The Glenmour wellspring had not always resided where it currently sat. Its Protector at the time was forced into action when plans were revealed to flood the valley, creating a lake that would feed the planned Greater Valley Hydroelectric Dam. This meant that a new wellspring would need to be located on the other side of the leyline that followed a large spur, bordered by the valley on one side, and a large gorge on the other.

It is no small feat to move a wellspring. They were placed where they were due to providing an optimal zero point for the formation of a dimensional leyline transfer. Any variation or miscalculation and the transfer point was no longer at a correct zero, and became unstable and unpredictable. In this case, the wellspring was formed on the final ley node of the line and terminated the leyline cleanly, allowing for a predictable and even flow of magic.

The new location was to be on a branch line, one that formed off an earlier node but was still theoretically capable of conducting a parallel transfer protocol so long as it was terminated more thoroughly than the rest of the ley. This, in theory, would make it the new final termination point and re-route the flow through this branch line rather than the previous route into the valley, much like a river changing course over time.

It had taken a team of mages from Celestia’s Academy months of planning and weeks of preparation before they were ready to move the Scion, and then almost three months of hard work by their archano-mathematics division to predict the variables they theoretically required to even attempt a safe dimensional transfer.

It had worked, but stability and surge issues were generated by the still quite strong flow along the previous line, and the new terminal node only drew on the flow periodically whilst the gate was being used. This meant unpredictable mana surges that were destructive to the line and caused micro-fissures along the Ley.

This was usually a natural occurrence that happened over time, however, the accelerated deterioration also meant that continuous revisions had to be created for the formula to keep the Ley stable. Eventually it was such a mess of corrections and counter-corrections that it became no longer viable as a long term solution.

In the end, it was decided that if the Glenmour wellspring was ever going to remain stable it would need two unicorn attendants, one each side to bridge the gap. This ultimately proved successful; so much so that over the generations it became the most sought-after position within the guard.

The human side’s protector took on a local form and integrated into the population, learning much about the human world and passing it on to those who would come after them. It was seen as a very prestigious position, and competition for the placement led to similar positions being raised for the other wellsprings across Equestria and the rest of the human world.

Strictly speaking, the human side protectors were not needed in any other location other than the Glenmour site, but the opportunity to learn the differing cultures around the alien world was too promising a prospect to let go to waste, so they were deployed into the population where they served as stewards on the far side.

Operation of a wellspring was a simple matter, but it was governed by one of the most powerful magics known to ponydom. A wish. One would stand before the wellspring with a wish in their heart that they could see the other side. The magic that was formed linked the two worlds via their leylines and created a small portal through which the wisher could view the far side.

Equestria’s mages had taken the concept further, empowering the wish via the use of scions, plants with the ability to draw on the ambient magic in the area, transfer it via the portal if required, and store it almost indefinitely. The scion could then be coaxed and manipulated to modify the portal to allow matter to pass from one dimension to the other.

It worked (in theory) for any of the three tribes of pony, however, the Glenmour scion and its Equestrian counterpart required two unicorns to activate the rift. They needed to power the transfer by feeding magic into an artificial singularity, a fancy term for a small ball of magic that provided a focal point for the leylines to bridge.

This had to occur on both sides of the portal simultaneously. Unless both singularities were actively being fed, the leylines would not synchronise and a stable connection could not be made. This was how they got around the constantly changing ebb and flow of Mana from the unstable Ley node, and were able to maintain a portal close to the Glenmour district.

This opened a portal through the pool at the base of the scion, that would remain open for a short period of time. From there, the portal operated just as any of the other portals to the world. No additional input was required once it was open, as the Scion took care of the rest. How long it remained open varied from site to site due to the strength of the leyline and the amount of magic stored within the Scion.

Still, all that was required of the Glenmour protectors was to feed a little magic into the scion, and for the one of the unicorns to make their wish. Without an active local link between the worlds, a schedule was set up for weekly links to be carried out so that updates could be sent back and forth, researchers could come and go, and experiments could be tracked and worked upon.

Time and progress was going to leave its mark upon the project however, and the burgeoning small town of Glenmour began to expand as it grew in popularity with local tourists once the lake was established. The town was encroaching a little too close towards the hidden portal for comfort, and the young local protector shared her grievances with command, suggesting a plan to protect the wellspring.

Velvet Touch was an interesting case when it came to protectors. She was a royal guard and had proven to be one of the best at a young age. Even though her talent was not one that was usually associated with Celestia’s elite, she scored top marks all the way through training, and had risen up the ranks quickly. She had applied for the Glenmour position on a whim, and was rapt when she was accepted as the human side protector.

Upon induction, she had taken on the role of a student at a local high school, and then a junior real estate secretary in town when she ‘graduated’. Her plan was simple. Have the real estate she worked at purchase the land that the wellspring sat upon, subdivide the title and ensure that she took possession of the block on which it sat. It involved quite a bit of risk on her part, but if anypony had the talent for what was required to pull it off, it was her.

She selected her target carefully, confident in her talent and her ability to make the most of it. Velvet selected one of the up and coming junior partners, a young man who had shown promise and was offered a partnership based on a few key deals going his way. She slowly seduced him over a matter of weeks, dates out of work hours leading to an inevitable and ‘healthy’ sexual relationship.

During pillow talk one night she laid out the beginnings of her plan. It started with an offhand comment which he made note of and she dismissed as a whim, only for him to draw upon the concept to show that he was interested and receptive to her ‘needs’. She had made sure that the concept held water, obviously, and the more the young man thought it through, the more it sounded like a good idea.

Sensing an opportunity to make a lot of money, not to mention looking like the perfect boyfriend to his hot new girlfriend, he took the idea to the other partners and sold them a proposal of premium residential blocks just out of town with views out over the gorge. The partners ate it up, cash registers ringing for them at the possibility of making their small town into a popular and affluent prime real estate venue. They went ahead with negotiations with developers and convinced the current owner to part with an otherwise unproductive parcel of land.

The senior partners were none too surprised when he asked for his (quite sizeable) commission on the deal to be a part payment on one of the blocks. He’d asked for one of less desirable portions, but who were they to argue? They got to flip the block for a profit, which was better than letting it sit there and be sold under estimation. It further helped his case that he was financially backed by his new girlfriend, who had quite a bit of capital from a family trust fund she seemed to have free access to.

During the negotiation process with the developers and over the time that followed, what started out as a means to secure the safety of the Glenmour Wellspring site become a fully-fledged romance for Velvet Touch. Shortly after they had taken possession of their lavishly appointed new home, she was made Mrs. Vanessa Middlemis in front of a smattering of close friends who wished the new couple well.

***

Middlemis Household
5pm

Stuart awoke with a snort. Her back ached and her tail was numb from falling asleep in her office chair. The fur on her face was matted and damp from where she had lain her head on her arms, and a string of drool hung from her bottom lip until she wiped her muzzle with the back of her arm.

The last she remembered was the shallow light of dawn making way for mid-morning through the large windows facing out over the gorge. She had been in the final stages of finishing up her new proposal when she’d laid her head down for a few seconds after spending all night in her research. The long shadows that loomed across the room suggested she had made the short rest into a much longer nap.

Slapping her face about to help get rid of the drowsiness, she slowly replaced the last of the scattered paperwork and put it back into order. Stuart quickly flipped through the proposal to confirm that she had it mostly covered. It was quite simple in its concept, as all good plans were. Where this one shone was in the ease of execution and minimal outlay of expense.

For the initial phase, there wasn’t going to be any sweeping changes, although privately she had taken note of where they were needed. The majority of what she was proposing could be implemented locally at Stuart’s own stores without approval from the body corporate. She fully intended to implement them as soon as it was viable to do so and let them run for at least a quarter as proof of concept.

The rest of the document covered a few flaws in the corporate business model and stock practices that would be easy and trouble free for them to implement should she successfully sell the idea to them.

These of course set the basis for some major shake-ups that Stuart would keep under wraps for the time being. No need to show all her cards at once. Once the changes had been implemented and proven successful, the next proposal would almost be a natural progression for the company to make, including changes to warehousing practices and logistics. And so long as no one else saw the how obvious the progression was and beat her to the punch, Stuart Middlemis stood to make quite a bit on efficiency gains by being first to implement them.

The odds of been beaten seemed low, seeing as no one else had seen the seemingly obvious holes in the way the business was run—herself included. Something had just ‘clicked’ for her, making it seem all so easy. She picked up the whole stack and dropped it into her leather attaché before standing and stretching until her back popped.

She slapped her tongue against the top of her mouth a few times, rubbing her aching jaw and shaking out her stiff limbs. She absently noted that the last time she had eaten was a late breakfast the day before, and ambled her way back out to the kitchen. The dishes from the day before still stood in the sink, so she began to run some water to wash them.

While the water warmed up, she opened the fridge to see what she had. Nothing really appealed to her until she opened the vegetable crisper. A salad had never sounded so inviting. She guessed it made sense, fitting in with what she supposed were her new dietary requirements.

Dropping the plug into the sink and adding detergent, she took out a chopping board and began making a garden salad. She was done by the time the sink filled, and turned off the tap. Leaving the dishes to soak, she tossed the salad into a large bowl, drizzling a French dressing over the top.

Stuart settled in at the breakfast nook on a stool and stabbed into the salad with a fork. Eating this way was much easier than with breakfast cereal, and she munched away happily on the meal. Pausing after a few bites, she stopped and looked at the fork. With a mischievous grin, she placed it back down on the counter and levitated it up with her magic.

Stabbing it back down into the salad, she leaned forward as she fed herself with the fork. Humming happily whilst she chewed, she thought to herself, ‘This unicorn gig isn’t half bad’.

***

Rotary Park, Glenmour
5:30pm

Marcy’s hatchback pulled into a vacant car park on the foreshore of Lake Glenmour on the far side of town. The staff at her local police station had been pleasant enough when she had fronted earlier that day, and she had provided her license and a receipt for her registration and insurance. It had cost her close to everything she had to re-register and insure her car, and it meant that she would miss a repayment for a second month in a row. Not much she could do about it now.

What she could do something about was that jerk Stuart! She stepped out of her car, and was in the process of locking her door when she heard a voice behind her.

“Oh my, you look just like my Sandra when she was your age…” said an elderly woman with a walking frame. “She had hair done up just like yours. She could be a real bother sometimes, and the things she used to do made me worry so,” the old woman continued.

“Oh, I’m sure all daughters make their mothers worry,” Marcy replied, giving a placating smile. “I guess my mother probably feels the same.” She finished with a soft laugh. That was a lie. She hadn’t spoken to her mother in quite some time. They had fallen out several years ago, and she really couldn’t say what she thought of her.

“Now that can’t be true, you look like such a sweet girl, dear. Why, back when I was your age, I used to be a school teacher. I could always tell which of the students were going to be trouble. They would go around school, always pretending to be nice when the teachers were around, but we knew what they were up to. They would always think that we didn’t see the things that they got up to, but we saw the things they did…” the elderly matron went on, recounting how students were back when she was a teacher.

“That’s amazing, I’m studying to be a teacher myself,” answered Marcy in a conversational tone once the blue haired lady came to a natural pause in her story. “I’m almost finished with my diploma, and I’ll be looking for a placement sometime next year.”

“Oh! Well, congratulations are in order for you then! You’ll love being a teacher dear, but mind you, it isn’t easy work. Back in my day, Glenmour didn’t have a school so you had to go all the way into town to get to the school.” The old lady gestured off towards the city.

“Back then the roads were all dirt, and on a day that the weather was poor it was a struggle to get to work. This one time my car got bogged down on the road and I had no way to get into the school, so I had to walk the rest of the way.” she continued.

“There were no cuttings in the gorge back then, so the road was steeper…” she meandered on, the shadows growing longer and longer as she kept regaling Marcy with her stories of yesteryear.

Marcy fidgeted in place as she tried not to be rude to the elderly lady as she went on and on. In time the old woman also began to notice the passage of time and looked about herself worryingly.

“I can walk you home if you would like,” offered Marcy. “I’d hate to see anything happen to you on the way.”

The woman beamed at her. “Oh, thank you, you are such a thoughtful girl. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble…?”

“Of course not. Please, after you,” Marcy offered, following on alongside while the older lady continued on about days’ past.

Arriving outside of a pleasant looking weatherboard house, the elderly lady turned to her. “Dear, would you like to come in for some tea? Or if you like, I could cook you dinner as a thank you for taking the time to listen to an old woman. It wouldn’t be a bother…” she said, looking up at her hopefully.

Marcy felt awkward as she found herself in a tough spot. The elderly lady looked desperately lonely, and she couldn’t bring herself to break her heart. With an internal sigh, she nodded and gave her best smile.

“I would love to, thank you very much.”

***

Middlemis Household
6pm

Towelling her forearms with a dishcloth, Stuart left the dishes to drain and cleaned up the last of her mess. She had put it off long enough, and had run out of excuses to remain in her pony form. She had decided enough was enough, and that she would at least spend the night as a human male before returning to work the next day.

Hooking the towel over the drying rack off the side of the granite topped bench, she turned about and headed down the hall to finally achieve what she had failed to do the night before. Entering her room, she struggled out of the tight-fitting shirt and threw it into the laundry basket conveniently located near the ensuite door. She paused for a second before wiggling her way out of her underwear and tossing them in after the shirt.

She stood there naked, a light blush on her cheeks as she stared at the reflection in the mirror. Her mouth made an ‘o’ as she looked herself up and down, subconsciously covering her breasts and crotch as she took in her pony form. It was her… him. The reflection was something that at the same time was Stuart Middlemis, and conversely was not. She felt remarkably comfortable like this, as if it were a second skin; as much a part of herself as not.

She closed her eyes and gently shook her head. No, she would investigate all this another time. There was too much to go through, and she had to get ready for work tomorrow, as well as get in a proper night’s rest before tackling the working week.

The cave down the hill also warranted further investigation, to see if she could decipher what had gone on the previous night that had led to her wearing a body other than the one she was used to. But the time for that was not now. It was time she once again became Stuart Middlemis, male entrepreneur, instead of Stuart Middlemis, unicorn mare.

She gave an amused snort. ‘Calling yourself ‘Stuart’ when you’re female sounds weird. I’ll need another name for when…’ Stuart smacked herself on the side of her face. She was getting off track again. Pony time was well and truly over, and it was time for her to become a him again. She frowned at her reflection and gave a resolute nod.

It was time.

***

Glenmour
7:30pm

Marcy waved goodbye to the blue haired old lady as the made her way back down the dark and quiet street, lit occasionally by the sparse street lights. She hadn’t wanted to spend so long away from her task, but at the same time she felt a warm feeling in her chest from taking the time to make a little old lady’s life that little less gray. She had a skip in her step as she rounded the corner and made her way back to her car.

As she got closer, she noticed something didn’t look quite right with the profile of the vehicle. On closer inspection, it looked as if something was wrong with one of her front wheels…

An icy shiver ran down her spine as she felt her stomach plunge. She ran the rest of the way over and stopped short as she recognised the clamp on her front wheel, a paper slip fluttering under her windscreen wiper.

She swore loudly and kicked the yellow clamp, instantly regretting her action as she let out a yelp and hopped in place holding her stinging foot, swearing and muttering to herself as she limped in a circle cursing her luck. She looked back and forward desperately trying to find the marshal that had clamped her car, but the parking lot was deserted.

Her shoulders sagged as she made her way over and snatched up the ticket. She had violated a two hour parking limit, and now owed $60 to the local council, plus a $20 fee to have the clamp removed. Marcy almost tore the ticket up on the spot, but managed to keep some semblance of calm by breathing in deeply and exhaling through her mouth a few times, drawing her arms in and out as she did so.

Right, first thing, she needed a ride home. It seemed as though Stuart the jerkfaced jerk had avoided his fate for a second time, but it didn’t mean he was off the hook. She’d be back, and nothing would stop her next time!

She whipped out her phone and dialled her home number. After about a dozen or so rings, her housemate finally made it out of her room and answered with a soft “Hello…?”

“Julie! Hi, it’s Marcy. Hey, HUGE favour, I’m stuck out at Glenmour because some jerk marshal clamped my car, could I please get a ride back home?” she begged. Julie almost never left her room for anything, and asking her to drive out in the middle of the night to an out of the way place was kind of a big ask.

“Oh… I-I don’t know…”

“Awww, Come on! I’m in the lurch here! Please?” she pleaded.

“Oh. Um… isn’t there someone else that could come get you? I mean, I don’t really see that well at night, and, um, I don’t know the way…”

Marcy grit her teeth. “No, that’s fine, I’ll find another way,” she snapped, shutting down her phone abruptly.

Dammit! Now what was she going to do!?! She didn’t know anyone here other than stupid Stuart… her eyes narrowed as her mouth turned up into a wicked grin.

She could still sort that miserable jerk out by having him drive her home, where he would be a captive audience and completely unable to ignore her. She would still need to get a cab out to Glenmour in the morning to sort out the fine and get her car back, but that would be tomorrow Marcy’s problem.

She turned on her heel and strode purposely towards Stuart’s place. He’d listen to her, one way or the other!

Author's Note

Ohhh, backstory! See, I can add ponies into the mix...

Once again, if you like it give let me know, and if you think this sucks please tell me why