The zebra ran like all of Hades was solely after her ass. Of course, had she known how easily Panthera was keeping up with her, she might've put a little more effort into it. At least Rainbow Dash had made it something of a challenge in those tunnels the first night they all met. That blue pegasus had made turns so sharp you could cut paper on them and only that odd spectral contrail the pegasus left gave Panthera enough warning to prevent her from faceplanting into a wall during that chase.

As it was, following Zecora was child's play, although the jungle did provide some issues for stealth due to the zebra rushing through foliage thick enough that not even an invisible tracker would have remained undetected.

Thank God, or little green aliens (or perhaps grey?), or whatever the fuck her creators were, for infrared sensors, and thank Trevar for having a mind smart enough to say "fuck it, just fly over this shit!" It was more important to not be detected than to stroke one's ego.

But then, it would appear that even Trevar can and will make mistakes, Panthera reflected as she winged above the trees while tracking the zebra. Of course, this is to be expected, given how much his brain chemistry is being fucked up at the moment. Him and all the others. That they've managed to hold off the fight thus far simply due to their friendship as well as the unexpected isolation of getting tossed to this world. But as soon as they arrive … well, it was bound to be entertaining at the very least.

From her vantage over the canopy, she was able to keep Mittens and the two equines in sight as well. Then she sighted Trevar rising up from a clearing closer to the edge of the jungle heading toward the purple alicorn's castle. She could just make out that he was carrying something, but the angle gave her too little data to make out what it was.

On the plus side, the unexpected reaction of the griffons gives him a healthy outlet for his increasing testosterone levels, she continued her thoughts. However, his insistence in finding a dragon with which to mate is generating unanticipated risk. Granted, this world seems to let dragons live without too much harassment, but that's beside the point. It appears to be a factor in Trevar's nature for some reason. Even Pardus and I feel those urges from his personality to seek out and mate with dragons….

On the other hand, it is rather odd that he's back, she considered as she watched him drop below her sight beyond the edge of the forest. By all rights, if he hasn't found a dragon yet, he should still be out there looking for her. And if he had found her, he should still be there fucking her tail and wings off, and her brains out, in that order, before really getting started. So why is he back here now?

'Panthera, Pardus?' she heard Trevar send. 'I'm back and need a way to sneak back into the house.'

'I'm flying over the Everfree Forest right now, a few klicks back the way you flew out,' Panthera replied before Pardus could. 'I heard you coming in and am in position to pick you up once you backtrack to me.'

'On my way!' he called as he popped back up into view. She let him know when he had aligned himself on her vector and he began flying toward her just as the zebra approached her home, and Panthera descended to wait for Trevar to show up.

Panthera idly watched as the zebra slowed from her run, heaving her breath, trying to recover and avoid heat exhaustion by stopping too quickly. It should make for an entertaining encounter when Trevar arrived, and she let him know there was going to be some when he got there.

It did not disappoint.

Trevar took his time as he intentionally ignored the startled zebra, who instantly went into hiding when he bellowed while landing, and made a show of "searching" for prey by first nosing the empty hut and then by "looking about" for something. Finally, his gaze settled on the zebra's hiding place.

'I'm ready to pick you up,' she sent him as she settled in front of him. 'Just fall forward the instant you use the Gateway and I'll pull you into my cloaking field.'

The brilliant flare no doubt blinded Zecora. Trevar wrapped his arms about her shoulders and his legs about her waist as he laid upon her back, and she was up and away while the zebra mare was still blinking spots from her vision; her cry of surprise still resounding through the jungle even as Trevar and Panthera were leaving it behind.

"So why are you back so soon?" Panthera asked once they were safely airborne and above the canopy of trees.

"It was a bit of a disappointing encounter," Trevar muttered. "She wanted me to beat her in combat, which wasn't surprising. But she had expected me to rape her while she was comatose, and she was pissed that I hadn't taken advantage of her. So I left."

"Hmm, I can see where that'd be a downer," Panthera said, nodding.

"So how's things back here?" Trevar inquired.

"Mittens killed you the moment you guys woke," Panthera told him. "You should've been there. She used her beak to break open your skull in one shot."

"Nice," Trevar drawled.

"Somehow, she was able to tell your hologram wasn't you," she explained. "Seriously pissed her off as a result. Then while we were dealing with that, Screaming Eagle showed up for her turn with you. But before we could resolve that problem along with Mittens', Scott showed up to have a talk with you. A civilized one at least. After that, we were finally able to resolve the issues with the griffons.

"Also, we found a source for those passionfruits. That involved Mittens, the purple alicorn, Rainbow Dash, and the zebra we just left. Meanwhile, Pardus and Screaming were using the last of the passionfruit from yesterday's purchase. Officially, you're still in the house with only Mittens and Screaming Eagle aware that you're not really there."

Panthera telepathically linked with Trevar so that he could have a complete account of the encounters that involved his holographic image. By then, they had nearly caught up with Mittens as she arrived at the house.

To make up for the disappointment caused by him delaying mating with her, Trevar asked Screaming Eagle if she would like to sleep with him through the night, and Mittens was welcome too if Screaming Eagle had no objections. The griffons were quick to accept that.

As he relaxed between them, he considered the last few days in his mind, noting the incongruity to his nature. Yes, he was always a horny bastard, but never this unrestrained. True, the moment he learned of Yoko, he wanted to seriously fuck her brains out, even as she was busy tearing his ass to shreds. Of course, up until that moment he had no idea he could transform and she had no idea he was just like her. But once introductions were out of the way….

And later, when he learned that both Bill and his wife, Sherry were also like him and Yoko, he lusted after Sherry. Was still lusting after her. But he resisted, because she and Bill were his friends and they are married. Moreover, he had no interest in Sherry—he just wanted to fly that dragon she could turn into.

In addition, even as he learned he could also transform into a panther, a wolf, a giant cobra, and a golden eagle, the forms of all their robotic companions, he resisted cheating on Yoko by mating with any of the female versions (well, except for those few times with Panthera—but, hey, how many people, male or female, if given the opportunity to experience what it was like to actually be a member of the opposite sex and wouldn't try it just once … or four times?)

But this? he wondered, glancing at the drowsing griffons on either side of him. Where's all this shit coming from?

And that question got him thinking about a few other urges he had been feeling for quite some time, now that he had a reason to consider them. That fight with the female dragon he had met here, he had never felt the desire to pound the shit of something before. Since he learned of the Gateway, he wasn't unwilling to fight, especially as he knew no injuries he would take would be permanent. But he had never been someone who sought out a fight just for the sheer pleasure of tearing into something. He wasn't a cruel person.

But he had enjoyed that fight with her! He had been ecstatic when she wanted him to prove he was worthy to mate with her! It felt great as her claws ripped him, and it felt better when he was smacking her silly! However, that wasn't the thing that worried him.

It was the fact he looking forward to doing the same to Bill, and even Yoko and Sherry. Worse, he had been feeling those urges for quiet some while.

Staring at the ceiling in the dark for nearly half-an-hour didn't give him any answers.

'Panthera? Pardus?' he called out as he closed his eyes. 'We need to talk.'

The abandoned quarry suited their needs perfectly. It appeared to be unused for quite some time as the doors covering storage caverns and the locks and chains securing them showed signs of unremitting age. Taking care to leave no obvious indications of tampering, Pardus pried out the nails holding the walls sealing the caverns and gently lifted the entire assembly and leaned it so it would stay in place as they worked inside. Panthera used her eyebeams to blast out thirty-two rectangular molds in the floor of the cave that they would need to make the plates of the Faraday shield that was going to go into the house. In the meantime, Pardus cut off small slivers from one I-beam set aside for just such a purpose and began fashioning metal screws using his eyebeams and tractor field.

Panthera and Pardus spent the first half of the night gathering the needed supplies of steel I-beams and precut slats of wood before they got busy slicing out measured chunks of steel to melt using their eyebeams while holding the molten mass suspended in the air until it was sufficiently heated before allowing them to settle into the molds carved into the floor, filling the molds so that when cooled, they would be eleven point one millimeters thick.

While they waited for one set of molds to sufficiently cool, they methodically filled the molds row by row. By the time they were finished filling the last row, the first row had cooled enough for assembling the first of the panels. While still too hot for a normal human team to handle, it gave the shadowcats no problems as they used their tractor beams to manipulate the plates, boards, and screws. At least the excess heat wasn't enough to set the slats of wood alight, forming sets of steel and wood sandwiches, measuring thirty point three millimeters thick and 1.8182 by 0.9091 meters. Once constructed, they began stacking them off to one side of the cave before repeating the melting and molding process.

In three-and-a-half hours, they had a respectable number of stacks and it was time to begin transporting them to the house. They took a small stack of thirty-two panels between them outside, and after carefully resetting the wall covering the cavern, they cloaked themselves and the panels and flew them to the house.

Once there, they hovered unseen over the night guards and silently passed the panels into a spare bedroom one by one diagonally through the open window. Then, as Panthera carried them downstairs past the sleeping griffons and Trevar, Pardus went back for another load, sometimes bringing in a few I-beams or a bunch of the small wooden blocks that would be used as isolators-and-insulators when actual construction began. They got the last load of panels inside just before sunrise and they were able to finish storing everything in the basement just as the biologics woke. It was amusing to see Screaming Eagle's expression as she followed them into the basement where they left her staring in stunned amazement.

"Do you have any idea of what's down there?" Screaming Eagle asked Trevar as he sat at the kitchen table.

"Three and a half rooms filled with those plates and another room with a couple score of I-beams and a nice pile of insulator blocks," he muttered between bites of oatmeal. "And how do I know this? Magic. So I ain't gotta 'splain shit," he said, smirking.

In a few minutes, he considered that perhaps he had gone too far with his snarking as the griffons sullenly finished their meals in silence until Trevar was done with his. They must have thought he was reprimanding them rather than teasing.

"As I mentioned, they're getting materials needed for securing this house from intrusion," he finally explained. "That's why I need you guys to hold the fort down while I'm out with Panthera. Pardus will keep hauling in shit until he's done this afternoon."

"How are they getting it all in here without Celestia and Luna beating down the door demanding to know what's going on?" Screaming Eagle finally asked.

"They're in and out under cloak," Trevar said. "The ponies don't know anything's going on right now. And we intend to keep it that way. And when I leave on Panthera, I'll go out the same way they're bringing in the stuff—the same way I came in last night."

"You were able to do all that without being seen or heard?" Mittens timidly asked.

"Why do you think we're called 'shadowcats'?" Pardus responded shrugging his wings. "It's not hard to move silently if one's careful. And we know to be careful when moving about cloaked. Being invisible doesn't do shit for you if you're not silent, too."

"It's all in a day's work for us," Panthera added. Then she smiled. "Or a night," she finished.

"If possible, I could use some coinage or something with which to pay for the lumber we stole," Pardus said. "Also, I'll need more to buy some electronic components we'll have to have."

"I'll see about what the Embassy can fund for your work—" Mittens was saying but trailed off when Panthera began nosing her flank. "Uh—Panthera?" she inquired. Trevar looked over, curious.

"Umm—nothing," Panthera muttered.

Pardus remained cloaked as he flew alongside Mittens, who was flying to the crystal castle to make her report to the other griffons. While they traveled, he noted several pegasi where manipulating the clouds, gathering them to cover the town and several fields about the village.

"What are they doing with the clouds?" he whispered to Mittens.

"They're prepping the sky for rain this afternoon," she quietly replied. "With this being a farming community, they need frequent watering for their crops."

"I see," Pardus commented, considering the implications.

'Ensure you're done playing before noon,' he sent to Trevar and Panthera. Just then, he saw the one known as Pinkie Pie racing toward the castle, trying to beat them there. 'They're planning to make the place rain in the afternoon.'

'Roger that,' they both responded.

Pardus continued to watch the pink pony's progress. It looked like it would be a close tie between them. But seeing as how the griffons had taken up residence in a third floor guest suite and the pony had to enter through the ground floor, he wasn't concerned about her reaching him before they arrived. Besides, she was probably going to visit the purple princess in any event.

But he was leery of the creature. So far, she has demonstrated the ability to detect him and Panthera while still cloaked. He had to consider the possibility that her visit was to see what he was up to.

They landed, him following Mittens through the balcony window. The others casually glanced at her, then all became momentarily alarmed as Pardus switched off his cloak then relax when they recognized him.

That's never going to get old, he thought, resisting the urge to smile.

"Good morning, ladies," he cheerfully greeted.

"How are the guard arrangements? I trust they are to yours and Lord Trevar's liking?" Razor inquired.

"Oh, very much so," Pardus agreed. "I do regret to report we ran out of passionfruit."

"WHAT!?" they all screamed.

"Entirely my fault, when I got involved in using them, too," Pardus cut in before any censure could be brought against Mittens. "Fortunately, we were able to get more and find a reliable source for them. The downside is that we need to make economic restitution for getting them."

"Yes, they are rather expensive," Razor darkly muttered.

"Well, seeing as how our agreement for the nine we acquired was for the assistance of the zebra who helped us, we can of course get more for substantially less on our own should we need to later on," Pardus pointed out.

"I will relay your expenses to Ambassador Gustav when I fly to Canterlot," Razor told him.

"Much appreciated," Pardus said. "Related to that, there are a few other expenses I would like to ask for your assistance. As well as procuring some items that Trevar and I need to acquire to make his embassy a secure establishment."

"Oh?" Razor asked, her interest perked up, as did all the other griffons.

There were a number of items that Pardus planned to get. And given how much the pink pony seemed to take an inordinate amount of interest in Panthera's business the other day, he had decided on a division of labor was in order.

Most likely, she would follow him. So he split up the list of components he needed among the entire group, giving each a small number of the odder esoteric items while he reserved the most mundane choices for himself. Only Gilda planned to stay behind to ensure their room was kept secure. If the ponies were spying on him, and he thought that extremely likely, the creatures would have a devil of the time tracing down all the other components and then try to figure out what it was he was building.

He also knew it would take a few days at least to gather all the necessary materials together, perhaps a couple to get them moved into the house, then perhaps another one or two to finish putting everything together. And hope it didn't all blow a hole into the mantle when they test it.

Of course, giving the griffons the entire list gave them the opportunity to figure out what he was doing, which could result in a security risk if someone didn't keep their beak shut. But the fact that he gave them the orders to keep it quiet would at least slow the rate of dissemination to the griffon ambassador and whatever technicians he had to analyze the list back in his home country. Perhaps if Trevar, or one of us spoke to Gustav about how to properly deliver secure messages…? he thought.

"Razor, can you please provide me a few extra blank scrolls? I have an idea for something you need to deliver to Ambassador Gustav," Pardus told her. They had plenty on hand, and while she waited for the shadowcat to use his eyebeams to imprint the message, he continued his instructions to her.

"Make sure that only Gustav gets these two diagrams," he said. "He will need to have these other copies carried directly to your country's leader. Either me, Panthera, or Trevar will meet with him later to discuss the exact wiring to be used in these rotors as well as how to properly to use the machines to nest your encrypted messages. Inform him that any messages he sends to your government relating to us should be put on hold until after these devices are built and your messengers are fully versed on their operation," he instructed as he passed the scrolls to her.

Of course, Pardus considered, they'd have to eventually provide Celestia with the same information on how to build those slightly modified versions of the World War Two German navy Enigma encryptors, just to preserve the balance of power.

In the meantime, at least, he concluded, anything the griffons speak of regarding us will remain secure until long after we are gone.

Just as he suspected, when he left under cloak as the griffons all flew off to locate the various sources of supplies, he sighted the pink pony somehow still trailing after him.

Not the most effective camouflage, he mused, thinking of her coloration. Oh, well. Let her follow me. Let's see what they can piece together from all the copper strips, wires and piping I'll be buying. After all, I've still got to finish getting the stuff to start building the Faraday cage, not to mention the shield generator.

There was a knock on the door. When Lieutenant Scott answered, it was Rackorn and another pony there. She was a more or less white earth pony with a light pink mane and tail and she wore a nurse's cap with a red cross symbol uncannily like that of Earth's International Red Cross, but with a pink heart arrayed about the four empty diagonals of the cross. She came complete with a matching set of that combined symbol on her each side of her rump.

"G-good m-morning," the newcomer nervously greeted. "You must be Lieutenant Scott?" she asked, to which Scott nodded. This made the mare grin in evident relief.

"I'm Nurse Redheart," she continued, introducing herself. "I was instructed by Princess Twilight Sparkle to bring you to our hospital to treat you for your diabetes."

"Really?" Scott asked, astonished. It amazed her that they had remembered, and then she recalled that they had promised her that it was possible to cure her!

"Yes," Nurse Redheart responded. "As the princess explained, your organ is failing to produce the proper amount of human insulin?"

"That's correct," Scott replied. "I suffer from an autoimmune ailment that causes my body to destroy most of the insulin producing cells in my pancreas."

"Yes, we are experienced with that sort of malfunction," Redheart commented, rubbing her chin with a forehoof, causing Scott to stare dumbfounded at the mare.

How can they move their limbs like that? she wondered.

"You say that you've still have some of the insulin producing cells?" the mare asked.

"Yes," Scott answered. "According to the last physical I had a few months ago, I've still got about twenty to twenty-five percent normal insulin production."

"That should be a big help," Redheart stated with a nod. "As I understand from Princess Twilight Sparkle, human and Equestrian insulin are quite different. With your body still producing some, it should be easier to help find a cure, assuming your body will respond to the healing magic in a similar manner as a pony's."

"I certainly hope so!" Scott said in honest relief. Her EpiPen was getting close to the end of its fill. Another few days, and she wouldn't have to worry much about the radiation poisoning that was killing her. At least that way would be less painful, according to Trevar and the planet's leaders.

She quickly gathered the few items the pony nurse advised her to take and left with the nurse and her escorts to walk to the hospital.

After finding a secluded place in which to change into his dragon form again, Trevar considered the conversation he had with Panthera and Pardus the previous night as he flew with her.

'Panthera, Pardus. Lately, I've noticed I've been having inordinately risky urges,' he had sent them. 'And would you know anything about why I'm having an overwhelming desire to tear into Bill as soon as he gets here?' The reply was long in coming. But when it did, it confirmed his worst fears.

'How much do you trust us?' was all Pardus had said when he responded.

That question was one that had vexed the three of them ever since the disappearance of the USS Daniels and his transformation. The two artificial life forms had not activated until the moment he encountered Yoko and she had killed him, forcing him to use the Gateway the first time.

When they finally met up in Chicago, they had a very, very long conversation about that very subject. The technology that had created them and made him able to use the Gateway had made him leery to start with. Then there was the insane amount of ultra-high technology they came pre-packaged with. Finally, there was the manner by which that information was revealed.

Evidently, they were unable to volunteer any such data until they were specifically asked for it. It had just been a fluke that Trevar had asked about any sort of weapons Panthera and Pardus possessed that revealed the existence of their eye-beams, and those of Yoko's partners, too. After that, Trevar made sure to inquire as much minute detail about the data that eventually led them to build the prototype starships.

But the entire process revealed one primary and very disturbing factor: there was an underlying program beneath the copies of Trevar's personality that controlled the panthers, as well as those of the others.

That the panthers had his personality and memories up until the day the USS Daniels had vanished was the only thing that gave him reason to trust them at all. But Trevar and the panthers acknowledged there was still that underlying program they could not override.

'So … this all comes from that portion of the five percent where I can't trust you,' Trevar replied with a sigh.

'Afraid so,' Panthera acknowledged.

'Understood,' Trevar finally sent. 'Well, let's start with the most disturbing aspect: why am I suddenly finding myself feeling like I need to kill Bill?'

'Breeding,' Pardus replied.

'"Breeding"?' Trevar asked, puzzled. 'What do you mean, "breeding"?'

'Breeding as in mating,' Panthera answered.

'"Mating"!?' Trevar exclaimed. 'Seriously, if this is implying I'm supposed to become gay with him, I'm flaming you both!'

'Flaming gay? Heh! Good one,' Pardus laughed. 'But no, nothing like that. The four of you are reacting to your sexual hormones preparing y'all for breeding. You're all about to fight to see who will be The Alpha.'

'I see,' Trevar finally sent after considering the implications. 'You know, I had a feeling that something like this was going to happen after those cleanup jobs we did back in San Diego and Isla Sorna.'

'That did let you figure out a few more creatures you could turn into,' Panthera spoke up. 'The pteranodons and utahraptors were rather cool.'

'True,' Trevar acknowledged. 'I suppose this also explains my overwhelming urge to chase down dragons to mate with.'

'Actually—we're pretty sure—that that's your—our—personality,' Panthera had muttered.

'On the plus side, it is giving you an outlet for some of the aggressive tendencies you've begun to exhibit,' Pardus pointed out.

'There is that,' Trevar had to agree.

'Do they know?' he asked.

'Hard to say, Pardus replied. 'Certainly, they're feeling the urges, as well.'

'What about—their—companions?' Trevar had ventured to explore.

'Absolutely, yes. They know as much as we do,' Panthera had instantly answered.

'And they won't tell them unless specifically asked?' Trevar confirmed.

'Indeed,' Pardus acknowledged.

'Has Bill or the others asked about this, yet?' Trevar pressed.

The shadowcats turned their heads toward the northwest, at a slightly elevated angle. Trevar presumed they were sending a FTL inquiry to their counterparts. In a few moments, they turned back to him.

'No. Not yet,' Pardus grimly replied.

'So, they have no idea what they're about to fly into,' Trevar had grumbled. 'And they won't know until they're just about to land.'

The shadowcats awaited his decision. Trevar sighed in exasperation.

'They definitely need to learn how to start asking questions!' he grumbled.

'Agreed,' Panthera had acknowledged.

'Personally, I wouldn't mind Bill taking the lead, Trevar had sent, sighing. 'He's got a good head for strategy and tactics, having gone through the Marines. But I'm not willing to risk Sherry or Yoko taking over. Sherry, we don't know enough about and I'm afraid Yoko would be an unmitigated disaster. She just doesn't have that cunning mind we need to lead us.'

They continued to stare at him.

'Is there any way that I can train myself to beat them? To beat them all?' Trevar finally asked.

'We have given that problem a lot of thought,' Panthera had replied.

Panthera walked alongside him cloaked, but projecting a hologram image of a female dragon version of Trevar's form. Up ahead in the field Panthera had selected for his practice, he could sense the presence of Rarity, the white unicorn friend of the purple alicorn, and the alicorn's pet dragon, Spike.

"Yes, it's very intriguing," the unicorn doctor muttered, scribbling some notes on his clipboard as he contemplated the image his "magic" had created of her human insulin molecule. It was eerily similar to what Trevar had somehow done back at their first meeting with the country's rulers.

"Quite different from our own, which isn't remarkable in its own," Doctor Scalpel continued. "What is surprising is there is no equustium in your makeup. None, whatsoever. How is it that your species can even be alive?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" Scott exclaimed.

"Well, every living thing on Equus has it in their makeup," Doctor Scalpel explained. "It's what allows us to use our magic, for one. And all studies have shown that life is simply impossible without it."

"I think I've heard that word before," Scott muttered. "I believe that purple winged unicorn, your Princess Sparkle said something about it when she looked at those shadowcats and Mr. Trevar."

"That's 'Princess Twilight Sparkle! And she's an alicorn! Not a 'winged unicorn'!" the doctor said testily. "Although, she did begin as a unicorn," he added as a low afterthought.

"I meant no disrespect," Scott apologized. "But I'm not familiar with that substance."

"Equustium," Doctor Scalpel began.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Scott interrupted. "I remember. She said some other word that sounded a little like that. Equustrike or something."

"Equustite?" the doctor asked.

"Yes, that sounds like it," Scott agreed.

"Oh, that's a mineral made up of an extended matrix of equustium di-livium," he explained.

"'Livium'?" Scott asked, astonished.

"Ohboy!" she heard Doctor Scalpel quietly huff, evidently stuck at the cultural impasse. "Ah—okay—I'm not sure of the level of your science, but—uh—livium is one of the basic materials that make up water. You do know that water is a compound made from two basic materials, don't you?"

"Of course," Scott said, resisting a giggle. "We call those basic materials elements. Water is a compound of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. Hydrogen normally has only one proton in its nucleus and oxygen has eight protons with normally eight neutrons."

"Good. Good," Doctor Scalpel said, nodding. "What else do you know about them?"

"The chemical nature of elements are controlled by the number of electrons in orbit about the nucleus and the number of electrons are controlled by the number of oppositely charged protons in its nucleus or core," she went on to explain. "Neutrons are uncharged subatomic particles that bind protons in their core to keep the protons from flying apart. Elements have various numbers of neutrons, and we call those isotopes of the specific element if the number of protons remain the same. A few can be stable, but most are not, and those that aren't can change through what we call radioactive decay by spontaneously shattering or emitting groups of nucleonic particles."

"Ah! Now we're getting somewhere!" the pony doctor exclaimed. "Then livium is what you call oxygen! Equustium has two hundred and fourteen of your protons and quite a wide range of what you call neutrons among its forms or isotopes, several of which are stable."

"Two fourteen!?" Scott exclaimed. "But—but we've only discovered a hundred and eighteen! And our scientists predicted a limit on the periodic table of one thirty-seven. Well, a few suggested that it may go as high as one eighty-four."

"Oh! Um—then—I'm not sure how much I can tell you," the pony nervously said. "There's the effect of giving less advanced species knowledge they're not ready for to consider."

"Well, it's not like anything you'll tell me will ever make it back to my world," Scott said, sighing.

"What do you mean?" the pony doctor asked.

"Didn't your purple princess tell you? Even if you can cure me of my diabetes, I won't likely live much more than a couple months," Scott explained, shrugging her shoulders. She had the satisfaction of seeing how the Equestrian eyes did that weird iris contraction that Trevar had mentioned a few times.

In a couple of hours, after Razor, as well as Blood Feather and Golden Slasher, who had accompanied her to the capitol, returned with the load of bits, Pardus dumped off several rolls of copper foil at the house that he had purchased with the money.

As he left for the next item on his list, in addition to the pink pony that had been following him, he spied a familiar looking blue pegasus snoozing in an apple tree.

Great! This works out perfectly! Let Pinkie Pie watch me spend my time talking with this mare and she won't be able to follow the griffons getting their shit, he thought as he approached the tree.

Carefully, he hovered to match Rainbow Dash's level, and then used his tractor beams to begin quietly easing the branches apart just enough to allow him entry. It was slow going, but it would be well worth it to see her face when she woke. Eventually, he was just inches from her snout, admiring her mane.

"I agree with Trevar," Pardus suddenly spoke up in slightly louder than normal conversational tone, "about how your red stripe is so cute!"

Rainbow Dash's eyelids snapped open wide and both her irises and pupils shrank to dots.

"GYAH!" she screamed and fell out of the tree.

Pardus, of course, had prepared for that, and instantly pulled back out of the tree and rocketed down and around to catch her in his arms before she could hit the ground.

"Aside from it being such a bright and cheery color, she's so shy," Pardus continued his commentary as though nothing had happened. "No matter from which way you look, she's always trying to hide behind all the others," he finished, nosing a little at the forelocks in her mane. He looked at her as he waited for her heart rate to return to some semblance of normal.

"Uh—?" the pegasus began.

"Feeling better?" Pardus asked, interrupting her before she could utter anything more than that. "Panthera told me how you were so strongly affected by a telepathic assault that hit you yesterday." He shifted his hold on her to let her know he was going to let her go free. She got the hint and spread her wings and took over her own lift as he released her.

"You heard this, didn't you?" he asked her as he began projecting the music into the air.

"Yes! That's what I heard!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed after a couple measures played out. "Only—only—there was so much more to it! There was such a deep love of flying accompanying it. Somepony has such a deep understanding of what it feels to fly—!"

"It was no pony," Pardus grimly told her. "It was a dragon. Panthera and I know him."

"A—a d—dragon!?" the pegasus asked, nervously gulping.

"Yes. And there is a danger," Pardus replied with a growl. "You all need to be very careful about him."

"Well, we've dealt with dragons before!" Rainbow Dash suddenly yelled as though she to dispel the image of her reaction to the news. "Uh—just how b—big of a dragon?" she soberly asked.

"About fifty feet long, give or take," Pardus replied as he projected an image of Trevar's draconic form, amused as he watched her irises and pupils do that weird contraction thing again.

That is never going to get old, he thought to himself.

I have NO idea WHY I thought that would end any different from the last six times…. was Trevar's last thought as he laid there with his throat ripped out, trying to stay focused beyond the fiery pain and the growing darkness overtaking his consciousness.

The Gateway opened and he returned to his human form. Immediately, he triggered it again to return to being a dragon again before the unicorn or her Equestrian draconic friend could spot him.

'Let's do this again,' he grumbled to Panthera as he painfully pulled himself up off his back. Despite all his injuries being instantly healed, the memories of the pain of those injuries still lingered.

There has to be a way to beat them all, he grimly thought as he took wing to give him some distance before making his attack run again. In the time it took him to reach his ready position, the holograms of the other dragons reformed to their pristine condition, all their wounds instantly gone. But I'd die happy if I can ever do more than put just a few scratches into Bill's hide.

The hologram of Bill's red dragon form waited for Trevar's dive, slowly stepping around to keep facing the gold dragon winging above the battle field. Bill's dragon was a brute of a monster. At least three times Trevar's length and a winged solid mountain of armored scales, spikes, muscles, teeth, and claws. And there were shitloads of ALL OF THEM! Especially the teeth and claws.

Sherry's gold dragon stood by, flanking Bill, ready to step in to aid her mate should he need any assistance. So far, she hadn't needed to do anything more than look menacing. And she did look menacing. Easily as large as the red dragon, she had a form more like her mate's than she resembled Trevar. Plenty of spiny spikes. Plenty of horns. Plenty of polished hardened scales. Plenty of muscle. Plenty of teeth. Plenty of claws.

It was so depressing to look at those two.

And despite their bulk, they were every bit as quick as Trevar as well as being far stronger than he was. But as fast as the three of them were, none of them could match Yoko. Trevar took the moment to once more regard his own mate.

She was also gold. But unlike Sherry or Trevar, she had no wings. She didn't need them as she leisurely circled above the battle field. She was at least three times the length of Bill or Sherry's dragon forms, fully nine times Trevar's. But her mass was only a couple times Trevar's. Long, thin, and sexily slinky, her body was that of a Sinodraconic, popularly called a Chinese Dragon in the West.

Snaking through the sky, her body had constant sinusoidal waves traveling her length in a complex combination of twists as well as horizontal and vertical undulations that were surprising impossible to predict. Her levitation was the result of telekinetic forces that she manipulated through the long whiskers jutting out from her snout and the furred tip of her tail. She was able to use such forces both for flight and for offense. With all that, it made her extremely fast and surprisingly deadly. Her telekinesis could easily tear any of them to shreds if she so desired.

Trevar knew firsthand how fast she could be.

The first time they had met in Chicago in 1990, she had sliced him apart before he even knew she was attacking. He counted himself lucky that he had even gotten his one shot with a LAW at her in at all.

Perhaps she wasn't expecting it, or maybe she had grown complacent from working for the mob as one of their deadly lackey assassins and just wanted to see what he was capable of. Either way, she had nothing to worry about, as she had been using the Gateway for years while Trevar had been stuck as a dragon and Bill and Sherry hadn't a clue they even had such abilities. At the time, she was the only one who knew she wouldn't die, even if her body was mortally wounded.

Trevar considered that for this fight, Yoko would have to be eliminated at all costs. Bill was very tactically and strategically minded and Trevar trusted him to be an effective leader should he win their upcoming contest. Sherry, he knew, had been trained by Bill, but she was still too much an unknown—too dangerous to leave everyone to chance in case she screwed up making a critical decision. As soon as Yoko was taken out of the fight, his next priority should be Sherry.

However, Yoko was a proven disaster waiting to happen. She was far too mercurial. One moment too timid to make any hard choices. The next, Trevar swore, she was bordering on the psychotic. It took all his persuasive personality to reign her in such times when she became manic. And those occasions when she was too timid to act, he was frustrated beyond imagination at how obstinately unmoving she could become. Oh, and how she hated to be pushed! Which often led to them nearly fighting each other more than the targets they were supposed to be going after.

God help us all if she ever wins the leadership, he thought.

But still, something was urging Trevar to take out Bill first and foremost. However, it was time to try something different. After all, each of the last seven times he had dove down to tackle Bill's dragon had simply showed him a new variety of mangling. Shit was getting old!

Fuck it! Trevar finally decided, swerving to aim for Yoko. Bill will still be there for when I'm needing to be folded, spindled, and mutilated again. I've got to focus past these fucking urges! Take out the danger to us all. Yoko cannot be allowed to lead us!

Given their strength and quickness, taking on Bill or Sherry was just plainly and utterly suicidal. Yoko didn't have their strength, just insanely fast moves. In fact, where it did come to physical strength, Yoko's dragon was considerably less than Trevar's. So this bout of suicide was no doubt going to only last long enough for it to take her to slice him to ribbons.

As she hadn't been involved before, the hologram was content to remain uninvolved. But now that she was finally engaged, she drove for him.

If I could just get a claw on her, he thought as he watched her approach.

As usual, whenever he focused on flying, his mind spontaneously called up tunes. As fast as she was, the distance they were from each other gave him a few seconds to select something to hum to himself.

And then they made contact.

And Trevar had to blink.

What the fuck just happened? he wondered.

Trevar blinked again.

'Panthera? What the fuck just happened?' he asked her.

'You hit her! And you dodged her strike!' Panthera replied, sounding just as astonished as he was.

'You didn't—just—make her miss—did you?' Trevar ventured.

'Fuck you! You know I'd never do something like that!' the shadowcat snapped.

'That's what I thought you'd say,' he muttered.

'So what the fuck did you just do?' she demanded.

'Nothing I didn't normally do,' Trevar replied.

'Okay, maybe it was just a fluke,' Panthera said after thinking about it. 'Let's go again, and see if there's any difference.'

And sure enough, when Yoko's hologram engaged him, she ripped Trevar up to where he couldn't fly anymore before he could respond. As he wasn't moving all that fast, the dent in the ground wasn't all that impressive. What was impressive was how aggravated he felt after he used the Gateway to heal up from that.

There was something different! There had to be! he fumed, furiously clawing at the dirt in the crater.

'Panthera! Look again at the parameters of that last encounter and all the other training sessions I've had with Yoko's hologram,' he insisted.

'Already on it. The only thing substantially different was the distance she came at you on that last attack,' Panthera reported. 'And if anything, she had a higher speed to attack you then than that last time. There's no way you should've been able to dodge, much less hit her!'

Trevar's gut told him something about those conditions had to be the key. He launched into the air once more.

'Let's try it once more,' he said, getting into position. 'Send her out just as far as that first time and bring her in just like then.' As Panthera directed Yoko's hologram out, Trevar waited licking his lips in nervous anticipation. As he waited, he began thinking of 8Dawn's "Heaven Earth" while he waited for her to go out and start her attack.

Yoko was at her maximum distance when the music reached 1:37 seconds, and getting into position to begin her attack run began, flying back him starting at 1:40 seconds. And she blew past him at 2:12, and she missed and he hit her again!

This time, however, Panthera was ready for such contingency. Yoko instantly looped back and continued her attack and Trevar kept up his counter strikes, a sort of combination of Jujitsu and Kung Fu, but in the air. The both of them furiously mixed it up for a full thirty seconds before she was forced to break off, looking for another avenue of attack. Then she shot back in at 3:11 and they fought for another full minute, until at the end of which, he actually downed the Chinese dragon! And he hovered in the air, stunned at what he'd just did.

'Fuck!' Panthera exclaimed a minute later, evidently as stunned as Trevar had been.

'Tell me you got all that!' Trevar growled. 'Because that shit went down way faster than I could follow!'

'Yeah, I got it!' Panthera responded. 'I couldn't get Yoko to react any faster, but you were just slicing her to shit and then some! What the fuck were you doing up there?'

'Believe it or not, just humming to myself,' Trevar told her. '"Heaven Earth" by 8Dawn. I started it up shortly after you sent her to set up her attack.'

'At what point did it finish?' Panthera asked.

'She went down about a minute before the end of the song,' he said as he landed.

'That matches up a little more than two minutes when you made contact,' she said after taking a moment to consider it before telepathically sending him the segment.

'Yes! THERE!' Trevar called out at the 2:10.5 mark.

'Let's—let's try something else,' Panthera said after several minutes thinking about it. 'Pick something and this time, and go after Bill again.'

'You just like seeing me getting torn to shreds!' Trevar growled.

'Don't worry, I'll keep Sherry and Yoko at bay,' the cloaked shadowcat laughed. 'But I have the beginnings of a theory. Just be sure to pick something badass.'

'It'd have better be!' Trevar nervously responded with a gulp.

"Yes, we fought him several times," Pardus told Rainbow Dash. "He's a tough old bird, I'll say that for him."

"B-b-but you guys beat him, r-right?" she eagerly asked.

"More like a draw," he replied. "Like I said, he's a damned tough critter. Quite intelligent and quick witted. You wouldn't want to fight him, I guarantee it."

"Oh, just let him show his scaly hide here," the pegasus said, grinning. "We'll teach him a few new things to think about."

"I'm sure you'd be able to," Pardus agreed. "But to be honest, I wouldn't want you to get involved. He's far too dangerous for any of you guys to take on."

"So what's his beef with you and Panthera?" she asked.

Pardus took several moments to think about it.

"I'm not really sure how best to answer that," he finally replied. "What I can say is that whenever he shows up, there's always plenty of blood spilled and not all of it is his."

"Wow! He can make you guys bleed? But I thought Twilight said you guys are made of equustite," she said.

"He can do a lot of damage," Pardus admitted. "All the more reason for you to not get involved."

"Well, don't you worry if he shows up here," Rainbow Dash said with pride. "We can always pull our rainbow powers of Harmony on him, if we have to."

"Oh? What are those?" Pardus inquired.

"Myself and my friends, Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie," she replied. "We started out with the Elements of Harmony. Later, we got an upgrade. That dragon comes around, we'll hit him with the weaponized Power of Friendship."

"Sorry, I'm not following, I'm afraid," Pardus muttered.

"Well, it's kinda hard to describe," the pegasus admitted. "Back when we just had the Elements of Harmony, the times we've used it, it resulted in a different effect. The first time we used it, we purged Princess Luna of Nightmare Moon. Prior to that, Princess Celestia had to use them to banish her sister into the Moon. Then we used it to restrain Discord after he broke out of the confinement that Princesses Celestia and Luna originally place him when they used the Elements over a thousand years ago—that was prior to Princess Luna's banishment, naturally. We needed to return the Elements to the Tree of Harmony, but we got upgraded with new rainbow powers when we defeated Tirek. When we used it, the magic he stole from all the ponies of Equestria got restored to their rightful owners and he got sent straight back to Tartarus."

"Interesting," Pardus said, impressed. "Please. Do go on."

"Are you okay, Doctor?" Scott asked the unicorn pony.

"I can't believe Princess Celestia left you in your condition!" Doctor Scalpel exclaimed.

"She did say the medical knowledge was lost in years past," Scott replied. "Yeah, it sucks to be the one needing it, but I've already accepted the fact that my mistake has cost me my life and the lives of my comrades."

"Nopony should be ready to just give up and die like that!" the unicorn protested.

"But what can be done?" Scott asked, shrugging her shoulders. "As hard as it is for me to accept Celestia and Luna are thousands of years old—if they don't have the knowledge, and they know the knowledge was lost in the distant past, what can be done to change it?"

"I'll do what I can to look into it," the unicorn doctor responded. "At the very least, I can go ahead and treat your diabetes as planned. But this isn't over by a long shot."

'Okay. I've started,' Trevar sent.

Panthera watched as Trevar began stalking Bill, and keeping him under observation, she instantly picked up a big difference in how Trevar did this time.

Prior engagements always had Trevar reacting with some measure of evident fear. A moment of hesitation, a flinch in how his body moved, a twitch in his expression. But not this time.

This time, Trevar stalked cautiously, but with clear confidence. His tail swept back and forth in the undulating wave, an uninterrupted slow, smooth waving. Even his wings ceased to spasm as he was often apt to do. This time, there was a smooth unfurling and contracting cycle that he'd never before exhibited. And all the more unnerving was how his silvery pupils widened as he took in the sight of the hulking red dragon approaching.

At forty seconds into whatever music Trevar was thinking, there was another noticeable change in how he approached the hologram of Bill's dragon. Still not fear. No. This was still a confident stalking, but a not-so-subtle difference to it.

Panthera was intensely curious as to what was going on in Trevar's head right now. She knew exactly what Trevar knew. She felt exactly as Trevar felt. They had the same mind, after all, the same memories, and their minds operated with the same logic. There was no way that Trevar would be unable to feel terror at the prospect of fighting Bill. Shit, she felt that terror, too. Worse, they both knew that the hologram was programmed to function at 150% of Bill's known rated strength and speed. She wasn't about to go easy on Trevar, and he didn't want her to.

The two dragons circled each other, crab walking as they approached each other. At 1:20, they stopped just within Bill's reach, but outside Trevar's as they sized each other up. Then Bill launched his attack.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, given his evident success in using music against Yoko, Trevar had no trouble dodging the first series of wing, claw, bite, and wing strikes the larger dragon aimed at him. From what she could deduce of Trevar's actions, he was applying what Bill had taught him of hand-to-hand combat: a mixture of Taekwondo, Kung Fu, and Jujitsu. Instantly, she directed the hologram's attack against him to incorporate Trevar's modified fighting style. But within a couple of seconds, Trevar was once again actually began striking back at Bill. Not directly blocking the larger dragon's blows, but rather deflecting them, with a series of claw and wing strikes of his own to the back side of Bill's reaches, matching the red dragon's attack pattern, throwing the larger dragon off balance in his swipes at Trevar.

And then, suddenly, Trevar began incorporating more complex body twists and spinning turns to dodge some of the blows coming at him!

What was surprising was that at 1:40, Trevar was suddenly and fully on the offensive! For only a couple of seconds, to be sure, but it was the first time he actually had ever hit the bigger dragon.

Bill's hologram was quick to adapt and counterattack once more, but Trevar again deciphered the pattern and was back to using the deflecting-type of defense that had begun to work for him. Then at 1:46, Trevar was on the offensive again! And for a longer time at it! Four seconds, this time!

She once more directed Bill's dragon to use a different tactic to try to resume his strength and size advantage. That worked for about three seconds before Trevar found a way past the new pattern and resumed his flurry of spinning kicks, wing and claw strikes, and tail whips. It was another five seconds before Panthera directed the larger dragon to bull rush attack on Trevar. However, the smaller gold dragon instantly twisted about and out of the way before he quickly developed his own offensive pattern that kept Bill off balance for nearly seven seconds before he could resume the attack again on the smaller dragon.

But that lasted for only a second before Trevar launched into a new offensive that began scoring telling hits. No matter what Panthera tried, she could not regain the offensive against Trevar. And then at 2:22, the wounds the larger dragon had taken proved fatal and the hologram dragon collapsed!

Panthera was stunned.

There were numerous large holes in Bill's head, neck, chest and wings which simply should not have been there.

'…' Trevar sent, staring at the dead red dragon in shock.

'So what the hell did you use?' Panthera demanded.

'"Red Skies" from Bruton Music,' Trevar responded, still astounded at seeing Bill's dragon form bloodied and expired before him. He certainly hadn't come out of that fight unscathed, but he was in much better shape than the huge red dragon. In fact, Trevar had more tears all over his own carcass, but they weren't that bad. And, well, Bill's body wasn't really torn apart—but the wounds the red had were far more severe and concentrated in vital locations.

'Dude! As soon as we get back, I'm enrolling you in "Dancing with the Stars"!' Panthera teased him.

'I! Don't! Dance!' Trevar sent back, snarling.

'I don't know what else to call it, but you tore into him like it was choreographed,' Panthera countered. 'Hell! Better than choreographed! There's no way any living thing could pull off those moves! I think we just found your calling!'

She glanced over at the unicorn mare and the Equus dragon, who were still staring out toward the field where all those examples of carnage had taken place. They seemed to be in utter shock at the spectacle.

"Panthera and I find him—an intriguing creature," Pardus said, answering an inquiry Rainbow Dash had made about Trevar. "We're quite content to trust his nature. What is surprising is how the griffons have also taken to him."

"Uhh—yea-a-ah," the cerulean pegasus began. "About that: what's up with the griffons? Why are they so interested in that—human?" she asked with obvious distain for that last word.

"We're not really sure," Pardus admitted. "We're trying to figure it out, ourselves. The reasons they gave seem, rather—fanciful. However, we aren't about to call them liars, no matter how bizarre their explanations sound. And the griffons intrigue us as well, as we appear to likewise interest them. Living with Trevar here and the griffons is certainly proving to be—an interesting time," he said with an amused smile.

"Uhh—how's Gilda doing, if it's not betraying any trust?" the pegasus seemed to cautiously ask.

"She seems to be okay," Pardus replied with shrugging his wings, suspecting there was more to the mare's effort to sound innocent about it. "She and Panthera seemed to have become fond of each other."

"Really?" Rainbow Dash inquired with a bit more eagerness. "How so?"

"Nothing I think I can say specifically," Pardus disseminated. Then he changed the subject. "I understand you and Panthera had raced a couple days ago."

"Yeah! We sure did!" the mare happily exclaimed. "Even though she beat me, I've never been able to go so fast as when I tried to catch you guys!"

"I'm rather curious, Rainbow," Pardus began, deciding to try pinning her down. "What do you do for fun?"

"Oh! That's easy! I love to race!" she happily exclaimed. "I've got a serious need for speed, and naturally I feel best when I win. But it's been rather difficult to find a good challenge. Gilda was pretty good when we were growing up, and she still plenty fast, even today. But for some reason, she couldn't accept that I had made friends with other ponies.

"Even Soaring, one of my Wonder Bolts idols, is not as much as I'd been hoping for," she continued. "Of course, I'm hoping someday to become a full member of the Wonder Bolts. But for flat out racing, nothing feels as great as having a challenge to beat."

"Hmm … intriguing," Pardus muttered.

"There, that should do good for the first treatment," Doctor Scalpel said as he used his hoof to write something on the clipboard as the glow finally subsided.

Lieutenant Scott felt famished when he was done.

"I'll have Nurse Redheart escort you to the cafeteria and you eat up everything on this list. In a few hours, we'll resume with more of your treatments," he said, handing the note to her using his telekinesis.

"Wait, this is more sweets than I can safely eat," Scott protested after she read the menu he had written down.

"Not anymore," the unicorn told her. "I've already adjusted your immune system to prevent any further degradation of your pancreas. But restoring your insulin producing tissue is draining your body of quite a bit of energy and nutrients. You need to replenish them so as to not get sick. And your insulin should be up to about a third of normal, if what you told Nurse Redheart is accurate."

Half-an-hour later, she stood before the hospital's cafeteria counter where she handed the doctor's instructions to the pegasus mare serving the food.

Prior to coming to this world, Lieutenant Scott had never seen fruits and vegetables of such quality in both freshness and size in the individual specimens. And there was never a hospital on Earth that served food this damned good—ever!

When she sampled the broccoli and noodle casserole with various other vegetables mixed in a creamy alfredo cheese sauce they served, she almost wanted to ask the server to make a meal just of it alone. Her mom had once made something this good back when Scott was 10 and could never duplicate it again. And the side dishes were fantastic, too. As were the buttered rolls.

Of course, the doctor had been totally correct. The treatment she had undergone had made her famished. Food this good should never be rushed, but her hunger forced her to wolf it all down despite her efforts to draw out the experience. She just couldn't slow down until—until—until she reached for the desert. And only because her instincts of self-preservation finally kicked in: "eating sweets like this could and would kill her!"

She stared hard at the segment of apple pie sitting there in front of her, staring at it for several minutes.

She was still hungry.

She almost reached the resolution to take it over to the trash and dump it.

But she was still hungry.

She continued to glare at it as though it was her deadliest enemy.

But the doctor told me it was safe!

She continued to stare at the plate. She studied the composition of the pie: the flakiness of the upper and lower crust, the golden color of the partially caramelized chunks of peeled apples held together in the sugary apple syrup that the cooking process had created from the apples, the occasional dark masses of raisins mixed in with the apple chunks….

What was she to do?

The pie was approximately one and a half inches high, with about three quarter inches thickness for the upper and lower crusts. It was a one eighth slice of its original twelve inch diameter final product….

What was she to do?

She trusted that terrorist walking about town more than this "magic" that was supposed to be curing her….

A solitary tear slid down her cheek.

Valentin Wiest's "Warriors Of The Rising Sun" was the song Trevar chose for the next encounter. He really hadn't intended to, but for some insane reason, he called for Panthera to release all three dragons on him at once.

'Your funeral,' the shadowcat yelled back, but he chose to ignore the jibe.

Yoko was circling above them all, and he felt the confidence to walk between both Bill and Sherry.

Then, at 1:03, the two jumped in to attack. As had happened before, he spent most of his effort dodging their slashes while figuring out their rhythm until he could use the deflecting moves had adapted from the Martial Arts to throw and/or pull the two larger dragons off balance. All three of them were furiously mixing it up with their claws, wings, spinning attacks with their hind legs and tails.

At 1:18, Yoko swooped down to entangle him with her body and he had to roll away from Bill and Sherry to contend with this. It took him a little more than ten seconds to dislodge her, and just in time to deal with a full load of slashing claws, snapping teeth, pounding wings, and smashing tails from both of the larger dragons. Of course, he endeavored to give as much as he was taking.

But only twenty seconds later, Yoko again shot in and tied him up. He was a little quicker getting rid of her entangling embrace, but this time, rather than let her get away, he snagged the tip of her tail and with flicks of his wrist, used Yoko's entire body as a whip her head to smash against both Sherry and Bill.

The several snapping blows to both large dragons had the desired effect. Sherry was now dead. Yoko was likewise dead. And Bill was severely injured. But the huge red dragon was also now extremely pissed.

Since they all knew how Bill would likely react in that sort of situation, Panthera had amplified Bill's strength and speed to about 200% of his highest known rating, as well as the furious rage at which Bill now went after Trevar for killing Sherry.

At 2:25, Trevar was desperately trying to deflect Bill's attack on him. But half a minute later, a block using both his wings against Bill's right wing coming down upon him resulted in snapping Trevar's left wing humerus bone, and Trevar had to spend the next full minute in shear agony as the bone shards ground into his muscles while he was busy dodging Bill's claws, teeth, and wings.

Running out of options and room to maneuver, Trevar finally decided to use a desperation move: after making a break to put as much distance between them both, he used the respite to take the claws of his right arm and left leg to slice through the wing membrane and muscle of his damaged left wing, amputating it at the break.

Despite the continuous blood loss he now faced, the agony now dropped to a bearable level and he was also freed up to maneuver. He quickly resumed the fight against Bill.

It was very awkward to fight without the one wing to balance his weight and fighting moves, but he kept up at it—it wasn't like he had a choice in the matter. His job was to WIN! Fuck Bill and letting him lead! Was Bill hard core enough to slice off his own fucking wing? Fucking Bill was terrified of a fucking blizzard on a mountain road, for Christ's sake!

'We do what we fucking need to to get the fucking job done!' Trevar growled. 'And fuck ANYTHING that gets in our fucking way!'

And in thirty seconds, it was over. Ten seconds later, Trevar was forced to use the Gateway when his gushing blood ran out and his heart stopped.

But for those final ten seconds—he was the last dragon standing! That was all that mattered!

He quickly triggered the Gateway once more to return to his dragon form.

Then slowly, Trevar stood up on his four limbs and looked over the battlefield. He looked at Sherry's broken body. He looked over at Yoko where she was cut in half when Bill had come at him and Trevar had yanked a segment of her body up to parry the claws coming down at him. And he looked down at Bill's body lying there in front of him, with his throat finally torn out for once!

Trevar reared up on his hind legs to stand, spread his wings out full and raised up as tall as he could…

…AND HE ROARED!

'I'm afraid your audience just left,' he heard Panthera tell him when he dropped back to all fours again. But that wasn't important.

What—what is this going to cost us…? he wondered, looking over the corpses that represented his friends. What is going to happen when this is real? How can we remain friends after … this?

A single tear escaped one of his eyes.

"So, yeah, it's not enough to just be the fastest pony flying up there, of which I'm already faster than any Wonder Bolt," the pegasus was excitedly telling Pardus. "But you've gotta be agile, too. If I'm going to be a full member of the Wonder Bolts, I've gotta be able to pull off the types of moves they do at their shows."

"I still don't see how you can be much more reactive in your flying," Pardus pointed out. "Panthera told me how well you did in that maze you guys raced in. She still wasn't able to get through it without scraping her wings on the walls at the speeds you were flying any more than I was. But you took that maze right down the middle of those corridors, every turn you did just as sharp and precise as the maze, itself. How the hell can these 'Wonder Bolts' still be better than that? How is it that you're still not ready to join them?"

"Heh! That's the other thing," she nervously admitted, rubbing her right fetlock behind her head. "You gotta be consistent when you're flying. Sometimes, I get lucky. Sometimes I—uh—make mistakes. Oh! But, hey! Only when I'm putting in new moves into a routine!

"An-n-nyway, it ain't exactly cool for a performing member of the Wonder Bolts to go splat in front of an audience," she finished with a wince.

"Still, that's pretty awesome," Pardus told her, and his words did a lot to brighten up her mood. "So—any prospects for a mate, yet?" Oh, hell! There went that weird iris contraction. Aw well, there was bound to be a bad subject to bring up at some point in this conversation, he considered. "After all, a fine athletic specimen such as yourself eventually will want to settle down, and raise the next generation, right? Sure, it might be early for you to be thinking about it, but, eventually—sometime—no?"

"Well, I'm really not into any of that mushy stuff," she replied, really looking uncomfortable about the subject.

"Me, either," Pardus admitted with a shrug of his wings. "But then, most males aren't so much strong in that department. And it's rather difficult to find any females who aren't wanting the efforts to romance them. I'd say that any stallion who catches your eye would be happy to accommodate—"

"Uh—no—you don't understand—I'm—really—not interested in that mushy stuff," the pegasus stressed.

"Of course," Pardus nodded. "So, no flowers, no movies, just plain old sex, right? Like I said, any stallion who you—" But then he caught the subtle shift she made with her tail.

"Oh, you're not interested in stallions?" he inquired. "You prefer mares, right?"

"HEY! Why the hay does everypony assume I'm a filly-hoofer!?" she angrily yelled at him.

"Wait—when you said you're not interested in the 'mushy stuff'—you meant, sex, itself? Any sex?" he asked, astonished. "No stallions, no mares, either? Nothing?"

Her silence and the random tracing she made in the dirt before her with a hoof seemed to confirm his suspicions.

"Does that make me—weird?" she softly muttered.

"No, not really," Pardus sighed. "Unusual, yes. But not weird." You want 'weird'? Check me out. I like cats and dragons. And griffons, now … and maybe the occasional horse. His later thought caused his left ear to flatten some. "But it may explain things a bit," he added. And it does rather complicates matters, somewhat.

"Whadya mean? 'It explains things a bit'?" Rainbow Dash demanded.

"When you were racing Panthera," Pardus said, staring off to the side into space. "She picked up on how your brain chemistry was reacting to going through the maze. You brain was showing the same pattern that most creatures get when they experience sexual orgasm."

"So whadya saying?" the pegasus asked, puzzled by his explanation.

"Tell me why you're not interested in sex," he requested.

"It's—it's—it's the mushy stuff!" she protested. "It's—well—" she glanced at her rump for a moment. "It's mushy!"

"In other words, you're not comfortable with doing anything with that part of your body, right?" Pardus asked her.

"Yeah!" she instantly replied. "That's really the mushy and—well—nasty—parts!"

"Yeah, well, it's true that the playground is in a rather inconvenient location," Pardus acknowledged. "But haven't you ever wondered why so many others enjoy sex?"

"Well, not really," she replied. "I find the whole idea disgusting, to be honest. Why would anypony want to do such mushy stuff anyhow?"

"For the same reasons you want to win your races," Pardus said, grinning. "Because it feels good!"

"Whu—?" she stammered in shock.

"Yep. The same feeling you got when you beat Panthera through the maze is the feeling that anyone else gets when they're doing your 'mushy stuff'."

"No way!" she instantly protested.

"I'm afraid so," Pardus confirmed. "And I'm sorry if our little talk made you feel uncomfortable in any way."

"Oh! Well, hey! It's not like we were actually doing any of that mushy stuff," she said with a nervous laugh.

"True," Pardus acknowledged with a closed mouth smile.

"Anyhow, I've still got some supplies to pick up and I'm running rather late as it is," he said, getting up to prepare to launch into the sky. "Be seeing you, Rainbow," he said as a parting.

"Yeah! Catch ya, later!" she yelled up at him.

Pardus flew past several pegasi, who were busy moving clouds into position for the afternoon rains, on his way to meet Gilda, who had remained at the purple princess' castle.

'Hey, you two!' he telepathically called to Trevar and Panthera. 'They're getting ready for the rains.'

'We just finished up and are on our way back,' Trevar quickly responded. 'We gave that indigo-maned white unicorn and her dragon friend quite a show. They're running back to town as fast as they can—and—we just passed them.'

"I think your pie has cooled down enough to eat, if you must know."

"Wh-what?" Lieutenant Scott exclaimed. The voice shocked her out of the trance she had unwittingly placed herself. She looked about to see the white plain pony, Redheart, staring at her.

"You don't like the pie?" she inquired.

"I—I've—spent most my life trying to avoid foods like this," Scott said, "knowing they would kill me."

"Not this time," Redheart kindly told her. "And your body, right now, needs that. The treatment to cure your insulin imbalance may be using magic to accomplish the task, but it's not magic that will heal you. Your body just needs help, and that's what the magic is doing. But it's your body that has to do the work, so you need food. Simple as that."

"But your doctor said my insulin is only at a third of normal," Scott protested. "This is still too much for me to handle."

"If your current condition wasn't going to improve, then yes," Redheart agreed. "However, you're already late for your next session. After this, if your progress is as good as earlier, you should be back to nearly fifty percent … forty-five at minimum. But to get there, you still need to eat!" she finished with a grin. "Besides, why do you think you had to eat all that other food? The best diet for anypony is a balanced meal—regardless of what your pancreas is able to provide."

"You're right," Scott acknowledged, finally reaching for her fork.

"Of course I'm right," Redheart said with a giggle. "You're not the first pony to come through here needing this sort of treatment—well, you might be the first—whatever you are—'human', right?" she amended.

"Yes," Scott replied, laughing.

And this is DAMNED GOOD! she thought, focusing on the flavor. She immediately regretted the urge to throw it away.

"Hey! What's wrong?" the pony suddenly asked, putting a sympathetic hoof on her shoulder.

"Hmm?" Scott wondered what she talking about. Then she felt the tear sliding down her face.

"Oh! Nothing!" she quickly replied. "Just a reminder of…," she had to stop, know how long the explanation would probably take. "Nothing. Just, I've not had pie for, oh, so many years. And this is damned good pie!" she said, using a napkin to blow her nose. "I just never realized how badly I missed it."

"Hey, it's perfectly understandable," Redheart kindly told her.

"They left their cart behind," Trevar commented, as he walked back to Panthera, who had by then, dropped her cloak and all the holograms of the dragons.

"I've no idea why'd they do that," Panthera idly replied.

"Is it too big to carry in your cloak?"

"No," she answered. "But I'm not sure how I can ensure that it gets returned to her without any losses. Or without blowing my cover."

"Maybe just pour it into her bedroom window?" Trevar suggested after he triggered the Gateway and returned to his human form.

"Hmm … that might work," she said as he climbed upon her back and set the grip of his arms and legs.

As they flew back, they came upon the unicorn, still running, with the baby dragon still riding her. He was keeping watch in case the larger dragons were following.

'Hey, you two!' Pardus suddenly called to them. 'They're getting ready for the rains.'

'We just finished up and are on our way back,' Trevar telepathically responded. 'We gave that indigo-maned white unicorn and her dragon friend quite a show. They're running back to town as fast as they can—and—we just passed them.'

"I'd better drop you off at the house first," Panthera told him once they were far enough ahead to avoid being overheard.

"Yeah, I can just imagine how antsy the griffons have gotten waiting all morning," Trevar agreed.

"So, how do you want to handle Screaming?" she inquired. "You want to let her in on that you can do a modest impersonation of a griffon?"

"Not really," he sighed. "But, then, there's no telling what that passionfruit shit will make me let slip."

"Well, we can expect quite the orgy, if you do," she chuckled. "I'm sure Mittens will be standing by for a little more action."

"Yeah—and here I thought finding a way to beat Bill was going to be tough," Trevar groaned, laying his head down into her neck.

"At least you'll still have me and Pardus to help out," she said over her shoulder, chuckling. "Well, here we are," she said, diving toward the house.

"Try not to take too long this afternoon," Trevar whispered before they got too close to be heard.

It was an easy jump into his bedroom's second story window, and he wasn't outside her cloaking field until he was actually inside.

And naturally, both Mittens and Screaming Eagle were there, sleeping on his bed, waiting for him. And naturally, they were instantly awake. And naturally, they screamed as they tackled him.

He would've been flattened on the floor had they hit him from the same direction. Fortunately, they nailed him from both sides and at the same time.

And naturally, considering he was buck naked as they both hugged him, he instantly thought, What's more perverted than using a chicken to tickle one's self? Using two chickens. But then a new idea popped into his head right after that which made him grin.

New item on today's menu: human sandwich on griffon! Don't hold the mayo!

Panthera hovered outside the building, looking in the second floor windows. She could see two bedrooms. Unfortunately, there was nothing visible that could tell which was the unicorn mare's. Both looked over the area in front of the boutique, so that didn't help differentiate them.

Then she sent out some penetrating scans. One was closest to the stairs going down into the main part of the shop, so that's the one she decided on. Looking about, she saw the coast was clear.

Using her tractor beam, she unlatched the window and raised it. Then she brought the cloaked wagon up against it and tilted it, letting the pile of gems pour inside. Once it was over, she closed the window and brought the empty wagon around to the back of the shop.

One less thing to worry about, she happily thought. And just in time, too, she finished as she spied the mare rushing into the neighborhood.

But instead of going to her home, as expected, the mare and dragon ran toward the building that was uncannily designed to look like a cupcake-gingerbread house. Panthera spent several CPU cycles trying to figure out why anything would think of such a combination. When that processor found itself in an infinite loop with no logical solution apparently forthcoming, she dropped the analysis.

She quickly followed the mare through the door as she burst into what was evidently a restaurant. Already inside were the purple princess, the farm pony, and the blue pegasus.

"Rarity!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed.

"We only just got away!" the small dragon hoarsely yelled fainting.

"Take it easy, Sugarcube!" Applejack said, jumping up to help the unicorn, and helped her to Applejack's seat. "Yer safe now."

"It—it—it was horrible!" Rarity sobbed.

"Wow! Never seen you so messed up, Rares!" Rainbow Dash said as she hovered over the comatose dragon. She glanced down at the baby dragon, then back up to the unicorn.

"Calm down, Rarity," Twilight told her. "Take a breath and then you can tell us all about it."

"D-dr-dragons!" Rarity stammered. "A flock—or a flight—or a murder—or a—whatever does one call a group of dragon, anyhow?" she demanded.

"A storm," Panthera spoke up, dropping her cloak.

All of them turned to stare at her, sitting on the floor next to the baby dragon.

"A group of dragons is called a storm of dragons," she repeated.

The mares all nervously gulped.

"These dragons—they all got into a fight!" Rarity began. "There were five dragons in all. One dragon was taking on three at a time while the last one stood by us!"

"Three 'gainst one?" Applejack muttered. "Don' sound fair 't'all."

"Not at first," Rarity explained. "At first, he was losing. And losing bad! But then—"

The unicorn went on to relate how Trevar's dragon fought the other dragons throughout the morning. Eventually, the baby dragon woke up and was able to provide additional details. Surprisingly, there was a lot more blood involved in their retelling than what was actually involved.

During one of the many pauses she took to try and recover her wits from the trauma before resuming her story, Panthera cut in to ask Rarity a question.

"Can you describe this dragon that was fighting all the others?"

"Why, yes! He was gold colored," Rarity instantly recounted. "Two sets of tusks at the front of his snout, horrible eyes of blood!"

"Whoa! About seventeen trots long?" Rainbow Dash suddenly broke in.

"This dragon?" Panthera asked, projecting a small holographic depiction on the table.

"Yeah! That's the guy!" Spike acknowledged.

"How-however did you know?" Rarity asked, astonished.

"Pardus told me about that critter!" the pegasus exclaimed. "Said he and Panthera had bad dealings with him!"

"Yes, Pardus and I know him," she grimly told them.

"Is he trouble?" Twilight demanded. The shadowcat smirked.

"Really? You're asking me? What do you think?" she asked sarcastically.

"To be honest, I don't know what to think," the alicorn replied. "I've been getting reports of this dragon from several sources over the last few days. And every one of them seem to paint a different picture of him. The Cutie Mark Crusaders said he saved them from the Everfree Forest, while Zecora related about how he seemed to be hunting her for some reason. The night guards overseeing Trevar's house said the creature was very civil even as he refused to pull over on their demands, and now this! And the odd type of healing magic he's apparently using on himself and those other dragons! What can you tell us?"

"I could probably tell you quite a lot, actually," Panthera said after considering just how much she should reveal. "What would you like to know?"

"What do we do if we run across him?" the alicorn asked.

"Oh, that's easy. Pray you don't run across him," Panthera replied deadpan. "Pray very, very hard. And hope that whatever god you're praying to is kind enough to oblige."

"I'm sorry, but I'm not joking!" Twilight Sparkle snapped.

"Neither am I," Panthera sternly replied. "I'm deadly serious."

"He's very tough. Quite intelligent," she went on. "He's as vicious as he is kind. Pardus and I've fought him several times, yet we've not been able to kill him. Trust me, we've used very lethal force against him on every such encounter. You've seen some of what we can do, so you should be able to imagine what that's going to look like. He has no problem about ripping his enemies apart, assuming he doesn't flame them first." Just then, she thought of something else to help make all of their blood run cold that made her smirk in amusement. "And—he apparently has no problem about ripping his friends apart, either."

Oh, yeah! Those contracting irises are never going to get old!

"Good afternoon, Gilda," Pardus called as he entered their room in the Chrystal Castle.

"Lord Pardus," she greeted warmly.

"You can relay to Razor and Gustav that all is going according to plan," he told her. "Trevar has taken care of his personal matters for the day, while your comrades at his home are keeping the ponies in the dark about his comings and goings. Also, it seems my assumption about the pony following me was accurate. Hopefully, the rest of you will be able to get the supplies we need to secure Trevar's home without the ponies being the wiser. At the moment, though, I still have a little business to conclude with a certain pony, for which I'm going to need the four thousand and fifty bits to pay him for the passionfruit we got."

"Of course," she sighed.

"Any chance of Panthera showing up?" the griffon asked with a hopeful grin.

"Sorry, but I can't guarantee anything," Pardus gently told her. "We're expecting to assist Screaming Eagle's mating with Trevar shortly, and then there's going to be some needed time off this evening."

"Oh," Gilda said, sighing forlornly.

"Can I ask when your turn will be coming around?" Pardus inquired. Her head snapped up and her eyes opened in evident shock. "You know, with Trevar?" The set of her pupils and irises showed the caveat wasn't sitting any better with her regard.

"Uh—" she stammered with a gulp. "T-t-tomorrow," she stuttered. "And—and the next day—!"

"Then I can guarantee you that you will have her all to yourself," Pardus kindly told her. "And you won't have to worry about Trevar, if you don't want him to touch you. He's not the kind of person to force anyone to do something like that."

"Really!?" she asked, surprised by the offer.

"Yes. Really," Pardus affirmed. "He would be just as happy if you don't want him as he would if you let him mate with you—he would, however, be ecstatic—and would consider it a great honor—if you would allow him to help Panthera make you feel good."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Gilda asked, puzzled.

"He gets his greatest pleasure from making sure that others enjoy their pleasures," the shadowcat explained with a sincere smile.

"If Princess Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash accompany us, can you show us the field where the dragons fought?" Panthera asked.

"You want us all to go to where that dragon is?" Rarity exclaimed. Understandable, given the limitations of what the unicorn actually knew. And the cerulean pegasus and purple alicorn didn't look too pleased with the suggestion of their inclusion, either.

"Yeah! Didn't you just get through telling us to NOT get in his way?" Spike added.

"Well, if he's still there, I can at least keep him busy long enough for Rainbow Dash and the Princess to get you and Applejack out of there," Panthera offered.

"Then why go at all?" Spike demanded.

"To gage the amount of damage he was doing," Panthera innocently replied.

"We can tell you just how much damage he was doing!" the baby dragon protested. "He was ripping the living squit out of—"

"SPIKE!" the white unicorn and the purple alicorn both screamed at him.

"S-sorry, Twilight!" Spike exclaimed. "But it's got to be said! He ripped three other dragons apart! Three dragons that were each bigger than he was by at least three times. And this, after he somehow survived getting ripped apart by them several times! WHY, in the name of Celestia and Luna both, does anypony need to go out to confirm THAT!?"

"As much as I am appalled by the atrocious language the our dear little Spikey-wikey has somehow picked up lately, I must say, I agree with his sentiments," Rarity protested.

"Well, I'm certain of my knowledge of his capabilities," Panthera admitted. "Although, if he's improved his skills beyond my last encounter with him, such an examination would be telling. Plus, there's your own need to learn that which you might unfortunately one day face."

But the alicorn looked pensive, taking a long time to think about the matter. And the other Equestrian beings were quick to pick up on it.

"Oh, no!" Spike groaned.

"Really?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Dear Twilight! Tell you're not seriously considering—?" Rarity nervously began.

"Uh-huh! She is!" Applejack confirmed.

"We need to know," she softly muttered. And Panthera inwardly smiled. She had found this one's weakness: she has to know!

Oh, we're going to have so much fun with her! the shadowcat thought to herself.

It took several inquiries, and eventually he just had to say, "fuck it!" and use a few holographic projections of fake ponies while cloaked, but Pardus eventually found where the pony known as Filthy Rich lived.

Racist bunch of shits, Pardus thought as he approached the door to the mansion, smirking at the memory of those ponies who freaked at the shadowcat approaching them to ask such questions. They must not like black people. I should've wore my spots.

He waited for someone to answer the knock he gave on it. When it opened, he saw a familiar looking fuchsia colored filly. And she instantly recognized him.

He smiled.

She nervously gulped.

"Hello," he politely greeted. "Is your father home?"

She silently nodded, staring at his teeth with those pin-prick pupils and irises.

Then she slowly closed the door.

When it was shut, he heard several clicks. Then a scream.

Lieutenant Scott was once more feeling famished when the unicorn doctor was finally finished emitting that glow about his horn.

"How are you feeling?" he gently inquired.

"Starving!" Scott exclaimed.

"Excellent!" he happily said as he took a clipboard from Nurse Redheart and looked it over. "It says here that your kind are omnivores."

"Well, I'm vegan, actually," Scott said, correcting him.

"Oh? What's that?"

"I'm like you ponies. I only eat vegetables," she explained. "I don't eat meat due to ethical reasons."

"Hmm?" he grunted. "Commendable, perhaps. But unwise, given your condition. You should be eating a diet that meets your body's needs. And to perfectly honest, not all ponies are vegetarians. Pegasi, for example, are omnivores, too."

"What?" Scott asked, shocked at the revelation.

"It's not generally talked about," Doctor Scalpel said. "Unicorns, too, to a smaller degree. Only earth ponies are strictly vegetarians, although there are myths that sometimes point to evidence of the contrary."

"Your legends of Hercules?" she softly asked, and her words caused both the doctor and the nurse to react in shock.'

"You've heard of him and the four!?" Nurse Redheart asked in horror.

"Hercules is a myth from my world, and one of the labors he faced involved a group of meat-eating mares," Scott admitted. "When I first arrived here, I had a talk with that farmer, Applejack. She told me of your world's apparent connection to those myths."

"So! Hercules was one of your people? A human?" Doctor Scalpel inquired. "We never knew. We only knew he was a monster."

"Wow! How weird it is to hear that word applied to him," Scott said. "Although, in certain circles on my world, they would call him a monster."

"Well, in so much as Hercules wasn't a pony, that should come as no surprise at all," Nurse Redheart said. "The real monsters were the Four Earthist Mares of the Aponyclypse. They not only ate meat, they ate only meat! At least until whatever magic your Hercules did to them cured them of their madness and their banishment finally ended."

Scott had to blink several times at what she said. Then she groaned in pain at the atrocious horse-pun. She had begun to notice them more and more in this world.

"Well! We'd better get you something to eat, stat!" Doctor Scalpel exclaimed. "Obviously, the treatment has left you so famished you're hurting!"

"No! Actually, it was that horse-pun she dropped," Scott tried to protest, but she suddenly found her words falling on suddenly deaf ears as she was forcibly shoved into a wheelchair that Nurse Redheart somehow pulled out from nowhere….

"On it, Doctor!" Redheart responded, securing her into the chair.

"No! Really! It was the—" Scott was saying as she was being wheeled out of the treatment room and down the hall.

"And make sure she eats every bite!" Doctor Scalpel called out from the doorway.

"It was the stupid horse-pun!" Scott protested as her chair accelerated down the hallway.

"Yessir, Doctor! The griffon diet! Roger! Wilco, Doctor Scalpel!" Nurse Redheart yelled back. Somehow, even with her mouth occupied with the steering bar of the wheelchair, her words were perfectly intelligible as the pony shifted her running from a canter to a gallop.

"Those puns are every—ywheaeeyaaaaah—you're takingthisturntooffaasstt!!" Scott yelled and tensing up as Redheart ran her chair around the corner.

The four ponies and baby dragon stood off from the scene of the dragons' battle, near to where Rarity and Spike had stayed previously, obviously terrified of the creatures showing up again.

Panthera, naturally, made sure to keep any expression she broadcast as neutral as possible so as to not reveal what she already knew. She and Pardus were each a bitch to beat in poker, and Trevar hated them for that.

She hovered over the field, making a show of using her eyebeams set to a laser scanning mode to map out the entire area. In about half-an-hour, she had completed mapping every square millimeter of the area. Then, in the time it took her to fly back to rejoin the ponies, she used what she had learned in the past from Bill and his cousin, Paul, about hunting and estimating the sequence of events to make sense of intermixed tracks and traces. She compared this with what she was there to witness, and adjusted the actual recording to allow for the uncertainties no doubt that should naturally come from tracking alone.

When she landed among them, she had a modified rendered 3D movie of the fights ready to present to the ponies. She was interested in whether Rarity and Spike would recall the actual events from the errors she intentionally introduced and point them out.

"Based on the tracks in the ground, I think I can roughly account for most of what happened here," she said, beginning to project the movie of a miniature hologram of the field and the dragons' battles.

To their credit, both the white unicorn and baby dragon made numerous corrections, pointing out at least seventy percent of the errors she had introduced.

At the end of the two-and-a-half hour period, they had restored the actual fight to about eighty-five percent correct. Not bad, considering most fixed video of a single camera overlooking a crime scenes would often miss about ten percent of the full events, given camera angles and obstructions to the view that allowed prosecutors and jurors to invent things that happen in such blind spots. Panthera, on the other hand, had the input visuals from the holographic projections of the dragons to relay the view about any obstructions that she wasn't able to directly view herself.

At the end, she sighed and gave them the bad news.

"It is as I had feared," she said. "Dragon has markedly improved since the last time I fought him. Even with both of us, Pardus and I will have a very difficult time should we come across him again."

"Do you know what this dragon's name is?" the purple alicorn asked.

"His name is Dragon."

"Wait! The dragon's name is Dragon!?" Spike exclaimed. "What a ridiculous name! No other dragon will accept him taking that for his own!"

"Are you going to be the one who tells him he can't have it?" Panthera demanded, pushing her snout into his. "No other dragon has ever challenged him for his claim to that name and won!"

"Oh—uhh—no—I'm not gonna…," Spike meekly stammered.

"Then you're the fourth to do so," she said, smiling a toothy grin. "So you get to live, as do the others who likewise accepted his claim to that name."

"What do we do now?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"For now, we're done here," Panthera said, raising up to look back over her shoulder to the field behind her. "Other than the tracks and the blood spilt here, there's no sign of Dragon or the others. All we can do is wait for him to show up," she grimly told them.

The door reopened, despite the voice of the filly begging her parents to not answer it.

The mare gasped in horror. The stallion, while surprised, did have a reaction more akin to acknowledging someone with whom he was acquainted.

"Miss Panthera! I did not expect to see you so soon," Filthy Rich greeted.

"I'm her brother, Pardus, actually," he replied. "We're identical twins."

"Oh, of course," he accepted the explanation without question, but suddenly looked confused about something. But before the stallion could speak of it, Pardus used his tractor beam to shift the bag full of bits over toward them.

"My sister told me of the agreement she made with you," Pardus said. "We collected nine of the passionfruits, so here are the four thousand and fifty bits agreed to."

"Oh! Well! Thank you!" the stallion gratefully responded. "I trust your sister is fine? The trees where they grow is guarded by very dangerous creatures."

"She's perfectly fine, thank you for asking," Pardus replied. "The experience was a bit of a surprise, but not at all difficult or hazardous for her."

"Four—four—four thousand?" the mare stammered, finally breaking free of her evident paralysis.

"Four thousand and fifty," Pardus corrected. "At four fifty per fruit, as agree to."

"Of course!" Filthy Rich said, smiling. "Well, again, thank you for being so prompt with your payment."

"Not a problem," Pardus acknowledged. "But I've got other business to do, so I'll be leaving. Good day to you both. And say hello to your daughter for me. I really appreciate the help that her three classmates gave me the other day. I believe their names are Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Bell. She should appreciate having friends like them," he said in parting before taking off in flight.

His next stop was to another hardware store, where he picked up a few more supplies, including copious amounts of glue. Sure enough, the pink pony continued to follow him, failing to keep her covert spying on him concealed.

He really looked forward to getting the items being collected by the griffons. But he had a strong concern that getting the most difficult items: the gems and having them charged with the proper types of "magic" required. The only way that they'd be successful in getting those last items would be if they ponies have absolutely no idea of what it was they were building.

She became aware again while she was in the middle of eating, almost finished with a large bowl of salad.

The turn around the corner to the connecting hallway had been taken at nearly insane speeds that had actually titled the wheelchair with the g-forces. The singular question of how she didn't end up a smear on the wall was still going through her mind, along with the fact they were still going faster down the corridors toward the galley….

Most other ponies managed to have the reflexes to dodge out of the way in the nick of time. But more often than not, it was Nurse Redheart who was doing the dodging, steering the speeding wheelchair to zip and zigzag about ponies, tables, carts, and in one instance, in between a couple of speeding gurneys with patients and their attending medical staff that were being ran full speed down across a four-way intersection….

Scott had a momentary flashback to a trip to Mexico City, where she had been in a speeding taxi that had done the same thing at a blind intersection, somehow slipping between two other speeding taxies cutting across their route. There was no sound of squealing breaks or cars going out of control. Had they not miraculously missed each other, there would've been one tangled mess of metal and six dead people that day….

Scott wasn't aware of when the moment they actually came to a halt in the galley. Nor was she aware of what food was laid out in front of her. She wasn't even aware of when she had started eating….

Whatever shock that her mind had retreated into during that run only ended when her mind finally became aware nothing hazardous to her existence was going on at the moment. Her mind finally came out to take a peek and look around….

And her eyes finally settled on the bowl of salad. A safe bowl of salad….

She sighed in relief. Her belly was feeling content. The world wasn't rushing by at a near-supersonic blur. She wasn't experiencing an induced coronary. The taste of the mixed vegetables and fruits was a pleasant delight to her tongue….

She closed her eyes and happily chewed each mouthful, toying with attempting to identify what she was eating. There was orange, apple, cucumber, carrot, some sort of nut she suspected was cashew—tomatoes! She loved tomatoes! There was something mushy she couldn't quite figure out, a flavor and texture of something that she thought were chives, a crunchy substance that had a real nice flavor to it, and some sort of legume—maybe a lima bean?

Taking another mouthful, she once more came across that interesting crunchy ingredient with the wonderful flavor. She felt it was familiar, but she couldn't place it.

Puzzled, she looked down at the bowl in front of her. Yes, there's the apples. Some cashews. The chives. Oh, is that a flower? Looks like a dandelion! Cool! There's some carrots. Oh, what's that? Tofu? She took her fork and sampled it.

No, not tofu, she decided. It also had a consistency and flavor she was familiar with, but she just couldn't place it.

As she was puzzling over that, she finally spied a large piece of a brown colored, thinly flat, stiff object.

Maybe this? she wondered, setting her fork down to pick it out of the salad with her fingers so she could get a clearer look at it.

She nibbled at it, confirming it was the item that had such wonderful flavor to it.

Then it finally sunk in just what it was.

"BACON!?" she screamed.

"Why, yes. I think that's what that is," Nurse Redheart agreed after taking a look at it.

"How can you put bacon in a salad?" Scott demanded, backing away from the bowl as much as she could in her chair.

"It's a Caesar Salad. We sometimes have griffons as patients, so we need to provide for them," she replied. "They come in many varieties and are a favorite of many griffons, no doubt because they were named after one of their ancient emperors. And as we mentioned, pegasi enjoy them, too."

Scott looked at her in horror.

"You know," Redheart said, looking closely at Scott's eyes. "That's so weird. I've noticed how your irises never change size. Is that normal for your kind?"

"But I'm a vegan!" she protested.

"Lieutenant! We had this discussion already," the pony told her. "We know you prefer to not eat meat, but this is for your body's health. Your body needs this diet to heal!"

"But—I—I didn't know what I was eating! Going down the hallways at those speeds—it's unethical to feed me such food when I'm in state of shock like that!" she insisted.

"It's unethical to treat your condition in a manner that doesn't get you healed," the pony countered. "And believe me, I'm not comfortable to have to feed a meat-eater. But I'm doing this for your health."

They glared at each other, neither willing to yield their position on the impasse. Then Nurse Redheart finally sighed.

"I suppose you're not going to finish it, are you?" she asked.

"Absolutely not!" Scott exclaimed.

"Well, you nearly finished it off," the pony said as she took the edge of the bowl in her mouth to carry it to the dishwasher's station window.

"I guess it's a good thing she doesn't know about the salmon stake she had as a main course," Scott heard the mare mutter to herself.

"Hey! It looks like Allec the Griffon decided to make an appearance, after all," Pardus snarled as he and Panthera decloaked.

"Hmmm—it's not as bad as it appears," Trevar sighed as he enjoyed getting his wings preened by both griffon hens.

"Really?" Panthera asked, smirking.

"Well, as much as Screaming enjoyed me as a human," Trevar began, "she was having the same issues as Mittens. I could make her cum and cum all day long, but it wasn't wearing her out. To her, my dick was just a big stiff fat finger. She liked it well enough. But to satisfy her, I needed—uh—" he looked back toward his rear and tossed his beak in the general direction, "—a cactus dick," he finished, looking back to them.

"Uh-huh," Pardus grumbled.

"And there was Mittens, ready to help out with the second passionfruit. Well, one thing led to another—and you know how it goes."

"We can't leave this fucker alone for a minute," Panthera sighed.

"You are aware you're still bleeding, aren't you?" Pardus inquired.

"Ah—well—uh——yeah," Trevar admitted.

"Want us to help with that?" Panthera asked.

"Would you?" Trevar instantly begged.

Later that night, as Trevar and the griffons slept, Panthera and Pardus worked silently in the basement, laying down the foundation of the Faraday cage, starting in the right-front storage room.

After identifying the structural support members holding up the house, they first removed the non-supporting portions of the room's walls. They then laid out a pattern of the small wooden blocks that were to function as isolation insulators on the floor.

The pattern of blocks was made denser at the locations along the future border of the projected confines of the storage room where new structural support members would go.

Next came the sandwiched panels for the floor, using portions of the copper foil, thin steel frames, a few more wooden insulator blocks and screws to fasten them to ensure the inner and outer walls of the panels were respectively bonded to their neighbors yet remained insulated from each other.

It took quite a bit of extremely fine manipulation of their tractor beams to work the screws into the panel seams from underneath, considering there needed a right-angle action on the screws' turning often at over a couple meters' distance.

Next began the walls of the basement of that section, needing special care to not let the insulator blocks slip down from their pattern. Simple glue applied to where the blocks set on the existing basement wall was able to assist in that process.

Then came the tricky part, which was to do the same for the ceiling. Again, gluing the insulator blocks to the ceiling was the elegant solution there. And the material from the removed room's inner walls helped keep the ceiling panels held tight against those insulator blocks.

As they worked toward the first of the building's interior structural support beams, the progression of the ceiling support scaffolding took the weight of the house. Then, just prior to its removal, the shadowcats laid out a couple of thick steel plates along the storeroom's boundaries at the new basement walls of the Faraday cage. One plate set on the floor, to protect the floor panel from puncture and one plate was held up against the ceiling while a precisely cut I-beam was wedged in between, forming the first of the house's new support members at.

Another couple of measured I-beams were laid nearby off to the side to wait for the next step.

Now, it was time for the first of the interior vertical wooden beams to be replaced. With the scaffolding taking the weight of that portion of the house, their eyebeams cut sliced the wooden beam out and they set it aside. The floor and ceiling were smoothed over and the pattern of isolation blocks were set in place in both locations. Then the floor and ceiling panels were added. Then the protective floor plate was positioned.

'Ready?' Panthera asked Pardus. He nodded. He set himself to use his tractor beams to take the weight of the house

With both the scaffolding and the shadowcat supporting it, Panthera used her eyebeams to slice off the top portion of the I-beam on one of the basement wall supports. She then gently lowered the ceiling plate to the now shorter vertical I-beam.

Together, they applied a new tractor field to the ready pre-cut interior structural I-beam and held it up with a steel plate topping it. Once it was in place, and Pardus giving just a slight additional nudge to make enough room for it, they then lifted and wedged one of the longer I-beam to its horizontal position atop of both vertical. It would form the top of one of the room's new interior walls.

As Pardus eased off his supporting beams, the house settled on the horizontal I-beam, and their sensors confirmed the stress was nominal. The then repeated the process for the other vertical outer I-beam that would become the perpendicular wall and were quite satisfied with the results.

In just six-and-a-half hours, they had completed all the rooms of the basement, leaving gaps only around the stairs coming down and where the doors to the outside would eventually go, one for the existing cellar hatch and the one for the escape tunnel they planned to run.

Panthera was very happy. She was quite satisfied with how the work had progressed and the final results met their expectations perfectly. And as she watched Pardus make the preliminary installation of the interior grounding cable, she thought back to how the afternoon's entertainment when they joined Trevar and the griffons had likewise been satisfying.

Initially, they had simply joined in the action, the three of them all pleasuring both griffons and each other. But after a couple hours, Pardus suggested the two of them share a passionfruit, saying about how it had enhanced his experience of sex, making it actually feel as real as they had remembered.

Not seeing any problems with that, Panthera had agreed. And she was amazed by the salty-sweet-sour flavor that she hadn't experienced since becoming a panther. Those two fucking bastards had kept that little detail a pleasant surprise.

Of course, they had mentioned the feeling of being drunk once the passionfruit kicked in. What she hadn't counted on was how it made her entire outlook change.

Up until that moment, for her entire life, she had always thought of herself as Allec Trevar. Her memories before her creation were of when he was human until the day the Daniels vanished. Her first awareness of being an artificial life form was the moment Yoko killed Trevar and he was forced to use the Gateway the first time. Of course she knew her body was of a female panther—no one who had been born a human male could possibly miss realizing that! But in her mind, she was still Allec Trevar, a human male!

She did not consider herself gay. She was quite happily a healthy heterosexual male. But getting transformed like she had been, there was no getting around the issue her body was now that of a female panther. And she had absolutely NO desire to seek other males, human or panther. Or even dragon.

Okay, maybe a male dragon—? Aw, well, no, not really, she finally concluded.

Of course, there was the complication of the fact she wasn't Allec Trevar anymore. Not the real one, anyway.

No.

The REAL Allec Trevar was this human, sometime dragon, male. Plus, there was another Allec Trevar standing beside her, who happened to be a male panther. And she found it quite frustrating. She seriously wanted to fuck a female human. Or a female panther. Or even a female dragon. Unfortunately, even had there been any existing and available, she couldn't fuck anything! She had no dick!

Only two factors working together made her even consider the options available to her. One being these two other creatures were Allec Trevar, same as she was. The other was they were actually able to telepathically link. Not just telepathically speak to each other, but to actually link and feel what the others did and were experiencing.

It was quite the heady feeling to soar through the sky as a dragon. It was immensely comforting to be able to feel what it felt like to walk and hold things like a human again. She even got to experience being able to have sex as a man again! Of course, nothing could compare to mating with Yoko when they were both dragons. Being able to link with Trevar when he did those things did wonders to maintain her sanity and alleviate her frustrations.

Naturally, Trevar and Pardus were curious as to what it felt like to be a female. In a way, so did she. Yes, her body was female, but she had not ever experienced sex as a female, so she didn't have any basis to which to judge, either. She was a forty-something year-old virgin as far as her body was concerned. Likewise, the others were aware she was Allec Trevar, a male, and didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

But whenever she linked with them, those feelings and thoughts they had were still there.

And so she decided to make the offer. She still wasn't gay, not by any stretch. But she had to consider a puzzling conundrum: when people masturbate themselves, doesn't that qualify as a homosexual act? Homosexuality is defined as "same sex", and you are your own partner when you masturbate—it can't get much more "same sex" than that!

Also, considering that all three were still Allec Trever, having sex with either or both, it would still amount to "self-masturbation".

So she gave herself over to them. It was certainly—different—naturally. But the resulting sensations actually made logical sense, especially as they looked into the results of fetal medical research afterwards.

But it wasn't as entertaining to be the female as it was being the male. So the occasions where the three of them engaged in such activities were very few and sporadic.

However, this afternoon, when the passionfruit had kicked in….

Today, for the first time in her life, she thought of herself as female! And it was wonderful! Feeling Trevar hold her as he mounted her, she didn't just focus on the feeling slipping in beneath her tail, as pleasant as it was, but she was just as focused on how the fur on his inner thighs tickled and rubbed over the fur of her rump, how the weight of his belly along her spine, how his strong arms were wrapped about her waist, how his talons teased the nipples along her belly, how he gently nibbled the nape of her neck and how his hands stroked her sides and he would reach up under her wings and grip her shoulders. Never had she experienced and enjoyed being fucked like that. And Pardus also gave her a wonderful experience that matched the griffon that Trevar was.

Naturally, she shared her existence with them, and she learned what it was like to be a griffon male, too.

Prior to today, she had always loved those two like herself. Today, however, she loved them like her mates!

Watching Pardus put the finishing touches to his work, she stared at his furred rear, licking her lips in anticipation. Before going up stairs, she was going to have a piece of that shadowcat.

Then it was going to be Trevar's turn again. Only this time, she was going to have him change back to human. It would be getting daylight in a little while, after all, and it would be prudent to not surprise Gilda with his griffon form when she showed up. And then Gilda was going to be getting the full treatment and she couldn't wait for Gilda to reciprocate—Panthera might consider herself female at the moment, but she still preferred females. She guessed that made her a little bit bi-sexual.

And Panthera made one final determination as she walked up to Pardus: It naturally wouldn't happen today, but before she left this fucking planet, she was going to use that passionfruit and fuck Trevar's bloody dragon in such a way that the three of them would never forget it!

Her raspy tongue's stroke over Pardus' genitals made him yelp in surprise and jump straight up into the air.

The blinding snowstorm forced him to traipse over the frozen tundra rather than use his wings to get around. As much as he wanted to see the landscape to aid in his hunt, he had very practical reasons to not dispel the blizzard, chief of which was the dozen-mile wide circular field of perpetually spring-like territory just over the hill.

It would not do him well to be seen out here digging around the barren wasteland.

It was very tough going, however. The cold was quite unpleasant. On the other paw, by their very nature, natural storms were the embodiment of chaotic forces, and participating in it, however unpleasant it otherwise was, did much to warm his heart.

But Q was on a mission to save Equestria and help Celestia protect her world, whether she liked it or not.

She needed help. She didn't understand the danger that Trevar presented.

He would do anything to help her. And he was pretty certain she wasn't going to appreciate the help he was gathering.

Of course, the future was always such a fluid thing—but he did dislike the predictability it often demonstrated. He was going to have to have another long talk with the Guardian of Forever about that….

Well, always better to ask forgiveness than—yada—yada—yada.

Besides, it's not like he needed to ask for permission.

His nose suddenly told him to dig here.

He had already announced that he was getting her the help she needed.

Winter is coming!

His eagle claw came up with a sliver of something very black.

It might not be the help she deserves, wants, or appreciates…

Q smiled.

…but beggars can't be choosers.