Arcane Shadow (Re-Written)

Once Spitfire and the rest of the Wonderbolts were briefed, Spitfire fanned out her wings. "Wait, wait, wait," she began, turning to Natalie and Anna with a critical eye. "You two are saying that you had no choice but to keep your true strength concealed in Equestria? And your true natures hidden on top of that? Except for that one incident involving Sunnytown, which happened five nights ago?"

Natalie and Anna wilted in tandem. "Yes…" they answered in unison.

"... I don't blame you, given Equestria's less than warm reception towards you guys," Soarin said, ruffling his wings. "If I were in your horseshoes, I'd do the same thing." The other Wonderbolts, sans Rainbow and Spitfire, looked at him. "What? You can't just go around the Equestrian public, saying you're alicorns! The nobles would've eaten them alive for it!" he argued.

One Wonderbolt, a dark gray stallion with a grayish-pale cyan mohawk, flexed his wings. Natalie noticed his uniform was incomplete; instead of covering his whole body, it only covered his neck, chest, and back. "Yeah… ever since I was just a colt, the only alicorn I'd heard about was Princess Celestia… at least, until Cadence came along," he said with a shrug. "Celestia refused to say what befell the Mythonian alicorns, just that it was really bad."

Anna and Natalie traded looks. "Well… Godcat might've had something to do with that," Anna muttered, the wood on her legs rustling.

"And just to be clear, Godcat is confirmed to be loose?" Spitfire pressed, a brow raised.

Anna nodded. "However, She's not murderous anymore," she confirmed. That got the Wonderbolts to relax a little further.

Spitfire nodded. "Alright. And we do have guest quarters here?" she asked. When Anna nodded again, she elaborated a little, "Seeing that we're going to have… an extended stay in Fantasia, on Celestia's orders, until this whole kerfuffle is sorted out… I'm going to need a briefing room if possible."

"Briefing… on what, exactly?" Natalie pressed, her wings ruffling.

"Well… I'm having some other Wonderbolts run headquarters while I am away, and the only ones available for this task were a few seasoned fliers… and a cadet or two," Spitfire said, turning to the gray stallion in incomplete uniform as she said that. "And seeing as you guys are military, without weather proclivities, I think it would be best if we formed a plan of action of our own, and then ran it by your General."

Natalie nodded, spreading a wing and curling it to her chin as she contemplated this. The Wonderbolts winced when they noticed her lack of primaries. "And I presume, whatever you guys'll cook up might help us with Redpine?" she asked, garnering nods from the gathered pegasi.

"Well, if nothing else, we'd like to help in any way we can," Spitfire answered, keeping her expression neutral. "If at all possible, I'd like a visual of what Redpine looks like on the outside and inside, so we can plan accordingly."

Anna nodded with a groan. "I'll take them to the office," she said with a sigh, her horn lighting up again.

Natalie ruffled her wings. "And I'll lug Shining and our nooblet to bed," she said, turning to Shining Armor to find him starting to nod off already. She lit her horn, magically lifted Katie onto her back, and then trotted over to nudge Shining with a wing. "I get that you're drained, but you think you could make it to bed?"

Shining smiled, and nodded. "I… I think I can…" he said, with a titanic yawn. Natalie rolled her eyes, and started to trot around to the front of the stage, with Shining shadowing her steps, albeit with a bit of shuffling. Once they had departed, Anna turned to Blue Crow and Red Barrel.

"Think you two can keep him from collapsing for a while longer?" Anna asked. Blue Crow and Red Barrel saluted before trotting off after the three, leaving Anna alone with Rainbow Dash and the Wonderbolts. Once they were alone, she magically grabbed them and teleported them and herself to the hall just outside of Lance's office.

Anna gaped at what she saw, as did the Wonderbolts. A bunch of fillies and colts, with the fillies mutilated with geas scars and other unpleasant things, stood outside the office, packing the hallway to capacity. Several more were crowding the ceiling on pink, suspicious clouds that she swore were not there before. Each foal was simultaneously dead-eyed, and yet regarding her with fear shining in their various pools. At the door to the office was Discord, lounging on a floating sofa.

"I couldn't save their mothers, for they were too far gone, so I just put them to sleep and buried them elsewhere," Discord said, frowning. "I was able to get the children out of Redpine, however, and most of them I put in the medical wing; these ones were a bit too scared, so I had to put them here to simmer down. I also broke their geases, and I figured I should let you know that there is a most peculiar filly in the office. I think you should go see her, Lieutenant-General Windwood." With that, Discord vanished in a puff of confetti and sprinkles along with the sofa.

"..." Anna stared mutely at the gathered children, wondering what the hell Discord drank and if she could have some of it, while also pondering what to actually do with the gathered children. She conjured a radio with a burst of magic from her horn, fiddled with the knob, and spoke into it. "Alexander… you have a lot more patients…" she muttered.

"... what now?" Alexander grumbled on his end.

"Discord… has dropped off Redpine's child captives in the hall leading to the office… at least, the ones that were too scared to go into the medical wing," Anna muttered. "Do you want me to teleport them to the medical wing?"

"... fine," Alexander grumbled. "I'll have the overnight nurses tend to them." Anna nodded, sent the radio back to the ether, and turned to the Wonderbolts.

"Stay put; I'll be right back," Anna said, lighting her horn once more. One child approached her, a filly who had her wings cut off, and regarded her with wide and fearful eyes.

"... is this… a bad place?" the filly asked, tears puddling in the corners of her eyes.

Anna shook her head. "No. It isn't. I'm about to take you all somewhere with nice, warm beds, with nice, warm food. This place doesn't have any bad pegasi or alicorns; nopony can hurt you here, ever again." She pulled the filly into a gentle hug, and the child flinched, yet allowed it.

"But what… about them?" the filly asked, turning to look at the Wonderbolts. "Are… are they bad pegasi?"

Anna shook her head. "No. They're good pegasi; they're gonna help us get rid of the bad pegasi," she answered gently. The child began to sniffle, and looked at the spot where wings once were on her back.

"... can… can I fly?" she asked, tears trailing down her cheeks.

"We can help you fly. We can help those who lost their horns use their magic in other ways," Anna answered, turning to the other children. "Do you guys trust me to take you to the nice place? I have to use magic to do it, and you might be a bit dizzy afterwards." The children traded wary glances, but nodded eventually. Anna gently grasped them all, and herself, in her magic, before teleporting away to deposit the children into the medical wing of the Aerie.

Soarin frowned, wings drooping. "... those poor kids," he muttered, shaking his head. He turned to the cadet of the group. "Thunderlane, don't you have a little brother?" Thunderlane shakily nodded, his own wings starting to fall slack at his sides.

"I wouldn't… wouldn't want this to happen to him," Thunderlane answered after a moment. He opened his mouth to speak further, when Anna returned in another burst of light, without the children this time.

"Oh, that's gonna be a logistical headache…" Anna grumbled, sighing. "And not just for the nurses and doctors…" She turned to the Wonderbolts. "You guys were briefed on Redpine's sins, right?" Once she got a series of nods, she sighed. "Yeah, they have a habit of not naming their cannon fodder and machine fuel, and now apparently they're geasing the children to make them compliant earlier." She shuddered. "Let's go to the office, and get this over with." With that, she trotted to the office, albeit slowly in case there was more than one child sequestered in it. The Wonderbolts followed her, curious to see what was on the other side of the door.

The door was opened slowly, and immediately, a tiny squeak and the shuffling of hooves could be heard from within. Anna gradually opened the door the rest of the way, and stepped in, with the Wonderbolts filing in single file. Anna caught a glimpse of yellowish tail hairs being pulled behind the desk, and walked in that direction to avoid scaring the particular foal trying to hide behind it.

She internally frowned at what she saw; a snow white alicorn filly, with oddly pink eyes sporting slit pupils and a platinum-blond mane so pale as to be mistaken for white in the right amount of light, tried to hide under Lance's chair. She had geas scars carved around her horn and more scars, reminiscent of claw marks, decorating her body. She also had a thin frame, and fear etched onto her face. By her estimates, she was no older than Maria, perhaps even younger, but not so young as to be considered a toddler.

Anna knelt down, reached under the chair with her claws, and gently scooped the child up without bumping her head on the chair's underside. "Hey there…" Anna said gently, moving to stand up on her hinds to hold the child to her chest. She was woefully light, and yet weirdly, her horn and wings went unmolested.

The child, instead of struggling, curled in onto herself, tucking her tail between her hinds and folding her wings against her body. "No… no trust…" the filly muttered in a weak, frail voice, keeping her forelegs tucked against her chest. "No trust anypony…"

"And why not?" Anna asked gently.

"Bad… bad parents said bad Redpine better than everypony," the filly said, shuddering. "If better, then why treat me bad?"

"... and who are your parents?" Anna asked, frowning.

"Bad alicorns… one has bad claws," the filly answered. "Other… other alicorn said big brother failed Redpine…"

"And… who's your big brother?" Anna asked, tilting her head.

"Got… got his horn cut off… by bad crystal pony," the filly answered. "Got bad spell removed…" That made Anna silently gasp, and she turned to the Wonderbolts with realization dawning on her face. She lifted a single digit on one of her front legs, and turned back to the child in her forelegs. The Wonderbolts nodded to signal their understanding, wondering how she would placate this foal.

"But he's not so bad anymore," Anna said, causing the filly to look at her. "He's no longer like the bad alicorns. What Redpine taught you was wrong; they want you to be bad because they are bad."

"If not bad… then what?" the filly asked.

"He's a good pony now," Anna answered, walking up to the chair to sit in it. She put the child on the desk, letting her get her hooves back under her. The filly turned to regard her, shaking slightly. "And you can trust him, as well as me."

"... why trust you?" the filly asked.

"Because we won't hurt you like the bad alicorns did. You're safe here," Anna answered, slowly lifting a claw to let the child know she meant no harm. She reached over and rubbed the back of her head; the child flinched, but allowed the touch. "No more bad things will happen to you."

"... no more?" the filly squeaked. A fragile, terrible hope filled her eyes at the prospect.

Anna shook her head. "No more," she confirmed. She gently pulled the child into a hug, and sighed. "But I think… we should name you."

"... but bad ponies of bad Redpine no have names… bad alicorns making bad ponies do bad things have bad names. Why name?" the filly asked, unsure of how to reciprocate the hug.

"Because everyone else has names, and it's weird for ponies to not have them," Anna explained patiently. "In fact, your big brother has given himself a name." She pulled away, and looked the child in the eyes. "Do you want to give yourself a name?" The filly turned away, the gears spinning in her eyes as she thought long and hard over this. Eventually, she nodded, and turned back to Anna.

"... bad alicorns had long sword with funny handle," the filly said. "What sword is that?"

"It's called a rapier," Anna answered, smiling patiently. "Do you want that to be your name?" The filly nodded, and Anna reached over to pat her head again. "Rapier it is. That is yours now; nopony can take your name from you. Do you want your brother's last name?" When Rapier nodded, Anna brightened considerably.

"Alright. Now then; do you want some food?" Anna asked. Rapier perked up, and eagerly nodded. "Okay, I'll take you to a nice place with a warm bed and warm food, where bad ponies aren't allowed." She lit her horn once more, gently grasped the child in her magic, and once again, both were gone. It took Anna several minutes to return to the office afterwards, but when she did, Rapier wasn't with her.

Anna turned to the Wonderbolts and sighed. "I had to wake up Lance and inform him of his… little sister," she muttered, wilting as she moved to sit in the chair again. "Rapier has eaten, she's in bed, and the doctors are fussing over her."

"... and how well did he take the news?" Spitfire asked.

Anna shook her head. "Not well at all, but I calmed him down by telling him she's safe and sound and away from the asshats," she answered. "He went back to bed after." She opened the desk drawers with a flick of her horn, pulled out the map of Fantasia, and sprawled it across the wooden surface. She activated the crystals that showed off the various locales, then pointed to Redpine's location. Where before its bastards were mishandling the mares, now they were pulling their manes out of their scalps, wondering where they had gone. In addition, each and every single holding cell had been stuffed to the brim with what appeared to be confetti-sprinkled concrete, and that particular floor was sagging, as though threatening to buckle under the weight of its sins.

In particular, the hippogryph-alicorn was on the top floor, ranting and raving to her partner in crime. Anna couldn't quite make out what was said, but the hectic movements of her front claws and fierce scowl gave her something of a clue. She pointed out the pair of whackos to the Wonderbolts. "These upstanding citizens happened to give birth to Lance," she said, noticing that the partner in crime had begun ranting and raving right back. "These two dastardly chucklefucks thought they could get away with making a puppet ruler for Fantasia… a lotta good that did them."

"... a puppet ruler?" Thunderlane asked, frowning at the thought. "Isn't that usually associated with regents who want to have the position for life?"

Anna shrugged. "Well, these asshats want an empire born of eugenics," she elaborated.

"Eugenics? Hasn't Celestia made that practice illegal?" Soarin asked.

Spitfire nodded. "Yes, but you seem to be forgetting where we currently are," she replied. She turned to Anna and regarded the active volcano Redpine was in. "... how have they not choked on the volcano fumes and heat yet? How have their plants not choked on the fumes and heat yet? How has the metal supporting the entire base not melted and rusted yet?" she asked, even as the Illicit Instrumentation unleashed a magical discharge that shook the geased maniacs' base of operations.

Anna pointed at the Instrumentation. "I'm guessing that would be responsible," she said. Then she took a closer look at the hunk of magitek, and realized that Discord had tampered with that, too—its latest discharge was weak, its conveyors and pipes had stalled, and its body was sparking dangerously. In addition, it looked like it had cheesecake crammed into critical joints and fixings, further weakening the structure.

The volcano rumbled, the magma bubbling more fiercely than usual. Anna saw the warning signs, and turned to Spitfire with her eyes widening. "Holy shit… I think Discord may have given us a lucky break," Anna said, turning back to the projection. The leaders of Redpine took notice of the rumbling volcano, lit their horns, and flew out of the volcano. Seconds later, the rest of the Redpine Flock flew out as well, circling the volcano to see if anything would happen.

… nothing happened. The volcano ceased spewing its magical vitriol, and was content to just sit there and taunt the flock. The Wonderbolts observed this, then watched as the flock returned to their volcano-nest, feeling that it was safe to hunker down in it for another night. Gears turned in Spitfire's head, and she turned to Anna. "Do you have something that can penetrate a volcano?" she asked.

Anna thought for a moment, then nodded. "We have the ION Cannon, why?"

Spitfire turned to her fellow Wonderbolts, then back to Anna. "You see… we might have a way of killing two birds with one stone," she said. "Do you have a spare sheet of paper?" Anna nodded, lit her horn, and pulled a pen, some ink, and papers from the desk, putting them all before Spitfire to use as she saw fit. She got to work, drawing up a plan that would have been impractical in Equestria, and not to mention extremely illegal, but was fair game on Fantasia.

"Here's the scoop: we train your soldiers, with permission of course, to use their latent weather magic," Spitfire said as she scribbled the plan out onto the paper. "Seeing as you have more than enough gryphons for the task, I think we can square that part away easily. The ectoplasms are gonna be a harder sell, of course, but we might have something for them too. And based on rough estimates, Redpine's magitek won't last for a month longer at the most, with all the caulking Discord's done to it."

Anna frowned. "Do you think the soldiers will complete this new regiment you're proposing in time for our attack?" she asked. Spitfire nodded confidently, continuing to scribble out the plan on the parchment.

"We strike anywhere from a week to a month, once basic training is complete," Spitfire said, pausing to look at Anna evenly. "Redpine is gonna be too busy eating the cost of repairs, so that's time they're not using to get new captives. That's time we can use to train up for the confrontation. But our window is short; sooner or later, they're gonna fix their magitek, so we have to act quickly."

"And what, exactly, are you proposing the weather-based training for?" Anna asked, folding her claws across the desk.

"Simple," Spitfire began, turning back to the plan she was scribbling down. "We summon forth a supercell to wipe out the enemy."

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The following day, Anna relayed Spitfire's plan to Lance, even showing him the papers on which she had written it. Lance nodded, cupping Spitfire's plan in his wing as he, Maria and his Lieutenant trotted through a hall lined with many doors on either side, and windows to allow peeking into those rooms. The foals of Redpine were sequestered in each room, receiving warm meals and warm smiles from the doctors and nurses tending to them as they sat on their nice, warm beds. For the moment, though, it seemed to be going in one ear and out the other, though Anna couldn't tell as his eyes were glued to the papers.

Once she had finished giving him the scoop, Lance idly nodded to signify that he had heard everything. "So… my shitty parents decided they wanted to subject another foal to their shitty torments, and that kid's younger than Maria…" he growled, tucking the papers under his wing. "And Discord got the captives out…"

"Half of them, anyway," Anna said, shaking her head. "The doctors said they show signs of having lived in polluted air…"

Lance nodded. "Yeah, living in a fucking volcano isn't the brightest of ideas," he muttered with a sigh. "Maybe now, they can get some clean air into their little lungs."

"Why is volcano air bad?" Maria asked as they continued to trot through the hall.

"Hurts your lungs, which you breathe with, and the rest of your body, because you're not getting enough air," Anna answered with a shrug. "Which, in turn, hurts your ability to think clearly."

"Trust me, after breathing in enough of that shit myself, I'm glad I'm no longer inside a stuffy volcano," Lance said with a fierce nod. He saw Anna halt at a particular room, and peer inside the window. She motioned him and Maria over with a claw, and they trotted to the window to behold little Rapier in her bed, undergoing a medical examination by Quicksilver, with IV drips hooked into her foreleg. Quicksilver saw them out of the corner of his eye, and waved them inside, so they trotted to the door, opened it, and waltzed in.

Rapier saw Lance and shuddered. Her ears pinned back against her head. Anna trotted up to her and smiled. "Hey. I brought your big brother and niece over," she said, turning to Lance. "Go on, say hi."

"... big brother no bad?" Rapier asked. Anna nodded.

"Not bad," Anna promised. Lance trotted up to her, and stared into her frightened eyes, and she stared back. Looking at her was like looking into a mirror; in her, he could easily see himself when he was her age, scared and alone and confused and surrounded by idiots. He could see himself inhaling the fetid air of the volcano that burned at his eyes, he could see the new scars being carved into his body by way of claw and hoof, he could see and sense the genuine fear he had at that age, now transferred onto another unwitting soul who didn't ask to be born.

Lance nodded, reached over, and gently patted Rapier on her little head. She flinched under the touch, but allowed him to do so. "Hey," he said gently. "How do you like Irongrey Aerie so far?"

Rapier smiled a tiny, weak, fragile smile. "... nice place lots better than bad volcano," she answered after a moment. "Nice food. Nice not-ponies. Nice bed with no bad ponies."

Lance smiled back, but he made sure not to show teeth. "Glad to hear it," he said, before turning to Quicksilver. "Is she improving?"

"Slowly, but yes," Quicksilver affirmed with a nod. "A couple of years in the Aerie, and we can kiss any potential breathing problems goodbye unless something turns up. The same can be said for the other children taken from Redpine."

Lance nodded, and moved to scoop up Maria in his forelegs. Maria struggled a bit, but stopped when she was picked up and plopped on the bed of her absurdly young auntie. The fillies looked at each other, and tilted their heads. "Nice not-pony?" Rapier asked.

Maria nodded. "Not bad like bad ponies," she affirmed. She walked over to give Rapier a hug, which went without reciprocation. Not that Maria minded; she could tell straight away that her new auntie lacked in the upstairs department. She pulled away, and smiled. "I take bad ponies and rip their faces off," she boasted.

Rapier's weak smile widened just a little bit. "Wish I could rip bad ponies' faces off," she said, a tinge of jealousy in her voice. "Get rid of all bad in bad world." A slight sparkle returned to her eyes as she said that, and the two foals shared a laugh between them. Lance smiled at the sight, even though he was pretty sure this meant that he would now be parenting for two in the future. All the better for this pair though; they had someone sane to look forward to as a role model, as opposed to someone who would beat down on them for innocent flights of fancy.

A changeling nurse strolled in, bringing forth a trolley of fresh-cooked food. She brought the goods over, poked Rapier to get her attention, urged Maria to hop off the bed for a moment, and brought the bed tray onto her bed to let her eat. Maria hopped off right away, and Rapier's eyes practically glowed upon seeing the food. She tucked in messily, using her hooves to scoop up the vegetables and boneless meat into her waiting mouth. Lance observed her eating, and smiled as she ate what was probably one of her first good meals of her life.

"She's inhaling it," the nurse said, a twinkle in her eyes.

"Then again, the lettuce of Redpine is probably inedible anyway," Anna said with a shrug. She was smiling, though. "At this rate, we're gonna spoil her with good food."

Lance nodded as Rapier sucked down the last bits of grub, and drained a glass of water that the nurse handed to her. "I'd believe it," he said idly. Rapier giggled, the first genuine giggle of probably her whole life, as the nurse produced a damp cloth from the ether and wiped her face and hooves with it as she took the bed tray back. Once the nurse cleaned her, she procured a plush friend from the ether, and gave that to the little alicorn.

"That plush bunny is yours," the nurse said with a warm smile. "You can name him whatever you want, take him on wild adventures, and cuddle him at night." With that, she trotted out of the room, to give more patients their food and plush friends for the day. Rapier smiled, and cuddled her plush friend.

"Nice, fuzzy buddy… like him lots," Rapier said, nuzzling her stuffed bunny.

Lance smiled, then turned to Quicksilver. "We do have those eye drops, right? The ones we use for ponies who've stood around in too much carbon dioxide and sulfur?" he asked.

Quicksilver nodded. "We're having to make more as we speak, but we have administered the first doses," he answered. "And while some of Redpine's children are blind, we have determined it is from birth defects as opposed to the gasses of the volcano… which, unfortunately, might have overlapped."

Lance nodded. "The Illicit Instrumentation is probably what vents the gasses out of the volcano, keeping everypony and their plants alive in that damn thing," he said, sighing. "Then again, my genetic donors didn't teach me jack shit about it."

"What's a genetic donor?" Maria asked.

"Creatures who have kids, that really shouldn't have kids," Anna answered bluntly.

Rapier turned to Anna, still holding her plush friend. "Like bad alicorns of bad Redpine?" she asked.

Anna nodded, and turned to Rapier. "Exactly like the bad alicorns of Redpine," she said.

"So, what's the estimate on the recovery of the Redpine children?" Lance asked.

"... physically, I'd give it a year, just to let them get a feel for the clean air," Quicksilver answered, his face hardening a little. "Mentally, they're going to need a lot of catching up; at this rate, we might have to build schools for them, just to teach them what they should know. And that's gonna be another thing we'll have to worry about, if we keep up with our current course."

Lance nodded, and pressed forward with another question, "And exactly how many half-siblings do I have now, in this lot alone?"

Quicksilver frowned. "Well… we did run tests… you have a plethora of nieces, nephews, cousins, and half-siblings all numbered to a nice total of two thousand living foals." Lance whistled at the number. "And unfortunately, they had been geased before coming here, so they likely had a bunch of shit crammed into their heads before they regained their senses of self. We do have the means, and the economy, to heal and raise them all to adulthood… but we're not gonna let you run yourself ragged in trying to raise them all, sir."

"Two thousand." Anna looked at Lance, her eyes wide. "That settles it; your father is a colossal pervert." Lance idly nodded to that one, unwilling to disagree with that statement.

"How can one pony have that many foals?" Maria asked, tilting her head.

Anna sighed, and turned to Maria again. "Some ponies live forever," she answered patiently. "And they go through mares like it's going out of style." She turned back to Quicksilver. "Any infants among them?"

Quicksilver nodded. "Some still need weaning in the future, but we have wet nurses assigned to them," he answered. "A lot of them were premature, so we'll have to monitor those ones carefully in case any other medical maladies decide to affect them."

"Probably because of the shithole they were living in," Lance sighed, shaking his head. "Any preteens in the batch?"

Quicksilver nodded. "A few have hit puberty already," he confirmed sourly. "However, Discord got them out before they could be… used, to put it lightly." He wilted a little. "And most of them are scared to death of practically everything. We're having to calm them down every other hour."

"Unfortunate… but also expected at this rate," Lance sighed, shaking his head. He heard the rustling of cloth, and turned to find Maria clambering back onto Rapier's bed. "Don't roughhouse her, okay? She's kinda fragile at the moment." Maria nodded, and sat on the bed as the adults continued with their discussion.

"Will fuzzy friend stop bad ponies in bad dreams?" Rapier asked.

Maria nodded. "Fuzzy friends always help," she answered. "Fuzzy friends tell meanies to fuck off."

"What 'fuck off' mean?" Rapier asked, tilting her head.

"It means you're telling whoever you're telling it to to go away," Anna answered. "Also, you shouldn't be saying those words, either of you." Maria nodded again, but kept her attention on her new auntie.

"When you get better, do you want to play?" Maria asked, smiling. "We can have lots of fun, making bad ponies go away!" Rapier smiled at the thought and nodded, her eyes sparkling with delight.

"Playtime sound lots nice," Rapier said, the eagerness making her face glow as she envisioned playtime. "Lots better than bad ponies." Her wings fluttered at the thought, but not with enough force to jostle her blankets and IV drip. "But when get better? Want play soon."

Maria frowned at that. Anna answered for her, "When the nice gryphon here says you're good to go."

Rapier nodded, and fluttered her wings again. "Can have playtime soon?" she asked, hope shining in her eyes.

Maria nodded, smiling once more. "Yep," she affirmed, making a mental note to schedule a playdate sometime with her auntie once she got better. And some more visits in the meantime, to make her feel better about being at the Aerie.

Anna turned to the fillies, and trotted over to the bed. "I see you two are getting along," she said, smiling. "I take it you two are okay with one another?"

"Yep," Maria answered, puffing out her chest-feathers in pride. Rapier idly nodded, smiling faintly. "We'll get rid of the big, dumb meanies together! No more bad idiots will walk on Fantasia!"

Anna giggled. "Just what I like to hear," she said, sitting down to pat the children on their heads. "In fact, you might be able to help her get her cutie mark, Maria. And Rapier might be able to help you with yours, if you somehow don't earn it before she gets out of bed."

Both fillies' eyes sparkled like the sun at that prospect. "Really?" they asked.

"Really," Anna said, smiling warmly, even as she made a mental note to supervise these two when they did decide to go for their marks. "But Rapier has to get better first; she's gotta get stronger before she can get hers." Anna turned to look at Maria specifically. "And you'll be the bestest big niece for her, protecting her from the bad ponies, won't you?"

Maria smiled and gave a salute. "You can count on me, mommy! I'll be the bestest big niece ever!" she answered enthusiastically.

Anna patted Maria's head again. "Awesome. And remember: if the bad ponies are too strong, come get me and your daddy, and we'll sort them out," she said. Maria giggled and nodded, and the two hugged one another. Then Anna pulled away, to give Rapier a hug of her own. "Same goes for you: if the meanies are too strong, come fetch us, okay?"

"Okay," Rapier agreed, smiling as Anna pulled away from her. She went back to cuddling her plush friend, and Anna went back to the grown-up conversation to let the foals get along for a little while longer. While they would have to leave eventually, as duty called the grown-ups, Anna made a mental note to schedule some more visits for little Rapier, so that she would eventually come out of her shell completely. It would be a fair while yet before she grew confident enough to tackle the big, bad world of Fantasia, but Anna was certain she could help her every step of the way.