1: The Tome

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In a small darkened bedroom in a house on the very outskirts of a modest town called Salina, an alarm clock sitting atop a dresser silently clicked over to three AM. The silence was quickly shattered as it started buzzing loudly, causing the room's sole occupant to fall out of bed and land painfully on his right arm. The bedraggled man scrambled to untangle himself from the sheets to get within punching range of the loathsome device. After a minute of blind fumbling, he was finally able to drag himself to the foot of the dresser and deliver a just fate to the hell spawned clock. It landed on the floor in front of his face. The red digits glared at him. Struggling through the last vestiges of sleep, he unwrapped the stubborn sheets from himself and shuffled over to the bathroom before flicking the lights on. Blinded into a partial awakened state he saw the disheveled face of James Tune in the mirror through half lidded eyes. If there was one thing that defined him, morning person would be at the bottom of the list. The universe’s big joke was that his current form of employment was that of a mail carrier.

Tune’s face was rough with three days of beard scruff. His greasy dark brown hair was cropped moderately short if for no other reason than to keep it out of his eyes. James was not fat, but he was hardly in shape either and the slight bulge on his stomach was proof of that.

He was not one for pajamas, not that it mattered to the lone bachelor. It also helped that he did not have to think to remove them when climbing in the shower; an act that would require more sentient thought than he was currently capable of before caffeine.

At the moment, he let the cold water wake him up enough to cleanse himself. Once the shower was done, he took one look at his face stubble. “Its not itchy yet, it can wait another day.”

He quickly donned his uniform while a pot of coffee heated up. While James did not care so much for meticulous self-grooming, he did care enough to always make sure his mail uniform was clean and pressed. With one cup of coffee down and the rest in a thermos, he locked up the house and drove to a nearby fast food breakfast place on his way to the post office. At the clock-in area he saw the half dozen other carriers along with the closest person he had to a friend, Qubert Smith. Qubert took one look at Tune and gave an impressed whistle. “And here I thought you couldn’t look any worse in the morning. You’ve got morning zombie down to a science.”

James clocked in while giving Qubert a weary expression. “Maybe if you hadn’t of dragged me to that movie after I told you I wanted to finish reading my book I’d have gotten to sleep on time.”

The pair walked down the short hallway to the dispatch center. “What are you talking about? It was a matinée. You had plenty of time to yourself after that.”

“And all of that was taken up by the book,” Tune countered with a yawn. “And it was a lot better than the movie about identical cousin super spies.”

“At least it had a Michael Bay level of explosives.” The collection of carriers arrived at the center, but the supervisor had yet to post the routes so the group decided to mill around for the time being.

James took a seat at his desk to lay his food out while Qubert sat on a corner. “That might have grabbed me better if the plot didn’t revolve around the incestuous love affair between the two.”

Qubert cringed. “That did sort of come out of left field for me too,” he admitted before changing subjects. “So did you hear about the meteor coming to wipe us out?”

Tune rolled his eyes while biting his sausage biscuit and tossing Qubert his hash brown. “Yes, and like everyone said, it’s too small to do that. It’ll just burn up in the atmosphere. I’m more worried about my cholesterol then that.”

“I don’t know man. Some scientists are saying its not just a chunk of rock or ice.”

Tune snorted in disbelief. “What? It’s a space ship made to look like an asteroid?” he said mockingly.

Smith’s counterargument was interrupted by the supervisor. Tune noticed he did not look nearly as angry as he usually did. “Alright listen up. Route postings are on the board and the trucks are being loaded now. I want no slip ups this time, understand?”

A chorus of weak affirmatives met him prompting the supervisor to return to his private office. The television screen above the supervisor’s door lit up with the route numbers and the corresponding ID number for the carriers. Qubert and James were the last of the seven to look. “Ha, you got route three.” Smith taunted with a smirk. “You get to deliver your own bills.”

“Joy.” Tune replied as the pair walked over to the garage. “Are you still hosting that costume party later tonight?”

“Since when did you like parties?” his friend genuinely asked.

“Never had anything against them, I’ve just been busy lately.”

Qubert spoke while climbing into his truck. “Just be sure to remember it’s a costume party. If you show up without one I’ll have to kick you to the curb.”

“You’re all heart Q.” He replied as the carriers left the lot to go about their rounds. Salina was a quiet town in the wee hours. Only a handful of cars were on the roads which suited James just fine. With the thermos supplying a steady stream of caffeine in one hand and the steering wheel in the other, he went about the streets of Salina with nary a single spot of trouble. “Forty seven Clover Street. Last stop of the day before I can go book hunting.” He said to himself as he pulled in front of his house. “Actually, I should spend the time shopping for a costume.” Seeing that the current bin of mail sitting on the passenger side was empty and moved towards the back to grab the last one and noticed it was heavier than usual. A large square package in clown wrapping paper with a thick bungee cord keeping it bound was sitting on top of the other mail.

“Why is this on top instead of in order like everything else?” he grumbled lightly. He did not see very many odd packages, and this one certainly qualified. It was wrapped in wax paper decorated with a creature he was not familiar with that was made from multiple different animals. The package was bound with the budgie cord made to look like taffy. The oddity of it put a smirk on his face. “Well I guess this is one way to send a package. I wonder what the sorter back at the office thought of it.” He flipped it over to locate the card and opened it to find it bore his name. “James Tune? I didn’t order anything.” He wanted to open it, but the rest of the mail demanded attention. “Well I don’t need to do the paperwork for another two hours; I got some time to kill.”

As soon as Tune finished his route, he parked the mail truck on the side of the street outside his home and took his mail and oddly wrapped package inside. Once within he immediately dropped the rest of the mail on the table on his way to the den before plopping on the couch. “I bet this is some kind of prank from one of the sorters. How else would this make it anywhere without proper address labels?”

Pulling the cords off with moderate ease and peeling away the wax paper, he found a large leather-bound tome that had a soft blue glow. As soon as he touched the book directly the glow vanished. “Huh, I must be seeing things.” He put the wrapping aside to get a better look at the tome. It seemed very new to the point of never having been opened before. It was a fairly large book with it being a square foot in size and several inches thick. The overall color was a light purple with an indented pattern of a six pointed starburst surrounded by five smaller ones. The tome was kept closed by a small locket on the side with the key on a simple thread next to it. “This look really well made.” He flipped the tome over and smirked at a little yellow sticker. “Discord Emporium, nine and three fourths bits. Heh, whoever sent this didn’t even think to pull the price tag off.”

He did so carefully as to not leave any residue before flipping it back over and turning the lock to read the first page. Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Reference Guide to the Arcane, from novice to advanced. An amused chuckle escaped his lips at the name as he flipped the page. Dear reader, thank you so much for buying my guide to the wonderful and exciting world of pony magic. Tune scratched the back of his neck at that one, but kept reading. Within these pages I will cover the various nuance of each tribe’s innate magical abilities along with application spells for each. I know most of you might think there are no spells for anypony outside of unicorns, but that is a sad misnomer I hope to dispel. I know you will enjoy what this book has to offer and that you learn every step of the way.

James set the book down on his lap. “I haven’t read a fictional spell book since I skimmed over that DnD player’s manual a while back. I’ll never understand the need for tiered spells over a mana pool system. Still, why would the narrator have the title of princess instead of--well--mage; or something to that effect?”

His pocket buzzed and Tune pulled out his phone to see his timer was going off. “I better get back to do the paperwork.” He stood up to leave, but his gaze fell back to the tome sitting on the couch. “Sure, why not. I might find out who gave you to me.” He grabbed the item and went back to his mail truck and placed the object on the passenger seat. Along the way back to the office he felt a mild itch at the base of his spine.

By the time he returned to the post office, it was nearly ten in the morning. He bypassed the morning crowd wishing to send mail the old fashioned way and went straight to his desk to find a mound of paperwork. Another day, another dead tree. I don’t know why I have an office computer if we keep using so much paper. He set the spell book down on the side and got to work.

He barely got a single page done when that incessant itch demanded attention. James was about to scratch when he saw Madeline glaring at him. Knowing her she’d yell sexual harassment and try to get me fired. It can wait. As time moved on, the itch became a discomfort which progressed into pain and the bewildering notion that his pants were too tight. Forty minutes into his work left Tune in grumbling mess. I don’t care what Madeline thinks, something doesn’t feel right and I’m scratching this itch. Sweet relief was moments away until Qubert patted James hard on the back, distracting from the pain for the moment.

“Almost done for the day Jay Tee?”

Tune gave a weak smile. “Yea, just a few more pages.”

Smith eyed him with mild concern. “You feeling okay?”

James stretched to relieve some of the discomfort. “I think I might have twisted by back wrong. I’ll be fine after an hour or so.”

“I’d hope so.” His friend replied with a half-smile. “You’re too young to throw your back out with a few envelopes.” He noticed the tome for the first time and picked it up. “Where’d you get this?”

“In the mail, shockingly enough.” He joked. “Didn’t have any sort of address on it, only my name.”

Qubert inspected the cover. “Maybe you have a secret admirer.”

“Oh yeah, that’ll be the day.” James retorted as he put the finishing touches on the last of the paperwork. “Its some sort of fantasy spell book.”

“Spell book eh?” Smith sneered as he unlocked it. “This thing's pretty damn big for a game manual covering just magic.” He flipped through the pages with a frown. “What gives? Its all in gibberish.”

James glanced over and could not see the text from his angle, but could tell Qubert was looking at one of the center pages. “Its probably in multiple languages, its in English at the front.”

Smith lost interest and didn’t bother to look. “Maybe later. I have to get set up for the party, you’re still coming right?”

James was torn. On one hand he wanted to read the book, but on the other he couldn’t remember the last party he went to. “I said I would go and I’m not going to let a little back pain stop me from that.” Besides, the book isn’t going anywhere.

“Great. We’re off tomorrow so the shindig will last til whenever. Remember, bring a costume.”

James took a slight insult to the patronizing end. “Its my back that’s hurting not my memory.”

“Just making sure there isn’t a repeat of the Dominic incident.” Smith called over his shoulder as he walked off.

Tune grumbled in exasperation that was compounded by the redoubled agony. Finally done. He got up and put his paperwork on the “out” tray and took the tome in his arm and marched straight for the men’s room and into an empty stall.

There, now I can take care of this. James dropped his pants to have direct access to the skin only to stop short when he felt something that should not be. He turned to look behind to see what his hand discovered and found a tail. It was barely seven inches long and was covered in azure hair. It took James a minute for his brain to fully contemplate this fact and another to realize it was firmly attached to him. “Da hell izzat?”

He tried pulling on it, but again it confirmed it was an extension out of his waist. Did someone slip me some weak acid or something? The person in the next stall flushed, breaking him from his entranced state. Whatever’s going on, I’d be better off figuring this whole thing out at home. He tried several times to tuck the new appendage inside his pants so it would be less painful, but met with only minimal success. Not exactly helping there’s such a noticeable bulge where there never has any right to be.

Once his clothes were fixed he glanced at the spell book resting on the toilet paper dispenser. I get a weird book and a tail within the space of a few hours. Something tells me either you or the person who gave you to me did this. James contemplated destroying or throwing the book away, but a thought stopped him. I don’t know who I’m fooling, but you might have an answer for me.

Grabbing the tome, Tune quickly left the men’s room, clocked out, and raced to his car before anyone could take notice of the odd bulge. He had to sit all the way forward in his seat to make the drive back to his house as painless as possible. All of his efforts were for naught because once the tail had been freed from its confines the first time, it protested even harder the second time and Tune felt every stab of pain the whole way back.

The first thing he did upon slamming the front door of his house was to strip his uniform pants off and was rewarded with a wave of relief. “Damn that feels better.” He leaned against the wall as he pulled slightly on the offending addition; partly to reaffirm it was real and secondly to loosen the stiffness out of it for being cramped for so long.

A minute passed until curiosity got the better of him and he went to his bedroom to find a mirror for a closer inspection. Given that he lived alone, he had no qualms about stripping fully so no clothing would hinder his line of sight. “Holy…Its down to my knees. Was it that long back at the office?” He felt for the actual bone. “Well that’s not as long, the rest of it is just hair.” He let the tail fall loose and inspected it again in the mirror. “Looks just like a horse tail, but I don’t know of any breed that has blue hair of all things. Come to think of it, I don’t think blue hair is natural in anything. Some birds sure, but not horses and certainly not people.”

On a whim he tried to move the addition on it’s own and succeeded in wagging it easily. “Well, I always did kind of like that shade of blue, so there’s that at least.” Not desiring be to nude any longer, he put a spare shirt on, but stopped short of donning his briefs and a pair of shorts. “Not going through that again.” He found his trusty pocket knife on the dresser and measured up where to cut the holes. “A quick sliding of the tail through and presto, no more agony.”

Checking his work on the mirror again to make sure the holes would not tear, he stood in front of the reflective glass while swishing the blue tail back and forth. “I don’t know why.” He said to himself at length. “But I won’t mind too much if you’re the only thing that pops in uninvited. But hiding you until I get rid of you will be a pain in the ass.” He groaned over his unintentional pun and returned to the den where the spell book still rested on the floor. “Right.” He muttered as he rested the tome’s weight in his arms. “If you can make a tail grow, then you might have a tail-be-gone spell.”

Tune walked over to the couch and sat down only to sit on his tail again. Aside from a brief stab of discomfort, he was able to move it out of the way now that it was free of its confines and he was able to sit normally. James flipped through the preface and various accreditations that mean little to him. “Ah, a table of contents, perfect.” He brushed his hand down the pages while reading the table’s major points. Basic understanding yada yada, focusing points for unicorns, peg-wait unicorns? Those are horse-like. He glanced at his tail, it twitched slightly at him remembering its presence. “This does not bode well.”

Returning to the table of contents, he skimmed towards the early advanced magic before finding what he was looking for. “Here it is. Alteration magic, chapter thirty seven.” He flipped through the pages towards the back, but quickly lost count as the page numbers became illegible. “There’s no way I’ve gone too far already.” Before going back towards the front of the book he opened the page fully to look at it. What he saw shocked him. Instead of text in a foreign language like he originally suspected, the words were moving about the page in random patterns and fading out on one side, only to reappear on the other. It was mesmerizing to watch, but a seed of fear took root.

“This isn’t some sort of holographic paper, and I don’t care what you say, there’s no ink in existence that can move around like a bloody screen saver.” He left the page open as he placed the book on the coffee table and leaned back to think.

“Okay so what do I know? A, I have horse tail and B, this book and presence of said tail apparently legitimizes magic.” The idea still felt rather silly. “But what I’d like to know is where this book came from and why it decided to throw a blue tail on me.” At least so far. His first thought was to check back with his coworkers on Monday to find out if anyone of them put the tome in his truck, but debunked that soon after. “None of them would have just let it sit in my truck. Besides, I leave the mail truck at every stop to make the deliveries; anyone could have put it there at any time when I wasn’t looking.” Assuming they didn’t magic the book there either.

Tune growled in exasperation and fell back into the couch. “Well piss. That’s no help.” His left hand fell on his tail. Without thinking he started rubbing the strands between his fingers which had a calming effect. His sour mood was blunted as he took notice of it. “At least you have a use outside of getting in the way.” He looked back at the spell book and its dancing pages. “Shifting letters would have caught Q’s attention a lot more than what his reaction suggested. Why didn’t he say anything about it then?”

James shifted forward again and flipped towards the center of the book. Every page was the same but in different patterns. “He isn’t blind. So why?” Tune flipped all the way back to the end of the first chapter. “Well this is in English at least, and its that Princess again.”

As some of you may know about me, I love to learn. With that in mind, I hope by fully reading the previous chapter that you do too. Now I know this is a reference guide, but I couldn’t resist putting in a review for each chapter; mostly to make sure none of you hurt yourselves in taking on magic too dangerous for your skill level. To that end I placed each subsequent chapter under progressively more difficult illusion spells. Some of you more advanced magic users will have already picked up on the one for chapter one. Each chapter will be harder to unlock, but the solution will always be within the skill range set by the previous text. This review will be a gimme though as chapter one was only about the basics of the three tribes’ magical talents. The only thing you have to do to be able to read the next chapter is to touch the next page with the foci of your magic, based on tribe of course. Don’t worry about damaging them or the book as a whole, I made sure every copy of the guide is quite resilient. I hope to see you again in the next chapter.

“Based on tribe?” He flipped back to the beginning of chapter one and found the mini contents table there. “Unicorn, earth, and pegasus. Well I know I’m none of those. Not yet anyway.” He grimaced after being reminded of his tail. "Well nothing for it but to read the first chapter and see if I can find out the different foci, maybe I’m pony enough to trick the book."

As Tune read through the surprisingly long and detailed chapter he lost track of time as he could not help but be engrossed in it. The man always had a semi fascination with the idea of magic, and would have thoroughly enjoyed the well written tome on its own merits. Nevertheless he was firmly rooted in the principle of science in that everything had to be tested and proven before believed and always assumed magic for what it was, fiction. Yet all it took to throw that sentiment out the window was the blue haired tail that refused to be denied. What surprised him was that he was taking it as well as he was.

He took a break and leaned away from the tome to rub his eyes, only to find one hand was still rubbing the hairs of his tail. He took a moment to gauge his overall reaction to the act. Its really quite soft, almost like rubbing a cat… except its attached to me instead of a feline. He added with no small about of worry. “I think I’m starting to like this thing too much. Maybe some lunch will get my mind straight.”

He put the book aside and found his way over to the kitchen to pull out some leftover pizza. As he waited in front of the microwave he felt something tickle his ankles and looked down to see his tail had grown to nearly touch the floor. “You’re going to cost me a fortune in shampoo aren’t you?” The appendage only swished in response, and reminded him of the costume party. “I really shouldn’t go, I’ll have to tell Qubert I’m sick.” It would not be a complete lie. The oven dinged and he took the pizza to the table and instinctively flicked his tail to the side so it would not get in the way as he sat down.

With pizza in one hand and his phone in the other he was about to press the speed dial when a troubled thought came to him. What if I can’t fix this? I mean, the alteration spell was at the advanced section of the book and I can’t even unlock the chapter two.

Upon discovering that earth ponies’ foci was in their hooves, pegasi had it in their wings and unicorns in the obvious place, James tried touching his hands, feet, back, and forehead to the pages but nothing happened. “If anything, I probably have to wait for one of those to appear.” The prospect was not appealing. He gazed past the phone in his hands and furrowed his brow with conviction. “Whatever the hell is happening to me, I’m going to have to let it progress until I can access that alteration magic and fix all this. And given how big that damn book is, its going to take a while. So you know what? I’m going to that party, it may be the last one I’ll ever be able to attend until I can get back to normal so I might as well get my fill while I can.”

Lunch was finished quickly and after cleaning up he rummaged through his closet to find the perfect disguise. A playful gleam in his eye came when his found what he was looking for under a pile of clothes.

2: From One Life to the Next

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“My old plastic horse head mask. With irony this thick I could probably wade through it.” Walking back over to the mirror, he placed it over his head. With a smirk he assumed an eerie and foreboding tone. “Peer into the warp mon keigh and witness the fucha!”

He shuddered at the thought. “Maybe a little too close to home on that one. Still, between the tail and mask this should be a rather amusing evening.” That was when he noticed the mask had a foul odor and he quickly tore it off. “But your first stop is the dishwasher.”

Fearing his hair might have caught the decayed stench of body odor from the mask as well, Tune thought best for a shower. Twenty minutes later his prediction proved correct as his week old bottle of shampoo was now empty. The bottle made him think. “If this stops at only a tail, I might be able to hide it or get it surgically removed and that’d be that. But if I do keep changing, I’m going to need a place out of the way, and plenty of supplies.” His biggest concern was what his end result form would look like. He knew what a mundane pony looked like, but the fact that there was a book seemingly written by one made him question his assumptions.

“For all I know, these ‘ponies’ may look entirely different from normal horses. Hell, they could be anthropomorphic and bipedal.” The chilling water returned his attention to the present and he dried off and cut a tail hole into a second pair of pants. The state of his towel-dried tail irked him, causing Tune to hunt down his ex-girlfriend’s hairbrush and sat down at the kitchen table. My comb isn’t going to cut it with this much hair. If I remember correctly, I think she did it from end to scalp; so that should work here.

He didn’t know why he cared, or why it felt good to clear out all the tangles and knots. All James knew was that it had a tranquilizing effect. Once he was satisfied his tail was knot-free, he retrieved the mask from the washer and dried it out with a paper towel. He checked his phone. “Still three hours; but it takes an hour to get to Q’s place, not to mention traffic will be getting worse.”

James moved over to his laptop and brought up a map of the surrounding farmlands. “Bert said something about his father dying and leaving the family manor behind last year. As much as I don’t want to tell him about this whole pony business, I’m probably going to need his help if I’m going to keep a line to the outside world.” He found the manor after punching in the address and created a list of supplies based on an entry from the book that he had read earlier.

As much as it may surprise you, dear reader. While society outside pegasi establishments generally only caters to a vegetarian diet, unicorn and pegasus magic is bolstered by protein. Namingly, animal protein. Fish is the most common and most healthy supply for this, but it is not necessary for unicorns on a day to day basis. While pegasi require such proteins as part of their natural diet, a unicorn can go their entire lives without ever deviating away from a vegetarian diet. However, if said unicorn finds themselves consistently reaching magical exhaustion throughout their daily actives, he or she should seriously consider adding a sizable amount of fish to their daily intake. Earth pony magic by contrast, is fueled solely by fruits and vegetables, and no amount of meat will ever increase reserves or regeneration rate. So for earth ponies at least, simply eating more of what you normally eat would be a sufficient boost to your magic.

James added tuna to the shopping list. “No idea what I might end up as so I better cover my bases. Plus it couldn’t hurt to look up vaccination shots for horse ranchers, it’d be my luck to catch something like that.” He bookmarked the sites to order the medication from later in the event that he would actually need it. Right as he was in the middle of reading about ringworms, his alarm went off.

“Time to go to probably the last party of my life.” He closed the laptop and grabbed the horse head mask. A lopsided grin crept over his face. “I can feel sorry for myself tomorrow, right now it's about keeping a level head and having fun while I can.”

He smirked at the mask in his arms. “And what better way to say F you to this whole thing than to mock it?” As he was about to exit the door he remembered the tome. “No telling what might happen. You’re coming with me.” He locked it and pulled the key off the string to place it on his keychain, but as soon as it was removed from the book, the key dissolved into his left hand.

He was about to freak out until the key’s outline appeared on his palm. “Oh this is just great. How am I going to open it now?” He ground his teeth for a few moments before remembering something similar to this in a movie. Experimentally, he placed the hand on the lock. Nothing happened. “Open?” He said wishfully. “Unlock?” A soft click was his reward and the locket was opened. “Well, I guess that’ll keep others from trying to read it, not that they’d get very far with the illusions on the text.” The redundant security did not distract him for long as he wanted to leave before traffic could get any worse. Salina was not an overly populated town in and of itself, but the highway he had to take would be crowded during this time of day because of the commuters.

Two and a half hours later, and James was still late to the party. Not that it was all that important as Qubert’s parties typically lasted until everyone was passed out drunk anyway. The event was not at Smith’s house, but at a renovated warehouse his brother owned. James had been able to see the lights from the highway three miles away and the music was rattling Tune’s car windows with the tremendous bass of the DJ’s speakers. The sky above was not quite dusk yet, and the crowd milling around the entrance waiting to enter were all garbed as various animals, monsters, or risqué uniforms. “I think Q only hosts these parties so people have more than just one night to wear their Halloween costumes. Speaking of which.”

Without further preamble he put the mask on, hid the tome under his seat, and left his car behind to enjoy the only nightlife Salina had to offer. James got some attention to his “costume” along with a few laughs at the ridiculousness of it. The bouncer was more of a malcontent screener than to make the place exclusive as the town was hardly large enough to actually fill the warehouse and Tune was admitted inside without trouble.

Qubert anticipated the low turnout Salina was able to provide and James found the warehouse was reduced to one third by an uneven ten foot wall composed of boxes and crates. The dance floor was alight with activity and was complemented by the up and coming DJ looking to make a name for himself. This had the effect of making the crowd denser in the compact area and imbued it with an electric atmosphere of gut pounding bass and the fervent will to demolish the dance floor. James wanted to throw himself into the festivities right off the bat, but he had to take care of one thing before he could. He scanned the crowd looking for his friend, which was not an easy task in the mask, but he already knew where to look and found Qubert manning the bar and made his way there.

Smith only recognized him because of the old blue and white hoodie James was wearing that had a large green stain on its right sleeve from house paint. “You made it! Here, have a mid-air collision on the house.” Using practiced showmanship and dexterity, Smith mixed the drink and lit it on fire before placing it in front of an empty stool.

Tune removed the mask as he sat down. “Thanks, I could use a buzz right now.” Thus far, James was using his goal oriented studies of the tome to keep from going into mental shock about the ordeal. Without that however, he was more than willing to substitute it with song and alcohol. “You got a minute to talk a little more privately?”

Qubert eyed his friend, noticing the uneasiness behind the humored exterior. “Yeah, so long as it doesn’t take too long, my replacement won’t arrive for another half an hour.”

“Shouldn’t take but a minute.” James assured.

“Okay, gimme a moment I’ll meet you at that table.” Smith pointed at one that was thankfully next to the crate wall and away from others. Tune nodded in thanks and departed. Two minutes later, Smith found Tune brooding at the table with a nervous look. He decided to take a disarming upbeat tone. “So what do ya need to talk about?”

“I need to borrow your grand father’s old house for a while.”

Qubert’s brow furrowed. “What for?”

“That back pain I had this morning was just a symptom of something potentially a lot worse. Doc says its something called ponificatius.” The drive to the warehouse had given James time to think of a name for it so he was able to say it without pause.

“That’s a new one to me. Its not contiguous is it?” He asked with mounting dread.

James managed to hide his own. If it was you’d be sporting a tail by now too. “Not at this stage, but it might become that way if it progresses any further. That’s one reason I need to use the manor as it's pretty far out away from everyone, the other is that the doc said getting away from any sort of air pollution will help me recover.”

“Well I had the utilities shut off for it for a while now-“ Qubert began, but Tune interrupted him.

“I got a decent amout of savings stashed away, I can pay you back for that and a few months’ worth.” It was meant for my trip to Bora Bora next year, but that’s not going to happen.

Smith rubbed his chin in contemplation. “Okay, I can do that then. When will you need to leave?”

“I gotta check with the doctor tomorrow at noon. If he says it's stable then I won’t need to, but if it is getting worse…”

Qubert picked up on the hung sentence. “Right, well here.” He fished out his key chain and pulled an old copper one off the ring. “I’d rather give this to you now than get near you when you’re coughing and hacking all over me trying to get it. I am after all, trying to get out of the mail service and make this club a profitable venue.”

“And you don’t need some rare bug dragging you down with me, I know. Thanks.”

Smith studied James’s face and saw there was something different about him that wasn’t there that morning, but he couldn’t put his finger on any one thing. He doesn’t look sick. But there is something off about him. “Are you absolutely sure you’re not contagious?”

“If I was, you’d be sick too after hanging around my desk this morning.” Tune countered.

Smith let out a sigh and nodded his head. “Fair enough I suppose. But I’ll have your ass on a platter if this place becomes ground zero for the new swine flu.”

“You’re all heart Q.” James replied while placing the mask back on his head. Smith returned to the bar and Tune went to the dance floor to get lost in the pounding music and energetic crowd. No one paid him any mind aside to snicker at the mask. For the duration of the event, he was able to forget his troubles. The rave lasted well past the night and into the wee morning hours.

Morning did not come nicely to James, not that any did. By providence of Murphy’s Law, the sun found itself at the right angle to beam straight through the mouth of the mask and into Tune’s eyes. With a groan of the dead, James found that he managed to drag himself back to the car last night but was unable to shut the door. Were it not for Salina having a negligible crime rate, he might have been concerned.

The stench of alcohol laced vomit from within the mask was so heavy that it served as a substitute for coffee and shook him awake after he took a large sniff without thinking. “Holy balls that reeks!” He croaked as he grabbed the mask and heaved it off and threw it onto the gravel lot. Something long and covered in dried vomit slapped him in the eyes. He brushed a hand to clear his vision when the presence of the strands fully registered. His stomach went cold as he flipped the visor to access the mirror. Although covered in vomit, he clearly saw long hair the same shade of blue as his tail. More shockingly, he also saw two horse ears covered in a thin layer of silver fur perched on top of his head. He stared at them for several minutes unable to formulate a response. The fact that they reacted to various random sounds confirmed their authenticity.

“I have bad news for you Mr. Tune, it’s gone malignant.” He said to himself, trying to make light of it. He let his head thud the steering wheel. “Why the hell is this happening? What’s the point of it?” If this is some wizard’s idea of a sick joke I’m going to strangle them if I ever see them; and damn this hangover is killing me.

He fumbled blindly in his driver side door pocket and produced a bottle of water and guzzled more than half of it before coming up for air. It wasn’t a quick fix for the alcohol induced dehydration, but it was a start. The water itself cued his bladder to scream hello as well. James looked around to see only three other cars still around the warehouse. I think Q set up porta potties around here. Taking a deep breath, Tune retrieved the mask and put it on before shambling over to the nearest one. Some time later he returned to his car feeling well enough to drive and was already leaving the parking lot before the next party goer aroused from their stupor.

He took the path back home nice and slow in order to avoid the morning speed traps the local police typically set up after one of the Smith brothers’ parties. James pulled in the drive way just past three hours and reached to grab the mask, but found it was absent. “Crud, where’d I put it?” He searched the seats, during which he was reminded of the tome and placed it on the dashboard; but a thorough search revealed no mask. “I think I left it in the porta pottie. Well, it’s not like I’ll need that much longer to look the part.” He remembered he was wearing a hoodie and pulled it over his head to hide his ears and slipped inside the house.

Placing the book on the table, he walked over to the sink and started drinking water until he couldn’t stand it anymore. After which he threw his clothes in the washing machine and himself in the shower. In it, he noticed silver fur was spreading from the base of his tail and had covered him completely from his lower back to midway down his thighs, but had not spread over much towards the front of him. Upon closer examination of the fur over his thighs, he could actually see new fur slowly but steadily growing towards his knees. “I don’t think bar soap is going to be on my shopping list anymore.” Just gotta keep from panicking. I have a plan, and a way to fix all of this. The real question is just how close to a normal horse are these “ponies”?

Preparing himself for a day of supply shopping, he donned loose fitting sweatpants that did not cause much discomfort when tucking the tail inside, although he would only do so when he was about to leave. James also grabbed a new hoodie to hide his mane and ears. Before I leave, I should check those bookmarks and transfer the money out of my saving accounts to pay both it and Qubert off.

After making his funds available, he purchased the whole array of vaccinations and various other horse care products, the online guides to horse ranching suggested. The one part he was stuck on was food. “Will I still be able to eat the same things I do now, or will I have a change in diet? The book said two of the three tribes eat meat, with one of them requiring it. Better just cover all my bases and buy one bag of each type of horse feed and try it all out later.” As he worked on ordering the shipments, He set one browser apart from the others to play a news feed.

A male reporter with a deep baritone voice gave the latest news. “Officials say the equivalent of five Americans was killed in the bombing. In astronomical news today, the meteor barreling its way towards Earth has been upgraded in threat. Where before NASA was confident that the mile wide object’s composition would lead it to breaking apart and burning up in the atmosphere now claim that it will in fact strike the planet. The estimated trajectory is approximately fifty miles southwest of Honolulu. Experts say the resulting impact could cause a massive tidal wave which could devastate coastlines all across the Pacific. The President of the United States has this to say in a press release. Barbara?”

James paused in order to listen as the reporter was replaced by the commander in chief. “My fellow Americans, and peoples across the world. The United States and the UN have been aware of the threat and we already have a plan for this scenario already in place. In two weeks’ time, when the meteor is in range we will launch a series of nuclear missiles to break the meteor apart and divert most of its mass away from Earth. For those of you with concerns about the electromagnetic pulse, rest assure that the detonations will be far enough away that the world’s infrastructure will come to no risk of being damaged.”

He tuned the rest of the news out to mere background noise during the thirty minutes it took to have everything ordered and on its way to the manor. “That just leaves me to buy some food at the supermarket until the shipments arrive.”

With the online shopping done, Tune called Qubert while he packed an old backpack with clothes and toiletries, gathered two large coolers left over from the house’s previous occupants, his laptop and the spell book into the trunk of his car. The pocket knife and whetstone he put inside the glove box. After filling up at a gas station, he headed towards the local All-Mart. I better call Bert to let him know what’s up. At a stop light he plugged his phone into the car stereo and put the phone on his lap so he could talk hands free. “Hey Bert.”

“Hey James.” He paused for a second as concern tinted his tone. “You don’t sound like yourself today.”

“Yeah, that’s the reason I called. Doctor said its progressing. Good news is I won’t need to be hospitalized, but he told me to I’m going to be contagious soon.”

“Sorry to hear that man. I just got an email saying you deposited seven grand in my account; I’ll get the utilities in the manor turned back on. It may take a few days for that to happen though.”

“I think I can last that long without a problem. I just want to get out of town before I get anyone sick.”

“I’m all for that. I’ll tell the boss you won’t be at work for a while, but if your convalesce takes too long he might let you go.”

I think my job is the least of my problems. “Well let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Thanks again for the place to stay during all this.”

“As long as you keep the rent coming, you can stay all you want.” Qubert added half-jokingly. “Talk to you later.”

“Later.” James hung up as he walked through the parking lot to retrieve a cart he checked his phone for the list. Big assortment of veggies, plenty of tuna, some first aid stuff- His concentration was shattered by a car horn blaring at him as James realized he had walked right in front of a car. He waved apologetically. “Sorry about that.”

He rushed past and didn’t see the driver flipping him off because of the hoodie limiting his peripheral vision. Tune quickly got to work by finding the produce section. This reminds me, I should go to Home Depot and pick up some farming equipment and seeds.

During the time he was loading his cart with food, two things started to gnaw at his attention: a localized headache on his forehead, and lower abdominal discomfort. By the time he was at the pharmacy area buying bandages and antiseptics he felt a slight tickling in his throat. Fearing the worse, Tune cut out all of the “would be nice” items from the list and went straight to the register.

The two people in front of him took what felt like an eternity to finish paying. Why do these places have twenty registers if only four are ever manned?

It took fifteen minutes to get past the register and put all the supplies in the trunk. Tune placed as much of the food in the coolers as possible along with three of the five bags of ice and slid back in the driver’s seat. He rubbed his headache only to find a bump instead of smooth skin. Before he could panic he took a deep breath. “You already knew this was coming. No use in stressing over every little bit.” Taking several calming breaths brought his stress down to manageable levels, he lifted the hood a little to see there was a slight bump on his head. “I think that answers that question. Grabbing that tuna was a good call.”

Remembering he was in a busy parking lot, he lowered the hood back over and drove three streets down to the Home Depot. “I gotta make this quick. A horn isn’t exactly something I can hide easily.”

Before he entered he saw an ATM. “Might be best to stop using my debit card to buy all this. It might raise some red flags if I’m every listed under missing persons.” Pulling as much money as the machine would allow, James tried to ignore the mounting abdominal discomfort. Grab the seeds, some tools, fertilizer, and get out of Dodge.

In the interest of time, he sought out an employee. “Excuse me, could you point me towards the gardening tools and seeds?”

“Sure thing Miss. Seeds are in isle three and the tools are right next to them in four.”

“Ah, thanks.” He walked off as the employee gave a polite nod. Great. Ponies must have higher pitched voices in general. Never thought my slight build would have been an asset.

Tune gathered the last of the tools and as he leaned down to put the spade in the cart a stabbing pain lanced his forehead and a trickle of blood fell over his eyes and onto the floor. I think it might have been more prudent to have done my shopping before the party.

James rolled his left sleeve up to his elbow and rubbed the blood off on his skin while he raced to the men’s room. He caught the attention of several people, but he paid them no mind. Tune almost skidded to a halt after seeing two men walk into the restroom. There’s no way I can clean up a horn on my head without ending up on a cellphone. His eyes caught sight of a family restroom meant for parents and kids and jumped inside. Relief flooded him in discovering it was empty and locked the door behind him.

Alone at last, he threw the hood off and grabbed several paper towels to stop the blood flow and clean off his arm. His horn had broken through and was protruding three centimeters out from the skin. However that was not his only concern. Silver fur was peeking out from under his collar and his face was slightly elongated. “Are my eyes bigger too? I’m not going to have time for fertilizer, I need to grab the seeds and get the hell out of here asap.” An itch on his chest prompted him to lift his shirt to see the entirely of his torso was covered in fur. “Where’d my pecs go?” His gaze went lower. “Down over my stomach.” Just like a dog or cat. Shit, that probably means ponies are quadrupeds. All the more reason to get out here. I’ll just have to get Q to buy the farming supplies, at this rate I won’t have time to grab it myself. The blood kept leaking for five minutes before the skin shifted to accommodate the growing spiraled horn and stabilized around it.

James was fixing his clothes when someone banged on the door. “Ma’am? Several people saw you run inside bleeding. Are you okay in there? Do I need to call 911?”

I’m quite literally as flat as a washboard, is a higher voice all it takes nowadays? He cleared his throat and placed the hoodie back over. He was only mildly aware that the horn was tenting the hood. “I’m fine. I just got cut on a nail it was my fault.” James exited the restroom to find a very concerned floor manager and three other people. “See? Perfectly fine.”

The manager reached out to him, but kept it professional and avoided making actual contact. “Are you sure? There’s a good amount of blood on your shirt.”

Tune looked down to see there were in fact a few crimson stains running down the hoodie. The manager noticed something on his forehead move the hood, but assumed it was a pair of glasses. “It was just a scrape, I had some band aids in my pocket, I’m fine.”

The manager didn’t believe him, but he couldn’t do anything further without risking legal charges. “Alright Miss.” He backed off from James and lowered his hand. “Have a good day and sorry that this happened on my watch.”

“It’s no problem really.” Tune replied as he slid past the small crowd. He abandoned the cart of tools entirely and briskly walked back out to his car. In his haste to distance himself from the store, he forgot his tail and sat down wrong causing the appendage to protest painfully. “I’m not going to need to hide you anymore so out you go.” Without caring if anyone was watching, he grabbed the pocket knife and cut a hole in his pants and slid the tail through. It had been a dull ache to him all throughout his time shopping and it was an enormous relief to set it free again. I gotta move if I’m going to get to the manor before anything else changes.

James started the car and after checking the phone to get the correct route, he drove off towards the highway. The pain in his forehead had all but disappeared now that the horn was free of his skin. The shredding agony in his lower abdomen however, was cresting to the point where it was too much of a distraction to drive safely. “Why does it have to hurt so damn much?” He grunted while leading the car to an off street half a mile from the freeway entrance. Thankfully it was empty save for a handful of parked vehicles. The pain peaked in a gut jarring knife stab in his groin, making him scream in pain. Aside from a dull throbbing, the agony subsided quickly, leaving him gasping for breath. “Holy piss that hurt.” He reached down to massage the ache away when he felt something was missing. His eyes shot open as he pulled his pants off his hips to find nothing but smooth fur. Of all the changes thus far, and the self-denial of the pronouns used against him, this brought him up short and his mind broke.

A solid minute later, he regained his wits and would swear for the rest of his life that he heard uproarious laughter coming from somewhere. “You’re joking.” He said after breaking from his dazed state and felt for his old friend only for his fingers to find unfamiliar folds in its place. “What the flaming hell is this!?” He raged while slamming his fists on the wheel. “Changing my damn species wasn’t enough for you? You had to take my gender too?!”

James’s grip on the steering wheel hardened until his knuckles turned white as he ground his teeth together as his acceptance for the whole ordeal shattered. “I don’t know how. But I know some bastard up there is laughing his ass off at me.” A crazy thought struck him, and a wicked humorless grin slid across his face. “I still have the tome, and it still has the spell to fix all this. So you know what?” He asked himself with a snarl. “I’m not going to give him the satisfaction for watching me squirm over losing my dick. You want to laugh at me? Well tough shit. You wanna play hard ball?! Fine, I’m game.”

He formulated an idea and looked to see where he was exactly. “Twenty seven Welsh Street. Perfect!” He pulled the hoodie off and straightened the undershirt. He noticed the fur on his arms was now growing over his elbows, but the heat of the moment allowed him to ignore it. After giving his mane a quick tousle to keep it out of his eyes, Tune brazenly stepped out of the car not caring if anyone saw him and marched directly into the store called Kinky Pleasures.

The bored cashier was reading a gossip magazine when Tune barged in and headed straight for her. “Damn girl. That is some sick cosplay, love the ears, but the costume party was last night.”

“I was there.” James replied with undirected malice. “Where do you keep the dildos?” He was too high on the Pissed Meter to care about the weirdness of asking such a question.

She pointed at a sizable selection visible from the register. “Take your pick honey.”

Tune found himself at a loss as to what to buy given his complete lack of experience, so he grabbed three difference sizes, paid in cash, and stormed back to the car. James threw the discrete bag onto the passenger seat and drove towards the manor dead set on reaching it before he was robbed of his hands and feet. I’m going to get to that spell even if it kills me.

3: Sanctuary

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The Smith manor was as far away from civilization as Kansas could be. The gravel road leading to the two story building was lined with trees, but the fields surrounding the estate were mostly flat grasslands. The only exception was a large wind farm that dominated the northern fields half a mile away from the back door with the rest of the area being left to nature. The pale green paint was slowly being chipped away by the passage of time yet the house still managed to look respectable albeit a little worse for wear. It was dark when James finally reached the property. The last leg of the drive had not been kind, as her changes were not patient enough to wait for her to arrive before altering Tune’s skeletal structure.

With slow careful control, James managed to park her car in front of the house and pry the driver’s side door open. Her arms were becoming sturdier as they were on the cusp of becoming forelegs. Tune still possessed fingers, but they were quickly losing all dexterity and feeling as the palms and wrists raced to completion while the fingers shrank.

James fumbled for the clasp of her seatbelt and fell out of the car onto unfamiliar legs, because her lower body’s changes were complete and refused to hold her upright anymore. Tune reached back into the car and pressed the button to pop the trunk open and fumbled to get the house key in what was left of her hand. “Come on fingers; just stay with me long enough to get the door open.”

Twenty feet and four stairs never seemed so far away in her life, but Tune was not about to let unfamiliar limbs keep her back. Her sweatpants and shirt conspired against her and her back hooves kept pulling on the pants legs. With more time spent on her side or belly than on her hooves, Tune managed to reach the door. After dropping it four times, she successfully slid the key in the lock. Her problems were not quite done with her as her fingers became too limp to turn the old stubborn lock.

“Come on just give me a break here.” No matter what she did, her fingers were simply too short and weak to get the job done. Her last attempt ended with her back hooves slipping on her pants and belly flopping on the wooden deck. She looked back and grumbled at the offending pants. “Screw it, I’ve got fur now so I don’t need either of you.”

Rolling on her sides and back when needed, James kicked to pry her pants and shirt off. It was not easy to free herself, due to the shape of her hind legs, and because the shirt got caught on her horn. It took seven minutes of struggling, but she met with success in the end. Relishing the small victory, she huffed in distain at the discarded clothes. “And stay off.”

Her attention returned to the lock then back down at her forelegs. “Good bye hands, at least you stayed as long as you did.” Rolling back over onto her belly, she glared at the taunting key. “The pants can’t save you now.” Rising steadily onto all fours, she propped her forelegs on the door, and slowly walked her forelegs up towards the handle so she could grip the key in her teeth. It took some straining, but the lock relented and slammed open once she got it started. “Whew. That didn’t taste nearly as bad as I thought it would have, and the door knob is a lever. Lady Luck decided to throw me a bone for once.”

Not checking which way the door opened, as soon as she depressed the lever the door fell open, with it hitting the wall bumper, and with Tune face planting into the marble floor. “Ow.” She groaned while rubbing her bruised snout. “Well at least I’m inside.” The indirect light given by the car’s headlights cast the entry hall in a gloomy atmosphere. A staircase to the second floor faced the front door before wrapping around the back wall on its way up. The adjacent rooms had no dividing walls between themselves and the foyer and were only distinguishable by the short bump along the floor where the floor styles changed. “Old man Smith really liked having open spaces didn’t he?”

Doing her best to ignore the eerie gloom, Tune brought up a mental to-do list. “First order of business…” She paused while studying her forelegs with a raised eyebrow. “Is to learn how to walk again. Second, shut the light off on the car. And third, get some food and lastly sleep.”

James pulled her legs in and shakily climbed to her hooves in a wide stance. “Right.” She said with equally shaky conviction. “This body feels like it’s meant to work naturally, so I should just let it tell me when and what to move.” Once she felt confident in standing in a more normal posture, she stepped forward with her left foreleg and leaned into it. By carefully gauging how her spine and pelvis moved in response, her body told her to move her right hind leg in tandem. “Nice, and slow.”

It took the better part of an hour before she was finally able to stop thinking about walking, and let her body do the thinking for her. I think my muscle memory is being rewritten along with the rest of me. I just hope all these changes don’t extend to my memories or personality. The thought troubled her greatly, and she resolved to be more self-aware of her own behavior from then on. It took an additional thirty minutes before she was comfortable enough to move on to the next item on her list. Tune walked from the entry hall to the car only half aware of the clip clop of her hooves on marble and wood. From the time spent relearning to walk it was quickly becoming a normal sound to her, and it was largely tuned out.

She stopped at the car door. “Actually, I better drag the coolers inside before cutting the lights off.” James walked to the back of the car and pushed the trunk fully open with her snout. “Now if I can just…get…under…neath.” She grunted while forcing her hooves under the first heavily laden cooler, she heaved with all her strength to pull it up and over the lip of the trunk. That strength was not very much, but it was just enough to prop the wheels on the edge. She let out a tired breath as she fell back on her haunches. “That’s a start, now for the other one.”

A repeat performance took just as long as the first, and soon both coolers were propped on the lip of the trunk. “My luck hasn’t been that great so far, so you owe me this one Lady Luck.” James crawled around from the driver’s seat into the back and gripped a release lock on the passenger side and pulled the seat’s back forward so she could crawl into the trunk and behind the coolers. “Gah, the floor’s wet from the ice. I’ll have to leave the trunk open so it can evaporate.”

With no opposable thumbs, Tune had no other recourse but to grip the handle with her teeth and push the cooler up and over. Easy…easy… Once the first cooler was angled properly, it slid down to the ground with its speed checked by her dragging her hooves until it settled quietly on the ground as it leaned on the bumper.

“Oh yeah! No damage to the car or cooler, now to get the other out and both of you inside.” Fortunately, James had not jinxed herself, and managed to drag the coolers inside and placed them next to the stairs. The effort left her badly winded, which was compounded by the exhaustion from the day’s events. Three minutes of labored breathing later, Tune looked hungrily at the closest cooler. “The lights can wait, my stomach can’t.”

With a bit of force, she popped the latches with a hoof and pried it open to gaze upon her treasure trove. Carrots, lettuce, broccoli, strawberries, and other roots and berries hit her nose like a hammer. She nuzzled the melting ice away from three carrots and grabbed all three in her mouth and sat on her haunches with her tail swept forward with her legs. Tune used both fore hooves to grip the carrots so she could at least have the dignity of not eating on the floor. “Oh my god, these are soooo good.” She quickly consumed the carrots in their entirety, leaves included.

James devoured a head of lettuce and half of a squash, before her hunger was satisfied. “As much as I hate not brushing my teeth, I’m too tired to bother right now.” Her musings were interrupted by a yawn and she tiredly trudged over to the door and extracted the keys before shutting it. After that, she walked over to the car and twisted her head around to click the lights off. Tune climbed into the backseat and pushed the seat back upright so she could at last lay down to sleep.

The next morning came softer than most. A strong wind blew through car rustling her fur and hair enough to rouse her at well into late morning. She found herself on her back and stretched in a catlike fashion. She cracked her eyes open right before ending the stretch, which dashed any hopes of it all being a dream upon seeing her silver coated forelegs. She let out a despondent sigh and let her legs drop to a resting position across her barrel. “Well there you have it James. You’re a pony now.”

She laid on the backseat for several minutes trying to fully come to terms with that fact. Denial will only make it worse later. Outside of pushing myself to get to that spell, fighting it is only going to hurt me in the long run. And even if I do get to that spell, will I even be able to cast it on myself? What if the very act of casting it on myself breaks the spell cast, and I end up some pony/human monster? Is it even a spell unicorns can cast? What if it’s only for earth or pegasi? Her thoughts made her take a second look at her hooves. Mother always said not to leave all your eggs in one basket. Her brow furrowed in resolution. “Changing back is still plan A, but I better be mentally prepared to deal with the possibility that I can never go back.”

Tune did not wish to dwell on those thoughts for long, and got up to pull the tome out from under the seat. “You got me into this, so you’re going to help get me out of it.” Her stomach protested the absence of food. “Well, bodily needs first, then magic.”

Breakfast consisted of strawberries, honey oat cereal, and a few bananas. James let none of it go to waste except for the banana peel, which she found out was not as appealing as she thought it might have been.

After breakfast she dug into her backpack and produced her toothbrush and paste. By placing the brush on the cooler, and opening the toothpaste lid on the handle, she was able to use her hooves to squeeze a good amount of toothpaste onto the bristles. “Who needs thumbs when you have brains right?”

James was not perturbed by the tap water still being off, the mare used a chair to climb up onto the kitchen counter, and opened the cabinets until she found the bowls. “Good they’re some plastic ones.” No longer worried about breaking the dishware, she shoved a stack of bowls off the shelf and let them clatter noisily on the floor. After jumping back down to the floor, she picked them up with her mouth, and set all but one on the counter and took the last one to the open cooler and scooped up some water and carefully took the bowl out to the front porch. She stepped back inside to grab the toothbrush from the other cooler and sat down next to the bowl. She took the brush into her hooves and used extreme caution to make sure it did not slip out of her grip as she dunked it into the water and proceeded to brush her teeth. Few things can compare to a minty clean mouth.

With the first genuine smile of the day, she cleaned up after brushing and put it away to explore her new surroundings. I do not want to be reading and see a rat gnawing on my food.

Deciding to move in a clockwise fashion, Tune started in the entry hall and moved into the dining room. It had a large rectangular dark wood table dominating the space with the chairs rounding out the set. A granite wall table ran along the outside wall and curved around to the kitchen and several landscape paintings dotted the three walls.

Next was the kitchen and it was just as big as the dining room, but felt more spacious thanks to the absence of any furniture crowding the center. Aside from the silver and dishware, all of the cabinets, drawers, and the pantry were empty. “Looks like the fridge and freezer are vacant too. No surprise there.”

The laundry room and adjoining half bathroom were connected to the kitchen with the laundry room having a door to the outside. The next room was completely open and dominated the center part of the house with only a large double sided fireplace supporting the second floor. Again, like the previous rooms the floors were all hard surfaces of different materials, but there were some throw rugs strategically placed throughout. The furniture was sparse here, but the placement did not suggest it used to be a living room and den combination. “You could fit a studio apartment in here with room to spare. If this place had been built closer to civilization Q wouldn’t let this place go to waste.”

Finishing off the west part of the house was a bedroom the size of a one car garage, two walk in closets, a bathroom meant for a king, and on the southwest side was a piano room. When James walked from the piano room back into the entry hall she sat on the stairs in astonishment. “Holy moly this is a big house. And that’s just the first floor!” Aside from a lot of cobwebs, this place has been rather bug free so far.

A quick tour of the second floor revealed three guestrooms, Qubert’s old bedroom and two smallish full bathrooms. Tune took a special liking to the one on the far east corner which had a tasteful décor that did not feel old fashioned nor as posh as the others. “I hereby lay claim to this land in the name of Tune!” She giggled at the outburst. “But I can’t sleep here until the power and water are back on so I can do the laundry. No way I’m sleeping on a year’s worth of dust and bed bugs.”

A glance outside found there was a separate five car garage and a jacuzzi attached to the large back deck. The moment her eyes passed over the jacuzzi, James’s eyes dilated to comical proportions and produced a high pitched squeal of delight. “No way, a hot tub!? Please oh please tell me you still work. Gah! No power no water make me sad pony.” It suddenly dawned on her how she was acting and cleared her throat while dusting off her forelegs. “Get a hold of yourself. You need to find a broom and clear all the cobwebs then get to studying the tome.”

It took two minutes to find the broom closet, but it took two hours to find a way to balance herself on two legs while leaning on the broom. It was four thirty in the afternoon by the time James declared the manor livable. “Not quite hungry enough for dinner, so now is a good time to hit the books.”

Going through her backpack she grabbed a lantern flashlight and brought both it and the tome the lounge chair in the living room. Better make sure the cushions aren’t hiding any bugs. Placing her items on the floor and pulling the cushion off and giving it several good shakes and hits until she was satisfied, James used a hoof to brush away as much dust as possible before replacing the cushions and settled down on her belly with the book in front of her and the lantern within reach for when it started getting too dark to read.

Tune pressed her left fore hoof on the lock, opened it, and turned to the last page of chapter one. “Okay, here goes.” She bent her head down and touched her horn to the page. A dim light passed from her to the page and back again. She felt a short lived tingle behind her eyes. “Was that it?” She flipped the page and was rewarded with legible text. “Yes, progress!” She cheered as she read the contents.

Welcome to chapter two dear student. This section will cover the very basics of mana manipulation. As I’m sure most of my unicorn readers will believe they know everything they need for the basics, I may surprise you with tricks and tips you might have missed or forgotten about in school. In addition, this section is to help nonunicorn parents help guild their unicorn foals in developing their magic. This chapter will also cover the earth and pegasi tribes as well. We all know both tribes use their magic innately, but-

James shook her head. “I don’t have any use for learning the other tribes’ magic, only my own.” She flipped through the pages until she came across the first unicorn lessons.

A unicorn’s magic is intrinsic to their very being, and as a result, they are the most susceptible of the three tribes to Magical Exhaustion(ME). ME will be covered in higher detail in later chapters, but this lesson requires that I cover the dangers of ME before moving into learning basic spellwork. When members of the other tribes suffer acute ME, a pegasus will become physically exhausted and lethargic. The Earth tribe is characterized by their steadfast resilience and they can typically ignore any negative effects of ME. It should be noted that many Earth guardponies who use runed armor will rarely realize how close they are to exhaustion in the heat of battle until the runes lose power.

Should a unicorn’s reserves ever be fully drained, death will soon follow if ether is not administered quickly. I know putting it so bluntly may come across as rather harsh, but there is no gentle way to put it without detracting from the warning. James cringed at the prospect and continued reading.

Now that being said, it is in everypony’s best interest to learn proper mana management. To start off, we must first look into measuring your mana pool’s baseline. To get an accurate reading I strongly suggest casting no spells for seven hours if you have only done light spell casting since the last time you had a full night’s rest. Please note that this is not because it takes hours to recharge per say, but a unicorn’s body generates mana at different rates at different times. The carbuncle (which will be covered later.) increases production the lower your pool is. When a unicorn’s magic is near their current max capacity, the carbuncle generates very low amounts as the body’s metabolic energies are conserved for future needs.

James tapped her chin in contemplation. “Seeing as I haven’t been able to cast anything thus far, I think its safe to say I’m at baseline already.” The possibility of death did little to deter Tune from learning the book’s secrets. “There’s already a million ways to die in the world, one more won’t make a difference.” She looked at her hoof as if regarding it for the first time. “Still. It’s strange to think that I literally need magic to stay alive. Just four days ago I thought it was all fiction and now I live off the stuff.”

She pushed her troubled musings aside and started reading again. From here I will be assuming that you have waited the prescribed amount of time. Since magic is so ingrained into a unicorn’s biology it is easier for them to see their mana pool. All one has to do is center yourself and open your inner sight. That is the first step towards self-mastery. The subsequent five pages consisted of various calming and breathing techniques along with diagrams on what she would be looking for once her inner senses were opened.

“There are a bunch of different methods here. Seems like the princess was smart enough to know one single method wouldn’t work for everybody.” James had to give Twilight a nod of respect for such foresight. “This one looks like something I’ve used in the past with just a few differences, so I’ll start with it.”

She readjusted her sitting posture to have all four legs pulled close to her barrel and shut her eyes to close herself from the world around her. Random thoughts kept sneaking their way in, but a breathing technique she found on a different page helped immensely and her mind was slowly cleared. Shortly after reaching this state she started to feel a slow pulse within her core. It felt as if there was a roughly egg shaped mass of liquid residing behind her lungs which had tendrils spread throughout her entire body. It’s like a second circulatory system. The “heart” pulsed every half minute, reinvigorating the capillaries in every last piece of her body. Her inner sight noticed one capillary was thicker than the rest that ran straight through the center of her barrel and up her spinal cord and into her horn and brain. The horn itself had a hollow core where a small reservoir of magic resided with capillaries creating a thick web making the ivory look honeycombed with it. In addition, there were slightly thicker veins running along the spiral of her horn. Only her brain could rival her horn in capillary density.

The revelation stunned James out of her inner sight. “Oh man. Reading it and seeing it are two totally different things.” She resumed her breathing exercise and returned to a calm state to read the next entry.

That pulsing center you no doubt noticed is called a carbuncle. It’s a common misnomer to associate it with the heart, but I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the sentiment does have some merit. While it is true both the heart and carbuncle keeps the blood/mana flowing; the primary difference is that the carbuncle is your fount of magic, whereas the heart is just a complex pump. It is there that your body, regardless of tribe, generates and distributes magic. However like the heart, it can be considered a muscle in light of the fact that it can be exercised to become stronger. Again like a muscle, you must use your magic to increase it. It lends credence to the old adage: “you have to spend bits to make bits”.

For now we are still keeping to the basics and I can say from firsthoof experience, that the best way to learn is studying and practical application. The ratio between the two is entirely dependent on the individual. Since we have already covered theory in this chapter, let us move on to the practical application. For that dear student, you will be learning the two most common spells for unicorns: horn light and telekinesis.

James’s attention was riveted on the last word. “Telekinesis? Seriously!? Hallelujah!” She flipped the page with her snout only to feel a little crestfallen that horn light was going to be taught first. “As much as I want levitation, there might be critical parts of the light instruction I’ll need to know.”

The basic light spell is quite simply the easiest spell to learn and master. Simply focus on your horn and imagine a point of light. Be sure the foal does not try to force it over much. Fabricating these very simplistic spells only require one’s horn and thus is solely rooted in your willpower. Just focus and will the light into being.

Tune took a slow deep breath and focused on her horn. Let there be light. She felt a stirring in her horn, but nothing more. “You can do this. It’s just like learning to ride a bike.” Five minutes of effort produced nothing. Ten minutes made her flex to get the cricks out of her joints. Thirty minutes saw her give a short expletive and a small scowl. An hour saw her standing in front of the tome grunting, as she demanded her horn to obey. An hour after that she was standing on the floor with legs apart in a wide stance with her horn pointing at a wall and her cursing it for its continual defiance.

“I said. Let there be light!” She roared at the top of her lungs. The tip of her horn sizzled and spat small sparks until a pulse from her carbuncle pushed the pathways to her horn an infinitesimal size bigger, and a small mote of light stabilized on the tip of her horn. The effort had finally winded her and she collapsed on the floor panting for breath. James was about to give up on the whole thing and grab dinner when she saw the light reflecting off the wooden floor. A gasp of first disbelief and then joy escaped her lips. “I did it. I actually did it!” She tried looking up at her spell, but saw nothing. “I think I need a mirror to see it.”

Tune raced to the master bedroom and found the three paneled mirror she saw earlier. Without thinking about maintaining the spell, the mote died on the way over. She forgot about the spell for the moment as she stared at herself for the first time since her transformation was complete. The silver mare staring back at her was slightly bedraggled. Her coat was unkempt and her mane was in mild disarray. Yet those features paled to the fact that there was not a trace of her humanity left in her.

“This form is only temporary, but until I can turn back I better get used to it.” She spun around a few times to look at her reflection from as many angles as possible. “Odd that my horn is the same color as my fur though.” She moved her face in close to the glass. “It doesn’t look like its covered in fur, just straight silver ivory.” My eyes are the same shade of blue that my mane is, and they’re so massive. Due to the decreasing light from the windows, her pupils were dilated to the point where it started to scare her a little to keep looking at them.

The light from the waning sun made any further observations difficult and it reminded her of the reason she came into the master bedroom in the first place. “Okay, just breathe calm and focus.” Her horn sizzled and spat a few azure sparks before the mote of white light returned along with a face splitting grin. Let’s make it bigger. The mote resisted at first, but responded to her will and the light on her horn grew to the point where the whole room was lit up and the reflection was blinding her.

James turned away from the mirror to rub the spots out of her eyes and refused to let the spell die away now that she had it going. When her vision returned to normal Tune noticed that the room was still brightly lit, but she could not see the light source when looking up at her horn. In its place she only saw a faint azure luminescence coating her horn. It only took a glance around the room to realize that her horn was the only illuminating presence.

Tune took careful side glances at the mirror and saw the blinding spotlight on her horn, but when she looked directly at it, the light was absent save for the azure glow. “Now that is one classy light bulb. I can only see the light when it’s reflected so it doesn’t blind me.”

“How does that even work?” She shrugged at it. Magic. She couldn’t help an insane giggle from escaping her throat. “This is incredible!” She dimmed the light so she could look directly at the mirror and the silver unicorn with a beacon of light above her head. “That’s really me. I’m actually using magic. I mean sure a flashlight can do the same job, but the point is I don’t need a flashlight anymore.”

She spent several minutes in front of the mirror with the spell active so she could study herself more fully. Cognitively, James knew and accepted this was her new form; emotionally however, she was subtly becoming attached to her pony shape. Closer to identifying herself as mare, rather than a human in a pony’s body. This shift in mentality was interrupted by her stomach and bladder protesting their lack of attention. “I’ve spent too much time in front of the mirror anyway.”

With the water off, she had to be content with a tree far away from the house for her business. James made the act into an exercise of sorts on how well she could maintain the spell while focused on other things. The spell bounced between strobe light and candle, but it held all the same.

Upon returning to the manor Tune went straight for one of the grocery bags of preserved goods and pulled out a packet of tuna. “If a crash course in magic isn’t a call for fish I don’t know what is. I just wish I thought to buy some sauce or spices.” Wait a second, I’ve got an idea.

She walked over to the kitchen and grabbed a plate. Upon her return, she put it on the first stair and fished out her pocketknife. Then she grabbed a head of lettuce in her hooves and held it over the plate while gripping the hilt of the knife in her mouth and cut the lettuce into an uneven salad and sprinkled the tuna on it. “There. It could use some dressing, but it’ll do well enough.”

The act of bringing the plate over to the lounge chair was difficult with the dish in her mouth and her nose touching the salad made it nearly impossible to just drop the plate on the floor and eat. I never liked greens this much before, but I can’t get enough of it now.

James pushed an ottoman over to hold her salad, so she would have enough room for both the book and plate. She studied telekinesis long into the night, and tried multiple times to remove the apparent mental block to fully realizing her magical abilities. Constant failures and only incremental improvement sapped her strength, and fatigue started to settle in from both lack of sleep and excessive magic usage. Nevertheless, her furious determination to master the one spell that would allow her to circumvent her lack of thumbs proved to be her demise. Complete exhaustion overtook her after four in the morning, and she passed out with her face down in the open tome.

4: What is in a Name?

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James Tune was sleeping on her side with her legs dangling over the edge of the lounge chair and a line of drool dripping down onto the tome that was acting as a surprisingly comfortable pillow. The author was also a constant victim of damaged text from over studying. As a result, one of the tome’s enchantments was a simple moisture repellant.

Tune’s tail and legs twitched every so often from formless dreams. The tranquility of it all was violently broken by rattling noises running throughout the walls and floor. The noise snapped James out her sleep and it took her a moment to realize she had heard such noises the past. With a wild grin she jumped off the chair and galloped into the kitchen. The long sink spigot vibrated violently until a gush of brown water burst forth for three seconds before becoming clear tap water. Without preamble she stuck her muzzle in the running water and drank her fill.

“Now that! Was refreshing.”

She walked over to the foyer to grab breakfast and plan her day. “After grub and brushing my teeth I can finally take a shower.” The chilly air had kept her from sweating, but the dusty house and constant attempts at spellwork still took its toll on her appearance, making her feel grungy. “Then I can get back-“ She paused as a thought struck her. “No. First I need to finish getting the hang of telekinesis. The shower can be my reward for that. I already know the theory behind it; I just need to actually make it happen.”

Among her meal of apples, oat cereal, and blackberries, James picked one berry as her test subject and demanded it fly off the plate and into her maw. Her horn started to glow along with the berry in an azure hue; unfortunately she only managed to make it roll back and forth on the plate. This continued for a minute before she relented and devoured an apple by lowering her face to the plate before returning to her attempts at kinesis with the tantalizing blackberry. Just the thought of the juicy fruit made her want to ignore the magic and pluck it off the plate with her tongue, but it was her will that demanded that magic be the means of making the succulent black morsel reach her mouth. Minutes rolled by as the cereal and applies all vanished from her plate, but the twenty blackberries remained defiant to the end. Sweat rolled off her brow as her temper rose at the berry that constantly rolled around the plate. It even did short hops into the air, but never more than an inch off the plate. “Stupid devil berry! I will have you!” She roared in frustration as she felt a crack originate from her carbuncle and shoot straight to her horn which responded by the glow pulsing brightly for a brief moment. The crack was accompanied by a jolt of pain that gave her a short-lived stabbing headache.

“Ye-ouch, that’s smarts.” Tune cried out in surprise and pain and winced while rubbing a hoof along the base of her horn. “I really have to stop doing that. It can’t be healthy.” She cracked an eye open see only nineteen berries on her plate. “Where’d that little monster go?”

As if on cue, a drop of liquid fell from the ceiling and back on her plate. James looked up and saw a small cloud of dust and the rest of the blackberry clinging to the dry wall ceiling. She harrumphed at the flattened fruit. “Serves you right.” She looked at the survivors. “Let that be a lesson to the lot of you.”

With the hornache fading she grabbed a new berry in her telekinetic grip and tried again, only to have it shoot off the plate like a bullet and pelt her right between the eyes. James flailed at the attack and would have fallen on the floor were it not for the chair’s armrests. It took her a moment to sit back on her belly while rubbing a fetlock on the juice soaked spot. “That’s just insubordination.”

Gritting her teeth, she was dead set on having her prize. “Once more from the top.” The third berry was encased in an azure hue and shakily arose from the pile until it was eye level with her. Easy does it. The ebony jewel inched closer at her command. Once it was close enough she reached forward and plucked it out of the air and started chewing it joyfully. The most delicious blackberry in existence. With her control improving by the minute, she quickly devoured the rest of her breakfast and cheered giddily when she was able to levitate the plate in a more or less steady fashion into the sink. She found a washcloth and tried to levitate both it and the plate to clean it, but her control faltered badly when trying to move both at once. “Well I can’t expect to run right after walking now can I?” She opted to hold the dish with her hooves and use her magic to scrub it.

With the dishes drying off on the counter, James’s gaze turned to the general direction of the master bathroom. The smell of her body odor wrinkled her nose. “Hygiene time.” After digging through the other supplies she bought from the supermarket James found what she was looking for. “Mane and Tail shampoo, how fitting.” Grabbing a bath sponge as well, she went for the shower with her bag floating behind her.

The shower itself was an experience unlike any other Tune had felt before. Not only did the cold running water feel strange with a full coat of fur, but the act of scrubbing herself without moving a physical muscle was both unsettling and exhilarating. Despite her utter desire to scrape every last speck of dirt off of her, the frigid water was started to cut to the bone and she cut the shower short. I need to figure out how to get the water heater turned on. In the meantime I should use all day to improve my kinesis.

True to her word, she went through the whole house with the broom to clean everything she had been unable to reach the first time. With her kinesis steadily improving and with the electricity coming back two hours after the water did, she was able to wash her chosen bed’s sheets and pillows. She took the rest of her food out of the warming coolers and into the refrigerator before walking to the car to finish dragging the rest of her supplies in the house starting from the trunk to the front.

She was scrounging around the dashboard and found her smartphone. “Oh no. I totally forgot to tell Qubert I made in safe.” She clicked the home button with a pen to find Smith left her a voice mail and three texts. “Battery’s at half, but now that the power’s on I can charge it.” She clicked the sleep button and placed it in a plastic bag and moved her search to the passenger side floor and found the nondescript purple bag. “Oh.” She said with a hesitant pause. “Right, I forgot about those.”

Not knowing where else to put them, she brought the bag of pleasure sticks to her room and plugged her phone and power cord into the wall. She was about to ignore the bag and leave it on the dresser but curiosity halted her steps at the door. Her eyes drifted towards the lavender container. I need to know what it feels like at least once. She told herself. For science. She walked over to the bag and blindly grabbed one of the dildos with her magic and stared at it with a mix of dread and curiosity. “I mean if I find out what works for me as I am now, then I can use that knowledge for when I’m a man again.”

The repeated self-assurance felt flat and weak. Who am I kidding? If I try to cast the alteration spell on myself the changes would disrupt the flow of magic to my horn and halt the spell halfway. What if I don’t snap back to being a unicorn but something in between? The spell could damage my magic and I might end up dying from magic starvation. If that’s what its called anyway. She forgot about the object in her magic and her eyes became unfocused as her troubled thoughts spiraled ever downwards. What if I’m the only pony on Earth? There would be no one who could cast the spell in my stead. Even if I’m not there’s no guarantee they could cast the spell correctly, or that I could for that matter.

The tan rod in her magic wavered as her focus was increasingly distracted away from the spell. The movement brought it back to her attention and she regarded it anew. James’s thoughts drifted to the reason she bought the flesh spike in the first place and that faint laughter she heard. She gave an angry growl as she looked at the length of silicone hanging in her magic. “You know what? I'm a mare. And until that changes I need to relieve some stress.” Who knows, maybe it’ll help me stop bashing my head against the figurative wall when I can’t get a new spell to work.

That relief ended up being much harder to reach than she thought it would. Her anger put her body out of the mood, but Tune was nothing if not further motivated to put it right back. Ten minutes of effort brought little in terms of results and she was no closer to her goal as when she first started. While anger managed to wrestle through her novice level spellwork, she gained no ground on this front and she felt sore after an additional fifteen minutes of teasing every fold and crevice. In the end, her mood soured completely and lost any pleasure derived from the activity. She never came anywhere close to climaxing.

“Oh to hell with it.” She slid the dildo out of her and threw it at the purple bag. She grumbled a long string of obscenities about the affair and stormed downstairs for lunch. Stupid rubber thing felt too damn thin anyway. “You know what? I need a walk. I’ve been in the house and in front of a book for too long, I need to just get out of the house.”

Her eyes came across the now empty backpack. “Hmm. Why just stop at a walk when I can make it a hike, I need the exercise to clear my head.” Tune took the backpack, phone, and the bungee cord. With some effort Tune readjusted the shoulder straps so that the pack could sit on her without them interfering with her gait.

As she gathered supplies for two days’ travel James grabbed her recharged phone and slid the built in keyboard out. After realizing a hoof was not feasibly for the tiny buttons anymore, she tried to multitask her kinesis to not only hold the phone in front of her, but to push the buttons as well. It would be a rather simple task for hands and fingers, but not so much for her budding command over magic.

“I can’t call Qubert with this voice so I’ll just text him instead.”

Hey Q, sorry about not responding earlier I was nearly bedridden for the past two days and I left my phone in the car. Thanks for getting the utilities back on so fast, I’m kind of surprised considering how far the manor is from anywhere else. Anyway, I’ll keep you posted for when the doc says I can come home. Thanks again for letting me stay at the house, talk to you later.

“There, that should keep him from worrying for a few more days.”

As she was about to leave, the tome caught her eye. “Well, I can walk and read at the same time.” Taking the book in her magic, she floated it over her head and put it on top of the backpack as it was far too big to fit in the sack with all the other supplies too. “I need some way to secure it.”

Her face scrunched for a few seconds until it lit up with an idea. “I saw some Christmas ribbon in one of the wardrobes that should work.” After much trial and error, James decided to have the tome sit directly on her back and have the pack sit on top of that with the ribbon keeping the book and pack together.

“There, now I can go towards the second star to the right and straight on 'til morning.” Tune cantered out to the front porch and looked up at the sky with a frown. “Not exactly a lot of stars outside in midday.” She brought her phone out and pulled up the compass app. “I’ll just go east then.” After marking the manor on the GPS so she wouldn’t get lost, she started trekking along her chosen path.

Keeping her pace at a steady canter, James slid through the shoulder tall grass with a spring in her step. “This is what I needed. Some exercise and open spaces.”

Seeing there were not any visible obstacles along the flat grasslands James enjoyed the clean air the wind in her mane. “Its so peaceful out here.” An hour passed of nothing but flat grasslands and James felt much of her tension over the last few days unwind. It was around that time when she felt comfortable enough that she could keep going without having to see where she was going. Sliding the ribbon off and into a pouch, she grabbed the book in her magic and levitated it front of her face to read the chapter review to unlock the next one. As she opened the correct page she saw a faint pink mote of light pass from the page to her eyes.

“Gah. What was that?” She stopped walking to rub her eyes with a fetlock. The discomfort fled and blinked her eyes to read the page.

The review is a little more difficult than the last, but is by no means a real challenge unless you’re leaving it to the foal to accomplish on their own. Simply levitate the book with this page open and the next chapter is yours.

“Oh.” She let out a slightly embarrassed laugh and resumed walking. “Well that was easy.”

She read the introduction and the first dozen pages with intense interest. “Seems this chapter’s all about strengthening the limits of each tribe’s magic.

She skipped the other tribes’ sections as irrelevant. While a unicorn can improve their magic through constant spellcasting, there are other methods that would not require constant attention. Before I can expand on that element further in the next chapter, I must cover a method I am particularly fond of: the crystallization of magic and the employment of matrixes and runes. The act of crystalizing your magic is a very simple yet draining process. This is not the same thing as the most common preconception of object conjuration. Take for example when a unicorn summons a door. In most cases, nonunicorns will simply see it as the caster materializing a door into existence with magic. This is simply not the case as the door isn’t really made of wood and paint. Instead it is a combination of force fields in the shape of a door with some illusion magic creating the color and texture. The reason the spell takes the shape of a door is because the caster simply wanted to create a door(typically from memory) and the caster’s brain automatically molded the spell to take the desired shape. I will expound on that later.

As for the crystals, this is one of the few items that are actually created permanently by magic as it is quite literally solidified mana. While any unicorn can create mana crystals, there is little application for unrefined crystals in daily life except for one important detail. The mana crystal you create can be used to refill your (and only your) reserves when ether is unavailable. It is with that in mind that I strongly suggest every unicorn to possess a personal crystal for just that purpose, and to reiterate this I have made the formation of a five ounce crystal as part of the key for the next chapter.

Creation of a basic mana crystal is very simple as the following lessons will demonstrate.

As the hours passed James lost herself both in the book and in the world. The more she read about the power coursing through her veins, the more engrossed in its mastery she became. She did not stop studying nor did she halt her steady canter for food as she kept moving while blindly fumbling in her pack to fish an apple or banana out. It never crossed her mind that she was doing all of it via telekinesis as it became increasingly second nature to her just as using hands had been to her as a human.

By the time the sun was starting to dip below the horizon James felt she had enough of an understanding to fabricate her first mana crystal and closed the spell book. With her face no longer obstructed by the tome, the orange painted sky caught her off-guard and she came to a halt. “Have I really been walking this whole time?”

She had worked up a mild sweat and her breathing was slightly higher than normal but she was otherwise fine. Scoping her surroundings, she suddenly realized she was in open farmland and had no tall grass to hide in. In addition she saw a highway perpendicular to herself and it was less than a hundred feet out with a couple of signs on her side of the road. Her first reaction was to scan for any people and place the book back under her pack. When the ribbon was tight again she crouched on the short grass and pulled her phone out.

“Holy…I’m almost forty miles from the house. And Q sent a reply some time ago.” Better text him back saying my voice is really sore so he’ll limit communication to texting.

Putting the phone away after the text went out, James was about to head back to the manor when her gaze turned to the small town to the south. “Its getting late, but since I’m already near a town. I should hunt down some more supplies. Better to have too much than to run out of something critical.”

Her bladder demanded attention, but a quick look around only saw empty fields and a few farm building to the north. “Er, well. If anything I’m just helping fertilize the land.”

As soon as business was concluded, Tune went south along a parallel path of the highway but kept her distance to give her time to turn her head away from any passing motorists so she would look like a normal horse. Well, as normal as having a blue mane and tail can be.

It was dark when she arrived in town and James kept to the shadows as much as possible as her phone pointed her towards a neighborhood near the northwest corner of town. From there she kept an eye out for any houses that had well-manicured gardens or greenhouses. Her searching proved less fruitful than she thought it should have been as she finished her sweep of the area. “Has no one around here a single care for something a little bigger than house plants?”

She leaned against a chain link fence and drank from a bottle of water. Its still strange to not physically hold it. Still beats using hooves to do it.

Discarding the odd feeling aside, she crept down several more streets until she finally caught side of a greenhouse. The lights in the home were lit, but the greenhouse was dark. As much as I hate stealing, I didn’t bring any money with me. Not that anyone would take money from a talking pony without calling the Men in Black.

There was only one door into the conservatory and it was facing the large plane windows of the TV room. The family of four was visible from the angle, watching a home movie of the son’s little league baseball game. Tune watched them for several minutes with a growing seed of envy. She had not felt loneliness since becoming a unicorn, and the scene showed everything she could never have. Whatever. She huffed dismissively while trying to force the unwelcome thoughts out of her mind. To distract herself she magiced the door open and crept inside. I don’t need anyone. She stayed in a low crouch as she scanned the small structure. “I can’t see a thing, and I can’t use a light spell where the people will spot it.”

Tune was not after the plants, but for any small gardening tools or seed packets. The search proved highly difficult thanks to the dim ambient light and she was unable to locate anything in her hunt. “I didn’t really think this through did I? I’ll just have to wait for the family to go to sleep.” Fortune saw fit to grace her and she did not have to wait long as one of the children ran in with an armful of jackets and the family got ready to leave the house.

James poked her head out of the door and watched the family drove off in a minivan. James waited until she couldn’t hear the engine anymore and lit her horn to search the greenhouse properly. She found what she expected: Shelves, potted plants, and a sprinkler system. What she did not find were the items she wanted. “Well if they’re not here, then they must be in the garage. Dimming her light, she trotted over to the darkened home. The backdoor had a single plane of glass in the center with pseudo dividers on the surface. She peered through and saw the deadbolt latch and clicked it over with her magic. “If anything I’d make a good thief.” She mused to herself ruefully.

With a little horn light, she illuminated the dark house. “I don’t smell any pets in the house so I should be good.” James wasted no time in heading to the garage. It took three minutes to find a hand spade among a pile of other equipment that was too large to carry back. Placing the spade in a pouch, her searching eyes fell upon a red tool chest. “Dad used to put more things than just tools in the green one he used to have.”

Searching from top to bottom, Tune found three dozen seed packets on the fourth draw from the top. “Turnips, squash, marigolds? That last one is a flower right?” Can I eat flowers? She brought up the phone and searched the internet for the answer. “Huh, so I can. If I’m close enough to normal horses in that manner anyway.”

Stuffing as many seed packets as she could, Tune thought it best to vacate the premises. Sneaking out the back, she locked the door behind her and heard a loud tire screeches and rumbling engines from down the road.

“What is that all about?” Careful to avoid getting too close to the streetlight, James walked between the house and the lining shrubberies to look in the direction of the noise. Roaring down the street was a black sedan with a pickup truck and a SUV chasing after it. Wailing police sirens were not far behind but no patrol cars were currently visible.

Tune ducked low in the bushes and waited for the vehicles to drive by when she heard several distinct pops. Bloody hell, that’s gunfire.

Two passengers from the sedan climbed out of the back windows and gave return fire with automatic pistols. The truck’s shooter took a hit in the chest and fell to the pavement while the driver was hit in the arm, but managed to stay on the road. The SUV floored the gas and surprised both the sedan driver and James by unexpected high acceleration. The two ton wreaking ball smashed the car on the right bumper and spun both vehicles out as desperate shots from the car hit the SUV driver once in the shoulder and twice in the chest.

The SUV swerved and was t-boned by the pickup who was not able to twist out of the way in time killing both drivers. The sedan had been hit at the wrong time and was thrown out of control and collided with the streetlight in front of James. Bad, this is really really bad.

The two gunmen from the car rolled for several yards in different directions. The first’s head smashed against the curb and did not rise while the second was thrown into a poorly trimmed thorn bush. There were a few seconds of eerie silence broken only by the sound of hissing water and cooling metal. Tune stood in dazed awe not yet fully grasping that a gunfight actually happened in front of her. She did not stay in this state long however as heavy banging coming from the sedan’s front passenger door made her hide deeper in the bushes. She was torn between fear telling her to flee and morbid curiosity wanting to see what else would happen.

The banging car door increasingly edged her to err on the side of caution, yet before she could start to leave the occupant changed tactics and smashed the window. A brown pegasus with a steel mane crawled out of the window and flopped painfully on the glass covered concrete.

James’s eyes grew wide at the sight of the dazed pony. There are more like me?

Tune wanted to reach to him but one of the gunmen halted her by shouting at the stallion. “Don’t you fucking move horse!”

The stallion had only just gotten to his hooves when the gunman from the rose bush had his weapon trained on the pony’s head. “My name is Conrad asshole!”

The gunman had a bad limp on his right leg and was bleeding from a dozen small cuts and gashes, but his arm was rock steady and had murder in his eyes. With his free arm he grabbed a phone out of a pants pocket and hit the speed dial. “I got the package at thirty five Cornella Street. I’ll need a pickup two streets north.” He closed it to address the stallion. “You’re a talking barn animal. The only name you have is paycheck.”

Conrad glared at him and looked as if he was about to sprint when a bullet ricocheted off the ground and grazed his leg. “You kill me you get nothing!”

“And if you run off I get zilch, so I got nothing to lose.”

Conrad gritted his teeth in a low crouch and waited for the gunman to get close enough to attack, but the man was smart enough to keep his distance. “Now get moving over there.” He waved the gun in the direction of Tune’s hiding spot. “And if I see you so much as look at me wrong I’ll cave your skull.”

The pegasus stood his ground and returned a defiant glare. “No.”

The police sirens were louder and the first patrol car rounded a corner less than two miles away and headed straight for the crash site. The gunman fired a warning shot that grazed Conrad’s ear. “That wasn’t a request. I said move!”

Before the gunman could call Conrad’s bluff, his gun was enveloped by an azure aura and tried to force itself out of his hand. “The hell is going on.” He grunted as the firearm kept jerking in different directions every two seconds until it finally freed itself from his grasp. He turned and shouted at the stallion thinking he was the culprit. “You’re dead ho-“

Conrad took advantage of the disarming and bucked him squarely in the groin and followed it up with a second stronger buck to the jaw when the man doubled over. The gunman’s head snapped back and he landed on his back and did not move again.

James whistled and waved her hooves at him. “Hey! Over here!”

The pegasus did a double take on seeing another pony. His ears swiveled to the encroaching police cruiser and had few options, so he chose her. Conrad galloped over to Tune’s location. “Was that you back there with the gun?”

“Yeah, come on we gotta go before the cops see us.” She started running towards the backyard with Conrad following closely. “I can’t believe it. I thought I was the only pony in the world.”

The pair used the cover of darkness to pass to the next eight streets before Tune had to stop for a breather. Conrad pointed them towards a tool shed and they ducked inside so she could catch her breath. “Sorry. I never was much of a runner.” She panted while leaning on the wall.

The pegasus watched out the door for any sign of pursuit. “What you said back there. You say we’re ponies?”

“Huh? Oh yeah. We are. I’m a unicorn and you’re-“

“A pegasus yes. So I’ve gathered.” He said flatly.

“So what’s your name?” She bit her lip, but it was too late to stop the question from being heard.

“Conrad.” He glanced at her when she said nothing further for several moments and she felt like she dodged a bullet. However he interpreted the lull in conversation as an expectation to elaborate. “Just Conrad. I lost my family name when I became this.” He could see the sympathetic look in her eye and knew she felt similar loss. “What about yours?”

Her breathing was still heightened, but she was able to speak without impairment. Her first thought was to lie and say she was had always been female. That’d be simpler right? She looked at him with a mix of emotions she couldn’t label. But what if I lie now and he ever finds out? I think I’d be easier to be upfront about it. “To be perfectly honest. Its James Tune.” She said breaking the long silence. “I’ve been thinking about changing it to Alexia though.”

Conrad was caught off-guard. “You were a man?”

She nodded. “Were, being the key word.”

“I see,” he replied at length. “Sorry for your loss.”

Someone has to be. She stood up with a determined visage decorating her face. “Pining for the past and wishing for a future that probably won’t be possible isn’t going to do me any favors.” She levitated her phone out and brought up the GPS. Glad I keep it off most of the time, the battery’d be dead by now otherwise. “Once we get out of town we need to head east, I have a safe house out that way. That is. If you want to come with me.” She tried to keep her voice passive.

Conrad watched her magic with amazement behind a stoic veil. I can’t keep running, and there’s no way I can blend in human society anymore. Sticking with her is my best bet. Not to mention she seems to know about what we are. “After you.”

The two ponies melted into the shadows of the smallish town. Conrad told her the thugs from before were not the only ones looking for him. His caution prevented Tune from venturing forth into ambushes he spotted when she thought the coast was clear on more than one occasion. It took an extra two hours before they cleared the city limits and back in the vast green fields of Kansas.

With two hours of farmland behind them, Conrad felt confident that they had lost his pursuers and visibly relaxed. Ordinarily he would have considered the unicorn at his side a threat, given that she assisted him without due cause. The fact that she was a pony as well made him more inclined to believe she did it out of nepotism. She had a mild light spell on her horn guiding the way and only rarely looked back as if checking to make sure he was still there. “So what you said earlier. About your name.”

“Oh. That,” she said after a few moments. She drew herself up into a serious, if slightly despondent tone. “I always liked Alexia, the name I mean. If I ever had a daughter I would have named her that. But, well…I fit that name now more than I do James. So I’m going to take it as my own.” She had slowed down enough so they would be side by side and kept stealing glanced at him to gauge his reaction.

“I see.” He said while mostly avoiding eye contact for several moments before speaking. “I doubt many could stay sane if they were in your position Miss Tune.” He watched her out the corner of his eye and noticed she did not flinch at the feminine term of address. “So tell me. If whatever force changed our species, did it change you’re sexuality as well?”

She gave him a sour expression. “That’s a rather rude way to ask for a lay. But if you must know. The way I see it, is I was a straight man so I’m in all likelihood a straight mare. I just haven’t had any other ponies around to verify my theory.” And I think you’re a polluted sample.

“It was not my intent to insult you. If this force changed our bodies, then I wanted to know if it was altering our personalities as well. Becoming a pegasus in body is one thing, but I want to know if I will lose my sense of self along with it.”

Her hard expression softened, knowing she shared such concerns. “As forcibly as it did our bodies? I doubt it extends to more than rewriting our muscle memory and probably our ability to cope.” Not that I have any proof. She looked up at the stars as she remembered the past. “My mother liked to think of herself as a guru of philosophy. A lot of what she said was rather silly, but one of the things that stood out at me was that we will never grow if we stagnate. The human condition always changes and we must change with it or drown in the current.” She looked directly at him with steel in her eyes, which prompted him to meet her gaze. “I think that is the main reason I can come to terms with being a mare. I choose to breathe rather than drown by clinging onto something I no longer possess.”

He mulled over her words carefully. “You have admirable strength. Pray you never lose it.”

Alexia was eager to move the topic of conversation away from herself. “What’s your story?”

Conrad seriously considered lying, but in the face of Alexia’s admissions of herself he felt obligated to return the favor. “I was the heir to a minor crime family based in San Francisco.”

“Am I going to have to worry about a knife my in throat while I sleep?” She asked half-jokingly with a noticeable thread of genuine concern.

“Nay. That is not my life anymore and I was never very fond of it to begin with.”

“So those men back there?”

“Were two different syndicates, the ones who bought me and the ones who stole me from the first. My bastard of a father had no use of a horse for a son. He was going to execute me until my wings started growing. That’s when he realized I was turning into a pegasus and knew I would make for a good profit on the black market once my changes were complete.” He spat on the ground away from her. “And he did.”

Tune cringed at the disgust in his voice. “Sorry to hear that.”

“I’m not.” She gave him a bemused expression. “Becoming a hor- pony along with my father’s greed took everything away from me. In its place I gained something I thought I would only have in death: freedom. You may not be aware of this Alexia, but for a country that trumpets that ideal across the world, there are many here who never experience it.

Tune didn’t know if she should take his story as truth or not, but something made her want to believe. “My life can’t really compare to that.”

“My grandfather once told me: Never measure a man by his past, but by the strength of his character. You are what you make of yourself.”

“Sounds like he’s a wise man.”

“Yes.” He added proudly as he hid a thread of sorrow. “He was.”

It was nearly dawn when they caught sight of the manor. Alexia was dead on her hooves, and she wanted to sleep in that freshly laundered bed so badly it kept her moving throughout the night. She was about to step foot on the driveway when Conrad put a restraining hoof to her chest. “Wait.”

Tune felt anger at being denied her well-deserved bed rest, but even her tired eyes could see the concern etched on the stallion’s face. “What?”

His ears perked towards the house. “Does someone else live here with you?”

She scanned the large parking area for Qubert’s car or one of the expected delivery trucks and found nothing. “No, just me.”

He pointed at the open front door. He doubted Alexia was absentminded enough to leave it open and her surprised expression confirmed it. “Then it seems you have an unwelcome guest.”

Much of Alexia’s fatigue was replaced by fear. “Its not the ones who were after you are they?”

“Doubtful.” Conrad motioned for silence and tread along the driveway while remaining in the grass until the pair reached the front porch. He turned his head to whisper to her. “Is there an entrance we can use that won’t make noise with our hooves?”

“No, every door leads out to a wooden deck or a cobblestone walkway. Even if we get inside almost everything is hard floors.”

“How does all the noise from walking not drive you mad?”

Tune huffed quietly. “I actually like the sound thank you. You might as well get used to it.” She tapped him on his right foreleg's hoof.

Conrad dropped the topic in favor of resolving the situation. “Do you know any combat magic?”

“Only telekinesis. I doubt anyone would want to kill us on sight so I can try to disarm them that way while you kick’em around.”

He nodded in agreement. “Just like before. I’ll go first to draw any attention away from you so you can do just that.”

The pair moved as quietly as eight hooves on wood could allow into the foyer. The manor was completely dark save for the very faint light of the waxing moon. As soon as they stopped, Alexia’s ears perked up to the sound of snoring. She wordlessly led her companion upstairs to Qubert’s old room and found a lump sleeping on the bed. As they got closer they heard a whiny interspaced between the snoring.

Both unicorn and pegasus gave each other a wary look and she brought up a dim light on her horn. Lying in the center of the dust ridden bed was a grass green earth pony mare with a pink mane. She was on her back with her legs splayed out in a less than dignified manner. The light revealed a mass of electronics that had not been there when Alexia left the previous morning and a note on printed paper was taped to the Earth pony’s flank.

Conrad kept watch to make sure she didn’t spring awake while Tune levitated the note to read it.

Hey I’m Loki, tried to wait for you to get back but if you’re reading this then I obviously fell sleep. You wouldn’t mind waking me before throwing me out the house would you? Thanks X0X0

She showed the note to Conrad while speaking with an incredulous tone. “Is she for real?”

5: Mischief

View Online

Fatigue clouded Alexia’s judgment as she read Loki’s letter a second time before whispering to Conrad. “I’m too tired to deal with this. I’m going to bed.”

He gave her a look between understanding and discontent. “I’d rather have both of us wake her up here and now. There’s no telling what kind of person Loki is or what she’ll do.”

She gave him a blearily once over of his physique. “You look a lot stronger than she does. You should be able to handle her if she’s a baddie. Go wake her up, I’m going to bed.”

“What about me?” He added before Tune could leave.

Alexia stopped in her tracks to face him. “What about you?”

“You would leave a complete stranger and a known criminal to have free reign in your house?”

“I would like to think I can trust you. You’re willing to overlook my past, I want to do the same for you. Will you allow me to do that?”

Her words cut him deeply as if he was hearing his grandfather speak through her. He was able to keep it from showing overmuch on his face. Who are you? “I do not know why you give it so freely, but I will endeavor to be worthy of your esteem. I will keep watch over our guest.”

Tune was too tired to properly understand the sentiment and simply nodded before leaving. Conrad couldn’t decide if Alexia was being too trusting, or was truly letting him go beyond his past. She would have never survived in my world. Nor did I for that matter.

A peppy voice whispered in his ear. “Hi.” He nearly jumped out of his skin and tried to buck the owner of the voice. Loki bounced back and away from the clumsy strike. “Whoa easy there tiger. No need to lop my head off.”

Conrad moved to block the door. “How long have you been awake?”

“Since you two barged your way up the steps.” She snickered. “A freight train would have been quieter.”

“No one ever said hooves were made for stealth.” He countered.

“Then you shouldn’t have bothered.” She shot back dismissively until her eyes locked onto his wings and before he could even blink she was at his side pulling one open. “Are you freaking kidding me!? You got wings?”

He winced in pain at the tugging and thwacked her over the head to remove her. The hit had been intended to cause injury but it only proved to be a temporary distraction. “Keep your hands to yourself or I’ll cut them off.”

She gave him a smirk. “Fine, I’ll keep my hands off you. But someone else beat you to the punch on cutting them off.” She waved her hooves at him for emphasis.

He growled lightly as he spoke. “Don’t get smart with me.” He fought to keep the stab of pain from showing as he refolded his overextended wing back into place. “Tell me why I shouldn’t have you kicked out of the house.”

“What? All three of us being horse things isn’t enough for you?”

He gave her a cold stare. “No.”

“You’re such a gentleman.” She remarked with her forelegs crossed and her head turned away in faux indignation.

His stance loosened slightly. “The more of us there are in one place, the more likely someone will find us. I have no intention on being stuffed and mounted on some rich man’s oddities collection.”

“Huh, I was more concerned about getting picked up by a caravel and used as a freak show act. But I do have something to offer if you and your girlfriend let me stay.”

Conrad forcibly ignored the relationship comment. “I’m listening.”

“See she’s the one with the house right? And I guess you want to be the dumb muscle or something?” He refused to baited further by her verbal jabbing and said nothing. “Well I can provide the finances. Anything that can be shipped here I can get it.”

He was less than convinced. “You have any proof to back up such a claim?”

She jumped over to the mass of electronics and revealed them to be several pieces of a single computer crudely secured onto a harness. She shuffled into it but stopped at clicking the buckles in place. “This is the rig I threw together when I found out what was happening to me. It has a satellite uplink instead having to rely on the horribly lacking cellular network out here. And thanks to the fact that no one cares who or what you look like online, I can shop and hack from anywhere in the world.” Her proud boasting faltered slightly. “For about two hours if I don’t find a power socket. Pushing a signal into space isn’t exactly cheap on power ya know.”

Conrad raised a mocking eyebrow. “I don’t care if you’re the top hacker on the planet, but you can’t do squat with a keyboard anymore and I don’t see a microphone for dictation.”

Loki lifted her equipment carefully onto the bed and turned it on. “You can’t blame a girl for wanting to keep ahold of her livelihood. Besides, it turns out these nubs aren’t as problematic as you might think. I can actually type faster now than I ever could with fingers.”

Conrad was losing his patience as Loki waggled her hooves at each other as if they were sock puppets. He looked over at the keyboard and found it was actually in two pieces, presumably so that the normally long board would not interfere with the pony’s gait. The buttons were just as small as a normal keyboard which only pushed him further under the belief that she was insane. “I’ll be the first to admit I know nothing of hacking, but even I know you can’t mash keys together and hope for the best.”

“Have you actually tried?” Loki responded in a tone that oozed superiority.

“I am not in the habit of wasting my time. Get to the point!”

Loki did not respond until her system was up and running. “Get a look at this craziness.” She beckoned him over to put the headpiece on. His paranoia was in full swing and he refused to come any closer. She kept waving the headset at him. “You didn’t really think I’d bring a full sized screen with me did you? You have to wear this for me to show you.”

“No. Just tell me.”

“A sourpuss like you won’t believe me if I just told you, I need to show.”

“Try me. After getting turned into a pony with wings my list of believable events has been expanding exponentially.”

“Fine.” She replied with an annoyed huff. She grabbed one of the keyboard halves in a hoof and lifted it vertically. What stood out to Conrad was that she grabbed it from above instead of slipping the hoof underneath it. “Not only can I grab stuff with a magnetic hoof, but I can type without pressing the keys. I just think of what letters I want to type and they appear on screen. I still have to have my hooves on the board, but it still works all the same. Isn’t that the freakiest thing ever?”

Loki was expecting his jaw to drop on the floor in profound astonishment followed by him gibbering insane babble about the impossibility of it. Instead his expression changed little. “Did you really have to waste my time trying to set up a demonstration?”

Her mouth hung open for several seconds trying to comprehend how he wasn’t going bonkers. “Just like that? You accept me having a magic freaking hoof!?” She waved the keyboard at him begging for a reaction. “I have a nearly flat nub where my hand used to be and you just accept it like yesterday’s news? There’s something seriously wrong with you.” She ended with a pout.

“Alexia already has magic that can levitate and create light. This is comparable to that.” He spoke with an almost bored tone that only riled her up further. “As for whether or not you can stay, that’s ultimately up to her. But I won’t hesitate to kick you to the curb if you try anything.”

He left without another word. Loki watched him go and tried to see how deep the stick was stuck. Probably all way to his throat. What a jaded jerk. Well, Alex sounds like a fun girl. She yawned and went back to sleep.

It was past noon before Alexia arose from the dead. She would have slept longer but her satellite smartphone’s alarm kept her from doing further damage to her sleep cycle. In the zombie state that she was in, she forgot she had company until she walked into the living area and found Conrad watching the news on the TV she never bothered to acknowledge before and Loki with her face stuffed inside a cereal bowl chewing happily. Conrad pointedly ignored the green mare and gave Alexia a curt nod of greeting. Loki figured if Alexia wanted to talk she would bark at her so she kept eating while waving a hoof. This barely registered to the unicorn as she grabbed an assortment of food in her magic and plopped down on her favorite lounge chair.

The two guests kept their peace, but Conrad had already decided he didn’t like Loki while the mare didn’t care overmuch what he thought. Loki’s only concern was getting Tune’s blessing to stay. The green mare stole the occasional glance at the bedraggled unicorn. This place is perfect; out of the way, still somewhat near a major highway so it can receive deliveries, and there two other people like me here so I don’t get isolation sickness. She regarded the brown pegasus. Even if someone around here is enough of a grouch to put the Grinch to shame.

Loki’s interest zeroed in on the tome that was floating above Tune’s head even though the unicorn seemed oblivious to it. Her eyes darted between the two other ponies and the floating book that begged her to look inside. Just play it cool, and win her over first.

She was about to voice a question when Conrad unmuted the commercials. “Welcome back to Channel Five Hardliner News Network its time for the Morning News Annihilation.” The upbeat male anchor shuffled his papers and gave an oily smile to the camera. “The Russian Embassy in Egypt came under terrorist attack yesterday, two days earlier than the announced attack planned by radical group Kahiee Jamahde. The Russians are anything if not good at information control and were already aware of the preemptive attack and suffered almost no causalities. Not exactly a big surprise with that one folks. Moving on, the mounting fuel crisis around the world has forced NASCAR to more than double the price of admission to the Indy five hundred over the past year. Makes me glad I’m a baseball fan.” He deadpanned before shifted to a new camera.

“The doomsday clock is ticking. The meteor that’s threatening the world’s oceans is closing in and the retail market for the Pacific coast is plummeting. Sources say if things keep going the way they are we might hit a second recession irregardless of assurances from the UN and White House saying the big rock in the sky won’t cause any damage. Just do what I do folks, wait til splash down then gobble up all the cheap land.”

He switched back to a third camera and discarded the papers. “Speaking of sources, more of them tell me missing person cases are on the upswing across the globe. People you wouldn’t expect, scientists, doctors, chiefs of police, all acting strange a day or two than poof gone. Personally I think its people across the board but who would report about bus boys or teachers getting nabbed unless it was somebody’s grandma? Moving on to today’s vocabulary-“

Conrad hit the mute button and looked begrudgingly at both mares. “Did you hear that? That might be proof this ponification thing is more widespread than any of us thought.”

Alexia was contemplatively silent while Loki was partially dismissive. “So what? You wanna play hero samurai boy?”

He growled slightly at the hacker but said nothing as his gaze fell on Tune. She felt out of her element at the attention. “What? I don’t know, I was just a mailman before all this. I’ve been playing it all by ear since I’ve got here.”

Loki’s attention shifted to focus squarely on her. “A mailman? How did you get ahold of this mansion this?”

Alexia grew slightly defensive. “Never mind that. Why are you eating my food?”

Loki wanted an answer but thought better of pressing for one. “Cause I can provide financial support by way of my various overseas bank accounts and my baller hacking abilities. Your pad, my money, it’s a win-win for both of us.”

That piqued Tune’s interest. “How much money?”

“Seventy five grand as of right now.” Loki boasted proudly. “Given that I had to pay two hundred to get out of Denver and keep the taxi’s mouth shut about the talking pony in the backseat, I’d say I came out on top. But so long as I can stay here I can keep my operations up and running, I can supply the cash.”

“And what happens when the feds track you back here?” Conrad butted in with a sneer.

“As if I’d let them.” Loki rebuked. “I have my ways, but trust me. No one will ever find us thanks to any of my doing.”

Alexia munched on a carrot in contemplation. I’m down to my last two thousand after express shipping the food and paying off Qubert for the month’s rent. Why is it my luck that I had to be surrounded by criminals? Would it kill Lady Luck to send me a school teacher or an accountant? Actually with her sense of humor the teacher would be a disciplinarian and the accountant would be an embezzler. “I don’t see any reason to refuse you. Welcome aboard Loki.”

The green pony pumped a hoof. “Oohrah!” Easy as piggybacking the neighbor’s Wi-Fi. “If you have a list of stuff you need shipped to the house write it up and I’ll have the trucks on their way by morning.”

“How exactly are we going to write anything without thumbs Brainiac?” Conrad quipped with a sneer.

Loki stared daggers at him, but Alexia was oblivious to the heated exchange and replied excitedly. “I was going to spend the day making a mana crystal, but I really should learn how to write with my telekinesis. I hope you can read chicken scratch.”

The green mare warmed to both the idea and the unicorn. “Pshaw. Don’t worry about it. My friends used to say my writing was its own language.” She finished off the dry cereal and flipped the bowl to land on her head. “Don’t give it to me before five though. I have some things that need doing.”

She began to scamper off with the bowl over her head when Conrad yelled at her. “Wait.” She tilted her head with an amused smile. “How did you know this house was occupied by a fellow pony without meeting her first?”

Alexia turned to listen for that answer as well. Loki’s smile stretched further. “Oh that’s easy. The horse smell is everywhere and this place doesn’t have a stable. Don’t tell me you two can’t smell it.”

Tune coughed sheepishly. “Yeah sorry. The water was off for a couple of days so I wasn’t able to bathe.”

Loki chuckled goodheartedly. “Good thing you couldn’t. I would have cleaned the fridge out and left if it hadn’t been for the smell. No offense.” She added at last minute. “Anyway, I’d love to stay and chat, tea, biscuits, the whole shabang but I got work to do.”

Conrad watched Loki leave with a neutral expression. “Tune, what you said last night. About pegasi being able to fly.”

Alexia was finishing off the last of her brunch. “What about it?”

“Did your book say anything about them needing any sort of assistance? Magical or otherwise?”

She scratched her head while lowering the book to eye level and pressing her hoof against it to open the lock. “Aside from what naturally occurs in their body no, but it did allude to some individuals having a poorly developed itineris system, the ahh whole thing with the carbuncle I told you about.”

“That’s what allows you to cast magic right?”

“That’s what generates the magic yes. The book had diagrams of the typical layouts for the three tribes and-” Her eyes dilated to an extreme level with a grin to match. “Can I see your itineris system? Please?!”

He balked at her charging him with her forelegs clasped together pleadingly. “What exactly would you need to do?”

“Its simply really.” She grinned fiercely at the opening. “I just need to add an expansion clause to the inner sight spell, basically making it an outer sight. The only problem is that it only works with physical contact.”

“Yeah…simple.” He deadpanned. He doubted Tune would intentionally cause harm. “What do I have to do?”

“Just relax and take deep breaths.” Once both of them were comfortable and sitting across from each other on the sofa, she placed a hoof on his withers and took one long breath. At the exhale she opened her eyes and he was taken aback by the solid azure glow they had taken on.

Conrad’s carbuncle was roughly half as bright as Alexia’s own. However Alexia was not concerned about that as the diagrams said that was the typical baseline between unicorns and pegasi. As expected, his capillaries were extremely dense in his wings and moderately so in his hooves and legs. The rest of his body had less than a fifth of the density Tune possessed. The book says he can get away with that because his body doesn’t need magic for daily survival.

What Alexia had not expected was that the alteration to the spell allowed Conrad to see her itineris system as she did his. The sheer brilliance of the mare's itineris system made her almost painful to look at, but he refused to show weakness by turning away. With the spell at work, many of the capillaries along her front were pulsing and the horn itself was a blinding strobe light that mesmerized him the longer he looked at it. Eventually she broke contact and levitated the book over to study the diagrams.

“Looks to me you’re perfectly okay. You should be able to fly just fine once you get the technique down. But I’m sorry to say this is a book on magic not pegasus flight.”

Her words broke him out of his stunned paralysis. “We should consider ourselves fortunate we have the tome at least. But it makes me wonder.” He added in a quizzical tone.

He got off the sofa to practice flexing his wings to get a better feel for their movements while she retrieved the spell book. “About what?”

He inclined his head towards a window to get her to follow him. “What is your impression of the book’s author?”

Tune rubbed her chin for a moment. “Princess Twilight Sparkle is her name. She comes across as extremely CDO.” Conrad gave her a confounded look. “Which to put it in her words would translate to: CDO is like OCD but is in alphabetical order, as it should be.”

“Ah.” He replied flatly.

“So as you can imagine she is very meticulous and thorough, which is really helpful given the role she plays as instructor.”

“What about disposition?” He interjected. “Does she seem kind or cruel?”

“I get the impression she’s a rather benevolent person. If you’re asking whether she’s behind us becoming ponies I highly doubt it, at least not unless she went over to the dark side after writing the book.” The pair were on the back porch now and Alexia came to a stop at the steps at the gate. “I haven’t seen anything in the author’s notes that point to this being her doing, intentional or otherwise. As to why I have the book your guess is as good as mine. But for now you need to learn how to fly.”

Conrad extended his wings and studied them. “They seem far too small to actually work though.”

She gave him a look somewhere between disbelief and condescension. “I levitate stuff with a spike on my head and you’re worried about shortish wings being able to keep you in the air?”

“Point taken.” He conceded.

“Well get to flapping. I’ll try to catch you in my magic to keep you from falling too hard.”

He grinned appreciatively. “Thanks, I feel I’m going to need it.”

“No need to rush it. I’m right here to catch you.” Tune said reassuringly. Conrad nodded to hide his nervousness and flapped moderately hard once and managed to flip himself up and over his head and almost crashed on his back, but felt as if he was lying on a cushion of air. “I got ya.”

He was flipped right side up again and back on his hooves. “Thanks. Suddenly I got a lot lighter when I started flapping.”

“I read about that.” She replied matter-of-factly. “Pegasi control the effect of gravity on their bodies while in flight. Its one of the ways they can get away with such a small wing to body ratio.”

Conrad accepted the comment as truth and tried again, only this time keeping his wings angled back. His efforts were punished by him falling backwards and again being caught in Tune’s aura. “How long did it take you to learn to control magic? So I can get a rough estimate on how long it will take me to learn how to fly.”

She scratched the back of her head and sat on the grass to give the question some thought. “I don’t know how translatable learning magic and flight are between each other, but I can say this much. So far my magic has been difficult to get started. I studied the hell out of the theory of the spells before trying them, and then when actually trying them I couldn’t make it work. I tried forcing and pushing the spell out, but all I got was a headache for my efforts. It was only after the first few hours of floating stuff around the house that I realized that I didn’t have to think about the spell to make it happen. All I have to do is to want the object to float or to want some light and poof the spell activates.” Tune faced Conrad with a friendly smile. “I think that’s because light and telekinesis is simple stuff for unicorns in the same way flight is simple for pegasi. I’m sure stuff like…I don’t know… fireballs and teleportation would require concentration just like acrobatic flying would for you.” She closed her eyes and moved her hoof in a sweeping arc motion. “Don’t tell your wings what to do, let them do the talking.”

“I think I know what you’re getting at.” Without trying to guess which way his wings should be tilted, he unfolded them and gave several gentle flaps and found himself floating several feet above the ground. Oh f- how do I get down? His legs started to flail and his once steady hover began to wobble.

“See?” Tune called up from below. “Don’t think about it, just do it. Relax.” She tried to think of a quick analogy he would be familiar with. “Like getting into a firing stance with a pistol.”

The analogy worked and he stopped trying to steady himself and he let his body adjust naturally to hovering flight. Slowly, all of what Tune said started to click into place. When Conrad wanted to climb, he instinctively knew what angle and tempo to keep his wings at. As the hours progressed he learned to trust his instincts that told him to level out his wings and bank into them to make sharp turns. That is not to say it was flawless progression. In the span of a few short hours he collided with the ground and the house more times than Alexia could keep count no matter how many times she tried to catch him in her magic. If there was a trait the two shared it was stubbornness, and once he got a taste of fight, he could not escape it until mastery was his.

It was past seven that night when Conrad came in for the eighty seventh crash landing of the day. His coat was in patches along the left side of his barrel and in clumps on his right legs, but so far he managed to avoid breaking any bones. He did however have several cuts, scraps and a couple of gashes wrapped in linen. Alexia galloped over to the dazed stallion who was shakily climbing to his hooves. “How’d I do ma?” He asked in a tone that would have made her worry about a concussion if not for the wink he gave a moment later.

Once she understood he was teasing her, Alexia snicker and tapped him in a shoulder that still had intact fur. “Not bad all considering. I should count myself lucky all I had to deal with to learn magic was some frustration and headaches, not full body bruising and blood everywhere.”

The mention of the bruises causes his thus far ignored injuries to throb and he hissed in pain and gently rubbed a sore foreleg. “I want to thank you for your assistance with this. You help me and ask for nothing in return. Why? Why help someone like me?”

Tune felt controlled grief behind Conrad’s stoic visage. She didn’t know how, but she could tell the pegasus assumed Alexia was only helping him because they were both ponies. She brought her hoof up from his shoulder to his cheek and gave a compassionate smile. “Conrad, I would have helped you if you had been man, woman, pony, or human. I saw you were in danger and I helped you. I’ll admit I had to get over the shock of witnessing death firsthand, but I wasn’t going to let that man take you. After that you’ve proven to be a good man with a bad past. You should heed your grandfather and not let your past dictate your future.”

He was at a loss for several seconds until he hung his head. “I think your way with words was wasted as a mail carrier.”

They shared a chuckle. “I better go tell Loki to add medical supplies to the list. I’ll meet with you later okay?”

“I’d appreciate that.” His eyes lingered on her as she entered the house. To think grandpa, the kind of woman you always told me to watch for wouldn’t be human at all.

It was barely past eight when Alexia cantered into Loki’s room. The green mare had taken over the room completely with her readjustments to the décor. She was sitting on the bed with both halves of the keyboard under her hooves and the headset on her brow with a look of intense concentration. “Yeah! Take that you two dime harlot. I bet you couldn’t even catch a two year old script kiddy.”

Tune hesitated at the door. “Is now a bad time?”

“Nope! Gimme a sec aaannnd---done!” She cheered and tossed the helmet off. “You’re looking at the girl who jacked a cool quarter mill from the Sindaco family’s Brazil account. All that left is to let the scripts run from the zombies and keep the uplink down to clean up behind me and no one will be able to track it back here.”

“Oh.” Tune replied having no clue as to what any of that meant. “I take it they were a bunch of jerks.”

Loki gave a very equine snort. “Who isn’t nowadays? But enough about that, you got the list of stuff you need?”

Tune levitated a rolled up piece of paper and handed it over to Loki awaiting hoof. “My horn writing is as bad as I thought as it was going to be.”

Loki scrunched her face at the scribbling and tossed it back at the unicorn. “You got that right. You can just tell me what you need. But while you do.” She gave Alexia a sidelong glance with a smirk as she reequipped her computer harness. “I couldn’t help but notice when I was scavenging around the house yesterday that I came across a wallet. It had a driver’s license with an unmarried guy by the name of James Tune. That wouldn’t be you would it?”

Tune was only mildly surprised. “I thought Conrad would have told you last night. But yes, I used to be James Tune. We need some first aid supplies.”

Loki waved a dismissive hoof. “It’ll take a few hours for the zombie scripts to do their thing to keep any back-tracks from worming their way here so I can’t bring the uplink online for an hour or so.” She replied hastily so she could get back to her more interested topic. “So tell me. Have you tried it?”

“Tried what?” Alexia replied while tilting her head a bit.

Loki grinned. “I shouldn’t have to spell it out for you. I mean, have you tried masturbating?” She smirked expecting Tune to say no.

“Er umm. Actually I have.” She replied with shaky conviction.

Loki was dumbstruck for several seconds before she started clapping her hooves. “Bravo. I didn’t think an unwilling tranny would give it go.” Alexia grimaced but said nothing. “By your face I’d say you didn’t have much success.”

Tune colored but did not look away. “No I didn’t.”

“I can image. What did you use? A hoof? Carrot? Banana?”

“A dildo.”

Loki was impressed. “You continue to surprise me Alex.”

She cleared her throat. “Yeah well I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly when I bought them.”

Loki gasped. “Them? As in more than one!?” She leapt across the room and wrapped her forelegs around Tune’s neck. “Tell me you didn’t use all the ones you bought PLEASE! I need release! These hooves just don’t cut it ya know.”

“Yeah sure I can go get them.” She replied while prying the earth mare’s legs off her neck and bolted to her room.

“I’ll love you until the end of time!” She called out to the unicorn who disappeared in her room.

Alexia found the purple bag and the two clean phallic canes still in their wrappers and galloped back Loki’s room. “Here, you can have them.”

Loki rushed over and dug into the floating bag and held the bigger of the two flesh spires in her hoof. A savage grin and manic giggles erupted from her maw as she sat on her haunches and started stroking it lovingly. “Oh momma’s going to have such fun with you. Oh yes she is. And you’re going to be such a dirty nasty boy.”

Alexia raised an eyebrow out of awkwardness and amusement. I don’t think I was ever THAT happy to see anything in my life.

Loki broke “eye” contact with the phallic monument and wrapped her right leg around Tune’s neck while holding onto the dildo on the left hoof. “You know what Alexia. I already decided to like you, but now I know for sure you’re alright. And for that I want to teach you how to use this.”

Alexia forced a smile and levitated the bag further away from her face. “Thanks for the offer but I’ll pass. If I learned how to do it as a man I can learn how to do it as a mare.”

Loki leaned into her face. “What’s wrong, don’t like women anymore?” She sneered at Tune nervousness. “Or is your last failure with these things holding you back?” As she spoke, she gently pressed the rubber spear against the base of Alexia’s glowing horn and pushed it up towards the tip.

The movement sent a jolt of pleasure so strong from horn to groin that her eyes rolled back and a sultry moan escaped her lips. Loki was shocked by it as well and stepped back to see what happened. “You okay there girl?”

Tune blinked to clear her vision and regain her wits as her magic went out and rubbed the base of her horn. “Yeah, I-I’m fine. That felt…wow. What did you do?”

Loki looked down at the discarded purple bag and a put the numbers together. “Before I say anything, pick the bag back up.” Alexia put her hoof back down and grabbed the bag with her magic. With a cheshire grin, Loki gently rubbed Tune’s horn with a hoof this time in a slow teasing fashion.

The unicorn was left panting and Loki could smell Alexia’s labia. “Oh. My. God.” She fell on the ground laughing so hard she ignored Alexia’s protests when she recomposed herself and asked what was so funny. The green mare was in tears for three minutes until she was finally able to formulate a clear response. “You never lost your pecker Alex.” She taunted while stabbing a hoof at her horn. “He just moved to your forehead! Bwhahaha!” Alexia was not amused.

6: Of Emotions and Crystals

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The next few days fell into a sort of routine. Alexia studied magic, Conrad did the same with flight, and Loki toiled away expanding her web of contacts and backdoors across the net. While all three of them handled the change in species as well as could be expected, Loki was becoming increasingly unstable at the prospect of being so physically isolated from the rest of the world. Much to Conrad’s chagrin, she vented that frustration on pranks.

After Alexia progressed through the next few chapters, she came across a spell array that struck her fancy more than most and cleared away the center of the back deck to carefully draw it out in white chalk. The event did not go without notice of her housemates and both of them came to watch the light show, as Loki put it. Twilight’s entry on this particular pattern danced across the back of her mind.

This is the Limited Invisibility Conjuration Array or LICA for short. As you can see from the diagram, the pattern itself is highly complicated but the conjuration process itself requires little more than a good amount of magical muscle as it were. To reiterate, as with nearly all array based crystal conjurations, the crystal will take the form of a gemstone. There is no preset correlation between what real gem they will resemble and what spell they contain. The end shape of the crystal is determined by the caster’s magical frequency, what array is being used, and the ambient magic the atmosphere.

All of that of course, is if the caster cares little about what shape the crystal takes. As you might expect with things of beauty, someone found a way to shape the crystals into a desired shape during the conjuration process. Thanks to Princess Platinum commissioning Clover the Clever to devise the method, who was a admirably skilled conjuror of her day and I highly suggest reading her memoirs. She invented the ingenious method to make minor alterations to any array to predetermine the shape the caster wishes. We still use Clover's designs to this very day. While it may be tempting to bedazzle oneself in a matching set of gemstones, this simple alteration triples the mana cost, sometimes more. You have been warned.

As for the LICA itself, the invisibility effect will extend over the wearer and any items on their person. This spell was designed for use in the frontier by scouts and pioneers in the year 320 AC to protect themselves from creatures hostile to ponies such as diamond dogs, hydras, and various other threats. The real beauty of the magic behind this array is that any member of the three pony tribes will still be able to see the wearer of the active crystal, but nopony else.

The rest of Sparkle’s notes were chased away as Alexia stepped forward to begin channeling her magic into the array. It had a faint azure glow to match the unicorn concentrating on bringing the spell into fruition. The four pointed array was draining four lines of magic from her horn which danced across the intricate pattern before shooting out eight different points and converging on the center where a small plume of purple dust burst forth while the four outer points of the array fired at the cloud and created a transparent jade barrier around the dust to keep any from escaping. The dust started rotating alarmingly fast as it was being funneled into the center where the jewel was growing rapidly.

Off to the side, Loki watched with genuine interest while Conrad observed from a second story balcony with more concern for the caster than for the spell. Even thought this was Alexia’s fifth conjuration over the past few days, this was the first one using such a complex array.

Half an hour into the channeling, Tune strained under the pressure of keeping the flow of mana active as her reserves skirted the edge of her caution zone. Just a little more. If it’s not at least fifteen carats it won’t be large enough to hold a proper charge.

The lines of mana thinned and flickered as her survival instinct tried to sever the connection, but she pressed on. Thirteen point seven. Her horn ached all along its length and was glowing brighter than usual. Fourteen. The array was beginning to lose cohesion along the fifth axis and Tune pushed a burst of magic to compensate. Point five. Her breathing was becoming heavily labored not only from the effort, but from the lack of magical sustenance to her cells as the mana was funneled into the crystal. Eight. Sweat poured off her coat giving her a reflective sheen in the midday light. Nine. She rocked on her hooves but forced herself to remain upright les she ruin the crystal. Done.

The cloud of dust collapsed into the pink crystal which slowly stopped spinning in the center of the array. As the magic cut off from her horn the array’s glow weakened and the jade barrier collapsed. As it did, the crystal gently fell to the wooden deck while the unicorn plopped to the ground gasping for air. Her vision swam, her muscles felt weak, her bones ached, her horn throbbed, and her heart was trying to pound its way out of her chest; but she gave a weak smile at the teardrop shaped crystal resting in front of her. I did it. Now I only have to see if it works.

Conrad collided with the deck to help Tune get back on her hooves. He thrust a sports bottle in her muzzle that she greedily accepted. “You really shouldn’t try killing yourself trying to make trinkets.”

There was only a third left of the forty ounce bottle when she came up gasping for air. *gasp* “You’re probably right.” *huff* “But we’re going to need trinkets like this.”

Conrad made sure she had the strength to stand on her own again before delicately collecting the crystal in a hoof to examine it. He had no eye for fine gems, but had bought jewelry for girlfriends in the past. He could tell it was a teardrop shaped pink topaz, or at least made to look like one, of a cut so perfect that his untrained eyes would never be able to tell the difference between it and a real gemstone. Given how it was forged I’d wager this would go for a mint all on its own. Let alone what it can do.

After making sure she was steady on her hooves he handed the gem back to her and noticed Tune took the crystal in her teeth instead of her magic and put it on the nearby table. “Thanks. I need to make two more of these and we’ll be able to go into town.”

The moment those words left her mouth Loki vanished from behind the jacuzzi and scooped up the topaz in one hoof and Alexia’s neck in the other with exuberance etched all over her face. “Does that mean I can finally go to that massage parlor I heard about in Saline?”

Conrad eyed the jeweled with a carefully neutral expression. “You made a gem that can turn us human again so quickly?” I didn’t think she would even bother making a third for herself.

Alexia hated to dash their hopes and looked crestfallen. “No…sorry. That’s not what I meant. I mean this is an enchantment gem. When this gem is attuned to your unique magic, you can activate it to become invisible to any non-pony.”

Conrad for his part had not gotten his hopes up as Tune previously told both other ponies that the alteration spell would likely be months if not years away. Loki on the other hand did not do a very good job at hiding her disappointment and the sinking depression was written all over her face. “I-I’m kidding.” She laughed halfheartedly. “I mean, who wouldn’t want a night out drinking or I mean. Just staying in a house with…”

Meeting only a tired and questioning stare from Alexia along with an uncaring one from Conrad, Loki snorted and cantered off. “Whatever. The booze shipment came in this morning what do I care?”

Both unicorn and pegasus watched her leave in a huff and slammed the door behind her. Tune was nonplussed as to how to react. “Huh. Well that happened.”

“I’m surprised she’s lasted this long,” he commented gruffly.

Alexia walked over to her bag sitting on the other side of the table and put the gem inside. “What’s wrong with her?” She already had her suspicions, but wanted Conrad to confirm them.

He ordinarily would have let Loki suffer if for nothing else than to keep her out of his hair, but he was not willing to give a partial answer to Tune’s query and sighed at the inner quandary. He spoke while gently rubbed a sore wing from a previous crash. “A woman like that’s an urban dweller to the core and an obnoxious one at that.” He continued with a snarky tone. “All this country air must be driving her bat shit crazy.”

By now Alexia had become fully aware of the lackluster rapport between her two housemates. “I wish you two could get along better.”

He tsked while doing a short flying hop to the other side of the table. “That woman is insufferable.”

“Mare,” Alexia corrected.

It irked Conrad that Tune kept insisting on using pony pronouns over human ones to address themselves, but conceded it for now so he would not be driven off topic. “That mare is insufferable.” He said with deep venom more for the person herself and less so for the term. “Three weeks ago I would have had her shot for even a tenth of the shit she’s pulled.”

Alexia decided to play it carefully between understanding and reprimand. “Why haven’t you?”

The pegasus checked his first response and knew her well enough to inject a touch of humor to win her back over a little. “Firstly because I don’t have a gun.” It didn’t work and he grew more agitated. “Look, if I wanted her dead she’d be dead already. I know we need her alive for the cash flow at least.”

She scowled fiercely at him. “Why do you hate her so much? I’ll admit it took some doing, but Loki would be a really good friend if you let her be.”

“Because she’s a menace!” he roared at her. “Every morning I wake up to find a roach crawling on my face; I don’t even know where she finds them. I take a shower and as soon as open the door a bucket of piss falls on me and not only do I have to shower again, but I had to mop it up!” By now Tune was cringing sheepishly in defeat while Conrad managed to contain his anger into a smolder. “And I am not even going to describe the how or why she had the gall to try and pull a Texas chili bowl on me.”

She tapped her fore hooves nervously. “Well the book does say earth ponies are known for their superior strength, but come on she was hammered at the time.” She stopped when Conrad narrowed his gaze. “How about I go have a talk with her.”

“You best.” He rested his elbows on the table and inched his hooves together. “Cause I’m real close to forgetting the whole ‘we need the money’ reason on keeping her alive.”

With her body’s mana saturation normalizing, her strength had returned and Alexia was able to walk back into the house without dragging her hooves, but she was left in a sullen mood. Like it or not guys, we’re in this together for the long haul. We need to get along with each other. Conrad watched her go inside before taking to the air to practice his flying to blow off some steam.

Tune used the slow walk between the deck to Loki’s room to think of a solution. “The worst she’s done to me was taking my bedroom door off its hinges and walling me in with phone books.” I was more impressed than annoyed on how she pulled it off to be honest. I still haven’t found a single phone book since that day. “At any rate. Conrad said something about her being an urban dweller. Must be his way of saying she’s an urbanite.” He said he was part of a crime family based in San Fran, wouldn’t that make him one too?

She leaned against the wall at the top of the stairs to stall for time. “Anyway…” She told herself to get back on topic. “And if I have any knowledge on how to handle physiological problems from watching an episode of Doctor Katz, then I can help Loki through this.”

Tune nosed Loki’s door open to peek through and was slammed by a wall of alcohol. She shook her head. This is your friend, you have to help her. No matter how plastered she may be right now. She scanned the scene and noticed several open bottles on the night stand with the green mare slumped on the bed. “Loki? Are you drunk?”

A long pause followed by an equally long sigh answered her. “No. I don’t drink til at least two.”

Alexia tilted her head slightly and brought up her phone. “Its actually fourteen twenty hours.” She stated matter-of-factly.

Loki’s head perked up. “Really now!?” She reached for a bottle and snatched one.

“Ah da da da ta ta” Alexia called out as she wrapped the bottle in her magic and ripped it free while running over and positioning herself between Loki and the rest of the booze. “I want to talk to sober Loki.”

Loki gave up on the first bottle and lunged for a second one. “Well I don’t want to be sober Loki.” She whined.

Tune toke that bottle into her magic and brought it into the air as well. “Is there a reason you’re tormenting Conrad so harshly?”

“Cause he’s a hypocritical self-righteous samurai wannabe.”

Alexia kept levitating any more bottles away from the increasing desperate mare. “Who isn’t guilty of some hypocrisy? Its almost a given these days.” She didn’t really believe it, but she wanted to get Loki to stop chasing the liquor.

“Are you running for office now? Ouuff.” She grunted as a failed jump to retrieve a bottle of Jim Bean almost knocked the wind out of her.

“No. But I am trying to keep Conrad from killing you.”

“I’d like to see him try,” she countered.

Alexia growled, opened the window and flung all the booze out of it and stomped her way over to the now distraught earth pony. “Well I don’t okay!” She yelled in absolute frustration. “I like your pranks Loki, I really do. But you go way too damn far with Conrad, and you know he’s not the kind of guy who can put up with that kind of shit. Piss buckets? Really!? You say he reeks of hypocrisy, well he’s been doing a damn good job of not breaking your kneecaps so far. Last I checked you don’t need those to hack through computers.”

Loki gave her a dangerous look. “You’re lucky that was not the only bottle of Jim Bean.”

Tune stomped her hoof again and growled at the green mare. “Would you be serious here? I’m trying to keep you two from either killing each other or having one of you leave.” That seemed to have an effect on Loki and her angry exterior cracked into depression. Alexia took it as a sign and assumed a worried expression and walked over to place a hoof on her withers to pull her in for a hug. “As far as we know for a fact. We’re the only three ponies on Earth. We should be friends, not enemies.”

“But we’re already friends,” she replied with a goofy half grin. Tune gave her a reprimanding gaze that was softened by Loki's genuine tears. “I can lay off the samurai.”

Well that’s a start. But the problem with a person like Loki is that she could be perfectly honest with me right now and actually mean what she says; but have a relapse later anyway. No, I think she’s going stir crazy. She separated the hug and dragged Loki over to the computer harness. “You know what we need to do? We need to have a night out on the town. Just the two of us. We can make it a…girls’ night out.”

“How are we going to do that?” Loki replied fighting the sniffles back. “Last I checked ponies weren’t welcome in open society.”

“Well no…” Alexia began as she reached for her phone. “But I do recall Salina was going to be hosting the International Science Fair soon and we could enter ourselves as self-aware androids.”

Loki was silent for several seconds until she belted out a halting laughter. “Are you telling me the International Science Fair is being hosted in your tiny ass hometown?”

Tune was more concerned with getting Loki out of her slump than seeking an apology for the insult to her hometown and let it slide. “Well it seems as if you’re familiar enough with it to know about the Tumwater incident with the last one then?”

Realization dawned on the green mare. “Ooohhh, right. So how effective was the radiation cleanup in Orange County?”

“Poor." She stated simply. "So are you game?”

Loki drew herself up in a serious pose. “Either A: stay here and bother Conrad after I just promised not to. Or B: prance around in the open posing as androids in front of crowds of people.” She became the image of deep thought. “That’s a tough one.”

During dinner that night, Conrad was having difficulty taking his next bite after hearing the mares' plans. “So let me get this straight.” He said in a slow methodical tone. “Just so there’s no confusion. You’re going to make another invisibility crystal for yourself, then take the car into the outskirts of town so the both of you can go to a science fair.” Both mares nodded. “And then waltz around in the open and hope no one questions the fact that there are two living, talking, intelligent-“ or so I thought "ponies cruising across town.”

Loki bounced over and jammed her muzzled in his face. “That’s the beauty of it!’ She bubbled. “They’ll question us all day and we get to pass off as self-aware robots. But the real pearl out of this clam is that we get to actually talk to people face to face!”

Conrad gave her a deadpanned look. “Isn’t that what you’re doing now?”

She backed off stammering to form words. “Y-yes. I mean no. Grah!” She turned to Alexia. “You understand. You tell him, I need to pack.”

He was starting to enjoy himself. “Pack what? You don’t wear clothes anymore remember?”

She pulled back slightly to lightly slap his nose back and forth a few times. “A lady packs more than just clothes and accessories when traveling you dunce.” He swatted her hoof away with a groan. Loki was in too much a good mood and skipped along out of the den and up the stairs. “Hurry up with that last crystal Alex. I need to slice some fake profiles onto the list.”

As Loki vanished up stairs he turned in exasperation to Alexia. “Why do I get the feeling this was entirely your idea?”

“Because it was.” She admitted freely. “She can’t handle the country life.” She abandoned her jovial tone for a somber one and reached over to grab his hoof.

“Conrad.” She said at length. “I know that I’m unusual for being able to acclimate to my changes so quickly, and for what its worth you’ve been a big help and I really appreciate that. What with keeping me from passing out during taxing spellwork and other things.” She broke contact to continue. “Loki can accept being a pony in of itself, but she can’t handle the social changes that brings with it. She needs this.”

Conrad cleared his throat to buy time to form a response. “You’re your own wo- mare. You don’t need my permission to do what you please. And I would prefer to go with you but the more of us there are…”

She nodded in understanding at the hung sentence. “The more likely people will catch on we’re not actually robots. Plus it might be best if someone guards the house.”

As Tune mean to leave to clean her plate, Conrad grabbed her shoulder. “Alexia, about just now.”

She reddened. “Yeah?”

You’ve been saying you’re resigned to staying as a unicorn. “Are you really still chasing after that alteration spell?” I have to know, the measure of your character.

Brief sad determination danced over her face. “Of course I am. But as I've said; it’ll still take me months if not years to reach it though.”

“What will you do when you get it?” He asked directly. “You said yourself you’re trapped as a unicorn.”

“That's true.” She confirmed with little remorse. “While we have no concrete proof of it, I doubt we really are the only ponies out there. Once I have the spell I would like to go around the world finding anyone who was transformed and turn them back. I don’t know what I’ll be able to do about other unicorns, but I’m sure something might come up later.”

“What about me and Loki?”

Alexia looked as if she was asked a dumb question. “Well obviously Loki would want to be human again so she could get her old lifestyle back and you too if you wanted…”

She trailed off as Conrad took one of her hooves into his. “My lady. You risk your well-being and safety for the mental stability of your idiot friend. You would live the solitary life of a healer and be forever ostracized by society because of your form, freely."

She read the look in his eyes as one of romantic intent, and a part of her screamed out against it. Is he actually? No, I-I can’t. She thought of a quick escape by changing the mood with a deadpan. “Well to be fair, we’re already ostracized from society.”

His face fell at that moment as he felt as if she wouldn’t understand his meaning. He switched gears and chuckled light-heartedly to give the impression that she just delivered the punch line to a flimsy joke. “Y-yeah. Well, I’m sure we ponies can be integrated in the future at some point.”

Relief was not to be had for her as Conrad’s comment struck a chord. Tune frowned lightly and glanced out the window. “As xenophobic as humanity is as a whole… I doubt anything less than an act of God could get them to see us as equals. Even if we are former humans, the world governments won’t care.” She looked back at Conrad with a weak smile. “We’ll figure something out. But for now we should enjoy these quiet days while we can. Before we're fleeing from black helicopters and what not.”

Quiet for you maybe. “Sure. I’ll clean up so you can go ahead with your next gem conjuration.”

“Thanks Con.”

As soon as she left the house he stopped to stare at the door where she exited. “How can someone so wise, be so blind?” He shook his head and gathered the plates between his outstretched wings. “You've barely spent over a week as a woman and you already confound me.”

The following morning Alexia was expected, dead in bed. Loki was too wound up about the fair to let that stop her however, and had four cooling espressos and a coffee enema at the ready. She turned to Conrad with a bemused smirk. “Why are you helping me with the surgery?”

“To make sure you don’t cause any permanent damage to her in this insane procedure.” He replied gruffly. “As much as I think going to the fair is a fool’s errand, you can’t afford to wait for her to wake up on her own.”

Loki merely shrugged at his reasons and turned to the snoring unicorn and rubbed her hooves together maniacally. She thrust a hoof in his direction. “Rope.” He handed over four lengths of rope to which she tied Tune’s limbs down. “Clamps.” She forced the snoring pony’s mouth open. “Funnel.” It took some work without fingers, but with Conrad constantly checking to make sure, Loki got the tube down the esophagus.

“I’m not doing it.” He declared defiantly.

Loki gave him a quizzical look. “What?”

“I’m not giving her the enema. Coffee ones have never been proven to be very effective.”

“On humans anyway, but fine I’ll do it.” Loki grabbed the item in question. “Knowing you, you’d probably shove it down the wrong hole. On three. One, two, three!” He poured the espressos down the funnel and she jammed and squeezed the enema.

He was halfway through the third when Alexia’s eye’s shot open and tried to scream. “Shit! He yelled. Conrad fumbled the coffee out of his hooves, which was thankfully cool, and ripped the funnel and clamps off. Loki jumped back howling with laughter.

Alexia coughed heavily for several seconds as Conrad tried to undo the knots. Her voice took on a magic induced demonic quality. “What the flaming blood soaked hell Conrad!?”

“It was all Loki’s idea to get you up early.” He was able to keep calm under her rage, but not when he found himself locked in a magical vice and being shaken like a ragdoll. “I just wanted to keep her from harming you that’s all.”

Tune’s ears flicked towards the snorting laughter and immediately forgot the cowering stallion and dropped him on the floor. The source of the laughter sailed to be directly above the bed. Loki looked down at the furious unicorn that was tethered to the bedposts, had coffee drenching her face, and still had the enema sticking out. The earth mare lost all semblance of control and was bawling in uproarious laughter to the point where she was rolling around in her magic as if in zero gravity. Alexia’s face was pure murder. “I’m going to kill you Loki!”

“Then I’ll die laughing.” She yelling as she was flung out of the door and tucked herself into a roll. She hit the stairs and rolled her way down and slammed into a heap at the front door giggling like a maniac. “You should have seen your face!”

Conrad was no stranger to life or death situations, but those usually entailed opponents he could shoot back at or run away from the law. No such luck here. He bided his time and waited for Alexia’s rage to subside before making his presence known again. “May I untie you?”

She looked at him with rapidly fading hatred and then at one of the ropes and pulled on it to test the knot. It held firm and then she turned back to the ceiling. “Yes, please.” He got to work on the forelegs first. “Conny.” She made eye contact. “So this is what you meant by her shenanigans every day?”

He shrugged. “This is worst by far.” He paused. “Mostly because she roped me into helping her.”

She winced at the enema being removed and she climbed to her hooves with his help. “I’m sure you did what you could to lessen the damage.”

“That was my reasoning, yes.” He said while gathering the trash into a pile.

She gave a hesitant nuzzle. “For a former mobster you’re a sweet guy when you want to be.” Conflicting emotions stopped her from going any further with physical contact and she backed off before he could reciprocate. “Oh sorry. I better ahh go take a shower.”

“Wait Alexia!” She ignored it and closed herself off in the bathroom. Conrad was about to bang on the door to talk but knew that wouldn’t work and left her be. So that's why her behavior is off. Its barely been over a week since she became a mare, even someone as adaptive as her would need time to adjust and a week won’t cut it. He walked over to the second story railing to find Loki still cackling madly when an idea came to him. However… On the other hand, I’ve seen people like Tune before. She’s the kind of person who adapts best if she’s pushed head first into a tough job while trying to ease her into the same job take ten times longer. It’ll save her a lot of trouble and pain if she gets over whatever is holding her back, but I have to know what part it is exactly. Once that hurdle is cleared I have no doubt she’ll be a historic figure. I can feel it.

Loki was on her back and her laughs were petering out. This is not an issue I can talk to Alex about. As much as it churns my gut to go that thing for help. It has to come from Loki. But how do I get that harlequin to go along with it. He went down stairs to stand beside the now silent mare. “Ya done?”

“Yeah I’m done. We got her up before seven.”

“I suppose that is a personal best for her.” He gave pause to change topics. “Have you noticed she seems off sometimes?”

“Around you yeah.” She replied instantly. The comment caught him flatfooted as he was not expecting her to be so direct. “I was going to talk to her about it in the car anyway.”

“I see.” His whole speech was ruined. “I’ll go to set breakfast up then.”

“I want mine with extra syrup!”

Once Alexia was cleaned up, fed, and had forgiven her prankster friend; the mare pair met in the foyer to assess their inventory for the trip. The silvery mare pulled out a checklist that Loki printed out for legibility’s sake. “Did you wear the bracelet on your wrist all night to let the crystal attune to your magic?”

Loki waved her right foreleg in the air. “Sure did.” The crystal had a green shimmer denoting it was filled with the earth pony’s magic.

Tune moved to the next item. “It was exhaustive but I made mine as well.” Her own bracelet’s pink topaz shimmered a rich azure, marking it as a unicorn's property. I had to have a second dinner of salmon, but it was worth it.

Continuing, Tune’s gaze fell upon the next item. “I see you already have your computer harness with you, so there’s that.” Check. “What about payment methods? If we’re going to be walking around freely we might need plastic.”

“Way ahead a ya.” Loki produced Tune’s old debit card. “I used your old name as one of our participant names and dumped some cash in your account so we can grab some grub.”

Alexia grimaced at the idea but reluctantly agreed. “Well its not like I’ll be able to use it much outside of that anymore.” Next item. “Oh I especially love this one, watch.” Tune’s horn lit up and the tome materialized in front of her. “Pretty neat huh?”

“You summoned a book?” Loki shrugged. “Meh, I can do that with Kindle.”

Tune only responded by swatting Loki’s nose with her tail. “I cast a hearth charm on the book and the bookshelf in my room. Now I can transport the tome back and forth from me to there at any time.”

“As if you don’t spend enough time studying as it is.” Loki quipped.

“Yeah yeah. Anyway, the rest of the list is miscellaneous.” She rolled the paper up and threw it by the stairs. “Off to the fair!”

7: Adorable Androids

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One might be led to believe driving a car might be difficult for ponies, given the anatomical incompatibilities. However with some liberal adjustments to the driver’s seat and some wooden blocks super glued and tied to the pedals, Loki was driving with only minor back discomfort. Alexia sat quietly watching the fields fly by the window as the news radio filled the air.

“The suspect will serve twenty years in prison for smoking in the nonsmoking section of the restaurant. And here I thought those had been abolished. In international news, the equivalent of three Americans were killed in Pakistan yesterday. Today is the day that the joint operation between the UN, the White House, and NASA against the meteor that threatens all nations boarding the Pacific Ocean will likely reach a successful conclusion.

The first of four total nuclear missiles is already on its way with the other three already ascending into high orbit. Those three will be used as needed depending on how the meteor’s break up occurs. The entire event is being witnessed by numerous ground based observatories with many live feeds available via our website. And now for the Sports Spike with Jack Fulton and Charlie Wilbert.”

A fast talking male caster took over. “This is Clark Fetmon filling in for Jack Fulton who is currently plummeting towards Earth at ninety three miles per hour.”

A scraggily sounding but equally hostile voice replaced him. And I’m Charlie Wilbert, and this is the Sports Spike! The contract that’s been in the works for the past five months has finally been signed after a heated debate between signees was finally resolved last Tuesday. John Madden will now be working as a consultant for the Oakland Raiders’ concession stands.”

Clark jumped in. “Lord knows the Raiders could use the help. Last time I was there the nachos gave me a tumor. The Boston Red Sox have debut t-shirt firing drones that target children who look like they want free team apparel.”

“Humans can’t be trusted with t-shirt distribution. The people doling out free merchandise always end up trampled and hospitalized by the Soxes’ millions of fans and the shirts always end up being taken by one or two people. The ever present drones have the perfect algorithms to laser-in on shirt starved kids and give them cotton delivery.”

Clark was heatedly opposed to Charlie’s praises. “Kids should have to claw all over each other if they want a t-shirt! Let the deserving prevail and the distributers were already the scum of the earth anyway. With the drones, even the weakest children are rewarded with Soxes gear from five different angles!”

Charlie was livid. “Its time for mankind to stop this useless squabbling, and accept the judgment of these infallible drones!”

“Alright, from horrible machines to humiliating upsets, we look at the Miami-”

Loki cut the radio off to talk. Her companion noticed the green mare’s attention. “What’s up?”

“Why haven’t you jumped Conrad’s bones yet?”

She had been dreading the day this topic would be brought up. “What prompted this?”

“Just some observations I’ve noticed.” Loki glanced away from the road to meet Alexia’s questioning visage. “You like the samurai right?” Alexia replied with a nod. “What gets your panties in a twist every time to touch for more than three seconds?”

“You’re going to ruin my good mood by bringing this up.”

“Yeah well you owe me a bottle of Jim Bean.” Loki countered. “So spill it already.”

Alexia half grunted and half groaned and slumped back over to the window. I might as well. I don’t run from my problems, I haven’t before and I’m not going to start now. “You know how I’ve kinda thrown myself into accepting being a mare?”

“You do that with everything. Its kind of funny seeing you face plant breakfast sometimes.”

Tune ignored the majority of the comment as Loki being Loki. “Well the pony part is really straight forward.” She glanced at the green and pink earth pony. “But I’m sure you already know all that.”

“I will admit getting ready in the morning is a lot quicker.” Loki agreed.

“See that’s the thing.” Alexia spoke while sitting up. “If I just been turned into a woman instead of a mare, I’d have to contend with a new wardrobe, mascara, making sure I didn’t accidentally walk into the men’s room, all of that. But as a pony, and being forced away from society I don’t really have a lot of feminine things to worry about.”

“You sure took a liking to the dong after you found about your horn being erogenous. I’m not that jealous of horn magic to be honest, I do magic all day on the net; but to have such a quick on-switch…” Alexia could see the gears turning in Loki’s head. “If you weren’t such good company I’d hate you for it.”

“Gee, thanks.” Tune replied sarcastically. “But that’s part of it. I know I’m stuck as a mare. I’ve accepted it because the alternative is letting the fact drive me nuts for the rest of my life.”

“Couldn’t you just wait until you have the alteration spell and change into a stallion instead?”

“I thought about it.” Tune replied after lengthy a pause. “But in the end I really don’t know how long it would take to get to that spell. As I’ve said, it could take years. I’d rather be completely female now, than be male stuck in a mare’s body. Once I have it I can still use it to help others who can’t accept being a pony or the wrong gender, but I won’t need it for myself.”

“So why not just do what you always do? Skip the foreplay and get right to it.”

“Loki.” She gave her a strange look that shifted into one of agitation at herself. “I’m not trying to lead Conrad on just to use him so I can get over the awkwardness of having a sex with a stallion. As much as you tease him, he’s a good person. I don’t care about his past, I care about him now. But every time I try to get close to him I feel like I hit a mental wall and freak out, and I hate it.”

Loki jabbed her with a hoof. “That why you need to skip the foreplay sister. Ordinarily I’d tell you to go have a one night stand with some other guy, but there’s only one fish in the pond so your options are limited to just him.”

“So…what? Just walk up to him and say: Wanna screw?”

Loki shrugged. “Is it really that bad of an idea?”

Alexia glowered at her. “I want to see if a relationship would work between us before going that far.”

“Well its obviously not if you can’t even hug the guy without spazzing.” Loki countered. “You’re not a person to take stuff slow anyway, so why do this any differently?”

“Because I don’t want to cheapen my feelings toward him with what sounds like casual sex.”

“I’mma slap you.” Alexia turned to ask what she meant when her cheek was met with Loki’s hoof.”

“What the hell?” Tune yelled as she rubbed the stinging spot.

“You’re infected with circular stupidity.” Loki replied casually. “I’m trying to knock it out of you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tune grumbled.

“It means this. You want to try to have a thing with the samurai correct?” Tune nodded after a moment. “The way I see it, you’re like ninety percent Alexia the mare and still ten percent James the man. You want to be Alexia fully, but James isn’t giving up the ghost so easily and is fighting to hang on. You have to kill James to ever be happy as Alexia and you need Conrad’s help.”

Tune scrunched her face at the theory. “I’m pretty sure I agreed with myself to be Alexia. There was no big struggle for final acceptance here. Its just a mental wall I have to break.”

“Then stop using a chisel and bust out the dynamite already, damn! You’re really starting to piss me off.” The car swerved badly as Loki tried to swat Alexia over the head to drive her point home. Alexia was caught between trying to defend herself with her hooves and keeping the car from running off the road with her magic. “Stop being such a coward and bag the samurai already and get over yourself. If he really likes you for more than just a piece of ass, then sex now won’t cheapen it!”

“Would you stop hitting me and concentrate on driving!?” Tune wailed.

“Not until you stop screwing around and get to screwing!” Loki roared back.

“Okay fine, I’ll do it when we get back!” Loki glowered daggers at her, but stopped the punches for the moment. Alexia’s will to argue about it fled completely in the face of ending up as twisted metal. “I swear, I’ll have sex okay? Can you please get your eyes back on the road?”

“I’ll hold you to that.” Loki declared and she resumed control of the car. Tune breathed a sigh of relief and look out the back window. When she didn’t see any police cars coming to investigate the erratic driving she slumped back in her seat. “I mean it.” Loki declared after a long pause. “I will hound you constantly if you chicken out.”

Alexia groaned and threw her forelegs up in exasperation. “I said I would and I will.”

The car fell silent for a long while. Tune was trying not to think about Conrad, and Loki was letting her have a modicum of peace. As they got closer to Salina, traffic started to pick up. Alexia tapped the window. “What gave you the idea to order these lay on tinting film?”

“I figured we might need the car at some point and need to be able to hide our faces.”

“It looks poorly done and it's ugly as sin.” Alexia replied with disgust. "I feel my car's pain and embarrassment."

“Yeah well the lime green paint job isn’t helping either. At any rate we’re almost there. How far from the fair do you want to park?”

Tune summoned her phone and brought up the local map. “Pull over by that gas station and switch with me.”

Loki did as instructed and the pair swapped seats without leaving the car. Once behind the wheel, Tune swiftly brought the car to a secluded street that was towards the back of the fair. Before the pair left the car, Loki brought up the map of the fair itself and their itinerary. “I listed us under a group called Biogenics. I had to use your old name on the list of team members so I could use your card without drawing any red flags. We should stay hidden until our unveiling in about thirty minutes in the civic center. That’s where all the mobile presentations are being made. After making it look like we’re just really lifelike robots we can surprise everyone that we’re fully sentient and self-aware.”

Alexia knew the area well enough that she could navigate any stands or walls that might have been erected for the events. “Okay, not a problem. The invisibly effect also muffles our hoofsteps so as long as we don’t bump into anyone we should be fine until we get there. But I couldn’t handle fashioning gems that would mask our voices from others so try not to speak with the cloak active.”

Loki nodded her understanding before inspected her bracelet. “How long will it last?”

Alexia was proud of her work and started to extol the accessory’s attributes. “The gems can hold a charge that will last at most ten minutes. Maintaining the enchantment is very expensive in terms of mana consumption. However because we are the sources of the gems’ magic and that it is currently on our person, our inner reserves of mana will begin feeding the gems after the charge is exhausted. With me, the field is sustainable indefinitely, but after an hour it will leave me hovering around sixtyish percent before my natural regeneration would be strong enough to power the field on its own. For you however, the field will stay active for roughly…I want to say three hours.”

“Why do you get to have permanent invisibility?” Loki complained halfheartedly.

“Well as I said, the invisibility field is one of the highest draining enchantments I can fabricate. The other reason is how our different tribes work. The tome said that earth ponies have magic reserves that sometimes surpass that of the average unicorn, but the earth tribe has a slower regeneration rate that doesn’t quicken as it’s drained away. You remember I told you about that stuff a couple of days ago.”

Loki rubbed the back of her neck. “Well, whatever.” She said dismissively. “A full time cloak would be cheating anyway.” She looked at her bracelet. “So how do I activate this thing?”

“Easy, just think of the gem and wish to be invisible.” Alexia demonstrated by her left foreleg becoming encased in an azure film that quickly spread to cover her body. The film faded to be nearly imperceivable and was lost completely in her already blue mane and tail. The pink topaz on her fetlock was pulsing a miniature recreation of the array that had crafted the gem within itself.

Loki cooed at the display and tried her own. While her gem mirrored Alexia’s own, the green film that was emitted was lost instantly in her grass green fur and she could only see it when it reached her pink mane and tail. When all was said and done she turned to the unicorn. “So how do we know these work as intended?” Alexia held up her phone and tried to take a picture of Loki. When she showed the image to the expectant mare, she found an empty passenger seat. “I am going to have so much fun with this.”

“Try to keep usage at a minimum once we reveal ourselves though. Making people think we’re androids that mimic flesh and blood being will be a tough nut for them to swallow, but magic outside of gripping things in our hooves will be a bit much before people start calling us aliens or mutants.”

Loki assumed a mocking scholarly tone. “Come now Alexia. Surely everyone here are men and women of science. Not degenerate yokels claiming ET gave him an anal probe.”

“We’ll find out soon enough. We should get going or we’ll be late.”

Both mares checked to make sure they could open the doors without anyone seeing them. Once the coast was clear they left the car behind and started to make their way to the center of the fair. Aside from the civic center near the north eastern edge of town, the vast majority of the fair was built in the generously volunteered farmlands along the town’s outskirts.

It did not take long before the traveling ponies were getting slowed down by the mass of people the closer they got to the civic center. Alexia noted that this was probably the most people Salina had ever seen in all of its existence. I bet the local businesses are struggling to cope with such a high volume of consumers. Although they could use the income at least.

The magic of the ponies’ gems worked perfectly and no one saw them as they crept around buildings, tents, talking crowds, and random people going to and fro. The presence of so many people calmed Loki immensely. The drone of dozens of people talking at once, the stench of car exhaust, the asphalt, all the people. Sure it’s nothing compared to New York, but this is enough for me.

The civic center itself was as crowded as Alexia feared it would be. Crud. Even the least active entrance into the back has people constantly going in and out.

A loud speaker sounded from the center’s exterior. “The first presentation will be starting in two minutes. And don’t forget to buy Captain’s soda. For a refreshing sensation tailored for the admiralty.”

Well nothing for it. She turned to Loki who was typing furiously on her computer harness’s keyboard. I’m not asking. “Loki, looks like we gotta make a bit of a scene to get in the doors without anyone thinking there are two invisible ghosts running around. What do you think?”

She spoke while continuing to type. “What do we care if a few people think there are ghosts around? We’re not showing off our cloaking ability after the presentation right? I say we have a little fun.”

Alexia’s reply was stifled by a passing group of people and she waited until they were out of earshot to whisper. “Fine, but we need to get in there now.”

Loki led her friend over to the large double doors where several entrants were running in to be present for their own presentations. Upon reaching where they could not get any closer without bumping into the press of people Loki shouted at the top of her lungs. “Make way for the Queen of England!”

The declaration had no discernible effect on the mass of people at first as there had been no fanfare for the queen so it took Loki a few more pronouncements before they started to listen. When everyone quickly discovered it was a disembodied voice they reactively backed away from it as it moved into the building.

As soon they the ponies were inside Loki turned about face and spoke again. “You all have just witnessed Seismic Industries ventriloquist speaker system. I hope it was convincing and that you buy the hell out of our product.” Alexia had to admit it was not only a gutsy move, but quite odd she used the queen instead of the president. She pulled Loki away from the crowd that was a range between forgetting the display and clapping as they continued on with their own tasks.

“That was rather tame of you Loki. I half expected you to call out a zombie outbreak.” Tune whispered as she led them towards the waiting area where the other entrants were already milling about, making last minute cosmetic checks on their machines or models. The back rooms were not as crowded and the people who were there, were fully preoccupied by their presentations.

Loki pointed out an empty booth that was reserved for them. All it had was an unadorned plywood wall, a table and two brown folding chairs. Everything else would normally be provided by the contestants themselves. “If I had thought to put external speakers on my harness instead of what’s just on the headset I probably would have had the undead moans to go with that.”

“Right. Well you got us in and set up our entry record. You want the honors of being the main speaker to the crowd?”

“Do I?!” Loki grinned fiercely at that prospect.

“Contestant eighteen, Billiards group and their lifelike human prosthetic arm are up next.”

Alexia grew mildly concerned at Loki whose grin only widened at the recent announcement. “I think that means we’re right after them.”

The earth mare nodded. “And we get to show the last group up as perfect true to life ‘androids’. This day can’t get any better.”

Twenty minutes passed as both mares waited for the announcer to give the word. “Contestant nineteen, Biogenics and their Ultra Lifelike Android Pony.” Both of them noted the odd way the announcer pronounced the last word, but neither of them cared.

They dropped their magical cloak and with Loki in the lead, boldly walked out of the booth and straight into the main theater. Alexia regretted the whole plan in an instant. The large chamber doubled as the town’s only movie theater and served as a center for the annual farmer’s market so it was made to accommodate a very large crowd. The two ponies immediately became the center of everyone’s attention. “Holy piss…there’s got to be over two thousand people in here.”

Loki was eating up all of the excited electricity in the air, from the murmuring crowd in the close seats to all of the phone cameras and journalist cameras flashing at them. “I know isn’t great!”

The stage floor was occupied by a lone middle aged man in a smart suit. He was expecting robots, and was highly impressed by the smoothness of the mares’ walking gait as far beyond any work he had seen to date. However he was at a loss as to how to proceed without any of the supposed human members of the Biogenics crew to speak with. “Ladies and gentlemen I give you…the android ponies.”

He turned to the crowd to speak but Loki cut him off with a tone of voice the oozed mirth. “Thank you for that rousing introduction my good man. But I think we can handle it from here.”

There was a moment of stunned silence as Loki walked right up to the man and held up an expectant hoof for his microphone. As soon as the moment passed, the density of camera flashes redoubled to the point where Alexia was forced to shield her eyes with a hoof. The man looked at her questioningly, having a robot speak to a crowd before had been done. But it was always with one of the creators present and even then it was always obviously a machine, even those made to greatly resemble human features. However the man found himself staring at a green and pink miniature horse with eyes that did not belay the emotionless programming of a machine, but one that silently shouted at him that he was looking at a highly intelligent thing. What that thing was, he wasn’t entirely sure of yet. Without thinking he gave her the microphone, curious on how she would hold it in a hoof.

Loki thanked the man held the microphone to her mouth. “Hello everyone. My name is Loki and this is my counterpart Alexia.”

She said tilting her head towards Alexia who waved to the crowd in a goofy manner. When in Rome. Loki handed the mic over to her and Alexia made sure to grab it in a hoof instead of her magic. “Hello Salina. I hope you're enjoying your time at the fair.” A thought struck her before she gave the mic back. “As for why we appeared by ourselves, it is to demonstrate we are fully capable of doing the presentation on our own. Thank you.”

Loki took the mic back and addressed the crowd. “Unfortunately we cannot give any specifics about how we come to be, as its all awaiting patent approval first.”

The announcer gestured for the return of his microphone and spoke when Loki gave it up. “I must say you two are a… surprising addition to today’s presentations, if you will step over to the next room, the judges are waiting for you.”

Tune was not too keen on that. They better not try to grope me just to see how lifelike I am. “Of course, sir.” Both mares waved one last time at the crowd before leaving.

With the introduction over, Alexia kept hearing the crowd comment among themselves. “They’re so adorable its painful!” “How do they move do fluidly?” “I just want to pet the green one so bad.” “Why are their eyes so big?”

She couldn’t catch anymore as they entered the smaller judges’ room. It was away from the crowds mostly so entrants could explain their discovery or invention without the massive distraction the crowd presented. It was quite understood that not every team can handle the stress of critical judges, and compounding that with the crowd of two thousand could make a noteworthy presentation fall flat due to stage fright.

The judges themselves were a collection of four scientists who were well respected in their fields of study and one military observer. They were situated behind a white sheet covered table with their names on stands in front of them. As soon as the two ponies entered the room, the sheer alien-ness and vibrant colors made each of the humans do a double take.

The most senior of the group, an elderly thin haired woman got up from her seat to walk up and greet the mares. “I am Director Bertie Tabiteau. High professor of ballistic physics.” She turned back to her colleagues. “These are my fellow judges Doctor Hertpole professor of metallurgy. Professor Canavan of particle physics. Doctor Lettice of astrophysics, and the honorable Lieutenant Commander Peterson, of the US navy and instructor of military sciences at the esteemed U.S. Naval Academy.” She indicated each person who gave curt gestures of acknowledgement as they were named. “I believe I speak for all of us when I ask. What are you?”

“What we appear to be of course.” Loki replied coyly. “Simply a pair of ponies.”

Before any of the judges could respond, Alexia cut them off. “Biogenics originally designed us to be intelligent life assistants in a wide range of roles going from simple companionship to helping the disabled or even light work areas. However once they realized they made us truly sentient instead of merely intelligent, they abandoned all further research on us as unethical and gave us our freedom.”

Loki liked the story Alexia was fabricating and interjected. “It was my idea to be presented in the fair so we wouldn’t be mistaken as aliens or some prize to be mounted on a wall. We understand all too well how much of an oddity we are to human society.”

Alexia was glad Loki went along with it. Even she knows humans magically turning into ponies would be harder to believe than us being a mix between robotics and biology.

Peterson made his way over to visually inspect them at a discrete distance along with the other judges. “The entry says your androids, but you look astoundingly fluid and quiet in your movements, footsteps notwithstanding. How much of your body is robotic?”

“We’re not entirely sure ourselves I’m afraid, but we do need to eat and drink like anyone else.” Tune answered hoping that would allow them to buy some food without raising any serious questions.

Doctor Lettice was next to speak. He was the most dour of the group so far. “I must say, the two of you far exceed anything we really expected to see here. I have a the distinct impression the two of you are going to spark a prolonged controversy about humans no longer being the only beings capable of intelligent speech anymore.” As he spoke, he studied the two mares’ intently. The subtle eye movements that belayed an emotional response to his statement about the consequences of their actions, spoke of organic thought. The way Alexia’s ears kept twitching to the sounds of the crowd outside belayed a sense of nervousness that he would expect from someone who understood the real danger she was putting herself into. Loki on the other hand looked to be enjoying the attention more than she should. “The enormity of that controversy greatly depends on if there are more of you out there. I would be very interested in arranging a prolonged discussion with both of you at a later date if possible.”

Loki was all for that and her face lit up immensely. Alexia tapped her chin to mull over the idea. If we publicize ourselves even further, then the government wouldn’t be able to kidnap us because we’d be too well known. This might even bring some other ponies out of hiding if they exist. “I think that would be a wonderful idea.”

Before the other judges could talk further, a yeoman burst through the door with a laptop in tow and came to a halt in front of the group. He wore a troubled look that was now mixed with confusion at the sight of the ponies because he had not witnessed the introduction. As soon as he caught sight of the Lieutenant Commander he snapped a crisp salute. “Sir, I think you should take a look at the latest report on Operation Starburst.”

Peterson returned the salute and glanced at the laptop on his way over. “I take it what you have to show me is unclassified.”

“It’ll be all over the news in a few minutes if it isn’t already.” The fearful tone in the yeoman’s tone brought everyone’s attention solely on him and then his laptop as he set on the table and played a video clip. “This was taken barely forty minutes ago.” The mares were given enough room to watch the clip as everyone crowded the computer.

The clip showed a stark black and white radar image of the large meteor. It was an oblong loosely rectangular chunk of rock rotating slowly as it hurtled through space. The video started off at an extreme close up to the point where some of the small impact sites from other space debris were visible. A monotone voice spoke. “Ten seconds to impact.”

The camera zoomed out to have a wider view of the area but kept the meteor in the dominate position in the center. An extremely small point of light enters the picture and becomes highlighted by a red circle as it approaches off center near what looked to be a weak point in the surface. Right as the expectant nuclear detention was going to occur, the missile did nothing expect demolish itself by ramming into the mountain. No detonation, no flash of light, just the same greyish rock continuing silently on. There was an astonished exclamation from the video as the speaker was left speechless.

Loki looked to the Lieutenant Commander who was a statue of cool composure. “I hope that wasn’t an American missile. It’d be rather embarrassing to have a dud pancake itself on international television.”

Peterson maintained a calm composure, but everyone could see he was concerned for more than America’s public image. He gave a curt nod to the yeoman and he closed the video right as the speakers began discussing with colleagues about updating the Pentagon. “Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see I have matters to attend to. If you’ll excuse me.” Both naval personnel left without another word.

Alexia was bewildered by the whole thing. “I don’t get it. Doesn’t the US and UN have strict manufacturing and maintenance expertise when it comes to nuclear weapons? How could it have possibly have been a dud?”

Doctor Hertpole shook his head sadly and leaned against the table to relieve some of the back pain from standing for so long. “As much as it pains me to say it, we are by far from infallible and our technology even more so. Still.” He chuckled darkly at the memory of the clip. “To see it fail so spectacularly is both humiliating and laughable.”

Loki’s desire to remain on the current topic dwindled. A scandal will come of it sure, but its got nothing to do with me or my kind. I’m not going to waste this chance to be around people again. She cleared her throat to focus the discussion on herself. “Do you think we could go around the rest of the fair now?”

Lettice smiles while clapping his hands together, I don’t see why not. You may not be human, but you’re clearly not animals. We don’t have any authority over you and if anyone would have had objections about it, the Lieutenant Commander would have said something I’m sure.”

Director Tabiteau heard the announcer proclaim the next presentation was ready for them. “As much as I’m sure we would all like to get to know one another, we cannot hold back the entire fair for you two.”

Both mares shook the judges’ hands with Alexia giving an understanding reply. “It was good meeting all of you. I hope the rest of humanity will be as welcoming.” I might as well get used to referring to humans as a different species. There’s no going back for me.

“I hope so too.” Lettice replied with a twinge of worry. “I would be cautious of people who might try to cause you harm.”

“Believe me Doctor, we’re not as naive about human society as you might think.” Loki replied with a playful tone that belayed she meant what she said.

A quick few goodbyes later the two mares were pointed towards the exit which deposited them into the main lobby. There were over fifty people crammed next to the door and as soon as Loki and Alexia appeared they went wild trying to rush forward to meet them. “What do you call yourselves?” “Where can I get a pony.” “Are more of you up for sale?” “Do you come in different colors?” “Why does that one have a horn?” “Can I pet you?” “What’s the maintenance on your robotics cost?”

The press of people nearly double the ponies’ height was getting oppressive. Both were pinned against the door with mounting fear of being smothered. I wanted to be in a city again, but this is a bit much.

Before the crowd could press any closer Alexia shouted at them with all the fury she could muster with a heavy dose of magical suggestion. “What the hell is wrong with you people?! Give us some damn personal space!”

Normally, a crowd of people would be resistant to such a demand. However as one might expect, humans have had absolutely no interaction with real magic and even Tune’s incredibly sloppy suggestion enchantment had a powerful effect. The crowd found themselves compelled to comply and backed off to give the mares a few feet of room. Alexia quickly cut the magic hoping no one would notice her glowing horn. With her opening given, she continued speaking but with a more friendly tone. “Now I know we asked for this by revealing ourselves this way, but please remember there are only two of us and thousands of you. We want to be your friends and we’ll answer some questions-“

Loki took the moment to butt in. “But first we need a couple of foot long Subway sandwiches or I won’t even tell you guys my favorite color.” Tune gave her a condescending glower. “What? I’m hungry.”

Four authoritative sounding voices started shouting and pushing their way through the crowd. The mares got nervous until they saw the first person pushing through was a police officer. “Alright break it up; the whole lot of you are creating a fire hazard. And until I hear a court ruling declaring otherwise, these two are protected by the same laws as everyone else. Now clear out or we’ll start arresting people for harassment.”

The mass of people let of a vast collection of groans, moans, and overall disapproval of the police order. This was not a riot of furious protesters, but a collection of hyper curious onlookers. None of them were willing to risk jail time over it and started to begrudgingly disperse. Alexia breathed a sigh of relief eternally grateful to the SPD. Loki’s feelings were partially mirrored. Never thought the police would come to my rescue. Oh the times they are a change’n.

The police sergeant made sure his subordinates were successfully driving the crowd away and turned to face the breathless ponies. “I’m not going to ask who or what you are, because at the moment all I care about is that you’re a bigger disturbance of the peace than a tornado.”

Loki was horribly temped to give a snarky reply in the face of his somewhat hostile tone, but a pleading hoof from Tune checked her tongue. “Well we tried to have a press conference with CNN, but they laughed us off the phone.”

Alexia slapped herself out of exasperation. “Why are you trying to piss off the cops who just saved our asses?”

The sergeant softened moderately, but remained stern. “You remind me of my daughter. She has a whip for a tongue too. I can’t rightly tell you leave, but you’ll be nothing but a disturbance if I let you walk freely.”

“So what do you want us to do then?” Tune asked with sinking spirits.

“I’d prefer it if you left. I don’t know how familiar you are with human nature, but mob mentality will only worsen if you stay and my department doesn’t have the manpower to handle a riot.”

“I may be a fancy new thing for people to gawk at.” Loki began, knowing full well what the officer was leading up to. “But you can’t say one minute we have equal rights and then ask us to leave.”

“My patience will only go so far. I only said I was acting as if you had human rights to get the crowd to back down, but don’t fool yourselves into thinking you do. You’re in my town and I want you gone.”

“You know officer.” Loki growled with hate in her eyes. “Last I checked, there was only one article in the whole list of human rights that specify says human beings only. Just about all the others either start with everyone or no one. We do have rights as sentient beings.”

The officer’s demeanor only darkened to match Loki’s own. Unlike her hacker friend, Alexia had no desire to find herself in jail over technicalities in the wording of the law. She leaned in to whisper pleadingly to her green friend. “We should just go. Let people cool off for a bit, get used to the idea that humans aren’t alone anymore. We can come back later.”

Loki’s stern gaze flashed at Tune before going back to the sergeant. “I am not leaving without my sandwich.” Loki knew she had the officer where she wanted him. He had not expected either of them to know that much of human society let alone the law of it.

After a few seconds of internal debate he sided with the legally safer course of action. “Alright, you win. You can go where you please. If you know that much about the law then I shouldn’t have to tell you how to conduct yourselves. But I’m assigning an officer to follow you until you leave town.” He leaned down a little to drive his point across. “And I mean leave town. We’re miserably understaffed to handle the fair as it is and having even one trooper assigned to you is pushing it.”

Tune took that moment to superimpose herself between the two. “Once again, the honor of the SPD shines through.” She said hoping that her poor choice of words didn’t sound sarcastic. “We just want to grab a bite and maybe see a few things and then poof we’ll be gone.”

The sergeant blinked at the first statement. The phrase was a short lived joke in the local newspaper that died out five years ago when it was revealed that the police chief turned down a bribe. The joke came later when it was revealed that he only turned it down because he already knew it was a corruption sting operation. How does she know that phrase? With nothing else to go on, he brushed it off as coincidence and called out to an officer who was standing alone as the remaining civilians were keeping their distance. “Daniels, get over here.”

The five foot seven officer in question responded and approached. “Yes sergeant?”

“You’re reassigned to escort duty with these two until they leave town by no later than sundown.” His address switched from Daniels to Loki midway through. He already knew Alexia was cowed enough to obey.

Daniels regarded the ponies for the first time. Great. Not a week out of the academy and I get leashed onto a potential riot waiting to happen. He kept his expression professional in the face of his superior. “Yes Sergeant.”

“I have to radio this in to dispatch. Don’t let them get out of control.” The Sergeant barked orders to the other officers and they filed out of the lobby.

Loki wasn’t pleased about being chained to a policeman. Alexia on the other hand, was all too happy for the protection. She walked up and offered a hoof and a smile. “Pleased to meet you Officer Daniels, I’m Alexia Tune.”

The man gave her mildly questioning look before accepting it. If they're willing to act friendly, it’ll make the assignment smoother. “Likewise.” He responded with an iota of warmth.

Loki thought it would be best to keep her mouth shut about her true feelings towards the man and after Alexia shook the officer’s hand, she repeated the gesture. “Do you know where I can get a sub sandwich now?”

Daniels nodded. “The nearest Subway is several blocks away, but a Firehouse stand is set up not even a half that far. I can show you the way.”

Loki brightened, much to Tune’s relief, and jumped forward. “Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

The cold wind had picked up considerably since entering the civic center and tore into mass of buildings, tents, and people alike. It was hardly a cause for alarm for Alexia as the fifteen mile per hour wind was not a rare occurrence. What unnerved her was that most people were glued to their radios, phones, and the occasional TV inside the brick and mortar stores. Only a relative handful of people noticed the ponies and those that did steered clear of Daniels.

As the pair followed the officer, Alexia hung back a few steps to get side by side with Loki. “What’s up with everyone?”

Her green companion shrugged. “I don’t know or care. It just means we can get some food all that easier.”

As the group approached the food tent, Alexia saw a group of five people caught between their phones and the radio. “Just moments ago, the second nuclear missile aimed for XJ-29 has mysteriously failed to detonate upon impact. It is currently unknown as to the reason behind these failings as each missile so far has been from different sites. While the exact locations for these military bases are classified, we can say the first missile was launched from a base in Ohio while the second was from somewhere in southern France.

Experts originally believed the US based missile’s failure might have been caused by equipment failure, and that an investigation is being launched to find the culprit. As of now however, no theory has been put forward as to how the French missile failed in the exact same fashion as the American one. Given the proximity of XJ-29, the UN has decided to green light use of the remaining missiles in hopes that this bizarre string of malfunctions or possible sabotages will not be repeated from the warheads hailing from northern Britain and central Russia. We will continue to cover the story as the other-”

Alexia was dragged back to her surroundings by a hoof gently pushing her shoulder. “Earth to Alex. Order up.”

“Oh sorry.” Tune propped herself up on the edge of the counter to take stock of the types of fillings and bread. “I’ll take a foot long tuna melt on wheat please.”

The server was barely able to contain herself in the mares’ presence as she was not all that interested in the news broadcast. “You guys look so cute its painful.” She said after placing the unfinished sandwich in the toaster.

Tune snickered. “Thanks.” I can’t argue with her on that point.

“So what do you want to do with yourselves?” She asked innocently.

That caught Tune up short. “I don’t know. I’d like to wait a while to see if we can find a nitche to work in. I hadn’t honestly expected as warm of a reception as we’ve seen.”

“You must not be too familiar with the media in general. Comics, anime, cartoons, everyone’s read or seen at least some of that.” The server paused when the toaster beeped. “You’re like the physical manifestation of those things come to life.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way.” She almost forgot about the toppings. “Tomato, lettuce, and black pepper.”

The cashier was not overly shocked that Loki had a debit card, but that she was able to swipe it given the lack of fingers. The trio found a table off to the side where Daniels would be able to sit with his back to the canvas wall and the two mares ate. He had declined the meal as he was on duty.

“You know, ever since all this happened to us. I thought I would lose my taste for meat.” Loki commented. Daniels was curious what she meant, but remained silent. “I mean I know it’s optional for you, but with me…”

Alexia finished swallowing to answer. “You don’t need meat per say, and it may or may not be healthier if you didn’t. But the book only talks about magic, not dietary habits. If you get indigestion or sick later you’ll find out the hard way.”

Daniels ordinarily would have scoffed at the mention of magic outside of illusionists and the media, but he was acutely aware that the ponies were having no trouble at all holding the sandwiches. They can call whatever they're doing with their feet whatever they like. What do I care?

Loki finished first and was about to reboot her computer. She always kept it on low power and the uplink offline when not in use. She thought to ask before expending the battery. “Is there a massage parlor around here? I could really go for one.”

Daniels liked the idea instantly. They’ll be out of the public eye for at the very least half an hour. Might make some of the over enthusiasts that have been shadowing us get bored.

He was about to answer when Alexia did it for him. “I remember a place called the Calm Moon a block away. They're probably swamped though.”

Loki grinned and brought her computer online. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll book us some quick reservations.” Loki set about hacking them onto the waiting list. A small town like this will probably have pitiful security, I can get us in no problem.

While Loki toiled on her favorite activity in life, a familiar face walked into the tent. It was a face Alexia was not expecting to see. Qubert Smith scanned the thin crowd and spotted the ponies instantly and rushed over. Daniels kept a wary eye on him, but a lone seemingly unarmed person was not a threat to his charges. Smith stopped short at the officer. “Can I speak to them, I need to ask something important.”

Daniel stood up and shook his head. “Sorry buddy, but you’ll have to do it later like everyone else.”

“Um, actually we don’t mind talking to him in private officer.” Tune called out. “But just him.”

Loki kept her peace and watched both mare and officer exchange a wordless plea. “Do what you will, but I will be keeping watch over there.” Qubert looked partially bewildered that she would agree to speak so readily and to mention the need for privacy as he was going to request the same.

Loki suspected what this was about. Maybe it wasn’t such a hot idea to use her old name so no one would question the debit card.

He sat down, unsure of how familiar the two ponies were with human etiquette. “Hello, my name is-“

“Qubert Smith.” Alexia interrupted nervously. “I know.”

He was at a loss while Loki busied herself with the remains of the sandwich and booking their appointments. “How did you know?”

Tune gave her response a few moments of thought. “Before I say anything. Mind if I ask why you came to us?” Please just say you wanted to talk to the new and exciting androids. She wished would be his response.

Instead she got a different one. “A friend of mine, James Tune said he was sick a couple of weeks ago. But I found his name on your list of team members for Biometrics. I’ve been trying to call him for the past several minutes but he isn’t picking up.”

Loki shrugged nonchalantly. “So maybe he’s in the shower or asleep. Why would we know?”

“Because he’s been increasingly distant lately. I’m going to be pissed if he faked an illness just to use my grandfather’s manor to house you two away from the public.”

The earth mare kept playing ignorant while Alexia was deeply torn between telling the truth and suppressing it. “I get you're concerned for your friend and all pal. But we have nothing to do with him.”

Tune’s mind was flooded with worst scenarios. What if he comes over to check on me. He might think there was foul play and bring the cops over, that’d be a nightmare! She refocused on the two quietly bickering. Qubert threatening to do what Tune feared with Loki trying to deflect him with feigned ignorance. “Bert, you want the truth?”

“Damn straight I do. What’s James gotten himself into?” He hissed low enough that he would not draw Daniels’ ire.

She didn’t know how to put it so she went with bluntness. Its my bread and butter after all. “I am, or I used to be, James Tune.”

His reaction was a mix between disbelieving mirth and anger. “And why should I believe such a claim?”

Alexia thought of many different ways to convince him quickly before he did something she’d regret. “Give me a moment and I’ll have the proof you need.” She glanced around the tent and noticed only two people were paying them any serious attention. Good they're behind Q, I can do this without anyone else seeing it.

She took a deep breath to center herself. The distance is going to make it difficult, but I don’t have a quicker solution. Smith’s mounting frustration was replaced by bewilderment as Tune’s horn lit up and the infamous spell book flashed into being. He nearly jumped out of his seat at the summoning. “Remember when I got this at during my route?”

“How the hell did you do that?!”

“Magic. Which is also why I’m a unicorn now.” She noticed his expression turn to one of fear. “And in case you need further convincing, should I bring up the jockstrap incident?”

“Don’t you dare say another word!” He growled under his breath. “James swore he’d never tell anyone.”

“And I still haven’t.” Alexia insisted. “But that’s why I’m saying it now so you can keep your voice down.” She reactivated the hearth charm and the book vanished from the table.

He recovered after a few moments of trying to register the book was gone again. “Jesus man. What happened to you?”

She sat back and gestured over her body. “Well, all of this. I was turned into a pony.”

“How?”

“Aside from magic, I have no idea on how who what or any of those. All I do know is that whoever did it, seems content to let us roam freely.”

Qubert turned to Loki. “And you?”

“You might say I was IT expert out of Denver when it happened to me, but I never really stayed in any one place for long.” Both ponies felt it was best to leave Conrad out of the discussion.

Smith was silent for a minute. “When you started talking to me by text alone I was starting to get really worried, but stuff kept me from checking up on you. Shit this is crazy.”

“Tell me about it.” Both mares replied instantly.

They got a weak laugh out of it before Alexia continued with more conviction. “Its not as bad as it looks.”

He was skeptical of such a claim and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m not going to sit here and explain how that is anything but ‘not bad’. Being in that body would make you more acutely aware of it than me pointing it out.” He leaned in so he could lower his voice again. “So what are you going to do now? If that tome really does contain spells then you could change back right?”

She gave a negative sigh. “It’s not that simple. The book is done up like a school text book’s chapter format in the sense that each one has a review. And the only spell that sounded like it would be the one to use is near the back. And each chapter is locked until I complete the review.”

“Ouch man. That’s harsh.”

Alexia finished off her sandwich as she briefly explained her tribe’s magical dependency, the estimated time it would take to acquire the spell, and other snags that conspire to keep her imprisoned in her. “And that’s the long and short of it.”

Smith mulled over the exposition. “Well if you’re really okay with staying as you are, its no longer a curse then now is it?” Tune nodded in agreement. “Well if that’s the case there’s no real point in arguing over it.” He lapsed into temporary silence. “So just to be clear. You can really do magic now?”

“Well its called magic yes, but its not treated the same way as you might think. The way the book’s author portrays it, magic is as much of a science as chemistry and biology. And given the way it’s worked so far I’d have to agree. But if you’re going to ask for a bigger demonstration than summoning my book, you can forget it. This place is way too crowded and you’re the only person I’ve told about magic.”

“What about the club? You could make a killer lightshow.”

Alexia let off a lighthearted chuckle. I think I’m just going to believe that he’s accepting this so willingly because he thought I was on death’s door and this is a better alternative. “I’m still rather new at the stuff. I don’t know what I could do to actually make a lightshow with it yet. But I’ll put together what I can, it’s the least I can do for lying to you and keeping you in the dark all this time.”

“James, you can use the lightshow as an apology for that. It could push my business to the next level.”

“Only if you call me Alexia from now on.” She replied with a friendly, yet serious tone. “As strange as it may sound Q. I want to stay as a mare. Not just because I’m stuck as one, but because I refuse to live in the past.”

He was silent for a few moments before shaking his head. “It’ll take some getting used to, but I can accommodate that. I better get going, I’ll talk to you later Tune.”

“See ya Q.” She was happy the truth was out between them and sighed contently while popping a few crumbs in her mouth.

As Smith left, Loki pumped a hoof. “Yes! I got in and switched the books around, the place even has an automated phone service to call the other clients.” She turned to Alexia with a stupidly massive grin. “I got us in the massage parlor; we gotta be there in ten minutes.”

“You’re really hard up for that aren’t you?” Alexia remarked jokingly.

“Have you had a professional massage before?” Loki inquired with a smirk.

She shook her head. “Well aside from rubbing a sore muscle no.”

“Well you are in for a treat. Let’s tell our watchdog and get over there.”

Seven minutes of running through the streets revealed that the crowds were starting to thicken as the day waxed on to peak shopping hours. Daniels refused to shout after the galloping mares not only because it would draw even more attention to them, but it would also make him look like he was not in control. The fair itself was shifting gears and an outdoor stage in the open fields for a pyrotechnic laser show was putting on the finishing touches before show time.

Loki found the salon easily enough and waited for Daniels to catch up to them before entering. The officer was cursing how deceptively fast they could be. The salon had a very small waiting room that had a strong Fung Shui vibe to it complete with wall fountain and miniature bonze trees. The woman behind the counter was taken aback by the new customers. “I heard about two pony shaped androids, but didn’t think I would get a chance to see you in person. I’m Linda.”

The ponies introduced themselves along with the policeman. Loki spoke up after Linda calmed down a bit. “We ordered two ninety minute sessions, under my name.”

Linda was puzzled and checked the scheduler. “I see you right here.” She looked back up to Loki. “How did you book an appoint here when you just arrived an hour ago? We’re booked solid all night.”

“We knew we were coming in advance so we booked ahead.” Loki lied smoothly.

It seemed logical, and the recently hired clerk accepted it without further question. “Well ordinarily I’d lead you on back, but umm. I don’t know if we’ll be able to serve you.”

“Oh come on. It can’t be that hard to translate over.” Loki countered smoothly. Hell we can’t be that different than rubbing your cat or dog.

Alexia read the indecision on Linda’s face easily. I’d hate to cause a scene over this, but it would worth seeing if its half as good as Loki makes it out to be. “We’re not expecting your usual level of service given how different we are from your usual clientele, but surely you can at least try.”

Daniels was convinced Alexia was just as dangerous in her own right as her more unstable friend. The clerk bit her lower lip before agreeing. “Okay, I’ll ask the masseuses. It’ll only be a minute.”

A short time later, all it took was a repeat of Alexia’s original request to see them ushered into the individual rooms. The masseuses had been told they were androids, but after the initial hesitation as to how to proceed, they quickly discovered the ponies felt as flesh and blood as they looked. After a few wrongly stretched muscles and rubbing her fur the wrong way, Alexia’s masseuse melted the mare like butter as she exercised her craft.

Half an hour into the session, the mix of soothed muscles, aroma therapy, and soft music lulled the unicorn to sleep. She awoke some time later feeling an extremely calming sensation moving along the top her head and down her mane. Some part of her realized after five minutes of the gentle touch that it was the masseuse’s’ hand petting her. A small part of her warred over the perceived belittlement, but at the same time, the act was deeply soothing to the point where she forgot all reservations about it.

“That feels soooo good.” Her voice was faint from the caressing.

The masseuse stopped and gasped an apology. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be doing that. I-I”

The sudden change the room’s mood bled the silky fog from Alexia’s mind. She remained prone on the table, but turned to head to speak directly. “How much time is left?”

Glad for an excuse to speak about something else the woman looked at her watch. “Ten minutes.”

Tune slumped back on the table. “You wouldn’t mind scratching behind the ears again would you? That was marvelous.”

The woman hesitated fearfully. “You really don’t mind it?”

“Don’t think of it as petting, but as just another style of massage.”

The woman leapt at the opportunity and did as she was asked. Oh my god, its like they were made to ooze cute.

Fifteen minutes later Tune walked out to find Loki in a near Zen state. “You ran long too?”

Loki leaned in to whisper. “If you tell Conrad this I’ll TP your room, but she started petting me and I couldn’t say no.”

The unicorn belted out a hearty chuckle as they entered the lobby and waved goodbye to the masseuses. Alexia felt sorry for Daniels being left in the waiting room for close to two hours, but instead of looking bored or irritated he wore a mask of worry as he read from his phone.

“Sorry to leave you out here like that officer.”

He glanced up to see they were healthy then back down at his phone for a second longer before putting it away. “Yeah. Don’t worry about it, comes with the job.”

She noticed his terse speech immediately. “Is something the matter?”

“Just…bad news.” He replied carefully as he smoothed the wrinkles out of his uniform and readjusted his holster while leading them outside. “All four missiles going after the meteor failed to detonate. The UN can’t launch anymore as the blasts, if they did go off, would be too close to the satellites in high orbit and they’d be fried by the EMP.”

Both ponies found the news rather ominous. “Are you guys sure these missiles weren’t launched from North Korea?”

Daniels snorted at the sarcasm from the earth mare’s quip. “It would make the cause far less mysterious, I’ll give you that.”

“Its not big enough to be cataclysmic though right?” Alexia queried.

“No, but it will decimate large portions of the Pacific coast from South America all the way around to Japan.”

“At lease Kansas is smack dab in the center of the continent.” Loki remarked looking for the silver lining. “How long until it hits water?”

“A little over four hours from now.”

Loki did not like how the conversation was dragging the mood down and pulled Alexia aside. “Hey listen to me. Did you cause that meteor to show up?”

Alexia shook her head. “No.”

“Can you do anything right now to help those people?”

“No.”

“Then don’t stress it. If we had a moment of silence for every tragedy that happens we’d never get anything done. How about I make a donation to whatever relief fund that pops up later to help them?”

Tune’s mood wasn’t as lower as Loki feared it was, but the prospect of doing real help bolstered what effect the impending disaster had on her. “You don’t seem the type to care over much, but if you’re willing then I appreciate it.”

“Cool. Now let’s ditch the watchdog.”

Alexia peeped at Daniels who was watching the movement of people more than the mares. “To do what?”

“Have fun of course! We’ve got invisibility and you think I’m going to waste that?” She pulled her in close with a malkavian sneer. “We played your game so far of being nice and showing ourselves to the world, now it my turn.”

Alexia was moderately creeped out by the sneer, but the comment struck a nerve. “What do you mean my game? You made the cops to yell at us, you got your sub, and the massage. We’ve done everything you wanted to do so far.”

Loki nudged her playfully. “And who paid for it all?”

Alexia huffed mockingly. “Technically, I did. It was my card after all .”

“Yeah well it was my money.” She noticed Alexia wasn’t budging on the issue. “You can’t seriously tell me you don’t want to use this magic to have a little fun.”

Tune glared at the mischievous mare. “I know exactly what you’re kind of fun entails, and quite frankly I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”

“I promise to reign in it this time.” Loki pleaded with a face that could make a puppy cry. “Pleeese?”

Alexia’s glare didn’t budge. Knowing her, she’ll just run off and cause a ruckus with or without my presence. If I go with her I can hold her to that that promise of keeping it mild. She snorted unhappily. “Well this whole trip was for you. What did you have in mind?”

Loki’s tears and frown evaporated and hopped for joy. “Just follow my lead and be ready to activate your cloak.” Loki broke away and walked back over to Daniels. “We’ve had a lovely time here officer, but my counterpart and I wish to leave. Have fun now.” She waved and turned to leave when he called out.

“I have to at least escort you to your car, or however method of transportation you used to get here.”

Loki expected some resistance and turned back around. “Do we look like we could drive a car? We walked here.”

His mouth was a pressed line of barely contained irritation. “Then I should escort you as far as the fair grounds.”

“Come one officer, your sergeant said the force was undermanned, you don’t need to waste any more time on us.”

He wasn’t budging on the issue. “I don’t know what you’re trying to pull here, but it won’t work. I am not leaving your side until you leave the fair grounds.”

She pawed the ground in amusement. “Well can’t say I didn’t try it diplomatically.” Daniels watched her closely as Loki cantered back over to her friend. “Alex.”

“Yeah?”

“Cheese it!” Loki took off at a dead run towards the other side of the street.

Tune’s fears were realized and chased after her. “Loki! What are you doing?”

Daniels cursed his luck and the mare before giving pursuit. As before, the quadrupeds proved to be naturally faster and Loki tore down a short alleyway between the store fronts and the back parking lot. Alexia saw her insane friend round a corner. After going around the same corner, Loki pulled her off her hooves and up against the wall. “Get your cloak up, hurry!”

The unicorn glanced at the bracelet on Loki’s foreleg and saw it was active. She activated her own cloak and vanished from sight right as Daniels burst from the alley. “Shit they run fast.” He scanned the parking lot, seeing no movement among the cars or shrubs lining the buildings. He pulled his radio up, dreading the fact he had to radio this in.

With their hoofsteps muffled by the gems, the two ponies snuck away to where they were out of earshot. Alexia was none too happy with Loki. “Did we really have to piss off the police? It's not like we can blend into a crowd.”

“Would you relax? I’ve got everything planned out. We have some fun, then we leave. I never actually lied to the guy.”

Your idea of fun should be considered a war crime. Without anyway to talk her friend out of her recklessness, Alexia followed after her in the vain hope she could temper Loki’s madness.

8: A Crack in the Wall

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An hour had passed since Loki’s oath to fully utilize her invisibility and it only ended in frustration for the earth pony. She had been so preoccupied in the excitement of being able to pull off practical jokes without the risk of getting caught, that she made several poor choices in judgment. At the moment, she was trying to distract herself from one such lapse in judgment by gazing down from the top of the civic center trying to scope out a good mark. The roof was cluttered enough to allow them to drop the cloak. Tune smoldered in seething anger over the past hour and Loki was getting desperate to find something to distract her from her conscience.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where a joke store would be by chance would you? I could use some work aides.”

Alexia huffed indignantly. “No.”

“Are you still mad I tried to tweak the pyrotechnics on stage?”

“Oh no, why would I care that you could have hurt or killed somebody with the fireworks aimed at the school?”

The sarcasm was so venomous it physically stung the green pony. She hid the guilt behind an aloof mask. “You can’t tell me you never wanted to blow up your school before. Everyone’s had that fantasy at least once in their lives.”

Alexia was resting on her back and turned her head to glare at her friend. “Did you also forget pulling the fire alarm in the Chinese buffet restaurant? Or that you had the nerve to ask me to use my magic to tie the policemens' shoelaces together?”

“Hey I didn’t know that old couple would have gotten trampled like that.” The guilt became a weight around her spirit. “I mean, the paramedics got there in time…”

“If I hadn’t of kept the panicked mob from stomping on them further, there would have been no one for the medics to save!” Alexia fumed while turning her head back towards the sky.

Loki’s mask chipped away as the weight grew. “I’m sorry okay? What else do you want from me?”

“I want you to use some common sense.” Tune shot back. “Pranks are all well and good Loki, but you have a nasty habit of making them dangerous.” Loki remained silent for several minutes. Tune assumed the mare was ignoring her at that point, so the unicorn sat up to talk directly at her. “You know what you need?” She received no answer. “You need a different hobby.”

Loki wasn’t watching the crowds anymore; instead she was staring vacantly into the distance as her guilt sapped any remaining joy out of her. I never wanted someone to get hurt because of stupid prank. I’ve always been careful about them before. A few incidences with Conrad came to mind. When I’m sober anyway. Alexia’s comment finally registered to the despondent mare. “Like what?”

“Gardening.” Tune answered with less hostility than before so she could sell the suggestion better.

“I don’t know the first thing about plants other than eating them.”

“Well the book said an earth pony’s magic excels at raising plant life.” Alexia adopted a more lighthearted tone. “Plus I’ve heard it can be very therapeutic.”

She dismissed it outright. “Forget it. I’m a hacker not a farmer.”

“It couldn’t hurt to try you know.” Tune replied flatly.

“Nope. Not doing it.” The earth mare couldn’t stand the sight of the fair she had wronged for another second in the face of Alexia’s condemnation. Grumbling more to herself than Alexia, she stood up while activating her cloak. “I’m bored. And it's not worth sticking around any longer.”

Alexia followed suit and walked over to the ledge to be next to Loki. The green pony grabbed onto Tune’s forelegs while being lifted up in the unicorn’s magic. By using Loki as an elevator, Alexia gently set them both down on the pavement. The unicorn found out the hard way that directing levitating herself was by far more difficult than doing it by proxy. With the concert revving up to begin, the streets were nearly deserted. Tune was a little out of breath from maintaining the cloak and levitating over double her weight, even if it was only to slow their descent. “So where do you want to go now?”

“Where you’ve wanted to go ever since we ditched Daniels. Back home.” Loki answered tersely.

Alexia chased after the grumbling mare. “Look, I get that you’ve led a criminalistic lifestyle before becoming a pony. I get that.” She caught up and placed a hoof on Loki’s withers. “But I prefer to stay in the law’s good graces. You don’t have to pick a fight with the cops anymore Loki.”

“You say that because you could make a living that way.” She wanted to throw Alexia’s hoof off of her, but the sympathetic eye from Alexia stopped her from trying. “I did what I had to, to put food on the table.”

Alexia heard the pain her voice and squeezed her foreleg into a sidelong hug. It was a difficult task to keep walking like that, but they both managed. “And you still put food on our table. I’m not saying to give up what you do. What I am saying, is that you need to bring it down several notches. I can take most of your antics Loki, but you drive Conrad and half of Salina crazy with your brand of insanity.”

Loki was not one for seriously listening to anyone but herself, and even less willing to trust anyone she wasn’t paying good money. A life of peeking out of the window for the figurative CIA surveillance van and being betrayed by work partners did that to a person. Yet she couldn’t help herself but to accept the friendly affection. She’s not controlling me with some sort of magic is she? Loki glanced at the unicorn to find her horn was inactive. Strange… Maybe the samurai is onto something about her.

Alexia was expecting some sort of response, but decided to let the silence hang and let go to walk normally. The silence reigned until they reached the car and Alexia unlocked the doors with her magic. Only after Loki was behind the wheel did she speak. “Alex.” She waited for her to give a nonverbal response. “After everything I put you through, the jokes, the cops, and the incident with the garbage bag…” Tune felt a strong pulse of anger from the very mention of it, but kept it controlled in the face of Loki’s somberness. “What I’m trying to say is that I think I’d have gone completely mad by now if not for you. If not murdered by Conrad first. And that--I'm sorry. For everything.”

You mean more crazy than you already are? The silver mare kept the thought to herself in the interest of diplomacy. “I accept Loki. I just do what I think will help. There’s not much more to it than that.”

“Maybe from your perspective.” She muttered under her breath.

“Huh?”

Loki waved her query off. “Just trying to find the keys.” After pulling them from under the seat she started the car and tried to find a comfortable way to sit in a seat made for humans. Tune kept waiting for Loki to say anything more, but after fifteen minutes she realized her companion was done talking.

"Well okay then," she said quizzically before letting the matter drop. "Just promise me one thing."

Loki said nothing for a couple of miles. Her guilt over the pranks gone wrong kept her from speaking until Tune put a reassuring hoof on the green mare's withers. "S-sure. Name it."

"Promise me you you will keep your word on donating money to the meteor victims. I know you make far more than we could honestly spend. Its not my money, so all I can do is ask."

The car stopped at a red light, giving Loki a chance to look Alexia in the eyes. Loki had never been one for charity in her life. It had always consisted of hard partying, flashy and expensive toys, and strip clubs. A month ago the idea of donating to charity, no matter the cause, wouldn't have interested her in the slightest. Yet between her guilt at ruining the fair and Tune's request, Loki felt that needed to change.

"I promise Alex," she said at length after getting the car moving when the light switched. "I'll donate a mill. More effective than Facebook likes right?" she added at the last second in a miserable attempt to inject some humor into the car.

The silver unicorn smiled warmly. "That it is. Thank you Loki." The earth pony nodded quietly and refocused on the road. With her companion feeling better, Alexia horn flashed horn to make her spell book appear before her. I think I was at the review on page…one hundred and ninety.

The two page review was structured differently than every other one before it. Instead of having a quick summery of what was needed to unlock the next chapter, the first page bore smaller text so both it and the diagram below it could fit on the single page. The other, and stranger of the two, shimmered and faded as if it was a hologram instead of a physical piece of paper. Only when she put her left hoof, which still bore the key symbol in the center of her sole, did the page solidify into legibility. I don’t remember going into illusion magic yet.

As always, Alexia started with the first half. Now that we’ve covered the basics of crystal forging, All that is required for further progression is to present a filled reservoir crystal attuned to your magical signature. As you no doubt know from previous readings, having a reservoir crystal is useful to just about everypony. Pegasi can use it as a supplement to increase endurance during prolonged flights, and unicorns can use them in emergencies when either is not readily available. For those earth ponies who make use of enchanted crystals or tend to find themselves overworked can find possessing a reservoir crystal very helpful as well. Please note that only a reservoir crystal will be accepted as you will need it if you wish to continue further into your studies. No other gem will suffice.

Alexia recalled how horribly exhausted she felt when crafting the topazes brought her into first stage magical fatigue. I think it would be a good idea to make more than one. The fatigue was unlike any she had felt before, and at the time of the first crafting other matters had kept her thoughts from dwelling on it. Looking back now at the second, when she was alone with Conrad who again had to supply an energy drink to keep her conscious. The numbness of her body suffering from magic withdraw gave her shuddering chills. Better make at least three. Her attention shifted to the next page.

While my first and primary reason for making each chapter shielded by an illusion spell was for academic nostalgia, I did so for another purpose. Tune could almost feel the author’s mood go from an instructor who loved her job, to that of a concerned ruler. If this page even exists in your copy at all, then you are ether a member of my recently formed Dusk Guard or you are a foolhardy thief. Assuming the former is true, you will be pleased to know that all previous and subsequent chapters that are available to the public are still accurate in this copy. In addition, all data and theories contained within are the most up to date variants as of the summer of Five RoL. As such, the tome can still be used as its intended reference guide.

As you may already be aware of certain parties being interested in acquiring the Guard version of this tome, no simple key will suffice. Given how this guide deals only with pony magic, only an individual with the soul of a pony is capable of unlocking this section of the book.

Alexia grimaced at the requirement. “Why make it the soul instead of the body?” Loki glanced at the outburst and passed it off as Tune’s self-musings. The reason occurred to the unicorn the moment she said it. Oh right. Transformation magic. Well that shoots us down. She was about to skip it as impossible when curiosity got the better of her and kept reading.

The other key is for me to personally cast the unlocking cantrap upon you. I shouldn’t have to mention the changeling invasion a couple of years ago to explain why such precautions are needed. With both prerequisites met, which you should technically have by the time your readings this but mistakes happen, the classified pages will be open to you.

Tune was utterly perplexed by the existence of the page. Who or whatever gave me this book obviously wanted me to learn from it, but why bother with the military version if I have no way of ever obtaining the Princess’s half of the encryption key?

She looked at the lower half of the page and saw two dime sized circles. One was right below the last paragraph with the other at the bottom of the page. The one on top was glowing pristine lavender.

She closed the book to concentrate better and let it rest on the floor mat. Loki had a music station playing, but Alexia was used to drowning out background noise. So even if I did somehow find a spell to let me talk to her, how would I ever convince her to let me see it? Its not like she has any reason to trust a human turned pony after all. Assuming she believed me. And even if she did, I’m not in any real danger to need such magic.

Her thoughts fell back to how she met Conrad. Actually, I probably will need those spells, but even then I’m sure the Guard have a much greater comprehensive understanding of magic than I do. She shrugged at herself. I’d probably need to spend a lot longer learning this stuff before being able to use the Guard section anyway.

Without any room to draw a conjuration circle in the car, she resigned herself to leaving the Dusk Guard page alone and brought the book up again and began rereading the fundamentals of divination.

The rest of the drive home consisted of little more than passing fields, music, and the occasional car. Loki kept to the speed limit to keep any lurking speed traps from chasing after them. The manor was lit upon their return and as soon as Loki parked, Conrad flew down from the roof to greet them. Given the late hour, it was easy to spot the car along the half mile driveway. Loki climbed out with a badly stiff spine and Alexia was slowly exited the car head deep in the book.

With Tune completely absorbed in the book, Conrad regarded the earth mare first. “I didn’t hear of any disasters on the local news about you two.”

Loki winced while rubbing the soreness out of her back. “Disappointed?”

He grunted derisively. “Hardly. Of course the world wide scandal of the world governments’ complete failure to stop the meteor six times probably overrode anything dealing with you two.”

The pair watched Alexia walk right past them with her nose buried in the tome. Conrad might have felt as if she didn’t care about him if he didn’t already know the mare would get lost in her reading. Sure enough, both other ponies saw her almost smack her head against the book when it collided with the closed door.

He walked over to greet her while she mumbled to herself and put the book down. “Glad to see you made it back in one piece.”

Tune smiled at hearing his voice and forgot the book. “Hey Con.” She tried to give a friendly nuzzle but the back of her mind screamed at her and she pulled back at the last second. Damn it. I can’t even touch him without freaking. She back up a foot with a forced smile. “Sorry. I um, so how was flying today?”

Conrad thought it was best to avoid making her any more uncomfortable and ignored the behavior. “Fewer crashes this time. I’ve noticed that I heal a lot faster than when I was human.”

“That’s good to hear.” She pawed the ground cursing the mental wall keeping her from going any further with him. “The fair was mostly enjoyable. People didn’t react as negatively to us as I thought they would.” She went on to briefly explain the events of the fair. Loki silently thanked her for leaving out the ill-fated pranks towards the end.

He was genuinely pleased at the warm, if scarily over exuberant, reception they received. He still remained cautious. “I’m glad you came to no harm. But I have to ask. Did anyone see you leave or what car you drove?”

“Of course not.” Loki butted in. “With the bracelets, we’re like instant ninjas. No one saw us coming or going.”

He nodded. “Excellent. The less people know about where we are the better.”

As they discussed how to approach relations with human society, Loki because increasingly aware of Alexia’s small attempts to stand closer to Conrad only to start sweating profusely when he took notice and she would inch back. Loki was seconds away from groaning in exasperation. This is utterly ridiculous. Time to settle this my way.

As Conrad was commenting on the bizarre shipment Loki ordered, said mare pulled him aside and called out to Alexia over her shoulder. “I got somethings that need saying with the samurai here. Why don’t you grab a bite to eat?”

Tune was worried Conrad would bite Loki’s head off by the fierce glare he was casting at her. “Well okay then. Please don’t kill each other.”

Conrad’s scowl faded slightly when he noticed Loki was trying to get Alexia out of earshot. “What are you planning now?”

When Tune was inside she stopped dragging him by the hoof. “Alright listen. I found out what's wrong with Alex.”

“And?” He replied impatiently.

“And… She’s got some serious issues with you that has only one solution.”

He was already aware of the problem, but he was wary of any solution coming from Loki. “Well let me hear it.”

“You need to bang the last bits of stupid out her head.” She was met with confusion so she put it more bluntly. “I swear, now I know why she’s so dense sometimes. You need to mount her.”

He would have crossed his arms in bemusement if he still had any. “That’s your master plan? Have sex and hope she gets over it?”

“I hear that tone.” She replied curtly. “You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed her trying to get close to you.”

“I have actually. Why do you think I asked you to talk with her in the first place?”

“Well we talked!” She exclaimed. “She already agreed to do it, all you gotta do is rut her. Why aren’t you jumping at this?”

“Because all I’ve got is your word that you miraculously got her to agree to do that when she can barely stand to touch me anymore. If it wasn’t for her constantly trying to, I’d think she was uninterested.”

Loki looked proud of herself. “Yes well, not everyone can be blessed with a silver tongue.” Or fist for that matter. “Now I probably need to remind her of the promise she made, so go on up to your room. I’ll send her along shortly.”

Having Tune go to him sounded more believable than having him to go her. I’m still going to ask her when she arrives. I wouldn’t put it past this menace to trick Alexia into going in my room for a different reason. He broke from his musing to address her. “Fine. Just remember Loki, pulling one of your stupid pranks on me is bad enough. But if this causes her any harm, I will kill you.”

“Look buddy.” She jabbed him with a hoof. “I wouldn’t use her to get to you. And I sure as hell wouldn’t do this to Alex if she didn’t want to. So get over yourself.”

She pushed past him grumbling in disgust. Conrad watched her leave feeling no amount of remorse towards the object of continual torment. When she was no longer in sight he flew up to his bedroom to cool down in the off chance she was telling the truth.

Loki entered the foyer wanting to scream. As much as she wanted to punch him, she expected Conrad to be hostile. I guess I have been a little too mean towards him. Course, if he learned how to take a joke then he’d be a lot better company.

She walked into the kitchen to find Tune had wasted no time shoveling carrots and cold broccoli in her mouth. Loki snickered on her approach. “I didn’t think you were hungry enough to forget table manners.”

Tune finished swallowing while keeping two carrots and a tree of broccoli in her magic. “I haven’t forgotten any manners thank you.” She pseudo pouted. “This is finger food anyway.”

“Uh huh. Well at any rate. Do you remember that talk we had?”

The silver unicorn nearly choked on her food and coughed to clear it out. “Yes, I remember.” She levitated the food onto the counter. “Is that what you were talking to Conrad about just now?”

Loki could tell her friend was already locking up again. I knew it, she needs it done quickly or she’ll cave. It’d might work if she was blind folded, but that samurai would never go for that. She rushed over to lay a calming hoof on her shoulder. “Yes it is, and I know you want this right?”

Alexia didn’t trust herself to say yes so she nodded vigorously. That only concerned Loki even more. “Then don’t think about it. Thinking is bad okay?”

“R-right. No thinking.” She remembered the calming routines the tome taught her and Tune felt her panic going away. “Just walk in and…

“No thinking!” Loki commanded. Tune went silent and stood stock still. Loki sighed and started to push her along to the second floor. “If it help you at all, you can just let Conny do all the work.” Tune nodded absently, trying to follow Loki’s advice.

At Conrad’s door, Loki opened it and shoved the near catatonic unicorn inside. Loki stuck her head in to speak to the baffled stallion. “She’s trying not to think about it, but she wouldn’t be here if she didn’t want to. Tell her to do some magic and give her horn a good lick or two. That’ll get her started.”

Before he could question her further, Loki shut the door behind her. Conrad carefully approached the unicorn who was trying to keep herself from hyperventilating. “You don’t have to do this.”

No. No! She screamed at herself before repeating it to him. “No! Don’t tell me that. Don’t give me any encouragement to run off.” She turned around to look at him in the eye. “I don’t care what I say after this. Just don’t stop.” Stop thinking. Light the horn, something simple. Let him do it all.

She sewed her eyes shut and started channeling a weak light spell. Loki jokingly mentioned the unicorn’s horn being a source of erogenous pleasure. At the time he brushed the comment off as teasing, but Tune was giving credence to Loki’s words. She’s fighting herself so hard to just stand here. I’ll do it, but if she starts getting too weirded out I’m calling it off. The last thing she needs is mental scaring.

He started cautiously licking her horn at the base and slowly working his way up. Alexia’s reaction surprised him on how quick it was and she moaned amorously before he could begin again. Seeing that Loki had been honest about it, Conrad continued licking Tune’s horn.

Aside from her increasingly labored breathing and gasps of pleasure Tune remained silent. Her mind was embroiled with such turmoil that she forced herself to ignore the signals from her body. Half of her wanted to scream in fury at Conrad and storm out of the room. The other half wanted to be rid of the other with equal passion.

I want this. I need this. She kept shouting the mantra in her mind repeatedly in the face of all the resentment, terror, and hatred her subconscious threw at her.

Conrad was at a loss when Alexia made no cognitive reaction to his actions. Yet her body was reacting to her horn as much as Loki claimed it would. What the green mare neglected to mention were the pheromones. By themselves the scents would have only gotten a stir out of him, but with him in the moment, Conrad found himself no longer willing to wait anymore and stopped caressing her horn with his tongue.

Do I guide her to the bed? Conrad had no idea how best to approach sex as a quadruped. He gave another lick to keep her active and she instinctively widened her stance. Realization dawned on him. That’s one way to get an answer.

Alexia’s repeated mantra faltered when she felt a great weight climb on her back and her mind was ripped into a moment of calm silence as Conrad cleaved her so deeply she screamed in a mix of shock and pain. Suddenly aware of the world again, she couldn’t help but tremble between the ecstasy of finally reaching this point and abject revulsion that she was letting a stallion plow her.

Tune felt herself about to scream and clamped her mouth shut hard and looked straight ahead. Oh shit, it's too much. Her mind raged to make him stop, but Alexia shut down on it hard. No! I need this! She could no longer abandon the world again as every time Conrad thrust inside her, she felt as if a battering ram was hammering at the base of her skull. The waves of pleasure from her canal were tainted harshly by the torrent of self-loathing.

She could not take any joy or pleasure as almost every iota of conscious willpower was focused on keeping her mouth shut and her hooves apart. Her self-control was becoming increasingly difficult as Conrad kept thrusting harder and deeper, more so than she ever dared try with the dildos. For what seemed like an hour, every thrust of his member hammered at the wall of her mind, chipping it away with every hit. The miasma of indignant fury lessened bit by bit as the both the physical and perceived ram struck home.

Conrad felt he was too close to climaxing to stay and started to pull out. Alexia instantly became acutely aware of the retreating spear within her. “NO!” Her eyes went wild with barely contained fear and anger. “Don’t stop now!”

“But I’m going to cum. I can’t hold it back any longer.” He warned through heavy breaths.

“Finish me! PLEASE!” Her eyes pleaded with him to continue.

Conrad decided to take the risk this one time and resumed thrusting. Alexia turn to face front to keep fighting the rage beating upon her will to stay. That fight didn't last for a few more seconds as her climax finally crested over the hill a bare instant before Conrad’s own. The moment his hot ejaculate started pumping into her, the wall in her mind became riddled with cracks in the mortar and pieces of it fell away. The torrent of revulsion abated, but was still a strong presence in her mind.

Alexia’s legs wobbled badly as she fought to remain standing, but as soon as Conrad fully removed himself from her canal she fell to the ground panting. Her mind was still reeling in the afterglow and all she was willing to acknowledge was the still warm cum within her and the profound hollowness she felt. I did it. I finally did it.

Conrad was unsure of her mental state and waited until his member fully receded before approaching her and offering a hoof to pick her up. She studied the hoof before turning to its owner. She felt a weak but honest smile cross her features. “I need some time. Do you mind if I stay here for a bit?” The same disgust filled emotions demanded her to reject him, to hate him for what he did, to fling him against the wall until he stopped moving tried to push its way to the surface. However Alexia noted with smug satisfaction that the self-loathing was weaker than it used to be. Weak enough that seeing Conrad so soon after intercourse that she could hide it from him.

Despite her efforts, he could see the exhausted mare was still fighting herself. He lowered his hoof back to the floor. “Of course. I’ll be in the living room should you need me.”

She watched him leave with a grin on her face. Her subconscious raged at her, but Tune only laughed at it. “I finally did it. I know what I need to do to kill you completely.” She said to her bitter half that was trying to fill her with abhorrence. “You can’t stop me now. I will be a mare in body and spirit. I have to be. I refuse to have a male mind inside a female body.”

“I’m not exactly sure what difference it would make.” She admitted to herself with a shrug. “Hell I could have been one the moment I physically became a pony. Maybe that’s why I want this so badly.” She tested her limbs and shakily climbed to her hooves. “Whatever the case may be, I’m not going to stop until I’m free of this.”

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Loki was munching on some oats while tapping on her keyboard. She found an extension cord and it ran from her place on the lounge chair to the wall. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but these taste way better than lunch did. Stupid tastes buds, there’s nothing more empowering than eating meat. Well, as far as dinner is concerned.

She glanced up at the sound of hoofsteps to witness Conrad entering to sit down on the sofa. The aroma of shampoo filled the air. “So.” She said coyly. “Should I lock my door tonight to keep a knife out of my back?”

“No.” Every fiber in his being tried to stop him from saying what honor demanded of him. “As much as it pains me… Whatever Alexia is fighting, I believe that helped her.” He had to force the next words out. “Thank you for helping her Loki, and I apologize for threatening you.”

"Accepted." She smirked knowingly at him. “You can’t tell me you didn’t enjoy it though.”

He straightened up in his seat to speak more seriously, if only to forget he had just apologized to the mare who tormented him on a daily basis. “I would have preferred it if she had been able to enjoy it as well.”

The remark confused her. “Wait. Did you or did you not get her off?”

He decided to forgo the details. “I did. However it was obvious she was fighting to stay.”

“Well just ask her when she comes down.” She yawned. “In the meantime I’m going to sleep. Don’t knife me in my sleep okay?” She finished off the bowl and got up to take it to the sink.

“You have my word.” He called after her. With nothing better to do, he unfolded a wing and started preening. Wish I had gotten a book on wings like Tune did with magic. I still have no idea what I’m doing right or wrong. Nibbling carefully with his teeth, he knew enough to pluck any damaged feathers and straighten the rest of them. His less than stellar flying abilities left a handful of broken vanes. I should ask Alexia for her phone so I can look up preening methods.

Close to two and a half hours later, Alexia emerged from the foyer. Like the pegasus before her, she too had cleaned herself up. Conrad abandoned his painstakingly slow preening to meet her content expression. “Are you well Alexia?”

“More than I have been.” She walked around the sofa to sit next to him. “I wanted to thank you for helping me like this. I know I wasn’t exactly receptive in the way I’m sure you’re used to.”

He became mildly uncomfortable with how fearful she became when he wanted to pull out. “I am hardly in a place to complain about such a thing. Not with what you went through.” He had no real understanding of her problem as she never spoke of it until the talk with Loki in the car, but he knew inner pain when he saw it.

“I’ll admit I didn’t get much enjoyment out of it.” She kept a weak smile to keep from having to speak of any details. “But I know it’ll be better if we do it again.”

“About that.” He said reluctantly. “I think I should avoid releasing inside you again. We don’t want to risk complicating things.”

For a moment Alexia was worried he was having serious reservations. “I can’t get pregnant Conrad. I’m not in heat.”

He gave her a quizzical look. “What makes you think you even have a heat cycle?”

“Because horses and normal ponies are that way.”

He had no idea about a horse’s cycle, but had been around dogs and cats long enough to know what she meant. “I’ll take your word for it, but we’re not mundane barnyard ponies now are we.”

Tune remembered how badly the mental wall was sundered by Conrad climaxing within her, everything before that had only chipped at the barrier. She was desperate to remove the wall as soon as possible. It was that desperation that kept her from erring on the side of caution. “Conrad if I wasn’t sure about this then I wouldn’t ask you to stay in. I know I don’t have any hard evidence, but I’m practically a hundred percent sure that I can only get pregnant while in heat.” She broke eye contact to fumble with her hooves. “It’s not exactly a prospect I’m looking forward to, but it’s a package deal.”

Conrad rubbed his jaw in contemplation. She seems dead set on that being fact. Maybe I’m imposing the human cycle onto her. He remembered the feeling of climaxing in her was far more enjoyable than he’d let on to anyone. I’m no biology expert and she’s the one who’s been researching this stuff. If she believes that’s how it works then I don’t have any reason to argue.

He put his hoof down and nodded at her. “Okay so we don’t have to worry about pregnancy. However I would be more comfortable if you kept watch over yourself. You’ve never experienced heat before so you may not notice it when it arrives.”

She chuckled despite the topic of conversation. “Given how jacked up my cat used to get when she was in season I’d like to think that sort of thing can’t sneak up on me.”

He shared in her good humor. “Would you like something to drink?”

“Not right now.” Her mind drifted to more carnal desires. The damaged voice condemning her next course of action reappeared in a vengeance. Its still strong, but not as much as it used to be. And I don’t intent to stop until this wall comes crashing down. Doing her best to ignore the waves of bile, she inched closer and nuzzled him briefly before the cries of her subconscious forced her to part from him.

“I know it may be presumptuous of me.” She said provocatively, much to the rage of her subconscious. “But could you help me one more time tonight?”

“What would you have me do?” He asked, not following her exactly.

The wall cracked and crumbled further, but remained to constantly harass her thoughts. Alexia wanted the obstacle gone and she knew the single best way to be rid of it. She climbed off the couch and presented her glowing horn to him.

“Me.”

9: Contagion

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The meteorite XJ-29 was wreathed in flame as it collided with Earth’s atmosphere. The mile wide mountain burned a path to the waiting ocean below. Bits and pieces of it fell away, reduced to ash. Unfortunately for those living along the coast and islands, the majority of the meteorite survived to smash through the pristine blue waters. In the process it displaced enough water to create a tsunami that experts would later measure out to a maximum of twenty seven feet.

Upon contact with the saline waters the burnt exterior cracked and fell apart to sink in various directions. Buried deep below the surface of the rock burst forth dozens of machines. With the meteorite arriving at its target, they quickly self-destructed. The center of the meteorite revealed itself to be a near perfect sphere of reflective silver colored alloys that remained intact. The fifty foot diameter core sank so rapidly it hit the seafloor in the space of half an hour. From there it sat inert for several minutes before movement within stirred the sphere to life.

Arrival at system 5618-C complete. Scanning…coordinates indicate arrival in aqueous body 397 successful. Initiating primary directive.

Two panels opened on the sides to intake an enormous amount of water. The machine took the broke the impurities into subatomic particles while leaving the water itself intact. With the stripped particles, it reformed them into usable elements, then to workable molecules, all the way up until it fashioned viruses and specialized microscopic packets to carry them.

The sphere cycled the water continuously to take more impurities out of it to make more viral packets until it could fit no more within itself. Without ceremony, the packets were dumped into the latest batch of sea water and then flushed out of the machine.

Cycle one complete. . . .Initiating relocation protocol. XJ-29 would move several miles away in a random direction before it would repeat the process, over and over again until it could function no more.

The packets were extremely buoyant and accelerated to the surface over the course of two days. Even though they were tossed about by the underwater currents, the packets were capable of staying in a dense area no matter how the currents tried to toss them about. Upon finally reaching the surface, the first layer of the packets ruptured violently with the air and pushed the inner pocket full of viral particles into the air. Had anyone been watching, they would have noticed the patch of water was bubbling forth brown gas that refused to disperse, but was instead carried as a whole at the whims of the wind into the upper atmosphere over the course of a day. Halfway through the stratosphere, the second layer of the packets burst and the last layer was too heavy and sank back down to the Earth’s surface.

Once the cluster returned to the troposphere, the last layer of the packets broke and the contents were released as a heavy cloud that continued to sink until it became a hanging fog roughly a square mile in size. Because of the completely random location of the delivery system, the first cloud landed back in open water; this time in the Atlantic. Many others would find similar resting places, and the viruses fully decayed after the fogs fell to the ground and dissipated. However not all clouds would land in uninhabited areas.

Four days later in a small subsistence farming community northeast of Trinidad, Bolivia; a brown cloud fell upon the thirty inhabitants during a celebratory festival. It was after dark so no one noticed the dense cloud until the starlight became obscured, even then the people had no reason to fear a cloud and continued on their merriment.

It was only when the cloud became a choking fog that smothered everything did people start to panic and blame an industrial complex many miles away for the pollution. All mirth was forgotten and they retreated to their homes with windows and doors barred to keep the cloud at bay. Upon taking their first breath of the cloud, each victim begins coughing almost uncontrollably. Barely an hour after infection each host began to lose lucidity and collapse where they stood. Those that stayed in longer collapsed sooner.

Hours later, they awoke to a singular commanding voice heard only within their minds. “Awake my children and heed The Herald of the Koridost.” As a whole, the community rose to their feet. Outwardly they looked as they did before, save for the slightly wild look in their eyes. The voice was pleased. “Good my Mions. All of you will serve me well, and through me you will earn favor among the Gods.” The baritone voice selected the physically weaker individuals to speak to alone, the old, young, or infirm. “You will stay here. Tend to the crops and prepare for expansion.” At the same time, the voice called out to the strong members of the community. “Gather weapons and vehicles. You must find more to convert.”

As one, the people shouted. “By the power of our faith, your will be done.” There was no hesitation, no question, and no dissent. There was no defying the Herald, and no one wanted to.

“And by my will, may the light of the Koridost shine across your world.” The voice echoed back. “Prepare a meal and gather your strength. We have much work to do.”

The ground was covered in a film of brown harmless dust, the remains of the viruses had decayed and died after falling to the ground. That was none of the Mions’ concern. The community gathered for a last meal before collecting any and all firearms, ammunition, fuel and vehicles. Shortly thereafter those singled out by the Herald drove off towards a nearby small community to bring more into the fold.

One week after the XJ-29 fell to Earth, Alexia was whistling happily while scrubbing herself in the shower. The shampoo quickly ate away Conrad’s scent off of her. The previous hour had marked another round of sex. That was only half the reason she whistled happily to herself. The mental wall had been sundered badly, and could only muster weak waves of revulsion at Alexia’s cheerfulness.

“The last time almost felt good. Before I could only stand it because it was with him and doing damage to the wall. The last time though…” She closed her eyes as she magiced the sudsy sponge over her face and washed it off in the running water before musing aloud again. “That time I felt nothing. As if that was like a midpoint for me.” She grins savagely. “I might be able to get some pleasure out of the next round.”

With every last inch of her cleaned, she stepped out and dried off, and combed her mane, tail, and fur to a rough but clean appearance. As she performed all of this, she summoned the tome and opened it to her latest and currently most interested study. The page had a spell array that differed greatly from that of the crystal conjuration ones. Instead of sharp angles and a few runes within a perimeter circle, the interior of the circle had long arcing lines in a spiral pattern where none of the lines touched each other. The center of the array was a second circle three inches in diameter with a single large rune in the center. The rune was shaped roughly like a lowercase N. The top line was straight with the bend into the right leg being a perfect ninety degree angle on the outside, and a curved arch on the interior. The rest of the right leg of the rune was straight and plain, but the left leg of the rune was a silhouette of a jagged cutlass that lacked a hilt and the blade curved inward.

Tune studied every last detail of the array and gathered a piece of paper from the counter and a pen off the sink. She traced the diagram onto the paper and closed the tome while keeping the paper in front of her. Once outside in the clear afternoon weather she silently grabbed several pieces of white chalk of various sizes and a bucket of water with a scrub brush. A patch of wood on the back deck was losing its finish from all the times Alexia had drawn and cleaned off the variety of arrays.

She took a few deep breathes to center herself before letting the biggest piece of chalk going to action recreating the circle of the array as the unicorn kept looking back and forth from the paper to the deck. As needed, she switched chalk pieces to the required width. She would curse under her breath every time she made a mistake and had to scrub the problem and then blast the water away with a blow drier attached to an extension cord.

As soon as she was satisfied that the array was complete, Alexia put her tools away and stepped inside, careful to avoid disturbing the lines. Her horn activated and the array pulsed to life with a golden light along its lines. “Good its working as intended.”

She deactivated the array and stepped outside to scrub it all down and dry the wood off to redraw it all over again. This process repeated itself from just after lunch until when Conrad emerged from the house after dark.

“Alexia, dinner…” He stopped to watch the unicorn as she just finished drying off her latest attempt and had seven pieces of fresh chalk active at once. He took to the air to get a better look and saw the array be perfectly finished in less than a minute. Before she could test it he came into a hover a few inches off the ground to the left of her array. “That was very impressive work. I don’t think even the greatest artists could match that.”

Tune chuckled lightly at the compliment. “Well, they don’t have telekinesis either. I think most do a good job with what they’ve got.”

“Is this another gem array?” He asked while studying it carefully. “It looks very different than your other ones.”

“That’s because it’s not a conjuration array.” She began joyfully explaining her passion for magic. Conrad always made it a point to listen when she would regal about the topic. “It’s for divination. According to the book, the larger this particular array is, the larger the radius of detection it can produce. At the cost of reduced accuracy anyway.”

“Detecting what exactly?” He inquired having never moved his gaze from the array.

A conniving grin creased her face. “Step inside and give it a try.”

Conrad gave her a puzzled look. “I thought only you could use arrays.”

She shook her head. “Nope. Anyone of us can use arrays and gemstones, the thing that sets unicorns apart is that we can cast a wide assortment of active spells without needing arrays or enchanted crystals to do so. The patterns work for the other tribes, but they require a much larger amount of your magic as most arrays are designed for unicorns by default. But as I said, you can activate the pattern just as I can, provided you give it enough magic to function. Without that its just graffiti on the ground.”

He hummed contemplatively. His curiosity was piqued and he stepped inside. “So umm. How exactly do I give it magic?”

Alexia almost summoned the tome, but realized she already knew the answer. “As a pegasus, you have to flare your wings and think about flying. Don’t actually fly because you’ll do just that and you need to maintain contact with the array.”

“That simple?” The brown pegasus did as instructed and the array came to life in a faint red glimmer. Alexia probed the array with her magic. “You need to give it more power. Try thinking about flying higher and faster.”

“Okay.” The array flared with renewed vigor and Conrad’s eyes dilated to the side of dinner plates. “Oh wow…”

Alexia was on her hoof tips in the excitement of sharing her practical knowledge of magic and had to suppress a squeal of delight. “Well? What do you see?”

Conrad’s gaze remained fixed ahead, but saw nothing around him. “It’s like I’m hovering a mile in the sky and looking down on a green night vision tinted world.”

“Notice anything standing out?” She asked with amusement.

It took him several seconds to reconcile having disembodied vision. “No…wait. There’s a collection of three red dots in the center of my field of vision.”

Alexia jumped for joy at her rapidly drawn array working perfectly. “Great success!”

Conrad stopped thinking of flying and the array died away along with his out of body experience. “Were those three dots us?”

She nodded happily. “Yup. That array was specially crafted to find ponies after disasters or who are lost in rough terrain. I’m hoping we can use it to find other ponies on Earth.”

Conrad stepped out of the array to stand next to Alexia. “What will we do then?”

She looked away in mild embarrassment while digging a hoof in the wood. “Well, if we gathered enough we could…” She looked back at him with a searching gaze. “Maybe start a community?” She shook her head to clear her mind of the loathing fog her subconscious was imposing on her from Conrad’s proximity. “I’ll bring it up in more detail while we eat so I don’t have to explain it again to Loki.”

It was as he suspected. I knew she had higher aspirations than just sitting in the manor for the rest of our lives. He draped a wing over her withers. “Sounds like we’d be leaving all of this behind if we do that.”

“I know.” She said with mild melancholy. The personal touch from Conrad soothed her anxiety, while also sending her subconscious further off kilter. Her brow furrowed in concentration to keep calm with his wing on her. “But we need to move forward.” She said both to him and herself.

An approving grin came over him. “I wholeheartedly agree.” He guided her with his wing towards the house. “For now though, dinner’s getting cold.”

She looked up at him as he removed his wing to the door. “What’s on the menu tonight?”

“Salad.” He deadpanned. It was his most commonly prepared meal as he little experience cooking which was compounded by Loki’s inability or unwillingness to order the groceries he asks for. “I have some grilled salmon for myself and you if you want any.”

“Does Loki not get any?” She asked wondering if Conrad was pissed at the prankster.

The mare in question strode out of the kitchen with a mix between resentment and dismissiveness. “I would if the stuff tasted good anymore.” The bowl on her head was stuffed with greens with not a spec of fish in it.

“What about that sub sandwich was last week.” Alexia called out as she gathered her food in a bowl.

Loki stopped between the den and the dining room. “The chicken tasted horrible and you remember I ended up puking it back up an hour later.”

“Maybe it was a bad sandwich or the meat was expired.” She called out to the dining room as she pulled a beer from the fridge. Alcohol made it difficult to use her magic so Alexia refrained from it except for dinner.

By the time Alexia gathered her meal and stepped into the dining room, Loki was already a fourth of the way done with her salad. She didn’t bother with utensils and simply dug her muzzle in the bowl. Tune took her seat and gave her friend a curious look. “Couldn’t find the silverware?”

Loki shrugged and finished chewing. “I don’t see the point anymore. With a muzzle it’s a lot easier to eat this way. Sides, its not like your using silverware either.”

The wad of salad in Tune’s magic halted its path to her mouth. “Well that’s because I don’t need it unless I’m eating a steak or something.”

“Let me ask you this.” Loki said between bites. “Do you even want steak anymore? Or just enough meat to keep your magic reserves high?”

“Umm.” Alexia mulled over the question, absently chewing her salad. “I could live without it.” But I’d rather not. This salmon is to die for.

“Then we have something else in common.” She waved a hoof at Conrad. “He may be the only real omnivore of the group anymore. You just eat it cause you keep casting magic all the time. Does the fish actually taste good to you?”

Conrad ignored the attention to his less than perfect cooking, and grumbled at her. “Maybe if you bought the damn spices I ask for.”

Alexia inspected the fish in her bowl. “Well, I’ll admit it has some of its appeal, given that vegetables taste way better now. But meat still tastes well enough. And I haven’t noticed any digestion problems from eating the stuff.”

I don’t mind not having a stupid horn or itchy wings, but me being the only one who can’t enjoy meat anymore!? Loki growled at finding herself to be the only real herbivore in the group.

Conrad sighed in expectant irritation. Great. Now she’s going to blow up about this now. Last time it was a sudden nostalgia for hands, before that it was that she’s shorter now and has to climb on the counter to reach the shelves. With Alexia present he couldn’t punch Loki into unconsciousness so he distracted himself with his meal.

Tune tried desperately to calm her friend down by waving her hooves at her. “Ah come on Loki, its not so bad. I mean, you can a lot of stuff now that you couldn’t as a human.” It had no effect on Loki’s impending blow up. “Stuff like tree leaves, grass…Okay not really good examples.” Loki’s right eye was becoming bloodshot and Alexia could feel a buildup of Loki’s magic in her forelegs as she pushed down on the table. The furniture was starting to creak under the force of Loki’s strength. Alexia didn’t want to resort to magical manipulation again and kept pleading with her. “What about flowers?”

Loki’s face blanked and the table stopped groaning. Ever so slowly, she turned to face the unicorn with the same vacant stare. “What did you say?”

Alexia let her hooves hang in the air and glanced at Conrad who only shrugged and tried to finish his meal before the table snapped. Sweat rolled down Tune’s face as she put her hooves down. “I ahh… I said flowers. I believe we can eat flowers now.”

Loki’s brain was misfiring more so than usual. “You mean those colorful things men try to woo women with?”

Conrad snorted. I’d hate to see the kind of man you reel in.

Tune wasn’t sure how to proceed. “Um. Yeah.”

A hoof came to Loki’s chin. “So now instead of them wasting space on my dashboard I can use them as a snack?”

Seeing she was making progress, Alexia sighed in relief. “I’m sure of it.”

“How interesting.” Loki’s expression returned to her snarky self. “I’m going to have to try that.” She stood up in her chair, grabbed her drink, and held it up high. “A toast! To eating decorations.”

Whew. Disaster averted. Alexia levitated her beer over to clink on Loki’s glass.

Loki brought her glass around to Conrad who had a look of supreme disinterest. Damn she needs some meds. With no desire to be petty, he grabbed his drink and clinked her glass.

All three took a swig form their respective drinks and the meal lapsed into silence for several minutes. Alexia spent the time mulling over her long term plans and how to sell her housemates on the idea. Conrad eventually broke it with a question directed at Alexia. “So when do you want to get started on your search?”

“What search?” Loki asked after pulling her face out of the bowl.

Alexia chewed on a celery stalk in the corner of her mouth as she gave her answer. “I’ve been working on divination lately Loki. Sort of like a magic version of GPS to find other ponies across large distances.”

“So you were serious about all that?” The green mare inquired.

Alexia had mentioned the goal to her offhandedly before she began her studies into divination and had not taken it as seriously before. “I was and still am.”

“Well I’m all for it.” Loki announced. I’m getting tired of listening to you two jump each other’s bones. I want to find my own stallion. Fun sticks can only go for so long.

“When do you want to leave?” Conrad asked the unicorn.

“Well to be perfectly honest, I want to be over this mental barrier before then. I don’t want it holding me back anymore. Plus I still owe Qubert a light show.”

Loki scratched her left ear whenever she was thinking creatively. “Well that’ll give me time to order some travel supplies.”

“Some saddlebags would be useful.” Conrad pointed out only to receive questioning glances. “Well we have the body type for them, and they’d be more comfortable than normal backpacks.”

Loki’s ears fell flat. “Why do I get the feeling you're thinking of leaving the car behind.”

Alexia shook her head to ease Loki’s reservations. “I don’t think we should. We can do a repeat of what we did at that fair. Use it to travel close to cities and whatnot, and then leave it behind when we actually enter the urban areas or rough terrain.”

Conrad was still against it. “What about refueling?” That caught the mares up short for a moment. “Between the failures of stopping XJ-29 from hitting the planet and the aftermath of the tsunami I haven’t seen a peep of your unveiling at the science fair. People will still react unpredictably if we try going to a gas station, they keep cameras all over those places now.”

Loki was loath to leave the car behind, but was forced to agree. “The samurai’s right about that. The net is buzzing about the whole scandal, Billy Granger’s latest divorce, and new console wars. I haven’t seen us on any websites save for a few low traffic ones. Unless I’m looking in all the wrong places; as far as the world at large is concerned, we still don’t exist. I think if there had been more than just the two of us at the fair, we’d have caused a big enough of a stir to get noticed.”

“Buggery.” Alexia looked down at her nearly empty plate contemplating a solution. A gleam in her eye and determination etched her features. “Well so what? We’re not trying to hide our existence, right?” She received nonverbal responses to the negative. “So why should we hide ourselves just because we’ll get caught on camera. I say let the cameras see us. The more people that know about us, the more we won’t come across as a hoax.”

Conrad’s wings rustled with worry. “Remember how you met me? There are still people out there that will want to use or kill us, if at the very least because we’re a curiosity.”

Alexia was not to be dissuaded. “I understand your concern, and I’ll make some more invisibility crystals to protect us if need be; but I don’t want to live in hiding from humanity.” Loki nodded in agreement, already wishing to be back in a public setting. Conrad chided himself to egging Alexia on like that, but he found it hot when she talked about grandiose plans. “I hate to sound egotistical here. But we’re a gift to humanity.”

Loki gave her a strange look that was mirrored in Conrad. “No, no. That’s the most humble thing I’ve ever heard.”

Alexia ignored Loki’s sarcasm. “I don’t mean us personally, but in what we are is the gift.” She turned to Loki. “You may not like farming, but I’m sure you’re not the only earth pony out there. Even a handful of your tribe could bring about a new revolution in agriculture.” She faced Conrad next. “Twilight stated pegasi are the stewards of the weather. That alone would put your tribe in an equally high demand worldwide, maybe going so far as to reverse desertification. We can offer humankind our talents in exchange for acceptance and comradery.” She knew there was no need to speak of the unicorns as she had already demonstrated many applications as to what they could offer already. “And that’s only what a book solely revolving around magic says. There’s no telling what else we could do.”

Loki leaned back in her chair idly chewing on a carrot. “I never thought of it like that. I mean, the way the world works, those with rare and highly useful skills are worth their weight in gold. But what it sounds like to me is that you want us to proliferate.” She ended her observation with a few winks in Conrad’s direction.

Tune’s cheeks reddened and scratched the back her head in embarrassment. “I’d rather start with finding any other ponies out there and found a settlement for ourselves before going into that. Give our kind a home before we start branching out.”

Conrad tapped a hoof in contemplation. She’s been leaning this way for the past few days, but never voiced it so well before. I knew she wouldn’t want to stay here forever, but to have such a wild dream? “Do you have a plan of action?”

The corner of Alexia’s mouth turned downward. “Only a basic outline. I was thinking we need a whole new place to live, somewhere away from it all, and yet close to a major urban area.”

Loki tittered lightly. “Isn’t that an oxymoron?”

“You might be surprised.” Conrad countered. “If you let me use your phone I can find a suitable spot.” Alexia brightened at the acceptance of her plan. “What do we do with the land when we find it?”

“That depends on the next part.” Tune addressed Loki next. “Would you be averse to spending a mill or two to set up some construction contractors to get the basics of the town built? If we have the tools already in place for when we start arriving in mass that’ll make it all the easier to get it off the ground.”

Loki’s expression became unreadable as she fell into silence. When did she take me for a philanthropist? I mean, yes I donated one point three million to the first relief fund for the tsunami victims. But outside of that I earned that money with honest theftery and now she wants me to give it all up for this? She wrestled with the idea for several minutes. Tune knew it was a lot to ask for so she let the mare war with herself in peace.

Conrad didn’t know what to expect of her. She only gives one thing freely: grief. But she’s unstable enough that she might agree to it in spite of it all.

The meal carried on in silence until Loki slammed a hoof down on the table, rattling the plates and denting the wood in the process. “I’ll do it. It’ll take some time to gather that kind of bread, but I’ll do it.” She announced with a serious tone. “But I get to name the colony.”

A massive grin was plastered over Alexia’s face. “Deal!”

Conrad winced at the evil gleam in Loki’s eyes. “I swear if you give it a shitty name I’m not living there.”

Loki tutted and waved her hoof dismissively at him. “I’m not going to come up with name for it right away. I have to focus my mojo to think of a bitchin name.” She waved her forelegs in the air in a grandiose manner. “Its going to be so awesome that the US will have no choice but to make it the new capital.”

Conrad buried his face in his hooves. I swear if it’s a pony pun I’m going to kill her, and I’ll probably have help.

Alexia didn’t care what name she made it, provided it wasn’t obscene. “We have our funding, Conrad can find the colony location, and I’ll finish manufacturing a few more gems along with improving my knowledge on divination.”

Loki clapped cheerfully. Yes! More company. She pumped a hoof in the air. “As one, the three ponyteers will give all ponykind a new home! Ho!” She only received blank stares. Meh, I tried. Without another word and a deft bit of hoofwork, she took her empty bowl and flung it through the air and the plastic dish clattered loudly into the sink. “Score!” She hopped down and started off to her room. “I’ve got some research on construction companies to do. See you later.”

Conrad groaned at the noisy clattering, fully expecting he would have to clean up broken glass somewhere. “Did you have to do that?”

“Yes.” Loki replied matter-of-factly as she trotted upstairs.

Conrad grumbled as he went about clean up after dinner. With Loki bringing in money and supplies along with Alexia constantly studying magic and producing enchanted gems and learning other useful spells to the table, Conrad had wordlessly volunteered to take care of everything else, from cooking to putting the shipments away from Loki’s orders. There was a large pile of boxes in the garage labeled “Deranged” which Conrad assumed was part of Loki’s eccentric shopping habits. At present he was cleaning up after diner while Alexia assisted.

“So how is your…wall today?” He still wasn’t totally sure about the label she gave it.

“Getting weaker.” She replied truthfully. “I’m hoping I’ll be able to enjoy our next romp.”

He was aware of what the mental barrier did to her, so the proclamation sounded encouraging. Even though he knew she desired help in that fashion, he still felt dirty for being able to experience real pleasure from the act when she was fighting herself just to stand there and take him. “Truly?”

“Well I won’t know for sure until we go again.” The mere thought of Conrad in that light caused a surge of hatred leveled at herself and him. She gritted her teeth to force it back down, but she did note that it was much easier to do so than several days ago. You don’t control me. This is my mind, my body. She glanced at Conrad who was pouring detergent in the dishwasher. I hate using him to break this wall down; but as he said, he does like it.

Forcing her disgust down as low as possible, she walked over to nuzzle him. The feel of his coat and his scent helped quell the outrage of her subconscious. With her on his neck, he had to use a wing to finish setting the dishwasher before give her, her wanted attention. He reciprocated the nuzzle and didn’t detect any sign of her flinching or cowing to his touch. I hope she’s right. For all her trouble she deserves it.

After a while the bile in her gut was getting too strong to suppress for much longer and she separated from him. “Conrad. Have you had troubled women in your life before?”

“Ha! Plenty.” He gave her a gentle look. “But you’re the only one I know that wants to cure herself.”

“Speaking of curing myself.” She lit her horn and presented it to him.

“What if Loki comes down to snack?”

Alexia pulled her head back up. “Then we can go to the master bedroom.” He nodded and they started walking.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you Alexia. Do you ever want to try something other than standing during sex? You tend to collapse afterwards.”

“Truth be told, I prefer to stand. You may not know it, but when you mount me while I’m on all fours, it helps to clear up a lot of the noise my subconscious raises. I don’t know about Loki, but when I was still using the dongs, I couldn’t get off without standing and putting some weight on my back.”

“Fascinating.” He replied in a mildly curious tone. Alexia closed the door behind them while Conrad drew the curtains. The room fell into darkness until Tune activated a light spell. She left the artificial lights off and cantered over to the awaiting stallion. If what she said is true, then I won’t rest tonight until she can experience real pleasure. I stake my honor on that.

Meanwhile, Loki kept an ear in the hallway and waited for the lovers to sequester themselves away. That was the door. Damn it, I shouldn’t have been such an ass to Conrad, he’s the only stallion around and he’d never give me a quick fix. All the more reason to make sure this trip to find more of us goes well.

Loki waiting for the couple to become preoccupied, and now that they were, she left her computer harness behind and snuck her way out of the house through the front door. Trying to be as light on her hooves as possible, she tiptoed until she was in the grass and then took off on a dead run up the tree lined driveway. Galloping through the vast open fields was one of Loki’s recently discovered guilty pleasures. As a human, she had never been out of shape, which was mostly due to a moderately good diet and living a transient lifestyle.

She reached the edge of the main road and took the sharp ninety degree turn and ran along the side of the road tearing at the dirt beneath her hooves. She ran a full mile with ease. She only started breathing heavily when she was nearing the third mile and it wasn’t until the fourth mile when she started to sweat. Still she ate away at the distance galloping along with a stupid grin on her face and loving the exhilaration of how fast she could go.

Loki laughed manically at the wind against her face. “It's like I’m sticking my head out of the car window. Why is running so damn fun?!”

Her path was not random as she found the river she was looking for at the bridge in the road. Loki banked slightly to get off the side of the road and down to the river bank. She skidded to a halt a few inches shy of the drop off into the water. The moon was barely a crescent in the sky, but with the large eyes ponies possessed they had strong night vision, which Loki took full advantage of in the dead of night. Here was her second guilty pleasure. One she never wanted to give Alexia the satisfaction of knowing about. Loki did not waste time with cooling down from her run as she was dead set on getting to the brown tarp off to the side and pulled it off to reveal a solar rechargeable battery pack and a sunlamp. She pulled the battery pack off the recharge dock and stuck it in the lamp before walking over to a short row of budding tulips growing along the edge of the river bank.

Loki covered her eyes with a leg and flipped the light on and waited for her vision to adjust to the brightness before placing the lamp near the tulips. With it in place, Loki crouched low to the ground next to her plants. Gathering magic in her right hoof made no visual cue like Alexia’s horn, but Loki could feel the pooling magic all the same. She picked the first tulip to her left and stomped her hoof on the dirt next to the flower. The ten inch plant seemed to jump to seventeen and the bud started to crack open. Another dose of magic and the plant shot up to twenty inches and the yellow flower was in full bloom.

Loki studied the plant intensely. “Screw miracle grow, my hoof is all I need for this.” The flower swayed in a light breeze making Loki wish to finish blooming the rest of the eight flowers and did so with the help of her lamp. At last she angled the lamp to shine on all eight to see them all. “This really is kind of nice.” She sniffed the flower. “Feels a little like cheating though.” Heh, I’m all for that.

She sat there for several minutes in a sudden appreciation for the simplistic beauty that small row of flowers could bring. Not as beautiful as cracking into fat cat’s bank account, but this has its merits.

Eventually Alexia’s earlier statement came to mind and Loki stood up and walked over to one end of the flowerbed. “I have created you all! And now, I will devour you all!” With an evil laugh she bent down to bite the stem of the flower off near the ground and promptly ate the flower.

She left off a hum of culinary delight. “Holy moly, Alex was right! This stuff tastes like candy.” She ate three more. Damn these things are good. In went another. Trading meat for flowers and grass… Well the flowers make up for it, and I don’t even have to cook them.

With the last of the tulips polished off, Loki turned the lamp off and tucked it away under the tarp while making sure the solar cells were left exposed. With her secret garden safe, she cantered away from the riverbank and assumed a runner’s starting position on the side of the road. With a fierce grin at the anticipation of running again, Loki thundered back home.

10: The Soul

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Ivan Yermolov was a bear of a man. Weighing in at over three hundred pounds of muscle wrapped in enough body hair that he needed no shirt in the frigid air swarming around Syktyvkar. That did not mean he was currently without one as he wished to be as inconspicuous as possible. He and seven other converts prowled the streets after dark.

His single partner couldn’t stop babbling about the gifts he had received from the Herald of the Koridost. “I will be rewarded with even more advancement brother. I can feel it. The gods’ eyes are upon me. You watch, I will be granted-“

“Silence Sahib!” Ivan growled testily. “The Herald desires competent acolytes, not gibbering idiots.”

Sahib stared at Ivan with a holier-than-though expression. “Says the man who hasn’t been blessed. Can you convert the unenlightened?” Ivan kept his gaze moving back and forth to locate a potential target and ignored the irritating man. Sahib perceived it as acceptance of defeat snorted scornfully. “I thought not.”

Ivan stole a glance at Sahib. The man’s face appeared normal enough, but his complexion looked as if he was suffering an acute case of rosacea. Ivan also knew the man had other changes hidden by his clothes, but they were small enough to not be noticeable. Sahib scowled when Ivan paid him no heed, but fell into silence rather than make a scene about it.

The street was lined with darkened buildings as the town’s inhabitants mostly slept the night away. Very few people were actually walking the streets with the acolytes. Those that were, looked more than ready to mug the pair of cultists; and that was exactly what they wanted. Ivan and Sahib made a subtle show of being lost, enough to look the part but in a way that made it look like they were trying to hide the fact they were visitors. As the pair walked along, Sahib noticed a few women across the intersection and nudged Ivan. “What about them? They look easy enough.”

Ivan studied the mildly drunk women with a careful eye. “We’re not at that point yet. We need more muscle before we start converting any unenlightened we come across.”

“So you would let them wallow in darkness just because it’s impractical for us?” Sahib challenged seethingly. “It is no wonder you remain out of the Herald’s good graces.”

Ivan caught sight of a gang sentry in the next alley over. Perfect. He shoved Sahib to get him to be quiet. “We have a better target over there. Now shut up and act stupid.”

Sahib tsked while grumbling under his breath. “Where does he get off thinking he’s in charge? I’m the one blessed by the Herald.” He played his part by pulling on the flaps of his ushanka and whistling a tune about alcohol and women. Ivan held onto right bicep as if it had been strained and fell a step behind Sahib.

As they passed the now seemingly empty alley, three men slid in behind the acolytes and two of them pressed pistols to Ivan and Sahib’s back. The third one in the back spoke with a serious tone as he tried to mask his discomfort for being exposed on the sidewalk. “If you two will just follow my associates here, we’d like to discuss business with you.”

Ivan slowly moved his hands to his sides, but didn’t fully raise his hands. “We want no trouble. We’ve barely got a single kopek between us.” Sahib echoed Ivan, yet had difficulty keeping his laughter under control.

The one holding Sahib at gunpoint grabbed him by his shirt and roughly pulled him out of the street and towards the alley. His fellows followed suit with Ivan. The leader of the muggers felt a sting on his neck and yelped in surprise.

The other two muggers looked to see what the problem was when the leader pulled a tranquillizer dart out. “What the…” He fell to the ground, out cold before hitting the dirt.

Sahib spun away from the distracted thug and smashed his bottle over the man’s head, making him crumple to the ground. Ivan was faster and grabbed his assailant’s gun in his massive hands and wrenched the gun free and pistol whipped the surprised mugger on the jaw. “Hurry and drag them out sight.”

The two men pulled the gang all the way in until the streetlights couldn’t reach them. Sahib cackled madly at the raw anticipation. And straddled the one dazed by Ivan and rolled up the sleeve on his right arm. A few inches above his wrist and along his underarm was an ugly looking slit that writhed with movement from within. “Yermolov. Your knife!” He demanded with his left arm outstretched expectantly.

Ivan wordlessly pulled the concealed pocketknife out and flipped it out before handing it to Sahib. As he took the knife, a woman crept into the alley and made herself known to the men. Ivan huffed approvingly. “Excellent shot Wieslawa. It worked perfectly.”

“Did you expect anything less? I will keep watch for any snoopers.” She back peddled to the entry into the ally with her dart pistol at the ready, allowing Ivan to witness Sahib cut a line below the mugger’s ribcage. The slit in Sahib’s arm dilated as a half inch thick tendril half a foot long uncoiled from within. With manic fervor, he guided his arm over the wound. The tendril dug into wound and detached from Sahib so it could slide completely into the victim’s body.

Sahib stepped away, admiring his work while Ivan stuffed a wad of fabric inside the man’s mouth and tied a gag to keep it in place. Almost immediately after his finished, the ganger’s eye shot open and he started screaming and thrashing around while Ivan used his enormous strength to keep the man pinned. The muffled screams filled the alleyway and Wieslawa was beginning to worry it would draw the attention of a police car that was slowly moving down the road.

Two minutes after it started, the infected man’s struggles ceased and he went limp. Wieslawa tiptoed over to whisper harshly. “Keep it down, a patrol car is passing by.”

Both acolytes gave signs of acknowledgement and prepared to bash the man over the head in case he started screaming again. The police passed by without incident as the group ducked behind trashcans and the criminals dragged further out of the light.

Sahib’s breathing was labored as his body pulled upon his reserves to create a new infestor. “It will take time for me to grow a second enlightener. Too long to keep them subdued as they are.”

The infected mugger shuddered violently before gasping awake. Wieslawa kept her gun trained on him while Sahib pulled him to his feet. “You awakened faster than most others.”

Ivan saw the abject terror in the man’s eyes and saw he was nowhere near ready. “Too fast. Grab him.”

“Hold!” Commanded the Herald. All three acolytes halted and the infected one flinched at hearing something oppressive in the distance, but couldn’t comprehend the words. “You have done enough my faithful, I will handle this one.” The Herald pressed on the man’s mind. As expected it was too early to dominate his mind so the Herald took an available shortcut.

Too scared to think coherently, the ganger tried to rush Wieslawa to escape into the street, but the Herald stabbed into the man’s perception of pain. The ganger’s world went dark as the pain spike overloaded his senses and he collapsed. “He is subdued, and no permanent harm was done.” The disembodied voice of the Herald announced. “Take the latest converts to a safe place until they can be made to see reason. You have all served the Koridost well.”

As one, they three quietly exclaimed their sacred mantra. “By the power of our faith, your will be done.”

The manor was much cleaner than it was a few days ago. In preparation for their departure, all three ponies packed away what they were going to carry with them, mostly food and toiletries as the absence of clothing allowed them to pack comparatively light. There was some camping equipment as well, but otherwise it was all able to fit in the oversized trunk or along the floor of the car. That which they could not pack had been placed outside in front of the garage under a tarp so a moving van could come by in a day’s time to cart it off to a storage lot to be sorted through later. The house looked almost as it had when Alexia arrived a month ago, minus the cobwebs and dust.

Yet before they were to leave that day, Alexia knew she was on the cusp of being free of the mental block keeping her from fully perusing a relationship with Conrad. As such, she wanted to make love one last time before they left. She could actually call it making love now instead of just sex. Were she not in the middle of being mounted by her stallion and relishing the waves of pleasure of participating in the act right now, she’d realize that.

Alexia’s awareness was divided. Predominately she was fully aware of the ecstasy she was experiencing from Conrad, but more importantly to her, she could barely feel the trace of loathing and disgust. Had she not wanted to fully embrace the moment, she would have mused that loathing and disgust were far too strong of a word to use anymore, but more akin to a negligible discomfort. Were it not for the lust she felt for Conrad every time he pulled on her mane at the back of her head sending sparks of electricity all over her body, she would have noticed the last bits of the wall was crumbling as large portions of it fell away as the battering ram hit it in tandem with Conrad’s thrusts.

Tune felt the moment approaching, her canal tensed and squeezed his member. With practiced control, Conrad made sure she orgasmed right before he did and she shuddered as the pressure reached its peak causing her to half moan, half scream in unadulterated ecstasy. The moment his hot seed filled her, Alexia’s scream hit a high note as the wall in her psyche came crashing down.

With the barrier gone at last, there was nothing left to stop her soul from conforming completely to her body. Her mind blanked for several seconds, completely unaware of the world around her until it all came rushing back. She managed to remain standing as she regained her wits and felt Conrad’s softening member withdraw from her nethers. What was that? She asked no one in particular. Her senses returned to normal and she felt the now familiar hollowness and afterglow of intercourse. The first thing she searched for was any feelings of doubt, hate, or disgust. “Its not there.” She laughed happily. “Its gone. Its finally gone!”

She turned around to Conrad and wrapped her forelegs around his neck nuzzling him deeply. “We did it Conny. I’m free of it.”

He yelped as she threw him off balance and they tumbled to the floor. She didn’t relent in her embrace and kept repeating her sincere gratitude as tears of joy fell into his fur. He returned her affection and pulled her in tight. “I knew you were strong enough to beat it.” He could think of nothing else to say, so he didn’t for several minutes.

"But I couldn't have done it without you." She whispered as she relished his embrace. The strength of his hug, his heady musk, and the warmth of his body heat. Most importantly of all, all of her inner searching revealed nothing in her mind rejected him anymore. No hate, no revilement, only love for the person who helped her through it all the past three weeks. Upon realizing this, she pulled her head back far enough so she could kiss him with a passion she had never felt before. She broke the minute long kiss to nuzzle him again. “I love you Conrad.”

He held her in tight and spoke with a playful snarky tone. “I know.”

She giggled at him and squeezed him as hard as she could before finally letting go. Alexia didn’t need him to say the words, all she cared about was how he treated her. She climbed to her hooves with Conrad doing the same a moment later. She gave him a second long kiss before speaking. “We should wash up before having lunch.” She was in the mood to ask her to join him, but the shower stalls were too small for two ponies to occupy. I’ll make sure Loki amends that in the construction contract.

“Right.” Being in the master bedroom again, he would have to go upstairs and almost walked past her when he noticed something on her flank. He stopped and called out to her to stop walking to the master bathroom. “What is that mark on your thighs?”

She looked at him in confusion and followed his outstretched hoof to a black symbol that looked like an upside down teardrop that was set on top of a T. Her confusion doubled as she rubbed a hoof through the fur to find it wasn’t coming off and that it was too cleanly drawn to be a dye or tattoo. “I…I have no idea.”

“Think it might be one of Loki’s pranks?” He inquired.

She curled her body to sniff it and couldn’t detect any chemicals. “Doesn’t seem like her style. Besides, I think you would have noticed it before now if it had.” She cantered over to the mirror to get a better look at it.

When she moved, Conrad noticed it was on both hind legs and pointed it out. Alexia inspected the marks closely. They dominated her flanks, reaching from her waist to near the bend in her legs. The longer she stared at them, the more she felt as if they competed her image. “Where have I seen something…” The figurative light bulb clicked on and she faced Conrad with a wild grin. “I think I know what it is!”

“A brand?” He deadpanned.

“In a sense.” She granted while summoning the tome. She held it in her magic and showed him the cover which had the relief of Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark. “You remember this design right?”

He nodded. “Yes. I figured it was the princess’s coat of arms.”

“So did I. But look at this.” She flipped the book over and opened the last few pages to the bibliography where several dozen portraits of ponies were present. Many were of just the face with a small smile or a neutral expression. Others, including that of Twilight Sparkle herself, were full body pictures with their cutie marks clearly visible.

Conrad looked the photos and then back at Alexia’s flank. “Hold on a minute. They all mark themselves with their coat of arms? Some of these look rather ridiculous to be family symbols though.” He studied several pictures alongside Alexia and then back at Tune’s flank. “Do you think its some sort of overt form of self-identification?”

The unicorn hummed at the situation. “Possibly. But that wouldn’t explain how one just appeared on me.”

“Well we are magical beings now. Maybe some form of magic made it appear?” He offered.

"I don't know." Alexia kept flipping through the bibliography until one picture stood out among the rest. In it, was an earth pony researcher posing for the picture with his young son scampering at his feet. “Look at this Conny. The kid doesn’t have one.”

She moved the book so they could both look at the picture. “You’re right. Everybody else so far has been an adult and had a mark.”

Alexia came to a conclusion. “What if the cutie marks are a sign of the passage into adulthood?”

The pegasus’s wings fidgeted in contemplation, the stiffness from earlier having fully subsided. “If that were the case, then shouldn’t all three of us have gotten one by now?”

Tune kept studying her mark, searching it for answers. “Maybe there’s more to it for us since we were born human.” She turned to find he still had a blank flank.

The comment gave him an idea. “What about your mental barrier. You said its gone right?”

She hummed in the affirmative. “As far as I can tell. And if that has some correlation to how I got mine just now then that makes a sort of sense. But I thought that was just me getting over…” Her eyes lit up as a theory came to her. “Wait that must be it! I already wanted to be a pony for the rest of my life, but that wasn’t enough because I was turned into a mare instead of a stallion. This barrier was the part of me keeping myself from fully embracing my femininity.” Alexia looked at Conrad with renewed affection. “I had to have both; to truly want to remain a pony and be at peace with my marehood. I bet if I had become a stallion instead I would have already had my cutie mark a while ago.”

It was a little too much theorycrafting for his tastes. “And you think that was the catalysis for change?”

She shrugged. “It’s the only theory we have to go on. And even then each human-turned-pony could get theirs’ under different circumstances. Unless you have a theory to share.”

He shook his head. “Nothing comes to mind.” She turned back towards the mirror to study her mark.

“Do you know what this means Conny?”

He was a little peeved at the pet name she adopted for him was originally from Loki, but decided to accept it so long as it came from Tune. “I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.”

She snickered at his playfulness. “It means who or whatever turned us into ponies, didn’t change our minds or souls. It may have helped push it along, but this was all our doing.” She hugged him, making sure she didn’t throw his balance off this time. “You helped me become a real pony. I’ll never forget that.”

Conrad returned her embrace, but was not wholly convinced by her conclusion. If she wants to think it makes her a complete pony, who am I to argue if it makes her happy. “I happy for you, I really am. But we should hurry if we’re going to have enough time for you to set up.”

“Eep! You’re right.” She gave him a quick peck on the lips and ran to the shower. With a chuckle he went upstairs to do the same.

After cleaning herself, Alexia read from her tome as she cantered to the car where Loki was pouring a three gallon canister of gas in the tank. The earth mare’s ears flicked towards the front door at the sound of Tune’s hooves. “Got everything set to go.” The last of the fuel emptied out and she tossed the red plastic canister towards the front door missing Alexia’s head by inches. “Got the construction company ready to go and I e-signed the contract. Amazing what a few choice phone calls and a bit of blackmail can do to grease the wheels.”

She turned to face Alexia for the first time and noticed the unicorn’s book was off to the side and was standing perpendicular to her. “Did Conrad give you the coordinates?”

“He did, I just need to purchase the deed to the land and-“ She stopped short when Alexia flicked her tail to draw attention to her mark. “Nice tat.” She did a double take. “I don’t remember ordering any hair dyes. Where did you get that?” Alexia regaled her theory to her cutie mark’s appearance. Loki followed it with interest. “Are you saying we get a fancy tat if we want to stay as ponies? Minus the gender acceptance.”

Tune hummed musingly while rubbing her chin. “I’m sure it at least has to be sincere. I mean, sure I can never be anything but a unicorn thanks to my body’s need for magical sustenance; but I love what I’ve become. I feel as if this is my true self now, and the mark epitomizes that.”

A film of depression crossed Loki’s face. “Wish I could do the same.” She muttered under her breath.

Alexia didn’t hear it or see her speak as Conrad distracted her by flying down from the second floor window. “Are we all set?”

Both other ponies focused on Loki who snapped out a quick smile. “Yeah, Old Lemon Lime here is good to go.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Alexia cantered up to Loki and held a hoof in the air. “The Three Ponyteers?”

Loki’s mirth returned and held a hoof up to meet Tune’s. Both mares looked at Conrad who was clearly uninterested in joining in. “Come on Samurai, We can’t have only two Ponyteers.”

Between Loki’s mischievous smirk and Alexia’s silent pleading he crumbled and walked over and bumped his hoof to theirs. He spoke with forced enthusiasm. “Hey ho.”

“Hey Ho!” The mares cried out. Loki jumped in the driver’s seat with Alexia in the front passenger and Conrad claiming the whole back seat.

Loki revved of the car and tore down the driveway. “So oh glorious leader. What’s the plan.”

“First we’re going to the address I gave you.”

“Yeah yeah. But why some random warehouse?”

“Because it’s not always a warehouse. Tonight it’s a dance club my friend runs. You remember Qubert Smith right?”

Loki forgot about the extra weight in the car and took the turn off the driveway and into the main road a little too fast for everyone’s liking and reminded them to put their seatbelts on. “A dance club? I thought we were going off to find more ponies.”

“We are.” Alexia pulls a loose piece of paper out the tome and unfolded it to reveal her divination array. “I also promised him a magical lightshow for lying about why I needed the house. Q’s got the supplies I need ready to go. All I need to do is draw it in place and I’ll be able to find any ponies as far west as Colorado and east to Missouri.”

“Can’t you make it bigger than that?” Loki asked straight faced.

Conrad sighed. “She just said she can spot any other pony in a five state area, including Oklahoma and Nebraska too if I’m right.” A nod from Alexia confirmed his suspicions. “And you’re asking to make it bigger?”

“What I mean is we have all that printer paper I ordered and large flat grasslands on all sides of the house. Why didn’t you use that to make a really massive GPS array?

“Printer paper?” Alexia inquired. “I never saw any printer paper, only the notebook I asked for.”

“Well I ordered like eight boxes of the stuff. Where’d it all go?” Both mares looked at each other and then craned their necks to the only stallion with an unapologetic look on his face. Loki pointed an accusatory hoof at him. “You hid my boxes! Why?”

He huffed at his accuser while Alexia had the presence of mind to take the wheel from the mare who was seconds away from climbing in the back to pummel him. Tune made sure her magical grip on the wheel was going to keep them steady before glancing back between Conrad and the road. “Did you really hide her paper?”

He smacked Loki’s hoof away and growled at her. “Only because I didn’t want the house to be covered in phallic obscenity. You’re sick you know that Loki?”

The unicorn glanced at Loki. “What is he talking about?”

The earth mare was rubbing her slapped hoof while staring daggers at Conrad until Alexia’s inquiry made her flush with embarrassment. “Just a project I had in mind, nothing serious.”

Conrad grunted in victory. “I’ll say four words: papier-mâché dragon dildos.”

Loki started sweating profusely under Alexia’s hard glare and gave a weak grin to mask it. Uh oh. “I ah…I mean. Those were for me. The papier-mâché was going to be of a dog.”

“Is that right?” Conrad asked slyly. “Then why were both the paper and the dongs in the same order four times in a row?”

“Because the happy rods Alex bought when she first came here were too small and I never received them in the first place, so of course I would order them again.” Loki’s confidence in the half-truth solidified. “She can tell you. And since I don’t have a stallion of my own.” She reached back to lightly punch him on the flank, and was rewarded with one in return. She blew a raspberry at him and kept speaking. “So I wanted something big enough for me.”

Conrad wasn’t buying it. “Then what was with all the bondage toys?”

Alexia cringed at the thought while Loki brushed the comment off and resumed control of the wheel. “I just thought you two might want to spice up the bedroom.”

Alexia drug her hooves down her face in exasperation. “Loki, I could barely handle sex by itself until a week and a half ago without wanting to claw my eyes afterwards. Even though I can thoroughly enjoy making love with him now, I’d never go into that stuff.” Loki forgot about the stallion and resumed control of the car.

Conrad let the mares argue while he kept out of it. And that’s why I labeled it as such.

The bickering between Loki telling Alexia the merits of experimentation while Tune adamantly refused to experiment in that way lasted over forty minutes. Conrad tried to ignore it and preened his feathers for the first twenty minutes of the argument. The next ten minutes consisted of various acts Loki was describing that sounded far more painful than sensual and he kept biting the wrong areas and plucked two healthy feathers out. At least they’re not flight feathers.

Deciding to ignore them until the debate shifted to a better topic, he waited for the last ten minutes before finally having heard enough. He climbed forward and placed himself between the quarreling mares. “How about we listen to the radio instead of Loki’s deranged fantasies.” He clicked on the first station that came up and as back in his seat. Alexia huffed, but agreed to the idea while Loki muttered incoherently.

A gruff news caster filled the air. “-and that’s the last we’ll hear of green man incident until the court hearing tomorrow. Jake?”

A husky tenor voice replaced the first. “Thanks Jimbo. Meteorologists are concerned about the sudden upswing in air pollution. Across the globe there are cases of brown fogs that have psychotropic properties to anyone breathing in the fumes. A research team in Tibet went to a local village to study the effects in a few children who were caught in one such cloud while playing in a glade some distance from their homes. They became extremely violent and severely injured several other children and two adults before being sedated. Its children like that are why I feel justified in hitting my little brats.”

Jimbo cut back in. “Your first mistake was having a kid in the first place. And speaking of which, the war between the Redskins and the Jets is heating up as fans riot in the stands after a bad call-“

“I don’t want to listen to sports.” Loki switched the station to alternative rock. It was something the trio could listen to with various levels of tolerance so the rest of the drive passed by with little conversation.

Qubert’s warehouse club was mostly vacant save for a couple of cars. Tune pulled her phone out to give Smith a call. It rang a few times before he picked up. “Hey Q, its me Alex.”

“Glad to hear from you, are you en route?”

“We’re already here.” She answered back.

“Cool stuff, the main door’s unlocked its just me and my brother right now. I already told him what to expect.” He said anticipating Tune’s question.

Alexia was relieved at that. “Excellent, we’ll be inside momentarily.” She hung up and placed the phone in a fanny pack that she secured around her neck and tucked the tome snugly under the seat. Loki jumped out of the car and raced to the warehouse. Conrad stuck close to Alexia. Now that he was away from the refuge of the manor and back around humans, his criminal’s paranoia kicked in and shadowed Tune into the building. This was not for his own safety as so much as it was for hers, he was far too familiar with the worst humanity has to offer to let his guard down.

The unicorn perceived his proximity as simple affection and looked over at him as they closed in on the door. “I think the party will do you some good. It couldn’t have been healthy to stay cooped up in the house for as long as you have.”

He let off a lighthearted chuckle. “Clearly the tome didn’t explain the exaltation of flight. Flying in a plane is one thing, but being able to fly under your own wings…well, I got out more than you think.”

“Maybe. But not around people.” She countered with a slight frown.

“I suppose not.” Was all he would say.

The pair found Loki talking up a storm to Qubert who was doing an admiral job listening to it all while his brother Paul stood there with a hand cupped over his mouth to hide his bafflement at seeing an intelligent being other than man. Paul’s confusion expanded when the unicorn and pegasus enter his field of vision. He laid a hand on Qubert’s shoulder to grab his attention to whisper. “When you said I was in for a surprise, I didn’t think I’d be seeing a menagerie of mythological creatures.”

Loki noticed the humans’ new focus of attention and waved at them. Qubert himself was not far off from his brother’s surprised demeanor. “I thought there were only the two of you.” He said loud enough for the approaching ponies to hear.

“She wanted to tell you about me.” Conrad said for Alexia. “But I requested to be left out of it all.”

Qubert hummed approvingly. “Smart. I’d do the same in your shoes.” He turned to Alexia while clapping his brother on the shoulder. “Why don’t you all get Paul here to show you around the bar. I want to know what all of what Alex has planned for my club.”

Loki was more than happy to drag Paul away to talk his ear off while Conrad did not want to leave Alexia’s side. She caught on to his protective sentiment after taking a couple of steps with him following close behind her. With a loving smile she pecked him on the cheek. “I’ll be fine, Q’s an old friend of mine.”

A kind way of saying not to coddle her. There are only two humans here after all. Realizing he was a touch too paranoid he acquiesced. “Call for me if you need me.”

“I will.” They nuzzled briefly before she turned back around to join Qubert on the empty dance floor. Conrad took off to a low flight to bypass the tables and chairs between him and the bar over towards Loki and Paul where he would keep an eye on both mares. As much as I despise doing so; I need to keep the miscreant out of danger too. Not to mention Alex didn’t say much about Paul on the way over.

Qubert missed the short exchange between lovers as he was focused on lowering the canvas to be a few inched above his head. The large eggshell white canvas was held aloft by multiple chains on the corners and key points along the inner area with a pulley system attached to an out-of-sight heavy duty wench with a remote controlled switch. This allowed Qubert to control the height of the massive piece of fabric without fear of it coming crashing down on the patrons below. The canvas itself spanned almost the entire club, but was just short of the bar because Alexia requested it to be a square and the club grounds was too rectangular to fit a bigger one.

“Well, Paul and I spent the past three days getting this thing together. I still don’t know how this has anything to do with a light show.” He turned away from his remote control to the unicorn as she stood next to him.

“Did you get the tools I asked for?”

Smith pointed at a plastic bag sitting on the music stage. “Protractors and everything. But if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were making me a drawing instead of a lightshow.”

Alexia’s lips curled up. “Actually it’s both.”

“Well whatever you’re going to do, do it over the stage first. Got a DJ coming over in an hour to set up and it’d be better if you two didn’t interfere with each other.”

“Thanks for the heads-up.” Without further ado, she levitated the bag over to her so she could rummage around the kit, bringing each tool and utensil in the air for inspection.

Qubert whistled in surprise. “Glad you gave me a warning about your telekinesis. It’s amazing seeing that sort of thing outside of a movie.”

Alexia smirked at the plan she had in mind. “Q. You haven’t seen anything yet.” Given the sheer size of the project, Tune couldn’t recreate the array without proper tools. This is way too big to let a single slip up go unnoticed. With careful study and concentration, she familiarized herself with the drafting tools and set about measuring out each point and charting the arcs that permeated the array which possessed very few straight lines. Each action was traced by a thin charcoal pencil, which was a compound that would be inert to magic.

Conrad watched her with unveiled admiration as the diagram was brought to life with meticulous precision. It was with even greater awe that an hour passed by and Loki was still sober even if the presence of a full bar as she was saving her sobriety for the party and was instead giggling hysterically to herself as she worked away the time on her computer harness. The only thing I can be assured of by that mare, is that she will act unpredictably. He noticed the Smith brothers watching the pencils and drafting tools fly around the unicorn encompassed by her azure aura. Both men were sitting on the bar stools watching Alexia practice her craft.

Conrad fluttered over from his corner of the bar to the other side to sit on the stool next to Qubert. “Mr. Smith. Do you mind if I ask you a few a questions?” The brown pegasus thought it best to keep things polite and civil until the needs to act otherwise arose.

Qubert had been distracted by the sound of Conrad’s short flight and had seen him change seats. “Only if you tell me how you can fly on such short wings.”

“The same way she’s manipulating seven items at once.” Conrad saw his opening to line his own question in with Qubert’s. “Still, she told me she was a mail carrier before all this. I find it difficult to believe she has obtained such a degree of finely controlled artistry with a power she’s had for barely a month. Was she an artist before becoming a unicorn?”

“Not that I remember.” Smith replied honestly. “We were friends out of high school, I had the money but not the grade and James had the grades but not the money for college so we stayed here. In all that time I never once saw him pick up a paintbrush or talk about art in general. I still find it difficult to fully grasp that Alexia used to be James.”

“She is not one for holding onto the past.” Conrad commented off handedly.

“James never was either. Does she still lack the ability to hold a grudge?” He asked tearing his eyes away from the unicorn.

Conrad was reminded of Loki and stole a glance at the mare in question before turning back to Smith. “That she does. Her friendship with Loki is testament to that.”

“I noticed Loki is highly energetic.” Qubert guffawed. “She’ll be a great addition to the party tonight.”

Maybe she’ll burn some of that energy off. Conrad hoped against hope.

“But one thing does seem off about her more than…well everything not human about her.” Qubert said at length. “James was not a fan of body art. So why does she have an ankh painted on her thigh?”

“An ankh?” The pegasus squinted to glimpse the mark in question, but the angle was bad and he couldn’t see it. He sank back down on his stool. “I thought it was the Venus symbol.”

Smith shook his head. “Nah, the cross is too prominent and the top is a reverse water droplet instead of a circle.”

Conrad felt no reason to explain Alexia’s theory when all it was, was just a theory. “All I know is, she’s taken a liking to it.”

The topic wasn’t enough to keep Smith’s interest. “Well, I’m sure having one’s species and gender switched would have some other less obvious side effects.” Qubert’s phone buzzed. “Yello?” He listened to the speaker. “You’re late.” “Yeah you better be able to do it quick, or I’m cutting your pay for every minute you’re not ready. The doors open in two hours.”

Paul snapped from his vigil over Alexia’s drafting to speak to his brother. “Where is he?”

“In the parking lot now. We should get out there to help expedite the equipment transfer and set up.” The brothers left the ponies to their devices and briskly walked outside. The Smith brothers facilitated quick introductions which were made easier thanks to the locals of Salina still remembering the mares’ introduction at the science fair. The last two hours were almost gone by the time Alexia was done with fifteen minutes to spare before the doors opened. Paul noted that there was already a decent sized crowd was gathering outside.

Tune had spent the last ten minutes double checking her notes, the tome, and her work to make sure every angle and line was perfect. Glad I charged up ten reservoir crystals. Even though this is one of the low mana costing arrays, powering one of this magnitude for a few hours would kill me two times over. If my body didn’t shut the magic flow automatically before that happened anyway. Assuming my calculations are correct, I can sit at around sixty five percent internal reserves while allowing my naturally higher regeneration at that point to lessen the drain on the crystals. It’ll eat up eight of them, but that’s why I made so many. I’m glad the other modifications I made to the array only bump the cost up by ten percent.

Qubert saw Alexia putting her equipment away and ran over from the sound stage. “We’ve got five minutes until I open the doors. How’s your drawing coming?”

“This is more than just a drawing Q.” Alexia answered without modesty. “This will dazzle everyone. You’ll see.” She levitated the bag under the stage so it was out of the way. She whistled loudly and waved at Conrad to bring him over, as he did so she spoke to Smith. “The only thing I need from you is to tell me when you want to crank the lights on. Just so we’re clear, this won’t start slow and build up, it’ll jump out as soon as I activate it.”

“Fair enough. Do you have your phone still?”

Her horn lit up and the item was removed from her fanny pack. “Right here. I’m going to freshen up before we get started, I won’t be able to leave the array or it’ll shutdown.”

“A manually operated light show? Ouch man, the party’s going to last past one AM. You sure you can hang in there that long?”

“I have a lot of reserve magic on hand. I’ll be fine.” She replied reassuringly.

He decided to take her word for it as he had no way of knowing otherwise. “Well look, its almost nine o’clock. I can have the stage lights the DJ set up take over every so often to give you a break and I’ll call you a minute before each one. I don’t know how your magic works, but I know anyone can get tired from working four hours non-stop.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” I’m glad he doesn’t let my new body get in the way of our friendship. “I’ll see you soon.”

She trotted over to the restrooms and then to the bar for a few bottles of water and a big plate of onion rings to keep with her. Conrad joined her as they walked to the edge of the canvas as it was being hoisted to the proper elevation. “You know to ask me for anything you might need right?”

She snickered at his overprotectiveness. “You know you’ll be right there with me for the first few minutes or so as I get settled in. I have a feeling you’d rather stay by my side the whole time rather than go enjoy yourself.”

They reached the edge and Conrad took to the air while Alexia reared up on her back hooves to grab onto his forelegs and was pulled up so she could wrap all four limbs around his barrel so he could fly her up to the center of the topside of the canvas. The short flight was difficult as he had never flown with any additional weight before. “You said it yourself back at the manor.” He muttered under the strain. “Using an array this large is risky.”

“Everything we do in life is risky to some extent Conrad.” She replied while gentle prodding his shoulder with a hoof. “Besides, its not some magic vacuum that can suck me dry. Even if I wanted to, I can’t expend my magic below twenty percent before my horn shuts down.” If I told him how I found that out I’d never hear the end of it. It does make me wonder why Twilight went out of her way to warn about death in that case if the body shuts down any ability to cast when that low.

Conrad’s concerns were not fully abated. “Maybe not, but did the tome say what health issues might crop up from going that low?”

They reached the center of the array which was supported by four iron platforms with a wide center attached directly to the canvas so her magic could interact with the array below it. She let her back hooves down first to find the surface before letting go to drop on all fours. As soon as she touched down, she interspaced her water and food while also pulling out the ten irregularly shaped crystals out the fanny pack. They were not the same as the well cut topaz that adorned her bracelet, but looked like various raw quartz that radiated a rich azure from her stored magic.

“Not in any great detail other than the warning of death from going to zero percent. The author made a reference to a medical book for more information. Unfortunately I don’t have access to Equestia’s libraries.”

Conrad found a suitable space on the platform to touch down. “You know as well as I do that you don’t go from feeling perfectly fine to dropping dead on the spot.”

“Which is how I’ll know when to stop if it comes to that.” She couldn’t find it in herself to be angry at his protectiveness, so she tried derailing the conversation. “At any rate, I’ll need you to stick around in the beginning to write down all the locations I detect any ponies, but after that I want you to have fun down there. After keeping yourself from murdering Loki all this time, you more than deserve it.” She saw the stubborn look in his eyes. “We need to be comfortable around humans, and you staying up here with me won’t fix that.”

He found himself being reminded of his earlier introspective to let her be. “Alright, you win.”

The call came in and Alexia levitated to her ear. “That you Q?”

“Yup. Music starts in one and the doors are open. Crowd’s bigger than I thought it would be.”

“Did you tell them they were getting a magic show?”

He chuckled while adopting a nonchalant tone. “Not directly, only that I had a fancy light show and surprise guests coming over. Hope you don’t let me down.”

Tune tested the array with her magic. The faint pulse of mana along the lines and contours of the array signaled back it would work as intended. “Don’t worry about my end. I’ve got you covered.”

“I’ll leave you to it then. Start it up ten seconds after the music starts.”

“Roger roger.” She levitated a few pieces of paper and a pen out of her fanny pack and levitated it over to Conrad. Stepping over to the center of the platform and assuming a wide stance, Alexia gathered her mana as the DJ gave his introductions to the early patrons. Tune levitated the reservoir crystals and linked them into the spell weaving causing them to go ridged for a split second before shooting out into a one meter circle around her interspaced evenly between them. Conrad had to jump into the air to keep from getting hit by them due to the small size of the platform. With her focusing on keeping her mana usage at a minimum, she didn’t notice the near accident. Conrad made no mention of it as he accepted it as par for the course that whenever she started heavy magic use, she quickly became oblivious to the world around her.

The music started heavy right off the bat and Alexia started counting down and at the very early high point in the song she pushed her magic through the array. Starting from the center and moving around every contour of the massive pattern, a ring of brilliant red light came into being at the same time the lights cut out from the rest of the club. As soon as half of the array was illuminated, the center sent out a wave of green, then purple and continually alternated between random colors and shades. As time went on and Tune started tapping into the crystals, the waves of color would change to pulses while the primary color of the array reset to red.

For the moment however, Alexia’s sight shifted to what felt like low orbit over the Earth. The five states that appeared to her were mostly dark green with motes of white light noting the location of the sporadic cities. The outer limits of her vision were completely black as if the world only consisted of the five state area. Tune was expecting to see only one or two red lights or none at all. So it was not a surprise to find only one red dot towards the very leading edge of her vision. The dot’s very diluted looking, but is very bright. Definitely a good starting point.

After scanning to make sure there were no other signals in the area, she felt a pang of loneliness. Only one other pony in all this space. I hope they haven’t been suffering the same fate Conrad almost did. A stray thought lifted her spirits. Well the Midwest is far less populated than other parts of the world, maybe there’s a bunch more out there, but I don’t have the range to see them.

Alexia told Conrad everything about the red dot’s location and he used his less than subpar mouth writing jot it all down. He would make it a point to tell Loki about it so it could be transcribed into her computer for legibility. He flew over to be in front of Tune yet high enough to avoid getting hit by the orbiting crystals. “I’ll go down to have Loki get the coordinates so we can head there in the morning.”

“If you can pry her from the party anyway.” Alexia replied with some strain in her voice. She had been channeling the spell for ten minutes and was already feeling the need to tap into her reserve crystals.

“Shouldn’t be that hard.” He wanted to stay and give her support, but he knew it would only distract or cause her to argue with him to have fun while he could. “I’ll come back up when he calls a break for you.”

“Thanks. Now get going, and try to mingle.” She asked him pleadingly. “You need this far more than Loki or I do.” He tucked the paper in the crook of his left foreleg and nodded before wordlessly leaving.

As straining as it was to maintain the spell, Tune experienced a different sort of excitement from channeling so much power. Between acting like a focal point for the reservoirs and the array, the flow of so much magic felt empowering. Every so often she laughed at how incredible it all was. "Who or whatever did this to me. I thank you."

11: Benefactor

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“Well you certainly are full of firsts aren’t you?”

Alexia’s ears perked up at barely hearing the unfamiliar disembodied voice over the pounding music. She scanned the area on top of the canvas. As expected, all she saw was the pulsing array and lightly swinging chains as the deep bass vibrated them. “Hello?”

A jester’s laugh pieces the air as Tune’s perception of the pounding music faded away. “I half expected it to take much longer than a month before anypony started to appreciate my gift.”

Tune felt the array break from her control a moment before the world around her vanished. Her reality was a black void for several seconds before color returned and she found herself inside a tower like domicile. Her stomach was doing flips and her mind was spinning at the rapid teleport. Managing to hold onto the greasy dinner Conrad brought her, she saw a large ornate low to the ground bed, the three story open chamber had its walls crammed with books with a third of the tower being a massive window in golden dividers. The balcony beyond had a telescope and the mid-morning sun over the horizon. Above the shock of finding herself in a completely different place, was the extremely oppressive ambient mana in the air. Everywhere she had been to as a unicorn so far, felt no different than as it had when she was human. But here, mana was everywhere, permeating her magical senses to the point where it was giving her a dull hornache and her vision was tinted a faint lavender shade. “Is. Is anyone there?” She called out, hoping to find out where she was.

“You are here aren’t you?” Replied a slightly manic voice from everywhere at once.

Alexia heard a coy lighthearted chuckle echo across the room. That laugh sounds so familiar, but I can’t place it. “Why am I here?”

“So I can speak with you of course.” In a flash of light, the most terrifying thing she had ever seen materialized directly in front of her, a draconicus. She could watch the most terrible and horrifying monsters Hollywood could ever produce and not even flinch, but to be in such close proximity to a creature like that in the flesh evaporated all bravado in an instant. “But almost everypony seems to find that difficult during parties now don’t they?” Discord asked rhetorically.

Alexia found herself backpedaling into a bookcase. “Who or what are you?”

Discord snapped his fingers and Tune was teleported back into the center of the room. “I’m the one who gave you this.” A second snap teleported the tome to Alexia’s hooves. “You may call me, Discord. Everypony does, although I like to think it doesn’t fit very well anymore. Too archaic, too stagnate. Yet I haven’t come up with a fitting new one yet.”

“Discord?” She looked down at the tome and absently placed a hoof on its closed cover. Her eyes dilated at the realization and the same hoof pointed up at him. “The price tag. You’re responsible to for turning me and the others into ponies!”

He clapped his hands while spinning lazily through the air. “Bravo for your amazing deductive skills. I’m glad I didn’t have to spell it out for you completely.”

She immediately recognized he had power as equally terrifying as his appearance. Her hoof fell back to the floor as she asked while sinking down to the floor cowering in front of him. “What do you want from me?”

His ire grew at her trembling even though he expected the reaction as par for the course from mortals who saw him. Most mortals anyway. “What I want is to talk with you, but I can hardly do that if you’re more frightened than Fluttershy on Nightmare Night.” At his approach she covered her head and sewed her eyes shut as he was about to wash her mind of the terror. The moment before he touched her, he hesitated as he imagined the canary yellow pegasus’s disapproving glare. I suppose that wouldn’t be proper.

Instead he backed off and morphed into a plaid earth stallion with a polka dotted mane while keeping his yellow and red eyes the same. “There. Is that more to your liking?”

She peeked through her a cracked eye to see his new form cartwheeling in the air and got up to sit on her haunches while wrapping her forelegs around the tome and pressing it against her chest. “A little yes.”

He flashed over to pat her on the head. “Now now, you shouldn’t grovel in terror so much. After all, I just wanted to talk.”

“About what?” She replied with a little more confidence.

“About you and your planet mostly.” He stopped patting her and jumped back to give her space. “Or more importantly, the future of your planet.” He started aimlessly floating about the room. “You’re the first pony on your planet to show true appreciation to what I’ve given you, and for that I wanted to meet your personally. Alas it is impossible for me to travel to your corner of the galaxy. There’s no ambient magic there to sustain a marvelous individual such as myself.”

Tune was completely terrified of him. This is the guy who not only had the power to change me into a pony, but to teleport me to…wherever here is. Still, if he wanted to harm me he’d have done it by now. Steeling herself, she stood up straight to look Discord in the eyes. “No matter what your reasons were, I want to express my sincere gratitude for what you did to me. I don’t know if any of your other…benefactors, will ever say it, but I will happily live out my days as a unicorn.”

Discord stopped in midair to study her closely. She clearly fears me, and yet has the courage to thank me for spicing her life up. Perhaps this new breed of ponies from Earth will develop a bit more love of chaos then I originally thought. He teleported to stand perpendicular to her and stared into her eyes as she instinctively turned to face him. She was frozen in his magic as he stared into her soul. What he found was highly amusing. “How strange. You still have your memories, as expected, and some of your old thought patterns; but your spirit has completely converted to that of a pony’s.” He maintained the spell but stopped his search for a moment to wonder how that that happened. “That was not something I originally anticipated.” He shrugged. “I do love glitches in the system.” He peered a little deeper and chuckled at what he saw. Oh this is rich. Just what have you been doing over there my dear?

He broke the spell and drifted in the air away from her. Her ill at ease around the draconicus who made her what she was began to abate and subconsciously pawed the ground. “If I may ask. What was your purpose for turning me and others into ponies?”

“That is the million bit question now isn’t it. You see I’m a chaotic creature by nature and as such I find it rather unbecoming when I see things become too orderly and lifeless. Which is what your planet will soon become.” He added nonchalantly.

“Lifeless? What do you mean?” She asked worried by what he meant.

He drifted close to her ear and was about to answer when he stopped himself. “Ah if I told you everything it would break the rules of the game now wouldn’t it.” He tutted while wagging a hoof turned claw at her.

“But didn’t you just say you’re a chaotic creature?” She inquired with mixed conviction. “I didn’t think someone like you would follow rules.”

Discord laughed uproariously. “Au contraire mon ami. Rules can make the game more fun. And once agreed upon, cannot be broken. Even I suffer consequences for doing that.” He replied as a millennium in stone came to mind. “Besides, aside from you ponies out there, your corner of the universe has no magic to speak of. Doing all I’ve done so far is far more draining than I would like to admit.”

“Oh.” Her hornache was lessening as her body adapted to the oppressive magic in the air, she was after all a magical creature herself and naturally thrived in such an environment. “So you can’t tell me why my world is in danger?”

“You didn’t think I would make it that easy did you?” He popped in upside down on the other side of the room. “Just because I don’t want your planet to be rendered lifeless doesn’t mean I’m going to make it all better for you.” She was still hung up on the comment about lifelessness but stayed silent as he continued on speaking. “As a dear friend of mine keeps reminding me, you can’t have everything you want. And for that alone I will do no more than I already have.”

“I understand.” She said after digesting all he had told her. “For what it’s worth though, I’m glad to have met you.”

“Is that so?” He asked half mockingly before transitioning back to his true form. “A moment ago you could barely stand the sight of me.”

She recoiled at the serpentine dysfunctional sight of his body, trembling not just at his appearance, but the power he wielded. This is the person who made me what I am. And I love what I’ve become. Not knowing what would come of it, she forced her instinctual fear aside to walk up to him. “I’m hardly one to judge a person on their outward appearance. And you’ve already helped my planet escape whatever fate you’ve foreseen.” In your roundabout way of doing things. With the same force of will that she used to overcoming the mental barrier, she wrapped her forelegs around Discord in an embrace. “No matter what anyone else says. You will always have my thanks.”

He was brought up short as to how to react. Outside of Fluttershy, he had yet to gain any sort of real positive rapport in Equestria. Sure he was allowed to wander with the three princess’s blessings, but ultimately he still had very little experience in adoration. Is this why Celly plays the benevolence card so much? I honestly expected some sort of resistance to what I had done, wishing to return to being human, or screaming to be returned home. So moved by her affection he decided to bend the rules a smidgen. “Here.” He said as a wad of pink cotton candy materialized in his claw. “I can help you once, but after that your fate is your own.”

She separated from him, as he handed her the candy and she took it in her magic. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Nothing is ever what it seems, but it is edible.” He added with a mischievous smirk.

Her magical senses could tell it was heavily enchanted, but to what effect it would have on her she could only guess at. Well nothing for it. She ate the fist sized wad of cotton candy. Discord hid a wild grin as she ate the last bite. A slight warmth radiated from her gut before subsiding. “What did it do?”

“You’ll find out in due time.” He giggled at his personal joke. “Off you go now. I have a picnic with a certain yellow friend of mine and I’d hate to keep her waiting. Arrivederci.” With a click of his talons she vanished and reappeared back at the Smith warehouse.

The array was dark and the reservoir crystals were dull and lifeless in a ring around her hooves. The music was present, but it was winding down and the sound of the cheering crowd below had all but disappeared. Alexia gave herself a once over to discover she felt as if she had just gotten a full nine hours sleep. More acutely, she felt stark emptiness in the air around her in the sudden shift between the mana rich Equestria back to Earth which lacked any atmospheric magic.

As she conducted her self-assessment the phone rang. Shaking off the odd sensation of being in a void due to returning to her mana poor homeworld, she picked it up with her magic and saw it was Qubert. “Hello.”

“Hey Tune. Great job on the light show tonight, the people loved it. It makes up for Loki trashing a table.”

Confusion washed over her. “The party’s over? What time is it?”

“It’s almost two in the morning man. You must have seriously lost track of time to let that slip by.”

Baffled by the slurred statement, she checked her phone’s clock to discover Qubert was more or less accurate in his drunken ramblings. “And I kept the array active the whole time?”

“Ah, yeah.” He replied haltingly. “Did you go into some sort of trance or meditation?”

“Maybe I did.” She replied uncertainly, while a slight sugary aftertaste hung in her mouth she didn’t know if she had truly met Discord or if the diminishing buzzing sensations were simply after effects of channeling the array for so long. Was all of that some weird trance dream? I better check the tome for any side effects of prolonged divination casting. “I guess the trance snuck up on me.”

“Well my bro and I going to be closing up here fairly soon. Loki’s passed out on the bar, hot damn can she drink. Oh, and your lover’s managed to stay awake. He’s rambling to Paul about the weather of all things.”

Oh hell, did Conny get plastered and start talking? “What do you mean my lover?”

“Loki was talking all about it. I gotta say man, I always knew you were one to move forward with your life but I didn’t think you’d start getting rutted that quickly.”

Damn it Loki, he didn’t need to know about me and Conrad. She became defensive towards his less than sober remarks. “Yeah well you know what? I like having sex as a female. I was straight as a man and I’m straight as a mare. I don’t see the problem.”

“Whoa now. Not a problem for me. Just thought it was quirky is all.” He replied in a drunken attempt to smooth things over.

I bet Loki conned him into getting wasted. She rubbed her face to massage the irritation out of it. “Go home Q, you’re drunk.”

“Now that is something we can both agree on.” He slurred heavily. Smith forgot to take the phone away from his mouth as he shouted to his brother. “Hey Paul, we’re leaving soon right?” His brother yelled back something unintelligible. “Paul says he wants everybody out before lock up, so that means you three as well.”

“Alright, just be sure to lower the canvas again so I can get down. I don’t know if Conrad is in a state to help me with that.”

“Sure sure.” He tried to hang up, but tapped the wrong button and set it to speaker phone. “Hey Paul, lower the big white and green thing would ya?”

Alexia groaned in exasperation and hung up. She gathered her belongings in the fanny pack and pulled out her pocket knife to cut a square hole in the fabric to drop down onto a table after it had finished lowering.

Conrad wobbled over to her after seeing the square fabric fall to the floor and was there to greet her on solid ground. He didn’t smell of alcohol, but was clearly beyond exhaustion. “You look a hell of a lot better than I thought you would after running the array for so long.”

She tittered at his completely bedraggled appearance. “Thanks. And you look like shit.”

He smirked at her teasing. “I’m going to go sleep in the car.”

“Okay.” She pecked him on the mouth. “I’m feeling well enough to drive so we can get on the road immediately.”

He was too tired to argue and only nodded in response before heading for the exit. Alexia gave her goodbyes to the Smith brothers as she grabbed Loki in her kinesis before draping the green mare over her back and took her leave of the establishment.

The parking lot was almost empty with the two tan cars for the Smiths, her lime green one, and a white sedan parked near her own. Loki’s snoring was rattling Alexia’s ears so she hurried along towards the car. Conrad was out like a light in the backseat, and was curled up so he was only taking up one seat. Perfect, they can both sleep in the back. Maybe they’ll curl up together in their sleep, that’d be some epic blackmail photos.

As soon as she gently placed Loki in the car along with her fanny pack and shut the door, an unfamiliar voice called out to her from the opposite side of the white sedan. “You must be Alexia Tune.” She jumped at the authoritative tone in the masculine voice.

“Who’s there?” She caught sight of a man in casual attire, but there was nothing casual about his demeanor. He had an unremarkable face save for his short red hair.

“Agent Carter, FBI.” He flashed his badge and ID tag. “I would like to share a few words with you.”

Tune didn’t believe for a second that an FBI agent would be meeting her like this if he didn’t have backup hidden somewhere nearby and sweated at what he was going to do with her. She started breathing rapid shallow breaths as images of alien autopsies filled her mind. “I don’t want any trouble.”

“Well then that should make things much easier for us both then.” He strode slowly from the driver’s door of his car to walk towards the fearful unicorn. “It’s quite amazing is it not? After so many centuries of existing only in mythology and fairy tales, a true to life unicorn stands before me. I’m sure its not so much for you anymore, but you must forgive me if I take a moment to indulge in childish delight.”

“I suppose that’s better than being thrown in a lab.” She replied in a weak attempt at humor.

“Rest assured, we already have enough of you being dissected to satisfy our immediate curiosity.”

She laughed weakly at the preserved joke. He did not. “Oh god you are going to kill me aren’t you?”

“Not unless I have to.” He replied coldly. “Not everyone turned into a…pony I believe you call yourselves, have been very cooperative or even good tempered. I know you used to be human, and so long as you remember your loyalties as a citizen of the United States you have nothing to fear from me.”

“You? You would let us go freely?” He hopes bubbling up only to be dashed the very next moment.

“I’m afraid not.” He stated matter-of-factly. “To ensure the safety of the nation all three of you will have to come with me.”

“I-I guess I should have seen that coming.” She admitted despondently. “Can I at least know what you’re going to do with us?”

He considered her question for a few moments, and decided to give her a half answer. “I suppose I can give you that much. Magic. Whether what you unicorns do can truly be called magic or some form of energy manipulation, it doesn’t concern me. What matters is that you are a brand new resource ready to be exploited. Rest assured Miss Tune, we want you very much alive, well, and cooperative.”

Her eyes kept drifting to the edge of her field of vision beyond the parking lot, but the lights from the warehouse were foiling her night vision. “You don’t see me as a threat to you?”

He chuckled darkly. “Miss Tune, surely you realize everybody and everything is a threat. Terrorists, crackers, hostile governments, more than I’m willing to list. What we do know, is that America is not the only nation to have some of its population converted into ponies. Some will foolishly squander this opportunity by hunting them down out of fear, a minority has proven to be indifferent. The United States is more concerned with nations that will find a way to weaponize your kind.”

Well that’s just great. I’m reduced from a person to a weapon. Some of her panic converted into anger. “So that’s it then? You would treat me as some tool for your arms race?”

“Every agent, lawyer, and politician is a tool Miss Tune.” He replied casually. “Even I am a resource to be used. There is no shame or belittlement in that. As I’m sure you noticed from your little stunt at the fair, the public is more likely to smother you in puppy love than fear you. It is for that reason we’ve changed our protocol surrounding your kind. I am authorized to give you this one offer. You and your friends will voluntarily join a new agency currently dedicated to locating and collecting your kind to be resettled. Anything more than that you will learn upon arrival.”

“If there’s so many of us to warrant such an agency, why haven’t I heard anything about more of us on the news?”

His tone fell flat. “That’s classified.”

She knew he’d be evasive. “Can you at least tell me if I’m going to be thrown in some cell to only see the light of day when you need me?”

He gave an amused huff. “Well, that depends entirely on you Miss Tune. As with anyone, human or otherwise, how you conduct yourself determines how you will be treated. We can either be friends and show mutual respect. Or,” he said at length. “I can have you incarcerated and sent to that dissection table you so rightly fear.”

Alexia could see the man was unarmed, and yet was more terrified of him than she had been of Discord. She forced her voice to remain even although she did not hide her resentment. “Not like I have much of a choice do I?”

“On the contrary.” He stated while reaching for a phone. “You had a choice; you just picked the smart one.” He hit a speed dial. “Target is cooperative stand ready.” He tapped a few more buttons before putting it away. “And now we wait.”

“For what?”

He gave no response as the distant sound of thumping air grew louder until the long distinctive silhouette of a Chinook revealed itself out of the gloomy night sky. The unicorn jumped at seeing several men in black combat gear emerged from the thin layer of trees surrounding the parking lot with two of them sprinting to the warehouse. Before the Smiths could emerge to find out why the sound of a helicopter was getting so close, the two operatives shot them with tranquillizers before the brothers saw anything. The two operatives removed the darts from the Smiths before running back over to where the Chinook was setting down next to Alexia’s car.

The noise of it all went unnoticed by the drunken mare, while it took an exhausted Conrad a few bleary moments to register the scene happening outside the car and sunk below the window to avoid being seen. I knew showing ourselves like this was a horrible idea. Is it a cartel or the government?

He did not stay hidden for long as the operatives opened the doors with guns raised. Loki was still snoring and was taken while Conrad fell to the gravel when the door he was leaning on was pulled out from under him. The closest operative backed off three feet so his rifle could be used freely. “Stand down!”

Conrad had no more love of law enforcement than Loki did, but he was smart enough to know when he couldn’t escape. “What have you done with Alexia?”

“I’m right here.” She yelled over the noise of the helicopter. She ran to the other side of the car to keep him from being harmed. Carter gestured to let her move freely and she half hugged and half collided with Conrad trying to keep from dumping all of her terror onto him. “Please don’t try anything, they won’t try to hurt us if we cooperate.”

“You want to know exactly how many times I’ve said that same line and never meant a word of it?”

She met his eyes with pleading shaky resolve. “Please Conrad, I couldn’t take it if I lost you. Don’t fight them.”

The brown pegasus found himself completely unwilling to refuse her request. He embraced her protectively while eying the operatives. “Okay Alexia. I won’t try anything.”

“Touching.” Carter remarked, having made his way over. The ramp of the Chinook opened and three crewmen ran over to put Alexia’s car in neutral and push the vehicle into the hold while two men hefted Loki into one of the six customized seats for ponies. It was akin to a foam cushion attached to a five point harness that comfortably wrapped around Loki’s legs and barrel so long as she laid on her belly with enough of a headrest for the crewman to her to put her head down on.

Conrad and Alexia watched as everything they owned was being placed inside the aircraft while Carter stood adjacent to three operatives who had the tact to keep their weapons pointed at the ground rather than the ponies. “Now if you will kindly step inside we can get underway.”

The two civilians wordlessly obeyed and were strapped into their own seats with Alexia between her two compatriots. She was utterly miserable in blaming herself for them getting picked up by the government, while Conrad glared at Carter who was completely indifferent to him. Three of the operatives joined Carter and the crew to make sure Alexia didn’t try anything funny with her magic. As soon as the car was secured in place, the helicopter took off.

Conrad eventually tired of staring at a man who couldn’t care less about his indignation and turned to Alexia who was sobbing with her ears pressed flat and head buried in her forelegs. He only noticed just now because the noise of the engines drowning her out. He could tell she blamed herself for their predicament. The stallion remembered briefly talked to Carter during the party and had taken an instant dislike of the man, but had no reason to act on that suspicion at the time.

She can’t shoulder the whole blame herself for this. I was not willing to let the risk of getting captured keep her from settling the debt. Honor demanded she do so, and Alexia wanted to without a second thought. No good deed ever goes unpunished.

The harness did not restrict his forelegs so he was able to place a comforting hoof on her withers and leaned to her ear. “Whatever happens Alexia, I will be there for you.”

Tune tilted her head to peek at him from under her fetlocks. She stared at him with tear dark lines in her face’s fur and puffy eyes. The mare searched his tense yet comforting expression for any sign of resentment. “What if they separate us? Or the agent lied and will kill us anyway?”

Conrad kept a level head and indicated to their seats. “If they wanted to harm us, they wouldn’t have gone through so much effort to make us comfortable or keep us conscious.”

“Maybe they just want to keep our coats intact before they skin us for a rug.” Worst case scenarios kept flashing through her mind as she felt nothing Carter said could ever be trusted. “Or they found some elixir of youth in ground up pony bones. Or cut my horn off to use as a wand or something.”

He gently pulled her head in close. “Listen to me Alexia.” She stopped rambling, but her manic depression was only getting worse. “You have to stay focused and alert.” His terse words cut through some of the terror induced mania. “Be ready to act and keep your wits about you. If these people really do mean to harm us, you need to be ready to act.” With her resolve rallying he glanced at the bracelet around her left foreleg’s fetlock. “If things get dicey, I want you to use that invisibility of yours to escape.”

Her brow furrowed at the implication. “I’m not leaving you.”

“Alexia.” He hissed trying to get her to see his point.

“No!” She shouted in anger over the drone of the engines before calming her voice down. “I will never abandon you.” Her anger dissolved into desperate pleading. “Don’t you ever get an idea like that in your head again, we stay together or we die apart. I couldn’t bare living without you anymore.”

You may just have to. He was close enough that he was able to nuzzle her. “Alright Alexia. I’ll stay by you as long as I am able.” Her eyes softened and found comfort in his reassurances. I’ll need to wait for an opportunity to gather my bracelet from the car when the fascists aren’t looking.

The flight lasted nearly three hours until the helicopter made its decent. The atmosphere was too tense for either Tune nor Conrad to get any sleep while Loki snored through the entire ordeal in an alcohol induced coma. The humans scurried into action as soon as the aircraft touched down. The three crewmen opened the cargo doors and drove the car out while Agent Carter and his operatives saw to the removal of the ponies out of the helicopter.

They found themselves in a large military airbase that possessed massive rows of small identical buildings to the north and several structures to the south for base operations. Interspaced between the two sets of buildings was the airfield and expansive rolling grasslands. Conrad grunted slightly at having the deceptively heavy earth mare sprawled over his back as he studied his surroundings. He first oriented himself to magnetic north thanks to his tribe’s innate abilities. Its too dark to see what everything is, but it looks like the primary infrastructure dominates the southern half of the base while if those low hanging lights are anything to go by, there’s nearly fifty billets on the north half that I can see. But I didn't get a chance to see how far they went from the air.

Carter led them away from the Chinook to a well-lit reception area which consisted of little more than drab concrete with a stand-alone overhang with a backless iron bench. Standing there was someone neither Conrad nor Alexia expected to see. A red pegasus stallion with a black mane awaited them to come within earshot and away from the cooling down helicopter. As they got closer, it was clear that he was wearing a Battle Dress Uniform cap with his name and rank adorning the front. Conrad couldn’t make out his name in the bad angle of the light.

Carter strode up to him and spoke in a professional manner. “First Sargent Vanders. The new recruits you were informed of.”

Vanders nodded. “Thank you Agent Carter. Is there anything else I should know before I begin?”

“No developments during the flight. Everything you need to know has already been presented.”

“Thank you Agent.” He gave a curt nod.

Carter reciprocated. “Until next time Sergeant.”

Carter walked off towards administration with his operatives, leaving Vanders alone with the three civilians. He surveyed their faces, Tune was holding it together, but was still on edge. Conrad looked ready to bolt, but Vanders could tell he cared about the mares he accompanied and knew he wouldn’t be a flight risk. “If you will follow me, I will escort you to your quarters.”

The couple gave each other questioning looks before falling in step behind Vanders. There was only one length of pavement between the helipad and the large field of single story domiciles. The First Sergeant took the moderately out of the way path so they would stay on the concrete walkways instead of the large fields, partially to stay off the damp grass and partly so that he could keep track of them by the clip clopping on the hard surface without needing to turn around.

Conrad trudged on silently while much of Alexia’s anxiety melted away at Vander’s presence. If they have a fellow pony as an NCO… Risking a reprimand she closed the distance between them. “Were you military before all this?”

“I was.” He replied with strained warmth. It was evident on his face that Vanders was tired, but hid it very well under a mask of courteous professionalism. “I was on deployment when it happened.”

She cringed. “Oh. That couldn’t have been fun.”

“No. It was not. Suffice it to say, I was glad the brass changed their minds about us ponies.”

Alexia was surprised the NCO knew the term. I thought Carter was just calling us that because of what Loki told him. “Why are we called ponies?” Conrad’s fatigue riddled mind caught on her odd question and remained silent to see what Vanders would say.

The First Sergeant kept walking, but turned to face her fully on his right. “Several people called out our similarities to the barnyard ponies.” He lied while trying not to say the real answer was classified. “So we got stuck with the title.”

“A fair point.” Conrad remarked. “We could have been saddled with a worse name.” All three nodded in agreement and several minutes elapsed before Conrad voiced a concern. “Are we all going to end up being voluntold into joining the service?”

“Hardly.” Vanders replied curtly. “Not everyone can handle that kind of lifestyle and there are too many of us to try that anyway. You will go through a battery of tests to see what you’re best suited for.”

“Are we going to be separated?” Tune asked worriedly.

“No. The agency is well aware of the strong herd mentality we seem to possess and separating groups such as yours has proven to have very negative consequences in the past. As such each house has four bedrooms and you’ll be getting an empty one.”

“What do you mean herd mentality?” Alexia queried.

“You’ll find out about it during orientation. Given the hour, yours will be scheduled after lunch so you can get some sleep.”

Despite the respite Discord granted her, Alexia’s emotional upheaval during the flight was exhausting and Conrad was running on fumes. Alexia caught on to Conrad’s fatigue and levitated Loki off his back and onto hers. Vander’s noticed the exchange. “You’ve already learned how to use levitation? You’re one of only three so far capable of that upon arrival.”

“Only three out of how many?” Conrad asked prodding for information. He could tell in the sprawling field of barracks that it was no small number, but he had no way of know how many were occupied.

“As of right now, there are twenty three hundred of us.” Vanders answered flatly. “But less than five hundred are unicorns."

Both other ponies halted in their tracks. “Twenty three hundred!?” They shouted in unison.

Vanders stopped and turned around to answer the obvious question. “It's quite amazing how thorough both intelligence agencies can be at joint information control. Much more competent than Hollywood portrays them as.”

Tune couldn’t believe her ears. “We’ve only existed for a month though, how did they clamp down on the media so quickly?”

How do you know its only been a month? Vanders filed his observation for later. As for their question, he knew it was unclassified information towards other ponies, but acted as if it was. “I suppose there’s no point in not telling you given the circumstances. Normally it would take a lot for the FBI and CIA to take people randomly transforming into ponies seriously. However when the director of the CIA and several ranking FBI personnel find themselves with fur and four legs, you can imagine how fast the wheels start spinning.”

“That would do the trick.” Conrad remarked as they started moving forwards again. Plus the world has so many other distractions, I’m sure it was easy to discount real footage of other ponies as computer generated hoaxes.

Eventually Vanders stopped by a billet that looked like an above ground dome shaped bomb shelter that was designed to withstand tornado force winds. It was half the size of the manor and had far fewer windows or any of the charm or character the house possessed. Across the front door was the identification number reading “T-800”. Vanders removed the four sets of keys from a nail in the door frame with his mouth before putting them on a hoof and giving them to Alexia and Conrad. “One for each of you and a spare for when you get a bunkmate. We’ve found keeping groups of four works best for morale.”

“Why’s that?” Alexia inquired as she took the keys in her magic.

Fine controlled telekinesis was still rare and Vanders couldn’t help but to watch her work before snapping back to the present. “We’re not entirely sure of it ourselves as we’re only working on guesswork observations.” The sergeant admitted. “While exceptions exist, it has been noted by numerous observations that isolation sickness progresses rapidly and is felt more acutely in us than it is in humans, although many unicorns such as you seem to suffer only mild symptoms. Oddly enough, we don’t require other ponies to stave it off, spending time with humans or pets are sufficient to keep from suffering the condition.”

Tune brought a hoof to her chin in contemplation. Maybe that’s why Loki was flipping out like that with the pranks, she’s more susceptible to isolation and Conrad and myself were not enough to keep it at bay. “Well we have all become a different species. Even though we have our old memories doesn’t mean we’re impervious to the new brain chemistry and hormones of a pony’s body.”

“Such is the underlying principle behind a few prevailing theories.” Vanders was mildly impressed. “What was your profession before becoming a unicorn?”

“A mail carrier.” She replied evenly.

It was not the answer he was expecting. “Interesting. At any rate, chow is served all day from oh seven hundred to twenty two hundred, we’re not expecting miracles from civilians here. You are free to wander the grounds except for the southern buildings without escort.” He turned to address Conrad specifically. “You are authorized to fly at all times provided you do not leave the facility’s airspace, we are tracking everything and we will know if you try. In addition, you must heed the aircraft warning sirens and return to the ground when aircraft are coming and going, no exceptions, not even for me. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal.” It was far more than Conrad could have hoped for. Just as Tune was fully enraptured by wielding magic, he too was firmly in flight’s seductive grip and would have rebelled if he was denied it.

He gave a curt nod before returning his address to both of them. “Good. An enlisted man will be here at fourteen hundred hours. He will escort you through orientation and other tasks, after that you are free to do as you please unless instructed to otherwise. Understand?”

“Yes sir.” They replied.

Vanders assumed a more pleasant tone. “I am not an officer, call me First Sergeant or just Sergeant.” He knew civilians typically didn’t know so he was kind about it. As soon as they gave their understanding he spoke again. “Now, the hour is late and you should get some sleep. Everything you absolutely need is waiting for you inside.”

“Will we see you again?” Alexia asked before the stallion could leave.

“Probably. Despite retaining my rank, I live here with all the other ponies.”

“We’re being segregated from humans?” Conrad asked venomously, but it lost much of its sting because his overwhelming fatigue was making him sluggish and rock back and forth on his hooves.

“There is a legitimate reason for it beyond simple bigotry.” Vanders replied diplomatically. “You may have already noticed it given what’s on your file, but the reason will be covered in ordination.”

“Thanks for the information.” Alexia said while gesturing to Conrad to go inside.

“I’ll leave you to it then.” Vanders said grateful to the given excuse.

Tune unlocked the door and slipped inside with Conrad shambling in close behind, with the object of his ire gone the full weight of his fatigue hit him like a train. I think I’ll take it easy to the next party I go to.

The small entry room was bare of anything save for the short carpet that muffled their hoofsteps. The hallway was narrow, but the building did allow for modest living quarters for four. Tune carefully set Loki down in one room before locating Conrad in a second one. He managed to drag himself into a second bedroom, but his exhaustion proved too much. Alexia found him passed out on the floor. And here I thought only simulated people would crash asleep in front of a bed.

She found this bedroom mirrored the one she put Loki in, the single sized bed was low to the ground, and there was only a small chest of drawers and a nightstand with a digital alarm clock. Oddly enough, she found a set of brushes for both coat and mane along with hoof care supplies sitting on wall mounted shelves at eye height. “That can wait.”

Alexia levitated the passed out pegasus onto the bed after pulling the covers over him. Its too narrow to sleep together…He did say there were four bedrooms. She found an empty one was a carbon copy of the others. She could even smell the sawdust of the new construction in the corners. Without preamble she hoisted the bed, frame and all in her magic and carefully slid it through the hall and into Conrad’s room. Because of the frame’s construction she was able to position the mattresses to be flush together.

“There, now its big enough.” She jumped on the conjoined beds and cuddled in next to Conrad. Whatever happens to us. So long as I’m with you I can handle anything. In his embrace, she almost fell asleep when her eyes shot open at remembering something important.

Two human army privates were searching Tune’s car for contraband and already had all of their food and personal possessions lined up in three rows. One of them was screening the driver’s seat and found the tome. He pulled it out and studied its surface.

“Granger, take a look at this.” The private in question turned away from the cooler holding produce and walked over to take the proffered tome. Granger’s brow furrowed as he studied it. “Think this is another one of the books?”

He scanned the book’s surface. “No doubt about it. First one with a lock on it though.”

“Command will want to see it.” His companion remarked as Granger tested the security of the lock. The book started glowing azure for a couple of seconds before it winked out of existence, much to the shock of the enlisted men.

It reappeared above Alexia’s head with a light wind of displaced air ruffling the covers and drapes. She levitated it over to an open drawer and placed it within. “I don’t really care what they did with my car, but this stays with me.” She recast the hearth charm on the drawers. With her most prized possession safe, she snuggled back in with Conrad and drifted off to sleep.

12: The Ranch

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Conrad awoke to pleasant state. Alexia was curled in between his legs sleeping with her head nestled against his neck. Whether it was luck, or unconscious effort on her part, her horn was not stabbing him as it was resting on top of his neck. He knew as soon as he got up or checked the time, harsh reality would impose itself on him.

I’m in no hurry to do the Army any favors. He gently pulled her closer to him, eliciting a content sigh from the sleeping mare. Her proximity kept any resentment of the government becoming anything more than smoldering embers. He had long since stopped questioning why she had such a strong effect on him as he trumped it up to the love they shared.

As he laid there in her embrace he noticed something was off. It took him a moment to realize it was her scent. With her pressed up against him, it wafted in his nose. She smells…sweeter. Almost like she fell in a pile of sugar. It doesn’t smell like shampoo or perfume either.

He found the change odd, but not unwelcome. It’ll be more fitting every time I call her sweetheart from now on. He thought with an inner chuckle.

The outside world meant nothing to him as he enjoyed her silent company. After a while, that silence was harshly shattered by the sound of slamming doors and erratic hoof falls that were muffled by the short carpet that covered the entire house. Conrad wished to ignore it so he could enjoy Alexia’s touch a while longer. He couldn't ignore it for long as a very distraught Loki, who looked like she was on the verge of a panic attack, barraged through the door. All the noise woke Alexia from her dreamless sleep.

“Guys! Where the hell are we!?”

“A military base.” Conrad responded as Alexia sluggishly untangled herself from him.

“A wha?” Her brain misfired. “Okay seriously. What the hell did I miss? I wake in a strange bed which had a couple of bottles of water nearby, thanks for that. A strange house, and I… kinda sorta panicked when I didn’t see you guys around.”

Alexia’s brain was still in sleep mode and she simply rolled over and continued snoozing. So it fell to Conrad to bring Loki up to speed on everything from right after the party, Agent Carter, and everything First Sergeant Vanders explained to them. “So now, we’re stuck here in a resettlement camp until the government figure out what to do with us.”

“So that’s how its going to be then?” Loki huffed disbelievingly, her hungover brain couldn’t fully process it all. “I always knew I’d get picked up by the feds. Never thought it’d be like this.” The duration of the conversation had been enough for Tune to lose most of her morning drowsiness and saw Loki was on the verge of tears. “I just thought I’d be caught for hacking, not for being a victim of some pony curse.”

Alexia didn’t like where that train of thought was heading and pushed the last vestiges of her drowsiness aside to get off the bed and wrap Loki up in her forelegs. “Don’t say that.” She said soothingly as she rubbed the back of Loki’s head. “This isn’t a curse Loki. Its who we are.”

The green mare tried to push herself away from Alexia’s hug, but couldn’t find the strength of will to do so. “You only say that because you like being a pony.” She sniffled tried to hold the tears back. “I can’t be happy this way.”

Tune squeezed tighter. “Yes you can Loki. Its not a curse if you embrace what you’ve become.”

“I don’t think I can.” She was limp in Tune's embrace, choking sobs pouring out. “I’m not strong enough. I just want to go home and be normal.”

Conrad made sure to hide his mocking scowl. You normal? Ha, that's rich!

“Loki.” Tune said pacifyingly. “Being normal is overrated. So long as the three of us are together, home is wherever we are.”

“You’re a real sappy one aren’t you?” Loki remarked with shuddering laughter. Alexia made no reply except to let Loki bleed all of her long standing resentment into her coat. “I wish I could be like you. Letting going of the past so easily. I hate hating what I am. I just want to be happy again.”

Alexia pulled back so she could meet Loki’s puffy eyes. Tune kept a friendly, but stern expression. “You can be happy Loki. I’ve seen you happy. Accept who you are, and you’ll never truly lose that happiness again.”

Loki didn’t know or care why, but something made her believe in Alexia’s words. She looked at her silver friend, trembling as she spoke. “Okay Alex. For you, I can try.” Loki’s self-deprecation faltered for the briefest of instances. Yet that was the only thing keeping her spirit from conforming to its altered shell. Before her self-doubts could resurface, Loki’s eye shot wide open and became unfocused when her mind blanked for several seconds as all of her senses were numbed except for Alexia’s friendly embrace.

Loki’s self-awareness returned in a sudden snap as every color seemed brighter and a slight ringing in her ears for a few seconds before returning to normal. Tune had a worried look in her eyes and held Loki’s face up to hers. The green mare could tell she was saying something but it was badly muffled until the ringing faded away. “Loki. Speak to me. Are you alright?” Even Conrad was off the bed with a concerned look.

The earth mare’s eyes came back into focus and blinked a couple of times before centering on Alexia with a smile inching its way on her face. “I feel…better.” Tune let go of Loki’s face and the mare fell back on her haunches and rubbed her head trying to make sense of what just happened to her. “I ahh. I think I’ll go get some more water and take a shower.”

Conrad and Alexia shared a questioning glance before he spoke. “I’ll be there shortly.”

The mare nodded absently as she turned to leave, but exclaimed gasps from the others halted her steps. “What?”

Alexia pointed at Loki’s flank. The green mare followed Tune’s hoof to an image of grey fedora hat angled to show the side of the article with the brim slanted downward to display the folds on top. The band around the hat was an earthly brown color. Loki was at a loss on how to respond to its presence. She rubbed a hoof through the mark, half expecting it to be some kind of illusion. “Huh. And here I thought it would have been black.”

Loki’s inspection was interrupted with an exuberant Alexia pulling her into a bear hug. “Loki, you did it. You’re a full pony now!”

“So I got a picture on my ass. How does that make me any more of a pony than I already was?” She squeaked out from Tune’s rib crushing hug.

Alexia let go so they could speak more directly. “I know you don’t feel any different now, I didn’t either when I got my cutie mark. But soon, you’ll notice a feeling of more…fitness is the only word I can think of for it. Now that I look back on it, it was like I was wearing a glove that didn’t fit quite right. But now.” She gave Loki an enthusiastic smile. “Now every fiber of my being is that of a unicorn. And soon you’ll feel the same way about being an earth pony.”

“I.” The green mare didn’t know if she should be happy or depressed. “I guess that’s for the best.” She pulled away from Alexia to study her forelegs. “So I’m going to be green and furry for the rest of my life.” Loki said with a heavy sense of finality. As she searched herself, Loki couldn’t feel much rejection over it, but Alexia’s statements still worried her.

Tune put a hoof on one of Loki’s own. “Loki.” She said trying to draw the mare out.

She looked up to meet Alexia’s gaze. “I. I’ll. I’ll be fine.” She took a deep slow breath and let it out again before continuing. “I need a shower to clear my head.” She glanced at Conrad who nodded silently.

Loki left to do just that which prompted Conrad to check the clock. “It’s past noon, would you mind finding some grub so we can eat before the orientation guy shows up?”

“Yeah I can do that.” She nuzzled him affectionately. “I know you two aren’t on the best of terms, but could you please be supportive of her in this? I don’t think we can afford to have you two at each other’s throats anymore.”

“I can try at least. My grudge against her is petty compared to what the feds might have in store for us. I trust you’ll talk with her later about this.”

“I will when I get a chance.” She pecked him on the lips. “In return I'll get some of those green apples you like so much.”

“See you soon.” He called out as Alexia left the building in search of the mess hall.

Conrad located the oversized bathroom by the sound of running water. While Alexia had magic to help clean herself, both the earth mare and pegasus found it impossible to effectively clean everything by themselves. With the additional fact that all three ponies were always nude, bathing quickly lost its status as a private affair. It was also one of the few times the pair got along with each other, if for nothing else than a mutual desire to be clean.

What amazed Conrad was that the construction crew already accounted for communal hygiene as the shower head sprinkled water over a wide stall that was big enough for two ponies to move about with ease.

Both of them had gone through the motions enough times that he didn’t bother saying anything as he took the sudsy bath sponge and started scrubbing the brooding mare’s back.

Loki would shift her position as needed, but otherwise kept her council to herself. Only when Conrad started scrubbing her flank did she turn her head to see the shampoo was not scrubbing the mark away. “So. Its really there.” She commented at length before turning back to face front.

“Seems so.” He remarked blandly.

“I know Alex was a bit of a strange one already.” She turned back to face Conrad who was working on her hind legs. “But did she seem different after getting her mark.”

That’s rich. You calling anyone strange. He kept the thought to himself on the neutral ground that consisted of the shower stall. “She doesn’t flinch at trying to get close to me anymore, but that was slowly going away to begin with. Other than that she just seems happier.”

She turned her head to the other side as he switched to her left hind leg. “Yeah but how much of that was just her already wanting to accept her current form.”

“I couldn’t really tell you.” He responded truthfully as he grabbed a hoof pick to remove a few pieces of encrusted dirt. “By the time I met her she was already set on accepting her future as a mare so I don’t know what she was like as James aside from what snippets Qubert told me.”

Loki was silent for several minutes in introspective thought. It was only when the sponge passed over her nethers was she disturbed from her meditation. It had taken over two weeks before both of them consented to letting their bathing partner clean their respective areas, but again practicality won out. Loki was more disturbed by the physical feeling of it rather than it being awkward as she would have to reciprocate it later.

She trusted herself to speak clearly when he moved on to her barrel. “Do you think I’ll lose myself the way she did?”

“What do you mean?”

Loki waved a foreleg in the air for emphasis. “She’s so… comfortable with what she is. I can’t imagine she’s even remotely similar to James.”

“Is that really so bad?” He challenged.

“Yes.” She replied, but her heart wasn’t in it.

“If it makes you feel any better.” He said after she stopped grumbling to herself. “I have to agree with Alexia’s personal philosophy. “You’re never the same person twice. Its up to you though, if that change is good or bad and whether to accept it or not. None of us can make you do that.”

She tilted her head away as he started scrubbing her neck. “I can’t believe I’m talking philosophy with you of all people.”

“I can’t believe you even know the word.” He retorted.

Her response was halted as he scrubbed the sponge over her face and muzzle. After the suds were gone and he moved on to washing her mane, Loki brought the conversation back. “She’s really happy now. Alex I mean.” He hummed in the affirmative. Loki couldn’t help but grin in guilty pleasure as he rubbed the shampoo brusquely from the top of her head and down the spine of her neck. It reminded her of the care she had received in the massage parlor. She didn’t know if coming to terms with being a pony was due to the tranquilizing effect of his motions mimicking the masseuse’s, Alexia’s influence, or if her spirit actually underwent a final transformation. I guess in the end it doesn’t matter. This is who I am; and nothing can change that now.

The shampoo was cleared from her mane and he offered a washcloth so she could to dry her eyes. As Conrad worked on her tail, she stared at the white cloth. After a while a savage sneer crept its way on her face. So be it then. I’m going to show the feds what mad mare is capable of.

Conrad and Loki emerged from the shower to find Alexia finishing off a bowl of oats and three bananas in the living area with the tome floating in front of her. “You guys have fun in there?” She teased while levitating several fruits along with a couple of green apples towards her companions.

“Not the kind of fun I’d rather share with you.” Conrad joked as he caught the apples with his wings.

“I hate to say it.” Alexia said between bites. “But we’ll have to hold that off until tonight. If Vanders was correct, I have just enough time to take a shower of my own. Her horn lit up and the tome winked back over to her dresser drawers. Her companions busied themselves with devouring the pile of food she brought.

Half an hour later, Alexia came back out to the living area with a comb in her kinesis to find a human staff sergeant was already in the room. The ebony skinned man turned to face her fully. “Good you’re done.”

Heh, I was right on the money with that prediction. Alexia knew this was coming, and was determined to put on a strong front. Conrad and Loki were standing near with a mix of tension and a carefully crafted neutral expression respectively. Loki’s visible disposition unsettled Alexia as she always wore that face when trouble was brewing. Trying to keep her ill at ease at bay, she adopted a stern demeanor. “That I am.”

“I am Staff Sergeant Wilson. I will be taking you to the testing area and while en route I will fill you in on the basic codes of conduct you are to follow during your stay here. You will be given some literature on other rules later.” He ordered with a thread of implied consequences of disobedience.

The sergeant led the way through the large forest of identical houses, and more welcoming, the sea of color that comprised the mass of ponies living there. Even though Alexia already saw the myriad of ponies from her trip to the mess hall, all three of them were overwhelmed by the sight.

Conrad’s wings itched and he followed after the sergeant while staying three feet off the ground. “Never dreamed I’d see so much color in one place.”

Loki watched in silent joy at the presence of so many ponies. They’re really my people now. Sure I looked like them before, but I think I understand where Alex is coming from now. Loki ignored Wilson as he started talking about rules, and decided she would ask Tune about them later. She studied each pony she passed briefly one by one. Most seemed content at best and sullen at worse. Loki surmised the really depressed ones were still indoors.

Look at them all. Loki thought with mounting distaste. We’ve been corralled in a damn ranch. I’m amazed they gave us a cafeteria instead of making us graze the fields. We don’t belong in a place like this, we deserve to be free. She tried to discern the mood of each pony she passed.

Most of them seem to be in a daze. Can’t blame them for that, hell I was running on insanity and schnapps until I found the manor. What we need is something to rally behind. Loki’s eyes drifted over the mass of ponies until they rested upon Alexia. Loki smirked at the thoughts forming in her head. Or someone. Alex has a strange quality about her. Something that makes you want to listen and follow her, and I don’t think she realizes that. Loki’s sight moved away from Tune and over to her grey hat cutie mark. She was able to pull me out of my rut and accept who and what I’ve become. If she can do that to me, she can do that to just about anyone. I just need to convince her to use that silver tongue of hers to pull these ponies out of this funk. I’m no leader, but Alex could be if prodded in the right direction.

Loki faced front to find they were almost at a large hangar that she surmised could easily hold a couple of large airliners. By now, Wilson had stopped talking which gave Loki the opening she needed to pull Tune aside and out of earshot. Alexia noted the mischievous look in Loki’s eyes and became concerned. “Tell me you’re not going to try anything.”

Loki shook her head and leaned into Tune’s ear. “Listen, I don’t think you should tell anyone about that alteration spell.”

“What? Why?” She returned a puzzled look.

“Because. Didn’t you see it on their faces as we passed by? They’d jump you the instant they caught wind of a way back to being human. Plus they’d ask how you came up with a spell like that, and they’d find out about the tome.”

“Well I can understand hiding that from the military, but some of these ponies have families they want to go back to. It wouldn’t be fair to them if they were trapped here.”

“I’m not saying stop working towards it, just don’t tell anyone.” Loki hissed back as they were only a few feet from the doors. "At least not until you're ready."

The unicorn studied her green friend's face for the punchline, but couldn't find one. “Alright Loki. I’ll keep quiet about it." Alexia relented right before Wilson turned about face in front of the cracked open hangar doors.

“Since the three of you comprise the three known pony races, you’ll have to be split up during testing after you receive a physical. Follow all instructions given to you and you should be done by the time the mess hall switches to dinner.”

A woman in a white doctor’s coat escorted by three infantry waited for the ponies to approach her. “I am Veterinarian Wilder, and I’ll be one of the people handling your physicals.”

Conrad remained in the air next to Tune and spoke to the vet. “Since we’re sentient shouldn’t you be referred to as a doctor?”

“Maybe in the future.” Wilder commented. “But for now veterinarian will suffice. Right this way please.”

The hangar had been repurposed for testing the magical properties of unicorns in particular as they were the primary focus of study by the military, but also had a test bed for earth ponies as well. However the structure was predominately used to house the medical facilities for the ponies as well.

The group observed that much of the hangar space appeared to be closed off by hastily constructed wooden walls several meters away from the entrance while the medical area that they were being led to spanned the entire length of the hangar, and more than half the width with the rest of the hangar being the testing area.

The soldiers prodded Loki and Conrad towards different rooms while making Alexia follow Wilder to a patient room. She glanced at them worriedly, but between the guards and the various cameras scattered about, there was little she could do about it.

The patient room was more of a full examination lab. It reeked of cleaning chemicals and was about as ordinary looking as she had seen compared to others, complete with counter, an empty x-ray illuminator, and a patient table complete with paper wrap on it. The principle difference was that there was a treadmill with an attached respiratory hose and heart monitor. There was other equipment present as well, but she was unfamiliar with them. They really want to give me the full run down. The table was a few inches lower to the ground which allowed Tune to jump on top.

Wilder grabbed a smart pad and brought up the relevant application. “Okay Miss Tune, we’re going to start with some background questions. Did you have any chronic conditions before your transformation?”

“None I’m aware of.”

Wilder typed in the response. “Where were you when you started changing and how far did you travel before being picked up?”

“Roughly all in the same area of Salina Kansas.”

“What was the first sign of your changes?”

“I grew a tail.” The vet and jotted the answer down, prompting Alexia to give one of her own. “Mind if I ask why that part matters?”

“In every single case thus far, anyone becoming a mare had their tail appear first where stallions developed the ears and surrounding fur before all else.”

Tune’s eyebrow rose at that. “Oh. Um. Speaking of which, why didn’t I see very many stallions on the way over here?”

Wilder decided she could start some of the preliminary visual and touch exams while giving her answer before moving on to other questions. “As strange as it sounds Miss Tune. There’s a rather strange gender disparity among you. Of all the twenty three hundred ponies living here, less than six hundred are male.”

“You’re kidding right?” She asked as Wilder pulled her head up so she could feel the mare’s neck for any lumps.

“I’m afraid not. As to whether that is an effect of random chance, or how your species naturally works is anyone’s guess. Which brings me to my next question. What was your gender prior to becoming a pony?”

The unicorn was put off by the question. “Why would that matter?”

“It’s very common for those who experienced a switch to be mentally unstable. Mostly due to the traumatic effect of it rather than any noticeable complications of the transformation in of itself.”

“How many out there are there?”

“Roughly half of every pony have had their genders switched, so there’s little point in trying to hide it. You would be just one more passenger of a very large boat.” Wilder kept it professional, but added a note of warm bedside manner.

The unicorn shrugged. “Well okay. It’s true, I was a man before all this. But if you’re going to try and assign me a therapist or something don’t bother. I’m perfectly happy as I am.”

Wilder wrote more notes in her pad. “Its uncommon, but you wouldn’t be the only one happy with the switch. Although I’d still recommend you attend the group therapies so you can help those who are struggling to cope.”

The idea of helping other ponies acclimate to their bodies appealed to her Alexia greatly and she had to stop herself from jumping at the opportunity. “I’d love to help.”

“Good to hear.” The vet guided Alexia through a battery of other health tests over the next hour. By the end of it all, Alexia felt poked and prodded all over the place. “Well you seem to be in sound physical condition and I haven’t picked up on any obvious psychological issues, which will be examined in more depth later. Now unless the test results from the samples come back with anything I’m giving you a clean bill of health.”

“You mind if I ask one last question before I go?” Alexia queried as Wilder finished her notes.

“I don’t see why not.”

“Why are we living so far apart from the humans here?”

Wilder’s brow furrowed. “Didn’t Sergeant Wilson inform you of that precaution on your way over?”

Tune grinned sheepishly. “I’m sure he must have, but he kept rattling off rules that just seemed like common sense stuff and I sort of tuned him out as I watched so many other ponies moving about.”

Wilder hummed in understanding. “It can be overwhelming the first few times you’re in that sea of color. That’s why at the end of the day you’ll be given a pamphlet outlining your codes of conduct, to make sure there’s no miscommunication. As for your question, are you familiar with the physiological effects pets have on humans in general?”

Alexia scratched behind her ear. “I know cats and dogs dominate the safe for work sections of the internet, and I had a cat as a kid.”

“It’s a highly complicated answer, but I’ll try to keep it simple. As you already know. By in large, humans have a natural affinity towards anything perceived as cute; hence why cats and dogs are so popular. Yes both species provide a utilitarian function, but many people keep them around solely for companionship. You ponies on the other hand are not only cute to the point of being uniformly adorable.” She said with a gleeful slip from behind her professional mask. “But it’s been noted that all ponies possess a sort of aura, be that magic or highly refined yet mundane charisma, that amplifies this response in humans to the point where it can be highly distracting for us.”

“So you’re worried that we may try to take advantage of that?” Tune said after mulling over the information.

“Correct. Unlike pets, you’re obviously of equal intelligence to humans if not more so and it is feared that some of you might try to exploit this charisma for criminalistics purposes.”

Tune hadn’t thought about that. Well we’re at least no more capable of criminal behavior than we were before. Loki’s source of income is proof of that. "I guess I can see that, but using one's charisma to commit crimes is nothing new. There’s a reason there are terms like femme fatale, and let’s not forget nearly every elected official to date.”

“I fully agree with you Miss Tune, but I don’t make the rules, I just looks after your well-being.”

An idea came to the bothered unicorn as she spied Wilder finishing up her notes. “I’m kinda nervous about the whole tests I’m going up against next. You…wouldn’t mind. Rubbing my head? Would you?”

“That would be highly unprofessional.” Wilder rebutted.

“But you said you look at my well-being. And I have no idea what I’m up against, and it would help calm my nerves.”

Wilder glanced up from her pad to see a pony with her ears flat and sad eyes which effortlessly crushed the vet's resolve. I don’t think I should have told her the whole truth, but there are no cameras in here and she did just get here last night. Anyone would be distressed about that. The veterinarian glided over to stand next to her patient. “Very well, I can do it for the sake of mental care.”

Wilder complied with Alexia’s request who sat down on her haunches as the soothing touch washed away all tension from her body. I never thought fingers would feel so good. After a minute of Wilder kneading her neck, Tune became a paragon of bliss. She closed her eyes and leaned into Wilder’s hand as the vet started scratching behind her ears.

Wilder noted the unicorn’s breathing slowed and was completely relaxed. As of yet, no one had attempted to pet a pony and Wilder found Alexia’s response to it puzzling. The vet preformed the typical motions of petting the unicorn while keeping her hand restricted to the area around the mare’s mane. What a fascinating response. She’s completely docile. Wilder’s scientific curiosity got the better of her. This doesn’t seem like a personal response, but an instinctual one. Could this be a sign that ponies underwent a highly sociable evolutionary path? Assuming of course that these people were changed into a preexisting template.

The veterinarian kept entering more observations into the pad while continuing to pet Alexia to the point where she was putty in the woman’s hands. Tune didn’t care what awaited her, all she wanted was to never leave that spot.

Alas, that wish was never meant to be, and Wilder’s pad started beeping. The noise snapped Alexia out of her bliss and felt a pang of loss when Wilder’s hands returned to the pad. “That’ll be Doctor Roberts wanting to begin your magic assessment. It’s been a pleasure Miss Tune, I hope you do well on the next round of tests.”

“Thank you Doctor.” Alexia replied pointedly using that term. She left Wilder wondering if perhaps the term was more fitting when dealing with ponies in the future.

Tune was happy to find Conrad and Loki seemed no worse for wear although he kept picking at his feathers in an attempt to smooth them back out. His examinations involved an extremely thorough inspection of his wings and his veterinarian didn’t have the same bedside manner Wilder possessed and after making sure his wings were in order he left Conrad to fix the feathers himself.

Doctor Roberts was a thin man, scraggily white beard and a bald head that caught the light like a mirror. Again, there were several guards nearby to make sure everything stayed civil. “Finally, you all here. I trust there were no health issues then?” The three medical professions who followed the ponies out gave their affirmatives. “Excellent.” He addressed Loki first. “Your dexterity and strength testing will be handled by my associates already waiting for you in laboratory A. Follow these men so you can begin.”

Loki took one look at the indicated guards and smirked. “So you want to see how strong I am? I could use a workout. Lead the way boys.”

“Charming.” Roberts said in annoyance as he pointed at three other soldiers. “Take the pegasus to the fields and have Airman Daniels see what he’s capable of.”

“It better wait until I can fix my feathers.” He jabbed an accusatory hoof at his physician. “That man is a butcher, I wouldn’t trust him with a sponge let alone a scalpel.”

“Your objections will be noted.” Roberts replied uncaringly. “Move along.”

Conrad glowered at the scientist and had to preen as he walked away. He gave Alexia a sympathetic look before Roberts coughed for her attention. “Miss Tune, if you would follow me we can get the tests underway.”

Alexia watched her companions as they were led away then back to Roberts when one of his guards jammed a thumb after the scientist for her to follow him. “What sort of things are we doing?”

“I will be observing you and directing the tests. You will do as you are told. Failure to comply in this will be met with harsh restrictions.”

Way to be an asshole about it. “You must be a blast at parties.” She remarked casually.

“I do not require your pathetic attempts at wit Miss Tune, only your complete cooperation.” He walked up to the automatic doors while Alexia was ushered inside. The first chamber was a plain room with a short table holding weights of various sizes.

“Looks like stuff you’d find at a gym.” She commented at the various dumbbells and circular weights.

Roberts grunted to the affirmative. “Glad someone can see the garbage I have to work with. Those knuckle draggers gave me this trash from the servicemen’s weight room instead of the properly measured spherical weights I keep asking for.”

Alexia smirked at his irascible demeanor. “Just so you know. I lifted a lot before becoming a pony.”

“We are not here to test your musculature Miss Tune, but your magical abilities.” He brought up a document on his pad. “Your record shows you demonstrated strong telekinetic powers upon arrival last night. It for that reason we are skipping the first three tests to see if you’re even capable of it. Here I wish to measure the limits of your telekinetic powers.”

Hell, I was able to lift Loki and myself off a building and she’s like what…a buck twenty? I’m not even eighty pounds and she not any bigger than I am. Its got to be all that dense muscle. She turned to the irritant of a man. “How do you want me to start?”

He sighed. “Its really not that complicated Miss Tune. Try to lift the biggest weight as you can.”

Brushing off his less than friendly manner, she found the heaviest weight was two hundred pounds. The rest of the weights were in ten pound intervals down to one pound. Her horn lit up and the two hundred pound weight flew up in the air and orbited around her head as if it was as light as a beach ball. She took the one hundred, one fifty, and the one hundred ten pound weights in her magic and had them orbit further away from her. Only the strain in her voice and her furrowed brow gave any indication that it took real effort. “Look paw! No hands."

Roberts watched the orbiting mass of iron without any outward sign of being impressed. He tapped a button and a loud fog horn blared a horrendously loud noise from under the table. Alexia jumped back in surprise causing her focus to slip and the slabs of metal thudded to the floor with the two hundred pound one crashing right next to her before leaning against her leg. “Concentration is lacking. You'll need to improve on that.”

Alexia recovered from the near miss of the blocks of iron and was about to yell at him but Roberts cut her off. “Given that display I think a test of finesse is more suitable. To the next chamber.”

Tune rubbed the spot on her right hind leg where the weight leaned against her after it dropped on its side. Jerkass. “Yeah I’m coming.” She growled after him.

The next room was almost identical to the last except instead of large weights it had dozens of small Lego pieces. “Is this really the best the fed’s best and brightest could come up with? Lego pieces?”

“So you do have some modicum of standards. Yes I agree these are paltry implements at best, hardly even worthy of being a child’s plaything. Nevertheless it is all we have to work with, so much of the budget is in information control and relocation that the pencil pushers can’t be bothered to give me the full funding I asked for.”

That was information Alexia filed away for later. You’d think the government would pour as much money into a program like this as they could. “My heart’s breaking for you.” She brought up several red Legos to create a broken heart.

Roberts flustered at the display but resisted the bait. “I want you to form the following shapes…”

Later, at the central conference room of the Air Force base, four scientists including Roberts and Wilder along with the base’s commanding officer and representatives of the FBI, CIA, and Joint Chiefs gathered to discuss the latest additions to The Ranch.

The table was curved and they sat on the outside of the shallow semicircle with a projection screen on the opposite wall. The current expert on magic, Doctor Roberts, tapped his pad to bring up four images of the silver and azure unicorn on different angles. Despite the scientist’s displeasure of Alexia as a person, along with most things in general, he was genuinely excited about her from a scientific stand point. Many call his version of excitement as other men’s depression. “Moving on from Pitman’s theory of why people are becoming ponies, I’d like to shift gears to our two most impressive finds since the project’s inspection. I will let Jackson handle his own subject, but as for my own, I believe we may have found a suitable candidate for Letterman’s side project.”

He flipped through a short clip of Alexia levitating heavy weights later in the testing and creating various designs with the Legos in her magic. “This is subject Uniform two thirty seven. She demonstrates a level of control and power we have not seen from any unicorn to date.” He tapped to the next video clip. “She even has the finesse to tie complex knots and thread a needle via telekinesis alone, something unique to her thus far. Imagine what we could do with her if those talents were leveraged for different purposes.”

“Any idea why she is so much stronger than the others?” The member of the Joint Chiefs inquired.

“I may have an answer.” The FBI responded. “The agent who picked them up discovered the group the unicorn came in with were transformed roughly around the same time of a full month ago. Its possible they are naturally getting stronger over time.”

“A valid theory.” One of the other scientists began. “Except for the fact that we’ve been studying other transformees for over two weeks now. Several of them changed at roughly the same time. Aside from what we can expect from practice and experience, none of the unicorns thus far have shown this level of advancement in power and control.”

“Could it be simple natural talent then?” The CIA asked.

“If it was just her I’d agree.” Doctor Celli announced. He tapped his own pad and the image on screen switched to Loki bucking a hole into a concrete wall a half foot thick. “Subject Echo ten seventeen arrived with Uniform two thirty seven and has displayed physical power and endurance far exceeding the baseline. I have no doubt if Echo wanted to, she could have killed me at any time.”

The commanding officer of The Ranch leaned forward. “I’ll have the engineers fabricate catwalks above the testing areas as to avoid that. In any case, it seems these two are above the norm. What about the pegasus they came in with? Subject…”

“Papa three twenty.’ The last scientist called out. “Unfortunately he has not demonstrated any marked superiority over other pegasi. Aside from what I would expect from a greater amount of time practicing flight, he is not in a league of his own like Echo or Uniform are.”

Wilder tapped her pad to bring up profile images of Alexia and Loki. “What about the cutie marks? Could they signify something?”

Roberts scoffed at her. “I refuse to use that ridiculous term. But as for your question, of the books we’ve collected from the subjects so far, these brands only symbolize a special talent. There’s nothing in the readings to suggest the brands grant any power of their own, but to reflect that pony’s abilities.”

“Assuming the translators are accurate.” The CIA remarked candidly. “You know we can’t read the books ourselves.”

Wilder stood by her theory. “Yes the records on the cutie marks give no indication that they amplify a pony’s abilities, but these are the only two subjects in the entirety of The Ranch that have the marks. Is it at all possible that, at least for the transfomees, that they signify something different entirely?” She tapped to zoom in on Alexia’s and Loki’s marks.

“Uniform’s mark is that of an ankh, a symbol of eternal life or just life in general. But that has no real correlation to reflecting higher magical power. As for Echo, she has a hat of all things. I don’t even know where to start drawing the line between that and greater physical prowess. If time spent as a pony was enough to achieve these levels of power, then Papa would have displayed an equal level of talent. But he hasn't and he doesn't have a cutie mark.”

“Are you sure he wasn’t holding back?” The Joint Chiefs queried. “To try and hide his full capabilities from us?”

Conrad’s tester grunted to the negative. The airman that Conrad worked with was a pegasus as well, but the observers were human. “I made sure he had proper incentive. He wasn’t holding back.”

Wilder knew the man to be a harsh one. “There is something else I would like to point out. We are all aware of the subtle aura they possess that plays on our emotions, correct?” She received a round of affirmatives. “During my examination, Uniform displayed what I believe to be signs that this aura is an adaptation along a highly sociable evolutionary path in the original species.”

“And what signs would that be?” The FBI interrupted.

Wilder’s brow ticked at the intrusion. “I was just getting to that. During the exam, Uniform was showing elevated levels of anxiety and requested a head rub.” She said haltingly as if expecting embarrassment to be piled onto her.

She received a round of amused faces. “Let me guess. You obliged?” Roberts asked derisively.

“I am their primary care physician, it's my job to make sure they remain healthy. So yes I did.”

“Get to the point.” The CIA demanded, being tired of the interruptions.

“Once I began petting her, Uniform quickly became calm and docile. She was fully aware that that act was typically used for pets, and didn’t care. I want to test to see if this effect extents to more ponies than just her. If I am correct, then it’s very likely that these equines are peaceful and friendly by nature; and this aura is an extension of that.”

“I think the number of subjects we’ve had to send to the labs are proof enough that that theory is unsound.” Roberts rebuffed.

“Anybody who’s scared half to death about what’s happening to them and you add in a bunch of goons in black combat uniforms chasing after you and tell me if you wouldn’t be a little resistant to being kidnapped.” Wilder countered.

“I think your empathy is clouding your judgment Wilder.” The base commander observed. “Your job is to remain objective in these matters. However I do believe this observation has proven useful. I want you to conduct these experiments, if for nothing else than to find a better means of controlling them.” He leaned forward to continue. “Since we’re still on topic about the latest arrivals, I want to share something.”

He tapped his pad and the screen to play a security camera recording of the two army privates searching Tune’s car. It was silent due to the camera having to zoom in to get a closer view. It showed one of them pulling out the tome and handing it to his partner. After he studied it for several seconds the book vanished in a flash. Looks of confusion and dismay was written over the private’s faces and was mirrored by those in the conference room. The commander reversed the clip to the instant the book flashed.

“Until now, the only thing we’ve witnessed from the ponies that can be attributed to this “magic” is gravitational manipulation on part of the pegasi and telekinesis from only a comparative handful of unicorns. This.” He pointed at the screen. “Is something else entirely.”

The CIA turned to the commander. “You have an idea as to where it went?”

“Just a hunch.” The commander replied. “But I bet my command that it returned to its owner. Subject Uniform.”

13: Sensei

View Online

A solitary light hung in the gloom of a spartan living room. It did not flicker, but had an erratic slow osculation as the silver unicorn creating it opened the tome to study. It had been three days since Alexia first arrived at The Ranch. Most of their belongings had been returned to them including Loki’s computer harness. Unfortunately the green mare was infuriated that the satellite uplink had been disassembled to keep her from creating an outside line.

The base commander had decided to leave Tune to her own devices for the time being and was instead having her closely observed for any displays of magic outside of telekinesis. So it was that he was going to get exactly what he wanted via the hidden cameras inside the living room.

Believing her display of power during the tests had not won her any elevated attention, Alexia recalled dinner with Conrad scant minutes earlier. He was munching on a plate of pan lasagna when he voiced a question he’d been meaning to ask. “You remember telling me about that page with the Dusk Guard?”

At the time, Tune was halfway done with a BLT sandwich using the foodstuffs that had been returned to them. “What about it?”

“What if there is a way to contact the princess now that you’re a complete pony.”

She swallowed her bite. “It asked for a real pony and an authentication cantrap to be cast on the reader to gain access. I need both.”

“This is a magic book we’re talking about.” He responded pointedly. “What if there was something on that page was invisible to you back then? You said you read that page before getting your cutie mark right?”

She hummed while chewing. “Could be. Nothing else so far cared if I was a real pony or not, but the page did ask for that qualification specifically. Its worth a look, maybe a person specific communication spell was on the page but hidden. I’ll look into it tonight.”

“Good. While you do that, I’ll try to get everyone’s name who’s interested in joining your project.”

“Sounds like a plan.” She picked off the last of the sandwich. “Have you seen Loki around?”

“The feds returned our stuff, but made sure to break her computer so she’s out trying to find someone who can fix it.”

She tried to dislodge a piece of lettuce from her teeth with her tongue. “Think she will?”

“That won't be the hard part.” He replied as he continued his own meal. “Problem will be getting the parts.”

“Loki’s resourceful, I’m sure she can handle it.”

Back in the present, with her companions our on their respective tasks, Alexia was alone in the house. She drew the blinds in the living room and pushed the coffee table out of the way so she could have the rather small floor space to herself. Then she pulled the two cushions off the couch and put them on the floor, one for her and the other for the tome.

After getting comfortable, Alexia flipped to the correct page. As before it seemed to shimmer and fade in and out of reality. She looked at the sole of her left hoof that still bore the pale outline of the key and placed it on the page.

The iridescent page solidified and the text became legible. Alexia quickly scanned the text and found no differences than when she first read it. A glance at the rest and back of the page revealed nothing there either. “Buggery. Nothing.” She was about to skip ahead to the current topic of study when her eye caught onto the two dime sized circles. The top, as before, glowed faint lavender.

Alexia was puzzled when she glanced at the bottom to find the lower circle was pulsing an azure hue. Two seconds after making eye contact with the second circle, lines shot out from both circles along the page to form a ring on the page with the two circles placed on top and bottom. Alexia’s eyes widened in amazement as a pattern started forming from within the ring. Dozens of pencil thin lines darted in seemingly random directions crisscrossing each other until a large lock was painted onto the page with the keyhole being the only part of the page remaining clear of the brown lines that now covered it.

It took Alexia a few moments to recover from her astonished paralysis. “I can’t believe it.” She looked at her left hoof again and then to the keyhole. “Was I really only missing a pony’s soul? But then when did I get Twilight’s encryption key?”

Her insatiable curiosity about magic drew her attention back to the tome. She pressed her left hoof onto the page and uttered the next work with unveiled anticipation. “Unlock.”

An almost imperceivable clicking noise came from the book. In a blinding wave of purple light, the book attempted to destroy all magical recording devices within a hundred foot radius. Unfortunately, that left the hidden mundane cameras very much intact. Alexia pulled her hoof away and gasped in stunned shock as all of the pages luminesced with a brilliant lavender light. She backed away into the chair as a transparent purple sphere appeared several inches above the book. It started out being smaller than a thimble and grew to the size of a basketball. Runes of sky blue, emerald green, amber yellow, ruby red, and amethyst danced over the sphere before peeling off to fill the air above the book. In their wake, the air itself was tinted lavender and harmlessly passed through Alexia, much to her surprise.

With a sudden snap, all the runes stopped and the spinning sphere halted its rotation. Tune was given two seconds to release the breath she had been holding when the sphere emitted a flat green line of light that was two feet long and it passed over the unicorn who was pressing herself against the sofa. The line passed over her, but stopped at her chest and turned a hostile crimson. The edge of the aura flashed as lines of silver encased Alexia within a prison.

She didn’t have any time to wonder what went wrong when an angry feminine voice roared out at the unicorn from the book, but did not leave the confines of the purple tinted prison. “How dare you try to use a false identity marker and steal a Dusk Guard’s tome!”

Alexia felt a cold stab of fear in her stomach when the holographic representation of Princess Twilight Sparkle burst out of the sphere with a glare that could burn a hole through a brick wall. “Did you honestly think I wouldn’t quintuple layer the detection wards to verify that I was the one who cast it?” There were actually twenty more, but the alicorn didn’t want to volunteer information.

“I didn’t know I had one.” Alexia sputtered out, trying to make her way to the edge of the field; yet she was trapped within the prison as if it was made of steel. “I just wanted to see-”

“Don’t lie to me!” Twilight stomped her hoof. “I don’t know how you did it, but there is a near perfect replica of my cantrap on you.”

Tune cowered at the edge of the field with her forelegs covering her head. “I swear, I didn’t know about it. I just wanted to see if there was some way I could contact you.”

Sparkle scowled at her. “Well you’ll get your wish. Both you and the stolen tome will be teleported to the Canterlot dungeon so we can get to the truth of the matter.”

“But I didn’t do anything wrong!” Tune pleaded.

“We’ll see about that.” Twilight countered. The randomly crossed lines of the prison bars reformed into an array so complex Tune was momentarily at awe of it until she realized what was about to happen. Her panic escalated while she continued to plead her innocence as the teleportation array brightened, heralding the imminent activation.

Alexia was near the breaking point as she watching it all happen with a crazed grin. “Well at least I get to leave The Ranch.”

Twilight’s smug look of satisfaction of catching a thief evaporated when the pattern fizzled and went dead. The aura faded drastically to the point of almost being nonexistent. Alexia and the tome were still right where they started. “What happened? What did you do?” Tune was dumbstruck as she gazed about the room for a few seconds in pure amazement that she was still on Earth. The hologram’s horn glowed for a moment before the princess’s eye shot open in complete shock. “That spell was supposed to use the atmospheric magic to bring you here, but there’s barely a trace of it there. That can’t be possible, everywhere has ambient magic! Where in Equestria are you?”

Tune snapped herself back to reality at Twilight’s declaration. “There isn’t any on my world.”

“Your world? What are you talking about?” Sparkle demanded.

Alexia found the strength to make her voice level again. “I’m not from Equestria. I’m on a planet called Earth, my homeworld.”

“Earth?” Twilight switched spells to trace the link between her and the tome. She gasped at the distance. “Sweet Celestia! You’re telling the truth." She paused to contemplate the implications. "You say Earth is your homeworld? But how did a pony get so far away from Equis?”

Alexia pawed the ground with a hoof. “I wasn’t always a pony.” She received a searching gaze from Twilight. Tune glanced about the room and saw a magazine on the coffee table. “Here, one sec.”

She bounded over to the table and flipped through the fitness magazine and found a picture of a man flexing his impressive physique. Not that I ever looked like a body builder, but this is close enough. In her magic, she brought the magazine’s picture toward Twilight. “This is a human. Its kinda sorta what I used to look like over a month ago.”

The princess studied the image and then back at Tune for a couple of times. “Astounding.” Much of Twilight’s hostile vanished as she studied the image. How did she get turned into a pony though? She glanced at the captions, which made her temporarily forget her question. “Wish I could read the language, it would absolutely fascinating to learn about a different world’s culture.”

Alexia was puzzled by Twilight’s statement and glanced at the text to make sure it was in English. “Wait. You can’t read this?”

The lavender alicorn couldn’t help but to scoff at the ridiculousness of the question. “Of course not. How could I read a language I have never seen before?”

Alexia put the magazine down. “Aside from the parts still conceal by the illusion magic, everything in the tome’s been in English.”

Twilight did a double take. “That impossible, I wrote it all in Equish because only ponies could or should use the contained knowledge. Any other species would find no use for it.”

“But you’re speaking English right now.” Tune was utterly confused.

Sparkle gave her a wary eye and shook her head. “No. We’re speaking to each other in Equish.”

“But then…” Tune ran over to the tome. The pages were still glowing brightly, but the text was still clearly legible as dark shapes behind the light.

Twilight threw at hoof at her in warning. “Don’t try to close the book when it’s like this or it’ll lash out at you in self-defense!”

“I’m not going to.” Alexia responded before trailing off in a stunned silence. Every page from beginning to the latest point she was at, was not anywhere near English and did not even use the Latin alphabet. No matter where she looked, everything was in a completely different language. However what surprised her most is that she understood it all as clearly as she did English. “How in blazes did that happen?” One of her ears ticked at she was flabbergasted that the words that had just come out of her mouth had been in Equish. No, it had to be English. I’m thinking in English right? I think I am. I’ll just say hello. Experimentally she spoke again. “Hello?” That time it had been in her original language. “Well that sounded right.” Her words fell back into Equish, but she was able to tell it was in Equish.

Twilight walked up to her and put a calming hoof on Alexia’s shoulder. “If you’ll let me take a look, I can find out what’s going on here.” The silver unicorn stood aside to let the alicorn have better access to the book. Twilight’s horn lit up as she scanned both Alexia and the tome for a specific enchantment. A knowing half frown half smirk slid across her face. “Just as I thought. The book has a comprehension charm with a brilliant secondary illusion effect woven into it. By realizing that it’s not in your native language, your perception is able to pierce the illusion.”

“You can tell all that just by scanning it? I’ve only been able to tell the tome had more enchantments on it then I could count.”

Twilight remained focused on the tome as she spoke. “Its what I do.” She grinned at what she saw. “I don’t mean to sound immodest, but I don’t think anyone else could have sniffed this out, the spellwork on that comprehension enchantment is a masterpiece.” Yet it feels strangely familiar.

She went on to explain her findings. “Because of how the illusion functions in conjunction with the comprehension part, it tricked your brain into using…English I think you called it, to recreate what you saw. At the same time, the secondary effect of the charm wrote Equish in your brain as you read.” Twilight’s intellectual curiosity was piqued. “Normally, a comprehension spell doesn’t last very long, an hour or so unless constantly maintained. Which begs the question…gah! I almost missed the tertiary effect completely.” She slapped herself on the muzzle. “It siphons mana from the reader every time you read and uses that to power the spell.”

“So…” Alexia pulled the magazine back over in her magic and found she could still read both English and Equish fluently. “That is so cool.” She said in Equish. “But then how am I able to speak it too?”

“Well you’re not doing that good of a job with it to be honest.” Twilight admitted. “At first I thought you just had a really poor accent, but now I understand its because you don’t know any of the pronunciation rules. As for how, its really not that difficult to speak if you can read the language.”

Alexia’s face lit up like a searchlight. “Could you teach me magic and how to speak Equish properly?!”

Twilight took a step back from the begging unicorn. “Don’t you want to go back to being human?”

Alexia vigorously shook her head. “No, never! I want to stay as I am.”

Twilight searched the silver unicorn’s face for the truth of the matter. Alexia’s sincerity was as plain as day. “I don’t know if I should be flattered or concerned.” The princess chose to go with the latter. “Do you have any idea how you ended up as a unicorn?”

“Umm.” If the Princess is real then, maybe that whole thing during the party wasn’t a dream after all. “I think the entity called Discord did it.”

Sparkle buried her face into a hoof and groaned loudly. “Why am I not surprised?” No doubt he was the one who gave her that book and cast the identification cantrap on her. “I’m going to have a long talk with him about interfering with the affairs of other worlds.”

“Wait, please don’t get him in trouble.” Tune pleaded as she tried to tug on Twilight’s hooves, but they passed right through the hologram. “He did it for a good reason.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “This ought to be good.” She sighed in supreme annoyance. “So what excuse did he use this time?”

Alexia tried to recall her meeting the spirit of chaos. “He never said what it was directly, only that some threat would render my world lifeless had he done nothing.”

Sparkle’s lips pressed into a grim line. “If that’s the case why didn’t he just fix the problem…?” She tilted her head and huffed in exasperation. “Because he’s Discord.”

Tune was insistent. “Please don’t get him in trouble for this. I’m really truly grateful for the gifts he gave me.”

“You mean you don’t mind being forcibly changed into a different species?”

Tune sat back and scratched her neck sheepishly. “Well sure it was a real mind blow at first, but I love being a unicorn.” Alexia’s eyes closed as her horn was encased in azure light. “It may be old hat for you, but for me. Weaving spells, using arrays, the sensation of mana flowing through my veins.” She spoke in reverent tones. “Being a pony was hardly part of my life goals, and even with all the trouble it brings, this is my true self now.”

Alexia encased herself in an aura of her magic. Not to achieve any real effect, other than to feel her power out. “I know I can use this to help my world survive this coming disaster.” She let go of the magic and the light around her vanished. “What Discord did may not have been the best approach sure, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The princess couldn’t believe she was allowing it, but Alexia’s conviction had the desired effect. “It goes against my better judgment, but I’ll leave this be.” Alexia sighed in relief. “What I would like to know, is what do you want to do with the magic after you remove this threat?”

Alexia brought the magazine over to show the image of a group of people. “I don’t know how it is on your world. But on Earth, humans rule this world alone. Not because they conquered anyone to do that.” She noticed Twilight’s worried expression. “Its just that until us ponies started appearing, there was no other species capable of high intellect.”

The lavender alicorn was baffled. “Really? Only a single intelligent species on your entire planet? How lonely.” She added with a touch of sorrow.

“We never thought it was much of a problem, just how our world was. But now that me and more than twenty three hundred of us have become ponies, humans aren’t alone anymore.” She sat down next to Twilight and put the magazine on the floor so they could both see an advertisement of a family playing in a park. “The general population seems to like us well enough, but the government... not so much.”

“If a sentient species has been intellectually alone for the entirety of its development, then they would likely show signs of extreme xenophobia.” Sparkle deduced.

“I think that’s most of it. Plus they’re scared of our magic. Until we showed up, Earth had nothing like real magic.” Aside from Hollywood and some fancy toys, but that’s being technical. “So I want learn magic to help our people convince humanity to allow us to join them in society as equals.”

“An admirable goal.” Twilight said with a carefully controlled expression. The princess could tell the unicorn acted like a pony, but was strongly influenced by her native culture. She knew nothing about human mentality, aside from how Alexia presented herself. “But how are you going to do that?”

That was where Tune came up short. “I don’t know yet.” She stared off into space, gazing past the ceiling of her house. “My old plan is kind of bunked at this point. I just know I want both humans and ponies to be able to live together as equals.”

Alexia’s predicament reminded Twilight of the Hearth’s Warming Eve play she her friends took part of, and the story that went along with it. She looked back down at the picture. Humans look so different from ponies, and I bet their mentality mirrors that. Sure the three tribes had a great deal of animosity back then, but they were all still ponies. Here though, she wants to try unification despite that.

The princess studied Tune’s expression of reserved hope as she continued to dream of that day while staring at the ceiling. Being a former human she must know what she’s up against. As a bearer of Harmony, Twilight couldn’t resist the urge to spread Equestrian ideals when they were wanted. “I can help you, but I feel like we should start over and properly introduce ourselves.” Alexia turned back to the alicorn and got to her hooves. Twilight gave a slight nod and a warm smile. “I am Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria.”

Now that the alicorn was acting friendly, Alexia couldn’t contain her excitement. This wasn’t just a meeting with one of the leaders of her people; but the mentor who had, by proxy, taught her everything she knew about the very magic she craved to master. The unicorn bowed low. “I’m Alexia Tune.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Miss Tune, you can just call me Twilight, or Twi. I’m currently not a ruler as of yet so I don’t require formality unless I’m on business.”

“Please, Alexia or Alex. I have enough people addressing me like that.” She didn’t want to burden Twilight with the specifics of the internment camp if she could help it.

“I can do that Alex.” Sparkle added kindly. “How about we set up a trade of sorts.”

Alexia cocked her head. “What do you have in mind?”

Twilight looked around the room before focusing on the magazine again. “I would be more than willing to teach you magic when I can peel myself away from my obligations, and in exchange I’d like to know more about your world.”

Tune hummed at the condition before grinning. “Twilight. I can do that better than you think.” Alexia’s phone had not been returned to her, and was sitting in a confiscation locker on base. That did nothing to stop her from summoning it. After she pressed the power switch she held the phone up to the holographic princess. I may want to learn everything I can about magic, but I know my roots; and they lie firmly in the heart of technology. “Twi, I’ll be the first to admit us earthlings had nothing even close to pony magic. But that is not to say we didn’t make our own style of magic.” The phone finished booting and Tune quickly unlocked it and started up the browser. “Behold!” She announced in a grandiose manner. “All of the world’s information at your fingertips…well, hooftips I guess.”

The phone’s homepage was set to a search engine. Twilight was more interested in the fact that the screen was moving without any trace of magic coming from it, save for the residue left by Alexia from constant use. “I wish I could use that Alex, but I think that device will only respond to English.”

The silver unicorn was not to be defeated so easily. “Not a problem, I can do it for you. What would you like to know first?”

“Well why don’t we start with the origin of your species, you old species I mean.”

“Well that depends on who you ask.” Alexia replied. “Do you want a religious answer, or the scientific answer?”

“I know nothing of your faiths, so I’ll stick with the scientific one.” Twilight responded.

“Right then.” Tune fiddled with the phone to bring up the relevant website. “Oh internet, what would I do without you?”

Two hours passed as Tune satisfied every question Twilight came up with. Alexia was actually glad Twilight couldn’t use the phone herself because she wanted to keep her new friend away from unsavory sections of the net. Topics ranged from history, chemistry, astrology, to Twilight’s most interested subject of all: space flight. The entire time was spent improving Alexia’s pronunciation of Equish as well as Twilight gaining an understanding of the earthling mare.

They were going over theoretical propulsion systems for spacecraft when the battery gave its ten percent warning. Tune groaned at it. “I better shut it off, I didn’t put a hearth charm on the power cord so I’d like to save the last of the juice for an emergency.”

The lavender alicorn was awestruck by the device. “To have all of a world’s knowledge right there in the sole of your hoof. I only wish I could summon that device here so I could read for twenty lifetimes.”

Alexia made sure the phone was off and tucked it under the sofa. “Even if you could, it wouldn’t work on your world. It needs to be able to talk to the satellites around my planet to access the internet.”

“Even so, such interconnectivity of information.” Twilight was as enamored by Earth’s technology as Alexia was with magic. It was a parallel the silver mare found most amusing. “That settles it, you’ve more than upheld your end of the bargain and I shall hold mine.” Her horn lit up briefly. “I fixed your identification charm so the book will recognize you. That will give you access to the guard archives. I trust you will honor the six virtues I told you about.”

The unicorn rattled them off quickly. “Loyalty, honesty, laughter, kindness, and generosity, but I don’t think you ever told me what the sixth was.”

Twilight nodded sagely. “That is because you must discover it for yourself. Consider it the first project of your tutelage. There is no deadline on it, as I don’t expect you to discover the sixth element very easily.”

I can’t believe it! THE Twilight Sparkle is giving me a personal assignment! Alexia was careful to keep her overblown enthusiasm under control, but she couldn’t hide the stupid grin on her face. “I won’t let you down Sensei.” She snapped off a friendly salute.

“Sensei?” Must be a word for teacher. Twilight repeated the word a couple of times. “I like how it rolls off the tongue.” She said with a polite titter. “Okay, Sensei it is.” He tone become somber. “Given your situation, we may not be able to talk like this with each other very often, so I’ve altered the page where you activate the Dusk Guard archives from. If the purple light is on in the top circle, then I can pull away from my current tasks to speak with you. Unless the news is dire I will not attempt to contact you.”

“Because that might happen at the wrong time.” Alexia finished.

“Correct. And as such, I have duties I must return to. I wish you the best of luck, and I hope to see you again soon.”

Alexia wanted to touch the translucent alicorn, but knew her hoof would pass through. “Goodbye Sensei.”

“Goodbye my faraway student, may you always hold the elements in your heart and share it with others.” Twilight’s image faded away and the lavender aura from the tome dispersed. The room grew dark again as the pages stopped glowing and the tome returned to normal save for holographic text floating above the tome.

The silver and azure mare walked over to read it. ”I wanted to thank you again for allowing me to see a glimpse of your world. I wish to see more of it in the future went we have time, and hopefully to one day see your dream realized. I trust you will use this dangerous magic with the principles of harmony in your heart. It with that trust in mind that I leave you with a gift that Celesta passed down to me and now I to you. This is a spell only an exceptional few are ever able to perform, but I sense you possess the unique potential to make use of it. May it serve you well in times to come.”

Alexia had to blink away a joyous tear. Tune didn’t care what the gift was exactly, only that it was a personal one given to her by the pony who she saw as a friend, mentor, and the ideal to strive to be. “I’ll make you proud sensei, I swear it.”

Clearing her eyes, she scanned the magical hologram and saw the obvious advance “button” and tapped it with a short burst of mana. The letter dissolved and was replaced by a multiple paragraphs that surrounded her along with three large diagrams clarifying the spell’s structure. Directly in front of her was the name of the spell: Blink.

On the far side of The Ranch, the base commander rested his chin on the palm of his hand as he watched the video feed of Subject Uniform reading the spell Twilight gifted her with. His carefully crafted stoic mask belied nothing of what lied beneath. Roberts had joined in about the time Twilight realized Tune had been innocent of theft.

Both men were in a large room filled with screens along three walls. Those were mostly uneventful and were monitored by a simplistic AI that watched for strange events to record and flag for review. Hanging from the forward area of the ceiling was a much larger screen displaying Alexia’s holographic lesson plan for all fifteen people to see.

The room was silent save for the silent mutterings of the unicorn reading the text to herself in Equish. The air in the observation room was electric with what they had just witnessed. The military had their suspicions about the undiscovered possibilities of magic, but Twilight’s arrival trumped everything they had expected. The commander stood up to address the room. “I need every millisecond scrutinized for any addition information and I want the top linguists on payroll and translating that audio.” The room descended into organized chaos as the commander tapped a few buttons on a console before wordlessly beckoning Roberts to join him in his office.

The commander’s officer was spartan and to the point. It had a desk, two flags on poles behind it of both the US and Air Force. The only adornment was an unsolved rubix cube next to the desk name plate that read: Colonel Bowler.

The Colonel sat down at his chair and brought up the whole clip on his computer as he spoke to Roberts who remained standing. “Tell me your thoughts on what we just witnessed Doctor.”

Roberts adjusted his spectacles to buy time to conceal his excitement. “To put it bluntly sir, I’m not quite sure. Your hunch about Uniform was certainly on the money, but without knowing what they were saying; I can only guess.”

Bowler spun the screen around to start the clip at the moment the wards detected Tune’s false identification marker. “I find this part, along with the mystery pony’s appearance most telling. Given the presence of both wings and a horn, I’d say that was one of the pony’s leaders, if not the only one. And judging the body language and tone of voice, I'd say she had no idea there were ponies on Earth until now.”

Roberts concurred. “The leader was extremely hostile at first. If it was some form of AI of the book itself, I doubt it would have been so belligerent. What with Uniform possessing the book since she started changing, if she obtained it like the others had. But I must ask. Why did you not scramble Uniform’s phone signal? You had the tech waiting for you to give the order to do so.”

“It was a calculated risk.” Bowler replied curtly. “Once I realized who that hologram represented, I needed to know what sort of information they wanted.” He tapped a few keys to bring up Alexia’s Google searches.

“I was expecting Uniform to give general information on our military technology, economic power, and key government locations; anything an invader would want to know that is openly available on the net. If this winged unicorn wanted secret information she wouldn’t bother trying through a commercial satellite phone.” The requested list finally pops up on screen. “Instead they searched for ancient history, the basic sciences, and an episode of Star Trek.”

“Sounds to me you think they don’t really care about Earth.”

Bowler clasped his hands as he stared at the two ponies; one physical, the other translucent. “I want to bring subject Uniform in for questioning. Find out from her who that was and what she wants.”

“With all due respect Colonel, you don’t honestly believe Uniform will tell us the truth do you?”

“Of course she will.” Bowler rebuked. “Wilder’s reports on Uniform have been very informative on what kind of leverage would produce the best response. She’ll come to me asking for a favor soon enough and that will be the perfect time to get what we want from her.”

“With all due respect Colonel. Why waste time? Subject Papa would serve as perfect leverage.”

“Doctor, your expertise lies within the lab. Keep your suggestions outside of that to yourself.” Bowler growled. “Besides, there are far more effective forms of manipulation that will not result in as much backlash from the subject. Even more so when we hold our end of the bargain.”

“I will respect your decision of course Colonel, but Uniform likes to uphold herself on a moral high horse, what could you use besides intimidation to bend her to your will?”

Fool. “Don’t you get it Doctor? She’ll spoon feed us the means to control her.” Bowler flipped the screen back around to type in orders. “For now though, I want to watch her for a few days; let her think the meeting went unnoticed. If this mystery pony changes her behavior in any discernibly negative way, I’ll have her brought in early for interrogation. For now though, we wait.”

Alexia learned the Blink spell with a passion she had not felt for anything else save Conrad. The fact that it was Twilight’s personal gift was enough to spur her to master it, but upon discovering what the spell truly was turned her into a mare possessed by the absolute need to have it.

Both Loki and Conrad returned home later that night at separate times. The green mare was cackling madly at a small pouch she had around her neck. Momma’s going to fix her baby right up. No jarheads are going to keep me offline. She headed to the kitchenette next to the living area and saw Alexia completely absorbed by the shimmering text. As she got closer, Loki’s better hearing picked up on Tune’s quiet mutterings as she read the glowing text.

“Hey Alex, what the latest?” She received no response, prompting Loki to snicker. “You’re lost to the world aren’t you?”

“Uh huh.” Tune absently answered back.

The earth pony grabbed some salad and wandered off. You’d think she was looking at some damn good porn.

Conrad came in shortly after midnight carrying a list of names under his wing and a growling stomach. He too saw the distracted mare, but knew how to get her attention. He put the list aside and scrounged up the last of the burgers from the returned food and started cooking it on the stove. “Amazing how controllable these primary feathers are. Only half as good as fingers though but can’t complain since they let me fly.”

He was moving the paddies on a plate when a silver mare following her nose came over and nuzzled him. “Is it so late already we need a midnight snack?”

“That it is.” He set aside her plate which flew up in her kinesis. “So were you able to find anything?”

The silver mare munched happily into her burger. “Oh the things I have to tell you.”

A week went by with no contact with the outside world, save for the televisions in the mess hall and commons area that were fixed on the news stations. Loki had more difficulty fixing her broken uplink than she thought she would, but was up and running in three days only to find her signal was jammed one minute after starting. The resulting emotional firebomb was felt camp wide.

Conrad spent most of his time watching Alexia’s back as discretely as he could and helping her when possible. He was convinced the military want something more out of the detainees than making sure the public was safe from the alleged mind numbing charisma ponies possessed.

Alexia spent her study time equally between mastering Blink and Twilight’s tried and true concussive blast. The latter was by far easier than the former, but she was able to blink with moderate effort by week’s end. She used the rest of her time trying to organize a work force of ponies in an effort to get them motivated enough to start a construction project she had in mind. On the following Monday she planned to ask the base commander for authorization to do just that.

That very Monday, Alexia was rudely broken out of sleep by roiling nausea from the pit of her stomach. Instead of trying to untangle herself from Conrad and the covers, she blinked to the bathroom. That only made it worse and she scrambled to the toilet and heaved what little was left of her dinner.

Her rushed blink roused Conrad to wakefulness and followed the sound of her groggy moans. “You alright?”

“I will be.” Alexia spat as much of the stomach acid as she could in the toilet before flushing. “Must have been that tri bean burrito.” She still felt bad, but it was improving. She grabbed the mouthwash in her magic as she always saved brushing her teeth until after breakfast, something she wasn’t about to let an upset stomach keep her away from. “I’m fine now though.”

“If you die of food poisoning I’ll write ‘I told you so’ on your tombstone.”

She both groaned and laughed at his morbid joke. “And I’ll come back to haunt you.” She didn’t want to let the topic drag on any more and the event did have the effect of slicing through her normal morning drowsiness enough for her to function. “Let’s get some food before I head over to Vanders’ house to speak with the Colonel.” She levitated her toothbrush, paste, and a small carry satchel to hold them in.

Shortly after said meal, the couple was walking towards the southern edge of the pony section of the air base. It was there that ponies who had originally been in the military or some other government agency linked to national security were kept. Mostly to act as a more trusted go between for the civilian ponies and humans.

Both mare and stallion knew they couldn’t just walk straight up to the Colonel, so they went to the best go between they could think of. First Sergeant Vanders had expressed interest in joining Alexia’s construction crew, and as such she had been given his address. With Conrad staying on the walkway in front of Vander’s house, Tune knocked on the door. A pink mare with a white mane answered and recognized the silver unicorn quickly. “Oh, Alex. What brings you over here?”

Tune gave the earth pony a friendly smile. “Hey Chrissie. I wanted to see if Vanders’ could arrange a meeting between me and the Colonel so we can get the farm underway.”

“Sure, come on in. Jack’s been really pumped about this project yours, and I have to say its contagious. I’m sick of having nothing to do but eat and exercise.” Conrad followed the mares inside and found the interior was identical to their own house, save for a handful of knickknacks. First Sergeant Vanders was reading over several papers for the personnel allocations for Alexia’s project. The unicorn had no experience in logistics, but it was something the red stallion had plenty of in his career.

At hearing Alexia’s voice, the pegasus came out of his room with some of the paper being held in a wing. “Ah Tune, glad you came by. I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of sending your proposal down the pipeline. Hopefully we’ll hear back in a few days if the commander cares enough to look.”

Tune was not so much angry was she was surprised. “Why did you send it without me asking first?”

Vanders knew it was a risky move, more so for the friendly relationship he had with her than anything else. “The way you were talking yesterday I knew you were going to ask me to do that sooner or later. I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but it can take a while for requests like this to filter on up.”

Alexia considered the excuse. “You do know how the military works better than I.” Plus if he’s showing initiative, then he must really want this to happen. “Thanks Vanders. Any idea when we’ll hear back on it?”

“Depends of if he-“ A loud ringing came from Vanders’ room, prompting him to hold his other wing up in a gesture to wait. “I better take that.” He left everyone else to grab his phone and was slightly unnerved by who it was. He picked the phone up in his free wing. “Sir. First Sergeant Vanders.”

Colonel Bowler’s tone was clipped and to the point. “I have reviewed your proposal and I find it of interest. Bring Miss Tune to my office immediately.”

“Yes Sir, I’ll have her there in thirty.” The Colonel hung up, leaving Vanders worried. Why would he respond to this so quickly? He had no other option but to follow orders, yet that did not mean he couldn’t warn Alexia about the strangeness of it. If she doesn’t pick up on that anyway.

Vanders found Chrissie and the guests gossiping about silly rumors that had been flying around camp. “Tune, that was the CO. He wants to see you right away.”

“That was fast.” She said cautiously.

"Yes, it was.” Conrad had a really bad feeling about it.

Vanders sympathized, but there was nothing else they could do. “We don’t want to keep him waiting.”

“Okay.” Tune pulled Conrad aside to whisper after noticing he was none too happy about it. “I’ll be fine, he’s probably jumping at the chance to have us do something constructive.”

“I know you’re not that naive.” He whispered back.

“Well its either that or something destructive, and given his career path… Look, just promise me you won’t try anything. If I get detained or something keeps me from coming back, I’ll write a message in the front page of the tome.”

That satisfied him and pulled her in for a wary nuzzle. “Be safe, or at least as safe as possible.” The sweetness of her scent was subtly stronger than when he first noticed it, making him feel more protective, but it only served to make things worse for him.

“I will.” She walked over to the waiting red stallion. “Shall we?”

Vanders only nodded before guiding her out the door. They walked through the last few rows of houses, passing many ponies along the way. The NCO couldn’t understand the silver mare walking beside him. In the short time she’d been there, she had energized over half the camp. Every pony there felt drawn to her in a slight but noticeable way towards her generally friendly and determined demeanor. Vanders thought it was sexual attraction at first, assuming it was his stallion brain reacting to her mare’s body. After a few days he realized that wasn’t the reason at all. He admitted the physical attraction was there, which worried him about how acclimated he had become to see his views of attraction shifting. However he realized that sentiment was based more in that he saw Alexia was more of a leader than as a potential mate.

I’ve spent the last week getting close to her as per orders, but I can’t help but feel… He offhandedly noticed that he had fallen in step slight behind her, almost as if it was her place to be at the front. Is it possible ponies are matriarchal by default? There are an awful lot more mares than stallions. Vanders looked back on his time in The Ranch before Tune’s arrival. I don’t recall ever feeling that way to any other mare, or stallion, or human for that matter. So why Tune? This was one matter he did not share with his superiors as he felt it was a betrayal he couldn’t stomach. It was that feeling in particular that troubled him.

“Tune, may I ask you something?” He said in a friendly manner to get the distracted mare's attention.

“Sure Sergeant, and I keep telling you, you can call me Alexia or Alex.” She returned candidly.

“Old habits die hard.” He added with a curt laugh. “Do you think magic can influence how other people think? Directly I mean.” He phrased it to keep from insinuating anything.

Her first reaction was to deny any knowledge of magic outside of what was already generally known, but she found she couldn’t do that. Its what Conrad would do, but Sensei says honesty is paramount to our kind. I won’t disregard Twilight like that. That resolve didn’t make it any easier to say. “I do…think so I mean.” She looked at the ground in shame. “Because magic is an extension of willpower, sometimes when I get angry too quickly and yell at someone to do what I want, I reactively use magic to make them comply.”

It fell in line with the one time he witnessed such an event when a mare who was particularly hostile towards the idea of staying as a pony came to blows with Tune. Loki intercepted the violent mare before she could buck Alexia’s chest. Vanders was about to intervene when Alexia beat him to it. As Tune described in her confession, Vanders noticed her horn glowing when she yelled at the brawlers to stand down. I can respect her openness, not that many people noticed the effect she had on the fighters. So she could easily play ignorant if she wanted to. Vanders followed Alexia soon after the incident to witness her apologize to both Loki and the violent mare about the compulsion spell. Surprisingly, Loki was not bothered by it at all. The other mare was still angry about the whole thing, but agreed to keep it quiet.

Vanders found he could keep it a secret as well, as it was not something he saw Tune ever try to abuse. “Tell me though.”

The mare temporarily forgot her shame at the lack of accusation in his voice. “Do you think that works passively? As in without your horn glowing?”

“Unicorns can only cast magic actively, either through intent or reflex. And in both cases I’d know if it was happening, and so would everyone around me because my horn would be glowing.”

“Really? No passive magic at all?”

“Nothing that isn’t shared between all three tribes.” She confirmed. “And nothing that comes close to mind magic. Well… if you discount the supposed charismatic aura we all share.”

“How do you know so much about it?”

She was about to give an honest answer when the administration building loomed over them and one of the human soldiers started walking over to them. “I’ll tell you when I get back.” Vanders nodded and wordlessly left Alexia to her fate.

Bowler was reading two linked reports when his call box piped up. “Subject Uniform has entered the building Colonel.”

“Thank you Meriwether, send her in when she arrives.” He clicked the box before returning to his work. He put a hand under the desk to reassuringly tap the shotgun secured under the desk and pointed at the chair with only a thin layer of balsa wood between them. He wanted to take no chances with the power he knew she had. It wasn’t his only precaution, but he wanted to be able to handler her himself instead of letting this turn into a possible hostage situation. If all goes to plan it won’t be necessary.

He brought up the relevant files on his computer in time to hear a knock on the door. “Enter.” He said in a raised voice that carried no emotion.

The door slid open and a nervous voice spoke up. “You wanted to see me sir?”

“Have a seat Miss Tune.” He said evenly, hinting at no malicious intent. The hard wood chair was designed for humans, but she wasn’t going to complain to the man she wanted to ask a favor of, so she tried to get as comfortable as possible. He continued reading his reports for an additional minute before finally regarding her. “Word has it, you want to start a construction project.”

She nodded, trying to hide her nervousness. “Yes sir.”

Bowler produced the written proposal from a drawer. “Material supplies to till half the empty land to grow various crops and a second one to build an athletics center.”

“To make up for the land lost to the farm.” She offered.

He dropped the paper and leaned forward on his desk. “Tell me why I should bother with this?” He demanded bluntly.

She fought to keep a straight face. “Well, the farm would cut down on upkeep, and would give us something to do with ourselves. The athletics center could host games to keep morale up.”

“That’s all well and good for you. But why should I care? Your morale and the source of your food is not my concern. I only have to keep you here.” He had other duties, but he wasn’t going to share them.

“I thought we were only here to be studied and kept away from the public for reasons of safety, not that we’re criminals in a prison.” She countered diplomatically. “We have done nothing wrong, so why can’t we be allowed to do something productive?”

“You want to be productive?” He inquired with a subtle sneer.

“Absolutely!”

“If you want something from me, you’re going to have to return the favor.”

“Huh? Like what?”

He turned his computer screen around to show Alexia an image of her and a transparent purple alicorn conversing in Tune’s house. “You can start by telling me who that is.”

Tune’s blood ran cold. “You put cameras in my house?!”

He scoffed. “Are you really so surprised? Now tell me who that is.”

The silver mare glowered at the man for a solid minute before answering. “Her name is Princess Twilight Sparkle. And if you’re going to ask me if she did this to us or if she plans to invade, I can answer both with one word: no. She can’t physically come here anyway.”

“Why have you made three communiques with her over the course of the past week?”

Alexia had actually met with her four times, but she wasn’t in the mood to volunteer that information. “She’s a scholar. Her interest is strictly academic.”

“Then why is she giving you reading material?”

She was getting pissed at the inane questions. “I know in that small mind of yours Colonel, that you could see a threat to the nation in a blind preschooler in a wheelchair; but not everyone out there is bent on conquest. Some people just want to coexist peacefully.”

“Says a race that has a built in mind control aura.” He countered. “How do you know this princess isn’t controlling you to think she isn’t a threat?” He said, trying to plant a seed of doubt.

“We’re immune to this supposed aura Colonel, seeing as there's twenty three hundred of us over there in close proximity with one another and none of us have a compulsion to pet each other all day debunks that.”

“You really think one of the pony leaders wouldn’t have a way to circumvent that immunity to someone who’s barely been a unicorn for over a month?”

That only made her more defensive. “Even if she did Twilight, as a person, is incapable of that. Besides, she can’t do any magic herself on our world, the distance is too great even if her aura could affect me.” She didn’t want to mention it was through the tome out of fear that he might try to destroy it.

The officer was incapable of believing in Twilight’s benevolence, and suspected Alexia was being played. “So she would like you to believe. However, putting the alien’s agenda aside, I want to know what all of that reading material she’s been giving you is for.”

Tune didn’t like it, but the truth was the only thing that was going to keep her from being executed as a traitor. “So I can learn advanced magic.”

“And what exactly do you plan to do with that magic?”

She threw a hoof in the air out of exasperation. “If you have cameras all up in my house, then you already know what.”

He nodded the point to her. “Social integration. Such a…benign objective.” He tapped a few keys to bring up images of her using magic in the house. “Teleportation, concussive blasts, and outright invisibility. Now tell me, because I would love to hear it-“ He said with a menacing tone. “-what do you expect me to believe when confronted with this? You’re a criminal’s wet dream.”

Tune was still outraged about the invasion of privacy to care about being diplomatic. “I’m the only pony who can blink. The spell is too difficult for just any unicorn to pull it off, and you can detect the invisibility with echolocation.”

That caught him off guard, but he made no sign of it. “You’re being rather forthcoming… Why?”

“Because I’m serious about social integration. My kind can be of great benefit to mankind, you just need to give us a chance.”

He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his chin in contemplation. “If that’s the case, why bother with spells you know I would have an issue with?”

“Because I know what the military wants.” She stated with supreme disgust. “You want a weapon, I want what’s best for my people.”

He liked not having to explain himself, not that he would have anyway. “I’m glad you can see the big picture. Alright Miss Tune, you want your farm and rec center? You’ll have to earn it.” Bowler clicked the call box and a government agent in a black suit walked in. “Agent Enright. She’s all yours, do try to bring her back in one piece, apparently she’s one of a kind.”

Enright stared impassively at the surprised pony at how quickly her situation was changing. “That will depend entirely on her.”

She turned to Bowler, accusation painted over her face. “You planned this?”

“I didn’t have to try very hard, Miss Tune. You’re hardly subtle.”

“This is something we can rectify.” Enright commented.

“By the way Agent.” Bowler called before the man could lead Alexia away. “I’m sure you’re already aware of the herd instinct these ponies possess, take her two friends as well. You’ll have better results if they accompany her.”

“That is acceptable, have them moved to the helipad.” The colonel gestured to the affirmative.

Cursing in Equish, Alexia got off the chair to follow Enright. She brooded the entire walk through administration and out to the helipad. The base commander was a shrewd man, and already had Loki and Conrad detained and present at the helipad long before he presented the idea to Enright. It was a nondescript helicopter, save for its completely black paint. Flights in and out of the air base from aircraft just like that one were almost daily.

They were half way to the pad when she spoke for the first time. “Am I ever going to come back here?” She hadn’t heard of ponies disappearing, but she didn’t know what to expect.

“There’s no need to permanently relocate you, your current accommodations are sufficient. Follow orders and you will be allowed to return.”

“Can you at least tell me what I’ll be doing?”

He glanced down at her as the noise of the helicopter started to make conversation difficult. “A rescue operation.”

14: The Cult

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The flight was long and uneventful. It didn't help that Enright was as talkative as a sponge. Unlike the Chinook, which had its interior partially soundproofed, the CH-53 was not so kind to the ponies’ more acute hearing thanks to their large ears. Luckily, the aircraft did have several helmets designed for a pony’s physiology and was more than adequate to drown out the engine noise.

Tune found it odd that there was already so much equipment designed with a pony’s shape in mind, but any inquiries into why were met with silence. It didn’t help that none of the helmets were equipped with microphones.

Conrad’s internal compass told him they were going south with a moderate lean to the east. His wings itched at the sensation of being in flight powered by something other than his own power.

Loki felt the interior of the craft was far too dull, and had a rough time staying still as the need to stretch her legs was becoming exasperating. The green mare was sorely tempted to toy with Enright by activating her bracelet’s invisibly, but decided to save that prank for later.

Eventually the helicopter set down in a clearing several miles north of Caney Creek Lake State Park, Louisiana. Spring was well underway and the grass had a fresh and healthy green luster along with the trees on the edge of the clearing growing in this year’s canopy of leaves. The surrounding area had three brick buildings that looked at home in a park reception center. There was no sign that the place was anything resembling a covert organization. Alexia mused that would defeat the purpose.

There was no one to greet them at the helipad, which was little more than a clearing of grass. Enright gestured for the trio to leave the confines of the aircraft and head towards the drab grey and red structure on the left side.

“So when are you start giving us some answers?” Loki yelled at Enright.

“You’ll get some soon enough.” He replied with no emotion.

“Stupid black suited robot.” The earth pony grumbled to herself. “I bet you couldn’t smile if your life depended on it.”

The interior of the two story brick building revealed itself to be a dilapidated storehouse that had been commandeered by the paramilitary group that had recruited them. Said group did not seem to be very big as there were only three people manning a small control center. The forth was standing behind the operator in the center of the room who looked to the door when Enright opened it and led the ponies inside.

By his demeanor and presence, it was obvious he was the one in charge. He stood just shy of six feet and had a surprisingly pleasant expression on his face. “Well now, the guests of honor have arrived. You may call me Director Thompson.”

He offered his had in greeting to which Alexia hesitantly accepted and shook before he repeated the gesture to Loki and Conrad. “Alexia Tune. You’re not quite what I expected Director.”

“I could say the same for you, Miss Tune. Your list of abilities is impressive to say the least. As such, I felt drafting you would enact a more efficient resolution to a problem of both mine and yours.”

“Like what?” Conrad asked flatly, not trusting Thompson’s approachable nature as genuine.

“I will get to that in a minute, but first I need a demonstration of your unique abilities so I can get a measure of them.”

Loki’s ears perked up at that and hissed at her friends to grab their attention before waving her bracelet at them. “On three guys. Ready?” Alexia felt better at the warmer reception from the Director and was willing to entertain Loki’s suggestion. Conrad needed some prodding from the unicorn before agreeing as well. At Tune’s nod, Loki started counting. “One, two, three!”

With an azure, green, and off-white transparent film spreading from Alexia, Loki, and Conrad’s bracelets respectively; the ponies faded from view entirely. The Director maintained his composure, but it was evident he was greatly pleased. “Active camouflage, most impressive. Glad your file was on the money. But I was under the impression only you had these abilities, Miss Tune.”

“I enchanted my friends’ bracelets so they can use the cloak too.” Alexia cantered a lap around the room with her voice being the only indication of where she was. “Our hoofsteps are dampened as well, so we don’t have to worry about hard surfaces.” She returned to her original spot and decloaked. Conrad followed suite, while Loki revealed herself to be standing on the table next to one of the operators. Her muzzle was inches from the man’s ear.

A crazed grin crept over her face as the man finally looked away from the satellite images to the green muzzle. “Hi there.”

Much to his chagrin and future teasing, the man jump out of his seat at the sudden appearance of the green pony. Alexia and Conrad cringed at the backlash Thompson was going to level on them thanks to Loki, but all he did was snicker at her antics. “I hope you didn’t piss your pants Moore.”

Moore tsked at the giggling mare and his bemused commander. “I’m fine Director.” His fellows kept their composure, but Moore knew he wasn't going to hear the end of it for weeks.

“Good to hear it.” He tilted his head to beckon Loki to rejoin her companions. “That will certainly cut down on training time if all three of you can already move silently and invisibly.”

Conrad was baffled by Thompson’s behavior. “You don’t act like any government agency I’ve ever heard of.”

“That’s because we’re trying a different, if highly unpopular approach with you.” The Director’s inflection grew sour. “What you see is the entirety of my department, if it can really be called that. The three men here and I wish to try a more candid and positive approach towards handling equine agents such as yourselves.”

“You can’t be serious.” The pegasus replied incredulously.

“Why do you think this is all I could requisition from the head office?” Thompson replied waving at the room with three desk agents and their modest equipment. “I told you my approach is unpopular, but I made enough noise to get a chance, and you’re it.”

“What about iceberg over there?” Loki jabbed a hoof at Enright.

“He’s part of the probation.” Thompson stated matter-of-factly. “To report the higher ups how effective my style of agent handling with your kind is. Although I know they only really care about results.” Enright made no reaction to the explanation, nor to the three ponies’ prolonged stares. The Director didn’t expect a reaction so he continued. “Suffice it to say, the DoD will make use of your talents, be it through me or someone else. I would like to think my hunch was right and that you would prefer a friendlier atmosphere to work with. If not…”

Alexia jumped at the chance. “We would. Totally would.” She jabbed a hoof into Conrad and Loki’s sides. “Right guys?”

“Yeah…sure.” He responded.

“Only if I can go online again when I go back home.” Loki demanded.

“That would be up to Colonel Bowler, I have no authority over him.” Thompson replied sympathetically. “But if you sign a nondisclosure agreement about our work here or about anything related to being a pony, I can accommodate you while you’re working with me. Provided you’re not on assignment and only if this operation is successful.”

Tune wrapped a foreleg around Loki and pulled her in to a side long hug to whisper. “Come on Green Bean, this is the best chance we got. Be glad he isn’t yelling at us to do push-ups or something.”

Loki glowered at her new nickname for a few seconds before cracking a smile. “Fine, fine.” She turned to the Director. “So what do you want us to do?”

“Jackson!” The Director yelled so that the operator would grab his laptop and place it on the table in front of the ponies. The computer revealed a zoomed in photo of a large open walled dining area near a marina along the western end of the park to the south. A second image taken via satellite showed several armed men and women patrolling the area while some dragged a hostage off camera. It was too grainy to see any fine details of the militants. “About seventeen hours ago, a group of cultists proclaiming themselves to be the Arm of the Koridost started kidnapping everyone in the state park just south of here and rounding the hostages up and bringing them to this location.”

“Originally I was going to have you go through an extensive training regimen, as that is what I planned to have you do once Bowler finally released you into my custody. But when this situation occurred, I knew with your skill set that you could accomplish this mission without it.”

“Wait just one damn minute.” Conrad exclaimed. “You want us, a bunch of civilians, to go against a damn small army with no training?”

“All three of you just demonstrated invisibility, and your file said Alexia here possesses teleportation and can summon a concussive blast which would be excellent for both lethal and nonlethal alike. You possess flight, and Loki has demonstrated strength in excess. Prove to me, and my superiors alike, that you are ready and willing to defend your country, and I promise you that given enough time I can pressure the brass to give you more liberties at The Ranch. Maybe, but no promises.” He added. “You could persuade them through your actions to disband the camp entirely.”

Conrad still believed it was a ploy, but Alexia’s prodding made him relent. “I still don’t like being sent in with no training.”

“We’ll do that later. Of that I can guarantee, if this op goes well.” Thompson promised. “I am not proud to say that I begged the brass to give me this op, and as you can imagine they are not very patient with hostage situations on American soil.”

He had Tune at the promises of more freedoms. “We’ll do it!” She glanced at her brethren for support and they gave it.

“Great. The brass doesn’t care how you do it, as they don’t really know what to expect of you.”

He leaned against the table to get more comfortable. “The situation is this. Seventeen hours ago, a group of militant fanatics attacked the homes of everyone living in the park to the south while five families there were hosting reunions. They’ve issued no demands, and if their actions are anything to go by, they didn’t even want to be discovered. Police were called in shortly after the shooting started and thirteen officers were killed by the numerically superior hostiles before the rest backed off. After that, the cult gave their ultimatum to the police to stay away or they would kill every hostage.”

“As I said, there were no demands and no willingness to negotiate. Whatever these people are doing, they need to be stopped. With none of you having any sort of training, I was originally I was going to send Tune in there by herself because invisibility coupled with muffled footsteps more than makes up for it. However since all of you have this ability, I think sending all three of you will work better.” The mares were apprehensive, but Conrad was more or less unaffected by the prospect of taking life. “Your goal is simple. Secure the hostages and notify me when they're safe so I can call in the strike force and evac.”

The brown pegasus showed interest. “As for the cultists. Would you rather them dead or alive?”

“Either or.”

“Dead it is.” Conrad liked it simple.

Alexia wasn’t quite so ready to deal out blood and death. “What do we know about this cult?”

“Very little, other than that they seem to be able to convert anyone who will listen to them, and they have a penchant for ritually scaring their faces and painting their skin red. A real nasty bunch.”

Loki kicked the air behind her, and was not letting the reality of it all sink in. “Well I’m all for bucking some extremists. Just give me some lunch, a direction, and watch the zealots fly.”

“The National Guard is crawling up my ass wanting to go in themselves, so I need you to go in now.”

“We’ll do our best.” Alexia declared.

“Excellent.” Thompson pulled a padded grey briefcase out from under the table. Within were ten headsets and he pulled three of them out. “These will keep you in contact with us so we can keep you appraised on up-to-date intel.” The three ponies took the sets and found they were anchored around the ears and had a long mic boom. They were moderately uncomfortable because their ears constantly swiveled to errant noise and were fully integrated into their facial expressions. The Director noticed their discomfort. “It's all I could get on short notice. If things go well, I can get the funding for equipment better suited to your physiology.”

“We appreciate it.” Tune replied. “So are we being airlifted again?”

“Afraid not.” Jackson butted in. “This is as close as we dare without the risk of getting shot down. Two choppers were nearly taken down by stingers. If we were going to bring in more aircraft, it would not be for small insertion team.”

“So you want us to hoof it from here?” Loki inquired.

“That’s the idea.”

The idea of running appealed to the hacker. “Then what are we waiting for?”

“One more thing before you go.” Thompson said with a voice of command. “Keep the headsets with you at all times. They’ll let us track your movements and we can direct you to the target location.” He checked the map on screen. “If your invisibility holds up at running speed and can fully muffle your footfalls, go along the main road for about five miles, after that we can help you zero in on the location.”

I don’t like the idea of going up against people who managed to procure stingers of all things, but Alexia is determined to help our brethren. Plus this invisibility really does give us an edge. Conrad brooded before turning to Alexia. “Should we get moving then?”

“Yes, lets. We can eat along the way Green Bean.” Loki’s unvoiced objection halted in her throat. She gave a grunt of approval before chasing after her friends.

Conrad took to the air to point out where the main road was before dropping back down again to save his wings for later. Almost unconsciously, both he and Loki let Alexia take point and followed along in a chevron as they thundered after her as the three of them found the main road and galloped south. A brief flicker of color saw the three ponies disappear from sight.

Almost immediately the two mares felt a strange sense of loss with the absent clip clop of their hooves on the asphalt. Both had grown to enjoy the noise whereas the stallion felt relief at not hearing it for once.

Alexia was not very fit by pony standards, but her equine form was easily able to handle the mile and a half before she slowed down at sighting the first road block set up by the cultists. That didn’t mean she was not breathing heavily as she led the gang to the shoulder of the road to observe the roadblock outside of earshot. One quick look at Loki’s headset told her what button to press on her own to speak.

“Hey ah, Boss?”

Thompson responded quickly. “What is it Alpha one, have you made contact?”

Tune had seen enough action movies to know what he meant. “Yea, a bunch of them are manning a roadblock. What do you want us to do?”

“Can you sneak by them or is your invisibly malfunctioning?”

“They didn’t see us coming, and we didn’t exactly try concealing ourselves outside of the cloak.”

“Did they react to you moving up the road?”

She surveyed the militants standing vigil over the roadblock. None of them acted as if they had seen anything. “No.”

“Then leave them to the strike teams later, your priority is to secure the hostages. Make your way there further down the road and give us a better picture to work with.”

“Right.” She turned to her compatriots. “We leave these guys alone, come on.”

One of the cultists felt something strange along the ground. He put a palm to the road and felt faint vibrations. “Hey Barley. You see anything coming up on us?”

The man grabbed a pair of binoculars and looked down the road. “Not a thing.”

The vibrations were getting stronger. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, brother. There’s nothing. Why?” He turned around to double check that there might be something coming from within the park, but nothing was visible.

Before the first could respond, he felt the vibrations were right on top of them and then a buffet of air before the vibrations started fading away. He grabbed his assault rifle and pointed in the general direction of the park, but had nothing to shoot at. “There was something there.”

Barley knew his brother wasn’t one for flights of fancy. “Should we inform the Herald?”

“Tell him what? That there was wind and a minor earthquake maybe?” He slung his rifle to face back away from the park. “It was nothing.”

With Loki bringing up the rear, she sighed in relief when the roadblock didn’t start shooting randomly at their passing. What the hell am I doing? She thought after the heat of the moment with Thompson died down. I’m a hacker, not a damn super spy. She looked to Alexia and saw the silver mare had a worried, but set determination in her visage.

It was all she needed to see. And she’s a mail carrier turned mage. She glanced at Conrad who was only concerned about the weaponry they were up against and not so much the bloody business in of itself. Loki knew from his history that the stallion was no stranger to firefights or taking a life. The earth pony didn’t see much inspiration from him, but felt waves of it from Alexia. If this is really what Alex thinks is best for our people then I’ll follow her lead no matter where it takes me.

Beneath her notice, some of Alexia’s fatigue faded away, allowing her breathing to return to a steadier pace.

The group was guided by Thompson to the last two buildings where the team found a small nook between some trees on the far side of the road to let Loki drop her cloak so her magic could recharge a bit while Alexia talked to the Director. The unicorn was short of breath and had to wait a minute to catch it. The green mare wasn’t anywhere close to her three hour limit on invisibility, but they all agreed that it was best not to take chances.

Tune clicked her headset. “Boss, we’re at the place.”

“Good work. Tell me what you see.”

“Two buildings across the street. There are about twenty or so hostages under the covered picnic area like you said. All of them look scared, but they seem unharmed.”

“I was under the impression there were more than sixty down there.” Thompson responded with grave concern. “How many cultists can you see?”

“Two by each door I can see from my angle. Ten around the hostages, and I guess another ten patrolling the area, but I can’t really tell with them moving about so much. I counted fifty on the way in along the street, but we were going so far I can’t say that number is accurate.”

“So few…I’ll make sure the Guard are informed that their numbers must be concentrated along the water fronts.”

“Hold on. Something’s happening.” Tune sent back and angled her ears forward to listen, her companions followed suite. Two cultists exited the door of the house and walked briskly towards the huddled group of prisoners and barked for one of the young men to follow them. The ponies’ large ears could barely make out what they were saying. “No way in hell am I going in there. No one’s come out of there since you started.”

The lead red tinted skinned cultist backhanded him harshly. “Did I stutter? I said you’re coming with us.”

The other hostages cowered from their sitting positions at the man being thrown to the ground. The defiant hostage spat blood at his aggressor. “You’ll have to kill me.”

The other cultists trained their weapons on the remaining hostages to keep anyone from playing hero. The cultist who had been struck wiped his cheek, chuckling darkly. “You will make a fine addition to the faithful.” He punched the man in the gut, making him bowl over. Both gunmen roughly grabbed the hostage’s arms and pulled him back on his feet to be hauled inside. “Come, your future awaits. Brother.”

Conrad grimaced and turned to Alexia. “Whatever they're doing in there we can’t let them harm that guy any further.”

“I know.” Tune said as she clicked the transmitter. “Boss, I think they're brainwashing the hostages in the house and they're bringing one inside now.”

“I’ll leave it to you on how to proceed. Don’t endanger the rest of the survivors if you can’t free that one without raising the alarm.”

Alexia motioned for Loki to reactivate her cloak. “I’m not going to leave someone to be tortured if I can help it.” She closed the transmitter to speak to her friends. “Okay, that guy is our top priority. Conny, there’s a balcony on the second floor of the house, we need to run over to get under it. Then you’re going to airlift me up to it while I levitate Loki up to join us. I use my magic to undo the lock then we rescue the guy. We can worry about the rest of the extremists after that.”

“Got it.” They whispered back. The trio raced across the road and made sure to stay on the pavement so they wouldn’t step on any dried twigs or rustle the bushes. Conrad sped up to get ahead of Alexia and unfurled his wings. She jumped to land on his back and he heaved them both up into the air.

Tune couldn’t resist scoffing at the reversal and whispered in his ear. “I’d prefer it if you were the one doing the mounting.”

He suspected the joke was her trying to cope with the situation and gave her an amused chuckle once they were on the ledge. Once on solid ground, Tune looked down to lock onto Loki with her magic and hefted her up and over the railing. Her telekinetic strength having no difficultly bringing the densely built mare up to their level.

“Thanks.” Loki mouthed. Alexia nodded at her gratitude and turned around to see Conrad staring at the interior of the house with abject horror. It was a feeling both mares quickly mirrored.

Hoisted up on what appeared to be meat hooks, were over a dozen hostages wrapped in bed sheets. Loki was the first to break the short silence. “What in the Sam Hell is going on here?”

“I don’t know.” Conrad admitted in hushed tones. “But we have to try and stop this.”

He gently shoved Tune to snap her out of her bewilderment. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. You’ve seen worse in movies and video games, just try not to think about it for now and get the job done. “I’m fine, and you're right.”

After a quick inspection, the unicorn found the lock and flipped it so they could enter the blood chilling room. On the bed and floor, were more victims wrapped in linin to keep their arms and legs from moving, but their faces were kept unobstructed. The ponies noticed there was very little blood, only a small amount just below each person’s diaphragm in a thin red line. Loki observed that the hooks were anchored into the linin, rather than each person’s flesh. It didn’t make the ponies want to stay any longer than they had to.

Chanting filled the air and allowed the group to find the door from behind the hanging victims. They crept towards the door knowing that even though their steps were muffled, that would not stop their weight from possibly creaking the floor and drawing attention to them. A slicing sound and a yelp of pain caught her ears as the chanting reached a fevered pitch. As she was about to open the door, inhuman screeching carved through the air with such intensity it made their ears press flat against their heads.

The screeching peaked again and the chanting dissolved into sounds of anger and surprise. Tune pulled the door open, allowing the group to filter into the main room and found themselves on the second level of the foyer.

Below, the floor was painted in purple and orange colors with wicked looking foreign letters forming three rings around the hostage they had seen be dragged inside and what looked like the cultist leader standing over the man on his knees. The five other cultists were garbed like their leader, in unassuming civilian clothes. The only difference was the vicious looking halberd the leader had firmly planted into the cracked marble floor. The halberd was very real, and not some costume knockoff. It was six and a half feet of solid steel with the foot long axe head that was stained a dirty rusty color from lethal use and lack of cleaning. The four inch spike on the end was just as dirty.

The other, and more grotesque, identifying feature was the five inch screeching parasite writhing out of his right arm that was alarmingly discolored. His fingers were elongated and his nails were thickened and sharp. Almost to the point of talons. Every time the worm was moved towards the hostage’s wound, the parasite recoiled and hissed at the hostage. “I don’t understand.” The leader announced. “Why does the lightbringer reject you?”

“Maybe I just taste sour.” The hostage spat and was rewarded with a fist to the face. He took the hit, but remained on his knees. “Keep that tapeworm away from me you freaks.”

A follower kicked him in the kidney. “You will not insult the messenger of the gods!”

The ponies watched, completely dumbstruck by the sight of the worm. The leader cooed at the parasite and it calmed considerably. He reverently kissed it on top of its eyeless head and whispered to it. After a few moments it slid back inside his arm. “It seems this one is tainted by something that would kill the lightbringer if it tried to enlighten him.”

“Aww, I’m so disappointed.”

The man’s mockery was so thick it brought a snicker out of Loki. I like him already.

The leader gestured to his minions to hold the man down and he pulled the halberd out of the indentation in the floor with a bit of muscle. “For this crime, I sentence you to death.”

As the axe head reached its highest point, it became encased in an azure aura and was yanked out of his hands. Everyone looked up at the possessed weapon as it spun around and slammed the flat of its blade into the leader’s head. He went flying into the cultist next to him, sending both into the far wall.

Before anyone could react to the traitorous weapon, two voices from the banister above roared in fury. Still invisible, Loki leapt over the guard rails and planted all four hooves into a cultist’s skull, caving it with all one hundred and twenty pounds of her as his head met the hard marble floor.

Conrad crashed hooves first into one of the two cultists still holding the man down and started pummeling him until he stopped struggling against his invisible attacker.

Alexia was not idle with her stolen weapon and smacked anyone who tried to escape. She was not willing to use lethal force as Conrad or Loki were, but that didn’t stop her from using the flat of the blade to try and be less lethal. She wouldn’t lie to herself and say it was strictly nonlethal, but that thought only resided in the back of her mind as she thwacked a second target.

Fully in the moment, Loki’s mind was set on taking revenge on the people responsible for trapping people in the cocoons and swept the legs out from under a female cultist and bucked her chest as hard as possible on the human’s way down.

Conrad stayed in the air and unleashed merciless strikes on anyone trying to flee. None of the zealots thought to try and strike at their invisible assailants and were only able to evade the halberd because it was visible. Seeing all of his brethren be struck down, the last cultist was in a panic and tried to run out the front door. Alexia was faster and slammed the flat of the axe head across the man’s face and Conrad stomped him for good measure.

All the shouting and commotion brought the two guards from outside the front door to investigate. They quickly found themselves pulled inside by an invisible force only to have Loki and Conrad either buck them from below or from above and they too joined the pile of broken bodies.

The hostage in the center was freaking out, but held his tongue in a vain hope that the ghosts wouldn’t kill him too. A soothing feminine voice spoke after a moment of silence. “Hey calm down, we’re here to rescue you.”

“Rescue me? Where are you?” He knew the voice sounded as if it was right next to him, but he couldn’t see any movement.

“Oh sorry, let me turn it off.” His eye’s widened as a dim film of light appeared before falling away to reveal a miniature silver horse with an azure mane and enormous eyes. “I’m Alexia Tune. We’re here from the government.”

Loki and Conrad uncloaked beside her with the stallion grunting in amusement. “Never thought I’d see the day.”

“Amen to that.” The green mare concurred.

“Who or what the hell are you?” The man asked with confusion. He looked as if leaning back was incredibly uncomfortable.

Thompson interrupted Alexia’s answer. “Tune, report.”

She turned away from the hostage so as to not be distracted. “That guy we saw be dragged in the house is safe, and I think the cultists still don’t know we’re here. Aside from the ones we knocked unconscious anyway.”

“Did you send your team to cover the doors to make sure no one else is inside?”

“No.” She took the hint. “Loki, Conny. Cloak up and watch the exits. Take down anyone who comes in.”

“Got it boss.” Loki replied.

“As you wish.” Conrad answered.

“Tell the civilian to find a place to lay low.” Thompson said in her ear.

She pressed the mic with her magic, but spoke to the hostage in a friendly manner. “Can I get your name?”

“Ah…Michael Anderson.”

“Glad to meet you Michael. You should move somewhere safe.”

She offered him a hoof and he looked at it wearily before taking it. She helped him to his feet and he couldn’t stop staring at her tail. “Yeah, sure.”

She followed his gaze to her rear appendage. “I am completely real, just so you know.”

“No it's not that. It's just your tail.”

Her face scrunched from the awkwardness. “What about it?”

“Well, I hope you can tell me why I have this then.” She stepped back as he pulled the back of his pants off his waist and pulled out a two toned crimson pony tail.

Tune gasped at the sight of it. “Oh for the love of… I didn’t think that was still happening!”

“Is what still happening?” He demanded.

Alexia forgot she still had the mic depressed and Thompson barked a question. “What does he have?”

She tsked at her mistake and addressed the Director. “Never mind that, we need to help the rest of the people first.”

The Director conceded the point to his field operative and temporarily forgot about Anderson. “The satellite feed shows the militants are acting erratic. Whatever you did down there, must have thrown them for a loop.”

“All we did was take out a bunch of cultists and some leader guy with a freaking spear of all things!”

“Well something’s making them act extremely erratic. The higher ups are wanting to move in and I don’t think its wise to try and stop them.”

Alexia’s eyes searched the room trying to think of something she could do. “I can still try to bring the hostages into the house, there’s a ton of them already in some kind of linen cocoons in here.”

“Cocoons? Did I hear you correctly?”

“Yes. Tell the cavalry or whatever not to shoot the house.”

“Copy that. You have two minutes to get those people in the house before the rain falls.”

“Only two?!” She forgot the mic. “Michael find a basement if there is one, the feds are going to light the whole place up in two minutes, I have to get the rest of the people in here.”

He fixed his pants and tucked his tail in as she spoke. “Yeah okay.”

As he ran off Conrad came running. “Alex, we got a problem, the freaks are going crazy out there and some are threatening to shoot the prisoners.

“Then we need to hurry, cloak up and move!”

The couple bolted to the side entrance where Loki was waiting. The mare had seen some of the bloodiest games the industry could produce, but to kill someone in real life unnerved her greatly. She didn’t have much time to contemplate it with chaos erupting outside. The originally calm and disciplined cultists were a crazed mess of their former selves. Some were weeping openly, calling out to the air begging for something the ponies couldn’t understand. Other were furiously bashing anything nearby, be it a car, table, or wall. A few were still in control of their faculties and were trying to get their brethren under control.

Alexia had no time to think of a real plan so she slammed the door open and grabbed every cultist one by one, and threw them towards the street. “All of you stupid nuts get off my lawn!”

Loki and Conrad took advantage of the distraction and raced over to the huddled and terrified hostages. Conrad yelled without dropping his cloak. “Government agents! Everyone in the house! Now now now!”

Between people getting pulled to their feet by invisible hooves and the cultists in even greater disarray, the remaining hostages needed no further prompting and sprinted for the house. One of the rambling militants saw fleeing civilians as traitors and leveled his rifle to open fire. Conrad saw it and yelled a warning. “Everybody on the ground!”

Most of the civilians didn’t comply, but were lucky that the crazed man’s aim was so terrible he didn’t compensate for the recoil and the weapon dragged its barrel into the air. An azure bolt of energy struck him in the midsection and he fell heavily on his back.

Loki saw more zealots coming from the far side of the hostage area in response to the gunfire. The wiggling worm of doubt was eating away at her. Oh damn, what the hell am I doing? She finished pulling a civilian to his feet and galloped straight at the three gunmen who managed to retain most of their sanity. They never saw her coming as she closed in on the first one and spun on her forelegs to add her momentum into a buck that launched the running man backwards. Conrad flew in a moment later and smashed a back hoof into the man’s neck, crushing his windpipe. Loki was too caught up in the moment to worry about the man she hit didn’t move. Conrad leveraged every bit of his tribe’s agility and bounced off his target to tackle the one who had been in the center from behind.

As soon as the pegasus dropped him to the ground he pumped his wings hard to get off and then fall back down on the man’s neck, breaking it under his hooves. He looked up from his bloody work to a frozen Loki. “Good job on stopping them long enough for me to get here.” His ears swiveled at the sound of multiple thumping sounds in the air. “The choppers are here.” He started to make a running start to take off when he noticed Loki standing there with a vacant stare. “Damn it mare come on we have to go!”

The green mare couldn’t peel her eyes away from the blood. He growled at her. “We can’t stay here, move it!” A part of him wanted to leave her there, all the trouble she causes him would have justified it in his eyes. Yet the majority of him felt repulsed by the idea. “Damn it all to hell.”

The first rockets hit the ground on the far side of the house. Cries of pain and angry roared back and two stingers flew off to meet the national guard aircraft. The attack helicopters deployed flares and continued their assault on the cultists. Cursing his luck, Conrad flew on top of Loki and grabbed onto the comatose mare and tried to lift her off the ground.

He was used to carrying the seventy one pound unicorn, not an earth mare and the additional fifty pounds of dense muscle and bone Loki possessed. He groaned from the strained effort that nearly pulled a tendon in his left wing as he strained to get a few inches off the ground. “Shit you’re heavy.”

He saw Alexia at the door scanning the warzone for her friends. As soon as the unicorn locked onto them, both the earth pony and pegasus found themselves wrapped in her magic and forcibly pulled into the house. He nearly collided with the kitchen counter before Tune was able to halt his momentum with the help of him quickly flipping in the air to give two powerful wing flaps against his direction. Loki slid on her side along the floor. Her greater mass made it impossible for the unicorn to fully arrest her momentum and she collided with the counter. The hit did no real damage other than to ruffle her fur and snap her out of her stunned state.

Alexia dropped her cloak so the noises caused by invisible beings wouldn’t scare the three hostages in the room any more than they already were. Loki reflexively dropped the cloak when she hit the counter. Tune slammed the door shut to run over to check on them.

“Are you guys alright?”

“I’m fine.” Conrad announced with concern directed at Loki. “Green Bean went into shock.”

Loki swatted at him with a hoof, missing by several inches. “Okay mister crime prince, not everyone here’s killed anyone before.”

“I won’t lose any sleep over snuffing out a bunch of fanatics. I can’t stand people that use religion as an excuse to commit crazy shit like this.” He waved at one of the cocoons for emphasis.

Alexia barely heard him as she was on the verge as well. Work now, freak later. She repeated the mantra four times, trying to ignore the memory of the bodies in the foyer and the hanging cocoons all over the house.

The impact and subsequent explosion of four rockets nearby rattled the house. The hanging cocoons in the kitchen swayed on their hooks and the free civilians gave muted cries of alarm and fright. One helicopter took up station over the roof and fired its nose mounted gun at more targets. The noise of combat outside made it much harder for Tune to keep herself from blanking out like Loki did.

Conrad ignored the bedlam outside and focused on keeping his mate from losing it. “Hey Alexia. Stay with us.” He shook the mare as he noticed she was locking up. “Sorry about this.” He hit her moderately hard across the cheek; cutting through the quaking mare’s cognitive seizure.

The unicorn yelped and held a hoof to her sore cheek. “Thanks Conny. You should drop the cloak so we can help the hostages remain calm.”

“That’ll be hard seeing as we’re barely capable of that ourselves.” Loki commented as Conrad obeyed.

“Not to mention they're terrified and I don’t think they’ll react to us well at all.” Conrad pointed out.

“We saved them.” Tune insisted as she tried her best to ignore the battle outside. “This is the sort of thing we need to get our kind good publicity.”

The sounds of combat were starting to drift away from the house, but one helicopter remained on station above the house. Conrad had to agree with Alexia’s statement. “Then we should go tell them.”

Tune nodded and headed to the massive and open living room where half of the civilians were either huddled at the interior wall, or were shouting and cheering out of the large windows to the helicopters as they continued to pour firepower in the distance. “Take that you commie bastards!”

“Gotta love the Marines!”

“Bout time they showed up!”

One of the less gung-ho civilians pointed and yelled at the arriving ponies. “What the hell are those?”

All eyes turned to the equines. Loki thought fast and jump onto a table while activating her cloak. “We’re the awesome possums who saved you guys!” She raised and lowered her cloak a few seconds after to prove they have been the invisible agents.

As the ponies tried to explain themselves, a heavy scraping noise went unheard due to the thumping aircraft above. One of the women screamed and pointed behind the ponies. The cult leader was dripping blood from the right side of his face, but looked as if he didn’t notice or care. He hefted his halberd to cleave Alexia who was in the center of the group. The horrifying visage of the leader’s twisted face under his ornate hat froze her legs in terror. “In the name of the Koridost above, I must purge the unclean!”

The only thing that came to Alexia’s rapidly narrowing tunnel vision was the need to be anywhere but there. Conrad saw the buildup of magic in her horn. He knew what it meant and dove away. Loki was rooted in place as she saw the axe head descend towards Tune in slow motion. The earth mare could only look on in terror as the weapon was about to cleave her friend in two before the light on her horn reached its peak and she blinked out of existence. The halberd cracked the wooden floor, but found no new blood to spill.

Loki found her legs willing to move again and scrambled away from the cultist. Alexia reappeared in midair above the cowering civilians and fell on top of them. Conrad used the opportunity to charge the cultist. The leader ripped the halberd out ground and tried to swing at the pegasus, but he held his wings against his barrel and fell below the weapon and used the ground to spin for a buck.

The leader only laughed and used the weapon as a counterbalance to deliver a strong kick to Conrad’s exposed belly. He was sent flying across the room only to be caught by Michael Anderson who had heard Loki’s voice from the basement. His catch of the pegasus was more of a collision that ended up with his arms wrapped around the brown stallion and they both fell to the ground, the impact sent a lance of pain from his concealed tail.

By then, Alexia had been shoved off the humans and managed to get her hooves under her. With both Conrad and Tune on the far side of the room, the zealot turned to Loki for a new target. Switching his stance to use the halberd like a spear, the leader charged the green mare. Loki scrambled around the furniture to escape, not thinking to reactivate her cloak.

Alexia was able to push her reservations aside at seeing her friend being in mortal danger and fired off a quick concussive blast to unbalance the raving cultist. His strength was more than enough to shrug off the hit. Loki turned a hard corner around a love seat, the civilians around there backed away to the far wall to stay clear of the bladed weapon as it cleaved the air, a few stands of pink hair fell away from Loki’s tail.

“Can someone get this freak off my back!?” Loki cried out in a mix of fear and exasperation that none of the humans tried to help.

Alexia waited until the leader started charging after Loki. The moment he dropped his halberd low to the ground, she grabbed the tip in her kinesis and dug the point of it into the rug. The sudden stop of his weapon made the shaft jab him in the gut. He staggered and dropped the weapon, but remained standing.

Conrad had recovered and charged through the air to shove a hoof in the man’s head. The cultist was quick and ducked under the attack causing the pegasus to only knock his large hat off. The man used his other hand to rake his thickened nails along the pegasus’s left flank. The gashes were enough to falter the stallion’s flight with the lances of pain and he collided with the floor in the adjacent room.

The cultist let off an inhuman chuckle that grated the ears of everyone present. He revealed his face to everyone present in the room, causing a lapse in the fighting. His face was the color of dried blood. His toothy smile revealed teeth that had been filed into points. His face was ritually scarred and pitted with elaborate markings and tattoos.

One of the more gung-ho civilians sneered at him. “Damn freak, you’re not so tough without your spear.” The man ran at the cultist, ready to pummel him for all the trouble he caused. He was joined in by his brother.

The leader only laughed and closed his fist. The cocky civilian landed a solid hit on his target’s face, but it did little more than turn his head away. In a feral roar, the red man punched the civilian in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. “You’re time for enlightenment will come.” The second civilian ran at him with his fist reared back. The zealot crouched and swept the legs out from under him. As the brother lost his balance, the cultist slammed the heel of his boot in the man’s ribs. Not enough to kill, as he wanted to enlighten man, not kill them.

With the future converts dealt with, the cackling maniac searched for one of the ponies, only to find himself incased in an azure aura and levitated in the air. Alexia snarled at him. “I don’t think anyone here wants your version of enlightenment.”

He flailed in the air, trying to grab ahold of anything that could be used as an anchor point, but the unicorn kept him from latching onto anything and this room was bereft of any cocoons. In a fit of rage, he screamed at the infuriating unicorn. “You can’t stop the illumination of mankind! Soon all will heed the song of the Koridost.” He stared maniac daggers into the unicorn. “But not you or your kind.” He raged venomously. “You are marked by the Herald and we will scour your unclean souls from the face of the planet!”

“I think I’ve heard enough of that.” Conrad bellowed before delivering a flying bicycle kick to the man’s jaw, knocking a few teeth out of his mouth, but he was only stunned by the hit.

Loki poked her head out from behind the large TV in the corner of the room. “Is it over?”

Tune shook her captive a couple of times for good measure. “I think so.”

Thompson spoke up in all three ponies’ radios. “Heads up, the Guard is about to crash the house. They know about you, but do as they say.”

Alexia only registered half of the warning before seven Guardsmen broke through the various windows and glass doors into the living room, rifles up and searching for targets. Loki ducked back behind the TV and Conrad ran over to put himself between the soldiers and Tune who was still holding the limp cultist in her magic. The squad leader barked orders to sweep the top floor and the basement. The men only took a prolonged glance at the ponies and the floating body before following orders to make way for a second squad to file in behind them.

The second squad leader secured the ground floor and rounded up the few cultists who were still alive around the ritual site. A third moved in to start ushering the civilians who were still standing outside to a waiting helicopter that was hovering by the dock. Lastly, a lieutenant came in and walked up to Alexia and shouted an order over the noise. “Status.”

She almost dropped her cargo, but restabilized him before he could hit the ground. She had to shout to be heard. “We saved the hostages and captured their leader.” She moved the cultist in her magic towards the officer.

He scowled at the disfigured zealot. “Ugly bastard.” He faced her again. “Head to the docks for extraction. There’s a Sea Stallion waiting for you. We’ll take it from here.”

“Okay, I mean yes sir.” She nudged Conrad with her nose towards the broken doors. “Let’s grab Loki and go.”

“You’ll get no argument from me.”

Both ponies saw the green mare was leaving the concealment of the TV and trotted over to join them. “Never thought I’d be glad to see the feds show up.”

Alexia felt her adrenaline fading and knew that might bring a crash to her mental stability. “We should leave.”

The trio stayed out of the soldiers’ way as they escorted the civilians to the awaiting transport helicopter when Anderson pulled out of the group to speak with the ponies. “You said you could tell me about my tail.”

A Guardsman tried to tactfully put him back in line. “Sir, I need you to get to the transport.”

Tune held a hoof up for him to wait. “Our boss needs to talk to him.”

The soldier didn’t know if that was true, but didn’t have any basis to question it. He only nodded curtly before resuming his duties.

The docks were short, but they were spaced apart enough to allow the two aircraft to not interfere with one another. The unicorn could see the CH-53 that had brought them in was hovering next to a similar dock with Thompson standing outside. Alexia faced the tensed man with a tail. “You should meet with the Director; he’ll know what to do.”

Michael followed her hoof to the Sea Stallion. “Okay.”

The ponies darted off, almost leaving the biped behind. Thompson saw the trio coming in, and was disconcerted to see a civilian following them. He had the modified helmets with him and handed them over to the grateful ponies. “You can make your report once we get back to HQ, but why is there a civvie with you?”

Alexia was immensely relieved to have the painfully loud chopping blades of the helicopter muffled by her helmet. “His name is Michael Anderson, and he has a pony’s tail.” She yelled over the noise.

Thompson’s hum was lost in the din, but his reaction was not. “I see.”

By now, Anderson finally reached the group and was badly out of breath from sprinting with his tail painfully rubbing against the waistband. “Damn you guys are fast.”

Thompson clicked his headset. “Command, one of the civilians is a code P dash one nineteen. I’m taking him with me. One Michael Anderson.” He received confirmation and then turned to the civilian. “Mister Anderson. I would like you to board to the transport now.”

“What about my family? I they’ll want to know I’m okay.”

“I’ll be sure they are informed of your wellbeing, but I need you to board the aircraft.”

Thompson’s authoritative inflection was not lost over the noise and Michael felt refusing was a very bad idea. “Yeah, sure.” He stepped onto the gangplank and was quickly followed by the Director who pulled the plank back into the aircraft and resealed the door. As soon the door closed, the CH-53 angled forward and started the flight to a distant airbase.

The Director found Anderson chose to remain standing, but had the wits to grab one of the handholds. The trio of ponies were huddled in their seats. Tune was in the center, stroking Loki’s mane as the green mare tried to keep her composure with her head leaning over to rest next to Alexia’s chest. Conrad had a wing covering Tune’s back and was trying to comfort her with his touch as nothing he said could get past the noise nor the muffling of the helmets.

While the herd mentality made a lone pony, both mares and stallions alike, emotionally vulnerable and prone to mental instability in stressful situations. The reverse was true in even in small numbers. Alexia’s group was able to draw strength and a sense of security from one other. It was slow, but their close proximity and supportiveness melted the trauma of the day’s events away. Over time, the social mending of the herd would reduce them to bad memories instead haunting ones.

Michael felt a compulsion to join them as the previous events were weighing heavily on him, but forced himself to ignore it as an awkward feeling towards strangers.

The flight between the two locations lasted over two hours as the helicopter brought them to Fort Smith, Arkansas. The helicopter set down and the Director led the group to a nearby building and into a briefing room. The existence of ponies was not very well known throughout the entirety of the military, but Fort Smith was one of the places in the know. The briefing room was filled with simplistic desks one might find in a high school, albeit larger to accommodate adults. Windows adorned one side of the room and gave a ground floor view of the airfield.

To the ponies’ surprise and annoyance, Agent Enright was waiting for them and was leaning against the white board at the head of the room. The Director acted as if he wasn’t there and took his place at the head table while the ponies crowded around the front row of desks. The equines found it more comfortable to sit in them if they kept their hind legs folded in close to their barrel rather than fully extended. Anderson remained standing at the second row of desks feeling rather out of place and nervous as to why he was present in a debriefing.

Thompson held onto his laptop from before the operation and activated it to transcribe Alexia’s report. “From what I heard from the ground teams, you three did an exactly as hoped. Just goes to show how a bit of magic can make up for a complete lack of training. Nevertheless I don’t want to press our luck and we’ll need to rectify that before the next op. Still, with any luck this success will have won us the support we need.” The computer finished booting and he brought up the empty report. “In the meantime, I’m going to need a timeline of everything you saw and did.”

The long flight coupled with the three ponies’ consoling each other did wonders for Alexia’s spirits and she was almost back to her old self. “Guess we should start at the roadblock.”

Her report was supplemented by Conrad and Loki at multiple points throughout the entire summary. Thompson found it odd when Tune informed him of the ritual they had disrupted. “The cultist had some kind of worm coming out of his arm?”

“That’s what it looked like.” She confirmed, chills ran down her spine at the memory of it. “Some creepy alien thing that slithered back in his arm when he said he couldn’t infect Anderson over there.”

The Director hummed. “Is that what you all saw?”

Loki nodded. “That thing was screeching like a banshee, it was kind of hard to miss with ears like this.” She swiveled her ears around for effect.

Conrad grimaced. “If Alexia said it was there, then it was there. But yes I saw it too.”

“The brass is going to want to verify that themselves.” Not exactly something they would lie about. “I’ll inform the Guard to take precautions when handling the prisoners. I have to say capturing the leader will definitely support your claim about the parasite.” He waited to get the rest of the report before addressing the issue with Anderson. “Now, I’ve been told you possess a tail.”

Michael had been standing the whole time, his new appendage made it impossible to sit down with it tucked in his pants. “Yes, I do.” He said at length, squirming under the sudden scrutiny.

Thompson sighed in apprehension to the unpleasant task. “May I see it? I need irrefutable proof.”

Anderson nodded his compliance and pulled his pants down a bit to reveal his two tone crimson tail. There was pale creamy yellow fur in a five inch radius around the base of the tail. Michael was not foolish enough to try and remain in denial at what was happening to him and saw the similarities between his and the ponies’ tails. “Am I turning into one of them?”

The Director checked Anderson’s head and saw his ears were still human. That won’t be pleasant. He wanted to be respectful to the trio and choose his words carefully. “That seems to be the case. By Executive Order twelve oh twelve I have to take you into custody to be resettled.”

“Wait, What? What about my life and family?” Michael’s already sullen expression sank further.

Thompson’s tone became inflectionless as if he was reciting a speech. “You may stay in contact with your relatives at our discretion. As for your life, it was irrevocably changed the moment you grew that tail.”

Michael raged as he tried to fix his pants. “You can’t do that! I have rights!”

Conrad scoffed. “Boy, none us have rights, only privileges.”

The future pony was starting to hyperventilate. “Can’t I just have it cut off?”

“That won’t stop the transformation.” Thompson replied. “People have tried and it’ll just grow right back.”

That had the three ponies baffled. Conrad voiced the shared question. “They do?”

“Only while you’re still changing. Once you’ve completed the transformation, it doesn’t anymore.”

Alexia wracked her brain trying to think of a way to calm Anderson down before he lost it completely. The disrupted ritual came to mind and she yelped in excitement. She walked over and placed a comforting hoof on his leg. “Hey. Hey!” She shouted to cut through to his racing thoughts. “Remember that guy with the worm in his arm?”

“W-what about him?” He stuttered.

“He was saying something about you being tainted by something that would kill the parasite. You remember that?”

“I. Yes, but what does that have to do-“

“Listen Mike, can I call you Mike?”

“Sure.”

“What if, turning into a pony like us is what stopped the guy from infecting you with the worm.”

“So? Couldn’t I just have the worm surgically removed later and still remain a human?”

Tune faced the Director who was contemplating her words. “Didn’t you say before we left that those guys convert anyone they can get their hands on?”

“Wait a minute.” Thompson said, holding a hand out. “Are you trying to suggest that the worm is some form of mind controlling parasite?” He didn’t buy it for a second without physical evidence and suspected she didn’t either. He interpreted her actions as trying to make the shock of changing species easier for the guy. “Yes, that would corroborate our previous information on the group.”

Alexia mentally thanked him for the support and addressed Anderson. “See? If you haven’t have been turning into a pony you’d end up just like those cultists. Its possible that the worm doesn’t even need to stay in you to brainwash you.”

Loki jumped in. “You’d have lost your mind like they did. I bet you a hundred clams most of them didn’t want to be in that cult to begin with.”

“So I traded my body for my mind?” Michael muttered, just loud enough to be heard.

“That seems to be the case.” The Director reaffirmed.

Loki propped herself up on Anderson’s other leg. “Sure we end up on all fours, but being a pony’s a lot better than it looks. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Conrad felt he should give his own thoughts on the matter and hovered a few feet off the ground to be eye level with Michael. “It does have some serious perks. You’re going to be one of us regardless of how you feel about it, so you might as well think positive.”

“You were all humans?”

“Yup.” Alexia replied, feeling his reservations easing up. “So we know exactly what you’re going through and can help you through it.”

The Director watched the ponies slowly drag Anderson out of the pit of despair he had dug himself into. I hate having to send them into combat. As good as their abilities make them at it, these people should be on the home front. I dare say they’d be even better there than fighting enemies of state, but the higher-ups won’t let go of them that easily. He glanced at Enright. Especially not after today. He turned back around to see Michael crowded by the ponies and watched him crack a weak smile. All I can do is make it easier for them, and try to keep them alive.

15: Clinical Observation

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Michael Anderson was staring at his reflection in the mirror. He was in the bathroom of the temporary clinic in Fort Smith. Thompson knew Anderson was a rare case in that he was in the earliest stage of the transformation. There had not been many chances for a complete clinical observation of the changes so Wilder had been flown in to observe the entire transition. It was still a minute or so before Wilder was to begin so he took the time to personally witness his physical humanity slip away. He refused to think of it as his entire humanity. “My mind is still my own.”

On impulse, he glanced at the phone sitting on the side of the sink. Thompson had come through with giving him a phone call so he could tell his parents he was alive, although the call had been recorded. If he had said anything pertaining to ponies, the monitor would have severed the call in an instant. Mother was distraught and dad wasn’t exactly happy either. I don’t think they bought the whole highly contagious super virus story either. But then again I wasn’t trying to sound convincing.

A knock on the door brought his inner musings to a halt. “Mister Anderson. Are you alright in there?” It was Wilder in a warm bedside manner tone.

He glanced back at his reflection, watching his face slowly being warped by magic. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He sounded less than convincing.

“These changes are constant Mister Anderson. I know it can be frightening, but I need to record the entirely of it.”

I hate physical exams. He ground his smoothening teeth in irritation. “Fine, I’m coming.”

Michael left the bathroom to come face to face with Wilder along with Alexia and crew off to the side. The future pony felt extremely embarrassed being garbed in only a pair of boxer briefs with a hole cut into it for his tail. Wilder was able to ignore his embarrassment and acted as if nothing was wrong about it. With most of her recent patients having nothing but a fur coat on, it was not very difficult for her. The full ponies were busy with their new items to care at the moment.

The presence of the trio dispelled some of his ill at ease. Wilder pointed a guiding hand towards an examination table. “If we can get started, I’d like to start with what changes have occurred already.”

Anderson was having mild trouble with his walking gait as his heels no longer wanted to touch the floor. “How long is this going to take?”

“I’ll need to do some observations to see how fast it is with you, but tomorrow afternoon by the latest.”

He moved his tail out of the way before plopping on the table. Well at least it’ll be quick. He understood why Wilder wanted to start as soon as possible. He could feel almost every muscle and bone in his body shifting to their future state. The leading edge of his fur inched as it covered more bare skin with its pale yellow color.

The examination room was sizable enough that the three ponies had chairs of their own. After realizing that sitting on their haunches made sitting on human chairs far more comfortable, the trio did just that. As for Michael, they were here to lend moral support.

Conrad was more interested in the magazines Thompson provided after being asked and was reading the latest Sports Illustrated. Loki was ecstatic to have a laptop again and had her face buried in the screen. Alexia had a tub of cookies and cream flavored ice cream with a scoop in her magic. If her face was anything to go by, it was as if each bite was ecstasy.

Conrad noticed her reactions with amusement. “Since when did you like ice cream?”

She licked the spoon clean to keep it wet so it was easier to scoop. “I never disliked ice cream. I just have a craving for something sweet.” She offered the scoop to him. “Want some?”

He snickered at the offered scoop and accepted the bite. “Not my favorite, but I can’t complain.”

Loki was disinterested in getting a scoop for herself when she saw Michael sit down on the table. A predatory grin came over her when her eyes darted to his hands. Wilder left him sitting there for the moment as she went to retrieve some instruments which gave the green mare her chance. She put her laptop down and jumped up onto the examination table. “Hey Mike, can I ask a big big favor?” She gave her best puppy eyes.

He wasn’t as affected by it as she thought, but it was enough. “I don’t know. Depends on what it is.”

Loki flopped on her back and shuffled to be right next to him. “Can I get a belly rub?”

“Isn’t that kind of-“

“Pleeeease?” Loki waggled her legs and laid the sad eyes on even harder.

“How can I say no to that?” Jumping at the opportunity the moment he caved in, Loki rolled over so he could start rubbing her belly.

The mare melted under his touch. “Oooh yea. That’s the stuff.” Michael laughed when her left hind leg started twitching while every other limb was completely limp.

Wilder returned to find the green mare hanging precariously off the table. “Miss Loki would you please let me examine my patient.

She waved a feeble hoof at her. “Don’t call me Miss. Makes me feel old. Just Loki.”

It's like rubbing a cat that won’t try to claw your hand off for a belly rub. “Is it really that much of a hindrance Doc?” Anderson asked.

“I suppose not over much, but you won’t be sitting the whole time.” The veterinarian relented. She found an adjacent examining table and dragged it over so Michael could lift the catatonic mare up and place her front half on the second table. The earth mare fussed for a bit until she realized she would still get rubbed and settled down.

Wilder brought her smartpad and tapped it a few times to bring up the proper app. “I reviewed your medical records on the flight over so I have a baseline to work with. Try to sit as straight as possible.” She started writing proper medical terminology into her pad while speaking in laymen’s terms for the benefit of her patient and the dictation of an audio record as her observations began.

“Cranium size is increasing along with the elongation of the jaw and nasal passages. The eyes are nearly double in size.” She brought a small flashlight up and checked his dilation. “As with all other subjects, both the pupil and sclera dilate together.” A rather strange evolutionary path. “That explains why the iris rarely maintains a constant diameter.” She still slipped in more proper terms out of habit.

“Patient’s ears are two centimeters short of their final position and they have already taken their final shape along with a thin layer of fur covering them. The hair on the side of the patient’s head has been replaced by short pale creamy yellow fur. The rest of the hair has lengthened considerably and is nearly the same coloration as the tail. Strangely none of this hair was shed and later replaced with new follicles, but its the existing hair that is changing.”

The table was towards the center of the room so she didn’t need him to move to observe his back. “The neck is noticeably longer than human standard and the hairline has encroached completely down the length. It would be more proper to say this is a mane now. Fur now covers the patient’s back but currently cuts off abruptly at the top of the shoulders. Fur is still continuing to cover all remaining bare skin at a steady rate.”

She moved back around to the front. “Oddly, the fur has thus far not covered much of the front half of the torso as of yet, but is instead growing along the sides and coming in at all angles. Nipples have completely disappeared and the initial formation of teats on the patient’s abdomen has begun, two total as per the norm.”

“Overall shape and size of the torso is diminishing. As to where all the mass is going, I can only guess.”

Alexia’s ears perked up at that and she put the ice cream aside. “Maybe I can help with that.”

Wilder didn’t like being interrupted while in full examination mode, yet she concealed it well. “I was going to list it under the cause of magic and leave it at that. There’s no way to measure something that defies physics.”

“Ah but Doctor. Magic doesn’t break physics, it's just the laws we’re used to were discovered in the absence of magic.” Tune stood in front of the half pony and closed her eyes while her horn lit up. She probed for any obvious effects that her novice skill in discerning purpose. As expected, she didn’t know a tenth of the magic at work. She wasn’t scanning for intricate details, but for a more overt one. Wilder expressed interest in knowing what the unicorn could detect.

“Its just as I thought.” She said at last. “His body is radiating mana at an incredible rate. I knew it was odd too sense so much coming from you Mike, but now I know why.”

“Would you care to enlighten us?” The veterinarian asked.

“Certainly.” Alexia felt giddy at being able to play the expert. “As Mike was the size and build of an average adult male at the age of twenty five, he has more mass than even the biggest earth stallion I’ve seen. Since the transformation is powered by magic rather than metabolic processes, his carbuncle is converting the excess mass into pure mana. However he has far more mass than the total conversion seems to require so the left over mana is being radiated out of him and into the atmosphere.”

Michael stopped rubbing Loki for a second and stared at Alexia with a dead serious face. “Are you trying to say I’m fat?”

The silver mare recoiled at the implication. “No. Of course not, it's just that bigger-“

He chuckled at her. “I tease. I could tell I was bigger than any of you from the start.”

Loki laughed sluggishly and waved her forelegs at her friend. “Way to talk to a new friend there mage.” She couldn’t think of anything wittier to say because of the tranquilizing effect of the belly rub.

Wilder was jotting his reaction down and over all demeanor. “I must say you’re taking this far better than any other affectee thus far.” Possible side effect of his increasing sensitivity to the herd mentality. Every patient to date had fully converted by the time they arrive at The Ranch. Not to mention they were always alone when it occurred. “Did you have any fantasies about being non-human?”

Michael would have been insulted if that question had come at any other time, but a moment’s reflection made him realize it was a legitimate question. “Not a single day of my life. But…” He looked down at the drooling mare who was completely at his mercy as he continued to rub her belly. “I’m trying to focus on the fact that I’m not turning into a sociopathic zealot…” The cult leader’s upraised halberd flashed in his mind. “And that I’m still alive.” He looked to Alexia and then to Conrad. “If losing my humanity and old life is the price for that.” He tried to forcibly calm his voice, but his effort wasn’t enough to accomplish that. “Then I’ll learn to live with it. Its not like I have a choice in the matter anyway.” He ended with a depressed sense of finality. His mood sank and he cupped his face in his hands, wincing at how different it felt.

Tune gave him a friendly and brief nuzzle on the side of his leg. “Hey. You have to remember there are well over two thousand of us in the U.S. alone. And so long as you’re with the three of us, you’ll never be alone.” The half pony looked at her with a mix of silent pleading and fright. “I won’t lie to you and say life will be easy or simple anymore for you, or any of us. But I can tell you that I’ll do whatever I can to help you acclimate to your new life.”

Loki was getting antsy without her rub, but was sympathetic enough to not ask for it to continue quite yet. She rolled over to lay her head on his lap. “Listen bud. It’ll take while to get used to it. I know the feeling more than you might think, but I can promise you this.” She placed a hoof on his chest. “It took time, a long time for me. But I love being a pony, nothing can change that now. Despite the government and the shit they put us through, it only makes me love what I am even more.”

He searched her face for the joke, but found none. “Are you a masochist or something?”

Conrad chuckled, but said nothing. Loki ignored him and kept her gaze fixed on Michael, Alexia was a little concerned as to what she was going to say. “No Mike. I love it because at the end of the day, the government and everyone else who beats us down will only make the moment we’re free of the sanctions to our freedoms that much sweeter.” She turned to the silver mare. “And I know exactly who will get us there.”

Alexia was baffled by the comment. “Why are you looking at me?”

“Come on leader girl, don’t you remember how you took charge back there?”

Tune stuttered for a bit before formulating proper words. “I just did what I thought was a good idea. Conrad’s the one who kept a level head through the whole thing. If anyone should be leading it should be him.”

“Nope.” He announced, bringing Tune up short. “Just because I’ve taken lives before doesn’t make me a leader.” He put the magazine down to give her a confident expression. “Plus I lack the vision and charisma you have.”

“Vision?” She glanced around the room’s occupants. “Sure I want to help our kind find equality, but-“

Loki interrupted her. “I move that Alex be nominated to the position of Glorious Leader.”

Conrad raised a wing. “Second.”

Loki turned to Michael with an expectant look. He shook his head. “Don’t look at me, I don’t know enough about any of your to make a fair vote.”

“Then it's settled.” Loki announced. “Alex is from hence forth our Glorious Leader.”

Alexia tried to rub away the headache that was forming. “Can we talk about this later? After we’ve had a night’s rest from the fighting today?”

As the full ponies bickered about who would have the leadership role, abdominal pain started to bother Michael. Ordinarily he would ignore it, but while in the throes of transformation he decided to speak to Wilder who was currently taking a video recording of the relentless changes to his legs’ skeletal structure.

“Hey Doc. Everything so far has been rather painless, but I’m getting some terrible gut pain. Is that normal?”

“Its normal for men to suffer some discomfort on the final changes towards being a mare, yes.” Wilder replied in a warm manner that belied reservations.

Anderson was not familiar enough with equine terms to know the meaning. “What type of pony is that?”

Conrad watched in anticipatory amusement as Loki decided butt in and firmly plant her hoof in her mouth. “You’re trading your shaft for a snatch.” She patted him on the belly. “Didn’t you know stallions don’t have nips?”

Michael looked to Conrad with creeping panic. The pegasus raised an eyebrow from the magazine he wasn’t truly reading anymore. He groaned at the implied question. “No, I don’t.”

Wilder assumed a more authoritative tone of voice. “I realize this is extremely confusing and traumatizing but, you should know this happens to roughly half of all those transformed into ponies thus far, including Alex here.”

That stopped his downward spiral in an instant. “H-Half!? Are you shitting me?”

“Its not a joke.” Alexia declared sternly. “All three of us have lived in the… settlement for some time now. There’s a massive support group for everyone who got switched. You’re not the only one who will have to adapt to this. Just like I did.”

Loki snickered at her. “I don’t know if your method of adaptation will work with everybody there Miss Horny.”

Tune harrumphed at the green mare. “I don’t see Conrad complaining that my libido never dropped from switching genders.”

Conrad guffawed. “Damn right I’m not.”

In the face of such information and flippant banter Michael’s state of mind couldn’t handle the emotional overload and it blanked him out to a pseudo neutral state. He gently pulled Loki off of him and stood up as best he could. “Excuse me. I’ll be back.” He started walking to the restroom.

Loki felt gimped at losing her belly rub partner and held out a pleading hoof. “Wait, where are you and that hand going?”

Anderson hesitated at the door and looked her square in the eyes. “To have one last hurrah.” Without another word he shut the door behind him.

“Awww.” Loki’s hoof fell to hang limply over the table. “He better use the other hand when he gets back.”

Tune groaned at her and slapped her lightly on the dangling fetlock before returning to her ice cream. “At least we know you’re not suffering any lingering physiological damage from earlier.”

Loki couldn’t formulate a proper response to that so she just let it hang and returned to her laptop. Wilder was miffed at missing potential changes while Michael preoccupied himself, but resigned herself to allowing it if for nothing else than as a courtesy. That did not mean she couldn’t have a bit of revenge on the instigator.

“Loki. Would you return to the table please?”

The mare had just logged back in and looked up with a quizzical gaze. “Are you offering a back scratch doc?”

“I’m afraid not. All three of you were just in a combat situation and I need to run a full examination on you to make sure you didn’t suffer any harm that you’re not aware of.”

Sensing a way out, Loki pointed at Conrad. “I’m fine, but the samurai got shanked in the flank.”

Petty revenge fell away in the presence of a real health issue. “Conrad, would you please step up so I may have a look?”

He was going to decline, but Alexia knew him well enough to beat him to the punch and she grabbed his forelegs and pulled him off the chair. “Come on tough and rugged, I won’t have you avoiding the doc.”

He gently shook her loose. “I’m going, I’m going.” He flapped twice to fly the short distance to the table and presented his injury which was wrapped in gauze. “Thompson already had one of the medics patch me up, I don’t see the need. Besides we heal quickly.”

Wilder expertly started removing the bandages. “There’s always a possibility of a mistake for a medic used to working on humans.” She found nothing but perfectly healthy skin beneath four thin lines of missing fur and the interior of the gauze had blood on it. “Its still remarkable every time I see it.” She threw the gauze in the biohazard trash. “Nevertheless I still need to do a full workup. We’ll start from the front and work our way back.”

Anderson didn’t return until Wilder was done with Conrad. The veterinarian quickly noticed Michael’s torso was now almost completely covered in fur save for a thin strip of bare skin in the center. Fur covered most of his arms and legs. Of it all though, she noticed he wasn’t wearing his boxers anymore and that there was nothing for them to hide. He had proto hooves where his feet used to be and they had an irregular clip clop to his steps. He wordlessly sat down on the examination table after Conrad flew off to resume his seat. He had some difficultly with that due to his awkward bone structure rushing to put him on all fours. He looked down at himself. “It just slipped right out of my hands.” At least I was able to get off twice before it happened.

Alexia blinked from the chair to his side on the table and put a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “You can talk to me about whenever you feel like it okay?”

He nodded slowly. “I will, thank you.”

“That’s what friends are for right?”

Anderson could feel the sense of calm radiating from Alexia and the others. He knew he could easily ignore that feeling as the positive effects of the herd mentality were extremely resistible if unwanted. But he didn’t want to feel alone and miserable. He wanted to trust her, more so than Conrad or Loki. “I could use some friends going through this.”

Loki bounced over and landed heavily on the table behind him. She started prodding Michael’s back. “Hmm, no growths there.” She twisted around to the front and rubbed his head. “Nothing there either.” He face lit up like the sun and pumped a hoof. “Oh yeah! Earth ponies represent!”

Michael’s depression sank deeper. “I was sort of hoping I could fly.”

Loki looked offended and was about to speak her mind when Alexia cut in first. “All the tribes are special Mike, especially the earth ponies as they are the linchpin of Equestrian society.”

That produced a raised eyebrow out of Loki, while Anderson listened intently. Wilder tried to document the last of the changes silently as Tune explained. “I asked Sensei Twilight about how earth ponies in Equestria deal with not having wings or horns and her answer was surprising.”

She had both earth mares’ full attention. “Well?” The green one asked. Wilder let the audio recording on so she could preview it later as she documented the final stages.

Alexia sat down and cleared her throat. “Earth ponies are a lot like humans in multiple ways. Unicorns such as myself are defined by our magic and our deeper connection to the arcane. Pegasi have their wings and connection to the air and weather. Earth ponies have a strong connection with the Earth itself. This allowed earth ponies to develop agriculture first and they quickly became the bedrock of pony society. It was because of earth ponies that Equestria, the homeland of our species, was able to grow.”

“Now, granted not every earth pony is a farmer. But like humans, who have neither magic nor flight, earth ponies became the most innovative and creative thinkers in Equestria. This is mostly due to the fact that Earth ponies in that day in age thought their magic was limited to agriculture.”

“So…” Michael started. “We have better mental abilities?”

Alexia hummed negatively, trying to word it correctly. “Not innately. We all have equal capability of intellectual pursuits. I like to think of earth ponies as being pony versions of humans who have the addition of earth based magic tossed into the mix. Man wanted to fly, he built an airplane. Man wanted to go to distant places quickly, he built the car; the list goes on. Earth ponies did the same things with airships and carriages respectively. They don’t sulk over what they lack, they think of ways to circumvent it and become better people because of it.”

Conrad raised a hoof. “Question. Who exactly would pull the carriages?”

Alexia’s cheerful scholarly tone faltered. “Ahh… Other ponies… but that’s beside the point.” She added quickly. “Each tribe complements the others and we are all far better off as a harmonious whole rather than any one tribe over the other.”

Conrad sniffed in amusement before licking the edge of his right wing’s primary so he could turn the page of his magazine. After a few minutes he glanced at the unicorn continuing to expound on the importance of earth ponies and how that correlated into the five prime virtues of pony society. By then Michael was already nearly the same size as the rest of them. The lone pegasus gave an equine snort and returned to his article. She really can talk up a storm when the notion hits her.

It was shortly after dinner when Michael’s fingers faded away into the sprouting hoof and she was confined to four legs. Wilder surmised the presence of three other ponies accelerated the physical changes. As to the mental ones she could only guess at, as she believed the current theory that the mental ones were far less pronounced and slowed down shortly after the physical ones did.

Loki was ecstatic about Anderson being a fellow earth pony and insisted on showing her the ropes on how to move and use the “magnetic” hooves. It was not long before the two were racing each other around outer fence of the airbase. Thompson had to talk to the base commander beforehand who was originally completely against it, but finally relented to allow them to run around the southern airfields because no flights were scheduled to take place that night. It was decided amongst the trio of original ponies to ease Anderson into life as an equine first before getting her settled into her new gender.

Alexia was starting to believe it was wiser to find ways to help all ponies adapt to those changes rather than try and wait until she was ready to use the alteration magic. With many ponies at The Ranch starting to do just that, she felt the better about mass acclimation being the permanent solution.

The sun had just passed under the horizon and darkness was rapidly approaching. Alexia and Conrad had been able to enjoy the sight as they watched from a blanket near the cross of the runways with the tome in front of her and Conrad lying down next to her. A small tub of ice cream sat half eaten to the side. He was winded after joining the earth mares’ racing from the air before he had been called back to watch the sunset with her. Tune found the faint body odor strangely pleasant. Must be a species thing as I know it's unpleasant when it's stronger than this.

The latest lesson in magic was theory into abjuration. However the day’s events had worn her out and she couldn’t find much energy to study so she was content to lean against Conrad. He smiled as she nuzzled him and he wrapped a wing and foreleg around her and pulled her in close to reciprocate. She closed her eyes and took the simple enjoyment of his loving touch. They were silent for several minutes as the two earth ponies experimented with their magic in making the grass around the runway lights grow to obscure them.

Loki had her accomplice cover four by the time Conrad spoke to the unicorn. “I’m glad you made it through unharmed today.”

“And I you.” She replied. Alexia pulled back enough to kiss him passionately. She lost herself in his strong affection, and cherished the act as she did every other display of his love. After breaking the kiss she rested her head on his withers. “Thank you for not abandoning Loki when the shelling started.”

“It would not have been honorable, no matter how much-“or little”-I wanted to.” He received no response for several seconds and craned his head around to see the tired unicorn was snoring softly on his withers. He smirked at the mare and decided to let her rest. Her open tome sat beside them and he felt some curiosity that had lain dormant since Alexia first showed him how to use an array. He took the edge of the book in his teeth and carefully dragged it over to be in front of him.

Once it was out of Alexia’s reach, the glowing text of the Dusk Guard faded from view. A lack of sunlight didn’t stop him as he pushed a lantern flashlight forward with his free wing and activated it. “Can’t read any of this. Better start at the first chapter like she did.” As before with Tune, the first chapter was the only one legible to him. Alexia’s explanation of the language implantation spell had gone completely over his head when she explained how she sometimes lapsed into Equish.

“Guess I should see what sort of magic I can use on my own.” He mused aloud as he started at the first page.

Dear reader, thank you so much for buying my guide…

Michael slammed her hoof on the grass next to the runway light and felt her magic shoot out of her leg and watched the plants around it grow half an inch. Without sunlight, the grass needed much more magic than normal to grow. Her massive eyes were still able to see some color in the night that was only illuminated by the distance city lights and those along the runway. She sat down to inspect her foreleg more closely. “I can’t believe how easy this is.”

Loki’s grass had grown almost three inches. “Yeah it is. Alex said something about how swiftly non-unicorns can learn how to use their basic magic.” She bent down to eat the blades of grass she had just grown. “Plus magically grown grass tastes really good.”

The prospect of eating grass was not very appealing to the crimson and yellow pony. “I’ll take your word for it.”

Loki pulled her head up with a mouth full of greens. “Try it.” She insisted.

Michael looked at the grass at her hooves with trepidation. Were it not for Loki’s content expression as she happily munched on her food, Anderson would have left it alone. “You don’t happen to have any dressing on you by chance do you?”

Loki swallowed. “This isn’t just basic grass Mike, this is magically grown grass. This stuff doesn’t need dressing.”

“How does the method of growth change the flavor?”

Loki drew up a large amount of mana and stomped the ground, causing a patch of grass to grow several inches. “First, I want you to take a bite of that grass over there.” She pointed at the level grass a foot away that had not been touched be either of them. “Then try this grass here.” Shifting her hoof to the patch she just grew.

“Alright.” Michael walked over and bit into the plain grass. It was not as bad as she expected, but was dry and bland. Like eating a plain salad with bad lettuce. Choking down the flavorless roughage, she walked back to take a tentative bite out of Loki’s efforts. Her eyes widened at the stark difference. The blades were sweet and moist enough that dressing was indeed not necessary. Neither mare knew that they were drying the soil out with the rapid growth however. “Okay, I’ll admit it does taste a lot better this way, but there’s nothing wrong with adding some caesar to it.”

Loki had a second mouthful of food. “Fair enough. But just wait til you try tulips, they make the whole equine thing worth it.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Michael was determined not to let the species thing get to her. After seeing the vast differences in how the ponies and cultists behaved, she felt easier about resigning herself to having a tail and fur. It was the other part of the package deal she was still having difficulty about. “Loki, you were a woman before all this right?”

“Yeah huh.”

There goes that line of questions. I still need to know a few things. “What sort of adjustments am I going to have to get used to as a mare?”

Loki’s first thought was to direct those questions to Alexia, but one quick look revealed she was sleeping next to Conrad. “Well I helped Tune out through it so I guess I can tell you some stuff.” She walked over so she could sit on the edge of the runway, Mike followed and sat down next to her. “Be glad you’re a mare instead of a woman at least. As you can see we don’t bother with clothes, make up, shoes, nail polish, all that jazz is out the window for us.” She could see Anderson was grateful for that at least. “Now you’ll have to spend more time on brushing your mane, tail, and fur, but that’s to be expected really. Even stallions have to do that much even if their manes and tails are cut short.”

“Makes sense.” Anderson commented.

“Also, if you start missing the ability to stand and pee you can forget it if you’re using a toilet, even Conrad has to sit for that.”

Michael tilted her head. “I thought he was with Alex. How would you know that?”

“Because of how we’re shaped and that we’re always in the buff, we shower together and I know how his thing hangs. Unless it’s against a tree or fire hydrant, it’s just impossible for stallions to stand over the bowl anymore.”

Standing to pee wasn’t exactly the biggest thing on Michael’s list of things she would miss, but it was a sort of guilty relief to know it wasn’t gender specific anymore. The communal showering was not something she was looking forward to having to get used to. “What about…bleeding?”

“Well you’re out of luck there girl. Its still once a month, at least as far as I know. There could be a longer pause between the start and end of the cycle for all I know; but my first one as a pony only lasted four days so it could be worse.” Could be better. She thought with irritation, but hid it from the yellow mare.

“How did Alex handle her first one? So I can guess on what to expect.”

Loki opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again to think. “I don’t know. I thought she’d have come to me at some point for help on that, but she never did.” The green mare shrugged. “I guess she decided to handle it like a trooper and not complain.”

The new earth pony glanced in Tune’s general direction. Can’t believe she adapted so well. “Anything else?”

“Well there’s the sex obviously, but I don’t know how willing you are to try that.”

Mike shook her head with a scowl. “What did Alex do to get over it?” She glanced at the mare in question. "Tune said she and Conrad have intercourse on a regular basis.”

Loki snickered at the memory. “Alex is a special case. She had some mental barriers that kept her from even touching the samurai back there.” She jabbed a look towards Conrad. “So she decided to let him rut her over and over until she started to like it. And you thought I was the masochist.” The green mare was silent for a while as she waited for another question, but none came. “Why? You want to give the flesh spire a whirl?”

“I’ll pass, thanks.” Mike replied curtly.

“You don’t know what you’re missing.” Loki teased.

Micheal glared at her. “I am very much aware of what I’m missing, thank you.” She barked back and she stood up. “I’m going to burn off some steam.” She cantered towards the rest of the airbase.

Loki flinched at the anger in Mike’s voice. She knew it was directed more so at her than anything else. “I think I chipped a tooth with that one.” She stood up and walked back over to the couple lying on the blanket. Movement by the helipads caught her eye. “Better let them know we’ll probably be leaving soon.”

Conrad had given up on the book after halfway through the first chapter on account of his exhaustion. He yawned before closing the book and seeing Loki was almost within speaking distance. “Where’s Mike?”

“Fuming.” She replied with a touch of resignation. “I wasn’t exactly tactful about somethings.”

“Hardly a surprise there.” He scoffed. “You tell her to get plowed like you did with Alexia?” His tone was joking and he laughed at it until he noticed her cringing slightly. “Oh wait, you’re serious. Let me laugh even harder.”

She growled at his deep laughter. “Hey! She seemed cool with everything else I was telling her, how was I supposed to know she’d blow up like that?”

“Given you’ve been female your whole life I’d think you would understand how to talk to other mares better than that.” He smirked at her discomfort. “I guess even mares don’t understand mares.”

Loki tilted her nose up in mock disgust. “In case you forgot, Mike doesn’t have a mare’s mind yet. So no, I don’t know how to talk to half mares.”

All the bickering woke Tune up and she slowly assumed a normal posture on her belly and let out a loud yawn. “What are you guys arguing about now?”

Conrad decided to be kind. “Loki’s having problems with Mike’s adjustments.”

The unicorn scratched an itch on her left ear. “Is that all? She just turned into a pony today. Give her some time to sort things out herself.”

“Is that wise though?” Conrad remarked. “We’re all aware of our herd mentality. If she’s alone and feels alone, that’s only going to make things far worse than they are now.”

Alexia’s brain was starting to shake off the after effects of sleep. “I know, but we were all alone in the beginning too. Mike knows we’re here for her if she needs us, but right now she needs some alone time.”

“Since when did you become the resident therapist?” Loki demanded.

Tune rubbed her eyes and yawned again. “Since I joined the Gender Swapped support group in The Ranch. Didn’t I tell you about that over a week ago?”

“How’s that going by the way?” Conrad inquired as he tugged the blanket to get her off so he could fold it up.

Tune took the lantern and book in her magic and complied with his silent request. “It has its ups and downs. Some are near suicidal, others are more like me and completely at peace with it. There’s no real mean reaction to it as its all over the place.”

“Well, I’ll go talk to her and convince her to go.” Loki declared. “But in the meantime, Thompson will be wanting us to fly out of here fairly soon.” She jabbed a hoof in the general direction of the helipads. “I saw some people over by the bird so I bet they're refueling it now.”

Alexia balanced the tome and lantern on her back and started walking. “I’d prefer a bed to sleep in anyway.”

The CH-53 was already spooling up by the time Mike reached the helipad, having diverted course when she saw Thompson wave her down. He had four equine helmets on a length of rope and pulled one off as she approached. “Want some help getting it on?”

Anderson took the offered equipment. “No, I have to learn how to do it eventually, I might as well start now.”

She fumbled for a bit, still thinking with fingers rather than the gripping magic her hooves possessed. The Director made no move to help her, knowing what she said was true. “How are you holding up?”

“Why do you care?” She replied tersely.

“I make it a point to look after the wellbeing of those under me. They perform better that way.”

“They’d preform even better if they didn’t have to lie to their parents about what’s happening to them.” She spat back.

“That was not my call to make. If it's any consolation to you, I wouldn’t keep your existence a secret. But orders are orders.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” She had great difficulty, but eventually placed the helmet correctly upon her unfamiliar head and clipped the strap in place. “I’ll be inside.” She yelled over the whining engine and trotted to the Sea Stallion. Wilder was already onboard and drafting her notes from the day’s examinations. She waved at Anderson before returning to her work.

The rest of the ponies filed in shortly thereafter. Thompson made sure Alexia was given a helmet that had a working, if crudely implanted, intercom. The trio settled down in their original seats with Alexia in the middle. Mike was sitting across from them, still fuming about her predicament and Loki’s insensitivity.

The green mare was too tired to notice and settled in to sleep with her head leaning against Tune. Conrad simply scooted as close as his restraints would allow, but otherwise could only drape a wing over the silver mare as he put his head straight down to sleep. Alexia couldn’t rest at seeing Mike’s obvious isolation. The helicopter had ascended to its cruise altitude fairly quickly and leveled out so Tune could gesture for Mike to join them.

The yellow pony resisted, feeling it was uncomfortable to snuggle together as the trio were doing, as her only options were either the focus of her ire or a stallion. Thompson sat towards the cockpit and observed their behavior.

Alexia kept a pleasant and welcoming expression as she tried to pick through Anderson’s resistance without being able to speak to her due to the lack of a radio in the earth mare’s helmet. While the positive effects of the herd were resistible, the negative effects were much harder to ignore. Mike felt the cold air chill her to the bone while Alexia was offering a welcoming hoof to join her. Mike refused to budge for several minutes, but her resistance to Alexia’s intoxicating offer to escape the chilling isolation she had placed herself in was eroding. Tune knew this from her time in the support group and had rapidly picked up on ways to pull ponies out of their shell. It helped that Michael was not a naturally introverted person and the desire to join the unicorn eventually won out.

Groaning to herself, Anderson undid the restraints and found that she had to pick either Loki or Conrad. The green mare was still a subject of her ire so she relented and took the seat next to Conrad and buckled herself back in. She tried to scoot as close to him as possible for heat. In his sleep, he instinctively unfolded his left wing and draped it over the yellow mare.

She glanced at Alexia who nodded kindly at her. A feeling of warmth from both his wing and her spirit grew at Alexia’s welcoming expression before the silver mare rested her head on Conrad’s neck. Anderson was against it at first, but tentatively placed her head on the stallion’s withers. His body heat was a welcome change from the cold midnight air and she found herself sinking into his fur before exhaustion finally overtook her and she nodded off. Smiling at Michael allowing herself to be included into the group, Tune drifted off; secure in the notion that someday, Michael would be at peace with herself.

Thompson wanted to speak with the voted upon leader about the coming week’s training exercises, but decided it could wait til morning. Instead he decided to review her complete file that had been sent from The Ranch. That mare has such a profound effect on the ponies surrounding her. Organizing a construction effort within a week of arriving when the rest were barely content with existing, and now she’s drawn Michael fully into their little herd.

He didn’t like the negative connotation that he automatically associated to the term ‘herd’. After seeing the effects it had, he was determined to amend that personal flaw. Whatever the case may be with her. She’s far too important to lose. I’ll have to make sure the training regiment can prepare her to keep herself alive as long as possible.

16: Freed by Greed

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It has been almost three weeks since Thompson’s training regiment started for Alexia’s posse. While Michael was initially hesitant to join them, it only took some careful persuasion on Tune’s part on account that they could bring their existence more fully into the public eye to get the apprehensive mare to join in.

Aside from the two earth ponies, the Director was not quite sure on how to round out Conrad or Alexia’s training. While pilots could be trained for aircraft, it was another thing entirely to train a pegasus to increase his speed and maneuverability without precedence or better knowledge of what his tribe’s capabilities were. As for Tune, he left improving her magic entirely up to her and the princess. He was also aware that Alexia would never be as physically capable as the other three, but that didn’t stop him from trying to improve her physical endurance along with giving her time to improve her magical abilities.

Most training was held at a somewhat removed stretch of land, four miles north of The Ranch. The grasslands had shallow hills that rolled across the landscape as if they were waves upon a lake that had taken the form of earth and soil. It was the Director’s choice to place it that close so Alexia’s group could return home every night, instead of being separated from the community that had grown to adore the silver unicorn. However certain individuals at The Ranch were becoming increasingly alarmed with Tune’s influence.

Colonel Bowler along with representatives of the CIA, FBI, and Director Thompson were in the central conference room discussing how they should deal with her. The room was structured the same as last time, a curved table with a projector set against the far wall. Bowler opened the topic with a picture of the mare in question. He found a picture of her with a neutral expression instead of anger or pleasant so it would not seem he was trying to skew the audience’s take on her.

“I have a problem on my hands: Subject Uniform two thirty seven.”

The CIA arched an eyebrow. “You called us here because you can’t handle a single pony?”

Bowler refused to be baited. “Allow me to explain the issue. Before Uniform’s arrival a month ago, the detainees were laughably easy to keep controlled. Lethargic, low but stable morale, and overall content to sit there and await whatever fate we planned for them. Even the exmilitary ponies were mostly passive. Including your old superior.” He directed the last bit of his statement to the CIA before clicking the slide over to the breaking ground ceremony of the farm and rec centers. “Fast forward two weeks after Uniform’s arrival, just over a thousand of the detainees busied themselves in building the two projects in a speed that would make a contractor fear for his job. Many on the farm didn’t have tools and improvised more from the camp.”

“Even with Uniform and her clique away on one of The Director’s little training sessions.” Bowler said derisively at Thompson. “The ponies left behind are starting to show initiative.” He changed slides to a black pegasus with a red mane. “First Sergeant Vanders seems to have taken it upon himself to be the stand in for Uniform when she is away. But he always defers to her without question when she’s present.” The side flipped again to a bar graph. “As of yesterday’s opinion poll that was distributed around camp by one of the ponies still loyal to the military, Uniform has nearly two thousand of them looking upon her as leader. They’re also starting to become noisy about wanting to be free of The Ranch.” Almost a third of them have developed those strange brands on their flanks as well, but these two won’t care about that.

The FBI representative wore a mask of concern. “What did you mean by still loyal to the military? There are over two hundred servicemen or former federal agents are there not?”

Bowler nodded as he brought up the exact figure on a smartpad. “Two hundred and twelve to be precise. Only twenty one are still giving me accurate reports while over a hundred refused to follow orders and were stripped of their rank. If they didn’t resign first.”

The FBI’s unease worsened. “Resign?”

“When brought in for inquiry, many threatened to resign their commission. Those that didn’t were not pressured and were released before they went that far to resist.”

The CIA grumbled. “I told the committee making the ponies’ service contracts voidable upon request was a horrible idea.”

The FBI concurred. “The DoD was unwilling to give us the power to void it without consent unless we allowed the pony the power to do so well.” He turned to the Colonel. “So let me guess. They were asked to act in what they thought was against Uniform.”

The commander gave a curt nod. “I’ve tried to find the cause of this shift in loyalties. Uniform expounds on the desire for her kind to be acknowledged publically and a restoration of liberties; but outside of that she has made no declarations against the State. As such, I can’t get any rumors of treason or anarchy to gain any ground. Nor has any outright attacks on her character found any success.”

“Is she using magic to control them?” CIA asked.

“That I can’t tell for sure.” Bowler replied at length, hating his lack of information. “For a time, I did manage to get one of my loyal unicorns to join Uniform’s magic instruction session she held three days ago. The individual had thus far been avoiding the unicorn out of that same fear you just voiced. As far as the following report went, unicorns only possess active magic. Outside of the charismatic aura every pony has.”

“Perhaps Uniform learned mass control magic from Twilight. You did say in your report on her that the winged unicorn is considered a leader among the native pony civilization. Perhaps that culture uses subtle magic to subdue the masses into willingly obeying the leaders.”

“A perfect dictatorship.” Bowler replied. “That’s the angle I was leaning towards myself until I received this two weeks ago.” The projector showed a short clip of a brawl caused by a small group of ponies attempting to attack Tune during a conversation at the mess hall. Almost the entirety of the crowd came to her defense and she yelled for them to stop. Many of her supporters did, but the instigators were not listening. Tune’s horn flared as she yelled for them to stop, which ended the brawl almost instantly.

The CIA was displeased. “So there it is. Mind control.”

Bowler nodded, but did not wear a mask of triumph. “I was hoping that display would ruin her popularity. Instead she publically apologized for it and fully acknowledged what she did and swore to not repeat it. Her response was not what concerns me, what does is that her horn was active.” The azure glow in the clip was clearly visible.

The FBI caught on. “So you’re saying that this is concrete proof that her control magic is active only?”

“That’s what the evidence tells us. Even then, those affected by her word of command in the mess hall felt the compulsion to obey for only a few seconds. Had the surprise of it not kept them from resuming, they would have. Which means her forced control over them is extremely shorted lived. Whatever the source of her popularity is. Its not magic.”

“Could it be rooted in the ponies’ collective psychic?” The CIA questioned. “Maybe they instinctually select a leader and follow him.

“Possibly.” Bowler replied. “But that wouldn’t explain why they waited so long and then almost jumped on her barely a day after she arrived.”

“What about her influence on your human assets?” The FBI asked.

“Minimal.” He stated with certainty. “I’ve had those who have regular interaction with the ponies under close scrutiny. None of them have shown anything more than expected sympathy, but are still loyal to me. As a precaution though, I’ll be rotating them out within a few days.”

“Is all of this really serving the United States’ best interests?” Said a lone voice with an undercurrent of controlled hostility to it.

As one, the three talkative men turned to Thompson who had been silent all this time. “Care to enlighten us son?” The elderly CIA man demanded of his subordinate.

“A country thrives on having willing participants serving its needs. All of you here swore an oath to defend and protect this great country did you not?”

“Of course we did.” FBI replied tersely. “What’s your point?”

“My point is that we are squandering the best resource The States possesses: loyal citizens.” He leaned forward in his chair to stress his argument. “What was our original purpose in gathering the equines here? To protect the population from the perceived threat of the charismatic aura. As you have just attested to Colonel, this aura is not some omnipotent force. Your men are not gaining sympathy from magic inducement, but from seeing these beings being treated like test subjects and second class citizens.”

He continued before Bowler could rebuke him. “Colonel, you’ve been losing the loyalty of the former servicemen not because of Uniform’s influence, but because we are betraying them with this kind of treatment. Uniform doesn’t control the ponies. She’s very charismatic with them yes, I fully support that opinion, but she is not making them dissidents against the government. We’re doing that to ourselves.”

Bowler simply clasped his hands and gave a mirthless smile. “Director, your job is to utilize Uniform and her companions to protect the Union. Not dictate policy.”

Thompson became insistent. “Colonel, I have four equines under my command. Only four.” He stressed to drive it home. “If we released them back into society I can promise you that a lot more than four would serve our country in the same capacity that Uniform does. There’s a damn good reason a volunteer military is as powerful as it is.”

“And just how should we do that son?” The CIA replied, showing Thompson has his attention.

The Director took a breath to prepare himself for the expected backlash. “We issue a public statement and apology. Stating our reasons for containing them the way we did and give restitution to the ponies. We should offer to reinstate those who resigned while under the Colonel’s care.”

Bowler forced his anger behind a mask of dismissiveness. “I think you’ve become too attached to your assets. They are tools Director. You should remind yourself of that.”

Thompson hated that analogy, but he could still work with it. “Tell me Colonel.” He said slowly. “Do you take a filthy rifle into combat? Or use an aircraft that hasn’t been maintained?”

Bowler scowled. “Of course not. What of it?”

“Since you’re to intent on thinking of these ponies as tools then you should treat them as such. Not like a hammer or screwdriver you find in just about anybody’s garage; but as an engineer would treat his equipment. He oils them, calibrates them, and cleans them. He makes sure every single tool is so well cared for and maintained that they will never fail him. A rifle and aircraft are the same way. So are people. The only difference is how you maintain them. In case you’ve forgotten, let me remind you. They were all human once as well as American citizens. They aren’t some animals that were just recently granted sapience or aliens brought in from the pony homeworld. They know what freedoms they used to have and now they want them back.”

He glanced at the FBI and CIA. “The ball is in our court gentlemen. We can either give them this simple thing that they want and be rewarded by their continued loyalty and service.” He had the momentum he wanted and wanted to drill this into the two representatives. “Or. We can continue to try and contain them until they either forcibly escape or die in the process. Either way we all lose.”

The CIA mulled over it. “A difficult proposition. What you suggest may actually be better in the long run. I know for a fact we are not the only country with ponies. It’s only a matter of time before they start killing or releasing them. If we do it before anyone else, we could play the good guys here and may even draw refugees from other countries. Say we kept them long enough to make sure they were not a threat to the general public before releasing them.”

The FBI was on the fence. “I still don’t like the unicorns’ active magic. Levitation alone would make theft trivial. The public will demand sanctions. Not to mention invisibility and Uniform’s short range teleportation.”

Bowler used that as jumping point. “I agree. Overall, the unicorns are simply too dangerous to be released. Although I have no doubt freeing the other races and not the third will generate backlash as well. We need to keep the whole population under control.”

Thompson tried to think of a solution. “Maybe Uniform can help with that.”

Bowler suppressed a snarl. “How so?”

“As you all know, she’s in regular contact with the leader of her kind’s original civilization correct? In the face of being freed from The Ranch, I’m sure Uniform would be more than willing to ask Twilight how magic is governed in their society and at the very least give us technology that could disrupt magic so we can still protect sensitive areas.”

The FBI liked that idea instantly and a greedy sneer crossed his face. “Yes… People and companies the world over will want antimagic security. If it can be mass produced, we could corner the market on it. Additionally, we can avoid any political flak from magic used against public interests by saying we had a solution ready for sale, but they refused to buy.”

The CIA was more cautious. “We should wait until we test these antimagic technologies, if they exist, before we release them however. Make sure a working mass producible prototype is ready to ship before then.”

Bowler was furious, but in the end an obedient man. “How do you want me to act from here on then?” He said with barely contained rage.

Thompson remained silent, his work done. The FBI leaned into the CIA’s ear to discuss matters briefly before he addressed the Colonel. “This still needs executive approval before all else. Do nothing outside of the norm.”

The CIA’s tone grew terse. “And do nothing to antagonize the equines. Keep them limited to the base, but give them something minor to bide time for approval. A simple liberty that they've asked for.” He turned to Thompson who was doing an admirable job in hiding his victory smirk. “I want you to have Uniform find this method of magic control. You may tell her, that her kind’s future depends on it. If anything will get her motivated, that will do it.”

“As you wish.” He replied respectfully.

The CIA wasn’t done with him yet. “However, given her talents. Make sure she knows that even if we do get presidential approval for release and if we get the antimagic; she must serve for at least four years. I want her on the frontlines of keeping foreign nationals from using that power against us until we get the antimagic infrastructure in place.”

Thompson nodded. “Given her options, I have no doubt she’ll agree to those terms.”

The FBI cut in. “But this must remain secret from the rest of the ponies. If the president declines the reversal of order twelve oh twelve, then we will uphold his decision.”

“I understand.”

“Good.” The CIA checked his phone. I have to leave now anyway so I can join that meeting on finding out the source of these damnable psychoactive clouds landing all over the place. “Now if you’ll excuse me. I must be going.”

The FBI stood as well. “And I as well.” He nodded to the Colonel and then to Thompson. “Colonel. Director. Until next time.”

Bowler didn’t like it one bit. He waited for Thompson leave as well and brooded in his chair. Those things have no place in society. If I can’t do anything to them here, then I’ll make sure the press will tear them apart. He glanced at Alexia on the paused clip. Still…if this does go through, the vermin will scatter and it’ll remove Uniform’s support base. After that all she needs is a little…accident during an op.

Alexia was in a large field, barely a mile from the north fence of The Ranch. She was badly winded from the long run she had just finished. Ten miles was way too far for the unicorn to ever run for recreation. The green and yellow earth mares had settled into a friendly rivalry. Anderson found her newfound speed and endurance intoxicating and wanted to prove herself superior to Loki. The hacker was more than content to let the new mare dream the impossible dream.

Conrad was just warming up his wings after the long distance run on the ground and settled down next to Alexia who was resting on her belly in the wild grass. “How are you holding up?”

“Well enough.” She said between breaths. “I don’t think unicorns are built to run this much.” She had a belt wrapped around her barrel and she pulled a water bottle off and took several gulps. “How about you?”

Conrad turned to the side and showed one of the two reservoir crystals she helped him make was completely drained and dull. “I’d be hurting bad were it not for these. I have to work out both legs and wings. Its not so bad though, out here I’m allowed to fly as far and as high as I want.” He didn’t need to say because Thompson knew he would always return for Alexia.

“Where is our shepherd by the way?”

“No idea. His goons are overseeing the earth pair’s physical training right now. Truth be told, I think he knows how to work with them a lot better than us.”

Tune put the drink back as Conrad gave a reply. “Can’t really fault him for that. At least he gave us the operational freedom to improve our flight and magic on our own.”

“Speaking of which.” Alexia commented as she summoned the tome. “Did you get some use out of those guidelines Sensei gave me for you?”

“I did actually.” She smirked at him as she opened the book to the Guard page. He noticed her coy grin and walked over to the book. “What’s so funny?”

“Did you notice anything strange about the text I wrote out?”

His brow furrowed in confusion. “No. Should I have?”

“I wrote it in Equish.”

“You…did?” He remembered the pages she had written out were in English. However, he also remembered something about her telling him the illusion comprehension spell.

“You’ve been reading my book when I’m out of the house right? According to Twi, any pony who reads that book learns Equish within nine days.” She walked over and nuzzled his cheek so her mouth was next to his ear. She whispered to him with barely contained mirth. “In fact, I’ve been speaking Equish to you this whole time.”

The moment the realization hit him, the illusion was shattered and he replied in Equish. “How come it sounds like you're spea-“ He heard the words coming out of his mouth and they were definitely not English. He forcibly kept his words in his native language. “That is a very strange way to learn a language.”

She kept speaking in Equish however. “I like how it sounds. Melodious, yet not annoyingly so. Sort of whimsical.”

“Well if you prefer it, then we could hold all of our conversations in it if you wish.” He liked the idea of knowing a language that no one else on Earth would know.

“I would actually.” She replied with a smile and light kiss. “But I’d like to think of it as a benefit for the person I wanted you to meet.” She glanced at the page and saw the purple dot was lit. Perfect, she was able to get away like she said. Tune placed her left hoof on the page. “Unlock.”

Conrad took a step back and let the scanning light pass over Alexia. It remained green and within a few seconds, Princess Twilight Sparkle materialized. Alexia bowed her head and Conrad felt the impulse to do the same. Twilight was overjoyed to see her. “Alex! How have you been?”

“As well as I can hope for Sensei.” The unicorn had told Sparkle everything about the mission in Louisiana and about her current situation with Thompson. “I’m still breathing.”

Twilight’s mirth lowered a little. “If only that wasn’t all it took to be considered a good day for you. But I am glad to see you alive and well.” He eyes drifted to Conrad. “Is this the stallion that stole your heart?”

Tune grinned and wrapped a foreleg around him in a sidelong hug. “That he is. I wanted to introduce him to you now that he understands our language.” She let go to stand off to the side and in between the stallion and hologram. “Conrad, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria.” She reversed the greeting for Sparkle.

The alicorn was happy to see the obvious adoration they shared. “Pleased to meet you Conrad, I’ve heard so much about you.”

“Only good things I hope. Its not every day I meet royalty.” He was growing to enjoy having a conversation in Equish.

Twilight tittered politely. “I doubt she could ever say a word against you.” She cast a knowing glace to Alexia who blushed through her fur. Twilight noticed his blank flank, but concealed it to speak with Alexis about later. “Did my tips help you? I know firsthoof how difficult it can be to learn how to fly with the sudden addition of wings.”

“They did, thank you.”

“Always happy to help.” Sparkle replied honestly.

A buzzer on Conrad’s belt elicited a groan of irritation. “That’ll be Moore wanting me to start my aerial exercises. Sorry Princess, but I have to go.”

“I understand Conrad. I wish you luck.” The brown pegasus took to the air and flew off to the east. Alexia walked over to be adjacent to Twilight with a despondent look on her face. She noticed her student’s expression. She decided to try and brighten her up before the lesson got started. “He’s a great pony.”

“He is.” Tune replied with mild sorrow. “I wanted to propose to him with you present.”

The purple alicorn was not nearly as shocked as she thought she would have been. The only thing that ever breaks her out of improving her magic is his name. “Well I know he’ll say yes. If even half of what you say about him is true, I highly doubt he’d turn you down.”

“Yeah.” The unicorn replied with a deep sigh. “I know its really fast. But with me going into combat again with nothing but my wits and horn, I don’t know if I’ll live through the next time. I wanted to cement our relationship before that happens.”

With all that Twilight had heard about Conrad and the short introduction they had, she could tell he was an honorable pony. “Hopefully that will never happen.”

Alexia’s smile strengthened. “That wasn’t the only reason I wanted to propose in front you.” Twilight gave an inquisitive hum. “I want a pony style wedding. And I was hoping you would be the one to unite us.”

Sparkle cracked a massive grin. “It would be an honor, my faraway student.”

“Your honor?” She replied with a playful smile. “I would be wed by my mentor and a leader of my people. The honor is all mine.”

Sparkle laughed lightly. “Ah, but I get to preside over the wedding of ponies from a different world. Not even Celestia or Luna could boast that.”

“I’ll need to actually pop the question soon though. But there’s a different issue that’s been bothering me. What is the gender ratio in Equestria? I only ask because over here, its three to one favoring mares.”

Twilight shrugged. “That’s how it is for us too.”

“Oh…” It wasn’t what Alexia was fully expecting. “Well, with humans their ratio is split down the middle between men and women. With some slight various due to chance, but that’s a technicality. At any rate, most civilizations support monogamous relationships. So if Equestria has three to one, how do the other mares handle it?”

Twilight rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “Well…I read about it more than actual experience, but I can tell you this much. The vast majority of equestrians don’t restrict themselves to monogamy. As a species and later ingrained into our society, its simply not desirable nor tenable. See, when two partners cement their love through marriage, its not a declaration that they are forever closed to others. In fact the opposite is true and the ceremony announces that the couple is ready to form a herd.”

“I thought herds were formed between friends because of our mentality.”

Sparkle shook her head. “I can see were you might get that confused. But that’s just a circle of friends and romantic love is not a prerequisite. The term ‘herd’ is reserved for a group of romantically involved ponies numbering three or more. Typically four, but I’ve never heard of one being more than five.”

“I’m guessing its three mares to one stallion.” Twilight nodded. “How do they deal with jealousy though? Most humans won’t stand for their partner having relations like that with another.”

The alicorn scratched her head at the unfamiliar subject outside of books. “Its complicated to explain. I’ve had dignitaries from the Griffin Empire and a few other others who question that.” She took a breath to recall Celestia teaching her how to explain it to non-equestrians. “See. Herd partners do get emotionally hurt from infidelity as I’m guessing you might expect. But when its between ponies who all consent to be a part of the same herd, jealousy never crosses our minds.” She anticipated the unicorn’s question. “There are always exceptions to the rule, and not everypony is happy outside of monogamy, but that is quite rare.”

“But for most ponies, prolonged monogamy is frowned upon as a form of selfishness. The one socially accepted exception to that is among royalty and high noble families. Mostly because marriage takes on a highly political role with them than it does for the common pony.”

“I see.” Alexia said at length. “Is that a culture thing or is it instinctual?”

She was moving into more familiar ground with the alicorn. “Well you should know that most of the oldest customs have a basis as to what feels right on an instinctual level. As populations expand and deviants from that norm arise, laws and customs are put in place to keep everypony in line with what instinctually feels right to the majority. That’s how a great many customs based on behavior patterns emerge.” Sparkle eyed her student more closely. “Even so, you may want to discuss this at length with your partner before attempting it. If you ever decide to go that route. I won’t hold it against you if you stay with him alone. It is your native culture after all.”

“I want to try it anyway.” Alexia replied almost instantly. She fully faced her instructor to impress her seriousness. “When I told you my true self is that of a pony, I meant it. I’m not willing to risk damaging our relationship over it; but I would like to try and ease him into the idea, because you’re right. Half of our population shouldn’t be cut off from finding love just because there are so few stallions.” I’m just not sure if I’m even ready to go anywhere near it. But if everypony and their brother seem to think of me as a leader, then its up to me to set a precedence.

Twilight couldn’t help but feel a little pride in her student. “I think that is a good idea, but please remember that it’s a joint venture.”

Tune cut off her inner musings. “I will Twi. Conrad is my other half now. But who knows, maybe he’d be willing to have two more halves…as for who I’m not so sure if they’d want to.”

Alexia’s phone buzzed and she groaned slightly at seeing who it was. “Director Thompson. To what do I owe the pleasure.”

Twilight was still fascinated by that small device in Tune’s magic. That would have made writing letters to the princess a lot easier on Spike. The purple mare was confused to see a mix of excitement and full blown jubilation on the silver unicorn’s face.

“If this is some kind of sick joke, so help me…” Thompson’s voice was muffled so Twilight couldn’t hear. “I…I don’t know what to say. Yes. Yes of course, I’m sure she knows of some. I’ll get right on it.”

Sparkle gave her student a quizzical look as she hung up. “What was that about?”

Alexia had a grin that threatened to cleave her face in two. “He just gave me a deal to give every last pony our freedom from the camp.”

The alicorn was taken aback. “I didn’t think they’d ever do that willingly.”

“Nor did I. But they want something from you in exchange.”

“Me?” Twilight grew suspicious. “What is it?”

“The condition is this. Thompson’s masters are going to try to get presidential approval to release us as a big PR stunt. However they still have reservations about unicorn magic so they wanted some way to block or dampen magic so they can protect sensitive information and equipment.”

Sparkle knew it was a legitimate concern. “Crime isn’t that big of a concern here, but there are always those who will break the law. However by the way they’ve treated you thus far I’m not willing to give them serious power over you.”

Color drained from Tune's face. “But this is a golden opportunity. If we give them something that works then they’re bound to really consider letting us go!”

Twilight held up a restraining hoof. “You misunderstand me Alex. I can give them something they can use, but I don’t want them using it against you personally. I will select the ward I have in mind and set it aside in your edition of the Guard archives, but I will also add a cantrap that you can cast to protect yourself from its effects.”

“So I should keep the cantrap to myself then?”

Twilight nodded sadly. “From what I’ve seen and heard, your government is not above breaking its own laws to get what it wants. That may be a universal theme among your planet, but it is still repulsive to think about.” Sparkle’s gaze became unfocused as the real alicorn searched her library for the appropriate book. “Besides, Thompson didn’t ask for you to not have a counterspell to it right?”

A conspiratory smirk crossed Tune’s face. “No. He didn’t.”

Jackson stood in a stable firing position with a nine millimeter HK45 pistol firmly in his grip. Ten meters downrange was a silver unicorn surrounded by an azure shield. He stood behind a ballistic glass barrier that would protect him from ricochets. Surrounding Tune was a similar layer of glass that fully protected her from his direction of fire. This version of the specialized kinetic shield spell was able to pass between her and the glass thanks to the side effect of the spell not being blocked by transparent solids, such as glass or types of plastic. The latter being something Tune discovered on her own. It only took a minor alteration to the spell’s parameters to make it flush against glass or transparent plastic if needed.

Jackson clicked his wrist radio twice to give a loud audible warning that he was about to fire. Alexia responded by sending a pulse of energy through the shield that manifested as a ring of brighter azure that ran the length of the barrier. The brown pegasus and holographic princess off to the far side watched with concern and curiosity in equal parts.

Jackson fired one round dead center of the barrier. The shield flickered and cracks radiated from the impact point, but held and solidified a moment later. Jackson yelled a warning. “Two rounds.” The gun reported twice. The first bullet cracked it and the second one shattered the barrier completely. Twilight’s personal adaptation to the spell kept the magical feedback caused by the shattering from damaging Tune’s brain, as it was instead rerouted to her skin. In essence, it diluted the unavoidable feedback into a full body ache rather than a debilitating hornache.

Jackson immediately clicked the safety and holstered the firearm. “Clear!”

Conrad flew over to check on her. “Are you unharmed?”

“Just some aches.” She winced at the agony as it dispersed. “I don’t think the spell is going to do very well in combat.”

The holographic alicorn was stunned by the results. She was limited to a short range from the tome and beckoned the unicorn to speak with her. Jackson was wary of the hologram, but some assurances from Tune kept him from worrying over much.

The agony of the shattered shield faded by the time Alexia and Conrad got within earshot of Sparkle. “I can hardly believe it!” The lavender mare announced. “That spell was designed specifically to counter missile attacks.”

“By missiles you mean arrows right?” Conrad inquired with a bit of curiosity.

“Well aside from catapults there are no non-magic based projectiles on our world. At least that which is fired by weapons anyway.” She turned to Alexia. “For a beginner in abjuration that was a well-crafted Reactive Barrier. But those bullets move by far too fast for it function properly.”

Conrad was intrigued. “Just how does it work normally?”

Twilight looked to her pupil to give the answer and Alexia was glad to give it. “The Reactive Barrier works two fold. The first is a sort of sensor net for the spell that detects on coming projectiles. The second part of the spell reacts automatically to intrusions in the net and solidifies the kinetic barrier to the exact points needed to stop it. This has the benefit of focusing the caster’s ability to repulse the attack to a single point rather than dilute it across the entire barrier. The sensors work completely independently from the caster.”

The alicorn nodded. “Well done. So why did it fail?”

Tune knew the answer immediately. “The bullets are too small and too fast for the net to detect in time. The barrier can’t react quickly enough and becomes grossly inefficient in blocking more than one shot at a time.”

“You’ve gotten a lot better at reading spellcraft in real time. I’m impressed.”

Alexia gave a weak smile. “A shame I have to learn this kind of magic.”

Sparkle sighed in sympathy. “Its not the equestrian way to make war, but we have had to defend ourselves on numerous occasions throughout both recent and ancient history. I will see about finding a shield spell that can work for this type of weapon, however I think this would be an opportune time to test your lateral thinking.”

The silver mare always got excited when Twilight would lead into giving a test. “What do you have in mind?”

The princess mulled over it. “You already possess a grasp on a variety of different applications of magic, and you have the benefit of having the mind of someone outside of equestrian methods of thinking so you’re not rooted in old mentalities. No one spell you’ve learned thus far can defeat such a weapon, but I suspect you’re clever enough to figure out a way on your own. This once, I will withhold what I find on this topic so that you may experiment on this. Who knows, you might find a way even I wouldn’t think to use.”

Alexia was thrilled at the challenge. “Seeing as my life may very well depend on it, I will make it a priority over the rest of my studies… Save the big one.”

“I have faith in you my faraway student. I would stay longer, but I have a reception I must attend.” It was obvious she did not care for it.

“Bye Sensei.” The alicorn vanished and Alexia recovered the tome and teleported it to her home.

Jackson had been off to the side talking to Thompson who had arrived a minute earlier. Now that Twilight was gone he stepped in to speak with the unicorn. Both ponies regarded the Director. “I see the ballistics test fared poorly.”

Tune groaned at the memory of the feedback. “About as good as fishing in a volcano.”

“Well for the time being you’ll just have to rely on invisibility during a firefight then.” He gestured for Jackson to pack up equipment for the day. “Did you come through with an antimagic device?”

“I did.” She said with reservation. “It’s a rather simple diagram that activates in the presence of active magic and disrupts the spell to be completely non-functional. It does not require magic to power it so anybody can draw it.”

“Would it cause pegasi to drop from the skies?”

Conrad glared at him but said nothing as she answered. “No, it would not.”

“Excellent. I’ll take it.”

“Before I do that Director.” The unicorn replied quickly. “What assurances I have that this will win my people’s freedom?”

Thompson gave her a nod of approval. “As assuredly as powerful men are greedy. If this diagram of yours works as you say it well, then the sister intelligence agencies will convince the president to rescind Executive Order twelve oh twelve. With one stipulation.” He added neutrally. “My superiors want you to sign a four year contract of service under me.”

She scowled at that. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Its entirely up to you, Tune. Your temporary service for the dismantlement of The Ranch.” He knew an on the spot decision of this nature could produce resentment later. Better to give her time to sort things out herself. “I don’t need either your decision or the diagram now. After all, we need to see if the president is open to the idea in the first place.”

“I trust he’ll respond soon.” Conrad hoped.

“Believe me.” Thompson remarked. “My superiors will see that he’s brought around. But I would prefer it if you sleep on this. Talk to the rest of your friends, but I must stress that this does not get leaked to the rest of the camp under any circumstances. If for whatever reason the president does not allow your release…”

Alexia stepped up to him and jabbed a hoof at his stomach. “Listen buddy. You can play nice all you want. But I won’t believe a word of it until I see my people walk out of here. You don’t come through for me or so much as a single strand of hair is harmed on anypony, and the lot of you will wish you tried to be more convincing.”

The Director still wanted to remain on friendly terms with her, as he was a resolute believer that it fostered better cooperation. “I’m simply covering my bases Tune. I don’t expect a negative reply from the White House. In the meantime I’ll cut training short today, I’ll give you twenty four hours to think on it.”

She didn’t hesitate for one second. Alexia would do anything to see The Ranch closed, and she knew her friends would do the same. “I don’t need to think on it. If your bosses require four years of my life for the rest of ponydom to be free then so be it. You’ll have me.” She made sure the daggers she was staring into his eyes drew blood. “But so help me. If you betray me and try to use this agreement if the prez says no…” She couldn’t think of a threat that she might regret saying later so she let it hang.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Thompson replied simply.

She scanned him for any deception, finding none. “Glad we understand each other.” She tilted her head towards The Ranch while addressing Conrad in Equish. “Come on, let’s go grab some grub before I start eating the grass.”

They started to walk off and he waited until they were out of earshot of the humans before speaking. “Didn’t you eat one and a half MREs for lunch?”

“I was hungry.”

“Yeah but those are designed for big soldiers, not a mare who not even a third their weight.”

Thompson yelled out to her before they crested the small hill. “By the way, Doctor Wilder wanted to speak with you. She’s in the hangar.”

She silently waved back in acknowledgement and continued walking. Conrad lazed through the air staying at Tune’s side and pace. “What do you think she wants?”

“I asked her to run me through some tests to find out why I’m not doing so hot on the physical training. She’ll probably just give me some extra vitamins and tell me to drink more water.”

“Let’s hope that’s all it is.” The pair heard thundering hooves as the two earth mares raced from their long distance run. It was clear as day to the couple that Loki was letting Anderson stay neck and neck. The pair blasted past the couple in a blur of fur. Anderson tripped from exhaustion and tumbled end over end before stopping on her side gasping for air. Loki was winded, but was still able to prance around the yellow mare with an energetic step.

“Game point to me.”

The defeated pony barely had the energy to glower at her. She found herself encased in azure light and lifted in the air to be placed upon Conrad’s back after he settled back down to the ground. “Not exactly a position I’m used to.” He quipped.

Anderson was too busy sucking air to care about a response. Loki jogged around the trio to properly cool down. “I won so you have to pick one.”

Tune gave the green mare a questioning gaze before shifting to the yellow one. “Pick what?”

“A new name.” Loki replied.

“What?” The lone stallion asked.

“Anderson bet me that if I won our race to return to you guys she would give up her male name for a female one.”

Tune frowned at her. “And what were you going to have to do if she won?”

“I’d have to shave my fur and hair off then prance around camp singing ‘I Am Glad’ by Khil.”

Conrad turned to look at the mare on his back. “At least you didn’t challenge her to a drinking game.”

Anderson gave a weak laugh as her heart rate was returning to normal. Alexia eyed Loki with an anticipatory reprimand. “Does she get to pick it at least?”

“What kind of person do you take me for?” Loki replied with mock injury. “Of course she can pick it, but it can’t be too close to Michael. That’s the rule.”

“You shouldn’t force this on her, even with a bet.” The unicorn chided.

Anderson waved a restraining hoof at her. “No. Its okay. I’ve been kidding myself long enough as it is.” Conrad halted for a moment so she could walk on her own in-between him and the silver mare. “I knew I couldn’t beat her so I wanted an excuse to give it up.”

“Mike, you don’t need to give up your name.”

Anderson was still too ragged to lift her head up, but she angled her head to look at the unicorn. “I need to for me.”

“I doubt you took that bet without already having one in mind.” Conrad commented.

“I do actually.” Her breathing was normalizing and she lifted her head up to a normal posture. Anderson ran a hoof through her mane to she could see it a little better. “I really like how my mane and tail’s coloration turned out so…” She put her hoof back down to glance at everybody to gauge their reaction. “I want my name to be Crimson from now on.”

Tune smiled warmly at her. “I think that’s a wonderful name.”

Conrad’s adopted a playful tone. “It would definitely make it hard to forget.”

The posse reached the northern gate house and the guards let them back in without question. There was no need to check ID when their species was identification enough. Alexia spoke once they were out of earshot of the soldiers. “You guys get some grub; I have to go see what Wilder discovered, if anything.”

Her group waved back at her as she cantered off towards the hangar. Conrad watched until she was out of sight before facing the two remaining mares. “Okay I need to know if you guys can keep a secret.”

“Depends.” Crimson replied.

“I’m not keeping one from Alex.” Loki answered sternly.

“Not from Alex, but from everybody else.” The mares moved to flank the stallion as they kept walking.

“What is it?”

Conrad scanning their immediate surroundings to make sure no one was close enough to hear on their way to the mess hall. “We just got an offer that could close The Ranch permanently.”

Had they not been walking automatically, the mares would have halted in their tracks. Crimson was about to shout a response but a shush from Conrad kept her voice low. “You mean I can finally tell my folks what really happened to me?!”

“Yes, but there’s a catch.” He cautioned.

Loki’s jubilation deflated. “What?”

“Alexia has to sign on for four years so ‘the man’ can continue to use her.”

“What about the three of us?” Crimson asked the shared question.

“He didn’t say either way. I’m sure we’d be free to go with the rest of the ponies if we wanted to.”

“Ta hell with that!” Loki barked. She knew exactly what Tune’s answer to that offer would be. “Glorious Leader isn’t going anywhere without me to watch her back.”

Conrad knew he could count on Loki for that much. “My sentiments exactly.”

All eyes fell on Crimson who was a put off balance. “You. You want me to join you?”

“Course we do Crimmy. You’re one of us now.” Loki maneuvered around Conrad to bump shoulders with the fellow earth pony. “You can’t tell me you’d abandon Alex like that.”

“I-“ Anderson hesitated. I still want to let my family know how I’m doing. But there’s no way I could ever return to my old life, not looking like this. And. I think I’m starting to enjoy my new body. But for Alex?

Her soul searching lasted for several minutes. No matter what excuses she could think of, the thought of leaving her friends felt abhorrent and abandoning Alexia as repugnant as treason. She’s helped me every step of the way since I got here. She took me in without question. I’d never forgive myself if I turned my back on her after she just sacrificed four years to set the rest of us free. They were in front of the mess hall when she spoke again. “You’re right Loki. I could never abandon her. I’ll sign up too.” The fierce determination was all the other two needed to see.

Tune meandered into the hangar and the receptionist directed her to examination room three. The mare rapped on the door and a familiar professional tone answered. “Come on in Miss Tune.”

This examination room was more traditional. Somewhat cramped with barely sufficient room for the table, some counters and enough room to walk about. Alexia jumped up to the table without being prompted and sat on her haunches towards Wilder. “Did you find out what’s been making me sick lately?”

“I have.” She replied in forced neutrality. I’ve given news like this before, but not directly to the patient. Makes me wonder how many more might out there and not know it. She turned around with chart in hand.

Alexia kept a light joking tone. “Is it the pony pox?”

“Not quite.” The veterinarian didn’t want to make it harder on the unicorn by skirting the issue. Get it over and done with quickly, yet tactfully. She stared at the mare’s trusting expression that began to falter the longer Wilder remained silent. She cleared her throat to speak. “You’ll be pleased to know, you actually in perfect health.”

“Doctor. Even I know you don’t throw up two times in one week and have mild fatigue from nothing.”

Wilder kept her professional mask on. “The test results say that you’re pregnant.”

Tune didn’t react for a few seconds before scoffing in disbelief. “Heh, good one doc. I never took you for someone who joked about a diagnosis.” Wilder’s tense expression didn’t waver; Alexia’s jovial demeanor did. “I can’t be pregnant Doctor. I never went into heat.”

“I ran the blood work and urinalysis three times each to be sure. Each test said the same thing. You’re pregnant.”

Tune was starting to grasp at straws. “Maybe your tests are inaccurate. I mean, ponies are an entirely different species. What if my autoimmune response to this illness is triggering a false positive?”

“I checked for infectious agents and while I won’t say that’s foolproof, I didn’t find anything else out of the ordinary.”

Dread was coursing through the unicorn’s mind until she remembered Twilight’s breathing technique. “Okay, I’ll solve this right now with Inner Sight. That’ll prove it once and for all.” She repeated the technique a dozen times to be tranquil enough to cast the spell properly. Her vision was replaced by the glowing web of light that consisted of her itineris system. The carbuncle was much brighter than the last time she had cast the spell, and the pathways between it and her horn was not that much wider, but the carbuncle had developed a separate pump for that alone and it pulsed every fifteen seconds rather than the normal half minute.

All of that was secondary to her. Ponies require magic to develop right? So there if I were…with child then… The capillaries around her womb were very dense, but she could plainly see a small trickle being funneled into two separate points and could sense the extremely faint magical frequencies of both.

The complete shock of it jolted her out of the spell. The realization struck home and a hoof unconsciously drifted to touch her abdomen. Her ears fell flat and her jaw quivered in terror as her eyes misted over. “I- I. I’m. Pre-.“ She couldn’t get the words out of her stammering lips.

Wilder was torn between her professionalism and wanting to comfort the mare falling apart at the seams. She needs the support of her herd before this becomes traumatic for her. “Miss Tune.” She raised her voice to cut through the tearful sniffling. “You should go to your friends. You shouldn’t deal with something this life altering on your own.”

The logical part of her mind tried to kick in. “I. I will Doctor.” Her thoughts started to reorganize after three minutes of rhythmic slow breaths. Wilder handed Alexia some tissues to clean herself up and a bowl of water to cool her face. After drying off, Tune felt composed enough that she could make it back to the house without her mask breaking down.

Tune carefully climbed down off the table and was about to leave before she stopped and faced the veterinarian. “Please don’t tell anyone about this. Least of all the Colonel.”

“You have my word under doctor patient confidentiality. No one will know unless you tell them. But I highly recommend that you inform the father.”

She had to repeat her breathing three more times to fix the crack in her mask. She looked back at Wilder. “I will Doctor. As…scary as it will be to tell him.” Her visage settled into determination. “I don’t run from my problems. Can I return later for a proper checkup later?”

“Absolutely. How about this Friday?”

“That’ll be perfect, thank you.” She shut the door behind her and leaned against it in an upswing of panic. Keep it together Alex. Just keep it together. Her calming exercises brought her emotions under a semblance of control and she pushed herself off the wall and forced her best smile on before making her way back home.

She ran into well over a dozen ponies all wanting to ask her about various questions and topics ranging from a possible third construction project to what sort of sports or plays they could host in the rec center. One earth stallion even wanted to know what kind of flower he should plant for the pegasus mare he wanted to court. All of it was a welcome distraction to the issue sitting in the back of her mind like a raging elephant.

The constant requests were becoming part of her routine of sorts, and she tried her best to give meaningful responses. “Well what color is her mane?”

“A light purple.”

“What does she like?”

“She has a thing for basketball.”

“I think there are some purple hyacinth seeds in the storehouse. That should work for you.”

“Great thanks.”

He was the last one to leave of a group of thirty that came to her for advice. I wonder where they’ll all go once they’re free of this place. The crowd had slowed her down long enough for her housemates to return with the food. All it took was one look at Conrad to have her condition roaring back to the forefront of her mind.

Said stallion instantly locked onto her fracturing mask and coupled with her recent visit to the veterinarian, he became worried that she might have something serious. “Are you okay Alex?”

The earth mares stopped eating to share a concerned look before all three stepped over to the unicorn who fought to keep from trembling. “In a manner of speaking.” Was all she could say.

Loki inspected her closely. “Doc say you caught something?”

Alexia cringed and looked Conrad in the eyes. “She did.”

Loki glanced between the couple. “Did he give you an STD?”

Alexia’s face spanned between cringing and nervous halting laughter for several seconds. “He ah. Well. I wouldn’t call it a disease.” Her three companions’ faces had a mix between confusion and revelation. Tune didn’t even think of her announcement as being private between him and her. Nothing had been hidden between the three ponies for weeks and Crimson had been adopted into that policy by the second day. “Guys. I’m pregnant…with twins.”

Crimson and Conrad were stunned. Loki had a malkavian grin. “I knew there was something off about you lately.” She took the unicorn in a massive hug that forced her to sit on her haunches to keep from falling over. “I know for a fact you’ll be a great mother. And I Loki will be a magnificent aunt.” She cackled madly. Everyone passed it off as Loki being Loki.

The pegasus was rather miffed that Loki had jumped ahead of him. He came around to the side and join in while nuzzling her. “I can only hope I’ll be half as good of a parent as you will be.” Much of Alexia’s anxiety was burned away at both of their support and she wrapped her forelegs around them in turn. The other ponies turned to Crimson who was standing off to the side and was trying to avoid a situation where she felt her presence was not wanted.

Loki waved her over. “Come on Crimmy. You’re one of us too.”

I thought I was only living here with them until I learned how to handle myself as a pony; but they haven’t asked me to leave yet. “I’ve barely known you guys for two weeks.” She countered hesitantly. She desperately wanted to be a part of it, but most of her was scared of being an unwelcome intrusion.

Conrad scoffed. “You think that matters to us? You’re a pony and good friend. That’s all that counts.”

Crimson’s lips twitched upward and she bolted to join the group embrace. Alexia and Loki pulled their forelegs apart to let her in and the yellow mare buried her head in Alexia’s shoulder. “Thank you guys. I promise to be worthy of your trust.” Crimson let herself be carried away in the sheer bliss she felt from the full inclusion of the group. How did I ever live without them?

Conrad pulled back just enough to look Alexia in the eye. He poured his love into his words. “No matter what these next four years bring, we’ll do it together.” Alexia shed tears of joy and muttered words of gratitude to him.

With Crimson’s inclusion and the theme of the moment, the herd mentality between the four of them was at its strongest felt yet. Loki pulled her foreleg out from Alexia to wrap it around Conrad who looked at her in mild surprise. “The four or six of us rather. Now and forever right?”

Alexia looked up to watch the interaction carefully. Conrad studied the green mare for the expected joke. He knew she would support Tune, but to try and bury the hatchet over something like this seems an odd time to him. Yet there was a silent apology in Loki’s eyes that felt too genuine to be one of her pranks.

In that moment, with the effects of the herd mentality at its strongest. He was finally able to fully let go of his resentment and forgive her. “Yeah.” He said slowly, with a gentle smirk directed at the green mare. “Together.” Unbeknownst to everyone present, a steel colored kite shield with a short-sword sheathed behind it and pointing straight down emblazoned itself on his flanks.

The jolt across his nervous system as his spirit remolded itself to fit its shell startled the mares out of the group hug. Conrad would have fallen over if Alexia had not propped him up in time. The trio of mares crowded the lone stallion as his vacant eyes came back into focus seconds later and he blinked a few times to regain his bearings. “Was that what I think it was?”

The expression in his lover’s eyes was enough to make him glance down at his flank. Sure enough, the sword and shield were plainly visible. He saw the pattern on the shield itself was that of a miniature black ankh with stylized white wings on either side. What little of the blade that was visible from behind the shield was the same steel grey as his mane and tail. The trim of the shield was azure.

Except for Crimson who was a little confused about it, the other two mares were thrilled at his cutie mark’s appearance. Conrad smirked internally. So I am destined to be her champion? No, I chose that destiny for myself. The mark only reflects that decision. He couldn’t be happier with it.

Loki had a realization. “Hey guys. The three original Ponyteers finally have their cutie marks!”

Her fellow Ponyteers snickered, but Alexia turned to Crimson. “Maybe, but we’re the four Ponyteers now.”

“Aye, that we are.” He said as he rose to his hooves. “No matter what comes at us. The four of us will stand united.” He had a playful smirk when he stuck his hoof out in front of him. “As she said, now and forever.”

Alexia placed a hoof on his. “We act as one.”

Loki jumped to do a forward flip with her landing perfectly so her hoof met the others. “We fight as one.”

Her confidence bolstered from earlier, Crimson added her hoof to the pile. “Because we are one.” The compact was made, and the four ponies’ lives would inexorably be tied to one another until the end of their days.

17: Haunted Springs

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The pony quartet’s training lasted for two more weeks before Thompson felt their physical conditions were well enough to begin field operations again. As expected, the lone unicorn was nowhere close to the strength, speed, and endurance of her companions. Yet she was capable enough for Thompson’s parameters; at least for the time being. Conrad on the other hand had shown a marked improvement in his top speed and maneuverability in the air. While it strained his magic to do so, he was now able to carry a full grown adult man for a short distance in the air and was more than capable of carrying the heavy earth mares; albeit still only one at time.

Currently however, Alexia was in one of the magic testing labs inside The Ranch’s hangar. She had a picture frame roughly six inches squared balanced on her back. There was no picture on display, but it did contain a diagram that made it impossible for her to levitate it, at least that’s what she was hoping to demonstrate. Doctor Roberts and the last remaining unicorn loyal to Bowler waited in the center of the room with a pedestal standing next to them.

Observing from the catwalks above was the Colonel, the representatives of the CIA, FBI, and the Joint Chiefs. All of them remained passive as Roberts spoke. “Is that the antimagic device?”

“It is.”

Roberts noted that she did not use levitation to place the frame on the pedestal. “It seems…a little thin and small. How does it work?”

“It’s a diagram that feeds on active magic. It only needs to be as thick as a layer of ink. As for its size, the area of effect increases proportionally to the size of the array. This one negates magic in a ten foot radius.”

Roberts wrote down some notes. “I trust you at least brought us a working version, but as for its performance, we will get a measure of that ourselves.”

“As charming as ever Doctor.” Tune nodded while dripping her tone in a thick layer of sarcasm.

“Yes, I know. Now go stand by the yellow line.” He indicated to one on the far end of the room. “Your presence is only needed to make sure its working properly.”

“You don’t want to test it on me?”

“You drew this diagram and if it does actually work then you could be faking its total effective range by cutting your magic early. Subject X-ray two seventeen will do the actual testing.”

Alexia wanted to remain diplomatic in the presence of the men standing on the catwalks. “Suit yourself.” She trotted over to the designated line and dusted the spot with her tail before settling down to lie on her belly. This was done on purpose so she wouldn’t start absently touching her abdomen and potentially broadcast her pregnancy to anyone present and or possible cameras.

Roberts turned to X-ray. “Shall we get started?” The banana yellow unicorn nodded crisply. “Good. Stand by the blue line and pick up prop A.” The blank flank unicorn did as instructed and grabbed a large, but light weight so that the observers could see. “Now approach the pedestal.”

X-ray walked to the picture frame with slow steps so he could feel the instant his magic began to falter. There was a slight pulling effect at twelve feet and the moment he crossed ten feet the green aura around his horn and the prop flickered, faded, and then died. The prop noisily clanged to the ground. X-ray felt a slight hornache at the base of his skull that dissipated a couple of seconds after he stopped trying to maintain the spell. The pulling sensation also disappeared. He quickly informed Roberts of everything he felt.

The craggy old scientist jotted everything down. “Good. Now, try to cast a spell while already inside the AoE.”

X-ray attempted to lift the weight again only to have a stabbing hornache that caused him to stop seconds later. “I can’t do it. That thing keeps sucking my mana out every time I try.”

“Good to hear.” Roberts replied. “Now, let’s try the next phase of the test.”

As test after test solidified Tune’s claim that the array worked as promised, Alexia noticed the men on the catwalk were muttering to themselves. I suppose only fair. The humans should have some way to protect themselves from criminalistic ponies. She frowned at the thought. I just hope there won’t be any. She knew it was wishful thinking, but she wished it anyway.

With her being completely ignored by the other occupants in the room, her thoughts started to drift to other, more personal matters. I still can’t get over the fact I’m carrying foals. She made sure to keep herself facing forward so she would appear bored to anyone bothering to look. To think four months ago my greatest concern was whether or not I could stand waiting for the next book to be released. And now I’m…I’m going to be a mother. She had not quite fully come to grips with that being part of her identity yet because she had been so engrossed in training, magical study, and helping the ponies in The Ranch. Nevertheless, the notion of being a mother was a prospect she was looking forward to more and more each day. I always had the notion of being a parent one day. Just never thought I’d be the one giving birth.

Her thoughts darkened and her cheer faded. What the hell am I going to do about these next four years though? I haven’t started showing yet, but that won’t last much longer. I may be able to get away with one more month, but if I’m constantly on missions or in training there’s no way I’ll be able to pass off an expanding belly as being fat. Maybe even shorter than that since I’m carrying twins. She was only absently aware of the tests moving on to see if objects could be magically thrown into the field from a distance. What’s worse is that I don’t know if formula would be healthy.

She briefly recast her Inner Sight to witness the thin trickle of her magic feeding the unborn foals. It was a spell she had been casting many times recently. Partially to cement in her mind that they were real, and partially because she loved the sight of them; even if all the spell revealed of them were two small collections of a thin web of mana. They need magic to grow, that much I know. Maybe I could try to infuse my mana into the bottles, but that wouldn’t account for proper nutrient and I doubt horse milk would work. Plus I don’t know if there are any other pregnant mares out there willing to wet nurse. I may have no choice but to do that myself. I wouldn’t mind that if it wasn’t for these damn four years. Thompson’s not going to wait for the twins to be big enough to wean, and I’m sure as hell not taking them anywhere near a combat zone.

While maintaining an impassive exterior, she screamed internally in frustration. I don’t know how, but I will make this work. I don’t care what they threaten me with, I am having these foals. But I still need to hold up my end of the bargain. Maybe the Director would be open to extending my duration of service to make up for maternity leave. And hopefully the camp will be closed by then so that bastard Bowler can go shove it. I’ll need to ask Twilight about this to be sure. Who knows, maybe she has a spell to make magic milk in a bottle. At the very least she could tell me what kind of diet I should eat or a spell of protection so any injury to me doesn’t threaten the foals.

The day’s tests concluded an hour later. Roberts and X-ray made countless attempts to defeat the array, short of breaking it. When all was said and done Tune was dismissed and was told she would hear from them later.

The silver unicorn expected good news and cantered back home to give the word to her housemates. She only found Conrad at the house because the earth mares were out trying to round up parts for a stronger satellite uplink in an effort to punch through the jamming. The hidden cameras had all been removed shortly after Alexia found out about them and Bowler didn’t retaliate as they would have served no further purpose after the discovery.

He was reading her tome and focusing on the pegasi version of arrays. While he did have interest in it, he was not able to focus on it nearly as much as Tune could and was constantly distracted by little things. It didn’t help that his wings ached to feel the wind under them. When the door opened at her arrival, he was up in a second and flew over to hover in front of her. “Did it go well?”

“I like to think it did. The diagram preformed to specifications.”

“Then they shouldn’t have any more excuses to hold us here.” He said as she walked by him to sit on the loveseat. He dropped out of the air to join her.

“That’s the master plan. Did the Director give a date?”

The brown stallion nodded. “Not yet. He said that we have to wait for a situation to occur, but we’re supposed to be ready to move at a moment’s notice.”

“Such is our chosen path in life.” She replied with a touch of despondency. They nuzzled with him wrapping a wing around her.

“Have you told Twi about the twins?”

“I haven’t had a chance. There were some serious issues that came up and she needed her full attention on it.”

“I hope its nothing too major.”

“I doubt its anything she can’t handle.” She paused to bask in his touch. The one thing the alicorn did before her leave of absence was to add the traditional marital vows for a pony style wedding to Alexia's version of the archives. They made Tune hold off on popping the question because it quite clearly stated that the partners were open for others to join them into forming a herd. I still need to try easing him into the idea before asking for a ring. A similar thought made her question it. Do ponies even wear rings? I mean I could have one on my horn, but that wouldn’t work for the other tribes.

She dropped that train of thought to focus on the bigger problem. She had been practicing what angle of persuasion to work in first. Here goes step one. “Conrad?” He gave a quizzical hum. “Do you ever wonder why there are so many mares compared to stallions?”

“I just assumed it was random chance. Why do you ask?”

“I talked to Twilight about it a while ago and she said that’s normal for our kind.”

He looked up and tapped his chin. “Guess that means its free entry for stallions at the club instead of mares then right?”

She snickered at him. “I wouldn’t doubt it. But it defiantly makes you colts a hot commodity.”

“Well how do Twilight’s people handle it? Mass orgies every month?”

She jabbed him in the chest. “You wish.” He cracked a mischievous grin at her expense. “But while ponies have marriage, they don’t support monogamy.”

He frowned at that. “Why do I get the feeling you’re trying to be subtle about something?”

So much for easing the idea in. She internally cursed how readable they have become to one another. She shuffled her hooves trying to find the right words as he gently glowered at her. “Okay I’ll get to the point.”

“That’s better.”

She gave a nervous half smile before losing it under his gaze. “Conrad. You know I love you more than anything and I want us to be together forever.”

He eyed her carefully. “I’m sensing a ‘but’ in there somewhere.”

She nodded sheepishly. “But…” She said at length. “I don’t think it should be just us.”

His brow furrowed. “You mean besides the foals?”

“Y-yes.”

He squinted and rubbed his temples. “Okay, in all honesty I thought this would be something the stallion asks of the mare. Not the other way around.” He cracked an eye open to gauge her reaction. “Cause it sounds to me you want to add a second mare into the equation.”

Or a third. “That’s why I wanted to ask you before I ever talked to her about it.”

“You make it sound like you already have someone in mind.” He said as he lowered one hoof from his temple. She wouldn’t ask anyone outside the four of us and since Crimson is still coming to terms with being female so that only leaves one person. He dropped his other hoof and scowled at her. “You want Loki to make a love triangle between us?”

“I’ve seen how you to get along now. You laugh at her pranks and I’ve even seen you return the favor a few times.”

He groaned. “Alex. We buried the hatchet, not fallen in love with each other.”

She tentatively nuzzled him. “I know and I’m proud of you both for it. But you know the gender ratio is three to one against you. We can’t survive as a society if half of the population is forbidden to have love because of monogamy. Sure lesbians exist, but I’m sure the number of gay stallions more than offsets that.”

His scowl weakened as her arguments made sense. He wanted ponikind to be successful as much as she did and polygamy seems to be the best, if a difficult answer to swallow. Or no marriage at all. He thought to himself. “It still feels like I would be unfaithful to you. I couldn’t stand doing that.”

Alexia had a weak smile and pecked him on the lips. “It won’t be a betrayal if all three of us consent at the same time.” She hugged him tightly. “I’ll be there every step of the way, to show you both that you’re simply too much stallion to hog all to myself.”

He knew it was a direct play on his ego. “Okay Alex. If you’re truly open to this, then I owe it to you to at least give it a shot. But I want you to know that if things get weird, you are my first and purest love.”

She grinned and squeezed him tighter. “I thought you were above saying cheesy lines.”

“Normally I am.” He said after separating. “But I feel like I should make it clear to you that if this thing with Loki doesn’t pan out, that I still want us to be together.”

An amorous smirk crossed her features. “Speaking of being together.” She moved in and gave a deep lustful kiss to which he returned in earnest. “How about you and I go have some fun in the bedroom?”

“Are you sure that won’t harm the twins?”

She felt a surge of joy that he was thinking of the foals’ safety. “Wilder said I’m as healthy as can be, so it’s perfectly safe.”

“Well since you put it like that.” He pointed a hoof at the bedroom. “Lead the way oh Glorious Leader.”

The earth pair found their way back home shortly after lunch and well after the couple’s romp. Alexia wanted to try and talk to Loki about starting a proper herd, but the pair’s nervous expression stayed the unicorn’s tongue. Crimson had saddlebags laden with items.

“GL. Thompson’s got a job for us.”

The silver mare got off the couch to find out what Loki was going to say as Crimson pulled out a quartet of satellite phones, one small and one normal sized saddlebag along with a utility belt and four goggles clearly designed for ponies. Tune surveyed the items. “What’s all this?”

“Courtesy of our department’s bigger budget. This stuff was tailor made with the four of us in mind.” Crimson replied. She handed Conrad the belt and Tune the smaller saddlebag along with a satellite phone and pair of goggles each.

Conrad landed to take the offered items. “So what’s the job?”

Loki checked her phone as she spoke. “He didn’t want to repeat himself. Only that we gear up and get down to the helipad pronto.”

The group donned their equipment and they checked each other to make sure it was all fastened securely before they bolted out the door and headed south to the pads. A familiar CH-53 Sea Stallion was already warmed up and ready to go with the Director standing next to the ramp. He saw them coming and ran out to dole out the four helmets he had on a rope. Thompson was wearing a helmet as well.

Once Alexia got hers on she asked the shared question into the mic boom. “What’s going on boss?”

“I’ll tell you all in the air.” With the equipment on their heads, he led the pack into the helicopter. The four ponies sat on the same row with Loki, Alexia, Conrad, then Crimson all in a line. Between her housemates, the support group, and the herd mentality; Crimson’s self-identity had shifted enough to where she no longer felt reservations about snuggling next to Conrad. Were she to really search her feelings, she would realize she felt better about snuggling with him then with Loki. However she was not quite ready to fully entertain such thoughts.

As the aircraft took off, the Director fished out his pad and clicked his intercom. “How much are you four aware of the brown clouds?”

“I hear it in the news a lot.” Piped Anderson. “The news claims they fall out of the upper atmosphere and drop to the surface completely at random.”

Loki fidgets in her seat to scratch an itch. “Aren’t they supposed to be toxic or something?”

The pale yellow mare balked at her. “You didn’t know they cause anyone caught in them to go nuts? What have you been doing all that time you’re online?”

Crimson was referring to when Loki brought her computer harness out to the training ground and away from the jamming station at The Ranch. Loki replied in a deadpan fashion while nonchalantly inspecting her hoof. “Perfectly legal activity.”

Crimson gave her a supremely disbelieving expression to which the Director chose to ignore the exchange. “That is the long and short of it. Thus far the U.S. has been fortunate. The clouds that have landed on our soil thus far have been in very lightly populated areas at worst. Today, that luck has run out.”

He had the ponies’ full attention. “As of two hours ago. One of those psychotropic clouds touched down right smack dab in the center of the southern half of Rock Springs, Wyoming. Many inhabitants managed to get indoors and call for emergency services, but we believe too many were either caught outside or in structures that simply pumped the cloud particles in via air conditioning. The local police and medical facilities are not equipped to handle the fog. As such, I got the brass to allow us to render assistance to an Army detachment that’s been sent to pull out and victims they come across before they awake.”

Conrad was hesitant. “Why did you try and get us this assignment if it’s a biohazard?

It was the Director’s turn to be hesitant. “We know for a fact that ponies are immune to the effects of the clouds. The only threat they pose to you is a choking hazard from the particle density. As such you’ll be giving masks to accompany your goggles.”

Loki bristled. “And how do you know this?”

Thompson kept his face neutral. “A squad of retrieval experts were trying to collect a pony from the woods inside Oregon before we knew about the dangers these clouds possess. The squad managed to tranquilize the pony but not before a cloud fully descended on the area. When the cloud dispersed and a second squad went after the transponders, the pony was perfectly fine, if a little traumatized and emaciated from being on the run for so long and not knowing he could eat foliage.”

The quartet shared a quick glance with one another as Thompson continued. “The squad wasn’t so lucky. When they were found, the pony was taken to The Ranch while the retrieval team was brought in for medical treatment. Whatever the cloud did, it made them lose their minds. As soon as they awoke, they killed everyone in their way before the MPs were willing to gun them down. We know this is a human only disease because the pony showed absolutely no symptoms from the cloud and thus far, there have been no cases of flora or fauna showing any detrimental symptoms of the clouds.”

Crimson was appalled at the military polices’ response. “Why didn’t they try nonlethal first?”

“It wasn’t working.” The Director stated simply. “Tasers only stopped them so long as the electricity kept coming and they ignored pepper spray like it wasn’t even there.”

Alexia was floored. “You want us to go into the middle of a city full of people who might all be raving psychos?”

“You won’t be alone and the victims should still be unconscious.” The Director placated. “You’ll be linking up with Able company, comprising of nine squads. The lot of you are going in to round up everyone who’s been affected and reassure anybody who is hiding in an air tight room that they’ll be okay so long as they stay there until the all clear is given.”

He studied each pony’s face in turn. “This is a half final training exercise, half real operation for you. The primary object of this operation is twofold. The first part is to clear the town of the sick so they can be taken to a medical facility for possible treatment. The second is to get both you and servicemen some experience in running an operation with each other. We’re not expecting a fight, just a simple round up and rescue.”

Crimson was dubious about the whole thing. “If you’re that concerned about infection, why are we only given masks and goggles? Even if we aren’t affected, we’re covered in hair and fur that the cloud bits would cling to.”

“Whatever causes these problems, be it a chemical or virus of some kind, decays alarmingly fast, roughly a minute after the cloud reaches fully settled into the ground. Every sample taken thus far has given us no insight into how these clouds infect people, aside from inhalation or through tears in the skin. But even then, those are just theories based on speculation.”

“I’d still rather not have that gunk in my fur.” Loki grumbled.

“There will be a full sanitization station set up at the LZ by the time the op is done.” He brought up a document on the pad. “Now, I have the layout of the town here, although the route you will take will be set by the operations commander.” He flipped the pad towards the lone unicorn who took it in her telekinesis to inspect it herself.

Alexia studied the image carefully. “Never thought I’d use my experience as a mail carrier of all things to help with this.” The prospect of keeping people safe from the mental damaging effects was appealing. At least we shouldn’t have to kill anyone today.

The rest of the short flight from the southwest corner of South Dakota to Rock Springs was occupied by familiarization of the protocol for finding survivors and victims alike, and how to interact with the soldiers on more equal terms than they had with the guards in the internment camp.

Tune couldn’t keep the worry out of the back of her mind about what her occupation might do to her pregnancy. Conrad could tell it bothered her more so than it did him, but he chalked that up to not being the pregnant one himself. He motioned for her to click to a different channel and spoke in Equish to be sure no one could understand them. “This should be an easy, if emotionally strenuous op. The worst we should face is a lot of people passed out in the streets. As long as you keep the mask and goggles on the foals should be fine.”

She gave him her best strained smile. “I know. But I’m also worried about our method of travel. The web says I can fly without a miscarriage risk, but they only meant commercial airlines, not an insertion helicopter. We may have it easily now, but I doubt we’ll stay that lucky for another six months. What if we have to evac out of a hot zone or I get injured?”

“Have you talked to Twilight about it? Maybe she knows of something that can help with that.”

The silver mare shook her head. “I haven’t been able to contact her because she’s been tied up with other duties. And the way the Guard archives work, I can’t get a message to her.”

“Well, she is a princess after all. We’ve all got stuff to do.” She hummed in agreement, but it was lost in the noise. “Did you think of a way to protect yourself against bullets yet?”

Tune tilted her head to reveal a grimace. “I don’t know. I thought of an idea that might work, and I’ve cast it a few times; but I haven’t actually tested it yet.”

He wanted to inquire more about it, but the CH-53 was on final approach and set down on Lincoln Highway where a large collection of Army personnel were marshaling in front of exit 107 into Pilot Butte Avenue. The highway was completely deserted of civilians thanks to roadblocks set up by the local police who were outside the cloud when it landed. It was a four lane highway that was surrounded by moderately high drab brown hills consisting of sparsely scattered yet hardy plants that taunted the rough conditions. From the ground, it looked as if the flanking hills created a funnel towards the town the highway serviced. Yet instead of a welcoming, if modest, town off in the distance there was a dense opaque brown cloud that clung to Rock Springs like a blanket smothering the life out it.

The Army’s nine squads were nearly ready to go. Ten M35 cargo trucks complete with passenger trailers were idling off to the side as each squad waited for the order to go in. Many however were anxious for a second reason. They had all been told about having equine assistance today. Most laughed at their respective sergeants at the pictures of them during the hasty briefing each of them went through before arrival. Many believed that command was pulling the most awkwardly timed joke of the year, and that the ponies belonged in a petting zoo instead of a biohazard cleanup.

It was with trepidation that the four ponies disembarked the Sea Stallion followed the Director to their designated marshaling area. Those that had scoffed at the equines’ existence before were more than a little dumbstruck at the reality of them. Were it not for the situation at hand and the Director leading the ponies around, many of the soldiers would have smothered them in affection typically reserved for dogs and cats. If it wasn't for those same reasons, the ponies would have let them.

Thompson made his way to Captain Pardo after being pointed at the command tent. With the quartet in tow, he pushed the drab green flap out of his way and found the officer who was in the middle reading a report that was just handed to him. “What do you mean no one in RS is in contact with emergency services anymore?”

The liaison between him and the local authorities shrugged. “That’s what they’re telling me. The last call was suddenly dropped fifteen minutes ago. The dispatchers tried to call them back but-“

Pardo saw an odd assortment of color in the corner of his eye and turned to face the intruders. He and his aides were at a loss as to how to react to seeing four ponies who uniformly came across as adorable to the men and women present. “There you are Captain. I’m here with my team to begin integration. I take it you already received the communiqué.”

Pardo studied the ponies briefly before facing Thompson. “I did. You’ll forgive me if I didn’t believe it until now.”

“Hopefully that will not be an issue for too much longer.” The Director replied cryptically. “So I take it you received the supplies for them?”

“That I did. They are sitting on Truck One twenty.” He checked his watch. “They will round out the members of Lima squad. We begin in ten minutes. Have them ready by then.”

“They will be.” He turned to Alexia. “You remember seeing that on the way here?”

She nodded. “I did.”

“Good. I will monitor things from here.” The majority of the men reeled from the fact that the unicorn understood and spoke English.

With the same mare leading the way, the ponies made their way to Lima squad. Almost every eye they passed stared at the pegasus who couldn’t hold back the urge to fly along behind the unicorn. Lima squad was commanded by Sergeant Azus. Most of his features were hidden behind the full body NBC suit, and his voice was distorted by the mask he wore. At Alexia’s approach he ordered his men to board the truck and took two steps to meet the arriving ponies. “So you’re the odd ones who’ll be joining us.”

Loki bounced on her hooves so she was almost eye level with him for a moment. “Yea well your odd to us too buddy. How about you hoof over our masks so we can show you guys how its done.”

Azus’s expression was hidden by the suit, but his tone of voice marked his playfulness. “You got quite a mouth on you. I like you already. But keep the chatter to a minimum once we get started. The higher ups want this done before the victims start waking up.” At a gesture, the masks were taken from the front of the cargo area and brought to the back. “I hope you can put these on yourselves.” He noted as he glanced at their distinct lack of hands.

Conrad grabbed his from the air and after a quick inspection of how it was to be secured; he placed it on his muzzle with moderate ease. “I think we can handle ourselves.” The mask fully covered the ponies’ snout and muzzles while giving them enough space to speak.

The green mare cut in after securing her own mask. “You think a lack of fingers could stop us?”

“Well it…should.” The sergeant was baffled on how all four managed to secure the masks by themselves. I’m not even going to ask how.

The radio attached to Azus’s chest crackled to life. “All squads get ready to move. Alpha you’re up first.”

Lima squad was already in the truck and the ponies needed no further prompting to join them. One by one, the truck filed down highway exit. The looming dark cloud sapped the truck’s occupants of any curiosity over the ponies and they all settled into stoic professionalism. Each of them had been briefed on the scope of the mission, and were fully aware of the dangers the fog posed. Yet with so many inhabitants of Rocky Springs, they couldn’t risk waiting for it to dissipate to start rounding up the afflicted. And the mandate to check for survivors was demanding of quick action as well. All of them would fulfill their duty, but that did little to keep morale high at what they expected to find within.

The bright and clear day was swallowed up as the uncovered trucks closed in on the massive blanketing and yet eerily condensed cloud. The first thing Lima noticed was the complete lack of movement within, save for the coy tousling fine brown particles of the fog at the convoy’s passing. The trucks started splitting off along the roads with Lima’s truck going along the South Side Belt Route which would take them around to the south side of town. The last truck in the convey peeled off to follow Lima a short distance before it stopped by the first few cars to check if they had drivers in them.

Even from the road that passed through the edge of town, it was painfully obvious to both Lima and the ponies that Rock Springs was terrifying in a completely passive way. There were only a scattered few cars here or there on their way to the first stop at Marchant Street. Some had been driven off the side of the road when their drivers had passed out while others were idling in the middle of the road. Crimson felt the heavy gloom the cloud created threatened to snuff out all cheer and life from the world. She shuffled closer to Conrad who mirrored her sentiment.

Lima’s truck did not stop until it arrived at the three way intersection between Marchant and Jaidyn Drive. Everyone climbed out of the back and split off into pairs with the ponies staying together.

Sergeant Azus did a quick headcount before speaking through the gas mask. “You know our orders. We go through each house and check for anyone who’s holed up and tell them to sit tight and that they’re going to be okay so long as they stay wherever it is that they’re currently hiding in.” He kept his tone curt and emotionless. “As for the victims, we round them up and put them in the trailer.” He turned to the last pair of soldiers who included the truck driver. “Murphy, Lambert, you stay with the truck and help secure the influx of passengers. Once the trailer is loaded up, return to base camp to drop them off and then return to us.”

“Yes Sergeant!” They replied in unison.

Azus faced the rest of them. “This is grim work, but time is of the essence.” His trepidation was plain for all to hear. “Let’s just get it done.”

The rest of the squad hurried over to the first few houses on the left while Alexia led her group to the first on the right. It was a simplistic house that was one story tall with a pointed roof to allow for a small attic. It had a driveway one car length long and a garage just large enough for two cars to squeeze inside. The vast majority of the exterior was off-white vinyl siding with red brick on the lower half of the front face of the house.

Yet something about the house set the ponies on edge; both the garage and front door were wide open. Loki tried to soften the impact. “I don’t get how people can get away with leaving their houses completely open like that. Its like saying: ‘please rob me, I don’t care about my stuff. Go ahead take it.’”

Crimson got over her skittishness and cantered over to inspect the door. As the others approached she pointed at the frame. “I don’t think the owners left it open.” One part of the frame was badly damaged where the anchor for the deadbolt had been pried off.

Conrad knew the marks of a crowbar when he saw one. “Someone broken in here alright. Probably right before the cloud hit.”

Tune readied her magic, but did not activate anything more than a bright light spell to cut through the darken gloom of the house. “We still need to investigate. If the owners came back when the fog came or if the robber is still here we need to check anyway.”

Crimson flipped the light switches and the front room was illuminated. She shrugged sheepishly at Alexia. “No need to waste magic when we got electricity.”

Despite the situation, the unicorn cracked a smile under her mask, but it was evident in her eyes. “Fair enough, just be sure to turn them back off again.” The light on her horn winked off, but she kept a ready supply of mana there to defend herself if need be.

They split up in pairs, with the earth ponies staying together. While Tune and Anderson only thought to look for people, Loki and Conrad’s criminal instincts made them wary of other clues. As Alexia scanned the living room, checking under the couch and covered tables to make sure any children had not attempted to sequester themselves there, Conrad checked the ravaged kitchen.

He didn’t like what he saw in the pantry. “No canned or dry food.” His hoof made a loud crushing noise. He looked down to see crumbs falling away from his sole. “There’s cereal all over the damn floor.” He had to watch his step to avoid any more balls of cereal on his way to the refrigerator. “Barely anything’s left.” He didn’t need to check the trashcan to know most of the refrigerated food containers were within as they overflowed the can and many were on the floor. He scowled. “I don’t like this one bit.”

Crimson returned from the garage. “No one in there.”

Alexia nodded to the yellow mare. “I didn’t find anyone either.”

Loki and Conrad approached them nearly at the same time. He addressed the green mare before the others. “Notice anything off about the bedrooms?”

“Aside from the lack of people? Yeah, I didn’t see any luggage and it looked like someone packed in a hurry.”

Tune was confused. “We already know someone broke in.”

Loki wasn’t so sure. “Found the jewelry box sitting on the dresser in plain view and it's still full of gold. Whoever came in here wasn’t looking for valuables.”

Crimson glanced about the hallway with a nervous ring in her voice. “What are you trying to say?”

Conrad shook his head. “We don’t know yet. I’m hoping this was just a smash and grab before the cloud hit and the robber didn’t have time to check the bedrooms. But we can’t linger to keep looking.”

The unicorn agreed with that. “Then let’s move on to the next house.”

The next house over was a dull pastel green and had a very similar layout to the first house. “Okay, this is getting ridiculous.” The gloom of the cloud was not enough to keep the lone unicorn from waving her hoof at the broken door. “Was there a crime spree or something before the cloud hit?”

Crimson looked behind them to see the soldiers were moving to the next set of houses. “We should keep going guys. We don’t want the squad to start waiting on us.”

Tune scanned the housed behind her. “Right. Let’s go on in.”

“I’ve got the bedrooms again.” Loki announced as she headed toward the master bedroom. As she expected, there was no one hidden in the bed or closet. “Room’s been ransacked of clothes here too, but all the fancy stuff is still here.”

She was nosing under the bed when she saw a shotgun shell. Her brow furrowed and she reached out to grab it with a hoof. “Its unused. The home owners definitely had a shotgun here, but I don’t see it around.” She did a quicker search to find the weapon but came up empty. Alexia called her to join them in the main hall a minute later.

“I take it…” Crimson stopped speaking when she saw Loki.

The green mare halted at the circle of ponies and took the shotgun shell off her withers and showed it around. “Found this but no other ammo, or the gun it belonged to.” Conrad shared a troubled glance with her.

Tune was about to ask what was up, but her radio crackled to life. “Lima one to Zeta one. What’s your status?”

She pulled her hand held radio out of her small saddlebag and held it up to her face. “Haven’t found anybody whatsoever. What about you?”

“No not yet. Its likely everyone was at work or school when it hit.”

Alexia had to concede to that. We are in a residential area after all.

Azus continued speaking. “We’re moving further down the main street. I’m splitting the squad in two and your group will take the southern houses.”

“Copy that Lima one.” Alexia let her group back out and spent the next ninety minutes along with Mike squad to sweep every building between Mountain View Cemetery and New Hampshire Street, a grand total of zero people were found in the entire area that housed well over a thousand people. By the time Lima was passing the intersection between McKinley and Palisades Way, the green and brown ponies’ concerns were shared by the whole squad.

Sergeant Azus clicked his radio. “Lima one to Mike one.”

A reply came back a moment later. “This is Mike one.”

“Have you found anybody yet? Victim or survivor?”

A foreboding pause elapsed before the response came. “Not a soul.”

Azus glanced around from his perch on top of the truck’s cabin as it slowed to a halt to let his men and the ponies disembark. They had all been apprehensive about the mission already; but the lack of bodies and the fact that every house so far had been ransacked, put everyone on alert. Azus watched them spread out to continue their sweep. “What about the houses? Any of them seen a break in?”

Mike One did not like this line of conversation. “Almost every one so far. I’m radioing this in to command.”

Thompson had very little he could do as he loitered near the radio operators. He was there mostly as a handler for the ponies, but with the Army in command of the operation, he could do little but observe. I’m not going to get anymore equine volunteers until The Ranch finally goes down. Unfortunately with only four of them being around, they’re more of a curiosity than a respectable addition.

He sidestepped out of the way of a soldier delivering a report. Still, I have to start somewhere. And I’d prefer to get both parties used to each other in an easy op. He rethought his last musing. Well, maybe not so easy emotionally. Hopefully some of the victims can be saved, but I doubt it.

Rumblings from the four communication operators grabbed his attention. The woman was sitting in front of the radio with her finger pressed against the earphone to make sure she was hearing the other line correctly. “What do you mean you haven’t found anybody?” He paused as the speaker answered, her brow furrowed in confusion. The Director inched over to hear better. “RS has over twenty thousand on census; how can it be a ghost town?”

Captain Pardo heard the outburst from his conversation with his aides and walked over. “Something wrong lieutenant?”

She tapped the mic twice to signal her removal from the radio conversation. “Yes sir. There hasn’t been a single person located thus far.”

Pardo was bewildered. “What do you mean no one’s been located?”

“The town’s deserted sir. Able Company hasn’t come into contact with anybody. It also looks like every home and business has been ransacked.”

The captain tried to think of a theory as to how that could be possible, but came up empty. The reports say the victims don’t regain consciousness until roughly between one to two hours after the cloud dissipates. Not to mention they’re mentally insane. That might explain the damaged property, but not the missing persons.

Pardo’s eyes fell upon Thompson who was listening in with a veiled scowl. The captain was not one for entertaining stereotypes of the presence of spooks making a seemingly simple operation be anything but. Nevertheless he couldn’t stop himself from doing just that as he walked over to speak with Thompson in hushed tones. “You mind telling me the real reason you and your menagerie are here?”

The Director had listened to the previous exchange, but was able to hide his ill-at-ease. “I know nothing more than you do Captain. I am simply here to get my team used to operating alongside human troops, nothing more.”

Pardo’s scowl didn’t improve. “I’ve led twenty Cloud operations so far, and they all went smoothly. You show up and now Rocky Springs is a ghost town. I hope you see where I’m coming from.”

Thompson tried to be reassuring. “I have no additional intel that you don’t already possess. Granted this is grim work, but I wanted the equines’ first operation with the men to be a bloodless one to acclimate both sides to each other. I have no idea why the town is deserted.”

Pardo wanted to believe a federal agent wouldn’t lie to him about that, but the reputation spooks carried was hard to put to rest. The officer searched Thompson’s façade for the look of someone withholding information; yet couldn’t find it. “What about your operatives then. Given their forms and lack of weapons, I hope they have some other talents at their disposal. Preferably something that might locate where all the people disappeared to.”

If any of them do, it’d have to be Tune. “Possibly.” He reached for a handheld radio on his belt. “I can ask one of my operatives to see if she can cast a spell to find the missing townsfolk.”

Pardo’s scowl contorted into a glower. “A spell? You’re not seriously suggesting they have magic are you?”

Thompson kept his face as stoic as possible. “You don’t really think I would mention something like that if it wasn’t very real, do you Captain?”

Pardo would have laughed in his face were it not for the eeriness of the situation and the fact that he saw a collection of intelligent ponies including a unicorn and pegasus. In the end, he still wanted proof of magic before believing it. “Ask them if they can.”

Thompson brought the radio to his mouth and clicked it. “Zeta actual to Zeta one.”

Alexia was in the process of checking several street side bushes when the call came in. She magically pulled the radio to her ear. “This is Zeta one.” Crimson noticed the exchange and cantered over, causing the other ponies to take notice and join them.

“Do you have any magic that can locate where all the people went?”

Tune wanted to withhold her possession of divination magic until after The Ranch was closed. However this was one instance where she felt keeping that a secret would be a bad idea. “I have a spell like that, but its not currently designed to detect humans. It may take me a bit to find the right method to do that.”

Thompson allowed an infinitesimal up turn of his lips to show through. “What’s the AoE?”

“If I do it on the street I could see the whole town.”

He almost let a chuckle break through his professional mask. “Get on it. I’ll inform the commander of your actions.”

“Roger Roger.”

She squelched the radio while the Director addressed the Captain. “Tell Lima squad to hold at Zeta one’s location and support her. She’s going to try to find our missing civilians.”

“How?”

Thompson allowed some of the grin to show through and slightly tilted his head in amusement. “Magic.”

Sergeant Azus couldn’t believe his ears. “She’s doing what?” His second glanced at him quizzically as his NCO spoke to the radio. “Yes sir.” He closed the line. “Damn government and their crazy ass bio weapons.”

“Sergeant?” His second asked with puzzlement clearly evident through the gas mask.

“We’re reforming on the horses. Apparently one of them is using magic to try and find everybody.”

“Magic?” His subordinate laughed in spite of the gloom the cloud cast upon them. “This should be good.”

Azus could barely see the equines in the distance, but the thickness of the fog obscured their actions. The NCO kept his professionalism and radioed his squad to converge on the ponies and to also warn the quadrupeds of their actions so they wouldn’t get jittery.

Loki and Conrad returned nearly at the same time towards the western end of Palasades Way. The fog roiled and churned at his wing thrusts before he settled down. “Found a school a ways up. Got some chalk out of it, but I didn’t see any kids or teachers.”

Loki had a large bucket of street coloring chalk with the handle in her mouth. She put it down next to the unicorn who had just absently nodded to Conrad as she pieced together the proper array in her mind. As the silver unicorn though of her plan, the earth mare looked between her bucket of used, but still plentiful chalk compared to Conrad’s measly two boxes of white thin chalk. “Looks like I won the scavenger hunt.”

He only huffed in amusement. “We’ll see.”

Crimson was nervous about the whole thing. The lack of bodies, every house looks like its been raided, and this damnable fog makes it seem like its dusk. After hearing Loki and Conrad voice their concerns about the raided supplies, the pale yellow mare was becoming paranoid. Even if it was some lucky thieves with gas masks, there’s no way a town this small would have supported enough criminals to scour the town so quickly and completely under the Army’s nose. The town was quiet. Crimson had lived in a moderately rural house before her transformation so she was used to things being quiet. But this was unsettling. She saw her friends gathering and trotted over to them. “Guys, I think something is really wrong here.”

“You mean more than it being a ghost town?” Loki inquired with a straight face.

“No, I mean there’s an ice cream truck selling fudgsicles for ten bucks.” She deadpanned.

Conrad shushed them and spoke in quiet tones. “Alex is trying to focus, keep it down.”

Tune was only loosely aware of the chatter around her, and later the soldiers who came to investigate. She was starting her work from the original pony array and trying to adapt it to detect humans. Have to account for lines five, ten, and twenty one needing a seven degree shift to account for the greater body weight range. I’ll need to make sure two, nineteen, and fourteen are thinner to account for the shorter length profile. The central rune needs to be a hagalaz right? No that wouldn’t account for humans only having two legs. Maybe if it was both hagalaz and… sowilo. Yeah, that’ll do the trick.

Her eyes snapped open and she looked down at the offerings of chalk. She opened the thin white chalk. “Perfect, the scattering brown the cloud will put on the chalk will add clarity.” Off to one side, Conrad huffed in playful victory at Loki. The mare’s only reaction was to flick her tail at him.

By now, Azus had arrived along with most of his men to find out what the ponies had planned when they saw the unicorn standing on the left side of the street levitate the smart car that had been parked adjacent to her and moved up and over her head to the other side of the street. The only reason they knew it was her doing was because her horn was encased in the same azure aura that the car was and that her head followed the vehicle to its new resting place. From there she pulled the chalk containers over her head. The ground around her was covered in faint motes of azure as she telekinetically picked up every last pebble and debris from her corner of the road. She discarded the refuse further down the street. After that, she took ten pieces of white chalk from their containers and quickly drew up an array seven feet in diameter.

The soldiers gawked at the display. None of them expected it because she had put her mask on via hooves alone. The chalk ticked and tapped on the asphalt until she was pleased with its shape. “Do it right the first time, and you don’t need to do it twice.” She said with satisfaction.

Azus walked over to her, but was tactfully intercepted by Conrad. He halted in front of the pegasus who stared up at him with a plee to wait. “Let her work.”

The sergeant hesitated and looked at the stallion before rocking back on his heels to show his compliance. He watched the unicorn step into her circle and the pattern took on her signature azure color along its lines.

Alexia’s vision jumped to a high bird’s eye view. The southern half of Rocky Springs was brought into a dim brown, green, and grey representation. The roads and structures that made the small town were barely visible as her array did not have cartographic elements integrated into it. What it did show were the plethora of golden dots all along the eastern half of the town that she knew to be the rest of the Able Company. The mass of congealed dots making up the base camp was barely within range of her detection radius. The dots representing the company were just now passing through the center of town.

However, what caught her eye more than everything else were the dozens of dots that sat motionless along the western side of the town. Whereas the dots she knew that represented the Army were uniformly a brilliant and strong golden color, these western dots looked stained, almost dirty and dull. Some were so faint they winked in and out of existent.

Alexia was disturbed by the striking differences. Crimson believed the Sergeant wasn’t going to cause any harm and managed to talk Conrad into backing down enough to let Azus make his way up to the circle. The NCO was careful enough to not step into the pattern and waited for Tune to say something.

“I don’t understand.” She said after three minutes of starting the spell. “Faint life signs are only supposed to make the signals dim. Even if the person recently died, I should still see a flat and dim return. And its definitely not supposed to make the dots change color and flicker like that.”

Azus wanted something tangible and clicked his radio to the command channel. “What did you see?”

Tune glanced up to stare into the man’s reflective lens of his mask as she pointed west. “There’re a ton of people just a few yards west of the squads who kept moving ahead of us, but…”

“But what?”

She activated the array again to be sure. “This diagram makes humans appear as gold dots of various intensity based on how strong their lifesigns are. But a lot of those western signal returns are discolored and shaky.” She cut the array again with a look of utter confusion. “My calculations were correct, and the soldiers look normal. But nearly everyone on the west side looks…wrong.”

Thompson, Pardo, and his staff had been listening. The officer kept the mic muted as he spoke to the Director. “Do you trust this magic thing enough to believe her?”

Thompson was devoid of any mirth as he had a very bad feeling about this information. “Fully, and so should you.”

The captain’s tone went cold. “If I didn’t know any better Director. I’d think she just told us my men are walking into an ambush.”

18: Opening Salvo

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Sergeant Black, leader of alpha squad, was leaning out of the passenger side door of his M35 cargo truck with the vehicle’s radio in hand. “Say again command.”

Captain Pardo was insistent. “I repeat, fall back to Perry Street and set up defensive positions.”

Black and his squad were just now walking past the intersection of Railroad Avenue and Pearl Street. Most of his soldiers were walking along the sidewalks as they disliked being in the open street, but aside from some thin trees and the occasional car, the sidewalk was hardly an improvement. Visibly was poor due to the dense fog serving almost as concealment all by itself. His troops were about to cross the intersection to reach the next row of buildings when Black called them back on the squad channel.

“Eyes up! Something spooked Command. We’re pulling back.”

The point man was on the crosswalk of the southern part of the intersection and halted as soon as he heard his NCO over the radio. He shouldered his rifle and started slowly back peddling. The whole operation had been strange right from the start, and if something had command worried, he felt almost terrified. It was his military bearing that kept him calm however, and he was almost to the street corner when he felt something wrench his face to the side and a loud cracking sound erupted from right next to him along with the distinctive report of a hunting rifle.

The soldier was stunned momentarily and only when he took his first breath did he realize that the shot had blasted off his mask’s filter and he took in a deep drag of the choking cloud.

The trooper behind him grabbed his shoulder strap and started dragging him off the side and into cover while yelling a warning to the rest of the squad. “Sniper!”

A second shot from a different concealed shooter went straight through the would be rescuer’s thigh and he toppled over with the point man’s weight slamming down on him.

The rest of Alpha squad scrambled for cover, but they were too far out in the open save for three cars along the road. Five of the nine remaining men slid in behind the cars while providing covering fire for the other four to retreat back to the buildings along the south side of the road as the hill to the north was far too open to try and run over. The snipers managed to down one more soldier before he could make it to the buildings with a ventilated stomach.

Black readied his sidearm while shouting into a command channel that was already flooded with the other squad leaders. “I’ve got unknown contacts. I repeat unknown contacts. We’re pinned down by sniper fire. Requesting support immediately!”

A pressure wave rattled the M35 as the trio of cars that half of his squad had been using for cover detonated with the tell-tale signature of an Improvised Explosive Device.

Captain Pardo’s command structure was a mass of frantic activity as reports came in about causalities, attacks coming from the west, and desperate soldiers on the ground requesting orders and support. What had started as a figurative milk run with no possibility of combat, quickly morphed into a lopsided slaughter as militants flanked and surrounded the horribly ill equipped Able Company.

Pardo was shouting on the radio for everybody to fall back to the rally point and had a radio operator requesting air support. Thompson ignored most of it as he moved over to the edge of the tent so he could contact the ponies without having all the background noise drown him out. “Zeta one, come in Zeta one!”

Moments earlier Alexia was on her array, watching the sickly western dots burst into movement. Almost immediately, the dozens of the golden orbs representing Able Company went into chaos. Some went dead while many dimmed and flickered for the briefest of moments with the same rusty discoloration that the western dots had.

Her fear rose sharp as five of them broke away to head towards Lima. She did not have a chance to end the array herself because Conrad pulled on her foreleg with a desperate tone of voice. “Alex, we have to go, the soldiers are retreating to the truck!”

She regained her wits and nodded. “Right, one second.” She stepped out of the circle and grabbed every piece of colored chalk and dragged them all over the divination array to ruin it. A trio of bullets blitzed past her head, narrowly missing her right ear and caused it to start ringing.

Conrad interposed himself between where he thought the shot came from and Tune. “We need to leave, now!”

Her sabotage done, she nodded and bolted off towards the retreating members of Lima who were doing a tactical withdrawal by leap frogging between the patches of cover to allow half of the squad to return to the transport before turning around a short distance later to allow their squad mates to do the same. The earth mares however, had chosen to activate their cloaks and fully utilize their natural speed to race past the row of houses while vaulting shrubs or avoiding fences.

Conrad knew he was faster than Alexia and stayed low in the air as he grabbed her from above. Leveraging his innate magic as much as possible, he reduced their combined weight so he could power through the air while she used telekinesis to keep his legs wrapped around her barrel. Even as both of them activated their cloaks, he would not be content at anything but top speed until they were safely in the transport.

Thanks to Alexia stopping Lima for so long to draw and use her diagram, the Mions waiting in ambush for their squad were much further behind than any other member of Able Company. That did not stop the hostiles from trying to scare them off by launching a volley of four rockets after the escaping soldiers. Three ended up hitting cars with the fourth smashing into a tree.

They had little effect on Lima as the rockets had been fired unguided and blind. Azus kicked the trailer loose as the driver turned the truck around so the fleeing soldiers could quite literally jump into the cargo bed. The earth mares arrived first with Conrad hefting Alexia onto the bed. The soldiers were baffled by the sudden appearance of the ponies in the back as they dropped their cloaks, but the situation forced them to take it in stride.

Conrad wrapped a foreleg around an anchored strap and motioned for the mares to do the same so they wouldn’t go flying out of the truck. As they did, he grabbed the radio off his belt and yelled to be heard over the growling engine and the two RPGs that exploded around the M35. “Zeta Actual, this is Zeta two.”

Thompson was glad to have something constructive to do and answered quickly. “What’s your status?”

“The team is with Lima and is intact. I still have that laser designator on my belt. Does the Captain have air support on standby?” Alexia heard him speaking and pulled her own radio out to listen.

“Negative. This was never meant to be a combat operation. He has choppers scrambling now, but it’ll be over an hour before any arrive.”

“Are we in full retreat?” He asked.

“Affirmative. We have no information on the enemy’s strength and they’ve already proven to possess military grade weaponry. Pardo is pulling in reinforcements to form a ring of control around the area and he wants Able Company out of there. He’s going to wait for the cloud to disperse before sending in an infantry regiment and an armor column to retake control.”

“What about the squads in the north?” Alexia inquired and she joined it.

Thompson didn’t like her failure to adhere to radio discipline in identifying herself, but saved a reprimand for a better time. “They’re trying to fall back, but all of the transports were either abandoned or destroyed.” He didn’t want to give bad news, and the way it sounded like things were going with the chatter coming in from the command station, it was not going well. If I coddle them even once, Enright will interpret that as having grown too attached and not fit to lead. He returned his attention to the radio. “Zeta one. Is your ballistic protection spell ready?”

Tune shared a nervous glance with Conrad. “I have two, but they’re still experimental and I haven’t fully tested them yet.”

“But are they functional?”

“On paper.” She replied nervously.

The Director knew his team still had the invisibility bracelets and that Crimson had been given one shortly after joining Alexia into the program. However they wouldn’t be much use in a full on firefight where Alexia was the only one who didn’t have to get in close range to attack. She’s clever enough to find a way stay alive. Thompson heard something from the radio chatter off to the side. “I’m sending you up north to assist the withdraw of the remaining northern forces. I’ll get the Captain to direct his men towards Powerhouse Drive. Do what you can to buy time for the men to retreat then get out yourselves.”

Tune didn’t like it, but knew that was the sort of work she signed up for. “Yes sir.”

As Thompson got to work trying to convince Pardo of his plan, Lima’s transport did not get very far before a pickup truck started barreling same street as the transport as it turned onto South Side Belt Route and from there, north along the road to the rally point. Azus grabbed onto a handhold and leaned slightly over the side of the transport to see the tan truck racing towards them. Alexia and crew watched it too.

“Did one of ours hotwire that thing and is trying to fall back with us?”

Azus couldn’t make out any details, but his paranoia was on full alert. “I’d love to meet the man who could hotwire a car in less than a minute in full NBC. Lima, get ready to fire on my order. We don’t have ammo to burn so I want you to make every shot count.” Tune and the rest of the ponies were forced towards the cabin as the soldiers tried to maximize the number of rifles they could bring to bear.

“Don’t you have any explosives of your own?” Crimson shouted over the growling engine of the M35.

“This was a recovery mission only.” One of the squad mates yelled back. “We only have our rifles and side arms with only two spare mags for each.”

The transport skidded slightly as it rolled over a small bridge when the fog lights illuminated an abandoned car almost too late to be avoided. The larger cargo truck was not fast enough to outrun the pickup which had closed the distance in a matter of seconds. Through the dense soup of the cloud, the trucks were close enough that Lima could see the low profile of the mounted machine gun and the man standing behind it. At this range, Lima could see the steel plating crudely welded onto the pickup’s engine hood. Alexia knew that the machine gunner had been waiting for a close range straight away so he could fire right in the middle of the cargo truck where the soldiers couldn’t duck behind the sides for cover. The unicorn only had a bare second to react before both sides opened fire.

Here goes nothing! She formulated her experimental spell and her horn flashed to life to encase the entire rear half of the M35 in a pale azure aura right as the machine gunner opened fire at the same time Lima did. Muzzle flashes lit the gloom of the fog as over a hundred bullets carved the air between both vehicles. Impacts rained upon the tan truck denting the armor, fracturing the ballistic windshield, and bullets bounced off the armor protecting the machine gunner.

Yet victory was not his as the near point blank range of his automatic weapon struck no targets on the M35 at all. Not one bullet struck the transport nor the troopers as they kept pouring on the firepower. All of them expected to die at any moment, yet they would not stop firing until they were.

Tune strained to keep the spell active and feared failure so she pushed more effort into it. The bullets from Lima suddenly found they had more velocity than the rounds’ propellant should be capable of producing and eventually damaged the windshield to the point where the pickup’s driver couldn’t see where he was going anymore and collided with an abandoned car. The gunner had been tethered to the floor and was killed as the vehicle rolled over and out of control.

All of this happened before the M35 passed the section of road that ran parallel to the highway to the northeast. Azus and the rest of his squad were completely stunned that they had just faced down a mounted machine gun at less than thirty meters with no cover, and was still breathing. Or at least he started breathing again once he released the one he had been holding and a bump in the road made him grab onto the side. “Casualties?”

His second did a quick head count. “All accounted for sarg.”

Azus and many of his men fell back into the bed of the transport, completely shocked they were still alive. “How did that bastard missed every shot?” The truck hit a bump and he heard things rolling around the floor. He looked down expecting only shell casings, but instead found dozens of bullets intermixed with them.

By now, Tune realized no one was shooting at them anymore and dropped the spell. She was breathing heavily from the effort. “Hell of a way to field-test that.” The pale azure tint in the air faded.

Azus looked at her with astonishment. “That was you’re doing?”

Alexia’s reply was interrupted by the driver slamming on the breaks to make the sharp corner onto Ninth Street and Pardo calling Azus over the radio. “Lima One, Bunker down and assume rear guard duties. The remaining members of Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie will be retreating along these coordinates.”

Azus didn’t like leaving his brothers in battle to die so he jumped at the chance to return the favor. The NCO decided to ask Alexia about the spell later. He scanned the area to find the perfect building to do just that. “Affirmative sir.” The M35’s driver pulled off into a restaurant when he was able to hear the constant gunfire over the grumbling engine.

The sergeant jumped off the truck with his men in tow. “We’re setting up in that two story investment center!”

With the four ponies following closely, the group of eight men raced to the front entrance which was facing the retreating soldiers. The door was already kicked in from the earlier sweep which allowed them to quickly file inside. The lobby was very open and barely had any support pillars or furniture obstructing the floor. The scattered sofas that were there seemed almost out of place and intrusive to the décor.

Before Azus could start giving orders as to what windows to smash open so they could lay supportive fire, Alexia pulled on his sleeve for attention. “Sarg, how much ammo you have left?”

His second had performed an inventory after the machinegun mounted truck had been dealt with. “Barely a clip among for each of us. I brought us here so we could try to draw them into close quarters.”

Tune waved her bracelet at her companions before turning back to the NCO. “Close quarters is what we excel at. Take the top floor.” As one, her three friends faded from sight in front of the soldiers. “We can bring down anyone who enters the lobby and I can bring you the fallen’s weapons and ammo so your men can keep firing from the second story.”

Conrad and the others reappeared and he spoke with a gruff smirk. “They’ll never know what hit them.”

Azus nodded curtly. “Better than my original plan.” He addressed his troops. “You heard the lady. Take the second floor. Lambert, stay by the stairs to collect the weapons they bring you and dole them out. Now move!”

As the humans followed orders, the ponies converged on Alexia. “Loki, Crimson. Stay by the front door but out of the way of any glass in case the baddies start shooting up the place before running inside. Wait for me to raise the Kinetic Bleed Field before attacking. With the fog this thick our movements might be too readable and I don’t want anyone getting shot.”

“Got it boss.” “On it Alex.” The mares replied before running over to find a good spot.

Tune faced Conrad. “I want you ready to pounce from above. Throw them off balance so they don’t know where the hits are coming from.”

“Done.” He saw a ledge by the second floor’s overhang and dashed off to it.

The unicorn flipped the two sofas over in her magic and created a wedge shape with a pillar providing the point. It was towards the center of the room and slightly towards the front door. This should be close enough to the door to extend the field over the front half of the room.

Azus and one of his squad mates threw a desk chair at a window that faced the retreating solders. The angle of the building gave this room the best view over the roads, but was not quite to the point where this was the only viable room to fire from as his squad took over three other rooms. Even though the rooms had good firing arcs, the density of the cloud reduced visibility to the far end of the intersection. It did not take long for the sound of gunfire to start getting close enough that Lima was searching for muzzle flashes.

Azus switched to the squad channel. “Make your shots count and recheck your targets to avoid friendly fire. We have to lure them into the building.” He received clicks on the radio from the other rooms before he settled down into a prone position and checked his magazine. Damn it, only seven rounds. I hope those bastards ran out of explosives. He slammed the magazine home and laid his pistol to the side for ease of access. With little else he could do but wait for a target to present itself, he aimed his rifle down range.

The ambush had taken a heavy toll on Able Company, but the lack of ammunition is what broke their back. Only the biggest ammunition misers still had the means to effectively fight back, but they were too few and the enemy was far too numerous. That did not mean they were in an uncontrolled route as they started filtering past the investment center.

Azus saw twenty soldiers sprinting away from the oncoming militants. All of them stayed near the buildings on either side so they were a harder target. The enemy was distinctive compared to the black NBC suits the troopers had as they were bereft of any sort of protecting clothing. As soon as the first hostile in civilian garb came into view, the NCO took the carefully aimed shot and punctured the militant’s right lung.

“He wasn’t even bothering to stay in cover.” The NCO’s second remarked as he took the next shot to that combatant’s diaphragm.

“Just makes shooting them all that easier.” Azus replied as he slew a third. By now, the hostiles were pouring into the street firing blindly through the fog. Some were even wasting shells by firing shotguns when they weren’t anywhere near a target.

Lima was ruthlessly efficient in their shots, making sure each person took a separate target and that each shot counted. Some of the hostiles took more than two or three shots to fully drop; such was the intensity of their frenzied fervor. No matter how many Lima brought down more still came from the east. As one, the mob took notice of the lone squad that dared to remain defiant and charged in mass.

Azus was down to his last pistol magazine and tried to single out any targets wielding a shotgun as he grabbed the radio. “Zeta One, You’ve got company.” He felt a rifle round wiz past his face and chip the edge of his mask’s filter; luckily it did not compromise it. Azus knew the shot had not come from the mass of crazed civilians below, but from far beyond the edge of his vision. “Sniper! Get to cover!”

Alexia hid behind her impromptu cover as bullets sliced through the air above her from the entrance as the first five Mion initiates hosed the lobby down with shots fired at shoulder height. After the opening volley was done, the lead gunman saw nothing stopping him from leading the swarm into the building. That caused the man to have a modicum of caution and slowly made his way into the lobby. Those behind him followed suite.

As soon as the unicorn heard them step inside, she lit her horn and cast the entire room in an azure haze that was enhanced by the cloud. Loki gestured with her hoof to Crimson to wait for three seconds as the Mions slowly entered the room with guns raised. The source-less azure light made them spread out to find the source.

As soon as Loki’s silent count hit the ‘go’ mark, both earth mares picked a target and sprinted the short distance to buck their respective targets, first in the knees to topple them, and then a quick snap kick to the chest or head on the person’s way down. Both mares flattened three people apiece before the Mions could react. The only sign of their passing were ripples in the pervasive cloud.

Conrad joined in by dropping hooves first, onto a combatant that made the mistake of wandering too close to Alexia. The crowd instinctually backed away from the flattened and suddenly bloody man, which gave Conrad the time he needed to fly back up and deliver a back kick to two more Mions. He used the recoil to propel his front hooves into the back of the head of a fourth.

More combatants started filing into the room only to be bunched up together by those already there trying to figure out what was happening. Loki bucked her sixth target into the crowd, knocking over three more. Crimson made a solid hit one target’s knee and he crumpled in agony where Conrad dropped to deliver the coup de grâce on his neck. Four of the smarter Mions tried to track the odd wraiths in the fog, but their bullets barely had the energy to leave the barrel, let alone harm anyone. After watching over twenty of his fellows get cut down by what looked like mist wraiths, one of the more muscle-bound Mions had had enough. “Just shoot everywhere!”

Almost as one, the mob crowded by the door raised their weapons. Both earth mares didn’t full trust Alexia’s spell to protect them against so many and scrambled to find cover in the side offices. Conrad barely had enough time to fly above the oncoming blizzard when the ten zealots who were in the room and the twenty more facing in from the broken windows outside all turned and fired as one into the lobby. Crimson and Loki managed to run far enough out of the way as Alexia’s untested spell was overloaded with the sheer volume of firepower leveled against it.

Bullets and buckshot tore into everything. Office windows, chairs, the teller stations on the far end, the divider rope, even the scattered potted plants were rent asunder by the hailstorm of lead. The lone unicorn cowered behind the load bearing pillar because it was the only thing protecting her as the sofas were shredded apart. The sound of so much lead in the air terrified all four ponies, but Alexia managed to keep the spell active throughout it all in a desperate hope that it would still save her.

Conrad’s mind was screaming at him to go and save her, but he knew if he dropped from his perch he would get cut down almost instantly. After a solid minute of undisciplined fire into the lobby, the Mions held their fire. The room was in complete shambles. The sofas were little more than broken frames, the pillar had more pockmarks than Swiss cheese, the side offices’ thin walls were crumpling on themselves and the teller stations in the back were perforated so badly, many collapsed.

Alexia’s first reaction was to crack an eye open in dumbfound shock that she was still in one piece. Her next thought was to activate her cloak. The kinetic spell taxed her down to seventy three percent and falling, but the cloak’s crystal held a ten minute charge and would last as long as she needed it to.

Knowing her lover as well as she did. Tune held a hoof towards him to keep Conrad from flying down to retrieve her. He begrudgingly complied and watched her poke her head out from behind the pillar. The spell had only stopped half of all the rounds fired into the room with a quarter of the bullets still snagged in her field instead of dropping to the ground like they were supposed to. The remaining half of the rounds fired in her general direction had been enough to sunder the room as badly as it had.

I’m going to have to expand on the volume matrix if I survive this heart attack. Alexia thought to herself as her pounding heart tried to calm down. She dropped the spell and focused on one of the Mions who just finished reloading his revolver. The weapon was encased in her magic and she aimed it and fired it into the foot of the Mion in front of the gunman before he could try and stop it.

The crowd turned on the man, with the woman with the ventilated foot screeching in pain. “What the hell was that Billy!” She aimed her Glock at Billy with no real intent to fire. Tune saw the opening and switched her magic to the Glock and adjusted the aim away from Billy’s head and fired it into a third Mion’s shoulder and a fourth one’s collarbone.

Almost as one, Billy and the hapless woman were surrounded by the comrades with weapons raised. “Everyone stop firing!” One of them yelled.

Tune singled out the speaker’s weapon and adjusted the aim and fired into the leg of a fifth. Before the others could react, she grabbed the rifle of another and had him shoot more in the arm before he was dragged to the ground.

The rest of the ponies saw what Alexia was trying to do and crept in close with Conrad hovering over the mob. He took a deep breath to shout. “Traitors! Kill the traitors!” Alexia added emphasis to his yelling by making more shoot themselves.

Crimson recognized some of the telltale discolored and sickly red skin from those that attacked her family and home. She was going to enjoy this. “They dishonor the gods! Kill the heretics!” Tune made more shoot themselves.

Loki joined in the other two ponies’ constant tirade of jeering to push them over the edge with a manic tone of voice only she could produce. “Blasphemous ignorant scum sucking pig sows! All of you must die!”

One of the Mions in the center was about as bright as a stump. As such, even the loose collective consciousness they all possessed wasn’t enough to convince him there were no real traitors in his midst. In a blind panic, he finished reloading his semi-automatic shotgun and aimed it at the nearest Mion. “Traitors!” A loud report and a point blank shot ruined the target’s torso. “Heretics all of you!” Another militant went down to his paranoia in a rest mist of blood.

The earth mares quickly scrambled back to their spots and Alexia back behind the pillar as the mob quickly devolved into bloody infighting. Revenge and counter-revenge tore the large mob of Mions apart as they killed all the perceived traitors who never stopped multiplying.

Some of those who had been too far away from the display the ponies had used against them tried to break up the fight. The same absolute devotion that commanded such power over a Mion’s mind mutated into dominating mistrust. One zealot who had a crude eye patch fired a three round burst into the back of another after that one had just killed eye patch’s old friend. In his increasingly blind rage, he turned to the ones trying to stop the fighting and shot six rounds into him and then two more Mions before being shot himself from those outside the infighting.

Those that had just shot Eye Patch were in turn shot by those adjacent to them for treason. Not everyone saw Eye Patch shoot his brother in faith and that caused more to kill his executioners. This caused a chain reaction that devolved the mass of cultists into slaughtering each other. All the while they threw curses at each other and shouted that the Koridost demanded their deaths.

Bullets flew everywhere as the undisciplined and frothing mad zealots slew one another for two brutal minutes until they were fully out of ammunition. That did not stop the last seven from slugged it out in a fist fight that lasted five more minutes. The last two combatants were barely able to stand and were reduced to slinging harsh words at each other.

Azus had long since been given a rifle and some ammo from the pile of bodies inside the investment center. When the last two Mions were wearily throwing punches at each other he ended their lives with four new holes in their lungs. The sergeant made sure his shots connected before ducking back behind the wall. I doubt the snipers killed themselves too. The entire event was still reeling in his memory. Just what did those ponies do down there to make them start shooting each other?

On the other side of town near Sweetwater Hospital, the local Mion leader held a name granted to him by the Herald: Tzadavek. He could feel the lives of his followers be snuffed out in rapid succession although he didn’t know the cause. The global population of Mions was becoming too great for the Herald to put forth strong direct control over every tainted human. As such, he selected able leaders among them and made them a focal point of control. Originally, the Herald made these leaders the nerve cluster of control for those underneath them. Yet after the disaster at Caney Creek Lake, he decided to try a different approach with future Mion leaders to see if they could still have a controlled army, but without the catastrophic loss of cohesion that resulted from that brief lapse of consciousness from the cult leader.

Tzadavek was one of those experimental leaders. His control was limited to the power of suggestion and the ability to broadcast that suggestion to all under his influence. His suggestion was just as dominating of a lesser Mion’s will as the cultist leader’s had been, but the difference was that it allowed the minion to remain functional in the event at Tzadavek was incapacitated. It came at the cost of reducing most of his minions’ higher intelligence. That lack of cognitive prowess could only be rectified over a long period of time.

As a result of the looser control structure, Tzadavek was unable to see or hear through the eyes of his minions so he did not know the real reason his zealots were dying so quickly. It seems I underestimated the Army’s ability to react.

The Overseer tsked at the resounding defeat. Troubling to lose so many, but hardly a problem that can’t be mitigated. He turned his focus to the few remaining warriors he had left. A necessary sacrifice to buy time to move the thousands of new converts. And… He felt the addition of three soldiers’ minds being tethered to his control. It would still be several hours, but in the end they would be his to command as he saw fit. The reward outweighs the cost. Those men will make it easier to remold the new followers into a proper military force.

Of the seventy zealots he used to have under his command, only four remained. Those four were the sharpshooters who had fired the opening shots of the ambush. He spoke aloud in a calm low tone, but his voice was heard by his remaining faithful in the line of fire. “Return to me my warriors. You have stalled them long enough.” There had been ten soldiers of Able Company that could have been forcibly recruited, but his remaining warriors needed to be fast so they could only take three and killed the others.

A waiting car and driver stood at the ready for him to enter. “Take me to the caverns. I wish to take my leave before the military’s air power arrives.”

“Yes Overseer.” The unremarkable hatchback sped off to the west. The drive was moderately slow as the driver had to navigate the cloud when visibility made going any faster than fifteen miles per hour too much of a risk. They arrived at the small neighborhood of Clearview Acres without incident and left the car behind to hike their way deep into the badlands of Black Butte. By the time he and a dozen other enlightened were on foot and headed towards the caverns, the first of the overwatch aircraft arrived and set up station around the cloud.

Tzadavek waited for the craft to focus away from the far west before he commanded his followers to continue. As he walked, he attempted to commune with the Herald. “Oh mouthpiece of the gods. Hear the voice of one of your devout and humble Overseers.”

He did not have to wait long before a deep baritone voice that sounded akin to grinding stones entered his mind. “You are anything but humble Tzadavek, and I know you are not so ignorant as to believe the Koridost are truly gods.” The note of sarcasm was as thick as molasses.

“And yet my loyalty is without question.” The Overseer stated as fact.

“Such as it is with all Mions.” The Herald replied flatly.

Tzadavek didn’t want to do this next part, but that same loyalty demanded it of him. “I had hoped to route the Army entirely, but my legion failed. They were slaughtered almost to the last.”

“Do not mourn for them, for they are now in the Koridost’s embrace.” The Herald replied automatically.

The Overseer grunted his disapproval. “You know that drivel doesn’t work on me.”

“No.” The Herald said at length. “But it works wonders on your followers. I know you don’t play up the religious angle of control, and frankly I don’t care.” The disembodied voice fell silent for a moment. “I can sense the thousands you’ve successfully added to the fold.” He was immensely pleased. “You produce results. So long as that remains true, you will retain my favor. When human civilization is wiped clean, I will personally see that you are elevated to join the Koridost.”

It was a prospect the Overseer strived for and the Herald knew how to play the man’s ambitions. “Your foresight in covertly enlightening a crew of meteorologists so you can predict the cloud landings along with your execution of today’s conflict has proven to me you are worthy of the next level of evolution.” Tzadavek felt his right forearm start to heat up as he felt his muscle and bone begin to change. “It will take two nights to complete. Upon that time, you will be the first among my Overseers in North America.”

The Overseer sneered at his arm. “Good. Keep the next step handy, because you’ll be giving that to me soon.”

The Herald grunted in approval. “That remains to be seen. Now I must leave, another matter demands my attention.”

The former human knew the Herald demanded action over supplication, which was primary reason the disembodied voice allowed him to openly view the Koridost as secular masters instead of gods.

“To be the first on a continent.” The Mion thought with greedy exuberance. “I have no idea what changes this will do to me.” He said as he inspected his arm. “But it is just one more step to proving that I am worthy of being more than a slave when the masters finally arrive.”

Azus peeked out of the window with a hand mirror as he tried to locate the sniper. “See anything?”

His second pulled his broken splinter of a mirror out of the shattered window and slouched against the corner. “Nothing. Its been five minutes. What should we tell command?”

“Same thing we told them a minute ago.” Azus replied curtly. “That there are possible snipers covering the building and we don’t have the means or manpower to root them out.”

“What about that unicorn? She’s the one who detected the ambush. Can’t she tell if they enemy is still there?”

The NCO dropped his mirror to look at his subordinate. “Command said-”

His radio crackled to life. “Lima One, status report.”

Azus fumbled for his radio to respond. “Lima One here. Its all quiet. The snipers are either patient or gone.” And I’m leaning towards the former.

Back in the command tent Pardo looked away from the radio to Thompson. “Anything?”

“Tune said the pattern she used to detect humans was having trouble with the opposing force. She doesn’t want to bet their lives on it successfully locating them.”

The captain felt he was creeping into classified territory that could cost him his command, or his life. “And what does that mean exactly? The surviving members of Able all attest that the enemy was human. How could her…” He had difficultly saying the next word with a straight face. “Magic detect my men perfectly, but have trouble with the hostiles?”

“I will be the first to tell you I have little understanding of pony magic Captain. But everything she’s told me is that her power is very precise in its function. I believe her words were along the lines of: ‘a spell is much like a computer program. It will do exactly what you tell it to do, not what you want it to do.’ However, she said she wrote that radar spell on the fly. For all we know she might have created an error or two and the sheer number of people in the area overloaded the spell’s ability to detect properly.”

Pardo quickly ordered the arriving Armored Personnel Carriers from the north to divert and pick up Lima. He turned back to speak with the brooding Director. “Why do I get the feeling that’s not the only theory your entertaining?”

Thompson studied Pardo a long time before replying. “Because its not. And the one I’m leaning towards scares me.”

The last of Tzadavek’s followers made it out of the cloud and into the rough terrain before the Army could close the noose around Rocky Springs. The caverns the Overseer’s flock had discovered were not on any map. The mouth of the cave he was headed for was barely large enough to allow two people walking abreast. The dry entrance had no guards; save for a lone sentry who was deep enough into the cave that he could hide should the unenlightened come nearby.

The long running caverns had no singular large chamber to house a collection of people or supplies, so instead everyone was scattered in a long branching chain all throughout the ground under the butte. In his human life, Tzadavek had been a praised logistics expert for UPS. As such, he was brutally efficient at shuttling Rocky Spring’s former inhabitants and their supplies out of town and into the caverns. It helped that his followers obeyed his every word without question or complaint. Originally he had two hundred followers and with the loss of almost all of his warriors, his flock was vulnerable. The cloud will be dissipate within the hour.

He felt the last of his sharpshooters had the three captured soldiers slung over their shoulders and were nearing the caves. He sent nonverbal praise through the Link to show his approval. It will take time for the newly infected to awaken into the fold; but those three were the most important additions of the day.

His musings were interrupted by the arrival of his second. She was a muscular woman with hair that was past shoulder length on the left half and shaved bald on the right. Along her scalp were acid burned tattoos of the life she left behind. Her tone was ragged from the scars along her neck. She went by no name other than ‘second’. She was like Tzadavek and that she had no illusions that the Koridost were actual gods; but she knew serving them was the only way to have a future. As a show of allegiance, she discarded her human name and would accept no other until the Herald gifted her with a new one.

The act didn’t move the Herald in the slightest. He knew her obedience was unshakable no matter what she believed. He would only give her a name after she earned it through service. Second pressed her fist against her chest in salute. “I commanded everyone to start moving deeper into the caverns and I just got the total supply count. We should have enough food and water to last fifteen days. We can stretch it to nineteen if my teams find an aquifer.”

“I doubt they will in this environment, but stay on it. Until the new additions awaken into the fold, we have no idea how long the Army will be hunting for their missing citizens.”

“By your will, Overseer.”

Tzadavek watched her leave. The path ahead was devoid of trash or dropped supplies, but there were noticeable fresh scraps in the stone floor if one looked hard enough. The waning sun’s light planted the drab rock into oranges that the Mion had little care for. He waited until he sensed the approach of his four sharpshooters as they neared the entrance. Tzadavek stood slightly to one side as the first one turned into the cavern. They carried comatose members of Able Company to be added to the flock. Unique to the sharpshooters, were thick webs of blood vessels showing through the skin along the exterior of their eye sockets. It was only visual cue of an adaptation that allowed them to see in ultraviolet spectrum. The last sniper of the group went by the nickname Snuff for the neigh permanent wad of tobacco in her lip. She stopped to speak with her master.

“Overseer. You should know the zealots slaughtered themselves.”

Tzadavek’s calm exterior developed into a fierce scowl. “They what!? Why?”

Snuff shared his disgust. “I don’t know sir. I could only watch what happened from a distance, I didn’t want one of the imbeciles shooting me as well. What I do know is that one of the Army squads set up a last stand defense in one of the buildings to buy time for their brethren to escape. Yet as soon as the zealots charged into the building, they stopped. Then they fired a barrage into the main lobby, then they started shooting each other.”

“So you have no idea what could have caused it?” He growled.

“To be fair sir, none of them were very bright to begin with, that’s why they were ultimately expendable in the first place. Its likely one of them shot another by accident and an execution for treason spiraled out of control until everyone offed themselves.”

“How could such a thing happen?” The Overseer asked himself more than the sniper. “No Mion, no matter how recently they’ve been brought into the fold is capable of treason.”

“Perhaps the three soldiers we captured will have an answer when they awaken?”

Tzadavek rubbed his chin in contemplation. “Possibly, but I doubt it. The Army had no reason to bring anything but basic weaponry with them…Unless.” A troubling thought occurred to him. “Unless they crafted some new weapon that shatters our unity.”

“Is such a thing possible?” Snuff asked with grave concern.

“I don’t know. I was under the assumption that the government still regarded the cult and the clouds as separate problems. But either way…” The Overseer’s thoughts drifted back to the soldiers. “We’ll find out soon enough.”

The APC delivered Lima squad and the equine quartet to base camp. Before they could do anything, they were all rushed over to Decontamination. It was not a pleasant process as the ponies’ skin ended up being badly irritated more from the decontamination process rather than the mass of decaying viral particles in their fur. Conrad had it worse by far as the technicians kept overextending his wings in their attempt to fully cleanse his down feathers. The ponies would not see their equipment again for some time as those too went through a rigorous decon process.

Loki was the first to be released from the tunnel and was doing everything in her willpower to keep from rolling on the highway to scratch. The Director was near the exit so she went up to him. “Damn it man! That is the last time I go into one of those clouds. Do you know how insanely itchy I am after that chemical shower they put me through!? I swear my coat’s faded a little.”

Thompson sympathized. “Try not to scratch though; it will only make it worse.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” She growled as the asphalt under her hooves was looking increasingly appealing. I honestly don’t care how ridiculous I would look doing it, I need to be rid of this itch mad quick. Her eyes darted to one member of Lima squad who was leaving the second tunnel. Grinning madly, she ran over to him. “Hey Victor! Can I get you to do me a favor?”

Crimson was the next to be free of the tunnel and found a rather comical scene. Loki was straddling a crate as two members of Lima squad were petting the green and pink pony along her mane and back. The earth mare was a gibbering mass of putty under the onslaught of the soldiers’ hands. Victor and his accomplice Chapman were very content with massaging out Loki’s itchy skin. Crimson had yet to experience the joys of being petted and found it slightly belittling and walked over to the mare to see why Loki put up with it.

The green mare waved a lazy hoof at the pale yellow pony. “Hey girlfriend. You should reeeeally get in on these massages.”

“Looks an awful lot like how I used to pet my dog.” Anderson countered as she glanced at the two soldiers. Victor made no response as he was snickering at Loki’s blissful smile while he scratched behind her ears.

Loki managed to form a coherent argument. “Then you know how much he loved it when you petted him.” She rolled over on her back to expose her belly to the soldiers and to free up some space for Crimson. “Don’t knock it until you try it sister.” She waggled her legs until Victor got the hint and went straight to scratching the melting mare’s belly. “Ohhh god, now that’s the stuff.”

Victor’s partner in crime looked at the hesitant yellow mare. “Come on, it’s the least we can do for you guys saving our asses today. Making those bastards kill each other was genius.”

Anderson studied Loki’s expression looked as if she was in paradise and relented. “I suppose it could be worth it, if only to stop being so itchy.” She jumped up onto the crate and laid down while keeping her head up.

Chapman knew hesitation when he saw it, but couldn’t resist petting the red and yellow pony. They are too damn cute. Its like someone engineered the perfect creature to tug on a pet lover’s heartstrings. He started off as conservative as possible and only petted Crimson’s mane. The effect was immediate. Anderson’s anxiety bled away faster than water down a drain and started leaning into Chapman’s hand after the third stroke. Two minutes later she was laying her head down while two more soldiers of Lima company joined in. The squad was given an hour to recoup after the day’s events and they were more than content to distract themselves with the mares. Mourning the fallen would come later.

By the time Alexia was released from decon, a group of ten servicemen surrounded the earth ponies. All of them were members of Lima and a few from Bravo. Thompson stood off to the side with a mixture of bemusement and controlled mirth at the scene. Tune expected Loki to be thoroughly enjoying herself, but had not expected Crimson to embrace it so quickly. Well I can’t blame her. I never knew how much my cat loved being massaged either until I experienced it firsthand. As much as she wanted to join in, she felt obligated to speak with Thompson first and walked over to him. That didn’t stop her from using her magic to pull on her skin a bit to try and relieve some of the itchiness.

The Director pushed himself off the truck he was leaning against. “I heard your bulletproof spells were a rousing success.”

“Moderately.” She granted. “Still got overloaded in the end.”

“Before we get down to business in a debriefing, do you mind telling me how it works? From what Sergeant Azus informs me, it stops enemy bullets while allowing friendly ones to pass through.”

She rubbed her neck, more for the itch than out of sheepishness. “The spells doesn’t distinguish friend from foe. The one I cast in the truck uses telekinesis to generate a mono-directional kinetic field. Bullets going out were sped up and bullets coming in were robbed of all kinetic energy. The one I used in the investment center is something I call the Kinetic Bleed Field. I don’t know if I told you this before or not, but magic can act as an energy redistributor. The KBF envelopes a large area and latches onto inanimate objects like chairs, tables, even the air itself. I retooled the Reactive Barrier’s detection net to search for the signature shape of a bullet or shell casing instead of projectiles already in the air. After that, the spell would know exactly where the bullet would be coming from and as soon as the bullet was fired, the spell pulls all of the projectile’s kinetic energy into the air. What’s more is that KBF doesn’t try to stop objects any larger than a bullet from moving so it doesn’t attempt to keep a person from walking around.”

“So I’m guessing that’s why some of them remained hanging in the air? I remember Victor saying after killing the machine gunner, he plucked a frozen bullet out of the air that was an inch in front of his face.”

The unicorn cringed at the thought. “Well that’s one of the bugs I haven’t worked out on either of those spells. Oddly enough it’s a shared bug that I’m going to have to iron out. The frozen bullets get locked in place relative to my current position and move as I do so long as the spell is active. It…also seems to keep pulling from the kinetic energy gravity would be adding to the object so magic is wasted in countering that.”

Thompson allowed a smirk to show through. “Glad to see magic has its fair share of bugs like programming and engineering does.”

“Well of course it would.” She replied as if she had been insulted. “Anything created by Terrans is prone to have errors while still being experimented with.”

Thompson arched an eyebrow at the term. “Terrans? Where did you get that from?”

Alexia pawed the ground while trying not to sound silly. “Well I heard it used a lot in fiction to describe humans. But the word really just means: of Earth. So I was thinking that it could be used to refer to humans and ponies together. My species may have originated on a different world, but I’m still an earthling.”

“A fair point.” He conceded. A term referring to both of our species would fall in line with her ultimate goal. “My superiors will want a report soon.” He removed the tablet out from under his arm and saw her magic kept pushing and pulling on her skin to relieve the horrible itching. His brow furrowed in concern. “If you can stay lucid, how about you join your friends over there so you can get relief as you dictate the timeline of events.”

Alexia’s face lit up like a spotlight. “Really!? Oh thank you.” She galloped over and wrapped a second crate in her kinesis and brought it over so she could join the other mares.

Thompson had no real problems with letting anyone from Able Company listen in. The whole point of this operation was to declassify the ponies’ existence. Besides they seem to foster affection almost instinctually. If nothing else, they are excellent for morale. True to form, two members of Lima almost pounced on the chance to pet a unicorn. The Director scoffed at his superiors’ fears about the charismatic aura. Its quite the double edged sword. It may bring out the soft side in hardened soldiers, but it also makes the ponies extremely trusting and docile towards those showering them with affection.

After several minutes, Thompson came to a startling realization as the soldiers were genuinely happy. These men just lost at least half of their Company. No matter how hardened they may be, they shouldn’t be able to laugh so soon after the fact. He checked to make sure Tune’s horn was inactive, and it shone forth no light. The herd mentality doesn’t reach out and effect humans. Bowler’s men can attest to that. He brooded over the scene before him. The men had just lost their brothers, but they were able to smile at the mares’ antics. To think these equines have the power to blunt the emotional wounds of losing those you care about. This could become a great boon, or might be a sign of something darker. He resolved to have the psychological evaluations of Able Company on his desk by week’s end. I won’t act on this until I have more information.

The Director gathered half of his report from Alexia before Conrad was finally freed of the decontamination tunnel. The mare had a force of will that had been fostered by constant spellwork that demanded a strong mind in order to wield it. As a result, she was able to fight off much of the tranquilizing effects the two soldiers from Charlie squad was currently inflicting on her.

Unfortunately, Thompson would not get a chance to see if stallions were just as susceptible to being petted as well when a lieutenant ordered the soldiers to depart as the next contingent of soldiers arrived to relieve them.

“Miss Tune. Why don’t the four of you return to the helicopter. We can finish the report on the way back.”

Alexia clambered off the crate and stretched like a cat to get the kinks out of her joints from sitting on the hard box for so long. “Yes Director.” Tune could tell Conrad was itching like crazy and his feathers would be in bad shape if he kept trying to gnaw on the skin to relieve himself of the fierce itching. She padded over to him nuzzled the pegasus longingly so he could forget his discomfort for the moment. “Come on studly, boss wants us in the chopper. We can help relieve the itching in there, without damaging your feathers.”

He kept his wings extended and the feathers puffed out to try and shake the irritants out of them. “It would save on preening time.” As they started to end the nuzzle he whispered into her passing ear. “How are they?”

Alexia had checked on the twins right after the APC picked them up, along with before and after the decon tunnel. The expectant mother needed no excuse to use Inner Sight to see them, and at being given one she promptly cast it again. Conrad breathed a sigh of relief at seeing her smile while her vision was upon herself. “They’re perfectly fine.” Her horn dimmed and her eyes opened back up to the father. “And as strong as ever.”

All four ponies started to leave, but Thompson held Crimson back. “We need to talk in private.” He said calmly as he pointed at a secluded part of the camp which was behind the transports that would have been used to carry the citizens of Rocky Springs.

Anderson glanced to her friends who waved her to join them, but Thompson gestured to them that he needed to speak with her. “Um, sure boss.” Crimson walked over to the indicated location and then turned to speak to him. “What is it?”

“I felt broaching this topic to all of you at once may be detrimental so I wanted to bring this up with you personally.”

“I’m not keeping secrets from my housemates.” Crimson warned. “Especially not Alexia.”

“I don’t expect you to.” Thompson replied before switching topics. “Your file said you had been accepted into the Tulane University School of Medicine shortly before you became a pony. Is that accurate?”

Anderson wasn’t sure why the Director was bothering with this now. “That’s right. My folks were using the family reunion as an excuse to brag about it until those damn cultists showed up.” She eyed him closely. “Why do you care now?”

“Your team needs a medic.” He stated bluntly. “You were lucky that none of you were shot or killed. You ponies may to possess fast healing, but not fast enough to recover from a bullet wound. Tune has not demonstrated or spoken of any restorative magic, and it’s only a matter of time before one of you gets seriously injured in the field.”

Thompson let the warning hang. Crimson saw the need for it. At least this way I’d still get to chase the dream I thought I had lost. I may not get to be called doctor, but I can still heal people. “I’d be glad to be the team medic. Although I know little of pony anatomy… outside of living as one anyway.”

“I suspected you would accept. I will have Wilder take you under her instruction. I doubt I would need to make it an order, were it not for the bureaucracy. From what I gather, she is quite fond you four.”

Anderson hummed. It seems most people at The Ranch are like that. Although I think it’s just because we’re Tune’s inner circle. She groaned at herself. That sounded way more menacing than I wanted it to. She addressed the director. “I won’t deny that I have been worried about that.” I might get Wilder to give me some tips on how to be a midwife for Alex. Loki may be all about being an aunt but… That also means I’m going to be one too. Her introspective created a long pause to which Thompson was willing to give her time for. There may not have been any sort of formal wedding or even a Vegas style one. But the four of us are bound as closely as can be, and I love them for it.

Her thoughts drifted to the compact they had made two weeks ago, and the sense of belongingness she had felt. Clinically, she knew exactly why she had felt that way. I don’t care how deeply I’m affected by the herd mentality. It's a part of who I am now, and like Alex always says: the human condition always changes. And I choose to breathe. She resolved to find a more fitting term for ‘the human condition’ so that it encompassed ponies as well. Crimson looked back up from the ground after ending her introspective with determination written over her face. “When do I start?”

“First thing tomorrow.”

19: Flare Up

View Online

The next three weeks saw an overall depression in the world economy. The number of cloud infected people and Mion cults were starting to climb in number as more than one cloud landed in population centers. Mions held military power almost everywhere in varying degrees, but most countries were still able to keep the sporadic militias in check.

The military learned a hard lesson from Rocky Springs, and was determined to avoid repeating it. Yet the defeat was not just the loss of half a town and a few dozen men. No matter how hard the government might have tried, they couldn’t sweep the incident under the figurative rug. Especially not with the northern half of Rocky Springs and the outlying communities suddenly wondering what happened to their friends and family.

Instead, the President held a press conference to address the issue two days after the fact. This same speech still ran across the globe; including the televisions placed within The Ranch’s mess hall. A side effect of ponies having stronger hearing made the cafeteria moderately quiet by default. Today it was quieter even than that as the audience half listened to a news talk show about it.

“Two days prior.” The nearly three week recording of the president began. “The United States, and the world at large, was attacked by a menace we have all ignored as a mere inconvenience. I’m sure you have all heard about the dangers the brown clouds that fall upon the Earth seemingly at random. Dementia, hallucinations, and other symptoms that cause a person to become irrevocably insane. The greatest medical and scientific minds are hard at work, trying to solve this problem. However until a cure is found, if it can be found, I am enacting legislation that will establish a new agency with the directive to track the clouds as they form, and formulate an Emergency Alert System to be broadcast via all media.”

The address continued for several minutes before being replaced by a talk show host and a guest star. The host himself was well known for hard hitting, almost unfair, questions on those that opposed his viewpoints, and lavishing praise to those that concurred with him. The only reason the conservatively dressed two-faced man was sullying the ponies’ eyes was because they were still not allowed to choose what channel to watch. Technically that was not true. After the CIA ordered Bowler to give them a small liberty, the Colonel gave them the remote controls to the TVs, but had gone behind their backs and filtered all other channels, save two news stations.

The host leaned forward and messed with his large oak desk’s papers. “To think a few months ago, the only thing I had to worry about from fog, was a Hollywood serial killer. But I want to talk about this cult that seems to have sprung up barely two weeks after the brown clouds did. Doctor Johansson.” He said to indicate his guest. “Do you think the fog and this…Cult of the Koridost are related?”

The aged, but still strong man sat with his right hand cupping his chin. “It would rather strange if they were. While the Koridost have only recently come into the spotlight, we still know very little about them. It is entirely possible they are just another radicalist splinter of a larger religion.”

The host kept a neutral expression, but his most loyal viewers would know he was ready to pounce. “So why appear so soon after the clouds do? I have several sources saying that these…Koridosonites are not affected by the clouds’ brain damaging effects. Now, religious fanaticism or not Doctor, faith isn’t enough to protect against such threats.”

“One can never tell with cultists.” Johansson responded plainly. “Evidence has pointed to that these people are hardly in their right minds. It’s very likely that they are in fact afflicted and die later from the maladies the clouds inflict. My colleagues and I have strong evidence that these Koridosonites, as you put them, take an exorbitant number of narcotics and other substances to ignore the clouds for at most an hour or so.”

“That’s quite fascinating Doctor.” The show host replied. “I assume you’ve published these findings to the scientific community so they may be verified.” Johansson’s brow furrowed ever so slightly. “From what I hear, that hasn’t been done.”

The doctor smiled smoothly. “I fear you forget that our preliminary findings actually have been published. Now if you’re asking for more than that I’m afraid we can’t give out incomplete information. My team’s scientific obligation is to the truth that the evidence tells us. We cannot in good conscious give incomplete information that could cost the lives of the brave men and women who combat this very serious threat.”

“Surely you can at least give my viewers and the world at large, some idea as to how the Koridosonites and the clouds are connected.”

Johansson sat up straight and cupped his hands to stare directly in the host’s eyes. “Well as I said, we have not yet explored all avenues; but so far we have not found anything linking the clouds or the Koridosonites in any way shape or form. I will be the first to say I am no behavioral specialist, but the only connection the two could possibly share is that the cult feels the clouds have some sort of religious significance.”

“As some act of god? Or maybe a sign of the end times perhaps?” The host prodded.

Johansson allowed a small grin. “As I said, I deal in hard scientific facts. Not mythology.”

Crimson turned away from the TV to refocus on her tofu burger and the smart tablet Wilder had given her. It contained anatomical information on major artery and vein locations in ponies, and how to properly dress them to limit hemorrhaging. Anderson’s sole dream before becoming a pony was to practice medicine as an emergency physician. When Thompson read that in her file, he knew she would leap at the chance to chase that dream again.

So it came to no one’s surprise when Crimson completely threw herself into her studies with a passion that strongly rivaled Alexia with magic. While her apprenticeship under Wilder was hardly the same prestige or rapid study she could have had at a proper medical school, being trained to be a combat medic was far and above what she could have hoped for.

At present, the earth pony was quite happy to find the simple gripping magic all ponies possessed in their fore hooves interacted perfectly with touch screens. Conrad came real close last week with that gunshot to the left hind leg. A couple of centimeters to the right and it would have gotten his femoral. I can understand his protectiveness over Alex, but he should really think about moving both of them out of harm’s way, rather than just take the hit.

The pony quartet was resting after their fifth operation; the last of which ended two nights ago in a successful conclusion to a week-long hostage situation in a Malaysian embassy. The group had not run across the Mions since Rocky Springs and was glad of it, Crimson most of all. The mere thought of them made her blood boil. One of these days, those creeps are going to pay for what they did to my human family. I’d like to follow Alex’s philosophy on unity with humans, but there’s no reasoning with people like that. She may not like it, but I know she agrees with me. There’s just something fundamentally wrong with those guys, and the parasitism they harbor doesn’t help.

Crimson’s alarm chimed gently so it wouldn’t disturb those around her. Begrudgingly, she halted her studies of anatomy for the moment and reached into the saddlebags sitting on the chair next to her. Within were hand written instructions from Wilder on how to be a midwife. The information was nowhere near of being on the same planet as a comprehensive guide to the complex task, but they covered the basics. Going any deeper right now or putting that data on the tablet ran the risk of Bowler intercepting it and quickly finding out the reason why it was there. Its not absolutely necessary anyway. Most women get by without a midwife anyway, but these foals are more important than just being Alex’s kids. They’ll be the first ponies born on Earth.

Anderson paused to think on that. Assuming no other mares are as far along as she is anyway. Which I doubt. Being Wilder’s on and off again apprentice made the pale yellow pony a witness to no less than fifty mares be pronounced pregnant. The vet’s professionalism keeps her from telling me how many are in total, but its got to be higher than that. At least Alex can be content with the fact that she wasn’t the only one who thought that mares have to go into heat first.

Crimson reflect on her own transformation. In a way I’m glad I turned so late. I might have ended up in their shoes. While the pale yellow mare had yet to tell anyone, she had been entertaining desires for straight intercourse. I think I’m ready for the final step. I just don’t know who to do it with. Conrad’s obviously with Alex, Danny with Violet, Bill’s got a thing for Nancy, and if I’m not mistaken, Wilber isn’t interested in mares. She couldn’t think of any other stallions she knew well enough to even attempt a one night stand. Its rather strange that even though so many of us end up as the opposite gender, we all uniformly retain our orientation. Her time in the support group told her of that.

In the end she shrugged it off. I can worry about it later. Right now… She checked the tablet’s clock. I need to get back home. Alex wants me to finish learning Equish before the next mission, if possible. She popped the last of the burger in her mouth and collected her items into the saddlebags. It was an increasingly common item amongst the population of the camp. It was almost uniformly used by those who had obtained their cutie mark, and every one of them had their respective marks proudly emblazoned on them.

The acquisition of one’s cutie mark was fast becoming a sign of distinction and the number of ponies without one was rapidly declining, bolstered only by new arrives.

Crimson deposited her tray at the cleanup conveyor and sauntered out the door. Off in the distance, thirty more four-person domiciles were being constructed, and forty more were planned. Crimson sighed at the sheer mass of color around her. Last time I checked the census, it said our population hit the seven thousand mark four days ago; although most of that is from the closure of the other Ranch in Wyoming. It’s a good thing there were born and raised farmers that became earth ponies, that experience coupled with my tribe’s magic really saved our necks when the influx was getting too much for the current food import.

She waved at a few fellow medical apprentices before resuming her thoughts. “I’d like there to be more of us as the next pony, but if this doesn’t stop soon the humans are going to start panicking about the pony pandemic.” That was one too many P’s.

I wonder what my cutie mark will end up looking like. She saw a blue unicorn stallion who often helped with the increasingly overwhelmed human medical staff. “Hey Reed! How ya been?”

The unicorn smiled warmly and moved over to walk beside her. “Well enough. It won’t be long before my telekinetic finesse will be good enough to resume my career as a surgeon.”

“You sure you’re only doing that so your cutie mark makes sense?” She tapped him on the flank was a steel colored scalpel. Reed knew it was one of the simpler marks out there, but he preferred it that way. It was simple and clearly displayed his profession without any abstract interpretations that some ponies had to deal with.

He chuckled at the younger mare. The transformation put him in the body of a stallion in his prime, but he was still beyond seventy years of age mentally. It was for that reason, and Crimson’s professional courtesy, that she didn’t seek him out for romance. “No Anderson. I’m afraid I do what I do because its what I love. When I retired three years ago, my hands were too shaky to continue my practice. I thought my days were behind me, but becoming a unicorn gave me more. I suppose that’s why I found my mark so quickly. I get to have a long full career all over again, and this time while still in my physical prime.” He spoke with reverent tones. “But enough about me, how are you holding up?” He glanced at her blank flank.

“I think I’m as ready for that last leap as can be. I just have to find the right person.” It was almost a universal rule that a cutie mark only appeared when the pony was fully at peace with being a pony and knew what they were good at. Those like Crimson and Alexia had to be fully accepting of the gender they found themselves in. Other factors depended on the individual.

He sympathized with Anderson. Reed was fortunate enough to retain his original gender, but two of his housemates had not been so fortunate. As a result, he knew some of the difficulty she went through. “I know the waters are quite thin for mares, but I trust Miss Tune will have a tenable solution.”

Anderson only hummed in shared hope. The old in mind, but young in body stallion clicked his tongue. “Speaking of Miss Tune.” Crimson’s closer ear swiveled toward him, but not her face. “As much as the four of you are distracted by your clandestine missions, I’m sure you already know how beloved she is to us all. Even the new arrivals fall in love with her within a week.” He tilted his head off to one side. “By in large anyway.”

Crimson knew exactly what he meant. “I don’t think I’d have remained sane if not for Alex; but really it wasn’t just her. Conrad and Loki was a big part of it as well.”

“As are all of our housemates.” Reed replied calmly. “We draw strength from each other in a manner I have never felt in my seventy two years.” He gave her a wise smile. “You may not be aware of this young lady.” He glanced to judge her reaction. She made no negative reaction to the feminine address. He always checked with her, even though she had not flinched at it for over two weeks. “But that was not always so.”

This time she turned to face him. “What do you mean?”

“Exactly that.” He stated simply. “I was moderately happy enough with my transformation. I lost my human form, but I regained my youth. My personal love of that silver mare developed when she showed us that all unicorns have telekinesis and not just the handful that stumbled into it before being brought here.”

Reed stared off into the distance as he recalled the memories. “I saw a chance to be a surgeon again and I took it. But Alexia did more than that. As to what or how, I’m not entirely sure. But before she arrived, I was merely content with my equine form, if only for the restoration of my youth and vitality. But she got me, and so many others, to love the ponies we’ve become. She taught us to embrace the strength we lend to one another.” He shared a knowing look with Crimson.

She was confused as to what he was leading to. “What are you trying to say?”

He decided to be slightly evasive so he could explain himself. “Tune was not the only one given a book along with her new form. I was given a book on pony anatomy. This is why Wilder and the rest of the staff have done so well…After I translated it all for them of course. You’d be surprised just how similar and yet so different we are from barnyard ponies and horses.”

Anderson’s confusion shifted. “I thought they were using the data that the pony autopsies gave them.” The mention of it made her stomach churn as to the nature of how those bodies were obtained for the autopsies.

“Well that data did give the human staff…practical experience at least. After all, one can only learn so much from a book. But I feel we are diverging too far from the topic at hand.” He cleared his throat. “A young lass by the name of Sage had a book that gave a little insight into Equestria’s leadership. Namingly, the princesses.”

“What about them?”

“Some of us, myself included, feel Alexia should be granted that same title.”

Crimson scoffed as politely as possible. “I’m sorry to tell you old man, but she’d never go for that. The only reason she lets the three of us call her Glorious Leader is because its a joke.”

He cracked a small grin. “Are you sure? The vast majority of us see her as our leader. Even those that came from the other camp saw her as such in barely over a week’s time. Under her guidance we’ve integrated many of Equestria’s customs into our growing community here. Even though we are still under the yoke of that insufferable Colonel, we are thriving. She helped us learn how to stand on four legs, and we love her for it. We’re not asking her to take up the mantle of princess as a form of government like they have it on Equis, but more of a spiritual leader.”

“She still wouldn’t take up that title.” Crimson insisted. “Maybe something else, but I know her well enough to say that she’s never take it.”

“How can you be so certain?”

“Well, for one princess is a title that’s only held by alicorns. As far as I know anyway. Even if Tune agreed to the title on every other point, she would never accept it on that reason alone.”

Reed’s expression remained warm, but was otherwise unreadable. “My dear, she doesn’t need wings to be a princess to us.” Although queen would fit better. What would be the term for a successor to a princess be anyway? “But like I’ve said to the damn Colonel’s men a hundred times. My loyalty still lies with this great country, even if there are one too many misguided people in power. But. Alexia is our leader, our princess. You know this to be true girl.”

It was Crimson’s turn to smirk at him. “I never said I didn’t old man. I wouldn’t mind calling her by that title. But the problem is Tune herself. That adoration we have for her doesn’t translate into vanity. She idolizes Twilight Sparkle, and she herself never lets power go to her head. Alex will never accept the title. If for nothing else, than out of respect for Twilight.”

They were nearing Anderson’s house. Reed gave her a side long glance. “We’ll see. Its not a sentiment that has gained much traction yet. We did rebel against a monarchy in our nation’s birth. I understand there will be resistance to having American royalty. But one must remember all the celebrities that flood the airwaves. The only difference between them and a monarch, is a crown.” He tipped his head as she reached the door. “Good day to you Miss Anderson. I hope to see you in the hospital during the next shift instead of you flying off to who knows where again.”

She laid a hoof on the door handle and faced him before opening it. “I hope not. I’m on call, and if I do show up, its bad news for somebody.”

He chuckled lightly. “Quite so. Until next time then.”

Crimson watched him depart before entering her home. Loki was on the couch reading Alexia’s tome. The green mare had very little interest in the contents and was only reading to learn Equish. It took an exorbitant amount of willpower for Loki to focus on it so Crimson tried to remain as quiet as possible so she wouldn’t distract her. Even though the two earth mares knew about the comprehension spell, it would not shatter until they fully understood the language. Anderson knew she was on the cusp of that moment herself because Conrad and Tune spoke to each other exclusively in Equish when the two earth mares were not part of the conversation. The latest conversation she overheard only had two words she didn’t understand, but the context made them discernible.

The real reason it was taking so long was because Alexia still couldn’t duplicate the comprehension spell and Twilight has remained absent since before Tune discovered her pregnancy.

The thought reminded Crimson as to why she had to return home and dropped her things off before meandering into Alexia’s room. “Goof afternoon GL.”

Tune looked up from her large hand mirror with a smile. “Hey Crimson. How was lunch?”

The pale yellow mare knew she was referring to the news more so than the meal. “Just the same rehashing about the presidential address on the clouds and the cult,” she replied with a frown. The earth mare didn’t like thinking about Mions as it brought out a lot of negativity in her. That negativity was pushed back down so she could go about her self-appointed duty. “Would you please get on the bed and lay on your back?”

Alexia placed the mirror on her dresser. “You know just because I wasn’t always female doesn’t mean I need a midwife.”

Crimson gently pushed the defiant mother-to-be towards the bed. “You may not need one, but the rest of us do. It would put Conrad’s mind at ease to know every precaution is being taken.” She didn’t want to drag her down any further with guilt in saying that Loki and herself also fussed over their future nieces or nephews.

Tune still delighted every time he fretted over his future children’s safety and sighed in defeat as she clambered up on the linen sheets. It was constant reaffirmation to her that Conrad wanted to be a father. “I suppose I must, if for nothing else than because of our line of work.”

When Alexia had been standing on all fours, she could pass off as being slightly tubby. However that illusion was dispelled in an instant under Crimson’s searching eyes and probing hoof. There was a prominent bulge poking out just under two inches from her barrel. The lean and slightly toned muscles of the unicorn’s legs attested that there was no possibility that she would be able to pass it off as fat for much longer.

“I give you two weeks tops, before Thompson or Bowler’s goons start noticing,” Crimson declared morosely.

“I don’t want to think about them right now,” Alexia replied with annoyance directed at them more than Anderson, “does everything check out?”

The magic that flows from a pony’s hoof differed from that which is expended from a horn or wings. Just as the horn was an instrument to collect and weave mana to the unicorn’s will, the hooves of an earth pony did much the same thing to achieve different effects. While it is true all the tribes’ hooves molded magic, the earth tribe’s hooves was far more refined in that process than the others. Where unicorns and pegasi were able to grasp objects and sense pressure with their hoof magic, earth ponies had far stronger grasping ability, could form around the object to tell its dimensions, sense heat, and even warn the pony if the object would cause harm if physical contact was made. This was true in addition to the other applications of earth pony magic they had at their disposal.

"Everything feels normal." Crimson used that magic to gently probe Tune’s bulge. “Has your Inner Sight told you what tribe they are?”

The unicorn cringed. “Ah well… truth be told I just used it to peek at them, I haven’t thought to inspect them on a minute detail.”

Anderson gave her a suspicious eye. “Why do I get the feeling that’s not the reason at all? Fess up.”

Alexia frowned and flopped fully on the bed, with her head pointing straight at the wall. “I’m afraid they might have serious birth defects.”

Anderson looked at her face with concern. “Why’s that?”

“Because I’m a unicorn and Conrad’s a pegasus.” Tune lifted her head back up to face her midwife. “What if they have wings and a horn, but neither work? Or that they have the itineris system of one tribe, but the appendages of the other? This isn’t something like having a white mother and an Asian father. There are big physical differences between me and Conrad. I know that just having these foals means the tribes can procreate with each other, but that doesn’t mean the twins will be fully functional. They might even be infertile.”

Crimson stopped probing the unicorn’s bulge and sat back on her haunches to think. That would devastate most of the expectant mothers and fathers out there, and I’m sure many of them might be thinking the exact same thing. “Have you been able to talk to the princess about it?”

Alexia shook her head. “Not yet. Twi did return two nights ago, but we were on assignment so I didn’t get a chance to speak.”

“Have you thought to check today?”

“I’ve been too distracted with refining my Kinetic Bleed Field matrix. I’ve cut the mana consumption by half, but projectiles still tend to get stuck in the air. Then there are the offensive and defensive versions of Blink I’ve been experimenting on, not to mention multicasting; and then there’s all the other things I do around camp.”

Crimson let the unicorn ramble off into space as she went back out and retrieved the tome from a snoring Loki. She pushed the book off her back and in front of the unicorn who was still on her back staring at the ceiling while rattling off about how some mares wanted her to bless their own pregnancy. “Isn’t that absurd? They act as if I’m the second coming!” she gave a very equine snort at the thought. “I love my people, I really truly do. But sometimes they act really weird towards me.”

Crimson flipped to the Guard page and saw the purple light was active. The act also brought Tune out of her ramblings. “Well you should check now,” She said at returning to their original conversation, “because she’s available now.”

Crimson stepped aside as Alexia eagerly turned the tome over to the side of the bed and she placed her hind legs on the floor so she could stand back once the princess came into the room. The unicorn placed her left hoof on the page. “Unlock.”

The scanning magic passed over her and a few moments later, the welcome sight of the purple alicorn materialized adjacent to the bed. “There you are my faraway student! It’s been too long.”

The earthlings bowed their heads before Alexia spoke. “That it has. How’ve you been?”

Twilight’s demeanor became irritated. “Gah! Don’t get me started. Between the griffins' long windedness and the minotaurs' criminalistically complex legal language it’s a wonder the treaty was signed this decade.” I can see why Celesta made me do it rather than go herself.

Crimson understood all but three of those words, and guessed their meaning. “It’s a shame we can’t loan you some lawyers from Earth. They love that sort of thing.”

Twilight gazed at Anderson as if seeing her for the first time. “I’m dreadfully sorry, I didn’t see you there Crimson.” She remembered her from the brief introduction a day after the yellow mare joined them. “I’m glad to see you’re taking the time to learn my language.”

“Its not perfect yet, but I’m almost there.” She struggled to make sure all of her words were in correct Equish. She was not yet able to speak it as smoothly as the other two mares.

“Well I know you’ll succeed soon enough.”

“Thank you,” Crimson replied as she turned to Alexia. “Why don’t I leave you two alone to catch up and…enlighten her majesty about certain things.”

Twilight’s critical eye passed from a smirking earth mare to a nervous unicorn. “What does that mean?”

Tune glowered at Anderson as the earth pony sauntered out of the room and shut the door. Alexia pawed the ground. “I was hoping to bring it up later, but I guess there’s no point in waiting.” She turned to display her small bulge. “I’m carrying twins.”

It took Twilight a few moments for the statement to register, and once it did she had a grin that cleaved her face. “That’s wonderful news Alex!” The alicorn bounded over to see it more clearly. “I know you’ll be a great mother.”

“I hope so.”

The nervous thread in her voice brought Sparkle’s attention back to her. “I know your government won’t like you being absent from carrying out assignments, but surely they respect life enough to grant you a leave of absence.”

Tune rotated her body to face front. “That’s not the only concern I have.” She really hated thinking about it, but she wanted to be sure so she could prepare for the worst. “You should know Conrad is the father.”

“I doubted it would be anypony else.”

“Right well, see he’s a pegasus and with me being a unicorn… I’m afraid that they might have genetic defects for having mixed heritage.”

Sparkle couldn’t stop a light titter from escaping at what she thought was a silly concern. She spoke from behind the hoof covering her grin. “I’m sorry I shouldn’t laugh at your concern, but there’s nothing to worry about. A pony’s parentage will affect what tribe they will be, but half breeds don’t exist between the tribes. Alicorns like myself are not born as we are.”

Alexia instantly forgot about her laughter and focused on the hopeful answer. “You mean, nothing else withstanding, that they’ll be perfectly healthy unicorns or pegasi?”

Twilight nodded. “Absolutely.”

Tune slumped to the floor. “Thank goodness. Ever since I started worrying about that I’ve been wearing myself ragged.”

Sparkle put her hoof down now that her grin faded. “Well I’m glad I was able to dispel those fears. I suspect you have far more questions about how to have a smooth pregnancy, but I’m afraid that is far outside my area of expertise. The only thing I have even related to that is a contraceptive spell.”

Alexia snickered at that. “If you had that spell near the beginning of the tome I’d have used it.” She stood back up. “But I can’t wait to be a mother now.”

“I’ll add it to your section of the archives, as well as a few books on how to have a healthy pregnancy and what to do in the foals’ early years.”

“I appreciate it. I know that I’m not the only mare with foals on the way.”

Twilight was flabbergasted. “I didn’t think anypony would want to have foals so quickly after changing species. I suspect yours were not planned correct?”

“No they weren’t,” Tune confirmed, “but because of our striking similarity with horses I bet the vast majority of us expectant mothers believed we’d go into heat before being fertile.”

“Ahh I see,” Sparkle exclaimed, “well that is quite problematic. The thing is, mares do go into heat.”

“Are you sure? I know I wouldn’t because I’m already pregnant, but neither Loki nor Crimson has gone into heat.”

“Its strange with us,” Sparkle said at length. “The current popular theory is that pony evolution is slowly phasing intense desire to mate out of the equation during estrus. Celesta remembers when mares had their first cycle and heat at the same time at around twelve or sixteen years of age. But that was near the beginning of her reign. Modern equestrians still become fertile at the onset of puberty, but heat doesn’t actually occur for an additional two years after the individual's puberty starts. Even though you are physically an adult, the hormonal changes those two years inflict apparently weren’t included.” She stopped her rambling early and groaned. “I bet Discord had something to do with that.”

“Speaking of Discord,” Tune started, “the number of human turned ponies is still rising. I’m more than happy to help anyone who gets changed, but it’s only a matter of time before it causes hysteria among the humans.” It was a concern that had been spreading around camp.

“I’ll speak to Discord about it if I can find him. He’s been rather quiet lately, and that’s never a good sign.”

“I’m sure he’s not causing any serious trouble.”

That elicited a sarcastic laugh out the alicorn. “That’ll be the day. But in the off chance I can’t get ahold of him any time soon, I’d like to examine the magic he used to change you. Since I believe you’re among the first ponies to be turned, you would likely have the least corrupted trace on you.”

Alexia was slightly nervous. “So long as you don’t accidently change me back into a human.”

“Don’t worry. I have enough knowledge of his chaos magic and style to know if there was a trap hex in there. Now hold still please.”

Alexia stood up straight and felt Twilight’s magic wash over her. The silver mare watched Sparkle’s face closely for any clue as to what she found. The alicorn’s brow furrowed after several minutes. “Odd. There’s no of trace his magic on you. Your transformation into a pony was completed long enough ago that all traces of the spell have vanished from you.”

“Not a problem for me,” the unicorn replied lightheartedly.

Twilight decided to take her bit by bit inspection to take the mare’s various magical properties as a whole. There’s something…off about her. She definitely a full pony. That much is painfully obvious. Her foals have the magical signature of pure ponies instead of some kind of half pony hybridized with a griffin or something. I’m not detecting any sort of chaotic deterioration or manipulation, so there are no side effects of the nature of her transformation. But what is that strangely familiar mana signature…

The princess was puzzled how she didn’t notice it about Alexia before, but the oddity surrounding the silver mare refused to explain itself to the alicorn. Eventually, she felt this method of magical probing wouldn’t give her the answers she sought and ended the spell. “Well aside from the gems you wear, there are no abnormal magical influences on you. However…”

Alexia tensed at the last word and the brooding frown on Sparkle’s face. “What is it?”

“Before I answer, I have to ask. Do other people act differently towards you, humans or ponies?”

The unicorn rubbed her chin to think. “I don’t think the humans act any differently towards me, except for the fact that almost every pony seems to think of me as the go-to leader.”

“You did mention you have been very active in helping ponies acclimate to their new species. That alone is admirable.”

Alexia grimaced. “I know, but they’re kinda scary about it.”

Twilight arched an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Where to start…” She sat on her haunches to bring her memories to the forefront. “Let’s see, they always want me there to cut the ribbon on the ground breaking ceremonies for the big construction projects.” Glad they don’t bother doing that with all the new houses.

“Ponies keep asking me for advice on matters ranging serious to silly. They also line up and salute me whenever my housemates and I go off on a mission. The latest nail in the coffin is that mares are coming up to me asking to bless their pregnancy.”

Twilight’s expression was unreadable. “Sounds like they have a serious case of hero worship.”

“It’s the last one that concerns me most,” Tune remarked worriedly. “Granted I’m not the most spiritual person around; but in our society, only clergy or some holy person blesses children. Sure a popular politician will kiss and infant’s head or something along those lines, but that’s not considered a blessing. I’m worried these ponies might be seeing me as some kind of religious figure.”

“You haven’t been trying to come across as one have you?” Twilight inquired carefully.

Alexia flopped her head on the bed. “Heavens no. I couldn’t stand that.” Her voice was muffled by the blankets until she turned her head to the side in Sparkle’s general direction. “I know they want me to be a leader, and if that’s what they want then that’s what I’ll be.” She pushed herself back on her hooves. “But a religious figure is where I draw the line. All that pomp and ceremony, the holy-than-thou junk, I want none of that.” She marched up to Twilight with exasperation written all over her face. “Did you know I actually heard somepony shout ‘Sweet Alexia’!?”

The silver mare started pacing in front of the alicorn in a full on rant. “At first I thought it was some stallion’s miserable attempt at wolf whistling me, but then I turn the corner and find it he wasn’t even aware I was there. He was cheering when his marefriend got front row tickets to the game in the rec center.”

That grabbed Twilight’s attention and she grew concerned. “Let me do a deeper scan over you to make sure there are no hidden enchantments. That means removing your gems and I’ll have to remove the identification cantrap, I’ll reapply it later.”

“Oh um, sure.” Tune didn’t need to take off much. She always wore her invisibility bracelet, and took off the necklace that had five charging mana crystals and placed them on the bed. She resumed her original location and Twilight cast her most powerful dispel magic. The only thing the spells wouldn’t strip away would be the automatic biological effects within the unicorn.

“Round two,” Twilight remarked as she recast her probes. She was brought out of her spell almost immediately. “Alex! Did you know you’re carbuncle is way beyond overdeveloped?”

“Umm, I’m not terribly familiar with how its supposed to develop aside from maybe getting bigger.”

“No, no. This is much more than what constant spellcraft can do,” Twilight replied with more curiosity than worry. “Not only do you have three lobes when you should only have one, but its starting to condense itself to bring about a Mana Conversion.”

Tune wasn’t sure how to feel when the alicorn wasn’t displaying clear positive or negative emotions. “Is that bad?”

“Depends on if you survive.” Sparkle was keeping a close eye on the mare’s carbuncle. “I’m guessing you haven’t experienced the mana flare yet.”

“Not to my knowledge, but I’m not sure what a mana flare is.”

Twilight fell into her familiar lecture mode. “A mana flare is the moment when a pony’s carbuncle undergoes a metamorphosis to an immensely more efficient version of itself and alters the pony’s physiology. The primary effect of this is that it instead of just your carbuncle being where your mana is stored, it enabled your entire body to store mana.

This was all new information for the unicorn. “Are you saying that I’m going to turn into a mana battery?”

The purple mare half shrugged her wings. “Aside from having a much larger pool to draw from, and the need to control that mana, your daily life won’t be affected overmuch. In fact I went through a mana flare when I was a filly, and I was perfectly fine once I learned proper control. But I must tell you, this isn’t a matter of if, but when.”

“When is when?” Tune asked with dread.

Twilight watched the mana swirling around Tune’s carbuncle was flickering with power. “Hard to tell. It may take a sudden jolt of mana or it will happen on its own without warning.”

“Is there any way to stop it?”

Twilight shook her head. “This is an excessively rare trait found only in five ponies that I know of. I should have seen this when I found out you would be able to handle the Blink spell. Trying to stop it will kill you as this is a natural part of your development. The only thing I can do for you is either stay by your side for the next forty eight hours to monitor it…”

Sparkle left the statement hanging to get Tune’s reaction. “I doubt the Director will wait that long before another assignment pops up.”

“Or, we can force it to happen early.”

Alexia fell on her haunches and her forelegs crossed protectively over her womb. “What about my children?”

“It will be very difficult because I can’t be there in person. But I will do my very best to make sure they are kept from harm. I’m sorry, but this will happen, no matter what you do.”

Tune looked down at the slight bulge of her belly. “Please take good care of them. I couldn’t handle it if I hurt the twins because of this.”

Sparkle wanted to place a comforting hoof or wing on her pupil, but knew physical contact was impossible. “Don’t worry Alex. They’ll be in safe hooves.”

Alexia nodded slowly. “I trust you Sensei. Just tell me what I have to do.”

Sparkle’s demeanor became rigidly stoic. “Have you been storing up reservoir crystals like I asked?”

“Of course,” Alexia proclaimed as she moved over to her drawers and withdrew nineteen large glowing gems and the five smaller ones off the bed. “When you don’t have any clothes, you gotta find some use for all this furniture.” Each gem pulsed in a strong azure and was roughly the size of a dinner plate. The five crystals she pulled off the bed had the combined power of only one of the larger reservoir crystals.

“I think you might have gone overboard, I only asked you to keep ten at most.”

“I know, but I felt the extras might prove useful one day.” She took the crystals into her magic and brought them over to Twilight.

“Well ten was the minimum I would need judging on your carbuncle’s current state, but having three more will give us some wiggle room to make sure we trigger the flare and… actually” Sparkle took five more crystals to orbit her holographic form. “Casting the wards with your mana will make them far more effective at brushing aside any magic that would harm the twins. You should go tell your friends what we’re about to do so they don’t rush in here and interrupt.”

“Good idea. I’ll be right back.” It only took a little convincing after a lot of explanation to get the other two mares to agree to stay back and keep Conrad from interrupting if he came home early. With five reservoir crystals at the ready, Twilight began weaving the wards into place.

The next few minutes consisted of Alexia entering a meditative state at the alicorn’s instruction, and the purple mare locked each ward in place. After quadruple checking her work, Twilight brought thirteen crystals up to point at the unicorn. “Are you ready Alexia?”

Twilight had been extremely tight lipped as to what actually happened during a mana flare and the unicorn was inches from being a nervous wreck between thoughts of her foals’ safety and her own. Something doesn’t have the term ‘mana flare’ without being really dangerous. She kept the thought to herself so she could put on a strong face. “About as ready as I’m going to be.”

“Don’t try to resist. If you relax, the transition will be much smoother on both you and the foals.” The last part was a white lie as the unborn children were safe behind the wards, but it had the desired effect. Tune visibly relaxed at the thought of her progeny. Ten reservoir crystals formed a basic pattern around the silver mare and Twilight forcibly dumped all of the stored mana straight into Alexia’s carbuncle.

If this procedure was attempted on a normal unicorn, the excess mana would simply spill over them like too much water in a cup and the magic would drift off into the atmosphere. For Alexia however, that cup started feeding off the excess mana to grow bigger and bigger until the unicorn reached the breaking point.

Alexia’s eyes snapped open as her vision started to brighten to the point where it would have burned her retinas if it had been normal light. She screamed in surprise as her magic lifted her bodily into the air and her eyes were fully illuminated by azure mana. Arching lightning twisted and spat off at random directions and her body became encased in a bubble of white light. Twilight fought with the reserves of the other three crystals to keep the flaring pony from causing any permanent damage to her surroundings and keep the wards in place.

“Its only beginning…” Sparkle muttered to herself as she kept the wards stable.

Loki and Crimson were agonizing in silence until a magical pressure wave blasted its way through the house. The purple alicorn was able to keep it from interacting with the physical world before it could rip the house apart, but the few seconds it was active did manage to blow out the bedroom windows and shatter the door into splinters along with the opposite wall. The one thing Sparkle couldn’t do was keep it from rattling the wing, horns, and hooves of every pony on The Ranch as their magical nature made them receptive to the wave.

The earth pair gingerly crept over to peek in the room to find Alexia completely in cased in magic with sparks and arcs of mana peeling off of her. Loki was gobsmacked. “Crimmy, go find an old priest and a young priest.”

A minute later, a manic brown pegasus crashed through the front door and made a beeline for the bedroom. “Alex!” The mares saw him and both had to tackle him to the ground to keep the squirming stallion from running into the flare. “Let me go!”

Crimson was tossed off, but Loki leveraged her tribe’s superior strength to hold him down. “Twilight’s got things under control. You go in there now and you’ll kill Alex!”

“What are you talking about?” He searched her face for an explanation. “What’s going on in there?”

“I’m not fully sure myself, just sit tight and let the princess handle it.”

He tried to wrestle himself back up. “I want to see what’s going on.”

“Only if you promise not to run in there.” Loki countered.

“I can’t do that.”

Crimson started inching backwards as a pulsing azure light was creeping its way out into the hallway. “Guys, we should back up.”

The earth mare and pegasus stopped arguing to follow the pale yellow pony’s out stretched hoof. It only made him struggle harder. “Damn it Loki! I need to be in there!”

There was no escaping the earth pony’s firm grasp and with Crimson’s help, Loki started pulling the raging pegasus back towards the kitchen. “No. You. Don’t!”

A crackling arc of lightning shot through the wall and struck the wrestling ponies dead center. Crimson fell away from her housemates in time and avoided contact with the wild mana. She feared them dead as they were encased in azure light that flashed to reveal Loki as a potted Cannabis plant, and turned Conrad into a large snail.

Crimson broke out into a cold sweat. “Whelp, time to leave.” She sprinted for the door barely dodging a bolt of magic lightning that sailed over her head. The yellow mare rolled out the door a bare second before getting struck by yet another bolt.

While in mid roll, she noticed the lightning abruptly stopped scant inches from the edge of the house so she knew she was safe. There was a mass of twenty ponies already gathered around the house with more coming every second. A pink unicorn helped Anderson to her hooves. “What’s going on in there?”

Crimson accepted the helping hoof and dusted herself off. “Just a routine experiment.” Everyone around her gave her an incredulous look. “Well, routine for us.”

An alabaster earth stallion stepped forward. “How can I get in on these experiments?”

Crimson’s eyes darted around as she searched for a response. “Ask Loki for an interview. She’s always looking for a good time.”

Twilight felt the twenty ninth ward shatter under the intense power. “This is lasting way longer than mine did.” Sparkle fetched the last large crystal from the woefully short pile near the dresser to reinforce the remaining defenses. “But she’s a full grown mare and i was just a filly at the time.” A bolt of lightning tried to strike the alicorn, but it was easily deflected.

Another ward broke under the strain, leaving only ten in place. “This is far worse than I thought it would be.” She brought the remaining five incomplete crystals to bear to bolster the absolutely critical wards that kept the unborn from harm. “I can’t rebuild the wards while she’s like this.”

The purple mare sweated through the massive strain on her horn. If only I could be there in person, I wouldn’t have let even one ward slip. Another barrier fractured and crumbled as the onslaught intensified and blasted a second before Twilight could react. “No! Some of its slipping through! But if I stop the flare now, Alex will die for sure.”

The remaining mana in the crystals was fading fast as a third barrier was blasted away. The shields kept the vast majority of the raw magic at bay, but the same physiological changes happening to Alexia was bleeding through into the twins. The flare started to redouble in earnest as the changes reached completion. “There, I can cut it now!” The massive pulsing shell of magic surrounding the silver unicorn flicker and waned until the torrent of magic faded with such suddenness that Sparkle almost didn’t react quick enough to catch the falling mare in the last sputtering remains of the reservoir crystals. Twilight was only briefly aware of the shattered remains of the twenty four crystals that couldn’t retain their shape after being so thoroughly drained.

Alexia was conscious, but severely dazed. The alicorn used that time to fully scan the silver mare. Just like what happened to me, her body acts as the pool and her carbuncle’s only function is to produce and circulate mana. Her scans shifted to the foals and the lavender pony did every possible scan she could think of. Physical damage: none. Mental: none discernible. Mana scaring: absent… Her next scan revealed something she wasn’t fully sure on how to react to. They show signs of the same changes Alex went through. This is not good. A foal could never control that kind of power, it would make them a danger to everypony around them.

Sparkle quickly remembered a solution that helped her immensely during her earlier years under Celesta, but the alicorn would have to bring it up with the mother who was regaining lucidity. Twilight tried to keep a warm expression as Tune’s eyes came back into focus. “That was a hell of a ride.”

“That it was my student. You’ll be glad to know you made it through safely.”

“And my foals?”

The princess forced her guilt down as low as possible. “There was a slight complication.” A profound terror crept into Alexia’s heart and Sparkle knew she had to act fast before the mare did anything rash. “They’re healthy I swear, just not as they once were.”

“W-what do you mean?”

Twilight used all of Celesta’s training to keep a composed visage. “The same changes that occurred to your itineris system took place with your foals as well.”

Alexia’s mounting terror halted. “But their otherwise okay right?” The desperation was palpable in Tune’s voice.

“Yes. They will lead healthy if…slightly abnormal lives.”

Alexia climbed to her hooves. “Abnormal how?”

Sparkle cleared her throat to explain the issue in a different manner. “Like what happened to me as a filly and you just now. They underwent the same changes the mana flare caused in you. The good news at least, is that they won’t have to worry about a flare if they learn proper control.” She fell into instructor mode. “You will now, or very soon, feel extremely hungry-“

The princess was interrupted by a fearful brown stallion barging into the room and wrapping his forelegs around Tune. “Are you okay?” He separated to inspect her. “All that magic and lightning. Are you fine? What about the twins?”

Alexia pulled him back into a hug while Sparkle fell silent. “We’re fine Conny. We’re alright.” The fear of losing the foals broke the emotional mask and she was brought tears.

As the couple comforted each other, Loki stuck her head out to survey the scene. “I take its safe to come in now?”

Twilight didn’t know if Loki understood Equish as the question had been in English, but the grass green mare knew when the last thing they needed was outside interruption. Loki bolted to the crowd outside where Crimson was about to reenter the house. “Is everything fine in there?”

Loki nodded to the pale yellow mare before yelling at the crowd. “Move along people nothing to see here.”

“Is Princess Alexia okay!?” Someone from the crowd yelled. Loki thought that was strange way to address her friend, but couldn’t locate the source.

“Yeah! Is she alive?”

“What was that light show?

Loki shouted to silence everyone. “She’s alive and well.” The shouting ceased, allowing her to take a more normal tone. “There was a problem with a spell and it backfired on us. Made the whole thing go whack. Alex just finished fixing the whole thing so you all can go about your business. I’m sure she’ll come out later.”

“We’re not leaving until we know if Tune is alive!” The lone voice was joined by a chorus of yells and stomping hooves.

Loki leaned into Crimson’s ear. “See if she can show herself so they’ll go away. I’ll stall for time.”

“Got it.” Anderson quickly made her way to the bedroom where Twilight was explaining a few more details.

“I’ll need to teach you proper meditation techniques to keep your mana in check. I strongly believe that so long as you're pregnant, that meditative control can keep your foals’ magic from surging as well. They will have to be given limiters until they can learn meditation as well. In a sense its better that they are born with this so they can learn control at an early age.”

“Um, sorry to interrupt Princess, but there’s a mob of ponies outside wanting to know if Alex is alive and well.”

Twilight’s ear flicked to catch the chanting outside. She heard a way to inject a little humor back into the room. “We can talk some more after you calm your subjects’ fears.”

Tune stood up after separating from Conrad. “They are not my subjects,” Alexia grumbled more towards the ponies outside than to the actual princess. “American royalty is a ludicrous idea. If we were in England this kind of thing would likely get me arrested for trying to oust the Queen.”

The silver mare was still on an emotional rollercoaster, but Twilight’s wit gave her some focus. She reached the open front door to find a sweating Loki and over a hundred gathered ponies outside. The green mare saw her coming. “Finally, you’re here.” Loki wrapped a leg around Tune and dragged her out into the front steps. “See?! She’s fine! Everything’s fine here, situation normal.”

The crowd hushed into silence for Alexia to speak. It was a terribly uncomfortable moment for the emotionally raw mare. She almost yelled out in Equish, but was able to catch herself to speak in English. “Look guys. I appreciate the concern, I honestly do. But as you can see I’m alive and unharmed. However, some issues have come up though and I’ll need to miss the four o’clock support meeting.” A collective round of disappointment filtered through half of the crowd.

Loki leaned into her ear. “They keep wanting to call you princess. As for why they insist on using your first name instead of your last is beyond me.”

“Thanks for reminding me,” Tune whispered back before readdressing her fans. “And another thing. Quit with the princess stuff. This is America. We don’t do royalty. And for goodness sakes people, why princess anyway? What would the heir be called?”

A random pony from the back shouted a response. “We’ll think of something.”

An annoyed tick of her left ear and a half groan heralded her reply. “You’re missing the point. I’m not royalty!”

“You are if we say you are!” A different voice called all and was joined in with a loud chorus of affirmatives and a few seconds of stomping hooves.

She jabbed a hoof at the crowd and passed it over everyone present. “This is not over, and I am not royalty!” Alexia stormed back inside with Loki shutting the door behind her.

Reed yelled out before the ponies started dispersing. “She’ll warm up to it.”

Tune fumed as she went into the kitchen and grabbed a bag of baby carrots and stomped her way back to her room with four of them stuffed in her mouth. Twilight was still there, discussing the major events since her last visit.

Conrad knew what he heard, but wanted to be discreet. “What was that all about?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” the unicorn replied curtly. She sat down next to Twilight when a thought struck her. “Actually, I want to ask one thing.”

After her failure to fully protect the foals, Twilight was in a forgiving mood about Alexia’s abysmal, if warranted, attitude. “Name it.”

“Are there any non-alicorn royal families?”

“Well there’s the nobility of course, but that’s not the same thing. There hasn’t been a unicorn royal family since Celesta and Luna assumed the thrones and the dismantlement of the Diamond Kingdom.”

“See!?” Tune flailed her hooves at everyone and everything, although it was mostly directed at her housemates. “No bloody unicorn royalty!”

“They seem dead set on it,” Crimson ventured.

“Well I told them no, and that answer isn’t changing,” Alexia declared heatedly.

Sparkle felt it was best to change topics. “I just heard from your friends Alex, that you solved the issue with bullets breaking through the shields.”

The silver mare was more than happy to switch the conversation to her studies. “I did actually.”

Loki jumped in. “Oh you should have seen it! There were like twenty guys with machine guns and assault rifles and they were like ‘you gunna die four legs!’ And Alex was like, you activated my trap card! And then I gave them the one-two kick as those cretins tried to hose us down.” She reached over and wrapped a foreleg around Tune and pulled in close with the other hoof sweeping the air in a grandiose fashion. “But ol horny here stopped that lead before it even left the barrel. So we trounced them in record time and saved the president’s daughter from the doomsday cult. We were praised as heroes!”

Sparkle wasn’t exactly sure just how much of that wasn’t blown out of proportion. “That’s quite the tale.” The alicorn’s own Guard was nearly ready to begin operations as well, so she used this time to get used to stories that glamorized violence.

Crimson removed the green mare from the silver one and sat on Loki’s back. “Actually it was a bunch of eco-terrorists and it wasn’t the president’s daughter, it was the daughter of Tricorp’s head chairman.”

Loki huffed under the pale yellow pony’s weight. “I was accurate enough.”

The purple mare was glad to see the room’s mood elevate. “I would like to see the spell at a better time. Right now I wish to go over some meditation techniques with you so you can keep both your and the foals’ mana levels in check. It will be crucial or else your magic could spiral out of control.”

Tune nodded in acceptance of her new condition and turned to Conrad to whisper to him before he could take the hint and leave. “This might take a while, so I’ll move the tome into Loki’s room so you guys can pick up the pieces. I’ll make it up to you and the girls later.”

He accepted the offer, but was a little confused. “Why do you need to whisper that?”

“Because I know you’ve been holding off on talking to them about forming a herd.” The pegasus’s frown was forced into a pressed line.

The couple had agreed to marriage without ever actually formally proposing. It was an understood prerequisite to forming a herd in the first place. The couple had agreed earlier that Alexia was prepared to go against cultural norms in the name of preserving her species’ collective sanity. It was not a serious issue yet, but it was slowly becoming a problem as the number of available stallions had dwindled to next to nothing. However the number of free mares looking for a relationship consisted of nearly twenty seven percent of the total pony population thanks to Alexia’s influence making more and more of them comfortable enough in their new forms to desire romance again.

That percentage would only continue to rise and it was putting unwanted pressure on Conrad to confront his reservations about polygamy. “Is now a good time? We should do this together at least.”

Tune gave a brief nuzzle and kiss. “Conny. I know you can’t have this talk if I’m in the same room. You get as weirded out by it as I did when I first thought of making love with you. I know your fidelity is incorruptible, but we’re ponies. That same fidelity has to be shared.” He tried to say something, but she held a restraining hoof. “I’m not asking you to do anything big right now. Just bring the topic up while I’m with Twi in learning how to keep my condition under control.” She brought him in for a tight embrace. “You have my consent to bring them in, but mine isn’t enough. This has to be in agreement with both of us to work.”

He relished her touch and cloyingly sweet scent. He took a deep breath to work up the courage. “Okay Alex. I promise to talk to them about it.”

“That’s all I ask. If they want to go further, we do it together.” They separated and Tune grabbed the tome so she could take it into the other room while speaking to Twilight. “Where do we begin?”

Sparkle’s answer was ignored by the lone stallion as he tried to wrestle with doubt on the issue. The princess is used to that kind of culture and social need, but I don’t know how Alex is going to keep from being heartbroken in the end if we do this.

Loki pushed Crimson off of her to stand up. Anderson would have complained if both earth mares weren’t aware of Conrad’s indecisiveness. It was a look he carried often and was the one thing he kept hidden from the two earth ponies. Crimson didn’t like it. We all agreed to be completely open with each other. My life, both current and past, is a completely open book to these three and so are their lives, except for this one thing. Alex always says its something Conrad has to prepare himself for and that we’ll only get answers from him. She glanced at Loki who nodded. Well I’m tired of waiting for answers.

Flanked by the green pony, Anderson stood in front of Conrad with a friendly, but stern expression. “Are you finally going to tell us what’s been bugging you for past few weeks?”

“Yeah, fess up boy. I’ve held off bucking some sense into you for days. Give up the ghost.”

The brown stallion tsked at being called out for the fifth time since Alexia first brought the topic up. If we‘re going to talk, I at least want to do it while cleaning up the room. He got up to fix the nightstand back up with the pair of mares watching. “Fine I’ll talk,” he said to buy time. “Alexia wants to form a herd with you two.” He knew the unicorn would eventually try to get both earth ponies into it so he decided to bite the bullet on both at once.

Loki tilted her head in confusion. “I thought we were in a herd already.”

Crimson at least, decided to start helping him fix the furniture as Conrad answered her. “Apparently what the four of us have going doesn’t count as a herd.” He pulled a drawer out to get the hand vacuum to clean up all the scattered broken crystal fragments. He rested a hoof on the device, but hesitated for several seconds to keep his courage up. “She wants…She wants there to be feelings between all four of us.”

Loki had not been laid since becoming a pony and had no luck grabbing a different stallion thus far. Needless to say, her curiosity was instantly piqued at the chance. “When you say feelings,” she replied slowly and carefully. “Does that include sex with you?” I swear if you’re stringing me along I’ll do something to ya. Something bad.

“Damn Loki,” Crimson rebuked sternly. “Can you not think about that for more than a day?”

“Shush shhh!” The green mare hissed before running over to Conrad who was fixing the bed. “Well? Is it true?”

Conrad was used to her antics, and was well aware of the green mare’s desperation. The biggest reason he had growing respect for her was that Loki never asked him or any other stallion to betray their love interest to satisfy her. So it was no real surprise that the moment he brought up the idea that Alexia was willing to share, she jumped at the chance.

“Yes, its true.” As the trio cleaned up the house as much as possible without a replacement window or bedroom door, Conrad explained everything about what really consisted of a herd, that the three to one mare to stallion ratio was normal for ponies, along with the social and psychological reasons to form a herd.

All of it made Loki giddy. I suddenly really really really love the fact that we kissed and made up. “So if you’re talking to us about this, then you’re actually willing to do it!?” Conrad raised an annoyed eyebrow at the desperate mare groveling at his hooves. “Pleeeease!”

He was at an impasse. Never in a million years did I think males would have the upper hand in this sort of thing. “I can only say I’m open to it. If you want to go any further than that, then the three of us need to speak together at the same time.”

“Oh thank you samurai!” Loki planted a heavy, if not totally unsurprising, kiss on Conrad’s muzzle. “You don’t regret a moment of it I swear!” She had to think of something quick give as an offering. “I’ll go run down to the quartermaster to get a new window, door, and some stuff to fix the walls.”

“That would be helpful.” He admitted cautiously.

“Back in a flash!” A small cloud of dust was the only mark of her passing as the living room was suddenly vacated by one mare.

Anderson and Conrad were left alone in the living room. The earth pony was fidgeting with her tail, having largely ignored Loki’s antics as par for the course. The silence hung for several moments as Conrad tried to prepare himself for what Alexia might have planned for the formal formation of a herd.

It was Crimson who broke the peace. “So um. This is really going to be a thing?”

“As far as I can imagine,” he stated simply, “Alex really wants this to work out. You know how she is about getting our kind to establish ourselves as a healthy species. And after finding out that the unbalanced gender ratio is normal for us, she felt this needs to happen.”

“How do you feel about it though?” she probed.

“If it wasn’t for Tune being behind this a hundred percent of the way and Twilight’s explanations, I’d feel like she’s asking me to cheat on her.” He sat on the couch so his forelegs were free to try and rub the headache away. “But its not cheating if everyone involved is for it though…right?”

“As far as I know,” Anderson offered with only moderate certainty. “I mean, it makes sense this would be natural for our species. Maybe if we give it a chance it may fall into place alongside the herd mentality we already share.”

He hoped that would be the case. “That might be why it’s called that.” He studied her nervous fidgeting. “Alexia wanted to let you know that you’re more than welcome to be a part of it.” He paused before adding, “when you’re ready to take that step of course.”

She nodded in gratitude and took a calming breath before speaking. “I’d like to say I’m ready, but know I’m not really.” I need to get over this. I’m a mare now, and there’s no changing that. She was aware of the possible alteration magic, but Crimson wanted to follow Tune’s lead and accept herself as she was. I know in my heart that I’m straight, but I just need to get that through my mind that, that means having sex with stallions. “But I’m as close to it as I can possibly get.”

“I’m not going to pretend to know what you’re going through. But Alexia can help you fully prepare for it. The only question now, is how Alex plans to do this.”

Director Thompson sat in his office roughly forty miles north of The Ranch reading over several personnel files from the survivors of Able Company. His office was little more than a white nondescript van sitting in the parking lot of a local café. His desk was built into the side of the wall and was immaculate save for the crumbs that tumbled off his calzone. The files he was reading had been gathered and properly screened for the information he desired.

“Interesting,” he mused aloud, “every member of Able Company that participated in social bonding with the mares after going through decontamination showed signs of generally shorter lived depression; yet mourning time remained the same. No behavioral changes detected in members of Lima squad, save the request to work with Tune’s team in the future. Given the bullet protection, that’s understandable.”

He moved down in his search. “Seems word of the ponies’ exploits have made them a hot topic at base camp. But command did give the order to not speak of the equines outside of those in the Army.” His brow furrowed in bemusement. “Well its what I was hoping for. And it seems my concerns over petting ponies having adverse effects on a person’s mind were unfounded.”

He leaned back in his chair with a sigh of relief. “Glad to see it was a simple morale boost instead of mental manipulation.” He rubbed his face in mild exhaustion over fretting about the whole thing for the past three weeks. “Now I can get command off my back about them working with the military again.”

A knock on the van’s back doors grabbed his attention and Thompson glanced at the exterior hidden camera to see it was Moore with a package. The Director hit the buzzer to unlock the door so Moore could enter. “Evening Director,” he said as he climbed in and shut the door behind him before sitting in the adjacent chair.

“Evening.” He eyed the brown cardboard box. “What’s that?”

“Just a little something from Shield Industries,” Moore replied as he grabbed a pocketknife to slice the tape off to pull out a two inch thick and six inch wide device with an incomplete copy of the antimagic diagram Alexia gave them almost a month ago. “This sir, is the higher up’s way of saying they got executive approval to close the last internment camp. In fact…” He rummaged through the packing peanuts to withdraw several sheets of paper. “Our next orders.”

“Hell of a way to send them,” Thompson replied as he started reading. A fierce grin grew over his face as he kept reading to the end. “I was hoping they were finally going to get around to this. The President wants to hold a press conference with Alexia to announce the ponies’ existence to the American public and to close The Ranch permanently.”

“I believe the delay was to create several versions of these sir,” Moore replied while pointing at the device.

Thompson eyes the odd thing before flipping through the rest of the pages. “Doesn’t say how it works.”

“But we already know how it works,” Moore countered, “it only needs the diagram to be complete to function.”

“Aye, it does.” Thompson put the pages down and found the power plug for what the pages called: The Inhibitor. "But that doesn't mean the boys in the lab didn't find a way to muck that up." The van had several power sockets available and he plugged it in and fished out the remote control from the box. He pressed the only labeled button and the inhibitor made several sounds of warming up along with spinning cooling fans as the pattern lit into its completed form.

The Director hummed in mild disapproval. “I see they made it seem like the diagram is not the source of the machine’s effectiveness. Instead they made it look like whatever garbage they threw together is what dampens magic.” He shut it off and the diagram faded instantly. “But surely people will notice the prominently displayed pattern.”

“From what I was told sir,” Moore responded, “is that this is just a prototype to see if a light based pattern could still have the same effect as a physically drawn diagram. All other models will have the array hidden from sight to make it look like the rest of the circuitry is what protects the area from magic.”

“I suppose they want me to destroy the prototype then?”

“That is what I was told sir,” Moore confirmed. “It already has a self-destruct in place, you just need to press the right button on the remote.”

Thompson saw the control had no labels on the buttons save for the power switch, so he reread some of the pages. “At least they had the presence of mind to tell me to do this in an open field with twenty feet of unobstructed space.” He read further to see his next orders.

“We’re leaving for The Ranch in two days to we can escort Tune’s group to the White House. By then, the Commander in Chief will have his speech ready.”

Meanwhile during a light dinner, Alexia’s household met in the living room. Loki was nonplussed about the topic at hand. “You two are getting married? But I thought you said you wanted to form a herd.”

Tune was sitting next to Conrad on the couch, with a piece of broccoli floating next to her. “We do. But we decided to use pony wedding vows instead of traditional Earth ones.”

Conrad finishes swallowing a bite of an apple. “Basically it’s the same sort of thing, except it’s a declaration to form a herd, rather than close ourselves off to others.”

“Oh.” Loki sagged in relief. “Here I thought you were making fun of me again.”

Crimson clapped her hooves together. “I knew you two were going to hitch up eventually. I’m really happy for you.” The couple snickered at each other. “So when did you want to have the ceremony? I’m sure the camp would love to attend.”

Alexia shifted in her seat uncomfortably. “Actually, I wanted it to be a private affair with just the four of us. I’ll still tell the camp, but I want the ceremony itself to be a comparatively peaceful one.”

Loki was thrilled at the prospect, but a question nagged at her. “I’ve been kinda wondering about the whole thing since a few other couples out there have been asking. How do equestrians show off their relationship off if only unicorns can wear a ring?”

“Twilight gave a solution for that,” Alexia replied, “there have been a bunch of different ways herds showed their affection to one another in the past. Unicorns were the only ones to use rings as they put the rings on their horns, and pegasi would have one of the alpha’s feathers tied into their manes. But it was the earth ponies’ tradition that survived to the present day of a unified Equestria where multi-tribe herds are the norm.”

Tune took a bite of food before continuing. “The earth ponies were able to imbue flowers with their magic so that, when eaten, a small piece of each herdmate’s mane color would appear on the others. The alpha would have a thin strip of his or her partners’ color appear on the top part of their mane.” She rubbed her bangs to demonstrate. “While the others have it appear about mid-way up their necks.”

Conrad elaborated further. “After Equestria unified, the unicorns improved the spell so that it became a permanent color change that would only fade when and if a herdmate leaves the group.”

Crimson thought it was an interesting custom. No need to worry about losing the ring, and is a very prominent display to everyone around them. "That sounds really good, but what about ponies who have natural multicolored hair.” She brushed her own mane to add emphasis. “It may be roughly the same color, but my mane is two distinct shades.”

That brought the couple up short with Alexia actually responding. “I’m not sure. But we’ll find out if you’re interested in joining us.”

“I-I am.” Anderson told more to herself than to Tune. “You’ve invited me into your lives without a second thought, and here you do it again for the next level.” Crimson felt unwavering elation from the invitation and allowed herself to sink fully into the herd mentality. “I would be honored to join your herd.”

It was that same total submersion into the herd mentality that broke through the last of her internal resistance and caused a small spark of magic to flash from the back of her eyes and caused the pale yellow mare to yelp in surprise. Her perception of the world around her disconnected from her awareness as the magic was finally unleashed to reforge her spirit to fit the pony shell that now carried it. A worn wooden staff with a single green snake coiled around its length appeared on her flanks.

When the earth pony regained lucidity a few moments later, she found herself lying on her side staring up at the happy and proud faces of her future herdmates. Loki pulled her up into a crushing hug. “Welcome to the full pony club.”

Crimson had seen a handful of ponies get their cutie marks in the past, including Conrad. “I want to see it!” Loki let go and the other three ponies crowded around the yellow mare to study the mark with her.

Conrad was unfamiliar with it. “A staff and a snake? What does that mean?”

Crimson laughed heartedly as she rubbed a hoof through the image. “Any physician worth their salt would know this. It’s the Rod of Asclepius.” I’m going to have to thank the Director for naming me the team medic. I don’t think I would have reentered medicine if not for that. She couldn’t stop staring at her cutie mark. “I told you guys I was going to be a doctor before becoming a pony.”

Alexia was ecstatic for her friend. “I guess that means you’ll keep burying your nose in the medical books as much I do with magic.”

Anderson’s eyes misted over and spoke with chocking sobs. “I still get to be a doctor one day.” The other ponies pulled her to her hoofs and embraced her. Crimson’s elation was bolstered further by her friends’ support. Conrad wasn’t much for cheesy or emotional lines, so he remained silent, and let his actions speak for him. Loki was happy to know that now Crimson’s spirit matched her body, her magic would flow properly and could finally start being a worthy rival in physical trials.

Alexia reared her head back to speak. “We should celebrate this very special occasion.” The rest of the group separated. “This is more than just Crimmy getting her cutie mark, but now everyone in our house has their marks.”

Loki pulled Conrad in for an overtly amorous nuzzle. “We can go to the bar and get hammered.”

Tune gave Conrad a consenting wink which allowed him to relax and attempt to return the nuzzle. “I can be the sober one to make sure we all get home safely.” She turned to Crimson. “You up for it?”

Well I would like to go back to studying, but they’re right. This is a good occasion to drink. “I’m game.”

20: The Herd

View Online

This one is shorter than usual along with a little lovemaking so the next chapter can focus on plot instead of clop.

The following morning barely existed for Tune’s household. Alexia didn’t rise from the dead until the crack of noon. Sunday was her off day as far as camp meetings and events were concerned, so she had time enough to herself as her housemates slept off the alcohol induced comas. For a brief moment she glanced at the green mare who was snoring while she was draped over the sleeping Conrad. Tune was too drowsy to react to it so she went through her waking routine of a large bowl of alfalfa and orange juice, before beginning her morning hygiene.

The last bit of her routine was new. Alexia pushed the living room furniture away from the center and pulled a cushion off for herself. With the floor cleared, she brought over a small potted plastic plant, a hardback book, and a banana. After sitting on her haunches and making herself comfortable, she closed her eyes to begin meditating.

It first began with Inner Sight. To soothe her mind, first looked to her unborn children. Because of the mana flare, the twins were brighter than ever before, but that was within the norm Twilight said they would be. With her fears dissuaded, she moved her attention to her own itineris system. Previously only her carbuncle and the multitude of capillaries glowed with mana. Now the surrounding tissue two inches away from the pulsing carbuncle was illuminated with mana that was steadily spreading out in every direction.

From what Sensei told me, my mana pool won’t begin to become problematic until its three times larger than it is now. Given that my carbuncle is producing mana like I’m on the verge of death from mana exhaustion; that means I have barely two days to get this under control before I flare again. But every correction I make will delay that until I reach a safe point.

Tune remembered Twilight’s words on the topic. “As you personally witnessed, the first mana flare is dangerous, but if you learn how to control your power, it can ultimately be a great boon to you. However you should know that any subsequent mana flares are a result of your body not being able to properly contain your mana.”

“The reason a mana flare is next to impossible for any other pony is because the carbuncle is perfectly suited to hold mana within itself and knows when it cannot contain anymore, causing it to stop mana production. With ponies like you and me, our carbuncle…redesigns both itself and the rest of your body to act a little differently. The rest of your body now acts as the receptacle for your mana instead of just the carbuncle.”

“A side effect of this metamorphosis is that your carbuncle's ability to manufacture mana is doubled right out of the gate, and that production rate will only increase with time. But this is hardly a perfect evolution. The same mechanisms that tell the carbuncle when to stop producing mana don’t work anymore and they need to be corrected manually. The problem is compounded by the fact that the rest of your cells now act as your mana reservoir.”

“That may sound like an immense boon at first. After all, the size difference between your carbuncle alone and the entirety of your body is enormous. The problem arises in the fact that the cells outside your carbuncle are used to consuming mana, not storing it. After all, your heart and lungs were designed for circulation and respiration. So you can understand why they would not be very good at storing mana right off the bat.”

“That is where directed adaptation comes into play. This is a highly specialized method of mana control, and only has one use: to repair a pony’s itineris system after a mana flare.”

“Without enacting this adaptation, your carbuncle will keep pushing more and more mana into the rest of your body. This will eventually reach critical mass and you will expel most of your mana in a more… violent fashion than the first flare.”

Alexia chased away the memories to center herself. Several minutes passed filled with a clearing mind and steady breathing. Twilight’s instructions flittered at the edge of her awareness. The first step to reharmonizing your magic is to stabilize the mana in the surrounding tissue.

While maintaining her Inner Sight, Alexia watched her destabilized mana respond to her command as she reached out to the potted plant and told it to orbit slowly around her head. Again her itineris system reflected the circulatory system. The carbuncle was currently expelling all produced mana into the surrounding tissues instead of keeping any within itself. Her current spellwork pulled mana from those tissues and into the carbuncle to then be sent into her horn and other parts of her body as needed.

Through the use of magic, you will see the errors left behind by the mana flare. While these errors are not enough to impair functionality as of yet, it can and will cause your health to decline rapidly if left untreated. With the techniques and knowledge I have shared with you on directed adaptation, you will be able to rid yourself of these errors. In time, the risk of a second flare will become nearly nonexistent and this altered itineris system will be a great boon to you.

By levitating all three objects and making them orbit around her, Alexia saw the countless errors within her mana system reveal themselves. The sheer scope of the task ahead of her was frightening and almost caused her to lose her center. It took an additional ten minutes for her mind to calm enough to begin the arduous task of debugging herself.

Minutes turned into hours as the world around the silver unicorn vanished. She started with the most glaring flaws and slowly corrected them as Twilight instructed. Much to her increasing chagrin, she wished to work on her children first so that they would continue to develop without risk. However, Twilight warned that the bigger threat was Alexia herself. So with great reluctance, the future mother was forced to work on herself to ensure all three of them would have a future.

It was not until three in the afternoon when Loki cracked her eyes open. The bed underneath her groaned at her weight and shifted to push her off. She looked at the mound of brown fur for over a minute before realizing whose bed she was in and was snapped into lucidity. “Aw don’t tell me I finally get laid and I was too drunk to remember it.”

Conrad was only half listening to the voice next to his ear until he made two important connections: the feminine voice spoke of sex, and it didn’t belong to Alexia. He rolled off his back to stare at the bleary mare. “We didn’t actually did we?” He looked around to see he was indeed in his room.

“I hope not,’ Loki replied as she looked around and saw the large pitcher of water by the bed. “I wanted to actually remember it.” Loki gave up on the water and nodded off again.

Conrad ignored her protests as he fumbled out of bed and fought through his hangover to stumble into the living room. Tune was gone from the world as her awareness resided completely within herself. He knew Alexia was not the kind of mare to be passive aggressive in her anger when he did something to upset her. But he also knew that the longer she stewed about something, the worse the eventual blow up would be. “Hey um. Alex. Can we talk about whatever happened last night?”

He laid a hoof on her shoulder which broke her concentration and the three objects orbiting around her fell noisily to the floor. “Ah damn it, I was in the middle of fixing a-.“ She stopped at seeing his face that had such a nervous expression that he was literally sweating. “What’s wrong?”

He rubbed his foreleg to keep from it from shaking. “I couldn’t help but notice Loki slept in our bed… and I was wondering if we-“ He hesitated at the expectation of a furious unicorn. “Did anything last night?”

Tune’s expression went from worry to irritation before settling on neutrality. “What part of being in a herd did you not understand? You aren’t limited to sex with just me anymore remember?” He visibly relaxed. “But for the record, no you didn’t. I had to carry Crimson home in my magic. Loki and yourself were too hammered to do anything but drool on each other for a couple of minutes in bed before dozing off.”

“So…you’re not mad?”

She grimaced more at him than anything else. She stood up and nuzzled him instead of kissing his alcohol breath. “Conny, how many times do I have to say this. I want us to be herd.” She stopped to look him in the eyes. “I know we’re technically not in one yet, but if that technicality was enough to set me off, then I wouldn’t be trying to convince you to go through with it. You know I love you.” This time she did kiss him to spite the alcohol. “When I saw you two making out…if what you two were doing could actually be called making out,” she added with an amused grin. “I searched my feelings to see if I felt jealousy or anger that you were with another mare. But you weren’t with just another mare, you were with Loki. The same person I want in the herd. I didn’t feel anything negative about you two drunkenly smacking your muzzles together. I felt happy for both of you, along with great amusement.”

She hugged him to demonstrate she did not feel wronged in any way. “Excluding the alcohol, this is how we ponies work. The only thing not making us a herd is that we haven’t gone through the wedding and eaten the flowers. I’m being totally honest with both you and myself when I say this.”

She pulled back and cupped his head in her forelegs and stared as deeply in his eyes as she could to drive it home. “I love all three of you. We are a herd. You don’t need my permission to show romantic affection with Loki or Crimson.”

She suspected he wanted some guidelines. “But only Loki or Crimson. If you want to bring in a fourth mare, we need several dinner dates and movies together to get to know her better.”

He relaxed and nuzzled her. “I can barely handle the thought of three mares. Four would be pushing it.” He caressed Tune, making her swoon from his touch. “But I’ll feel better about this after making it official at least.”

“I can understand that.” She broke contact so she could levitate the room back into proper order. “Which is why I’d like to hold the wedding today, right here in the living room.”

“So soon? I know we don’t exactly lead a safe lifestyle, but-“

She gave him a deadpanned look. “That’s exactly the reason why. You almost died last time, and Loki the time before that.” He fell silent, allowing her to continue. “We don’t have the luxury of a long winded romance like you see in the movies. I want us to declare our love before anything can happen.”

“You keep talking like that, and you’ll jinx us.”

“Then don’t make me talk about it anymore,” she countered.

“What about the princess. You wanted her to preside over it right?”

“I already talked to her about it,” Tune replied as she summoned the tome. “She’ll be overseeing the last stages of the Dusk Guard’s training today so she’ll be available at any time today. But only long enough to do a short wedding.”

He knew she wouldn’t go for a protracted and formal wedding even if she did had the time. Not to mention that the only article of clothing any pony had on camp were hats used by former servicemen to identify themselves. That made getting even a wedding veil impossible without ripping the drapes apart, let alone a whole dress. “I suppose you’ll also want to reveal the formation of herds to be the solution to the camp’s overabundance of available mares?”

“Well that was the plan all along.”

He watched the silver unicorn walked off into the kitchen for some grub. It would make me feel better at having relations with Loki or Crimson after its been made official. He cantered past the kitchen. “I’ll go get cleaned up and have the mares do the same so we can at least look proper.”

“I’ll get some brunch started.” She called back.

It took two hours for him to drag the mares out of bed and helped them wake up in a three pony shower. As with Conrad and Loki before, Crimson had long since abandoned showering as a personal affair. By the time they were cleaned up and refreshed for the day, Alexia had time to prepare a full brunch with the meager supplies they kept in the kitchen. There wasn’t a need to keep much food in the house when the mess hall was free.

Crimson was gnawing on a pineapple while she spoke. “You’re holding the wedding now?”

“Why not?” Alexia replied. “The only thing Conrad and I don’t have that married couples do is a ring. I don’t want to drag it out in some big ‘to do’.”

Loki was all for it if that meant she could lay with Conrad all that sooner. Garrgegush! Ever since he said Alexia wanted to share him I can’t get his meat piston out my head! I really need to get laid so I can think straight. “So is there any sort of preparations we do need to make?”

Conrad swallowed his alfalfa to answer. “We need twelve flowers, three with colors as close to each of our mane colors as possible.”

Crimson’s medical studies kept her too busy to visit the farm. However, Loki had been by the farm recently. “I know Misty is the big flower mare in town. I’m sure she can accommodate, but I don’t think flowers come in your color there studly.”

Tune snickered at the comment and Conrad’s slight unease. At least he’s getting better about it. “It’ll take a bit of magic, but I can alter the color of a white flower to match him. They don’t need to be perfect replicas of our mane colors, just close enough.”

Loki shoveled the rest of her food down as fast as possible. “Since me and Crimmy are the add-ons here, we’ll go grab the flowers so you two can prepare and get the princess ready to go. That way we can get this jamboree over and done with.” The green mare latched onto Crimson who still had half a pineapple in her mouth. “Come on girl, we got a herd to form!” Anderson wasn’t able to speak with the fruit in her mouth and couldn’t remove it because one hoof was being absconded with by the concupiscent mare and the other was needed to keep her from falling on her face.

Conrad snorted in amusement. “Is it too late for a bachelor party?”

Tune brushed up against him and whipped his snout with the end of her tail. “What good would that do you? We’re always naked anyway. Besides,” she added with a mischievous grin. “You can look at other mares outside the herd all you want. Just don’t touch.”

“Really? I can look all I want?” He queried with a smirk.

She pecked him on the cheek. “I spent most of my life as a man. I know how hard it is to keep eyes from wandering. Far be it for me to rap you over the head because of your biological instincts. Just keep that member of yours reserved for the three of us okay?”

He was glad Tune was setting some boundaries. It would make any future missteps avoidable. “Your wish is my command.” He replied with a half serious, half joking tone.

She finished her meal and placed them in the sink. “If you can clean up here, I’ll get the living room set up and see when Twilight can peel herself away from her duties.”

“Not a problem.”

The living room was cleared in a similar fashion as Tune’s meditation session with the only real exception was that instead of a cushion in the center, it was the tome with the holographic princess speaking with the couple. “That’s the condensed version of the vows. It gets the major points while allowing for a little flare.”

“Aside from being open to a herd its not overly different from typical vows we’re used to,” Conrad commented. “Then again, I haven’t been to a wedding since I was twelve.”

“Kind of odd that there needs to be a herd alpha though,” Tune replied with bemusement. “You would think that would have been phased out a while ago.”

Sparkle nodded in understanding. “A healthy herd tries to find consensus on issues that affects the group. However it’s necessary when a new pony requests to join the herd or a difficult decision needs to be made, that the alpha leads the way.”

Can’t imagine who they’ll pick to be the leader, Alexia thought sarcastically.

The door slammed open as the earth mares returned with two baskets of flowers balanced on their backs. It was a serious conscious effort on their part to keep from eating the delicious smelling flowers early. Crimson was rather disappointed with the turn out. “We could only get a few bunches of Annabelle Hydrangea. Nothing else was in our colors.”

“The stock was cleared out by the lunch crowd,” Loki commented.

Alexia watched them put the baskets down next to the alicorn. “As long as they’re white, we can rectify that. They’re also quite small, but there are more than enough of them for the four of you.”

Loki was bouncing on her hooves in her excitement. “I was hoping you’d say something like that.”

Sparkle looked to her student and then to the flowers. “Care to do the honors?”

“But of course.” Tune used her magic to separate the flowers into four piles and cast her enchantments. Because the flowers were already heavily laden with earth pony magic from the florist who grew them, she only needed to tweak the mana to change the flowers. One by one the petals changed to azure, pink, crimson, and the unnatural flower color of steel.

Twilight separated the azure and steel flowers in perfect thirds and brought one to Alexia and Conrad. Tune took the azure flowers in her magic and Conrad took the steel ones in the crook of his left wing. The alicorn took a central place in the room. “Places?”

Alexia took her place in front of Twilight and to the right, while Conrad took his place to the left. Crimson and Loki stood further back to give them appropriate space. Twilight kept her massive grin under control so she could conduct herself like her station demanded for this historic occasion. A shame I can’t do a full and proper ceremony with them, but such is the way of things.

“Mares and gentlecolt. We are gathered here today to announce the union of these two wonderful ponies. They have demonstrated time and again that they share a bond that goes beyond friendship and into something deeper and more meaningful. Yet the tenants of both friendship and love are the same. Loyalty. It is the bedrock of any relationship. Generosity. To always remember that the most prized possession is not money or jewels, ” Sparkle glanced between the four ponies, “but each other.”

“Honesty. The truth creates stronger, surer bonds than a lie ever will. Kindness. It is a quality that should flow from a pony’s heart as readily water in a river. And last but certainly not least, Laughter. Laughter is the fire and passion that keeps the herd energetic and ties all the other aspects of the group together.”

Twilight turned to the grinning mare. “Alexia Tune. You have been nominated to assume the role of herd alpha. Do you accept the responsibility of leading your herd to a bright future and to ensure their wellbeing in all things?”

The idea of an alpha still irked Alexia as slightly archaic, but conceded to the position as being part of a pony style wedding. The unicorn nodded. “I do.”

The princess turned to Conrad. “Do you, Conrad, wish to join Alexia Tune in all of her future endeavors? To help both her and the herd through times both light and dark, and consent to her position as alpha?”

He stood proudly and nodded, “I do.”

Sparkle allowed her smile to break through her tactful mask. “It is time for the exchange of color.” Tune gave Conrad her small collection of azure flowers while he did the same with his steel ones. Sparkle continued. “Let the world know at a glance, of your devotion to one another.”

Both ponies ate their respective partners’ flowers. As soon as Tune swallowed the last petal, a noticeable stripe of hair on the left side of her horn changed color. Starting from the roots to the tips of each strand, a half inch lock of her bangs turned steel in color. For Conrad, a one inch thick lock of hair near dead center up his neck became a rich azure.

Twilight had a look of composed approval. “I now pronounce the couple is ready to form a herd. May it grow and prosper.”

The couple kissed and embraced each other for few amorous seconds as Twilight stepped back to give them room to demonstrate that the ceremony has ended. Sparkle tactually walked around the loving couple to speak with the earth mares.

Loki voiced the shared question. “What about the two of us?”

“This was only to symbolize the couple’s willingness to form a herd. It takes three or more individuals to actually make one,” The purple mare explained. “After this, the level of formality and the actual formation of the herd is left entirely up to the initial couple. Although I doubt you’ll have to wait long.”

Alexia and Conrad broke contact to find the alicorn standing nearby. “I wish I could stay longer, but I have important matters I must tend to. I wish good luck to the four of you.” With that, the princess vanished.

Loki bounded over with the two baskets of flowers on her back, while Crimson simply walked over. “So when can we get on this herd stuff?”

Alexia giggled at the green mare’s antics. “Right away.” She broke the pink flowers into three bunches and passed them out with her magic. She adopted a half joking tone. “Loki, would you like to join us to turn this couple into a herd?”

“Would I?! Just show me the dotted line.”

The unicorn broke enough of the steel and azure flowers off and passed them to the green mare. “Then let’s exchange colors.” As she ate, a pink strip of hair, equal in size to the steel colored one, developed to the left of the other foreign stripe in Alexia’s mane. A pink strip appeared below the azure one in Conrad’s mane, and an azure and steel colored stripe replaced a two inch segment of Loki’s pink mane upon the middle of her neck.

The trio faced Crimson who had her flowers in a basket and brought them over to the group before setting it down at Alexia’s hooves. “I wish to submit my entry fee to join the popular clique.”

Tune snickered as she distributed the last of the flowers. “Granted.” Soon enough, a two toned crimson stripe appeared in everyone’s mane. Anderson grinned fiercely at the azure, steel, and pink colors appearing in her own.

Conrad lifted Alexia’s altered colors away from her eyes. There was still some azure on the far left side of her bangs with the right side remaining fully azure. “I think they suit you quite well.”

She flicked his azure, pink, and crimson stripes. “I could say the same about you handsome.”

Loki quickly assumed a begging position. “Glorious Leader! Can I have the first round with our studly stallion?”

Tune could smell the readiness of the desperate mare’s labia and glanced at Conrad who wordless nodded his consent to whatever she decided. “I can hardly say no to that when I’ve had him all to myself for these past few months.”

Clop ahead. I write sci-fi not porn so it's probably bad.

Loki’s eyes widened in sheer carnal delight before pouncing Conrad to the ground and planting a longing kiss on him. “I want you to ravage me.”

“Shouldn’t we go in the other room?” he offered.

“Why should we?” Loki countered. “We’re an official herd. There are no boundaries between us.” She nuzzled him amorously, and shuddered at the scent of his arousal. “I don’t care if they watch or not. But I need this now!”

She quickly stood up and presented herself fully to the stallion. Conrad looked to Alexia and Crimson who sat beside each other a few feet away. Tune answered his unspoken question. “What better way to cement the herd than to witness each other’s love? But first…” Her horn lit up and a brief glow encased Loki, Conrad, and Crimson. “A contraceptive spell for everyone. I believe we can all agree to no more pregnancies for a while.” She was met with a chorus of affirmatives.

He faced Crimson who replied in a similar manner. “Don’t you dare hold back. I want to know what to expect for my first time.”

“Never performed for a crowd before, but I can get into that if it’s just with the herd.”

Loki bounced on her hind legs and flicked her tail fully to the side. “Come on samurai, I don’t think your sword can handle this sheath.”

Conrad took it as a challenge and mounted the green mare while thrusting halfway all at once. Loki moaned loudly at finally being granted release after months of forced abstinence. “Now that is what I needed.”

“Oh I’m not going to be done with you for a while.” He challenged as he started pumping deeper in a slow methodical pull out before a fast thrust in.

As the brown and green ponies expressed their love together, Crimson felt a strange happiness flood over her. She was already excited about not only being one with Alexia’s herd, but in that she would have sex as a mare for the first time as soon as Loki and Conrad were finished. Yet she felt more than that. I don’t feel a hint of jealousy. Only joy that my herdmates are in love. She looked at Alexia who was watching as well. The unicorn turned to wrap a leg around Anderson into a sidelong hug.

Tune whispered so she wouldn’t disturb the copulating ponies, but loud enough to be heard over their grunts and moans. “I’m glad you’re with us in this.”

“I am too.” She hesitated for a moment at seeing the crimson stripe in Alexia’s mane, and knew in the back of her mind that she had a lock of azure hair in her own. Its as if we’ve incorporated a part of each other within ourselves. We are separate, but one. She felt an impulse to show her alpha how much she really loved being in the herd and kissed Tune on the lips. Alexia was surprised by it and Anderson broke the kiss early out of fear she had taken a misstep. “I-I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me. It-it must have been a relapse.”

She tried to break from the hug, but Alexia held fast and returned the despairing earth mare’s attention to her. “Crimmy listen, I’m not upset. And no, it wasn’t a relapse.”

Anderson briefly glanced at Loki who was the poster child of lust as the herd’s stallion rutted her with a vengeance. Her attention returned to the calm face of Alexia. “But I thought I was straight. Have I been fooling myself the whole time?”

Tune kissed the fretting mare with a passionate caress. Crimson was shocked at first, but let herself fall into her alpha’s loving touch. Several moments passed before Alexia broke it to speak. “Crimmy. You can’t be afraid to show love with your other herdmates besides Conrad.”

“You mean, that we mares are bi?”

Tune was only mildly aware of Loki’s increasingly high pitched moans and nuzzled Crimson with unreserved affection. “Not exactly. Tell me Crimmy, do you want to have sex with me? Search yourself carefully before answering.”

The pale yellow mare sat there in Alexia’s loving embrace. She reciprocated the silver mare’s nuzzle and breathed her scent in as deeply as possible. She relished it all, but in the end, she didn’t want to go any further than that. Despite the love she felt for Alexia, the hunger that had been gnawing on her for the past few days completely absent. No matter how much the earth pony looked into Tune’s caring and loving eyes, there was not a drop of lust for the silver mare present in her psyche. Yet all it took was one look at the thrusting stallion who was nearing climate to feel her loins respond in earnest.

She looked back at Tune. “No… I don’t want to do that you.” She returned her gaze at Conrad. “I want him instead."

Alexia smirked before pecking the yellow mare on the muzzle. “I feel the same, and I know Loki does as well.” Both mares’ ears perked at the sound of Loki’s screams reaching a crescendo followed by shuddering moans of satisfaction as she rode the orgasmic waves of pleasure. Conrad used his experiences with Alexia to prolong the green mare’s climax as long as possible before her forelegs buckled out from under her. Tune whispered to Crimson. “Why don’t you initiate some foreplay so he has time to recover.”

The two mares walked up to the heavily breathing stallion with Tune speaking up. “I dare say you’ve been holding out on me Conrad.” She glanced at Loki who was a symbol of bliss. “I don’t think I’ve had a look of satisfaction that strong for months.”

Loki answered for him. “Yea well, you go for over four months without a lay and see how well you feel once you’ve been ridden.”

“Touché,” Alexia replied with a titter. Her attention went to Conrad. “Marvelous show.”

He bowed his head as if he was a thespian of the higher arts. “Anything for my fair ladies.”

“Speaking of which.” Alexia nudged Crimson. “You’re going to love it, I know I do.”

Anderson sat down next to Conrad whose breathing was improving. “I’m in no hurry, so I can wait for you to recover.”

He silently thanked Alexia as he suspected that was her idea. “I’m all for that.”

Crimson was mildly aware of Alexia hoisting the green pony in her magic and taking her into the bedroom so she could finish cooling off. Anderson helped Conrad to sit back up on his haunches so she could nuzzle him in the same amorous manner she had seen Alexia do a hundred times before. She didn’t kiss him on the lips for a few minutes so he would be free to level out his breathing. In the meantime she buried her nose in his fur and mane while both of them wrapped their forelegs around themselves to press each other as close as possible. The attention was not allowing his wings to loosen back up and they remained stiff.

The pale yellow mare felt her arousal climb the more she dragged her muzzle against his fur, and breathed his musk. Loki’s scent was strong on him, but the smell of her herdmate only fueled her lust for him even further.

When his breathing finally leveled out, he gently pulled her head up and planted a strong kiss upon her. He was far different than Alexia’s earlier kiss. Tune had the soft gentle caress of a mare, but Conrad was hard and forceful in his affection. Anderson found the differences astounding, and that his was much more preferable. Crimson swooned and allowed him to completely take over the hungering embrace.

He broke the kiss to come up for air and at knowing by her scent that she was fully ready. “You want to take the final plunge?” he asked while tapping his fully erect member.

Crimson pecked him one last time. “More than ever.” She stood up and presented her soaking labia.

Alexia walked back into the room just in time to witness Conrad cleave Anderson’s flower, eliciting a piercing shriek from the pale yellow mare. Tune watched from the sidelines as the last member of the herd was acquainted with female sex.

Crimson’s initial scream was the only one she had as Conrad’s expert motions shot such constant alien pleasure through the pale yellow mare that she couldn’t respond to anything. The sensation of his spire sliding in and out of her wet canal sent jolts of pleasure all throughout her body to the point where it was the only thing she was aware of anymore.

When she mentally recovered from the shock of it, Crimson didn’t want it to stop. “Deeper,” she whispered, but he didn’t hear her. “Deeper!” she said out enough to be heard, but not understood.

He slowed his thrusts to speak. “What?”

“Harder! Deeper!” She yelled in a mad attempt to get him to continue.

He smirked. “I can do that.” His motions were akin to a machine, thrusting into her with such force and speed that her pleasure increased mind numbing levels. The force of her mounting ecstasy broke the floodgates of her amorous moans and she screamed in desire for this moment to last forever.

He felt her canal clinch tightly in anticipation so he held off his own climax until Crimson shrieked at the orgasm hit her with such force that she rocked on her hooves. Only then did he thrust all the way to the hilt and released his load. The mare’s orgasm was prolonged by his actions for several seconds longer than normal.

As with Loki before, Anderson couldn’t keep her hooves underneath her after her first orgasm started to come down. She collapsed to the floor a panting mess of sweat and leaking fluids. Conrad was utterly spent and could barely keep from falling on his side to rest.

Alexia let them bask in the afterglow for a minute before walking over. Loki had recovered by then and made her way to the rest of her herd. “You can’t imagine how badly I needed that samurai.”

“I can guess,” he teased.

Tune sat down next to the lone stallion and gave him a side long hug. “If you’re worried about round three, I can wait til morning when you’re fully rested.” She nibbled on his ear. “I want you at your best when its my turn.”

“You’re too kind my lady.” He nickered, and was content to just lean on her.

Anderson found her strength and stood up in time for the herd to share a group hug that lasted for several silent minutes that was only disturbed by heavy breathing. Tune saw the other ponies’ three stripes of color in their manes and fell in love all over again.

Alexia found herself in the center of this embrace and savored the euphoria of a complete herd. All of the love and caring they shared with each other coupled with the apex joy that the herd mentality could produce caused all four of ponies' magic to fluctuate.

Within Conrad’s itineris system, several capillaries condensed beneath his cutie marks and his mana started to coalesce into twin motes of power. The same process repeated itself in the mares as well. Had any of them been looking, they would have seen their cutie marks glow faintly for several minutes. Once that time passed, the capillaries in each pony retreated and returned to normal, but the motes of magic remained, and continued to grow. Not from just the four ponies in the room, but they drew power from every pony in the camp. It was very slow, and imperceivable to even Alexia’s heightened magical senses; but it was steady.

The unicorn made a decision. I will show the camp my answer to the off balanced gender ratio tomorrow. Let’s see if they still insist on calling me princess after I rock their preconceptions of marriage. For now though, she was content to enjoy her herdmates’ company.

21: Dinner

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The recreation center was chaotic with the droning noise of hundreds of ponies quietly debating with each other about what Alexia’s declaration would be.

The center was crammed with a thousand more ponies than it was designed for, and that did not include the countless pegasi hovering in the air so their ground bound kin could have more seats. When word came that Tune had a solution to the gender ratio, everyone raced to attend the announcement at noon. The center had the space to host a football game, and the roughed up centerfield turf was currently host to a simple platform with a microphone and Alexia’s herd. Tune’s group was waiting for everyone to finish finding a seat before speaking. During that time, many a pony gossiped about what the sudden change in the mane colors of the four ponies standing on the platform symbolized.

Conrad pushed the microphone away to speak to Alexia in private, and had the conversation in Equish so they wouldn’t be understood by others. “You know. Considering they feel as if your word is law, and that I keep hearing princess and your name in the same sentence; I feel as if there’s a paradox somewhere in that.”

She rolled her eyes. “At least its proof I don’t have some super brainwashing power over them like the Colonel’s goons keep spouting. I still wish they’d stop calling me a princess.”

A pegasus mare fluttered down to hover in front of the herd. “I don’t think anyone else can fit boss.”

Glad someone doesn’t see me as royalty. “Thank you Gina.”

The pegasus nodded before flying back up to take her place. Tune tapped the mic with a hoof a few times to get everyone’s attention. “Thank you all for coming.” She waited for the gossip to cease. “As you all know, I called you here to discuss a major problem. Namingly, the fact that mares grossly outnumber stallions. As I have said before to many of you in the past, but never in a formal address; this is normal for our kind. The force that is changing humans into ponies is not skewing the gender ratio. It is in fact keeping us at our racial baseline.”

Some gentle murmurs swept the crowd, but it quickly died down. She glanced about the crowd. “With that being said, one thing is made abundantly clear.” She paused for emphasis. “We ponies cannot support monogamy.”

A chorus of voices from every end of the emotional spectrum erupted from the assembled ponies. Some were thrilled, others angry, more were dumbfounded, speechless, or otherwise argumentative for the sake of being argumentative.

“Enough!” Tune’s authoritative voice rang out loud and clear over the crowd, silencing almost everyone. “Thank you.”

She took a breath to continue. “I am not saying any of you are being forced to abandon monogamy. To expect you to give that up in an instant would be unfair and cruel.” Her words abated many fears. “However. The norm for our society should be the formation of herds, numbering one stallion for every two to four mare. But as I said before,” she said before anyone could start arguing. “This is not mandatory. Your lives are your own, and you have the right to love whoever you wish. All I ask is that all of you at least attempt what I am proposing.”

The crowd was deathly silent as they waited for her to finish her sales pitch. “You have the right to form a herd at your own pace, if you want to form one at all.” She waved for her herd to step forward. “To emphasize my commitment to this solution, my housemates and I have become a herd.”

She scanned the crowd, trying to make brief eye contact with as many as possible. “For those of you who have been wondering why our mane colors have changed, it is not a fashion statement. My mane carries the colors of my herd. Steel for Conrad, pink for Loki, and red for Crimson. All four of us carry the colors of each other to symbolize our union as a herd.”

She knew her public well enough to move on. “I am ready to answer as many questions as time allows.”

Thousands hooves raised themselves in the air. Gina removed the mobile microphone off her belt and flew over the pony Tune pointed out. It was a fellow pegasus mare. “What about intimacy?”

Alexia knew it was a fair question. “As many of you already knew, I have been with Conrad since we arrived at The Ranch. We are still together, and a part of the herd. Loki and Crimson are free to have intercourse with him at their discretion. Which they already have,” she added to poke fun at them.

The next question came from a unicorn stallion. “And you’re okay with this?”

Alexia’s tone took on a slight comical note. “Well I wouldn’t be sharing this information with the world if I wasn’t.” A round of laughter erupted before her raised hoof quieted them back down. “But on a more serious note, I am not only okay with this; but I couldn’t be happier. As I have pointed out on many occasions, this transformation that turned us into ponies left our personality and memories intact. However, we are a difference species now, many of us not even the same gender as before. That means many preconceptions we once held about ourselves are outdated. As humans, monogamy is normal. As ponies, monogamy is only kept because it is what the vast majority of us were raised up on and lived by. The natural state of ponies is the herd, and I trust that once many of you experience the thrill of being in a herd, you will likely not want to go back.”

An earth mare was next. “How did your mane colors get switched around?”

I like easy questions. “It’s a simple spell any earth pony or unicorn can cast. Loki and I will happily teach it in my next magic class.”

A second earth mare took the mic. “So how does it all work? You guys form a committee to makes decisions or what?”

Tune was hoping she could avoid this particular question for later. “Well,” she suppressed a sigh, “we try to reach a consensus on issues, but when a quick decision is needed or we can’t reach an agreement on a matter, it’s up to the herd alpha to make the final call.”

That caused a big stir in the crowd. Yet it was not as big as Alexia thought it would be, as monogamy traditionally had one spouse be the head of household and makes all of the big decisions; even if recent social trends were starting to move away from that. A different pony got the next question. “So who is the alpha in your herd?”

Before Alexia could speak the pony next to the questioner grabbed the mic. “Do you even need to ask? It’s the Princess of course.”

The original questioner yanked the mic back. “She’s not a princess you twat!” she growled. “Besides, what makes you think she’d want to be the alpha?”

Gina wrestled the mic out of the mare’s hooves. “Stop acting like foals would ya?”

Dozens of ponies across the entire crowd clamored to have the question answered. Conrad leaned into the silver unicorn’s ear to speak in Equish. “This might cause a riot if you don’t answer.”

She glowered at the general direction of the asker. “If I answer yes, I’d be validating this whole princess fiasco.”

The stallion couldn’t help but to poke fun. “I thought it was every little girl’s dream to be a princess.”

“That may be, but I was never a little girl.” She pushed the mic into his hooves. “You answer the question.”

He shoved it back. “Oh no. You’re the mare everyone looks up to. Besides, this sounds like running from a problem.”

“Its not running,” she huffed. “Its called a strategic delegation. You can’t expect me to do everything.”

He snickered as he readied the microphone. “Your attention please.” The noised started to die down, but were in mild confusion.

Loki jabbed him in the wing shoulder. “You might want to switch to speaking in English there featherbrain.”

He kicked himself before speaking again. “The question that was voiced is hardly a personal one.” What with the obvious placement of our stripes. He wanted to lean as far away from the princess connotation as possible. “As for our herd’s alpha, that position is held by Alexia Tune.”

A round of cheers cycled through the crowd, making the unicorn groan. It was going to come out anyway.

The questions droned on for two hours with some of them being directed at one of Tune’s herdmates. Several were on the specifics on a pony style wedding, with more than a few requests for Alexia to perform the ceremony for them. At the end of those two hours, Tune called for a recess so she could rest her voice and everyone have a chance to refresh themselves.

Alexia’s herd barely had any time to do just that as they were bombarded with congratulatory praise on being so progressive on solving the dilemma. It was not something any of the four anticipated. Crimson’s left foreleg was nearly numb from all the hoofshaking she was doing. The crowd backed away after ten minutes when Gina and a few others made them give Alexia’s herd some breathing room. Anderson leaned into Conrad’s and spoke in near perfect Equish. “I thought they’d be more resistant to this.”

“I’m sure many are, but they’re like skulking off somewhere.”

Loki scoffed at overhearing it. “Let them sulk. This is how our kind is supposed to be.”

Tune was a little more supportive. “Everyone’s done a swell job at adapting to our new lives so far. This is the last big step for all of us in shifting from human to pony lifestyles. At least as far as what we can accomplish within the camp at least.”

Crimson concurred. “They just need time to adjust.”

Tune was about to respond when a two unicorn mares and an earth stallion approached her. Gina and her security group were spread too thin to notice them. To Alexia’s chagrin they bowed their heads before speaking. “Princess Alexia. Could you teach us the flower spell?”

She recognized the two unicorns from her magical instruction classes. The mares were two of the best casters outside of Tune herself. The classes were a far cry from her studies with Twilight, but it was an excellent way to hone her people’s magic in mass. She tried to be patient about it all. “I am no princess. But as I said, I will teach it at the next class.”

One of the mares stepped forward. “But what if you get called away to one of your assignments? I know many ponies who will want to participate in the Exchange of Color you spoke of, and there’s no telling when you’ll return.”

A valid concern. The Director did tell me to expect a message today. She eyed her students. “Alright, I trust the three of you to filter this down to everyone else who wants it. Its really a simple cantrap that requires the imbiber’s consent. The first thing you need is a large white flower, or several smaller ones…”

As she finished explaining the finer points of the spell, First Sergeant Vanders glided down to a landing amidst the herd. “Sorry to break up your announcement boss,” he said directly at Tune, “but Director Thompson wanted you to have this.”

Alexia’s group tactfully told the ponies gathered around them to give them space while the alpha took the proffered note from Vanders’ saddlebag. “I take it we have to leave right away?”

Vanders half shrugged. “Not quite, he wants to leave ASAP, but also he wants to give you a little time to make an announcement.”

“Make an announcement? Did he find out about my gender imbalance solution?”

“I don’t think so Miss-, I mean Alexia. While you did give word of this proclamation last night, I doubt the Colonel would relay any information to the Director willingly.”

Tune hummed in contemplation at his comment as she opened the envelope. The orders were hastily written by hand instead of the usual printed text. I’ll make this brief and I expect you to destroy this letter as usual. It was nothing Alexia didn’t expect so far. While tact would normally dictate telling you this news in person, when Sergeant Vanders informed me of your current activity, I decided you could use the next twenty minutes more wisely. Now the letter had her full attention.

I’m not sure if this calls for congratulations or simply good cheer. Either way, the Commander in Chief has agreed to free all ponies from the internment camps, there are four others besides your own. You and your housemates are leaving for D.C. where you are to be introduced to the President. He will make his public address tomorrow morning with you at his side.

Alexia half expected to never be given this letter. All of her inquires over the past three weeks into the matter were frustratingly denied comment. Yet right here in her kinesis, was the one thing she had been wanting to hear ever since setting foot inside The Ranch.

Given that you already have your people gathered in one place, you might as well let them know the good news. But do make it quick, we need to be in the air soon. While you do this, I will be forwarding all relevant information to First Sergeant Vanders’ phone so he can answer any questions the ponies might have in your absence.

-T

Many things ran through Tune’s mind in the following few seconds as she reread the note a second time to verify that her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her. She knew every pony in the camp was aware of her dangerous assignments with Thompson. Her popularity within the camp made hiding that impossible.

What did not occur to her at that moment, was a rumor she overheard in passing in which many ponies were under the assumption that these missions were done to ensure their freedom to return to society.

In addition, she did not know that this rumor was championed by those who saw her as a princess. Reed and others like him, were trying to use the idea of Alexia fighting for their freedom as a jumping point to convince other ponies to accept her change in status to that of a princess.

These rumors were pervasive and almost everyone in the camp heard it at least two or three times a week. However many ignored it as blustering from Reed’s group. The general mindset in the camp accepted the fact that Tune’s actions were the reason the farm, rec center, and a scattering other few construction projects had been allowed; but freedom of the camp was beyond wishful thinking. As a result, the princesshood supporters were a small, but vocal, minority.

So it was that Alexia could not fully anticipate the consequences of her next course of action.

She raced to the mic with barely contained giddiness. “Attention please! Everyone settle down for a major announcement.”

Even with those who were quite resistant about the herd solution, when Tune requested to be heard, every pony silenced themselves to listen in an instant. The jarring switch from thousands of ponies talking with each other to near total silence was unsettling to the silver unicorn, but it did nothing dampen her cheerfulness. “Now I have no idea how this is going to happen at this time. But I just received word that the president has agreed to set us free and that The Ranch will be closed!”

A heavy silence hung over the crowd for a full three seconds as they processed the completely unexpected news. Doctor Reed used it as the perfect excuse to get more ponies on his side of the fence and yelled out. “All hail Princess Alexia, the second Great Emancipator!”

One of Reed’s coconspirators ran with it. “The Princess won us our freedom!”

The rest of the pro-royalty crowd started chanting “Princess Alexia! Princess Alexia!”

One of the negative side effects of the herd mindset was a stronger susceptibility to mob mentality. That coupled with the rumors and who the messenger of that emancipation proclamation was, made even those who were completely resistant to forming a herd, and as a result had a dimmer view of the silver mare, abandon all reservations about joining in the cheerful chanting.

Tune’s ears folded back to protect her hearing from the thousands of ponies screaming the words like a mantra. “Princess Alexia! Princess Alexia!” The silver mare felt her mana respond to the cheering and started to writhe and reshape itself the more the chanting intensified as the crowd quickly abandoned any reservations about her royal status, and fully devoted themselves to following her lead. Had she not been too busy trying to keep her anger in check about being called a princess, she would have noticed a tingling sensation coursing through her body as abnormal. In addition, had it not been for the bright cloudless day and the distraction of the cheering, someone would have noticed the vibrant glows around the herd’s cutie marks.

Her fury reached her boiling point and felt as if she was going to explode. Okay, this has gone on long enough. She growled to herself as she was about to vent her supreme wrath of being called royalty.

Tune took a deep breath to begin raging when Vanders tugged on the foreleg holding the microphone. Her seething glare attempted to burn a hole through the stallion’s face, but he had seen worse things in life and was mostly unfazed. “The Director needs you at the helipad,” he reminded her.

Alexia had the presence of mind to click the mic off as she vented on the NCO. “I am not leaving them there to chant that damnable title in front on my name! If I don’t stop them right and now I’ll never hear the end of it!” The tingle became an itch in some places, two of which were at the base of her front hooves and was moving up along her legs.

“And if you don’t go now, you might keep the President waiting. We don’t want to give him any excuse to resend his decision.” Vanders countered.

“If he were that petty he wouldn’t be the Prez.”

“Please P-Miss Tune. The sooner he gives that speech the better.”

A more composed Alexia might have heard Vanders’ slip up. She might have noticed he was trying to get her out of the rec center so she couldn’t nip the issue in the bud, and she might have realized that all the time he had been wasting with her right now could have been spent doing just that.

This was not the calm and collected silver unicorn, but one who was seconds from doing something she might regret. “Fine,” she yelled while tossing the mic at him. “You talk some sense into these clowns. We’re leaving.”

She whistled at her herd and the bunched up to stand abreast. Tune stormed over so she was close enough to speak. “Confound these ponies!” Her horn built up an enormous amount of unstable mana over the course of a few seconds, an array made of blue light appeared beneath their hooves. She and her party vanished from sight with a flash of light and a loud pop of displaced air.

Thompson was monitoring his watch with growing concern. Okay, telling her she had time to announce their freedom was a bad idea. The tailor needs their measurements, and time to make the outfits. Not to mention that the CiC wanted to speak with them at length before tonight.

His inner musings were interrupted by a brilliant azure flash of light as four ponies materialized a few meters from the helicopter. The nonunicorns stumbled away from her in a daze as they were completely unaccustomed to teleportation. Tune was absolutely livid and felt her unstable magic respond to that aggression. “Damn stupid insane blathering morons!” A small part of her realized that if this anger fueled mana were released from her horn again, the results might be disastrous. However the majority of her wanted to vent so she passed it through to her legs. She reared up and screamed her rage while slamming down on the concrete. “How many times do I have to say NOOOO!”

She expected the vented magic would do nothing as it passed from her hooves to the ground. Instead she slightly cratered the concrete with a ring of cracks emanating from the points of impact and going so far as five centimeters away from her hooves. Being away from the crowd dulled the itching, and the tingling became negligible.

Alexia breathed heavily to try and get her temper under control. The other ponies were bewildered by the teleport as they had been expecting a mass invisibility cloak. Loki was the first to be at her side after recovering from the teleport’s vertigo. “Hey cheer up. Its not like they can make you wear a crown or anything. Just think of it as a nickname.” The green mare wanted to avoid the teleport issue for now.

A single evil eye carved a burning path from the fractured concrete to the hacker. She spoke through clinched teeth. “When we come back, we’re settling this issue once and for all.”

“I hear ya.” Loki placed a tentative hoof on Alexia’s withers. “Let’s remember the good stuff though huh? We talk to the big cheese he says yatta yatta yatta, you say yap yap yap, we all go home and pack.”

When all was said and done, Loki had a knack for defusing the unicorn’s occasional blow up. Today was no different. Tune felt her anger wash away as if water through the cracks in the ground. The fact that there were fissures in the concrete didn’t click in the silver unicorn’s mind. “Thanks Loki.”

She let the green mare lead her towards the helicopter with Conrad quickly following. Crimson was the only one to actually notice the oddity of the cracks and she took a moment to look at the points of impact. I didn’t know unicorns could do that. Of course, I didn’t think she was capable of such long distance teleportation either. A troubled though occurred to her. Let alone group teleporting, when did that start?

Thompson waited for the herd to don the proffered helmets before asking the waiting question after seeing her display of frustration. “Problem Miss Tune?”

“No, everything’s fine…” With the cognitive haze cleared as her anger subsided, she realized she was at the helipad, and the droning helicopter was not one flying in low overhead of the dormitories, but adjacent to her. How in blazes did we get here already? She brushed it aside for now to keep Thompson from waiting. “Just some silliness on what the other ponies want to call me.”

The Director agreed that it was a nonissue as far as his business was concerned and dropped the matter. She must have rushed them here with short hop blinks. An odd way to travel, but that’s her prerogative. He led them inside the Sea Stallion and waited until the ponies got comfortable in their seats. Although he did notice that Crimson asked Loki to switch places with her so the pale yellow mare could sit next to Alexia.

Thompson wasted little time in getting started in his explanation of what the next day would entail. “The itinerary boils down to this. When we arrive, you will be kept away from the public sections of the White House until the President can give his speech in the morning. He will introduce you to the public spotlight and announce that all ponies are to be granted all civil liberties enjoyed by the rest of the American public.”

“Except the four of us of course,” Conrad countered.

Thompson was getting moderately tired of the pegasus’s constant reminder of that. “I was not the one who drafted the terms of service. However, given that the administration is upholding their end of the bargain in this exchange, I’d say you came out on top.” He forced his eyes away from Conrad to settle over the mares. “The primary reason I wanted to have us leave in a hurry is to give the tailor I’ve selected time to fashion appropriate attire for you.”

Alexia shook her head. “I’m not wearing anything.”

The Director suppressed a sigh. “This is going to be a worldwide broadcast and will set the precedence for relations between our two species from here on.”

“That’s precisely why I refuse to wear anything save for what is practical.” Alexia politely pointed a hoof at him. “We ponies do not have bodily modesty. If I go up there in our first public appearance with a dress or whatever, it will not only give the impression that we do, but might cause my people to develop such a trait.”

“That might backfire on you.” Thompson cautioned.

“I agree with Alex,” Crimson added. “Everypony looks to her for guidance.” She turned to face the slight grimace from Tune. “Whether she likes it not.” Anderson returned her attention to the Director. “This will set the precedence. It may or may not cause some bad publicity, but in the end I think people will accept us not having to wear clothes.”

Thompson remained contemplative for several seconds before leaning back in his seat. “Its not like I or anyone else is going to force you to wear clothes if you don’t want to. I only did it so you would have something more to dissociate yourselves from animals.”

Conrad tsked. “If anyone can’t tell we’re intelligent just because of that, then they hardly qualify for the term themselves.” His wings fidgeted as they usually did when he was flying by something other than his own power. “Sides, I like the feel of the wind in my fur anyway.”

“Uh huh,” was all Thompson could reply with. “Very well. Let’s get down to the core points of the press conference itself then.”

The briefing when on for most of the rest of the flight, and it was only the last thirty minutes when the quartet had time to digest the information. Crimson however, wanted to do something else and pulled a metal hoof file from the small saddlebag she always wore. It had yet to be adorned with her cutie mark, but it was not an overly large concern when compared to her studies.

The medic laid a hoof on Tune’s foreleg and spoke in Equish. “Let me see your hooves.”

The unicorn was confused by the presence of the file even as she offered her hoof. “I had them filed when we got back from the last mission, I don’t scuff that easily.”

Anderson was checking for signs of damage. “You fractured the concrete back there. Unicorns don’t have the same magic to protect themselves against that kind of force in their hooves.” She was perplexed by the presence of only a little cosmetic damage and put the file down to gently probe Tube’s foreleg. “Do you feel any pain or discomfort?”

Alexia watched her midwife prod the length of her leg. “No, I feel fine. Did I really damage the ground back there?”

“Yeah you did. Were you trying to do that?”

“Not overly much.” She replied sheepishly. “My mana’s been acting funny since the flare. But after this morning’s meditation I thought it would stay under control for at least a few more days.”

Crimson could hardly call herself even a novice at magical knowledge when compared to the unicorn, so she left the matter to Alexia. Seeing no injuries, the pale yellow mare grabbed the file to rebuff her alpha’s hooves. “Well I’m sure you know how to keep it under control. Although I think you should reconsider the dress.”

“Why’s that?”

“Believe it or not. Your pregnancy is showing. Its not far enough along to be noticeable even under mild scrutiny, but you’re going to be on international TV. Someone’s bound to notice and word could get back to the Colonel.”

Tune growled at the thought of him. “What do I care if he finds out? After tomorrow morning his power over us will be neutered; and even if someone does notice, then that makes it all the better,” she declared with a hint of anger still directed at Bowler. “I’m not going to go out of my way to point it out, but if someone does notice my twins then let them. It’ll drive home the fact that we ponies are not some passing trend that’ll be gone in few decades. We’re here to stay, and our children will see to that.”

Anderson worriedly eyed her herdmate. “I’m all for making our kind a permanent presence on Earth, but a little tact couldn’t hurt. This is the President after all.”

The earth mare finished inspecting Tune’s forelegs and repairing the light damage to her hooves. Alexia nuzzled her affectionately. “Thanks for looking out for me. I think I’m just getting over stressed about this press conference and the damnable princess crap.”

Crimson knew how she felt about the last topic, and felt a subtle push was in order. “This whole liberation thing is really going to make it hard for those at the camp to call you anything else.”

Tune crossed her forelegs and rested her head on her fetlocks. “Gah. Don’t remind me. It’s the only bad thing about it all.”

Anderson stroked Alexia’s mane to ease the stress out. “It sounds to me they’re trying to follow current pony customs. You’re the alpha of the camp so to speak, and everypony knows the princesses are the rulers of Equestria thanks to the few scattered books we have. Not to mention Princess Twilight Sparkle herself.”

Tune didn’t answer right away as she mulled over it a bit. For a moment she wondered why Conrad and Loki had been silent as they were supposed to be on the same channel. It only took her one glance to see why. The green and brown ponies were making out with a passion that Alexia suspected was making Thompson feel uncomfortable.

To his credit, the Director made no indication that he noticed or cared as he read a document from his smartpad. The unicorn snickered at her herdmates’ antics before addressing Crimson. “If they know that much about equestrian government then they also know all four princesses are alicorns. I’m not fit for the title even if I wanted it.”

The medic timed her response carefully. “I think it might stem from the fact that there are no alicorns on Earth to take up the mantle. So in all likelihood, you’re the next best thing in their eyes.”

The unicorn eyed the earth pony carefully. “Just what are you trying to say?”

Anderson shrugged. “Just playing devil’s advocate. The best way to handle any issue is to understand both sides, even if you can’t agree on anything the other side has to say.”

“Fair enough,” Alexia replied at length. “So tell me why I should willingly take up that…title,” she said while trying to keep the irritation out of her tone.

“Now granted I wasn’t here to witness how the ponies lived when you first arrived at The Ranch; but what I’ve heard it was a miserable existence. I’m not going to go in massive detail here, but you gave the other ponies hope that they could still have a good life. You’ve helped so many of them acclimate through the support groups. You’ve even gotten us earth ponies to not feel like lesser people because we don’t have wings or a horn.”

Tune scoffed at it. “I only did what someone else should have done before me. Outside of being the first, I’m no different than anyone else.”

“But the fact is no one did.” Crimson nuzzled the silver mare affectionately. “No one stepped up to the plate until you brought them out of the rut they were in. And now look at them. Rachael is one of twenty magic instructors for when we’re away or otherwise busy. We have four football and two soccer teams since you helped us get the rec center.”

“I never told them what sports to play. I don’t even really care for sports in general,” Tune countered. “Never did when I was human either.”

Crimson wanted to berate her about not liking sports, but she herself rarely had time to follow her favorite teams thanks to her medical studies. So she dropped the issue in favor of the more prudent one. “That’s not the point. Did they have a team before you got the Center up and running?”

“Well there were a couple who wanted to make a team, but not enough cared to,” Alexia replied.

“And then you come along and provide an incentive for everyone to feel productive again and then suddenly we have six teams ready to tear up the field.” She leaned forwards to be eye to eye with the unicorn. “You don’t give yourself enough credit.”

Tune gave her a lazy look. “Actually I think I do. The problem is I don’t see why I have to take on a title that is not just royalty, but apparently has religious connotations as well. Its the last part I really don’t like.”

Anderson’s hum was lost in the drone of the aircraft. “Let’s make a ‘what if’ scenario here and say you did accept the title. By doing so, you’d give them what they want: a princess. But as a condition of this acceptance, or maybe even a law passed later, that you want to be strictly seen as a secular leader.”

Tune didn’t believe it would happen. “What about the government? You can’t tell me they’d like it.”

Anderson smirked and waved at Thompson. “Well the government is sitting right there. Why don’t you ask him?”

Everyone felt the helicopter begin to cut its forward momentum and descend to the landing site. Alexia waved the question off. “He’d tell you the same thing I’ve been telling everyone. American royalty is a laughable concept.”

Crimson decided to drop it for now as their flight was near its end. All five occupants of the Sea Stallion felt the touch down and piled out of the aircraft to find a reception of secret servicemen waiting for them. It was early evening, but the longer days of late summer meant the sky was still blue, or it would have been were it not a heavy overcast threatening rain.

The lead receptionist shook hands with Thompson. “Director Thompson, I am Special Agent Menville.”

Thompson let the handshake go while gesturing to the four ponies in turn. “Agent, this is Alexia Tune, Conrad, Loki, and Crimson Anderson.”

Menville thought the absence of family names for the green and brown ponies was odd, but ultimately unimportant. “If you will follow my men, we will take you to your accommodations.”

One of the servicemen took the lead with Menville flanking the herd to the left and Thompson to the right. Loki positioned herself to be adjacent to the Special Agent and waited to speak when the helicopter didn’t drown out her voice as it took back off into the air. “Aren’t we supposed to be here in secret until the big coming out party tomorrow?”

Menville answered without turning his head. “That is correct.”

“Doesn’t the big house have tourists all day? They might see us.”

“Tours are temporarily suspended.”

“Ah. Well that makes sense.”

The rest of the trip was done in silence, save for the mares pointing out various artworks and cooing at the prospect of being guests in the White House. Conrad was amused by the whole thing. If they knew who I used to be, they wouldn’t let me within one kilometer of the White House.

The ponies were guided to the Queen’s bedroom. Menville took the lead to walk into the room before the ponies and Thompson while the rest of the servicemen stayed out in the sitting hall. Loki was the only one who did not balk at the sheer amount of pink and feminine fluff the room had. “Due to the secrecy of your presence, I must request that you stay here until called for by the president who will request a meeting with you when he is able. The adjourning sitting and bathrooms are at your disposal.”

Alexia scowled at the room. “Why did it have to be the Queen’s room?”

“Because I was placed in the Lincoln room,” Thompson replied with the barest of smirks, “at my request.”

Menville was not willing to waste time listening to what he expected would amount to bickering. “My men will wait outside and see to any of your needs. Now if you’ll excuse me.” He and the other two servicemen in the room backed out and left the Director to face the wrath of three irate ponies. The fourth was giggling hysterically while bouncing on the bed.

Thompson headed off any grievances at the pass. “All other guest rooms are either too close to high traffic areas or occupied. The fewer the number of people who see you, the less we have to worry about a security leak. As for the Lincoln room, three of you are female. I saw no reason you would have issue with the pink room.”

Crimson was more peeved than pissed. “So…what? Just because two of us became female we suddenly like pink and frills?”

Loki stopped jumping on the bed and pushed her mane out of her eyes. “You got a problem with pink?”

“I uh.” Anderson stammered out at the glowering green and pink mare who raced over to shove her snout against Crimson’s. “Pink’s all good.”

Loki bounced back with a smile. “Glad you can see reason.” She spied over a dozen pink flowers in a vase on the coffee table and squealed in delight. “They brought us a snack!”

Alexia watched the rest of the herd gather around the vase and start devouring the plants. She sighed before facing the Director. “Why do I get the feeling that’s not the only reason you put us in this room.”

He gave her a calculating look. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. If you’ll excuse me, I have to take care of something.”

Tune gave an equine snort as he left. “Bull.”

Ignoring the irritating color of the room, Alexia decided to use this time for meditation. “You guys have fun; I need to work on my mana.”

Loki stopped gnawing on a flower and raced over to the unicorn. “Not a chance sister. We need to clean ourselves up first.”

“But we took our showers this morning before the announcement.”

Loki whistled for the others to join her as she started pushing Tune towards the bathroom. “Not like that GL, we need to gussy up.”

Much to their protests, Crimson and Loki primped and groomed Conrad and Alexia far more than they were used to. Manes and tails were rewashed, dried and styled to one of the more popular fashions that had been circling The Ranch, and the silver mare had her eyelashes crimped. Conrad was fortunate enough to avoid the latter. Their coats were also brushed to make them sheen in the light.

Loki didn’t think to worry about any sort of lip or skin mascara as she felt they were nonissues. Crimson’s work on Conrad was more out of experience on how to prepare masculine fashion. Towards the end, Loki sighed with despondency. “It’s a shame there aren’t any curlers in here.”

Alexia sniffed at the thought. “I prefer straight hair anyway.”

Loki stepped aside to let the unicorn take a look at herself. “Well, what do think?”

Tune never did get far into overly styled hair. Between her constant busyness and the missions with Thompson, there was little practicality in doing anything more than a simple style. Yet now, her mane was primped to gently flow around her horn, accentuate her eyes, and to bring attention to the three stripes of color denoting her position as alpha. “I didn’t think I could look this good with a little extra effort. This is impressive Loki.”

I only make it look effortless because I’m used to it. “Not a problem GL. We may be making it a point to wear nothing but our fur, but that’s no excuse not to look our best for the big cheese.”

“I’d offer to do the same for you, but I don’t have that kind of finesse.” The unicorn said with remorse.

“Well it’s never too late to learn.” She replied while gently pushing Tune out of the seat next to the mirror. “Just watch what I do and hold stuff in your magic when I tell you to.”

Alexia couldn’t help but let a stupid grin cleave her face. “Sure thing green bean.”

Unfortunately for Loki, she was the only one who could craft a mare’s mane to any sort of decent look, and Crimson’s work on herself ended in such miserable failure that her fellow earth pony found absolutely hilarious and laughed for two minutes straight before composing herself enough to fix the damage. Anderson was determined to not let the snickering get to her.

Conrad watched from the sidelines as the mares fussed over their hair and whether or not they had time to do anything fancy with their tails as well. Guess it doesn’t matter what species they are, females are always weird about this sort of thing.

An hour and a half after arriving, Thompson returned with a knock on the door. He was admitted inside by the lone stallion. “The CiC wants to speak with you over dinner. Is everyone decent?”

Conrad gave him a quizzical eye. Since when are we not? He passed it off as him not knowing how else to ask them to move. “I hope so. Let me drag them away from the mirror.”

The human hummed in sympathy. The whole floor had been cleared of house staff and as a result, the path between the guestroom and the dining room at the other end was occupied by only a handful of secret servicemen.

The dining room would have felt spacious were it not for the massive table dominating the floor. There were four special agents standing in the four corners of the room with President Fitzgerald talking to the waiter as the ponies entered.

He turned to greet the equines with diplomatic warmth while immediately zeroing in on the unicorn. “Ah, you must be Alexia Tune,” he spoke calmly with a thread of being in a superior position.

She offered a hoof to shake. “Mister President, its an honor.”

He nodded in appreciation for her tact. “The feeling is mutual.” He shook the offered hoof and was quickly introduced to the rest of the herd and to the Director. Lastly he swept an arm across the luxurious table. “Please take a seat, we have much to discuss.”

Fitzgerald took the seat at the head of the table with Alexia and Thompson flanking him and the rest of the ponies taking close seating around the oak table that could serve ten guests. The President ordered his drink along with everyone else before he got started with his most interested lines of questioning. “Before I go into more important issues,” Fitzgerald said as he took a comfortable position. “I have often wondered what the common pony desires. I have read many files and reports on ponies Miss Tune, but I feel they are somewhat… removed from the personal element.”

Tune was not sure if it was a trick question. “We want what anyone wants. Freedom to live our lives without military overwatch.”

“Yes, that much is obvious and not quite what I’m looking for here.” He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. “What I want, is to understand you. Humans I understand. I know what makes the public tick, I know what they need to hear and how to placate their concerns.” And what kind of propaganda is effective. “But if these reports have told me anything, it is that ponies think differently from humans; and if I’m going to allow the incorporation of a difference species as equals, I need to know how you think.” He leaned back in his chair to glance at the menu. “And I’d prefer to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth.” Tune expected him to laugh at the pun, but Fitzgerald made no indication of noticing the dry humor.

“That’s a complicated answer. But I’ll tell you what I can.”

A lone figure sat in a folding chair on the roof of a hotel that was fairly close to the White House. It was very windy with the potential storm passing overhead and the large tan sunhat he wore would fly off his head were it not for the strap keeping it in place. He checked his watch to see it was just past eight. “Remaining sectors, report,” he called out to the otherwise abandoned roof. He had no radio or other equipment with him, but his words were heard all the same.

A stranger’s thoughts entered his head. “Sector seven reports all canisters are in place.”

“Sector nine is good to go,” said another.

“Sector two is having problems with police in the area. We can’t get the product in position due to a standoff with a gunman. Unknown when it will be resolved.”

The man with the sunhat sent a wordless command to halt further reports. “Find a way to resolve it quickly. I don’t care how, so long as we are not implicated.”

“By your will Overseer.”

Tzadavek gave the command for the reports to resume. In all, he was not pleased. Too many problems and not enough time. Fitzgerald leaves for a diplomatic meeting in London tomorrow, but I know he’ll be there in the morning because of the announced press conference. And I can’t leave this much materiel scattered around the city without detection being too great of a risk. The Mion leader had no idea what the conference was about and assumed it was unrelated to the Koridost. What the Overseer wanted, was to inflict a symbolic victory.

This delay will make a midnight attack impossible… A thought struck him. But everything should be in place by five in the morning. That will allow us three hours of rest before we begin the festivities. A savage toothy grin dominated his face. Yes… That press conference could be exactly what we need to attack humanity’s resolve. With his plan of action set, he spoke aloud again. “Mions! Listen well. There’s been a change in plan.”

Fitzgerald chewed his steak thoughtfully before speaking to Tune. Given the equines’ form, he was surprised to see two of them partaking in meat, although the unicorn only ate a very small amount compared to the greens on her plate. “So tell me Miss Tune,” he said to get her attention, “with all of the popularity and charisma you seem to naturally possess towards your fellow ponies, have they expressed any wishes to have you represent them as a whole?”

Alexia studied him carefully as she swallowed her bite. “Why do I get the feeling you know more than you let on?”

The Commander in Chief laughed deeply. “As part of the preparation in publicly declaring your existence to the people, I have had daily reports submitted to me by the base commander, one Colonel Bowler I believe.”

Tune couldn’t hide her distaste for the man, and Fitzgerald picked up on it immediately. “Makes me worry for my image.”

“Yes,” he replied with a protracted paused as he took another bite. “He tries to sound unbiased in his words, but you don’t get where I am without being able to read between the lines. He hates you and your kind with a passion I thought reserved for murders and rapists.”

Loki wanted to bark a reply, but one look from her alpha stilled her tongue. Alexia broke off a piece of salmon with her magic, but left it hanging in front of her so she could reply. “I trust his words haven’t damaged us too badly.”

“Were it not for the removal of secrecy for your kind, I would have transferred him out by now. Regardless, there is one point of interest I find intriguing.”

“And that is?”

“It has come to my attention that the ponies in your camp desire to see you assume a position of royalty.”

Alexia choked on a crouton and Conrad had to slap her back a few times to help clear her windpipe of the salad dressing. The unicorn’s eyes watered up from the irritation and she blinked it away as she grunted to clear her throat. “Y-yes they seem to have gotten it in their heads that they want me to be a princess.”

Fitzgerald picked up on the gravely annoyed tone. “So I take it you don’t find this favorable?”

“Mister President please, it was not my idea. I don’t know who or what got it in their heads, but I am totally against it.”

He looked satisfied with the answer and seemed like he was going to drop it. Yet after he finished his next bite, he brought it back up. “In your own words, how insistent are they in calling you this?”

Tune’s memory of the chanting crowd in the recreation center came to the forefront. She shuddered to disguise her anger before it could tint her voice. “Far more so than I would like.”

Alexia tried to keep from sulking while in the company of the President and ate silently while Fitzgerald mulled over various courses of action. The rest of the herd asked various simple questions or otherwise only talked to each other. They were willing to advise Tune if she needed it, but left the conversation between the two leaders alone.

It was time for dessert when Fitzgerald broached the topic again. “I’m going to be honest with you Miss Tune, I think you should reconsider.”

Every pony’s flummoxed expressions were centered on the President while Thompson only watched with curiosity.

“What do you mean sir?” The unicorn asked after recovering.

“The thing is. There were five camps total in the United States alone. We reduced that number to four nearly a month ago as an experiment. Of the five internment camps to ever exist, only yours ever showed any sign of the detainees having any spirit left in them.” He snapped his fingers and a secret serviceman stepped forward with a folder. Tune watched him read the highlighted findings.

“According to Bowler’s latest report,” The President said slowly as he found the correct text, “he had to use force to break up a demonstration at the rec center three hours ago.” The ponies were confused, but didn’t interrupt. “There were over six and a half thousand detainees preforming an… apparently illegal gathering during a celebration.” He didn’t like the connotation that Bowler was making out for himself. “In addition, one of the heavily repeated phrases was ‘Princess Alexia’.” Fitzgerald failed to mention how hard the harsh crackdown the Colonel implemented to end the celebration was, he wanted to keep the unicorn as level headed as possible.

He closed the report and handed it back to the agent who returned to the corner. “Now, tell me Miss Tune. The rough population of The Ranch was roughly twenty four hundred before the camps were combined, and now barely over seven thousand. What does that tell us?”

Alexia balled up the small bite of cheesecake in her magic and forced the irritation out of her tone. “That the new members of the camp regained their self-esteem in less than a few weeks.”

“Quite so. So here is my problem,” he began after nibbling on his cake, “The number of ponies within the States, not including those in your camp, number well over ten thousand. After the conference tomorrow they will be let loose back into society. All of my advisors on this issue tell me they will end up becoming a burden on society if we do nothing. Many may try to return to their old lives and jobs…” he paused to give weight to his words while enjoying a bite of cake. “I don’t think I need to say that will likely not go well for a great many of them.”

“With all due respect sir,” Alexia cut in as she knew where he was leading with this, “I only got the ball rolling. If we found some way to gather all of us into one place for a long enough time, the ponies from The Ranch would pull the newcomers out of that depression.”

“You’re missing the point,” Fitzgerald countered politely, “the fact is you are a symbol to your people.” Tune was incapable of retorting to the firm statement. He capitalized on her hesitation to be more assertive with his argument. “The American public, both human and pony, will want a face for your kind. And the reason you’re speaking to me at all is because you’re it.”

“I realize that Mister President,” Alexia replied slowly, “but you’ve already got me signed up for four years of service. How can I do both?” Tune hoped she was steering it away from the royalty issue.

“You’ve handled it well enough for the past month. I see no reason to change that now.”

She crossed her forelegs in apprehension. “If my face is plastered on every TV screen from here to China, how would I accomplish these covert missions with the Director?”

She made the mistake of waving her left hoof at Thompson, which allowed Fitzgerald to point at her invisibly bracelet. “That.” She cringed and recoiled her foreleg. “Besides,” he continued, “if you have the ability to turn yourself invisible, I trust you have a way to alter your appearance to look like any other pony.”

This time Conrad couldn’t help but to interject. “And you’re not worried about us having such magic?”

Fitzgerald nodded his head in approval of the pegasus’s observation and snapped his fingers towards a different serviceman. The agent stepped forward and presented his smartphone to the Commander in Chief. “Miss Tune, would you be so kind as to turn invisible for me?”

She glanced at her herdmates before complying. “Sure.”

As soon as she faded completely from sight, the President tapped the phone to make the screen switch to the antimagic diagram and Tune’s invisibly field was quickly nullified. Satisfied at the sight of the quite visible mare he turned to his agent. “Thank you Agent.” The man nodded and returned the phone in his pocket. Fitzgerald looked at the weary unicorn. “No. I’m not.” He took the time to finish the last bite of his cake. “Provided you continue to work for the best interests of the government, I will place no restrictions on what magic you can conduct.”

“I see.” Alexia muttered.

“Now, as for your title as Princess…” Tune was smoldering at what she was expecting him to say, and ignored the hung sentence so he would speak his mind. Fitzgerald noticed she was going to voice a complaint so he continued. “It seems your people insist on it, and this is one of those times where giving the public exactly what they want is more prudent over personal feelings. I will officially recognize you as Princess Alexia in the conference tomorrow, and you will be publically and legally recognized as royalty.

“However,” he added curtly, “the Treasury will not fund a coronation ceremony, a crown, or any other amenities that other monarchies possess. You will not have special legal status, privileges, or political authority given to you.” Outside of what celebrates get away with anyway. “Nor will you have any government funded security force nor will there be any in the future. As far as the government is concerned you are a royal without a nation to rule, but of course, you will still keep your American citizenship. Additionally, I believe the use of princess over queen is preferable as it further denotes you are not a ruler. You can still have a coronation, crown, et cetera if you wish, but you have to pay for it yourself.”

Tune was raging under a fragile composed mask. “So let me get this straight,” she said as calmly as possible, “the only reason you’re making me a princess is because that’s what the ponies insist on calling me?”

“Correct. That, and America having a royal family will distract people from the psychotropic clouds and other recent problems.”

“Joy,” she growled. Or they’ll see it as a sign of the apocalypse.

Fitzgerald checked his watch. “Well this has been a productive meal.” He got up and tilted his head out of courtesy. “I look forward to tomorrow’s conference. Good evening Princess.”

He ignored her scowl and departed, leaving two secret servicemen behind to escort the herd back to their rooms. Alexia ground her teeth in an attempt to hold her rage in check and looked to Thompson. “I’ll be going now.” Her horn lit up and she blinked back to the Queen’s room. Tune jumped up onto the bed and screamed her unbridled fury into the pillows.

Thompson knew the Secret Service would jump at the sight of the teleport and got to his feet to stop them. “She only went to her room,” he lied, not truly knowing where she went.

“How can you be sure?” one of them asked.

“Because she won’t do anything to jeopardize this chance to free her people.” He looked to the remaining herd who shares looks ranging from sympathetic anger, worry, and bitterness.

The special agents relaxed a little. “We still need to verify that.” One turned to the rest of the ponies. “We will take you back to your rooms.” The first agent nodded to the second for him to run to the guest room to make sure Alexia was actually there.

A couple of minutes later, after the Secret Service was satisfied the unicorn was not a threat, they left the ponies to their own devices and Thompson retreated to his room. The ponies found the defeated unicorn lying face down on the bed. Each of them jumped up to lay down beside her, with Loki resting on top of the pillows.

“I can honestly say I didn’t see that coming,” Conrad said to break the silence.

Tune rolled an eye to face him. “No kidding. I would have thought of all people, the prez wouldn’t want royalty.”

“Well its not like he gave you anything but the title,” Crimson commented as she tried to sooth her mate by rubbing her mane. “He’s just using your popularity.”

“Being used seems to be a common theme for me.” This is just bloody perfect. Once I go on national TV and get called a princess by the damn prez, I’ll never be rid of the title.

“Don’t worry about it so much,” Loki remarked, “America’s had plenty of royalty.” The three other ponies gave her a weird look. “What? Its true. We have the King of rock and roll, then pop, Martian Luther King, the list goes on. In the end, people aren’t going to treat you like you’re actually royalty and scrap at your hooves to beg for your attention. We’re too cool for that.”

“I hope you’re right. But if any of you call me princess I’m planting my hoof in your mouth.” A round of chuckles broke some of the tension out of Alexia.

Crimson knew the unicorn needed to be more stress-free. This anxiety could cause strain on the foals, so she needs a good release. “Alex, did you and Conrad go around this morning?”

“No, I spent the morning meditating before we went to the rec center.”

Loki and Crimson looked to Conrad with a knowing eye. He cleared his throat. “Well I know the perfect way for you to blow off some steam.”

The silver mare picked up on his sultry tones and smirked. “I could go for that.”

Loki grinned. “Okay samurai, you get the back, and we get the horn. Let’s make her squeal.”

By the end of the herd’s evening calisthenics, the ponies were too worn out to worry about tomorrow. The four of them snuggled into the oversized bed and let the rest of the night slip away.

22: Critical Mass

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If there was one thing Thompson’s training instilled in Alexia, it was causing her internal clock to have the annoying tendency to wake her up before the morning alarm sounded. The strange side effect was that it only happened when she knew the alarm was actually set. Today was no different and her eyes fluttered open to the dimmed morning light concealed behind the heavy curtains.

Tune found herself in a comfortable tangle of limbs. She was lying on her side with Crimson curled up in between the unicorn’s out stretched forelegs and was facing the same direction Alexia was. Anderson was close enough to feel the unicorn’s body heat on her back. Alexia found Loki’s own forelegs loosely wrapped around the base of her neck, with the leg on bottom having just enough room to keep from cutting off circulation. The green mare’s gentle breath lightly tousled Tune’s mane every few seconds.

Lastly, Conrad was acting as a pillow for all three mares; it was his idea while his head rested on an actual pillow. Crimson’s head was on his flank, Alexia’s on the center of his stomach with his wing affectionately draped over Tune’s neck and Loki’s foreleg. Loki’s head rested on his chest. Alexia thought it was silly that the green pony cooed softly at the rise and fall of his lungs. The ponies’ positioning took over a dozen attempts to find the most comfortable way for the four of them to sleep together, and they ended up quite pleased with the results.

Without moving, Tune gripped the clock in her magic and lifted it up so she could see it without disturbing the herd. Seven forty nine. Still have eleven minutes to enjoy some peace and quiet. She placed the clock in the approximate location to where it used to be, but she was unable to have direct line of sight without moving. When she didn’t hear the clock fall to the floor upon setting it down, she relaxed and took comfort in her mates’ contact.

Even with the impending alarm buzzer, the prospect of being officially recognized as a princess, and the stress of having to stand before international television; the intimate proximity of the three ponies she loved most robbed the anxiety of its bite. Her thoughts drifted to her womb. Well, the five ponies I love the most. I can’t wait to hold them in my hooves. She daydreamed of a happy future, living in a large house with foals scampering about. Not just her own children, but of Crimson’s and Loki’s as well. When they have any. I don’t think it’s a matter of if. Once we’re done with these four years and my people get on their feet and don’t need me anymore, we can retire from the limelight and live in peace together. Raise a big family, and further strengthen our species’ place in human society. No… terran society. That fits better.

The unicorn’s daydreams were harshly broken by the alarm clock’s screeching wail. With ears folded back to weaken the sonic assault, Crimson slammed a hoof on the infernal device. The ponies went through the morning routine with bleary awareness before remembering where they were and shifted to a moderately frenzied haste.

Within an hour they were cleaned and groomed to present themselves to the world. Breakfast was brought to their room and the group sat in various locations with their meal. Alexia and Loki sat on the bed. Crimson was on the chaise lounge that was rotated to face the bed, with the stallion perched up on top of the armoire. Loki briefly eyed the unicorn’s bacon with a pang of longing for things lost. Yet she knew risking having indigestion or worse today would not be a pleasant experience. She decided to distract herself with helping the bacon’s owner. “So Alex. I’ve been meaning to try something with you since dinner last night, but we got sidetracked.”

Tune gave her a comical sidelong glance. “You want to try different sexual positions?”

“Maybe later. Now is hardly the time,” the green mare replied as if it was a serious question. “But I think we need to work on your reaction to this whole princess title.” She saw the unicorn bristle at the term and pressed her point. “At least until you can hear it without gaging on all that bile.”

“It would certainly help if you didn’t display any anger over it while in front of the camera,” Conrad chirped in while chewing on a slice of ham.

“I hate to tell you Alex,” Crimson added, “but I don’t see this going away anymore.”

The silver pony forced her ire to subside with a few controlled breathes, an act all three members of the herd caught on. “So what did you have in mind?”

“Well…” Loki said before stuffing a wad of pancakes in her maw. “I think the three of us should call you princess all day, at least until you stop wigging out every time you hear it.”

Yeah, that’ll happen in a few hours. Alexia thought sarcastically. She ground her teeth together before realized that was exactly the reaction she couldn’t have in front of the camera. She pressed a hoof on her brow to keep a hornache from occurring. “Okay, and I’ll try to keep from exploding on you guys for it.”

Crimson smiled in a minor victory. At last, I can call her a princess. She may not believe it, but I think she has more than earned it.

Alexia heaved a heavy sigh. “I would feel better if I at least told Twilight about this.” Her horn lit up and the tome popped into existence. The distance between Washington and South Dakota made summoning the tome taxing, but Tune’s constantly increasing mana supply made the effort repeatable without winding her.

The group eyed the tome with contained enthusiasm at seeing Twilight again. Tune saw the purple circle was lit, but greatly diminished. She frowned slightly as she kept eating while levitating the book open and held it close so it could scan her.

Tune saw Sparkle’s hologram materializing and placed the book back in the floor. The unicorn’s suspicions were confirmed when Twilight did not move or react to visual stimuli. Alexia hazarded a question. “Sensei, are you there?”

The mouth did not move, however the alicorn’s voice came through in a slightly distorted fashion. “I am, dear student. But my surroundings are distorting my link with the Dusk Guard to the point where I can only listen and hear you.”

The herd shared a questioning glance at each other. Crimson was the one to ask the shared question. “Should we call back at a better time?”

“I can spare a few minutes if it’s important.” Twilight replied with moderate certainty. “I’m along the far western border of Equestria and the Silent Mountains which are disrupt towards commutative magic.”

Tune was curious. “May I ask why you’re there?”

“Celesta has requested Discord’s presence, but he hasn’t been receiving our communiqués because he’s taken up residence in these mountains. Outside of him suddenly desiring privacy, I’m not exactly sure as to why he would relocate here.” She paused for a few seconds. “But I doubt you called me for idle gossip. What can I do for you Alex?”

Tune rubbed the back of her neck to try to get rid of some of the nervous energy. “Well I’m in a bit of a pickle.” She went on to give the short version of the events since the marriage, including the announcements at the recreation center and the details of the dinner last night with the President. “So that’s why I wanted to at least let you know before this whole…princess thing happens.”

“I see,” Twilight said at length. The gathered ponies didn’t know if she was pausing her speech because of thought or because of her trying to navigate obstacles. “There are very clear laws in place about this. But in the end, you are not a subject Equestria nor of me, but of Earth. So you’re reign can be conducted as you see fit.” Twilight’s following plea was clearly evident through the static. “However I ask that you treat your subjects with the respect and dignity that they have come to love you for.”

Her mentor’s voice was badly garbled, but her words came through clearly enough. Alexia shifted nervously, she was still uncomfortable about thinking of anyone as her subject. “I will do the best I can.”

“I trust that you will my faraway student.” She continued to speak, but the distortion was too fierce to be heard.

“Sensei are you still there?” Tune called out, only to receive intense static before the hologram winked out entirely.

“Well I hope she has fun in the mountains,” Loki commented.

Ninety minutes later, President Fitzgerald was giving his opening statements to the press while Alexia paced nervously in the adjourning room with her mates present to give support. Thompson reread his copy of the president’s opening words. He knew it would not be long before Alexia was called to the stand.

“You should take comfort in the fact that your herd will be present as well.” He knew their presence would keep her anxiety as low as possible.

Conrad eyed him with curiosity. “We will?”

“Of course,” the Director replied flatly. “The three of you are to be presented as an honor guard of sorts. The CiC believed it would impress her royal status even further to treat you as such. That is why I wanted all four of you to be fitted by a tailor.”

Loki felt it was a good time to impose a mocking noble lady’s tone of voice. “Well I do declare good sir. That I believe you to be insulting my aesthetics! I’ll have you know I slaved over my coat to make it shine like silk I did.”

Thompson looked at her with a derisive eye. “I trust you put the same effort in your princess.”

Alexia suppressed a scowl while Loki rebuked. “For shame you rapscallion!” The green mare upturned her nose at the Director with an aristocratic harrumph. “To think I would place my own vanity before hers. Preposterous. Inconceivable. Scandalous! If I wore gloves I would slap you with one to restore my hona.”

“My apologies,” he replied dryly, “I was unaware you had honor to insult.”

Anderson and Conrad playfully recoiled at the verbal sparring. Tune glowered at the duelists, but went unnoticed.

Tzadavek waited impatiently as his watch slowly crawled to the appointed time. He was milling in an art gallery along its far eastern wall. “Section leaders. Release the breath of the gods in ten minutes.”

The Overseer leaned against the outer wall and peered out of the window. The nearby busy streets of D.C. gave way to the greenery surrounding the First Division Monument. While he could not see or sense them, he knew over a hundred Mions toured the park and its monuments. The thousands he had recruited from Rocky Springs were spread out amongst the city, ready to carry out his will.

Today will mark the beginning of the end for mankind. When all is said and done, they will sing songs of this day. And it will be my name that will be credited for this victory. His pulse pounded at the glory he knew would win. Tzadavek was impatience to begin, but not so much that he would start early. Oh no no no. The timing must be perfect. Too soon and we tip our hand, too late and our target will be gone. No. The appointed time is perfect. Glory can wait a bit longer.

Twilight Sparkle was surrounded by a lavender bubble that nullified most of the torrential winds around the mountains as she came down for a landing near a polka dotted cliff side cave. Her large wings gave one last flap to gently land on the cold ground before folding in on her sides. The newest princess of Equestria scanned the oddly colored entrance. “Well if this isn’t a big sign saying ‘Discord’s home’ I don’t know what is.”

The cave entrance had the tell-tale sheen of a barrier, but a quick inspection revealed it was only meant to stop the cold from entering, and did nothing to stop the alicorn. As soon as she crossed the threshold, she heard a coy laugh crawl its way up the stone.

“Well well if it isn’t my old buddy, pal, and all around good chum, Twilight Sparkle.” The purple mare stood impassively as Discord materialized in front of her with a flash of blue sugar. He twisted his serpentine body around to meet her eyes. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Twilight never liked dealing with Discord. She had forgiven him for his attempts to break her friends apart, but he was still a grating individual to speak to. “We need to talk about a mutual friend.”

His body broke apart with each piece floating into the air surrounding the alicorn and morphing into various familiar ponies. “Well you’re going to have to be more specific, we share so many.”

“I’m talking about the one from Earth.”

The floating facsimiles of her friends vanished and Discord reappeared whole in front of her. He was holding a doll in Tune’s image, with blue buttons for eyes and obvious stitching. “You mean this one?”

Sparkle nodded. “She’s not like the other ponies on Earth.”

Discord let the doll hang in the air in front of Twilight while he lazed about in the air. “Whatever do you mean Twily?”

“Don’t play dumb Discord. You know exactly what I mean.” She brought the unicorn doll close to her face and inspected it closely. “After all, you made her what she is.”

He sounded as if he was emotionally hurt. “My dear, you wound me. I gave Alexia her form, but I didn’t make her who she is. Tune did that all on her own.”

Sparkle looked away from the doll. “Its her form I’m worried about.”

He stopped spinning to stare at her with mock accusation. “Now what would make you say that? I would hope by now you would think higher of me than to create chaos tainted ponies again.”

The lavender alicorn looked at the doll’s goofy smile. “She hasn’t been a unicorn for even half a year and she’s progressing through her magical studies at a rate even faster than I did.”

“Well of course she would,” he responded casually as he inspected a claw. “You’ve had decades of time to study, so I gave her a little…accelerant to allow her to catch up with a pony of her age.”

“Would that accelerant cause her to have a mana flare?”

That stopped Discord’s lazy drifting and he looked at her with concealed amusement. “No, it would not. Did she have one?”

“It happened two days ago. There have only been five ponies that I know of who’s ever had a flare caused by an overdeveloped carbuncle.”

“Well you seem to have all the clues dear Twilight. Why don’t you go ahead and enlighten me what that massive brain of yours tells you.”

“I think…” She eyed him carefully, trying to sift through his mirth for the truth. “Alexia is a pony, of that I’m absolutely sure. But she is no unicorn. If she ever was one to begin with.”

Discord flashed and reappeared next to Sparkle and took the doll in his claw. “Really?” He inspected the toy. “She certainly looks like one to me. Perhaps your vision isn't what it used to be.”

She glared at him. “I don’t know everything, but I know this much. She passively radiates a very peculiar magic that gets stronger the more ponies she’s surrounded by. Its taken me a while to figure out what that magic does exactly.”

Discord snickered. “The suspense is killing me, do go on.”

Fitzgerald stood behind a podium that carried his seal of office. In front of him sat three dozen reporters and an equal number of cameras from worldwide news organizations. While the president had the clout to call any number of reporters needed, he made sure to stack it heavily with foreign news reporters. The press conference was five minutes in. Fitzgerald used this time to get everyone into the proper motions, the translators in the groove of moving the words from English to their respective native tongue, the reporters’ inquisitiveness at its height, and most importantly the setup to introducing the special guests.

The Commander in Chief followed everyone’s gaze, and knew not all eyes were on him. They wonder why there is a second short podium on a raised platform at my side; and yet no one has asked about it. No matter, they will learn soon enough. He pointed at the Japanese man in question. “Mister Hayate Gekko. You may have the honor of the next question.” He pressed a button under the podium to signal Thompson to ready Alexia for entry.

Hayate was extremely nervous as he stood up and bowed politely before speaking. He was the assistant to his more senior reporter and had not expected to be called upon. “Thank you sir. As you have explained to Brian Fay before me, you are here to call for a massive change in the sociological status of America, but I must say this comes as a surprise.” He glanced at his superior who nodded for him to ask the desired question. “We were unaware of any civil rights legislation within your country. So what is this change going to be exactly?”

“An excellent question Mister Gekko.” He dipped his head while the reporter took his seat. “For many years, man has often wondered if we are alone in the galaxy. Many believed that if we were ever going to find proof of life on other planets it would be from astronomers or, as the public might prefer for the drama of it all, in a ship capable of traveling the stars.” A round of polite chuckles circulated before dying down. “But today, those assumptions will have to be disappointed. With me today is proof of not just life on other planets, but sentient life willing to coexist peacefully.”

The general murmur in the room made Fitzgerald reveal a collected smile, rather than the smirk he wanted to show. He pointed at a different reporter. “Yes, go ahead.”

It was a male French reporter. “I have to say I’m a little surprised the White House of all things would be giving out this news instead of NASA or one of the many independent astronomers. How did you come about this discovery?”

Fitzgerald loved every second of this. He knew full well most nations of the world was like the U.S. and kept the existence of ponies an extremely tight lipped secret. Fear of a global panic was a good enough excuse for many to ignore their conscience. It also helped that it was almost a rule that those becoming ponies typically had plenty of time to figure out what was happening to them and disappear. Discord’s magic did not target people completely at random, and did not affect anyone who was incarcerated or otherwise physically or emotionally unable to flee society. As a result, the world at large was totally unaware of the magical equines’ existence.

At least for a minute or two more, Fitzgerald mused. “I can lay out the entirety of the courses of action and data that led to this discovery, but I will not do that.” He grinned, knowing full well the entire world was watching him. “Because I will let the representative speak for herself.” He swept an arm to the unicorn behind the curtain. “May I introduce Princess Alexia Tune and her entourage.”

Over a billion eyes watched a silver and azure unicorn, followed by two earth ponies and a pegasus, step out from a side room and walk towards the raised podium. Loud muttering passed between the news crews as Tune made her way to her position while the rest of the herd remained standing directly behind her, but still clearly visible for all to see. She nervously brushed her multicolored bangs out of her eyes and propped her forelegs up to she could reach the forest of microphones. It was her comparatively massive and highly expressive eyes with which the crowd zeroed in on first. She cleared her throat to keep work up the force of will to keep from cringing at her next words. “Hello, I am Princess Alexia.”

She was attacked with a hundred questions from the reporters all yelling with raised voices to be answered first. She was moderately comfortable with speaking in front of large gatherings of ponies, mostly because she could see their faces and guess how she should act. However, she knew the numerous cameras arranged around the room bore silent witness for the world at large. It was that, which terrified her most.

Fitzgerald was not willing to be cruel in this. If he was honest with himself, he needed the unicorn to put on a good show. He leaned into his podium to give a tactful request before Alexia could wilt under the pressure. “May I have your attention please.” The reporters complied relatively quickly. “Now I know that you, and the world at large have many questions. But we must ask them one at time.” He pointed at a German reporter. “Yes, you.”

“Simon Färber,” he stated to identify himself. “Is true you are an alien, and if so how did you get here?”

Alexia forced her mental perception of the room to ignore the cameras entirely and think of the reporters as if they were fellow ponies. It wasn’t of much help because her eyes told her the audience was all humans, but it did allow her voice to remain level. “Sort of yes and no. Five months ago I was a human and living in Kansas as a run of the mill U.S. citizen. Through forces I can try to explain later, I was transformed into a pony, or unicorn to be more precise. I did not arrive in a ship as I was already here to begin with. My species may be from a different world, all of the ponies on our planet are native to Earth.”

Fitzgerald pointed at a second eager reporter. “Then why are you evidence of life on other planets? For all we know, you could be the result of biological experiments.”

She had been given no guidelines as to what she could say, outside of saying nothing about The Ranch. “I-ah. I have been in contact with one of the leaders of my species’ homeworld, the planet Equis. I am not aware of the location of my kind’s homeworld, but I can tell you that my species did evolve on its own. As for my kind's homeworld, their technology is far below ours so I know they are not responsible for us turning into ponies.”

“What do you want from us?” asked an Australian.

Tune’s ability to speak was becoming easier, but she noticed tingling sensation emanating from her carbuncle. I just have butterflies in my stomach, all I have to do is keep calm. “All we want is to coexist alongside humanity. As I said, every pony in the world was originally human. We still have human friends and family we would like to return to.”

“How many of you are there?”

Fitzgerald butted in to answer that. “Well I can only speak for the States, and even then we do not have a complete census, but we estimate the total population within our borders numbers at an estimated twenty five thousand.” Even we cannot catch all of them. Doubtless many are in hiding. He knew that number was being extremely conservative. The one thing that bothered him most was that no ponies, outside of Alexia’s stunt at the science fair, ever wanted to try and reveal their existence. Was it simple fear? Or something instinctually causing them to shy away from civilization?

A safe house outside of Gubakha, Russia was home to seven humans and twelve ponies. All of them were part of a secretive group dedicated to rescuing ponies from being picked up by the Federal Security Service. The humans were friends and family of the ponies.

A man named Rurik was carrying a steam pot of stew to the ponies gathered on the second floor of the house. A woman by the name of Lyudmila leaned against the staircase as Rurik walked out of the kitchen.

He stopped to speak with her. “How are they?”

She looked up to the ceiling in the general direction of her formerly human brother. “They are getting worse. I had hope they would continue to get better after gathering more of them together in one place, but that only delayed their decline. I had to take a knife from Yakim to keep him from killing himself.” She kicked the wall out of frustration and to keep from tearing up at the memory. “The longer they remain ponies, the worse they become. I don’t know how long until they all become suicidal.”

Rurik sympathized, his sister was upstairs as well. “I have the vegetable stew,” he said while gently moving the large pot he was carrying, “could you grab the beef stew that’s still on the stove?”

She felt as depressed as the ponies, but didn’t allow herself to be consumed by it. “Of course.”

He watched her go before moving up the stairs. The floorboards creaked and groaned under his weight as he made his way up to the second floor. He could hear the television coming from the large communal room on the south side of the building. He found it strange to hear the sound of a Russian translator speaking over a quieted English speaker. Why bother with the news, it’s filled with nothing but sinking stock prices, propaganda, and the death toll from those clouds.

The communal room was decorated with several floor pillows, a moderately sized television with a satellite connection and nothing else. Of the twelve ponies in the room, only five had the will to sit up straight and watch the screen. Rurik saw the rest of the ponies were stricken with a malady he found most perplexing, they were various shades of grey. It was most pronounced in Yakim who used to be a vibrant teal color, but over the last four months that had faded completely into a dull and lifeless grey.

Rurik and the other humans who supported the hideout researched as many illnesses as they could, from human to equine and everything in between. Yet nothing could explain why they were turning grey, and the greyer they became, the worse their depression. Yakim had not eaten in days, and had to be forced to drink water. If the formerly teal unicorn had the strength of will to resist, he wouldn’t even take the water.

Rurik turned away from the disheartening sight to place the stew on the floor near the television. The more recent equine arrivals still had most of their color, with a lone earth mare still retaining a strong eggshell white coat. “Veggie stew here.” He glanced up to the television to see the United States’ President giving an address. “Why are you watching the Americans?”

“It beats reruns of Faktor A,” a mare by the name of Marfida replied. “Besides, we have a bet going that his ‘big’ announcement will be a war with China.”

Rurik removed the bowls from the side of the pot and doled out the food to the unicorns and earth ponies who were willing to eat, and setting aside bowls for those who would be force-fed later.

Lyudmila entered a minute later carrying the second pot of stew and set it down next to the first one. By now, all eyes were on the hot food and the still functioning equines were devouring the offered food.

Yet one thing, caught the ear of curiosity from the room’s occupants as the translator spoke three words: Printsessa Alexia Tune. The group of Russians found it odd that the Americans’ big announcement was about some unknown royal family; but as soon as the silver unicorn came on screen, a synapse fired in the minds of all witnessing ponies. The equines were only half interested in the television until the silver mare appeared and took the stand to introduce herself. As soon as Alexia spoke, all of the room’s ponies who heard her felt as if they were being called to her. That she would give them a reason to live.

Rurik huffed in amusement. “Well I’ll be damned. The Americans have finally lost it.”

Lyudmila’s attention was more on the equines in the room than the one on screen. To her profound shock, she saw those ponies that were watching the news broadcast were beginning to lose the heavy grey in their fur and hair, and were returning to their original colors. The ponies who were too despondent to get up and grab some food, looked over to the news and saw Alexia on screen.

They too started to regain their color and resolve. It was not long before eleven vibrantly colored ponies were crowding the television with unwavering attention solely focused on Tune. Lyudmila saw her brother was missing and looked to see he was still over in the furthest bed from the screen, curled up and facing away from the broadcast. Whoever that is, is helping our friends recover. I’ll be damned if I lose Yakim.

She marched over to her completely grey brother. “Get up and eat you spineless cur.”

Yakim couldn’t even speak anymore, and the light was almost completely gone from his half lidded eyes. His spirit was so faded that it would not be long before he would no longer need that knife to find death’s embrace.

“I refused to let you die Yakim,” Lyudmila snarled. He made no response, and only seemed to fade even further. Lyudmila unceremoniously hefted the unicorn stallion on her shoulder and pushed her way to the front of the television and plopped her brother in front of the broadcast. The others only barely responded before fixating their attention on Tune again. The lone woman grappled Yakim’s head and pulled it up to stare at the screen while using her free hand to pry his eyelids open.

Within the dying embers of Yakim’s mind, he was too far gone to truly see anymore and everything was out of focus. His depression was so overpowering, it was choking his magic to the point where he couldn’t produce it anymore. As the last vestiges of his magic faded from the unicorn’s body, he was on death’s door as his body shutdown without its needed sustenance.

And yet something caught his ear. At first it was just an unintelligible muffle that was being super imposed by another. One of the other ponies knew a station that would be playing the same broadcast, but without the translator marring the silver mare’s voice. Once that happened, Yakim heard the feminine voice loud and clear. His carbuncle flickered with a hint of life and a fresh, but weak, pulse of mana radiated out and brought more strength to his starved body.

Slowly, his ears started to stand straight, and his eyes slowly regained their focus. Lyudmila watched him carefully as the first signs of teal returned to his coat. The more the silver mare spoke, the stronger he became. His sister slowly let go over the course of five minutes. Her brother was able to sit up straight for the first time in days. He was slightly emaciated from the starvation his body was suffering, but his vision never wavered from the mare on screen.

“Who…who is that?” His voice took on a reverent quality. It was the first time Lyudmila had heard him speak all week. Only when the camera focused on Fitzgerald was Yakim able to peel his eyes away from the screen to face his sister. “Who is that?”

Lyudmila teared up at her brother's recovery and bear hugged him from behind. I don't care that he isn't human. I still have my brother, and that's all that matters to me.

One of the other ponies answered his question after letting the siblings have their moment. “She’s Printsessa Alexia.” All eyes returned to the screen when she reappeared to answer a question. Most of them had no comprehension of English, but they didn’t care. All they wanted to hear was her enthralling voice.

“We must go to her,” a different pony said, and was met with a chorus of agreements.

Rurik was baffled. “I’ll admit its nice the Americans want to openly accept ponies, but that is one hell of a journey to make.”

“Not to mention expensive,” Lyudmila added.

“I don’t care how we do it!” Yakim protested as he jabbed a hoof at the screen while staring into his sister's tear streaked eyes. “She…” his eyes darted around the room as he searched for the proper words, but they failed him. “We have to go to her. She’s…I can’t explain it. But I know we must.” Every other pony nodded in agreement as the channel frustratingly changed to commercials.

Rurik scratched his head in bewilderment at the startling change in the equines’ demeanor. Whoever that Printsessa is worked a miracle on them, if for nothing else we can try to get them to America to be free of the FSB.

Throughout the world, as more and more ponies watched the press conference, Alexia’s alluring charisma strengthened. That in turn caused more ponies to see her as a leader which only fueled the charisma even further. It was not long before almost every pony on Earth who had access to a television was watching her. The power of mass media spread Alexia to all corners of the globe, and her magic along with it.

Twilight Sparkle brushed some stubborn snow off her wings. “From what I've seen of the earthling ponies, most of their souls are in a state of flux between human and pony. Tune radiates a very specific frequency of magic that hooks into these ponies and makes the soul's transition into a pony easier by several factors. As time goes on, Alexia's passive magic creates a bridge between the host and the soul until the two become one."

Discord scratched a claw as he listened to the mare speak. "Because having a weak connection between body and soul rots both, the magic she has is capable of repairing the damage and it creates euphoria as a byproduct. The ponies grow to see her as the source of their new found hope, but never understanding or caring why. All they know is that she is the reason they have a will to live again and love her for it. If my assumptions are correct, by the time the individual’s soul fully converts to that of a pony and is no longer affected by that charismatic aura, the love they have for her becomes natural and is no longer forced upon them.”

Discord clapped noisily. “Bravo, bravo. I knew you’d get it eventually.”

“But the one thing that bothers me Discord. Is that no unicorn is capable of doing this. Its just not possible.”

The draconicus summoned a suit and top hat with a glass of strawberry jam and drank the red from the jam before speaking. “Well my dear Watson, just what are you accusing me of?”

Sparkle knew the answer, but wanted confirmation from him. “Alexia is an unawakened alicorn. And she’s been one from the beginning, hasn’t she?”

A low creeping laugh bubbled its way to the surface as the chaotic entity roiled in the air. “Not the very beginning no. But after seeing she had adopted those annoyingly sweet Equestrian ideals so readily, I decided to stack the deck.” He created a wad of cotton candy and spoke while eating. “Do you know what I discovered after meeting her?” He grinned as Twilight shook her head. “Is that the modern equestrian pony is drawn to the ideals of harmony instinctually. But Alexia was the only one at that time who integrated that into her psyche, while others clung to their old ideals. So I gave her a boost and remade her a little so she could generate that magic naturally.”

“But seeing as I knew you weren’t going to keep your nose out of it forever, the only way to make that happen was to turn her into an unawakened alicorn.”

Twilight was flummoxed. “You barely knew her and you gave her that kind of power?! What if she had suffered some mental snap and turned to darkness?”

Discord tutted while wagging his finger. “You really think I would allow her to be a repeat performance of Luna? No my dear, you see there was a condition I put into it to make sure Alexia would not have that kind of power should she fall.”

Sparkle was unsure if she should be impressed or troubled by his foresight. “And how did you do that?”

He twirled through the air and fashioned two more dolls in Alexia’s image. The one on the right looked normal while the left one was discolored and had a viscous sneer. He held the normal doll up. “So long as Tune remains true to those ideals you ponies treasure so much, her aura will draw in more followers and she will one day ascend to alicornhood.” The silver doll developed a pair of wings.

“If however she relapsed and lets her old species’ mentality of hate and misery become her watchwords…” The discolored mare withered and decayed to ash. “Well, let’s just say I would have to find another candidate.”

The lavender alicorn didn’t know if she should nag him about potentially killing her student, or thank him for not letting a potential Nightmare loose on Earth. “So what is the trigger that will awaken her?”

Discord wiped a laughter induced tear out of his eye. “Come now Sparkle, do you really think I would tell you? It has to be a surprise.”

“I’m not asking because I want it to happen too early or not at all,” she yelled back with an undercurrent of worry. “Because I fear that the trigger is based on how many ponies devote themselves to her. If too many ponies look to her for leadership, she’ll awaken.” Discord scowled, and that made Twilight’s blood run cold. “So its true.” She shook her head to clear her terror away. “Do you realize she could awaken at any moment? She never had time to rectify the damage caused by the mana flare! She’s not mentally ready for it!”

He scoffed. “Please. She would need the allegiance of at least five hundred thousand ponies before the awakening could occur. Besides, the number of humans I turn into ponies will cap out at roughly four million, and half of which are changed already. It’ll be years before she meets enough ponies to trigger it, if ever. Alexia’s passive magic only works if the other ponies can see her face and hear her talk at the same time.”

“Discord you idiot!” Twilight raged. “Do you have any idea what kind of technology Earth has!?”

He shrugged. “A better mouse trap?”

“No,” the alicorn replied coldly. “Her face is moments away, if not already, from being plastered all over the globe on boxes that can display her actions and speech in real time. She’s going to be visible for everypony on Earth to see!”

Discord’s mouth hung open for a few seconds with a raised talon. “That…might be a problem.”

Alexia was utterly miserable. Her skin felt like it was covered in ants, her muscles were sore all over the place, and her spine felt like there were two drilling knives trying to carve her bones out halfway down her back. It took everything she had to remain standing, but Fitzgerald was disconcerted about how profusely she was sweating. Her mates were highly distressed for her safety and Conrad was inches from pulling her down from the stand and away from the gathered reporters.

Tune raised a shaky hoof to a Chinese reporter in the back who stood up to speak. “So tell me. What exactly are you a princess of?”

From behind the podium, Tune pulled and pinched her skin with her magic to try and alleviate some of the discomfort while keeping it hidden from the cameras. She had to truly focus on the question to make a meaningful response. “I am merely a leader for my people here in America. The title was not my choosing, as it was the ponies in my…resort who picked it. I would have preferred something more modern. As I discussed with the president earlier, I will have no political authority over them or of the American government.”

A secret serviceman discretely stepped up to the President. “Sir, we have a situation going on in the city. We have what appear to be several small brown clouds spreading out in multiple locations. I strongly advise you to adjourn this conference for a different time.”

“Very well.” The agent nodded and moved off to carry out his preexisting duties while the President tapped on the microphone to interrupt the question midsentence. “My apologies, but I feel that we should take a quick recess.”

It was a little early for one, but it was understandable. Servicemen quickly led the equines to the side room followed by Fitzgerald. As soon as they were in the next room, the president spoke to Menville who was waiting for him. “What’s the situation?”

“We’re not sure how but there are whole sections of the city blanketed in what we’re assuming to be the psychotropic clouds.”

“Why didn’t the weather system detect it?”

“We don’t have that information yet sir. But we’ve sealed the White House and activated the internal life support. My men will escort the reporters to the west wing. Given the oddity of the situation however, I’ve requested air support and they should be here in less than twenty minutes.”

Fitzgerald nodded and turned to tell the ponies to follow him to the bunker when he saw three of them were crowded around Alexia. She was sweating profusely and her fur was being magically pulled in all directions in a vain effort to stop the painful itching. He stepped over to speak with them. “Is she ill?”

Crimson was trying to figure out what was wrong, but her limited knowledge was insufficient. “I don’t know. She was fine before the conference, and now she’s itching like crazy. All I know it that it’s not something external.”

“Is she a danger to us?” The man didn’t know what magic could do if it was unstable.

“Not if she can help it,” was all Crimson could say.

It was a risk, but Fitzgerald had an investment in the silver unicorn. Without her, he would never be able to leverage the ponies to his advantage. He turned to Menville. “Take her with us, but keep her away from the command center just in case.”

Loki helped drape their alpha on Conrad’s back. The pegasus looked up to the serviceman. “I’ve got her; just tell us where to go.”

(“Discord, do you know why my ascension was painless?”)

As the ponies ran through the halls of the White House, Tune squirmed on Conrad’s back. The throbbing pain on her spine was mind-numbing as her imperfect mana system fought to complete her metamorphosis. Yet it found resistance in almost every aspect of it. That resistance manifested as withering pain, itchiness, and muscle weakness.

The other two mares stole glances at her at every opportunity to watch with horror as the skin over Alexia’s back was starting to protrude in two places.

(“I’m sure you’re going to tell me Twilight.”)

Menville guided the group to a large elevator, but it was not large enough to take everyone on the first trip so the servicemen stayed behind. “Mister President, there will be escorts waiting at the bottom.”

“Good. I want you to keep the ground floor secure. The last thing we need is some panicked idiot running outside in some stupid attempt to see if their family is okay and breaking containment. I don’t want even one iota of that cloud getting inside.”

“Yes sir.”

(“My itineris system took years to not only correct, but time to settle in on its new functionality. Alexia has had two days. I can only hope she isn’t driven mad by the pain, because it will not allow her the comfort of unconsciousness.”)

Her entire world was burning agony. Her skin crawled, her bones ached, her muscles felt stretched and torn. But it was the two points of white hot torture in her back that left her incapable of screaming in pain.

Crimson rounded a corner with the group and took another look at her alpha. The pale yellow mare almost tripped on her hooves at seeing white bone break through the skin of Alexia's back. It had a sickening film of blood covering it as the bone forced its way into the world. Tune’s face was twisted in a tortured silent scream, as her voice was currently incapable of expressing her pain.

Fitzgerald entered the command center which was already abuzz with activity as military forces were scrambling to don their CBRN suits and aircraft were taking to the air. The president walked straight towards Commander Stark. “Why didn’t our detection system warn us?”

“Right now sir, that’s just one of our problems. We have riots all over D.C. and we believe the cloud was perpetrated artificially.”

He was taken aback by the theory. “Artificially? How is that possible?”

Stark clicked the large screen to display a real time satellite image of the D.C. area. Unlike all other clouds before it, this one was lower to the ground and still patchy in some areas as the dense brown soup refused to fill the spaces. “Those civilians who couldn’t find a shelter in time have fled to these areas, but there are reports of criminals in gasmasks assaulting people in their homes and businesses while pulling them into the clouds.”

“What about the local police?”

Stark shook his head and he switched the visual to the various police stations. The brown gas wasn’t flowing around the station, but out of it through windows and vents. “They were hit first. “It will take time before-“ a muffled explosion and a blaring alarm sounded within the bunker.

Stark and Fitzgerald looked to an operator who yelled a warning. “We have breach in the east wing. Unknown cause.”

Stark wasn’t going to take chances. “Lock down the DUCC. Nothing comes in or out.”

Off to a side room, Conrad and the other mares were at a loss as to how to react to the two skeletal wings pushing their way out of Alexia’s back. A thin line of muscle and sinew connected the joints and the glowing azure magic around them caused the muscles to constantly expand and grow to fill out. Alexia’s coat had a steady stream of blood oozing from of the wounds in her skin as she cried silently in complete agony. She was unable to make a sound except for choking sobs. Her eyes were slammed shut as streams of tears ran down her face and runny snot dribbled from her snout.

Loki was searched her mates with a traumatized expression. “We have to help her!”

“How?” Crimson countered before looking to Conrad. “Is this how you grew wings?”

“No. Mine grew in with the skin and muscle already in place. The feathers came in later.” He wanted to hold her and try to ease her pain; but with her proto-wings cracking and twitching their way out, he dared not to touch her. Any movement could make things worse.

The only thing the herd could do for their alpha, was to watch and wait. That feeling of helplessness tore them apart.

Tzadavek watched three dozen Mions throw themselves into the Secret Service agents defending the interior of the White House. Every last one of them was cut down in a matter of seconds, but they still managed to kill a few agents every time a wave threw themselves at the defenders. The loss of life didn’t matter to him as he had thousands at his disposal and he sent in two dozen more. The building was cloaked in the choking brown fog that covered most of the city.

From his vantage point a few feet away from the executive building, he saw smoke rising from fires raging across the city. The capital was in chaos as the helicopters above tried to differentiate between targets and civilians. All too often, a lone Mion would push his way into a fleeing crowd and fire up at the attack helicopter, only to have the pilot either fall back or rake the entire crowd with gunfire.

The overseer heard the gunfire in the White House cease. These are just fodder anyway. “Grenadiers. Obelisks.”

Thirty more intelligent and well-armed Mions joined him along with two very bulky Mions who were too large to effectively blend into a crowd anymore. “It won’t be much longer before the air power takes out our stinger launchers and reclaim the airspace over the White House. We need to get inside before that happens.”

“By your will Overseer.” They replied in unison

Menville saw the latest wave peter out. We can’t stay here, the cloud is getting too close and we don’t have suits to fight in it. “Parez, Vealter. Go to the armory and gather more ammunition, we’re falling back to the elevator.”

The two servicemen never got the chance as the agents heard the telltale thumps of three grenade launchers and the plinking sound of the ordinance bouncing towards them. There was no need to shout an order as all of the surviving agents tried to run from the ordinance.

A split second later, the hallway exploded with shrapnel. Before any of the agents could fully recover, heavy and fast footfalls pounded into the room and two inhumanly large Mions carrying war hammers waded into the defenders. Menville recovered his weapon and fired a full clip into the nearest obelisk. It groaned and fell to the ground.

Assuming it was dead, Menville quickly reloaded as the second obelisk as it crushed the skull of one agent and threw the body into another before he could fire. The special agent was too calm under fire to give pause to the sheer size and speed of the inhuman beast and leveled his pistol to empty his last clip.

He only managed to get off two rounds before a rusted twisted piece of metal in the form of a hammer flew at him and slammed into his hands, knocking the gun away and leaving his wrist a shattered mess. Menville stumbled back and yelled in surprise and pain. More Mions filled the room to kill the broken defenders, but they all ignored him save for the obelisk he thought he had killed.

Now that he was able to get a good long look at the massive nearly eight foot behemoth, Menville saw his face was a rusty scarlet and only visible skin. The beast had eight holes along his left side that had short streams of blood on his clothes, but his wounds were being healed by the Obelisk’s unique connection with the hive mind. The wounds were healed by drawing draining the psychic energy from three nearby lesser Mions who dropped dead as their lives were snuffed out.

At the Obelisk’s approach, Menville reached for his the knife behind his back. The scarlet monster slammed a boot on the agent’s chest, pinning his blade arm behind his back. “You fought well.” His voice was akin to grinding stones.

“That he did,” called the Overseer as he stepped inside the room. “He will make an excellent convert.” Tzadavek rolled up his sleeve as he approached the fallen agent and a parasite wormed its way out and screeched in excitement of being granted a host.

“Who or whatever you people are,” Menville threatened, “will never win. We’ve dealt with terrorists before, you will fall just like all the others.”

“I see, says the blind man.” The obelisk quoted with a snarl.

The thumping sound of helicopter gunships passed overhead. The Mions still outside the building were cut down with such rapidity that the flow of reinforcements into the White House ceased almost immediately. Menville sneered at the two Mions lording over him. “None of you will leave this building alive.”

Tzadavek chuckled darkly. “And you think it’s still possible for me to die.” He gestured for the obelisk to take the knife out from behind the agent and slice a small hole in his skin. “This lightbringer,” the overseer indicated the writhing parasite, “has a special task in store for you.”

From the bunker below, Crimson flinched at the crump of a dozen more explosions above. Yet her only real concern was the silver mare before her.

The skin at the base of Alexia’s wings started to grow up the length of her new limbs which were encased in an azure glow. As the tips of her wings were finally protected by skin, the nerve endings grew throughout the featherless appendages. That was what broke through her silent screams and Tune shrieked with unbridled pain so loud it forced the other ponies back towards the door.

As her nervous system connected itself to her wings, feathers started budding all over the appendages. Conrad knew in an instant that these were not like his pegasus wing. They were longer and fuller towards the end as the silver feathers pushed their way to completion. Her mind threatened to shatter under the pain completely, but two things kept the mare from allowing that to happen: the herd and her unborn children. Were it not for those two anchors acting together, she would have lost her mind near the beginning.

The two earth mares crowded around the lone stallion to wait out the silver mare’s transformation. Pained by the fact they could do nothing for her except to wait.

The command center’s internal security camera feeds were filled with the staccato of gunfire and incomprehensible war cries. Earlier, the open elevator shaft that had been pried open and five large canisters of pressurized fog were dropped into the first hallway. All it had taken was some carefully placed misinformation in the news to make the humans think gasmasks weren’t enough to prevent exposure and the bunker had not yet been equipped with full NBC suits.

As a result, the soldiers had to fall back away from the cloud as it spread through the hallways and robbed them of the perfect defensive positions that could have been afforded to them.

Once Tzadavek was certain the time was right, he commanded his followers to breach the elevator and storm the bunker. As a result, the Mions were able to get a strong foothold in the bunker and were pushing their way deeper into the facility. Each step was bought in blood, but it was blood the Mions were all too eager to pay.

In less than half an hour, there were only twenty men between the elevator and the command center. That zone of control was shrinking as the fog rolled in and men died at the hands of the stronger and more intelligent Mion types. Fitzgerald was not very familiar with the workings of an active battle and went to Stark to find answers. “What’s the status on the House’s defense?”

The commander didn’t like being interrupted, but he had to answer. He pointed at the bird’s eye view of the White House. “Three gunships have secured the outer parameter and have stopped the flow of hostile reinforcements into the building. But we don’t know how many managed to get inside before that happened. Four transports from Andrews airbase are en route to resecure this position, but I don’t think they’ll make it in time.”

“How much time?” the president demanded.

Stark heard the chatter coming from the House defenders. “Too long. I suggest you retreat to the underground metro station.” The commander pulled his pistol. “We’ll buy you all the time we can.”

Fitzgerald was a prideful man. The act of abandoning the White House was abhorrent, but in the end he would not let pride disrupt the nation. “May God help us all.” He faced the door leading to where the ponies had sequestered themselves. He heard the pained screams from that direction and remembered the odd growths coming out of Alexia’s skin before she was taken out of sight. The man saw two guards by the door leading to the elevator. I still need her, but if she’s become something dangerous; better to kill her now than let her possibly getting free.

He strode over to one of the guards. The soldier was obviously shaken, but he did his best to hide it. That effort was for naught as he came face to face with the commander in chief and was inches from quaking in his boots. Fitzgerald ignored the soldier’s nervous energy and looked at his nameplate before speaking. “Plunkett, I need your sidearm. You’re coming with me.” Falling back on his military bearing, Plunkett expertly put his carbine aside and withdrew his pistol and handed it to the President.

Thompson pulled himself away from his observations of the screens to speak to him. “Sir, what are we going to do with my operatives?”

The craggy and ill at ease Commander in Chief studied the man carefully. “I’ve invested too much in her to leave her to the enemy, whoever they may be. But you saw something strange was happening to the Princess.” The Director nodded slowly, prompting Fitzgerald to continue. “I’m going under the assumption that this is abnormal for them.”

Thompson’s mouth was a pressed line to try and conceal his concerns. “Very.”

“Then I trust you will do what is necessary should this thing that’s happening to her causes Tune to become violent.”

The Director nodded solemnly. “My loyalty is to the States and to you sir.”

The older man gave a nonverbal grunt of approval. “As it should be. Come.” Normally Fitzgerald would let the other two men take the lead into the small room where the ponies hid themselves. Logic and reason told him that would be the safest course of action. After all, it was a soldier’s job to protect the president from any and all threats. I haven’t heard and of that infernal screaming for some time now. It sounded like it was only coming from one person, and I didn’t hear sounds of a struggle.

Fitzgerald guided his escort to the room twenty eight steps away from the command center to find the room already have three guards standing at the ready with their carbines pointed at the door. The wall surrounding it all was plain concrete and the door itself had blue paint but was otherwise unremarkable with a sign on the door reading “Provisions Closet”. One of the guards sidestepped towards Fitzgerald but kept his eyes and weapon pointed at the door. Judging by President’s posturing, the guard knew exactly what he was planning to do. “Sir, I strongly advise you to not go in there. There’s no telling what happened with all that screaming.”

“I am aware of that son, but these equines are not our enemy.” He was bluffing as he had no idea what was happening to the unicorn. He tapped his sidearm meaningfully. “I’m not going in unarmed, but I need to be the first to see them.”

The soldiers didn’t like it, but they couldn’t say no. “Yes sir.”

Fitzgerald steeled himself and opened the door while keeping his pistol concealed.

Over ten minutes earlier, Alexia’s vision was completely out of focus and there was an intense ringing in her ears. Something moderately heavy was pulling on her back and she felt burning embers of pain all over her body. Her coat and hair was damp with sweat and the somewhat cramped room reeked of perspiration and blood.

As the cognitive numbing fire in her body ebbed away, Tune’s senses started to correct themselves. Her swimming vision had only been able to detect three shapeless forms around a well lit room. Now her vision was improving and started to bring definition to those shapes. The ringing in her ears was giving way to muffled, yet familiar voices of concern. Alexia’s mana was in such complete disarray from the metamorphosis fighting through her badly damaged itineris system that it was taking a long time to settle down and allow her body to resume normal functionality.

She couldn’t handle the disrupted images and sounds she was receiving and curled up in a fetal position and weakly shoved her hooves in her ears to drown out the garbled voices. Alexia was only mildly aware that the act was causing her pain on some foreign limb on her side. Make it stop. Make it all go away! Something or someone lifted her up and fixed the pain on her side and put her back down. It gave her some relief, but that was not what she wanted to stop. She wanted pain from the foreign things on her back to go away.

Alexia cracked her eyes open to see three looming shapes, but she couldn’t make out what they were yet. The voices calling out to her were increasingly familiar, but her brain couldn’t connect the dots as her synapses were still overstimulated. The one thing she knew, almost entirely by instinct, was that the three shapes were not going to harm her. Who or what are those?

She blinked several times to try and get her eyes to work properly and pulled her hooves out of her ears to listen to voices she knew she loved, but didn’t know why. The voices spoke to each other briefly before one of them reached out to her with a brown blob. Alexia flinched at it, and the blob pulled back. She watched it with wild eyes, still not fully cognitive of her surroundings.

The long brown blob slowly reached for her again, only this time she laid there and watched it reach behind her head and started rubbing the top of her head and neck. The act felt as if waves of calm started to sweep away the tension in her neck and face. Tune felt her thoughts calm down and her senses slowly return to normal. The voices started to clear up along with her vision after four minutes.

“Alwef,” The words were still garbled, but the tone was a soft comforting baritone. “Wedxia. Tyke ui.” Again the words were incomprehensible to her. But just hearing the voice hastened her recovery.

Soon the other solidifying blobs reached out and touched her lovingly. “Cowe un Aowxia, Wr Nrgd ysd gs gdt ui.”

The cobwebs of her mind were being brushed away and her eyes finally managed to bring the three ponies she loved most back into focus. Her bone dry tongue refused to cooperate at the moment, but she was able to direct her ears in the herd’s direction and smile. Her brain was finally able to function properly again and she croaked out a harsh whisper. “Can I get some water?”

Crimson looked around and saw a pile of stacked water bottles and got Loki to help pry the plastic wrap off before withdrawing several bottles. The medic propped Alexia’s head up and fed the bottle to her in small sips, instead of giving into the silver mare’s desire to chug the whole bottle in one go. “Take it easy Alex. You just underwent-“ The pale yellow mare stared at the large avian wing resting on Tune’s side. The other was hidden under the former unicorn’s barrel. “-something.”

After finishing one bottle, Tune winced at a hoof jabbing her in the side. Loki couldn’t stop herself. “So can you feel these?”

“Feel wha—“ Tune trailed off as she turned her head to see Loki gently unfolding a large silver wing attacked to her back. For the longest three seconds in her life, Alexia was completely dumbstruck at the presence of the feathery appendage. She could feel the nerve endings within it cooling off from the rapid growth, and Loki’s grip slightly tugging on several feathers with her hoof’s magic as she held the wing slight above Tune’s barrel. “What? Why do? What’s a wing doing there?!”

“Well I would imagine its general purpose is to allow you to go peacocking,” Loki replied instantly. “But since you’re already in a herd I don’t see the point.”

Tune tried to move the new addition and her left wing twitched out of Loki’s grip, but at the same time, Alexia felt its twin try to move out from under her. The silver mare was pushed onto her belly by the right wing trying to move in tandem with its counterpart. Her mates gave Tune some room so she could take stock of herself.

Conrad still remained close by. “Are you still in pain?”

“N—not over much,” Alexia replied while testing her new equipment. They were weak and unfamiliar. The strange new muscles responded, but Tune had no idea on how to control them. As a result, the wings jerked in random directions, often slapping a shelf or pony as she tried to get them to obey. The one thing that frustrated her efforts was that they moved in tandem with each one mirroring the other’s movements. “Conrad. Did your wings act like this when you got them? I can’t get them to stop moving at the same time.” She whined in pain as both thumped against the floor with her fresh nerves still oversensitive.

“Well to be fair. I was a little too preoccupied with being tied to a chair or in a straitjacket to try. By the time I was free of it and met up with you I believe my wings were normalized, if not just unfamiliar.”

Crimson hummed at his explanation. “This growth wasn’t pleasant, if your screams were any indication. All of the other pegasi I’ve spoken with said they had little discomfort in their wing development.” A bigger concern was crowding her thoughts now that Alexia seemed to be in no danger. “Can you see if the twins are okay?”

All other ponies froze at the shared concern, but none were as mortified than Alexia. The silver mare tried to activate her Inner Sight, but she couldn’t center herself and her mana was still fluctuating too wildly to make the attempt. No matter how the desperate the mother-to-be tried, her nervous system was too busy trying to adjust itself to the new additions to her physiology to allow it. Her carbuncle was cycling and recycling the mana all throughout her body to facilitate the finishing touches for the Inner Sight to even begin.

Alexia was getting desperate. I need to know. I have to KNOW! “I can’t tell!” She wracked her brain for a solution; something that would keep the escalating terror of a miscarriage from shattering her barely holding together psyche. “Quick, I need something to draw with.”

“Would ketchup work?” Tune looked at the green mare who spoke. Loki was stuffing her maw with an MRE’s pound cake dessert with one hoof and holding out a ketchup packet with the other.

“Red ruins the maximum range, but that won’t matter.” Alexia proclaimed gratefully as she tried to take the packet in her magic. Tune’s mana was uncooperative at first, but her returning mental strength demanded her magic to obey. And so it did after the condiment flickered with an azure aura for several seconds before the aura around it and her horn stabilized and it was pulled through the air towards the silver pony.

Tune quickly stripped the plastic off and held the red liquid in her kinesis before directing it at the smooth concrete wall and drawing a small divination circle. Once it was done, she slammed a hoof on its edge and commanded her magic to comply. The wild mana heeded its master’s call and her vision of the closet shifted to the ceiling. All she could see was the room itself, as everything outside of it was a murky inky blackness. Yet that was not her concern, and she focused on the orange tinted pony shaped light that represented her. Unlike white chalk, the ketchup was marring the coloration, but she didn’t care. All she cared about were the two small, slightly different hued beacons of light that were nearly smothered in her own.

Alexia’s ears, head, and wings drooped in relief. “They’re okay. My change didn’t affect the twins.”

Loki was not as worried as the others had been and inspected Tune’s wings. “I would think so. You didn’t seem to explode with magic this time so I would assume your children would be perfectly isolated from this.”

Crimson did the same, but on Alexia’s other side. “True, but they still depend on her for oxygen and nutrient. This alteration may have halted that.” She leaned over to look Alexia in the eye. “Are you sure they’re okay?”

The mage had kept her hoof on the small array the entire time to glean what she could from her unborn foals. “Yes. Their lifesigns look as healthy as the rest of ours, albeit smaller than us of course.”

Tune let go of a shuddering breath and fell on her haunches with her wings splaying out around her and resting uncomfortably on her feather tips. Her forelegs closed around her abdomen and a single tear fell from her eyes. “I’m glad the're safe.” How many more close calls is it going to be before something harms them? She didn’t even want to contemplate a worse fate for fear of jinxing herself.

The herd gathered around behind her, with Conrad gently hugging her and the mares resting supportive hooves on Alexia. “So I guess this makes you a real princess then?”

Tune didn’t want to answer him. “I don’t know, and right now I don’t care.”

Before anyone could speak again, Fitzgerald pried the door open to find two winged ponies out of a group of four. With Alexia’s wings hanging half limp and extended almost fully out, it was the first thing he noticed about her. Rather than waste time asking for an explanation he acted for the sake of time. “Are you still sane?”

Alexia had next to no recollection of her transformation other than blinding pain. “I’d like to think I am. Unless I’m hallucinating that I have wings.” She tried to close them, and was rewarded with them dragging across the carpet which prompted her mates to help fold them into place.

“Close enough,” The president grunted. “We’re evacuating to the escape tunnels. Can you walk?” He noticed she was covered in sweat and a liberal amount of drying blood caking her fur at her wing shoulders and running down the sides of her barrel.

“I-I think so.” She found her strength was not as bad as it could have been and stood up while making it a conscious effort to keep her wings locked in their resting positions. She could feel her itineris system was nearly done calming down to a normal state, but was still in the process of saturating her wings with mana. Alexia was grateful that Thompson’s physical training regiment had given her the endurance to recover sufficiently from her transformation and she felt she could gallop if needed. The one thing that clawed at her the most was a gnawing hunger. She looked over at the pile of MREs that Loki had tossed aside in her search for a vegetarian meal and took three of them in her magic. “I’m as good as I’m going to be.”

“There is little time, move out.” The President faced Thompson who was still standing in the hallway and had not seen Alexia’s new look yet. “Lead the Director; I know you’ve already familiarized yourself with the route.”

“Yes sir. Follow me.” Without looking at the ponies, he looked down the side hallway and had the equines, four soldiers and Fitzgerald follow closely behind. The halls were rather bland in this section of the bunker. It was only meant for utility, and as such it was undecorated steel struts and concrete. Thompson clicked his radio as the group ran down the corridors. “Echo seven to Foxtrot actual. Is the path ahead clear?”

Stark looked to the three operators monitoring the cameras within the bunker. “Well?”

The lead operator responded with barely contained fear. “We’ve lost passages A through J, and the brown gas is starting to spread in sections three through five along with eight and ten. There is still a squad defending nine, and it’s the only way between here and the metro. But its currently under attack so I don’t know how long our men can keep it open.”

Stark nodded and pressed his headset’s mic boom to speak. “Its still under our control, but I can’t guarantee for how long. I’ll send what forces we still have to reinforce you.” He cut the transmission and pointed at the seven soldiers still in the room. “All of you. Go to section nine and keep it secure. After they’re through, fall back with the President into the metro.”

Everyone in the room knew what he meant. Not one of the operators let their fear of death keep them from manning their stations. The lone corporal and leading NCO snapped a solemn salute to the Commander. “Yes sir.”

As one, the men stormed out of the room to act as a rear guard for the president. When they were all gone, Stark noticed the gunfire was scant meters from the east door leading to the elevator, and the Mions’ constant push. “I’ll see every last one of you bastard die before you take our seat of government for us!” He stepped over to his command console and typed in several commands before hitting the large yellow button.

All of the doors leading to the command center were sealed shut as thick steal barriers slid out from the walls. All of the ventilation shafts were cut off in a similar manner. Seven one foot thick slabs of iron closed off the elevator shaft and effectively closed the bunker with an air tight seal. The only place still open to the outside was the path to the metro line.

A clipped computerized female voice played over the loudspeakers spread across the complex. “Warning. Facility lockdown initiated under Vincent protocol. Confirmation of command execution pending.”

Alexia was so badly winded that it was a wonder that she was able to keep pace with everyone. I think I really overestimated my ability to run. Why the hell did I think I could run right after becoming an… She didn’t want to think. Instead she focused on controlling her breathing as she sprinted with the group.

Sounds of battle echoed all through the corridors and the entourage ran into more than a few Mions who managed to slip past security points. The Director and the small collection of soldiers were able to dispatch those lesser Mions with ease. As they continued down the path, Crimson glanced at a sign that had an arrow pointing straight ahead and read “Sector 9”.

The lack of fighting here set Thompson further on edge and he held out a restraining hand as he hunkered down by the closed door. Two of the escorts moved up to flank the door while the rest assumed a rear guard position as more shouting and weapons’ fire resounded along the path they had just taken.

Thompson gave simple hand signals to the soldier across from him to wait three seconds before cracking the door open to see if it was still clear. He only got to the count of two before the lights cut out, leaving everyone in complete blackness.

Tension rose in the group before the red emergency lights cut on and the loud speakers rang. “Alert. Main power severed. Unable to connect to outside line. Backup generators inoperable. Battery emergency power engaged. Alert. Enemies of state attempting to gain access to the Command Center. Vincent protocol stage two initiating. All doors outside of Sector 9 are now under lockdown.” Thompson jumped back as a large metal plate slammed down in front of the door.

Fitzgerald was sweating bullets. Stage three will occur in five minutes, after that the air scrubbers will shut down and we’ll all suffocate. He knew there was no use in trying to pull the metal slab back up as it was magnetically sealed to the door on an isolated battery that will last a week.

Thompson tried to make out the President, who would have the most knowledge of the place, amidst the gloom. The roar of battle had almost ceased completely thanks to all of the now sealed exits from their current location. Everyone in the long red tinted corridor were tense, but were not at the point where fear would take over as most of them didn’t know what the Vincent protocol entailed. It didn’t help that the rotating orange warning lights scattered loosely along the ceiling was messing with everyone’s low light vision. The Director leaned in to whisper to the President. “Sir, is there any way to get this door open? A security bypass or power tools?”

“I’m afraid not son,” the old man sighed with fatalistic resignation. “It would take a wielder to get through that door and then the one normal door, before finally getting to the slab on the other side. By then we’ll be dead.”

Fitzgerald didn’t keep his voice down so as to not let the others hear him. He wanted to face death rather than lie to himself or his escorts about their fate. Thompson was not quite so ready to submit to death as his superior was. “Do you not have an override code?”

The commander in chief looked at him with bemusement. “Of course I do. But the only way to input it is from the command center. But even if the path back wasn’t blockaded, main power’s been cut. The mainframe is operating independently now and will continue to do so for a week until the batteries run out.”

“So we’re stuck here then?” The Director asked, wanting to get the final answer.

“Afraid so.” Fitzgerald glanced about the faces of his escorts. “You should find peace yourselves. Its rare to know when your death is coming, I suggest you all make the most of it.”

Loki scoffed. “Screw that, we've got magic!”

23: Sector 9

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Loki couldn’t believe what she was hearing and jabbed a hoof at the President’s thigh. “Are you seriously going to give up just like that?!”

He studied the pony who looked as if she was a muddy brown thanks to the red lighting. He wiped the sweat from his brow while giving his answer. “I know the Vincent protocol inside and out, and we’re trapped on the wrong side of Sector Nine. There is nothing we can use to get through that door.”

The green mare scoffed at him. “Look buddy, do you even know who you’re dealing with here?” She reached over and dragged Alexia in front of the President. “We got magic yo!”

Everyone looked to the silver mare with a mixture of distant hope and disbelief. Everyone save the ponies, who had full faith in her abilities to save them. Crimson gestured wildly at her alpha with a manic grin. “She can use group teleportation to get us out of here.”

Thompson remembered seeing them Blink onto the helipad back in The Ranch. “Can you do this?”

“Maybe, I don’t know,” the silver mare blustered. “I never intended to cast Mass Teleport. We were lucky I was familiar enough with the helipad because the collision detection cause wasn’t included into the casting.” Loki’s expression fell, prompting Tune to speak further. “Just give me some time to recover. Growing a pair of wings isn’t exactly like a walk in the park.”

Loki forced herself to suppress a snicker. You redefine the term “grow a pair”.

Thompson was glad to have a way out. “How long will that take?”

Alexia blew a few strands of hair out of her eyes. “It’ll take months to get my mana sorted out.”

“We don’t have months,” Fitzgerald deadpanned.

“I know, I know. Can you at least give me five minutes?”

The President had no other option. “That, we can do.”

The Director gave orders to the rest of the escorts. “Check rest of this corridor and make sure there’s nothing lurking behind us.” A round of affirmatives later, and the men preformed a methodical sweep of the path they had just come from.

As they did, Alexia sat on the concrete floor, spared the worst of its cold touch by her short fur. Her eyes were closed as she centered herself to bring her mana back to pre-metamorphosis levels of control. Fitzgerald watched the other ponies crowd around her. None of them hugged her, but the mares leaned against her sides while Conrad leaned on her back. All of them made sure not to disturb her wings. Their passive presence helped calm the feathered unicorn immensely. Any pony could find peace and balance when alone, but few could achieve serenity without being surrounded by those close to them.

Fitzgerald knew a meditative stance when he saw one, but couldn’t for the life of him understand why Alexia didn’t pushed them off of her so she could center herself. I’ve heard of groups meditating with each other, but never with so many having direct physical contact. He checked to make sure there was nothing that could harm the herd before pulling Thompson aside to be out of earshot. “Why are these ponies so touchy feely? She’s trying to meditate, but the others are practically hanging on her.”

Thompson knew of the equine’s acute hearing and pulled the man further away from the herd to speak in hushed tones. “They may have been human once sir, but there is little of that left in them. Their minds are completely alien now. What may seem strange to us they have accepted as normal for them.”

The President looked at him with amusement. “I don’t know about that Director. We have little in terms of physical or even physiological similarities.” He paused to glance down the red tinted hallway at the gathered herd. “But I feel that the ponies’ alien nature will surprise us all.” He returned his gaze back to Thompson. “However it is on us to determine if that surprise will be for good or ill.”

Thompson nodded in agreement. “Makes me glad I voted for you sir.”

Fitzgerald snorted in amusement. “Don’t sing my praises just yet Director. We still need to fully secure that good surprise, or that we even leave this room.”

Alexia felt the herd’s influence as she reached a tranquil state much faster than normal. A light titter danced through her thoughts. We ponies are social creatures to a fault. I feel sorry for those who are scared and alone.

Remembering the purpose behind her meditation, she focused on getting her mana squared away. Bloody hell, I’m a mess. And something is narrowing my Inner Sight to just a few square inches at a time. She saw pockets of dense concentrations of mana in several places while others had next to no mana at all. Well that would explain the ache in my right hind knee and the spots in my neck. Those cells are starving from lack of mana. She checked the carbuncle to see it was too busy pumping all freshly created mana into her wings with a small split towards her womb.

Good, my change didn’t keep my body from prioritizing my foals. They’ll be fine so long as I stay fine. Or at least uninjured. She switched her Inner Sight to her wings and was almost floored by the sight of it. Both wings were so saturated with mana that she could barely see the capillaries from under the bright azure glow of her mana. Holy- this would be blinding if my arcane senses could be blinded. Are they supposed to be like that? The book didn’t have a diagram as to what an ali-. What a winged unicorn’s mana should look like.

The silver mare still wasn’t comfortable with labeling herself as an alicorn. For all I know, this could just be some weird side effect of my mana flare caused me to grow pegasus wings. She knew full well her wings resembled Twilight’s far more than Conrad’s, but she was unwilling to acknowledge it.

Lastly, she checked her horn to find it was still as dense with mana as it always was, if slightly more than usual. However there was something off about it that caught her mind’s eye. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think my horn is longer than it used to be. Alexia possessed a trait shared by almost all unicorns; her horn was her pride and joy. It was more than just her all-important mana focus. The silver length of spiraled ivory was what people noticed first about her, even before her face. It defined who she was to others before her personality could even affect their demeanor towards her.

While Alexia preformed sufficient self-grooming on her coat, mane, and tail to look presentable; it was her horn that she took meticulous care for. It was a rather difficult task to accomplish given that her horn was extremely sensitive to touch while active, but she managed all the same. As much as she hated to leave the issue of a longer horn alone, she needed to repair the damage to the capillaries between the carbuncle and the horn.

She couldn’t even get started without nearly losing her center at the revelation. Wait…What? I thought I only have one moderately bigger sized capillary between those two. But now I have a full sized artery and two extra capillaries?

The artery was functional but had a plethora of errors, with the capillaries not faring much better. At least it’s correctable. It wasn’t enough to stop the flow of mana to her horn, but it was bad enough to make casting problematic. Whatever, I just need to fix it enough so I can try casting again.

Three minutes later, the lone buck sergeant of the escorts returned to the pair of superiors. “Sir, the sweep was clear. There’s some banging on the other doors, but we can’t tell who it is and the bunker’s construction is jamming any attempt to use the radio to see if they’re friendlies. But either way, nothing’s going through these doors.”

The President grumbled to himself before answering. “I hope you’re wrong sergeant.” He turned to face the herd. “I sincerely do.”

Two minutes later, everyone heard the faint sound of machinery shutting down. One of the soldiers looked up at the ceiling with obvious creeping fear. “That wasn’t the air scrubbers was it?”

Thompson nodded. “We better see if the ponies are ready with that exit of theirs.”

Fitzgerald turned the corner to find the herd still leaning against their alpha. Through the dim red light, he thought he could make out a constant azure glow on Alexia’s horn, which he expected, but also a fainter glimmer illuminating her wings. Her new additions were barely visible from behind the mares and stallion crowding around her so he passed it off as a trick of the strobing orange lights.

He spoke loudly enough to get their attention, but not so much to sound harsh. “I trust you have a solution ready. Our air supply has become finite.”

Alexia’s mates backed away from her to give her space. Tune’s horn and wings lost their faint auras as she turned to speak with a fretful tone. “In my current state, I can’t teleport us to the surface, and even if I could trust my magic to fully cooperate, I’d still need foreknowledge of the place I’d be teleporting to.”

The President could only accept her testimony on good faith. “I don’t think going to the surface is a wise move in any event, there’s no telling how pervasive the brown fog is topside and we don’t have any hazard suits with us. Can you at least teleport everyone into Sector nine through the door? The path to the metro should be clear. At least that’s what the last report from the CC indicated before the power went out.”

Tune’s wings fidgeted in contemplation, an automatic act that annoyed her but she dropped it in favor of the moment. “That could work. I can teleport myself and my herd to the other side. But I don’t trust my mana to keep the spell matrix stable if I try to take any more than three at a time. And only a short jump per cast.”

Thompson was in agreement with her. “That would be for the best. We should be cautious and let the four of you go first. Even if the cloud has reached this far, you are immune to its effects. That way you can find a safe area to teleport the rest of us to.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Alexia replied. “I’ll start painting a mental image of the space beyond the wall so I can teleport safely.”

Crimson was a little dubious of the prospect. “A fair warning to you guys.” She said towards the gathered humans after Tune began probing the space beyond the door with her magic. “Being teleported will make you nauseous and dizzy, so expect to puke after going through.”

One of the privates scoffed. “If we can handle a hot insertion with a jinxing helicopter, we can handle a little upset stomach.”

“If you say so,” Crimson remarked to end the debate.

Conrad stood nearby the former unicorn as she pointed her glowing horn at the iron slab barring their path. “What are you doing?”

She halted the spell to answer him. “I was using a simple survey spell used by geologists and cavers. Ordinarily its used to prospect for mineral or jewel deposits, but it can also be used to map open areas. Unfortunately, it can tell me nothing more than that. The passage beyond here is wide enough that I should be able to teleport three at a time without any trouble.”

Thompson started splitting the men up into teams with the next to last one including Fitzgerald. The President thought it best to leave combat matters in the hands of the professionals and conceded to the Director’s wisdom.

Once done, Thompson spoke to Alexia. “The metro is to the right of this door. I want you three,” he said indicating to the other ponies, “to scout ahead to make sure its clear. If there are any defenders remaining, identify yourselves before decloaking.”

Loki spoke for the others. “Sure thing boss.”

Thompson backed away as the three ponies placed a hoof on Alexia as she gathered enough to cast the spell. Her horn grew bright enough that it was no longer visibly beneath the azure light. An array of the same color spread out from her hooves and stopped at the edge of the mares’ longer tails.

Loki was giddy at the prospect. “Scotty, beam me up.”

Tune spoke with a flat tone just loud enough for the herd to hear her. “Just so you guys know. I’ve never actually done this on purpose before.”

Crimson was mortified. “Wait wha-?” She was cut off by a flash of blue light that caused spots in the humans’ vision for a few seconds before clearing.

The ponies were deposited in the eight foot wide and twelve foot tall corridor of Sector nine. The only snag was that they were seven feet off the ground. The mares yelped in surprise at the distinct lack of floor under them and fell while Conrad’s instincts kicked in and he smoothly transitioned into a hover.

He would have found the tangle of limbs and groaning ponies below him comical were it not for the situation at hand. The three MREs Tune brought with her bounced away as well. Instead he filed it away to some to joke about later and landed to help untangle them. “The place seems clear enough, and there’s no sign of the cloud in here.”

Crimson wordlessly thanked him as he pulled her up. She looked around as the others got up and Tune attempted to get her wings to rest against her barrel again. The unfamiliar muscles refused cooperate and they kept jerking every which way until Loki helped her fold them back into place.

“Damn girl. I didn’t think wings would be such a hassle.”

“Just wait til you need to preen or start molting. Then you’ll really love them,” Conrad teased with a smirk.

Alexia simply frowned at her wings while making sure they stayed put. At least keeping them in one place isn’t too distracting. Gah, how does Conrad handle having six limbs? “Well I don’t have time to bitch about them right now.” She fell into commander mode. “Cloak up. I want two you,” she pointed at the earth pair, “to scout ahead. Conrad, I need you to stay here and make sure no hostiles are to the left. Break!”

The ponies scattered away from Alexia as she recharged her horn to blink back to the humans. The two earth mares did not have to go far before running into a large collection of bodies scattered about the path ahead. Loki sniffed the air on her way down to the metro station. “Hey Crimmy, you smell that?”

The pale yellow pony gingerly stepped around a broken body while accidentally kicking a few shell casings. “You mean besides the trail of shredded bodies?” The one thing she wished had been included in her training was to build up some kind of resistance to the smell of spent rounds and blood. Well its obvious the enemy got this far alright, but no indication as to who won.

“Yeah besides that,” Loki whispered hastily. “Its that same gross stench of burn hair and mayonnaise.”

Crimson heard chatter up ahead and her ears perked at the sound. She knew Loki heard it a moment later and they activated their cloaks. Both mares nodded in agreement to remain silent and watch their steps more carefully. Even if their hooffalls were dampened by the bracelets’ magic, it would not stop the shell casings from clattering around or noticeable movement if they stepped on anything.

As they crept forward, the density of the ruined corpses thinned out. Both earth ponies noticed the vast majority of the bodies were not soldiers, but people garbed as regular civilians. Even the weapons they still clung to in death were irregular, leaning to the idea that they were not part of an organized militant group. Loki didn’t believe it for one second. There’s no damn way a bunch of disgruntled civilians could fight their way into the White House’s bunker.

Anderson’s musings reflected Loki’s own as she glanced at the vast array of different weapons. Even terrorists managed to keep their assault weapons somewhat standardized. If only so they could share ammo, but these guys look as if they were equipped with whatever they could get their hands on.

Tzadavek leaned against the wall just outside of the small conductor’s cabin at the front of the small ten passenger subway car. It was not tall enough for the two obelisks to stand upright, so they remained outside while one of the Mion grenadiers attempted to bypass the security lockout on the engine. A second grenadier was busy out in the station itself as he tried to unseal the massive steel doors baring the train’s departure.

Menville was conscious, bound, and laying on the floor next to the Overseer. Tzadavek glanced at the special agent with mild interest. “You wouldn’t happen to want to give us the access codes by chance would you?”

“Go to Hell,” Menville spat back.

The Overseer chuckled at his resistance. “You might as well surrender to the inevitable.” He prodded the wound in Menville's abdomen where the parasite had been implanted. “You feel it don’t you? Your humanity is being torn away and being replaced by something better. Superior. The sooner you embrace this, the faster you’ll evolve beyond the simple primate you are now.”

“All the more reason to resist then. I’d rather die a man, than as some freak.”

The Overseer kicked him across the jaw, knocking a tooth from the agent’s mouth. “Physical torture won’t get far with you will it?” He bent down to grab the liberated tooth and pulled Menville’s head up to stare at it. “You’re probably trained to resist all sorts of torture, both mental and physical I’m sure.” He sneered as he waved the tooth in front of Menville’s eyes. “But how will you handle seeing this tooth grow back as gnarled and twisted as mine?”

Tzadavek flashed a toothy smile full of serrated teeth, but they all shorn forth with a clean white that hinted at careful dental hygiene. Menville forced himself to not recoil at the sight of the inhuman teeth. “You’re the Koridosonites,” the agent queried. “Aren’t you?”

His captor laughed harshly and shook the agent’s color enough to get his point across. “We are Mions. You just haven’t accepted that yet.”

“Never,” Menville growled defiantly. “Even if you could break my will eventually, you’d never do it before we suffocate. The station may have power, but not a functioning air supply. We’re all dead men.”

Tzadavek replied with a condescending smirk. “Death is merely an inconvenience. And don’t think for one moment that the reaper will save you from your fate.” He slammed Menville’s face against the floor of the train and stepped outside to count how many minions he had left. Only three grenadiers still live, the two obelisks of course, but they’ll only last so long as the ten fodder we have left still live. After that they will fall for good.

The lone grenadiers who had nothing to do but watch the empty corridor of Sector Nine walked over to him. “With all respect master, why do you let the convert retain so much of his will? Surely a little forced prodding by the lightbringer would make him more willing without compromising his intelligence.”

“It is not my call. The Herald wanted someone of quality to experiment on. But he can’t do that here, we need to take him to a secure area.”

“Then why not just kill him? That would expedite his delivery without needing to wait for us to clear the train.”

“Reconstituting a mind as resistant to the Link as Menville would require much more time and energy than trying to extradite him would take.” He patted the Mion on the shoulder. “Fear not friend. The Herald will have his prize.”

As the two Mions spoke, one of the obelisks named Brandon was tearing into a ration pack when he smelled something odd. He lowered the rations to sniff the air more strongly, and dropped the food completely as he turned towards Sector Nine.

The division between the station and the rest of the bunker was very open, and had no defensive emplacements between the bunker and the train save for a three meter thick concrete block that completely protected the train from anything between small arms to antitank weaponry. However there was no other cover that could be utilized save for the shallow alcoves in the walls.

Tzadavek halted his conversation with the grenadier when he saw the obelisk following his nose to the edge of the station, but stopped on the edge of Sector Nine. The Overseer walked over to stand behind the towering Mion. “What’s wrong?”

Brandon kept trying to isolate the scent. “Its faint master, but I smell horses.”

The oddity of it grabbed Tzadavek’s attention more than anything. “Horses? Here?”

He sniffed the air again. “But there’s something off about the smell. I was a horse breeder in my past life. So I know the smell very well. But this… The scent is similar but different, has less body to it. As if the animal rolled in a pile of cinnamon and lilacs.”

The Overseer hummed in curiosity. Obelisks have a much more powerful sense of smell than the rest of us. But we already checked the area after the lockdown happened. There should be no one down there. “I want you to investigate.” He turned to the milling cannon fodder. “All of you go with Brandon and obey his words as you would mine.”

As the Mions moved to obey, the second obelisk stepped up to the Overseer. “Problem Overseer?”

Tzadavek tried to see any threats hidden by the dim red lights of the hallway. “Possibly. The military may have activated an override on one or more of the doors. But I want you to stay here and keep watch in case they don’t return.”

Loki was the first to start backing away from the massive Mion as his heavy footfalls and equally large hammer started moving in from the train station. However, it was Crimson who noticed that Brandon was sniffing the air and ignoring the corpses strewn about. I’m going to have to kiss Alex for these invisibility bracelets, cause I do not want to fight that thing.

Crimson waved for Loki to back off so they could warn the rest of the soldiers about what was coming. The green mare wordlessly acknowledged and they both crept away as the obelisk slowly made his way down the tunnel.

Unfortunately four legs and countless spent shell casings made a silent retreat next to impossible. Loki’s left hind leg tripped on the strap of a fallen soldier’s carbine and her leg dragged the weapon half a foot before she shook it loose.

Both ponies cursed their luck as every Mion’s attention centered on the noise. Brandon shifted his hammer into a grip that could strike quickly as he moved more rapidly to the source of the noise. Loki backed away towards the edge of the wall, barely avoiding three more casings around her hooves.

Crimson feared the obelisk might sniff her herdmate out and tried to think of a way to help her. A flash of a memory brought her back to the helipad where Alexia first showed signs of using earth pony style magic. Crimson only knew it for what it was after seeing what Alexia transformed into. I hope this works. Anderson teased and pulled at her mana before finding a sufficiently large mass of it and funneled it into her hooves as she reared up and slammed into a patch of blood-soaked concrete.

Instead of making a distraction for her companion and breaking the ground under her hooves, the still slippery blood that Crimson stomped on caused her to skid forward several inches before her fall was arrested by coming in contact with a body. This shift in momentum caused the magic to travel through the concrete and towards the obelisk, fracturing the ground as it moved.

The spell ignored the dead and erupted out from under the Brandon’s massive boot and exploded the ground out from under him. It did no damage to him nor overmuch to the boot itself, but it did throw him off balance and he collided heavily with the wall.

Loki was wise enough to know when subtly had to be cast aside for haste. She yelled to Crimson before the Mions could recover from the earth bursting out from under their leader. “Cheese it!”

Both mares galloped back from which they came. The Mions were too distracted by the obelisk cursing everything around him to notice the bodies on the ground were jostled about as the ponies ran over them to escape.

The lesser Mions helped their leader get back on his feet while others studied the broken ground that had toppled him. He tossed their helping hands aside and retrieved his weapon. He pointed at one of the fodder. “You, go warn the Overseer there is something here with us. The rest of you, submerge yourselves in the Link.”

As ordered, one of the Mions ran off while the others ignored the bodies around them and knelt down where they stood and closed themselves off to the world so their connection to the Link could overtake them.

Once he felt the fodders’ presence in the Link bolster him, Brandon chased after the invisible ghosts, tracking them by smell alone.

The earth mares rounded two corners and fifty meters to have their noses hammered by the stench of vomit. Alexia did not have a single smooth teleport and every one of them had been in the air or so close to a wall that the troops nearly freaked out about becoming part of the wall.

Alexia was none too pleased about the halfhearted flak she received from the soldiers. The earth ponies came within earshot of Tune returning a verbal barb towards a woozy corporal. “I’m not a walking teleporter pad Chuckles. Besides, the collision clause in the spell would have kept your leg from reforming inside the wall anyway.” The President had the dignity to suffer his teleportation nausea in quiet as he leaned heavily against a large pipe running between the ceiling to floor.

Three of the more stable troopers jumped at the two earth mares materializing in front of the group and skidding to a halt in front of Thompson. Loki was speaking a mile a second. “Big dude. Really big dude. He has lots of friends. All coming this way, with a really really big dude.”

Thompson followed her hoof towards the bend in the passageway and nodded to the corporal to get his men whipped back into shape and have them take point. He placed a stern hand on the green mare’s whither. “Calm down and tell me what you saw.”

The other two ponies gathered around the earth pair while Crimson took the lead and gave an answer. “A serious mountain of a man is coming our way. Way too big to be normal.”

Thompson nodded and readied his pistol. “Leave this to us and stay with the CiC.” He turned to Alexia. “Can you give us some magical protection?”

“Yeah, sure.” Tune stepped up to the left side of the wall and activated her monodirectional kinetic magic, basking the area in front of the soldiers in a pale purple light when her blue combined with the red lighting.

The Corporal led his men to the first bend in the passage with the point man reaching the corner where the hallway bent to the left. The Private angled his carbine down so he could peak around the corner. The moment he leaned his head around the corner a blurred hunk of twisted metal sliced through the air and tore his face apart and ripped his helmet off.

The obelisk belted a war cry as he rounded the corner and slammed his hammer around on a second trooper before he could react and crushed him between the hammer and wall. The remaining six soldiers backed off and pumped twelve rounds into the raging obelisk from each of them. The hail of fire ruined Brandon’s torso and face, but not before he managed to slam his hammer into a third trooper’s chest.

The Mion fell to the ground in a bloody heap. Thompson walked over and shot four more rounds in the beast’s skull before reloading his pistol.

Crimson ran over to the third trooper to see if he was still alive as the rest of the soldiers either grabbed the dog tags of the fallen dead or rounded the corner to secure the next passage. Only Thompson, Fitzgerald and the non-earth ponies investigated the Mion. Loki was less than willing to be near the thing as something felt off about the corpse, yet she had no basis as to what to base her continued fear on.

The President glanced at the winged unicorn. “What was your spell supposed to do?”

Alexia took only four seconds of close inspection before backing away from the corpse; she was getting the same worried feeling Loki had. “Its meant to protect against bullets, not against a living tank and his giant hammer.”

The President looked to the cringing mare. “Can you carry him in your kinesis? We could take it to the labs and see what could possibly make him so big.”

Tune didn’t like it one bit. “If I do that, it’ll make it impossible for me to cast anything else. I don’t trust my mana to remain stable if I try multicasting right now.”

In the dim light, no one saw the rapidly closing wounds around the Mion’s head. None of them expected the corpse to move again. But the obelisk did more than that. Brandon couldn’t see anyone because his face was pointed directly at the floor. What he could do however, was to identify the direction from which Fitzgerald’s voice was coming from and his right hand flashed forward and grabbed the president by the leg and threw him off his feet. At the same time he twisted around and swept Thompson off his feet. Brandon almost did the same to Conrad if the pegasus hadn’t possessed the fast reflexes his tribe was known for and took to the air and avoid the leg sweep.

Before the Mion could close his large hands around the President’s neck, Conrad delivered a spinning drop kick on the back of the Obelisk’s head. Had it been a normal man, the kick would have at least fractured the skull, if not cave it in. But the Obelisk was built to withstand blunt trauma and the impact of hoof on skull only fazed him for a moment.

But that moment was all Tune needed to yank Fitzgerald into the air with her magic and out of harm’s reach. Conrad vaulted back into the air before the Mion could swipe blindly at him. The stallion didn’t dive back down for a second attack. Instead he left the target alone so Thompson could perforate the obelisk with a full magazine of ten rounds. From his fallen position, the Director shot eight rounds in Brandon’s legs and shins. The Mion couldn’t help but to fall as his bones were broken out from under him. That gave Thompson the chance to stand up and fire the last two shots in the head. For the third time that day, the obelisk died.

Thompson dropped the spent magazine and fished out a fresh one. “Would you kindly stay down this time?”

Loki was freaking out. “He got back up! How the hell did he get up from something like that?!”

Conrad flew over to hover between Alexia and Thompson. “I don’t think we should trust him to stay down.”

The Director nodded. “I agree.” He emptied the fresh magazine of ten rounds into the obelisk’s head, destroying the skull almost completely. The ponies flinched at the loud gunshots and flying brain matter. Thompson discarded his pistol and recovered a carbine and five magazines from a fallen soldier. Before he could speak, rapid fire gunshots sounded from further down the Sector.

Alexia didn’t need prompting and set the President on the ground before running to the front line as she charged her kinetic field again. She got within two feet of the corner when three fragmentation grenades exploded on the other side of the wall. The hall filled with more gunfire and cries of the wounded.

Tune didn’t like running into a firefight that included grenades, but she was not unprepared for it. She whistled loudly to the herd. “Formation Romeo!”

Crimson was still in the midst of using her magic to stabilize the soldier who had taken the hammer to the chest, but when her alpha call she was compelled to respond immediately. At least he’s stable enough for now.

Tune adjusted her spell to sap the kinetic energy from everything larger than air particles to those smaller than a clenched fist. All that energy would be shunted to the surrounding air. As soon as the ponies rounded the corner, they activated their cloaks and rushed into the fray without worrying about getting caught in the crossfire thanks to Alexia’s spell.

The other Obelisk and three grenadiers had been sent in to counter attack the soldiers as they continued to advance. The advanced Mions had not arrived in time to keep the soldiers from stumbling upon the fodder who had been communing with the Link. As a result, the distracted lesser Mions had been killed by the opening salvo of grenades that also caught two of the soldiers trying to take the lesser Mions as prisoners.

As soon as the troopers killed the fodder, the Obelisk’s regenerative abilities were cut and the second one died quickly from being caught in the open. The grenadiers however, were holding their own by bouncing the grenades off the walls around the last bend in the Sector. This kept the remaining four soldiers at bay to where they couldn’t risk getting hit to try and get a direct line of sight on them.

Alexia was flagging behind the charging attack almost right from the start as the group stayed within her azure field. Gotta end this in ten minutes before the crystal runs dry. I don’t think I can handle the strain of the invisibility crystal draining me at the same time as this spell.

The ponies jumped and otherwise avoided the wounded soldiers on their way past the last bend in the path. Conrad watched a grenade bounced off the wall and enter Tune’s field only to drop straight down. It exploded a moment later, but all that amounted to was a bit of smoke and cracks in the explosive’s casing.

The grenadiers noticed the distinct lack of explosions and the oddly moving area of purple light. As soon as the aura reached them, the remaining grenadiers were pounded to the ground by the two earth mares bucking the legs out from under them. Unlike the Obelisks, they were not built to withstand any more punishment than a normal human and the sheer strength behind the unexpected kicks from the mares broke their legs on contact.

Conrad swooped in right after them with coup de grâce aerial strike on Loki’s target while Crimson attempted to repeat her earlier used of magic and stomped the ground, causing the floor around the second grenadier to convulse enough to keep him off-balanced long enough for Conrad to finish him off.

Tzadavek heard the shouting and grunts of pain coming from beyond the train. The only one left with him was Menville. The agent squirmed in his restraints, but he was bound too tightly to move, so he taunted the Overseer instead. “I told you you’d lose. Oh sure you’ll make headlines about trashing D.C. I’ll give you that much.” Tzadavek was no warrior. He was not meant to be, and the handgun felt alien in his hands. Menville took his unfamiliar grip on the weapon as a sign of fear. “You’re not even in the same league as other extremists. At least they’d be willing to die for whatever deranged cause they believe in.”

The Overseer couldn’t see what was coming, and wanted to avoid capture at all costs. I can’t lead my flock from behind bars or in a laboratory. If they somehow keep me from speaking I’ll be unable to give orders. His mind filled with images of Hollywood action films of federal agents crashing through the train’s windows and subduing him before he even had a chance to fire. He tsked in annoyance before facing Menville and pointing the gun at him. “You really don’t know who you’re dealing with do you? Death doesn’t concern me, capture does.”

Menville was about to mock him again, but was silenced by a bullet between the eyes. The Overseer scowled at what he had to do. “I was hoping to avoid delays but it can’t be helped.” He directed the gun to his temple with a halfhearted farewell. “C'est la vie.” He splattered his brains all over the interior of the train car.

Conrad heard the two delayed gunshots and flew over to train windows. He saw two bodies and nothing else, so he swept the rest of the room and found nothing. “We’re all clear!” he yelled out after dropping his cloak.

Crimson remained invisible. “These guys have the annoying tendency to play dead. Triple check the bodies.”

None of the ponies could argue with that and followed the suggestion. However there was not much to inspect, what with there only being four bodies in the station itself. The ponies were surprised to find Menville’s body, but couldn’t question the oddity of it before Thompson led the remaining soldiers and the President into the metro after seeing Alexia standing by the entrance. Given her loose posture he assumed the more immediate danger was passed. “Any prisoners?”

“None. The last one offed a prisoner and then himself.”

Four soldiers were still on their feet, and were carrying the only wounded one into the station, the others had not survived. Thompson briefly spoke to the President to request that he enter his passcodes to open the tunnel doors and get the subway train started. “Do you know the prisoner?”

Conrad flew over to stay in a hover above Tune’s head. “It was Agent Menville. They must have taken him because he would know the codes to get out of here.”

“That he would,” the President confirmed. “And shot him after they saw us coming and that he did not give them up. I will be sure he is honored as such.” He motioned towards the train. “Come, we should depart.”

Three hours later in George Hellwig Memorial Park thirty lesser Mions knelt in rows of ten. All of them were communing with the Link. These Mions were those that were too old or otherwise infirm to be of use for anything other than what was about to happen. The Overseer’s second in command paced the area in front of the group while other Mions spread out to make sure no one interfered. The woman only known as Second felt a great rush of consciousness in the Link and twenty five of the meditators started convulsing with seizers and died while the twenty sixth and twenty seventh had their minds supplanted by others.

One of them stood up and planted a boot in the head of the other to send him into unconsciousness. Second walked over to speak. “I take it escape proved futile.”

Tzadavek popped the joints of his new body. Aside from a few changes, his new shell remained mostly human in appearance. He was now a five foot three Asian man with a scar that cleaved his face from cheek to cheek and across his nose. “Ultimately, yes. But my goals were met so there’s not much to complain about.”

She looked over his new shell. “Well, your weak body would be a start. And it takes time to replace those lost.”

He knew she was referring to improved Mions such as the grenadiers and obelisks; the fodder was plentiful and expendable. “That will be your task to fulfill while my body remakes itself to what it once was.”

Tzadavek grumbled at his new shell. The human shape he now resides in had an eating disorder before becoming a Mion and had never been able to fully recover due to other complications. That would all change once the Herald's gifts started to take effect. Second conceded to his will. “As you order Overseer. Transportation has been arranged for you in the parking lot.”

“Good, have everyone disappear and wait for my recovery.” He pointed at the person he had kicked a minute earlier, the one that was being taken over by Menville’s consciousness. Because the agent was not a willing Mion, it would take some time before his mind fully supplanted his new host. “Tie him up and put him in my car. I do not wish for the Herald to wait any longer than he has to for his prize.”

“What about those we left behind?”

The Overseer looked at her as if she grew an extra leg. “Necrotize them of course. We can’t leave any bodies for the labs to dissect.”

Second nodded and spread her influence through the Link. Even while dead, cellular activity still remained in the slain Mions scattered throughout the D.C. area. That activity was enough for Second to give the suicide command to all Mion corpses, effectively telling the cells to wither and die after eroding the bone and cartilage of the bodes before the rest of the tissues rotted away.

She gave the command for the rest of the Mions to flee the area. If they were unable to evade capture, they were to sacrifice themselves so the humans could gain no prisoners to interrogate.

Meanwhile at Andrews Air Force Base, the ponies, Thompson, and Fitzgerald were waiting inside a highly guarded room within the base as the city was brought back under control. The herd’s first stop was the shower stalls to wash all of the blood and sweat from their fur and hooves. Afterwards they joined Fitzgerald and Thompson in a waiting room. Many of the presidential advisers still wanted to put Fitzgerald into the air until everything was resolved, so he would not remain long.

Fitzgerald finished talking with an aide and turned to speak to the ponies who were keeping to themselves around a table. Alexia’s pilfered MREs had been doled out while Loki procured several bottles of water. As a result, the quartet was content to let the humans handle the fallout of the attack on Washington while they enjoyed a meal.

The President stepped up to Alexia and dipped his head in respect. “All of you have acquitted yourselves well today.” He decided to ignore the oddity of Alexia’s metamorphosis unless one of them brought it up. “I will make sure to give you credit for your actions in protecting my life.”

Conrad whispered to Tune briefly before directing his speech to Fitzgerald. “Actually, we’d prefer it if our actions are not made common knowledge. We don’t want to be a target for the people who attacked us.”

Fitzgerald didn’t like it, but couldn’t disagree with his logic. “Very well, I will publicly attribute my rescue to the secret service and the military instead. Either way, I wish to thank you. Had you not been there, I would have died in the airless tome.”

Crimson perked up. “Actually there is something you can do for us.”

Fitzgerald was cautious, but remained diplomatic. “If it is reasonable, I will do what I can.”

The pale yellow mare got off her chair and pulled Alexia in to whisper her idea, given it was not her place to speak of the matter outside the herd. Tune nodded and directed Anderson’s request herself. “We would like to request a year’s leave from our contractual obligations in two months’ time for all four of us. We would of course make up for that time afterwards.”

The President was nonplussed by the request. “That is a simple matter. May I ask why?”

Alexia thought it over and decided it was time to come out with it, if only to him. “I’m nearly four months pregnant. I want maternity leave when the third trimester starts as I would likely be incapable of preforming in our typical assignments at that time. Plus I want time to care for the infant.” She didn’t want to bring up that she had twins.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I see…” This is not totally unexpected, but I'm surprised she of all people ended up being with child. In any event, Alexia is obviously the most powerful pony I know about. Not just in magic, but her profound influence among her kind. I think Thompson was right about them being very honest with their allegiances. If I give the pony princess this allowance, then she will remain loyal to me and the States by extension. And so long as she’s steadfastly loyal to the States, then so will any foreign ponies who pledge themselves to her.

His musings complete, he gave his response. “How about this. Aside from the critical time before and after delivery, if more ponies join Thompson’s organization, then I would like it if the four of you could serve as training instructors until the child is twelve months old. Or at least old enough to healthily wean him, I’m not sure how long it will be for you ponies.”

“If you do that, I can have that serve as part of your four years.” He directed his speech at Alexia before continuing. “You of course can take your leave however is necessary during that period, but the rest of you are not necessary to care for the child at all times like you are.”

Alexia glanced at her herdmates and they all silently agreed. “That’s a deal we can live by.”

The President checked his phone for the time. AF one should be hitting the tarmac any minute now. “Excellent. Now if you’ll excuse me I have a plane to catch.”

Fitzgerald passed the Director on his way to speak to his charges. He pulled the man aside to give him a brief command. “They want a leave of absence in the near future, and I’ve granted it to them. The Princess will give you further details.”

He glanced in the ponies’ direction with bemusement. “Yes sir. I’ll discuss it with them on the way back to The Ranch.”

Fitzgerald was about to leave but stopped himself and tugged on Thompson’s sleeve to bring him back. “That reminds me.” He pulled out a sealed envelope he had received from one of his aides. “Give this to Colonel Bowler upon your return to The Ranch. You should read it yourself on the flight over.”

The Director tucked the orders into his jacket. “I will sir.”

Fitzgerald shook his hand as a feint to draw the man in close so he could speak without risking the ponies’ acute hearing from picking them up. “The Princess is the key to controlling the rest of her kind. I am making it your sole duty from here on out to make sure her allegiance never wavers from the States. Do I make myself clear?”

Thompson almost let his nervousness slip past his professional mask as Fitzgerald’s eyes bored into his. “Crystal sir.”

“Glad to hear it,” the President replied with his stony expression suddenly becoming warm. “I’ll leave you to it then.”

As soon as Fitzgerald left the building, the room was deserted quickly save for Thompson and the ponies. With the President’s blessing, the equines were given sufficient security clearance to not need an escort except for Thompson. However they did not linger at Andrews long and were in the air a few scant minutes after Fitzgerald took off in Air Force One.

As soon as the helicopter was in the air, Thompson unbuckled his seat and stood up to leave while speaking to the ponies via the helmet. “You should rest while you can. No doubt you’ll be getting a hero’s welcome upon your return.” He didn’t wait for a reply as he moved up to the front of the aircraft to give the ponies some privacy, and so he wouldn’t reveal any sudden reactions to the orders in his pocket as he read them.

The ponies did not resume their original seating arrangement as both winged equines used the smooth flight to help Alexia learn better control over her wings. There were some unavoidable moments of turbulence, but the floor was stable enough for the time being. It also gave Conrad a distraction from his own wings fidgeting from being in flight by something else’s power, something Alexia did not share as of yet.

He stood on her left side and rested a hoof near her wing shoulder. “I know it’s been awhile, but try thinking of your wings as your old human arms.”

Alexia gave him a puzzled look. “I don’t remember my arms lacking hands and being covered in feathers.” She tried folding and unfolding them. The linked movement was starting to fade as her brain grew more accustomed to the wings’ presence. Her mind however, was a different story all together.

“Be that as it may, it’s the best parallel I can think of seeing as you haven’t had any limbs other than legs for nearly five months now. But that mostly stems from the fact that you don’t walk on your wings, and you can even use your primaries to manipulate stuff.” Conrad used his wings to buckle an empty seat’s restraints to prove his point.

Alexia had seen him do similar things with his wings on a regular basis and strained her neck to look at her feather tips when she couldn’t angle her wings properly. Tune frowned at the silver feathers. “I don’t think mine will work like that. But its fine, I still have my magic to do stuff like that.”

“Right. Well we’re not going to try anything too complicated right now. Not that we could while in the chopper,” he commented while glancing around the cargo hold. “For now, just basic movement will suffice.” He stepped closer to feel her right wing which was currently folded against her barrel and hummed disapprovingly. “Your muscles are all tense. Are you trying to force them to stay put?”

“Well yeah,” Tune replied as if it was a trick question. “How else are they going to keep from falling down?”

Conrad was sorely tempted to scoff at her reasoning. Well she did just get the things, and she hasn’t had ten minutes to collect her thoughts on it. “Okay first off, relax. Being up against your barrel is your wings’ resting position. I’m not exactly sure about anatomy, but when you don’t want to use them; your wings will sit tight automatically. Just stop thinking about keeping them there, and just let them be.”

Alexia tried for several minutes with no success. “Sorry, but it’s a little hard not to think about them, when you spend over like…I don’t know, an hour screaming your head off as these thing stab their way out of your back.” He felt the tension in her wing muscles loosen a bit as she vented her emotions on the whole day. “I mean its not like I suddenly switched tribes from unicorn to pegasus.” She gently bumped a fetlock to her horn to make sure it was there. At least my pride and joy is still where she should be.

Conrad stayed silent so more of her attention shifted away from her new limbs. “And another thing,” she continued while looking at Conrad. “Didn’t anyone think to grab some morphine or Advil while I was writhing on the floor?”

He didn’t have an answer, but thankfully, Crimson did. “I was tempted to find some for you, but I don’t think I have to remind you that any pain reliever, even a one-time dose might have caused birth defects. We’ve tested all that stuff on humans, but I have no idea what that stuff might do to you or the foals.”

“Just think of it as gaining experience for the pain that childbirth will be,” Loki chimed in. “I’ve always heard it’s a bitch.”

Alexia cringed enough to raise a foreleg up defensively. “Eerrrmm. I really didn’t need to hear that.”

Conrad felt her wings were finally at ease, if a little fidgety from the topic of conversation. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” he said to derail the issue at hand. In more immediate concerns, it seems you’ve finally relaxed your wings.”

Tune looked back at the new limbs, having almost forgotten completely about them. Despite knowing full well her wings were firmly anchored into her skeleton, that her mana coursed through them, and the muscles responded to her will albeit in a clumsy manner, Tune was unable able to accept what their presence meant. This has to be one of those horrible side effects Twilight warned me about. I thought my mana was stable enough before going on camera, but…

She tried moving just one wing this time, and was rewarded with only her left one unfolding itself. But if this is a bad side effect of the Mana Flare, then why do they work so well? Why does it look exactly like Twilight’s wings, just silver instead of lavender. She refolded the wing and tried letting it just sit there without thinking about it. There’s no way its true. I’m just a winged unicorn. All I have to do is summon the tome and ask her. But I can’t do that while the chopper is going so fast.

“Can you guys wait here a moment, I need to ask Thompson something.” Tune trotted to the front where Thompson was still reading his new orders. She saw derisive smirk and clicked her helmet to his frequency. “Hey boss.”

The Director cleared his throat and folded his orders under his arm before speaking. “Yes, Miss Tune?”

“Can you please tell the pilots to stop into a hover real quick so I can summon my tome? I need to speak to Twilight.” She made a feeble attempt to gesture with her wings to show why.

Weak as it was, it was still enough to get his attention. “They’ll complain a bit, but I can do that.”

Ten minutes later, the tome was lying in the center of the cargo bay floor and the helicopter was on its way again. Alexia found the purple circle on the Guard page was blinking rapidly, indicating the purple mare urgently wished to speak. That worried the silver pony more than anything as Sparkle had yet to use that warning. She couldn’t possibly know what was going to happen to me.

Steeling herself, Tune activated the page and Twilight Sparkle erupted from the book. “Alexia! I was getting worried. Are you…”

Tune jerked her wings out in a miserable but clear display of her new limbs. She was a symbol of nervous energy as the silver mare laughed weakly at her tutor. “Um, hi Sensei. I’m in a bit of a crisis here.”

Sparkle’s expression was unreadable. “So I see.”

The silver mare twitted her hooves with worry painted over her face. “So is there any way you can fix this? Or tell me how to fix it?” She tried to move her wings a bit more for emphasis.

Twilight’s expression softened. “There’s nothing wrong with you having wings Alex. You’re an alicorn.”

To hear her mentor confirm what her fears told her was the last nail in the coffin of her life as a unicorn. “Oh… Okay then.” Tune hung her head for a few moments to reconcile with that, but the effort wasn’t very successful. I know how Twilight and the other alicorns on Equis live. None of them get to have a quiet life in the countryside. Or have a few days to just unwind, or anything. She looked back up at the patient purple princess. “So what do I do now?”

Twilight grimaced. “Well first I feel the need to ask you to listen for a bit while I explain a few things.”

24: No Good Deed

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Twilight Sparkle was not a fan of the helicopter. The purple alicorn loved the idea behind it though. A heavier-than-air craft that flew by virtue of what she surmised to be a giant fan on top. This was mostly due to Loki's less than stellar explanation of the craft's functionality. What she didn’t like about it was the noise. The whine of the engine coupled with the thumping blades made initial conversation with Tune’s herd difficult. The fact that the four earthling ponies wore helmets made it nearly impossible.

So the equestrian princess resorted to channeling a low level telepathy spell for all ponies present. It didn’t allow them to read any thoughts, but it did enable the speaker to project what they wanted to say and the rest would hear it. The other reason Twilight did this was so she could cut out the audio portion of the transmission to save her hearing from the engine noise. It had taken the other ponies only a short testing period to adjust to the spell designed for ease of use by its recipients.

Alexia tried to wrap her head around Twilight’s explanation. “So… you’re telling me. That I became an alicorn because I went on TV?”

“Not quite.” Poor filly must still be in shock over it all. “Going on TV awakened your power because ponies all over the world reacted to your natural aura and pledged themselves to you. But you’ve been an alicorn since the night you arrived at The Ranch.” Twilight spat the last two words like they were poison. She was grateful of the freedom Earth’s ponies were being granted, but she felt it had taken too long.

Tune was not in a state of mind to react to Twilight's spite at the end. Alexia felt as if everything she had worked for was based on a lie. “This whole time.” The silver alicorn looked at her mates with a profound sadness, most of all to Crimson. “All the good I thought I was bringing to my people, getting them to accept being a pony, and guiding them away from ever wanting to be human again.” Her eyes misted over as she felt she had wronged the pale yellow mare so deeply, that she would hate for it. “Was because I radiate magic that compels them to abandon their humanity? They don’t love me for what I do. Everyone loves me because I give off some kind of narcotic radiation.”

Crimson unbuckled her seat and wrapped her forelegs around the weeping alicorn. “Don’t you ever say that! I love you because you helped me become the pony I am today.”

Alexia tried to pull away. “But that’s just it!” she wailed, but Anderson wouldn’t let go. “You’re high off my magic. If it wasn’t for that-”

Crimson shoved her hoof in Tune’s mouth to silence her. The earth mare forced herself to stay composed, but she felt Tune’s pain. “Where would I be without your magic Alex?” It was a rhetorical question so she kept speaking. “I would probably be just like all the other ponies in The Ranch before you showed up.” She kissed Tune on the lips for several seconds before continuing. “How many ponies at The Ranch were depressed, lethargic, and suicidal?”

Conrad bounded over to answer for his alpha while draping a wing over her. “Nearly every single one of them.”

Loki jumped in too. “The prez said none of the other internment camps rallied like ours has. We needed you Alex.”

Tune could only half listen because felt she didn’t deserve such a loving herd. Like she won their affection through cheating, but she couldn’t find the strength to push her mates away. “But I didn’t earn it fairly. I brainwashed every pony I came in contact with.” She directed her next statement at Crimson in particular. “Without even knowing it, I forced you to accept being a pony.” Tears streamed down her face. “I killed Michael and you took his place because of me!”

While no one but Alexia could hear it, everyone was stunned when Crimson slapped Alexia across the face. Only the helmet kept the distraught mare from inflicting any damage. “Don’t you ever say or think that again!” Anderson shed tears of her own, not just from the emotional pain, but from striking her alpha in anger. “I am not some entity that crawled out of this mare’s body to replace Michael.”

The pale yellow mare hugged Tune tightly. “I am wholly Crimson, an earth pony. But I used to be Michael the human. Michael chose, I chose to follow your example and adapt to what I’ve become. Without you I’d still be lamenting what I had lost instead of embracing all that I’ve gained.” The silver mare desperately wanted to reciprocate the earth mare’s hug, but still felt that Crimson was only acting this way because of her magic.

“You should take her words to heart Alexia.” Twilight called out to get their attention. “This charismatic aura you possess needs one thing to remain active, that you act with the tenets of harmony in your heart.” Something I am finding it profoundly hard to believe that Discord implemented intentionally. Sparkle walked slowly over to her miserable student and put on her best motherly face. The same one Celesta used on her countless times before. “Alex. I will not lie to you and say your passive magic is not a form of coercion. Were it not for the exact nature of this magic and what it has accomplished, I would be obligated to remove that power from you and…discipline Discord.”

Crimson wanted to speak her mind, but Twilight gestured for restraint. Sparkle mulled over her answer before restarting. “The thing is Alex. Your people needed to be coerced. A soul can last indefinitely within the body of a difference species. But the human soul, which I imagine has never been exposed to magic, being bound within a pony’s body, which is permeated with magic, is an inherently incompatible combination. Over time, even the strongest of spirits will eventually wither and die. The only way to counteract that decay, is for the spirit to want to conform to the body it has been attached to. It was not something Discord counted upon.” Big shocker there.

“However he inadvertently avoided the deaths of two million ponies, and counting, by turning you into an unawakened alicorn.”

“But Sensei. That doesn’t detract from the fact that its all fake.”

Twilight stood firm on this and her visage become stern. “Yes Alex, it does! Your presence, even for but a moment's contact, saved those ponies who were on the verge of death from spiritual decay. Discord gave me a sample of your magic for me to study while I waited for you to speak with me again. The only thing your magic forces ponies to do Alex, is to recover from the rot on their souls. You stabilize them. After that, your magic becomes a catalysis. Only those ponies willing to follow your lead, and accept their fate as ponies will be affected by you further.”

Realization dawned on Conrad. “Are you saying that’s why there are still ponies who hate her in the camp? Because they don’t want to be ponies?”

Twilight didn’t like the idea of ponies hating one another. It was too reminisce of the pre-unification era. “Their hatred is of their own making, and their reasons for feeling as such are their own.” She saw Alexia’s spirits slowly rise at the thought that she wasn’t a brainwashing monster. If only it didn’t take the presence of hatred to prove my point. “But as you can see Alex, you do not control these ponies by force of will or magic. It only works if they want to be a pony, and that you hold the six virtues in your heart. As I have said before,” she added with a smile, “you do not need to be a paragon of those virtues. Just that you try your best to hold onto them.” Tune slowly let go of her apprehension and the herd crushed her in a group hug, an act Twilight dearly wished she could be a part of. “Lastly,” Sparkle said after the hug ended, “is that once a pony of Earth possesses the soul of a pony, your magic no longer affects them in any way. Whatever feelings they have for you at that point is very real.”

Crimson didn’t need Twilight’s justifications, but knew Alexia did. The pale yellow mare affectionately nuzzled Tune. “Don’t forget I would be dead without you Alex. We all owe our lives to you.”

Loki joined in. “I’d have gone mad had you not been there for me Alex.” The green mare saw Conrad give her a condescending look. “Well, more so than usual I guess.”

Alexia’s spirits rose at her fellow mares’ blessings and she turned to Conrad who snickered at her unvoiced question. “Do you really have to ask?”

The silver alicorn smirked. “I guess not.”

Twilight let them have a moment to recompose themselves. When Tune saw the Equestrian princess was still waiting for her, she gestured for her mates to give Twilight room to speak. “Alexia. There are a great many things that you should know about what you have become, but for now, most of that can wait for you to fix your itineris system. Even without using Inner Sight, I can tell you’re suffering badly. Which is why I strongly recommend that you clear away as many obligations as possible over the next week and devote as much time to meditation as possible.”

“That might be kind of hard once The Ranch finds out I’m an alicorn.”

Sparkle dipped her head in acknowledgement. “A few hours or a whole night of celebration would not be uncalled for.” The purple mare’s mirth was clearly evident. “After all, you ascended and became a princess all in one day. To deny them a festival would be rather harsh on your subjects.”

The silver mare cringed at Twilight’s word usage. “Does it really have to be called ‘ascension’? It seems too centered around mythology.”

Sparkle’s ear twitched at the very diplomatic terminology. “You’re worried a religion might spring up around you?”

“Given how they’ve acted so far, I’d be shocked if they don’t shower me with worship and dry rice upon my return.”

Twilight nodded. “Celesta and Luna had a similar problem when they first ascended. Thankfully though, modern equestrians do not see them, or me, as goddesses.”

“How did they get them to stop?” Conrad inquired.

It was Twilight’s turn to cringe. “Actually they…didn’t at first.”

Loki didn’t know if she should find that humorous or scary. “So what changed their minds?” The question distracted the others from Tune's apprehension about her basic alicorn power.

“I will only say it was because of the Lunar Rebellion. Saying any more than that would not be my place.” The other ponies dropped the issue. “But in the end, it will be your call on if you are to be worshiped or not. I will not judge you either way.”

Alexia waved her hooves in defiance. “Well they are getting a big fat no on that one. It would be my luck that a thousand years after I’m dead, ponies will wage crusades in my name.” Her ranting increases. “Inquisitions, excommunications, extremist groups, nu uh. Forget any of that.”

Twilight remembered her mentor teaching her about the princesses’ early history and hid an awkward grimace. That’s a pretty accurate list.

Anderson was interested in a different matter. “Did they want to be worshiped because of vanity, or was there was a more practical purpose for it?”

“I like your intuition Crimson,” Twilight praised. “There is a very tangible benefit to an alicorn being worshiped.” She directed her attention to Alexia. “Something I know you’ve experienced firsthoof.”

Tune was startled by the proclamation and searched her memory. “Are you saying it was worship that triggered my metamorphosis?”

The purple mare nodded. “As I said, you’ve been an alicorn ever since your meeting with Discord. Before your ascension, simple admiration and reverence was enough to ‘feed’ you enough power to trigger your awakening. As a fledgling alicorn however, that alone will no longer increase your power. It would require ponies to be truly worshiping you as their goddess.” Sparkle became self-conscious. “I have not experienced it personally, but I hear the sensation of such worship on a grand scale can be quite-” She tried to search for a politically correct term. “-intoxicating.”

Tune missed the fledgling comment as she was too distracted by the prospect of getting drunk on praise. “Sounds like a one way trip to the dark side if you ask me. I’ll leave my intoxication to alcohol thank you very much.” Well, after the pregnancy anyway.

Loki however was rather interested in the whole idea of getting strength through worship. “So Twilight,” she began to get her attention, “if the both of you get stronger from followers like that. Does that make Alex a goddess?”

Tune shot her a glare that would melt steel. “Princess was bad enough. I am not a goddess!”

The green mare snorted at her exclamation. “Girl just because you don’t want to believe something doesn’t make it any less true. If you are a goddess, then you need to know.”

Tune jabbed a hoof at Twilight. “I swear if you spout some of that ‘from a certain point of view’ crap I’m going to explode.” Sparkle clamped her mouth shut.

Conrad knew what that meant, and what effect it would have on the new alicorn. So he jumped into the conversation to derail it. “What about her foals? Will they be alicorns too?”

The purple princess was glad for the distraction, and it grabbed the other mares’ attention. “Not your current children. Any future foals you have with Conrad” or future mates, “can be of any of the three tribes, with a predisposition to whatever tribe the father belongs to. Pegasi in this case. The only way to have an alicorn child is to copulate with another alicorn. However there hasn’t been a male alicorn for over a millennia.”

Tune nuzzled Conrad. “Any chance he’s an alicorn in disguise?”

“No.”

“Then that last part is a non-issue.” She looked lovingly into his emerald eyes. “We’re growing old and grey together right?”

He planted a kiss on her as the other members of the herd joined in. “We all are.”

The scene brought Twilight’s fears to the surface. Mental images of Rarity, Applejack and the others forced her to keep from shedding a tear. She doesn’t need to know she’s ageless yet. She’ll need a few decades to settle into her role.

Twilight left soon afterwards, leaving behind a few more tidbits of advice. Alexia’s priority was fixing her itineris system above all others and she spent the remaining four hours of the flight doing just that.

The final approach towards The Ranch was characterized by Conrad giving her one last crash course lesson in wing movement. “Now that you can finally let your wings rest normally at your sides, you should try fully extending them up and down again.”

Tune unclasped her seat harness and joined the stallion in the center of the cargo bay. “I think I can manage that much.” She watched the pegasus move his wings in a slow careful fashion so Alexia could see the motions. Even though her wings were quite different from his, however the overall movements were similar enough.

By the time the helicopter landed, she could flare her wings and close them again with only moderate effort. The Director stood by the cargo doors as they were about to open and addressed Alexia. “I have orders to take over Colonel Bowler’s position as base commander. Mostly so I can facilitate The Ranch’s closure. I will contact you at noon tomorrow to set up how you wish to handle it. I believe they would prefer it if their princess had a heavy hand in it.”

“So you're not going to throw missions at us until this place is condemned?” Loki asked while cheerfully bouncing on her hooves.

The mare managed to coax a tiny smile out of the man. “I think we can all agree that the faster this place becomes a memory, the better. But for now.” The doors opened to reveal a collection of ponies waiting to see Alexia. “Your public awaits.”

She sighed. “Let’s get this over with.”

As Tune led the herd down the ramp of the helicopter in a chevron formation and in the direction of the internment houses, the gathering crowd of ponies cheered and whooped at the triumphant return of their princess. Yet all of that came to a rapid silence as more and more ponies took notice of her folded wings.

Alexia knew full well what was running through their minds. I am not volunteering a damn word about it. That determination didn’t last long when the old surgeon Reed blocked her path and prostrated himself in front of the silver alicorn. For fu- she suppressed a growl of extreme displeasure. “Can I help you Mister Reed?”

“Your Highness. How is it that you an alicorn?”

“It a long story,” she sighed with fatigue, “but suffice it to say, it is permanent.”

Crimson stepped forward. “One I’m sure she wouldn’t mind me posting about later.” She looked to her alpha for final admission, and was granted it with a nod. “For now though, why don’t we throw a celebration for Alex being a Princess in both name and body?”

Reed and the hundred silent ponies within earshot cheered so loudly that the royal herd had to cover their flattened ears. Reed bowed low and shouted over the din. “We’ll get started right away! No doubt we can merge it with the liberation party we have scheduled for tomorrow as well.”

That was a celebration Tune had been looking forward to for a long time. So that’s what they’ve been planning since I’ve been gone. Well if they lump my awakening and royal celebration right in with the liberation one, then that’s fine by me. “Very well Mister Reed. I’ll leave you in charge of that.”

Alexia looked back at her proud looking herd. They tried to hide it, but the day’s events were exhausting and the sun was already slipping below the horizon. The silver alicorn gazed over the exuberant ponies to the farmlands off in the distance. She could only see the tops of the golden grain as they caught the last of the sun’s rays. The recreation center in the distance stood out over the ocean of identical houses as the tallest construction in the non-military side of The Ranch.

Tune’s vision returned to vast sea of color that was her people. Pegasi crowded the skies around their monarch, and their ground bound kin bunched around to see the venerated alicorn. Whether it was playfulness or a spark of vanity, Alexia decided to give them what they wanted and flared her wings for all to see.

She couldn’t help but to giggle at the wave of ooh’s and ahh’s that passed between the crowd before their cheering redoubled. While Alexia didn’t know it, many of the clamoring ponies felt they were validated by their princess being an alicorn. Where before they were worried they might one day lose her to the sands of time, now they knew she would never leave them. Reed and his companions had read the incomplete history texts of Equestria the camp had access to, and all of them pointed to one constant: the Royal Sisters. The books assumed the alicorn sisters were immortal because they were permanent figures in Equestria. Now that Alexia had been awakened, her subjects believed Tune would be a permanent figure for Earth as well.

Tune’s herd was unaware of that view of history, and Alexia's studies in magic kept her too distracted to delve too deeply into Equestrian lore. All she cared about was that her subjects were happy, and that was enough for her. It still feels archaic to call them subjects, but I can’t think of anything that fits better. So until I do, I will settle for that term. She took a few minutes to bask in their exuberance. This liberation is as much their victory as it is mine.

Thompson was making his way to the base’s administration building. The executive orders were tucked safely in his arm as he kept his eyes locked on the entrance. He was both apprehensive and smug about the contents of the orders. Bowler’s going to have a conniption. Of course, if he didn’t love his job in the way that he does, he wouldn’t be in this situation.

The Director halted when he saw several Armored Personnel Carriers roll out to the barracks and dozens of soldiers in riot gear filing out to board them. All it took was one look behind him to see the massive gathering of ponies to know what the detachment of Army Military Police was mobilizing for. “That shortsighted bigot!”

Thompson sprinted to the marshaling area to reach them before the M1117 Guardians started moving. However the distance was too great and the fifteen Guardians loaded up and made a beeline straight for the gathered ponies. Thompson changed course to stand in the middle of the road and waited for the first APC to reach him.

He masked his breathing and stood firm as the lead Guardian seemed to take no notice of him until the last few seconds and stopped two feet from the Director. The other drivers were not expecting the leader to stop and halted to form a semicircle around the defiant agent. First Lieutenant Druckmann popped his head out of the lead M1117 to shout over the grumbling engines as five MPs piled out to confront him.

The officer was harsh in his speech. “Move aside Director! We’re under orders to break that riot up, and I will have you detained if you continue to interfere.”

Thompson decided to skip the improper term for a celebration and instead handed over his documents. “By Executive Order one ninety seven, I am here to relieve Colonel Bowler of command. The Ranch falls under my jurisdiction.”

Druckmann pushed himself out of the vehicle to approach the Director. He found it suspicious that a civilian agent would be given command over a military base. “Let me see that.” He snatched the documents and read them carefully. The junior officer’s face went from annoyed disbelief to surprise, before settling on professional acceptance. Druckmann reluctantly handed the papers back over. “What are your orders?”

Thompson tucked the documents in his arm before speaking. “Leave the ponies alone. And make sure everyone else does as well while I speak with the Colonel.”

Druckmann didn’t like getting orders from a civilian, outside of the president himself; and he was disgusted by the implications of the order’s contents, but he had little choice. “Very well Director.” The Lieutenant motioned for the MPs standing around the men to back off and clambered back into his Guardian. He grabbed the radio and ordered his men to fall back.

As they left, Thompson sighed heavily while straightening his suit. “I swear, its like we have the worst people possible to be the ponies’ jailors.” The Director made his way to his previous destination: Bowler’s office.

Said Colonel was not sitting at his desk, but staring out of his office window at the exuberate ponies who were ignorant of how close they had come to being disciplined by the MPs. His office was much the same as it had always been. Spartan and to the point, with only an unsolved rubric cube sitting next to his desk’s name plate to give any sort of personal touch to the chamber. The window was shoulder high on the five foot ten inch man, and extended to the ceiling.

Bowler cast a hateful gaze upon the glob of color in the distance. He had seen Thompson's confrontation with the MPs through the window and later received word from the First Lieutenant about the contents of the orders. Bowler didn’t know what the orders said yet, but he could guess.

The Colonel waited patiently for Thompson’s arrival, mulling over the grim future he envisioned as a consequence for allowing the ponies to roam free in society. Soon enough, that knocking resounded in his office prompting the man to yell. “Enter!”

Thompson entered wordlessly and stood behind the guest chair in front of the desk. Bowler’s position by the window made him face perpendicular and a few feet to the left of the Director. The Colonel glanced at the man who had orders in hand, but not trying shove them in his face. If for nothing else, he granted Thompson was capable of allowing him to keep some of his dignity intact. Bowler worked his jaw a bit to find the right opening. “You’re here to take my command.”

Thompson noted the man’s level tone couldn’t hide the disappointment in his voice. “That’s correct. I don’t know when or where you’ll be reassigned to.”

Bowler wasn’t sure how to take the lack of smug triumph or condensation from the Director. He sighed while shaking his head. “Those creatures will be the death of us Director. Mark my words.”

Thompson studied the old officer, and knew the man spoke with conviction. “There have been a lot of people crying out that change will bring about the end of man. And yet we stand here today.”

Bowler’s tone grew bitter. “Don’t try to lump these ponies in with those who babble over trivial issues like marriage and free choice. These things put on a good show, but in the end they are worse than terrorists could ever hope to be.”

“If I recall correctly Colonel; I didn’t see ponies setting Washington ablaze,” Thompson countered.

Bowler finally turned away from the window to look at his ideological foe. “Did you ever stop to wonder why these equines have been playing this game? To strive for equal citizenship?”

“Because they deserve a chance to prove themselves.” Thompson answered confidently.

“Oh how blind you are Director. No that’s not why at all.” Bowler returned his gaze to the ponies who were filtering back into their houses or other places of activity. “They’re more insidious than you or anyone else realizes.”

Thompson felt sorry for the man, but didn’t show it in his speech. “Colonel I’ve reviewed your service record. You’ve been in more combat and command positions than most-“

“Save your platitudes Thompson. I don’t need to be reminded of my service record,” Bowler growled as he walked away from the window and sat at his desk. He steepled his hands while glaring at the agent. “Either give me the orders or get out my office.”

Thompson was not to be pushed off so easily. Technically its my office now. “Colonel, you see enemies of state everywhere. Even when none are present.”

“When none are present?” Bowler replied incredulously. “Man is a dangerous animal Director. Manipulative, violent, intelligent, I could list traits for hours.” He stabbed a finger at Thompson. “Those technicolor barn animals are all of those compounded with that insidious aesthetics of theirs. You’ve been enthralled by them.”

“Anyone is capable of criminalistic tendencies Colonel, human or pony. The benefits they can offer far outweigh the risks.”

Bowler gestured for the executive orders to be handed over. “You had better be right about this Director.” He started reading. “Because I know the time will come when the novelty of these animals wears off on the general public,” he looked up to study Thompson’s even expression, “people will see them for what they really are.”

“Of course some will see it your way Colonel,” Thompson replied smoothly. “If people can hate another for having differences of opinion, beliefs, skin color, or even the monumental sin of rooting for the other sports team, then of course many will hate the ponies.” He rested his palms on the top of the guest chair’s back and put his weight on it. “When all is said and done, I believe the ponies will bring out the best mankind has to offer.”

Bowler took Thompson's statement as the words of a madman and angrily signed the orders and glowered at the insufferable man before him. “Scoff all you want Director. But when the chips are down, you’ll see that I’m right. The ponies should be exterminated.”

Thompson’s humor was gone. “Colonel, I had hoped after all this time of being their warden, that you would have a better understanding of them by now.” He wasn’t going to patronize him any further with pity. “But I was mistaken.”

“Only one of many mistakes Director.” Out of formality, Bowler cleared the desk to stand toe to toe with Thompson.

The Director followed suite. “You are relieved Colonel.”

With dogged adherence to his duty, Bowler replied without hesitation. “I stand relieved.” It was that same adherence to duty, which forced his hand. Bowler caught Thompson off guard and elbowed him across the face before laying him out with a left hook. Before the Director could try to scramble away to ready his pistol, Bowler flipped the guest chair over and tore a taped dart gun off the back of the seat and fired three darts into Thompson’s gun arm and chest.

Thompson tried to aim his weapon, but Bowler kicked it away. His vision was starting to swim, and he could only force out a single word. “Why?”

Bowler leaned over the man’s head. “Its quite obvious you and the Commander in Chief are being manipulated by Uniform’s magic. No one from the CIA could possibly be as trusting as you are. I’m simply making sure that stops today.” Thompson’s head was swaying as the tranquillizers tightened their hold on him. “Don’t worry Director. By the time you wake up, her influence over you will be broken.”

Thompson could barely keep his head up and stare at what he thought was Bowler’s direction. “Traitor,” he spat before being rendered unconscious.

The Colonel stood up and looked down at the man with a mixture of righteousness and resignation. “If that is what I have to become to save our nation and species, then so be it.”

Alexia flopped on her bed and let out a long tired sigh. Loki and Crimson joined her while Conrad prepared a light dinner with their meager provisions. The silver mare laid on her belly with her wings splayed out at her side while the other mares laid down in front of her. Tune took a moment to melt into the slightly scratchy fabric. “Ugh. It feels so good to let my hooves rest.”

Loki wiggled on her back to let the comforter scratch an itch. “No kidding. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight after seeing Menville’s body decay like that.”

Crimson pushed the green mare onto her belly so the medic could relieve Loki’s itchy back more effectively. “I can’t imagine what sort of chemical or bacteria could rot a body fast enough that all that was left of him was a puddle of blackened ooze.”

Loki swat lazily at Anderson. “Stop reminding me of that. I’m not going to be able to eat soup for a week.”

The memory of the stench of sulfur and dreadful decay rolling off the remains of the two bodies clung to Alexia’s mind. She could almost feel her nose burning at the memory and had to forcibly swallow her rising bile. “Thanks for putting that mental image back in my mind.” She decided now was a good time to change topics. “So now that The Ranch is closing, what do you guys want to do when we’re not on the job?”

“I want to let my parents know I’m still alive,” Crimson answered immediately. “What about you Loki?”

“I don’t know my parents anymore,” she replied bluntly. “I told you guys about that like last month.”

Alexia was glad Loki shared her past with them, even if it had been difficult to hear the sad truth. But even a troubled past was not going to stop them from being completely open to each other. The herd knew each others’ secrets, and was stronger as a whole for it. However the alicorn was saddened by the earth mare’s loss. “Well what about other friends?”

“I have contacts, not friends…well any human friends anyway.” She rolled over and nuzzled Tune. “Our herd is the only family I need.” She smiled at the pink stripe in Alexia’s mane and kissed her alpha. As with Crimson, not one drop of lust was shared between the two mares; but Loki loved her deeper than she realized. “I go where ever you go Alex.”

“Your lives shouldn’t revolve around me.” Tune got up to speak to both mares. “Even if you have no one to go to, we can find something for you to have fun with once we get out of here.”

The green mare nodded in agreement. “That sounds like a plan, but I think we should see your folks first Alex. I bet you haven’t talked to them since this whole pony business started.”

Alexia shrunk a little and folded her wings back in tight. “I don’t know how easy that will be.”

Crimson tapped the silver mare with a hoof. “It can’t be any worse than meeting mine. We’re both mares and in a herd. Plus my folks are really conservative.” Anderson was becoming more crestfallen with each word. “They’ll probably disown me.”

Loki was appalled, but could understand it. “Are they really that stuck up?”

Crimson nodded sadly. “My folks are good people, and I do love them. But they are socially backwards in so many ways; it can look really bad to unbiased eyes who haven’t earned their respect. My mother wanted me go into medicine so I could restart the family tradition of having a doctor in every generation.”

“I’m sure we can talk them into accepting who you are now,” Tune replied comfortingly.

“Yeah, and your mom would be pleased your still going to be a medic,” Loki said to continue Alexia’s point.

Anderson sighed despondently. “Being a medic isn’t the same as being a doctor. But the real thing that's worrying me is that, my folks hate horses.”

The other two mares shared a quizzical look with Loki speaking first. “I didn’t think people could hate horses. Outside of dogs their like man’s best friend.”

Alexia frowned slightly. “And besides, we’re not horses.”

Crimson studied herself. “Fours hooves, mane, tail, the ears, general shape.” When she ended her list she looked back at her mates. “We’re close enough to matter to them. Especially us earth ponies.”

“Why do they hate horses so bad?”

Anderson shrugged at Loki’s question. “No idea. I only thought to ask a few times, and even then they were evasive about it. But I think mother must have a phobia as she never wanted to even talk about them.” The pale yellow mare didn’t want to dwell on the matter any longer. “What about you Alex? I’m sure your folks will be tripping over themselves to find out you’re a princess.”

Loki perked up at that. “Oh yea that’s right. Do you think they caught on to your name from your news broadcast?”

Alexia was no more willing to face her parents and siblings than Crimson did. “No. Tune is an uncommon name, but hardly unique. And last I checked, Qubert is not on speaking terms and haven’t been for years.” The expectant mother fiddled nervously with her hooves, her thoughts racing. “I was an only child for ten years because my mother had fertility problems. My parents were extremely happy that I was a boy.” The two earth ponies saw the anxiety the silver mare possessed. “Father wanted someone he could play ball with and mother hated the prospect of raising a daughter. She knew how much of a heathen she was when she was young, and didn’t want to suffer that herself.”

Crimson chose her words carefully. “Well you’re an adult now, I’m sure they’d be willing to welcome you back.”

Loki tried to keep her past from coloring her words. “You seem to have decent enough parents.”

Alexia shook her head. “That’s only because I was straight and never had any gender identity issues. Those two are the worst possible type of conservative on the planet.” She shrugged a wing at Crimson. “Did I ever tell you guys why Qubert isn't on speaking terms with my parents?”

“Cause Qubert’s a homosexual?” Loki queried.

“No. Q’s straight. But he did go through a metrosexual phase all through his four years of high school, and that was enough to make my folks try to force me to stop being friends with him. Not that I was going to let that stop me.”

Crimson empathized. “So you think they’ll reject you? Last I checked, you're still straight, just as a mare now.”

Tune scoffed, believing her mate was simply trying to disarm her fears. “Be that as it may, they will expect their son to return home, not a daughter. But even if they could see past that, my pregnancy would be the last straw.”

Loki was about to make a comment when she heard heavy and urgent banging on the front door. The mares’ conversation stopped as they heard the muffled voices of the visitor and Conrad for a few seconds before the brown pegasus entered the bedroom. “The Director wants to see you in Bowler’s office.”

Alexia was confused by the timing. “Did he say what for?”

Conrad shook his head. “No, and apparently he wants you to come alone.”

Crimson became instantly suspicious. “Did he say why?”

“The messenger just said for her to come alone, no reasons given.”

Loki jumped off the bed and spoke while walking towards the stallion. “I don’t like it. The boss knows we never separate while on business.”

Tune let of a growling sigh. What the hell could he possibly want to speak with me alone about? The alicorn got off the bed. “Well we better see what he wants. Thompson knows better than to tell me classified info and expect me to keep if from you guys.”

The walk over to the military side of The Ranch was silent and tense, with only Alexia’s simplistic wing exercises serving as a distraction. She was mostly focused on the oddity of the summons, but decided to use the walk as an excuse to learn how to move all six limbs at once without tripping over her hooves.

They reached the administration building without incident, but the reception hall gave resistance in the form of the front desk sergeant and the four guards posted in the room. The NCO stood up at the herd’s entrance. “Miss Tune. You are expected upstairs, but your friends will have to wait here.”

The princess stood firm. “We have a working relationship with the Director. If we’re on the clock, the four of us move together.”

The guards cast weary glances at each other and shifted their stance to move their hands closer to their firearms. The receptionist was equally firm. “The Director was very clear in his orders. You are to meet with him alone. It is a matter of national security.”

Conrad wasn’t buying it. “Funny,” he said without humor, “seeing as Thompson gave us all equal security clearances and has never requested to speak with her alone.” He left out the first time Thompson tried that and Alexia was adamant that they all know the mission parameters. The Director never made a second attempt.

The sergeant hid his irritation behind a professional mask. “His orders were very clear, Miss Tune. You and you alone are to see the Director in his office.”

“Then call his cryptic ass up,” Loki challenged. “This place has an intercom system right? I want to hear him say only Alex.”

The guards watched the receptionist with expectant looks. The NCO’s reply was automatic. “I’m afraid that’s impossible. The connection lines between the two floors are currently under maintenance.”

Alexia was becoming agitated. “Then tell him to come down to see us.”

“That is out of the question,” barked the NCO, causing the soldiers to grip their carbines. “You will obey orders and go alone.”

Tune saw the guards’ action and immediately gathered mana in her horn. “I don’t know what your game is, but I am not going up there by myself.”

Loki snorted dismissively at the silent threats of the guards. “Wouldn’t be good honor guards of the princess if we let you jokers split us up.”

By now, every weapon was trained on them and the NCO had his sidearm brought to bear. “Stand down and submit to arrest, or we will open fire.” None of them knew what spell Alexia was charging could do, so they held fire until she cast it.

Loki knew what it was because of Tune’s silent gesture to stay close. She faced the sergeant. “Can’t arrest someone who isn’t here.” In a flash of light, the quartet vanished and reappeared on the second floor, three doors down from the base commander’s office.

The non-alicorns were still not fully comfortable with teleportion and had to take a moment to shake off the nausea. Tune felt time was of the essence and sprinted off ahead of them towards the office with a kinetic shield ready to ward off any gunshots.

Alexia bucked the door open to find Bowler sitting in his seat with a pistol aimed straight at her. She did not fear the gun and slowly marched into the room. “Colonel. Why am I not surprised?”

He responded as soon as she stepped fully into the room. “Oh you will be.” His hidden left hand pressed a remote control and the strategically placed magic dampeners in the room activated. Without knowing ahead of time, Alexia didn't have time to cast her protection ward and the dampeners robbed Tune of her ballistics protection. He wasted no words and shot at her. The pain of trying to maintain a spell under the dampeners saved her life as she instinctively bent her head down and had her left foreleg up to her horn. Between the bone of her foreleg and the dying embers of her magic, the bullet ricocheted off the bone and the second shot grazed her right ear.

Self-preservation and fear took hold of her and Tune fell to her left side and shielded herself with her right wing. Her wing arm took two hits before Conrad was able to round the corner. Absolute hatred was in his eyes and he barreled through the air to kill Bowler.

The Colonel adjusted his aim and planted two bullets in the pegasus’ chest, causing him to lose control and the officer ducked to the side and let the wounded pegasus crash into the far wall. Bowler’s primary objective was Alexia and ignored Conrad to resume firing on the alicorn. A curious sight met him at the door to his office; Crimson was reared up on her hind legs and slammed into the ground.

The Colonel ignored her and aimed for the cowering alicorn. A strange crackling sound heralded the ruination of his aim and his shot went wide as the floor underneath him cracked open and his feet fell through the floor. They caught on the support bars a few inches below, but it was enough of a distraction for Loki to run in, vault over the guest chair, flip through the air and deliver a flying buck to the officer’s chest. Several of his ribs cracked from the impact, but the mare had no ground to root herself in to make the hit lethal.

Crimson went to aid Alexia while Loki made it a point to break Bowler’s hands with two well-timed kick as he tried to get back up. “Try shooting us now jerkass.”

Bowler kneed the mare from his prone position. “I will not allow you to take over my country!”

The impact did little to distract the earth pony, and she delivered a kick to the side of his head and knocked him senseless. The green mare wanted to pound him further for daring to harm Loki’s herd, but Thompson’s bound and gagged form came into view. He was still out cold from the drugs.

Alexia was deemed to be in a temporarily stable condition and Crimson ran over to find the others. “Where’s Thompson?”

Loki pointed at the agent. “Right there.”

The medic saw he was bound and gagged. “Okay, he doesn’t seem harmed. She saw Conrad trying to stand causing the pale yellow mare to rush to his aid. Loki stayed back to keep an eye on a cursing Bowler.

The stallion was in bad shape and was having difficulty breathing and coughed up blood trying to speak. “Is Alex okay?” His breath was shortening, making it difficult to say more.

Crimson ignored the question and turned back to yell at Loki. “Call the hospital and try to find a first aid kit.”

The green mare kicked the Colonel once more for good measure. “On it.”

As her fellow earth pony did as she was asked, Crimson gently put Conrad back on the floor. “Stay still and try to breath slow.” She placed her hooves lightly around his wounds. Conrad felt consciousness start to slip away while Crimson placed her hooves lightly over the wounds. The pain was something he could fight through, to use as a focus to stay awake and alert. But Crimson’s voice was starting to sound distant and tinny. A frightened tremble in her tone snaked its way through his ears. “You’re going to be okay Conrad.”

His vision of the medic darkened along with her voice. “Just hang on. You can-“ The rest was incomprehensible as his world went dark.

The brown pegasus awoke some time later to a rhythmic beeping sound, a loud obnoxious grating noise, and sterile bed sheets. The room he found himself in was large enough for five patients, but only housed two at the moment. A window revealed it was well after dark, but he couldn’t see what was outside due to the angle.

A dull throbbing pain sat in his chest as he looked around the darkened room with a stiff neck. To his right and lying in her own hospital bed, was Alexia, her injured wing and leg were bandaged up with the wing on raised wires connected to the ceiling.

Conrad discovered it was Tune’s snoring which was the source of the grating noise. Through his sedative addled mind, a thought sluggishly crawled its way to the surface. Alex doesn’t snore. Had he been in his right of mind, he would have noticed it was the awkward posture the cast on her foreleg and wing which was causing the wounded mare to rattle the walls with her snores. The fact that she was alive was enough to ease the stallion back into an anesthesia induced heavy sleep.

25: Migration

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Conrad awoke in the morning of the sixth day since Bowler’s attack. He was still in the hospital room, but had been allowed to be up and about in very light activity. He remembered scores of ponies coming to visit Tune throughout the week, but eventually the princess had had enough and tactfully asked to not be disturbed until her convalescence was complete.

Loki exaggerated the alicorn’s injuries to the public so that Alexia could use the time to repair her mana, and avoid other sources of embarrassment. Primarily from her uninjured wing having the annoying habit of not always staying put as it kept trying to either mirror it’s twin’s position or the injured wing straining to fold against her barrel. Eventually the doctors had to numb both wings so she could get some sleep.

At present, Conrad noticed she had already eaten breakfast and her horn was aglow while she continued to repair her itineris system. She looked uncomfortable with having her back slightly pulled up thanks to the cast on her wing.

Well she’s not going to be much for conversation right now. It pained him to breathe, let alone move, but the stallion managed to reach over and grab the remote control for the mounted television and clicked it onto the news. He made sure the volume was kept low enough to keep from bothering her.

A female news anchor with a nasally voice appeared on screen. “-causing the hydroelectric power plants to remain offline for the next five years. The leading theory is criminal negligence. Moving back to the latest developments on what is now being called an anonymous declaration of war. Military forces of a currently unknown nation state assaulted Washington D.C. last week.”

The camera switched to video clips and pictures of burnt buildings, dead or wounded civilians, and the White House which had a white tarp covering the damaged sections. “Due to the size and scope of the attack, many experts are hard pressed to believe that it was the act of a terrorist organization. However, the Pentagon has yet to release any statements as to the discovery of a culprit. Nevertheless, that has not stopped many from naming suspects. Many groups are claiming it was in fact, the actions of a worldwide cult known as the Koridosonites.”

The picture shifted to still images taken during the siege. Many of which depicted civilians avoiding the clouds while assailants either fired out from the fog, or dragged people into it. “Joining with us now is the national expert on the psychotropic brown fog, Doctor Johansson.”

The scientist’s grim face appeared in what looked to be the man’s private office. “Thank you for having me Joan.”

Conrad arched an eyebrow at the man. This guy’s a snake.

“Not at all,” she replied with a professionally warm smile. The news anchor shifted her papers to buy time to read the questions on the prompter. “So tell us Doctor, what are your thoughts on these latest developments?”

“Well I believe I should address the most common misconception. I do not believe this to be the work of the Koridosonites, but instead we have a clear cut case of a nation state using the cult as a scapegoat. To mount an attack against the capital would require far more men and material than a cult, or extremist group could possibly provide.”

Joan tapped her chin in contemplation. “And yet we have recordings of the attack showing the culprits in the city praising this pantheon of gods the cult claims to worship.”

The anchor gestured for a video clip of a foolhardy cameraman taking footage of three plain looking Mions bashing a neighbor’s door in. The one trying to kick the door down was shouting while the other two sang a war hymn in a guttural language that sounded like a bastardized mixture of Russian and German. The song grated Conrad’s ears so badly he muted it and turned the subtitles on. The anchor spoke. “This particular style of…language has been attributed to the cult for some time now.”

Johansson’s face was dismissive. “As I have stated many times in the past, I deal in hard facts about the clouds themselves, not speculation. However, for reasons I cannot explain, my opinion on this matter is of interest. This singing is hardly proof of the cult’s involvement. If anything, whoever was behind the siege obviously knew about this connection that conspiracy theorists seem to love throwing around and had their men imitate it.”

The stallion assumed the song was over and unmuted the broadcast. It would be kind of hard to believe a cult could produce super soldiers like the ones in the bunker. I haven’t seen any of those guys on the news. Plus there’s no way anyone but a nation state could make every last one of them melt on command. It sounds like high grade military bio weaponry.

The broadcast continued for several more minutes. Conrad hoped that he might be able to sift the true culprit out of the myriad of theories. In the end, he felt the truth would not come from the news.

A knock on the door heralded Director Thompson’s entry. Conrad muted the news to speak quietly and was grateful he was closer to the door than his alpha. “She needs to finish meditating.”

The Director was holding a black briefcase that matched his black suit and took one look at the silent mare and nodded. “I trust you can relay this information when she is available then.” The brown and steel colored pony nodded and Thompson briefly glanced at the news to note what was on. “I see you are familiar with Doctor Johansson.”

Conrad looked back at the screen to see it switch back to the anchor. “Only what shows up in the news.”

“Well you’re going to learn a lot more about him soon enough. My superiors want your herd to investigate his compound with discretion, using any means you or Alexia deems fit.”

The stallion was rather surprised by the mission parameters. “You mean you want us to try something other than infiltration and attack?”

“Correct.” The Director put the end of his briefcase on the side of the bed. “With ponies being publically recognized as citizens of America, there is no need to restrict the four of you to clandestine operations anymore.” Especially given certain developments with her. “What better way to begin a full integration of our two peoples than to show you having positions of authority, even if it is not directly in public attention.”

“Sure, we can get behind that,” Conrad replied with a friendly grin. “How’s the latest in closing The Ranch?”

“As you might expect, morale remains high, even with Bowler’s attempt on your lives. Between all of our testimonies, and Fitzgerald himself coming in to personally put the hammer on the Colonel, being stripped of his commission is the least of his concerns.”

Conrad managed to raise both eyebrows in shock. “The president himself went to the court martial?”

“Are you really so surprised?” Thompson genuinely asked. “After all the publicity he put into you guys and managing to save his life, you think he’d just let the JAG silently sweep this under the rug?”

The brown pony shifted in his posture to sit on his haunches. “What a politician does behind closed doors and what he does in the public eye are typically two very different things.”

Thompson slowly nodded in agreement while drumming his fingers on the side of the bed. “I’ll give you that. But after I told him all of what your people can offer and the dinner discussion before the press release, the CiC wants this merger of our two species to work. Not responding to Bowler’s actions would have undermined that.”

When it comes to reelection, every politician is self-serving. Conrad’s grim view over politics in general had one bright spot. “So what all is going to happen to the good Colonel?”

“The way it looks like right now? A dishonorable discharge and enough charges for two consecutive life sentences.”

Conrad huffed indignantly. “Well I’m not losing any sleep over the bastard.”

“I thought not.”

“After we told everyone to leave Alex alone so she could recoup, I’ve been out of the loop. How’s The Ranch closure coming?”

“As I’m sure you’ve heard from the window or your other mates, flights in and out of the airfield has picked up. Many ponies have returned to whatever homes they left behind. As to their future success, I cannot say. Many however, have expressed wishes to stay with you, or at least stay with Princess Alexia if you want the real truth.”

The stallion looked at the mare in question. She was still ignorant to the world as her meditation continued unabated. “I’m kind of surprised the three of us don’t have proxy celebrity status.”

“You do, but not anywhere close to her.” Thompson replied evenly. “However the main issue with closing The Ranch is that I don’t know where to send the ponies that want to stay with Tune. Do you know of where she might want to resettle? Her original home town perhaps?”

Conrad mulled it over. “I don’t think Salina could support such a population influx.” His eyes lit up as a thought struck him. “I got it! Loki contracted a construction company to build us a small startup settlement a while ago. From what I remember, she was still funding and expanding it ever since getting back in contact with the Net.”

“A startup settlement?” Thompson asked incredulously. “Where could she get the funds that kind of work?”

Conrad sat back in his bed and replied with a flat tone. “Perfectly legal activity.”

The Director knew Loki was the kind of hacker the CIA would kill to recruit. “So long as Loki keeps those actives from harming U.S. interests I will not pursue it. In any case, I will see to her about getting the details.” He opened the briefcase. “In the meantime, I want to present you with these.”

Thompson withdrew two manila folders and handed the stallion the one bearing his name. Conrad opened it and withdrew documents of multiple sizes as well as identification cards. He singled out a driver’s license that possessed his face, he noticed the name. “Conrad Tune?”

“Neither you nor Loki has ever given a family name. You know our system requires everyone to have a surname. Given your unique marital status, I thought that would be more fitting than a random name.”

“Thanks for the thought Director. But herdmates don’t take each other’s names. Are you sure there’s no other way to make us identifiable in the system?”

Thompson shook his head. “I briefly explored the option of leaving Tune out of your name and having your cutie mark as the identifying feature, but that would require a complete restructuring of the entire database to include a picture instead of plain text data. The only other option that’s still being explored is making it mandatory for ponies to memorize a unique self-identifying number in addition to the social security number.”

That garnered a quizzical look from the stallion. “Why? Surly people like me and Loki having one name are uncommon.”

“You don’t know?” Thompson asked with pure bemusement. “A large number of pregnant mares have expressed desires to name their foals in pony style names. That means the abandonment of family names entirely.”

The brown pegasus was taken aback. “I knew my brethren wanted to incorporate equestrian traditions, but I didn’t think it was going that far.”

Thompson rubbed the back of his neck in the first show of fatigue he had ever displayed to his agents. “It’s a trend I don’t see any real sign in slowing down. I think it’ll stay out of control until Tune puts a stop to it.”

“Well its not harmful is it?”

“No, not really. But it will make the rest of human society's view of ponies as being more alien.”

Conrad looked at the marital status on the card. It was pleasingly stated as herdmate. However, the stallion noticed that his cutie mark was a small watermark in the bottom right corner. “That makes sense.” He switched gears. “How long are we going to stay in the hospital?”

“The physicians are no longer baffled, but still very impressed with your species’ regenerative abilities. It’s not enough to make a different in the heat of battle, but they say you should be fully healed by tomorrow and Alexia one day after that. My superiors are willing to wait that long before you are to begin your investigation on Doctor Johansson. After that, I’m willing to give the four of you time to assist the other ponies in helping or deciding what they’ll be doing with themselves.”

Thompson closed his briefcase and took it off the bed, while leaving Alexia’s identification paperwork with the pegasus. “And having the four of you begin your careers as instructors.”

Conrad held onto Tune’s envelope. “Instructors?”

Thompson nodded. “With full public acknowledgement and citizenship, I’ve received a hundred and five requests from other ponies to join our department in this week alone. I will be doing the initial screening and fitness tests while you’re on this assignment with Doctor Johansson.” He sighed at his follow up statement. “When Tune was brought in for treatment for her injuries, the physicians informed me she is with child.”

The father-to-be grimaced. “We weren’t going to be able to hide it forever.”

Thompson was annoyed at the lack of disclosure. “I wish you had told me earlier.”

Conrad crossed his forelegs. “You can’t blame us for being cautious.”

Thompson decided to drop the matter for now. “At least that would explain Alexia’s approved extended leave of absence.” The human moved to leave. “Now I have matters to tend to. I will expect the four of you on the plane to San Francisco’s international airport by thirteen hundred hours on Friday. I’ll have the specifics ready by tomorrow morning.”

“I’ll be sure Alexia is informed. Although you know she’ll want to spend time with her people. You know how attached she is to them.”

Thompson stopped before opening the door. “It is mirrored by her people. My superiors send their condolences about the injuries suffered by Bowler, and time lost for recovery. However this matter with Johansson has been given priority.”

Conrad place the items on the food tray attached to the bed. “I’ll tell her.” After the Director left, the pegasus wanted to get outside and stretch his wings. He knew he couldn’t however. No way of knowing if any of Bowler’s goons are still on base. So long as Alex is healing in this room, my place is at her side.

That did not stop him from stretching his muscles to get the stiffness out while remaining in the room. Crimson arrived twenty minutes after the Director with a trolley cart of fresh bandages and other tools. She noticed right away that Conrad was up and about. “I see you’re not follow doctor’s orders and staying in bed.”

He scoffed at it. “The docs are too used to human patients. I feel fine.”

She pushed the cart to the foot of his bed and grabbed a pair of automatic scissors. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

He waved her off. “See to Alex first. The sooner you can remove her wing from the ceiling the better.”

Anderson considered it. “Very well.”

The medic left him to his stretches and saw Tune was like how she had been for most of the past six days when not speaking with her subjects: deep in meditation. The pale yellow mare hesitated at she glanced at the alicorn’s budge. A feeling at been steadily growing in her heart over the past few weeks. Anderson was vaguely aware that it started when she first inspected the silver pony’s belly, but had been unable to put a label to it until now. The medic was startled to realize it was jealousy. I…Do I really want to have a foal too?

Crimson felt the answer at the back of her mind and shoved it away. We can’t afford to have any more foals right now. Besides, my medical studies are too important. She gently shook the alicorn’s neck instead of the shoulder so she wouldn’t jostle the bandaged limbs. “Earth to Alexia.”

Tune required five more shakes and louder yelling to break her introspective. The alicorn’s eyes fluttered open and zeroed in on the interloper and smiled at the welcome face. “Am I free to go doc?”

Anderson returned the smile. “Not quite, but if your recovery rate hasn’t changed I can free your wing from the cast and put it into a sling along with stopping the localized anesthesia around them. Which the last dose should wear off by the time I’m done here.”

The medic accessed the panel on the wall to lower the wing to slightly above the horizon. Using her tribe’s signature hoof magic, Crimson probed the entombed limb without needing to cut the cast away. “Any discomfort?”

“A little.”

Anderson looked at her with disbelief. “This is not the time to sound tough Alex.”

The alicorn rolled her eyes. “I’m not exaggerating. Its only a little discomfort.”

“Alright.” The medic grabbed the electrical saw off the trolley. It was slightly difficult work, but the earth pony possessed dexterity with her hoof based magic that was coming close to rivaling what her hands used to possess. Before long, the injured wing was free of its confines and placed into a sling.

After judging her work finished, Crimson started working on Alexia’s leg. “Normally I’d say you’re grounded for at least five days to a week, but in your case I don’t think that’s much of a concern.”

Tune had to wait for the loud saw to cut through the leg cast before speaking. “Well I was kind of looking forward to leaning how to use them. “ She had to consciously keep her injured right wing still while moving the lift one to the side of her face. “If these things are going to sit on my back and use my oxygen, then they had better make themselves useful outside of keeping me up at night.”

Conrad made his way over. “At the very least they set you apart as an alicorn.”

Tune was careful to fold the unharmed wing back into place. “Yeah well, there’s no point in being an alicorn if I can’t fly.”

“There are political reasons,” Crimson offered. “You’re the only alicorn on Earth. That alone makes you a rallying figure.”

Alexia grumbled at it. “I was a rallying figure as a unicorn.” She fumed a little before noticing her mates giving her an expectant look. Tune sighed. “At least it’ll allow me to avoid the need for a damn crown. Having both wings and a horn will be symbolic enough for that at least.”

Crimson finished placing the new plastic and padding cast on Tune’s leg. “Just as well. A crown would be nothing but a hindrance in our line of work.”

Conrad mulled over the mares’ statements. Maybe a traditional one sure. But what kind of princess doesn’t have a crown. “Hey Alex, do you mind summoning the tome? I want to brush up on a few things.”

Alexia was caught off guard by the question, but was thrilled that he was showing continued interest. “Of course.”

Conrad thanked her and took the tome to his bed. Anderson inspected her work one last time. “And we’re done here. I suggest you start walking around and getting a bit of exercise.”

“I do feel up for a walk,” Alexia replied while testing how much weight she could put down on the cast.

“That would be for the best. And I know the remaining ponies who are still here would love to see you up and about.”

The silver mare giggled. “I would love to see them too. Thanks for the help Crimmy.”

“Its what I do.” They hugged before Alexia left to do just that. The medic turned to the stallion. “Alright let me take a look at you.”

Conrad had just finished getting to the chapter he wanted to read, but he felt it could wait. “I told you I feel fine,” he said as she started cutting away the bandages. “If anything I bet I could walk out of here today.”

Crimson revealed the two square patches of fur on the pegasus’s chest that had been shaved to extract the bullets. The entry wounds were neigh imperceivable thanks to the rapid healing not allowing scar tissue time to form. “I still have to do my job and make sure.”

A brief examination satisfied her. “Your remaining injuries are all internal, but I can deem you fit enough to leave. Though I would try to keep flight to a minimum, at least for the rest of the day.”

Crimson’s scent felt alluring to him and he felt a little frisky. “Can I at least participate in some cardio?”

The medic was disposing of the bandages in the bio-waste bin. “I don’t see why not.”

He walked over and nuzzled her amorously. She caught on to his signals and couldn’t help but to reciprocate. “Do you have a certain regiment to recommend?”

“Well I still have to change the sheets, but…” she remarked before he planted a lustful embrace on her lips. Crimson responded in earnest and wrapped her hooves around him. Her desire for a child of her own was hampered by the fact the Anderson knew she wouldn’t be in season for another three days. “I’ve wanted a second taste of you for a week.”

Conrad nibbled on her left ear. “Well go lock the door and I’ll give you more than you can handle.” Crimson grinned fiercely, knowing she was going to fully enjoy the next hour.

The recovering princess left the hangar feeling better than ever, minus the injuries. Elated ponies moved all around her, going about the act of leaving The Ranch behind. Houses were being packed up with whatever few possessions mattered to them.

Tune could see it was typically barely anything at all. No one wanted to keep anything unless it was custom made while at the camp or brought with them during capture. Over a third of the ponies had been given new identification paperwork to adapt their old identities to match their change in species.

Off in the distance, a C-130 Hercules took off from the airstrip. “No doubt carrying many back to their homes.” Alexia was annoyed that every pony she came across always bowed to her, however she noticed it was more of a polite shallow bow rather than the embarrassing prostration Reed preformed upon Tune’s return as an alicorn. Well I guess I could get used to that. Still feels weird though.

Annoyance was not the only thing she felt, as love was a strong part of her as well. All around her, the ponies she had worked so hard to pull from the pits of despair into the industrious and cheerful beings they were today brought a happy tear to her eye. They truly love their lives as ponies now. I’m glad to know my magic wasn’t enough to force that upon them. They wanted to be happy with themselves again, and so now they are.

Eventually, word of her last tour of the base reached the ears of First Sergeant Vanders and the red pegasus broke away from his work to speak with her. He found her by virtue of the crowd she attracted by the southern edge of the farm. He was able to clear a path through the other flying pegasi thanks to his position as adjunct to Alexia. He could hear her trying to dissuade some of the more fervent ponies near the front.

“Well I’m not a goddess. As I’m sure all of you know by now, I got shot a few times; and last I checked, gods don’t get hurt by bullets.”

He heard a mare in the crowd yell a response. “You’re still our princess at least right?”

The NCO broke through to see Alexia kept a composed expression. “How about this. I will drop all reservations about being your princess if all of you spread the word that I am not a goddess. Deal?”

A round of murmuring spread throughout the crowded equines. Vanders took the initiative. “Yeah we can do that. Come on guys, spread the word!”

The crowd cheered at the idea and evaporated into the camp to follow Vander’s suggestion. As soon as the silver mare had breathing room again, he landed nearby. “Isn’t princess kind of a step down from god?”

She scoffed at her friend. “That’s the point. If I let them think I was a deity, I don’t know how long I would last until I started believing it myself. Faith can do funny things to the mind.”

Vanders was reminded of Reed. “No argument here.” She started walking again and he moved to be side by side with her. “I thought you’d like to know I decided to join Director Thompson in his initiative to hire us into his department.”

“Does that department have a name?”

He looked at her with a quizzical look. “You mean you don’t know?”

“He never told us a name, if it ever had one.”

“Odd. Well he said its name is Section Nine.”

The name piqued her interest, but she couldn’t explain why. “Did he give a reason for that name?”

Vanders shrugged. “He only said it was because he’s an anime fan.”

“So that’s why it sounds familiar,” Alexia laughed uproariously. “I wonder if the boss will let me be called the Major.”

The stallion looked at her with disappointment. “I don’t think I like the idea of a government entity being named after a TV show.”

Alexia couldn’t help but to keep smirking at the red pegasus’s annoyance. “Oh lighten up. If it makes you feel any better you can tell people its named after section nine of some obscure law or whatever.”

“I think I will.”

The conversation paused for a minute before he picked it back up. “A lot of ponies have expressed wishes to move into whatever city you will be leaving for.”

“Well actually…” Alexia said before finding her way over to the flower section of the farmlands. “How about I tell you about a little part of California Loki picked out for us to build our own town at?”

That grabbed his attention. “Build our own city? I like the sound of that,” he took notice of the café stand where the farms dropped their freshly picked produce for the chefs. “Why don’t we discuss it over lunch?”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea.”

The next two days were a blur for the herd. Alexia made it a point that once she set hoof onto the aircraft departing for California, that she would never return to The Ranch. That meant tying up all of their affairs, informing Thompson and the other ponies where Loki’s construction project was located, and packing what few belongings the quartet wanted to keep.

There was one thing that bothered the alicorn during those two days. The rest of the herd was very secretive about something they refused to tell her about, only saying that they would reveal it before they left The Ranch.

Friday morning was like most days. Alexia was the last to awaken on the shared bed. Having the king sized bed to herself meant she could stretch out for several seconds to loosen her muscles out of sleep. By now her right wing was free of the sling, but could not support flight for five more days. The leg was still in its cast, and would be free by the next morning.

With her stretches done, she rested on her right side and studied her bulging belly. “There’s no hiding you two anymore. Well,” she added with a titter, “not without some illusion magic anyway.” The blissful mother-to-be slowly rubbed her twins for long time, dreaming of the day they would be brought into the world.

Part of her morning ritual was to use Inner Sight to get a closer look at them. The data Twilight gave me said I should be able to use this to discover their tribe, but I’ve spent every spare moment fixing my itineris systems so that my Sight would have the clarity to start working on their mana as well. My foals’ mana will be flawless by the time they are born if I have anything to say about it.

With her senses opened, the twin’s mana capillaries came into view. Alexia grinned as all of her work paid off and the twins’ were made crystal clear to her for the first time since her mana flare. “Maybe I can trade this knowledge to learn about this secret project the others are planning.”

Tune bounced off the bed for some breakfast and answers. The mare found her mates all crowded around the couch with the last remnants of their own meals. The one thing that caught her eye was a small box wrapped in a purple pillow case.

“You guys saved me some grub right?” the alicorn asked wirily as she cast her eyes between the bowls and the box.

Loki offered her a large bowl of alfalfa while Crimson held out a large glass of orange juice. “Enough for three.”

Tune smiled as she took the food into her magic. The mare took several bites of food after sitting with her mates. “So are you guys going to tell me what’s been so important that you have to keep a secret from me?”

Conrad scooped up the box in a wing and sat down next to the silver mare with the earth pair flanking the both of them. “We knew if you found out what we were doing you’d yell at us for being stupid and tell us to stop.”

The alpha eyed them with puzzled reservations. It was only then that she noticed none of them were wearing their invisibility bracelets. Her eyes narrowed in chastising annoyance. “What did you guys do?”

“Open it and find out jelly bean,” Loki asked while prodding Tune on her good foreleg.

Alexia took a swig of her drink and a couple more bites while using her kinesis to open the package. The box within was plain grey cardboard. Within was a gorgeous silver necklace with three gems encrusted into the band. The center gem was a high quality brown andalusite with a double hexagon brilliant cut. The other two gems had the same cut with the right being a rich pink topaz and the left held a ruby that seemed to dance with two shades of the same color.

Alexia abandoned her half eaten food to examine the necklace. She felt the gem colors didn’t truly match each other, but it didn’t take her long to know what they symbolized the herd. “Its beautiful.” She could tell it was heavily enchanted and her senses told Alexia that all three of her mates’ magic resided within. “But you didn’t really have to make it using your invisibly gems.”

“Actually we did,” Conrad commented with a sly grin. “But to see why, you have to put it on.”

Tune levitated another bite of food to her mouth. “I take it you’re not going to just tell me what it does.”

Loki pulled a large hand mirror out from under the couch. “Nope. Because we want to see your face when you put it on.”

Were it not for the love and absolute trust she shared with the herd, Alexia might have been suspicious about the secrecy. Yet it was that unwavering trust that she placed the jewelry around her neck. As she expected, her mana was drawn into the three gems to power the enchantments. The stones glowed with faint light before an illusion spell made the necklace vanish and a silver crown appeared on Alexia’s brow.

It was modeled after Twilight Sparkle’s but had a black ankh set in front of an oval cut aquamarine. The two were proudly displayed in place of the six pointed star of Sparkle’s crown. Instead of having blue gems along the band of the crown, the filigree was covered in tiny steel, pink, and crimson gems that brought focus to the ankh.

Tune was rendered speechless by the craftsmanship that went into it.

“Pretty neat huh?” Loki said after minute of stunned silence. “The crown itself is an illusion. That way you can wear it without it ever falling off or getting in the way.”

Crimson was enamored by it. “We figured since you don’t have any real political power, making your crown an illusion would be a good allusion to the irony of symbols of authority. A princess needs a crown, but the crown itself, be it real or shadows, doesn’t give you influence over other people,” she tapped Alexia’s chest, “But what’s in your heart does.”

Conrad wrapped a leg around her. “We figured if you were ever going to start wearing a crown, it might as well be made by those that know you best.”

“I-I appreciate the gesture guys.” Alexia said while trying not to choke up on emotion. “But I would feel silly wearing this everywhere.”

Loki nodded. “We figured you’d still need some time to get used to the idea. Just focus on the necklace and wish for the crown to go away.”

Tune complied and the crown vanished while the necklace reappeared. Crimson gently tapped the red gem. “We had to use our invisibly crystals because we needed gems that you crafted. That way, the only person who can wear the necklace and summon the crown is you, along with any descendants.”

Conrad had a triumphant smile over the fact that the silver mare obviously enjoyed her necklace. “We got together and remolded them with different enchantments. My gem still retains the invisibility enchantment so you don’t need to wear your bracelet anymore, and it also comes with a triple layered defense ward and automatic sensor net. It can take a fifty caliber round at point blank range, or three smaller caliber rounds. The downside is that it takes a bit for the barriers to recharge.”

Crimson was proud of her work. “Mine contains the actual crown illusion spell, but it requires the other two gems and your mana to activate. It also has the illusion spells to make your necklace disappear and create the sensation that the necklace is weightless while the crown is active.”

“Saving the best for last,” Loki gloated, “but my gem makes the whole thing has tough as diamondium and it can hide your pregger belly. I also made it so no one but the four of us, or any of your blood relatives can wear the thing. The necklace will simply fall off anyone else’s neck.”

Alexia looked at the green mare with bemusement before tapping into the gem and glanced at her belly to see it flatten to look as if she was as lean as the other two mares. All it took was one hoof to tap onto the seemingly empty air to show the illusion for what it was. Tune let the spell go and her budge returned. “You guys really out did yourselves. Thank you very much.”

The herd crushed her in a group hug. Loki had to say one last thing. “Now I know you’re too polite to say it, but hiding your belly is very situational in its use. So that’s why I made it so that, that is not the permanent effect.”

Tune giggled as the hug separated. “You’re right. I wasn’t going to say anything.”

The green mare adopted a snooty demeanor. “Darling the reason mine is the best of all is because I made my gem maaaalleable. The other gems keep anyone but you or a blood relative from altering it, but you can place any spell you wish in the gem.”

Alexia was taken aback. “A malleable gem?! Loki that would have taken fifty times the mana that even I possess right now to forge! How did you manage to make it so big?”

Loki had a mischievous smirk and dropped the accent. “Remember yesterday after lunch when the Director called you over to discuss the finer details of tomorrow’s mission?”

“Yes. What of it?”

“Well I took the opportunity to get that nut job Reed and his crew to help fuel the array that modified the crystal. That gem has the mana of over half of the ponies that are still here. All it took was telling them it was part of forging your crown to get them to jump at the chance, but ultimately it’s my mana that binds it all together.”

Alexia was aghast. “So you’re telling me everyone took part in this?”

“Almost,” explained Conrad, “if we had used anymore mana, the gem would have been too big.”

“I get that,” Alexia said as a creeping fear entered her tone, “But everyone’s going to expect me to wear the crown part of it now. After all the work that went into this, it would be insulting not to.”

“Well you could probably just get away with wearing it only on the walk towards the plane, then switch back to the necklace.”

Tune’s apprehension dimmed at Crimson’s reassurances. “I can live with that…I did sort of promise them I’d stop being so self-conscious about this whole princess thing so ponies wouldn’t start worshiping me.”

“Sounds like a fair trade to me,” Conrad remarked. “Anyway, we should be leaving here in a few minutes.”

Alexia jumped in her seat and held restraining hooves around her mates. “Actually I have something to tell you guys. I know what the foals are.”

The others lit up like spotlights with the stallion showing the most enthusiasm. “Well? Out with it!”

The mother-to-be had the biggest grin her face could make. “I’m having a unicorn and a pegasus, both are fillies.”

With exuberant laughter, the pegasus wrapped the alicorn in his hooves and spun her in the air a few inches below the ceiling. Conrad poured his love into his embrace. “I can’t wait to meet my daughters.”

Loki pulled the winged pair down to the Earth so she could join in on the hug. Crimson’s heart hit a twinge of jealousy that twisted around her chest to pain the mare. No! My studies are too important. She shook it off to complete the herd’s embrace. “Just don’t do anything silly to endanger my nieces.”

Alexia couldn’t decide to laugh or cry so she did both until the moment had passed. Tune took all of the saddlebags in her kinesis and placing them on their respective owners as they separated. The alicorn’s own was kept light because of her injured leg and only held the tome on one side with a few wrapped packs of food as a counterbalance.

As soon as the alicorn set hoof outside the house, she found a mass of over a thousand ponies all crowded around with an expectant silence. Tune was unsure of why they were remaining silent and she stood in the doorway, blocking the rest of the herd from leaving.

Loki stuck her head out and surveyed the silent ponies before whispering in Alexia’s ear. “They want to see their crowned princess.”

Realization dawned on her. “Oh right, my bad.” Alexia sighed and activated the illusionary crown, having briefly hoped she wouldn’t have to. The illusion took hold and Tune was surprised to feel the weight lift from her neck and be replaced with a lighter one on her head. Damn. Crimson really went all out.

The ponies cheered at the alicorn for finally heeding their wishes to accept her status as their princess. Tune was pleased to see the bowing was kept to a shallow gesture rather than embarrassing full prostration.

The more polite bowing was something Alexia felt she could get used to. So long as I’m a secular leader I can stomach it all. At the very least I can expect the humans to refrain from bowing, which is fine by me.

The royal herd marched their way from the house to the airstrip with the thong of ponies following them the whole way back. Cheers to Alexia’s past efforts filling the air.

“She brought down The Ranch!”

“We’re citizens again!”

“The princess killed the Colonel!”

Before Alexia could first register the last cheer, second process what was wrong with it, and third turn to yell at the general direction of the speaker, Loki sprinted to the unicorn stallion who had yelled it and shoved her face in his. Everyone was stunned at her speed given the heavy looking computer harness she was wearing.

The green mare yelled with indignation. “No one killed Mister Hatey Pants McGee. But I was the one who planted Buck and Shot,” she said while shaking her left and right hind legs respectively, “into that creep’s chest. If anyone deserves credit for giving that malcontent the what for its me and Crimson.”

The pale yellow earth mare found herself under more scrutiny than bad call at the Super Bowl. Loki pointed at her accomplice. “She cracked the floor out from under the Evil Weevil so I could buck him up good.”

A random earth mare in the crowd reared up and shouted. “Woo hoo! Three cheers for the Colonel Stompers!”

“Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!” The gathered ponies on the ground stomped the ground while the pegasi in the air clapped their hooves in vengeful celebration.

Tune was laughing uncontrollably at having lost all of the attention that was now focused on the two earth mares. Loki was jumping up and down in time with the ‘hoorays’ while Anderson was sheepishly waving at her new fans.

The silver alicorn was more than happy to surrender the spotlight for the rest of the journey to the waiting C-130 transport aircraft. With final waves of goodbye between the remaining ponies in the camp and the royal herd, the quartet said farewell to the internment camp for good.

The seating arrangement within the aircraft had several rows of seats filled with ponies on their way to the west coast. Most were going to see their human families and friends while others, including First Sergeant Vanders, were going to the site of Loki’s construction project. Thompson believed keeping Section Nine’s base of operations there would make it easier on everyone involved. Every pony had been given a line of credit of forty thousand dollars to give them time to restart their lives.

The C-130 was on its way to the SFO airport in California. It was highly unusual for a Hercules to land there, but it was more of Thompson’s desire to expose the equines to the rest of humanity. If there was one thing he knew about human nature, it was that people were less likely to hate or fear something that is familiar to them. Alexia remembered something rather standoffish that the Director mentioned in passing. ”It also helps that its rather difficult for most people to keep from wanting to pet you guys. Let alone you wholly enjoy being petted.”

The alicorn took her seat near the front of the aircraft and snorted at the memory. Well I can’t help it that it feels so damn good. Tune wished one of the pilots would come back and rub her mane. Those fingers of theirs are intoxicating.

Loki took her seat next to her alpha. “So whatever happened to your car?”

The silver mare had to chase away dreams of finding a masseuse so she could focus. “It was impounded during our stay, but the boss had it moved to the SFO parking lot.” She fished out the tome and opened the cover to pull out a ticket with the parking space written on the back. “Even made sure it had a full tank of gas.”

“I’m surprised he even gave us a valid driver’s license given how little we’ve driven as ponies.”

“Well I think we acquitted ourselves rather well before we were picked up by the feds.”

The green pony shrugged. “Fair enough. Just don’t expect much out of me in rush hour highway traffic.”

Crimson leaned around Conrad to speak to Alexia. “Do you have any additional info on the mission?”

It was the stallion who answered as he rummaged in his saddlebags. “I do actually.” He pulled out three personnel folders. “We’re going to investigate the Oppenheim Research Facility, or more accurately, Doctor Johansson and his personal staff. The DoD is getting suspicious that someone on his team is sabotaging his efforts in discovering the true nature of the brown clouds.”

Loki scratched her head in confusion. "Since when did we become investigators? I thought we were super-secret black ops ponies of doomy doom.”

Alexia rolled her eyes while patting her belly. “Given my progressing situation I am more than happy to take a less than physically strenuous assignment.”

Loki was still miffed. “So? You always play magical support; you’re never all uppity in a good fistfight.”

“I still have to be able to run when necessary,” Tune replied defensively. “Besides, its hard to fight and cast at the same time.”

“We’re getting off topic guys!” Crimson said with a slightly raised voice.

The two squabbling mares calmed down while Conrad cleared his throat. “Combat tactics aside, Loki’s right. Now,” he said, trying to regain the focus of attention, “the FBI’s handling the analysis and background checking. We’re only here to ask some questions, inspect the facility and Loki here is going to do a run through on their network.”

The earth mare in question balked. “Are you kidding? You do know that sort of work takes time right? If there is any sign of foul play it could take weeks to find anything.”

“Did I say run through?” Conrad asked rhetorically, “I meant get a door inside their closed network. If you can do that, the feds can handle sifting through the data. We’re only the spearhead in this operation.”

The hacker rubbed her chin in contemplation. “Did they at least include the specs of the Oppenheim networks or am I going to have to go in blind?”

The stallion fished around in his bags and withdrew a small folder with “Loki” written on the side. “I think this is what you’ll need.”

The earth mare snatched the documents and opened it to read the contents. She grimaced. “This’ll be a start at least.”

The medic still didn’t like it. “What I don’t understand is, why us? We’re a combat oriented team. I mean, sure its really nice to not have to attack people for once, but its not in our skill set.”

Conrad’s wings shrugged. “Thompson seems to think our, quote “adorableness” end quote, will make us less intimidating than human investigators. Help foster better cooperation and what not.”

Tune caught onto his annoyance and nuzzled him. “You’re the only stallion I know who can pull off adorable and smoken’ hot at the same time.”

Crimson leaned affectionately on him, while basking in his scent. “I hear that sister.”

Loki wanted to reach over the alicorn, but was weary of her mending wing. Conrad chuckled at the mare’s compliments. “I guess I can live with the adorable tag if hot is kept with it.” He shook the personnel files to bring attention back to them. “At any rate, we should familiarize ourselves with Doctor Johansson and his top staff.”

San Francisco International Airport was ablaze with activity. That was hardly surprising for the massive transit hub, but it was a very welcome place to be for the throng of seventy five ponies disembarking the aircraft and walking into the terminal. The equines were finally among humans again. Even if said bipeds’ reactions ran the spectrum from dumbstruck to giddiness and from distaste to exuberance, the former humans were among those the people had grown up with.

All of the quadrupeds loosely hovered around Alexia whenever they had a chance. Thanks to the past week consisting of a comprehensive political campaign by the White House, the ponies were given no trouble from the local authorities or businesses.

There was only a small scattering of journalists waiting at the baggage claim. Ponies were still new and fresh in the world’s eye, outside of those relative few who had been in the know. The only reason the mass of ponies was not swarmed with reporters was because more equines were scattered throughout the nation and more were coming out of hiding every day. So there was no one place journalists could congregate.

Unfortunately more than half of them focused on Tune after noticing she was the only one with both a horn and wings, the crown didn’t help either. Crimson was prepared for this and nudged a pegasus mare as the alicorn was passing through the security line and into the baggage claim proper. “Hey Belie, think you and the others can keep the paparazzi busy while the four of us get to the car?”

Belie Scully smirked at the waiting cameramen with unveiled excitement. She had been a famous singer before her ponification, and was known to have greatly missed the limelight. “Crimson my dear, it would be an absolute pleasure.” Belie did not stop her singing after becoming a pony and she had quite a following of her own in the camp. Many of those fans followed her to SFO and Belie whistled to get their attention. “Come along everyone! We have a path to clear for our princess.”

Tune heard the proclamation and subsequent stampede to meet the photographers head on. It reminded her that she was still wearing her crown and quickly deactivated the illusion. Damn. I was so busy talking to the others I forgot about it. Now I’ve been walking all throughout the damn airport with that thing on my head.

Alexia led the herd as fast as her casted leg could take her towards the parking decks. She caught Belie’s eye on the way out and gave her a wink in thanks before leaving. I owe her a favor for this.

It was difficult to tell from under so much concrete, but Crimson could tell it was raining from the plethora of wet tire tracks all over the place. The herd proved to be a distraction to nearly every bystander, but there were quite a few people who simply didn’t have the time to gawk at the four colorful equines running through the lot.

This time, it was Conrad leading the way because of his familiarity with the airport’s parking. “The boss said it should be right…” He cleared a large brown SUV to find Tune’s beat up lime green sedan waiting for them.

Alexia brightened up at the sight of it and draped her forelegs and wings over the hood of the car while kissing it. “Oh I’ve missed you. Those bad GIs didn’t mistreat you did they?”

Crimson inspected the car at a distance while Tune disturbingly whispered sweet nothings to her car. “Loki said it was a nasty color, but damn this is ugly.”

The alicorn glared at the pale yellow mare who was continuing her critique, fully oblivious of the ire she was garnering from the princess. “The paint’s chipped all over the place, the window tinting is worse than amateur, not to mention cheap. This passenger window is cracked, and if the engine is the same shape as the rest of-“

Loki shoved at hoof in Anderson’s mouth and guided her muzzle to the deep scowl on the silver mare’s face. “I’d love to see what evil things Alex would do to you, but I don’t want to have to clean up the mess she’s leave behind.”

Crimson removed her muzzle from Loki’s hoof and had an apologetic look on her face. “Sorry Alex. But your car’s a piece of shit.”

Tune clambered off the hood with her wings flared over her head. She jabbed her good foreleg at the object of her rage. “My car is the best thing that ever happened to me…” She paused at she listened to what she had just said. “Before becoming a pony anyway.” She wasn’t ready to let go of her anger because of a slip of the tongue, but it did derail it heavily. “So don’t go insulting the only vehicle we have.”

Conrad rubbed his chin with a wing. “Well we got a forty grand bonus check to our new joint bank account. Not to mention the back pay for our work with Thompson.”

Loki caught on to his lead. “We aren’t expected at the research center until tomorrow morning. We could totally get a new car before we go to the hotel.”

Tune wasn’t ready to do that. “But Limy was my first car! Back in his prime he was a real babe magnet. I got laid five times cause of him.” Alexia proudly boasted while tapping a hoof on the driver front tire.

Conrad coughed. “I’m not sure what to think about knowing your male exploits.”

The alicorn chuckled and pulled the pegasus in close with a wing. “Just because I am all female now, doesn’t mean I’m going to hide or forget who I used to be.”

Crimson wasn’t too sure. “Maybe not to fellow ponies, but the human public’s been known to have issues with that sort of thing. So why don’t we keep that part of our past on a need-to-know basis until we can be sure the general public doesn’t react poorly to it.”

Loki was at odds with it. “Even though it was involuntary?”

The medic walked over to the back door. “I think people are going to be too busy trying to get used to having us around to complicate it with gender issues. Not to mention all of the other differences we have between our two species. If they still have issues over gay marriage, then I’m not so sure the herd concept will have a good reception.”

All of them knew full well how sluggish humanity could be when change was concerned. Conrad slid over to the passenger back door. “Why don’t we continue the discussion on the way to the hotel?”

Alexia nodded in agreement. The mares went to their respective doors with Tune using her magic to unlock the door and pulled the keys from the sun visor. The old car growl and coughed to life before settling on a rattling grumble. “Old Faithful right here.” The alicorn said proudly while tapping the dashboard.

Crimson waved a hoof dismissively. Pah. If you don’t get a new car, then I will.

With some shaky stop and starts, Alexia refamiliarized herself with using magic to drive. Better had a pressure sensitivity clause to the kinesis. The silver mare drove in slow and careful circles around the parking garage until she was comfortable with the completely hands and feet-free style of driving to take the car onto the highway.

Conrad’s familiarity with the city was based in the fact that his human life had revolved around the city and its criminal element. He had Tune’s phone in hoof as he guided her to the hotel. On the way, Crimson brought up a topic that had been bugging her since leaving the White House, but it was also to distract her from her other internal conflict.

“So what do you guys think about those creeps from the White House bunker?”

Loki simply shrugged quietly while Tune was too busy trying not to die in rush hour traffic. The highway had more cars within her field of view than she had ever seen on the road in Salina.

So it was up to Conrad to answer her. “You mean those big guys who didn’t get the memo that a few shots to the head are lethal?”

“Yeah, that,” Crimson replied.

The brown pony mulled over his thoughts while staring at the delivery truck next to them. “I think this whole Cult of the Koridost is either a fabrication of a nation-state to use violence to further some goal, or these cultists are the result of a bioweapons test gone badly. Something à la Resident Evil.”

Loki snickered. “I don’t know Conny. Those guys didn’t moan and groan like any zombie I’ve ever seen. Even the fast zombies don’t speak and use weapons.”

No,” he replied evenly, “but like they say, science fiction is often the inspiration for real scientists to make reality. Who’s to say some government saw merit in Umbrella’s tyrant bioweapons or whatever.” He looked at the green mare sitting with him in the back seat and the pale yellow one in the front passenger. “A big controllable juggernaut would be a good super soldier in anyone’s book.”

Crimson huffed in amusement. “Last I recall, Umbrella kept losing control over them. But even if that’s the case. Medical science simply isn’t to the point where you can rapidly regenerate brain tissue like that.” Anderson slumped forward in her seat. “Or any tissue for that matter. Even we ponies can’t come close to competing with that.”

Conrad was not convinced. “Well obviously Doctor Frankenstein found a way.”

“What if its aliens?”

The pale yellow and brown ponies looked to the green one with bewilderment. “Aliens?” they asked with unified incredulousness.

Loki glanced between her accusers of insanity. “Well yeah. We may have been human once, but our species is alien. Who’s to say these Koridosonites aren’t humans that got infected by some alien plague or something?”

Conrad pointed Alexia towards the highway exit while speaking. “Keep talking like that and people will start blaming us for being the source.”

Crimson chuckled at his paranoia. “I can see the headlines now. Bright colorful alien ponies create super virus that makes people go nuts and turn into red skinned freaks of nature.” Conrad rolled his eyes in an effort to ignore her teasing. Anderson grew serious. “But then again, I wouldn’t put it past the realm of possibility. After all, we are living proof of life on other worlds.”

The stallion was still apprehensive about it. “But the timing is bad. If this isn’t the work of some nation-state, and is actually of alien origin, and if Discord had nothing to do with it; then where would this plague have come from?”

Loki tapped her chin before exclaiming a eureka moment. “What if the clouds themselves are the plague?”

Crimson watched the buildings pass by the window, and eyed a car dealership along the way. “All the reports say people who go into the clouds uniformly end up psychotic and insane. If the cult is related to the clouds in any capacity, they’re probably just using the fog as a weapon of convenience.”

As the car got onto easier streets, Alexia felt comfortable enough to devote some brain power away from the road. “It is rather suspicious that both show up fairly close together.”

Conrad agreed. “But then again. So did we. Even though we know we had nothing to do with the clouds, that won’t stop some people from making that connection. Plus for all we know the cult, if it is actually cult and not a government entity, likely existed before the clouds appeared. You guys know about the thousands that attacked Washington. There’s no way a cult could have started at the same time the clouds began showing up and get those kind of numbers to fight with.”

Crimson shrugged. “Well we’re going to the premier cloud research guy tomorrow. We can ask him then.”

Conrad pointed at the hotel and Alexia pulled in front for the valet parking. The quartet got out and Loki took a long deep breath of the city air and let it out again with satisfaction written over her face. “Now this is my kind of place.”

26: Oppenheim

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The four ponies that composed the royal herd entered the hotel suite and dropped their bags off at the door. It wasn’t a very luxurious place, and the solid three star ratings were fairly accurate. Even so, it was a welcome change to the equines.

Crimson was giddy about everything that had happened ever since entering the airport. The pale yellow pony jumped onto the couch in front of the television while bubbling like a maniac. “Can you believe it guys!? We walked through public! We all went through an airport, and are sitting in a hotel room. We are free to live in open society again!”

Hearing it be promised and actually living it was a whole other matter for the herd, and each of them felt relieved by it. What grabbed Conrad’s attention most was the vast gaping empty space in the center of the hotel that allowed those on the top floor to see the ground floor lobby. He limbered up his wings before moving to the door. “I saw that the dinner buffet is being served. You guys want me to grab something?”

The mares quickly gave him their orders and he flew away, eager to show off his ability to fly to the humans below. Alexia was the first to head towards the bedroom as the other two mares busied themselves with either the television or the bathroom.

It was there that Tune saw a closed laptop and black plastic crate on the far side of the bed. The alicorn eyed it with suspicion and opened the computer to reveal a login screen. A scanning laser shot out from the sides of the monitor and danced over the alicorn’s body before disappearing. The screen went white for a few seconds.

Alexia had not been told to expect a laptop and was dubious of it. “Crimson, Loki! Get in here.”

The other mares joined her in time to see a familiar face pop on the screen. “Ah, Special Agent Tune. Glad to see you arrived without incident.”

Alexia sighed in relief that it wasn’t anything malicious. Tune walked over to the computer so she could speak into the built in microphone. “Agent Jackson. I haven’t seen you in a while.”

The man on screen was rather pleased with himself. “It has. I’m afraid with Thompson overseeing recruitment and assessments, you’re stuck with me.” He knew the ponies responded better to a lighter relationship and kept his tone friendly. “I gathered from your reports, that you’ve been extremely busy.” His brow furrowed and leaned forward to get a closer look at her. “Did--did you grow wings?”

The two earth mares snickered at Alexia’s discomfort. “It’s a long story, but yes. I take it you’re the mission commander,” Tune asked to drive the topic away from her.

Jackson took a sip of water before continuing. “I am. The crate by the window has all of the necessary equipment you’ll need; along with your badges and ID cards. It will only open with either the correct twenty digit code or your specific facial pattern Agent Tune. Go ahead-”

“Shazzam! We got the good stuff here.” Alexia and Crimson looked away from the computer to see Loki digging around in the crate while tossing two objects at her mates. “These are yours.” Both landed in front of the computer, and in Jackson’s field of view.

The two mares reached over and picked them up to find they were black wallets that held their respective CIA badges and identification. Jackson was not sure as to what just happened. “Did you unlock the crate before opening the computer?”

Tune shook her head. “No, I went straight for the laptop.”

Loki bounded over with her open badge balanced on top of her head. “I unlocked it.”

Jackson was dumbfounded. “But. How? That lock was meant to resist any sort of tampering, save a strip of C4.”

The green mare gave an innocent shrug. “I entered the code.”

Everyone shared a bewildered glance between each other before Crimson voiced a question. “How did you know the password?”

Loki was perplexed by the odd looks she was getting. “I don’t know…a sort of intuition I guess.” The green mare rubbed her right ear as it started twitching a little.

Alexia rolled her eyes. “Loki’s antics aside. How do you want us to proceed?”

That green mare scares me sometimes. Jackson straightened his tie while speaking. “The good Doctor called in the FBI to handle the situation, as he seemed to have no faith in the local authorities. We pulled some strings, but we managed to convince the Bureau to hand the case over to us. So you’re going in under the pretense of investigating the reported sabotage to his work.”

“And our actual objective?” Crimson inquired.

“We want access to the Granger Branch’s internal server room. Agent Loki is your resident computer expert so she will be the one to accomplish that.”

Alexia and Crimson shared a confused glanced before Tune faced the mission commander. “We’re the CIA right? Can’t we just get a warrant to search it?”

“We already have a warrant for that and everything else,” Jackson explained. “However we want to obtain this data discretely.”

Realization dawned on Anderson. “You want to leverage our invisibility to get in there.”

He nodded. “Only Loki should do that. The rest of you will follow normal investigative procedures. I trust Director Thompson already briefed you on that.”

Tune dipped her head in the affirmative. “He gave us a list of questions and other things to watch and look for.”

“Good, good. That will be your cover story before more specialized investigators arrive to take your place.”

He had all three mares’ full attention, with Loki asking the shared question. “So other than tapping their inner network, what is our objective?”

Jackson steepled his fingers as he leaned in to the camera. “Tune. Do you recall what you did in Rocky Springs?”

The Oppenheim Research Facility was a compound that grew out of the Wilcox Solar Observatory just south of Stanford University. The complex filled the rolling hills between the education center to all the way to Felt Lake just past the southern highway.

Oppenheim was filled with students and alumni alike. Earning a place within the compound was considered by most to be the crowning achievement of their educational career. It was here that many discoveries and scientific breakthroughs were made. Doctor Johansson’s work on the mysterious clouds may be a popular subject, but it was hardly the only project being conducted.

It was this hub of scientific advancement that four ponies arrived the following morning in a new 2013 Chevrolet Volt with an electric blue paint job. The guard at the front gate walked out of his kiosk to check on the visitors. He had been told ahead of time to expect an inquiry team from the CIA, but he had not been told who they would be or why they were here.

That did not seem like much of a concern to the guard. At least until the biggest thing in the news outside of the attack on Washington rolled up next to him with a badge hanging in midair just outside of the driver’s side window. The silver alicorn behind the wheel kept her expression professional. “I’m Special Agent Tune with the CIA.”

The guard stared at her for a second before gathering his wits and checking the badge. “R-Right. Let me just verify this.” Glanced at the trio of ponies who waited patiently as the guard scanned the list before returning the badge while pressing the button to raise the gate and lower the tiger teeth. “Go along the right street until you see the red path to building H dash twenty five. Have a good day…ma’am.”

The badge flew through the air and back into the car while the window rolled up. “You too,” she said as the car started moving again.

Loki shimmered slightly as her invisibly cloak failed to hide her from the other ponies, but had fooled the guard completely. She leaned forward from the backseat to speak with the silver and azure driver. “Why are you the only one who gets to be a special agent?”

Tune was getting comfortable with driving by telekinesis alone, although she would have preferred her old car over the Volt. In the end, she acquiesced to keeping a professional image for the agency, and that did not include her old lime green car. “Because I’m the leading expert on magic. On Earth anyway,” she added at length.

Crimson gently pulled the fellow earth mare back. “You know it takes a lot of work to be a special agent right?”

Loki half groaned, half whined as she sat back. Game face. Work time, need to get my ninja face on. Super-secret, secret mare.

The electric car pulled up to a building that was surrounded in carefully manicured shrubberies with a long flight of stairs between the parking lot and the front door. H-25 was at the far northwestern corner of the complex with rolling grass covered hills and sporadic trees being the only thing between the building and the far wall. As expected, there was no one to meet them on the stairs so the ponies filed out of the car to head up. Alexia had her necklace on, but because she was on the job she had the item rendered invisible along with having her expanding belly being visually flat.

All of the ponies had satchels over their withers that contained all of their necessary tools and identification items for the task at hand. Crimson took Alexia’s left flank while Conrad took the right. Loki, in her state of invisibility, bounced around on her hooves, skipping in circled around the visible trio.

Conrad fought to keep from looking or speaking to the green mare for fear of giving her presence away. How can she bounce around like that after twenty pancakes?

The main lobby of the center was artistically designed to bring about an open, almost ecofriendly environment. The entire front wall was made of framed glass with cast iron decorations lining everything but the double doors themselves. The room itself spanned all the way to the top floor of the five story building, with the space between floors being much higher than what normal construction would dictate.

A few scientists were discussing matters of science while the receptionist was toiling away the hours behind her desk. When the three ponies entered the room, the distinctive clip clop of their hooves on the granite floor quickly made them the center of attention.

Tune expected the attention. We’ll probably turn heads for the next year or so before humans finally start getting used to us. She caught Loki in the corner of her eye as the green pony was drinking one of the slack jawed scientist’s coffee while he was distracted by the trio. She’s going to be the source of ghost stories, just you wait.

The alicorn ignored her mate’s antics and walked up to the front desk while levitating her badge. “I’m Special Agent Tune, these are my associates: Agent Anderson and Agent Copperfield.” She pointed at Crimson and Conrad respectively. “We’re here to ask Doctor Johansson and his staff a few questions. Is he in his office today?” The silver mare knew exactly where he was thanks to the agency’s observation teams, but felt it was polite to ask anyway.

Alexia let the woman hold the badge and ID card in her hands for a few seconds for her brain to finally click into acknowledging that it was real. “Oh-um. Yes, he’s in today. You can find him at laboratory five thirteen. Should I let him know you’re coming?”

It was Conrad who answered while Tune returned her badge to the satchel. “No, that won’t be necessary.”

Crimson tapped Alexia on the shoulder after the earth pony finished studying the top of the lobby and whispered into her alpha’s ear. “If we want to avoid giving him time to erase any files, we should teleport up there.”

The silver alicorn followed Anderson’s pointed hoof to the observation banisters that every story possessed. It would be a tight fit, but so long as I have line of sight it shouldn’t be difficult. She nodded to the pale yellow pony and whistled lightly to get Loki’s attention. “Good call.”

Alexia turned back to the receptionist. “Have a good day ma’am.” To everyone’s confusion she looked up while the other two ponies huddled in close to her. Tune’s horn started glowing with a rapid buildup before all of them vanished in a flash of light and a whoosh of displaced air.

All four ponies rematerialized on the fifth floor to the shock of three interns. Two of which fumbled their stacks of research notes all over the floor, but manage to remain standing.

Loki immediately split off to do her part while Alexia approached the trio of humans. “You mind pointing us to laboratory five thirteen?”

“Five doors on the left,” the one who managed to hold onto his notes replied.

Loki didn’t catch any of the other bits of the short conversation as she scanned each door on her way down the rest of the floor. Command said the internal computer network is on this floor, and that the good doctor has full reign over it.

The sign she saw marked the next room as a chemical storage lab. She passed it to keep looking. But I think its time they got a new root admin.

Doctor Johansson was had just set the next round of tests on automatic. It would take three hours for the computers to run the biochemical analyze of the blood from one of the many incarcerated cloud victims held in a separate facility.

He read the results of the previous tests on a computer screen before waving and clearing his throat to get his male assistant’s attention. The two scientists were currently alone in the room. “Whisker. You mind grabbing me a BLT on your way back from lunch?”

Whisker was worried for the Doctor’s health. “You should really get out of the lab some time. Why don’t you join me while we wait for the results?”

“I can’t do that. I still need to go over the numbers from the oh two nine experiment. I need something solid to throw at the damned media. Plus I’m expecting some legal company to help investigate all of these damned ‘incidences’ that seem to plague the lab.”

Whisker had been gathering up some paperwork to do while he had lunch when Johansson’s last sentence made him hesitate. “Legal help?”

A loud knock on the door halted the conversation, but caused Johansson to be elated. “Ah, I bet you that’s them. No one ever knocks.” He stayed in his computer chair and rolled past three tables full of testing equipment to hit the buzzer to admit entry.

What the doctor expected to see was a cadre of intelligence operatives. His rather public persona and the nature of his work gave him the inclination that he could summon FBI when needed, provided he made sure the reason was a legitimate concern.

Johansson got exactly what he asked for, but not exactly in the form he was expecting. Alexia, Conrad, and Crimson entered with purpose and moved towards the stunned humans. The alicorn withdrew the badge in her magic and flashed it when she got within speaking distance. “Doctor Johansson, I’m Special Agent Tune. These are my partners, Agent Copperfield and Anderson.”

Johansson recovered from his astonishment and shook her offered hoof. “I heard you--ponies, I believe you’re called.” She nodded. “Had been welcomed by the government, but I must say I’m finding it difficult to believe three of you are already members of the CIA.”

Alexia returned her badge in its satchel. “If you’re concerned as to whether or not we are a charity case Doctor, I can assure you, we are more than capable.”

Conrad feigned offense. “We were human once, Doctor.”

Johansson cursed inwardly. “S-sorry about that Agent. You’ll forgive me if have difficulty accepting there being two sentient species of Earth. It was not too long ago that such ideas were grounds for ridicule after all.”

Crimson spoke as if she was stuck between annoyed and disinterested in his apologies. “You requested an investigation to alleged sabotage.”

The doctor nodded sternly. “Yes. I know for a fact someone on my staff is ruining all of my efforts to uncover the exact nature of these clouds.”

Conrad fished out a smartphone so he could record the conversation. Alexia continued with the preset list of questions Thompson prepared for them. “In what way do you think the perpetrators are doing this, and in what capacity?”

Johansson hesitated in his answer. “Does my assistant need to be here? It is sort of the current lunch break and all.”

Conrad slowly studied the large laboratory. “You inform us of a potential saboteur in your department and you want to let a suspect have time to erase evidence?”

The lead scientist scowled at the insult. “Now wait just a minute. Whisker here has been with me for years. Way before this project got started. There’s no reason to suspect him.”

Alexia impassively withdrew several pieces of white chalk out of her satchel’s side pocket. The two men studied the floating items with interest until the moved in front of Tune’s humorless grin. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

The trio of mares sat on the hotel bed with the computer sitting on a plastic tray to keep it from overheating while it rested on a pillow. Alexia wasn’t sure she heard the Mission Commander correctly. “Are you sure about this?”

Jackson nodded as he tried to find the right words. “There are some who believe that the Koridosonites have infiltrated Oppenheim. They may have gotten to Johansson in one way or another.”

Tune and Crimson were no strangers to television drama’s revolving around America’s twin intelligence agencies, so they expected paranoia. What they didn’t expect, was Jackson’s tale. “Let me get this straight. You’re suggesting that the cultists aren’t human?”

Jackson shifted through the pages in the Rocky Springs report. “Do you, or do you not, claim that the divination array you used in the town of RS was designed to detect only human lifesigns?”

Suddenly, Loki’s theory found more weight in the alicorn’s mind. She nodded slowly. “Yes, otherwise life forms the size of ants or bigger would deliver misleading signal returns.”

“And I quote from your transcript,” Jackson said as he read from the after-action report, “ ‘its definitely not supposed to make the dots change color and flicker like that’.” He lowered the file back on the desk with a cautious expression. “There are some who have reason to believe that whoever those people are, are no longer fully human.”

The mares stared at Loki for a few seconds before facing the computer. Crimson fought to keep a straight face. “You think they’re turning into aliens?”

Jackson drummed his fingers as he contemplated a response. “It is becoming common knowledge within American society that your species is not native to Earth. As a result, the idea of there being other intelligent nonhumans on Earth is leaving the realm of censure and paranoia driven delusions to become a more openly acceptable theory.”

“So it was my report that gave these theorists the basis for the hypothesis that the Koridosonites are inhuman?”

“Agent Tune, ponies have destroyed two things: plausible deniability of aliens, and the realization of magic.” Jackson took another sip of water.

Even then, the majority of the agency believes that whoever is behind the cult has some serious genetic engineering technology. But the source of that technology is believed to be terrestrial, not of magic or aliens.”

“Most speculate that the clouds act like a primer agent. A chemical or some sort of infection vector that starts the victim’s transformation, but is missing something that leads to the victim becoming a mindless savage. Only those who are responsible for all of this have access to the other half of the infection. A sort of lock and key, if you will.”

“Ooohhh,” Loki drawled out. “So the cloud infects people with locks and the bad guys have the key to make them all evil and stuff?”

Crimson mulled over the idea. “If you already know that, then why do we need Johansson?”

Jackson smirked. “We don’t, at least not directly. We’re using him as bait to draw out one of the cultists so we can capture him alive.”

Anderson hummed in approval of the plan. “I like it.”

Loki was confused by it. “Wait a second. Didn’t we capture a big leader guy during our first mission under Thompson?”

Jackson was suddenly very uncomfortable. “At the time we just assumed he was the leader of an extremist group. The Guard took him, and all other surviving cultists into custody. An hour after they were left in their cells, they committed suicide by unknown means. By the time meal call came around, every last one of them rapidly decayed liked the bodies did in both Rocky Springs, and the capital. That’s why we know the cult and its backers are behind all three scenarios.”

He leaned back to take a more formal posture. “Now that Johansson has complained about sabotage, we know the bait’s been taken. Use your abilities to discover the mole’s identity and capture him alive.”

Johansson and Whisker watched the silver mare quickly draw on the brown wall with chalk flying around without her touching any of it. The only indication it was under her control was the matching aura around each errant piece and her horn. Tune needed to make sure the new array was absolutely flawless if she wanted to avoid a false reading, and the indentations in the wall were not helping.

Better than the rubber ground. It’s too uneven for the pattern to work, but these indentations can be worked around. Of course none of this would be necessary if there was a truly flat surface around here that would be big enough for the whole building.

“How is she doing that?”

Conrad looked to the lab assistant who was focusing on the herd’s alpha. “Magic.” Both the pegasus and earth pony drew silent pleasure at the two men of science scoffing at the notion.

Johansson growled at the idea. “Magic?! You can’t be serious.”

Crimson hid her smirk behind a clinically neutral expression. “I assure you Doctor, this is no joke. Have you not been watching the news?”

Whisker maintained a discreet distance from the alicorn as he watched the chalk move about. “I’m sorry, but I don’t usually have time to watch TV. I’ll admit I don’t know much about your kind, Agents. But this is obviously some form of telekinesis. The prospect of psychic power is incredible, revolutionary even, but hardly magic.”

The medic assumed a thready tone in an effort to sound like an old man. “You must unlearn what you have learned.”

Conrad coughed to clear the air before facing Johansson. He was just as eager to have a magic debate with a scientist as much as Crimson did, but not when they were representing the CIA. He wanted to act accordingly. “While our associate is busy, I’d like to get a statement from you before our investigation can begin in earnest.”

Both men had to push their scientific curiosity aside for the matter at hand, with the research chief taking one last look at the alicorn. He didn’t know why, but she irked him greatly. “Ask away.”

With the lunch crowd returning to their laboratories and offices, the hallway was crammed with people. Even with an invisibility cloak, a sane person would have waited in a corner for the throng of people to leave the hallway. Loki never honestly claimed to be sane. Were she to reflect on her current actions, she might even come to the conclusion that she was acting less so than normal.

The green mare was bouncing and weaving through the crowd with the finesse of a dancer as she pressed on in the direction of the server room. She couldn’t quite explain why, but she felt the little twitches in her ears or tail that always seemed to point her in the direction in which to go to avoid bumping into one of the researchers.

Unlike Crimson or Alexia, who might find them annoying or try to analyze it, Loki was more than happy to roll with the muscle ticks and passed by forty people with only a slight breeze being the only sign of her passing. Its like I’ve got ESP or something. That’s awesome! I wonder if its some long lost earth pony magic art.

Loki put her trust in the strange feelings and dodged the last eleven people before pressing her back to the wall right next to the door that had a plaque that declared her destination. Had the green mare thought to look; she would have noticed her cutie marks glowing slightly as the twin motes of mana grew with her quick acceptance of this new ability.

The server room was protected by a number pad and keycard slider. Both were expected by the agency, so Loki was able to fish around in her satchel to retrieve the forged keycard. However the passcode changed randomly every five hours so she had to either wait for someone to open the door, or obtain the code herself.

The mare shook her head at the idea. I need to know how far this ESP goes. she hovered her hoof over the keypad and tried to sniff the code out like she did with the crate back in the hotel, but it faltered and nothing came to mind. Frowning, she shifted the tip of her hoof over the different buttons trying to recreate the same perception, but nothing came. Her cutie marks dimmed to where there was only a low light that outlined the grey fedora on her flanks.

Aww don’t quit on me now. She huffed in disappointment. Loki fell away from the keypad and glanced around the hallway. She saw a scraggly looking scientist making his way down the hall who clearly didn’t listen to his bladder until it was almost too late.

Loki knew the man would pass her on his way the restroom. The hacker was hammered so hard by inspiration, that she fell face first to the ground. Oh man this is going to be so fun.

Loki remembered the restrooms were around the bend in the passageway so she scrambled to her hooves and ran around the corner and into the men’s room. It was a single person room with tiled walls and floor. Perfect! Not even thinking about how unsanitary it was, she dropped on her side and faced the door while removing the cloak around her head.

The man walked in a few seconds later to discover what appeared to be a green and pink miniature severed horse head with its tongue lolling out and its eyes closed. The scientist yelped and jumped back surprise and held onto the door to support his weight until he noticed the lack of blood. He let out a shuttering chuckle. “Very funny,” he said with strained humor. “So where’s the camera?”

He started looking around, and saw no obvious places. He decided to pick the head up. “Your owner will be back later if I take you with me.”

Right as he was about to touch her, Loki’s eyes shot open and stared at him with a silent promise of a most heinous doom. She growled with a voice akin to a demon. “Lord Toilet will be pleased with your offering!”

The man freaked and scrambled backwards for the door. To his absolute terror, the head floated up into the air with a crazed look on its face as it spouted unintelligible sounds. ”Gert wort voltantar seopod walrus.”

That was all it took to break the man and he bolted out of room and ran away. Loki returned the cloak over her head and ran over to a remote corner of the hallway so she could try to contain her nasally snickering from erupting into full blown laughter.

The prankster sat back in the corner to watch as her victim pulled several other people, including a security guard, to the bathroom. Loki pushed both hooves in her mouth to keep from howling with laughter at the man fluster in his attempt to prove he wasn’t suffering from being overworked.

A random impulse made her run over behind the guard and drop her head’s cloak again and tapped the man on his thigh. He turned around to see the head jump up to be momentarily eye level with him as the head screamed at him. “Booga booga booga!”

A brief moment of sanity made the green mare realize what the guard’s first reaction would be and recloaked while ducking to the side to avoid the man’s quick-draw of his firearm and almost shot at the space she had just occupied.

Okay, maybe I went a little overboard with that one.

“What the hell was that?” The guard shouted while pointed his weapon in different directions to try and find the target.

“See!? I told you I wasn’t hallucinating,” yelled the original victim as he cast scornful glares at his colleagues.

The security guard was slow to lower his weapon. “I’m going to call this in. Get a crew up here and find out what’s going on.”

Loki wracked her brain for a quick solution. Umm…Ha, I got it. She dropped the cloak around her head again and walked up to the men before the guard could activate his radio. “Greetings fellow men of science! I hope you were not too disturbed by our test.”

The group of four people backed away from the floating head. The original victim was appalled. “Test? Burnstrom if you’re responsible for this I swear you’ll pay!”

Loki spied the man’s ID tag. “Now now Vladdy. There’s no need to get your knickers in a bunch. Besides, Burnstrom couldn’t handle a holographic speaker module if it came with a dummy’s guide.”

The guard repressed a chuckle. “This is against Center codes of conduct. Play your practical jokes when I’m not on the clock okay?”

“Not a problem my good man.” Loki’s head vanished from sight. The other researchers laughed at the victim’s expense while Loki backed away from them. She felt her ear twitch towards the server room. its baaaaack. The grinning mare scrambled for the door and retrieved the passcard from her pack. Her hoof hovered over the keypad and she used her magic to press the correct sequence as they came to her.

Loki slipped inside and shut the door before the group of scientists could round the corner. She heard them laughing about the incident and plans for returning the favor. Loki’s glowing cutie marks faded back to normal as the green mare whinnied at herself as she crept deeper into the uninhabited room. Those guys will be laughing about it all day. Loki felt good about her prank, as even her victim was laughing at the end. She took stock of the red lit room she found herself in.

A final twitch of mana from beneath her hat shaped cutie marks gave her pause as a thought came to her. Maybe my pranks should try to make other people laughing instead of just myself from now on. I mean, a good joke is best when shared right?

Her eyes fell upon the servers and her mind snapped back to the mission at hand.

The invisible mare found the server rack was not under any additional physical protection. The room was more of a walk in closet than anything else. It was barely large enough for the rack, which held fifteen physical servers, and enough room to walk around in to perform maintenance.

She removed her satchel and dug around in it to remove a powerful satellite uplink. She ignored the servers themselves and went straight for the wires running out of the front of them. “Let’s see…” She fished out the piece of paper telling her which wire she needed to place it on. “Server eight, port two ninety.”

She scoffed at herself. “Man, if I had invisibility and ESP back in my human days, there wouldn’t have been a network in existence that would have been safe from me.” She brought up the wire splicer and uplink. “Especially not when I can bypass firewalls with this baby. I just need to tuck you in somewhere no one will think to look.”

Alexia’s chalk tapped the last line of the array. There, that should do it.

She glanced at her two mates. Conrad was using his authoritative muscle to keep the Doctor from logging a complaint that he felt like he was being interrogated, while Crimson was having a more civil conversation with Whisker.

Better help Conrad out and get this underway. Tune thought to herself before pressing a hoof to the diagram and activating it. Both humans had been casting curious eyes at the alicorn and ignored their conversations with the other two ponies when the diagram on the wall lit up with a bright azure.

Alexia was unaware of the shift in attention as her perception of the world around her moved to encompass the building and thirty feet from the farthest ground floor wall. Well over two hundred human shaped beacons of golden light moved around the facility. The building itself, and every nonhuman object within was a dull brown or grey if it was in motion.

I’ve been getting better at this. The signal returns look like people instead of just dots now. The silver mare almost immediately picked out two people who did not possess the pure golden signal of a normal human. Both of them were on lower floors and intermingling with the other researchers.

I’ve accounted for every possible error and miscalculation. The array is working perfectly, whoever those two are, they are certainly not entirely human.

Something nagged the mare in the back of her mind. I know that these people couldn’t possibly be able to trick my divination. Magic is simply too young on Earth for anyone to have any protection outside of the ward I gave them; but I already compensated for that.

That nagging feeling only got worse. I don’t like this… Something’s missing here.

Whisker eyed the glowing diagram with careful curiosity. “What exactly is she doing?”

Crimson looked back to her alpha and noticed Alexia had a troubled look. Anderson used the agreed upon cover story. “She’s using it for uninterruptible communications with HQ.”

He gave her an odd look. “Wouldn’t a cellphone do just fine?”

The pale yellow mare’s reply was cut short by Johansson shouting at Conrad. “This is insulting! I asked for a serious investigation to be conducted, and what do I get? A gaggle of horses who ask me inane questions that any brain-dead rookie cop could give.”

Conrad repressed a strong desire to slug the man. “Doctor, I am just following procedure. I’m going to have to ask you to calm down.” Before I do something we’ll both regret.

Johansson waved his arms about to display his disgust. “Outrageous! I’m not listening to another word. I want you out of my building. I am contacting the FBI and this time they better not hand it off to a bunch of disgraceful horses trying to play spy. I bet those badges are fake too. I’m calling the police!”

The brown pegasus had to force himself not to give into the temptation to beat the man senseless. Give me a terrorist with a gun any day. At least then I don’t have to worry about legal issues for killing him.

As Conrad tried to get regain control over the enraged scientist, Alexia finally realized what was nagging her. There’s only one human signal in this room. The shock of the revelation made her break contact with the array. Whisker noted the alicorn’s reaction, but didn’t know what to make of it. Tune cleared her thoughts and turned to the men.

“Gentlemen,” she yelled to impose her will on the enraged researcher, “I’m afraid I need both of you to come with us to the local police station. My superiors wish to ask you some questions.”

Johansson was only too delighted. “Good! Maybe then I can talk to someone with a modicum of competence.”

Whisker was more civil about it. “If that’s what you need of us Agent. I’d rather not have obstruction of justice on my record.”

“Glad to have your cooperation,” Tune began before addressing her mates, “please escort them to the lobby. I have other matters to tend to.”

As he was being led away, Whisker’s brow furrowed when he saw Alexia pull a smartphone and several moist towelettes out of her satchel.

Tune pressed the speed dial as soon as the door closed behind Crimson. She walked over to the array to erase it with the towelettes. Jackson answered after three rings with an expectant tone. “You have an update for me Agent Tune?”

“I do. The array discovered there are two people in the building who do not have fully human lifesigns, and a third who doesn’t register on the array at all.”

Jackson’s confusion and desire for haste was evident in his voice. “I’m calling in the backup team to link up with you. They’re about ten minutes away, but I need to know. If that third person didn’t register, then how did you know he was there?”

Alexia’s fear for her mates was starting to creep into her voice. “Because I was in the same room as him.”

“Does he suspect your intent?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then gather up the other two targets along with ten other employees so you can avoid suspicion. Make it seem random.”

“On it.” Alexia hung up and put the phone away.

Five minutes later, Crimson was keeping an eye on the two scientists in the lobby while Conrad and Alexia rounded up the other twelve researchers. Loki remained out of sight while lying on her back, batting the end of her tail every so often to keep herself occupied. She wasn’t expecting anything dangerous out of a group of unarmed scientists. Even if she had been, Loki needed to remain passive or else her presence would be given away. Well, more than what my prank did anyway. Good thing I convinced them I was an illusion.

The two winged ponies arrived on the ground floor via the elevators, along with the remaining seven people. Loki checked her phone. The fuzz should be here any minute now. The thought made her flop fully onto the floor. Can’t believe I’m one of the fuzz now too. Where did everything go wrong? I was a renowned hacker back in the day, but I’ve been spending all my earnings on building up Alexia’s dream town.

The green mare caught sight of her three mates as they tried to placate eight of the researchers as they heatedly complained about the volatility of their experiments. The herd’s mere presence tugged at her heartstrings to the point where Loki sighed in content at observing them. To think I’d end up giving my heart to three other people, and it not be the subject matter of a sleazy talk show.

Loki’s musings were jarred away by the arrival of five human CIA agents and the researchers becoming increasingly agitated. It was a development that troubled her. Why are all the white collars being so negative about this? I thought people like that loved talking with the police.

Johansson was leading a group of seven other researchers in making a huge scene, in an attempt to get the other three ponies to back down and let them get back to work. “Why did you pick everyone here at random?” he said as the doctor swept his arms to encompass the other angry men and women who grumbled in approval of his argument.

Alexia kept a hoof up in polite restraint as she caught the other agents moving in from the front door. “This is not random. We have reason to believe all of you are material witnesses in the string of sabotages.”

“And what reason is that?” Johansson raged as he menacingly imposed his stature on the alicorn. “You come in here, ask stupid questions and draw on my wall!”

Conrad took to the air so he was eye level with the belligerent ring leader. His tone was both forceful and barely polite. “You will maintain a professional distance, Doctor.”

“I don’t have to listen to you, horse.” Johansson motioned to Whisker. “We don’t have time for this. Let’s go everyone. We’ve got work to do.”

One of the human agents had finally gotten within speaking distance. “I’m Special Agent Monahan. We need you and everyone else to come with us.”

“On what grounds?” one of the women shouted angrily. “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“We aren’t saying you did,” Alexia replied evenly. “But we need to investigate the cause of the sabotage, and we need to do that down at the station.”

None of the eight scientists seemed to back down in the face of three ponies and five human CIA agents. Crimson felt something wasn’t right about their behavior as the two groups postured against one another. Why are they acting to irrational?

Monahan rested his hand on his holstered pistol. “You have been asked politely by both myself and Agent Tune. We have a warrant and we are taking this investigation very seriously. I would prefer not having to press charges of obstruction of justice.”

The researchers were still belligerent, but backed down in the face of possible arrest. The other agents escorted the scientists to the front door while Monahan hung back to speak with Alexia. His tone was flat, but carried enough humor to rob his words of any sting. “Just what did you say to them to get them all pissy?”

Tune kept a close eye on the civilians while the herd crowded behind her. “I suspect the cultists might have something to do with that. Especially the one who didn’t register on the scanner at all; Assistant Whisker.”

The man in question possessed hearing as sharp as the ponies themselves and halted in his tracks. The equines took notice of his hesitation. In an instant, Whisker’s fist shot out like a bullet and planted itself into the agent to his left and threw him ten feet into the air while back kicking the agent to his right. Both impacts were enough to crack bone and leave them incapacitated.

The CIA drew their firearms and backed off to get out of melee range. “Get on the ground now!”

The throng of scientists didn’t listen and seemed to encircle Whisker while trying to bull rush the three agents between them and the door. The CIA fired on them without any further warning, and hit four of the researchers in the arms and legs, dropping them to the floor, wounded but alive.

Whisker ignored it all and bolted through the door and out to the north side of the building at a speed seemingly impossible for a normal man. The agents fired, but no shots connected. Conrad and the two earth mares chased after him, with the mares deftly leaping around the wounded civilians as the rest of the CIA agents restraining those still standing.

Alexia pulled the lead agent aside to speak quickly while pointing at a man and a woman in the fighting crowd. “Howard and Viand are the ones who showed anomalously signals in the scanner, we’ll chase down Whisker.”

The man nodded, eager to help his subordinates. “Take him alive if possible.”

“We’ll try.” Alexia’s horn lit up and she blinked outside on the top of the steps to see Conrad pass through the northern trees. She didn’t trust a full on gallop with her freshly healed leg just yet, and flying was out of the question. When in doubt, teleport out.

Whisker was fast, faster than any biped had any right to be as he tore down the lightly forested rolling grass hills. Yet that enhanced speed was not enough to outrun the three ponies hot on his trail. He jumped over a small crevasse in the ground. He didn’t need to turn his head to hear a single set of thundering hooves and the rustle of feathers on the air behind him.

A strange chime sound, coupled with a slight rush of displaced air and a flash of azure light heralded the sudden appearance of the sliver alicorn twenty five feet in front of him. She readied a second spell to stop him while Whisker didn’t deviate from his path.

Tune waited for him to get within seven feet before erecting a physical barrier between them, hoping he would smack into it. Instead, he reacted instantly and vaulted over the six foot shield and attempted to plant both falling feet onto the surprised mare.

He would have flattened her, had Alexia not reflexively blinked five feet to the right. Instead of continuing his flight, Whisker pivoted on one foot and charged the alicorn.

“Incoming!” Loki’s disembodied voice yelled out as the invisible mare collided with the errant scientist. Both combatants wrestled with each other as they rolled away from Alexia. Loki got in several good punches on the man’s face and chest, but none of them seemed to do anything more than annoy him.

Whisker managed to get his legs under the invisible pony and launched her off of him before trying to scramble to his feet. Crimson and Conrad tackled him as soon as Loki wailed her frustration through the air.

Alexia moved in with a sleep spell at the ready. “Keep him down!”

“What do you think we’re trying to do?” Conrad growled more at Whisker than Tune. The alicorn started channeling the spell, but Whisker was far more resistant to its effects than she anticipated.

Whisker yelled a wordless cry of rage and threw Conrad off and the pegasus was sent rolling away a few feet. Crimson was pinning the thrashing researcher’s legs between her own. With his arms free, Whisker grabbed Anderson’s neck at the base of her jaw with his right hand. The pale yellow mare feared he was going to try and choke her, but his grip was only strong enough to keep her from breaking free.

Her eyes dilated to the size of dinner plates as an eight inch spike of bone quickly slid it is way out of his left arm. “You should have left well enough alone.”

Conrad returned a moment later to kick the blade arm away. Yet it was not fast enough to stop Whisker from nearly impaling the struggling mare who received a long gash across the length of her muzzle and left cheek. Between Conrad’s intervention and Crimson’s earth pony strength, she was able to pry herself free.

By the time Loki returned to grapple the man’s spike arm, the other two ponies had effectively stalled the researcher long enough for the spell to take hold and Whiskers slumped to the ground unconscious. Anderson let go of the man’s legs and pressed her right fetlock to her cut face.

Alexia ran over to check on the injury. “Crimmy, are you okay?”

Both of the other mares inspected the bleeding wound while Conrad hovered over Whisker to keep an eye on him. Anderson hissed in pain. “I got worse from that job in London, I’ll be fine.”

Tune grabbed some bandages and disinfectant from Crimson’s satchel and gave them to Loki who had some training in applying both items. “Even so, I’d like to get this checked out. There’s no tell what else that guy might have besides a built in spear.”

Conrad tapped the man on his face to make sure he was out cold. “Looks like you’re coming home with us.” He fished out his cellphone and called Jackson while the mares fussed over Crimson. The pegasus didn’t have to wait long before the call was answered. “Boss. We bagged Whisker.”

“Excellent news Agent Tune. Stay on the line, we have a chopper in the air and we’ll track your location to send it over.”

Conrad still didn’t like his official last name being Tune. It wasn’t out of disrespect or distaste for the name, but more that it was forced on him. Well I can always go to a judge and have it changed to something else. Its not like its irreversible. “Ten four.”

The next seven minutes of waiting for the helicopter, consisted of Alexia keeping the sleep spell active and everyone else assessed their injuries. Outside of Crimson’s face, those injuries consisted of little more than bruises, minor lacerations, and pulled ligaments.

The royal herd was ordered to stay in the hotel for an additional three days, much to their chagrin as they wanted to join the rest of their kind at the settlement. The delay was due to Crimson’s injury, which had become a topic of interest in the agency outside of Thompson’s Section Nine. The medic knew it was more out of what was found in the wound, rather than any concern over her health, which was not in danger.

Anderson grumbled to herself as she flipped the page of Wilder’s notes on pony physiology. Her mind was only half focused on the text in front of her. Conrad and Alexia were on the roof of the hotel as the alicorn tried to get the hang of flying, while Loki was prowling the hotel in search of prank victims.

The medic was laying on the lone king sized bed with a half-eaten salad sitting next to her and two overturned empty plastic cups next to that. It was just past one o’clock in the afternoon, and the pale yellow mare’s legs were fidgeting. It was a common problem with earth ponies who became sedentary for too long, and that characterized the studying mare for the past few days after Whisker’s capture.

The other two things on her mind refused to be left alone as well. Anderson got exasperated with her continual failure in focusing on her books and climbed off the bed and walked over to the bathroom mirror.

She traced a hoof over where the injury took place. “Nothing’s left of it. Not even a line in my fur. Can’t believe how badly it hurt at the time. I still don’t know why they keep holding us here until the labs satisfy their curiosity. Feels like The Ranch all over again.”

She knew that wasn’t a fair analogy and huffed at her own irritability. Something she fully blamed on the other elephant in her mind. Anderson fell on her rump and looked at her flat belly. “Damn it. Why do I want a foal so badly?” she cradled her head in her hooves. “Its got to be hormones. I know its hormones.”

She slipped into analytical mode as she walked over to the living room. “It makes sense really. Almost every woman, and I’m sure mare too, goes through a time of wanting a kid. Its just nature’s way of imposing the will to procreate. Hell, it could even be that I’m just not used to my body’s hormones. I haven’t been a mare for even half a year.”

Crimson sat on the couch while a cartoon played on the television with the volume muted. She looked at it, but didn’t watch it. “So its only natural that with me being a mare, I would go through the same thing.” Her analyze did next to nothing in weakening the desire. Roaring at her nagging emotions, she pulled one of the seat cushions out and threw it at the television. “AARRRG! Why do I want this so damn bad!”

Anderson leapt her to hooves, breathing heavily through her nose. “Could it be Alex’s passive magic?”

The mare recalled Tune giving Twilight Sparkle’s explanation on it. “No no no, I’m a fully pony. Both inside and out. Her magic can’t affect me anymore.” Her eyes shifted around the room, but not really looking at anything. “Is it heat? I know I’ll be in season for the next two weeks. No, it can’t be. I’m not aroused or wanting to get laid.”

She realized the circular logic. “Well okay, I have to get laid to have a foal, but the sex itself isn’t what I want--at least not any more than usual. Plus I’ve been feeling like this before my cycle started.”

She fell to the ground on her side and hugged her hind legs and tail tight against her barrel. Her emotions flying everywhere as silent tears fell from her eyes. “It keeps getting worse, and there’s no pill I know of that’ll suppress this in a pony. No matter what I tell myself, I need this. Maybe Twilight can teach Alex a spell to fix this.”

Anderson gathered herself and went to the bathroom to wash up. “I need to burn off some steam; I’ve been sitting around too much. Giving me too much time to think.”

She gathered her satchel and filled a bottle of water. “We may not be able to leave the city, but they said nothing about running around town.”

Anderson finally cleaned herself up and combed her mane and coat to be presentable again, when Alexia’s phone rang from inside the bedroom. The pale yellow pony knew only one person had the five oscillating chime ringtone. Given that she was the only one in the room, it was her task to babysit the phone, so she ran to answer it.

“This is Anderson.”

It was Thompson. “Good to hear from you Agent. You’ll be glad to know, you’re cleared to leave Frisco.”

Crimson held the phone away from her mouth to groan. About damn time. She replaced the phone to its proper place and adopted a neutral tone that did well in concealing her partially raw emotions. “Did the lab find want it wanted?”

“Whisker is still alive and in transit to a holding facility.” He paused while reading a file. “As for your delayed departure, you remember why I ordered it?”

Apparently my agitation is leaking through. “Because you were acting on a hunch that whatever these…people are infected with is useless against ponies.”

“From what I’m seeing in the medical file, its more like repulsed. I based my hunch on how they reacted while trying to convert you during Tune’s first contact with you.”

Crimson remembered sitting on that house’s foyer. Cultists surrounding Anderson were chanting with the robed leader moved a screeching worm at her. She shook off the memory to return to the present. Off to the side of her medical mind, the mare knew she should be suffering at the very least a mild case of PTSD. However, the herd mentality’s effect on her had slowly robbed the memory of its potency. All the recollection did to her anymore was to give her reason to despise the cult.

“Yes, I remember. The worm didn’t take to me very well.”

“And yet it takes to humans like a fish to water. What grabbed my attention was how little of you was a pony at the time. Given your hand in all this, I can forward a copy of the medical report on our findings upon your arrival.”

That greatly improved Crimson’s demeanor. “I’d like that, thank you.”

“I thought you might,” he sighed so he had an excuse to switch topics. He knew full well that speaking to Crimson was almost as good as speaking with Alexia. “The preliminary screening and physical assessments of the first batch of candidates will be complete in two weeks’ time. I expect the four of you will be on site by then.”

“Don’t worry Director, we’ll be there.” She hung up and checked the clock before tossing the phone towards the center of the bed. “Well there goes my exercise. The fliers should be back in a minute.”

As if on cue, the door into the hallway opened and Alexia and Conrad entered. Anderson heard Conrad speaking. “Your form wasn’t that bad, and you can glide well enough; but you need to actually flap your wings next time.”

“How can you not freak every time you dip down?”

The pair was speaking in Equish. It was fast becoming their language of choice now that the two earth mares were fluent in it as well. The only time any member of the herd spoke or even wrote in English anymore was when addressing a human or pony who did not understand it.

Crimson walked in to see the pegasus chuckle at his partner. “Because you trust your wings to push you back up obviously.”

Crimson decided to interject. “Maybe getting a formally ground bound pony to learn how to fly on top of a twenty story building isn’t such a hot idea.” The alicorn agreed, but Anderson kept speaking. “I just got off the phone with Thompson. We’re cleared to leave for Loki’s build site.”

Both other ponies lit up at the news. “At last,” Conrad grumbled. “I’ll go find Loki so we can pack up and leave right away.”

Alexia noticed Crimson was gravely troubled despite the effort she put in hiding it. It was something only a fellow herdmate could see, but only if they were looking. “Is something wrong Crimmy?”

Conrad stopped his walk to the door to look at the earth mare who gave a shuddering mirthless laugh. “Its funny really,” Crimson started as her emotional walls weakened, “we really can’t hide anything from each other. And I don’t want to…ever.”

Conrad walked back over to lay a comforting hoof on the earth pony’s back while Alexia scooted closer to her. “What is it?” There was no need to tell Crimson that she could speak her mind. It was an understood fact between them.

“I need something.” Crimson hesitated as she glanced at Tune’s bulge. A stab of intense jealous desire lanced through her psyche. “No I can’t say it’s a need, at least not yet. Just something I don’t know if I want or my body wants or a mix of the two. But I’ve been wanting this far more than I should be if it was just hormones.”

Alexia was calm and understanding with her tone of voice. “Whatever it is, we can help you through this Crimmy. But we need to know what it is.”

The implications of it was not lost on the trembling yellow mare. This isn’t just some fix and be gone. My whole life would change, as if it hasn’t enormously already. I may not be able to continue my studies. A third child could put a strain on all of us. Who am I kidding, it would put a strain on us. “I ahhh.” Just say it already! She raged at herself. You are not going to be the one who starts hiding things from the herd.

Conrad cast a worried glance at Alexia who gestured to give Crimson time to speak. Anderson looked between both mates before centering on Tune. She pushed back the fear of rejection and mustered up her courage to voice the request. “I want to have a foal.”

The non-earth ponies were taken aback with the stallion responding first. “That’s all? Why are you so high strung over that?”

Alexia smacked him upside the head, electing a yelp of pain. “What do you mean ‘that’s all?’ Having a kid is an overwhelmingly important decision.”

Didn’t stop us from going at it like rabbits. He checked his thoughts before they reached tongue. “I thought she was having outside trouble is all.”

Tune glowered at him while Crimson attempted to clarify her feelings. “I’m scared about this. I don’t know if this is how I truly feel.”

Alexia decided to mete out punishment on the single male later so she could focus on Anderson. “What do you mean, how you feel? It’s kind of hard to mistake the desire for a child for something else.”

The medic grabbed her head to try to think rationally. “I could understand if this was my biological clock or something, but it feels too intense.” Crimson caught sight of Tune’s belly as the alicorn shifted her position, and the same stab of jealousy spiked through her. Damn it! “Its like something else is pushing me to want a foal.”

Alexia was highly concerned and summoned the tome and flipped it open. “This might be a condition among ponies.” The Dusk Guard page revealed itself, but the purple light was absent. “Its no good. Twilight isn’t available.”

Conrad pulled the distraught mare into a close hug while directing his attention to the book. “Maybe some of the medical text Sparkle gave you will have the answer.”

Alexia switched the interface to that section. “Not a bad idea.” The mage levitated the tome to the center of the room and activated the archives. The whole room was filled, wall to wall, with shimming text of multiple colors to indicate their subject matter.

The lavender princess had been very through in the amount of text available to her prized student. Although, the former librarian had the tendency to add far more books than was practically needed. Those three ponies searched the expansive magical holographic display for five hours with no luck. Crimson felt emotionally raw but also that she was stabilized. The medic knew it was because most of the herd was present in the room. As long as she kept her eyes away from Alexia’s belly, she could almost ignore the pounding impulse in her mind.

Loki waltzed into the hotel room feeling rather good about herself. She pulled off seven successful pranks and only ten out of thirty people had swore vengeance on her. Its not an instant success, but I think its a good start in broadening my audience. and saw the massive holographic display. “Oohh. What’s the big project guys?”

Anderson looked away from her page. “We’re trying to find a book on physiological disorders or afflictions relating to an overbearing need to have a foal.”

The green mare didn’t think to ask for the reason for such research and walked over to the long list of titles. “Just how many books are there?”

“Almost thirty thousand,” Tune replied offhandedly. “Twilight seemed to think I’d have time to read them all eventually. Pretty sure it was a joke though.”

Loki whistled at the number. She scanned the names for a few minutes before her ear twitched. The pink and green mare’s eyes went back to the title where the twitch occurred and pressed a hoof at it. Her section of the display disappeared, with the slightly glowing text book remaining. “The Stallion’s Guide to All Things Mare.”

Conrad was instantly interested in that book. Now that sounds like a good read. He walked over while Loki breezed through the pages. “Is there anything in there about abnormal behavior?”

Loki snorted in amusement. “If I can guess by the author’s name, I’d say a stallion wrote this. So I’d suspect the whole book would be labeled as abnormal behavior.”

“That’s not true,” the pegasus replied teasingly, “there’s got to be a table of contents and appendix in there.”

His comment drew the eyes of all three mares in the room. One was amused, another slight displeasure, and the third promising silent doom. Loki flipped back to the table of contents. “These chapter titles are rather dumbed down. Here’s one called ‘avoiding the bimonthly three to six days of terror.’”

Crimson was feeling anger boiling over. “We’re looking for medical text,” she growled tersely, “not chauvinistic drivel.”

The other ponies glanced at the fuming mare. Anderson only wanted one thing in her life to make her feel abnormal: alcohol. Barring that, she was beginning to hate this drive that was building with every second. Tune wasn’t sure what to say, so she kept looking. Conrad rolled his eyes and went back to his spot.

Or at least he tried to, but Loki pulled on his mane to look at a different entry. She whispered to him. “Look at this.”

He read the line of text above Loki’s grass green hoof. She wants a foal. Or does she?

It piqued his interest. “Think that might have a clue?”

Loki shrugged as she returned his hushed tones. “Maybe. It’s the best lead we got to our resident baby boomer.”

Conrad moved in to sit side by side with Loki as she flipped the translucent pages which visibly solidified once she got to the desired page. The document was clearly not written to be scholarly source material.

Your marefriend or herdmate wants a foal? Well in order to figure out what could possibly possess her to want a screaming messy ball of fur, we have to delve into the mind of the mare. A scary prospect I know, but if you’ve already read this far then you should be strong enough to do so again.

Loki found the entry more amusing than insulting. Conrad had to cut through the poor attempts at humor to get the useful tidbits out. At least I hope this is humor. He scanned through it until he found an entry that seemed to describe the problem.

Reason 76,279 as to why she wants another mouth to feed could be from what I like to call, Alarm Clock Disease on account of the biological clock all mares seem to have. Almost every mare in existence gets all giddy and lovey dovey over the sight of young fillies and colts running around at play.

Its in all likelihood that at least one of your herdmates will want a sprout to call their own. But ACD is a particularly nasty one. From what I’ve heard, it’s fortunately very rare. But even then, you best pray to Celestia, Luna, and even Smooze if you’re into that kind of thing. I won’t make any judgments here.

From what I’ve gathered in my many decades of travels and observations, not to mention the two dozen herds I’ve been a part of. ACD only strikes mares who are part of a herd where one of the other mares is visibly pregnant. Now I’m no psychologist or whatever, but even I can tell ACD is more than just the mare wanting to cook something in the oven.

For whatever reason, the mare started to go nuts over the idea of getting pregnant. Unfortunately, this isn’t like heat. At least then you get a couple of good weeks to romping around, and even then she's only interested in the sex, not the aftermath. The other huge difference is that ACD can happen when she isn't in season. I’ve seen and heard some horror stories in my time, and there is nothing worse than a mad mare who gets full blown ACD right after her season is over.

Fortunately for you my friend, there are two quick and easy solutions and one not so easy solution. The first and best one, if you ask me, which you should be if your reading my book, is to buy her a few boxes of Barralian hot tea. The stuff is sold all over Equestria and is far cheaper than a foal, I tell you what. Now if you’re the family type, then the other easy solution is to give her what she wants.

Both of these easy solutions are permanent fixes too as I’ve never in my long years have ever heard of a mother suffering from ACD. Some want more foals, true, but nowhere near the level of an ACD addled pony.

The last solution is more difficult for everypony involved. The afflicted mare would have to leave the herd. This is one of those times where you know its all in her head, because no more than three days after she leaves the herd, ACD is gone. She may still have some lingering desire for a foal, sure, but it’s at a manageable level, even for the crazy ones out there.

The other problem you and she should know is that this isn’t a permanent fix like the tea or motherhood is. I don’t know what’s in that drink, but it’s been used for over a century. If she ever rejoins a herd that has a pregnant mare in it, she’ll go right back into ACD like a parasprite to a freshly baked pie.

Loki stopped reading as the rest of the entry devolved into the author’s self-admiration and ego boosting. She nudged Conrad. “Well unless you have some of that tea hanging around I only see one real solution here.”

The stallion was ill-at-ease with the prospect of ejecting Crimson from the herd. It smacked of abandonment and betrayal, something he found intensely abhorrent. “We should tell the others before we decide anything.”

The green mare was floored by the comment. “What’s there to decide?! We can’t make tea from an herb that doesn’t exist on our planet, and I know you’re not suggesting we follow plan C.”

“No I’m not,” he hissed defensively in the face of her accusations. “But they still need to know all of the facts.”

After hearing the filtered version of what the book’s entry had to say, Crimson's mood was even more dismal. “Is there no way to synthesize the tea? Now that we have the name, I’m sure one of the books has the chemical composition.”

Alexia was dubious at that. “How many books out there readily display that kind of information? And even if we did find it, there’s no guarantee that it could be synthesized.”

Conrad was in agreement. “Assuming it could be in the first place. Plus that kind of work would take months if not years.”

Anderson was petrified of plan C and visibly shuddered at the thought of it. I can’t leave the herd. It would break me, I just know it. Crimson knew all the good that the herd mentality offered her. It was the only thing keeping her from having an emotional breakdown. She feared that if she left the herd in the state that she was in, that she might become suicidal before the effects of ACD started to fade.

Deep down, she knew of one thing with absolute certainty. I’m too emotionally dependent on the herd to ever leave. She idly rubbed her mane where the three stripes of foreign color were placed. Every time she looked in a mirror, those three stripes met her eyes. They meant more to her than anything.

But that would mean imposing a third child on them. We all knew Alex was pregnant before forming the herd, so we all accepted that. The other members of the herd hugged the pale yellow mare. Crimson sniffled as she spoke to Alexia. “I don’t know how much of me really wants a child and how much of it is the ACD.”

Her mates backed off to give her room, with Alexia staying close. Anderson hated the cowardice of her next statement. “You are our alpha Alexia. I can’t ask this of you, but I’ll abide by whatever you decide.”

Tune thought the answer would have come instantly, but Crimson’s reminder of Tune’s position within the herd reminded the alicorn of her duty. “There’s no way I can promise it will all work perfectly if we have another foal. We may be moving on to be instructors, but there’s no guarantee that we won’t be reassigned to more dangerous work later.” She paused to think. A memory surfaced, causing the alicorn’s features to harden. “The four of us made a pact on the day Conrad got his cutie mark. Do you remember what it was?”

Conrad grinned fiercely. “I most certainly do. ‘No matter what comes. The four of us will stand united,’” he quoted with resolute conviction.

Loki jumped in with a jovial smile. “Now and forever.”

Tune pulled Crimson up to her hooves, a loving smile on her face. “We act as one.”

With shuddering breath and streaming tears, Anderson buried her face into the silver mare’s neck. Her voice was cracked with emotion. “Because we are one,” she said, finishing the pact.

Alexia squeezed the sobbing mare, pouring her love into the act. The silver pony had a clear view of the azure, steel, and pink stripes in Crimson’s mane. She rubbed the bands of color, feeling in her heart that losing any of them would be a crippling lose to all of them, herself included. “We’ll find a way to make this work. We would be broken without you.”

Tune encompassed the sobbing mare with her wings. Anderson was slow to calm down enough to speak again. “Thank you Alex.” She sniffled. “Thank you.”

27: Trinity (Arc 1 Complete)

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Crimson absently gazed out of the back passenger window of the neon blue Volt as Loki drove it through the northern California wilderness along highway five. The setting sun put the trees against a backdrop of color. The rough untamed terrain was a welcome sight to her over the urban landscape of the Bay Area.

Anderson grew up in the backwoods of Louisiana and was more at home in rural areas. Conrad sat in front of her while reading Alexia’s tome. Tune was sitting next to Crimson and was deep in meditation, as she had been since lunch. The mother-to-be felt she had worked enough on herself to move onto fixing her foals’ itineris systems.

The thought of foals caused the pale yellow pony to absently touch her abdomen. Conrad’s latest donation to the cause had long since cooled, but the mare still remembered the feeling of it. It was a very different sensation for her. All of the other times had been when she was either not in season, or was under the effects of a contraception spell.

The Alarm Clock Disease was calmed considerably at the thought of the activity she and Conrad had partaken twice since the medic learned of her condition, but she doubted it would go away fully until she saw a positive test result or so far as needing to hold her future child.

Despite the herd’s assurances that they would do their best to make it work, Crimson still felt guilty about it. I promise you Alex, none of you will be dragged down because of me and my child. I just have nine months to figure out how to keep that from happening.

The group didn’t arrive at the new town until eight o’clock in the next morning, and everyone save Loki were pleasantly surprised by what they saw. The green mare thumbed her snout and had a self-satisfied grin as she swept the same hoof over the dashboard of the car. “Mates. I give you our new home: Trinity!”

The growing pony community was built over the remains of a town called McCloud in northern California. It had been abandoned almost a decade ago due to a military quarantine of the whole area that lasted until the winter of last year. Around the same time Conrad was hunting for a build site, the various properties of the abandoned town went up for sale and were extremely cheap.

After informing the green mare of the ideal location, the construction company Loki contracted got the utilities back on for the whole town and repaired or bulldozed any structures that couldn’t be salvaged. The car passed a sign declaring the town’s new name in grandiose print.

Conrad scanned the skies above to see dozens of pegasi in the air, while their ground bound cousins flittered to and fro as all of them worked to revive the dead town. The human contractors were still there, paving new roads and extending the waterworks and other services to the twenty three new construction sites in the downtown area alone. Trinity was nestled in a heavily wooded area and the contractors had not cut down any of the trees outside of what was necessary to complete their work. From the looks of it though I bet we’ll have to cut quite a few down or replant them.

The herd’s car was not the only one on the road, and in fact, many were lining the streets from those who did not arrive by bus or those intrepid few who decided to fly over from San Francisco under their own power.

McCloud had been a small town before it was abandoned, and Loki had originally vastly underestimated the number of ponies that would want to live there. As a result, Trinity had a severe housing problem and enough small temporary pod domicile units for two thousand people sat along the eastern light forests. Nevertheless she attempted to rectify that lack of foresight with expanding the contract to multiple companies and all of her hacking profits went straight into funding the city projects. Even then it was not enough, but there were a couple of very wealthy ponies from The Ranch who were willing to chip in for the price of having several buildings and streets be named after or by them. It had taken some strong convincing on Alexia’s part to talk them out of keeping the deed for the land or buildings built with their money. Part of that deal she negotiated with them was that Loki would forfeit all rights to the property she funded as well.

Crimson forgot her personal issues to join her mates in gazing at the site of it all. “How many ponies do you think are here?”

Alexia had her satellite smartphone out as she searched for information on the town before it was subjected to quarantine to contain a particularly nasty virus from escaping. “Far more than that one point three thousand that used to live here. There was over four thousand ponies from The Ranch alone who wanted to live in the same town as us. But I can’t imagine they’ll be able to stay here. Trinity simply can’t support a population of that size yet.”

Conrad was immensely pleased that the burgeoning town was off to such a strong start. "So long as people wish to move into town and that it remains profitable, Trinity will be able to shore up the infrastructure in no time."

The green furred driver pulled into the parking lot of the first building the crews had put together. While Loki was thinking small in terms of Trinity’s initial population, she knew the town would need to be able to scale up with ease. As such, the town hall she parked at was a three story square structure of nondescript concrete walls.

The hacker decided that the budget would be happier if functionality took precedence over aesthetics for the contract work, leaving anything decorative to be added later. As the herd exited the vehicle, the milling ponies nearby were ignorant by Alexia’s arrival as neither her arrival time nor what car she was in had been given ahead of time.

Tune’s herd entered the building without causing a ruckus from her popularity. The lobby within was crammed with ponies trying to find housing, work, tools, and other administrative requirements.

What Alexia didn’t know, was that Thompson made sure that the ponies from the other internment camps had been sent to Trinity in slightly higher numbers than those from The Ranch. The idea was to have the far more lively ponies from The Ranch could bolster the moods of those from the other camps.

Those present in the lobby who were not from The Ranch were the ones who were either mentally strong enough to carry on without her magic, or those who had seen the broadcast. Rumors about Alexia's seemingly heavenly aura spread like wildfire among the other camps and in Trinity itself.

So it was, that as soon as Tune entered the lobby and tried to make her way to what she hoped was the mayor’s office, her possession of both wings and a horn was identified by the crowd who momentarily forgot their current tasks.

The silence that formed in the lobby was deafening. The herd only managed to get half way to the visible staircase in the center of the back wall when Alexia came to a halt upon seeing so many wonder-struck eyes directed her way. She suppressed a defeated sigh. Well its not like I was going to be able to avoid this.

The silver mare cleared her throat to help focus on switching her speech back into English. “Greetings everyone. My name is Alexia Tune.” Without even realizing it, with every pony’s eyes fixed on the alicorn, Alexia sent out a wave of passive magic the moment her voice reached their ears.

Conrad jabbed the base of her neck to get her attention on the necklace. “Got to add the title too.”

Grimacing, Alexia tried again. “My apologies. I am Princess Alexia Tune.” Happy now?

Those who still did not have their cutie marks were entranced by her voice and would have swarmed the alicorn had her mates not interposed themselves between the silver princess and her overbearing subjects. With Tune a full alicorn now, her passive magic refused to relinquish its hold on the crowd until they lost sight of her for longer than a few seconds, and every time she spoke it refreshed her magic’s influence.

“Its really her, Princess Alexia!”

“I don’t remember her having wings during the press conference.”

“Can I have your autograph?”

“I love you Princess Alexia!”

Tune was harshly reminded of the time she and Loki had been swamped by human admirers at the science fair after posing as androids. She didn’t wish to sound too authoritative, but the situation demanded a quick resolution. She shouted the one word her physical training instructor loved to use at the top of her lungs to silence the crowd. “Attention!”

The instantaneous silence that followed was painful, especially to her herdmates who were suffering from ringing ears. Wow, that was louder than I wanted to be; but at least it got the job done. “I know all of you will have questions and I’ll be more than happy to set up a Q and A later. I’ll be sure there’s an announcement about it later today.”

Positive muttering of agreement filtered through the technicolored mass of ponies as the alicorn marched her way to the wide staircase and reached the mostly quiet third floor where the mayor’s office was located on the southern end of the rectangular building.

Loki was still rubbing her ears to cease the infernal ringing. “Warn us the next time you do that will ya?”

Tune craned her head to give an apologetic look at her mates. “Sorry, but I couldn’t let them swarm us. They might start pulling my feathers out or locks of hair to keep as mementos.”

Crimson cringed at the thought. “You don’t really believe they’d do that, do you?”

“If they were smart they’d wait for some hoof clippings or molted feathers,” Loki chattered as if it was common knowledge, “The ones who want hair strands are the one who probably have a shrine dedicated to you.”

Everyone gave the hacker a worried look before remembering it was par for the course as far as Loki was concerned. It still bothered the other earth pony. I thought we just file our hooves, not clip them.

The herd’s alpha centered her attention on the busy looking pegasus secretary as he tried in vain to get used to the new job that required far more tact than he possessed. Behind him were two other ponies trying to enter personnel data into the building’s network so the local government could meet federal regulations. The stallion had the desk phone to his ear while his eyes darted back and forth over the pages. “Yes, yes I understand, but Mayor East is extremely busy. I know getting a town up and running with over three thousand people isn’t exactly easy, but we have our hands full here too. Yes, fine. I can squeeze you into a fifteen minute appointment on Friday.”

Alexia’s group walked up to the pressured stallion who was about to switch to a different holding call when he noticed the silver alicorn in front of him. The pegasus fumbled the phone onto the cradle before jumping out of his seat to give a polite bow. “Your highness! I wasn’t informed of your arrival.”

Alexia waved off the other two ponies so they could get back to work. “Any chance I could speak with the mayor?”

He politely scoffed at the idea of her of all people asking permission. “Of course you can your highness. Although I must warn you that Mayor East wasn’t from The Ranch like the three of us were,” he said while gesturing behind him to the two earth ponies behind him. The pair quickly bowed to Alexia before resuming their work. “So she may not relinquish political control over to you like she should.”

That’s actually a relief. Tune mused. “East would be correct in not doing that.” Remembering her promise to her people, she swallowed her bile at constantly reminding both herself and those around her that she was American royalty. It was an idea that still sat funny with her. “I am really only a princess in name, not authority.”

The receptionist nodded. “Well it’s not my place to tell you what to do. You can go on in; former Major General East wanted to speak with you as soon as you arrived anyway.”

Former General? Fears of a repeat of Colonel Bowler in pony form filled the alicorn’s head as she pressed on into the office.

Like everything else in the building, East’s office was spartan to a fault. The windows spanned the entirely of the two exterior walls, but no drapes, potted plants, pictures, or even guest chairs were present. The desk looked like it had been pulled out of a cubical along with the black swivel chair instead of being worthy of the spacious room it found itself in. Even the walls were bare of wallpaper, and the windows still had tape on it that the construction crew forgot to remove.

If it could be called such, the only extravagant thing in the room was the headset phone currently sitting on East’s head as the predominately black unicorn mare with a painfully contrasting white mane discussed business.

East’s ears flicked towards the door and muffled clip clop of four ponies on the thin blue carpet. The unicorn looked to see who was intruding on her unannounced and zeroed in on Alexia’s horn and wings. “I’m going to have to call you back.” She ended the call with a magical press of a button.

The black mare sized the royal herd up as the silver alicorn closed the distance. “Mayor East, I’m-“

“Princess Alexia Tune,” East interjected curtly. “Formerly James Leigh Tune of Salina, Kansas. Yes I know who you are.”

Crimson spied the unicorn had two silver five pointed stars on her flanks. Well that’s just great. She already has her cutie mark, so Alex’s magic isn’t going to win her any points here.

Alexia wasn’t sure on how to approach the situation. She’s obviously a tough customer if she had made it to general. But is she naturally this abrasive? “Your secretary said you wanted to see me.”

East studied Tune’s entourage. “I did. Although you were no doubt already coming up here to see me anyway.” She walked over to sit in her chair, she knew her secretary was smart enough to hold all of her calls. “The President named you as the beginning of the first American royal family. While he wisely neutered any sort of power such a title might offer in other countries, he has been extremely tight-lipped about what authority you have over us.”

“You mean us ponies?” Loki inquired.

East nodded without looking at the green mare. “The humans may coo over having royalty, but ultimately they couldn’t give two shits about anything you have to say as a princess. But it seems everyone from your internment camp can’t stop fawning over you, and from what I’ve seen, you have real power over them.”

I think I know what the problem is. Tune thought to herself. “If you’re worried I’ll try to use that to undermine your position as mayor, I can assure you I have no aspirations for rule. The whole princess thing was their idea,” she said while sweeping a hoof to encompass the town.

East was unmoved by the answer. “So I’ve heard.”

Alexia interrupted before the mayor could speak again. “But I will say this though.” Tune’s tone of voice became laced with steel. “I will not tolerate corruption. You keep the best interests of our fellow ponies as your sole purpose while you hold this office and we will have no problems.”

East’s mouth was a pressed line as she worked her jaw to think of a quick response. “And what happens when our views as to ‘what’s best’ differs?”

“Then you had better convince me of your choice’s merits.” The silver alicorn warned. “I am well aware of the fact that I have no power as a princess, but I have a great deal as an agent of the CIA. I will always be watching.”

East leaned back in her chair with a satisfied smirk. “I think you and I will get along just fine.” The mayor’s entire demeanor warmed to friendly levels and got out of her chair to shake Tune’s hoof. “I was worried that someone from the lower middle class being given royal status might cause you to become self-serving.”

Alexia was wholly surprised by the flip in the room’s atmosphere and only reciprocated the hoofshake as an automatic gesture. She shook off the stun to speak. “At least our fears were mutual, if for different reasons.”

East went around to properly introduce herself to the rest of the herd, starting with Crimson. “Crimson Anderson, pleased to meet you.”

“You too General.”

“I’m just a mayor now. Except for the ones my flank, I don’t think I’ll ever wear those stars again.” She moved on to Conrad. The unicorn had a wiry grin. “Conrad Tune, or is it Hannar?”

The lone stallion bristled. “I was cast out of that family. I will not suffer that insult attached to my name.”

East dropped her hoof while studying the stallion’s expression. “So I’ve gathered from your personnel file. You’re fortunate the President believed the same thing when the lot of you was brought before him.”

East moved on to the green and pink earth pony. “Loki Tune, or should I say-“

“Oh no you don’t!” Loki shouted with grim fire. She knew exactly what the mayor was going to say. “My old life is done and gone. The only thing that you should care about is the pony in front of you, and my name is just Loki.”

East displayed a knowing grin. A kindred spirit. “As you wish.” The herd was not surprised by Loki’s outburst and knew she hated when it was brought up. The normally jovial mare talked about it once for the sake of opening herself fully to the herd, but refused to speak very much about her past after that.

East faced the alicorn. “I’ll be frank with you. I would prefer it if you had a hand in running local affairs, the heavier the better.”

Tune was unsure of what East truly wanted of her. “Why would you want me to undermine your position?”

“Racism,” East replied coldly. The assembled ponies could tell the unicorn’s ire was focus entirely on the idea. “Or I should say, preventing it from taking root. The mayor walked back towards the window, keeping her voice high enough to be heard. “If there is one good thing that happened to all of us, is that becoming ponies abolished the old races we used to belong to. White, Black, Asian, etcetera etcetera. None of that matters because our coat and mane colors are completely random and we all have pink skin underneath our fur.”

East turned to the herd who walked over to join her by the widow. “Yet the whole thing is a double-edged sword. The potential for racism is even stronger now than it ever was. As humans, we had insignificant physical differences. The trivial arguments over who was superior to the next could always be refuted, but now we have very distinct differences: wings, a horn, or none at all.”

Crimson caught on to what the mayor was getting at. “You’re worried that the earth tribe will be ostracized because we can’t fly or use unicorn style magic?”

Being from one of the other internment camps, East was slightly confused by her statement. “You say that like earth ponies actually do possess magic.”

Loki reared up on her back legs. “I can demonstrate earth pony magic right now if you want.”

Tune panicked and grabbed Loki’s front hooves in her own before she could slam the ground. “Not here! If you break the floor, you’re the one who has to fix it.”

The green mare was crestfallen for a moment. “Blarg, fine.” She settled down on all fours and searched in vain for a potted plant to grow. The hacker’s placation allowed Alexia to face the unicorn again.

“Earth ponies possess the most important magic any of the tribes have.” She glanced at Loki who was distracted by several dozen ponies talking with a few of the human contractors outside.

The former general mulled over the information she gleaned from the herd’s actions. “I half hoped you would prove that sentiment wrong. As you might have guessed, my ignorance is likely shared by everyone else who didn’t come from your camp. And it is exactly this reason why I want you to keep your public involvement up. Not only that, but judging from your appearance, I imagine you possess qualities of all three tribes. Is that fair to say?”

The alicorn nodded. “I was originally a unicorn, so I’m still trying to get the hang of pegasi magic and I haven’t even started trying to learn earth pony style yet.”

East didn’t care about the details. “Just the fact that you possess all three is perfect. Who better to be the leader of our people than someone who can never be insinuated to favor one tribe over the other?”

Conrad had his own concerns over East’s flip. “So you were just testing her with all that posturing back there?”

The mayor gave him a calculating stare. “Of course.” She turned her gaze to the alicorn. “I’m not fully sure what has happened to me over these past few months. I don’t know if it was part of my spirit’s transformation that made me think the way I do now, or simply how a mare’s brain works. Hell it could have just been my epiphany alone, but either way, I feel compelled to see our species thrive. I needed to make sure you wanted the same thing. With all the power and influence you have, I feared you would let personal gain take precedence over the rest of us.”

Loki interposed herself between a stoic alicorn and the stern unicorn. “Listen buddy. You can spout all that high and mighty stuff all day. But what’s stopping you from doing the same thing?”

East smiled sadly out of the window. “Because I already lived that life.” The unicorn fell silent as she watched the town be constructed right before her eyes. “I haven’t told anyone this, but I’m willing to share my story with you princess. If you want it.”

Alexia glanced at her mates who wordlessly expressed interest. “I'm listening.”

The black and white unicorn levitated a glass of water off the desk and took a sip before starting. “I used to go by the name and title of Major General Louis Jack Vanderbilt the Third of the United State’s Marine Corp.” East’s face became stony as she carried on in wistful recollection. “I cared for nothing outside of getting that third star. Needless to say, ambition dominated my life as a man ever since the day I made captain.”

“Money, family, my subordinates, hell the only reason I made friends was to advance my career. I cared for no one but myself.” The black unicorn mare felt a wave of sadness take hold, causing her ears to droop. She felt more at ease in expressing such emotions than she ever had in her fifty nine years of life. “All that mattered was my career and getting that third star.” She tapped her flank to point out the two silver stars. “So life decided to kill that dream.”

“I heard that all ponies were given the opportunity to reclaim their former jobs,” Crimson commented. “I don’t know how old you are now, but it seems everyone beyond twenty five were reset to that age.”

East chuckled darkly. “Do you honestly think the corps would allow a pony to be a general? A lieutenant maybe, a noncom sure, but not a general. In the end though, that doesn’t matter to me personally because I don’t want that life again, not anymore. Oddly enough it was my ambition that kept me alive. While all the other ponies around me slowly spiraled into crippling depression, I was still blinded by that third star.”

“I fought to prove the fact that I posed no more danger to others as a pony than any human to another. I even stumbled upon and mastered my telekinesis so I had something to leverage as an advantage to get back into uniform.”

“The first month as a pony made me forget that self-mastery was necessary for advancement. At the time I thought the real reason they kept denying me was because I was essentially a man in a mare’s body. No one wants a general officer that is conflicted by their own body. Seeing no alternative, I forced myself into fully accepting what I had become. I kept most of my name, only dropping Louis for Julie. It took another month and a few days, but I was finally able to stop fighting what had become of my body and became a mare in spirit as well. The moment I realized I had fully integrated my imposed femininity into my psyche is when I got these.” East turned away from the window to look at her cutie mark. “It broke me harder than a whimpering recruit who was in over his head at basic training.”

Crimson was confused. “Why do you say that? Every pony so far has been elated when they got their marks.”

East teared at the memory, but didn’t shed a single drop. “You don’t understand. I was the first pony in my camp to earn their brands. Consciously, I didn’t know what they were, but over the next two days I realized that these two stars were a reflection of my soul. Permanently branded on my flanks for the world to see at a glance. That was when I realized no matter how hard I fought, I would never see that third star.” East squeezed her eyes shut as the tears finally fell. “But worst of all, I saw what my life truly amounted to: two stars. A rank, a job, a little plaque on a few walls and nothing else. I had no other meaning or pursuit in life outside of my career. My ambition. My whole purpose in life, died that day. I was finally as broken as everypony else was.”

Loki eyed the black mare with suspicion. “So what made you go from sad to glad?”

East chuckled at herself before looking upon Alexia with red rimmed eyes. “You.”

Tune was taken aback. “Me?” But she already had her cutie mark. My passive magic couldn’t have affected her.

East looked out through the window to the clouds in recollection. “I was dead inside. And every day since I got these two stars I was closer to taking my own life so that I would be dead on the outside as well. Then you appeared on the news-“

Alexia was becoming rather embarrassed by the expectant praise she was about to be showered with. East took no notice as she kept speaking. “I felt nothing from you personally, only surprise that the president was holding a press conference with a unicorn. But everyone else… It was like gasoline had been poured on a few embers. The grey rot, as I called it, was lifted almost immediately after you spoke. I don’t know how your camp was run, but in mine we had forty man billets with a TV in each one. Almost everyone saw you in the broadcast.” She looked to the alicorn with a smile. “I don’t know what you did, but I really don’t care. You saved thousands that day.”

“Seeing all of people who I now consider my brethren come to life again—“ East wiped a joyful tear away as she tried to repeat herself in a clearer voice. “Seeing so many rise from their deathbeds and live again, was the first time I was truly happy to be a pony.”

I felt my ambition return, but now I wanted our species to thrive. I want to hold onto that moment we all shared that day in that billet, and make it grow.” East gazed back over the town. “That’s what I want Trinity to be. A continuation of that moment.”

“I guess I should be flattered that I created such inspiration, but then what was the cold shoulder from earlier about?”

The unicorn’s tone grew cautious. “As I said, I needed to test what kind of person you are. I don’t know if you fully understand the extent of your influence. Everyone wants to meet you, serve you, hell some of the more loopy ones wanted to worship you. I was only one of two ponies in that camp who had their brands before the broadcast and neither one of us felt that way about you. I feared that you found some kind of mind control or influence spell to enthrall the masses. Even if you had not originally planned to use it for ill, the sheer number of followers that magic grants you might cause you to follow an all too familiar path.”

Crimson knew what the former general was referring to. “You fear the corrupting effects of power.”

East nodded in both agreement and to give accolades to Anderson for identifying her concerns. “I was ruled by that corruption for the entirely of my life. It took completely destroying the man I used to be in both mind and body, and then an epiphany to free myself of that. Even then I felt that I needed to finish what my physical and mental transformation started and strip away my old persona to avoid falling back into it again so I dropped the rest of my identity and adopted the name Julie East. I’m glad you don’t currently carry the same failings I did, but you’ll have to forgive me if I keep watching you to make sure you don’t slip down the same road I once traveled.”

Alexia brooded silently over East’s story for several minutes. The room fell quiet save for the sounds of construction work outside. The herd kept their own council while the mayor waited to see what the princess would say. They knew when to give their advice, and when she needed to think things through on her own. “It can be so tempting to abuse power,” she said at length. “Julie…your old self is exactly what I fear I might become. Other ponies adore me just by seeing my face and hearing my voice. They shower me in so much praise and accolades that I shy away from it. Because I fear that fully embracing it, will turn me into who you once were.”

East studied the alicorn with renewed respect. “If you would let me. I will do what I can to help you avoid the same traps I succumbed to.”

A friendly smile creased both horned mares, with Alexia shaking Julie’s offered hoof. “I think you’re right. We will get along just fine.”

The mayor discussed her plans for the settlement and incorporated some of the royal herd’s ideas when they improved upon East’s own. Although the mayor’s ideas were mostly from the two urban planners that came from both the Montana and South Dakota camps. The talks lasted until three in the afternoon. Everyone was tired of sitting on the thin carpet and East climbed to her hooves as she put the finishing touches in her smartpad’s notes.

“As soon as we can get some more permanent housing up, we can begin opening the queue to allow more ponies to join us here.” She offered her hoof to help Alexia up.

“A sound plan. I don’t want any more of us living in pod housing than what we currently have. Trinity will degrade into little more than a failed refugee camp if that happens.”

“Agreed. I look forward to working with you in the future. In the meantime, those from the South Dakota camp have pitched in to build you a new house. Until that's done I made sure temporary accommodations in one of the old houses are ready for you to the south near the old golf course.”

Tune let go of the unicorn’s hoof, but her expression was of bemused annoyance. “Tell me they're just building houses for everyone, not just me.”

Loki bounced over to drape a foreleg around her alpha, but kept her attention fixed on Julie. “Are they adding a pool?! I always wanted a pool.”

East snickered, but responded to Alexia first. “All I can say is that the ponies from The Ranch are bound and determined to give you what they feel you deserve. And with them using their personal funds, there’s nothing I can tactfully do to stop them. As for the pool, you’ll have to ask someone else. I’m not concerned with how they spend their own money.”

Tune was about to resolve to stop it when Crimson intervened. “So its like a gift right? We all know who was primarily responsible for getting the government to give us our freedom so they want to give you something tangible as thanks.”

Conrad agreed. “Plus a large house would make it easier to raise a bunch of foals.”

Alexia saw the logic, but still didn’t like the reasoning. She huffed at the idea. “I was perfectly happy with just the necklace but—we could use the extra room for the kids. Fine, I won’t stop them. But that just means I’ll have to make it up to the public in some way.” She yawned tiredly before facing her mates. “Why don’t we go home and start from there.”

East was eager to get back to work and walked over to her desk. “I trust we’ll all see you tomorrow morning at nine for your public address?”

“We’ll be there,” replied Loki as the group departed.

The group of four road weary ponies gave their goodbyes to both Mayor East and her small administration staff on the way out. Between sitting in the car for over a day and the hours spent on the floor in East’s office, the two earth ponies were restless to go for a run while the pegasus felt the same way with his wings.

The alicorn was the only one to truly take notice of a navy blue pegasus stallion who was up on his hind legs while leaning his back on the wall next to the staircase. His blonde tail was cropped to a few centimeters beyond the end of his tail bone, but his mane was allowed a little more length than what most stallions preferred.

His cutie mark was a light red silhouette of a swept wing aircraft she could not make out. The nose of the craft was pointed to his wings’ shoulder joints. As she got closer, Alexia could tell the blue stallion was both nervous and impatient about something as his crossed forelegs and gritted teeth gnawing on a thick toothpick gave his demeanor away to the silver mare. Tune also noticed the pony had brown rimmed aviator goggles that were too small for his pony sized eyes. They were wrapped around his head and rested on his brow.

As soon as the blue pony noticed the royal herd as they walked past the secretary, he pushed off the wall to drop to all four hooves. He rolled the stick to the corner of his mouth to speak once the alicorn reached speaking distance. “Can I have a moment of your time Princess?”

Alexia halted where she stood. His tone made it difficult to tell if his use of her title was out of formality or sarcasm. “You may if you walk with us.”

He chewed a bit on his stick. “You mind if I hover instead?”

The rest of the herd eyed the pegasus carefully, while Alexia remained diplomatic. “I don’t see a problem with it.”

He rolled the stick to the other side of his mouth as he flew backwards at Alexia’s trotting pace down the stairs, always seeming to know when to turn so he didn’t run into anything as he kept his blood red eyes fixed on the alicorn. “Name’s Gill Highwind from the Montana camp.”

“Alexia Tune,” the other members of the herd identified themselves in order before the attention fell back to the silver mare. “I get the feeling you’re not here to simply see if I’m real.”

They made it to the ground floor expecting to need to fight back a second swarm. However everyone from the Montana camp knew to stay out of Gill’s way. “I only need my eyes for that. I’m here to offer you a partial solution to Trinity’s current overcrowding issue.”

Alexia was actually relieved the pegasus was parting the crowd with just his presence. “I’m listening.”

“Are you familiar with the pegasus city of Cloudsdale in Equestria?”

“In passing. Most of my studies have been focused on magic, not history.”

Highwind cast a partially toothy grin while the stick in his mouth turned up. “That’s what I was hoping for. I received a detailed book on the subject of cloudsmithing and architecture the day I started turning into the pony you see now. My camp’s warden saw no use for it so I got to keep it. I’ve got some understanding of the book’s subject matter, but what I’m failing at is the basics of mana manipulation. If I could trouble you for some tutoring in that area, I can get a crew of mine together to start making cloud homes. That’ll free up more ground space for eathers and unicorns.”

“Wouldn’t they just blow away with the wind?” Crimson asked.

Gill had to pause in his answer to open the front door. The mass of ponies who had been waiting for Alexia’s exit were pulled away by other Montana campers after one look at Highwind’s wordless command. All four members of the herd took notice of it, but Alexia made them hold their questions on the topic for later.

Gill returned to a hover two meters in front of the alicorn. “That’s the thing with cloudsmithing, so long as the house is able to draw the mana from its occupants for a total of twenty four hours every month, the innate magic of the smithing process will keep the structure from falling apart or drifting in the currents. If you can teach me the basics of active pegasus magic, I could filter that knowledge to others and we can start building homes in the sky within few weeks.”

Conrad liked the idea immensely. “I can do that actually, I’ve been reading up on that subject as of late. Plus it would be a great platform to begin plans for a weather control station.”

Alexia found the arrangement agreeable. “Sounds good.” She turned to Gill. “Would you be opposed to working with Conrad in a joint venture on this?”

The navy blue pegasus gazed at the brown one with a critical eye. “As long as he can pull his weight then I can use him.” He addressed the brown pony next. “I’ll see you at my place on forty nine Hill Street at seven AM sharp.”

“I’ll be there,” Conrad shot back. Highwind bit down on his wooden stick and gave the fellow pegasus a fierce grin before streaking off to the northwest.

Alexia moved towards the car. “Glad to see others outside The Ranch obtained their marks as well.”

“Yeah,” was all Conrad would say. He looked at the car and halted. “If its all the same to you, I want to fly to the house.”

He was not the only one to look at the Volt with trepidation. “Yeah, I’ve been sitting on my plot for too long as it is, I need to stretch my legs,” Loki complained.

Crimson felt a streak of competitive spirit hit her so she jabbed the green mare with an elbow. “How about we make it a race?”

Loki cooed at the idea. “What are the stakes?”

Crimson looked to Conrad who was hovering to warm his wings up for a sprint. “Hey studly, you want to be the stakes?”

The brown pony raised an eye brow at her. “Normally I’d have no issue with that, but if Loki wins that’ll be more time before we can try again for a foal.”

Crimson limbered up her joints and faced Loki with a competitive smirk. “Then I’ll just have to win.”

Loki jumped on her hooves to face the direction of the house. The green mare recalled East’s description and address so she knew how to get there. “Don’t think I’m going to take it easy on you Baby Boomer. Not with snu snu on the line.”

Having heard all of this, Alexia cast a simple spell and a ball of red light hovered in front of the two earth mares. “Do you want a checkered flag as well?”

With her legs at the ready, Crimson crouched to a ready position. “The light’s fine.”

Conrad knew he could outpace both of them by virtue of the lack of obstacles in the air, but that didn’t stop him from coming into a hover above the pair. Alexia giggled at the sight and let the spell turn yellow, then green. The trio of non-alicorns bolted in three different directions, all of them more or less south.

Conrad made a simple point A to point B straight line to the house while the urbanite Loki followed the roads. Crimson grew up in a semirural area and was not afraid to take shortcuts through the wooden areas. The pale yellow mare was glad that Loki had the foresight to pick a place that while it had enough trees to be considered a light forest, the terrain itself was mostly flat.

Good thing I thought to use Alex’s phone to double check the house’s actual location rather than just get an address. The earth mare saw Conrad in the distance and knew he would be headed straight for the house. Then again, I could just shadow him.

Alexia pulled into the driveway of a two story wood walled house with a gasping green mare slumped by the open front door. The front of the house had an attached single car garage with what Tune surmised to be a living room above it. The front door along with the garage was eggshell white with a small conservatory directly above the front door.

The alicorn didn’t have the garage door opener so she parked in front of it and strode over to the grumbling earth pony. The silver mare gave her an amused smirk. “I take it you lost?”

Loki rolled over on her back so she could face her tormentor. “She cheated.”

“How?”

The hacker emitted a nonverbal groan of annoyance as she climbed to her hooves. “Baby Boomer cut through the side streets and the golf course. But I didn’t study the lay of the land so I had to go by road only.”

The princess huffed in mild derisiveness. “You know how bad the Alarm Clock Disease is affecting her. You should have tried naming something else to be the stakes other than snu snu.”

“Meh, whatever.” Loki dusted herself off and walked towards the car. “While those two go at it like rabbits, how about we take stuff in.”

“Sounds like a plan. After that we should head to the store and pick up some groceries. We don’t have a mess hall to claim free food from anymore.”

“I hope they have tofu. It’s the only way I can stomach meat flavor anymore. Toss me the phone so I know where to go. I’d rather run than sit in the car again.”

The alicorn tittered at her mate’s antics and levitated the satellite phone to the green mare. Alexia gazed out to the town with a smile on her face. “We finally did it Loki. We have our freedom and a home.”

Her mate looked away from the phone as it loaded the route. “Still a little small for my liking. But yeah. I think Trinity will do well by us.”

Tune reached over and pulled Loki into a wing hug. “Why did you name the town Trinity anyway?”

Loki lovingly nuzzled her alpha. “Isn’t it obvious? There are three tribes of ponies. All in one town.”

Alexia gave her a wiry grin. “Knowing you, obvious is never what it seems.”

In one of Loki’s few lapses in seriousness, she wrapped a leg around Tune withers and hugged her tightly. “I love you Alex. I really truly do.”

The silver mare squeezed with her wing. “Loki.” Her tone became somber. “If I ever start acting like how East used to be. Please stop me.”

Loki’s ear twitched and she pulled away to smile at her alpha. “I give you my patented…” She searched her brain for the proper term. Loki’s cutie marks flickered with light for a moment and the term came to her. “Loki Promise that so long as I’m around, you’ll never fall to the dark side.”

The alicorn giggled lightheartedly. “I’ll hold you to that.”

Crimson lay on the floor of the unfurnished bedroom covered in sweat and panting heavily. She was on her belly while Conrad was on his side and facing her. “And here I thought earth ponies were the ones with superior endurance.”

The stallion grinned and spoke between breaths. “Why do you think I spend so many endurance runs on the ground for? I’ve got to be able to keep up with three mares.”

Anderson shuffled over to wrap her legs around him in a breathless embrace. The heat of a currently unairconditioned house in the middle of July combined with their recent activity made it uncomfortably hot to hug for long. The stallion set his discomfort aside to embrace his mate for as long as she desired to do so. “Have you thought about what you want your foal to be?”

Crimson rested her head on his shoulder while staring at the off-white ceiling. She mulled over the question for a couple of minutes before making up her mind. “I really don’t care what type of foal I have. Earth, pegasus, colt, or filly, it doesn’t matter. Whichever form my child takes I’ll love them regardless.”

He tried to look at her, but his position made it difficult without pushing the mare off of him. “Really? You have no preference at all?”

Crimson closed her eyes and buried her muzzle in his fur. “If I really thought about it, I probably would. But I’m not going to try entertaining such thoughts. Why would I want to set myself up for disappointment if I want something he or she ends up not being?”

“Do you at least want to guess?” he offered. “I bet you a homemade double layered carrot cake that it’ll be a pegasus filly.”

Crimson laughed at the silliness of it all. “Okay let me think.” Betting on a filly is a safe bet to be sure, but when does life ever play it safe? She rolled off of him to rest on her belly with her head up. “I bet it’ll be an earth colt.”

Giving victory to me that easily? “And if you win?”

“You have to wear a shirt that says ‘I did this to her’ on the days when Alex and I give birth.”

He chuckled at her. “And if we both lose?”

“Then you still have to wear the shirt and I’ll bake that cake,” she said with a smile as she pecked him on the cheek.

“Deal.”

They felt the ground vibrate as the garage door was opening. “I bet that’s Alex coming in with some food. We can wash up after helping them.”

It was a mild start, but the herd would have a hectic two weeks before they would return as training instructors. As the ponies started to build themselves up, other forces were at work with a very different objective.

In the skies above Vermont flew a lone transport aircraft. Whisker was heavily sedated and tightly secured within a titanium egg with his limbs firmly secured within it. The only way to actually see the Mion within was a small plexiglass viewport revealing his red skinned head.

Three soldiers stood watch over the prisoner as the aircraft made its way to a facility in Maine. One of the guards kept looking through the viewport to look at the being whose skin had turned blood red and boney protrusions pushed against the sides of the egg as they tried to fully extend.

An unintended side effect of the sedatives was that his true form was forced to reveal itself. It unnerved the corporal to no end. “So is it true this guy had some kind of magic powers or something?”

The lone second lieutenant leaned against the door leading to the cockpit. “That’s classified information.”

The private adjacent to him was a little less concerned for secrecy. “With all due respect sir, we’re looking at a freaking demon from hell here. We need to know what we’re dealing with.”

“Its not your job to know unless command says it is. Besides, he’s sedated and locked up in his own personal prison. Even if he had such abilities, we are in no danger from him.”

The corporal had had enough of the Mion’s face and took his seat.

In the cockpit, the pilot was having small talk with his counterpart. “So I says to him dead in the eye. Looks like you got a little herpes on your lip there. You’ve been kissing your wife’s ass?” He leans in close to give his best taunting expression. “After I put herpes in there?”

The copilot howled with laughter. “Tell me you didn’t actually say that.”

“Damn straight I did. Best bar fight I’ve had in months.”

He was about to go on about his brawl when the radio squawked. “CN dash one four nine, this is Burlington ANGB. Come in over.”

The pilot was not expecting to hear from anyone until they reached Maine. “This is one four nine. What can I do for you Burlington, over.”

“We have strong inclement weather brewing along your flight plan. We need to you to alter course twenty three point seven degrees south of your current heading. Over.”

“Roger aircom.”

As the transport changed course, the pilot slipped back into his stories. “So the guy tries to duck my right hook and jab me in the gut.”

As the minutes droned on, the transport’s radar picked up two stationary signals along the new flight plan and the Airborne Collision Avoidance System chirped its first alarm in a monotone female voice. “Alert. Possible collision risk detected. Suggesting alternative flight plan.”

The pilot stopped his story to check both the radar and suggested heading. “What the hell are two helicopters doing along our exact path?”

The copilot had a really bad feeling. “Think it might be because of our passenger?”

The pilot’s remaining mirth was completely washed away with dread. “I hope not.” He grabbed the control yoke to change course while the copilot informed local air traffic control of the situation. The course change was mirrored by the two bogeys that now started moving to stay in front of the transport.

Thirty seconds later, the ACAS chirped again with a three tone alarm. “Alert! Proximity warning. Aircraft within one kilometer.”

The pilot cursed the lack of maneuverability of the transport, and tried to change course again. “Are they trying to ram us?”

The copilot was tuning the radio to speak with ground control and studied the radar. “Doesn’t look like it, only that they’re currently trying to stay ahead of us. But we’ll over take them in thirty seconds.”

At that moment, the radar picked up two more signals and the cockpit’s Missile Approach Warning System blared in four droning beeps. “Warning! AAM detected. Flares deployed.”

The copilot was floored by the readouts on the radar as two missiles shot out from the helicopters only to be diverted by the flares. He returned his attention to the radio to inform the ground of the attack. “Mayday Mayday Mayday. This is CN dash one four nine. We are under missile attack by unknown bogeys bearing mark-“

He never finished his sentence as one of the helicopters knew their missiles would not succeed so it rammed the transport in the right wing before the transport could fly past them, destroying itself in the process. The aircraft was completely crippled and fell from the sky in an out of control mess of twisted metal. It landed in the forest less than a minute later, leaving behind little more than a smoking scorch mark in the Earth.

Three hours later, the first Army helicopter arrived on scene to look for survivors. They found none, and the titanium egg was torn open and empty.

Whisker blearily awoke with a splitting migraine. He found himself in a house near the Vermont/Canadian border. He was on a bed with crude bandages wrapped around his frame on a blood soaked mattress. The room itself was old and worn down. The bed springs creaked at every move, the wallpaper was torn, and one of the wooden dressers looked as if the termites were one bite away from collapsing the thing entirely.

“You had one job,” a growling angry male voice called out from the far corner of the poorly lit room. “With the gifts you were given, it should have been child’s play, and yet you get caught.” Tzadavek stepped out of the shadows. His body was already regaining the muscle mass of his old one, and the Asian features were being erased by his original appearance.

Whisker growled and spat a wad of blood laced spittle off the side of the bed. “It wasn’t my fault.”

The Overseer let off a deep belly laugh. Both Mions were high enough on the hierarchy where their memories could not be forcibly pulled from by the other, so Tzadavek had to get his answers the old fashioned way. “You’re cliché on top of everything. Give me a good reason why I should believe you.”

The scientist wanted some water, but refused to ask just yet. “Have you heard about the ponies on the news?”

The Overseer’s mirthless grin faded. “What about them?”

“The CIA recruited a few and they used some kind of ability to single my team out among the entire building’s staff. Our human appearance couldn’t hide us from them.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“The leader pointed all three of out by name.”

The half Asian Mion’s anger towards the researcher vanished as he assumed a contemplative pose. “The Herald has declared the ponies as semi-protected. Stating that the Koridost would desire to have them taken alive for study upon their arrival.”

“Can we at least eliminate those that pose an obstacle to humanity’s destruction?”

The Overseer didn’t respond at first. “I will speak with the Herald when I have the opportunity. In the meantime, tell me what you know of the ponies that identified you so we can act accordingly later. If nothing else I doubt he will forbid killing any equine military personnel or federal agents.”

Whisker nodded his compliance. Unbeknownst to him, his memory of that day was not quite accurate. “There were four of them. One I never got a good look at, but I think it was male. The leader was a male pony without wings or horn and had a purple coat and green hair. Went by the name Berkley. The next one was a female unicorn, rather small. Pink coat, mixed blue and red hair. Went by the name Valor. The last one was a unicorn as well, stallion I think they're called. All pink, with the fur a little darker than the hair. Name was Vincent.”

Alexia did not use invisibility that day, but a perception alteration spell that made people see the wrong things and hear a different name.

Tzadavek arched an disbelieving eyebrow at the oddly assorted colors, but Whisker seemed confident in his answers. “I’ll inform our brethren of the new potential threat. For now, rest. I still have need of you.”

The Chaotic Touch of Harmony

by law abiding pony

Prologue

1: The Tome

2: From One Life to the Next

3: Sanctuary

4: What is in a Name?

5: Mischief

6: Of Emotions and Crystals

7: Adorable Androids

8: A Crack in the Wall

9: Contagion

10: The Soul

11: Benefactor

12: The Ranch

13: Sensei

14: The Cult

15: Clinical Observation

16: Freed by Greed

17: Haunted Springs

18: Opening Salvo

19: Flare Up

20: The Herd

21: Dinner

22: Critical Mass

23: Sector 9

24: No Good Deed

25: Migration

26: Oppenheim

27: Trinity (Arc 1 Complete)