strength, the feeling of the primal wild that drove animals to seek shelter. Every time Heather blinked, something seemed to change, an aspect of himself sloughing off to be replaced by another. Wolf fur gave way to lion mane, sabertooth fangs replaced by shark’s teeth. The only constants were the predatory aura and those yellow eyes boring into her soul.

“And I find you carrying the offspring of hairless monkeys? Have you no pride?” he snarled, teeth flashing. “I did not raise the diamond dogs from the forest and the deepstone­­­‑ to see them become breeding mules for apes!”

Heather bristled. “Now hold on. Project Thesan is vital to the survival of a species, my birth species! Without it humanity would go extinct!”

“Impudent, ignorant pup!” Sirius snarled, a plume of snow swirling up from his rage. “And just what gave your species the right to decide its own fate? The march of life is not some pet to be tamed just because you disagree with the outcome!”

Heather wanted to quail, to beg for forgiveness from the apex predator. But something inside her rose up and seized control; her lip curled back, teeth flashing as she took a defiant step forward. “That’s not going to stop us from trying. We won’t simply lie down and accept the end just because something bigger than us says so! And you won’t insult my child in my presence again, or we’ll find out what color your blood is!” She panted, throat ragged, only to remember just what she’d been shouting at. Her knees shook, but she forced herself to stay upright.

Sirius growled, and raised a paw as if to strike her. But with a thud, it struck a crater right next to her. “Well well, my adopted daughter does have fangs, after all. You still lack respect for your alpha, but at least I know you have a spine. You will need your fangs before this day is over, Heather Defiant Stone.”

“You know, instead of taking such a roundabout way, you could just tell me what you meant and save me a lot of trouble,” Heather grumbled, only to yelp as Sirius’ paw swept sideways and pinned her to the snow.

“A reminder, my daughter: while I tolerate your insolence this time, my patience is not infinite.” He raised his head, sniffing as the winds began to blow harder. “Our time comes to an end. Remember this lesson, if you truly intend to defy the natural order.” He continued to speak, but the howling of the wind drowned him out as everything faded to black.





Eclipse ground her teeth as Aura Link’s spell crackled yet again, sparks hissing against the cobblestones. “Another fizzle?”

He frowned, “This shouldn’t be happening. Even if they’d disabled the tracking spell placed upon her, we have some of her hair. Unless they set up wards beforehoof, then I suppose it’s possible for them to interfere with my spell matrix…” he trailed off, muttering thaumatical figures as he prepared to recast the spell.

“We can’t keep delaying, every second we wait is more chance for them to vanish outright,” Eclipse turned to the pegasus beside her. “I want the search net expanded. Inform General Cloudhammer we might need to lock the whole city down, before they have a chance to escape.” She scowled in frustration as he took off. “Just where are you, Heather?”

Another squad of ponies turned the corner, and Eclipse recognized the sergeant leading them. “Sergeant Kicker, glad to see you join us. Your squad ready to go?”

“Yes ma’am, just tell us where you need us,” Rain replied, saluting.

“Good, I want you all ready for when we make entry—”

“Ma’am, I found something!” Aura shouted from the street, standing next to a sewer grate.

“What is it?” she demanded, eyes narrowed as she approached the grate. “Did they take her into the sewer network?”

“Well, I’m not sure, though I’d be skeptical,” he admitted. “I couldn’t seem to get a direct link to her location, so I tried to expand the matrix for all diamond dogs, see if I could get anything from a more general sweep. And I started getting pings, but I don’t think they’re from Heather.” He sighed. “I suspect we might not be the only ones looking for her, ma’am.”

Eclipse stared through the grate, feeling the same as with the drainage pipe from where Heather was taken. “Can you track them?” she asked quietly.

“Well, I’d like to refine the spell, tune it to their specific auras—” he quailed as Eclipse glared at him. “Yes, I can track them.”

“Good.” She stared at the grate as if interrogating it. “More diamond dogs in the city… Why can it never be simple?”





Digger flexed his claws as he dug, continuing upward toward the pipes of the city. The rest of the pack was hot on his heels; jaws open and tails wagging as his excitement infected them. It hadn’t taken much to convince them of the merits a female would bring to the pack, and once Shale had given permission, they’d started moving.

Of course, Shale had been plenty angry at Digger’s entering the city, though for the moment had spared him any punishment. Depending, of course, on their retrieving the female successfully.

“How much farther?” Shale growled as he shouldered aside a boulder.

“Not far! Digger can feel pipes, and still knows female scent!” Almost to prove him right, his claws scraped against reinforced stone, and Digger carefully moved along the curve until he’d reached the top. “Go in here, won’t get pony mess on you.” He grunted as he started to carve an opening.

The rest of the pack followed suit, and were soon loping down the sewer tunnel. Digger slowed as he spotted the sunlight coming from a drainage grate, motioning for the pack to be silent. Peering up through the grate, he could see the gold of one of the pony guards, and waved the pack past. Moving quickly, the dogs crept under the grate, the sewer smell thankfully masking their scent.

“Digger better know what he doing,” Shale grunted once they were far enough from the grate. “Smell lots of ponies, lot of fear scent.”

“Digger know, Digger smart,” he replied as he stopped at another grate, sniffing attentively. His ears perked up, tail thumping a staccato beat. “Digger smell her! Is not far now!”

The pack hurried on, their previous excitement now fading into silent intensity as they started the hunt proper.





As consciousness returned, the headache announcing itself with a dull throb, Heather wished it’d taken the scenic route. Her chest burned in time with the pounding, like a mule had kicked her. Once she’d sorted out those two pains, she realized that she was rocking gently back and forth. At first she thought she was on a ship, but as she regained more of her senses she realized she was being carried. The distinctive tingle of magic surrounded her, and she growled irritably, muscles flexing. Her ears flicked, rasping against a rough fabric; and she opened her eyes to dim light through the bag over her head.

“She’s starting to wake up,” a voice said nearby, “Make sure she doesn’t break free.” The rocking intensified, along with the sound of hooves on wood. She struggled weakly as ropes wound themselves around her arms and legs, only to groan as her headache returned .

“I’d stay still if I were you,” somepony nearby advised, and Heather growled as she recognized their scent.

“Guiding Light, is that you? What’s going on? Why did you attack me?” She renewed her struggles, but the ropes resisted her efforts.

“Keep your mouth shut, you mutt,” another voice snapped, and she recognized the voice of the old unicorn from the street. She finally took a sniff, smelling two other ponies beyond Guiding and the old pony.

“Can I at least have the bag taken off?” she asked hopefully.

“No.” The old pony replied with a snort. She heard him turn, hooves clacking on the wooden floor. “I want her under constant watch. If she so much as tries to escape, feel free to get… inventive. Just don’t kill her or the whelp, we might need them as leverage for escaping the city.” The hoofsteps faded as he left the room, the other two ponies remaining by what she guessed was the door.

Heather squirmed until she was sitting upright. Flexing her wrists revealed the ropes were wound too tight, and tied too well for her to do anything. The bindings on her ankles were just as well done, and she felt her confusion turning to fear. “Look, I don’t know what you want, but please, just let me go. I haven’t done anything to you.”

She heard nothing, and renewed her struggling against the ropes. “You know that the Equestrian Royal Guard will be looking for me, if you let me go now I’m sure they’ll be willing to make some compromise—” the tingle of magic on her right ear was her only warning before it was savagely twisted, and she yelped at the sharp pain.

“I believe you were told to keep quiet,” one of the ponies snapped. “So I’d suggest doing that before I have to twist that ear off.”

“Let her go,” Guiding’s voice interrupted. “We need to remember that we’re better than that. Otherwise all our legitimacy goes out the window.”

“Screw legitimacy,” the first voice replied, “I lost my sister in St. Louis. Far as I’m concerned, losing an ear’s barely a start.”

“You heard Hearthstone, we need her for leverage.” The floor creaked as Guiding paced back and forth. “And it’s not just the Royal Guard tracking us, but the Night Guard too. And trust me: if we’ve harmed her, they won’t show us mercy.”

After a few seconds, the pressure let up, and Heather gasped in relief. As the pain ebbed, she felt her paws starting to throb again, and grimaced at the expected surge in her stonesense. But oddly, in spite of the interference from the wood floor, she felt… disruption in the ground underneath. She started to open her mouth, yet something kept her silent. Somehow, she didn’t feel that whatever it was would hurt her. She wondered if it was Eclipse, organizing some secretive operation to rescue her. Striking from below did seem to be right up the batpony’s alley, after all.





“You sure this where ponies have her?” A low growl undercut Shale’s question as Digger snuffled at the drainage grate. The larger dog wavered with the weight of the smaller on his shoulders, trying his best not to fall into the filthy water of the sewer.

“Digger not sure… wait, think Digger has her!” he grinned, tail wagging fiercely. “Her scent coming from that building across the street! Not smell many ponies, we go now?”

“Not from pipe, too tough to surprise,” Shale growled, setting Digger back on the pipe floor. “Pack go back into ground, strike directly from below. Ponies not see us coming.” He turned to the rest of the pack. “Once female secure, we bring her underground quickly, collapse tunnel behind us. Ponies won’t follow fast enough to catch, and we make our way deep until they give up.”

“Shale sure ponies give up?” Digger asked, glancing back up. “Digger smells scary ponies coming, they seem eager to find her too.”

“Which is why pack need to stop asking questions and follow commands,” Shale replied, cuffing Digger over the head. “Now hurry!”

The dogs quickly set to burrowing into the side of the pipe, moving in the direction of the house. Dirt and rock scraped as they carefully felt their way along, the weight of the home’s foundation guiding them until they were directly beneath it.

Digger grinned, tail wagging despite himself. Things were actually working out, and soon the pack would have it’s own female—

“Does Digger know where in house female is?” Shale suddenly asked.

Digger hesitated with a whine. “Ummm… no.”





Guiding Light felt another wave of anxiety wash over him as he trotted aimlessly through the house. Everything was proceeding as planned, yet he couldn’t shake the hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach. He couldn’t put his hoof on it, his resolve still felt intact, but he found himself wavering now that he was face to face with his discontent. Yet—

“Sir Light!” The unicorn at the end of the hall shouted. “The Royal Guard are here!”

“Where?” he demanded, indecision gone as he strode to the window.

“By the end of the road. Short Trails spotted them from the garden.” He pointed to the earth pony outside, who continued dutifully tending the bushes. “See? They’re right around the corner of the Honeycrisps’ manor.”

Guiding squinted, and sure enough he saw the glint of gold armor, the mirror of his own. “What is the stage of preparation for the teleport?”

“They’re charging the last of the runes in the basement. But why do we need to leave now? The Guard will have to negotiate for the mutt’s safety—”

“What’s your name?” Guiding asked abruptly.

“Umm, it’s Ivory Glow, sir.” he replied hesitantly.

“And did you happen to read the reports that I’ve been sending?” Guiding didn’t wait for his reply, “The Night Guard have been involved from the first day the diamond dog was brought into Canterlot. They fix the problem first, then ‘negotiate’ with whoever is left. That’s why it was important we not hurt Heather.”

Ivory swallowed nervously as realization sank in. “I… should probably help get the teleport array ready, shouldn’t I?”

“It couldn’t hurt,” Guiding remarked sarcastically as he turned to head back down the hallway. Almost at the same time, he heard the sharp crack of wood splintering, followed by shouts of alarm and high-pitched screaming. “And that would be Hearthstone,” he grumbled. “We’re under attack, defend the hostage!” He galloped back towards Heather’s room as more screams came from the basement stairwell. At least his indecision was gone for now.





Aura Link concentrated, working to keep track of the diamond dog’s presences. Tracking where Heather had been taken wasn’t necessary anymore, the house at the end of the street practically shone with ward magic. He couldn’t put a hoof on exactly what kind of wards, but that in itself only cemented it as the likely destination of the dognappers.

“And you’re sure that’s the house?” Eclipse whispered, peering around the corner at the unassuming residence. The only feature that set it apart from the others on the street was the heavy fence that surrounded it. An earth pony toiled in the garden, though he’d spent the past ten minutes tending the same flower bush, one that happened to give him a good view of the road.

“Yes, the thaumic traces are unmistakable. Furthermore, I’m feeling some form of wards, though for the moment they haven’t alerted anypony to my spells,” Aura replied. “I don’t want to probe any further, since it might trip them.”

Eclipse nodded quietly. “And the other diamond dogs?”

He grimaced. “I’m sorry, but their traces are getting obscured by the wards from the house. They were definitely moving for it though.”

“Okay, then we go now.” Eclipse turned to the other guards. “I want a barrier around the house, nopony gets in or out. Pegasi establish an aerial perimeter for the secondary. The unicorns not on barrier detail will advance and provide counter-magic support.”

“Who’s the entry team?” Rain Kicker asked.

“We are,” Eclipse replied, eyes hard as she glared at the house, sizing up the doorway and the windows.  “Sergeant Kicker, your squad will back me up—” she stopped as a faint scream echoed from the house. “What… was… that?”

“Ma’am, the dogs are on the move! They must have breached a basement, I can’t really see them now!” Aura shouted.

“Go now, move!” Eclipse shouted, taking flight as other guardponies broke cover and galloped up the street. She heard Rain Kicker’s squad leaping after her as she angled toward the house. “I want half of you to breach the upstairs, sweep and clear. Sergeant Kicker, you and two of your best on me, we’re taking the first floor!”

“Yes ma’am!” came their reply, the formation splitting up as they aimed for specific windows. The screaming and shouting coming from inside the house was getting louder, ponies from nearby homes peeking out their windows only to immediately withdraw upon seeing the Guard raid in action.

The unicorns concentrated their magic, and in a rippling flare of energy, started ripping the wards open. Thankfully no overt offensive magic was embedded into the wards, but they took no chances, keeping their attention on reducing the windows to common glass. The entry teams could handle those.

Eclipse cursed under her breath as she angled for one of the first floor windows, barely giving the earth pony gardener a second glance as a pegasus tackled him to the ground. Closing her eyes, she ducked her head forward and smashed through the glass. Broken shards crunched underhoof as she took in the area. In front of her was a long hallway, several rooms spaced out along it. The door on her immediate left was open, and further down the hall was another. A scared-looking unicorn dressed in a silk shirt was staring into the room, and Eclipse took the opportunity to charge. As she did, she noticed the first door seemed to lead to the basement, the walls and floor scratched badly. The claw marks led right from the stairwell to the other open room, and Eclipse cursed again.

The unicorn was starting to turn his head, magic coating his horn, and Eclipse stopped wondering about the claw marks for a second. She jumped high, wingtips almost brushing the ceiling as she kicked the tip of his horn.

Predictably, his magic immediately vanished and he started to cry out, only for her follow-up strike to snap his head sideways, sending him to the floor in a heap. She stopped to make sure he wasn’t going to get up, then slid up to the door and glanced in.

Admittedly, she had seen some strange things since entering service under Princess Luna, but the sight that greeted her definitely ranked high on the list. Heather was in the center of the room, a green aura of magic surrounding her. She was struggling, but the magic kept her from saying anything through the bag on her head. Guiding Light stood just behind her, ears back and breathing hard. He was favoring his left leg, which dripped blood from the gash carved into it.

In front of him, warily sizing him up, a pair of diamond dogs growled and snapped. They were still shoulder-to-shoulder, but Eclipse could see them starting to separate. Her eyes met Guiding’s, and she nodded in silent agreement. Before either dog could react, she leapt forward and smashed their heads together, dropping them to the floor like sacks of potatoes.

“Never thought I’d be happy to see you,” Guiding muttered.

“Shut up and let Heather go,” Eclipse snapped.

“And what will I get in exchange?” Guiding winced as he tried to put weight on his leg.

Eclipse scowled. “If you’re lucky, I’ll only break one of your legs. Now let. Her. Go.” She started to move forward, wings unfurling. “You’ve got three seconds, traitor.” She took another step. “Two.”

Guiding wanted to resist, but knew full well the batpony would deliver on her threat. And even if he got past her, there were still an unknown number of guards and who knew how many diamond dogs waiting. He knew he didn’t stand a chance of powering the teleport array on his own, either. All of the ideological fire guttered out and he released his magic. “Okay, I surren—“

Eclipse surged as his aura faded, the tip of his horn cracking with the force of her blow. As Guiding fell to the floor, screaming in agony, she wheeled and caught Heather. “Heather, it’s Eclipse, are you okay? Anywhere you’re hurt?” Not wasting time, she started moving Heather for the door, only to stop mid-step.

“What’s wrong?” Heather asked, struggling to get the rope around her wrists off. She could feel the knot starting to give, and redoubled her efforts.

Eclipse didn’t answer, glaring at the figure standing in the doorway. The diamond dog was huge, the top of his head scraping the doorframe as he shouldered through it. A smaller dog followed, though at the sight of Eclipse he half-hid behind the bigger one. They perked up immediately at the sight of Heather, and the bigger one growled to the other one.

They started to fan out, and Eclipse couldn’t help but appreciate the irony of the situation. “Really starting to regret punching out Guiding like that.” She started pushing Heather back as the dogs advanced. “Heather, things are going to get messy, I need you to stay back and keep your head down—“

Heather growled and yanked at the ropes, snapping them at the knot and freeing her arms. “I am sick and tired of this. I’ve been abducted, beat up, thrown around, tied up, and someone twisted my damn ear!” She ripped the bag off her head, teeth exposed and eyes practically burning. “I am done with sitting around, and done with these damn ropes!” She tore through the ropes binding her ankles and stretched her toes. “Thanks for the rescue, though.”

“Digger not lying when he say female strong,” Shale muttered. “Okay, Shale take funny-looking pegasus, Digger take female and leave.”

Digger yipped assent and took a step forward, only to recoil as Heather turned to glare at them both.

“And just what the hell is that you’re muttering about taking me?” she growled in Stonetongue, fangs bared and hackles raised. “Last I checked, you asked before taking someone somewhere. And if you’re thinking about taking me without asking, then I’m going to take chunks out of your hides!”

Both dogs quailed, pleading whines escaping as they took a few steps back, tails tucked firmly between their legs.

Eclipse couldn’t help her laugh, furling her wings. “Well, you seem to be just fine, Heather. Now, unless you want to keep making them wet themselves, think I can take them into custody?”

Heather blinked as the adrenaline rush started fading and sat down heavily. “I think I’m gonna throw up.” She abruptly gagged and retched across the floor, followed by another surge.

Eclipse grimaced and took a step to the side to avoid the puddle. “Yeah, you’ll be fine.”

Digger couldn’t help his tail starting to thump on the floor. “Digger think he in love.”

Shale growled and smacked Digger over the head.
> 08 - Negotiations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“And thus concludes my report.” Eclipse kept her eyes fixed on a spot on the floor.

“I see,” Luna mused as she put down the paper version of Eclipse’s dictation. Also on her desk were damage figures and summary reports from the other Guards who’d responded. “What is being done with Guiding Light?”

“He has been detained in the dungeons, with all the normal precautions. I personally validated his inhibitor ring, along with his muzzle and chains.”

Luna nodded. “I will see to him later. And the diamond dog pack?”

Eclipse scowled. “They’ve been quartered in one of the dragon diplomatic rooms for the moment, given the dungeon’s weaker stone composition. The Day Guard created a barrier around one of the rooms to prevent them from digging out, they assure me it’s virtually impenetrable to a non-unicorn. I felt that holding them there was prudent until yourself or Princess Celestia decided what was to be done with them.”

“Well, I believe that we should at least meet with them and hear them out. After all, had they not interfered, Heather might well have been lost to us, and her child with her.” Luna rose to her hooves. “I assume she is recovering?”

“Yes, I have Doctor Silverheart giving her a full checkup. I expect to have the results by moonrise.” Eclipse followed Luna as she trotted down the hall.

As they rounded the corner to the diplomat’s wing, Luna tilted her head slightly, ear cocked.

“Do you hear something, Princess?” Eclipse asked as she scanned the hall.

“How many diamond dogs did your report indicate were in the pack again?” Luna asked calmly as she opened the door, idly taking note of the furrows clawed into the door. The rest of the room hadn’t fared much better, with more scratches and furniture scattered about. Oddly enough, or perhaps not given the nature of their guests, the bed remained untouched.

The pack’s alpha had claimed the bed, the sheets rumpled into a burrow of sorts, while the rest of the pack lounged on various cushions or throw rugs.

“Seven,” Eclipse answered at once, eyes darting around the room as she took a headcount.

Luna sighed. “It would seem that we are short a guest. If I could trouble to ask you to ensure their safe, expedient return?”

“Of course, Princess.” Eclipse wheeled about and trotted down the hall.

“Now, I suppose that we can at least begin our initial talks. Shale, I believe your name is?” Luna slowly strode into the room, horn glowing as she shut the doors behind her. She wove an additional layer of magic to reinforce the wards on the room, noting the hole burrowed under the pile of cushions in the corner.

The largest dog thumped his chest. “Shale is alpha, yes.”

“Perhaps you could at least give me the courtesy of explaining the absence of one of your pack? I had thought I made it clear that until we had calmed the city down, it was safest for your pack to remain in this room?”

“Shale not dumb, he know pony games,” he growled. “Ponies keep diamond dog females to themselves, try to control packs and rule dogs.”

“I can assure you, that is not the case—“

Shale shook his head. “Dogs remember you, Lady Moon. We still sing of your darkness, of the corruption you unleashed upon this world. We still fight it in the wilds, after all—“

“Enough.” Luna’s eyes shone white, her mane whipping faster. “I understand more than you know the suffering I inflicted while I was under the sway of the corruption.” The temperature in the room began to fall, frost forming on the windows as the other dogs whined and huddled together. “I continue to atone for that to this day. But regardless of my past actions, they do not justify yours. Now, I would like to have a reasoned discussion with you, leader to leader. Is that an acceptable request?”

Shale shivered, a light dusting of frost shaking off his fur, though his eyes remained defiantly proud. “S-Shale accepts pony offer of talk.”

“Excellent,” Luna exclaimed as her eyes, mane and the room returned to normal. “Then let us begin.”





“I told you I’m fine, stop poking me with needles!” Heather growled as the tray struck the far wall with a clang.

“Miss Douglas, please, calm yourself!” Dr. Silverheart shouted. “I understand you don’t like the needles, but we need to verify that you and the baby are safe after your ordeal!” He took a hesitant step forward, a set of syringe tubes floating around his head. Opposite him stood Heather with a needle in her shoulder and a filled tube in her paw.

She glared at him for another few seconds, then sat heavily on the floor. With a heavy sigh, she nonetheless presented her shoulder to him. “Sorry, Doctor. I’m just on edge after… all this.”

“I understand, Heather.” He carefully drew the second tube full of blood, then deftly switched it for the third. “This is a lot to ask anypony to go through.” After the third was full, he gently set them into their case. “Now, let’s get a look at your baby, alright?”

“Sure.” Heather lay back on the bed, eyes half-closed.

Silverheart reached out with his magic, his own eyes closed as the silver-blue aura settled over Heather’s abdomen. “Alright, let’s see what we have here… Vital signs all appear normal… at least as normal as I can tell. Magical saturation is consistent with background levels… You sure you don’t want me to tell you the gender? I’m pretty sure I can get it right.”

“No thanks, I’ll wait.” Heather grimaced at the uncomfortable tingle of the spell. “Though I guess you’ll make a note of it somewhere, huh?”

“Only in my verbal report to the Princesses, and in nothing that you’ll see.” He promised, letting the spell fade. “In any case, it’s my verdict that you and the baby are both healthy as—”

“Horses?” Heather cut in, grinning toothily.

Silverheart rolled his eyes and sighed heavily as he turned to leave. “Why not? We’ve already got humans Converting into everything under the sun, dolphins turning into Celestia-knows-what, and I’m sure others I don’t know about. Might as well add horses to the mix. I can see them now, stomping around the castle, whacking their foreheads on every doorway...” His tirade continued as he headed down the hall.

Heather smiled as she stretched, then got to her feet to close the door. As it thudded shut, her nose twitched as a sudden new smell hit her. A low growl rose in her throat as she turned, “If you’re here to try and kidnap me, you’d better not be the only one coming.”

Digger raised his paws with a whine. “Digger not here to fight! Shale tell Digger to just find female! That all, Digger swear!” The already short dog seemed to shrink in on himself as Heather stared at him.

She lunged into motion, crossing the room in a few long strides, and grabbed Digger by the scruff as he tried to dive back down his hole. “Oh no you don’t! I want answers, and you’re going to give them to me!” Holding him clear off the ground, she pulled a dresser over the hole, then set him on the bed. “Now, talk!”

Digger quailed under her glare, tail tucked firmly between his legs. “Digger just doing as alpha said, just wanted to find female to rescue, get female out of pony prison!”

“Rescue?” Heather blinked. “Prison?”

Digger nodded eagerly, tail twitching in the barest of wags. “Rescue, yes! Shale smart, he come up with plan to take female, bring her under the mountain, back to a proper pack!” He frowned slightly. “Well, it mostly Digger’s plan, but it still good plan!” He hopped to his paws, almost falling off the bed in his excitement. “Now hurry, ponies may come back any minute!”

Heather stared incredulously at Digger, before the corner of her mouth started to tremble. “You… you tunneled all the way here, into the city, to rescue me?”

“Uh-huh!” Digger nodded proudly.

“Then, after rescuing me from the ponies who kidnapped me, you tunneled out of your room in the castle to mine, to rescue me from the ponies who saved me?”

Digger tilted his head, some of his excitement fading from his face. “Uh… yes?”

“And so now, you plan to smuggle me and my child out of the safest place for us, to go off to who-knows-where, to live underground with a bunch of other dogs?”

“Ummm… It sounded better to Digger when he first think of it…” Digger tapped a claw on his head. “Digger… may need to think plan more.”

Heather’s lip quivered more, before a sharp laugh burst forth. Bending over, she laughed until her lungs hurt. “This… my life’s become so completely upside down and insane I feel like I might as well be!”

Digger whined, scooting back instinctively. “Digger confused. Also, if Heather is with pups, what is child?”

Heather wheezed as she wrestled herself back under control. “Well… a child is like a pup, I guess, only they’re human.”

“What is hyuman?” Digger asked as he scratched at an ear.

“Not hyuman, hu-man.” Heather sat back down on the bed. “Well, humans are…”





“Shale still not understand.”

Luna resisted the sigh. “As I explained, I am well aware of your laws regarding the care and safeguarding of den mothers and have nothing but respect for them. But Heather is not a den mother, and furthermore, I believe the law as set down by Atrus was that a den mother must go willingly.”

Shale shook his head. “How can ponies expect Shale to believe Heather is not under spell? Would be easy for ponies to make Heather stay.” He scowled. “Shale dem-“ he caught himself as Luna’s eyes narrowed slightly,” -ask at least Heather be allowed to come to dens, to see the proper way for dogs to live.”

“I do not see why Heather cannot be asked if she would like to visit your dens, but for the time being, until her child is delivered, I am afraid that she must remain in Canterlot.”

With a low growl, Shale leaned forward. “You say Heather being with this ‘child’, but have not explained why it is so she must remain with ponies. Shale would very much like to know why this is.”

Luna shook her head. “As I explained, that information is strictly need to know, and you do not need to know, aside from that it does not pose a risk to Heather’s wellbeing. I understand that this is difficult for you to accept at face value, and thus extend the invitation for you and your pack to remain within the castle to observe the proof of my words. Should Heather accept it, of course.”

Shale grumbled, growled, and groused; his claws carved long furrows in the floor as he paced back and forth. Pausing only to whisper with another hulking dog, which could only be his beta, he finally strode back to stand in front of Luna. “Shale… accept pony offer, but with condition. If it is shown Heather is in danger, Shale pack reserve right to take Heather away. Without interference from ponies.”

“Excellent, then we are in agreement.” Luna extended a hoof, and Shale took it. After a firm shake, her voice remained light and pleasant. “Now, let us address the issue of your attempted kidnapping of Heather from under our noses from within this castle.”

Shale gulped.





“And so I got flown here to Canterlot, and have been here since.” Heather finished. She’d not given too many specifics about the project, but despite herself had discussed it more than she’d anticipated. Digger might not have been the brightest bulb, but nonetheless she found it easy to talk to him.

Digger frowned, chin in paw as he thought. “But Digger still confused. If hyumans not strong enough to survive, why should they live? Is not how dogs are raised.”

“Well, that’s the thing. Even in the face of being wiped out, humans have figured out a way to survive. I’m… just the test to see if it works.”

“So…” Digger scratched his head, “… Heather is saving entire race? All by self?”

“Well, no, there’s a lot of people involved…” Heather trailed off at the blank look in Digger’s eyes. “Yes, you could say that.”

Digger’s tail wagged a little. “Wow.”

Heather was about to open her mouth to ask Digger a question when the faint sound of wingbeats carried through the door. She barely had time to start turning her head when an armored missile slammed them open, and Eclipse skidded to a halt.

Her wings flared aggressively, she took in the scene before her, the missing dog sitting on the bed, half an expression of rapt admiration on it’s face. Heather sitting cross-legged not two feet from it, both relaxed and almost… friendly?

“Somepony has about five seconds to explain what in Tartarus is going on before I start turning that dog into my best impression of a pretzel.” She took a step forward, and her scowl deepened at the sharp smell that filled the air. “Really?”

“Digger can’t help it, demon pony is scary,” he muttered shamefully, shuffling back from the wet spot.

“Eclipse, stop.” Heather climbed off the bed, interposing herself between the two. “Yes, he broke into my room, but I don’t think he actually meant to hurt me. Apparently the whole thing was a harebrained scheme to free me from being held captive here.”

Digger frowned. “M’not a rabbit…”

Both Heather and Eclipse stopped and looked at him incredulously.

“What? Digger is a dog.”

In unison, a hoof and paw hit their respective foreheads.
> 09 - Check Ups and Check-Outs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heather sighed and rubbed her face. “Alright, we’re going to try this again.”

Shale, Digger, and the rest of the pack nodded, though a few nods were those about to fall asleep on their haunches.

“So I’ve explained what fleas are, and you understand that, yes?”

“Mhmm! Digger know tiny-biteys!” He smiled eagerly, tail wagging.

Shale cuffed him over the head. “Keep quiet! Shale trying to hear!”

Heather’s voice cut the budding argument short. “Both of you, knock it off. Don’t make me put the cone on you again.” She pointed at the inverted cone on her desk, the word ‘SHAME’ written on the inside of the cone.

Both dogs quailed. “Yes, Miss Heather,” they chimed in unison.

She glared at them for another few seconds, then smiled. “Okay, picking up where we left off, so we understand fleas. But they are not the cause of the diseases that come from the bites. They are caused by extremely tiny particles that cannot be seen. Those particles are called bacteria or viruses. Can you all say it with me now?”

“Bac-tera,” the dogs dutifully intoned, “Viruses.”

“Very good on viruses, but it’s ‘bacter-i-a,” Heather stressed. “Let’s try again—” She stopped as the door opened and Eclipse leaned in to point at the clock. “I’m afraid we need to cut today’s lesson short. But I have these tablets here with some basic homework I want you to try before tomorrow.” She frowned. “And I do expect these to come back without a single bite mark in them. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Miss Heather,” the dogs muttered as they plaintively glanced at the open door.

“Okay, you’re dismissed.” Heather said, instinctively raising an arm as the dogs ran pell-mell from the room, claws scraping small chips from the floor.

Eclipse calmly slid past the scramble as she trotted into the room. “If somepony told me that there’d be a class of diamond dogs learning anything, let alone biology, I’d have written them a recommendation for psych evaluation.”

“Well, they certainly make for… challenging students,” Heather replied as she gathered her notes together. “But at least they’re energetic.”

“Yes, I’ve seen their enthusiasm for naptime and snack breaks.” Eclipse chuckled. “So, are you ready for your checkup?”

Heather grunted as she put the papers in the desk drawer. “I guess, just looking forward to getting them out of the way.”

“At least you don’t have to put up with them for too much longer, right?” Eclipse trotted for the door. “Besides, at least it’s not a pony foal, you’d have two more months to look forward to.”

“That’s true,” Heather grimaced as she rubbed a paw over her swollen stomach. She followed Eclipse into the hallway, only to nearly run headlong into her hindquarters. “Eclipse?” She looked past her to see Digger standing there, a sheepish look on his muzzle. “Digger? What are you doing here? Did you have a question on the homework?”

“Umm, no.” Digger fidgeted, staring pointedly at his claws. “Digger… Digger wanted to stay by Heather for doctor pony visit. Digger knows Heather pup will come soon, so Digger thought a dog should be close by if needed. Shale said I could,” he added defensively.

Heather saw Eclipse starting to shake her head, and put a paw on the batpony’s shoulder to interrupt. “Digger, it’s very nice of you to offer, but we talked about this when you started your stay here. My checkups are private and—”

“Digger won’t peek!” Digger half-shouted, half-yelped, his cheeks red. “Digger just…”

“I know that you’re just trying to look out for me, and also trying to do what Shale told you to do, but I’m afraid I have to put my foot down on this one.” Heather knelt so that she could look Digger in the eye. “But I’ll tell you what, for tomorrow’s class, I’ll mark one question correct for you, does that sound okay?”

Digger nodded submissively “Umm… okay.” He turned to go, but hesitated. “Heather will let pack know if she in trouble, yes?”

“You’d be the first to hear,” Heather said with a smile, ruffling the fur on his head.

Digger smiled and bounded around the corner, tail wagging.

Eclipse snorted. “Dog is sweet on you, I hope you realize it.”

“What? No he’s not!... Well, I guess I could see it, but still…” Heather stammered.

Eclipse rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, furball. Regardless, we need to get going, you know how Silverheart gets when you’re late.”

“Oh, he’s not that bad,” Heather objected as they walked down the corridors toward the east gate.

“Heather, even we trot lightly around him,” Eclipse replied with a snort.

Heather grunted, though she privately agreed with Eclipse’s remark.

The rest of the walk passed quickly, the castle halls empty save for the occasional staff member who would smile and wave, or a guard who would salute Eclipse. The expected carriage was waiting, with two entire squads of pegasi as escort. The earth pony guards hitched to the front were equally stone-faced, heads turned and ears on a swivel to maintain as much awareness as possible

“Eclipse, isn’t this a bit much?” Heather asked as she climbed inside.

Eclipse looked the assemblage over. “Well, I would prefer more unicorns, but I suppose we should be alright for the route to the hospital with what we have.” She hopped up onto the opposite seat, ruffling her wings to get comfortable.

Heather scowled. “How many ponies can I not see?”

“I know it bothers you Heather, but after last month, I’m honestly surprised that we’ve relaxed your protection this much. It could be a lot worse, too. There was brief discussion about confining you to your room and bringing all the medical personnel here.”

“And which side did you argue?” Heather looked out the window as the carriage lurched into motion.

Eclipse rolled her eyes. “I reminded them what happened the last time you were confined to quarters. But, I did argue for increased security as well, given that we’re entertaining guests who would gladly have abducted you if the EFE hadn’t beaten them to it.”

Heather winced as the carriage bounced across a pothole, the baby kicking in protest at the motion. “I guess your argument makes sense…”

“Of course it does,” Eclipse replied modestly, preening all the same. “Now, I hope you have a good explanation for Doctor Silverheart about why you’re late.”

Heather shook her head. “I’m telling you, he’s not that bad. I’ll just explain that class ran late, and that’ll be it.”





Heather felt her tail doing its best to tuck further in as Doctor Silverheart scowled at her. “Doctor, I—”

“I don’t care if the dog’s god itself came from the sky to ask you for help with it’s homework, when you have appointments with me, you will be in my office, on time, and that’s final. Do I make myself clear?”

She fought down the building whine in her throat and straightened her tail. “Yes, Doctor.” She kept wanting to look down at the floor, thinking for some reason of the times when her mother had scolded her.

“Good, then if you don’t mind, get onto the bed and let’s begin.” He lit his horn expectantly as Heather settled back, the silvery aura extending around her midsection. His eyes drifted out of focus as the field shifted. “Hmmmm… Everything still seems healthy…”

Heather grimaced and tried not to squirm as the magic tickled along her nerves. “Well, he’s been more and more active since the incident.” She frowned as the magic concentrated for a moment, a familiar fluttering starting up as the baby responded to the magic. “So, do you still think he’s going to be born on the normal timeframe for a human baby?”

He narrowed his eyes, sweeping one final pulse of magic across her abdomen. “If what I’m sensing is accurate, then I’d say so. More than likely any day now for initial contractions to begin, though it’s hard to say if your physiology is going to be more like a dog’s or a human’s.” A clipboard floated over along with a pen, and he jotted down some notes. “To be honest, there’s still no concrete medical information on diamond dog reproductive behavior, only secondhoof information from the few who’ve spoken with the western packs.”

Heather sighed. “Well, we’ll have the answer before long, at least.” She frowned as the flutter worsened into a full-gut twinge. “Umm, Doc?”

He looked up from the chart. “What?” He saw the expression on her face, and his eyes widened briefly as they tracked to her belly. “You… can’t be serious…”

She grunted as another twinge rippled through her. “Looks like you’ll get to fill that blank a lot sooner.”

“Okay, um, right.” He practically flung the clipboard to the side as he half-galloped for the door. “Steady Hoof, I need some assistance please! And get Doctor Needle in here as soon as possible.”

“Right away, Doctor. Doctor Needle had been alerted when Ms. Douglas came in, and should be here momentarily.” The nurse wheeled in a cart laden with supplies, already pulling on his mask. “Okay, Heather, I just need you to focus on breathing for me, and we’ll have your baby delivered in no time. Did the contractions just start?”

Heather nodded, taking a deep breath that hissed out of her as another twinge hit, this one much stronger than the others. “Y-yeah. Um, I don’t want to be too demanding, but is there any chance that you have an epidural needle in that cart?”

The nurse took a nervous step backward, while Silverheart trotted back from the doorway, followed by another pony in a lab coat. “Well, we typically rely on pain-relief spells, but given your… situation, we had some supplies that were flown in from the United States, though…”

“Though?” Heather asked, a low growl undercutting the question.

Silverheart controlled the nervous shudder and answered for the nurse. “Equestrian Customs is dragging their hooves on releasing it, due to it being an unknown chemical compound. I spoke to them earlier this morning, and expected to have it released by tomorrow, but…”

Heather opened her mouth to speak, but whatever she was going to say was interrupted by the first real contraction striking. Eclipse recognized the signs a half-second early and clapped her hooves over her ears. Heather’s resulting howl nearly caused three ponies to embarrass themselves on the spot, and caused several mares in nearby rooms to go into early labor.

Rubbing her ears, Eclipse trotted to the door. “I think I’m going to send a few guards to Customs and… explain the urgency of the situation. Heather, please try not to maul the staff or frighten any pregnant mares to death, okay?”

Heather nodded, a harsh whine the only verbal response as she gripped the bed railings hard enough to bend the metal.





Digger’s ear twitched toward the window. “Digger hear something!”

Shale growled irritably, engaged with the slate in front of him. “Digger making things up to not do work.” He squinted, another growl working its way through his chest. “If bactera or virus so small, why Shale need to be afraid of it?” He tossed the half-finished slate on the dresser and lay back on the bed, quickly snoring to put a sawmill to shame.

Digger made sure Shale was actually asleep before he rolled his eyes. He glanced back out the window, before he made up his mind. “Digger know he heard something, so Digger will just prove it.” He glanced at the other dogs, making sure they weren’t looking, before crawling under the bed. He squirmed into the tunnel he’d dug to hide his growing collection of treasure, sliding his own, finished slate carefully into its nook. He shifted a slab of rock, revealing a second tunnel leading further into the darkness. “Digger coming.”

The tunnel was cramped, but he’d managed to break into another of the sewer pipes. He dropped to the bottom with a quiet splash, nose wrinkling at the smell. He shook himself thoroughly and dug his claws into the side, awkwardly crouch-hopping down the pipe. He stopped at one of the junctions, a scowl on his muzzle as he fought to separate the scents. “Digger swear he heard Heather howl. But howl sound far away. Digger knows Heather lives in pony castle, why howl come from far away?”

He paced back and forth, trying to gather his thoughts. “Okay, Digger know Heather with pups, pups not far from being born... “ He tapped a claw on his chin, the feeling he was on to something growing. “So, if Heather not in room, then… then…” His eyes widened in sudden realization. “Pups on way! Pups on way!” He barked eagerly, the sound echoing through the pipes as he blundered his way toward the closest ladder. Uncaring of the sludge coating his fur, he clambered up and shoved the cover aside.

“Digger will help!”





The throne room’s normal din almost drowned it out, but Celestia’s ear twitched as the echo of the howl floated over the clamour of Day Court. She sighed and rose to her hooves, “I suppose these things always happen when we least will them.”

“Your Highness?” The noble, who’d been industriously outlining his plan to save the city uncounted bits by spending an equally uncounted amount to overhaul infrastructure, asked at the unexpected motion.

“I apologize, but there is a matter which requires my attention. I am afraid that I must end Day Court early, and will resume it on the morrow. If you will please excuse me.” She descended from her throne swiftly, the gathered ponies scattered in her wake. The guards spread their wings and bounded into a short glide, startled by her haste.

“What is it, Princess?” Captain Dawn Breeze asked, her agitation plain.

“Just a moment, Captain,” Celestia absently replied as she reached out with her magic. ”Sister, did you hear that?”

”Of course, I’d be surprised if half the city has.” Luna’s amused reply teased along Celestia’s mind. ”I’ve checked with Eclipse, and she’s got things well in hoof for now, though I did take the liberty of ordering an extra squad to provide additional security at the hospital. I assume you are going there now?”
”Of course, and you?” Celestia asked, a knowing grin on her muzzle as the reply came back almost immediately.

”I’m already halfway there, so if you wish to be there first I would suggest haste, sister. And no teleporting.” With that, Luna broke the link, the wind sharp against her as she raced for the hospital. She reached out with her own version of Celestia’s spell, feeling the disciplined mind of her ‘daughter’ closing with her. ”Eclipse, is all well with Heather? Her howl certainly carried a degree of pain I did not expect.”

My Lady, it seems Equestrian Customs dug their hooves in somewhat on the matter of the medicine for Heather’s delivery. I have corrected their deficiency and am en route to the hospital with it now.”

”And you did not mistreat them too badly, I hope?” Luna chided as she swooped to land in front of the hospital.

”Me, my Lady? I was the very model of diplomacy.” Eclipse’s sending was threaded with a indignation and an undercurrent of laughter.

”I am sure you were. I will meet you at the hospital.”





”Of course, my Lady,” Eclipse thought, her connection to Luna fading quickly. She flapped her wings harder as she spotted a distant shape circling to land on the hospital roof, while a second set of shapes separated from the castle and started heading toward it as well.

“Looks like it’ll be a well-attended birth, at least—” she muttered to herself as she adjusted her flight path to begin approaching the hospital. The thermals rising from the stone at least made for relatively easy soaring, but as she swept over an alley she faltered at the stench that hit her nose. It somehow combined the odor of week-old decay with the rank aroma of festering food, blending it all with an aura of… dirt?

“N-no,” she coughed, banking to circle over the alley, “they’re all in the castle, being closely watched by guards who would not want to risk my temper by letting a dog out again.” She squinted at the alley, scanning for any fresh tunnels or displaced drain covers. All she could see were several dumpsters from the restaurants, one with it’s top left open. She considered landing for a closer investigation, but the sheer repulsiveness of the smell coming from the dumpster plus another howl coming from the hospital changed her mind. She made a mental note to have health services pay the restaurant a visit, and angled toward the hospital.

Below, the dumpster rocked back and forth on its wheels, garbage resettling as Digger carefully shimmied the side of his head out from underneath. He’d caught the scent of the bat-mare and briefly thought about jumping in the dumpster for extra protection, but the thought occurred to him that Heather might hit him if he showed up covered in garbage. He whined as he squirmed free of the dumpster, eyes to the sky as he watched the bat-mare disappear from view. “So that where hospital is. Digger coming, Digger help.” He broke into a run, claws cutting furrows into the stone as he exited the alley… and careened straight into a wall of grey. The dog and stallion went to the sidewalk in a tumble of limbs, startled whinnies and yelps.

Digger scrambled to his paws, shook his head to reorient his direction, and took off running again, barely acknowledging the pony he’d run into with a snarled “Pony should watch where going! He not own street!”

“Well I never!” Jet Set snorted, incredulity on his face as he tossed his mane back into place. “First it was one dog, now another! Honestly, I don’t know what the Crown is thinking, letting those filthy animals run wild through the city like this. Come on, honey, we’re going straight to Day Court to lodge a complaint!” He started down the sidewalk, only to stop when he realized his wife wasn’t with him. “Upper Crust?” He half-turned, seeing her standing where the mongrel had collided with him.

She raised a shaking hoof to point at his side, eyes wide with terror. “J-Jet…”

He turned his head more, and saw what she saw, his jaw dropping open in horror. There, imprinted proudly on his pristine, limited production Hoity Toity original jacket, formed from an unholy mixture of caked-on dirt, sewer sludge, and other, best forgotten waste, was the unmistakable shape of a diamond dog.

His shriek shattered every window within ten yards.





Eclipse landed on the rooftop as a gallop, barging past the guard without stopping, and hurried down the stairwell to the maternity floor. Shouldering the door open, she beelined for Heather’s room, drawing up short at the sight of Celestia and Luna waiting calmly outside the door. “You Majesties, I beg your pardon, but I have the medicine—”

“Is that the epidural medicine?” Dr. Silverheart interrupted, almost knocking the door off its hinges. Past him, Eclipse could see several of the hospitals burly interns struggling to keep Heather restrained, with the nurses mostly huddled in the corner. “Don’t just stand there, give it here, now!” Not even waiting for her to open her saddlebags, he yanked them off her back and hurried back into the room, slamming the door shut roughly. “Now Heather, put that intern down, you are not going to throw him at me—” the wall shook as something hit it.

Eclipse made to enter the room, but froze as Luna raised a hoof. “Princess, I’m her friend, I might be able to calm her down until they administer the medication…”

“I believe, Eclipse, that the doctors and nurses have this well in hoof.” Luna glanced down the hall as a stretcher was wheeled off the elevator, the nurses pushing it whispering nervously as they looked at Heather’s door. “Well, mostly. In either case, it is all in Heather’s paws now, and the best we can do it wait.”

Eclipse started to protest, but the struggle inside the room abruptly ended, and she sighed. “As you say, my Lady.”

The rest of the floor cautiously fell back into their routine as the minutes dragged on. Finally, Dr. Silverheart pushed open the door, his mane bedraggled but a tired smile on his face. “You can come in now, but please be quiet. It was… an exhausting procedure, though I can say the baby appears to be healthy.”

“Is Heather well?” Luna asked as she and Celestia got to their hooves.

“Her? Oh stars yes, she’s fine. I was asking for the sake of the interns, one of them is still passed out in the corner.” He gestured to the waiting ponies with the stretcher and they nodded, hurrying into the room and emerging with the limp form of their coworker. “He’ll pull through, just got a nasty bump from the wall.” He turned and reentered the room, holding the door open for the rest of the group. “Heather, you’ve got some very eager ponies here to see you.”

Heather nodded absently, her focus on the bundle of linen held to her chest.

Eclipse took a moment to process the rest of the scene in front of her. The warped bed frame, pawprints clearly visible. Ragged remains of improvised straps dangled, one still wrapped around her left wrist. “Are you sure that stallion’s only got a mild concussion?” she asked, walking over to examine the crater in the wall.

Heather’s ears flattened, while a low whine crawled from her throat. “I… it just hurt and he wouldn’t let go, so… I kind of made him.” Her face reddened. “Is he really going to be okay?”

Dr. Silverheart nodded. “He’ll have an alicorn-sized headache for a couple days, but he’ll be fine. Maybe learn something about listening to pregnant diamond dogs, since I’m sure we’ll see more of them in the future. Anyway, how is he?”

Heather practically transformed, a broad, tired smile on her face. “He’s perfect.” She shifted slowly, adjusting the blanket so everyone could see. His eyes opened at the motion, a gurgled protest dying as he looked at all the strange faces staring down at him. But his mother’s face was there too, so he didn’t start to cry.

Immortal rulers they might be, but Celestia and Luna both couldn’t help the cooing sigh as they leaned closer. Even Eclipse felt the smile tugging at her lips as she craned her head for a better look.

Her smile vanished as she looked the baby over. “Um, Heather?”

“What?”

“I’m certainly not an expert on human babies, but—”

“Why Heather puppy hairless?”

The room fell silent, every pair of eyes turning to look at the window. Perched on the windowsill, Digger stared back, confusion and dried sewage on his muzzle.

“Umm, Digger also confused about Heather puppy skin, why it colored like copper ore?”
> Epilogue - First Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heather crouched down, a paw the size of his head gently ruffling his brown hair. “It’s okay, Matthew. Why don’t you go play with some of the other foals while Mommy gets you signed up?”

Hesitantly, he looked across the waiting room to the far corner, where a group of pony foals, along with a griffon fledge and something that had the features of both were playing. He glanced back up at his mom and pressed closer against her leg.

“Honey, I know you’re nervous, it’s always tough going to a new place. But I also know if you just reach out, you’ll make friends. So why don’t you give it a try, hmm? I’ll be right over there at the desk if you need me, okay?”

Matthew nodded and slowly inched away, starting to cross the room. Some of the ponies present whispered to themselves, though the stern presence of Aunt Eclipse at the door kept them from saying mean things like he sometimes heard when they rode the carriage into town.

“What’s your name?” An earth pony filly interrupted his thoughts, practically bumping heads with him in her eagerness to inspect the newcomer.

He stumbled back, but remembered Uncle Digger’s teaching about not letting yourself look weak and kept his footing. Swiping at his eyes to make sure they were dry, he put on his brave face and stuck out his hand. “I’m Matthew and I’m five years old tomorrow!”

She looked at his outstretched hand curiously, snuffling at his fingers. “How come your claws are so tiny?”

“What?” Matthew looked at his hand, turning it back and forth. “I don’t have claws, I have fingers, and those are fingernails.”

“Huh, they looked kinda like claws, like Slip Blade’s,” she pointed at the griffon, “or like Swift.” She tilted her head, looking past him. “Is that your mom?”

“Um, yeah.”

“So, are you a diamond dog then? Because you don’t really look like one of them, either.”

Matthew shook his head. “No, I’m human.” He puffed his chest out. “But I’m also an honorary member of the Deep Stone pack, and I get to meet the Princesses sometimes too, if I’m good!”

“Woah, really?” the filly bounced on her hooves eagerly. “That’s so cool! My parents took me to the Summer Sun Celebration once, and I got to see Princess Celestia raise the sun while Princess Luna lowered the moon!” She blinked, then abruptly threw a hoof around his waist. “I’ve got to introduce you to the others, they’ll be so jealous I’m your first friend! Hey guys, come here and meet Matthew!” Not waiting, she all but dragged him over to the others.

Matthew squirmed free, mentally repeating Uncle Digger’s advice as he waved awkwardly. “H-hello, my name’s Matthew.”

The foal with pony and griffin features stepped closer. “Hi, my name’s Swift Bolt, but you can call me Swift.” He glanced at the filly, who was chatting with the griffon. “Don’t let Rock get to you, she’s like that with all the new foals.”

“Her name’s Rock?” Matthew asked, glancing at her again.

“Yeah, Rock Runner. Her parents are miners, but they got some grant to be able to send her here. So, your mom’s a diamond dog?”

“Yeah, I know it’s weird…” Matthew found himself looking down at the floor.

“That’s really cool! My mom’s a griffin, but my dad’s a pony. Who’s your dad?”

Matthew frowned. “I’m not supposed to talk about that, Mommy says it’s a secret.”

Swift frowned. “Well, that’s weird.” He looked over at the reception desk. “Umm, Matthew? Is your mom… barking at Miss Flower?”

Cringing, Matthew looked over at the commotion. “Oh no, not again…”

“I told you his name is Matthew, Matthew! Not Matte Hue!”