BridgeWorld

[994AB Day 257]
"Did you have an enjoyable evening, Mister Thomas?" Alfalfa Ponyworth asked when the family arrived home.

"No, Alfalfa, we didn't!" the head of the house replied to his butler. "Mareta was almost killed, and—"

"How dreadful!" Alfalfa exclaimed. "What happened!?"

"Quite a lot of things happened! Fortunately, not all of them were bad," Thomas Mane finally replied. "But the entire incident has gotten me to thinking. There was a creature, definitely not a Diamond Dog—more of—almost a cat—but she possessed magic that I've never seen before."

"A dangerous creature that needs to be tracked down and eliminated?" she asked.

"No! No, in fact, she was the one who saved us!" Thomas snapped. "She saved us from a unicorn stallion who was trying to rob us. Whatever magic she possessed, she was not only able to overcome the unicorn who was actively using magic to attack us, but—and everything I've ever heard about magic says that a creature like her isn't supposed to have any magic—at least, nothing that is supposed to be on par with a pony. But, I swear, she had to have teleported!"

"That sounds strange, indeed, Mister Thomas," the mare butler agreed. "What are your orders, sir?"

"As I said, the whole incident has given me a lot to think about, Alfalfa," Thomas said. "First thing, earth ponies such as us shouldn't be potentially held hostage to criminals that exist in the other tribes. You were in the Royal Guard. Do you think you could teach Mareta, Buck, and myself how to fight?" Alfalfa looked at Mareta and their son standing there listening to their discussion. There was a look of determination in his mate's face that matched her stallion's, and their son had a look of curiosity.

"Teaching hoof-to-hoof combat to raw recruits was one of my specialties when I was a Drill Sergeant, Mister Thomas," Alfalfa replied with a laugh. "I'm afraid you're paying me way too many bits to have me go back to doing that again!"

"That's true," Thomas agreed, laughing as well. "Which is why I want you to train us to be more than just hoof-to-hoof experts. I want you to train us to be able to do more. A lot more."

"I see, sir," she replied.

"And tonight's incident made me give reason to reconsider some of the ideas you mentioned last week regarding some of those failed experiments that Celestia has been helping us," Thomas added. "You may be right that we shouldn't work so hard trying to reliably replicate them to meet QA specs for the Guard. I think we should look into pursuing other lines of research in how to make use of them."

"I see. Anything else, sir?" she asked.

"I'd also would like to find out all that's possible about the creature we met," he ordered. "Something tells me that she might have some impact to the destiny of ponies all across Equestria. And—it's just a gut feeling I have—but she might not be the only one we need to keep an eye out for."

"Of course, sir," Alfalfa replied. "I'll get some of my friends on this matter right away."

"Thank you, Alfalfa," Thomas said.

"We'll see how much you're still thanking me once you start going through basic training, Mister Thomas," she said, smirking. Her employer looked at his mare and son, then back to Alfalfa.

"Indeed!" Thomas agreed, laughing.

The bipedal feline being discussed in the Mane household was, at that moment, huddled inside a discarded carboard shipping box in an alley several miles away from where she had first appeared in the city, shivering in the cold as she nervously watch on the nightlife of the nearby busy street, looking at the strange vaguely equine creatures going to and fro….