His work was... unfulfilling. The threat of Chrysalis, looming, being a threat to anyone he tried to help... It was too much. He had savings, and he was being paid a retired president's pay, which meant he had money, and would not suffer stepping away from it all. "Paul... Goldstein." He was speaking to a phone, making final touches. "I've said that before."

"You'll probably have to say it again later," apologized the person on the phone. "Security. Alright, got you pulled up. And..." There was a sound of rapid typing. "Here we are. Looks like you're taking a nice trip. I'm jealous, so sunny and relaxed."

He did not feel relaxed, but that was the goal of going away. "How long?"

"Two weeks? Yes, two weeks exactly. Looks like you got the full package; flight, food, hotel, and the amenities." It was long, for a quick vacation, but Paul was sure he wanted to just... forget it all for a moment...

"And my guests?" He would have secret service coming along, with or without his consent.

"Guests? Oh, here we are." More typing. "Here we are." A last triumphant key press. "Looks like four guests, flight and room booked, same hotel of course."

"They get the amenities too, right?" He could hear the pause. "They should." Not like they were forbidden from doing so, off duty, and they wouldn't be watching him 24/7 each.

"Fixed that for you," promised the female on the phone. "Put the charge on the same card?"

"Please." He was putting all the expenses for that trip on a specific card, so that worked. "Thank you. How do I get my ticket?"

"I have your email here. I'll send it to you, your boarding pass. You just need to bring that with you to the airport and you can get started on your lovely trip! It will include instructions on where to be and what to do. Is there anything else I can help with today?"

"Thank you very much." And he hung up. Hopefully... He let the phone and the hand that held it slump against his side. Hopefully, a little time away would let him get his mind back where it needed to be.

Cozy flicked out a tongue longer than it likely had to be. "Well aren't you a tall glass of... amazing." She was speaking to herself, regarding her reflection. "Why two legs though?"

"Because hands help." There was Grogar, having entered silently. "I need you to be able to use human devices, which means hands are required, and the only way to have hands at a hundred percent is to not be using them for locomotion at the same time." He inclined to her hooves. "You still have those."

She looked down at her feet, which were still hooves. She lifted each in turn, then moved her hands to a new thing, right there on her chest. "I've seen humans with these." Ponies never did. "All the ones they like have them."

"And so do you." Grogar sat next to her. "Is it not as you requested? You cut a figure of allure and power."

Cozy Glow puffed her hair, just as curly, its style largely unchanged. Without saying a word, her smirk spoke quite enough that she approved of that. "Now tell me about the power. I didn't do this for a makeover, not that I'm complaining about the height boost." She got to look down at Grogar for a change, though a biped that couldn't do that was a small creature.

"Monster making is not an exact science at times." He fixed her with one of his eyes, head turned. "You will discover with use and growth. Revel in your monstrosity and let the power grow. Have no fear, I don't plan to send you to battle before you've had a chance to settle in."

Battle hadn't really been her thing, but she hadn't been a big monster before, so maybe... "So what's next?" She slapped her hands together and started. She tapped them, no sound, a little harder, still basically no sound. Only when she did it vigorously did that odd sound happen. "I clap now."

Grogar applied his hoof to his face. "Yes, you do. Fur on your hands decreases your ability to manipulate tools. Speaking of tools, your use as an innocent has diminished. However..." He snarled at her. "You can still attract their attention, just in a different way. Are you prepared to learn to use a new kind of charm?"

Cozy folded her arms just under her new chest. "Ugh, you want me to do what Chrysalis did then? Fine, whatever. I already know that routine."

Grogar blinked with clear surprise. "Do you? How fortunate. At least one of you was paying attention." He nodded with building satisfaction. "Your next assignment..."

And he began to explain what his newest monster would be doing.

Swift Swim's legs kicked beneath her as her hands clutched the rests of the seat she was in. "I never flew before!" she admitted to the person next to her, who wasn't her boyfriend despite all her attempts to make it so. "Have you flown before? My mom says hippogriffs can fly on their own, but I'm not exactly a hippogriff." Her biped form was far from shaped ideally for flight.

The man next to her chuckled softly at her energy. "Even if you could, this is a long way. I bet your mother would swim there before she ever thought about flying there."

Swift's eyes grew wide. "Oh, wow, you know about hippos?!" She clapped with easily gained joy. "Most people don't know jack about them, other than they're fun at parties." Her eyes narrowed a bit, going from one extreme to the other. "We're more than that. Stupid jerks. Um, anyway, I'm Swift Swim." She thrust a hand towards him.

Which he accepted, shaking the teen's hand. "I'm Paul Goldstein." It wasn't as strange a fortune that they ended up on the same plane. Only one plane once a week left for that particular place they were going. "Nice to meet you."

"Paul, Paul, Paul..." Her legs kicked a little harder as she wobbled left and right. "I heard of that somewhere..." She knocked on the seat ahead of her. "Mom! Paul Goldstein, you hear of that?"

And up came a hippogriff's beaked face, turning to look at them. "Are you bothering him?" She smiled placatingly at Paul. "I'm sorry, she's very high energy."

Paul held up a hand. "Think nothing of it. She's a precious thing." A dear youth who had done nothing wrong so far.

"Isn't that the guy?" Another voice, male, next to the hippogriff. "Think I saw a commercial?" A human head popped up. "Hey, it is! You do the identity workshops, right?"

Busted! Paul raised his other hand to join the first. "You found me. There goes my identity as an anonymous vacationer."

"I never saw your show." Not that Paul actually had any show for Tim to see. "But nice to meet you."

"You too." He met Tim's hand in a firm shake, man to man. "What was your name?"

"Tim." He sat back down, facing forward again. "I hear the place we're going is a sunny paradise. The ladies can't wait to hit the beach."

"You didn't say you were famous," accused Swift as if that were a requirement. All famous people had to announce they were famous! "What do you do?"

"I try to help people." He began to pantomime as he talked, hands gesticulating busily. "Help people find themselves, whatever that may be."

"Well I already found me." She pointed at herself. "Bam, that was easy." She looked past Paul. "Mike!"

"Yeah?" came his less certain reply, a few aisles away.

"Look who's here!"

"We shouldn't shout on the plane," he advised gently. "People will get upset." It was true, the antics were drawing some grumbles and looks.

"Whatever." She crossed her arms with a great pout that lasted all of a few seconds. "Anyway, you're the first famous person I met besides my mom."

"Your mother is famous?" He glanced, but the she-hippo had already settled back into her seat, blocking the view.

"Mobile Coral, tamer of the worms? Never heard of her?" Swift inclined her head with obvious disbelief. "She's super famous."

"More famous than me then." He would not bring up that he had served as president of the country. That was a secret thing. "I should be the one that feels privileged."

"Yeah." She stuck out her tongue a little, her feathery ears twitching atop her head. "We're both lucky today, huh?"

Paul decided the girl was alright, as teens went. "We certainly are. Are you looking forward to the beach as much as your..." He didn't actually know Swift's relationship to Tim, hm.

"Dad thinks he knows me." She rolled her eyes, then leaned in. "But I am totally gonna swim in that water," she whispered as if revealing a huge secret for him to hold onto. "I hear it's just the right kind of warm, so you feel all nice on the sand, but you can cool off in the water, and dry off nice and fast when you want to." She made gestures of in and out of the waves action with her hands, a giddy smile on her face. "Is that why you're going?"

"I did hear it's really nice." Paul leaned back in his chair. "But, I admit, I mostly just want to relax, away from it all."

"I hear that," came Tim's input from just ahead. "We can relax and let everyone else go wild."

A soft 'ow' came before Mobile's voice, "You think I'm not taking you for fun? If I have to drag your lazy butt, I will!"

"Alright, alright!"

Paul smiled at the exchange. Their closeness seemed secure, their sparks of conflict had a kind tone, the two caring for one another. Perhaps that was what he had missed? He hadn't gotten a special someone, or really looked for one... After taking another man's wife in service of a lie, he had... kind of put that aside, forgot about it.

Maybe it was time to reconsider?

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Swift had noticed his pensive expression.

"I was wondering what kind of shaved ice flavors they had," he lied entirely. "They always have good ones near beaches." That got an enthusiastic agreement, and the conversation slid past his moment of reflection. He had a vacation to enjoy.

Fluttershy inclined her head left and right at the map that showed her cutie mark orbiting, but the map had drawn away, far away from Equestria. It had begun displaying the entire world, and there was her cutie mark, orbiting around a spot. "Oh... my."

Twilight clopped her hooves together. "How exciting. You're being sent halfway across the world!"

"Don't think she sees that as a positive," dryly noted Spike. "Did that thing send anypony else with you?"

Fluttershy leaned in to get a better look, wings flapping nervously. "Not that... wait." She reached a hoof out, batting at the image of her cutie mark, but it just passed through, denying her attempt to interact with it. "Is there something else there?"

Twilight got a suddenly smug look. "If this works like human devices." She thrust two hooves in the air and slowly spread them apart in a spread motion one might use on a touch screen. The map rapidly zoomed in on the place it was sending Fluttershy. Her cutie mark was more easily visible, as was another icon that had been hidden, mashed against it. "There we... Discord?!"

"Did somepony call?" Discord peeked out from what appeared to be a shower curtain, a cap on his head, a loofah in his hand. "Right in the middle, isn't that how it always works? Oh, Fluttershy! Always a pleasure." His eyes fell to the map. "Oooo! She dares! My rival has guts, calling me to action like that." He sounded far more amused than angry, stepping free of the dimensional rift. "We will solve this little problem, Fluttershy, have no fear."

Author's Note

Fluttershy and Discord get Cutie Map'd! Can you guess where they're being sent? One Internet Cookie for you! This story was voted for an extra update, so I'm releasing this now instead of the usual week long delay.

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