The doctors poke and prod Blaze for some time, they even x-raying his leg and wing again. By noon they’re satisfied he is stable enough to be sent home, though he still wouldn’t be walking, flying, or other activities but most of his injures are healing amazingly well. Far faster than expected, but according to the show, Dash was only down for a few days from her broken wing.

Since we are actually, on the job, the LT returns the rental van we’d been using, and files a travel claim on it to be reimbursed, and sign out 2 JLTV’s, the Army still has Hummers in their registry but the JLTV’s are a bit more roomy, good thing for hauling ponies around, and they come in a variety of colors from tan, to tan, and even tan.

Humming softly, and much to the shock of the girls, I’ve scooped up Blaze in one magical aura and trot him down to the JLTV, gently setting him down in the payload bay, pulling blankets and pillows around him to make him comfortable. I guess I just have a little more strength magic wise than the girls, but they haven’t re-discovered their cutie marks yet. I guess that for the Mane 6 it is easy, everyone knows Rarity is about fashion or Flutters is about animals. The problem for most of the others, it is harder, we haven’t even seen what instrument Ballad plays in the show.

The girls have a few bags of goods on them from their shopping trip to the BX, and those get loaded into the vehicle, Ballad takes the driver seat in the first tactical, and Eric in the second. “Hah, at least I won’t hear you singing.” Eric calls out.

Cipher looks out her window calling back, “Look, here, are three little ponies, ready to sing for this crowd, Listen up, 'cause here's our story, I'm gonna sing it…”

Rolling down the other windows on that side of the vehicle, Ah-Pee and Sugerberry leaned out the window yelling at Eric “Very LOUD!!!”

At least they aren’t trying to sing that song, it is enough though to get Eric driving fast. The drive ends up being fairly relaxing and I had the girls take turns in the driver’s seat. We did have to make two drive through stops, on the way, for snacks, coffee and food for Blaze.

And one pit stop for us girls, though the McDonald’s staff seems less than thrilled about a herd of ponies charging for their bathroom, some of the kids seem excited though. “Note to all parents, if you see a herd of ponies heading for the bathroom in a hurry, please make sure your kids don’t follow unless you want to be explaining things to them. Seriously, boys trying to get into the girls bathroom, not smart.” I say, trotting out and shaking my head.

Finally with the last hop done though, we are back at Grandfathers. Personally, I was starting to find I like wide open country compared to the confines of cities and built up army bases. Not that I’d want to live outside, or give up coffee. Just real ground felt better underhoof than concrete.

Looking back at Blaze, I scoop him up and trot back inside, carefully laying him down on his bed, “how’s that, your own bed, safe and sound?”

Blaze kicks back a bit and chuckles “Yeah, I’m still grounded, but I’ll get my fluffy back.”

Using my magic I give his wings a quick check over and preening before giving him a hug. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”

“What? Like you’re the only one that can play hero and risk themselves?” He smiles to soften the blow.

Gently I poke his nose with a forehoof, “you know exactly what I mean.”

Reaching up Blaze grabs me gently and pulls me into the bed facing him, laying a wing over me, chuckling softly he looked into my eyes and pokes my nose back with his. “Yep, you’re being overprotective of me, and if I’m not allowed, you’re not allowed.”

Closing my eyes I tuck my muzzle under his just feeling safe, like all the world is melting away, and everything will be fine.

“He’s a special somepony,” I hear behind me.

“Uh huh, I have a special…” Blinking, I gasp and roll back, falling right off the bed with a clatter, Yiska’s bed wasn’t that big after all. Laying on my back I look up blinking, “Hi Sugarberry.”

Giggling softly she looks down at me, “Hi Twilie, sorry, couldn’t resist, you left the door wide open.”

“I have got to stop doing that don’t I,” I say, scrunching up my nose.

“I just came up to tell you, I think Ciphers figured out a new spell.” Berry said then turned around her tail high and swaying fanning her scent around the room as she heads downstairs.

Giggling, I get up, “Berry, you’re going to need a pad soon.” Following her out, I didn’t notice that I was doing the same thing with my tail.

Cipher is having a ball with the new laptop she had bought, she had a Google glass over one eye, holding an air mouse with her magical aura, the keyboard was glowing as her magical aura had the keys clicking at nearly as fast as the computer could register.

Around her the LT and rest of the Rangers are looking on in a mix of shock and confusion, as she talks while working, a magical image hovering above the laptop like some holographic projection as she runs the air mouse, “Almost ready, just resetting my GUI, had to repartition the drive and use a portable drive so I could mirror Windows to it… the machine came with windows 10 but I wanted Linux, I think I need a faster keyboard though. “

“How are you…” I say, motioning to the floating display.

“No idea really, I just needed an extra screen while I was working on code, and umm… I just realized I could.” She says, looking up. “And no, I’m not breaking any international hacking laws.”

“Yet,” the LT chuckles, “Cyber warfare is going to love you.”

“They hated me before this, I kept re-writing the GUI to my specs.” She giggled. “And…” her screens go blank, and she leans back looking upside down at everyone.

“And what? What now?” I ask.

“Now I wait about an hour for everything to re-compile, it’s just a laptop, it’s not a mainframe or supercomputer…” Cipher smiled, “anyone got coffee?”

“I got it, and you’re doing great Cipher Splash, who thought the Splash part of your name might apply to net surfing.” Trotting into the kitchen I filled a glass from the percolator. “How do you take your coffee?”

“Two scoops of instant,” she says lying back on the chair head hanging over the back.

“It’s percolated.” I call out.

“Yep, that’s why it’s only two scoops.”

Shaking my head, I add the two scoops of instant and turn, walking towards the living room, “Got it, no cream or sugar?”

Trotting out with the cup I hear a knocking at the door and a woman barges in, crying. She has a bloody and limp form in her arms. I drop the coffee cup as I lose all focus on magic.

Henry looks up, blinking, and quickly clears off the table as the native woman lay the little foal on the table. A very soft pink pegasus, she has a two tone pink mane and tail, but no cutie mark. Most of her feathers have been plucked and blood is dripping from her wings.

“I found her hanging by her hind legs tied to a fence.” The woman sobs.

The foal was small, her hind legs clearly showing the rope burns, blood coming from her nose, as well blood and fluids drip from her ear. She also has a cross cut into her belly. Henry is quick to check for pulse and breathing.

“I… I don’t know, she’s barely alive, I’m not sure I can…” Henry shakes his head, running for his bag, setting up an IV to get fluids into her, and started bandaging what he can.

Looking at his phone the LT says softly “Feather Pinch, pegasus version of Berry Pinch or Pinchy seen in the background.”

Grandfather stands up, “The damage is serious, I will need your help, as well as Blazes.” He said looking sternly.

“Blaze is bedridden, he’s badly hurt himself.” I protest.

“He will be needed for the fire,” Grandfather says firmly and stands, walking to the door, “Bring him and her.”

“This is serious grandfather,” I start but he turns, giving me an unfamiliar look of determination.

“I know it is, I need help from the spirits, I just hope it doesn’t take long to reach one.” He states and turns, heading for the fire site.

Running upstairs I skid to a stop, sitting at the foot of Blaze bed, “Blaze, grandfather told me to get you, do you think your strong enough to help with a ceremony?”

Moaning Blaze huffs, “Bed ridden and now a ceremony, what’s wrong?”

“Army of God, they left a foal all but dead hanging…” I say looking back, then hear Blaze whimpering as he tries to get out of bed on his own.

Shaking my head I grab him with my magical field and pick him up, along with the pillows and blanket and bring him out to the ritual site, quickly setting him up. Cipher and the girls are already there, waiting for us. Sugarberry is snarling, the fur on her tail puffed out.

Looking at Grandfather I can’t understand why he wants to try and talk to spirits now, with the foals life hanging on the line.

*** AoG Bunker ***

“You win some, you lose some.” The man said, “The money though from our sponsor shall help.”

“We sent message though, even if we lose people, we can still take blood, and none of these animals are off limits.” A second says, as they look at the map.

“Some of the money is coming in from drug sources. Won’t the DEA get involved?” A young man asks.

“This is God’s work, the DEA can get involved if they want, but they cannot stand in the face of God Himself.” The elder states.

“Did we have to do that to a foal?” The young man asks plaintively.

“The devil comes in all forms, adult or foal, it doesn’t matter. These creatures are not of our world, and need to be put down like the animals they are.” He responded. “If it takes gutting one and leaving it out in the sun to make them realize they are not safe… then so be it.”

“God’s will be done.” The elder intones.

“God’s will be done.”

*** Velvet ***

I sit blinking, looking around. I have never understood Grandfather’s spiritual work, and this makes even less sense to me, I understand the idea of talking to spirits is part of their culture but this just doesn’t make sense. The songs grandfather sings, calling for help, calling for the emergency, are swiftly answered.

“What kind of creature would do such a thing,” King Aspen says, “This is not hunting for food, this is not killing for protection. This is pure evil.”

“Her magic has been disrupted, I don’t know if she can heal even with help.” Grandfather said, “she is out of balance, is there anything you can do to help, Great Spirit?”

King Aspen shakes his head slowly, “You have most of the herbs you would need there, as well as unicorn magic but you are missing Zap Apple wood. Without it, the potion won’t work to help her. Those only grow in the Everfree.”

“And the Apple farm.” Ah-Pee states, then lowers her head at a glare from the stag.

“Without it she is not likely to recover, and even if she does live, she will likely never fly. I am sorry little ones.” Aspen shakes his head.

“So she’s going to die?” Cipher moans, looking bleak.

Sugarberry looks down at the foal, “She’s so young. She doesn’t deserve this.”

“Can’t we just use some other type of wood?” Ballad asks, whimpering.

“No, Zap Apple wood has the magical energies in it, its properties are her only hope.” Aspen states quietly.

Blinking, I looked up then back at grandfathers house, “Magical energies? You mean Aether?”

“Yes, you should know that, you spent enough time in the Everfree, little unicorn.” The king intones.

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember anything that from back then, but…” I stop, thinking furiously.

Standing I run into grandfather’s house, looking at the shelves in the living room I concentrate, I know I had sensed something the first day I walked in here. “Where is it?” Searching through the items I stop at the peace pipe. Touching my horn to it I looked for that feeling, “Its Aether, Equestrian Aether.”

Grabbing the pipe I run back to the fire setting it down, panting, “I think this is made from zap apple wood, it’s old, I don’t know if it will work.”

“There shouldn’t be Zap Apple wood there, but you may be right, all it will require is a few shavings of that, the rest of the ingredients, a pegasus feather from an adult, mare preferably but stallion could work, as well as some of the more common herbs, and you should be able to make a potion to help her.”

“Thank you noble spirit,” Grandfather states, nodding slowly.

“A young unicorn once taught me the important of cutie marks, let’s hope this foal can grow to find her own.” King Aspen shows us in haste what we need to do, then his image fades as the stag trots off into the flames.

The LT calls Fleetfoot for help, she was the closest mare with wings, I had to lay my ears back, I could hear her scream over the phone when he explained things but I was more concerned with my job.

Very carefully I shaved some slices off the pipe like I was told to, collecting them in a large bowl, grandfather brings up the rest of the herbs to add to the potion as well. Looking back I nuzzle up to Blaze softly “I’m worried too. There’s no certainty that this will work.”

“I know, and I know you, you have to try.” Blaze said nodding, “so I’ll say to you, there’s no certainty so don’t blame yourself.”

I nod slowly and sigh, whimpering, as I watch Grandfather come back to prepare the herbs and water, the all of us look up to the sky waiting on Fleetfoot, she’s fast, let’s hope she’s fast enough.

*** Over a 1000 years ago, I think it was a Sunday ***

The wind blows Starswirl’s cloak, causing it to flow around his legs, it’s getting late and Luna should be raising the moon soon, but she had already put up a few stars, a gentle hint to Celestia that it was time to put the sun down.

Scanning the tree line, he watches for any sign of his quiet footed friends, the deer are always good at vanishing, and few of them trusted the ponies, but this was a special occasion, it would be the first of Luna’s full moons for this month. Everything was in place for what he needs, and if this works, he’d show Celestia.

One by one they stepped out of the shadows of the forest, three bucks, and two does. Starswirl recognized Willow, Cedar and Pine. The does though, he’s never met. All of them though have small barrels made of wood tied to their necks, sizes varied from as small as an apple cider stein on the does, to something that looked like it could hold 4 or 5 apples in them on the larger stags.

“Sorry we are late old friend, may I introduce Maple and Juniper. They wouldn’t let us leave the village without them. They both helped with finding the wood.” Willow states.

The does look around timidly before they bowed to Starswirl respectfully. As deer go both are fairly pretty, Maple was slightly taller but had a white heart shaped mark on her forehead just above her eyes. Juniper has very soft green eyes, and her soft brown coat shifts to black tips on her ears and the tip of her tail.

Unlike the ponies, deer have no cutie marks, and often have only very subtle differences between them, so it could be hard, for Starswirl at least, to tell them apart, but the deer never seem to have that problem. Though Starswirl had guessed the deer might have the same problem with some ponies. There are several unicorns that served in the guard that look almost the same, especially after their manes are cut.

“Well come with me, we’ll take the back way into my lab,” he says, trotting to a wall on the side of the main building, “It’s shorter and a bit less claustrophobic for you rather than going through all the halls.”

Horn glowing, the wall responds to his magic and opens up, revealing a deep ramp downwards under the main castle. All of the secret passages in this castle made it somewhat fun to travel, the sisters enjoyed it, though Luna still hadn’t realized his lab was down, not up. Up, was just the entrance, and long tunnels leading to the lab. Poles, or maybe a slide, he would have to add something fun to get down here, the winding staircase is so last season.

They stop in front of the mirror and whistle softly, “Very pretty, so that’s why you needed so many boards,” Willow states, tilting his head.

Juniper speaks with the softest and gentlest voice Starswirl had ever heard, “I have worked with wood all my life, carving and shaping it, I was the one that shaped the Zap Apple wood for our potion containers, it is very hard to work with, and I was scared to use so much for this. What does it do?”

“Aside from reflect your beauty my lady, it’s a portal between worlds.” Starswirl states. “You see, in my studies I have found there are different worlds out there, different dimensions. At first I found I could see them by reflecting those though smaller mirrors, but in this case, I needed enough wood to make a bridge.”

Willow takes a step forward, “A bridge?”

“Oh yes, the mirror has to be large enough to step through, but by, shall we say, entering the mirror on this side when it is activated, we will come through on the other side in a new world. Some of these worlds are very different and as such, changes will be made so we can adapt to the world.”

“Changes?” Maple squeaks as the two other stags look at each other nervously.

“Oh it’s all perfectly safe, the changes are usually minor, for example if the mirror were to open up underwater we would be granted gills. It’s a safety precaution.” Starswirl stated. “Truth is I do not know for sure where the mirror will open, but that’s half the fun. The magic should lock onto any sufficiently large reflective surface on the other side and form a lock.”

“So how do we get back from there?” Willow asked looking skeptical.

“Once the lock is created, the two points will become fixed, and to return we simply step through the gate on that side. It will return us here, and of course clear any of the alterations made. It’s all very magical.” He states with a nod.

“How did you come up with this?” Willow asks.

“Actually, the magic is far older than I. There are stories of it in the ancient libraries, of crystals from the deep mines that held this. I’ve used some of them in the mirror but this link is ancient, I am simply opening it for us.” Starswirl states as he touches his horn to the mirror. Concentrating, he can feel the magic reaching out across the void, between the dimensions. “Almost… got…”

The waves of energy radiating from the mirror cause the deer to back up slowly. Then there is a loud popping sound, and with a dull flash of light and finally loud snap as the magic locks on to an object on the other side and reverberates back. Much like a rubber band being pulled and let go, the back snap hits Starswirl, sending him flying backwards across the lab skidding to a stop at the base of a painting of Princess Celestia.

Willow was the first to his side, “Are you alright?”

Coughing up a puff a smoke, Swirl raised a forehoof. “Got it.”

“Well that doesn’t instill confidence does it?” Cedar says with a worried chuckle.

Maple steps forward and bows her head, touching the side of her flask, with a click the flask opens and bowing again, she pours the water over Starswirl.

“Maple here makes some of the best healing potions and salves. They can mend bone, fix broken teeth, and even cure the hiccups.” Willow says with a little smile.

*** Velvet ***

Fleetfoot hits the ground hard, panting, sides heaving with the exertion from the flight. “To paraphrase Rarity,” she panted, “I may be the fastest of the Wonderbolts, but stamina isn’t my strongpoint.”

Ballad comes running over, putting a wet blanket over Fleetfoot and her wings, to help cool her down, and Cipher bounds up with a large bottle of pop with a straw.

Carefully pulling one of her flight feathers, she looks at the foal and starts snarling, “Those monsters.”

“People always talk about things like werewolves, vampires, and dragons as monsters. They even call or consider unicorns and pegasi monsters in some cases. The truth is, sometimes I think humanity can be the real monsters and everything else should live in fear of them.” Ballad says.

Taking the flight feather I bring it over, stirring it into the mix. “King Aspen said this is a very ancient recipe of the deer. We needed the flight feather because it’s a pegasus we are healing, and to help focus the magic on her wings, without it the magic would dilute across all of her wounds and while healed she may lose her magic and end up being lost to us.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Fleetfoot asks.

“Umm, magic mumbo-jumbo, unicorn stuff.” Cipher giggles.

Fleetfoot shakes her head, “In other words you have no idea either.”

“Ok girls, its horn time, as King Aspen said, given the amount of damage and the age of the wood, we need to charge it up.” Closing my eyes I reach out to the potion, slowly pushing magic into it. It feels like pushing jello with a finger.

One by one, each of the girls joins in, with grandfather watching, slowly the fluid turns from dark brown, to a grey, to a clear silver. “Ok little ones, its ready.”

Picking up the water, Grandfather carefully pours it over her wings and belly, before pouring the last of it down her throat. Almost instantly the wounds start to close. The first new feathers starting to grow right before our eyes, while there are not many of them it is a sign that her magic is coming back and not totally lost.

“It’s lucky she was so small, we wouldn’t have enough wood for a full grown pegasus.” I say softly.

Nodding once, Blaze sighs, “This has gone beyond terrorism and cultism… this has gone right into psychopathic behavior.”

Fleetfoot shakes her head, “I’m going to see that these people are listed as a top threat terror group. This kind of behavior is unacceptable anywhere in the world! Let alone the USA.”

Stomping a hoof I look over, “Not the time for that, we are here for Feather Pinch right now, not for plotting revenge or hate.” I move over to lay down on my side by the little pegasus foal, pulling her head to my belly. “Come on little one, you can do it.”

Cipher looked up, “King Aspen said that music could help to.”

Ballad sits, looking at the fire, then at the rest of us starting to sing, her voice alone proving why she had a musical cutie mark. “The fire of friendship lives in our hearts, As long as it burns we cannot drift apart.”

With tears in my eyes I lifted my head. Joining in, looking at Blaze and Ah-Pee as I sing, “Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few. Laughter and singing will see us through.”

Everyone moves over, sitting around the foal, joining in singing, “We are a circle of pony friends, a circle of friends we'll be to the very end…”