Saturday, March 14th, 909 AB (13 days later)

“Ya still got everything, right pa?”

Deed sits up to look over Title’s back nodding to the colt. “Sure do, champ. Don’t worry, ain’t nopony snaggin nothin away.”

Grumbling, Cure looks right over Dawn’s back and out the window at the passing scenery. His family had all accompanied Solar’s to his graduation, then had lunch in Baltimare before boarding the train back to Golden Hills.

Private cars are not available on the commuter train, but with both families taking up the last few rows of the car, Cure’s Sound Bubble crystal still surrounds them. It’s particularly convenient for occasions like this where a substantial amount of background noise would make conversation difficult for anypony without the enhanced hearing his family enjoys.

The commuter train layout reminds Cure of some sort of hybrid between a school bus and restaurant booths. Each alcove has two benches facing each other. There’s room between them for a pony to walk in, climb on the bench, and turn to face either towards the windows or the aisle.

Most of the benches are only about a third of a meter off the floor and have a shorter divider so ponies next to each other can easily share conversation. Since they are adult sized Cure and Dawn, sat upon his withers, have plenty of room in their spot.

The benches are big enough for Deed, so the unicorns, while a little cramped, have room to share as well, at least with the way Emerald and Starlight are laying on their stallions’ withers. There are a couple larger, taller benches at the front for the bigger earth ponies too. They’re also large enough for bipedal creatures, not that Cure has ever seen one in Golden Hills.

“Still miffed about that. You know my opinion on thieves,” he growls.

“Right, right,” his sire nods along, then he and Title despondently repeat the mantra they’ve heard seemingly hundreds of times over the last two weeks. “The only good thief is a dead one.”

Vines, opposite the foals in the same alcove, looks out the window and lets out a disappointed sigh. “I’m not sure which is worse; him growling it out all the time or you two repeating it.”

“Uhh,” Haze mutters, looking at the group somewhat warily.

“That sounds about like what I would expect,” Solar points out. “Any updates, dad?”

Haze shakes his head no. “Very little, I’m afraid.” Haze pauses and confirms the Sound Bubble is active before continuing. “There are plans in the works to either recover the trees or, at least, identify the perpetrators, but I’m sorry to say I cannot discuss them with anypony.”

Solar raises a single brow in question, but Haze simply shakes his head. “Sorry, son. Direct orders. Truth be told, I know very little myself. An investigation is underway but it is not, as far as I know, being conducted by local guard units.”

“We let my grandsire know,” Deed mentions, “but with no good description there ain’t much ta do. The trees look odd enough, if anypony sees ‘em we’ll hear about it, I reckon. Still, he said he’ll check around to see if anypony knows a unicorn that takes jobs like that. Said the fella probably was from outta town.”

Cure nods in agreement. “Yeah, they look odd but they would be pretty easy to cram in a big enough spatial bag or trunk, I guess. It doesn’t freakin matter, though. I was going to give those away in a couple months and I can make a dozen of them in under an hour. I’m just worried somepony will overdose or have some bad reaction or something.”

“I thought you said they should be safe,” Dawn comments from above.

“New treatments must always be tested, honey,” Emerald explains. “And presumably Cure has not had any opportunity to do actual live testing on ponies, correct?”

“Exactly,” Cure agrees. “Mom or dad said they would take them to test them out, but I didn’t want to be accused of giving untested drugs to somepony, willingly or not.”

Emerald looks at the pair slightly alarmed, but Title simply shrugs and points out, “If one of us had a bad reaction Cure would be right there. We would’ve been fine.”

“While I appreciate your faith in me, there still wouldn’t be any point either.” Cure turns back to Solar explaining, “It’s not like any data I would gather would be used, probably. The whole point is to get independent verification that it all works. If we tested it and it went perfectly we’d just be accused of fudging the numbers. Besides, two samples aren’t enough and I was leery of having mom do anything since she’s feeding Savvy.”

“Colt don’t mind testin on his ‘ol pa, though,” the dark stallion teasingly grumbles.

“Meh, you’d be fine,” Cure dismisses. “Anyhow, ticked as I am that somepony stole them, I just don’t see what the point is. Even if it takes me months to make another set, that’s not a huge setback.”

“Maybe somepony is trying to find out how to make something the trees won’t stop,” Title suggests.

“That… is a terrifying prospect,” Haze worriedly replies.

“Yeesh, I had not considered that at all, ma.”

“Well, is it possible?” she asks.

“I guess? I don’t care for the implications. The only reason you would want to do that is if you were making something pretty nasty. Still, they would have to even hear about the trees to know to send somepony to get them. The only ponies that knew about the trees, knew they were ready, and knew they would be outside of the house are us and the ones that have been reading the sarge’s reports.”

All eyes move to Haze and, begrudgingly, he nods in agreement. “Assuming you’ve told nopony else, I can’t help but agree. I’m guessing you do not typically discuss such matters with anypony?”

Solar, Dawn, and all three parents have to hold back a laugh at the suggestion Cure would willingly tell anypony anything about his activities. Seeing all their reactions along with the colt shaking his head no Haze nods in acceptance. “I thought not.”

Solar can’t help but agree. “I would bet my last bit that, not only has he not told anypony, he’s probably done something to make sure nopony would try to steal them again, huh?”

“I’m not admitting anything,” Cure starts, “but suffice to say any would-be thief that comes to my house is gonna regret it. It just sucks there wasn’t anything I could do about the trees themselves.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t have them boobytrapped,” Dawn says.

“There’s not much I could do with a quote-unquote ‘Medical Device’ unfortunately. Any safety measure I put in the things could trigger inadvertently. I would rather the stupid things be stolen than have some bizarre future scenario play out where somepony gets hurt because they accidentally trigger something.”

“That would also have made them more complicated,” Title explains. “We discussed that a few times when we were designing them.”

“He had some neat ideas for the trees we had to leave out too,” Vines adds. “Bioluminescent effects, reactions to spoken word or even music, that kind of stuff. Adding them in would just make the whole thing more complicated and we all wanted them to be ready in time.”

“Yep,” Cure agrees. “They have some of the bioluminescent stuff, but only to indicate when a new sample is being processed or when the tree’s low on something like water or nutrients.”

The unicorns all nod in acceptance of that. The colt is right; great care has to be taken when setting up wards and physical security to ensure they work properly under any scenarios that are likely to happen. There’s little room for error in a device that could see such widespread use as his Origin and Blood Trees are likely to.

Seeking to change the subject and, hopefully, dispel some of the annoyance the colt is showing over the topic, Solar instead focuses on the day’s events. “So, what’d you think of the fort? Pretty impressive, wasn’t it?”

Cure’s parents all nod but he can’t help but shrug disappointedly. “It was okay, I guess. Seems small.”

“Small?!” Haze and Solar reply in unison. Title can’t help but chuckle. She and the others have to frequently remind Cure that Ed’s memories have made him used to everything being scaled up much higher than what he’ll normally encounter.

Dawn pokes him in an ear with her snout. “What were you expecting?”

“I dunno, like… ten, twenty times that size, minimum. The whole thing looked barely bigger than a half dozen city blocks. How many cadets graduated with you? It only seemed like a few hundred.”

“Yeah, that’s about right,” Solar agrees. “Three hundred and fifty, I think.”

“Right,” Haze agrees, “enough to bring in plenty of fresh recruits for Baltimare, Fillydelphia, and the surrounding communities. Swoop and Sabot are both reaching the end of their enlistment, so hopefully we’ll get another flier and an earth pony to replace them.”

“Ooh! Ya need some help, sarge? When summer gets here I can do some ride-alongs!”

“Ride along?” Haze repeats, looking at his wife in confusion.

When she, Solar, and Starlight all shrug, Cure excitedly nods, “Yeah, sarge, ya know, hop in a set of armor and go bust some perps with ya. Maybe kick down a few doors, do a couple enhanced interrogations, ya know… really crack some skulls,” he emphasizes, clapping his hooves together, briefly drawing Savvy’s attention.

“I suspect you may have an unrealistic expectation of a typical day in the Guard, Cure,” his mom flatly suggests. She’s seated on the other side of the divider to Cure’s left with Savvy on her back, laying on her dam’s side while chewing on some plushie sock toys Cure had made.

“Yeah, probably. It’s probably boring as fudge mosta the time. What’s your actual work day like, sarge? Roll in, do paperwork, hoof out patrol routes, maybe give the troops an FYI on anything unusual, then go walk around just to keep from falling asleep at yer desk?”

Haze opens his mouth to argue, pauses, lets out a sigh, and dejectedly agrees. “That’s surprisingly accurate, as a matter of fact. For most days, at least.”

“Huh. Yeah that sounds awful.”

“It’s a job,” Haze defends with a shrug. “I don’t think anypony would be happy if my coworkers and I were busier.”

“I suppose we do want the local law enforcement to have little reason to stay busy,” he agrees. “How about you, Mrs. Aura, how’s the new po-zitch workin out?”

With a beaming smile Emerald answers, “Far better than the previous one. Thank you for asking, Cure. Not to mention pointing out the usefulness of my talent. All those years…” she sighs wistfully. “Working with the surgical teams is far more satisfying, not to mention the increased pay. It’s a shame I have to commute, though.”

“Cool. Glad it’s working out. We could always hook ya up with a pretty set of wings if you wanted to try flyin there,” he teases.

“Sun and stars, no!” she instantly declines. With a suspicious look she adds, “You said wings would only work on a pegasi. Is that not the case?”

“Nah, I said that pegasi have to reduce their mass with their aura to get off the ground. There’s a unicorn spell that I bet does the same thing. Interested?”

“That spell is exhausting, Cure,” Haze points out. “Though cast with a shorter duration it is probably doable. I don’t believe my Emmy would care for flying, though.” He looks up to find her emphatically shaking her head no, confirming her husband’s opinion.

“Is that a spell you have access to, sarge? I bet we could put that in the mid-high crystal and play with it some.”

“I”m not certain it would even fit in a mid-high, Cure. I suppose at a reduced duration it may, but yes. It’s in the approved spellbook for unicorn guards. Normally it lasts three days, but it also takes a joint cast ritual to perform… or an extremely powerful unicorn. I believe the lowest power is an hour.”

“Is that the same book that had the communications spells?”

“Yes.”

“Is that something civilians are allowed to have?”

“No, it has a few area-affecting spells that are restricted.”

“That sucks. I don’t suppose I could convince you to make a copy of the book minus any restricted spells, could I?”

“I could do it,” Solar volunteers. “I’m allowed to have access to the whole book now. I don’t mind pulling out the ones you’re not allowed to have. Is that okay, dad?”

“Yes, that’s fine. I would like to double check it before you’re done, though. It’s unnecessary, but I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble if you accidentally miss one. There’s only a few approved restricted spells anyhow.”

“Awesome. Maybe we can add those to your repertoire, babe. I’m sure there’s gotta be some that are hard to cast that the guard could use as crystals.” With a thoughtful look he asks, “Hey sarge, when we met with my lawyers they said there’s an approval process ponies can go through to get access to typically restricted spells or classes of magic. Is that anything you have experience with?”

“Yes, actually. It’s the regional guard commander that has to approve those requests before they move up the line to the Archmage’s Assembly for final approval. There’s paperwork, a background check normally, and you have to have a valid reason for requesting access to them beyond mere curiosity.”

“Valid such as you’re providing enchanted crystals to the guard?”

“I… believe that may qualify. Typically one must be an adult to go through that process, though there are exceptions to every rule. Dawn, being my daughter, would probably be able to get approval a little easier, but likely not for a few years even still. I realize that sounds unfair, but the assumption is that I would be aware of what she is doing, which I would, of course.”

“Huh. Neat.” Turning back to Emerald he says, “You’re sure you wouldn’t want to have that in a crystal? It sounds insanely convenient.”

“I would,” Title volunteers. “If for nothing else just to see what it’s like.”

“It does sound interesting,” Solar agrees. “You could recharge the crystal before bed, fly to work, charge it at lunch, and fly home, dam. The spell supposedly takes care of the whole ‘needing to know how to fly’ part, so at the very least it may be useful to have on hoof.”

“I think I would rather have a Sending crystal, honey. I would be terrified something would go wrong and I could fall.”

“Slow Fall,” Cure instantly suggests. “It would be wise to have a backup. Dawn could make a whole stack of unpowered Slow Fall scrolls. Keep two on you, charged, when you’re flying and, in all likelihood, you would only need eight a year… that’s probably only ten bits in supplies. Heck, even counting the crystal purchase you’d probably end up saving money over commuting via train after a year or so.”

“Your logic is sound, Cure, but I think I would rather take the train.”

“Fair. Flyin’s not for everypony. I think it’s less scary as an earth pony because we’re so resilient. So, have they started usin my Origin Cell trees in the ER yet?”

“They have tentatively approved their use, but only in dire emergencies. The seeds only finished maturing a few days ago. Hopefully within a couple months they’ll be approved for general use. I’m certain recovery times will plummet as a result.”

“Cool beans. Any word on the blood one?”

“They’re waiting on test results for those, I believe.”

“Blood one?” Solar asks.

“Yep, took a lotta pony sacrifices to the dark gods to be blessed with that one.”

“CURE!” Vines shouts, scowling at the colt.

“What? They know I’m teasing. Look,” he says, pointing at hoof at the four and glancing up at Dawn. Starlight is the only one that didn’t sigh and roll her eyes and even she only raised an amused brow.

“Your dam is right, Cure,” Haze admonishes, “We know you’re joking, but cults and the like are no laughing matter.”

“Wait, you’re telling me that there’s actual legitimate cults out there?”

“There certainly are. There was a group of Lunar fanatics rounded up just a few years ago in Whinnyapolis, in fact.”

“That’s just freaking stupid,” he dismisses. “What kinda moron thinks joining a cult is gonna improve their circumstances?”

“Sad, desperate ponies will sometimes make very foolish decisions, Cure,” Haze explains. “You certainly can’t deny you’ve been quite fortunate in your young life. Not everypony can say the same.”

“True. I’ve joked a few times about having a really lame villain origin story. Whinnyapolis, though?” he muses. “Are you sure it wasn’t just a buncha bored, half drunk ponies huddled together tryin to stay warm?”

“I’m fairly confident they were not,” Haze flatly replies. “From the reports they seemed quite dedicated to their cause.”

Title asks, “What were they trying to do exactly?”

“Supposedly they were under the impression they could summon some kind of creature and defeat the princess,” he scoffs. “There’s a reason they call crazy ponies lunatics.”

“Were they hurting ponies?” Dawn asks.

“Yes, glowbug… they were. Don’t worry, sweetie; those fools won’t be hurting anypony else.”

“Executed?” Cure casually asks, getting horrified looks from Emerald, Vines, and Starlight.

“No, though that may have happened to the leaders had they not fought to the death. The few lower ranking members that were captured are going through therapy and rehabilitation, I believe.”

“Huh. Well, sarge, if something crazy like that happens around us let me know.” Cure has to hold a hoof up to pause the round of objections from everypony. “Obviously I’m not suggesting I go rushing in, but I bet with a little notice I could whip up something like I used on those muggers.”

“Muggers?” Starlight quietly echoes.

“I was under the impression Solar stunned them,” Emerald says while glaring at Dawn.

“He did,” Cure responds. “Stunned all three of them, in fact. Two of them I had hit with a paralytic sneeze first, though.”

Starlight stares at Cure with a bewildered look. “You paralyzed them with a sneeze?”

“Yup. Wasp venom. Do you know how wasps feed their babies?”

Starlight shakes her head no and, before Cure can explain, Dawn excitedly jumps in. “They sting other bugs which paralyzes them, then drag them to the nest for their larvae to eat alive.”

Emerald’s eyes flick nervously between her daughter and Cure while she tries to think of what to say. Dawn shrugs and explains, “We talked about it after it happened. He can duplicate venom glands.”

“I’m not sure if I should be impressed or horrified,” Starlight comments.

“It’s a very potent ability,” Haze says. “Most creatures with venom produce very limited quantities. Presumably you do not have that limitation?”

“Nah. That does remind me; one of the first things we talked about when I got my mark was making antivenoms for hospitals.”

“Kinda forgot about that, huh, Cure?” Title teases.

“Sure did,” he admits.

“Those could be useful,” Emerald agrees, “though I do not believe I would prioritize them. Few die from venomous creatures, especially in this region with a larger percent of earth ponies than the other tribes. Unicorns tend to venture out less and pegasi are rarely on the ground where they would encounter anything truly dangerous.”

“I may be able to convert one of the trees for it. I hadn’t really thought about it before, but that seems like a good idea. Either that or make different fruit-producing plants for the different venom classifications in an area.” He sighs, thinking for a moment before adding. “I’ll get to them sooner or later. As you’re aware, I’ve been keeping pretty busy lately.”

“You certainly have,” Haze agrees. “Speaking of staying busy, Dawn’s private ven…” he pauses to glance at Savvy, “venture,” he continues with a smirk when she looks his way, “has paid off well.”

“Oh yeah? Making the big bits now, sissy?”

“A few thousand!” she excitedly cheers. “The hospital ordered a bunch of mid-low and a dozen mid Sending for their doctors and EMT teams! Daddy and Sergeant Bulwark have gotten messages from a few of the sergeants over the different precincts in Baltimare that may be interested too. I’m still waiting for Early to get in the mids I ordered, though.”

“Congrats, Dawn babe!” Deed cheers. “I didn’t think the Guard pays as much though. Didn’t you say something about that, son?”

“He’s right,” Haze answers. “The Guard certainly pays less than the hospital does for those. Different budget guidelines, unfortunately. No enchanter in the region is willing to risk ruining crystals on complex spells like Sending for the one third markup we’re allowed to pay.”

“Damn,” Solar grunts out, “it sucks we didn’t think of that before I joined. I don’t think I can sell to guard units now.”

“No, and if you get your certifications they’ll have you making them instead of buying the crystals from your sister, assuming you are assigned locally,” Haze explains. “Of course that means you can’t submit enchanting supply expenditures for reimbursement until you do get the certificate.”

“So if he is deployed locally he can either get his certs and, inadvertently, cut off Dawn but be able to get reimbursed for his own stuff, or not get his certs and have to pay for his own supplies?” Title asks.

“Exactly.”

“It sounds like we would be better off if I didn’t get my certs right away then,” Solar notes.

“That’s likely the case,” Haze agrees. “If you are going to enroll in the Artillery school or the Medic Corps there’s no immediate need regardless. Chances are you’ll be deployed for only a few weeks before shipping out again.”

“Still no idea where they’re sending you?” Cure asks.

“No. It definitely won’t be Golden Hills, but there’s a pretty decent chance it’ll be Baltimare, so I’ll probably still be around.”

“Hopefully it’ll be local,” Starlight starts, “I still have five months before my lease is up. By then we should be able to afford an apartment.”

“Yer movin out, Solar?” Deed asks.

“Nah, not until her lease is up, at least.”

“I have a roommate and I don’t think she’d be happy with him suddenly joining us.” She looks thoughtful for a few seconds and, with a mischievous smirk adds, “Well, maybe…” she trails off, giving his ear a nip and earning a weak glare from Emerald.

“Go get ‘em, tiger!” Cure quietly cheers for the blushing older colt.

“Speaking of new living arrangements,” Solar quickly says in an attempt to change the subject, “when are you going to start looking for a new place?”

“We already have been, sort of. Halfheartedly, at least,” Title quickly responds. “Ideally we can find a place before the twins get here.”

“Oh? I was unaware you were looking to move,” Emerald says. “Staying in Golden Hills, I assume?”

Deed nods, answering, “Yep. We’re looking at the area a bit northwest of downtown.”

“Yeah,” Cure adds, “there’s some nice houses over there near where Midnight Gem and Onyx Mark live, just a little further out from Rising’s place. It’ll kinda suck to move away from Heavy, though.”

Dawn nuzzles the top of his head. “We’ll still do our runs and he can always Send you a message.”

“That’s a nice neighborhood,” Solar notes, “Different school district, though, right?”

Title shakes her head no, explaining, “Nah, you have to live a bit farther away from downtown before that’s an issue. Besides, Cure’s done after May anyhow.”

Giving the older colt a smug look, Cure reminds him, “Yeah, I think somepony owes me a shake.”

Solar’s brow furrows in thought. “Oh yeah. Kinda forgot about that.”

“I’ll let it slide this time.”

“How magnanimous of you,” Solar comments. Turning to his parents he explains, “I bet he wouldn’t test beyond a certain level in math. He did.” Turning back to the colt he lightly accuses, “In my defense that was before I knew he could memorize literally anything like math formulas.”

“Ah,” Haze nods in acceptance. “Speaking of memorizing things, Cure, how are your magic studies going, hmm?”

Cure feels Dawn stiffen up on his withers and notices her sire’s eyes flick up to her then back to meet his before he smiles smugly. “Umm… interesting?” he hesitantly admits. He notices all three parents briefly glance his way, his dam sighing again as she returns to looking out the window.

“I’m confused,” Starlight admits. “He’s taking magic lessons?”

Solar smirks at the colt, asking, “How’d you let that one slip, dude?”

“What? A customer of mine used to teach. Who says an earth pony can’t learn more about magic?”

Haze rolls his eyes and assures him, “Cure, I am not under orders to share every tidbit of information I learn about you with anypony. Why do you think I am okay with Solar sharing spells with you? At this point I would be shocked if you could not grow a functioning horn. You are free to use your talent how you see fit as long as you are not breaking the law.”

“Really? I kinda assumed there was a file somewhere where anything I can do gets added to the list.”

“Why would there be such a file? You’re fully vetted. For goodness sake, Cure, you were visited by the princess herself. You’re certainly not under some kind of investigation. Do you have any idea how few ponies have her highness show up at their door for a visit?”

“Umm… no. How many?”

The stallion pauses his answer to think for a second. “I… can’t honestly say I know either,” he admits. “Like your visit, I’m sure many are unannounced. Still, you are the first in the Baltimare area that I am aware of over the last decade, at least for a private citizen. She occasionally attends official functions and, I believe, she visited the mayor once a few years ago for Hearth’s Warming, but I am unaware of her just… dropping by to visit a civilian.”

“Huh… cool. Oh well, I was going to officially tell her when we visited next month anyhow. Yeah, I can use a horn.”

Starlight starts to open her mouth but is cut off when Emerald yells out. “I knew it!” she hisses. When everypony looks at her surprised she scoffs. “Please, he all but admitted it when I asked after we went shopping in Baltimare.”

“True,” he admits, “Regardless, I’m at the basics of the basics in my studies. To my utter lack of surprise my… our,” he nuzzles up into Dawn’s chin, “tutor isn’t going to send anything to a couple eight year-”

“Nine,” Dawn haughtily corrects, getting amused chuckles from the adults.

Sighing deeply, Cure continues, “young foals,” he pauses to glare until Dawn shrugs, “that’s beyond an introduction. It’s still fascinating and I’m learning a lot just seeing the way magic is shaped through the runic system. Stuff that made no sense before is starting to kinda click even if there’s nothing useful I can do with it yet.”

“You should treasure whatever knowledge your teacher is willing to share, Cure,” Haze insists. “Precious few unicorns ever get an opportunity to glimpse into that world. To be fair, most don’t even bother learning their runic alphabet, so teaching direct casting to most would be a complete waste. If you can learn it, though…” he trails off with a shudder. “Suffice to say, there is little you won’t be able to accomplish.”

“You never took classes, sir?”

“I did,” he admits. “Sadly I lacked the aptitude for it, or at least the patience to stick with it. That’s fine with me, though. Simply memorizing runic sequences is complex enough. I, like most unicorns, didn’t have the desire to study and practice enough to bypass the shortcuts offered by runes.”

“Yeah, same here,” Solar agrees. “I’ll probably learn some of that junk in Artillery school, but I’m good just using runes.”

“Light is enough for me,” Starlight adds. “I have zero interest in sitting around trying to do whatever it is you’re talking about.”

“Well I don’t think I know enough to teach, but the gist from what I’ve gathered so far is that when you’re casting a spell by vibrating your horn the magic naturally flows out of you to create, basically, a container holding instructions that are fueled by magic, which once completed and released alter reality in some way.”

“Yep, that’s enough for me,” she insists. “I’ve never noticed anything along those lines.”

“You wouldn’t unless you focused on the sensation of magic gathering and forming during casting. Most unicorns just vibrate out the runes without paying attention,” he explains. “That’s what I was doing, and really, that’s fine. They’re consistent and they work, but they’re also massively limited. You’re trading flexibility for ease of use.”

“They’re also far safer,” Haze reminds him. “With more predictable results, even if not cast perfectly. I’m just curious what exactly your teacher shared with you that could have contributed to this level of insight. It’s well beyond what I would consider the ‘basics of the basics.’”

“Yeah, none of that was in what she sent,” Dawn agrees. “He says it’s like a book he read, though.”

“It’s very similar to a piece of fiction I remember. At least, the underlying mechanics match up. Of course my magic pool is so small right now there’s very little I can do with the information, but the plus side is that I can actually see why a rune is used in a specific spot, so I’ve started getting a feel for how to cast and alter spells that way.”

Haze’s brows shoot into his mane in shock. “You can actually cast like that?”

“The memory trick I abuse the fudge out of takes half the challenge away. I’ve only played with Light so far. The different settings are fun. Dawn really liked the strobe one,” he responds with a smirk.

She reaches down and chomps on his ear, growling. Ready for the filly’s attack, Cure immediately detaches the ear at the base and lets out a gasp, quietly hissing, “Oh noes! She’s eatin mah ear!”

Absolute pandemonium erupts as Solar and Starlight almost fall off their benches, Dawn drops the ear out of her mouth and starts crying while wrapping her hooves around Cure, Savvy follows, bursting out in tears, and Emerald leaps off her husband to render assistance. Cure’s parents all look on impassively while Title calms her daughter down.

Cure instantly holds up a hoof, stopping the blue mare in her tracks. “Nice reaction, Mrs. Aura, but I’m fine.” He nuzzles up into the filly’s chin asking, “Why are you crying, Dawn? Jeez, it’s just an ear. The stars saw fit to grace me with a spare,” he insists in an odd accent, wiggling his other one. Emerald freezes in the aisle when she realizes he is fine, then returns to her husband’s withers huffing in annoyance.

After a few more seconds of freaking out Dawn realizes what he did, sits up, and pummels his withers. Cure sits there flatly saying, “Ouch. Oof. More to the left. Yeah, that’s the spot.” further annoying the filly until Emerald finally calls her name.

“I can’t believe you did that to me! I thought I hurt you!”

“Aww but baby!” he coos, nuzzling into her chin, “the only way you could really hurt me is if ya broke my heart!”

“Grr!” she growls, latching on to his other ear and lightly thrashing back and forth with it in her teeth.

“Hey!” he whines below her. “You said you would make a necklace outta ‘em. And don’t be salty with me. You’re the one that bit me, after all!”

“Fine!” she huffs, lifting his ear back up in front of him.

He reaches out to grab it, inspecting the appendage. “Aww, ya got spit all over it. Gross, babe!”

“Oh shut up!” she growls, jabbing him in his side again. “It’s your own fault, you crazy pony. You scared me to death!”

“Like a married couple,” Solar comments, getting a snicker from Starlight and agreeing nods from the other adults. Cure just shrugs innocently and Dawn glares at her brother.

“Behave, you two,” Haze glowers at the foals. “We’ll be pulling into the station here in just a moment.”

Deed looks at Haze and pats his saddlebag. “If’n ya don’t mind we’ll swing by yer place before we head home. The colt’s got a couple things fer yer son.”

“No, not at all,” Haze insists. “You’re always welcome to drop by. I hope you didn’t go too wild, Cure.” Cure’s response is nothing but a shrug and an innocent look back to the stallion.

“So, what are ya doin tonight?” Cure asks, poking the red colt.

“Sleeping. All night long. And anypony that wakes me up before ten o’clock tomorrow is going to have Tartarus to pay,” Solar says warningly as he looks at his parents. “I haven’t slept past six o’clock for the last three months and I am so far beyond exhausted it’s not even funny.”

“Aww, come on, son,” Haze teases. “You don’t want to get up early and go jogging with your sire for the fun of it?”

“Dear, when have you ever got up early and jogged?”

“Umm… twentyish years ago? I think?”

“Hrm. Not as I recall. No, I’m fairly certain you barely passed Basic because you weren’t in shape,” Emerald accuses. “In fact, I believe you said nearly the same thing as our son when you finally graduated.” She turns to face Cure and continues, “I know you joked about memories, but I wonder sometimes if he isn’t truly beginning to become forgetful.”

“Well, Mrs. Aura, if you’re down with me experimentin on yer stallion I can certainly see about upgrading them memory sectors. Maybe add a few down his spine… might wanna see about adding some other upgrades in there too.”

“Upgrades?” Haze nervously inquires.

“Oh yeah, absolutely. Did you know that ponies only have one heart, for example?”

“I… think I’ve heard that mentioned,” he slowly nods.

“That’s so dumb!” Cure raves. “Design flaw, I say. Ya got more than one lung, dontchya? Why would you only have one heart when it’s so important? Riddle me that!”

“I believe most creatures only have one,” Haze points out, looking at his wife for confirmation, who nods in agreement.

“Cephalopods don’t! They got the whole thing figured out,” Cure confidently declares.

“Squids?” Title asks.

“Yep! I haven’t scanned one yet, but they have more than one heart. I remember reading it somewhere. I think.”

“I don’t think I need a second heart,” Haze defends, then with a worried look asks, “Why? Was there something wrong with mine?”

“Nah, but you can never be too sure, ya know?”

“Right,” he patronizingly nods. “And I’m sure you’ve given yourself multiple hearts just to be safe?”

Face full of disappointment, Cure admits, “I still only have the one, but at least I can keep an eye on it in case it decides to act up.”

“Of course. How silly of me.”

“Can ponies have a second heart?” Starlight asks. “Where would you even put it?”

“I think maybe if we rearrange yer intestines a bit we could sneak another one in there. Interested? I’ll throw in a backup liver as a freebie.”

Quickly shaking her head no, Starlight politely declines the offer.

“I’m beginning to suspect we maybe should have a file on you somewhere,” Haze comments.

“Jeez, I’m just being helpful.”

“No offering to modify ponies, sweetie,” Vines tells him. “Well, beyond what you offer at work, that is.”

“Fine, fine. Well Solar, you graduated from Basic. We all were pretty sure you had it in you,” he says as he reaches over and gives the older colt a friendly pat on the shoulder.

Dawn, Cure, Solar, and Starlight are all taking up the center couch again. Haze and Emerald are once again on the one closest the kitchen to their right and Deed is sitting on the floor behind the third couch, entertaining Savvy by making silly faces at her while she rolls around between the moms.

“I appreciate the vote of confidence,” Solar flatly remarks. “Heartwarming, really.”

“I bet,” Cure agrees. “And now it’s time for me to make good on a couple promises.”

“Promises?” Emerald asks.

“Yep. One from a while back, another from when he came home that first time.” Shooting the colt a wink he adds, “And I got ya something for when you’re out there being Mr. Hardflank McGuardypants.”

“Oh… the leg guard? Were you able to come up with something?”

“Yep, though this is the basic model. If you want something more advanced I have ideas, but I doubt you need them for normal guard stuff.”

“I think your idea of a basic model should be fine for anything short of all-out war, Cure.”

“Yea, probably,” he agrees. “Alright, so first up is the store-bought one!” Cure hops up and goes to his sire’s saddle bags and digs into the right bag. He’d written to the company inquiring about safety precautions built into the units and because he recalled a vague, yet worrying spatially compressed destruction arrow memory from Ed’s nerdier days.

Specifically, he inquired about what would happen if one spatially compressed item went into another. He was relieved to find out that the answer was, more or less, nothing. In the case of the scroll book it meant that it would go into a spatial bag just like any other normal bag, but could not be compressed. The enchantment on the book prevented the enchantment on the bag from compressing it so it just sat there in the bag like it would in any other bag.

The company had told him that on the extraordinarily rare instances a bag failed, which was allegedly only something that happened when sufficient damage was caused to the unit, the belongings would not explode out, but instead “spill” out as if the bag were simply being dumped.

Apparently the last act of the enchantment would be to mitigate the speed at which the items were ejected, which makes the “umbilical cord” idea he considered feasible. He’d already developed the cardiopulmonary system that will allow the cells on the other side of the bag’s opening to transfer oxygen and nutrients through the blood-blocking enchantment.

He’d considered ordering a half dozen coin purses almost right away, but limited himself to only two instead. Each costs about two thousand bits and has the internal volume of, roughly, ten liters. Normal muscle is about a kilogram per liter and his denser muscle design is about double that, so each purse he adds will increase his effective mass by about a quarter at present.

He withdraws the gift from the bag and tosses it up to his head. Turning to look at everypony, he shrugs, moves the book out of the way, and pops his horn out. He trots back over to the couch while floating the box over to the colt. Despite now being told he could use a horn Haze, Emerald, and Starlight all freeze, staring with huge saucer eyes.

“That’s from all of us, by the way, not just me. My parents wanted to chip in for you too.” At their continued stares he looks their way and shrugs. “What? I literally just told ya like twenty minutes ago I could. You didn’t think I was making stuff up, did ya?”

“No,” Emerald answers, shaking her head. “But seeing one just suddenly pop out of your mane like that… how did you even do that?”

“I built a series of muscles and a sheath for it to slide in, basically,” rather than detail everything verbally he simply casts an illusion, showing an x-ray view of the horn extending and retracting. “I keep it segmented to the left of my spine going down my neck, normally.”

“That’s… brilliant, frankly,” Haze compliments. “And I can’t help but note neither of our foals looked even slightly surprised,” he lightly accuses, looking at the pair.

Solar easily responds with a shrug, “I swore an oath on the first day I met Cure that I would keep his secrets to myself. I’ve known for months.” Dawn simply nods in agreement.

“Months?” Emerald echoes. “How long have you been able to do unicorn magic?”

“September eleventh,” he immediately answers, then with furrowed brows adds, “A date I’ll never forget,” under his breath. “I only tried making a horn because the enchanting book I got from the library was so friggin confusing we couldn’t make heads or tails of it until I tried normal casting.”

“He’s gotten really good, too,” Dawn insists.

“I imagine learning enchanting would be difficult with no base understanding of casting,” Haze agrees. “Hrm. Well, that aside, what do you have there, son?”

Solar looks at the gift and mumbles, “A book? Seems small, though,” as he tears the wrapping paper off. He’s right, of course. The scroll books are only about the size of a hoof and a centimeter thick. They’re made to be convenient to carry or store, so they fit easily into the pockets on the inside of Guard armor as well as any coat. “A scroll book? That’s… amazing! How’s it work though?”

“I have a few scrolls here for you to see,” Cure says, reaching in the pack and grabbing a few sheets of inscribed paper. He carries them over and hops back up on the couch next to Solar. Haze climbs off and comes over to take a closer look as well. “Dad’s been carrying one around for a couple weeks now, so we’ve had his to test things with.

“Hold a scroll in your hoof and think of a label for the scroll. Use the enchantment and it’ll store. Do it again and you’ll get the scroll back out. It can store non-magical papers too, but it only holds twenty pieces of paper. I haven’t tested how big of a piece of paper it can hold, though, so you may wanna experiment a bit. Also, I’m not sure if you like… tape pieces together, if they count as one or multiple still.”

“Always cheating, huh dude?”

“You bet. You learn a lot about things by tryin to break ‘em after all. Rules aren’t any different. I mean, if that doesn’t work then maybe you have a good way to untape pieces of paper without tearing them,” he teases with a smirk.

“I’ve never seen one of those before,” Haze comments. “It seems like it could be very useful, though. What scrolls have you got there?”

“Just a few shields and teleports. I didn’t know what he would actually need and he can cast a lot, so I didn’t want to waste a bunch of paper on stuff he won’t use. I recommend you focus primarily on spells that are costly and, or are slow to cast.”

“A good recommendation,” Haze agrees. “That’s a very thoughtful gift, son.” To Cure’s surprise, it’s him that Haze is speaking to, not Solar. He’s not sure if he is reading too much into it or if he’s just calling him ‘son’ because he’s a young colt, but as far as he can recall it’s the first time either of Dawn and Solar’s parents have referred to him by a familiar appellation.

Solar looks over the family warmly, thanking each one in turn. “I really do appreciate it, very much. Thank you all.”

“Thank us by keeping it with you,” Vines insists. “Make sure you keep yourself safe, Solar. That’s all we ask.”

“Well said, babe!” Deed cheers.

“Couldn’t agree more,” Cure says as he hops down and trots back to the bag. He reaches in again withdrawing a set of shin guards this time. “I figured a full-length leg guard would stand out, especially given I’m working with organic compounds here.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure if I want to look like some kind of skeleton lord villain from a comic book,” Solar agrees.

“Right. That’s my schtick anyhow. So my dam and I made these for ya.” Cure passes the pair of black shin guards over to Solar. The young stallion inspects the pair, sliding them onto his forelegs. “They’re lightly armored. The main function is holding the crystals. There’s room for three on each.”

“These are mid-lows?”

“Two are mids, the other four are mid-low. I figured between the spell book and the shinguards you’ll be adequately protected. Plus we can always upgrade the gems if you find you have the need.”

“No, no, that’s fantastic. I can’t imagine I would even need these. Better safe than sorry, though.”

“There’s nothing on any of them at all right now, but I would put a shield in a mid-low, or maybe two of them, then put a heavy attack spell in a mid and maybe a teleport in another, then some stunners or something. Who knows, maybe invisibility? I’m not sure what’ll be most useful. Sending is an obvious pick though.”

“Awesome! Geez, I’m going to look like I’m ready for war.”

“Not really, son,” Haze argues. “Only the two crystals are visible. If you have that spellbook tucked in a bag and you’re wearing those shinguards you won’t really stand out much at all. Everything looks fantastic, everypony.”

Emerald agrees, thanking them all for the gifts meant to keep her son safe.

“There is, of course, one more thing,” Cure says teasingly.

“Not that I’m not grateful, but you’re going a little overboard, aren’t you?”

“Nah, this is one I promised ya,” he says, sitting on his haunches and holding his forehooves up. “Remember when I gave yer sister a massage?” he asks, slowly shifting his hooves to hands.

“Oh no…” Solar mumbles.

“Oh yes,” Cure responds.

Starting to sit up in case she needs to run, Starlight worriedly asks, “Uhh… what’s happening to his hooves?”

“Oh! Sorry, Star. Don’t worry, it’s just easier to use hands than hooves. These things are far better for massages.”

“Ya know what?” Solar starts, pulling off the shin guards and setting them aside. “I’m down. I know I’ll have no problem falling asleep afterwards. Where do you want me?”

“Right there’s fine, bro.”

Starlight looks a little unsure between the two colts. “What’s happening?”

“Cure gives the best massages,” Dawn replies. “He teased Solar about giving him one as a present when he graduated from Basic.”

“Ah, I’ve heard of these,” Haze says. “Corporal Dance said she made an appointment with you for… next Sunday, I believe she said. She’s rather looking forward to it. She’s mentioned it more than once.”

“Yep, I’m offering a special massage service to all the parents of my friends that are hoping for a foal this year. Both Drift and Glacial’s dams have taken me up on it.” With a sly grin he glances over to Emerald, then thinks better of it, and keeps his mouth shut, turning back to his bro instead.

“I’m not sure I’m following the connection,” Starlight admits. “What does a massage have to do with having foals?”

“Nothing directly,” Cure explains. “But I’d already suggested they let me give them a full checkups to ensure optimal health for their upcoming pregnancies. I gave Glacial and Drift massages back on New Year’s Day and they bragged me up to their dams, so I figured I could do the massage and the checkups at the same time.”

He doesn’t mention that it will give him an opportunity to ensure their bodies are going into estrus properly a few days before the effects are felt locally. Hearts & Hooves is the day prior and, typically, the estrus season hits the Baltimare region approximately a week later. The tentative plan is to give them a massage and a checkup, then visit the following weekend to address any fertility issues and offer Glacial’s parent’s the opportunity to have more than one foal at a time.

“The colt’s somethin else when it comes ta massages,” Deed assures them. “Since he started usin hands instead ‘a hooves it’s… well…”

“Almost as good as you-know-what,” Title clarifies, slightly, earning a scowl from Vines.

“Alright, enough of that,” Cure shouts. “I’m not gonna let you make it weird. I do purely medical massages and I keep everything completely professional,” he insists. “I’m not going to lie, they’re kinda intense and, no doubt, very pleasurable-”

“I’ll say,” Dawn quietly agrees. Not quietly enough, judging from Emerald’s harsh stare.

“But nothing inappropriate at all is going on. I promise. I’m perfectly fine doing this right here in front of everypony, after all. So Solar, you down?”

“Stars, yes!” He glances at his parents and adds, “Just toss a blanket on me and leave me here if I fall asleep.”

“I admit I’ve been curious since I saw those,” Emerald nods to Cure’s hands, “back in January.”

“I mean, I can give you a massage after him. Star, sarge, Dawn? Is it going to be a five way unicorn slumber party here in a few minutes?”

“Definitely,” Dawn instantly agrees.

Starlight shoots Solar a curious look. “I’ve gone to the spa before. I’ve had massages. What makes his different?”

“He can directly relax your muscles with his talent while giving them a massage. I’ve only seen it once,” Solar says, nodding to his sister. “She was a drooling mess inside of two minutes.”

Dawn looks on impassively. “I’m not even ashamed. You’ll see.”

“C’mon Solar, you’re gonna be my demonstration. Now something I’ve been doing that helps with leverage and whatnot is using Enlarge. As you can imagine it makes it easier to reach. You ready, bro?”

“Completely,” he says, stretching his fore and back legs out and laying his head down. His hooves hang slightly off of the couch, but pony couches are deep enough that his head and neck are still supported.

Dawn watches as Cure casts Enlarge on himself, going from just a few centimeters taller than herself to just barely taller, though noticeably broader than her brother in a flash. “Wow… it’s weird seeing you like that,” she notes, getting agreeing nods from the others.

“There’s just more of me to love now, babe. Uhh… temporarily.”

“That’s the weird part?” Starlight asks. “I’m still hung up on the earth pony using magic thing.”

Cure climbs up on the couch. Dawn scoots a little further left to make room for the double sized colt.

“He’s been using that to help around the house a lot for the last month or so,” Title explains.

Deed adds, “Yup, he realized how useful it is when the princess stopped by. I gotta admit it’s kinda strange havin ‘em be almost as tall as me, but he ain’t lying about how useful it is.”

“Makes me feel old,” Vines pouts. “It’s like my colt’s all grown up.”

“Vines, dear, you wound me,” Emerald teases with a smile, waving away Vines’ sputtering apologies. Her gaze snaps to her son who, with Cure standing over him, lets out a very undignified moan. The blue colt is using his hands to work on her son’s shoulder, somehow supporting himself on only his hind legs. “How’s he doing that?”

Title covers a hungry Savvy with a blankie while explaining, “He’s holding himself up with earth pony strength and the grabbing TK field we have.”

“I’m bigger, not heavier, Mrs. Aura,” he reminds her.

“That’s right, dear. The spell does not increase mass, so he’s still only about… seventy kilograms?” Haze asks.

“The huge advantage, no pun intended, that the Enlarge spell has is that I’m physically in contact with a larger area,” he explains, motioning with one hand towards his back hooves. “That means that instead of my grabbing having about a hundred and eight square centimeters to grab onto my hooves are each touching about six hundred square centimeters.

“Also, I’m closer to eighty kilograms. I’m a lot thicker than a unicorn,” he points out, motioning between himself and their son. Indeed, he is a solid hoof and a half wider from his shoulders to his haunches, not to mention his significantly larger neck muscles. “Heavier bones and stuff too,” he adds.

“What?!” Dawn yelps. “I only weigh forty eight!”

“He’s far more muscular than you are, honey,” her sire points out. “Eighty does seem a tad high though. You only weigh a little less than my Emmy.” That remark earns him a kiss on the cheek from his delighted wife.

“If only,” she sighs.

“Mrs. Aura, if you’re unhappy with any aspect of your looks, which I assure you is ridiculous, just say the word. If it’s biologically possible I can have you looking however you want. I know the taller, leggier look is often desired. It would take several months to achieve, but it's possible.” The offer seems to intrigue the mare, not to mention her thoughtful looking husband.

“I’m definitely seeing how advantageous hands are,” Starlight says in awe. Cure had finished on Solar’s withers, then sat beside him and worked his way down his back. With his hips being thoroughly massaged Solar couldn’t help but let out an occasional grunt or sigh of relief.

“Yeah,” Cure agrees, “the thing that ponies forget is that, despite the horn, I’m still an earth pony, so my grip is insanely powerful to the point that, if I really wanted to, I could probably break bones with just my thumb, so even without my talent I can give a massage that’s a lot more vigorous than what you’d expect. With it I can push a little harder and know exactly where to target, how hard to massage the area, and when to move on.”

Cure gently rubs down Solar’s left thigh, hamstring, and calf muscles, working out any tension he’d built up over the last three months. “Mind scootin a tad, Star?” he asks, hopping off the back of the couch and getting Solar’s other side.

“Sweet Celestia, no wonder he said he may fall asleep,” Haze observes. “You could offer this service alone and everypony would flock to your door.”

Emerald nods in agreement. “We discussed that after going to Baltimare. His rate of income is far lower even if he charged more for massages since they take so much time.”

“Yeah, he could see two or three ponies in the time it takes to give one massage,” Title explains.

Cure, finished with Solar’s hips, legs, and flanks, trot-crawls around to the front to get his forelegs, rolling Solar onto his left side to get his chest better. He notices Starlight glance back at Solar’s junk for a split second and smirks at the young mare when she looks back. She turns a lovely shade of purple when she’s blushing, he notes.

After a few minutes spent on each leg and his chest, Cure rolls him back onto his barrel and starts at the base of his neck, slowly working up to his head. “I think he’s gone,” Cure says, pausing for a moment, looking into the red colt’s eyes.

“Hm?” he barely mumbles.

“Not quite,” comments Dawn. “Get his ears and horn and he will be.”

“Yup. Brace yerself, bro,” he warns, starting on the colt’s jaw muscles, then gently massaging his cheeks with his thumbs. From there he uses his fingertips to get the base of Solar’s ears, noting how his tail starts wagging a little as a result.

“Oh my stars! His tail’s even wagging like a puppy!” Starlight yells with a laugh.

“Yeah, watch this,” Cure calls, gently grabbing Solar’s cheeks in his palms and using his thumbs on the base of his horn while cheating with his talent to relax the muscles.

The sound that escapes the colt must be one she’s heard before because she instantly blushes a dark violet color at the exaltation. Cure’s parents definitely noticed judging by the barely suppressed snickers from their direction.

“My word,” escapes Emerald as she covers her muzzle with a fetlock, staring in slight alarm.

“Yeah, and here we go,” Cure announces. It’s a bizarre feeling, massaging a horn. He didn’t feel weird doing it to Dawn because it was purely a platonic thing there, regardless of any relationship that may be developing. Hearing the nigh-orgasmic sounds coming from another dude makes Cure feel strange, despite both sets of parents watching and the colt’s marefriend being present.

Obviously nothing sexual is going on at all, and thanks to his invasive scan he knows that those signals aren’t firing in the colt’s brain. It still somehow makes the whole thing awkward though. Dismissing the thoughts as silly, Cure goes back to, basically, wanking his adoptive brother’s horn with slow, twisting motions, working on the base and surrounding muscles every few repetitions up the horn itself.

It only takes about a minute for Solar to go completely limp, though it seems far longer due to the, other than Solar, completely silent room. With another quick pass over the forehead, brows, and cheeks, Cure takes a step back and announces he’s done.

Cure glances mischievously over at a giggling Dawn and with a raised brow asks, “Should I?”

She returns his look confused before he remembers that she was completely out of it when he teased Solar about giving him a kiss too. Choosing not to betray the colt’s trust, he gently lays Solar’s head on the couch and gives him one last ear scroofle before turning to look at the three conscious, awestruck unicorn adults.

“So… who’s next?”

Author's Note

Chapter Title Reference

Solar's done with Basic now! Huzzah! There will three more chapters before the start of the Canterlot II: Electric Boogaloo arc. They are all completed and I'm about 4k into the first chapter of that.

I have been spending less time writing, but that's not because I'm wavering on my commitment to the story. As many folks noticed, I was putting out 18-30k words per week. I was probably spending over 30 hours some weeks writing, which is fine because, again, that's what I would do when I was bored or had downtime. Or had an idea that stuck in my brain so hard I could only pry it out with werdz.

I have plans for posting the Canterlot arc a bit faster, but that'll depend on whether I can get those chapters in addition to some buffer ones afterwards ready ahead of time.

One thing that I kinda wanted to do, but didn't work out, is do the "Cure flies out to meet ships" episode before Canterlot. In chapter 53 he said something about rolling dice and going out on a 12. That's a one out of thirty six chance, so on my story calendar I took all of the Saturdays and actually rolled the dice for each one between him making the suit/plant/thing (2/16/909 AB) and April 25th (the last Saturday before their trip on 4/29). I did not get a 12, which was a little disappointing, but at the same time kind of a relief because the calendar isn't moving forward as fast as I wanted anyhow (he says for the 400th time).

So, I hope you enjoyed and, as always, thanks for reading!