Author's Note

I think I'll be taking a week off for this and my other Endingverse stories. I've been writing practically nonstop for weeks and I have a third project I'm working on, so a week off might be what the doctor ordered.

36: Dodge City

Despite the seriousness of the situation they found themselves in, Megan was actually enjoying the flight on the back of the eagle as they headed south towards the meeting with Majesty. Molly was sitting behind her, arms tightly wrapped around Megan’s torso. She and Molly were flying on the back of the eagle Gregory had given the name Tinúviel. Looking around, she saw that the others who were traveling with them were actually all seated on the backs of eagles, even those with wings. Gwaihir held Gregory, Thorondor held the two alicorn princesses, Chrysalis and Dengal were flying on Celebrindal’s back, Tobias and Daniel were on Meneldor’s back, and Landroval and Melian held three of the six Royal guards who were to be the Honor Guard of the princesses.

Megan looked behind to see the three new eagle arrivals flying behind them. It was a family unit, consisting of a husband, wife, and son. Megan was somewhat amused when, following the traditions of the naming of these eagles, Gregory gave them the names Huor, Rían, and Tuor, father, mother, and son respectively. Each of them held two of the six former Elements of Harmony.

They weren’t actually coming along for the full ride, actually. They had decided instead to head back to their hometown. Apparently a large majority of their pony population had been changed into humans by Majesty, and the pony named Twilight wanted to go back and help them adjust to their new life. Plus, she was a lighthouse keeper. The six ponies were about to depart from the main envoy.

She looked away, turning her head to face front. The goggles she wore, loaned to her courtesy of a group of ponies apparently known as the Wonderbolts, helped keep the wind out of her eyes. Her siblings also wore a pair, as did Tobias, Dengal, a few of the guards who weren’t pegasi and three of the former Elements. Pegasi, from what Megan remembered, had a sort of inner eyelid that was transparent which they used whenever they flew. It kept their eyes moist and protected. The same could apparently be said of changelings as Chrysalis didn’t need one.

They had only been flying for thirty minutes, and it was nearly time for the Elements to branch off, heading back to their hometown. Right on cue, one of the eagles screeched out a noise, which Gwaihir responded to. Thankfully, Megan and many others were wearing ear muffs to keep their ears warm. Megan turned to watch as the three newcomer eagles slowly began turning away. She could see a purple hoof waving, so she waved as well. Turning back, she saw, to her confusion, Gregory waving back as well. Of course, with him wearing that mask of his it was impossible to tell what he was feeling.

Leaning down, she raised her voice to make herself known to the female eagle on which she flew. “How long will it take us to get there, again?”

Tinúviel turned her majestic head back. “One more hour,” the Great Eagle replied. She hadn’t shouted, but Megan could hear her quite clearly. “We will be stopping at Dodge City to allow you all to rest.”

“Understood!” Megan shouted back as she sat back up. Thankfully, the back of these eagles were comfortable. Normally, they would have taken the train down to the town known as Dodge City, but it would have taken longer, and none of the ponies there could teleport them that far either, showing just how powerful Majesty really was. The only choice was flight, and the Great Eagles had been perfectly fine to lend a hand, or wing in their case, for the flight there. They would be landing at Dodge City regardless since it was on the borders of the Badlands and then they would fly the rest of the way to Thornfall. If Majesty wasn’t there, they would head to the translocated city of Sanctuary.

It would be a long flight, and she wished she had a book, or at least a Walkman cassette player to listen to music. All she could do instead was watch the scenery before her.

Gregory was sitting on Gwaihir’s back an hour later, looking down at the landscape before him. The familiar sight of the first town he’d ever visited was swiftly rising up as Gwaihir led the convoy of eagles and their charges down. He saw a number of dark green shapes moving about and flying around, obviously the stratadons, alongside a few multicolored shapes, the ponies. He had heard that there were now some humans in that town, but couldn’t spot any from his current height. He suspected, however, that Gwaihir could spot them.

He leaned forward and spoke. “Can you spot any humans down there?” he asked, his voice once again distorted thanks to the mask he wore.

Gwaihir looked briefly over his shoulder to look at Gregory. “I’ve seen three so far,” he said, “and they’re all gathered together near the edge of the town nearest the southern gates.”

“Land us near there,” Gregory instructed him.

“Of course,” Gwaihir said as he subtly adjusted his trajectory.

Several minutes later, the eagle envoy had landed. Gregory dismounted, put a gloved hand on Gwaihir’s large midsection, and patted him. “Thank you, Lord Gwaihir,” he said, giving him a title nearly automatically.

Gwaihir’s feather ruffled proudly and he stood taller. “You’re welcome, Mr. Gregory,” he said.

As the others were dismounting, Gregory reached up, then slowly removed his mask. With a hiss, it came off and he breathed in the dry air that had become so familiar to him. Of course, the landscape of sand and dry rock ended at the edge of the Badlands where a massive and dark forest now loomed. A thick cover of clouds hovered over the forest, and it seemed to be pouring down rain. Thunder could be heard booming in the distance.

He turned away from the former Badlands and made his way slowly towards the three humans. One of them turned and her eyes widened in recognition when she saw him. She was a human woman about Gregory’s age, with green eyes, curly dark brown hair with lighter brown streaks through it, a yellow hair band with cherries sewn into the fabric, a purple scarf wrapped around her neck, and some clothes that were rather simple, pants and a tank top. He recognized her too, if not by her appearance than by her headband and a tattoo on her shoulder, a pair of cherries still attached to the stem.

The other two, two other woman, wore similar outfits to the former pony who he now knew to be Cherry Jubilee. The woman was a slightly tanned human with straight brown hair and blue eyes with three horseshoes as a cutie mark on her shoulder. The other woman had short windswept blonde hair, along with a skin tone that was lighter than the second woman’s but that was darker than Cherry’s pale complexion. She had a winged cloud as a cutie mark, making it obvious to Gregory that she was once a pegasus. What was unusual was that her eyes were a light shade of purple. So, Gregory thought, the humans share some aspects of their former pony selves. He raised his hand in greeting. “Howdy, folks,” he said.

Cherry was the first to speak, her voice a nervous whisper. “H-Hello,” she said. There wasn’t so much fear in her voice as there was a nervous guilt.

He extended his hand after removing his glove. “Nice to meet you again, miss. Name’s Gregory Graystone. I trust I’m not to be chased out of town by a violent mob this time?” He asked this in a sardonic tone.

Cherry flinched, not at the hand extended, but at the question. She extended her own trembling hand to him. “No,” she said as bravely as she could as she put her own extended hand next to his.

Gregory had to hold back a laugh as she didn’t clench his hand like a real human would at the gesture. Of course she didn’t know about handshakes. Instead, he reached over, clasped her hand and with his free hand he helped guide her hand to clench his. “Here, like this,” he said. “It’s called a handshake. Humans who are greeting each other for the first time and introducing themselves do this.”

The other two women watched curiously as Cherry clenched his hand with her new one. As Gregory gave her a gentle but firm handshake, she nodded in understanding. “I see…” she said. “Um, nice to officially meet you, Greg…Gregory. My name’s Cherry Jubilee, the owner of Cherry Hill Ranch. These are two of my friends, Toffee Crunch and Swift Sure.” She indicated the brown haired and blonde haired humans respectively.

He gave them a polite nod, then a handshake as well. Toffee’s grip was stronger than Cherry’s, and Swift’s grip, while weaker, was still strong despite her slender fingers. “A pleasure,” he said, trying to hide his own rising anger behind a veneer of calm and politeness.

Cherry turned to look past him, and her eyes widened even more as she knelt down, prostrating herself. The other two women did so as well. Gregory stepped aside as the Equestrian princesses approached. “Rise, my beloved subjects,” Celestia said with a kind smile.

As the three women stood, Dengal and Tobias stepped up to stand on either side of Gregory rather protectively. Cherry was the first to stand, head lowered in not so much supplication as shame. “Your-Your Highness, I-I don’t…” she trailed off as she glanced guiltily at Gregory. “I don’t know what to say…”

“Remember what I said,” a new voice said from behind the group. Everyone turned to see an elderly earth pony mare approaching, a dark gold mare with a green and gray streaked mane and tail and a golden bunch of cherries as a cutie mark. Her cherry red eyes, while old, were still full of vigor. She turned to Cherry. “An apology goes a long way.”

Cherry swallowed, but then straightened and turned to face Gregory. Then, with a bow that a Japanese person would be proud of, she put her arms by her side and bowed to him. “I’m sorry for chasing you out two years ago!” she said in what Gregory felt was a sincere tone.

The other two women, seeing their companion acting in such a way, also turned and bowed to him in an identical way, offering their own sincere apologies. Gregory raised an eyebrow in astonishment. He had always wanted to meet Cherry Jubilee and try her cherries, but had obviously never gotten the chance. Seeing the three former mares bowing made him feel a little bit awkward despite himself. “Um…you can stand up, now, please,” he said in a lame tone.

“Please forgive me!” Cherry pleaded.

“Please stand up, this is way too awkward,” Gregory pleaded.

“Turnabout is fair play, isn’t it?” Chrysalis, who was disguised as a taller pony unicorn mare with her new color scheme, whispered in his ear with an amused tone.

He turned and looked into Chrysalis’ new azure eyes. “Bite me, sexy. Oh no, wait, you might enjoy that.”

Dengal snickered, Tobias held back a chuckle, and Chrysalis’ light blue cheeks darkened with a blush. “You are incorrigible,” she said as she walked past, giving his legs a smack with her tail as she moved to stand next to Dengal.

The moment that the three new humans stood back up, Megan, Daniel, and Molly approached. The three women looked at the siblings with confusion mixed with fear. “Hello, there,” Daniel said, raising his hand in greeting.

“General Kenobi,” Tobias whispered in a passable imitation of General Grievous.

“Not now,” Gregory said as he had to hide his own smile of amusement before stepping forward. “Cherry Jubilee, Toffee Crunch, Swift Cloud, let me introduce you to three ancient human heroes of ponykind. This is Megan Williams, the bearer of the Rainbow of Light. This is her brother Daniel Williams and her sister Molly Williams.”

The three women stared at the siblings in astonishment. “Ancient…heroes…?” Toffee asked in stunned silence.

“I have a feeling that in the next few weeks or months, some ancient history will be revealed to Equestria,” Sunset, who was now standing next to Tobias, said before turning to Celestia and Luna. “Isn’t that true?”

Celestia nodded. “Once the current crisis has been dealt with, I will have the results of our historical research known to the public.”

“I can help with that,” Megan said. “I have a diary back on my world I can bring for you to use. I wrote a lot in there about our adventures here.”

“I did too, actually,” Daniel said. “Majesty encouraged it.”

“I have a bit you can use, too,” Molly said with a sheepish smile.

“We appreciate the offer,” Luna said, “and we gladly accept.”

Cherry, however, was staring at the clothes that the real humans were wearing with great interest, especially the two younger women. Megan apparently noticed this, because she smiled and stepped forward. “I can show you some modern day designs from my world on what humans are wearing now.”

She’s gonna turn them into 90s women, Gregory said with inner amusement before he grew serious again. “Grunge and punk fashion statements aside,” he said, “we’re just passing through.”

“Hang on a moment,” Megan said as she stepped forward and brought out the Rainbow of Light from beneath her jacket. “There’s some lingering darkness here, too.”

“The same as we had and the same in Canterlot?” Celestia asked.

“I believe so,” Megan said as she pulled the pendant over her head, held it up, then opened the ancient artifact. Just as before, the sound of ancient magic could be heard and a bright rainbow colored beam of light washed over the entire town. Gregory looked away, but he could hear something like a hissing sound, similar to water hitting fire embers or a freshly wrought sword being placed in water to cool it.

When he heard the sound of the pendant closing, Gregory looked up and observed the town. To his surprise, however, what he saw first was that Swift now seemed to have a pair of translucent pegasus wings spreading from her back. It reminded him of the wings that Sunny Starscout had in G5. Cherry Jubilee also saw it, because she pointed at them. “Swift, where’d those come from?”

Swift looked behind her, then her eyes widened. “It can’t be…” She closed her eyes, then seemed to concentrate. As she did so, her wings began to flap, and she began hovering a few inches above the ground. When she opened her eyes and saw what was happening, her smile was radiant enough to light up a stadium. “I can fly again…” she said with a breathless sound of joy. She looked up, put her hands towards the sky, and shot up. She was a bit unsteady in her current human form, but eventually she seemed to get it as she began doing tricks.

Cherry and Toffee were also experiencing some kind of change. Both were on all fours, touching the ground with their hands. Cherry was crying a bit. “I can feel the magic of the earth again,” she said with a sniff.

“I’m just happy to be a human mare,” Toffee said as she picked up a pile of dust.

“What do you mean?” Dengal asked curiously.

Toffee looked up as she stood, brushing dust off of her knees. “I used to be a stallion named Caramel before Majesty changed me.”

So Caramel being a trans mare pony was true? Gregory noted, and Majesty’s spell changed her to her preferred sex? “Were you a female when you were a stratadon?”

“I think so,” Toffee said. “At least I’m a human mare.”

“Woman,” Gregory said. “The term is woman.”

Toffee looked confused. “Isn’t that what female goblins call themselves?” she asked.

Dengal stepped forward and nodded. “Yes, but that’s what goblins females call each other.”

“Really?” Megan asked, looking at Dengal with confusion. “Why?”

The reality of the question hit Gregory at the same moment it hit several of the others. Tobias spoke up first. “Goblins are shaped a lot like humans…you don’t think…?”

“Did the demons pull a Morgoth on the remnants and change them from humans to goblins?” Gregory asked, eyes wide in astonishment.

“Are you suggesting that goblins are the descendants of humanity?” Luna asked, eyes wide.

“Look at Dengal,” Gregory said, gesturing to the aforementioned goblin. “She doesn’t look anything like how a goblin woman normally looks. I’d actually go so far to say she’s more human-like in appearance than any other creature in this world.”

“But couldn’t we be the descendants of the elves?” Dengal asked, reaching up and touching her pointed ear.

“That depends on what elves called their men and women,” Gregory conceded, “but we’re getting sidetracked.”

Before anyone else could speak, a bright light began to emanate from the town. Gregory and everyone else had to avert their eyes. When the light died out, they all turned, only for them all to stare in shock at what they were seeing. Humans, dozens of them, were either lying in the streets or coming to, all completely naked.

“What the hell…?” Daniel said, jaw dropped.

“No kidding,” Molly said.

“Was that because of the Rainbow of Light?” Celestia asked, looking at the artifact that was still in Megan’s hand.

“It would have done something immediately if that were the case,” Megan said as she slipped the pendant over her neck.

“They’re finally realizing what they did,” Cherry said softly.

As Gregory scanned the throng of new humanity, he noted several differences. The cutie marks on their shoulders was one, but a bigger one was the color of the eyes. Sure, there were some that wouldn’t have been unheard of on a normal human, but there were others that weren’t. Purple, orange, yellow, and other colors of the rainbow were present in the new humans. Not to mention some of them had begun manifesting glowing wings and even glowing hands. Pegasi and unicorns, he assumed as one of the humans with glowing hands reached out and picked up a nearby rock with his telekinesis magic while a former pegasus spread her wings and flew, exposing her bare body for everyone to see.

“You’d better not be staring,” Dengal said with a teasingly menacing tone.

“What, when you have us,” Chrysalis said in an equally teasing tone.

Gregory inwardly smirked. Good, he thought, she’s starting to relax slightly. He turned and put an arm around Dengal then stepped back to put the other around Chrysalis. “You two are far sexier,” he replied without a hint of shame.

Chrysalis chirped. She actually chirped like a cricket. Dengal snorted at that. “Shut up,” Chrysalis said with a defeated tone as she smacked his side with her tail before walking away to sulk cutely.

“She is so damn adorable,” Dengal whispered.

“Yes she is, but we’re getting distracted again,” Gregory said as he turned back to face the new throngs of humanity. “Miss Jubilee, Miss Crunch, Miss Sure, these new humans need to be given something to cover up immediately. Bare skin won’t protect them very well from the elements, and they are able to sunburn more easily now.”

“Right,” Cherry said before turning to Swift Sure. “Swift, you and Toffee go and grab as many blankets as possible. I’ll see if Bobbin can get started on making custom clothes for everypony-I mean, everyhuman.”

“Everybody,” Gregory corrected her automatically.

“Oh, everybody. Understood,” Cherry said with a nod. “Let’s go, fillies.”

“Girls or ladies,” Gregory corrected again, but this time he wasn’t heard as the three ran, or in Swift’s case flew, back into town.

“This wasn’t quite what I was expecting to happen when we landed,” Celestia admitted as she approached the others.

“What should we do now, sister?” Luna asked as she joined Celestia with the others.

Celestia turned to the newly grown forest, a thoughtful look on her face. “While Majesty did promise that she would not make any moves in the near future, I don’t want to take the risk that she finds some hidden crime we have somehow missed.”

“Maybe she’ll tell you about anything she’s seen,” Megan said.

Luna and Celestia turned to the younger woman. “Do you have any idea why she would?” Luna asked.

“As a test,” Gregory said. “A test to see what you’d do to those criminals.”

Celestia nodded in immediate understanding. “I can understand that,” she said. “I don’t like it, but I can understand it. Still, as much as I want to go, I don’t know if I can just abandon this town when many of its citizens are in need.” She turned to one of the guards, who Gregory knew was a Sergeant Zip. “Sergeant, where’s the nearest town to this one?”

“That’d be Appleloosa, your highness,” the mare said, pointing her wing towards the west.

“Fly there with all possible speed and seek out any seamstresses you can find,” Luna commanded, “and have them come here posthaste.”

“At once, your highness,” Sergeant Zip said as she turned and began giving orders to her guards. Two pegasi spread their wings and shot into the sky with speed that rivaled that of the Great Eagles.

“So,” Chrysalis said as she came to stand next to Gregory, “this is the town that treated you like Ponyville treated that Jason character, huh?”

Gregory nodded. “It was featured in an episode of the show, actually,” he said as they began following Celestia and Luna into town. “This is the closest I’ve gotten to it.”

Chrysalis snorted. “Of course it’s a small town.”

“What does that mean?” Dengal asked.

“It means that if he’d landed in someplace like Manehattan, he might have stood a better chance,” Chrysalis said.

“I’m gonna say no on that one,” Dengal replied. “It may have been a lot worse, to be honest.”

Chrysalis shrugged. “Maybe, but small towns have always been a bit more…backwards thinking…at least, as far as I’ve seen during my lifetime.”

“How old are you, anyway?” Gregory asked, looking at the disguised changeling queen with curiosity.

Chrysalis looked at Gregory with a false look of horror. “Gregory Eugene Graystone,” she said in faux shock, “it’s considered impolite to ask a mare her age. Your mother should have taught you better.”

“Older then, got it,” Gregory said with a grin. “An honest to God MILF.”

“HAH!” Tobias laughed, covering his mouth with his paw.

Chrysalis’ face went red and once more she made a chirping sound. “You’re so unfair,” she muttered.

“As for my mom, fuck her,” Gregory said, his smile fading. “She and my dad were…not the best parents, shall we say?”

Chrysalis looked at him with a look that Gregory couldn’t quite identify. It wasn’t a bad look, per se, but more of a look of…understanding? She nodded. “Understood.”

As they walked through the town, Gregory wondered just when the hell had Chrysalis gotten so comfortable with them that she was willing to actually start dishing out the playful teasing. It seemed to have happened overnight. He didn’t mind it, of course, as it was a welcome surprise from her normal behavior. Of course, Gregory had some guesses as to her change of behavior.

As they walked through the town, he began noticing the nervous and guilty stares coming from the newly transformed naked humans standing in the streets. There were fillies and colts there, too, most staring at the newly naked humans with mix of nervousness, fear, and uncertainty. Megan suddenly stopped in the middle of the road, then clapped her hands loudly. “Colts and fillies! May I have your attention, please?” she shouted so she could be heard.

The group who was walking paused and turned back to face Megan with confusion. He walked up beside her. “What are you doing?” he asked curiously.

“Watch,” she replied as she knelt down to the level of the foals. “Would you all come over here for a moment, please?” She gave them a closed lipped smile. “I won’t hurt you, dears, I promise.”

The foals paused and looked at each other, unsure of what to do. That was when a few adult ponies walked up and looked down at the foals, giving them encouraging nods and saying that they would go as well. Encouraged by this, the ponies approached Megan. Her smile radiated warmth and a sort of motherly affection, which made some sense to Gregory. He remembered that in at least one MLP fan story, she was described as having a motherly love for the ponies when she and her siblings returned to Equestria.

When the foals surrounded her, Megan sat on the ground and gave them all a smile. “You know,” she began, “it’s not polite to stare at a human who isn’t wearing any clothes.”

“It’s not?” a random foal asked incredulously. “We don’t wear clothes.”

“Well, that’s because you are all born with the ability to magically hide certain areas of your bodies,” Megan explained, “but humans can’t do that. That’s why we have to wear clothes. It’s mandatory.”

“Why?” a younger voice asked.

“Two reasons, actually,” Megan said as she lifted her sleeve up and pointed at her skin. “We don’t have fur like ponies do, so we need to wear clothes to keep warm during cold days and to protect our skin from the hot sun’s rays during hot days. The second one is for a reason that I’m not sure some of you are ready to know about.”

“Modesty?” an older pony asked curiously.

Megan nodded. “Pretty much, yes.”

“What’s that mean?” a filly asked curiously.

Megan chuckled warmly, then reached over to pick the filly up and place her in her lap. Gregory watched with astonishment. Megan really was a natural with children, it seemed. “That’s something that you and your parents will talk about when you’re older,” she said sweetly before running a hand through her mane.

The filly’s eyes went wide, then they fluttered shut. “Oh wow…” she said. “That feels nice.”

Seeing this, the other foals rushed up to Megan, each begging for some head scratches of their own. Daniel and Molly slowly approached and sat on either side of Megan. The foals seemed to flock to them, eager for headpats.

“Like moths to a light,” Chrysalis said from beside Gregory as she watched.

Gregory snorted, then reached up to scratch Chrysalis’ mane. “Please, like you don’t enjoy it?” he asked.

She gave him a glare, but there was no malice behind those eyes. Instead, she chirped once more. “You’re incorrigible,” she muttered.

“And you’re sexy,” Dengal replied as she stepped over to Chrysalis’ other side and stroked her back with her own fingers.

“She is quite talented when it comes to dealing with foals,” Celestia said from beside them. Gregory looked and saw a smile crossing her lips.

“She was always good with foalsitting, as I think you call it today,” a familiar voice said from behind them.

That voice made Gregory’s blood run cold, then hot. He snatched up one of his guns and whirled around, aiming it at the head of the ancient alicorn mare who was suddenly standing behind them, an unconcerned smile on her face. Sunset, Chrysalis, Luna, and Celestia aimed their horns at the mare, Tobias drew his two swords, Dengal grabbed her hammer, and Megan and her siblings stood protectively in front of the now frightened foals. “You…” Gregory growled angrily, fighting hard to keep himself from trembling.

Majesty looked at him with a remorseful expression, her smile instantly fading. “Gregory,” she said softly, “I didn’t come here to bring you with me again. I simply came to talk with everyone here. I will not take any actions against anyone here, this I swear on the Rainbow of Light.”

“Be very wary of that oath, your majesty,” Megan said as she stepped forward to stand beside Gregory, “because it will hold you to said oath.” She reached into her shirt and brought out the Rainbow of Light, holding it up for the alicorn to see.

Majesty, who had come alone, looked at Megan with a mix of emotions on her face. Joy at seeing her, sadness at the length of time perhaps, and others which Gregory couldn’t quite identify. “Megan Williams,” she said softly, and with a trembling tone, “it’s so nice to see you again.”

“I wish I could say the same with complete honesty,” Megan said sadly. “I’ve missed you, but from what I’ve been told, you’ve changed.”

Majesty sighed somberly. “Forced immortality will do that,” she said.

“Forced?” There was a hint of concern in Megan’s voice.

“That’s…part of what I wanted to talk to you all about,” Majesty said. “I never thought I’d get the chance to see you again, but now that I have, I want to talk.” She turned to Celestia and Luna. “Would you and your party care to join us in Sanctuary? We have quite a lot we should discuss.”