One Race, Many Species

"Got her." President Stein smiled with a predatory glint. "If only I could bring the hammer down myself." But there were limits to presidential power. Still... She moved portions of the email onwards to a new one and fired it off towards the Department of Justice. "Let's see what our boys can do with this..."

Not that she didn't have other things to do. "Already rushing ahead..." Word of Equestria's rush for the stars had become news, and with it, pressure on her, as if she had made the laws that locked space from America to begin with. It was a law passed in congress. It would take another law passed by congress to undo it.

But being president meant the buck stopped with her, whether or not she could do a thing about it, directly at least. On the other hand... "Get the press secretary on the line." It was time to make a move on her part. "Eroding your armor will help everyone..."

"Why have you come here?" The largest of the kirin glared at Tirek. He was large with power, forcing even her to look up at him.

Tirek crackled his hands against one another, popping the joints with a malicious smile. "Just passing by. We have a stunning vacation offer you simply can't turn down."

"We can, and we will." She frowned delicately. "We have heard tales of you, and the ones you travel with speak little good for you."

Tirek waved back at his detachment of monsters and freaks. "Are you judging them? How cruel. I thought the ponies taught you better than that."

Rain Shine snorted almost silently. "Your welcome has reached its end. Darken our doorstep no further." She directed her ornate horn back the way Tirek and his forces had come.

"Mmm, no." Tirek lunged for her, grabbing her horn in one hand and drawing her magic with a voracious slurp. Other kirin gasped in shock, but soon had problems of their own as Tirek's assistants rushed at them.

Heat and fire exploded outwards, forcing Tirek to back away, his feeding interrupted. "What?" The creature that had been Rain Shine was gone, replaced with a figure of darkness and blue-red flames. It gazed at him with a scowl and perfectly white eyes.

"It is no longer time to talk," spoke the Nirik Rain Shine had become. "It is time to be angry." As if her words had taken a cap off things, other Kirin began to combust, erupting into their dark war forms with fiery manes and lashing tails of fury. The village was mobilizing before their eyes.

The nirik had little in the way of practical battle training. Their lives had become peaceful and nice, but their bodies were made for war and anger. Unleashed, there were things to be done. They clashed against their would-be attackers with roars of outrage, burning all they touched even as they battered with flailing hooves.

Their ornate horns were far less pretty when jabbed, still burning, into the flesh of their attackers. The surprise of the counterattack did fade. Roars from the enemy announced the return of their will to fight. It became pandemonium.

But it was one that was tilting, and Tirek didn't like which way it was going. He had only so many soldiers, and the entire town of kirin had become a force worth facing. Still, they had to win. If the kirin proved victorious, they would warn the ponies. The ponies would warn the humans. The game would be over before they had taken any serious moves.

"Enough!" Tirek grabbed a burning Nirik charging past him. Sure, it hurt, but he could take it. He hefted up the armored creature and brought it around in a wide circle that ended with it slamming against the ground with the crunch of things breaking and dislocating. "I was trying to be nice. That's over."

Rain Shine howled with the fury of a mother seeing one of her children be harmed. Her flame redoubled, flame dripping from her. The pattern nirik normally had, emulating their fur, was lost. Her anger had become too vast. Words had escaped her. There was only the need to hurt the thing that had injured one of her precious kirin.

Tirek had thought he could end the battle, striking fear. This proved to be incorrect.

The announcer spoke in crisp clean terms, "People are demanding the locks on the sky be removed." Several windows popped open, showing different demonstrations with signs waving. "Both from the bottom and the top." A new window sprang open over the others, taking the center of attention. Stein stood at a podium, looking determined.

Stein gestured up at the sky with several slow and purposeful points. "Our forefathers saw the sky and claimed it for their own, and their children looked up and took a breath. There was more, even past that blue curtain, and they reached further, into the yawning void. They brought to us wonders, from seeing the precious blue marble we live on, to gazing into the depths of creation itself."

She placed her hands flat on the podium. "We may have taken a misstep, but when has that ever scared us away before?" This ignoring that one bad accident had scared Americans away from things in the past. It was not a time to remind them of the Nuclear state of things. "Already, our competitors on the world stage are racing ahead of us. We started far in front, but we're not moving, and they are. It's only a matter of time before they catch up and pass. Is that something we're satisfied with?"

Stein smiled at the cameras recording her. "But some would have us cower. Is that what we've become, cowards, shaking in our safe holes? I call on congress to turn away from this dangerous path. It's time to reclaim our supremacy over the skies, all of them. Get that law to my desk and I will sign it the same day. Now isn't the time for theatrics. We're already losing time. Let's get on it."

The window closed with the others. "Standing high on the Bully Pulpit, the president has made a firm call to congress to act. Will it work? With me is..."

Half a world away from the battle of the Kirin, Cozy roared with an equal fury, slamming her pen against the desk where it bounced off to be lost on the floor. "If there's one thing America is good for, it's flavorful expletives. I think I'll take a few for a spin. Fuck, shit, damn!" She sank into her chair, glowering. "Mateo!"

Mateo/Paul rushed into the room. "Ma'am?"

Cozy smiled at him sweetly. "You're reliable at least... Have you heard?"

"Of what, ma'am?"

Cozy smashed aside papers in a flutter that Mateo would likely have to sort later. "Do you even watch the news, Mateo?"

"Regularly, ma'am." Mateo snapped his fingers. "Is this about the president?"

"This is exactly about the president, Matty boy." Cozy smiled calculatingly. "She's a real thorn in my side... You're really good at that computer stuff, right? See what you can't dig up on her."

"Right away, ma'am." Mateo made a quick mental note to not do any of that. It seemed he was becoming a double agent without asking for it. "Anything specific you want me to look for?"

"I don't know... Something embarrassing. Dig!" She pointed out of her office with a scowl.

"Yes, ma'am!" Mateo hurried away.

Chrysalis rolled her shoulders. "You know, that isn't his job."

"And?" Cozy grabbed a fresh pen just to wag it at Chrysalis. "He works for me, he does what I tell him to. That's the deal."

"Not exactly... Even if he does, he's good at sorting papers, not spying." Chrysalis smirked. "And you have a spy right here, and you didn't even think of her. That's hurtful, really."

Cozy sat up. "You... might actually have a point." She brought her hands together as a cruel smile formed. "Since you're volunteering..."

"I am doing no such thing." Chrysalis tapped her fingers slowly. "Still... that sounds more interesting than what you have me doing around here."

"Fantastic! Time to get chummy with the others." Cozy waved a hand around a bit wildly. "See what they're thinking, get in close. I need to know how much that bitch Stein is throwing things off. Do they care what she said?"

"Easy enough." Chrysalis rose smoothly, hands falling to her sides. "But, you owe me."

"Yeah yeah." Cozy waved Chrysalis along. "Go go go!" Left alone in her office, Cozy sank with a scowl.

A knocking startled her. "Who is it?!"

It was Pelosi, her sort of boss. Crap. Telling her to buzz off was not really practical, and she wasn't a guy to be brainwashed. Crap. "Come in."

Pelosi slipped inside, closing the door behind her. "We need to talk. I've been sent documents that could get you in legal trouble and throw black ink all over the party in the process. There are only a few ways this can end, and few of them are positive for you."

Cozy's smile became more of a manic grin, right eye twitching with barely restrained fury. "Is that so? Well, then we'd better chat..."

Grogar frowned at the images floating in front of him. "You haven't taken the kirin then?"

"No... sir." Tirek had bandages wrapped around too many places. "Their defense is much... stronger than expected. It's like the--"

"--I am uninterested in your excuses." Grogar turned his face towards the floating Cozy Glow. "Do you have good news, or bad?"

"Ugh." Cozy buried her face in her hands. "Basically all bad! The humans are figuring out I don't belong, and I'm going to be kicked out of here if I don't leave myself. I have a week to decide which of those two it's going to be. I've been relieved of all my comittee seats, not that I miss them that much, but still!" She slammed the desk she was behind. "It's all falling apart!"

Grogar brushed Cozy's image to the side. "Chrysalis, tell me you have some good news."

"You know I do." Her calculating smile was a hint of that. "I'm ready whenever you are, Grogy-kins."

"Never call me that again." He banished her entirely from sight. "You two! If you can't get anything more done, return to base. It's time to come at this from another angle, quickly... The time is drawing short or we don't even get to try." He smashed a boulder into a pile of pebbles. "And I won't give up that easily. Tirek! Are the kirin still occupied with your failure?"

Tirek cringed as a sound of someone wailing in pain echoed. "The battle rages on. Why?"

"Why? Because failure has become not an option... Hold the line. I will be there personally to see this done. We cannot be delayed any further." With an angry swipe, he cleared all the images from the air. "If you want something done right..."