WEIRDER THAN NORMAL — NORMAL? NOW THAT'S WEIRD!

Chapters

THE NIGHT OF THE EVERFREE STORM
The Night Of The Poisoned Quarks
THE NIGHT OF STALKING SHADOWS
How (NOT) To Disarm A Nuke!
THE NIGHT OF TIMBER AND FIRE
The Night Of The Prank
THE NIGHT OF THE FALLING PONY
How (NOT) To Dispose Of A Nuke!
SUNRISE SHOCKWAVE!
Someone's Lying!
HEY, YOU MISSED ONE!
DefCon One!
WHAT IS DISCORD AFRAID OF?
Welcome To Stalag Ponyville
MAGIC? SCIENCE? BOTH? NEITHER?
THE COMING OF SHADOWS!
How To Properly Design A (Dragon’s) Lair
C.M.C.: A.L.F.I.! YAY!
There's Sex & There's Beating The Crap Out Of Each Other — Guess Which One You're Doing Wrong?
FIRST RAINS OF FIRE FALLING FROM THE STORM OF DRAGONS
How To (Properly) Build A Dragon's Lair
"AH! I'M … WITH *THEM*! SAME GROUP, DIFFERENT DEPARTMENT."
The Equations Of Fear
ፐኀሃ‡አቀ‡።።።‡ኯተ‡ሴኀሃጳ
IN THE COURT OF THE GRIFFON KING
ᶘ♫₰∑€₰﴿♪ﻼ
NIGHTMARE RESTORED
The Night Of The Wrong Door
53.5 And 3,588,242 Are Magic Numbers
Good Luck Watching For Shadowcats—You Won't See Them Move Even When You *ARE* Looking

THE NIGHT OF THE EVERFREE STORM

"Honestly guys, I don't understand your fear over the Castle of the Two Sisters," Twilight Sparkle complained as they ran for the ruins to get out of the rain that had just started.

"T'ain't fear, Twilight," Applejack protested once they reached the cover offered by the structure. "But it is a spooky ol' castle!"

"Full of creepy tricks and traps and such!" Rainbow Dash added. "You should see that hallway of disembodied hoofs! Still gives me the creeps!" she said with a shudder.

"And don't forget it's been abandoned for centuries!" Rarity tossed in. "Sadly, leaving all those wonderful decorations for ruin!"

"Y-y-yes, v-very scary," Fluttershy whimpered.

"It's just a bit run down from the fight Princess Luna had with Princess Celestia when Princess Luna became Nightmare Moon," Twilight countered. "There was a lot of damage done and after Nightmare Moon was banished, Princess Celestia couldn't afford to have the castle repaired."

"B-b-but w-what ab-bout all th-those t-traps?" Fluttershy nervously asked.

"I told you guys," Twilight Sparkled sighed, and not for the first time when speaking about the subject. "When the castle was first built, Princess Celestia wanted to entertain Princess Luna. Those secret passages and trick doors were made for her amusement. According to the diary I showed you, Princess Luna was delighted by the ingenuity that was put into the castle."

"But Canterlot Castle don't have any of those!" Rainbow Dash pointed out.

"Of course not," Twilight replied, tiredly repeating this matter, too. "After Princess Celestia banished Nightmare Moon, Princess Celestia wasn't able to bring herself to recreate the secret passages that reminded her of such happier times with her sister. It—it w-was a very sad time for Princess Celestia," Twilight sadly finished, envisioning how her mentor must have felt at the great loss. The others relented, seeing how badly it was affecting their purple friend.

"But let's remember!" Twilight suddenly spoke out happily, shaking out her wings. "We helped rescue Princess Luna and restored her to rule alongside Princess Celestia! Now, let's get collecting those books for the new library while we wait for the storm to subside!"

That was four days ago.

"Isn't this storm ever going to let up?!?" Pinkie Pie screamed, starting to feel depressed from the constant bad weather. Worse yet, the storm had even begun to sleet and hail. "AND WHERE IS RAINBOW DASH??!!??"

"This storm is too dangerous for any one pony to try breaking up," Twilight tiredly said. "Besides, this is the Everfree. Pegasi aren't able to tame the weather here anymore than anypony can tame the forest."

"Well this sucks!" Pinkie Pie complained.

"You're telling me!" Twilight sighed. "I hadn't counted on the storm lasting this long and—" her stomach gave a loud rumble, emphasizing what she was about to say, "—we don't have anything to eat!"

"Oh dear! This just simply won't do!" Rarity complained, looking at the weather beaten grass she and Fluttershy collected. Rarity had fashioned umbrellas to provide protection for them both. She had resourcefully made them from some of the sorted piles of debris left about the castle from their previous visits and attempts at cleaning up. "This grass is just simply too wild to be tasty and the weather is just too damaging to them!"

"B-b-but w-we d-don't h-have any ch-choice," Fluttershy stammered, picking at some of the edible leaves from nearby trees. "Th-the storm is too p-powerful f-for us to t-try g-going back to Ponyville."

"And it's getting harder to gather up all this," Rarity complained. "We're having to forage further and further into the forest. Of all the calamities to befall us, this. Is. The. Worst. Possible. EVER!"

Fluttershy stopped to stare at the white unicorn, until she finally noticed.

"What?" Rarity demanded.

"N-n-nothing," Fluttershy apologized with a knowing grin.

Dark shadows pelted by the storm moved through the trees, stalking the pale yellow pegasus and white unicorn, watching with greedy, hungry and angry eyes.

"This storm is really weird," Rainbow Dash complained as she hovered in midair alongside Applejack walking as they stalked down another set of dark corridors.

"Yer tellin' me!" Applejack responded. "T'ain't never seen a storm like this 'un. Four days 'n no letup?"

"No, you don't get it!" Rainbow Dash grumbled. She shook her head, trying to find something she could focus on that made sense. Pegasi could instinctively feel the forces at work on weather, having controlled it over Equestria for generations. But this storm ran counter to all that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy knew on both their gut level as well as their intellect. "This thing just feels wrong! It's like—we're right in the heart of the storm, but there's no pressure vortex here and no movement of the center from here the whole time it's been going on! Lightning's going from the clouds and into the ground? And this storm feels like it's more in the ground than above it!"

"Huh-huh!" Applejack laughed. "Don't lightning normally go from the clouds to the ground?"

"Duh! No! Actually, they don't!" Rainbow Dash said exasperated. "It only looks that way to non-pegasi. But we know better!"

"Huh! Well, since it's in tha ground, 'n seeingz how ah'm an Earth pony, how 'bout I give it a buck?" Applejack aimed her rear legs at the wall and gave it a hard slam with both hooves. Surprisingly, a lightning bolt erupted from the wall where it was kicked and streaked down the corridor. Applejack just about pissed herself thinking about what could've happen if the lightning had struck her instead. Rainbow Dash, still hovering in the corridor, looked on unimpressed.

"Don't do that," the cyan pegasus calmly muttered.

"You knew tha' wuz gonna happen, didn'tja?" Applejack yelled, glaring at Rainbow Dash.

"I told you, the storm's in the ground!" Rainbow Dash responded. But then her eyes narrowed in suspicion and turned to look further down the corridor. "But that lightning sure acted weird! Like somethin' was pullin' on it!"

"We may be on to something. Com'on!" Rainbow Dash called, leading the way.

Rarity and Fluttershy finished with yet another bushel and deposited it along with the other three they had gathered.

"Finally!" Rarity exclaimed. "I'm completely exhausted!"

"Oh! D-did y-you hear something?" Fluttershy squeaked, whirling about to face the forest.

"Honestly, darling! I don't know how you can possibly hear anything over this storm!"

Further on, Applejack and Rainbow Dash started hearing a continuous hissing and hum of what sounded like the biggest swarm of angry bees. Then the corridor became lighter as the noise got louder. Finally, they cautiously looked around one final turn that opened into a large chamber.

It was a sight that boggled the mind. There was a large chamber, in the middle of which, looked like a magic portal at one end of a long series of rings standing on edge and lightning was constantly arcing from the walls, ceiling and floor to the rings.

"Whudya suppose tha' thar thing is, Rainbow?" Applejack asked.

"I-I don't know! But I'm bettin' it's got somethin' to do with the storm outside!" Rainbow Dash responded with a nervous gulp.

The Night Of The Poisoned Quarks

The secret military base certainly seemed deserted. There were a couple of levels above the entrance, but they could find no other exits. There were a couple levels below that were also completely abandoned. And the place was certainly abandoned in a hurry, though the soldiers had time to secure whatever classified systems they had. But there was one final location to check: an elevator that seemed to go much deeper into the mountain. The place probably was some old gold or other precious metal mine a century ago, now confiscated by the military for some reason.

'Whoa!' Pardus and Panthera both exclaimed as they rode the elevator down. 'Those're some weird readings!' Pardus reported.

'What is it?' Trevar asked.

'Some sort of radiation, but nothing that makes sense!' Pardus said. 'There's no particulate signature…no gamma or X-ray…there's no E-M trace or interference at all…but…'

'…but…it feels as though space, itself, is vibrating!' Panthera jumped in. 'At a very high frequency, and getting stronger the deeper we go! If this was an E-M effect, it would be in the upper ultraviolet or lower X-ray!'

'Lethal?' Trevar silently inquired.

'With long-term exposure, very likely!' Pardus grimly stated. 'You should be okay, even if you have to use the Gateway to repair yourself. But I certainly wouldn't want to see what it does to a normal human down here for any length of time.'

The ride continued for another few minutes before the elevator finally reached the bottom.

'We're about half-a-mile down,' Panthera reported as the doors opened. Trevar's ears picked up the sounds of a crackling hum from one of the passages ahead.

'How's that strange radiation?' Trevar asked as they progressed.

'Our quarks are literally getting the shit shaken out of them!' Pardus spat. 'Matter, itself, down here is being attacked! I wouldn't put the odds of a biologic surviving much more than a few hours of this without some severe compromise. AND we're starting to pick up some soft X-rays, now! Mostly, those are well within safe levels with all this rock shielding.'

'Well, whatever's up ahead making the noise of a Tesla coil in continuous orgasm, I'd say that's going to be the same source of both the X-rays and this odd spatial radiation,' Panthera muttered.

They turned the final corner and stopped, stunned by the sight. A large, spacious chamber greeted them. A large structure sat in the center of the floor at a forty-five degree angle to their vantage point.

"Da'fuq?!?" Trevar exclaimed when he saw it.

It was a series of thirty-two large rings, each standing on their sides, starting at about six and three-quarter meters across at the left end and progressively getting smaller as the series moved back and to the right, where the smallest, most distant ring was only about eight inches across. The total length of the structure was about one hundred and seventy-five feet. The rings were kept aligned with their centers level by a wide ramp that rose and narrowed with respect to the size of the rings. A constant lightning storm played out from outsides of the pulsating and glowing rings, the bolts all arcing to either the ground, walls or ceiling of the chamber.

But the truly unnerving aspect of the scene was the obvious distortion of space that funneled into the large opening of the virtual cone on the left.

"FREEZE!" a soldier suddenly screamed, putting his rifle at the back of Trevar's head. Trevar didn't react as several more soldiers converged on him.

"Gentlemen!" Trevar calmly announced loud enough to be heard over the noise of the lightning storm. "That is a severely misaligned warp coil running wild at full bore! Do you idiots have any idea what the fuck you've done?" he demanded, turning his head to glare at the nearest soldier.

They kept him waiting in a small room for several hours. Unbeknown to them, Panthera scouted nearby Trevar's location while Pardus stalked further about, looking for the commanding officer. Both panthers maintained their telepathic link with him, letting him see and hear what they did.

Pardus soon found the base commander and was ready when the inevitable phone call was placed on the secure phone. The number Colonel Parson dialed was to his senior back at the Pentagon.

"Yes? Who's this?" the voice demanded from the receiver.

"I'm calling for General Moreland. This is Colonel Parson at the Colorado research site," Parson began.

"Nate! Is that you? What the hell is going on?" the voice yelled, surprising Parson.

"S-sir?" Parson asked, astonished. He hadn't expected the general to answer his own phone.

"We've been trying t….aise your base f….ours!" the voice that sounded somewhat like the general's, but the static on the line was pretty bad. "No one's answered th….hone! I've finally had to call in a favor from the Na…….gency to send someone out there to check up….you. There's a hell of an electrical storm goi….out your way. There should be a man showi….at your base…ny minute. His name is Allec Trevar. You're to brief him…...give him your full cooperation….soon as he gets there!"

"Uh—yes, sir! But, sir! We've not received any orders!" Parson protested.

"Well we don't hav…ny links to your computer….stems. The connection seems to be kno…..out by whatever's happened over there!" the voice on the phone said. "You have it on my voc…..thority to extend to Mr. Trevar every courtesy and whatever he needs to help you fix the problem. I've been told….if anyone can fix it, he can! Now what do you need from….to confirm his authenticity?"

What few people understood was that secure phones could easily be compromised with the right technology applied. Fortunately for Trevar, Pardus was just such technology. With a combination of a graviton tractor beam, a holographic display overlaying the actual phone as well as focused inductive beams directed at the handset, Colonel Parson never knew the "voice" on the other end of the line was actually right there in the same room with him the entire time. Of course, the fact that Colonel Nathanial Parson had his full name on awards displayed on the walls for Pardus to see that was the primary thing which helped sell the idea to the colonel that he'd been speaking to his immediate superior the whole time.

And Trevar was completely in the know.

"You might want to try switching off that bitch out there!" Trevar yelled as soon as the door opened. "You might also like to know, it's causing that storm outside! And, you've got shitloads of X-rays going on in that chamber. Not to mention the effects that warp field is having on the local space-time which is doing wonders for everybody's DNA. I'd hate to see what any of your kids are going to be like if they're born after this shit—assuming any of you live that long. Oh, and your entrance is buried under an avalanche due to the storm." Colonel Parson and Major Jenkins, Parson's Second-In-Command, were taken aback by the man's abrupt and gruff manner.

"We tried shutting it down!" came a female voice from outside the room. A young lieutenant followed Jenkins into the small interrogation room.

"So, of course, the power's coming from the other end of the warp tunnel. Naturally," Trevar sighed, knowing his headache was soon coming. "And by that, the only way to fix it will be to go down the tunnel and pull the plug at that end!"

"We don't know if that's going to work for us," Parson spoke up. "Pardon us, but we haven't had introductions…"

"Sorry, but introductions can wait," Trevar said. "But since you're probably worried that I might be a security risk, my name's Allec Trevar. I do believe, Colonel Parson, you just got through speaking with someone who told you I'm here to help you try and fix your spectacularly entertaining little FUBAR?" The three were surprised by Trevar quickly jumping to the point.

"Sorry, but you don't exactly look like an NSA agent," Parson pressed, noting the long, shoulder-length leonine mane, sharply trimmed goatee and drooping Fu Manchu mustache Trevar sported.

"And just what is a spy supposed to look like, Colonel?" Trevar quickly responded. "Nicely clean cut, like James Bond, or James West, perhaps? But if our perceptions of what a spy is supposed to look like are going to be based on fictional characters, let's not forget the contributions that Artemus Gordon made with all his little disguises. Only as the troubleshooter I am, I don't really need a disguise. And, as your little phone conversation has already established, I am who I say I am. The reason I don't carry a government badge is if I'm ever caught, my cover's blown. Anyhow, I was finishing up my latest assignment and was just passing through at the time when I was informed I needed to divert here. My driver's license ID'd me and the person you just got through speaking with confirmed my description. Now—back to your little matter:

"The problem is," Trevar continued, "this planet of ours has been losing trillions upon trillions of electrons due to the solar wind for billions of years. That other world's probably been doing something similar, but at a different rate. So, whatever you've latched onto, it's trying to equalize the charge differential between our two planets.

"Okay! We've got two choices: One, let the warp tunnel complete the job, which may take a few hundred years…Oh, and given the amperage we've got right now, let's not forget there'll be current overshooting and an oscillating ring voltage probably for decades before we'll be able to safely shut it down. Or two, we go to the other side, figure out what sort of warp coil they've got over there and hopefully find a way to shut it down."

"Wait!" the lieutenant spoke up. "How do you know there's a warp coil on the other side? And how did you recognize that we've got a warp coil?"

"Because I can bloody well tell a warp coil when I see one!" Trevar yelled at her. "And what I see out there is that you've built a severely misaligned one! If you idiots ever try putting that on a ship, you're not going to go anywhere except straight to hell! All you'll end up doing with that thing is punching a hole in space-time, shortly before you blow yourselves to shit!" he tossed in with a shrug.

"Now, were you aiming to make some sort of time-tunnel?" Trevar asked, continuing his rant. "Sorry, if that were the case, then the only place you'd possibly be connecting to right now would be your future. Except the electron differential is flowing into us, right now! Which, logically, means you've connected to the past—but—since you've only just built that bitch in the last few weeks, that can't have happened yet! So, that leaves only one other possibility: another planet with a warp coil that you somehow reached out and latched onto.

"Now, if that other world is future or past with respect to this exact moment of space-time where we are is irrelevant. There has to be a distant coil that you've linked to because this warp tunnel is stable! If there was no distant coil, the warp would've collapsed the moment you cut the power!

"Now, did all that convince you that I know what the fuck I'm talking about?" Trevar demanded, glaring at the lieutenant.

"S-s-sure!" the lieutenant stammered with a nervous gulp.

"Plus, we're going to want to shut this thing down before you suffer too much more damage to your DNA," Trevar continued. "The storm out there's been going on for a couple hours at least, and some of you—if you've been exposed to the quantum fluctuations long enough—you're probably dead already! Ten years, maybe fifteen on the outside."

"Wait! How do you know the current's flowing in from the warp and not going out?" Jenkins demanded. Trevar just blinked and suddenly got an exasperated look on his face.

"Because the X-rays being generated are being emitted from the walls of your chamber and not the coils," Trevar snapped, glaring at the Major. "And if you ask me how I know the X-rays are being emitted from your floor, ceiling and walls, I'm just going to go home and let you all deal with option number 1! Now, am I going to win my bet or not?"

"Uh…" the lieutenant interrupted, making Trevar glare at her.

"You've got something else to say?" he demanded.

"Uh, sir?" she started, but then remembered her superiors and silently looked at them for permission to proceed. Colonel Parson nodded grimly. "The field's actually been running for four days," she finally said.

"Wh-wut?" Trevar stammered in shock.

'Oh, shit!' the panthers both telepathically exclaimed.

"Ninety-eight hours, to be exact," the lieutenant clarified.

'How long have they got?' Trevar asked the panthers. He felt the blood drain from his face as he knew the answer wouldn't be good. It wasn't.

"Good God!" Trevar whispered.

'But the storm?' Trevar suddenly ventured to the panthers. 'If this has been running for this long, then why is the storm just beginning to fire up?'

'Maybe the metal content in these mountains?' Panthera finally ventured. 'It's no doubt been spreading the incoming charge up and down the entire range before getting strong enough to affect the atmosphere.'

"What was this mine originally?" Trevar gently asked. "Gold?"

"Silver and lead, if I recall," Colonel Parson replied. "Does that make a difference?"

"It—it threw off my calculations about how long you've got to live," Trevar softly said. "I didn't take into account how far widespread the charge differential would get before affecting the atmosphere. If you've been down here the whole time, trying to put this thing out—" he paused, swallowing, "you've only got a few weeks—maybe six to eight—or nine, at most." All of the army officers looked pale.

"H-how w-will w-we go?" Parson asked.

"I can only guess," Trevar said, relaying what he got from his companions. "I suppose it'll be much like a lethal dose of radiation, but without the cooking effects you'd normally see. You should be pretty healthy up until the moment your quantum states begin to revert to their normal energy levels—and—then your biology will just—fail.

"I'm sorry. I really am," Trevar finished, sadly shaking his head. "All we can try to do is save both planets from any more damage. There's nothing I can do that will save any of you."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Trevar asked as they geared up in their rubberized hazmat suits that would protect them from the electrical discharges.

"Well, I did help build this," the lieutenant said, jovially shrugging her shoulders. She had finally been introduced as Melisa Scott, the lead technician on the warp coil project. Trevar and she worked out the gear they planned to take with them and how they would be able to survive the trip. "I suppose, if we had gotten it to work properly, I'd probably never have gotten to go on a trip through the portal anyhow. But since I'm not going to be around for whenever they do get this up and working, I might as well take the opportunity to see what the other side is like, just this once!" Trevar nodded his understanding before moving to put on his hood.

"Can I ask you something?" the lieutenant spoke up interrupting. "When you still thought we would live through this, you were very abrasive and condescending. So why the change when you found out how long this has been going on?" Trevar sadly smiled before replying.

"To be honest, when I saved the day, I was planning to lord it over all of you, to remind you that you guys owe me. Someday, I figured there would come a time when I might need to collect on that debt," Trevar admitted. "But—knowing you won't be around much longer…well…what's the point?" he sadly asked.

"Well! This fix is on the house!" he said, suddenly laughing. "If we're successful, you guys will all die heroes, and I can bow out of the credit on this one," he finished with a wink before putting on his hood.

Scott could feel herself blushing as she put on hers.

Panthera and Pardus had preceded them, cloaked of course. It took about fifteen minutes to reach the other end of the tunnel and they found themselves in the lighted hallways of a stone worked structure also being bombarded by lightning.

'Well, there's the other set of warp coils,' Panthera observed, looking at the X-ray glow from the structure. 'Looks like there's a control system to it. All this planet's electrons are being pulled through it!'

'At least they built this end correctly,' Pardus responded. 'There seems to be some damage to the controls, but still with enough functionality to let the warp field connect with the one back on Earth. I wonder how far out we are.'

'There's considerable interference from the warp field,' Panthera said. 'I'll try to put some distance between me and these coils to get a reading.'

'Hmm,' Panthera noted, as she approached the entrance of a narrow passageway. 'Spatial distortions aren't nearly so bad at this end of the warp tunnel. I'm getting positional data from known galactic neutrino sources already!'

'Really?' Pardus asked, astounded.

'Yeah, we're only about fifteen to sixteen hundred light-years out,' Panthera reported.

As Panthera got closer to the passageway, she spotted a couple of quadrupedal creatures nervously looking around the corner at the lightning storm surrounded warp field. She was stunned by the sight of the small horse-like creatures, the details being more confusing as she entered the passageway. One was primarily orange furred, but with a straw-yellow mane and tail with a small number of pink ribbons tied into the mane and tail. And it wore an old beat-up cowboy hat on its head. The other creature was a cyan-colored—and Panthera had to blink to confirm what she was seeing—a cyan-colored pegasus, with a prismatic mane and tail.

"Whudya suppose tha thar thing is, Rainbow?" the orange one asked its companion.

"I-I don't know! But I'm bettin' it's got somethin' to do with the storm outside!" the cyan responded with a gulp.

'Hey, Pardus! Check this out!' Panthera called, sending him her telemetry.

'Is—that—a pegasus?' Pardus asked after a few seconds.

'Sure is! What's more, they're talking! And they're speaking English!' Panthera responded. 'Hey! This gives me an idea. You remember that Wormy comic strip from Dragon Magazine? You know that one character, Shadowcat?'

Panthera began instructing her body to change and she was soon sporting a pair of wings to match her memory of the cartoon figure.

'Yeah,' Pardus replied. 'Are you thinking of modifying your body to appear like that when we reveal ourselves to Trevar and Lieutenant Scott?'

'Already did!' Panthera responded, laughing, sending him the parameters.

They carefully pushed the tool cart alongside themselves, having to contend with their footing against the slick bottom of the warp tunnel.

They had just pulled the cart from the vestibule of the tunnel an onto solid ground and stepped away to get a look at the alien warp coil system when a large glowing blue crystal slipped out of its restraints and fell to the ground, smashing to shards. Instantly, the warp tunnel closed and the lightning continued for a second before momentarily stopping.

"GET DOWN!" Trevar screamed, diving for the ground and pulling Scott down with him just as the lightning restarted for a few seconds before finally ceasing and plunging them into darkness.

"Ring voltage!" Trevar yelled over the muffled dullness that the discharge noise did to their hearing.

They slowly got up and turned on flashlights to inspect the mechanism.

"Looks like we got through the tunnel just in time," Trevar muttered, removing his hazmat hood. "Vibrations must've been working the crystal loose. I guess it was about to shut itself down and we never even knew it." Except that Trevar knew it had actually been the efforts of his companions that removed the crystal.

"So, there's no way back?" Scott calmly asked as she unsuited.

"Not with this thing in a billion pieces, no," he said staring at the debris. "So—let's take care of that nuke you brought along, since we no longer need it to blow up this end of the tunnel." He turned to see her holding her .45 on him. "What?" he asked surprised. "You thought I wouldn't be able to tell there was a nuke tucked in the bottom drawer as I was moving it about?" Of course, it had been a cloaked Pardus that had revealed the information to him, having watched the tool box being loaded back when Trevar and Scott were getting into their hazmat suits.

THE NIGHT OF STALKING SHADOWS

"Lookit that, Rainbow!" Applejack exclaimed, seeing two very odd yellow figures begin to emerge from the distortion. The creatures were standing upon their hind legs as they wrestled a large red box out of the magic opening.

"Wow! They're the ugliest brutes I've ever seen!" Rainbow Dash complained.

Just then, a large, glowing blue crystal fell from a side wall alcove and shattered into hundreds of pieces.

Instantly, the magical doorway closed but the lightning continued for a few seconds before momentarily stopping. There was a muffled yell as one of the creatures suddenly knocked the other down just as the lightning restarted again for a few seconds. Then, finally the lightning ceased and plunged everything into darkness. Fortunately, the ponies' night vision quickly recovered from the assault on their retinas.

There was another muffled yell by one of the creatures before they got to their hind legs again, and they both produced some sort of magical lighting to look over their surroundings. Then they began pulling at their head skins and it got creepier as the skins pulled away!

"Looks like we got through the tunnel just in time," one of them clearly said after ripping off its outer face. "Vibrations must've been working the crystal loose. I guess it was about to shut itself down and we never even knew it."

"So, there's no way back?" The other creature asked as it completed removing its skin. Oddly, it seemed like it was still wearing clothing when it was finished.

"Hey! Wouldn't Rarity be willing to kill to know how they pulled off that trick!" Rainbow Dash chuckled. Applejack quietly snickered.

"Not with this in a billion pieces, no," the one that was slightly heavier built said. "So—let's take care of that nuke you brought along, since we no longer need it to blow up this end of the tunnel." It turned to see the other was pointing some object at it. "What?" it asked. "You thought I wouldn't be able to tell there was a nuke tucked in the bottom drawer as I was moving it about?"

"Now, from here…was it Left, Straight for three, Left, then Right, then Straight for five, then Right again? Or was it Right, Left, Straight for five, Left, then Straight for six, Left, then Right? Or was it Straight for four, Left, Left, then Right, Left, then Straight for two? Oh! I can't understand why they had to make this place so complicated!" Rarity complained. They had gotten lost and after three times of trying to find their way back to the others, they managed to backtrack to a point from where Rarity insisted that she recognized.

"Oh, and please stop shaking so, Fluttershy! You have no idea of how distracting that is!" she said to Fluttershy who held close to Rarity's rear as the nervous mare kept a wide eye on the passageway behind them.

"It-it's-there's s-s-something ou-out th-there!" Fluttershy whispered.

"Really, Fluttershy! You absolutely must stop letting your imagination get the better of you! These hallways have been empty for years!" Rarity scolded. "Now, let's go. I'm sure it's Straight for three, Left, Straight for four…" Rarity recited as she stepped forward, while Fluttershy let out a surprised squeak as the pegasus mare momentarily lost her balance.

Several seconds passed after the light from Rarity's horn faded from the corridor, several figures crept from side alcoves to resume their stalking of the two mares.

Twilight sighed, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the task at hoof after taking time to look over her handiwork. There were literally a couple tons of books ready for transport that she had sorted as priority, and she hadn't even scratched the surface of how many books there were. Not to mention that almost all of them are more than a thousand years out of date, although that did have the advantage that many subjects that had been forgotten over the centuries and left out of modern collections might still be found in this set. But the fact that so many were out of date meant their replacements would have to be scrounged from other sources to bring the developing library at the Tree Castle into some semblance of respectability. Plus, there was the desire of making another library to be available for use of the ordinary populous as replacement for the destroyed Oak Tree Library. She did wish she had brought Spike along, but the young dragon was busy arranging the last acquisition and preparing the areas to receive this shipment, and it was impossible to duplicate him.

She suddenly perked up. Well, not entirely impossible, she slyly thought.

Then her vision caught Pinkie Pie entertaining herself by bouncing over each stack of books to land between them as she progressed through the chamber, and Twilight violently shook her head to try ridding herself of that thought.

"No! One encounter with that thing was more than enough!" she growled at herself.

"Did you say something?" Pinkie Pie loudly inquired.

"No, Pinkie," Twilight replied. "Just thinking to myself." Then Twilight suddenly got a new idea that brought a smile to her face. "And thank you, Pinkie Pie!" she suddenly blurted out.

Pinkie Pie suddenly jammed on the breaks, vibrating as she came to a halt, and looking confused.

Yes! Twilight thought, hoofpumping in triumph, just as she had planned.

"Thank me for what?" Pinkie asked.

"For reminding me!" Twilight answered and left it at that, leaving Pinkie Pie blinking. Then Twilight silently counted, One, two, three, four, five…

"Okie, dokie, smokie!" Pinkie finally said and resumed her self-entertainment.

Five seconds! A new record! Twilight thought giggling. It wasn't often that anypony could pull a 'random' on Pinkie Pie and get away wi…

"You know, Twilight? This would all be a whole lot easier if you used that duplicating pond to make copies of Spike!" Pinkie Pie called out, happily bouncing along.

"D'oh!" Twilight exclaimed, facehoofing.

"Oh dear! Another dead end!" Rarity exclaimed looking in disappointment at the result of their latest attempt to get through the maze that was the castle.

"Eeeek! Whatwasthat!" Fluttershy exclaimed, backing away from the route behind them and bumped against the wall. Suddenly, the wall spun about and whipped Fluttershy into the space on the other side. Fortunately, Rarity saw this happen to her friend.

"FLUTTERSHY!" she screamed and ran to the same spot where Fluttershy disappeared. But the triggering mechanism was too well hidden and try as she might using her hooves, she couldn't get it to trigger again.

"Oh! Hold on, Fluttershy!" she anxiously called. "Think, Rarity! Think! There must be a way of digging her out…of course!" she cried out in triumph as the solution came to her.

Modifying her innate gem-hunting spell to look for whatever must be there for the mechanism she focused the magic through her horn and was rewarded by one of the small stones set in the wall began to glow in response. Rarity carefully reached out to press it with her hoof…

"WHOOOooo!" she yelled as she was whipped about and flung across the floor only to collide with something. Or somepony, as it turned out when Fluttershy let out a formidable scream of panic and shot straight up into the air, only to slam into the low ceiling and fall back down on Rarity.

"Ooof!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Rarity," Fluttershy said, still shaking. "Did I hurt you?"

"I-I-I'm fine. Thank goodness you're okay," the white unicorn replied shakily getting to her legs.

"Wh-wh-where are we?"

Rarity lit up her horn to provide them lighting and they looked around.

"Oh! This is that hallway of torch bearing hooves! Now we're getting somewhere!" Rarity happily exclaimed. "We'll be back with the others in a jiffy!" she said, getting up to lead her friend.

There was a thump from the wall that had thrown them there and Fluttershy squeaked and jumped.

"What was that?" Fluttershy nervously asked.

"Oh, just the thunder from the storm, for sure!" Rarity confidently said. "Come along, now. The exit is just up the spiral staircase at the other end of the hall."

In the corridor they had just vacated, four figures stalked the dead end space, searching for how their prey had escaped…

"Ya know, Ah'm starten ta gettin' a bad feelin' about those two," Applejack whispered.

"You 'n me, both!" Rainbow Dash whispered back. "You run back and warn Twilight. I'll stay 'n keep an eye on these two critters."

"Hey, don't jyu go gettin' all hero on us'n all!" Applejack hissed, getting angry.

"Will you knock it off?" Rainbow Dash hissed back. "You know I'm quicker than anything. If they start gettin' squirly, I'm outta here lickety split! But somepony's gotta go warn Twilight before things get that far—"

They were interrupted when they heard a metallic crack, and they looked down the corridor.

The one that still wore most of its yellow skin had walked past the skinny creature and squatted to look at something at the bottom of the red box they had brought with them.

"Did you even consider the effects that would've happened if we didn't shut down the warp field before the nuke went off?" the big yellow one demanded.

"Th-the g-gate at-at this end would be destroyed of—did you just use telekinesis on my gun? How is that possible?" the now skinny one nervously asked.

"For your information, we're more than fifteen hundred light-years from Earth," The other said. "Do you have any idea of what warp accelerated nucleonic plasma would do from that distance when it got to the other side? I'll tell you: Colorado would be a crater three hundred miles across and a hundred-fifty miles deep."

"Impossible!" Skinny protested. "This is only a ten-kiloton device—"

"The tunnel we walked through was more than fifteen hundred light-years long!" the bigger fellow interrupted. "Yes, the blast would destroy the warp coils at this end, but not before the blast managed to get all the way back to your base! But that's not the worst part. When the gate at this end would be destroyed, the warp tunnel would collapse from the center and the restored space-time fabric would rush toward each end at millions of times the speed of light, which includes ALL that nucleonic plasma that'd be filling the tunnel! Both Colorado AND this place would be big ass holes in the ground, each punching well into the mantle of both planets, thank you! Do you feel like the mass murderer that you've tried to be, yet?"

"Yer right! Somepony had better warn Twilight!" Applejack whispered, nervously gulping. "Be careful, Rainbow!" she said, silently crawling away to where she could start galloping.

Rainbow Dash watched Applejack depart for a few moments to ensure she was on her way before turning back to the activities at the end of the corridor, seeing the big bulky one set up several magical lamps about to light up the space.

This is sure gettin' to be a creepy situation! she thought.

How (NOT) To Disarm A Nuke!

"How the hell do you know so much about warp coils?" Scott demanded, holding her pistol steady on him.

"Come on, hand it over. I know you're just stalling for time until the nuke detonates," he said, holding his hand out to her, gesturing for her to hand it over.

"You're right!" Scott replied, evidently deciding that he knew too much about the secret operation to play any more games with him. But then, somehow the gun flew out of her hand and ended up on his palm.

"Pretty stupid, really, if you'd bothered to think about it," Trevar said, setting the safety and stepping past the dumbfounded soldier. He slammed the gun on the tool cart with a loud crack before squatting down to pull open the bottom drawer. "Did you even consider the effects that would've happened if we didn't shut down the warp field before this thing went off?"

"Th-the g-gate at-at this end would be destroyed of—did you just use telekinesis on my gun? How is that possible?" she nervously asked.

"For your information, we're more than fifteen hundred light-years from Earth," Trevar said, ignoring her as he looked over the complexity of the device. It was a compact, smooth and relatively small unit. Trevar guessed it was a modern version of the field artillery tactical nuke originally developed in the late '50s or mid '60s. "Do you have any idea of what warp accelerated nucleonic plasma would do from that distance when it got to the other side? I'll tell you: Colorado would be a crater three hundred miles across and a hundred-fifty miles deep."

"Impossible!" Scott protested. "This is only a ten-kiloton device—"

"The tunnel we walked through was more than fifteen hundred light-years long!" Trevar interrupted, glaring up at her. "Yes, the blast would destroy the warp coils at this end, but not before the blast managed to get all the way back to your base! But that's not the worst part. When the gate at this end would be destroyed, the warp tunnel would collapse from the center and the restored space-time fabric would rush toward each end at millions of times the speed of light, which includes ALL that nucleonic plasma that'd be filling the tunnel! Both Colorado AND this place would be big ass holes in the ground, each punching well into the mantle of both planets, thank you! Do you feel like the mass murderer that you've tried to be, yet?"

"Well, this seems simple enough," Trevar said, picking up the five-inch thick artillery shell and setting it up on top of the tool chest. "Looks like one of those small yield devices developed back in the '50s when everyone was still in love with everything nuclear. I'm guessing that it's using a gun-type trigger?"

"But the tunnel's shut down, now! We have to let this go off, now, to protect our end from invasion!" Scott protested. "We can't let this warp coil be functional!" Trevar finished setting up several LED lanterns to provide wide area lighting for the work he was prepping for.

"Excuse you! Do you see anyone from this planet geared up to march on Earth right now?" Trevar demanded, as he began pulling open drawers, looking for the proper screwdrivers. Finding a suitable tool, he got to work on the device. "Just which planet is doing the invading at this moment, hmm?"

"So. You'd still kill maybe thousands, pollute this world for tens of thousands of years, and all for a fuckup that you, yourself, did?" Trevar asked as he made progress on removing the outer casing. Then he looked over the control panel and various exposed wires.

"Shit!" he exclaimed, seeing the counter was less than a minute. "Don't suppose you were given the disarming codes, were you?" he asked, glancing up at her. The glance was enough to tell him the answer.

'Ooooh, this is gonna hurt,' Pardus telepathically sent, looking at the unit as well.

'Any ideas?' Trevar inquired.

'Unfortunately, I didn't get to see them key in the codes,' Pardus said. 'My scans show that it's got a blasting cap to set off the charge of plastique, which drives the plutonium wedge into the main mass. Too deep to reach at the moment. You'd better go after the power supply.'

Trevar turned it over, looking for a way to do that.

'Wait!' Pardus exclaimed. 'There's a large cap on the circuit board that's a backup trigger to the main charge. Take care of it first!'

Trevar saw the capacitor Pardus indicated and used his thumb to snap it to the side, breaking one of the leads before grabbing it and yanked it completely off the circuit board. Then he saw the main power feed and was momentarily puzzled to see it had a large pi-filter arrangement.

"Who the hell designs a rectifier into a device that runs off a fucking battery?!?" Trevar yelled. He decided to just use the screwdriver to help him grab the filter's output wire rather than hunt for a wire cutter—he didn't have the time. With a satisfying yank, he ripped the wire off its soldered post. The nuke shut down with eighteen seconds remaining.

Trevar to a moment to breathe a sigh of relief, then he got busy to dig for the high explosive trigger.

"Wait, you've disarmed it already!" Scott protested.

"No… I've only stopped the countdown," Trevar replied. "Now, I'm going to disarm this thing. An accidental shock, like dropping it, could still set this off."

"So—you know about warp coils and nuclear bombs?" Scott asked, bemused.

"You wanna know why I'm not worried over the fact that we're stranded over fifteen hundred light-years from Earth?" Trevar asked as he worked. "That's because a rescue is already on its way. It should be here in a couple of months or so. So, uh—yeah, I know a little something about warp coils."

"Wh-wh-what?" Scott exclaimed.

"Nukes, on the other hand, are fairly simple," Trevar absently said as he continued to dig through the mechanism. "I hear they were even able to build two or three of them back in the zinc-plated, vacuum tube culture of the 1940s using only stone knives and bear skins."

"H-how…? W-wha-what do you mean there's a rescue on it way here?" Scott demanded. "How did you signal them? I've been watching you the whole time!"

"The same way I was able to yank the gun out of your hand," Trevar replied, glancing at her. "Oh, speaking of which, do me a favor and pull the bullets off their cartridges, will you? And find something in which to melt the lead down with."

"You're telepathic and a telekinetic or something?" Scott asked, incredulously. "And you were able to communicate over such a distance instantly? And how do you even know how far away we are, anyhow?"

"'Or something,'" Trevar replied, grinning at her before tackling the next module to remove from the nuke. "You saw it yourself. How else do you think I did all that?"

"So, you've…somehow…built your own set of warp coils?" Scott asked incredulously.

"Eh-yep," Trevar responded. "Several, in fact. One set of which, is on the ship that's coming to pick us up. And if you ever want to see them work on a ship, you have to be extremely careful about how you build them. They have to be perfectly sized and perfectly aligned within microns of one another so that they don't cause such little problems like temporal conduits, random spatial portals, or worse!"

Trevar was very careful removing the last module and setting it down on the tool box. It contained both the blasting cap and high explosive that was to be used for setting off the nuclear device.

"Hello there!" a voice suddenly called out as Pardus uncloaked.

"OH SHIT!" Scott yelled, instantly grabbing the .45 and firing off several rounds before Trevar reached out and pulled the weapon from her grip.

"Excuse you! We NEED those bullets to disarm this fucking nuke!" he yelled. Then he turned to look at what Scott was still staring at.

"Oh…hello!" Trevar greeted. The large winged black panther looked at them both, with several bullets hovering a couple feet from its head.

"That did not seem like a very friendly greeting," the big cat muttered, looking at the bullets still spinning on their long axis in front of his face.

"Yeah, well sorry about that," Trevar said. "She's not really with me. My name's Trevar."

'By the way, what's with the wings?' Trevar telepathically asked, bypassing their staged role play.

'It's an idea that Panthera came up with,' Pardus silently responded. 'You'll see why in a little bit. Suffice to say, it should help sell the idea that Panthera and I are natives to everyone on this world.'

"My name is Pardus," the winged panther said by way of introduction. "I'm a shadowcat."

"Of course you are!" Trevar said, suddenly laughing.

"I deeply apologize for this one's attack on you," Trevar said, glaring at the lieutenant. "She not used to dealing with creatures from worlds other than her own. I, of course, am a bit more traveled."

"If that is so, then why did she come here?" Pardus asked.

"Partly by accident, and partly because she wanted to explore," Trevar replied. "But unfortunately, she has much to learn as to when it's proper to greet someone and when it's proper to defend against them!"

"Hmmm," Pardus grunted. "Perhaps. But should not the apology come from it?"

"I—I'm v-very sorry about shooting you," Lieutenant Scott stammered. "You just came out of nowhere! You startled me."

"I did say 'hello',"/"He did say 'hello!" Pardus and Trevar simultaneously said.

"Sorry!" Scott squeaked. After a pause, she finally asked, "How is it that you can speak English?"

"I don't know," Pardus replied shrugging his wings. "How is it you're speaking my language? And what is English?"

Scott stared at the panther then glared at Trevar.

"Don't ask me! I just got here!" Trevar snapped at her as he continued working to remove the plutonium trigger. "By the way, can we get those bullets melted down, please? This only makes the second time I've asked."

"You need these?" Pardus asked, levitating the three bullets over to Trevar, who reached out to grab them.

"Thanks," Trevar said, setting the spent bullets into the dish he had picked out to use as a crucible. "We'll need the rest of the clip melted down as well," he said to Scott as he finally removed the plutonium cone and carefully set it down.

"What do you mean?" Scott demanded, astonished that the entirety of their only means of protection was going to be used to disarm the nuke.

"I need all of them to fill the shot chamber with lead so this thing can never go off," Trevar explained, setting the rest of the device on the floor to rest on its base for when it would have the lead poured in.

Scott stared at him incredulously.

"Hey, Lieutenant!" Trevar spoke up after a few seconds of the staring contest and waved his hand in front of her face. "You can keep the gun! Gunpowder's easy to make. Everybody and their dog knows that formula. But a live nuke is overkill, no matter how you look at it!"

"We can't just disarm ourselves!" Scott screamed.

"Oh, too bad I don't have a bowl of munchies," Pardus said, sitting down to observe. "Is this how your species prepare to mate?" Trevar fought to suppress a grin while Scott glared at the cat in shocked fury.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" she yelled.

THE NIGHT OF TIMBER AND FIRE

Whoa! Where the bronk did THAT THING come from?!? Rainbow Dash wondered when the winged panther suddenly materialized before the two bipedal creatures.

Then one of the bipedal creatures snatched up one of the objects from the top of the red metal box and several loud bangs later, Rainbow Dash almost had an accident right there in the corridor.

Being somepony who could break the sound barrier at will, she was gifted with the ability to see many things that would normally be too fast to be caught by the eye of any ordinary pony. So what was even more unnerving than the fact the a large, winged and clearly predatory monster had appeared out of nowhere, and to the fact it had spoken to the aliens who had come through a magical portal, was that Rainbow Dash had seen several small rocks fly out of the hole of the object at near-supersonic speeds, only to come to a sudden stop well before they could hit the big winged cat.

This is magic well beyond my league! she thought, wisely choosing to not hang around any longer. Backing up from the corner, careful to not make a sound doing so, she lifted at a safe distance and streaked back up the passageway as fast as she could without creating a rainbow boom. But she was unaware of another such winged predatory cat that was right on her tail.

"And then they…" Applejack was saying to Twilight Sparkle as Rarity and Fluttershy arrived.

"We're back!" Rarity yelled out in sing-song, interrupting.

"Just a second, Rarity," Twilight said. "Go ahead, Applejack."

"And then they…"

"Well! Don't everypony get excited for dinner all at once!" Rarity huffed in annoyance.

"Sorry Rarity. But Applejack was just bringing us news about some strange visitors that came through a magical portal," Twilight explained. "You were saying?"

"And then they…"

"TWILIGHT!" Rainbow Dash screamed as she streaked in. "We've got BIG TROUBLE!"

"What was that!?" Fluttershy yelped as she whirled about.

"Rainbow! Haz sumthun' happened?" Applejack asked.

"Oooh! Applejack was just about to tell us about the humans who came through a magic portal that was causing the storm and brought along a nuke to destroy this end of the portal so it would stop the storm but blow up both our planet and theirs! But a control crystal broke, shutting down the portal, and the humans started arguing over how to dismantle the bomb. But she only just got here, and only got to the part where they came through the magic portal…" Pinkie Pie spoke up.

"What's this? What's going on?" Twilight asked totally confused.

"Wait! You haven't told them yet?" Rainbow Dashed shouted at Applejack.

"Ah wuz tryin' to, but Ah keep getten' in'errupted!" Applejack grumbled.

"Well! Sorry about being such a bother!" Rarity shouted.

"G-g-guys? W-we've—we're n-not alone in h-here!" Fluttershy stammered.

"This is fun!" Pinkie Pie squealed. "We've got timberwolves and shaddowcats coming and everypony's trying to warn everypony! But nopony's listening!"

"Not now, Pinkie Pie!" Twilight grumbled, face-hoofing.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash both whirled on Pinkie Pie.

"How did you know—?" they simultaneously yelled at her. Then they blinked and suddenly looked at each other. "Wait! WHAT?!?" they both yelled at each other.

"Timberwolves? Shadowcats?" Applejack asked, totally confused. "But wha 'bout them two legged critters?"

"Wai—wha-?" Twilight got out just before a huge roaring timberwolf leapt out of the passage from which Rarity and Fluttershy had come. As the ponies all screamed, three more timberwolves followed the first.

"Rarity! On me! All the rest of you, get behind us!" Twilight screamed, charging up her horn.

"Nothin' doin'! Ah've tangled wi' timberwolves b'fore!" Applejack growled, taking Twilight's unprotected left side opposite Rarity.

"Same here!" Rainbow Dash said through grinding teeth, taking to the air to hover above the space between Rarity and Twilight. Rainbow Dash and Applejack took the moment to lock gazes and nod before putting their attention toward their enemies.

But before Twilight could argue, they were interrupted by another roar from their left, just as a black blur ripped through the center of the lead timberwolf, shattering its hindquarters. Twilight barely had time to register that the newcomer was a huge winged black panther with ominously glowing yellow eyes.

With a hissing scream, three sets of yellow beams shot out from those eyes to hit the other timberwolves each in turn. However, to everypony's surprise, and evidently to the panther's, too, nothing happened.

In the meantime, the remaining timberwolves apparently decided to take on the competition first and started advancing on the big cat.

"Hmf!" the panther grunted, blinking and when its eyes opened again, they were glowing green.

"Dogwoods, huh? Let's see how you like this!" the panther said as a green beam shot out at the one furthest away, with the same hissing screaming noise. This time, the timberwolf yelped as it burst into flames then began screaming.

"Ah!" Twilight exclaimed. "The books!" She reached out with her magic to grab a hold of the screaming burning monster and lift it up away from the stacked tomes.

Another beam, this time blue, shot out to hit the next one on the panther's right. The timberwolf barely had time to let out a yipp before it exploded, and Rarity had to throw up a shield to deflect the incoming debris. Even so, everypony instinctively ducked from the pieces flying at them. The panther didn't seem to have even noticed, as it now glared at the final timberwolf with glowing purple eyes.

"Come to mamma, lil' puppy!" the panther purred through a toothy grin as the cat's eyes shot out a purple beam, this time causing the closest timberwolf to momentarily glow purple then evaporate into smoke.

The panther took a moment to look about the room, its gaze sweeping across the ponies before alighting once more on the timberwolf still aflame, held aloft by Twilight's magic. The purple beam shot out once more, and this time Twilight yelped as the burning monster momentarily glowed purple and disappeared.

Silenced reigned in the library.

"Ugh! Magots!" the cat suddenly shouted in disgust, looking over itself. Its eyes swept a purple beam over itself, causing the places where it hit to momentarily glow purple, too. But unlike the effect on the timberwolves, it had no evident effect on itself. "A-a-ah! That one I busted up must've been infested with these damned things!" the cat yelled, shaking its body and wings.

Then the black cat's entire body began to glow, first red, then orange, then yellow, and finally a brilliant white, and Twilight and the others could feel the heat beaming from the creature before the panther's colors reversed that order to return to black. When it was done, there was smoke drifting from numerous places over its body and wings.

"God! I hate those filthy things!" the creature darkly muttered.

Then its gaze turned toward the ponies. Rarity and Twilight both nervously gulped.

"Sh-sh-shields?" Rarity whispered and Twilight barely nodded, not wanting to give the cat too much motion to lock onto. And it was just in time, for the cat had started to softly walk towards them.

"A-a-ah! Look out!" Rainbow Dash called out. Twilight and Rarity glance at her to see her pointing past the panther. They looked back and to their horror saw the biggest timberwolf that the panther had torn through just finished reassembling itself and was stalking them all.

The panther, however, barely gave the monster a glance over its shoulder, and only long enough to fire off one of its potent purple eyebeams. The big cat didn't bother to watch as the screaming wooden monster vanished behind it. Then the winged panther was upon and walking through their shields, causing Twilight and Rarity to cry out in pain from the feedback.

For its part, the panther didn't even seem to notice the shields that she and Rarity had put up. It walked past both Rarity and Twilight, giving them a cursory glance before walking up to Applejack to sniff at the earth pony. As it passed her, Twilight noted how this creature was also female.

The earth pony nervously grinned to the cat, but the panther, had already lost interest and stepped around to walk to inspect Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy each in turn. The pink pony tried her usual cheerful greeting but was ignored just the same. Fluttershy tried to use her ability to speaking with animals but got no response either. Then the cat was stalking back to Twilight to sniff at her. This time, the cat paused to stare at the purple pony.

"Uh, hello! M-my n-name is Twilight Sparkle and…" Twilight stopped when she saw the glowing purple eyes shift colors, going through blue, green, yellow, orange, and red before finally cease glowing altogether, revealing slitted pupils amid a slowly shifting rainbow iris.

"Wow, you've got such pretty eyes…" Twilight said, but the big cat was stepping past already, this time going up to inspect Rarity.

"Eh—!?" Rarity tried to grin, but likewise, was just as quickly ignored. Then the cat looked up at Rainbow Dash, who was still hovering over the scene.

Twilight assumed that Rainbow Dash was thinking she was glad she was flying up beyond this cat's reach. But just as the creature left Rarity, the cat spread her wings and with slow, graceful flaps, was soon hovering right in Dash's face.

"I justlove yourr colorrs!" the cat softly purred, her body changing colors as she spoke to suddenly exhibit a prismatic rainbow hue all over her own body, legs, wings, and tail. Rainbow Dash gasped, and stole a quick glance to her own mane and tail, no doubt to confirm this creature hadn't somehow stolen the colors from her.

"However, they can't do very well for stealth, now can they?" the cat said, looking over the prismatic effect covering one of her front legs. When she finished, the colors flowed again over the panther's body and wings to return to the solid black she originally had.

"Still, you should stick with what you're good at," the panther said to Dash cryptically before shooting her head forward to lick the pegasus on the nose. "But stealth just isn't it!" the panther said with a giggle, then with a flip over one wing, dove to land on the ground, shifting smoothly from flight to a jogging walk, clearly heading for the corridor from which she had come.

"W-w-wait! Please! We want to thank you for saving us—!" Twilight suddenly called out, realizing that if she didn't get the cat to talking, they might never be able to have the opportunity. But the cat continued on, ignoring her. Desperate, Twilight even tried to use her magic to grab a hold of the panther, but her power just brushed off the big cat without slowing her down a bit. "Please! Let us thank you for rescuing us from those timberwolves!"

But the next moment, the cat was gone.

"Come on, girls! We can't let her get away!" Twilight called, rushing to follow.

"Wha—? Are you crazy?!?" Rainbow Dash yelled.

"Hurry!" Twilight's voice came from the passage as the purple mare ran after the panther.

"Well, Ah guess that answers that!" Applejack muttered.

The Night Of The Prank

"Oh, hell, I'll do it, myself!" Trevar grumbled, reaching for the gun. 'Pardus, be ready to repel her,' he sent to the panther. Sure enough, Scott rushed to grab the gun before Trevar could, but suddenly she felt herself being pushed away.

Trevar deftly removed the magazine and cleared the round in the chamber, snatching the bullet out of the air as it flew. Scott took that moment to try rushing him again, but once more was pushed away. Trevar barely gave her a glance.

Then, while Trevar was busy rummaging through the drawers looking for tools, she tried yet again, only to be pushed back even harder than before and she finally landed on her butt.

"Do you mind?" Trevar demanded, glaring at her as he clamped a pair of channel locks to the cartridge of the free round.

Scott glared at the panther, suspicious that it was the cause of the telekinetic pushes. But the cat seemed intent on trying to look at both humans at the same time, its head rapidly swiveling back and forth to look at each in turn.

"Are you certain this isn't a mating ritual?" Pardus asked. "Are you the female, playing 'hard to get'?"

Trevar looked up from where he was using a second channel lock gripping the bullet to twist the round apart to see the cat was speaking to him.

"What? Uh, no," Trevar replied, dropping the bullet into the bowl with the other three. "I'm the male, she's the female. Truth is, she's not even my choice as a mate. Like I said, we're here totally by accident."

"What are the odds of me running into two creatures with such strong telekinetic abilities?" Scott finally asked.

"I don't know," Trevar responded sarcastically as he removed the remaining five rounds from the magazine. "What are the odds of two worlds more than fifteen hundred light-years apart each developing warp drives that just happen to link up together while one of those worlds is testing a badly misaligned unit? After today, I'd have to say, 'greater than or equal to one'."

Panthera was cloaked and crouched upside down in the corner between ceiling and wall as the six creatures cautiously entered the corridor. The blue pegasus with the prismatic mane and tail nearly brushed against her, but that was the only moment that risked discovery. Curiously, the other two winged creatures opted to remain on the ground as the troop passed by. The purple winged unicorn seemed to be the party's leader while the pale yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail was definitely the most submissive of the entire group and brought up the rear. As they passed her hidden location, Panthera floated down to hover in the middle of the corridor and silently followed, still trying to puzzle out the nature of the odd branding marks they sported on each of their hips.

The blue pegasus, who had a white cloud and a tri-colored cartoon lightning bolt brand, was doing most of the talking, reporting on what she had seen, with considerable additions provided by the orange creature wearing the cowboy hat and sporting a trio of cartoon apples on her flanks. After a while, those two began arguing over details and interpretations, during which the discussions got heated. Panthera almost expected them to come to blows a few times, until a word or two from one of the others would defuse the tension for a moment before they would start up again. And it was interesting that not all those calming words came from the purple one, the one who had tried to introduce herself as Twilight Sparkle who was marked with an odd pattern of a large darker purple star surrounded by five small white stars.

Watching and listening, it was clear the blue pegasus was named Rainbow Dash, and the argumentative orange creature was called Applejack. Furthermore, they respectively each had distinct accents. Rainbow sounded like she might have come from the Bronx of New York, while Applejack sounded like she could've been raised anywhere from the rural parts of West Virginia, Kentucky, down to Tennessee or even out to somewhere in the Ozarks of Arkansas and Missouri. The white unicorn with the dark purple mane and tail, evidently named Rarity, reminded Panthera of the Gabor sisters, Eva or Zha Zha, and with each occasion she talked, Panthera leaned more and more toward Zha Zha. She had a trio of playing card-type blue diamonds branded on her hindquarters. The pink creature, called Pinkie Pie, who was marked with a pair of blue and one yellow blobs that might supposed to have been balloons, seemed to be suffering from some form of Hyperactive Attention Deficient Disorder with several orders of magnitude applied to the Hyperactive factor…oh, and with a substantial random generator thrown in for good measure.

The pale yellow pegasus with the pink mane and tail and a trio of—somethings that might be a poorly drawn physics display—or not—on her rear was the most difficult to get a decent reading. When she did speak, it took a considerable amount of amplification to even pick out her words. And most of all of what she had observed speaking was during the time between when Panthera had arrived to observe the group after following the blue pegasus and just before the attack of those wood-puppet dog-things. Panthera had yet to hear anyone mention her by name.

And then there was the purple one, Twilight Sparkle: a very odd and curious creature. She showed substantial telekinetic ability by grabbing and lifting the burning—what was the term they used? Ah, yes, 'timberwolf'—evidently someone's idea of a lame pun. She and the white unicorn had erected quiet sophisticated shields to try and keep her away, and then Twilight tried a grab at her when she left, but Panthera was able to shrug off the tractor beam without even trying.

Watching their interactions, it became clear that Twilight was the most analytical of the six. During the period where Rainbow Dash and Applejack gave her descriptions of Trevar and Lieutenant Scott, Twilight interrupted and produced a holographic projection of several humans to show the two and got confirmation that that was what they saw, although Panthera noted that the images Twilight produced had odd colorations of hair and skin more similar to their own equine set rather than that of normal humans. Furthermore, Twilight as well as Pinkie Pie had even referred to them as "human", surprising Panthera.

Panthera counted herself fortunate to be an artificial life form. If Trevar had been there when Rainbow Dash recounted what she saw when Pardus had decloaked, his howls of laughter would've certainly ruined their hiding behind this group. That was the point at which Rainbow explained she had left to come report to Twilight. And damn, that little pegasus was fast and agile as all shit! Hell, the thing even left a glowing rainbow-colored contrail! And lucky for her the creature did! Some of those turns were so sharp, that Panthera wondered if she could've flown that course using just her own senses without crashing into something. But that prismatic contrail gave her just enough warning of the variety of turns as she had fought to keep the blue pegasus in sight.

"They should get here in a couple of months. It'll be a few days yet while they prep it for launch," Trevar told Scott as he played the gas welder on the bullets and the lead cores quickly flowed out of the steel jackets to pool together into a single puddle at the bottom of the crucible.

"Too late to help me, I take it?" Scott asked.

"Sorry, but we couldn't help you even if we wanted," he replied, using a spare screw driver to flick the empty steel casings out of the bowl and shut off the flame. "Your quarks are already decaying temporal energy. The cascade will catastrophically affect your biology when your atoms finally normalize."

"Anyhow, the speeds we get from the drives are an exponential ratio based on the power needed to be pumped in for light speed," Trevar continued his explanation about how his ship utilized their warp coils. Quickly grabbing a pair of tongs he had at the ready, he picked up the bowl and brought it over to the remains of the nuclear round.

"It still takes a tremendous amount of power just to break light speed," he was saying as he poured the molten lead into the cavity leading to the rest of the plutonium sphere buried deep inside the device. "The ships are designed to function up to factor eight, which just is a little over three ninety-six thousand times light speed. But we're still early on our production. It takes a while to bake the warp coils to ensure they can run at that load. At present, we can only safely run up to factor seven point forty-seven only for short periods, a few hours at most. But we've done test runs out to eight hundred fifty light-years at seven point one-one-five for well over a month. At that speed, the ship should take about fifty-seven or fifty-eight days to get here."

When the lead froze inside, it would permanently prevent the cone from ever being able to complete the sphere which would've caused the chain reaction and detonate the device. Sighing in relief, Trevar set the crucible down on the top of the tool box and picked up the plutonium cone. Then he began the arduous task of reassembling the components, sans high explosive or blasting cap.

"What's the top speed? Theoretically?" Scott asked.

"The speed of gravity," he replied.

"Wait! The speed of gravity is the same as light speed! Einstein proved it!" she protested.

"Uh-uh," Trevar responded. "Einstein theorized it, while your physicists tried to prove it. But they botched the job when they accepted data that's essentially useless and discarded evidence that didn't fit their bias. But you do know about inflation? The force that caused the universe to expand during the Big Bang?"

"Of course," Scott replied. "And inflation will eventually rip the universe apart."

"Perhaps," Trevar muttered. "But the important thing is that inflation had to act much faster than the speed of light, otherwise, the moment gravity decoupled from the other three forces, the universe would've instantly re-collapsed. Correct?"

"Not at all!" she argued. "The expansion was already going faster than light at that point."

"The Standard theory had gravity decoupled from the only a few Plank-minutes after inflation began, but the size of the observable universe was still way smaller than an atom."

"That's true," she agreed.

"Now, let's look at it at another direction: if you put the mass of the entire Milky Way and compressed it into the size of Pluto's orbit, you'd get a black hole, would you not?"

"Of course," she replied.

"The problem is the point at which gravity decoupled was well within the size of an atom!" Trevar said. "Even when the inflation was supposed to have slowed back to less than light speed, it was just ten centimeters across. Still well within the Schwarzschild radius of the Milky Way, and we're talking the mass of every other galaxy tossed in as well! It wouldn't matter how fast space was expanding if everything in existence was so far beneath the event horizon, It should never have escaped! But it did!"

Scott had no adequate response and remained quiet, waiting for Trevar to continue.

"Except gravity isn't a real 'force' like the Electromagnetic, Strong and Weak forces," he said, resuming his point. "Gravity is the distortion of space-time due to the effects of mass, and inflation is simply the negative aspect of the attractive force of gravity. So if inflation is capable of making space expand at speeds far greater than light, then so too must ordinary gravity be able to affect objects with superluminal reaction speeds! Besides, that's the only explanation for the Inertial Paradox as well as how gravity can affect the paths of orbiting black holes and neutron stars that are moving at relativistic speeds. We know it's not infinite, but based on the calculations we used to build our drives it's at least twenty-five billion. However it can just as easily be much more. Perhaps as much as eighty-seven billion or so."

"Really?" Scott asked incredulously.

"The very fact that we've just stepped through a warp tunnel over fifteen hundred light-years long which was created by those rings proves it!" he paused in his work to glare at her. "That warp tunnel was a purely gravitational field punching a hole through space-time."

Scott blinked at that then sat mostly in sullen silence while he continued to work. In about an hour, Trevar finished replacing the outer covering and securing it down.

"Will that aid in getting you home?" Pardus asked, continuing to role-play a potential native.

"No, but I've fixed it to prevent anything living here from losing their home as a result of this device," Trevar said.

Panthera patiently sat and watched the equine-like creatures keep an eye on the humans and Pardus. The azure, purple and orange individuals had stacked one on top of another to poke their heads around the corner, while the other three sat back and nervously fretted. Well, except for the pink one, who didn't seem that much concerned as she played with rolling a small rubber ball between her hooves that she had pulled out from someplace and sometime that Panthera had somehow failed to catch the moment or the means. It was very odd, since the panther's senses normally recorded at super-high speeds and definition. She was taking considerable computational processing to try and analyze the phenomena, and had even enlisted Pardus with trying to isolate the moment of the incident.

"Wha' dya think thar up ta, Twilight?" Applejack whispered.

"I don't know," Twilight replied softly. "Something about that device they're working on. He seemed to imply it's somewhat dangerous."

"You know, it's all rather odd," Twilight spoke up when it looked like the human stallion was finally finished working on the device.

"Whuz'zup?" Rainbow whispered.

"Well—you told us that cat had just introduced herself to the humans when you ran back to us," Twilight whispered. "But then she must've been hot on your tail in order to be there just in time to save our flanks from the Timberwolves. But after checking us out and then completely losing interest in all of us, she just leaves, only to come back here to sit and watch these humans…for how long? That just doesn't make any sense." The pink one, hearing this, put away the ball and cautiously poked her head around the corner to look for herself.

"Oh! That's because the female's been behind us the whole time!" she said in an annoying loud voice. "That's not the same cat at all! That there's a Tom!"

After visibly cringing at the volume, the others all instantly looked back to where Panthera sat. With her cover evidently blown, Panthera decided to drop her cloak. "Meow!" she said using both vocal cords at once as she did so, one high pitched the other deep bass. And except for the pink one, they all screamed and bolted.

The canary yellow one, who was nearest to Panthera, screamed the loudest of any of the others and shot past them all only to bounce off the wall, but was still out into the chamber before any of the others, moving faster even than the blue one.

Panthera was left alone with Pinkie Pie, with the panther wondering, where did the ball go?

With the sound of a loud voice coming from a darkened passageway, Pardus, Trevar and Scott all turned and looked there. A fraction of a second later, a loud chorus of screams sounded as a yellow blur shot out of the darkness to rush toward Pardus, instantly followed by a rainbow shooting out and up into the heights of the chamber as well as an orange blur shooting off to the left side at the same moment, then a purple blur along the ground that stopped halfway between Pardus and the entrance, followed by a white blur that collided with the purple object.

The yellow blur resolved itself into a horse-like creature, stopping just inches from Pardus, then screaming, shot straight up into the air. The orange blur resolved itself into another small horse-like creature and the collided pair was a tangle of white and purple legs and wings.

Then a pink bouncing creature emerged from the darkness of the passageway, followed by a laughing Panthera, who was also sporting a set of wings. The bouncing pink creature looked a bit like a horse, with all its hooves held together as it hopped.

'I take it these are the real natives?' Trevar sent.

'Uh-yep,' Panthera and Pardus both returned, both of them giggling.

'Be careful of that pink one!' Panthera warned. 'She seems to have perceptions able to detect me even when cloaked!'

"THAT'S NOT AT ALL FUNNY!" a voice from above yelled, as a rainbow-colored streak swooped down to halt just in front of Panthera. The figure turned out to be an azure colored pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane and tail.

"Do it again!" Pardus laughed. The pegasus whirled about to glare at the other panther and advanced on him as the cat continued to laugh.

"Unngh—Rarity? Are you okay?" another voice spoke up.

"Sorry, Twilight, you got in my way!" yet another said as the two combined figures managed to finally separate. Trevar saw they were a white and purple unicorn. But then he noticed the purple one had wings.

"What would you call that one, I wonder? A winged unicorn or a horny pegasus?" He asked Scott. She shrugged her shoulders. Hearing her being discussed, the purple one looked at the two humans, and then looked about at the shadowcats.

'A unisus, unisi for the plural, according an article in Dragon Magazine,' Panthera sent to Trevar.

"Rainbow! They don't seem aggressive," the purple one called out. "I think we just got pranked!"

"Really?" the blue pegasus asked, now glancing back and forth between the two laughing cats. Then she finally settled on Pardus. "Well, then, you should know: this means war! I'm so-o-o getting back at you!"

"Looking forward to it," Pardus purred with a toothy grin, not at all intimidated.

"Is everypony okay?" the purple one called out. "Applejack?"

"Ah gotta find me sum place ta plant sum road apples!" the orange one sardonically called out.

"You and me, both! Fluttershy?" the one named Twilight called out. "Fluttershy?" she called again after not getting a response. The blue pegasus looked about, and finally looked up.

"She's up here!" Rainbow called out as she flew back up into the darkness.

"Pinkie—? *sigh*—never mind," Twilight started her call but then interrupted herself. Finally, the creature approached Trevar and Scott.

"Erm—uh—Hello? My name is Twilight Sparkle," the creature said, introducing herself. "Welcome to Equestria!"

THE NIGHT OF THE FALLING PONY

With Rainbow Dash's warning that the next few turns would bring them to the chamber, Twilight cautioned the others to be extremely quiet as they approached.

Twilight, Rainbow and Applejack nervously watched the goings on with the humans and shadowcat.

"Wha' dya think thar up ta, Twilight?" Applejack whispered.

"I don't know," Twilight replied softly. "Something about that device they're working on. He seemed to imply it's somewhat dangerous."

They watched the human stallion putting the device together for at least an hour using bits and pieces from atop a large red box until it seemed like he was finished. They had noted the panther sitting and watching the entire time due to her periodically yawning.

"Will that aid in getting you home?" the black creature asked.

"No, but I've fixed it to prevent anything living here from losing their home as a result of this device," the human stallion replied.

"You know, it's all rather odd," Twilight added after a moment.

"Whuz'zup?" Rainbow whispered.

"Well—you told us that cat had just introduced herself to the humans when you ran back to us," Twilight whispered. "But then she must've been hot on your tail in order to be there just in time to save our flanks from the Timberwolves. But after checking us out and then completely losing interest in us, she just leaves, only to come back here to sit and watch the humans…for how long? That just doesn't make any sense." Pinkie Pie took that moment to poke her head around the corner to look for herself.

"Oh! That's because the female's been behind us the whole time!" she said in her usual loud voice that could carry for hundreds, if not thousands, of trots. "That's not the same cat at all! That there's a Tom!"

After cringing at the volume, the others all instantly looked back. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, the female shadowcat rippled into view.

"Meow!" the panther said with an odd multi-tonal voice. And except for Pinkie Pie, all the mares screamed and bolted.

It was a very chaotic moment. Fluttershy, who was closest to the big cat, screamed the loudest of any of the others and shot past them all only to bounce off the wall, but was still out into the chamber like a shot before any of the others, moving faster even than Rainbow Dash, who had been standing above Twilight, and Applejack, who had been beneath her. Those three were simultaneously the next ones out, each going in separate directions, Applejack to the right and Rainbow Dash flying up, leaving her trademark contrail. Twilight, still not used to flying, instinctively ran, following Fluttershy. But then, halfway to the pegasus, she realized Fluttershy who had nearly collided with the other panther had shot straight up into the air, leaving Twilight stuck between the two cats. Her instincts forced her to halt right in the middle. That was when Rarity collided with her and they both went down.

As she struggled with Rarity who was in the troughs of her panic, Twilight heard the two cats begin laughing. The alicorn looked to the passageway to see Pinkie Pie and the female panther emerge from the darkness, Pinkie bouncing of course. But she noticed the cat had sat down to laugh and she instantly looked to the other, seeing him, too laughing.

"THAT'S NOT AT ALL FUNNY!" Rainbow Dash hollered, zooming back with a rainbow-colored streak to stop just in front of the cat from the passageway.

"Do it again!" the other cat called out, and Rainbow Dash furiously whirled about to glare at that panther and advanced on him as the cat continued to laugh.

"Unngh—Rarity? Are you okay?" Twilight asked with a sigh.

"Sorry, Twilight, you got in my way!" Rarity said as the two finally managed to separate themselves.

"What would you call that one, I wonder? A winged unicorn or a horny pegasus?" the human stallion asked. Hearing this, Twilight looked at the two humans, and then she looked about at the laughing shadowcats.

"Rainbow! They don't seem aggressive," she called out. "I think we just got pranked!"

"Really?" Rainbow asked, now glancing back and forth between the two laughing cats. Then she finally settled on the cat who had been with the humans. "Well, then, you should know: this means war! I'm so-o-o to getting back at you!"

"Looking forward to it," the creature purred with a toothy grin, obviously not at all intimidated. Twilight didn't hold out any wagers for the cat's longevity. But then again, you never know.

"Is everypony okay?" she called out. "Applejack?"

"Ah gotta find me sum place ta plant sum road apples!" Applejack responded with considerably more of her usual calm.

"You and me, both! Fluttershy?" Twilight called out. "Fluttershy?" she called again after not getting a response. Rainbow looked about, and finally looked up.

"She's up here!" Rainbow called out as she flew back up into the chamber's darkened vaulted heights.

"Pinkie—? *sigh*—never mind," Twilight started her call but then interrupted herself. Finally, Twilight approached the humans.

"Erm—uh—Hello? My name is Twilight Sparkle," the creature said, introducing herself. "Welcome to Equestria!"

"That's Applejack, Pinkie Pie—" Twilight began pointing them out, but had to pause when she saw what the pink one was doing.

"Hi Princess Luna! Hi Princess Celestia! Hi Twilight!" Pinkie was calling out, bouncing about on three of her hooves held together and waving to the upper walls of the chamber with her fourth.

"Uh—please don't mind her," Twilight awkwardly muttered.

"That's Rarity, and those two are Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy," Twilight continued, as Rainbow Dash guided Fluttershy, who was still in shock, lower to the ground.

"Uh, hello," the human stallion responded. "My name's Allec Trevar. This is Lieutenant Melisa Scott," he indicated his companion. "And that shadowcat over there calls himself Pardus. The other…?"

"I'm Panthera," the female shadowcat spoke up.

"Darlings! What are those hideous things you're wearing?!!?" Rarity yelled at the humans.

The humans looked down at themselves in confusion.

The stallion wore an open jacket made from an odd-looking black material that fully covered his arms, back and either side of his chest. Beneath it was a tight fitting white shirt of an obviously very thin material. His pants were made of a coarse-looking dark blue fabric with patchwork stitching for pockets. His pants were obviously bigger than his frame. His boots were heavy looking and dark brown. Only his head and hands were exposed to be seen.

The mare, on the other hoof, was wearing a matching top and bottom outfit that was very ill-fitting to her frame. It had a weird mottled, pattern on it. The main color a medium green, but with random splotches of darker and lighter green, a couple of different shades of brown, some beige, and some black. The outfit had baggy pockets and the whole ensemble was rather rumpled looking, making her very messy. Her rear feet were encased in heavy-looking black boots that seemed very intimidating in that they rode nearly halfway up her lower legs. Only her head and hands were unconcealed by the outfit, but she wore a matching hat on top of her tightly bound mane.

"This is my uniform," Lieutenant Scott replied.

"And I'm wearing civies," Trevar added. "These things are supposed to look like this."

"Well, we just can't have you walking around looking like that!" Rarity huffed. The humans both looked about at the creatures surrounding them.

"Uh—well—I'm not about to go walking about naked at this time," Trevar responded. "And I highly doubt the lieutenant will, either."

"You've got that right!" Scott muttered.

"We can all worry about such things—later!" Twilight Sparkle said, with emphasis on the last word. "Be thankful we're nowhere near her boutique!" she softly muttered to the humans.

"Sure," the human stallion quietly replied.

"Did you all come through those rings?" Twilight inquired.

"My sister and I watched as they came through the rings," Pardus spoke up.

"You're from Equestria?" Twilight asked, astonished. "I've never seen your kind before!"

"We're shadowcats," Pardus replied, momentarily vanishing as his image rippled and flowed, the invisibility effect washing over him. "It's not surprising you've not seen us before. But no matter where we go, there we are."

"Buckaroo Banzai," Trevar muttered, grinning.

"What? Who?" Twilight asked.

"A philosophic character of fiction," Trevar explained. "That's a quote from him, 'No matter where you go, there you are'. Which of course leads to the logical corollaries: 'No matter where you've been, there you were' and 'No matter where you end up, eventually you'll get there.'"

"Sounds like a very clever individual," Pardus chuckled.

"Uh—right…I see…" Twilight said, filing that away as yet another oddity that humans seem to do. And probably shadowcats, as well.

"So, did you want something?" Panthera spoke up.

"What?" Twilight asked, taken aback. "Oh! Yes! We want to thank you for saving our lives from those timberwolves."

"I see." Panthera said, cocking her head and looking as those she was still expecting something.

"Er…" Twilight stammered.

"You mean you intend to thank me and just haven't got around to it or do you mean to just tell me that you wanted to thank me?" the panther inquired.

"Oh! Er, uh, well. Thank you!" Twilight said. "?"

"You're welcome!" Panthera responded with a grin.

"Not exactly th' friendliest bunch," Applejack muttered.

"We just try to be very honest," Pardus said softly.

"Really?" Applejack challenged. "So why all th' hidin' 'n sneakin' up on everypony?"

"It is part of our nature as predators," Pardus calmly explained.

"And I was curious as to your intentions," Panthera added. "There are a great many creatures that will not hesitate to lie to one's face without hesitation. By following you without you being aware of it, I had hoped I could better understand your true nature."

"'N just wha'dja find out 'bout us, huh?" Applejack demanded.

"Quite a lot, actually," Pardus said. "Twilight Sparkle seems to be a natural born leader. She is quite analytical in her thought processes and seems to possess substantial knowledge either through reading, experience or both."

"You and Rainbow Dash are very similar in that you're both very competitive," Panthera spoke out. "Yet you have a great deal of respect for each other. You both seem to be courageous and caring. And you both are unwilling to leave the other to face a risk that each of you would rather challenge on your own."

"Whoa!" Rainbow Dash whispered in awe. Applejack just blinked in stunned amazement.

"Really? Ya got alla that just from followin' us?" she asked.

"We didn't have much opportunity to evaluate the entire lot of you given the time you sought to follow my sister," Pardus continued. "On the surface, Rarity may sound vain, but underneath, there seems to be a deep caring within her, as well. Pinkie Pie was able to tell that Panthera was behind you the entire time, yet kept silent for whatever reasons she has."

"That's because I knew you guys weren't going to hurt anypony!" Pinkie Pie cheerfully said. "But Panthera must like to play Hide and Seek! She's fun!"

"And she's quite the random element," Pardus finished.

"She does have that!" Twilight muttered in agreement.

"Fluttershy is the real mystery," Panthera concluded. "It was very difficult for me to get a clear reading off of her."

"M-m-me?" Fluttershy squeaked, finally overcoming her terror and becoming settled in the presence of the strange creatures. "Th-th-there's n-nothing sp-special about me," she said.

"Wait! It wuz Panthera that followed us!" Applejack protested, glaring suspiciously at the male shadowcat. "Howzit you know so much 'bout us?"

"That's ourr secrret," Pardus softly purred with a very, very toothy grin, going nose-to-nose with the earth pony. Applejack blinked and nervously gulped as the large panther clearly wasn't intimidated.

The two shadowcats each stood a little higher than the four foot tall ponies at the withers, were longer by half and were a quarter as wide, when not factoring in the wings. Bulk-wise, they must've weighed at least two and a third times as much as a full grown pony, and probably a great deal more, given the definition of their muscles was quite visible from underneath their fur. And then there was the obvious powerful predatory nature of the creatures. But due to the sleekness of their bodies, it was easy to forget all that when not up close like that.

"Your magic seems quite formidable," Panthera added. "Even without my intervention, I suspect that you six would've survived the fight with those—timberwolves—as you call them, with little risk of injury."

"As does yours," Twilight said, returning the compliment. "Would you mind if I conduct a scan? I'm curious as to the nature of your magic. From what I was able to see, it looks like it operates a little different from our own," she asked.

"But of course," Pardus responded with a nod. "It would only be polite of us to reciprocate and allow you to learn about us as we had already taken the opportunity to analyze the nature of your magic and your species. And your assumption does appear correct. It's quite clear the source of your powers is quite different from our own."

Twilight was shocked that the panthers had done so without asking permission, but was heartened by being allowed to proceed. Certainly, there were cultural differences between the way shadowcats conducted themselves and the way Ponies were expected to behave in society. She did hope there would not come a time where those differences resulted in conflict between each of them.

Twilight concentrated and pushed the magic through her horn to analyze the nature of the shadowcats and the connection to their magic. The two winged panthers began to glow with her violet aura. What she found surprised and shocked her.

She found the panthers possessed a cellular structure much like any other pony's, with a very complex genetic material. She probed down into their genetic instructions, the source of how magical creatures tapped into the forces of magic. But then, instead of the usual tale-tell signs of their connection to the magic force, she discovered their genetic material was quite different from her own.

Equustite?

…

That can't be right! Twilight thought as she shifted her spell to work out the puzzle. Equustite is the hardest known substance in Equestria. It's the only gemstone that dragons can't chew! Pulling back to reexamine their cellular structure, all of their proteins and amino acids were also nothing but Equustite! The two cats seemed to be composed almost entirely of the stuff, however it seemed to be in a semi-amorphous state!

Except that form of Equustite was strictly only theoretical and shouldn't even be able to exist outside the extreme conditions such as those found in the mantle of a neutron star…! Twilight gasped. THEY'RE NOT ALIVE!!

"Is something the matter?" Pardus asked when the auras suddenly faded with the alicorn's surprise.

"Y-y-you-you're not alive?" she hesitantly asked.

"EEEK! NOT ALIVE!?!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed and zipped away, screaming, "ZOM-M-MBIE CA-A-A-A-A-ATS!!" Twilight had to pause as she tried to maintain focus and ignore the wild antics of her earth pony friend.

"You're made up of some form of Equustite!" she finished.

"What?" Scott asked, distracted by what was being discussed and trying to figure out where Pinkie went. "Like, they're some sort of machine? Are they going to transform into robots?"

"We are alive," Pardus calmly insisted. "But creatures such as yourselves might consider us to be some sort of artificial life form. After all, biologics, like you are just other forms of machinery. Except that while you're primarily composed of poly-hydrocarbon chains with a few other trace elements tossed in, we have seen your systems are just as complex and as nearly sophisticated as ours. Although, we have noted there are substantial advantages to our design."

"We can heal damage far much more efficiently than you," Panthera said. "Having conscious control of our functions allow us to do minor things like alter our surface geometry or our visual appearance substantially," she added, taking the moment to examine one of her wings as a ripple of rainbow color washed over her feathers before resuming their midnight coloring. "But we're pretty much as you see us. We do not, of course, transform into metal-plated robots, vehicles or any other such silly things."

"But that said, yes our species have evolved substantial abilities to control and interact with the forces that make up the universe," Pardus said as his eyes took on a green aura. Looking down at the ground by his feet, he fired off a beam of green power that soon had the spot where it struck glowing yellow. When the panther ceased the blast, the spot slowly cooled to orange then red and then vanished. When he looked up, the green glow had ended and his eyes resumed their slitted pupil appearance.

"Interesting," Twilight said. Then she looked up at the series of rings. "And what are those?"

"Those are evidently warp coils," the male human, Trevar, spoke up. "We aren't responsible for them being here, and we don't know who built these, or for what purpose. But they somehow interacted with a set that was built on my home world and created a doorway between our planets."

"O-o-o-oh! You guys didn't chase me!" Pinkie Pie complained, popping up from nowhere.

"And what is that?" Twilight asked, using her magic to pick up the object Trevar had been working on when the ponies got there.

"Why? Did you go somewhere?" Pardus asked the pink pony.

"That—" Scott started, but Trevar cut her off.

"That—is one of the tools that we brought with us to try shutting down the connection that had accidently got established between our worlds," Trevar quickly said. "Fortunately, the warp coils at this end of the portal failed without Scott's or my intervention, so we didn't need to use it."

"Well, d'uh!" Pinkie exclaimed in disappointment at the male shadowcat.

"Curious," Twilight absently replied as she used her analysis spell on the device. Looking into the construction of it, she could see some sort of circuitry for controlling and processing electricity, the primary basic function of which seemed to be a countdown for an event.

But what event? she wondered. There were some secondary functions, but they didn't seem to do much other than provide access to or lock down from tampering with the primary duty of the control system. As she traced the nature of the event it was supposed to trigger, she found there was some damage to the system. A device that was supposed to temporarily store a large quantity of electricity was missing.

Oh! There it is over there on the ground! He must've accidently dropped it while working on it, she thought as she teleported it into place and reattached the broken wires.

But then she found another problem with the device: it was missing the item the charge storage device was supposed to act upon. A quick look about the room found it still setting on the large red box, and she teleported it back in place as well.

But if that does what I think it's supposed to do, which is send that cone of metal at high speed into the rest of the sphere of the same metal, however, the lead that's in the tube will keep that from happening! she realized as she teleported the lead out. This guy didn't do a very good job of fixing his device, leaving all those pieces scattered all over! she thought, disappointedly reassessing his evident competence.

Strange, it's still not working, she thought.

Oh! The source of electricity is broken! Twilight realized, fixing it.

"There! That should do it," Twilight said, bringing the device over to the human stallion. "You know, I'm rather surprised at the sloppy way you tried to work on it. It would never have worked properly after the way you did the job. But I fixed it for you," she said, smiling happily.

"Wait—WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'YOU FIXED IT'?!?" Trevar exclaimed.

"FLAMINGSHIT!OUTTATHEWAY!!" Pardus roared, grabbing it with his magic and taking off. With Twilight still holding it, she was spun about and dragged toward the exit as the male shadowcat flew for it before she had a chance to release it.

"Ow!" she cried painfully. "That was very rude!"

"Hey! Give that back!" Rainbow Dash yelled, incensed at both how the shadowcat stole the device and almost injured Twilight in the process. She rushed after the winged panther.

"Wow! This crazy cat's good!" Rainbow Dash muttered as she tried to keep up with Pardus. The twists and turns in the corridors kept her from being able to utilize her full speed, but somehow the shadowcat was easily pulling ahead of her reach.

She did get a little worried when she saw the shadowcat's wings occasionally graze along the walls. Not only did it not slow the creature down much, his wings had actually carved grooves into the rock with showers of sparks! She wasn't sure how easy it would be to kick his tail if it came to a fight if he was that tough, but she wasn't going to let him just get away with stealing the device that clearly belonged to the humans!

Then they got to a section where there was open sky, and instead of continuing on to the library, the shadowcat shot straight up, with Rainbow Dash still hot on his tail.

"Gotcha now, buddy!" Rainbow laughed, knowing she would be able to match him in the wide open.

But the shadowcat had another surprise in store for the blue pegasus when he broke the sound barrier before even clearing the tops of the castle.

"WHOOOAA!" Rainbow Dash cried out, impressed as the shadowcat punched through the dying remains of the storm clouds.

"But if you think you've won, guess again!" she yelled, putting both hoofs forward and pouring on her own speed. "Looks like two can play at this game! HA!" she yelled, also making a Rainbow Boom, although she didn't achieve her speed until she was in the midst of the clouds.

"Where th' heck's he going?" she wondered as the cat continued to rocket straight up into the pre-dawn night sky. If he doesn't start to level out soon and head for his lair, he's going to stall when the air gets too thin, she thought, saving her breath for the chase.

Com'on wings! Com'on wings! … Com'on! … Faster! … Com'on! she kept up the mantra as she pumped them for all she was worth. Com'on! Com' … Com'on! … Faster! ... Keep … 'em … goin'! Com' … Com'on!

She ignored the painful stitch in her sides and wings that soon felt like an intense burning, she ignored the chill and thinness of the air; she only focused on keeping the cat in sight at all costs. But the cool air did eventually help numb the sharp cutting pain in her sides.

Despite pouring all her energy on increasing her own speed, he was still somehow pulling out ahead of her…only…she couldn't keep focused on why she was chasing him.

Then she couldn't keep focused on what she was chasing.

And then she couldn't keep focused on…

Where am I? a stray thought drifted through her brain. What am I doing?

Who am I? What do I want? she wondered still flapping her wings, but losing direction as she did so.

Wh-what are these? she thought, looking at her wings. They finally stopped flapping and she was at last able to get a good view of them. Cool! Where did they come from? she thought, grinning.

Wow—! Itt'n that pretty! she thought seeing all the rainbow colors in the air lit up by the brightness of something hiding behind the curve of the planet.

She floated.

How (NOT) To Dispose Of A Nuke!

"Curious," Twilight said as she telekinetically held the device.

"There! That should do it," Twilight said, bringing the device over to Trevar. "You know, I'm rather surprised at the sloppy way you tried to work on it. It would never have worked properly after the way you did the job. But I fixed it for you," she said, smiling.

"Wait—WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'YOU FIXED IT'?!?" Trevar exclaimed.

Pardus and Panthera both did a quick scan of the tactical nuke and realized it was active again.

'What? That can't be right!'Pardus exclaimed. He looked for the detonator and high explosive that Trevar had removed from the plutonium trigger. It was missing from the top of the tool box! Panthera reported the backup ignition capacitor that Trevar had snapped off the controller board was missing from where Trevar had thrown it on the floor! He then saw the slug of lead from the bullets that had been poured into the shot cavity was now sitting on the floor by the tool box!

"FLAMINGSHIT! OUTTATHEWAY!!" Pardus roared, grabbing it with his tractor beam and launching for the exit. He felt a bit of resistance before he reached the passageway suddenly drop off, and then Panthera warned him the blue pegasus was chasing after him. He didn't have time to talk! Both their sensors agreed with one another: the countdown was at fourteen seconds!

Pardus had the maps that Panthera had developed when she had initially followed the blue pegasus, and he used all the power he could pump into the antigravs and additional tractor beams to pull/push him along the zigzagging route, trying to move faster and faster until he could reach an exit to the sky. Even so, there were a few times his wings scraped along the narrow passageway.

Open sky and eleven seconds remain! Sensors indicated the pegasus had stayed with him the entire run through the corridor.

"Sorry, Little One, but this is where I have to leave you behind" he muttered. Kicking his antigrav into overdrive, he shot straight up and broke Mach 1 before he had gone a few hundred feet. Blasting through the storm clouds that had already begun to dissipate, his sonic boom sped the process. Angling his shields to aid in piercing the atmosphere, he was already at Mach 6.7 and accelerating, ramping up the power being fed to his inertial dampeners and internal antigrav generator. He was effectively doing 323 gs at the moment, and this was only the beginning. It was a good thing that whenever they carried something within their shields, they became the frame of reference. Otherwise, the warhead's explosives would have felt the shock and set it off.

But at that moment, his sensors indicated a disturbance below. Looking down, he was surprised at seeing a prismatic shockwave spreading as the pegasus had somehow broken the sound barrier as well and was still giving chase!

"Impressive! Most impressive!" Pardus said.

Mach 21.25 and nine seconds remain. The pegasus was still following nearly reaching Mach 5 by now.

Mach 47.6 and eight seconds, His altitude at the moment was 17 kilometers. The atmosphere was thinning much faster than back on Earth. It was well below survivability for anything needing lungs. Sensors indicated the pegasus had ceased to follow. She had lasted far longer than expected, making just over Mach 15 before finally giving up at 6760 meters.

Pardus looked down and had to use maximum zoom on his optics in order to spot her.

Correction, she hasn't given up! She's wandering aimless, no doubt due to hypoxia. The altitude she's reached is way too thin to breathe. With the way the air pressure dropped off on this world, it was the equivalent of 12 kilometers on Earth. She's in trouble!

But he couldn't stop to help. He had to dispose of the nuke! Mach 144 and six seconds. 55 kilometers altitude, atmosphere density equal to about 99.5 kilometers back on Earth.

"WHAT THE HELL YOU MEAN 'YOU FIXED IT'?!?" Trevar angrily shouted at the purple—creature, repeating his question.

"HEY! DON'T YA BE YELLIN' AT PRINCESS TWILIGHT!" Applejack yelled, jumping forward to get in Trevar's face.

"Why are you so ungrateful? I analyzed it and found you hadn't done a very good job of repairing it," Twilight Sparkle said, taken aback by Trevar's outrage. "The least you could do is thank me. But that creature stole it, and now we have to get it back!"

"That's a fucking nuke!" Trevar said, pulling back his volume but still trying to get around the orange pony. "I wasn't fixing it! I was intentionally breaking it! I was making sure it would never work! Now we've got less than ten seconds before that thing goes off!"

"BACK OFF, BUCKO!" Applejack hollered, rearing up to put a hoof on Trevar's chest.

"Wait! It's a bad thing if that happens?" Twilight asked, seeming to finally catch some of Trevar's concern. She stepped up to pull Applejack back.

"Uh, yeah! Pardus is risking his life right now trying to get it to a minimum safe distance," Trevar said.

"That's only a ten-kiloton device," Scott said. "A couple miles is all it'll need. But why is that creature taking it?"

"There's the damage to the planet's environment to consider," Trevar shot back. "These creatures have never had to deal with plutonium poisoning or the long term radiation hazards. 'Minimum safe distance' is outside the atmosphere!"

'Panthera! Mark my position and my telemetry!' Trevar heard Pardus send. 'The blue pegasus tried to follow me but she's gone too high. She's at twenty-two thousand feet and is in freefall! I've still got this bloody nuke to deal with. Seven seconds left!'

"Your friend's in trouble!" Panthera suddenly shouted before launching to fly to the exit.

"Rainbow? What's happening?" Twilight exclaimed.

"She's passed out from flying too high," Trevar informed the natives. "Hopefully, Panthera will be able to catch her. Pardus gave her your friend's last known location."

"How d'ya know that?" Applejack demanded.

"Apparently, Mr. Trevar and those—shadowcats—are telepathic with one another," Scott said. "As well as being telekinetic."

Twilight and Applejack blinked at the news.

"You can do magic?" Twilight exclaimed. "B-b-but humans can't do magic!"

"And how would you know that?" Trevar asked, glaring at her. The pegasus-unicorn, the unisus, he reminded himself, nervously gulped.

"I-I-I've been to y-your world," Twilight admitted.

"Hmm, I think we'll need to talk about that later," Trevar said. "Meanwhile, I think we should go out to meet your friend when the shadowcats bring her back. Assuming they're able to find and catch her in time."

"What'd they do ta Rainbow?" Applejack shouted.

"Pardus is flying up out of the atmosphere to get rid of that nuke, but your friend chased him and has gone too far up. She's passed out."

"'N tha' varmint left her ta die!?" Applejack yelled.

"The nuke first! Then your friend! Assuming Pardus isn't killed when that thing goes off," Trevar angrily snapped back. "And the pegasus is at least in freefall from twenty-nine thousand feet. It'll be quite some time before she hits the ground from that height. Besides, Panthera's on her way, so there's a good chance she'll be caught."

Mach 218, minimal orbital altitude, five seconds to go and there's the sun! Pardus noted then blinked in surprise. And—SHIT! That—sun—is awfully damned close!

Fuck it, it'll have to do! he thought, putting his full power into his tractor beam and flung the bomb at maximum acceleration toward the glowing orb. Focusing his graviton emitters, he drove the nuke as hard as he could, pushing it almost to sixteen percent light speed before it was out of range. By his estimation, the nuke would be just over a fifth of the way there when it detonates, not because of anything to do with relativity but because the sun was just that damned close! Just a bit over 273,000 miles! But at least a large portion of the debris would continue on into the body. Most would be scattered about into innumerable long term obits about the system, but at the speed he was able to send it, almost nothing of the blast would come back to the planet.

Satisfied that it was safely on its way, he turned back to the planet so that he could aid in rescuing the stubborn little blue creature. But then the information he got from his sensors, suddenly gave him pause.

First, he was still rising up, but way too fast. He had gone nearly three hundred miles further than he should have by now and wasn't slowing down as gravity ought to be dictating.

Second, the planet itself was a hair shy of 4,460 miles in diameter! 'It's not much bigger than Mars, but it has Earth-normal gravity?' he exclaimed.

Third, he just began detecting a couple of intense graviton beams that were being emitted from an area very close to his launch site. Weirder yet, the beams were somehow bending! They lanced out, narrowly missing him, but now the beams where diverging. One going to this world's rocky moon that was still in the night sky, the other curving about the horizon to latch onto the sun!

Fourth, the moon was suddenly moving!

'Da'fuq?!?' Pardus exclaimed. 'Panthera…? When you get a chance, can you confirm my readings?'

'I was about to ask you the same thing! Am I seeing the moon has suddenly started moving like someone's manually shifting it?' she asked.

'Yeah, I think so,' Pardus replied. 'I'm picking up a hell of a strong graviton emission coming from an area north of your position,' Pardus said, diving for reentry. 'For a moment, there was a second beam coming from the same area and was somehow bending about to latch onto this planet's sun! But it's gone now. Oh, and the sun is not even seventeen forty-seven hundred klicks in diameter and just two seventy-one thousand miles out!'

'That's not possible! Did you get a spectrum reading off of it?'

'Mostly silicon vapor or plasma, but mixed with other stuff! It's almost the same composition as our moon,' Pardus replied as his shields started to glow from reentry. 'But that's no ordinary star, that's for damned sure!'

'I'm now detecting that second graviton beam again!' Pardus said. As he broadcast, the sun started to come around the planet's limb.

'Holy fuck!' Panthera exclaimed.

'Got that pegasus in sight yet?' Pardus inquired when he reached the creature's last known position at twenty-two thousand feet and reduced his speed to subsonic.

'I see her! She's fifteen hundred feet below you in free fall and five miles out bearing 249 relative to you,' Panthera said. 'I'm coming up on her right now.'

'Got you both in sight!' Pardus sent going back to supersonic. 'I'm on my way!'

They reached her at about the same time, and then matched her falling speed so that Panthera could reach out to pull her in.

"She's not breathing!" Panthera exclaimed. "And the air's still too thin for CPR."

"Combine our shields! Reach out as far as we can and grab as much air as possible," Pardus instructed after giving the problem a moment's thought.

"And pull the shields in to compress the air we capture, and then do CPR! Got it!" Panthera said, understanding.

Rainbow Dash gasped and coughed after a couple of puffs were applied to her mouth.

"Huh! That's an interesting feature!" Pardus said, observing how the pegasus' eyes acted when she woke up. "So weird! Their irises can contract, too; and apparently independent of their pupils."

"Heh! I noticed that when I decloaked behind them back in the tunnel!" Panthera said with a laugh.

"Hey, you bunch'a thievin' vultures! Give back that object you stole from the humans, RIGHT NOW!" the blue pegasus yelled when she became aware of where she was.

"And you're welcome!" Pardus said, laughing.

"I'm warnin' you! I'll so kick both of your tails!" the pegasus exclaimed, glaring from one to the other panther.

"First of all, I just saved all of your lives, and kept a nice chunk of real estate from being poisoned for thousands of years," Pardus said. "That object was a bomb that Trevar had disabled until your purple friend unwittingly fixed it and nearly got us all killed!"

"Wha-a-a?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"I manage to get rid of it by tossing it into your sun, before coming back down here to catch you so you wouldn't go splat!" Pardus finished. "Again, you're welcome."

Rainbow Dash looked about and her eyes did that weird double contraction of pupils and irises once more.

"Whoa! I've never been this high before! We shouldn't even b' able ta breathe up here!"

"For a while, you weren't!" Panthera said.

"So—uh—how're we breathin' now?" the pegasus asked.

"We're helping with that," Panthera told her. "Just relax and we'll get you down safely."

"You're a very impressive creature," Pardus said. "We've never encountered a biologic who could break the sound barrier at will without protective machinery."

"Well, if it's all the same to you, I'll—" the equine began, trying to pull away from Panthera's embrace, but was interrupted by both Panthera tightening her grip and Pardus laying a paw on her side with claws outstretched.

"Belay that. Right now, you have two choices," Pardus said, growling as his eyes flared with a red aura. "You can either relax and enjoy the trip down, or—" He looked off to the side and fired off his eye beams set to stun. The beam lanced out to stop at their enveloping shields. "Or, you can relax and not enjoy it!" he emphasized as he looked back at the pegasus with his eyes still glowing. "Your decision."

"Uh—I'll-l-l-l take door number—one?" Rainbow Dash ventured with a nervous gulp.

"Good choice," Pardus said, grinning. But he left his paw laid on her and his eyes remained powered up. Just in case.

"I can't believe you're with the NSA," Scott said as they came out of the Castle. "No one who works for them would ever trust a nuke with a strange alien they just met!"

"Well, I've certainly have got a better reason to trust those cats than I do you," Trevar said, pretty much ignoring the lieutenant's argument that had begun once they started out of the chamber. "They neither tried to blow me up with a nuke, nor tried to stop me from disarming it."

"Then how do you explain—" Scott started in again, but was interrupted by Trevar rounding on her.

"Truth be told, Lieutenant," Trevar began, "I never said I was with the NSA. In fact, I'm not even sure the person your colonel spoke to even told him I was."

"Just who the hell are you?" she demanded.

"Think about it for a moment. If I were NSA, then just about everything I've told you would be a lie. It is what their job entails, after all. However, I've not spoken one single lie to you whatsoever for the entire time we've been together," Trevar said with a smirk.

"Are you a terrorist?!?" Scott yelled.

"I am, what would be properly called, a renegade vigilante, thank you," Trevar responded with a mock bow. "Mostly, I focus on organized crime and illegal narcotics. But sometimes, I operate as a freelance anti-terror agent to stop several little matters that would've made 9-11 look like a minor act of vandalism. Or sometimes as a troubleshooter, for such little problems like what you guys cooked up at your base. And the clearance needed to know who I really am is way above the paygrade of anyone in the government. Including and especially you," Trevar finished.

"What, like—Batman?" she asked, laughing.

"Hmm—more like—'Bat-Lizard'," Trevar wispily said.

"And you've got your own set of warp coils?"

"Yep. Like I said, several in fact."

"And you know how to disarm nukes, too?" she asked.

"Yep. Like I said, they're pretty simple and straightforward."

"If you've got all that, you could've been a multibillionaire! Then why that 'renegade vigilante' lifestyle, as you call it?"

"Because how I learned about building warp coils and all that goes with it would raise too many questions," Trevar grimly responded. "If they ever caught me, I'd be facing several murder charges. Whoop-dee-doo. But if I ever revealed that technology, eventually, they'd force me to explain where I got it from. And should I do, then they'd really be after my blood! I'd be hunted more for far worse than I'm being hunted for my freelance work."

"And where exactly did you get it?" she demanded.

"Let's just say—those shadowcats and these talking ponies aren't the first confirmed evidence I came across that proves 'we're not alone'," Trevar said glaring at her.

"Personally, I'm still calling you a terrorist!" she spat.

"Wutevah," Trevar sighed.

The natives, for their part, kept silent as they proceeded, obviously listening to every word that was being said. When they passed through some of the hallway with the damaged overhead, the ponies expressed delight. The sun had risen and the storm clouds were dissipating, but other than that, they kept silent.

He wasn't too awfully concerned, at least not about the lieutenant. She would be dead about the time the ship arrived to pick him up. There might be some possible problems with the natives, though. But at least for the time being, his companions could pass for possible natives that they just hadn't seen before, so he had that going for him. Anything that the lieutenant would bring up, she would more likely have to face the consequences for such than he would. It was her nuke, after all.

"There's good news," the Trevar said, turning to them. "They've caught your friend. She suffered some injury but she seems to be doing well for the moment. I suggest you have whatever physicians you have check her over."

"Oh! That's great news!" Twilight exclaimed. "Can you tell us what happed to her?"

"The cold and the thin air had gotten to her," Trevar said, continuing to walk. "She wasn't breathing when they got to her, but she immediately woke up with CPR and they say she doesn't seem to have taken any noticeable brain damage from it. I know it sounds serious, and yes it should be treated as such. But Panthera said your pegasus friend was flying erratically just before they reached her, so she must've still been breathing up until she started to free fall."

The Equestrians were initially shocked by the news then visibly relieved.

"Oh my goodness!" Rarity exclaimed. "I hope she'll be alright!"

"The damned thing must be a regular Chuck Yeager," Trevar said with a laugh. "She sure stretched The Envelope to the breaking point!"

"Hey! Tha's no way to talk 'bout our friend!" Applejack shouted.

"No! That didn't sound at all very nice!" Rarity agreed.

"Actually, General Charles Yeager is a hero on our world," Lieutenant Scott spoke up. "He was the first man to break the sound barrier where we come from."

"Oh! A general?" Rarity squealed. "That does sound good!"

"Heh! Don' nopony say nuttin' to her 'bout being called a gen'ral!" Applejack muttered with a chuckle. "Rainbow's head's swelled 'nuff as is."

"Although, what the lieutenant said isn't entirely accurate," Trevar spoke up. "Yeager is just the first human to break the sound barrier—and live! Others had broken the barrier before, but they all died when their planes broke up or they lost control and crashed."

"That's horrible!" Twilight said astonished. "When did all that happen?"

"Let's see…Yeager broke the barrier in 1947, some ninety-one years ago," Trevar explained. "The very first time the barrier was broken is rumored to have been shortly before jets were created during a really bad war just a few years before but no one knows who or the exact date. However, all we do know that, if it was true, the poor bastards didn't live long. Of course, because everybody now had had jets, and once the war was finally over, the effort to break Mach 1 got serious. Of course, the records are more complete from there. There were lots of crashes until Yeager finally managed to bring it home.

"And the old buzzard's still around, as far as I know. He's currently supposed to be the oldest human still living. Never got a chance to meet him, but I'd love to have the opportunity. He's quite the character, from all accounts. Back home, they started naming bridges, roads, and airports after him. He once talked about how they normally name such things only after dead people and that he was worried that someone was trying to tell him something," he finished with a grin.

But their discussion was brought to an abrupt end when they saw a couple unisi approaching from the air.

"Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!" the purple one suddenly exclaimed and took the lead to greet the newcomers.

SUNRISE SHOCKWAVE!

"Valorious morning, Celie!" Princess Luna happily greeted Celestia when the day-time ruler stepped out on the platform in preparation for their daily ritual of lowering the moon and raising the sun.

"Good morning, Luna," Princess Celestia responded in kind. "How was your watch?"

"Quiet and uneventful," Luna replied, but her tone carried her unease.

"Is something the matter?" Celestia asked, picking up on her sister's concern.

"That—storm—that we has't noted o'er the Everfree forest these past few days," Luna began. "It disturbs Us."

"Has it encroached any further into our territory through the night?" Celestia inquired. "The pegasi said they were having trouble keeping it at bay from the border with Ponyville yesterday evening."

"We has't been watching their efforts," Luna said. "The storm has't crossed our boundaries to fully hitteth Ponyville within the last couple hours, but it apparently hath begun to weaken and is doing so fast. What concerns Us is the reports from the pegasi about the nature of yonder beast."

"Ah, yes," Celestia said nodding. "How it doesn't seem to be a normal storm at all. It is disturbing, indeed. How are the pegasi holding up? Have there been any injuries?"

"None, although, We has't hath taken a report that the Element of Loyalty hath been absent her duties in the emergency. In fact, she hath not been seen for these past four days."

"Rea—?" Celestia began to react, but was interrupted by the concussive sound of a rainbow boom. They both turned to look and saw the prismatic shockwave rapidly approaching and a second concussive blast was heard as the wave passed by. They saw the streaking rainbow contrail rising straight up from deep within the Everfree, about the location of their old castle. That could only mean that Rainbow Dash had been involved with fighting it, despite the reports from the weather patrol. The double shockwave apparently had damaged the cohesiveness of the storm, and the two princesses could see the clouds were already breaking up in the center of the cloud mass.

"Well, it would appear that perhaps Twilight Sparkle and the others had been working to put an end to the bad weather, after all," Celestia sighed with relief. "I look forward to reading their report."

"As doth We, sister," Luna added. "We doth not like the feeling We has't at which hour viewing that phenomena. But alloweth us perform our office this morning, so that We may retire."

Celestia and Luna focused their power through their horns and reached out with their magic to their respective orbs. But as they reached out, they each felt something odd.

Luna sensed the presence of something beyond the atmosphere just off of the edge of her beam she sent to the moon. As it was not directly in her path, she did not falter in performing her task. If it was still there when she was finished, then she would look deeper into the matter.

Just then, there was another concussive sound again coming from the south.

"What could that has't been?" Luna wondered. She was already looking in that general direction and there had not been the usual prismatic shockwave approaching, nor could she see Rainbow Dash's colorful contrail.

On the other hoof, Celestia detected an object when she reached out with her magic to grab the sun to start the day. It was so small, it almost escaped her notice, but she did realize there was something there only at the last moment. When she looked closer, she saw it was metallic, definitely artificial, and was traveling so fast, she had little time to react other than to know it was heading straight for the sun's surface!

It was moving so fast, she didn't know if she could pull it back in time. Still, she quickly shifted her beam to try and grab the object, but the moment she did so, it exploded!

"No!" Celestia gasped in shock. There had been no time to see if there were beings on the object. She couldn't even be sure just how big it was, but it could easily had been a starship of some sort.

She dropped her magical charge in her horn and shed a tear for whatever creatures that may have lost their lives due to her being too slow to react. But who could've anticipated seeing a spacecraft deliberately plunge into their star?

"Celie?" Luna inquired, hearing her sister cry out. "Is anything the matter?" Luna asked with concern, now seeing the tears streaming down Celestia's cheek.

"I hope not," Celestia replied. "I just saw an object flying straight for the sun. It exploded before I could catch it. I don't know if any creature was on board it. It all happened too fast for me to react."

"A spacecraft?" Luna exclaimed astonished.

"I'm not certain. It may have only been a probe or it may have been the main ship," Celestia said. "As I said, it happened too quickly to get any details about it. It was still about a million and a half furlongs from the sun, but it was going so fast, it only had fourteen seconds before it would hit. I tried to make a grab for it, but it exploded just as I did. We should scan the sky for signs of anything out there! If it was a probe, there must be a mother ship that sent it. But if it was the main craft that fell into the sun, hopefully there are survivors in an escape pod of some kind."

"We didst sense an odd strangeness in the heavens when We hath reached out to set the moon, as though my magic nearly brushed against something," Luna said, considering where to start searching. "High above us but toward the south."

They sent out their magic to search and were rewarded with not just one object, but three! One was still outside the atmosphere but coming down fast, while another was accelerating up into the sky as though it had come from their old castle. The two objects did not seem to be alive, so far as their magic could detect. However, to their surprise, the third object they felt that was between the other two to which they were apparently converging was alive and none other than a well-known pegasus pony! And the life force within her was rapidly fading!

"Rainbow Dash!" Celestia cried out.

"Apace, Celie! We shalt has't needeth of the sun to aid in our search!" Luna yelled as she launched into the air.

Immediately, Celestia used her magic to raise the sun. It was a sloppy job, but it would suffice for now. The refinement to the sun's positioning could be done later, after Rainbow Dash was rescued. Their scans had detected her in free fall and way, way too high for any pegasus to have safely reached there to start with.

Celestia then teleported into the sky to join her sister Luna in flying toward their old home. Then together, they teleported the rest of the way, hoping they would be in time.

Celestia and Luna both appeared above their old castle and sighted several of the Elements of Harmony walking out, accompanied by two humans!

"There's good news," the slightly bigger of the two creatures said as he turned to face Twilight Sparkle. "They've caught your friend. She suffered some injury but she seems to be doing well for the moment. I suggest you have whatever physicians you have check her over."

"Oh! That's great news!" Twilight exclaimed. "Can you tell us what happed to her?"

"The cold and the thin air had gotten to her," the male, resuming his walk to leave the ruins. "She wasn't breathing when they got to her, but she immediately woke up with CPR and they say she doesn't seem to have taken any noticeable brain damage from it. I know it sounds serious, and it should be treated as such. Panthera said your pegasus friend was flying erratically just before they reached her, so she must've still been breathing up until she started to free fall."

"Sister! Didst thou hear?" Luna excitedly whispered.

"Indeed!" Celestia responded with all her hope. She focused on the sky above them and sent out her magic. The three figures were indeed traveling together at a fast but controlled descent. Furthermore, Rainbow Dash's life force was back to full strength! But it was so odd…the other two figures still seemed to have no life signatures whatsoever. She had never encountered anything like this—even Timberwolves had—something.

"Yes, it appears true!" Celestia said. Let us hover for a bit to learn more of what's going on."

"Sister—doth thou not receiveth the strangest feelings from the beings accompanying the Element of Loyalty?" Luna asked. "We canst not sense any life those folk!"

"Indeed! I'm sensing the same thing!" Celestia said.

"Let's join them, but keep our senses open on Rainbow Dash's progress," she added. "The human mentioned two individuals by name. They may be the figures currently with her. Curious that we can't detect their life force. Furthermore, I'm getting the oddest feeling about him, as well."

Twilight's heart only started beating again at the conclusion of the human's report.

"Oh my goodness!" Rarity exclaimed. "I hope she'll be alright!"

"The damned thing must be a regular Chuck Yeager," the male human said laughing. "She sure stretched The Envelope to the breaking point."

"Hey! Tha's no way to talk 'bout our friend!" Applejack shouted.

"No! That didn't sound at all very nice!" Rarity agreed.

"Actually, General Charles Yeager is a hero on our world," the apparent human mare spoke up. "He was the first man to break the sound barrier where we come from."

"Oh! A general?" Rarity squealed. "That does sound good!"

"Heh! Don' nopony say nuttin' to Rainbow 'bout being called a gen'ral!" Applejack muttered with a chuckle. "Her head's swelled 'nuff as is."

"Although, what the lieutenant said isn't entirely accurate," the male added. "Yeager is just the first human to break the sound barrier—and live! Others had broken the barrier before, but they all died when their planes broke up or they lost control and crashed."

"That horrible!" Twilight exclaimed in astonishment. "When did all that happen?"

"And the old buzzard's still around, as far as I know. He's currently supposed to be the oldest human still living. Never got a chance to meet him, but I'd love to have the opportunity. He's quite the character, from all accounts. Back home, they named bridges, roads, and airports after him. He once talked about how they normally name such things only after dead people and that he was worried that someone was trying to tell him something."

"Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!" Twilight Sparkle suddenly called out as the two circled about to land in front of the group.

"Twilight! How are you doing?" Celestia greeted. "I suspected that you would be here and managed to find some way of ending that storm! I look forward to your report."

"Oh-uhhh, we—uh—we didn't stop the storm," Twilight had to admit, not at all understanding how Celestia could think she had.

"Thee didst not?" Luna asked. "But we both witnessed the Element of Loyalty smashing through the heart of the monster just moments ago! If't be true 'twas not for the purpose of dispatching these clouds, then pray telleth what wast it for? And wherefore wast Loyalty's life in distress by being too high for any pegasus to fly?"

"It's—a little complicated," Twilight responded, not really understanding all that transpired.

"These two humans came through a portal within the castle," she said. "They met a couple of shadowcats, and one of the creatures suddenly took off with a bomb the humans had brought with them. Rainbow Dash set off in pursuit, but it seems the shadowcat was trying to save everypony. We then heard that Rainbow Dash was in trouble and now we just got word that the shadowcats are about to bring her back safe and sound."

"Hello," the human male stepped forward. "My name's Allec Trevar. This is Lieutenant Melisa Scott. She's a member of one of my world's defense organizations. We seemed to have gotten ourselves stranded on the wrong side of a warp tunnel that had momentarily linked our worlds."

Luna gasped at hearing his name.

Celestia blinked in surprise. She had had an odd feeling about him as they had clandestinely watched from above and behind them. But now facing him, she finally understood what it was that made her uneasy. She could always tell when somepony or some being was lying to her, but she was stunned to be getting absolutely no reading from him, either for the truth or for a lie!

"What is this I hear about a bomb?" she angrily demanded.

"That wasn't my doing," Trevar said, momentarily glaring at the lieutenant. "I'm not really sure if was hers, either. She was, after all, only acting on orders from her superiors.

"The bomb was supposed to explode and shut down the warp coils that were maintaining the portal," Trevar explained. "Except that would have been a huge mistake. Fortunately, the tunnel apparently closed down on its own and I was able to disarm the weapon. We were about to dispose of it when Number Seven here reactivated it!" Trevar finished, glaring at Twilight Sparkle.

"'Number Seven?'" Twilight demanded, not certain if she was being insulted in some fashion. Given the human's evident anger at her, she was, but she couldn't figure out the reference in order to take offense.

"Is this true, Twilight?" Celestia asked, astonished.

"Uh—I'm afraid it's at least partially true," Twilight admitted with a nervous gulp. "There was a device that we saw Allec working on. I had performed a magical scan on it to try to figure out its purpose, but it seemed that Allec hadn't fixed it properly, and I thought I could understand it better by fixing it. It—wasn't until after one of the shadowcats took off with it that Allec explained what the device was and that he had intentionally broken it."

"What art these—'shadowcats'—thou speaketh of?" Luna demanded.

"They are a pair of—well—big—winged panthers!" Twilight explained. "I've never seen their like before, but apparently, they can camouflage themselves. Moreover, they seem to be made completely out of equustite. One of them saved us from some Timberwolves before going down the passageway to where the portal had been. The other was there with the humans when we arrived. And not long after we got there, it turned out the female shadowcat had slipped behind us somehow and was stalking us the whole time!

"Well, when I fixed the device," Twilight continued, "the male shadowcat yanked it out of my grip and took off with it. That's when Rainbow Dash gave chase, and then the female took off when Allec told us that Rainbow was in trouble."

"Are these shadowcats friends of yours?" Celestia asked Trevar.

"They seemed friendly enough while they were here," Trevar said with a shrug after taking a moment to think about it. "And the male didn't take offense when the lieutenant here tried to shoot him. I know that I'd be more than a bit upset if something like that happened to me. Also, they did seem to understand about what the nuke was, so when Number Seven here reactivated it, Pardus hauled ass to get it the fuck out of here! There was only eighteen seconds left on the timer when I had shut it down the first time."

"Is this true?" Celestia angrily demanded of the other human.

"Uh—yes, ma'am," Lieutenant Scott replied, startled at being addressed so. "So far as I know, yes. Although, I do find it strange that Mr. Trevar seems to have quite a bit in common with those creatures. They all three seem to have strong telekinetic ability and they all claim to be telepaths, as well. Plus, he seemed genuinely concerned with the wellbeing of the one that took off with the weapon."

Celestia blinked again, surprised. She had almost expected the other creature to also be able to hide its honesty. Quite the opposite, in fact. The creature obviously didn't believe her own account, despite her spell indicating she was actually telling the truth!

"As well as anyone should be!" Trevar testily responded. "He needlessly risked his life to save everyone here! And as for myself, I do tend to make some of the oddest friends pretty quickly. The cats obviously didn't come through the warp tunnel with us, since it shut down the moment we stepped through, so they had to have already been here. Then the doorway shut down and Pardus didn't show himself until after I had stopped the countdown on your weapon. But then, Panthera didn't appear until all these mini-horses bolted out of the corridor."

"PONIES!" Twilight and the others all instantly corrected him, to the amusement of the other two princesses.

"Well, yeah, that's all true," Scott sheepishly admitted when she regained her composure after the outburst.

However, Celestia was flabbergasted. Again, she could tell the human mare was telling the truth as the creature understood the situation, but she could get no reading, lie or truth, from her stallion. From the viewpoint of the spell, it was as if he didn't even exit!

"Pardon me for asking," Trevar spoke up, "but do you know there's a portion of a large warp drive down there? It's a series of thirty-two circular rings all standing up on edge, each ring is about—yea-wide," he held his hands apart about thirty-some inches apart, "their walls are so thick," again gesturing with his hands the distance, "and they are several times our height in diameter."

"Yes, I am aware of what you've described, and what it's capable of," Celestia replied after carefully considering the risk of acknowledging the system. Obviously, the creatures were aware of its nature, so she decided to do so.

"Art thou saying the portal through which thee traveled involved them?" Luna inquired with alarm.

"I'm afraid so," the creature replied. "As I explained, the lieutenant's people had built a set of their own on our world and there was a malfunction that linked our planets together."

"'Twas a severe malfunction, forsooth!" Luna exclaimed. Celestia grimly nodded in agreement.

"Well, I wasn't involved with the construction," the male creature said, shrugging his shoulders. "If I was, I would certainly have made sure they never built it like that! But I did arrive just in time to help shut it down before it did too much damage to both our worlds."

"I see," Celestia neutrally replied, still irritated that she could not get any sort of reading from this human.

"So I have a question for you. I can assume that you're familiar with a high level of medical expertise?" the human inquired. "I ask, because one of your people was injured a short time ago, and I'm very much concerned for her wellbeing. She's a pegasus that the shadowcats are bringing down as we speak. She flew way too high and passed out. When the shadowcats were able to catch her, she wasn't breathing. However, they don't think she suffered too much time without oxygen as the pegasus was still consciously flying, if a bit erratic, shortly before they rescued her."

"I see," Celestia sighed, with both relief and concern.

"I advise you to ground her from flying until she's properly examined and determined to not have been—well, it's difficult to express it without sounding callus or morbid, but—determined she wasn't permanently affected by the experience."

"I understand your concern," Celestia finally responded. "Thank you for your consideration. I will take your advice seriously."

"Sister!" Luna cried out, getting Celestia's attention. The white alicorn looked up to see three figures descending. Two large, black winged leonine creatures had the nervous azure pegasus held tightly in their grasp.

"And here she is, back safe and somewhat sound," one of the creatures announced. Only once they all three were on the ground, did the winged panthers release Rainbow Dash from their grasp.

"Rainbow Dash! Are you okay?" Twilight cried.

Once she was released, Rainbow Dash tried to lift off, but suddenly found her hooves forcefully slamming back to the earth.

"NO!" the human male yelled at her, marching right up to the blue pegasus. "Until she says so, you're grounded! That means NO FLYING!" he said, indicating Celestia.

How did he—? Celestia wondered.

"Er—okay?" Rainbow uncertainly responded. Then, when Twilight rushed up, Rainbow regained her normal enthusiasm.

"Hey! Twilight!" the pegasus excitedly began, "As they were bringing me down, they told me that they saw I had managed to get to fifteen times the speed of sound! A new record! HOW AWESOME IS TH—? HEY!!" she was saying flapping her wings, but was interrupted by suddenly being forced back to the ground again as well as the human using his hand to swat her on the back of the head. Instantly, all the ponies tensed, including the two rulers.

"I said, NO FLYING!" the human yelled at her, ignoring the audible gasps from everypony. "You've no right to be compared to Chuck Yeager, if you don't wake up RIGHT NOW! YOU ALMOST DIED UP THERE!"

"Okay! Okay!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, seeing that nopony was jumping in to intervene. His words evidently carried more authority to justify them not responding to his slapping her. Of course, it didn't hurt, but it was surprising and very insulting.

"Uh—who's Chuck Yeager?" Rainbow ventured to ask.

"In my world, he's the first human to successfully break the sound barrier some ninety-some odd years ago," the human male told her. "There's a difference between 'pushing the envelope' and 'breaking it'. But you just about shredded it! Yeager's still alive only because he didn't take foolish risks. You probably don't even remember reaching Mach fifteen, do you? Well, if you want it to mean something, don't ever pull a stunt like that again and get yourself killed!"

"Uh, okay," Rainbow Dash meekly replied.

"Now report to Number Nine, over there," the human said, pointing at Celestia. "She'll get you medically checked out, and when you're cleared, then you can fly again."

"'Number Nine'?!? 'Number Seven'?!?" Twilight angrily exclaimed before anypony could respond. "What are you talking about? That's Princess Celestia! And I'm not a Number! I am a pony! My name is Twilight Sparkle!"

"Black, Brown, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, Gray, White, Gold, Silver, None!" the human suddenly rapidly recited. "Now, I have a riddle for you: what starts with two hundred thirty-four thousand, five hundred sixty-seven and ends with seven hundred sixty-five thousand, four hundred and thirty-two, but is only six in the middle, plus or minus nine thousand, two hundred and forty-six percent?"

The moment he finished, the two shadowcats burst out laughing so hard they were soon rolling on the ground. The ponies were shocked speechless.

"Th-th-that would make Celestia nine, plus or minus five percent!" one of the shadowcats said, trying to get control of its amusement.

"And that other one would be zero, plus or minus ten percent! Awesome!" the female spoke up, only for them both to resume their guffaws.

For his part, the human male remained quietly waiting for an answer, but the female human looked as confused as everypony else.

Celestia and Luna looked at each other in puzzlement.

"They dare callest Us a Zero?" Luna whispered, incensed.

"And me, Nine, plus or minus five per—?" Celestia whispered back, but then her mind clicked. "Wait! What did the human say at the beginning? That list of colors! It started with black! White was the tenth he mentioned, but if white is nine, then perhaps black is zero! And remember, he kept calling Twilight Seven, but violet was eighth in his list! Don't you see?" she whispered to Luna, nodding her head toward the human. Beside him, stood Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle.

"Loyalty!" Luna excitedly whispered. "Oh! How clever! And that extra bit about percents, it must refer to our cutie marks! Loyalty's is a white cloud with a red, yellow, and blue lightning bolt! But those other colors that gent mentioned: gold, silver, and none?"

"He called me Nine, plus or minus five percent, and you Zero, plus or minus ten," Celestia responded. "So it must be something special about those numbers to have additional colors. Gold refers to my cutie mark, and silver to yours."

"'Tis curious how those shadowcats wast able to analyze his riddle so apace," Luna muttered.

"Very," Celestia agreed. "But they did seem surprised by his puzzle to be laughing so."

Both of them began chuckling in earnest, getting the attention of the other ponies. The winged panthers by then had recovered from their own mirth and were patiently waiting.

"We have your answer," Celestia spoke up. "Zero, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Five, Ten, and we have no information for what is None. Rainbow Dash starts with red through violet in her mane and ends with violet through red in her tail, while she, being blue, is Six in the middle. The plus or minus nine thousand, two hundred and forty-six percent is her cutie mark!" The human was smiling, obviously pleased.

"Hey! I kinda like the sound of that!" Rainbow Dash chuckled.

"Wait, what?" Twilight Sparkle asked, perplexed.

"He called you Seven, Twilight, which is violet," Celestia explained. "Gray was not used, but it's position can only mean it is supposed to be Eight. Again, the last word you mentioned in your list was None, for which we have no information."

"None would be twenty percent," the human male replied smiling as he gave a little bow. "It's an old encoding that had various uses in my world, chief of which, saved space in situations where writing would be impractical."

"Quite clever," Luna praised.

"I'm glad I was able to entertain," the human male responded, bowing also to her.

Trevar, Luna thought, frowning. There was something she tried to recall…something from the past…something about this human stallion….she had heard of his name before…..but from where?

Someone's Lying!

"I'm afraid we have not been properly introduced," the large white unisus said, addressing Panthera and Pardus. "I am Princess Celestia, and this is my sister, Princess Luna. We rule Equestria together. I don't believe I'm familiar with your kind," Trevar's two friends looked at each other and smiled before turning back to her. "Nopony has ever heard of creatures such as you."

"We have to wonder why that could be," Pardus said, as the two cats momentarily activating their cloaks before finally leaving it off. The demonstration was quite explicit: creatures capable of cloaking as they were able could easily have existed alongside them all this time.

"I am Pardus, and this is my sister, Panthera," Pardus said formally to the two rulers.

"But then, we've not seen others like ourselves for as long as we can remember, either," Panthera said.

"Although, we have to admit, we are recently arrived to this area," Pardus explained. "One never knows what one might find when coming to a new location. While we were exploring these ruins, we saw the humans come through the portal. It had been open for several days," he added, producing a holographic image of the warp coils, the lightning storm within the chamber and showing the moment when Trevar and Scott came through from Earth.

Celestia and Luna's eyes were wide with fright at seeing the representation, and Celestia gasped in shock at when the last remaining control crystal came out of its holder and fell only to shatter. But the scene revealed that all the other crystals that had evidently been a part of the control system and had also been damaged, whether caused by the incident of the warp tunnel or previously was unknown at this time.

"Without those crystals, there will be no means of ever using those warp coils again!" Celestia exclaimed. "They're irreplaceable!"

"We were coming through the portal to try and shut down the warp tunnel from this end," Trevar said, speaking up. "Scott's people tried to shut the system down from our side, but there was a tremendous power flow as a result of the link."

"So—uh—what caused all that lightning?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"The nearest as I can guess is that there was a large charge difference between our two worlds," Trevar explained. "Our sun sends out particles that slowly strips away the electrons in our planet's atmosphere. Eventually, the charge difference gets great enough to begin pulling the electrons from the ground. The net effect is slowly, over billions of years, our world has a huge electron deficit. No doubt the same must happen to your world, but at a different rate. But then, when the warp tunnel was established, my world began pulling electrons from here. Since both sets of warp coils were getting their power from here, it was impossible to shut down the tunnel at our end. It also was causing a powerful and very odd storm on our planet."

"Same here!" Rainbow Dash said. "And it really felt weird! It felt like the storm was actually in the ground instead of the air!"

"No doubt it was," Trevar replied.

"So shutting it down was the reason you brought a bomb through the portal?" Celestia asked.

"No. It was the reason she brought the bomb through the portal," Trevar quickly responded, snapping a glare at Scott. "Unfortunately, her team didn't really think it through on so many levels. They were in a panic mode, and they didn't have a very good understanding of warp physics.

"It was very fortunate for us all that I showed up when I did," Trevar said. "If that device had gone off the way they planned, both of our worlds would already have been destroyed!"

"What sort of bomb was it that could have so much power?" Luna demanded.

"A nuclear bomb," Trevar replied. When this didn't seem to register, he went on. "It used a plutonium mass to provide its energy." This still didn't appear to give them any understanding, so he added, "I don't know what you'd call it. Water is made up of two elements: two atoms of what we call hydrogen and one of oxygen. Hydrogen has one proton and normally no neutrons at the core of its atom, while oxygen has eight of each. The plutonium that was used in the bomb is an element with ninety-four protons." THAT REGISTERED!

"WHAT?!?" all three of the horny pegasi angrily exclaimed.

"It was actually a very weak weapon of its type, but what would have happen when it destroyed the warp coils at this end, the tunnel would have essentially amplified its blast capability to the point where this location would be ground zero for a crater punching well into your planet's mantle."

"Yes! I'm quite aware of what that would have done to our world!" Celestia hissed, obviously not pleased.

"But they weren't aware," Trevar said, pointing his thumb back at Scott. "And they had no idea that it would have destroyed our planet as well! It wasn't their intention to destroy either world. As I said, they were operating in a pure panic mode."

"So what hath becometh of the weapon?" Luna demanded.

"I threw it into your sun," Pardus replied speaking up.

"That was you?" Celestia exclaimed.

"I—uh—maybe—? Are we speaking of the same incident?" Pardus inquired, puzzled that the creatures could possibly have been aware of the situation to have that sort of reaction. But it was wise to never commit oneself until one was sure of the topic being discussed.

"I was about to raise the sun this morning when I detected an object plunge into the sun and explode," Celestia said.

"That was you?" Pardus and Panthera both exclaimed.

"We saw the moon suddenly shift as the result of a powerful graviton beam," Panthera spoke up. "Did you do that, as well?"

"We control the moon," Luna explained. "Our sister controls the sun."

"Oh, I see," Panthera said, a little puzzled. "And your other sister is Twilight Sparkle, here, correct?"

"Huh?" the three unisi asked, evidently not sure how a breakdown in communications happened.

"Oh! Please pardon Us—pardon me!" Luna finally said, giggling. "I am a thousand years out of date with my language. I should have said, I control the moon, and my sister, Celestia, controls the sun. And while it would be our pleasure to have Princess Twilight as a sister, she is not. Although she is sister-in-law to our niece."

"Speaking of which, sister," Luna spoke up once more, "thou hast better finish adjusting thy sun."

"She was in a great haste this morning when we realized the Element of Loyalty was in danger," Luna explained to the visitors.

"I beg your pardon. Come again?" Pardus asked.

"That would be Rainbow Dash," Celestia clarified.

The tall white unisus then stood apart from the others and focused on staring at the sun. Then she closed her eyes and her horn began to glow.

'Holy fuck!' Panthera and Pardus both exclaimed. 'She really is the source of one of those powerful graviton beams! The gravitons are forming from some other particle that we—we're having trouble detecting them, but they're there!—And she's pulling in an enormous amount of those odd particle in from the environment and focusing it through her horn!'

'And no doubt this Luna must be the source of that other beam,' Pardus added.

'This is the so-called 'magic', they're talking about?' Trevar inquired.

'Quite likely,' Panthera agreed. 'Reviewing the readings I got when Twilight and Rarity were putting up their shields and tractor beams show those force beams had the same origin. I just hadn't paid attention to those initial particles at the time. But now that I know what to look for….'

"That should do it," Celestia said as she finished.

"I'm—going to need to step away for a bit," Pardus said as several large stones were suddenly ripped out of the ground and levitated in front of him. The winged panther launched up into the sky and both he and the rocks vanished before getting too far away.

"Whither goest he?" Luna demanded.

"My brother said he just needs to take some time to check his weight and play with those rocks for a little while," Panthera said. "He sometimes takes off like that when some puzzle catches his attention. Personally, I think he's been eating too much sugar. He'll be back shortly."

"Oh, you can never have too much sugar!" Pinkie Pie suddenly exclaimed.

"Yes you can!" Scott suddenly spoke up. "I'm diabetic! Too much sugar will kill me!"

The two leading unisi gasped in shock.

"What? Shit!" Trevar exclaimed. "You're going to need a source of insulin! What the hell were you thinking coming along with me?"

"As you said," Scott said after a few moments, "the effects of the warp field will be like radiation poisoning. I figured dying when I run out of insulin would be a more merciful way to go."

"I see," Trevar finally said.

"What do you mean, 'she's dying'?" Celestia demanded.

"The warp tunnel at our end was shaking space itself," Trevar explained. "There are particles that make up our protons and neutrons; we call them quarks. They got shaken up from the field. Both of us were affected, but I only got a few hours' worth exposure. I should be able to survive. But she—and her comrades—they had been there for four days. When our quarks eventually return to their ground state, she and her friends will all die. I estimated she's got a couple months or so, but with her diabetes involved, not much of anything!"

Celestia's horn glowed for a few moments and a similar colored aura surrounded both Trevar and Scott.

"That's very puzzling," Celestia muttered but continued to scan the humans. Her face appeared to turn a combination of sorrow and grimness when she finished. "Your estimate on Lieutenant Scott's core structure would appear to be correct. She does only have a couple months, at best, to live," Celestia said. "However, your evaluation for yourself would appear to be incorrect. You are also dying. I estimate you'll die after about three or four years. It may have once been possible to heal the both of you with our magic, but unfortunately, so much of our skills were lost over the millennia. Neither I nor my sister have the skills to fix you."

"Hmm," Trevar grunted. "Well, it'll be an interesting experiment, then," he muttered.

"It would seem to be a very odd coincidence, indeed," Celestia said. Then she cocked her head at him.

"To what 'experiment' were you speaking of, may I ask?" she demanded.

"Hmm? Oh, as to whether I will die or not," Trevar absently muttered. He was very interested in seeing if the Gateway would fix his quarks. He was planning on doing at least two changes as soon as he had the opportunity.

"Panthera, may I have your permission to scan you?" the white alicorn asked.

"But of course," the shadowcat replied.

'Uh-oh!' Trevar sent. 'She's gonna know!'

'Possibly,' Panthera agreed.

"Very odd," Celestia muttered. "You also have been affected by the warp field. And it would appear by the same amount as Trevar. Presumably, your brother will have been affected to the same degree as well."

"However, I know the damage being done to matter was much less at this end," Trevar spoke up. "Could it be possible they were exposed for a longer time but from a weaker field and still show the same type of damage?"

"We did spend our entire time here watching this end of the passageway when we arrived until they came through and the tunnel shut. But it was going quite strong when we arrived," Panthera admitted.

"It is possible," Celestia admitted. "There's only one way to find out. I'll need to inspect the damage to the system."

"But with you shadowcats being composed of nothing but equustite, I cannot estimate the effects the warp field has had on you. The crystal nature of normal equustite actually strengthens when subjected to the stresses of this type of phenomena. I have absolutely no idea how your amorphic form will react when your core stabilizes," she finished.

"Then, as Trevar remarked, it shall be an interesting experiment," Panthera said, to which Celestia nodded.

"Now, what is this 'diabetes', you speak of?" she asked.

Trevar held out his hand, and Panthera projected a set of holographic images above it, letting everyone think it was Trevar actually doing it. One item was the Periodic Table, the other a 3D graphical representation of the insulin molecule.

"This is insulin," Trevar explained. As he listed off the elements, hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, zinc, et cetera, the atoms of the molecule as well as their representation on the Periodic Chart lit up. "Our bodies have an organ called the pancreas that produces this hormone to help our cells regulate the use of sugar in our metabolism. Unfortunately, Lieutenant Scott's pancreas doesn't produce the right amount of insulin to let her properly use the sugar. And without it, sugar becomes a poison for her. I'm assuming you're Type One?" he asked Scott. She nodded, stunned by how the man appeared to be creating the images.

"H-how did you know?" she stammered.

"By now, you should know I have my ways," he said smirking. Panthera had informed him.

"We knoweth of this affliction!" Luna exclaimed. "Oft, ponies developeth just such a defect. Or that their bodies cannot properly utilize this 'insulin' as thee calleth it."

"Indeed," Celestia agreed. "Fortunately, we do know how to cure those diseases."

"Y-y-you do?!?" Scott exclaimed.

"Impressive," Trevar said.

The white ruler stepped away to confer with her sister while Trevar went to speak with the purple unisus.

"I'm rather curious about something," he said. "Back on my world, we've got legends of pegasi and unicorns," he said, pointing to Fluttershy and Rarity in turn. "I'm not sure what the proper words are for them here."

"That would be the same as here," Twilight responded.

"I see," Trevar said, nodding. "And—uh—?" he asked, gesturing towards Applejack and Pinkie Pie.

"Earth ponies," she replied. Trevar nodded again.

"And yourselves? Winged unicorns or horny pegasi?" Trevar inquired. Twilight, as well as the planet's rulers reacted to stare at him, blinking in surprise.

"Alicorns," Celestia testily responded from overhearing them.

"Curious. I would've expected unisus. I've never heard of alicorn—wait—no, that's what a unicorn's horn was supposed to be made of," he said, idly glancing back at Lieutenant Scott, who was busy conversing with Pinkie Pie and Rarity.

"Princess Celestia, with your permission, we should be getting back," Twilight said. "We've been stranded out here for nearly five days with no food except what we were able to scrounge, and we still have all the books we collected to transport."

"Oh! You should have said something sooner about how dire your situation was, Twilight!" Celestia scolded her. "Of course, we'll make arrangements to get you back to Ponyville and transport the library to the new castle."

"Well, the time did allow us to get the entire library sorted out," Twilight said with pride.

"Uh—Princess Celestia?" the blue pegasus inquired. "Does this mean I'll have to walk all the way back?"

"Uh-hem!" Trevar growled at her with arms folded.

"We'll provide your transport, Rainbow Dash," Celestia said, smiling. She turned away to face north and sent some sort of signal with her horn.

"Didst thou very much receiveth all seven chambers sorted for transport? My! That is impressive!" Luna said.

"S-s-seven?!? We only knew about the two! Y-you mean there are five other rooms?" Twilight exclaimed dismayed.

"Oh, We doth apologize for not informing thee sooner," the dark alicorn said.

"It will be a little while before the chariots arrive," Celestia commented. "And they'll bring you food as well!"

"Oh, thank you, Princess Celestia!" all the six smaller ponies exclaimed.

"In the meantime, I would like to inspect the damage done to the equipment," Celestia continued. "Twilight, would you please lead the way?"

"Of course, Princess Celestia," the purple alicorn happily replied.

Trevar, Scott and Panthera walked with the equines back to the dungeon where the warp coils stood and awaited the ruling unisi—rather—alicorns' pleasure. At the chamber, the two taller alicorns grumbled amongst themselves over the damage done, especially the shattered remains of the control crystals. And Trevar let Scott take the lead for explaining what was in the tool box they had brought with them.

Once they settled down, Trevar broke out one of the power bars that had been packed for him back at the secret Colorado base and began munching on it. Of course, that caught the attention of the smaller native creatures were quite curious about it, and Trevar offered another one to split up among the eight; however the two taller alicorns declined.

"Yuck!" the pony named Applejack exclaimed (but only after finishing her sample piece). "That's ahmost as bad as them Flim Flam brothers' apple fritters! Now ya want some gud apple fritters, ya'll jus' come ta mah farm, an' ah'll whipya'll up somthun' much better!"

"Well, to be honest, these things are not considered all that good back on our world, either," Trevar said with a shrug. "Processing them to last a long time leaves barely enough flavor to make them edible. Better quality and tasting stuff can't last so many years in storage, and in situations like we came prepared for, this stuff is still light weight enough to carry. It'll help keep you alive for several days, but you won't enjoy them much."

"Uh—can ah have sum more?" Applejack asked in very low voice, nervously looking about to see if her comrades were noticing.

"Sure," Trevar said, chuckling, pulling out several from his stash. "I forgot, you guys said you hadn't eaten for days." The other five smaller equines quickly clamored for their share, while the two taller ones still held back.

"They may not be all that tasty, but they are better than hail-beaten dandelions and grass!" the white unicorn with the dark purple mane & tail exclaimed.

"Mister Trevar," Scott whispered to him once the creatures had retreated with their food. "We don't have a means to restock ourselves, either! We don't know if we can eat their food!"

"Well, if they've got apples to cook down for fritters, then they're probably good enough for us to eat them," Trevar muttered back as he idly observed how the purple alicorn joined the other two to discuss their concerns while she ate the power bar, holding it in her telekinesis. "Chances are there's sure to be other foods we can eat. If these guys' diet are similar to that of horses' of Earth, then you'll find there's quite a bit that we can eat, too. Oats, or something like them, maybe? Wheat and rice are just fancy types of grass, after all. And believe it or not, dandelions are quite good, too. There's salads and wine you can make from them." And Trevar wasn't worried in the least anyhow. If worse came to worse, he would always have the Gateway to replenish his energy stores, leaving anything he had left over for her.

Trevar and Panthera passed the time by role-playing their covers as strangers and after a low discussion to ensure any eves-dropping ears wouldn't be able to question her familiarity with chess, they began to play a few rounds with Panthera providing a holographic projection of the ten-level variation they preferred to play. It did get the attention of a few of the creatures, the pink one, the white one, and Rainbow Dash. They offered a few amusing, if not bizarre comments (the majority of those coming from the pink one) about their play. And Panthera telepathically alerted Trevar how the purple one, Twilight, was being greatly distracted, trying to follow both their game from the distance while trying to keep her attention focused on the discussion involving her fellow alicorns over the ancient drive system.

After about four hours, the three alicorns walked up to them, but at least Celestia's interest was not on their game.

"Panthera, can you tell me how close you and your brother came to the device while it was malfunctioning?"

"Hmm," the shadowcat hummed as she looked back and forth between the door and the stack of rings. "Actually, I think we spent most of our time pretty close to where we're sitting," she finally said.

"Yes, that would be about right," Celestia muttered.

"It would certainly appear that you are correct, Trevar," Celestia said. "The field at this end of the tunnel was much less. There's a rapid fall off, and this location shows only slightly higher damage than Panthera is exhibiting. Somepony being here a day or so less than it was active could have about that amount of damage. Coincidentally, about the same amount as yourself."

"Makes sense," Trevar agreed.

"What's very odd is that both you and the shadowcats have equustite in your genetic instructions, while your fellow human has none!" Celestia said, dropping the boom.

"Really?" Trevar asked, feigning surprise. "But I know I'm not composed entirely of it, as Panthera here is, if what your Miss Twilight Sparkle said is correct. It must be showing up as some sort of trace amount."

"That is true," Celestia said, evidently expecting more from him.

Trevar looked at the board a few moments and held his hand out, and his knight took Panthera's bishop without him touching it.

"I wonder if perhaps that—equustite, as you call it—in my genes explains why I can do that," Trevar said. Then he shrugged, not bothering to look up at them. "Or maybe not."

Panther, however, relayed to Trevar the sight of the three of the alicorns looking at him with wide-eyed expressions.

At that moment, Celestia evidently received a signal that the transportation had arrived and she called them together and started for the exit.

'I am getting some really weird readings from this system!' Pardus called down when the group started making their way back to the outside.

'What's up?' Trevar inquired, as he and Panthera continued their latest game along the way.

'First of all, this planet isn't much bigger than the planet Mars, but if it's core is iron, then the upper level of it must be just under the crust!' the male panther reported. 'Overall density has got to be about nine point seventy-nine grams per ceecee!

'Second, I'd have to say that someone is fucking lying. Either physics or math, and I'm putting my money on it being physics!'

'Sounds serious,' Trevar commented. 'Any danger of this region of space breaking down?'

'No way to tell just yet,' Pardus responded. 'Even given the weirdness of this planet's size and density, I should be seeing a ninety-one and a half minute orbital period at an altitude of a thousand kilometers as well as a six meter per second squared gravity on my accelerometer. Instead, my accelerometer is indicating only two point two four seven meters per second squared, and it took two hours, twenty-nine point sixty-three minutes to orbit the planet. Where I am getting a ninety minute orbital period, and it took me a while to find THAT point, is just shy of three eighty klicks—seriously, skimming the atmosphere at that! And with a gravity level of only five point thirty-seven meters per second squared instead to the eight point oh-three it should be!'

'Any malfunctions that you can detect?' Trevar asked, quietly sharing a glance with Panthera as they walked.

'I was suspecting my accelerometer up until I caught these fucking rocks in their orbits right to the second of my calculations based on the gravity readings I got from it! V-squared still apparently equals A times R, after all—even if the gravity measurement doesn't make any fucking sense!' Pardus angrily spat.

'But it gets worse,' Pardus continued. 'I should be seeing the moon move! It should have already crossed its own diameter twice in the four and a half hours I've been up here. Normal gravitation would have it moving at four twenty meters per second. I'm reading it's actually only moving at four CENTIMETERS per second! It's moving so slowly it doesn't even register in my consciousness at this distance! It'll take that thing a thousand years to go about this planet instead of the seventeen point twenty-four days it should be doing!

'Oh, did I forget to mention? This fucking planet has a sidereal rotation of about a YEAR!' Pardus added. 'I've even got one of my little thousand kilogram rocks sitting in geosynch orbit at an altitude of twenty-one, two eighty-seven miles as proof! It'll sit over your head forever instead of drifting away to orbit for the thirty-one hours it should be doing.'

'What the hell could be causing all that?' Trevar wondered.

'No idea!' Pardus replied. 'I'm almost suspecting the Universal Gravitational Constant isn't in this system! It sure isn't a normal fall-off of the acceleration curve versus altitude. The data I'm getting from the accelerometer and the orbital period and velocities aren't fitting any reasonable alterations that may be going on with the Grav-constant. I'll know more when I check out this planet's moon.'

'Be careful,' Trevar sent, feeling dry mouthed.

Just then, they reached the outside and several chariots, each being pulled by a team of pegasi, awaited them.

Several of the newly arrived pegasi, as well as a couple unicorns, all of them stallions, Trevar noted, were in the process of loading a dozen chariots with stacks of books, while three other chariots stood empty with piles of breads, fruits and vegetables sat on squares of picnic cloths next to them. Immediately, the starving ponies pounced upon the food, while the guards and the planet's rulers stood aside.

The ponies were very polite, and their meals were consumed in about fifteen minutes at most, but very neatly, despite their desperate and evident hunger. When they finished, they were obviously feeling much better. Then the alicorns led the way onto the chariots, followed by the other five mares and Trevar and Scott. The unicorn stallions both rode on the third chariot with as many books as could fit alongside them.

"Horses riding in chariots? Now that's something you don't see every day," Scott whispered as they stepped up to board.

"Don't count on it," Trevar said, chuckling. "On this planet, maybe we will!"

HEY, YOU MISSED ONE!

Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity rode with Princess Celestia while the two humans, Fluttershy, and after a bit of arguing, an embarrassed and subdued Rainbow Dash rode with Princess Luna, and the shadowcat flew alongside the procession.

Twilight always enjoyed any opportunity to be with her former mentor, but the leader of Equestria was rather surely and withdrawn for most of the flight. Normally, such an attitude was to be expected from Luna, especially as it was very late into the nighttime ruler's sleep cycle. So it came as a bit of a shock to see it in Celestia.

"Is anything wrong, Princess Celestia?" Twilight ventured to ask after she couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Twilight," Celestia replied. "I'm just very disappointed with the damage done back there. Fortunately, the drive coils themselves have not been adversely affected, abused as they were by the humans linking their warp tunnel to them notwithstanding. But the control system is completely ruined!"

"What's so special about those ancient rings, if they've not been used for thousands of years?" Twilight asked.

"Actually, they have never stopped being used," Celestia admitted after taking several moments to consider.

"Really?!?" Twilight asked, astonished. "But I've always been told you've not used the castle since your fight with Nightmare Moon." Twilight was a bit puzzled. It looked as though that Celestia's horn was slightly glowing, but it could've just been a trick of the lighting.

"They are part of a network of such drive coils set up about the planet," Celestia replied. "Even though the damage to the castle was extensive and forced me to abandon living there, the drives are part of the Equestria system's propulsion and could not be moved. The network is balanced to propel our entire star system to areas of space where we can find the most abundant sources of magic."

"H-how can that be—?" Twilight began, but Celestia turned her head and glared at her, interrupting what Twilight was going to ask.

"You are not to speak of this to anypony!" Celestia whispered. "Luna and I will have to depart to where the other warp coils are located and see if we can find replacement crystals for the main control panel here. As we had discussed a few years ago when those other humans from that starship that had visited us, we came to this world at a time so long ago that the true story of Hearth's Warming Eve has degenerated beyond legend and nearly into myth."

It was only then that Twilight noticed that the others on the chariot were actively engaged in their own conversation and she couldn't hear them. Celestia had surrounded the two of them with a silence spell!

"Those coils are part of that ancient technology, which we still use to find regions of space-time filled with the source of magic, upon which we live," Celestia explained to her…

Luna had a disturbing puzzle she tried putting together, and the oddest piece of that puzzled stood next to her. However, as much as she wished to address him, she was reluctant to try, fearful that she would either look foalish for thinking there was more than there really was, or worse, be really stupid for revealing too much before it was the proper time.

'I'm worried, too,' Nightmare Moon said, unexpectantly breaking into her thoughts. 'This creature, there is something about him. He seems to know too much and yet says far too little!'

'Agreed,' Luna replied, surprised by the conciliatory tone taken by her alter-ego. 'If only I could recall where I heard his name before, it might lead me to know what path to pursue the answers.'

'Indeed,' Nightmare Moon responded.

'The humans don't look dangerous,' Luna fumed. 'True, they are taller than most of our subjects, but obviously much lighter build. By all rights, these shadowcats should be of greater concern. Those creatures are obviously predatory, bigger and stronger looking than even griffons, and according to the Element of Magic, they apparently have some powerful and unknown type of magic of their own. The human mare's body language clearly shows she's terrified of them. And yet the stallion seems perfectly calm about those creatures.'

'Yes, overly-familiar, in fact, Nightmare Moon acknowledged. You saw how they engaged each other in that board game while we and our sister examined the star drive components. Those are not the actions of total strangers, nor of individuals in a hierarchical society, but of equals!'

'However, the human stallion had to explain the rules of the game to the shadowcat,' Luna pointed out.

'Very odd, indeed!' Nightmare Moon agreed.

Rainbow Dash wasn't happy.

She had a hard time trying to stay interested in the environment, since they were flying—only she wasn't flying! She was standing on this stupid chariot, and she was bored. It wasn't a good combination, especially as they were flying—only she wasn't flying! Of course she liked being with Princess Luna; the nighttime princess was known for practical jokes. But while hers were very subtle, the results were always spectacular. Except with Rainbow standing here when they were all flying put the azure pegasus off from striking up a conversation with the nighttime princess—only she wasn't flying! And Dash was impressed by the shadowcat flying alongside them; the creatures had some cool moves—and wow!—could they fly fast! Even cooler was their ability to change their colors. But Rainbow had to stay standing in this stupid chariot—and she wasn't flying! And then there were these stupid two-legged, stupid tall, stupid monstrosities, stupidly standing next to her as they flew—only she wasn't flying! Primarily because this stupidest one of the stupid two-legged, stupid tall, stupid monstrosity stupidly standing next to her and stupidly keeping his stupid eyes on her stupidly opened his big stupid mouth and. Stupidly. Said. She. Stupidly. Shouldn't. Stupidly. Be. Stupidly. Flying! AND SHE WASN'T FLYING!!

"What th' bronk're YER LOOKING AT?!?" Rainbow Dash yelled at the stupid human, startling everyone else on the chariot, including Luna. Except the stupid monstrosity was too stupid to be startled!

"Your mane," the stupid human stupidly and calmly replied. "At first I thought they were just simply colored stripes, but I noticed how the colors shift depending on the lighting and direction I'm looking at it."

"So?" Rainbow Dash demanded, ready to start bucking this stupid non-winged stupid two-legs off this stupid chariot—just say the wrong thing, bub! And anything you say WILL be the wro—

"Your hair's prismatic! That's so cool!" the human answered.

"Wut?" Rainbow asked, blinking in surprise.

"It's just like the refraction grating of a CD," the human went on.

"What's a Sea-Dee?" she asked, again, suddenly suspicious.

"I've noticed it, too," Panthera said from Rainbow's other side. "It's somewhat similar to what we can do with our fur. This is an example of a diffraction grating," she said, projecting a rectangular bar before Rainbow Dash that also had a rainbow effect on every side, the colors shifting as it rotated in her view.

"Well—it is why they call me Rainbow Dash," she said, flustered that the human hadn't taken the cue that she had been in the mood to fight. But how could she fight someone who honestly realized just how cool she was?

"It's very pretty," the human said, grinning. "And I really like the red!"

"Heh!" Rainbow nervously laughed, and feeling as though she were blushing. "Thanks!"

Well—maybe—he wasn't quite so stupid after all, she thought…

"…And when they finished their heated discussion, the female concluded that he's still a terrorist, which he wasn't denying," Twilight finished her own report to Celestia.

"Interesting," Celestia surely muttered. "If what you say is accurate, then it would appear the male is very careful not to tell the entire truth and yet not lie when doing so. Bad enough that such a creature would be able to evade my spells for detecting deceptions. But what is very odd is that he doesn't register at all, neither truth nor lie! I find him very frustrating."

The trip to Ponyville only took about thirty minutes, but a great deal of that was just rising to altitude before the passage over the Everfree Forest and then coming in to land by the Crystal Tree Castle. All too soon, it was over and her report to Celestia had to stop there.

Unfortunately, for Twilight, she had to oversee the transfer of the books and scrolls to the new library, so she had to take her leave of Princess Celestia. Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity all had four days' worth of work waiting for them back at their respective homes. Only Rainbow Dash and the humans were to continue on, but they had to transfer to Celestia's chariot as Luna needed to return to Canterlot as soon as possible in order to be ready for her duties tonight.

"Oh, hi Twilight!" Spike called as he opened to door to the castle to see what all the commotion was about, but by then the, the Diarchs of Equestria had already left Ponyville on diverging paths. "You guys were certainly gone long enough!"

"Hi, Spike!" Twilight said, in between directing the spare guards which stacks of books to start with. "Sorry about that. We got caught by a really bad storm in the Everfree, and just got out of there this morning. It was a bit of an adventure, and I'll tell you all ab—"

"Princess Twilight! Princess Twilight!" a voice called for her and they turned to see a pale-green unicorn galloping up as fast as she could. Twilight recognized Lyra Heartstrings before she momentarily disappeared from view in the culvert before the final rise to the castle.

"Oh, what could be the emergency?" Twilight wondered.

"Princss—ssess—!" Lyra spoke as she gasped for breath rushing up from the final climb.

"Easy, Lyra!" Twilight said, hoping the emergency that drove the mare to run all this way wasn't going to cause her to collapse. "What seems to be the problem?"

"W—were—were th-those humans riding with Princess Celestia?" Lyra asked, catching her breath.

I should've known! she thought, facehoofing.

"We will stop by Cloudsdale," Celestia explained to Trevar and Scott. "They have the facilities to evaluate how Rainbow Dash was affected by the altitude. I will defer to them as to whether she can fly again and how soon."

"With luck, they'll find she's in flight-shape in no time," Trevar said, gently laying a foreleg on the blue pegasus.

"Hey! I thought you were the one tryin' ta make sure I never get to fly again!" Rainbow Dash protested, shaking off his touch.

"Not at all," Trevar replied, squatting down to face her eye-to-eye. "I'm just very concerned that you pushed yourself too hard and got injured in the process. Life is the most precious thing. You went chasing after Pardus, thinking he had stolen something from us. What you didn't know is that it was something we were trying to get rid of. It would've killed everyone if we had held on to it. But even if it was something valuable, it's not worth putting your own life at risk."

"Well—when you put it that way—" Rainbow said, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. For some reason, the sight made both humans blink in evident surprise.

"The shadowcats said you had stopped breathing, after all," Trevar continued. "I can imagine you were looking a bit blue up there for a time." Celestia blinked in surprise and looked over at them. At that moment, the human male began snorting at his own joke.

"That's not funny!" Rainbow Dash yelled after another few moments.

"Heh! Do it again!" Panthera laughed as she flew alongside.

"Okay! Okay! You got me," Rainbow muttered, embarrassed. "But, really! That was worse than some of Pinkie Pie's puns!"

The human chuckled as he tapped the pegasus' nose with one of those strange boney tentacles at the end of a forehoof before rising backup from the squatting position and looked for their destination.

"A cloud city?" he asked, seeing the feature they were approaching.

"Cloudsdale," Celestia corrected him. "Cloudcity is a smaller pegasus community floating above the western coast."

"Uhhh—yeah," the human said, uncertainly.

"I realize your kind probably doesn't fly," Celestia said. "I will provide you both a cloudwalking spell so that you can travel about freely without fear of falling." Both humans looked rather uncomfortable at the idea, but didn't object as they underwent the procedure.

The rest of the flight was uneventful, and they soon landed before the city's main gates, displaying the immense columns and ornaments showing the pride the pegasi took in their capitol city. The humans were surprised at how Celestia simply walked off the chariot and didn't use her wings to levitate. The shadowcat also seemed uneasy about standing there, and even looked as though she would fall through the cloud surface for a moment.

"Com'on! You guys will like this! I grew up here. I can't wait to show you around!" Rainbow Dash said, also walking off the chariot. The humans looked at each other, clearly not feeling secure about the idea.

"Ladies, first!" the male finally said, gesturing in a manner that was so—pony-like.

"Thanks a lot!" Lieutenant Scott snapped back, clearly upset with him for some reason. But as her feet touched the cloud surface, she didn't fall through.

"Wow! This is so weird!" she exclaimed.

"Oo-oo-kay," Trevar nervously muttered as he stepped off the chariot. And promptly disappeared.

"SHI-I-I-I-I-i-i-i-i-i-i—!" they could all hear him scream, the volume quickly fading.

Celestia and Rainbow both gasped in surprise. They each rushed to help him, but then ran into a little problem—their innate magic, coupled with the strength of the magic put into the city, didn't let them dive down through the cloud!

"Oh, futa!" the shadowcat suddenly exclaimed and dove through the surface.

A few minutes later, she rose up from the cloud with her wings slowly flapping and the human male riding her. His face was a noticeably paler color than it was before.

"I'm afraid your spell missed one!" Trevar darkly muttered.

"I—I—I d-don't understand! That spell has never failed to work before!" Celestia exclaimed in horror.

"Is it still under warranty?" Trevar asked and the female human suddenly had a coughing fit.

"I'm so sorry!" Celestia apologized profusely. "I'm completely at a loss for what when wrong! I should try again—"

"No, don't bother," Trevar tiredly said. "Panthera has offered to carry me for the entire time we're up here."

"Please—!" Celestia continued to offer her aid, but Panthera interrupted this time, finally folding her wings down.

"It is no bother for me to carry him," she said. "I find—I rather like this creature, and his presence on my back is—quite enjoyable. Honestly, I have no objection to letting him ride me. Shall we proceed with the reason we came here? I'm sure that Rainbow Dash would like to be confirmed to be fit to fly again as soon as possible."

"Of—of course," Celestia absently said, still in shock over how her casting the cloudwalker spell had failed.

Twilight Sparkle was so very disturbed by the conversation she had had with Princess Celestia that when she stepped into the throne room, she was surprised by finding herself suddenly floating in the middle of the chamber. She blinked and only then noticed the entire space was filled with several floating objects: herself, the six thrones, a drowsing Discord, several potted plants, a terrified bunny. She also saw that Spike had elected to not walk in with her; the precocious dragon was standing at the door, chortling at her.

She used her wings to push herself back to the floor before loudly clearing her throat. The sleeping Discord opened his eyes at the noise and looked about, looking for the source of the sound.

"Oh! Hello, Twilight, my dear!" the draconequus happily exclaimed when he finally spotted her. "Welcome back! We missed you around here!" Discord waited for a response, and after a few moments only then noticed the set of her ears and expression before he paid attention to what was going on around them. His face suddenly took on a sheepish expression before he snapped the digits of his lion paw and the floating objects returned to their rightful places.

"Sorry, if I had known you were coming, I would've cleaned up," he grinned.

Twilight hummed. She wasn't really irritated by the mess in the place. If she had been paying attention to her surroundings, she would've certainly noticed the chaos in the throne room before she had stepped inside. This was Discord, after all. He was a lot like Pinkie Pie in many respects. Totally random. Both uncomfortable with normalcy. Loving to share that randomness with others, but at least willing to hold back from forcing it upon everypony…well…that is to say, Discord was willing to show restraint.

"It had been so long! Whatever must've happened to you?" the draconequus inquired as Spike finally felt it safe to join them.

"Well," Twilight began with a sigh…

"Trevar, you should be able to stand in here," Celestia said as they entered the chambers reserved for her visits to the pegasus city. The human and feline both looked at each other. The human's expression was very much like a pony's would be if he were feeling extreme trepidation. The shadowcat's, however, was completely unreadable.

With him clearly holding on tight to the shadowcat, Trevar trusted her at least enough to try it. His foot did find purchase on the floor that had been long ago magically solidified for non-flyers and furnishings. Soon, he was walking with some confidence in the room.

"Would you like some tea?" Celestia inquired as they took their seats.

"That would be nice, thank you," Lieutenant Scott replied. Trevar and Panthera likewise agreed to have some.

A pegasus servant provided each of them with a cup, and bowl for Panthera and left the large tea pot filled with the boiling water and blend that Celestia favored. After everything was set up, Celestia thanked the pony and dismissed her from the room.

"I hope you'll especially like this, Panthera," she giggled. The shadowcat's nose flared catching the scent waffling from the brew.

"Catnip! Nice touch! Thank you!" the creature chuckled.

Celestia used her magic to pour the tea for them and she studied them as they sampled it. The human mare gingerly took her sips of the very warm drink, while the shadowcat eagerly lapped up the contents of her bowl. The human stallion, however, sniffed at the drink before setting his cup down on the saucer before him. Celestia, of course, politely sipped hers before speaking.

"Mister Trevar, do you not like your tea?" she inquired.

"It smells delicious," Trevar said. "But I have to wait for it to cool down. My tongue is very sensitive to hot foods and spices. My wife calls me Nekojita—it means 'Cat Tongue', in her native language."

Panthera glared at him with her ears laid back. The shadowcat had clearly just finished off the boiling-hot beverage without any hesitation. Trevar merely snickered back at the shadowcat before picking up the cup and taking a very careful sip, even more careful than Lieutenant Scott had done. He set it back down as he closed his eyes.

Suddenly, Trevar began laughing.

"What do you find so funny?" Celestia asked.

"It-it's s-so ironic!" Trevar said, trying to control his amusement. "Your tea: it's a blend of eleuthero, peppermint, cinnamon, ginger, chamomile, lemongrass, licorice, catnip, tilia flowers, lemon, and soy. There's a mix just like that back on my world. It's sold under the brand name 'Tension Tamer'!"

"Oh, God!" Lieutenant Scott suddenly whispered in evident horror.

"That is indeed—interesting," Celestia muttered, curious as to the reason for the human mare's adverse reaction.

"The company that sells this is called 'Celestial Seasonings'," Trevar finished just as Lieutenant Scott cringed at the words.

Celestia laughed, clearly understanding now.

"And this blend, it is popular?" she inquired.

"Pretty much," Trevar replied. "One of many different blends they sell. They all do quite well, back home."

"It's incredible! How can you possibly tell all that?" Lieutenant Scott asked. "No human can possibly get all of that from just a sip!" Trevar just shrugged his shoulders and smiled at her.

His magic must be extremely refined to be able to analyze this mix, Celestia thought. Even she was hard pressed to identify all the ingredients at times after the brewing, and she had to really focus her magic to do so. "That is indeed impressive," she told him. "You accurately listed off most all of the ingredients, and in order of their concentration!"

"You can do all that, and yet, you chose to be a terrorist!" Lieutenant Scott muttered.

"Vigilante, as I had previously explained," Trevar said, evidently correcting her.

Well! This conversation has certainly become very interesting! Celestia thought, taking another sip.

"Hmm, that's very odd," Discord muttered at the conclusion of Twilight's story. "I felt the warp tunnel and the storm, of course—they made for a very pleasant dream—but these creatures you say you met? How strange. Those shadowcats sound familiar, but I'm sure there aren't any around here, and I only feel one human in Cloudsdale. Are you certain you counted them correctly? I've noticed how you oftentimes forget to carry the one when you're counting binary."

Twilight scowled at the creature of chaos, never really able to tell if he's just teasing or being insulting.

"And so that's how I ended up at your base," Trevar finished. He finally picked up his cup of tea, and finding it sufficiently cooled to his satisfaction, quickly drank it all down.

"Oh, this is excellent tea! Thank you!" he said to Celestia, saluting her with his cup.

"It's because I have certain—skills and abilities—," he said, resuming his argument with Lieutenant Scott, "that makes me a wanted man in the first place! Such abilities that I have lets me leave your people with the impression that I was one of your government operatives come to help fix that little warp tunnel problem of yours, and all without having told anyone a single lie!"

"You had them lie for you!" she shouted.

"The person your colonel spoke with never ever said I was from the NSA," Trevar countered. "I gave no instructions for him to do it. In fact, I do believe the words he actually said were the 'Natural Mining Contingency', which is the company I work for. But—with all the static that was no doubt on the line—well," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Anyhow, I and my associates simply know when to keep our mouths shut and when to tell you something that needed to be said, and even more importantly, to know the difference! The rest was completely your own assumptions filling in the gaps!"

"Somehow, you broke into a secure phone!" Lieutenant Scott accused.

"Your point?" Trevar asked, shrugging his shoulders. Scott blinked in surprise. Celestia could tell she was expecting Trevar to reject the accusation.

"With your permission?" Trevar asked Celestia as he reached for the tea pot, to which the alicorn nodded.

"Your so-called 'secure' communications are a joke!" Trevar said to Scott as he refilled his cup and set it down to cool. "There are at least half a dozen ways to achieve what my comrade did, although the one used was perhaps crude when compared to the other means available. There just wasn't time to select a better option, given the mess you had on your hands. The only thing that matters is that the warp tunnel was shut down and both planets are safe with no lasting damage. That you and everyone at your base are about to lose your lives achieving such a goal is a small price to pay, don't you think?"

Lieutenant Scott was evidently shocked speechless, appearing to have no argument against the results.

"Well, that certainly clears up a lot of mysteries," she finally grumbled.

"Perhaps. All except for two," Trevar quietly muttered, looking down. Celestia couldn't be sure of properly reading his expressions, but if she had to guess, his now was of a haunted look. It REALY was difficult not having the ability to sense any degree of truthfulness of this creature. The only gauge she had to go by about Trevar was through Lieutenant Scott's honest reactions to what he said. Of course, that presented her with a major problem!

"Princess Celestia!" Lieutenant Scott suddenly spoke up. "As the only true and actual representative of my government, I'm making a formal request that you restrain this individual and aid me in turning him over to our authorities as soon as arrangements can be made."

"I would not have made that request, if I were you, Lieutenant," Trevar looking up at her.

"And why is that?" Scott demanded.

"Well, seeing as how you are the US government's only true and actual representative, by bringing that nuke here to destroy a warp drive unit that's still considered quite a valuable asset of this planet's government, you've committed an unprovoked act of war against Equestria as well as the attempted extinction-level genocide of both planets! Now, while it's true that I am a wanted felon on our world, I am not a fugitive onthis one. But consider this: by our mutually supportive testimony, I just got through saving everyone's butts from your misguided efforts to kill every living thing on two planets! Including Celestia's, who happens to be this world's government! All of which makes me something of an unwitting hero here. So you might want to reconsider making such a request."

"I'm afraid it's too late for her to do that!" Celestia said in a hard voice. "GUARDS!"

Several armored pegasi burst into the room at her summons. "Yes, Your Highness!" the captain responded.

"Take that one into custody!" Celestia ordered, indicating Scott. "The charge is attempted murder of every living being on Equus! She will face trial at once!"

"There is that other matter to consider," Trevar spoke up over Scott's protest.

"And what would that be? Something that can mitigate the magnitude of her crime?" Celestia demanded.

"Actually, yes," Trevar replied. "Since the only means by which she could achieve that attempt at mass murder has been neutralized by both the warp tunnel being shut down and the nuke destroyed, she's completely harmless to you, your people, or to your world."

"There is still her intent, whether she was aware of the damage it would cause, or not—" Celestia argued, but Trevar interrupted.

"True. But need I remind you that in a couple months or so, she will be dead, no matter what?" Trevar pointed out. "As will all of the people at her base who had been there since the start of the crisis," he added in the silence that followed his announcement.

Celestia sadly hung her head.

"She's already serving out a death sentence," Trevar said. "But physically, she's harmless. If it pleases you, I think some sort of supervised probation would be sufficient."

"And your people coming won't arrive before then?" Celestia asked.

"A few days, on either side of the estimate of her expiration, at best," Trevar acknowledged with a shrug. "It wouldn't do any good for her to go with me when my ship gets here. She will definitely be dead within a week on the trip back. If it's your wish, I can have my people stay to wait for her to expire before removing us from your world. I would like to take her body back for whatever type of funeral arrangements she wishes."

"I see…" Celestia said, considering. The pegasi guards still stood, awaiting orders whether to go ahead and take the human mare into custody. "Very well, I authorize supervised probation for the human female. We will furnish you both a room at Canterlot castle. You, Melisa Scott, are free to explore the castle and city of Canterlot, but you will remain under escort at all times and will respect a curfew to return to your quarters no later than three hours after sunset."

"They will be separate quarters, I presume?" Scott asked. Celestia looked at her questioningly. "We are not a mated pair, after all!"

"Of course," Celestia nodded.

"But then can I at least request that Mr. Trevar also be under supervised probation?" Scott pressed. Celestia blinked at her. "He is, by his own admission, a criminal on my world. I advise you to take extreme caution while he is on yours."

"I have no objection," Trevar said, shrugging as his picked up his tea to drink. "It's to be expected." Celestia did find her inability to read the human stallion to be frustrating. Still, his own reaction, or rather the lack of any, surprised both Celestia and the human mare.

"Thank you, Captain. That will be all," Celestia finally nodded to the pegasus, dismissing him and his team.

"Of course, Your Highness," the stallion said bowing before the troops marched out. But before they could close the doors behind them, they were burst open again as an excited Rainbow Dash zipped in and did a loop before landing before her, still trailing her signature rainbow behind her.

"They said I'm cleared for flying, Princess—Urk!" the azure pegasus suddenly exclaimed as her legs buckled under her. She nervously looked back at the human stallion who was holding his foreleg up, with those bony tentacles suggesting he was holding her.

"I said that it had to be Princess Celestia who could clear you for flying!" Trevar growled.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Very well, Rainbow Dash," Celestia chuckled. "Then I clear you for flying!"

With a gesture from the human stallion, Rainbow instantly shot up into the middle of the room, looking surprised, and nearly fell to the floor again before she got her wings to working to keep her up when the human evidently released her.

"HEY!" the pegasus yelled, whirling in midair on the human. "That's NOT funny!"

"Do it again!" the Shadowcat said to Trevar.

"I'm so-o-o-o getting back at you!" Rainbow Dash growled.

"Yeah?" Trevar snickered. "Oh, by the way, did you just call her 'Princess Urk'?" Both Equestrians blinked in stunned shock.

"Wha—a—a? I NEVER!" the blue pegasus exclaimed when she was able to speak again.

As Trevar raised up his palm, Rainbow Dash flinched, but grew curious when an image formed above his palm. It showed a miniature version of the room and its occupants when the blue mare had burst into the space.

"They said I'm cleared for flying, Princess—Urk!" the miniature pony exclaimed as it clearly showed her reaction to being telekinetically grabbed. Then the image vanished. Rainbow Dash was livid and trembling with anger.

"Y-you—you CAUSED THAT TO HAPPEN!" she screamed over Celestia's quiet giggles. "I'm—I'm—I'm—GRRRRRR!" she finished with an inarticulate growl before zipping out of the chambers.

"Heh! I like her, she's silly! Well, that's two of us on her shit list. You wanna have a go at her, too, Panthera?" Trevar asked.

"This will be fun," Panthera said, grinning.

"And what of you and your brother?" Celestia then soberly asked Panthera. "Can we negotiate with you for how your people interact with Equestrians?"

"I can only speak for Pardus, and he for me, because we allow it of each other," Panthera said. "We cannot speak for any other shadowcat. But I can attest that neither Pardus nor I will seek to harm any of your subjects or allow them to be harmed if we are in a situation that allows us to intervene."

"Thank you very much for your assurance," Celestia said, standing up. They all took that as the cue to likewise stand. "With Rainbow Dash restored to flight status, I believe our business here is concluded."

"If you will allow me, I think I can help you with the cloudwalking," Panthera told Trevar.

"Uh—really?" the human stallion asked, nervously looking at the shadowcat.

DefCon One!

Trevar pretended to gingerly walking on the cloud surface as they exited the special chamber. With Panthera's tractor beam holding him in place, he made a good show of "walking", obviously much to the alicorn's consternation. Panthera had telepathically passed to Trevar that she could detect some sort of field about Lieutenant Scott, as well as the Equestrians, that was allowing them all to actually stand on the insubstantial surface of the cloud. But for some unknown reason, when the field was applied to Trevar, it did not remain on him.

Panthera, of course, had no need of such a field herself, as she had her built-in antigrav systems. Between the two telepathically coordinating their actions and Panthera supplying an invisible means by which to pull them off, they were able to impress upon the Equestrians and Lieutenant Scott that Trevar and the shadowcats had their own brand of "magic" that at least was compatible with each other.

The four of them verbally engaged in small talk as they walked out to where the chariot and the pegasi pullers waited. As they did so, Trevar and Panthera conducted a separate telepathic conversation. Over the years, the pattern had forced Trevar to keep his mind very flexible by multitasking several activities at once.

"I couldn't help but notice the architecture used in your world," Trevar commented. "This city, so much of it is strikingly similar to our Greco-Roman style used a couple thousand years ago. And that village where we dropped off your friends, it's too much like our Central European Medieval towns from almost a thousand years past. That castle overlooking it was like nothing I've ever seen before, but that damaged castle was also so similar to some left over on my world, it's almost spooky in the parallels."

'So, Panthera. Any idea how Celestia and these other creatures are pulling off these tricks?' Trevar asked.

"Agreed," Lieutenant Scott said. "Not to mention, we have legends of creatures so much like your people here. Unicorns and pegasi, but I don't know if you use those terms here."

'There do seem to be those strange particles that's at the heart of their abilities,' Panthera responded.

"We do,"/"They do," Celestia and Trevar both answered simultaneously. They started and blinked at each other before laughing.

"I'm sorry, I had already asked that of the purple one," Trevar quickly said. "Twilight Sparkler?"

'The field Celestia applied to you and Scott is still going strong on her,' Panthera said.

"Twilight Sparkle," Celestia corrected. "Yes. Pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies."

'So why did it fail for me?' Trevar asked.

"And alicorns, like yourself," Trevar added. "However, there's nothing in our legends of your kind. But all these similarities make me wonder if there must have been linkages between our planets in the past."

'Unknown at this time,' Panthera replied. 'The field did adhere to you until you stepped off the chariot. There was a moment it held you, but then—you seemed to—just slip right out of it. I did notice that the times the other creatures used their powers on me, there was a slight force to overcome.'

"I highly doubt that," Scott said.

"Oh? Why's that?" Trevar asked.

'So what's the deal with the lighting?' he asked.

"Well, for one, Earth had no such technology to allow transport between our worlds until now," she pointed out. "Granted, the parallels are striking, but they're more likely just coincidental. Greco-Roman columns aren't that hard to invent and would be a logical result of any primitive culture building temples that tall. There are pyramids in both Egypt and Central America, but you find nothing else from those cultures, like obelisks in each other's areas. And there's more similarity between Cambodia and Central America in style than between China and Cambodia."

'Nearest I can surmise is the power is channeled through their horns,' Panthera explained. 'The glow is similar to Cherenkov radiation as the particles break down and transform into other force carriers, at both their horns and their targets.'

"The Greeks got some of it from the Egyptians and some from Persia," Trevar countered. "But you find nothing like them in India, Cambodia, or China.

'A Cherenkov glow while in the air?' Trevar asked astonished. 'Uh—Thatdoesn't sound healthy!'

"But between Earth and here?" he asked.

'I said "similar"!' Panthera snarled. 'There's no hard radiation that I can detect. And the glow, itself, is the result of trillion of trillions of those particles getting converted. They're not exceeding air light speed refraction velocity!'

"I'm afraid to inform you, Lieutenant Scott, but Mr. Trevar is correct," Celestia finally stepped in. "There has been substantial contact between Equestria and Earth in the ancient past. We do have the technology to transverse to other worlds."

'"Trillions and trillions!" Burn them, Mr. Sagan!' Trevar snorted.

"H-h-how?" Scott asked astonished.

'Trillions and trillions!' Panthera sent, in Carl Sagan's voice.

"Magic," Celestia replied.

'Burn them all!' Trevar cheered.

"B-b-but there's no such—" then she had to stop, stunned by what she was doing.

'She just DID NOT start to say that!' Panthera exclaimed, looking back at Scott.

"'Any sufficiently advanced technology,' Lieutenant," Trevar said, smirking. "You are walking on a cloud, you know."

When they exited the city gates, Trevar and Panthera were surprised to see a couple of griffons standing nearby.

"Ah! Ambassador! So good to see you again," Celestia fondly greeted the party. "Are you enjoying your visit to Cloudsdale?" Both griffons politely bowed their heads to Celestia, not anywhere nearly the prostration that had been demonstrated by Twilight's five friends when the diarchs had arrived at the ruins, but a polite acknowledgement nonetheless. It indicated a greater equivalence of authority between them. If his title was "ambassador", then that indicated that Celestia was one ruler among several on this planet, and the griffons were another major power on this planet.

It was the larger griffon who replied to Celestia's question.

"Indeed we are, Princess," the lead griffon responded. "Impressive as always." Then the creatures both caught sight of the rest of the party and their eyes got big.

"Is—is—is that a shadowcat?" the griffon ambassador whispered in awe.

"Indeed she is," Celestia replied. "Panthera, this is Ambassador Gustav, of the Griffon Empire," she said by way of introduction. "Panthera and her brother, Pardus, were found at my old castle. She accompanied us here to Cloudsdale where we had brought one of our pegasi who was injured fighting the storm over the Everfree."

"It-it is an honor!" Gustav said in awe, as both griffons bowed low to Panthera.

'Nice to be appreciated!' Panthera sent to Trevar, who snorted in amusement. The griffons both looked sharply at him for the noise.

"And these are two humans, who are recent arrivals to Equestria," Celestia continued, but the griffons clearly didn't want to have anything to do with them.

"A pair of monkeys?" Gustav darkly muttered, but loud enough for everyone to hear, and Celestia evidently was stunned by the remark.

"So, you've heard of our kind?" Panthera asked.

"As one of our progenitor species, of course! To see one such as yourself, Lady Panthera, it is a great honor!" Gustav reverently responded. "And Celestia said there are two of you about? Please forgive any intrusion into your business, but may we inquire as to your brother?"

"Oh, he's floating about, taking measurements," Panthera replied with a bemused smile. "There was something of an odd matter that caught his attention and he wanted to investigate it. He'll be back when he's finished. I'll be sure to let him know you inquired about him."

"Oh, thank you!" Gustav exclaimed. "You both can find us at the Griffon Embassy in Canterlot. I would be most honored to be your host."

"Delighted, I'm sure," Panthera responded. She glanced up at Trevar. "I think it is time for us to be going, though. Pleasant meeting you," she said as parting to the griffons.

"Nice meeting you," Lieutenant Scott tossed in as a parting, to which the griffons both growled. Their attitude clearly disappointed Scott. Celestia, too, for that matter.

"I guess he doesn't like primates," Trevar muttered to Scott with a shrug as he climbed up onto the chariot. "Not that I can blame them." The griffons both suddenly gasped. Puzzled, Trevar looked back at them to see them rushing up.

"What did you say?" Gustav demanded.

"Nothing derogatory against you," Trevar replied as Panthera smoothly positioned herself to intervene if necessary. "I was telling Lieutenant Scott I can't blame you for not liking primates. They're such royal shits."

Everyone was shocked to see the Ambassador and his aid suddenly deeply prostrate themselves to Trevar.

"Pl-pl-please forgive us!" Gustav exclaimed. "I—we had no idea that it was YOU!"

"Whu—?" Trevar exclaimed in utter confusion. He glanced at Celestia, hoping she could provide some answer, but she looked like a deer in stuck in the headlights staring at the scene.

"Please forgive us! We didn't know!" Gustav begged. "This is truly a miraculous day! First the shadowcats—and then—YOU!"

"…"

'Da'fuq just happened?' Trevar finally sent to Panthera. She looked back at him and shrugged. He looked about, first at Scott, who was flabbergasted. Then at the pegasi guards hitched to the chariot, and they were staring widely over their shoulders of the spectacle the Griffon ambassador was displaying. Finally, he looked to Celestia again, and she was just standing there, blinking. 'I swear there's gotta be a fucking camera hidden somewhere,' Trevar sent. Panthera quickly looked about for a few moments

'None that I can detect!' she responded.

"Uh—Ambassador?" Trevar finally ventured, dreading the likely error in diplomacy that was about to happen when he asked his question. "Uh—may I ask—what am I—supposed to be—forgiving you for?"

"Please, forgive us! We had no idea it was YOU!" was all the Griffon was going to tell him, evidently.

"Oookaaay—you're happy I'm me," Trevar muttered. Then added after nervously swallowing, "So, who am I?"

"Please, you and Lady Panthera both must come with me directly to the embassy and we will notify my liege of your arrival!" Gustav said, looking up from his prostration with an endearing expression that was starting to make Trevar nervous.

"Say what? You can't be serious!" Scott suddenly exclaimed at Gustav. "You pulled some sort of Jedi mind trick on him, didn't you?" she yelled at Trevar. "Celestia! It's clear that probation's not sufficient for this terrorist! You must put him in a maximum security cell, immediately!"

"WHAT?!?" both Griffons suddenly screamed. Gustav reared up and glared at Celestia, then at Scott.

"EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" Gustav's assistant roared at the Lieutenant.

"This man is a terrorist!" Scott spat.

"Lieutenant! I don't think you'd better get involved!" Trevar tried to warn her, but she raised her voice to make herself heard.

"I just got through getting this horse queen to at least keep Mister Trevar under watch! He should be in jail! The best I could do was get him put on probation!" The ambassador whirled about at Scott and back on Celestia.

"What is this about putting HIM'on probation'? Treating HIM like a common criminal?!?" Gustav demanded.

'A-a-a-and nowwe'reatDefConTwo!' Panthera quickly sent, rolling her eyes.

"Ambassador Gustav," Celestia cautiously began, no doubt still trying to figure out how things just went to shit between eye blinks, "I'm not sure who you think this human stallion is, but…."

"I know exactly who he is, Celestia!" Gustav angrily yelled. "If he's not treated with the respect he deserves, THEN WE ARE AT WAR!"

Then Gustav glanced back over his shoulder and barked, "Razor!" At that, the other griffon reared up and bodily snatched Trevar from the chariot.

"NO!NO!NO!NO! DON'T DO—" Panthera screamed at the creature.

"Climb aboard my back and we'll fly you to safety," the female griffon quickly said to Trevar as she set him on the cloud beside her. And the griffon was blinking when the human inexplicably vanished.

"SHI-I-I-I-I-i-i-i-i-i-i—!" they could all hear him scream, the volume quickly fading.

"…*sigh*…that," Panthera muttered in defeat. The griffon had set him down on the far side from her where her tractor beam couldn't reach him without involving the creature.

All the native creatures looked stunned. Quickly recovering, Gustav whirled back on Celestia.

"CELESTIA, YOU BITCH!" he roared at her. Panthera missed the rest of their exchange as she flipped and dived through the cloud to fly after Trevar.

"If this shit keeps up, I'm going to develop a severe case of acrophobia," Trevar muttered after Panthera caught him and they flew back up to the floating city. Panthera snorted.

"Tell me about it! I can tell you're about to collapse," she said. "You weren't in much better shape the first time they dropped you!"

"Yeah, I've been fighting it as much as possible," Trevar sighed. "But getting dropped through that cloud—TWICE—is sure taking its toll on me. I really don't want to have to pop off the Gateway in front of everybody."

"Well, I'm pretty sure we're all at DefCom One by now," Panthera sighed. "You may end up having to do so before we get them calmed back down."

"Then we'd better get back up there before the missiles start flying," he growled. "We sure as hell didn't put all that effort into saving this planet just to watch it nuke itself into oblivion! And I haven't got a fucking clue as to WHAT's setting off these catbirds!"

They were still yelling at each other when they got back up to the landing area. The alicorn had her horn powered up, which was NOT a good sign and both griffons' eyes were showing red by now, trembling with rage. In addition, all that yelling evidently got the attention of some of the city's populace. Dozens of pegasi were arrayed up off to the side, many of them looking angry, many looking worried and confused. And some seemed to be having a hard time making up their mind which way to feel, Rainbow Dash evidently being one of the latter.

"Grab those three and hold them down!" Trevar whispered as he leapt off Panthera and let her keep up the simulation of him walking on the cloud surface.

Panthera grabbed Celestia, Gustav and the other griffon and pulled the two groups apart by a couple feet before his tractor beam slipped off the alicorn. It concerned him that she seemed to have an immunity to his power just as Trevar had to hers, but it was enough. The demonstration clearly surprised the Equestrian princess and she shot a glare at the shadowcat. It also got the roaring griffons' attention, and they paused to see Trevar interpose himself between them and the tall mare.

"ALRIGHT! THAT IS ENOUGH!" Trevar suddenly roared at Gustav, nearly as loud as the griffons had just a moment ago.

"I don't know who you think I am, but you were just bowing like I'm pretty high ranking just a moment ago, so let's work with that, shall we?" Trevar sternly yelled.

"So, if I'm so fucking high ranking, I'm telling you right the fuck now, THERE'S NOT GOING TO BE A FUCKING WAR OVER ME!" he finished, glaring at Gustav. The griffons both blinked in surprise, and evidently remembered their own reasons for doing so to him. It was still a shock to Trevar when his "bluff" worked and both griffons again deeply bowed to him. 'I am SO going to have to figure out what this is all about!' he sent.

Trevar looked back questioningly at Celestia, and she gave him a look of gratitude, and was evidently just as perplexed as he. The ready aura about her horn faded.

"P-pl-please forgive us!" Gustav stammered.

'Oh, here we go again,' Panthera sighed.

"Ambassador Gustav!" a voice from the crowd called out. Trevar looked to see the blue pegasus, Rainbow Dash, rushing up.

"Please! Y-y-you can't go to war!" she pleaded. "You and Princess Celestia have been—you guys have been friends for—for—for longer than I can remember! Gilda 'n I—we grew up together!"

"This doesn't concern you, Rainbow Dash," Gustav muttered, glancing up at her. "It's something you wouldn't understand."

"Well, no! I sure don't understand!" she yelled. "But it does concern me! I mean—if we hafta go to war, I hafta to be one of those fightin' it! And so will Gilda!"

"Well, I don't understand it, either. But fuck it! I'm not going to forgive anyone anything if you insist on going to war over me!" Trevar growled. The griffons seemed shocked when he said that.

"We-we're sorry! The insult that Celestia delivered to you just made us so angry! We only reacted for you, Lord!" Gustav finally whimpered. "Please! Come back to the Embassy! We'll get you safely to the Griffon Empire! We will be sure to treat you with the dignity and respect you deserve."

'"Lord"? They think I'm the Second Coming?' Trevar asked.

'Man, are they going to be disappointed!' Panthera shot back, to which Trevar snorted.

"I—uh—appreciate the offer," Trevar stammered, desperately still trying to figure out just what was going on. "Unfortunately, there's a number of problems with that. There is Lieutenant Scott, for one. I'm responsible for her being here, and I've an obligation to see to her safety—at least for the time she has left. Also, I'm not from this planet. There's a rescue ship coming for me and it'll be picking me up about the time when she will be dying from the injuries she has suffered."

"But for you to be under 'probation' while staying with Celestia? That is unacceptable!" Gustav protested, rising up to face Trevar, his face pleading with him. "As much as the monkey is detestable to us, if it is of value to you, then of course we have no objection with letting it accompany you."

"Well, there's a problem with that as well," Trevar said, wincing. "Lieutenant Scott has committed a pretty serious crime against your world, to which Celestia has agreed to keep her under probationary status. So she has to stay in Celestia's custody. On the same vein, I'm a bit of a criminal on my own world and Celestia was just having me under the same status due to the security risk to your world. I'm willing to abide by her concerns and stay at her castle."

"No! That's unacceptable!" Gustav exclaimed. "You should be treated with dignity and respect for while you're here! Come with us to the Griffon Empire! Please! And you'll be safer in our custody than in Canterlot Castle."

"Are we going to go through this again?" Trevar sighed. 'Panthera, can you pull a ventriloquism stunt on Celestia? Ask her in my voice, "Help me out!" when I turn to her.'

"How about—I don't know—maybe something of a neutral ground?" Trevar asked Gustav. "Somewhere Celestia will feel comfortable about my restrictions and where you can also come and visit?" Trevar turned about and gave the alicorn a pleading look, and her ears swiveled wildly at the voice whispered into them. He turned back to Gustav, and rubbed the bridge of his nose for the migraine this was giving him.

"NO! NO! NO! You must not have restrictions on your movements!" Gustav insisted. "The honor of the Griffon Empire is at stake! We demand you be granted full diplomatic status to all the nations of Equus for while you're here!"

"Perhaps—perhaps a compromise?" Celestia suggested, speaking up. "Not probation, but—an escort—strictly to insure his safety."

'Send her "THANK YOU!"' Trevar exclaimed as he suddenly straightened up. He heard her snort in reaction to what she heard.

"And—and perhaps—someplace a little more open than either the Castle or your Embassy," she continued. I can have him reside in Ponyville. Lieutenant Scott, however, must be put in maximum confinement."

"That's acceptable!" Gustav replied, clearly liking how things are going.

"Wh-what!?" Scott exclaimed. "I—I'm not the terrorist! He is!"

'Oh, we're back to this?' Trevar sighed.

"Is that really necessary, Princess Celestia?" Trevar asked, now turning toward her.

"It is clear that Lieutenant Scott is not so 'harmless', as you had argued," Celestia sternly told him. "Her words nearly sparked a new conflict with the Griffon Empire. The last one was fought with substantial loss of life on both sides. We must never have another war like that again!"

"Well, there's not going to be a war—" Trevar began, but he was interrupted.

"As HE stated, the monkey belongs to him," Gustav growled.

'Oh, great,' Trevar sent, rolling his eyes.

"Therefore, the monkey must stay with him!" the ambassador continued. "Although, you can throw it in the local jail in Ponyville, if that is acceptable to you."

"Probation?" Trevar pleaded once more. Celestia took the time to think about it but before she opened her mouth, Trevar jumped in with one last gamble. "So the bitch has a big mouth, I'll grant you. But bitches bark. It's what they do. She's harmless. Really!"

"Very well," Celestia said with a sigh after several more moments to think about it. "Probation at Ponyville, same restrictions as we had discussed earlier."

"You're still letting him get away with this?" Scott yelled. "Princesses Celestia! He's had to of used some sort of mental influence on the Griffon Ambassador! Please! You can't let him run around lose!"

Trevar closed his eyes in pain. 'So close! So fucking close! But, still, some folks have to be so fucking stubborn, they won't compromise an inch!' he sent to Panthera.

"Are you a spy sent here to mess everythin' up?" Rainbow Dash belligerently demanded, swooping to hover in front of the Lieutenant. "You'd better shut yer trap b'fore you cause any more damage!"

"Please tell me: what is your fucking glitch, Lieutenant?" Trevar yelled at Scott, spinning on her, joining the azure pegasus in criticizing her. "I just got through shutting down a serious violation of physics that you created which was going to make a mess out of a whole hell of a lot of people's day, and I did so without getting anyone fucking killed! Yet you seem so obsessed over the fact that I have some extracurricular activities like trashing a few meth labs and saving the taxpayers a few bucks for their trials!

"We're stuck in a nation where the two ruling bitches routinely move the fucking sun and fucking moon! And here you are, hell-bent on starting a war between them and another major power on this planet simply because you've got a problem with my night jobs? Don't forget, I also just got through talking her out of tossing your ass into the slammer…TWICE!" he yelled, holding up a couple of fingers. "Seriously, Lieutenant, you've got some major appreciation issues! I don't know what your problem is, but the NEXT time they're wantin' to chop off your head, I'm gonna let 'em!" Trevar finished.

Then he staggered away; the stress of fighting his acrophobia as well as defusing a potentially disastrous internecine war was finally catching up with him.

"With yours and Panthera's permission, I'm going to ride with her," Trevar said to Celestia as he walked toward Panthera. "I find I'm really not much caring for the company that I'd have riding in the chariot."

"Of course," Celestia gratefully murmured.

"Dude! You don' look so good!" Rainbow Dash suddenly shouting out was the last thing that Trevar heard.

WHAT IS DISCORD AFRAID OF?

"CELESTIA! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!?" Gustav roared.

Here we go again! Celestia thought with a sigh. Fortunately, somepony stepped in to defuse this newest flare-up.

"It wasn't her!" the shadowcat creature firmly stated, advancing on the human's crumpled form. "As I was bringing him back up this second time, I had noticed his failing health. When I mentioned it to him, Trevar confirmed with me that he was greatly stressed from a severe case of acrophobia as well as trying to calm the situation that threatened to ignite hostilities. He warned me that he would likely faint even if he managed to resolve the situation."

"Oh," Gustav muttered abashed. "Then—what can we do to assist?" he whispered.

"He obviously needs rest for now, but we should get him food as soon as we can," Celestia said. "But what does his kind eat?"

"His blood-protein levels are extremely low," Panthera said, sniffing at him, "as is most everything else, except his glucose. I would advise a stew of mixed vegetables and meat. And he's likely to be unconscious for at least half an hour."

"You can't do that! What if he's vegan, like me?" Scott exclaimed.

"Whuz'zat?" Rainbow Dash demanded.

"People who chose not to eat meat for ethical reasons," Scott replied.

"It's highly doubtful that he is a herbivore, given who he is!" Gustav growled.

"How can you be so sure?" Scott demanded.

"I would still advise the meat and vegetable stew!" Panthera cut it, forestalling any further argument by invisibly lifting Trevar up with her magic to lay him over her back. "He's lacking specific nutrients that only a balanced meal will restore him to a healthy state. Even an herbivore will eat meat, given the condition he's in and he'll need it right away."

"A choice between waiting here for him to wake where there are some restaurants that cater to griffons or gather the materials needed and deliver them to Ponyville," Celestia muttered.

"If we wait here, he will still be greatly stressed from being in this city," Panthera pointed out. "Given how severe his intense fear of heights, even my assistance in letting him stay up here isn't sufficient to calm him. And it certainly didn't help that your efforts for letting him walk these clouds failed or that the griffon got in the way of my ability to hold him in place."

"Then Ponyville, it is!" Celestia said, deciding. "Ambassador? Would you mind gathering up some supplies from here and meeting us at Twilight Sparkle's castle?"

"Oh, I can do you one better, Princess," Rainbow Dash exclaimed, beaming. "I've got some supplies at my home that's along the way 'n I can deliver them to Spike to start cooking up b'fore you can get off this cloud!"

"Of that, I've no doubt, you can!" Celestia replied with a laugh. "Very well, then! Please do so, Rainbow Dash!" And with that, the cerulean pegasus was gone, leaving only a rainbow contrail behind.

Celestia then grimly turned toward the direction of Canterlot and sent a signal to the palace.

"Hey Twilight! Spike! You guys here?" Rainbow Dash hollered as she slammed open the door to the crystal castle.

"Hi Rainbow!" Spike called out from the library.

"Hi Spike!" she greeted. "I know Twilight's gotz you busy, but I gotta ask that you start makin' up a stew with lots of vegetables as fast as you can. Oh, and be sure to toss this bacon in, too!"

"B-b-bacon? In a vegetable stew!?" Spike stammered taking the bag.

"What's this?" Twilight Sparkle called out, come out from the same room as the little dragon had. "Have you've gone cannibal on us, Rainbow?"

"Ha! Ha! You know that pegasi are ohmeevores, Twilight," Dash said deadpan. "But it's not for me! Princess Celestia's right on my tail—"

"With you hauling illegal meats, I don't doubt it!" Twilight teased.

"Funny," Rainbow growled without amusement. "That—human—he fainted."

"Probably saw what was in the bag."

"He just got through pullin' Princess Celestia and Gustav apart from goin' ta war with each other! Literally!" Rainbow finally had to tell her.

"Whoa! Seriously?" Twilight asked, stunned at the news.

"Yeah! Seriously!" Rainbow confirmed. "What's worse, he's got a case of acrophobia! Gotz it bad, too! Maybe almost as bad as Flutters. 'N it didn't help that he got dropped through the deck a couple times, b'fore, durin' and after stopping the war!"

"Rainbow! I had no idea that you knew that word!" Twilight exclaimed.

"What word? 'Acrophobia'? Pffss! What pegasus doesn't know that word, even if most of us don't have to worry about it? It's not like that's a real egg-head word like 'stellarizzyteez'."

"'Astrophysics'," Twilight blandly corrected her.

"Wutevah!" Rainbow blew off dismissively. "Anyhow, that shadowcat, Panthera? She said that he needs to get a mixed vegetable and meat stew right away! They'll be here any moment!"

"WHAT!?" Twilight exclaimed. "Why didn't you say something sooner?!?"

Rainbow Dash glared at Twilight for several moments, then noticed Spike was still standing there.

"Get movin', Spike!" she yelled at the dragon. Then to her alicorn friend, she stretched out her wing. "Twilight? You 'n I need to have a talk…"

Celestia rode in her chariot with the human mare, following the shadowcat and the griffons. She was very concerned in trying to figure out what had happened with Gustav and Razor which caused them to nearly go to war like that. It was clear that when the griffons first met them, they were very interested in Panthera and hadn't cared much for Trevar at all. But then the humans spoke to each other, and that's when they both seemed to go crazy. And their disdain for the human mare still remained. Very puzzling, she thought.

Ahead, she saw Gustav glide closer alongside Panthera—really close. The temptation was just too much. As much as she respected his privacy, this—extremely bizarre level of interest that Gustav displayed in the human stallion was simply too dangerous to ignore. She charged her horn to amplify and focus the direction of her hearing.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Gustav asked.

"He should be, provided we get him adequate food," Panthera replied. "May I ask a matter of you? I know who and what Trevar means to me. But can you please tell me what he is to you?"

Gustav flew alongside for several moments before answering.

"What we discuss must never be mentioned to those not like us!" Gustav said, glaring at her.

"Understood," Panthera grimly responded.

"Griffons are the offspring of two gods, the Sky-Lord and the Cat-Lord," Gustav whispered. "As a shadowcat, you obviously are as well, being a bit closer relation to the Cat-Lord. I—we—had no idea who he was until he had spoken. I heard him! He is the Cat-Lord!" Panthera stared at him for several moments before replying.

"Indeed," she finally said. "This, we recognized the moment Pardus and I saw him. It was his expressed wish that we not spread such news about him. He swore us to secrecy and we said nothing to the other creatures we met in the castle. We had not anticipated that someone else, like you would be able to sense him. And it has greatly distressed him that you were about to start a war over possessing him. Celestia's cloudwalking spell had failed for some reason, and when I caught him the first time, he confided in me of his fear of flying. And he had successfully managed to fight very hard to overcome his terror all the while we met with Celestia in private. But then he got dropped again while you and Celestia were arguing—well, you see the results."

"Then I was the one to cause him injury!" Gustav gasped. "I—I'm so very sorry! I only wanted to protect him!"

"His safety would have been better assured with anonymity," Panthera said. "Unfortunately, that is no longer an option. And it will only get worse if more griffons come across him and react as you did."

"What can be done to fix it?" Gustav asked after considering the matter. Panthera also took her time to think about it.

"Celestia will be assigning guards to escort and provide protection for him while he's staying here," Panthera finally said. "Perhaps—if you ask her—nicely—so as to not arouse any further suspicions on her part—for you to offer to supplement her guards with some of your own. Oh, and try not to go immediately to war, should she be reluctant. She, no doubt, will be understandably concerned, given your little outburst. Be sure to use reason with her, rather than threats. But assuming you succeed, you must make your orders to your guards clear that they are to keep all other griffons away in order to mitigate any adverse reactions your people may have caused in finding out about Trevar."

"Yes. Yes, that might be a good idea," Gustav muttered. "D-do you think—when he's feeling better—if I, or some of my people, could have a private audience with him?"

"Well, in the short amount of time we had to talk with him here, he certainly seems like a very accommodating individual," Panthera replied. "Pardus and I are certainly planning on meeting him in private when we get the chance. I'm sure that once the situation stabilizes, Trevar will want to meet with some of you as well."

"Then I'll do my best to make this up to him," Gustav said before sliding away.

Celestia thought hard about what she had heard. Having the griffons involved with guarding the humans will certainly complicate matters. But it was good to hear that Gustav seemed to be open to reason. As Panthera stressed to him, getting him to negotiate leaves her a way to propose a mutually beneficial solution, hopefully in a way as to not make him suspicious that she had eves dropped on their conversation.

But now a deeper question plagued her. Who, or what, was this "Cat-Lord" and how is Trevar supposed to relate to a creature such as that? Any such being involved with the creation of griffons and shadowcats they could recognize should be from Equus. But the human wasn't even from this world!

They arrived at the Tree Castle shortly after. She knew the chariots delivering the books had left by now, of course. And the guards for the humans she had summoned just prior to departing Cloudsdale had not yet arrived. Twilight was no doubt inside sorting the chambers she had selected to be her library. As her chariot landed, it appeared to her that Trevar had woke up, as she could see him and the shadowcat quietly conversing and Trevar nodded his head to something Panthera had said.

But he looked very pale. The humans she had met a few years ago from that starship were of a light tan to dark brown, with some shade of yellow predominating throughout their features. Even the humanoid robot had a yellowish sheen to his artificial skin. But Trevar was looking downright white, where his normal healthy tones were closer to the starship's captain!

After instructing Lieutenant Scott to remain with the chariot, Celestia led the way to open the castle doors and stood aside to allow them entry.

"Mr. Trevar, are you feeling better?" she asked as Panthera carried him by.

"I'm afraid he's still too weak to answer, Princess Celestia," Panthera said as she walked in, followed closely by Gustav and Razor.

"Princess Twilight!" Celestia called out as she entered. "I regret to be imposing on you, but we have a bit of an emergency."

"So I've been informed!" Twilight Sparkle replied as she came rushing out of one of the rooms that had designated for part of the library, followed quickly by Rainbow Dash. "Unfortunately, the food isn't ready yet."

"We should get what we can into him, whether it's ready or not," Panthera said.

Evidently using her nose, she quickly aimed for the kitchen, with Gustav and Razor hot on her tail.

Before Celestia could follow, however, Twilight Sparkle called to her.

"Is everything alright, Princess Celestia?" she asked. "Rainbow Dash just filled me in on there being some sort of altercation between you and Ambassador Gustav?" she inquired, obviously unable to believe the news.

"We'll speak of this later, Twilight," Celestia quietly told her. "The matter we're walking on is still as fragile as griffons' eggs, but I cannot allow the human to be alone with the griffons at this time. Not at least until I know it won't harm Equestria to do so," she finished as she proceeded into the kitchen.

Inside, Celestia was astonished at what she saw. Spike, the precocious little dragon that Twilight Sparkle had hatched so many years ago was stirring the pot. But the little dragon was staring wide-eyed and nervously at the huge shadowcat beside him. And for good reason. The strange creature was shooting several short bursts of green lightning from her eyes at the pot holding the stew.

"That's so awesome how she does that!" Rainbow Dash whispered in awe.

"You are a curious looking creature," Panthera said to Spike. "May I inquire as to what sort of being you are?"

"S-s-sure!" Spike nervously replied. "I'm a dragon!" he finished proudly.

"A dragon?" Panthera asked in astonishment, taking a few moments to stop her eye beams to blink and stare at him before resuming her blasts at the pot. "Interesting. You are not what I expected from a dragon."

"Well, I am still considered a baby dragon," Spike replied.

"Ah, I see," she responded with a nod. "And a male dragon, at that, correct?"

"Of course!" Spike said with a little indignity.

"Please don't take offense," Panthera apologized. "For non-dragons, it's not so easy to tell."

"That should be warm enough!" Panthera finally said, ending her eye blasts.

The pot levitated from the stove as was evidently guided to the nearby table and set down in front of an empty chair. Once that was accomplished, the big panther turned her attention to the human still lying slumped along her back. Trevar was then lifted up and brought over to the chair. The human roused from his malady while he was in the air and reached out his arms to receive the table and chair.

"Thanks, Panthera," Trevar weakly whispered in gratitude.

"Careful!" Panthera warned him. "It's going to be quite warm," to which Trevar silently nodded as he picked up his spoon.

"We should allow him to eat in peace," Panthera said to everypony, and the spread winged advancement she pressed toward the griffons made it clear there would be no opportunity to argue. As Gustav and Razor were being herded backwards into Celestia, Twilight and Rainbow Dash, they, too had to retreat. "Come, little one!" Panthera called over her shoulder with a growl at Spike. "Your presence isn't required in here, either! Trevar will clean up after he's finished eating."

Spike walked to the exit, taking the other side of the table and joined Celestia and the others as they were all guided back out to the foyer. Once Panthera reached the door, she sat down and left her wings half-spread, barring any entry.

"Apologies for taking such a forceful stance," she told everypony with a toothy grin. "But as you all are no doubt aware, it is never wise to get between a mother and her injured cub."

"Uh—I'm sorry—but—he's not your cub," Twilight Sparkle spoke up. "He's not even remotely the same species as you. How can you claim a relationship?"

"He's close enough, as far as I'm concerned," Panthera replied to her with a small chuckle. "And he wishes me to relay his gratitude to all of you for all your assistance and he deeply apologizes for all the trouble he's caused by falling ill."

"It is I who should apologize to Lord Trevar," Gustav said. "I was the one to cause him to be injured in this way."

"As I told you, we shall all talk of this later," Panthera told him. "But for now, he certainly does not hold you to blame. He is simply terrified of high places and is unable to cure himself of the affliction. The best he can do is resist his fear for a period of time. But of course, getting dropped twice as he was put a substantial limit on how much he could resist it. I seriously doubt any of you can appreciate how it affects him."

"I bet Fluttershy could!" Rainbow Dash spoke up. "She's pretty much afraid of everythin', startin' with heights!"

"And I can relate, too," Twilight Sparkle put in. She fluttered her wings for a moment, saying, "I wasn't born with these. I'm still a little uncomfortable when I take to wing."

"Then Trevar will certainly want to share a laugh with you when he's recovered," Panthera said with a nod.

There were a few moments of awkward silence as Panthera looked back at Trevar.

"I wonder—" Panthera spoke up, turning her head back toward the ponies and griffons before her. "In all the excitement of our initial meeting, I had no opportunity to be curious about all the tomes you had brought here from the other castle. Is there—by any chance—some writings covering the study of celestial objects and orbital dynamics? Oh, and anything you might have on dragons, too, if you please?"

"Well, unfortunately, nothing's been sorted," Twilight Sparkle responded. "But I do remember which stacks those subjects were in when I had sorted them for shipping."

"I would greatly appreciate it if I could look through them," Panthera said, standing up. "Trevar is almost finished, and he had informed me that he's feeling much better. He's eager to talk with all of you, if you wish."

"Right this way," Twilight Sparkle happily said, leading the way. "May I ask you a few questions about that board game I saw you playing with Mr. Trevar?"

"Of course," Panthera replied as she followed. "It's a game Trevar calls Chess. He explained the rules to me. It's a fairly simple system. The playing field is a ten by ten by ten virtual cube with forty pieces per side…." Their voices faded as Twilight led the way to where the requested books were waiting. Celestia, on the other hoof, led the others back into the kitchen

"I do apologize for my weakness," Trevar said as he finished scooping out the food when Celestia and Gustav led the way back into the kitchen.

"Please! Think nothing of that," Celestia said. "Panthera has informed us of your fear of heights. That you were able to function throughout your time at Cloudsdale without me even being aware that it was bothering you is something very commendable."

"And I don't know how I can make it up to you, Lord," Gustav said. "It's entirely my fault to cause your injury."

"Well, it's not so much that I have a fear of heights or of falling," Trevar said grinning. "It's more like a fear of that sudden stop when I land. So long as things don't reach that point, I'm okay."

Rainbow suddenly fell to the floor and rolled on her back, cackling in laughter. "HA HA! I love that! 'Y-y-you're okay'!" she exclaimed.

"Hey, if you're finished with that, I'll take care of it," Spike said, looking up at him.

"Thank you, little fellow," Trevar said, passing him the empty bowl.

"Name's Spike!" the dragon said.

"Thanks, Spike!" Trevar said, grinning. "So, I hear you're a dragon?"

"Yep! That's me!"

"Interesting," Trevar said, looking up at the others in the room. The tilt of his head as he looked at everypony indicated he was evaluating them for some reason. Celestia cursed that her spells seem so useless in regards to this human.

Rarity had been disappointed by the lack of business awaiting her when she returned to her Carousel Boutique. Of course, there had been the four-day storm, during which none of her regular customers had time to leave messages for their requests. As it was, there were only a hoofful of notes waiting for her. So, once she got back, she was quickly able to get supplies, make the alterations and line them up for pickup.

That left her ample time for her mind to begin new designs for her next fashion ensemble. Which led to the need to pick up additional bolts of cloth.

But as she left her shop, she saw a team of Canterlot guards, flying over town, heading for the castle. The troop consisted of four pegasi flying alongside a chariot pulled by its team of two, with the chariot carrying two unicorn guards. In addition, she could see a large collection of armaments loaded in the chariot, as well. Having had many opportunities to meet the Canterlot guard force, she knew this was a rather unusual arrangement. Plus the fact it was headed for Twilight Sparkle's castle.

Intensely curious, she began trotting behind the flying team as they approached the castle. They landed, and before she could arrive, the empty chariot pulled by the pegasi team was leaving. Ahead, the other four pegasi and two unicorns had joined another pegasi team still hitched to another chariot. But this chariot wasn't empty. The human mare was sitting there, looking bored…and her outfit was such an eyesore!

"I'm so looking forward to reading this one!" Twilight said, presenting Panthera with a first edition copy of "The Principia" by Sir Isaac Colton. "I'm really surprised that Princess Celestia had left this behind! I mean, it's a first edition! And it was autographed to her by Sir Isaac Colton!"

"No doubt it will make you envious of all the collectors," Panthera said with a snort. The big panther took the book in her own invisible magic and opened it, flipping quickly through the first few pages, and then stopped as a scowl formed over her face. Her left eye even started to twitch.

"Is something wrong?" Twilight asked with some concern.

"I'm afraid I will have to ask you to add some children's reading lessons, a dictionary, and a thesaurus to my reading request," Panthera muttered as she resumed quickly flipping through the pages. "The diagrams are probably still useful, but I have no idea what's in the text."

"You don't know how to read?" Twilight asked astonished.

"Oh, I know how to read," Panthera said. "Just not this writing. I had almost expected that because we speak the same language, we might have transliterated it in the same way, as well."

"Oh! That's because this is Classic Equestrian!" Twilight exclaimed. "That was what was spoken in the Ancient Pegasus Empire before the migration to Equestria."

"I was able to scrounge a modern edition a few weeks ago," Twilight said, leaving the shadowcat to quickly retrieve the volume. But when she returned, she paused, seeing the winged panther finish flipping through the copy of "Origin of the Dragon, A Wild Enigma" by Hooves Darwin and set it down.

"Oh! But this won't do you any good, either!" Twilight suddenly gasped in horror. "You still don't know how to read!"

"I'll be able to translate them from my memory after I learn your writing system," Panthera calmly muttered, taking the new book from Twilight's hold.

Somepony's terrified screams and a door slam interrupted their conversation. The screams were still going on, accompanied by sounds of banging on the door. Then a voice cried out, "FOR GOD'S SAKE, SOMEBODY HELP ME!!"

Panthera dropped the book and ran out, quickly followed by Twilight to the castle foyer. They got there, just in time to see Celestia, Trevar, and Gustav rush out of the kitchen together, followed closely behind by Rainbow Dash, Razor and finally Spike.

The still screaming creature was quickly identified as Lieutenant Scott, apparently trying to keep the castle doors shut from whatever horrors terrified her. Only there was something different about her.

"Uh—Lieutenant? What happened to your uniform?" Twilight heard Trevar ask.

The next moment, Discord popped in hovering above Scott. And then mayhem ensued.

Ten minutes earlier:

"I'm afraid she can't accompany you," the sergeant, a unicorn, told Rarity. "Princess Celestia left orders that the human mare was to remain with the chariot. We were given instructions to report here for guarding a prisoner, and based on the information from my colleagues, it would appear that the prisoner in question is one or both of the humans the Princess brought here."

"But just look at her!" Rarity protested. "And I can take charge of the prisoner, if I have to, darling. I'm one of the Elements of Harmony, after all. Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight trust me implicitly."

"Be that as it may, we have our orders," the sergeant responded, not budging an inch in his refusal.

"But this crime of fashion is still a crime!" Rarity insisted, pointing at the human mare. "Surely, you can't just stand there and let THAT happen? You're Royal Guards, after all!"

"Yes, we are Royal Guards," the sergeant replied. "And, yes, I can just stand here. And, no, don't call me Shirley. And, no, if it's not in the law books, it's not a real crime. I don't care how she looks; she's not going anywhere."

"Not a 'real crime'? NOT A 'REAL CRIME'!? ARE YOU CRAZY?!?" Rarity screamed. The guards just stared at her.

Clearly, she wasn't going to have her usual way when it came to fixing fashion disasters, so she had to think of something else. Suddenly, a new idea hit her.

"How about I take her measurements and bring the outfit later?" Rarity asked.

"I've got no problem with that. Just so long as she stays here."

Yes! She almost hoofpumped in her victory, but that would be so unladylike.

"Wonderful!" Rarity exclaimed as she used her magic to dig through her saddlebag for her tape measure, note pad and pencil. "I can get started right away." Then as she approached the suddenly fearful creature, she paused, now getting a good look at the way the current outfit hung on the biped. There was no way she was going to get accurate measurements through all that hideous fabric…

The human mare screamed as Rarity sent an additional spell to remove her clothes. It didn't matter that the process completely shredded the entire outfit, which otherwise might have been considered wasteful. But Rarity had no intention of ever letting such an offensive material be used in another outfit again. The creature continued to scream as Rarity held her in place so she could take her measurements.

The guards just stood there and stared. Just so long as the creature didn't go anywhere….

Just then, Discord popped up beside Rarity. And then mayhem ensued.

Now:

Twilight had always wondered what humans looked like beneath all those clothes they wore. The prevailing theory they were furless. That theory was given stronger support as evidenced by Scott's bared arms and legs. However, the tight-fitting items she still had on covering the most of her torso, consisting of a dark green top that hid everything from her shoulders to her narrow waste, and a small, skimpy triangle bit of cloth hugging her hips and crotch still left room for doubt.

Scott reacted to Discord's arrival with a horrified expression and a very loud scream, and immediately rushed for the protection of Celestia and the others.

"Oh, my! I had forgotten how entertaining humans could be!" Discord said with a chuckle.

"Discord, that's eno—" Celestia began, but was interrupted by the doors suddenly bursting open as several pegasi and unicorn guards rushed through.

"FIND IT! DON'T LET IT GET AWAY!" the sergeant yelled, but then, he and the others were suddenly brought up short by the sight of Princess Celestia being witness to the chaos.

"Get back here! I haven't finished measuring—oooff!" Twilight heard Rarity scream cut off when she saw several guards to the rear suddenly got shoved forward nearly a hand.

"Keep that raping horse away from me!" Scott screamed. "And there's a monster that's trying to eat me!"

Discord, from the moment the doors opened, was rolling on the ground, laughing. "Oh! Ho! Ho! Ha! Ha! Nothing I could ever do can match this for shear chaos!" he yelled. "You should all see the looks on your faces!"

"Alright! That's enough, everypony!" Celestia commanded. Order, somehow, got in charge over all the being present. Except for Discord, who was still hysterically laughing.

"Discord—" Celestia drawled, letting her annoyance carry in her tone.

"Ha! Ha! I can't help it! It's just too funny!" the draconequus cried, still rolling on the ground.

Celestia sighed.

"Alright, everypony," she tried again, this time ignoring Discord's antics. "What's going on?"

"That fucking horse tried to rape me!" Scott screamed, pointing at Rarity. Celestia looked at Scott in shock and horror.

"*gasp!* I did no such thing!" Rarity instantly protested. "I was merely trying to get measurements to replace those hideous things she was wearing!"

"That fucking bitch tore off all my clothes and tried to rape me!!"

"Heh! You're on your own with this one, Celestia! I'mouttahere!" Trevar quietly quipped, walking away from the group toward Twilight and Panthera. He was closely followed by Gustav and Razor. Celestia gave them a momentary glance, and then hung her head in exasperation.

"Any progress?" Twilight heard Trevar quietly ask once he got close enough.

"Some," Panthera muttered, turning away from the spectacle going on by the outside door to lead the way back to the nascent library.

'Don't leave the griffons alone with Trevar!' Celestia told her, using a spell to keep the message strictly for her alone before turning her attention to the crisis at hoof.

"So…what sort of creature is that?" Trevar asked, gesturing over his shoulder with his forehoof and one of the boney tentacles he had on it.

"That's just Discord," Twilight sighed. "Stay around here long enough, you'll see more of him. He's a draconequus, a creature of chaos."

"It almost resembles a Sinodraconic," Trevar muttered, giving a final look back over his shoulder at the creature who had now settled down his mirth to watch Celestia deal with the human female and the others.

"Lieutenant Scott!" Celestia began. "Please understand that in this world, rape is an extremely serious matter. I have known Rarity for quite a number of years and I'm quite certain she had no intention of sexually molesting you. Your fears of her actions, notwithstanding, should you ever bring false charge of rape against somepony, it shall be dealt with in the strictest of sanctions. Such will not be tolerated!"

"As for you, Rarity," she continued. "As much as I value your fashion sense, you should be aware just how much you overstepped the bounds by forcing Lieutenant Scott to stand for being measured for an outfit. Certainly, destroying her property is not something that I'll allow you to get away with, either. In addition, despite Lieutenant Scott's status as a war criminal for bringing the weapon through the portal, she still is a representative of her government, and as such, she is in the same league as any ambassador.

"You certainly would not be able to just strip Ambassador Gustav's accessories from him, regardless of how somepony might think of their aesthetic value. Likewise, you will not do so with these humans. Do I make myself understood?"

"Yes, your Highness," Rarity said, bowing low. "I'm so sorry for causing anypony distress. Can you please forgive me, Lieutenant Scott? I certainly meant no disrespect."

"I—I guess," Scott replied. "But I don't have anything to wear at all, now! And my uniform represents my career."

"Which, you shall replace, Rarity," Celestia added. The white unicorn gasped in shock.

"Y-y-you can't mean that, your Highness!" Rarity exclaimed with a shudder.

"Indeed, I do, young lady," Celestia sternly said. Rarity cringed.

"Y-yes, y-your Highness," she tearfully acknowledged.

"Sergeant," Celestia said, addressing her guard. "Lieutenant Scott is under your charge. She is a war criminal, but given some extenuating circumstances, I've decided on granting her a probationary sentence to be served out here in Ponyville. You are to have two pegasi and a minimum of one unicorn assigned to escort her wherever she goes. She is to be under curfew between the third hour after sunset to one hour before dawn.

"Mr. Trevar shall likewise have an escort of two pegasi and a minimum of one unicorn. He, however, is to be treated with diplomatic status."

"Are you still going along with that cockamamie scheme he pulled?" Scott protested. "He's used some sort of mind control on those griffons!"

"Lieutenant!" Celestia scolded. "Have I not made it clear that bringing false charges against somepony will not be tolerated here?"

"Y-your Highness! You don't understand! Normal human's don't have magic! But this Mr. Trevar does!" Scott pressed. Celestia had to pause in her retort. The truth spell told her that Scott was being honest with her. That put Celestia in a bit of a dilemma.

One the one hoof, the griffons and shadowcats looked at Mr. Trevar as some sort of deity. If Mr. Trevar had pulled some sort of mind control over both the griffons and shadowcats, especially given the strength of magic demonstrated by the latter, he would have to be a formidable creature indeed. But for Celestia to discount Lieutenant Scott's truthful accusation would be the ultimate of foalishness. On the other hoof, she could not simply ignore the threat of going to war with the griffons. And Mr. Trevar's actions and behavior was quite at odds for somepony that powerful and deceitful.

"I'll grant that Mr. Trevar may not be a normal human, Lieutenant," Celestia acknowledged. "Either way, you'd have to accept that Mr. Trevar does indeed have magic, even if such in your own world is not normal, is that not so?"

"Yes," Scott acknowledged.

"But given the shadowcats have their own substantial powers leads me to doubt that Mr. Trevar is mentally controlling them," Celestia pointed out. "He would have to be controlling both in order to get Ambassador Gustav to be so serious about honoring the stallion. And for him to be holding both griffons and shadowcats under his thrall and be willing to exercise such against creatures native to this world, whom we can expect to have natural defenses against such, he'd have to be insanely arrogant. But given the fact those in your world would have no such defenses, what do you think a creature as insane and powerful as that would most likely have done back on your home planet?"

"I—suppose—he would've taken over our entire government, if not every government," she reluctantly agreed.

"Indeed," Celestia said. "Now, it remains to be seen if Mr. Trevar is indeed as dangerous as you're making him out to be. But in the meantime, we have to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Now, let us have no more of these wild accusations," Celestia concluded. "Go with Rarity and get your uniform recreated, as well as any other outfits you may desire."

"Yes, ma'am," Scott reluctantly said.

Discord, who had been laying on the ground, watching this discussion in silence gave a low chuckle as he snapped the digits of his lion's paw and vanished.

"Please accept my apology, Lieutenant," Rarity begged. "I do regret having caused you any sort of distress."

"Yes-s-s-s," Panthera hissed with annoyance once she had picked up the abandoned modern book and scanned it into her memory. "It appears I will still need to have those children's reading lessons. It was too much to hope the writing had substantially changed from your 'Classical Era'."

"Wow! This shit looks like a weird combination of Georgian, Greek, Egyptian, Chinese, Hangul, Japanese, and Thai! As well as something else entirely," Trevar commented, flipping through a book that he randomly picked up. It was quickly enveloped by a purple aura and yanked out of his hands.

"That 'shit' as you call it, happens to be the 'Odyssey and Iliad' written by Commander Pegasos, the IX, himself!" Twilight scolded the human. "Barbarian!" she whispered beneath her breath so the griffons wouldn't hear as she put the tome back on its proper stack.

"Let me guess," Trevar said after exchanging a glance with the shadowcat. "It was a recounting of a pegasus' trip to an odd and strange world with little to no magic, but one of the creatures he met there was named Bellerophon or Perseus?"

"H-h-how d-d-did you know that?" Twilight exclaimed. "And—he met both, actually."

"Guess who's odd and strange world your little winged pony visited," Trevar deadpanned.

"Heh! Heh! Well, that's one human whose goose is cooked!" Discord announced as he suddenly popped in with a bright flash. "But it's odd that I did see something else that looked like a human…" He stopped and stared at Trevar. "…but…but…didn't…" Discord whipped out a pair of glasses to wear and took a closer look.

"You're a Sinodraconic?" Trevar asked.

"Draconequus," Discord replied automatically. Then he blinked. "Hmmm? Wait…You know about those? This can't be good…!"

"More like a Chop Suey version of one," Panthera muttered.

"And a shadowcat that's not…a…" Discord whipped around to glare it Panthera, but then his pupils and irises went to dots.

"Ohhhsssshhhhitt!" he fearfully exclaimed before vanishing. Immediately, there came a renewed set of screams from the entry foyer.

"What was that about?" Twilight demanded, not believing her eyes.

"Well then, Lieutenant," Rarity was saying. "Come along and I'll whip up some outfits you'll just adore!"

"Celestia!" Discord cried as he popped back up beside her. Instantly, the human mare screamed in terror. "Oh, do be quiet for once! This is important!" Discord snapped at her.

"Easy, there, Lieutenant," Rainbow Dash said, comforting the human mare. "Discord's all bark! Mostly!"

"Celestia! You've got to get rid of that human and shadowcat, right away! You don't know the danger they can cause!"

"Discord?" Celestia exclaimed. "What do you know of them?"

"I—I—I can't say!" the draconequus stammered, looking about nervously. "But you've got to get rid of them! Trust me when I tell you this, but they don't belong here!"

"Of course not!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "They b'long on their home world!"

"Not that you'd have a clue, Rainbow Dash, but Celestia's old enough to know better!" Discord scolded her. To Celestia, he implored, his face expressing terror, "Please! You've got to get rid of them!" Not certain if this was some new game of his, or if Discord was genuinely afraid, Celestia replied in the only way she could.

"Mr. Trevar has a ship coming to pick him up," she told him. "It will be here in a couple months or so. In the meantime, we have to allow him accommodations. Unless you want him to stay with the griffons?"

"No! NO! NO! That would be even a worse mess!" Discord exclaimed. "They've got to be removed from the planet! From this whole system! Right now!"

"I'm sorry, but we can't—" Celestia began, but was cut off.

"Oh, you'll be sorry, alright!" Discord exclaimed with menace before vanishing.

"What wuz that all about?" Rainbow Dash yelled.

"That's what I'd like to know," Celestia said darkly.

Discord appeared before the opening of the warp coils in the damaged castle and looked about.

"Oh! What a splendid pattern!" he wistfully exclaimed, looking down at the fragments of the destroyed control crystals. "But such a shame I can't use it like this," he sadly said, pouting. "It really breaks my heart to have to do this, but…" He nervously looked about, making sure nopony was around, and used his magic by snapping his lion's paw digits to separate all the pieces from the other debris and restore the huge green control crystal back to its original form. Then the hovering crystal inserted itself into the machinery. Once in place, Discord snapped his lion's paw again, and a small knob marked with thirty-nine symbols magically appeared by slowly extruding from the crystal's surface.

Using his eagle claw, he started spinning the knob around, seven times until he settled on one of the symbols, then spun it back the other way, six times until he selected another symbol, then back the other way. He did that five more times, like a combination spin dial, until finally stopping on the seventh symbol. Then he pressed the knob, and the warp coil came back to life, creating a tunnel to another world. One, some ten thousand light-years' distant.

Immediately, Discord started down the warp tunnel.

Welcome To Stalag Ponyville

"A Sinodraconic?" Trevar asked, looking up at the creature.

"Draconequus," the odd creature replied. If Trevar remembered correctly, Celestia had called it "Discord." The thing blinked at him. "Hmmm?" it hummed, tilting its head at Trevar. Then it blinked again. "Wait…You know about those? This can't be good…!"

"More like a Chop Suey version of one," Panthera said.

"And a shadowcat that's not…a…" the creature whipped around to glare it Panthera, but then his pupils and irises went to dots. "Ohhhsssshhhhitt!" he exclaimed before vanishing. Immediately, there came a renewed set of screams from the entry foyer.

'That thing's running a different set of particles,' Panthera sent. 'Pretty close to these equines, but definitely different.'

"What was that about?" Twilight exclaimed, blinking.

"Isn't he one of yours?" Trevar asked, yawning.

"Sorry," Trevar muttered. "I must still be a little groggy from that fainting spell."

"Well, it is getting late in the day," Twilight acknowledged. "If you'll come with me."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to scan through more of these books," Panthera said.

"But you don't know how to read any of them," Twilight protested.

"As I said, I can translate from memory once I learn your writing system," Panthera replied.

'I find it quite intriguing that for creatures based on the mold of a prey species, they don't seem all that concerned about dragons,' Trevar sent to Panthera as he departed.

'I noticed that as well,' she replied as she resumed her scanning the book she held. 'This might lead to some useful opportunities.'

'Indeed,' Trevar enthusiastically agreed.

The purple alicorn led Trevar and the griffons back toward the foyer. Celestia, Rainbow Dash, and three of the guard ponies were still there, but Lieutenant Scott, the white unicorn and the other three guards were gone, as was the weird-looking chimera.

"Mr. Trevar, these guards will provide you your escort while you stay with us," Celestia told him. "Anything within reason will be provided for you about Ponyville, such as food, clothing and toiletries, so don't worry about funds."

"Thank you, Princess Celestia," Trevar replied with a nod. "That's most generous."

"Twilight, I would like to have the humans quartered in their own homes so as to not disturb your work here," Celestia told her. "But it may take a few days to arrange. Could you please accommodate them in some of your guest rooms?"

"Of course, Celestia," Twilight said. "Mr. Trevar was expressing his need for sleep and I was just taking him to a guest room. I'll take care of the lieutenant when she returns."

"Splendid," Celestia said. "Just be aware, they are not a mated pair. They should have separate quarters."

"No problem," Twilight happily responded.

"It's getting time for me to meet with Luna and retire the sun, so I'll leave it in your capable hooves," Celestia said, stepping toward the door.

"Princess Celestia," Gustav spoke up, causing her to pause. "Might I have a word with you?" The griffon ambassador peeled off their group as the two pegasi and unicorn guards joined Twilight, Trevar and Razor going up one of the spiral staircases. In a short time, Twilight led them to the door of a spacious suite. The others waited by the door as Twilight led Trevar inside.

"This room is a meeting room for when you have visitors. You'll find a bedroom, antechamber, shower and toilet through that door," she said, momentarily lighting up her horn and Trevar saw a corresponding glow about the door to his left. "A study through there," she continued, using her powers to illuminate the door on his right. "I'm sorry we don't have the study stocked with books yet. Oh, but I don't know…can you read our language?"

"If your books are written in the same script as the one I looked at, then no, I can't," Trevar replied smiling. "Don't worry, I'll find something with which to entertain myself."

"Oh, that's too bad," she said, pouting. "Oh, but Panthera explained the principles of that board game you two were playing. Maybe we can construct something like that."

"That sounds like a good idea," Trevar agreed.

"Well, I'll leave you to your rest," Twilight said, leaving him alone in the room as she closed the door behind her.

A biped figure cloaked in black robes stepped from the warp tunnel in the chamber that existed at the core of the artifact. As the figure cleared the threshold, he raised up arms to reveal human-like hands. The being used them to uncover its head, revealing a rather ordinary looking male human face.

"Did you miss me, old girl?" he called out.

The self-sentient systems controlling the spherical space station responded in its own fashion. The being, known to the inhabitants of the world about which the artifact orbited referred to the being as "the Black Wizard". The station's computer only recognized that this creature was NOT its maker.

On the one bit, it was quite irritated with the abduction this being had committed nearly ten thousand years ago. On the other, it did appreciate the fact that something actually paid attention to it after languishing in its rightful owner's possession, unused and ignored for millions of years since its true owner had last used it. At least, the small figure standing in the central control room did not require the artifact to do anything it wasn't designed to accomplish. It simply didn't matter as being important to the vast computer that the world to which its reality warping power was directed was already inhabited. The creatures below weren't the creator, after all.

"Well! Isn't that quite an accomplishment by all the little people!" the Black Wizard happily exclaimed. "The new creatures down there have actually managed to learn how to talk with you! Splendid! I was really hoping this experiment would pay off. Now, we can all have lots of fun!" the Black Wizard chuckled evilly. But then, he frowned.

"But I'm really curious as to how he got away from here," he muttered, going to one of the huge monitor panels.

The image that appeared showed a fifty-foot long gold dragon in a hospital surgical room, the only place large enough to contain the specimen. The dragon was in really bad shape, as evident from the bandages covering numerous locations about his body. One eye was also heavily bandaged and his wings where bound in close-fitting wrappings. The dragon even had a muzzle made from several rebar pieces holding his jaw closed, as well a similar cage around his right foot.

But his distinctive features were quite evident. Two short tusks from his lower jaw stuck up in front of his snout, between two descending longer tusks curving down from the corners of his snout. His eyes (at least the one uncovered by the bandages) were triangular in shape, blood red in color with silvery slitted pupils setting on the top of a meter-long alligator-like skull. His spine was unadorned with any ridges, spines or spikes, and his body was very lean but wiry, with a highly defined musculature. His forelimbs ended with hands that had clawed fingers, his wings were thickly opaque, and his legs were like those of a long limbed dog. His tail, which nearly took up half of his fifty-foot length, was thin and whip-like. All-in-all, not a creature that any sane being would want pissed at them.

The Black Wizard was thoroughly puzzled as he watched as the dragon carefully made its way to a window in the surgery theater to look out on the hospital grounds.

"The numbers are finally dropping off," a centaur mare standing at the entrance told the dragon.

'Is it because they ran out of people dying? Or because they ran out of people?'

"Because we ran out of people," the mare told him. It made the dragon sneer and then he hissed in agony. The centaur mare yelped in surprise.

'Sorry about that,' the dragon said. 'My control slipped.'

"How did you do that?" she asked.

'I'm a full telepath, broadcast and receptive. Empathy, too. I sent you my emotions about what you said, so there could be no misunderstanding. It's necessary because I don't have the same body language as we're used to. Some of my pain rode out on the message, however. Sorry. It's all still a little new for me.'

"More than just the pain from your injuries," she said, as a tear ran down her cheek. "I felt your loss. Your guilt. Your defeat."

'That wasn't my intention—'

"No, it's okay!" she interjected. "We all lost something. My husband—He was your friend, wasn't he? The other dragon?"

'After our Change—' the dragon began, but the Black Wizard stopped watching, and switched off the monitor.

"That's odd," he muttered to himself. "So he hasn't escaped from here. But I never forget one my toys! So who…or what…the bronk is that back in Equestria?"

Frustrated that he didn't have any answers, he quickly raised his hand to snap his finger then panicked when he realized what he was about to do and his other hand shot up to stop the gesture, crying out in an inarticulate yell.

"Whew! That was close!" he exclaimed, looking nervously about. "Lucky nopony from the Continuum was around to see tha—ftsss!—Listen to me! 'Nopony', indeed! I've been hanging around Celestia and the rest of that petting zoo for far too long!"

"Well, the question still remains," he said, thinking out loud. "If Allec Trevar is still here, then just who is it back there? And that shadowcat just reeks of THEM! Bu-u-u-ut—so long as THEY don't know about this place—I should be okay. After all, Equestria is our domain! THEY shouldn't be able to cause me any trouble there, so long as they can't trace anything of what I'm doing here back to me!"

"Alright," the Black Wizard said, deciding on a course of action. "We'll just have to see what this other Trevar and shadowcat are up to—wait—Twilight said there were two of them. So where's the other? Unfortunately, I can't trace any of those three—Qdammit! I knew it was a mistake for us to agree to that stipulation in the treaty!"

Getting up, he put the cowl of his robes back over his head, hiding his face and walked back toward the portal.

"I'll be back later to play with you some more, my pretty little marble," he called out over his shoulder before stepping into the warp tunnel.

Once he was left alone, Trevar went straight to the bedroom. It was quite spacious, just as large as the meeting room at the entrance and certainly large enough for his needs. After closing the door to his bedchambers, he quickly ran and grabbed the pillows from the king-sized bed and pushed them to seal the bottom of the door. Then, after removing all his clothing, he stood away from the bed and walls and concentrated.

Instantly, his body burst with such intense light that the sun would've looked dark in comparison. When the light faded, his body was replaced by that of a fifty-foot long gold dragon. Two sets of interlocking tucks were vertical at the front end of a half-meter long crocodilian snout. Above that snout, two blood red triangular eyes, each with silvery slitted pupils, sat on the back half-meter of the rest of the skull. He had a smooth spine running the entire length of his sinewy body and whip-like tail. His bat-like wings fought to unfurl, while his long arms, which terminated with hands that had clawed fingers, and his long legs were kept folded to keep his belly close to the floor. His twenty-five foot-long tail slowly meandered from one side to the other.

In this form, Trevar was a very powerful telepath. Instantly, he sent out his mind to sense the other creatures about. The pegasi guards were bored while the unicorn was a little intrigued. Razor stood by, eager for an opportunity to formally, or informally meet the being she thought was one of her creators. Twilight Sparkle was at that moment, going down the stairs and was engaged with the blue pegasus in conversation. Celestia was still speaking with Gustav, and she was negotiating with him over his desire to supplement her Equestrian guards with some griffons. Celestia had obviously overheard the conversation Gustav and Panthera had while they were flying here, and so, she had already decided to allow it, but she wanted Gustav to earn the privilege.

Celestia suddenly jerked up and looked about sensing something was looking at her, so Trevar quickly shifted his focus away. Panthera's mind warmly welcomed his caress as his focus swept over her. He found the small dragon-like creature easily enough, making himself busy cooking Twilight's supper. Spike, too suddenly jerked and looked about, so Trevar moved on once more. He sent his mind further out, finding the pair of pegasi standing by with their chariot outside the castle entrance. Then he found Scott, her escorts and the white unicorn on their way toward the place they called Ponyville. The town, itself, wasn't far off, and Trevar could sense hundreds of Equestrians residing there.

Satisfied by what he found, he ceased probing, and concentrated once more, and triggered the sub-space tap he and his fellows had termed "the Gateway" and returned to his human form.

After redressing into his undershirt and briefs, he set the rest of his clothes over the back of a chair and retrieved the pillows from the door and laid them on their proper places on the bed. He remembered to check the window and made sure to unlatch it but left it stand shut.

'Use the bedroom window to come in. I left it unlatched for you,' Trevar sent to Panthera as he slipped under the covers and settled for a nap.

'Roger that,' she replied.

Discord walked out from the warp tunnel threshold and immediately went to the control crystal. He reached up with his eagle claw and spun the dial off of its settings, causing the warp field to collapse. Then he pressed the dial, and it retracted back into the crystal. Once it was completely swallowed back up, he nudged it out of its bracings using his lion paw.

"Oooopsie!" he cheerfully exclaimed as the crystal once more shattered into thousands of pieces.

"Heh! That never gets old! No matter how many times you do that, you always end up with a new pattern!" he said, grinning in joy.

Discord then snapped his lion's paw digits and vanished from the chamber, his deep echoing laughter lingering for several moments.

Panthera continued to tirelessly scan books, one-by-one, into her memory, being careful to not upset whatever chaotic organization that the Equestrians might be utilizing. By the time Twilight had returned to resume her efforts to categorize and sort the volumes, she had gone through nearly a tenth of what was in that room and well past the location where the purple alicorn had been focused in her efforts. The small bipedal dragon joined Twilight in conducting the sorting process.

Time passed quickly. Panthera's ears twitched at hearing Lieutenant Scott and her escort return a couple hours later; by then, she was about a quarter of the way through the mess. Incredibly, Twilight and Spike were also still going strong, although theirs was naturally a slower process. The three of them continued, but around midnight, Spike clearly showed signs of fatigue. Twilight, too, showed some symptoms, but if anything, the energy of her efforts picked up, offsetting the drop in Spike's output. And Panthera had not quite reached the halfway point in her scanning.

She could've easily gone on, but there wasn't a rush to get this accomplished. She sent a data burst to Pardus of the diagrams and formula from the Equestrian version of "The Principia" and a couple other books that looked like they might hold some astronomical observations and theories, hoping they would assist him in his own calculations of the Equus gravity field and got an acknowledgment of his receipt.

"I'll take my leave for now, Twilight," Panthera said, getting the alicorn's attention. "I would like to continue this tomorrow, if I may."

"Wh-what time is it?" she asked.

"It's past midnight, Twilight," Spike said. His voice conveyed some annoyance since he had been reminding her of the time every five minutes for the last hour.

"Oh, I had no idea that it was so late!" Twilight exclaimed, to which the biped creature rolled his eyes. "I should provide you with quarters!"

"If you wish," Panthera replied noncommittally. "My brother and I don't need to worry about shelter or rest for that matter. We are comfortable in whatever environment we walk in. But we know of you biologics' need for shelter and rest."

"It's no bother at all," Twilight said. "I had instructed the guards to put Lieutenant Scott in a room next to Mr. Trevar. I can put you in the room on the other side of his. If you need anything, Spike and I are in the rooms across the hall."

Once she was left alone, Panthera activated her cloak, then went to the window and unlatched it. Before opening it, however, she spied the dark alicorn hovering in the air outside Trevar's room off to the side staring intently toward his quarters as she slowly beat her wings. In addition, there was one of those strange flying chariots with a pair of pegasi harnessed to it—only this pair had bat-like wings and slitted pupils. Not knowing how long the creatures were going to remain there, Panthera had only one option: take her time in getting to Trevar's quarters.

Keeping the one, identified as Luna, in sight, Panthera began to use her tractor beam on an extremely fine setting on her window, pulling it open a fraction of an inch every minute or so. At the rate she was doing so, it would take about an hour for her to have enough room to slip through, but the motion of the window opening should go unnoticed by the creatures outside.

Half an hour later, a strong breeze gusted through the area, shoving Panthera's window all the way open suddenly. Luna obviously saw that motion, and shifted her hover over in order to look in. Of course, she could only see the hologram of Panthera sleeping by the door. As Luna satisfied herself that there was no threat, she moved back to where she had been watching Trevar's room. With her back turned, Panthera slipped out into the night unseen.

From her new vantage, Panthera saw that the same gust of wind had opened Trevar's window a little, too. Taking advantage of the situation, the shadowcat used her tractor beam to finish opening the window and slipped inside before the dark alicorn was in a position to see anything odd about the motion.

Trevar woke to the sunlight streaming into the window from a very vivid dream. The sight that greeted his vision was of a beaked face with huge eyes giving him an extremely close scrutiny.

"FUCK!" Trevar exclaimed in shock, scrambling to back away and getting tangled in the covers.

The griffon gasped in astonishment as its eyes did that double weird pupil and iris contraction, quickly looking about for an escape as its wings suddenly spread out. But the next moment, even as Trevar was still trying to get away, the griffon seemed to realize there was no escape, and resigned itself to fate. The griffon started to bow to him, but then apparently had second thoughts, and turned about before bowing low, presenting itself—no, definitely herself—with her rear raised up high to him, her tail lifted and to one side.

"I—I'm so very s-s-sorry for disturbing you, Lord," she stammered. "Pl-plea—please b-be ge-gentle!"

"…" Trevar looked at her, dumbfounded, as he was just getting over his own surprise.

"Uh…what are you doing?" he finally ventured.

"Y-you ordered me to m-m-mate wi-with you, Lord!" she fearfully stammered, glancing back at him and Trevar saw that tears were leaking from her eyes. At first, he thought she had been Gustav. Razor's plumage was gold, while Gustav's was white. In addition, Gustav wasn't wearing lavender eye shadow. But this was clearly a female, so it couldn't have been him, to which Trevar was eternally grateful. But that didn't answer who this was. Oh, that's right! He'd asked that other question.

"Please forgive me!" she continued.

Oh, great! Here we are, back to that again! Trevar thought rolling his eyes.

"M-my f-father ordered me to help guard you. H-he t-told me who you were, but I had my doubts!" she went on. "I had no—I know! I should have listened! Please be gentle! I'm not in season and I've never mated before!"

Trevar sighed, looking down and he saw his morning wood poking out from his underwear. 'She'd be pissing herself right now if she saw this,' he thought. Using his left hand to deftly tug on the fabric, he got himself covered hopefully without her being aware of his exposure. Then he looked at her presenting herself to him.

She was rather cute back there. A pink trisected buttonhole just below her anus brightly invited him amongst all that orange fur.

Her father? Probably Gustav's kid, then, he considered. Good job, "Dad"! Trevar sighed. But considering the fright she gave him, he wasn't going to let her off the hook that easy. He reached out with his right hand to lightly stroke up on the fur on the back of her far rear leg, causing her to yelp and tremble.

"You're very pretty," Trevar teased. He followed up with the same move on her left rear leg, making her whimper. "And you certainly have a wonderful gift to offer," he said, putting his hand on her spine just above her tail, applying just a little bit of pressure. She gasped, and closing her eyes, she gripped at the rug with her front eagle talons and braced her rear legs for the mounting that was to come. Her wings also spread out a little, held low to the ground.

"But I take it that I'm not your choice for a mate?" Trevar inquired.

"Y-you—you're the Cat-Lord!" she hissed in anticipation. "Wh-what I have to off-offer is y-y-yours to demand!"

"Your offer is certainly tempting," Trevar said as he got off the bed to squat down next to her flank. "And I do like the idea of taking you up on your offer," he said, gently caressed his hand over her thigh, admiring the well-muscled haunch. "When I do, I'll make sure you'll very much enjoy it as much as I," he continued as he reached his hand between her legs from the rear and lightly stroked her belly fur, teasing her with the tickling sensation attacking her public region as well as both her inner thighs. Both her wings shot out when he did that.

Then he stood to walk around her wing before squatting down before her. She suddenly opened her eyes to see him before her, and her confusion was quite evident on her face. He took her lower jaw in his left hand and his right hand beneath her shoulder and gave her a little pressure, guiding her to stand before him.

"But I promise you, that when I do take you up on your offer, it's going to happen when, and only when, you desire it," Trevar said with a closed mouth smile before giving her a light kiss on her beak. She just stared at him, blinking in confusion.

"I-I-I don't understand," she stammered. "When you woke up, you ordered me to mate with you."

"In my world, that—word—has many different meanings, aside from mating," Trevar said, laughing. "It was just an exclamation. I shouted out in surprise, that's all. I had no intension of ordering you to mate with me."

"So—you—don't find me attractive?" she asked, gulping nervously looking away in shame.

"Oh, I do find you very attractive," Trevar said, standing up to his full height so he could walk to the bathroom. "Again, I won't force you to mate with me if you're not wanting to do so. I consider that to be no different from rape. And I won't do that!"

"Oh, that's good to hear," the griffon said in evident relief.

"I think we're both very fortunate that I didn't yell 'shit!'," Trevar said as he removed his underwear and got ready for taking a shower. It obviously took a moment for what he said to sink in, and then the sound of laughter burst from the bed chamber. And then there was a sudden screech along with more laughter, as another voice joined in. Obviously, Panthera had decided to decloak, Trevar thought, grinning.

And while he took a nice long warm shower, he was grinning even wider as Panthera relayed her conversation with the griffon, who said her name was Gilda.

"And people always talk about how cats can poof up," Panthera said when Trevar got done with his shower. She was still giggling at Gilda, whose eagle plumage made her look nearly two inches bulkier in every direction. "Trevar, you should've seen her before she got her feathers settled back down!"

"Have you changed your mind about waiting to mate?" Gilda asked, nervously gulping at seeing Trevar's nude form.

"No," Trevar kindly said. "And if I had, you needn't worry about a cactus dick rasping you out," he then teased mercilessly with a wink. The creature's blush was quite visible despite all the feathers, in addition to her pupils and irises going to dots as her beak gapped in astonishment. Those were some of her words she had said to Panthera, expressing her relief that Trevar had not taken her up on her offer. Well, Gilda's exact words were "cactus dick rasping out her twat," but Trevar didn't feel it was necessary to go too far. She was no doubt wondering just how good his hearing must be to have caught that whispered confidence.

"Human males don't have a sheath in which to store their sex," Panthera said to her as he searched around for a set of bed sheets.

"It's part of the reason we wear clothes," Trevar explained, finding an appropriate piece. He quickly had it wrapped about himself and tied off in a toga style. "Unfortunately, I only have that one set. Despite taking a shower, they're going to get stinky rather quickly."

"Gilda, here, was just telling me about some of the history of Equus," Panthera explained. "Her people fought a war with Equestria over a thousand years ago. There were heavy losses on both sides. The griffons had lots of early gains and for a while, they looked to be the clear winners."

"But let me guess: the ponies pulled out some nukes?" Trevar asked.

"No, the ponies didn't have any nukes," Panthera said. "In fact, the nukes that were used were from the griffons. But that's when the ponies pulled out their MOADs."

"MOABs?" Trevar inquired, not certain if he'd heard correctly.

"Mother Of All Disasters," Panthera corrected. "After the griffons used some nukes to try and force Equestria to end the resistance and capitulate, Celestia and Luna got involved."

"Wait…Celestia and Luna? A thousand years ago?"

"Of course," Gilda said. "They're immortal."

'Speaking of Luna,' Panthera sent. 'She spent the night hovering outside your window. Whatever she was doing there, she didn't look pleased.'

"How about that?" Trevar muttered impressed. "And we thought Guinan was long lived."

"Who?" Guilda asked.

"Oh, I was thinking of a friend of mine, back home," Trevar explained as he stepped over to stand beside Panthera .

'Any idea what she was up to?' Trevar asked after taking time to think about it.

"Anyway, the griffons learned right then and there: don't fuck with the ponies," Panthera concluded.

'Not that I could tell. But whatever it was, she was clearly frustrated,' Panthera replied. 'When she left just before dawn, she was looking very unhappy.'

"Hey! That's not what I said!" Gilda snapped. "Besides, if that true, there wouldn't be any hippogriffs!"

"Like Trevar told you, 'fuck' isn't just for fucking, anymore," Panthera said laughing before Trevar reached down and scritched her behind her ears.

"oo-oh! oor-rr-rr-rhh!" Panthera purred, leaning into his touch. "Oh, yeah! That'zzz evvven ssooo muxxx betterr than sssexxx!"

"Whu—wait—when did you—you're mated!?" Gilda asked, astonished. "But father told me you only just arrived yesterday! When did you—?"

"When do you think?" Trevar asked smirking, still scritching on Panthera.

"Wow. You work fast!" Gilda muttered.

"Fasterrr than you can think," Panthera purred. The fact was, the first and last time Trevar had mated with Panthera was several years ago just after they had met. She did so with Pardus and Trevar simply because she wanted to know what it was like being the female. It was quite different from the memories she had as Trevar. It was pleasant with them both, but nothing that she was that interested in repeating. And naturally, she relayed her experiences to them both. But her apatite and taste for sex was still very much geared toward females as it had been before her mind was copied from Trevar.

All six of the Equestrian guards and Razor came to attention when they left his quarters. Then they all stared in shock and horror when they realized it wasn't just Trevar exiting his room.

Years of experience had inured them with the skill of silently communicating complex instructions with just an eye movement or twitch of a lip. They instantly agreed never to speak of the breach of containment that was supposed to be maintained over this individual's quarters. Although, Razor had a different communiqué between her and Gilda, to which Gilda merely smirked.

Trevar went down the hall and knocked on Scott's door. No doubt, the guards must've been dreading what they'd find when the Lieutenant opened her door … assuming she was still even in there….

"'Morning, Lieutenant! You up?" Trevar yelled.

"Coming!" the call was returned. In a few moments, the door opened and Scott, back in her uniform—well, the replacement that the white unicorn had to create. But then, Scott was taken aback, stunned by what she saw.

"What? Are? You? Wearing?" she asked, every word a question.

"A toga," Trevar replied deadpan.

"It—looks more like a—bed sheet," she said, her lower right eyelid gave a twitch.

"Well, technically, it is a bed sheet," Trevar said, continuing the deadpan. "Now, it's a toga."

"Burgandy?" Scott stressed.

"Well, I sure as fuck am NOT going to use the pink ones!" Trevar finished before turning to continue toward the stairs.

"Does anyone know where we're supposed to go this morning?" Trevar asked his escort.

"We were instructed to bring you to the Throne Room when you woke," one of the unicorns told him. Like all the guard, this one was completely white wearing matching gold and white uniform components that consisted of some type of open and loose-fitting armor. The only distinguishing elements to them were their brands, which seemed to be unique among them, and the fact that two were unicorns as opposed to pegasi.

"Then please. Lead on, MacDuff," Trevar said.

"Silver Thorn!" the unicorn snapped.

"Hmm?" Trevar asked.

"Sergeant Silver Thorn, of Princess Celestia's Royal Guard!" he proudly announced.

"Then, please. Lead on, Sergeant Silver Thorn. Lead on," Trevar said, grinning.

"I don't think they've heard of 'MacBeth', Mr. Trevar," Scott muttered to him after they were descending the stairs.

"And they probably still haven't," Trevar responded. "It's a common misquote. That line isn't actually in the play."

They came to the ground floor and were led past several of the chambers that had been set aside for the developing library, and finally to a closed set of large double doors. The six Equestrian guards all took up station, the unicorns next to the doors and the pegasi, two on either side of the passageway.

The unicorns' horns glowed and a similar glow enveloped the ridiculously tall door handles, pulling them toward the visitors. Inside the room was very dark. Before they could proceed, however….

"SURPRISE!!" at least a dozen voices all screamed at once. The inside of the Throne Room lit up.

*POOF!* Gilda's feathers standing on end had nearly tripled the volume of her front half. The guard barely flinched but were unmoved. Even Panthera had hunkered down by about an inch.

It looked like a kid's birthday party.

Trevar looked over at Gilda then he smirked over to Panthera. "I see what you mean," he muttered.

"Ohno! Not these dweebs again!" Gilda facetaloned.

"Were you surprise? Were you surprised? Huh? Huh? Were you? Were you?" the creature named Pinkie Pie, whom they had met back at the castle yesterday, was suddenly bouncing on all four hooves in front of them like she had springs in them. Then, somehow, she stopped in mid-spring—literally while still in the air—and gasped.

"Gilda?!?" Pinkie whispered in astonishment.

"What?" Pinkie Pie suddenly yelled at nothing Trevar or Panthera could see. "You think I'm going to make a mistake in semantics like that? I may not be as honest as Applejack, but I bucking well know MY RECORD is still unblemished!! Oh! And you were expecting me to say 'bronking' just now? Didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?!? Well! I'll have you know that's a completely different word with its own special obscene meaning—oh, right—sorry—the story's still going on…!"

The next moment, Pinkie Pie had shot back into the deeper part of the gathering, screaming "Gilda is he-ee-ere!"

"*sigh* Might as well get this over with," Gilda muttered. "Thanks, Dad! I knew I was coming back to Ponyville, but one would've hoped the 'Princess of Friendship' would have better class than to hang around with that bunch of … wait! … Is that—Twilight Sparkle?!? She a freaking alicorn!?! NOWAY!! SHE'S THE PRINCESS?!?!?"

"OH! BON-BON! I told you there were humans here!" another voice suddenly shouted, distracting Trevar from what was freaking out the griffon. The owner of the voice turned out to be a mint-green unicorn who was pushing her way through the crowd surrounding Scott and him. There was an cream-colored earth-pony with a pink and dark blue two-toned mane and tail who accompanied the green unicorn.

But then, Pinkie Pie had suddenly returned, muttering, "Grrrrr! Nopony, but nopony escapes Stalag Ponyville!"

MAGIC? SCIENCE? BOTH? NEITHER?

Lieutenant Scott contemplated her hand, wishing she had some of these creatures' apparent "magic" that would allow her to peer deeper into her flesh, into her cells, into her atoms, into the very core of the nuclei and see the state of her quarks. And she wished she had the ability to read their state, to see the countdown—the number that would reach zero in about two months' time….

"Aww! Aren't you having fun?" an annoyingly high pitched voice called out to her, distracting her from her scrutiny.

"Not much to celebrate when one's about to die," she responded.

"Well, obviously you're missing out!" the pink creature gleefully shouted. "You do have something to celebrate! Nopony knows when we're gonna die. Tomorrow, somepony may get hit by a bus, or fall off a blimp, or even get sick and die from hoofing cough! They never know when their lives will end. But you know!"

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" Scott asked astonished.

"Why shouldn't it?" the crazy thing asked. "Look at Granny Smith over there! She knows she's got a whole lot more days behind her than she's got to look forward to. May not be tomorrow or the day after, but not much longer. Think she doesn't think about what's going to happen to her when she's gone? Or what's going to happen to her family when she's no longer around to care for them and guide them? Of course she does! But does she look like she's worried?

"She's lived a good, long, long life!" Pinkie continued. "Sure, she knows she's made mistakes and blunders, and she regrets them like nopony's business! But that don't stop her from pushing forward, every day, making sure she's doing her best to do her best! And she's done great over all her years. So, because of that, she's enjoying every moment of everyday, knowing that someday soon, it's going to be her last moment—and she's ready to make that last moment her Best. Moment. EVER!"

"Well, what about that guy, over there?" Scott challenged.

"Who? Cranky?" Pinkie asked. "Oh, he's just not used to smiling. (To be honest, I think his smiling muscles had atrophied something fierce)," she said in a stage whisper. "He spent his whole life searching for his long lost love. But believe me: he's very, very happy right now. See that mule beside him? That's Matilda, the one whom he was looking for, and he found her, right here in Ponyville! So trust me, he's very much happy!"

But just then, another song started blaring out from the boom box that Trevar somehow conjured.

♪If we burn our wings♫

♪Flying too close to the sun♫

♪If the moment of glory♫

♪Is over before it's begun♫

♪If the dream is won♫

♪Though everything is lost♫

♪We will pay the price♫

♪But we will not count the cost♫

Amazingly, Twilight had never heard this song before, but its power grabbed her and she began singing along with it, and began marching in place with her hooves adding to the beat in the music. And she wasn't the only everypony affected. Everypony, Lyra included, as well as Celestia and Luna, joined in.

"♪We will pay the price♫

"♪But we will not count the cost♫".

Pinkie and every Equestrian pony suddenly began singing along. Scott recognized this from something she had listened years and years ago on the radio. She couldn't recall the group, but they sounded familiar. Furthermore, it was getting creepy how the equines began marching in place to the beat of the music.

There was a passage of instrumental, during which Scott took the opportunity to glance around. The only ones not joining in were the bipedal reptile, the griffons, Trevar and the big winged panther. The griffons looked like they were cringing a bit, with a nervous look toward the ponies. But Scott saw Trevar was looking at her with a questioning look on his face, to which Scott could only shrug.

What the hell was going on? she wondered.

"Wh—what—what just happened?" Trevar asked. "Are you guys okay? And how could you know that song?"

"I've never heard of that before," the purple winged unicorn replied. "Nopony has! It was amazing! But what do you mean if we're okay?"

"There was a huge buildup of—whatever y'all use—for your magic!" Scott heard Trevar say. "Bigger than what Celestia and Luna used for moving the sun and moon yesterday. Each of you were focusing, or gathering, that much power! I'd certainly hate to be on the receiving end of that much—force."

"But we weren't—" Twilight began, then changed what she was about to say. "Oh! We ponies just often react to our environment like that. Singing can—well—trigger a clearing of our channels. Yes, we can accumulate a large amount of power, but nothing's really being done with it. It's really harmless. In fact, it's quite pleasant to do so. And you wouldn't believe how much doing so has helped us solve problems in the past."

"Apologies if we perhaps made you feel uncomfortable," the tall white winged unicorn said stepping over to the man. "But then, your own—entertainment earlier—was a little disturbing to everypony here. Perhaps it's just a cultural quirk."

"Yeah, I've been in a few situations where such cultural quirks can be—surprising," Trevar laughed.

"So, Rainbow, you want to go and do some more races?" the winged black panther called out, now that Rainbow Dash had come into range when she accompanied Twilight and the rest of her friends.

"Oh, please!" one of the griffons yelled. "If you want a real race, why not go up against me! I'm just as fast as Rainbow Dash ever was!"

"So you have this magic, too?" Scott asked Pinkie, tuning out the rest of the conversation that was centered around Trevar. "Even though you're not a unicorn or pegasus or—alicron?"

"'Alicorns'. Not 'alicrons'! Those are the next brand of Transformers, by the way!" Pinkie corrected. "But, yeah, we earth ponies have magic, too. Ours is focused on the land. We can make things grow. The Apple family is one of the largest with farms all over Equestria. I come from a rock farm, myself."

"A rock farm? What do you grow at a rock farm?"

"Rocks, silly," Pinkie beamed. "What else?"

Non sequitur, she thought blinking.

"Well, try not to think of it too much," Pinkie told her. "Oh, you might like to pay attention to this next song he's going to play!"

"So you guys liked that piece?" Trevar asked.

"We sure did!" Twilight instantly responded. The nodding of all the ponies around her indicated their enthusiastic agreement.

"So, what did you think of those other tracks I played, the stuff from Two Steps From Hell, Immediate and Epic?"

"They were all very impressive, darling," Rarity answered. "I've never heard anything so compelling and soul stirring as those. But that last song—there was so much—power—in those lyrics! So much emotion!"

"Interesting," Trevar muttered. "Uh, if you don't mind, I'd like to try another song with you guys," Trevar said to Twilight.

"Sure," they all chimed in, including the other two alicorns. So he silently instructed Panthera to play another song by Rush, "Time Stand Still." This time, however, with the ponies ready for it, they were singing right along with Geddy Lee as if they knew it as well as the singer.

"♪I turn my back to the wind♫

"♪To catch my breath♫

"♪Before I start off again.♫

"♪Driven on without a moment to spend♫

"♪To pass an evening with a drink and a friend….♫"

And as before, Panthera had detected a tremendous buildup of power in each of the Equestrians, which simply faded away with nothing happening when the music was finished.

"Fucking incredible!" Trevar whispered in awe.

Discord reclined on the kitchen table, drumming his eagle talons while he listened to the party going on over in the Throne Room. It wasn't that he was avoiding it to spite this copy of his Allec Trevar, however this copy was made, or the shadowcats—such a thought simply never crossed his mind.

His problem was that he didn't know what to expect from them, or what to do about it.

Being what he was, he couldn't help but be aware of everything going on in the universe. That's just the way things were. His kind had solved the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, as well as a few other famous theoretical problems, eons ago. Once a race had done all that, then it really didn't matter whether you were looking at the particle, atom, molecule, cell, person, planet, or galaxy or not—YOU JUST KNEW EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING!!

And when someone with that kind of knowledge looks at a particle, they couldn't help but know exactly what they all were going to do, exactly where they were going to be, and exactly how fast and in exactly what direction they were going, right down to the exact femtometer and exact femtosecond AND ALSO know exactly what every other particle that ever interacted with or will interact with the one being observed had ever done or was going to do exactly, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Of course, he had tried to explain such a basic concept to many unenlightened beings he had encountered. And they inevitably scoffed that it was impossible for anyone to know such—they'd just point to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, or any number of other such stupid riddles, and declared it "completely unsolvable". Naturally, none of them ever called the first of those riddles the "Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle", except for the inhabitants of Earth, where the guy called Heisenberg came up with the observation there in the first place. No, such unenlightened beings called it, where those who were advanced enough to realize their version of "Newtonian Physics" was insufficient to figure out where anything was, their own discoverer's Uncertainty Principle. But they would repeat that it was "unsolvable"—like it was some sort of invisible god-entity they couldn't not believe in.

But that was the point—Discord's people Had. Solved. It! Along with the discovery of the preons and the subsequent Uncertainty Principle for the preons, and later the monoceros, which didn't have an Uncertainty Principle to worry about—rather, it was the Markovian equations for those—but all of that was just coincidental. And irrelevant. By that time, his kind had transcended anyhow where such matters over ordinary matter were all merely mute points of matter in any event.

No, the only thing he couldn't predict is what HE was going to do. Therein lay the rub: the same thing applied to those of his own kind. And a handful of others. One, being the Equestrians, who prior to their ascension, used to be their pets, which is why Discord liked playing with them.

While his race had been busy Ascending, their pets had continued to evolve as well. They also had learned to harness the monoceros particle! The Equestrians had become aware of the whole of creation! Although still far from Ascending. It was just as well that Discord's kind had Ascended when they had, for it was just in time to survive the Third Reset of the Well of Souls' computer. Fearful of the tremendous loss that was going to happen, Discord personally had taken their home world and shifted it to the base universe upon which the computer had overlaid the rest of reality, thus allowing their former pets to continue to live and develop.

However, near the time of the Fourth Reset, another species had also reached the last stage before Ascension and was unwittingly gathered by the Well of Souls caretaker only to be sent back out into the Fifth Universe. The creatures were astounding and their technology was just as astounding. It was from their castoff leftovers that he had acquired the artifact and used it to play with a small planet called "Earth".

Over tens of thousands of years, he had used the artifact, using it to modify the planet and its people. Occasionally, when he found an interesting point in the planet's history, and he would make a copy and toss the duplicated system somewhere across the galaxy, just so that there'd be a souvenir still about, just in case the artifact was ever discovered and confiscated. By now, there must've been at least a few dozen such versions of Earth floating about somewhere….

The primary reason though was, even though his kind could not easily know what he was doing, they knew when he was using too much of his power, since it was their power, too. Whenever he tended to get a little overboard, they always stepped in to reel him back in and ruined it all by "fixing" what he'd done—that was: "undoing all the fun he had been having." Oh, and the inevitable timeout period stuck inside a Plankstar, or a comet in the middle of some Oort Cloud, or some equally boring corner of the universe for an eon or two. Although, the time where they shrunk him down and made him ride an electron as it spun about and through an atom of diLith—oh, that's right, they call it equustite here—that wasn't too bad, as he got to enjoy the hyper-relativistic journeys. But even that got rather tedious after the first million years—and it was 5,656,389,770,886,300.6929718174312577 seconds, to be exact, before they let him off. They had even created that random number just for him the moment he was shrunk—just so he wouldn't know exactly when he was getting out.

But then, he remembered, there were those smattering of other races that had also learned on their own, the Heisenberg Solution, and that presented a unique opportunity. Instead of using his own powers, he reasoned, he should find a way to use theirs! Then his people wouldn't know what sort of fun he was having….

So one day, he found that pretty little marble, tucked away and forgotten, while its owner was busy helping her fellows build a really big lead balloon—literally—well, not exactly made of lead, but it might as well be. After all, what else would a transcended being call a warp driven Dysonsphere?

And Trevar was one such toy he had taken from Earth and remade with that pretty little marble (which just happened to be about half the size of Earth's Moon—but hey, it came with a really, really cheap but effective cloak made from trillions of trillions of simple light emitting diodes—come on! Who could resist that?). Of course, he wasn't exactly Trevar when Discor—the Black Wizard, as he was known on Earth at the time—(at least until his short stints identifying himself as Loki, but on those occasions, it was on a few of those duplicated Earths, so didn't really count as such)—where he took a lioness and transformed her into what would be known as Urbastet. Along with several other beings the Black Wizard had turned into minor deities, Urbastet was forced to perform her duties in the role he had made for her.

But, since the artifact was manipulating living souls, it never really released them after their owner got tired of playing with them all. And they ended up being reborn, incarnation after incarnation. And Trevar just so happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when the Black Wizard returned and used the artifact to reset the entire world as a fantasy roleplay setting just a couple decades or so ago.

Of course, Trevar, having been modified by the artifact (twice, now, Discord recalled, chagrinned), it made him a part of the technology that belonged to the artifact's real owners, which put Trevar out of Discord's ability to predict…only his Allec Trevar was still exactly where he was supposed to be on Earth (the original—accept no imitations, please).

However, this Allec Trevar, was—had to be—from one of those duplicated solar systems he, as the Black Wizard, had created. Except Discord remembered, the last time he had actually duplicated that blasted dirtball was some nine hundred years ago, in 1261 to be exact. He remembered it well. Lots of petty wars on all the duplicated Earths, and in one small corner of the galaxy, not too far away from one of the promising copies of Earth, was the Shadow/Mimb——

"WHERE THE BRONK DID HE COME FROM?!?" Discord angrily shouted, interrupting his own thoughts.

"More, importantly," he muttered, getting his fury back under control, "what am I going to do about him?"

While he pondered that, his mind also considered the Equestrians, who had evolved alongside his own kind to a level of their own sentience and sapience, learning of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle's solution as well as the preon and monoceros at the same time. But they hadn't yet ascended. While his own kind grew isolated and eventually fearful of their former pets, Discord took pity on them. They were as unpredictable as his own kind were, but there was something—a kind of understanding of their psychology that made them almost as predictable as the rest of the universe—almost, which is why he enjoyed hanging out with them. Occasionally, they'd do something unpredictable and random to surprise him, and yet never disappointed him.

Then came the fateful day that his people decided to do away with their former pets. Having moved them into the base Markovian universe, Discord had caused the Equestrians to be out of temporal synch with the rest of reality. They had survived the Third and Fourth Resets of the Well of Souls computer as well. That fact eventually got the attention of the rest of the Continuum which had not authorized him to move their former world onto that plane of existence. And so, they sought to wipe out their former pets, by sending both the [star] and the Borg, two deadly menaces that had quickly evolved in this Fifth Universe.

He begged and pleaded for them to reconsider. Finally, he had no choice but to risk censure and he managed to hide a handful to help them slip past the destructive forces sent to wipe out the unsuspecting beings. The things he had to do to hide them, however, were not always appreciated. Perfectly understandable they might be a little put out, but you'd think they could be just a little bit grateful for having saved their lives?

"HA!" Discord snorted at the thought.

Eventually, his people had learned of what he had done, but he argued that by doing so, he had proved they could be trusted to have such knowledge and power and not be a threat to the Continuum. And he was surprised that they agreed. He thought for sure he was going to be spending a couple or three eons contemplating the crystalline structure of neutronium while he sat in a box of the stuff, but they accepted his argument.

His thoughts eventually drifted back to Trevar, which Discord was beginning to tire of the circular thought. He especially HATED the idea of repeating himself. That never got anypony anywhere, like spinning their wheels in the mud—while the pattern might be pretty when you do it, not much else gets accomplished. Now, there was a direction of consideration worth looking into, a part of his mind considered for a moment….

Later, he dismissively decided.

But back to the Equestrians, there was a little matter that was starting to rear its ugly head again—well, Discord had to honestly admit, she wasn't ugly until he had intervened to hide her from the destruction raining down upon her planet—but he had done it so that she and her kind could continue to live, after all. And while she was an Equestrian, and thus by definition, "unpredictable", he still knew her psychology pretty damned good, which made what she was doing right now very easy to see it was going to end badly.

So, snapping the digits of his lion paw, he went to visit her.

"Mr. Trevar," Twilight said as they finished cleaning up after the party. "I'd like to have the opportunity to study your magic sometime. I'm still trying to figure out how you do that."

"I'd love to help," Trevar cheerfully replied. "And I'd love to learn about how your magic works, too. The shadowcats and I have detected some sort of sub-quark particle you are tapping into."

"It's also intriguing about that Sinodraconic—or draconequus or whatever it is," Trevar said. "He's using a slightly different type of the same particle for his powers."

"Really?" Twilight asked, looking puzzled about something. "That's odd."

"Anyhow, all this excitement's made a mess of my normal sleep pattern," Trevar said yawning. "I'm normally a late riser and usually stay up through most of the night. And this party didn't help in that regard."

"Well please don't tell Pinkie," Twilight warned him. "She hates to think her parties weren't a complete success."

"No problem. I won't say a word. But to be honest, I'm not much of a party person," Trevar sighed. "I don't do well in crowds."

"You okay, Gilda?" Razor asked, nudging the other griffon. The poor thing still looked to be in shock, evidently over the matter of Rainbow Dash being able to break the sound barrier. But beyond that, Trevar couldn't figure out what was the problem. So the blue pony pulled a "Yeager" on her, what's the big deal?

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Gilda said, blinking out of her shock and standing up.

"If you don't mind, Razor, Panthera and I'd like to discuss that little matter about the guard schedule you had mentioned before I go to bed," Trevar made a point of telling her in front of the ponies. He knew the ponies didn't want him to meet with them in private, but he needed to make sure the additional guards that Razor had told him had arrived don't react with the same craziness that Ambassador Gustav and Razor had when they first met him. Whatever this "Cat-Lord" issue they had with him was about, he didn't want it to interfere with what he wanted to do while stuck on this planet.

"It would be my pleasure," Razor told him.

Trevar and Scott gave their regards to the three princesses before departing the Throne Room accompanied by Panthera and the griffons. Silver Thorn and the rest of the Equestrian escort fell in to guide them to their rooms. However, Lieutenant Scott paused.

"I've not had any opportunity to look about the countryside," she complained. "Is it true that I can do so for a little while?"

"Our orders were to enforce the curfew after the third hour after sunset," Silver Thorn replied. "We're to provide supervised escort, but yes, you can pretty much go anywhere so long as you're back by then."

"I don't see an issue," Trevar tossed in shrugging his shoulders. "No nukes," he teased, making her chuckle.

"True," she responded. "Well, since I'm going to be here for the rest of my life, I might as well get a lay of the land," she stated, heading for the outer door, followed by the team that was assigned to her. Silver Thorn and his two pegasi comrades stayed with Trevar and they went upstairs.

When they arrived, Trevar and Panthera were surprised by another group of guards waiting for them. Two more unicorns and four more pegasi. Only these ponies were quite different from Silver Thorn and his team. They were dark furred for one. Their eyes had slitted pupils like a cat or snake, and the pegasi had bat-like wings.

Silver Thorn introduced them as the night guard, with their lead, Sergeant Shadow Wing. Razor took that opportunity to inform the Equestrians that she and Gilda were to supplement their ranks where it came to providing Trevar with his escort, and that four more griffons would be joining the guard rotation. When there was the expected objection, Trevar stepped in and let them know that this was in accordance to the agreement Celestia and Ambassador Gustav had made, and if there was any confusion, that Trevar was ready to walk right back down there then and there and ask the purple alicorn to call them back from the capitol so they could be asked. And that when he did so, he made it clear he would be sure to literally drag one of the guards in alongside so there would be no ambiguity. There were no more objections.

"Good," Trevar said smiling. "Because I hate ambiguities. I've no problem at all in wiping them out with extreme prejudice. That is one of the greatest pleasures I still have in my life," And he led Panthera and the griffons into his quarters, sharing a knowing look with Panthera. Ambiguities were something they heavily relied upon when bamboozling the authorities. That, and threats like the one he just used.

Once inside, Razor wasted no time in opening the window of the meeting room, and very soon, four griffons flew in and lined up when they landed.

"Trevar, please allow me to introduce to you," Razor said, "Golden Slasher, Screaming Eagle," to which Trevar had to bite his tongue to keep from screaming out laughing, "Blood Feather, and," she mumbled something, to which Panthera snorted, but Trevar couldn't catch, partly because the spike in blood pressure to keep from laughing over Screaming Eagle's name was still affecting his hearing.

"I'm sorry," he said. "What was that?" And that dreaded moment came the instant he spoke: the four of them all reacted with astonished gasps and bowed low before him. He sighed and silently cursed.

Razor mumbled again.

"What?" Trevar asked again.

"Mittens," Razor repeated, just barely above a whisper. Trevar looked at the fourth griffon standing in line. She was different in that her front legs were those of a lion's while her back legs were an eagle's. In addition, her tail was avian as well. And she looked rather embarrassed by the attention given to her name.

"M-my br-breed w-was from the opposite pairing of the Sky-Lord and y-y-you, my Lord," she whimpered. "I apologize if my presence reminds you of a time you'd rather not remember when you had to change sex."

"To be honest, I don't remember any of it," Trevar said sighing. He walked over and guided her to stand back up. "But I find all of you to be magnificent looking creatures. If I could remember any of it, I certainly would be proud to call you my children.

"But please, all of you, stand up, already," he said. "This is precisely why you've been sent by Ambassador Gustav: to keep any other griffons from getting close enough to hear my voice and react as you're doing right now. All this bowing and scraping every time I open my mouth is going to get the attention of the ponies and they're going to start digging into as to why. As I understand it, you griffons don't want the ponies to know about the Cat-Lord, am I right?" he demanded.

"Y-y-you are the Cat-Lord!" Mittens exclaimed wide-eyed. "Ambassador Gustav said you were here!"

"Well, I guess I am," Trevar said, rolling his eyes.

"MITTENS!?!" Razor roared while Gilda just sighed as she facetaloned. The other griffons reacted with disgust.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Mittens cried, bowing down once more. "I'm just so excited to meet you, Lord!"

"Why Mittens?" Gilda demanded in a hoarse whisper to Razor

"Probably because she's in heat," Razor whispered back. "The rest of us at least don't mind mating out of season. Your father knows how important it is to secure the Cat-Lord!"

"Well, it's a good thing you weren't standing on the carpet," Trevar sighed, pulling Mittens to stand up again. "Just step over there and we'll take care of it."

"By the Fattest Egg Ever Laid, is it too late to tear out my own throat?" Gilda asked, watching.

"I'm afraid so," Razor replied, "since you never informed your father of your preferences."

"At least he doesn't have a cactus dick," Gilda sighed.

Mittens walked over as directed while Panthera stepped up. A short blast with a green beam from her eyes quickly cleaned up the mess. Of course, that nearly created six more messes.

"HOLEY SQUIT!!!" all six of the griffons screamed at seeing what the shadowcat could do.

Lieutenant Scott could see a village not far away and the beginnings of a road leading from the crystalline tree-castle, caused primarily by the beaten grass and a few small stones here and there. The path wasn't quite a quarter of a mile before she reached the outskirts of the village. Up close, she saw that the buildings greatly resembled a cartoon version of a quaint English or Northern European village circa Early Renaissance period.

Several of the creatures were setting up shop in what looked like the village market square in preparation for doing business.

"Hello again!" a voice called out, and Scott looked about to see a couple of the original six she had met, the orange one with the Stetson and the pale yellow one with the pink mane and tail. Applejack and Butterfly, if she recalled correctly.

"Hello," Scott greeted, walking up and looking confused. "Why are you all getting set up for market? Wouldn't you normally be closing at the end of the day?"

"Norm'ly, yeah," Applejack replied. "But seein' as how th' party went on all day long, everypony's gotta make up fer it. We still gotta have food fer breakfast in th' mornin'."

"Oh, I see," Scott said, guessing that made sense. "If you wouldn't mind, but there's something that's been bothering me. How is it we're speaking English?"

"We're not," Applejack shot back with a chuckle. "We're speakin' Equestrian."

"English, Equestrian, it doesn't really matter what we call it," Scott said annoyed. "You know what I mean. How can we be speaking the same language?"

"Ah don rightly know," Applejack answered with a shrug. "Sorry. Maybe the princesses could help. But be careful askin' Twilight. Ya might get too much of an answer."

"Thanks," Scott said with obvious disappointment. "That Trevar has some cockamamie theory that Earth and this planet had contact in the past, but I can't agree with that."

"Why not?" Applejack asked.

"It's too outlandish," Scott complained. "I mean, our ancient ancestors meeting? They were little more than Bronze Age raiders. But it is hard to think of another explanation for our legends of unicorns and pegasi. Pegasus was just a winged horse that one of our mythical heroes rode to destroy the Kraken."

"The Kr-Kr-Kraken?" the timid pegasus gasped. "Th-that's the monster Commander Pegasus the IX killed on that world he visited!"

"Wha—?" Scott exclaimed.

"L-legends have it that Commander Pegasus was stranded on a strange alien world populated by strange bipedal creatures," the yellow mare explained. "He actually made a friend of a one or two of them. They even had their own names, according to legend."

"Do tell!" Applejack exclaimed.

"Well, h-history was never my strong subject," she apologized. "I only remember a few of the odd monsters from mythology class. Percules, I think his name was. Or was it Herseus?" Scott was shocked.

"You mean Hercules and Perseus?" she asked.

"Hmm—if you say so," the pegasus squeaked.

"Wait! Hercules!?" Applejack exclaimed. "Yeah, Ah remember tha' name from mythogy class! He wuz th' monster tha' beat four o' th' worse criminal earth ponies tha' eva ran wild! Much like Sombra, who wuz a unicorn supremacist, they were Earthists! Podargos th' fast, Lampon th' shining, Xanthos th' blond and Deimos th' terrible were their names. They led a rebellion 'gainst Celestia thousands o' years ago and got banished ta another world."

"Oh my," the timid pegasus squeaked. "A rebellion!"

"Tha' ain't th' worst part about it," Applejack continued. "They were meat eaters!" The pegasus suddenly screamed and zipped away to hide behind Scott's guards.

"What happened to them?" Scott finally asked, after getting over being startled by the yellow creature's panicked reaction.

"They came 'cross a bipedal monster called Hercules," Applejack tried to remember. "Ah don't rightly recall exactly whut happened, but they eventually returned reformed an' brought back news o' their tale."

"Holy shit!" Scott whispered. She did remember one of the Twelve Labors dealt with a set of meat eating horses. Maybe there's something to Trevar's theory, after all, she thought.

"So—uh—I guess you'll all agree it's not a good idea to piss her off?" Trevar asked with a grin while giving Panthera a scritch behind her ears.

"That—that is pretty sound advice," Razor stammered before shaking off her surprise to address her comrades. "Alright! Gilda and I have already had our shift today guarding Trevar—and why the flinching, Screaming?"

"Sh-shouldn't th-that b-be 'Lord Trevar'?" she asked.

"NO!" Trevar, Panthera, Gilda and Razor all yelled simultaneously.

"What part of 'keeping his anonymity intact' don't you understand?" Razor all but shouted. "That's why we're here! That's the reason why we were chosen to do this!"

"Among others," Gilda muttered under her breath, twitching her tail.

Panthera's superior hearing caught the comment, and naturally she passed it along to Trevar, as she had when she had picked up Gilda and Razor's whispered conversation earlier when Mittens had her little accident.

"As I was saying, Gilda and I have already done our shifts," Razor said. "Any volunteers for tonight's shift?" And all raised a foreleg, making her sigh. "Alright, you know the drill," she finished while looking about the room. At that, the other four griffons all brought a wing about to their faces and plucked a feather out with their beaks.

"Here, use this," Gilda said holding out an empty waste basket to Razor, who took it and marched down the row, whereupon each of the four newcomers dropped her feather in. When the last one was in the basket, Razor covered the opening with her own wing and gave the basket a couple of shakes. When she was done, she reached in a claw and pulled a feather out.

"Mittens, you're on!" Razor announced. "Try not to gaff it up. The rest of you, take a room at the lodge, and we'll work out a formal watch schedule in the morning. Be sure to get a good night's sleep. Dismissed!" Once commanded, the three not selected flew back out the window.

'The feather she had pulled actually belonged to Screaming Eagle,' Panthera sent.

"Gilda and I'll pass along our situation to the Princess," Razor said, leading Gilda out. "Have a pleasant night, Trevar."

'Now why do you suppose she lied about that?' Trevar asked sarcastically, looking pointedly at the shadowcat.

'No idea,' Panthera replied with snark. "Hold up a second, I'll come with you," she spoke out loud to the griffons. 'Try not to get laid,' she sent as a parting shot.

'No promises,' Trevar responded as he was left alone in the room with Mittens.

"So," he said to her. "How'd you get started in this job?" he asked, breaking the ice. She nervously gulped with her tail quivering.

Just then, Pardus flew into the room using the window, making Mittens screech.

"Hello," he softly greeted to her.

"Pardus, this is Mittens," Trevar said by way of introduction. "Mittens, this is Pardus, Panthera's brother."

"Oh! Hello!" she greeted, quickly getting over her surprise.

"Mittens was assigned to be my guard tonight," Trevar told him.

"Ah, yes. Panthera has already informed me. I just have a few words I need to speak with Trevar about then I'll be on my way," Pardus told her as he walked toward the bedroom. Once inside and the door closed, Pardus gave his report.

"For whatever reason, gravity doesn't work the same in this system," he explained in a quiet voice. "It would appear that the Universal Constant of Gravity is not only of a different value, but of a completely different set of dimensions! Here, it's the length raised anywhere from the fourth through eighth, as opposed to the third power, but is still divided by the product of the mass and square of time." Pardus created a display illustrating the features.

"Interesting," Trevar replied looking over the diagrams.

"Within thirteen inches or so, everything's still normal, and there's a transition zone of a couple inches where things start to get weird. Between you and me in this room, we're experiencing a gravitational constant 2.525 times greater than normal but with the length dimension raised to the exponent of 3.0614," Panthera explained. "For anything just outside this structure, gravity is 116 times stronger while the G-constant's length dimension is raised to 3.315, while at a kilometer, the G-constant is nearly two million times stronger and the length dimension has nearly raised to the power of four, and so on."

"So what's the catch?" Trevar asked. "Why aren't we being pulled apart like taffy or already fallen into a black hole?"

"At these short distances and our small masses, even with the G-constant so large, the actual forces we're experiencing is still quite small," Pardus replied. "Despite the G-constant being two million times stronger at one kilometer distance, the actual force is only a little over three and a third times greater than it should be. We're noticing the planet's gravity more than any forces between objects like people or mountains. Fortunately, it's not noticeable until you're well away from the planet's influence where I was able to measure it with the test masses."

"How were you able to find out all of that?" Trevar asked.

"From the observations about their moon as well as those test masses I picked up and carried with me," Pardus explained as he provided a holographic chart. "Also, while Panthera hasn't found a means yet to translate their text, the equations that she sent me from the copy of their "Principia" were easy enough to figure out what's going on.

"For starters, their number system appears to be octal based," Pardus told him. "But you'll laugh at this next part I found out. They're actually using the hand as their base unit of length measurement."

"The what? The hand?" Trevar asked, surprised. If that's what I think he's talking about…?

"Well, I'm not sure if they're actually using the word 'hand'. But it equates to the same four inch standard used to measure the height of horses."

"How can you be sure?" Trevar challenged.

"From the fact the book references the neutral hydrogen 21 centimeter wavelength as the value of 2.074, base 8 of course," Pardus explained. "And they have it calculated out to over 80 deci—well, I supposed I should call them 'octimal'—places.

"Anyhow, their Sir Issac Colton found a base number of 1016.44623 hands in base 8, which, after I converted to decimal and into our measurement systems, it translates to 53.5 meters," Pardus continued. "My measurements in orbit confirmed that whenever the test masses were at distances which were in powers of fifty-three point five meters, it matched up precisely with what was in their book.

"Based on what I could decipher, the G-constant rises up to a maximum value of 2.909 times ten to the 24th, with a length dimension exponent of 8.2845 at a distance of nearly 60,000 kilometers. It slowly goes back down to normal gravity just a little over a light-year.

"Whoever their version of Newton was, he or she figured out the smooth curve of the grav constants all the way out to the rest of the universe. But they assumed that all other star systems would follow the same pattern. I suspect they're going to think that we have someone on Earth to make our sun and moon go around us, or at least rotate the planet.

"But essentially," Pardus concluded, "everything within this system from about fourteen inches to a light-year distant experiences some level of a higher gravitational constant."

"Any idea what's causing it?" Trevar asked.

"Unfortunately not," Pardus replied.

"Their moon—well, I should say their solid rocky moon—is obviously much smaller in both mass and size than this planet, but it has the same surface gravity. At first, I couldn't figure it out. The falloff ratios of orbital velocity versus static acceleration versus the altitude were really weird. However, they did converge toward the normal expected values from two directions, one from the surface and one from way the fuck out there. Eventually, I found a point above their moon, 1,079.746 miles, where the ratio of the orbital velocity and acceleration matched that of Earth's area of space. From there, it was just a matter of curve-fitting. It was then that Panthera transmitted their 'Principia' to me, and shit started to make a little sense.

"That altitude, by the way, corresponds to a radius of 2,229.63 miles, or 3,588.242 kilometers to be precise, seems to be that convergence point," Pardus continued. "It also happens to be the same distance from the center of the moon which is equal to the radius of Equestria, and is why it was so hard to identify the value of the grav constant when I was looking at just this planet. As a result, static accelerations and circular orbits are following the shifting gravitational constant.

"Their pony version of Newton developed his equations for the grav-constant, acceleration, force, and orbital velocities," Pardus told him, projecting the Equestrian script before Trevar. It was extremely complicated. "But after I figured out their math base and just what their gravity was doing, I've figured out formulae to blend our understanding and theirs into something simple," he said, projecting a new set of equations:

G'=G°Rₑⁿ
a' = G'M₁/X⁽²⁺ⁿ⁾ = M₁G°(Rₑ/X)ⁿ/X²
F' = m₂a' = M₁m₂G°(Rₑ/X)ⁿ/X²
V'o ~ √(G'[M₁+m₂]/X⁽ⁱ⁺ⁿ⁾) = √([M₁+m₂]G°[Rₑ/X]ⁿ/X)

"And what is 'n'?" Trevar asked. Pardus gave him a smirk.

"N is where all the fun happens," he replied, projecting one more line of equation:

n = (20/{[σ√(2π)]Ɛ^([Log₅₃.₅{X}-μ]²/[2σ²])} - 0.03471457999999999425510513411766)

"Ouch," Trevar said, wincing. "I notice you have the same X in the delta equation as you do with the others."

"Because that's the same variable when you need to calculate them," Pardus responded. "That's all accounting for the distance between the objects you're measuring, remember?"

"Hmm," Trevar grunted. "How's this all going to affect the others when they get here?"

"I've already sent out a warning to the ship. They'll be ready to drop their speed to lower warp on approaching the system from a quarter light year beyond the outer zone of affect," he finished. "Even so, they should expect a rough ride coming into the system, but they'll be ready to drop to sublight if it gets too severe."

"So it's possible it could take a full year before they get here?" Trevar asked, to which Pardus nodded.

"Depending on how rough the ride will be, then yes," Pardus said sighing. "We've never tried to forcing warp fields to interact before. The ship will be a dynamic warp field mixing with what is essentially, a static warp bubble. We have no idea of what's going to happen."

"Anything else that seems to be going on with physics?"

"Not so far as Panthera and I can measure. Speed of light, mass versus charges of the electron, proton and neutron, everything else seems to be what it should be," Pardus replied.

"Well, it would seem to explain why they need to have those two alicorns shift the sun and moon every hour on the hour," Trevar muttered. "I noticed how when they were here for that stupid party downstairs, they had to go out to shift the sun."

"Except they're not exactly 'on time' every time," Pardus commented.

"True," Trevar said. "Panthera noted how there seemed to be one fellow with an hourglass branded on his butt who kept going up to Celestia to tell her 'it's time' to which she would excuse herself and Panthera let me know what she was up to outside before she would return."

"Very ineffective and subjective time keeping," Pardus muttered. "Anyhow, now that that's done, I guess I can start helping out Panthera with some of her tasks. Be sure not to do anything with Mittens that I would do," he whispered with a smirk as he left the room.

"You betcha," Trevar shot back.

Panthera accompanied the two griffons downstairs and soon located Twilight and Spike, still working on completing the massive sorting job.

"Princess Twilight, I'm to inform you that the rest of the griffon guards have arrived and we will be assisting your Equestrian guards in providing diplomatic escort duty for Trevar," Razor told her. "We've secured quarters at your local lodge, so Gilda and I will take our leave for now. Good night."

"Oh, but you don't need to waste your money doing that," Twilight spoke up. "I've got plenty of room in the castle. Certainly you can make use of some of them. Our guards are doing so here as well."

"That is most kind of you," Razor said. "We will consider it. But for now…"

"If you don't mind, I'd like to have an opportunity to speak with Gilda," Panthera spoke up. "However, I have a bit of a project here I need to accomplish involving these books that will eat up a few hours. If you become bored waiting here, would you please mind waiting in my room?" she asked Gilda.

"Well, I was planning on getting something to eat from the Everfree and join the others to shoot the squit," Gilda said. "A few hours, you said? How about I come by later?"

"Of course. Would three hours be alright?" Panthera asked, noting how queasy looking Twilight Sparkle had become with the mention of her hunting.

"See you then," Gilda said as she was departing. "You want me to bring you something?"

"No, I'm fine," Panthera replied as she resumed scanning the books from where she had left off. As she began her scanning, she noted how Twilight became excited over one of the books back where she was working on and left the room with it, leaving Spike to continue working on the sorting.

A short while later, Pardus silently joined her, and their scanning progress doubled. Twilight returned a little while later, evidently pleased with something, but the two teams each continued working on their respective separate tasks and didn't interact much.

After Pardus left Trevar and Mittens alone, they both stood there with a bit of awkward silence.

"Well, I'd better let you get on with your duties," Trevar finally said, turning toward his bedroom.

"Uh—uh—Lord Trevar?" Mittens asked, stopping him, making him dread what was coming. "C-c-could I-I ask you a-a-a fa-favor?"

Damn! he thought. "Sure, you can ask," Trevar said, slowly turning back toward her.

"W-w-would y-you mate with me?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"You know, I'm not really comfortable with all this Cat-Lord worshipping bullshit," he began. "I don't like taking advantage of someone—"

"I-I-I'm in season," she cut in, gulping her next statement. "I have no mate. The other griffon males, they don't consider me a real griffon."

"And I suppose Gustav knew all that when he assigned you, right?" Trevar sighed. Her blush, visible even through her plumage was clear what the answer to that was.

"And don't you griffons mate for life?" he asked, and the question clearly made her wince.

"We—we—we used to," she stammered. "Before the war with the Ponies, almost a thousand years ago. But after—there were too few of us left. W-w-we had to find—we had to give up—" She couldn't go on with what she wanted to tell him. Instead, she dropped to the floor, weeping. Trevar stood there for a few moments, then he went over to sit with her, taking her head off of her own paws and shifted her body so her shoulders leaned against him, and he held her head in his arms, using one hand to stroke her.

"Shhh," he said to her, trying to comfort the creature. "It's okay. It's okay," he whispered. "It's not so bad. It's not your fault." He kept stroking her, using his fingers to comb through the plumage covering her head.

"We—we had to—to—to give up—" she tried to resume. "We had to give up our fidelity to our mates. There weren't enough of us left. They were dead! Our mates were dead!"

"Shhh. Don't cry. You did what you had to," he softly told her. "The mates of your ancestors would not have wanted their loved ones to die as well. They died to protect you. They would've wanted you to live—finish raising your young—find new mates and start the next generation."

"It was so hard! So hard!" Mittens wept. "Only now, have our numbers begun to return to what they were before the war. The old instincts, they're coming back."

"No, not exactly," he softly said to her. "Your instincts never left. You had to override them to survive, but that need is what's departing. Nothing more." He continued to hold and comfort her, losing track of time. After a while, she stirred.

"Oh! I sh-should n-not burden you with our problems!" she exclaimed trying to get up.

"Nonsense!" Trevar growled, holding her down. "You are in pain. You're in heat and you've a racial past that's put the survival of your entire species on your shoulders. No one should be forced into that! No one!" She stayed there, letting him continue to stroke and comfort her, probably for another five or ten minutes, before she moved to get up again. This time, he let her get up.

Standing, she towered over him sitting there. He smiled up at her.

"Feeling better?" he asked, gently using his hands to stroke over her leonine shoulder, as well as lightly brushing along the leading edge of her folded wing.

"Y-yes! Yes! Thank you!" she exclaimed, leaning into him. He gave her a hug in return as he stood, which made her suddenly awkward as he now suddenly towered over her. Her avian tail twitched up and fanned out slightly, and she moved to present herself to him, but he held her wing to keep her from turning.

"I—I'm still in season," she began.

"Mittens," he said as he guided her wing to stretch out. He was pretty confident that having been a dragon for several years, he knew a thing or three about erogenous zones in wings. "When you asked me to mate with you, you didn't just pick a fucker. You picked a lover. I'm going to make sure you enjoy this," he warned her as he bent down to give her wing a kiss.

When the appointed three hours was up, Panthera quietly left, leaving Pardus to continue. But by now there was only a couple hours' worth of scanning left to do, so he kept at it at the furious pace, racing to see if he could complete the work before midnight, and he just managed to get the last one finished a couple minutes after. By then, Spike was giving his customary hints that it was time for him and Twilight to go to bed. Oddly, she didn't seem to ignore him this time, as her sorting process had at some point in the night taken a back seat to her studying another of her tomes.

"Oh, of course! Sorry Spike," she immediately responded. "Hey Panthera! Are you reaching a stopping point?"

"Uh, Twilight? That's Pardus," Spike spoke up to correct her.

"Don't be silly, Spike," she admonished. "Pardus still hasn't come back from whatever it was he left for."

"He came back while you had stepped out earlier and started working with her," Spike explained. "Panthera left a couple hours ago."

"Now, Spike," Twilight sighed. "You should know I'd notice something like that. This is Panthera."

"Don't worry about it, Spike," Pardus replied amused. "Actually, we're completely finished scanning all of your books."

"Really?" Twilight asked astonished. "You weren't quite halfway done with them when you left off yesterday."

"And you got every book?" Spike asked, equally astonished.

"Unless something got moved to some stacks we covered already, we should have," Pardus replied.

"Then what's on the page Twilight's reading?" the small dragon challenged.

"Spike!" Twilight scolded him, but Pardus chuckled.

"Hold the book up, please, so I can see its cover," he requested. "And what page is she looking at?"

"Three eighty-six," Spike replied.

"I still can't figure out what your symbols say, but," he said, projecting the image of the page called for in the space above them.

"Whoa!" they both exclaimed.

By the time he had finished with her wings, Mittens was begging for him to mount her. Still, he refused to rush. He let go of her stiff and trembling wing to use both hands to stroke along the right side and belly of her leonine body.

"So magnificent," he softly told her as his right hand found the first of her nipples while his left reached about her waist where the feathers covering her rear began. His head and shoulders were just behind the feathers of her wing and he leaned forward to give her a kiss on her back as his right hand stroked back and forth over the row of nipples adorning her belly.

"Pl-pl-pleeeeaz!" she hissed as her whole body trembled in her anticipation. Her rear legs were set wide and slightly forward and her talons were spread with the claws as wide apart from each other as possible. Her rump was especially exposed as she held her pelvis back and arched up to receive him once he would be in position behind her, and her tail was arched up almost over her back, the fan of feathers spread wide.

He realized she was teased to the breaking point and with one last hug about her waist, he stood up, simultaneously unknotting his toga to let the bed sheet drop to the floor. His own arousal was by now quite evident. He had been turned on by her being turned on, and his member was very stiff, ready to take the plunge.

Stepping around to her rear, he took the time to examine her sex. At the base of her bony tail sat the small circle of pale bare skin that was her anus. But what really caught his eye was the wide and thick fleshy chevron carved into her feathers just below that circle. Both sides of the chevron must've been about three inches long, ramping up at forty-five degrees to bracket her butthole with the upper points of the V. And the center of bare patch must have been at least an inch thick, which held a deep vertical slit connecting the top and bottom edges of the fleshy groove.

Panthera had deftly interrogated Gilda about griffon physiology earlier while he was in the shower, secretly relaying their conversation as well as he participated in it. They learned that all griffon females laid eggs, even though they shared the mammalian feature of a separate vagina and anus, a fact that pleased Trevar to no end. Gilda and the other griffons' sex was easy for Panthera to scan and confirm their conformation resembled a lioness' genitals, but seeing this on Mittens was truly amazing.

"Marvelous!" he told her as used his left index finger to trace first one leg of that V then the other toward her treasure spot, making her gasp and flinch with his teasing touches. "Simply marvelous!"

When he wedged the head of his dick into her slit, she whimpered and held as still as her trembling body could manage. Still, the vibrations sent shivers through his dick and he almost rammed straight in right then. But he was determined to make this a moment both of them would remember.

He leaned over to his left to get his torso around her avian tail, and gently used his body to ease it off to the side so he could lean forward and grip her about the waist with his arms. He could see the rest of her, her lion paws were outstretched before her and her claws fully extended, as well as her wings were stiffly spread out. She was looking back over her left wing to stare back at him with one eye that held a severely dilated iris and pupil.

"M-my lord!" she begged with a growl. "Please, Cat-Lord! Please flood into me! Put out my fire!"

"Mittens, you're one of the most magnificently beautiful creatures I've ever seen," he told her as he slowly slid himself into her. But he only got an inch further into her when he felt the head of his dick reach the end of her channel. Puzzled, he pulled back slightly and moved forward again, once more encountering the end of her passage.

"Um—are you a virgin?" Trevar asked. Mittens' iris and pupil both contracted for a brief moment as she suddenly pulled her forelimbs toward her chest. Then a sudden lurch to the rear almost sent Trevar flying backward. Almost. Instead, he ended up hilted inside her as she exclaimed with a short screech.

"I was!" she said, after gasping for a few moments as her channel tightly gripped him with spasms. "NOW BRONKING FLY ME, ALREADY, DAMN YOU!"

Trevar barked a laugh. "What happened to that reverence to the 'Cat-Lord'?" he asked laughing as he began to thrust in earnest.

"Mmm! Yes! Much, much better!" Mittens crooned in a voice mixed with a purr.

Trevar didn't even think Panthera was this warm when he had mated with her. This creature was downright feverishly hot inside. And nicely tight, wet, and deep. He was going to take his time to enjoy this….

Panthera returned to her room and opened the window to await Gilda's arrival and she saw Luna outside again watching Trevar's room. This time, the dark alicorn stood by the chariot that evidently had brought her.

"Good evening, Luna!" she called down, startling the equine. "Looks like a beautiful night we're having."

"Yes, We are glad thou appreciate it," Luna returned. "We dost try to put in the effort for our ponies to enjoy them." Panthera had to blink, trying to make sense of the response.

Perhaps just her own sense of humor, she finally concluded. Trevar and his monitors had pulled enough such jokes like that of their own in the past.

"Art thou planning to fly out and hunt tonight?" Luna cheerfully inquired. Panthera noted how this one didn't seem to mind the idea, unlike the purple alicorn had.

"Thank you, but no," Panthera replied. "I'm waiting for one of the griffons to return. I have a few things to talk over with Gilda. Ah, here she comes now."

"Good evening, Princess!" Gilda called down as she came to a hover.

"And valorous evening to thee, Gilda!" Luna responded. "Didst thou has't a valorous hunt?"

"Indeed I did!" the griffon said, rubbing her belly. "I nailed a cockatrice before the little bastard knew what hit him!"

"Ha! An impressive accomplishment!" Luna exclaimed, obviously pleased. "And a formidable opponent at that!"

"Nothing to it when you've got eyes like a griffon or an eagle," Gilda responded. "Those chicken-headed lizards can't stone anything they can't see, whileI could see him way too far for him to reach me!"

"Well, well done anyhow!" Luna said. "Far too many of our subjects has't been lost to those vermin."

"Thank you, Princess," Gilda replied. "But I've kept Panthera waiting long enough. Good night, Princess Luna."

"And valorous night to thee, Gilda," Luna finished. Gilda flew in as Panthera stepped aside to allow her entry. Then Panthera went back to the window.

"And a good night, to you Luna," Panthera called down. "Enjoy the evening and good hunting to you."

"Likewise to thee, Panthera," Luna said before Panthera closed the window.

"Celestia's pretty cool, but Luna's totally gnarly!" Gilda cackled. "And she's got the coolest guards, too! Hard to believe that Twilight Sparkle is an alicorn, now. She's still so lame-o," the griffon said, shaking her head sadly. "So, what'dja wantta gab about?"

"Just an observation that's gotten me a little curious as well as a little concerned," Panthera said, sitting down to stare at the griffon with her head slightly cocked.

At that moment, they were interrupted by a loud, high pitched, drawn out screech accompanied with a series of at least five or six hissing, low pitched, throaty roars.

"What the purratz was that?" Gilda exclaimed, jumping up ready for battle.

"Just Trevar and Mittens finishing their discussion," Panthera calmly supplied, turning her head about to glance out the window. Yep. That woke them up, Panthera thought to herself, grinning. Probably did the same to the guards in the hallway. I wonder if it reached the purple one…no, Pardus is still with her. Bemused, Panthera looked back at the griffon before her. Gilda's eyes had nearly gone to dots. Interesting how they shared that feature with the equine species.

"I—didn't think—he had—a cactus dick," Gilda stammered in shock.

"He doesn't," Panthera informed her, twitching her tail.

"Really?" Gilda asked staring at the shadowcat. "Wow! He sounded just like a griffon male! And Mittens sounded just like she was getting flown by one!"

"As you keep pointing out, he is the Cat-Lord," she replied.

"yeah-h-h," Gilda softly murmured.

"Anyhow, it was rather obvious during the party that you and Rainbow Dash seem to have some sort of history," Panthera began. "I mention this because in the short time that we've known her, Pardus and I—well—we're rather interested in her. But if you and she still have something going on, I don't wish us to have any conflicts."

Gilda had obviously tensed up as Panthera spoke, and remained so for several moments after. But then Gilda blinked and slumped in her stance, releasing a heavy sigh.

"No—there was—but not anymore," Gilda quietly said, looking defeated. "I had hoped that we could have something. But if she's able to do those sonic rainbooms like she's claimed, then she's obviously left me in the dust." Gilda just sat there, staring way beyond a spot on the floor, not moving, and if it weren't for Panthera having heightened senses, she could easily missed Gilda actually breathing, it was so shallow.

Panthera got up to walk over to the griffon and draped a wing over her.

"I suppose—I had hoped—I had hoped that she and I could have a bond—to have a relationship," Gilda continued. "If the promise of a griffon couldn't keep her with me, even if I could match her move for move…But she obviously went wild and hooked up with five other mares. Talk about overkill in making a herd!" She sighed. "I guess I just couldn't compete with that. And to top it off, now she's broken the sound barrier, and not just once it seems. No wonder she's left me behind," she finished, turning her face away.

"But hey!" Gilda sat up, back to her proud stance. "If you and your brother want to have a go at her, be my guest. Just—just—don't expect any sort of commitment from her."

"We're not asking for any," Panthera told her.

"Heh! Cool!" Gilda snapped, whipping her head about to go beak to muzzle. "To be honest, my dad forced me to attend the Cat-Lord. He picked all females, hoping to score a few strings to attach to him. Sounds like Mittens got a claw snagged in him tonight! Me, I'm rather uninterested in him. Or for your brother. But you, on the other claw, I'd like have a shot at!"

"I'd like that, myself," Panthera purred. "But, again, no commitments. Neither I nor Pardus are going to be staying around long."

"Hmm, disappointing," Gilda said, considering her options. "But done! I'll take what I can get!"

Once more, a combination of a loud screech and a series of throaty roars came from the other room, and Gilda's eyes went to pinpoints again.

"Holey squit!" Gilda whimpered, staring at the wall separating the suites.

'Enjoying yourself?' Panthera sent to him as she began nibbling at the leading edge of Gilda's wing which immediately got the griffon's attention.

'Sure am,' came Trevar's reply. 'Whatcha doin'?'

'Getting set to seduce a catbird,' Panthera responded, digging into the elbow of Gilda's wing.

'Wait—aren't you one now?' Trevar sent with snark.

'Yep. Kinda,' she said, letting Gilda reciprocate on her own wing. It really felt nice having such appendages. She seriously considered the idea of keeping them after they left this world.' Still makes it a worthwhile goal.'

'Well, just be mindful of that beak,' Trevar sent with a laugh.

'I'm counting on it!' Panthera responded with a purr.

"Okay, your turn," Pardus told Twilight Sparkle. Spike had long since given up on trying to get her to go to bed and had left on his own.

"Wait! I'm not ready!" the purple alicorn exclaimed, backing away.

"Why not? I let you do it to me," Pardus complained. It had been when Twilight began using her horn on the shadowcat that he quickly got out of there. He wasn't having any of that!

"But I need Spike!" Twilight yelled.

"He bailed," Pardus told her, inching closer to her. "Said something about us needing to get a room."

"But how can I do this without Spike?" she wailed.

"I can do it for you," Pardus softly told her.

"Y-you-you can?" she stammered in shock. "Y-y-you mean—at the same time you're—doing—that—to me?"

"Surre! No prroblem. It's verry easy to do and I know what you want," he purred.

"Okay, if you say so," Twilight said, uncertainly.

"Just hold out your paw," Pardus told her.

"Hoof," Twilight corrected.

"Sorry. Hoof," he repeated and she did so. Pardus gripped it in his tractor beam and when he signaled, she tried to pull away. He was able to measure about five pounds per square inch of resistance when she suddenly slipped free.

"Hmm. That's about the same as it took for me," Pardus said, lifting up the scroll to use his eyebeams to burn the notes into the parchment.

"AHHH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO USE QUILL AND INK!" Twilight screamed.

"This is neater," Pardus replied, showing her the writing on the scroll. There, in clean, sharp, easy-to-read Times New Roman, were the conjectures, descriptions, parameters, and results of their testing each of their "magic" and of their apparent ability to resist the other's hold on them.

"Oh," Twilight gently cooed, licking her lips. "That is good!"

This went on for another half hour before they finally called it quits for the night. Twilight said that she had an important experiment to perform as soon as it was daylight.

Trevar slowly woke in his bed, still held by Mitten's paws. He gave her a kiss on her beak, waking her up. Snapping her eyes open, it took her a moment to remember where she was, and then she smiled as Trevar stroked her paw stretched out across his chest.

"I'm afraid we've got a busy day ahead of us, so we'd better get cleaned up," he told her. A quick check with his monitors and he knew it was already midmorning.

THE COMING OF SHADOWS!

Gilda yawned and stretched upon waking. Getting up, she walked over to the table holding a small collection of morsels that had been set aside for their breakfast. The throbbing in her rear made herself-conscious and reminded her of what she and the shadowcat had done last night.

It would be great to be able to keep that winged cat, she thought with a grin.

"You're walking rather funny," Panthera giggled, stepping up beside her, but she didn't partake of anything on the table.

"Why aren't you?" Gilda demanded.

"Practice," the shadowcat said as she nuzzled Gilda.

"Practice! With as much as I used my beak on you?" Gilda exclaimed. "Heh! A few more times to practice like that and I could really like us to stay together forever." Panthera stiffened at that.

"Unfortunately, that won't be possible," the shadowcat sadly said. "We can't stay."

"Why not?"

"When Trevar leaves in a couple months, Pardus and I will be going with him," Panthera told her.

"How about if I go with you?"

"Hmm. Tempting. Very tempting. But problematic."

"How so?" Gilda asked.

"How comfortable are you with dragons?" Panthera asked. "Plus, there's the matter of you not being able to see any of your family and friends here for an indefinite time, if ever. Not to mention the hostile environment that is Trevar's home. You think you're a mighty hunter? There, you would quickly become the prey for a species that doesn't even hunt for food, but for trophies. And you'd be outnumbered seven billion to one!"

"Then why are you leaving Equus?"

"Because of Trevar, for one," Panthera replied. "And Pardus and I are a lot harder to kill, for another. I like you. I like you a lot. But I would never want to see you suffer and die in his world. And there, you will."

"…"

"But, hey, we can have a great time while we're still here," Panthera finished, nuzzling Gilda's neck again.

"Yeah," Gilda muttered, sadly thinking about it. But then she realized Panthera was right. There was plenty of time for them to enjoy each other's company. "Yeah!" she repeated with much more enthusiasm. Gilda quickly grabbed an apple and packed it away in a couple bites.

"Hey, I got an idea," Panthera suddenly spoke up with a mischievous look. "Spread your wings and close your eyes!"

"?"

"Trust me, you're gonna love this!" the shadowcat said, grinning.

"Okay…." Gilda drawled, as she complied with Panthera's request.

She stood there, not knowing what to expect, other than perhaps a new game involving her egg channel. Her tail raised and whipped a bit at the thought. As she waited, she began to feel wind gently flowing over her wings. In a few seconds, the pressure got stronger.

That's weird, Gilda thought. "What are you doing?"

"Just keep your eyes closed," Panthera said with a giggle.

"?" Gilda said when she felt the "wind" start digging down into her feathers. The next moment, the sensation reached her skin and Oh, SQUIT! That is awesome! she thought as she gasped as the exquisite feeling. It was quickly setting her body to trembling. She couldn't keep her eyes shut any longer—she just had to see what was causing such a wondrous…

She looked at what was going on with her wing. She wished she hadn't looked. Her blood suddenly froze at the sight of her wings getting…

"Gyaaaahhhh!" she screamed as she jumped away from the meat shredders chewing her wings to fibers.

"WHAT THE BUCK!?!" Gilda screamed at Panthera rolling on the floor laughing at her.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME?!?!?" Any second the pain of her shredded wings was going to reach her brain and the shadowcat—no!—the monster she had trusted!—was laughing at her! Any second, the pain was going to start…any second… Wh-wh-where's the pain?

What the buck? Gilda wondered, fearfully glancing at her wings. Surely the pain was going to start the moment she saw her bloodied bare wing bones….

Only there were no bloodied bare bones sticking out of her shoulders. There was no pain. In fact, her wings felt just fine. And they looked perfectly normal.

She blinked several times, trying to puzzle it out. She had seen the conveyor belt of those meat shredders stripping through both the upper and lower surfaces of her wings.

"I call this my 'automatic wing preener'," Panthera said getting up to spread her wings out. Gilda watched as the two sets of upper and lower conveyor belts separated to allow her to slip her each of her wings in between and then the belts settled to sandwich her wings. The sharp spiked teeth of the conveyor belts went to work cutting into her limbs was a horrific sight. But instead of screaming in pain, the shadowcat just purred in pleasure.

Still in shock, Gilda cautiously approached and used a claw to see how the spiked teeth felt. Only after she saw and felt how the teeth were like very soft rubber did her terror start to collapse.

"Holey road apples, you scared the squit out of me!" Gilda gasped. And just then, she squitted. Panthera chuckled.

"Looks like it was literally," Panthera giggled. "Forgive me?" Gilda took a few moments to think about it.

"Okay, I'll forgive you, but on one condition," Gilda said, grinning evilly. "That when you decide to pull this on Rainbow Dash, you have to let me watch!"

"Hi there!" a voice softly called out waking Rainbow Dash from her nap on the cloud.

The cloud.

That cloud!

That miserable filthy wad of the most uncooperative stuff ever to be issued out by the Weather Factory….

Normally, she'd enjoy a good strenuous workout with her flying stunts—but this cloud! She had never before had to actually fly so fast, so acrobatically and so randomly in her life! It was like this thing had somehow gotten a mind of its own, and its mind was a copy of hers! The blasted thing had flown just like she did!

Those featherbrains running the place were sure going to get an earful when she got back there…

Oh, wait. Somepony was speaking to her. She cracked open her eyes. It was Panthera.

"Oh, hi Panthera," Rainbow responded with a yawn.

"Actually, it's Pardus," the shadowcat said.

"Whu—? Oh! Sorry!" she said, feeling her face grow hot at the gaff.

"No problem," Pardus responded. "Wacha doin'?"

"Resting up from weather duty. Wacha wantin'?" Rainbow asked.

"I was thinking of doing some racing with you."

"Oh, where were you—" Rainbow paused to look at where the sun was before continuing, "—an hour and a half ago? You could've helped me catch this blasted…" Then she stopped and stared.

"D-d-dude! What the hay? H-h-how are ya standing there!?" she exclaimed. The shadowcat was just standing, and not flapping his wings to hover, in midair!

"How are you laying on that cloud?" Pardus shot back.

"Dude! I'm a pegasus, and I'm on a cloud!"

"Well, I'm not a pegasus. And I'm not on a cloud," Pardus chuckled. "I don't see where that's a problem."

Rainbow had to blink several times, trying to process that. Finally, she had to shake her head to stop thinking about it. Maybe Twilight could figure it out, but it was making her head hurt. Still…

"Dude! That is awesome!" she laughed. Then she gasped as a cloud floated past her nose. She only had a moment for it to register before it took off crazily just like that other one had done.

"Sorry, Pardus! Gotta go!" she called out, taking off after it. "COME BACK HERE!"

Rarity giggled as she used the spell Twilight taught her to dangle another cloud in front of Rainbow's face before zipping it away and the chase was so on! Rainbow left the black shadowcat standing there.

"Yes!" she exclaimed when she hit just the right speed for Rainbow's colorful contrail to be left behind her. Just a few loops and turns to keep it interesting….

"Having fun?"

Rarity looked over to see who as addressing her only to scream. There was the shadowcat standing right there. But-but-but, she thought, looking back into the sky, only the shadowcat wasn't there!

Oh, she must've teleported, she sighed, getting over her fright. But she could've sworn Panthera was still up there when she heard the cat speak to her.

"GOTCHA!" Rainbow Dash's voice called out, having successfully tackled the errant cloud, now that Rarity had lost her focus on it.

"Oh, hello Panthera!" Rarity greeted. "Yes, I was just teasing Rainbow Dash. Twilight showed me a spell this morning that allows unicorns to move clouds. But please, darling, don't whisper a word to Rainbow."

"No problem," the shadowcat said. "But I'm Pardus."

"Oh! I'm so sorry!"

"Don't worry," Pardus said. "It's likely the only one here who can tell us apart without lifting our tails is Trevar. And your secret's safe with me. But looks like I'd better get back up there," he said spreading his wings as he vanished with a ripple of distortion.

"Pardus?" Rainbow called out as she returned to where the shadowcat had been left.

"Hi," a voice behind her called out. She spun about to see the shadowcat standing there.

"Dude! That's so creepy how you do that!"

"Do what?"

"Nevermind," Rainbow said, giving up.

But then, the first cloud that had given her so much trouble this morning was back at it, starting to move out of place again.

"Gyaaaahhhh! WHAT IS IT WITH THESE CLOUDS, TODAY!?" she screamed, zipping over to it and slamming it with her back hooves, smashing it to smithereens.

When Rainbow calmed down, she suddenly realized what she had done.

"Oh, buck!" she groaned, thinking of the paperwork that's going to come from destroying a cloud without authorization. "Uh—I'll—I'll be right back!" she said to Pardus before streaking off for Cloudsdale for a replacement.

"Good morning, Trevar!" Twilight called when the human and his entourage came downstairs. She was just coming in from the outside. "I'm afraid you're a little late for breakfast. And you missed the opportunity to go with Lieutenant Scott to see your new home for while you're staying here."

"Sorry," Trevar replied. "I was up rather late last night."

"So I was informed," Twilight muttered darkly. But then, she had to do a double take at the griffon accompanying him. The oddest thing about her was the lion and eagle feet were reversed, and her tail was feathered rather than leonine.

"Twilight, this is Mittens," Trevar said by way of introduction.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle," Mittens greeted with a respectful bow.

"Panthera's gone off with Gilda to meet with the rest of the griffons in town," Trevar reported. "And Pardus came back last night. He's out talking with Rainbow Dash at the moment."

"Wait, what?" Twilight gasped. "P-P-Pardus?"

"Yes, he got back last night and worked with Panthera for a while. He said he then worked with you for a few hours. Something about measuring your magic and his?"

"Th-th-that was P-Pardus?" Twilight stammered, nervously gulping. "Oh! Oh, this is embarrassing! All night, I ignored Spike telling me it was Pardus and not Panthera! And I was calling him Panthera the whole time he was with me!"

"Well, if you're not willing to confirm which one you're speaking to by asking, maybe the next time you should try lifting their tails," Trevar said grinning.

Discord's sudden arrival halted the three figures. The two captors stared at him in nervous expectation while their captive pleaded for his help.

Discord sighed.

"You're all too predictable!" he yelled at them. "Why don't you do something novel for a change?"

Two of the figures hissed at him while the prisoner once more pleaded for help.

Discord hung his head in defeat, shaking it in exasperation. With a snap of his lion paw's digits, he teleported once more.

He had been searching the Everfree all night long. That was part of the problem about the difference between physics and psychology. Even though he knew how they thought with just as much certainty as knowing the position of an electron, actually tracing them to their hideout was another matter entirely. This was his first lead in finding the lair.

This time, he arrived at the three's eventual destination. Instantly, the hundreds of figures surrounding him reacted in a guarded hostility. They all recognized Discord as one of the most dangerous creatures around, but so long as he didn't engage in hostilities, none was prepared to initiate an attack on the draconequus.

Then Discord looked about and facepawed.

"Fifty feet!" he miserably groaned, thinking about the location he had first tried looking for them earlier last night. "I missed it by just fifty feet!"

"You!" their leader screamed, once she stepped from her chambers to learn who had disrupted all operations.

"Have you ever heard of the one where the definition of insanity is 'doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results'?" Discord asked.

"Considering how you made such a mess of us all, you'd have to be working to create a brand new definition of insanity!" she growled. "Let's see: 'popping in among thousands of your victims and expecting to leave again without a scratch' must be a particular favorite of yours to try!"

"Perhaps," Discord acknowledged. "Although, we all know that I really can leave without so much as a scratch. But that's not what I'm here for. I'm here to offer a proposition." She stared at him in stunned amazement.

"Well, I certainly got that one wrong!" she muttered after recovering her composure. "A proposition? To us? No, that's the new definition you're working on? Congratulations! You've achieved it! Now get out while you still can!"

"Oh, but dear, you haven't heard it yet," Discord slyly told her, flowing over to play his charms on her.

"First of all, your plan to attack the ponies is doomed to failure," he warned her. "Your first attempt was actually a very brilliant plan. You had very nearly succeeded in your efforts, but for the one rule every commander has to pay attention: 'the Plan is always the first casualty when engaging the enemy!' Your failure was not having any sort of backup plan in the event somepony were to disrupt the primary efforts.

"However, your second attempt was quite unwise," Discord continued. "You attacked for the sake of revenge! Revenge is a stupid reason for any military operation!

"And here we are, with you about to do it one more time!" he tisked at her. "That's not just being stupid. That's being reckless!"

"And you're here to help me fix my efforts?" she demanded glaring at him. "To give me the advice I need to succeed? To help me defeat my enemies and save my people? Assuming for a moment we forget that it was you who put us in this desperate situation in the first place, why should we possibly consider taking you up on your offer to aid us? Hmm? After all, you're now the big hero of the Tirek attack, having 'changed and seen the error of your ways' and helping your friends at the last moment," she ramped up her voice. "Are you willing to betray your friends once more, God Of Chaos, to aid us? Or are you merely playing with us like you did Tirek and are planning on betraying me and my children and deliver us all to Princess Twilight and her five pony friends with their new awesome Rainbow powers?" she finished yelling.

"Oh, Chrysalis, Chrysalis, Chrysalis," Discord whispered into her ear as he hugged and kissed her behind her jaw. "You wound me. After all, it was I who saved you all those thousands of years ago, when my people were trying to exterminate you. By changing you and your comrades, your ship was no longer filled with alicorns, so my folk no longer had to worry about any escaping. But you lived, my dear. You and your comrades lived!"

"Only for them all to starve after we arrived here," Chrysalis spat. "You made us feed off of love, where there was none to be found here!"

"But it was the only way to protect you from the [star] entities. And it did give you the means to defeat them," Discord explained. "The Borg were easy for you to evade, but the [star] fed off of hate, anger and war. You, on the other hoof, feed off of love, compassion and hope. Remember when the three aids to the leaders of the unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies rallied their folk to come together and unite to fight off the Borg? It was their joining and cooperation that fed you and your companions with enough power to actually drive off the [star]."

"And. They. Never. Knew. It!" Chrysalis growled. "To this day, even while they all have forgotten the true origin of their own accomplishments with the myth of Hearth's Warming Eve, we on the other hoof don't even rate a mention, because they never knew we were ever there!"

"Well, it's not my fault you didn't hire a good PR director," Discord dismissed with a shrug.

"You're right!" she said, smiling, making him blink in surprise. "We did have a lousy PR director! YOU'RE FIRED!!" she screamed, blasting him with her full charge at point blank range. It left a singe on his brown fur in the middle of his torso, a bemused expression on his face and her dizzy with the loss of her powers. "Next time, we'll hire somepony who knows what the bronk they're doing," she muttered, turning away.

Instead of letting her walk off, however, Discord reached out and spun her about, planting a kiss to her lips, and fed her back double the power she had expended upon him. When he released her, she blinked at him in confusion.

"So what game are you playing with us this time?" she finally demanded.

"No games, I promise. Seriously, you should abandon your efforts to seeking revenge on Twilight Sparkle and her friends," Discord warned her in all sincerity. "There are three others I have in mind that you need to target your efforts on."

"And what should I do about the ones I've already gathered?" she inquired.

"Consider them—a means to the end," Discord told her with a grin. "The same should apply to any other pony who might get caught up in the efforts, even if some of them wind up being the Elements of Harmony. Just so long as they're not your primary goal, you should be alright. I need you to go after a human male, named Allec Trevar and a couple of shadowcats…."

Gilda led Panthera to the hotel room her companions had reserved for their stay.

"Good hunting, Razor!" Panthera called out. Inside, the griffons were performing calisthenics in preparation for the day, several involved in odd looking exercises involving their wings. Blood Feather and Golden Slasher were doing pushups with their wings, while Screaming Eagle was doing pull-ups with hers. Razor stopped her crunches to stand and greet Gilda and Panthera.

"Good hunting, Panthera," Razor responded. "I'm pleased that you have chosen to join us. Ambassador Gustav will be arriving shortly and he will no doubt wish to discuss a matter with you that is probably as vital for your people's interests as it is ours."

"I assume it is a safe bet that this discussion involves Trevar?" Panthera asked.

"It is, indeed," Razor said.

"Good hunting, Mittens," Pardus called as he came in for a landing to join Trevar and his escorts.

"Strike out with the pegasus you're interested in?" Trevar inquired.

"Nyah, she got distracted by a prank being pulled on her by one of her friends," the shadowcat replied. "There're time and potential opportunities yet."

"Mittens, I think I saw your ambassador approaching the hotel where the others are staying," Pardus said to her. "I think you should attend that meeting, don't you?"

"But I'm supposed to provide escort for Trevar," she replied.

"I'll escort him for you," Pardus told her. "And Panthera's attending the meeting, too, so I'll know what's being said."

Mittens took off as their group reached the edge of the town.

But the Equsetrian guards had them skirt around the perimeter. Shortly, they came to a main road where a "Welcome to Ponyville" had been erected to straddle the road. There was house on either side of the road, just inside the sign marking the town's boundary. One house had two pegasi and a unicorn guard force standing watch. The other house, it turned out, was assigned to Trevar for his stay.

"Well, home, sweet home," Trevar muttered as he and Pardus entered while his escort remained outside.

"Mittens?!?" she heard Razor exclaim. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be escorting Trevar!"

"Don't worry about it," Panthera told the griffon. "Trevar is safe from being usurped by the ponies. Pardus is with him. What he and I see and hear the other does as well. Pardus thought it would be best if every griffon be in attendance to hear what Ambassador Gustav has to tell us. Ambassador?"

"Umm, yes!" Gustav belatedly agreed, getting over the surprise himself. On the one claw, there was the fact that the griffon in heat was supposed to be using her hormones to seduce and secure the Cat-Lord, plus the fact that her presence in the room was giving him a major distraction on their business. But the other claw held that he couldn't very well chastise her for failing to do her duty without likewise reprimanding the shadowcats, whom he needed their cooperation.

"At least I can report to successfully mated with the Cat-Lord, Ambassador!" Mittens happily reported.

"Successful?" Gustav exclaimed. "So, are you with cubs, already? After just one night?"

"Uh—I don't know," she heard Mittens meekly mutter.

"I'll not call it a 'successful mating' until I see your eggs hatching new griffons!" he snarled at her. "As soon as we're done here, I want you back in his nest shaking your tail feathers like you mean it!"

"S-s-sorry, Ambassador," she meekly stammered.

"As I was saying," he spoke, trying to resume his train of thought, "it's vital that we convince the Cat-Lord to accept our offer to come to the Griffon Empire as soon as possible."

"Didn't you almost go to war with the ponies over that matter?" Panthera inquired. "And didn't you just conclude an agreement with Celestia to allow Trevar to pursue his own agenda?"

"Yes. Yes to both," Gustav agreed, not happy at all at being contradicted. "And, yes, it was a mistake for me to react the way I did when I first saw the Cat-Lord, for which I deeply regret. His totally unexpected arrival simply caused me to panic over the prospect that he would slip through our claws without so much as wetting them! But if we can convince the Cat-Lord to take us up on our offer, then Celestia cannot very well object, now can she?

"I don't know the situation with you shadowcats, but for us griffons, we are desperate," Gustav continued. "Our bloodlines are getting strained. The war we had with Celestia and Luna nearly wiped us out. It took centuries to overcome our instincts for monogamy to where we're only just getting back to our prewar population again, and our numbers were never all that great to begin with.

"For the first time since our creation, we have one of our progenitors here, where he can inject new blood into our stock," Gustav told her. "We must secure him, before Celestia can get wind of this! And if you're willing, we'd like for you shadowcats to add your blood to ours as well. The survival of our species depends on it!"

At first, Panthera didn't say anything, but her body language spoke volumes with and her ears downturned as she lowered her head.

"That may be difficult due to several factors," she muttered when she finally spoke again. "The least of which, the Cat-Lord is not in whatever form he must have been in when your species was created."

In the next room, a pony quietly sat near the heavily curtained window in the darkened space, using a stethoscope against the wall to listen to the griffons and Panthera meet. There was a shielded magical lamp providing just enough light to allow the pony to furiously scribble down the dialog onto the scroll of parchment.

"How many know about this?" she heard Panthera demand.

"Only those in the highest levels of the Empire and our trusted operatives," Gustav admitted. "If word of this ever leaks out, there will be war, and there will be no stopping it! We've been doing our best to maintain the peace at all costs."

"So 'keeping the peace at all costs' is defined by going to war over Trevar being put on probation?" Panthera asked, sounding incredulous.

"That was my mistake, I admit it! Purely out of desperation! At first, when you showed up in Cloudsdale, I couldn't believe our good fortune. I was going to ask Celestia to allow me to speak with you in private, but then I heard the Cat-Lord speak! I couldn't let you both slip away! I'm sorry! I didn't know if you were aware of him, too and Celestia had no idea who she held! I—I—thought—if I threatened war, she would instantly turn you both over to me! I had no intension of actually doing it. But then she was willing to fight to keep you both…"

"She wasn't willing to go to war over us!" Panthera interrupted. "She was just having a 'what the fuck' moment trying to figure out what your problem was! You had blinded yourself with panic!"

"Of course, I know that. And I'm very sorry for nearly revealing the existence of the Cat-Lord and our situation to Celestia," the pony in the other room heard him admit. "But there's more that you're not aware of. Our war with Equestria a thousand years ago wasn't the first time our species was nearly wiped out. Similar disasters had happen twice before and once again after. Of those, the very first time was when the ship that brought us to this world crashed here."

"So you're not native to this planet?" Panthera asked.

"Neither are the ponies," Gustav replied. "They just got here a few thousand years before us."

"Then who are the original natives?" Panthera wondered.

"Nopony knows," he replied. "Although it's well known that the dragons were here before the ponies, before Celestia ignited the sun. But even they had come from someplace else."

"Do you have any idea of where your home world lies?" she finally asked.

"Unfortunately, no," Gustav muttered.

The conversation went on for a little while longer, and the pony continued writing what was being said, but the subjects discussed were by this time clearly routine pleasantries and evidently a few reminders. Finally, they stopped talking. Then Gustav gave his regards, and she carefully shifted the edge of the curtain so she could look out the window of her room. From her vantage, she watched as first Gustav and then several other griffons and the shadowcat flew away. A couple griffons remained in the room and spoke about settling the hotel bill as it sounded like they were packing their belongings.

The earth pony was very careful to not make a sound as she packed up her spy equipment and hid it all away in a safe place. She waited for the sound of the griffons leaving the room to walk down the hallway to the front desk, and then she began silently counting to herself. When she knew she reached one thousand, she knew it was long enough to not arouse suspicion. Then she left her room and locked the door on her way out before also walking to the front desk.

Pinkie Pie was hopping down the street on all four of her hooves held together, happily humming to herself when she spotted Panthera just standing and staring at a construction site that would be used for pony apartments in the growing business district of Pineville.

"We're going to need a lot of money," the shadowcat muttered to herself.

"How much!? And what for??" Pinkie asked, jumping over to stand next to the shadowcat.

"That remains to be estimated," Panthera replied. Pinkie was disappointed that Panthera didn't seem surprised. She was so sure it was possible to sneak up on the shadowcat.

"But you didn't answer my second question!" Pinkie Pie said, hopping around to face Panthera.

"No. I didn't," Panthera replied as she turned away to walk on.

"Oh! Come on! Maybe I can help!" Pinkie happily offered, hopping on all four hooves alongside the winged feline who was plodding along on her paws.

"That remains to be seen," Panthera muttered.

But just then, Panthera's eyes suddenly began glowing with a brilliant white light as the shadowcat froze in evident shock. This went one for several minutes and Pinkie excitedly waited for the good news that her new friend was going to tell her.

"Whoo-oo! That was a doozy of a surge!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed when the shadowcat's eyes returned to normal. "Are you alright?"

"I will be," Panthera muttered, shaking her head. "Pardus and I have finally learned how to read your language."

"YOU DID?!?" Pinkie exclaimed. "Well, this calls for a CELEBRATION!"

"Ah—no!" Panthera snapped her jaws at Pinkie as she moved to step around. "What it calls for is me resuming my assignment."

"Oh! But you've got to let me help you guys celebrate!" Pinkie pleaded, jumping around, trying to get Panthera to look at her. "I mean, how often do you get to learn a completely new language? Think of all the books you'll be able to appreciate now! Why, I can help you start your own Daring Do collection! Rainbow Dash and Twilight both love those stories! I bet you will, too!"

"Just so you know, all those books that your purple alicorn friend is still busy sorting? Read them," Panthera shouted back in singsong.

…

"There's the Ponyville Confidential!" Pinkie was exclaiming. "Just full of the latest gossip about everypony who's anypony!" Then added with a barely heard mutter, "As well as everypony who's not anypony."

"Pfft! With my mom being the neighborhood's soap opera queen from hell? Seriously not interested!" Panthera spat.

…

"And then, there's all the letters you can write back and forth with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!" Pinkie was still listing all the new things they could do now they could both read.

"We never bothered to learn to write letters when phone calls were much faster and far more informative."

…

"Awww! You gotta let me throw you and your brother a party!" Pinkie pleaded. The shadowcat suddenly looked Pinkie in the eye.

"I see what you're doing," she growled. "And it's not going to work!"

She resumed her walk, stepping past Pinkie.

But then, Panthera suddenly looked back at her, evidently considering something.

"Have you ever heard of a game called 'Predators and Prey'?" she slyly asked, creating a holographic copy of the Role Playing Game rules book for Pinkie to look at.

"Oo-ooh!" Pinkie said in awe.

"Okay, class, let's get settled," Cheerilee called out to the foals still excitedly talking about the strange visitor that had come by during their lunch break. She waited a few moments for them to take their seats. Naturally, they all were still yammering about the encounter. But she shortly had a worried feeling. As all the foals filtered to their seats, it was clear that some were missing.

"Has—has anypony seen Pip? Or Snips? Or—or Snails?" she worriedly asked.

"Maybe those monsters ate them!" Diamond Tiara haughtily announced.

"Yes!" Silverspoon called out. "Especially that huge, black, winged cat! Did you see the teeth on that thing?" she exclaimed with a horrid shudder.

"He did not!" Applebloom yelled.

"And how would you know?" Diamond Tiara yelled back.

"Because Pardus was with us the whole time until he left with the guard and—the—monkey thing!" Sweetie Belle angrily shouted.

"Shows how much you know!" Diamond Tiara replied. "I bet it was that monkey thing!"

"Don't be silly!" Scootaloo exclaimed, rolling her eyes. "The guards were around them the whole time, too! They wouldn't let anypony get eaten!"

"That monkey thing could've been working with the cat!" Silverspoon insisted. "Monkeys are especially clever and cats are sneaky, sneaky hunters!"

"Yeah!" Diamond Tiara instantly agreed before any other pony could respond. "They could've sneaked a grab on poor unsuspecting foals like us, even with the guards watching! You all saw how that cat nearly ate Silverspoon and me! I felt its hot breath on me the whole time it chased us and Silverspoon lost several locks from her tail as that creature tried to grab her with those huge claws! We were almost torn to ribbons! We barely escaped with our flanks intact! Wait until my father hears about this! Princess Twilight or Princess Celestia will have to do something about those—those—monsters!"

"Now, now!" Cheerilee called out, having to uncharacteristically raise her voice. "I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation. Stay here while I go look for them!"

But once she left the room, the rumors really started to fly and grow.

It didn't take Cheerilee long to find her missing students, however. She spotted them standing by the large tree where the bipedal creature and the majority of the guard had awaited their colleagues while the two visitors met with her. The three were standing, staring off toward town, where the entire group had gone after they had left.

"Pip! Snip! Snails!" she called out to them. To her surprise, they continued to stare as if they hadn't heard her. Puzzled, she walked up to them. When she was about three lengths away, she repeated her call. Amazingly, they continued to ignore her. She waited a few moments and was about to walk the rest of the way, when they finally turned and looked at her, staring blankly at her.

"Come along, now! Lunch time is over. Class has started," she reminded them. They continued to look blankly at her. After a few moments, they all blinked once—simultaneously—and then began silently walking toward her.

She looked at them, feeling very puzzled. They were certainly acting very uncharacteristically. But they were following, so she led them back to the school house.

Stepping inside, Cheerilee had to pause to take in the sight.

The usual five troublemakers were the only ones still in their seats. Applebloom was slowly shaking her head while her face was buried in both her hooves, Sweetie Belle looked bored as she rested her chin on a hoof, Scootaloo had faceplanted into her history book, while Diamond Tiara and Silverspoon were still talking with each other in a very animated conversation. The rest of the foals were all in the far corner, hugging each other en mass and screaming in terror.

By the time Cheerilee was able to finally restore order, she didn't care that the three colts she had to fetch had each taken the wrong seats.

Of course, Diamond Tiara and Silverspoon, having seen the three missing colts alive and well, had nothing further to interest them other than their remaining lessons of the day.

But the Cutie Mark Crusaders were really puzzled about how strange they behaved. Normally, Snips and Snails were very disruptive in class by bringing up some gross or otherwise inappropriate subject throughout the day. And Pip was normally very studious, paying close attention to Miss Cheerilee's lessons. But the three simply sat there, not making a sound and not moving. In fact, it seemed as though they weren't even paying attention to Miss Cheerilee's lessons. They just stared forward toward the front of the room, hardly even blinking for several minutes at a time. And when they did blink, it was weird how they did so at the same time. The three fillies glanced at each other, silently confirming they were all seeing the same phenomena.

Rainbow Dash just finished putting the replacement cloud in its place in the sky. She was in a sour mood after all the paperwork for getting the replacement, in a word: BOOOOORRRRRIIIIINNNNNGGGGG!

After all that, she was looking for something with which to entertain herself, when at that moment, she spied Panthera finish talking with Pinkie Pie. Seeing the pink mare go into Sugar Cube Corners, the cyan pegasus launched herself down at the unsuspecting shadowcat, pulling an can of compressed air attached to an airhorn from her mane, intending to do some payback on the winged panther. However, she reared up at seeing the creature's form ripple and vanished from her sight.

"Dang!" she quietly cursed, wildly looking about. "I forgot they could do that!"

But then, she spotted a distortion continuing on in the direction she had last seen the shadowcat. Grinning, she silently glided in behind the nearly invisible creature. Following, she stalked the predator from above, seeing the distortion finally land and the inky black figure eerily became visible again and began slinking through alleys on whatever mission she was on.

As she followed, it soon became clear that Panthera was evidently stalking the male human, one of the griffons, and their entourage of pony guards.

Oh, this is going to be good! Rainbow Dash thought, scoping the creature out from atop the roofs of the houses as she kept the cat in sight. As far as she could tell, the shadowcat was just trying to not be seen by anypony as she would pause to hide if anypony wandered by, before crossing the streets after they passed. She never looked up behind her once.

Waiting for Panthera to prepare for crossing another street as a mixed group of unicorns and earth ponies wandered by, Rainbow Dash prepared for her attack, grinning widely. Her butt wiggled in an oddly feline manner in her anticipation of pouncing.

This is it! she thought as she launched the moment Panthera began to slink across the road, aiming the airhorn as she dove.

"Whatchadoin'?" a voice suddenly called out from behind her ears. Wincing in annoyance, Rainbow Dash halted her attack and came to a sudden stop to hover. Amazingly, Panthera never reacted to whoever ruined her prank, as she continued to cross the street into the next alley. But Rainbow Dash was pissed.

She turned to glare at the idiot who ruined the perfect attack, only to see the faces of both shadowcats who were each hovering above her.

"Whu—?"Rainbow Dash asked, doing a double take at shadowcat down on the street he had been stalking, seeing her vanish in an instant. Then she looked back at both of the shadowcats who had ambushed her.

"Meow!" Panthera snarled.

"GYAAAAHH!" Rainbow Dash screamed.

Pardus and Panthera both roared with laughter, suddenly rolling about in midair as Rainbow tried to catch her breath.

"WH-WHAT THE HAY!? Y-y-you guys tryin' ta give me a heart attack?" she screamed at them.

"Oh, God! You're so easy!" Pardus said, still laughing.

"We like you! You're silly!" Panthera added, giggling.

"Har, har," the azure pegasus grumbled before lifting the can of air and blasting the two cats with it. Somehow, she anticipated they'd barely noticed. They only laughed and guffawed harder.

"Oh, that was wonderful," Pardus said, finally sobering and wiping a tear from his eye. "I've not had a laugh like that in ages. Wish I could stay, but I've got to head off to look up a few items. Do try to keep Panthera out of too much trouble for me, Rainbow Dash. I'll be back later to join up with you guys again," he said as he departed and faded from view. Rainbow Dash kept her eyes on him, hoping to spot the distortion, but there was none.

"Ya somehow suckered me into thinkin' ya were on the ground, didn't ya?" she demanded, glaring at Panthera.

"Heh! Wouldn't be much of a cloaking device if you could see it, now would it?" Panthera asked, lifting a paw, over which a small ball shaped visible distortion rippled. "But toss in a minor holographic distraction, and yep! You're mine!" she added with a grin as the distortion turned into a miniature winged panther.

"Hmf! Pretty clever," Rainbow Dash muttered sourly.

"Meh," the shadowcat dismissed the complement, as well as the illusion, with a shrug of her wings. "It's an old trick we've been pulling for years. Just a matter of applying the proper distractions. You were relying too much on your eyes. Your eyes can easily be fooled. Don't trust them," she finished with an intense stare.

Spike tiredly trudged into town from the castle. He knew Twilight was taking the loss of the Golden Oaks Library tree house very hard, primarily because of the loss of all those books, but also because it was such a wonderful place to live there. Spike missed it, too. Especially since the convenience of already being in town for whenever he needed to go anywhere was gone. Now, he had to walk all that extra distance to get anywhere. Carrousel Boutique had been just a few blocks away and Sugar Cube Corners was just down the other street from there. They were a little closer to Fluttershy's and not much difference to Applejack's, but it was a different route to there. Everything was different, now.

Coming up on Sugar Cube Corners, he spotted Pinkie just finishing talking with one of those spooky-looking shadowcats before the creature turned to leap into the air before vanishing and Pinkie went inside the shop.

He grinned as the shadowcat's image rippled into nothing. They were very spooky-looking. Not scary spooky, but rather, they were really super cool spooky! Plus, they and their human friend really had a strong interest in learning about dragons. He had enjoyed supplying them with all the answers he knew about his kind—which unfortunately, based on their questions, revealed he really didn't know that much about dragons. But they treated him nice. He was looking forward to any opportunity to speak with them again.

However, he was on a mission, as his stomach quickly reminded him. And it was very fortunate that he had seen Pinkie go into the shop. She could always be counted on to supply him with some of those delicious gem encrusted cupcakes without charging him for the cost of all those gemstone flakes. He and Pinkie had a secret rendezvous arrangement that nopony else knew about.

Sure enough, when he entered and greeted the Cakes, Pinkie quickly intervened and asked him if he would come up to her room for a moment. This time, she implied there was a special project she needed his help with in planning a party at the castle, and over the years, he had learned to match her code phrase with an appropriate response.

("Huh?" he asked, totally befuddled. "Party? Castle? What are you talking about, Pinkie?"

"You kno-o-ow—" she drawled. "The pa-ar-ty! At. The. Ca-a-as-s-stl-l-le!"

"Huh?" he asked, even more confused…until it clicked in his head. "Oh. Oh! Right! The party! At the castle! Yeah, I'll be right up!")

Spike knew he was always so smooth helping Pinkie keep the secret from the Cakes about what they were really doing.

Once upstairs, however, instead of her usual hoofing over the bag with the gem encrusted cupcakes, she pulled out a scroll from within her mane.

"Can you do me a very big favor, Spike?" she asked, holding the bag of cupcakes in one hoof and the scroll in the other. "I need you to send this report to Princess Celestia. But you mustn't tell anypony about this. I need you to Pinkie Promise!"

"Sure, Pinkie," Spike eagerly said. "'Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!'" he quoted as he took the scroll and sent it on its way.

("No! No! NO! The other scroll, Spike!" she nearly screamed, yanking the bag of cupcakes back from the dragon before he could send them to the princess. "I seriously doubt Princess Celestia would like breaking her teeth on those, and, of course, you wouldn't get to eat them!"

"Oh. Yeah. I guess you're right about that," Spike agreed with a chuckle, taking the other scroll that she passed to him.

"Silly me," he said, giggling, as his flame turned the real scroll into ash that floated out the window. "She sure would be surprised by those, wouldn't she?"

"Without a doubt!" Pinkie said whewwing as she wiped her poll with her fetlock.)

"Here you go, Pinkie," Spike said, handing the bits over to her in exchange for the bag of cupcakes. "Same time, tomorrow?"

"Of course!" she happily exclaimed as she followed him out of her room and down the stairs.

"Great!" Spike said, cleverly raising his voice to ensure he kept up the deception they had arranged to keep the Cakes in the dark. "I'll be sure to get this to Twilight so we can prepare for the party! At the castle!"

"Okay! See ya!" she called out and waved good-bye as he left the shop.

"The usual?" Mr. Cake asked as Pinkie dropped the bits into the register.

"Um-hmm!" Pinkie hummed nodding. "I know he'd rather get those worthless gem slivers straight from Rarity, but I thought it'd be more fun for the little guy to enjoy them sprinkled over his cupcakes."

"That's so sweet of you!" Mrs. Cake spoke up giggling. "And it's so adorable that he thinks you're pulling a secret mission to get them to him."

"Convenient, too!" Pinkie agreed with a huge smile.

At Canterlot Castle, a scroll magically appeared in front of her, which she plucked out of the air with her magic. Upon reading the report, her brow furled with worry.

"This is far more serious than we had imagined," she muttered to herself.

Later that afternoon, Twilight Sparkle arrived at Sugar Cube Corners.

"Hello, Mister and Misses Cake!" she greeted upon seeing them as she entered.

"Greetings, your majesty!" they called back. Twilight Sparkle sighed.

"Please! It's just Twilight!" she pleaded with them. Living up to being an alicorn princess was something she had no idea how to handle.

"But that wouldn't be proper!" Misses Cake responded, obviously not seeing the irony in resuming an argument that often escalated to disrespectful status while insisting on being respectful.

Luckily, Twilight caught herself before letting her get back into that vicious cycle. Repeatedly. Once more. Again. She remembered that she was here because Pinkie Pie wanted to show her something very fun.

"Hi, uh—can you tell me where I can find Pinkie Pie?" she asked.

"Oh, why she's gone to get supplies to restock the store," Mister Cake answered. "She just left. If you hurry, you might catch her."

"Thank you, Mister and Misses Cake," she said, quickly bolting out the door. That was a lucky break! she thought.

As she searched about town, she heard a commotion coming from a few blocks ahead as well as seeing several ponies rushing through the streets away from the area.

When Twilight arrived, the scene was as horrific as it was inexplicable.

Pinkie Pie was busy dodging about, bouncing midair off of somethings that quickly revealed themselves to be shadowcats! Dozens and dozens of them where about the square, rubbing the tops of their heads.

Suddenly, in the middle of one her leaps, Pinkie Pie exclaimed, "HEY! NO FAI—oof!" She was interrupted as something tackled her and she landed hard on her back. Another shadowcat suddenly appeared straddling Pinkie Pie!

Then several dozen more shadowcats decloaked, many of them hovering in flight above the scene.

Where did all these shadowcats come from? Twilight wondered in astonishment. There were only supposed to be two!

"Gotcha!" Panthera purred as Pardus stepped up. The other shadowcats all settled about and slowly surrounded the three.

"NO FAIR!" Pinkie Pie screamed from where Panthera held her. "THOSE TWO WEREN'T THERE JUST A SECOND AGO AND THEY DIDN'T TELEPORT IN, EITHER!" she shouted, pointing at the two. "And what happened to there only being two of you, anyhow?"

"LET HER GO!" Twilight Sparkle angrily yelled, firing off blasts with her horn at the mass of shadowcats. To the evident surprise of the alicorn, the blasts blew apart several of the creatures. Seeing they were easily destroyed, she started to blast them all in earnest. If you're going to infiltrate and attack us like that… she thought, growling.

"I SAID, 'NO FAIR!'" Pinkie Pie screamed.

"Technically speaking, if the rules allow us to create a few holograms which perform as we direct, then it can't exactly be 'unfair', now can it?" Pardus replied.

Pinkie Pie was going to respond, but then had to think about what the winged panther said.

"Uh!—oh—good point," she finally had to admit. Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle had cleared away all of the shadowcats except for six: Panthera and Pardus and four others.

At first, Twilight Sparkle's blasts struck the other shadowcats directly. But they weren't disrupted and they turned to face her and then shields blocking her blasts sprung up. The two standing over Pinkie Pie, were already under cover of their shields.

"Let. Her. Go!" the purple alicorn demanded growling, really charging up her horn.

"Are you done shooting up the entire village, yet?" Pardus politely inquired.

"So, Pinkie. What other games can we do that—maybe—won't involve highly inappropriate and very disruptive application of military scale ordinance?" Panthera asked Pinkie Pie as the female winged panther finally released her prize.

"Wait! This was a game?" Twilight asked, perplexed.

"'Predators 'N Prey'. Ever hear of it?" Pardus asked, manifesting a holographic gamers' manual before the alicorn.

"That was rather fun!" one of the four additional shadowcats said. "At least up until that last little bit. Talk with you later, Panthera and Pardus!" it said, with a wave before it and the other three launched up into the air before their forms rippled into invisibility.

"Who were those guys?" Twilight asked, looking up after them.

"Nobody," Pardus replied with a toothy grin.

Pinkie giggled at how they cleverly suckered Twilight into believing they were real. These guys are goooood!

How To Properly Design A (Dragon’s) Lair

The quarters Trevar was provided looked from the outside to be identical to the one across the street where Scott was staying. It was a modest two story home with an evident basement. The exterior greatly resembled a quaint Northern European or English townhouse with a thatched roof, exterior molding reminiscent of German fairy tale homes but with an almost cartoon flavor to it. No cut, corner or intersection was square, but the fits of walls, doors and windows had no obvious flaws.

When his pony escorts arrived, they each took up a position that corresponded to their comrades' across the street: one on the front door, one on the rear, and one at the cellar entrance. Trevar and Pardus entered the house without a word.

As soon as they were left alone, they got busy scoping out the house, although naturally, it was Pardus doing most of the work with deep scans using his advanced and sophisticated sensors. The shadowcat quickly located the stairs to the basement and began down there, while Trevar headed upstairs. They stayed in telepathic contact, relaying what they found to each other.

Trevar found the main bedroom at the end of the hallway at the top of the stairs, already furnished with a bed, a couple of nightstands on either side of the bed, a chest-of-drawers and a dressing table with mirror. Again, the workmanship was finely crafted despite nothing of the drawers was at right angles. If those drawers were ever all removed, they could only go back into the same slots they came from. The room also had a sizable closet. The ceiling was the bottom layer of the thatched roof, and he scowled at how that could be a problem. Another two rooms off the hallway were lightly furnished for guestrooms, also with closets, while one of them had numerous bookshelves that could double for a study. A communal bathroom with shower finished out the somewhat square upper floor.

Pardus found the basement was segmented into six dry storerooms. The bottom of the interior stairs met the foot of the stairs going up to the external access. The basement hallway formed an L shape, with the stairs starting at the short leg of the L. The door for the first storeroom was right by the foot of the interior stairs, the door to the next storeroom was at the bend of the hallway. The remaining storerooms were two on either side of the long leg of the hallway. All the spaces were currently empty from where the previous occupants tried to clear out, although some remains of what had been stored here were evident. Bits of corn on the cob, green beans and carrots in the first, remains of potatoes, onions, celery in the second, leftovers of wheat, alfalfa, rice and hay were scattered on the floors were respectively in the next two spaces, and the last two storerooms had been cleaned out too well to determine exactly what they had been used for, although there were signs one may have been used for storing clothing and/or blankets.

They met again on the main floor. The front door had opened into a foyer that led to the living room/dining room combination with a kitchen which had the back door to the outside and another bathroom evidently for visitors. Pardus continued upstairs while Trevar checked out the basement for himself.

'No signs of listening or monitoring devices, but that's no guarantee there aren't any,' Pardus sent as Trevar contemplated the empty storeroom farthest from the stairs. While in the kitchen, he had taken note of the proximity of a large orchard of apple trees extending for acres behind the back yard of the home.

'The previous owner is going to be pissed at the changes we're planning to make to this place,' Pardus commented, making Trevar snort.

'Think it's doable?' he asked.

'Panthera saw some structures being built in town using structural I-beams on her way to meet with the griffons,' Pardus considered, 'so there should be a source of steel that we can exploit. Cutting a tunnel out into that orchard will be child's play, although I am concerned about how we're going to hide the exit out there, it's obviously being constantly worked. The big hurtle will be to see if there's any way to counter their magic. We sure as hell don't want someone teleporting or the like in here while you're a dragon or out and about.'

'Agreed,' Trevar responded. 'Plus, there's those bloody griffons we'll have to deal with.'

'They're definitely going to be a problem,' Pardus warned him. 'They've spoken to Panthera about the need the both of us to help them. Their entire species is in trouble! They're facing an extinction-level failure in their population. Their numbers are back to the prewar levels, but they've been lately seeing a marked decline of egg laying and hatching rates and a huge increase of birth defects, infant mortality and psychosis due to a lack of genetic diversity.'

'That's an understatement!' Trevar sighed.' Considering that we can't breed with ourselves, there no way I can breed with them. Plus the fact that you're not even biologic. And why isn't she sending directly to me?'

'Too risky using telepathy at that distance until we know more about the abilities of the equines, especially those alicorns,' the shadowcat replied. 'Our encryption on top of the frequency-hopping transmissions we use should make it harder for interception.'

"How many know about this?" Panthera demanded.

"So 'keeping the peace at all costs' is defined by going to war over Trevar being put on probation?" Panthera asked incredulous.

"That was my mistake, I admit it! Purely out of desperation! When you showed up in Cloudsdale, I could believe our good fortune. I was going to ask Celestia to allow me to speak with you in private, but then I heard the Cat-Lord speak! I couldn't let you both slip away! I'm sorry! I didn't know if you were aware of him, too and Celestia had no idea who she held! I—I—thought—if I threatened war, she would instantly turn you both over to me! I had no intension of actually doing it. But then she was willing to fight to keep you both…"

"She wasn't willing to go to war over us!" Panthera interrupted. "She was just simply having a 'what the fuck' moment trying to figure out what your problem was! You had blinded yourself with panic!"

"I know that now, and I'm very sorry for nearly revealing the existence of the Cat-Lord and our situation to Celestia," he said. "But there's more that you're not aware of. Our war with Equestria wasn't the first time our species was nearly wiped out. Similar disasters had happen twice before and once again after. Of those, the very first time was when the ship that brought us to this world crashed here."

"So you're not native to this planet?" Panthera asked.

"Neither are the ponies," Gustav replied. "They just got here a few thousand years before us."

"Then who are the original natives?" she wondered.

"Nopony knows," he replied. "Although it's well known that the dragons were here before the ponies, before Celestia ignited the sun. But even they had come from someplace else."

"Do you have any idea of where your home world lies?" she finally asked.

"Unfortunately, no," Gustav said, shaking his head.

'Just a thought,' Pardus sent, suddenly perking up. 'Try changing into a griffon!' Trevar considered it for a moment, and then quickly undressed. He concentrated on the image of their form, but nothing was happening. It seemed too alien for him to conceptualize, so he tried a different tactic. He knew he could do a panther, but what about an eagle?

When the brilliant flare faded, he stood there on his hind legs with feathered wings outspread, a proud visage of a bald eagle.

'Well, you're partway there,' Pardus quipped with a snort.

'Okay, I've got that down pat. Now how about…?' he sent as he concentrated once more, this time on trying to change into both an eagle and a panther at the same time. This time, the flare revealed he was indeed a griffon.

'FUCKING COOL!' he exclaimed, spreading his wings and looking back at his body. He had the golden front talons, brilliant white plumage of an eagle and inky black fur covering his feline haunch.

'Unfortunately, not at all stealthy,' Pardus sent, grumbling.

'Chances are, males aren't supposed to be,' Trevar sent, sticking out his tongue at the shadowcat.

'The question is, are you fertile?' Pardus countered.

'True,' Trevar acknowledged. 'Certainly no harm in trying,' he sent with a grin.

'But then, how are you going to explain this?'

'That—will be tricky. Yes,' Trevar sent, wincing. The next moment, he triggered the Gateway once more and resumed his human form.

'Well, let's get started on doing what we can,' Trevar sent. 'There's a fridge for meats and we'll need to shop for whatever else those griffons need, as well as something for me. And you've got to find a way to translate all that shit you scanned. Hopefully, something in all that mess will help us secure this place.'

They departed the house together and Trevar addressed Silver Thorn, who had evidently just finished speaking with Mittens on some subject.

"It's a pretty nice place you all set up for us," he said. "I'm just lacking some supplies like food and such. Mind if we go into town to shop?"

"Not at all," the unicorn sergeant replied. "That's what we're here for."

A few blocks into town, they were passing a large open field containing a small red building with a playground nearby.

"Is that a school?" Pardus inquired.

"Yes," Silver Thorn replied. "That's the Ponyville Primary Schoolhouse." Just then, the school bell rang and a couple dozen young screaming fillies and colts all rushed out the building to happily make a military-style assault on the playground sets.

"That's perfect," Pardus said. "I would like to ask a favor, if I may. I need to borrow one of you to give me an introduction to their teacher for a few moments." Silver Thorn scowled a bit at that.

"I promise to not cause a diplomatic incident, Sergeant," Trevar said, raising his hands in surrender. "I can stand right here until Pardus is done. I know that Celestia instructed you to have at minimum of two pegasi and one unicorn on me at all times. Surely a griffon can stand in for one of your pegasi to watch me?"

"Yes, she did," Silver Thorn replied flatly. "And don't call me Shirley. And yes, a griffon can provide escort to Pardus just as easily as one of my comrades."

"Really?" Trevar snickered. "Think about it, Silver. A griffon AND a shadowcat suddenly descending upon a schoolyard full of unsuspecting young foals. Hmm—do you really wanna have to clean up the mess that's going to create? As I offered, we can wait right here so your guy can even wait outside the school to keep me in sight while Pardus speaks with their teacher. Bu-u-u-ut if you insist on Mittens going, I'm just going to walk away because I do not want to see the alternative when those kids all freak out."

Silver Thorn closed his eyes as he slowly sighed out his breath. Trevar knew this guy was good at sticking to his orders, but he was clearly finding there was no avoiding agreeing with their request.

"Okay," Silver Thorn whispered. "Skynard, go with the shadowcat and make introductions."

"Aye, aye, Sergeant!" the named pegasus responded, lifting up to fly alongside Pardus.

"Oh, my!" the adult fuchsia earth pony with the two-toned light pink mane and tail exclaimed as she suddenly looked up as the two fliers came down to land in front of her. All the activities in the playground came to a halt as the young ones all stared at the scene, ready to bolt at the first wrong move.

"Good morning, ma'am," Skynard greeted. "I'm Private Skynard and this is the shadowcat envoy, Pardus. He is visiting your city and asked to speak with you for a matter, if you're willing."

"P-P-Pardus, you say?" she stammered. "D-d-do you have a sister, named Panthera?"

"Indeed I do," Pardus replied. "She attended a welcome party hosted at the castle yesterday. I got in late last night, so I missed it."

"Oh, I see!" she replied with relief. "Yes, I do remember hearing Pinkie Pie screaming your name at one point during the party."

"Yes, well, the study of celestial dynamics unfortunately does require a little bit of time," Pardus explained. "I couldn't very well leave my experiments unsupervised. I believe you were introduced to Panthera as Miss Cheerilee?"

"Why, yes! I am!" she happily responded. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, I hope you can teach me how to read," Pardus explained. "It should only take a few moments of your time."

"Oh!" Cheerilee exclaimed, gulping in horror. "Th-th-that's not exactly something I was expecting. Learning to read isn't something that can be taught in a day, much less a few moments!"

"Don't worry, I'm actually a pretty quick study," Pardus said, giving her a toothy grin, which obviously didn't help matters.

"Umm," Cheerilee moaned, trying to think of a response as she nervously gulped again.

"HI!" a trio of high pitched shouts which sounded as one came from behind Pardus. He turned to look to see a lemon-yellow earth pony with a red mane and tail, a white unicorn with a two-toned lavender mane and tail, and an orange pegasus with a fuchsia mane and tail standing there.

"Can we help teach you to read?"

"Maybe we can get our cutie marks by teaching?"

"What sort of creature are you?"

"Maybe we can get our cutie marks in exotic creatures?"

"Where did you come from?"

"Does your species get cutie marks, too?"

"Maybe you can join the Cutie Mark Crusaders? We'd love to help you find your own cutie mark!"

They were firing off comments so fast and overlapping that even Pardus had a hard time separating out which was saying what, until they shouted out in unison once more.

"YAY!"

"Now, children…" Cheerilee began, but Pardus interrupted her.

"I would be honored for your help," he told them.

"Ha! You three would more likely get eaten! It would serve you blank flanks right!" another young equine shouted from the side. There, a couple of earth fillies, one with a pink coat and lavender and white two-toned mane and tail, the other with a gray coat and darker gray and white two-toned mane and tail.

"We will not!"

"Will, too!"

"Will not!"

"Will, too!"

"Will not!"

"Will, too!"

"Hey! I never eat my friends," Pardus snarled at the two who had started the argument. "On the other claw, those who are not my friends…" he left unfinished as he gave them a very toothy grin and his pupils widely dilated. That put an end to it very quickly when the two bolted for the safety of the rest of their class. Furthermore, Pardus found it was very amusing to see all the other foals instantly scatter away from those two, instinctively knowing that if he were to act on his word, they were clearly on their own.

"Did you just…?" Skynard began to ask.

"Nyah, I'd never harm them," Pardus chuckled as his pupils returned to their normal narrow slitted setting. "But it is so entertaining to watch them scatter like that."

"So! Who wants to teach me how to read?" Pardus happily asked the three fillies. They each instantly pointed to the partner sitting clockwise in their group, making Pardus laugh again.

"Come along, then," he said, spreading his wings to herd them along into the school along with Cheerilee.

"We all really shoulda worked harder ta get that lion-tamer cutie mark!" the earth filly whispered to her comrades loud enough to reach Trevar sitting beneath the tree by the road. "Ah think we could use one right about now!"

After the meeting with Gustav broke up and Mittens flew off to resume her escort duties with Trevar, the other griffons decided to take up the offer the purple alicorn had made about their quarters in town rather than stay with the hotel. This left Panthera alone to begin scouting about for the supplies they'd need to secure the house.

She wandered back to the construction site where a five-story structure was being built and scoped out the supplies of I-beams that had been delivered. Several other structures of similar size had already been completed for a few blocks at the far end of the town from where they were staying.

A quick measurement of the I-beam dimensions yielded a volume about 0.008 cubic meter per meter length, which would make a cube of 20 centimeters per side. A few calculations using the data Pardus fed her quickly gave her the amount of steel plating they'd need to coat the inside walls of the house and that gave how many of those I-beams they'd have to acquire to melt down for that purpose. Plus, there were the structural members that would need to be replaced in order support the additional weight that would be added.

"We're going to need a lot of money," she muttered to herself when she was finished with her calculations.

"How much!? And what for??" came a loud high pitched voice from behind her that Panthera instantly recognized: the one she was quickly deciding should be relabeled "the pink menace".

"That remains to be estimated," Panthera replied, refusing to jump at the surprise. Her sensors had not registered that creature there just a second ago!

"But you didn't answer my second question!" Pinkie Pie said, hopping around to face the shadowcat.

"No. I didn't," Panthera agreed, as she turned away to walk on. No need to let this one know exactly what items she was interested in.

"Oh! Come on! Maybe I can help!" the bouncing pink creature happily offered, hopping on all four hooves alongside her plodding along.

"That remains to be seen," Panthera muttered, setting part of her mind to resume seeking out useful materials. Something to help insulate the metal plating from any contact with the house's walls or floors that might result in a short to ground would potentially be helpful….

Lieutenant Scott heaved a deep, contented sigh of relief. Her quarters were finally cleaned to pass any military inspection! It had only taken her all morning and a bit into the afternoon to clear out the dust and remains of the previous tenant out of all three bedrooms, two bathrooms, living and dining rooms, kitchen and six basement storage rooms, making it spick and span. And after that workout, she was hungry!

She went to the front door and knocked then waited for the guard to unlock it. While she stood there, it galled at her that she was locked in while the real criminal, Trevar, an admitted vigilante and quite possibly a terrorist as well, was not only free, but given a diplomatic protection escort, to boot.

But he was a true puzzle. Worse than the fact he was able to walk about freely, nothing about the man made any sense.

The evident abilities the man had displayed to date hinted at someone with an immense knowledge and certainly strange powers. Telepathic, telekinetic, expert on everything from nuclear weapons to theoretical warp dynamics that even she herself barely understood. On top of that, he supposedly had a space ship that was coming to pick him up! And a supreme level of confidence that let him feel he could speak with impunity to this world's leaders as an equal to any of them, creatures that could evidently move their sun and moon! Not to mention suddenly the object of worship for yet another of this world's leaders, sight unseen!

Just what sort of man was this Trevar? she wondered as the door finally opened.

"Yes?" one of her guards, the unicorn assigned to her, asked. What was his name? Oh, yes. Corporal Rackorn.

"Good afternoon, Corporal Rackorn," she said, greeting him. These creatures may have looked comical, but they clearly meant business. Their ability to hold spears with their hooves as if they were in hands certainly conveyed a lethal message: underestimate these things at your peril. And it was quite clear that she was the prisoner and they were the MPs. They certainly had a very professional air about them that she actually found admirable. "Thank you for waiting. I've finished cleaning up my quarters, if you'd wish to inspect them." The unicorn stared at her for a few moments and then called for one of his pegasi comrades.

"Drayla!" he yelled. Instantly, the pegasus mare swooped in from around the side of the house.

"Yes, Corporal?" she asked, saluting with her front hoof. That was something Scott was still trying to get used to: enlisted saluting each other, and a corporal at that! Well, this, and the way their bloody joints could move….

"Please inspect Lieutenant Scott's quarters and report back," Rackorn ordered.

"Yes, sir!" she said, immediately stepping over the threshold and heading for the stairs but then stopped when Scott was not following. "Aren't you coming?" Private Drayla asked.

"I trust you won't find anything wrong," Scott replied, relaxing against the door jam. Both equines arched eyebrows and flipped an ear before Drayla proceeded with her inspection.

"If it's permissible, I'd like to go shopping for some edibles," Scott said to Rackorn while she waited.

"We'll see," the unicorn guard muttered.

"Isn't that where you've got that Allec Trevar staying?" she asked, gesturing to the house across the way. "But he's still not showed up here yet from the castle?"

"Actually, he arrived not long after we got here," Rackorn told her. "And then he and his escort left to go into town a little over an hour ago."

"Oh," she muttered chagrinned.

About fifteen minutes later, Drayla came down the stairs and passed them on her way to inspect the basement. After another ten, she was back to the ground floor, inspecting the kitchen, then dining/living room, and finally the guest bathroom before returning to the entry foyer.

"Inspection completed, sir. She did an exemplary job!" she reported, obviously impressed.

"Indeed?" Rackorn asked. "Well! Then I suppose it wouldn't do to deny you the opportunity to stock up," he concluded.

"If you could, please treat me as an adult, not an infant," Pardus said, putting his paw over Cheerilee's hoof before she could continue to the third page of the reading lesson. "I need to learn how your symbology applies to the spoken word as well as your written grammar structure. Nota series of repetitions of terms intended to fuse the word in my head with basic abstracts, please. Trust me, I grock the abstracts. Simply pointing to the word and saying it out loud as you read along is quite adequate, thank you."

"Oh! I'm sorry," Cheerilee exclaimed. "I'm just not used to teaching anypony as old as yourself."

"It's understandable," the shadowcat replied. "Some of these symbols are evidently as complex as Kanji, while others are clearly phonetic. But once I get these basic concepts cemented, I can then internally proceed at my own speed. I've already scanned in all the dictionaries in the castle library and there were at least three sets of encyclopedia, although Twilight Sparkle informs me they were over a thousand years out of date."

"Wow!" the three fillies exclaimed, pausing their own argument over which book to present to Pardus next.

"You've read all the books in the castle?" the little pegasus asked, clearly astonished. "But Rainbow Dash said you actually flew faster than she could, which means you've got to be a great athlete! But to have read all those books, you've got to be a bigger egghead than the Princess!"

"Scootaloo! That's not a nice thing to say about either Mister Pardus or Princess Twilight!" Cheerilee scolded her.

"Sorry, Miss Cheerilee," the orange pegasus apologized with a sigh.

"No harm done," Pardus growled from the headache, his eyes turning white for a moment.

"Oh! Are you okay?" Cheerilee asked as the shadowcat shook his head to clear it.

"Yes," he said as his eyes returned to normal. "I'm just beginning to integrate some of what I've scanned into my memory. Please, let me continue."

She reluctantly continued reading to the shadowcat, finishing off several of the beginning readers' books when Pardus was forced to yank himself back. By now, he had learned enough that the integration first became a cascade, then a full blown avalanche in his mind. And it reached out and included Panthera, too.

They both underwent uncontrolled spasms as their eyes glowed with a brilliant white light for several moments.

"Uh-oh! There seems to be a problem with Pardus!" Trevar said, sitting up to look toward the schoolhouse. There was a brilliant white glow coming from within. He got up and started running toward the structure as his Equestrian escorts cursed while being left lying on the ground.

However, the glow subsided by the time Trevar reached the building, and he stood back as Pardus staggered out.

"Whoa! Whatta rush!" the winged panther exclaimed, sounding drunk.

"Dija see that?" a voice shouted from inside.

"Did we break him?" another yelled.

"Aww! Still no cutie mark!" a third groaned.

"You okay, big guy?" Trevar asked. "What happened?"

"Yeah," Pardus muttered, trying to shake off the headache. "I figured out the basics of their written language, then my mind started integrating their dictionaries and encyclopedias and that library just got exponentially loaded into my memory.Heh! Panthera's going to be pissed I didn't warn her that was coming."

"Is—is there g-going to be any—anything else y-you n-need?" Cheerilee asked, obviously shaken by what had just occurred.

"No. No, I'm fine," Pardus said to her. "Thank you."

"Find anything useful?" Trevar inquired as they headed back toward the road.

"Does this count?" Pardus asked, as a holographic image suddenly appeared of an apparatus that had several dangerous looking components and had a large cluster of crystals in the center. "It's an anti-magic shield generator. I got the design from several of those books I scanned."

"Better put that away before any of these horses recognize it," Trevar warned, looking at the escort team rapidly approaching.

"It's highly doubtful anyone will," Pardus said, but complying with his advice. "It's never been built, for one, and quite likely never been attempted before, either. It's an amalgamation of several different types of shield generators all at once."

"Can it be done? And if so, how dangerous would the attempt be?" Trevar asked.

"Unknown on how dangerous it would be," Pardus quietly replied as their escorts arrived. "There are numerous warnings about mixing different types of magic. 'Can it be done' will depend on how easily we can acquire the necessary crystals and then get them charged with the proper types of magic."

"Anyhow, I can use a drink right about now," Pardus loudly finished as their escorts caught up to them.

"Whoo-oo! That was a doozy of a surge!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "Are you alright?"

"I will be," Panthera muttered, shaking her head from the pain. "Pardus and I have finally learned how to read your language."

"YOU DID?!?" Pinkie exclaimed. "Well, this calls for a CELEBRATION!"

"Ah—no!" Panthera snapped her jaws at Pinkie as she moved to step around. "What it calls for is me resuming my assignment."

"Just so you know, all those books that your purple alicorn friend is still busy sorting? Read them," Panthera shouted back in singsong.

…

"Pfft! With my mom being the neighborhood's soap opera queen from hell? Seriously not interested!" Panthera spat.

…

"And then, there's all the letters you can write back and forth with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!" Pinkie was still listing all the new things they could do now they could both read.

"We never bothered to learn to write letters when phone calls were much faster and far more informative."

…

"Awww! You gotta let me throw you and your brother a party!" the pink creature pleaded, hopping in Panthera's way.

Panthera looked the creature in the eye, evaluating her. Intriguing. She's aggressively annoying, obnoxious, and completely random yet at the same time extremely intelligent and shrewd that was cloaked by a feigned stupidity, Panthera thought. A pattern that she knew all too well.

Long before they had been created, Trevar had watched dozens of early TV detective shows, like Columbo, McCloud, and McMillan And Wife as well as many later ones, like Matlock, Diagnosis Murder, and Murder She Wrote, where the lead character would drive the suspect insane with incessant inane babbling until the suspect finally slipped up by dropping a seriously incriminating clue just to get the lead character to shut up and leave them alone.

"I see what you're doing," she growled. "And it's not going to work!"

She resumed her walk, stepping past Pinkie.

It wasn't going to work on her.

Two things that she had going for her that this creature could not have anticipated: primarily, the fact that Panthera was not a biologic—and given the stimulus that the equine was trying to subject her to, she knew no mere biologic would ever have been able to withstand it for long. But after all, she did have the advantage of being able to literally tune the annoying pink thing out….

The other factor being that with the speed her mind worked, she could easily hide the three hundred specific items she sought by simply looking at every single fucking thing in sight as she searched and internally noting where those items were when she found what she was looking for. Add to that was the fact there was Pardus, who was now on the lookout for those items as well. On the other hand, Pinkie Pie would have to consider every single item in the environment, the combinations of which would greatly exceed the total age of the universe multiplied by both the physical dimensions and exact mass throughout existence. No matter what this creature's perceptions may be, Trevar and company would have their goals achieved before this pony could piece the puzzle together.

But then, Panthera suddenly looked back at her, suddenly getting an idea. However … a distraction could very well be useful here. If she's busy watching me, then Pardus will still be free to gather needed supplies, she thought.

"Have you ever heard of a game called 'Predators and Prey'?" she slyly asked, creating a holographic copy of the Role Playing Game rules book for Pinkie to look at.

"Oo-ooh!" Pinkie said in awe.

"Sorry, but it's only a holographic projection," Panthera told her. "But I can let you read it while we walk."

"Okay!" she happily shouted. "We can walk back to Sugar Cube Corners. I've got to do a little work there, and we can talk about this along the way!"

Lieutenant Scott and her escorts came across the other team standing just off the road talking. Just before getting in hailing distance, they saw the shadowcat that had been with them launch up into the air only to vanish in a ripple of distortion.

"Hello, Lieutenant!" Trevar cheerfully called out, waving at her. Immediately, her inner conflicts arose again. But she resolved to reign in her anger. There was nothing she could do about the injustice of it all, nor would it satisfy her to merely complain about it. She was stuck there until she died. And while he was evidently going to live at least long enough to go home, there was some justice in that he hadn't totally escaped, if what the white alicorn had said held true. He, too, would die in a few months, maybe a year or so.

"We're going into town to do a little shopping. Care to join us?" he asked her.

"Same, here," she replied.

"Great! Then we can both save time and learn where all the good foods are," he cheerfully said.

After Pardus left Trevar, he flew about, searching for items that he knew they would need. Since the pink pony was occupying Panthera's attention, it left him to perform the search. Flying about, he discovered what seemed to be an abandoned or currently unused rock quarry. A dozen miles further afield, he located a scrap ironworks.

Landing nearby, he fashioned up a holographic projection of an earth pony mare, complete with a Masonic Square and Compass emblem as the brands on her thighs. Once created, he directed her to walk toward the earth pony foreman running the scrap yard. His brand was that of a lit acetylene torch.

"Good afternoon!" the image called out. "I'm Wilma Cement-Stone. I've been sent by my boss at the Fillydelphia foundry to inquire about getting a supply of scrap steel."

"Oh, hay, no problem," he replied. "Name's Scrap Iron. Yeah, we just got this load in a few days ago from Manehattan. They had a little accident at their construction site that ended up bending all these girders. Free for the taking."

"Really?" Pardus asked, astonished, through the projected image.

"Sure!" he told her. "I guess you're new to the business, huh?"

"Yeah, you can say that," Pardus replied laughing. "I just started today."

"No problem," he said. "After all, that's what recycling is all about."

However, a half-hour later, when Pardus finally located a precision glassworks maker to supply lenses and prisms for some periscopes they planned to install, he learned there would be quite a cost involved, namely the gold coin of the realm or gems.

A couple hours later:

'There she is!' Panthera sent as Pinkie Pie stepped out from her place of business.

While the pink pony went about town, buying up sacks of flour and other supplies and loading them into a cart, Panthera and Pardus began stalking her. Shortly, the equine suddenly perked up her ears and her mane started visibly vibrating. She quickly looked about and abandoned her cart.

'I think she's spotted us!' Pardus warned as Pinkie Pie started stalking him!

'Let's try something,' Panthera suggested. 'We'll create several cloaked holographic copies of ourselves to see if she's able to pick them up as well.'

"Uh-oh!" Pinkie nervously gulped as several invisible figures started to emerge from hiding behind buildings to converge upon her from the alleys and rooftops. "HEY!! I thought you guys said there were only two of you!" she yelled.

The pink pony began to randomly bounce about, but was clearly on the attack, as she started bopping the invisible stalkers on the head before bouncing away to aim for another.

Knowing the gig was up, Panthera and Pardus "decloaked" the invisible figures and several more shadowcats appeared, rubbing their foreheads, pretending to have felt the blows.

'Eventually, she's going to tag us before we can catch her!' Pardus sent.

'I've got one more trick up my sleeve!' Panthera responded. Pinkie Pie was heading for her, so Panthera directed a couple holographic figures to step up between herself and the approaching pony, as well as a couple dummy shadowcats swooping down from the rooftops behind Pinkie Pie, forcing the pony towards the trap, and Panthera readied to spring.

Pinkie Pie agilely dodged the swipes from the intervening dummy shadowcats and bopped them both on the forehead before hopping between them, aiming to tag the one behind those two. Pinkie had to move quickly, as the two swooping in from the sky and Pardus on the ground rushing up behind her were pinning her in.

But just then, the real shadowcats materialized another of their projected dummies on the ground directly in front of Pinkie Pie and another in the air right above, just as Pinkie was between bounces—these, they did not arrive as though they had been hidden behind some object.

"HEY! NO FAI—oof!" Pinkie exclaimed just as Panthera leapt and tackled the pony.

Then all the shadowcats, real and illusionary, decloaked.

"Gotcha!" Panthera purred as Pardus stepped up. The illusionary shadowcats all settled about and slowly surrounded the three.

"LET HER GO!" they all suddenly heard another pony angrily shout. They all looked up to see the purple alicorn begin firing off blasts with her horn at the mass of shadowcats. To her evident surprise, the blasts blew apart the illusions, and having seen this, she started to blast them all in earnest.

'Her blasts are quite potent,' Pardus calmly observed. 'With some effort, we could resist the disruption of the holograms.'

'Meh,' Panthera said shrugging. 'Although, let's have her blast them all away but four, and erect shields about us and them.'

"I SAID, 'NO FAIR!'" Pinkie Pie screamed.

"Technically speaking, if the rules allow us to create a few holograms and perform as we direct, then it can't exactly be 'unfair', now. Can it?" Pardus replied.

Pinkie Pie was going to respond, but then had to think about what the winged panther said.

"Uh!—oh—good point," she finally had to admit. Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle had cleared away all of the duplicate shadowcats except for the four the real ones had selected as part of the continuation of the game.

At first, the alicorn's blasts struck the duplicate shadowcats directly, but when they weren't disrupted, they turned to face her and then shields blocking her blasts sprung up. The two real ones stood over Pinkie Pie, already under cover of their shields.

"Let. Her. Go!" the purple alicorn demanded growling, really charging up her horn.

"Are you done shooting up the entire village, yet?" Pardus politely inquired.

"So, Pinkie. What other games can we do that—maybe—won't involve highly inappropriate and very disruptive military ordinance?" Panthera asked Pinkie Pie as the female winged panther finally released her prize.

"Wait! This was a game?" Twilight asked, perplexed.

"'Predators 'N Prey'. Ever hear of it?" Pardus asked, manifesting a holographic gamers' manual before the alicorn.

"Who were those guys?" Twilight asked, looking up after them.

"Nobody," Pardus replied with a toothy grin.

The pink equine giggled as she got back onto her hooves. "Oh! You're goo-oo-ood!" she drawled with a grin.

C.M.C.: A.L.F.I.! YAY!

Rainbow Dash and a magically projected copy of Panthera were on a cloud, watching the mayhem down below in Ponyville.

"Wow! Twilight sure is trashing your butts!" the pegasus pony cackled.

"Nyah. That was all part of the show," the image of Panthera whispered. "We weren't putting in much power to sustain those illusions. Except for those last four, plus the real versions of Pardus and me…"

Rainbow Dash watched as the alicorn's blasts struck the indicated shadowcats directly. However, they weren't disrupted. Instead, they turned to face her and then visible shields sprung up to block any more of her blasts. The illusion sitting next to her indicated the real shadowcats who stood over Pinkie Pie.

"Let. Her. Go!" the purple alicorn's growling voice carried all the way up to the cloud where they sat, and the azure pony braced herself as she watch Twilight's horn start really charging up.

"Are you done shooting up the entire village, yet?" Pardus politely inquired.

"Wait! This was a game?" Twilight asked, perplexed.

"'Predators 'N Prey'. Ever hear of it?" Pardus asked, manifesting a holographic gamers' manual before the alicorn.

"Who were those guys?" Twilight asked, looking up after them.

"Nobody," Pardus replied with a toothy grin.

Blinking, Twilight Sparkle was left looking like she had egg on her face. And Rainbow Dash was cackling like mad as she rolled on her back.

"That was—so—awesome!" the Equestrian pegasus exclaimed after the purple alicorn departed.

"Yes, it was," Panthera's image happily agreed. "And thanks to this event, we really do now understand the basis of your magic."

School let out as usual, and the three troublesome fillies were soon on the road out of town, headed for their clubhouse nestled away in the middle of Sweet Apple Acres, discussing what their next goal at trying to get their cutie marks.

"Too bad we didn't get anything for helping that Pardus fellow," Scootaloo complained.

"Yeah! Especially since his eyes lit up so bright after we taught him how to read!" Sweetie Belle agreed.

"Well, whata we try next, ya'll?" Applebloom piped up.

"Hey! Itn't these the houses where they got them humans holed up in?" Sweetie Belle asked as they were passing the last two structures before the edge of town.

"Shore is!" Applebloom replied. "Hey! How 'bout we all check out 'em aliens?"

The three fillies suddenly stopped to look at each other as they all were clearly getting the same idea at once.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS: ALIEN LIFEFORM INVESTIGATORS! YAY!"

There was no pony about to challenge them as they walked up to one of the houses and entered….

Silver Thorn and his counterpart, Rackorn, along with their respective teams, were bored with the escort duty assigned to them. After the two teams joined up, they all slowly wandered about town the rest of the morning and a good chunk of the afternoon. The two humans had gathered some edibles and finally started on their way back to their respective homes. The only thing of note was the replacement of Pardus with the odd looking griffon, Mittens that had occurred early in their travels.

Oh, and some azure colored pegasus with a colorful mane, who had been inexpertly stalking their group, suddenly screaming before ducking back behind a rooftop to yell at somepony, along with what sounded like a short burst from a canned air-horn. But those incidents were from before their two teams joined up. And the noise of some commotion a few blocks away.

The human mare still seemed nervous, albeit less so than she had been this morning. The human stallion, on the other hoof, was perfectly relaxed, if not excited with polite curiosity at all the routine goings on about town. When they occasionally spoke with one another there was a definite hostility between them, although most of that came from the mare; no doubt caused by the human stallion's positive responses to Mittens' flirtations toward him. And the clear indication from their conversation and the pass-down reports from Shadow Wing and Night Hoof, the human stallion and Mittens had already enjoyed each other's company at least once last night.

Once it became clear what their dynamics were, Silver Thorn did his best to tune them out, despite knowing that this was not the proper attitude of a Guard, since there might be some tidbit that would be of vital interest to the State that might get dropped during such conversations, like as military capabilities or deployments. However, he could never understand the fascination someponies had to mate outside their species.

Not that he considered himself a speciest; one of his best friends was a hippogriff, after all. Sure, Silver Quill, the famous political analyst and commentator, was a great drinking buddy, and his dad was nice enough for a griffon. But for somepony to mate with something which was just as likely to slice a pony to ribbons for dinner as to look at them, much less mate with? Like a griffon? Or a dragon?? Relationships with so-called "normal mares" were risky enough, since his own special somepony had a kick like a mule. Disagreements were common in any relationship, and his was no different. He couldn't imagine anypony being crazy enough to be willing to toss a set of talons or some flame breath into the mix. And the human mare clearly had thoughts along the same line, hence their apparent simmering conflict.

Fortunately, that came to an end, or at least a pause, when the two teams brought their charges back to their quarters and the humans separated to their respective houses. Naturally, Mittens accompanied the human stallion inside, and the rest of the guards cheerfully began taking bets on how long it'd be before they'd all be hearing screams coming from in there….

Silver Thorn sighed….

After her little bit of fun with the shadowcats, Pinkie Pie was back to the bakery, happily following a new recipe: "Let's see. Take one Panthera draco, toss in an Ailuroedus…I really hope Fluttershy never notices one of them missing," she muttered to herself. "Blend in foals of a Ki-lin, an off-spring of Poseidon and Gordon Medusa, and one of a Mongolian Wild horse until the screaming starts…."

"Y'all hear that?" Applebloom loudly whispered when the three all fillies froze at the sounds of someponies entering the house upstairs. They had explored all the upstairs rooms as well as the ground floor and were currently in the basement when they heard voices and steps coming from above them.

"Whata we do?" Sweetie Belle exclaimed in a hushed voice that likely carried all the way to the attic.

"Will ya keep it down?" Scootaloo whispered in a yell that rivaled Sweetie Belle for volume.

"I am not being loud!" Sweetie Belle loudly screamed. "And there ain't no way my voice can carry to the attic! There ain't no attic fer it to carry to!"

"Ya are, too, being too loud!" Scootaloo screamed, fanning her wings. "And I didn't say anythin' about an attic, but now that ya mentioned it, yer voice does carry!"

"Both of ya shutup before ya get us all caught!" Applebloom screamed at them.

"Ssshhh!" the other two loudly hissed at her.

They all paused to stare at their flanks for any sign of cutie marks.

"Crap! Still no cutie mark fer arguing!" Scootaloo sighed.

"Well, tha' wuz anotha loada roadapples," Applebloom muttered.

"What wouldan arguing cutie mark look like, anyhow?" Sweetie Belle asked. "We never did figure that out."

"Probably something like '#@&*!'," Applebloom replied. The others just stared and blinked at her for several moments.

"At least, that's what Pinkie Pie told me when I once asked about it," Applebloom continued. "Ah'm not sure wha' she meant by somethin''bout usall bein''TV over Y'." They continued to stare at her in stunned amazement.

"Dai-ya-amn, girl!" Scootaloo suddenly exclaimed. "It's bronkin' impressive that ya were able to say that! Is that really how she pronounced it?"

"Yeah, ah practiced fer nearly an hour with her until ah could repeat it," Applebloom happily responded.

When no pony came down looking for them, the three carefully made their way up the stairs to the kitchen to listen for who was there. All the noises they could hear seemed to still be coming from upstairs. There was the sound of water flowing through pipes and a conversation going on between a male and female, but they couldn't make out what was being said, so they carefully made their way through the kitchen, dining room and living room to silently go up the stairs to the bedrooms.

At the top of the stairs, they could hear the sound of the shower being used. The male's voice was coming from the bathroom, while the female's voice was coming from a bedroom across the hallway.

"So, where are Pardus and Panthera staying in here?" the female voice called out.

"Wherever they want," the human stallion replied just as the sound of the shower ended. "We haven't set up any assigned rooms yet."

Applebloom motioned for the others to follow as she went toward the bathroom, and they quietly stalked their prey. She was sure the female voice was somepony, but she wanted to get a good look at the bipedal creature.

"We shouldn't have to worry about them dropping in while we're busy," the human stallion was saying as he stepped out of the bathroom. "Although, if you want, I can asked them to swing by so we can have a foursome." He had just finished using the towel to dry himself off and slung it to hang over his shoulder, giving the fillies a very good view. And he was stunned to see them standing there staring at him.

"Or—more?" he muttered, still in shock. Then he blinked. "Uh-h-h—NO!" he resolutely exclaimed shaking his head as he stared at the three.

All three fillies screamed and bolted back down the hallway and down the stairs.

"Bake until perfect," Pinkie was reciting, closely watching the oven.

"What the buck?" Mittens exclaimed at hearing the multi-voiced screaming. Instantly jumping from the bed to rush to Trevar's defense, she stopped in shock at seeing the departing rumps of three fillies flying down the stairs.

"This—isn't going end well, is it?" Trevar asked her, blinking at the scene.

"Mmm!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, as she sampled her new creation. "Munchingfourthwall-by-proxie! These things are goo-oo-ood! You oughtta try some!" she said with a wink.

The instant the screams were heard, one of the pegasi exclaimed how he was the winner of the pool. Instantly, a new set of bets began over which it was that was doing the screaming, with odds going 10-to-1 that it was Trevar, which all the guards, save Silver Thorn, jumped into placing their bits. They didn't have long to find out everyone had lost that new bet when three fillies suddenly burst out the door and bolted down the road out of town.

"What the buck just happened?" Silver Thorn exclaimed, blinking after them.

Quickly recovering his wits, Silver Thorn yelled at the pegasi, "Lynard! Skynard! Follow them and let me know where they get off to!" before rushing inside. There, he saw the human and griffon at the top of the stairs and ran up to meet them.

"What the buck just happened?" Silver Thorn demanded. "Who were those fillies? And what were you doing with them?"

"Those are our questions. Although, to answer your last one, I didn't do anything with them. They just appeared out of nowhere!" Trevar said.

"Another good question is 'how the buck did they get in here?'," Mittens demanded.

"Well, we'd better track them down and try to put out any stupid rumors this is going to create," Trevar spat. "I'll get dressed as fast as I can, but can any of your guys figure out where they went?"

"Already on it!" Silver Thorn snapped back.

Applejack was bringing a large load of baskets full harvested apple back to the barn for processing when her ears picked up sounds of commotion coming from inside. Peeking in, and after her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she could make out Applebloom and her two filly friends vigorously scrubbing each other in a makeshift washtub. Blinking in confusion, she approached them.

"Whut in tarnation ya'll don'?" she asked.

"Applejack! Stay back! It might be contagious!" Applebloom screamed, furiously working on Scootaloo's wing in a way that, if Applejack recalled from discussions with Rainbow, would be very painful.

"Scrub harder, Applebloom!" Scootaloo yelled as she tried rubbing the hide off of Sweetie Belle with the stiff-bristle scrub brush, who was doing the same to Applebloom.

Before she could process that, however, Applejack's ears picked up sounds of someponies approaching from the road, and she stepped out to confront them. There, she saw it was Allec Trevar, the human stallion, an odd-looking griffon, and three of Celestia's Royal Guards.

"This the place, Lynard?" the unicorn corporal asked one of the two pegasi.

"Yes, sir!" the pegasus replied. "Skynard and I followed them to the barn and I kept an eye on it while he reported back to you."

"Wut's goin' on here?" Applejack challenged, not liking the direction this encounter seemed to be headed.

"That's what we'd like to know, ma'am," the corporal stated. "There were three fillies who broke into the Ambassador's residence and they've been tracked to here."

"Come again?" Applejack asked, liking the direction less and less by the second.

"No need to make this into a diplomatic incident, Silver Thorn," Trevar spoke up. "I'm not mad at them. I'm just concerned that they—well—weren't traumatized by what they saw."

Applejack blinked at that.

"Wait! Whaju do ta them!?" she angrily yelled at the human.

"I didn't do anything to them!" Trevar protested. "But—well—Mittens and I—we—we were about getting ready to—well—have some quiet time together."

"'Quiet', my—" Skynard muttered, but Trevar's hand loudly smacking him on the back of his helmet was so fast and the human's face didn't change as he continued speaking, Applejack was almost uncertain it happened at all, if it weren't for the angered look the pegasus got from the unicorn corporal.

"And, with them being just kids seeing us getting ready—well, you can understand how inappropriate the situation would be."

"Hnf!" Applejack snorted. "Yeah, I can. Well, it's not like nopony's ever seen that sorta thing, but they shur shouldn't've broke inta yer home 'n all. I wuz just 'bout have a talk wi' them."

Trevar was staring off into the distance for a moment. "Ah, I forgot, you guys wouldn't have those nudity issues," he said, snapping back to the present.

As they entered the barn, the fillies all looked up and screamed at seeing Trevar.

"Applejack! Look out! Run! GET AWAY FROM HIM HE'S GOT THE MANGE!!!!" they all yelled before bolting for different corners of the barn.

"Say—wut?" Applejack stammered. She looked at the human and he looked to be stunned. And turning as bright red as her brother.

"Da'fuq?" Trevar muttered.

"Actually, I wasn't going to saying anything," Mittens whispered to him. "But, now that they brought it up…." This only served to make his hide take on a deeper shade of red before his head sagged with a deep sigh.

"I DON'T have MANGE!" he growled. "We humans just don't have that much fur!"

"You three git back here 'n 'splain yerselves, raight now!" Applejack yelled.

Slowly, the three emerged from hiding and trudged back to stand before the washtub, looking like they had already received the punishment they were all anticipating. But they were also trembling, as if they were all still terrified.

"Ya'll care ta tell us wut thizis all 'bout?" Applejack demanded.

"Well, after we failed to get our cutiemarks for teaching that winged panther to read," Scootaloo began.

"We wuz tryin' ta git our cutie marks fer Alien Life Form Investigators," Applebloom piped in.

"But then we saw Mister Allec Trevar come out of the shower," Sweetie Belle continued.

"SO WE ALL RAN BECAUSE HE'S GOT THE MANGE!!" they all screamed in unison.

"Uh—come agin?" Applejack asked.

"Seriously? Kids, I don't have the mange!" Trevar growled.

"Well, Ah'm not able to tell wut's goin' on," she said. "Can ya please show me wut they're talkin' 'bout?" Trevar rolled his eyes, and Applejack had to suppress a giggle. For as an alien non-pony like him to have such authentic pony reactions…. Trevar untied his toga and let the sheet drop.

"Satisfied?" he asked, deadpan.

"Uh—yer not plannin' on makin' a go wi' yer griffon friend raight now, are yah?"

"That's another feature about being human," the human growled as he arched an eyebrow at her. "It doesn't retract any further than this."

"Well, Ah can see why they thought ya had the mange," Applejack said, sighing.

"I ain't got the mange!" Trevar growled louder.

"You sure about that?" the griffon asked.

Trevar's already red face turned an even deeper shade of red as he hung his head once again in shame. Picking up the sheet, he quickly tied it into a toga about himself as he turned away and started walking back to the road back to town. Applejack just watched as Trevar's escort filed out behind him. Then she chuckled to herself.

"Heh! 'Mange'!" she laughed. But then she sighed, remembering her sister and her friends needed to be disciplined.

As the pony guards retook their positions, Trevar and Mitten reentered the residence. Next door, a mare with pale, light gold eyes, a raspberry coat, light amber with pale amber highlights in her mane, and three white lilies as a cutie mark watched from the upstairs bedroom window.

Meanwhile, a mare with pale, light gold eyes, a raspberry coat, light amber with pale amber highlights in her mane, and three white lilies as a cutie mark was unconscious inside a sack being carried a mare with pale, light gold eyes, a raspberry coat, light amber with pale amber highlights in her mane, and three white lilies as a cutie mark into the Everfree….

There's Sex & There's Beating The Crap Out Of Each Other — Guess Which One You're Doing Wrong?

Author's Note

Warning: There are numerous sex scenes in red scattered throughout the chapter in several places. If you wish to skip, just scroll down to normal black.

There's Sex & There's Beating The Crap Out Of Each Other — Guess Which One You're Doing Wrong?

"Are-are you angry? A-about w-what happened—back there?" Mittens nervously asked Trevar once they were inside. Trevar stopped and looked back at her.

"Mange!? You thought I had mange!?" he demanded with a mock growl. She cringed at his words, and he lunged for her before she could bolt away and grabbed her by the neck. "I'll show you mange!" he snarled before giving her beak a playful nip. She held herself still, frozen in his grip, and after a couple seconds of teething on her, he released her, leaving her to blink at him in confusion.

"Nyah, I'm not mad," he finally said giving her a pat on the shoulders.

"I am, however, astonished by the level of stupid that happened back there," he sighed. "A mind can process and dismiss only so much stupid before it gets overwhelmed and begins to shut down. Those three kids exceeded that amount by at least a couple levels of magnitude," he said, laughing. "But then I find out that you thought I also had mange? Honestly?" he asked, feeling rather hurt.

"Sorry," she meekly muttered, cringing again.

"Well, you're not going to lose any fur from being with me," he said. "But I am going pluck out all your damned feathers!" he added, tugging on a couple on her brow, and she nervously winced.

"Just kidding," he relented with a sigh, seeing how she was still scared of having offended him. "What I really want to do is start working on you with the hair brush and preening pick we bought today," he told her, making her perk up when she realized what he had said. She smiled and he returned it before leaning in to give her beak a kiss where he had playfully nipped her.

"And—and I bought something for you, too," she seductively told him.

"You don't mind we split our time between you and your pegasus friend, do you, Pinkie?" Panthera asked. "Pardus can stay with you while I want to discuss some matters with Rainbow Dash."

"Oh, not at all!" the pink earth pony happily exclaimed. "But aren't you already talking with her?"

"Yes, I am," Panthera replied, noting how this creature's heightened senses must be still detecting her hologram projection on the cloud above. "But the range for my projections is rather limited. And the matters I wish to discuss would beyond my ability to maintain contact with her."

"¡No problemo!" the Equestrian creature happily replied, hopping on all four of her hooves to move closer to her brother.

'You know you will owe me for this,' Pardus sent with a smirk.

'Consider it payback for not warning me of that data cascade earlier,' Panthera shot back as she flapped her wings and lifted up.

'Except we three agreed to never charge each other exponentially calculated interest, especially compounded by the second,' he grumbled.

'This is true,' Panthera admitted after thinking about it for a moment.

"So, you were able to detect our projections, even with them invisible?" Pardus inquired.

"Uh-huh!" Pinkie Pie happily admitted. "Although, at first, it was a little tough to isolate which ones were you guys and which were fakes."

"Interesting," Pardus said, now intrigued. "So, how does that work with you?" he asked.

"Oh! I have this thing I call my 'Pinkie-sense'!" she cheerfully exclaimed.

After he was finished brushing her leonine fur and preening the feathers covering her head, wings and rear, she picked out one of her bags accumulated from their shopping. After digging her face deep into it, she pulled out one of the fruits she had purchased at the market.

"Those were a little expensive, weren't they?" Trevar asked, recognizing it. She had gotten three of them and Trevar was astonished when the vendor asked for four hundred and fifty bits, especially when he had seen other vendors about selling bushels of carrots, bunches of flowers, and baskets of apples for only three or four bits per load.

That that fruit stand didn't seem to be segregated from those selling far cheaper produce, or that the security didn't appear any greater for the one selling a single item at a hundred and fifty apiece, was quite astonishing.

"This is passionfruit," Mittens explained. "It's very expensive, and rather dangerous, too."

"Dangerous?" Trevar inquired with reserve. "This wouldn't by chance be some sort of illegal product on this world, would it? I usually make it my business to put an end to that sort of trade back home."

"No, nothing illegal about this," Mittens protested. "It comes from the Everfree, where collecting it is quite hazardous. Also, it's normally purchased by those—well—couples that might have a—few problems—and need special—help—in having children."

"So—this is an aphrodisiac?" Trevar asked, confused. "Not really an issue that I need help with. I've got no problems getting up for the—uh—fun."

"Me, either," Mittens said, putting her paw on his chest. "Although, the problem is—you're not a griffon."

"I don't follow," he said, still confused.

"Hello, again," Panthera greeted, switching off her cloak after sneaking up behind Rainbow Dash. Then she turned off her projected duplicate as the creature began looking about for the voice that called to her.

"Gyaah! Stop doin' that!" the azure pegasus yelled after finally spotting her hovering there.

"Um—anyhow, I know you and Pardus were interrupted this morning, but I was wondering if you'd be so kind as to race with me," Panthera said. "We were both very impressed by your moves the other day when you chased him through those catacombs. He and I are virtually equal with this sort of thing, so it's no slight to him for us to race instead."

"Heh! Sure!" the pegasus happily exclaimed. "I don't often have anypony who can keep up with me! Now, it looks like I've got two!"

Mittens crooned, pausing in the preparation of the passionfruit to enjoy his fingers idly combing through the underside covert feathers of her wing. She set down the knife to turn her head and nuzzle him in appreciation.

"The others are going to be so jealous of me for being first when you get around to preening them like this," she whispered. "And I'm going to be so jealous while I have to wait my turn again."

"Not that I'm trying to cause any strife," he murmured, when they finished kissing. He kissed her deeply once more. "We're all in situations we hadn't anticipated. But all we can do is make the best of them. Making new friends and giving pleasure is the least we should do, and is certainly better than many of the alternative choices."

It was a very odd sensation kissing her. Her beak wasn't boney, like those of the avians of Earth. Rather, it was more akin to hard rubber. Yes, if she wanted, she could very easily do some damage with a bite from it. But at the same time, it was malleable enough that she was able to do things like exposing her teeth in a smile, as well as other—pleasant—activities.

"It is regrettable that your species had lost so much in the past," he gently continued when they finished. "This world has so many opportunities. Of course, there's the risk of conflicts. But there are also so many, many more cooperative and productive opportunities. It could very well be the sort of paradise we humans have been searching for for so very long."

"True," she sadly agreed.

She turned back to the plate holding the passionfruit and used her beak to pass him a wedge from the peeled succulent, feeding it to him with a grin. Laughing as he took it, he concentrated on the flavor as he chewed.

It was surprisingly pleasant and perfect blend of salty-sour-sweet that exploded in his mouth.

"That is delicious!" he exclaimed as he waited for her to finish one of her pieces.

"Yes, it is!" Mittens purred. "So-o-o creamy! Ten times better than butter!"

"Really?" he asked, astonished. "It doesn't taste like butter at all to me."

"For me, yes," she replied. "Fhat's vone of fhe feazures asout fassionfruit," she said passing him another wedge with her beak. "It's specific to the individual's favorite flavors. It's even been known to change as the individual's preferences change."

"Intriguing," Trevar replied, taking it. They continued until they had each eaten half.

"So, aside from the One Fruit To Savor Them, One Fruit To Find Them, And In Their Bedrooms Bind Them, what else does it—whoa!" he exclaimed when the dizziness hit him. It was so sudden and he was seriously drunk!

"Well, there's that Dizzy Super Strong Hard Cider Ride that you're probably feeling right about—now," she said, grinning. "And while it's a very good thing we're not in the air at the moment—now's the best time for us to start flying!" she said as she kept looking at him while she turned her body around. She was seductively licking her beak as she lifted her rump as her tail feathers spread out.

"…And this is th' obstacle course Applejack lets me keep up out here over their back forty," the pale blue pegasus said, finishing the tour. "I use this t' practice my Sonic Rainbooms!"

"Hmm," Panthera grunted as she analyzed the course and came to a disappointed conclusion. "But even at near-Mach speeds, it's clear this won't put you through as tough a run as we had in the castle ruins. So this can't be the hardest route you train with."

"Yeah, you're right, there," Rainbow Dash admitted. "There's Ghastly Gorge, out in th' Everfree, which is longer and tougher than this. But even that's nowhere near as tough as that tunnel. Of course, I had flown up and back that thing a few times b'fore Pardus stole tha' device from the humans, so I already knew th' layout."

"The same with us," Panthera agreed with a nod.

"But … hay! … It's easy enough fer me t' set 'er up like th' tunnel!" Rainbow Dash offered.

Just as he had done before with her, he spent a good half-hour just petting and scritching her body, focusing on those erogenous zones that she confirmed from their previous times at love-making. Only when she couldn't tolerate any more of that did he finally directly touch her sex with his fingers.

He began by using his left hand to mercilessly tease the sensitive chevron-shaped bare patch of skin branching up from her opening while his right arm and head combined to gently hug her feathered haunch as well as occasionally reach for her belly from between her legs to tease her leonine nipples. His telepathic connection with the shadowcats to keep track of time let him know she lasted only about another fifteen minutes of that.

"GYYAAHH!" she screamed as he inserted his middle finger into her. After a little bit of wiggling, she was soon rapidly panting. "I—I—can't—believe—th—that's—just—from—using—y—y—your—claws!" she whimpered.

"No claws, remember?" Trevar chuckled, gently working his digit in deeper and probed about inside. "Humans have fingers. Not claws." He focused on grinding the tip of his finger down upon the inside of her pubic bone and knew he once again scored on her G-spot from the way her rump was suddenly bucking against his hold on her. Oh, and from her screams.

"Okay, I think that should do 'er!" Rainbow Dash announced once she was finished with the rearranging the cloud obstacles.

"Yes, that seems about right," Panthera responded, rather disappointed.

"What's wrong?" the pegasus asked.

"It initially looked good in theory, but the more I think about it, the less it seems worthwhile," Panthera admitted. "I mean, the run you and Pardus did before reaching open sky was less than three seconds."

"Just what were ya' hopin' for?" she angrily demanded.

"Oh—about seven minutes," Panthera said, grinning. The pegasus pony's jaw nearly fell to earth at that. It was a good long drop from where they were hovering.

"Wha—bu—bu—wha--???? ARE YOU CRAZY!?" Rainbow Dash stammered wide-eyed. But then, she evidently stopped to think about it.

"Hmm! Yeah, I guess yer right," Rainbow Dash finally agreed, putting a hoof to her chin. "Even if we were ta' go repeatedly 'round this course at those speeds, we'd tear it apart in ten seconds flat. Th' only thing 'round here that could give us a good run like that is Ghastly Gorge, but nopony can construct those additional twists and turns in th' Everfree."

"Well, maybe you can't, but I can," Panthera said with a toothy grin.

"So, do you know the difference between kinky and perverted?" Trevar asked her.

"Um, no," she had to admit.

"Kinky is when a guy uses a feather to tickle himself," he said, putting his tip against her opening. "Perverted is when," he was telling her as he gently pushed and slid inside her moist channel, "he uses the whole griffon."

"Oooh, I think I'm going to like your kind of perverted," she crooned as she clamped down on his intrusion. "You know any more jokes like that?"

"Lots," he said, grinning.

"Why does it take 100 million sperm to fertilize an egg?"

"Why?"

"Because not one of those stupid male's bastards will stop and ask for directions."

…

"Who came first? The griffon or the guy having sex with her?"

…

"Little Johnny came down to breakfast. Since they lived on a farm, his mother asked if he had done his chores," Trevar began.

"'Not yet,' Little Johnny replied.

"His mother tells him no breakfast until he does his chores.

"Well, now he's a little pissed, so when he goes to feed the chickens, he kicks one of them. Then he goes on to feed the cows, and still pissed, he kicks a cow. He then goes to feed the pigs and sure enough, he kicks a pig, too.

"He goes back in for breakfast and his mother just gives him a bowl of dry cereal.

"'How come I don't get any eggs and bacon? And why don't I have any milk in my cereal?' Johnny asked.

"'Well,' his mother says, 'I saw you kick a chicken, so you don't get any eggs for a week. I saw you kick the pig, so you don't get any bacon for a week either. I also saw you kick the cow, so for a week you aren't getting any milk.'

"Just then, his father comes down for breakfast and kicks the cat halfway across the kitchen.

"Little Johnny looks up at his mother with a smile, and said: 'Are you going to tell him, or should I?'" Trevar finished and waited for her response.1

"Being the Cat-Lord, should you not have killed Johnny's father for kicking the cat?" Mittens finally asked. Trevar blinked for several moments before bursting out in laughter.

"Yeah, I certainly have considered that sort of punishment for those," he finally admitted, still laughing.

…

"So why did the griffon walk all across town?" he asked.

"Wh-wh-why?" she panted as he continued thrusting.

"To get fucked," he said, slamming in deep and held himself there.

"EE-EE-EE-Ee-ee-eerr-rr-rrr-rr-rrr!" she squeaked then purred, clamping down hard on his member as he held her tightly.

"So how 'xactly yer pullin' this off again?" the pegasus pony asked for the fifth time as they flew over the Everfree Forest.

"Holographic projections," Panthera calmly responded, demonstrating. Again. She showed the pegasus a scaled down diagram of the original tunnels then the extrapolated repeated continuation of them.

"Also, since there's no need to invite the creatures you told me that live there into our race, I don't have to project the course down inside the gorge," Panthera went on. "I'm not about to make it a true maze. The entire course will be a single trail from start to finish. But since some of the turns will have us going backwards, it'll be necessary to let us both see the gorge as a guide for the overall progress of the run."

"Sounds doable," Rainbow Dash finally admitted.

In a little more than an hour, they were there at the start of the canyon, and Panthera guided the pegasus up a couple hundred feet and projected out the course to a range of three miles.

"That's as far as I can reach, but as we go through, I'll be extending the next sections as I get closer to the far end of what's there now," she explained by way of demonstrating with a miniaturized diagram of the canyon and the obstacle course complete with moving indicators showing their progress and the projected extensions being added as their avatars advanced. The mare watched in earnest as the demonstration played out. "Also, there'll be no need to keep up the projections for those segments behind us," Panthera finished.

"Sounds cool!" the pony eagerly agreed. "Let's get started!"

"And you should like this," Panthera told her as they got set to fly off the mark. "Ready, set, GO!"

They were both flying for the entrance, but the pony's ears obviously picked up the sounds that Panthera added to the environment: an audio playback of the instrumental version of "Dogfight At 100Gs" by Cosmic Furball. It caused her to slow down a little, letting Panthera gain a big head start on her. But the shadowcat didn't try to take advantage of it. Instead, she slowed down to allow Rainbow Dash to catch up again.

"Huh? What the hay is that!?" she yelled.

"Just some appropriate tunes to fly to," Panthera told her, laughing. "It'll follow us through the run, so don't worry about missing any of it."

"That—IS—AWESOME!" the azure pony exclaimed. Together, they ramped up to their full speed, which was exactly what Panthera was hoping for.

Back when Pardus was trying to dispose of the nuke and ditch the creature chasing him, they were both going about Mach point eight through the tunnels. He had to make turns that actually were pushing a hundred Gs. And even with his turns that tight, he was still scraping against the walls here and there. But the readings he got from those few sightings of Rainbow Dash following him indicated some disturbing conclusions. The Gs she was pulling seemed to exceed his estimates by a comfortable margin, made all the more maddening with the interference from the rock walls absorbing his sensor readings.

But out here, with her providing the holographic projections of the tunnel, she wouldn't face that problem. When this creature maxed her turns, Panthera would have a clean and clear shot to measure the G-forces this bitch was pulling.

And less than one minute into their flight, she got the readings that confirmed her worse fears: Rainbow Dash was pulling well over a thousand! The only uncertainty was that the pony was exceeding Panthera's ability to measure it!

This creature was performing, as close as possible to measure it, perfect ninety degree turns! The best the shadowcats could muster were turns at a radius of seven point four meters!

"Okay!" he panted as he furiously thrust into her. "What did the griffon say to the trouser snake?"

"Wh-wh-what?" she barked.

"Harder! Bigger! Faster! Deeper! More! Yes! Yes! More! More! Now!"

"R-r-r-really—sh-sh-she s-s-said a-all th-that?" Mittens exclaimed between pants as he frantically pumped her rear.

"Y-y-yep!" he responded, speeding up even faster into her. "A-and a-all in one word!"

"Wh-what word?" she exclaimed. But then she suddenly gripped his member, causing him to nearly hurt himself as she did so as he was just starting another inward thrust. Fortunately, the spasm in her channel released him and he drove in deep and help himself there, waiting for the rest of her orgasm to play out.

"EE-EE-EE-EE-AR-RR-RG-GH!" she screamed.

"I do believe that was it!" he panted. Mittens had to cackle in laughter at the cleverness he used to pull out the punchline, her guffaws causing her channel to spasm in time with her laughter.

Then, within moments, he was also orgasming and roaring out with his own expression of pleasure. Suddenly, she was squeaking in alarm at the sensation as he came inside her.

"Okay, you've GOT to let me throw you a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!" Pinkie Pie complained, continuing to harass him since Panthera departed.

"You already did that," Pardus grumbled. "You have my apologies for not being able to attend, but Panthera was there to represent us both."

"But it's not the same!"

"Yes, it is," Pardus countered. "Most of your kind can't tell the difference between my sister and me…"

"I can!"

"…Then you'd be the exception," Pardus continued unfazed. "And there's nothing that I can add to the conversations Panthera had with your lot that needs to be said."

"But there's cake! And pies! And cupcakes! And doughnuts! And…"

"All of which, quite frankly, would be wasted by having me eat any of it," Pardus countered. "My body is essentially—rock. It's a mineral. I don't get my life-energy from chemical nutrients. I get it from an internal sub-spatial tap."

"But you can eat, can't you?" she asked.

"Can, yes. Ever need to, no."

"Awww! But I was looking so forward to making you smile…" the pink menace pleaded.

"Look, Pinkie Pie," he said, turning to her. "We appreciate the effort. But you have to understand: cats smile without 'smiling'. And if we ever do 'smile', as you're used to, well…" He pulled back his lips and exposed his teeth to demonstrate. Suddenly, several ponies up and down the street started screaming.

Pardus stopped his grimace and looked at them galloping off.

"I believe they made my point for me," he muttered deadpan, facing back to her. "But trust me. I'm laughing right now. Hysterically, in fact."

The pink pony looked thoughtful for a few moments, and then suddenly brightened again.

"Oh! Oh! I should introduce you to my sister, Maud!" she cheerfully exclaimed. "I bet you three would just hit it off great!"

"You mean like this?" Mittens asked as she lay on her back. Her wings were outstretched over the bed and her pelvis partly hung over the edge, allowing her tail to bend back more than ninety degrees behind her spine, and her rear legs were stuck out straight to either side; her talons had hooked into the sheets to hold her feet there.

"Perfect," Trevar said, approaching her. He easily reentered her, making them both moan with pleasure.

He reached forward with his arms to hug Mittens' barrel where her fur gave way to the feathers at her waist. In response, Mittens brought her leonine paws to gently grip his arms with her claws. As he thrust deep into her, he was privy to how it was affecting her as her claws reflexively twitched on his arms as well as being able to see her eagle talons also clench. He was especially mindful to ensure that every time he hilted deep into her, he shifted his hips to grind his pubic hairs against the shallowly hidden clitoris just inside her opening. With them belly-to-belly this time, it would be sure to quickly send her once more into orgasm.

The added benefit was it gave him a means by which to tease a couple of her nipples with his mouth.

"Okay. Lying like this, you're so-o-o restoring the term 'spread eagle' back its original definition," Trevar laughed, getting back up to speed. Of course, going faster meant he couldn't constantly grind his pubic bone against hers on every thrust. But the random times that he was able to remember did serve to reignite her frenzied reactions.

"EE-EE-EE-EE-EE-EE-AR-RR-RR-RR-RG-GH!" Mittens screamed as she suddenly began thrashing about. Trevar grinned, despite his arms getting ripped by her front claws. He still had plenty of drive to go before he reached his peak again.

He waited as she calmed down and for her claws to release his arms.

"Did I hurt you, Lord?" she exclaimed, evidently smelling his blood in the air.

"Minor scratches," Trevar said, dismissing the matter. "Nothing to be concerned about. In my line of work, I've often had to tell myself, 'if you're not drawing your own blood, you're not properly doing the job'. I guess this is one more job where that applies."

"Are you certain?" she asked, trying to disengage. But he had resumed his thrusts.

"I'm certain. I like doing my jobs. In time, I migrated to professions I was best suited for. And naturally, some jobs are certainly much more fun than others. So please relax and let me enjoy doing my work," he told her with a grin. "And please let me know how well I'm doing it by singing for me."

She resumed her purring.

In time, they both came together.

"Oh, that was wonderful!" Mittens sighed as her breathing rate began to slow. "What shall we do next?"

Trevar's eyes widened in alarm as he lay on her belly, desperately panting for air.

What's it going to take to wear her out? he fearfully wondered. So far, he had been able to keep her experiencing two or three orgasms for every one that he did. And counting he had done with foreplay, she had at least seven or eight to his two!

It was true that he was nearly seventy-seven years old, but measurements of his telomeres done by the panthers confirmed that every time he used the Gateway, his human form was reset to that of a person in his mid-twenties, with the health and stamina that comes from having such. But even that has its limits!

This bloody cat-bird's insatiable! he concluded.

"Okay, there's one more thing I can think of that should satisfy you," Trevar slyly said as he stepped away from Mittens.

"Oh, shit! GOTTAGO!!" Pardus suddenly exclaimed, launching into the air and engaging his cloak. 'Trevar! TREVAR! DON'T DO THA--!'

"Awww! Just when it was getting interesting," Pinkie Pie sighed.

The griffon watched as Mittens' eyes recovered from the flash.

"Wha—who are you!" she angrily exclaimed when she could see again. "What have you done with the Cat-Lord!"

"How do I look?" he asked.

"L-L-Lord Tr-Trevar?" she cried in astonishment.

"Oh—fu-u-u-uck!" Trevar sighed, suddenly realizing what he had done.

"Uh—yes—yes! By your command!" Mittens instantly exclaimed, and she turned about to present herself to him.

Trevar looked at her and sighed. "Well, not exactly what I meant when I said it, but—it is appropriate," he said, shrugging his wings.

Just then, Pardus revealed his presence in the room, accompanied by a sonic boom.

"Ah! Shit!" the shadowcat spat in disgust as he took in the sight of the male griffon calmly standing there with a bored expression on his face and the female griffon cowering in the corner with her feathers poofed out to make her look three times her normal size.

"No! NO! NO!" Trevar instantly yelled out. "Don't do that, Mittens! Pardus! Never, never say that! Please!"

"You do know this complicates matters, don't you?" Pardus growled.

"Not as much as ordering her to take a dump would have!" Trevar shot back.

"Mittens," Pardus softly began. "You must understand, Trevar only just learned of his ability to transform from human to griffon. You must not speak of it to anyone! Even to any of the other griffons who might learn of this!" They had to wait for her to regain control of her breathing, heartrate, and feathers before she could respond.

"Of-of course, Lord Pardus," she murmured as she finally got back to her feet. "I do understand."

"Well, we know you don't understand—yet," Pardus said sighing. "Understanding is not required, but obedience is."

"Yes, Lord Pardus," she responded.

Mittens stared at the transformed Trevar and began walking about him, looking him over.

"Y-y-you—are—magnificent!" she finally sighed in awe. "You truly are the Cat-Lord! I would be truly honored to be your mate once more!"

"My pleasure," Trevar said, grinning.

"And you'd better have another of those fruits," Pardus said surely.

"You sure about that?" Trevar asked, surprised at his clone's suggestion.

"Oh, no! He mustn't!" Mittens protested. "He's already had half of one. And nopony may eat more than that in a day or the effects can be deadly!"

"Except that he's used the Gateway and anything of that first fruit he ate has been destroyed," Pardus pointed out. "I need to analyze this damned thing to determine what it's doing to you," he growled at Trevar. "It's not like you to spill any of our little secrets, no matter how drunk you get!"

"But the fruit won't activate unless it's completely eaten, half by one lover, half by the other!" Mittens exclaimed. "And I'm still affected by the one I ate! I can't eat anymore!"

The two looked at each other and considered the options of the impasse.

"Well, I suppose I could eat the other half," Pardus finally said, shrugging his wings. "That would give me two routes of analysis to see what the hell this bloody thing is doing to you."

"Well, don't expect me to do 'Teh Gay-sex'," Trevar chuckled. "I'll do that with Panthera, but there's no way anything will ever make me drunk enough to do it with you."

"We'll see," Pardus snarkily responded.

"Is anything the matter?" Rainbow Dash asked, snapping Panthera out of her stare.

"Huh?" Panthera responded and then she remembered where she was. "Oh, nothing to be concerned about. Pardus is dealing with it.

"Well, while Pardus and I are pretty certain we can outrun you in a straight shot, it's quite clear you have us beat with maneuverability, Rainbow," she said, resuming their conversation. "Your turns are at accelerations that run beyond my ability to even measure. I can only go by what I can see of your contrail, and based on that, you're pulling infinite Gs! Your turns are so sharp they should be able to cut steel!"

"Nyah! Pardus just got lucky," the azure pegasus said with confidence. "I'm the fastest pony in Equestria!"

"You probably are," Panthera replied. "But you're forgetting: I'm not a pony."

Rainbow Dash blinked a couple of times, evidently realizing that caveat was quite likely true.

"So how fast can you guys get?" she finally asked.

"Almost certainly system escape velocity," Panthera said. "But that's outside an atmosphere, where speeds are relative and the only real limit is light speed. In an atmosphere, we've never tried to test it. Probably somewhere between Mach five to ten."

"FIVE TO TEN!?" the pegasus screamed.

"You're able to do Mach three in the lower atmosphere, and got up to nearly fifteen where the air is too thin to breathe," Panthera replied. "I don't see where you should be complaining. Pardus and I don't need to breathe. We've never tried to test ourselves because we never had an opportunity or a need." Since trying to go Mach five plus would definitely get someone's attention back home, she thought.

"Well, why doncha give it a go right now?" the pegasus asked.

Panthera looked over to the sun setting below the horizon and then smiled.

"Yeah," she agreed. "Why not?"

"This is so weird!" Pardus said as he ate his portions. "I'm actually tasting pineapple!"

"Yeah, to me, it's still like a mix of pineapple, lemon, and soy sauce," Trevar commented.

"Except you don't understand," Pardus explained. "I've—" then he had to snap his mouth shut, only just realizing what he was about to do.

'Ever since I found myself in this body, I've never been able to taste anything! What's weirder, the chemical analyzers in my tongue tell me this shit should taste like celery, if it had a taste!' he sent, resuming what he was telling Trevar.

"Do you feel drunk, yet?" Trevar asked with amusement.

"Yes! Yes, I do!" Pardus replied with alarm. And despite the hilarity and dizziness of what he was feeling, Trevar was also worried.

"Well, we certainly now know this shit works on you, too!" he muttered.

"Alright!" Rainbow Dash slowly called out. "ReadysetGO!" she quickly screamed out, obviously hoping to get a good jump on Panthera. And it worked, for a fraction of a second.

It took Panthera a full second to pass the pegasus and a total of two seconds to reach Mach One instead of her normal one point seventy-four. She was on her way to Mach Three when the pony made her sonic rainboom behind her. But she didn't stop to crow in her victory—she was taking this opportunity to find out how fast she could get up to. It was nine seconds after their start for her to reach Mach Five, and her skin started to glow cherry red when she reached Mach Eight.

Engaging in sex as a griffon posed considerably different challenges than simply having sex with a griffon, least of all it being quite a different form from what he had ever experienced before, and what little he knew was only a few minutes' worth of exposure to that form.

Sure, there were similarities that helped immensely, chief of which his back half was leonine, of which he had experience using it with Panthera in the past. But the griffon's senses of smell, sight and hearing were quite different from what he was used to and, as a result, it was greatly distracting.

'Just make sure to let me know I'm aimed for the right hole!' Trevar sent Pardus.

'I'm sure Mittens'll let you know very quickly if you get it wrong,' the shadowcat responded with a laugh. 'Just like Panthera had!'

'NOT! Funny!'

But Trevar moved as Pardus telepathically directed. They might joke about it, but at least Trevar could trust the panthers wouldn't mislead him in that sort of thing. And very quickly, Mittens was crooning her pleasure.

"Oh, this is so much better!" she exclaimed. "So much thicker!"

"We always aim to please," Trevar and Pardus simultaneously said.

As Trevar got busy in her rear, Pardus walked about to lie face-to-face with her and began licking and kissing her. And thus began the subtle yet intense seduction of Mittens the Griffon.

She knew she could hold out until she got to white hot for a few seconds, which she estimated would be about Mach Nine point Five, but she didn't wish to risk damage, so she engaged her shields to insulate her. It also allowed her to take advantage of the improved aerodynamic shape. But then the ionizing air burning about her began masking her sensors' ability to read anything beyond her shields and so she decided to drop the effort. She had gotten up to Mach Eleven—and on level flight!

"Fucking-A!" she cheered. Looking back, she could see the rainbow shockwave finally peter out when it reached its maximum diameter. Happily, she reversed direction and flew back to where the pony waited, rushing back at Mach Two.

"That was AWESOME!" the mare happily called out when Panthera rejoined her. "I got up to Five and a half! What'd you get?"

"Mach Eight," Panthera said. Truthfully, she felt the use of her shields constituted cheating, but it was certainly nice to know what her limitations were, for both with and without shields.

"Wicked!" the pony exclaimed. "Like Pinkie Pie is always going on about this calls for a celebration!"

"Yes, it does," Panthera replied. "But can we do that a little later? Tomorrow, maybe? I don't want us to overstrain ourselves."

"Sure! I know whatcha mean!" the mare said, the expression of gratitude suddenly plastered on her face. "That was quite a workout!"

"Indeed," Panthera said, nodding.

"Okay! Catcha later!" the pegasus shouted as she broke off and rushed back to the village, leaving the shadowcat to sigh in relief before she turned to fly slowly to Trevar's residence.

"I apologize if I'm not doing this right," Trevar said as his beak dug through the underside of Mitten's wing. Mittens didn't seem to notice his amateurish preening as Pardus was still busy mounting her.

"Cactus dick," indeed, Trevar ruefully thought of Gilda's term for it. He wished Panthera had been a bit more honest about how intense the barbs on a feline's dick could affect a cat. When he had finished inside Mittens, it was very, very nice. But when he tried to withdraw—it was like suddenly riding a bronking horse…with claws!…and a spine that allowed her to twist about with the flexibility of a snake!!

Of course, Pardus untactfully tactfully reminded him that that sort of stimulation was necessary for feline ovulation. Trevar guessed the same must apply to griffons, too.

A bucket of blood, a double-tap of the Gateway, and a slightly weirded out Mittens later, Trevar was back to being a healthy male griffon again. Only this time, it was Pardus' turn with her.

Of course, that flaming shit eater doesn't have to worry about getting sliced to ribbons when he finally gets done with her, Trevar fumed.

But at the very least, if they could wear her out enough to allow Trevar to slip out unnoticed, he could finally track down that report of dragons they got from the purple alicorn and her pet lizard.

Trevar leapt away when Pardus suddenly roared with a snarled hiss as his grip on Mittens clenched so hard, Trevar thought she was going to be broken.

'That—was—real!' Pardus exclaimed in his mind.

Before Trevar could question him, Mittens was trying to shred the shadowcat holding her with her lion's claws and beak. Fortunately, whatever that fruit did to the panther that allowed him actually to cum, it didn't seem to affect the rest of his body. His hide easily stood up to Mittens' attack.

After nearly a minute of her standing enraged and facing Pardus, Mittens suddenly calmed down.

"Oh, yes!" she sighed as she lay down on the mattress. "As much as I enjoyed the touch of your human shape, Lord Trevar, I needed that from you as you are now and from Lord Pardus!"

"Happy to oblige," Trevar said grinning.

But at that moment, her head lowered to the bed and she curled up and began snoring. Trevar and Pardus both stared and blinked.

"Tell me it wasn't that easy!" Trevar muttered.

"Cats just need to get the proper stimulation," Pardus replied, smacking his lips, as he untactfully tactfully reminded his counterpart. "Guess griffons are somewhat related," he finished.

"Am I in time?" Panthera asked from beside them as she decloaked.

"Just," Pardus responded. "Get him out of here and I'll deal with Mittens and the rest while you're away."

Trevar triggered the Gateway and resumed his human form before climbing aboard Panthera's back. They were cloaked again before she flew them out the window.

Meanwhile, Pardus projected a holographic depiction of Trevar as a griffon and both figures crawled into bed with Mittens to lie on either side of her.

They set down a few hundred yards into the orchard behind his house, well out of sight of the guard on his kitchen door. Even so, they knew the flash would be noticed. Once off of Panthera, Trevar triggered the Gateway and he was a fifty-foot long dragon again.

It wasn't the form into which he had started life, but he had grown to like it, even over the extended period that he had been forced to remain in it because he was not aware he had a choice. Now, relishing the feel of having those draconic senses, strength, and abilities once more, his wings and tail fidgeted from his excitement of once more being in what he had come to consider his body.

He sent out his mind to evaluate the risks around him. Sure, enough, Lynard had noticed the flare from among the trees. Going to alert, he notified his comrades, but remained at his post. The pegasus' surface thoughts reminded Trevar that their shift change was soon approaching, so Trevar focused his mind's scan about.

Yes, there were the Lunar Guards: the two unicorns, each in a chariot drawn by a pair of bat-winged ponies. They, too, had seen the flash and were altering their course to investigate.

'You'd better get back inside to assist Pardus with maintaining the illusion of me being there,' Trevar told the still cloaked shadowcat.

'Another is approaching,' she said, lifting off the ground to hover between the tree tops. Trevar turned his head about to look, sending his mental probe out.

'The orange pony,' Trevar reported once he located her. Then he probed slightly deeper. 'She hadn't seen the flare. But she evidently has senses letting her know we're here—well—just me, now. She's puzzled as to where you got to.'

'Anyhow, I'll deal with the incoming,' the dragon told her as Trevar prepared to launch. 'I'll give you all a call when I return.'

'Have fun,' Panthera sent as the dragon leapt into the evening sky. She was curious as to what Applejack was looking for, so she remained hovering there to await her arrival.

'You know me,' he retorted. And then he was among the Night Guards.

They were clearly expecting to see a unicorn when they came to investigate the brilliant flare of light, not a freaking large gold dragon rocketing out of the orchard right in front of their noses.

"WHOA!" they all screamed in unison as the pegasi violently veered away in wildly separate directions.

'Good evening,' Trevar absently said to them before promptly ignoring them to focus on reaching his cruising altitude. As the two teams worked to recover and began moving to challenge him, Trevar made his intentions known by clearly skirting the boundary of the Equestrian town to aim to fly toward the area they referred as the Everfree Forest.

"HOLD, DRAGON!" one of the unicorns yelled. Trevar calmly looked behind him, then resumed his focus on his flight. They had taken positions high on his four-thirty and seven-thirty, as any proper military tactic would dictate. He knew they knew they were going to be in every disadvantage if it came to a fight, but they were at least making a show of doing their duty.

"HOLD, DRAGON!" the unicorn yelled once more. There was a bolt of energy that shot by ahead of Trevar's right wing. Trevar did the maddening thing and ignored them.

"DON'T MAKE US—" the unicorn began to yell.

'I'm not making you do anything,' Trevar said, continuing to fly on his course. 'Whether you continue your lives in health or not at all is entirely your decision. However, once you make the unwise choice, I AM in the unique position on deciding just how messy and painful such shall be for you.' Trevar continued to beat his wings a couple times before he finally looked over his shoulder again.

'Shadow Wing, are you not the one in charge? Are you willing to allow your flame-brained colleague decide the fate of you and your troops?' Trevar asked with a growl, before resuming his flight once more. The lead pegasus' face registered his surprise, and Trevar's telepathy let him know just how disrupted the sergeant's plan of attack he had been formulating in his mind. It made the dragon smile.

"Wh-what were you doing in that orchard?" Shadow Wing finally called out.

'Merely getting my bearings before resuming my journey,' Trevar responded. 'Nopony was inconvenienced nor adversely affected by my stopping there, and as you can see, I have taken no hostile action against you, despite the provocations you have already delivered. Indeed, you had seen I even went out of my way to avoid directly overflying the small community back there. I am quite aware of how easily startled your kind are.'

"Where are you headed for?" Shadow Wing finally asked, after considering Trevar's response. It was certainly not the sort of reply he or his team was expecting. For them, dragons are extremely dangerous, barely civil in the best of moods, and creatures to treat with the utmost respect. But it also required periodic challenge to remind them that hostile actions came with severe consequences as the Princesses were not hesitant in exacting retribution on misbehavior.

However, the dragon they were now facing was far more civil than any they had ever encountered, aside from the occasional familiar of unicorn-turned-alicorns.

'I'm evidently late arriving at the Migration that recently occurred,' Trevar told them.

"That was several years ago!" Shadow Wing exclaimed. "Most all the dragons have returned to their lairs!"

'I have considerably further to travel than any other dragon,' Trevar responded. 'I hope to encounter any stragglers that may still be there.'

Panthera continued to hover and remained cloaked as she watched the orange pony arrive where they had landed.

"Whoa!" Applejack exclaimed, seeing the tracks Trevar left after his transformation. "Whut's a dragon doin' landin' here? 'N he's a biggun, too!" She looked up at the trees, checking out their load of apples, and then back to the ground, evidently trying to decide about what to do.

"Well, he didn' take none, so guess no harm done," she muttered, rubbing the back of her head with a fore hoof. The sight fascinated Panthera about how they could move like that, given their general equinoid build. "Still, Ah aughtta report this ta Twilight. If any dragons are startin' ta get squirrelly, she betta be informed."

The pony took off running directly for the town, jumping the fence about her property. Satisfied, Panthera returned to the house, invisibly slipping in through the open upstairs window. She looked back out to see she got there just before the Lunar Guards arrival after their encounter with Trevar.

Good, she thought, sighing. No one got stupid up there.

As they normally did after respectively lowering the Sun and raising the Moon, Celestia and Luna sat together to quietly dine together, each desperate to not allow a repeat of the unfortunate chain of events that had resulted in Luna getting banished to the Moon for a thousand years.

They were both sipping their tea when Discord arrived with his usual flair. However, "usual flair" with Discord was a different event each and every time, otherwise it would get boring.

This time, it was a bowl of exploding beets. And by a bowl of exploding beets, the one remaining in the bowl somehow managed to coat every inch of the ceiling, walls (except for the areas directly behind the diarchs), table, and said diarchs with dripping, red, beet juice and pulp.

Luna had spat out her tea with the explosion, but Celestia had calmly continued sipping from her cup. When she was done, she calmly swallowed, and said, "Good evening, Discord. To what do we owe the pleasure? Oh, and before you begin, this had better not stain!" She went to take another sip, but then her eyes snapped open. She pulled the cup away from her mouth in order to pour the full tea cup onto the table with distain, emptying it of red beet juice.

"I warned you that letting Trevar and those shadowcats remain would be messy," Discord chided, his entire length taking up the dining table. "And look here at what it's done!" he shouted, waving his arms at the room. "But it's not too late for you to fix it!"

"Thou canst not mean to say that the human and the shadowcats are to blame for this!" Luna exclaimed. "A mess that thee hast caused!"

"Oh, but I do!" Discord protested, twisting about to look at the Lunar Princess. "I wouldn't have arrived like this if it weren't for Trevar!"

"That's quite a stretch, even for you, Discord," Celestia said, staring at him unblinking. "Seeing as how you're the one who blew up our meal."

"Do you have any idea of the power of One, dear Celestia?" he asked, smiling. "One little pony chooses to ignore One little warning from One little draconequus. One little beet repainted this entire room. So just think: One little word can paint All Of Equestria this same color! Valleys, mountainsides, fields, and cities! Only it won't be sweet beet juice flowing across the land, now will it?" he finished, taking a talon to wipe off a drop of juice dripping from the end of Celestia's snout to taste the sample.

"What art thou saying?" Luna demanded.

"A single word is all he has to utter to usurp that fat pigeon currently sitting on the Griffon throne and their Empire will be his!" the creature exclaimed as he slinked off the table to stand beside it between the mares. "You cannot afford to play the Long Game with this one, Celestia! Remember, Trevar is only human, after all and you know what humans are like! Besides, you cannot exactly afford to keep what you know about the Cat-Lord from Luna, any longer. Why, he's probably already out there, gathering an army as we speak! You need help, Celestia! And whether you want it or not, I'm going to make sure you get the help you need." And with that, Discord vanished in a flash of light, leaving the room still dripping with red juices.

"What doest he mean, Celie?" Luna asked astonished and alarmed.

Celestia picked up a dripping napkin to dab at the red juice dripping from her lips. She was NOT pleased.

Trevar flew on through the night, delighted to savoring the feel of the wind on his wings. He had very few opportunities to experience this sort of freedom since the day he woke up as a dragon in that cave back in February of 1988.

On Earth, nights in the coldest of seasons were the only opportunities that he could safely slip out into the sky and just to become familiar with this form. But this world, where creatures like him could still able to travel relatively free, just the thought of that sort of freedom gave him tremendous joy. What was more, this world wouldn't care if he traveled like this in the daytime! And as he flew, he focused on recalling the beautiful ending music from the episode Mysha from "Game of Thrones", letting it play over and over in his mind.

And so, he began to try his wing at randomly flick his tail, a limb, his neck, just to shift his center of gravity in order to cement the feel of what his body could do.

Many people would simply have assumed that flying was instinctive to dragons, but they would be totally wrong. Flying had to be learned, just as humans, in fact, had to learn to walk! Humans made walking almost instinctive by developing the muscle memories from dozens of years of practice. In the same way, he needed to learn to fly. Much as he would have liked to try this at home, but going out in the dead of night in winter was quite unappealing to him.

Somehow, during those missing days between when his ship disappeared and waking up in that cave, his dragon form had developed some rudimentary muscle memory for flight. That little amount had not only saved his life that day, but the life of one of his long-time friends. But he knew he needed much more than that.

He chided himself for not having done more such practice in the past, but even after learning that he had the Gateway to restore his health, he had no love of discomfort or pain. It was still an effort to resist flinching when taking an injury. After all, Injury was God's way of saying, "you did a stupid thing." And Pain was God's way of saying, "don't do it again, stupid."

But the Gateway changed all that.

Now, crippling and incapacitating injuries no longer bothered him, no matter how bad they were. Nothing was permanent. No scars to worry about, either.

At least, if injuries weren't permanent, then pain no longer mattered, either. Half of all pain was fear. Fear was what kept one from taking risks that would cause injuries. Therefore, there was no need to worry about injuries, no need to fear pain, no need to avoid the risks and actions that would result in either.

The Gateway fixed all of that. Or nearly so. Now, if he could just use that same logic to force his mind to overcome his acrophobia. As it was, he barely had control of his own terror when taking wing.

And two uses of the Gateway would return his body to whatever healthy form of whatever he was when he got injured. Which could very well spell a bad day for whatever was trying to damage him at the moment. Especially, if he was using his dragon form whenever something tried to injure him.

And since half of all pain was fear, it worked both ways. Trevar had little to nothing to fear by fighting something. On the other hand, or claw, whatever was unfortunate enough to fight him, now had much more to fear.

So what, if you could hurt the dragon? When, after a couple of blinding flashes of light, you're back to facing the very same, but now, quite likely, very pissed off dragon, which was now as completely healthy as it was when you started your fight with it? What were the odds you could do the same? Trevar's enemies now had much to fear from him!

And Trevar really liked his dragon form. He knew it was the pinnacle of predators. Everything about his body was a lethal weapon. His claws, his wings, his teeth, his flame, his fists, his tail, his mass, his strength, and his mind. Especially, his mind!

Being a dragon made him also a telepath, that could simply look at an opponent and know what it was thinking and feeling. This gave him a huge tactical advantage. But there was more to it that just that. Quite by accident, he discovered that there was a part of his mind that did sense the pain suffered by his opponents. But instead of making him sympathetic to them, which would've diminished his ability to fight them, that part sought out the pain in others, savored and recorded it, and moreover, he could play it back to the injured or even those that had not yet faced him. In at least a few cases, he had been able to send enough agony to induce a heart attack, killing his enemies without even touching them!

The jungle was teeming with life, much of it in strong competition with each other: predators vs prey; predators vs predators; prey vs prey. Trevar overflew it all, simply noting what was down there. Little there could threaten him, even if he had been walking, and very little could even fly.

Although, one creature that was clearly part lion, part scorpion, and had large bat-like wings did try to attack him, interrupting the running tune in his mind. However, once it heard Trevar speak, it suddenly and clearly wanted to be friends. Very, very friendly and it tried to entice Trevar to come play with it. Trevar was leery at first. He must've initially angered it by overflying its territory and regretfully had to decline and continued to fly on.

He could tell the creature was disappointed and saddened. And Trevar felt a little bad about having to leave it behind. Perhaps, if there was time on the return flight, he considered. Maybe.

But it annoyed Trevar for hours that he should've been able to recall what sort of being it was. Something from mythology, he strongly suspected, but he couldn't remember specifics, and that annoyed him to no end. So much of this world seemed to have some sort of mythological connection to Earth. So far, Greek mythologies were getting a strong representation, but he knew he and the shadowcats had spotted elements of other regional myths.

Plus, there were things that just did not make any logical connection back to Earth. Like those alicorns. And that Discord character…

Spying a lake with a wide, clear shore, Trevar flew into land for a drink. The only minds he could sense were more animal-level mentalities, so he wasn't concerned. He was a dragon. Animals feared stronger predator species, and would avoid something like him at all costs. Intelligent creatures were far more deadly. They knew that powerful creatures like dragons could be taken down, given the right sorts of weapons.

While he sniffed at the water, trying to decide if it was clean enough to drink, he felt the presence of another creature that was angered at being disturbed. It was coming at him in an attack, and Trevar looked up to see what was crazy enough or stupid enough to assault a full-grown dragon. What he saw made him blink in surprise.

At first, he thought it was another dragon, one only slightly larger than an Equestrian, which still made it much smaller than Trevar. But then he noticed the head looked like a rooster. And it was glaring at him.

Something caused him to use the Gateway, because Trevar suddenly found himself as a human once more. The chicken-headed dragon was still there, squalling and reacting as if in pain as it writhed on the ground. Not wanting to be getting into a fight with a strong predator while in his human form, he triggered the Gateway once more.

As a dragon, his mind probed the strange chicken-headed dragon and found slightly above-animal intellect.

Evillittleyellownotmething-mean-scary! Evilbigyellownotmething not evillittleyellownotmething. Must-kill-evilbigyellownotmething-to-rock! Evilbigyellownotmething-break-eyes! Must-kill-evilbigyellownotmething-to-rock-so-no-break-eyes! Despite out-massing it by several dozen times, this creature was still very much hostile and was focused on continuing to attack him.

The flare from the Gateway evidently blinded it while it was trying to use some sort of gaze attack on me! Basalisque—no—something with a similar attack—cockatrice! Trevar recalled. Turns creatures that look at it into stone, like the Medusa. And Trevar had no desire to let it use the attack on him again.

As the cockatrice's vision recovered from the second assault from the intense flare of blinding light, it turned once more to glare at him. However, Trevar calmly spat out a shot of acidic flame into its face. Screaming, the cockatrice began running blind. Fortunately for Trevar and the forest, it ran straight into the water, which kept the fire from spreading. But it was as good as dead anyhow as it had breathed flame into its lungs during its screams. With air still in the lungs, the tissue was seared with fire even as the acid liquefied the flesh. And even in the water, his flame continued to burn away its face and bone, and would keep doing so as long as his flame remained acidic.

Trevar impassively watched the creature expire, recording all its suffering until it expired before finally directing his attention back to the water. After drinking his fill, he resumed his flight.

The instructions from the purple alicorn and her lizard pet gave the general bearing and the distance of a day and night's flight to a volcanic region beyond the Everfree. He estimated that he should at least spy the smoke from the volcanos by midafternoon and that should refine the direction of his search.

Pardus laid on Mittens' left side, while Panthera let herself be their pillow and she directed the griffon image of Trevar to lay on her right side.

When the Sun rose to shine into the room, Mittens sleepily opened her eyes and smiled at seeing how they all were snuggled together.

"Good morning, Mittens," the image of Trevar told her as he nuzzled her with his beak. "How did you sleep?"

However, instead of the expected reaction, the female griffon's face showed alarm. She jumped up, screaming, and drove her hooked beak into the skull of the image of Trevar.

The hologram blinked at her, and used a talon to feel at the hole exposing his cranial matter. "Well! This is awkward," he muttered.

"WHAT ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE CAT-LORD!?" Mittens screamed, furiously slashing the hologram with her leonine claws.

"Mittens! Calm down!" Pardus and Panthera both yelled. Panthera finally had to dismiss the hologram image to keep her focus on trying to restrain the enraged griffon.

"SOME MONSTER HAS STOLLEN THE CAT-LORD! WE HAVE TO FIND HIM! OH, SQUIT! IF THEY FIND I LOST THE—the Cat-Lord, I'm—I'm—Oh, squit!"

"No one's stolen Trevar!" Pardus sternly told her. "Trevar is out, searching for a matter that is important to him. He instructed us to make that image of him to keep you griffons from getting in his way!"

"But—but—we have our orders! From Ambassador Gustav, I have my orders: 'protect the Cat-Lord!' I've failed! I've lost him! They're going to pluck and tar me and roast me on a spit—"

"No one's touching you!" Panthera growled, grabbing the griffon's face with her wings and paws. "Trevar gave us our orders! And according to your own ambassador, both Pardus and I, as well as Trevar, outrank even your emperor, is that not right?"

"Y-y-yes," Mittens replied. "But—"

"But—NOTHING!" Pardus growled. "TREVAR ordered us to keep you griffons thinking he was still here. That was needed as it keeps those horses outside thinking he's still here! THAT is of paramount importance!"

"But I know that wasn't Trevar!" Mittens protested. "And if I know, then the others will know, too! And I'll be blamed—!"

"You'll be blamed for following orders that countermanded other orders you were given?" Panthera asked. "They won't dare, because they'll have to go through us to get to you!"

"But—but—one of the others is supposed present themselves today to Trevar for mating, using the passionfruit!" Mittens explained.

"Well, that's easy," Pardus said, grinning. "We'll just tell them that Trevar isn't finished with you yet. That he's specifically asked to keep doing it with you."

"That won't matter! Either one-on-one or in an orgy, they'll be here!" Mittens warned.

As if to emphasize that point, Screaming Eagle arrived at the open window at that moment.

Lieutenant Scott knocked on the door to Trevar's home and awaited his response. She idly watched the night and day guards do their shift change and was curious as to the scroll that Sargent Silver Thorn read as he held it in his "magic".

The door opened, and Trevar and one of the inky black shadowcats were there to greet her.

"Good morning," Trevar said pleasantly, standing in a fresh toga, white this time. "Won't you please come in?"

Scott glanced at the pony guards. Silver Thorn had used his telekinesis to scribble something on the parchment, rolled it up and made it vanish in the moment it took her to look at him before taking Trevar up on his offer to enter.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Trevar asked her as he led her to the living room.

"I apologize if I came across as perhaps a bit too hostile these last few days," she told him. "I do know the world doesn't exist in black and white."

"Indeed," Trevar admitted. "I'm certainly under no illusions that I'm any sort of white knight. I do plenty of gray and their shades tend to be on the rather darker realm of them. However, I do try to do the light side of issues as much as I can," he added with a wan smile.

"Have you had breakfast, yet?" he asked. "Pardus! Can you please fix Lieutenant Scott some breakfast?" he called toward the stairs.

"Would oatmeal with milk suffice?" a voice replied from above. The other shadowcat, followed by two unhappy-looking griffons came down the stairs. It meant this shadowcat accompanying her and Trevar was Panthera, if Scott recalled.

"Yes, if you please," Scott replied.

"I imagine it must be maddening that, here I am, such a dark character, being treated with diplomatic kid-gloves, while you as a soldier with a distinguished record is now a felon of the worse kind," Trevar offered.

"The thought has crossed my mind more than once," Scott replied sardonically.

"All I can say, is 'welcome to the Dark Side, Lieutenant'," Trevar said with a shrug and a smile.

"You mentioned," she began, deciding to come to the point, but for a moment, she had to consider that he could get upset with her for doing so. However, what that top horse had pointed out, Trevar could have, and by all rights, should have, been Earth's worst tyrant. She had to try and understand: why hadn't he?

"You mentioned to—" she tried once more, but she faltered again.

"Celestia," Trevar offered.

"Thank you," Scott responded. "You mentioned to Celestia, that you came across my base in the middle of the crisis. And that you knew—you instantly knew—the technology being used. How is that possible?"

"As I explained, I'm not at liberty to divulge everything about how I have such knowledge," Trevar gently told her. "And there are some matters that even I do not know," he added with a haunted look that lasted more than a few moments. Then he looked up at her.

"Please let me tell you a bit of a story," Trevar offered.

"There once was a sailor, an Electronics Technician second class petty officer, to be exact," he began. "Early in his career, he got assigned to a Naval communications station. Prior to joining the Navy, he spent a considerable amount of his childhood on his grandparents' farm.

"Now, in the course of this isolated communications station, the base commander, a lieutenant, needed to find a way of reducing the operating and maintenance costs of the base. One of those expenses was the job of grass cutting about the antennas. This base was in a rural area and she sought suggestions from her crew about what to do. Several people came up with ideas, but none of them had any experience of farming or what animals on farms ate. Save this one aforementioned second class petty officer.

"Some of the suggestions involved having the local farms loan them herds of cattle, horses, sheep, or goats. He listened to the suggestions from his colleagues and pointed out the flaws and advantages to them. Cattle, horses, and sheep all ate grass. But shit from cattle was a real mess to deal with, and horses weren't much better. Of the options, sheep was the best, so he explained those factors to her. She then asked about the goats. He warned her that goats would eat grass, but only after eating everything else first.

"So, naturally, not having any sort of farming experience herself, the lieutenant chose the goats," Trevar said with disgust as Pardus brought out the bowls of oatmeal.

"Wait. Didn't he warn her off of the goats?" Scott asked, perplexed.

"Yes, he did," Trevar muttered.

"Then why did she—" Scott began to ask.

"Because, in her words, 'they were cute'," Trevar responded with distain. They looked at each other as that sunk in.

"That is—" Scott began.

"Yes, it was," Trevar continued. "And, naturally, she blamed him for the goat eating up everything but the grass. She even went so far as threaten to write the petty officer up for failing to obey her lawful order to make the goats eat the grass."

"Oh, that sucks!" Scott whispered.

"Oh, it gets worse," Trevar said with a wan smile. "Fortunately for the second class petty officer, this lieutenant transferred out from the base. In comes a former warrant officer, recently promoted to Lieutenant JG. And one of his first orders to the crew was 'where the fuck did these goats come from?'," Trevar happily said.

"I should hope so!" Scott exclaimed.

"Of course, the second class petty officer explained the history," Trevar said, resuming his story, "and suggested that here was an opportunity to correct the decision."

"And did he?"

"No, he did not."

"Wh-WHAT!?" Scott asked, spitting out a mouthful. "Why!?"

"Because, in his words, 'it would make the lieutenant look bad'," Trevar snarled. "In fact, he reiterated his predecessor's orders to him."

"I don't believe it!" Scott yelled. Then she blinked. "Yes. Yes, I do," she had to admit. "I've seen the like, myself," she said with a sigh.

"Oh, it was real," Trevar said. "And, yes, the petty officer got blamed for not making the goats accept the Lieutenant JG's orders for them to eat the grass."

"He didn't—"

"Yes, he did. And this time, he did have to go through Captain's Mast. Fortunately, the Captain declared those orders not only unlawful, but stupid. So instead of his predecessor, it was the JG who now looked like an idiot, and the man held a serious grudge against the petty officer for it."

"A man that came up through the ranks like that?" Scott asked with disbelief.

"It matches a theory that several of his colleagues came up with that chiefs generally got a lobotomy when they make chief," Trevar explained. Scott shook her head. "That petty officer came into the service as an Electronics Technician. What that entails is his job is to find faulty components and equipment and fix or replace them. Unfortunately, no one can fix that sort of stupid.

"Anyhow, this petty officer got lucky," Trevar said resuming his tale. "Or so he thought. He managed to get transferred to a ship, a USS Josephus Daniels."

"And—?" Scott prompted.

"Well, suffice to say, the crew of that ship had their own set of issues that actually made the communications station look intelligent," Trevar told her. "However, that isn't really relevant to the story. What is relevant was this ship, one day on one of its cruises, just simply—disappeared. With all hands never to be seen again. With one exception," Trevar finished.

"What the fuck?" Scott exclaimed. "What happened?"

"No one knows," Trevar explained, shrugging. "Not even the petty officer. All he knows, is that several weeks later, in a cave, somewhere in the middle of Kentucky, he woke up—changed. And he had a couple pieces of hardware that not only convinced him of incontrovertible proof that humanity wasn't alone in the universe, but gave him a means by which to act on that knowledge.

"But much beyond that, I'm not at liberty to say," Trevar finished. "Even to you, who cannot take this knowledge back to Earth. What you have to understand, there are others involved who were also changed. And I don't have their permission to divulge what I know of them, to you or to Celestia."

"But—those devices—they gave you knowledge of warp drives? And nuclear weapons?" Scott asked.

"Warp drives, inertial dampers, artificial gravity, shields and a few other bits of ultra-high tech, yes," Trevar replied, nodding. "The nukes, I got when I was in high school."

"Huh? Nukes? In school?"

"History and science projects," Trevar said dismissively. "Pre-Internet. Now, they're trying to scrub that shit because of 9/11, but your basic high school physics text book, at least those from mid-1970's, had 'how to build an A-bomb for dummies' instructions in all of them."

"Wait," she protested. "Nukes in high school!? When the fuck was that being taught?"

"Well, I gradurated in 1979," Trevar told her. "That should give you some idea." Scott looked at him dumbfounded.

"Th-that—that would make you over seventy!" she exclaimed.

"Seventy-seven, actually," Trevar replied. "Although, in a few weeks, it'll be officially seventy-eight, as my birthday is on the 26th."

"Are you like that comic book character, Wolverine!?"

"Not at all," he said. "My younger brother is way shorter than I am."

Scott just stared at him until he broke down laughing.

"I'm teasing you," he said, still laughing. "No, this is another of those side effects from those changes when I woke up in Kentucky. All the rest of my immediate family died years ago of old age or other causes. Any blood relations still living are very distant cousins several steps removed."

"Oh," she finally said.

"So, with all that, how is it you didn't try taking over the world?" Scott had to ask.

"Really? Is that what's bothering you about me?" Trevar asked with a laugh. "Besides, even if I did, there'd be my conscience to deal with, for one," Trevar explained.

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," she pointed out.

"Well, I frequently notice that's something the corrupt love to tell everyone to justify keeping anyone from usurping power away from them," Trevar muttered. "But, honestly? I'm not interested. Just think about it. If I did try to take over the world, I'd have to rely on idiots like those lieutenants from my previous commands to help me run all the shit in the world. Think I'd want that headache?

"In addition, I know there's a power much greater than me out there. If I tried abusing those abilities I have, I'd have to answer to that."

"What? You mean, 'God'?"

"I mean, whatever it was that changed me!" Trevar snapped. "Whether that was 'God', or something else entirely, it's out there! And I do have reason to believe it's coming. And perhaps whatever we think of that is 'God' is just another one of those 'aliens'.

"But wherever this knowledge and power came from, it doesn't change who I am. That old adage you're fond of about, 'power corrupts', it doesn't apply to me. I know, that no matter how much power I got as a result, so long as I don't abuse it, I should be okay with who or whatever is coming to judge us."

"So, you're a believer? How is that possible?" she asked. "It goes against everything you believers are supposed to adhere to!"

"I think I know a little more of what 'we believers' are supposed to adhere to. My grandparents were devout believers," Trevar admitted with a shrug. "They were Mennonites. Sort of like the Amish," he said to explain when he saw Scott's puzzlement, "but willing to use things like cars or tractors, while still shunning frivolous entertainment like television. Myself, I'm rather agnostic about it all.

"But in my heart, I know that whatever it was that gave me this power for whatever capricious reasons it had, it probably still has the means to take it away whenever it feels like. Maybe even kill me if it desires. I don't know. But even if that's the case, I know one thing: I'm not giving it a valid reason for ending me. If it does so, it will be for reasons just as capricious as it was when I was given it all.

"Yeah, I know I tend to walk a rather dark path," he continued. "Preying on monsters like drug dealers and organized crime to fund my development of those technologies is something I'm willing to accept responsibility for. Those ships won't build themselves and the tech doesn't come cheap. However, I'm not about to let this shit fall into the hands of the corrupt, the politicians, or the industrialists or even the psycho-eco terrorists on the other end of the spectrum for that matter."

"But then, who are you to decide has access to that sort of development?" Scott challenged.

"Who do I have to be? Who should get to decide? Them? Or someone who has at least some mediocrity of understanding what 'responsibility' means?" Trevar countered. "The knowledge is up here," he said, pointing to his own head. "Who has the authority to take it away from me to divvy out as they see fit? Or worse, keep it for themselves in order to ensure the suffering of others? At least I'm trying to clean up the neighborhood before opening up the flood gates.

"Look what happened with the Internet," he told her. "Yeah, it started out sounding all utopic and wonderful, but criminals had already laid claim to it all by the time anyone of the public had even got their first IP addresses. Before banking and shopping online got started, the crooks had already put in the virus and tampers to break any system security that would come after.

"Just imagine what would happen if a Jihadist or any other psycho got ahold of a warp-capable ship," he demanded. "A single suicide bomber and you can kiss Earth good-bye! Or, even just your general crook.

"That's not going to happen with my shit! I'm not going to allow it!" he declared.

"How would you prevent it?" Scott asked. But Trevar smiled, and tapped his temple.

"There are ways. It will take time, but I'm nothing if not patient," was all he said about it.

As soon as Scott left and the image of Trevar dispelled, Mittens and Screaming Eagle resumed their argument with Panthera and Pardus over Trevar's absence.

"You haven't answered our demands! Where is the Cat-Lord!?" Screaming Eagle screamed.

"Trevar is out hunting for something that he's very interested in acquiring," Pardus told them.

"Then we should be out there, helping him to get it!" Screaming Eagle yelled.

"And that's exactly why he doesn't want you out there with him," Panthera countered. "If you were there, then the ponies out there would know, too! Trevar wants it kept quiet!"

"WHAT IS IT!?" shouted Screaming Eagle.

"A dragon to mate with," Pardus finally said, showing his exasperation.

As reluctant the revelation was, it did have the desired effect of momentarily silencing the griffon.

"Are you serious?" both Mittens and Screaming asked, astonished.

"Yes," Panthera replied. "If he's lucky, he's probably out there right this moment getting laid."

"Bu—but—but why would the Cat-Lord do such a thing?" Screaming Eagle asked.

"Because he is the Cat-Lord," Pardus replied.

*WHAM!!*

Trevar barely had time to register that his spine had slammed into the rough rock cavern wall before he was desperately trying to S-bend his neck sideways to avoid the claws that were about to smash into his face.

She was seriously out for his blood, and doing a damned good job collecting it!

Her other set of claws caught him in the upper left pectoral.

Swinging his wings out then in and down, he swept aside her forelimbs, opening her to a surprise counterattack. He instantly drove his right fist into her jaw with an uppercut, kicked out with a foot to her belly to bend her forward, and then backhanded the right side of her face with his right fist again.

Pressing his advantage, he jumped forward, spinning about on his feet to the left in order to slam his tail into the left side of her head, and continued his spin to drive his right wing into her ribs when he faced her again and followed up with a left wing punch on her face once more. Then he closed, crouching down to grab and use a judo throw to lay her out hard on her right side.

His flight through the night had yielded better than expected distance and he had arrived at the site of the Dragon Migration by sunup. A quick mental scan let him know there were a few dragons still remaining, one being a female that had reached breeding age several decades ago, but had no steady mate as of yet.

Negotiations with her were surprisingly productive. She had not been satisfied with any other prospective males and when he propositioned her, she readily agreed.

"Provided you meet my criteria," she told him.

Hence, the beating, shredding, and pounding he had endured for the better part of an hour.

Of course, she had no qualms in drawing his blood. After all, he had to prove to her that he was worthy to mate with her. His goal was to subdue her, which meant no claws!

So far, it had been a pretty even contest, despite him taking the worse of the engagement. She ripped into him pretty thoroughly and good with her bull-rush charge, but his unorthodox fighting moves incorporating human martial arts helped even the score.

As she struggled to shake off the slams he had delivered, he followed up by rapidly raining blows to her head and shoulders with his wings and fists until she was finally unconscious.

Catching his breath, he settled down alongside her to rest.

'Fuck! That was workout and a half!' he exclaimed.

After about an hour, she stirred, waking him from his slumber.

'Ready to have a go at this?' he eagerly asked as she blinked uncertainly at him.

"W-was—wasn't it—?" she stammered, continuing to blink at him. Suddenly, she sat up and nosed her nether reaches and then sat up again to glare at him.

"Y-you—you didn't—?" she demanded.

'Of course not,' he told her grinning. 'I wanted you to be awake to enjoy it with me.'

"WHAT!?" she angrily roared, ripping her claws at him once more. "I'M NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU!?"

'HEY!' Trevar roared, jumping to his four feet to back away from her.

"What sort of pervert are you?" she roared, still pressing her attack. "You come into my cave, beat me in combat as we agreed, BUT YOU DON'T MATE WITH ME!?"

'WHAT?' Trevar exclaimed. 'Mate with you while you're in a coma? Where I come from, that's called "rape"! Fighting you to confirm I'm good enough to mate with you, I can accept! But to take you when you can't enjoy the sex along with me? That's just wrong!'

"GET OUT!" she screamed, charging him. To emphasize the matter was beyond discussion, she flamed at him. "GET OUT! GET OUT!! GET OUT!!!"

"GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU PERVERT!" she screamed as he stood away from the entrance to her cavern. His mental scans confirmed she was beyond pissed at him. And all due to a cultural misunderstanding. He could sense her disappointment that, from her perspective, he hadn't done as any other dragon male should've and mated with her after succeeding in beating her in physical combat.

And it disappointed Trevar that she expected exactly that sort of conquest. It stunned him speechless.

"GET AWAY FROM MY CAVE!" she screamed, rushing at him, and he retreated several paces. When he was several lengths further away, she stopped chasing him away.

"Pervert!" she growled at him as he stared at her in disbelief.

He had certainly hoped for a better outcome than this. He suppose he could fight her again, beat her and take her like she wished him to. But he wasn't about to violate his principles, no matter how weird anyone might think of them.

Disappointed, he was about to leave, but something in him couldn't let it go. He was a dragon, after all.

He spat out a short blast of flame beside him. Glaring at her, he stuck his hand into the pool of raging fire. It hurt like nobody's business, and while he was no fan of pain, he had endured much worse. This was only temporary, after all.

Lifting his arm, he showed her how the flesh was melting away, leaving the naked burning bones of his hand.

'I don't know what happened to your lot,' he said to her, and she flinched as his telepathic broadcast unavoidably conveyed the agony he experienced. 'There's sex. And then there's beating the crap out of each other. In my experience, sex is a pleasure that is unsurpassed by anything. I can fully understand wanting to have the best mate for your offspring. That's a hell of an investment any female has to put up with. But doing it your way eliminates the pleasure that you can and should enjoy. So guess which one you're doing wrong?'

Quickly triggering the Gateway twice restored his dragon form to its former healthy and uninjured state. Then he turned and launched up into the sky, leaving the female dragon to stare after him.

1Courtesy of Sickipedia.org

FIRST RAINS OF FIRE FALLING FROM THE STORM OF DRAGONS

"You cannot afford to play the Long Game with this one, Celestia!" Discord growled. "Remember, Trevar is only human, after all and you know what humans are like! Besides, you cannot exactly afford to keep what you know about the Cat-Lord from Luna, any longer. Why, he's probably already out there, gathering an army as we speak! You need help, Celestia! And whether you want it or not, I'm going to make sure you get the help you need." And with that, Discord vanished in a flash of light, leaving the room still dripping with red juices.

"What doest he mean, Celie?" Luna asked astonished and alarmed.

Celestia picked up a dripping napkin to dab at the red juice dripping from her lips. She was NOT pleased.

"Celie? What is going on?" Luna asked. "Who, or what, is this 'Cat-Lord' that Discord doth speak?"

"He, apparently, is the human stallion we know as Allec Trevar," Celestia growled. She slowly stood up and shook the still dripping beet juice off of her, and flapped her wings to remove as much as possible. Unfortunately, doing so reapplied a new coat of the stuff onto her sister, but it was unavoidable. "We shall talk in more detail after we clean ourselves up. And if this leaves stains in my fur, I'll have more than a few choice words with Discord about it!"

Celestia sent some of her magic through her horn to open the door, getting the attention of the guards standing outside. When they saw the state of the room, they suddenly became alarmed.

"Guards," Celestia gently began, but the low rumble of anger was clearly still in her voice, "please ask the cleaning staff to come make repairs to the dining room as soon as possible. And also, please convey our apologies for the state of the mess."

"Your highnesses!" the guards exclaimed. "What happened?"

"You needest not be concerned," Luna said, getting up to shake off the dripping red liquid from her frame as well. "'Twas but a prank done by Discord and was of no danger to either of us."

The diarchs left the guards to stare after them and the condition of the dining room in astonishment.

"Why! Hello Cadence! Have thee seen my sister, Celestia?" Luna asked as she came out of her shower room.

She blinked at Luna.

"Why no, Twilight Sparkle. Have you seen my sister, Luna?" Celestia asked, not to be outdone by her sister's pranking. Fortunately, for both of them—or perhaps it was more correct to say fortunately for Discord—the beet juice didn't permanently stain either of their fur.

"So, whatever then is this matter with the human, Allec Trevar, and how does he endanger the Griffon Empire?" Luna asked getting serious. "And whatever is this 'Cat-Lord' thing that Discord mentioned?"

Celestia kept silent until she and Luna took their customary seats on their respective pillows when meeting in Luna's antechamber.

"Do you recall what I spoke to you regarding the argument I had with Ambassador Gustav over the human? And how, after the human collapsed, we brought him to Ponyville?" Celestia finally asked.

"Of course, Celie," Luna replied, taking her customary cushion.

"What I left out of my recounting the story to you was that during the flight to Ponyville, I saw that Gustav had moved to have a private conversation with the shadowcat. It was not as private as they had hoped."

"Of course that was a serious breach of etiquette and trust we have with the griffons!" Luna said with alarm. "But naturally, I will not disclose this to anypony!"

"What concerns me is that Gustav, for some reason, believes the human stallion is something called a 'Cat-Lord', evidently one of two progenitor gods for both griffons and shadowcats," Celestia explained. "However, I have not been able to find any mention of such in our histories."

"And this Trevar creature has such power to usurp the Emperor and take over with but a single word?" Luna asked astonished.

"You weren't there to see the reaction that Gustav had upon hearing the human speak," Celestia said darkly. "I've no doubt that he would have the same effect on Emperor Tail Feather. Almost certainly, he's influenced the griffon guards that Gustav sent to watch over him, every one of them a hen! The accounts from our guards all agree: he's begun breeding with them all, even though not all of them can possibly be in heat! I dare say that Gustav would be willing to lift his tail and stand to be bred if the human stallion wished it!"

"This cannot be true!" Luna exclaimed.

"I truly wish it weren't," Celestia said, sighing. "As much as it pains me to admit it, I'm afraid Discord is correct. I cannot play the Long Game with this creature. And we'll need help to counter whatever Trevar comes up with."

"So, what sort of help will Discord be sending us?" Luna finally asked after taking time to consider the ramifications.

"That, perhaps, worries me more than this 'Cat-Lord' business," Celestia concluded.

The warmth of the Sun added to the comfort as Mittens sleepily tried to hold onto her slumber, happily recalling both her dreams and the events before going to sleep, all the pleasures taken from both the Cat-Lord and the shadowcat, Pardus.

However, the annoying light beating upon her eyelids pushed the coming day into her thoughts, and the future became now, obliterating the past. She opened her eyes, smiling to see that the Cat-Lord still held his form as that magnificent griffon. Pardus was on her other side and Panthera had evidently joined them all, shamelessly offering the use of her body to be everygriffons' pillow.

"Good morning, Mittens," the handsome male griffon said to her, nuzzling her with his beak. "How did you sleep?" But his voice—

Shock and terror suddenly began filling her mind and heart. This was NOT the Cat-Lord! Some impostor was lying there in his place!

So she did what any sane griffon would do: screaming, she leapt up and drove her beak into the skull of the interloper! Even as she was delivering the justly deserved deathblow, she was already planning the next move: she would hunt down this squit's accomplices and find out what they had done with the Cat-Lord and she would rescue him and make them ALL PAY!!

Surprisingly, the mortally wounded doppelganger blinked at her and used a talon to dab at his wound. "Well! This is awkward," he muttered.

"WHAT ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE CAT-LORD!?" Mittens screamed, furiously slashing the obviously zombie griffon with her claws.

"Mittens! Calm down!" Pardus and Panthera both yelled at her. However, Mittens was furiously trying to shred this undead monster and refused to back down. Fortunately, the shadowcats must have used their powers to disperse the monster, as it suddenly vanished from the room, taking even its scent with it.

"SOME MONSTER HAS STOLLEN THE CAT-LORD! WE HAVE TO FIND HIM!" Mittens exclaimed. Then she fearfully realized what she had just said. "OH, SQUIT! IF THEY FIND I LOST THE—the Cat-Lord, I'm—I'm—oh, squit!" she whimpered in terror. She LOST the Cat-Lord! THE OTHERS WERE GOING TO KILL HER!!

"No one's stolen Trevar!" Pardus sternly told her, the shadowcat's magic grabbing her to make Mittens look at her. "Trevar is out, searching for a matter that is important to him. He instructed us to make that image of him to keep you griffons from getting in his way!"

"But—but—we have our orders! From Ambassador Gustav, I have my orders: 'protect the Cat-Lord!' I've failed! I've lost him! They're going to pluck and tar me and roast me on a spit—"

Wait! The shadowcats are responsible for the Cat-Lord being gone? she thought as their words finally sunk into her mind.

"Y-y-yes," Mittens replied, still stunned that the shadowcats would do such a thing. "But—"

"But I know that wasn't Trevar!" Mittens protested. "And if I know, then the others will know, too! And I'll be blamed—!"

"You'll be blamed for following orders that countermanded other orders you were given?" Panthera asked. "They won't dare, because they'll have to go through us to get to you!"

"But—but—one of the others is supposed present themselves today to Trevar for mating, using the passionfruit!" Mittens fearfully explained.

"Well, that's easy," Pardus said, grinning. "We'll just tell them that Trevar isn't finished with you yet. That he's specifically asked to keep doing it with you."

"That won't matter! Either one-on-one or in an orgy, they'll be here!" Mittens exclaimed.

And at that moment, as if to prove the demon Murphy, who obviously had an intense and personal dislike against Mittens and wasn't quite finished turning her life into squit, Screaming Eagle arrived at the open window. Right on que.

"Good morning, Silver Thorn," Shadow Wing greeted when he and his teams arrived for their shift.

"Quiet night?" Silver Thorn asked, smirking, as he already knew the answer.

"The night, yes," his counterpart spat. "But as soon as the Princesses raised the Sun and lowered the Moon, they were at it again, screaming in Griffonese this morning."

"Well, I guess there's no accounting for taste," Silver Thorn sighed. "I mean, as griffons, I'm sure they're all fine specimens. But who'd want to risk their lives trying to bed something that would be more interested in making a meal out of you than as a lover? But have you seen that human creature?" he asked with a shudder. "I did yesterday, and no amount of brain bleach is going to get remove the image of his mangy hide from my memory! The griffons must be really desperate to choose him for a mate."

"Yeah. Weird," Shadow Wing agreed. "And another of the griffons arrived just a few moments ago. Oh, I have this for you," he said, holding out a scroll. "Last night, after you left, the Princesses instructed us to visually confirm if the human stallion was still here in the house, while still respecting diplomatic protocols, and to immediately report his presence or absence in either case."

"That's odd," Silver Thorn muttered as he read the orders written by Princess Luna's own hoof. Princess Celestia's concurrence was confirmed by her signature as well.

Their conversation was interrupted by a round of furious screeching, clearly in the Griffonese language and several speakers, coming from the window, then silence again.

"Let's hope that's the only odd thing to contend with today," Shadow Wing sighed, seeing the human mare approach from across the street.

"Good morning," she greeted. "I was wondering if I could have a word with Mr. Trevar."

"If he is willing, yes," Silver Thorn replied. They watched as the creature fearlessly went to the door and knocked.

"Well, we'll leave you to enjoy the day, Silver Thorn," Shadow Wing said with a sigh. He then saluted. "I stand relieved."

"You are relieved," Silver Thorn automatically replied, returning the salute. "Try not to get too smashed, 'tonight'," he added as a final snarky word. As the Lunar teams departed, he stood to watch the human mare wait for an answer as he idly held the scroll.

Unsurprising, Trevar opened the door, accompanied by one of the inky black shadowcats.

"Good morning," Trevar said pleasantly, draped in a white bedsheet. "Won't you please come in?"

Silver Thorn used his telekinesis to scribble the confirmation that Trevar was still there, rolled it up and used his magic to send it to Princess Celestia. Then he looked up to see that the human female had paused to watch until the sergeant was done before entering the house.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" he heard Trevar ask as the door closed behind her as both teams of escorts took that opportunity to resume their socializing outside.

Shadow Wing had one last duty to perform prior to returning to Canterlot. Letting the team that guarded the human female fly on, he led his team to the nearby castle of Princess Twilight Sparkle to deliver his report.

"Good morning, Princess," he greeted when she opened the door. "There is little to report regarding the humans, other than the stallion still seems to enjoy the company of the griffon hens. Also, there's been no additional sighting of that rogue dragon that flew by the town at the beginning of last night."

"Thank you," she responded. "I'm still rather surprised by Allec Trevar's selection of a mate, or mates, as it seems to be the case. I hope that Lieutenant Scott isn't disappointed with him for choosing such.

"And I received your report of the dragon via Silver Thorn after you relieved him," she continued. "Applejack had also stopped by to report about him. She said he didn't bother anything in her orchard other than landing there. He doesn't match the description of any known dragon."

"Which agrees with what the dragon let slip when we encountered him," Shadow Wing said, thinking about it. "If he's from so far away that he missed the migration, then he probably is completely unknown to anypony in Equestria."

"That's rather a shame," the princess muttered. "From your account relayed through Silver Thorn, he seemed to be a reasonable dragon. It would have been nice to have an opportunity to converse with such."

"Perhaps," Shadow Wing said, noncommittedly, looking at the small purple and green specimen standing nervously next to the princess, holding tight to one of her hind legs.

"Does Lord Trevar know how you both are using your magic to impersonate him?" Screaming Eagle hissed at Pardus as they watched the scene below from the top of the stairs. "And how can you know how to speak of so many matters in his stead?"

"Indeed, he does," Pardus whispered back. "We have his expressed and explicit orders to do exactly this. In addition, if need be, we can telepathically communicate with him to relay any information that we might not be privy to. Would you like me to arrange to ask him directly while we stand up here? He'll be able to confirm the conversation to be had with you when he returns."

"Pardus! Can you please fix Lieutenant Scott some breakfast?" the image of Trevar called out from below.

"Would oatmeal with milk suffice?" Pardus asked, starting down the stairs, followed by Screaming Eagle and Mittens. The three of them went directly to the kitchen to continue their discussion.

"While he's out, the important thing for you griffons to do is to cooperate with us in keeping the ponies from learning what Trevar is doing," Pardus quietly snarled at them while he waited for the water to come to a boil. "And just so you know, there will be other times where we will need to accommodate Trevar in hiding such absences, and the three of us fully expect your cooperation! AND. YOU. WILL. NOT. INFORM. Gustav or any other griffon of such absences! Not even to your fellow guards. And I will ensure that when it happens, the others involved will likewise be informed not to tell you, either! Any griffons not present when those absences occur, they do not have a need to know!

"Do I make myself clearly understood?" Pardus finished, growling into Screaming Eagle's face. She nervously nodded.

"You are free to ask Trevar for confirmation of these orders," Pardus continued. "However, you are NOT free to question our orders! His, mine, or Panthera's! Do you understand that?"

"Y-y-yes, Pardus," the griffon meekly replied.

"Good, because if Trevar, my sister, or I have to repeat this to either of you, there will be blood!" Pardus snarled as he turned his attention back to the boiling water.

The griffons remained silent while the human female remained, but as soon as she left, Mittens and Screaming Eagle resumed their argument with Panthera and Pardus over Trevar's absence.

"Pardus, Panthera!" Mittens spoke up. "Despite what you warned us, we do have to help protect the Cat-Lord! What is it that he's doing that needs for him to depart in such a manner?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about," Panthera replied.

"But how can we protect him if he's not here?" Screaming Eagle asked. "If he comes across any other griffons, they might reveal the fact he's the Cat-Lord to the ponies!"

"Except they won't know he's out there," Pardus smoothly said, grinning.

"How can they not!?" Screaming Eagle yelled. "He's not exactly inconspicuous!"

The instant that was said, Mittens suddenly froze in dread. Indeed, he can be! she realized. But she doesn't know that! And I'm under orders to say nothing! She looked sharply at Panthera and the shadowcat nodded very subtly. She knew what Mittens just remembered!

"You haven't answered our demands! Where is the Cat-Lord!?" Screaming Eagle screamed. And Mittens had no way of warning Screaming Eagle that she was now flying through a storm of razorblades! Alone!

"Trevar is out hunting for something that he's very interested in acquiring," Pardus told them.

"Then we should be out there, helping him to get it!" Screaming Eagle yelled.

"And that's exactly why he doesn't want you out there with him," Panthera countered. "If you were there, then the ponies out there would know, too! Trevar wants it kept quiet!"

"WHAT IS IT!?" shouted Screaming Eagle.

"A dragon to mate with," Pardus finally said, showing his exasperation.

Both Mittens and Screaming Eagle were stunned by the revelation.

"Are you serious?" Mittens and Screaming both asked, astonished.

"Yes," Panthera replied. "If he's lucky, he's probably out there right this moment getting laid."

"Bu—but—but why would the Cat-Lord do such a thing?" Screaming Eagle asked.

"Because he is the Cat-Lord," Pardus replied.

Standing well back from the thin gauze curtains covering the upstairs bedroom window, a mare with pale, light gold eyes, a raspberry coat, light amber with pale amber highlights in her mane, and three white lilies as a cutie mark used a set of binoculars to watch the house next door, shifting about to try and keep track of any activities over there through their uncovered windows.

Something felt very odd about the targets she was watching. Yesterday, she could only sense the griffon hen that had entered the house with the two winged panthers and the strange bipedal creature, and the guards that remained outside. But of the two black figures and the tall creature, she could feel—nothing!

Not even a presence!

Such a being has, to the best of her knowledge of history, never before been encountered. Only, here, there were now three!

She had been informed that she would encounter it, even as the one relaying her orders couldn't believe it, either. But to experience this is just unnerving as spit! she thought.

But her orders were to watch and report. Another would take that information to those who would decide what to do about it.

During the rest of the day, she could feel the griffon hen's emotions: lust and love. And extremely strong feelings at that! But she was too far away to make use of it, as were the guards standing about the house. Their emotions randomly fluctuated between boredom and lust.

How could they even do that? she wondered, thoroughly confused. Boredom, she could understand. Sympathetic lust due to the actions of nearby individuals, she could understand. But to simultaneously feel both!? But again, they were too far away for any of it to be useful to her.

And yet, again, of those others inside, the ones engaged with the griffon, making her feel such strong levels of emotion—absolutely nothing!

It was psychically impossible! Except for the fact she was witnessing it! And it worried her that her report of such would get her recalled for a fitness evaluation. Her only hope it wouldn't come to that lay in the fact they knew this sort of thing was going to exist when they assigned her to this task. She just prayed they would remembered such when they got her report….

And that griffon bitch was being stimulated for HOURS! She didn't get done until nearly sunset! At those levels, she could've fed the entire Hive for a week! Afterwards, her lust shifted fully into love as she slipped into sleep, the warm glow steady throughout her dreams. The guards drifted fully to boredom, and she expected to record very little for the rest of the night as the sun set.

But suddenly, a HUGE FLARE erupted!

It was there, several hundred trots into the woods behind the house she was watching. It had come from nowhere! One moment, nothing, the next, it was as if she was staring into a sun—no!—a supernova of emotions!

ANGUISH! FURY! FEAR! LUST! HUNGER! HEARTBREAK! JOY! COMPASSION! CONTENTMENT! LOVE—! AND—SOMETHING ELSE—SOMETHING AMAZING! ALL OF THEM AT ONCE—ALL AT THE SAME TIME—AND ALL EBBING AND FLOWING IN PERFECT SYCHRONIZATION LIKE A MIGHTY SEA, UNDULATING AS IF JUST BEFORE A STORM!!

And just as suddenly, it was taking flight. It overflew the house she was watching, and only then could she see it was a dragon!

But she had never encountered a dragon with such a wide range of emotions, so strong, and feeling them all at once, and so controlled! In fact, no being she had ever heard of was capable of doing this!

It flew down toward the Everfree, and she could only hope it would overfly the Hive close enough so that they would experience it themselves. Otherwise, her report was sure to get her recalled for a fitness eval!

Thereafter, the night was rather routine. Shortly after the dragon left the vicinity, some new guards came by to relieve the ones standing by the houses. These new ones had strong residual fear that they induced into their counterparts being relieved. But nothing of substance occurred for the rest of the night.

But then dawn occurred.

After the hated princess of the ponies raised the Sun, the griffon inside was waking, about to engage in more activities that would result in more lust and love—and such a wasted opportunity to feed the Hive—only, unexpectantly, her love soured into disgust, hatred, ANGER! HORROR! The intensity made her wince.

What the slug? she wondered in astonishment, as she tried to see what was happening. The other house's bedroom window was a direct shot across the view. But evidently, the position of the bed and the beings on it left too much of what was going on still unknown. But she could see the griffon and two of the black winged panthers. The biped creature was nowhere in sight.

The fear continued for several moments, but had settled to a tolerable level, mixed with confusion, before spiking in fear once more with the arrival of another, lust-filled griffon.

Then came more anger and confusion from inside the house.

The bored guards standing watch were in the process of being relieved by their day-counterparts when the other biped creature left its home to seek entry to her target's house. This one, she could feel! A mixture of boredom and confusion. But the odd biped was the one to answer the door. Still nothing!

She continued to watch. Inside, one biped, alternately puzzled and angered. Two griffons, in various degrees of disappointment, fear and anger. Six bored guards after the other six departed. And nothing else!

Eventually, the "normal" biped, she decided to name it, left the house, taking three of the guards with her.

Three bored guards outside remained. Inside, the two griffons slowly shifted to anger. Then one suddenly spiked to dread while the other ramped up in anger. Then they both spiked to astonishment. And still nothing from the one biped or the two winged panthers!

What in the Name of the Queen was going on over there? she wondered.

"What do you mean 'there's only one left'!?" Screaming Eagle demanded of Mittens, once more living up to her name.

Mittens shot a fearful glance at the shadowcats and they also reacted. Revealing that Trevar had two, and survived, would reveal that he had somehow transformed into a griffon, to which she had been ordered to not tell any of her fellow guards!

"The fault for that is ours," Pardus quickly spoke up, covering for her. "Panthera and I sampled one while Mittens and Trevar did the first."

"Oh, of course," Screaming Eagle responded, clearly disappointed with the loss, but unable to criticize the shadowcats or Mittens for the reason.

"Can we not get more?" Panthera asked.

"Not right away," Mittens replied. "We bought all the vendor had on stock, yesterday. The fruit is rare and hard to find in the Everfree and exceedingly dangerous to hunt for it."

"Given how tough we shadowcats are, perhaps we can assist in acquiring more," Pardus suggested.

"Assuming the vendor was willing to supply us the information about his source and they were willing to allow you to accompany them," Mittens replied.

"Can't hurt to ask, I suppose," Screaming Eagle agreed with a shrug of her wings.

"In the meantime, you and I can make use of the one remaining," Pardus told her, licking his lips, to which she nervously and audibly gulped.

"They're supposed to be for Lord Trevar," Screaming Eagle began.

"Did not Ambassador Gustav tell us all that he wanted our blood as well as Trevar's for breeding?" Panthera silkily replied.

"Uh—yes," the griffon admitted. "But I had assumed that because we are already closely related, we would not need something like the passionfruit. Plus, we can each only take one dose and the entire fruit must be consumed to activate the magic in it. If Pardus and I use the remainder—"

"Then Panthera and Trevar can use another, if one can be found by today," Pardus cut in, reminding her. "Unfortunately, we are not so closely related that we can breed without the fruit. Last night confirmed that it will work for us, however."

"Y-y-yes, of—of course," Screaming Eagle nervously responded. "Assuming Lord Trevar doesn't object."

"Don't worry. He won't bitch about it," Pardus assured her.

"Much," Panthera added as a caveat.

"Remember, if anyone asks, Trevar is still in the house, enjoying your friend's company," Panthera whispered to Mittens as they prepared to depart out the bedroom window. "However, if you can't respond that way, leave me to answer. I don't like to lie, but I'm fully capable of doing so, if the situations call for it."

"Yes, Panthera," Mittens replied as she leapt.

They landed on the road running in front of the house, surprising Silver Thorn.

"We're just going into town for a spell," Panthera told him before they calmly walked away.

"I hope we can find that vendor again," the shadowcat whispered when they were far enough to assure privacy. "If he's out of stock, there'll be no reason for him to hang about the marketplace."

"Even if he's not, somepony is sure to know where to find him," Mittens replied, to which Panthera nodded.

…

They were in luck, however. He was there, and they had to wait a few minutes as the tan pony stallion with a dark gray or black mane and tail dealt with a previous customer. The two stepped up when the other customer left with the bag the vendor had loaded with a jar filled with a spectral-looking substance.

"Oh, good morning!" the stallion happily greeted them. "I trust you were satisfied with the product you bought yesterday."

"Indeed, we were," Mittens replied. "In fact, we are here to see if you have any more." The stallion gulped as he blinked and nervously loosened the collar of a partial incongruous business suit he wore.

"Uh—you—you bought a three days' supply!" he hoarsely whispered to them. "You are aware of the dangers of an overdose, are you not?"

"Yes, we are," Mittens responded. "However, we have not taken more than the prescribed amounts. It's just that more than one couple was involved in last night's—endeavors."

"My friend had failed to take that into account when we were here, yesterday," Panthera said, speaking up. "Otherwise, there should have been no need for confusion just now. I understand you may be out of stock at the moment. However, we hope that you can still assist us with acquiring the amounts we need."

"Well, I do have an exclusive contract with my supplier," the pony explained in a drawl. "I'm sure you can appreciate the delicacy of divulging my source as that would undercut my own business."

"We do understand," Panthera spoke up before Mittens could. "That is why we are willing to pay you the same profit margin you charge for every passionfruit your supplier provides us." That news brightened the pony's attitude and thereafter, he was much more cooperative.

…

"Now, all we have to do is find his supplier," Panthera said to Mittens after they left the market. "Let's check with the town mayor to see if she knows where we can find this Zecora."

"Wow! You're looking chipper," Twilight Sparkle sarcastically observed as she arrived at the rendezvous with Rainbow Dash for her weekly flying lesson. The azure pegasus woke from the nap she was taking on the cloud to see her "new flying buddy". With her wing muscles reminding her of the exertions of yesterday's workout, Rainbow slowly developed a sly grin. She wanted to see Twilight's face when she heard about it.

"Heh! Hey, Twilight, would you believe I'm happy because I lost a race?" Rainbow asked.

"Say what?" Twilight exclaimed in shock. "But—aren't you the fastest pony in Equestria? And how can you be so happy about losing a race?"

"I'm still the fastest pony in Equestria!" the pegasus said grinning, knowing the trap was about to spring.

"Th-that's not possible!" Twilight protested. "You can't still be the fastest pony if you lost a race, Rainbow! Everypony knows that!"

"I can if the one I lost the race to isn't a pony," she replied. And spr-roing! goes the trap!

"Wait! That just doesn't make any sense!" Twilight began. "Who'd you lose to?"

"Panthera," Rainbow finished. And SNAP! Twilight just hovered there, blinking. Poor thing is still only beginning to process it, Rainbow gleefully thought.

"And Panthera isn't a 'pony'!" the lavender princess groaned, facehoofing.

"'Enyope!'" Rainbow replied in a passable imitation of Big Mac.

"Good one, Rainbow," Twilight sighed, admitting she got caught so easily. "So, what's the upside to this conversation? You still lost the race—?"

"I got up to Mach Five point Five! And on level flight!" the pegasus exclaimed, cheering herself.

"Wow! That's—that's amazing!" the princess also cheered. But then she stopped, thinking of the implications. "But-but, if you did that and still lost, then what did Panthera do?"

"Mach eight," Rainbow admitted, considerably less enthusiastic about it.

"EIGHT!?" Twilight exclaimed, horrified. "Th-that's—that's speed is meteoric!"

"Yeah! Totally awesome, isn't it!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"That's totally disastrous!" Twilight countered.

"Whazzamatter?" Rainbow inquired, puzzled why this was bad news.

"'What's the matter?' 'What's the matter?'," Twilight asked in her typical panic mode fashion. "I'll tell you! Princesses Celestia and Luna sent me a message last night that Discord had given her dire warnings about Trevar and the two shadowcats."

"Phfsh! Like we can trust anything Discord tells us," Rainbow said spitting.

"True. With Discord being Discord, we can only surmise what this is about," Twilight admitted. "However, even Celestia mentioned that she had developed disturbing concerns about them when they spoke in Cloudsdale."

"Well, I was kind of there to see some of that," Rainbow reminded her. "I still don't see what the big deal is. Trevar actually stopped Gustav from going to war over whatever they were arguing over."

"At first, Celestia had nothing more than suspicions, but with Discord getting involved, this looks like it's going to be a serious matter. Especially as the Griffon Empire wants Trevar and the shadowcats to breed with them in the hopes of improving their bloodlines. Can you imagine a griffon that can do Mach Eight?"

"Whoa!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Can they even do that?

"Maybe not right off the bat," Twilight admitted. "But with shadowcat genes, they may be able to break Mach Three, maybe even reach Mach Five on their first generation! Also, remember, Ambassador Gustav employed six griffons to mate with Trevar and Pardus, and one of whom is Gilda! So, if they're successful, we may have between three to six hens laying eggs of griffons that will be half-shadowcat, each of whom might be able to match, or even surpass you, in speed, Rainbow!"

"Whoa—!" Rainbow whispered, finally understanding the implications.

"Hey! There's that weird griffon and one of the shadowcats now," Rainbow pointed out below.

"Mittens," Twilight said, recalling her name. "Unfortunately, I can't tell which shadowcat that is."

"Panthera," Rainbow replied.

"Wait! How can you tell?" Twilight demanded.

"Really, Twilight? Do I havta spell it out to you?" Rainbow snapped at her.

"I think we should follow them and see where they're going," Twilight said, ignoring the jibe.

"I think they're goin' to the castle," Rainbow muttered.

"What makes you think that?"

"Because a few minutes ago while we wuz talkin' up here, they left the mayor's office and went to Sugarcube Corners," Rainbow explained deadpan. "Then, while they were talkin' with Pinkie Pie, she pointed straight to the castle and they're on the road straight to it."

"Oh," Twilight sighed, unable to argue with that logic. Leave it to Rainbow to remain so observant of their environment even as they hovered. "Well, we'd better go down and see what they want."

A young and very small colt with dark brown eyes, a mottled white coat with tan splotches, and two-toned brown mane and tail, but with no cutie mark, knocked at the door of the unassuming cottage and sat to await an answer. In a few moments, the door was opened by a mare with pale, light gold eyes, a raspberry coat, light amber with pale amber highlights in her mane, and three white lilies as a cutie mark. The mare simply handed the pinto colt a crystal which the colt put into a small saddle bag. He then turned to leave.

"Wait," the mare hissed. The colt turned back to her.

"Last night. Did you feel it?" she asked in a hissing voice.

"Who didn't!?" the colt hissed back. The mare sighed relieved.

"Be sure to report that, too. It overflew this location on its way toward the forest and I was able to visually sight it. It was a dragon," she hissed at him before closing the door.

The small young colt left the house to meander about town to throw off any suspicions of his movements. When he was satisfied no pony was paying attention, he quietly began walking toward the dark forest bordering one side of the pony village.

But just as he reached the tree line, he sensed the presence of three others rapidly approaching. He turned to look to see a yellow earth filly with a red bowtie tied in her bright pink mane along with a light gray unicorn filly with a two-tone mane and tail of mulberry and gray. They were in a wagon being pulled by a scooter being driven by an orange pegasus filly with a dark pink mane and tail. None of them had cutie marks. All three were on an intercept course hurriedly trying to catch him and all of them were calling out at him.

His mission did not allow for this interruption, so the small young colt bolted for the trees trying to escape.

"So do Twilight!" Rainbow Dash gleefully exclaimed.

"Really?" Panthera snarled back at the hovering pegasus. "Too simple! At least doing a full prismatic rainbow effect gives me something of a challenge. I've at least got to decide on a pattern that won't interfere with itself."

Ever since the azure pegasus and violet Equestrian princess descended upon them, Mittens let Panthera deal with keeping them from learning why they were looking for the zebra known as Zecora.

"Hey, I just realized something. We're all winged, here! Why are you the only one hovering?" Panthera suddenly demanded of Rainbow Dash.

Everypony suddenly looked at each other, evidently also wondering. Certainly Mittens was now considering the question, but only because Panthera had raised the issue.

"I—I like to exercise my wings!" Rainbow Dash finally answered defensively. "What's wrong with that?"

"Oh," Panthera responded with a shrug of her wings. "Just wondering."

"Wait! There's gotta be something that bugging you about it!" the pegasus shouted after several moments of nothing more forthcoming.

"Hmm? No, nothing. I was just wondering. That was all," Panthera quietly remarked as she licked her lips.

"No! There's gotta be something bothering you about why I'm up here!" the pegasus angrily challenged. "So, spit it out, already!"

"Well, you say you're exercising them, right?" Panthera asked. Mittens was puzzled as to why the shadowcat sounded so innocent yet must have had some ulterior motive in the subject.

"Yeah! I do it so that I can be the fastest pegasus in Equestria!" she angrily replied, getting in the shadowcat's face.

"But it didn't help you racing against me earlier," Panthera purred as she gave the pony a lick on her nose. The Equestrian's eyes suddenly went to dots while the purple princess facehoofed.

"Oh! It looks like we're here," Panthera happily announced, looking at the hut Mittens almost didn't see.

"You guys say she's a zebra? Let's see how this works," the shadowcat said as her fur developed innumerable black and white stripes all over her body while walking up to the hut's door and knocked on it.

"Now who could it be knocking on my door on this lovely—GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY!" the zebra exclaimed when she opened the door.

"Now where'd Pip get off to?" Apple Bloom yelled, frustrated that they lost him. He was only a few seconds ahead of them when he rushed into the Everfree forest. But those few seconds was all he needed for them to lose sight of him and then they could find no trace of the pinto colt.

"C'mon, Pip!" Sweetie Belle called out. "We shouldn't even BE in the Everfree Forest! And this itn't even the so-called 'safe trail' to Zecora's!"

"No way we're gonna find him in all this!" Scootaloo grumbled. "We should go back and get somepony to help us find him!" She suddenly stopped and the three fillies all looked at each other at the same instant. "Or not!"

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS: LOST FOAL FINDERS! YAY!" they all suddenly screamed together. And immediately they ran deeper into the jungle with Scootaloo driving her scooter that was pulling the wagon, over the roots, rocks and through the foliage.

A small changeling watched as the three pony fillies charged past where he had hid after he immediately dropped his disguise the moment he was concealed by the foliage, letting his natural coloration blend into the dark shadows.

I don't have time for this spit! he thought to himself as he lost sight of them, but could still hear them. He waited until he could no longer hear them before moving again. Thank the Queen they weren't wandering in the direction of the Hive.

"Are you okay, Zecora?" Twilight urgently asked the hyperventilating zebra, trying to calm her down. When Zecora's breathing seemed to get back under control, she angrily glared at Twilight, making the princess wince, knowing what was coming.

"Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, I swear! What in Celestia's name are you doing bringing a shadowcat here?" Zecora demanded. "A griffon friend of yours I can bear, but are you going out of your way to kill me with fear?"

"I just wanted to make you feel at ease," Panthera said as her hide and feathers resumed their customary midnight coloration. "But I guess the zebra stripes didn't help, huh?"

"Not the slightest bit, shadowcat!" Zecora responded with considerably more of her normal demeanor. "I'm surprised you'd somehow think like that!"

"Meh, it was worth a shot," Panthera said with a shrug. "Sorry about not being able to give you prior warning, but Mittens and I are in need of your services. We asked Twilight to escort us to you as we'd be sure to get lost trying to find this place on our own. As we understand it, you are familiar with a vendor in Ponyville by the name of Filthy Rich?"

"I'm acquainted with many ponies, this is true. I supply several of them with items I locate and brew," Zecora admitted. "Of the pony called Filthy Rich, I am assuredly aware. He is a pony who knows how to make money that several would make many envy. What he charges for what I bring him, few would call it fair."

"Can I have your names, so that I may know with whom I am speaking?" Zecora asked. "Shadowcats are extremely rare creatures, never before has one come to me seeking. It is very rude of me to converse with guests without having the proper address. And please forgive me my surprise at seeing strangers. This forest enjoys sending me little reminders of its many dangers."

"Of course, Zecora," Twilight spoke up. "This is Panthera," she said, indicating the shadowcat. "She and her brother, Pardus, are passing through Equestria. And this is Mittens. She and several griffons are here to help provide escort to a visiting diplomat currently staying in Ponyville."

"Pardus and I are in negotiations with that visiting diplomat and the griffons, whom Princess Twilight Sparkle spoke of," Panthera explained. "It is for those negotiations that we need—well—more of the items we bought from your merchant friend yesterday."

"Of course, I do all the dangerous and hard work to acquire them. However, the fruits cannot last so long," she explained. "But he knows those couples who are desperate to have children, and helps to fulfill that for which they long."

"Unfortunately, he had only a limited supply, yesterday," Mittens told the zebra mare. "We got the three that he had in stock, but we find we need substantially more. Nine, by our current estimate."

"I know the item of which you speak, but the agreement I have with him is exclusively supplied," Zecora interrupted. "As a result, I cannot help you find what you seek, as doing so would cause me to suffer legal fees I cannot abide."

"Yes, he made us aware of your agreement with him," Panthera replied. "That's why we agreed to pay him the same rate for whatever you can supply us." Mittens brought forth a scroll and handed it to Zecora.

"Wait!" Twilight spoke up, suddenly understanding what it was they were speaking of but had been trying to keep concealed from her. Her mind had finally pieced together the clues they inadvertently dropped. There was only one fruit that grew in the Everfree that could help couples with getting children, especially couples that were of mixed races! "You're speaking of passionfruit!"

Twilight cursed herself for being the fool. This was the very thing that had Celestia worried, and she had to stupidly facilitate getting it for them! And now there was nothing she could do to stop it. All creatures had a legitimate right to love whom they wished and passionfruit was perfectly legal, if not exorbitantly expensive. The only thing that might save this situation was….

"Indeed your mind is quite clever, Twilight, my friend," Zecora replied. "This contract seems to be legitimate. And I do wish a hoof I could lend. But a manticore guards the trees where the passionfruit propagate."

Twilight began to sigh in relief.

"A manticore doesn't sound too awfully difficult," Panthera said shrugging her wings. "Between a griffon, a speed demon pegasus, an alicorn, and myself, we should perhaps be able to handle a few dozen of them."

Twilight's eyes snapped back open in panic.

"I know you must be a skilled and stealthy hunter, but pardon me for asking, Panthera, what can you try?" Zecora asked. "Manticores have a roar to stun their prey, claws to rend, a deadly sting, and they can fly."

"Add to that that our friend, Fluttershy, won't want us to harm it," Twilight tossed in.

"Well, all four of us can fly, so it doesn't have any sort of advantage for that," Panthera mildly boasted. "While I'm sure that Mittens is no slouch where it comes to a fight, I have to say I'm a hell of a lot stronger and tougher than she is. Plus, I'm every bit as fast as Rainbow Dash. Now while I can't toss a moon or a sun at it like perhaps the princess here can, I do have this…"

A sound of ripping preceded a rather large tree smoothly rising up from the ground, huge chunks of dirt still clumping to its roots and it hovered there as Panthera smiled at Zecora. Twilight felt sorry for the zebra as her pupils and irises went to dots.

"I found it can be quite difficult for anything to try to harm you if it can't get close enough to reach you or get any leverage to make an impact," Panthera calmly muttered.

"Also," Panthera added, turning her head to fire off a pair of orange beams from her eyes at the floating tree. "That level was merely a heavy stun setting, but it can become lethal if needed. So, yet another useful, and wholly non-lethal means by which to restrain the creature while we're collecting. This should be perfectly acceptable even to your pegasus friend, Princess Twilight Sparkle," the shadowcat finished as the hovering tree settled back into the ground.

I guess there's no delaying this harvest, Twilight mournfully thought.

"Ooookkaaaayy!" Zecora suddenly exclaimed. "We be on our way!"

"Jimmy Olson here to deliver the report from Chyornaya Vdova," hissed the young and very small colt with dark brown eyes, a mottled white coat with tan splotches, and two-toned brown mane and tail, and no cutie mark as he calmly walked toward the entrance of heavily concealed cavern. Even he knew there were several dozen changelings scattered about, some of which, he had no doubt already passed by, he had only sighted four or five as he walked toward the Hive. And three of those were supposed to be visible.

A changeling who was not a guard stepped out from the cavern that led to the Hive proper to meet him. He was well known to the colt.

"Any problems?" the changeling known as John Drake hissed at him as he took possession of the crystal.

"Three fillies from the town tried to follow me when I was about to enter the confines of the forest," the colt hissed back. "They may be a complication for me after I return. They are classmates of the one whose form I'm currently using. They all are in frequent contact as their purpose is attending the ponies' indoctrination program."

"Unavoidable," the elder changeling hissed.

"One more thing," the colt hissed before the other could finish turning away. "Chyornaya Vdova asked me to speak of an unusual incident that occurred at the start of last night. She sighted a dragon of immense emotional power. All of us in the ponies' town felt it. It was like looking at the sun, it was so powerful!"

"We felt it, too, although not visually sighted," John Drake hissed back at him. "She no doubt must be worried that we would not believe her if she mentioned it in her report. Indeed, had we not experienced it, we probably would not," he finished as he departed, leaving the small colt no choice but to return the way he came.

"This doesn't look so bad," Twilight Sparkle observed when they arrived at the clearing Zecora said contained the passionfruit trees.

"What the hay?" Rainbow Dash suddenly exclaimed. "Where's Panthera?"

"I'm here," a disembodied voice spoke up before Rainbow could cause panic to spread among everypony.

"Oh, right! Invisible!" Twilight said, remembering that shadowcats could do that.

"In Cervidaea, shadowcats are almost never perceived," Zecora commented. "Their ability to be invisible almost cannot be believed."

"So why go invisible?" Rainbow Dash shouted.

"So the bloody manticore won't know I'm here," the invisible shadowcat softly growled. "So, shut up!"

"Oh! Sorry!" Rainbow exclaimed, chagrinned.

"We'd better get the passionfruit while the manticore is not here," Zecora said. "We won't have much time to gather before he'll reappear."

She, the griffon, and Rainbow Dash went over to the tree while Twilight hovered above the center of the clearing, keeping a watchful eye out. Part of her hoped the manticore would show up to disrupt the harvesting, but if that were to happen, two of her friends would be in grave danger.

The search to find ripened fruits was the longest portion of the job, but the three were making good progress. However, they were only halfway done with gathering their selection when disaster struck.

A loud roar that sounded like it was right next to her ear was the only warning Twilight got before there was a palpable impact nearby, immediately followed by a roar of substantially less volume from Panthera as she fell from the air. As the shadowcat struggled with fighting something, the manticore became visible just before the both of them hit the ground.

"What!? Manticores can turn invisible, too?" Twilight exclaimed. "I didn't know they could do that!"

"I cannot lie, neither did I!" Zecora screamed.

"Keep harvesting! I've got this!" Panthera called out, sounding more annoyed than hurt.

As she wrestled with the manticore, her eyes flared and twin orange beams shot out to strike at point blank range, but it evidently had no effect on the creature. Continuing to roar in a volume that Twilight was convinced that Luna would admire as rivalling her Canterlot Voice, the manticore struck several times with his claws and bit at Panthera before nailing the shadowcat with his scorpion-stinger tail.

Twilight gasped in horror. His strike was solid into her belly just below the ribs! If she didn't get treated right away, she'd die in hours, if not minutes!

The two creatures broke apart, both stalking each other, as two cats might, looking for an advantage to resume their fight.

Then, with another roar, the manticore went invisible again!

"That might work with biologics," Panthera yelled as she dodged to the side and then rushed in and her opponent was forced to become visible once more. "But not me!"

They scrapped for a few seconds with claws, teeth, scorpion tail and wings furiously mixing up, and then they broke apart again. Then suddenly, the manticore was up in the air. However, it didn't seem to be of his own will as he struggled as though in some sort of confinement too small for him and loudly roaring in clear panic rather than anger.

"Oh, do shut up, already!" Panthera snarled as she fired those orange eyebeams once more. However, they still seemed to have no effect on him. "Huh! Still resistant, eh? Well, only one thing to do about this, then," she said also lifting up into the air. And it surprised Twilight as Panthera hardly seemed to be using her wings to fly.

She was trying to puzzle that out, as Panthera maneuvered to hover closely behind the manticore's back. But then, Twilight saw something that completely unnerved her: a shimmering bubble suddenly formed about them both. For a while, nothing seemed to be going on with it, but after a few minutes, the manticore's struggles definitely lessened and became sluggish, and shortly after that, they ceased altogether.

Then the shimmering bubble vanished and the manticore began gasping for breath. She's been suffocating him! Twilight horribly realized. Immediately, the manticore began to roar and struggle again, only for the bubble to reappear and the cycle repeated.

"STOP IT!" Twilight screamed. "YOU'RE HURTING HIM!"

The bubble vanished once more, but not before he had almost lost consciousness. And then the manticore was once again gasping for breath. However, this time, before he could resume his roars and struggles, his hovering body was spun about to face Panthera.

"I haven't begun to hurt him yet," she snarled as she hauled off and delivered a resounding blow to his face with her paw. Then SHE roared! Right into his face! And it was far louder than any of his had been!

Twilight's ears were ringing for several minutes after that. All she could do was watch as the manticore cringed as something Panthera was telling him. But Twilight couldn't hear any of it.

Mercifully, Panthera set the creature down. She evidently released him from her magic as he used his feet to crawl a short distance away from where she sat and glared at him, as if daring him to move.

"WOW! THAT FIGHT WAS SIMPLY AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash suddenly yelled from beside Twilight.

"We've got what we came for!" Mittens called out.

"Madam Panthera, please, we must get you quickly to my hut!" Zecora exclaimed. "Before you die, I must treat that sting you took to the gut!"

"There's no need, Zecora," Twilight announced, eliciting a shocked expression from the zebra mare. "At first, I was concerned, too. But then I remembered: you're made of equustite. You knew that poison wouldn't affect you!"

"Twilight Sparkle, why do you think she is made of stone?" Zecora asked. "Shadowcats are like you and I, made of flesh and bone!"

"Not Panthera," Twilight replied, for once knowing something that the zebra did not. Although she was now very curious about those other shadowcats the zebra knew. "Nor, apparently, her brother, Pardus, either."

"Yeah, wasted effort on his part," Panthera admitted, turning to give them an amused look. "He's stronger than he looks, but still no match for me. His invisibility was quite the surprise, though. It's as good as mine."

"But I saw you while you were fighting him!" Twilight protested. "I saw you dodge his attack and counterattacked with him invisible! How could you see where he was?"

"I didn't," Panthera admitted, turning back to resume her furious glare at the manticore. "There are other ways of detecting cloaked individuals, however. He was counting on his roars to disrupt that, by the way. But that was another wasted effort on his part."

She stood up and the manticore cringed again.

"You stay right the fuck there! And you don't move until we're gone!" Panthera growled at him. "Let's get the hell out of here, girls!" she finished speaking to the rest of them.

The small young-looking pinto pony with dark brown eyes, sporting a mottled white coat with tan splotches, and two-toned brown mane and tail, and no cutie mark trudged through a fairly large clearing in the middle of the Everfree, alert to the dangers about him. But being able to feed off of emotions came with the perk of being able to easily sense the same and this gave him the means by which to track and avoid many hazards that were trying to hunt or ambush him. It forced him to make a very complex and convoluted path back to the ponies' village, but that too had its advantages. A direct route between the Hive and the prey's location could potentially reveal the Hive and the hunters would find themselves the hunted.

He still had about a quarter of a day's worth of travel remaining when he got the strangest sensation, one that raised the furred hackles of his disguise. He was hearing music—except there was no sound. Indeed, the entire forest about him had suddenly gone quiet as he could tell many of the dangers surrounding him were going into hiding, rushing to get the mulch out of the way of—of whatever was coming….

It was somewhat oddly cheerful sounding music but there was a weird mix of sorrow, longing, joy, power, and freedom carried in the notes—as well as—whatever was causing him to "hear" it. Worse, he couldn't tell where it was coming from. He stopped, trying to figure out the direction of this new threat; it would do no good whatsoever to go rushing blindly straight into its jaws while trying to hide from it. Hiding in a monster's belly was generally considered THE Bad Choice of bad choices and it would NOT be his first preferred option.

Unfortunately, it took him more than three minutes of hearing it before he was able to finally identify its source, and he cursed himself when he realized he had encountered this thing before!

"Oh, spit!" he hissed as he started to run.

But before he got more than a few trots, the foliage in front of him suddenly burst apart, and for an instant, he considered he might have indeed chosen to try hiding in the monster's belly as his first selection. Instead, he barely had time to realize three figures were barreling down upon him before the impact.

"PIP! WE FOUND YOU!" screamed the one that held him.

It was a yellow earth filly with a red bowtie tied in her bright pink mane that had spoken and she pulled him into a wagon that was violently bouncing to remain airborne half the time. Along with them rode a light gray unicorn filly with a two-tone mane and tail of mulberry and gray. The wagon was being pulled by a scooter being driven by an orange pegasus filly with a dark pink mane and tail. None of them had cutie marks.

The colt was having a difficult time maintaining his disguise due to the initial impact, as was all the bouncing this vehicle was smashing him with. And those violent impacts also made it hard for him to appreciate the fact the three—now four—of them were being chased by several dozen creatures made of wood. Timberwolves!

"Do we have our cutie marks for foal finding yet?" the unicorn yelled.

"'Fraid not," the first one hollered back.

"Bloody—" the pegasus began to yell. "Well, hopefully we can get cutie marks for Timberwolf evading!"

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS: TIMBERWOLF EVADERS! YA—ROADAPPLES!" they all began to cheer, but were interrupted by a particularly violent impact with a buried root which caused them to exclaim.

All this fear is not good for the digestion! the colt was thinking morosely. But I might not have to worry too much longer about that, considering the couple score of timberwolves chasing us.

"Yipe! End of the road, girls!" the pegasus cried out as she brought them to a stop alongside a cliff rising above the clearing.

The three ponies were watching the advancing pack of timberwolves, but the colt was looking up. The sensation overwhelming his emotional receptors had accelerated in their direction.

Which is going to get here first? he wondered. That walking pile of kindling? Or the dragon, whose emotions outshined the sun, and would likely light up the entire forest as spit on us all? Either way, looks like I'm dead.

He watched as the dragon burst upon the open sky above them. It pulled up in a stall, doing a backflip, before dropping into the clearing feet-first, smashing a couple of the timberwolves to pieces in the process. Then shit was happening too fast to follow it all.

The colt was aware of the dragon's tail whipping overhead, smashing one timberwolf that had been advancing on their left, then snapped over them to obliterate another on their right in the same manner. At the same time, the dragon's arms were swiping and smashing those in his reach of his forward sweeping claws and backhanding fists. And even his wings came into play to shatter even more. In less time than it took to blink, there were a dozen fewer timberwolves surrounding them.

The pack was certainly surprised. The alpha paused to consider the creature it now faced. But after a few seconds to regard the dragon, they began advancing again. Evidently, despite it being a dragon, the alpha must have decided that they still had a large enough pack to take him down.

'You've just witnessed what my claws, wings, and tail can do,' the dragon spoke. 'You guys really want to see how well you're going to handle a bit of flame?'

The pack stopped and then turned as one to run off.

Then the dragon stepped away from standing over them, allowing the colt to see him properly. He was a fair sized gold dragon, about fifty foot long, of which half his length was a thin whip-like tail. His confirmation indicated he was a young adult, perhaps fifty years or so, just reaching breeding age. His limbs were long, thin, and well-defined musculature, with five claws on each hand and foot. His wings, likewise, had four frames holding the thick opaque membranes unmarked from scars or rips of old wounds along with a prominent dew claw at the forward wing joint. His three-foot long head sat at the end of a yard-long neck, the skull vaguely crocodilian in shape. The end of his snout sported two sets of interlocking ivory tusks, the upward pointing set about half the length of the downward set immediately behind them. And his head was topped by triangular eyes of crimson with silvery slitted pupils and eyelids that slid up from his cheeks when he blinked.

Despite his apparent agitation, the dragon was quite calm. Yet his emotions were a barely contained tempest of every feeling imaginable, each one competing and yet fluctuating, like the surface of an immense disturbed ocean, each individual surging wave a unique feeling, any one of them ready to explode to overwhelming levels. Still, the colt could feel the dragon was completely calm. The incongruity was as puzzling as the intensity and combination of all those emotions being felt all at the same time—such should be impossible! No creature can do what this dragon was doing.

Moreover, there was one emotion he just couldn't identify! Or perhaps it wasn't an emotion? It wasn't related to intellect, as that suppressed emotions. But it interfaced with both the dragon's emotions and his intellect, which was something else he had never heard of before.

'You kids shouldn't be out here. You should be at home,' the dragon said to them.

"We're not goats, Mister Dragon!" the unicorn angrily exclaimed. The dragon blinked in amusement. The fact that he could sense the dragon's emotions was the only thing that kept the colt from having a heart attack at what the insane unicorn had yelled.

'Would you like to be goats?' the dragon asked.

"Uh—no," the unicorn replied, confused.

'Then shut up!' the dragon snorted in continued humor. This of course confused and frightened the pony fillies.

'Hold onto your wagon,' the dragon told them as he scooped them all up into his grasp, one hand holding the pegasus and her scooter, the other holding the wagon with the three of them. 'I'll carry you back to your home.'

With that, the dragon lifted up out of the clearing.

As they flew, the colt once more heard music. But this was different from what he had heard before.

"Hey! Where's tha' music comin' from?" the earth pony demanded. It played on until it finished. Only then, did the dragon look down at her.

'That is just one of number of tunes I like to hum to myself as I fly,' he explained. 'This one's part of a story that comes from far away, about the Mother of Dragons.'

The music repeated, but this time, they all had visual images accompanying it forming in their minds. The scene showed hundreds, if not thousands of bipedal creatures like those the Queen ordered the team to gather intel on. They were all dressed in dark, close-fitting armor, carrying spears. The troops began stomping the butts of their spears in rhythm. Then the scene changed to a couple of the creatures wearing different armor looking at each other. A female biped was riding a white pony and they all started moving among the massed troops who were standing in military squares. The scene changed again, showing them all leaving a fortified city. Several bipedal creatures rode ponies with the mass of armored troops marching out behind and beside them.

The female threw down a whip, and for a moment, the scene focused on it sitting in the dirt. The troops continued to march, their feet trampling the fallen whip. Then the scene changes once more. This time, it was from high above. Three wyverns could be seen flying above the army still pouring from the walled city. One of the dragons gave a couple shrill calls as it slid across their vision before the scene went completely black, leaving the music to continue to play for several more minutes.

When the music finished, the dragon was dropping to land beyond the Everfree just outside the ponies' village.

"Wow, Mister Dragon! What were those creatures?" the pegasus asked when he set them all down.

'The woman's name is Daenerys,' the dragon told them. 'She is the Mother of Dragons. The other humans were her allies and soldiers.'

"How can she be th' Mother of Dragons?" the earth pony exclaimed. "She ain't no dragon!"

'You have an alicorn in that castle who's the brother of a dragon, do you not?' the gold beast asked.

"Is that where those humans are from?" the unicorn asked.

'No, that is not their home. That is completely different world,' the dragon explained. 'That is a world from where I enjoyed the story of Daenerys' struggles to reclaim her father's kingdoms. Any dragon would appreciate that saga. There is much of that story to fuel the flames of hope and despair.'

'Now, I have to leave,' the dragon told them as he launched himself into the sky to fly back over the Everfree.

Rainbow Dash was somewhat bored on the way back to Zecora's. Although, far from ideal, it was better than being completely bored. The griffon and presumably the shadowcat were in good spirits. She had to amend her assessment to just "presumably" with the shadowcat.

Panthera was a hard one to pin down. There were times that the shadowcat clearly relaxed. But there were other moments that that winged panther could give lessons to Pinkie Pie's sister, Maud, in not showing how she felt. In many ways, she almost had to think of Zecora when considering what sort of personality the shadowcat had. Zecora was an enigma hidden in a puzzle wrapped in an igneous and the shadowcats had that sort of nature to them, too.

She noted that Twilight was not happy.

Not. At. All.

Boy, she could use a dose of Pinkie Pie right about now.

Whatever was bugging Twilight had something to do with those passionfruits the griffon and shadowcat were toting. Not that any of that really mattered to Rainbow. That was "mushy stuff". Totally not her thing.

What's the big deal? Rainbow wondered. So long as they get their own room and aren't sticking it in everypony's face, who cares what they do? Especially so long as they get their own room. There are some things that just cannot be unseen!

But apparently, the princesses care, Rainbow had to recall. At least Princess Celestia did. And whenever Princess Celestia so much as expressed an interest in something, Twilight was sure to worry her mane into a frazzle over it. And that's never good news for anypony!

But if Twilight was so worried about them doing the "mushy stuff", why didn't she just forbid them the passionfruit? Rainbow wondered. She's a princess, right? And we have to do what the princesses say, right? So if it's an issue, why not stop them from getting it?

But Twilight didn't stop it, Rainbow considered. And now she looks like she did when she thought she failed the Princess. Not a good sign.

And for some weird reason, she suddenly began hearing music. Music that made her feel really, really, really good about flying….

…the stretch of the membranes … the feel of wind upon one's wings….

"rainbow!"

…by Celestia, such joy and sadness … the love of flying….

"Rainbow!"

…the feel of shifting the center of gravity … the marvelous wonder of it all….

"Rainbow Dash!"

…oh, how can anypony not want to feel this … she felt the tears flowing down her cheeks, but she didn't care….

"RAINBOW!"

"Tw—Twi—Twilight?" she asked the purple alicorn who was holding her face, a look of shock and concern in the princess' face.

"You zoned out there, Rainbow! You started—you started giving us a show that would make any pole dancing pony proud!"

"D-didn't you hear it?" Rainbow hoarsely whispered. "D-didn't y-you feel it?"

"I heard something, like music," Twilight confirmed. "And it felt weird!"

"We all heard and felt something strange," Zecora said. "It is good to know I'm not alone in being deranged."

"Oh, Twilight! There's somepony out there!" Rainbow sighed in awe. "Somepony with as much love for flying as me!"

"There could be a danger!" Pardus grimly spoke up. "Mittens! Take the passionfruit to Pardus! Stop for nothing! Anything gets in your way, kill it!" she said, passing the saddlebags she had been carrying to the griffon.

"Twilight Sparkle! Get your friend back to the safety of your town! NOW!"

"What's going on?" Twilight asked.

"Just do it!" Panthera snarled, flaring her wings. "Zecora, you'd better take shelter, too!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" the zebra said, rushing off. "I'll be home in a trice!"

"What will you be doing?" Twilight asked as she pulled Rainbow after her, gaining altitude.

"Seeking answers," the shadowcat replied as she stalked off, fading from sight in a ripple of distortion. When she was completely invisible, Rainbow Dash couldn't see any trace of her, not even a disturbance in the foliage or jungle floor.

When it came to matters that could be cured or affected by chemistry or trickery, Zecora was your go-to mare. But when it came to matters of pure magic, she preferred to leave that to the professionals, like Twilight Sparkle. This, on the other hoof, was perhaps outside everypony's league—and if that shadowcat thought she was the expert to deal with it, Zecora wasn't about to argue.

Still, she regretted not being able to spend more time with the shadowcat. As a species, they were graceful, mysterious, and deadly, but still quite civilized in their own fashion. The ones she met in her homeland had taught her many secrets as she grew into her shamanistic training. And this Panthera was mysterious in ways that even the ones back home could not match.

Hopefully, this emergency would not deprive her any opportunities to meet with Panthera again in the future. But they both would have to survive this danger for that to happen. And despite her assurance that she could reach her hut in jiffy, they had been all a long ways away from her home….

Mittens rocketed up into the air with both sets of full saddlebags weighing her down. The space above the Everfree was clear for the most part. A few birds and other small flying animals. Nothing that would constitute a threat. Except for that dragon launching from the forest up ahead.

Fortunately, it was headed away from her and seemed intent to going toward one side of Ponytown, while she was headed for the other side. She idly wondered if he might be the dragon the Cat-Lord was trying to hook up with. And there was the purple princess and her pegasus friend. They might find out what that dragon was about, as they were headed in roughly the same direction.

Then something began bugging her as she flew closer to the Cat-Lord's house, but she was having trouble putting a claw on it. Ponytown? she thought. Was that the name of the village? She shrugged her wings, dismissing the matter from her mind. Still, she couldn't think of exactly what it was that was bugging her….

"Let's get you home, Rainbow," Twilight told her distraught friend as she guided the pegasus above the trees. She was still weeping from the experience that had hit them all. And it had certainly hit Rainbow the hardest. "Whatever danger is lurking in this forest, you're in no shape to deal with it!"

"Hey! He matches the description of the dragon they saw last night!" Twilight muttered as they cleared the treetops. "Why is he back here if he was going to the Dragon Migration site?"

She glanced over to see Mittens going off on her own vector and Twilight sighed in relief. She wasn't going in the same direction as the dragon, so they shouldn't have to fight. A dragon vs a griffon? Those are encounters that never end well for anypony!

But Twilight was concerned. Mittens wasn't headed in the same direction as the dragon, but she and Rainbow were. And she could see the beast was descending beyond the edge of the forest near the crystal castle. And Rainbow was still out of it….

The young and very small colt with dark brown eyes, a mottled white coat with tan splotches, and two-toned brown mane and tail, and no cutie mark stepped out of the wagons and began to walk away.

He couldn't believe the dragon had just let them all go. That one was a very unusual dragon. He was a full telepath! Whenever he spoke, the voice was entirely in their minds! Those were the deadliest types of dragons!

And yet, he didn't appear to pick up on the young and very small colt with dark brown eyes, a mottled white coat with tan splotches, and two-toned brown mane and tail, and no cutie mark was in fact a changeling.

Now, he understood some of what was going on with that great beast.

Whatever the dragon felt, we all felt! he realized. That is, until the dragon stops broadcasting! When that happens, you're totally and thoroughly frelled! It means the dragon was now reading your mind and there was nothing you could think of or try that would keep you from….

"Hey! PIP! What were ya doin' out in the Everfree Forest?" the earth pony yelled, interrupting his thoughts.

"Yeah! We were running about the forest all day looking for you!" the pegasus screamed at him. "Then we came across a sea serpent!"

"Don't forget about that cockatrice!" the unicorn spoke up.

"Then we ran inta those timberwolves!" the earth pony finished.

"Don't you know how dangerous that place is?" the pegasus demanded.

"If it's so dangerous, then what were you doing out there?" the colt countered.

The question brought the three foals up as they thought about it. That gave the colt the opportunity to take a couple steps back away from them.

"We wuz lookin' fer you!" the earth foal suddenly answered.

"So what were you doing out there?" the unicorn demanded. "Playing hide-and-seek?"

"Yes," the colt quickly replied. "I was playing hide-and-seek. I hid. You seek. You didn't find me."

"Hey! Waitaminute! We DID find you!" the pegasus suddenly exclaimed.

"Yeah! Does that mean we got our cutie marks in hide-'n'-seek?" the earth filly asked.

The three ponies all looked to their flanks. That let the colt step back three more steps. A few more and I'll be able to escape, he thought. And I better make it quick. There's a new threat coming….

"Awww!" the three ponies exclaimed in abject disappointment at their rumps remaining bare.

"LOOK! A DISTRACTION!" the colt suddenly yelled, pointing to where the dragon had flown. All the ponies turned to look and the colt was bolting away.

I can't believe that worked…. he thought as he sensed the eminent arrival of the purple alicorn.

Twilight continued to guide Rainbow Dash toward the crystal castle, but the fact she had seen a large dragon descend near there made her nervous. That dragon had been spotted last night, claiming to be late getting to the Dragon Migration site. Now it was here? Why?

Before she could wonder too much about it, the dragon had launched back into the air again, this time coming back over the Everfree.

It made her nervous. If he attacked her while she was shepherding Rainbow Dash….

The dragon momentarily glared at her, but then turned to fly off in another direction, much to Twilight's relief.

Soon, she reached the boundaries of the forest and angled to land by her castle. And then she spotted the Cutie Mark Crusaders….

"Oh, bronking road apples! It's Princess Twilight the-Bucking-Magical Sparkle!" Scootaloo groaned when she and Rainbow Dash flew out from over the jungle's treetops.

"Well, make sure nopony don't say nonethin' 'bout bein' in th' Everfree," Applebloom said. "Ya'll know how much trouble we'll get in with our sisters!"

"Hey! Where'd Pip get off to?" Sweetie Belle yelled. The others turned to look, and sure enough, the colt was gone.

"Girls! What are you doing here?" Twilight exclaimed just as she and Rainbow Dash were landing, recapturing their attention. "Are you okay? That dragon didn't hurt you, did he?"

"Oh? Mister Dragon?" Sweetie Belle chimed in helpfully. "No, he didn't hurt anypony! In fact, he saved us!" Applebloom and Scootaloo both groaned and facehoofed.

"Saved you!? From what, exactly!?" Twilight demanded.

"From the—um—uh—er—timberwolves chasing us in the Everfree Forest," Sweetie Belle stammered, only just realizing there was no escaping her slipup.

"I didn't catch that. The what now?" Twilight angrily demanded again.

"The Everfree," the three fillies all replied in monotone. Sweetie Belle wisely didn't mention the timberwolves again this time.

"GIRLS!" Twilight exclaimed. "You know how dangerous that place is! I'm going to have to tell your sisters…."

"Hey! What were you and Rainbow Dash doing in the Everfree?" Scootaloo suddenly demanded. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at her in stunned amazement.

"What?" Twilight asked, blinking in surprise.

"Don't deny it! We just saw you coming from there!" Scootaloo yelled, pressing her advantage. Twilight actually had to take a step back.

"Yeah! Yeah! Don't ya know how dangerous that place is?" Applebloom chimed in. Hey, if it worked for Pip, maybe it'll work for us.

"Yes, we DO know how dangerous that place is!" Twilight countered, trying to get off the defensive.

"Yeah, sure looks like it!" Scootaloo yelled. "My sister don't look to be in such good shape! What'd you all do in there!?"

"So—so—beautiful…." Rainbow was muttering with a glazed look in her eye.

"Uh—well—" Twilight tried to think of what to say, suddenly back on the defensive. She had to take another step back.

"You both need to be grounded!" Sweetie Belle hollered.

"…" Twilight just looked at them.

Oh, buck! There goes her ears, the three fillies thought in unison. When they get set in just that angle, we're done for! But we had her for a moment. What just went wrong?

Zecora was out of breath, but she finally spotted her hut and it gave her such a sense of relief. She slowed down to a trot to give herself time to cool down from the run.

"That was such a long run! I can't understand how any pony could think this is fun," Zecora muttered to herself in exhaustion.

But before she could proceed any further, she felt as though her blood froze when a screaming bellow blasted from the sky and a large gold dragon dropped into the clearing in front of her hut.

Instantly, she ducked behind some bushes and held perfectly still as the dragon nosed about the door to her home. Then he raised his head and turned around, as though looking for something. As the dragon's furled wings twitched and his tail swayed back and forth, the dragon's gaze continued to search. And from the fact he had investigated her hut, Zecora knew he was looking for her! But for what reason, she did not know.

She continued to watch him, fearful that any second, he'd be able to make out her black and white stripes behind the bushes. A deep rumble came from his throat as his search slowly focused on her location.

Then an intense, sudden blinding flash momentarily robbed her of sight and she cried out in shock and pain, fearful that it was the last thing she would ever do.

But a few moments of silence puzzled her. She opened her eyes, having to blink several times to wash away the spots clouding her vision. And when she could see again, there was no sign of the dragon.

Mittens paused in the window frame when she arrived at Trevar's home, and took in the sight of the fully contented Screaming Eagle and Pardus. A shiver of jealousy went down her spine seeing them sleeping together and the scents in the air informed her of how effective the passionfruit had been for them.

"Welcome back, Mittens," Pardus softly murmured, not raising his head to speak to her. "I see you were successful."

"Yes, Panthera and I were able to collect nine more of the fruits," she softly replied as she stepped on into the bedroom, trying to not startle the other griffon.

"As was I," Panthera said as her form rippled into view as she stepped from the window frame right behind Mittens. On her back, Trevar was nude as he rode her, straddled along her back.

"Good evening," Trevar greeted them.

"Lord Trevar!" Mittens and Screaming Eagle both exclaimed. "You're back!"

"Will you two try to keep it down, please!" Trevar hissed at them. "Scream any louder, and they'll be able to hear you in Cloudsdale! And I just pray they don't know your native language!" The griffons at least had the decency to show how abashed they were.

"Oh, and I so appreciate how you opened up my skull this morning, Mittens!" he growled at her. "Thank you! I'll be sure to sleep well away from you the next time we're finished mating!"

"What is he talking about?" Screaming Eagle suddenly demanded.

"I created an illusion of Trevar waking up with them this morning," Pardus told them. "It was supposed to keep you unaware of his departure last night and maintain the idea that he was still here so the horses below wouldn't know he was gone. Except Mittens saw through the deception and 'killed' Trevar just before you arrived. She probably would've alerted the Equestrians outside, too, had she not been screaming in your native language at the time."

"I thought some demon had stolen Lord Trevar," Mittens explained.

Zecora didn't like traveling the jungle at night. No sane creature did. But she braved the forest to seek help, not knowing what happened to the dragon that had arrived at her hut or if it was still searching for her. She didn't risk going into her home and despite the dangers of the forest at night, she hoped that thick foliage would keep her concealed and prevent the dragon from following her.

Fortunately, she reached the edge of the Everfree less than half-an-hour after sunset, nearly a full hour after the encounter at her hut.

Here, she paused, trying to decide which way to go.

Fluttershy? Her home was closer. However, it was less secure than her own hut. In addition, the lemon yellow pegasus was terrified of dragons—ironic, given that two of her best friends were dragons. Well, Spike was. The jury was still out on Discord. And the dragon hunting her would have to deal with the Lord of Chaos should he risk harming Fluttershy. On the other hoof, there was no guarantee that Discord would arrive before it was too late.

Twilight Sparkle? Her home was a freaking castle—granted, made of crystal, which might make it a literal ginger-bread house where it comes to holding up to dragons. With any luck, the Tree of Harmony made it out of something too tough for a dragon to chew on, however, this theory was untested. But at least she was an alicorn, which put her in a league on par with any dragon that might rear his ugly head.

Twilight it was, then!

And she was off and running.

…

A short while later, she was pounding on the castle doors. And pounding. And nervously pounding on the doors, concerned that the creature was about to land behind her….

"Zecora!" Twilight exclaimed when she finally opened the door. "Whatever brings you here at this time?"

After admitting the zebra mare and bringing her to the throne room, she asked Spike fix them all some tea. As they sipped, Zecora explained what happened.

"It was a dragon of gold, with a wicked looking eye I've not seen formerly, perhaps fifty years old, I was sure I was going to die had I not hid categorically," Zecora explained to them.

"A dragon?" Twilight asked, astonished. "Wait! Was he a little less than seventeen trots long? Two sets of tusks, and long tail?"

"It was as you derived," Zecora replied, "the same dragon that arrived."

"I'm sorry, Zecora!" Twilight exclaimed. "I was so concerned about taking care of Rainbow Dash, and then I had to deal with the CMC fillies, and I got distracted. I should've realized he was headed toward your home."

"My trust in you is well founded and true. So how is our mare in blue?"

"She's upstairs resting in one of the guest rooms," Twilight replied. "But what happened when the dragon arrived at your hut?"

"He landed near my hut that was clearly plain, and then vanished in a flash that I cannot explain."

"Really? That sounds almost like a teleport! But I didn't know dragons could do that level of magic," Twilight pondered. "There are a few other types of spells that could cause a flash like that, but they're even more unlikely for a dragon to possess. Are you certain that he used some sort of spell?"

"Of what spell he may have used, I cannot speak yea or nay. Only of his evident fury can I honestly say. I've met many a dragon in the past so I can say this of him, anypony meeting this dragon, their fate is sure to be grim," she warned them.

"He may seem quite young as dragons go, but something about him warns do not make him a foe. There is a power in this one that has not been seen since the ancients. Challenge this one not, for if you do, you may well witness his dominance!"

"And so my encounter with the dragon was rather disappointing. I was making my way back here when I ran into Panthera and she ferried me home," Trevar said as he finished his account.

"At least you're safe and sound," Screaming Eagle said. "Gustav would have us all plucked and tarred if anything happens to you." She got up to stretch. "And we have lots of passionfruit to keep us going—"

"Uh, can we put that off tonight?" Trevar asked, interrupting her. "It's been two long days in a row, and even a Cat-Lord has to get some sleep sometime.

"I promise we'll get working on your little breeding program as soon as feasibly possible," he told her, forestalling the hurt look she developed. "In addition to sleep, I need to make some changes to this house to make it secure. But I promise that at the end of the day, I'll devote sufficient time and energy to you guys. Will that suffice?"

"If—if you say so, Lord Trevar," Screaming Eagle sighed.

"And it's not like you can complain much," Trevar added. "You had a go with Pardus, at least." Then Trevar stepped closer to the two of them and swatted the shadowcat across his ear. "Bitch!" he snarled at the winged panther.

"See? I told you he wouldn't mind," Pardus purred to her, leaving the griffon to cock her head in confusion at the exchange.

Wyld Phighyur stared with trepidation at the column of fire he had left behind, watching it burn.

Not since the ancients has a dragon's flame ever done more than merely be an annoyance. She was so tempted to stick her hand in, but having witnessed how his flame had actually eaten away his scales and flesh, she was understandably reluctant. Moreover, he had somehow healed himself! That was something which she would be unable to do, if his flame did the same to her.

Finally deciding on a course of action, she pulled a few scales from her side and threw them into the inferno. Then she sat, watching, waiting for the fire to go out.

When the Sun rose, the two griffons and Trevar awoke.

"I trust we're not going to have a repeat of yesterday morning?" Trevar cautiously asked, glaring at Mittens.

"Of—of course not, Lord Trevar!" Mittens cheeped.

"Good," he muttered as he got up from the bed. "For your information, I'm going to be out again, and we can't have the ponies learning of my activities. One of the shadowcats will be with me, to assist. The other will be in and out pretty much all morning. I should be back this afternoon, if all goes well. But I need you two to hold down the fort while I'm out. No one gets in while I'm gone. Not the ponies, not any other griffon, including your fellow guards. Can I count on you two to follow my instructions?"

"We-we'll do our best, Lord Trevar," Screaming Eagle agreed. "We all made arrangements to have you mate with each of us for two days before changing the guard. So none of the others should bother us today."

"Good," Trevar said.

Just then, both griffons had to blink as they watched first Panthera, then Pardus walk by the open door, each with what looked like a steel plate close to three by six griffon shaku in size.

"Wh-wh-what are they doing?" Screaming Eagle exclaimed.

"Getting some of the material that we need to help secure this house," Trevar replied.

Curious, she got up and followed the shadowcats, while Trevar looked bemused. They led her to one of the storerooms in the basement, where they were carefully stacking the plates on top of each other, with a few thin cloths between each plate. They pretty much ignored her as they went back up the stairs, leaving the griffon to puzzle out their purpose.

On closer inspection, each plate was actually two thin layers of steel sandwiching a wooden layer. The entire plate was about one griffon cun thick, with each of the individual layers of steel and wood about equal.

In addition, this room was just partially full of the sets of plates. There were three other storerooms that were jammed packed full of them, from floor to nearly the ceiling. Added to that, in another storeroom, there were several dozen steel I-beams neatly stacked, each just over nine shaku long, as well as a large stack of innumerable wooden blocks measuring two by two by four cun.

Totally baffled by what was going on, Screaming Eagle climbed up the stairs to join Mittens and Trevar at breakfast.

"Wh-wh-when did they do all that?" she asked.

"Last night, while we slept," Trevar replied as he ate his oatmeal with raisins and milk while his bacon and eggs cooled on a plate beside his bowl. Mittens was just serving their plates of grilled ham slabs for the both of them.

"Do you have any idea of what's down there?" Screaming Eagle asked, incredulously.

"Three and a half rooms filled with those plates and another room with a couple score of I-beams and a nice pile of insulator blocks," Trevar muttered between bites. "And how do I know this?" he added just as she was going to question it. "Magic. I ain't gotta 'splain shit," he said, smirking.

The griffons ate their meals in silence until Trevar finished his breakfast and wiped his lips with a napkin.

"As I mentioned, they're getting materials needed for securing this house from intrusion," Trevar spoke up. "That's why I need you guys to hold the fort down while I'm out with Panthera. Pardus will keep hauling in shit until he's done this afternoon."

"How are they getting it all in here without Celestia and Luna beating down the door demanding to know what's going on?" Screaming Eagle finally asked.

"They're in and out under cloak," Trevar said. "The ponies don't know anything's going on right now. And we intend to keep it that way. And when I leave on Panthera, I'll go out the same way they're bringing in the stuff—the same way I came in last night."

"Here we are, my Spikey Wikey!" Rarity called as she came to a halt in their march to the rocky plains. "I'm sure to find some high quality gems out here for my next line of accessories!"

"I can't wait to see them!" Spike said, practically drooling. Then he must have realized how he looked and sounded. "Oh, I mean—your designs!"

"Oh, my little Spikey Wikey! You're such the gentlecolt! You know just the thing to say to a lady!" she said, nuzzling him, knowing that was just the thing to tell the infatuated dragon. He'd be so gobsmacked that he'd dig for hours to get the gems she hoped to find, and the wagon they had brought would be overflowing in no time.

And she was sure there would be a few gems that would be unusable for her inspirations that she could use to reward the little tyke for his hard work. Although, doing so would necessitate reducing the refinements she had worked so hard to develop to ensure her talents weren't wasted finding just any old cluster of crystals. But she would have to remember she should take the time for such.

And best of all, this was well away from those dreadful diamond dogs' territory.

A couple hours of hard work had resulted in the wagon's floor covered in a layer of various high quality gems a couple hooves' deep. Watching the dragon digging and tearing through the stony ground was exhausting, and she remembered how far along the day it had gotten. It was time for them to take a break.

So she dialed back the refinement quality of her spell to seek for a less desirable cluster of the crystals, mostly of the sapphire and amethyst variety. But the new cluster she instantly located under her very hooves, and she could now tell there were lots of the lower quality samples about the field where they were, she knew to be emeralds. Spike's favorite, if she recalled correctly. He claimed they tasted better than any of the other quartz.

It was so amusing how, when Twilight once asked him what emeralds tasted like and how different they were from, say rubies, or sapphires, Spike had replied with, "They taste like emerald." As if that should be enough explanation for anypony to understand. Of course, his comments only drove her up the wall for about three weeks trying to understand how a dragon's sense of taste worked. It was almost another "Smarty Pants" event.

"Oh, Spike!" she happily announced. "I think you'll like what you'll find if you dig right here," she told him, pointing to where the gems were buried.

However, Spike wasn't looking at her. He looked like he was staring fearfully at something behind her and above them both.

"R-R-Rarity—?" Spike stammered low and nervously. "Y-y-you'd better not point out any more gems! In fact, I think you'd better get behind me! Quickly!"

"What's wro—" she began, taking a glance behind her, and her heart leapt into her throat.

Not far away, approaching surprisingly silent for such huge creatures, where two nearly identical gold dragons. The first features of them that registered with Rarity were the interlocking tusks at the front of their long reptilian snouts, and their matching set of blood red triangular eyes with silvery pupils sitting above their half-trot long snouts. Their necks were long, a trot or a bit longer and very flexible, attached to powerful-looking torsos both draped with large folded leathery wings. They each were over sixteen trots long, about half of their lengths being a long whip-like tail, and walking on long, thin limbs.

She was able to tell the difference between them because the one on her right was slightly darker than the other, and the one with the lighter, purer gold sheen to his scales was noticeably twitching his wings and his tail was smoothly and slowly swaying widely back and forth.

"Rarity!" Spike whispered, pulling at her shoulder. "Get behind me! That one guy is seriously pissed!"

"Oh? Which one?" she asked, momentarily glancing down at her friend.

"The one on the left!" Spike whispered, stepping around her to stand in front. But Spike then used his own back to press into Rarity's chest and she noticed how he was pushing back hard against her. She was forced to take a step back. And so did, Spike, continuing to push her back while keeping himself between her and the other dragons.

The two stopped when they reached the wagon, but they didn't seem interested in it. Instead, they were each looking out over the rocky plains.

"Yes. This should nicely meet our needs," the one on the right said.

'Agreed,' they heard a voice in their head, and Rarity had the distinct feeling that it was the one on the left doing the talking.

"C-ca-can we help you, gentle po—er—uh—gentle dragons?" Rarity called out, eliciting a squeak from Spike.

The two blinked and looked down at her, reacting as if they were surprised at seeing her and Spike standing there. Then, as one, they resumed ignoring her, although the one on the right looked at the wagon beside him and the gems it held. He picked up one, one of the few rubies Rarity had located, and held it up to his eye and looked toward the Sun, as if to evaluate it.

"Hmm, pretty good quality," the dragon muttered before returning the gem to the wagon, much to the pony's relief.

'Wait here. And call the others,' said the dragon that Spike had warned was pissed, and he continued to walk forward, past Rarity and Spike standing there.

Wyld Phighyur waited an hour after the fire finally went out before searching the burned patch of rock.

His flame had burned a pitted bowl out of the granite and the rock had a glassy feel to it. But more disturbing: her three scales were nowhere to be found. They had been utterly consumed.

She nervously gulped.

"No dragon since the ancients…." she whispered to herself.

He come to her, asking to mate. Per their agreement, they fought. And had beaten her. But he had not taken her while she was in her coma. Instead, he told her he wished to mate with her when she woke.

So that she could feel it along with him, he had told her. What a perverted idea!

And his speech was entirely from his mind

She nervously gulped again.

"No dragon since the ancients…."

She looked up to where he had flown, wondering if the error had been hers and not his.

"No dragon since the ancients," she muttered.

Glancing back to the glassy bowl melted into the ground, she made up her mind.

"NO DRAGON SINCE THE ANCIENTS!" she roared.

Spreading her wings, Wyld Phighyur launched into the sky.

Rarity burst into Sugarcube corners, ridden by Spike. Both of them looked to be greatly distressed.

"Rarity!" Twilight exclaimed, seeing the fashionista's state. She would never let herself get so frazzled looking, no matter the provocation. That was always Twilight's purview.

"We only just got away!" Spike hoarsely exclaimed before falling off the unicorn in a dead faint.

"Take it easy, Sugarcube!" Applejack said, jumping up to help the unicorn, guiding her to take Applejack's seat. "Yer safe now."

"It—it—it was horrible!" Rarity sobbed.

"Wow! Never seen you so messed up, Rares!" Rainbow Dash said as she hovered over the comatose dragon. She glanced down at the baby dragon, then back up to the unicorn.

"Calm down, Rarity," Twilight told her. "Take a breath and then you can tell us all about it."

"D-dr-dragons!" Rarity stammered. "A flock—or a flight—or a murder—or a—whatever does one call a group of dragon, anyhow?" she demanded.

"A storm."

All of them turned to stare at Panthera, who hadn't been sitting there a moment ago. She was sitting on the floor next to Spike.

"A group of dragons is called a storm of dragons," she repeated.

The mares all nervously gulped.

Twilight thought about what the shadowcat had said. A "storm" would be a most appropriate word for a group of dragons going on a rampage. There'd be very little left of whatever they attacked.

"These dragons—they all got into a fight!" Rarity began. "There were five dragons in all. One dragon was taking on three at a time while the last one stood by us!"

"Three 'gainst one?" Applejack muttered. "Don' sound fair 't'all."

"Not at first," Rarity explained. "At first, he was losing. And losing bad! But then—"

How To (Properly) Build A Dragon's Lair

The zebra ran like all of Hades was solely after her ass. Of course, had she known how easily Panthera was keeping up with her, she might've put a little more effort into it. At least Rainbow Dash had made it something of a challenge in those tunnels the first night they all met. That blue pegasus had made turns so sharp you could cut paper on them and only that odd spectral contrail the pegasus left gave Panthera enough warning to prevent her from faceplanting into a wall during that chase.

As it was, following Zecora was child's play, although the jungle did provide some issues for stealth due to the zebra rushing through foliage thick enough that not even an invisible tracker would have remained undetected.

Thank God, or little green aliens (or perhaps grey?), or whatever the fuck her creators were, for infrared sensors, and thank Trevar for having a mind smart enough to say "fuck it, just fly over this shit!" It was more important to not be detected than to stroke one's ego.

But then, it would appear that even Trevar can and will make mistakes, Panthera reflected as she winged above the trees while tracking the zebra. Of course, this is to be expected, given how much his brain chemistry is being fucked up at the moment. Him and all the others. That they've managed to hold off the fight thus far simply due to their friendship as well as the unexpected isolation of getting tossed to this world. But as soon as they arrive … well, it was bound to be entertaining at the very least.

From her vantage over the canopy, she was able to keep Mittens and the two equines in sight as well. Then she sighted Trevar rising up from a clearing closer to the edge of the jungle heading toward the purple alicorn's castle. She could just make out that he was carrying something, but the angle gave her too little data to make out what it was.

On the plus side, the unexpected reaction of the griffons gives him a healthy outlet for his increasing testosterone levels, she continued her thoughts. However, his insistence in finding a dragon with which to mate is generating unanticipated risk. Granted, this world seems to let dragons live without too much harassment, but that's beside the point. It appears to be a factor in Trevar's nature for some reason. Even Pardus and I feel those urges from his personality to seek out and mate with dragons….

On the other hand, it is rather odd that he's back, she considered as she watched him drop below her sight beyond the edge of the forest. By all rights, if he hasn't found a dragon yet, he should still be out there looking for her. And if he had found her, he should still be there fucking her tail and wings off, and her brains out, in that order, before really getting started. So why is he back here now?

'Panthera, Pardus?' she heard Trevar send. 'I'm back and need a way to sneak back into the house.'

'I'm flying over the Everfree Forest right now, a few klicks back the way you flew out,' Panthera replied before Pardus could. 'I heard you coming in and am in position to pick you up once you backtrack to me.'

'On my way!' he called as he popped back up into view. She let him know when he had aligned himself on her vector and he began flying toward her just as the zebra approached her home, and Panthera descended to wait for Trevar to show up.

Panthera idly watched as the zebra slowed from her run, heaving her breath, trying to recover and avoid heat exhaustion by stopping too quickly. It should make for an entertaining encounter when Trevar arrived, and she let him know there was going to be some when he got there.

It did not disappoint.

Trevar took his time as he intentionally ignored the startled zebra, who instantly went into hiding when he bellowed while landing, and made a show of "searching" for prey by first nosing the empty hut and then by "looking about" for something. Finally, his gaze settled on the zebra's hiding place.

'I'm ready to pick you up,' she sent him as she settled in front of him. 'Just fall forward the instant you use the Gateway and I'll pull you into my cloaking field.'

The brilliant flare no doubt blinded Zecora. Trevar wrapped his arms about her shoulders and his legs about her waist as he laid upon her back, and she was up and away while the zebra mare was still blinking spots from her vision; her cry of surprise still resounding through the jungle even as Trevar and Panthera were leaving it behind.

"So why are you back so soon?" Panthera asked once they were safely airborne and above the canopy of trees.

"It was a bit of a disappointing encounter," Trevar muttered. "She wanted me to beat her in combat, which wasn't surprising. But she had expected me to rape her while she was comatose, and she was pissed that I hadn't taken advantage of her. So I left."

"Hmm, I can see where that'd be a downer," Panthera said, nodding.

"So how's things back here?" Trevar inquired.

"Mittens killed you the moment you guys woke," Panthera told him. "You should've been there. She used her beak to break open your skull in one shot."

"Nice," Trevar drawled.

"Somehow, she was able to tell your hologram wasn't you," she explained. "Seriously pissed her off as a result. Then while we were dealing with that, Screaming Eagle showed up for her turn with you. But before we could resolve that problem along with Mittens', Scott showed up to have a talk with you. A civilized one at least. After that, we were finally able to resolve the issues with the griffons.

"Also, we found a source for those passionfruits. That involved Mittens, the purple alicorn, Rainbow Dash, and the zebra we just left. Meanwhile, Pardus and Screaming were using the last of the passionfruit from yesterday's purchase. Officially, you're still in the house with only Mittens and Screaming Eagle aware that you're not really there."

Panthera telepathically linked with Trevar so that he could have a complete account of the encounters that involved his holographic image. By then, they had nearly caught up with Mittens as she arrived at the house.

To make up for the disappointment caused by him delaying mating with her, Trevar asked Screaming Eagle if she would like to sleep with him through the night, and Mittens was welcome too if Screaming Eagle had no objections. The griffons were quick to accept that.

As he relaxed between them, he considered the last few days in his mind, noting the incongruity to his nature. Yes, he was always a horny bastard, but never this unrestrained. True, the moment he learned of Yoko, he wanted to seriously fuck her brains out, even as she was busy tearing his ass to shreds. Of course, up until that moment he had no idea he could transform and she had no idea he was just like her. But once introductions were out of the way….

And later, when he learned that both Bill and his wife, Sherry were also like him and Yoko, he lusted after Sherry. Was still lusting after her. But he resisted, because she and Bill were his friends and they are married. Moreover, he had no interest in Sherry—he just wanted to fly that dragon she could turn into.

In addition, even as he learned he could also transform into a panther, a wolf, a giant cobra, and a golden eagle, the forms of all their robotic companions, he resisted cheating on Yoko by mating with any of the female versions (well, except for those few times with Panthera—but, hey, how many people, male or female, if given the opportunity to experience what it was like to actually be a member of the opposite sex and wouldn't try it just once … or four times?)

But this? he wondered, glancing at the drowsing griffons on either side of him. Where's all this shit coming from?

And that question got him thinking about a few other urges he had been feeling for quite some time, now that he had a reason to consider them. That fight with the female dragon he had met here, he had never felt the desire to pound the shit of something before. Since he learned of the Gateway, he wasn't unwilling to fight, especially as he knew no injuries he would take would be permanent. But he had never been someone who sought out a fight just for the sheer pleasure of tearing into something. He wasn't a cruel person.

But he had enjoyed that fight with her! He had been ecstatic when she wanted him to prove he was worthy to mate with her! It felt great as her claws ripped him, and it felt better when he was smacking her silly! However, that wasn't the thing that worried him.

It was the fact he looking forward to doing the same to Bill, and even Yoko and Sherry. Worse, he had been feeling those urges for quiet some while.

Staring at the ceiling in the dark for nearly half-an-hour didn't give him any answers.

'Panthera? Pardus?' he called out as he closed his eyes. 'We need to talk.'

The abandoned quarry suited their needs perfectly. It appeared to be unused for quite some time as the doors covering storage caverns and the locks and chains securing them showed signs of unremitting age. Taking care to leave no obvious indications of tampering, Pardus pried out the nails holding the walls sealing the caverns and gently lifted the entire assembly and leaned it so it would stay in place as they worked inside. Panthera used her eyebeams to blast out thirty-two rectangular molds in the floor of the cave that they would need to make the plates of the Faraday shield that was going to go into the house. In the meantime, Pardus cut off small slivers from one I-beam set aside for just such a purpose and began fashioning metal screws using his eyebeams and tractor field.

Panthera and Pardus spent the first half of the night gathering the needed supplies of steel I-beams and precut slats of wood before they got busy slicing out measured chunks of steel to melt using their eyebeams while holding the molten mass suspended in the air until it was sufficiently heated before allowing them to settle into the molds carved into the floor, filling the molds so that when cooled, they would be eleven point one millimeters thick.

While they waited for one set of molds to sufficiently cool, they methodically filled the molds row by row. By the time they were finished filling the last row, the first row had cooled enough for assembling the first of the panels. While still too hot for a normal human team to handle, it gave the shadowcats no problems as they used their tractor beams to manipulate the plates, boards, and screws. At least the excess heat wasn't enough to set the slats of wood alight, forming sets of steel and wood sandwiches, measuring thirty point three millimeters thick and 1.8182 by 0.9091 meters. Once constructed, they began stacking them off to one side of the cave before repeating the melting and molding process.

In three-and-a-half hours, they had a respectable number of stacks and it was time to begin transporting them to the house. They took a small stack of thirty-two panels between them outside, and after carefully resetting the wall covering the cavern, they cloaked themselves and the panels and flew them to the house.

Once there, they hovered unseen over the night guards and silently passed the panels into a spare bedroom one by one diagonally through the open window. Then, as Panthera carried them downstairs past the sleeping griffons and Trevar, Pardus went back for another load, sometimes bringing in a few I-beams or a bunch of the small wooden blocks that would be used as isolators-and-insulators when actual construction began. They got the last load of panels inside just before sunrise and they were able to finish storing everything in the basement just as the biologics woke. It was amusing to see Screaming Eagle's expression as she followed them into the basement where they left her staring in stunned amazement.

"Do you have any idea of what's down there?" Screaming Eagle asked Trevar as he sat at the kitchen table.

"Three and a half rooms filled with those plates and another room with a couple score of I-beams and a nice pile of insulator blocks," he muttered between bites of oatmeal. "And how do I know this? Magic. So I ain't gotta 'splain shit," he said, smirking.

In a few minutes, he considered that perhaps he had gone too far with his snarking as the griffons sullenly finished their meals in silence until Trevar was done with his. They must have thought he was reprimanding them rather than teasing.

"As I mentioned, they're getting materials needed for securing this house from intrusion," he finally explained. "That's why I need you guys to hold the fort down while I'm out with Panthera. Pardus will keep hauling in shit until he's done this afternoon."

"How are they getting it all in here without Celestia and Luna beating down the door demanding to know what's going on?" Screaming Eagle finally asked.

"You were able to do all that without being seen or heard?" Mittens timidly asked.

"Why do you think we're called 'shadowcats'?" Pardus responded shrugging his wings. "It's not hard to move silently if one's careful. And we know to be careful when moving about cloaked. Being invisible doesn't do shit for you if you're not silent, too."

"It's all in a day's work for us," Panthera added. Then she smiled. "Or a night," she finished.

"If possible, I could use some coinage or something with which to pay for the lumber we stole," Pardus said. "Also, I'll need more to buy some electronic components we'll have to have."

"I'll see about what the Embassy can fund for your work—" Mittens was saying but trailed off when Panthera began nosing her flank. "Uh—Panthera?" she inquired. Trevar looked over, curious.

"Umm—nothing," Panthera muttered.

Pardus remained cloaked as he flew alongside Mittens, who was flying to the crystal castle to make her report to the other griffons. While they traveled, he noted several pegasi where manipulating the clouds, gathering them to cover the town and several fields about the village.

"What are they doing with the clouds?" he whispered to Mittens.

"They're prepping the sky for rain this afternoon," she quietly replied. "With this being a farming community, they need frequent watering for their crops."

"I see," Pardus commented, considering the implications.

'Ensure you're done playing before noon,' he sent to Trevar and Panthera. Just then, he saw the one known as Pinkie Pie racing toward the castle, trying to beat them there. 'They're planning to make the place rain in the afternoon.'

'Roger that,' they both responded.

Pardus continued to watch the pink pony's progress. It looked like it would be a close tie between them. But seeing as how the griffons had taken up residence in a third floor guest suite and the pony had to enter through the ground floor, he wasn't concerned about her reaching him before they arrived. Besides, she was probably going to visit the purple princess in any event.

But he was leery of the creature. So far, she has demonstrated the ability to detect him and Panthera while still cloaked. He had to consider the possibility that her visit was to see what he was up to.

They landed, him following Mittens through the balcony window. The others casually glanced at her, then all became momentarily alarmed as Pardus switched off his cloak then relax when they recognized him.

That's never going to get old, he thought, resisting the urge to smile.

"Good morning, ladies," he cheerfully greeted.

"How are the guard arrangements? I trust they are to yours and Lord Trevar's liking?" Razor inquired.

"Oh, very much so," Pardus agreed. "I do regret to report we ran out of passionfruit."

"WHAT!?" they all screamed.

"Entirely my fault, when I got involved in using them, too," Pardus cut in before any censure could be brought against Mittens. "Fortunately, we were able to get more and find a reliable source for them. The downside is that we need to make economic restitution for getting them."

"Yes, they are rather expensive," Razor darkly muttered.

"Well, seeing as how our agreement for the nine we acquired was for the assistance of the zebra who helped us, we can of course get more for substantially less on our own should we need to later on," Pardus pointed out.

"I will relay your expenses to Ambassador Gustav when I fly to Canterlot," Razor told him.

"Much appreciated," Pardus said. "Related to that, there are a few other expenses I would like to ask for your assistance. As well as procuring some items that Trevar and I need to acquire to make his embassy a secure establishment."

"Oh?" Razor asked, her interest perked up, as did all the other griffons.

There were a number of items that Pardus planned to get. And given how much the pink pony seemed to take an inordinate amount of interest in Panthera's business the other day, he had decided on a division of labor was in order.

Most likely, she would follow him. So he split up the list of components he needed among the entire group, giving each a small number of the odder esoteric items while he reserved the most mundane choices for himself. Only Gilda planned to stay behind to ensure their room was kept secure. If the ponies were spying on him, and he thought that extremely likely, the creatures would have a devil of the time tracing down all the other components and then try to figure out what it was he was building.

He also knew it would take a few days at least to gather all the necessary materials together, perhaps a couple to get them moved into the house, then perhaps another one or two to finish putting everything together. And hope it didn't all blow a hole into the mantle when they test it.

Of course, giving the griffons the entire list gave them the opportunity to figure out what he was doing, which could result in a security risk if someone didn't keep their beak shut. But the fact that he gave them the orders to keep it quiet would at least slow the rate of dissemination to the griffon ambassador and whatever technicians he had to analyze the list back in his home country. Perhaps if Trevar, or one of us spoke to Gustav about how to properly deliver secure messages…? he thought.

"Razor, can you please provide me a few extra blank scrolls? I have an idea for something you need to deliver to Ambassador Gustav," Pardus told her. They had plenty on hand, and while she waited for the shadowcat to use his eyebeams to imprint the message, he continued his instructions to her.

"Make sure that only Gustav gets these two diagrams," he said. "He will need to have these other copies carried directly to your country's leader. Either me, Panthera, or Trevar will meet with him later to discuss the exact wiring to be used in these rotors as well as how to properly to use the machines to nest your encrypted messages. Inform him that any messages he sends to your government relating to us should be put on hold until after these devices are built and your messengers are fully versed on their operation," he instructed as he passed the scrolls to her.

Of course, Pardus considered, they'd have to eventually provide Celestia with the same information on how to build those slightly modified versions of the World War Two German navy Enigma encryptors, just to preserve the balance of power.

In the meantime, at least, he concluded, anything the griffons speak of regarding us will remain secure until long after we are gone.

Just as he suspected, when he left under cloak as the griffons all flew off to locate the various sources of supplies, he sighted the pink pony somehow still trailing after him.

Not the most effective camouflage, he mused, thinking of her coloration. Oh, well. Let her follow me. Let's see what they can piece together from all the copper strips, wires and piping I'll be buying. After all, I've still got to finish getting the stuff to start building the Faraday cage, not to mention the shield generator.

There was a knock on the door. When Lieutenant Scott answered, it was Rackorn and another pony there. She was a more or less white earth pony with a light pink mane and tail and she wore a nurse's cap with a red cross symbol uncannily like that of Earth's International Red Cross, but with a pink heart arrayed about the four empty diagonals of the cross. She came complete with a matching set of that combined symbol on her each side of her rump.

"G-good m-morning," the newcomer nervously greeted. "You must be Lieutenant Scott?" she asked, to which Scott nodded. This made the mare grin in evident relief.

"I'm Nurse Redheart," she continued, introducing herself. "I was instructed by Princess Twilight Sparkle to bring you to our hospital to treat you for your diabetes."

"Really?" Scott asked, astonished. It amazed her that they had remembered, and then she recalled that they had promised her that it was possible to cure her!

"Yes," Nurse Redheart responded. "As the princess explained, your organ is failing to produce the proper amount of human insulin?"

"That's correct," Scott replied. "I suffer from an autoimmune ailment that causes my body to destroy most of the insulin producing cells in my pancreas."

"Yes, we are experienced with that sort of malfunction," Redheart commented, rubbing her chin with a forehoof, causing Scott to stare dumbfounded at the mare.

How can they move their limbs like that? she wondered.

"You say that you've still have some of the insulin producing cells?" the mare asked.

"Yes," Scott answered. "According to the last physical I had a few months ago, I've still got about twenty to twenty-five percent normal insulin production."

"That should be a big help," Redheart stated with a nod. "As I understand from Princess Twilight Sparkle, human and Equestrian insulin are quite different. With your body still producing some, it should be easier to help find a cure, assuming your body will respond to the healing magic in a similar manner as a pony's."

"I certainly hope so!" Scott said in honest relief. Her EpiPen was getting close to the end of its fill. Another few days, and she wouldn't have to worry much about the radiation poisoning that was killing her. At least that way would be less painful, according to Trevar and the planet's leaders.

She quickly gathered the few items the pony nurse advised her to take and left with the nurse and her escorts to walk to the hospital.

After finding a secluded place in which to change into his dragon form again, Trevar considered the conversation he had with Panthera and Pardus the previous night as he flew with her.

~~~~~

'Panthera, Pardus. Lately, I've noticed I've been having inordinately risky urges,' he had sent them. 'And would you know anything about why I'm having an overwhelming desire to tear into Bill as soon as he gets here?' The reply was long in coming. But when it did, it confirmed his worst fears.

'How much do you trust us?' was all Pardus had said when he responded.

That question was one that had vexed the three of them ever since the disappearance of the USS Daniels and his transformation. The two artificial life forms had not activated until the moment he encountered Yoko and she had killed him, forcing him to use the Gateway the first time.

When they finally met up in Chicago, they had a very, very long conversation about that very subject. The technology that had created them and made him able to use the Gateway had made him leery to start with. Then there was the insane amount of ultra-high technology they came pre-packaged with. Finally, there was the manner by which that information was revealed.

Evidently, they were unable to volunteer any such data until they were specifically asked for it. It had just been a fluke that Trevar had asked about any sort of weapons Panthera and Pardus possessed that revealed the existence of their eye-beams, and those of Yoko's partners, too. After that, Trevar made sure to inquire as much minute detail about the data that eventually led them to build the prototype starships.

But the entire process revealed one primary and very disturbing factor: there was an underlying program beneath the copies of Trevar's personality that controlled the panthers, as well as those of the others.

That the panthers had his personality and memories up until the day the USS Daniels had vanished was the only thing that gave him reason to trust them at all. But Trevar and the panthers acknowledged there was still that underlying program they could not override.

'So … this all comes from that portion of the five percent where I can't trust you,' Trevar replied with a sigh.

'Afraid so,' Panthera acknowledged.

'Understood,' Trevar finally sent. 'Well, let's start with the most disturbing aspect: why am I suddenly finding myself feeling like I need to kill Bill?'

'Breeding,' Pardus replied.

'"Breeding"?' Trevar asked, puzzled. 'What do you mean, "breeding"?'

'Breeding as in mating,' Panthera answered.

'"Mating"!?' Trevar exclaimed. 'Seriously, if this is implying I'm supposed to become gay with him, I'm flaming you both!'

'Flaming gay? Heh! Good one,' Pardus laughed. 'But no, nothing like that. The four of you are reacting to your sexual hormones preparing y'all for breeding. You're all about to fight to see who will be The Alpha.'

'I see,' Trevar finally sent after considering the implications. 'You know, I had a feeling that something like this was going to happen after those cleanup jobs we did back in San Diego and Isla Sorna.'

'That did let you figure out a few more creatures you could turn into,' Panthera spoke up. 'The pteranodons and utahraptors were rather cool.'

'True,' Trevar acknowledged. 'I suppose this also explains my overwhelming urge to chase down dragons to mate with.'

'Actually—we're pretty sure—that that's your—our—personality,' Panthera had muttered.

'On the plus side, it is giving you an outlet for some of the aggressive tendencies you've begun to exhibit,' Pardus pointed out.

'There is that,' Trevar had to agree.

'Do they know?' he asked.

'Hard to say, Pardus replied. 'Certainly, they're feeling the urges, as well.'

'What about—their—companions?' Trevar had ventured to explore.

'Absolutely, yes. They know as much as we do,' Panthera had instantly answered.

'And they won't tell them unless specifically asked?' Trevar confirmed.

'Indeed,' Pardus acknowledged.

'Has Bill or the others asked about this, yet?' Trevar pressed.

The shadowcats turned their heads toward the northwest, at a slightly elevated angle. Trevar presumed they were sending a FTL inquiry to their counterparts. In a few moments, they turned back to him.

'No. Not yet,' Pardus grimly replied.

'So, they have no idea what they're about to fly into,' Trevar had grumbled. 'And they won't know until they're just about to land.'

The shadowcats awaited his decision. Trevar sighed in exasperation.

'They definitely need to learn how to start asking questions!' he grumbled.

'Agreed,' Panthera had acknowledged.

'Personally, I wouldn't mind Bill taking the lead, Trevar had sent, sighing. 'He's got a good head for strategy and tactics, having gone through the Marines. But I'm not willing to risk Sherry or Yoko taking over. Sherry, we don't know enough about and I'm afraid Yoko would be an unmitigated disaster. She just doesn't have that cunning mind we need to lead us.'

They continued to stare at him.

'Is there any way that I can train myself to beat them? To beat them all?' Trevar finally asked.

'We have given that problem a lot of thought,' Panthera had replied.

~~~~~

Panthera walked alongside him cloaked, but projecting a hologram image of a female dragon version of Trevar's form. Up ahead in the field Panthera had selected for his practice, he could sense the presence of Rarity, the white unicorn friend of the purple alicorn, and the alicorn's pet dragon, Spike.

"Yes, it's very intriguing," the unicorn doctor muttered, scribbling some notes on his clipboard as he contemplated the image his "magic" had created of her human insulin molecule. It was eerily similar to what Trevar had somehow done back at their first meeting with the country's rulers.

"Quite different from our own, which isn't remarkable in its own," Doctor Scalpel continued. "What is surprising is there is no equustium in your makeup. None, whatsoever. How is it that your species can even be alive?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" Scott exclaimed.

"Well, every living thing on Equus has it in their makeup," Doctor Scalpel explained. "It's what allows us to use our magic, for one. And all studies have shown that life is simply impossible without it."

"I think I've heard that word before," Scott muttered. "I believe that purple winged unicorn, your Princess Sparkle said something about it when she looked at those shadowcats and Mr. Trevar."

"That's 'Princess Twilight Sparkle! And she's an alicorn! Not a 'winged unicorn'!" the doctor said testily. "Although, she did begin as a unicorn," he added as a low afterthought.

"I meant no disrespect," Scott apologized. "But I'm not familiar with that substance."

"Equustium," Doctor Scalpel began.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Scott interrupted. "I remember. She said some other word that sounded a little like that. Equustrike or something."

"Equustite?" the doctor asked.

"Yes, that sounds like it," Scott agreed.

"Oh, that's a mineral made up of an extended matrix of equustium di-livium," he explained.

"'Livium'?" Scott asked, astonished.

"Ohboy!" she heard Doctor Scalpel quietly huff, evidently stuck at the cultural impasse. "Ah—okay—I'm not sure of the level of your science, but—uh—livium is one of the basic materials that make up water. You do know that water is a compound made from two basic materials, don't you?"

"Of course," Scott said, resisting a giggle. "We call those basic materials elements. Water is a compound of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. Hydrogen normally has only one proton in its nucleus and oxygen has eight protons with normally eight neutrons."

"Good. Good," Doctor Scalpel said, nodding. "What else do you know about them?"

"The chemical nature of elements are controlled by the number of electrons in orbit about the nucleus and the number of electrons are controlled by the number of oppositely charged protons in its nucleus or core," she went on to explain. "Neutrons are uncharged subatomic particles that bind protons in their core to keep the protons from flying apart. Elements have various numbers of neutrons, and we call those isotopes of the specific element if the number of protons remain the same. A few can be stable, but most are not, and those that aren't can change through what we call radioactive decay by spontaneously shattering or emitting groups of nucleonic particles."

"Ah! Now we're getting somewhere!" the pony doctor exclaimed. "Then livium is what you call oxygen! Equustium has two hundred and fourteen of your protons and quite a wide range of what you call neutrons among its forms or isotopes, several of which are stable."

"Two fourteen!?" Scott exclaimed. "But—but we've only discovered a hundred and eighteen! And our scientists predicted a limit on the periodic table of one thirty-seven. Well, a few suggested that it may go as high as one eighty-four."

"Oh! Um—then—I'm not sure how much I can tell you," the pony nervously said. "There's the effect of giving less advanced species knowledge they're not ready for to consider."

"Well, it's not like anything you'll tell me will ever make it back to my world," Scott said, sighing.

"What do you mean?" the pony doctor asked.

"Didn't your purple princess tell you? Even if you can cure me of my diabetes, I won't likely live much more than a couple months," Scott explained, shrugging her shoulders. She had the satisfaction of seeing how the Equestrian eyes did that weird iris contraction that Trevar had mentioned a few times.

In a couple of hours, after Razor, as well as Blood Feather and Golden Slasher, who had accompanied her to the capitol, returned with the load of bits, Pardus dumped off several rolls of copper foil at the house that he had purchased with the money.

As he left for the next item on his list, in addition to the pink pony that had been following him, he spied a familiar looking blue pegasus snoozing in an apple tree.

Great! This works out perfectly! Let Pinkie Pie watch me spend my time talking with this mare and she won't be able to follow the griffons getting their shit, he thought as he approached the tree.

Carefully, he hovered to match Rainbow Dash's level, and then used his tractor beams to begin quietly easing the branches apart just enough to allow him entry. It was slow going, but it would be well worth it to see her face when she woke. Eventually, he was just inches from her snout, admiring her mane.

"I agree with Trevar," Pardus suddenly spoke up in slightly louder than normal conversational tone, "about how your red stripe is so cute!"

Rainbow Dash's eyelids snapped open wide and both her irises and pupils shrank to dots.

"GYAH!" she screamed and fell out of the tree.

Pardus, of course, had prepared for that, and instantly pulled back out of the tree and rocketed down and around to catch her in his arms before she could hit the ground.

"Aside from it being such a bright and cheery color, she's so shy," Pardus continued his commentary as though nothing had happened. "No matter from which way you look, she's always trying to hide behind all the others," he finished, nosing a little at the forelocks in her mane. He looked at her as he waited for her heart rate to return to some semblance of normal.

"Uh—?" the pegasus began.

"Feeling better?" Pardus asked, interrupting her before she could utter anything more than that. "Panthera told me how you were so strongly affected by a telepathic assault that hit you yesterday." He shifted his hold on her to let her know he was going to let her go free. She got the hint and spread her wings and took over her own lift as he released her.

"You heard this, didn't you?" he asked her as he began projecting the music into the air.

"Yes! That's what I heard!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed after a couple measures played out. "Only—only—there was so much more to it! There was such a deep love of flying accompanying it. Somepony has such a deep understanding of what it feels to fly—!"

"It was no pony," Pardus grimly told her. "It was a dragon. Panthera and I know him."

"A—a d—dragon!?" the pegasus asked, nervously gulping.

"Yes. And there is a danger," Pardus replied with a growl. "You all need to be very careful about him."

"Well, we've dealt with dragons before!" Rainbow Dash suddenly yelled as though she to dispel the image of her reaction to the news. "Uh—just how b—big of a dragon?" she soberly asked.

"About fifty feet long, give or take," Pardus replied as he projected an image of Trevar's draconic form, amused as he watched her irises and pupils do that weird contraction thing again.

That is never going to get old, he thought to himself.

I have NO idea WHY I thought that would end any different from the last six times…. was Trevar's last thought as he laid there with his throat ripped out, trying to stay focused beyond the fiery pain and the growing darkness overtaking his consciousness.

The Gateway opened and he returned to his human form. Immediately, he triggered it again to return to being a dragon again before the unicorn or her Equestrian draconic friend could spot him.

'Let's do this again,' he grumbled to Panthera as he painfully pulled himself up off his back. Despite all his injuries being instantly healed, the memories of the pain of those injuries still lingered.

There has to be a way to beat them all, he grimly thought as he took wing to give him some distance before making his attack run again. In the time it took him to reach his ready position, the holograms of the other dragons reformed to their pristine condition, all their wounds instantly gone. But I'd die happy if I can ever do more than put just a few scratches into Bill's hide.

The hologram of Bill's red dragon form waited for Trevar's dive, slowly stepping around to keep facing the gold dragon winging above the battle field. Bill's dragon was a brute of a monster. At least three times Trevar's length and a winged solid mountain of armored scales, spikes, muscles, teeth, and claws. And there were shitloads of ALL OF THEM! Especially the teeth and claws.

Sherry's gold dragon stood by, flanking Bill, ready to step in to aid her mate should he need any assistance. So far, she hadn't needed to do anything more than look menacing. And she did look menacing. Easily as large as the red dragon, she had a form more like her mate's than she resembled Trevar. Plenty of spiny spikes. Plenty of horns. Plenty of polished hardened scales. Plenty of muscle. Plenty of teeth. Plenty of claws.

It was so depressing to look at those two.

And despite their bulk, they were every bit as quick as Trevar as well as being far stronger than he was. But as fast as the three of them were, none of them could match Yoko. Trevar took the moment to once more regard his own mate.

She was also gold. But unlike Sherry or Trevar, she had no wings. She didn't need them as she leisurely circled above the battle field. She was at least three times the length of Bill or Sherry's dragon forms, fully nine times Trevar's. But her mass was only a couple times Trevar's. Long, thin, and sexily slinky, her body was that of a Sinodraconic, popularly called a Chinese Dragon in the West.

Snaking through the sky, her body had constant sinusoidal waves traveling her length in a complex combination of twists as well as horizontal and vertical undulations that were surprising impossible to predict. Her levitation was the result of telekinetic forces that she manipulated through the long whiskers jutting out from her snout and the furred tip of her tail. She was able to use such forces both for flight and for offense. With all that, it made her extremely fast and surprisingly deadly. Her telekinesis could easily tear any of them to shreds if she so desired.

Trevar knew firsthand how fast she could be.

The first time they had met in Chicago in 1990, she had sliced him apart before he even knew she was attacking. He counted himself lucky that he had even gotten his one shot with a LAW at her in at all.

Perhaps she wasn't expecting it, or maybe she had grown complacent from working for the mob as one of their deadly lackey assassins and just wanted to see what he was capable of. Either way, she had nothing to worry about, as she had been using the Gateway for years while Trevar had been stuck as a dragon and Bill and Sherry hadn't a clue they even had such abilities. At the time, she was the only one who knew she wouldn't die, even if her body was mortally wounded.

Trevar considered that for this fight, Yoko would have to be eliminated at all costs. Bill was very tactically and strategically minded and Trevar trusted him to be an effective leader should he win their upcoming contest. Sherry, he knew, had been trained by Bill, but she was still too much an unknown—too dangerous to leave everyone to chance in case she screwed up making a critical decision. As soon as Yoko was taken out of the fight, his next priority should be Sherry.

However, Yoko was a proven disaster waiting to happen. She was far too mercurial. One moment too timid to make any hard choices. The next, Trevar swore, she was bordering on the psychotic. It took all his persuasive personality to reign her in such times when she became manic. And those occasions when she was too timid to act, he was frustrated beyond imagination at how obstinately unmoving she could become. Oh, and how she hated to be pushed! Which often led to them nearly fighting each other more than the targets they were supposed to be going after.

God help us all if she ever wins the leadership, he thought.

But still, something was urging Trevar to take out Bill first and foremost. However, it was time to try something different. After all, each of the last seven times he had dove down to tackle Bill's dragon had simply showed him a new variety of mangling. Shit was getting old!

Fuck it! Trevar finally decided, swerving to aim for Yoko. Bill will still be there for when I'm needing to be folded, spindled, and mutilated again. I've got to focus past these fucking urges! Take out the danger to us all. Yoko cannot be allowed to lead us!

Given their strength and quickness, taking on Bill or Sherry was just plainly and utterly suicidal. Yoko didn't have their strength, just insanely fast moves. In fact, where it did come to physical strength, Yoko's dragon was considerably less than Trevar's. So this bout of suicide was no doubt going to only last long enough for it to take her to slice him to ribbons.

As she hadn't been involved before, the hologram was content to remain uninvolved. But now that she was finally engaged, she drove for him.

If I could just get a claw on her, he thought as he watched her approach.

As usual, whenever he focused on flying, his mind spontaneously called up tunes. As fast as she was, the distance they were from each other gave him a few seconds to select something to hum to himself.

And then they made contact.

And Trevar had to blink.

What the fuck just happened? he wondered.

Trevar blinked again.

'Panthera? What the fuck just happened?' he asked her.

'You hit her! And you dodged her strike!' Panthera replied, sounding just as astonished as he was.

'You didn't—just—make her miss—did you?' Trevar ventured.

'Fuck you! You know I'd never do something like that!' the shadowcat snapped.

'That's what I thought you'd say,' he muttered.

'So what the fuck did you just do?' she demanded.

'Nothing I didn't normally do,' Trevar replied.

'Okay, maybe it was just a fluke,' Panthera said after thinking about it. 'Let's go again, and see if there's any difference.'

And sure enough, when Yoko's hologram engaged him, she ripped Trevar up to where he couldn't fly anymore before he could respond. As he wasn't moving all that fast, the dent in the ground wasn't all that impressive. What was impressive was how aggravated he felt after he used the Gateway to heal up from that.

There was something different! There had to be! he fumed, furiously clawing at the dirt in the crater.

'Panthera! Look again at the parameters of that last encounter and all the other training sessions I've had with Yoko's hologram,' he insisted.

'Already on it. The only thing substantially different was the distance she came at you on that last attack,' Panthera reported. 'And if anything, she had a higher speed to attack you then than that last time. There's no way you should've been able to dodge, much less hit her!'

Trevar's gut told him something about those conditions had to be the key. He launched into the air once more.

'Let's try it once more,' he said, getting into position. 'Send her out just as far as that first time and bring her in just like then.' As Panthera directed Yoko's hologram out, Trevar waited licking his lips in nervous anticipation. As he waited, he began thinking of 8Dawn's "Heaven Earth" while he waited for her to go out and start her attack.

Yoko was at her maximum distance when the music reached 1:37 seconds, and getting into position to begin her attack run began, flying back him starting at 1:40 seconds. And she blew past him at 2:12, and she missed and he hit her again!

This time, however, Panthera was ready for such contingency. Yoko instantly looped back and continued her attack and Trevar kept up his counter strikes, a sort of combination of Jujitsu and Kung Fu, but in the air. The both of them furiously mixed it up for a full thirty seconds before she was forced to break off, looking for another avenue of attack. Then she shot back in at 3:11 and they fought for another full minute, until at the end of which, he actually downed the Chinese dragon! And he hovered in the air, stunned at what he'd just did.

'Fuck!' Panthera exclaimed a minute later, evidently as stunned as Trevar had been.

'Tell me you got all that!' Trevar growled. 'Because that shit went down way faster than I could follow!'

'Yeah, I got it!' Panthera responded. 'I couldn't get Yoko to react any faster, but you were just slicing her to shit and then some! What the fuck were you doing up there?'

'Believe it or not, just humming to myself,' Trevar told her. '"Heaven Earth" by 8Dawn. I started it up shortly after you sent her to set up her attack.'

'At what point did it finish?' Panthera asked.

'She went down about a minute before the end of the song,' he said as he landed.

'That matches up a little more than two minutes when you made contact,' she said after taking a moment to consider it before telepathically sending him the segment.

'Yes! THERE!' Trevar called out at the 2:10.5 mark.

'Let's—let's try something else,' Panthera said after several minutes thinking about it. 'Pick something and this time, and go after Bill again.'

'You just like seeing me getting torn to shreds!' Trevar growled.

'Don't worry, I'll keep Sherry and Yoko at bay,' the cloaked shadowcat laughed. 'But I have the beginnings of a theory. Just be sure to pick something badass.'

'It'd have better be!' Trevar nervously responded with a gulp.

"Yes, we fought him several times," Pardus told Rainbow Dash. "He's a tough old bird, I'll say that for him."

"B-b-but you guys beat him, r-right?" she eagerly asked.

"More like a draw," he replied. "Like I said, he's a damned tough critter. Quite intelligent and quick witted. You wouldn't want to fight him, I guarantee it."

"Oh, just let him show his scaly hide here," the pegasus said, grinning. "We'll teach him a few new things to think about."

"I'm sure you'd be able to," Pardus agreed. "But to be honest, I wouldn't want you to get involved. He's far too dangerous for any of you guys to take on."

"So what's his beef with you and Panthera?" she asked.

Pardus took several moments to think about it.

"I'm not really sure how best to answer that," he finally replied. "What I can say is that whenever he shows up, there's always plenty of blood spilled and not all of it is his."

"Wow! He can make you guys bleed? But I thought Twilight said you guys are made of equustite," she said.

"He can do a lot of damage," Pardus admitted. "All the more reason for you to not get involved."

"Well, don't you worry if he shows up here," Rainbow Dash said with pride. "We can always pull our rainbow powers of Harmony on him, if we have to."

"Oh? What are those?" Pardus inquired.

"Myself and my friends, Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie," she replied. "We started out with the Elements of Harmony. Later, we got an upgrade. That dragon comes around, we'll hit him with the weaponized Power of Friendship."

"Sorry, I'm not following, I'm afraid," Pardus muttered.

"Well, it's kinda hard to describe," the pegasus admitted. "Back when we just had the Elements of Harmony, the times we've used it, it resulted in a different effect. The first time we used it, we purged Princess Luna of Nightmare Moon. Prior to that, Princess Celestia had to use them to banish her sister into the Moon. Then we used it to restrain Discord after he broke out of the confinement that Princesses Celestia and Luna originally place him when they used the Elements over a thousand years ago—that was prior to Princess Luna's banishment, naturally. We needed to return the Elements to the Tree of Harmony, but we got upgraded with new rainbow powers when we defeated Tirek. When we used it, the magic he stole from all the ponies of Equestria got restored to their rightful owners and he got sent straight back to Tartarus."

"Interesting," Pardus said, impressed. "Please. Do go on."

"Are you okay, Doctor?" Scott asked the unicorn pony.

"I can't believe Princess Celestia left you in your condition!" Doctor Scalpel exclaimed.

"She did say the medical knowledge was lost in years past," Scott replied. "Yeah, it sucks to be the one needing it, but I've already accepted the fact that my mistake has cost me my life and the lives of my comrades."

"Nopony should be ready to just give up and die like that!" the unicorn protested.

"But what can be done?" Scott asked, shrugging her shoulders. "As hard as it is for me to accept Celestia and Luna are thousands of years old—if they don't have the knowledge, and they know the knowledge was lost in the distant past, what can be done to change it?"

"I'll do what I can to look into it," the unicorn doctor responded. "At the very least, I can go ahead and treat your diabetes as planned. But this isn't over by a long shot."

'Okay. I've started,' Trevar sent.

Panthera watched as Trevar began stalking Bill, and keeping him under observation, she instantly picked up a big difference in how Trevar did this time.

Prior engagements always had Trevar reacting with some measure of evident fear. A moment of hesitation, a flinch in how his body moved, a twitch in his expression. But not this time.

This time, Trevar stalked cautiously, but with clear confidence. His tail swept back and forth in the undulating wave, an uninterrupted slow, smooth waving. Even his wings ceased to spasm as he was often apt to do. This time, there was a smooth unfurling and contracting cycle that he'd never before exhibited. And all the more unnerving was how his silvery pupils widened as he took in the sight of the hulking red dragon approaching.

At forty seconds into whatever music Trevar was thinking, there was another noticeable change in how he approached the hologram of Bill's dragon. Still not fear. No. This was still a confident stalking, but a not-so-subtle difference to it.

Panthera was intensely curious as to what was going on in Trevar's head right now. She knew exactly what Trevar knew. She felt exactly as Trevar felt. They had the same mind, after all, the same memories, and their minds operated with the same logic. There was no way that Trevar would be unable to feel terror at the prospect of fighting Bill. Shit, she felt that terror, too. Worse, they both knew that the hologram was programmed to function at 150% of Bill's known rated strength and speed. She wasn't about to go easy on Trevar, and he didn't want her to.

The two dragons circled each other, crab walking as they approached each other. At 1:20, they stopped just within Bill's reach, but outside Trevar's as they sized each other up. Then Bill launched his attack.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, given his evident success in using music against Yoko, Trevar had no trouble dodging the first series of wing, claw, bite, and wing strikes the larger dragon aimed at him. From what she could deduce of Trevar's actions, he was applying what Bill had taught him of hand-to-hand combat: a mixture of Taekwondo, Kung Fu, and Jujitsu. Instantly, she directed the hologram's attack against him to incorporate Trevar's modified fighting style. But within a couple of seconds, Trevar was once again actually began striking back at Bill. Not directly blocking the larger dragon's blows, but rather deflecting them, with a series of claw and wing strikes of his own to the back side of Bill's reaches, matching the red dragon's attack pattern, throwing the larger dragon off balance in his swipes at Trevar.

And then, suddenly, Trevar began incorporating more complex body twists and spinning turns to dodge some of the blows coming at him!

What was surprising was that at 1:40, Trevar was suddenly and fully on the offensive! For only a couple of seconds, to be sure, but it was the first time he actually had ever hit the bigger dragon.

Bill's hologram was quick to adapt and counterattack once more, but Trevar again deciphered the pattern and was back to using the deflecting-type of defense that had begun to work for him. Then at 1:46, Trevar was on the offensive again! And for a longer time at it! Four seconds, this time!

She once more directed Bill's dragon to use a different tactic to try to resume his strength and size advantage. That worked for about three seconds before Trevar found a way past the new pattern and resumed his flurry of spinning kicks, wing and claw strikes, and tail whips. It was another five seconds before Panthera directed the larger dragon to bull rush attack on Trevar. However, the smaller gold dragon instantly twisted about and out of the way before he quickly developed his own offensive pattern that kept Bill off balance for nearly seven seconds before he could resume the attack again on the smaller dragon.

But that lasted for only a second before Trevar launched into a new offensive that began scoring telling hits. No matter what Panthera tried, she could not regain the offensive against Trevar. And then at 2:22, the wounds the larger dragon had taken proved fatal and the hologram dragon collapsed!

Panthera was stunned.

There were numerous large holes in Bill's head, neck, chest and wings which simply should not have been there.

'…' Trevar sent, staring at the dead red dragon in shock.

'So what the hell did you use?' Panthera demanded.

'"Red Skies" from Bruton Music,' Trevar responded, still astounded at seeing Bill's dragon form bloodied and expired before him. He certainly hadn't come out of that fight unscathed, but he was in much better shape than the huge red dragon. In fact, Trevar had more tears all over his own carcass, but they weren't that bad. And, well, Bill's body wasn't really torn apart—but the wounds the red had were far more severe and concentrated in vital locations.

'Dude! As soon as we get back, I'm enrolling you in "Dancing with the Stars"!' Panthera teased him.

'I! Don't! Dance!' Trevar sent back, snarling.

'I don't know what else to call it, but you tore into him like it was choreographed,' Panthera countered. 'Hell! Better than choreographed! There's no way any living thing could pull off those moves! I think we just found your calling!'

She glanced over at the unicorn mare and the Equus dragon, who were still staring out toward the field where all those examples of carnage had taken place. They seemed to be in utter shock at the spectacle.

"Panthera and I find him—an intriguing creature," Pardus said, answering an inquiry Rainbow Dash had made about Trevar. "We're quite content to trust his nature. What is surprising is how the griffons have also taken to him."

"Uhh—yea-a-ah," the cerulean pegasus began. "About that: what's up with the griffons? Why are they so interested in that—human?" she asked with obvious distain for that last word.

"We're not really sure," Pardus admitted. "We're trying to figure it out, ourselves. The reasons they gave seem, rather—fanciful. However, we aren't about to call them liars, no matter how bizarre their explanations sound. And the griffons intrigue us as well, as we appear to likewise interest them. Living with Trevar here and the griffons is certainly proving to be—an interesting time," he said with an amused smile.

"Uhh—how's Gilda doing, if it's not betraying any trust?" the pegasus seemed to cautiously ask.

"She seems to be okay," Pardus replied with shrugging his wings, suspecting there was more to the mare's effort to sound innocent about it. "She and Panthera seemed to have become fond of each other."

"Really?" Rainbow Dash inquired with a bit more eagerness. "How so?"

"Nothing I think I can say specifically," Pardus disseminated. Then he changed the subject. "I understand you and Panthera had raced a couple days ago."

"Yeah! We sure did!" the mare happily exclaimed. "Even though she beat me, I've never been able to go so fast as when I tried to catch you guys!"

"I'm rather curious, Rainbow," Pardus began, deciding to try pinning her down. "What do you do for fun?"

"Oh! That's easy! I love to race!" she happily exclaimed. "I've got a serious need for speed, and naturally I feel best when I win. But it's been rather difficult to find a good challenge. Gilda was pretty good when we were growing up, and she still plenty fast, even today. But for some reason, she couldn't accept that I had made friends with other ponies.

"Even Soaring, one of my Wonder Bolts idols, is not as much as I'd been hoping for," she continued. "Of course, I'm hoping someday to become a full member of the Wonder Bolts. But for flat out racing, nothing feels as great as having a challenge to beat."

"Hmm … intriguing," Pardus muttered.

"There, that should do good for the first treatment," Doctor Scalpel said as he used his hoof to write something on the clipboard as the glow finally subsided.

Lieutenant Scott felt famished when he was done.

"I'll have Nurse Redheart escort you to the cafeteria and you eat up everything on this list. In a few hours, we'll resume with more of your treatments," he said, handing the note to her using his telekinesis.

"Wait, this is more sweets than I can safely eat," Scott protested after she read the menu he had written down.

"Not anymore," the unicorn told her. "I've already adjusted your immune system to prevent any further degradation of your pancreas. But restoring your insulin producing tissue is draining your body of quite a bit of energy and nutrients. You need to replenish them so as to not get sick. And your insulin should be up to about a third of normal, if what you told Nurse Redheart is accurate."

Half-an-hour later, she stood before the hospital's cafeteria counter where she handed the doctor's instructions to the pegasus mare serving the food.

Prior to coming to this world, Lieutenant Scott had never seen fruits and vegetables of such quality in both freshness and size in the individual specimens. And there was never a hospital on Earth that served food this damned good—ever!

When she sampled the broccoli and noodle casserole with various other vegetables mixed in a creamy alfredo cheese sauce they served, she almost wanted to ask the server to make a meal just of it alone. Her mom had once made something this good back when Scott was 10 and could never duplicate it again. And the side dishes were fantastic, too. As were the buttered rolls.

Of course, the doctor had been totally correct. The treatment she had undergone had made her famished. Food this good should never be rushed, but her hunger forced her to wolf it all down despite her efforts to draw out the experience. She just couldn't slow down until—until—until she reached for the desert. And only because her instincts of self-preservation finally kicked in: "eating sweets like this could and would kill her!"

She stared hard at the segment of apple pie sitting there in front of her, staring at it for several minutes.

She was still hungry.

She almost reached the resolution to take it over to the trash and dump it.

But she was still hungry.

She continued to glare at it as though it was her deadliest enemy.

But the doctor told me it was safe!

She continued to stare at the plate. She studied the composition of the pie: the flakiness of the upper and lower crust, the golden color of the partially caramelized chunks of peeled apples held together in the sugary apple syrup that the cooking process had created from the apples, the occasional dark masses of raisins mixed in with the apple chunks….

What was she to do?

The pie was approximately one and a half inches high, with about three quarter inches thickness for the upper and lower crusts. It was a one eighth slice of its original twelve inch diameter final product….

What was she to do?

She trusted that terrorist walking about town more than this "magic" that was supposed to be curing her….

A solitary tear slid down her cheek.

Valentin Wiest's "Warriors Of The Rising Sun" was the song Trevar chose for the next encounter. He really hadn't intended to, but for some insane reason, he called for Panthera to release all three dragons on him at once.

'Your funeral,' the shadowcat yelled back, but he chose to ignore the jibe.

Yoko was circling above them all, and he felt the confidence to walk between both Bill and Sherry.

Then, at 1:03, the two jumped in to attack. As had happened before, he spent most of his effort dodging their slashes while figuring out their rhythm until he could use the deflecting moves had adapted from the Martial Arts to throw and/or pull the two larger dragons off balance. All three of them were furiously mixing it up with their claws, wings, spinning attacks with their hind legs and tails.

At 1:18, Yoko swooped down to entangle him with her body and he had to roll away from Bill and Sherry to contend with this. It took him a little more than ten seconds to dislodge her, and just in time to deal with a full load of slashing claws, snapping teeth, pounding wings, and smashing tails from both of the larger dragons. Of course, he endeavored to give as much as he was taking.

But only twenty seconds later, Yoko again shot in and tied him up. He was a little quicker getting rid of her entangling embrace, but this time, rather than let her get away, he snagged the tip of her tail and with flicks of his wrist, used Yoko's entire body as a whip her head to smash against both Sherry and Bill.

The several snapping blows to both large dragons had the desired effect. Sherry was now dead. Yoko was likewise dead. And Bill was severely injured. But the huge red dragon was also now extremely pissed.

Since they all knew how Bill would likely react in that sort of situation, Panthera had amplified Bill's strength and speed to about 200% of his highest known rating, as well as the furious rage at which Bill now went after Trevar for killing Sherry.

At 2:25, Trevar was desperately trying to deflect Bill's attack on him. But half a minute later, a block using both his wings against Bill's right wing coming down upon him resulted in snapping Trevar's left wing humerus bone, and Trevar had to spend the next full minute in shear agony as the bone shards ground into his muscles while he was busy dodging Bill's claws, teeth, and wings.

Running out of options and room to maneuver, Trevar finally decided to use a desperation move: after making a break to put as much distance between them both, he used the respite to take the claws of his right arm and left leg to slice through the wing membrane and muscle of his damaged left wing, amputating it at the break.

Despite the continuous blood loss he now faced, the agony now dropped to a bearable level and he was also freed up to maneuver. He quickly resumed the fight against Bill.

It was very awkward to fight without the one wing to balance his weight and fighting moves, but he kept up at it—it wasn't like he had a choice in the matter. His job was to WIN! Fuck Bill and letting him lead! Was Bill hard core enough to slice off his own fucking wing? Fucking Bill was terrified of a fucking blizzard on a mountain road, for Christ's sake!

'We do what we fucking need to to get the fucking job done!' Trevar growled. 'And fuck ANYTHING that gets in our fucking way!'

And in thirty seconds, it was over. Ten seconds later, Trevar was forced to use the Gateway when his gushing blood ran out and his heart stopped.

But for those final ten seconds—he was the last dragon standing! That was all that mattered!

He quickly triggered the Gateway once more to return to his dragon form.

Then slowly, Trevar stood up on his four limbs and looked over the battlefield. He looked at Sherry's broken body. He looked over at Yoko where she was cut in half when Bill had come at him and Trevar had yanked a segment of her body up to parry the claws coming down at him. And he looked down at Bill's body lying there in front of him, with his throat finally torn out for once!

Trevar reared up on his hind legs to stand, spread his wings out full and raised up as tall as he could…

…AND HE ROARED!

'I'm afraid your audience just left,' he heard Panthera tell him when he dropped back to all fours again. But that wasn't important.

What—what is this going to cost us…? he wondered, looking over the corpses that represented his friends. What is going to happen when this is real? How can we remain friends after … this?

A single tear escaped one of his eyes.

"So, yeah, it's not enough to just be the fastest pony flying up there, of which I'm already faster than any Wonder Bolt," the pegasus was excitedly telling Pardus. "But you've gotta be agile, too. If I'm going to be a full member of the Wonder Bolts, I've gotta be able to pull off the types of moves they do at their shows."

"I still don't see how you can be much more reactive in your flying," Pardus pointed out. "Panthera told me how well you did in that maze you guys raced in. She still wasn't able to get through it without scraping her wings on the walls at the speeds you were flying any more than I was. But you took that maze right down the middle of those corridors, every turn you did just as sharp and precise as the maze, itself. How the hell can these 'Wonder Bolts' still be better than that? How is it that you're still not ready to join them?"

"Heh! That's the other thing," she nervously admitted, rubbing her right fetlock behind her head. "You gotta be consistent when you're flying. Sometimes, I get lucky. Sometimes I—uh—make mistakes. Oh! But, hey! Only when I'm putting in new moves into a routine!

"An-n-nyway, it ain't exactly cool for a performing member of the Wonder Bolts to go splat in front of an audience," she finished with a wince.

"Still, that's pretty awesome," Pardus told her, and his words did a lot to brighten up her mood. "So—any prospects for a mate, yet?" Oh, hell! There went that weird iris contraction. Aw well, there was bound to be a bad subject to bring up at some point in this conversation, he considered. "After all, a fine athletic specimen such as yourself eventually will want to settle down, and raise the next generation, right? Sure, it might be early for you to be thinking about it, but, eventually—sometime—no?"

"Well, I'm really not into any of that mushy stuff," she replied, really looking uncomfortable about the subject.

"Me, either," Pardus admitted with a shrug of his wings. "But then, most males aren't so much strong in that department. And it's rather difficult to find any females who aren't wanting the efforts to romance them. I'd say that any stallion who catches your eye would be happy to accommodate—"

"Uh—no—you don't understand—I'm—really—not interested in that mushy stuff," the pegasus stressed.

"Of course," Pardus nodded. "So, no flowers, no movies, just plain old sex, right? Like I said, any stallion who you—" But then he caught the subtle shift she made with her tail.

"Oh, you're not interested in stallions?" he inquired. "You prefer mares, right?"

"HEY! Why the hay does everypony assume I'm a filly-hoofer!?" she angrily yelled at him.

"Wait—when you said you're not interested in the 'mushy stuff'—you meant, sex, itself? Any sex?" he asked, astonished. "No stallions, no mares, either? Nothing?"

Her silence and the random tracing she made in the dirt before her with a hoof seemed to confirm his suspicions.

"Does that make me—weird?" she softly muttered.

"No, not really," Pardus sighed. "Unusual, yes. But not weird." You want 'weird'? Check me out. I like cats and dragons. And griffons, now … and maybe the occasional horse. His later thought caused his left ear to flatten some. "But it may explain things a bit," he added. And it does rather complicates matters, somewhat.

"Whadya mean? 'It explains things a bit'?" Rainbow Dash demanded.

"When you were racing Panthera," Pardus said, staring off to the side into space. "She picked up on how your brain chemistry was reacting to going through the maze. You brain was showing the same pattern that most creatures get when they experience sexual orgasm."

"So whadya saying?" the pegasus asked, puzzled by his explanation.

"Tell me why you're not interested in sex," he requested.

"It's—it's—it's the mushy stuff!" she protested. "It's—well—" she glanced at her rump for a moment. "It's mushy!"

"In other words, you're not comfortable with doing anything with that part of your body, right?" Pardus asked her.

"Yeah!" she instantly replied. "That's really the mushy and—well—nasty—parts!"

"Yeah, well, it's true that the playground is in a rather inconvenient location," Pardus acknowledged. "But haven't you ever wondered why so many others enjoy sex?"

"Well, not really," she replied. "I find the whole idea disgusting, to be honest. Why would anypony want to do such mushy stuff anyhow?"

"For the same reasons you want to win your races," Pardus said, grinning. "Because it feels good!"

"Whu—?" she stammered in shock.

"Yep. The same feeling you got when you beat Panthera through the maze is the feeling that anyone else gets when they're doing your 'mushy stuff'."

"No way!" she instantly protested.

"I'm afraid so," Pardus confirmed. "And I'm sorry if our little talk made you feel uncomfortable in any way."

"Oh! Well, hey! It's not like we were actually doing any of that mushy stuff," she said with a nervous laugh.

"True," Pardus acknowledged with a closed mouth smile.

"Anyhow, I've still got some supplies to pick up and I'm running rather late as it is," he said, getting up to prepare to launch into the sky. "Be seeing you, Rainbow," he said as a parting.

"Yeah! Catch ya, later!" she yelled up at him.

Pardus flew past several pegasi, who were busy moving clouds into position for the afternoon rains, on his way to meet Gilda, who had remained at the purple princess' castle.

'Hey, you two!' he telepathically called to Trevar and Panthera. 'They're getting ready for the rains.'

'We just finished up and are on our way back,' Trevar quickly responded. 'We gave that indigo-maned white unicorn and her dragon friend quite a show. They're running back to town as fast as they can—and—we just passed them.'

"I think your pie has cooled down enough to eat, if you must know."

"Wh-what?" Lieutenant Scott exclaimed. The voice shocked her out of the trance she had unwittingly placed herself. She looked about to see the white plain pony, Redheart, staring at her.

"You don't like the pie?" she inquired.

"I—I've—spent most my life trying to avoid foods like this," Scott said, "knowing they would kill me."

"Not this time," Redheart kindly told her. "And your body, right now, needs that. The treatment to cure your insulin imbalance may be using magic to accomplish the task, but it's not magic that will heal you. Your body just needs help, and that's what the magic is doing. But it's your body that has to do the work, so you need food. Simple as that."

"But your doctor said my insulin is only at a third of normal," Scott protested. "This is still too much for me to handle."

"If your current condition wasn't going to improve, then yes," Redheart agreed. "However, you're already late for your next session. After this, if your progress is as good as earlier, you should be back to nearly fifty percent … forty-five at minimum. But to get there, you still need to eat!" she finished with a grin. "Besides, why do you think you had to eat all that other food? The best diet for anypony is a balanced meal—regardless of what your pancreas is able to provide."

"You're right," Scott acknowledged, finally reaching for her fork.

"Of course I'm right," Redheart said with a giggle. "You're not the first pony to come through here needing this sort of treatment—well, you might be the first—whatever you are—'human', right?" she amended.

"Yes," Scott replied, laughing.

And this is DAMNED GOOD! she thought, focusing on the flavor. She immediately regretted the urge to throw it away.

"Hey! What's wrong?" the pony suddenly asked, putting a sympathetic hoof on her shoulder.

"Hmm?" Scott wondered what she talking about. Then she felt the tear sliding down her face.

"Oh! Nothing!" she quickly replied. "Just a reminder of…," she had to stop, know how long the explanation would probably take. "Nothing. Just, I've not had pie for, oh, so many years. And this is damned good pie!" she said, using a napkin to blow her nose. "I just never realized how badly I missed it."

"Hey, it's perfectly understandable," Redheart kindly told her.

"They left their cart behind," Trevar commented, as he walked back to Panthera, who had by then, dropped her cloak and all the holograms of the dragons.

"I've no idea why'd they do that," Panthera idly replied.

"Is it too big to carry in your cloak?"

"No," she answered. "But I'm not sure how I can ensure that it gets returned to her without any losses. Or without blowing my cover."

"Maybe just pour it into her bedroom window?" Trevar suggested after he triggered the Gateway and returned to his human form.

"Hmm … that might work," she said as he climbed upon her back and set the grip of his arms and legs.

As they flew back, they came upon the unicorn, still running, with the baby dragon still riding her. He was keeping watch in case the larger dragons were following.

'Hey, you two!' Pardus suddenly called to them. 'They're getting ready for the rains.'

'We just finished up and are on our way back,' Trevar telepathically responded. 'We gave that indigo-maned white unicorn and her dragon friend quite a show. They're running back to town as fast as they can—and—we just passed them.'

"I'd better drop you off at the house first," Panthera told him once they were far enough ahead to avoid being overheard.

"Yeah, I can just imagine how antsy the griffons have gotten waiting all morning," Trevar agreed.

"So, how do you want to handle Screaming?" she inquired. "You want to let her in on that you can do a modest impersonation of a griffon?"

"Not really," he sighed. "But, then, there's no telling what that passionfruit shit will make me let slip."

"Well, we can expect quite the orgy, if you do," she chuckled. "I'm sure Mittens will be standing by for a little more action."

"Yeah—and here I thought finding a way to beat Bill was going to be tough," Trevar groaned, laying his head down into her neck.

"At least you'll still have me and Pardus to help out," she said over her shoulder, chuckling. "Well, here we are," she said, diving toward the house.

"Try not to take too long this afternoon," Trevar whispered before they got too close to be heard.

It was an easy jump into his bedroom's second story window, and he wasn't outside her cloaking field until he was actually inside.

And naturally, both Mittens and Screaming Eagle were there, sleeping on his bed, waiting for him. And naturally, they were instantly awake. And naturally, they screamed as they tackled him.

He would've been flattened on the floor had they hit him from the same direction. Fortunately, they nailed him from both sides and at the same time.

And naturally, considering he was buck naked as they both hugged him, he instantly thought, What's more perverted than using a chicken to tickle one's self? Using two chickens. But then a new idea popped into his head right after that which made him grin.

New item on today's menu: human sandwich on griffon! Don't hold the mayo!

Panthera hovered outside the building, looking in the second floor windows. She could see two bedrooms. Unfortunately, there was nothing visible that could tell which was the unicorn mare's. Both looked over the area in front of the boutique, so that didn't help differentiate them.

Then she sent out some penetrating scans. One was closest to the stairs going down into the main part of the shop, so that's the one she decided on. Looking about, she saw the coast was clear.

Using her tractor beam, she unlatched the window and raised it. Then she brought the cloaked wagon up against it and tilted it, letting the pile of gems pour inside. Once it was over, she closed the window and brought the empty wagon around to the back of the shop.

One less thing to worry about, she happily thought. And just in time, too, she finished as she spied the mare rushing into the neighborhood.

But instead of going to her home, as expected, the mare and dragon ran toward the building that was uncannily designed to look like a cupcake-gingerbread house. Panthera spent several CPU cycles trying to figure out why anything would think of such a combination. When that processor found itself in an infinite loop with no logical solution apparently forthcoming, she dropped the analysis.

She quickly followed the mare through the door as she burst into what was evidently a restaurant. Already inside were the purple princess, the farm pony, and the blue pegasus.

"Rarity!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed.

"We only just got away!" the small dragon hoarsely yelled fainting.

"Take it easy, Sugarcube!" Applejack said, jumping up to help the unicorn, and helped her to Applejack's seat. "Yer safe now."

"It—it—it was horrible!" Rarity sobbed.

"Wow! Never seen you so messed up, Rares!" Rainbow Dash said as she hovered over the comatose dragon. She glanced down at the baby dragon, then back up to the unicorn.

"Calm down, Rarity," Twilight told her. "Take a breath and then you can tell us all about it."

"D-dr-dragons!" Rarity stammered. "A flock—or a flight—or a murder—or a—whatever does one call a group of dragon, anyhow?" she demanded.

"A storm," Panthera spoke up, dropping her cloak.

All of them turned to stare at her, sitting on the floor next to the baby dragon.

"A group of dragons is called a storm of dragons," she repeated.

The mares all nervously gulped.

"These dragons—they all got into a fight!" Rarity began. "There were five dragons in all. One dragon was taking on three at a time while the last one stood by us!"

"Three 'gainst one?" Applejack muttered. "Don' sound fair 't'all."

"Not at first," Rarity explained. "At first, he was losing. And losing bad! But then—"

The unicorn went on to relate how Trevar's dragon fought the other dragons throughout the morning. Eventually, the baby dragon woke up and was able to provide additional details. Surprisingly, there was a lot more blood involved in their retelling than what was actually involved.

During one of the many pauses she took to try and recover her wits from the trauma before resuming her story, Panthera cut in to ask Rarity a question.

"Can you describe this dragon that was fighting all the others?"

"Why, yes! He was gold colored," Rarity instantly recounted. "Two sets of tusks at the front of his snout, horrible eyes of blood!"

"Whoa! About seventeen trots long?" Rainbow Dash suddenly broke in.

"This dragon?" Panthera asked, projecting a small holographic depiction on the table.

"Yeah! That's the guy!" Spike acknowledged.

"How-however did you know?" Rarity asked, astonished.

"Pardus told me about that critter!" the pegasus exclaimed. "Said he and Panthera had bad dealings with him!"

"Yes, Pardus and I know him," she grimly told them.

"Is he trouble?" Twilight demanded. The shadowcat smirked.

"Really? You're asking me? What do you think?" she asked sarcastically.

"To be honest, I don't know what to think," the alicorn replied. "I've been getting reports of this dragon from several sources over the last few days. And every one of them seem to paint a different picture of him. The Cutie Mark Crusaders said he saved them from the Everfree Forest, while Zecora related about how he seemed to be hunting her for some reason. The night guards overseeing Trevar's house said the creature was very civil even as he refused to pull over on their demands, and now this! And the odd type of healing magic he's apparently using on himself and those other dragons! What can you tell us?"

"I could probably tell you quite a lot, actually," Panthera said after considering just how much she should reveal. "What would you like to know?"

"What do we do if we run across him?" the alicorn asked.

"Oh, that's easy. Pray you don't run across him," Panthera replied deadpan. "Pray very, very hard. And hope that whatever god you're praying to is kind enough to oblige."

"I'm sorry, but I'm not joking!" Twilight Sparkle snapped.

"Neither am I," Panthera sternly replied. "I'm deadly serious."

"He's very tough. Quite intelligent," she went on. "He's as vicious as he is kind. Pardus and I've fought him several times, yet we've not been able to kill him. Trust me, we've used very lethal force against him on every such encounter. You've seen some of what we can do, so you should be able to imagine what that's going to look like. He has no problem about ripping his enemies apart, assuming he doesn't flame them first." Just then, she thought of something else to help make all of their blood run cold that made her smirk in amusement. "And—he apparently has no problem about ripping his friends apart, either."

Oh, yeah! Those contracting irises are never going to get old!

"Good afternoon, Gilda," Pardus called as he entered their room in the Chrystal Castle.

"Lord Pardus," she greeted warmly.

"You can relay to Razor and Gustav that all is going according to plan," he told her. "Trevar has taken care of his personal matters for the day, while your comrades at his home are keeping the ponies in the dark about his comings and goings. Also, it seems my assumption about the pony following me was accurate. Hopefully, the rest of you will be able to get the supplies we need to secure Trevar's home without the ponies being the wiser. At the moment, though, I still have a little business to conclude with a certain pony, for which I'm going to need the four thousand and fifty bits to pay him for the passionfruit we got."

"Of course," she sighed.

"Any chance of Panthera showing up?" the griffon asked with a hopeful grin.

"Sorry, but I can't guarantee anything," Pardus gently told her. "We're expecting to assist Screaming Eagle's mating with Trevar shortly, and then there's going to be some needed time off this evening."

"Oh," Gilda said, sighing forlornly.

"Can I ask when your turn will be coming around?" Pardus inquired. Her head snapped up and her eyes opened in evident shock. "You know, with Trevar?" The set of her pupils and irises showed the caveat wasn't sitting any better with her regard.

"Uh—" she stammered with a gulp. "T-t-tomorrow," she stuttered. "And—and the next day—!"

"Then I can guarantee you that you will have her all to yourself," Pardus kindly told her. "And you won't have to worry about Trevar, if you don't want him to touch you. He's not the kind of person to force anyone to do something like that."

"Really!?" she asked, surprised by the offer.

"Yes. Really," Pardus affirmed. "He would be just as happy if you don't want him as he would if you let him mate with you—he would, however, be ecstatic—and would consider it a great honor—if you would allow him to help Panthera make you feel good."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Gilda asked, puzzled.

"He gets his greatest pleasure from making sure that others enjoy their pleasures," the shadowcat explained with a sincere smile.

"If Princess Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash accompany us, can you show us the field where the dragons fought?" Panthera asked.

"You want us all to go to where that dragon is?" Rarity exclaimed. Understandable, given the limitations of what the unicorn actually knew. And the cerulean pegasus and purple alicorn didn't look too pleased with the suggestion of their inclusion, either.

"Yeah! Didn't you just get through telling us to NOT get in his way?" Spike added.

"Well, if he's still there, I can at least keep him busy long enough for Rainbow Dash and the Princess to get you and Applejack out of there," Panthera offered.

"Then why go at all?" Spike demanded.

"To gage the amount of damage he was doing," Panthera innocently replied.

"We can tell you just how much damage he was doing!" the baby dragon protested. "He was ripping the living squit out of—"

"SPIKE!" the white unicorn and the purple alicorn both screamed at him.

"S-sorry, Twilight!" Spike exclaimed. "But it's got to be said! He ripped three other dragons apart! Three dragons that were each bigger than he was by at least three times. And this, after he somehow survived getting ripped apart by them several times! WHY, in the name of Celestia and Luna both, does anypony need to go out to confirm THAT!?"

"As much as I am appalled by the atrocious language the our dear little Spikey-wikey has somehow picked up lately, I must say, I agree with his sentiments," Rarity protested.

"Well, I'm certain of my knowledge of his capabilities," Panthera admitted. "Although, if he's improved his skills beyond my last encounter with him, such an examination would be telling. Plus, there's your own need to learn that which you might unfortunately one day face."

But the alicorn looked pensive, taking a long time to think about the matter. And the other Equestrian beings were quick to pick up on it.

"Oh, no!" Spike groaned.

"Really?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Dear Twilight! Tell you're not seriously considering—?" Rarity nervously began.

"Uh-huh! She is!" Applejack confirmed.

"We need to know," she softly muttered. And Panthera inwardly smiled. She had found this one's weakness: she has to know!

Oh, we're going to have so much fun with her! the shadowcat thought to herself.

It took several inquiries, and eventually he just had to say, "fuck it!" and use a few holographic projections of fake ponies while cloaked, but Pardus eventually found where the pony known as Filthy Rich lived.

Racist bunch of shits, Pardus thought as he approached the door to the mansion, smirking at the memory of those ponies who freaked at the shadowcat approaching them to ask such questions. They must not like black people. I should've wore my spots.

He waited for someone to answer the knock he gave on it. When it opened, he saw a familiar looking fuchsia colored filly. And she instantly recognized him.

He smiled.

She nervously gulped.

"Hello," he politely greeted. "Is your father home?"

She silently nodded, staring at his teeth with those pin-prick pupils and irises.

Then she slowly closed the door.

When it was shut, he heard several clicks. Then a scream.

Lieutenant Scott was once more feeling famished when the unicorn doctor was finally finished emitting that glow about his horn.

"How are you feeling?" he gently inquired.

"Starving!" Scott exclaimed.

"Excellent!" he happily said as he took a clipboard from Nurse Redheart and looked it over. "It says here that your kind are omnivores."

"Well, I'm vegan, actually," Scott said, correcting him.

"Oh? What's that?"

"I'm like you ponies. I only eat vegetables," she explained. "I don't eat meat due to ethical reasons."

"Hmm?" he grunted. "Commendable, perhaps. But unwise, given your condition. You should be eating a diet that meets your body's needs. And to perfectly honest, not all ponies are vegetarians. Pegasi, for example, are omnivores, too."

"What?" Scott asked, shocked at the revelation.

"It's not generally talked about," Doctor Scalpel said. "Unicorns, too, to a smaller degree. Only earth ponies are strictly vegetarians, although there are myths that sometimes point to evidence of the contrary."

"Your legends of Hercules?" she softly asked, and her words caused both the doctor and the nurse to react in shock.'

"You've heard of him and the four!?" Nurse Redheart asked in horror.

"Hercules is a myth from my world, and one of the labors he faced involved a group of meat-eating mares," Scott admitted. "When I first arrived here, I had a talk with that farmer, Applejack. She told me of your world's apparent connection to those myths."

"So! Hercules was one of your people? A human?" Doctor Scalpel inquired. "We never knew. We only knew he was a monster."

"Wow! How weird it is to hear that word applied to him," Scott said. "Although, in certain circles on my world, they would call him a monster."

"Well, in so much as Hercules wasn't a pony, that should come as no surprise at all," Nurse Redheart said. "The real monsters were the Four Earthist Mares of the Aponyclypse. They not only ate meat, they ate only meat! At least until whatever magic your Hercules did to them cured them of their madness and their banishment finally ended."

Scott had to blink several times at what she said. Then she groaned in pain at the atrocious horse-pun. She had begun to notice them more and more in this world.

"Well! We'd better get you something to eat, stat!" Doctor Scalpel exclaimed. "Obviously, the treatment has left you so famished you're hurting!"

"No! Actually, it was that horse-pun she dropped," Scott tried to protest, but she suddenly found her words falling on suddenly deaf ears as she was forcibly shoved into a wheelchair that Nurse Redheart somehow pulled out from nowhere….

"On it, Doctor!" Redheart responded, securing her into the chair.

"No! Really! It was the—" Scott was saying as she was being wheeled out of the treatment room and down the hall.

"And make sure she eats every bite!" Doctor Scalpel called out from the doorway.

"It was the stupid horse-pun!" Scott protested as her chair accelerated down the hallway.

"Yessir, Doctor! The griffon diet! Roger! Wilco, Doctor Scalpel!" Nurse Redheart yelled back. Somehow, even with her mouth occupied with the steering bar of the wheelchair, her words were perfectly intelligible as the pony shifted her running from a canter to a gallop.

"Those puns are every—ywheaeeyaaaaah—you're takingthisturntooffaasstt!!" Scott yelled and tensing up as Redheart ran her chair around the corner.

The four ponies and baby dragon stood off from the scene of the dragons' battle, near to where Rarity and Spike had stayed previously, obviously terrified of the creatures showing up again.

Panthera, naturally, made sure to keep any expression she broadcast as neutral as possible so as to not reveal what she already knew. She and Pardus were each a bitch to beat in poker, and Trevar hated them for that.

She hovered over the field, making a show of using her eyebeams set to a laser scanning mode to map out the entire area. In about half-an-hour, she had completed mapping every square millimeter of the area. Then, in the time it took her to fly back to rejoin the ponies, she used what she had learned in the past from Bill and his cousin, Paul, about hunting and estimating the sequence of events to make sense of intermixed tracks and traces. She compared this with what she was there to witness, and adjusted the actual recording to allow for the uncertainties no doubt that should naturally come from tracking alone.

When she landed among them, she had a modified rendered 3D movie of the fights ready to present to the ponies. She was interested in whether Rarity and Spike would recall the actual events from the errors she intentionally introduced and point them out.

"Based on the tracks in the ground, I think I can roughly account for most of what happened here," she said, beginning to project the movie of a miniature hologram of the field and the dragons' battles.

To their credit, both the white unicorn and baby dragon made numerous corrections, pointing out at least seventy percent of the errors she had introduced.

At the end of the two-and-a-half hour period, they had restored the actual fight to about eighty-five percent correct. Not bad, considering most fixed video of a single camera overlooking a crime scenes would often miss about ten percent of the full events, given camera angles and obstructions to the view that allowed prosecutors and jurors to invent things that happen in such blind spots. Panthera, on the other hand, had the input visuals from the holographic projections of the dragons to relay the view about any obstructions that she wasn't able to directly view herself.

At the end, she sighed and gave them the bad news.

"It is as I had feared," she said. "Dragon has markedly improved since the last time I fought him. Even with both of us, Pardus and I will have a very difficult time should we come across him again."

"Do you know what this dragon's name is?" the purple alicorn asked.

"His name is Dragon."

"Wait! The dragon's name is Dragon!?" Spike exclaimed. "What a ridiculous name! No other dragon will accept him taking that for his own!"

"Are you going to be the one who tells him he can't have it?" Panthera demanded, pushing her snout into his. "No other dragon has ever challenged him for his claim to that name and won!"

"Oh—uhh—no—I'm not gonna…," Spike meekly stammered.

"Then you're the fourth to do so," she said, smiling a toothy grin. "So you get to live, as do the others who likewise accepted his claim to that name."

"What do we do now?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"For now, we're done here," Panthera said, raising up to look back over her shoulder to the field behind her. "Other than the tracks and the blood spilt here, there's no sign of Dragon or the others. All we can do is wait for him to show up," she grimly told them.

The door reopened, despite the voice of the filly begging her parents to not answer it.

The mare gasped in horror. The stallion, while surprised, did have a reaction more akin to acknowledging someone with whom he was acquainted.

"Miss Panthera! I did not expect to see you so soon," Filthy Rich greeted.

"I'm her brother, Pardus, actually," he replied. "We're identical twins."

"Oh, of course," he accepted the explanation without question, but suddenly looked confused about something. But before the stallion could speak of it, Pardus used his tractor beam to shift the bag full of bits over toward them.

"My sister told me of the agreement she made with you," Pardus said. "We collected nine of the passionfruits, so here are the four thousand and fifty bits agreed to."

"Oh! Well! Thank you!" the stallion gratefully responded. "I trust your sister is fine? The trees where they grow is guarded by very dangerous creatures."

"She's perfectly fine, thank you for asking," Pardus replied. "The experience was a bit of a surprise, but not at all difficult or hazardous for her."

"Four—four—four thousand?" the mare stammered, finally breaking free of her evident paralysis.

"Four thousand and fifty," Pardus corrected. "At four fifty per fruit, as agree to."

"Of course!" Filthy Rich said, smiling. "Well, again, thank you for being so prompt with your payment."

"Not a problem," Pardus acknowledged. "But I've got other business to do, so I'll be leaving. Good day to you both. And say hello to your daughter for me. I really appreciate the help that her three classmates gave me the other day. I believe their names are Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Bell. She should appreciate having friends like them," he said in parting before taking off in flight.

His next stop was to another hardware store, where he picked up a few more supplies, including copious amounts of glue. Sure enough, the pink pony continued to follow him, failing to keep her covert spying on him concealed.

He really looked forward to getting the items being collected by the griffons. But he had a strong concern that getting the most difficult items: the gems and having them charged with the proper types of "magic" required. The only way that they'd be successful in getting those last items would be if they ponies have absolutely no idea of what it was they were building.

She became aware again while she was in the middle of eating, almost finished with a large bowl of salad.

The turn around the corner to the connecting hallway had been taken at nearly insane speeds that had actually titled the wheelchair with the g-forces. The singular question of how she didn't end up a smear on the wall was still going through her mind, along with the fact they were still going faster down the corridors toward the galley….

Most other ponies managed to have the reflexes to dodge out of the way in the nick of time. But more often than not, it was Nurse Redheart who was doing the dodging, steering the speeding wheelchair to zip and zigzag about ponies, tables, carts, and in one instance, in between a couple of speeding gurneys with patients and their attending medical staff that were being ran full speed down across a four-way intersection….

Scott had a momentary flashback to a trip to Mexico City, where she had been in a speeding taxi that had done the same thing at a blind intersection, somehow slipping between two other speeding taxies cutting across their route. There was no sound of squealing breaks or cars going out of control. Had they not miraculously missed each other, there would've been one tangled mess of metal and six dead people that day….

Scott wasn't aware of when the moment they actually came to a halt in the galley. Nor was she aware of what food was laid out in front of her. She wasn't even aware of when she had started eating….

Whatever shock that her mind had retreated into during that run only ended when her mind finally became aware nothing hazardous to her existence was going on at the moment. Her mind finally came out to take a peek and look around….

And her eyes finally settled on the bowl of salad. A safe bowl of salad….

She sighed in relief. Her belly was feeling content. The world wasn't rushing by at a near-supersonic blur. She wasn't experiencing an induced coronary. The taste of the mixed vegetables and fruits was a pleasant delight to her tongue….

She closed her eyes and happily chewed each mouthful, toying with attempting to identify what she was eating. There was orange, apple, cucumber, carrot, some sort of nut she suspected was cashew—tomatoes! She loved tomatoes! There was something mushy she couldn't quite figure out, a flavor and texture of something that she thought were chives, a crunchy substance that had a real nice flavor to it, and some sort of legume—maybe a lima bean?

Taking another mouthful, she once more came across that interesting crunchy ingredient with the wonderful flavor. She felt it was familiar, but she couldn't place it.

Puzzled, she looked down at the bowl in front of her. Yes, there's the apples. Some cashews. The chives. Oh, is that a flower? Looks like a dandelion! Cool! There's some carrots. Oh, what's that? Tofu? She took her fork and sampled it.

No, not tofu, she decided. It also had a consistency and flavor she was familiar with, but she just couldn't place it.

As she was puzzling over that, she finally spied a large piece of a brown colored, thinly flat, stiff object.

Maybe this? she wondered, setting her fork down to pick it out of the salad with her fingers so she could get a clearer look at it.

She nibbled at it, confirming it was the item that had such wonderful flavor to it.

Then it finally sunk in just what it was.

"BACON!?" she screamed.

"Why, yes. I think that's what that is," Nurse Redheart agreed after taking a look at it.

"How can you put bacon in a salad?" Scott demanded, backing away from the bowl as much as she could in her chair.

"It's a Caesar Salad. We sometimes have griffons as patients, so we need to provide for them," she replied. "They come in many varieties and are a favorite of many griffons, no doubt because they were named after one of their ancient emperors. And as we mentioned, pegasi enjoy them, too."

Scott looked at her in horror.

"You know," Redheart said, looking closely at Scott's eyes. "That's so weird. I've noticed how your irises never change size. Is that normal for your kind?"

"But I'm a vegan!" she protested.

"Lieutenant! We had this discussion already," the pony told her. "We know you prefer to not eat meat, but this is for your body's health. Your body needs this diet to heal!"

"But—I—I didn't know what I was eating! Going down the hallways at those speeds—it's unethical to feed me such food when I'm in state of shock like that!" she insisted.

"It's unethical to treat your condition in a manner that doesn't get you healed," the pony countered. "And believe me, I'm not comfortable to have to feed a meat-eater. But I'm doing this for your health."

They glared at each other, neither willing to yield their position on the impasse. Then Nurse Redheart finally sighed.

"I suppose you're not going to finish it, are you?" she asked.

"Absolutely not!" Scott exclaimed.

"Well, you nearly finished it off," the pony said as she took the edge of the bowl in her mouth to carry it to the dishwasher's station window.

"I guess it's a good thing she doesn't know about the salmon stake she had as a main course," Scott heard the mare mutter to herself.

"Hey! It looks like Allec the Griffon decided to make an appearance, after all," Pardus snarled as he and Panthera decloaked.

"Hmmm—it's not as bad as it appears," Trevar sighed as he enjoyed getting his wings preened by both griffon hens.

"Really?" Panthera asked, smirking.

"Well, as much as Screaming enjoyed me as a human," Trevar began, "she was having the same issues as Mittens. I could make her cum and cum all day long, but it wasn't wearing her out. To her, my dick was just a big stiff fat finger. She liked it well enough. But to satisfy her, I needed—uh—" he looked back toward his rear and tossed his beak in the general direction, "—a cactus dick," he finished, looking back to them.

"Uh-huh," Pardus grumbled.

"And there was Mittens, ready to help out with the second passionfruit. Well, one thing led to another—and you know how it goes."

"We can't leave this fucker alone for a minute," Panthera sighed.

"You are aware you're still bleeding, aren't you?" Pardus inquired.

"Ah—well—uh——yeah," Trevar admitted.

"Want us to help with that?" Panthera asked.

"Would you?" Trevar instantly begged.

Later that night, as Trevar and the griffons slept, Panthera and Pardus worked silently in the basement, laying down the foundation of the Faraday cage, starting in the right-front storage room.

After identifying the structural support members holding up the house, they first removed the non-supporting portions of the room's walls. They then laid out a pattern of the small wooden blocks that were to function as isolation insulators on the floor.

The pattern of blocks was made denser at the locations along the future border of the projected confines of the storage room where new structural support members would go.

Next came the sandwiched panels for the floor, using portions of the copper foil, thin steel frames, a few more wooden insulator blocks and screws to fasten them to ensure the inner and outer walls of the panels were respectively bonded to their neighbors yet remained insulated from each other.

It took quite a bit of extremely fine manipulation of their tractor beams to work the screws into the panel seams from underneath, considering there needed a right-angle action on the screws' turning often at over a couple meters' distance.

Next began the walls of the basement of that section, needing special care to not let the insulator blocks slip down from their pattern. Simple glue applied to where the blocks set on the existing basement wall was able to assist in that process.

Then came the tricky part, which was to do the same for the ceiling. Again, gluing the insulator blocks to the ceiling was the elegant solution there. And the material from the removed room's inner walls helped keep the ceiling panels held tight against those insulator blocks.

As they worked toward the first of the building's interior structural support beams, the progression of the ceiling support scaffolding took the weight of the house. Then, just prior to its removal, the shadowcats laid out a couple of thick steel plates along the storeroom's boundaries at the new basement walls of the Faraday cage. One plate set on the floor, to protect the floor panel from puncture and one plate was held up against the ceiling while a precisely cut I-beam was wedged in between, forming the first of the house's new support members at.

Another couple of measured I-beams were laid nearby off to the side to wait for the next step.

Now, it was time for the first of the interior vertical wooden beams to be replaced. With the scaffolding taking the weight of that portion of the house, their eyebeams cut sliced the wooden beam out and they set it aside. The floor and ceiling were smoothed over and the pattern of isolation blocks were set in place in both locations. Then the floor and ceiling panels were added. Then the protective floor plate was positioned.

'Ready?' Panthera asked Pardus. He nodded. He set himself to use his tractor beams to take the weight of the house

With both the scaffolding and the shadowcat supporting it, Panthera used her eyebeams to slice off the top portion of the I-beam on one of the basement wall supports. She then gently lowered the ceiling plate to the now shorter vertical I-beam.

Together, they applied a new tractor field to the ready pre-cut interior structural I-beam and held it up with a steel plate topping it. Once it was in place, and Pardus giving just a slight additional nudge to make enough room for it, they then lifted and wedged one of the longer I-beam to its horizontal position atop of both vertical. It would form the top of one of the room's new interior walls.

As Pardus eased off his supporting beams, the house settled on the horizontal I-beam, and their sensors confirmed the stress was nominal. The then repeated the process for the other vertical outer I-beam that would become the perpendicular wall and were quite satisfied with the results.

In just six-and-a-half hours, they had completed all the rooms of the basement, leaving gaps only around the stairs coming down and where the doors to the outside would eventually go, one for the existing cellar hatch and the one for the escape tunnel they planned to run.

Panthera was very happy. She was quite satisfied with how the work had progressed and the final results met their expectations perfectly. And as she watched Pardus make the preliminary installation of the interior grounding cable, she thought back to how the afternoon's entertainment when they joined Trevar and the griffons had likewise been satisfying.

Initially, they had simply joined in the action, the three of them all pleasuring both griffons and each other. But after a couple hours, Pardus suggested the two of them share a passionfruit, saying about how it had enhanced his experience of sex, making it actually feel as real as they had remembered.

Not seeing any problems with that, Panthera had agreed. And she was amazed by the salty-sweet-sour flavor that she hadn't experienced since becoming a panther. Those two fucking bastards had kept that little detail a pleasant surprise.

Of course, they had mentioned the feeling of being drunk once the passionfruit kicked in. What she hadn't counted on was how it made her entire outlook change.

Up until that moment, for her entire life, she had always thought of herself as Allec Trevar. Her memories before her creation were of when he was human until the day the Daniels vanished. Her first awareness of being an artificial life form was the moment Yoko killed Trevar and he was forced to use the Gateway the first time. Of course she knew her body was of a female panther—no one who had been born a human male could possibly miss realizing that! But in her mind, she was still Allec Trevar, a human male!

She did not consider herself gay. She was quite happily a healthy heterosexual male. But getting transformed like she had been, there was no getting around the issue her body was now that of a female panther. And she had absolutely NO desire to seek other males, human or panther. Or even dragon.

Okay, maybe a male dragon—? Aw, well, no, not really, she finally concluded.

Of course, there was the complication of the fact she wasn't Allec Trevar anymore. Not the real one, anyway.

No.

The REAL Allec Trevar was this human, sometime dragon, male. Plus, there was another Allec Trevar standing beside her, who happened to be a male panther. And she found it quite frustrating. She seriously wanted to fuck a female human. Or a female panther. Or even a female dragon. Unfortunately, even had there been any existing and available, she couldn't fuck anything! She had no dick!

Only two factors working together made her even consider the options available to her. One being these two other creatures were Allec Trevar, same as she was. The other was they were actually able to telepathically link. Not just telepathically speak to each other, but to actually link and feel what the others did and were experiencing.

It was quite the heady feeling to soar through the sky as a dragon. It was immensely comforting to be able to feel what it felt like to walk and hold things like a human again. She even got to experience being able to have sex as a man again! Of course, nothing could compare to mating with Yoko when they were both dragons. Being able to link with Trevar when he did those things did wonders to maintain her sanity and alleviate her frustrations.

Naturally, Trevar and Pardus were curious as to what it felt like to be a female. In a way, so did she. Yes, her body was female, but she had not ever experienced sex as a female, so she didn't have any basis to which to judge, either. She was a forty-something year-old virgin as far as her body was concerned. Likewise, the others were aware she was Allec Trevar, a male, and didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

But whenever she linked with them, those feelings and thoughts they had were still there.

And so she decided to make the offer. She still wasn't gay, not by any stretch. But she had to consider a puzzling conundrum: when people masturbate themselves, doesn't that qualify as a homosexual act? Homosexuality is defined as "same sex", and you are your own partner when you masturbate—it can't get much more "same sex" than that!

Also, considering that all three were still Allec Trever, having sex with either or both, it would still amount to "self-masturbation".

So she gave herself over to them. It was certainly—different—naturally. But the resulting sensations actually made logical sense, especially as they looked into the results of fetal medical research afterwards.

But it wasn't as entertaining to be the female as it was being the male. So the occasions where the three of them engaged in such activities were very few and sporadic.

However, this afternoon, when the passionfruit had kicked in….

Today, for the first time in her life, she thought of herself as female! And it was wonderful! Feeling Trevar hold her as he mounted her, she didn't just focus on the feeling slipping in beneath her tail, as pleasant as it was, but she was just as focused on how the fur on his inner thighs tickled and rubbed over the fur of her rump, how the weight of his belly along her spine, how his strong arms were wrapped about her waist, how his talons teased the nipples along her belly, how he gently nibbled the nape of her neck and how his hands stroked her sides and he would reach up under her wings and grip her shoulders. Never had she experienced and enjoyed being fucked like that. And Pardus also gave her a wonderful experience that matched the griffon that Trevar was.

Naturally, she shared her existence with them, and she learned what it was like to be a griffon male, too.

Prior to today, she had always loved those two like herself. Today, however, she loved them like her mates!

Watching Pardus put the finishing touches to his work, she stared at his furred rear, licking her lips in anticipation. Before going up stairs, she was going to have a piece of that shadowcat.

Then it was going to be Trevar's turn again. Only this time, she was going to have him change back to human. It would be getting daylight in a little while, after all, and it would be prudent to not surprise Gilda with his griffon form when she showed up. And then Gilda was going to be getting the full treatment and she couldn't wait for Gilda to reciprocate—Panthera might consider herself female at the moment, but she still preferred females. She guessed that made her a little bit bi-sexual.

And Panthera made one final determination as she walked up to Pardus: It naturally wouldn't happen today, but before she left this fucking planet, she was going to use that passionfruit and fuck Trevar's bloody dragon in such a way that the three of them would never forget it!

Her raspy tongue's stroke over Pardus' genitals made him yelp in surprise and jump straight up into the air.

The blinding snowstorm forced him to traipse over the frozen tundra rather than use his wings to get around. As much as he wanted to see the landscape to aid in his hunt, he had very practical reasons to not dispel the blizzard, chief of which was the dozen-mile wide circular field of perpetually spring-like territory just over the hill.

It would not do him well to be seen out here digging around the barren wasteland.

It was very tough going, however. The cold was quite unpleasant. On the other paw, by their very nature, natural storms were the embodiment of chaotic forces, and participating in it, however unpleasant it otherwise was, did much to warm his heart.

But Q was on a mission to save Equestria and help Celestia protect her world, whether she liked it or not.

She needed help. She didn't understand the danger that Trevar presented.

He would do anything to help her. And he was pretty certain she wasn't going to appreciate the help he was gathering.

Of course, the future was always such a fluid thing—but he did dislike the predictability it often demonstrated. He was going to have to have another long talk with the Guardian of Forever about that….

Well, always better to ask forgiveness than—yada—yada—yada.

Besides, it's not like he needed to ask for permission.

His nose suddenly told him to dig here.

He had already announced that he was getting her the help she needed.

Winter is coming!

His eagle claw came up with a sliver of something very black.

It might not be the help she deserves, wants, or appreciates…

Q smiled.

…but beggars can't be choosers.

"AH! I'M … WITH THEM! SAME GROUP, DIFFERENT DEPARTMENT."

Author's Note

While I'm not wanting to subject anyone to possible spoilers, here's some suggested mood music to have lined up and ready for the meeting between Gilda and her father at the end of the chapter :fluttercry: : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rss-xVvOBwo

Oh, yeah, before I forget: there's sex in this chapter--same colored text warnings as before :raritystarry:

And...also, I know that some folks object to gratuitous 4th Wall breakage, so some warning text color for that, too.--however, skip that at your own risk, there's a very important Chekhov's Gun lying in there you won't see coming if you do. :pinkiehappy:

"AH! I'M … WITH THEM! SAME GROUP, DIFFERENT DEPARTMENT."

"Thank you. You may go now," Tail Feather said, dismissing the last of the series of twenty couriers who had just delivered his portion of the daily correspondence at the crack of dawn from the Griffon Embassy in Canterlot. Or, rather his portions. The disturbing thing was, that last griffon wasn't the only one to deliver two scrolls. The fifth, ninth, and twelfth couriers had done so as well.

Tail Feather dropped the two unopened scrolls into the pouch among the others and waited for the final courier to close the door behind him.

Twenty-four scrolls? What the squit? the griffon emperor wondered.

Once alone, Tail Feather walked to the door and secured the bolts so that no griffon or any other creature could enter while he was busy deciphering the message.

He then took the bag full of scrolls through a side door of the throne room into a large study where he had thirty-four simultaneous chess games going. Four tables along the wall holding the door from which he entered were social play-by-mail games between him and the Equestrian Princesses Celestia and Luna, the Dragon Emperor Scar Flame, and the Minotaur Premier Anvil Horn. The other thirty, ten lined up along each of the other three walls, were for his messages between him and his respective embassies to those leaders. The purpose of those thirty games were to decode his messages.

Setting the bag of scrolls before the ten tables holding the Equestrian decoding system, he opened the first scroll he pulled out and read the first line: "Table 3—Queen takes Peasant at C5". However, that was an illegal move based on what was currently on the board, so Tail Feather tossed the scroll behind him to be the first of the discard pile. The next scroll, however, was a legal move for "Table 6—Castle takes Pegasus". Tail Feather chuckled at the utterly stupid move. Gustav was throwing that game away with the move subjecting his king, queen and just-moved castle to a three-way fork by Tail Feather's remaining pegasus—but it wasn't important. What was important was the fact it was a legal move. After Tail Feather set the game to that instruction, the scroll was tossed to the side and began what would become the decipher pile.

The seventh scroll, surprisingly, was a diagram. Although the move written for Table 2 was crossed out, it would have been a legal one, so Tail Feather had no choice but to put it into the decipher pile while not changing anything on the board. Over the course of the choices, there were three other diagrams, but only one other of those three had a legal move, also crossed out, so it was kept. The others, however, went into the growing discard pile.

The final tally was that nine of the scrolls were legitimate, including the two that were diagrams, were left to be decoded. However, given that several of them were utterly blunder moves, it made Tail Feather very concerned. It was assumed that making a few of the scrolls carry some seriously stupid moves might cause the ponies to discard those scrolls, thus hoping that it could delay Equestria's interception and deciphering of the messages. The idea seemed to have merit with respect to the dragons and minotaurs. However, based on reliable intel about the ponies, they never seemed to be fooled at all.

On each of the scrolls, which had a random-looking series of letters only immediately after the chess move, it gave the order in which the scrolls should be arranged. Tail Feather then sorted the scrolls based on that order, and once they were aligned, he took one of the discarded scrolls and on the blank back side, he used a quill to begin transcribing the message, one letter at a time from each of the scrolls in sequence (no reason to use a perfectly clean scroll for such when it all was going to be burned at the end of the his work, after all).

Once that was done, he took the resulting printout, and selected every third letter to copy in the available open space left on the back of another discarded scroll to get the actual message Gustav intended him to have.

Tail Feather sighed at the wasted effort. In theory, this should be a nearly unbreakable code. However, based on independent intelligence, he knew the princesses were still somehow reading almost every one of his correspondences—and squit! He suspected they were doing so almost as fast as he was!

It was only when he and Gustav would alter their procedures that it ever seemed to work against the princesses, and only for a short while. Of course, he knew they never threw anything away and they eventually would catch back up on the actual past messages whenever there had been a successful deception delivered.

It was an awful lot of work to go through to find out just how many doughnuts Celestia would consume before she'd touch an éclair made by that griffon civilian living in Canterlot, who incidentally was also named Gustav. But, hay! What else was there to do with a secret means to deliver messages? Plan for a war?

There were no wars….

Certainly, not after that last one!

But then, he knew the ponies' embassy in Griffonstone were sending similar messages about his diet.

Yeah. Incredibly high level state secrets we all try to keep from each other, he thought, rolling his eyes. Although it did make Tail Feather grin, wondering just how much the princesses were nauseated when they read about the amount of bacon he enjoyed for his breakfasts….

"Ah-h-h-h! Bacon!" Tail Feather said aloud, drooling at the ecstatic memories before shaking himself back to reality.

Then he read the message he had just deciphered and choked in rage.

"What the flying squit!?" he angrily exclaimed. "Gustav!! What is with these 'shadowcats' ordering us to build this machine before allowing us to discuss this 'Cat-Lord' you claim to have? Where the shell is your justification you were supposed to be sending for ordering those hens to take passionfruit and mate with these bloody creatures!? And what the bloody squit is an 'Enigma'!?"

Coincidentally, at the exact same moment in which Emperor Tail Feather was screaming obscenities at his absent ambassador, Princess Luna had just returned to her quarters after her meal. But instead of immediately retiring to bed for the day, she idly once more looked over the documents she had finished toying with prior to going to eat and where she had discussed her findings with her sister.

"Just … what is this … 'Enigma'?" she once more wondered aloud, looking curiously at the deciphered message. Puzzled, she held the copy of the scrolls containing the diagrams in her magic, trying to figure out what she was seeing. They seemed to be instructions on how to build some sort of mechanical device, much like a typewriter. However, this did not seem to improve on the models known to have been perfected from long even before the Age of Discord. Instead, it seemed to do little more than advance each of a set of four wheels arrayed on a spindle by the same set amount no matter which key was pressed….

"I stand relieved," Shadow Wing said, snapping off a salute.

"You stand relieved," Silver Thorn replied, and the Lunar teams left without another word.

It must have been a very boring night, Sergeant Silver Thorn thought, watching the night teams leave. There hadn't been the usual banter as Shadow Wing gave the pass down report when they switched off. But then, that was a guard's favorite kind of watch: Dull and Boring. Unfortunately, those two always invited their sister, Long. She never made such watches much fun.

The alternatives, of course, were not the kind that guards enjoyed. When Exciting and Interesting took the time to visit, it means that something went very, very wrong. And it were the guards on watch that would always, always get the blame.

Silver Thorn sighed. But he did so slowly and quietly, so much so that if one wasn't a guard, and in most cases even where one was, nopony would pick up on it. To be seen or heard sighing was considered unprofe—

"Corporal?" Drayla suddenly called out from around the side of Lieutenant Scott's home.

Rackorn looked to Silver Thorn and the sergeant nodded, letting the corporal know he'd keep an eye on the corporal's station so that Rackorn could consult with Drayla.

"Sergeant?" the inquiry came a short while later. This time, it was Rackorn calling. Drayla came around and took Rackorn's station, as their standard procedures called for before Silver Thorn stepped away.

Silver Thorn was puzzled as to what the problem was as he walked around the side of the house. Rackorn was looking at the ground near Private Drayla's station by the cellar door.

"What do you make of this, Serge?" Rackorn asked, gesturing to the scuffed up ground. It looked to Silver Thorn's eyes as though it was signs of a struggle involving three or maybe four individuals, and he spoke out his guess to the corporal.

"That was my guess, too," Rackhorn muttered.

"Serge?" Private Lynard called out this time. They looked over across the street to where they could see the pegasus' station by the hatch leading to Trevar's cellar.

"Drayla! Take the corner of the house!" Silver Thorn called out as he and Rackorn ran over to Lynard's post. They passed Drayla as the pegasus took the position so that he could keep an eye on all three stations while the two ranking unicorns went to meet with Lynard.

Here, there was another set of scuffed marks in the ground.

"Looks to be four, maybe five, involved here," Rackorn spoke up out of turn.

"Agreed," Silver Thorn said, nodding, not bothering to admonish his corporal. "What the hay's going on? Shadow Wing's pass down was that nothing of significance happened."

"Could they have conducted drills to relieve the boredom?" Lynard asked.

"Training grounds are for training," Rackorn sharply replied. "Posts are for guarding."

"Hmm. I've known sergeants and lieutenants to conduct drills at their posts," Silver Thorn said. "But that's not Shadow Wing's style. He's always conducted his teams professionally."

Silver Thorn thought again about it.

"And even if he did drill, it wouldn't necessarily rate a note in the pass down report if no one saw it," he said uncertainly. "Night duties are notoriously quiet enough that drills can be done without anypony being the wiser."

"Still, I'll check with him this evening," Silver Thorn decided. "Let's get back to our posts," he said, leading the way back to the street.

And they got back to their posts just in time to see one of the female griffons arrive.

"Hey, serge!" she announced as she landed in front of him. "Name's Gilda. I'm here to relieve Screaming Eagle."

"I think you'll find that all you griffons have been taking your posts inside the house," Silver Thorn told her. "They've all been going in through that bedroom window up there," he said, pointing.

"Works for me," Gilda barked as she launched herself up.

Across the street, Corporal Rackorn's eyes got huge even as his irises and pupils shrunk.

Three!? he silently mouthed.

Silver Thorn could only tilt his head and shrug his shoulders, almost imperceptive to anypony that wasn't in the Guard. The reply was clear, Not our place to question it.

"Whoa! Hay! TMI, guys!" Gilda yelled, holding up a claw to shield her eyes. Before her, Panthera was in the middle, with Mittens on one side, Screaming Eagle on the other, and the Cat-Lord was covering the rear half of the shadowcat's back and rump. And seeing his mangy-looking hide once more, she instantly understood why the Cat-Lord always wore those bed sheets for clothing.

"Oh, don't worry," Panthera said, purring. "We're not doing anything."

"Really? 'Cause it sure looks like something from here!" Gilda protested.

"That's because we've been done for about half-an-hour," Panthera happily sighed.

"… Not improving the picture," Gilda grumbled as she walked in off the window frame.

"We all know you're not interested in Trevar," Panthera said, sliding out from beneath the Cat-Lord. "Although, I'm interested in all you girls. Especially you, Gilda."

For his part, he didn't try to stand up, for which Gilda was eternally grateful. Not that she hadn't seen his—stuff—before. Still, she was grateful. Instead, he scooted over to lean against Screaming Eagle's flank and reached out with his arms to grab Mittens' rump and began pulling on her. Mittens responded by shifting over to fill the gap left by the shadowcat.

"Just so you know, you two need to get back to the castle," Gilda snarled at Screaming Eagle and Mittens as she passed them. "Lord Pardus has us doing some shopping for Lord Trevar, and we're all short taloned. Somegriffon needs to keep tabs on the room to make sure the ponies don't go sniffing at the contents while the rest of us are out hunting."

"They'll get on it shortly," Trevar murmured to her as he nuzzled his face between them.

"Please understand, Gilda, I love Trevar and Pardus," Panthera continued as she draped a wing over Gilda and began guiding her out of the bedroom. "So you're just going to have to get used to the idea of sharing me with them. However, as Pardus promised, I'm all yours today," she finished, directing her up the hallway toward one of the other bedrooms. But then she suddenly stopped.

"Oh! I'm sorry! Have you had breakfast yet?" Panthera inquired.

"A couple apples and a carrot at the castle before flying over here," Gilda replied.

"Well, shit, that's not enough!" Panthera protested, reversing their direction and giving the griffon a firm pull toward the stairs. "We've got bacon, eggs, and oatmeal and/or pancakes, whichever you prefer."

"Ah—I don't want to impose on you," she said as she was guided down the stairs. Except her stomach betrayed her at that moment with a loud growl.

"It's no imposition, whether I cook for just you or for them, too," Panthera said, tossing a nod behind her. "Besides, it's time those three lazy shits woke up, too."

Gilda could help but giggle. She would never have referred to the Cat-Lord, one of the creators of her species, in such a manner. To do so was a worse case of sacrilege than if one of the ponies had spoken of Celestia in a similar way.

And it suddenly puzzled her. She'd heard of shadowcats all her life. They were legend among the griffons. Some myths said they were created alongside griffons by the Cat-Lord and Sky-Lord's mating, others saying the shadowcats were the original offspring, and that griffons were descended from them, but near enough for the first griffons to have met both the Cat-Lord and Sky-Lord to know of their origins.

As a race, shadowcats were known to still be wandering about, going about their business, but were almost never seen.

But these two individuals seemed to have a close griffonal relationship with the Cat-Lord. They claimed they could speak for him, and he had confirmed that claim directly to entire team a few days ago. The only thing in Gilda's experience like it was akin to how Luna and Celestia were able to speak for each other.

While Luna was still rather formal with most of her acquaintances, Celestia was much less so. Beings whom the Day Diarch considered close friends were encouraged to relate to the alicorn as though they were equals. Being one of Ambassador Gustav's chicks, Gilda was counted as one such individual.

Her own experience, coupled with the reports from Mittens and Screaming Eagle, agreed that the Cat-Lord, as well as the shadowcats, all seemed to want to be treated in a similar, very informal manner.

She just couldn't help but feel honored and privileged by their acceptance, especially as how her father considered Gilda's tastes for who she invited to her bed to be a dishonorable act.

Maybe—if I ask one of them to mention something to Father…? she wondered but left the thought unfinished.

"Well, I am very grateful, Lady Panthera," Gilda said instead, honestly expressing her gratitude.

"Think nothing of it," Panthera replied. "And, by the way. Please, I've already told you the other night back at the castle, just call me Panthera. Also, it's not 'Lord Pardus' or 'Lord Trevar', either. We have no desire to claim titles which were never conferred upon us. It's just Pardus and Trevar. Although Trevar's also been known to go by the name of 'Allec'. As we understand it, his full name is Allec Reny Trevar, but he prefers to be addressed by either his first, or last, or both first and last. For some reason, he doesn't care much for his middle name."

"Why does he have so many?" Gilda asked.

"Well, Allec is a derivative of Alexander, who was an emperor in the Near—a—uh—a portion of Trevar's home world, called the Near East. Alexander was a Macedonian who had conquered several large neighboring nations that had rivaled his homeland," Panthera explained. "Reny is a Hebrew word, one of the many languages from his world. It means 'compact strength'. And Trevar is the name of his family."

"A family name? You mean, he's actually named for his blood-line? Is that sort of thing normal? I mean, in his world?" Gilda asked, astonished.

"Apparently," Panthera acknowledge.

"How strange!" the griffon exclaimed. "How can anyone's non-family keep track of who they are if all the members of a blood-line have the same name?"

Celestia smiled as she sipped at a cup of tea as she looked over the results of the spell she was currently using. Today's tea blend was a mixture of jasmine, chamomile, orange, and a few other ingredients.

Of the spell, she quietly chuckled as she watched a miniaturized version of her protégé sip at her own cup of tea within her castle's throne room and use a remarkably similar spell of her own design to keep watch over a certain cerulean pegasus mare who happened to have a prismatic mane and tail. It appeared that the loss of the Golden Oaks library tree a few months ago and the creation of a new library in the Crystal Palace had not diminished the amount of requisition expenditures for replacement windows whenever a certain pegasus spontaneously decided to make an unscheduled visit to the library.

Of course, Twilight Sparkle had long ago figured out that Rainbow Dash was, on occasion, deliberately smashing through the windows and disrupting the current (for that day) organizational order of the books on their shelves, all the while claiming they were just accidents. What the purple alicorn had yet to decide was what to do about it.

But Twilight, Celestia had no doubt, was taking her time to consider the options on how best to respond. It appeared to her that Twilight Sparkle's purpose in the meantime was most likely to keep track of the incidents in order to discern some sort of pattern from which she would one day develop a strategy to deal with the issue.

Still, Celestia smiled serenely as she refilled her cup of tea. By even using such a spell, her little princess was well on her way to growing up. It warmed the Sun Princess' heart immensely.

But then, something caught her eye in another part of the illusionary model of Ponyville. As she changed her focus, Celestia could tell right away what the proper response would call for. As she watched, she activated another spell to summon a parchment, quill and bottle of ink to her.

After dispatching Nurse Redheart to fetch the human mare for her next treatment session, Doctor Scalpel began drafting a very important letter.

Dear Princess Celestia,

During the routine treatment for diabetes as requested by the Crown, by way of Princess Twilight Sparkle, it has come to my attention that the human mare, known as Lieutenant Melisa Scott, is also suffering from what she described as a fatal dose of irradiation that has caused a excitation in her core's tertiocerous components. The nature of this excitation is such that in approximately two months' time, her biological processes will cease when her tertiocerous components begin to reset to their non-excited states.

Unfortunately, I am unaware of what sort of treatment or procedures that may exist which may cure her of this illness and thus preserve her life.

However, according to Melisa Scott, you had stated there once was a cure for such a malady.

I humbly implore you to find it in your heart to grant her mercy and provide this hospital the knowledge of any such cure so that we may assist in saving her from a certain death that can otherwise be prevented.

Your humble servant,

Doctor Scalpel

While Scalpel waited for the ink to dry on the sixth and final draft of his letter, the knock at the door alerted him to Lieutenant Melisa Scott's scheduled arrival. Thereafter, he and Nurse Redheart spent the rest of the morning performing their magical treatment to her organs.

Once the morning session was completed, Redheart escorted the human mare to the cafeteria to replenish, while Scalpel turned his attention back to the letter. He performed the routine of using his magic to roll up the scroll, melt a sample of the wax and affix it with his mark to seal it, and put it into his saddlebag.

By the time his patient finished her lunch, he would have delivered it to Princess Twilight Sparkle and make the request for her dragon friend to send it to Princess Celestia. Then he'd be back to the hospital in time to meet with Melisa Scott for her afternoon session while Celestia would consider his request. With any luck, she might even send a response by the time they were done this evening. He started out the door.

"*URP!*" the dragon upchucked a lick of flame that magically resolved itself into a scroll, whereupon the dragon caught it before it could land on the floor.

"Hey! It's for you, Doctor Scalpel!" he cheerfully said.

"Really?" Scalpel exclaimed in surprise. He had only just sent my letter to her. It can't be a response already!

But when he used his magic to open and read it, it was indeed a response to his message!

My Dearest Doctor Scalpel,

I have just received your letter and humbly beg your forgiveness.

Luna and I have lived through several millennia, prior to the Age of Discord, and even before that, prior to the move to Equestria commonly referred to by the events in the plays about Heartswarming Eve. And while we are long lived and have made our own humble efforts to learn as much as equinely possible, my sister and I are neither all powerful nor all knowing.

All I can tell you with certainty is that the knowledge to such miraculous medical wonders for which you have asked did indeed exist back then, long before disasters such as those mentioned above and others befell our civilization. However, so much knowledge was lost through the ages through actions beyond either of our control. Unfortunately, and as a result, neither I nor my sister were in a position to have possessed such medical skills or the knowledge by which they could be rediscovered.

Therefore, it is with heavy heart that I regret to inform you that this level of medicine was also a casualty of those turbulent events in our history. We know it to be a fact any search for it would be fruitless, as we had reason to perform numerous exhaustive searches for the very same information centuries ago.

While the human mare, Melisa Scott, did in fact commit an unprovoked act of war upon her arrival to Equestria, unwitting as she may have been, it is certainly NOT my desire that she suffer a punishment that amounts to her execution. However, the actions she undertook prior to coming to our world has resulted in her own doom, as well as that of the human stallion who accompanied her.

It was by my mercy that her fitting punishment be undertaken under the conditions of an escorted probationary status for the remainder of her final days.

Please do as much as you can for her. It is our hope that you and your colleagues can aid her to make her inevitable passing as painless and comfortable as possible.

Your humble servant,

Princess Celestia.

After reading the contents, he continued to stare at the letter in astonishment. As disappointing as the results were, he was suitably impressed by the swiftness of the return.

"However did she reply so quickly!?" Scalpel exclaimed.

"Well, she is a goddess," Spike said with a helpless shrug to the bewildered doctor.

Princess Twilight Sparkle could only give a sheepish grin and a shrug of her own.

In her quarters, Celestia continued to sip her cup of tea as she watched the scene unfold, sadly shaking her head.

It was not the image she wished to convey of herself to anypony by doing that!

After breakfast, Lord Pardus, or rather, just Pardus, as he preferred, left to assist in the shopping for the embassy. According to him, he was still being followed by Pinkie Pie, of whom Gilda knew of all too well. The Cat-Lord, Trevar, had also left to go shopping for food. With the other two griffons now gone, it was indeed just her and Panthera alone together.

As Gilda laid with Panthera in the middle of the living room atop the mattress the shadowcat had brought down from the spare bedroom, there was some sort of music the shadowcat was magically projecting.

"What is that?" Gilda asked.

"It's just some music that Trevar taught to me," Panthera said. "Do you like it? Or would you prefer something a little more stimulating?"

"Not bad," Gilda replied as she listened for a few moments. "A little on the romantic vein, but I like the complexity. Somegriffon put a lot of thought into this."

"Yes. Yes, they did," Panthera agreed. "There's quite a wide range of different styles of music on Trevar's world. He suggested I use something to put you in the mood for some fun," the shadowcat said, nuzzling her.

And, for some reason she couldn't lay a talon on, she suddenly felt rather shy about being there with the shadowcat.

"Wh-rr-at's wrrong?" Panthera asked with a strong purr as she gently gave her beak a forehead-butting, followed by an affectionate lick. "Is the music too much?"

"I-I-I … don't know," Gilda finally admitted. "We're … alone."

"Yes," Panthera agreed with a chuckle. "That's how two individuals usually arrange it when they wish to be intimate."

That observation suddenly perked Gilda up.

"Yes! We are alone!" she announced, finally realizing what was wrong.

Panthera tilted her head as she looked at the griffon.

"Oh? So, are you something of an exhibitionist, then?" the shadowcat ventured her inquiry.

"What's that?" Gilda asked, puzzled by the term.

"You like having your … uh … fun … where someone can see it?"

"NO! Of course not!" Gilda instantly protested. She's had enough trouble with her father finding out she was a hen-plucker as it was.

"But maybe where they—might—catch you?" Panthera challenged, stressing the difference. "You don't want to be seen, but the possibility of being caught excites you, doesn't it?"

Slowly, Gilda had to grin, admitting she had been found out.

"How did you know?" she sheepishly asked.

"I've been around long enough," Panthera chuckled. "I bet I've seen things that would probably make all your feathers curl at the mere thought of actually doing any of them." And Gilda had to cringe and shudder at the thought of what it might have to entail to accomplish that.

"So. What would you like to do that will get you into the mood?" Panthera inquired.

Gilda gave it few moments of thought before she finally came up with an appropriate idea.

"Find a cloud to lay upon and we make out over Ponyville's town hall," she said. Then, grinning, she suddenly had a wicked thought. "Or better yet, over the Princess' castle."

"*cough!* Subtle!" Panthera muttered sarcastically after choking in reaction.

"Oh! How about you be laying on the cloud—while I—" she said, trailing off as she disappeared from view. Gilda looked about, puzzled, but then she suddenly felt something stroke her beneath her tail, making her squeal.

"—while I work on you like this—for a few hours?" Gilda heard Panthera's voice ask as she was stroked again.

"Oh—my!" Gilda exclaimed, shuddering in her excitement.

"Yes—yes, that—that just—might do it!" Gilda nervously agreed as Panthera became visible again.

"Unfortunately, we can't leave the house empty while we go and do that," Panthera said apologetically, "for the same reason we can't let your quarters at Sparkle's castle go unguarded."

"Oh," Gilda responded, sighing in disappointment.

"Not to worry, though," the shadowcat told her with a smile, as she magically projected a set of those automatic wing-preeners Gilda had the pleasure of being introduced to a few days ago. "There are many other pleasurable things we can do for a time besides dangling your tail out in front of the populace."

But after only fifteen minutes of the magically projected wing preening, Gilda was drooling, and not just from her mouth.

"La-Lady Panthera!" she groaned. "Pl-please! I—I need—you!"

"Thought you might," the shadowcat crooned as the projection vanished. Only the shadowcat had also vanished.

Gilda looked about in panic. If she was leaving, letting the hen hang…? But then a familiar touch let her know the shadowcat hadn't abandoned her.

"Don't move!" a disembodied voice commanded Gilda.

Gilda complied, not moving from her spot. However, the sensation beneath her tail caused her to arch her back to lift her rear to receive the promised pleasures.

The tickle of what she could only guess were Panthera's whiskers stimulated her excitement. The warm flow of air over her pussy confirmed that was exactly where Panthera was doing to her. Gilda quickly shifted her tail to facilitate the shadowcat's access.

Numerous soft, gentle ticklish touches to the entrance to her sex and the continued warm air wafting over her rear told Gilda that the shadowcat molly was eagerly sampling Gilda's juices before….

SLL—LLUU—UU—UURRP!

"EE—EE—ee—ee—YOW—WW—WCH!" Gilda screeched.

SLL—LLUU—UU—UURRP!

"EE—EE—ee—ee—eeeee!" Gilda screamed once more as Panthera's long raspy tongue stroked once more over, and partly into, her opening.

"I said, not to move," Panthera's whispery voice sounded just before a third excruciatingly slow sandpapery stroke began over her clit, pushed slightly into the bottom of her channel only to continue out at the top edge of her sex. Gilda whimpered as she gritted her teeth in that boundary between pleasure and pain, digging her claws deep into the mattress.

She hated the pain to be had from mating with tiercels, thus it was in part for her to decide to desire other females. But the raspy tongue lashings she received from Panthera actually turned her on. Although, getting hit three times in a row like this was a bit much.

Still, the shadowcat was never one to give her undo torture. She quivered there, waiting for her mate to relent on the stinging rebuke.

The press of the shadowcat's muzzle into Gilda's bony hind end made her cringe in anticipation. However, the smooth wet and rapidly thrusting probe entering her caused the griffon to sigh in relief and confusion.

How is her tongue able to do that? Gilda wondered even as the shadowcat's actions began to drive all conscious thought out of her mind. What followed was utter bliss as the shadowcats rumbling purrs vibrated her opening while the probing tongue continued to repeatedly reach deep into her. Gilda was already purring in counterpoint to the shadowcat's.

The passing of time was totally lost on Gilda as Panthera worked her magic on her rear. But the inevitable was bound to happen sooner or later. And all too soon, the wondrous tongue fucking had its affect upon Gilda, and she suddenly was roaring when the electric jolts shot out from her insides.

What Gilda truly appreciated was how Panthera never left her at such times as she felt herself suddenly shoot up into the stratosphere. Instead, the shadowcat always continued to work the magic upon her sex to gently guide the griffon back to the ground.

And when she was finally back down, it seemed for a moment that Panthera was going to fly her back up there, as the shadowcat's tongue continued to probe her a little longer than necessary.

"How was that?" Panthera asked. As if the bloody invisible creature couldn't tell just by looking at her!

"Wonderful as ever, Lady Panthera," Gilda sighed.

SLL—LLUU—UU—UURRP!

"Eeep!" Gilda squeaked.

"Just 'Panthera', please," Panthera growled.

"Y—yes, La—" Gilda barely caught herself before letting the wrong thing slip pass her beak once more. "Yes, Panthera," she finished, gulping nervously.

"Better," Panthera said, giving a much gentler stroke with the smoother tip of her tongue.

"Now, I've got a new idea," the shadowcat whispered. "Turn over," she instructed.

Puzzled, Gilda complied.

Once on her back, she spread her wings. She still couldn't see the shadowcat. But it didn't take long before the creature made her presence felt again—still nuzzling her pubic bone. Gilda nervously gulped, never having made love like this before. It was unnerving as it was, being on her back. But the added feature of not being able to see her lover was beyond odd to her.

Griffons had the sharpest eyes of anything on the planet, and Gilda's ancestry was eagle, so her eyes were better than many of her own kind—but there wasn't so much as a ripple of refractive distortion from the invisibility spell Panthera was using.

It was almost like making love to a ghost.

Other than by touch and hearing, the only way to tell where the shadowcat was was by seeing the disturbance made on the fur of her rear half. At the moment, Panthera's activities were focused upon her nethers.

This went on for several minutes, making her feel a little self-conscious for the attention to that spot, but at the same time, it was pleasantly exciting to Gilda. The shivers rushing throughout her frame as the shadowcat nibbled upon her sensitive flesh drove her beyond ecstasy. And the sounds Panthera was making as she worked on her….

Wait! Is she doing what it sounds like!?

"Hey! Are you…?" Gilda tried to call out as more waves of bliss shot through her body, her voice squeaking totally out of her control. "Are you—flea-biting me!?" However, the shadowcat took her time to reply, pushing Gilda closer and closer to her climax.

"Thought you'd never ask," Panthera finally muttered between hissing snorts and nibbles. When she resumed, she began flicking the tip of her tongue into her channel between nibbles. And before Gilda could formulate a response, her scream split the air as her body thrashed about on the bed; her body being held down by Panthera's paws firmly holding her about her hips while she came.

For a time, it felt as though she had passed out from the intensity. When Gilda was aware again, she felt the shadowcat's muzzle advancing up her belly and the mass of the invisible shadowcat was firmly pushing up between her rear legs. She looked down her belly to see the fur about her nipples disturbed as her invisible lover nibbled and licked at each of them in turn before moving to the other side or advancing up her belly for the next set to attack. The ticklish assault by the purring feline heightened Gilda's awareness as to what this was about, causing her still throbbing sex to spasm some more.

Finally, Gilda felt Panthera' breath upon her beak, and the shift of the shadowcat's stance told the griffon that the shadowcat's rear legs were now nestled to either side of her barrel while her front paws were on either side of her head.

"Now, Gilda," the shadowcat softly told her. "I'm going to introduce you to a favorite toy of mine."

Gilda glanced down her belly when her peripheral vision caught motion back there. She saw an object form from the shadowcat's magic—a thick bar bent in the shape of a U that had vaguely disturbingly familiar shaped ends.

Before Gilda could react, the object moved forward, well above her body, and from what she could tell from her touch with Panthera, the shadowcat shook as she emitted a low, throaty growl. At that moment, Panthera dropped her invisibility spell. The shadowcat's eyes glazed over as her throaty growl and shaking intensified, and then she was breathing hard into Gilda's face as her pupils widely dilated.

"Hmrr—rr—rrr," the shadowcat softly purred, moving her face right into Gilda's, nose-to-beak. "Now—yourr turrn," Panthera said, baring her teeth.

"Wh-wha-what are you—?" Gilda nervously asked as she felt Panthera's pelvis settle down between her legs, but her forming question was suddenly ended as she felt the blunt tip of something touch the opening to her sex. She barely had time to widen her eyes in surprise and gasp before she felt it push against her, wanting to come in.

It didn't go in that first time, and it gave Gilda a chance to beg Panthera.

"Pl-please don't hurt me!"

"I wouldn't dream of hurting you, Gilda," Panthera softly told her as Gilda felt another push, much like the first one. "You're ready to receive it. Just relax. I promise you'll like this.

There was yet another push, slightly more pressure to it, but it didn't go in this time, either. Gilda's nervous breathing increased, worried that it was going to go as previous matings had gone before.

"Relax," Panthera gently repeated to her. She rested the tip of the object against her without putting undo pressure behind it. "Have I ever hurt you before?"

"N-no," Gilda replied, nervously gulping.

"And I'm not about to hurt you now," the shadowcat told her. "Just relax your entrance and you'll enjoy this as much as I."

"Wh-what is that thing?"

"Just a dildo," Panthera replied.

"A what?" Gilda exclaimed.

"An artificial penis," Panthera explained.

"I know what a dildo is! Why are you using one on us!?" Gilda demanded.

"Because we're females and our bodies are built to accommodate such things," Panthera explained, smirking. "You had me worried, I'll have you know. For a second, I thought I was going to have to explain the basics of sexual self-gratification to you."

"But you know how I feel about males!" Gilda scolded her.

"I know how you feel about 'cactus dicks'," Panthera countered. "This, I promise, you'll have no such issue. The shape and feel is that of Trevar."

"The Cat-Lord!?" Gilda exclaimed with a squeak.

"If you insist to call him that," Panthera said, rolling her eyes. "Then, yes. The 'Cat-Lord'. His dick is relatively long, thick, stiff, smooth, and none of the penile spines that stimulate felines into ovulation. Except for when he needs to be," she added as an understatement.

"Bu-but-but—it's sacrilege!" Gilda protested.

"Seriously!?" Panthera exclaimed. "This, coming from the griffon whose assignment was to mate with him but aren't because you'd rather have sex with other females? You're calling what we're doing sacrilege!?"

"But why the Cat-Lord?" Gilda demanded.

"Well, I have absolutely NO interest in any other males," Panthera said snarling. "Therefore, it's either Trevar or Pardus, and his is one of those cactus dicks that you detest, so—"

Gilda was at a loss for words from that. But as she sought for something to say, she felt the tip of the dildo waiting to enter her suddenly push hard against her.

"Hey!" she screamed.

"Come on!" Panthera suddenly said, putting another push to the prop against Gilda as she spoke. "Come on! You know you want it!"

"Stop!"

"Come on! Come on! You want it! Come on!" Panthera teased, giving it another push on her entrance with each sentence.

"Stop!" Gilda screamed, laughing. But Panthera continued for a few more times before she finally relented, also laughing.

"You know you want it," the shadowcat sultrily said once more, but without the push. But the mischievous look in her eyes warned Gilda this wasn't over yet.

"You promise not to hurt me?" Gilda pleaded. Panthera's expression instantly took on a serious and kind expression.

"Absolutely," she sincerely told the griffon.

Gilda nervously gulped, then nodded her head. Reaching out with her arms, she wrapped them about Panthera's neck and hugged her tight.

"Then don't hurt me, please," she whispered into the shadowcat's ear.

As Gilda tried to relax her rear, the tip of the dildo was pushed in, harder than before. But just as the object's dryness caught on her sensitive flesh, Gilda cheeped and Panthera stopped. Instead, she somehow wiggled the intruding object side-to-side and up-and-down, before slowly withdrawing it, until just the blunt tip was once more was barely touching her opening.

Then another push, a little harder still, going slightly deeper, until the dryness caught again, making Gilda cheep once more. The cycle repeated, with each slow insertion going a little deeper, each wiggle inside taking a little longer, and each withdraw also going a little slower.

And each increasingly deep intrusion sent shivers of pleasure and lust up Gilda's spine, like electric jolts all along her inner flesh.

Eventually, the full length was inserted and Gilda felt the bend of the U grind against the outside of her pubic bone. When that happened, Panthera whispered into Gilda's ear.

"Now, the fun really begins," she said as she slowly withdrew the dildo all the way as before. However, when she pushed in once more, it was a little faster than the slow progress to spread Gilda's moisture over the object. Panthera began to piston the dildo in and out, gently increasing the speed; the thrusting intrusions catching Gilda's breath, making her gasp each time it was driven the full length into her depths.

Each thrust was like a lightning bolt bursting deep inside her, the bolt running through her frame and into her mind. And before long, there was a full blown wild lightning storm going on in her belly, soon accompanied with tornados and her screams were the thunder. But there, the similarity to storms ended. Natural storms had their most spectacular impact at the beginning. Hers, however, was at the end of the wild bliss blasting her mind and body.

And this time, when she fainted, she stayed out.

Pinkie watched as the human stallion and shadowcat tom left together. She knew they were up to something no good, and she needed to get the information to Princess Celestia in order to act against their nefarious schemes.

At some point, she knew they'd be splitting up, and she momentarily considered the options of following the human creature for the day. Except, she suddenly remembered he had an escort of Royal Guards, so that wasn't a wise choice. But following Pardus was, as Rainbow Dash would have succinctly put it: B! O! R! I! N! G!

She put a hoof to her chin as she thought hard about the problem.

"OH! I've got the perfect way of solving this!" she suddenly exclaimed to herself. Turning about, she jumped.

Unfortunately for Pinkie Pie, at that moment, Kevin Lee (not his real name) pressed the "send" button on his Outlook message. So, instead of giving Kevin Lee a heart attack as she had intended, her head popped out of the monitor of Ryuu's (not his real name, either) laptop, nearly scaring the shit out of a cat that was sitting beside him on the sofa.

"Oh! Was that Laser (yes, that was his real name)?" Pinkie exclaimed, instantly recognizing the gray tiger-striped house cat.

Unperturbed, Ryuu, just stared at her for a moment before reaching out to her with his right hand. Grabbing a hunk of curly pink mane and giving it a yank, he pulled the pony out of his laptop. With a yelp, Pinkie Pie suddenly found herself in a living room of a modest-sized home.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Ryuu demanded, glaring at her as he took his reading glasses off and set them down on the coffee table.

"Heh! H-hi R-Ryuu," she stammered.

They looked at each other for a few moments.

"I'm waiting," Ryuu growled.

"Waiting for what?" Pinkie eagerly asked, hoping to help Ryuu with solving whatever was evidently angering him.

"What? Are? You? Doing? Here?" Ryuu stressed his previous question.

"Oh! That?" Pinkie Pie muttered, realizing she was the problem that was irritating the human. "I—uh—was looking for Kevin Lee," she admitted, as her mane deflated a small amount.

"Well, you just missed him," obvious Ryuu said obviously. "It's 10:30 PM on the East Coast and their tomorrow's still a workday over there." Ryuu took that moment to quickly press Ctrl-Alt-Delete on his keyboard and locked his laptop.

"Oh," Pinkie sadly responded, her mane deflating a bit more as Ryuu stood up. "You didn't seem surprised. Why weren't you surprised? I was supposed to surprise Kevin, but I ended up here, instead. By the way, where is here? You said it was 10:30 at night, but it's still daylight here!"

"Well, he let me know you were on your way with his email," Ryuu muttered. "As for Kevin, he wasn't about to be surprised by your arrival. Fortunately for me, you were rather stuck in the file until I actually opened it."

"Oh, I see."

"And we're in Fiji," Ryuu told her. "So, it's only 4:30 PM here, with daylight's savings in effect in the middle of November. He had asked me to fill in most of the story between Panthera and Gilda's playtime and Twilight's reading your tomorrow's morning paper to you guys."

"Oh, I can help? What you need are random ideas! I'm good with coming up with ideas! The randomner, the betterer!" Pinkie instantly offered, hoping to cheer Ryuu up again. He looked at her for a few moments and then sighed.

"I'm afraid that would not be the best thing at all," Ryuu told her. "I know for a fact the only reason you're here is just here to try and find out what Pardus and Trevar are up to so that you can report to Celestia. I also know exactly what you are and how you relate to the Q. And how you don't exactly play by the rules of the game you guys are in. At least with Q, even as omniscient as he is chaotic, he never violates his role of the game in the show or our stories. You, on the other hand--"

"Oh, I can Pinkie-promise not to tell! Just let me know what they're doing, please! I promise I'll pretend to not know!"

"Nyope!" Ryuu instantly said, standing up and walking off into the hallway toward the master bedroom of the house. Pinkie stayed and tried to figure out the password to his account, but after several tries, she wasn't able to figure it out.

"I know he's got to be using the Foyer-series as the basis of his password," she muttered, still frustrated by her lack of progress. But then, she saw through the large picture windows looking out to the patio that Ryuu had changed to be wearing a pair of swim trunks and was just about to open the gate to the pool. Outside with him, was the other cat living with him, the white and yellow Siga (yes, that was his real name, too).

In an instant, she was through the hallway, the main bedroom, and there out on the patio beside him. But instead of being impressed or surprised, he angrily yelled at her.

"CLOSE THE DOORS!" he shouted.

"Awww~" she sadly began, but he cut her off.

"If those cats get together, I'm going to take a belt and beat the living shit out of you!" he yelled at her. "Close the doors!"

"You can't catch me!" she happily challenged him.

"Pinkie! This is Fiji! This is not Tahiti! This is not the magical place! So, guess what? You have no magic here. There's no escaping from this yard. I will beat you," he said, growling at her. "Close the damned doors! These cats are not ready to hang out together, yet!"

"Oh, okay," she said, sighing dejectedly. She soon had the doors between the bedroom and hallway as well as from the bedroom and patio shut. Instantly, she was back to the patio.

"But what about the story?" Pinkie yelled as Ryuu waded into the pool.

"I read up what Kevin sent me, and I'm letting the ideas percolate in my mind," Ryuu replied as he propelled himself about the small pool. "By the way, what are you doing here? Kevin said that you were supposed to be looking over Knight Breeze's shoulder."

"Knight Breeze's got a bit of writer's block on some of his stories at the moment," Pinkie replied. "So, I was hoping to catch a glimpse at what Pardus was up to."

"Well, that's cheating, bitch," Ryuu said, laughing. "And it ain't happening on my watch. Or on Kevin's."

"Aww, c'mon! Give me a clue!" Pinkie whined. But Ryuu ignored her and continued swimming. "Speaking of which, why is it I can remember Knight Breeze here but not in your story?" she asked, rubbing her chin with a hoof. "Or why I can't remember his story, or anypony else's when I'm in yours?"

"Because you're not currently in my story," Ryuu replied.

"Bu-but-but I'm Pinkie Pie!" she exclaimed. "You know? Fourth-wall breaker and all that?"

"True," Ryuu acknowledged. "Out here, you’re the P. But in the show or in any of our stories, you're still just a pony, even if you're letting your root personality show through, so you've got to abide by the rules—if only just some of them."

"Mmm, makes sense," she responded. "Hey! How long are you going to be out here?" she suddenly demanded.

"Fifteen minutes in the water," Ryuu responded, not looking at her. "Then fifteen to sunning on my belly, and fifteen on my back."

"Forty-five minutes!?" Pinkie screamed. "I can't wait around here for forty-five minutes! Pardus can just about be doing anything in that time!"

"Tough break, kid," Ryuu said as he back stroked. "See that, up there?" he asked, pointing straight up.

"Kid? I bet I'm older than he is," Pinkie muttered as she looked up into the sky. Aside from a late afternoon sun and this planet's weird waxing crescent moon directly overhead that could be seen during daylight hours, the sky was as perfect as a cloudless day could be had in Ponyville.

It must be some sort of guessing game, so she tried to figure out exactly what it was. Surely, Ryuu didn't want her to simply reply that it was a beautiful cloudless afternoon with a weird planet's moon hanging not too far from its sun. So she kept searching for whatever was hidden up in the sky.

And searching.

But after searching for what seemed like forever, she couldn't find anything. Whatever Ryuu hid up there was hidden really good!

"It's a nice day. What about it?" she finally asked. At that moment, an alarm went off on his cell phone.

"This is Suva in Fiji," Ryuu stressed, reaching out from the poolside to reset the alarm. "This is not Nadi. Even in the so-called 'dry season', you'll hardly ever see a day like this in Suva, where there's not a cloud in the sky," he told her as he got out of the water.

"So, I'm trying to work on getting a tan while trying not to let it turn into skin cancer," he said, taking off his swim trunks. "I've got to do this in gradual chunks. I burn way too easily."

"Hey! You can't do that!" she protested. "This show's rated Y over TV!"

"If you were paying attention, this story's got both 'Sex' and 'Gore' tags," Ryuu countered as he laid belly down on the poolside lawn chair. "So, yes, I can go nude if I want, as horrific as contemplating that might be."

"Oh, yeah. But what about the story?" Pinkie cried.

"Don't worry about it," Ryuu replied. "The workstation's locked right now, so no time is proceeding in it at the moment. After I'm done with the flip side, I'll throw you back in so you'll arrive there just an instant after you jumped out. Think that'll work okay for you?"

"Oh! Sure!" she happily exclaimed. "By the way, did you know you look an awful like Trevar? Well, except that you're about ten to fifteen pounds heavier and you've got quite a bit of white in your beard where Trevar has light blonde stipes. And I've never seen him wearing glasses."

"Yep," Ryuu's voice sounded muffled from where he laid face down. "We're on another one of those worlds Q copied from the original Earth using the Black Moon. So I'm just another copy of Trevar but I know all of his history, both past and future. He was modified by the Black Moon's creators when taken from his Earth when he was about twenty-five. Only I'm fifty-four, now. I'm aging, and my eyes are going to shit. Trevar, on the other hand is effectively immortal. He just doesn't know it, yet. Well, in your story, anyhow."

"So … what would you do in his place?" she inquired, hoping to get Ryuu to slip up and reveal what she needed to know.

"You're just going to have to use your skills and tricks to figure that out, but from within the story," Ryuu replied. "Which, none of your tricks will work on me. Besides, this is mostly Kevin's story. I'm merely an advisor."

"Oh, bugger!" she quietly spat, but then she suddenly perked up.

"So, what are you advising Kevin about?" she asked, trying for a different angle.

"Trevar's back story and how he relates to Q—whom you already know as Discord, or as Admiral Tigerclaw calls him, 'DisQord'," Ryuu replied without elaborating further.

"This is boring!"

"Heh! Ya want me ta paint you blue and call you 'Rainbow'?" he asked with a chuckle and slipping a little into his native West Virginian accent. "That's what you're startin' to sound like."

"Can I play with Siga?"

"No."

"Can I play with Laser?"

"No."

"Can I—?"

"You try it and I'll take get my belt out and slap you silly with it … Well, sillier."

"How about I throw a party?"

"Nope. You're too late for Dewali and too early for Christmas."

"Well, what can I do, then?" Pinkie complained.

"There's a pool," Ryuu muttered, gesturing with his left hand toward the water without looking.

"Can I—?"

"Read the sign: No diving," he said, pointing to a sign nailed to the banister with his right hand, again without looking.

"…"

Ryuu didn't respond.

"You're good," she finally admitted.

"Hey, I was a troublemaker long before you were born," Ryuu replied, not bothering to look up. "And later, I was a troubleshooter before they finally bumped me up to a manager last year. But I still like to shut down glitches like you every day just for fun. Either way, I've got at least forty-nine years on you, considering how long your show's been running. You don't want to get on my bad side. So enjoy your time in Fiji while you still can," he finished with a click of his tongue.

"Okie dokie, artichokie!" she happily said, stepping into the pool—slowly wading in—down the steps….

Later, Pinkie stood up from inside the barrel, lifting the lid and with her head where it remained balanced. Her vision revealed that the shadowcat had a number of full bags levitating alongside him.

"Huh!?" Pinkie exclaimed in confusion. She tilted her head to look up at the sun and saw that at least four hours had elapsed since she stepped out of the story.

"HEY! RYUU!!" she yelled.

At her outburst, the dirt in front of her suddenly had a message that looked like it had been scratched there with a stick. It read, "What's your problem?"

"You said I was going to be returning to just after I left!" she protested as she climbed out of the barrel. "It's at least four hours later!"

"That's what you get for trying to ruin my dinner."

"Peanut butter with jam alongside salt and vinegar chips with red wine? Bluaeh!"

"Says the masochistic bitch."

"Hey! I'm NOT some kind of perverted diamond dog!" she protested.

"You're a masochist," the dirt scratches repeated. "And I can prove it."

"How so?" Pinkie demanded.

"Masochists derive sensual pleasures and satisfaction from experiencing pain. You put tabasco sauce on cupcakes. Even a fire-breathing dragon was giving you odd looks for that one."

"Oh, yeah," she had to admit, recalling the day she met Twilight Sparkle and Spike. "But it's not like I've got anything like all the porn you've got on your laptop. And—those—were an awful lot of dragons!"

"Big deal. So I like dragons. Especially the sexy female ones. How is that perverted? Dragons aren't chickens, after all."

"…" Pinkie started, but then she had to re-assess her response. "Good point," she finally replied. "But what about what Pardus was doing while I wasn't around to watch him?"

When she turned to look, the scratches in the dirt had changed to, "Not a problem. Nothing's changed. Even had you been there, all Pardus bought were more angle irons, wires, nuts, bolts and screws. As it sits, right now it's about lunch time, and you're synched up with what's been happening with Lieutenant Scott and the folks treating her diabetes, as well as Panthera and Gilda, who just finished their fun."

"But why send me back so late?" she cried.

"Because you would've been bored following him about all morning," the scratches in the dirt replied. "This way, you got all the info you would've gotten anyhow without the hassle of waiting for it."

"Oh! Cool! Okay! Thanks!" she happily responded.

"De nada," replaced all the previous writing in the dirt.

"Uh—Pinkie Pie? Wh-who are you talking to?" Pinkie heard Aloe's voice ask coming from behind her.

"Oh—uh—nopony," Pinkie replied, absently scuffing up the words that had been scratched in the ground. "Yeah! Absolutely. NOT a pony! So—uh—sorry! Gotta run! Bye!" And she was gone, chasing after the shadowcat, leaving Aloe alone sadly shaking her head.

As Pinkie followed Pardus, she took her notepad out from her mane and saw that during her visit to Fiji, the notes had been updated to show Pardus had stopped by several hardware stores buying up a number of screws, insulated wires, nails, some glue, more of those small wooden blocks … in short, just more of the same stuff he had purchased over the last couple of days. So, in the end, she was grateful for the time skip that her visit at Ryuu's gave her. But she was no closer to figuring out just what it was they were doing.

However, at that moment, several shadows passed over her and she instinctively looked up to see three griffons flying overhead toward Trevar's home. All three were heavily laden with shopping bags. But seeing as how they weren't involving her or anypony else, Pinkie resumed her focus on the shadowcat, who was calmly walking back toward Trevar's home.

Watching him plod along, she was still trying to figure out what they might be up to … when Pinkie suddenly stopped. She felt the gears in her head that had been turning smoothing suddenly jumped a cog before resuming their normal motions again. She blinked a few times, confirming what just happened. And then Pinkie suddenly gasped in shock.

"Why! Why that! Why that sneaky! Why that sneaky sneak!! Why that sneaky sneak-sneak!!!" she screamed. But, then, as she took a few moments to consider it, she had to admit it was a brilliant idea. "Wow! I didn't expect him to do that! He's such a clever po—OWWW!" she yelped when a rock suddenly bounced off her head.

She blinked in astonishment at the fact the rock had hit her without her Pinkie-sense kicking in. But then she noticed the rock had a note tied to it with a rubber band. Puzzled, she picked up the rock and removed the note to read it.

"Don't even think of jinxing Pardus with that!—Ryuu >:[" the note said.

"Okay, Ryuu," Pinkie sighed, grinning at how Ryuu had turned her own abilities against her. "You're certainly the clever pony," she quickly whispered. And then she waited for something to happen. But nothing did, and she sighed in relief.

But then, she suddenly noticed more words were scratched in the dirt in front of her. "You can't jinx me, either. This is NOT Tahiti, so you have no power to affect me here," she read.

"Oh, right," she said, remembering. "Tahiti is the magical place. Not Fiji. But now, it looks like I'll have to back track all the griffons to find out what they were buying all this time," she muttered to herself.

"Spying upon our colleague, Celie? Shame on thou!" Luna cheerfully called out when she came upon Celestia watching the goings on at Ponyville.

"Seeing Twilight's activities are—what can best be described as 'collateral damage'," Celestia calmly replied, still sipping her cup as though not startled by Luna's discovery. Luna suspected that it was because Celestia knew she was about to 'discover' her sister's actions….

"I'm more concerned with what the humans and those shadowcats are doing," she explained. "That Discord is worried is curious. That I'm only able to get vague and indistinct viewings of the human stallion and those shadowcats is quite disturbing. It's even interfering with being able to see Pinkie Pie clearly where she's following them."

"What of the human mare?" Luna inquired.

"Her? She's coming in clear as day," Celestia said, setting her cup and saucer aside. For her sister to display such unease was telling.

"What of you, Luna? Up early? Or very late?"

"Very, very late," Luna admitted. "I wilt admit, I was quite puzzl'd by the message sent to Tail Feather regarding the human stallion. That Gustav would convey they ne'd to change their messaging procedures on account of this Trevar and those shadowcats. It dost lend credence to Discord's unease, as doth the nagging feelings I get when I hear his name. It pulls at memories I shouldst make shift recall.

"I'm afraid I've come to have the same misgivings," Celestia said, staring at the display of the small town. "The items that the shadowcats have been purchasing could be for anything. But so far, they seem to relate mostly to the strange panels they've somehow been constructing in the basement."

"Any idea whence they're getting those?" Luna asked. "'R what the structure they art building is f'r?"

"Not a clue," the day diarch replied, finally dispelling the illusion of Ponyville. She rubbed her temple from the evident strain she'd been feeling. But Luna knew her pain wasn't from casting the scrying spell. "Those creatures have a cloak that is both complete and encompassing. Just thinking of the mess that's threatening to blow up in our faces when Discord reveals what 'help' he's summoning to 'our side', as well as whatever this 'Cat-Lord' business will bring, is giving me the mother of all migraines."

"Our moth'r wouldst not hast approv'd of such language," Luna teased.

"Indeed, she would not," Celestia agreed, giving her sister a much deserved smile.

Razor, Golden Slasher, and Blood Feather had overflown the male shadowcat, Pardus on their way to the newly established embassy, while carrying the first of the materials requested by the Cat-Lord and the shadowcats.

But they knew better than to delay their flight to meet Panthera at the embassy to speak with him, since he evidently still had the strange pink pony shadowing him. The entire effort was for him to provide the distraction to keep the ponies in the dark about the items they were acquiring on behalf of the Cat-Lord.

According to the schedule, Gilda was there as part of her appointment with the Cat-Lord and a passionfruit, while Mittens and Screaming Eagle remained at their quarters to guard the rest of the material still yet to be delivered to the embassy.

However, as they finally arrived at the embassy, there was obviously something wrong with the schedule: there was the Cat-Lord with his Equestrian pony escort evidently also returning to the embassy—however, no sign of Gilda! The pony guards left their charge to take up their positions about the embassy while the Cat-Lord approached the front door.

"Oh! Hi, girls!" the Cat-Lord happily called out to them as the three griffons came in to land.

"Lord Trevar!" Razor called out, instantly getting a reproving look from the Cat-Lord. Squit! I forgot! she thought, cringing.

"A thousand pardons, please, Trevar," she said, trying again. That got him rolling his eyes at her. "But did not Gilda arrive for her duties?"

"Yes," he cheerfully replied as he produced a key to unlock the door and opened it. "Yes, she did. She and Panthera had some business to conduct while we were out. Come on in," he told them, stepping aside to let them enter.

Razor and the others stepped through the threshold only to all suddenly freeze in shock at the sight of Gilda and the female shadowcat sprawled out on a mattress in the middle of the floor. Her heart skipped several beats, knowing there was no way of preventing the Cat-Lord from seeing this disgrace. As one, the three griffons all face-clawed.

"So, you managed to wear her out?" Razor heard the Cat-Lord cheerfully inquire.

"Well, it did take nearly the entire four hours," Panthera replied as Trevar walked past the scene towards the kitchen to put away the groceries. "And there wasn't any passionfruit involved, so I had that going for me." The shadowcat nuzzled and licked Gilda's beak but the griffon seemed to be passed out, insentient to their presence as her labored breathing the only sign she was still alive.

"Come on, girls," Trevar admonished, coming back in to retrieve more of the grocery sacks he'd left by the main entrance. "Give them some privacy. You'll all have your turns in time, if you're still wanting to."

"But she was supposed to be mating with you!" Blood Feather growled.

"Well, she's not comfortable doing it with me yet, and I'm not going to force the issue," the Cat-Lord replied. Then he snapped his fingers in front of their faces to distract them from the couple on the floor.

"Hey! Hey! Until she is comfortable with the idea doing it with me, I'll let her spend it with Panthera instead, if that's what she wants," he sternly said to them. "No one here should have a problem with that," he finished, picking up the last of the sacks and taking them to the kitchen.

"If you could, please take those items you brought downstairs to the first storeroom by the stairs," he called as he worked to put away the rest of the things he bought.

Pinkie sullenly watched as the shadowcat entered the residence, trying to think hard of how to backtrack the griffons.

It was quite clever of Trevar to use them, she had to concede. There was no way she could follow everypony, even with the methods she sometimes employed. And now that there were quite a bit of items collected already, she had the added difficulty of finding out just what it was they had bought.

Why, those griffons could have gone almost anywhere! she thought morosely. Then she brightened, suddenly realizing something.

"No! Not anywhere!" she happily exclaimed. "Twilight bought out all the quills from Quills and Sofas and they haven't restocked their supplies yet. And none of those sacks were large enough to hold a sofa. So—that's the one place they couldn't have gone! And they've not been to Sugarcube Corners to buy any cupcakes! That narrows things down quite a bit!"

As she sat there by the side of the road, watching the house, she tried to think of other places that could be eliminate off the list of possibilities. But a buzzing sound coming from up the road distracted her. Shifting her gaze between the last two houses in Ponyville, she spied a dust plume rapidly approaching the town from the direction of Sweet Apple Acres.

Immediately, she realized that it had to be Scootaloo with her friends off on another adventure to look for their cutie marks.

Suddenly, the thought hit her, almost dislodging the gears in her head once again.

She jumped into the middle of the road before they could blast past her. Waving her hooves over her head, she loudly called out.

"STO-O-O-O-O-OP-P-P!"

The look on Scootaloo's face showed her shock at Pinkie suddenly appearing in front of her. She barely had time to shift her wings to apply a hard breaking thrust, as she popped her scooter into a fishtail slide to drain off their momentum. After all, there was the wagon and her friends to think about, too.

The entire group was enveloped by the dust cloud for several moments before natural breezes began to dissipate it. In a short while, the dust cleared enough for everypony to see again.

Scootaloo had managed to bring her scooter to a halt just hands shy of running into the pink earth mare and the back end of the wagon holding three foals was still up in the air, balanced on its front wheels. They all looked at each other and how close they had come to having an accident.

"THAT! WAS! AWESOME!" Pinkie, Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle all exclaimed simultaneously. A very small earth pony colt with dark brown eyes, a mottled white coat with tan splotches, and two-toned brown mane and tail, and no cutie mark, who was also riding with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle was breathing hard, with his pupils and irises reduced to dots.

He settled back in the wagon, getting over his shock, only for his motion to momentarily renew his panic when the action caused the wagon to settle back down to all four of its wheels with a loud retort.

"You okay, Pip?" Applebloom asked, noticing the colt was non-responsive after they landed.

"Uh—uh—y—yeah," he stammered after getting his breathing under control.

"Hi girls!" Pinkie cheerfully called out.

"Hi Pinkie!" the three fillies happily replied.

"Oh, but I didn't mean to ignore you, Pip!" Pinkie added, only just noticing the colt in the wagon.

"H-h-hi…" the pinto colt stammered a reply.

"Whatcha doin'?" Pinkie inquired.

"Just going around for a spin," Scootaloo answered. "Thought we'd take a break from cutie mark crusading for the day after Big Mac confiscated our flamethrowers."

"Aww, that's too bad," Pinkie said in sympathy. "Oh! But how'd you like to try earning your cutie marks in investigating?"

"Investigatin'? Investigatin' whut?" Applebloom inquired.

"That Mister Trevar," Pinkie told them in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Oh, we already tried that," Sweetie Belle said with a shudder of the memory. "We found out he's got the mange!"

"Oh, no, no, no," Pinkie said. "He doesn't have the mange. Although, I can see how you'd think that," she muttered, thinking back about Ryuu by the pool.

"No, I mean, he's been using those shadowcats and several griffons to help him gather up some things," Pinkie told them. "I think he's building some sort of Evil Overlord superweapon to help him take over the world!"

"Oh! Maybe we can git ahr cutie marks by Evil Overlordin'!" Applebloom exclaimed, instantly perking up.

"CUTIE MARK CRUADERS: EVIL OVERLORDERS! YAY!" the three fillies all exclaimed.

"I have to think that's more of an adult profession," Pinkie countered. "Something a bit after getting your cutie marks. Or maybe that's something for the other CMC to chase after," she finished, enlisting a chorus of "awwws" from the girls.

"But I think you can try again with investigating by tracing down the stores the griffons have been visiting and finding out what they were buying," Pinkie suggested.

"Oooh! Like Roan Connery as Manes Bond in 'Goldhoof'?" Sweetie Belle inquired.

"Roan's okay, but I liked Roger Mare better in 'Moonbucker'," Scootaloo spoke up.

"Yer both wrong! Rassilon was best pony in 'Th' Livin' Daylights'," Applebloom protested.

"Girls! Girls! We can all argue who's best Manes Bond later!" Pinkie stepped in, "after we find out what the griffons have been gathering. Besides, everypony knows it was Pierce Brony who was the best in 'Goldeneye'," she challenged with a grin.

With the four foals helping her, Pinkie was feeling confident they'd be able to find out what the human and griffons were planning. Already, Applebloom found out one of the griffons had bought a couple Elway Shunt Deharmonizing Regulators from Bon Bon, and Scootaloo reported a Psychokinetic Phase Motion Rotator had been purchased by a griffon from Trader Yohan, while Pinkie had just learned another was acquired from Thaumaturge-N-Things. The next store on this street was Quills and Sofas, and Pinkie remembered that she could skip that one.

But just as she was coming up on the store's entrance, a terrified looking brown earth pony with an hourglass cutie mark bolted out with a bag held in his mouth, immediately followed by an angry lavender alicorn.

"COME BACK HERE!" Twilight Sparkle yelled galloping after him to tackle the pony in the middle of the street.

"Please! I need this for my work!" the brown earth pony cried.

"REALLY! YOU NEED ALL SIX OF THEM!?" Twilight growled as she stood over him, snorting in irritation. "I've been waiting for WEEKS to get a replacement for my lab! I need JUST ONE! But every day I've tried, they're out of stock! NOW, I SEE WHY!"

"I've only got just the one! I swear!" the earth pony cried. "Here's my credit card! Check the record! I've been waiting for weeks, too," he said, holding up his card.

"Whatcha doin', Twilight?" Pinkie asked, hopping over to them, hoping she could make everypony happy again. She had to wait for the princess to get through scanning the brown pony's card with her spell.

"Hmf! Seems you're in the clear this time, Doctor—this time," she grumbled, levitating the card back to him. "So the question is, who's been getting the others?"

"Twilight?" Pinkie asked again, puzzled what was making her friend so upset.

"Oh. Hi, Pinkie," Twilight said, backing off to let the brown earth pony up and run off. "I've been trying to get a Svengali-Machiavelli Spin Schemer Manipulator for weeks and Quill and Sofas finally got some in stock. But every day I've been by, somepony," she emphasized with a glare at the pony who was running away, "comes by to snatch them all up."

"I thought Quills and Sofas only sold, well, quills and sofas," Pinkie muttered.

"They do sell them," Twilight confirmed. "Although, they're out of quills at the moment, too. I do tend to go through those things quite a bit."

"So, this Seven Gollies thing?" Pinkie asked.

"Svengali-Machiavelli Spin Schemer Manipulators," Twilight absently said, correcting the pink pony. "I need one for an isolation shield chamber modulator. I've ordered two, one to replace the burned out unit and one as a backup. And I've been waiting for weeks, now! Q&S doesn't stock that many, since there can't be that many ponies needing that sort of high level shield chamber modulation. I've suspected him for some time of snatching them all up. But he's in the clear. For now."

"So," Twilight said, finally looking at Pinkie Pie directly. "What are you up to?"

"Oh, I've been trying to figure out what Trevar has been up to," Pinkie happily told her as they started back up the street back toward the main part of town. "I'm sure he's up to building some sort of Evil Overlord superweapon."

"The human?" Twilight asked, perplexed.

"Yeah," Pinkie confirmed. "He and the shadowcats and the griffons have been going about buying up all sort of stuff," she said, handing the list over to Twilight.

"Hmm…." Twilight vocalized as she read the items. "Two Psychokinetic Phase Motion Rotators, and two—'Elway'?" she paused as she struggled over Pinkie's writing. "Oh, you mean an 'Lei-way' Shunt Deharmonizing Regulator—wait—what's Bon Bon doing selling those?" After considering the puzzle for a moment, she resumed reading out the rest of the list.

"Well, there's quite a number of things that can be made from these," Twilight told her. "Although, not all of them can be categorized as 'superweapons'."

"Well, we're still early in our investigation," Pinkie said. But she suddenly stopped, with her ear twitching and her back left hoof quivering.

"Something wrong, Pinkie?" Twilight asked, a little nervous, seeing the signs of Pinkie's Pinkie sense going off.

"I—I'll—I'll be right back, Twilight," Pinkie shouted as she rushed back and went into the Quills and Sofa's store.

A few minutes later, Pinkie came bounding out of the store, a happy grin on her face as she bounced up to Twilight.

"Well, mystery solved as to where your Swen Jollies got to!" Pinkie told her.

"Svengali-Machiavelli Spin Schemer Manipulator," Twilight grumbled through grinding teeth. "So, what did you find out?"

"The griffons bought five of them," Pinkie told her as she scribbled onto her list. "As well as 360 golden-ratio rhombic plates of chronithril."

"What?" Twilight exclaimed. "Wait—how many plates of chronithril? How big?"

"Oh, about yea-by-yea big," Pinkie said, using her hoofs to describe them, about three hands long and one and three quarter hands high. "About 360 plates. Why?"

"Well, those other items in your list and the five Svengali-Machiavelli Spin Schemer Manipulators," she trailed off as she thought about it. "In various combinations, there are about twenty-two million different uses that have them all, assuming he might be making more than one. And of those, seven are capable of being used for superweapons. But nothing that would be able to use all those items. Certainly nothing that uses two Lei-way Shunt Deharmonizing Regulators or that many rhombic plates of chronithril at the same time. It's very puzzling."

She then looked at Pinkie Pie.

"Wait! How did you find out it was griffons who bought them?" Twilight inquired.

"I asked them," she cheerfully replied.

"Whut?" Twilight's lower left eyelid began to twitch, which caught Pinkie's notice.

"Ooooh! Are you developing a—a Twilie sense, too?" Pinkie happily asked.

"They wouldn't hardly give me the time of day," the lavender alicorn growled. "I asked, and they wouldn't even let me know that I had ever bought anything from them! 'Customer confidentiality,' they claimed!"

A small white rabbit shadowed Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie for the time it took them to separate, Pinkie going on to the cake shop and the purple princess continuing on to her castle. When it was clear the ponies were on their way to separate destinations, the rabbit went in another direction, quickly leaving town and headed for the dangerous Everfree Forest.

Once concealed from prying eyes, the white rabbit was suddenly enveloped in green magical fire and was replaced by an earth pony colt with dark brown eyes, a mottled white coat with tan splotches, and two-toned brown mane and tail, and no cutie mark. He quickly took an evasive route to reach the hive.

"Jimmy Olson here to deliver a verbal report on our targets," he hissed as he calmly walked toward the entrance of heavily concealed cavern an hour later.

The changeling known as John Drake stepped out from the cavern that led to the Hive proper to meet him.

"Any problems?" the changeling hissed at him.

"Other than suffering from numerous heart attacks due to those three menaces as part of my cover, no. None," the colt hissed back. John Drake snorted in amusement.

"Report to the Queen," he told Jimmy Olson.

In the depths of the hive, the young and very small colt with dark brown eyes, a mottled white coat with tan splotches, and two-toned brown mane and tail, and no cutie mark bowed reverently to the changeling queen.

"Mother, I bring news of our targets and the activities of his allies," the colt reported. "It would appear that they are gathering supplies and are in the process of building something. The ponies are now aware there are plans being made by the targets. At present, they have a partial list of items gathered by the targets' allies. However, they do not have all of the information."

"Let me hear it," Queen Chrysalis commanded.

"So far, on behalf of our targets, the griffons had acquired 360 golden-ratio rhombic plates of chronithril, two Psychokinetic Phase Motion Rotators, two Lei-way, or Elway, Shunt Deharmonizing Regulators, five Svengali-Machiavelli Spin Schemer Manipulators. The ponies know of those items. However, they do not yet know there were also thirteen Differential Thaumaturgic Discriminators and three Piezo-Manna Variable Transducer Regulators also acquired by the griffons."

"Interesting," Queen Chrysalis uttered thinking the matter over.

"In various combinations and permutations, there are trillions of devices that would have need of those components," she told her drone. "However, in total, there is nothing that could make use of all of them. And yet—there is something—"

"You say the ponies do not yet know of the last items in your report?" she asked after several more minutes of thought.

"That is correct, my Queen," the pony said, bowing. He waited as his queen took several minutes to think about the problem.

"Suffice to say, it is necessary to cooperate with the ponies—for now," Queen Chrysalis finally told him. "Provide the additional information to the ponies and we'll let Twilight Sparkle's mind stew with those ingredients. Let us see what she can make of them. Keep an eye out for any more components our targets are acquiring and report your finding as soon as you are able."

"Yes, my Queen," the pony said with a bow before leaving.

On his way out, he passed through a chamber holding dozens of cocoons, each containing a pony. He paused by one particular cocoon holding a very small colt with dark brown eyes, a mottled white coat with tan splotches, and two-toned brown mane and tail, and no cutie mark. He looked impassively upon the figure for a few moments before resuming his journey out of the hive and back to the town of ponies.

That evening, as the night shift arrived to relieve them, Silver Thorn, quietly spoke to Shadow Wing.

"This morning, you had nothing of significance to report," Silver Thorn said. "Yet, after you left, we found signs of a struggle. Did you guys have any problems? Or were you running a drill?"

"Yes. A drill," Shadow Wing replied in monotone. "We conducted a drill."

"I see," Silver Thorn muttered. "I'm rather surprised, since you normally don't do that sort of thing. Still, just be careful you don't get caught."

"Agreed," the sergeant replied. Then he came to attention, waiting for Silver Thorn to initiate the final action for the turnover.

"I stand relieved," Silver Thorn said with a sigh and snapping off a salute.

"You stand relieved," Shadow Wing replied, and the Lunar teams took their positions without another word.

As his team departed for the evening, Silver Thorn was still puzzled by something that he couldn't quite put his hoof on.

"Twilight! There's a letter for you from Princess Celestia!" Spike announced as when he finally found her (of all places) in the Library.

"Thank you, Spike," she said, taking the scroll from him. She silently read the letter after breaking the seal and frowned at what was written.

Then, without a word, she levitated a blank scroll to her desk and used a ready quill to write her response.

Dear ~~Prin~~ Celestia,

I have also been puzzling over the list of items purchased by the griffons and Mister Trevar. While it is true that in certain combinations, there are seven or eight destructive devices that can be made from some of the components, there are literally trillions of possible things to be made from taking into account every combination and permutation. But there is reason for me to suspect it's something other than weapons of magical destruction that Trevar is pursuing.

Primarily of which, even if he tries to make the seven or eight weapons, he doesn't yet have the necessary components to make any one of them. Given that, it also makes no sense for him to have acquired items that are not related to any specific WMD when he's clearly lacking such important components.

Secondly, with what he has purchased, were he to be pursuing any of the prohibited devices, the components he has bought not related to any of the possible superweapons would be essentially useless in the remaining combinations and permutations.

And most importantly, their acquisition of thirteen Differential Thaumaturgic Discriminators and three Piezo-Manna Variable Transducer Regulators makes no sense. One would only get such if they intended to put together some sort of multiphasic device. Yet, none of the seven or eight known WMDs from the earlier list can be utilized in any sort of a multiphasic design.

Plus, he's got too many Differential Thaumaturgic Discriminators for a five-phase dimensional device yet too few for a six-phase dimensional mechanism.

This leads me to believe he's intent on creating something entirely different from our worst fears. What that item might be, unfortunately, currently eludes me. It's quite likely that he's not gathered all the items he needs, for whatever that might be.

The source who provided us the information as to Trevar's activities is still pursuing leads. However, it looks like the search will have to be expanded to other cities, since obviously griffons can fly. They've certainly exhausted the supply of such high-end magical components they might get here in Ponyville.

Unfortunately, only when we get a more complete list of items can we even begin to guess at what he's trying to construct.

I'll be sure to make this a top priority. Between you, me, and Luna, I'm sure we'll be able to figure this out.

Yours truly,

Twilight Sparkle.

P.S. Would you have any idea of why Bon Bon would be doing selling Lei-way Shunt Deharmonizing Regulators? That one, I just can't wrap my head about.

Then she quickly rolled it up and applied her seal to it.

"Thank you, Spike," she said, addressing the waiting dragon. "Can you please send this to Princess—" She paused to look out the window. "Well, I guess it'll have to be Princess Luna, then," she sheepishly said.

"S-sure thing, Twilight," he said, taking the scroll and breathed his green flame over it. "Must be pretty important, huh? To not dictate it to me to write."

"I'm sorry, Spike," she sadly told him. "This is a rather sensitive matter. It's not that I don't trust you, but the Princesses asked me to keep the number of ponies who know to a minimum."

"Sure," Spike forlornly replied. "I understand."

King Sombra's consciousness awoke from the horror of his failure. He had been so close to regaining the Chrystal Empire when that pink alicorn, who had evidently come from nowhere, literally DID come from nowhere to snatch the Chrystal Heart away from his grasp just as he had been reaching for the falling….

Intense pain suddenly distracted his thoughts.

Pain, he was quite familiar with … or so he had assumed. This was pain at a whole new level. And just as he was about to scream once more, the pain was gone, but the lingering memory was staying quite fresh….

"Now that I once more have your attention…" an odd voice spoke to him.

Confused, King Sombra cautiously opened his eyes, fully expecting the pain to resume.

"Don't worry about the pain," the voice said as his eyes opened. "That is, unless you try to be uncooperative again." The image that greeted King Sombra's vision was of something that made no sense to his mind.

"Wha—what—what are you?" he demanded, sitting up.

"You don't recognize me, Sombra? How disappointing," the creature, looking like a hodge-podge mix of different beings, said.

"That's KING Sombra, Beast!"

"Oh? Heh! Ho! Ho! 'King', is it?," the creature asked laughing. "Well, I guess you can call me the King of Kings—oh, wait—that title's already been taken. Or you can call me Q. Or Peon. Or even Minion, if you so desire—oh, wouldn't those last two be ironic?" it chuckled to itself. "Truth is, I really don't care what you call me. Just so long as you know I'm the one in charge!" it added, this time with a voice dripping with menace.

"Such arrogance, speaking to your betters that way—" King Sombra began.

"I'm arrogant?" the beast exclaimed laughing uproariously, cutting him off. "I'm the one who just got through bringing you back into this world, I can take you right back out again, junior—only this time, you'll feel what it's like to be dead," the creature said; once more the tone of its voice filled with peril.

But then, King Sombra felt all the strength in his body suddenly depart.

"Can you breathe? Can you feel your heart beating?" the creature asked. "Oh? What's this? You can't speak? That's because, you're dead! Again!"

King Sombra tried to use his magic. Nothing. He tried to push himself back to a sitting position. Nothing. He tried to breathe! Nothing. He tried to flick an ear. Nothing. He tried to blink. Nothing.

"You feel the warmth draining out of your body?" the chop suey monstrosity cheerfully asked. "Do you feel the breakdown of your tissues yet? That's because I'm not allowing you the mercy of oblivion to take you. You need to understand: I'm giving you life. You're to do one thing with that life, and one thing only. Fail me, and I'll make sure you'll wish you had never been born. Oh, my, I'm really am doing the plagiarizing bit today, aren't I?" it asked itself as it shifted its body around to lay on its back, using King Sombra's corpse as an impromptu pillow.

"But I don't care. I'll just let you lie there for a bit longer," it said. From King Sombra's peripheral vision, he could see the being use the fur on the back of its lion-like paw to idly polish the talons of its griffon-like claws. "I want you to fully understand just how important it is for you to do as instructed. After all, you've already blown your second chance at life when you tried to retake the Chrystal Empire. As far as I'm concerned, you're toast. However, I do have a need for somepony with your talents right now. And that's the only reason I'm even considering letting you live once more. Otherwise, you'd simply not worth the effort."

What's up with Shadow Wing? Corporal Rackorn signaled with his ears and eyes after the Night Guard departed the next morning.

No idea, Silver Thorn replied. The set of his mouth indicated his displeasure. At first, Rackorn wondered if it was for his inquiry. But then the sergeant signaled some more.

I'm definitely going to get to the bottom of this, his superior sent.

Everyone in the two day teams knew something was wrong.

Normally, there was not this level of coldness between the day and night shifts turning over their duties. Professionalism was one thing: don't be seen bantering. But this early in the morning, with nopony about, there was time and opportunity to do more than simply march up, salute, and take over the watch. Yet, that was exactly what was happening with Shadow Wing's teams for nearly two days in a row.

It made no sense to behave in such a manner….

Gilda slowly woke and found herself alongside the Cat-Lord.

Instantly, she shot out of the bed, immediately waking him.

"You okay, Gilda?" he sleepily asked, looking at her.

"Wh—wha—what—why am I—?" she stammered, still hovering in midair.

"Oh?" the Cat-Lord asked, arching his back and twisting his body to work out the pops from his spine before sitting up.

"Panthera left you with me so you wouldn't feel so alone as you slept," the Cat-Lord said, getting up to divest his toga. Gilda immediately averted her eyes as he did that. "She didn't want to disturb you when she left to go to work with Pardus last night," he finished as he walked out into the hallway on his way to the rest room.

When her breathing came back under control, she could hear the shower going in the bathroom. She settled back to the floor and walked out the bedroom to go downstairs.

She had intended to go to the kitchen to fix herself some breakfast, but she was halted by the sight of the entire floor, and half the walls and ceiling of the living room were covered by those strange metal panels that had completely overtaken the basement. Their purpose still eluded the griffons.

When she cautiously stepped out onto the metal-clad floor, she could see the structural surfaces of the kitchen, like the basement, had been completely relined with those panels. And the two shadowcats were busy at that moment recreating the wall that used to separate the kitchen from the living room. Part of the doorframe was a vertical I-beam supporting one end of a horizontal I-beam member that formed the upper part of the new wall.

"Good morning, Gilda," Panthera greeted as she and Pardus continued to work.

"G-good morn—what is all this?" she blurted out her question.

"Something Trevar is needing to have done if he's to function as an ambassador for Earth to Equestria," Panthera replied.

Gilda watched for several minutes, unable to take her eyes off their work. By the time the shadowcats were finished with the new wall, the Cat-Lord arrived from upstairs dressed in a fresh toga.

"Good morning again, Gild—oooh! That's cold!" he exclaimed as he stepped onto the metal-lined floor. He took a few moments to look about.

"Coming along pretty nicely," he happily said.

"We aim to please," Pardus said, stepping away to give their work a critical view. "Another few days, we should have the entire house reworked. And we should have all the components for the shields by then, too. The only thing I'm concerned about is whether we can find the crystals we need and get them properly charged up."

"What shall we do today?" Gilda asked.

"If you're game, we can do more of what we did yesterday," Panthera said.

"Yeah. At least you don't have to worry about them walking in on you like they did yesterday afternoon," the Cat-Lord said. "Razor said that they were needing to fly to places like Canterlot, Manehattan, Sand Valley, Las Pegasus, and Seaddle to get the rest of the components we need. So they probably won't be able to deliver anything until tomorrow morning at best."

"And we're stocked up on food, so Trevar doesn't need to leave, either," the female shadowcat said, draping a wing over Gilda. "I know you're not ready for him to mate with you, yet. But I'd like him to be with us today. I'd like you to see what he can do with his fingers."

"Wh-what!?" Gilda exclaimed, balking at the idea.

"You don't have to let him even touch you," the shadowcat consoled her. "Just watch what he can to me as we make love. Trust me, you'll grow to like it as much as I."

"Wh-wha-what will Lord Pardus be doing?" Gilda nervously asked.

"I've still more isolators and fasteners for these plates to get, so I'll be out of your hair," Pardus told her. "Oh, and out of your feathers, too," he amended with a grin.

"It says here that a Scottish Shetland pony was arrested for sapientcide," Twilight idly commented as she read the morning's Canterlot Gazette. "Apparently, he had been carrying on a family tradition dating all the way back to the days before Luna had been banished."

"Oh, my!" Rarity exclaimed. "How is such a horrid thing even possible?"

"Well, according to this article, this family had been selling meats to the Griffon Empire for centuries," Twilight said, summarizing the story that was taking up nearly three quarters of the front page and was continued on several pages inside. "This was all supposedly perfectly legal as they had the documentation to show the meats they sold were from non-sapient animals…"

"Eeep!" Fluttershy squeaked.

"…however," Twilight continued after the interruption, "it was during dinner at a diplomatic conference between Princesses Celestia and Luna and Ambassador Gustav that Luna said she recognized who it was she was eating—quite the accomplishment, considering the cow was ground up."

"Whoa, Nelly!" Applejack yelled.

"Wait!" Rainbow Dash cut in. "How would Luna know it was a cow?"

"It explains that deeper into the story," Twilight explained, flipping to the relevant page. "It says she recognized the cow from the taste. Furthermore, Princess Luna said it was the exact same cow she ate only a few days before she was banished as Nightmare Moon. Must've been one hay of a preservative spell," Twilight finished.

"And they say Karma's a bitch!" Spike spoke up.

"It sure is," Pardus agreed.

"No, she's really a bitch! Karma's a Diamond Dog," Spike said, correcting the shadowcat.

"Wait, what? Spike? What are you talking about?" Twilight asked.

"I thought I'd toss my two bits in since we seem to be talking a bunch of random filler stuff," the young dragonling replied.

"SPIKE!" Pinkie Pie screamed. "That's MY job! And why are you even in this conversation?"

"Well, excuse me!" the dragon said, throwing down his napkin and walked off in a huff.

"So who were these Shetland ponies?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"It says the family's name was McDonald," Twilight read.

Pardus blinked at her before turning and walking away.

"I'm outta here!" he muttered. "Come along, Pinkie Pie. This conversation has just made such a sudden southerly turn, I'm not willing to stay with it!"

"Just think of using a spell like that to preserve some of your zap-apple jam, AJ!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"That'd sure ta be th' start of a fine investment," the farmer pony agreed.

"Anyhow, thank you all for joining me for breakfast," Twilight said, folding her paper closed and setting it down. "I've got to be running. I've got a bit of a battle at Quills and Sofa to fight."

"Oh?" Rainbow Dash asked, suddenly perking up. "What sort of battle? Who's it with? Hydras? Manticores? Changelings? Parasprites?"

"Obstinacy," Twlight replied.

"Th' proprietor?" Applejack asked astonished.

"Um-hmm," Twilight nodded.

"What'd he do?" the farmpony asked. "Aren't you one of their best customers?"

"I certainly thought so," the alicorn princess said. "But lately, I've been trying to get some supplies from them, but they hardly give me the time of day to speak with anypony. And every time I go in there, they're 'fresh out' of the parts I need! Somepony else just ahead of me always seems to get the last one!"

"Tha' don't sound right," Applejack muttered. "What're they outta?"

"A Svengali-Machiavelli spin schemer manipulator," Twilight replied. "I've ordered two. One's for a backup, but I'll settle for just one right now."

"… Uh … Is tha' a quill? Or a sofa?" Applejack hesitantly asked.

"Neither," the purple princess answered. "It's for an isolation shield chamber modulator. The last one I had burned out a few months back and I can't get a replacement."

"Well, donja think tha' might be parta yer problem, right there?" she asked with a chuckle.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Twilight," Applejack patiently said, draping a hoof over the alicorn's withers. "You're tryin' ta git those Zen-Folly…"

"A Svengali-Machiavelli spin schemer manipulator," Twilight grumbled, interrupting.

"Whaevah," Applejack cut back in. "Donja think tha' tryin' ta git—those things—from 'Quills and Sofas' ain't gonna work out all tha' good when they sell, well, quills and sofas?"

"That's not the point!" Twilight protested. "They sell Swen Gol—" But then Twilight stopped as her pupils and irises suddenly contracted and Applejack had to yank her arm off of her to keep from getting burned as the princess' mane began to smolder.

"They sell Svengali-Machiavelli spin schemer manipulators, too!" Twilight resumed through grinding teeth.

"So, Pardy! Where are we off to?" Pinkie quickly asked as she hopped alongside the shadowcat.

"The usual, Pinkie," Pardus replied, smirking at her. "I've still got more of those parts to buy and you've still got reports to send about what I'm buying."

Pinkie continued to hop alongside him for a few bounces, giggling at the idea he was almost about to say "Try to take over the world," before she suddenly halted in shock at what he had actually stated.

"Wait!" she exclaimed. "You knew about what I've been doing?"

"Are you kidding?" Pardus asked, not breaking stride. "Please, don't tell me you thought you had me fooled. I was aware of you following me for days."

"Bu—but how did you know?" Pinkie asked, trotting up alongside him. He apparently took no notice of how her mane had deflated.

"We anticipated that someone would be following us around," he replied, glancing at her. "It didn't take us anytime to spot that it was you. Oh, nice hairstyle," he added. Evidently, he did notice. But it didn't cheer her up any.

"Seriously?" he asked, glancing at her. He continued to look at her as they walked. After a couple of steps, his form rippled and he vanished. And after a couple more steps, his image reappeared with the same rippling effect.

"I'm a shadowcat," he stated. "That sort of 'game' you're trying to play is in our DNA. Although, I have to say, I'm impressed that you managed to elude my detection for a few hours yesterday while following me about. But during that time, you must've figured out we were using the griffons to do our real shopping."

"Oh!" Pinkie happily exclaimed, suddenly understanding as her mane and tail resumed their normal bouncy curls. Of course, I couldn't expect to out-spy a spying sneak born to such sneaking! "Yeah—s—something like that," she nervously responded.

The next morning, Gilda watched the beginning of another absolutely gorgeous day as the sun rose. Who cared if the weather pegasi were buzzing about setting up for a rainstorm for the early hours? Yesterday and the day before were equally gorgeous, both being bright and sunny. She had had Panthera for most of two days straight and all to herself!

Of course, the moment she had arrived the day before yesterday, she had been immediately pounced upon by the Cat-Lord and both shadowcats, making her swear seventeen ways to Tartarus to keep anything she saw or heard in the Cat-Lord's residence an ultra-important state secret. Seeing as how both Mittens and Screaming Eagle stood by indicated that they had already been briefed.

She had asked if any of the others had yet been likewise briefed, and they confirmed that so far, the three of them were the only ones. A part of her hoped she could be present when Razor was brought in for whatever this was about.

And she was so grateful to the Cat-Lord. Lady Panthera had been true to her word on their first day together. The Cat-Lord had not tried to force himself onto her, either by action or demand. However, on the next day, Lady Panthera did insist on him being present to show Gilda how to pleasure the shadowcat.

Later that afternoon, Pardus had returned from his shopping and joined in as well. If Panthera had any sort of objection to his attentions, she never disclosed it. Indeed, she genuinely seemed to welcome his touch as much as she had that of the Cat-Lord's.

And those—hands—of the Cat-Lord could instantly set both shadowcats loudly purring with just the slightest of caresses. It was an absolute eerie thing to witness.

After several times of imploring by Panthera to Gilda to allow the Cat-Lord to show the griffon what he was capable of delivering, Gilda finally relented as the evening approached, but still with reservations.

However, instead of jumping her as he had Panthera, the Cat-Lord was very circumspect in his approach. He kept his head bowed to her, and before making any effort to touch her, he presented his—hands—to her for inspection.

Despite not having a feline's form, the Cat-Lord certainly did know how to speak Cat in his body movements. And while he made plenty of mistakes with his inexpert and amateurish attempts to preen her feathers, his gentleness and calm approach actually made his efforts rather endearing. Moreover, his touch really was incredibly pleasurable! In a couple of hours, she had come to realize that she had wasted so much opportunity resisting his advances. There were only so many hours in a day, and she had recklessly thrown away over a day-and-a-half.

However, as wonderful as the days were, the nights were rather disappointing. The first night there, both shadowcats had departed in the middle of the night, having deposited her unconscious form alongside the Cat-Lord's for her to sleep off her exhaustion.

The second night, they insisted they had to depart for the entire night and refused to say where they were going or what they were going to do. Gilda stayed awake for the entire night, waiting for Panthera' return.

When they finally did return, it was only in the very early hours of this morning, as they made several trips to haul in dozens and dozens of those odd metal plates, ferrying them from where they entered the house through a window of one of the unoccupied upstairs bedrooms down to the basement for storage. That action was still going on even as the sun rose. They had left once more and Gilda waited. Wherever they were going, it was only a quarter hour trip out and back. As she watched the pegasi preparing the clouds, it was almost time for the shadowcats' next return.

But then….

"Shadow Wing," Silver Thorn began as he led his team to meet with the Night Guard ponies. "We need to talk."

"About what?" Shadow Wing asked, looking at him curiously.

"About our normal passdown procedures," Silver Thorn said. "Is there some problem going on that I'm not aware of? Is there something that I or my team did to offend you? If so, I'm sure that we can work it—"

However, the unexpected crack across the jaw from the butt of Shadow Wing's spear suddenly ended the conversation as well as dropped Silver Thorn in the dirt. When the unicorn could process what was happening again, the surprise and shock of the attack paled to the sight of not only his team being seriously on the defensive from the Night Guard, but that there were dozens of townsponies rushing in from around the houses to join in the attack on his team, too.

Silver Thorn was about to try standing upon his feet again when he sighted Rackorn, who had been parrying both Shadow Wing and his corporal, Midnight Flame, managed to get some lucky strikes in that should've been enough to disable anypony from continuing to attack. What happened, next was unexpected, but in hindsight, should've been anticipated: bursts of green flame erupted from both Night Guard and their bodies were replaced by black carapaced figures.

"They're changelings! Come on, girls! Let's get 'em" somepony yelled.

Of course it wasn't the real Shadow Wing, Silver Thorn belatedly realized. Had it been the real Night Guard attacking, his head would likely have been removed by that attack! But even if the sucker punch wasn't delivered at the strength that he knew Shadow Wing could deliver, it wasn't one that could be ignored.

Silver Thorn struggled to get to his hooves again to join in the defense. And it was at that moment that somepony—some changeling, rather—bit him on the neck and he felt much of his strength departing him.

At first, Rainbow thought the guards were pulling a training exercise on each other. That first strike sure looked almost real, however and the altercation pulled in her full attention, as well as several of her weather team wing mates. What was really odd was that over a dozen townsponies had also joined in the "attack" on the Day Guard. Something just wasn't right with this picture.

But then one of the day guardponies got a strike against two that he was fending off and both his opponents burst into green fire to reveal…

"They're changelings!" Rainbow screamed, incensed the bugponies had the audacity to renew their attack on Equestria in Ponyville of all places! "Come on, girls! Let's get 'em" she yelled, leading the charge. However, just before she could strike at one of the Night Guard ponies, who also must have been changelings in reality, something rammed into her, driving her into the ground instead.

The impact into the dirt wasn't as bad as those she had done to herself, and Rainbow still had the wherewithal to look at what had hit her. She saw Thunderlane standing over her, glaring at her. And with green fire, Thunderlane was suddenly replaced with a black glistening bug pony!

"No!" Rainbow whispered in horror. Not only had so many townsponies been replaced, but evidently the entire Night Guard assigned to protect the visiting humans as well as an unknown number of her fellow pegasi in the weather team!

Suddenly getting pissed, Rainbow jumped up to deliver a satisfying right fore-hoof to the Thunderlane impostor, dropping it to the dirt with blood coming from its broken jaw. That got the attention of several of the attacking bug ponies, many of them obviously still in disguise. That suited Rainbow just fine. She had lots of payback to deliver.

But before she could begin, several pairs of orange beams of light suddenly started hitting the attacking changelings, instantly dropping them. In those cases where the beams hit disguised changelings, they were forced to revert to their true form before falling. However, the orange beams didn't just hit changelings. A couple of Day Guards also got hit which dropped them as well.

Rainbow didn't have any idea where those beams were coming from, and she looked about in confusion, as did the changelings. But it didn't take long for a clue to reveal itself. The human male and Gilda dropped down among the melee from one window and one of the shadowcats came out from the other, and Rainbow saw that Panthera was shooting orange eyebeams from her eyes as another set continued to strike at both friend and foe.

It must be Pardus! she suddenly realized. But why is he nailing the Day Guard, too?

A few of the changelings tried to attack the human, Gilda, and Panthera. Gilda sliced one open with her claws, the human male moved in a fluid motion to kick one changeling with a hind leg, deliver a punch with one of his forelegs to a second, and nearly took off the head of a third with a spinning kick from the other rear leg. But what really impressed Rainbow Dash was when four changelings simultaneously jumped Panthera, they all screamed and fell the instant they touched her while shooting a fifth, much distant changeling, with her blazing orange eyes. Watching all that, Rainbow absently back-hooved a changeling that had tried to sneak up on her while she was distracted by the show.

But just then, a pair of those orange beams hit her in the chest and, other than the fact it felt like she had just been kicked by a mule, her overwhelming thought as everything turned black was, Why!?

Gilda had just made her second kill when there suddenly no more changelings to fight; they were all unconscious. So were the ponies!

"Lord Trevar!?" Gilda exclaimed. "Why did you take down the ponies, too? That's Rainbow Dash over there!"

"We couldn't tell any difference between them and the dopplegangers," Pardus said as he returned to a visible state. "The only way to be sure was to take them all down. We've merely stunned them. No one's been harmed, but they'll be unconscious for a few hours."

"In the meantime, we'll need something to bind these creatures," Lord Trevar said, looking at the scene.

"GILDA!?" a voice from above called out to her, and she instinctively spun about, ready to fight. It was Blood Feather—or at least it appeared to be her. "What are all these changelings doing here?" Blood Feather demanded as she landed and took a look about.

"That's what we'd like to know," Gilda said, not relaxing her combat stance. "Panthera? Pardus? Would one of you do the honors of checking?"

It was Pardus who reached out a wing to lay on Blood Feather and the griffon was instantly screaming as her body jerked about from the lightning playing over her body. She immediately collapsed but remained a griffon.

"She's real," Pardus said withdrawing his wing.

"Wh-wha-what the s-s-sq-quit was that for!?" Blood Feather rasped as she tried to lift her head.

"Couldn't tell if you were one of them," Pardus said by way of apology. "I'll go get some help in restraining these creatures," the shadowcat told the Cat-Lord, who absently nodded after the shadowcat had already departed in the direction of the Apple family farm.

"Wait, Lord Trevar!" Gilda exclaimed. "He shouldn't go off alone! What if they replace him?"

"If they can take down Pardus, we've got bigger things to worry about. Like that they'd be able to take down Pardus," the Cat-lord replied amused.

"We should kill these monsters…" Gilda began as she raised a claw to dispatch another changeling when she suddenly felt her arm being held back even though nothing was near her to restrain her.

"No," the Cat-Lord said shaking his head and giving her a stern look. "If we kill them all, we can't get any answers!"

"Unless their biology is radically different from everyone we've encountered, the blasts Pardus and I gave them should keep them down for hours," Panthera calmly said as she began to telekinetically collect and sort the bodies of ponies and changelings. Evidently, all of the weather team had also been taken down. What was worrying was that more than half of them had been the creatures in disguise. "But don't worry. I'll be keeping an eye out for signs of early recovery."

"Would you and Blood Feather do us a favor and go get the purple alicorn and anyone she deems appropriate?" the Cat-Lord asked.

"Heh! Ar--are y-you kidding!?" Blood Feather squawked as she was still shakily trying to raise up to a sitting position only to fall flat on the ground again.

"Wh-what if the princess is one of them?" Gilda nervously asked. "What if they replace me when I bring them the news?"

"Then we deal with the creatures and hunt you all down wherever they stash you," the Cat-Lord grimly told her. "Or at least avenge you. I've still got two shadowcats and six of these pony guards plus Rainbow Dash and her pegasi friends to do that with."

"Y-yes, Cat-Lord," Gilda nervously whispered. But the Cat-Lord gripped her by either side of her face and looked deeply into her eyes.

"I know you're scared," he gently told her. "I've no idea of how peaceful your world has become or for how long. I don't want to lose you or see you hurt, but this is a potentially a killing situation and you are a warrior at heart. Trust in your instincts; they've guided your species this far. And watch that 'Cat-Lord' bullshit," he softly finished with a grin and a wink.

"Yes, Lord Trevar," Gilda meekly replied to which the Cat-Lord rolled his eyes and released her. Then she was off.

Blood Feather was still trying to get back up on her feet. Whatever the shadowcat did to her, it had sapped nearly all the strength and energy out of her. If ever there was something she desired from the Cat-Lord and his Sky-Lord mate who made them all, was this secret so she could repay her embassy duty drill instructor. He would appreciate this….

"Wh-what did he do to me?" she hissed as she finally managed to get all four legs to working without renewed weakness suddenly threatening to topple her back down.

"Lo—Lord Trevar," Blood Feather said as she stepped up to the Cat-Lord, "Blood F-Feather re-reporting for duty."

"Knock it off with the 'Lord Trevar' bullshit, already," the Cat-Lord said face palming. "It's just 'Trevar' or you can also call me 'Allec' as that's my first name. And it's just 'Panthera', too. Not 'Lady Pardus'. Although Pardus still insists on being call 'His Most Shining And Illustrious Majesty, The Great And Powerful Lord Pardus, First Of His Name'."

Lady Panthera snorted.

"If she uses that, he's so-o-o-o going to get back at you for that," the female shadowcat said snickering.

"And make sure you bow to him," Trevar added. "With especially deep bowing when he farts."

Blood Feather just blinked at him.

"Trevar's kidding, of course!" Panthera spoke up, rescuing her. Blood Feather flinched as the shadowcat draped a wing over her, but she relaxed when no more lightning came from the touch. Fortunately, Panthera didn't hold her long like that before resuming her guard duty over the unconscious changeling prisoners.

"Go on inside, get something to eat and freshen up," Trevar told her, to which Blood Feather expressed her gratitude.

Once inside the Embassy, Blood Feather's first goal was the pantry in which the passionfruits were stored. The count confirmed that there was no change from yesterday or the day before.

Applejack and Big Mac had just finished loading the cart that doubled as the market stall with the day's load of baked apple pastries along with the dozen bushels of apples for the daily order from Sugar Cube Corners when one of those creepy shadowcats suddenly appeared between them.

"You guys know anything about creatures called 'changelings'?" Pardus asked. His arrival caused Applejack to nearly jump out of her skin, and even the normally unflappable Big Mac's eyes contracted.

"Where'd the hay'dju come from!?" Applejack screamed. The black cat blinked and looked at her.

"… Well, when a daddy shadowcat and a momma shadowcat really like each other very, very much … uh … but … um … that's not important right now," Pardus said with a smirk.

"Enyope!" Big Mac agreed.

"Anyhow," Pardus began again. "Do you guys know what it takes to restrain changelings? I've got a passle of them back at Trevar's that need to be tied up."

"We've got rope in th' barn," Applejack said, her ears perking up. "How many's in yer passle?"

"Thirty," Pardus replied. "You sure that rope will hold them? They're shape changers, after all."

"It should," Applejack said, rubbing her chin with a hoof. "Iffen we run th' lines through them holes in their legs. Th' Guardsponies put their hoofcuffs through them when they find a…."

"Oh. Before I forget," Pardus added, spreading his wings.

Applejack screamed and fell to the dirt. Her brother hadn't been dropped but she could tell from his expression he'd felt that! For his part, he delivered a buck on the winged panther. They each looked surprised by the other. His buck had shoved the shadowcat a full inch across the ground.

"Damn! I'm impressed," Pardus said, looking down at the divot made.

"Eyyup! Me, too," Big Mac replied.

"Why'dju go and do that fer?" Applejack yelled at him, picking herself up from the ground.

"Just checking," Pardus said. "We couldn't tell the changelings from the real ponies until we forced them to drop their disguises. So it's either zorking you guys like that or hitting you with my eyebeams. And I guarantee you'll be out for a few hours if I used them." Big Mac stared at the shadowcat for a few moments then nodded.

"Git th' rope, Applejack," her brother said.

Gilda was never so scared in her life. She was supposed to be protecting the Cat-Lord, not rushing off to possibly fetch more danger for him! If her father ever found out, she'd be lucky to get off with a tar-and-feathering!

Fortunately, the Cat-Lord had the shadowcats on talon to deal with those monsters. Strong, sure. Turn invisible? Well, they're called 'shadowcats' for a damned good reason! Lightning? That shouldn't be unexpected. Being flyers, they possibly could access weather magic that griffons couldn't. But she had no idea that they had the ability to shoot magic beams from their eyes!

She had a hard time figuring out what had just happened. One moment, the day looked to hold such promise. Then next, everything was going to squit! And it all happened so fast that she hadn't been able to process everything.

She had been looking out the window at the pegasi preparing the day for the rain, watching her former friend, Rainbow Dash, work with her wing mates setting the clouds in their places. Then the Cat-Lord bolted up out of bed and leapt out the window. What did he think he was doing? She instantly followed. She only had enough time to see there was fighting already going on and Panthera had leapt from the window of the next room over to join in on the fray.

Instincts had taken over, seeing as one side of the fight, the much larger numbered side, were changelings! And it was clear which side the Cat-Lord and shadowcat had chosen. Gilda only had an instant to strike out against a couple of foes before the fight was already over. Evidently, the changelings had no idea there were two shadowcats they were fighting. But then the shadowcats took out the ponies, too! As well as Rainbow Dash and her weather teams. But what they said when they explained the situation made perfect sense: if there was no way to tell friend from foe, you couldn't trust anyone!

But it was most impressive that the Cat-Lord and shadowcats had the solution to that problem: incapacitate everyone without harming them, then sort them out later!

Her thoughts ate up all the time it took to fly to the crystal castle and she hoped that the Cat-Lord was correct in putting his trust in Twilight Sparkle. What the alicorn will make of them knocking out Rainbow Dash was anygriffon's guess. Assuming it is the alicorn she'll be bringing back…. And that's assuming she'll be then one bringing the alicorn princess back….

Blood Feather stepped outside in time to see the other human also exit her house across the street.

"What in God's name is going on out here?" she asked, looking about in horror at the scene of so many bodies about.

"'Morning, Lieutenant," Lord Trevar greeted her. "You're just in time to help with the cleanup. We had a little encounter with creatures that apparently can assume the identity of anyone about them. They seem to be called 'changelings'."

"These things?" she asked, pointing to the black bug ponies. "But what happened to these others?"

"We couldn't tell them apart until we knocked them all out," Panthera said, materializing alongside her. "Speaking of which," she said holding out a wing.

The high pitch of the human female's screams actually hurt Blood Feather's hearing while it lasted.

The crumpled figure twitched uncontrollably for several moments before rolling on her side.

"Don't worry, Lieutenant," Lord Trevar told her. "It's just like getting tasered. You'll be alright in a few moments. We just had to make sure it was you."

"D-d-did y-y-you have to use so much juice?" she asked.

"Sorry, but it was that or knock your ass out for a few hours," the Cat-Lord told her. "And here comes Applejack and Big Mac."

"Yep, ya'll sure gotta passle of changelings," the farmpony said as they arrived. "Wait! Is that Rainbow!?" she demanded, rushing over to check on the cyan pegasus with the multicolored mane.

"It's okay," Panthera said as she stood nearby. "She and the others are just sleeping off the effects of our eye beams. You brought the rope, I see. Are you sure that running them through the holes in their legs will hold them?"

"Wait! I told that ta Pardus!" Applejack exclaimed. "How'dju know wha Ah said 'bout tyin' up changelings?"

"What Pardus sees and hears, I see and hear. And vice versa," Panthera said smirking.

"So there's no way that a changeling can impersonate one of them," the Cat-Lord explained.

"Unless, the changelings impersonate both of them," the human female countered, speaking up as she managed to get to her feet.

Blood Feather was incensed. The human bitch didn't need nearly as much time to recover as she had.

"Well, they can try," the Cat-Lord replied smiling. "But I'll know the difference."

Celestia tried to peer through the distortion that Trevar and the shadowcats evidently created whenever she tried to use her scrying spell. There was some sort of activity going on about the houses where the humans resided but she couldn't get beyond the blurred and indistinct figures. And when she saw the distortion suddenly affect the area about the Apple family homestead as well, she puzzled on what could be going on. As she watched and waited, she also noticed some activity going on at the crystal castle as Twilight Sparkle rushed out with Gilda hot on her hooves toward the main part of the town.

At that moment, a scroll materialized in front of her. A message from Spike the dragon.

Quickly opening it, she read and her eyes showed her horror.

"Changelings!?" she exclaimed in shock.

"GUARDS!" she screamed. "GET MY CHARIOT AND A FULL COMPANY TOGETHER, NOW! WE FLY TO PONYVILLE!"

Gilda didn't relish the idea of leading the pink menace or the butter-colored pegasus back to Lord Trevar, but the purple princess insisted they accompany her to the scene along with the white unicorn.

At least they hadn't tried to replace her with a changeling. Not yet.

They arrived in sight of the Cat-Lord's home and things still looked to be under control. The farm pony friend of Rainbow Dash and her brother were aiding Lord Trevar, the shadowcats, and Blood Feather. The human female also was there. And the changelings all looked to be tied up with a few judicious ropes strung through their legs linking groups of them together.

"Lor—uh—Trevar!" Gilda called out. "I've brought the Princess and her friends! A dispatch has been sent to Princess Celestia informing her of the changeling attack."

"Good," he said nodding to her. "Unfortunately, you know what this means."

"D-do you have to?" Gilda nervously asked, dreading getting zapped.

"Afraid so, given the nature of the enemy we're facing," Lord Trevar told her. "The shadowcats aren't able to tell the difference by their senses, so…."

"What's going—EYAAaargh!" Twilight screamed along with Gilda when Pardus suddenly appeared between them and draped a wing over each. At the same time, Pinkie Pie and Rarity screamed as Panthera did the same with them.

"What was that for!?" Twilight Sparkle angrily demanded as she stood there, fuming. Gilda, on the other talon, felt as though her feathers were still smoldering as she laid in the dirt. It hurt just as bad as that hoof-buzzer prank Rainbow Dash had pulled on her at the party a few years back.

"Had to make sure you weren't one of these changelings," Pardus told her as he turned to look at Fluttershy.

"Eeep!" the timid pegasus squeaked, backing away from the approaching shadowcat. "Uhmm … For your information, I hope you understand that I'mnotachangeling!"

"A wise individual once said, 'trust but verify'," Panthera said as she materialized from nothing behind the pegasus as she brought her paw down upon her rump. "Nothing personal. We're just verifying."

"EEEEK!" Fluttershy screamed as the voltage played over her body. When it was over, she looked up surprised.

"Oh! That wasn't even as much as a normal lightning strike!" she exclaimed, giggling.

"I hate you," Gilda softly muttered as she finally struggled back to her feet, glaring at the yellow pegasus.

"Gilda, I have a message for you from your father at the Embassy," Blood Feather said, walking up to her and pulling a scroll from under her wing.

Puzzled, Gilda took the scroll and opened it, reading the contents:

Dear Gilda,

I've asked one of your fellow guards to relay this message to you.

As soon as you read this, please make your way to the Embassy post haste. There is a vitally urgent matter we need to discuss.

Ambassador Gustav"

"Lo—uh—Trevar," Gilda said to the Cat-Lord, "I have to go see my father in Canterlot."

"It shouldn't be a problem. We've got everything in hand here," the Cat-Lord told her. "Do you want me to send one of the shadowcats with you? Just in case?"

"No," Gilda responded, touched by the offer. "No, you might need them more here," she finished.

"Okay," he said. "Just you take care, now. There are players starting to take things a little too serious in their game."

"I'll be careful," Gilda told him before taking off for the capitol.

"Is there anything we can do for them?" Twilight Sparkle asked as she looked over the ponies still out.

"We've made them as comfortable as we can," Trevar told her. "They should pull out of this in a few hours."

"So far, we've not had anyone die from the heavy stun setting," Pardus spoke up.

"We've seen what your eye blasts can do to timberwolves," Twilight scolded him. "What made you think it was a good idea to use those on Rainbow Dash and her fellow pegasi?"

"With those—timberwolves—Panthera was using lethal force," Pardus acknowledged with a nod. "Although, they resisted the normally lethal yellow force blast. It took the heat and higher settings to destroy them. We knew there was the possibility they were innocent ponies, so we used the strongest non-lethal force to apply. Although, in hindsight, it may have been wiser to have used the light stun setting. But we didn't want to have to repeat ourselves if we finally ran out of attackers only for the first ones we took down to jump up and start the fight all over again."

About halfway to Canterlot, Gilda saw the approaching forces from there with Celestia in the lead chariot. The Day Diarch called a halt to her troops.

"Ho! Gilda!" Celestia called when the griffon came into range.

"Princess Celestia!" Gilda happily greeted. Until Celestia hit her with a spell.

"What was that for?" Gilda exclaimed, feeling over her chest with her talons.

"Apologies, Gilda," Celestia said. "That was a spell to see if you were a changeling."

"Heh! More pleasant than the methods employed by the shadowcats," the griffon acknowledged.

"Have you encountered any changelings?" Celestia asked, horrified.

"Yeah! The shadowcats make quick work of them," Gilda told her. "They captured thirty of them over by—Trevar's—house," she said, remembering to not let drop any information about him being the Cat-Lord. But she was still having difficulty in not at least referring to him as 'Lord Trevar'. "I'm sorry to report, but all of Princess Luna's Night Guard had been replaced by them! We had no idea until they tried to do the same with your Day Guard."

"How are my ponies?" Celestia inquired.

"They're unconscious, but safe," Gilda told her. "The shadowcats couldn't tell the disguised changelings apart from real ponies, and so just knocked them all out. But the changelings all reverted when they got taken down.

"Sorry, but I can't stay," Gilda said, moving to go around. "I got a message from my father to report to him right away. Bye!" she said, flying off.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed, seeing her old mentor arrive via chariot.

"Twilight, my dear," Celestia greeted as she stepped off the chariot to nuzzle her in return. "How goes it?"

"It looks like you're just in time," the shadowcat Panthera said. "They're coming around."

"Wh-what happened?" Sergeant Silver Thorn moaned as he woke. "What the hay hit m—Princess Celestia!?" he exclaimed as his vision evidently cleared enough to take in who was standing over him.

"At ease, my little pony," Celestia kindly told him. "You've been through a harrowing ordeal."

"Ow! My head!" another figure called out causing Celestia to turn to look. "Hey! Panthera! Wh-why did ya zap me?"

"I'm sorry I had to do that, Rainbow Dash," Panthera said to her. "We couldn't be sure who was pony and who was an imposter."

"Really? You couldn't tell an awesome pony like me from a bunch of fakes?" the spectrum maned pegasus complained, making Celestia smile.

"They took you down the same as Sergeant Silver Thorn," Pardus muttered. "Sort of hard to see any awesomeness when she's face first in the dirt."

"Speaking of which," Silver Thorn grumbled, getting to his hooves, "where's the bug that sucker punched me?"

"That would be this one," Pardus said, pointing to one of the changelings that was beginning to stir in its restraints.

"Hey! HEY, YOU!" Silver Thorn yelled, grabbing the changeling by the shoulder with his hoof and giving it a shake.

"Where are the ponies you replaced? What'd you do with Shadow Wing?" Silver Thorn demanded.

"Now, Now. Th—that's really not important," the changeling replied with a grin.

"Who the HAY do you think you are!?" the sergeant roared.

"Who decides that the workday is from 9 to 5, instead of 11 to 4?" the changeling asked in response. "Who decides that the taillengths will be below the hocks this year and short again next year? Who draws up the borders, controls the currency, handles all of the decisions that happen transparently around us?"

"I don't know."

"Ah! I'm with them. Same group, different department," the changeling answered, grinning.

"What are you talking about?" Silver Thorn demanded.

"I mean, I'm from the government," the changeling replied. "And I'm here to help."

But before anyone could react to that cryptic response, the sound of something's roar interrupted the interrogation as everyone turned to see a large dark cloud approaching.

"What the hay is that!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, pointing, getting Celestia's attention.

"A cloud of nanites," Pardus said.

"Another smoke monster?" the human male asked, glancing at the shadowcat. At the cat's nod, Trevar's face turned grim. He took a few steps toward the approaching mass.

Celestia puzzled over their conversation, but not for long.

Suddenly, five long crystal spears shot up from the ground to pierce the human through the chest from multiple directions. The human female screamed in horror, and the ponies all gasped in shock.

As Trevar's frame shuddered and reacted to getting stabbed, a face began to form from the midst of the dark cloud.

"Celestia!" a voice boomed across the land. "How I wish I could repay you for what you did in forcing me from my throne all those centuries ago. But I can at least do you a favor. Now that this monkey is dealt with, I'll take my time with the two shadowcats. Then we'll call it 'even'."

Sombra!? Celestia thought, recoiling in shock. And Chrysalis? This is what Discord defines as 'help'!?

"You bastard! You killed Kenny!" Pardus screamed as he and Panthera both fired violet beams from their eyes.

The face roared in response to the beams converging on it, but didn't seem fazed.

But then suddenly, a brilliant flare of light burst forth, causing even Celestia to shield her eyes. And she heard Sombra roar as if in pain.

As her vision fought to recover, she heard a voice in her head. A voice that sounded like Trevar. But that should be impossible.

"Interesting. This one's also psychotic. I'm beginning to wonder. Was it due to the process of imprinting their engrams on the nanites, or were they psychotic to begin with? Either way, this one has to be taken down, too."

Her recovering vision could almost make out a figure, but then a second flare burst from the location, blinding her once more and once more, she heard Sombra roar.

How is this possible? Celestia wondered. I can look directly at my sun for hours without suffering any injury to my eyes, but this burst?

"Shields!" she heard a voice yell out. Again, it sounded like Trevar's. Only this came to her through her ears.

As her vision recovered quicker this time, she had but a moment to see that some sort of dark opaque disk had appeared beneath the dark cloud of Sombra just above the tree line, and a bipedal figure had leapt up to stand on the disk. Once he was up there, a dark dome suddenly grew from the edges of the disk to contain both the human and the dark cloud.

A ripping, tearing sound grabbed her attention, and when she turned her head to look, trots of dirt, rock, and gravel was being pulled up from the road leading to the Apple family farm to hover in the air alongside the dark dome that now had flashes of lightning going on from inside it.

Panthera then began firing a steady blast of green eyebeams at the dirt, and she could see the dirt begin to glow red and melt, coalescing into a large glowing sphere that quickly turned orange. She and the ponies watching the spectacle could feel the heat coming from the mass.

As she watched in amazement at the two separate events, she wondered.

Could Discord have been right?

Arriving at the Griffon Embassy, the griffon guards allowed Gilda to pass. She made her way to her father's office with little more than the usual greetings and looks from the embassy staff.

Her father's aid, Stehlen was at her desk as Gilda entered.

"Good morning, Gilda," Stehlen greeted. "Your father's waiting. Go on in."

"Thanks, Stehlen," Gilda replied. She pushed open the door to see her father at his desk with a goblet of wine.

"Good morning, Gilda," he softly said.

Uh-oh! she instantly thought, instinctively cringing. She knew from experience whenever he started speaking out this softly, the storm is just about to strike.

"Please lock the door behind you," he added before taking a sip.

She did so, then turned to face him.

"You wished to see me, Father?" she asked, determined to get the weather over with.

"Why did you not mate with the Cat-Lord?" Gustav suddenly roared at her.

She was quite startled, naturally.

So, this is what it's about, she thought. But she had made her determination long ago, and she was one subject on which she wasn't going to back down. This was merely a continuation of a 'family discussion' that had been going on for years.

"I don't see how it is any of your business who I sleep with, Father!" she roared back. "We finished this matter the last time we talked!"

"Like hay we did!" he growled.

"You want to hate me for being a hen-plucker? Then fine! I'M A BRONKING HEN-PLUCKER, FATHER! AND NOTHING YOU SAY IS GOING TO CHANGE THAT!" she screamed at him. "THERE! I HOPE THE TRUTH MAKES YOU HAPPY!"

"Is that what you think this is about?" he sadly asked her.

"What else can it be?" she demanded.

"Have you heard about how many eggs failed to hatch this season?" he softly asked. "How many chicks were deformed?"

"Something," Gilda replied, puzzled what that had to do with any of the issues between them. "About five percent or so, if I recall."

"It's far worse than what the rumors you've heard," he told her, taking a deep gulp of his wine. "A full thirty percent. Nearly a third of all viable eggs didn't hatch."

She couldn't believe what her father was telling her.

"And of those eggs that did hatch, nearly a quarter of the chicks had deformities so bad that—that—their parents—" he couldn't finish. He had to take another draw of his wine before he could look at her again.

"Thir—?" she gasped. "The others! Do they know!?"

"Of course," he morosely replied, taking another sip. "That's what you get for missing staff meetings. And just so you know, if word of this ever gets out—there will be war! One … final … glorious … last one. For us, anyway. And it's only a matter of time before somegriffon finally puts the pieces together and sees the big picture. Then it will be the end. They won't want to go quietly. Knowing they're the last, they'll all want to go out fighting. And they will. The ponies, the dragons, the minotaurs, all the other races—they'll put us down for the insanity that will overtake us."

Gilda could only stand there in shock.

"Do-do the princesses know?" she was able to finally ask.

"I pray to the Cat-Lord and his mate that made us that they don't!" he responded. "As much as they're our friends—I'd never be able to stomach their pity. I don't know of any griffon that can."

"I … I see," she said, finally understanding as the tears began to flow from her eyes. It's true. She'd never be able to look at Celestia or Luna in the face again if she knew they knew.

"I don't hate you for being a hen-plucker, Gilda," Gustav sighed, looking deep into his glass of wine. "You can chase hens, or pony mares, or dragonesses even, all hours of the day and night for all I care. I won't hate you for it. Quite the opposite. I'll still love you, my darling Gilda. You're my daughter and I will always love you."

"But—so what is it that you find in me to be such a disappointment to you?" she yelled.

"You're not doing your duty to your species!" he growled before taking another sip. He savored the flavor before finally swallowing.

"Our race is dying, Gilda," he softy told her. "There will come a day there will be no more griffons. Then, it won't matter what hen you wanted to pluck. Or mare you filly-hoofed, or dragoness, or—" He took another gulp, finishing the glass. When he turned to look at her, there were tears flowing down his cheek.

"I'm not asking you to love any male you don't want to live with," he said, glaring at her. He suddenly threw his empty glass into the fireplace where it shattered into hundreds of shards. "I'm not asking you to marry one and to be faithful to the bloody worthless bird," he calmly said, at odds to the violence he just displayed.

"I'm asking you to save our species!" he pleaded "The eggs you will lay can be barren, or they can save us as a race. The choice is yours. I'm not going to judge you. After I'm gone—after every other griffon is gone—there won't be anyone left to judge you! Except, perhaps, yourself."

She couldn't form a response to that.

"And if you are the last of us, Gilda," he finally said to her, "please remember this conversation. Remember it and curse the day you chose to not mate with the Cat-Lord when you had the opportunity to save us. And because of it, there will be no more future Gildas to chase after hens or mares or mollies or … anything else."

He turned and left, going into the code room. She had never seen her father looking so wretched, not since mother had died…. But she didn't know which shocked her more: the devastated look her father had as he left, or the news he had delivered.

Thirty percent!? She was still trying to process the information. The horror that so many were lost! It was beyond belief.

She turned and unlatched the doors leading out and closed them when she had stepped out.

"How was it, this time?" Stehlen kindly asked.

"I think we both got the worst of it, this time," Gilda replied before walking on out.

Then, as she stepped out of the building, she looked out toward Ponyville. Her eyes were good enough to make out the ponies there, but she could not see much of the grounds around the Cat-Lord's home as terrain, foliage and the angle was bad.

But something at the location caught her eye. A glowing orb was hovering there above the trees. Suddenly, it shot up into the sky, and a few moments later, she heard the sonic boom of its travel.

Her heart caught in her throat at the sight.

What the hay just happened!?

The Equations Of Fear

Author's Note

I apologize if you happen to experience problems seeing certain text characters in this chapter. To fix that, you'll need to go to your machine's "Regions & Language" control setting and add Amharic (aka Eithiopian) to your display languages list--then restart your machine, of course. (Windows is ALWAYS like that! :facehoof: ) Don't worry, this will NOT cause your machine to lose its ability to display English.
Unfortunately, the route to finding the "Regions & Language" control setting (at least for Windows) is different for each version of Windows--and I have no idea if Apple Macs are even set up in the same manner. :pinkiesick: Linux? Good luck! :twilightoops:
For Windows 10, you'll find it in "Settings" and from there, "Time & Language".
For earlier versions of Windows (2000 through XP), it was usually buried somewhere in "Control Panel", although there were occasional exceptions to that.
I forgot where it was in Windows 7 as my machine was running that for too short a time, and I've always filled the "display languages" option with as much shit as I could...it was a one time thing, and I never needed to touch it again).
And I never touched Windows 8, Thank God!

The Equations Of Fear

With Panthera cloaked inside the upstairs' spare bedroom to grab the newest set of skiff panels, Pardus carefully fed the hidden panels, one by one, through the window as he hovered cloaked above the night guards. This stack was the last of the batch they had made the previous night and they were running a little behind schedule. Dawn was approaching.

Even as their cloaks were also encompassing the panels, the operation was exceedingly risky for discovery. That pink menace seemed to have the ability to know where the panthers were even when cloaked, so there was no guarantee that other ponies couldn't also detect them. There were the guard, of course. There were also numerous pegasi scattered about, busy moving clouds into position for some early morning showers scheduled for today.

As Pardus passed the panels through, he was in position to observe the changing of the guards.

"Shadow Wing. We need to talk," the unicorn sergeant said as he led his team to meet with the Night Guard ponies.

"About what?" the bat-winged pegasus sergeant asked.

"About our normal passdown procedures," Silver Thorn replied. "Is there some problem going on that I'm not aware of? Is there something that I or my team did to offend you? If so, I'm sure that we can work it—"

Pardus had to blink and perform an internal replay of what he just saw when the butt of Shadow Wing's spear unexpectedly cracked across Silver Thorn's jaw. When the attack happened, the other night guard ponies began an assault upon their counterparts. At the same moment, several ponies came rushing toward the two sets of guards, swarming in from around neighboring buildings. At first, Pardus hoped this was some sort of drill they were pulling, but that initial surprise attack looked too solid to have been a mere practice strike.

Not wanting to compromise their own operation, Pardus called out to Panthera.

'Hey, something weird's going on with the guard!' he informed her. 'We need to wrap this up and I might need you out here!' They sped up the delivery of the remaining panels.

Pardus watched as Silver Thorn tried to get back to his legs. That's when his corporal, who had been parrying both Shadow Wing and his own counterpart, Midnight Flame, managed to get some good shots of his own on both the night guards. However, instead of disabling the night guard attackers, the two suddenly burst into green flame which erupted from them both and were replaced by black carapaced figures.

"They're changelings! Come on, girls! Let's get 'em" Pardus head Rainbow Dash suddenly yell from above.

Silver Thorn continued to struggle to get to his hooves again to join in the defense. Pardus was still busy with sending the last panel through the window to Panthera, when he saw that one of the creatures suddenly bite the unicorn on the neck, dropping him back into the dirt.

Rainbow Dash was leading several of the pegasi down to join in on the altercation. However, just before she could deliver a devastating blow against the creatures, two of her own wing mates intercepted the azure pegasus and drove her into the ground.

Pardus was able to see Rainbow Dash was still awake after the impact, and she stared incredulously at one of the two pegasi that apparently chose to drop its disguise as it stood over her.

"No!" Rainbow whispered.

Obviously getting pissed, Rainbow jumped up to deliver a satisfying right fore-hoof to the impostor, dropping it to the dirt with blood coming from its broken jaw. That got the attention of several of the attacking bug ponies, many of them obviously still in disguise.

With the last of the panels handed off to Panthera, Pardus was now free to join in. However, try as he might, his senses couldn't tell friend from foe. At least, he could start with the obvious attackers: the undisguised creatures and those ponies still fighting the day guard. He set his eye beams to a heavy stun level and let loose. In those cases where his beams hit the disguised creatures, they were forced to revert to their true form before falling.

By then, Panthera, as well as Trevar and Gilda had joined him outside. Having called Trevar and tying their systems together, both Panthera and Trevar were fully up on the situation. Yet, neither could she tell the real ponies from the disguised creatures.

'We'd better hit them all, just to be sure, she informed him as she dropped her cloak and began targeting the day guard ponies and pegasi that seemed to be fighting the creatures, too.

'Agreed,' he reluctantly replied, but he chose to remain hidden. The creatures will quickly realize that Panthera has such powers and try to swarm her. But with him remaining cloaked while sniping at them, the creatures were kept at a tactical disadvantage.

A few of the changelings tried to get at Trevar and Gilda as well. Trevar used his skills learned from taekwondo and kung fu to fight off three at once while Gilda used her claws to fend them off. When one of the creatures got too close, she sliced it open with her claws. The griffon was an obviously formidable predator, and that made the creatures cautious in attacking her.

But four of them made the mistake of jumping Panthera all at the same time, and they all screamed and fell the instant they touched her while she shot another distant one with her eye beams.

Pardus smirked as he saw Rainbow Dash, who was watching Trevar, Gilda, and Panthera, absently back-handed one of the creatures that had tried to sneak up on her while she was distracted by the show.

Sorry, Rainbow, he silently thought as he gave her a shot of his orange eye beams that her in the chest. The expression on her face before she fell told him she knew she had been betrayed by the shadowcats and that he was going to have a lot to answer for when she awoke.

But at least you will wake again. he silently thought as he fired off at a few more targets. A number of them had taken to wing, trying to get away, both disguised creature and real pegasi. But Panthera and he were careful to grab them in their tractor beams and gently lower them all to the ground rather than allow them to drop.

Gilda had just made a second confirmed kill when there suddenly nothing more to fight; they were all unconscious. So were the ponies!

"Lord Trevar!?" Gilda exclaimed. "Why did you take down the ponies, too? That's Rainbow Dash over there!"

"We couldn't tell any difference between them and the dopplegangers," Pardus said as he finally dropped his cloak. "The only way to be sure was to take them all down. We've merely stunned them. No one's been harmed, but they'll be unconscious for a few hours."

"In the meantime, we'll need something to bind these creatures," Trevar said, looking at the mess.

"GILDA!?" Blood Feather suddenly called out as the griffon came in for a landing—or at least it appeared to be Blood Feather. "What are all these changelings doing here?" she demanded when she settled and looked about.

"That's what we'd like to know," Gilda said, not relaxing her combat stance. Apparently, she had quickly picked up on their dire situation. "Panthera? Pardus? Would one of you do the honors of checking?" she asked with a smirk.

Pardus grinned and reached out a wing to lay across Blood Feather's frame and the griffon was instantly screaming as her body jerked about from the taser effect he conducted through his skin. She immediately collapsed but remained a griffon.

"She's real," Pardus said withdrawing his wing.

"Wh-wha-what the s-s-sq-quit was that for!?" Blood Feather rasped as she tried to lift her head.

"Couldn't tell if you were one of them," Pardus said by way of apology. "I'll go get some help in restraining these creatures," Pardus said to Trevar before launching toward the Apple family farm.

"Wait, Lord Trevar!" Gilda exclaimed. "He shouldn't go off alone! What if they replace him?"

"If they can take down Pardus, we've got bigger things to worry about. Like that they'd be able to take down Pardus," Trevar quipped.

"We should kill these monsters…" Gilda began as she raised a claw to dispatch another changeling when Panthera, coordinating with Trevar, grabbed her arm in a tractor beam.

"No," Trevar shaking his head, giving her a stern look. "If we kill them all, we can't get any answers!"

"Would you and Blood Feather do us a favor and go get the purple alicorn and anyone she deems appropriate?" Trevar asked.

"Heh! Ar--are y-you kidding!?" Blood Feather squawked as she was still shakily trying to raise up to a sitting position only to fall flat on the ground again.

"Wh-what if the princess is one of them?" Gilda nervously asked. "What if they replace me when I bring them the news?"

"Then we deal with the creatures and hunt you all down wherever they stash you," Trevar grimly told her. "Or at least avenge you. I've still got two shadowcats and six of these pony guards plus Rainbow Dash and her pegasi friends to do that with."

"Y-yes, Cat-Lord," Gilda nervously whispered. But Trevar reached out to grab either side of her face and looked deeply into her eyes.

"I know you're scared," he gently told her. "I've no idea of how peaceful your world has become or for how long. I don't want to lose you or see you hurt, but this is potentially a killing situation and you are a warrior at heart. Trust in your instincts; they've guided your species this far. And watch that 'Cat-Lord' bullshit," Treavar softly finished with a grin and a wink.

"Yes, Lord Trevar," Gilda meekly replied to which he rolled his eyes and released her. Then she was off.

Blood Feather was still trying to get back up on her feet.

"Wh-what did he do to me?" she hissed as she finally managed to get all four legs working without toppling back down.

"Lo—Lord Trevar," Blood Feather said as she stepped Trevar. "Blood F-Feather re-reporting for duty."

"Knock it off with the 'Lord Trevar' bullshit, already," Trevar said face palming. "It's just 'Trevar' or you can also call me 'Allec' as that's my first name. And it's just 'Panthera', too. Not 'Lady Panthera'. Although Pardus still insists on being call 'His Most Shining And Illustrious Majesty, The Great And Powerful Lord Pardus, First Of His Name'."

Panthera snorted.

"If she uses that, he's so-o-o-o going to get back at you for that," she said snickering.

"And make sure you bow to him," Trevar added, fighting to keep a straight face. "With especially deep bowing when he farts."

Blood Feather just blinked at him.

"Trevar's kidding, of course!" Panthera spoke up, rescuing her. Blood Feather flinched as the shadowcat draped a wing over her, but she relaxed again when she wasn't zapped. The griffon seemed especially relieved when Panthera released her and resumed her guard duty over the unconscious creatures.

"Go on inside, get something to eat and freshen up," Trevar told Blood Feather, to which she expressed her gratitude.

"It's worrisome that we can't detect those creatures in their disguised state," Panthera muttered to him once Blood Feather was out of earshot.

"Hopefully, the ponies can," Trevar replied, nodding. "Pardus did say they seemed to recognize them. Dash called them 'changelings'."

Pardus invisibly slipped in between Applejack and Big Mac, who they had just finished loading the cart with a shitload of baked apple pastries along with the dozen bushels of apples.

"You guys know anything about creatures called 'changelings'?" he suddenly asked as he dropped his cloak.

"Where'd the hay'dju come from!?" Applejack screamed. The black cat blinked and looked at her.

"… Well, when a daddy shadowcat and a mommy shadowcat really like each other very, very much … uh … but … um … that's not important right now," Pardus said with a smirk.

"Enyope!" Big Mac agreed.

"Anyhow," Pardus began again. "Do you guys know what it takes to restrain changelings? I've got a passle of them back at Trevar's that need to be tied up."

"We've got rope in th' barn," Applejack said, her ears perking up. "How many's in yer passle?"

"Thirty," Pardus replied. "You sure that rope will hold them? They're shape changers, after all."

"It should," Applejack said, rubbing her chin with a hoof. "Iffen we run th' lines through them holes in their legs. Th' Guardsponies put their hoofcuffs through them when they find a…."

"Oh. Before I forget," Pardus said, grinning as he spread his wings.

Applejack screamed and fell to the dirt. Her brother hadn't been dropped but Pardus could tell from his expression he still felt that! And in retaliation, the stallion quickly delivered a buck with his two hind legs. His kick had actually moved the shadowcat a full inch across the ground. They both looked at each other in surprise.

"Damn! I'm impressed," Pardus said, looking down at the divot made.

"Eyyup! Me, too," Big Mac replied.

"Why'dju go and do that fer?" Applejack yelled at him, picking herself up from the ground.

"Just checking," Pardus replied. "We couldn't tell the changelings from the real ponies until we forced them to drop their disguises. So it's either zorking you guys like that or hitting you with my eyebeams. And I guarantee you'll be out for a few hours if I used them." Big Mac stared at the shadowcat for a few moments then nodded.

"Git th' rope, Applejack," her brother said.

Lieutenant Scott stepped outside her home the same time as Blood Feather came out from Trevar's residence.

"What in God's name is going on out here?" she exclaimed, looking about in shock.

"'Morning, Lieutenant," Trevar greeted her. "You're just in time to help with the cleanup. We had a little encounter with creatures that apparently can assume the identity of anyone about them. They seem to be called 'changelings'."

"These things?" she asked, pointing to the black bug ponies. "But what happened to these others?"

"We couldn't tell them apart until we knocked them all out," Panthera said, materializing alongside her. "Speaking of which," she said holding out a wing.

Scott's screams made Trevar wince.

She instantly crumpled and twitched uncontrollably for several moments before finally rolling on her side.

"Don't worry, Lieutenant," Trevar told her. "It's just like getting tasered. You'll be alright in a few moments. We just had to make sure it was you."

"D-d-did y-y-you have to use so much juice?" she asked, gasping for breath.

"Sorry, but it was that or knock your ass out for a few hours," he replied. "And here comes Applejack and Big Mac."

"Yep, ya'll sure gotta passle of changelings," the orange mare said as they arrived. "Wait! Is that Rainbow!?" she demanded, rushing over to check on her.

"Wait! I told that ta Pardus!" Applejack exclaimed. "How'dju know wha Ah said 'bout tyin' up changelings?"

"What Pardus sees and hears, I see and hear. And vice versa," Panthera said smirking.

"So there's no way that a changeling can impersonate one of them," Trevar told them.

"Unless, the changelings impersonate both of them," Scott countered, speaking up as she managed to get to her feet.

"Well, they can try," Trevar replied smiling. "But I'll know the difference."

By the time Gilda returned with the purple alicorn, the white unicorn, the timid pegasus, and the pink menace, the changelings were all tied up with a few judicious ropes strung through their legs linking groups of them together.

"Lor—uh—Trevar!" Gilda called out. "I've brought the Princess and her friends! A dispatch has been sent to Princess Celestia informing her of the changeling attack."

"Good," he said nodding to her. "Unfortunately, you know what this means."

"D-do you have to?" Gilda nervously asked, dreading getting zapped.

"Afraid so, given the nature of the enemy we're facing," Trevar apologized. "The shadowcats aren't able to tell the difference by their senses, so…."

"What's going—EYAAaargh!" Twilight Sparkle screamed along with Gilda when Pardus suddenly appeared between them and draped a wing over each. At the same time, Pinkie Pie and Rarity screamed as Panthera did the same with them.

"What was that for!?" the purple alicorn angrily demanded as she stood there, fuming. Gilda, on the other hand was lying in the dirt.

"Had to make sure you weren't one of these changelings," Pardus told her as he turned to look at Fluttershy.

"Eeep!" the timid pegasus squeaked, backing away from the approaching shadowcat. "Uhmm … For your information, I hope you understand that I'mnotachangeling!"

"A wise individual once said, 'trust but verify'," Panthera said as she suddenly appeared behind the timid pegasus as the cat set a paw down upon her rump. "Nothing personal. We're just verifying."

"EEEEK!" Fluttershy screamed as the voltage played over her body. When it was over, she looked up surprised.

"Oh! That wasn't even as much as a normal lightning strike!" she exclaimed, giggling.

"I hate you," Gilda softly muttered glaring at the yellow pegasus as she finally struggled back to her feet.

"Gilda, I have a message for you from your father at the Embassy," Blood Feather said, walking up to her and pulling a scroll from under her wing.

Puzzled, Gilda took the scroll and opened it and read the contents.

"Lo—uh—Trevar," Gilda said addressing him, "I have to go see my father in Canterlot."

"It shouldn't be a problem. We've got everything in hand here," he replied. "Do you want me to send one of the shadowcats with you? Just in case?"

"No," Gilda responded. "No, you might need them more here," she finished.

"Okay," he said. "Just you take care, now. There are players starting to take things a little too serious in their game."

"I'll be careful," Gilda told him before launching up into the sky.

Twilight Sparkle looked over the ponies still out after Gilda was gone.

"Is there anything we can do for them?" she asked.

"We've made them as comfortable as we can," Trevar told her. "They should pull out of this in a few hours."

"So far, we've not had anyone die from the heavy stun setting," Pardus spoke up.

"We've seen what your eye blasts can do to timberwolves," Twilight scolded him. "What made you think it was a good idea to use those on Rainbow Dash and her fellow pegasi?"

A couple hours later, Princess Celestia arrived in a chariot, accompanied by an impressive number of guards.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed, seeing her old mentor arrive via chariot.

"Twilight, my dear," Celestia greeted as she stepped off the chariot to nuzzle her in return. "How goes it?"

"It looks like you're just in time," Panthera said. "They're coming around."

"Wh-what happened?" Sergeant Silver Thorn moaned as he woke. "What the hay hit m—Princess Celestia!?" he exclaimed after blinking several times.

"At ease, my little pony," Celestia kindly told him. "You've been through a harrowing ordeal."

"Ow! My head!" another figure called out causing everyone to turn to look. "Hey! Panthera! Wh-why did ya zap me?"

"I'm sorry I had to do that, Rainbow Dash," Panthera said to her, not bothering to correct the mare that it had been Pardus who shot her. "We couldn't be sure who was pony and who was an imposter."

"Really? You couldn't tell an awesome pony like me from a bunch of fakes?" the spectrum maned pegasus complained, making Celestia smile.

"They took you down the same as Sergeant Silver Thorn," Pardus muttered. "Sort of hard to see any awesomeness when she's face first in the dirt."

"Speaking of which," Silver Thorn grumbled, getting to his hooves, "where's the bug that sucker punched me?"

"That would be this one," Pardus said, pointing to one of the changelings that was beginning to stir in its restraints.

"Hey! HEY, YOU!" Silver Thorn yelled, grabbing the changeling by the shoulder with his hoof and giving it a shake.

"Where are the ponies you replaced? What'd you do with Shadow Wing?" Silver Thorn demanded.

"Now, Now. Th—that's really not important," the changeling replied with a grin.

"Who the HAY do you think you are!?" the sergeant roared.

"I don't know."

"Ah! I'm with them. Same group, different department," the changeling answered, grinning.

"What are you talking about?" Silver Thorn demanded.

"I mean, I'm from the government," the changeling replied. "And I'm here to help."

But before anyone could react to that cryptic response, the sound of something's roar interrupted the interrogation as everyone turned to see a large dark cloud approaching.

"What the hay is that!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, pointing, getting everyone's attention.

"A cloud of nanites," Pardus said.

"Another smoke monster?" Trevar asked, glancing at him. At Pardus' nod, Trevar's face turned grim. He took a few steps toward the approaching mass.

Suddenly, five long crystal spears shot up from the ground to pierce him through the chest from multiple directions. Someone screamed, but Trevar was too busy to worry about that.

'Fuck! This is going to blow a few covers!' Trevar sent to the shadowcats.

As his body began to react to the shock, Trevar couldn't help but notice a face beginning to form from the midst of the dark cloud.

"You bastard! You killed Kenny!" someone screamed as Trevar saw that both shadowcats had opened fire from behind him on the approaching dark cloud.

The face roared in response to the beams converging on it, but didn't seem fazed.

'"You killed Kenny"?' he heard Panthera send.

'Seemed appropriate at the time,' Pardus quipped.

With the spears through his chest, Trevar couldn't concentrate on changing. It was going to happen when his body expired and not before. Trevar figured that he would only have moments between popping the gateway before everyone present would see his dragon form. His only chance was to use his dragon form to mentally probe the entity and hope its mind could be scanned. Then before their eyesight had time to recover, he would have to revert to his human form.

Then it happened.

Surprisingly, not only did the approaching cloud have a mind that he could latch onto, but the entity seemed to be roaring in pain.

Quickly, Trevar sent his mind probing into it. It didn't take him long to find what he needed. This being was not only just as psychotic as the other smoke monster he and the cats had once fought years ago, but he was able to see this was no random encounter. This "Sombra" had been sent to assassinate both Trevar and the shadowcats. Furthermore, Trevar saw that this creature had some special talent in controlling crystals!

'Panthera! Pardus!' he quickly sent. 'You're especially at risk here! This being can take control of you if he finds out what you're made of! We've got to take this bastard down HARD and FAST!'

Trevar could sense the others present, and that their vision was about to recover enough for them to see him. He had only moments left. But it was important to goad his opponent. Despite the fact he was facing a being composed entirely of nanites, the creature believed itself still alive! And that was a weakness Trevar intended to exploit.

"Interesting. This one's also psychotic," Trevar broadcasted out with his mind, actually intending the message for Sombra. "I'm beginning to wonder. Was it due to the process of imprinting their engrams on the nanites, or were they psychotic to begin with? Either way, this one has to be taken down, too."

Then Trevar triggered the gateway and reverted back to his human form. And once more, the creature that called itself "Sombra" roared as if in pain.

"Shields!" Trevar shouted. He was working with the shadowcats at two levels, but he had to make it look like their coordination was verbal only.

Pardus projected a large flat and opaque disk, more than four hundred feet across, centered beneath the cloud of nanites. With Pardus' tractor beam lifting him, Trevar was set to stand on the edge of the disk before Pardus extended the opaque force field into a hemispherical dome to contain both him and the nanite cloud.

Now, it was up to Trevar to keep this thing occupied long enough for the shadowcats to ready the trap. He had to keep Sombra from figuring a way out of the shield. And a ready way out existed in the very being generating that force field!

If Sombra so much as gets a whiff of those two, it's 'Game Over!' Trevar grimly considered as he cautiously stepped forward. And why the hell has Discord sicced this bastard on us?

At the same time Pardus was extending the dome over Trevar and Sombra, Panthera began using her own tractor beam to rip up a few dozen yards' worth length, about a foot thick, of the road that ran toward the Apple family farm and lifted the mass of rock and dirt, gathering it and compressing it before blasting it with her eye beams optimized for applying naked heat to the mass. She kept the mass rotating in her grip as she pumped as much power into her eye beams as she could manage, trying to melt it all down.

Trevar's mental probing of Sombra had shown them all that the creature had an affinity for controlling crystals. With her and Pardus composed entirely of the substance Guinan and Gary Seven had called "diLithium", it would be very, very bad for everyone if Sombra got a chance to learn about that! Also, the trap they were making for him wouldn't work all that well if there was any solids left in the cage they were making when they put it inside.

The first step, Trevar keeping him too busy to bust out of Pardus' shield long enough for me to melt down all this rock and get that shitass inside it! she considered as she continued to pour on the fire into the mass of dirt. After that, I hope we can come up with someplace we can toss the bastard where he won't return!

"Oh, Sweet Celestia!" Applejack screamed. "Mah trees!"

Once he was isolated from their view, Trevar activated the Gateway to both have a physically superior form with which to fight with as well as the impressive senses the dragon gave him, especially the telepathic powers he possessed when in that form. In any fight, one needed all the advantages one can muster. Since this being still had a mind that he could access, he'd certainly need that advantage. Especially as his first glance gave him, this was going to be a fight that mattered.

As his awareness adjusted to his new body, he heard the fading screams of his opponent. Quickly, he sent his mind probing in to the creature's consciousness again. Much like the previous encounter with a being composed entirely of nanites, it seemed that using the Gateway always caused them pain.

The cloud had recoiled from him and settled at the opposite half of the hemispherical chamber. Like the earlier creature they had encountered on Earth years before, Trevar suspected this one's control of his form was affected by proximity to the low level residual EMP created whenever Trevar or his friends used their Gateways. Much further away, whatever dampening mechanism limiting the blast effects of their Gateway usage wouldn't bother the swarms. With their previous experience, Pardus had something to estimate the range needed to affect him and kept the space limited in size. While this close, Trevar could still inflict pain upon this "Sombra" character. However, Trevar knew normal physical attacks would be pointless. And with the barrier needing to be air tight to contain the cloud, flaming was out of the question.

But he had to keep him busy, Trevar fumed. Thirty or forty minutes, they estimate? he considered. Even without flaming, air's going to get a little tight in here!

'Pardus! What music do we have to go on for the time you need?' he sent.

'I'll come up with something in a moment,' Pardus responded. 'Keep him busy, but try not to engage him too quickly. If, as you surmise, he's under the delusion he's still a living being, then you can use that against him. Once he realizes what he really is, you'll lose that advantage.'

The being coalesced into a dark furred unicorn, and the two began stalking and circling one another in their enclosure, giving Trevar more time to look into his mind.

And just as his initial probe of this creature had indicated, Sombra was quite intelligent, However, his intellect was offset by a psychotic obsession to control others to the point of recklessness. This was another advantage that Trevar fully expected to use against him. Trevar knew how to play the raging beast while patiently and calmly looking for an opening to take full advantage of his opponents' weaknesses. And it looked like it was going to be another one of those types of encounters.

Why can't anything I have to fuck with ever be normal? he wondered. I HATE being a weirdness magnet!

"So! That scrambled idiot was telling the truth," Sombra growled. "The monkey was hiding a dragon after all!"

"'Scrambled idiot'? Who are you talking about?" Trevar inquired, feigning puzzlement. He was taking care to not reveal that he already knew the being called Discord, whom he had met a few days ago, was behind this attack. He had no desire to reveal he was a telepath and was already sifting through this creature's mind.

'Sombra's mind evidently somehow got imprinted upon a case of programmable nanites when he was seeking some rumors of an ancient relic he thought could give him ultimate power,' Trevar reported to Panthera and Pardus. 'But instead, his real body was destroyed when he released the mass from its containment.'

"Some mismatched monster," Sombra said snarling in response to his question. "I couldn't care less, but before I can resume my goals, I'm being forced to kill you."

Indeed, Trevar considered. With his link with Pardus, Trevar knew that outside, Sombra was using his powers to cause crystals to spear up out of the ground, targeting Trevar, trying to get through the base of the barrier they were in.

"'Some mismatched monster'? Well, that sounds like someone I might have met" Trevar said, moving his position back and forth around the perimeter of their confinement, slowly causing the pace to the right to be longer than his movement left, seeking to turn Sombra from a position that could put the shadowcats in the direction of its focus. The longer he could keep it from discovering a brand new type of crystal to control, the better for everyone on the planet.

"His name wouldn't happen to be 'Discord', would it?" Trevar inquired.

"I—never asked," Sombra snapped. The slight hesitation in its speech didn't go unnoticed.

"But you think it okay to just obey any random weird-looking thing that walks up to you and asks you to kill total strangers? Tell me, Jack. What's it feel like to be a slave?" Trevar chided. Oh! All the buttons that that has just pushed! he laughed to himself.

"YOU WILL ADDRESS ME AS KING SOMBRA, PEASANT!" it roared.

"Heh!'King', is it?" Trevar asked smirking. "Okay, King Bob. Whatever you say, Fred. Still, it's a puzzle. What's it feel to be something's slave, King Larch? I mean, if you're a 'Kiiiing' … a real king, it must irk something fierce to have to go out and do the bidding of whatever some random thing that comes about and orders you about, doesn't it, John? Oh, I'm sorry, I meant, 'King Ivan'."

Sombra stood there, livid and fuming.

"Uh—George? Bugs? Duck Dodgers?" Trevar asked. "I'm really sorry about this, but I seem to have forgotten your name. What was it again? Was it Susan? Or—uh—Megan, maybe?"

"ENOUGH!" Sombra roared before firing off a blast from its horn, blasting Trevar in the chest.

The beam tore through his scales, his bone, instantly burning its way through his heart and out his spine.

For the second time today, Trevar died.

And in between his transformations to and from his human form, he knew it wouldn't be the last time.

Trevar flexed his wings to work out the painful memory of the injury in his newly reformed dragon's body. Even though all wounds he had suffered, and even death, was healed with each use of the Gateway, the memory of the pain such attacks caused could linger for hours.

Sombra's screams died away, and Trevar could also sense the unicorn's lingering pain whenever Trevar used the Gateway.

"Now that wasn't very nice," Trevar chided Sombra as though he were a child. "Sorry, but that really deserves a spanking." he said, grinning.

Fear! Trevar suddenly sensed from Sombra. There it is!

Trevar held his grin a few seconds, letting Sombra finally understand what he was up against.

Suddenly, Trevar launched himself forward and had swatted Sombra's form before the unicorn could blink. With any normal pony, that blow would have resulted in nearly every bone on his left side being broken. And indeed, despite being composed entirely of nanites, the structures they formed in his body were shattered. And Sombra, still believing he was alive, felt pain. And fear.

The former pony looked up at the dragon from where he had been smashed into the side of the barrier. All the bones in the left of his body were broken. The right side wasn't feeling too good, either. And the dragon stood were he had be, still grinning.

"Oh, I'm far from done with you, yet!" Trevar told him, before rushing forward again.

In desperation, the unicorn fired off another blast, this time catching Trevar full in the face. Only Trevar had been decapitated before. Like then, as now, a couple quick uses of the Gateway restored him. But because he was much closer to Sombra, the EMP disruptions to the signals controlling all those nanites were more intense. Sombra's screams of pain were longer as Trevar's dragon body reformed. So was the unicorn's fear.

And Trevar knew fear was an amplifier of pain. So much so, that one could mathematically track fear's effect on how it affected a person's perception of pain due to injuries. He even knew the moment "fear" became "terror".

On top of that, Pardus finally selected a bit of music to help Trevar out. At the first notes of "Eternal Saga" by Antti Martikainen, he could tell Sombra didn't appreciate it. Apparently, the unicorn had a bad experience with other ponies breaking out in song during the reign of his kingdom. Something about it disrupting his control over their lives and spontaneously starting a rebellion.

Had he more time, Trevar might have been interested in investigating that aspect of the creature's psyche. But he had to push away the memory of the pain experienced from that last blast, his body had stopped. However, once his mind was focused once more, he resumed his charge on Sombra.

Obviously not wanting a repeat of the Gateway being used so close to him, Sombra opted to erect a shield instead. It was only a delaying move. It wouldn't be long before Trevar had battered his way through it. And he let the music guide how his claws, wings, and tail sliced, pounded, and hammered at the crystalline and spiked barrier.

That was the advantage Trevar knew he had over Sombra. Trevar understood pain and fear. How one influences the other. Pain was the body's way of warning itself about injury and potential death. Fear was a way of warning one's self of pain. But when injury and death were no long something to be concerned about, one could ignore pain. And likewise, one can much easier ignore fear.

Martial artists used similar techniques all the time. While they weren't immune to death or injuries, they could suppress their fear, suppress their perceptions of pain to win the fight. But with the Gateway, Trevar knew he could take it one step further. Pain was illusionary. Fear was nothing. Injuries were of no consequence. Indeed, death itself was only a momentary inconvenience.

And at that moment, Trevar's bloodied claws had shattered Sombra's shield and tore through the unicorn's body, sending him around to yet another part of their confinement. With his barrel sliced open, Sombra stared at his body. Trevar knew Sombra thought that the "magic" device he had found centuries ago had given him a powerful healing ability. Even so, it was taking time for the nanites to reassemble themselves into the simulacrum of Sombra's once living frame.

"And now, you know terror," Trevar said, turning to walk toward the unicorn.

"Panth'ra! Ya gotta stop!" Applejack screamed, running up to the female shadowcat. "Tha' ball'o fire yer makin's scorin' mah orchard!"

"It can't be helped, Applejack," Panthera responded as she continued to focus her eyebeams into the slowly melting mass. But she did use her tractor beam to raise it up as far as she could to give a little distance between the liquefying blob and the trees. "I understand you've met that creature in there? Sombra's his name? Right?"

"Not directly, but close 'nough," Applejack replied, keeping an eye on her orchard. "Yeah! He wuz bad news, sure 'nough."

"You see those crystal spears he's still shooting up out of the ground? Apparently, that seems to be his specialty!?"

"But they ain't gettin' through tha' shield ya'll got up!"

"Don't you remember what your friend discovered about Pardus and me?" Panthera then asked. "If Sombra breaks out of there, or if he senses us, a few scorched trees are going to be the least of your worries! Pardus and I are helping Trevar as best we can. We're all hoping that Trevar can beat him down well enough so that we can stick him in there. And we're still trying to figure out what we're going to do with it once he's inside!"

"But mah trees!" Applejack protested. A few of them had already caught fire in their canopies.

"Which would you rather lose?" Panthera angrily scolded her, shutting down her eyebeams to glare at the farm pony. "A few trees? Or thousands of your fellow ponies?" she demanded before resuming her blasting the melting rock.

"And Trevar's got to keep Sombra busy for at least thirty or forty minutes!" Pardus said, speaking up, glaring at Applejack.

"Perhaps Celestia and I can help?" Twilight said, stepping forward.

"Shining Armor taught me his shield spell," the purple alicorn announced as she activated her power through her horn. A thick purple aura suddenly formed above the trees, between them and the glowing sphere of molten rock.

"Whoa! That's some serious heat there!" Twilight exclaimed once she had her shield in place.

"And I'm on th' fires!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she zipped in among the orchard and generated several mini-tornados around each of the burning trees, quickly snuffing out their flames.

Celestia also stepped forward.

"Do you think that your friend Trevar can truly handle a monster like Sombra?" she asked the shadowcats.

"Uh—Celestia?" the sweating purple alicorn inquired. "A little help here? Please?"

"As Sombra's finding out to its chagrin, Trevar's a lot harder to kill than it thought," Pardus replied with some amusement. "Of course, it's not easy for Trevar. But he's holding his own. For now. But we need to find a place to put him where that bastard won't be coming back. The problem is, sticking inside that lava won't do a hell of a lot of good. In minutes, it'll solidify again and he'll have plenty of crystals to use against us! Not to mention what happens should he find out about Panthera and me."

"Must we kill him?" Celestia asked. "It would be such a waste to lose the opportunity to reform Sombra. We were able to reform Discord, after all."

"Did you really?" Pardus asked, snarling. "I think we'll talk about that later. As for Sombra, I can tell you right now, he's already dead!"

"What!?" Celestia demanded.

"What Trevar is fighting is nothing more than a programmed cloud of nanites, a cluster made of machines so small, they might as well be a mass of smoke," Pardus explained. "Trevar has already confirmed that Sombra died centuries ago. Somehow, his mind was imprinted upon that cloud, but his body was utterly destroyed. Whatever Sombra used to be, that unicorn is gone! This thing is just a reflection of the being it thinks it is!"

The white diarch took a few moments to think about that.

"I see. Then might I suggest a location to put it once you've contained Sombra?" Celestia offered, tilting her head. Pardus looked at her and saw the white alicorn was looking at the other glowing orb in the sky. He grinned.

"Uh—Celestia? That rock is really, really hot!" Twilight Sparkle said. "I could really use some help holding up this shield!"

Celestia's horn began to glow. But she began sending a steady beam into the sphere Panthera held as well, heating it up much faster.

"Yipe!" the purple alicorn exclaimed. "Celestia?"

"Apologies, Twilight, but time is of the essence, " Celestia replied. "Try to hold up your shield us long as you can. I seriously doubt anything can stand hoof-to-hoof against Sombra for thirty or forty minutes. The quicker he can be imprisoned in that lava, the quicker he can be exiled into the sun!"

Inside, Trevar struggled to extradite himself from Sombra's telekinetic grip. Since the unicorn couldn't win by burning holes through the dragon or shield himself from attack, the unicorn finally chose to hold Trevar up against the side of their confinement. At least long enough for the magic he thought he had found could heal his body. After that, he'd look for some manner to kill that music so he could think again. Then he'd figure a way to kill the dragon and do so in a way that's not so painful for himself. At least that was his plan.

It made Trevar smile.

Sombra saw him smile and nervously gulped.

Trevar sensed Sombra was beginning to associate bad things happen when the dragon smiled.

Trevar knew about plans. Almost as well as he knew about fear, pain, injuries, and death. He's had his share of plans quickly go south. And he's had a hand and/or claw in making sure more than a few other's plans decide to move to sunny south beaches, too.

A flash.

The screaming starts again.

With the beam holding him up gone, Trevar's human form landed on the deck.

Another flash.

And before the screams could stop, Trevar was rushing forward at full speed.

"Bet you didn't think I could do that intentionally, did you?" Trevar quipped just before delivering an uppercut that flung the unicorn upward into the dome where he bounced off and landed behind the dragon.

'Okay! We're ready!' Pardus called.

"What!?" Trevar exclaimed. It was just coincidence that Sombra had elected to return to a dispersed cloud form at that moment in an effort to give his body time to recover.

'We're ready with our part of the trap,' Pardus announced. 'You can now spring your half.'

'Hmf! That was quick!' Trevar snorted.

"Oh, so now my form gives you pause, lizard!?" Sombra roared, assuming Trevar's hesitation was caused by him.

Okay … this works, Trevar thought with a shrug.

"Uh—flaming shit!" he exclaimed, feigning being terrified.

"N-n-no! Keep back!" he yelled, backing away from the nanite cloud. To emphasize his "fear", he coughed a couple of times as well as wheezed as though gasping for breath.

Thinking he had an advantage, Sombra considered the dragon cowering in front of him. Those flashes of light that seemed to instantly heal his opponent caused him intense agony in his dispersed form. He was a little more resistant when he had reassumed his normal pony form. It had been that pain that had forced Sombra to stay in a corporeal state, allowing the dragon's attacks to connect.

But if the beast was terrified of my smoke form? Sombra thought.

"Then I should choke the lizard!" a thought echoed in his head that sounded like his own inner voice. "Fill his lungs and crystalize him from the inside out!"

"Yes!" Sombra exclaimed, rushing forward.

"NO-O-O-O!" Trevar screamed, continuing to feign terror. Once he was enveloped, Trevar fought to hold his breath and acted as if he was struggling to find a way out. He mustn't let his "defeat" appear too easy.

Then Sombra began push his particles down into his tracea, the nanites irritated the dragon's throat.

Trevar knew there wouldn't be much of a window to act. He had to breathe in as much as possible before allowing the Gateway to trigger. Exhaling as much as he could, he paused to hold his breath again but with his lungs empty, to allow Sombra to resume the attempt to enter him in full force.

I've only got one shot at this, Trevar thought as he held back from breathing in the cloud.

He could feel the mass building deep inside his throat, waiting….

Then, when his body could no longer go without air, Trevar sucked in as much of the nanite cloud as he could. And instantly had to fight his body trying to cough it all out again.

Sombra roared in triumph over his opponent. But right then, he heard a voice inside his head. The voice that had sounded just like his own thoughts. And it was the same voice that had suggested this very move against the dragon.

"Sucker!" it said.

Sombra was confused.

Then Sombra noticed the dragon was smiling.

Again.

And then Sombra was terrified.

There was another of those damnable intense flashes of light.

The cloud, well the remaining mass of the cloud, instantly recoiled as Sombra screamed. At the far side of their confinement, the unicorn reformed. However, he was now missing his entire left foreleg as well as half of the right one. There were also noticeable gaps in his torso.

Trevar, back in his human form impassively took in the sight of the mentally crippled unicorn. In Sombra's mind, it was clear how his now missing mass had manifested as the functional components of his body.

After all this time, and even with Yoko, Bill, and his wife to study, even with the panthers and their avatars to scan, Trevar still had no idea just how the Gateway worked. For the effects it did, it violated several laws of physics, namely the inverse square law. Intensity did not drop off as the square of the distance from them. It dropped off in a Gaussian curve, starting at their skin. Within a few millimeters, the temperatures reached tens of thousands of degrees, instantly vaporizing anything within that distance. But a few feet away, there was barely a reading.

Of their bodies, there wasn't even a trace. Not to mention the additions or subtractions of mass. It was as if the Gateway was some sort of white hole from which their bodies were exchanged with one of the forms that they could assume, after being converted to and from pure energy. What the flashes and EMP they could measure was simply a residual amount of leakage from a very, very tightly contained Big Bang!

And all that mass that Sombra had shoved down his throat—well, wherever it was, it was in the same place and condition as that last dragon body he had used. What Trevar and the others did understand, was each body they got was a completely new and never-before-existed creature, in whichever form they chose when activating the Gateway. Nothing of those old forms existed, unless it got cut off at some point. Like one of his wings during that practice fight a few days back. And the same thing happened to anything within the confines of their bodies, whether it was already there. Or, if it happened to intersect where their new body would form, it was gone from the universe!

But then, before ending that practice session, he had cleaned up by taking the dismembered wing with him through the Gateway. It was totally gone when he had resumed his human form again. It seemed the Gateway "knew" when it was supposed to destroy something more than just a few millimeters out.

Everything of his new body was brand new. Except the memories.

Trevar had to fight the intense feeling he was still choking.

"Sorry, Sombra. But you're not the first smoke monster we've had to deal with," Trevar said snarling as he stood up. He then stepped back through the opaque barrier, leaving the still screaming unicorn there.

Outside, the dome had shrunk, leaving a lip for Trevar to stand upon. He saw the others still there: Panthera and Pardus, the two alicorns and their friends, the guards—wait—

'Where are the changeling prisoners?' he sent, and Pardus quickly glanced over to look, confirming they were gone.

'Shit!' Pardus exclaimed, returning his attention to Trevar. 'We'll have to worry about them later.'

He felt the shadowcat's tractor beam grip and he stepped off the platform as the shadowcat guided him safely down past the purple barrier covering the orchard and simultaneously shrunk the black barrier containing Sombra.

Once on the ground, Trevar let his body run out the coughing fit he had been fighting. He didn't need to watch to know that Panthera and Pardus traded off control of the molten mass as Sombra and Pardus' barrier was encased inside. Nor when Pardus shut off the barrier and allowed the molten rock to entomb Sombra's remains. Nor when Pardus launched up into the air, taking the lava blob with him, and rocketed up into the sky.

But neither did Trevar care. He was too busy, splayed out on his hands and knees, trying to hack up stuff from his lungs that were no longer there—and technically, never where. Not that the technicality really mattered.

All that mattered right now was the feeling of needing to clear his lungs. The coughing fit finally began to ease and he was able to gain some semblance of control over his body again by the time Panthera draped a wing over him.

"Come on," she said. "Let's get you inside. We can all use the rest!"

"Whoa! You fought King Sombra all by yourself?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Awesome! How was that?"

"Not very pleasant," Trevar snapped. At the sound of Panthera clearing her throat, Trevar looked at the azure pegasus.

"S—sorry, Rainbow," Trevar apologized to the crestfallen mare, and then he had to deal with a renewed coughing fit. "I'll be alright in a few hours or so. But it's—not something I would recommend if you want to keep your health."

"Y-yeah," Rainbow replied. "Sorry 'bout buggin' you over it."

"Like I said, I'll be alright in a bit," Trevar said. "I just need to rest up for a while. By the way, has anyone else noticed the changelings are gone?"

"Wha—!?" Rainbow exclaimed, quickly looking over to where they were supposed to be. "HEY! THE CHANGELINGS'RE GONE!" she screamed.

When she did so, Applejack screamed, too.

"Mah rope!"

After that, it was pandemonium.

But Trevar no longer gave a shit as Panthera resumed guiding him home.

Much like the tactical nuke he had to dispose of the previous week, Pardus was having to eliminate the mass of encased nanites as quickly as possible. And again, he was going to have to run them in overdrive. The big difference was the mass he was hauling.

Where the nuke was only a little more than his own 100 kilograms, the molten blob was nearly 988 thousand tons! Not only that, but he needed to devote nearly half of his core power to his eye beams firing to maintain the molten temperature. Plus he needed some for his tractor field to continuously rotate it about so he could blast every square foot while he tried to not overtax his antigrav system while flying them both toward the sun.

Fortunately, as the mass was so huge, he knew his acceleration was going to be next to squat. Since he didn't need to protect either himself or the payload, he could afford to ignore putting any juice into his inertial dampeners. Besides, not only would the dampeners contribute practically nothing to being able to take it off the planet, but using them actually would rob him of thrust. Likewise for shields. So that left nearly the entire other half of his power supply to devote for lifting that bastard out of there.

As before, he could not immediately slam his systems with a full power output. Unlike electronic circuits, his components actually worked better when "hot", but there were limits. They needed time to warm up before taking on more power loads without risking total burnout. While his systems had the ability to self-repair, there were limits beyond which no amount of time would ever see restoration, just like any living organism.

And since he knew he might need to apply his full strength to his tractor beam at any moment, he did at least routed all his power through that system to warm it up and be ready, even though he was actually using only a fraction of the power to hold onto the molten mass in his grip, before dividing the power flow to his antigrav and eyebeams.

So, after enduring four minutes of an agonizingly slow increasing acceleration that finally reached 0.81% g, he had risen a measly 766 meters. But with his antigrav processors running at 228 kiloWatts, he was able to finally get out of "first gear".

Now, he actually started to see some payoff to the low, but steady jerk thrust he was applying. His velocity, now past 21 miles per hour, was starting to noticeably climb at this rate. Eight minutes later, "second gear" paid off with a respectable speed of 226 meters per second. Even so, at 43 kilometers, he had yet to break Mach 1.

But 115 seconds into "third gear", he finally did so. Even so, he still had almost another ten minutes before he could shift to "fourth gear". Fortunately, when he did so, he'd be well outside the planet's atmosphere.

And like his antigrav, his eyebeams were also slowly increasing in their efficiency. And just in time, too. The outer layer of Sobra's tomb was cooling down faster than he could maintain the heat. And there were disturbing wild crystal growths erupting from the shell that had formed. At least Sombra hadn't been able to yet sense Pardus … or if he had, the fact that Pardus was keeping the sphere randomly rotating on several axes at once in his effort to keep the reheating of the shell even was probably keeping Sombra from being able to lock onto him.

But now, like his antigrav, which was also in "third gear", he was able to pump well over 292 MegaWatts, which was also slowly increasing, into the mass. Wherever his beams struck now, the black shell was instantly glowing again, even if they were still solid at this point. Nearly halfway out of the atmosphere now at 46.76 miles and a thousand miles an hour.

But "third gear" had allowed him to nearly double the jerk he was putting on his antigrav from 1.5 to 3 millimeters per second cubed.

"Jerk"! he thought with a laugh. He had to mentally applaud the collective of scientists who had finally named the derivative of acceleration, as well as jerk's subsequent derivatives of "snap", "crackle", and "pop"! All the years he had grown up as Trevar, the derivatives were just mathematical features to the equation of motion, and rarely ever used, except in cases of changing acceleration. And even then, only if one could form a polynomial equation for that change.

But they had evidently done so sometime after he and Panthera were created. All those years the group had been together since Trevar first met Yoko kept them all so busy, none of them noticed when the scientific community had finally settled on naming them. And even so, there are many who still count those labels as "temporary" for not being "politically correct".

And now, after a total of twelve minutes of that level of increasing acceleration, it was time for "fourth gear". His eyebeams, at 2 GigaWatts, were clearly remelting that outer shell and keeping it melted, which was slowly robbing Sombra of crystals to grab and grow in his desperate effort to escape the molten interior of his prison. His slowly increasing acceleration had fully reached .3 g, and his velocity was still a measly 3552 miles per hour. But he was more than 375 miles up, well outside of the atmosphere and on their way toward the sun. Even so, it was a long ways to go. He was going to have to spend at least a quarter hour at "fourth" where jerk was nearly 4 millimeters per second cubed before pushing it up another notch.

At his best estimate, it was going to take him at least three hours for him to deliver Sombra there. He had already aimed for where Celestia was supposed to be putting the sun when they got there. Fortunately, Panthera was there to help them coordinate their movements. So far, Celestia was willing to cooperate. Even so, Panthera was reporting that the alicorn princess seemed on edge whenever Panthera addressed her.

Forty minutes after launch, the wild crystal growths from the mass were becoming short work for his eyebeams now running at 21.7 GigaWatts. He was more than 4000 kilometers from Equus, Sombra and his tomb were now moving away from the planet at 3.87 miles per second. Panthera was confident that even should Sombra managed to escape the lava, the cloud of nanites was either going into the sun, or he's flying out of the system completely. One way or the other, the fucker wasn't going to ever going to make a return appearance.

Still, Pardus wasn't about to relax. He's seen too many missions where something went south so unexpectantly, it was only sheer luck and quick thinking in using their abilities that managed to not FUBAR their friends, innocents, or the entire Earth. He wasn't about to allow something like that happen to this planet.

Even so, Sombra continued to direct wild crystal growths to suddenly jut up out of the liquid rock, desperately trying to escape the confines of the heat that threated to finish the job that Trevar had begun with tricking the creature to enter the dragon's lungs.

Trevar had reported that Sombra still behaved as though he were alive; that damage to the nanites and their connections to each other seemed to give him pain. Pardus could very well understand what Sombra must be experiencing right now. A good chunk of his body suddenly and violently gone. And before he could even come to grips with that, the rest of him now faced annihilation in thousands of degree heat. That sort of injury, pain, and the realization of his own mortality would not allow Sombra to evade fear.

Since becoming a dragon, Trevar had put a lot of study into the relationship between those elements in the psyche. While being stuck in that form, he had been forced to live in fear himself. But while hunting for food, Trevar discovered that he could use fear as a weapon against others.

The deer that he had taken down was still alive when he had begun eating. But after he had torn its rear leg off, he had to pause as his senses were overwhelmed with the dying animal's pain and terror. But instead of suffering as the deer did, those sensations seemed to go into another part of Trevar's mind: a part that he could call back up and relive … or … make others relive what the deer had experienced.

The first time that had happened, which was a few months after that particular hunt, the guy who had built a meth lab actually died of sheer fright. The experience had surprised and impressed Trevar greatly.

After that, Trevar spent months studying his own telepathic abilities and how he could find uses for that memory. As Trevar and Kelly Smith, the woman he had rescued from an attempted rape when he first woke as a dragon, pursued their Green Hornet-like agenda, he began experimenting with those telepathic powers.

Even with the ability to read an opponent's mind which gave him tremendous advantages over his adversaries, occasionally some were actually able to resist his mental probing. That was, until he started using the records of suffering, pain, and fear from that unfortunate deer and soon a growing list of others.

So, by the time Trevar finally encountered Yoko, and their subsequent battle caused Panthera and Pardus to awake in the same cave that Trevar had first awoke as a dragon, Trevar had actually come up with a quantified equation for the relationship of pain and fear—quite an elegant equation, actually:

P = ½F + ½(I + ⅕Tε(3T/4)) + ⅙I*(½F + T*ε(4T/5)), where P was pain, I was injury, F was fear, and T was terror.

His initial findings had made Trevar quite fond of his claim that "Fear was half of all pain". His early researched had pointed that way anyhow, until the day he found there was something else going on. When he began digging deeper, Trevar soon realized "terror" wasn't just amped up case of fear—it was a quantity all its own! They might have shared a close relationship, but "terror"—shear unadulterated "terror"—was as different from "fear" as "power" was to "energy" in physics. He still liked and used the phrase he had coined, even if it discounted the other factors he later discovered.

Afterwards, when Pardus questioned him about it, Trevar's response was, "Meh. A difference that makes no difference is no difference. Besides, explaining it takes too long, and it still ends up being more effective if they don't know. So there's always an upside to all that."

Speaking of physics, it was time for Pardus to shift to "sixth gear" as he had been in "fifth" for 20 minutes. It had been a full hour since he started hauling Sombra off the planet. They had just passed 11,000 miles, velocity was 10.95 miles per second, and acceleration had grown to 1.25 gs. Both his antigrav and eyebeams were processing 125 GigaWatts each. So jerk was increased to 5.27 millimeters per second cubed from its previous 4.6.

While injuries were something that could not be discounted, Trevar had realized the value of his discovery. "Fear" and "Terror", while they could be quite debilitating, they were also something that could be controlled. They were, after all, merely emotional responses to one's environment.

That understanding came in exceptionally handy during his first encounter with Yoko. When she came in to attack him, she used the very same telepathic assault on him! Fortunately, he was able to resist that illusionary fear. Even though he was still killed in that first meeting, the fact he was able to resist gave him the opportunity to turn her from being an exotic lackey assassin working for his enemies and into a valuable ally against them.

And the time was soon coming where they would fight again. On top of that, they were each going to have Bill and Sherry to contend with. Their companions, those like him and Panthera, were still in contact with each other, even at this distance. They were all aware that Trevar knew what they were going to be doing when they arrived. That Trevar had prepared for the encounter to come. And Pardus knew they were conflicted, even as he and Panthera were, about the secrets they kept hidden from their primaries.

There was the question of just what and how it happened to them all. Who had changed them and created the avatars? They all knew the answers. However, they were blocked from revealing them. The time was not yet, and the proper questions had to be asked before they would be permitted to tell. But Trevar, at least, understood. And accepted them.

Being a copy of Trevar's mind and actually being in the position to know what had created them and yet unable to speak it, both Pardus and Panthera appreciated the trust Trevar put in them. Bill was likewise pragmatic where it came to Canis and Lupus, while Sherry was somewhat accepting, she was still disappointed with her companions. But Yoko would often get into numerous shouting matches with Naga and Naja that could go on for hours until Trevar would intervene.

Unfortunately, at the moment, it was Bill, Sherry and their companions that were having to deal with Yoko as they all flew toward a fight none of the three primaries had any idea was coming. Pardus didn't envy his counterparts flying with them. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"Y-you'd *cough* better get back out *cough cough* there … co-coordinate with Celestia and—" Trevar couldn't continue verbally as a new bout of choking took hold, so he finished by sending to her, 'Pardus!' But even his ability to send was affected as his concentration was constantly getting broken.

"Are you sure you're okay by yourself?" she asked, to which he vigorously nodded. She left him lying on the bed to finish recovering on his own.

The distant sonic boom as she stepped outside the door signaled Pardus had just surpassed 75 kilometers. And she could see Celestia was clearly not pleased.

"I'm sorry, your highness!" the stallion guard sergeant profusely apologized after the evident berating she had been giving him was finished. "I’m at a loss to explain it. The corporal and the privates I put in charge of the prisoners are also missing!"

"More casualties, Princess Celestia?" Panthera quietly inquired.

"It would seem so," she angrily replied. "While we were all focused on what you and your brother were doing to Applejack's orchard, the changelings somehow cut their bonds and escaped! And somehow, without alerting anypony, managed to take the guards standing watch over them, as well!"

"Please note, Celestia," Panthera sternly responded, her hackles starting to rise at how it Celestia was implying their actions were somehow reckless. "We were rather busy trying to contain that creature! We truly regret any collateral damage that may have caused, but you will please also note all those crystal spears shooting up out of the ground all over the place out there? We had nothing to do with that, but instead, that could've been my brother and me! Or worse, given what Trevar communicated to us while he fought that thing—he might have taken control over both of us! Just imagine what we could do if our powers were suddenly turned against you!" The astonished look the white alicorn had told Panthera she had the ruler's attention.

"Now, whatever you just thought of, multiply it!" Panthera snarled, showing off her teeth. "Believe me, you have no idea what we're capable of! But if that power fell into Sombra's—paws, you would have quickly found out!"

"I—apologize," Celestia finally said, dipping her head.

"Apology accepted," Panthera likewise replied. "However, that danger still may yet come to pass. Pardus is currently hauling that thing toward the sun. But the entire time he's out there with it, he's still in that creature's range of control and in danger of being taken over at any moment."

"I see," Celestia responded. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Pardus and I know your schedule to move the sun," Panthera said. "He's anticipating a three hour flight to deliver Sombra there, so he's headed for where you're supposed to put it for the three o'clock hour. But—"

"'But'?" Celestia inquired.

"But, there's still the risk," Panthera continued. "Should he be forced to do so, he's prepared to fling Sombra as hard as he can so as to avoid capture. We may need to ask you to adjust the sun's position to catch the rock."

"I see—" Celestia said, trailing off. Then she chuckled. "Once again, I'll have to endure the complaints about not being an accurate time keeper for weeks to come."

"Oh?" Panthera asked.

"Ever since my sister and I had assumed our duties over the sun and moon, we've been criticized for every deviation from the scheduled movements," Celestia explained. "Despite seeing firsthoof the devastation Discord made when he first escaped his imprisonment, you should have heard the hue and cry over the mess he made of the sun and moon's schedule—but it wasn't him the papers complained about. No. It was the fault of my sister and me."

Panthera pondered that for a few moments. Then she smiled. A big toothy smile.

"In case you have to deviate, would you like me to provide them the reason as to why it was necessary?" she asked. And the offer definitely had an impact. Celestia was clearly considering it. But finally, the alicorn shook her head.

"As tempting as that might be, no, that won't be needed," she said, declining.

"Are you sure?" Panthera asked. She looked down at the ground and sent out a red eyebeam to score the road surface before looking back up at Celestia. And smiled. "I so rarely get an opportunity to make a public appearance. I wouldn't mind."

"So tempting!" Celestia muttered. "But, no. And thank you for the offer."

"Just say the word, I can be there."

"'Wor—'" Celestia instantly began, but stopped herself. Then burst out laughing, with Panthera joining in. "That's seriously tempting offer. But Luna and I will manage. Thank you, Panthera."

"Speaking of Discord," Panthera began, returning to a serious subject. "That's the strange mismatched creature we met when we arrived at Twilight Sparkle's castle, correct?"

"Indeed," Celestia replied.

"Interesting," Panthera said. "While Trevar was keeping Sombra busy, he learned that Discord was responsible for this encounter."

"What?" Celestia exclaimed. "How?"

"Mentally probed Sombra while they fought."

"Trevar can do that?" Celestia asked, clearly astonished.

"Trevar can do a lot of things," Panthera told her. "And yes. He can do that. We would all be very interested in finding out why."

"So would I," Celestia growled.

"I'm so sorry, Celestia," Twilight Sparkle said, stepping over to them. "I should have been keeping an eye on the changelings."

"Nonsense, Twilight!" Celestia scolded her. "You were busy with the shield protecting the orchard. Besides, there were three guards on them, and they disappeared, too!"

As Celestia and her friends began to confer, Panthera spied Lieutenant Scott standing by herself, looking to be in shock.

"Are you okay, Lieutenant?" she inquired when she stepped into the woman's view.

"H-how—how did—how did he—?" she stammered.

"Easy, Lieutenant. Easy," Panthera said, reaching a wing out to drape over her shoulders. "Calm down. There nothing to fear, now that that cloud of nanites is gone."

Scott looked sharply at Panthera.

"How can you even say that!?" she exclaimed. "I saw him stabbed through the heart five or six different ways! He should be dead!"

"That may explain a little of why we like him," Panthera put forward. "Trevar is an intriguing creature."

"You're kidding! Right?"

"A little," the shadowcat said, grinning. "What matters is he's on our side.

"Really?" Scott challenged. "He's not even human! How can he be on 'our side'?"

"I'm not exactly 'human', either, if you've happened to notice," Panthera reminded her. "But he did get through saving both this world and yours from being destroyed. And just now, he fought off a creature that had once enslaved an entire nation on this one. And yet, Trevar has asked nothing from anyone in return."

"He's fucking every griffon in sight!" Scott protested.

"By their request, not his," Panthera replied. "Yes, he could have declined. But does it really matter that he allowed himself to be seduced and accepted their offer? It doesn't make him a monster."

"…" Scott tried speak. "But getting stabbed through the heart like that … and surviving … "

"What's wrong with that?" Panthera inquired. "So that makes him something other than human. But look at me. I am what you see. No other creature on this world, besides Pardus, can do the things I can. Yet, do you fear us because of what we can do? Or do you fear us after we have acted as your friend to this day?"

Scott had no reply, but her face spoke volumes of her inner conflict.

"Then what difference is it for Trevar to do the same?" Panthera challenged. "Perhaps as a species, that he is different from you, it makes no difference. His actions, as do ours, is what matters. And the fact is we do care. We're here to help. That we have a little fun along the way isn't important. We're certainly not abusing our privilege.

"That he survived that attack is something we should be thankful for," Panthera went on. "Pardus and I certainly are."

"Where had Pardus gone?" Scott inquired.

"He's hauling Sombra off to the sun," Panthera replied. "He's got at least another two-and-three-quarters hours' flight to go."

Just then, Panthera spied two figures coming in from the vicinity of the crystal tree castle. Mittens and Screaming Eagle.

"Greetings, Princess Celestia," they announced when they landed. "We saw there was something strange going on here. We came as soon as we got relieved."

"Greetings, Lieutenants Mittens and Screaming Eagle," Celestia responded. "I do regret to inform you that we have an ongoing problem involving changelings, as well as another crisis that has just been resolved. As a result, I would request you submit to a scan."

"Of—of course, Princess," Screaming Eagle agreed. At that moment, Panthera came up between them and spread her wings over each.

Screaming lived up to her name. And Mittens was rivaling her for it.

"Scan completed," Panthera happily announced. "They're real."

"That really wasn't necessary, Panthera. The spell I was going to use is painless," Celestia muttered.

"Oh?" Panthera asked, intrigued.

"C-coul-couldn't you have waited for P-Pr-Princess Celestia to cast it?" Mittens asked, glaring at the shadowcat.

"Sorry about that. Oh, and by the way, congratulations," she said to the griffons. "You're both pregnant."

"Wh—wha—WHAT!?" Both griffons exclaimed.

"I'm detecting four zygotes implanted in each of your wombs," Panthera explained.

He'd been in "seventh gear" for about twenty-five minutes. Three more, and he be able to bump it up yet another notch. His acceleration was at 28.625 meters per second squared and still slowly climbing. But at least there were only 720,000 kilometers to go. And at 1.5 TeraWatts, his eyebeams were now melting the crystals forming in the lava faster than they could develop, and deeply heating the blob of lava at that, which was rapidly depriving Sombra of both ammunition to fight back with or a means of escape.

It was hard to imagine it was only a week ago he had been out this way, playing with a few boulders trying to figure out this system's crazy gravity field.

To date, this was the weirdest assignment they've ever been on. Indeed, this Sombra character was refreshingly "normal".

At that moment, Pardus felt pain, so intense it made him scream. Or he would have screamed had there been any air out there. Crystals were suddenly shooting out of his body from various locations.

He fought to get control of his body once more, instantly knowing it was the creature he had been transporting. Immediately, he gave the molten mass a tremendous kick with his tractor beam, setting it spinning at a high rate in a few more random axes in his effort to evade Sombra's grab at him.

However, Pardus suspected he, himself, was the cause of the attack. By depriving Sombra of any crystals with which to play with, his desperation to grab anything was reaching out to find anything to work his power on, which left only the shadowcat's body within his reach!

When the attempt to disorient Sombra didn't work, Pardus had no choice but to fling the bastard off toward the sun with as much force as he could muster. He burned out his tractor beam system, but he managed to give Sombra a 2257 g kick to send him on his way. Unfortunately, it was where the sun was at that moment. If Celestia moved it on schedule, he'd miss. Their success now depended upon Panthera convincing the alicorn to let the sun stay where it was for another hour. Or the bastard would eventually become someone else's problem in a few million or billion years.

Once the blob was on its way, the pain immediately began to lessen. It still hurt, but he was now out of Sombra's reach. Now, he could focus on trying to regain control of his own body's components. Aside from how it felt, it was most aesthetically unappealing to have shards jutting out at all angles from everything.

Fortunately, no critical systems were compromised, and he began decelerating and veering off above the equatorial plane to avoid flying into the sun should he lose consciousness before he could regain control and fix himself. Naturally, he informed Panthera and Trevar. Panthera let him know she would be on her way to rendezvous with him as soon as she could.

Despite the pain that was threatening to make him pass out, he fought to keep his vision focused on Sombra's tomb as it continued on toward the sun. They needed confirmation that the bastard was properly dealt with.

Still, the pain was too great, and he couldn't help but close his eyes and rest. Sombra wasn't going anywhere. A few minutes later, his eyes snapped open in a panic.

Awww, shit! I seriously fucked up just now!

After conferring a bit on coordinating the situation going on in space, Panthera left Celestia to devote her time to Twilight Sparkle and her friends in doing what they could to help on the damaged trees, as well as oversee the work of her guards who were sent out to look for any sign of the changelings.

In a couple of hours, those guards eventually came back to report they had found the missing ponies whom the changelings had replaced, including the Lunar Guard, whose absence started this fracas, as well as, strange as it seemed, the guards who had been assigned to watch over the changeling prisoners!

But then, Panthera got a call from Pardus.

"I'm sorry, Princess, but Pardus has run into a little problem," Panthera spoke up. "He's been forced to retreat from Sombra's vicinity and he needs you to adjust the sun's position."

"Where does he need me to move it?" Celestia asked.

'The other side of the planet,' came the response when Panthera relayed Celestia's question.

"WHAT!?" Panthera vocally screamed, glaring up in the direction her sensors told her Pardus was located.

"Come again?" Celestia inquired.

'When he made a grab for me, I—may have—tried to throw him straight for the sun' Pardus sent.

'What did you do?' Panthera growled, knowing it wasn't going to be good.

'I panicked, okay, bitch?' Pardus responded. 'Like I said, I threw him straight at the sun.'

'And…?' Panthera stressed.

'… And … I forgot to take into account the vectors that thing was already under,' Pardus admitted. 'It's not only going to miss where the sun is now, it's going to miss where it's going to be when it gets there.'

"SHIT!" Panthera yelled, making Celestia blink in surprise.

'Hey! Lay off! Shit was hurting like nobody's business,' Pardus protested. 'Still is, in fact. I've got crystals growing out of places you'd rather not think of!'

'Bloody fuck!' she cursed.

'With some of these crystals sticking out of me, it certainly would be,' Pardus snapped back. 'Also, my tractor beam is fried. I was able to vector myself off of the equatorial plane, so I'll miss the sun, but my antigrav is now off-line as well as a few other things. Most of that should fix itself with any luck, although I'm really concerned about the tractor beam.

'Fortunately, Celestia only needs a slight adjustment to where she'll put the sun at three o'clock for Sombra to bullseye it,' he finished.

"Sorry, Princess," Panthera apologized after the few moments of their exchange and she finally got the updated telemetry from him. "My brother was being a snarky troll just now. We need you to adjust the sun's position just short of your normal full 15 degrees. We need it moved just 14.087."

"Hmm," Celestia said, considering. "I'll still get complaints for that, but it shouldn't be too bad."

"The bad news is, you'll need to hold it there for the next two and a quarter hours," Panthera told her. That made the alicorn blink.

"He said that when Sombra made a grab at him, he was forced to throw him on a wild trajectory. Unfortunately, they were still too far out to make it to the sun any sooner than that."

"I can see why you screamed just now," Celestia muttered.

"Actually, that was when he told me he needed you to toss the sun to the other side of the world," Panthera sheepishly told her. The admission made Celestia laugh. "Anyhow, I've got to go get him. He's hurt up there and doesn't think he can make it back on his own," she said rising up.

"Wait!" Celestia called.

"Don't worry," Panthera called back. "Trevar can let you know if the sun needs any further adjustments. He's almost recovered from his ordeal and he can relay any messages between us." Then she was on her way, breaking Mach 1 right over the orchard.

"Really, girls. It's just a matter of time for me to recover," Trevar told the griffons who were each offering different remedies to his coughing.

"Thank you anyway," he said to Screaming Eagle as she insisted he take the water she was holding. The water did at least soothe his irritated throat.

"Can—can you not try that—uh—that thing—you did with Screaming and me?" Mittens suggested.

As he drank from the cup, Trevar saw the expression on Blood Feather's face and almost choked anew from the urge to burst out laughing. He knew to what Mittens was referring to, but Blood Feather obviously thought it was something else entirely.

"Actually, I was doing that throughout my fight with Sombra," Trevar told them when he could, knowing the image that statement was going to cause to appear in Blood Feather's mind would be hilarious. "It was the only thing keeping me alive."

"Oh," Mittens softly replied. "I see."

With the concerned and serious expressions on Mitten and Screaming Eagle's faces coupled with the innuendo of the words said as interpreted by Blood Feather's mind, it was a crime that neither Panthera nor Pardus were there to record it.

He heard raised voices coming from outside. Or rather a raised voice. When Trevar stepped over to the window to look out, he saw that Gilda was back from Canterlot. And from her expression and animated gestures she had as she spoke with Celestia and Twilight, they told him she was being updated with the latest news. And Rainbow Dash was evidently jumping into the discussion, raising her own voice with Gilda. It was looking like those two were about to go to blows over something at any moment.

"I'd better go out there and hose a few folks down," he sighed. "You girls wait here. I'll be right back," he said as he stepped out of the house.

"Hey, Gilda! Welcome back!" Trevar called out as he walked up to the four of them. "You missed quite a bit of fun while you were away."

"Lord Trevar!" Gilda exclaimed. But at Trevar's arched eyebrow, she contritely apologized. "Sorry. I'm glad you're alright!"

"I'm well, for the most part," Trevar said, nodding to her. "And Rainbow, I do apologize for snapping at you earlier. As I mentioned, going up against Sombra isn't conducive to one's health. It was tons worse than dealing with a room filled with second-hand cigarette smoke. But I am feeling much better now." Although, he was still forced to cough from the memory. "And like you said, winning that fight was rather awesome," he said, grinning, and that made the pegasus mare grin in return.

"You'd better come along, Gilda," Trevar said to the griffon. "We've got a few matters to discuss.

"Oh, and Princess Celestia?" Trevar spoke to her before leaving, "I've just been informed by Panthera and Pardus that Sombra did managed to break out of his tomb, but only at the last moment before the rock impacted into the sun. He was still caught by the splash back. I don't think he'll be bothering us anytime in the future."

"Yes, I did sense the boulder's impact," Celestia replied. "It is good that Sombra didn't escape. Although, I do regret the loss of life."

"Don't you remember? I know Pardus relayed to you that I found out the real Sombra died centuries ago, when his body was destroyed by that cloud," Trevar told her. "That cloud merely held an echo of his mind. He was nothing more than a ghost simply being laid to rest after all this time."

"Yes. Yes, that's true," Celestia agreed.

She looked up and powered up her horn, and in seconds, the sun had moved to settle next to the horizon.

"Umm—" she started to speak, but apparently changed her mind.

"Something else?" Trevar asked.

"Nothing important. I'll speak of it to Panthera when I next see her," Celestia said, shaking her head.

"Well, it's going to take her and Pardus a while to get back here," he told her. "I can relay your request and you can get the reply right away."

"I—am going to have questions to answer when I get back to Canterlot," Celestia explained. "I was going to ask if her offer to accompany me when I spoke to the reporters was still valid." Trevar grinned.

"She wouldn't have made that offer if she wasn't sincere about it," Trevar replied. "Of course she'd be willing to speak to them. It's regarding the lousy timekeeping you're doing right now, isn't it?"

"Yes," Celestia said grumbling.

"Don't worry. She'll be happy to accommodate you," Trevar replied.

"If you are sure?" Celestia confirmed, to which Trevar nodded. "I'll hold the press off until tomorrow morning, then. Would nine o'clock be good?"

"No problem," Trevar assured her before leading Gilda back to the house.

"I—I'm—very sorry, Lord Trevar," Gilda stammered as soon as the door was shut. "I—I should not have squandered the op—the opportunity—to—mate with you! If—if you and Blood Feather have no objection, I'd—I'd—"

Trevar was stunned. The wretched expression Gilda wore on her face told him she was still not wanting to do that with him, and the expressions on the faces of the other griffons told him there was something much more going on than just a simple agreeing to an action by a lesbian daughter that may have been scolded at by a father wanting her to mate with a male so she could pass on children.

"Alright!" he interrupted. "Just what the hell is going on?" he demanded. "I can understand Gustav wanting me and the shadowcats contribute 'fresh blood' into your gene pool. But there's something more going on, isn't there?"

"You—you know?" Gilda asked, but she was clearly not asking Trevar but the other griffons. "You all know about—about the eggs?"

Whatever the back story behind her question was about, the abashed looks on their faces told Trevar, as well as Gilda, that they did indeed know what was going on.

"Well, I think it's time I heard what's going on as well," Trevar said, crossing his arms to glare at them.

"It—it started with the last war we had with the ponies," Blood Feather began. "When we lost. Again."

They all took turns chiming in, but the picture they painted for Trevar was clear: the griffon species was dying out. Lack of genetic diversity and generations of forced inbreeding due to such a low population was beginning to take its toll. The high percentage of physical deformities and failed hatching was only the latest sign. This little detail had been left out of the meeting that Panthera had had with Gustav and the griffons the other day.

It was no wonder that Gustav had been so desperate to not allow Trevar or the shadowcats to escape without providing some means of aid to them, that his panic nearly started a new war with Celestia. Only a handful of griffons knew the truth at the moment: The emperor, Gustav, their aids, the griffons assigned to Trevar, and a couple others. Sooner or later, however, word would eventually get out to the general public. And when it did….

"This is much more than just wanting a little extra genetic diversity!" Trevar exclaimed when they were finished. "You guys need us to repopulate your entire species! With just the six of you? Even if we're successful to getting you all pregnant, it wouldn't be long before your species would be in even worse shape than it is already!"

"But what else can we do?" Screaming Eagle asked.

"You guys need help!" Trevar told them. "Real help! I don't have the knowledge you need, and neither do the shadowcats. Perhaps Celestia—?"

"NO!" All four griffons screamed in unison.

"If we involve the ponies, word will get out to the griffon public—!" Blood Feather yelled.

"It's a state secret—!" Gilda exclaimed at the same time.

"Griffons will go to war en masse—!" Mittens cried.

"It would end us all—!" Screaming Eagle yelled.

"There's got to be a way to fix it!" Trevar protested. "But there's just no way to do it by following the route you guys are taking!"

"Please, Cat-Lord!" Screaming Eagle pleaded.

What IS IT with this "Cat-Lord" shit? Trevar wondered as the title they conferred upon him made him scowl.

"I promise I will help!" Trevar growled. "But I can't do this alone! Panthera and Pardus are almost back. As soon as they arrive, I'll have Panthera fly me to speak with Gustav. Gilda, I want you with me. With any luck, the three of us can talk some sense into him!"

"M-me?" Gilda stammered.

Pardus was able to fly under his own power as they came in for their landing. Panthera headed straight for the house as they both had been updated on the current situation by Trevar while they were on approach.

There was a new set of Lunar Guards on duty for Panthera to contend with, as well as both Day and Night princesses there on site.

"I see that 'normal' got fucked over again," Pardus muttered to himself as he watched her deal with identifying herself before being allowed to enter.

Turning, he looked out at the nine ponies and the infant dragon working on the damaged trees in the orchard.

"Hey! The shadowcats are back!" Rainbow Dash called out before flying over to greet him. But she recoiled in shock at the sight of his wings just as she was landing before him. "Whoa!" she exclaimed. "Dude! That's gotta hurt!"

"That, it does," Pardus admitted, smiling as most of Rainbow's friends joined them. "But injury is only half of the pain. I have to admit, though. As much as it hurts, it does looks wicked," he said, glancing over one of his wings and the crystal shards jutting out at all angles all over it. "Maybe I should start calling myself 'Crystal Wing'."

"How can you still fly?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"Magic," Pardus replied, making the purple alicorn blink.

"Wait! It doesn't work that way!" she protested. To which, Pardus simply rose up a foot to hover over the ground.

"'Magic'," Pardus repeated. "It means, 'I ain't gotta 'splain shit'." But then he blinked before dropping back to the ground. "Or is that what you say for science? I forget."

Twilight Sparkle looked indignant. Pinkie Pie, however, was rolling on the ground laughing. Rainbow Dash also was chuckling.

"Oh, dear! That evil Sombra did that to your wings?" Rarity asked.

"Not just to my wings," Pardus admitted. "But I was able to reverse what he did to the rest of me before I got back here. To be honest, I'm taking the rest of the night off and worry about the wings in the morning.

"But I'm afraid I'm still going to have a scar or two coming out of this that aren't going to go away," he muttered, thinking of the damage to his tractor beam components.

"Come again, sugarcube?" Applejack inquired, stepping over to join them. "Ah couldn't help but hear some of what ya was sayin'. Sorry 'bout yer injuries."

"Sorry about the damage to your orchard," Pardus replied. "It just couldn't be avoided. Is that your grandmother there with Big Mac and Applebloom?"

"Shore is," Applejack proudly told him. "Come. I'll introduce ya."

"Maybe later, after I'm rested up a bit and had a chance to do something about these," he said, glancing at his wings. "If there's anything I can help you with later, after I've rested?"

"We could use a bit more help removing those crystals," Applejack said, sighing. "Poor lil' Spike's been gorgin' himself tryin' ta eat 'em all. But there's more'n he can handle."

"Well, they can wait for Spike to digest what he's eaten already," Pardus said. "There's no more Sombra, so those crystals can't get any bigger."

"Oh, but of course they can!" Pinkie Pie objected. "Rocks grow all the time. And crystals are just specialized rocks."

"Wait—? What—?" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed, looking at the pink earth pony.

"Huh? I thought you knew, Twilight," Pinkie told her. "That's how rock farms work, after all!"

Everyone just stood and stared at Pinkie Pie for several minutes, not saying anything.

"I'm gonin' ta bed!" Pardus suddenly announced, turning away and leaving them there.

A few hours after Celestia sent the sun to the other side of the planet, Q arrived on the photosphere. With his eagle talon, he pulled what was left of Sombra up from the depths. Refusing to let the king perish, Discord once more restored him to life.

"I told you what would happen if you failed me, Sombra!" Q snarled into the unicorn's terrified and pained face.

"P-pl-please!" Sombra screamed. "M-make it stop!"

"Nope," the draconequus said, shoving the still screaming king back into the swirling fire. "Back in you go! You'll get to endure my displeasure for all eternity. Buh-bye!" he finished with a wave of his paw.

He sighed as he rolled over onto his back and looked out toward the planet the sun was orbiting, idly swirling his eagle talon in the boiling silicon plasma.

"I've really got to stop plagiarizing my lines," he groaned, rubbing the bridge of his muzzle with his lion's paw. "'Burning eternal in a lake of fire'? Pft! That idea's been done to death!"

"You know, that was my favorite character," the P announced his presence by yelling at him. "And the producers promised he'd get to shine again this coming season."

"Well, he is shining right now, if you think about it," Q cheerfully said, pulling out an object from the plasma soup to hold up in front of his eyes. From there, the P was able to see it was a thermometer. "He's shining at about … oh … 5693.35 Kelvin. So the producers haven't lied," Discord said snickering. "They just didn't read you all the fine details. Time to roll up a new character, I'm afraid."

"Really, Q," P grumbled. "I don't know what you were expecting, but everyone here told you that using my Sombra against Trevar was going to be a bust. There's nothing we've got that will affect something engineered by them. Only their technology can affect their technology."

Q merely grumbled his annoyance.

"Anyhow, I'm out of here," P said, walking off in a huff. "Like you said, time to roll up a new character. Hmmm … maybe I'll go with a talent-stealing pony … ? Might as well go for a mare, this time. They're always more popular. Oh, and this means I'll have to come up with some sort of backstory for her. But I suck at making those! I never did get around to doing a decent backstory for Sombra…." P was saying; his voice fading away as he departed.

"Yeah, yeah. See ya," Q said, absently waving off behind himself. He sat there thinking.

"Only their technology can affect their technology," he muttered to himself several minutes later, repeating what P had told him.

Then his eyes got big.

"Only their technology can affect their technology!" he suddenly exclaimed. Then Q smiled. "Or—even better yet—use one of them! Brilliant!" he shouted.

With a snap of his lion's paw, he vanished from the surface of the sun.

Moments later, Q appeared in Twilight's castle.

"Gyaahh!" Spike exclaimed, startled out of his late night pilfering of the refrigerator. "Discord! What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Spike," Q said, smiling.

Gustav had been working several hours late into the evening. It was just him, his secretary, and a couple of guards there in the embassy at the moment. They caught him as he was about to lock his office door.

"Good evening, Ambassador," Trevar announced as he unmounted Panthera and stood up to greet the griffon. Their sudden appearance as they decloaked startled all four griffons, causing their feathers to suddenly puff out and making their avian halves look twenty percent larger.

"Cat-Lord!? Panthera!" Gustav exclaimed, quickly getting over his surprise. "What an honor! Please! Please, come in!" he offered, reopening the door.

"To what do I have the honor for this visit?" Gustav asked once they were secure inside, leaving his staff members alone to deal with their shock. "Not that I'm complaining. It's certainly my pleasure to meet you both again. Has Gilda here agreed to please you as I asked her to?"

"Yes, she has. And that's brought up a little matter which prompted my visit," Trevar admitted.

The previous hour, the moment Pardus and Panthera entered the house, Trevar and Gilda accompanied Panthera to the bedroom upstairs, where Trevar climbed aboard Panthera's back and Gilda got to experience the shadowcat's cloaking field, tractor beam, shield, and flight all in one go.

"Panthera, here," Trevar continued, "is also here to help you with developing the encryptor device so that you and your emperor can communicate with me. That said, there is also a matter I need to discuss with you."

"Of course! My pleasure! My pleasure," Gustav continued gushing about meeting Trevar, and it was starting to grate on his nerves.

"First things, Ambassador," Trevar said with a sigh. "Please. Tone down the effusiveness. And most certainly, stop with this 'Cat-Lord' business. I don't even know what that's supposed to be about, even as the girls you've sent over tried to explain it to me."

"I—I'm—sorry," Gustav stammered, unsure as to what was wrong. He looked to Gilda for an explanation.

"It's not that I don't feel honored by you sending them to me," Trevar told him, getting straight to the matter. "If anything, they're quite appealing, in both carnal and social interactions. They're all very charming, and I feel very honored to have the opportunity to enjoy their company. But—there is a very serious matter that's just been brought to my attention. You and I really need to talk about it!"

"I—I don't understand," Gustav replied. "If you're pleased with them, then what's wrong?"

"Evidently, the real reason why you've sent them to me," Trevar replied.

"I—I thought I explained the reason to you," Gustav protested.

"Not to such great detail as I just got from Gilda and the others," Trevar explained. "I thought you just need a touch of genetic diversity. I'd no idea you needed me to help repopulate your entire species! As enjoyable as trying to do so might be, even if I'd be here for a hundred years there's just no way that I'd be able to make an impact to your hatching problems. You need some real help in solving this. Not a band-aid."

"We—we have no other option, Cat-Lord," Gustav sadly said.

"Have you spoken to Celetia?" Trevar inquired.

"Ab-absolutely not!" Gustav exclaimed.

"Why not?" Trevar demanded.

"It—it—it," Gustav stammered. He had to stop in order to nervously swallow. "It would be the ultimate humiliation—to what we suffered—as a result of losing all those wars with them," he admitted, beginning to openly weep. "Y—you're the Cat-Lord! You should understand. We're your children and we failed you! We failed miserably!"

"Pride is what's stopping you?" Trevar asked, to which Gustav nodded.

"Pride's sure as hell isn't going to solve it for you," Trevar admonished. "Pride is what caused this mess to begin with and pride is what's going to cause your species to go extinct! You're not responsible for any fuckups done by your ancestors. But you do have to deal with the consequences."

"I—I know," Gustav admitted.

"Then ask Celestia for help," Trevar told him. "I have a good reason to suspect that she has the knowledge that can help. Or I'm certain she can find it."

"I—I—can't!" Gustav exclaimed as he collapsed to the floor. Trevar and Panthera both rushed up to comfort him.

"Easy, Gustav," Panthera instructed.

"Hey! Do you consider Celestia to be your friend?" Trevar asked, and the griffon nodded.

"Then don't think of it as asking Celestia-the-ruler-of-Equestria. Think of it as asking your friend," Trevar begged him, to which Gustav violently shook his head. He was weeping too severely to respond verbally.

"But you still want me to help?" Trevar gently asked, and Gustav quickly nodded. "And I'm a complete stranger!"

"Y—y—you—you're the Cat-Lord!" the griffon finally managed to squawk out. Trevar sighed.

Trevar truly hated days like this.

"Then I'll ask her."

"NO! NO! You mustn't!" Gustav exclaimed as his pupils and irises shrunk to dots.

"Gustav," Trevar softly said. "Pride keeps you from asking her for help. But I have no pride to bruise. What I don't have is a means to help you other than by asking her. It won't be you, it will be me! Remember that!"

"And remember that when she approaches you with an offer to help," Panthera added.

"Please—!" Gustav begged as tears continued to flood from his eyes.

"Shhh," Trevar said, gently taking the griffon's head into his grasp to comfort him, softly stroking his beak, cheeks, and forehead. "It's okay. It's okay," he continued in that vein until the griffon ambassador had regained some of his composure.

When Trevar was sure Gustav had recovered enough to be rational once more, he directed the griffon's head to look at him so they were eye-to-eye.

"I don't know what this 'Cat-Lord' bullshit business is," Trevar told him. "But if you insist on thinking I'm some sort of creation myth in your origins, understand this: I am not afraid of asking for help from friends, or even strangers, when I need it! And, if you truly are my children somehow, then neither should you be!"

"Is there no other way?" Gustav hoarsely asked.

"I have neither the skills nor the knowledge you need to fix this," Trevar replied, shaking his head. "And neither do the shadowcats. I'm afraid the ponies, specifically Celestia and Luna, are your—our—best and only hope. I most certainly don't want your species to go extinct. And I absolutely do NOT want your people to suicide, either individually or en masse by going to war! I'm saying this as this bloody 'Cat-Lord' thing you insist on calling me!"

They gave Gustav time to digest the news. Finally, the tearful griffon nodded.

"Good," Trevar said, sighing. Finally! One more crisis averted! "When I can, I'll go speak with your boss about this matter as well. It's imperative you guys keep the peace with Celestia, and it's vital this problem with your hatchings gets fixed."

"I think you'll find his reluctance to accept Equestria's help will equal, if not exceed, my own," Gustav told them.

"Doesn't he consider Celestia to be his friend, too?" Panthera asked.

"Of course he does!" Gustav responded.

"Then our arguments and our insistence won't change, either," Trevar warned. "I take it when he meets me, he'll have the same reaction as the rest or your kind? Then I'll be sure to make it an order directly from the 'Cat-Lord'!" Trevar muttered at Gustav's nonverbal acknowledgment. "Maybe I should start with that and save myself the aggravation of any emotional objections!"

"Now," Trevar said, helping the griffon back to his feet. "Let's talk 'Enigmas'."

The next morning in the Throne Room, Luna rushed in, holding a scroll in her magic.

"Celie! We has't a problem!" she exclaimed.

"Well, of course you do!" Q said, popping into view. "And the solution is get rid of Trevar and his two shadowcat friends!"

"Discord!" Celestia yelled. "What is the meaning of resurrecting Sombra? And enlisting Chrysalis!?"

"Chrysalis," Q sighed. "Yes. Well, I'm looking for somepony to help you. Unfortunately, there's very little that can go up against those three. But you take what you can get. On the other hoof, by sending her after Trevar, I did manage to put off a little matter of revenge she was seeking against Twilight, so there is that.

"Oh, and believe me, I'm as disappointed as you are with Sombra," the draconequus added. "Granted, he wasn't my first choice to send in, but he's served his purpose."

"Not half as disappointed as you think! But it's not Sombra that I'm disappointed in!" Celestia scolded him. "But what sort of purpose did you hope he'd serve?"

"Why, to show you just how dangerous Trevar is!" Q sternly admonished her. "I knew he wasn't up to the task. Of course, my first choice might have, but resurrecting a pre-reformed Discord could just as well gone the other way. He might very well have delighted in the chaos Trevar and his friends are going to bring! Now, Nightmare Moon … she could be an option…," he said trailing off.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" both princesses yelled, with Celestia stomping her foot hard enough to crack the marble floor.

"Is Trevar very much so dangerous?" Luna inquired after she calmed down.

"I can't say he's the same level of evil that Tirek was," Q replied. "But he did take on Sombra. Not only did he survive what should have been a fatal wound, but he turns right around and soundly beats Sombra! Even before his friends finished preparing that molten tomb they encased him in and tossed into the sun, Trevar had him beat—single handedly! So you tell me," he said as his eagle-clawed arm stretched out to snag the scroll from Luna's magic before returning to normal.

Before either alicorn could react, he had unrolled it and looked it over.

"Well, this appears to confirm I'm too late," Discord sighed as he turned the scroll about to show them both.

ሽ ቧ
ሐ
ሟ
ቖ ፬ ሬ ሶ ዑ ሌ ቢ ሂ ሚ ቔ
ጒ ሴ
ሸ ኻ ም ር
ꬌ
ዏ
ቍ ꬉ ኜ ቸ ፠ ፚ
ጙ
ቷ ኖ ጼ ኛ ሂ ኑ ዀ ፭
ፖ ቃ
₴ ቼ ֎ ሻ ꬅ ጔ ∩
ተ
ቇ
ꬪ ፏ ꬍ Σ ኟ ጐ ቃ ላ ሱ ч ቹ ገ ፁ ቡ ጉ ኽ ዞ ፤ ፭ ꬬ ፫ ጿ ጽ ꬩ ሲ ቿ ኞ ❧ ጛ ⊥ ኰ ፨ ኲ ኯ ቼ ኲ ጲ ቑ ቔ ቆ ኜ ቸ ቲ ቧ ዔ ∠ ኽ ፦ ፐ ከ ቋ ፀ ጱ ጳ ኟ ꬊ ፈ ቚ ኇ ቜ ጱ ቃ ቧ ሂ ጛ ፕ ፤ ጎ ጜ ዞ ፎ ኬ ሲ ት ሹ ጟ ኝ ጌ ኚ ቒ ኑ ጳ ት ቅ ሿ ኋ ኤ ኇ ፋ ኜ ች ኈ ት ኾ ሂ ዖ ጛ ፒ ፕ ∧ ኺ ቚ ꬋ መ ꬋ ꬃ ꬉ ሃ ፕ ጝ ሃ ֎ ኽ ው ኡ ሶ ጝ ኘ ፈ ል ቃ ኆ ቃ ቃ ሼ ቁ ጏ ሆ ቤ ሬ ዏ ¿ ቚ ጎ ፋ ጉ ሸ ዎ ፆ ሀ ቁ ዕ ꬫ ኮ ꬩ ⊥ ኯ ኋ ፤ ጔ ∪ ኤ ∀ ∀ ኘ ፑ ჻ ኹ ፇ ሐ ሜ ዅ ꬋ ህ ꬉ ፎ እ Π ┊ ገ ሇ ቤ ፬ ፍ ረ ቲ λ λ ው ቧ ፀ ሟ ቸ ዄ ꬫ ቊ ቄ ኵ ገ ጋ ጸ ጿ ዔ ꬪ ꬉ ሟ ፩ ጴ ኙ ፩ ኸ ꬃ ፃ ቁ ኋ ֍ ሆ ዔ ꬅ ሐ ሃ ሬ እ ሄ ቧ ቱ ቓ ቹ ሐ ጷ ቢ ኙ ጘ ¡ ። ሄ ኦ ч ቒ ሸ ዄ ስ ዔ ጊ ኰ ቾ ዔ ጿ ኋ ጊ ጳ እ ሚ ┊ ቤ ጱ ካ ሞ ሬ ሽ ꬫ ቡ ኹ ዄ ⊥ ሆ ኋ ዑ ኼ ሱ ት ኝ ኌ ዄ ኂ ሟ ጘ ፋ ኻ ኆ ኹ ገ ሷ ꬂ ም ፍ ፭ ቇ ኤ ꬃ ረ ኟ ፖ ፤ ⊥ ቝ ካ ፒ ቺ ጙ ኋ ቱ ቶ ጻ ጿ ኳ ፑ ሷ ቄ ቱ ፇ ዀ ቅ ሃ ∠ ፫ ኣ ኒ ች ┊ ኲ ቢ ኙ ኵ ቹ ፏ ጟ ሆ ቚ ꬨ ዟ ꬩ ጵ ኞ ዏ ሙ ጸ ሾ ጞ ፁ ሌ ჻ ዂ ጉ ሲ ቶ ጐ ጴ ꬭ ሼ ∀ ጸ ጐ ዟ ካ ❧ ጰ ፂ ተ ጼ ስ ፙ ዐ ጸ ቺ ፩ ። ቤ ቴ ጰ ኰ ኈ ጎ
ዑ ጘ ꬃ ስ ∧ የ ቁ የ ቼ ኢ ч ሽ ቴ ን ዓ ፯ ቍ ሀ ኙ ፈ ኮ ች ꬍ ሼ ኳ ህ ለ ኢ ጺ ፏ ሉ ገ ፤ ፩ ኞ ፕ ሶ ጎ ጚ ቇ ሜ ጷ ቺ ። ቚ ፅ ፅ ዋ ቤ ክ ዄ ፮ ና ቺ ቌ ቧ ቅ ኝ ꬪ ቾ ∠ ጓ ϟ ኙ ዕ ኙ ዒ ። ኾ ሏ ቘ መ ፌ ሷ ኡ ካ ስ ፠ ፪ ጷ ጶ ፆ ኴ ጔ ኈ ሹ ሾ የ ፖ ꬬ ቧ ኀ ∪ ቌ ቈ ሜ ሶ ቊ ቈ ፚ ን ጘ እ ቶ ሎ ኚ ጌ ዟ ጚ ቐ ፈ ϟ ሇ ፐ ክ ሼ ፅ ጶ ሶ ዞ ጒ ኧ ኅ ∩ ኙ ቻ ኂ ፌ ኢ ሱ ቤ ኁ ꬊ ኍ ቼ ላ ዧ ሎ ሴ ፥ ጹ አ ቔ ꬊ ꬍ ኮ λ ተ ው ቲ ጞ ኃ ራ ዕ ፊ ሞ ኗ ፧ ቺ ጕ ꬃ λ ቷ ፗ ቐ ዃ የ ና ሪ ሯ λ ? ꬆ ቕ ቓ ቍ ጿ ዋ ቍ ሇ ጴ ኖ ⊥ ሮ ኅ ኊ ህ ኳ ቐ ፥ ጵ ና ሱ ተ ቑ ቾ ፠ ቴ ጕ ኗ ቐ ሀ ሀ ዟ ¡ ቃ ጰ ፥ ሾ ዏ ቈ ዌ ጟ ፣ ֎ ኪ Ξ ቌ ቼ ሄ ч ቺ ፃ ዀ ጎ ሿ ዂ ኇ ጛ ቲ ꬭ ቃ ቴ ꬅ ሊ ላ ፔ ፔ ረ ሰ ኊ ጿ ፉ ֍ ሚ ቺ ዒ ኄ ጴ ዊ ኗ ሊ ꬂ ሽ ኑ ሸ ∧ ኮ ч ꬌ ኙ ፉ ና ኝ ሄ ꬎ ቼ ፎ ጌ ጝ ኪ ፩ ቴ ፋ ቕ ጸ ‡ ገ ቃ ሺ ዅ ። ፆ ፖ ኧ ኴ ፨ ሶ ኧ ኗ ኯ ጲ ቝ ኈ ህ ቧ ኚ ጋ ቑ ሀ ꬅ ፨ ቌ ቅ ቃ ሚ ኦ ቓ ሟ ፭ ꬃ ኹ አ ሩ ሪ ጽ ጞ ቃ ֎ ፮ ኇ ጘ ቇ ቒ ፀ ‡ ገ ፍ ኬ ኋ ሮ ፍ ꬮ ኝ ? ꬮ ፔ ሯ ፓ ፖ ተ ኤ ኧ ֎ ቚ ቔ ጸ ዃ ቐ ሙ ሪ ቃ ኋ ዃ ኃ ꬃ ꬬ ኂ ꬉ ኯ ካ ሄ ቂ ፉ ስ ፈ ል ꬭ ቑ ቈ ኣ ነ ሎ ፬ ኊ ጚ ኢ ጋ ቍ ꬪ ₴ ኽ ቌ ሷ ። ꬩ ዓ ኲ ዯ ቄ ፁ ዊ ፎ Ξ ሞ ቖ ኌ ኑ ꬊ ፐ ሸ ሎ ጝ ኩ ዧ ስ ¿ ኖ ብ ሐ አ ኾ ፠ ሐ λ ኛ ꬅ ቢ ዉ ꬨ ኒ ኁ ┊ ቖ ቢ ቷ ች ለ ኹ ጓ ኃ ሬ ዅ ኻ ኴ ሌ ጝ ኍ ሾ ¿ ¡ ∠ ┊ ዋ ቢ ኸ ጱ ፏ ኙ ፮ ጟ ቝ ታ ዖ ኸ ዋ ር ☼ ሩ ጲ ሮ ል ሺ ጔ ለ ብ ኪ ፒ ❦ ሹ ፧ ነ ꬃ ቑ ዀ ቢ ꬂ ሮ ኑ ፈ ፈ ሜ ካ ኖ ኊ ቶ ፃ ግ ኙ ጾ ꬁ ጌ ሲ ፗ ꬁ ꬄ ኤ ሳ ሲ ፚ ሱ ጰ ፫ ኡ ፙ ∀ ኣ ጔ ፌ ዂ ቝ ፇ ጶ ፐ ፥ ሞ ቊ ው ኄ ፅ ሉ ኄ ጼ ዌ ጟ ዂ ቾ ስ ዎ ጲ ኦ ቐ ሪ ሜ ፓ ኺ ☼ ም አ ሬ ኄ ል ч ፗ ፪ ጓ ኵ ❦ ቴ ሟ ዞ ። ኴ ኊ ꬂ ዅ ֎ ፣ ታ ፬ ሿ ጔ ኯ ጵ ፩ ቝ ቈ እ ፍ ֎ ዃ ፑ ꬩ ተ ገ ቲ ፌ ፬ ጐ ቁ ꬂ ሴ ፀ ሹ
ሬ ቑ ዑ መ
ፕ ፀ ጛ ቑ Ξ ቴ
ቶ ጒ ኊ
ዯ ኚ ቱ ቕ

ኖ ዋ ኯ ሐ ኈ ጋ ጊ ሐ ኯ ጵ ኼ ጚ ዎ ሎ ሽ ፕ
ዓ ጵ ዐ ኣ ክ ፒ ꬫ ኊ ሽ ቤ ኍ ኬ ቢ ጊ ፈ ሿ ኞ ኁ ∪ ኳ ኯ ጜ ጉ
ቷ ቧ ሞ ጋ ዀ ጱ ቇ ራ ጌ ኸ ኺ ኯ ኀ ኢ ሴ ኡ ‡ ኢ ሴ ኈ ሴ አ ተ ሆ ቒ Ξ ኺ ኯ
ዀ ኽ ኛ ፀ ጿ ዞ ኃ ቐ ቘ ∀ ጿ ቲ ሊ ፣ ቼ ሻ ፋ ₴ ጸ ጶ ፖ ፒ ዞ ግ ዋ ኳ
ꬨ ꬁ ኹ ጏ ቹ ጐ ኜ ዏ ው ኀ ኰ ꬌ ቹ ፪ ጟ ጎ ኯ ቷ አ ∀ ቴ ꬎ λ ። ዂ ዓ ፎ ፓ ሽ ፬ ቊ ሐ ꬂ ፩ ꬮ ፒ ፈ ሱ ሸ Ξ ∩ ኋ ኮ ሌ ኟ ር ¡ ሟ ብ ኤ ዧ ኩ ጉ ገ ጻ ሲ አ ታ ቃ ኒ ሟ ጱ ዀ ጕ ⊥ ቇ ዅ Π ፎ ቕ ቋ ጹ ኯ ሊ ሁ ፒ ፤ ኀ ጴ ጷ ሏ ꬪ ኡ ኺ ኯ ጽ ዏ ቹ ፦ ፇ ቺ ኾ ጴ ሃ ኧ ሏ ኘ ፅ ዟ ኸ የ ሩ ሳ ኀ ሶ ሴ ꬆ እ ዯ ፫ ቹ ዟ ❧ ꬁ ? ⊥ ሊ ታ ታ ኈ ኍ ኖ ኣ ኈ ፨ ቖ ። ኌ ዯ ኪ ጲ ዊ ቄ ፔ ቖ ჻ ፰ ሙ ሱ ኾ ጏ ኢ ቹ ፩ ቴ ‡ ኈ ኸ ꬎ ኈ ሐ ኀ ቒ ‡ ኯ ጳ ‡ ꬁ ሴ አ ተ ‡ ኸ ኺ ኯ ኀ ኢ ሴ ኡ ዋ ꬬ የ ሆ ሪ ┊ ች ቡ ኄ ሚ ዉ ኂ ኗ ጔ ꬪ ዓ ኆ Σ ፐ ፫ ታ ኂ ም ኼ ሴ ኡ ዋ ꬬ የ ሆ ሪ ┊ ች ቡ ኄ ሚ ዉ ኂ ኗ ጔ ꬪ ዓ ኆ Σ ፐ ፫ ታ ኂ ም ኼ ዄ ብ ጐ ኖ ❦ ኈ ወ λ ፖ ች ኜ ግ ¡ ቘ ኜ ስ ጿ ኙ ቊ ጸ ☼ ው ሉ ፮ ሾ በ ፄ ☼ ጳ λ ፉ ꬅ ቌ ፈ ቄ ጛ ቈ ሾ ዖ ጰ ∧ ፙ ዕ ቑ ∧ ኀ ጿ ሀ ቒ ፁ ስ Π Π ሟ ሲ ዓ ჻ ❧ ች ꬁ ጺ ꬫ ֍ ጼ ኂ ኽ ኜ ኽ ሙ ቄ ሰ ሽ ❦ ቛ ኰ ቁ ኘ ከ ፒ ቴ ኌ ዟ ኀ ራ ዒ ጕ ч ∧ ፥ ቱ ϟ ሚ ዃ ሎ ኴ ∩ ዎ ሊ ꬫ ሐ ፃ ጌ ወ ፥ ን ሇ ϟ ጴ ቸ ꬬ ረ ሿ ፩ ሁ ሬ ዑ ረ ጏ ዑ ር ሼ ፠ ቲ ¡ ꬄ ፔ ֎ ቾ Σ ኑ ፊ ፑ ጶ ሎ ል ሜ ፰ ፚ ¿ ጻ ኲ ꬫ ቌ ሺ ኄ ዟ ሮ መ ¿ ጲ ታ ሃ ቕ ች ዎ ፭ ፨ ዏ ዒ ጛ ገ ሎ ኟ ጵ ሾ ቇ ዧ ፏ ዞ ላ ኟ በ ኩ ። ኾ በ ሇ ፅ ሌ ዟ ዋ ጊ ኒ ቄ ነ ኘ ❧ ፁ ሺ ፑ ቐ ¿ ኻ ኚ ሞ ኩ ፏ ኋ ꬎ ሰ ቸ ዑ እ ዓ ፓ ዐ ֍ Σ ጱ ꬩ ዔ ነ ፭ ዉ ፬ ወ ቖ ቱ ቱ ጱ ቻ ሎ ኜ ጙ ። ቕ ሸ ቚ ኍ ፓ ፩ ┊ ኀ ከ ጶ ኀ ꬨ ቂ ቷ ሻ ጷ ሞ ጔ ꬍ ና ჻ ሪ ꬅ ፆ ቔ ህ ፄ ሐ ꬭ ፒ ወ ፖ Π ቌ ም ፰ ቂ ህ ❧ ም ሐ ቔ ሎ ኃ የ ቶ ኦ ቝ ህ ሹ ∧ ቛ ኾ ኘ ኅ ቴ ኒ ኽ ሌ ኃ ኸ ኦ ሬ የ ኙ ሰ ፐ ዅ ቈ ል ኩ ሷ ዂ ኻ ዂ ꬫ መ ፯ ሚ ቶ ፀ ኼ ፀ ቍ ቐ ች ኘ ❧ ጞ ቕ ፅ ዄ ሉ ኞ ኚ ሽ ሙ ለ ኋ ጙ ጲ ዯ ት ኇ ቃ ጹ ፠ ጲ ጳ ጵ ጺ ፓ ጲ ሿ ኊ ሾ ጽ ሉ ሎ ፏ ሜ ኙ ፥ ጼ ꬄ ቡ ሳ ኖ ኩ ፊ ፃ ፓ ኒ ቈ መ ч ቻ ሙ ኻ ች ቊ ኝ ፆ ዄ ቴ ቢ ¿ ሪ ჻ ጓ ኽ ሄ ሞ ዅ ϟ ዐ ኇ ፈ ፄ ኟ ቐ ꬭ ፅ ቍ ፏ ሰ ኛ ኍ ፌ ሀ ዅ ኯ ለ ቀ ጼ ዑ ሁ ꬅ ጒ ꬄ ሶ ዉ Σ ዉ ሶ ቷ ኈ ፪ ም ጙ ꬍ ጐ ግ ፗ ሬ ዋ ኝ ቼ ሜ ዅ ጞ ኈ ጒ ኣ ሺ ቹ ቜ ል ፕ ቾ ኸ ጳ ቓ ኼ ሐ ꬉ ϟ ጉ ዅ ከ ቌ ቃ ኚ ኸ ኽ ኮ ቤ ኌ ቓ ፯ ጌ ሎ ֎ ፮ ኲ ፄ ሚ ፄ ቿ ∧ ራ ጽ ቜ ጎ ላ ꬬ ፇ ኅ ታ ቼ ኚ ፓ ∩ ለ ኩ ኸ ❧ ፃ ጱ ፨ ቸ እ ገ ቾ ቲ ኀ ዅ ч ጟ ሿ ፏ ፐ ዅ ኃ Ξ Σ ፎ ቧ ቲ ፄ ን ቓ ሉ λ ቌ ꬍ ኲ ታ ჻ ኁ ኖ ፑ ሿ ቻ ች ጹ ኡ ፋ ኃ ❦ ዓ ቢ ቇ ቐ ፦ ው ፙ ቂ ፧ ሮ Σ ፈ ጚ ሚ ቄ ፮ ቿ ኆ በ ‡ ቍ ቘ ዌ ዌ ኼ ቧ ሮ ፓ ጽ ኁ ቛ ኾ ፌ ፖ ┊ ፠ ⊥ ∀ ገ ኳ ከ ꬩ አ ኲ ራ ☼ ¡ ከ ❧ ግ ∀ ክ ꬮ ኙ ❦ ፌ ኰ ዌ ዅ ኞ ጐ ሁ ጉ ሪ ር ቲ ቻ ቺ ዀ የ ኳ ዖ ꬎ ጟ ዌ ቲ ቷ ኰ ∪ ወ ኛ ቇ ∠ ፬ ቁ ሇ ❦ ኞ ቡ ቤ ጞ ቧ ሊ የ ፇ ጝ ረ ቝ ፥ ለ ኢ ጎ ጒ ꬬ ꬨ ኘ ጼ ቀ ጟ ኴ ኩ ቡ ¿ ቒ ም ቴ ꬂ ጻ ኟ ኤ ፠ ꬂ ጛ ቢ ሁ ቧ ጳ ፩ ኁ ዐ Ξ ꬆ ጿ ፒ ֍ ፈ ፂ ዐ ꬂ ዓ ቖ ∩ ተ ቛ ꬮ λ ዊ እ ሏ ጾ λ ዉ ዉ λ ꬉ ሲ ኅ ዊ ኈ ኌ ꬅ ቁ ፤ ፦ ት ክ ግ ቚ ኸ ኢ ሰ ጕ ፥ ሞ ፭ ☼ ኌ ጓ ሼ ፄ ጟ ቝ ჻ ዀ ዓ ꬩ ꬁ ረ
ቘ ፕ ፨ ኖ ዉ ሏ ጷ ❦ ና
ፆ Σ ሸ ꬭ

"What is this?" Celestia asked. "I'm ... the subject...? Huh? And ... 'Luna is best princess'...!?" she demanded after reading what Luna had managed to decipher so far.

"Yond's what I wast coming to see thee about," Luna told her. "The griffons has't hath changed their encryption methods once moo. They seemeth to beest nesting a card of their Vigenere Beauford cipher with there's few or none will entertain it else they art doing. Mine own guess is they has't begun using yond enigma machine they has't been talking about. While I has't did manage to breaketh through a bawbling portion of their outermost layer, this is something I has't nev'r ere encountered!"

"I'd say your problems have only just begun!" Q grumbled before he vanished in a flash of light, leaving the scroll flutter to the ground.

ፐኀሃ‡አቀ‡።።።‡ኯተ‡ሴኀሃጳ

Rainbow Dash just couldn't believe her eyes anymore. Not after today.

First, she had watched the human creature get stabbed straight through the torso by several crystal pylons shooting up from the ground. But after a couple blinding flashes of light, when she could see again, he had leapt up to a hovering black disk to do mono-a-mono battle with Sombra himself!

The actual fight itself was disappointingly hidden away by a black dome, evidently created by the shadowcats' magic somehow. But the dome and disk floor couldn't completely hold back dozens of flashes of light. Those lightning strikes must've been incredible to still shine through those inky black barriers.

Having to put out several fires that flared up in the Apple Family orchard only momentarily distracted her from the spectacle she could only guess at that was going on inside the hovering black object containing them.

But then, the dome suddenly shrunk, forming a lip with the disk around it on which Trevar emerged, quietly walking out whole and unharmed!

Well, unharmed as far as Rainbow could determine—other than a really, really bad case of the mange, seeing as the human had lost all his clothes and barely had any fur left on most of his body….

But as the shadowcats transferred the black dome into the molten rock they had created to place Sombra into, Trevar simply stepped off the disk and landed on his feet on the ground below! Instantly, the black disk was gone.

Even so, the fight must've taken a toll on him, as he staggered before falling from his upright posture to a more normal stance like everypony else. In addition, Trevar began coughing like he must've been in a room filled with smoke. Of course, considering how Sombra had existed as smoke, that probably wasn't much of a stretch.

Panthera walked over to help Trevar as Pardus took charge of the molten blob and began taking it on a trip to the sun. After hugging him with a wing, she helped him back to his feet as he continued to hack up whatever Sombra had done to him.

"Come on," she said. "Let's get you inside. We can all use the rest!"

"Whoa! You fought King Sombra all by yourself?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed rushing up to them. "Awesome! How was that?"

"Not very pleasant!" Trevar snapped.

"S—sorry." But her whispered apology was drowned out by Panthera noisily clearing her throat.

"S—sorry, Rainbow," Trevar quickly apologized to her after a glance at the shadowcat. But then he had to deal with a renewed coughing fit. "I'll be alright in a few hours or so. But it's—not something I would recommend if you want to keep your health."

"Y-yeah," Rainbow mournfully replied. "Sorry 'bout buggin' you over it."

"Like I said, I'll be alright in a bit," Trevar said. "I just need to rest up for a while. By the way, has anyone else noticed the changelings are gone?" he asked, gesturing with his nose toward the prisoners had been tied up.

"Wha—!?" Rainbow exclaimed, quickly looking over to where they were supposed to be. "HEY! THE CHANGELINGS'RE GONE!" she screamed.

When she did so, Applejack screamed, too.

"Mah rope!"

While all that was going on, Panthera and several of the griffons entered Trevar's house with him. Hovering there, Rainbow suspected she was the only one to pay attention to that.

After that, it was quite a while before order was restored, partly due to how pissed the Princess obviously was. Pony guards were nearly pooping themselves whenever her glare swept across their forms. Not that Rainbow could fault anypony that did. Even standing, well hovering, actually, on the sidelines, even she felt like she should be lightening her load somehow whenever the Princess's gaze swept over her. She had never seen Princess Celestia so livid.

"I'm—I'm sorry, your highness!" Sergeant Over exclaimed. "I’m at a loss to explain it. The corporal and the privates I put in charge of the prisoners are also missing!"

"More casualties, Princess Celestia?" Panthera softly asked as she rejoined them.

"It would seem so," the Princess angrily replied. "While we were all focused on what you and your brother were doing to Applejack's orchard, the changelings somehow cut their bonds and escaped! And somehow, without alerting anypony, managed to take the guards standing watch over them, as well!"

"Please note, Celestia," Panthera snapped back. Rainbow nervously gulped.

Whoa! This ain't good! she thought.

She could only guess at the power that Princess Celestia controlled. But Trevar and both Shadowcats had taken on Sombra, a crazed unicorn supremacist from over a thousand years ago who had personally challenged the power of both princesses. That had to put the shadowcats in the same league as all of them. And now, it looked like Panthera was getting as snappy as Princess Celestia!

"We were rather busy trying to contain that creature!" Panthera growled at her. "We truly regret any collateral damage that may have caused, but you will please also note all those crystal spears shooting up out of the ground all over the place out there? We had nothing to do with that, but instead, that could've been my brother and me! Or worse, given what Trevar communicated to us while he fought that thing—he might have taken control over both of us! Just imagine what we could do if our powers were suddenly turned against you!"

Whatever the shadowcat said certainly had a sobering effect on the Princess, as her shock face revealed. But Panthera wasn't finished yet.

"I—apologize," Celestia finally said, dipping her head.

Rainbow nervously gulped. Just how badass are these guys? She managed to make a seriously pissed-off princess back down!

"Apology accepted," Panthera replied, nodding in turn. "However, that danger still may yet come to pass," she said, glancing up. "Pardus is currently hauling that thing toward the sun. But the entire time he's out there with it, he's still in that creature's range of control and in danger of being taken over at any moment."

"I see," Celestia responded. "Is there anything I can do?"

"'But'?" Celestia inquired.

"I see—" Celestia said, trailing off. Then she chuckled. "Once again, I'll have to endure the complaints about not being an accurate time keeper for weeks to come."

"Oh?" Panthera asked.

Panthera thought about it for a bit. Then smiled a big toothy grin.

"As tempting as that might be, no, that won't be needed," Princess Celestia said, declining.

"So tempting!" Celestia muttered. "But, no. And thank you for the offer."

"Just say the word, I can be there."

"'Wor—'" Celestia instantly began, but stopped herself. Then burst out laughing, with Panthera joining in. "That's seriously tempting offer. But Luna and I will manage. Thank you, Panthera."

"Speaking of Discord," Panthera began, returning to a serious subject. "That's the strange mismatched creature we met when we arrived at Twilight Sparkle's castle, correct?"

"Indeed," Celestia replied.

"Interesting," Panthera said. "While Trevar was keeping Sombra busy, he learned that Discord was responsible for this encounter."

"What?" Celestia exclaimed. "How?"

"Mentally probed Sombra while they fought."

Whoa! Rainbow thought astonished.

"Trevar can do that?" Celestia asked, also clearly astonished.

"Trevar can do a lot of things," Panthera said with a smirk. "And yes. He can do that. We would all be very interested in finding out why."

"So would I," Celestia growled.

"I'm so sorry, Celestia," Twilight Sparkle said, stepping over to them. "I should have been keeping an eye on the changelings."

"Nonsense, Twilight!" Celestia scolded her. "You were busy with the shield protecting the orchard. Besides, there were three guards on them, and they disappeared, too!"

Rainbow didn't want to stay and hear a bunch of egghead stuff and Panthera spied the human mare and walked over to speak with her about something, so Rainbow moved back to join Applejack and Big Mack. Her best sparring partner was still in a state over the damaged rope that had held the changelings.

"Hey, Applejack," Rainbow said, trying to pull her out of her funk. "I know you get attached to your lassos and things. But don't you have other ropes that're just as good?"

"But this was mah favorite, Rainbow," Applejack said, glaring at her with reddened eyes. "This was th' rope Ah had with us when we first met Twilight an' helped rescue Princess Luna. It was with us on quite a lot of adventures. Ah had it with me during our trek up th' mountain ta talk tha' dragon ta move, then again at the rodeo, an'…" she listed out several of the adventures they had with it. Not all of them, but at least a dozen or so.

"Wow," Rainbow softly muttered, not sure just how to respond. She drifted away, unable to figure out how to help. It looked like just any of her other ropes she used about the farm. How the farm pony could keep track of it to know just which actions they were on where she used it was beyond the pegasus mare. It wasn't like it was her pet dog or like Tank or anything. But Applejack seemed to know them all—sort of like how Fluttershy could tell one lion from any other rodent. It made her head hurt.

Just then, Rainbow noticed the approach of two griffons coming from Twilight's castle. Mittens and Screaming Eagle landed by Princess Celestia and Twilight, where they spoke for a little bit before Panthera suddenly materialized between them and zorked them both with a touch.

The sight of that nearly caused the pegasus mare to fall out of the air laughing, but she managed to stay aloft.

Shortly after, Panthera approached and Rainbow stayed with her as they returned to speak with Applejack.

"Apologies for the damage to your orchard, Applejack," Panthera said to her. "Is there anything Trevar or I can do to help?"

Applejack dried her eyes and looked up at the damage.

"Thank ya kindly for th' offer. There's a lot o' damage, and many o' our apples throughout this section are a total loss. But wi' a bit o' tender lovin' care, th' trees will recover," she finally replied with a sigh.

"An', uh, look, Panth'ra," she spoke up. "Ah know ya didn't mean ta hurt 'em. Ah—we Apples—appreciate what ya had ta risk in fightin' tha' monster. Wha' Ah wanna say is, Ah apologize."

"The provocation was sufficiently justified," the shadowcat softly replied, gently reaching out with a wing to touch Applejack's shoulder. "The emergency of the situation just didn't allow for a better response. And just like any storm we have to endure, the thing to do now is focus on cleaning up."

"Right ya are," Applejack agreed smiling.

A couple hours into the work of pruning back the many burnt branches to where living wood remained, Rainbow heard the galloping of hooves approaching. Looking up, she spied a contingent of guard approaching the Princess and Twilight.

They were too far away even for her hearing to make out their report, but she was adept at reading lips. And Princess Celestia's reaction confirmed what Rainbow suspected was said.

"Hey, Applejack! Rarity! Flutters!" Rainbow shouted down at them. "The guards found the missing ponies that the changelings had been holding!"

"They did?" Applejack asked, confirming and Rainbow nodded. "Sorry, but Ah gotta go," she said to Big Mac and her granny.

They all rushed over to join the Princess, Twilight, and Panthera.

"I'm sorry, Princess, but Pardus has run into a little problem," Panthera spoke as Twilight listened in. "He's been forced to retreat from Sombra's vicinity and he needs you to adjust the sun's position."

"Where does he need me to move it?" Celestia asked, and Panthera looked up, evidently to confer with her brother.

"Princess Celestia," Twilight spoke up while the shadowcat was occupied. "Is it true? Have the missing ponies from the town been found?"

"It would appear so, Twilight," Celestia said. "Unfortunately, I have to stay and work with Panthera about positioning the sun to catch Sombra's prison. Please go with Sergeant Roger to see to their aid."

"Of course," Twilight replied. "Let's go, girls!" and they rushed off, following the Solar Guardpony. He led them toward the Everfree, and they spotted a cluster of bedraggled ponies just beyond the last rise before the edge of the forest.

When they got closer, Twilight was able to make out specific ponies from town. And the selections the changelings evidently had taken alarmed her.

"Lyra!?" she asked, astonished as she skidded to a halt before the mint-green unicorn. "Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh. Hello, Twilight," she happily responded, even if she seemed a little out of it. "How are you doing? Oh, are the humans still about? Have they left already? I hope I haven't missed the chance to meet them again."

The Bearers all sorted through and checked on the ponies and it was a little chaotic for a while before Twilight remembered to perform proper protocols for recovered abductees of changeling encounters.

"I'm sorry to have to put you all through this, seeing as how you all must still be in a state of shock," Twilight announced after getting everypony's attention. "But seeing as how the changelings were involved in your abductions, we have to do this. I'll have to scan the entire lot of you to make sure we really have our ponies back."

"Sure thing, sugarcube," Applejack said, stepping away to the side. "We all plum fergot. Don' worry none, y'all. This spell won't hurt a bit. It'll just take a jiffy."

"Sorry, girls," Twilight muttered to them as they came to line up beside her. "But since we mingled with them before properly checking them out, I've got to do you, too."

"No problems, Twlight," Rainbow Dash crowed. "Do yer thing so we can get these ponies back to their homes and families!"

"Right," Twilight acknowledged. "Alright. You thirty-four will be fir—wait—thirty-four?" she asked aloud, paying closer attention to who was there. There were twenty-four townsponies, six Night Guard, and four Solar Guard—all covered in varying amounts of the green goop that was indicative of having spent time in a changeling suspension pod. And one of those Solar Guard was Sergeant Over, the very pony who had led them all here on Princess Celestia's orders!

"S-Sergeant Over?" Twilight inquired.

"Um? Uh? Oh, yes, Princess Twilight Sparkle?" the guard being addressed blinked at her before focusing upon her. "Can I help you?"

"Uh, girls? Anypony noticed what happened to the Guard who led us all over here?" Twilight asked her friends.

"Yeah, Twilight," Rainbow Dash spoke up. "He said he was stepping into the forest to check for any changelings who might be lurking there. He-e-e-ey—waitasec! Ain't this guy him?"

Twilight groaned as she facehooved.

"Yes, Rainbow. He is! Only, he isn't."

"Gee, Twilight," Rainbow Dash scolded her. "Make up your mind. Is he or isn't he?"

"Uh—Princess—? Pr-Princess Twilight Sparkle?" the goop-covered sergeant inquired. "Be—before the changelings let us go, the Queen herself was here and told me to deliver a message to Princess Celestia. Do you think you could relay it, please?"

"What was the message," she grumbled, dreading what it was going to be.

"I was told we were being released, and I quote, 'because we are allies. For now,' unquote," he told her. "And the 'for now' was strongly emphasized."

Twilight blinked at him. She had no idea what that was supposed to mean.

Finally, she decided to go ahead follow through with the protocol and make her report to Celestia and hope her senior princess could make sense of the missive.

She cast the spell, confirming that none of the thirty-nine ponies present, aside from herself, was a changeling. And she asked Rarity to cast the spell upon herself to assure everypony that she was who she really was.

"Alright, everypony," Twilight instructed once that was done. "Please go with the rest of the girls back to town and get checked out at the hospital to see if anypony needs medical attention. I have to report back to Princess Celestia."

Once the others were on their way, Twilight teleported back to where Celestia was and arrived just in time to see Panthera rocket up into the sky, breaking the sound barrier.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight called getting Celestia's attention. "There's been a—complication!"

"What sort of complication?" Celestia asked, casting her detection spell on Twilight.

"The—uh—sergeant you sent to guide us to the ponies found—he's a changeling," she replied as she reciprocated the spell.

"I—see," Celestia then replied with a sigh. "That explains much. But good work in uncovering him."

"Except—he—uh—got away." Celestia's pupils and irises shrunk at the news.

"And it—uh—gets worse," Twilight said wincing.

"Oh? How much worse?" Celestia replied, evidently bracing herself for the news.

"He—uh—got away before we found out." Celestia's eyes shrunk even more. "The reason we found out was—uh—the real sergeant was one of those recovered."

"Really!?"

And—there's more," Twilight added, nervously gulping. "He—the real sergeant—he said that when they were all released, there was a message for you, from Queen Chrysalis, herself. He was told to tell you they were being release and he quoted, 'because we are allies. For now,' unquote. And he said she emphasized the 'for now'."

Twilight was alarmed when Celestia's posture slumped as though in defeat.

"Princess? What does it mean?" she inquired. The elder alicorn was a long time before responding.

"That message is the first thing that finally makes sense of all of what's been happening," Celestia told her. "It would seem that we are being forced to choose sides in a war developing between Discord and Mr. Trevar, whether we wish to take sides or not."

Twilight couldn't believe her ears.

"What do you mean?"

"It means that Discord has drafted us, Twilight," Celestia explained. "First Sombra, and now Queen Chrysalis have also evidently been drafted to help Discord fight the human."

"Discord!?" Twilight exclaimed astonished. "Wh-what—what does Discord have against the humans!?"

"THAT is the great mystery that we must solve before anypony gets dragged deeper into this mess and someone gets seriously hurt! As we've just seen," she said, looking pointedly at the shards of shattered crystals still poking out of the ground, "things really are becoming serious. This isn't one of Discord's usual series of pranks. He really means to kill Mr. Trevar and the shadowcats. What is surprising is that they've actually managed to survive. There's certainly more to this human than meets the eye. And they now know they're at war with the Lord of Chaos. Aside from the mystery of why Discord hates them so, are the questions of whether they know that Discord is trying to force us to take his side in this conflict, and what they will do when they learn of it."

Rainbow Dash elected to be the one of the ones to herd everypony from behind, along with Fluttershy and Applejack. Had Rainbow been leading, she knew she'd be at the hospital already … and everypony else would still be back where they were found. It certainly was frustrating that nopony could even come close to matching her speed, but the least they could do was put an effort into it.

"Oh, I'm such an idiot!" Rainbow overheard Bon Bon grumble.

"What's the matter, Bonny?" her friend, Lyra, inquired beside her.

"That those blasted bugs caught me," Bon Bon said, growling. "I should've seen that the one pretending to be you wasn't you."

"Well, they wouldn't be much of a challenge if those changelings weren't good at pretending to be us," Rainbow Dash spoke up. "They gave us a good run that time in Canterlot, and even had me fooled this morning when my wingmates turned out to be changelings when I went to assist the Solar Guard. They even had those shadowcats fooled."

Bon Bon suddenly stopped with a shocked look on her face.

"Shadowcats!?" she demanded, snapping her head to glare at her. "WHAT Shadocats!?"

"Gee! How long did the bugs have you guys cocooned, anyhow?" Rainbow asked, rolling her eyes. "The shadowcats that were at the welcoming party. I remember you and Lyra were there."

"Yeah," Lyra spoke up. "It was a good party, too! The humans were the best part of it. And that Mr. Trevar was especially nice." Bon Bon sighed.

"'Humans', again?" she grumbled, glaring at her unicorn friend before getting back underway with the rest of the crowd. But then she looked back up to Rainbow.

"I—I don't know," Bon Bon admitted. "What's today?" Fluttershy then spoke up to tell her.

"Eight days?" Bon Bon asked incredulously. "But—but we didn't go to a party," she protested. "Lyra and I were home all day—well, that thing that wasn't Lyra!"

"Wait—so that wasn't you when the changelings swarmed us after we left the party?" Lyra suddenly asked. "But—but you tried to fight them!"

"It wasn't me," Bon Bon insisted. "I wasn't there. We—I—was still at home when—that imposter let the rest of the bugs into the house!"

"Hey, guys!" Rainbow cut in before the two could start arguing. "They're changelings! Remember? It's, like, what they do! Like I said, they even had the shadowcats confused."

"You've seen shadowcats?" Bon Bon inquired once more. "No pony sees shadowcats!"

"We've all seen two!" Rainbow said, gesturing to herself, Applejack and Fluttershy, who both nodded. "They hang out with the human stallion, along with a pascal of griffons who've been guarding him. The other human, they leave alone."

"Another human?"

"The mare I told you about," Lyra said.

"Yeah," Applejack spoke up. "She got on th' Princesses' bad side when they first got here. Been on 'probation' ever since."

Rainbow spent the rest of the journey telling them all she saw from this morning, how she fought the changelings and the shadowcats joining in, and how they knocked her out in the middle of the fight.

Applejack cut in there, recounting how Pardus had come to her farm. When she arrived, they tied up the changelings. It wasn't long after that Celestia showed up and the ponies taken down in the fight began to wake up.

"But then, Sombra showed up!" Rainbow spoke up once more. "And everypony thought Trevar was dead when he got stabbed through the barrel by half-a-dozen chrystals shooting up from the ground! But that human had some sort of magic, and he healed himself and immediately took to fighting Sombra! Kicked that unicorn's tail something fierce, too!"

"Not only that, but th' shadowcats got involved, too. And Princess Celestia and Twilight," Applejack added. "Plum near set th' entire orchard on fire, but they packed ol' Sombra off to the sun, last I saw of 'em."

Bon Bon had just this stunned expression on her face at hearing all that.

But at long last, they arrived and the EMTs were quickly mobilized to assist.

"Hey guys," Rainbow spoke up when Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie joined the two pegasi. "I'm heading back to hook up with Twilight. See ya later," she called out before zooming off. And she reached the outskirts of town where Trevar's house was. Fortunately, Princess Celestia was still there, as was Twilight. On the other hoof, Rainbow spotted Gilda coming in, evidently coming in from Canterlot. And she sighted Rainbow at the same moment—suddenly a race was on.

They arrived on the ground at the same time, but Rainbow was sure she touched down a fraction of a second first.

"Princess Celestia!" Gilda blurted out first, however, showing the proper bow before Rainbow caught on and greeted the Princess.

"Princess Celestia," Rainbow quickly said, and then thought to add with a grin, "and Twilight!" The addition had apparently irked the griffon.

"Rainbow Dash and Gilda," Princess Celestia greeted in return.

Hah! She mentioned me, first! Rainbow silently crowed.

"Princess? What's happened here?" Gilda spoke up, ignoring Rainbow's victory. "I saw from Canterlot! There was some sort of—glowing object rising up from here. And—and I think I saw Pardus flying alongside!"

"I'm afraid it's a rather involved story, Gilda," Princess Celestia replied. "The short version, King Sombra attacked while you were away. Trevar and the shadowcats fought him off and contained him inside a blob of lava they made and dropped him into the sun. Trevar's recovering from the fight and Panthera is up there rescuing her brother from where he carried Sombra."

"L-Lor-Lord Trevar was hurt!?" Gilda exclaimed.

"More than hurt!" Rainbow happily blurted out. "He got killed! It was awesome! You should've seen how he fought Sombra after!"

"WHA-A-A-A-AT!? THE CAT-LORD'S DEAD!?" Gilda screamed in shock.

"Don't worry 'bout, it Gilda," Rainbow said dismissively waving a hoof. "He got better."

"HOW does one 'get better' after being killed!?"

"He's got some sorta magic that healed him, okay?" Rainbow yelled back. "Sheesh! You act as though it's the end of the world or somethin'"

"The End of US if the Cat-Lord dies!" Gilda shouted at her.

"Like I said, he got better!" Rainbow shouted back.

"Hey, Gilda! Welcome back!" Trevar called walking out of the house. "You missed quite a bit of fun while you were away."

"Lord Trevar!" Gilda exclaimed. But Rainbow saw Trevar make a face and the griffon quickly reduced her volume. "Sorry. I'm glad you're alright!"

"I'm well, for the most part," Trevar said, nodding to her. "And Rainbow, I do apologize for snapping at you earlier. As I mentioned, going up against Sombra isn't conducive to one's health. It was tons worse than dealing with a room filled with second-hand cigarette smoke. But I am feeling much better now." Even so, he had another coughing fit. "And like you said, winning that fight was rather awesome," he finished grinning, Rainbow grinned back.

"You'd better come along, Gilda," Trevar said to her. "We've got a few matters to discuss.

"Oh, and Princess Celestia?" Trevar said, turning back to address the diarch. "I've just been informed by Panthera and Pardus that Sombra did managed to break out of his tomb, but only at the last moment before the rock impacted into the sun. He was still caught by the splash back. I don't think he'll be bothering us anytime in the future."

"Yes, I did sense the boulder's impact," Celestia replied. "It is good that Sombra didn't escape. Although, I do regret the loss of life."

"Yes. Yes, that's true," Celestia agreed.

Princess Celestia looked up and powered up her horn, and Rainbow was in awe as she watched the sun settle next to the horizon in a matter of seconds.

"Umm—" the Princess started to speak, but apparently changed her mind.

"Something else?" Trevar asked.

"Nothing important. I'll speak of it to Panthera when I next see her," Princess Celestia said, shaking her head.

"Well, it's going to take her and Pardus a while to get back here," he told her. "I can relay your request and you can get the reply right away."

"I—am going to have questions to answer when I get back to Canterlot," Princess Celestia explained. "I was going to ask if her offer to accompany me when I spoke to the reporters was still valid." Trevar grinned.

"She wouldn't have made that offer if she wasn't sincere about it," Trevar replied with a smile. "Of course she'd be willing to speak to them. It's regarding the lousy timekeeping you're doing right now, isn't it?"

"Yes," the Princess said, grumbling.

"Don't worry. She'll be happy to accommodate you," Trevar replied.

"If you are sure?" Princess Celestia confirmed, to which Trevar nodded. "I'll hold the press off until tomorrow morning, then. Would nine o'clock be good?"

"No problem," Trevar assured her before leading Gilda back to the house.

Once they were out of sight, Princess Celestia and Twilight turned to glare at Rainbow Dash, and she blinked back in confusion.

"What!?" Rainbow demanded.

"Princess Celestia!?" Doctor Forceps exclaimed seeing her entering the lobby. "This is unexpected!"

"How are they, Doctor? The ponies brought in from the Everfree?" she asked, getting right to the matter.

"They—they're fine, physically," he stammered his reply. "A little drained, emotionally. Evidently a hoofful have been held several weeks, but so far as we can determine, they should all make a speedy recovery. We—we know very little about the effects of long-term confinement by changelings, however."

"I see. What of the guardsponies?"

"Uh—those in—in the Solar Guard were actually the ones who were held the longest," Doctor Forceps stammered. "Those in your sister's Lunar Guard were only taken a couple nights ago, it seems."

Celestia sighed. It would appear that Queen Chrysalis had learned a thing or two from her previous efforts, she thought. She's becoming quite careful with her infiltrations. If it weren't for Discord evidently disrupting whatever plans she has….

"I would like to see them, if I may," she told him.

"Of—of course, Your Majesty," he replied. "Right this way, please."

As he led her, she surreptitiously cast the changeling detection spell upon him.

"I've done as you instructed," Gustav said, wiping away the tear streaks on the feathers covering his face. "But why so many keys?"

His eyes bugged out when there was a ripple in the air beside the shadowcat and two small wooden cases appeared hovering in midair. They lowered gently to the floor before one case opened by itself with two lids. One panel revealed twenty metal disks packing its volume. The other half was packed with a number of cords with two-pronged plugs on either end.

"Your alphabet somewhat parallels the Equestrian's," Lady Panthera explained to him as she levitated four of the disks pulled from the case into the spindle cavity of the device. "Theirs consist of five hundred and sixty-nine total characters, if you count their upper and lower cases as separate elements, and add in their numbers, frequent punctuation marks and a number of common special symbols. You, however, have no difference in your letter cases, so you've only got a total of three hundred and nine. I chose to keep it simple and shaved off just a few of the very rarely used characters to just three hundred even with which you can use to encrypt your messages."

"There's a little history on my world about this device," the Cat-Lord told him. "Back several decades before I was born, there were a trio of fairly small nations that joined up and went to war with pretty much the rest of the entire planet. Believe it or not, they almost won. And they did so with the help of a device much like this. But the one they used only had twenty-six single-case letters and yet no numbers, punctuation marks, or special symbols. Indeed, one of those three nations, the device wasn't even made with their native language in mind. Yet all three nations managed to do a hell of a lot of damage before they were finally defeated."

Gustav's eyes went wide in shock even as he felt the strain to his irises.

"Understand," the Catl-Lord sternly told him. "This is no toy!"

"I—I see," Gustav replied, nervously gulping.

"So, before we proceed, please show us how you make a normal, typical telegram," Trevar said. "How would you put together a message saying that I asked you to declare war with Equestria and that you attack at dawn?"

"Eeep!" Gustav squeaked.

"Don't worry," the Cat-Lord said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "We're not really going to war. We just want to see the normal telegram format. There's a very good purpose for going through this. Trust me," he said with a smile.

"O—okay—?" Gustav nervously replied before pulling out a parchment to begin writing.

"Okay. Looks good, if I'm reading this correctly," Panthera said after looking at it. "Now, if you please, write another message saying that I have instructed you to declare peace with Equestria right below it."

"I—I don't understand," Gustav said.

"It's just to teach you about a little problem that tends to pop up with whatever encryption system are used," Trevar assured him. "Just humor her and make the telegram."

When the griffon ambassador was finished, he handed the parchment over to them.

"Hmm, just as I thought," Panthera muttered as she looked the messages over. Her eyes lit up and shot several beams out, changing several lines of the black ink text to different colors.

ተ ወ ፤ ‡ ኖ ኺ ኯ ዀ ገ ኀ አ ተ ቂ ኀ ‡ ‡
ኾ ኺ ገ ነ ፤ ‡ ሴ ነ ꬁ ፐ ኡ ሁ ‡ ሙ ፐ ኀ ተ ቓ ኈ ገ ተ ‡ ‡
ኺ በ ኖ ፔ ሃ ኯ ኅ ፤ ቴ ጙ ‡ ቴ ኯ ꬮ ‡ በ ሞ ቶ ሴ አ ተ ኺ ሆ ቒ ‡ ‡ ‡
ቒ ቱ ሴ ኀ ሏ ꬌ ኀ ፤ ‡ ሴ ነ ኸ ቓ ቘ ‡ ተ ፉ ኈ ‡ ኾ ስ ꬮ ቓ ‡ ‡ ‡
ኸ ቓ ‡ ኯ ኀ አ ተ ኺ ꬋ ሙ ሏ ꬌ ኀ ጳ ‡ ኾ ኺ ገ ነ ‡ ꬭ ቚ ‡ ሙ ፐ ተ ¡ ኈ ጐ ሃ ፣ ‡ ኋ ‡ ꬫ ፑ ꬃ ‡ ሃ በ ሙ ኈ ራ ሃ ‡ ቴ ጙ ‡ ቴ ኯ ꬮ ‡ በ ሞ ቶ ሴ አ ተ ኺ ሆ ቒ ። ‡ ቴ በ ‡ ፐ ቱ ፐ ሟ ‡ ፐ ተ ‡ ሃ ጎ ኀ ። ‡ ‡ ‡
ኖ ሐ አ ተ ፐ ꬃ ‡ ‡ ‡
֍ ֎ ֍ ֎

ተ ወ ፤ ‡ ኖ ኺ ኯ ዀ ገ ኀ አ ተ ቂ ኀ ‡ ‡
ኾ ኺ ገ ነ ፤ ‡ ሴ ነ ꬁ ፐ ኡ ሁ ‡ ሙ ፐ ኀ ተ ቓ ኈ ገ ተ ‡ ‡
ኺ በ ኖ ፔ ሃ ኯ ኅ ፤ ኸ ቡ ኦ ‡ ቴ ኯ ꬮ ‡ በ ሞ ቶ ሴ አ ተ ኺ ሆ ቒ ‡ ‡ ‡
ቒ ቱ ሴ ኀ ሏ ꬌ ኀ ፤ ‡ ሴ ነ ኸ ቓ ቘ ‡ ተ ፉ ኈ ‡ ኾ ስ ꬮ ቓ ‡ ‡ ‡
ኸ ቓ ‡ ኯ ኀ አ ተ ኺ ꬋ ሙ ሏ ꬌ ኀ ‡ ኾ ኺ ገ ነ ‡ ኸ ፐ ኀ ꬮ ቓ ቒ ፣ ‡ ኋ ‡ ꬫ ፑ ꬃ ‡ ሃ በ ሙ ኈ ሬ ሃ ‡ ኸ ቡ ኦ ‡ ቴ ኯ ꬮ ‡ በ ሞ ቶ ሴ አ ተ ኺ ሆ ቒ ። ‡ ቴ በ ‡ ኺ በ አ ዌ ነ ‡ ኀ ጐ ነ ቒ ኈ ‡ ኺ በ ኈ ፈ ሏ ꬌ ኀ ጳ ‡ ኯ ኑ በ ሃ ሆ ቒ ተ ኈ ሁ ። ‡ ‡ ‡
ኖ ሐ አ ተ ፐ ꬃ ‡ ‡ ‡
֍ ֎ ֍ ֎

"So, Gustav," Trevar began, "if this is your normal telegram format, then it doesn't matter what sort of encryption you use, these characters all in reddish-orange are characters the ponies can read with extremely high assurance. And these that are pink, while they might change at some point, just by knowing who's sending it, they can make a pretty damned good guess at what those are supposed to be, as well. Only the black text will give them any trouble, but with this much of the message always giving your adversaries an insight into the keys for your encryption, anyone with a decent calculator could break your codes in a few weeks or months." The Cat-Lord and shadowcat looked at each other with smirks on their faces before Lord Trevar continued.

"Actually, Trevar can't read any of this," Panthera told Gustav. "But I can. And for anyone, just knowing what these characters will be with high assurance, it gives them a tremendous leg up on whatever encryption method you end up using."

"These are the sorts of things that caused those three nations to finally lose the war," Trevar explained, "because their enemies were eventually able to break all their codes and the leaders of those three nations never knew it. Hell, there were days their enemies were reading the messages before the intended recipients could."

This is going to be a long night! Gustav thought with a sigh.

"So what can be done?" Gustav asked dejectedly. "I'm certain the Princesses are reading all the messages between here and Griffonstone right now. If what you say is true, this device will only delay their breaking the codes by a matter of days at best."

"Quite so," Panthera acknowledged. "Which is why we will teach you a couple things that will help you block them. One is called padding. The other is called nesting."

Gustav tiled his head at that.

In Griffonstone, far from the palace, was a drinking establishment with the dubious name of "The Drunken Alicorn". Inside, the usual clientele nursed their drinks, trying to drown out their various sorrows.

Sharp Beak was having an exceptionally bad time of things. He and his mate had been trying to have children for several years. Every clutch laid were barren, except for this last clutch. However, as the expected day of hatching arrived, Snow Claw felt something was off about the pair of eggs. Rushing them to the doctor, they were confronted by the news that both chicks had expired in the shell.

The couple was devastated, and too much in shock to say anything to each other as they walked back home. And what should have been a moment to mourn and comfort each other for their loss, instead became a shouting match of accusations and recriminations. Words that should never have been spoken were said, until a final yelled statement brought them both to a sudden stunned silence.

Their marriage was now coming to an end.

And so, Sharp Beak was in the Drunken Alicorn, hoping that some of the drinks they served could help ease the pain of losing both his mate and their young.

"Hey, Sharp Beak! What's a stuck-up pigeon like you doing drinking here amongst the soaring eagles?" the large regular patron roughly nudged him while loudly shouting to attract the attention of everygriff in the bar.

"Lay off, smartass!" Sharp Beak growled as he shifted back into his chair. "Not in the mood for your squit."

"Oooh, did I hurt the widdle birdie's fweewings?" Smaragos teased as two more of the Alicorn's regulars got up from their table to join the larger griffon. Friends of Smaragos and known to Sharp Beak: Phorcys and his mate, Eurynome.

"You look like you're doing more than your usual pony milk tonight," Smaragos continued. "What happened? Forget how many you were supposed to drink before flying back to the coop? Or did the missus kick you out of the nest because you're crowding her eggs?"

Smaragos belatedly jumped back from Sharp Beak's swing at his chest, even though the smaller griffon clearly had no real intention of connecting. But the speed and lack of telegraphing his strike took the three by surprise. The rowdies suddenly realized they might have a real fight on their claws tonight. In the past, Sharp Beak had numerous run-ins with them. While well smaller than Smaragos and not much smaller than Phorcys, Sharp Beak was fast, fast enough to match the three ganging up on him. Their encounters usually resulted in Sharp Beak giving nearly as much as he took.

And Sharp Beak was obviously pissed. It usually took at least an hour of harassment for him to retaliate like this. There was definitely going to be blood flowing tonight. That suited the three rowdies just fine. Sharp Beak was obviously drunk, too, which would work to their advantage.

"Definitely nesting problems, Smaragos," Phorcys chirped up. "Probably hatching right now and Snow Claw don't want a third chick in the nest."

"Maybe she doesn't want Sharp Beak to see they aren't his," Eurynome piped in.

"I'm betting they're hippogriffs," Smaragos crowed.

"Yeah! Some pony stallion came by and mounted Snow Claw while Sharp Beak was away!" Phorcys sang.

"Oooh! What would that even look like?" Eurynome asked laughing. "A pony front and a griffon rear? We'd have to come up with a whole new word for that! A griffohipp!"

"Do a mating flight with a porcupine, you squits!" Sharp Beak yelled as he struck out at Eurynome, catching her across a shoulder before whipping around to swipe at Phorcys, but missed as the other griffon dodged and swung his claws in response, giving Sharp Beak a shallow cut on his barrel. But Sharp Beak wasn't backing down.

"Our eggs died in the shell!" he yelled, striking at and connecting on Smaragos. But the drink was having an effect on Sharp Beak. Normally, he'd be able to dance away before Smaragos could retaliate. However, the larger griffon managed to catch Sharp Beak and grapple with him, wrestling him to the floor once the other two joined in.

"Well, well, well, well," Smaragos crooned. "So, your eggs failed to hatch? Well, I guess that throws out our theories. They were definitely Sharp Beak's after all! You know what they say, 'substandard griffons can only make substandard eggs'."

"Such a poor little penguin," Phorcys cooed. "And to think, just last week, our three eggs hatched fine healthy griffon chicks. Third time in a row, too." He leaned over to give his mate a kiss as they continued to hold Sharp Beak down. "Smaragos, we'll just have to buy him some drinks to help drown his sorrows."

"Yeah. But not that mare's milk he likes. Time for this ostrich to drink a real drink! Something that will either grow him some new primaries, or knock them all off!"

There was a sudden loud noise and Smaragos was no longer there holding Sharp Beak down. In addition, Phorcys fell heavily beside Sharp Beak as the chair that had taken out the larger griffon had clipped him, too. Eurynome leapt away to face the newest combatant and Sharp Beak had to look around to see who had interfered with their fight.

"You! Filthy! Vultures!" growled a hen he didn't recognize. "Let. Him. Go."

"Who the bronk are you, bitch?" Eurynome screeched.

"Who am I?" the stranger challenged, picking up another nearby chair as she advanced. "Just a griffon who knows what in Tartarus is really going on! Somegriff who knows that if only squits like you are the ones successfully breading while the rest of us are laying dead and deformed chicks, then our species deserves to go extinct!

"Nearly a third of all griffon eggs are stillborn, and over a third of the remainder come out deformed!" she yelled. "And here you mockingbirds make light of his pain!?"

"Why should I care, bitch?" Eurynome demanded, picking up her own chair to fight back with.

"Because I work in the census bureau where we've been tracking these problems for decades!" the stranger hissed, still advancing. "Because one of my chicks hatched last night with no eyes and only one wing! Because I killed her rather than see her grow up to be a total cripple in this society! And because these deformed eggs are being laid by more and more griffons, everywhere, every year! Because, sooner, rather than later, there won't be enough healthy griffons to even keep our species going! Why should you care? Because I'm going to brain you with this fucking chair, bitch, if you and your two chicken hawk friends don't leave right now and take your harpy-squit superiority attitudes with you!"

Smaragos and Phorcys, while having been knocked to the ground, hadn't been knocked out, but were merely stunned by the unexpected attack. They stared at the enraged hen with wide eyes. Going up against a pissed Sharp Beak was one thing, and given his drunken state, likely a calculated win. Going up against a drunken pissed Sharp Beak when he was backed up by an unknown hen who was furiously enraged and had a fairly good throwing arm and several more chairs in reach was quite another!

Wisely, the two males quickly got up, and grabbed Eurynome who finally dropped her chair before they all beat a hasty retreat out the door. Several other griffons also hurriedly left, too.

"Thank you," Sharp Beak said as he gingerly got back to his feet. "But I think you should be going. Telling everygriff you killed one of your chicks isn't going to win you any friends around here."

"I know," she sighed, warily looking around at the few griffons who remained and were watching the two as though they were part of a staged performance. So far, none were showing any hostility. Indeed, more than a few had expressions that might have been described as shamefully sympathetic. "Sorry about your loss," she said before turning to leave.

"Yours, too," Sharp Beak replied to the departing hen.

One those who left the Drunken Alicorn was at that moment winging it home as fast as he could. Podarge was a freelance investigative journalist. Ever since his own failed efforts at having healthy chicks with his first mate, then after their divorce, a second, he had started accumulating a large volume of info on egg and chick mortality as well as the frequent appearances of hatching deformities among the population. Up until now, he had a lot of pieces, but nothing substantial to fit them together.

Only, now, with the hen's announcement, the pieces suddenly and clearly fell into place to paint a horrible picture: the government knew! It's known all along! And as soon as he got home, he'd make sure the word got out. He knew that hen that stepped into that fight. Her name was Adreastea, and she had been a source of unrelated information in the past that had panned out for his reporting, so he trusted her word. She must've been there to drown her sorrows over the killing of her own chick, same as that griffon who was getting beat up by those bullies.

This time, however, the government wasn't going to be able to keep a lid on this story. One advantage of being freelance was he could sell the story to several outlets at once. Even if the government could keep a few from publishing the story, he'd make sure at least one of those not in the Emperor's nest would spread the word! And at the very least, by selling it to multiple newspapers, he'd be rich by tomorrow!

The nightlife in Canterlot had settled down into the quieter subdued activities in deference to the normally diurnal pony population as Celestia walked the streets alone. Now that she was alone, she let her posture slump a bit from today's stresses as she traveled after personally seeing to the return of the Solar and Lunar Guardsponies to their homes.

Sergeant Over was the last to be returned to his NCO quarters where he lived with his Lunar Guard spouse, Corporal Under. Not surprising was the fact the changeling who had impersonating him was gone, since he/it had vanished in Ponyville. What was unexpected was the short exchange between them to which she was privy indicated his spouse had suspected something was wrong for the past couple of months in that when the imposter returned from work, he had faithfully remembered to get the groceries she would ask for in the morning.

Her right front hoof unexpectedly stepped in a pile of slimy and very odorous mush, and she just caught herself before slipping on the offal. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, she removed her gold-shorn hoof to glare at the enormous pile.

How anypony would— her thoughts began, but suddenly stopped. No, this was not droppings from a pony, she realized. This was bovine. And a bovine with an enormous capacity, if this all came from one individual.

"Now that is a nice pile of marital bliss you just stepped in," a very chipper and familiar voice spoke out. Ah. That explains it, she thought sighing.

"Discord, you have to stop this before somepony gets hurt," she said turning her head to glare at the draconequus. "Whatever issues you have with Trevar, they're not sufficient to justify this sort of violent behavior you've shown."

"Not sufficient?" Discord shot back, holding his forelimbs to his chest as though he was imploring her about his heartfelt sincerity. "I'm trying to protect Equestria! But from the outcome, I'd have to say they weren't sufficient enough! Did you not see how he single-handedly handed Sombra his own posterior?"

"Yes, I did!" Celestia said, snarling. "And, Mother-be-thankful, he not only survived that little stunt, but he managed to drive King Sombra off before that monster could do any real damage!"

"You should be careful whom you're labeling the 'monster', Celestia," Discord responded. "You have no idea of just how monstrous Trevar and his two cohorts are! I've tried to warn you—"

"You've done no such thing, Discord!" she shot back. "All you've done is make some veiled claims against him. And when I asked you for specifics about what sort of threat the human was posed to us, you rush off in a huff. Considering Trevar's restrained response to King Sombra trying to killing him, your concerns are looking quite overblown. Furthermore, he knows you're behind that attack!"

"He does!?" Discord inquired, sounding genuinely astonished. "Well, that does put a wrinkle in how I need to approach this problem. He's far more intelligent and dangerous than I expected."

"Discord!" she shouted at him. "Stop this! Sit down and talk your problems out with him! Or at lease explain it to me!"

"I'm sorry, Celestia," Discord sighed. "This mess is way bigger than you can handle."

"Dis—" she began as she tried to take a step forward, only to feel something wrong with her left forelimb. Looking down, she saw to her astonishment that a humongous pile of manure had encased her entire leg up to her shoulder.

"Discord—" she growled. "What is this?"

"That, my dear, is Allec Trever," he told her, pointing to her left front leg. "And those two back there are his two shadowcat companions." It was that moment that she realized her rear legs were each in piles equal to the one in front.

"I'm really getting disappointed in you, Discord," she said with a sigh.

"Well, apologies for that, I'm afraid," he responded. "But I am rather limited with what I've got to work with. Not everypony has as much power as we do." Then he turned his head to glare pointedly to the west, he continued, "Speaking of a pony whose performance that has been rather less than stellar, I have a few words to deliver to a former associate. We'll talk later," he finished before vanishing in his usual flash and bang.

She sighed.

As usual, when he was being difficult, Discord had left his little presents behind. Putting a little more than the usual effort into it, she extricated herself from the mounds of muck before using her magic to make them vanish and then cleaned herself off.

Later that evening after his side trip to the sun, Discord appeared in Twilight's castle.

"Gyaahh!" Spike exclaimed, startled out of his late night pilfering of the refrigerator. "Discord! What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Spike," Discord said, grinning.

"You scared the bajeebers out of me!" the young dragon complained. "Uh—you're not going to tell Twilight about this, are you?"

"My dear Spike," Discord addressed him with a bit of a pout. "Now why would I do anything untoward like that? Especially as I have a desperate need of your help?"

"My help?" Spike asked, astonished. "Uh—aren't you Discord? Master of all things Chaos? The being that can swipe control of the sun and moon from both the princesses without even trying? Make it rain chocolate with a snap of his talon?"

"Lion's paw, actually," Discord absently muttered, snapping his mentioned digits and he and Spike were suddenly seated in lounge chairs floating above the kitchen floor, each with a chocolate sundae to sip from. "Yes, I am. But despite all that I can do, I'm really not all that powerful. Getting good help is one of them, unfortunately. That was brought to my attention today when Somb—uh—somepony I knew reminded me that there are creatures far more powerful and dangerous than even me."

"Like what?" Spike asked astonished, before taking a sip of his sundae through his straw.

Discord had to blink, then glancing about the room, he replied, "Well, Tirek for one."

"Oh, yeah," Spike had to admit.

"Spike, how long have you known Twilght?" Discord began.

"Pw-oh!" Spike exclaimed, startled out of the middle of a sip. "My whole life!"

"And you'd do anything to protect her, wouldn't you?" the draconequus continued. "You'd do anything to save her from a monster, right?"

"Eh?" Spike asked, puzzled where this was going. "Of course I would! Is Twilight in danger?"

"Unfortunately, I have to tell you, yes she is!" Discord seriously said to him. "All of Equestria is in danger, but Twilight and her friends are blind to the thing that threatens you all. And you, Spike, you are the only one that can defeat that monster."

"ME!?"

"Hey, try to keep it down," Discord grumbled. "I'm trying not to wake Celestia up at the moment! I haven't soundproofed this room!"

"What can I do?" Spike demanded at a substantially reduced volume.

"What, indeed?" Discord quietly muttered.

"Huh?"

"I mean, what, indeed, can anypony do when their loved ones are endangered?" Discord quickly spoke up. "What of Twilight? And what of Rarity? When they don't know the danger that looms so close to them? What can anypony do at a time like this?"

"So, what danger are we speaking of?" Spike demanded.

"Oh, somepony that nopony even suspects, right now," Discord quietly said as he suddenly looped about the still seated Spike. "Who, indeed, everypony thinks as a hero at this moment, but is hiding his real intentions by quietly stirring up forces nopony suspects."

"I still don't know who we're talking about," Spike grumbled. Discord vanished for a moment.

"Tell me, Spike," Discord demanded, reappearing ramrod straight and nose-to-nose with him, "right now, who is the most dangerous creature you know? Who is the most powerful?"

"Most powerful?" Spike asked, trying to puzzle it out. "To be honest, I would have to say you."

"As flattering as it may be for you to think so," the draconequus said, "I have to decline the compliment."

"Well, you had mentioned Tirek," Spike admitted. "But he was only able to take all of your power after he had taken the magic from nearly all the ponies of Equestria."

"And yet, I doubt even Tirek would be able to do anything against this threat," Discord warned. "Tell me, then. Who else do you know that could be nearly as powerful. More than any of the princesses?"

"Well, there's Queen Chrysalis," Spike said, recalling Cadance and Shining Armor's wedding. "And as I recall from reading the history of Equestria, it took both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to bring down King Sombra."

"Ahhh, yes," Discord sing-songed. "King Sombra. I'd almost forgot about him."

"Yeah," Spike agreed. "Speaking of which, I heard he came around today and …."

"And yet, somepony, or rather I should say, someone, or even better, something calmly walked up to King Sombra, completely naked, mind you, and just proceeded to stomp the ever living shit out of King Sombra's butt. All. By. Him. Self. Now, who could that have possibly have been, I wonder? You wouldn't have any idea, would you?"

"…" Spike expressed, staring at Discord as the implications sunk in. "Trevar?"

DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING!

"WE HAVE A WINNER!" Ed McMahon's amplified voice shouted out.

The kitchen exploded in confetti and flashing multicolored lights lit up the chamber while a studio audience's applause sounded around Spike. It was a display as impressive as any Pinkie Pie had thrown, only for it being Discord, who could easily match anything she could do because he was the Embodiment of Chaos.

"Wait! Trevar is the danger you want me to protect everypony from?" Spike exclaimed.

"I knew you had it in you, my boy," Discord told him as the draconequus reclined in his newly returned lounge chair and finished off his sundae.

"But—but—Trevar saved everypony today!"

"As I told you," Discord began, but then suddenly stopped with a look of astonishment on his face before it slowly morphed into a sly expression before continuing, " Trevar's a very clever pony!"

"Really, Discord!" Spike admonished. "How can I justify attacking Trevar when he's done so much for ponykind?"

"Well, you can wait until he does something to bring harm to Equestria," Discord said, holding up an empty set of scales that was increasingly being weighed down on one side as he spoke. "But by then, it will be too late to save any of your friends: Twilight, Celestia, Rarity…" he said as the weighted scales titled to the point where it fell apart. "Or you can take action while there's still time."

"But for me to just attack the human like that?" Spike protested. "Out of the blue?"

"Yes," Discord sighed. "Well, I can see where that's a hard choice, isn't it? But then, we wouldn't want Twilight to hear about your midnight raiding of the fridge, now would we?"

"Now, that's hitting below the belt, Discord!" Spike grumbled.

"So, you'll do it?" Discord happily asked.

"Grrrr—I—I'll think about it," Spike growled.

"Excellent!" Discord shouted as he snapped his lion's paw and the kitchen returned to normal with his disappearance. Except that Spike was still in the lounge chair floating up near the ceiling.

At that moment, the door opened and Twilight poked her head in, lighting the room with her magic.

"Spike? I thought I heard something," she called out, looking about.

Spike wisely kept quiet as he hovered over the preparation table with the racked pots and pans while Twilight stepped in to look about.

Evidently not finding anything out of the ordinary, she shrugged her wings and left, never having looked up.

Spike sighed in relief. Then seeing where he was in relation to the chamber's arrangement, he braced himself and jumped down, quietly landing on a countertop before jumping on down to the floor and left the kitchen.

He had just reached the stairs to go up to his and Twilight's rooms when the booming sound of something crashing through hundreds of metal objects came from the kitchen.

Spike wisely ran up the stairs as though the entire population of Tartarus had broken free at that moment (because that was what it sounded like). Fortunately, when Twilight teleported back to the hallway at the base of the stairs and rushed for the kitchen, Spike was already behind her and she never saw him.

Applejack bitterly snapped off the last of the small branches before it was time for Big Mack to apply the ax.

She knew she had accepted Panthera's apology for the damage to the orchard, knew it was wrong to hold resentment about it against them, but the reality of the blight was hitting her hard. The whole family was out here working on cleaning up before the sun rose, and she could tell in their eyes, it was as painful for them as it was for her to see so many of their beautiful trees dead and dying, and this was the third tree to get chopped down. Dozens more would be need to be cleared….

"Hold up with that ax," a voice suddenly called out from the dark. The four of them looked toward the road to see Pardus approach.

"You feelin' better young'n?" Granny Smith greeted the shadowcat.

"There is still considerable pain," the winged panther replied with a shrug of his wings. "But at least the crystal growths have healed. There are other parts, however, that are still yet to mend, if they ever will."

"Why're you not wantin' us ta chop it down?" Applejack demanded.

"Chopping it so high will waste too much of the wood," he replied, setting his head close to the ground as his eyes suddenly began to glow. Mindful of what that indicated, she jumped back.

"Look out, Big Mack!" Applejack screamed, as green beams shot out from the panther's eyes to slice through the base of the trunk barely inches from the ground. In seconds, the beam had cut clean across the entire two feet wide tree trunk.

"No need to yell," Pardus quietly said when he finished before pouncing across the distance from where he had crouched to strike the upper third of the tree trunk, causing it to start toppling over. But before it could fall, the shadowcat dropped to grab the tree with his paws.

"He was not my target," the winged panther continued as he and the tree trunk lifted into the air. Applejack noted he barely used his wings to fly, however. The panther carried the trunk over to where they had laid the other two trees felled earlier this morning.

"Well, ya danged fool!" Applejack angrily yelled at him. "How're we supposed ta get the stump up? Ya cut him too short!"

"Not a problem," the winged panther calmly replied, hovering in the air as his eyes continued to hold its green glow. "And for any of those who might panic, I suggest you step away."

Green fire once more poured from his eyes as he circled the area about where the tree had stood, this time cutting a circle into the ground centered on the stump as he flew. Once finished with that, the beams cut off and the panther flew down to the stump and punched his paws into the ground on either side.

Then, to everypony's stunned amazement, he lifted the entire ground that he had cut, a huge conical chunk of earth. He got several yards up, where it looked like he hurt himself for a moment when he and the ground plug suddenly dropped, except for a mighty grunt from the shadowcat when he shot back up into the air, along with the stump he was holding. But most of the dirt got yanked off and fell neatly back into the hole he had cut into the ground. A couple more jerks, and more of the dirt fell away from the roots. Once he was done with that, he bought the mostly clean stump over to the felled trees and gently set it down.

"I'll get the other two stumps while you prep the next tree for take down," he calmly said landing among them.

"Ah reckon ya'll did enough damage already!" Applejack yelled.

"Applejack?" Granny Smith inquired.

The shadowcat merely tilted his head at her.

"Is there a problem?" he asked.

"Yes, there is!" Applejack grumbled. "Ya burn down our orchard then come in here with yer high falutin' magic an' think ya can take ovah th' work ta clean up!"

"I'm merely performing the work promised to you yesterday by Panthera," Pardus said. "As she's currently with Trevar in Canterlot and cannot be here, I'm taking her place. Beyond that, I'm usurping no one. But I am skilled at organizing, and am providing an improved efficiency to the recovery effort. Even if these trees can no longer produce fruit, even in death, they will still serve a productive purpose.

"Applewood furniture is highly prized," Pardus continued. "Cutting closer to the ground as I did preserves more of the wood. Even the branches can be used to preserve foods by smoking, although more of that use benefits carnivores rather than herbivores, a fair number of vegetarian recipes do call for smoking."

"Quite so, whippersnapper," Granny Smith agreed. "Ya got a good head on yer shoulders."

"We Apples know how to do things without yer destructive magic," Applejack countered, trying to salvage an argument already knew she was losing if her granny was agreeing with this monster.

"I see," the shadowcat responded, still giving her a deadpan expression. "Do me a favor, will you? Please extend your hoof."

Puzzled, Applejack did so. The moment her foreleg was out, the panther's claws swiped across her limb too fast for her to react.

"WHADYADOTHAFER!?" Applejack screamed, yanking her foreleg back and bracing for a fight. The others in her family tensed, as well.

"Did that hurt?" the shadowcat monster politely asked.

"Of course it did, ya idjit!"

"Interesting," Pardus said, still staring at her. After a few moments, he got up and walked over to Big Mack.

"I'm curious about something," the shadowcat told him. "May I do the same to you?"

"Why?" Big Mack asked.

"Something about this picture just isn't right," the winged panther said. "To find out the error, I request your cooperation. I promise it won't hurt."

"Get away from 'im, Big Mack!" Applejack shouted. However, her brother lifted his foreleg, and sure enough, the panther's claws sliced at his foreleg.

"Did that hurt?" the shadowcat inquired.

"Enyope."

"Now that makes sense," the creature said, walking over to Granny Smith.

"So, ya reckoned ta do th' same ta me?" Granny said to him with considerable steel in her voice.

"Do you trust me?" the black panther asked her.

"Granny! No!" Applejack shouted.

"Ah reckon Ah do," she said raiser her withered foreleg. Without hesitation, Pardus' claws sliced her, too.

"Did that hurt?"

"Heh! Such a big 'n powerful shadowcat yer supposed ta be? Ya call tha' a scratch?" Granny Smith challenged with contempt.

"No," he replied flatly. "I don't." And his statement actually seemed to impress Granny Smith for some reason. Then he began walking toward Applebloom.

That was too much!

"Is—is this some sorta initiation?" Applebloom nervously asked. "Will it help me git mah cutie mark?"

"Ya ain't touchin' her!" Applejack shouted, having rushed over and planted herself between the monster and her little sister.

"Tell me, Applejack," Pardus inquired without expression. "Do those scratches still hurt?"

"Of course they do!"

"Intriguing. You don't seem to be the thin-skinned type," the panther said, sitting down to stare at her. "The bleeding from the scratches I gave you has already stopped. The bleeding of the cuts I gave Big Mack and Granny Smith have already slowed to nothing. Indeed, the actual amount of blood drawn from the three of you wouldn't combine enough to even form a free falling drop of blood. Furthermore, you are not limping on that foreleg. And yet, you claim it still hurts. Is it because it was me that gave you that wound?"

"Whadya mean?" Applejack angrily demanded.

"I mean, you currently have a wound in your left thigh from a splinter that is still oozing blood, and the splinter is still there. But you don't seem to be bothered by it any more than similar wounds your other family members currently sport, including your little sister."

Applejack was shaken by the shadowcat's observations. She had seen Big Mack get a scratch on his back from moving that second tree they felled, as well as a few bumps from them both knocking off burnt branches. And she knew Granny Smith was doing more than she ought in knocking down the tree branches and twigs. Now that it was brought back to her attention, she did realize she had that sting in her thigh for nearly half-an-hour when they all started working.

"So, the only conclusion as to why the wounds I gave you hurt worse is the source," Pardus told her, still staring deadpan at her. "That would be me. Of course, there are far more grievous wounds I and my sister gave you and your family with the damage out there," he gestured with a wing toward the damaged orchard but never took his eyes off of her.

"That's what's truly hurting, isn't it?"

She nearly flinched. But then a new resolve took hold and she angrily yelled at him.

"What are ya?"

"That is a question only you can answer," Pardus softly said, getting up to put his nose up to hers. "'What am I?'"

Discord held the scroll before Celestia, and she focused on the lower half of the scroll, where Luna had begun her decryption efforts on the text contained in the upper half.

ኖ ዋ ኯ ሐ ኈ ጋ ጊ ሐ ኯ ጵ ኼ ጚ ዎ ሎ ሽ ፕ
ዓ ጵ ዐ ኣ ክ ፒ ꬫ ኊ ሽ ቤ ኍ ኬ ቢ ጊ ፈ ሿ ኞ ኁ ∪ ኳ ኯ ጜ ጉ
ቷ ቧ ሞ ጋ ዀ ጱ ቇ ራ ጌ ኸ ኺ ኯ ኀ ኢ ሴ ኡ ‡ ኢ ሴ ኈ ሴ አ ተ ሆ ቒ Ξ ኺ ኯ
ዀ ኽ ኛ ፀ ጿ ዞ ኃ ቐ ቘ ∀ ጿ ቲ ሊ ፣ ቼ ሻ ፋ ₴ ጸ ጶ ፖ ፒ ዞ ግ ዋ ኳ
ꬨ ꬁ ኹ ጏ ቹ ጐ ኜ ዏ ው ኀ ኰ ꬌ ቹ ፪ ጟ ጎ ኯ ቷ አ ∀ ቴ ꬎ λ ። ዂ ዓ ፎ ፓ ሽ ፬ ቊ ሐ ꬂ ፩ ꬮ ፒ ፈ ሱ ሸ Ξ ∩ ኋ ኮ ሌ ኟ ር ¡ ሟ ብ ኤ ዧ ኩ ጉ ገ ጻ ሲ አ ታ ቃ ኒ ሟ ጱ ዀ ጕ ⊥ ቇ ዅ Π ፎ ቕ ቋ ጹ ኯ ሊ ሁ ፒ ፤ ኀ ጴ ጷ ሏ ꬪ ኡ ኺ ኯ ጽ ዏ ቹ ፦ ፇ ቺ ኾ ጴ ሃ ኧ ሏ ኘ ፅ ዟ ኸ የ ሩ ሳ ኀ ሶ ሴ ꬆ እ ዯ ፫ ቹ ዟ ❧ ꬁ ? ⊥ ሊ ታ ታ ኈ ኍ ኖ ኣ ኈ ፨ ቖ ። ኌ ዯ ኪ ጲ ዊ ቄ ፔ ቖ ჻ ፰ ሙ ሱ ኾ ጏ ኢ ቹ ፩ ቴ ‡ ኈ ኸ ꬎ ኈ ሐ ኀ ቒ ‡ ኯ ጳ ‡ ꬁ ሴ አ ተ ‡ ኸ ኺ ኯ ኀ ኢ ሴ ኡ ዋ ꬬ የ ሆ ሪ ┊ ች ቡ ኄ ሚ ዉ ኂ ኗ ጔ ꬪ ዓ ኆ Σ ፐ ፫ ታ ኂ ም ኼ ሴ ኡ ዋ ꬬ የ ሆ ሪ ┊ ች ቡ ኄ ሚ ዉ ኂ ኗ ጔ ꬪ ዓ ኆ Σ ፐ ፫ ታ ኂ ም ኼ ዄ ብ ጐ ኖ ❦ ኈ ወ λ ፖ ች ኜ ግ ¡ ቘ ኜ ስ ጿ ኙ ቊ ጸ ☼ ው ሉ ፮ ሾ በ ፄ ☼ ጳ λ ፉ ꬅ ቌ ፈ ቄ ጛ ቈ ሾ ዖ ጰ ∧ ፙ ዕ ቑ ∧ ኀ ጿ ሀ ቒ ፁ ስ Π Π ሟ ሲ ዓ ჻ ❧ ች ꬁ ጺ ꬫ ֍ ጼ ኂ ኽ ኜ ኽ ሙ ቄ ሰ ሽ ❦ ቛ ኰ ቁ ኘ ከ ፒ ቴ ኌ ዟ ኀ ራ ዒ ጕ ч ∧ ፥ ቱ ϟ ሚ ዃ ሎ ኴ ∩ ዎ ሊ ꬫ ሐ ፃ ጌ ወ ፥ ን ሇ ϟ ጴ ቸ ꬬ ረ ሿ ፩ ሁ ሬ ዑ ረ ጏ ዑ ር ሼ ፠ ቲ ¡ ꬄ ፔ ֎ ቾ Σ ኑ ፊ ፑ ጶ ሎ ል ሜ ፰ ፚ ¿ ጻ ኲ ꬫ ቌ ሺ ኄ ዟ ሮ መ ¿ ጲ ታ ሃ ቕ ች ዎ ፭ ፨ ዏ ዒ ጛ ገ ሎ ኟ ጵ ሾ ቇ ዧ ፏ ዞ ላ ኟ በ ኩ ። ኾ በ ሇ ፅ ሌ ዟ ዋ ጊ ኒ ቄ ነ ኘ ❧ ፁ ሺ ፑ ቐ ¿ ኻ ኚ ሞ ኩ ፏ ኋ ꬎ ሰ ቸ ዑ እ ዓ ፓ ዐ ֍ Σ ጱ ꬩ ዔ ነ ፭ ዉ ፬ ወ ቖ ቱ ቱ ጱ ቻ ሎ ኜ ጙ ። ቕ ሸ ቚ ኍ ፓ ፩ ┊ ኀ ከ ጶ ኀ ꬨ ቂ ቷ ሻ ጷ ሞ ጔ ꬍ ና ჻ ሪ ꬅ ፆ ቔ ህ ፄ ሐ ꬭ ፒ ወ ፖ Π ቌ ም ፰ ቂ ህ ❧ ም ሐ ቔ ሎ ኃ የ ቶ ኦ ቝ ህ ሹ ∧ ቛ ኾ ኘ ኅ ቴ ኒ ኽ ሌ ኃ ኸ ኦ ሬ የ ኙ ሰ ፐ ዅ ቈ ል ኩ ሷ ዂ ኻ ዂ ꬫ መ ፯ ሚ ቶ ፀ ኼ ፀ ቍ ቐ ች ኘ ❧ ጞ ቕ ፅ ዄ ሉ ኞ ኚ ሽ ሙ ለ ኋ ጙ ጲ ዯ ት ኇ ቃ ጹ ፠ ጲ ጳ ጵ ጺ ፓ ጲ ሿ ኊ ሾ ጽ ሉ ሎ ፏ ሜ ኙ ፥ ጼ ꬄ ቡ ሳ ኖ ኩ ፊ ፃ ፓ ኒ ቈ መ ч ቻ ሙ ኻ ች ቊ ኝ ፆ ዄ ቴ ቢ ¿ ሪ ჻ ጓ ኽ ሄ ሞ ዅ ϟ ዐ ኇ ፈ ፄ ኟ ቐ ꬭ ፅ ቍ ፏ ሰ ኛ ኍ ፌ ሀ ዅ ኯ ለ ቀ ጼ ዑ ሁ ꬅ ጒ ꬄ ሶ ዉ Σ ዉ ሶ ቷ ኈ ፪ ም ጙ ꬍ ጐ ግ ፗ ሬ ዋ ኝ ቼ ሜ ዅ ጞ ኈ ጒ ኣ ሺ ቹ ቜ ል ፕ ቾ ኸ ጳ ቓ ኼ ሐ ꬉ ϟ ጉ ዅ ከ ቌ ቃ ኚ ኸ ኽ ኮ ቤ ኌ ቓ ፯ ጌ ሎ ֎ ፮ ኲ ፄ ሚ ፄ ቿ ∧ ራ ጽ ቜ ጎ ላ ꬬ ፇ ኅ ታ ቼ ኚ ፓ ∩ ለ ኩ ኸ ❧ ፃ ጱ ፨ ቸ እ ገ ቾ ቲ ኀ ዅ ч ጟ ሿ ፏ ፐ ዅ ኃ Ξ Σ ፎ ቧ ቲ ፄ ን ቓ ሉ λ ቌ ꬍ ኲ ታ ჻ ኁ ኖ ፑ ሿ ቻ ች ጹ ኡ ፋ ኃ ❦ ዓ ቢ ቇ ቐ ፦ ው ፙ ቂ ፧ ሮ Σ ፈ ጚ ሚ ቄ ፮ ቿ ኆ በ ‡ ቍ ቘ ዌ ዌ ኼ ቧ ሮ ፓ ጽ ኁ ቛ ኾ ፌ ፖ ┊ ፠ ⊥ ∀ ገ ኳ ከ ꬩ አ ኲ ራ ☼ ¡ ከ ❧ ግ ∀ ክ ꬮ ኙ ❦ ፌ ኰ ዌ ዅ ኞ ጐ ሁ ጉ ሪ ር ቲ ቻ ቺ ዀ የ ኳ ዖ ꬎ ጟ ዌ ቲ ቷ ኰ ∪ ወ ኛ ቇ ∠ ፬ ቁ ሇ ❦ ኞ ቡ ቤ ጞ ቧ ሊ የ ፇ ጝ ረ ቝ ፥ ለ ኢ ጎ ጒ ꬬ ꬨ ኘ ጼ ቀ ጟ ኴ ኩ ቡ ¿ ቒ ም ቴ ꬂ ጻ ኟ ኤ ፠ ꬂ ጛ ቢ ሁ ቧ ጳ ፩ ኁ ዐ Ξ ꬆ ጿ ፒ ֍ ፈ ፂ ዐ ꬂ ዓ ቖ ∩ ተ ቛ ꬮ λ ዊ እ ሏ ጾ λ ዉ ዉ λ ꬉ ሲ ኅ ዊ ኈ ኌ ꬅ ቁ ፤ ፦ ት ክ ግ ቚ ኸ ኢ ሰ ጕ ፥ ሞ ፭ ☼ ኌ ጓ ሼ ፄ ጟ ቝ ჻ ዀ ዓ ꬩ ꬁ ረ
ቘ ፕ ፨ ኖ ዉ ሏ ጷ ❦ ና
ፆ Σ ሸ ꬭ

The violet and underlined words immediately caught her eye.

"What is this?" Celestia asked. "I'm ... the subject...? Huh? And ... 'Luna is best princess'...!?" she demanded after reading what Luna had managed to decipher so far.

"I'd say your problems have only just begun!" Discord grumbled before he vanished in a flash of light, leaving the scroll flutter to the ground.

"DISCORD! GET BACK HERE!" Celestia angrily yelled but to no avail.

"It's nay useth, Celie," Luna said. "He's pursuing his own agenda, which f'r better 'r worse, involves getting did rid of the humans."

"No, not the humans," Celestia corrected Luna. "Just Trevar, and his shadowcat friends.

"But t'would appeareth yond thither is cause to beest concern'd about those folk," she continued, hefting the scroll with her magic. "Alloweth's see this enigma thee wast able to buildeth from those instructions."

"To the laypony, t'would at first seemeth to beest a ingraft typewriter," Luna explained as she led her sister back to her quarters. "Mechanically, the keys did press mimic their function up to a point. But beyond yond point, all they doth is cause a plate to rise which lifts four hooks together in the vicinity of an exsufflicate spindle."

"And the wiring?" Celestia inquired.

"Thither forsooth art oddities about yond," Luna told her. "Whenev'r a key is did press, and only after the mechanism doth take yond action I did describe, t'causes a contact to connect one side of a battery to a setteth of connections locat'd within some sort of jack'd plug board. The other side of the battery is did connect to a magical lamp, which eke leads to a different setteth of connections in the same plug board. And from the plug board, all the wires congregate to one end of yond exsufflicate spindle container."

"So whatever it's doing with those signals, it's all happening in that spindle, which we don't have yet?" Celestia asked.

"T'would seem so," Luna agreed as they came to the entrance to Luna's quarters. The night guards opened the doors at their approach, then closed them after they had entered.

"And what is the plug board for?" Celestia asked when Luna unveiled the device she had built.

"I'm not entirely certain," Luna replied. "Aught did insert in the plug sockets breaks the electrical contacts between the spindle cubiculo and the key 'r light, whichev'r the case may beest. I'm not sure wherefore one would wish to, as t'would render yond key 'r light inoperative. F'r maintenance, peradventure? I'm afraid yond without there's few or none will entertain it they're putting into yond spindle cubiculo, we're not going to findeth out."

"And it's not like I can ask them when we meet this morning, either," Celestia said, sighing.

"Come again?" Luna inquired.

"A press meeting, to explain yesterday's movements of the sun as a result of King Sombra's attack," Celestia explained. "I'm surprised you haven't mentioned it as I'm sure the evening edition of Canterlot Times would have covered it."

"I would has't," Luna admitted, "but f'r the disturbing fact of the griffon's encryption so drastically hath changed and at a most precipitous time f'r such."

"Whadya mean?" Applejack demanded.

"I mean, what am I?" Pardus repeated. "To you, what am I? Your honest opinion, please."

"You? Yer a monster!" Applejack growled at him.

"No," Pardus flatly countered, still nose to nose with her. "That's who I am. Not what I am." His statement actually made her blink in surprise.

"Ya admit it?"

"Applejack, we are all monsters," Pardus replied, sitting back on his haunches. "You, me, Trevar, Celestia, Sombra, Discord. Even your granny over there. All of us. Monsters are who we all are. But that is not what we are."

"Th-that's not true at all!" she angrily shouted.

"Is it?" he challenged. "I've had occasion to learn of the history of this nation and this town when we looked at your library. Your Granny Smith, I understand that she was one of the early settlers here. Is that not correct?"

"Yes," Applejack said, fuming at how anypony—anything—would dare call Granny Smith a monster. "It's true."

"She came here, with her kin, and stood against all that the land had here to oppose her," Pardus pointed out. "Timberwolves, manticores, hydras, cragadiles, and who knows what else the Everfree holds? Just chock full of monsters. Is it not?"

"Yes. That's true," Applejack admitted.

"And yet, against all that, after all this time, she and her family—in addition—all you ponies, are still here. And those monsters of the Everfree are not," Pardus said, making his point. "Believe me, being a monster, myself, I know from experience of what I speak: only monsters can beat back monsters and keep them back."

"Ah don't like yer conclusion, but Ah can't rightly argue your point."

"So back to the original issue," he continued. "Monsters are who we are. Not what we are."

"So what is it I'm suppose ta label ya?"

"Just your honest opinion," Pardus calmly repeated. "What am I?"

"Is there a so-called 'right answer' yer lookin' fer?" she said with contempt.

"The only correct answer is the honest one," Pardus replied. He pointed to her foreleg.

"The wound I gave you there, is no more, but no less than those I gave your brother and your granny," Pardus told her. "With my skills, I can ensure a precise cut, to the fraction of a hand in depth and length. Other than who was scratched, the cuts are all identical. When I asked if the cuts I gave them hurt, they responded with 'no'. You, however, said it hurt. Does it still?"

"Well, no," she admitted. Her pain had vanished some time ago as she was baffled by what this was all about.

"Not surprising," Pardus said. "In a couple days, there won't even be a mark. And unless you try really hard to remember this conversation, you'd probably forget it ever happened." Still locking eyes with her, he extended his wing, gesturing toward the orchard. "That, however, is a wound my sister and I gave you that's going to leave quite a scar. That's the wound that truly hurts, isn't it? Even though you had accepted Panthera's apology yesterday, it hurts too much, doesn't it?"

Applejack's eyes fell in shame. It was true. In her heart, she had rejected the apology Panthera had expressed yesterday.

"Because that's no mere scratch," Pardus went on. "That was a cut that drew more than blood. It wounded your entire family, your history, your livelihood. It cut through all your hard work, all the sweat you put into this place, all the years. I can tell some of these trees are nearly as old as she is," Pardus said, shooting a glance at Granny Smith. "Any replacement trees planted here won't reach that level of maturity until Applebloom here is as old as Granny Smith. I know this. And that's why you hurt."

"Yeah, ya got that right!" Applejack shot back.

"So, can you answer? What am I?"

Applejack was still puzzled.

"Ah still don't rightly know what yer talkin' about." Pardus stared at her for several moments.

"If a friend intentionally cuts you, does it hurt worse than if an enemy does it?" he then asked. "If the actual wounds are exactly the same, which one hurts more? What am I? Friend? Or Enemy?"

Now, she finally understood. However, the answer still eluded her. A friend would not intentionally do this sort of thing. But an enemy would not care that he hurt them. Yet, it was clear that Pardus and Panthera did care. He was here to help with the cleanup, standing in for his sister, whom he said could not be here, even as she had promised. It finally made sense what he was asking.

"Yer not a friend," Applejack stated, glaring at him.

"Then you consider me an enemy?"

"No. No, Ah don't," Applejack admitted after thinking about it. "Ah—Ah reckon yer a pon—a panther, who might have been a friend. But the damage you did here was too much! Ya lost our trust in ya."

"Good!" Pardus said nodding, stepping up to move alongside her. "An honest answer at last," he said, draping a wing over her to give her a hug.

"Be aware, Applejack," he added. "The damage here was not our intention. We had no desire to destroy these trees. Circumstances, however, forced us to take the action we did. And if the situation were to repeat itself exactly as it happened yesterday, we would not hesitate to do the same thing again, even knowing the outcome. It would still not be our intention to cause this damage. Crops and orchards can be replaced. Lives, however, cannot. Despite the damage done here, the fix for this is relatively easy. This soil is still good. Anything you plant here will grow well and be productive. But had Sombra won yesterday, the results would not be so easily fixed. And you know this."

"Yeah, yer right," Applejack sadly admitted.

"Good. Now, let's get to work," he said, releasing her. "We don't have much time. I've got to be in Canterlot by nine this morning to again step in for Panthera."

As Granny Smith went back to the farmhouse, the rest of the Apples got busy with trimming back the next couple of trees for takedown while Pardus repeated his trick with ripping the stumps out of the ground. He had just finished the cycle of cutting down the trunk and yanking out the stump of the fifth tree in the field when Twilight and the rest of the girls showed up to lend a hoof for the cleanup. Once they joined in, the work went fast and efficiently.

Tail Feather entered the modest office tucked in a cubby space behind the main ostentatious throne room after his morning meal intending to work sorting the scrolls from the embassies the Empire had scattered about the planet. When he finally broke for breakfast, the couriers had delivered messages from all the nations save for the embassy in Canterlot. Indeed, his waiting for the couriers from Canterlot almost made him late for his meal. It was quite unlike Gustav to not….

His feathers all poofed out when he spied a single scroll sitting on his desk that he knew had been cleared before he had departed!

Cautiously, he approached it. Sniffing revealed a familiar scent: Gustav's. Looking about the room, he confirmed it was empty save for him.

One scroll? he wondered. And the couriers all knew better than to enter this room when he was not there, this locked room, and just leave scrolls lying about without properly delivering them directly to him. Even if he was at his meal, they knew to wait for his return in the throne room!

Curiosity finally won him over and he gingerly poked it with a claw, in case there was an explosive enchantment on it. But nothing untoward happened when he touched it. Finally, he picked it up and opened it.

The writing was in Gustav's talon, that much he could tell. And that was all he could tell from it.

How the squit am I supposed to decode this with just one scroll? he wondered.

"Problem number one!" a voice behind him suddenly spoke out and Tail Feather hissed as he leapt into the air, spinning about to attack, only to find himself hovering in midair without his wings providing lift.

What Tail Feather saw to further astonish him was an inky black winged-feline and some sort of bipedal simian-looing creature leaning in one corner of the room off to the side behind the cat. The tall bipedal creature held what looked to be a small wooden brief case in one of its hands.

"Your messages are easily compromised by the existence of headers which essentially remain the same in every message. The headers all follow the same pattern: first 48 characters, then after a randomly long subject title, the header resumes with another 29 characters. Then after the main body of the message, which may be of any length, but they all conclude with the same identical 16 characters, or 17 if one counts the final period that's actually part of the main body of the message. So, what is the most effective way of solving this problem?" the winged panther asked him.

"Who—who are you!? How dare you come into my chambers!?" he yelled.

"There are several convenient solutions to this issue," the female panther said as she began pacing before him, as though she were giving a lecture in a classroom. "We'll look at one option, the choice of which was determined after considering options to solving other common issues that I'll be listing shortly and deciding on a single solution which best fits all the problems.

Something in Tail Feather's mind tugged at his attention. Something regarding shadowcats, which he had instantly recognized this creature matched the legendary descriptions them. And … something else … something….

"The choice we will look at will be for us to set up a pre-arranged agreement to break up the headers with the introduction of semi-random characters. I stress the term 'semi-random', because they will only appear to be randomly chosen characters. In reality, they will be quite deliberately selected to serve specific purposes. These purposes are to create offset diversions and other obstacles to unintended recipients from decoding the messages, including the illusion of partially found keys. This technique is call 'padding'."

"What do you want!?" Tail Feather demanded.

"In every encryption method," the winged panther continued as though she hadn't been interrupted, "there are a number of keys that are actually used for transcribing a plaintext message into an encrypted transmitted format. Frequent changing of these keys are essential in maintaining communication security. Preferably, the minimum change should be once per day and the selection of these changes should be as random as possible to prevent eves droppers from predicting the pattern.

Something Gustav mentioned….

"This, of course, leads to problem number two: How to coordinate with distant posts as to what encryption settings will be used without giving away the method of such communication to those you're trying to conceal the messages from?"

"WHY ARE YOU HERE!?" Tail Feather screamed.

"As mentioned previously in the solution for problem number one," the cat continued, "we can incorporate this communication within the padded characters used to break up the telegram's header."

"WHERE ARE MY GUARD!!??" he roared.

"Which then leads us to problem number three," she went on with her impromptu lecture, "how to disguise such instructions for the next key when it is essentially plaintext padding material? Naturally, we can encrypt the padding in its own encryption. Another convenient and highly useful solution is to re-encrypt an already encoded and padded message using a different method and key. This second option is called 'nested encryption' and it gives several benefits just by itself.

…something about a couple of shadowcats….

"One of which is, the nesting process becomes an encryption method all its own. The messages can only be decrypted in the precise reverse order in which the nesting occurs. Another benefit is, that should one layer of the nested encryption be successfully decoded, the interceptors will still only get gibberish for their achievement. Still yet another benefit is that additional paddings can be added in one or more layers, throwing off efforts to break through a specific layer. Additionally, decoy plaintext can be introduced as part of such padding which will make the interceptors think they're close to breaking through to the final layer when in fact they're still several layers away.

…and a bipedal simian-like creature who was really the Cat-Lo—

"Not only that, but there's no reason why both cannot be employed, which is what we actually did here," the cat concluded.

"Where did you come from?" Tail Feather demanded growling.

"Haven't you been paying attention to anything I've been telling you?" the panther inquired, nosing up to his beak as she tilted her head at him.

"Who. The. CHALKY. SQUIT. ARE. YOU!?"

The bipedal creature, who had been silently watching grinned and approached Tail Feather. With its free hand, it had the audacity to pet him as it passed to set the small wooden case on his desk. Tail Feather couldn't tell what magic was being used to hold him, but it was sufficient to keep him from moving to bite at the creature's appendage.

"So," the bipe—and it suddenly dawned on Tail Feather just who THIS WAS! "Have you finished building the encryptor from the plans Gustav sent you?" THE CAT-LORD ASKED!

… and … I was just … trying to bite his arm off …. were Tail Feather's last thoughts as he suddenly felt faint.

With all eight of them trimming off the branches of the trees to come down, it looked like they were keeping Pardus busy with the pace of taking down and stacking the trunks, then removing the stumps from the ground. Granted, it seemed like it was the actual catching the trunks and shaking off the clumps of soil from the roots were the parts eating up most of his efforts. His eyebeams slicing through the base of the trunks and the ground seemed to take no time at all. But he obviously moved much slower as he caught the falling trees and moved to stack them with the others.

And it was a steady two-and-a-half hours later that Pardus informed them that it was time for him to head on up to Canterlot, and Twilight estimated they had cleared nearly ninety-five percent of the dead and damaged trees.

"Well, thank ya kindly fer all yer hard work, Pardus," Applejack told him as they all took a break and had some food Granny Smith brought out for everypony. "We'll be able to finish up from here."

"Ya sure ya won't stop ta eat anythin'?" Granny Smith inquired of the shadowcat.

"I'm—late enough as it is," he temporalized as he slowly walked away from the group with her following. "And with my speed compromised from the fight with Sombra, I estimate that if I leave now, I'll just have enough time to get there for the press conference Celestia requested Panthera to attend."

"Ya got a good head on yer shoulders, youngin," Granny Smith whispered to him when they were far enough away she was sure they wouldn't be overheard. "But if'n ya wanna keep it, don't ever do somethin' like that 'gin."

"I'll heed your advice," Pardus quietly responded. "But not because I'm afraid of you. Rather, because the lessons I was teaching Applejack have been learned."

"Just don't ya underestimate me, sonny," she warned.

"Believe me, I am not," he said, looking at her. "Even crippled as I am, you would still find me a most formidable opponent. Furthermore, I am not alone."

"Ye don't look crippled ta me, ya young whippersnapper."

"Are you aware of that blob of molten rock we stuffed Sombra's carcass into yesterday?" Pardus inquired. "That was over three hundred million cubic hands of dirt and soil that my sister ripped up from the road right over there, which I melted."

She looked at him with hard eyes.

"Shadowcats cain't do things like ya described!" she growled. "Ah've fought yer kind b'fore, so's Ah know whacha can do!"

"My sister and I can do that, and more," Pardus countered. "Or at least, I could. Right now, however, I can't even lift that leaf by your hoof. Trust me, there is pain, and my body is working to heal it. This sort of damage has never before been this severe, so I won't know if I'm ever to fully recover, or my overall abilities will be reduced, or if the damage will never heal.

"But I also know that pain is an illusion. Should it come to a fight between us, the pain I'm experiencing can be ignored. And as you've already seen, my eyes still work just fine. I've no doubt you can still handle anything from that forest, so I'm certainly not underestimating you. I, however, am something you've never dealt with before. So, yes, even crippled as I am, you would find me no pushover. Plus, if need be, my sister and Trevar can be here in minutes, and they won't underestimate you either.

"I respect your abilities, even if I've no idea of what you can do. Rest assured, I have no desire to find out by fighting," he added. "But if a fight is to happen, it will be by your aggression, not mine."

"S'long as we understand each other," she whispered, glaring at him.

"I believe we do," he quietly replied before spreading his wings and flying off.

Tail Feather barely managed to pull his mind back to an alert state as he desperately tried to formulate a sufficient apology to beg his forgiveness. But each time he opened his beak, his voice cut off in the middle of a syllable as his brain sought for a yet better word to start speaking. After several minutes of just stammering like a complete imbecile, Tail Feather collapsed where he was being held.

"I'm—I'm so sorry!" he finally gasped out. "Please forgive me, Cat-Lord! I'm so—so sorry! I had—I had no idea—it was you!"

"And that's another thing," the Cat-Lord said, sighing. "What is it about my speaking that sets you cat-birds off like this?"

"Well, you won that bet," the winged panther said, her voice shifting to a smoother feminine timbre that seemed more natural to her form. "He didn't react this entire time with me using your voice, but he only reacts to you. Weird."

"G-Gustav told me about you," Tail Feather finally worked up the nerve to say. "Please forgive me, but I did not believe. I'm so sorry! I should have believe him!"

"Hey! Enough," Trevar said, tapping his beak with a finger, making Tail Feather flinch. "I'm not here to punish you. I'm here to help. However, I'll let you know, I value my privacy very much. But I can't help you if every griffon ends up acting like you are. And if enough of you catbirds get wind of me, it'll get the attention of the Equestrian Princesses, which is more of what I don't need.

"So, for me to help you, I need you to do a few things," Trevar explained. "I've had him send you the plans for the encryptor he just got through building himself, and he's informed me that you have completed your copy here. Since he informed me of your'all's suspicion the Princesses have broken your current encryption—and I have to say, to do that would be quite an impressive accomplishment from what he showed me your encryption system is based upon—so we came to hand-deliver the rest of the device to you along with the first message created using it."

"Oh!" Tail Feather exclaimed. He picked up the scroll he had dropped when the Cat-Lord and the shadowcat surprised him.

ሽ ቧ ሐ ሟ ቖ ፬ ሬ ሶ ዑ ሌ ቢ ሂ ሚ ቔ ጒ ሴ ሸ ኻ ም ር ꬌ ዏ ቍ ꬉ ኜ ቸ ፠ ፚ ጙ ቷ ኖ ጼ ኛ ሂ ኑ ዀ ፭ ፖ ቃ ₴ ቼ ֎ ሻ ꬅ ጔ ∩ ተ ቇ ꬪ ፏ ꬍ Σ ኟ ጐ ቃ ላ ሱ ч ቹ ገ ፁ ቡ ጉ ኽ ዞ ፤ ፭ ꬬ ፫ ጿ ጽ ꬩ ሲ ቿ ኞ ❧ ጛ ⊥ ኰ ፨ ኲ ኯ ቼ ኲ ጲ ቑ ቔ ቆ ኜ ቸ ቲ ቧ ዔ ∠ ኽ ፦ ፐ ከ ቋ ፀ ጱ ጳ ኟ ꬊ ፈ ቚ ኇ ቜ ጱ ቃ ቧ ሂ ጛ ፕ ፤ ጎ ጜ ዞ ፎ ኬ ሲ ት ሹ ጟ ኝ ጌ ኚ ቒ ኑ ጳ ት ቅ ሿ ኋ ኤ ኇ ፋ ኜ ች ኈ ት ኾ ሂ ዖ ጛ ፒ ፕ ∧ ኺ ቚ ꬋ መ ꬋ ꬃ ꬉ ሃ ፕ ጝ ሃ ֎ ኽ ው ኡ ሶ ጝ ኘ ፈ ል ቃ ኆ ቃ ቃ ሼ ቁ ጏ ሆ ቤ ሬ ዏ ¿ ቚ ጎ ፋ ጉ ሸ ዎ ፆ ሀ ቁ ዕ ꬫ ኮ ꬩ ⊥ ኯ ኋ ፤ ጔ ∪ ኤ ∀ ∀ ኘ ፑ ჻ ኹ ፇ ሐ ሜ ዅ ꬋ ህ ꬉ ፎ እ Π ┊ ገ ሇ ቤ ፬ ፍ ረ ቲ λ λ ው ቧ ፀ ሟ ቸ ዄ ꬫ ቊ ቄ ኵ ገ ጋ ጸ ጿ ዔ ꬪ ꬉ ሟ ፩ ጴ ኙ ፩ ኸ ꬃ ፃ ቁ ኋ ֍ ሆ ዔ ꬅ ሐ ሃ ሬ እ ሄ ቧ ቱ ቓ ቹ ሐ ጷ ቢ ኙ ጘ ¡ ። ሄ ኦ ч ቒ ሸ ዄ ስ ዔ ጊ ኰ ቾ ዔ ጿ ኋ ጊ ጳ እ ሚ ┊ ቤ ጱ ካ ሞ ሬ ሽ ꬫ ቡ ኹ ዄ ⊥ ሆ ኋ ዑ ኼ ሱ ት ኝ ኌ ዄ ኂ ሟ ጘ ፋ ኻ ኆ ኹ ገ ሷ ꬂ ም ፍ ፭ ቇ ኤ ꬃ ረ ኟ ፖ ፤ ⊥ ቝ ካ ፒ ቺ ጙ ኋ ቱ ቶ ጻ ጿ ኳ ፑ ሷ ቄ ቱ ፇ ዀ ቅ ሃ ∠ ፫ ኣ ኒ ች ┊ ኲ ቢ ኙ ኵ ቹ ፏ ጟ ሆ ቚ ꬨ ዟ ꬩ ጵ ኞ ዏ ሙ ጸ ሾ ጞ ፁ ሌ ჻ ዂ ጉ ሲ ቶ ጐ ጴ ꬭ ሼ ∀ ጸ ጐ ዟ ካ ❧ ጰ ፂ ተ ጼ ስ ፙ ዐ ጸ ቺ ፩ ። ቤ ቴ ጰ ኰ ኈ ጎ ዑ ጘ ꬃ ስ ∧ የ ቁ የ ቼ ኢ ч ሽ ቴ ን ዓ ፯ ቍ ሀ ኙ ፈ ኮ ች ꬍ ሼ ኳ ህ ለ ኢ ጺ ፏ ሉ ገ ፤ ፩ ኞ ፕ ሶ ጎ ጚ ቇ ሜ ጷ ቺ ። ቚ ፅ ፅ ዋ ቤ ክ ዄ ፮ ና ቺ ቌ ቧ ቅ ኝ ꬪ ቾ ∠ ጓ ϟ ኙ ዕ ኙ ዒ ። ኾ ሏ ቘ መ ፌ ሷ ኡ ካ ስ ፠ ፪ ጷ ጶ ፆ ኴ ጔ ኈ ሹ ሾ የ ፖ ꬬ ቧ ኀ ∪ ቌ ቈ ሜ ሶ ቊ ቈ ፚ ን ጘ እ ቶ ሎ ኚ ጌ ዟ ጚ ቐ ፈ ϟ ሇ ፐ ክ ሼ ፅ ጶ ሶ ዞ ጒ ኧ ኅ ∩ ኙ ቻ ኂ ፌ ኢ ሱ ቤ ኁ ꬊ ኍ ቼ ላ ዧ ሎ ሴ ፥ ጹ አ ቔ ꬊ ꬍ ኮ λ ተ ው ቲ ጞ ኃ ራ ዕ ፊ ሞ ኗ ፧ ቺ ጕ ꬃ λ ቷ ፗ ቐ ዃ የ ና ሪ ሯ λ ? ꬆ ቕ ቓ ቍ ጿ ዋ ቍ ሇ ጴ ኖ ⊥ ሮ ኅ ኊ ህ ኳ ቐ ፥ ጵ ና ሱ ተ ቑ ቾ ፠ ቴ ጕ ኗ ቐ ሀ ሀ ዟ ¡ ቃ ጰ ፥ ሾ ዏ ቈ ዌ ጟ ፣ ֎ ኪ Ξ ቌ ቼ ሄ ч ቺ ፃ ዀ ጎ ሿ ዂ ኇ ጛ ቲ ꬭ ቃ ቴ ꬅ ሊ ላ ፔ ፔ ረ ሰ ኊ ጿ ፉ ֍ ሚ ቺ ዒ ኄ ጴ ዊ ኗ ሊ ꬂ ሽ ኑ ሸ ∧ ኮ ч ꬌ ኙ ፉ ና ኝ ሄ ꬎ ቼ ፎ ጌ ጝ ኪ ፩ ቴ ፋ ቕ ጸ ‡ ገ ቃ ሺ ዅ ። ፆ ፖ ኧ ኴ ፨ ሶ ኧ ኗ ኯ ጲ ቝ ኈ ህ ቧ ኚ ጋ ቑ ሀ ꬅ ፨ ቌ ቅ ቃ ሚ ኦ ቓ ሟ ፭ ꬃ ኹ አ ሩ ሪ ጽ ጞ ቃ ֎ ፮ ኇ ጘ ቇ ቒ ፀ ‡ ገ ፍ ኬ ኋ ሮ ፍ ꬮ ኝ ? ꬮ ፔ ሯ ፓ ፖ ተ ኤ ኧ ֎ ቚ ቔ ጸ ዃ ቐ ሙ ሪ ቃ ኋ ዃ ኃ ꬃ ꬬ ኂ ꬉ ኯ ካ ሄ ቂ ፉ ስ ፈ ል ꬭ ቑ ቈ ኣ ነ ሎ ፬ ኊ ጚ ኢ ጋ ቍ ꬪ ₴ ኽ ቌ ሷ ። ꬩ ዓ ኲ ዯ ቄ ፁ ዊ ፎ Ξ ሞ ቖ ኌ ኑ ꬊ ፐ ሸ ሎ ጝ ኩ ዧ ስ ¿ ኖ ብ ሐ አ ኾ ፠ ሐ λ ኛ ꬅ ቢ ዉ ꬨ ኒ ኁ ┊ ቖ ቢ ቷ ች ለ ኹ ጓ ኃ ሬ ዅ ኻ ኴ ሌ ጝ ኍ ሾ ¿ ¡ ∠ ┊ ዋ ቢ ኸ ጱ ፏ ኙ ፮ ጟ ቝ ታ ዖ ኸ ዋ ር ☼ ሩ ጲ ሮ ል ሺ ጔ ለ ብ ኪ ፒ ❦ ሹ ፧ ነ ꬃ ቑ ዀ ቢ ꬂ ሮ ኑ ፈ ፈ ሜ ካ ኖ ኊ ቶ ፃ ግ ኙ ጾ ꬁ ጌ ሲ ፗ ꬁ ꬄ ኤ ሳ ሲ ፚ ሱ ጰ ፫ ኡ ፙ ∀ ኣ ጔ ፌ ዂ ቝ ፇ ጶ ፐ ፥ ሞ ቊ ው ኄ ፅ ሉ ኄ ጼ ዌ ጟ ዂ ቾ ስ ዎ ጲ ኦ ቐ ሪ ሜ ፓ ኺ ☼ ም አ ሬ ኄ ል ч ፗ ፪ ጓ ኵ ❦ ቴ ሟ ዞ ። ኴ ኊ ꬂ ዅ ֎ ፣ ታ ፬ ሿ ጔ ኯ ጵ ፩ ቝ ቈ እ ፍ ֎ ዃ ፑ ꬩ ተ ገ ቲ ፌ ፬ ጐ ቁ ꬂ ሴ ፀ ሹ ሬ ቑ ዑ መ ፕ ፀ ጛ ቑ Ξ ቴ ቶ ጒ ኊ ዯ ኚ ቱ ቕ

"I—I have no idea where to start," Tail Feather admitted looking at it.

"And that's where I come in," Lady Panthera said. She was just as Gustav had described, and he mentally berated himself for not having put the pieces together while he was held in their magic and him furiously screaming at them. "Allow me to formally introduce us. I'm Panthera. This is Allec Trevar. Please note, I do not call him Cat-Lord, Lord, or any of that other bullshit. We request you don't either. And at some point, you'll probably encounter my twin brother, Pardus. You won't be able to miss him—unless he does this…" she said as her form rippled out of sight.

Tail Feather nervously gulped as he stared wide-eyed at where she wasn't anymore.

"They don't call themselves shadowcats for nothing," the Cat-Lord quipped as Panthera's form rippled back into view off to Tail Feather's side, startling him. He hadn't heard her move!

"I—I see," Tail Feather stammered.

"Gee! I sure hope you didn't!" Lady Panthera exclaimed. "I'm not feeling anything wrong with my cloak!" The Cat-Lord chuckled at her comment.

"Anyhow, Gustav informed us that you're familiar with something very similar to what my people have at home," Trevar spoke up. "Ironically, the griffon here who invented it, Vigenere Bufford, had the same names as two completely unrelated people who invented a functionally identical method back on my world."

"Ah, but we don't use it as the Princesses know of this method all too well," Tail Feather replied.

"Humor me," Trevar said. "Give it a try. The key to use is 'Griffons Rise To Fly', but with no spaces."

"Like this?" Tail Feather asked, when he wrote down the key on the message scroll.

ኖ ኺ ኯ ዀ ገ ኀ አ ኺ ኮ ጳ ተ ወ ኾ ኈ ኌ

"That's correct," Lady Panthera said, nodding.

Tail Feather immediately got to work, but had to stop only a few characters in when what he was getting as a result couldn't possibly be correct.

"Keep going," Lady Panthera told him.

"I—I'm sorry—but this must be wrong," Tail Feather said. "It can't possibly be what I'm supposed to be getting."

"You're doing it right," the shadowcat assured him, looking over his shoulder the whole time.

"If you insist," Tail Feather resignedly said. He continued for a couple more lines of text but he had to stop.

"It can't be correct!" he exclaimed. "This makes no sense!."

"Keep going," Lady Panthera told him. "You're still doing it right."

"'Gu eiu lau houix wrough ough scia yauer xoew sceighaih'?" he asked, nearly breaking his vocal cords trying to say the alien gibberish he read. "What sort of message is THAT supposed to be?"

"You're only just getting started," the Cat-Lord spoke up. "Trust us. There's method our madness. You'll see soon."

"Speaking of madness, it sounds much like something some of Discord's old friends might consider to be poetry, just to drive the listeners stark raving insane!"

"Don't worry," the Cat-Lord assured him. "It'll all make sense by time we're done."

"Good morning, Princess Celestia," Gustav greeted when he was escorted into the dining hall. "I understand you wish to see me?"

"Good morning, Ambassador Gustav," the day diarch said, returning the bow. "I trust everything is well with you and your staff?"

"It is," Gustav replied. "I've had a most productive time lately."

"I'm sure you have," Celestia said with a knowing smile. "New toys to keep your attention, perhaps?"

"Yes, uh—something like that," Gustav responded, obviously suddenly nervous. "But—did you wish to see me about something?"

Yes, Gustav, she thought as she watched the castle staff bring them both their usual favored tea and snacks. I might not know the content of your message yet, but enough little hints that I know you have such a device without spelling it out should make you drop enough crumbs to help me and Lulu figure out what you sent to Tail Feather.

"Of course," Celestia said when the staff departed. "You might be aware of the issue with the sun yesterday. By our mutual agreement, I have asked you here as I had requested Panthera to assist me with the press briefing this morning. I knew you would wish to attend, as well."

"Oh!" Gustav exclaimed in genuine surprise. Then he began to visibly look even more nervous.

"Pardon the interruption and my tardiness," a quiet voice spoke up, and Celestia's ears perked up. The guards in the room also stiffened, and they all reacted as a ripple in the air at one of the empty seats quickly darkened to reveal one of the shadowcats reclining upon the seat. Fortunately, she had previously informed the guards that the shadowcats would likely announce their presence in just such a manner, and the guards did nothing more than come further to an alert posture.

"My sister was unavoidably detained," Pardus said as his visage solidified. "I have, of course, been briefed as to your request, Princess Celestia, and I'm here to assist in whatever capacity I can for your press briefing."

Gustav's sudden relaxing at Pardus' unexpected arrival was intriguing in its own right, Celestia observed.

"You're looking well, Pardus," she greeted him. Well, this will be an interesting dynamic, she considered. Of course, that low level truth spell I have running doesn't work with either of the shadowcats, any more than it does on their human friend. But with Gustav, I might be able to glean some idea of what they've been up to.

"Yes. Looking better? Agreed. Feeling better?" Pardus asked grinning. "Well, I'm still working on that."

"Are you still in pain?" Celestia inquired. "You're not fully healed from your injuries with King Sombra?"

"There still is pain, but nothing that can't be pushed away from my attention," he admitted. "Have you ever had the need for a root canal? It feels much like that, only in other parts of my body. My ability to levitate is still on the fritz and my flying speed is still subpar. Only time will tell if I'll recover any of that. In the meantime, it's just something I'll need to endure."

"You are injured, Lord Pardus!?" Gustav asked, clearly astonished.

"Hmm? Well, I wasn't the only one," Pardus replied. "Trevar was killed outright, although he got better. And nearly a full acre of the Apple family farm got scorched and half of that had to be chopped down and ripped up out of the ground, which is why I'm so late arriving; for that, I apologize, Princess Celestia," he bowed his head to her before turning back to Gustav. "But, yeah, I seemed to have taken the worst of it. Sombra gave me probably the worst case of crystalitus anyone on this planet will likely ever see in their lifetime," upon which, he turned to Celestia to grin, "present company included, if rumors of your lifespan are to be believed."

The shadowcat's nonchalant delivery caught both Celestia and Gustav by surprise, and it was only by her having been there did Celestia not react to the news. For the winged panther to make light of the matter spoke of his humor, and at Gustav's expense, make his stunned reaction quite amusing to watch.

"Yes," Celestia agreed with a sigh. "In any event, the press briefing should be ready to begin. We just need to settle on what will be told to them…."

Tail Feather sighed as he got back to the decoding. His hope rose when he actually recognized the text for Princess Celestia, but it was short lived when the very next word was more of the gibberish he had been getting from his efforts. Sometime later, he deciphered the phrase "Luna is best princess" and he had to blink to confirm the text actually existed, considering the stuff he was getting prior. He had actually gone several characters past that point before he realized it was there. And yet, every pause he took got more imploring from the two visitors for him to continue.

Finally, after an hour, he finished deciphering it, or so the Cat-Lord and shadowcat insisted to tell him. It made absolutely no sense as he looked at it.

ኖ ዋ ኯ ሐ ኈ ጋ ጊ ሐ ኯ ጵ ኼ ጚ ዎ ሎ ሽ ፕ ዓ ጵ ዐ ኣ ክ ፒ ꬫ ኊ ሽ ቤ ኍ ኬ ቢ ጊ ፈ ሿ ኞ ኁ ∪ ኳ ኯ ጜ ጉ ቷ ቧ ሞ ጋ ዀ ጱ ቇ ራ ጌ ኸ ኺ ኯ ኀ ኢ ሴ ኡ ‡ ኢ ሴ ኈ ሴ አ ተ ሆ ቒ Ξ ኺ ኯ ዀ ኽ ኛ ፀ ጿ ዞ ኃ ቐ ቘ ∀ ጿ ቲ ሊ ፣ ቼ ሻ ፋ ₴ ጸ ጶ ፖ ፒ ዞ ግ ዋ ኳ ꬨ ꬁ ኹ ጏ ቹ ጐ ኜ ዏ ው ኀ ኰ ꬌ ቹ ፪ ጟ ጎ ኯ ቷ አ ∀ ቴ ꬎ λ ። ዂ ዓ ፎ ፓ ሽ ፬ ቊ ሐ ꬂ ፩ ꬮ ፒ ፈ ሱ ሸ Ξ ∩ ኋ ኮ ሌ ኟ ር ¡ ሟ ብ ኤ ዧ ኩ ጉ ገ ጻ ሲ አ ታ ቃ ኒ ሟ ጱ ዀ ጕ ⊥ ቇ ዅ Π ፎ ቕ ቋ ጹ ኯ ሊ ሁ ፒ ፤ ኀ ጴ ጷ ሏ ꬪ ኡ ኺ ኯ ጽ ዏ ቹ ፦ ፇ ቺ ኾ ጴ ሃ ኧ ሏ ኘ ፅ ዟ ኸ የ ሩ ሳ ኀ ሶ ሴ ꬆ እ ዯ ፫ ቹ ዟ ❧ ꬁ ? ⊥ ሊ ታ ታ ኈ ኍ ኖ ኣ ኈ ፨ ቖ ። ኌ ዯ ኪ ጲ ዊ ቄ ፔ ቖ ჻ ፰ ሙ ሱ ኾ ጏ ኢ ቹ ፩ ቴ ‡ ኈ ኸ ꬎ ኈ ሐ ኀ ቒ ‡ ኯ ጳ ‡ ꬁ ሴ አ ተ ‡ ኸ ኺ ኯ ኀ ኢ ሴ ኡ ዋ ꬬ የ ሆ ሪ ┊ ች ቡ ኄ ሚ ዉ ኂ ኗ ጔ ꬪ ዓ ኆ Σ ፐ ፫ ታ ኂ ም ኼ ዄ ብ ጐ ኖ ❦ ኈ ወ λ ፖ ች ኜ ግ ¡ ቘ ኜ ስ ጿ ኙ ቊ ጸ ☼ ው ሉ ፮ ሾ በ ፄ ☼ ጳ λ ፉ ꬅ ቌ ፈ ቄ ጛ ቈ ሾ ዖ ጰ ∧ ፙ ዕ ቑ ∧ ኀ ጿ ሀ ቒ ፁ ስ Π Π ሟ ሲ ዓ ჻ ❧ ች ꬁ ጺ ꬫ ֍ ጼ ኂ ኽ ኜ ኽ ሙ ቄ ሰ ሽ ❦ ቛ ኰ ቁ ኘ ከ ፒ ቴ ኌ ዟ ኀ ራ ዒ ጕ ч ∧ ፥ ቱ ϟ ሚ ዃ ሎ ኴ ∩ ዎ ሊ ꬫ ሐ ፃ ጌ ወ ፥ ን ሇ ϟ ጴ ቸ ꬬ ረ ሿ ፩ ሁ ሬ ዑ ረ ጏ ዑ ር ሼ ፠ ቲ ¡ ꬄ ፔ ֎ ቾ Σ ኑ ፊ ፑ ጶ ሎ ል ሜ ፰ ፚ ¿ ጻ ኲ ꬫ ቌ ሺ ኄ ዟ ሮ መ ¿ ጲ ታ ሃ ቕ ች ዎ ፭ ፨ ዏ ዒ ጛ ገ ሎ ኟ ጵ ሾ ቇ ዧ ፏ ዞ ላ ኟ በ ኩ ። ኾ በ ሇ ፅ ሌ ዟ ዋ ጊ ኒ ቄ ነ ኘ ❧ ፁ ሺ ፑ ቐ ¿ ኻ ኚ ሞ ኩ ፏ ኋ ꬎ ሰ ቸ ዑ እ ዓ ፓ ዐ ֍ Σ ጱ ꬩ ዔ ነ ፭ ዉ ፬ ወ ቖ ቱ ቱ ጱ ቻ ሎ ኜ ጙ ። ቕ ሸ ቚ ኍ ፓ ፩ ┊ ኀ ከ ጶ ኀ ꬨ ቂ ቷ ሻ ጷ ሞ ጔ ꬍ ና ჻ ሪ ꬅ ፆ ቔ ህ ፄ ሐ ꬭ ፒ ወ ፖ Π ቌ ም ፰ ቂ ህ ❧ ም ሐ ቔ ሎ ኃ የ ቶ ኦ ቝ ህ ሹ ∧ ቛ ኾ ኘ ኅ ቴ ኒ ኽ ሌ ኃ ኸ ኦ ሬ የ ኙ ሰ ፐ ዅ ቈ ል ኩ ሷ ዂ ኻ ዂ ꬫ መ ፯ ሚ ቶ ፀ ኼ ፀ ቍ ቐ ች ኘ ❧ ጞ ቕ ፅ ዄ ሉ ኞ ኚ ሽ ሙ ለ ኋ ጙ ጲ ዯ ት ኇ ቃ ጹ ፠ ጲ ጳ ጵ ጺ ፓ ጲ ሿ ኊ ሾ ጽ ሉ ሎ ፏ ሜ ኙ ፥ ጼ ꬄ ቡ ሳ ኖ ኩ ፊ ፃ ፓ ኒ ቈ መ ч ቻ ሙ ኻ ች ቊ ኝ ፆ ዄ ቴ ቢ ¿ ሪ ჻ ጓ ኽ ሄ ሞ ዅ ϟ ዐ ኇ ፈ ፄ ኟ ቐ ꬭ ፅ ቍ ፏ ሰ ኛ ኍ ፌ ሀ ዅ ኯ ለ ቀ ጼ ዑ ሁ ꬅ ጒ ꬄ ሶ ዉ Σ ዉ ሶ ቷ ኈ ፪ ም ጙ ꬍ ጐ ግ ፗ ሬ ዋ ኝ ቼ ሜ ዅ ጞ ኈ ጒ ኣ ሺ ቹ ቜ ል ፕ ቾ ኸ ጳ ቓ ኼ ሐ ꬉ ϟ ጉ ዅ ከ ቌ ቃ ኚ ኸ ኽ ኮ ቤ ኌ ቓ ፯ ጌ ሎ ֎ ፮ ኲ ፄ ሚ ፄ ቿ ∧ ራ ጽ ቜ ጎ ላ ꬬ ፇ ኅ ታ ቼ ኚ ፓ ∩ ለ ኩ ኸ ❧ ፃ ጱ ፨ ቸ እ ገ ቾ ቲ ኀ ዅ ч ጟ ሿ ፏ ፐ ዅ ኃ Ξ Σ ፎ ቧ ቲ ፄ ን ቓ ሉ λ ቌ ꬍ ኲ ታ ჻ ኁ ኖ ፑ ሿ ቻ ች ጹ ኡ ፋ ኃ ❦ ዓ ቢ ቇ ቐ ፦ ው ፙ ቂ ፧ ሮ Σ ፈ ጚ ሚ ቄ ፮ ቿ ኆ በ ‡ ቍ ቘ ዌ ዌ ኼ ቧ ሮ ፓ ጽ ኁ ቛ ኾ ፌ ፖ ┊ ፠ ⊥ ∀ ገ ኳ ከ ꬩ አ ኲ ራ ☼ ¡ ከ ❧ ግ ∀ ክ ꬮ ኙ ❦ ፌ ኰ ዌ ዅ ኞ ጐ ሁ ጉ ሪ ር ቲ ቻ ቺ ዀ የ ኳ ዖ ꬎ ጟ ዌ ቲ ቷ ኰ ∪ ወ ኛ ቇ ∠ ፬ ቁ ሇ ❦ ኞ ቡ ቤ ጞ ቧ ሊ የ ፇ ጝ ረ ቝ ፥ ለ ኢ ጎ ጒ ꬬ ꬨ ኘ ጼ ቀ ጟ ኴ ኩ ቡ ¿ ቒ ም ቴ ꬂ ጻ ኟ ኤ ፠ ꬂ ጛ ቢ ሁ ቧ ጳ ፩ ኁ ዐ Ξ ꬆ ጿ ፒ ֍ ፈ ፂ ዐ ꬂ ዓ ቖ ∩ ተ ቛ ꬮ λ ዊ እ ሏ ጾ λ ዉ ዉ λ ꬉ ሲ ኅ ዊ ኈ ኌ ꬅ ቁ ፤ ፦ ት ክ ግ ቚ ኸ ኢ ሰ ጕ ፥ ሞ ፭ ☼ ኌ ጓ ሼ ፄ ጟ ቝ ჻ ዀ ዓ ꬩ ꬁ ረ ቘ ፕ ፨ ኖ ዉ ሏ ጷ ❦ ና ፆ Σ ሸ ꬭ

"Now, that that's finally done," the Cat-Lord spoke up, as he opened the case that had been sitting on Tail Feather's desk. "Take the text of the first twenty-one characters, along with the portion between where it says 'Princess Celestia' and 'Luna is best princess'—take all of it out, as well as those phrases you can read, and write them off on another sheet and set it aside. We'll deal with them later. Right now, it's time to give you some lessons on the Enigma."

"The device Gustav had me build? Yes, I have it here," Tail Feather said. He stepped over to one of the tables with a chess game set up on each of the square room's four walls. Reaching beneath the tabled, he pulled out a cardboard box that he opened and revealed it to be holding the object in question. Tail Feather took the device out and set it on top of his desk in the center of the room next to the case that the Cat-Lord had opened. "But what is it we're to do with the stuff I took out if it doesn't belong in the message?"

"Apologies that you didn't get the lessons we provided Gustav on how to best construct secure messages," the Cat-Lord said as he fished out five disks from the case. One by one on four of the disks, he began flicking out a number of nibs on the sides of them. As he completed that for each disk, he set it into an empty spindle slot, lining up each to one of the ratchet hooks that would all shift whenever a key was pressed on the mystery machine. The fifth disk, he left untouched to lie on the desk.

"What we did was run the original message through the Enigma several times while adding a few padding characters in between a couple of runs, and tossed in a VB run here and there," the Cat-Lord explained as he worked. When the spindle chamber was filled, he spun each disk in its own slot until he was satisfied. When Tail Feather looked at them, he saw they spelled out ኈኌ፣‡.

"In addition, we utilized the padding as part of a separate code you guys can use for providing each other on how future messages will be sent," he continued. "It's just as vital in keeping your security will be to frequently change how you create your telegrams, and the padding can help you coordinate those changes. If you can keep anyone from picking up any patterns to exploit, such as typical headers in your telegrams, you can prevent them from easily breaking your encryptions."

"Furthermore, we know anyone trying to break your system will look very closely at the padding material," Lady Panthera added. "If they ever do manage to get through all the layers of a message, it might be possible to figure out the codes being used to communicate between your stations. By encrypting before adding it to the messages, we still make the padding appear like just some totally random garbage tossed in there."

While Tail Feather was puzzling that out, the Cat-Lord busied himself with filling a number of plug slots with cables. When he completed that task, eighteen sets of the jacks were haphazardly connected by the cables.

"So, what you just got through decrypting with the VB system is the output of the third run through the Enigma," the Cat-Lord said when he finished. "It should come as no surprise that all you got was just gibberish. That's the entire point of doing this. Nothing decoded will make any sense until you've completed the entire process of decoding each nested layer and reach the final plain text message."

"Oh, now I understand," Tail Feather said in relief.

"Each time you press a key," Lady Panthera spoke up then and at the same moment, a magically projected illusion appeared before her face. The image that appeared looked like one of the simplified detail drawings from the diagram Gustav had sent him. This one showed the function of pressing a typical key and how the interconnected levers from each key would lift a single plate, which in turn, shifted all four spindle ratchets.

"It shifts the ratchet hooks," she told him. "When that happens, the right-most disk will advance one letter. If there should be a notch set when the disk is turned, it will cause the next disk in line to shift as well, and this gets repeated for as many of the notches that happen to coincide with and connect back to the right-most disk. However, setting any notches on the left-most reflector disk won't do anything, so don't bother with such, even if the instructions might say so. Part of the reason for this is it will give unauthorized decoders problems understanding any additional characters in the padding."

As she spoke, the illusion projected in front of her changed, first to add the disks in the spindle to illustrate the action she described. An additional disk appeared alongside the main part of the illusion to show him what she meant by the notches—they were the nibs that the Cat-lord had been flipping on the side of the disks earlier.

"Each notch can be set independently on each disk so that the order and pattern of the rotors' advancement can be changed," Lady Panthera added. "If you should get one of the notches wrong, the message will cease to decode properly from that point when the rotors get there. And if that happens while you're at one of the deep layers like we are at this moment, you won't have any idea that anything's wrong."

"There are 300 letters and a notch that can be set for each letter on every disk," the Cat-Lord cut in. "In your octal number system, that equates to four-five-four letters per disk, four-five-four notches, and two raised to that power on each disk minus one of getting the settings wrong. With three disks, that becomes two raised to one-six-oh-four in your numbing system minus one chances of setting the notches incorrectly. You only get one chance of getting them all correct!"

"Did you notice the position of the disks that Trevar set them?" Lady Panthera inquired, and Tail Feather nodded.

"Yes. An 'L', a 'Y', a comma, and a space?" he confirmed.

"Good," Panthera said, nodding. "Because now, it is time to leave your octal numbering system behind. Indeed, it is time for Trevar to leave his decimal system behind, too. With this machine, each letter, each symbol, no matter how your language may use them, they are all numbers and nothing but numbers. We all need to now think in a base-300 system, even though the easiest way to verbally describe it is in binary. The irony of this, by the way, is not lost on me or Trevar."

"In fact, I communicate with my friends back home using something much like this," Trevar said, shrugging his shoulders. "Except mine only has a hundred characters per disk. I won't say my system is unbreakable, but I can say that if they ever do try to break it, they're going to have their work cut out for them. This device, however, exceeds the one I'm using by half again as much, and my system uses ten rotors!

"When I get back, I'm actually considering switching to this or even the Equestrian equivalent of this with their nearly 600 characters," he added, grinning. "With the addition of the unfamiliarity with your planet's writings, I'm confident no one on my world will have a snowball's chance in hell of breaking it."

"And the cables in the plugs?" Tail Feather inquired.

"They further complicate matters for anyone trying to break the system," Panther explained as the projected illusion changed to another simplified diagram. "After you press a key, the rotors advance. Only after that happens is the electrical connection made. The signal from the key goes through the plug board. If there's no plug in the jack, it continues as normal to the rotors. It goes through each rotor from right-most to left-most where it gets reflected, and travels a different path back to the right-most disk. From there it goes to through the plug board again, and you'll notice it's a completely different jack, until it finally goes to the output lamp." Her illusion had an animated pulse that traveled the sets of lines in the diagram as she spoke.

"However, if there's a cable plugged into the jacks," she explained as the illusion changed, "the cable redirects the signal from the original path over to what would have been another key's completely different signal path before going to yet another jack set and output lamp."

"Each different setting you make on the Enigma has its own unique affect," the Cat-Lord spoke up. "But they can each be grouped based on their similarities. And those different settings can all be calculated. Once those calculations are done, it's easy to see just how powerful a device such as this is where it comes to encryption.

"As I mentioned before, the notches for each disk can give you two raised to four-five-four in your octal number system. Each rotor position can be set to four-five-four settings. Each disk can be wired in two-point-three-times eight raised to one-two-five-zero combinations! There are three rotors, so that value is cubed. The fourth slot is the reflector, and there are about two-point-five times eight raised to five-two-three possible wiring arrangements for the reflectors. For the plugs, there are two-point-oh-six times eight raised to five-three-three. There are a few other factors, but all told, these all multiply to give this device a potential of one-point-one-three-three times eight raised to five-seven-three-seven! And that's just for one pass through.

"With two nested Enigma runs, that number gets squared," the Cat-Lord continued. "And for three Enigma runs, that number gets cubed! And this is not counting the additional combinations that would arise from doing silly shit like putting a reflector in any of the other three slots during one of the encryption layers just to liven things up for anyone trying to break your codes. Not to mention those other things we're doing like padding and using the Vigenere Bufford cyphers for additional encryption layers."

Tail Feather's mind boggled at those numbers. It was inconceivable that anything could have that many potential combinations. It exceeded the theorized number of atoms in the universe by several orders of magnitude he still was having trouble imagining it.

"But before we have you actually start playing with the Enigma, there is still the little matter of the padding elements we had you pull out," Lady Panthera spoke up. "You'll need to decode them once more with the VB method using the key you did before."

"You mean re-encode them?" Tail Feather asked, totally baffled by what they were asking him to do.

"No," the Cat-Lord corrected him. "De-code, in the same direction as you de-coded the scroll from Gustav. On my world, as I mentioned, there were two people: one was named Vigenere, the other was named Bufford. They each came up with the same encryption method, but the directions of their encryption were opposite of each other. The irony of it is, that to encode using Vigenere is exactly the same as decoding using Bufford, and to encode using Bufford is identical to decoding using Vigenere. What you did before was to decode the scroll using Vigenere. Now you need to decode using Vigenere once more on the padding material. But toss out the parts you can read about Princess Celestia and Luna being best princess. Start the key fresh with each section to decode them for some important information you'll need shortly."

"Okay," Tail Feather said uncertainly, but complied.

ፈ ፒ ፈ ∩ ¡ ꬁ ? ꬂ ፉ ፊ ֎ ¿ λ ꬃ ፨ Π ꬄ ∩ ч ꬅ ? was what he got for the first segment, and ፪ ፈ ፈ ፈ ꬁ ራ ꬆ ኝ ሀ ሳ ጶ ጺ ጼ ኌ ካ መ ነ ኛ ጊ ጞ ታ ፃ ፆ ት ቔ ቝ ፮ ፰ ❧ ∧ Ξ ₴ ሲ ፎ ረ ሬ ፒ ፔ ፖ ꬄ ኟ ሁ ህ ቧ ሺ ሽ ጱ ጹ ጻ ኋ ኰ ዧ ኊ ዯ ኆ ኙ ሎ ግ ጓ ጚ ጝ ጟ ኺ ኼ ቱ ወ የ ዓ ጿ ፆ ꬊ ዟ ዄ ቹ ቼ ቃ ቋ ቔ ቘ ‡ λ ∩ ፨ ፧ ፥ ∧ ₴ ፓ ፌ ፕ ኝ ሲ ሷ ጽ ኴ መ ኃ ሏ ጛ ተ ዕ ꬍ ዀ ቷ ቾ ቔ ቖ ∪ ፧ ₴ ፪ ፉ ፈ ፉ ሩ ራ ሁ ጱ ኮ ሌ ዋ ፄ ቆ ቜ ₴ ሩ ኟ ሇ ጳ ኑ ኜ ኤ ፂ ቋ ፰ ₴ ሩ ꬃ ህ ꬫ ኮ ን ጞ ታ ቼ ቜ ₴ ፫ ፈ ፉ ፈ ፏ ሯ ሸ ኈ ጜ ዀ ቝ ϟ ₴ ፏ ሷ ሚ ገ ዔ ቁ ቄ ቚ ₴ ፏ ሱ ሴ ኯ ለ ሐ ቀ ჻ ₴ for the other section.

"I'm assuming these are still encrypted?" Tail Feather asked when he finished.

"Hmmm, kind of," the Cat-Lord quipped. "This is actually the plain text for that portion of the message. But these parts are made up of a specific code that we made with Gustav. Remember what Panthera said about thinking in base-300 numbers? Each symbol here represents a number."

"The shorter segment you decoded starts with ፈ," Lady Panthera explained. "And in this case, it represents the value of one since it's the first letter in your alphabet. The next character, ፒ, represents the value of twenty-one. All told, this segment translates to a set of instructions, which tells us this padding starts with the first character, is twenty-one characters long, that we are to first encrypt the plain text message with the Enigma to create 'Layer1'. Then we add some text that was encoded with the VB method and the key to use for it. Once that is done, encrypt the padded 'Layer 1' with the VB method. After that, we run this new package of encrypted text through the Enigma to create 'Layer 2'. Straight from there, we encrypt through the Enigma again to create 'Layer 3'. At this moment, we are at this stage on working our way back to the plain text message.

"These instruction go on to tell us that we're supposed to add padding that has been coded with the VB with the key you just used," she said, nodding to Tail Feather's previous work. "Then we are to enclose a portion of the encrypted padding with the plain text padding, which you just saw was 'Princess Celestia' and 'Luna is best princess'. After all that, then we run it through one last VB encryption to get the scroll we delivered to you."

"And you say we're just after the creation of Layer 3, but before adding the second set of padding?" Tail Feather confirmed.

"Correct," the Cat-Lord replied. "You just got through stripping out that padding. So, based on what the instructions are telling us, working our way backwards, we're to decrypt this through the Enigma, then once more with a different group of key settings, then we go hunting for padding again."

"Ah!" Tail Feather exclaimed, nodding in understanding. "I'm starting to get the hang of this! And each time it goes through the machine, it has to have a different set of keys applied to it?"

"Indeed," Panthera acknowledged. "This is a symmetrical encryption system. Typing your message through once gets you a layer of encryption. If you restart with the same original key settings, then typing your newly encrypted layer through it will get you right back to the original plain text. However, sending the first layer through with a different key further encrypts the message into a nested second layer. As we explained earlier, if you do that repeatedly, the only way to get the original text back is to reverse the process in exactly the correct order. If you encrypt Layer 1 through Layer 2 and then on to Layer 3, but then mistakenly try to decode using the key settings for Layer 2 first and then Layer 3, you won't get the original text when you use the settings for Layer 1 again. What you'll have done instead is mistakenly nested the encryption even further! You'll now have six layers to work back from!"

"Yes, yes," Tail Feather said, nodding in comprehension. "I can see where that could actually be useful."

"True," the Cat-Lord agreed. "But if you forget to communicate that to the ones you're sending it to, they won't have any way of getting the message at all!"

"Yes, I understand," Tail Feather replied. He then got busy copying the last decoded layer of the message to a new sheet so that he would have a clean copy to work for when he began using the Enigma machine.

ፒ ꬫ ኊ ሽ ቤ ኍ ኬ ቢ ጊ ፈ ሿ ኞ ኁ ∪ ኳ ኯ ጜ ጉ ቷ ቧ ሞ ጋ ዀ ጱ ቇ ራ ጌ ዋ ꬬ የ ሆ ሪ ┊ ች ቡ ኄ ሚ ዉ ኂ ኗ ጔ ꬪ ዓ ኆ Σ ፐ ፫ ታ ኂ ም ኼ ዄ ብ ጐ ኖ ❦ ኈ ወ λ ፖ ች ኜ ግ ¡ ቘ ኜ ስ ጿ ኙ ቊ ጸ ☼ ው ሉ ፮ ሾ በ ፄ ☼ ጳ λ ፉ ꬅ ቌ ፈ ቄ ጛ ቈ ሾ ዖ ጰ ∧ ፙ ዕ ቑ ∧ ኀ ጿ ሀ ቒ ፁ ስ Π Π ሟ ሲ ዓ ჻ ❧ ች ꬁ ጺ ꬫ ֍ ጼ ኂ ኽ ኜ ኽ ሙ ቄ ሰ ሽ ❦ ቛ ኰ ቁ ኘ ከ ፒ ቴ ኌ ዟ ኀ ራ ዒ ጕ ч ∧ ፥ ቱ ϟ ሚ ዃ ሎ ኴ ∩ ዎ ሊ ꬫ ሐ ፃ ጌ ወ ፥ ን ሇ ϟ ጴ ቸ ꬬ ረ ሿ ፩ ሁ ሬ ዑ ረ ጏ ዑ ር ሼ ፠ ቲ ¡ ꬄ ፔ ֎ ቾ Σ ኑ ፊ ፑ ጶ ሎ ል ሜ ፰ ፚ ¿ ጻ ኲ ꬫ ቌ ሺ ኄ ዟ ሮ መ ¿ ጲ ታ ሃ ቕ ች ዎ ፭ ፨ ዏ ዒ ጛ ገ ሎ ኟ ጵ ሾ ቇ ዧ ፏ ዞ ላ ኟ በ ኩ ። ኾ በ ሇ ፅ ሌ ዟ ዋ ጊ ኒ ቄ ነ ኘ ❧ ፁ ሺ ፑ ቐ ¿ ኻ ኚ ሞ ኩ ፏ ኋ ꬎ ሰ ቸ ዑ እ ዓ ፓ ዐ ֍ Σ ጱ ꬩ ዔ ነ ፭ ዉ ፬ ወ ቖ ቱ ቱ ጱ ቻ ሎ ኜ ጙ ። ቕ ሸ ቚ ኍ ፓ ፩ ┊ ኀ ከ ጶ ኀ ꬨ ቂ ቷ ሻ ጷ ሞ ጔ ꬍ ና ჻ ሪ ꬅ ፆ ቔ ህ ፄ ሐ ꬭ ፒ ወ ፖ Π ቌ ም ፰ ቂ ህ ❧ ም ሐ ቔ ሎ ኃ የ ቶ ኦ ቝ ህ ሹ ∧ ቛ ኾ ኘ ኅ ቴ ኒ ኽ ሌ ኃ ኸ ኦ ሬ የ ኙ ሰ ፐ ዅ ቈ ል ኩ ሷ ዂ ኻ ዂ ꬫ መ ፯ ሚ ቶ ፀ ኼ ፀ ቍ ቐ ች ኘ ❧ ጞ ቕ ፅ ዄ ሉ ኞ ኚ ሽ ሙ ለ ኋ ጙ ጲ ዯ ት ኇ ቃ ጹ ፠ ጲ ጳ ጵ ጺ ፓ ጲ ሿ ኊ ሾ ጽ ሉ ሎ ፏ ሜ ኙ ፥ ጼ ꬄ ቡ ሳ ኖ ኩ ፊ ፃ ፓ ኒ ቈ መ ч ቻ ሙ ኻ ች ቊ ኝ ፆ ዄ ቴ ቢ ¿ ሪ ჻ ጓ ኽ ሄ ሞ ዅ ϟ ዐ ኇ ፈ ፄ ኟ ቐ ꬭ ፅ ቍ ፏ ሰ ኛ ኍ ፌ ሀ ዅ ኯ ለ ቀ ጼ ዑ ሁ ꬅ ጒ ꬄ ሶ ዉ Σ ዉ ሶ ቷ ኈ ፪ ም ጙ ꬍ ጐ ግ ፗ ሬ ዋ ኝ ቼ ሜ ዅ ጞ ኈ ጒ ኣ ሺ ቹ ቜ ል ፕ ቾ ኸ ጳ ቓ ኼ ሐ ꬉ ϟ ጉ ዅ ከ ቌ ቃ ኚ ኸ ኽ ኮ ቤ ኌ ቓ ፯ ጌ ሎ ֎ ፮ ኲ ፄ ሚ ፄ ቿ ∧ ራ ጽ ቜ ጎ ላ ꬬ ፇ ኅ ታ ቼ ኚ ፓ ∩ ለ ኩ ኸ ❧ ፃ ጱ ፨ ቸ እ ገ ቾ ቲ ኀ ዅ ч ጟ ሿ ፏ ፐ ዅ ኃ Ξ Σ ፎ ቧ ቲ ፄ ን ቓ ሉ λ ቌ ꬍ ኲ ታ ჻ ኁ ኖ ፑ ሿ ቻ ች ጹ ኡ ፋ ኃ ❦ ዓ ቢ ቇ ቐ ፦ ው ፙ ቂ ፧ ሮ Σ ፈ ጚ ሚ ቄ ፮ ቿ ኆ በ ‡ ቍ ቘ ዌ ዌ ኼ ቧ ሮ ፓ ጽ ኁ ቛ ኾ ፌ ፖ ┊ ፠ ⊥ ∀ ገ ኳ ከ ꬩ አ ኲ ራ ☼ ¡ ከ ❧ ግ ∀ ክ ꬮ ኙ ❦ ፌ ኰ ዌ ዅ ኞ ጐ ሁ ጉ ሪ ር ቲ ቻ ቺ ዀ የ ኳ ዖ ꬎ ጟ ዌ ቲ ቷ ኰ ∪ ወ ኛ ቇ ∠ ፬ ቁ ሇ ❦ ኞ ቡ ቤ ጞ ቧ ሊ የ ፇ ጝ ረ ቝ ፥ ለ ኢ ጎ ጒ ꬬ ꬨ ኘ ጼ ቀ ጟ ኴ ኩ ቡ ¿ ቒ ም ቴ ꬂ ጻ ኟ ኤ ፠ ꬂ ጛ ቢ ሁ ቧ ጳ ፩ ኁ ዐ Ξ ꬆ ጿ ፒ ֍ ፈ ፂ ዐ ꬂ ዓ ቖ ∩ ተ ቛ ꬮ λ ዊ እ ሏ ጾ λ ዉ ዉ λ ꬉ ሲ ኅ ዊ ኈ ኌ ꬅ ቁ ፤ ፦ ት ክ ግ ቚ ኸ ኢ ሰ ጕ ፥ ሞ ፭ ☼ ኌ ጓ ሼ ፄ ጟ ቝ ჻ ዀ ዓ ꬩ ꬁ ረ ቘ ፕ ፨ ኖ ዉ ሏ ጷ ❦ ና ፆ Σ ሸ ꬭ

While he was busy transcribing the message, the shadowcat used magic fired from her eyes to write down the detailed instructions she had told him earlier and an explanation of how the code was read. It covered how to interpret the initial characters as the start and length of the padding, and how the following characters used vowels to refer to when to use the Enigma, consonants meant to use the VB table, numbers represented plain padding, certain symbols for encoded padding, and other symbols to be used as brackets.

"Thank you for writing that down, Lady Panthera," Tail Feather told her after reading it. "That was a lot to try and remember."

"True," the Cat-Lord agreed with the emperor. "Oh, And I know you don't like repeating yourself, Panthera. But I would suggest you also give him a set of notes covering the lecture you gave him before introductions were made. Tail Feather did seem a tad bit distracted and excitable at the time. I'm sure he must've missed a word or two."

"Oh! Oka-ay!" Lady Panthera huffed in exasperation. "If you insist," she said, sighing as she took the sheet back to fire more beams onto the page. Tail Feather stood there mortified. Suddenly both of his visitors burst out laughing.

"We're just teasing you, Tail Feather!" the Cat-Lord said, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "We know we took by surprise and you had no idea of who we were."

"Except, I should have at least recognized you both from the descriptions Gustav sent me," Tail Feather contritely admitted.

"… and we are all fortunate to have had the able assistance of Pardus and his sister as well as the visitors from off-world," Celestia said as conclusion to her statement, "without which, the outcome of King Sombra's attack yesterday would have been far more dire. Fortunately, nopony was killed in this encounter and those who were hurt are well on their way to health once more. Any questions?"

The reporters at first were a little reluctant to ask anything of the shadowcat. But one intrepid journalist did finally venture to ask him.

"Why hasn't anypony seen shadowcats before?"

"I have no idea," Pardus replied as his form rippled and vanished. "My sister and I are still trying to puzzle that one out," the disembodied voice spoke out as the members of the press pool looked around and swiveled their ears seeking the source. A ripple in the air formed near the reporter and Pardus emerged from it. "When we figure that out, we'll be sure to let you know," he said as if he evidently was merely walking by on his way to return to Celestia's side as Celestia serenely watched. "Although, from what I gather from a discussion with one of the ponies in Ponyville, there have been those who've encountered my kind before."

The demonstration did serve to help break the ice, however, and many more questions quickly followed.

"Where is the shadowcat nation?"

"To be honest, I have no idea," Pardus admitted. "Aside from my sister, Panthera and I are the only shadowcats I know of."

"Where were you born?"

"Hmm … that's rather a difficult question to answer," he said, pawing at his chin in thought. "We've been wandering for quite some time, and we never thought to draw a map."

The press pool suddenly found they had a completely new and fascinating subject to interrogate and they weren't willing to let him go before they could dig up everything they could. Celestia, Gustav, and Pardus shared knowing looks as the briefing broke the first hour, and then the second.

Typing the message into the machine and recording the results coming out was much faster, although every time there was a double-step or triple rotor shift, it gave him pause just for the unusual extra motion. There was even one time where all four rotors shifted that caught him by surprise and he accidentally released the key before he could note down which lamp lit up.

When that happened, the Cat-Lord and Lady Panthera both chuckled and Lord Trevar kindly helped him reset all the rotors back one step so that he could try again.

"That's the beauty of this system," the Cat-Lord explained after Tail Feather recorded the output from the four-step rotor shift. "Although you might be dealing with hundreds of characters and a mistake at any one should cause you to start all over from the beginning, if you do catch yourself making a mistake and you know that you've not messed up anywhere else, all you have to do is set the rotors that moved back one and do it again."

"That's good to know!" Tail Feather exclaimed, feeling greatly relieved.

"Still, it never hurts to double check your encryption," the Cat-Lord told him. "Since the keys for that layer would already be installed, once you're done, you should go ahead and reset the rotors back to the beginning and run the encrypted message back through and confirm it matches what you had put in." Tail Feather nodded in agreement.

Thereafter, it was a simple matter of just focusing on the decoding and choosing to ignore the mechanical fascination the device created. There would be plenty of time to play with it and learn all it could do later. Right now, it was important to decipher the message.

አ ቋ ክ ኵ ኌ ቸ ፬ ሞ ꬨ ሻ ፫ ኼ ቈ ሞ ሳ ፕ ፉ ቷ ኘ ፮ ꬄ ቍ ፇ ኣ ኄ ቻ ϟ ዃ ꬌ ዋ ጟ ቓ ሯ ቘ ፒ ዧ ሾ ኽ ፥ ጊ ጒ ህ ጺ ‡ ፰ ∠ ታ ቜ ፀ ኩ ꬭ ֎ ቈ ꬍ ¿ ጵ ጴ ፰ ኩ ፐ ¡ ጹ ቔ ꬎ ቍ ፇ ዯ ጟ ም ፕ ቚ ዌ ቔ ሚ ┊ ቆ ዋ ኜ ፂ ¿ ኳ ሩ ፫ ኜ ሯ ዀ ኯ ኦ ጷ ጸ ጱ ዐ ¡ ኳ ቓ ፗ ჻ ሇ ፣ ጹ ኦ ጔ ኡ ቁ ቧ ክ ኋ ኆ ፙ ኒ ዖ ፠ ፮ ሜ ኬ ⊥ ፆ ኼ ⊥ ሺ ሪ ሱ ₴ ህ ኂ ፑ ዉ ሇ ቧ ፀ ጾ ጱ ግ ሼ ꬉ ጞ ፰ ኁ ꬩ ¡ ‡ ኒ ሽ ቢ ꬃ ሃ ሪ ኽ ኜ ጳ ፙ መ ኯ ቍ ꬮ ፀ ሜ ጺ ፌ ጓ ኩ ፌ ϟ ሃ ጋ ቜ ኃ ጘ ꬪ ሬ ፦ ጜ ꬊ ኂ ለ ሶ ሮ ሚ ስ ኒ ጸ ‡ ሩ እ ጶ ኦ ፑ ቷ ሱ ꬆ ጵ ፏ ፬ ፪ ኢ ፉ ‡ ፩ ֍ ጸ ? ꬭ ኩ ꬊ ኃ ቘ ₴ ₴ ꬮ ሉ በ ጝ ቛ ሻ ሄ ሟ ቓ ጜ ꬄ ጾ ጛ ፓ ኾ ኙ ጽ ፪ ፙ ቓ ቧ ገ ቷ ꬃ ሜ ሼ ሊ ኲ ካ ሳ ዏ ዓ ጟ ሎ ኄ ቄ ኅ ዯ ላ ሴ λ ኒ ዧ ¡ ዖ ጉ ኗ ታ Π ꬨ ጾ ፏ ∀ ኩ ፐ ስ ጒ ረ ሄ ፒ ጓ ꬃ ፚ ሊ ቝ ሞ ቺ ፣ ሲ ተ ኀ ኊ ቑ ጽ በ ቍ ኡ ጛ ጽ ኇ ዓ ꬬ ተ ሄ ኂ ኩ ሿ ጼ ። ጟ ጺ ክ ሺ ꬆ ዎ ዔ ጜ ኆ ኗ ቢ ኆ ጼ ዓ ፉ ረ ፣ ቲ ፮ ጾ ሌ ꬨ ጝ ኲ ዔ λ Π ግ ሊ ቍ ኋ ቕ ዐ ሆ ቊ ጽ ❦ ጓ ኑ ጱ ሞ ቲ ዅ ꬆ ሟ ቤ ኸ ሺ ꬬ ሊ ቺ ኋ ፯ ዌ ቖ ሙ ኬ ꬪ ች ኲ ቍ ኀ ቖ ኰ ህ ጞ ጱ ሚ ዖ ሐ ꬨ ꬄ ቾ ꬁ ኒ ፠ ፁ ፄ ጰ ꬬ ኻ ጷ ፖ ኢ ፓ Π ኩ ኸ ቺ ꬫ አ ኺ ꬍ ኍ ሏ ፎ ኴ ኤ ቂ ꬃ ጓ ቿ ፚ ው ₴ ፃ ዟ ቒ ጶ ፧ ሸ ኔ ም ኁ ከ ኳ ጶ ሮ ፙ ቀ ₴ ዂ ሇ ፁ ꬆ ꬆ ❧ ፍ ዎ ፖ ሽ ፦ ☼ ፄ ቑ ሄ ሽ ኦ ኰ ፪ ኮ ፮ ኀ ዃ ኤ ꬍ ር ፈ ጚ ዂ ቷ ꬊ ሟ ቂ ጓ ፙ ፅ ኂ ሻ ∪ ኁ ፯ ሶ ት ሊ ጏ ፯ ቄ ∧ ፭ ꬄ ኺ ꬉ ቶ ዉ ኟ ዖ ∀ ች ዌ ሪ ጔ ∩ ч ኵ ቂ ፃ ቤ ¿ ϟ ሴ ቤ ቚ ዃ ꬆ ፃ ጕ ሷ ∧ ⊥ ¡ ኪ ፈ ꬉ ቢ ፉ ጞ ሙ ቼ ꬭ ϟ ጙ ኚ ሰ ኑ ፃ ‡ ኦ λ ህ ቿ ቛ ዧ ኙ ኞ ፫ ሼ አ ፄ ኛ ሰ ዎ ሃ ዃ ሞ ꬅ ፰ ∩ ካ ቁ ሙ ሊ ꬊ ቑ ። ꬭ ዒ ማ ሁ ኩ ጷ ┊ ኺ ሐ ጛ ፥ ꬅ ꬪ ϟ ኝ ጘ ꬃ ሄ ጒ ተ ቝ ∧ ሷ ጌ ቓ ቕ ራ ሽ ፠ ቁ ኞ ኇ ꬋ ቹ ሴ ሽ ꬨ ቇ ፈ ቘ ቚ ፦ ኣ ቤ ጚ ች ኛ ፅ ₴ ዧ ቖ ላ ኋ ፭ ቾ ዉ ጻ ፨ ሌ ч ፕ ፅ ፒ ብ ዕ ጰ ዋ ሻ ዟ ኘ መ ዔ ቻ ሁ ቛ ለ ዄ ቕ ሞ ኸ መ ፠ ኳ ዀ ቱ ቾ ቁ ቛ ወ ሶ ኪ ኂ ዀ ꬍ ჻ ቖ ዧ ቄ ፪ ከ Ξ ኬ ጰ ሸ ኻ ሰ ꬃ ꬂ የ ቅ ዟ ቱ ቁ መ ቃ ኌ ቔ ሉ ቿ ጿ ሷ ꬎ ኬ ቊ ኽ ለ ∪ ራ ꬎ ቷ ቧ ዒ ꬎ ቕ ꬍ ፏ ል ዟ ረ ቓ ሱ Ξ ጉ ჻ እ አ ሚ ኀ ፖ ኋ ሟ ፔ ꬆ ቛ እ ꬁ ኹ ቱ ቆ ኼ ቸ ጎ ϟ ¿ ፧ ፥ ቤ ኑ ኵ ጸ እ λ ❦ ብ ∠ ፯ ቸ ዓ ዓ ዏ ሴ ጼ ∧ ኮ ወ ብ ኬ ч ፎ ኔ ጝ ሷ ጒ ꬩ ህ እ ሇ ወ ዐ ቄ ꬊ ቛ ተ ሹ አ ቤ ፔ ቕ ፤ ቌ ጞ ሏ ፏ ¡ ኝ ኜ ኄ ኽ ሹ ቓ ኛ ꬃ ꬉ ላ ኘ ት ኢ ቲ ሉ ቴ ቄ ፚ ኇ ¡ ቑ

It was still gibberish, from what he could see when he was finished, but it did feel as though he was accomplishing something from this exercise.

"Okay, now we'll let you figure out the next step," Lady Panthera cruelly told him. Tail Feather looked at her in a panic and then at the bipedal Cat-Lord, who was smirking at him.

Oh, that's right! The instructions! Tail Feather remembered. He looked at the sheet to the next operation he needed to do. According to what the side notes explained, the next step was once more through the Enigma to undo "Layer 2".

Once he picked up the first of the disks, he saw his visitors nodded in approval. That gave him confidence to proceed setting the notches on it. But as he was taking them out to make the settings on them, he noticed the disks each had their own identifying numbers on them. The left-most disk was labeled ፪. But the second in line and, it turned out, the last were both labeled ፈ, and the one between them was labeled ፉ.

And according to the notes Lady Panthera had made, the middle two rotors were supposed to be swapped at this stage.

But which one labeled ፈ is supposed to be swapped with ፉ? he wondered.

"Which one of these goes in slot three and in slot four?" he asked them, holding both rotors up.

"Whichever one's got the proper notch settings for those slots," the Cat-Lord replied. "All three of those," he said, gesturing to the two Tail Feather held as his hand motion also included the one on the table that hadn't yet been used, "have the same wiring. That's another advantage this Enigma has on the original used in that war on my home world. There, they could not have copies of the same disks because they were too bulky, heavy, and the Germans thought using the disks with the same wiring in multiple slots would compromise their encryption. Quite the contrary, the self-imposed limitations gave their enemies even more of an advantage to breaking their codes as the Polish and British didn't have to contend with all the combinations that could come from having five disks. Here, however, with the better manufacturing techniques available, we've given you three copies of each of the five wirings for the rotors to go along with the five reflectors."

"Just remember, put the wrong disk in the wrong slot, and you'll just be further re-encrypting the message at this point rather than decoding it," the shadowcat warned. He quickly heeded her advice and double-checked the notch settings before putting the rotors in their proper locations. Then he advanced each slot until it read ተወ‡ኾ. That made him blink in surprise.

Looking again at the notes that describe the rotor settings, he focused on each of the layers and put them together in his mind: ኺኮጳ‡ተወ‡ኾኈኌ፣‡. "Rise to fly" but with a comma and a space added at the end. And he recalled the key for the VB table they were using: ኖኺኯዀገኀአኺኮጳተወኾኈኌ. "Griffons rise to fly" was a well-known battle cry. He had to smile fondly at that.

ጳ ዞ ሸ ጺ ዄ የ ጿ ሶ ቷ ቸ ኲ ዌ ኀ ፋ ቾ ꬆ ቕ ቓ ቾ ኾ ፅ ቊ ቚ ፤ ፍ ች ዔ ጎ ጒ ዅ ꬩ ጾ ቼ ቍ ዄ ኻ ቕ ኺ ጘ ꬄ ኺ ቼ ኲ ቚ ጙ ꬂ ኛ ና ∧ ቃ ፍ ‡ ኢ ጉ ። ፏ ጙ ጲ ኀ ፇ ቍ ኟ ረ Π ሞ ዟ ∪ ֍ ኤ ሳ ሩ ሁ ቖ ጞ ∀ ካ ┊ ቒ ጏ ዏ ፙ ብ ኝ ራ ስ ኒ ፅ ϟ ϟ ፍ ጌ ቓ ቧ ꬬ ¡ ኩ ወ ዉ ኙ ꬨ ሞ ጻ ፣ ሩ ኃ ኇ ኄ ∩ ኽ ሳ ፖ ራ ጚ ኟ ማ ኾ ፩ ϟ ቃ ቘ ሻ ₴ ጊ ኯ ፔ ኬ ፭ እ ϟ ፈ ኡ ❧ ፓ ፁ ፃ ህ ቧ ፮ ቼ ዌ ዀ ጱ ኘ ቅ ፣ ወ ቊ ጚ λ ነ ፕ ፐ ኌ ግ ሼ ቃ ኢ ፍ ኰ ቃ ሪ ከ ፈ ኀ ፙ ኴ ሽ ጼ ꬉ አ ꬌ ኾ ኣ ቾ እ ዌ ኤ ኑ ቢ ዐ ጊ Π ሬ ꬁ ¡ ጉ ጛ ሃ ቆ ስ ሊ λ ፑ ሻ ኬ ራ ∧ ክ ዎ ለ ኹ ቱ ቷ ፰ ዋ ዉ ꬆ ዓ Ξ ጛ ፧ ሄ ሞ ኙ ካ ፎ ፍ ግ ና ዏ ገ ቖ ኚ ኑ ꬁ ፓ ቼ ሽ ፆ ሯ ነ Ξ ꬨ ꬄ ጳ ኗ ፯ ቸ ኪ ጹ እ ማ ዔ ኇ ፀ ሀ ቘ ኰ ꬂ ዔ ና በ ዯ ጹ ኣ ፭ ሾ ኪ ጘ ∠ ቛ ኁ ወ ቖ ኹ ፇ ጹ ስ ጛ ኻ ። ዟ ቊ ወ ጵ λ ጚ ፑ ሾ ዂ ካ በ ቲ ፄ ኞ ፈ ꬭ ☼ ች ꬉ ጌ ዎ ∀ ኚ ዏ ዀ ¿ ቾ ዃ ሰ ꬃ ሴ ማ ቋ ሜ ሃ ዂ ዓ ገ ጐ ዯ ኌ ፋ ፕ ዯ ꬎ ኍ ቛ ፀ ፃ ሿ ꬂ ዓ ፆ ∀ ፕ Π ል ፅ λ ‡ ፌ ፁ ቌ ኌ ለ ጏ ቒ ⊥ ꬅ ሄ ቸ ꬍ ┊ ሇ ቸ ꬪ ꬍ ቝ ዀ ¡ ቔ ጔ ሐ ꬁ ፏ ዐ ጷ ጻ ኙ ኄ ፒ ጱ ኈ ቖ ዄ ኲ ዅ ጹ ቕ ሆ ሎ ኸ ቧ ፰ ሺ ጴ ሃ ብ ጻ ኗ ፖ ኯ ል ፖ ጴ ሷ ሇ ሇ ጻ ሲ ኂ ጐ ላ ጼ መ λ ኯ ፂ ቅ ፉ ሻ ሮ ቒ ፖ ጴ ቛ ∠ ኗ ኣ ጔ ዓ ዓ ኜ ኦ ፰ ጙ ዓ ጼ ꬭ ꬬ ሇ ፥ ቘ ጴ ሻ ֎ ኖ ኢ ኟ ኈ ቚ ሐ ሱ ስ ቝ ዋ ፯ ⊥ ኁ ፖ ቑ ጙ ሼ ፓ ጓ ኡ ሂ ጊ ጛ ሉ ሯ ሁ ሮ ኹ ሸ ꬫ ዟ ዎ ፫ ኲ ቄ ‡ ሼ ꬊ ር ኁ ዋ ꬫ ዒ ኃ ꬪ ኗ ጲ ኌ ሄ ቾ ጓ ጱ ሄ ሎ ꬎ ኗ ቒ ዖ ታ ፐ ኳ ብ በ ፗ ሷ ጚ ጲ አ ቘ ሎ ኔ ፈ ጏ ቲ ₴ መ ጳ ጊ ኜ ቕ ꬅ ቶ ን ₴ ጉ ቓ ጜ ፊ ጔ ኯ ጿ ና ֎ ኄ ጾ ሻ ሙ ፔ ም ኔ ቺ ዌ ጋ ዟ ቾ ቱ ፬ ቴ ፐ ꬫ ሰ ። ጎ ፧ ጶ ፬ ሊ ል ች ፣ ኼ ሹ ፤ ቈ ላ ꬁ ኽ ሃ ሌ ኃ Ξ ህ ጙ ካ ፕ ጴ ? ❦ ፧ ኣ ፃ ϟ ፬ ፙ Σ ጻ ፐ ሼ ግ ቺ ኩ መ ኦ ቡ ጰ ኂ ቱ ኒ ራ ፕ ቐ ኺ ጜ ፈ ፖ ነ ፇ ኘ ቃ ብ ፌ ጶ ፌ ጔ ፊ ኽ ፁ ፙ ሳ ች ፌ ፨ ሺ ቺ ዅ ኽ ኒ ቕ ፃ ፚ ቲ ቂ ቌ ኝ ሚ ꬫ ጾ ኜ ዧ ጿ ፧ ֍ ዃ ረ ጳ ቔ ጱ ሴ ህ ች ኩ ₴ ጒ ሯ ጞ ሻ ቡ ፥ ꬄ ጚ ኬ ሟ ∧ ዂ ሚ ብ ሏ ጹ ዉ ሞ ∠ ኼ ቒ ጺ ኸ ቇ ኊ ኘ ክ ∠ ቜ ወ ሀ ፃ ቲ ሸ ዄ ኤ ሲ ኹ ፨ ፋ ኹ ¡ ቔ ኧ ፮ ኮ ቔ ም ꬍ ፣ ፀ ዄ ፈ ኌ ሇ ኝ ዀ ቋ ኋ ቛ ዋ ኌ ፨ ጐ ጝ ቅ ቛ ꬁ ጙ ጸ ም ሪ ዐ ኯ ኙ ነ ኼ ፰ ቚ ሲ ኖ ለ ኁ ∧ ሪ ፃ ቈ ጿ ፂ ኙ ፭ ሟ ጰ ጺ ጎ ህ ሪ ጛ ቸ ∧ ጜ ጹ ፯ ቂ ፫ ∪ ሼ ꬫ ∪ ቒ ኣ ኙ ኑ ቻ ☼ ሁ ጾ ቈ ሯ ቀ ኂ ሟ ፈ ል ቴ ጘ ፦ ጷ ዧ ቂ ꬬ ሸ ኈ ሻ ቶ ጉ ፏ ዞ

Now, according to the instructions, he was supposed to run this through the VB table:

ኟ λ ፫ ጙ ꬨ ሽ ꬅ ሐ ዞ ጘ ዄ ፍ ፂ ዑ ጌ ₴ ኍ ጘ ሮ ጻ ኋ ጻ ኪ ዏ ቂ ሴ ር ቷ ሄ ሊ ብ ꬌ ኛ ꬄ ꬨ ሆ ꬭ ፈ ሹ ፩ Σ ቤ ወ ጊ ጴ ⊥ ፮ ዄ ጺ ኯ ዌ ኪ ፎ ብ ሾ ኚ ? ጐ ፏ ኁ ꬍ ኢ ꬋ ጹ ፯ ኮ ሙ ዯ ጾ ❦ ኜ ጟ ሃ ሇ ፆ ሹ ኒ ጕ ቷ ሆ ∧ ቲ አ ኾ Σ ቄ ፖ ꬨ ዊ ዀ ነ ኋ ቖ ኺ ኘ λ ራ ና ኝ ሪ ች ዓ ሻ ዖ ኞ ኮ ቜ ቱ ቒ ꬋ ፅ ጉ ∧ ቆ ሂ በ ꬩ ꬨ ኆ ኽ ꬅ ሉ ብ ቱ ታ ∩ ኯ ሩ ፁ ች ∀ ማ ሙ ከ ኒ ሬ ዋ ኡ ሩ ቢ ኳ ዖ ፫ ጋ ሿ ፌ ሼ ቅ ጜ ꬂ Π ጔ Π ት ዄ ኀ ፊ ሎ ፊ ኡ ሉ ꬉ ꬬ ፏ ፖ ጳ ጿ ፧ ֎ ꬂ ክ ብ ፏ ሌ ማ ሩ ∧ ጷ ች መ ኈ ኆ ኾ ም ኘ ፖ ֍ ኣ ጌ Σ ቜ ኩ ዧ ቒ ፎ ፧ ኇ ☼ ¡ Π ህ ሩ ጱ ኤ ኔ ፍ ጐ ፨ ዉ ጶ ቐ እ ሬ ሿ ቒ ው ዞ ჻ ዅ ኂ ፭ ጹ ꬌ ፋ ቄ ֍ ሻ ፰ Σ እ ⊥ ኅ ዟ ቿ ፈ ጙ ኋ ፎ ፣ ❦ ገ ቆ ኳ ꬊ ሷ ዅ ኋ ች ች ኇ ሎ ጜ ፇ ፩ ꬮ ቾ ህ ⊥ ቂ ጘ ሌ ቓ ሯ ጜ ኯ ꬅ ሐ ል ቤ ꬨ ቌ ሇ ጎ ፫ ቴ ጓ Σ ጕ ኑ ጒ ꬍ ጜ ፪ ካ ቐ ፰ ዂ ፂ ር ጱ ꬂ ፑ ኘ ኞ ኂ ሀ ኮ ሯ ም ፬ ϟ ዐ ፚ ꬂ ፭ ዀ ቧ ꬄ ሆ ꬫ ቍ ፆ ኋ ሿ ሃ ዊ ቸ ጞ ჻ ሺ ካ ጛ ꬄ ፙ ቺ ጌ ሟ ዅ ኬ ዊ ቴ ል ሚ ꬃ ቋ ር ፧ ꬮ ፀ ፪ ጟ ቡ ☼ አ ፪ ዑ ꬎ ኀ ሀ ጼ ጒ ꬬ Σ ኰ ቜ ኚ ሩ ┊ ፫ ቡ ኪ ጘ ¡ ዓ ኈ ዧ ት ሶ ። ዋ ኡ ቝ ቌ ቃ ወ ꬄ ፄ ቆ ኚ ቾ ዟ ጘ ቷ ቢ ቚ ሐ ተ ኜ ቂ Σ ፓ ቚ ሳ ዂ ቿ ፤ ዧ ቷ ሜ ኣ ዯ ወ ኲ ሌ ቂ ሃ ካ ፁ ኑ ꬅ ኝ ፗ ꬄ ሃ ሜ ኪ ? ፨ ፬ ∠ ሰ ዊ ዏ ሃ ቼ ቈ ኂ ኼ ጼ ፰ ቀ ጻ ? ቅ ፠ ቼ ፒ ኢ ጽ ። ፅ ꬩ Π ፰ ቕ ? ֍ ኂ ኖ ጶ ዧ ጒ ቍ ኰ ፔ ቅ ꬌ ሇ ኬ ዔ ዄ ሷ ሁ ቓ ኃ ჻ ቘ ከ ኹ ሰ ፋ ꬋ ኽ ч ፑ ጟ ሱ ቀ ቖ ቔ ም ሰ ቂ ኖ ሴ ሺ ጏ ቿ ቕ ч ጎ ተ ቅ ቘ ꬫ ቸ ? ፓ ꬫ ፏ ሹ ኚ ቃ ∪ ጼ ቘ ጸ ኊ ን ꬆ ፯ ። ጘ ቆ ጝ ኝ ቼ ኝ ዅ ዅ ቌ ዖ ጋ ∧ ቀ ጼ ቔ ኙ ፰ ፋ ኮ ሽ ሬ አ ጝ ሏ ፁ ሉ ኻ ሺ ቐ ፆ ኽ ኾ ∠ ኊ ሟ ፊ ፭ ꬎ ጱ ቚ ሞ ስ ቒ ማ ቛ ጷ ኇ ር ∪ ጕ ፄ ታ ዀ መ Π ❦ ዊ ተ ꬨ ኄ ፣ ኴ ዄ ꬃ ስ ቺ ረ ሜ ኺ ዊ ፄ ጱ ꬄ ፧ ጛ ጓ ቍ ና ወ ጘ ቑ ኈ ሹ ሺ ኼ ኌ ቝ ኾ ኂ ላ ጸ ፦ ፠ ቀ ሼ ል ዉ ∀ ብ ሀ ቓ ፌ ኻ ኢ ጋ ꬬ ፑ ሙ ꬍ ቁ ኾ ፦ ሽ ቺ ፐ ሼ ተ ለ ¿ ፃ ጙ ጎ ꬌ ቻ ሼ ቺ ፄ ꬬ ል ፧ ጋ ቶ ጷ ∠ ∧ ∠ ሐ ጐ ኴ ቁ የ ቤ ፍ ፍ ቴ ꬩ ሴ ኸ ቡ ☼ ጌ ዔ ❦ ? ኘ ኬ ኋ ∪ ꬁ ☼ ገ ሞ ኋ ፓ ₴ ወ ꬮ ፔ ጒ ꬬ ሪ ኢ ꬂ ጻ ቼ ☼ ኼ ኊ ዏ ሊ Π ኛ ሐ ኳ ጼ ዄ ጟ ኔ ሾ ኯ ቾ ብ ጔ ቺ ጞ ሹ ጕ ፮ ሐ ፓ ቷ ኝ ቤ ֎ ኌ ሄ ቆ ቋ ኵ ቘ ዕ ኬ ሺ ዯ ꬅ ሃ ኝ ዖ ቾ ዊ ጚ ኟ ቜ ፣ ∀ ኇ ጺ ና ቖ ኲ ጸ ኽ ፅ ዌ ፁ ስ ሌ ꬮ ኰ ቒ ኚ ꬩ ፁ ቝ ጺ ጒ ሎ ሲ ቾ ኀ ዅ ኒ ጳ ቓ ኗ ፎ ፑ ቆ ቅ ቈ ዖ ሊ ጻ ኚ ቘ

It only took him about fifteen or twenty minutes this time to complete that. Now, it was time to identify more of the padding that had been added.

Here, however, he ran into a roadblock. How could he identify the portions that made up the padding? He knew the padding was supposed to be encrypted, but he had no idea of where to begin. It took him some time to think about the problem, and meanwhile both the Cat-Lord and shadowcat seemed content to let him puzzle it out. Finally, he decided to just apply the same decrypting technique he had used before, but to the entire message.

ፌ ማ ኼ ቃ ቂ ቋ ጞ ꬂ ሀ ኌ ቢ ዯ ፥ ꬨ ሸ ፯ ቸ ሸ ኰ ቾ ፯ ፆ ቻ ክ አ ቱ ለ ር ቼ ብ ሯ ብ ኞ ፙ ቂ ቴ ꬍ ሊ ፭ ዒ ፙ ኺ ፬ ኖ ჻ ፫ ኵ ኅ ጙ ቖ ጲ ዅ ሏ ቕ ገ ቕ ክ ቾ ዔ ኗ የ ፎ ኒ ጘ ኅ ¿ ቀ ቝ ፦ ዀ ቘ ┊ ኁ ቂ ኀ ꬃ ቓ ሷ ሬ ፅ ኤ ፚ ፌ ኃ ዃ ሻ ጉ ጟ ጸ ኛ ꬫ ዄ ጛ ቍ ❦ ጓ ጉ ጓ ቄ ቈ ሴ ሬ ጋ ꬮ ቐ ሼ ኬ ꬫ ኖ ጵ ኋ ∩ ኇ ጌ ¡ ኸ ጿ ጟ ር ꬪ ☼ ፠ ቔ ‡ ሂ ጘ ቼ ጊ ማ ኹ

"Okay," the shadowcat spoke up when he had nearly finished the second line. "So what have you got so far?"

"I—I'm trying to spot where the padding begins that is supposed to be stripped out at this point," Tail Feather explained. "I know the padding itself will be encrypted, but I don't know where it starts, so I'm running the entire message through the VB table in hopes of spotting it."

"Mmm," she hummed. "Commendable," she muttered. "But recall, this portion has already been ran through at least one layer of the Enigma. Plus, you're still new to the coding created for even the plain text of the padding. As a result, you don't yet know what you're looking for in regards to what's in the padding. So, you're going to be looking for random characters among random characters hoping to spot a pattern?" she inquired. Tail Feather looked again at his work and sighed.

"Well, then. I'm not sure how to proceed from here," he admitted. "How can I spot it if I don't know what I'm looking for? Obviously, I'm doing something wrong, or you wouldn't have stepped in."

"True," the shadowcat stated. "Indeed, were this a real situation, I wouldn't have been here to step in. You would've continued until you reached end of the document and be pretty much stuck at this point trying to figure it out."

"Brutal, as always," the Cat-Lord muttered. Tail Feather shot him a glance, and the human was smirking.

"But—?" Tail Feather asked.

"Use what you know, Tail Feather," the Cat-Lord kindly told him. "What do you know about the padding? What's its purpose? Where was it used before? How was it used before?"

Tail Feather thought hard about it.

"I've always thought briefings were supposed to be brief," Gustav conspiratorially whispered to them during a momentary lull in the flood of inquiries, getting a chuckle from Celestia and a smirk from the shadowcat.

And not all the questions were directed at Pardus.

"Princess Celestia, what about these humans you spoke of? Do we know their intentions? Are they planning to invade us?"

"We have encountered humans before, as you are well aware," Celestia replied. "While Mr. Trevar and Lieutenant Scott are not directly associated with those who have previously visited Equus, their actions thus far have not shown any intentional hostilities. Although some mistakes have been made, the errors were done in ignorance. They had no idea of the nature of the portal that brought them here and had no understanding of how to deal with the encounter. I've been assured by Mr. Trevar that the ship coming to rescue him will take no hostile action against us when it arrives."

"Wait—I'm sorry, Your Highness—you just said the ship is coming to pick him up? What of Lieutenant Scott?"

"Unfortunately, the portal that brought them here caused them both severe injury," Celestia sadly admitted. "Lieutenant Scott is dying from radiation poisoning and we have not the medical skills to save her. In the time it will take their ship to arrive, she will be dead. At first, I had detected Mr. Trevar was also dying, but he evidently possesses a magic I've never seen before. His fight with King Sombra demonstrated it to me, and when I again checked, I was astonished to find he was completely cured of the radiation poisoning that is killing Lieutenant Scott."

"It's purpose: to communicate between the end parties sending the telegrams and to divert those trying to break the code by leading them into false trails to follow," Tail Feather replied. "It was used at what you call Enigma Layer 3 before the final VB table was applied. And it came in two parts. The first part was used at the beginning of the text, the other part was stuck between two plain-text phrases. The two plain-text phrases were made to divert anyone trying to break the codes."

"Mostly correct," the shadowcat muttered.

"There was one other purpose for the padding," the bipedal creature added. "Do you remember?"

Tail Feather began to sweat, nervously worried that he was failing a very important lesson. Realizing he had failed to recall what it was, he snatched up the sheet of notes and quickly scanned over them. There was the mentions of communicating between the parties sending and receiving the telegram, the diversion of enemies trying to break the encry—and he felt like the fool he was—there, in plain view, was the need to break up the pattern of the telegram header to make it harder for unauthorized decryption.

"I—I'm—I'm sorry," he gasped out. "I failed you!"

"How so?" the Cat-Lord inquired. "From what you just said, you figured it out. That is the third purpose for the padding material."

"But I had to look it up!" Tail Feather hissed, furious with himself.

"What of it?" the Cat-Lord asked, causing Tail Feather's gaze to snap over to see the human tilting his head at him. "You knew you had forgotten the purpose, yet you knew where to find it again. How is that a failure?"

"But the notes—?"

"The notes are yours for just such a reason," the shadowcat said, cutting in. "No one can remember everything they hear and read—present company excepted—so the notes are there to aid your memory. Again, as Trevar asked, how is that a failure?"

"The only failure comes from not knowing what to do with the information," the Cat-lord told him. "So, now that you know what its purpose is, what does that tell you on how it is most likely to be applied?"

Tail Feather, bolstered by the encouragement, thought again about the previous encounter with the padding. The last time, there were two separate groups: the one bracketed by the plain-text phrases; the other—

"The other was at the beginning of the message!" he suddenly exclaimed, giving voice to the train of thoughts running in his mind.

"Indeed," the other two spoke simultaneously, and Tail Feather understood they approved of his realization. The last one had two important characters. The first told where the padding began, the second told of how long the padding ran for. He looked again at the result of his attempt to find it.

ፌማ

The first was the fifth letter in the Griffon alphabet. The second was the one-five-third character, as the Griffons count them. He puzzled over that for a few minutes before a bout of inspiration suddenly hit him.

Starting with the character after the fifth, and counting out the number of characters called for, he wrote them out on a new sheet of parchment.

ሽ ꬅ ሐ ዞ ጘ ዄ ፍ ፂ ዑ ጌ ₴ ኍ ጘ ሮ ጻ ኋ ጻ ኪ ዏ ቂ ሴ ር ቷ ሄ ሊ ብ ꬌ ኛ ꬄ ꬨ ሆ ꬭ ፈ ሹ ፩ Σ ቤ ወ ጊ ጴ ⊥ ፮ ዄ ጺ ኯ ዌ ኪ ፎ ብ ሾ ኚ ? ጐ ፏ ኁ ꬍ ኢ ꬋ ጹ ፯ ኮ ሙ ዯ ጾ ❦ ኜ ጟ ሃ ሇ ፆ ሹ ኒ ጕ ቷ ሆ ∧ ቲ አ ኾ Σ ቄ ፖ ꬨ ዊ ዀ ነ ኋ ቖ ኺ ኘ λ ራ ና ኝ ሪ ች ዓ ሻ ዖ ኞ ኮ ቜ ቱ ቒ ꬋ ፅ ጉ

Applying the VB table to this, he got:

ኖ ኺ ኯ ዀ ሬ ዧ ዞ ሃ ኯ ጾ ኃ ፇ ቃ ፃ Σ ሳ ሾ ⊥ λ ኮ ቁ ጋ ጱ ቊ ጲ ኢ ኖ ዟ ኾ ∧ ሮ ዂ ፄ ገ ኀ አ ተ ሯ ሇ ፉ ን ꬮ ፌ ፪ ሩ ጕ ቻ ሾ ኚ ጳ ሪ ማ ፥ ꬋ ሱ ሂ ֎ ⊥ ፩ ታ ሼ ቄ ꬃ ጝ ጊ ሬ ∀ ኣ ቖ ሌ የ ቀ ቂ ኀ ‡ ‡ ር ጹ ኚ ቚ ጺ ቴ ጞ ቡ ኳ ቋ ዄ ጜ ኰ ቓ ኩ ኮ ፅ ቍ ፣ ጲ ኲ ጊ ሴ ꬎ ቻ ኬ ꬬ ዉ ኅ ኤ ።

The first four characters spelled out "griff", so he felt he was on the correct path again. However, the rest of the padding was more gibberish, but that was likely due to the special codes they had created for these messages. He quickly consulted the notes he had been given, and it did look promising.

Immediately after the portion that spelled "griff" was the one-sixth character in the alphabet. As he understood it, he should count out one-six characters. But something about this reminded him of one section of the previous padding, the portion that was between the plain-text phrases.

The padding there was a collection of both the rotor dial setting as well as the plug-board wiring list. In that one, the first four characters spelled out the rotor display to start the machine at, the following character was a number of the wiring pairs, followed by each of the pairs the cords were plugged into. Following that hunch, he counted off the next one-six pairs of characters, and found the four characters following all of that spelled out "onst", which in turn, was followed by the two-first character. Counting out the next seventeen pairs got him what he expected to find: the four characters after that chase spelled out "one" with two spaces in that part. In all, it spelled out "Griffonstone"!

"This is the rotor settings and Steckerboard wiring for three Enigma layers!" Tail Feather exclaimed. "The rotors all spell out 'Griffonstone' with two following spaces!"

"Well done!" Lady Panthera praised him with a nod of her head. "Those are the settings Gustav is expecting you to use in your reply to him."

"Oh," Tail Feather replied. "I see. And I guess I should find which rotors and notch settings to use in the next layer?"

"Actually, you've already got them," the Cat-Lord told him. "We've cheated—a little, putting this message together. Normally, you both would already have the settings to use for the next messages you plan to send to each other. But this time only, we reused the same rotor choices and notch settings at the 'Layer 3' level. In any future telegrams, be sure to change those. Also, be sure to vary where in the portion of the headers you apply the padding. The entire point of all this is to hide any patterns that might exist in your headers. Just be sure not to simply give them new patterns to work with!"

Once that was out of the way, it was time to start prepping for the next Enigma layer—the last layer!

And from referring to his notes, he saw that all three rotors were the same type, the only differences to them being the notch settings in each slot. That's when Tail Feather finally paid attention to the untouched fifth disk that the Cat-Lord had initially removed from the case that he brought. It was labeled ፈ, the same as the two already being used!

Grinning at how he saw what they had done, he got to work setting the notches on each rotor after having removed the ፉ rotor and setting it down on the table—its work finally finished.

Then, after ensuring the rotors with their individual notch arrangements were in the correct slots, the rotors turned to the correct starting positions, and the wires connecting the Steckboard plugs in the correct arrangement, he eagerly began what he hoped would be the final transcribing of the text to be decoded onto a fresh sheet.

፫ ጙ ꬨ ∧ ቆ ሂ በ ꬩ ꬨ ኆ ኽ ꬅ ሉ ብ ቱ ታ ∩ ኯ ሩ ፁ ች ∀ ማ ሙ ከ ኒ ሬ ዋ ኡ ሩ ቢ ኳ ዖ ፫ ጋ ሿ ፌ ሼ ቅ ጜ ꬂ Π ጔ Π ት ዄ ኀ ፊ ሎ ፊ ኡ ሉ ꬉ ꬬ ፏ ፖ ጳ ጿ ፧ ֎ ꬂ ክ ብ ፏ ሌ ማ ሩ ∧ ጷ ች መ ኈ ኆ ኾ ም ኘ ፖ ֍ ኣ ጌ Σ ቜ ኩ ዧ ቒ ፎ ፧ ኇ ☼ ¡ Π ህ ሩ ጱ ኤ ኔ ፍ ጐ ፨ ዉ ጶ ቐ እ ሬ ሿ ቒ ው ዞ ჻ ዅ ኂ ፭ ጹ ꬌ ፋ ቄ ֍ ሻ ፰ Σ እ ⊥ ኅ ዟ ቿ ፈ ጙ ኋ ፎ ፣ ❦ ገ ቆ ኳ ꬊ ሷ ዅ ኋ ች ች ኇ ሎ ጜ ፇ ፩ ꬮ ቾ ህ ⊥ ቂ ጘ ሌ ቓ ሯ ጜ ኯ ꬅ ሐ ል ቤ ꬨ ቌ ሇ ጎ ፫ ቴ ጓ Σ ጕ ኑ ጒ ꬍ ጜ ፪ ካ ቐ ፰ ዂ ፂ ር ጱ ꬂ ፑ ኘ ኞ ኂ ሀ ኮ ሯ ም ፬ ϟ ዐ ፚ ꬂ ፭ ዀ ቧ ꬄ ሆ ꬫ ቍ ፆ ኋ ሿ ሃ ዊ ቸ ጞ ჻ ሺ ካ ጛ ꬄ ፙ ቺ ጌ ሟ ዅ ኬ ዊ ቴ ል ሚ ꬃ ቋ ር ፧ ꬮ ፀ ፪ ጟ ቡ ☼ አ ፪ ዑ ꬎ ኀ ሀ ጼ ጒ ꬬ Σ ኰ ቜ ኚ ሩ ┊ ፫ ቡ ኪ ጘ ¡ ዓ ኈ ዧ ት ሶ ። ዋ ኡ ቝ ቌ ቃ ወ ꬄ ፄ ቆ ኚ ቾ ዟ ጘ ቷ ቢ ቚ ሐ ተ ኜ ቂ Σ ፓ ቚ ሳ ዂ ቿ ፤ ዧ ቷ ሜ ኣ ዯ ወ ኲ ሌ ቂ ሃ ካ ፁ ኑ ꬅ ኝ ፗ ꬄ ሃ ሜ ኪ ? ፨ ፬ ∠ ሰ ዊ ዏ ሃ ቼ ቈ ኂ ኼ ጼ ፰ ቀ ጻ ? ቅ ፠ ቼ ፒ ኢ ጽ ። ፅ ꬩ Π ፰ ቕ ? ֍ ኂ ኖ ጶ ዧ ጒ ቍ ኰ ፔ ቅ ꬌ ሇ ኬ ዔ ዄ ሷ ሁ ቓ ኃ ჻ ቘ ከ ኹ ሰ ፋ ꬋ ኽ ч ፑ ጟ ሱ ቀ ቖ ቔ ም ሰ ቂ ኖ ሴ ሺ ጏ ቿ ቕ ч ጎ ተ ቅ ቘ ꬫ ቸ ? ፓ ꬫ ፏ ሹ ኚ ቃ ∪ ጼ ቘ ጸ ኊ ን ꬆ ፯ ። ጘ ቆ ጝ ኝ ቼ ኝ ዅ ዅ ቌ ዖ ጋ ∧ ቀ ጼ ቔ ኙ ፰ ፋ ኮ ሽ ሬ አ ጝ ሏ ፁ ሉ ኻ ሺ ቐ ፆ ኽ ኾ ∠ ኊ ሟ ፊ ፭ ꬎ ጱ ቚ ሞ ስ ቒ ማ ቛ ጷ ኇ ር ∪ ጕ ፄ ታ ዀ መ Π ❦ ዊ ተ ꬨ ኄ ፣ ኴ ዄ ꬃ ስ ቺ ረ ሜ ኺ ዊ ፄ ጱ ꬄ ፧ ጛ ጓ ቍ ና ወ ጘ ቑ ኈ ሹ ሺ ኼ ኌ ቝ ኾ ኂ ላ ጸ ፦ ፠ ቀ ሼ ል ዉ ∀ ብ ሀ ቓ ፌ ኻ ኢ ጋ ꬬ ፑ ሙ ꬍ ቁ ኾ ፦ ሽ ቺ ፐ ሼ ተ ለ ¿ ፃ ጙ ጎ ꬌ ቻ ሼ ቺ ፄ ꬬ ል ፧ ጋ ቶ ጷ ∠ ∧ ∠ ሐ ጐ ኴ ቁ የ ቤ ፍ ፍ ቴ ꬩ ሴ ኸ ቡ ☼ ጌ ዔ ❦ ? ኘ ኬ ኋ ∪ ꬁ ☼ ገ ሞ ኋ ፓ ₴ ወ ꬮ ፔ ጒ ꬬ ሪ ኢ ꬂ ጻ ቼ ☼ ኼ ኊ ዏ ሊ Π ኛ ሐ ኳ ጼ ዄ ጟ ኔ ሾ ኯ ቾ ብ ጔ ቺ ጞ ሹ ጕ ፮ ሐ ፓ ቷ ኝ ቤ ֎ ኌ ሄ ቆ ቋ ኵ ቘ ዕ ኬ ሺ ዯ ꬅ ሃ ኝ ዖ ቾ ዊ ጚ ኟ ቜ ፣ ∀ ኇ ጺ ና ቖ ኲ ጸ ኽ ፅ ዌ ፁ ስ ሌ ꬮ ኰ ቒ ኚ ꬩ ፁ ቝ ጺ ጒ ሎ ሲ ቾ ኀ ዅ ኒ ጳ ቓ ኗ ፎ ፑ ቆ ቅ ቈ ዖ ሊ ጻ ኚ ቘ

Tail Feather glanced at the time piece in the room. It showed they had been at this for nearly five hours, and he was eager to get this finished. This time, he paid no attention to the times multiple rotors advanced together; the mechanics no longer held his attention long enough to be fascinated by it. He just wanted to get through this as fast as he could. As he typed, he could instantly see that intelligent character combinations were finally emerging, but he cared not for that, either. Getting finished was all that mattered now.

And finally, all too soon, he was finished! Heavily breathing as though he had been in a race around the aerie, he shakily lifted the sheet to read it.

ተ ወ ፥ ‡ ኖ ኺ ኯ ዀ ገ ኀ አ ተ ቂ ኀ ‡ ‡ ኾ ኺ ገ ነ ፥ ‡ ሴ ነ ꬁ ፐ ኡ ሁ ‡ ሙ ፐ ኀ ተ ቓ ኈ ገ ተ ‡ ‡ ኺ በ ኖ ፔ ሃ ኯ ኅ ፥ ‡ ሙ ፐ ተ λ ኈ ጐ ሃ ‡ ‡ ‡ ቒ ቱ ሴ ኀ ሏ ꬌ ኀ ፥ ‡ ሴ ነ ኸ ቓ ቘ ‡ ተ ፉ ኈ ‡ ኾ ስ ꬮ ቓ ‡ ‡ ‡ ኸ ፐ ኀ ꬮ ቓ ቒ ፧ ‡ ቷ ዟ ዯ ‡ ꬌ ኾ ‡ ꬭ ቚ ‡ ለ ፐ ሃ ቄ ሙ ፐ ተ ‡ ኾ ኺ ሷ ኀ ሃ ጳ ‡ ꬌ ኾ ‡ ፐ ኊ ሴ ሙ ‡ ተ ኺ ሴ ꬃ ጙ ፧ ‡ ꬫ ፐ ጳ ‡ ቒ ኻ ኮ ꬃ ሃ ‡ ተ ወ ‡ ኯ ኀ አ ተ ኺ ꬋ ሙ ተ ‡ ነ በ ‡ ገ ኀ ‡ ꬫ ቍ ‡ ተ ወ ‡ ገ ኸ ቓ ሩ ተ ‡ ꬭ ኯ አ ‡ ኰ ኀ ኯ ኖ ነ ቒ ‡ ሴ ኀ ሙ ኺ ኵ ኸ ተ ጒ ። ‡ ፐ ኊ ሴ ሙ ‡ ተ ኺ ሴ ꬃ ጙ ፧ ‡ ꬬ ወ ነ ‡ ኋ ‡ ኋ ሃ ሴ ኀ ተ ኯ ኾ ከ ሃ ‡ ፐ ጳ ‡ ꬭ ቚ ‡ ሙ ፐ ተ λ ኈ ጐ ሃ ፧ ‡ ꬫ ፐ ጳ ‡ ቒ ኈ አ ቀ ‡ ቒ ኻ ኮ ꬃ ሃ ። ‡ ꬫ በ ‡ አ ሴ ኀ ሃ ጳ ‡ ፁ ‡ ꬫ ኯ ጳ ‡ ꬁ ሴ አ ተ ‡ ኺ በ ኖ ፔ ሃ ጳ ። ‡ ꬫ በ ‡ ቴ ኯ ለ ሴ አ ‡ ች ጷ ‡ ኺ ዌ ኈ ‡ ተ ወ ‡ ꬁ በ ‡ ቒ ‡ ቴ ኮ ጳ ‡ ፐ ኀ ሃ ‡ ጽ ሴ ኀ ቓ ꬎ አ ‡ ቷ ዟ ዯ ። ‡ ተ ኺ ሴ ꬃ ጙ ‡ ፐ አ ኜ ‡ ꬭ ፐ ተ ‡ ፁ ‡ መ ሀ ኸ ‡ ꬭ ቚ ‡ ኸ ቡ ኦ ‡ ꬁ በ ተ ቴ ሀ ኀ ‡ ቐ ኺ ‡ ሴ ነ ኸ ኮ ኺ ‡ ፐ ኀ ሃ ‡ በ ሞ ቶ ሴ አ ተ ኺ ሆ ቒ ። ‡ ꬫ በ ‡ ቒ ኈ አ ቀ ‡ ቴ ኯ ለ ሴ አ ‡ ተ ወ ‡ ቒ ዞ ሾ ‡ ፁ ‡ ꬭ ፐ ተ ‡ ኸ ኺ ኯ ኀ ኢ ሴ ኡ ጲ ‡ ኢ ሴ ኈ ሴ አ ተ ሆ ቒ ‡ ፐ ኀ ሃ ‡ ኈ ሐ ኀ ቒ ‡ ꬫ ፑ ꬃ ‡ ተ ኺ ቡ ተ ሴ ሃ ‡ ꬫ ኯ ነ ‡ ኾ ራ ኈ ሁ ‡ ፐ ኀ ሃ ‡ ቴ ኯ ꬮ ‡ ጊ ኀ ሴ አ ተ ሁ ። ‡ ተ ኺ ሴ ꬃ ጙ ‡ ꬫ ፐ ጳ ‡ ኀ ቀ ‡ ሃ በ ጳ ኮ ኺ ‡ ተ ወ ‡ ቒ ኊ ቍ ‡ ꬫ ኯ ጳ ‡ ኸ ኺ ሴ አ ሴ ኀ ኦ ‡ ገ ኀ ‡ ቐ ኺ ‡ ቴ ጐ ኈ ሃ ‡ ተ ወ ‡ ሙ ጋ ኧ ‡ ፐ ኀ ሁ ‡ ሙ ገ ኀ ኾ ኈ ኯ ሙ ተ አ ‡ ꬁ በ ተ ቴ ሀ ኀ ‡ ቐ ኺ ‡ ተ የ ‡ ኀ ፈ ሏ ꬌ ኀ አ ። ‡ ꬫ በ ‡ ቴ ኯ ለ ሴ አ ‡ ተ ወ ‡ ነ ሀ ተ ቴ ኯ ꬮ ‡ ፁ ‡ ኯ ኀ ‡ ቒ ‡ ኾ ዊ ‡ ሃ ፌ ጳ ‡ ተ ወ ‡ ቒ ሂ ኺ ሴ ኡ ‡ ꬭ ፐ ተ ‡ ሃ ኮ ኺ ‡ ነ ፐ ቱ ቓ ‡ ቴ በ ‡ ሃ ኯ አ ሙ ꬋ ኡ ሄ ‡ ኈ ፐ አ ተ ‡ አ ꬋ ኑ ቓ ። ‡ ‡ ‡ ኖ ሐ አ ተ ፐ ꬃ ‡ ‡ ‡ ֍ ֎ ֍ ֎ ꬭ ቚ ሴ ነ ኸ ቓ ቘ ኯ ጳ ቒ ኾ ኯ ኇ

To: Griffonstone, he read, From: Embassy Canterlot, Regarding: Cat-Lord, Attention: Emperor Tail Feather

Panthera, one of the shadowcat friends of Allec Trevar, has arrived to instruct me on how to operate this Enigma encryptor. Trevar, whom I identified as the Cat-Lord, has also arrived. He sends you his best regards. He wishes your rule to be a wise and generous one. Trevar asks that you keep the peace between our empire and Equestria and wishes to assure you that Princesses Celestia and Luna have treated him fairly and with honesty. Trevar has no desire to allow his presence on our world to cause any conflicts between our two nations. He wishes to meet with you in a few days to address that dire matter we discussed last summer.

Well! That's a very nice message! he happily thought to himself. It put him at ease for all the panic he had suffered upon meeting them. He saw Gustav's signature, along with the traditional four-character indicator for "end of telegram" … but then ….

"'THE EMPEROR IS A FINK'!?" he screamed in outrage at reading the final words he had translated.

"He took that rather well," Tail Feather barely noticed the Cat-Lord mutter.

"'THE EMPEROR IS A FINK'!?"

"Better than Gustav predicted," the shadowcat replied.

"'THE EMPEROR IS A FINK'!?"

"So much for having a good sense of humor," the Cat-Lord said with a sigh.

"Oh, I have an excellent sense of humor," Tail Feather growled, taking note of the Cat-Lord once more. "'THE EMPEROR IS A FINK'!?" he demanded, grabbing a new sheet of parchment. "I'll show him 'the Emperor is a fink'! How about 'off with his head'!? And that's just for starters!"

"Calm down, Tail Feather," the Cat-Lord said as he stepped up to lay a hand on his shoulder. "I'm the one who insisted on that be put in. It's the key for the VB table in your return message."

"Wha—you did this!?" Tail Feather asked, blinking in astonishment at the bipedal creature. "But—WHY!? Is this for not recognizing you this morning? No! Wait—that can't be right! This message predates that—"

"Which brings us to our last lesson regarding using these encryptors," the Cat-Lord told him. "'Predictable keys'."

"I—I—I don't understand," Tail Feather said confused.

"Tell, me, Tail Feather," Lady Panthera spoke up. "What were the keys just used in that last message?"

"What do you mean?"

"What was the key used for the VB encryption? What were the rotor dials set to throughout the nesting?" she reiterated.

"Uh—'Griffons rise to fly'," Tail Feather replied. "What has that got to do with this?" he asked, gesturing to the decrypted message.

"'Griffons rise to fly'?" the Cat-Lord inquired. "Isn't that some sort of famous battle cry?"

"Of course," Tail Feather replied.

"Yeah," the Cat-Lord said with a huff. "A little too famous, I'm afraid. That was another part of why the ones who used the original Enigma eventually lost their war of conquest. After their enemies managed to break several of their messages, they noticed additional patterns in the key settings that were being chosen. In addition to the headers in their messages which never changed, the predictable keys were dead giveaways that greatly helped them break the codes in future messages."

"Wha—what's this got to do with 'the Emperor is a fink'?"

"Is that something one might expect to use as a key for one of your messages?" the Cat-Lord asked.

"Of course not!" he indignantly shot back.

"Not even the Princesses would guess something like that, correct?"

"Of cour—" Tail Feather's reply cut off at the implications he had just admitted.

"You guys consider yourselves warriors, right?" the Cat-Lord questioned him, and the sudden change of topic dislodged Tail Feather's mind for a moment.

"Well, yes," he admitted.

"And your reputation is important to you, as well as honor as a high goal for your people, correct?"

"Yes. Why shouldn't they be?" Tail Feather demanded.

"No reason they shouldn't," the Cat-Lord replied. "It's just that, thanks to some friends I have back home, I've had the opportunity to meet a species of warriors currently plying the stars. They, too, hold personal and professional honor and reputation with extremely high regard. As warriors, I wouldn't put it past the Klingons to be a fair challenge for your people.

"But among their close personal friends, even those of high rank, they still tossed playful insults at one another. And the only reason those that did got away it was you can't even become a close personal friend to them unless you could beat the shit out of him or he you. But let someone who wasn't one of their friends say the same words and you'll see a fight to the death before the speaker has finished delivering the comment.

"It occurs to me that such playful insults traded among friend would make good keys that would be difficult to guess," the Cat-Lord finished.

"That's—uh—I suppose that would be a wise move," Tail Feather admitted with distain. "It's just not the sort of thing one normally does."

"That's perfectly understandable," Lady Panthera said. "But if one wishes to preserve one's secrets, those are the sorts of steps one must take."

"Speaking of secrets," the Cat-Lord began, "isn't it time one particular secret was shared with a dear and close personal friend of yours? There is a little matter I've learned about and if it was in my ability, I'd help in any way I could in heartbeat. Unfortunately, it's beyond my capabilities. She, on the other hand, just might have information and the resources you need."

"What are you talking—?" Tail Feather began.

"Your egg problems," Lady Panthera cut in. Tail Feather's eyes grew wide as his irises shrunk to dots. "Do you consider Celestia your friend?"

"NO! WE CAN'T!" Tail Feather recoiled, horrified at the suggestion.

"Who AM I, Tail Feather?" the Cat-Lord angrily rounded upon him.

"Ca—Cat—Cat-Lord!" Tail Feather squeaked in panic.

"And what does that mean to you?" Lady Panthera snarled into his face, making Tail Feather nervously gulp.

"Tha—that he's our god," Tail Feather said, wincing, hoping he reply was the correct one.

"Then you must, Tail Feather!" the Cat-Lord scolded him. "If you consider me to be such, then you must because I'm ordering you to! Your species is about to collapse! Worse, if what Gustav told me is true: that if word leaks out to your general population, you won't have to worry about the bad hatchings to end your people. They'll take their end by their own claws and do so by launching a suicidal war against your neighbors!"

"But to speak of this to her—the pity in her eyes—she'll—"

"I've only met Celestia a few times," the Cat-Lord cut him off. "She doesn't strike me as the pitying kind. If she takes her time to respond, it's not due to 'pity'. It's more likely she's searching her own history to find a suitable answer. I suspect, with her being thousands of years old, she'll carefully think about her options, and that's a lot of memory to sift through. But when she's decided, I've witness her quickly taking action. Trust me, I've seen that sort of thing before. I've a friend back home with much the same problem as her, and he goes through the same thing when confronted by new problems—he's searching for a reference to relate to the new situation before he takes an action. If anyone here can find a solution, I'd bet on her."

"If you can't find the words, then let us speak for you," Lady Panthera told him.

Before he could respond, however, the door burst open as one of his guards rushed in, only to stop to stare in surprise at the sight of the extra beings in the room.

"It's downy!" Tail Feather yelled out, giving the code word for her to stand down. "It's okay, Thelxiope! They're on our side! What's happened?"

"M'lord," the griffon hen guard hesitantly began, still looking suspiciously at the bipedal creature and shadowcat. "Riots have broken out in the city and countryside. Word's gotten out!" she said, handing him a rolled up newspaper.

Suddenly, Pardus tensed up and turned to face slightly south of east with his hackles raised.

"Celestia! Gustav! There's trouble!" he snarled. He glared at Gustav. "It's begun!

Opening it, Tail Feather felt all his hopes crash when he saw the banner headline.

"And so … it ends," he sighed.

IN THE COURT OF THE GRIFFON KING

"SSTTOOOOPP!" a booming roar bellowed.

"By all our ancestors! There's two of him!" Celstia heard Gustav suddenly cry out. However, Celestia did not have time to wonder about whatever Ambassador Gustav was screaming.

That dragon's roar was telepathically sent! she thought in astonishment.

And at that instant, her vision clouded over.

She saw a short, bipedal creature. Like a human, but much shorter, perhaps a two-thirds their normal height. Celestia might otherwise have thought him a child but for the heavy boned bulk and waist-long full beard the creature sported. That, and the head on the hammer the creature wielded was nearly as big as his own chest.

He stood watching a holographic tactical display showing a cluster of glowing dots moving on the edge of the monitor.

"Here they come!" the being yelled.

There was a shift in the scene. This time, she saw a number of large bulbous wedge-shaped structures, each rode upon three legs, marching forward, fifty-six strong.

Another scene shift, and another of the short bipedal beings was speaking to the first she had witnessed. The first saluted and rushed off to carry out whatever orders were given to him. As the creature ran, he passed a gold dragon. A dragon who was perfectly identical to the one currently hovering before them. The dragon gave the bipedal creature a cursory glance before returning his attention back to the oncoming enemy they faced.

As they looked out, the tripod machines began topping a low ridge of a hill across the valley before them.

The scene shifted once more. The forward group of tripods reached the center of the valley, holding their fire back. But then the defenders began blasting at the tripods and the tripod machines all opened fire at the same time. The tripods' weapons Celestia had seen before. The crew of the starship USS Enterprise had such like those.

The tripods' energy weapons had a much longer effective range and could do much more damage than those of the defenders. Beams lanced out to impact on the far wall of the mountains, punching holes deep into the rock face.

But the short-people had their guns hidden all about the valley. Many of them right underneath the tripods, firing point blank, with armor piercing shells. And even some of the guns were within the invisible shields of the tripod groups and managed to hit with devastating accuracy. Many, however, were outside the shields, and were easily deflected.

Now, that the invaders had an idea where the defenders were, the tripods began using their dreadful beams to blast the individual gun emplacements. They quickly cleared a path for the remainder of the advancing force, eighteen units. Four groups of four and two extra.

Celestia wasn't sure why, but she could sense the strategy the tripods were using. Somehow, their shields could only work to protect against fire from one direction at a time. But in clustered groups, the tripods could combine their shields to ward off multiple attacks.

The two isolated tripods moved to join up, but they weren't quick enough. Their shields were quickly overloaded, brought down, and the units destroyed in exploding conflagrations.

The scene shifted back to the short-person leader and the gold dragon. "Almost there," the bipedal creature muttered to himself, as the tripods advanced. "Almost--THERE!" He mashed a large red button that stood out from numerous other controls on a large metal console.

A new view, this time in a darkened tunnel, evidently a worked mine-shaft. A series of explosive charges began detonating, ripping throughout the tunnel and collapsing the roof.

The scene shifted back once more to the valley being overran by the tripods. A wide deep chasm suddenly opened up beneath the legs of the machines.

Each of the groups lost at least one unit as the ground collapsed from under them.

One unit that was almost caught by the trap just as it was about to step on the now gaping ditch. However, as it continued to advance its legs folded up underneath and it began to float across the gap, firing its weapon again. One of the blasts shot through the observation window of the defenders' command post, striking the opposite wall, and the explosion stunned everyone that wasn't killed outright. As one, all the tripods were now floating with their legs folded up beneath them, continuing to move forward.

The scene shifted to a nearby valley where several large dragons took flight alongside other types of machines. These machines, however, each had a set of large rotor blades mounted on top and piloted by much larger bipedal creatures. These new beings looked a lot like the Klingon Security Officer from the USS Enterprise.

A new view of the valley where the battle was raging and these new airborne craft cleared the ridge behind the defenders' base and engaged the hovering tripods while a pair of dragons swooped in from either end of the valley. And Celestia was astonished to see one of the dragons, a large blue lightning, was being ridden by none other than Captain Jean Luc Picard!

But Celestia had little time to dwell on that development. The instant the defenders' machines cleared the trees they were firing a combination of missiles, beam weapons and what Celestia could tell were magic staves mounted on their frames. Nearly every shot was on target, even though most of the tripods' shields stood up to the assault. Only three machines were damaged. But two of those were within the same group.

At the same time, from the hill behind the tripods, several hidden gun emplacements began firing on their rear. The battle was quickly becoming a real mess that was hard to keep track of.

However, the scene changed once more, and Celestia saw yet another valley. This one was very distant from what she had been viewing, and she could see dozens of advancing tripods marching unopposed. However, somehow, she could sense the presence of a couple of invisible figures also there. One was a normal human using magic to conceal himself. The other was a female dragon whom he was riding. Only she wasn't invisible. Her scales actually mimicked the backgrounds behind her camouflaging her not unlike a chameleon. They were watching the advancing tripods and reporting their sighting.

Before Celestia could learn any more about what was going on, the scene changed again. This time, she saw another human, wearing an odd-looking iridescent silvery helm and carrying an obsidian blade that also had an iridescent shimmer to it. And he was accompanied by a fair-sized purple dragon.

The pair peeked over the ridge they were on to look upon the valley below them. Down there, was a huge circular disk embedded in the valley floor, large enough to cover an area nearly a third of the way across the shallow canyon. A group of tripods stood nearby, as if on sentry duty.

Suddenly, the purple dragon seemed to sense a presence behind them.

The human dove to the side barely missing getting hit by a tripod's beam. At the same moment, the purple dragon fired off his breath weapon cutting through the tripods' combined shields, causing one machine to vanish with a glaring light. The human brought up his sword, and somehow, the blade shot out a blazing beam of its own at another machine.

The purple dragon leapt upon a third machine, attacking it physically as he waited for his breath to recharge. His hammering blows broke open the shell of the tripod's controller, and it was crushed by its own collapsing armor. By then, his breath weapon had recycled.

But the dragon never got the chance to use it again. The fourth tripod, sensing its comrade had been terminated, was now free to fire its weapon upon the dragon. Yarmouth and the toppling tripod both vanished in a searing flare that first ate them up in radiance then evaporated, leaving nothing.

The scene switched back to the other human/dragon pair.

"YARMOUTH! NO-O-O!" the chameleon dragon telepathically screamed, attracting the attention of the groups of tripods about. "Y-A-R-M-O-U-T-H!"

Celestia felt her heart ache at the female dragon's loss. And she knew there was nothing that could be done to save that purple dragon's life.

"Always emotion, the future is," Celestia immediately recalled the advice from one of her many wise friends when she sought help on dealing with her prophetic visions.

But how could dragons so young as this chameleon and the golds she had seen be full telepaths? she couldn't help but wonder.

She watched as the female dragon's limbs could no longer bear her weight, and the chameleon collapsed on the ground the same instant the alerted tripods fired. Their beams sizzled the air just above her back and between her wings.

Then the dragon looked at the things and Celestia gasped at seeing her eyes flared with an ominously brilliant red glow.

This dragon, Celestia realized, had just become an enraged, vicious, berserk, frenzied, pissed off killing machine. And evidently, so did the human, as Celestia knew the dragon's shock, rage, and finally, her bloodlust were now his, as well.

A human, soul-bonded with a dragon!? Celestia shuddered to think of the implications of such a thing.

The scene now went back to the defenders' devastated command center. The cavern shook from the impact of additional fire directed at them. The blast blew apart the ceiling, raining stone down upon the defenders. A large rock clipped the wheelchair of a different short-person, and he fell directly into the path of a much larger boulder.

The gold dragon leapt to protect the crippled short-person and was struck at the base of his neck by the rock every bit as large as the dragon's own torso. The impact slammed him down and on top of the dwarf.

The scene returned to the human who had been with the purple dragon. He fired his sword's blazing beam once more, disintegrating the fourth tripod. Then he looked at the spot where he had last seen Yarmouth.

"THE CAT-LORD!" Celestia heard both the man's sword and helm scream.

Living weapons!? Celestia thought, beginning to understand a part of what she had been seeing.

The final image Celestia saw in her vision was now that of another gold dragon grimly looking out upon yet another field of carnage and destruction, the aftermath of some previous battle. Only she could tell, this dragon was the very same creature that was before her! What she had just witnessed is part of this dragon's future!

Sweet Mother Faust! There're two of him! was the first thought Celestia had as her mind finally emerged from the vision. She blinked and saw that barely any time had passed during her trance. She also somehow knew that, somewhere, there existed a second, identical gold dragon to the one hovering over the potential battlefield.

And there is that title again: 'Cat-Lord'! she considered as she looked out toward him. What does it entail? And does this somehow relate to the human, Trevar?

"My children," the dragon called out. "This is not how I wish your lives to end," he sternly told them all. "I expect my children to be fighters. I expect my children to be intelligent. And you have an enemy to overcome.

"I EXPECT YOU TO FIGHT!" he angrily roared.

What is he--!? Celestia wondered, surprised by the dragon's pronouncement. Does he intend to join the griffons to attack us?

"Your enemies are FEAR, DESPAIR, and HOPELESSNESS! AND I EXPECT YOU TO FIGHT THEM

"You also have allies upon whom you can rely." the dragon went on, gesturing a wing back toward the ponies behind him. "These ponies are your allies! I expect you to seek their help in your hour of need!

"Emperor Tail Feather," the dragon spoke out once more. "Speak with Princess Celestia. NOW! Seek her aid over finding a cure for the malady attacking my children. Regain your hope and let's be finished with this stupidity.

"The rest of you: go home. All of you. This war has claimed more than enough lives today," he said, finished speaking to the horde of griffons.

At the dragon's final statement, Celestia quickly looked about and gasped in shock at seeing the activity about Luna's chariot and the stricken look on her sister's face.

Luna stood tense near the shadowcat. She was looking forward to seeing how Pardus fared in battle, but the arrival of the dragon was proving to be unnerving for everypony, herself included. Up until his arrival, the shadowcat seemed relaxed at seeing the oncoming mass of griffons. But once the dragon appeared on the scene, the shadowcat's hackles along his back and tail were raised and his wings were spread, held at the ready. From his exclamation, it implied the shadowcat and this dragon had a history.

To Luna's eyes, this dragon was young, perhaps just entering puberty. But something, aside from Pardus' reaction about him, did give her a sense of unease. How the beast just stood there, on empty air before the griffons, and not need to flap his wings to maintain his position was unheard of, for one. Furthermore was the manner of his arrival. That was no teleport that she was familiar with. Besides, dragons weren't known to employ that sort of magic. And that shockwave that hit them had shoved numerous pegasi units back several hooves and crackled the shield the shadowcat had thrown up. Lastly, was the fact this dragon was clearly a full telepath! Such was totally unheard of in dragons this young. Only those most ancient of beasts just prior to their Rituals Of Passing could achieve such power!

The beast stood before the halted griffon horde. He snapped his head about to momentarily look at the ponies aligned at the border before turning back to face the griffons.

"What!?" Pardus suddenly hissed, jerking back before looking around. "Shit!" the shadowcat exclaimed as he instantly spun about and dropped through the cloudbank.

However, Luna couldn't pull her attention from the dragon as he began addressing the griffons.

"My children. This is not how I wish your lives to end," he sternly told them all. "I expect my children to be fighters. I expect my children to be intelligent. And you have an enemy to overcome.

"I EXPECT YOU TO FIGHT!" he roared.

"SOME MEDICAL HELP OVER HERE!" Pardus roared, yanking Luna's attention toward the shadowcat who was rising back up out of the deck of the cloudbank. He was carrying Ambassador Gustav in his arms.

Luna gasped in shock and she heard Gilda scream out for her father.

"Pardus! My chariot!" Luna ordered, moving now to help. For now, the dragon seemed to be more interested in addressing the griffons. Until he was done, for good or ill, there might still be time to save the ambassador's life.

"I managed to catch him just before he hit the ground," the shadowcat told her as they moved Gustav over to her chariot. "But I'm sensing he had a massive stroke as well as a coronary."

At the shadowcat's words, Luna didn't hold much hope. Last she knew, Gustav was standing well in the middle of the cloudbank. The point at which the cloud walking magic of pegasi and griffons would dissipate was usually a point beyond any medical skill for resuscitation. But they had to try!

"Nightwing!" Luna addressed the lead thestral on her chariot's team as they laid Gustav's body in the carriage, forcing Lieutenant Scott to back further into her chariot. Gilda quickly flew over to join her father.

"I'm sending thee directly to Canterlot Infirmary. See to getting Ambassad'r Gustav to the physicians immediately!"

"I shall, My Princess!" Nightwing instantly replied saluting.

"Father! Father! Father!" Gilda cried over and over, holding Gustav's body in her arms.

"I'm sorry, Gilda, but I have to remain here," Pardus told her as he stepped back. Immediately, Luna charged her horn and sent them on their way.

Luna turned her attention once more toward the griffon side of the border. The dragon had evidently finished his speech.

"What hast hath happened?" she asked nopony in particular. At the moment, she could not discern what action the griffons were taking. They all just seemed be hovering there. However, she could make out Emperor Tail Feather advancing with his contingent of guard, but the rest of the griffon horde was mingling about as though undecided about something.

Just then, she saw a flash of light erupt beside the gold dragon and witnessed Discord joining him.

"Now what!?" Luna exclaimed.

"Wow! Now that was impressive!" Discord spoke out once he arrived beside the gold dragon. "I've always heard that herding cats was impossible, but here you've managed to actually do it! And without any chaos magic to rely upon!"

"Is there something I can do for you, Discord?" the dragon asked deadpan.

"Ah. But you have me at a disadvantage," Discord said, pouting. "Formal introductions, and all."

"I would imagine your reputation precedes you by a considerable margin," the dragon replied.

"True, there is that," Discord admitted. "Still, Discord, Lord of Chaos, Yada, Yada, at your service," he said, holding out his eagle talon.

"Dragon," the dragon answered with a bowing of his head but not reaching out to shake the outstretched limb.

"Come again?"

"My name is Dragon," Dragon stated.

"Hmmm," Discord hummed. "Rather presumptuous of you. Or perhaps your parents lacked quite a bit of imagination."

"It's my name," Dragon repeated. "Of course, you are always welcomed to challenge me for it. Be aware, however, none have yet succeeded in doing so. And despite your formidable reputation, there is no guarantee you can, either."

"Oh, I've no intention of challenging you for your name," Discord quickly replied, smiling in what he hoped would be taken as a friendly gesture.

"Which brings us back to my question," Dragon stated. "What do you want?"

"You know, it's funny," Discord digressed. "There's a particular group of my favorite type of people who like to ask that question to those they meet. Well, considering the efforts you've just put in to getting the griffons to call off their little war, I was hoping that I could persuade you to consider a little matter of what you might want: taking care of the thing that probably fired them up in the first place. After all, I'm sure you wouldn't wish a repeat of today's little party."

"And what would that be?" Dragon inquired.

"An individual by the name of Allec Reny Trevar," Discord said, holding up his lion's paw to show him.

"What is this?" Dragon hissed, snarling his lips to bare quite a lot more teeth than his two sets of interlocking tusks. Discord was startled at the dragon's reaction and looked at the image he was presenting.

"Whoops! Sorry! Wrong Allec Trevar!" Discord sheepishly exclaimed, as he used his eagle talon to collapse the miniature image of the dragon hovering there.

When he raised his talons again, it now showed the human version of Allec Trevar who was here on Equus. "This one. Him and a pair of shadowcats, who aren't really shadowcats. They're the ones who've no doubt fired up the griffons to all go on the attack. If you don't wish a repeat of this little get together, I would strongly suggest you go after them."

In the time that Discord took to swap out the images, he did consider again the irony that the Allec Trevar back on the Original Terran system was a perfect match for the creature hovering before him.

"Really?" Dragon asked incredulously. "This creature does not seem to of any great menace."

"Oh, believe me, Allec Trevar is quite formidable," Discord countered. "He singlehandedly fought King Sombra and not only soundly kicked the unicorn's tail, but with the help of his two shadowcat friends I mentioned, King Sombra got tossed into the sun! And all that was after King Sombra had killed Trevar with a first strike through his heart!"

"Did he?" Dragon challenged, cocking his head at the draconequus.

"Oh, yes," Discord responded. "You won't find Allec Trevar so easy to kill, my friend. But if you don't wish to keep having to stop all these griffons from going spastic every so often, you'd best be doing something about him and his two friends. One of which, is right over there," Discord gestured toward the cloudbank.

"I see," Dragon rumbled, looking toward the collection of ponies. "If the three of them are as powerful as you claim, it should prove an interesting challenge. However, I warn you, Discord. Should they prove to be no challenge at all, I will be greatly disappointed in your cowardliness. In which case, I might seek you out for a decent challenge!"

"Oh, believe me, you'll find them to be quite the trial," Discord promised. "In fact, they might even prove too much for yourself alone. Which is why I'm offering to assist when you attack."

"I will—consider—your request," Dragon replied.

"Jes!" Discord exclaimed with a high-pitched voice as he momentarily transformed into a small, bipedal, ugly, pink cartoon dog with and a big body, no visible neck, but with very thin, sticklike legs, and his mouth was filled with large square teeth, one of which had a cavity that had resulted in a ridiculously large hole all the way through the tooth.

"I said, I will consider your request," Dragon replied, turning to leave. "I did not say I would act upon it. That is yet to be decided. For now, I have other matters to attend to."

"Of course. How presumptuous of me!" Discord apologized, returning to normal. "How will I contact you?" he inquired.

"I will contact you should I decide to accept your request and when I am ready," Dragon stated just before vanishing in a brilliant flash of light and a sonic blast that knocked Discord back several trots.

"Huh!?" Discord exclaimed shaking his head. "Is that what everypony else experiences when I pop in and out next to them?"

"Meh," Discord muttered with a shrug before snapping the digits of his lion's paw and vanished in his customary flash and bang.

Celestia watched as Tail Feather's party advanced. The pegasi soldier officers called for their teams to standby, having seen, as she did, their approach was not an attack but a parlay. Halfway between the mysterious gold dragon and Discord, who had popped in to have a private discussion with him, Tail Feather evidently ordered his armed escort to drop back as they approached.

Arriving at the cloudbank, Tail Feather landed before her and his escort landed several lengths back.

"Greetings, Princess Celestia," he greeted with a bow. "Princess Luna and Lord Pardus," he bowed to them in turn as well as they approached to join her. "It is so very good to see you all."

"Greetings, Emperor Tail Feather," Celestia responded, returning the show of respect by bowing. "It is good to see you, too. But it is rather alarming to see your entire nation about to go to war with us."

"Fortunately for us all, that war has now been averted," Tail Feather responded with a relieved sigh. He looked back at the dragon still in conversation with Discord. "It is thanks to him, that we can have this moment of peace once more," he said, returning his attention to Celestia, not seeing both the dragon and Discord's departure.

"Emperor Tail Feather," Luna spoke up. "I regret to inform thee yond Ambassad'r Gustav hast did collapse and hast been hath sent to Canterlot Infirmary"

"What was he doing here?" Tail Feather demanded, and evidently just noticing the other griffons there. "And what are they doing here?"

"They came to help defend the Equestrians," Pardus stated.

"Ah!" Tail Feather exclaimed, smiling. "An honorable way to die! It truly warms the heart to hear we've not lost everything, least of all, our honor!

"Well done!" he shouted to the embassy staff, giving them a salute with his clenched talon hitting his chest.

"But what of Gustav? How does he fare?" Tail Feather inquired, turning back to the three in front of him.

"It's not looking good," Pardus spoke up once more. "He's suffered a massive stroke as well as a heart attack."

"But we shalt doth all we can f'r him," Luna promised.

"If you wish, we can transport you and your escort there immediately," Celestia offered.

"Yes, that would be greatly appreciated," Tail Feather replied.

With Twilight Sparkle adding her power, the three alicorns powered the mass teleport spell, taking Emperor Tail Feather and his escort, as well as the Griffon Embassy staff, and Twilight's friends to the entrance of the hospital. Pardus, however, did not accompany them.

"Emperor Tail Feather," Celestia began, "we won't impose upon you. But please come by the castle when you're able. We have much to talk about."

"If you would please, Princess Celestia," Tail Feather responded, "I would be honored if you would accompany me. You are correct, we do have much to talk about. Despite the concern I have for my ailing brother, the matters we must discuss cannot wait. It is, after all, why he's put his life in peril for."

"Emperor Tail Feather, can I come, too?" Rainbow Dash inquired. "Gida's come here to be with her father. Sh-she might need somepony…."

"Yes, yes, of course," Tail Feather responded. "If things are as bad as Lord Pardus indicated, then by all means, she'll need a friend right now. Now, more than ever. Other than myself, she only has her maternal grandfather for family should Gustav expire."

Celestia and Rainbow Dash accompanied Tail Feather, and they all were followed by his griffon honor guard at a respectful distance. They soon arrived at the reception desk and got the directions to where Ambassador Gustav was being treated. Meanwhile, Luna led Twilight and the rest of her friends back to the castle while the embassy griffons returned to their embassy.

"Princess Celestia," Tail Feather began once they were proceeding down the corridor, "I do deeply regret the scare this incident has caused. There is—was—a state secret that only I and a few trusted griffons have been keeping from the rest of our populace in order to prevent just this very thing from happening. Unfortunately, word has somehow gotten out. And that near-disaster is the result. We are all so fortunate that that—dragon—intervened."

"Of course, Emperor Tail Feather," Celestia responded. "I have been informed by the shadowcat, Pardus, of your hatching problems."

"I—I see," Tail Feather stammered in surprise. He shot Rainbow Dash a glance then addressed Celestia once more.

"Then you are aware of the severity of our situation," Tail Feather continued. "Our government has known for several generations that our species is doomed. The failed hatchings, the deformities—we—we need help, Princess Celestia. Lord Allec Trevar, Lady Panthera, and—that dragon—they've all convinced me to seek your assistance. I'm not one to beg, but I—I have to beg you!"

"Emper—Tail Feather," Celestia stopped him. "Tail Feather," she spoke once more, putting her full feelings of friendship into her voice as she brought her head close to his, "of course I'll help you. You've been my friend as long as I've known you. I've also had the pleasure of knowing dozens of your ancestors as my dear and close friends. Had I but been aware of this problem, we could've been working much sooner to find a solution. I only wish I had learned of this centuries ago.

"Unfortunately, I don't believe I personally have the knowledge, and I'm not sure if Luna might either, but I'll direct all of Equestria's resources to finding a cure. As today's events have shown us, time is certainly of the essence."

"Th-thank you, Celestia," Tail Feather whispered, returning the gesture so their foreheads connected. "I—I've no doubt this—this same worry I have been holding is what has struck down Gustav. You are correct. They are correct! I should have sought your help long ago. Had I done so, Gustav might not be fighting for his life this very moment."

A few more steps brought them to a waiting area outside the Intensive Care Unit, where they saw Lieutenant Scott and Gilda. The griffon was nervously pacing about while the human female looked forlorn as she sat in a chair.

"Lieutenant Scott?" Celestia inquired, surprised by her presence.

"I'm in trouble again, aren't I?" she asked, obviously nervous.

"That was a very close call," Twilight Sparkle spoke up as they left the hospital to walk down the streets.

"Forsooth," Luna acknowledged. "But the arrival and actions of the dragon wast quite puzzling. I has't nev'r seen his like ere."

"He appears much like a dragon that had been seen in the outskirts of Ponyville the past few days," Twilight Sparkle cut in. "He might even be the same dragon."

"Is yond so?" Luna inquired. "What can thee bid me of yond encounter?"

"I only saw him in passing," Twilight said. "But he evidently had rescued several foals from a pack of timberwolves in the Everfree. A little while after I saw him, a zebra friend who lives there had come rushing to my castle, having been chased out of her home by the same dragon.

"But the most disturbing thing was an encounter Rarity and Spike had with him," Twilight stated.

"Oh, yes!" Rarity spoke up. "It was the most horrid thing, ever!" The fashionista then proceeded to regale the night princess with a vivid, if a rather edited, description for the listening audience of the gold dragon's series of escalating fights with four other dragons as the troupe proceeded into the castle to settle in the princesses' dining hall where Princess Luna had the staff serve a light tea for her guests.

Throughout the telling, Luna stayed silent, save for a question here or there as she asked for clarification. But for the most part, she listened with a thoughtful look on her face as she absorbed the details of the story.

"This tale thee spake of is alarming by itself," Luna said at the conclusion of Rarity's account. "'Tis lacking valor enow yond this dragon seemeth to uses magic of a form of which We're unfamiliar, and if 't be true thy report is accurate, t bode coequal moo problems than those powers We has't seen him employ so far.

"And, yet, he didst defuse the griffons' war ere t couldst ignite. A creature of evil would not hesitate to fan the flames of destruction. We doth not knoweth if 't be true he is friend, foe, 'r something else entirely."

"Then what are we to do about him if he shows up again?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"We can only wait and see," Luna replied.

"I hope your medical tech is further advanced than that of my world," Lieutenant Scott whispered to Celestia. Gilda, who continued to nervously pace back and forth, had barely acknowledged Celestia, Rainbow Dash, or even Tail Feather. "I was on the chariot when they brought her father over. From what I overheard from that winged panther would give me little hope of saving him, even if he was on my planet. I can only hope your magic gives him some advantage that we wouldn't have."

"Sadly, I can give no assurances of that, either," Celestia lamented. "So much knowledge had been lost when the Wendigos drove us from our former home many thousands of years ago. Nearly everything had to be rediscovered from scratch, with my sister and myself only able to give tantalizing clues as to what we sought to recover because we had only seen some of those technologies but had no knowledge of how they were accomplished. Neither of us had even acquired our cutie marks when we arrived on this world."

Pardus showed up just then.

"Apologies for my tardiness," he told them. "I was unavoidably delayed."

"If you mean you were unaffected by our teleport spell, then I accept your apology," Celestia replied.

"Yes, that was the cause of some of my delay," Pardus said, smirking. "The rest was due to a communications breakdown at the reception desk when I asked for directions. I had no idea that your kind could be so good at hiding. It was most impressive demonstration, and you can take this coming from a shadowcat."

Lieutenant Scott suddenly had a coughing fit.

However, Celestia was rather puzzled. First, Trevar was a creature that seemed to be somewhat immune to most spells, including those cast by an alicorn such as she. And now, it was clear that Pardus was unaffected by a spell that was cast by three alicorns! There had to be a connection. Yet, there was a contradiction in that Sombra injured both the shadowcat and Trevar to some degree, although they seemed mostly recovered from that conflict.

"Understood," Celestia chose to respond to the shadowcat as she nodded.

At that moment, the doors to the ICU opened and Doctor Heartbeat emerged.

"I'm sorry, Gilda," he began and then paused upon seeing Celestia. "Princess Celestia! I regret to bring you the news that we could do nothing for Ambassador Gustav. He's gone."

Gilda stopped any further conversation, when roaring, she leapt for the unicorn doctor. Instantly, Pardus intercepted her and wrestled her back to the floor, and the grieving griffon immediately redirected her attack onto the shadowcat.

Pardus did not defend himself or fight back. Instead, he used his wings to restrain her as she furiously clawed and bit at him. In time, her slashing and pecking subsided until she exhausted herself and began sobbing. As she settled down, Pardus tightened his hold with his wings.

"They did all they could for him, Gilda," Celestia heard Pardus speak to her. "Don't blame the doctors. The stress of keeping the secret from your people was slowly killing your father. His injuries were just too severe."

She continued to cry into his wing shoulder, occasionally biting down on him, but he had no reaction to her attack.

"He died as he lived, Gilda," Pardus added, "with honor and courage. He stood with Celestia and Tail Feather to keep the peace! It does not matter that no one drew his blood. He stood beside us all at the border to save lives, both pony and griffon! He may not have understood when he died, but he lived to see hope return to Griffonstone! That is what matters!

"I did not have much time to speak with him," the shadowcat continued. "But I know what Trevar and Panthera saw and heard. I am honored to have known him. You should be proud of how he died! His death was worthy of a warrior of justice and peace!"

"Y-y-yes-s-s," Gilda finally hissed among her sobbing. At that, Tail Feather approached them and reached out to grasp one of Gilda's claws that were dug into the shadowcat's ribs.

"Gilda," he began. "Today, you have lost a father. And I have lost a clutch-mate. If you wish to honor Gustav's memory, I will name you his successor."

She opened her eyes to look at him.

"And I would be pleased to accept you as Griffonstone's ambassador," Celestia said, stepping over to them.

Gilda could only nod as she shifted the grip of her claws to clutch at Tail Feather's talons. She closed her eyes and buried her face into Pardus' shoulder as she continued to weep.

The following day, Celestia's chariot brought them to land by the statue of Tail Feather's ancestor, followed by his escort. Lord Trevar, Lady Panthera, and several more of the griffon guard were there to greet them.

"Welcome back, Emperor Tail Feather," the Cat-Lord greeted him.

"Thank you, Lord Trevar," Tail Feather responded. To one of the griffon guards standing near Lord Trevar, he said, "Sky Claw, find the griffon who was named in the newspaper article and have her brought here to stand trial."

"At once, Emperor Tail Feather!" the griffon guard shouted.

"Wait a second!" Lord Trevar yelled at him, causing Sky Claw to pause in confusion.

"Ensure that Adrastea is not harmed in any way when you apprehend and bring her in," Trevar ordered. The guard looked to Tail Feather, who grimly nodded before he took off to gather sufficient numbers to carry out his orders.

"Sorry about stepping on your authority, Tail Feather. But we need to discuss the evidence against her before her trial."

"Of course, Lord Trevar," Tail Feather replied, bowing. Celestia noted how Trevar's expression soured at being address before he and Panthera turned to walk toward Tail Feather's castle.

"Morning," Bill Williams greeted Lupus as the man entered the ship's flight deck. The large wolf, sitting at the main computer console rather than the pilot's seat, flicked an ear in his direction as acknowledgement of his presence. At only 150 light years from Earth after eight days of travel, there wasn't much in the way of any expected encounters, but the team had at least someone manning the Bridge in the event of surprises.

"Working on something?" Bill inquired. Considering that each of their animal companions had computational capabilities exceeding by far that of the ship's system made Lupus' use of it rather anachronistic.

"Yes," Lupus surely muttered as he continued to stare at the computer readouts. After several more moments of staring at the results, Lupus sighed and turned to look at Bill.

"Problem?" Bill asked.

"I'm afraid so," Lupus responded. "Canis and I have been going over the telemetry that Panthera and Pardus had sent us as well as the local inhabitants' own conclusions about the Equus system and the results are disturbing."

"That the Gravitational Constant isn't so constant there?" Bill asked, getting an inkling as to their concerns. The sudden data dump from Trevar's panthers the day after they left Earth was quite the surprise to all their companions.

"That's only part of the problem," Lupus admitted. "On the small scale and on the outskirts of the system, it's not so much an issue. However, as one in the neighborhood of 153 kilometers to 24 million kilometers of massive bodies, the Gravitational Factor grows alarmingly. Given that our ship's entire drive system depends upon the Constant being what it is throughout the whole Universe, entering that system could quite well put us at risk."

"How bad?" Bill asked.

"To the best of our understanding, when we get there, the efficiency of our FTL drive will grow substantially. Those areas of space where their Gravitational Const—uh—Gravitational Factor," Lupus had to pause and stress his concern, "grows to enormous levels, our FTL drive will get boosted several thousand times."

"Then why not just draw down our power to sublight speeds?" Bill asked about the obvious solution.

"Because even our sublight drive is based on the same principle as our FTL drive," Lupus steadily replied. "And depending on where we are in that system, even at the lowest scale and dialing it back to just three centimeters per second, our actual speed can get boosted to over half a million miles an hour! And even a fairly small object, like an asteroid, could cause us to go wildly out of control."

"There's no way around it?" Bill asked.

"I—wonder," Lupus said, turning back to the computer console. "As I said, we got the telemetry from Pardus on three occasions when he flew about the system. The first two instances seemed to confirm my suspicions about what the ship will do when we arrive, but that last time, he seemed to be traveling as normal."

"So what was different?" Bill inquired.

"He was … transporting a large rock that contained a hazard to be disposed of into the system's sun," Lupus replied. "For reasons of conserving power to his antigrav and tractor beam, he had to power off his inertial dampener." Lupus tied the computer console into the engineering system and waited for their compared simulation results to display. "…And that just might be the solution," he slowly stated before turning back to face Bill.

"Canis and I will need to run more simulations to confirm, but it might give us a way to reach Trevar and the others," he said.

Celestia entered Emperor Tail Feather's court and one of the bailiffs there escorted her to a seat near Tail Feather's bench. Ahead, she could see Trevar and Panthera standing by Tail Feather's bench on the other side of where her seat waited for her.

"And will you please knock off with the bowing and that 'Lord Trevar' bull-shit?" Trevar was saying as she came in range to hear them.

"At once, Lord Trevar," Tail Feather responded, making Trevar sigh.

"Or at least, offer to wipe his butt whenever he farts," Panthera quipped, earning her a slap on the back of her head from Trevar.

They stopped talking at that point as Celestia got nearer. She and Tail Feather nodded to each other as she sat on the cushion. Trevar and Panthera nodded to her as well.

Griffons continued to file into the court and take their seats in the gallery behind the docket where the accused was to be judged, Trevar stepped over to address the Emperor sitting above everygriff.

"Remember what we discussed," Celestia clearly heard the man whisper, to which Emperor Tail Feather nodded, before Trevar returned to stand beside Panthera.

It wasn't long before the court was completely filled and the noise abated as the griffons all settled.

She then watched as the accused griffon was led into the chamber by several griffon guards. She wore restraining chains about her front claws that were also binding her wings to her barrel. Also accompanying her was a griffonese whom Celestia assumed was her legal counsel.

"Adrastea," Emperor Tail Feather announced after she was guided to the docket, "has your counselor advised you as to why you are here?"

"Yes, Emperor Tail Feather," she softly replied. Celestia could see this was a broken griffon. All her pride was gone and she breathed only to keep up the illusion that she still had life in her.

"Good," Emperor Tail Feather began. "Still, I am required to ask if you understand the charges to be laid out before you."

At that point, Trevar approached the docket. Reaching out, he guided her head up so that she could look at him, whereupon he gently kissed her on the side of her beak before he released her and walked out of the court, followed by the winged female shadowcat. Their departure elicited numerous murmurings from the audience and complete confusion upon the faces of the prisoner and her legal counsel.

Celestia was certainly puzzled as well as to what their departure entailed for the court. Trevar and the shadowcats had some sort of influence on the griffons that she had never before encountered.

"Adrastea," Emperor Tail Feather began after that display, "you stand before us accused of treason to the crown, in that you knowingly revealed classified information to those who had no business to know it. Do you understand this charge?"

"Yes, Emperor Tail Feather," she replied.

"You also are also accused of infanticide based on the testimony of griffons overhearing you making statements to that effect in the establishment known as…" and here, Emperor Tail Feather paused to shoot a momentary glance at Celestia before continuing, "…as 'The Drunken Alicorn'."

Celestia had to fight to maintain her neutral features as befitting the somber setting. After all, a griffon hen's life was waiting to be ended by the executioner's axe.

"Do you understand this charge?" Emperor Tail Feather asked.

"Yes, Emperor Tail Feather," Adrastea replied downcast.

"You are finally accused of precipitating the death of Griffonstone's Ambassador to Equestria, Gustav, who was also my brother and clutchmate," Emperor Tail Feather growled. "Do you understand this charge?"

"Yes, Emperor Tail Feather," Adrastea replied, and she began to weep.

"And I am also required to ask if your advocate is prepared to argue in your defense against these charges?"

"I, Thelxiope, am, Emperor Tail Feather," the griffonese standing near the docket replied.

"Well, Thelxiope, this might be the easiest case for which you've ever earned your bits," Emperor Tail Feather said, holding up a thin folder to show the court, "as I have your defense right here."

"OBJECTION, MY LORD!" Thelxiope exclaimed over the shouts of the few griffons who weren't stunned into shocked silence. Even Celestia was stunned by Tail Feather's unprecedented announcement.

Emperor Tail Feather needed several moments to shout down the court as more and more griffons raised their voices in objection as well. But in time, the court finally settled down.

"Hear me out," Tail Feather told them. "First of all, of your guilt, there can be no question."

Several more minutes were spent shouting down the objectors before the spectators and Thelxiope quieted down. But throughout the entire display, Adrastea never once looked up.

"Adrastea, you are guilty of treason. You are also guilty of the murder of your chicks. By revealing a state secret, you did give aid and comfort to the Empire's enemy. However, what you were not aware of was that the enemy from which the purpose of that secret was not anything outside our Empire. Rather, that enemy was the Empire itself!

"Had events not transpired as they had, we might very well be an extinct species today due to your actions," Tail Feather growled at her. "Or, even if anygriff had remained alive after today, certainly this Empire would effectively be ended by now.

"The suicidal rage that overtook us all just now was what I and my—wiser predecessors, at least those predecessors who chose not to constantly go to war with our neighbors, that is. We have been fighting that enemy all our lives. We knew our species was doomed. Yet, we still held out hope.

"Only now, as we all know now, just when our hope had died, thanks to the dragon who appeared, that hope was rekindled, so that—today at least—we have at last been victorious against our enemy! But that victory, while bloodless for all of the Empire and for our neighbors—it was not without casualties. It is because of the stress of keeping that secret which you foolishly revealed that my brother died even as our dying hope was being rekindled by the dragon who stopped our suicidal flight yesterday. For this reason, his death is a direct result of your actions.

"Any one of those crimes of which you have been found guilty would earn you an appointment with my executioner's axe," Emperor Tail Feather said, glaring at her.

"Fortunately, for all of us, we griffons—as a species—have been granted a reprieve from our own collective appointment with the axe. We all heard the dragon. I will abide by his command. I have asked—Equestria's Princesses—not as our neighbors—but as our friends—to help us. They have stated they will do all that is in their power to do so.

"Ambassador Gustav was the last to die in that war," Tail Feather said, after taking time to recover his voice with a gulp from his chalice. "But he was certainly not the first. Our children. Your children are victims of our war against our own despair. For your loss, my executioner's axe—would be a mercy. It is a mercy, however, I will not grant.

"Despite your treasonous act, you did not intend harm," he added. "For that reason and that reason alone, I am sentencing you to six months in prison and two years community service," Tail Feather announced as he crushed his empty golden chalice. His pronouncement elicited surprised gasps from everyone there, including Celestia. Never in the history of the Empire had a party declared guilty of both treason and murder ever escaped the executioner's axe—even if only a few had delayed it only by being tried in absentia or by escaping jail before eventually getting caught.

The several guards surrounding the prisoner moved to take her, but Tail Feather stopped them with a subtle shake of his head.

He stepped down from the throne, carrying the crushed chalice with him as he walked up and handed it over to her.

"You have one week to get your affairs in order. Then you are to report to the guard to begin your sentence," he told her.

"This court is concluded!" he announced as he walked out of the chambers.

After the stunning conclusion to the trial, the audience began filing out, leaving the shocked hen to stand there and stare at the lump of gold in her talon. Even her lawyer and the guards left. It wasn't long at all before the chamber was empty of all save her. And it was several minutes later that she finally screamed in aguish.

"Justice tempered with compassion?" Celestia spoke up when she had finally caught up with where Tail Feather, Trevar, and the shadowcat had gathered on a balcony overlooking Griffonstone. "Not the sort of result I expected from your court. Especially with High Crimes of this nature."

"She has already suffered a far greater punishment than I could have inflicted upon her," Tail Feather muttered.

"Again, you have our gratitude, Princess Celestia," Trevar said, half-turning from where he had been looking and gave her a nod before returning to stare toward what, Celestia had no idea. "But time is of the essence. This will only be a pause in their racial suicide if a cure is not found soon."

"Neither Luna nor I are medical experts," Celestia told them, "but we do have long memories and we have picked up more than a few morsels of knowledge in the field. Plus, I've asked Twilight Sparkle to aid in our search. If a cure can be found, we will."

"What about—him?" Tail Feather cryptically inquired, upon which Trevar's sharp glare silenced the griffon emperor.

"Leave that to me!" Trevar snapped, an action that both startled and unnerved Celestia to witness it. Obviously, whatever matter they referred was well known to both of them and she suspected it had to do with the dragon who showed up and ended the last war with the griffons before it had even begun.

But that any griffon, especially one in Tail Feather's position, to be so cowed was beyond disturbing. Despite knowing the princess' ability to inflict, even given their reluctance to do so, neither Luna nor she had ever had that kind of intimidation to any griffon emperor through their long lives.

That a mere glance and a sharp word could terrorize Tail Feather, much as it had Gustav?

Just what sort of creature is this human? He has even frightened Discord such that the draconequus has declared a not-so-covert war on the man and his two shadowcat friends.

And yet … the gesture he made toward the hen on trial … clearly, he was the one who turned Tail Feather's court in her favor. And just as clearly, he wished his role in that affair to be obscure.

Why? What was his game?

Discord had warned her that Trevar might have a strong influence on the griffons, so much so that even Tail Feather would not be able to counter.

Almost—almost as if—, Celestia suddenly thought. Almost as if Trevar has his own Long Game in play. If so, then I must know his goals! And quickly!

"Tail Feather," Trevar quietly spoke up. "I have instructed Pardus to contact Twilight and pass along the information we have on the symptoms and pathologies we know about regarding your people's problem. With luck, that may help direct her on where to begin searching."

"This—this is still—," Tail Feather whispered.

"I know," Trevar replied just as quietly, reaching a hand to his shoulder and turning his head toward the griffon. Celestia could see there were tears being shed. "I know. As I told you before, I know."

Tail Feather simply nodded, and Celestia couldn't help but feel for him, what he must be going through. But this mystery of the human and his influence over the griffons—what is that doing to Tail Feather's soul? To have such a creature as this controlling them?

Who is he? And what does he want?

ᶘ♫₰∑€₰﴿♪ﻼ

Author's Note

Very short sex scene near the end. Text is colored if you wish to avoid.

ᶘ♫₰∑€₰﴿♪ﻼ

The day following Adrastea's trial, Trevar woke to find the morning in Griffonstone was a stormy one, which mirrored his mood. There was an uneasiness that he felt and he just couldn't put his finger on the reason for it. But whatever it was bothering him, it didn't seem to be reflected in Panthera as she, more or less, cheerfully woke on her side of the bed. But that didn't mean she hadn't quickly noticed Trevar's unease the moment she looked at him.

'Another disaster averted,' she telepathically sent him, in case there was someone nearby eavesdropping on them, 'the cause of which was satisfactorily dealt with. And no one is the wiser as to the manner of your interference in the resolution. So what's troubling you?' she inquired.

'I don't know,' he responded as he entered the ablution chamber of his quarters to begin washing down before bathing. Much like Japan, the griffons kept a filled heated tub of water for soaking after showering. 'But I can't help be feel we're missing something.'

The shadowcat prepared his meal while Trevar continued his business, silently brooding in his own mind over whatever the problem was. After all, she understood Trevar better than he understood himself.

Her mouth watered as she worked, revealing only slightly how envious she was in that she no longer needed sustenance to keep going. But the available food choices she was fixing for him reminded her of the pleasures of the tongue. And it wasn't like she couldn't enjoy flavorful food whenever she wished, but it would certainly be a waste of a perfectly good meal for her or Pardus to eat anything.

The heaps of salmon she cooked was seared to perfection, bathed in lemon juice and liberally garnished with olives, spinach and capers. As a balance to the main dish, she made a fruit salad composed of chunks of pineapple, strawberries, oranges, kiwi, blueberries, and raisins, as well as a serving of pasta noodles. And it greatly intrigued her that this world even had such foods, completely identical to the same types of items from Earth.

Just as she was finished setting the dining table, she heard Trevar getting out from the large bathing tub. But a sudden, throaty roar from him alerted her to danger and she rushed to join him.

Bursting through the door, she was confronted by an image of a Vorlon standing opposite the chamber from a naked Trevar, who had just emerged from the tub.

"ᶘ♫₰∑€₰﴿♪ﻼ (If you go to Equestria, you will die)," the being told Trevar.

"If you don't explain yourself right now, 'Ambassador Kosh', it's you who will die!" Trevar growled. "And don't think for a second that I can't seriously fuck you up!"

'Hold up a second!' Panthera sent him as she began looking about, scanning the area. 'It's a projection! I'm looking for the source!'

"ᶘ♫₰∑€₰﴿♪ﻼ (If you go to Equestria, you will die)," the image of Kosh repeated before fading away.

"Any idea of what that was about?" Trevar asked, visibly spooked.

'It was a holographic projection from outside the room, but I can't trace from where it was coming,' Panthera replied. "I'll be right back," she said before runn out of the ablution chamber and fly out through the windows of their quarters into the open air about the castle.

"Chrysaetos tells me we've dropped out of warp," Sherry Williams addressed her husband as she and Yoko Trevar entered the dining lounge, accompanied by one of Sherry's golden eagles and Yoko's two large cobras.

"Canis and Lupus are testing out a theory," Bill replied, not looking up from the pad he was reading as he was simultaneously eating his dinner. "We should be here for a few hours before we're back underway."

"So we've been told," Naga, Yoko's male cobra said. "We've run the numbers Pardus sent us and there's just no way around the impact the altered G-Constant will have on our travel. It would seem the effect will cause us to fly at thousands of miles an hour even at the lowest possible settings."

"My guys agree," Bill said, still eating. "That's why they're testing an idea that they hope will fix it so we can pick them up."

"I can't wait until we're on our way back," Sherry said. "Why didn't you tell me we were headed for Orion?" Bill blinked and looked up at his wife.

"We—uh—told you we were headed for the Horse Head Nebula," he slowly said. "Where did you think that was? And—what's so special about Orion?" he asked.

"Duh! The Orion Nebula, hun!" she responded. "I've always wanted to get a close up view of that!"

"Uh—honey, the Orion Nebula is just one small hole punched in the dark cloud that lies behind the entire constellation," Bill explained. "The Horse Head is just another small hole in another part of the dust cloud."

"So?" Sherry asked. "So how much of a diversion would it be for us to swing by there on our way back?"

"I dunno," he said shrugging his shoulders. "I'll check with Canis."

'Hey Canis,' he telepathically sent. 'Sherry wants to know how much of a diversion it would be to swing by the Orion Nebula on our way back to Earth after we pick up Trevar.'

'It shouldn't be much,' the huge wolf replied, calling up the navigational display. 'Okay, diverting to the heart of the Orion Nebula upon leaving our target—is showing up—about 175.656 light years on a bearing of roughly 25.78 degrees away from what our course back to Earth would be. It would only add about 19.656 light years to our trip—wait a second—what the fuck!?'

"What's wrong?" Bill demanded out loud as he telepathically sent while jumping to his feet and running for the door. He had never heard his companions speak like this unless there was a real emergency. The others, upon seeing and hearing this, all gave chase.

'This can't be right!' Canis exclaimed.

"Canis! Report!" Bill yelled, rushing for the ship's elevator.

They didn't get a reply until the elevator reached the Bridge level and they entered the control center at a run.

There, they saw the wolf pacing about the hologram display showing the expanse of space between the Horse Head and Orion Nebulae, a large number of stars on one side of the display, and the roiling dark cloud of the Greater Orion Molecular Cloud Complex filling the other side of the volume.

"Canis! What's the matter?" Bill shouted.

"There's way too much fine detail here for the data that was contained in the Gaia star mapping project!" Canis complained as she continued pacing about the image. "And the error estimates for the locations of star systems are far too small, as well!"

At that moment, a command from the timberwolf directed the image to zoom in on the Equus system hidden deep inside the Horse Head Nebula they were supposed to be headed for.

"This map has the Equus system's error estimate just under a thousand times the error estimate we got from Panthera and Pardus," she complained.

"Is this a bad thing?" Sherry inquired.

"The Gaia data's error factor at this distance is supposed to be well over a million times this data!" Canis growled, sitting down to glare at the display. "Of course it's a 'bad thing', because I don't know where this shit is coming from!"

"What about the rest of the navigational data?" Bill asked. Canis blinked and the holographic map zoomed out to encompass the entire Milky Way Galaxy. She stared at it for several moments before her ears perked up.

"This data is getting overwritten even as we speak!" Canis announced.

"Overwritten!?" Bill exclaimed. "From where?"

Canis froze for a few moments more before she suddenly shot back to her feet.

"From our base!" she snarled.

"What!?" they all exclaimed.

"Has somebody broken in?" Bill demanded.

"No—no sign of intrusion," Canis replied. "This is coming from our computer systems. And no, it's not a hacking job, either. It's—it's—from a number of other secure sub-space links."

"From who? Gary Seven? Guinan?" Bill asked, puzzled if just a little bit relieved by the news.

"No—not their signatures," Canis responded, sounding rather puzzled herself. "It's Panthera and Pardus' codes. But it's coming from eighteen separate sources and none of them are from the Equus system!"

'Okay, I think we've got a solution to the Equus gravity problem,' Lupus took that moment to announce.

'I don't like it! No sign of what caused that projection,' Panthera sent to Trevar as she finished her last sweep about the castle grounds before turning about to head back to their room. 'It's a good thing you didn't go into full battle-mode when it made its appearance. We have no idea of who that was and they might have started connecting the dots between you and the dragon.'

'The fact I recognized it as Kosh from Babylon 5 was the only reason I didn't,' Trevar replied as Panthera came in through the window and dropped her cloak. 'Whoever made that projection knows something of Earth culture. Aside from us and Lieutenant Scott, there's no one on this world who should know anything like that!'

'Or have the technology to make that sort of projection,' Panther replied in agreement. 'Although, their magic might allow someone to pull it off. But there's still the question of how someone would know anything of that TV show.'

'Except perhaps that Discord creature,' Trevar pointed out as he sat down to eat. 'He's certainly got a motive to pull something like this, and the ability. The only unknown is how much he knows of Earth. Of course, with this world having tech like those warp coils in that castle, there's really no reason to assume they don't know all about our world.'

'And the bitch of it is, with every catbird in the city knowing you're this 'Cat-Lord' creature, we can't stay to look for any answers,' Panthera complained.

'Don't sweat it,' Trevar replied, working on the assorted fruit salad. 'I'm sure if 'Ambassador Kosh' could find us here, he'll be able to find us anywhere on this planet.'

'True,' Panthera acknowledged, twitching her whiskers as she glared at the view beyond the window.

Later, they met with Emperor Tail Feather in the chamber behind the throne room.

"Lord Trevar, I'm writing a message to Gilda," the griffon emperor said when they arrived. "Could you please convey it to her?"

"Of course," Trevar replied. "It would be our pleasure."

"Thank you, Lord Trevar," he said, resuming his writing.

"Gilda was with us when Panthera and I explained the workings of the Enigma machine and how the messages should be encrypted," Trevar stated while Panthera assisted by laying out the selection of rotors to be used and preparing the machine's steckerboard for the first encryption layer.

"We're certain they both understood the importance of frequently changing the keys and the order of the encryption layers to ensure security. But just to be sure, Panthera and I will explain the process again to her when we arrive," he finished.

"That's good," Tail Feather said as he finished the draft for the message he intended to send. He read over the finalized draft as he waited for the ink to finish drying. Satisfied with what he read, the griffon emperor then consulted his notes made when his visitors had instructed him on the encryption procedures.

First thing he needed to do was to settle on how the reply key should be encoded, configured with its own encryption, and inserted into the outbound message. After that, he needed to think about the padding that would go into the message, the purpose of which was to confound the ponies' efforts to intercept and decode the messages.

"Lord Trevar," Tail Feather inquired, "would using references to a set of books be an acceptable means of conveying the key codes?"

"So long as she has access to the same set of books and knows how you're using those references to convey the information, of course," Trevar replied.

"Good," Tail Feather said, adding some notes he wanted to convey to Gilda.

It didn't take the griffon emperor long to encrypt the message through its various layers and roll up and seal the completed scroll. After placing the scroll into a diplomatic pouch, Tail Feather handed to pouch over to Trevar as they all left the decoding chamber. Trevar waited as Tail Feather secured the room from potential intrusion, then they set out to leave for the courtyard where Celestia had indicated she would be waiting for them.

"Are you sure I can't persuade you to stay, Lord Trevar?" Emperor Tail Feather asked as the man stepped aboard Celestia's chariot.

"I'd like to, but there are things I need to take care of at my house," Trevar told him. "I will try to come to visit more often. I'm becoming rather fond of you cat-birds," he said, grinning as he reached out to ruffle the feathers on Tail Feather's head.

"Any time, you're welcome here," Tail Feather replied, grinning as well as he worked the talons of his left hand to set the feathers to lay properly again. "Have a safe flight, and a safer return, Lord Trevar!" the griffon said, saluting with a thump of his fist to his chest.

"Good huntings, Emperor Tail Feather," Trevar replied, saluting in kind before turning to brace for the take off.

The pegasi guards quickly had them airborne and Trevar settled against the chariot's railing as they flew, giving as much room to the alicorn princess as he could, while Panthera flew gracefully alongside.

"Was your stay in Griffonstone a pleasant one?" Celestia asked, being the first to break the silence that had settled on them after their departure.

"Hmm?" Trevar grunted in response. "Oh, yes. Quite pleasant. Quite pleasant, indeed," he said after a few moments. Then he added, "To top it all off, I had a visit from a Vorlon earlier this morning. It said I would die if I went to Equestria."

"WHAT!?" Celestia exclaimed.

"Funny thing about prophesies," Trevar went on as if nothing in her reaction was unusual, "is that they can be so obscure at times. I mean, if it weren't for being more than a few days late, I might actually have reason to be worried for the warning, if you know what I mean?"

Panthera facepawed.

"Good morning, Gilda," Pardus greeted when he entered the new ambassador's office. "How are you holding up?"

"As well as I can be, given that my father is dead," she grumbled. "But at least you have the decency to not rub my beak into it by addressing me as 'Ambassador Gilda', as so many have been doing of late."

"Well, with all the time spent with my sister, I certainly consider you a friend first," Pardus replied. "In addition, most of my encounters with your father was by seeing him through Panthera's eyes. What I did see of him, I have to conclude he was a fair and honorable soul, but greatly stressed by what he saw looming for your people's future. I do wish we had more time to have gotten to know him."

"Thank you," she gratefully said. "I just wish my last conversation with him wasn't an argument."

"I acknowledge that I wasn't there, but Panthera was," Pardus said, cocking his head at her in confusion. "From what she observed, your last time with him was when she and Trevar taught you both about the Enigma encryptor. There wasn't any argument during that meeting."

"Oh, uh, no," Gilda bashfully responded. "It was just before that, on the morning you all fought King Sombra. That was when he finally informed me about just how dire the situation was regarding our eggs and the deformities of our hatchlings. I know now that I have been a fool in not allowing the Cat-Lord—or—you—to breed me."

"Even as you still don't wish to do so with us?" Pardus challenged, tilting an ear toward her. "That sounds nothing less than an attempt to guilt trip you into mating with us. As I said, I still consider Gustav to have been an honorable griffon, but the stress of your situation no doubt caused him to make mistakes. That was one such mistake," Pardus said as he stepped forward and reached out a wing to lightly touch her shoulder.

"Trevar and I would both be honored and pleased for the chance to mate with you," he sternly said. "But not at the cost of your guilt forcing you to breed with us. We will not do so if you truly don't wish it."

The subtle and rapid jerking of her eyes conveyed to the shadowcat just how nervous the griffon hen was feeling at the moment.

"Take your time to think about it," Pardus said, cutting into her mental calculations. "Really think about it. If you truly don't wish to mate with us, there's no reason to allow the ghost of your father to talk you into doing this. Neither Trevar nor I will be disappointed in you—although we might regret the lost chance," he said smirking. "You are a magnificent creature, after all. But in no way, will we be disappointed in your decision. Do so only because it's what you want. Not your father. Not me. Not Trevar. Only you."

"I—I'll—have to think about it," Gilda finally replied.

"That all that we ask," Pardus said, pulling his wing away from her. "Of course, Panthera's still ready and willing at any time."

"Yes," Gilda responded, blushing.

"Besides, it was rather silly of your father to have entertained thoughts that Trevar and I can have any impact on fixing your species' problem, even if we could impregnate any of you."

"True," Gilda admitted. Then she perked up. "Oh, and I'll have to find someone to replace me as a guard for his home!"

"Don't worry about that," Pardus told her. "That issue has already been resolved. In the meantime, I suggest that we go to the princesses' castle to talk with Luna about how to allocate resources into searching for the cure to your reproductive problem."

"Yes, that does sound like a good idea," Gilda admitted, taking the lead out of the room. "I understand Princess Celestia will be back from Griffonstone later this afternoon."

"That's my estimate, too," Pardus said as they walked. "Panthera and Trevar are flying back with her as we speak."

"Okay, good news first," Lupus began when he arrived in the Bridge. "It's a really good thing none of us ever tried using our inertial dampeners when flying on any of the ships! Otherwise, somebody would've punched a hole in the ship at warp speed and messed up everybody's day!

"And even using just the antigravs to maneuver, we need to be careful. There's a slight uptick in our speeds that gets more extreme as the ship goes into higher FTL rates. So far, it looks like we've been lucky to have been instinctively dialing down the power whenever we've used them."

"What's the bad news?" Bill asked.

"As I said, there's a slight uptick in our speeds using just antigravs," Lupus replied. "All I could tell is the uptick isn't linear. As Canis adjusted the ship's speed for my test runs outside, the best curve fit I could find was exponential. However, since we were doing the tests under light speed, for safety purposes, I can't tell exactly what the exponential formula is supposed to be.

"At least the curve fits don't seem to be as extreme as that beast of a formula that Trevar sent for the static warp bubble around that system. But the curves I'm seeing are definitely related to those values. I'm hoping it's some root value of it," Lupus finished.

"So we have to shut down the inertial dampeners when we arrive at the edge of the Equus system?" Bill asked, astonished.

"Most likely," Lupus agreed. "With luck, we can make it a gradual drawdown from when we cross the outer edge until we get to the regions with the higher Gravity Factors. But yes, it's definitely going to make a rough ride all the way in and out."

"That means we'd better start going throughout the entire ship and look for anything that needs to be braced or secured long before we get there," Bill told everyone. "It'll be a hell of a lot less work for us if we get on this right now."

"Okay, yeah, that's a bit more serious than where the navigational updates are coming from," Canis grumbled. "But I'm still making the call to Panthera and Pardus about this."

"So… Vorlons really are a thing here on Equus?" Trevar asked as Panthera dispelled the image of the creature they had met standing on Trevar's outstretched palm.

"They were, over a thousand years ago," Celestia admitted. "They're all gone now. Creatures of Order, along with the Creatures of Chaos, the Shadows. Two of the First Ones—at least of this itineration of the—" She suddenly paused as if she realized she was about to say something that she shouldn't. But then she continued with, "Well, let's just say they outstayed their welcome here."

"What happened?"

"They—each—tried to impose their philosophies here," Celestia spoke harshly. "This is a world of Harmony, with neither Order nor Chaos in control, but rather a balance of the two," she began to explain after an evident pause to reign in her emotions. "The Vorlons approached me while the Shadows tried to entice my sister to their side. At first, they each tried to be charming, but when it was clear what they were trying to do, I banished them both. At first, I thought I had removed them all, but handful of Shadows managed to stay behind and complete their conversion of my sister to their way of thinking."

"Oh?" Trevar inquired. "What were they doing that made you decide against letting them stay?"

"For one, they were both using genetic modifications and emplanting biomechanical devices first to enhance and then to ensure their converts stayed devoted to their way of thinking," Celestia told him. "When they converted my sister, I was forced to assume her Elements of Harmony. As I wasn't attuned to her set of Elements, I could not cure her in the time that I was able to wield them. The best I was able was to use them to banish her to the moon for a thousand years. Curing her would have to wait until I was able to find a number of remarkable fillies who embodied the principles of each of the Elements and prepared for them to meet."

"So, you evidently missed some Shadows," Trevar stated, wondering if his assumptions about Discord's involvement had been in error. "Is it possible you might have missed some Vorlons, too?"

"In regards to the Shadows, it was quite easy to have missed some of them when I banished the rest," Celestia admitted. "They are quite adept at sneaking about, after all. I know there are a few still here as I've needed to weed out their works here and there over the centuries. The Vorlons, however, were never into such games. It's unlikely any of them have stayed. It's just not their mode of operation."

"What about Discord?" Trevar ventured to ask. "Was he likely influenced by the Shadows?"

"Discord!?" Celestia asked, laughing. "I'm more inclined to believe he influenced them! Discord was Discord long before the Shadows or the Vorlons ever showed up."

"We do have to consider it might not have been a real Vorlon," Panthera spoke up. "After all, it was only a projected image of a being in an encounter suit. And who knows what, if anything, was inside it?"

"True," Trevar admitted.

"So, how is it do you know about them?" Celestia inquired.

"There were—stories of them—on my world," Trevar replied, evading as much of the details as possible.

'The gig's up if she ever asks Lieutenant Scott about them,' Trevar sent to Panthera, who smirked in response.

"Still, as I said, it's odd that it would've singled me out to deliver that kind of threat," Trevar complained.

"The Vorlons would not necessarily threaten you," Celestia countered. "I have known them to issue warnings when a potentially dangerous path we have chosen was a risk to their plans. This would be their way, even if it was some other agency that would be the one to attack."

"A fair point," Trevar acknowledged.

"Still, we should take precautions," Celestia pointed out. "A warning out of the blue like that should not be taken lightly."

"Well, as you know, I'm not quite so easy to kill off," Trevar said, grinning. "I'm inclined to let whatever will happen come. I'm rather curious to see what sort of attack it will be."

"Yes, considering how easily you shook off King Sombra's attack, I could understand your lack of concern," Celestia complained. "Speaking of which, how did you survive?"

"I didn't," Trevar replied flippantly. That got a raised eyebrow from the alicorn.

"And to be honest, I've no idea how I was able to heal from getting speared like that. I felt it pierce my heart from several directions, and it hurt like all kinds of fuck, let me assure you. Normally, that would've been the end of me right there. All I know is, that some time ago, things that would normally kill any other human just doesn't ever finish me off. I do die from such injuries—I just don't—stay dead," Trevar finished with a shrug.

"And is this why the griffons call you 'Cat-Lord'?" Celestia asked.

"To be honest, I haven't a clue as to what that's about," Trevar told her. "I've never even heard of the term before coming to this world."

"Good morning Princess Luna," Gilda greeted when they entered the office to which they had been escorted.

"A valorous morn to thee, Ambassad'r and Pardus," Luna responded, looking up from the documents she was studying on her desk. "How may We beest of service to thee?"

"We understand that Princess Twilight Sparkle has taken the lead in searching for the cure for the griffons' reproductive problem," Pardus spoke up. "While the medical sciences are not my field of expertise, I am adept at quickly assimilating and sorting through information. I was hoping I could assist in a search for the cure."

"And I would like to try to help as well,"

"Yond would beest an immense holp, forsooth!" Luna exclaimed. "Thanks to thee both!"

"It is I who should be thanking you, Princess Luna," Gilda responded. "I was not even aware of how severe the situation was for our people until just before Father died. We should have sought some way to find a cure long ago!"

"Woulda, shoulda, coulda," Pardus snarled. "The point is, no matter what reason it wasn't done, we're doing it now. We have little time before the reprieve we were granted ends. The whole world is a ticking time bomb, with the fuse still lit in the Griffon Empire. Only this time, everyone on the planet knows it, not just the few who were keeping the matter a secret!"

"Uh—Lord Pardus?" Gilda asked, stammering in surprise. Even Luna looked perplexed and shocked.

"I'm sorry, but in situations where time is short, I tend to be a creature of action," Pardus contritely explained. "Rather than standing about thanking each other over and over, I'd rather be looking for the cure already. If we must spend so much time patting each other on the back for our willingness to be of help, let us at least be on our way while we're doing so." The natives were both left blinking at the shadowcat for such a blunt pronouncement.

"HA! HA! HA! HA!" Luna suddenly burst out laughing. "So right! As thee hath said, alloweth us beest on our way while we 'pat ourselves on each other's backs'!" she said, taking the lead out of the office. "We shall guide thee to whither Twilight Sparkle is engag'd in the search"

"I think it best if we start at the other end and work our way toward you, Twilight Sparkle," Pardus explained after Luna left them with her. "We'll meet somewhere in the middle, and just to ensure you haven't missed anything, I'll scan the books you have already looked through."

"But won't that mean there's a chance you'll miss something?" the purple alicorn protested.

"There certainly is, especially as I have very little idea of what I should be looking for," Pardus admitted. "However, as Panthera and I demonstrated in your library, I can scan everything and function as a sort of a combined Google search engine and Wikipedia."

"'Google search engine'? 'Wikipedia'? What are those?" she asked.

"Trevar told us of sophisticated machines on his world called computers, which can not only do immense numbers of calculations in a very short time period, but can also sort and isolate any type of data strings when given the correct search parameters," Pardus explained. "Wikipedia, he explained, is a repository of information from all over his world, a collection of encyclopedias and reference material from nearly every country on his planet."

"Every country?" Twilight inquired.

"Almost two hundred," Pardus replied. "Each with their own cultures, languages, histories, and political viewpoints. So, essentially what I'll be doing here is absorbing all the information in these books, scrolls, and tomes into my mind."

"But how does absorbing all that knowledge help us, if you don't know what to look for?" she countered.

"Because you'll know what to look for," Pardus told her. "Allow me to show you. Think of a specific subject that you know is contained within your library, and speak it out to me."

Twilight thought for a moment then asked, "What can you show me about Svengali-Machiavelli spin schemer manipulators?"

Nearly instantly, Pardus had several items isolated and projected the pages from the books most relevant to what she had asked for. The purple alicorn gasped at seeing the information pop up so quickly.

"It took me four days to dig up all of that!" she exclaimed.

"As I said, I can search for the data you ask for, even if I don't completely understand what I'm looking at," Pardus told her. "So long as you can formulate the query, if it's in the material I scanned, I can find it for you."

"That—that's—amazing!" Twilight exclaimed. Then she appeared to remember what they were supposed to be doing without prompting from the shadowcat. "Yes, you're perfectly correct. You should begin at the other end of the library, and we'll work toward each other. Do you need any assistance?"

"Since my—telekinesis—is still on the fritz, I've asked Gilda here to pull out the books and scrolls and flip the pages as we go down the aisles," he said. "A glance is all I'll need to scan each page. I know it's going to take us time to go through all these, but we'll be back down this way well before you get very far toward us," Pardus said with a parting grin as he led Gilda down the aisle.

'Panthera! Pardus! Come in! Respond, please!' Panthera heard the call from Canis as she flew alongside the chariot holding Trevar and Celestia.

'I've got this, Pardus,' she sent to her brother, and then to Trevar, she reported, 'I've got Canis calling us. I'll tie you both in.'

'I'm here, Canis. Go ahead,' she sent to the Timberwolf.

'I just noticed some updates that have been going on in the ship's navigational maps,' Canis began. 'They're being updated, even as we speak. What's weird is they've got your and Pardus' signature on the signals yet they're coming from at least eighteen different locations before getting relayed through our base. You know anything about that?'

'Ah,' Panthera responded. 'There's no need for concern, Canis. If you recall, the three of us took a ship out a few months back to bake in the warp coils for loading at seven point one-one-five.'

'Yeah. You clocked about eight fifty light years over forty-eight days.'

'Well, to be honest, it wasn't a continuous run out and back,' Panthera admitted. 'While we were out there, we took the time to replicate copies of the Hubble and James Webb telescopes, ganged them together, equipped them with subspace transceivers, and set them up in three octagonal plane arrays that were mutually perpendicular to each other, centered on Earth.' She added the specific telemetry data values of each of the satellites they had positioned, set about 28.9 lightyears out surrounding the Solar System.

'…' Canis sent as dead air. 'Good God!' he exclaimed after evaluating the numbers. 'At just one arcsecond, you're able to map nearly everything within ten million light years to within a few hundred AUs!'

'Well, only those items that are bright enough to be visible to the telescopes,' Panthera sent with a mental shrug of indifference. 'It's no big deal.'

'No big deal!?' Canis exclaimed. 'If you're ever able to get those telescopes to process parallaxes to the resolution of Gaia, you'd map out every single star in the observable universe!'

'Except, not even the James Webb can make out individual stars at galactic distances. And even within the Milky Way, we can't see any stars beyond the galactic core in visible light because of the intervening dust clouds. So we have to rely entirely on the infrared telescopes' functions for anything out that way.'

'I'm—I'm—I don't know what to say,' Canis finally admitted.

'Like I said, no big deal.' Panthera sent.

'If you say so,' Canis sighed. 'Oh, by the way, on the way out to you, we realized that when we arrived, the varying Gravity Factor would play havoc on the ship's FTL and sublight drives,' Canis informed her. 'Hopefully, we've figured a way through that star system you're in. '

'Good to hear,' Panthera replied.

'Alright, now that the mapping issue is cleared up, I can report to the others that there's nothing to worry about.' Canis sent.

'Not that there was any reason to begin with,' Panthera countered. 'After all, you should've figured there was no real problem since the telescopes are sending data with our signatures.'

'You have to admit, it was rather odd to see it,' Canis grumbled.

'Not really,' Panthera replied. 'It would've been odd if we had just run straight out four hundred and twenty-five light years and back and not have anything to show for it.'

'I guess so,' Canis admitted laughing. 'Well, we're back to FTL again, so we should reach you on schedule.'

'Roger that. Panthera out.'

'Really? They call us all the way out here just for that?' Trevar asked, yawning.

'It's Bill,' Panthera replied. 'What would you expect?'

'Eh—true.'

'Pardus cutting in,' Pardus broadcasted. 'I'm here in the Canterlot library, indexing their archives. I'm going to need to spread out some of the data I've been absorbing. There's a substantial amount of "magic" formulae interlaced in their material that's not settling into normal data storage systems.'

'How much are we talking about, Pardus?' Panthera asked.

'So far, I've taken in almost half of what we processed a few days ago,' he replied.

'Roger that. Canis, you and the others better brace yourselves,' Panthera warned the ship. 'We integrated one library's worth of data that had substantial amount of the Equestrian "magic" formulae in it—trust me, it was like processing Block Transfer Computations!'

'You're going to do what?' Canis demanded.

'It shouldn't be so bad if we feed them the language lessons we got first,' Pardus stated. 'That power surge happened because we held all that data from Twilight Sparkle's library and it all got processed at the same moment once we learned their writing.'

'Yeah, that makes sense,' Panthera grudgingly agreed. 'Between the eight of us, we should be able to handle those computations.'

'If you think so,' Canis replied uncertainly.

'And if it's too much for all of us to handle, you've got the ship's mainframe to help, too,' Pardus pointed out.

With his tractor beam out of commission, Pardus was grateful for Gilda's help. Despite being hampered as he was, they still made good time on Twilight at the other end of the aisle. The first couple of hours saw them match the distance the alicorn princess had managed in since she started from at least the day before, and the next three hours had them just passing the halfway point in the aisle.

For Gilda, it must have been mind-numbing work to fly up, get book after book, fly down, flip pages, and fly back to return the volumes, only to repeat it ad nauseam. And for Pardus, it was rather boring as well, as he was never much interested in the biological sciences, and what he absorbed made even less sense when it was mixed with material that evidently applied to their "magic" or even the occasional mundane terms that were merely cultural deviations marking this world different from Earth.

But as dull as it was, he could go like this pace forever, as he had no problems about getting tired. The griffon with him, however, didn't have that luxury. And that fact made its evidence quite starkly when her stomach made quite the growl to rival many of similar vocalized sounds Pardus had experienced in his existence (as both a human and as an artificial life form).

"That sounds like a signal for a break," Pardus quipped deadpan.

"I'm very sorry, Lord Pardus," Gilda apologized.

"No need to be," Pardus responded. "I sometimes forget about how folks like you can't keep up with me and Panthera."

"'Folks like me'?" Gilda demanded.

"Slice me," Pardus ordered, offering up his right paw to her.

"Wh-what!?" she exclaimed.

"Go ahead. Slice me," Pardus said.

"I—I'm not going to do that!" she responded, to which Pardus sighed.

"Fine," he grumbled, rearing up as he unsheathed the claws of his left paw and slashed at his right arm several times in succession.

"STOP!" Gilda screamed, rushing forward to stop the shadowcat from further self-mutilating himself.

"Look," Pardus said, moving his right arm over in front her beak. "No blood."

The griffon stared incredulously at his arm and blinked in confusion. To confirm, she rubbed his limb against the lay of his fur.

"You weren't really cutting yourself?" she asked.

"I was trying to cut myself, but go ahead and cut me," he challenged.

"NO!" she yelled.

"Oh, for the love of—" Pardus growled. Quickly, before she could react, he wrenched free of her grasp, and then instantly grabbed her left hand with his right paw and forced her talons to rake his left arm.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" she screamed, yanking herself out of his hold.

"Pardus!? Gild—Ambassador!? Is anything the matter!?" came another voice as the purple alicorn and several castle guards rushed up from the far end of the aisle.

"See? No blood," Pardus said holding up his left arm before her before looking over to address the arrivals.

"No problems, Twilight Sparkle," Pardus told them. "I was trying to explain to Gilda about my makeup being of equustite rather than being like all of you."

"What? Equustite? What are you talking about?" Gilda asked in confusion.

"You should perhaps ask Princess Twilight Sparkle while we all break for lunch," Pardus replied with a toothy grin.

A short time later, the three of them sat at a table in the castle cafeteria, flanked by the four guards who had run up along with the purple alicorn. When Pardus asked the guards to join them for their meal, they all refused, insisting that it was inappropriate to do so while on duty.

"So—you really can't eat?" Twilight Sparkle asked excitedly as she continued to take notes. Gilda just looked at the shadowcat in astonishment before her untouched food.

"I can eat," Pardus corrected her as he reclined before the empty dining set. "However, I get no nutritional value from doing so. As you already know, my body runs on its own internal power supply. Any food or water I ingest would simply be incinerated. I know it is a horrible waste of a meal that could otherwise feed a starving individual, but it does allow my sister and me to avoid socially awkward situations that might arise in different settings."

"Yes. Yes," Twilight Sparkle said, nodding as she continued to scribble. "I can see how that might cause problems."

"Speaking of causing problems," Pardus muttered as he reached out a wing to smack the back of Gilda's head. "Eat, Ambassador! That is what we came here to do."

"Now you boys just can't hold Lieutenant Scott responsible for the actions of Princess Twilight Sparkle," the alabaster unicorn told the guards who were assigned to watch her.

Scott could scarcely believe her ears by the unicorn defending her.

After all, it was this creature's actions which caused the equine to get on the tall pegacor—uh—princess' bad side. That incident had resulted in the unicorn being forced to make reparations for the loss of Scott's uniform, which resulted in several more copies so she wouldn't be stuck washing the same uniform set every day and being without any clothing until her laundry finally dried.

But then, after the excitement following an attack by a bunch of insect-like ponies and a weird smoke monster that tried to murder the civilian just a few days ago, she got caught up in a mass-teleport which caused her to toss her breakfast all over this very same unicorn.

During the train ride back from the national capitol, Scott barely had any interaction with any of the creatures. She spent all her time watching the landscape go by, observing how it changed from a thickly forested mountain as the track wound about and sometime tunneled through, and quickly transitioned to relatively flattened plains with mix of smattering clumps of forests and open fields.

It had taken most of the day when they finally arrived in the small community that served as her prison.

Scott wasn't surprised that the hatted orange pony accompanied her from the train station, since that creature's home was further down the road that ran by Scott's residence. But that the other creatures also came was unexpected.

She was sure to have what little freedom that had been granted her be instantly revoked when she returned to her home. And it almost was the moment Corporal Rackorn spotted her. He shouted for his fellow guardsme—ponies, and they all rushed up to arrest her.

But then, the five ponies jumped in and argued on her behalf, reminding the guards that Scott's disappearance was due to an accident. Then they presented a scroll that evidently had come from the tall white princess that gave an accounting of Scott's actions at the griffon border during the short period of hostilities.

After Rackorn inspected the scroll, he gave a scowl at her, but waved off his fellow guards.

"How is your sergeant?" Scott thought to ask, hoping an expression of concern would also help smooth things between her and Rackorn. "I understand he was hurt when those—bug things—attacked."

That did indeed seem to be a wise move on her part, as the corporal's demeanor instantly changed to be more sympathetic toward her.

"Sergeant Silver Thorne is on the mend," Rackorn told her. "Thank you for asking about him. He should be ready for duty in a day or two." Then he addressed the five ponies that had accompanied Scott.

"Thank you for your report, ladies," he said. "Your statements and the message from Princess Celestia clearly exonerates Lieutenant Scott from any reprisals for her escape."

The five ponies then said their goodbyes and split up; the orange pony and the blue pegasus continued along the road, while the others went back into the town.

"So, you stood on the front line as the attack was going on?" Rackorn inquired.

"Well, the attack was stopped before it even began," Scott admitted. "But, yes, I was there. I felt I owed it to your nation's leaders to do what I could to help. Fortunately, for everybody, that dragon popped into the middle of everything, putting a stop to it and turning the griffons around back to their home. Nobody died—except for the griffon ambassador," Scott sadly finished.

"Ambassador Gustav's dead!?" Rackorn exclaimed, to which Scott nodded. "What happened?"

"Heart attack or stroke," she replied. "Or both, from what I overheard. As a result, his daughter was named the new ambassador by the leader of the griffons, himself. And as I understand it, the leader of the griffons is also her uncle. Your leader accepted the new ambassador immediately."

"Sorry to hear Ambassador Gustav passed away," Rackorn sadly said. "He was a very popular and well liked griffon."

"Well, the last few days have been rather trying," Scott told him. "I'd just like to go home and sleep some of this off."

"Of course," Rackorn replied. "We'll inform the griffons staying at Ambassador Trevar's residence."

"'Ambassador' Trevar," Scott muttered snorting. "I don't think I'll ever get used to hearing him called that!"

After their lunch break, the alicorn, griffon and shadowcat were returning to work in their respective sections of the library.

"No, not that one," Pardus instructed Gilda. "Next one, please."

"Are you sure?"

"Eidetic memory, along with not ever really needing to eat," he assured her with a grin. "They both come with my biology."

"Ri-i-i-i-ght," she grumbled as she pulled out the indicated tome.

But as Gilda was on her way to land, a sea-green eldritch glow suddenly enveloped the volume and yanked the binding from her grasp. Instantly, Pardus leapt for the book flying up the aisle by itself.

Grabbing it, he felt the momentary resistance of the unknown unicorn's telekinesis before it failed in competing with him and the shadowcat had full control over the manual.

"A-a-a-ah!" Pardus heard a voice suddenly yell out. "What sort of monster is that!?" just before a concussive blast knocked him back dozens of feet and rammed him into one side of the aisle, scattering numerous books and splintering shelves.

Pardus finally came to rest in the adjacent aisle. Getting back on his feet while securing the contested book beneath his right wing, he snorted as his eyes were powered up to their orange level. There was a white furred unicorn he had spotted just before the attack who was about to learn a valuable lesson on ranged attacks.

Leaping up to the gaping hole through which he had been thrown, Pardus roughly pushed through the broken and splintered shards of the paneling separating the opposing sides of the book case.

"That's 'Prince Blueblood', to you, you griffon harlot!" the same haughty voice was saying once he was in range to hear.

"Well, then, that would be 'Ambassador Gilda' back at you, Prince!" Gilda yelled.

"Ha! Now I know you're lying!" the white furred unicorn shouted. "GUARDS! TO ME, NOW!" he shouted back over his shoulder. "I know for a fact that Gustav is the ambassador from Griffonstone! And he isn't a hen!"

Oh, I should just let her go ahead and shred him for that one, Pardus cheerfully thought. Instead, twin beams of orange lanced out to drop the offending prince where he stood.

Startled, Gilda looked about, trying to discern where the attack came from.

"Sorry for ruining your fun, Gilda," Pardus said, gracefully leaping down to the floor, "but I saw him first! You can have what's left once I'm done with him."

"What's going on!?" Twilight Sparkle demanded as she and the guards from their lunch break came rushing up from behind them just as several more guards came down the aisle where Prince Blueblood evidently had come.

"We were just about to resume our work when this shithead decided to attack me," Pardus grumbled. "He knocked me through that shelf," he said, nodding back at the hole above and behind them. The look on the purple alicorn's face when she spied the damage was so worth it. Pardus continued, "and I only just got back to put him down. However, before I dropped him, I heard him claim to be a prince of your nation. Should I take care of this imposter for you, Princess? Or should we consider his actions to be an unprovoked act of war against both the Confederation of Shadowcats and our allies, the Griffons of Griffonstone?"

Twilight Sparkle grimaced. Gilda fought hard to not smile while several of the guardsponies from both teams facehoofed.

"I'll notify Princess Luna," the lead guard who accompanied Twilight Sparkle said. "Should I inform her that we're at war again?"

"NO! Absolutely not!" the purple alicorn yelled. "I'll deal with him, if you please, Pardus."

"Very well," Pardus replied. "Just so that you're aware, he's going to be unconscious for several hours."

"Thank you for that information," Twilight Sparkle responded. As she took the guards aside to give them their instructions on what to do with Prince Blueblood, Pardus pulled the book from under his wing.

"I managed to hold onto it when he blasted me," the shadowcat told her.

"I've known Blueballs for years," Gilda muttered as she took the book and began flipping the pages for Pardus. "He's always been a conceited and selfish snob. Even if he missed the news about my father, he knew who I was. This isn't just his typical antixeno bigotry, but this was excessive, even for him. I just wonder what caused this incident."

"Some jerks have to be jerks just to be jer—" Pardus started to say, but had to pause and focused on the information he was scanning.

Prince Qilin’s quarters was amazing, the little bit I saw of it as his magic carried me down the hallway. He turned on his bedroom light before dimming the glare just a bit.

"There. I want to see you." The gravel in his voice made me shiver.

"I want to see you too."

Wrapping his forelegs around me, he took my beak with his tongue then teeth as he pulled on my lower bill. He leaned down and began preening my neck, stopping at the pulse point before capturing the feathers surrounding my ear with his lips.

"Have I told you that I love this dress?" he asked as the glow of his magic unzipped it. "It's even better on the floor, don't you think?" Within seconds, it was pooled around my feet, and I was standing in front of him in only my feathers and fur. The dashing unicorn stared at me until I blushed. "Beautiful."

As his lips covered mine again, I opened for him, welcoming his tongue, greeting it with mine. He bent down and used his nose to lift me by my chest and flipped me onto my back, my wings instinctively splaying out as I fell on my spine. His muzzle then began working down my along my swollen nipples. His nose ground into my gravid belly with an urgency that was hedonistic and raw, before finally reaching my pubic bone and creating delicious friction on my clit. I cried out as his tongue deepened the kiss.

"Gilda, do me a favor and flip back to the title page," Pardus asked the griffon. "I need to confirm something."

The Effects of Several Environmental Factors on the Creation and Growth of Populations of Yvridiká ippógryfa the title page read. And just as he recalled, the abstract below the article's title conveyed the expected dry typical concise digest of the purported article.

"Flip forward a couple pages," Pardus instructed her. And there, just as he expected to find it. With his second look, now he could clearly see the point at which the hidden replacement of the book's contents was cleverly done.

"Princess Twilight?" Pardus spoke up, gaining the alicorn's attention. "Could you please look at this?"

"What's the problem?" she asked.

"Read this, and you'll see pretty quickly," Pardus said. Gilda released the book to Twilight's telekinesis, and the alicorn began reading. In just a few page turns, the look on her face soon matched the expression she previously had back when Pardus pointed out the damage to the shelving that was caused by Blueblood's attack.

"Blueblood!" Twilight growled through grinding teeth.

"If it was in my power to do so, I would let you both have him to do with as you wished," she said. "Rest assured, I will bring this to Princess Celestia and Luna's attention and ask they deliver the most severe sanctions on Prince Blueblood."

"Guards!" she yelled at the teams standing by. "Take the prince to his quarters. And when he wakes, make it clear to him it is under my authority that he is confined there until either Princess Celestia or Princess Luna sends for him."

"Yes, Princess Twilight," the lead guard replied as another of the unicorns lifted the unconscious equine with his magic.

"Oh, and one more thing," Twilight called before they departed. "He is not allowed to communicate with anypony before either of the princesses summons him. That includes using any guard to convey his messages, even to the princesses. Have I made myself clear?"

"Aye, aye, Princess Twilight!" the guard responded. Then they left.

"I'll see to it that you get access to an unadulterated copy of this book," Twilight Sparkle told them. "But I'm not sure how long it may take. Hopefully, the research paper won't be holding the one piece of information we're all looking for."

"Boy, Blueblood's really in for it now," Pardus' ears picked up one of the guards mutter to his comrades when they all thought they were far enough away to not be overheard.

In his home-away-from-the-Continuum, Q drummed the talons of his eagle hand, brooding on his latest attempt to dissuade Allec Trevar. Thanks to his owners' evolution, tracking either Trevar or his shadowcats was impossible. Fortunately for Q dropping a question here and there as he wandered about the griffon lord's castle, he was able to find out which suite in which the human and winged panther were staying.

Also fortunate for Q, the guards he had spoken to never inquired about the leathery bat wing Q sported while he was disguised as just some random griffon guard, a feature Q didn't realize he had overlooked until after he had finished projecting the image of one of those horrid Vorlons into his room—

"Uuuggh!" Q shouted, as the memory of those creatures caused him to vomit up a perfectly well-laid four course meal on a twelve-foot dining table, complete with folded napkins and eloquently positioned silverware.

Yet again fortunately for Q, he only needed to project the encounter suit of one of those nasty beings and not the actual creature! But that was still bad enough.

Looking in disgust at what had poured out of his gullet, Q snapped the fingers of his lion's paw to dispel the dining table and the items set up on it.

He considered it unfortunate, because as soon as Q had delivered the message to Trevar, the experience had forced him to depart the area immediately.

"Oh, why couldn't the Vorlons be more like those far more pleasant inhabitants of Z'ha'dum?" Q screamed as another urge to vomit suddenly came upon him.

But what Q was not aware was just how truly fortunate he was that he had been driven off by his visceral gut reactions from projecting the image of the encounter suit. As a result, his presence and departure went completely undetected when the shadowcat began searching for the cause.

Of course, Q knew that merely sending such a cryptic message like that would have no effect on Trevar. But it was still worth a shot….

Lieutenant Scott sleepily opened the door.

"Yes, Corporal Rackorn?" she asked.

"OH! It IS a human!" Scott suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice call out, the shout suddenly waking her up fully to see it was a mint-green unicorn excitedly bouncing on her hooves, alongside a bored-looking light-yellow plain pony.

"Sorry about disturbing you, Lieutenant," Rackorn apologized. "They insisted."

"Hey! Don't count me in on that," the other equine spoke up. When Scott focused on her, she saw that creature had a mane of pink and blue.

"Can we come in? Can we? Can we?" the green one started asking with an expression of — something — that Scott couldn't quite put her finger on, but suspected it would simply crush the little creature's heart if she dared to refuse.

"Ugh—Sure," Scott said sighing in defeat. "Com'on in."

NIGHTMARE RESTORED

Author's Note

Text updated on June 21, 2015--and again Dec 17, 2016 for correcting numerous error found throughout the series & fixing some of Luna's speaking. Major rewrite for Chapters 19, 20, & 21. :facehoof:

This is a crossover of MLP with OCs belonging to a person called Ryuu who used to be at Pernese Friends. His own story was a Star Trek/Pern crossover using his OCs and Q as a bridge for those stories set primarily in the period between DragonQuest and The White Dragon (corresponding to the far future of Trek, sometime in the middle of the Fourth Millennium). It was a story that greatly intrigued me, even though it wasn't finished when the Pernese Friends site folded. Q and Ryuu's characters were supposed to have a long history, and I thought the way he had blended them into the world of Anne McCaffrey was very well done.

Fortunately, I had a few discussions with Ryuu while he was writing his story, so I had his contact info.

Around that time, I attended a Trek convention where John DeLancie was a guest, and the subject of Discord and Q was brought up. DeLancie provided us with a wonderful story about how the MLP producers had Q in mind for the character, and after approaching him, he was delighted to participate with the project.

As a result, I started watching the show, starting with the Discord episodes of course, just to see what all the fuss was about. Then I started watching the fourth season. Then I had to go back to catch up on old episodes when shit didn't make sense unless you knew the history.

Like DeLancie said, the show has got some pretty good stories. And I guess it didn't take me long to become a Brony. During the summer after the 4th Season finished, I came across this site, and then I discovered a great little piece here called the DisQord Continuum, by ZoidbergIsBestPony. So there were two great fan fiction stories I liked that linked Star Trek to both Pern and MLP! But they were two separate stories, and I got to thinking: well, why couldn't there be one story to link all three together?

The following is what came from that idea.
There is more to explain about how this story was born and evolved, but to do so would be giving away spoilers. I'll explain everything at the end. Until then, I'll let the story speak for itself. I hope you enjoy.

NIGHTMARE RESTORED

"Celie! Thou cannot mean to has't Us resume to Our duties of shepherding their dreams!" Luna exclaimed. "Not at which hour We has't been the causeth of so many of their nightmares already!"

It was the second night since the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony had set her free of the curse of Nightmare Moon. Luna's sister was so overjoyed at having been reconciled with her only living blood relative.

Of course there had been the Summer Sun Celebration where she had resumed her duties of lowering the moon as Celestia raised the sun. And as promised, Celestia lowered the sun at the end of the day, permitting Luna to once again raise her former prison high into the night sky.

But that was not the only duty Celestia wished restored to Luna. In her time, Luna had watched over the Equestrians and guarded them from worries through the night. Now, Celestia made it clear she wished Luna to resume that function.

"Be that as it may, I have never been adept at Dreamwalking as you are, Luna. Mother knows, I've tried," Celestia said. "Furthermore, nopony is more capable than you to deal with such nightmares, even if you are the cause of some of them. I know facing them will cause you tremendous pain. But you must be aware there are nightmares that have nothing at all to do with you. How can you turn your back on those suffering?"

"We gravely doubt thither shalt ever beest so many that We, Ourselves, didst not cause, sister," Luna muttered. "But We shalt do as thee asketh." One more humiliation to suffer as penance for my past deeds, she concluded.

"You will be surprised, little sister," Celestia grimly warned her. "You will be surprised."

That night, Luna stood watch over the land. Celestia had retired, and most of the Equestrians did as well. She sent her magic out over the land to look for any dangers, physical or otherwise. And she was amazed to find so many ponies still awake!

There! On the eastern and western coasts, several great cities had sprung up over the past thousand years that she had been in exile, and much of the populace did not sleep! Amazing! The discovery did send a thrill of joy through her heart.

So! Many of the ponies DID learn to appreciate the night, just as Celie had promised! Not nearly as much as she had hoped. But it was a good start. It brought tears of joy to her eyes.

But then, Luna sighed. Her next duty would not be so pleasant. To Dreamwalk among her ponies—to face Nightmare Moon in each of their dreams—when she still had to compete with the demon in her own, as well as when she was awake!

Luna closed her eyes and concentrated.

Out in the night, dreams showed like stars but on the ground. Bright and happy dreams still outnumbered those that were not. But those that were dark and disturbing were not so few at all. The darkest and most fearful showed in the mind's eye in their own color, bright and lurid, burning with the un-well negative emotions of fear, horror, and pain.

Luna sighed. "Nightmare Moon! You have indeed been a very busy little mare," she said to herself.

She latched onto the nearest pony with the worst of the fear and horror burning in her dreams and stepped forward.

What Luna found was terror beyond her imagination. Beside her, an amused voice spoke up.

"Well! Our sister was right about one thing," Nightmare Moon chuckled, as the taller dark alicorn looked about the dreamscape with curious interest. "This one's not mine!"

But then, even Nightmare Moon was horrified when they both approached the young lime green unicorn filly and they finally saw what was happening to her.

"Help me, Princess Luna! Help me, Nightmare Moon!" Lyra cried out to them both.

"Luna!" Nightmare Moon whispered hoarsely. "It's just as we had been warned! Mother help us all!He has foreseen this!"

"HELP ME-E-E-E-E!" Lyra screamed.

"How was your watch, Luna?" Celestia asked as she greeted her sister the next morning. Luna was a long time responding.

"Luna?" Celestia prompted, puzzled at what was the matter.

"Thou wast correct, Celie," Luna finally spoke turning to walk away. "Terrors far worse than Nightmare Moon art out thither."

"Luna?" Celestia exclaimed, now worried that something really was bothering her younger sister.

'Was it the proper thing to do?' Luna wondered. 'Changing her memories like that?'

'It had to be done,' Nightmare Moon responded. 'There was no other way to solve it.'

'That such monsters exist…I'm worried,' Luna said. 'That was no mere dream gone bad. That was a memory! What if it should return?'

'I know,' Nightmare Moon agreed.

'Why did you help me? Help her?' Luna finally asked.

'You and I have been battling for control of our body since we were banished,' Nightmare Moon replied. 'For a time, I almost won, but for the Elements of Harmony. Even though I was not destroyed, I was severely weakened, and I await the time when I will resume control.'

'Yes, I know all this,' Luna said. 'But why?'

'I only wished that we ruled in our sister's place,' Nightmare Moon admitted. 'I only wished that we would be recognized for our contributions to Equestria.' And then Nightmare Moon paused.

'What was done to that filly is an evil that I could never have imagined,' she continued. 'I would never wish such suffering upon anypony. For us to fight such monsters, these—humans—you and I have to unite! I may not be your friend. But those—things—THEY are the REAL ENEMY! We will have to be vigilant. I will work with you and together, We. Will. Combat. This. Menace!'

Luna turned back to look into Celestia's face, searching for hope.

"As thou has't warned me, thither art terrors far worse than Nightmare Moon," she said, her voice taking on a stony resolve. "And WE SHALT holp our subjects square these folk!"

"I am—grateful—you are willing to care for our charges," Celestia said, smiling.

"But We art afraid resuming Our duties so apace wast premature," Luna said. "We art unable to lower the moon this morning. But if thou wouldst, please doth so for Us one more time. We art not restful from Dreamwalking and t'will taketh time for Us to recover ere We can fully resume Our duties," Luna said, turning once more to depart.

"Luna? What is with your speech?" Celestia asked, puzzled by the way Luna was talking.

"If 't be true, thee wilt recall, We art a thousand years out of date," Luna said, smiling back at Celestia. "We art still unused to the way ponies talk these days. We desire thee doth not mind Us speaking in the Royal We," she finished before finally departing.

"Of course, sister. I forgot about how we used to talk back then," Celestia called just prior to Luna getting out of earshot.

Once Luna was gone, Celestia frowned.

Her thousand years of solitary reign had been very trying on her. Over the years, she had come to rely on a simple spell for detecting lies in order to help her gage how to effectively rule, and the spell had been running continuously for centuries that Celestia often forgot it was still operating.

Except when somepony tells a lie.

Like Luna did just now.

Or when she, herself, did so as well.

Celestia hadn't forgotten how they used to speak so many years ago.

There never was a "Royal We".

The Night Of The Wrong Door

Allec Trevar didn't know it yet, but today was going to turn out to be weird. Well, weirder than normal.

'Normal' was what his life had become after waking up one day more than twenty years before as a dragon.

Fortunately for him, there was a stranger nearby who needed rescue. And after saving her life, the two had formed a pact to aid each other. This soon allowed them to amass a small but clandestine empire of fortune by hunting down criminals which the law was unwilling to touch; not that those criminals were 'untouchable', but because the cops often didn't bother dirtying their hands to catch them.

Trevar thought his life had settled into a level of normalcy, even if that 'normal' was a little odd. But a chance encounter with a drug lord's assassin, who could somehow turn into a dragon, reminded him just how weird 'normal' could be when the assassin had succeeded in killing him.

Fortunately for Trevar, dying allowed him to discover that he, too, could change between being dragon and human, as well as a number of other creatures. It took some doing during their initial encounter, but Trevar was finally able to convince the assassin to join him instead of remaining a kingpin's lapdog. Added to that, Trevar also discovered that whatever had changed him and the assassin had also gifted them both with a pair of incredibly advanced and powerful devices that were keyed to each of them.

For a time, things settled down for Trevar and his growing number of allies. Their clandestine empire continued to expand, and the technology that came from the alien devices assured their security. But the drug lords and other criminals, whom they preyed upon, were now aware of their nature and had begun adapting. If the criminals couldn't hurt the dragons that hunted them, they would try to hurt those close to the dragons. That resulted in more weirdness when much to everyone's surprise and amazement they discovered several more people had been altered. Worse yet, all of those events eventually got the attention of other hidden weird entities.

Furthermore, the ensuing mayhem, conflicts and resolutions resulted in several law enforcement agencies finally starting to pay attention to what was happening. A new enemy had been awakened and the hunt was on. But that was just a new 'normal' that Trevar and his allies had learned to deal with.

But just like the vacuum: Nature. Hates. Normal.

And today?

Today, the weirdness was going to ramp up to a whole new level!

The storm was making it tough for Bill Williams to drive the RV on a twisted winding two-lane back road of Colorado. RVs were not the best choice for any sort of bad weather, but this storm wasn't even supposed to exist today. It was the middle of August and the forecast had called for a clear hot sunny day straight through the week. Instead, it was not only thunder snowing, but thunder hailing. Allec Trevar sat in the front passenger seat lost in thought, but for the occasional wind gusts that threatened to push the RV over the cliff. Ghost Rider from Rush played on the RV's CD player, a song better suited for motorcycling than an aluminum box on wheels. As they topped a rise, a particularly strong gust pushed them halfway into the oncoming lane before Williams was able to recover.

Trevar and Williams glanced at each other for a moment and grinned.

"Better you than me, Bill," Trevar muttered.

"Yeah," Williams growled. "If it was you driving, we'd be flying off the mountain already."

"That's because I've already gotten over my fear of dying," Trevar shot back. "You haven't. So you're still careful." Williams laughed in agreement.

"This is true!" Williams replied, still wrestling with the wheel.

"Hey, there a patrol coming up on our tail and one up ahead waiting for us. They're getting ready to pounce!" Pardus spoke up. Panthera and Pardus were Trevar's companions, artificial life forms that had been created by whatever alien force that had altered Trevar, Williams and a couple others with whom Trevar trusted. The two lion-sized black panthers were items of incredible technology, each with copies of Trevar's mind up until the day he had blacked out prior to waking up weeks later in Kentucky as a dragon. In addition to the panthers, the RV also held a couple of pony-sized timber wolves, Canis and Lupus, who were likewise Williams' companions.

Instantly, Trevar and Williams went on the alert. Evidently, the police had called each other on radios, and the artificial life forms had picked up the transmissions.

"In this weather?" Williams exclaimed. The whole reason why they were avoiding the main highways was several high-placed authorities had gotten a good description of Trevar's human form. Setting up patrols in such far flung regional roads was no doubt expending a huge resource for those agencies.

"Shit! How far off are they?" Trevar demanded.

"Half-mile ahead and the one a quarter-mile behind is coming up fast," Canis reported.

"You can shift into a cat or bird or something," Williams said, looking at Trevar.

"Too late," Panthera said. "We're inline-of-sight for both patrols. They'll see the flash. Even with the lightning from the storm, it would look odd coming from inside the van."

"They don't know about you yet, Bill, and we want to keep it that way. I'll have to evade them outside," Trevar muttered. "Plus, we've got all that cash from those meth labs we busted yesterday. Pull over! If they ask what's wrong, just say you heard some strange noises in the undercarriage."

"Canis, Lupus, take the cash!" Bill ordered as he brought the RV to a stop on the narrow shoulder against the cliff wall.

"Pardus, I'll ride you down!" Trevar yelled after he opened the side door to the inclement weather, partially sheltered by the RV and the rock wall. "Panthera, you're on our six!"

Outside, Trevar climbed onto Pardus' back and laid down, gripping with his arms and legs about the big cat's neck and waist. Pardus activated a cloaking force field once Trevar was in position, hiding them both from sight as well as insulating him from the cold. The other artificial life forms followed suit and walked past the front of the van and into the full force of the storm. Unfortunately, the RV's lights, the driving snow and hail revealed their presence as bubbles of avoidance. However, they wouldn't be there in the remaining few moments before the squad car pulled up.

'We'll meet you at the base, Bill!' Trevar telepathically sent just before Pardus made the leap out over the cliff, followed by the two laden timber wolves and finally the other panther.

Williams went to the rear wheels of the RV and bent down as if to inspect the underside. The police cruiser pulled up at that moment. The red and blue strobes immediately began flashing as both front doors burst open with the officers wielding shotguns.

"THIS IS THE POLICE! HANDS UP!" the driver yelled.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?" the other cop yelled at the same time.

Williams instantly straightened up and raised his arms facing them.

"EASY, OFFICERS!" Williams yelled back. "WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?" the cop from the passenger side repeated. Williams took a moment to consider how to respond. With his upraised left hand, he bent his wrist and pointed to the van.

"I HEARD SOME NOISES COMING FROM THE UNDERSIDE!" Williams yelled over the wind. "I WAS JUST TAKING A LOOK! WHAT SEEMS TO BE THE PROBLEM?"

"IS ANYONE ELSE IN THE VAN?" the driver demanded.

"NO, SIR!" Williams called back. "I'M ALL ALONE!"

"HANDS ON THE VAN!" the other cop yelled.

"NO PROBLEM, OFFICER!" Williams responded, turning to lay his hands on the rear of the van above his head. "BUT CAN WE SPEED THIS UP? IT'S FUCKING COLD OUT HERE AND I'M OBVIOUSLY NOT WEARING A PARKA!" Obvious, with just his flannel shirt and jeans.

"STAY THERE!" the driver yelled covering Williams with the shotgun as his partner cautiously made his way to the RV's side door. The officer shined his light about the cliff face wall to ensure there was no ambush waiting for them outside before prepping to charge the open door. After a quick inspection, he found no signs of anyone else in the van.

"All clear. No one's here!" he reported on his radio.

Scowling, the officer paused to listen to the music coming from the CD player, trying to identify it before going back outside.

Another false lead, he fumed. The mysterious vigilante only known as "The Dragon", who had a known associate last seen getting in an RV matching the description of this vehicle, continued to elude them.

The object of their search rode in relative comfort on the back of his companion. Despite the buffeting winds, the artificial life forms had no problems flying through the canyons due to their built-in anti-grav systems. Lightning, on the other hand, was hitting their shields more and more frequently, sometimes disrupting the cloaking effect they were maintaining. Fortunately, the storm kept the area in darkness. And the storm seemed to be noticeably intensifying even as they traveled.

"How are you holding up?" Trevar quietly asked the big cat. Another lightning hit and the cloak momentarily flickered out again before resuming.

"Shields are holding. Cloak…not so much," Pardus muttered.

"Maybe we'd better take shelter until this storm dies off," Trevar said.

"There're several mines listed throughout these mountains," Pardus said, providing a holographic heads up display of the terrain for Trevar to inspect. Williams and the RV were already a dozen of miles behind, but their hidden base was still another hundred miles ahead.

A double hit of lightning struck just then and Pardus' cloak fought to reform, but finally failed.

"Are you damaged?" Trevar asked with considerable concern for his friend. Aside from the genuine feelings toward what was essentially a twin brother, albeit recently created in the past couple decades, there was the obvious tactical advantage to all of their companions having cloaking systems this good. It would be a shame to have any of them crippled just because of the weather.

"A little, but it's fixable," Pardus calmly reported, already diving for a nearby mine listed on his map. Trevar looked behind and saw the others had wisely dropped their cloaks and were following. No need for them all to be needlessly damaged. Their shields were made to take punishment like this lightning, but the idea behind the cloaking systems was an enemy should miss what it couldn't see. Lightning, however, didn't care that it couldn't see you in order for it to hit you.

Just before arriving at the bottom of the canyon, the panthers and timber wolves held up as a large convoy of heavy military vehicles followed an olive drab painted snow plow rushing down the road as fast as it was safe to travel.

"Hmf! There's no military base that's supposed to be around here! What gives?" Pardus wondered. Several lightning blasts hit them just then and even a couple of the convoy's duce-and-a-halves, as well, stopping them.

"And what's with the lightning, hitting us all the way the fuck down here?" Trevar exclaimed. "We can't stay here, or they're going to see us!"

They flew on up the road until they rounded the bend and found the entrance to the mine shaft that was listed on the maps Pardus had. Only it was clearly no abandoned mine.

"What the frack?" Pardus exclaimed. Below them, the hardened bunker stood open to the weather, even though the standard military perimeter fence was shut fast.

"No life forms nearby," Panthera reported as they set down. "They must've evacuated in a hurry."

"There's no sign of radiation or anything dangerous that we can detect," Lupus said. "Why would they evacuate a perfectly good base to go out into the middle of a thunder blizzard?"

"Who knows why the military does anything?" Canis shot back. "For instance, why jump out of a perfectly good plane?" Trevar snorted at the irony. Long before they were altered, Williams had been a paratrooper in the Marines.

Just then, several simultaneous lightning strikes hit the cliffs above, starting a massive avalanche.

"O-o-oh, shit!" Trevar hissed, hunkering down on Pardus. "That might be a good reason! RUN!"

They ran for the shelter of the open bunker, and it looked like it was going to be a close race. Their shields protected them from basketball-sized rocks and smaller, but there were some the size of trucks and larger were on their way. A truck-sized rock landed right in front of Pardus, too close to dodge to either side at the speed he was running, so the big cat leapt up and over, followed instantly by Panthera. But Williams' companions were neither flexible enough to pull that stunt, nor fast enough as another house-sized rock smashed down upon the one the panthers had jumped. The wolves managed to avoid getting hit, but the diversion cost them the means to safely follow Trevar and his companions before the entrance was completely buried.

The dust choked Trevar as he took stock of the aftermath. Fortunately, the base held up and the lights remained on.

"Canis! Lupus! You guys alright?" he called, trusting his companions to radio his inquiry to the others.

'We're okay, but I lost my satchel!' Canis responded with disgust as the panthers relayed the reply using their telepathic circuits.

'How about you all?' Lupus inquired.

"We're fine," Trevar reported.

'Well, you'd better hope there's another route out someplace. We don't see any other exit out here,' Lupus continued.

"If we have to, we'll just use our blazers to burn our way out," Panthera spoke out. "Can you guys make it on to the base?"

'We could, however we've informed Bill of the situation. He's made his way past the check points, but the weather's getting shittier by the minute. If it gets much worse, he may have to abandon the RV. We're going to try to rendezvous with him,' Canis replied.

"Roger that," Trevar absently said, looking deeper into the base. "We'll see about finding a way out of here."

"Ah-h-h! That's much better!" Pardus suddenly crooned in pleasure. "Cloak's back online!"

"Excellent!" Trevar said, nodding. "Well, let's go see what's so secret about this place." Panthera took point with Pardus close alongside, the two panthers faded from sight and wrapped their defensive shields around the still visible Trevar, and they cautiously made their way into the labyrinth, communicating only on a silent telepathic level.

53.5 And 3,588,242 Are Magic Numbers

Author's Note

If you haven't noticed by now, every chapter alternates from the view point of the humans (& Q) to the Equestrians (& Discord)--note: Q & Discord are one and the same

And it would appear that it's a common practice here to warn folks of any actual sex scenes. For here, I'm using text color to denote the graphic clopping. For those not interested, just skip down to where the text returns to black.

For anyone who's been going waiting for the clop, here is the first installment of what's going to be in this story. Don't worry, there will be more, and in the appropriate places :trollestia:

edited March 12--made some modifications due to Ryuu's revised calculations of the Equus Gravitational (not)Constant. :twilightsmile:

Enjoy!

53.5 And 3,588,242 Are Magic Numbers

"Aww! Aren't you having fun?" an annoyingly high pitched voice called out to her, distracting her from her scrutiny.

"Not much to celebrate when one's about to die," she responded.

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" Scott asked astonished.

"Well, what about that guy, over there?" Scott challenged.

But just then, another song started blaring out from the boom box that Trevar somehow conjured.

♪If we burn our wings / Flying too close to the sun♫. Immediately, Pinkie perked up and turned to stare at him. So did every other equine in the place. ♪If the moment of glory / Is over before it's begun / If the dream is won / Though everything is lost / We will pay the price / But we will not count the cost♫

"♪We will pay the price / But we will not count the cost♫" Pinkie and every Equestrian pony suddenly began singing along. Scott recognized this from something she had listened years and years ago on the radio. She couldn't recall the group, but they sounded familiar. Furthermore, it was getting creepy how the equines began marching in place to the beat of the music.

What the hell was going on? she wondered.

"Wh—what—what just happened?" Trevar asked. "Are you guys okay? And how could you know that song?"

"I've never heard of that before," the purple winged unicorn replied. "Nopony has! It was amazing! But what do you mean if we're okay?"

"Yeah, I've been in a few situations where such cultural quirks can be—surprising," Trevar laughed.

"So, Rainbow, you want to go and do some more races?" the winged black panther called out, now that Rainbow Dash had come into range when she accompanied Twilight and the rest of her friends.

"Oh, please!" one of the griffons yelled. "If you want a real race, why not go up against me! I'm just as fast as Rainbow Dash ever was!"

"So you have this magic, too?" Scott asked Pinkie, tuning out the rest of the conversation that was centered around Trevar. "Even though you're not a unicorn or pegasus or—alicron?"

"A rock farm? What do you grow at a rock farm?"

"Rocks, silly," Pinkie beamed. "What else?"

Non sequitur, she thought blinking.

"Well, try not to think of it too much," Pinkie told her. "Oh, you might like to pay attention to this next song he's going to play!"

"So you guys liked that piece?" Trevar asked.

"We sure did!" Twilight instantly responded. The nodding of all the ponies around her indicated their enthusiastic agreement.

"So, what did you think of those other tracks I played, the stuff from Two Steps From Hell, Immediate and Epic?"

"Interesting," Trevar muttered. "Uh, if you don't mind, I'd like to try another song with you guys," Trevar said to Twilight.

"♪I turn my back to the wind / To catch my breath / Before I start off again. / Driven on without a moment to spend / To pass an evening with a drink and a friend♫…."