I Believe in Miracles

by Darth Wedgius

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Human, Alternate Universe
Length: 10151

What if Minty had been taken instead of Sandalwood? This is for an All-American Girls story challenge. Unfortunately, anyone not familiar with that setting will likely be lost here.

What if Minty had been taken instead of Sandalwood?

This is a one-shot for an All-American Girl short story challenge. Unfortunately, anyone not familiar with that setting will likely be completely lost here, and may not get much out of reading this.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-05-10 21:10:04 UTC

You Can Do Magic

The containment shell was the doctor’s idea: half a foot of stone surrounding a large room, on the off chance something followed the spell back to Equestria.  The room itself was filled with assorted piles of cables, coils, and gemstones arrayed into exotic shapes, pouring energy into each other with only a slight hum.  The constant sound of pumps, though, testified to the amount of power involved, as they ran cooling water through the whole mess and then to the radiators outside.  It was an immense mass of energy and magic, and a tribute to both the skill and will in the Archmagus of Equestria and the somewhat-eccentric designer.

Also, it leaked.

Said designer awkwardly strained one foreleg a little further into the pipes, trying to find the highest damp spot within reach. To be expected with this much plumbing, really.  From beneath the assembly of pipes, the pony’s tone was companionable.  “It’s too bad Twilight couldn’t make it.  Tonight could be the night, you know!”

“Urgent matters for the crown, Doctor Hooves,” answered Sweetie Belle.  “Sorry, but you know how busy she is.  And optimism isn’t exactly unknown for you.”

The other smiled.  “Fair enough.  But if we find her tonight, with Twilight not here, I think I deserve an extra ten percent credit.”  Privately, though… Maybe, just maybe, Twilight didn’t want another night of disappointment?  Five years.  Five years of not only disappointing others, but failure after failure.  And, truth be told, she’s never handled either very well.

Five years of telling Rarity, “Not tonight.”  Five years of “Don’t give up!”  Five years of answering “when?” with “I don’t know.”

And yet here we are, pushing a spell outside of space and time as we know it, using enough power to light a dozen neighborhoods, and, far more difficult than either, daring disappointment another night.

“I didn’t expect that color from the big globe,” Sweetie Belle offered to the silence.

“What?  The main status?  Oh, you might have expected red or blue.  It is, really.”  Keep it light.  Keep it cheerful.  Who knows?  You might be able to catch some of that cheer back.  “The status globe just looks purple…”

“Magenta.”

Oh, that’s right -- she’s Rarity’s sister.  “Well, yes.  It looks magenta because it switches back and forth about thirty times a second.  Well, on average.  Red means too far in one direction, blue means too far in the other.”  But how many times do you have to divide infinity by two to come up with the one you want?  Even Equestria’s resident expert at crossing realities had to find that one daunting.

“I know, Doctor, and it looked magenta earlier.  But now…”  The inventor was used to hearing confusion from others, but some other note in Sweetie Belle’s voice commanded attention.  “It’s green.”

A reverberating clang rang through the containment building.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, Sweetie.  It was just my head.  You… You did say green, did you not?”

Sweetie looked at the softly-glowing crystal sphere, and the single hair embedded within.  “‘Green’ really isn’t that complicated, Doctor.  I’ve had a very firm grip on ‘green’ for quite some time now.  Is something wrong?”

After entering the console area, a quick survey showed all the crystals were blinking in all the right colors and in all the right rhythms. “No.  It’s fine.  The system is…”  That feeling?  That’s it, isn’t it?  The real stuff.  Three parts aspiration, one part faith, and what we have right here is two hundred proof hope.  And just as intoxicating.

Then how many years now have I been lying to myself and just going through the motions?  “Fine.  The system is fine.  Sweetie Belle, get the Archmagus.  Now.”

“Doctor Hooves, Twilight’s busy with very important matters of state…”

“Not as important as this.  And Sweetie?”

“Yes, Doctor?”

“Drop the ‘doctor,’ all right?  There’s really no need for such formality.” The pegasus flashed a broad grin at the young mage.  “Just call me ‘Derpy.’”

The stomp of a hoof startled the middle-aged woman, though it shouldn’t have.  “Patience, Mindy.  If anything had happened, they’d call.”

“Easy for you to say.”  The mint-green pony realized how that sounded, and looked back at her human companion.  “I’m sorry, Miko!  I didn’t mean…”

“It’s OK, Mindy, I know you didn’t.”  But she couldn’t not say it, and maybe the mare needed to hear it.  “Just because Chip and I didn’t work out, doesn’t mean I don’t care.  But it was just a heart attack.  You’re acting like cardiac medicine was still at the turn of the century.”

“No, I’m acting like I’ve been stuck in this line for forty minutes and I want to see someone really important to me.  Look, I’m not… I mean, I’m fine, really.  It’s just so frustrating!  I know the thing with Nightmare Moon has the whole military on alert, but a hospital?”

Miko shrugged.  “For a military hospital, I’m afraid so.  It’s been ID checks all over the place lately, and that means a lot of waiting in lines.  It’s not just Nightmare Moon showing up.  The attack on Fillydelphia, then Haydleberg…”

“Don’t remind me.”  The pony snorted, an expression so equine that it sometimes it still surprised Miko after all these years.  “Rarity completely and utterly freaked out when she heard I had a close call with that thing.  And yes, I do know where I get it from.  But I’m lucky that the Knight Elemental, Drama, hasn’t ordered me put under some kind of guard for the rest of my life.  And I think she’s why they moved Chip to Walter-Reed.”  She sensed Miko’s hesitation, and from that guessed what was coming.  “Don’t ask.”

“OK,” Miko answered easily, then looked around.  “Nice weather we’re having.”

“It’s the same old thing.  I’m not the four year-old filly she remembers.  She pushes one way, I pull back.  I mean, I know... Well, actually, I don’t.  I can’t even imagine how rough it was for her, seeing your own child carried away like that.  I know it scared the hell out of me at the time.”

“It’s supposed to be cooler over the weekend, though.”

“And I keep finding out that it’s worse than I thought.  Did you know that she lost her next foal?  I mean, in a miscarriage.  Or that she kept the scar from the attack?”

“I was finally hoping to get some beach time in, too.”  This brought her a look that could have been used to peel paint, and Miko relented.  “I’m sorry, Mindy, but I just don’t know what to say that I haven’t already said before.  She’s going to have to get used to you being, well, you.  I think that deep down, she knows it.”  She lowered her voice as they reached the big tent at the end of the line.  “I can try talking with her again, if it won’t cause problems with Sandalwood…”

Minty shook her head.  “No, it’s OK.  She has enough to worry about without trying to solve this right now, too.  Thanks for the offer, but… Hey!”  She pushed Miko back as an enormous scaly hand reached down, interposing herself between it and her companion.

“Oh!  I beg your pardon.”  The cultured voice from above spoke from beneath a pair of spectacles.  The huge, red dragon finished reaching into the cardboard box nearby, and pulled out a donut held delicately between two claws.  “Customary human food for this situation, I understand.  Practically mandatory, in fact, or so Colonel Roughwing at the embassy tells me.”

Miko patted Minty gently.  “You seriously didn’t notice the big dragon?”

“I was distracted.  OK, very distracted.  You know me.”

“Fair point.”

“IDs, please,” a human guard asked.  Miko showed her driver license, and Minty her federal access card.  “Please enter the PIN, Miss Minty, and then I’ll need to see what’s in the bag..”

Minty dropped her knapsack on the table and opened it, sheltering the contents from common view.  As she expected, the guard just looked a little baffled.  “Pyffin, can you take a look?”

The dragon looked at Minty.  “May I?”

“Carefully, please.”

He gently lifted the bag, and, opening it, nodded.  “I recognize it from a visit with the mage guild.  And these people are good to go through, Daniel.”

“Thanks, Pyffian.  And sorry, miss…”

“‘Doctor,’” the pony corrected automatically as she entered her code.  She sounded a little peevish to her own ears, but didn’t really care at the moment.  She was hot, tired, worried, and had just been scared silly.  And if she was overreacting a bit after her Haydleberg… Scratch that.  After Haydleberg, nothing could be an overreaction.

“Sorry, Doctor, but we can’t be too careful.”

“Doctor Minty?” the dragon interrupted.  “I believe we have a friend in common.”

“Pinkie?”  It was the easiest guess.  She’d once heard a pony point out Celestia to a foal as “the big mare standing next to Pinkie Pie.”

“No.  Well, yes, actually.  But I believe Spike as well?”

That brought a smile after too many days without one.  “How is he?”

“Oh, I haven’t seen him for six months or so, I’m afraid,” the dragon said slowly, thinking.  “Not so long for an old dragon such as myself, but rather a while for you, I’d guess, young miss.  Let’s see…  It must have been right before he left for that trip to Delphinium.”  Reminiscence broke as a guard tapped him on the side.   “Oh, yes, of course.  The line and all.”  He turned back to Minty again.  “If you see him again, please do let him know that Pyffian says ‘hello.’”

“And if you see him again, please let him know that Mindy says ‘hi’ to Gadzooky.  He’ll understand.”  And as Minty walked away, it already seemed as if her hoofsteps were a little lighter.  Behind them, Minty heard Pyffian’s gentle protest to Daniel at the distinct lack of glazed buttermilk bars.

Miko shook her head.  “You are such a nerd.”

“Like I said, you know me.”  Minty paused, looking up at the hospital wistfully.  “But I come by it honestly, don’t I?”

═╬═

“Don’t ask, mom,” Rarity complained, holding her head in her hooves.

“All right,” Pearl said easily from the other side of the barrier.  “I understand we have some nice weather scheduled for the weekend.  When you get out of quarantine, maybe a nice trip to the shoreside…”

“It’s like she wants to forget she’s Minty,” Rarity complained.  “Don’t misunderstand -- I know all too well that she’s been out of the house for a good while now, and we do keep frequent contact.  She still has that ridiculous affectation for wearing clothing all the time.  I asked her how she would react to a human parading around in a top hat and tuxedo every waking moment, but it’s as if nothing truly penetrates.  There’s some part of her that just can’t let go of that unpleasant time among the humans.  Sometimes I feel she’s more comfortable with the ones who treated her like some kind of freak than among her own kind."

“She was with ‘em for ten years, Rarity,” Applejack noted.  “Ah ‘spect she’ll always be a filly of two worlds.”

Rarity stiffened.  “I do know that,” she said, very quietly, and Applejack froze before Rarity relented and gave her a little pat.  “Five years thinking her dead, before Derpy stumbled upon the remaining traces of dimensional ripples.  Another five years searching, never knowing…  Oh, make no mistake, Twilight; I’m ever so grateful, believe me.  To both you and Derpy for creating that contraption.”

“TARDI.”

“I’m sure you worked as quickly as equinely possible, Twilight.”

“Sorry, Rarity,” Twilight croaked.  “Not ‘tardy,’ though that’s what it’s supposed to sound like.  ‘Transdimensional Apparatus for Reconnaissance, Derpy’s Invention.’”  She saw Rarity’s expression and smiled weakly.  “She named it after we had a little tiff…”

Rarity grimaced.  “And then there’s Sandalwood, who leans entirely too far in the other direction.”  She let out a little sigh that sounded like distilled essence of misery.

“Any luck with her?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“In a manner of speaking,” Rarity said.  “She finally admitted part of what’s really behind it.  It wasn’t just the attack or foalnapping itself, as I had thought.  Some time before we found Minty again, before the contraption…”

“‘TARDI’,” Twilight supplied helpfully.

Rarity rolled her eyes.  “Before it was built, Twilight and Derpy found another parallel with the remains of a foal we thought for a while was Minty.  The humans there had…  Well, it wasn’t pretty.”  She paused, and perhaps paled even beyond her normal hue.  “Sandalwood found the report I received and snuck a look.”

“Oh, no,” breathed Twilight, barely audible.

Rarity nodded to her.  “I had forbidden her to even look for it, of course, but you know  how strong-willed she’s always been.”

“No idea where she gets that from,” Pearl interjected.

Rarity chose to let that pass.  “It appears that between the kidnapping itself, injuries to me, and then thinking that those humans had done…  things to her sister.  Somehow, in her mind humans were to blame for it all.  And she felt that she couldn’t tell me or she’d get into trouble.  She dealt with those fears on her own for years, and then her sister comes back surrounded by things looking like those sketches that haunted her for years.  And with human mannerisms of her own.”

“So now she hates humans?” Rainbow asked in dismay.

“No!”  Rarity took a deep breath.  “She simply feels… uncomfortable around them.  Well, very uncomfortable.  Nevertheless, that’s something she’s working on.”

“She’ll be all right,” Rainbow Dash said after a pause.  “Being ‘strong-willed’ works both ways, Rares.”

Rarity smiled wistfully as she wiped her eyes.  “Thanks, Dash.  I do have every faith in her, but I wish I could just hold them both, and make it all better.  It’s what a mother is supposed to do, isn’t it?  Isn’t it?”

“Only if a mother can,” said Applejack.  “None of us can do the impossible.” She didn’t quite miss Twilight’s pained look.  “‘Sides, if Minty’s back on Human Earth now, she oughta be safe ‘nuff, right?”

═╬═

Another checkpoint, inside the hospital?  What has them so spooked that they won’t even tell me?  Chip and I practically invented Human-Earth Thaumatology.  Admittedly, the only subject to study back then was, well, me...

She handed over her card and used hoofspace to enter her PIN again, while the guards -- one human, one earth pony, both with what looked like automatic rifles -- looked at her in that forced-casual way she’d learned to see since long before First Contact.  But she’d passed countless ponies and gryphons in the hospital already, and this time there had to be another reason.

“Ma’am.  Oh, Minty?  The Alien Girl?” one asked.

“It’s the pointed ears,” Minty noted to Miko, sotto voce.  “They always give me away.”

“‘Lost Filly,’ Ah think you mean,” the other responded easily with a clear twang of Apple.  “Sorry, Ma’am.  Private McConnel here can be a bit blunt, Ah’m afraid.  Ah think EDF loaned me out just to teach him some class.”

“Is that what they told you when they threw you on the boat, Jazz?” McConnel asked cheerfully.

“It’s OK, guys, I’ve been used to it for a while now.  But I am curious about all this extra security.”

“Sorry, ma’am,” McConnel replied apologetically.  “Need to know.”

Miko shrugged at Minty as they walked on down the corridors.  “Talk to Celestia, if you really do need to know.  I got the impression that she’d do anything for family.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Are you two fighting again?”

“No, we’re good.  But asking for special favors from a head of state kind of makes me feel so… “

“So…?”

“I don’t know, Miko.  Uneasy, I guess.  I suppose I’m still a part of this world.  I still live here half the time.  Consult for my government -- I mean the American one -- on all the hocus-pocus stuff in Alter-Earth.  Hell, I gave up my title to keep my clearance, even with the row that caused; that only worked because they were so desperate to learn about magic after First Contact.  Hell, I say ‘hell.’  Does that make sense?”

“Of course it does.  The years spent here were important.  And Mindy?  If you need your old Miko to lend an ear, just let me know, OK?  No matter who your parents are, you’re family.  And Celestia’s not the only one who would do anything for family.”

“You and Chip already lost a lot for me,” Minty complained.

“Family is worth it, honey.  For that matter, I know Chip agrees, even if he wouldn’t say so in as many words.  And -- speak of the devil and you see his room number.”

═╬═

Nobody looks good in hospital beds.  Between the gown that isn’t worn so much as just occupied and the lighting guaranteed to make someone look both anemic and splotchy, it was if it were all a grand conspiracy to make driver license photos look better in comparison.  Minty knew this and thought she was prepared, but Chip looked so pale and frail that it was all she could do to keep her dismay unseen.  “Chip?  Is now a good time?”

Chip put down his book and smiled while he turned off his reading lamp.  “Minty!  Miko!  To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?”

While Minty was trying to come up with an appropriate answer, Miko walked up to him with a hug.  “The heart attack, you idiot.”

“Oh, that,” came the sheepish response.

“How are you doing,” asked Minty as she hugged him in turn.

“Oh, pretty good, all things considered.  You weren’t worried, were you?”

Minty shook her head.  “It was a heart attack, for crying out loud!”

“The doctor said they’ll have me better than new in a week, honest, Minty.”

“‘Mindy,’” she corrected with just a hint of ire, as guilty as she felt about that at the moment.  “From you and Miko, ‘Mindy.’  It’s a small difference, but it’s important.”  She repressed a sigh at his visible confusion.  “Please?”

“Sorry, ‘Mindy.’  But really, some laser work for new capillaries, some angiogenesis stimulation, and I’ll be out there fighting the good fight again.  I’m treating it as a break to study draconic magic, frankly.  Look,” he gestured.  “They even let me bring my old reading lamp.  Careful where you step, by the way -- the cord’s not fixed.  Still.”  He sighed.  “But the doctor said there is one complication…”

Minty’s heart sank, and, if she kept that off her face, Miko didn’t.  “What’s wrong?”

Chip bowed his head.  “I have to cut back on sweets and coffee.”  He sighed melodramatically.  “Life will have little meaning, now.”

Miko glowered at him while Minty simply crossed her forelegs and shook her head.  “You’re a complete ass, you know that?”  A half-smile took the sting out of the words.

He raised one hand to his chest in mock dismay.  “Not ‘complete,’ surely.”

“You’re forgetting, I’ve met actual asses.  Donkeys, that is.  You fully qualify.”  She reached down and took his hand.  “It must be part of your charm.  Is Marissa going to keep you on that diet?”  She pulled back when he stiffened.  “Oh, no.  Again?”

“For good this time.  Oh, she came earlier, but she made it clear that it was just to visit.  What can I say?  I must be difficult to live with.  Actually, ask Miko about that,” he said lightly.

“Yeah,” Miko answered.  “Sometimes.  But, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.  You do deserve to be happy.  And Mindy, stop thinking what you’re thinking.”

“I’m not!” the pony protested, all innocence.

“You are,” Chip fired back.  “And it’s probably natural.  But I doubt Miko has the patience to put up with me, either.”

“Or Chip with me,” Miko said.  “Sorry, Mindy.  That ship has sailed…”

“...into an iceberg…” Chip continued.

“...sunk…”

“...hit the seabed…”

“...burst into flames…”

“...and exploded,” Chip finished.  “We really are better off as friends.”

“He’s right, Mindy.  We’re as likely to get back together as Sandalwood is to marry a human.”

“Ph.D., Thaumatology,” Minty reminded them with a smile.  “Which literally translates into ‘the study of miracles,’ or so I’m told.”

“Speaking of which, I’ve heard you’ve made quite a name for yourself, AE,” Chip said, changing the subject with what he no doubt thought was smooth subtlety.

Then again, for him, it was.  Minty shrugged.  “I just approach things from a different angle, that’s all.  Everyone there just studies dusty old tomes.  Believe it or not, they have a legend that if someone actually discovers profoundly new magic, they turn into an alicorn.  Celestia herself told me that one, but even she couldn’t tell me where they got the silly idea.  In all honesty, it’s not that I’m that good; there are far better experts at magic.  My experience here and with what Chip and I figured out just gives me an unconventional approach that sometimes works.  Add the fact that I study magic as an earth pony and the whole ‘Lost Filly’ thing and, well, what can I say?  My reputation exceeds me.”

“It’s come in handy lately, though,” Miko said, quietly.

Minty gave her a startled look, then, looking around, closed the door.  “Looks like the senior airman is as good at keeping secrets as ever.  OK, don’t tell anyone, Chip. I mean it; this is unbelievably secret.”

Chip frowned at her.  “It’s not my first experience with top secret secrets, Mindy.”

Miko frowned, but Minty just chuckled.  “And look at how you blew the secrecy on the whole Alien Girl one.”

“I blame Miko for that,” he said, too breezily.  At which point, hospital bed or no, Miko slugged him in the shoulder.

“Well, Sweetie Belle and I, with a bit of help from Derpy, we’ve been able to help... some friends of mine.  You remember about genderstones?”

“A girl with bright pink hair and greenish leg stubble is not easily forgotten.”  And fate added another bruise to his shoulder.

“Well, they came in handy lately for, um, some friends of mine.  It’s not a cure, but it’ll give them a little longer.”  She patted her knapsack.  “I’ve got one here to play with while I’m out of Equestria for a while.”  She could feel Miko’s and Chip’s eyebrows rise even before she looked.  “I mean for experimenting with!”  Said eyebrows didn’t lower.  “I mean... shut up.  My wild and crazy past is past.”

Miko could never hold a straight face for long, and Chip beamed at her.  “Sorry,” he said.  “I know I don’t have any right to be, but I really am very proud of you, Minty.”

Minty sighed, and Miko stepped in.  “Could you be a dear and grab me some coffee?  I’d like to discuss something with Chip.”

After the pony left, Miko closed the door again behind her before striding over to Chip and using his unblemished shoulder as her new target.

“Ow!  I swear, Miko, it’s a good thing I’m already in a hospital…  Ok, what did I do this time?”

“You know how I’m supposed to tell you when you’re being an idiot?” she seethed.  “Well, now’s the time.  Look, she’s having problems with Rarity.  Yes, again.  And if she needs to think of me as a reliable maternal figure, then I am going to be fucking maternal!  And if some part of her sees you as a father, though at the moment I have no idea how, then that is Damn! Well! What! You! Will! Be!” she added.  “And that means that, from you and I, she’s Mindy, not Minty, and you’ll remember it or I’m going in there to fix that shriveled-up heart of yours with spackle and duct tape!”

“OK, OK!  Look, I’ll try, and I realize that I’ll never make up for treating her like some kind of lab rat, but we’re…”

“And you didn’t bury that mistake when you encouraged her to go trotting back to Rarity.”

“That wasn’t it.”  He took another look at her face, but held his ground.  “It’s what she wanted.  You saw how happy she was when she found out that Rarity was still alive.  I’m sorry it hurt you, but…”

“It’s not about me!  Or you!”

“You’re the one who made it so hard for her…”

“No,” Miko struck back.  “I swear, she’s more human than you are.  I cried and she hated that.  But it let her know she was loved.”  She saw Chip pale, but refused to let up.  “By trying to make it easy on her, you just made her feel unworthy.  My God, Chip!  Why do you think an earth pony is in your field?  I think she’s still trying to be good enough for you!”

“I’m…”  Chip floundered for a while, searching for words.  He was spared when the door opened and Minty walked in, with the promised cup of coffee.  “Double cream, double sugar, right Miko?”

“It better not be.”  Miko snatched the cup away and pried off the lid to see black coffee, unadulterated by either of those foul sins against caffeine.  Then caution hit her as it usually did -- too late.  “Um, how much…”

“With my ears? Probably most of it.”  Minty broke the awkward silence with wry chuckle.  “Look, Miko, Chip is, well, Chip.  I know he means well.  And if I’m to ask Rarity to accept me as a little bit human, well…”

“I do try,” Chip said, shame-faced.  “I can never make it up to you, I know.”

“I was always humanely treated,” Minty said quietly.  She reached down and squeezed Miko’s hand.  “Sorry, maybe the wrong way to phrase that.”

“Ethics aside,” Chip explained, “After we ruled out genginerring we thought you were an alien.  From another star, I mean.  And the power to cross interstellar distances implies the kind of power that we really, really didn’t want to piss off.” And then winced as he saw the expression on Miko’s face.  “What’d I say?”

“See?” Minty asked, her voice a touch brittle.  “Chip is Chip.  All very logical.  Relax, Miko.  I’m just happy to be here with you as you both are.  And away from Equestria with all its nightmares.”

And then the outside wall was torn open, sending debris throughout the room.

═╬═

Outside, a line of impatient people turned into a scattering crowd of dismay as a wall erupted above them and a lone earth pony was pulled out and sent tumbling toward the ground several stories below.  All of one side hurt, and she ignored that as her forelegs moved, stiffly, toward her knapsack.  As the ground approached, her thought was, oddly enough, It’s just not my day.

And then, just before she hit the ground, she exploded.

═╬═

Inside the room, an immense mare filled half the room, one wing gripping Miko while another was curled around Chip.  “Oops,” the figure mocked.  “That was her, wasn’t it?”

“Bitch!” Miko grunted through tears.

“Such a nasty temper!  Your are just so delicious!”  A flick of the wing left a Miko-sized dent in the nearest wall.  She gritted her teeth and refused to scream.

Chip was limp in its grip, his expression oddly blank as realization sank in.  “You killed her.”

“Yes, I know,”  the Nightmare said with a grin. “I was there when it happened.”

“She’s dead,” he continued slowly.

“From this height?  They’ll be picking up your precious pony with a mop.”  It closed its eyes and licked its lips as an expression of almost orgasmic joy took hold.  “Despair.  Anger.  Fury.  Wonderful!  Not so quiet on the inside, are you little man?”

His mouth worked silently, his face reddening as, among five different languages, he finally found precisely the right words.  “Fuck off!”  He saw the wall rush at him, and outstretched arms couldn’t slow him down at all.  He actually heard his nose break with a crunch, the pain coming after the shock ebbed.

“Leave him alone!” Miko screamed, furiously pulling at the wing she was trapped within.

The Nightmare looked back at her.  “Or?” it asked, it’s voice utterly cool, right before it slammed Chip into the wall again.  “Or what?”  Wham.  “Or you’ll yell at me again?”

Chip hawked and spat blood at the monster.  It doesn’t want me dead or unconscious yet.  The damned thing is having too much fun.“You’re just going to keep picking on that one spot on the wall?  Miko here would tell you my head is harder than it could ever be.”  Funny, when action heroes say something like that, their voices never shake.

“Chip, don’t!”

The Nightmare laughed at them.  “There’s plenty of wall left.”  And demonstrated with Chip as the helpful visual aid.

When his eyes found focus for a second, he looked down to see her hoof on the cord of his old reading lamp, and that now within reach.  Grabbing it, he reached down and pulled the lamp from it as hard as he could.  The old cord came loose…  and he touched the exposed conductors to her bare hide.

There’s a reason that you don’t touch someone while current runs through them.  It can upset your own cardiac rhythm, for one.  It can cause severe burns deep inside you.  Also, it can cause muscles to contract uncontrollably -- strong enough to vault an ordinary man several meters through the air, for instance.

It turns out to be a particularly bad idea when those muscles are both incredibly strong and tightly wrapped around you.  While this was an attack the mare was not prepared for, results were accordingly… mixed.

Chip gasped and fell to the floor, rolling over semi-consciously as Miko grabbed a nearby bottle of alcohol and emptied it over the momentarily-dazed monster.  Grabbing the cord, she brushed it over the soaked hide again and again, until, at last, it ignited.

An alien scream sent Miko to her knees with its sheer volume.  A flash of color, and she and Chip were flung into opposite walls hard enough to stun them both.

Another flare of color and the flames were quenched as the monster danced about in slowly-ebbing pain.  “Ok, you both get to see each other die now.  I don’t care how tasty you are, that bucking hurt.”

“Over my dead body, you bitch!” a girl with pink hair shouted from the doorway as she charged in, literally inhuman fury in her eyes…

...before being yanked back by Jazz, and unceremoniously tossed into the hallway before he, too, ran out of the room.  A unicorn nobody recognized ran to the doorway and, with a flare from her horn, threw a bubble around Miko and Chip before shouting, “About ten degrees right, Jazz!  And go!”

 There are guns that are never fired hand-held because the recoil is simply ridiculous.  For example, the M2 that McConnel handed to Jazz would be fired from a fixed mount or a tripod, and, if from a tripod, even then the tripod would be dug into the ground.  These guns are used against not just people, but lightly-armored vehicles or aircraft.

Larger guns are usually called “cannon.”

But a gun that can never be fired hand-held doesn’t mean it can’t do just fine, hoof-held.  Jazz stood and fired through the wall as the unicorn directed while McConnel linked up another ammo belt with nimble, human hands

Nightmare Moon’s agonized screams were probably louder than before, but even then they were nothing compared to the deafening roar of the rifle as it tore the wall apart and tried to do the same to the mare beyond it.  The beast raised a bubble of pure force but visibly strained to do so as the wounds slowly healed.  Nightmare Moon spun and dropped out from the shattered outside wall.

“Cease fire!” the unicorn called out.  “Come on in, Jazz.”

“Too danged easy, Pumpkin,” Jazz said sourly as he ran over to see, dishearteningly, that it was spreading its wings and still growing, before looping lazily around, its horn glowing again.  “Ah hate being right.  Craig, please tell me ya brought another barrel.”

“Yeah, I’m smarter than you look, Jazz.  Gimme,” McConnel answered.

Nightmare Moon’s voice rang out over the entire block.  “You’ve just signed your own…”  And then grunted as a several tons of dragon rammed into its shield.

“Get clear!” Pyffian shouted to them, before playing his flame over the dark mare.  It screamed again, but this time in pure rage as darkness lanced from her horn and tore raggedly through  one of his wings, and then the other.  Still he held on, unable to get through its shield but able to grip it between straining talons, until he drove Nightmare Moon into the lawn in front of the hospital with an impact they felt seven stories up.  He rolled off, giving an agonized grunt as he landed on one of his mutilated wings.  Visibly struggling upright, the old dragon readied himself for another blast of flame.

And then another bolt of shadow tore through the side of his neck.  He clapped one hand to it and, when Nightmare Moon took off once again, his wings gamely struggled for air before, after a mere few feet, he landed in a heap.

More rounds tore into the shield, this time from several scattered locations, and the monstrous mare faltered, dropping in altitude.  It twisted and turned, evading some of the fire, but slowing.

Inside, the girl with the pink hair ran to Chip.

“Mindy?” Miko asked incredulously.  At the nod, she grabbed the humanized pony’s arm.  “We need to get you out of here.”

“I’m not leaving him!”

Chip’s eyes rolled toward her, his lips brushed with blue.  “Go,” he whispered.  “Chest pain…  Trouble breathing… It’s over.”

Outside, the beast screamed again, but this time in neither pain nor fury.  This was terror.  The shield was weakening, and more and more rounds were getting through, digging wounds too deep to heal with exhausted magic, and this world’s ley lines were too weak to replenish from.  And every time it slowed, some part of its flank was struck by searing heat from above by some spell it couldn’t find a caster for, and couldn’t block no matter how much anti-magic it channeled into its shield.

A few lucky rounds tore chunks from its head.  It fell messily to the ground, tumbling with loose limbs.

Jazz looked at McConnel.  McConnel looked at Jazz.  And, as Jazz took aim again, gunfire from every available position in the compound reached out to rake the unmoving body.  One flank started smoking, then burning merrily as, just outside the grounds, a few newsdrones began to loop lazily in the air.

“You’re going to be OK!” Minty insisted.  “We won!”

“Maybe,” Chip breathed.  “But I need to say…  Always, always loved you, Mindy…  And remember…”

At that point a somewhat elderly black woman in a labcoat kneeled at their side.  “Doctor Chase?  Chip?”

“Doctor Greer,” he said, his voice faint.  “Carla.  Good timing.  Heart…”

“I don’t think so,” she said, looking at his throat.  “You’re going to be fine.”

“Tell me another one,” he said, tiredly, before turning back to the mare.  “Mindy… I am proud of you.  You never needed to earn my love.  And you were worth it.  Your were worth everything.”

“Doctor?”  Miko pleaded.  “Can’t you do anything?”

The doctor strode to a nearby drawer and pulled out a big syringe, then emptied the contents into the sink.  Kneeling back next to Chip, she looked him in the eye as she lined up the needle.  “There will be some momentary…”  She drove the needle into his chest in one smooth motion and he writhed against the wall.  “...Discomfort.”

“You don’t say."

“Looks like a tension pneumothorax,” she explained as she pulled on the plunger.  “This will draw air of of your chest cavity so your lungs can work.”  She looked at Miko.  “Don’t let him move unnecessarily.  Someone should be along shortly to get him to the ER.”  She took another look.  “And don’t move too much, yourself, ma’am.”  As she got up to leave, she took another look around, really took in both missing walls, before waving a finger at Chip.  “And next time I say to avoid exerting yourself, I hope you pay more attention.”

“Doctor!” Minty asked quickly.  “Pyffian?”

Conflict fought across Greer’s face, and in the end simple shortness of time won out.  “I’m sorry, miss.  It doesn’t look good.”  And, with that, she left in search of more casualties.

“Go,” Chip said.  “I’m breathing easier already.”

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Miko said.  “I won’t let anything happen to him.  It’s going to be OK.”

Minty nodded, jerkily.  “Everything is going to be OK, finally.”  She ran out, but awkwardly, bare feet and scattered debris being a bad combination.  As she finally got to Pyffian, three unicorns surrounded him with horns glowing.  The expression on their faces, though, removed the need for any questions.

“But they’re just... Well, not major organs.”  She looked hopelessly from face to face.

One unicorn approached, obviously searching for the right words, but Pyffian interrupted her, his cultured voice slurred.  “It’s the bleeding, young miss.  They can’t stop it, and for some reason hospitals don’t carry dragon blood in gallon drums.”

“Wait…”  She stood there, her mind churning.  “Yes... Pyffian, we can save you!  I think they have a tactical laser aircraft up there.  If not, I’ll bet there’s one on the way!  We can use it to cauterize your wounds and…”  She stopped as a unicorn shook her head.

“They’re pretty much immune to heat, ma’am.  Cauterizing doesn’t work with them.”

Minty stood, open-mouthed.  “Then we can…”  Use a genderstone and give him a transfusion for the target species.  But we don’t have a genderstone for dragons; probably no one does.  We can use unicorn TK to apply pressure… Except that’s what they’re doing, and it’s not enough.  We can…

No.  We can’t.  “I’m…  I’m sorry.”  She stood there, helpless tears falling as she finally gave up hope.  “Pyffian, I’m so sorry.”

He sighed, his great head laying down.  “I’m sorry, too."

“It’s not fair.  You helped save us all!  You defeated Nightmare Moon!”

As his eyelids sank he managed to shake his head.  “No, miss.  That’s why I’m sorry.  It wasn’t her.”

As Minty stared at him, her face suddenly hot.  “No!  No, you’re lying!  It’s over!  I’m safe!  My parents are safe!  All my parents are safe!”  She stepped forward, fists clenched, when a unicorn’s TK caught her.  She spun, furious, only to see the unicorn shake her head and release her.

The attack went as quickly as it came.  “I’m.. Oh, my God.  Pyffian, I’m so… Pyffian?”

“He can’t hear you, ma’am,” said the unicorn somberly, and their horns darkened.  Behind them, almost unnoticed by Minty, the monster’s remains exploded before green-tinged flame reduced what little remained to ash.

═╬═

Images in the murky scrying pool had looked like shadows upon ink, and even Chrysalis had at times been hard-pressed to see what was happening.  Still, she knew it wasn’t good even before the death of the pepsis cut the link.

“Interesting choice of tactics,” Nightmare Moon murmured lightly above her.  “You understood my directions, I’m sure.  And so I’m equally sure that you told your warrior to cause despair for the Lost Filly, not to kill her.  And then the mare gets thrown out of a window.”  Chrysalis looked up, to see the demon’s eyes locking onto hers.  “I admit I’m somewhat baffled as to how my requirements were not followed.  Perhaps you have an explanation?”

Chrysalis met the gaze without flinching.  First, so as not to hint at any guilt.  And, second, because she was, after all, a queen.  “The fool must have become intoxicated on the emotions of those nearby.  Human feelings are so powerful, after all.”

The stare didn’t waver.  “Then perhaps, contrary to your assurances, this wasn’t one of your finest warriors after all?”

“All prior indications were that she was.  And, regardless of her shortcomings, I lost a powerful asset tonight.”  And because she could not retreat, again as per yourorders, any victory would have been credited to you, and any defeat could be passed off as my trying to take advantage of your attacks.  My most powerful offspring was but a pawn in your game.  But, queen or not, sometimes discretion is the better part not having your chitin flayed off an inch at a time.

“And they largely won without magic, my queen,” Nightmare Moon continued, somehow turning ‘my queen’ around in a way that made very clear just who belonged to whom.  “As I said, you underestimate them at your peril.  I can deliver you a world of richer sustenance than your kind has ever thought possible.  But you must ensure that your warriors are less… creative than this one when following orders.”

═╬═

“It wasn’t her,” Minty told Miko over an untouched salad.  “What remains we have confirmed it.  I ran into Jazz and he told me.  He also said that there can’t be that many changelings that powerful, and that it was a victory worth celebrating, but all that means to me is that we threw everything we had at a second-stringer and barely came out on top.”  She pushed the plate away from her with one hoof while, out of the corner of her eye, caught a group of minotaurs sitting down at the other end of the hospital cafeteria.

And we traded one old dragon for one very powerful changeling, while denying the changelings their goal.  That means we won.  She didn’t -- couldn’t -- disagree, precisely, but it was the bitterest of victories.

“I don’t think it’s that bad, hon.  I mean, this is a hospital, when you get right down to it.  They didn’t attack Fort Knox.”

“It’s a hospital on full alert, near D.C.  And if that AL- whatever plane hadn’t been patrolling the capital…”

“They were supposed to have a couple mobile lasers stationed here for anti-projectile work,” Miko interrupted.  “Some brass decided they were too unlikely to be used.  And then they only put about seven real guards here.  We had luck in both directions, honey.  That’s the way battles go.”  She chuckled at the look Minty gave her.  “Being a former S.F.S. airman doesn’t mean I don’t have connections.  And the only reason the Air Force brought that plane in was because it’s designed for minimal collateral damage.  In the open?  Nightmare Bug would’ve been toast.”

Minty smiled, slightly.  “You think so?”

“I know so, hon.  You may be an Air Force brat of sorts, but listen to your Miko.  Miko knows best.”

The pony took a half-hearted stab at her salad.  “You’re still protecting me, aren’t you?  You know you’re not in Security Forces anymore.”

“I’m still protecting you, Mindy; that’s my job for life.  If what I’d been guarding turned out to be a nuke like I’d expected when I got the hush-hush assignment, I could have done my duty and walked away quietly after the posting was over.  You?”

“You it’s hard to walk away from,” Chip finished for her as he sat by the astounded Miko.  With, she noted, a plate full of muffins.  “And it’s not just a job, it’s an adventure.”

“Wrong service, numb-nut,” Miko noted before a quick, careful hug.

“First the heart attack, then chewed up by an eldritch abomination.  What’s a guy have to do to get a little sympathy around here?”

“They let you go ambulatory?”

He smiled shyly.  “Not exactly."

Miko gave him a slowly widening grin.  “There may be hope for you yet.  But I swear, next time you need a better plan of action.”

“There’s going to be a next time?”

“You know what I mean.  What were the odds she’d put you in reach of that lamp?”

He grimaced.  “That was just luck.  Miko, all I was doing was just trying to keep her there longer.  To better the odds that someone would be able to get to her.  At that moment, that was all I cared about.”  At Miko’s raised brow, he finished, simply, “I thought she’d killed Mindy.  I wasn’t myself.”

“I think that maybe you were yourself,” she responded quietly.

Minty saw, in the far corner, another minotaur sit at the table full of them.  Her nose told her that the burger he carried wasn’t a hayburger, and she watched with no small amusement the reactions around that table.  “Still, you must be feeling pretty OK?”

“Aside from a few broken ribs, broken nose, bruises everywhere… yeah.  And they say those will heal without advanced treatment.". He followed her gaze to the minotaurs, and when he turned back he found a salad in front of him.  The plate in front of Minty had a few crumbs remaining, and the innocent expression she tried to convey was less than convincing atop extended cheeks that would have made a squirrel envious.  He shook his head and pushed the salad back.  "Speaking of which…  Understand, I’m not objecting, but… Well, I saw you flung from the seventh story.  How…?”

“Gnguhone,” Minty said, and then, after one impressive swallow, repeated, "Genderstone.  When you activate it, it kind of thaumaturgically detangles your worldline…”

“Takes you apart and puts you back together again,” Miko clarified.  “That’s how she explained it to me.”

“I’m decently versed in amicamancy, Miko.”

Minty shrugged.  “And while you’re, well, already apart anyway, apparently a bit of a fall isn’t going to break you any more.”

Chip looked equally parts proud and astounded.  “And you thought of that on the way down?”

“I’ve been working with genderstones day and night for over a week now, Chip.  What Twilight did with them is pretty new, and there might be possibilities that mages have missed.  And there is nothing quite like being thrown from a building by an ‘eldritch abomination’ to focus the mind.”

“How did you know it would work?” Miko asked.

Minty sobered again.  “I didn’t.  But, lacking the foresight to carry a parachute everywhere I go, I was kind of out of options.”

Chip and Miko exchanged a glance.  “Miko said you had another episode,” Chip said, very quietly.  “Under the circumstances, though, I think it’s pretty understandable.”

Minty nodded absently.  “It was a quick one.”  And then there’s living with what I said to Pyffian. But they didn’t have to know that detail.   “A Doctor Zantika here gave me a supplemental elixir that’ll help tide me over with all the additional, well, everything lately.  And Zerehena is upping my normal prescription for a while.”

“Honey,” Miko asked gently.  “There’s something else bothering you, isn’t there?”

Minty looked back at Miko, then Chip.  “Why did Rarity move you here, Chip?  After Haydleberg she may have jumped to a conclusion, but supposed she’s right?  What if I am a target for whatever reason?”

“Your work?” Chip asked.

She shook her head.  “It’s hardly revolutionary.  And now that humans and ponies are exchanging knowledge so much, it’s just a matter of time before someone else does what I do, only better.”

“Assuming that’s true,” Chip said slowly.  “Then why?”

“I don’t know.  But if Pyffian is dead because of me…”

“No,” Miko said sharply.  “Mindy, you’re not responsible for that.”

Minty sat there for a while, not moving.  “I know,” she finally said.  “But I am a factor.  Not to mention, shapeshifters trying to kill me is…”  She swallowed.  “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared.  And it’s even worse.  What if it endangers you two?”  She shivered slightly, not looking at either of them now, whispering,  “Maybe you two would be safer away from me.”

It was Chip who spoke.  “That’s a lot of ‘ifs,’ honey, and even if they’re all true, in order to not be targets, we’d have to stop caring for you, and you for us.”

“And that’s not happening,” Miko said flatly.

Chip got up and sat down next to his daughter.  “Besides,” Chip finished quietly. “Mindy?  You’re worth it.  I’d simply rather have a few months with you in it, than years without.  And I know that you would never hurt us.  Never.”

Minty, speechless for once, simply threw her arms around him and hugged tightly.

“Mindy!  Ribs!”

═╬═

Rarity woke up to pain and waved her fingers in front of her eyes.  A few minutes more, I think.

“Hi, mom.  Dad’s still stable, by the way.”

Rarity nodded distractedly.  “Hi, Sandalwood.  I’m sure they would have let me know if… Sandalwood!”  The older woman dove beneath the bedsheet before peeking out, eyes narrowed.  “You shouldn’t be seeing me like this!”

“Maybe not,” Sandalwood agreed.  “But I think I need to.”

“This is about your feelings toward humans, isn’t it?” she guessed.  “Some need to see me like this in order to know that it’s not our shape that defines us?  To finally accept, on all the varied levels of your heart and mind, that we are all individuals?”

Sandalwood paused and then nodded, slowly.  “And absolutely nothing to do with needing to help out Splendid Table today.  Which would not be for a catering job, and absolutely not have to happen during normal visiting hours.”

Despite the discomfort, that brought a chuckle.  As she felt the change overtake her, she waved a hoof out from under the sheet, smiling briefly before the pain worsened.

Sandalwood stared.  “I take it from the special effects and the hoof that you’re back to your sweet old self, then?”

“I don’t know about the ‘old’ part, dearest.”

“Well, now that you’ve been de-humanized, did you want to come out from under the sheet for a proper visit?”

Rarity wrapped the sheet around herself like a cloak in one fluid motion.  “It wasn’t being human that I was trying to hide, darling.  Or compliance with their quaint nudity taboos.  But you really should have let me know you’d be early today; my mane is frightful!”

Her daughter gave her a gentle smile.  “What did Uncle Spike use to say?  Your beauty isn’t in your mane, mom; it’s in all of you.”

“Very true, Sandalwood,” Rarity said primly.  “But if my mane isn’t just so, a poor, unfortunate few would never realize it.”

An orderly walked in -- human, of course, given their immunity to the disease.  “Oh, I’m sorry Ms. Sandalwood.  I can come back later.”

“No,” the mare said.  “I appreciate all the allowances the staff has made --” she glanced at the nametag  “-- Jerry, but this is my problem, and I need to work through it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive,” she insisted, her voice iron.

And Rarity found that for a while, just a little while, the pain wasn’t so bad.  “I am proud beyond words, Sandalwood.”

Sandalwood smiled back to Rarity, and tried to relax away the tautness and twitch of her muscles.  “Caring Ear suggested listening to their music for a while.  Knowing my interests and all.”

“And that helped?”

“I think that just maybe, given enough time, I might perhaps get a little used to some of it.  Some day.”  She looked to her aunts.  “When do they wake up?”

Rarity raised an eyebrow as she glanced over her sisters royal.  “Well, Twilight’s just pretending to be asleep to give us the illusion of privacy.  She’s always awake when I return to my sweet ol… To my normal form.  And she has never been a particularly talented actress.”  She ducked as a pillow wrapped in red glow flew over her head.

“Sorry,” Twilight muttered as she sat up.  “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but under the circumstances…”  She shrugged, stiffly.  “But I’ll say that I couldn’t be prouder of you, Sandalwood.  If I had a daughter, I hope she’d have your courage.”

“And, my dear,” Rarity said with a mischievous look, “If there’s anything fit for my and Twilight’s ears but not Applejack’s or Rainbow Dash’s, there’s a simple enough solution.”

“What’s that?”

“Spell it.”

She didn’t have a chance to duck this time around, and less-than-gracefully intercepted two thrown pillows with her face.

“We’re all pleased as can be, sugar,” Applejack told Sandalwood as she gave up feigning sleep.

“Now, on to the next hurdle,” Rarity teased cheerfully.  “If you could talk some sense into your sister…”

“Mom…”

“Well, then, maybe some grandfoals?  I understand there’s an Ensign Hengst who will be looking over the security procedures here.”

“A military man, just like dad, huh?”  Then Sandalwood frowned.  “That sounds an awful lot like a human name, mom.  No way am I ready for that.”

“I wouldn’t think of it, dear!” Rarity protested.  “No, sweetie, I’ve distinctly heard him referred to as a ‘mustang.’”

═╬═

Though it was early summer in the northern hemisphere of Human Earth, it was fall in Equestria.  Somehow the leaves, looking like dying flames, had seemed appropriate for the dragon’s funeral.

“Are you OK, Minty?”

The earth pony jumped with a yelp.  “Sorry!  Sorry, Princess.  I was preoccupied.”

Celestia smiled, but her concern was palpable.  “That is partly why I asked.”  She then looked to the urn marking Pyffian’s final resting place.  “And that would be another.”

Minty shrugged at her. “I’m OK, but than you for asking, Your Highness.”

Celestia nodded.  “Very well, then,” and turned away.

“It…”  Minty hesitated.  “It was a lovely service.”

“Thank you.”

“I was, um…”  Minty started, a little too loudly.  “Surprised to see that dragons are, um, interred this way.  You know.”

“Their resistance to heat is part of their magic,” Celestia said sadly.  “When they die, so does it.  For beings who know each other for sometimes thousands of years, cremation is a very powerful way for them to let go.”

Minty nodded and then asked, very quietly, “Did you?”

The answer was just as quiet.  “Yes.”

Minty didn’t say anything for a while, but neither did she hear the sound of hooves moving away.  “When I said I was ‘OK,’ I may not quite have been...”

Celestia turned around and walked back.  “Minty?  I’m speaking as your aunt -- as family -- right now.  I know it isn’t always easy for you to trust us…”

Minty laughed mirthlessly.  “I have trust issues, yes.  Among a lot of others.  Trust issues will have to wait their turn; I’ll handle them all in alphabetical order.”

“Twilight would be proud,” Celestia answered.  “But Minty, I think you need to talk, and I would appreciate it if you trusted me enough to confide in me.”

Minty looked back at the urn, then began to talk, slowly.  “When I was eight, Chip got me a book about a lone alien stranded on earth.  For the first time, I knews what I wanted to do with my life, and, again, for the first time, I really wanted to leave the building they kept me in.”  She looked back up at Celestia.  “I was going to put on a cape and fight crime.”

Celestia laughed softly.  “I know the medium.  Spike has been fond of them for quite some time.”

“The thing is… I thought I understood the world.  That world, I mean.  And every time I think I understand this one, something reminds me that I’m probably just as clueless about Alter-Earth now as I was about Human-Earth then.  Sometimes I think that I’ll never really understand this world.”

Celestia looked into the distance for a while.  “Minty, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve felt the same, even to this very day.”

“You know, for a pep talk, you’re giving me fewer and fewer grounds for optimism.”

Celestia shook her head.  “I’m trying to say that none of us understand things as much as we like, but we do manage.”  At Minty’s skeptical look, she continued.  “Very well.  Instead, then, I have two pieces of advice for you.  One, don’t worry as much about what you are as who you are.  From your habits to your beliefs, to even your chosen profession, you will always have something of both worlds to you.  And as much as your field follows Doctor Chase, your drive in it constantly reminds me of your mother.”

“Chip said the same thing about who versus what.  And Miko, once she got over the shock at doing so, agreed with him.”

“In my experience, when all those you trust are saying the same thing, it it usually worth listening to.”

Minty nodded.  “I can only try.”

“And that’s all I can ask.”

“And second?”

Celestia nodded to the urn.  “This wasn’t your fault.  None of it.  Always strive, but never burden yourself with the unreasonable.  And take it from someone who has lived longer than nations, but once had to grow up too fast.”  And the pain in her voice, understated though it might be, was still unmistakable.  “You’re only young once.  Try to enjoy it.”

“That would be easier if I didn’t have shape-shifting monsters trying to kill me.”

“Never give up hope, Minty.  I could tell you of countless accomplishments achieved with little else. And we will get you through this.   ”

Minty didn’t respond for the longest time.  “Thank you, Celestia.  You know, I never did apologize properly…”

“Apology accepted.”

Minty smiled slightly.  “Thanks.  And now, forgive me, but there’s something you’re not telling me, isn’t there?”

Celestia didn’t hesitate.  “As you’ve said, your elimination seems to be important to the enemy.”

“You’re not here just to offer comfort, are you?”

“I’m afraid not, my little pony.”

Minty winced.  “Between you and me?  I kind of hate it when you call me that.”

“Have you ever tried to break a habit you’ve had for thousands of years?  But, Minty, you’re in danger, and those around you are in danger.”

“I know, Celestia.  I can’t say that the prospect of being kept under guard all the time again really appeals to me.  But…”  Minty took a deep breath.  “I’ll agree.  On three conditions.”

“Conditions?”  For someone so intimately linked to the sun, Celestia could still generate quite a chill.  “To be clear, some of those endangered are my subjects, and I have lost far too many of them recently.”

“Favors,” Minty sighed.  “I meant favors.  I thought I could hide away on Human Earth, but I can’t.  During the funeral I half-expected someone to try something.  Anyone, really.  I have to admit, this is way bigger than me.  So I’m finally taking advantage of those family connections.”

Celestia merely raised an eyebrow.  “What are they?” she asked without, Minty noted, committing.

“First, I want to pick the head of the security detail.”

“Let me guess.”

“It’s the only way I’ll know she’s surrounded by armed guards, right?”

Celestia thought back to what she knew of Miko.  “I must admit, that would fit with my impression of her.  In any case, she is qualified.  Your second request would involve Doctor Chase, then?”

Minty paused, mouth already open.  “You’re kind of stealing my thunder here.”

Celestia didn’t smile.  “I’ll offer him a position and quarters at Canterlot U.  There’s already fairly heavy security there due to some research projects.  And favor number three?”

Minty grinned.  “I get to be there when we explain one and two to Rarity.”

“No,” Celestia responded quietly.  “I cannot hurt a dear friend for your entertainment.”

“Ouch.”  Score one for the Princess.  “I feel about two inches tall now.”

“I do realize that it was said without malice, Minty.  It was, in a very human way, a sign of affection.”

“Well, never mind that one, anyway.  Actually,” she continued, her voice growing quiet, “I have a better one, anyway.”

“Yes?”

“Pyffian.”  Minty looked back at the urn once again.  “Tell me about Pyffian.  Please.”

Celestia hesitated, then walked over to Minty and stretched out onto the cool grass, “I only saw him a few times a decade, but I would appreciate the opportunity to talk to somepony about him.  However…”  Celestia gestured to the grass next to her.  “I knew him for fifteen hundred years.  You may want to make yourself comfortable.”

Minty sat down, pony style because it was the easier to do on that grass, and leaned against her aunt as Celestia shared her memories.  “He was, for his breed of dragon, unusually gifted in enchantment as well as vericamancy.  He lived at the shore and loved the sea, and autumn was his favorite season.  I remember about, oh, a hundred years or so ago when he came to show me this odd little device dug up in Horsetralia...”

Because she felt she owed it to him.  Because she really did need to understand this world better.  And, not least, because it was a lot better than worrying about who might be trying to kill her.  Sometimes a little distraction is its own little miracle.