The Conversion Bureau: The Breaking Pointby BronyOfSteelChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 1It was a cool night in New York, calm, serene or at least it should’ve been. ‘Carl’ was impatiently tapping his finger on a desk as he looked out the window of the small apartment complex that was utilized by the Human Liberation Front as a nexus for ammunition and storage in this part of town. Of course ‘Carl’ wasn’t his real name but it was the one the men here knew him by, he was here to oversee the purchase of particularly valuable commodity from a Russian contact of the HLF. The exchange had gone over smoothly enough as the price was agreed upon well before the meeting had taken place. Fifty million American for something like this was a bit expensive, but the contents violated about thirty international laws and half of the second Geneva Convention, possession of the object alone could mean a life sentence. A young man stepped inside the office Carl had commandeered “Sir, we’ve just received a communique from central.” He said extending his hand which held a piece of paper. Obviously all communications between cells of the HLF were coded and translations were required before any message could be read. As he turned to take the message from the kid he noticed a small red dot playing over his face a split second before it vanished in an explosion of blood. Carl immediately threw himself to the floor as he heard the report of gunfire and the noise of combat from below him. He swore to himself as he grabbed the steel briefcase and gun from the table he had been keeping them on and dashed out the door and down the hallway. He emerged into a small alleyway two buildings down as the fighting continued between HLF and whoever had decided to raid the complex. He started sprinting down the alley away from the shootout. Those members of the HLF were nothing more than fanatics and there were plenty to replace them; he on the other hand was not quite as expendable to the organization. As he ran down the alley of the slums he failed to notice the shimmering outline of a humanoid figure watching his escape. The alleyway eventually opened up into a large seaside area overlooking Manhattan bay. Carl finally slowed to a stop on the edge of the water panting as he went over in his mind any relevant information the members he had just abandoned might know. No one here knew his real name and all they were aware of was that he had come here to purchase something of great value, they had no idea what it was or the reason for buying it. Deciding that he was safe for now he let out a large breath looking out over the water at the skyline of this once great city. A scowl began to appear on his face as he saw the numerous pegasai flying among the buildings. These ponies thought they could just come and destroy everything man had ever accomplished out of some illusion of kindness? Not if he and the rest of the HLF had anything to say about it. A noise behind him snapped the HLF member out of his reverie; he immediately panicked and fired three quick rounds in the direction of the noise. There was nothing there, but his eyes kept sweeping the area regardless. Carl felt as an iron grip clamped down on his arm right above the wrist, he looked back to his arm just in time to watch in horror and pain as his wrist was snapped before his very eyes in the invisible grip of his assailant. The gun clattered to the ground as he clutched his now useless right hand to his chest. “Adaptive camouflage?” he asked the air, knowing he’d been had. “Yep.” Responded a male voice behind him, Carl grimaced as he suddenly felt a prick on the right side of his neck, he was unconscious before he even hit the ground. Captain James Miller disengaged the AdCam as most called it making himself easily visible once again. He had been slightly worried for a small time that his intel was off and all they would find here was a typical HLF safehouse but this man on the ground in front of him had proven that worry to be groundless. He turned slightly as he heard approaching footsteps, “Jesus Captain you certainly did a number on him.” Said his immediate subordinate Scott Baker. “Assault team’s wrapping things up at the safehouse, we even managed to take a couple alive this time.” “Anything interesting turn up there?” “Not at first glance, no. But we’ll have a better picture once forensics gets through with the place.” “I doubt they’ll find anything, but this guy on the other hand,” James said as he bent down to pick up the briefcase. “might just have something of value. Let’s get him back to HQ.” Headquarters was located in the financial district of the city in one of the many modern skyscrapers that had been built in the wake of cheap robotic labor. James spent most of the ride back in silence, instead choosing to file his report via his neural net as he had to get going soon. As the team dismounted the vehicles in the garage beneath the structure he tapped baker on the shoulder. “Hey would you take care of processing these guys for me? I’ve already filed my report with the director and I need to get back home.” Baker nodded. The captain had been working “off the clock” so to speak tonight, but he had wanted to oversee the raid personally as several months of work had gone into it. “Sure thing boss, see ya tomorrow.” James, having taken care of all official business for now, headed over to his own car, a blue 2008 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500, an inheritance from his father who was an avid car buff. As he drove through the practically empty city streets he was thinking over the latest report on the state of the city, the most optimistic estimates put the human population of New York at 200,000 but of course years of experience had taught him to never believe the optimistic ones. At least the street lights were still working, not that he needed them, his right eye was totally cybernetic, a replacement for his natural one that he had lost early on in his career to a lucky shot from a mafia enforcer he had been tailing. All in all James Miller was still mostly human compared to many others in his line of work, besides his eye, musculature enhancements, and military grade neural net he was still totally organic. He was a fairly unassuming man, brown hair and eyes certainly didn’t distinguish him from the crowd at all, of course there weren’t any crowds really left for him to blend into, having two legs when everyone else has four kinda gives you away. He pulled into the apartment building where he lived with his sister as both their parents were currently living in Equestria somewhere; James could never remember the name of the city. As he walked through the lobby, he wasn’t too surprised to see a couple ponies coming and going even at this hour, New York was still the city that never sleeps. He took the elevator up to his floor and entered his apartment as quietly as he could so as not to wake the other occupant of his home, as always he failed miserably. “Late night huh?” Said his sister Mary’s voice from the couch. “Yep.” James said as he looked through their fridge. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” “I have tomorrow off.” She said from right behind him, “You should take it off too, you’re working too hard again.” There was a note of concern in her voice. James turned to fix his sister with a cynical look. Mary now stood at about his waist ever since she had undergone conversion; she was a light green unicorn with a white mane who had decided to stay in New York with her still human older brother while their ponified parents both moved to Equestria. “Well maybe it’d be a little easier for us if you guys weren’t so good at your jobs. We’re short staffed as it is without us losing a guy every few weeks that then takes us a month to replace.” Mary rolled her eyes at that; she worked as an administrative assistant at the New York bureau. “Uh-huh sure, blame us for being so convincing. I just wish I could convince you as easily as them.” She had been trying to get James to undergo conversion for nearly a year now, and he still refused to go. “Don’t worry; I’m sure one of these days I’ll cave. You’re too damn persistent for me to resist forever.” James continued to rummage through their fridge, he was absolutely starving and tended not to trust his sister with getting him take-out anymore, not since she had ‘forgotten’ he didn’t eat daisies the last time he had asked her to pick him up something. Failing to find anything that resembled meat he gave up and just grabbed two apples. “Is it really that hard to find meat anymore around here?” he asked as he walked over to and collapsed onto the couch. “Have you looked around lately? There’s no one left to sell it to.” Mary said as she lay down next to him she paused for bit as he continued to eat his meal of fruit. “Hey James?” “Yeah?” “I’m meeting up with some of my Equestrian friends for dinner tomorrow and I’d really appreciate it if you actually came this time. They’ve all wanted to meet you for a long time now and I kinda want to show them that my older brother actually exists.” James sighed, she was guilt tripping him and he knew it, didn’t stop it from working though. “Fine, I’ll come.” “That’s what you said last time.” “I mean it this time.” “You said that too.” James buried his face in his hands as he tried to think of a way to fix this whole situation. “What else do you want me to say Mary? I’m sorry I had to bail on you those other times, I really am. But my job isn’t as cut and dry as we’d both like it to be, stuff comes up that they need me for and I can’t just ignore it.” Mary looked down as the words sunk in, she knew her brother worked directly for the government, and whatever he did it was it was both highly dangerous and important. But it still didn’t change the fact that it stung to have her older brother whom she held in such high esteem leave her hanging when she was just trying to have her friends meet her family. James saw just how crestfallen his sister was and he immediately felt the guilt of bailing on her triple. He put a hand on her shoulder. “Look I’ll make it up to you; I’ll call in every favor I can to make sure I’m there tomorrow, OK?” Mary looked significantly happier at this development “OK, just remember you have to call me by my Equestrian name tomorrow.” “Ah erm, well about that….” She just looked at him disbelief, “You forgot what it was again didn’t you?” “No, well not really it has something to do with the sun right?” He offered weakly. She rolled her eyes again, “its Radiant Dawn FYI. And you’re going to have to start remembering it eventually, it IS my official name now, you’re the only one that still calls me Mary.” “I’ll call you Radiant Dawn around the same time you convince me to get converted, until then you’re still Mary to me.” He said as he ruffled her mane. “Now you best get some sleep sis, you’re not meant for these long nights.” “And YOU need to stop having so many of them, I’ll go to bed when you do.” “I was actually planning on doing that right now.” He said as he stood, he then locked up for the night and headed off to his room after making sure his sister went to sleep. James undid the front of his jacket and un-holstered his M1911 Colt .45, it was a bit old fashioned compared to many of the newer guns that had been developed recently but he preferred the classics. He lay down on his bed after undressing and turned off the lights before finally taking the last few minutes to access his personal messages via the net. There was already one waiting from the director. ENCRYPTED USING KEY: ********* DECRYPTED USING KEY: ***** ’Your report is, as always, impeccable in detail Captain. The forensics team is already going over the evidence seized from the safehouse, and they are currently analyzing the contents of the briefcase you retrieved from the HVT. Baker and the others currently have him in medical care for the wrist you broke and are planning on interrogating him as soon as he is conscious again. You on the other hand, have tomorrow off on my orders; you’re burning yourself out on this James, Baker will handle the case for tomorrow.’ – Director Moore. Well, Mary will certainly be happy with that. He thought to himself as James switched off his neural net. I’m beginning to think she’s right about me working too hard on this, I mean when even the director thinks I’m going to far… James rolled over as he settled down to sleep; deciding it didn’t really matter in the end anyways. One way or another, this would be his last case. Roughly 500 miles away in an underground complex sat a man who appeared to be in his fifties. He sat in an ornate chair facing the only source of illumination in the room, a hologram of the planet earth that was constantly updated to show the advance of Equestrian influence. Behind him a door opened into the room spilling in white light, a second man advanced through it coming to stop halfway to the older one in the chair. The one in the chair turned his head slightly indicating to the intruder that he should speak, “Sir, we have just received word that one of our New York cells was raided tonight. It would appear Mr. Anderson has been compromised along with the package.” His message delivered the younger man departed leaving the room shrouded in darkness once again. The lone man steepled his fingers as he thought about the impact this would have on the organization as a whole. It was certainly an annoyance but it was nothing more a setback in the grand scheme of things, a replacement for the lost package could be found easily enough. The thing that concerned him most was what their enemies would do now that they had discovered what the HLF was interested in. The man known to many simply as “Jeremiah” knew that there was only one true threat left in the US government and that was the Internal Defense Initiative or IDI. Undoubtedly it was they who had raided the cell, they were ever present as a thorn in his side and had even come close to ending his life nearly a year and half ago, he unconsciously fingered the scar on his face that he had acquired on that fateful day. Yes, the IDI were indeed formidable opponents, but would they be able to stop the HLF’s final plan? That was the question that truly mattered. The fate of two races and the world itself would be decided quite soon, and that decision would rest either in their hands, or the HLF’s. Chapter 2James awoke the next morning a lot later than he usually did; he rarely slept later than eight or nine o' clock despite how often he would be working until the wee hours of the morning. He felt like he had wasted enough of his life sleeping in college and high school. He groggily looked up at the window of his room, from the position of the sun it appeared to be a little after noon. James' gaze then wandered over to his nightstand where the culprit of his unintended sleep-in sat, someone had disconnected his alarm clock. He sighed as he rose out of his bed, Mary must be really concerned about this if she's starting to use magic to sabotage me. Then again, he had slept all the way up until this point in time giving her argument that he was overdoing it even more credence. He emerged from his room into the kitchen where his sister sat reading the paper while sipping some coffee. It had taken James a while to get used to seeing Mary use magic, but like everything else that had changed with the coming of the Bureaus, after a while it became normal. She looked over at him with a smug expression on her face. "Well look who's finally up." "Yeah, yeah. Just be thankful I have today off or I'd be really pissed. You can't just turn someone's alarm off Mary." "Hm, well my magic says I can." She said as she levitated a second cup of the steaming liquid over to him. "Thanks." He said sitting down at the table and taking a long drink of the caffeinated beverage. "So you have today off huh?" Mary was incredibly shocked at this, James almost NEVER had or took a day off. It was such a rare occurrence that she had actually forgotten to give him her victory speech about how she was right about him. "Yep, I suppose miracles do happen from time to time." He said as he stared off into the distance. "So what're your plans for today?" "I was going to go shopping with one of my friends from the Bureau, but that was before I knew you'd have today off." He looked over at her, "Well don't let my having the day off disrupt your plans." Mary bit her lower lip, "But… I-" James cut her off, "Look, I'm going to be spending the evening with you and your friends anyways. How long have you been planning on going shopping with your friend?" "Nearly three weeks." She admitted. "Ok then, go enjoy your day and we'll spend the evening together. Besides I've got my own stuff to take care of." She gave him a look of mock disbelief. "My brother actually doing something that doesn't have anything to do with work!" she gave an overly dramatic gasp. "I don't believe it!" "Ha ha ha." He responded deadpan as he stood from his chair and gave his little sister a hug. "Have a good time out there, and I'll see you later." As he released her from the embrace he ruffled her mane to the point where it looked like she had just woken up. "Really? Now I have to go brush it again." "Then don't mess with my alarm again." James said laughing as he headed back to his room. By the time James had showered, shaved, and dressed Mary had already departed, leaving him a note telling him to be back by four. He locked up after retrieving his sidearm, he never left home without it, and took the elevator down to ground level. It was an absolutely beautiful day in New York; it was just cool enough for him to wear his jacket without sweating like a pig. He had found New York to be quite enjoyable, but then again he had only moved here after the bureaus opened so he had no idea how it was before that. James decided to walk to his destination rather than drive as walking typically helped him unwind better than driving. As he walked down the street the ponies milling about around him gave James a wide berth. Just like Mary using magic, the stares and general wariness that ponies gave him was something James had gotten used to. He looked up into the sky as he headed towards his destination noting the large amount of pegasai flying among the towering buildings. The city had never appeared to be so full of life before, compared to the glum facade of an unemployed town of broken dreams that it had been prior to Equestrian contact. Funny that he should be thinking about that particular notion as he arrived at his destination, a graveyard situated between two large buildings. Before heading in he stopped at a flower store across the street and bought a simple wreath. He walked down the rows of graves already knowing where the one he sought was located even though it had been months since he was last here. James stopped in front of a fairly plain gravestone and spent a good ten minutes just staring at it lost in thought. Finally he knelt down and laid the wreath on the grave before turning to leave. James arrived back at his home just as Mary was finishing up getting ready for their dinner. "Oh great you're here." She said as she continued to check her reflection. She turned back to James giving him a look down. "You're planning on going out in that?" "Says the one who spends ninety-nine percent of the time naked. It's not like the dinner is super formal or anything, right?" James retorted with a slightly annoyed look on his face, even after being a pony for nearly a year and a half, his sister still thought she could give him fashion advice. "Suit yourself." Mary said nonchalantly. "So where were you for the last two hours?" "Oh, you know, just walking around, thinking, nothing much. How was shopping with your friend?" Mary's face lit up at the question. "Oh it was FANTASTIC! There was a whole new line of saddles that we hadn't heard about before that were unveiled! Rarity and I were just amazed at the new designs coming out of Equestria…" James just continued to smile and nod at his sister's story, letting the information wash over him while his mind concentrated on something else. It was this sort of mental multitasking that made him such a good intelligence officer and was one of the many reasons he had been recruited by Director Moore into the IDI. As his sister talked James noticed just how happy she was. She had been like this ever since she had undergone conversion, as if the process changed more than just her body. She had never been a melancholy person to begin with, but it was hard to still be human in the rapidly ponifiying world and not be affected by it. Hell, most humans nowadays were either miserable or consumed with hate with their situation in life. Even James sometimes had trouble not feeling like an outcast in this town of thirteen million ponies. But now Mary had friends, a job she loved, and her older brother who she had always been close to. She had every right to be happy. James however, had only entertained the idea of conversion as a fantasy. Something that lay eternally out of reach, as he had decided long ago that such a thing was not meant for men like him. But now, with everything coming to a head so quickly the very real possibility of him finishing his work lay before him. And he had no idea what he would do should that happen. Guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. He thought to himself as his sister finished her story. "So do you think I should go out with my new saddle?" She asked a hopeful expression adorning her face. "Well if it's good enough to impress your fashionista friend Rarity, then by all means go ahead and wear it. That's what you bought it for right?" "Thanks! I'll be right back." She said smiling as she headed off to her room. James sighed as she left, picking up a bit that Mary had left on the table and examining the small coin. He had never quite figured out how they could use currency like this with hooves instead of hands, but so long as it worked it didn't really matter. "So how do I look?" his sister's voice piped up from behind him. He turned around to find her wearing a pale pink saddle with a short skirt that complimented her light green coat pretty well. "As a member of an entirely different species? Great." Mary stuck her tongue out at him. "You know there aren't going to be too many human girls left around here soon James.." She smiled wickedly "Might as well start entertaining the idea." He rolled his eyes, "Yeah right, anyways we should get going." He said as he picked up his keys from the counter. The two exited their apartment building a few minutes later, walking together to the restaurant Mary had picked for tonight's dinner. She was admittedly a little nervous about her friends meeting James. The worry that he wouldn't like them or they wouldn't like him kept bouncing around her mind no matter how hard she tried to stop it. The nervous feeling must've worked its way onto her face as she suddenly felt James' hand on her shoulder. "Mary relax, I'm sure I'll love your friends. Now stop worrying, please." Mary smiled slightly, James, as always knew exactly what to say to help assuage her fears, an ability born of many years of being there for her. "Thanks, I guess I'm still a little nervous about this whole thing." "That just means that this dinner is important to you and you want it to go perfectly, nothing more, nothing less. Frankly, I'd be concerned if you weren't a little nervous about it." He removed his hand from her shoulder and the two resumed walking down the street "So what's the name of this place again?" Mary looked away slightly embarrassed "Well, um it's called The Big Horseapple." That got a raised eyebrow from James, he wasn't a pony and even he knew what that phrase meant. "You're serious?" "Yeah, apparently it was opened by a couple of converts who had no idea what it meant. But by the time they found out the name had already stuck." James had to laugh at that, some things never change. In the sub-basement of IDI headquarters two men looked upon a large holographic screen that dominated almost an entire wall of the room. In the center of the room, hooked up to an interfacing unit sat an unassuming silver canister, the one that had been retrieved from the HLF. One of the men, who was sitting at a terminal in front of the screen began to type out commands at a pace that was typically inhuman. "You're sure about this?" asked the second one who stood behind him watching as he input commands. "Of course director, I know a nanite containment capsule when I see one." The first one responded in a slightly insulted voice. Director Moore picked up on the annoyance of his head technical expert, but decided to let it be for now. As the man typed the machinery that was connected to the canister began to function and started to drain the canister of its contents. "Well it's confirmed that thing was definitely holding nanomachines. Beginning AI analysis and interface with nanite governing protocols." The doctor typed in even more commands, bringing the processing power of the IDI's resident contender-II class AI to bear. The AI, codename: MERCURY served as the IDI's institutional mainframe and was primarily used to coordinate the logistics of the IDI and to monitor HLF communications. Once MERCURY began its dictated task, commands and protocols began rolling up on the screen. As the commands streamed across the display the AI's voice began to drone from the speakers mounted above the console. FOREIGN NANOMACHINES DETECTED… INTERFACE INITATED… SUCCESSFUL NANO-FORM ANALYSIS UNDERWAY….NANO-FORM PROFILING COMPLETE… PROFILE CONSISTENT WITH ATTACK NANITES COMPATIBILITY REGISTER ENABLED… PROCESSING… NANO-CATALYST VIABILITY ASSESSMENT UNDERWAY… ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETION: 6 HOURS- 25 MINUTES -35.4 SECONDS The doctor turned from his console to look back the director, "and now we wait." Moore nodded, "Good work doctor, inform me of any developments immediately, I'll be up in my office." And with that Director Moore exited the lab, leaving the doctor to sip coffee and monitor the AI for the next six hours. James and Mary finally arrived at the restaurant, it was a quaint unassuming place, but according to his sister they had some of the best salads in town. Guess we'll find out. He thought to himself as they headed in. In the entrance sat a blue earth pony who was currently manning the podium where customers were shown to their tables. She was looking down at something on the podium when James and Mary walked in. "Name?" she asked without looking up. "Hi, my name's Radiant Dawn, I had a reservation for four at 8 o'clock." Mary answered striding up to the earth pony while she looked around the room for her friends. "Hang on one second…. Ah here we are. Apparently the rest your party arrived earlier with additional customers so we've given you a table in our-"The earth pony had finally looked up and noticed James who was trying his damndest not to be annoyed at the look the earth pony was giving him. "O-our private dining area. Can I help you sir?" she asked in a slightly afraid voice. "He's with me." Mary said her eyes narrowing slightly. "Oh…." The earth pony said while she processed that tidbit of information. "….Well come with me then, your table is this way." She said sheepishly as she led the two into an adjacent room, embarrassed at her behavior. The room she led them to contained a few large tables but only one was currently occupied, around it sat six ponies, all of whom had stopped talking and looked over at the newcomers. "Dawn!" a purple unicorn shouted out and rose to greet her, closely followed by the rest of the group. "Twilight! It's so good to see you!" Mary said as the two hugged each other. She looked over Twilight's shoulder at the rest of the group who were all smiling at their friend. "I thought the rest of you had all moved back to Equestria. When did you all get back?" "Well they're just visiting for a few days, and when they heard that I was having dinner with you, they all wanted to come." Twilight said as she released her friend from the embrace. As she finished speaking she looked behind Mary at James who had been watching this whole exchange silently. "Aren't you going to introduce us?" "Oh, right!" Mary said and she scurried back to her brother's side, she had gotten so caught up in the moment she had forgotten to introduce James. "Everypony, this is my older brother James. James these are my friends, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie." She said as she indicated each pony. "Pleasure to meet you all." He said as he extended a hand towards Twilight who happened to be the closest. "Same here" she said shaking his hand with her hoof. "Dawn's told us so much about you. She talks about you all the time." "I-I do not!" Mary said in the most unconvincing way possible. "Oh come on dear, there's no point in trying to deny it. Besides if I had an older brother like him, I'd be talking about him non-stop." Rarity said looking James up and down. James laughed "Well I can only hope I live up to the hype." Once James had finished speaking something pink, large, and smiling suddenly appeared from above him. Grinning at him upside down it suddenly shouted, "HIYA! I'm Pinkie, nice to meet ya!" "Nice to meet you too." He said returning the smile, How the hell did she get above me? "Pinkie, get down from there!" Twilight shouted The pink pony looked up from her perch on James' shoulders with a disappointed expression on her face, "Aw come on Twilight!" but after seeing the look Twilight was giving her, she jumped down reluctantly. "Jeeze Pinkie, you are so random sometimes." Rainbow Dash piped up from the rest of the group. "Random's a good thing, keeps life interesting." James said smiling down at the pink pony. Pinkie immediately perked up at this, "I like you, I think we're going to be great friends!" "I get that feeling too." He responded as he continued to smile. It always astounded him just how friendly Equestrians could be when you talked to them. With the introductions finished the group of eight finally took their seats at the table. "So James," Rainbow Dash said as menus were brought out to them. "Dawn told us you work for the US government. What exactly do you do for them?" she was leaning forward, almost eager to hear the answer. "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." He answered in a completely serious tone as he looked over the menu. "R-really?" Fluttershy stammered out in a quiet voice, she was beginning to sink lower in her chair. Mary shot James a look, and he immediately realized his mistake, "No not really, it's just a joke you know, spy games and all that stuff." "O-oh, okay." Fluttershy said visibly relieved at his answer. "So then what DO you do?" Dash pressed. "Oh nothing much, I just try to make some sense out of the whole mess that is the world today." Technically, he wasn't lying by telling them this; a large part of his job was doing just that. "Is it really that bad?" Twilight asked. James smiled slightly as he looked up from the menu at her as their waiter approached. "The world's always been a complicated, chaotic place Twilight. Truth be told, Equestrian contact and the conversion bureaus that followed actually make things simpler, but not by much." After that, the waiter finally came to take their orders. James silently lamented the lack of alcohol and meat on the menu, but at least some of the items they offered sounded tasty enough to distract him from that glaring issue. He ended up ordering a Caesar salad, one of the few things still sold in New York that he actually liked. Mary and the rest of the group got themselves an assortment of flowers and other plants. Once their orders were placed conversation started up once more. Rainbow Dash and Applejack somehow started an argument over who was better, the Wonderbolts or some famous Equestrian rodeo team. Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Mary were talking about how things were going back in Ponyville, as that was where Mary had undergone her training after being converted. Fluttershy was trying to tell Mary about some new arrivals but Pinkie was doing a top notch job of derailing the whole conversation into a completely different topic. And Rarity and Twilight had involved James in a discussion about US- Equestrian politics and policies. While Rarity was fairly well spoken about most public matters, it was Twilight that really caught James' interest. Her points and opinions were incredibly well thought out and thorough, he was quite impressed with her. "You know Twilight," he said as he took another drink of his coke, "I don't think I've ever met someone quite as intelligent on these matters as you." "Thanks." She said looking away, embarrassed but pleased with the compliment. "So Dawn, where's Velocity?" Pinkie pie piped up from the conversation next to them. James' head swiveled around to them upon hearing the name, he had heard about everyone else many times beforehand but this one was new. "Well he couldn't make it tonight Pinkie." Mary said quickly, as if she was trying her hardest to sweep the question under the rug. "Oh well that's weird I would have figured your co-"was as far as Pinkie got before Mary shoved her hoof over her mouth. "So who's this Velocity exactly?" James asked glaring directly at his sister. Before Mary could even begin to respond Rainbow Dash interrupted her from across the table. "Oh he's Dawn's coltfrien-OWWW!" She shouted clutching her lower left leg in pain as Rarity had kicked it in an attempt to shut her up. James' eyes narrowed, "So you have a colt friend huh? Planning on letting me know anytime soon?" Mary started doing her best impression of Fluttershy and began to sink lower and lower under table all the while avoiding her brother's gaze. "Well you know I could never find the right time, and I didn't want to upset you the few times I do get to see you…" she said in a quiet voice. Upon seeing just how upset his sister was, James' expression softened, "Look, Mary I'm not angry at you."At this she gave him a skeptical look, to which he just responded by smiling "I'm really not, actually I'm quite happy for you. But I would like to hear about him later." "O-okay." Mary responded, her mood considerably brightened by this turn of events; she had feared the worst when James had found out about Velocity. But her brother had surprised her yet again, taking the information in stride." Oh and James?" "Yeah?" "I thought you said you were going to call me by my Equestrian name tonight." She said smiling. James smiled back, "Sorry, my mistake." The rest of the dinner proceeded without incident, James actually found himself enjoying the food for once. Mary hadn't been lying when she had said this place had some of the best salads in town. After everyone had finished eating the group spilt off into smaller segments, Rainbow Dash had challenged James to a hoof wrestling contest. Unfortunately the blue Pegasus couldn't quite beat him one-on-one so Applejack got involved and the two both began to try and push the human's arm over. Pinkie then came over and started cheering both sides on in equal measure, thoroughly confusing the participants as to whom she actually supported. Rarity and Fluttershy had moved off into a corner and were discussing something in hushed tones, probably something to do with Rarity' fashion business. And finally Mary and Twilight sat together at the table watching Dash and Applejack try in vain to beat James, whose arm sat a half-inch over the surface of the table but refused to move any further even after Dash had resorted to jumping on it. Mary smiled at the spectacle before them. "I sure hope they realize soon that the only way they'll win is if he lets them. Otherwise we're gonna have two completely exhausted ponies on our hooves." "Is he really that strong?" Mary smiled thinly, "James is still mostly human, but he does have a few cybernetic implants, those two could yank on that arm all day and it'd only move if he wanted it to." "wow." Was all Twilight could say in response. A few moments went by in silence before Twilight finally broke it, "Dawn, why hasn't James undergone conversion yet?" Mary continued to watch her brother in front of them, "He has his reasons." Twilight wanted to know what they were but it was obvious that Mary wasn't about to tell her so she let it go. In front of them both Rainbow Dash and Applejack had collapsed to the floor exhausted, still having failed to defeat James in the hoof wrestling competition. He leaned over the table to look at where they lay panting, "Call it a draw?" he asked grinning. "Fine, but next time I won't go so easy on you!" Rainbow shot back between breaths. "I would sure hope not." He said as he walked over and helped the two ponies to their hooves. Soon after Twilight and the others thought that it was getting late and decided it would be a good idea to head back to their homes. One by one they said their goodbyes and left the restaurant, soon it was just James, Mary and Twilight. "Well Dawn, I think it's time that I left too." Twilight said as she and Mary hugged each other. "And James it was really great to finally meet you, I hope I get to see you again soon." She said to the human extending a hoof once more. James took it, smiling "I sure hope so too." And with that James and Mary left, walking together back to their apartment. "So what did you think?" Mary asked her older brother almost the second they exited the building. "I think you've got yourself a great group of friends Mary. I haven't had such an enjoyable night in a long time." She smiled at this. "But I would like to hear about this coltfriend of yours." He said as they continued to walk. Mary's smile faded a little "I met Velocity back in Ponyville right after I had gotten converted. He was there as a flying instructor for the freshly arrived newfoals and we ran into each other one day, literally. He offered to buy me lunch to make up for it and things just kinda took off from there." She looked over at James who was listening intently. "I never thought I'd see him again but then six months ago he moved to New York. We got in contact and then started seeing each other." "So how long have you two been going out?" Mary bit her lower lip as she looked at the ground, "A few months." James' brow furrowed at the response and he looked forward once again. Mary stopped walking "James please don't be angry with me I know I should have told you sooner its jus-" James held up a hand silencing her. "I'm not angry Mary." She continued to stare him down, knowing otherwise. James sighed as he relented, "Ok, I'm angry, but not with you." Mary's expression changed to one of genuine confusion "Mary, I'm not angry with you, I'm angry with myself. I've been a horrible brother as of late; I haven't been there for you like I should have been. Instead I've been drowning myself in work while you worry about me. I mean you've had a coltfriend for the past three months and not only did I not notice, you were too nervous to tell me because you didn't want to ruin what little time I spend with you. We used to be so close and then I..I.." He was clenching his fists so tightly his knuckles started to turn white. "I fucked up…. I'm sorry." "No, no you didn't. I do think you work too much, that you're burning yourself out, but you're doing it because it's what you believe is right and there's no one else who can do your job. I should have told you about Velocity ages ago, you deserved to know more than anyone else. I was just so scared that you might freak out and push me away." She said quietly as she gazed at the ground "James, you're the best older brother I could ask for, don't ever forget that." With that Mary walked up to James and wrapped him up in a hug which he returned. "I love you big brother.." "I love you too, sis." Later that night, back at IDI headquarters MERCURY was just finishing up its analysis of the HLF nanomachines. The doctor who had been intently monitoring the AI's progress watched as the last few commands were carried out and the results displayed. COMPATIBILITY REGISTRATION COMPLETE… NANO-CATALYST VIABILITY ASSESSMENT COMPLETE…. COMPATIBILITY WITH DNA PROFILE ONE…. SEVENTY-NINE PERCENT… COMPATIBILITY WITH DNA PROFILE TWO…..ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT… "Wait, this can't be right… that would mean this is…" The coffee cup he had been holding slipped from his nerveless fingers and shattered on the ground as his mind processed what the AI was telling him. Anyone else would have asked for a verification of these results but the doctor already knew that the AI had 99.9% accuracy in its calculations. He pushed a button on the console before him which gave him a direct, secure line to the director's office. "Director Moore? You might want to get down here sir; I think you're going to want to see this…" Chapter 3To say that James Miller was in a bad mood was a bit of an understatement, his mood was as far from good as one could possibly get. He had been roused from his sleep by a priority-1 FLASH message from the director at three in the morning on the day he was supposed to have off. That wasn't what had actually put him in the state of emotion he was currently in, he was quite used to having to interrupt what most would consider 'normal' sleep patterns for a multitude of reasons. No, it was the information the director divulged to him upon arriving at IDI headquarters that had put him in this mood. He still remembered the cold pit he had felt form in his stomach the second his brain had processed the implications of that information. Now he was standing in Director Moore's office several hours later waiting for the President of the United States to arrive. The two occupants looked towards the entrance as there was a knock on the door. Director Moore paused for a second before speaking, "Enter." In strode President Jack Hargreave followed by two unanticipated guests. James and the director did their best to hide their surprise at who had just entered the office. Standing next to the president were the two Equestrian princesses, Celestia and Luna. "Jack, you didn't inform me th-" Director Moore began "Arthur, you said that the intel you had would be of great impact to the Equestrians, they have as much a right to hear about it as I do." The president interrupted. Director Moore's eyes narrowed at this, but he held his tongue in check. "In the meantime, Princesses Celestia and Luna, this is Director Arthur Moore and Captain James Miller, the head and second-in-command of the IDI respectively." the president continued. The director opened his mouth to speak but then stopped and looked directly at Celestia. "I can see you want to ask something Princess, it would be best to get it out of the way before we begin." The Princess of the sun nodded. "Director it would mean a lot to my sister and me if our personal students could hear what you have to say. They are our closest subordinates and usually are trusted to act in our stead." Director Moore turned the request over in his head several times. There had been a saying back when he had been director of operations at the CIA, that the chance of a secret being blown is square to the number of people in on it. However, if the Princess was telling the truth it didn't really matter whether or not they heard it here. "Very well your majesty, however I must impress upon you the necessity of secrecy with this information. Should it become public it could very well spark panic." The princess nodded once more and then turned to the doorway she had just walked through, "You two can come in." In walked two unicorns, one a deep midnight blue with a multicolored mane and tail, the second was none other than Twilight Sparkle. James' eyes widened slightly at seeing her, but other than that he betrayed no other emotion at the sight of the two students. Twilight, on the other hand, was much less subtle about it. A surprised look covered her face before she had the sense to force it back to a neutral expression. If the princess had noticed Twilight's surprise she gave no indication. "Gentlemen, this is my personal student, Twilight Sparkle and my sister Luna's student, Midnight Shadow." She said indicating the two young ponies, both of whom were unnerved by the stares of the three humans in the room. With the introductions finished the president turned back to Director Moore, "Now Arthur, let's hear what you have to say." "Two nights ago at 0200 hours Captain Miller here led a raid on a HLF safe house located in Brooklyn. This raid was part of a larger operation whose objective was to ascertain the whereabouts of leaders within the HLF. The raid was conducted on the intel that a known courier for senior leaders of the HLF was currently staying there for some unknown reason. The raid went off without a hitch, the safe house was neutralized and the high value target, now known as a 'Mr. Anderson', was apprehended and is now in custody." Director Moore continued "Have you interrogated him?" the president asked. The director nodded to James, it was his show now. "Yes sir, but these men are nothing more than glorified messenger boys for the HLF, everything he knew either we were already aware of or was useless. However, what this man was in possession of was of much greater importance." James reached over to the briefcase sitting on the director's desk and opened it, showing the room its contents. Watching the different reactions in the room was indicative of how different the two species were, the president's expression hardened at the sight of the canister contained within while the ponies, with the exception of Midnight, just looked confused. "A silver canister?" Luna asked in disbelief "That's what he was carrying that is so important?" "Umm Princess? It's not just a canister." Midnight piped up from his place beside his mentor. James smiled slightly, "You're a convert aren't you?" he asked the dark blue unicorn. Midnight nodded nervously at him, "Y-yes sir, I was one of the first back when the bureaus first opened." All this secret government agency stuff wasn't his bag at all. James arched an eyebrow at this, a human convert being personal student to one of the Equestrian princesses? That was sure interesting… "Anyways, Midnight is correct, this is no ordinary canister. What you see before you is in fact a nanite containment and transport device." "Nanites?" This time it was Twilight who was confused. "It's another term for nanomachines, microscopic, programmable machines that are typically utilized in the medical field, able to manipulate the body on a cellular level."James answered, "The ones that he was transporting however, were much more sinister in nature than normal nanomachines. They were genetically targeted attack nanites, programmed to attack cells with a very specific DNA profile, namely Equestrians." "And what happens when they come in contact with their target?" Celestia asked, her expression as serious as anyone had ever seen. "Upon entering a body with a compatible DNA profile the nanites begin to replicate and proceed to attack any and all cells with the same DNA profile, causing systemic necrosis and massive organ failure. Death occurs typically in two to three minutes." "And what about ponies? I thought out bodies were resistant to your cybernetics and nanomachines." She continued. "Normally you'd be correct ma'am; pony physiology does generally reject and break down any and all artificial implants, including nanomachines. However because these nanites have such simple programming they can replicate at a rate theoretically faster than your bodies can expunge them." "Why was this never considered a threat or a weapon before? I never remember getting a briefing on these nanite weapons." The President asked. "Because the facilities to manufacture nanomachines are incredibly expensive and very secure, in the US alone there are only two facilities capable of producing nanites like these, and all are under strict government control and security. Regardless they're detailed to produce ponification serum anyways. Our guess is that these nanites are Russian in origin, as the Europeans lack the proper facilities to produce these in a timely manner. Also sir, it is worth noting that in producing these the Russians have violated international law, attack nanites are explicitly banned by the second Geneva Convention." "And what would the impact of these weapons be?" Director Moore answered that question. "With an air burst detonation, the nanites could cover twenty square miles, infecting all Equestrians in the area. In essence Jack, you're looking at an area denial bio-weapon beyond your wildest dreams." The President just looked shocked at the information he had just heard. James remembered the same expression adorning his face when he had heard it earlier. President Hargreave sat down on one of the seats Director Moore had in his office for visitors, "Jesus…." "Is Equestria safe?" Celestia practically demanded of the young captain, her gaze almost enough to pull the answer from him. James returned the glare with one of almost the same intensity; the princess was impressed that he didn't even flinch. "Yes, in all likelihood Equestria itself is safe, the inherent magic present there will prevent the nanites from functioning. But every city outside of its boundaries is a potential target." "I see…" the princess said quietly as she looked away. "So why haven't the HLF used these nanite things yet? I would have thought that if they got their hands on a weapon like this they would've used against us at the earliest opportunity." Luna asked. "Well these nanites aren't fully programmed yet Princess, while they have a lot of their basic code already written, the specific locking protocol has yet to be implemented." "So how much longer before these nanites are ready to be used?" "Judging from the batch we retrieved, our estimates put it at a couple weeks at least and that's with an AI equivalent to ours, which they don't have. A more likely timeframe is a month." The President nodded mutely at this news, a thoughtful expression adorning his face for a few seconds before he spoke once more. "Arthur, could you leave us for a few minutes? I need to speak with Captain Miller alone." The Director nodded at the request, standing from his desk and walking out. The President continued to look at the office's left wall, continuing to ponder the information he had just received. "James I'm sure you're well aware of why I'm speaking to you. You have been the true leader of the IDI these past few years…" "Sir with all due respect-"James began. The President finally turned away from the spot on the wall he had been boring a hole through with his eyes for the past few minutes and fixed the younger man with a cynical look. "James, I've seen the reports and it's fairly obvious to me that we would never have gotten as far as we have without you." He walked over to the polarized window behind the director's desk. "I came into this presidency knowing that it would be a difficult one, a failing economy and the brink of war. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to have an entirely new race appear just off our east coast, I most certainly never expected the red plague and for these equines to offer at the time the best option to survive, an offer many accepted." He paused for a few more seconds before continuing once more. "James, you all are the best we have, the last hope humanity has to prevent itself from committing another grave sin. A hundred years ago we witnessed what some of us are capable of when good men stay silent; we cannot let that happen again. Captain Miller, take care of it." "Yes, sir." The president then looked at something over James' shoulder and he turned to see the Princess of the sun seeming like she wanted to speak again. "You have something you wish to say Celestia?" "Yes, while my sister and I have the utmost faith in your agents' abilities, this is a threat that is pointed solely at us, not you. And so we would request that one of our students act as an observer here for this next month so that we are kept well aware of all ongoing developments." The President frowned slightly at this, normally he would have flatly refused but then again this was a situation of extreme danger to their race. "…Very well Celestia ONE of your students may be here as an observer, on the condition that Captain Miller keeps an eye on them." The Princess smiled, "Thank you Jack." She then turned to the two younger unicorns in the room, who had been watching silently this whole time. "Midnight?" The unicorn seemed to pale underneath his blue fur at the mention of his name. "Y-yes Princess?" "While you are the logical choice to be the one we have here as our observer as you are a former human, you have only been my sister's student for the past few years while Twilight has been mine for almost her entire life. This is one situation where I feel like experience outweighs practicality, Twilight will be our observer here while you take over for her at the bureaus." Midnight looked visibly relieved at the news, while he didn't relish taking up Twilight's work in addition to his own, he had had enough excitement for a lifetime already. "Well that and you need to keep working on your magic, that room you tried to teleport into still needs to be repaired." The princess continued. If it was possible for the unicorn to have paled even more he would have. A week ago he had finally graduated to trying teleportation magic, and with his initial try he had (unintentionally) destroyed one of the princess' favorite rooms when he tried to teleport. At the very least Celestia had said she'd never seen quite such an explosion from anypony else's teleportation spell. With that Celestia turned to her personal student but before she could say anything Twilight spoke up, "Princess, why me? Certainly a member of the royal guard would be a better choice." Her voice almost shook with nervousness. The princess smiled and walked over to the purple unicorn speaking in a reassuring voice, "Twilight you are one of my most trusted subjects and the one that I've been closest to for many years. I need a pony that I can trust explicitly and if need be to make decisions that will affect the world. You are the only one who I would entrust with that great responsibility." She turned her head to look over at James, "and besides, it seems to me that you already are familiar with Captain Miller." The president looked over at him quizzically, "Is this true James?" James mentally sighed, goddamnit…"Yes sir, she's one of my sister's friends, we met just last night." Celestia beamed, "Perfect, In addition Twilight I think this will be an excellent opportunity for you to learn more about the human world. Captain Miller seems like a fine man and I'm sure he will take care of you while you're here." Twilight's nervousness seemed to finally recede, "I understand how important this is, I won't let you down princess." Celestia just kept smiling as the princess gave Twilight a neck-hug, "I know you won't." she turned back to Luna, "We should be on our way sister, we have a lot to do to prepare for this." "Oh and Midnight?" Twilight piped up as the ponies turned to leave the room. "Yes?" "You can use my office over at the bureau if you like, but if you screw up my filing system again, I'll re-upholster my apartment with you." She said in a cheerful voice. Midnight smiled nervously, she was joking… probably, "I'll be sure to keep that in mind Twilight, in the meantime, good luck." "Thanks." Twilight responded as the other ponies in room departed. The president turned to James once more as the princesses departed, "Captain, you have your orders, Godspeed." "Thank you, sir." And with that James turned to leave, indicating to Twilight that she should follow. As the pair left they passed Director Moore who was heading back into his office. The quizzical look he gave Twilight as she walked by him moved on to James, who just shrugged and jerked his head back towards the office. A few seconds later they were riding the elevator to the main floor where the IDI was located. The ride was in complete silence until quite suddenly James reached out and jabbed the stop button on the console of the elevator, which complied immediately and slowed to a stop. He then turned to Twilight, leaned up against the wall of the elevator with his arms crossed over his chest and finally broke the silence, "Mary never mentioned anything about you being the personal student of the Princess." He said, his eyes studying her. "She never said anything about you being some secret government agent either." Twilight countered. "That's because she doesn't know." He said flatly "Oh." He sighed and uncrossed his arms, "Look, I know we only met last night but I have a favor to ask of you." "Which is?" "Not a word of this to my sister." "Why?" Twilight didn't like lying to her friends, least of all Mary, whom she considered to be one of her best ones. "To protect her from herself, you know how she is; she worries about me enough without the constant thought of me going on dangerous assignments running through her head. She's happy and I don't want to ruin that for her." Twilight stood there thinking hard about what James just said before finally speaking once more, "Fine." "Good." He said, for the first time since she had first seen him this day James visibly relaxed, he had been slightly worried Twilight would refuse his request and truth be told, he had no idea what he would've done had she done so. He then reached out and restarted the elevator's descent. "In that case, let me be the first to welcome you to the IDI." He said as they reached their floor. "Just what is the IDI? I've heard of plenty of human government agencies but this is the first time I've ever heard of this one." Twilight asked as she continued to follow James down the hallway. "The Internal Defense Initiative is a top secret, joint venture between the CIA, FBI, and NSA founded three years ago. Our aim is to exclusively combat the rise of major domestic terrorist groups within US borders following Equestrian contact, namely the HLF." "What about the PER?" James let out a short laugh, "The PER isn't a threat Miss Sparkle. The HLF kills humans and ponies equally; all those self righteous converts do is create more of your kind, not really worth our time. Besides they don't fall under our jurisdiction, that's your guys' job." The two finally reached the door at the end of the hallway, a panel located the right side emitted a small blue light for a few seconds before text appeared on the screen. BIO-SIGNATURE CONFIRMED: CAPTAIN JAMES MILLER…. –ACCESS GRANTED- "What is this place?" Twilight asked as the doors slid open to reveal a technophile's dream, the latest cybernetics were scattered around the room in various states of repair and modification, hooked up to computers that would make most universities green with envy. In the middle of all this sat a young man, younger than James, with his back to them frantically working away at a terminal. He turned around to face them as the doors slid shut behind the two, "Ahhh, so now I see why the Director's in such a foul mood right now." He walked over to them and extended a hand to Twilight, "Dr. Gerard Thomas, Head Technical Expert here at the IDI, I keep most of these guys working." "Twilight Sparkle, pleasure to meet you." The purple unicorn responded taking the hand with her hoof. "So the Director's in a bad mood huh?" James asked as Twilight shook the doctor's hand. Dr. Thomas rolled his eyes, "If there was a way to bite someone's head off through the net, that man would be the one to discover it." He walked back over to the terminal. "All he said was that we'd have an outside observer for the next month or so, I never expected it to be an Equestrian. Now, Miss Sparkle if you could take a couple steps to the right, that'd be great, thanks." Twilight complied with the doctor's request before asking, "Um, just what are you doing?" "Recording your bio-signature for security purposes, every door in this facility is locked to anyone who is not in our database. This way you'll be able to move around here without needing someone to open the doors for you all the time." He answered as a scanner lowered itself from the ceiling and began to record Twilight's DNA and bio-signs. "So you got Mr. Tall, Dark, and Scary to show you around huh?" "James isn't scary." Twilight said matter-of-factly. Dr. Thomas laughed as he turned around to face her, "Yeah that's what they all say until they see him…" his voice just trailed off as the look James was giving him could cow a rabid Grizzly. "Right! Well the scan is now finished so you two can get going around to the rest of the facility. And I'll have a detailed report on the nanites ready in a few hours Captain!" He said quickly as he ushered Twilight out with James close behind. "Um, James? Just what did he mean? "Twilight asked, slightly flustered by their abrupt exit. James rolled his eyes, "The doctor has a bit of a flair for the dramatic, I'm just good at what I do Twilight, let's leave it at that." Mary arranged her pencils into another shape on her desk for what seemed like the fiftieth time that day, it had been slow at the bureau this week and she was bored out of her mind. Usually Twilight was here to help alleviate the boredom but she was mysteriously absent today. James had disappeared as well this morning, not like that was ever unusual but still she wished there were more mornings where she actually saw him. "Knock, Knock" came a familiar voice from the door. Rarity had to clear her throat a few seconds later before Mary noticed her and turned away from her latest distraction to the white unicorn in the doorway. "Oh, hi there Rarity. Sorry, it's just so slow today, I've been losing track of what's going on." "I know the feeling." "Do you have any idea where Twilight is? It's not like her to just not show up like this." "I'm afraid I don't know much more than you do dear. I sent a letter to Canterlot reporting her absence, but all I got in return was a response saying she'd been called away on urgent royal business." "Oh really? That's odd…" Mary said as she started to lose herself in thought. "Well anyways, there is something I wanted to talk with you about." "Which is?" "Well, just how did James take you and Velocity? I mean we all saw him when he first found out, but I'm still a little worried that maybe he was just putting up a façade for us." Mary looked down at her desk as she thought about how to answer that question, "He actually took it really well, a lot better than I had ever expected. He said he was really happy for me that I had found somepony. But… I kinda wish he had gotten angry or at least annoyed with me, would've made me feel a lot better." Rarity was just completely confused at this statement, "But whatever do you mean Dawn? He's happy for you, why wouldn't you want that?" Mary looked up from her desk but continued to avoid her friend's eyes, "James feels like me not telling him about Velocity is because he's failed as an older brother and that it's his fault that I didn't feel comfortable telling him." Rarity walked up and put a hoof over Mary's shoulder, "Why would he say such a thing? You've always talked about him like he's the greatest brother ever." Mary stayed silent for a few seconds before finally answering, "If there's one thing wrong with James, it's that he expects too much of himself. When he thinks he's screwed up or failed he's harder on himself than anyone ever could be." "Well did you tell him that it wasn't his fault?" "Of course I did. But even though it seemed like James believed me I know deep down he still considers it his fault and his fault alone." Rarity felt nothing but sympathy for her friend, being an older sibling herself she could relate to Dawn's situation. But while she and Sweetie Belle were close, they were nowhere near the level of James and Dawn. In truth Rarity envied them, and that made this all the more important to her. "You know, I may have an idea for how you can help." She said quietly. Mary turned to look at her friend almost pleading with her eyes for Rarity to tell her any way she might help her older brother. "Be open with him, tell him about how your life is going, talk to him like you would before all 'this'" she said waving a hoof in the air, "But above all I think it'd be a good idea if he met Velocity, I think they'd actually like each other quite a lot." "R-really?" "Of course dear, besides you've been together for three months, I think it's about time he finally met a member of your family." The white unicorn said as she smiled. "Thanks Rarity." Mary said matching the smile as she hugged her friend. "You're quite welcome Dawn, but there is one other thing." "Which is?" Mary asked as she released Rarity from the embrace. "A certain Mr. Frost needs help figuring out his quarters with his new body, and I figured you could use the distraction." Rarity said, continuing to smile. Mary groaned as she rose from the cushion she had been sitting on, Newfoals… Author's Note:I'd like to thank Midnight for letting me have er, Midnight make a cameo in this story.
Chapter 1It was a cool night in New York, calm, serene or at least it should’ve been. ‘Carl’ was impatiently tapping his finger on a desk as he looked out the window of the small apartment complex that was utilized by the Human Liberation Front as a nexus for ammunition and storage in this part of town. Of course ‘Carl’ wasn’t his real name but it was the one the men here knew him by, he was here to oversee the purchase of particularly valuable commodity from a Russian contact of the HLF. The exchange had gone over smoothly enough as the price was agreed upon well before the meeting had taken place. Fifty million American for something like this was a bit expensive, but the contents violated about thirty international laws and half of the second Geneva Convention, possession of the object alone could mean a life sentence. A young man stepped inside the office Carl had commandeered “Sir, we’ve just received a communique from central.” He said extending his hand which held a piece of paper. Obviously all communications between cells of the HLF were coded and translations were required before any message could be read. As he turned to take the message from the kid he noticed a small red dot playing over his face a split second before it vanished in an explosion of blood. Carl immediately threw himself to the floor as he heard the report of gunfire and the noise of combat from below him. He swore to himself as he grabbed the steel briefcase and gun from the table he had been keeping them on and dashed out the door and down the hallway. He emerged into a small alleyway two buildings down as the fighting continued between HLF and whoever had decided to raid the complex. He started sprinting down the alley away from the shootout. Those members of the HLF were nothing more than fanatics and there were plenty to replace them; he on the other hand was not quite as expendable to the organization. As he ran down the alley of the slums he failed to notice the shimmering outline of a humanoid figure watching his escape. The alleyway eventually opened up into a large seaside area overlooking Manhattan bay. Carl finally slowed to a stop on the edge of the water panting as he went over in his mind any relevant information the members he had just abandoned might know. No one here knew his real name and all they were aware of was that he had come here to purchase something of great value, they had no idea what it was or the reason for buying it. Deciding that he was safe for now he let out a large breath looking out over the water at the skyline of this once great city. A scowl began to appear on his face as he saw the numerous pegasai flying among the buildings. These ponies thought they could just come and destroy everything man had ever accomplished out of some illusion of kindness? Not if he and the rest of the HLF had anything to say about it. A noise behind him snapped the HLF member out of his reverie; he immediately panicked and fired three quick rounds in the direction of the noise. There was nothing there, but his eyes kept sweeping the area regardless. Carl felt as an iron grip clamped down on his arm right above the wrist, he looked back to his arm just in time to watch in horror and pain as his wrist was snapped before his very eyes in the invisible grip of his assailant. The gun clattered to the ground as he clutched his now useless right hand to his chest. “Adaptive camouflage?” he asked the air, knowing he’d been had. “Yep.” Responded a male voice behind him, Carl grimaced as he suddenly felt a prick on the right side of his neck, he was unconscious before he even hit the ground. Captain James Miller disengaged the AdCam as most called it making himself easily visible once again. He had been slightly worried for a small time that his intel was off and all they would find here was a typical HLF safehouse but this man on the ground in front of him had proven that worry to be groundless. He turned slightly as he heard approaching footsteps, “Jesus Captain you certainly did a number on him.” Said his immediate subordinate Scott Baker. “Assault team’s wrapping things up at the safehouse, we even managed to take a couple alive this time.” “Anything interesting turn up there?” “Not at first glance, no. But we’ll have a better picture once forensics gets through with the place.” “I doubt they’ll find anything, but this guy on the other hand,” James said as he bent down to pick up the briefcase. “might just have something of value. Let’s get him back to HQ.” Headquarters was located in the financial district of the city in one of the many modern skyscrapers that had been built in the wake of cheap robotic labor. James spent most of the ride back in silence, instead choosing to file his report via his neural net as he had to get going soon. As the team dismounted the vehicles in the garage beneath the structure he tapped baker on the shoulder. “Hey would you take care of processing these guys for me? I’ve already filed my report with the director and I need to get back home.” Baker nodded. The captain had been working “off the clock” so to speak tonight, but he had wanted to oversee the raid personally as several months of work had gone into it. “Sure thing boss, see ya tomorrow.” James, having taken care of all official business for now, headed over to his own car, a blue 2008 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500, an inheritance from his father who was an avid car buff. As he drove through the practically empty city streets he was thinking over the latest report on the state of the city, the most optimistic estimates put the human population of New York at 200,000 but of course years of experience had taught him to never believe the optimistic ones. At least the street lights were still working, not that he needed them, his right eye was totally cybernetic, a replacement for his natural one that he had lost early on in his career to a lucky shot from a mafia enforcer he had been tailing. All in all James Miller was still mostly human compared to many others in his line of work, besides his eye, musculature enhancements, and military grade neural net he was still totally organic. He was a fairly unassuming man, brown hair and eyes certainly didn’t distinguish him from the crowd at all, of course there weren’t any crowds really left for him to blend into, having two legs when everyone else has four kinda gives you away. He pulled into the apartment building where he lived with his sister as both their parents were currently living in Equestria somewhere; James could never remember the name of the city. As he walked through the lobby, he wasn’t too surprised to see a couple ponies coming and going even at this hour, New York was still the city that never sleeps. He took the elevator up to his floor and entered his apartment as quietly as he could so as not to wake the other occupant of his home, as always he failed miserably. “Late night huh?” Said his sister Mary’s voice from the couch. “Yep.” James said as he looked through their fridge. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” “I have tomorrow off.” She said from right behind him, “You should take it off too, you’re working too hard again.” There was a note of concern in her voice. James turned to fix his sister with a cynical look. Mary now stood at about his waist ever since she had undergone conversion; she was a light green unicorn with a white mane who had decided to stay in New York with her still human older brother while their ponified parents both moved to Equestria. “Well maybe it’d be a little easier for us if you guys weren’t so good at your jobs. We’re short staffed as it is without us losing a guy every few weeks that then takes us a month to replace.” Mary rolled her eyes at that; she worked as an administrative assistant at the New York bureau. “Uh-huh sure, blame us for being so convincing. I just wish I could convince you as easily as them.” She had been trying to get James to undergo conversion for nearly a year now, and he still refused to go. “Don’t worry; I’m sure one of these days I’ll cave. You’re too damn persistent for me to resist forever.” James continued to rummage through their fridge, he was absolutely starving and tended not to trust his sister with getting him take-out anymore, not since she had ‘forgotten’ he didn’t eat daisies the last time he had asked her to pick him up something. Failing to find anything that resembled meat he gave up and just grabbed two apples. “Is it really that hard to find meat anymore around here?” he asked as he walked over to and collapsed onto the couch. “Have you looked around lately? There’s no one left to sell it to.” Mary said as she lay down next to him she paused for bit as he continued to eat his meal of fruit. “Hey James?” “Yeah?” “I’m meeting up with some of my Equestrian friends for dinner tomorrow and I’d really appreciate it if you actually came this time. They’ve all wanted to meet you for a long time now and I kinda want to show them that my older brother actually exists.” James sighed, she was guilt tripping him and he knew it, didn’t stop it from working though. “Fine, I’ll come.” “That’s what you said last time.” “I mean it this time.” “You said that too.” James buried his face in his hands as he tried to think of a way to fix this whole situation. “What else do you want me to say Mary? I’m sorry I had to bail on you those other times, I really am. But my job isn’t as cut and dry as we’d both like it to be, stuff comes up that they need me for and I can’t just ignore it.” Mary looked down as the words sunk in, she knew her brother worked directly for the government, and whatever he did it was it was both highly dangerous and important. But it still didn’t change the fact that it stung to have her older brother whom she held in such high esteem leave her hanging when she was just trying to have her friends meet her family. James saw just how crestfallen his sister was and he immediately felt the guilt of bailing on her triple. He put a hand on her shoulder. “Look I’ll make it up to you; I’ll call in every favor I can to make sure I’m there tomorrow, OK?” Mary looked significantly happier at this development “OK, just remember you have to call me by my Equestrian name tomorrow.” “Ah erm, well about that….” She just looked at him disbelief, “You forgot what it was again didn’t you?” “No, well not really it has something to do with the sun right?” He offered weakly. She rolled her eyes again, “its Radiant Dawn FYI. And you’re going to have to start remembering it eventually, it IS my official name now, you’re the only one that still calls me Mary.” “I’ll call you Radiant Dawn around the same time you convince me to get converted, until then you’re still Mary to me.” He said as he ruffled her mane. “Now you best get some sleep sis, you’re not meant for these long nights.” “And YOU need to stop having so many of them, I’ll go to bed when you do.” “I was actually planning on doing that right now.” He said as he stood, he then locked up for the night and headed off to his room after making sure his sister went to sleep. James undid the front of his jacket and un-holstered his M1911 Colt .45, it was a bit old fashioned compared to many of the newer guns that had been developed recently but he preferred the classics. He lay down on his bed after undressing and turned off the lights before finally taking the last few minutes to access his personal messages via the net. There was already one waiting from the director. ENCRYPTED USING KEY: ********* DECRYPTED USING KEY: ***** ’Your report is, as always, impeccable in detail Captain. The forensics team is already going over the evidence seized from the safehouse, and they are currently analyzing the contents of the briefcase you retrieved from the HVT. Baker and the others currently have him in medical care for the wrist you broke and are planning on interrogating him as soon as he is conscious again. You on the other hand, have tomorrow off on my orders; you’re burning yourself out on this James, Baker will handle the case for tomorrow.’ – Director Moore. Well, Mary will certainly be happy with that. He thought to himself as James switched off his neural net. I’m beginning to think she’s right about me working too hard on this, I mean when even the director thinks I’m going to far… James rolled over as he settled down to sleep; deciding it didn’t really matter in the end anyways. One way or another, this would be his last case. Roughly 500 miles away in an underground complex sat a man who appeared to be in his fifties. He sat in an ornate chair facing the only source of illumination in the room, a hologram of the planet earth that was constantly updated to show the advance of Equestrian influence. Behind him a door opened into the room spilling in white light, a second man advanced through it coming to stop halfway to the older one in the chair. The one in the chair turned his head slightly indicating to the intruder that he should speak, “Sir, we have just received word that one of our New York cells was raided tonight. It would appear Mr. Anderson has been compromised along with the package.” His message delivered the younger man departed leaving the room shrouded in darkness once again. The lone man steepled his fingers as he thought about the impact this would have on the organization as a whole. It was certainly an annoyance but it was nothing more a setback in the grand scheme of things, a replacement for the lost package could be found easily enough. The thing that concerned him most was what their enemies would do now that they had discovered what the HLF was interested in. The man known to many simply as “Jeremiah” knew that there was only one true threat left in the US government and that was the Internal Defense Initiative or IDI. Undoubtedly it was they who had raided the cell, they were ever present as a thorn in his side and had even come close to ending his life nearly a year and half ago, he unconsciously fingered the scar on his face that he had acquired on that fateful day. Yes, the IDI were indeed formidable opponents, but would they be able to stop the HLF’s final plan? That was the question that truly mattered. The fate of two races and the world itself would be decided quite soon, and that decision would rest either in their hands, or the HLF’s.
Chapter 2James awoke the next morning a lot later than he usually did; he rarely slept later than eight or nine o' clock despite how often he would be working until the wee hours of the morning. He felt like he had wasted enough of his life sleeping in college and high school. He groggily looked up at the window of his room, from the position of the sun it appeared to be a little after noon. James' gaze then wandered over to his nightstand where the culprit of his unintended sleep-in sat, someone had disconnected his alarm clock. He sighed as he rose out of his bed, Mary must be really concerned about this if she's starting to use magic to sabotage me. Then again, he had slept all the way up until this point in time giving her argument that he was overdoing it even more credence. He emerged from his room into the kitchen where his sister sat reading the paper while sipping some coffee. It had taken James a while to get used to seeing Mary use magic, but like everything else that had changed with the coming of the Bureaus, after a while it became normal. She looked over at him with a smug expression on her face. "Well look who's finally up." "Yeah, yeah. Just be thankful I have today off or I'd be really pissed. You can't just turn someone's alarm off Mary." "Hm, well my magic says I can." She said as she levitated a second cup of the steaming liquid over to him. "Thanks." He said sitting down at the table and taking a long drink of the caffeinated beverage. "So you have today off huh?" Mary was incredibly shocked at this, James almost NEVER had or took a day off. It was such a rare occurrence that she had actually forgotten to give him her victory speech about how she was right about him. "Yep, I suppose miracles do happen from time to time." He said as he stared off into the distance. "So what're your plans for today?" "I was going to go shopping with one of my friends from the Bureau, but that was before I knew you'd have today off." He looked over at her, "Well don't let my having the day off disrupt your plans." Mary bit her lower lip, "But… I-" James cut her off, "Look, I'm going to be spending the evening with you and your friends anyways. How long have you been planning on going shopping with your friend?" "Nearly three weeks." She admitted. "Ok then, go enjoy your day and we'll spend the evening together. Besides I've got my own stuff to take care of." She gave him a look of mock disbelief. "My brother actually doing something that doesn't have anything to do with work!" she gave an overly dramatic gasp. "I don't believe it!" "Ha ha ha." He responded deadpan as he stood from his chair and gave his little sister a hug. "Have a good time out there, and I'll see you later." As he released her from the embrace he ruffled her mane to the point where it looked like she had just woken up. "Really? Now I have to go brush it again." "Then don't mess with my alarm again." James said laughing as he headed back to his room. By the time James had showered, shaved, and dressed Mary had already departed, leaving him a note telling him to be back by four. He locked up after retrieving his sidearm, he never left home without it, and took the elevator down to ground level. It was an absolutely beautiful day in New York; it was just cool enough for him to wear his jacket without sweating like a pig. He had found New York to be quite enjoyable, but then again he had only moved here after the bureaus opened so he had no idea how it was before that. James decided to walk to his destination rather than drive as walking typically helped him unwind better than driving. As he walked down the street the ponies milling about around him gave James a wide berth. Just like Mary using magic, the stares and general wariness that ponies gave him was something James had gotten used to. He looked up into the sky as he headed towards his destination noting the large amount of pegasai flying among the towering buildings. The city had never appeared to be so full of life before, compared to the glum facade of an unemployed town of broken dreams that it had been prior to Equestrian contact. Funny that he should be thinking about that particular notion as he arrived at his destination, a graveyard situated between two large buildings. Before heading in he stopped at a flower store across the street and bought a simple wreath. He walked down the rows of graves already knowing where the one he sought was located even though it had been months since he was last here. James stopped in front of a fairly plain gravestone and spent a good ten minutes just staring at it lost in thought. Finally he knelt down and laid the wreath on the grave before turning to leave. James arrived back at his home just as Mary was finishing up getting ready for their dinner. "Oh great you're here." She said as she continued to check her reflection. She turned back to James giving him a look down. "You're planning on going out in that?" "Says the one who spends ninety-nine percent of the time naked. It's not like the dinner is super formal or anything, right?" James retorted with a slightly annoyed look on his face, even after being a pony for nearly a year and a half, his sister still thought she could give him fashion advice. "Suit yourself." Mary said nonchalantly. "So where were you for the last two hours?" "Oh, you know, just walking around, thinking, nothing much. How was shopping with your friend?" Mary's face lit up at the question. "Oh it was FANTASTIC! There was a whole new line of saddles that we hadn't heard about before that were unveiled! Rarity and I were just amazed at the new designs coming out of Equestria…" James just continued to smile and nod at his sister's story, letting the information wash over him while his mind concentrated on something else. It was this sort of mental multitasking that made him such a good intelligence officer and was one of the many reasons he had been recruited by Director Moore into the IDI. As his sister talked James noticed just how happy she was. She had been like this ever since she had undergone conversion, as if the process changed more than just her body. She had never been a melancholy person to begin with, but it was hard to still be human in the rapidly ponifiying world and not be affected by it. Hell, most humans nowadays were either miserable or consumed with hate with their situation in life. Even James sometimes had trouble not feeling like an outcast in this town of thirteen million ponies. But now Mary had friends, a job she loved, and her older brother who she had always been close to. She had every right to be happy. James however, had only entertained the idea of conversion as a fantasy. Something that lay eternally out of reach, as he had decided long ago that such a thing was not meant for men like him. But now, with everything coming to a head so quickly the very real possibility of him finishing his work lay before him. And he had no idea what he would do should that happen. Guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. He thought to himself as his sister finished her story. "So do you think I should go out with my new saddle?" She asked a hopeful expression adorning her face. "Well if it's good enough to impress your fashionista friend Rarity, then by all means go ahead and wear it. That's what you bought it for right?" "Thanks! I'll be right back." She said smiling as she headed off to her room. James sighed as she left, picking up a bit that Mary had left on the table and examining the small coin. He had never quite figured out how they could use currency like this with hooves instead of hands, but so long as it worked it didn't really matter. "So how do I look?" his sister's voice piped up from behind him. He turned around to find her wearing a pale pink saddle with a short skirt that complimented her light green coat pretty well. "As a member of an entirely different species? Great." Mary stuck her tongue out at him. "You know there aren't going to be too many human girls left around here soon James.." She smiled wickedly "Might as well start entertaining the idea." He rolled his eyes, "Yeah right, anyways we should get going." He said as he picked up his keys from the counter. The two exited their apartment building a few minutes later, walking together to the restaurant Mary had picked for tonight's dinner. She was admittedly a little nervous about her friends meeting James. The worry that he wouldn't like them or they wouldn't like him kept bouncing around her mind no matter how hard she tried to stop it. The nervous feeling must've worked its way onto her face as she suddenly felt James' hand on her shoulder. "Mary relax, I'm sure I'll love your friends. Now stop worrying, please." Mary smiled slightly, James, as always knew exactly what to say to help assuage her fears, an ability born of many years of being there for her. "Thanks, I guess I'm still a little nervous about this whole thing." "That just means that this dinner is important to you and you want it to go perfectly, nothing more, nothing less. Frankly, I'd be concerned if you weren't a little nervous about it." He removed his hand from her shoulder and the two resumed walking down the street "So what's the name of this place again?" Mary looked away slightly embarrassed "Well, um it's called The Big Horseapple." That got a raised eyebrow from James, he wasn't a pony and even he knew what that phrase meant. "You're serious?" "Yeah, apparently it was opened by a couple of converts who had no idea what it meant. But by the time they found out the name had already stuck." James had to laugh at that, some things never change. In the sub-basement of IDI headquarters two men looked upon a large holographic screen that dominated almost an entire wall of the room. In the center of the room, hooked up to an interfacing unit sat an unassuming silver canister, the one that had been retrieved from the HLF. One of the men, who was sitting at a terminal in front of the screen began to type out commands at a pace that was typically inhuman. "You're sure about this?" asked the second one who stood behind him watching as he input commands. "Of course director, I know a nanite containment capsule when I see one." The first one responded in a slightly insulted voice. Director Moore picked up on the annoyance of his head technical expert, but decided to let it be for now. As the man typed the machinery that was connected to the canister began to function and started to drain the canister of its contents. "Well it's confirmed that thing was definitely holding nanomachines. Beginning AI analysis and interface with nanite governing protocols." The doctor typed in even more commands, bringing the processing power of the IDI's resident contender-II class AI to bear. The AI, codename: MERCURY served as the IDI's institutional mainframe and was primarily used to coordinate the logistics of the IDI and to monitor HLF communications. Once MERCURY began its dictated task, commands and protocols began rolling up on the screen. As the commands streamed across the display the AI's voice began to drone from the speakers mounted above the console. FOREIGN NANOMACHINES DETECTED… INTERFACE INITATED… SUCCESSFUL NANO-FORM ANALYSIS UNDERWAY….NANO-FORM PROFILING COMPLETE… PROFILE CONSISTENT WITH ATTACK NANITES COMPATIBILITY REGISTER ENABLED… PROCESSING… NANO-CATALYST VIABILITY ASSESSMENT UNDERWAY… ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETION: 6 HOURS- 25 MINUTES -35.4 SECONDS The doctor turned from his console to look back the director, "and now we wait." Moore nodded, "Good work doctor, inform me of any developments immediately, I'll be up in my office." And with that Director Moore exited the lab, leaving the doctor to sip coffee and monitor the AI for the next six hours. James and Mary finally arrived at the restaurant, it was a quaint unassuming place, but according to his sister they had some of the best salads in town. Guess we'll find out. He thought to himself as they headed in. In the entrance sat a blue earth pony who was currently manning the podium where customers were shown to their tables. She was looking down at something on the podium when James and Mary walked in. "Name?" she asked without looking up. "Hi, my name's Radiant Dawn, I had a reservation for four at 8 o'clock." Mary answered striding up to the earth pony while she looked around the room for her friends. "Hang on one second…. Ah here we are. Apparently the rest your party arrived earlier with additional customers so we've given you a table in our-"The earth pony had finally looked up and noticed James who was trying his damndest not to be annoyed at the look the earth pony was giving him. "O-our private dining area. Can I help you sir?" she asked in a slightly afraid voice. "He's with me." Mary said her eyes narrowing slightly. "Oh…." The earth pony said while she processed that tidbit of information. "….Well come with me then, your table is this way." She said sheepishly as she led the two into an adjacent room, embarrassed at her behavior. The room she led them to contained a few large tables but only one was currently occupied, around it sat six ponies, all of whom had stopped talking and looked over at the newcomers. "Dawn!" a purple unicorn shouted out and rose to greet her, closely followed by the rest of the group. "Twilight! It's so good to see you!" Mary said as the two hugged each other. She looked over Twilight's shoulder at the rest of the group who were all smiling at their friend. "I thought the rest of you had all moved back to Equestria. When did you all get back?" "Well they're just visiting for a few days, and when they heard that I was having dinner with you, they all wanted to come." Twilight said as she released her friend from the embrace. As she finished speaking she looked behind Mary at James who had been watching this whole exchange silently. "Aren't you going to introduce us?" "Oh, right!" Mary said and she scurried back to her brother's side, she had gotten so caught up in the moment she had forgotten to introduce James. "Everypony, this is my older brother James. James these are my friends, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie." She said as she indicated each pony. "Pleasure to meet you all." He said as he extended a hand towards Twilight who happened to be the closest. "Same here" she said shaking his hand with her hoof. "Dawn's told us so much about you. She talks about you all the time." "I-I do not!" Mary said in the most unconvincing way possible. "Oh come on dear, there's no point in trying to deny it. Besides if I had an older brother like him, I'd be talking about him non-stop." Rarity said looking James up and down. James laughed "Well I can only hope I live up to the hype." Once James had finished speaking something pink, large, and smiling suddenly appeared from above him. Grinning at him upside down it suddenly shouted, "HIYA! I'm Pinkie, nice to meet ya!" "Nice to meet you too." He said returning the smile, How the hell did she get above me? "Pinkie, get down from there!" Twilight shouted The pink pony looked up from her perch on James' shoulders with a disappointed expression on her face, "Aw come on Twilight!" but after seeing the look Twilight was giving her, she jumped down reluctantly. "Jeeze Pinkie, you are so random sometimes." Rainbow Dash piped up from the rest of the group. "Random's a good thing, keeps life interesting." James said smiling down at the pink pony. Pinkie immediately perked up at this, "I like you, I think we're going to be great friends!" "I get that feeling too." He responded as he continued to smile. It always astounded him just how friendly Equestrians could be when you talked to them. With the introductions finished the group of eight finally took their seats at the table. "So James," Rainbow Dash said as menus were brought out to them. "Dawn told us you work for the US government. What exactly do you do for them?" she was leaning forward, almost eager to hear the answer. "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." He answered in a completely serious tone as he looked over the menu. "R-really?" Fluttershy stammered out in a quiet voice, she was beginning to sink lower in her chair. Mary shot James a look, and he immediately realized his mistake, "No not really, it's just a joke you know, spy games and all that stuff." "O-oh, okay." Fluttershy said visibly relieved at his answer. "So then what DO you do?" Dash pressed. "Oh nothing much, I just try to make some sense out of the whole mess that is the world today." Technically, he wasn't lying by telling them this; a large part of his job was doing just that. "Is it really that bad?" Twilight asked. James smiled slightly as he looked up from the menu at her as their waiter approached. "The world's always been a complicated, chaotic place Twilight. Truth be told, Equestrian contact and the conversion bureaus that followed actually make things simpler, but not by much." After that, the waiter finally came to take their orders. James silently lamented the lack of alcohol and meat on the menu, but at least some of the items they offered sounded tasty enough to distract him from that glaring issue. He ended up ordering a Caesar salad, one of the few things still sold in New York that he actually liked. Mary and the rest of the group got themselves an assortment of flowers and other plants. Once their orders were placed conversation started up once more. Rainbow Dash and Applejack somehow started an argument over who was better, the Wonderbolts or some famous Equestrian rodeo team. Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Mary were talking about how things were going back in Ponyville, as that was where Mary had undergone her training after being converted. Fluttershy was trying to tell Mary about some new arrivals but Pinkie was doing a top notch job of derailing the whole conversation into a completely different topic. And Rarity and Twilight had involved James in a discussion about US- Equestrian politics and policies. While Rarity was fairly well spoken about most public matters, it was Twilight that really caught James' interest. Her points and opinions were incredibly well thought out and thorough, he was quite impressed with her. "You know Twilight," he said as he took another drink of his coke, "I don't think I've ever met someone quite as intelligent on these matters as you." "Thanks." She said looking away, embarrassed but pleased with the compliment. "So Dawn, where's Velocity?" Pinkie pie piped up from the conversation next to them. James' head swiveled around to them upon hearing the name, he had heard about everyone else many times beforehand but this one was new. "Well he couldn't make it tonight Pinkie." Mary said quickly, as if she was trying her hardest to sweep the question under the rug. "Oh well that's weird I would have figured your co-"was as far as Pinkie got before Mary shoved her hoof over her mouth. "So who's this Velocity exactly?" James asked glaring directly at his sister. Before Mary could even begin to respond Rainbow Dash interrupted her from across the table. "Oh he's Dawn's coltfrien-OWWW!" She shouted clutching her lower left leg in pain as Rarity had kicked it in an attempt to shut her up. James' eyes narrowed, "So you have a colt friend huh? Planning on letting me know anytime soon?" Mary started doing her best impression of Fluttershy and began to sink lower and lower under table all the while avoiding her brother's gaze. "Well you know I could never find the right time, and I didn't want to upset you the few times I do get to see you…" she said in a quiet voice. Upon seeing just how upset his sister was, James' expression softened, "Look, Mary I'm not angry at you."At this she gave him a skeptical look, to which he just responded by smiling "I'm really not, actually I'm quite happy for you. But I would like to hear about him later." "O-okay." Mary responded, her mood considerably brightened by this turn of events; she had feared the worst when James had found out about Velocity. But her brother had surprised her yet again, taking the information in stride." Oh and James?" "Yeah?" "I thought you said you were going to call me by my Equestrian name tonight." She said smiling. James smiled back, "Sorry, my mistake." The rest of the dinner proceeded without incident, James actually found himself enjoying the food for once. Mary hadn't been lying when she had said this place had some of the best salads in town. After everyone had finished eating the group spilt off into smaller segments, Rainbow Dash had challenged James to a hoof wrestling contest. Unfortunately the blue Pegasus couldn't quite beat him one-on-one so Applejack got involved and the two both began to try and push the human's arm over. Pinkie then came over and started cheering both sides on in equal measure, thoroughly confusing the participants as to whom she actually supported. Rarity and Fluttershy had moved off into a corner and were discussing something in hushed tones, probably something to do with Rarity' fashion business. And finally Mary and Twilight sat together at the table watching Dash and Applejack try in vain to beat James, whose arm sat a half-inch over the surface of the table but refused to move any further even after Dash had resorted to jumping on it. Mary smiled at the spectacle before them. "I sure hope they realize soon that the only way they'll win is if he lets them. Otherwise we're gonna have two completely exhausted ponies on our hooves." "Is he really that strong?" Mary smiled thinly, "James is still mostly human, but he does have a few cybernetic implants, those two could yank on that arm all day and it'd only move if he wanted it to." "wow." Was all Twilight could say in response. A few moments went by in silence before Twilight finally broke it, "Dawn, why hasn't James undergone conversion yet?" Mary continued to watch her brother in front of them, "He has his reasons." Twilight wanted to know what they were but it was obvious that Mary wasn't about to tell her so she let it go. In front of them both Rainbow Dash and Applejack had collapsed to the floor exhausted, still having failed to defeat James in the hoof wrestling competition. He leaned over the table to look at where they lay panting, "Call it a draw?" he asked grinning. "Fine, but next time I won't go so easy on you!" Rainbow shot back between breaths. "I would sure hope not." He said as he walked over and helped the two ponies to their hooves. Soon after Twilight and the others thought that it was getting late and decided it would be a good idea to head back to their homes. One by one they said their goodbyes and left the restaurant, soon it was just James, Mary and Twilight. "Well Dawn, I think it's time that I left too." Twilight said as she and Mary hugged each other. "And James it was really great to finally meet you, I hope I get to see you again soon." She said to the human extending a hoof once more. James took it, smiling "I sure hope so too." And with that James and Mary left, walking together back to their apartment. "So what did you think?" Mary asked her older brother almost the second they exited the building. "I think you've got yourself a great group of friends Mary. I haven't had such an enjoyable night in a long time." She smiled at this. "But I would like to hear about this coltfriend of yours." He said as they continued to walk. Mary's smile faded a little "I met Velocity back in Ponyville right after I had gotten converted. He was there as a flying instructor for the freshly arrived newfoals and we ran into each other one day, literally. He offered to buy me lunch to make up for it and things just kinda took off from there." She looked over at James who was listening intently. "I never thought I'd see him again but then six months ago he moved to New York. We got in contact and then started seeing each other." "So how long have you two been going out?" Mary bit her lower lip as she looked at the ground, "A few months." James' brow furrowed at the response and he looked forward once again. Mary stopped walking "James please don't be angry with me I know I should have told you sooner its jus-" James held up a hand silencing her. "I'm not angry Mary." She continued to stare him down, knowing otherwise. James sighed as he relented, "Ok, I'm angry, but not with you." Mary's expression changed to one of genuine confusion "Mary, I'm not angry with you, I'm angry with myself. I've been a horrible brother as of late; I haven't been there for you like I should have been. Instead I've been drowning myself in work while you worry about me. I mean you've had a coltfriend for the past three months and not only did I not notice, you were too nervous to tell me because you didn't want to ruin what little time I spend with you. We used to be so close and then I..I.." He was clenching his fists so tightly his knuckles started to turn white. "I fucked up…. I'm sorry." "No, no you didn't. I do think you work too much, that you're burning yourself out, but you're doing it because it's what you believe is right and there's no one else who can do your job. I should have told you about Velocity ages ago, you deserved to know more than anyone else. I was just so scared that you might freak out and push me away." She said quietly as she gazed at the ground "James, you're the best older brother I could ask for, don't ever forget that." With that Mary walked up to James and wrapped him up in a hug which he returned. "I love you big brother.." "I love you too, sis." Later that night, back at IDI headquarters MERCURY was just finishing up its analysis of the HLF nanomachines. The doctor who had been intently monitoring the AI's progress watched as the last few commands were carried out and the results displayed. COMPATIBILITY REGISTRATION COMPLETE… NANO-CATALYST VIABILITY ASSESSMENT COMPLETE…. COMPATIBILITY WITH DNA PROFILE ONE…. SEVENTY-NINE PERCENT… COMPATIBILITY WITH DNA PROFILE TWO…..ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT… "Wait, this can't be right… that would mean this is…" The coffee cup he had been holding slipped from his nerveless fingers and shattered on the ground as his mind processed what the AI was telling him. Anyone else would have asked for a verification of these results but the doctor already knew that the AI had 99.9% accuracy in its calculations. He pushed a button on the console before him which gave him a direct, secure line to the director's office. "Director Moore? You might want to get down here sir; I think you're going to want to see this…"
Chapter 3To say that James Miller was in a bad mood was a bit of an understatement, his mood was as far from good as one could possibly get. He had been roused from his sleep by a priority-1 FLASH message from the director at three in the morning on the day he was supposed to have off. That wasn't what had actually put him in the state of emotion he was currently in, he was quite used to having to interrupt what most would consider 'normal' sleep patterns for a multitude of reasons. No, it was the information the director divulged to him upon arriving at IDI headquarters that had put him in this mood. He still remembered the cold pit he had felt form in his stomach the second his brain had processed the implications of that information. Now he was standing in Director Moore's office several hours later waiting for the President of the United States to arrive. The two occupants looked towards the entrance as there was a knock on the door. Director Moore paused for a second before speaking, "Enter." In strode President Jack Hargreave followed by two unanticipated guests. James and the director did their best to hide their surprise at who had just entered the office. Standing next to the president were the two Equestrian princesses, Celestia and Luna. "Jack, you didn't inform me th-" Director Moore began "Arthur, you said that the intel you had would be of great impact to the Equestrians, they have as much a right to hear about it as I do." The president interrupted. Director Moore's eyes narrowed at this, but he held his tongue in check. "In the meantime, Princesses Celestia and Luna, this is Director Arthur Moore and Captain James Miller, the head and second-in-command of the IDI respectively." the president continued. The director opened his mouth to speak but then stopped and looked directly at Celestia. "I can see you want to ask something Princess, it would be best to get it out of the way before we begin." The Princess of the sun nodded. "Director it would mean a lot to my sister and me if our personal students could hear what you have to say. They are our closest subordinates and usually are trusted to act in our stead." Director Moore turned the request over in his head several times. There had been a saying back when he had been director of operations at the CIA, that the chance of a secret being blown is square to the number of people in on it. However, if the Princess was telling the truth it didn't really matter whether or not they heard it here. "Very well your majesty, however I must impress upon you the necessity of secrecy with this information. Should it become public it could very well spark panic." The princess nodded once more and then turned to the doorway she had just walked through, "You two can come in." In walked two unicorns, one a deep midnight blue with a multicolored mane and tail, the second was none other than Twilight Sparkle. James' eyes widened slightly at seeing her, but other than that he betrayed no other emotion at the sight of the two students. Twilight, on the other hand, was much less subtle about it. A surprised look covered her face before she had the sense to force it back to a neutral expression. If the princess had noticed Twilight's surprise she gave no indication. "Gentlemen, this is my personal student, Twilight Sparkle and my sister Luna's student, Midnight Shadow." She said indicating the two young ponies, both of whom were unnerved by the stares of the three humans in the room. With the introductions finished the president turned back to Director Moore, "Now Arthur, let's hear what you have to say." "Two nights ago at 0200 hours Captain Miller here led a raid on a HLF safe house located in Brooklyn. This raid was part of a larger operation whose objective was to ascertain the whereabouts of leaders within the HLF. The raid was conducted on the intel that a known courier for senior leaders of the HLF was currently staying there for some unknown reason. The raid went off without a hitch, the safe house was neutralized and the high value target, now known as a 'Mr. Anderson', was apprehended and is now in custody." Director Moore continued "Have you interrogated him?" the president asked. The director nodded to James, it was his show now. "Yes sir, but these men are nothing more than glorified messenger boys for the HLF, everything he knew either we were already aware of or was useless. However, what this man was in possession of was of much greater importance." James reached over to the briefcase sitting on the director's desk and opened it, showing the room its contents. Watching the different reactions in the room was indicative of how different the two species were, the president's expression hardened at the sight of the canister contained within while the ponies, with the exception of Midnight, just looked confused. "A silver canister?" Luna asked in disbelief "That's what he was carrying that is so important?" "Umm Princess? It's not just a canister." Midnight piped up from his place beside his mentor. James smiled slightly, "You're a convert aren't you?" he asked the dark blue unicorn. Midnight nodded nervously at him, "Y-yes sir, I was one of the first back when the bureaus first opened." All this secret government agency stuff wasn't his bag at all. James arched an eyebrow at this, a human convert being personal student to one of the Equestrian princesses? That was sure interesting… "Anyways, Midnight is correct, this is no ordinary canister. What you see before you is in fact a nanite containment and transport device." "Nanites?" This time it was Twilight who was confused. "It's another term for nanomachines, microscopic, programmable machines that are typically utilized in the medical field, able to manipulate the body on a cellular level."James answered, "The ones that he was transporting however, were much more sinister in nature than normal nanomachines. They were genetically targeted attack nanites, programmed to attack cells with a very specific DNA profile, namely Equestrians." "And what happens when they come in contact with their target?" Celestia asked, her expression as serious as anyone had ever seen. "Upon entering a body with a compatible DNA profile the nanites begin to replicate and proceed to attack any and all cells with the same DNA profile, causing systemic necrosis and massive organ failure. Death occurs typically in two to three minutes." "And what about ponies? I thought out bodies were resistant to your cybernetics and nanomachines." She continued. "Normally you'd be correct ma'am; pony physiology does generally reject and break down any and all artificial implants, including nanomachines. However because these nanites have such simple programming they can replicate at a rate theoretically faster than your bodies can expunge them." "Why was this never considered a threat or a weapon before? I never remember getting a briefing on these nanite weapons." The President asked. "Because the facilities to manufacture nanomachines are incredibly expensive and very secure, in the US alone there are only two facilities capable of producing nanites like these, and all are under strict government control and security. Regardless they're detailed to produce ponification serum anyways. Our guess is that these nanites are Russian in origin, as the Europeans lack the proper facilities to produce these in a timely manner. Also sir, it is worth noting that in producing these the Russians have violated international law, attack nanites are explicitly banned by the second Geneva Convention." "And what would the impact of these weapons be?" Director Moore answered that question. "With an air burst detonation, the nanites could cover twenty square miles, infecting all Equestrians in the area. In essence Jack, you're looking at an area denial bio-weapon beyond your wildest dreams." The President just looked shocked at the information he had just heard. James remembered the same expression adorning his face when he had heard it earlier. President Hargreave sat down on one of the seats Director Moore had in his office for visitors, "Jesus…." "Is Equestria safe?" Celestia practically demanded of the young captain, her gaze almost enough to pull the answer from him. James returned the glare with one of almost the same intensity; the princess was impressed that he didn't even flinch. "Yes, in all likelihood Equestria itself is safe, the inherent magic present there will prevent the nanites from functioning. But every city outside of its boundaries is a potential target." "I see…" the princess said quietly as she looked away. "So why haven't the HLF used these nanite things yet? I would have thought that if they got their hands on a weapon like this they would've used against us at the earliest opportunity." Luna asked. "Well these nanites aren't fully programmed yet Princess, while they have a lot of their basic code already written, the specific locking protocol has yet to be implemented." "So how much longer before these nanites are ready to be used?" "Judging from the batch we retrieved, our estimates put it at a couple weeks at least and that's with an AI equivalent to ours, which they don't have. A more likely timeframe is a month." The President nodded mutely at this news, a thoughtful expression adorning his face for a few seconds before he spoke once more. "Arthur, could you leave us for a few minutes? I need to speak with Captain Miller alone." The Director nodded at the request, standing from his desk and walking out. The President continued to look at the office's left wall, continuing to ponder the information he had just received. "James I'm sure you're well aware of why I'm speaking to you. You have been the true leader of the IDI these past few years…" "Sir with all due respect-"James began. The President finally turned away from the spot on the wall he had been boring a hole through with his eyes for the past few minutes and fixed the younger man with a cynical look. "James, I've seen the reports and it's fairly obvious to me that we would never have gotten as far as we have without you." He walked over to the polarized window behind the director's desk. "I came into this presidency knowing that it would be a difficult one, a failing economy and the brink of war. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to have an entirely new race appear just off our east coast, I most certainly never expected the red plague and for these equines to offer at the time the best option to survive, an offer many accepted." He paused for a few more seconds before continuing once more. "James, you all are the best we have, the last hope humanity has to prevent itself from committing another grave sin. A hundred years ago we witnessed what some of us are capable of when good men stay silent; we cannot let that happen again. Captain Miller, take care of it." "Yes, sir." The president then looked at something over James' shoulder and he turned to see the Princess of the sun seeming like she wanted to speak again. "You have something you wish to say Celestia?" "Yes, while my sister and I have the utmost faith in your agents' abilities, this is a threat that is pointed solely at us, not you. And so we would request that one of our students act as an observer here for this next month so that we are kept well aware of all ongoing developments." The President frowned slightly at this, normally he would have flatly refused but then again this was a situation of extreme danger to their race. "…Very well Celestia ONE of your students may be here as an observer, on the condition that Captain Miller keeps an eye on them." The Princess smiled, "Thank you Jack." She then turned to the two younger unicorns in the room, who had been watching silently this whole time. "Midnight?" The unicorn seemed to pale underneath his blue fur at the mention of his name. "Y-yes Princess?" "While you are the logical choice to be the one we have here as our observer as you are a former human, you have only been my sister's student for the past few years while Twilight has been mine for almost her entire life. This is one situation where I feel like experience outweighs practicality, Twilight will be our observer here while you take over for her at the bureaus." Midnight looked visibly relieved at the news, while he didn't relish taking up Twilight's work in addition to his own, he had had enough excitement for a lifetime already. "Well that and you need to keep working on your magic, that room you tried to teleport into still needs to be repaired." The princess continued. If it was possible for the unicorn to have paled even more he would have. A week ago he had finally graduated to trying teleportation magic, and with his initial try he had (unintentionally) destroyed one of the princess' favorite rooms when he tried to teleport. At the very least Celestia had said she'd never seen quite such an explosion from anypony else's teleportation spell. With that Celestia turned to her personal student but before she could say anything Twilight spoke up, "Princess, why me? Certainly a member of the royal guard would be a better choice." Her voice almost shook with nervousness. The princess smiled and walked over to the purple unicorn speaking in a reassuring voice, "Twilight you are one of my most trusted subjects and the one that I've been closest to for many years. I need a pony that I can trust explicitly and if need be to make decisions that will affect the world. You are the only one who I would entrust with that great responsibility." She turned her head to look over at James, "and besides, it seems to me that you already are familiar with Captain Miller." The president looked over at him quizzically, "Is this true James?" James mentally sighed, goddamnit…"Yes sir, she's one of my sister's friends, we met just last night." Celestia beamed, "Perfect, In addition Twilight I think this will be an excellent opportunity for you to learn more about the human world. Captain Miller seems like a fine man and I'm sure he will take care of you while you're here." Twilight's nervousness seemed to finally recede, "I understand how important this is, I won't let you down princess." Celestia just kept smiling as the princess gave Twilight a neck-hug, "I know you won't." she turned back to Luna, "We should be on our way sister, we have a lot to do to prepare for this." "Oh and Midnight?" Twilight piped up as the ponies turned to leave the room. "Yes?" "You can use my office over at the bureau if you like, but if you screw up my filing system again, I'll re-upholster my apartment with you." She said in a cheerful voice. Midnight smiled nervously, she was joking… probably, "I'll be sure to keep that in mind Twilight, in the meantime, good luck." "Thanks." Twilight responded as the other ponies in room departed. The president turned to James once more as the princesses departed, "Captain, you have your orders, Godspeed." "Thank you, sir." And with that James turned to leave, indicating to Twilight that she should follow. As the pair left they passed Director Moore who was heading back into his office. The quizzical look he gave Twilight as she walked by him moved on to James, who just shrugged and jerked his head back towards the office. A few seconds later they were riding the elevator to the main floor where the IDI was located. The ride was in complete silence until quite suddenly James reached out and jabbed the stop button on the console of the elevator, which complied immediately and slowed to a stop. He then turned to Twilight, leaned up against the wall of the elevator with his arms crossed over his chest and finally broke the silence, "Mary never mentioned anything about you being the personal student of the Princess." He said, his eyes studying her. "She never said anything about you being some secret government agent either." Twilight countered. "That's because she doesn't know." He said flatly "Oh." He sighed and uncrossed his arms, "Look, I know we only met last night but I have a favor to ask of you." "Which is?" "Not a word of this to my sister." "Why?" Twilight didn't like lying to her friends, least of all Mary, whom she considered to be one of her best ones. "To protect her from herself, you know how she is; she worries about me enough without the constant thought of me going on dangerous assignments running through her head. She's happy and I don't want to ruin that for her." Twilight stood there thinking hard about what James just said before finally speaking once more, "Fine." "Good." He said, for the first time since she had first seen him this day James visibly relaxed, he had been slightly worried Twilight would refuse his request and truth be told, he had no idea what he would've done had she done so. He then reached out and restarted the elevator's descent. "In that case, let me be the first to welcome you to the IDI." He said as they reached their floor. "Just what is the IDI? I've heard of plenty of human government agencies but this is the first time I've ever heard of this one." Twilight asked as she continued to follow James down the hallway. "The Internal Defense Initiative is a top secret, joint venture between the CIA, FBI, and NSA founded three years ago. Our aim is to exclusively combat the rise of major domestic terrorist groups within US borders following Equestrian contact, namely the HLF." "What about the PER?" James let out a short laugh, "The PER isn't a threat Miss Sparkle. The HLF kills humans and ponies equally; all those self righteous converts do is create more of your kind, not really worth our time. Besides they don't fall under our jurisdiction, that's your guys' job." The two finally reached the door at the end of the hallway, a panel located the right side emitted a small blue light for a few seconds before text appeared on the screen. BIO-SIGNATURE CONFIRMED: CAPTAIN JAMES MILLER…. –ACCESS GRANTED- "What is this place?" Twilight asked as the doors slid open to reveal a technophile's dream, the latest cybernetics were scattered around the room in various states of repair and modification, hooked up to computers that would make most universities green with envy. In the middle of all this sat a young man, younger than James, with his back to them frantically working away at a terminal. He turned around to face them as the doors slid shut behind the two, "Ahhh, so now I see why the Director's in such a foul mood right now." He walked over to them and extended a hand to Twilight, "Dr. Gerard Thomas, Head Technical Expert here at the IDI, I keep most of these guys working." "Twilight Sparkle, pleasure to meet you." The purple unicorn responded taking the hand with her hoof. "So the Director's in a bad mood huh?" James asked as Twilight shook the doctor's hand. Dr. Thomas rolled his eyes, "If there was a way to bite someone's head off through the net, that man would be the one to discover it." He walked back over to the terminal. "All he said was that we'd have an outside observer for the next month or so, I never expected it to be an Equestrian. Now, Miss Sparkle if you could take a couple steps to the right, that'd be great, thanks." Twilight complied with the doctor's request before asking, "Um, just what are you doing?" "Recording your bio-signature for security purposes, every door in this facility is locked to anyone who is not in our database. This way you'll be able to move around here without needing someone to open the doors for you all the time." He answered as a scanner lowered itself from the ceiling and began to record Twilight's DNA and bio-signs. "So you got Mr. Tall, Dark, and Scary to show you around huh?" "James isn't scary." Twilight said matter-of-factly. Dr. Thomas laughed as he turned around to face her, "Yeah that's what they all say until they see him…" his voice just trailed off as the look James was giving him could cow a rabid Grizzly. "Right! Well the scan is now finished so you two can get going around to the rest of the facility. And I'll have a detailed report on the nanites ready in a few hours Captain!" He said quickly as he ushered Twilight out with James close behind. "Um, James? Just what did he mean? "Twilight asked, slightly flustered by their abrupt exit. James rolled his eyes, "The doctor has a bit of a flair for the dramatic, I'm just good at what I do Twilight, let's leave it at that." Mary arranged her pencils into another shape on her desk for what seemed like the fiftieth time that day, it had been slow at the bureau this week and she was bored out of her mind. Usually Twilight was here to help alleviate the boredom but she was mysteriously absent today. James had disappeared as well this morning, not like that was ever unusual but still she wished there were more mornings where she actually saw him. "Knock, Knock" came a familiar voice from the door. Rarity had to clear her throat a few seconds later before Mary noticed her and turned away from her latest distraction to the white unicorn in the doorway. "Oh, hi there Rarity. Sorry, it's just so slow today, I've been losing track of what's going on." "I know the feeling." "Do you have any idea where Twilight is? It's not like her to just not show up like this." "I'm afraid I don't know much more than you do dear. I sent a letter to Canterlot reporting her absence, but all I got in return was a response saying she'd been called away on urgent royal business." "Oh really? That's odd…" Mary said as she started to lose herself in thought. "Well anyways, there is something I wanted to talk with you about." "Which is?" "Well, just how did James take you and Velocity? I mean we all saw him when he first found out, but I'm still a little worried that maybe he was just putting up a façade for us." Mary looked down at her desk as she thought about how to answer that question, "He actually took it really well, a lot better than I had ever expected. He said he was really happy for me that I had found somepony. But… I kinda wish he had gotten angry or at least annoyed with me, would've made me feel a lot better." Rarity was just completely confused at this statement, "But whatever do you mean Dawn? He's happy for you, why wouldn't you want that?" Mary looked up from her desk but continued to avoid her friend's eyes, "James feels like me not telling him about Velocity is because he's failed as an older brother and that it's his fault that I didn't feel comfortable telling him." Rarity walked up and put a hoof over Mary's shoulder, "Why would he say such a thing? You've always talked about him like he's the greatest brother ever." Mary stayed silent for a few seconds before finally answering, "If there's one thing wrong with James, it's that he expects too much of himself. When he thinks he's screwed up or failed he's harder on himself than anyone ever could be." "Well did you tell him that it wasn't his fault?" "Of course I did. But even though it seemed like James believed me I know deep down he still considers it his fault and his fault alone." Rarity felt nothing but sympathy for her friend, being an older sibling herself she could relate to Dawn's situation. But while she and Sweetie Belle were close, they were nowhere near the level of James and Dawn. In truth Rarity envied them, and that made this all the more important to her. "You know, I may have an idea for how you can help." She said quietly. Mary turned to look at her friend almost pleading with her eyes for Rarity to tell her any way she might help her older brother. "Be open with him, tell him about how your life is going, talk to him like you would before all 'this'" she said waving a hoof in the air, "But above all I think it'd be a good idea if he met Velocity, I think they'd actually like each other quite a lot." "R-really?" "Of course dear, besides you've been together for three months, I think it's about time he finally met a member of your family." The white unicorn said as she smiled. "Thanks Rarity." Mary said matching the smile as she hugged her friend. "You're quite welcome Dawn, but there is one other thing." "Which is?" Mary asked as she released Rarity from the embrace. "A certain Mr. Frost needs help figuring out his quarters with his new body, and I figured you could use the distraction." Rarity said, continuing to smile. Mary groaned as she rose from the cushion she had been sitting on, Newfoals… Author's Note:I'd like to thank Midnight for letting me have er, Midnight make a cameo in this story.
