The cafeteria was about a quarter full. Violet waved to a familiar pegasus mare and the griffon, Lightning Lance, before taking her seat. Today, she had chosen a mixed-greens salad with a sweet vinaigrette dressing. The mare recognized the name of the fruit from the combination back-country survival/bivouacking/orienteering course she had just completed the day before. The classroom course had included photos but not samples of honey fruit and the mare looked forward to her first taste. After chewing thoughtfully, a smile spread across her muzzle. It was just as sweet as advertised.

“Is this seat taken, Madam?”

The mare glanced up to see Tigerbright, tray in hand. She smiled up at the chakat, looked over hir selection, and confirmed her hunch with a sniff. “Poached fish with a topping from the local nuts and an herbal sauce. Not mikuriya this time.”

“Nope,” confirmed the chakat as shi lowered herself into the taur-couch across from Violet. “Chef Reisling has me addicted to his chimichurri sauce. He serves fish every Fifthday and adjusts it for that week’s catch. Today is Golden Moonfish. Want to try a piece?”

“I’d love some!”

Tigerbright lifted an eyebrow. “I thought ponies seldom ate meat and enjoyed it even less often than that.”

Violet shrugged. “Blame it on my mixed heritage. I have a wide palate of what I find both delicious and delightful.”

“Hmmm… Who am I to argue with a pretty mare?” Tigerbright cut off a piece of the fish with hir plasti-steel fork then held it up.

Violet gave the chakat a glare. “What? Am I worth that little to you? Some of that addictive sauce, if you please.”

“Drat. Now I have to share the good stuff.” The bite of fish gained a coating of the green chimichurri before returning to the same spot halfway between the pair.

Violet leaned forward and opened her mouth invitingly. Tigerbright’s ears perked up before shi gently placed the offering into the mare’s mouth. The mare chewed while looking to the side and humming to herself.

After twenty seconds or so of this, the chakat huffed. “So? What do you think?”

Violet swallowed and licked her lips. She looked into Tigerbright’s eyes. “Even better than advertised. I think I’ll have to cut off my field trip a day early so I can clean out Chef Reisling’s stock before anyone else has a chance to get any.” The mare stopped the chakat’s protest with a wave of her hoof. “It’s all your fault for exposing me to such a wonderful delicacy.”

Tigerbright narrowed hir eyes but couldn’t keep the grin off hir lips. Silently, shi selected a much larger piece, slathered it with sauce, and held the laden fork in front of hir. “Tell you what. If you take pity on poor little me, I’ll give you a proper serving of what you want.”

Now it was Violet’s turn to prick her ears. “Is that a bribe or a promise?”

“Yes,” replied her friend.

The mare pursed her lips as she stared at the offered treat. Her pink magic field enveloped the fork and levitated it closer.

Tigerbright let out an exaggerated sigh. “Whew! And here I thought you’d play hard to get. Good thing you’re so easy.”

The fork stopped in mid-air and Violet gave the chuckling taur a mock glare. She waggled the fork back and forth disapprovingly.

The fork accelerated away to the side, leaving a whoosh of air and two broken pieces of fish in its wake. The utensil embedded itself in the wall at the far side of the room with a thud. A loud crack rang out nearby followed immediately by an extended series of crashing sounds near the kitchen.

Violet craned her head to see an earth pony stallion behind Tigerbright. The mare remembered Stone Edifice from an earlier conversation. He had come to Chakona to provide his skills as a stonemason. Right now, one of his forehooves had shattered the granite tabletop, apparently to his immense surprise.

“Ow.”

Tigerbright and Violet shared a look and by mutual consent ran over to the source of the cry. Lightning Lance shakily tried to extract himself from the remains of the tray return station. If the spread of bowls, trays, and utensils were any indication, the griffon cock had hit the now bent remains of the station at high speed.

Tigerbright’s comm emitted a shrill tone and shi held it up. Violet noticed a blinking red light on the back as her friend read the message on the screen. The chakat’s facial expression didn’t need any clarification.

“You go,” said Violet. “I’ll learn what I can about what happened and get people over to the medical office.”

“Thanks,” replied Tigerbright before leaving in a run.

Violet had just gotten her scan results when she heard a computer-generated voice echo from a hidden speaker overhead.

“Citizen Violet Woods. Please report to the Chief Administrator’s local office. Citizen Violet Woods. Please report to the Chief Administrator’s local office.”

The mare turned to the familiar medical resident on staff. “Do you still need me, Doctor Hyrex?”

The violet changeling waved a hoof. “Just Hyrex is fine. You and Stone Edifice are free to go.” She turned back to the griffon on her table. “I’m going to keep you here for another hour of observation, Mister Lance. Just to be on the safe side.”

If the griffon gave a response, Violet didn’t hear it. She was already trotting to the small branch office the Chakonan government maintained in town for the citizen’s convenience.

In short order, the mare knocked on the door frame while grinning at the chakat behind hir desk. “Citizen Violet Woods reporting as requested, Chief Administrator.”

Tigerbright’s ears drooped a bit. “Ahhhh. Sorry about that. My comm has been going crazy and I have to keep the line open because of the emergency.”

Violet’s smirk disappeared and she sat down in the only other taur-suitable chair in the small office. “What emergency?”

“Nope. You first. How are you and the others?”

“Stone Edifice and I got a clean bill of health. Some bumps and bruises on Lightning Lance but he’ll be fine. The doc and I have no clue why it happened but we know what happened. Equestrians in the cafeteria using their mana had their magic surge… probably by a factor of fifty.”

The chakat’s eyes widened. “Wow! Is that common?”

“For unicorns? Rarely. It can happen as foals or when somepony gets their cutie mark but that didn’t happen here. I’ve never heard of magic surges for griffons, pegasi or earth ponies, though. Stone Edifice was using a tiny bit of his strength to flatten something called a ‘vegetable Dagwood sandwich’ so he could fit it in his mouth. Lightning Lance was flying at a walking pace to return his tray. You saw what I was doing.”

“And I got reports of a couple of pegasi in flight that overshot their destination by a kilometer. There are probably other incidents that we haven’t heard about yet.” Tigerbright frowned and looked off the side, tapping the fingers of one hand against the desk. After nearly a minute, Violet brought hir back into the conversation. “And the emergency?”

The chakat blinked then looked back at her friend. “Oh… sorry. You know that we keep a primary and secondary mana beacon here at the station, right? They are linked to their counterparts in Equestria to allow for electronic communication and alicorns to travel back and forth.” She let out a long sigh. “They both went offline at the same moment you had the mana surge.”

Violet blinked. “Offline? How exactly?”

“They are now inert. All the mana has been drained from them.”

The mare gaped. “That’s… how is that possible? The magic had to go somewhere.” She shook her head. “No, wait. This is more important. Do you know what happens when a changeling loses all of their magic?”

“I do. We may be very fortunate that no ‘ling was actively using their magic right then. Maybe they would have surged and maybe they have been drained. Until we get to the bottom of this mystery, I’m recommending to my superiors that all changelings be evacuated from the settlement. I’m afraid to say I don’t know as much as I should about the beacons. Could their missing magic charge have been transferred to you five and been used up?”

Violet shook her head. “The energy used is the product of the power output level multiplied by the duration of the event – in this case no more than a second. The magic stored in just one of the beacons would have been enough to cause all three of us to surge at that level for days.”

The comm device on the table beeped twice and Tigerbright looked over the scrolling text for several seconds. Shi smiled briefly before returning to a neutral expression.

The mare asked. “Was that word on your request?”

“No, not yet. It seems there is a crisis of some sort happening on Equus right now. They can get messages through to the other mana beacons on Chakona and in the orbiting spaceships but can’t physically bring anyone here for the next few weeks.”

“Is it related to what happened here?”

Tigerbright shook hir head. “No. Something about the Equian sun having a bad case of sunspots which is causing lots of magical interference. Happens every few decades and this one is past due.”

“The timing still seems awfully coincidental to me,” the unicorn said dubiously.

“Perhaps.” The chakat looked directly at Violet and smiled. “While we can’t get an expert in from Equus, fortunately, we already have a graduate of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns on planet who can investigate.”

The mare narrowed her eyes and gave a warning growl. “I’m all set to leave tomorrow on my first expedition.”

That just made Tigerbright smile wider. “I’m afraid you’ll need to delay your trip into the backcountry, Miss Woods. After all, weren’t you reminded during your orientation in the Transit Lounge that this is still a young colony town and everyone needs to contribute fully to its prosperity?”

After a long pause, it became apparent to Violet that her glare was not fazing Tigerbright in the least. The mare folded her arms across her chest. “The desperation of you chakats. Going to these extremes to keep me around? If you wanted another date, you could have just asked.”

Tigerbright laughed until shi cried, pounding hir desk with a fist.

Violet waited until the chakat’s chuckles died down. “So, what specifically did you want me to do?”

“Actually, I’m not the one you should be asking. While I’m the representative of the Chakona World Government here, I’m not the top authority on Emu Island. As this is an independent colony, you need to speak to the governor. I work at a federal level for such matters as Customs, Immigration, and so forth. Governor Slate is in charge at the Equian level.” Shi got up from behind hir desk and moved toward the door. “Fortunately, Marble Slate and I get on well and I can see her pretty much whenever I need. And while it’s after hours, I’m betting she’s in her office right now. Follow me.”

The New Horizon Town Hall was literally across the street from the CWG office. The security griffon at the front door nodded in recognition at the chakat, merely glancing at the mare before returning his attention to the street. The place was quieter than normal but, considering that it was usually closed at this hour, it was a relative hive of activity. Tigerbright ignored everyone and bypassed what was obviously a private secretary’s desk, currently unoccupied.

The chakat rapped on the open door and said, “Hi Marble. I hear you have problems. Can I come in?”

A brick-red earth pony mare with a silvery mane looked up from her desk and gave the chakat a strained smile. “Hello, Tiger. Yes – I’m still getting reports of the strange mana surges that happened at the same time. I’ve already dragged away our best magitechs away from their families to look into our beacon problem, so I don’t know what you can do.” She seemed to notice Violet Woods for the first time. “Who’s this?”

“My name is Violet Woods, Ms. Slate.”

“Normally, it would be a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Woods, but this isn’t exactly the most propitious moment.” The mare looked back to the chakat. “Why is she here with you? Was your dinner date interrupted or something?”

“Yes, actually.”

The way that Marble Slate’s eyebrows rose told Violet that this was not the expected response and she had only been facetious when she asked.

Tigerbright continued, “But to answer your unasked question about what I can do, that’s why I brought her. Violet is a graduate of Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.”

The governor’s gaze returned to the unicorn with far greater interest. “Is that so? What do you know about tonight’s occurrences?”

“Next to nothing,” Violet admitted. “However, one of my goals when I got here was to figure out why Emu Island was chosen among better situated sites as Equus’ base of operations at first, and colony second. I’ve already noted the large conflux of ley lines in the area.”

Slate nodded. “The whole island is like that which made it an obvious choice for magic-using races.”

“Yes, I’ve noticed how much easier many tasks are here. But it also seems to be related to the surge that sent all active magic out of control, and burned out our mana beacons too, I’m guessing.”

“That’s what we figure too. What we don’t know is why or how.”

“Well, I planned to investigate while I was out in the field—”

“In the field? What is your job, may I ask?”

“I’m a geologist, ma’am.”

“Hmm… That’s convenient. I have very few people that I can send out into the field. It’s hard to get wilderness-rated personnel to leave Equus, much less one from Celestia’s school. I’m going to ask you to help out with our inquiry, Ms. Woods.”

“My special talent is geology. Checking out the mystery of this island was supposed to be a hobby activity,” Violet objected.

“You’re a geologist who undoubtedly has many spells under her saddle. That makes you more qualified than anyone else I currently have available.”

“But—”

“How did you determine the presence of the ley line conflux?”

“With a spell,” Violet admitted reluctantly.

Tigerbright spoke up. “She showed me. She made the ley lines visible to me too.”

Slate nodded. “My point is that my techs rely on instruments to detect them while you don’t. As you work for a government department, I can have you reassigned to this if required.”

Violet sighed in resignation. “Alright, but I’ll need a bit of help if I’m going to concentrate on my investigations. I was supposed to go out solo into the field on my first assignment tomorrow.”

The governor frowned. “I’ve already sent out everyone with even a modicum of field experience. Tiger, have you got anyone who can assist?”

The chakat shrugged helplessly. “You know if I had someone on staff like that, I would have dragged them off on a weekend camping trip ages ago.”

A smile slowly spread across the earth pony mare’s face. She cocked her head and raised an eyebrow without saying a word.

Tigerbright blinked in comprehension. “You want me to go with Violet? While I’d love to do that, this isn’t going to be a fun three-day trip. You’re asking her to investigate an unknown phenomenon from an unknown source which may or may not repeat. That could take weeks, months, or even never be resolved. I can’t take that much time away from my work.”

“I know you’ve got lots of vacation time saved up. You can put Paul in charge until you return, or a temporary fill-in is sent from Amistad.”

The chakat was going to protest some more before shi realized that shi was being handed a golden opportunity. Nevertheless, shi still had a problem. “I’ll need to clear this with the minister.”

“Do it, please. And give hir my personal request for your help too.” The comm on her desk started buzzing for attention. She glanced at its screen and sighed. “Let me know how it goes. Now, shoo! I’ve got more immediate problems.” She tapped her comm and turned her attention to the caller.

Tigerbright inclined hir head, cueing Violet to follow hir out of the office. The two soon exited the Town Hall, but rather than crossing back over the street, the chakat used hir comm to signal a PTV. When it pulled up, Violet was urged to get in.

“Where are we going?” she asked as the PTV took off on autopilot.

“To my office at the spaceport. The town office is little more than an information center for CWG matters. I need access to my personal equipment to get in contact with my superiors.”

“Not exactly dressed for the job, are you?” Violet asked with a smirk.

The chakat had turned up for dinner in hir preferred off-duty dress – that is to say nude. Shi giggled, “Very unprofessional of me, I know, but forgivable under the circumstances.”

After a fast and brief trip to the spaceport, they were soon in Tigerbright’s office. Paul Iotor was there already but he didn’t stop his current activity to chat aside from greeting the two. This was the first time that Violet had been to the chakat’s main office before. She hadn’t had a reason to leave town yet besides the hikes. A large window overlooked the spaceport’s field which was partially lit up with floodlights. She observed the diplomas and other awards hanging in frames on the wall. There was a shelf of books and some family photos that the mare took some interest in while Tigerbright turned on the big screen on hir desk. Contacting the minister was a little more complicated than making a normal phone call, hence the need to come here, but because it was still morning there, it didn’t take long. A dark grey-furred chakat with medium brown highlights across the face and ears appeared on the display.

Tigerbright explained the situation on Emu Island to Minister Jaguarondi and what they intended to do about it, adding the governor’s formal request. Shi concluded, “I told Governor Slate that I would need to clear this with you but I also indicated that I couldn’t be expected to leave my post on such short notice.”

The minister replied, “We’ve already been getting some pressure from Equus to look into this matter. If Governor Slate feels that you can be of most use this way, then I will approve the leave of absence. Your executive assistant can take charge for the moment. I will arrange to send a temporary replacement for you soon.” Then hir stern voice took on a humorous tone. “Better go back to bed. You and that mare need to get a good sleep.”

“Yes, minister,” Tigerbright replied with a smile. The comm screen darkened and shi turned to Violet. “Well… that was a lot easier than I imagined it would be.”

“Yeah, but what did shi mean by that last remark?”

The chakat giggled. “The minister knows it’s night here, but not the exact hour. Because of my state of undress, shi assumed that we were dragged out of bed by the crisis.”

Violet blinked and then blushed. “You mean, you and me…?”

Tigerbright grinned. “Yep. My boss has urged me on more than one occasion to find a mate. You’re not the only one to have gotten frequent unsubtle hints.”

“You chakats are almost as bad as my parents!”

“Heh! You’ve yet to meet my mom and dads,” shi replied, indicating one of the photographs. “Then again, it’s pretty normal for chakat clans. I’ve never been harassed about it like you were though.”

“Well, the minister did get one thing right – we do need to get some sleep if we’re to get off to an early start tomorrow. But, first, I’m hungry. We never did get to eat our dinner. Think that fish with chimichurri sauce will still be available?”

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Author's Note

Half of this chapter was written by my collaborator, Airy Words. But which half is whose?

No art this time. Boooo!