//-------------------------------------------------------//
            Mandatory Motherhood: Short Stories            
                    -by dargondarkfire-                    
//-------------------------------------------------------//
//-------------------------------------------------------//
                          Egghead                          
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Egghead
Egghead
It was past midnight and as usual, the nightmares had cut Chris’s sleep short. She chewed on a piece of toast while levitating several metal puzzles, a book on the unicorn language,   
while conjuring an orb of light. Colgate had recently taught her this spell as the objects she levitated were no longer exploding.
It was a struggle not only to levitate multiple objects at the same time but to read and manipulate them as well. Every so often she would lose control and everything would fall to the floor, so she made sure she practiced in the living room over a plush rug to muffle the noise she would inevitably cause especially since Starla could be difficult to get back to sleep if something other than Starla herself woke her up.
After a while Chris found herself having difficulty with trying to pronounce weather in the unicorn language. It was irritating her to no end and her levitation began to falter. She was pushed over the proverbial cliff as the voice in her head decided to speak up. ”Hey Chris, I got to thinking…”
Everything fell to the floor with a plop and Chris growled. “What? You know how to pronounce the word correctly and you're going to rub it in my ears?” Chris’s ears wagged around angrily as she huffed in frustration.
There was a silence in Chris’s head for a moment before the sounds of something such as ‘tsk tsk’ came from the voice. “No, the dialect differs from what I know. I just had an idea about your ability to overcharge spells.”
Chris sighed and looked towards the blinking time displayed on the microwave. “I have gotten over that, could we please let it go?”
The voice chuckled and Chris felt as if it was trying to shake a non-existent head. “I understand that you silly child. What I mean is you could possibly use it to your advantage.”
Chris groaned and rolled her eyes. “I know two spells. Just two. Am I supposed to make flowers burst apart or something?”
She could tell the voice had burst out laughing and she had visions of flower fields just bursting apart sending pollen and petals all over the place. ”Oh goodness no! As entertaining as that would be you would just wreck the scenery and the source of food for bees. Go on create that light orb again.”
Chris grumbled and with a quick burst of magic from her horn the orb reappeared. “It’s light, you want me to make it brighter? It doesn’t put out any heat you know, it’s just light.”
The voice in Chris’s head sounded almost giddy now. “Oh it’s been far too long since I have taken part in experimentation! Or remember how long ago it was. Anyways, come on. You can think of what a bright light can do right?”
Chris rolled her eyes. “I guess other than blinding myself?” She thought for a moment then smirked. “Actually yeah. If this works I’ll have stolen a move from Krillan.” She began purposely pouring more magic into the light orb.
The voice sounded confused. “That Character from the foreign cartoon thing you like? What does that have to do with this?”
Chris simply smirked and pushed in more causing the light to brighten further becoming very intense now. “If you didn’t figure it out from spying on my memories then you will soon.”
As the light intensified to the point of blinding Chris spoke out the words “solar flare.”
Chris had spots in her eyes and was a little wobbly from the suddenly intense light, letting the orb fade back to its normal glow. The voice hummed as it tried to find what Chris was talking about then made a ‘hmmm’ sound. “I guess it’s the same in theory except the name doesn’t fit since a solar flare would incinerate everything it touched. The light you made still wasn’t as bright as what that character did.”
Chris smirked. “Fair enough on both points. Let's try it now.” Chris let the floodgates open and the orb’s light grew blinding within moments. Cracking sounds began to fill the fair as it reached cornea-burning levels.
The voice began to get worried. “Chris, maybe we should stop and do this outside. Preferably with the orb away from your-.”
There was a sudden loud bang and strobe of blinding light as the orb fractured and blew up.
Immediately Starla began to bawl from the bedroom and Amore started to howl. Colgate came out carrying Starla on her back as the baby foal cried in terror from the loud noise. “Chris, what happen… -ed?” She found Chris rolling around on the floor clutching her ears and eyes shut tight.
Chris just kept rolling on the floor for some time, she realized exactly what she had just turned the light orb spell into, and regretted doing this experiment.
Colgate managed to settle Starla down and return to bed before Chris recovered. Chris had managed to make out the blurry but angry face of Colgate before she left and she knew that She was going to get chewed out in the morning. But this might be worth it.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                         Sleepover                         
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Sleepover
Sleepover
Mia bellyflopped on the bed giggling like a schoolgirl. “Slumber party! Wheeeee!” She hugged a pillow and rolled around enjoying how soft the bed felt. “It’s been so long since I got to have a sleepover! We can stay up all night, play games, eat snacks, and figure out how to do makeovers as equine fantasy creatures!” She gasped loudly. “This is going to be so much fun!”
Chris yanked the pillow out of Mia’s hooves and sighed. “Keep the energy down please, I don’t want Starla so hyped up she stays up all night.”
Colgate nodded her head in agreement. “Once Starla falls asleep we have to be quiet or else Starla’s crying will make you want to tear your eardrums out.”
Mia groaned and beat her hooves on the bed for a minute before she lay still staring at the ceiling. “We can still do makeovers right?”
Chris groaned and Colgate chuckled in response. “You think Chris is going to enjoy makeovers?”
Mia hummed to herself while staring at Chris. “Maybe?”
Colgate broke into hysterical laughter. Mia raised an eyebrow in confusion while Chris grimaced. “I tried to use beauty products on Chris, but she didn’t enjoy it.”
Mia gave a bored sigh and deflated while flopping her hooves around. “What are we going to do then?”
Chris chuckled. “Sleep?”
Mia groaned before whining. “But it’s a slumber party! Just going to bed would be boring.” She shot up with an idea. “Scary stories!”
Chris Sat Starla down in front of Mia who grabbed her face with her little hooves. “The scariest story during this sleepover will be changing Starla’s diaper.”
Mia cringed and thought. “Pillow fight?”
Chris and Colgate looked at each other then smiled then grinned evily at Mia.
Mia looked confused at first until Starla was pulled from her face and she saw all the pillows in the room float into the air, then her eyes grew wide in realization. “Oh no, no no no no!” Mia was assaulted nonstop by the pillows causing Starla to giggle and claped her hooves. After ten or so minutes Mia stopped moving and yelled “Uncle!”
Colgate and Chris started laughing and clapped their hooves together. “We win!”
Mia grumbled. “Teaming up and magic is no fair!” The only response she got was smiles and laughter.
When the laughter died down Colgate looked at Mia with anticipation. “What next?”
Mia groaned and looked around the room till she eyed the TV and her ears flipped up. “Movies?”
Chris looked down at Starla and smiled. “I think I have some over for Starla.” She slid off the bed and pulled a drawer open under the mounted TV. She pulled out a collection pack that read ‘Eureka’. “Shouldn’t be anything scary for Starla here.”
Mia stared at it for a moment before sighing. “My boyfriend has made me watch that entire series 2 times now… but fine! It’s better than weird science.” Chris grinned and she put the first disk into the Blueray disk player.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                        Competition                        
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Competition
Competition
Colgate held Starla in her hoove as she sat on a bench overlooking a training course. From her vantage point, she could see Chris and Mia standing at the start of the course warming up. Earlier the two had started bickering during breakfast about who could move around better in their pony bodies, Aaron, Mia’s boyfriend, had butted in saying they should race the obstacle course to determine who was better. The two had agreed and had spent the rest of the morning getting ready for the race.
A timer rang out and the two mares shot off, the course started out in a straight line and both mares stayed even. It didn’t take long for them to reach the first obstacle the tires. For a human, it would have been a pacing exercise but for ponies, it became a hop from tire to tire. Chris immediately hopped into the first tire and smacked her chin into the tire as she was figuring out the timing for her jumps. Mia had stopped for a moment to study the tires before she began bouncing into the center of each tire like a pogo stick and smiled as she passed Chris at the halfway point.
Colgate started at the sight she saw while Starla giggled. Chris growled as she was passed and tried to speed but slipped up several times. She got to the end of the tires she found Mia waiting for her giggling smugly. Chris stared at her for a moment before taking off into the next obstacle, crawling under barbwire. For humans, this would be a slow crawl through mud but it hadn’t rained in weeks and ponies could walk right under it if they kept their head down.
Chris only had a small lead on Mia at first since the pegasus had waited for Chris and let her pass by, but Mia had tried to speed up and raised her wings instinctively and they got caught in the bardwire. She managed to get herself free while complaining about the pricks and saw Chris had finished the course by the time she got moving again.
Chris waited for her smiling but it quickly turned to a frown when she saw blood in Mia’s feathers. Whatever they talked about Mia seemed to ignore Chris pointing towards the stands and they continued. The next obstacle was a climbing net. Chris climbed it like a ladder but Mia kept launching herself up like a grasshopper and slid down the other side, however, her leap and descent looked odd and worried Colgate as she couldn’t see the other side of the obstacle.
Chris crossed the top and slid down the back. A couple of minutes later Chris came around the side carrying an annoyed-looking Mia on her back. Colgate chased after them and found Chris carrying Mia towards the infirmary to clean and bandage her wings.
Mia complained that she could keep going but Chris argued with her that the barbwire is rusty. She had me find a tetanus vaccination and inject Mia despite our worries about human medicine on ponies. She said it was better than getting lockjaw or gangrene.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                      Everfree Forest                      
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Everfree Forest
Everfree Forest
This story takes place a couple of weeks after Chris met Colgate.
Chris watched as Colgate nervously looked at a flyer on Yellowstone Park. “Colgate… are you ok?”
Colgate continued to stare at the pamphlet, so Chris poked her shoulder causing her to jump and squeak. “Uh, I um what?”
Chris sighed. “I asked if you are alright, you have been staring at that pamphlet for a while now. Is there something wrong with it?”
Colgate gulped and held the pamphlet open for Chris to see. “T-this place is t-the Everfree forest.”
Chris looked at Colgate oddly and then looked at the pamphlet. “That is Yellowstone Park Colgate. Not this uh… Everfree forest.”
Colgate shoved the pamphlet into Chris’s face and shouted. “Yes, it is!”
Chris growled and pushed her head through the pamphlet. “No, it’s not, I have been there. It is just a forest with geysers, hot spring pools, and steaming mud pots.”
Colgate sputtered. “That's just all the more proof that it is!”
Chris sighed in response. “How is it the same place from where you came from Colgate?”
Colgate looked to the side and thought. “Ok so maybe it's not the same place where I came from but it’s the equivalent here?!”
Chris dead eye stared at Colgate. “Oh a similar forest… wow… so scary…”
Colgate sputtered. “But it is scary! The Everfree forest is… un-natural!”
Chris shook the pamphlet off of her head and lay on the floor. “And how it the Everfree forest… ‘un-natural’ Colgate?”
Colgate gulped and looked seriously spooked. “B-because it’s dark and scary and… the animals take care of themselves!”
Chris raised an eyebrow questioningly at the last remark. “Colgate… wild animals take care of themselves… They are wild animals after all.”
Colgate sputtered again and looked disheveled. “The… animals take care of themselves? You don’t make nests for the birds? Clean out burrows for them? Give them food?”
Chris just started at Colgate as she rambled on about mostly absurd ideas. “Other than making birdhouses for wild birds which people usually do to tempt birds they like into roosting near them, and putting out food to attract birds and some animals for them to watch. All of those are absurd… but there are groups that at times go around giving wild animals inoculations or rescue injured ones and help them recover then release them.”
Colgate just started at Chris in confusion for a while. “Animals take care of themselves… it is natural…” She thought about it for a while then shot back. “How about ancient castles? Or a zebra who lives in the w forest and makes potions?”
Chris took the pamphlet between her hooves and playfully set the hole over Colgate’s horn. “No, that is absurd. Plus until recently zebras didn’t talk and magical ponies didn’t exist.”
Colgate thought for a while and looked at what remained of the pamphlet then smiled. “Can we go there then?!”
Chris smiled at Colgate and shook her head. “I can barely walk and I rather not deal with all the bears in the park.”
Colgate dropped the pamphlet as a fearful squeaking sound escaped her lips.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                      Best Night Ever                      
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Best Night Ever
Best Night Ever
Chris found herself pinned down under a pile of ponies and a large dog. Despite her protests and complaints and issues about it being too hot for this, they all piled on top of her at bedtime. Chris had experienced a surprise birthday party for the first time in her life, despite it being past her birthday. She thanked everyone and they devoured the cake that Mia had made with a whipped maple icing. She wasn’t sure where Mia got eggs or milk but she wasn’t going to complain about such a delicious treat.
Mia had given Chris a box full of shorts, the shorts she already had but they had been modified for her pony body. She gave Mia a big hug for having shorts that fit nicely. Colgate offered to give Chris a back massage. Chris didn’t know Colgate knew how to give them but she gladly accepted and gave Colgate a big hug as well. Archie couldn’t make or give her anything but he said happy birthday all the same, he refused the offer of a hug.
Aaron had given Chris the most interesting Gift, a satellite cell phone and wrist strap stylus to interact with it. She found that Aaron had entered his contact number into it as well as another number labeled HPI. He wouldn’t answer what this number was about except that she would find out soon.
After that, Mia and Colgate revealed they would make sure Chris wasn’t alone tonight after she found out she had been crying without realizing it. She wasn’t expecting them to pile on top of her. She couldn’t practice magic much and she had to admit that there was a comforting feeling having them in bed like this. It didn’t take long for the comfort to make her drowsy and finally fell asleep.
Chris found herself in an unfamiliar dream that night. She was walking around a large grassy field shrouded in thick fog and what appeared to be some chunks of a stone building spread around the field with a few stone pillars standing defiant of some past event. From time to time Chris thought she could make out a figure in the mist, however, when she tried to investigate there was nothing there. Chris found herself lost in the veil of water moisture which was rather creepy, but at the same time oddly calming.
Chris eventually wandered into a section of the field covered in flowers. Chris was careful not to crush the flowers as they seemed to be planted in a deliberate pattern. In the center of the field, Chris discovered a pile of pillows arranged like a bed. Chris yawned and laid down on the pillow bed. She marveled at how comfy the pillows were and began to dose off.
Eventually, Chris woke up to the sensation of someone or something petting her. She could barely make out that whatever it was had hooves. As soon as the entity petting her realized Chris was waking up it stopped. Chris dosed back off inside the dream, When Chris awoke in the morning she found she had slept better than she had months.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                         Nightmare                         
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Nightmare
Nightmare
Chris had once found herself in the crystal tunnels in her dreams, a rare safety from the usual nightmare that haunted her sleep. She made her way down the winding paths passing the mirror and catching a glimpse of the blue alicorn that Colgate had informed her was Princess Luna. Chris knocked on the glass to get her attention, and the mirror violently wobbled from the impact likely a sign that whatever connection the princess had was becoming more unstable.
Luna turned in shock and tried speaking, she sounded like a dial-up modem while the mirror cracked slightly from a single spoken word. They stared at each other for a while before Chris had an idea, if it was a dream she could manipulate it. She thought about it and a large piece of poster board and a marker popped into existence, shocking Luna.
Chris levitated the two objects she summoned and messily wrote a message. ‘Thank you for sending Colgate, she saved Starla and me. The 3 of us are safe and healthy.’
Princess Luna’s eyes teared up and she nodded, she used her magic to create glowing words in the air. ‘You are welcome, and thank you for letting me know.’ They waved to each other and Luna stepped through a gateway that appeared likely heading off to another dream.
Chris continued her way to the central chamber, her dream man cave as she liked to call it. She eyed the group of characters playing some unknown game and was tempted to ask them to join but the spinning crystal star-like crystal with mist flowing from it in the room’s center always caught her eye each visit and she knew it would eventually start screaming but she wasn’t sure where it would send her if she touched it again.
She hesitated for a moment before throwing caution to the wind and made her way to the crystal and pressed her hoof to it. The world was washed away in mist and she soon found herself in the city with the weird Greek and Roman fusion architecture. Just as the last time none of the creatures, pony or otherwise paid attention to her, so she decided to study the city as much as she could this time.
Chris spent some time memorizing the weird writing on signs and posters. She tried listening in on conversations to no avail, the language made no sense to her. She tried eating some of the food but found it had no taste when she tried and the food being eaten in the air caused a commotion in the crowd since everything around her couldn’t see her but could see the food being eaten.
Chris was surrounded by the crowd of beings around her and was unsure what to do. A pony of guard armor approached and reluctantly reached a hoof out toward the space Chris occupied. they had almost touched her when a nearby shop was suddenly leveled by a ball of fire, followed by another building collapsing from a giant ball of ice. Chris looked towards the sky only to find it darkening as waves of spheres of all types rained down on the city.
Chris shot around to look at the building the fireball had crashed into only to see the ball unravel into a grotesque creature of fire and darkness. The monster resembled a mass of oozing tar with fire dancing across its body as tentacle-like appendages that reached out for nearby creatures, and those unfortunate enough to be caught immediately began screaming as they burst into flames.
A similar creature of ice began doing the same but the ponies and other creatures it caught found themselves encased in ice. These monsters didn’t seem to have the ability to perceive her as well so she tried to avoid watching the victims as more of these elemental shadow creatures rained down and began assaulting the citizen. I did notice that some of them merely caught them and dragged them away as others killed without a second thought.
Chris found hiding in buildings was meaningless as some of the creatures could slip right through barricades despite their bulk, and others would just smash their way in. Chris did everything she could to ignore the screaming and crying of those around her and looked for a way to get out of the city. She thought she might make it till she saw a pair of creatures one appeared to be made from crystals while the other was a mixture of water and tentacles from an octopus or similar sea life, surrounding a group of children. Chris chose the brave but stupid decision in this situation and body-slammed herself into the octo monster causing it to stumble into its jem-like partner.
She told the kids to run, which they did but did not indicate if they did so because they could hear her or if they saw their opening. No matter the creatures would just be confused once they recovered and she would just slip away. Or so she thought until the crystalline monster grabbed her and held her in the air. She glanced around and could tell they could see her plain as day. Why are these two able to see her when the other types could not?
The creatures examined her and seemed to talk between themselves as Chris struggled to get free. The crystal creature seemed to grow tired of her futile attempts to break free and punctured her stomach with one sharp blade. Chri’s eyes bulged in shock from the pain, she looked at her wound and was bewildered she was hurt and wasn’t waking up.
The sea monster seemed upset with the action of the crystal one. After a bit of bickering the crystalline monster seemed to give in and a new feeling of pain began for Chris, as she saw crystals begin to encase her body starting from the wound. She let out a scream just as the crystal encased her head sealing her away.
Chris shot up in bed breathing heavily she began to feel around her especially when the finger had pieced her. She sighed in relief to find no injuries. She was now having second thoughts about touching the crystal in the center of that chamber ever again. She examined the room and settled down onto the bed upon realizing she was in her room with Starla, Colgate, and Amore.
She cuddled into her bedmates willing to enjoy their presence untill they woke up.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                   Grand Galloping Gala                    
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Grand Galloping Gala
Grand Galloping Gala
Chris was entertaining Starla with her tail, making her jump and grab at it as she swished it around and bobbed it up and down, as she listened to Colgate tell her about an event held back in Equestria. “So you're telling me you dressed up in fancy frilly froo froo dresses to attend this… Grand Galloping Gala?”
Colgate grumbled. “What’s wrong with dresses?”
Chris chuckled at Colgate’s irritation. “For you nothing. I bet you would look excellent in a fancy gown.” She motioned to herself and grimaced. “I however would feel very out of place wearing a dress, not the style for me.”
Colgate rolled her eyes. “And what would you wear? Robes like the fantasy wizards wear in your movies? Or would you wear a Suit?”
Chris smirked at Colgate with a look that said she was excited by those ideas. “Oh, I bet I could rock a suit. I would also be willing to rock up a mage’s robes, with a hood and cloak. I bet I would steal the show, especially when it came to galloping.”
Colgate stared at Chris for a moment before she broke out into laughter. “Wait heh you think we…” she snorts. “You think we race in fancy clothing?”
Chris looked away while puffing her cheeks. “Well, you called it the ‘galloping’ gala.”
Colgate covered her mouth until her laughter died down and took a deep breath. “I guess I can see…” She let a giggle slip out causing Chris to groan. “Why you could guess that since I only told you the name and that we dress up so far. No, you silly, we talk, eat, and dance to music from an orchestra.”
Chris looked at Colgate for a while. “Then sighed. I knew it, but I was hoping it would be something more entertaining…”
Colgate stared at Chris opening her mouth to speak a few times but stopped as she thought to herself, eventually she finally spoke. “Honestly up until several years ago… your right. It honestly was boring, rich snobby ponies making connections and plays for power. I have lost count of how many times my parents tried setting up marriage partners for me.”
Chris suddenly shoved her face close to Colgate’s, scarring the dental mare. “Wait, Colgate… you are married?!”
Colgate pushed Chris away. “What? No! My parents certainly tried. But my fascination with dentistry scared any potential partners away.”
Chris sat back down and sighed. “Ok, I was worried for a moment.” Starla had taken this chance to bite Chris’s tail and swung around.
Colgate raised an eyebrow at Chrs’s remark. “You were worried that I am married?”
Chris drew back sharply while blushing. “What no. I mean yes.” Colgate’s eyebrow raised higher. “I mean you're here alone, if you were married that would mean you left your partner alone for months now.”
Colgate broke out into laughter again this time rolling onto her back and holding her sides with her hooves. She gave Chris a smile when she finally calmed down “Thank you for worrying about me Chris. But you have no worries there.”
Chris rolled her eyes blushing in embarrassment. “A-anyways, you said it’s not boring now?”
Colgate excitedly nodded. “Yeah, some friends of mine took over arranging everything for the gala and now there is a variety of music and dances, more food, and games!”
Chris perked up when Colgate mentioned games but, would glancing back at her tail off and on to check on Starla.”Games? What kind of games would you play at this party?”
Colgate clapped her hooves together excitedly. “Well, pin the tail on the pony, bobbing for apples, and… Chris what is that look for?”
Chris shook her head and sighed. “Honestly, I was expecting something more interesting like carnival games like a dunking booth. I’m going to guess that the rich ones stopped attending?”
Colgate thought for a moment. “Somewhat, mostly just the ones who wanted to suck up to the princesses and try to build up connections and power. I do miss the dancing…” She eyed Chris for a moment before she slipped off the bed. “How about I teach you how to dance?”
Chris looked baffled at Colgate’s sudden request. “Me dance? You barely got me running.” She saw Colgate give her a pleading face so she relented and slowly got off the bed to not hurt Starla who kept a firm grip on her tail.. “Fine. but don’t complain if I step on your hooves.
Colgate giggled as she pranced off to the living room.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                      Favorite Snack                       
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Favorite Snack
Favorite snack
Colgate looked on in worry as Chris was lifting a pallet of boxes in her magic. She had never seen Chris lift something that heavy before. “Um, you know we could just use that pallet jack thing, right? No need to stress yourself.”
Chris was prancing in place looking around the sales floor with her giant flashlight. “It’s not a problem Colgate. these chips they don’t weigh half as much as most of the stuff here.”
Colgate was sweating bullets while following behind Chris ready to yank her out of the way if she lost control or if her magic gave out. “They are just some potato chips right Chris? Is this really worth the hassle?”
Chris stopped and turned her head back to look directly at Colgate while shining the flashlight at her and blinding her. “Just potato chips? Just some potato chips?!” She sat the pallet down and tore a box open pulling out several bags and pointing at them while Colgate tried to protect her eyes with her forelegs. “These are the BEST potato chips from Japan! the pizza chips!”
Colgate used her magic to push the flashlight away and looked towards the black bag with a picture of a slice of pizza, a potato, and a potato chip. “Ok, I understand you are excited. But they can’t be worth all this excite-” She was interrupted by Chris stuffing a wad of the chips into her mouth.
Colgate was annoyed of having food shoved into her mouth but she didn’t want to waste food and began to chew as Chris started to regal her about the salty snack. “They aren’t just potato chips, they are made from potatoes grown in Hokkaido! Coated in a seasoned and zesty pizza sauce that has a hint of spice but only enough to light up the taste buds!” Colgate did notice the zesty and salty taste of a tomato-based sauce on the chips but there was something else she couldn’t place.
Colgate grabbed the open bag with her magic and ate some more as Chris continued. “But unlike most chips that use a dry powdered cheese flavoring, they coat every chip in melted cheese!” Colgate chewed in surprise, that was the missing texture and taste of actual cheese! She finished off one bag and started on another.
Chris gasped as she noticed something behind Colgate and ran past her. She ran back with several bottles. “I wish these were cold but they should still be good.” Before Colgate could swallow the chips and ask what it was she heard a cracking of a plastic seal and carbonated fizzing before a bottle was shoved into her mouth. Immediately her tastebuds were assaulted with something that tasted like carbonated orange juice.
Colgate almost choked at first but managed to swallow everything down and truly enjoy the drink. “You are right, this isn’t half bad Chris, what is it?”
Chris shined the light on a bottle she was caressing it looked similar to something she had seen Chris drink before, but was a different color and had characters similar to the potato chip bag on the label. “Orange Fanta from Japan.”
Colgate rolled her eyes. “You like any food from Japan I take it?”
Chris snorted at the remark. “No, I’ll try stuff but not spicy stuff, or wasabi.”
Colgate was about to ask about Wasabi just before a big bag was dropped on her back. She looked behind herself to see a happy Amore wagging her tail as Colgate braced herself to keep standing under the sudden impact of what she found to be a fifty-pound bag of dog food. “I hope we can find space for all this…”

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                        Pranksters                         
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Pranksters
Pranksters
Colgate slowly made her way through the deserted halls. She didn’t expect to get locked in this underground area. Mia had asked her to retrieve something from a room in the subterranean area assuring her it was safe but after retrieving the wrapped box and returning to the entrance she entered through, she discovered that the doors had been locked.
She had been searching for an exit for hours with no success. To make matters worse she could hear weird sounds all around her, coming from the air vents, from around corners of the halls behind and in front of her, and sometimes coming from behind doors she passed by.
Every so often Colgate would feel like something was touching her back or her legs causing her to freak out and scream while looking all around her. Each time she would find nothing and she began to wonder if the sensations were just her mind playing tricks on her.
Sometimes she would find doors to some rooms left open and upon looking inside she would catch sight of something moving sometimes between and behind objects or quickly darting into a ceiling vent. Each time she would take off running while screaming in a panic. “It isn’t real! It isn’t real! There is no possible way there is anything down here but me!”
Colgate felt like she had been running and searching for an exit to the subterranean tunnels for hours when she and stumbled across some MREs and bottles of water in an office. She was frightened but her stomach growled at the sight she realized that she was hungry. She was happy to find some food until she found the first one was a chicken dish, but she thought her heart was going to explode when one of the MREs appeared to have slime dripping from it along with a giant bite taken out of it right through the packaging.
It was as if on queue the lights in the tunnels went out and after a minute or so the red flashing emergency lighting turned on. Colgate bolted out of the office and down the corridors randomly. She wanted to do nothing more than find an exit now. She screamed nonstop and she could swear she could hear loud bangs following behind her from inside the ventilation shafts.
After a while the pounding sounds stopped shortly before she came to a hallway with active glow sticks lying all over the floor. She tentatively proceeded down the hall to a giant open door with a logo on each side that Chris had told her was a warning for radiation and radioactive materials.
She peaked inside and found the interior to be a long and wide cylinder going towards the surface with a long tube-like structure in the center. With the emergency lights going she could make out ladders and walkways along the walls going up and she figured she might be able to get out through here however after taking a few steps inside she found she stepped on something goopy.
Looking down Colgate found she had stepped on something that resembled an egg, and around the room were several others, some almost reaching her shoulder in height. Suddenly there was the sound of something landing on the floor of the chamber with a loud thud and Colgate slowly looked around the room in fear. Under the tube in the center of the room stood a figure standing on all fours that appeared to be looking right at her.
It began to move toward her and she could just barely make out its figure in the emergency lighting. At first, she thought she had stumbled into a changeling nest from its body shape, but as it drew nearer she could tell its body wasn’t full of holes and was almost like a skeleton with a long curved hack-domed head. Then as it drew near she could make out what appeared to be a skull inside the domed head she felt like she was going to faint until it opened its mouth and another mouth inside it slowly extended out.
Screamed at the top of her lungs and fell on her rump, slowly pushing herself away. She found herself up against a wall as the creature got close enough to touch its face the emergency lights went out. Colgate stopped screaming ready to accept her fate.
Suddenly she heard someone say “BOO” and the main lights came back on. She found Mia in some sort of horror costume laughing in front of her. Looking around the room she discovered the egg-looking objects were paper mache while some boxes of gelatin mix half hidden behind a cart in the chamber.
Mia wiped her tears of laughter away and offered Coglate hoof back up. She hadn’t expected Colgate to slap her. She apologized nonstop the rest of the day only stopping when her boyfriend chewed her out for messing the base systems as a prank.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                        Magic Show                         
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Magic Show
Magic Show
Chris Levitated several objects around the table in the mess hall, Starla sat in the center of the table giggling in delight and Mia and her boyfriend sat across from Chris looking at the objects floating around them in a clockwise rotation. Among the objects was an hourglass which Chris manipulated the sand inside despite the position it floated in, an oriental metal puzzle that Chris was working on solving, and a glob of clay that was slowly being kneaded and shaped.
Mia and her boyfriend clapped as they watched the little show Chris put on. Starla giggled and clapped her hooves together and every so often would reach for one of the objects which would float just out of her reach causing another giggle from her. Colgate was busy in the kitchen preparing food, smiling as she heard the commotion in the dining area.
Mia smirked as she threw little origami figures into the air which Chris caught and added to her performance. “You certainly have improved Chris. Can you do anything else for us?”
Chris thought for a moment before nodding and her horn grew slightly brighter before an orb of light appeared in the center above Starla’s head. Starla took interest in the orb and tried to grab it with her forelegs and bite it to no avail, causing everyone around the table to laugh.
Tia’s boyfriend studied the orb with great interest before he spoke up. “Can you manipulate that orb, more than just moving it around? Light change the light density, color, and visibility spectrum?”
Chris chuckled sheepishly remembering her overcharge incident with it before. “Y-yeah. I can show you later outside and away from everyone one thing I figured out but otherwise yeah, I have figured out how to change its color as well as dim or brighten it.
He nodded and smirked. Oh, then I have something I would like you to try later. There is a test area to teach and instruct recruits on how to identify certain materials and chemicals some of which can be identified using certain types of light. I would like to see if you can modify your light can be altered to have the same effect.
Chris smiled and nodded. “Sure, that could be useful in the future.
Everyone settled down as Colgate arrived placing trays of food on the table along with several bowls and piles of vegetables. “Who would like a salad with their dinner?” She asked causing everyone to look at what Colgate had brought in confusion before raising hooves and hands.
Mia’s boyfriend was the one to voice everyone’s questions. “Where is the sal-” As he spoke Colgate raised a knife in her magic and smirked. “-ad… what the?” Before anyone could blink a bowl of salad was suddenly in front of each person. “How?” Mia’s boyfriend noticed the vegetables Colgate brought were just scraps now.
Chris bowed to Colgate. “You win Colgate. I lack the spells to compete against you and time.”
Mia sat there confused but her boyfriend’s eyes shot open in realization. “I don’t want to get on this gal's bad side. There is no way to defend yourself if she goes rogue.” Mia gave him a confused look in response but didn’t push the subject.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                          Dragon                           
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Dragon
Dragon
“So Chris, let me get this straight… You want me to my fire breath to weld these metal plates over the glass on this door so wild animals can’t break into this building?” Russel the black-scaled dragon said as she pointed to a pile of metal plates and then to the doors leading to the parking garage behind the courthouse.
Chris modded. “Yes, Russel. I want to make this place into a refuge for anyone who reappears. Then we need to brick over the windows that are below ten feet from the ground outside.”
Russel rubbed her chin. “You're not going to stay in town, right? Aren’t you afraid someone will turn the place into a fortress to rule over others?”
Chris sighed and stared at the door for a moment. “I had thought of that, yes. But I don’t want to stay here Russel, just like you have your destination in mind. We will just have to hope that the first people who show up will use the place responsibly.”
Russel kept staring at Chris for a while before smirking. “What if I just take all these supplies for myself?” She showed her teeth daring Chris to challenge her.
Chirs stared into Russel’s eyes with a look of disapproval. “I don’t think your small truck can hold all of it. Besides, you could easily raid any of the ten hardware stores in town for more of this stuff if you have to have some for your collection.”
The unicorn mare and black dragoness stared each other down for a while. If there were any on-lookers one would have thought Chris would have cracked first but Russel began to fidget in place and sweat formed on her brow. Eventually, Russel looked away and huffed while crossing her arms. “Fine! Just stop giving me that look! …for *beep* sake it’s like when my mother is giving me the look of disapproval but into my very soul.”
Chris gave Russel a confused look but puffed her chest out in victory. “Very well then, let's get to it sha-”
Russel held a pal out towards Chris to stop her mid-sentence, then held up one finger. “But I want you to help me with something afterward.”
Chris shrugged. “Very well Russel.”
Chris was looking at a poster of the Iron Giant. “So… you want to build a statue of this guy?” Russel eagerly nodded her head up and down. ”Well I guess you going to practice welding then.”
Russel looked at various scrap metal and parts. “Uh, this stuff is rusty Chris.”
Chris waved her hoof in the air. “You are covered in hard scales, you are fireproof, and you won't have room for a statue on your truck, so you're just going to be practicing.”
Russel grumbled and picked up a sheet of steel and a rivet. “How do I do this exactly?”
Chris giggled. “Well, it won’t do you much good if you don’t have a frame to bolt it into but you would heat the rivet then drive it into the steel with a rivet gun or hammer. We don’t have one of those… but you are pretty strong and you can breathe fire so let's test it out.”
Russel didn’t look so sure but thought she would humor Chris and breathed fire on the bolt until it glowed red hot. She put the sheet on the ground and then tried hammering the bolt in with her fist. She pulled her hand back waving it in pain after a few strikes but she had managed to drive the bolt through the sheet. She smiled at her work and then turned to Chris. “This will definitely work but I think I would like a hammer so I don’t break any bones.”

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                        Poison Joke                        
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Poison Joke
Poison Joke
Chris studied the picture of a blue flower that Colgate had given her with intrigue. “Poison joke she says.”
Archie looked at the flower from his perch and squawked. “Seems like something that was made, raw. To purposely cause chaos and mayhem, rawk.”
Chris hmmmed to herself. “Do you think this chaos could be repurposed?”
Archie looked between Chris and the picture, twisting his head to the side and scratching his chin. “No… Yes… hoohoo! Maybe? Would require a method to safely handle the flower rawk. Then safely break down and discover what makes them work.”
Chris looked excited. “Do you think we could use this to make me male again? Or how about to turn us back into humans?”
Archie stared at the image for a long while before squawking and fluttering his wings. “Hmm… rawk. Theoretically it maybe possible, if what Colgate said about it its ability to radically change a creature that touches it.” This caused Chris to smile and cheer until Archie screamed at Chris.
Archie raises two talons on one claw and motions to his head “Two things would hinder us to study and test bwak. method to safely study the plant and the fact that to my knowledge, no flower on our planet looks like this, hoohoo.”
Chris sighed. “I guess it is a bust unless a pony from the place Colgate came from brings one of these flowers with them...” She thought for a moment before looking down the hallways towards the bedroom. “You don’t suppose Colgate has one or the seeds for them do you?”
“Don’t be dumb.” Archie whistled after throwing an empty paper cup onto Chris’s horn annoying her. “Colgate said these flowers are a menace to ponies awk. Only one who is either out of their mind or has some sort of nefarious rawk scheme would bring them over.”
Chris levitated the cup from her horn and refilled it with water before lifting it back to Archie in his cubby hole. “Wouldn’t hurt to ask would it? What if its joke turns us back to humans?”
Archie rolled his eyes and sighed as best as his parrot body allowed. “Yes, it could have the potential to turn us into humans, woohoo.” He paused for a moment letting Chris smile before continuing. “And then we die from magic overload poisoning because our bodies couldn’t handle it, rawk.”
Chris cringed. “I forgot that part, I guess whatever rules it follows that thinks things are funny could make our human bodies the same before we transformed so we couldn’t handle the massive increase in magic the event brought”  
Archie whistled before chiming in. “We could also turn into anthropomorphic versions of the creatures we currently are. Or maybe we could be turned into fish, or furniture, or become horribly disfigured. Raw!”
Chris covered her ears with her hooves and cringed. “Alright, alright. I get it. It is too dangerous to use without safety measures and we are very unlikely to find any in our world. Happy?”
Archie fluttered his wings and puffed out his chest. “You are learning, Yes. RAWK!”

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                        Parasprites                        
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Parasprites
Parasprites
Chris stared at a sketch of what appeared to be a cotton ball with cute eyes and wings. “This… thing is a menace to society?” She started to laugh at the thought of such a thing being a problem.
Colgate Smacked Chris with a pillow and growled. “These things are not funny Chris!”
Chris waved her hoof at Colgate. “Sure Colgate, a mennace.” Colgate continued to glare but it didn’t derail chris’s train of thought. “So what, they are cute and everything stops to look at them and cuddle them and play with them?”
Colgate had to take a deep breath to stop herself from beating Chris with the pillow. “No Chris… well when they first showed up we did stop to admire their cuteness and play with them a bit but their cuteness is just a defense mechanism to keep them safe while they destroy everything.”
Chris struggled to hold back her laughter, “I take it.” she snorted. “There is a story here?”
Colgate took a deep breath and pointed at the picture. “These things eat, they eat a lot of food. They reproduce very quickly.” Chris shrugged in response causing Colgate to sigh. “They reproduce just by eating. Once they have consumed the equivalent of their own body mass they spit out a new parasprite. Then go back to eating. They do this non-stop.”
Chris slowly nodded as she realized what she meant now. “So they wiped out a massive amount of food then? Did anyone starve?”
Colgate Shook her head. “No, a friend of mine used a spell on them that made them stop eating food. In fact, food disgusted them.”
Chris smiled. “Oh that sounds like it was an easy fix. Problem solved!”
Colgate smacked Chris with the pillow again. “No. That made things worse!” Chris looked perplexed at this info. “She didn’t realize that her spell didn’t kill their appetite it changed what they ate! Now instead of food they were eating trees, and tables, and chairs and windows, and entire buildings!”
Chris looked shocked. “Wait what? How in the world did that happen?”
Colgate looked a little off-kilter now. “I have no clue! She didn’t even understand it! But there was very little known about these things! But they ate my clinic, Chris! They ate my dentist's office!” She finished by shoving her face into Chris’s.
Chris slowly pushed. “O K Colgate. I see why you are upset over these things now… how did you get rid of them?”
Colgate blinked a few times and tried to fix her mane. “Another friend of mine in town did know about them, guess her family had a history with them. She gathered up instruments around town while we were distracted and thought they were just cute friendly things. She made herself into a one-pony band and the music she made led them out of town.”
Chris rubbed her chin in thought. “They didn’t just come back when the music stopped?”
Colgate smirked. “On no they didn’t get the chance to. The princess showed up with her guards and they went into the forest where my friend led them and wiped them out. Turns out they popped up all over the country and she was traveling around exterminating them!
Chris awkwardly grinned. “Well as long as it didn’t unbalance any exosyste-” She noticed Colgate starting to twitch as one of the hairs in her mane sprung out again. “I mean… Yay the bugs are gone!”
Colgate nodded happily. “Exactly!”
Author's Note
Not sure what is going on with fimfic. I hit publish on this chapter yesterday but saw it marked as unpublished today.  
Well two chapters for everyone today then!

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                      Winter Wrap-up                       
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Winter Wrap-up
Winter Wrap-up
Mia stared at Colgate with a blank look of disbelief. “Please repeat that again…”
Colgate smiled and nodded. “I said when spring comes we hold winter wrap-up.”
Mia shook her head and her stare deepened. “No, what you said this event entails.”
Colgate was confused but nodded again. “We shovel away all of the snow, wake animals from their hibernation and give them food, replant seedlings, make nests for birds, melt-”
Mia stopped Colgate from speaking further by shoving an entire baguette into her mouth. Colgate was confused as to why Mia had stopped her nor where the baguette came from, it did taste good so she wasn’t complaining too much. Mia continued to stare at her for a bit before sighing. “So I found it hard to believe that pegasi can control and manipulate weather, but now you tell me that you also manhandle your seasons and have made wild animals reliant on you to be able to live properly?”
Colgate looked confused. “What do you mean? We always have done it this way.”
Mia groaned. “Colgate, you have essentially domesticated all the wild animals around the town. They essentially can’t live on their own. You provide them with shelter, homes, and food. If something were to happen to separate these animals from ponies, there is a good chance these animals wouldn’t be able to take care of themselves.”
Colgate looked confused and worried. “I don’t understand that's how we have always done things… But you don’t do that stuff here and the animals seem fine?”
Mia face hoofed. “The wild animals yes, because we didn’t manage their lives. But you saw firsthand how people’s pet dogs changed when not being taken care of let alone given food right?”
Colgate nodded. “Y-yeah… I see your point. But managing our weather is fine right?”
Mia sighed in response. “I honestly can’t answer that one Colgate. I’m not a meteorologist so I can’t say anything conclusive, for all I know the moment weather management stops, natural weather could go insane in an attempt to catch up. Do you guys manage the weather everywhere? And I don’t just mean in each town but in the countryside, the forests, overseas
Colgate frowned while thinking. “We handle the outskirts of town and stuff. But I guess we don’t manage it everywhere. There simply isn’t the population to do it… Now that I think about it I have heard of places just settled by one species and they have no weather teams so… I guess I never really thought about it.”
Mia nodded and gave Colgate a brownie. “There keep that in mind. If you want to blend in you have to stop thinking like all animals are going to be friendly or that the weather will always be perfect. The seasons will come and go by themselves. Enjoy nature… naturally, as it has always been.
Colgate looked deep in thought for a moment and she let out a sigh. “I’ll keep that in mind, thank you, Mia…” Her eyes suddenly bulged and she sat up on the couch. “Wait a minute! How did this turn into a therapy session?! I came here to ask you if you would like a dental exam.”
Mia smirked. “I would love one, thank you, Colgate.”

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                        Cutie Mark                         
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Cutie Mark
Cutie Mark
Mia’s boyfriend sat down at the table with a thick notebook and several pens, the seat under him creaked from his weight. He looked at Colgate and scowled. “Colgate, I have a name. It’s Aaron, please stop referring to me as Mia’s boyfriend all the time.”
Colgate squeaked. “S-sorry! Oh uh… Aaron. Sorry we don’t talk much, you are usually busy with that project from the HPI and you seem to use your free time for other projects, why are you interested in speaking with me? You and Archie seemed to have hit it off well.”
Aaron eyed Colgate keeping the blank stare of a soldier up as he opened the notebook. “I’m three units ahead of schedule and Mia told me you mentioned an interesting topic to her so I wanted to do a bit of research of my own. And Archie doesn’t know much, plus he has a hard time speaking with those bird vocal cords so our conversations don’t usually last long.”
Colgate nodded. “Alright, I’ll try to answer what I can. Ask away.”
Aaron nodded and began writing in the notebook. “Tell me about these cutie marks, tell me everything. Do all races have them? I don’t appear to have any and neither does Chris or Starla but you and Mia do.”
Colgate smiled, worried that she was going to get asked about something she was forbidden to speak about. “Oh of course. Well, let's start with who gets them. So unfortunately you won't get one. Only pony races get cutie marks. So threstals, earth ponies, unicorns, pegasi, and alicorns get cuteimarks. The pony races.”
Aaron was scribbling in the book as she spoke, he stopped and scratched his chin. “What about zebras, hypogryphs, sea ponies, and what were they called again? Kirin?”
No sea ponies and hypogryphs don’t get them but they are essentially the same species they just can switch back and forth. But considering how the spell worked I don’t know what carried over… I guess it’s possible if anyone appears as a sea pony they could get a cutie mark as I don’t know if they received the transformation trait. Zebras don’t… or do they? I only know one and she doesn’t have a flashy cutie-mark but where ponies have them she has what appears to be a symbol of sorts so maybe they do? Honestly, I never asked her. As for Kirins, I have only met them a couple of times and they don’t appear to have them.”
Aaron took notes gracefully and quickly despite his large hands. “How does one go about getting them? Why doesn’t Chris or Starla have one but Mia does?”
Colgate smiled warmly, glad to be asked something she could answer openly for once. Well, normally you would get your cutie mark when you discover your special talent. Mia already knows what her talent is so when she changed her cutie mark was already there. Starla is just a baby so of course she wouldn’t have one, usually ponies discover their special talent between the ages of six to twelve. As for Chris not having one? She hasn’t found or at least realized what her special talent is yet.”
Aaron stopped scribbling and chewed on his pen for a moment. “So are you locked into doing something related to your talent then?”
Colgate hummed in thought before answering. “No, mine is related to time yet I’m a dentist. Some ponies do believe they represent your destiny and your job and future are molded by your cutie mark.”
Aaron points his pen at Colgate. “I’m curious. Are you certain that a cutie mark is just a singular talent?”
Colgate looked at Aaron’s question. “Yes? As far as I know, it is since that is what we were taught in school”
Aaron spun around his pen before pointing it at Colgate. “Are you sure?” Colgate’s confusion deepened. “Mia is a Psychiatrist and loves her work, so I understand the brain. But surprisingly she is an amazing seamstress as well as sweet and kind, an amazing chef and baker. I feel like the candy stripes fit her personality and cooking talents, and the wrapping represents her tailoring.” He set his pen down and tapped his fingers together... “I believe cutie marks may be more abstract in that they can abstractly represent multiple talents.”
Colgate was taken aback by this viewpoint on cutie marks. “I guess that is possible. We were taught otherwise but I see where you're coming from.”
Aaron smirked and began to write again. “Now…” Colgate realized she wasn’t going to get away from this conversation anytime soon

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                         Dress up                          
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Dress up
Dress Up
Chris had taken Starla into the RV with many bags she had obtained in the city. Mia and Colgate wondered what was happening until Chris asked them to come in. They discovered Starla dressed in a little ballerina outfit. It turned out that Chris had found an infant store full of cute outfits that she wanted to have Starla try on.
Mia took notice of Starla’s tail fitting oddly and began editing each outfit on the fly for Starla’s tail. And with each outfit, they took pictures and Starla loved the attention even if she didn’t care for most of the outfits. Later at dinner, they showed Aaron all the pictures they had taken of Starla
Aaron didn’t care much at first but the more cute photos he saw the more he gave in. Eventually, he lets Starla sit on his lap and told her old fairytale stories. Mia jokingly called him Uncle Aaron but he shot back by calling her Aunty Mia causing her to blush and run screaming out of the mess hall.
Mia came to the RV to hang out after dinner was over, This had been the normal routine since Aaron would work on his project for the HPI until midnight or more. They all knew it was better not to distract him during the disarming process.
Mia Squeeled on the bed. “Starla is so cute all Dolled up! Why didn’t you let us help you pick stuff out?”
Chris sighed. “I just wanted to pick everything out for some reason. I felt I just had to do it myself. Also no signs of anyone else. Colgate. I’m pretty sure we are the only ones in the city.” Chris nuzzled Starla who was sleeping while cuddled into her side.
Colgate groaned and laid her head on Chris’s back. “There is still time… Oh, we should try dressing Chris up next!”
Mia pumped her hoof in excitement before both were slapped with pillows repeatedly. ”That is a big no. No dress up for me.”
Mia whined. “But Chris don’t you want to wear something other than shorts for once?”
Chris groaned and slapped them with pillows again causing the mares to giggle. “I said no. However, you girls are free to dress up and put on a show for Starla and me.”
Mia thought for a bit then smirked. “Oh I think we could pull that off, don’t you agree Colgate?”
Colgate shared a smirk back at Mia. “Yes, I agree. It sounds fabulous!”
Chris could tell what they were thinking and groaned. “Just keep it kid friendly alright?”
Colgate and Mia smiled big and nodded. “don’t worry Chris! We will keep everything wholesome for Starla.”
A few days later Aaron walked into the mess hall to find Colgate and Mia taped to the ceiling. He sighed and eyed the mares. “Do I want to know what happened to cause this?”
The two stuck mares eyed each other before Mia answered. “We tried to get Chris to wear one of my business suits.”
Aaron snorted and laughed as he passed them and headed into the kitchen to get some food leaving the mares to get down once they had apologized to Chris.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                         Lucky Day                         
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Lucky Day
Lucky Day
What makes a lucky day in a world where most of humanity has vanished and the few who remain or returned so early have been turned into fantasy creatures with magical powers? Some may say any day you get to sleep with a full belly. Or maybe when you find a cache of supplies you can keep yourself fed. Both of these are still easy to do at this time, so what makes a day in the new era a lucky day?
It could be that you found your favorite food, or maybe it’s finding some item you have always wanted to own but could not because of limited production or because it was so expensive you could work fifty years and still not afford it. No, not for Chris at least.
Today Chris viewed as a lucky day because Mia and Colgate had volunteers to keep Starla busy for the day letting Chris have time to do something she hadn’t done in some time! Play a video game. Or at least not since Russel had challenged her to Super Smash Bros.
Chris looked across her consoles and collection of games and rubbed her chin. What would she play, she hadn’t played anything in a long while and she had so many options. She likely spent an hour or more trying to decide before she spotted a game she enjoyed for hours when she was younger, Harvest Moon: Back to Nature. She quickly got her old PS1 set up, the memory card slotted in, and booted the game up.
Chris was quickly taken back to a simpler time in her life and the joy of gifting the villagers, raising the livestock and crops while keeping the in-game wife and child happy that she lost track of time she didn’t notice when the door to the RV opened up nor did she hear the scampering of little hooves on the floor. She only realized someone had entered the RV when Starla tackled her right in the face squealing with joy.
Chris paused the game as she grabbed Starla with her hooves and gave the little filly kisses on the cheek and raspberries on her belly. causing the little filly to squeal and laugh in delight. “I see someone missed me today. Did you behave yourself?”
A groan came from the doorway and Chris saw a worn-out Colgate and Mia leaning on each other. Colgate waved a hoof dismissively. “Oh, she was an absolute angel… up until she slipped into the underground tunnels. For hide and seek.”
Chris blew another raspberry on Starla’s belly making her squeal. “Oh you gave someone else a run for their money I see.” Chris’s stomach grumbled deeply and she blushed. “It appears I haven’t eaten all day. Anyone up for dinner?”
Mia sighed and drooped to the floor. “Sure, but only if you are cooking,” I can barely move my moe right now.”
Chris smirked and shifted Starla onto her back who hugged her neck tightly. “Ok, tonight will be mixed canned veggies and garlic bread.”
Mia looked confused. “Where did you get bread?!”
Chris chuckled. “Automatic bread maker, mix, and eggs.”

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                        Flight Path                        
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Flight Path
Flight Path
Chris and Colgate watched Mia practice flying in a grassy field. She would jump flap her wings and travel for a distance before coming back to the ground running. Sometimes she would stop then jump straight up and flap letting her hover in place momentarily before floating back down. Every so often she would run and leap and just glide with her wings.
Eventually, she would start crouching to the ground and launching herself into the air with her wings. and managed to reach impressive heights by doing this. Colgate figured Mia could easily get onto the roof of a two-story building, maybe even reach the roofs of a three-story building. She could glide an impressive distance from these launches as well.
Eventually, she got tired and decided to end her practice, Mia trotted up to us and smiled. “What do you think?” she asked us, however, her gaze seemed to focus on Colgate rather than the group as a whole.
Starla simply clapped her hooves and giggled happily, while Chris laughed with a smile. “Very impressive. No wonder you could easily get around most of the city.”
Colgate nodded. “You are doing really well, especially considering how long you have been practicing for.”
While Mia smiled in response her lips curved slightly down and she kept looking toward Colgate. The two mares were confused by Mia’s stare, and Mia eventually sighed. “Colgate, could you tell me what I’m doing wrong? I really want to fly around like a bird.”
Colgate looked at me and then back at Mia before releasing a deep sigh. “Honestly I can’t answer that. I’m a unicorn so my studies were on using magic in the unicorn way.” Mia frowned and her ears sagged downward, the sight made Colgate panic. “Well. I may not know how pegasi fly and use their magic but I guess I could theorize it for you.
Mia perked back up and put all of her focus on Colgate. Colgate began explaining drawing magic to to her wings like unicorns do with their horns. Eventually, Mia began nodding her head vigorously before she marched back to the field to see if she could use what Colgate told her
They watched Mia for a while as she just stood with her eyes sl there. Suddenly Chris commented to Colgate that Mia just looks constipated at this point. Colgate nodded and walked out to Mia to explain magic by unicorns again while coaching her on magic manipulation.
Eventually, Chris and Starla fell asleep as if nothing had happened other than Mia still looking constipated.
Eventually, Chris and Starla were jolted awake by a scream, They looked around but couldn’t spot Mia anywhere, but they did see Colgate lying on her back and looking into the sky. Following her gaze they saw Mia slowly floating back down from the sky. She was up extremely high now, probably 7 stories up into the sky at this point.
Mia finally landed back down and looked a little wobbly and tired. Colgate hugged her happily and congratulated her. “That was amazing for your first time! Keep this up and you may be flying in no time!

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                        Talent Show                        
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Talent Show
Talent Show
After showing off some magic one night before dinner, Mia thought it would be fun to hold a talent show. After giving everyone a few days to prepare they had their little event after dinner at the facility courtyard. After drawing straws it was decided that Aaron would go first.
Aaron came up with a table and a bag, after setting up the table he pulled several guns out of the bag and set them on the table, he then held up a stopwatch hit start before he began to disassemble all the guns, and immediately reassembled them timining himself with each gun. He called it field stripping, reassembly, and function checking. The speed and precision with which he did it was stunning, especially considering the size of his hands. He wasn’t just strong but dexterous. Mia remarked on beds but that only caused Aaron to bonk her on the head with a rolled-up magazine. He then walked off after her finished leaving everyone a bit confused.
Next up was Archie. No one was sure what he was going to do but then Aaron came back with a whiteboard on wheels for him and flipped it to face straight up. Archie then flew up top with several markers and began to scribble and doodle away. Colgate, Chris, and Mia stared on, not sure what Archie was doing. Aaron however stood there arms crossed while smirking as he watched Archie scoot around the board. Starla had no clue what was going on and for all Starla knew, Archie was dancing, she clapped her hooves and giggled in delight watching him move around.
After a while, Archie tossed the last marker to Aaron and hopped on the bottom ledge then took off causing the while board to face the audience. Aaron grabbed the board and stopped it in place so everyone could look at it. The two pornified humans and the equestrian stared at it in confusion while Starla clapped as she saw the colors. What they saw was some sort of math equation but it also contained a magic circle and unicorn language characters. Archie wasn’t too happy from the lack of reaction but was thrown off when Colgate suddenly gasped. “I remember this from school, it's the weight and velocity dynamics of levitation magic! It looks just like what I remember!” Archie’s mood instantly switched to smug and proud, he pointed to Chris with a wing, the whiteboard, and then his head telling her that she needs to study more.
Finally, Mia stepped up and took a tailoring measuring tape in her feathers and took measurements of Starla so quickly the little filly looked confused. Mia Skipped over to the table Aaron set up with sewing supplies and a sewing machine and clapped her hoofs together causing Aaron to hold up a large sheet to cover her and keep her out of sight. All anyone could hear was the sound of scissors and a sewing machine for about fifteen minutes before she clapped her hooves again and when Aaron moved and dropped the sheet away Everyone could see the cute little sky-blue dress Mia had made. She hopped over and quickly fit Starla into it causing everyone to gush over her cuteness.
Everyone clapped for the three who performed and they began to clean up till Mia shouted “STOP!” Everyone froze in confusion to see what was wrong as Mia pointed at Chris. “Your friend still hasn’t shown us anything”.  
Everyone looked confused as Colgate stepped up. “Uh, do you want me to give you another oral exam Mia? I have already shown you all some magic.”
Mia shook her head from side to side and pointed at Chris again. “Not you silly. That one.” Everyone looked at and behind Chris and saw nothing. Everyone got a little creeped out and continued to clean up from their little performance while telling Mia she needed some rest.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                        Underground                        
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Underground
Underground
“So how deep do these tunnels go Aaron?” Chris asked as she rode the passenger trolley that Aaron drove down the winding tunnels. The tunnels had little variation other than the walls getting a different colored stripe the lower the level the tunnels went.
Aaron kept one eye on the navigation screen as he skillfully drove down the tunnels. “If you mean how many basement levels this facility has, I think 34 maybe half a mile or more? The HPI has the levels under 25 sealed off for some reason, I know the generator, water treatment and purification are down there.”
Chris watched while pointing out odd symbols in certain areas every so often. “You don’t know what is on those levels?”
Aaron shook his head. “Other than what I listed, no. There were rumors among the other troops that they have super soldier experiments labs down there, others theorized that there is a VIP nuclear bunker down there.” He slowed down and smirked at Chris. “Supposedly there is a second Stargate down there.”
Chris laughed and wiped a tear from her eye. “Shall we ask if we can borrow a bucket and op from Star gate command then?”
Aaron stopped the vehicle and looked at Chris with a serious expression for several seconds before he started laughing. The two cackled for a long while, Aaron’s size caused the vehicle to rock around.
Eventually, they calmed down and Aaron continued driving. He decided to break the ice since everything had become quiet again. “Why did you want to come down here with me Chris? I only came down to get some supplies to repair my hazmat suit until the HPI bring me a new one on their next visit, and I need to check up on a water pressure value that the system is reading an error on”
Chris rubbed her chin for a bit before replying. “Well, it’s cooler down here. I haven’t gotten to speak with you one-on-one… and honestly, Mia has gotten to be a bit much lately…
Aaron chuckled and scratched behind Chris’s ears. “Oh, I know that all too well. Thank goodness she can easily find something to do during the day and we only hang out at night.”
There was silence for a bit, Chris’s tail swishing left and right as they traveled deeper into the facility. Suddenly she asked the billion-dollar question. “Just out of curiosity… have you and Mia done… yah know?”
Aaron slammed on the brakes and stared forward with a pregnant pause. Eventually, he snapped to reality and answered Chris. “Not that it really matters… but no… or atleast… Let's just say she was even weirder for a week or so. That event ended about a week and a half before your little group showed up.”
Chris chuckled. “So I take it that is a no, but there was an attempt?”
Aaron snorted. “Not my choice in the matter; neither was dating her… But she was the only person I could physically talk to for a while. She grew on me.”
Chris raised an eyebrow at this comment causing Aaron to wonder what Chris was thinking for a bit before groaning in realization. “No! Just no!”

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                        Photogenic                         
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Photogenic
Photogenic
Chris eyed the flying drone questioningly. It moved about with grace and ease keeping its camera centered on Chris at all times. “So uh… What did you want to speak to me about?”
A happy-sounding voice came from the drone. “Oh it’s my department head who wants to speak with you actually but since he is delayed in a meeting at the moment, this gives me some free time to talk with you myself.”
Chris looked at the drone in worry. “Am I in trouble or something? Are you just trying to butter me up before he talks to me?”
“Oh, no no no no!” The voice was quick to try and disrupt any such thoughts. “I mean the head of the division who came went to pick up the delivery from the base was peeved he had to wait at a distance for you to get further away. But it’s not like it matters in the long run. Having Aaron there to prepare the shipments saves us time, resources, and manpower to work on other projects and locations.”
Chris only looked half convinced at her words but she sighed deciding to let it go. “So why do you want to talk to me then? Couldn’t I just do something to pass the time while I wait for your boss?”
The drone zoomed in closer to Chris unnerving her and at this range, she could swear she could make out huffing and drooling sounds from the speaker. “NO! I mean yes, but I have a proposition for you. I would like to take pictures i mean study you and your daughter spending time together.” Chris was feeling unnerved by this lady, she could tell this gal was a little unhinged. “And you will be compensated. If you agree I will have it sent on the transport they send for the next pickup.”
Chris admitted she was interested in what she would get for doing this, so she gave in. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt. It is just about time for Starla’s lunch anyway. You have a deal, come along them.”
The drone bobbed around as she heard the person behind its controls shout “SCORE!” before clearing her throat and following Chris. Chris was immediately starting to have second thoughts.
Starla was distracted by the drone at the table, she kept staring at it while Chris tried to feed her a spoonful of stuff from a plastic container. “Starla, I know the shiny new thing is there but it’s time for num nums! Today's mix is green beans, mandarins, and beets.”
Starla looked at Chris and raised her forehooves in the air. “Milk num nums!”
Chris giggled and booped Starla’s nose. “You can have some milk after you eat ok? Now open wide.”
Starla opened her mouth and let the spoon float inside to deliver its contents. After the empty spoon exited her maw she chewed on the mush and squealed happily. A loud squeal of delight came from the drone’s speaker followed by the lady screeching “She so cute!”
Chris half smiled while giving the drone a droopy-eyed stare. “She’s one of those types I see…”
The camera shifted over towards Chris and huffing sounds could be heard from the speaker. “More! Let me see more! I must record more videos! I must take more pictures!”
“A-alright…” Chris was starting to think this wasn’t a good idea anymore.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                          Western                          
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Western
Western
Over the intercoms of the base, a classical piece of music played. Anyone who had watched old western movies and TV shows would instantly recognize the dun dun dun and accompanied whistle tune. It was the classic music that played whenever two or more people were about to have a shootout.
In the front courtyard of the base, Chris and Mia stood flank to flank, nerf guns holstered to the sides. They both wore cheesy Western movie outfits, Mia had gotten a creative urge and had stayed up all night. Once everyone had woken up Mia showed off her creations and challenged Chris to a duel. Everyone stared at Mia until she pulled out Nerf guns, everyone thought she had meant real guns at first.
Each mare began taking slow steps away from the other, each step was counted out by Colgate who watched from a plastic excased booth. At the count of fifty steps, the mares swung around and aimed. Everyone knew how Chris would draw and wield her guns but everyone hadn’t thought about how Mia would wield her guns. When Mia had turned around she had something in her mouth that she bit on, and from her side prung out a plastic folding arm holding the Nerf gun.
As the two mares began trading fire it was apparent that that the arm shifted its aim by a pulley system and responded to the neck movement of Mia. Chris would have been very intrigued with this creation if she wasn’t hopping around dodging the darts from the gun. It wasn’t very accurate but it kept Chris moving.
When Mia’s gun ran out of ammo, she took off for a stack of crates. Chris took off after lining up her shot almost getting Mia as she dove behind the crates. Chris stopped as she heard the sound of something electrical charging up and a motor warming up. Her eyes shot open and she dove behind a statue Mia propped a Nerf Gatling gun up on the crate and opened fire on her.
Colgate could see Chris’s eyes turn white as Mia peppered the statue with darts cackling out loud evilly. Eventually, the toy Gatling gun ran out of ammo and Mia seemed to make a snarky remark about the statue would have been pulverized if it was a real Gatling gun. She took off running around the side of the building as Chris bolted out after her. Colgate’s mouth fell open as she watched more Nerf guns floating out of all sorts of hiding places around the area and float behind Chris as she gave chase.
Several screens lit up next to Colgate from drones also watching the match. One showed Mia get what looked to be a rocket launcher-like Nerf gun with a giant foam dart from a box in an alleyway. She cackled like a maniac when Chris entered the alleyway and fired the giant dart at her. Chris grabbed it in her magic flipped it around and tossed it back flying behind Mia making her jump and duck onto the ground.
When Mia opened her eyes, She saw Chris Smiling at her and all the Nerf guns she had hidden floating around and aimed right at her. Colgate’s eyes shrank to pinpicks and she mumbled “Fudge brownies” as Chris said “Looks like I’m the Good guy, you are the Bad guy, and you just found yourself in The Ugly situation.
Mia screamed “No fair!” and covered her eyes as all the Nerf guns shot her at once.
A voice mumbled from the drone wondering if a unicorn could do this with real firearms.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                          Sneaky                           
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Sneaky
Sneaky
A little filly crept along the floor, the fluffy pads tied around her hooves stopped her from making any noise as she crawled across the floor, she had her target in her sight and kept out of site by phasing through a cabinet as her target began to turn towards her. The tiny foal without a care in the world willingly broke the laws of physics without realizing how she even did it.
After reaching exiting through the other side she began to walk up the wall. This magic was so easy for her it was like breathing. She took a sharp turn and phased through the cupboard squirming her way around the containers and goods inside. She eventually phased her head through one of the doors and looked down. Her target was just below her and she giggled and ducked back in before the mare underneath her could find her.
The tiny filly pushed on a bag causing it to slide forward and the cupboard door creaked open which caused the mare below to look up to investigate the noise only to see little yellow hooves and a bag of flour plummet down onto her face. The mare screamed in shock and flour slowly leaked from the hole in the bag made by the mare’s horn.
Starla giggled as she hopped her way down the mare’s back and onto the floor ten scrambling right through the door out of the RV and across the lot towards her next target. Meanwhile, the mare in the RV pulled the bag off of her horn and sighed as she began to clean up the mess. She wondered to herself why Starla had suddenly become mischievous and naughty. She puffed flour out of her blue mane and grumbled about how hard it was going to be to clean her mane and fur.
Starla phased through the door into an office space crawled along the floor and peaked into the next room, She saw a yellow peach-colored pegasus napping on the lounging couch. The little filly giggled as she began to creep around the room phasing through furniture when she thought her target might wake up.
Starla eventually stood on the ceiling she looked down at her target and giggled again, her target showed no response to the stimuli. Starla released her grip on the ceiling and fell with her legs spread out. She was planning to grab the pegasus’s face but suddenly found herself stopped a short distance from her target.
Starla dangled and struggled as Mia held the naughty filly above her and smirked. “Naughty girls get punished yah know. Mia began to tickle Starla with her feathers and blew raspberries on her tummy causing the little filly to wiggle and giggle up a storm. After Mia had successfully won Starla out she pulled the filly under her wing and carried her back to the RV. She Offered the little filly to the bemused Colgate.
Colgate sighed and thanked Mia before taking the little filly inside and to the bathroom. “Guess our little mischief makers get to take a shower with me eh?” Starla only cheered in response.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                          Fillies                          
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Fillies
Fillies
(This story takes place several years in the future, so it may or may not eventually be canon to the main story.)
Starla Covered her eyes and counted to fifty as the sounds of hooves scampered away. “One, two, three…” She couldn’t help but giggle while counting. She loves to play games with her younger siblings and their friends while the spring breeze is perfect for playing outside.
On a hill overlooking the park watching the younger ponies play was Starla’s older brother, keeping an eye on everyone as he sketched designs down in his notebook. It’s his weekend and despite that most people his age would be outraged about getting reeled into babysitting duty he found the time was generally calm and productive. He usually didn’t have to worry much but just in case anything happened he couldn’t take care of, his phone charged and ready.
“Twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five…” Several girls and boys all giggled as they ran about hiding in various places around the park. A young minotaur hid inside of a tube slide while a young griffon climbed her way into a tree a young green earth pony colt hid in a bush likely hoping to blend in with the leaves while a young pegasus clung to the back of a statue. Several other ponies hid around the park. One pink pony caught the older brother’s eye as they stood right behind Starla staying perfectly still. The older brother laughed curious to see how her plan worked.
“Forty-eight, Forty-nine, Fifty! Ready or not here I come!” Starla darted straight off peeking into garbage cans and looking under cars. She found her first victim jumping into the bush the green colt had hidden in, he pouted for a moment before giggling and running over to the big tree in the middle of the park. Next Starla found a couple of fillies hiding behind a maintenance shed who pouted while they went to the giant tree to join the colt.
The older brother smiled as he watched everyone having a good time, he was impressed both by how Starla kept finding each child one after another and even more shocked at how the little pink pony had kept behind Starla without being noticed and none of the other kids had ratted her out. Something however had caught his eye in the nearby forest and he grabbed his binoculars and began scanning the area.
Starla jumped onto the slide and came down riding on the shoulders of the young minotaur who laughed and congratulated her on finding them. They carried Starla with them back to the big tree and Starla looked up and pointed. The little griffon glided down and seemed upset they were found But Starla pointed at them and the tree giggled seeming to point out they always hide in the tree. It wasn’t long before Starla had found everyone except the little pink filly who had been following Starla from behind the entire time. Suddenly the little pink filly jumped onto Starla’s back and Starla looked startled at first then started giggling, their laughter was cut short by The older brother who called them to come back with a megaphone.
The old brother watched the nearby forest with a worried look as he set the megaphone down with one hoof and the phone with the other. As the group of children arrived at the Older brother’s location he had finished packing up his stuff moments before an APC pulled up and the back door popped open followed by Aaron who poked his head out and motioned them all inside. The kids all shouted in joy at getting to ride in the big vehicle and piled inside.
The older brother pointed towards the forest and Aaron looked off in the direction with a pair of binoculars and he frowned. “I don’t think the kids should you kids should play outside for a while…” The APC took off as a shadow in the forest backed away into the darkness and disappeared.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                           Pets                            
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Pets
Pets
“Amore, stay still. No stay still. Sit!” Amore was whimpering and trying to get out of a wash basin as Chris was holding her down and pouring hot water. It was a losing battle considering the difference in size and strength. Amore carried Chris right out of the tub and started making happy sounds.
Chris on the other hand growled and held on for her life as Amore began to shake the water off. Amore began licking Chris’s face knocking her off and then howled in triumph. “Oh, you think you have won have you, Amore?” Amore sat down and panted happily while her tail wagged back and forth as if responding.
Chris wiped her licked fur and eyed Amore down. “If you won't take a bath we will have to shave your fur down again, and this time you will be bald. Do you want that?” Amore growled in response, she didn’t want to be shaved again. “Or how about fleas? Do you want to be covered in fleas?” Amore scrunched back and started whimpering at the mention of fleas.
Chris smiled. “If you don’t stay clean the anti-flea medicine won't work on your coat and those buggers will turn you into a mobile home. Do you want tons of tiny bugs living in your fur and biting you all over,? If you don’t get in the tub please.” Amore whimpered more and backed away from Chris causing her to let out an exasperated sigh.
Mia shouted as she came gliding down from wherever she had perched herself and shouted out her greeting. “Hello!” She Startled both Chris and Amore which caused Mia to giggle. “Trying to give your giant doggy a bath?” Amore Started to growl at Mia but stopped when Chris stared at her.
Chris sighed when Amore calmed down and looked back to Mia. “Yes, but this big goofball won't cooperate, despite how stinky she has gotten. Starla won't stay around her now and it’s making Amore depressed, yet she still won't bathe.”
Mia looked at Chris questioningly. “Has Amore been like this since she was a puppy?”
Chris jumped up and pulled Amore’s down then scratched her chin. “I don’t know honestly. We had to trick Amore into the walk-in shower in the RV and then trap her inside it to bathe her otherwise she would run away.
Mia looked confused. “Wait, how do you not know?”
Chris chuckled as Amore rolled over to present her belly, and started giving her belly rubs in response. “Well… She isn’t my dog.”
Mia looked at them in shock. “You mean to tell me you just tamed some random dog off of the street?”
Chris chuckled at Mia’s remark. “No, of course not.” She avoided Amore’s kicking leg and kept rubbing her belly. “Amore is the pet of an elderly couple who lived several blocks from where I lived in Gillette. She has always been very friendly and kind.”
Mia looked a little less scared but didn’t seem to be convinced. “She didn’t treat me like that when we met.”
Chris pointed at Mia with her hoof. “You popped up out of nowhere in our locked bathroom scaring me and that set her off.”
Mia giggled nervously and rubbed the back of her head. “Fair… Then why is she with you now?”
Chris hummed. “Don’t know. She could tell I was human when I walked by her house, and when she met Starla she became very protective of her. She had made her pack of the local dogs whose owners had disappeared. But for some reason, she gave that up and stayed with us. So it's not like we own her, it is more like she adopted us. She is family now.”
Mia made a squeaking sound as she smiled. “Ahh, that’s so sweet! So uh… How do we bathe her then?”
Amore immediately rolled back onto all fours and growled at the word bath then yelped in surprise as she was lifted into the air and held under one arm by Aaron. He smiled at the mares and nodded in the direction of the barracks. “I’ll bath her, I was just going to clean up anyways.” Amore paddled in the air and whispered.”
Chris smiled and nodded her head. “Thank you, Aaron. That would be a big help.”
They watched Aaron march off Amore was big but Aaron is bigger. Miia let out a hmmm getting Chris’s attention. “What’s wrong Mia?”
Mia pointed at the sun. “It’s 10:30 am, he only showers before dinner… also I want to bathe with him! I haven’t gotten to have a bath with Aaron yet!” Chris just started laughing in response.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                      Surprise Party                       
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Surprise Party
Surprise Party
Chris walked into the mess hall with Starla on her back, it was dinner time and she didn’t want Starla to get cranky. She was lost in thought about what to feed Starla tonight until she realized that the mess hall was silent. Usually, she would hear Colgate, Archy, Mia, and Aaron discussing various things, but the mess hall was empty. Was she the first one here today?
Chris looked at the clock and grimaced when she saw that it was an hour past the time when everyone usually ate. Either everyone has already eaten or they are super late. She went into the kitchen to check the drink for dishes and found it clean and dry, everyone’s late then? Come to think of it Mia usually uses the base’s intercom to let everyone know it's dinner time and she hadn’t heard anything…
She shook her head and decided to focus, she was going to make Starla something to eat first, then she would worry about everyone else. She opened the fridge and found, nothing she checked the cupboards and found nothing. She was baffled, even more so when she discovered that the walk-in freezer was locked. She then noticed that the baby food blender was not on the counter either.
“Hungy Mama..” Starla spoke out making Chris panic a little.
“I must have left it in the RV Starla, just wait a bit longer ok?” Chris looked all around the counters and the table for a sign of what had happened but didn’t see anything, Starla was getting antsy so she reassured her again and went out to the RV. She found the foodstuffs were gone in there as well.
Chris was starting to panic when she noticed a note stuck to the back of the door. It read: ‘To the white pony as bright as the sun, forget the fridge for the food has run. It has slinked away through the bay where wrenches have fun.’
Chris stared at the note and sighed. “Mia… a prank? And with food when Starla is hungry?”
Chris figured Mia meant the motor pool where Aaron worked on modifying vehicles so that he could fit into and drive them so she made her way there to discover another note on the garage door. This note read: ‘The food flew away to roost with the grandpa or our modern birds.’
Chri started at the note as Starla was getting cranky now. “Mia I don’t have time for a wild goose chase, especially when you want me to go all the way to the memorials!” Chris took a deep breath and entered her magic sight. She had recently figured out how to use it to detect life signs and pinged out for any hits.
Her sight registered life coming from the central base building on an upper floor, so she took off to search the building. The closer she got the easier it became and she soon found herself in a rather fancy-looking area. She figured this was a place for VIP guests and the upper brass. Why was everyone up here? Actually, why was power even on in this building? Chris tossed those thoughts aside as Starla began to cry. She was going to chew some people out for this wild goose chase, even though she cheated and bypassed it. She could tell everyone was behind a pair of double doors, so Chris flung them open to find the room pitch black.
She stepped in ready to chew everyone out, she could tell where everyone was standing in the dark with her magic sight. Before she could speak the lights turned on and she heard them all shout: “Surprise! Happy Birthday!”
Chris stood there staring, she saw the cake and a few presents and food. “But it’s not… it was a while back and… can we get some food for Starla please?”
Everyone in the room stopped when they realized the little foal was crying and quickly got her some food. Mia got told off later by Aaron for not just sending Chris on a “pickup errand” as they had originally planned.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                          Garden                           
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Garden
Garden
Chris and Colgate walked through a small garden towards Mia who was currently deweeding the area of what she could. Automated watering systems had kept the garden barely alive before Mia arrived and took it over. Colgate was baffled as to how Mia had accomplished what she did with the garden, she seems to have been raised in to think that only earth ponies could raise gardens.
“Colgate, are you telling me you haven't raised plants?” Chris shoulder bumped Colgate who stared at what Mia had grown.
Colgate shook her head and looked at Chris. “Not a garden, but I have some flowers in window planters.”
Chris chuckled and continued toward Mia. “Not much difference, just the number of plants you are tending to.”
Colgate looked unsure. “But earth ponies naturally emit magic from their hooves into the earth they walk on and this magic feeds into the plant around where they step and plants grow stronger, faster, bigger, and more vibrant.”
Chris shrugs. “So they get a natural bonus to growing plants. Do you think that means you should put someone down for doing something they like?”
Colgate looked taken aback. “I wasn’t trying to do that, if she likes gardening that’s fine. I’m just saying that earth ponies naturally do it better... If they learn to control it they can control the magic that they put into the earth and rapidly grow plants into harvestable crops within minutes or even moments if they have enough power.”
Mia somehow popped up from behind Colgate and draped herself over Colgate’s back, Mia’s antenna hair moved over Colgate’s mane and the side of her face.”That is interesting to hear but, we don’t have any earth ponies here. Besides, do you think rapidly growing plants like that is a good thing?”
Colgate and I looked at Mia with confusion and fear as in the time it took us to blink she had suddenly moved from being in front of us to standing behind Colgate, even more so as the question had a sense of dread and warning laced into it. Colgate gulped before responding. “W-what do you mean Mia?”
Mia hummed in thought and crossed her hooves over Colgate’s shoulder. “Well, what do you think plants need to grow? They need water, nutrients, carbon dioxide, and sunlight. If your rapidly growing plants can take weeks or months to grow in moments, they are going to lack what they need and will rapidly drain it from the environment. “
Colgate looked even more confused, earth science isn’t her thing. “I am unsure if that is how it works… it’s magic yah know?”
Mia chuckled. “Unless that magic is just producing the needed water and nutrients out of nowhere they have to come from somewhere. So it's likely that the produce won't be as tasty and healthy, probably a little wilted even. And I suspect that even if this doesn’t happen on the first plant it would likely happen on plants after the first harvest. The ground would probably start looking like a desert, dry arid cracked ground void of moisture and nutrients.”
Colgate drooped down, she couldn’t argue with Mia on this since she was neither an earth pony nor had she studied that much the the magics of other races. “I guess you could be right… sorry if it seemed like I was demeaning you, Mia.”
Mia chuckled back at her garden bed. “It’s fine, but It’s not like I overly enjoy gardening like a passion or anything. It’s just… calming. My mother was big on gardening and I loved helping her when I was little. So… no worries?”
Colgate smiled back at Mia with tear-filled eyes. “Alright.” There was a bit of fear laced into Colgate’s words
Note to self, Mia can be very scary when upset.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                          Discord                          
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Discord
Discord
(This story takes place in the future of Mandatory Motherhood and could potentially be non-canon by/if the time Mandatory Motherhood reaches this point in the future.)
Chris was walking home from a long day of work this evening, an evening that seemed no different from any other. Her saddlebags stuffed with groceries, and a light vest blocked the evening chill, and she felt the little bundle strapped under her twist in their sleep. She wondered if dinner was already made or if she would make a late dinner for everyone tonight. She was so distracted in her thoughts she almost ignored a tickling sensation in her horn, a sensation of something being off.
It wasn’t until Chris realized she had passed the same blue car that was parked on the street 3 times that she knew she had stepped into something that could potentially be something terrible. Scanning her surroundings everything now seemed to be a little off, the flowers around the nearby homes didn’t move to any breeze in fact, she could swear that they were dancing. The clouds in the sky were not colored to match the sunset the reds, oranges, and purples were replaced with blue, green, and oddly brown almost like chocolate.
Something about all of this seemed to match up to something similar she had heard about at some point but she couldn’t place what it was. She activated her magic sight and scanned her surroundings however, it did her little good. All Chris could tell was that the magic around her was stronger, wild, and aggravated, She would even say the environment around her had gone crazy.
Chris started pressing onward down the street and the further she went the crazier things became. Vehicles looked like they were melting and stretching, and homes were reshaped to have a sinister cartoon haunted house look. “Yes, this is completely normal.” Chris commented sarcastically as she continued down the street.
After several minutes of traveling down the street, it led into a culdesac that Chris knew did not exist, She found herself looking at a house, a very normal-looking house. Chris looked side to side at the crazy world around her and sighed. “If this isn’t an invitation I don’t know what is.” She stepped up to the door and pushed the doorbell, the sound of ‘meep meep’ echoed cursing her to smirk with nostalgia. After a few moments the door opened up by itself, Chris stepped inside with the door shutting behind her as she wiped her shoes on the entry rug.
Chris looked around the house which looked cozy. In the living room sat a large leather chair facing a lit fireplace. She approached the chair and sat down before speaking. “Hello.”
There was the sound of fingers snapping before the chair slowly spun around to reveal an odd creature that seemed to be a mixup of various creatures, it wore a robe and was blowing bubbles from a pipe. It smiled and moved its entire body in a similar manner to that of a snake. “Why hello there, allow me to introduce myself. I am Discord, lord of chaos.” He Eyed Chris closing and his smile shrank a little. “Hmm, did I get the wrong pony? I thought I felt something familiar. Maybe I grabbed the wrong pony?”
Chris waved and gave Discord a slight smile. “Hello Discord, I am Christopher..”
Discord stopped scratching his chin and his eye zoomed in on Chris. “Really now? Didn’t think much info would be shared about me.” he froze as if he finally noticed something off about Chris. “Youre not scared of me? I frighten most ponies... My, this is interesting.”
Chris shrugged. “I know some equestrians who have told me things. And truthfully I have had weirder and crazier things happen in my dreams than this. Besides you don’t seem like a bad guy.”
Discord stroked his beard and smiled. “Well, I’m sorry to have ripped you away from your uh normal life, I thought I might run into somepony familiar but oh well. Here let me send you back.” he raised a paw and was about to snap his fingers when he heard a burbling sound coming from Chris’s stomach area. He leaned down to look closer at the bundle under Chris and the head of a pink floral popped out and gurgled at Discord. He stopped and stared into the foal’s eyes for several minutes creeping Chris out.
“Is something wrong with my daughter Discord?” Chris asked worriedly causing discord to snap back.’’
“Huh? What? Oh, no, everything is fine.” He gave Chris a creepy smile before slithering into the leather chair. “Say, could you not tell anyone about our meeting?”
Chris shrugged with hesitation. “Not sure why but alright.”
Discord chuckled and eyed Chris warily. “Let's consider this me owing you a small favor someday.”
Discord snapped his fingers before Chris could speak, she immediately found herself standing out in the street in front of her house. “Well, uh… that happened.”
Before Chris could take a step forward she heard a voice in her head. “You interest me Chris, may we meet again someday.”
Chris gulped as she finally stepped towards her home.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                     Friendship Report                     
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Friendship Report
Friendship Report
“Hey, Chris! Mia!” Colgate ran to her friends with a bundle of papers and pens held in her magic. “I have a great idea!”
The two mares looked at Colgate in confusion. Mia gasped as she thought of what the idea was. “Origami? Is you idea about origami?! I would love to fold little paper animals!”
Chris chuckled and Colgate looked at Mia in confusion. “No, not origami Mia. Friendship reports!” Her proclamation was met by baffled faces. “They are letters where you write about lessons on friendship you have learned.”
The mares continued to stare at Colgate in bafflement. Mia raised her hoof and Colgate pointed to her as if she were a teacher giving a student permission to speak. “Why would we write about things we learned on friendship and who would we be writing them to?”
Colgate opened her mouth to respond but paused. “Well, they are essentially diary entries of self-discovery when you realize things about friendship you didn’t know or realize previously… and you send them to the princess?”
Chris shared a look with Mia before patting Colgate on the shoulder. “We don’t need to do that sort of thing Colgate, honestly that sounds like punishment for someone who refused to make friends and finally found some. We also don’t have a princess to send them to.” Colgate looked at the ground sadly, catching sight of a sleeping Starla in the chest carrier Mia had modified for Chris.
Mia raised Colgate’s chin and smiled at her. “I’m glad you thought up something nifty and maybe we could record them in a journal if we realize something we never noticed before but it’s not a top priority you know? But hey, why don’t you tell us about these letters that your friends wrote?”
Colgate faintly smiled as she thought for a moment. “Well one of them lives on a big farm and during one harvest season her family wasn’t able to help because of age and injuries so she decided to do it herself. Her other friends offered to help out but she refused saying she would do everything by herself. By the time she realized she couldn’t do it alone, she nearly put herself into the hospital from lack of sleep and overworking.”
Mia cringed. “Sounds like she turned her job into the lifestyle of a black Japanese company.”
Colgate blinked and tilted her head. “A what?”
Chris held out her hoof and explained. “They are not exclusive to Japan but they are companies that draw people in with an inviting-looking environment but then dehumanize and demoralize them into working for dirt poor pay, long endless hours, no benefits with abusive bosses. Their employees usually only last a couple of years so they don’t earn anything from the company benefit-wise and that is if they don’t end things or pass away from the anxiety, stress, and exhaustion the company causes.”
Colgate cried from hearing about these businesses and hugged Chris’s neck. “That’s so sad Chris! That sounds just like how your employer was before you got changed!”
Chris’s eyes opened in shock and she had a mixed look of anger, cringing, and holding back tears. “I rather not think about that Colgate…”
Mia cleared her throat as she stared at Chris. “How about a happier lesson?”
Colgate wiped her eyes and thought for a moment. “Oh, how about my friends stopped a new town from getting into a pie-throwing war with a herd of bison?” She received stares of bewilderment from her two friends before they broke out into laughter. “I’m serious!”

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                    Sisterhooves Social                    
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Sisterhooves Social
Sisterhooves Social
(note this is a future story that might or might not be canon in mandatory otherhood
Little Starla Ran up to the young barely teenage batpony filly who was looking in a mirror tending to her eyelashes. “Big sissy! Big Sissy! Come play!”
The young bat pony filly sighed and set her eyelash curler down before turning to Starla. “Starla I’m busy. I can’t play.”
Starla Sat on the floor and stared big-eyed at the bat filly. “Please Big sissy?”
The bat filly groaned at Starla as she looked at her sternly while she fidgeted with her spiked choker. “I said no. And stop calling me sissy, I’m not your… sister Starla.” She tried to act tough and ignore the young foal to tease her, but Starla’s adorableness made her hard to ignore and deny.
Starla laid the puppy dog eyes on even harder and changed tactics to something her mother had told her. “Pretty please Onee-chan?”
The bat filly stared at Starla wide-eyed before she broke out into laughter. “Ugh, Fine.” She said in a joking manner. She honestly had nothing planned for the day and had actually planned to play with the filly after tormenting her with denials. But her sheer adorableness and the silliness of her trying to use random Japanese words her mother had taught the filly made her give in early. “What would you like to play Starla?”
Starla cheered and pranced around the room. “Bake cookies! Chocy chip!”
The sister figure bat filly giggled at Starla, soaking in the cute display. “I can ask if we can use the oven for that, but you realize that’s not really playing.”
Starla nuzzled into the bat filly and smiled happily. “Can we dwah too? I like to see Onee-chan’s picters! they are so pwetty!”
The sisterly figure who gave in easily to the little filly gave a fake sigh before smiling. “That sounds so fun Starla, maybe we can watch Carebears afterward?”
Starla jumped for joy before scampering out of the room shouting Momma! Seeking to get permission to make cookies.
The bat filly slid out of the chair cursing her weakness to Starla’d cuteness. “Well, Cookies do sound good.” She trotted out of the room after Starla.
Later that night Starla was doodling on a piece of construction paper with a crayon in her mouth, taking breaks to eat a cookie and look at the colorful bears on the tv. The bat filly methodically drew in her sketchbook, putting Starla and her little brother into the scene she was creating.
The front door opened and Chris tiredly stepped into the house causing Starla to jump up and run over to hug her momma. “Oh, sweetie. Did you have a fun day today with your…Onee-chan?”Chris smirked playfully at the bat filly.
The bat filly cringed as Starla hummed an affirmative before she stuffed a cookie into her mother's mouth and began telling her about the fun day she had spent with her sisterly role model.
Chris chuckled and headed into the room as Starla danced around her. “Thank you, dear.”
The bat pony filly nonchalantly. “No biggy, it was fun and Starla is well behaved.”
Chris gave the bat filly a hug causing her to freak out for a moment before she stopped resisting and accepted it. “You know, my offer still stands.”
The bat filly shook her head and pushed Chris away as she shook her head. “No thank you, Chris. It’s very kind of you but I still say no.”
Chris sighed and backed away. She started smirking as she noticed the image that the bat filly had sketched in the book. “Very well dear, but the offer still stands if you ever change your mind.”
The bat pony covered her sketch pad and scoffed as Chris trotted away and focused her attention on Starla who headed for the kitchen. She suddenly spoke up before Chris went out of sight. “Hey u,... I will be a sister figure for Starla… I think it’s fun.”
Starla’s smile grew even wider and she ran over to hug the bat Filly, while Chris gave her a kind smile before entering the kitchen to start dinner.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                     Nightmare Nights!                     
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Nightmare Nights!
Nightmare Nights!
(this story takes place in the future of Mandatory Motherhood.)
Mia straightened a pile of papers on her desk and looked at the time, she had interviewed all the other children except for the oldest. She wondered if the filly would refuse to talk to her, she seemed very hostile towards Mia when she found out her profession. She wondered if she should go look for the filly.
Mia was getting fidgety and her hair almost seemed to deflate until a knock came from the door of her mobile home she immediately perked up and straightened her outfit. “Come in, the door is unlocked.”
The door opened up and a short bundled-up filly marched in, wiped her hooves on the mat, and shut the door behind her. “I’m here, against my wishes. Chris said I wouldn’t get a dinner treat if I didn’t get a shrink treatment from you.”
Mia gasped and before the filly could blink she was spun through the air, her coat and boots off and held up by Mia confusing her while also leaving her slightly terrified that she was instantly undressed. ”She won't let you eat dinner!? Chris has gone too far! That's just cruel!”
The filly looked taken aback at Mia’s anger and felt bad for wording things to be misleading. “Yeah… no… I said dinner treat… you know… dessert?”
Mia Blinked and chuckled setting the little filly down. “Oh, that is different then. It’s a bit harsh but dessert is a luxury. But what do you mean by shrink treatment? Is that what she told you?”
The little filly fluttered her wings and looked down at the floor. “No… it’s just you’re one of those psychiatrist-type doctors and so I thought… yah know?”
Mia chuckled as she hopped behind her desk landing in her chair and spinning around to face the filly. “Oh silly! I didn’t ask to see all the kids for psychiatric treatment… Then again maybe I should see if anyone wants to talk after what you experienced.”
The filly looked up at her in confusion. “What? Then why did you want to see us?”
Mia chuckled and held up a sheet of notes and a sketch of an outfit. “Well you're the oldest so I might as well tell you, but you gotta keep it a secret ok? We are going to hold a little Halloween party and I’m getting notes from all the kids to make costumes for them!”
The filly stared at Mia in disbelief. “You are joking, right? It’s already a month past Halloween” The smiling pegasus shook her head implying no. “Seriously? Well…” The filly thought and looked at her wings and poked her fangs with a hoof. “Then a vampire. I want to be a vampire. I already have the wings and the fangs. An outfit shouldn’t be too difficult.”
Mia frowned. “Really? But you are such a kind girl. And you looked after and protected all the kids after all.”
The filly crossed her hooves in front of her chest. “Yes. So let's keep it simple.”
Mia looked sadly at the papers in front of her and raised her pen with her wing, she was about to start writing before she looked at the filly and suddenly smiled before She started writing on the paper. “Alright then. I’ll have you in for a final fitting a couple of days before the party. I know you will love it.
The filly smiled but not as smugly. “Thank you, Mia. Can I go now?”
Mia nodded. “Of course. But if you ever want I will gladly listen to anything you have to say, all shrink sessions are on the house.”
The filly froze up before shaking her head and started pulling her cold weather gear back on. “I’ll keep that in mind, Mia. uh… thank you.” She waved and left the mobile home.
Mia tapped the paper a few times before she wrote down ‘vampire angel’ on the paper and smiled. “I’m a genius!”
Author's Note
And the final short story from last year's OCtober challenge is posted and i will mark this as complete. Maybe if i get a new idea for a past event in Mandatory Motherhood i might add a new chapter to this but otherwise these short stories are complete.