Mike

He’s Gone.

Such simple words. He’s Gone. Just two that could make my world shatter, like a stone through a glass window. My life fractured in the reflections, freezing in the cold wind of reality. But no, that wasn’t just the wind on what was left of my fingers. No, that’d be natural, understandable, nor was it tears.

It was Blood…

Murder.

That’s another simple word. Two syllables, spoken with malice or in frightened whispers and screams. Things normal people don’t think about, a word for soldiers or those with a penchant for insanity.

Me.

That was me now.

The way my blade had sunk into his chest with such ease, I hadn’t expected that. I hadn’t expected a lot of things. Like how easy it was, how much of a mess the blood made, or the worst bit of it, how numb I was. Was I a criminal now? Would I be put behind bars like I belonged? The look on his face. If I had hesitated, just a moment…would he still be alive? I know what I did, but I didn’t believe it. Me? A killer? You must be joking, no way would I be capable of something like that. It’s the difference between knowing that you need to go to bed for school tomorrow, but not believing it enough to actually follow through. I knew my dad had died, but that was something that had happened to a different Mike, something far, distant even. My father worked a safe job in a safe town with a safe family. He was okay, just waiting for me to return home. Not a murderer like Mike, don’t be absurd.

I feel arms around me. Soft and warm in the cold light of the morning. I was lifted, carried up to an old looking car and set in the passenger seat. I struggled to go back to sleep, but it came intermittently. The driver drove slowly, rubbing my head tenderly intermittently throughout the journey. It was a bit of a while later before we arrived at an apartment complex.

Sleep at this point had stopped entertaining our relationship and I was awake enough to get a look at my rescuer. A taller, lankier looking lady with long, unkempt dirty blonde hair, tan skin, but strikingly teal eyes. She reaches over, wrapping a blanket around me. “Hold still, we’ll be there soon, please be a little quiet, they might think of you as well…a pet, and talking or not they aren’t allowed.”

She grabs me in the bundle, tucking me into a large bag, slowly zipping it up. I feel a few other bags press against me as she gathers her things and starts walking. I hear a few voices call to her. “Good Morning to you Fiona, you’re lucky it's me and not Karen at the desk again. I don’t have to know what it is, but plausible deniability is always nice. Thank you for those cookies the other day though, that was quite nice of you and Dis.”

“Oh anytime, I know how lonely it can get at this time of the season. I probably won’t have time for company though today. So no Hot Cocoa I’m afraid.” She continues her walk, moving around and up some stairs, fumbling with her bags a little as I hear the jingle of keys. Shortly after I’m placed down on a hard floor as she unzips the bag, lifting me up into a bath, carefully measuring the heat of the nozzle before she slowly starts cleaning me up. My eyes are unable to meet hers, staring only at the stain of red swirling down the drain.

Wait.

I open my mouth to speak and she presses a finger to my lips, but I speak anyway. “How did you know I could talk?” Then I remember she probably couldn’t understand me and look around for something to write with before she gives a small mirthless chuckle.

“You might say I have some experience, though that certainly wasn’t Equish you were speaking just now, was it little one?” She grabs a brush, working up a lather as she gently rubs over my fur. “Take your time, my husband said he sensed something dark going on over there.” She finishes washing me before slowly towling me off.

“Why are you doing this? You know what that blood means, and it wasn’t mine. I…I hurt someone. No I..I…”

“Shhh…” Fiona lifts a hand to my cheek and gives a pained smile. “Conflict has a cost, don’t you think you’ve paid for it enough today?” I feel my eyes start to tear up as the pressure builds behind my eyes. She lifts me up in a towel, hugging me tightly to her chest as I let it out. “Seeing ponies like you breaking free means that our conflict has just begun.”

“What are you…how do you know all this?” I dry my eyes and look up at hers. Those eyes, they weren’t normal for a human. Then I see her form flicker as my sight looks further. Seeing yellow fur and wings, a light inside her shining dimly inside her. She’d been touched by something, something powerful once before, connected to something far away. “Who are you really?” I ask, looking up at her.

She hugs me closer before walking towards the window of her apartment, looking out at the rising sun. A tear of her own falling down her cheek.

“My name was Fluttershy.”

Nova

Damn did we look like a sorry bunch. Looking at the pair of strangers, perhaps that’s how I looked when I got picked up from my parents. World shattered, tired to the point of collapse, but too emotionally wrecked to give into sweet oblivion. Course, there had been a lot more blood for me.

My vision darkens again as the wave of my magic’s cost hits me. “Hold that thought.” I turn around and stumble towards our car, fumbling with the door as I pull open.

“Hey! What are you doing?” I hear the male call.

My vision blurring as I grab my bag, yanking out a syringe filled with its cursed substance, stabbing it into my thigh and depressing the plunger. The relief takes only a few moments, the slow creeping death of magic starvation put to the background for now. I take a breath before carefully turning around to address the others, still seeing a few more stars than there should be in the night sky. Would take a bit more than a long night’s rest to recover from this one.

“Unlike…you all…” I pant. “Us, mostly humans, don’t exactly generate very much magic on our own. Now, can we go please? I can answer…well…a lot of questions in the car.” I go to enter the driver's seat, then hesitate. “Charles, I’m in no condition for this, you drive. You’re the one with military clearance anyways.”

I don’t wait for a reply as I slide into my seat, feeling a pounding headache and seeing spots. The Pegasus and her friend, evidently weighing their options. Looking out the window I can see them having an argument of some sort. The girl pegasus weakly stumbling on the short walk to the car before slamming the door behind her with surprising force given her condition. “Bucking Drive.”

The other individual saunters off back towards the crashed car. Pulling out their phone for a call. I certainly wasn’t going to stick around to find out who. Just a small nod to Charles and our car spins around back off down the road.

“I think it’s important I address the inherent power imbalance between us right now. My information I will provide willingly and fully, regardless of your participation or presence with us. Charles will stop anywhere or time you like. Our current mobility is a result of the urgency and the threat we are under. Right now we really need to find your unicorn friend before the others can get to them.”

“The others being…?” Angela asks sharply.

“Government Agents or the centuries old former leader of the Bohemian club who has a thing for blood sacrifices and cutting out the hearts of his victims, the guy that the Aztecs established their religion around? He kills people to extract magic to fuel spells, I’m pretty sure you don’t want that happening to your friend.”

The pegasus is first to reply. “The last time I saw them they were at the hospital. A changeling messed with the head of one of the students and nearly killed them.” She adjusts herself in her seat, seemingly to slowly improve from earlier. “They aren’t really in any condition to be moved–”

I cut her off as we approach an intersection. “Hold on, take a hard left here Charles, there is a faint concentration of energy this way.” We turn down a dirt road covered with recent tire tracks and a forested area in the distance.

“The buck you think you’re going? He’s at the hospital! This is where those psychos tried to abduct us! Turn us around, they have even more soldiers down here!” Angela protests, but I can feel the energy source getting closer. “Pull over here, step out with me Charles, Angela, you wait here.”

We step outside, Charles illuminates the landscape with a flashlight attached to his rifle. We see a bulky figure weakly stumbling from tree to tree. When the light shines on him I see him shakily try to lift his rifle at us but I immediately grab at his weapon with my telekinesis and hold it down. “You don’t want to…” I gasp, panting at the exertion straining an already painful muscle as my grasp crumbles with the body aches of magic use. “We’re here to help.” Now that we’ve gotten closer I can see the tattered shred of a police uniform stained with blood, but much more important was the crystal formation that had spread over a good portion of his torso and arm.

“Redmond!” I hear Angela call from behind me, running out to see him. “Fuck, I thought you were dead!” She wraps his uninfected arm around herself and helps him walk over to the car.

“Not yet, kid. You didn’t tell me…” He breaks into a coughing fit before disgorging a nasty chunk of dark phlegm onto the ground. “It was infectious!” He wheezes as he leans against the car.

“Last thing we need right now,” I groan. “Angela, he needs your magic. Whatever he turned into needs a lot of it to survive. The ambient magic here can help, but it's clearly not enough for his new body.”

“How the hell am I supposed to do that?” Angela replies with exasperation.

“Just…touch him and push it in or something. I’m not a pegasus alien. Figure it out. If I use any more of my own it will kill me or send me into a coma.”

“Hold on just a damn minute here, I don’t want more of this crap, I want you to pull it out!” Redmond protests as we all slide inside the car and take back off down the road.

“Good luck with that.” I roll my eyes and sigh. “Magic is like a form of Mitochondria, it takes in energy and outputs Arcana, what you call magic. That Crystal appears to be highly magical in nature, if we deprived you of that magic right now it might pause your change, sure, but look at your chest, how do you think your lungs or heart would work if half of it depends on a resource your body is suddenly deprived of?”

“I didn’t ask for a damn lecture, I’m asking for a solution. I don’t need to get a damn degree in rocket science to fire a rocket. Just tell me where the trigger is!” Redmond growls, wincing as Angela rubs over his chest before letting out a relieved grunt as her hand glows a soft blue and the crystal spreads up towards his neck.

“Okay Space Cadet, there is no cure, this is permanent, if I try to reverse it you may just die. Human cells soak up magic like a sponge and transform down to the DNA. Taking it out won’t undo the changes, and you’ll naturally keep progressing. We don’t have magical animals and sorcerers because it takes a lot of it to change your body enough to make it self-sustaining with its adaptations, if your type of change can even reach that point.” I say, recalling my own experience and teachings from my dark mentor in the field.

“So, I’m fucked, that’s what you’re saying? Nothing can undo it, no medicine, no stripping or anything short of a time machine to go back and stop it from infecting me in the first place?” Redmond growls, though seemingly in a much better state after Angela had done her thing to help stabilize him.

“I’ve never seen it undone. My own cells were mutated to be able to handle magic…in a manner of speaking. Who knows, with enough of a dose of magic my body might look like one of yours. If it's any consolation, everyone in this town, and likely for dozens of miles around, will likely experience some form of change as time goes on. There is an insane level of magic radiation spreading everywhere, some people might change, others might not change at all. There really is no telling how it will behave. All of the studies that have been conducted seem more or less to point to this magic having a form of intelligence. You could have identical twins and they both could have dramatically different results, if any.” I say, starting to catch my breath as my own magic starts to stabilize a little, that same magic radiation working wonders on my body.

Angela shifts a bit in her seat, looking a bit better herself, far more recovery than a normal human would have after escaping her crash and her former magical expenditure. She keeps subtly rubbing at something around her neck. “If magic is so extinct here, and the capability to wield it so rare…where have you been getting it all this time? Those cultists or those mercenaries back there. What was that all about?”

“As a girl I was taken from my home and raised by a monster of a man, hundreds of years old, born in the time of the Aztecs. What if they weren’t as fully insane about those ritual sacrifices as historians thought? My Mentor came across a scarlet blade, a magical artifact capable of removing one of the last remaining aspects of magic this world still has. Life Itself. By smiting someone down with the blade, feeding it the blood of a mortal he could harvest magic enough for some semblance of spells. It’s a grossly inefficient method…but compounded over centuries by a very smart murderer in a world that doesn’t believe magic exists, especially nowadays…Well, let’s just say he amassed quite a fortune in that kind of power.”

Angela adjusts herself in her seat, double checking the locks on the vehicle. Redmond’s face is unreadable, staring emotionlessly at the environment. We were coming up on the blockade surrounding the town.

“My power allows me to siphon off the magic of others without directly killing them. It has a cost though. These people lose their spark, their passion and drive. Given long enough many will commit suicide by their own methods or turn more into animals than human beings. I can’t apologize for what I’ve already done, what I was raised as a child to do, but it gave me the ability to challenge him in ritual combat for control of our organization. A collection of the powerful and wealthy throughout the globe. The only way for leadership to change was through defeat in magical combat. Being the only one truly capable of most magical combat, and with a monopoly over obtaining it for centuries, no one had ever managed to overthrow him. I defeated him, but no small portion of its members aren’t willing to accept my leadership after he’s been in charge for a few centuries.”

“Wait…You did wha–?!” Angela

“We’re here” The young soldier says as we pull up to the blockade. Seeing several black vans and drones patrolling the sector, even a few Humvees from the local base. Getting through by force wouldn’t be an option, luckily I had a pass.

“Angela?” I ask, turning to face her and carefully reaching out a hand. “For us to get out of here I might need a bit of your strength, I promise, nothing permanent, especially not with your power. Just enough for a little mind spell if they don’t accept my clearance.”

Her face shows her deep in thought, before reaching out to grab my arm, then yanks me with surprising strength back even closer to her. “Abuse my power and I’ll show you just how quick I can snap your neck.”

I swallow nervously, the touch of her hand buzzing with raw magical energies, buzzing a bit violently against my own. Siphoning from her would be like a leech biting into a firehose. “S-sure thing Hot Shot.” Holy hell is she more loaded than I had thought.

One of the patrolling officers comes over, knocking on the window which we lower. “All Personnel are prohibited from leaving this sector at this time. There is a dangerous biohazard detected in this area.” They state firmly, rifle in hand.

“Agent Nova, Special Containment Spec Ops. I’m escorting potential Patient Zeros for examination.” I fumble through my bag to pull out the badge I had gotten when assigned to this division. The soldier stares at it before grabbing it through the open window. They grab their radio to make the call.

“Agent…Nova, yeah, that’s what the badge says. Mhm…Understood Sir. Yes, three Sir. Alright.” He shoves my badge into a pocket on his uniform. “Miss, I’m gonna have to have you step out of the..” I grab my little arcane focus in one hand, the moment he gazes at my eyes I send a shock through their body making them lose consciousness. I quickly catch them in my telekinesis, flipping on the brights on our car to help mask the aura of my magic. I very carefully have them move forward, a bit sloppily walking forward before raising their arm to wave us through. The other soldiers manning the checkpoint pull back leting us through. “D-drive…f-fast…” I grumble through clenched teeth, feeling the strain of the telekinesis intensify as we pull further away.

BANG!

The windshield in front of me becomes a spider web in an instant. I can spot the enraged face of my short-lived business partner emerging from one of the vehicles, gun extended. I drop my telekinesis and the soldier drops like a limp marionette prompting a chorus of shouts and protests as Charles slams the car into high gear rocketing us down the road towards what I could only hope to be our safety. More gunshots impact the side of our car, but we’re too far out of their range for anything to penetrate. The unicorn we’d have to come back for, the pegasus would have to do for now. For now, the chase would have to continue.

Tempest

I had thought this vessel now known as a car to be a fascinating and mastercraft of engineering. The way it could accelerate, the maneuverability, and power behind the slightest touch were addictive and it could have well been the first thing I’d actually appreciated from this strange world. That immediately changed when I discovered such powerful vessels would travel at exceptional speeds in incredibly close proximity to each other with nary a care for the supposed rules of the road given the cursing of my latest acquaintance. It had taken a fair amount of my limited diplomatic skills to convince her that returning to her domicile was a foolish idea given the nature of our opponent, instead I had managed to convince…or at least persuade her to travel in the direction of my pendant's pull. Given the missing members of my squad and the likelihood of our mission being compromised I was more determined than ever to recover the missing targets and get back to Equestria than ever.

“So, you’re a unicorn from a different world that an alternative dimensional shapeshifter named Chrysalis invaded who then came to our world and recruited my kind to go back through the portal to wage war against your people?”

“Chrysalis birthed a small swarm of more changelings, then coerced the release of her dimensional counterpart to be released by holding the children of our various rulers hostage. Our Chrysalis had a revolution within her hive where they overthrew her control to align with the Equestrian Empire on the bonds of friendship and mutual trust.”

She turns off down a smaller road off of what she called a highway as we continue. “That’s not exactly what I was expecting. I was expecting–”

“What? That our politics were as pretty as our colors? Are your politics cleaner here? From the welcome wagon we received I suspect not.” I retort, keeping my eyes firmly on a neighboring vehicle occupant whose eye contact lingered far too long for comfort. I bared my teeth and let my horn sparkle a bit to show dominance and the car quickly turned further onto the far side of the road and quickly got out of the way.

“That…wasn’t our government. At least I don’t think it was. We don’t have as unified a nation as yours. They seemed to be a private organization of some sort as far as I could tell. A private business, though with how obsessed they seemed about making a scene…I can’t really guess at their motives. They said they uh…” She glances at me nervously. “That they had horses that needed medical treatment, you know, for a movie.”

“First off, you have horses here? Are they like us, or some other creature? Of those I have seen so far I have only witnessed one singular species. Second, a private organization? How big are we talking, and how are your princesses gonna handle something like this? Are we going to have their support via their guard or military?”

She turns down another road, this one seeming to be heavily crowded, forcing us to a standstill. “You sure this is the right way? This road is really backed–You know what, talking alien magic horses this is probably the right place.”

“Focus, military and princess roles? Are they gonna help us or not?” I ask. I had thought that the vehicle slowing down would ease my nerves, but now we were a sitting duck near what could soon be a storm. “We’re wounded, you need medical attention, and I need to find my squad. Then we can both get out of each other's way. You need their protection as much as I need their help right now. As we are, I’m not sure I could hold back a private organization like the one we saw back there. They were organized, arrogant. That speaks volumes towards their size and power. Their defeat here is likely to trigger a reaction, most gangs need to project a form of strength after their defeat. That is, unless they are more idealistic, in which case…I fear they already have what they came for.”

“And what would that be?” She asks, adjusting herself nervously in her seat. Evidently as anxious about our position as I was, or at least my words gave her reason to be.

“Idealists are driven by singular goals, usually in the form of a person or a ritual or artifact of significance. This organization appears to have a clear leader, or prophet. They are driven by something much more dangerous…Loyalty. Commonly they seek the approval, or praise of their fellows, and most especially their authority figure. He seemed really determined to have this thing recorded. He’s going to use this to get more followers, to get more power. Someone like this, that is this desperate, with these…theatrics. They’re going to make a move, something big. Power is addictive, and this man seems like an addict looking for his next hit.”

“You have…a lot of experience with this…?”

“I was a part of it, once. I was on the wrong side. I mentioned it before, but I once tried to destroy Equestria. I was blind, naive and in need of approval and belonging. I left my home, weak, and broken. Taught that only the mighty could rule. I know what it's like to believe in something…and be wrong. It shattered me, and I know how dangerous such a belief can be. He’s going to become a problem for us…and for you. Your kind doesn’t have magic like ours. To see one who looks like you possessing power beyond what the rest of you can grasp? They are in line to become a ruler, a god beyond your kind. There are all too many that are eager to surrender honor and virtue on the altar of self interest.”

The human shifts a bit in their chair, stealing glances at me while focusing on the road predominantly. “So, your magical horse land has a god-emperor complex? You…worship them in a way? In addition to being a war criminal that was converted to join the Equestrian–snrk–forces? And their citizens were just…okay with that? We had a similar thing happen with people from different nations and it caused a bit of an uproar.”

I think back to the ponies I had lived among for some time. The looks I would get in public. After so long those that had forgiven me…or at least trusted Twilight enough to accept me had steadily grown to outnumber those who saw me as who I once was. Sure, there were the ponies who saw me in armor, on the battlefield and would retreat in terror, but perhaps I had taken for granted the forgiveness and mercy of my fellow ponykind.

“Forgiveness…is a long standing virtue of ponies. A demon of chaos, a god of sorts, embodiment of disharmony after overthrowing the entire empire was brought around to a measure of allegiance. Equestria has a habit of turning its greatest enemies into allies. It’s a strength I’ve come to admire instead of mock, it is unwise to underestimate the value friendship brings to a society.”

My pendant glows warmly against my chest. I look out the window seeing an armored vehicle with an escort coming towards us. “Get ready to move. I can’t ask you to join my mission, but if you are to stay with me, things might get ugly.”

She takes a moment, breathing slowly and gripping the steering wheel firmly. “I’ll drop you off, after that, I make no promises.”

Author's Note

A big thanks to all my friends for the support and pressure to keep this story going, Hyreia, Alsey, and the McDermott's. I apologize for such a long absence. I promised my friends a new chapter before the end of the year. I owe it to all who read my horsewords to get this story finished. My goal is to finish this story by the end of next year.

Happy New Year to All!