Mike Joyner chewed his lower lip pensively thinking hard,
"Pull that branch back again Andrew. We're not making any arrests tonight, but we do need to be witnesses to what is going on and be able to identify these people. Everybody bunch in, try to memorize every face."

The C.W.G. Officers inched closer and squinted, putting forth an earnest effort to lock faces into their memories. The C.W.G. Ponies knew enough American English to make out the orders and they added their own eyes to the mix. After several minutes watching the Sorcerers practice and talk, Mike nodded and Andrew let the bush branch ease back into place.

"Come on," Mike said moving back toward New Humansville in a crouch, "I'll explain once we're out of these trees."

The Humans and Ponies turned and followed him as quietly as they could. Once out of the trees every Human straightened up and walked normally. Arch Magister Catalyst was confused, 'Why aren't we arresting them? They were obviously breaking the law.'

After a dozen or so steps, Mike spoke at normal volume to his Officers while they all walked,
"Cessily, translate if you would please."

Cessily nodded,
"Sure thing Captain."

"Tonight we'll make a list of the people we recognized and decide who will be talking to them and making the arrests. Tomorrow," he began, "We will be talking to each person and making arrests as necessary. We need to approach each individual as an individual and talk to them on their level. Keep in mind, each person is a Human being and we make our judgments on a case - by - case basis as per the law. I first thought we would be dealing with a bunch of rowdy punks just out playing with magic like a kid playing with fire. What we actually have is different."

"How so?" a feminine voice asked from the back of the procession.

Everybody stopped dead and Mike turned to face the speaker, Arch Magister Catalyst,
"What do you mean?" the Captain asked.

Cessily translated for the Arch Magister.

"The situation is perfectly straight forward." Catalyst said, "Your fellow Humans were participating in the very act of breaking the law. Why did you not simply rush in and arrest them?"

Mike leaned his head down and to the left, pinching the bridge of his nose,
"Do you have any idea why they were practicing illegally?" he asked.

"No and it doesn't matter . . ." Catalyst began before Mike cut her off.

"It does matter." he said bluntly, "They are scared of you all and if I heard them right, they have a right to be." Mike crossed his arms and stared down at the Arch Magister, "I was hoping to do this privately, but since you brought it up, let's go. Tell me, were you ever going to tell us about your secret? What else are you keeping from us?"

Catalyst took an involuntary step back, uncertain as to what Mike was talking about, though his intimidating posture brought back her first impression fear of Humans,
"What secret? What do you mean?"

Mike's face darkened, 'She has a forehoof raised. She's ready to run.' he lowered his head intentionally making the moonlight cast a deep, dark shadow over his eyes,
"The Humans back in the forest were talking about the Thirteenth Noun." Mike was calm, but his mind was racing, 'Please let me be wrong. We just got settled.'

Catalyst felt her stomach drop out, 'They found it!' her eyes bulged like plates, 'They found it! They found it! THEY FOUND IT!' her mind buzzed, 'I thought perhaps after a few decades the Humans might be able to succeed where I've failed, but they found it so quickly? It can't be possible. How could they have figured it out so quickly?'

Without realizing it, Catalyst spoke out a single sentence,
"Impossible," she whispered, "How could they have found it so quickly?"

Mike closed his eyes in anger and frustration, 'Damn. We were starting to trust them and now we find out they were hiding a secret like this.' he calmed his mind and forced himself not to clench his fists as his anger boiled, 'So much for trust.'

The other C.W.G. Officers stood silently, shocked by the seeming confession. The three Pony Officers snorted harshly. Not being Unicorns, they were only vaguely aware of the Nouns and Verbs, so ignorance of a Noun or Verb was understandable. Their opinions of the Unicorn volunteers plummeted. In their minds the Humans were respectable. They had fought and died together, such was the common bond between warriors. It infuriated them to think that their own kind would hide something like that after the Humans had only just discovered they could use magic. What had before seemed like a goodwill gesture from Canterlot suddenly seemed intrusively oppressive in a different light.

Without a further word, the C.W.G. Officers all turned and trudged back toward New Humansville.

"Wait!" one of the volunteers called after the Humans and Ponies. His call was utterly ignored.

The mood of the night had gone from expectant to angry almost in the blink of an eye.

* * *

Upon returning to Town Hall, Catalyst had finally regained her senses and wanted to speak with Captain Joyner to clear the air, 'I cannot believe my lapse in composure! That was most embarrassing, I do hope I can explain the situation quickly.' she shook her head, 'The Humans we watched must have discovered it. I still cannot believe they discovered the thirteenth Noun! I had no way of knowing what they were saying, Cessily neglected to translate and my knowledge of the Humans' language is far too poor for me to keep up. It shocked me so badly when Captain Joyner revealed that the Humans who were practicing magic illegally discovered something we have missed for eons.' she shook her head, 'I should have responded better. I need to make this right before any of them get the wrong impression of us.'

She trotted up to the third floor of Town Hall with the other three volunteers and searched for him, but he was nowhere to be found, Catalyst sighed and turned to the three other Unicorns with her,
"You all should go get some sleep. I have matters to clarify with Captain Joyner. I will see you at class in the morning."

The three other Unicorns nodded and headed off to bed while the Arch Magister went in search of the Captain. She descended to the second floor and continued her search, looking through every room carefully. Failing to find him a second time, she went down to the first floor where the majority of the Humans slept. She searched around very carefully for any sign on the man, but he was nowhere to be found. Disappointed and slightly upset, she decided to confront him in the morning when she spotted him in class, 'I do hope he isn't too upset.' she thought to herself as she headed up to bed.

* * *

The next morning the Unicorn volunteers awoke to the usual delicious smells of breakfast. The town had received a shipment of flour and sugar so the cooks had announced they would be making fruit crepes in the morning. The Unicorns yawned and stretched then headed down the stairs to breakfast. Coming down the stairs to the first floor they saw that everybody was already gone, likely having breakfast.

As soon as they reached the first floor and stepped off the stairs a scowling Human woman and Unicorn stallion emerged from the shadows behind the stairs,
"We need to talk to you." the stallion stated bluntly, "All of you."

The Unicorn volunteers all shared a confused look before Catalyst stepped forward,
"Why? Are we under arrest?"

Beacon shook his head as Ashley answered,
"No. But we need to . . . talk. Now."

Catalyst was puzzled,
"About what?"

Beacon stepped toward the Arch Magister, beside him Ashley stepped in sync,
"There is a rumor spreading like wildfire. A very disturbing rumor." Beacon said, "This rumor claims that you and your volunteers have been hiding a magic Noun."

Catalyst was taken aback,
"What?!" she cried, "We've done no such thing! Magic knowledge is a gift to be shared!" she bristled, "How dare you say such a thing!?"

Beacon shrugged as Ashley spoke,
"We were not the ones who began the . . . rumor. Whether or not there is any . . . truth to it, the Humans are very angry."

Ashley turned her eyes away from the Unicorns and casually scratched Beacon behind his ears,
"The rumor is spreading quickly. Already we have heard talk of the Humans throwing every one of you out. The Ponies are divided. Some believe you might have withheld magical knowledge from them because of Canterlot elitism. Some believe that you would never do such a thing. And some," Beacon said meaningfully, "Are willing to side with the Humans no matter what the issue is."

Beacon leaned into Ashley's fingers as the young woman took over speaking,
"You see the Ponies already know the Humans will fight for the . . . common Pony while you Canterlot . . . University lot are mysterious and unfamiliar. Ponies, like Humans will almost always side with what is familiar and proven to be beneficial. Be wary."

Beacon shook out his mane as Ashley stopped scratching his ears,
"Be wary of persecution. There is a feeling of community here and the rumor has painted you as outsiders. Anything that is perceived as a threat is likely to dealt with harshly. You have three choices. You can continue on as you have and hope everything goes away, you can give up and return to Canterlot, or you can confront the problem and rumor. Chose quickly before the choice is made for you." Beacon and Ashley turned as one and headed toward the door, taking a good twenty steps before Bacon turned back to the Canterlot volunteers, "Should you chose to confront the rumor, do so with humility, lest you end up accidentally ostracizing yourselves." with those final enigmatic words the duo departed.

Catalyst silently pondered the problem for several long minutes before she turned to her volunteers,
"We skip breakfast today. Come," she said heading back up the stairs, "We need to figure out how to solve this." she lowered her eyes shamefully, "I fear this is my fault, but I am at a loss as to how to fix the error. I am in dire need of council."

Unbeknownst to the Arch Magister or volunteers, Ashley and Beacon had their ears pressed up against the wall just outside the doorway,
"Do you think they can fix this?" Beacon asked his partner.

Ashley shrugged, Beacon was the only Pony she could communicate with flawlessly,
"I sure hope so. This is a rutting mess."

Beacon quirked his left eyebrow at his partner,
"Such strange nuances you use." he pondered while smiling up at Ashley.

Ashley shrugged,
"Closest translation I could come up with." she shifted her weight from one side to the other, "Are you absolutely certain those fancy snobs aren't hiding a Noun?"

Beacon nodded vigorously,
"Beyond any remotely reasonable doubt." he claimed with surety, "Had there been a new Noun discovered, all of Equestria would know in a matter of hours. That kind of discovery would be nearly world shaking and the Princesses themselves would make the announcement publicly. Most Ponies have no idea because they weren't raised in Canterlot, but only about half of a percent of the nobles would even consider hiding something like a new Noun. The political backlash would be monstrous. Believe me, if they knew a new Noun has been discovered, the Canterlot University volunteers would be throwing a colossal party." Beacon sighed, "This rumor is either a complete lie, or the Arch Magister is, or was until very recently, completely unaware of it. In either case the Unicorn volunteers are innocent."

Ashley looked down at her partner in puzzlement,
"Then why deliver the warning? Why not just tell everybody they really are innocent?"

Beacon shook his head,
"It is as you said this morning, 'We must appear neutral. Even if we are not.'"

Ashley pursed her lips,
"You're taking that slightly out of context."

Beacon cocked his head to one side,
"From a certain point of view perhaps." he turned to his partner and rose up to his hind legs, placing his hooves on Ashley's shoulders, "We were forced into this bond, but we have found peace. We almost acted in perfect unison when we were talking to the Unicorns."

Ashley warmly embraced her partner,
"We're proof that our species can peacefully coexist. We're the neutral example, because if we are not seen as natural, nobody will listen to us."

Beacon relished hugging his partner, the strange Human action soothed him on some level he could not explain, it was pure bliss. Few would ever understand the pair, but so long as they had each other, they couldn't care less.

* * *

Mike Joyner sat with his most trusted Officers inside an empty stone building just off the Town Square. Everybody had their breakfast plates and were munching away happily. At the two entrances of the building stood two Ponies, volunteers who offered to help keep the meeting somewhat clandestine. The Parliament was not completely represented. This was a gathering and meeting of the Community Welfare Guardians.

Eduardo finished his fruit crepes and set down his silverware and plate,
"Okay Capitano, let's get dis out of de way. We've got seven people who were breaking de law and we got twenty-one people in here so I'm just guessing but I'll bet you're planning to have three people to each of de people we saw last night. Yeah?"

Mike said nothing immediately but he was silently pleased that Eduardo had counted the Ponies as people considering only about fourteen Humans were with them,
"Good observation Eduardo. So, let's take that observation one step further. How will we approach the seven Sorcerers, as they call themselves?"

Eduardo smiled and answered quickly,
"That's easy. One Human will approach each person that we saw last night while one Pony and one Human wait nearby to provide backup or assist in any arrests."

Mike smiled and nodded,
"Nailed it right on the head." he swallowed the food in his mouth and cleared his throat, "Cessily, will you please translate for our Pony Officers?" he waited for her to nod before he continued, "The Sorcerers all seemed to have something in common: the fear of Ponies. They expressed the idea that they feel the Ponies are treating Humans poorly and will end up trying to subjugate us and they were practicing magic so they could keep that from happening. The rub is that at least one of them is displaying signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She seemed volatile and capable, not a good combination for us. We should be extremely careful about approaching her especially. The apparent leader of these people referred to her as Full Spectrum, was anybody able to identify her?"

Cessily stopped her translating and spoke up,
"I did. Her name is Tamika Edison. I was surprised as hell to see her there much less hear her talking so hateful. She was one of the quiet ones when we first arrived. Your guess of P.T.S.D. is dead-on, she was never like that before. She works in the fields most of the time, she'll be easy to identify, but if she's that far gone we'll have to talk to her alone, but in a public place. If we corner her, she may flip her shit, if we do it all public like, she might draw an audience on purpose."

Mike nodded,
"Yeah, I agree." he regarded his friend seriously, "Do you feel comfortable handling her? She's the most dangerous one I think," he waved his hand around, "If you think you can handle her peacefully, you can have your pick of the litter."

Cessily chewed her lip in thought for a few seconds,
"I think I can handle her." she swept her eyes around the room eyeing every Human and Pony present, "I want Hard Stone and Kaneesha. Hard Stone is one of the friendliest Ponies we have. Everybody likes him and he's an Earth Pony so he doesn't have a horn for Tamika to be scared of. I want Kaneesha cause she'll be able to see of Tamika is preparing any magic."

Mike turned to Kaneesha first,
"Is that alright with you?"

Kaneesha smirked,
"It's all good."

Mike then turned to Hard Stone,
"Is that . . . acceptable?"

Hard Stone nodded respectfully,
"Whatever you believe to be best Captain."

Chris raised hand,
"Can I handle the leader guy? I think he called himself Night Flare?"

Mike pursed his lips,
"I'd much rather have you handle one of the others, one of the jumpy ones preferably. You have a disarming personality and I'd like to approach Night Flare myself."

Andrew appeared next to Chris as he clanged his plate down,
"His name is Brandon Elstwere and THAT'S a problem, a BIG problem."

All eyes and ears turned to Andrew as he continued,
"Brandon was one of the few people I actually talked to back before we came here. He was a Sociology student who Majored specifically in civil rights, civil unrest, civil wars, civil reforms, and civil rights. What worries me is that either A. He's right and we just don't see it, or B. He's wrong, but in either case we could not have chosen a more perfect opponent. This a young man who knows how large groups of people work and how they react, especially, ESPECIALLY if they feel their rights have been or will be violated. The problem gets even worse from there. If we arrest him, people will see him as a martyr, but if we do nothing people will take that as us condoning what he's doing. This man is dangerous, not in a physical sense but in a social one."

Andrew paused for a breath and ran his right hand through his hair,
"Now there is a silver lining here. Brandon is not an unreasonable guy. Our only and I mean ONLY viable course of action for him is for you to get him to believe you." Andrew sat back, resting against the wall behind him, "If yall want my opinion, we should get somebody high up to help convince him with actions. Brandon is not an idiot and he knows that actions speak louder than words. We have to provide him with irrefutable proof that he is wrong."

The silence lingered as every person thought the same thing, but in the end only Darryl was gutsy enough to say it out loud,
"And what if they're right?"

Kolo crossed his arms and stood up,
"Seriously yall, we got to figure this out first, before we go chargin' in all gung-ho like, we got to decide who we gonna believe."

One of the Pony Community Welfare Guardians, an older Unicorn Stallion named Stout Soul, raised his right forehoof after Cessily finished translating,
"Is this about the rumor floating around about the Thirteenth Noun?"

Mike nodded,
"Yeah it is. You have something to add?"

Stout Soul nodded,
"I do. The rumor cannot be correct. Believe me. I was . . . " he waged a short mental war within himself briefly before deciding to bite the bullet, "I was one of the Rectifiers when I was younger. We were taught extensively about how to use magic and we were also trained in the most restricted arts. They spared nothing in our training and until this morning I had never heard anytbing solid about a thirteenth Noun. If it exists, of which I am cautiously curious about, it had to have been an extremely recent discovery. I cannot speak for others, but I know for fact that the Arch Magister would never hold that kind of a breakthrough back."

Mike quirked his head curiously,
"Why is that?"

Stout Soul took a deep breath then let it out slowly,
"Because she was my tutor during my training. We became good friends and she eventually told me about her thesis. Did you know she had to write two before she graduated since her first was rejected." he paused to let the information sink in, "When she was a student at the University, her first thesis was about a theory she had come up with. The Theory Of The Thirteenth Noun she called it. The heads of the different departments laughed at her, but she confided in me that her biggest lifelong goal was to find the thirteenth Noun. If her theory had been proved correct, she would have been world famous, she would have been shouting it from every rooftop she could find. I cannot speak about anything else, but in this, at least, she is innocent. She was not hiding a Noun from you. I would steak my very life on it."

Chris waved a hand dismissively,
"Look, the way I see it, we still need to at least talk to these people."

Mike turned his head and regarded Chris briefly before asking,
"Has Luna ever mentioned anything about thirteenth Noun during your tutoring Chris?"

Chris shook his head instantly,
"No, nothing." he said.

Darryl fed the last of his crapes to Shadow then spoke up,
"I've been thinking about that. There are much more dangerous Nouns they could have hidden from us. Fire, Illusion, Mind, fucking Time? Why would they hide a Noun that only deals with forces and energies?"

All eyes turned to the stout Marine,
"What?" Darryl asked confusedly, "It's true! There are a shit ton of ways to use differen Nouns and Verbs to achieve the same end. Say you were tired and you wanted to be more awake and alert? You could use Repair and Mind to make you feel more rested, you could use Change and Flesh to alter a chemical in your body into caffeine if you were clever, you could use Sustain and Spirit if you really wanted to. Even if they were hiding a single Noun from us it wouldn't really matted because we could figure out a different means to the same end. Tamika made, what was effectively a 'Magic Bullet' spell right? Shit, I could do the same damn thing with Control and Earth or Change and Air. My point is that it doesn't make any sense for them to hide this from us."

The entire building went silent as a tomb.

The silence stretched on for more than five full minutes before Chris chuckled,
"Out smarted by a fucking Marine."

Darryl stood up and playfully smacked Chris on the back of his head,
"Dude, Marines have to be creative as fuck. Ever heard of The Chosin Few, also known as The Frozen Chosin or Tootsie Roll Marines?" Chris shook his head and Darryl pursed his lips, "Just trust me, Marines can be creative as anybody else, and if the situation calls for it, even more so. I'll have to tell you about it some time. One of the most defining events in Marine history." Darryl turned back and addressed everybody in the building, "I know I'm right about this and I can't necessarily say that very often, but trust me, I'm right." he shot Mike a serious look, "So, how do we proceed?"

Please comment on any spelling errors I may have missed. Next chapter is almost done. Remember to Like if you like the story.