With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[PrinceJonathan]

"Would the simplest solution be to announce this publically, and offer them a secure way to contact me and confirm my continued existence? It seems to me that there's little benefit in secrecy, and my alter egos have no interest in aiding Krona."

"That…" She blinks, then looks away awkwardly. "Yes. It probably would."

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I just noticed the image is Black. I think it should be the new Black Lantern Symbol. No emotions to cloud their judgement, and everyone be like "I can believe the zombie has more brains than us."

 

[Khettien]

So why is Red Queen being called a manhunter here?

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That's a possessive Manhunter, not a descriptive Manhunter. As in, the Red Queen from a Manhunter, not the Red Queen who is a Manhunter.

 

[w34v3r]

I just noticed the image is Black. I think it should be the new Black Lantern Symbol. No emotions to cloud their judgement, and everyone be like "I can believe the zombie has more brains than us."

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Why is that hard to believe? Zombies are always tracking down more brains.

 

[Darko]

I just noticed the image is Black. I think it should be the new Black Lantern Symbol. No emotions to cloud their judgement, and everyone be like "I can believe the zombie has more brains than us."

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Hah, but yeah when a zombie has more good ideas then you, you really know you have hit rock bottom.

That's a possessive Manhunter, not a descriptive Manhunter. As in, the Red Queen from a Manhunter, not the Red Queen who is a Manhunter.

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It is possible that she could become a Manhunter, seeing as in the comics several people seemed to do so.

 

[Mr Zoat]

'Doctor Fate' not 'Doctor Fates'

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Change "I'm" to "I".
Should that end with a question mark instead of a full stop?
Change "going" to "doing".

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Thank you, corrected.

publicly

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I prefer the standardised version.

They have Guardians? What, Ganthet and his gal-pal Sayd?

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No, the supercharged versions of Hal, John and Kyle.

Remind me, is Joker still kicking around, or has she had that oversight corrected?

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Lex told him that he didn't think his madness could survive a Lazarus Pit. Joker took the bet, lost, and Lex just about managed to stop him killing himself.

 

[moralrelativity]

Oh, yay for common sense!

 

[WereDragon]

Waiting for a
Better idea

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To quote Timmy Turner: "Without my emotions I am thinking quite logically."

 

[Darko]

To quote Timmy Turner: "Without my emotions I am thinking quite logically."

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Oh no, if this is true then Paul may never gain Common Sense.

Remember his soul is literary made of avarice, an emotion.

Story wise this makes sense, because if you pair his great power with a bit of common sense then he'll just steamroll through everything.

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Story wise this makes sense, because if you pair his great power with a bit of common sense then he'll just steamroll through everything.

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'Common Sense' isn't. Common, that is. It also changes, over time. I like the quote about common sense being what'd get you burnt at the stake a couple or so centuries ago.

This is more 'question your logic and assumptions', which is arguably to do with 'meta logic', the 'logic of logic'. Now, if I was cruel I'd talk about 'meta-meta logic', but, do we really want our brains to hurt?

 

[TheMidnightRook]

"They've issued an alert with our faces. Though between this.. place-" He looks around our Himalayan retreat. "-and your blood wards I doubt that they'll find us quickly."

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"Commander. Whatever the Indigo Lantern did, it's defying my efforts to track."

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Out of curiosity... how did the Manhunter Red Queen track them down?

 

[Mr Zoat]

Out of curiosity... how did the Manhunter Red Queen track them down?

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She scanned Red's reality effector before he left to pick up Indigo.

 

[Darko]

Hey Zoat how does the paragon universe version of Darkseid feel about the Earth in comparison to his renegade counterpart?

I'm asking this because I was curious about his thoughts on the planet and how it differs from his renegade counterpart, because unlike him he doesn't have someone pretending to be his son on it and may not care as much about it, despite the fact that there is someone that has merged with the Ophidian living on it, but I wanted to know for certain.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Hey Zoat how does the paragon universe version of Darkseid feel about the Earth in comparison to his renegade counterpart?

I'm asking this because I was curious about his thoughts on the planet and how it differs from his renegade counterpart, because unlike him he doesn't have someone pretending to be his son on it and may not care as much about it, despite the fact that there is someone that has merged with the Ophidian living on it, but I wanted to know for certain.

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As I started writing this before series 3, this Darkseid is barely aware of the place. It's 'the place Scott Free ended up'. He's been there a few times covertly, but he hasn't really invested anything in it.

 

[Darko]

Hm I guess the biggest thing he could have done on Earth was getting the Olympians to split into the Roman version of the pantheon, assuming that is what happened in your fic like in some mentions in the comics.
I think there was a mention of that on SB or SV.

Still with everything the Earth has, being an extremely powerful world, magically speaking, even if the natives barely use it, somehow being able to spawn and generate hundreds, possibly thousands, maybe even millions if we take the Hindus into consideration, Old Gods, and being the place where the Life Entity resides, well that or at least it is possible to gain access to its location through the Earth, like what Obloquy suggested in Life Ore Death, you would think he'd show more interest in the place.

 

[Pinklestia]

Oh my god it is possible for other versions to have common sense.

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The day is saved thanks to Common Sence!

 

[Ace Dreamer]

The day is saved thanks to Common Sence!

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That would be a really good way to upset our protagonist... Dump him into the PPG-verse, except it looks like 'real world' to him... And, the world follows PPG-logic...

Might take him a while to figure-out just how messed-up the world is... Particularly as the city of Townsville is in Australia...

 

[Mr Zoat]

As promised, the various pony segments I wrote and either didn't use or repurposed.

Spoiler: Unused Pony 1

1st April 2012
10:36 GMT -6

A blinding white light from just down the corridor heralds the arrival of a concerned-looking Princess Celestia.

"Oh, there she is."

Celestia takes in me -I wave my right forehoof-, Luna -who is still lying on top of me-, Twilight, the Mirror and lastly Sun-.

She blinks, her expression becoming slightly blank. "Sunset?"

Sunset glares.

"You."

I should.. probably step in before she does something… Something funny.

"Sunset?" Her eyes flick my way for a moment before she goes back to glaring at her former mentor. "I know you've been looking forward to this all year, but it's the middle of the night here. I doubt that she's at her best, and no one does their best thinking when they're as-."

"Sunset?" Celestia takes a step-. A few steps closer, regarding her former student curiously.

"As.. angry as you are."

"Sister? Who is she?"

"I'm her last student. The one before Twilight. Or have there been others you didn't bother telling her about?"

Twilight's ears perk up. "You were-? I didn't-." She frowns. "How come I've never heard of you?"

I can't help but look at Luna. And not just because having a powerful female lying on me after a period of physical exertion is causing me to become more than a little aroused under my armour. I'm surprised that she hasn't gotten of yet, actually. Maybe I'm comfortable? Or maybe it's a pony thing.

Sunset stalks towards Celestia. "I don't know."

"No, there haven't."

"Hey, Luna?" She looks down at me and I give her a friendly smile. "Could you either get off… Or wriggle a bit more? I'm good either way…"

"Ah. We apologise." She wiggles, and for a confused moment I think she's actually going for Option 2. Then she gives her wings a brief flap, rising off me and landing on the floor next to me.

Um. How do I get upright? No, no, stop thinking like a pony. Ring, give me a push.

By your command.

A construct piston appears and shoves me, causing me to roll onto my stomach. And getting up feels a little easier this time. I think I'm getting the hang of being a quadruped.

"Why did you ask Us to 'wriggle more'?"

"I'll tell you when you're older."

"-is she, anyway?" Sunset jabs her right forehoof at Luna, while Celestia takes a deep and calming breath."

"She is Princess Luna, my sister and Princess of the Night."

"And where did she come from?"

Luna takes a step towards Sunset, clearly not entirely up to speed. Possibly not understanding why her sister is tolerating this level of backchat from a peasant. "We were banished to the moon for a millennia. We hath only returned these last eight months."

"Oh, did you try reading a history book too?"

"What dost thou mean?"

Twilight blinks in confusion. "What?"

"Sunset read a book in the forbidden section of the library. But that was but the last in a long line of-."

"Of me trying to get an education and constantly being held back by [color]you[/color]."

Well… At least her horn isn't glowing. I'm not sure what a unicorn of her power could do with the knowledge of thaumaturgy she's acquired, but given Celestia's poor showing against Chrysalis and Sunset Shimmer's obvious detestation…

"Okay." I stride forward and put a restraining hoof across Sunset's chest. "Time out, my little pony. Deep breath." I get a small scowl again, but she closes her eyes for a moment and actually does take a deep breath. "Deep breath. The anger powers the engine, it doesn't turn the steering wheel."

"I'm… Fffffine."

I lean down. "Does somepony need a hug?"

And the glare's back. "Does somepony need a buck to the snout?"

"Dunno. Never had a snout before." I look up -though still somewhat down, she's quite a bit shorter than me- at the cautious Celestia. "Hi there. My name's Grayven."

She looks me over, her eyes pausing momentarily on my wings and horn. "She found an alicorn on the other side of the Mirror."

"Actually no. The Mirror transforms you when you pass through it. I don't usually look like this. This is-" I look down at my ponified chest. "-it's best attempt to interpret my nature in pony terms." I pause for a moment. "Or it's just messing with me. Could go either way. I get the impression that Starswirl was kind of an arse."

"Starswirl was a great scholar and a hero of Equestria."

"He also dumped problem individuals and magic items through a portal to another world. My world. It was too long ago for me to have good records on how many people died as a result of his unwillingness to deal with his problems himself rather than pawning them off on someone else, but it wasn't a small number. Be grateful I'm only calling him an arse."

"People died?"

"Those sirens who mind-controlled people into fighting each other? Following the myths, they rampaged around the world for a few hundred years before Prince Jon Haraldson slew them. Humans can use magic, but there aren't many with a high enough level of skill to cope with creatures like that."

She bows her head slightly. I think? With the long neck and the normal angle of equine faces it's a little difficult to parse the gesture. "In that case, I apologise on behalf of Equestria. We will take back anyone or anything which Starswirl sent through so that it will no longer endanger your people."

"Nah." I shake my head. "We've pretty much dealt with them now, and you would not believe how much studying those relics has taught Sunset about how your magic works." I smile down at Sunset, raise my right forehoof, and lightly pat-.

"Get-" She bats my hoof away. "-off."

"Um. Princess Celestia?" Twilight prances in nervousness. "Why.. didn't you mention Sunset Shimmer? I mean… I guess it's obvious now, but… I didn't even know you had other students."

"Sunset Shimmer left through Starswirl's Mirror over twenty years ago-."

My eyes widen as Sunset and I stare at each other.

"Twenty to one time ratio-."

"Yes I can count." She turns to face the mirror. "Ah…" Orange light surrounds her horn. "Okay, stabilising the link.. should…"

Twilight looks from her to me. "What's going on?"

"By our reckoning Sunset Shimmer came to Earth a year ago. But it's been over twenty years here. That means that time moves at different rates on each side of the portal. Which is fine for a visit, but is going to be a bit of a nuisance for longer stays."

"I wondered why you hadn't gotten any further."

"O.. kaaaaay. Got it." Sunset bows her head, a lance of orange magic striking the mirror and spreading around its frame. "That should keep things to a one to one ration from now on."

"Wait." Twilight stares at the mirror and then at Sunset. "You just… Changed Starswirl's Mirror? That's…"

"That's the least of what I can do now." Celestia gets a glare, but it's a minor one compared to what Sunset was dishing a moment ago. "The good news is, even though you clearly could, I don't want you to make me an alicorn any more."

"I'm.. glad to hear-."

"Because I now know enough about magic to do it without your help." She proudly regards Celestia for a moment and then turns her head towards Twilight. And.. actually smiles. "Wanna read my notes? They're really dry and technical?"

Twilight's eyes light up with excitement while Celestia looks on uncertainly. "Ah, yes? Um." She guiltily glances at Celestia. "If that's okay, Princess?"

"Of course, Twilight. And I think that my sister and I should speak to Mister Grayven."

Oh goody.

Spoiler: Unused Pony 2

1st April 2012
10:47 GMT -6

"Would you like some tea?"

I'm on the guest poof across the table from Celestia and Luna. Sunset and Twilight heading back to their room for a passionate night of hardcore studying, while I was escorted to a study of some kind. From the shared sun/moon décor, I'm assuming that this is a demilitarised space between their domains.

"No, thank you." I get up and walk over to a maid who was lurking by the wall off to my left. I smile down at her as she tries to avoid cowering. "They're so adorable!" I look back towards the sisters. "Are they all fun size?"

Celestia looks a little uncertain. "'Fun-size'?"

"Yes." I point to the maid -who's trying to edge away- with my right forehoof. "Fun size." I point to Luna. "Snack size." To Celestia. "And queen size."

"And what descriptor wouldst thou use for thine own stature, We wonder?"

I grin. "Share size!" I decide to leave the poor maid alone and head back to the poof, carefully lowing my haunches onto it. Pony-sitting is noteasy. "So what did you want to talk about?"

Celestia glances at the maid I just menaces and gives a small nod of her head, which appears to be a signal that she's free to act on her instincts and flee.

Flee?

I briefly go wall-eyed trying to see whether my yellow ring is glowing or not, but I'm not.. feeling anything.

"I am interested in what became of my former student after she left Equestria."

"Came through the mirror into a small park in a major city. There isn't any sort of marker on the other side now… If there ever was."

Celestia nods. "I have not had cause to use the Mirror for many years. I have no knowledge of what lies on the other side."

"I'm more surprised that no one's come through from my side by accident. The portal wasn't on a major thoroughfare or anything, but it's not out of the way."

Or… Have people come through before, only to have their memories obliviated away? I checked Philadelphia's records once Sunset told me that the portal's end point was fixed, but I didn't find anything that fit what I think I know about Equestria. Didn't bother looking for amnesia…

"Have you taken measures to ensure that nopony will do so?"

I frown. "It's the middle of a major city. We do have equines, but they're more like your… Pre-sophoncy ancestors. They're kept as pets or beasts of burden." They seem to take that news with equanimity. Heh. "There aren't any in central Philadelphia. If you're talking about inadvertent human visitors, you don't need to worry. Sunset worked out how to move the end point and it's now in her laboratory, which is in a fortified area. That's not to say that a sufficiently clever physicist or wizard couldn't work out how to replicate the link, but…" I shrug, and nearly fall on my face. "Uh. There's no risk of a chance encounter."

"I'm glad. I imagine that it would be quite distressing for someone from an alien world to fall through and be stranded here."

"… Yes, because you.. couldn't just board it up from your side?"

Celestia gives her head a small shake. "I hoped that Sunset Shimmer would return one day. As the years passed I realised that that was increasingly unlikely, but still: I did not want to block her one avenue for returning here."

"If you think a couple of boards would have stopped her, you're really underestimating her."

"She was.. certainly always determined." She pauses for a moment. "She said that only a year passed for you?"

"Almost to the minute. Makes me wonder if the spell controlling the aperture was set to something on our side rather than yours. Though Sunset's fixed it now; one spell to keep it open and some mana siphons to ensure that it retains power. She really is quite clever."

"Sunset's problem was never her intelligence."

"Did you really kick her out for reading a history book? I realise that I've only heard one side of that disagreement, but I doubt that she told me a direct lie."

"No, I did not kick her out for reading a history book. I banished her from the palace for repeatedly ignoring my lessons and instructions. I hoped that after she was forced to interact with other ponies for a time she would come to realise the error of her ways and learn the lessons in humility and compassion that I had failed to teach her."

"And you had-" I look pointedly at Luna for a moment. "-no ulterior motive in the direction of your teachings?"

"Sister?"

"I'm not sure what you're implying-."

"I'm not good at estimating the age of ponies. But I know a human teenager when I see one. Your newly alicornised acolyte isn't all that old. Too young to remember that you had another student just before her. If Sunset had stayed she'd be in her prime right now. And there's somepony here-" I look pointedly at Luna. "-who has a somewhat outdated vocabulary. And the only night-themed alicorn Sunset came across in her studies -and she studied the topic very thoroughly- was Nightmare Moon. I briefly saw the moon while looking out of the window-."

"Luna has been freed from the curse of Nightmare Moon-."

"By your acolyte? And how did a teenage mare manage to triumph over an alicorn? I know if a.. teenager tried to pick a fight with me-."

"Yes, I hoped that Sunset would develop the virtues necessary to wield the Elements of Harmony. I hope that for all my little ponies. Those virtues underpin our society, and encourage my ponies' happiness."

"And it was pure chance that you took on two magic-talent unicorns as students in the run-up to your sister's return? Sunset's never mentioned her predecessor. If I were to examine your records how far back would I have to look to find one?"

Luna looks thoughtful. "I had assumed that your student's presence was part of your plan, sister. I had not considered plans that you may have discarded along the way."

"I did not discard Sunset. She left through the mirror of her own volition."

"After you banished her. And after she came to you to learn magic and you spent years focusing on ethics. And you didn't explain why at any point."

"Should I take it then that the curriculum which you have been teaching her does not involve ethics?"

"You think I've been teaching her?" I sit back-. No no no, bad idea. "I've been feeding her books and equipment while she teaches herself. A year with an alien magic system, and she's the most capable magic user her age on the planet. She'll be an archmage before she's twenty. You want me to waste that potential trying to turn her into a moral philosopher?"

"I want to know that you're not just using her as a.. device for research. Sunset is a pony, and whatever she thinks, she needs other ponies in her life."

"No ponies, but she has friends now. Two of them are other magic users who have the capacity to keep up with her on her favourite topic, and meaningfully contribute to her work. Like you used to. And a third… And I've really got no idea how they started relating to each other, but they voluntarily spend time in one another's company so I'm calling that three-nil. Grayven-" I hold my right forehoof up to my right ear-. No, wait, it's a little further backthere we go. "-I hear you cry, how did you achieve such a thing where I, with all my experience of and devotion to friendship could not?' And I will gladly-."

"You brought her into contact with people she considered to be her equals, and their friends. She spoke to them of their shared interests, and the friendship grew from there."

"And I didn't try and make her something she isn't. Her special talent is magic research. How could you possibly think that you could stop her doing the most important thing in her life and expect her to remain interested in anything you had to say?"

"I thought that 'magic research' might extend to the magic of friendship-."

"Hah, you're such a pony!"

Her expression hardens a little. "Why are you here?"

"I'm here to provide moral support for Sunset when she ascends. And I think I'd like to take a look around. Maybe bring my children along? Have a.. look at the society that's developed here. They could write a report on it."

"We hath never witnessed another pony ascending to alicornhood. We believe that We will find it most instructive. Dost thou desire lodging in Our palace, or wilt thou return through Starswirl's Mirror?"

"Ping."

"No need." The boom tube opens next to us with a bang. "I'll just pop back tomorrow morning."

Spoiler: Unused Pony 3

1st April 2012
16:12 GMT -6

"Daddy, why are you a pony?"

I look around as Lynne and Bethany stare at me.

"Variety if the spice of life, poppet. Want a ride?"

Lynne puts her hands on her hips.

"Daddy, why are you a pony?"

"Sunset's portal opened up, and I want to give her moral support when she does her ascension thing." Lynne nods while Bethany just looks confused. "Sunset? The young woman with the red hair with yellow streaks? She's been here for a year, I'm sure you've seen her at some point."

"Yes-" Momentary reassuring glance at Eldest Adopted Sister. "-Daddy, I know who Sunset is."

"Right, well she's a magical pony from a world on the other side of a mirror, and the portal just opened again so she's getting back in touch with her-" Friends? Not according to Celestia. Family? She never mentioned them. They could be dead, or it could be like Shining Armor where he popped into existence at the end of series two. "-people."

"Sunset's a pony?"

"At the moment, yes. When you go through the portal it turns you into one."

Her eyes light up. "Can I come?! Can I come please?!"

I trot closer and give her a nuzzle. "I'm sorry, but it isn't safe unless we know what being turned into a pony does to your medicine." Her head bows as she lets out a disappointed moan, but she reaches up to stroke my nose anyway. Oddly satisfying. "Tell you what. Sunset's locked the portal open now, so I'll check out what it does to your blood this week and you can pay them a visit next weekend. Does that sound alright?"

She nuzzles me back. "Thank you Daddy!"

"That's quite alright. How was your lesson with Ms Gloria?"

Bethany frowns. "I don't think she's very nice."

"Then you're a good judge of character. But what makes you think that?"

"She eats birds."

"Honey, a chicken is a type of bird, and if you're telling me that you've gone off chicken then I'm going to have to sort out something else for dinner."

"No, not like chicken-bird, you know, like you buy in a shop. Like there was a little bird outside the classroom and she just kept staring at it the whole time? And Stephan asked her why and she said that she sometimes gets urges?"

"A lot of people get inappropriate urges. That doesn't make them bad people."

"But she isn't taking her medicine!" Oh… Right. "You said we couldn't stop ourselves killing-. Things… When we turn into monsters, but we are responsible for taking our medicine, because if we don't take it we turn back into monsters and then it's our fault. So if she still wants to eat wild animals then she's bad."

"I'm afraid that there isn't any medicine for Ms Gloria."

Bethany looks horrified. "What?"

"Ms Gloria isn't quite the same as you and your natural siblings. Her body just sort of ignores medicine. But she's an adult, and as long as it's just wild animals I decided that I should leave her to it."

"But she doesn't want to!"

"Tell you what: if you see her staring at a bird, walk over and give her a big hug. That should take her mind off it."

If only because I know that her husband -a pleasant if somewhat vacuous Chelsea player- has been carefully raising the idea of having children for a while. And while I suspect that at this point Ms Gloria isn't totally against the idea, there are some things a demonic body struggles with. On the other hand, if she gets the idea to have a demonologist have a look at my younger children, who knows what might happen?

"Okay Daddy." She takes a step back. "Have fun with Sunset!"

I nod, smiling. "I'm sure I will."

She heads off into the Mountain while Lynne looks at me thoughtfully. "What really happened?"

"Sunset kidnapped her successor, but we talked things out. Her banishment appears to have been rescinded, if only because Celestia realises that it won't serve its intended purpose. Ponies are really tiny and really cute."

"You don't look tiny."

I raise my eyebrows. "Ah, but I do look cute."

She rolls her eyes. "Do you want me to feed you a carrot?"

She's trying for teenage-sullen, but the smile ruins it.

"I don't know. I'm fine with it, but I'm worried it might be pony-racist or something. So you coming?"

"Yes Daddy, I'm coming."

"You going to come as you are, or come as a pony?"

"Um." Her eyes move away from my face as she considers it. "What's it.. like?"

"Weird. You fall over a whole lot to start with. But in theory you get access to pony magic."

"Like making stuff float with your horn?"

"I didn't think I should try that in case I broke something. But I could clumsily fly, and I didn't get any physically weaker. Besides, it's only for a few hours. If you don't like it you can just-" I prance in place for a moment. "-trot back through the portal and you'll be a New God again."

"A human-shaped New God, right?"

…

"Tell you what: why don't you head down to Sunset's laboratory and I'll test that."

She looks concerned. "Daddy, are you going to get stuck like that?"

"No, no." I walk closer and give her a nuzzle. "Worse case scenario is that I'll need Sunset to fiddle with the Mirror to make it work properly. Now off you trot."

She nods and turns to leave. Right. Mother Box?

Ping.

BOOM!

The boom tube opens into the store room with the Mirror in it, and I trot back through. The four guards stationed there shrink back, unicorns levitating their spears into a guard position a moment later.

I ignore them as I walk up the podium and -with a bit of a wiggle- through the Mirror.

Back in Sunset's laboratory, and humanoid again. Lynne's already here-. Wait, how-?

"I used a hush tube, Daddy."

I nod. "Good initiative. And I.. appear to be humanoid again." I check myself over visually just to be certain. "So: quadruped or humanoid?"

"I'll.. try being a pony."

"Great! Come on then. Oh, and if you have trouble working out how to walk, I'll carry you around on my head."

"Why?"

"Because I think it would be hilarious."

"Daddy… I'm a telepath. I can learn how to walk directly from their brains. I'll be better at it than you."

Ooooooh.

"While you're at it… See what you can pick up about their military and economy. I've got a feeling they could use some work, but I'd like to be sure before I make an arse of myself."

Lynne smiles. "Sure thing, Daddy."

"Good girl, poppet. Now, avaunt! Ponydom awaits!"

Spoiler: Unused Pony 4

Canterlot
Lunch time

Luna trots over to where I'm overseeing the guard's training ground. Sunset is showing Tempest Shadow and her… Associates. I'm not exactly sure what sort of fantasy creature they're supposed to be. I'd guess yeti, but I… Can't help but think that it's a little rude to walk up to someone and ask what the heck they are.

Anyway, Sunset is showing them her equipment. Tempest is paying very close attention to everything she says, but… It was designed for ponies. The whatever-they-are's are humanoid, and appear to naturally to manipulate things with their forelimbs. We might have to do a bit of a redesign there.

"Who is this?"

"The mare with the broken horn is Shadow Tempest. She's a veteran mercenary commander with more military experience than the entire Royal Guard. I've hired her to upskill them."

"She doth have a far more fearsome countenance than Our own guards. From whence doth she hail?"

"Originally? No idea. I found her in Klugetown, but that place is a travel hub." I glance at Luna. "Is there some way to fix her horn?"

"Such chirurgies exist, but they are slow and difficult to bring to fruition. Canst you not hasten matters?"

"Not reliably. I could speed up her natural regeneration easily, but that's an old injury. If it was going to heal naturally then it would have done so by now."

Tempest awkwardly levitates a mana siphon gun and aims it at a target.

"As a filly, We once broke Our left foreleg. It was never fully as strong as Our right, until our ascension."

I nod. "That's something to consider, but I'm a little reluctant to create a war alicorn just yet."

She smiles as Tempest shoot, corrects her aim and then shoots again. "We were uncertain that you were capable of such reticence."

"Oh, I'd do it right away if it was essential, but it's not. She can organise training exercises perfectly well as a unicorn. Perhaps Sunset can come up with something faster."

"We understand that Sister's reunion with her former student did not go as well as may have been hoped."

"On the contrary; in my opinion it went as well as it could have." I look around and see that a number of guards are hanging around the training area. No Cel-. No, there she is, looking down from a palace window.

And…

Oh, what is with me at the moment? This is a perfect moment to make eye contact, grin, and then put my wing over Luna's back. But…

This 'not being so much of a dick' thing is a lot less fun than I thought it would be.

"No that Sunset's got the initial screaming-with-rage out of her system, and Celestia has some idea of what made Sunset angry enough to go through the mirror in the first place, there's a small chance that they might reach a more civil sort of disagreement."

"Do you not have more faith in the magic of friendship than that?"

"I think that after a thousand years and-. How old is Celestia?"

"One thousand and forty nine."

"One thousand-." I frown. "Really? I assumed-. But then you're only-."

"Forty six." She rolls her eyes. "Did you assume that We were some ancient demi-goddess? There are ponies in Our guard who are Our senior."

"So more of a middle-aged demi-goddess?" She gives me a mildly reproachful glare as Sunset describes the rest of her devices. "What? I'm not exactly in the first flush of youth myself, and-" I lower my head and voice slightly "-you're the one sort of Christmas Cake I'd-."

She looks away, smiling, her ears twitching.

"Hie away, you incorrigible scoundrel."

I snort, and return my attention to Sunset's demonstration.

"I do have a work-related question, though."

"You may ask it."

"Sunset was telling me that earth ponies don't really use magic."

"That is not… Precisely true, but We take your meaning. Our teacher Rockhoof was far stronger than anypony we have met before or since, even those that appeared to be his equal physically. But tis true that e'en in Our day there was no form of training for earth ponies who wished to make greater use of their magics."

"I don't suppose that you're old enough to remember the migration to these lands from… Wherever the pre-Hearthwarming ponies are supposed to have come from?"

She gives me a mildly reproachful look.

"Neigh, we are not quite so old as that. We learned from our tutors that while ponies of all tribes swore oaths of friendship after the first Hearth's Warming, they spread out all across what is now Equestria. Most settlements had little contact with one another, and a great deal of knowledge was lost. Or simply not recorded from the first. In Our oldest archives there is more of the knowledge of the old homelands than of early Equestria."

"Has anyone ever tried to find out?"

"In my day, a few brave souls ventured forth. They mapped much of this continent and made contact with a few of Equestria's neighbours. None of those who returned found evidence of ancient pony habitation. Those explorers who have gone forth in the centuries since my departure have fared little better."

"Do you have a map of the entire world?"

"Neigh, we do not. That is to say that we may, but so many of those charts bough by Equestrian seafarers turn out to be inaccurate or outright falsehoods that it would be impossible to know. And… Our cartographers could give you some rough idea of the shape of all of this world's continents, yet there are untold miles within Equestria's own borders which are unknown to them."

"Tricky. I'll get some drones on that."

"Drones? You have made contact with a changeling hive?"

"No, a mechanical device, but it serves the same purpose." I glance back up to where Celestia-. No, she's moved. "With Celestia back, do you have time to try that knowledge transfer thing I suggested?"

"We believe that We can locate a suitable jurist."

"Good show. Mother Box, boom tube."

Ping.

Boom!

"We hath been meaning to ask. This is no spell. What is it? And-" We walk through together, back into the room containing Starswirl's mirror. "-who is Mother Box?"

I.. somewhat awkwardly point to Mother Box with my right wing.

"This is. An intelligent device. And the tubes she opens do something fiddly with gravity-." I frown. "Unicorns and alicorns can teleport. Hasn't anyone made some sort of device which can replicate the effect?"

"There are perhaps a handful of such devices, ancient and fragile things held in vaults to be used only in situations of dire necessity."

"No gates, portals from one place to another?" She shakes her head. "Huh. Weird." I step up to the mirror. "Now remember, the time dilation means that four minutes there is an hour here and Jean might need a little while to get ready."

"I will search out scholars and bring them here in preparation for your return."

I nod and step up to the mirror.

"See you when I get back."

I walk through.

1st April
23:31 GMT -6

…

And now I'm not a pony.

…

This sucks.

Spoiler: Unused Pony 5

Canterlot
Early afternoon

I use a construct to shove one of the drawing room's doors open. Luna, a couple of ponies I don't recognise and the.. Bearers are assembled within. Twilight doesn't seem particularly bothered by my presence, but Rainbow Dash is scowling and Rarity is turning her nose up.

"Hey, Luna. Jean is-."

Rainbow Dash flaps her wings once and is almost immediately in the air directly in front of me.

"What were you planning on using on me?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"The thing. Like the clones and spike and Rarity and the Diamond Dogs. What were you planning on springing on me?"

"Didn't really have anything, to be honest. Maybe something about the ennui involved in wanting to join the Wonderbolts when you're already a better flier and fighter than they are, but at this point you're more aware of your faults than I am."

She flaps twice, then frowns.

"Why would I need an emu to join the Wonderbolts? Emus can't fly."

I.. don't trust myself to keep a straight face, so I walk past her in the direction of Luna.

"I brought Jean and a few g-gnomes. Are these your experts?"

She nods, indicating an elderly looking mare. "Justice Heavy Heart has volunteered to aid Us in the matter."

I frown. "Is that 'Us' as in you, or 'us' as in us?"

"U-." She hesitates. "Both, we suppose. Doctor Hay Exchange has also expressed an interest in aiding Us in gaining an understanding of modern economics. And-. By 'Us' We mean 'me'."

"Right." I nod to him. "Slight problem. Jean didn't come through as a pony."

"What did she come through as?"

There's a general intake of breathe as changeling queen Jean clops through the doorway, following my the g-gnome drones. They're a bit more mobile in this form than in their customary shape, which meant that we could get away without bringing the usual g-elf escort. From the way that the Bearers are starting to square up I think that bringing the combat genomorphs would have been a unnecessarily confrontational act.

"We see."

"Princess Luna?" Jean looks around and I point her out with my right forehoof. "My name is Jean, and I will be overseeing the process."

Dash stares at her, then at Luna, then at Twilight.

"Ah… Is nopony going to do anything about the changelings who just walked in?"

Twilight shakes her head. "They're not actually changelings, Rainbow Dash. That's just what Starswirl's mirror made her when she came through."

I nod. "She actually looks like this."

I generate a construct image of her native form. From the expression on the ponies' faces, they don't like it any better. I mentally shrug and then dismiss it and the transformed g-gnomes take position near Luna. Jean takes a step closer to Heavy Heart.

"Ms Heavy Heart?"

Heavy Heart doesn't look entirely sanguine. "… Jean. What exactly are you going to do to me?"

"With your permission, these g-gnomes will study the networks of schema in your mind relating to legal practice. They will then copy them into the mind of Princess Luna, and work to integrate them into her schematic systems so that she gains the same instinctive awareness of legal affairs that you have."

"And I don't forget anything."

"Since they are creating a copy, the original will be unaffected. You might find yourself having.. unusually acute recall of particular incidents while they work to locate them, but otherwise you should not notice a thing."

Luna leans forward, her nose a short distance from a blankly-staring g-gnome.

"And for Ourself?"

"Once we begin the dubbing process, you may experience a period of confusion while the integration is completed. Assuming that everything goes to plan, the worst that will happen will be surprising moments of insight; we can only integrate the memories so far. In the event that there are any problems, we can erase the new unintegrated memories quite easily."

"Do We need to do anything? To keep Our mind blank, perhaps?"

"On the contrary, we find that sort of thing unhelpful. All we would ask is that you remove any magic-based mental defences. We have no way to work around those ourselves. And if you could avoid casting for the duration, that would help as well."

Luna nods, then turns to heavy heart. "Are you ready, your honour?"

"I.. believe that I am. When will you begin?"

The horns of the g-gnome drones start glowing with a pale orange corona.

"Now."

Twilight Sparkle comes closer, staring in fascination at the drones, a notebook and quill pen-.

"Twilight." She glances my way for about a second then returns her attention to the motionless g-gnomes. "Present for you."

I take a ballpoint pen out of subspace and float it in front of her. She blinks, going cross-eyed for a moment before levitating it closer.

"A.. pen? Wait."

She leans closer, studying it intently.

"The.. ball restricts the flow of the ink from the reservoir, and it's… Metal."

"Far easier to use than a quill." I watch as ink -which she appears to have been controlling with her thaumokinetic grip- begins to drip as she loses focus. "The nib will last longer than the nib of a quill, the flow of ink is easier to regular and the internal reservoir will last longer than a load of ink in a quill."

I get another glance. "Thank you, Grayven."

"Have you had a chance to look at Sunset's ascension plan yet?"

"I… No..?"

"Well, of the two ponies who have gone through the process in living memory, one of them is in the city and is a magic talent. I'd really appreciate it if you could give it a once over."

"Right…" She very briefly tears her eyes away from the changeling g-gnomes to glance at me. "Now?"

"Sunset is in a mood to spite Celestia. I want to be sure that she thinks things through, but in theory there's no reason why she can't just do it right now. And I can get the genomorphs to do this whenever you want."

Twilight looks decidedly torn.

"Also… I've been thinking of taking a trip to where ponies came from before the hearthwarming exodus, and you'd be welcome to come along. I'm trying to recover forgotten earth pony magic."

Applejack perks up.

"Say whut now?"

"Sunset.. observed that while earth ponies don't have significantly weaker magic than pegasus ponies or unicorn ponies, they don't appear to actively use it at all. Part of why she wants to become an alicorn is so that she can learn to use earth pony magic and teach others. I'm hoping that there are records in the original pony homelands that could help-."

I look down and Twilight isn't there. I turn and she's already out of the door.

Guess I've got a trip to plan.

Spoiler: Unused Pony 6

1st April 2012
11:45 GMT -6

Sunset regards Princess Luna suspiciously.

"So you're not another new alicorn Princess Celestia was trying to hide from me?"

Luna looks away for a moment, though her ability to manipulate the teapot doesn't appear to be impaired. "Neigh. Our sister's concern for your good name resulted in it being struck from the canon of history. In truth, we are but a few years her junior."

"Huh." Sunset takes a small sip from her cup. "But the only night-related alicorn I remember reading about is-."

"Yes." Luna ruffles her wings slightly, and Twilight looks at her with concern. "We were Nightmare Moon. Twice we attempted to bring about an era of eternal night and twice we were thwarted."

I smile. "Look on the bright side: you're really bad at evil."

Her eyes briefly alight on me. "We are uncertain that that is a beatitude."

I shr-. Oh. Ponies can't shrug. "Would you rather be highly skilled at evil? Because if so, I know some people?"

Sunset gives me a small glare.

"Neigh, Graven, we are far more contented in our current position. Though we will admit to being curious. Sister made no mention to us of a student prior to Twilight Sparkle."

"I guess we were both written out of history. What year is it, anyway?"

"Four years since our return, which occurred one thousand years since our banishment."

"A thousand-? As in, one thousand, Celestia Era?"

"Sister began ruling alone once we were banished, and the present dating system uses that as its origin point. We did not use that dating system at the time-."

"Ponies only moved fully to the Celestia Era system six hundred years ago. Before that, unicorns used a dating system based on the date on which the current ruler came to the throne, earth ponies used a dating system based on the time of the Great Migration and pegasus ponies used one based on when the ancient city of Pegotopia was destroyed."

"… Yes. Bur we are curious. Should we understand from your statement that Sister attempted to hide Princess Cadenza from you?"

Sunset pulls herself up slightly. "My special talent is magic. From the first moment I started studying under Celestia, I wanted to understand how she worked. I don't think she took me seriously to start with, but she let me do a few tests…" Sunset shakes her head. "I couldn't learn much, and… Celestia told me that she didn't know how ponies turned into alicorns."

Twilights eyes widen in surprise, but Sunset isn't watching her face. She's looking at Luna.

"And you believe that she dealt with you falsely."

Sunset raises her right forehoof and stabs it first at Luna and then at Twilight.

"Twilight's new, but she knew about you and she hid any information on Cadenza from me. I wasn't really sure that she was deliberately sabotaging me when I.. left, but I'd say this is pretty solid evidence."

"I see. And do you intent to continue your studies now that you have returned?"

"I would, but that won't be necessary. I've already learned how to turn ponies into alicorns."

Twilight jerks as if stung, her eyes going wide.

"What? But you haven't-. I mean, you're still a unicorn."

"And I wasn't on the other side of the mirror. To be an alicorn you have to start as a pony."

"Yes." Luna regards me curiously. "Which makes us curious how you came to be as you are."

"My people call it Divine Awakening. We achieve a moment of realisation about our own nature and how it relates to the wider universe, and we gain certain abilities."

Twilight nods. "Like getting a cutie mark."

"Leaving aside an argument concerning cutie mark theory which Sunset and I-" Sunset rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "-still haven't resolved, we don't get a physical emblem in the way ponies do. Though it is occasionally accompanied by physical changes. It is in our metaphysique that the change is most apparent. Starswirl's mirror interpreted that augmentation as being equivalent to a mundane pony's alicorn apotheosis."

Twilight looks at my armoured-covered haunches. Rather forward of her-. No, she's trying to see my cutie mark. I flex my glutes, but I can't.. feel any change. Hm.

"An-y-way, I need to check one or two things while I have direct access to Equestrian magic. And I want to ascend while Celestia's here to watch." Sunset frowns. "Where is she?"

"Manehatten. An ocean liner is putting to sea and Sister is overseeing the ceremony." Luna thinks for a moment. "In truth, we believe that she is undertaking this task that we may demonstrate that we can be left unsupervised in Canterlot and that this great metropolis will not be aflame 'pon her return."

I look around. I can't see any part of this palace made largely of stone that is on fire…

"Doing alright so far. Keep up the good work."

Sunset looks a little put out. "When is she getting back?"

"The launch is later this morning, and she intends to return 'pon the morrow.

Sunset slumps. "Ugh."

"You've worked out how to become an alicorn!" Twilight's grinning a little manically. "You've got to show me! Was there a secret library full of Starswirl the Bearded spellbooks on the other side of the mirror? Or a series of coded messages written on pieces of jewellery that only made sense when you put them all together and defeated their magical guardian?"

"What?" Sunset frowns at her. "No? I used Atlantean thaumaturgy to create a model for the thaumic transformation and worked out how to reproduce it artificially. Isn't that what you did?"

"Not… Exactly."

Sunset's jaw hardens. "If it turns out that Celestia could do it all along-."

"No" She send me one of Starswirl's old spellbooks-"

"She never let me anywhere near Starswirl's spellbooks."

"-and there was a spell I had to finish."

Sunset frowns. "How did you.. finish a spell when you didn't have a thaumic model for the transformation?"

"Ah… When I.. say 'spell', it was really more of a 'poem'."

Twilight grins nervously at Sunset's decidedly unhappy glare.

"A poem?" Twilight nods. "Like a long poem, forming a mantra, or putting you into a hypnotic trance or containing the thaumic pattern in the rhythm?"

"It's-. Well, there's-. It was-. You see-."

Luna raises her eyebrows slightly. "Twilight Sparkle, we read it once your returned to Canterlot. We were curious to see how you had added to the two lines Starswirl wrote long ago."

Sunset's eyes narrow. "Two lines?"

"I… Added another two lines. The whole thing is only thirty seven words long."

"Thirty-!" Sunset takes a moment to breathe. "Thirty seven words. Does it at least rhyme?"

"Kinda-." Luna raises her eyebrows again. "No."

"Do you at least understand why it worked?"

"The magic of friendship!"

Twilight smiles like she's explained everything, while Sunset closes her eyes. I can see her lips moving as she counts to ten.

"Friendship." Twilight nods, and Sunset regards her curiously. "Are your closest friends a pegasus and an earth pony?"

"Two pegasi, two earth ponies and another-. A unicorn."

"O.. kay. I think I know how that happened. Do you have a laboratory or something?"

Spoiler: Unused Pony 7

1st April 2012
11:50 GMT -6

I take a sip from my cup as Sunset and Twilight clack down the hall.

"Oh, I hadn't thought to ask, but what is the local time? It's late morning back home, but it's clearly night here."

"'Tis early evening." Luna takes a sip from her cup, then sets it aside. "Sister lowered the sun not an hour ago."

Oh yes, that. I read various fan-interpretations of how that could possibly work, from the sun being normal sized and being moved by a rapid series of micro-teleportations to the sun being tiny or Equestria literally being covered by a 'crystal dome'. And while I'm curious, I think that perhaps I shouldn't risk blowing Luna's mind by drawing her attention to exactly how unusual the Wilsonian situation is.

"Not keeping you up, am I? I want to be here to support Sunset when she confronts Celestia, but if that's not happening until tomorrow I can just trot back through the mirror."

"No. Our nature as Alicorn of the Night has rendered us nocturnal. I had been awakened for only a brief time before my guards alerted me to your presence. And your presence is no great burden."

Odd. On Earth, equines sleeps in short bursts to make sure that predators don't sneak up on them. I suppose that a more human-like sleeping pattern is just one of the many adaptations which Wilsonian ponies have undergone.

"So… Were you nocturnal before you became an alicorn, or only afterwards?"

She raises her eyebrows and blinks. "It is surprising how few ponies think to ask that. In truth, we are not obligated to remain active during the hours of night. But we found as we grew into our full powers that it felt natural to do so. We struggled to sleep during the hours of darkness and struggled to remain alert during the day."

I nod. A point in favour of the 'cutie marks are randomly-assigned mind control tools', which… Means that if I see a pony with a scarab beetle cutie mark I need to run.

"Tell us: you spoke of us using the mirror as a 'dumping ground'." She regards me curiously. "Pray tell, to what artefact or individual did you refer?"

"Sirens. It was long before I arrived, but from the records that survived it seems that they killed quite a lot of people before Prince Jon Haraldson tracked them down and killed them. Fortunately, no one knew what their necklaces could do, and they ended up being treated as normal jewellery until I picked them up for Sunset."

"The sirens were banished by Starswirl and his allies over one thousand years ago. We have long since abandoned the practice. But we are curious: how did the valiant prince achieve that feat?"

"He fell in love with one of his people's demigoddesses. She returned his affection, and her lord -the god Odin- agreed to approve the match if he died with honour. The he made the princes invulnerable, so that no matter what he did he could never complete his task. In his search for things that could kill him he eventually encountered the sirens, but he was immune to their voices as well."

"What became of him?"

"Haraldson eventually got frozen in ice, eventually being freed… About seventy years ago. Odin only made him invulnerable to weapons which existed in his era, so it was a relatively simple matter to find an honourable death by high explosive."

Luna smiles. "And so the petulant god is hoist with his own petard."

"Yes, and I really hope that she didn't just find someone else in the intervening centuries. Can you imagine how awkward that would be?"

"We can." She snorts quietly. "As we said, we no longer use the Mirror in that fashion. Since it only opens for brief intervals, it proved more effective to use either martial force, mundane magics or the Elements of Harmony to vanquish our foes."

"Did you get into a lot of fights like that?"

"Aye, a fair few. There was a creature mighty in the magics of chaos whom we rendered as stone with the magics of the Elements. Sombra, whom I mistook you for, and whom we defeated with our spellcraft. Tirek, whom we defeated with friendship."

"You made friends with him?"

"No. His brother, who knew the countermagic to return his stolen powers to their rightful owners."

"So you defeated him with treachery, then."

"How so?"

"I doubt that his brother gave you the countermagic for Tirek's own good. You induced him to betray his brother."

Luna considers that for a moment, then shakes her head.

"I prefer to call it 'friendship'."

"I imagine that you do." I nod. "One thousand years ago sounds like it was a busy time for Equestria."

Luna slumps slightly.

"One thousand years ago Sister was relocating the capital, rebuilding the government, trying to prevent a civil war and fighting off two external invasions. So while your summarise is correct, I suspect that you intended to refer to the decades prior to that."

"Yes. Sorry. I didn't mean to make light of… The Nightmare Moon incident."

"I am not so sensitive to it that all must walk on eggshells in my company." She gives her mane a light toss. "To what use have you put their baleful carcanets?"

"Sunset was having a little trouble testing her theories on how magic functions on this world. She used them for that, and now they're keeping the other end of the mirror anchored in my fortress."

"You live in a fortress? Are your people particularly warlike?"

"Yes,-" I glance away. "-which is why I don't live with them. I'm hardly averse to the occasional war, but I derive no satisfaction in engaging in war for war's sake. I live in a fortified mountain because my work is dangerous, and it makes sense to make sure that both bystanders and potential intruders are kept away. The country we live in is engaged in low intensity war almost constantly, but in other people's countries as a consequence of its hegemonic power. Attacks on its own core territory are unusual and generally small in scale. But you're welcome to visit. I'll be amused to see if you react any better to becoming bipedal than I did to becoming a quadruped."

"Would not gaining more legs make you more stable?"

"No, because you're trying to balance on a part of your body which all your instincts are telling you isn't designed to take your weight." I hold up my right foreleg. My hoof is covered by Starswirl's mirror's interpretation of my armour, so it doesn't make a perfect instructional aid, but it'll do. "This hoof corresponds to the very tip of one of five fingers attached to my native forelimb. It's a delicate manipulator not designed to be pressed into the ground. I could manage while walking slowly without anything distracting me, but complex or rapid movement is currently beyond me."

"And you would enjoy watching me fall onto my face?"

I lower my forehoof. "And in return, you could watch me trying to canter. It would be a bonding experience. But, you are undoubtably too busy steering the ship of state while Princess Celestia attends to the waterborne variety." Luna.. adopts an expression that I'm sure would mean more to me if I was a real pony. "If you will excuse me…" I finish my tea. "I will go and make sure that Sunset hasn't exploded yet."

"Is that likely?" I raise my eyebrows. "As I have vouchsafed, Sister hath not spoken to me of her previous students. And I could not help but notice that Sunset Shimmer's cutie mark was a blazing sun. Doth the citizens of Canterlot need worry?"

"No, for as long as I've known her, Sunset's outbursts have been precisely targeted. The species the mirror turned her into have a far harder time of using magic than ponies. No built in-" I raise my right forehoof to point to my horn. "-magic wand. You're manipulating external energies indirectly. It has to be more deliberate."

Luna nods… Sadly? Odd. "If she is using powers having lost a degree of familiarity with them, perhaps it would be best."

I nod, put my right forehoof on the floor, and…

Huh.

Wiggle my haunches across to the edge of the couch, lower my right leg into the floor, wiggle a little m-.

There's a burst of surprised laughter from Luna as I land on my back, legs waggling helplessly in the air.

"Would it help you if I were to arrange for an escort?"

Spoiler: Unused Pony 8

1st April 2012
11:56 GMT -6

The guard leading the way actually isn't reeking of fear, a feat which I consider mildly impressive. He's not one of the ones who fled from me earlier, but he doesn't look any older. Not that I'm any great judge of equine ageing, I suppose. So is it the fact that I'm no longer a surprise which is providing reassurance, or the fact that Luna has okayed my ongoing presence..? Not sure.

Easy way to find out.

"Hey, guardpony… Whatever your name is."

"Shadow Strike."

He doesn't look back as he says it.

"Right. Hi! I'm Grayven. I was just wondering why you're not terrified of me, like the two I first met were."

That causes a very slight glance back.

"I can't speak for why they were terrified, sir. I'm not afraid of you because you've shown no hostile intent."

Hm. "So the only reason they did that was because they thought I was that Sombra guy?"

"King Sombra is completely outside our weight class. If he was here, the city would at best be devastated, and there wouldn't be a thing the guard could do about it."

"So why were they running? If I had been him they wouldn't have gotten away like that."

"The faster they moved, the faster other guards could be alerted and the faster somepony who could have actually done something would be alerted."

But not the soldiers. He mentioned them as an alternative, not as part of the solution.

"Like who?"

"Princess Luna. Princess Twilight Sparkle. Maybe some of the most powerful magic specialists in the School for Gifted Unicorns. We could have tried to get a message to Princess Celestia, but that would be difficult."

"You don't have any battlemages in the guard?"

He glances back again, and this time I think there's a frown on his face. The helmet makes it hard to tell.

"We have unicorns."

"Not what I asked."

"Most unicorns only learn a few spells. Energy bolts and barriers for the most part. I suppose you could call them battlemages."

"No.. field generalists?"

He stops, and I stop just in time to avoid walking over him. Literally over him; he's a lot smaller than me.

"Field.. generalist, sir? Magic talents aren't much use as soldiers."

Curse of the Cutie Mark strikes again. I… Dimly remember Twilight boasting to Spike about the number of spells she knew after… Was it giving him a moustache or turning the frog into an orange? Not sure, but it wasn't a big number. So… Is the way unicorns use magic more like Dungeons and Dragons, where you're just rote-copying something and not understanding any sort of underlying system? The cutie mark giving them… Knowledge? Permissions? To access spells of one sort and not anything else? And those who actually do have panarcanic talents want to be studying to use them and not learning to fight with them.

Shadow Strike gets over his astonishment at my idea, and continues to lead the way through the winding corridors of the Canterlot palace. I see a few other guards around the place, but.. no one else. No functionaries, no cleaners… Odd.

So… That answer would explain why they haven't gone the Atlantian route and exchanged tanks and planes for battlemages. The cutie mark system itself means that they can't. They'd need someone to get an ultra-specific talent for combat magic-. No, military-specific combat magic, and for it to be a significant number of ponies, otherwise they'd just have a few specialist they couldn't work into any kind of standardised doctrine. That bothers me.

There are a couple more guards outside what I assume to be our destination room, but their eyes barely flicker as we approach. I'm going to assume that Luna arranged for the word to be put around, because I'd have thought that someone like be being here would create a little more interest than this. Twilight Sparkle becoming an alicorn after having been mentored by Celestia and having gone through all the travails that she did might be expected. But some random bloke like me?

Shadow Strike steps aside to give me access to the door. It's not burned, crackling with untamed energies of warded and I can't hear shouting…

I step forward and-. I can't manipulate the handle with a hoof. An orange construct hand grips it… And it's just a push door. Fine. I push the door open and trotwhoops-!

I regain my equilibrium and walk in, allowing the door to swing closed behind me. It's… A small laboratory. The equipment looks a little like what Twilight hooked Pinkie up to in the Feeling Pinkie Keen. Far less advanced than what Sunset is used to, but she and Twilight are mostly focused on the blackboard anyway.

"…the same thing."

Sunset strikes the board with her chalk to emphasise her point, whatever that is.

"You've created a standard unit of measurement for friendship?!" Twilight looks entirely too happy at the idea. "I've never been able to do that!"

"Sunset?" I walk towards the science arena. Area, I meant area. "You girls getting along alright?"

Sunset doesn't look around, studying… What I think is her own writing on the blackboard. "Yeah. I'm running the numbers on Twilight's social circle through my formula-"

Twilight squints at the board. "You… Are?"

"-and it fits. Either the Elements of Harmony or Starswirl's incomplete spell combined with a mixed-tribe group could turn the focal pony into an alicorn." She lowers her chalk, looking thoughtful. "Of course the best way to test it would be to put one of the others through the process and see if the same thing happened."

Twilight levitates three different books, flicking through them and turning from one to the board and onto the next as she tried to deduce the meaning of the Atlantian symbols based on their location.

"So you're not at all annoyed about Celestia taking Twilight on as your.. successor?"

"She needed someone who could fight Nightmare Moon. And it turns out that the temporal compression rate from Wilson to Earth is about fifteen to one, so it wasn't as if she had Twilight hiding at the other end of the palace."

Oh… "Fifteen to one?"

"I was on Earth for one year, and about fifteen passed here."

My eyes widen. "Sunset-."

She turns her head around and darn pony necks are flexible. "Don't worry, I fixed it as soon as we came through. The ration is one to one, so there won't be any problems. Though I.. suppose we could manipulate it to gain more-."

Twilight gasps, dropping her books. "Fifteen to one? That means that tomorrow is today!"

Sunset looks at her dispassionately. "Um."

"My friends are coming up to throw Luna a surprise 'Congratulations on Running the Country Just Fine' party tomorrow. Which is today! I need to get to the station!"

I nod. "Okay, so how about-?"

Twilight charges her horn for a moment, then vanishes in a flash of purple.

"Hm." Sunset draws a line, then sets down her chalk stick. "I don't really care about the party, but getting a reading on the way her magic interacts with her friends' magic could be useful."

Right then. Mother Box, have you acquired the local dimensional topography yet?

Ping.

Then by all means, let's go.

Spoiler: Unused Pony 9

1st April 2012
11:50 GMT -6

"…resonance effect from having thousands of thaumically active individuals believing the same thing!"

Another set of lawn ornaments stand guard outside of Twilight's room as we approach. Pony-Lynne is a white-pelted alicorn mare with a black mane and tail, something which puts me in mind of the uniform her Earth 12 counterpart wore while in Napier's employ. Her cutie mark rump tattoo is a ψ, which makes a horrifying amount of sense. Imagine if Celestia hadn't turned Twilight parents back after she turned them into pot plants? So we're not going to tell anyone that she got it by wiping her parents' minds.

"But that doesn't explain why they believe that in the first place!"

I knock on the door.

"Yes!" / "Yes!"

I push the door open and then trot inside, Lynne close behind. The room is… Well, it's a bedroom. Slightly more bookcases holding somewhat more scholarly tomes than most, but I suppose that's to be expected. Celestia's current and previous students are standing in front of a blackboard covered in… Um, Atlantean thaumaturgical notation several levels more advanced than I can understand and what appears to be the far more primitive pony equivalents.

Though the meaning of 'F ≠ M' is clear enough, especially with Sunset's chalk floating next to it.

"Sunset, I need your help."

She glares at the blackboard, then at Twilight, then turns to me. "Well I'm not making any progress here."

"Am I attractive?"

"Ah." She blinks. "What?"

I shake my head. "I don't know anything about pony standards of beauty, do I?"

"I-." A mildly disturbed look on her face, Sunset gives my front arc the once-over. "Why.. do you even want to know?"

I raise my right forehoof and point it backwards at my escort. "These two have been following me around since I came through the mirror. I want to make sure I haven't inadvertently entranced them with my-" I mug. "-sheer masculinity. I know aroused mares wiggle their tails around-" Sunset and Twilight both pointedly keep theirs completely still. "-but I think these are tiny stallions and I've got no idea how to tell. Did the other two run to fetch stepladders? Am I going to be the centre of a dwarf-pile?"

Sunset squeezes her eyes shut. "Oh. Oh that's horrible."

"I'm sure it would wash out of my fur, but mpfg-."

Sunset glare at me as her horn glows and my muzzle glows to match. Then she spots Lynne. "Should you be.. talking about that in front of..?"

Lynne trots up to the blackboard, and Twilight blinks in puzzlement… I think Lynne's using Twilight's knowledge to try and understand what's written there. Interestingly, her horn doesn't glow, so her telepathy remained intact as telepathy. Lynne.. is a little shorter than Sunset, who is in turn a little shorter than the alicornised Twilight Sparkle.

"Daddy explained sex to me." She glances back at the guards. "But I don't think they're his type."

"We're not following because we-." One of the guards takes a moment. "Princess Celestia ordered us to escort you-"

I snort through the muzzle-binding.

"-around Canterlot so you don't accidentally scare anyone."

Sunset fixes me with a level gaze. "Or intentionally scare anyone." I do my best to look innocent. "Grayven, this is my home. I lived here for most of my life, and I do not want you scaring everyone on what is going to be the greatest day of my life."

"Ah…" Twilight looks uncertain. "I'm still not sure this is going to work."

Lynne looks at her, and Twilight goes cross-eyed for a moment. "Yes you are. You're pretending to yourself because you fear that it invalidates everything you've ever been taught."

"Wh-? What?" Twilight grins artificially. "Pf! Nooo. I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation why Sunset's math seems to make more sense that Starswirl's Grand Theory."

Sunset rolls her eyes. "Looks like Celestia got to you early."

"Do you suddenly not want to study the magics that turned me into an alicorn?"

"Mmmm…" Sunset hesitates. "Yes."

"Yeeeees..?"

"Yes please, I would like to study the magical links between you and your friends."

"Okay. So once-." She looks up at the windows. "It's morning now, so I'll take the first train to Ponyville and ask them."

"Are you allowed to help me?"

Twilight looks at her and frowns. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because I'm pretty sure Celestia banned Cadenza from talking to me about her ascension, and I never got given Starswirl's spell book."

"Caden-? Cadance? You know Cadance?"

"Yeah, I was Celestia's student when she started living here." Sunset closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and exhales to expunge her irritation. I can hardly believe that Celestia didn't realise how Sunset would feel about there being another alicorn around, particularly after what the Mirror showed her. "Where is she, anyway?"

"She's coming here! She and Shining Armor are taking the sleeper down from the Crystal Empire-."

"The Crystal what?"

"Ah…" Twilight looks around, her eyes alighting on a scroll. "The Crystal Empire." The scroll glows in the colour of her magic as it rises off bookshelf three and unrolls itself. "It reappeared when the spells-" Sunset trots closer and peers at it. "-Princess Celestia and Princess Luna used to keep King Sombra bound wore off."

My muzzle is still bound. I Will Not Be Silenced!

Sunset prances a little as the light coming from her horn flickers and oscillates while Twilight instinctively flares her wings, staring at me.

"Sombra? Didn't Luna mistake me for him last night?"

"Ah…" Twilight.. looks around for something, then stops herself when she notices me noticing. "Did you hear..? Ah, never mind." She frowns. "I don't think I heard her say that, but I guess you do look kinda like him. Minus the.. turning into a black cloud and leaving grey crystals everywhere. And.. you being an alicorn."

"Elements of Harmony target number three?"

"No, we beat him with the Crystal Heart, which amplified the friendship of the ponies of the Crystal Empire-"

Sunset narrows her eyes as she looks at the map's scale. "Looks more like a city. Why would you call a city an empire?"

Twilight ignores her. "-and drove him away."

I frown. "Wouldn't using the Elements of Harmony have made more sense? I mean… That's basically what you use them for, isn't it? 'See unfriendly villain, rainbow cannon to the face'?"

"No, we didn't bring them with us."

I blink, then shake my head in bewilderment. "Why not? I would have thought that they would be the perfect counter."

Sunset rolls her eyes. "Because Celestia didn't tell her to."

"That's not why."

Lynne pokes me in the barding as Sunset raises her eyebrows. "Then what was the reason?"

I lean down. "Yes, poppet?"

"Um, Daddy? I think there are some things you need to know about."

"When we're alone."

"So I could confront and overcome my worst fears."

"Did she tell you that at the time?"

"W-. No, but she showed me dark magic before-."

"Dark.. magic?" Sunset grins… Not.. evilly, exactly, but she can see that from where she is. "Magic… Not related to friendship?"

"Ah-."

There's a knock at the door, and Twilight signs in relief before giving us an extremely fake grin.

"Let me just get that."

Spoiler: Unused Pony 10

1st April 2012
16:23 GMT -6

Twilight trots over to the door and opens i-.

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake!"

"Ah. Cadance? I didn't think you were getting here until-?"

"Clap your hooves-" Twilight grimaces back at us as she sits on her haunches and plays a brief game of pat-a-cake with her former foalsitter. "-and do a little shake."

Sunset has gone very still.

"So… What are you doing here?"

"Aunt Celestia wants Shiney and me to move a magic mirror to the Crystal Empire." There's a momentary pause. "Twilight, are you hiding something."

"Ah. No?"

"Have you got a stallion in there?"

There's a definite eagerness in her voice. If she hadn't popped into existence with no build-up for the purpose of the series two finale, I'd be curious as to how exactly her charge ended up as socially isolated as she did. And how Twilight remained a bachelorette even after discovering the magic of friendship. But as it is-

"No, of course-."

-I just see a feed line. I grin. "Yes!"

Twilight turns her head-. Whaw pony necks are flexible. Turns her head back to glare at me.

"And you weren't going to introduce us?"

"Well-."

Princess Cadance flaps her wings and passes neatly over Twilight before landing just inside the room. "Hello, I'm-."

"Mi. Amore."

Cadance spots Sunset, her eyes widening and her body tensing.

"Cadenza."

Twilight pivots on the spot at the sound of discord, and goes into friending mode. "Sunset was just telling me that you two knew each other?"

Sunset grits her teeth for a moment. "Yes. Yes we did."

"I… Didn't know you were back?"

"Clearly."

Cadance backs up slightly and misjudges the angle, her haunches hitting the wall rather than going through the door. As Sunset gets closer Cadance falls onto her haunches with a nervous grimace smile on her face, Sunset gritting her teeth and grinding them in what would be a bad idea for a human. But I guess it's fine for equine teeth? Or maybe becoming an alicorn fixes dental issues?

"M'm rryeh."

Cadance blinks. "Ah..? Pardon?"

"I'm-. Sorry."

Sunset breathes heavily, the glare of her eyes not quite matching her words. Though it does match their tone.

"You're… Sorry?"

The teeth grit again. "Yes. I'm.. sorry for how I treated you when we were living together."

"Oh, that's alri-."

Sunset raises her right forehoof. "No. No. No it's not."

"Okay?"

Sunset lowers her hoof. "I was-." She takes a look at Cadance's face and sags slightly. "And I'm scaring you again. And this time I'm not even trying to." She shakes her head and backs up a little in the hope that Cadance will feel secure enough to stand. When that doesn't work she shakes her head sadly and trudges back to the blackboard.

"Cadance?" Twilight looks curiously at her former foalsitter. "You.. knew Sunset Shimmer? You never mentioned her?"

"I… No. Um. Yes. She was living at the palace when Princess Celestia first brought me here. I didn't-."

"It's fine." Sunset turns around dejectedly. "Magic is my special talent, the same as yours. I doubt Cadenza wanted you to turn out like I did."

"Why? What happened between you two?"

"I wanted to learn magic. Celestia wanted me to learn civics. We argued, and Celestia -in her wisdom- decided that the best way to convince me she was right was to show me my future in Starswirl's mirror. I saw myself as a powerful alicorn."

"So you were jealous? You thought Cadance was trying to take your place?"

Sunset shakes her head. "Cadenza wasn't living in the palace yet. But after that I spent all my time studying alicorns, trying to work out how the transformation worked. I spent months on that and didn't find anything. I bugged Celestia to tell me how it worked and got no where. In the end I started to think that I'd-" She glances at the blackboard again with a rueful smile. "-need to work it out from scratch all by myself. Which was.. fine. I like doing magical experiments."

"And then Cadenza happened."

Twilight frowns. "What do you mean 'happened'?"

With Sunset a safe distance away, Cadance gets back to her hooves. "I ascended. I didn't plan-."

"Oh, I know you didn't. I finally worked out how you did it, and if you never want to sleep again I'll show you my calculations for what would have happened if you'd been standing an inch to the left when the amulet exploded."

"So you were.. envious?"

"A little. But when I met her she was so clearly clueless that it didn't really last. I just wanted her to give me as much information about what happened as I could so I could add a first hoof account to my data. And she wouldn't."

"Oh." Twilight looks at Cadance. "Why.. not..?"

"Because-."

"Because Celestia told her not to." Sunset shakes her head. "I can't believe I didn't work it out sooner."

"Aunty Celestia was worried about you! You were becoming obsessed! Everything was about becoming an alicorn!"

"And it didn't stop just because you were withholding information from me!" She gives a humourless chuckle. "The funny thing is, telling what happened probably wouldn't have helped me all that much. All it would have done is made me stop hating you for obstructing me." She sags. "Because I couldn't bring myself to hate the mare actually responsible." She tosses her mane and straightens up a little. "So, yeah, I'm sorry for all the things I did to try and make you tell me. And I'm putting the blame firmly where it belongs."

Twilights right ear twitches in a way which probably conveys all sorts of meaning to other ponies. "So… You've realised that your obsessive behaviour was self-destructive and you've come to apologise to everyone you offended and repair your old friendships?"

"No. I've come to prove that I was right all along."

Twilight frowns. "Ah-."

"And that Celestia was wrong."

Twilight gasps in absolute horror!

Spoiler: Unused Pony 11

1st April 2012
16:28 GMT -6

"Ah, Sunset? Were you actually going to turn yourself into an alicorn at some point?"

"Ugh, not yet. I was hoping I could get someone on this end to check my calculations, but I doubt that the staff of the School for-" She sits on her haunches to air quote with her forehooves. "-'Gifted' Unicorns have got any better since I left, which means that I've got to wait until Circe finishes work."

"What about-?" I point to the still goldfishing Twilight Sparkle.

"She's a…" Sunset rolls her eyes. "Classicist. Besides, it'll take at least two hours to just find somewhere to perform the ritual, let alone to set it up."

"Alright. You need me to stick around? I don't want Celestia to brainwash you into being a kind, considerate, friendly and loving pony while my back is turned, but this place is making my Grayven senses tingle."

A direct accusation against her mentor appears to make Twilight snap out of it. "Princess Celestia wouldn't brainwash anypony! That's ridiculous."

"Wasn't the first heroic task you performed for her brainwashing her sister?"

"What? No! Nightmare Moon was Princess Luna corrupted by dark magic!"

"'Dark magic'. Ah." I lean forwards. "Euphemisms. You used magic on her, her behaviour radically changed, but it's not 'brainwashing' because brainwashing is something only the bad people do. And you're not the bad people, ergo it can't be brainwashing. And the spell can't be 'dark magic', even though it's a brainwashing spell, because dark magic is bad and you're not."

"That-. No, she was trying to make the night last forever!"

"Hey, no need to justify yourself to me. I'm the last person with any right to complain about the use of harsh methods to protect the community. Sometimes brainwashing is the way to go." I flick-. I try to flick-. I point my left ear at her and wiggle my head. "See this ring? It lets me turn people into orange ghost-slaves with no desires of their own. I used to have two of them, both of whom were monstrous individuals in life. Thing is, while I've used it, I never tried to tell myself that it wasn't a wicked deed. That I wasn't horribly violating someone's psyche. If you need to decapitate your enemies, do it. But don't try and tell me afterwards that you just gave them a haircut."

"I-I don't kill my enemies! That's-"

Ring, try and find a Pinkie Pie clone.

Scan initiated.

"-horrible!" She breathes in, raises his right forehoof to her chest and then slowly breathes out, moving her hoof away. Thus calmed, she puts her hoof back on the ground. "It somepony gets drunk, are you killing them if you hit them with a sobriety spell?"

"If the spell just causes sobriety, no. But if they were a frequent drinker and the very next day they decide never to drink a drop again I'd be somewhat suspicious. Do you even understand what the Elements of Harmony do?"

"Yes! They-."

"In precise terms." I point to the blackboard with my left hoof. "Not in broad, tautologically self-justifying terms, but in thaumaturgical ones?"

"That's-. Ah…"

Target acquired.

Good work. Mother Box?

… Ping.

Because I may not be an expert in 'Friendship Studies', but I was paying attention during Sunset and Zatanna's talk on magic ethics. The sooner I do this, the least harm will be done.

Ping.

I like to think that we've established at this point that Celestia is a terrible teacher, so yes.

Ping.

Sunset's horn glows, and the blackboard flips over to the clean surface on the far side. "The Elements of Harmony are probably the focus of the harmonious magics from all across Equestia." Pieces of chalk begin to move as she starts to calculate. "Which means… They wouldn't brainwash anyone who was a part of those magics, but they would reset them to their basic harmonious state."

"And if they weren't associated with those harmonious magics?"

"Ah..? That… Depends…" More arcane symbols appear, and I… Couldn't even begin to follow them. Twilight appears to be coming out of her ethical stupefaction as it draws her eye. "Certainly they'd suppress any antithetical magics… Possibly destructively." She taps a spare piece of chalk against her chin. "I think I'd need experimental data before I could be certain, but… Yeah, there's definite brainwashing potential."

"There..? Is..?"

Twilight peers at the Sunset's writing as Sunset adds the Equestrian equivalent symbols of some parts. I expect she could pick up Atlantean notation fairly quickly, but so far she's only had a few hours…

"Well, hey, look. You mindwiped one pony and saved the world. That's a decent exchange."

"I'm not.. convinced…" Her horn glows and three books are yanked off her shelves, pages flicking. They circle around her head as she looks from one to the next, trying to find a reference.

"Not like that time you murdered thirty or so replicas of one of your closest friends for the grievous crime of 'being annoying'. I thought that was kind of harsh. And it didn't really serve any greater purpose."

"What?" Twilight turns away from the increasingly complex notations. "Wait, you mean the Mirror Pool copies? They weren't really ponies."

"Huh. Hardcore. I hadn't realised that ponies went in for 'unpeopling'. Or that you had the authority to do it at-will. Though I suppose it does make murder far simple, legally speaking."

Cadance starts to look uncomfortable. "Ah, Twilight?"

"No, I mean they really weren't ponies. They were just magic construct, with no real internal life."

Mother Box?

Boom!

The boom tube opens and I send thick tendrils through, pulling through a pink pony wearing a dull purple raincoat and fedora.

"Oooh, this is fun!" She looks around the room as I rotate her. "Usually I'm the one dragging ponies off to weird p-."

Then she catches sight of Twilight Sparkle.

"Pinkie? Is that you?"

The surviving Pinkie clone shakes in terror, eyes widening, poofy main and tail collapsing and teeth chattering. "No, no, I don't wanna die I don't wanna die get her away from me!"

"Pin… Kie..?"

Nononononononono…

I release her and she collapses, tears streaming down her face and forelegs held protectively over her head.

"'No real internal life', huh?" Twilight starts hyperventilating and Cadance's eyes widen. "Looks like she's got an internal life to me, Miss Twilight 'Serial Killer' Sparkle."

Sunset glares at me. "Grayven, what the hell?"

"Hey, someone needed to stop that madpony before she decided that anyone else wasn't a real person." I lift Pinkie 2 up-. I clean up the urine and then lift Pinkie 2 up onto my back, where she clings on for dear life. "And now my work here is done. Time to give the rest of Canterlot a Grayvenning."

Spoiler: Unused Pony 12

Morning
Equestria

"Ah… Sure? But I'm kind of busy, so… Trot and talk?"

Mother Box, boom tube.

Ping.

Boom!

I walk through into the rocky desert far to Equestria's south.

See, I think the problem the Royal Guard has is that they haven't had a long war in their modern history. Or suffered a finite defeat. When Britain went to war with a bunch of Danish hillbillies and took twenty two years to beat them, they took a bloody long and hard look at how their army operated and made some very significant reforms which resulted in their army becoming far more effective in future conflicts. The infantry got more training in, they shifted from light cavalry to dragoons, they changed the way they used artillery to support infantry assaults…

When you have a war, you end up with veterans. People who took what they'd been taught about how to fight and survived putting it into practice. In the case of officers, they're the people you have improve your doctrine. In the case of enlisted men, they're the people you have train the next generation.

Equestria doesn't have that. They've got a few soldiers who've fought skirmishes, but… Nothing bigger. They haven't tried chasing down the Changelings and forcing Chrysalis to either surrender or die, because they literally don't know how to do it at an institutional level. They fight rowdy crowds and the occasional dangerous monster, so they think war is an extension of that.

The problem has gone, therefore there is no problem.

I need to find someone-. Somepony who doesn't. Somepony who's fought and killed again and again, who knows the business of war. And who knows more about how ponies can fight than I do. Which brings me to Klugetown.

I hear the light tapping of Celestia's hooves on the stony ground behind me, and signal to Mother Box to close the boom tube. She can teleport back perfectly well if she doesn't want to be here.

"Perhaps I should have introduced myself more formally. I am Princess Celestia, reigning princess of Equestria."

"Good morning, your highness. I'm Grayven. I have a variety of titles, but none of them are particularly relevant. I understand that you're curious about Sunset, but honestly? I'm not keen on going behind her back." I start along the ill-maintained road towards the city. "Her feelings towards you are… Complicated."

"Has she really learned how to become an alicorn?"

"I suppose that we won't know that for certain until she actually does it, but the equations work out. She's the magic talent."

I look up at the rocky… Spire? Unusually thin mountain? That makes up the more high class part of town. I can see the multiple docks for the various airships whose trade makes up the majority of the city's lifeblood. But I probably won't be going up there.

"Grayven, I would appreciate it if you could give me your full attention. My student was gone from Equestria for fifteen years-"

I bite down my instinctive counter to that. I'm not here to make Luna's relationship with her sister worse.

"-and I'm concerned for her wellbeing."

"Alright. The mirror serves as a portal to a parallel universe. Time moves at approximately one fifteenth of the speed, so she's only experienced a year. I located her after she came through and brought her into my home, helped her learn the language and generally got her set up to continue her research. I'm sure that over the last fifteen years you've had plenty of time-"

I take a cloak out of subspace and don it.

"-to consider how things might have gone differently. Exactly why Sunset is angry with you. I'm really not sure what I can add. Are you planning to come into the city with me..?"

"Grayven, stop."

I… Slow, turning my head to face her.

"As I said, I'm busy."

"I am Princess of Equestria. Make time."

"You're one of two Diarachs. I have a commission from Luna. So while I'm afraid that my knowledge of Equestrian law is imperfect I don't think you can simply countermand it outside of a national emergency."

And… I could add 'unless you don't believe that Luna matters', but…

Huh.

This is… Weird. Is this a result of not having the Anti-Life fragment any longer, or part of the mind altering effect of the Elements, or..? Did that exposure to a different way of thinking simply result in me not wanting to be as aggressive as I usually am?

It's like… I could complain about her use of the mirror for dumping criminals and threaten to retaliate in kind, but… Even if it would improve my negotiating position….

"What is the nature of the commission?"

"Broadly, to help her find a role. To adapt to the current century. Specifically at the moment, to improve your lackadaisical military."

"In what regard?"

"I don't have a full proposal yet. But, basically, every regard short of turning them all into warrior alicorns. You might want to discuss it with her and come to some sort of consensus."

Warrior alicorns wouldn't be a good idea at the moment, anyway. None of the existing alicorns are good enough fighters to train them, and neither I nor Knockout are competent as quadrupeds. Without training they'd end up just getting by on raw power, and that's the sort of thing I'd like to avoid.

"Unless I need to speak with her urgently, I would rather not wake her up during the day."

"No, she's awake. I gave her a stamina boost." I frown. "Weren't you meant to still be launching a ship?"

"Luna sent me a message telling me of Sunset's return. I came at once." I nod. "Is.. she happy?"

"What, Sunset?" She nods. "Ah… By and large, yes? She's happiest when she's got some sort of magic problem to work on. Though if you want to make her really happy, just acknowledge that her ascension is proof that she was right about your curriculum all along and apologise for not recognising that sooner."

"I don't believe that. I don't believe that she could come to her full potential by rejecting everything outside of her special talent."

And again, I could argue it.

"Then… You should probably temper your expectations concerning any sort of tearful reunion or meeting of minds. She will probably see your continued counterfactual insistence on that view as proof that you are incapable of recognising your own errors. She's done extremely well for herself and I see no reason to believe that she won't continue doing so."

Hm. The lower part of Klugetown doesn't have any sort of gate or wall, because no one down here wants to put the resources into it and the people who could live up the mountain and consider the desert and the peasants to be defences enough. Still, Celestia just trotting in would probably arouse some interest.

"Perhaps… It would be wisest to have Twilight act as a go-between. Sunset and I… Before she left, we had few conversations that did not descend into arguments."

"Believe me, I've heard. At length. For a year. And you could well be right. But given what she said I wouldn't expect any great meeting of minds between her and Twilight either. Anything else?"

"Yes, a great deal. But since you are occupied on Luna's service I will wait until you return to Canterlot."

Her horn… Doesn't glow, but there's a bright.. beam of sunlight, then she's gone.

Huh. Fancy.

I give Klugetown my full attention as I enter its slums.

Spoiler: Unused Pony 13

Canterlot
Late Afternoon

No shouting, so that's one positive sign.

Maud -which.. is a slightly odd name for a pony, isn't it?- has patiently trotted alongside me without saying anything. Not sure what's going on there. I don't remember seeing anything about Pinkie's family after the episode where she told the Cutie Mark Crusaders how she got her cutie mark, and given what that showed I suppose that a disciplined, focused, hard-working rock farmer is the sort of pony I would generally expect to come out of that environment.

Rock… Farmer.

"Maud, I was changed into a pony by a magic mirror and don't know quite a lot about Equestrian society, so this may be common knowledge… But, what is 'rock farming'?"

"Farming. For rocks."

"Yes, but the phrase 'geological timescale' doesn't mean 'ludicrously slow' for no reason. Are you arranging things so that your hundredth generation descendants can reap the rewards?"

Wait, Scrivener said that geomancy-. Have they rediscovered low level geomancy? That would be interesting, particularly to Sunset.

"Or is it some sort of magic thing?"

"That is an accurate summary."

"And that is an imprecise response."

And we've arrived. Still now shouting, and now that I check the doors no obvious signs of damage. I create a construct hand and knock twice.

"Yes!"

Sunset sounds irritated, but at a far lower level than she was earlier. Promising. I have my construct hand push the door open and stick my head around.

Celestia and Sunset are in… It's not a private garden in a city inhabited by pegasus ponies, but it has walls on three sides and is open to the sky on the forth. There are paved paths and decorative gravel patches, along with boarders and raised beds filled with… Plants. Probably exotic, but I don't know enough about Wilsonian botany to state that with any confidence. Celestia's lying on a bench, while Sunset… There's a bench near her, but it looks like she felt the need to pace a little. A very little, because while this garden is sized for an alicorn of Celestia's proportions it's not all that big in absolute terms.

"Grayven, what is it?"

"Pinkie Pie's sister wants to talk to you, if you've-."

Maud walks under me and into the garden.

"You've got a moment."

Sunset huffs and Maud approaches.

"Look, this isn't a great time. Can this wait?"

"Pinkie told me that you're interested in earth pony magic."

"Well… Yeah, and since I can use it now and since we're back in contact with earth pony tribes with pre-Exodus records it should be possible for me to decipher exactly how it works. And once I've done that, we can update the school curriculum so that earth ponies can finally get a magic education equivalent to what unicorns and pegasi get. And we can finally update what unicorns and pegasi are taught about earth pony magic."

Celestia smiles. "I'm glad that you didn't give up on your project to help earth ponies utilise their magic, but are you sure that rewriting the entire curriculum is the best way to share what you've discovered?"

Sunset glances her way.

"Ah, what's that school you run called again? I didn't get much out of it outside a library pass, but I guess you think it's worth trying to teach unicorns with a high level of magic aptitude how to use their magic. If I'd never seen unicorns do anything other than lift small objects with their thaumokinesis I might not have even got a cutie mark. And if you don't think that the same is true for earth ponies then I'll set up a school myself."

Maud has trotted over to a patch of gravel and picked up a small piece of… Blue crystal.

"This is benitoite."

"Ah." Sunset's horn glows as she floats it over to herself. "Yes, it is. I didn't know this mineral existed in the Foal Mountains."

"Benitoite deposits sometimes include small amounts of barioperovskite, a weakly piezoelectric mineral." Maud looks at Sunset. "That one does."

"I'll.. take your work for it? Geology isn't really my field."

"No. It's my field."

Maud taps her right forehoof against the ground.

"Using the correct frequency, it's possible to use it to generate-"

OwOWOWOWOW!

"-a form electromagnetic pulse which interacts with the mineral content of a unicorn's horn."

Yeah. Ow. I'm just wincing, but Celestia has slumped and Sunset fell over. Intersting. I've literally just used my horn for making bubbles, I'm-. Huh. I didn't check whether my divine resilience worked on my alicorn form and I haven't put my armour back on after I took it off for Luna.

Grab Maud or not? I'm confident that with two power rings I could easily overpower her no matter what rocks she can call upon. Still…

"Y-you're a geomancer?" Sunset's expression alternates between pain and joy. "And you learned how to do this in Equestria?"

Maud takes a few steps closer as Sunset pulls her legs in to adopt a more comfortable lying down pose.

"Do you know why there are so few earth ponies who use magic in Equestria?"

"No. Wait, there are more?"

Maud steps right up to her, Sunset's height meaning that their heads are level.

"Do you know why there are so few earth ponies who use magic in Equestria?"

"The.. difficulty in recreating an extinct magic tradition based on an incomplete oral history record?"

"No. Assassination."

Maud rears up and slams her forehooves into the ground, causing the stones.. that Sunset is lying on to liquefy. She starts sinking immediately. And… So do I.

"What?" Sunset jerks her head back in shock. "Why?"

Huh. I suppose that the reason is fairly obvious. Draw attention to myself..?

No, no need. Celestia -who is also sinking- appears to have worked it out.

"Before the Exodus, pegasus ponies were responsible for the military defence of ponykind. If earth ponies were able to become as physically powerful as Hearthguard or could control the rocks and soil, they would no longer have needed their protection. And if earth ponies could use small stones to nullify unicorn magic-."

Sunset's head jerks around as the rock begins to cover her neck.

"Or use geomancy to move the planet around the sun rather than the other way around."

"Then the earth ponies would no longer have needed the other tribes." Celestia looks at Maud. "My little pony, you have no need to fear. There is peace between the tribes."

"Princess Celestia, you are over a thousand years old. You have wings and a horn. Do you have earth pony magic?"

"According to Sunset I-" Celestia glances down as she continues to sink. "-wouldn't be an alicorn if I didn't."

"Then free yourself."

Spoiler: Unused Pony 14

Canterlot
Late Afternoon

Sunset looks down at the rock as it encroaches on her head.

"You know, I usually work better if I can study things in a calm and dispassionate way first."

Maud blinks. "I'm not stopping you."

I try moving a little… Yes, I can still move, but it's like moving in custard. I can't push against anything. Ring post.. appears to work perfectly well so there's nothing stopping me from leaving, freeing the other two and knocking the traitorous little pony off the Canterhorn. But sensible as that would be, I doubt that it fits in with the local customs of love and tolerance. And.. Sunset did want to teach earth ponies to use their magic. Having some locals who already have the knowledge she needs would probably help a great deal.

"Okay, well I studied geomancy-"

For about five minutes. The Atlanteans haven't written much about it. For obvious reasons.

"-so this should-"

The rock is about half way up her neck and is rising visibly.

"-be…" She glances up at her horn. "Ah."

Ah, yes. She's used to manipulating magic with her horn as a pony. Even if she briefly played around with rocks as a human, it'll be a little difficult to adapt the technique.

Celestia tries moving her wings through the ground, but the rock just bulges a little and then solidifies. You know, I know that I've thought some decidedly uncharitable things about the guard, but why aren't..?

"My little pony, even if ancient earth pony magic users were murdered, attacking us is senseless. What would your sister say?"

Maud sealed the doorway with rock. The closest guards are outside, and from there it probably doesn't look like anything's gone wrong. And Celestia won't call for help because… They're guards, and would probably just make things worse.

"Pinkie would tell me to stop." Celestia goes a little deeper, and turns her head upwards to make sure that her muzzle stays above ground. "But Pinkie doesn't understand tradition."

Sunset looks at her askance. "Um, is drowning ponies in rock a tradition?"

"Yes."

"Oh. I.. should have seen that one coming."

"Only a few earth ponies who could speak with rocks survived to reach Equestria. When the three tribes came together, some of them thought that they could risk using their abilities openly. They died. The few who were survived left the densely populated areas. They hid in the far corners of Equestia and took apprentices in secret."

Celestia looks surprised to be hearing this.

"But why continue hiding for so long?"

"Tradition. At first, they intended to go into hiding until earth pony society was secure. When the three tribes began integrating, that proved to be impossible. They continued teaching in secret and a great deal of time passed. When you were hailed as Princess Regnant the masters met to decide whether or not they should reveal themselves. If you were really part earth pony then they could do so without breaking tradition. But you never used earth pony magic."

"My teacher Rockhoof was far stronger than any normal pony."

"Did he teach you how he made himself that strong?"

Celestia looks slightly downcast. "No, he could not. He had us running, exercising, digging trenches… He once told us that if he had a volcano he would have used it to train us properly. But we were never able to match his strength."

The rock reaches her cheeks. It's up to my neck, but… I have power rings, and they'll keep me in air. Eventually I'll hit the bottom of the area she controls and then I can.. walk out.

"Volcanos are not required, though they do result in interesting metamorphic rock deposits."

"What happens if we are able to escape?"

"Then all of the other teachers in Equestria finally will accept you. If Sunset wants us to, we can teach earth ponies all over Equestria."

"And what happens if we are unable to escape?"

Maud blinks slowly.

"My little pony, this is a foolish-."

"Got it!" Semi-liquid rocks falls away from Sunset in a torrent as she's flung to the surface. "Whoo! Go me!"

She points her wings at the still-trapped Celestia.

"Who's the best magic student? Is it me? Yes it is!"

Maud blinks.

"You learned that quickly."

"Well, yeah, you know." Sunset tosses her mane. "Magic is my special talent." She looks down at Celestia, where the rock is reaching her eyes. "Need some help, there?"

"I would appreciate it."

Sunset prances for a moment, getting a feel for the ground. Then Celestia slowly begins rising from the earth. Though Sunset doesn't add a clean-off to the service.

"Grayven? You okay down there?"

Orange light envelops me, shoving earth aside and lifting me upwards and then deposits me on solid ground.

"Peachy. Does my horn work yet?"

"Did it ever work?"

"Yeah, I can make purple bubbles like nopony's business. You two worked things out yet? Are are we throwing Maud in prison?"

Maud stands, waiting for their decision.

Spoiler: Unused Pony 15

Maud's face is fairly expressionless, just blinking at me.

"I told her about how interested Sunset Shimmer is in earth pony magic and she reeeeeeally wanted to meet Sunset."

"Um. Okay?"

"It's true. I would like to see her."

Her voice is about as expressive as her face.

"I've never seen her so excited!" / "I've never seen her so excited!"

Both of the Pinkie Pies press their forehooves against their cheeks in a pantomime of jubilation.

"Ah, well, she's having a chat with Celestia at the moment. Not sure how long they're going to be, but I'd be happy to-."

"Now."

The same level, unexpressive tone. Sinestro, is she a robot?

No, the pony isn't a robot. And may I say that I find this society fascinating. Low level, widespread, self-reinforcing mental compulsions backed by a pacifism so all-encompasing that it seldom occurs to the natives to stir from their furrows and who are easily cowed when they do. Masterful. If I knew of Equestria while I still controller Korugar things would be very different.

For a moment, I imagine Sinestro trying to maintain a construct barrier against the Elements of Harmony, failing, and being compelled to embrace the magic of friendship.

Heh.

"I can take you to where they're meeting and seeing if they want to take a break. Is that alright?"

"Yes."

"Alright then. This way."

 

[DrThoth]

I feel like Snippet 15 should be third-last (ie replace 13) since it's the one that introduces Maud. It's a cool scene but I can see why it got cut, it kind of comes out of nowhere (though I'm very ill-versed in MLP:FiM canon so maybe it makes sense).

 

[Pinklestia]

Well, that was nice to read.

I am gonna be honest, I liked FiM until season five so I did enjoy reading this more that the Krona thing.

I don't think Krona makes a great villain.

 

[Darko]

Did not expect the meeting with Maud to go that way, like at all.

More of these please.

 

[Stsword]

I feel like Snippet 15 should be third-last (ie replace 13) since it's the one that introduces Maud. It's a cool scene but I can see why it got cut, it kind of comes out of nowhere (though I'm very ill-versed in MLP:FiM canon so maybe it makes sense).

Click to shrink...

Maud showed Wuxia level feats of strength and speed when her sister was in danger.

So that's the basis for Zoat making her a member of the equistrian equivalent of the Assassins from Assassin's Creed.

 

[Coda]

doing out best

Click to shrink...

our

give you advise

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advice

Lex just about managed to stop him killing himself.

Click to shrink...

This particular Britishism always throws me... In American English, this would mean that he failed to stop him, but almost succeeded. Does it mean the same thing in British English, or is it like "quite" in that it means opposite things in our respective dialects?

(I THINK I've read Inviolate but if I have it's been years and I don't remember much.)

 

[LurkingInTheDeceit]

This particular Britishism always throws me... In American English, this would mean that he failed to stop him, but almost succeeded. Does it mean the same thing in British English, or is it like "quite" in that it means opposite things in our respective dialects?

Click to shrink...

That sentence means Lex only just managed (as in he did manage, but it was a close call) to stop Joker from killing himself. I can't read it how you interpreted it no matter how I look at it, but I'm British not American so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Doccer]

While you're at it… See what you can pick up about their military and economy. I've got a feeling they could use some work, but I'd like to be sure before I make an arse of myself."

Click to shrink...

Grayven cares about making an arse of himself? Since when?!

 

[Cuchulin]

Grayven cares about making an arse of himself? Since when?!

Click to shrink...

If he is going to do something then he is going to do it right and make his point. He doesn't want to make an arse of himself for no reason.

 

[Huttj509]

That sentence means Lex only just managed (as in he did manage, but it was a close call) to stop Joker from killing himself. I can't read it how you interpreted it no matter how I look at it, but I'm British not American so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Click to shrink...

Consider the phrase "I just about made that jump." In American Vernacular, it means "I almost made that jump." In British vernacular, does it mean "I barely made that jump?"

 

[LurkingInTheDeceit]

Consider the phrase "I just about made that jump." In American Vernacular, it means "I almost made that jump." In British vernacular, does it mean "I barely made that jump?"

Click to shrink...

It does mean "I barely made that jump" yes.

 

[Huttj509]

It does mean "I barely made that jump" yes.

Click to shrink...

Two countries, divided by a common language.

 

[Mr Zoat]

our
advice

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th May 2011
11:39 GMT -5

People.. aren't.. looking at us.

I don't want to sound too 'up myself', but… I'm wearing my display costume. And carrying a glowing staff. Even on an Earth like this one, which appears to be far closer to Detective Comics norms than the one both-.

I glance at Red.

Than the one I landed on, that should provoke some comment, surely? Perhaps not clustering around us for autographs given that we have no local reputation, but leaving us some clear space in case we lash out? I realise that DC Earth may have resulted in people becoming somewhat inured to oddities such as us… There was a Superman comic I vaguely remember in which a visiting superhero team were met with total indifference, as was the fact that Superman was 'fighting an alien invasion or something'. But still-.

Red waves a hand in someone's face as he walks past. The man slows and blinks, then returns to his journey. Red then stops walking.

"What's going on?"

Red Queen turns around to… I think she's glaring under that faceplate.

"Do you want them to see us?"

He shrugs. "I don't usually hide what I'm doing. Though I suppose-."

A couple of Gold Lanterns fly over our heads, not paying the street beneath them any mind.

"I suppose on a planet like this-." He frowns. "Are you doing this?"

"I used the materioptikon to brute force dozens of super power formulas. Suppressing people's interest in us is the least I can do."

I frown. "What were you planning to do with that sort of power?"

"It doesn't matter." She turns away and continues striding towards LexCorp Metropolis, the people in her path not looking up as they step out of her way without knowing why. "Come."

Red and I make momentary eye contact, and I can see that he's getting just as dubious about this as I am. But after his attack on Sinestro-

He inclines his head slightly.

-he'd rather that I take the lead.

I smile faintly, then start after her.

"Given everything else they know he did, I'm a little surprised that-"

In the small square in front of the building there's a statue of Lex Luthor, surrounded by relatively fresh wreaths. There are even a few… Not mourners, but people paying their respects at a monument dedicated to someone they respected.

"-they're letting his company work on a project like this."

"This Lex Luthor was proven to have been driven to paranoia by phobiline hydrochlorate administered by Manhunter androids at the behest of the Guardians of the Universe as part of a plan to suppress the intellect of human geniuses. Having conclusively proven that, he committed himself to striving to undo the damage they had inflicted on his species. This building had WayneTech stamped on its frontage last month. Now, they do research on exotic technology. Including what's left of the tuning fork Alexander Luthor Junior tried to use to pry the universe apart."

"Yes, but I imagine that it's-"

She walks across several wreaths on her path to the front door, crushing her boot prints into them.

"-got all sorts of systems for detecting people like us. Wouldn't a less secure facility be better for our purposes?"

Red steps around the scattered wreaths as he nods.

"Time Trapper didn't mention anything about coming here-."

"He was excessively cautious. If they have all of the parts in one place then I can reassemble what we need easily."

While that sounds reasonable, I doubt very much that this Time Trapper would operate out of a subterranean base without a good reason. "And then… What?"

"Krona's tuning fork will be destroyed, our alter egos will be freed, and we can deal with Krona directly."

"Yes, about that. I haven't encountered a Guardian, but I'm led to believe that they're rather good at manipulating the emotional spectrum."

"If all of you and all of me together can't beat him, then the entire superhero population of this Earth certainly can."

The building's front doors open as she reaches them, the security guards' eyes glossing over and the various sensors failing to register.

"And are we notifying them in advance? Our emergence point-."

"We can notify them the moment I set the tuning fork off."

"Why not bef-?"

"I tried talking to them, and the next thing I knew our base was destroyed and they started attacking me. Maybe it was some kind of misunderstanding or maybe Krona's already controlling them, I don't know."

She strides towards a wall, which shifts out of phase as she reaches it to allow her access to.. some sort of emergency access shaft. Red and I follow her, the wall reforming behind us as we descend into the lower reaches of the building.

"But ultimately, 'why' doesn't matter. It happened, they won't help voluntarily, we need to do this."

Red did say that 'make a tuning fork, win' was their original strategy.

"Do you need any additional versions of me?" I glance at Red. "Us?"

"Can you use other colors?"

"Not… Easily, but if we're not in any rush I should be able to manage something."

"Then no. All we need is a you who can use the colors other versions of you can use. I'll do the rest."

She comes to a stop in the shaft and gestures, one wall becoming translucent. She floats through and we follow her into.. a high tech laboratory cum workshop. There's no.. big tuning fork, though some of what I presume to be analytical machines contain tiny fragments which might have been part of it at one stage. There are.. a few employees around, mostly not doing anything that looks particularly exciting. I suppose that with something like this you don't want to do anything precipitous.

"Wait here. I'll check on the storage chamber, then we can get to work."

"And they will continue not to notice us?"

She lands and walks towards one of the interior doors.

"They can barely notice anything."

I frown, then look more closely at a woman who… Her coffee mug slips slightly in her hand, pouring hot liquid onto her skin and sleeve. She doesn't react.

I move the mug to a nearby work bench and heal her hand.

"So. Here we are."

Red nods as Red Queen leaves the room. "Now we know why Time Trapper did most of the talking."

"She is under a great deal of-."

My ring blinks. I raise it slightly.

"Yes?"

A face appears, my own with slightly longer hair.

"Black Lantern to-. Ah. Good."

Red stares at the image. "You're alive?"

"No."

Red rolls his eyes. "You're functioning?"

"Yes, but that's not important. The Red Queen who came through the portal isn't the one we were working with. It's important that-."

A black-blue beam punches through my chest!