[994AB Day 297]
"You must be famished after that run, Jackie," Celestia spoke up as they rode in the chariot back to Canterlot.

"Yes, I am, Princess Celestia," Jackie said, sighing. "And—I'm very sorry about exploding like that back there, too. You didn't deserve that rant, and neither did Doctor Przewalski. It's just—the irony of his discovery only highlighted all those horrors that I went through." She shrugged her shoulders before resuming with a rueful laugh. "I guess—it just triggered another one of those little bits of adrenaline—and off I go!"

"Those 'little bits of adrenaline', Doctor Przewalski said are all over 9000 units, as best as he could measure," Celestia countered. "For most normal creatures, that much flooding their body would be a lethal shock to their system, unless they have some magical means to offset the adversity it would otherwise cause. But it seems your magic is turning all of it into pure speed. So far, he can't detect any physical harm to you, but you'd had better learn some control to moderate how much your body is generating."

"'Welcome to the World of Superheroes, Jackie,'" Jackie told herself, shrugging her shoulders again.

"Would you like something to eat, too, Fluttershy?" Celestia inquired.

"Oh, no, but thank you very much, Your Highness," the yellow pegasus quickly replied. "I had already eaten dinner before coming over with Applejack to talk with Jackie."

"Very well," Celestia said, nodding. "I'll arrange quarters for you and will call upon you in the morning for debriefing."

"Of course, Your Highness!" Fluttershy said, bowing to her.

"Uh, oh," Celestia quietly muttered as she saw who was waiting for her to land in the Castle's courtyard: Prince M'bayar and Princess Ishia, the resident ambassadors from the Walkaloosa and Zebrica, respectively.

"Good evening, my friends!" Celestia greeted when her chariot came to a stop and the passengers disembarked. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" The two ambassadors shot an annoyed glance at each other before turning their expressions back to Celestia. From her experience, that they weren't actively snarling at each other was not a good sign.

"I believe that 'good morning' would be more appropriate in my home," Princess Ishia replied. "Or even that greeting should be questionable, since the sun was late coming up in that zone."

"Not that my kind everr has much to fearr frrom the darrk," Prince M'bayar spoke up with a purring voice as the large black cat shuffled his wings, "but I must agrree with my neighborr. Ourr hunts deserrve theirr consistent brreaks so that ourr citizens can prreparre forr the next night's forrays. Likewise, ourr prrey deserrve theirr opporrtunity to rrecoverr as well. My fatherr sent an inquirry as to the rreason why, and it only stands to rreason to ask it of you alongside my frriend," he finished, nodding his head toward the zebra mare beside him, who nodded in agreement.

When they refer to each other as 'friends', that's when the whole world starts to unravel! Celestia nervously thought to herself.

Then the winged panther suddenly caught sight of Jackie and his ears perked up as he looked her up and down. "Hmmm…. Not bad. A frriend of yourrs, Prrincess Celestia, perrhaps? Would you please be so kind as to intrroduce us?"

"I do deeply apologize for the lateness in setting the sun," Celestia told them. "There was an emergency to deal with that unavoidably distracted me from my duties. I assure you, that I do my utmost to minimize such events."

"I see. Please be so kind as to not have that happen so frequently," Ishia told her.

"I underrstand," M'bayar also replied.

"As to my companions, this is Fluttershy," Celestia gestured with a wing to the yellow pegasus, who nervously squeaked in surprise at suddenly being the focus of attention. "And this is Jackie Valentine, a recent arrival to Equestria. Jackie, Fluttershy, these are Prince M'bayar of the Walkaloosa, and Princess Ishia of Zebraca. Their nations cohabit the same land, and therefore, they are quite close neighbors to each other."

"Quite close neighbors we may be," Ishia spoke up, "if not exactly overly friendly." To which M'bayar gave a silent nod.

"Whateverr disputes we have, they arre all prrimarrily a matterr of—diet," M'bayar added with a toothy grin.

"Oh, my! Y-y-you d-don't actually eat zebras, do you!?" Fluttershy worriedly asked.

"NO! Of course not!" M'bayar hissed, losing his purring accent. "We only eat the Walkaloosa! We would never eat a sapient! The Walkaloosa are an unintelligent equine species that runs through the savanna and plains of our lands!"

"A fact that Zebras and Walkaloosa have the same general shape!" Ishia growled. "In the dark, your hunting can result in a severe mistake!"

"And when was the last such incident, my dearr?" M'bayar challenged, glaring at the zebra mare while resuming his smoothly purring voice. "Hundrreds of yearrs ago, werre they not?"

"…Yes, several centuries ago. That is true. But all it takes is one more dead zebra foal—then we will make you rue!" she finished with a growl, before walking away in a huff. M'bayar merely watched her depart before turning his attention once more to Jackie.

"You named your country after the creatures you eat?" Jackie asked, perplexed.

"The prroperr name of my countrry has always been 'The Nation of Waklaloosa Hunterrs'," M'bayar explained. "But many species have an instinctive and viscerral objection to that worrd. So, as a nation, we agrreed to drrop the terrm when interracting with otherr beings. It is a distinction that neitherr offends us, norr has any rreal impact in our rrelations. As a species, we arre prroperrly known as Shadowcats," he finished with a toothy smile.

"Oh," Jackie replied.

"And although you are Abyssinian, and not a Shadowcat, I do have to compliment you upon seeing your form," M'bayar added. "Rrarrely do I find memberrs of any otherr species with so clearly an athletic and fit shape that I might actually considerr wishing to—do much morre than merrely socialize. Good hunting, Jackie Valentine," he said to her with a nod. "And good hunting forr you ponies," he finished addressing the others before turning to walk away as well. What was surprising to Jackie and Fluttershy was that the winged panther quickly faded from view much faster than the low light of the night should have allowed.

"I think he finds you attractive, Jackie," Celestia teased as she stared after to where he had gotten off to, trying to spot him again.

"Yeah—I—kind of got that!" she said, nervously gulping. "I'm—just a piece of meat to him! Although in exactly which meaning he intended might be debatable!"

"I'm certain it was in the sense of 'having fun' version of the phrase. Come, let's get you something to eat, and Fluttershy a place to sleep," Celestia said, leading the way into the Castle.

After arranging for quarters for the yellow pegasus, Celestia escorted Jackie to the Dining Room once more, only for the pony princess to be surprised by the presence of Twilight Sparkle there, and Jackie to be surprised by the other creature sitting at the table: a rather chubby looking lizard, whose main body scales were light mulberry with a light greenish-gray belly and deeper green ear frond and darker moderate harlequin-green spinal ridges.

"My faithful student! You're up late," Celestia cheerfully greeted.

"She's doing it again, Princess," the lizard mumbled through a mouthful of what looked like some sort of gem candy.

"SPI-I-IKE!" Twilight shouted in evident annoyance.

"Twilight, Spike is correct to report this," Celestia softly said. "You're staying up much too late in your studying. You have to learn to pace yourself."

"I'm sorry, Princess Celestia," the unicorn meekly apologized. "It's—just such an interesting subject to read up about." That made Celestia giggle.

"Oh, Twilight, you find every subject interesting, if you're reading about it," Celestia laughed.

"This time, it was 'The History of Nipponese-Yakyakistan War' and 'The Art of the Uma' before I was able to pull her away to get something to eat," Spike absently muttered, still munching, earning the creature another glare from the purple unicorn.

"Those—are quite the tangents—to veer off from studying about Thaumaturgic Anima Bead Night Fae," Celestia muttered, blinking in astonishment.

"Well, the route is pretty easy to see once you start following it, Your Highness," Spike said. "The first thing she did was start looking up information on the Proper Procedure for Balanced Impedence Loading of Nadion when she was seeking clarification on Fae biologic mating rituals, which naturally led to the Theory of Tuned Phased Discharging—"

"SPIKE!"

"I see," Celestia ended the discussion with a laugh. She turned to Jackie, "Would you like a repeat of the trout you had earlier, or would you like something else, Jackie?"

"I think I should stick with something light," Jackie replied. "I saw you had chocolate ice cream on the menu."

"'Light' is the correct word, for that! I think I'll have some, too," Celestia agreed, laughing as she signaled for the night steward. "Enjoying your meal, Spike?"

"Oh, yes, Your Highness!" the creature exclaimed. "You've got the greatest gem salad! The sapphires are to die for, and the rubies are just exquisite!"

"Wait—please tell me he's not eating real gemstones!?" Jackie exclaimed.

"Well, what else would a dragon eat?" Spike demanded as he paused to look at her.

"DRAGON!?"

"Jackie, you just got over one freak out today. This is no time to have another," Celestia warned her.

"Oh, Jackie! You haven't met my little brother, Spike, yet! Have you?" Twilight Sparkle announced. Jackie stared at the purple unicorn with a deadpan expression.

"Your—brother?" Twilight, Celestia, and Spike all nodded, smiling to her.

"Okay—Equestrian genetics has officially just gotten REALLY weird!"

It didn't take much to explain that Spike was an adopted brother, but from what she was told, Jackie was still quite weirded out by how much power it must have taken to hatch an egg that came from creatures that could evidently swim in lava, routinely ate gemstones as part of a healthy diet, and could claw their way through solid rock to get to said gemstones.

"And there aren't any wars with them? The dragons don't raid their neighbors' vaults for any gems that might be in them?" Jackie inquired.

"Usually, nopony objects if a dragon is digging in the ground for gems that haven't been claimed by anypony," Celestia stated, "but dragons respect property rights and don't rob ponies or any other creatures.

"Sadly, wars—or at least relatively minor skirmishes—do happen, and not just involving dragons," Celestia added. "Fortunately, no major conflicts that could properly called wars have occurred for over a thousand years, not since the Fall and Disappearance of the Crystal Empire. Although, there were numerous incidents afterwards that involved raids, thefts, foalnappings, elopements, some assaults and murders involving ponies and other species, several of which went on for a few years at a time. Add to those, far more events which were labeled a war, mostly to elevate the historical recounting or to stoke somepony's pride in their ancestry—like the infamous 'War of the Roses' which lasted over thirty years between a pair of neighboring Canterlot nobles about eight hundred years ago, a dispute that involved nothing more than loud arguments over how a property line rose hedge was being trimmed. Some of their descendants, to this day, are all ready to reignite that conflict at the drop of a leaf. Speaking of which—" she trailed off to look to the side as her horn lit up.

With a popping noise, a scroll suddenly appeared before Celestia's nose, and she looked over several lines of script.

"Ye-eah," she muttered with her left ear laid back. "Just as I thought. I'm scheduled to hear more of that in tomorrow's court," she said as the scroll popped out with the same noise and her lit horn diminished. "If I'm expected to stay up throughout that snorefest, I'm unfortunately going to have to cut this meal short so I can stock up on my sleep tonight. Please feel free to stay and continue eating, my little ponies—and Jackie," Celestia told them as she stood to walk out.

"Well, thank you very much for this ice cream, Princess Celestia," Jackie said as the alicorn walked by. "That chocolate was so much better than sex!" That halted both Celestia's departure, as well as Twilight's note taking, for them to stare at her.

"Um—does sex even have a flavor?" Twilight blurted out before Celestia could say anything, and the princess stared in horror at the filly’s triggered interest on the subject. "And if so, what does it taste like!? Or is it more of a comparison to how the Fae channelize their genders? But since chocolate is biologic, isn't it—ewwww!?" as whatever else the purple unicorn was going to ask was lost in a shudder of revulsion. Celestia facehoofed at the thought of having to explain this conversation to Twilight Velvet!

"No! NO! I'm not staying for this! You can't make me!" Celestia exclaimed, quickly rushing out of the room almost fast enough to qualify as superspeed, Jackie noted.

"G'night, Princess Celestia!" Spike called out with a bored attitude to the vanished ruler as he continued munching gems from his bowl.

Jackie just fell to the floor laughing.

A little later, Jackie was again sitting at the table, trying to learn more about this new world she was stuck in, and Twilight was asking more about the worlds that Jackie had been to.

"Did you always have such speed," Twilight asked.

"Not until—this happened on that nightmare planet!" she spat, gesturing to herself.

"I'm very sorry, Jackie. It's just still very hard for me to understand how you have magic. I know Big Joe said it looked like you teleport."

"I don't understand much of this, either," Jackie admitted, getting up to walk over to one end of the Dining Room, "but I guess it's easier just to show you."

"Now, you see me," she said when she was in position.

"Now, you don't," Jackie said, grinning from the other end of the room when the unicorn and dragon was left staring at where she had been. "I'm over here," she said, waving as they turned to look at where her voice was coming from as she walked back to her chair.

"Wow!" Twilight muttered in wide-eyed shock. "That did look just like a teleport, only without the normal flash of magic!"

"OH! You're just like Fili-Second, fastest pony in all of Maretropolis!" Spike suddenly exclaimed.

"Hmm, your Princess Celestia was able to keep up with me," Jackie said, cocking her head, "and she did mention there was one or two others who could move as fast as we could. Could that be one of those she was referring to?"

"Not likely," Twilight grumbled. "Fili-Second is a fictional character from a comic book series about a bunch of superponies called, 'The Power Ponies' that Spike started reading last season. All of them have preposterous origins and powers, and I'm not sure that Spike should be reading those things. They're hardly grounded in reality, after all."

"I don't know about how preposterous they may be," Jackie said, shrugging. "Before I left my home world, I might agree with you about that, although I've always enjoying reading comics for entertainment. But—can someone gaining superspeed from getting doused with a bunch of chemicals when lightning hit the lab, or even just being born as a mutant that developed those powers naturally be any more preposterous than what happened to me and my friends?"

Spike and Twilight just stared in stunned shock at Jackie.

"H-h-how d-did you know that's exactly what happened to Marey Allen!?" Spike whispered.

"Wha—MAREY Allen!?" Jackie exclaimed, glaring at him.

"Yeah! The chemicals and lightning were what gave Marey Allen, aka Fili-Second, her superspeed," Spike told her.

"Hmf! I sense a plagiarism lawsuit in the works, somewhere in the future," Jackie softly muttered. "Barry Allen was DC's 'The Flash', and that's where he got his speed!" Jackie replied to Spike. "Marvel's speedster was Pietro Maximoff, aka Quicksilver, who was one of two children of another mutant, named Magneto."

“Who’s Marvel? And DC?” Spike asked, puzzled by their names.

“DC and Marvel are the two biggest publishers of superhero comics,” Jackie explained. “They each have their own line of superhero teams, their own groups and supervillains to fight them, and they’ve been major rivals against each other for decades, constantly stealing ideas, writers, and artists, as well as suing each other over those thefts, until they finally acknowledged each other’s work and began a few joint ventures that were quite popular with the fans.”

"So—what other powers do you have? And you said a number of friends of were involved? Did they get any powers, too?" Spike eagerly asked, but the question caused Jackie to draw in on herself and she held her knees close to her chest and wrapped her tail about herself.

"I—I'm—not comfortable about talking about that," she softly whispered.

"Well, why not?" Spike pressed, still eager to speak with her about other comic book stories.

"Please! I—can't!" Jackie cried.

Then she was gone.

[994AB Day 298]
The breakfast time in the dining room saw only Princess Celestia, Spike, and Twilight Sparkle in attendance. The young unicorn was sorely unhappy that she didn’t get to meet Jackie again.

“I’m truly sorry, Twilight,” Celestia gently told her. “She’s been through such harrowing events both prior to and since arriving in Equestria. Given how much she’s suffered, I felt it best to allow Jackie to wake to her own schedule. Indeed, she has vital information about the dangers she’s been running from and there is great risk that those dangers have followed her here, so I’m very anxious to speak with her, myself. But I have learned long ago to exercise patience in situations like this so as to not cause her any further harm.

“Your eagerness to learn new things is admirable, my faithful student,” the alicorn mare said. “But you also have to understand when to temper your desire to acquire knowledge verses the needs of the one you’re trying to learn such details from, especially when doing so is painful to her. The mark of a good friend is to have patience and allow Jackie to open up when she’s ready. We must not force it out of her. Our duty is to be supportive, helpful, and caring.”

“I—I’m sorry, Princess Celestia,” Twilight murmured.

“It’s okay, Twilight,” Celestia said. “Jackie does seem to be eager to share what she can, too. It’s just that what she’s willing to speak out is jumbled up with memories that are too painful for her to face at the moment.”

“I liked that her world seems to have comic books, too!” Spike cheerfully exclaimed between bites of his gemstone cereal. “Although, I’m a little puzzled about the competition she mentioned that exists between the rival publishers. If they’re such rivals, how could they ever join up? And why?”

“I’m sure she’ll answer those in due time, Spike,” Celestia told them. “But that will have to wait for later. It’s getting time for Twilight to meet with Archmage Tara while I’m holding Court this morning, and you’ve still got your morning nap, young drake.”

“Aw!” they both exclaimed in disappointment.

“Twilight!?” Celestia gasped in shock. “I thought you liked Tara!”

“Oh! I do! Really!” she protested. “I was just hoping to see Jackie again before class started!”

“Well, barring any unforeseen panic attacks, Jackie should still be around when your sessions are over,” Celestia said sighing. “And Spike, I know you’re feeling like you want to stay up, but you’re still a growing dragon whelp, and I’m very familiar with the requirements of draconic life cycles. I’ll allow you to read two comics before your nap, and no trying to reread them three times, either, Mister!”

“Yes, Princess Celestia,” they both intoned in defeat.

They got up from the table and made their way out the door. As the door leading to the throne room began to close behind them, Spike whispered over to Twilight while they walked away.

“Do you think she’s developed mind-reading as a superpower?”

“Yes, I’m sure she has!” she whispered back.

“Damned straight I have!” Celestia quietly muttered as she sipped the last of the tea in her cup. “You don’t get to be a few thousand years old without it, even if telepathy isn’t involved. It comes from being a parent!”

There was a quiet knock at the door that led to the sleeping chambers, so light, she almost didn’t hear it.

“Enter,” Celestia spoke out. The timid yellow pegasus mare with a bubblegum pink mane poked her head in.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you, Your Highness,” Fluttershy said, her voice almost as soft as her knocking.

“Not at all, Fluttershy,” she happily responded. “Have you seen if Jackie is up yet?”

“Y-yes, yes she is, Your Highness,” Fluttershy replied. “I checked on her just now. She’s showered and dried, but she explained she needs some time alone to think. She’s asked me to come on down and speak with you about what we talked about last night.”

“Of course!” Celestia said, extending her wing in a gesture for Fluttershy to have a seat next to her. “And feel free to order breakfast, too.”

“Th-thank you, Your Highness,” the mare replied, coming on in.

“And, please, drop the ‘Your Highness’ bit,” Celestia told her.

“Oh! I couldn’t do that, Your Highness!” Fluttershy exclaimed, her voice almost getting up to a pony’s normal speaking volume. Celestia could only sigh.

I try! she morosely thought. I do so try!

Alone in her room, Jackie leaned on what passed as the castle’s balcony railing, a thick solid wall that she estimated could take a decent pounding from siege weaponry and give a good accounting of itself. Staring morosely out over the vista overlooking the castle grounds, a portion of the city, and the expansive plains and isolated mountains stretching out to the horizon, she tried not to think of anything.

Part of her mind pushed at her to take in and admire the view, while another part wanted to focus on her situation, the horrors that she and her friends had faced, their questionable fates, and what disasters were still yet in store for her future. As a result, she was self-conflicted. She just wanted to be at peace for a change of pace, but it was difficult to achieve.

There was a knock at the door, and as Jackie turned to look, it opened to reveal a unicorn mare in a maid’s outfit poking her head in. She had white fur and a blonde mane with matching tail.

“Hello? I hope I’m not disturbing you,” the equine called out.

“Oh, no, there’s no problem,” Jackie replied, noting the cart beyond the unicorn. Maid service, she guessed, snorting in amusement at the evident parallels that this world had to human society. Unbidden, a nasty thought suddenly came across Jackie’s mind, and she acted on the impulse.

There was a burst of wind, and Sunbow blinked to see the tall bipedal creature standing near her with a feather duster in her paw and a disturbing smile.

“All done!” Jackie happily exclaimed. Then Sunbow saw the state of her maid cart, and getting a sudden earie feeling in her mane, she glanced at the room that needed cleaning. Only it looked pristine. The bed was made. The floor was cleaned and waxed. The bathroom, from what she could see, was also cleaned.

“So, how did I do? Got any openings for maid service here at the castle?” Jackie inquired, setting the duster down on the cart.

“Wha—how!?” Sunbow exclaimed in shock.

“I’m fast,” Jackie said, shrugging, still smiling. Then she sadly sighed.

“Listen, I didn’t mean to step into your duties,” Jackie said. “But I’m going through a rough patch right now, and I thought a little mindless house cleaning would help a bit with my therapy. Besides, I would just feel bad to stand around to watch you work to clean up my mess, seeing as how my job down in Big Joe’s restaurant in Manhattan is essentially the same as this. I know you’ve probably got tons more rooms to clean, so why not take a few minutes off your feet with this one finished ahead of time?”

“Uh, j—just—let me ch—check things a little,” Sunbow stammered.

“Take your time,” Jackie said as Sunbow went to confirm the condition of the bathroom. The rest of the room, from what she could tell, had been immaculately cleaned.

Impressive! she thought, seeing how well this space was equally thoroughly cleaned. What sort of creature could clean this well and in such short amount of time?

“I—I have to apologize, to say we don’t have any openings to my knowledge,” Sunbow said. “Not that you’ve done a poor job—this is amazing work! Uh—Miss—?”

“I’m Jackie,” she replied. “Jackie Valentine, holding out her paw, to which Sunbow shook with her hoof. “I’m—new to Equestria.”

“Nice to meet you, Jackie,” Sunbow said as they went to sit on the chairs by the room’s writing desk. “I’m Sunbow. You say you’re new to Equestria? How are you finding it?”

“A—a little scary, to be honest,” Jackie admitted after several moments. “Although, it’s not so much scary here, but rather how I arrived was the scary part! What I can remember of that—” she quickly added when she saw Sunbow’s expression turn to shock. “Equestria, itself, seems to be rather nice. It—it just took me a little while to calm down.”

“Oh,” Sunbow said, sympathetically.

“I—I’m still trying to calm down,” Jackie said with a sad smile. “But I’ve met some helpful folks. The griffons at Big Joe’s restaurant, Princess Celestia, a few of your people.” She hung her head in shame. “I just hope it’ll be enough.”

“I’m sure they will,” Sunbow said, laying a hoof on Jackie’s leg.

“Would you like something to eat?” Jackie asked, suddenly perking up. “I can run down to the kitchen and bring something up in no time!”

“No, I’m good,” Sunbow said. “I was just going to get a glass of wate—r.” she said, only to pause when it looked like Jackie had blipped for a moment. Then she saw Jackie was holding out a glass of water to her while the creature was in the middle of chowing down on a griffon-style bacon burger. Sunbow screamed and leapt from her chair.

Through the early portion of Court, Celestia was kept sane only by recollecting what Fluttershy told her about the horrific details that Jackie had endured. It was a wonder that Fluttershy, herself, hadn’t been severely traumatized by Jackie’s tale. However, Celestia suspected that the timid little yellow mare secretly had a deeply hidden inner strength that could easily rival her own.

Those monstrosities that had done all that to them, Celestia furiously considered. Those creatures had better pray to whatever evil gods they may worship that they hadn’t followed Jackie here! If Jackie’s story is true, those monsters will get no mercy from me!

Outwardly, she exude the same calming demeanor that she constantly displayed as Equestria’s Princess as she addressed the first set of petitioners before her.

“The Court reminds my little ponies of the resolution and agreements that finally brought an end to the War of the Roses nearly eight hundred years ago,” she sweetly told them, “as well as the consequences stipulated that would be levied against the noble families involved should any form of hostilities were to reignite. As both parties deviated from the agreed strictly vertical trimming and sought to carve into the hedge, in violation of the treaty, both parties clearly at fault. Your actions opened a visible window in the hedge which allows a pony to visibly see into the other’s property.

“Therefore, it is the decision of this Court that the Crown will employ the services of a competent landscaper to encourage the rose hedge to regrow sufficient foliage to both close off the window and make the hedge walls vertical and flat again! Furthermore, in addition to equally sharing the burden of the cost to the Crown hiring the landscaper, both petitioners are each fined one hundred thousand bits—”

Her passing judgement was interrupted by exclamations of astonishment from the parties involved.

“I heard for one hundred thousand,” Celestia smoothly spoke out. “Do I hear a bid for two!?” There was a notable pause, then somepony in the audience let out a low groan, and it almost caused Celestia to break character as the ponies for the parties before the Court all went wide-eyed and narrow pupils/irises, nervously shaking their heads.

“Nice try,” she nodded to the anonymous audience member, smiling. “The Court appreciates the levity, so only a one bit fine for the third pony in the fourth row on the left hand side, but please don’t make a habit of it.”

“Judgement regarding the six hundred and fifteenth War of the Roses has been made,” Celestia announced, rapping the gavel on the sounding block once. This case is concluded. Bring the next case!”

While the petitioners filed out, shooting dark glares at their across-street neighbor who had made that noisy groan, and as Sharp Quill was busy readying the next case to lay on her bench, Lieutenant Cornwall came forward to speak privately with her.

“Your Highness,” he whispered. “There’s been an incident involving a couple of Manehatten Equestria Guard being injured by a cloud of null-stone powder thrown at them just outside their precinct. Lieutenant Gordon and Detective Paddock are recovering in the hospital.”

“How seriously were they hurt?” Celestia demanded. “And any leads as to who would do such a thing!?”

“Fortunately, the exposure wasn’t too severe,” Cornwall replied. “They’re expected to make a full recovery, but they’re expected to be out of commission for several days, at minimum. As for who did it, we don’t have any leads at the moment, but there were dozens of Lo-jack trackers belonging to the precinct in the bag thrown at them.” Celestia blinked in stunned shock.

Why am I not surprised that I may just have a lead to who did this? she thought, facehoofing.

There was a knock at Shining Armor’s door.

“Come in,” he called out, and he saw it was the bipedal cheetah, Jackie Valentine.

“I understand you wanted to see me, Captain Armor?” she softly inquired.

“Hi, Jackie,” he cheerfully greeted. “Yes, please have a seat. I just wanted to see how you’re doing.”

“Okay, I guess,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “I hope I’m not in trouble for scaring your maids.”

“Oh, nothing like that!” he said, chuckling. “Sunbow was just surprised by your speed. She’s okay. I just want to make sure you’re doing alright. I got the report from Fluttershy after she spoke with the Princess. I can’t imagine what it must have been like on that other world. You have my deepest sympathies.”

“Uh—th—thank you, sir,” she demurred. “I’m—I’m still trying to get used to—all this. Parts of this—place—so closely resembles my home world—except for all you talking ponies.”

“Point taken,” he replied, chuckling.

“What’s that?” she suddenly asked, looking up at one of the charts hanging on his wall. “Some kind of artwork?”

“Uh—heh—that is you,” he said, with a laugh.

“ME!?” Jackie exclaimed. “Someone seriously needs glasses, then!” That set him off with a good round of guffaws.

“That is what we were able to track of your movements from when you left Manehattan,” Shining explained when he got over his mirth. Getting up to stand beside her as she looked at the map with all the marks on it, he told her, “You were bouncing back and forth all over the place between there and Fillydelphia. Over thirteen hundred square leagues.”

“I really got around, didn’t I?” she muttered in whispered awe of her own abilities.

“You sure did!” he agreed good naturedly. “But that’s over now. You don’t have to run anymore.” She looked at him sharply, then hung her head in shame.

“Well, you’re still free to run, Jackie,” he quickly amended. “You just don’t have to run in fear!”

“Yes,” she agreed. “Of course.”

Water Riwoche sat across the desk from Pony Stark in the latter’s office, slumping in disappointment.

“Thanks, anyway, Pony,” Water said sighing.

“Hey, Water!” Pony protested. “I didn’t say I can’t help! I just don’t have what you’re wanting for shields. But looking over your specs, I think I can at least help out with your propulsion.”

“No, I do appreciate your offer to boost the rocket,” Water replied. “No, Destiny was my only hope for developing sufficient shields to stand up to those wild ley lines. Without his cooperation—”

“Well, I wouldn’t say he was your only hope,” Pony whispered. “I’ve had a few run-ins with somepony else who might be just as competent in that field as Destiny is.”

“Oh? Who!?”

“Somebody who’s not a pony,” a smooth voice sounded from behind Water, making him jump and spin about in surprise, only to be further surprised by a figure slowly materializing from thin air in the middle of the room: a large winged black panther.

“Apologies forr not being able to attend yourr invite, last night, Pony,” the creature purred. “Therre was a matterr of state that I had to meet with Prrincess Celestia that took prrecedent.”

“Water, I’d like to introduce you to Prince M’bayar, of the Walkaloosa,” Pony said. “If anypo—anybody else who can match Doctor Destiny with what you need for your shields, I’d put my bits on this cat.”

“And I would have to tell you that you would lose money with that bet, Starrk,” M’bayar sadly told them. “I may have the materrial you need to make such shields, but therre is one otherr who is needed to make it so they will prrotect you frrom the wild ley lines you’rre intending to challenge, Waterr Rriwhoche.”

“How are they?” Celestia demanded of Doctor Kleber, the staff doctor on duty that night when she suddenly arrived. “Are they up for visitors?”

“Apologies, Your Highness,” he replied. “They’ve thoroughly been decontaminated—on the outside. But we’re still working to pull null-stone powder from their lungs, so they’re unable to speak at this time. Otherwise, they’re in stable condition. We should be finished with that procedure by tomorrow night. A couple days to recover their magic and they should be able to resume their duties.” She stared at the ponies laying in their beds through the window to their room for several moments, trying to decide just how she was going to deal with this matter at her next stop. Setting her face to a grim expression, she left.

One thing that could be said about Celestia whenever she’s made up her mind: never get in her way….

“Oh, I know that look,” Alfalfa muttered when she opened the door to reveal the princess standing there in the mid-afternoon.

“You don’t know the half of it, Major!” Celestia countered, not in any mood to banter.

As usual, the ride down was in total silence.

“Master Buck, we have a problem,” Alfalfa spoke out as they crossed the bridge to Lucius’ station.

“You’ve got only one chance to not have the Princess here right now,” Celestia firmly stated. The four of them looked abashed at each other.

“It was my fault,” Robin quickly spoke up. “We were returning their null-stone and Lo-jack trackers—but the shielded box we were carrying wasn’t locked—and the bag fell out and landed in front of them. It was an accident. We didn’t mean to hurt them!”

“I’ve been checking up on them,” Buck added. “They’re getting the best care possible, and they’re expected to fully recover.” He kept his thoughts quiet that the seriousness of the guards’ situation hadn’t been that severe. Null-stone dust was commonly used for riot control, and their exposure had only been on the edge of the cloud, after all.

“It could easily have been far worse!” Celestia scolded them. “Gordon and Paddock could have been seriously injured. Even as it is, they’re going to be out of commission for three days, when they were in the middle of another mushroom joke case! Three days for the perps to get away with whatever they’re aiming to do with those stolen VADs!”

“Stolen VADs!? What stolen VADs!?” Buck exclaimed. “And what does mushroom joke to do with that!?”

“I spoke with Corporal Higgs and got the details before going to see Gordon and Paddock at the hospital,” Celestia told them. “Oh, and Commissioner Cob appreciates getting the Lo-jacks returned, although he didn’t express it in so many words. It’s probably a good thing you lot were down here where you couldn’t hear him. He’s got a set of pipes pretty much to match any griffon that I know,” she added, digging a hoof into her ear.

“It seems that a distributer was robbed of nearly fourteen thousand bits worth of VADs and security equipment, with the robbers using enough mushroom joke to ensure over a dozen ponies’ heads, both store worker and customers, all exploded before they left,” Celestia added.

“They used the mushroom joke as a straight up murder weapon for the commission of a robbery!?” Buck exclaimed, to which Celestia nodded.

“How—how could they have used that much without being affected by their own mushroom joke!?” Alfalfa exclaimed, equally astonished by the scale of the crime. For his part, Lucius went to the chalkboard and quickly wrote down some estimates.

“Unknown,” Celestia replied.

After a couple minutes, Lucius stepped back to look over the board and confirm his calculations.

“They would had to have used nearly sixty thousand bits at street-worth value to kill that many in such a short amount of time,” he whispered in awe. “And there’s no possible way they wouldn’t have been victims of their own mushroom joke!”

“All things being equal, I would agree with that assessment,” Celestia grimly stated. “However, all things are not equal!”

“Alfalfa, Lucius, we need a way to tap into the Equestria Guard computer systems so we’re not being blindsided by news like this!” Buck said. They both stared at him like he just suddenly sprouted a third head, while Celestia rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Yet one more thing I’m not supposed to know about, and he goes and blurts it right out in front of me!” she snarled.

Author's Note

"The Nation of Walkaloosa Hunters."

Now tell me, how could I ever resist a setup like that?