Celestia didn't need the coffee.

What she did need was a way to up the amount of magic in Brendan's head. And the coffee was a perfect way to do it. Much better than what her original plan was.

She could hope that the magic would last for the time she wanted it too, but Brendan had a much stronger mind than she had originally realized. It was a risk she couldn't take.

However, she felt she wanted to bring in just one more human...

Scott Blevins had ADD. He'd had it since he was a kid.

He had always had a tough time focusing until he got behind a computer. Even at age 22, his focus still sucked, but he was a better techie than your average Apple IT guy. Thus, he landed himself a job with Valve, the creator of Steam.

His job was to monitor the company's firewalls, as hackers in the past have tried and succeeded in stealing games and data several times. With him on the job, six attacks had been prevented. He was a valuable asset to the corporation. But today, he felt like sleeping.

He had been working since 7 AM, and though he got to work from home, he had been sitting at his kitchen table for the past three hours watching the terminals Valve moved data through. He struggled to stay awake as he drained his fifth cup of coffee. He had been up late last night watching a football game, and now he was paying the price.

He started to feel himself slipping away, and slapped himself in the face. But it didn't work. His eyes kept closing, until he could see nothing but darkness. He felt his head fall onto the keyboard of the laptop before him, but before he could feel any pain, he drifted out of consciousness.

Celestia had now gone through the process with four humans. It was less than she wanted, but it would work for now. She had next to no trouble with Scott. He had problems with focus, which made him an easy target.

But having humans, as Celestia knew, was a short-term thing. It was time to move forward.

She would start with D'Angelo.

She looked to see what he was doing. He was in his home, reading. Perfect. She used her magic to get to his front door. She decided to see how he was doing first.

She knocked twice, waited a moment, then opened the door. The young human was sitting on the sofa, reading a novel. In front of him was a TV, with a black box sitting on the floor beneath it. The box had a small white ball on it, with what appeared to be a curved "X". The things humans have in their world, she thought. Fascinating. Next to him was a black object with two weird-shaped handles and several buttons. She assumed it was an entertainment system of some sort.

"What's up," he said as she approached him. He didn't take his eyes off his book.

"Hello, D'Angelo," she said. "How have you been?"

"I've been okay." He licked his thumb, turned the page, dog-eared it, and closed it. He turned around to face her. "What is it?"

"I wanted to..." she searched for a word, "...experiment. I was hoping you could be of service. You wouldn't mind coming with me, would you?"

"Where?" A regular human might have been concerned by this, but as D'Angelo was under a spell, he wasn't worried at all. Just confused.

"Oh, you'll be resting while I take you there, just to be safe. I promise nothing bad will happen to you."

For a smart kid turned simple-minded by pony magic, that was all it took. D'Angelo shrugged. "Sure," he said.

"Wonderful." Celestia's horn glowed, and within seconds D'Angelo was slumped over on the couch, unconscious. The Princess of the Sun looked down at him. There was no remorse; just resolve as she prepared to haul him to where she wanted him. Her horn glowed again, slightly brighter this time due to the increase in the magic she was using, and D'Angelo Walker's body was lifted off of the couch as it began to float along with Celestia as she made her way out of the house and towards her castle.

Brendan Retmore's late night run-in with Celestia had alarmed him, especially being told that she knew his every move. Despite this, he decided to spend most of his time looking out the window. Not to take it all in, but rather to watch his surroundings to see if the alicorn would return. He took small breaks, but though he could have almost anything he wished for he found much more interest in keeping an eye on the bit of neighborhood surrounding his house.

He sipped some tea while he watched. It helped keep him calm much more than coffee did. He had been watching the window for the past hour and a half, determined to catch something. After all, the last time he looked outside, he saw another human being led into a house, so he could only imagine what else he would see.

But no matter what he imagined, none of it was even close to what met his eyes. He watched as Celestia appeared in a ball of white light in the middle of the open area, went over to a house not too far to the left of his, and went inside. He immediately focused on the spot where he had seen her enter. After five or so minutes, she came back out. Floating next to her was the third human. The kid. His eyes were open, staring blankly at the sky.

Brendan spit out the mouthful of tea he had been about to swallow, sending it splattering all over the window. He dropped his mug to the floor, where it shattered. "Holy fuck!" he yelled. "Holy fucking shit! She's gonna kill him! He could already be dead! Fuck!" His anger and shock in the moment were so powerful they momentarily overwhelmed Celestia's expletive-reducing spell, giving him the ability to curse like a sailor. Which he did.

He wanted to run outside and scream at her to let him go. But he couldn't. All he could do was watch. He pounded on the window with his fist in agony. Mainly for the kid, but also because he was worried he might be next. He didn't cry, but he was pretty damn close. He sighed. Don't kill him, he thought as he watched Celestia disappear along with the young human. Please don't kill him.

"He's special."

"So?"

"So he needs to do it. He needs to be with others on his level."

"He's perfectly fine where he is now. He doesn't even want to."

"He's not like the normal kids. It's not good for him."

"Dammit, don't tell me what's good for him! He's my son!"

"And I'm his father! If he's got potential, it needs to be recognized!"

"He just wants to be normal!"

"Well, he NEEDS to get the best grades he can!"

"Just let him live his life! You didn't care so much four years ago, did you?"

"FUCK YOU! He's GOING to be in whatever classes I PUT him in!"

"I'm not going to let you control his life!"

D'Angelo curled up on his bed and covered his ears, not wanting to hear any of the shouting in the hallway. But once the shouting stopped, it was replaced by something worse: The sound of glass breaking, and something heavy hitting a wall.

D'Angelo sobbed on his bed, wishing it could all go away. He hated listening to his father act like this. In the hall, the sounds of banging and grunting intensified.

That night, Jain Walker was arrested on charges of assault and battery. After he stepped out of the house, in a pair of handcuffs, he would never return to the premises or to his son's life. His mom, Lydia Walker, would go on to support D'Angelo's opposition of his father's views for the rest of his grade school career. He would never enter a gifted class, never use that bit of potential that his father had assaulted his mother over. He never wanted to hear about either of them again.

Yet now, his mind was weak. Weak from magic intrusion. And the untapped intelligence that remained in his brain was still there. All it took was one push from the spell assaulting his brain for it to be released. However, it may already be too late...

Author's Note

So was this chapter good or nah? I hope it was, it took a while.

Next chapter comin soon yall.

Peace.