We sit in somewhat of a circle, giggling a bit. The Unicorn Club is gathered around the laptop, even Fleetfoot pokes her muzzle over to see. Crescendo is getting Cipher to adjust the colors a little, to make sure they are correct on the screen.

The Army tents have been set up at the far end of the football field, and a few porta potties have been set up as well. They have one tent attached to the field kitchen, becoming a small mess hall where ponies can get a hot meal, drink, or sit and think. One tent to act as an aid station for any ponies who arrive injured, or those needing medical treatment coming out of, or going into the portal. One tent is a command and communication center, but I’ve talked them into turning it into a call home center. It gives ponies a chance to say goodbye to friends and family if they choose, or to allow them to ask for help, a ride home, or money to be wired, if they are staying. Finally there are four tents with beds set up, a halfway house to for ponies to sleep before going through the gate or when coming back. They could probably sleep about 48 ponies at any given time. While that may not seem like much, it is transient after all, most are either going through the gate right away, or just waiting for word or money.

Cipher is holding her coffee with one hoof, drinking it, honestly, she’s one of the few ponies or people I ever met that thought military coffee was too weak. Altering the mane style slightly she looks over at Crescendo.

“That’s it!” She said, “That’s the pink fluffy unicorn!”

Looking at each other, we giggle softly, “Actually he looks kind of cute like that, but are you sure that’s his cutie mark?”

She nodded, “I did like you asked and I memorized them all.”

“What’s wrong with his cutie mark?” Ballad asked.

“It’s just… stars normally would mean magic. His destiny is, or was, to be a magical healer.” I say, “If I’m guessing it right, though again, look at Ciphers mark, often the pony who has them is the only one that knows what it truly means.”

“So they all turned out to be pegasi except for him? I wonder why.” Ah-Pee muses.

“They said the ones that were naturals in the air, wingsuit training and such, are the pegasi, Henry flunked wingsuit training and the mirror likely decided magic is his thing.” Crescendo replies with a smile.

“In some ways I almost feel sorry for him,” Sugarberry says softly.

“For that coat color?” Cipher giggled.

“No, well yes and no, his coat colors turning him off of being a unicorn, but his natural talent is magic, which he’ll be giving up and turning his back on when he comes back through the gate.” Sugarberry sighs softly, “Picture going all your life, and finding out your special talent, only to give it up. To humans it may not seem like much.”

Everypony looks at their own cutie marks and shiver.

“All he’ll probably think about is, pink unicorn. I guess that would be for the better though.” Ballad says. “Ok let’s see someone else.”

Cipher pulled up the next finished picture, she’s rendered all of them, but we didn’t let Crescendo tell us who was who so as not to spoil the surprises, we make guesses occasionally, but never really want answers. It’s a fun game for us.

“Velvet?”

Looking up, I blink and wave, I hadn’t expected to see Dust here, but at the same time I hadn’t expected anything that’s happened for the last month. Dust is in line, getting some coffee, with a pair of unicorns. “Come on over, join us.”

Looking back at the coffee, Mindy picks her drink, as well as Dusts, and makes her way over to our table. Sitting and getting herself comfortable, Dust looks around, her expression hard to read, “What is all of this?”

“Blaze and I are Rangers, part of Special Operation Command, Sugarberry here is an admin clerk at the SOC HQ. They set up these tents and police cordons up to keep humans away. These next few hours, days, until the portal closes are going to be really trying and painful for ponies. We are trying to make transitions back and forth as painless as possible.” I say.

Cipher waves, “I’m Cipher, Army Cyber warfare division and Crypto analysis. That’s Ballad, Army Corps of Engineers. Add in Sugarberry and we make up the Unicorn Club. That’s Ah-Pee, she’s Infantry Reserves, field cook, and part of the Apple family.”

“That’s Eric.” Crescendo chirps putting up his image on the screen.

“Mindy, Moon Shadow, and…” Mindy started.

“The world Famous, Brony favorite Waifu, Lightning Dust!” Cipher finishes with a giggle.

“I thought that would be Milky Way,” Mindy giggles, “You know with her huge…”

“Nope that’s only for clopping, Dusts the more athletic type, she’s the Waifu type. Course I’m sure some would clop to…”

“What’s clopping?” Blaze asks.

“Oh that’s when boys,” Cipher starts…

“Or girls!” Mindy pipes in.

“Play with themselves to pony pictures.” Cipher finishes.

“And Dust is a Penthorse Pinup right up there with Spitfire.” They both say, nodding.

Dust eyes go wide, and her face turns red in a huge blush as the conversation is getting down right personal. However, when Cipher pulls up pictures of Dust that the bronies had made, especially the humanoid ones, and the tail shots, Dust extends her wings, using them to hide her face.

“Argh! Girls, please, this isn’t a good conversation line.” I say, blushing and blinking, wide eyed.

“Oh don’t worry I’m sure they clop to…” Cipher starts before getting her muzzle magically shut by Sugarberry.

Looking at Eric’s picture, Ballad blinks, then falls off the bench, laughing.

Blaze looks down at her, then at the picture, confusion plain on his face.

Sugarberry and Cipher start giggling up a storm as well, and I have to cover my muzzle to keep from laughing too hard.

“He looks normal, pegasus and all, not as buff as me maybe… but what’s so funny?”

“A musical note cutie mark! There’s just no way, that’s gotta be a mistake.” Ballad says, laughing.

Ah-Pee giggles, shaking her head, “Remember how often he yelled at us for singing?”

Mindy giggles softly, “Serves him right then huh?”

“Well at least it will be gone when he comes back through, I can’t figure, it can’t be music related.” I say, giggling.

“Next, we have the LT.” Crescendo says, as Cipher brings up his picture.

Buff, powerful, a commanding pegasus with a windswept mane, a teal coat, and a dark green and grey mane and tail. Yet his eyes were a soft gold and seem so gentle. If not for his colors, he’d have made a great royal guard.

“Ok, now he’s cute,” Ah-Pee giggles.

Mindy looks at him, then over at Dust, blinking, “Wow, you two could be related. Even your eye color is similar.”

Cipher leans closer, then she looks over at dust, “What do you think? Brother or Father?”

Mindy blinks, “Father definitely, he’s got that gentle father look. I can see Dust curling into his arms crying.”

Dust blinked and grumbled, “I’d never cry like that.”

“Seriously, nice colors and lines,” I said then looked at Blaze. “What? I’m female I’m allowed to think guys are cute.” Smiling innocently I keep giggling.

“Yeah but not guys other than me.” He says, chuckling.

“Ok fine, he’s not cuter then you.”

Fleetfoot whimpers in pain, both her wings, her bad one as well, had shot up uncontrolled.

“Well Fleetfoot approves.” Cipher says, giggling. “Though I always thought she liked Big Mac.”

“Wing boner!” Mindy pipes up.

“She dislocated her wing fighting an F-22, so that must be a serious case of like.” Blaze says, chuckling.

“I blame that whole Big Mac thing on the concussion, I wasn’t in my right mind.” She says with a firm nod.

“Getting blown out of the air by explosives by the CMC can cause you to do silly things huh?” Cipher smiles at Fleetfoot.

She looks down and mumbles, “There are some things I’m just glad I don’t remember happening.”

Reaching over Cipher picks up her coffee again with her hoof and takes a big drink, “Caffeine, it helps the magic go.”

“Ohh.” Mindy giggles and picks up her coffee too with her forehoof.

Looking between the two, Dust just covers her face with her wings.

Calling up the Pictures of Jay and Sanchez in pegasus form, Crescendo giggles, “I like Jay’s mark, the wings curled in around the lance. They both look kinda cute.”

Nodding once I smile, then look at Dust, “They went through right at the begining with the full force, to fight for Equestria, we stayed on this side to protect the foals, guard the gate, and such.”

“They got pretty badly hurt, so they won’t be back till just before the portal closes, or within a few hours of that.” Crescendo says, “but honestly, given that they had no reason to go through, I think it just makes them all the more cute in pony form. I don’t care what they say, I think Henry looks really cute as a pink unicorn, that chest fluff of his looks so snugglable.”

A human sergeant comes in, looking around, then he heads over to me, “Corporal Velvet, you have guests waiting for you, they are in the storage truck.”

“Why are they in there Sergeant?”

“They said they want somewhere private, just to talk with you and Blaze.”

“Who is it? Blaze asks, a concerned look on his face.

“Your kids.”

***Equestria***

Henry trots in to check up on Jay, nodding to Eric, who’s been sitting there, some of the small houses have been set up to house the wounded. There aren’t many houses that are really standing, but the ponies are making do.

“So what’s your mark mean?” Eric asks.

“It’s stupid, I helped a mare work though her first sparks, and her magic touched me. I guess it means I can help heal with magic. Which doesn’t make sense.”

“Ever think of staying?” Eric says, extending and looking at his wing.

“Eric, look at me, I’m a fluffy pink unicorn. There isn’t enough fur dye in Equestria to convince me to stay.”

“I don’t know, if nothing major changes in my life, I might consider asking one of the Princesses permission to retire here.”

“You? You aren’t interested in mares.” Henry blinks.

“Oh heck, I’m not, trust me. Though that’s not why I’d retire here. And no, it’s not about singing either. It’s about a place where I wouldn’t have to worry about things like ISIS, the Army of God, and such. Where I wouldn’t turn on the news and see war after war.” He says.

“Yeah, ok I can understand that.” Henry nods as his horn glows softly, using his hooves, he unties the bandages on Jay. Picking up some white sponges with a caliper in his left hoof, he gets to work, cleaning the wounds before applying fresh bandages.

“Umm, Henry.” Eric starts, leaning over to touch one of the calipers being used with a forehoof, before pulling his leg back, “How long have you been treating wounded like that?”

“All day, why?” He said, “It’s been pure heck around here, I rarely get a moment to think let alone stop and rest before I’m called or needed somewhere else.”

“Cuz you’re pulling Sugarberry’s Sticky Hooves trick.” Eric stands up and chuckles. “How hard did you get zapped out there?”

“I, and, no… I just picked things up to help bandage I’m using my forehooves like in the show I guess.” Henry shakes his head.

A runner trots in, “Henry, they need you down the street, they found some more injured in a partially collapsed building.”

“On the way,” Henry says, turning and trotting.

Eric sits and strokes Jay’s mane, “Come on tough guy, you can pull through this.”

The LT comes in and sits looking at Jay, “Any change?”

“He still hasn’t woke up yet,” Eric says, shaking his head slowly, “how about you?”

“Wing’s healing fine, so are the rest of my wounds.” Looking back at his wing it quivers once, at least the physical ones are healing.

“Yeah, I know I didn’t get hit too hard, so I’m mostly just bruised.”

“We’ve got another day and a half before we have to go back. I don’t want to leave him here, but if here’s the only place that he can heal.” The LT says.

“LT, have you ever considered staying here? It’s stupid but I feel something about this place.”

“I know what you mean, even with the destruction, there’s something about this place that calls out. The sky, the clouds, the ground, it's almost like...” Looking back at his cutie mark, his mind flashes back to the mare lying on the ground, his wing starts quivering. Shaking his head no, he forces his wing tight against his side, “We’re Rangers though, we belong on Earth.”

*** Velvet ***

I’ve really been fearing this, almost as much as I feared running into Night Light, but for vastly different reasons though. I don’t know what to say, to do, she’s my daughter, but how would she react? My fear is being rejected, disowned, or worse. What if she hates me, what if she thinks I’m a bad mare.

Trembling, I walk into the truck, looking up, I see Rainbow Dash, I can recognize her from the first trip through the gate though she looks beaten and bruised to the nth power. The second female must be Twilight then, and the male Shining Armor, my foals?

Sitting on my haunches I look up at them and take a deep breath, “My little Twi-Twi, my Shiny.”

“Do you remember… us?” Twilie asks.

“Twi-Twi, Shiny?” Rainbow Dash covers her mouth with a bit of a snorting laugh.

“Don’t make me put you in a box, my little Dashie,” Blaze says with a chuckle, but that is enough to send an obvious shiver up Dash’s spine.

“Dad? Ok, you’re probably the only pony or person I’d EVER let get away with saying that.” She said rubbing her arms, still showing bruises almost everywhere from her fight with Discord.

He walks over and gives her a hug, both of them smiling.

"Oh ow ow ow ow ow, Blaze no, I feel like I've had a steam roller dropped on me." Dash flinched.

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember a lot, I’ve had a few glimpses from time to time. Reading you bed time stories, laying with you down in the living room, with you snuggled between my forelegs and Shining sleeping against my side.” I look away, tears in my eyes. Only to be hugged tightly by both of them.

“It’s Ok mom, trust me, it’s been hard on all of us.” Twilie says, holding me tight.

Blaze chuckles, “My baby girl’s all grown up too. I almost forgot my promise to spank you for almost starting world war 3.” He says, swatting her rear lightly with his wing.

“ACK, I’m not a little foal anymore.”

“Mom, are you coming back to Equestria? Sweetie Belle has found a way to return our memories.” Shining adds in.

Looking at Blaze, I sigh and looked at him, shaking my head no, “This is going to sound strange but, I still have time left on my military contract, so I’m going to try and use that to help other ponies get to the gate, I will eventually, but for now, there’s still a lot of ponies that need help here, and depend on me.”

Shining nods slowly, “I understand, I… I don’t know how to say this but, I’ve broke it off with Cadance, in my time on Earth, I’ve fallen in love with Rarity and made a promise to stay with her. Rarity’s going to be your new daughter in law.”

“I feel sorry for Cadance, she’s had such a hard time in her life, but I understand.” I say softly and hug him tightly.

“You do?” Twilie says, looking a bit surprised.

I take a huge breath, “I broke up with Night Light.”

“Why?” Shock is evident on her face.

“I didn’t love him, I had someone else that I found I loved, I depended on, I needed.” Looking down at my forelegs I get hugged tighter by Shining.

“I know how you feel, 25 years is a long time.” Shining says, “So who’s the lucky guy?”

“Um, that would be Blaze. I guess that would make Dash your new step sister.”

Everyone looks at Dash.

*** Equestria ***

Sanchez shakes his head, “I wish Ballad was here, don’t move that timber yet, I don’t want the rest of the wall coming down.”

As the earth ponies lift the timbers, Sanchez pulls out two injured ponies from underneath the rubble of a collapsed wall. They were in the house when the wall came down during the battle, trapped there, it hasn’t been until a little while ago that anyone noticed and heard them.

Henry trots in quickly with one of the other nurses and looks over at Sanchez, “How long were they trapped?”

“A few hours I think,” Sanchez says, “we just got them out.”

“I’m worried about crush syndrome, I don’t know if the doctors here are used to dealing with it, check with them, but we need to overload them on IV’s as fast as possible. Let the doctors know, treat is as buried for four plus hours.”

Nodding, they put the ponies on stretchers and head out, one of the stallions chuckling, “Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows.”

Grumbling, Henry sits down hard on the ground. “I can’t wait to get home. I’m sick of hearing that joke.”

Sanchez chuckles, “Sorry but you are, really, really pink.”

“I know.” Henry says, trotting out, “So what’s next? Or do we get a whole five minutes before another problem?”

“Been that busy huh?” Sanchez says as he trots out of the old building, “Time for a snack then, they have some tea and biscuits near the gate for us.”

Henry pulls up to trot beside Sanchez, “No coffee but I can make do.”

A cream colored unicorn with an hourglass cutie mark starts giggling softly as the two approach the kitchen. Her horn glows slightly as she tilts her head, looking at the two rangers.

“Don’t even say it,” Henry huffed.

Blinking, the mare looks at Sanchez, “High Time.”

“Umm, hi?” Sanchez replies, looking confused.

“No silly,” She said pointing at Sanchez cutie mark, “High Time, your name.” With a smile, she puts a tea cup and a plate of biscuits down on the table with her magic. “Don’t know why but I can always guess a pony’s name.”

“Nope, it’s Sanchez, not a pony actually, just here helping out and recovering from injuries.”

Looking at Henry, she smiles, “Star Crossed.” Then her face sinks a bit, tilting her head, “Sorry if you don’t like it but, I’m rarely wrong.”

“Henry’s fine,” he says, and picks up his Tea, sitting down across from Sanchez.

“Seriously, High Time?” Sanchez chuckles, “What is it with pony names? Her tricks going to come in handy with the some of the ponies here, but really even if I did stay I’d go by Sanchez.”

The LT sits across from Henry and chuckles, “Name? Trust me, it could be worse… I got called Wind Shield.”

Henry looks up and chuckles for the first time in a while, “As in Bug on the?”

“Yep, as in the car part, Eric got called Sky Song, as if a musical cutie mark wasn’t bad enough.” Looking at Henry he chuckles, “If he once bugs you about your color you have permission to call him Sky Song.”

Henry is just about to pick up his tea to drink, when a young pegasus, one probably in her early teens, lands, panting, “My brothers in trouble, it’s an emergency, Doctor Horse told me to get the Fluffy Pink Unicorn.” Her fear and panic obvious on her face.

Henry blinked a few times then slams his head on the table, “LT, can I please go home today?”

“Please, you have to help him,” She says, grabbing Henrys front leg and starting to cry.

Getting up, Henry starts running to follow the filly, “ARGH, LT I’m still going to get you back for that vision problem.” He says as he tries hard not to look.

The LT and Sanchez follow behind, and come to a stop at the Triage area, glancing to Sanchez the LT notes, “She’s a blank flank, it’s likely that she is one of the humans that came across.”

The pegasus stops and sits by a yellow stallion with blue mane and tail, his cutie mark a star with streaks behind it.

“He said he was having headaches, and they were getting worse, then just a little while ago he collapsed.” She says, crying and hugging his neck.

Curling his front leg Henry looks around, “Shouldn’t the Doctor be here?”

Crying harder she shakes her head, “He said there was nothing he could do…”

The LT blinks, looking at Sanchez then gulps, “Was he on any medications?”

“Just anti-depressants, he had a hard time after mom and dad died. He’s all I have left… you have to help him.”

Henry looks up, “When did the headache’s start? And when was the last time he took his anti-depressants?”

“Started a few days after he changed, but they got really bad when he came through the mirror. He took two before coming through the mirror, but the pills didn’t come with him. He told me his name as a pony, it’s Comet Tail.” She looks at the three with tears in her eyes, “What can I do?”

“I sent the warning out to the Military about MAO inhibitors but they couldn’t tell civilians.” The LT says sadly, looking down at the pony.

“Please…” The pegasus cries.

Looking back at his cutie mark Henry sighs, “LT if I blow up doing this, bring my ashes back though the gate so I don’t have to be pink in the afterlife.”

“Henry don’t take any risks you don’t have to.” The LT says sternly.

Closing his eyes, Henry lays down and touches his horn to Comet Tail’s. Slowly a glow begins to form on Henry’s horn, a soft horn shine that spreads out first over Comets horn, then head, and finally Comets entire body.

“Comet still has the drugs in his system” Henry says softly, “but the magic is burning though them quickly, his body is learning to recognize and adapt to them faster.” Henry feels his magic starting to guide Comet’s own magic though the process, as the barriers fall away faster and faster.

The LT steps back and pulls the filly back away from the two unicorns as sparks of magic start appearing off Comets horn. Flashes of light and raw magic without form or guidance, shoot off in random directions, causing plants to grow, the earth to turn blue, a shattered pot to become a new vase.

Henry keeps his eyes closed as he feels the sparks, and draws them back. Slowly the magical field envelops Henry as well. The sparks slowly fade, though the effects from them remains. Finally after a few minutes all that is left was a light glow over Comets horn.

Pulling his head back, Henry shakes himself out, his own horn still glowing. Grumbling softly, he reaches up and bonks his horn with a hoof, the sparks he sees in his eyes leave him wobbly for a moment, but at least the horn shine is out.

Comets horn is still glowing though as he moans softly, “Sis?”

The pegasus breaks free from the LT’s grasp and hugs her brother tightly.

The LT looks at Henry and picks him up with Sanchez’s help, putting him on Sanchez’s back. “You need some downtime to sleep, and some real food.”

“LT.” Henry starts but is cut off quickly.

“Nope, remember what we learned about and from Velvet and Grandfather. You need sugars, starches, and sleep.”

*** Velvet ***

“I do wish you’d come back with us mom. I understand though, why you want to stay.” Shinning says looking at Blaze.

“Sweetie Belle can give back memories, but she’s in Equestria, she can’t come back through the mirror and keep her horn, so that means she can only do it for ponies there.” Twilight says with a sigh.

“I understand, and I will miss you, but I’ll hear from you again every 30 moons right?” I say, looking up at them.

“I promise, even if it’s just letters or journals…” Twilie says.

I smile softly, “Dear mom, today I learned…” I say then hug her tightly.

Even though there are tears in her eyes, Twilie still laughs softly. “Is there anything I can do for you mom? Dad?”

“I don’t know, if it’s not too hard or too much trouble, any chance you could send though a book on unicorn magic? I’ve been teaching others what I can but, it’s hard since I don’t remember a lot myself.”

“I’ll see what I can find, Equestria is pretty badly trashed, but there might be some books I can find to lend you.”

Blaze chuckles “Trust me, she needs it, she’s almost blown herself up at least twice now. At least a pegasus doesn’t need a manual to fly, we’re just so awesome!” He says, spreading his wings.

“Heck yeah,” Dash says, then grumps, “Cept I don’t have wings right now.”

“Bye my little Twi-Twi, my little Shinning.” I say, watching them head to the gate.

“Bye, my little Dashie.” Blaze says, smiling before putting a wing over me.

“You two keep each other safe and have fun together just be mindful of your neighbors… I swear, Shinning and Rarity kept me up some nights with all their sex play…” She says with a wink before limping through.

Blaze looks at me, concerned, I just made the cutest little squeak sound, and one little clump of fur on my forelock just stuck up and curled itself. I stand motionless, looking at the mirror, mouth open a bit.

“Velvet? Velvet are you ok? Are you in there?” Blaze blinks, waving a wing in front of my eyes, slowly I turn to look at him. Blushing at what his daughter said. I knew how loud I could get… but…

“Look Velvet that was just Dash being Dash, we can take things one thing at a time and not rush.” He says timidly, then looks at my face for some sort of response.

Slowly I back away from him with a gulp, “Of… Of course… you haven’t even bought me dinner yet.” Turning I lightly swat his cheek with my tail, “The problem is, I don’t have my memories so, I don’t know…”

“Velvet, I won’t push you.” Blaze says, lifting a foreleg.

“That’s not what I meant, I meant I don’t know how to have sex… I don’t know if I like it fast or slow… but I do know one thing… it’s probably going to involve you pushing at least somewhat cuz I'm not going to do all the work.” Turning, I trot back towards the mess hall, swishing my tail side to side. Looking over my shoulder I see Blaze’s wings spread wide and high, then he slowly falls over onto his side as he hits the ground.

Grabbing him telekinetically I keep trotting, humming cheerfully and eventually put him down by the bench.

Sugarberry and Ballad squeak, “What happened to him!”

“I’m not sure, I think he fainted, maybe his blood sugar’s low, or a blood pressure issue.” I say, trying to look innocent.

“Should we get a medic?” Cipher asks and pokes him a few times, getting him to moan.

“Well I guess that’s a no, remember he hasn’t got a lot of rest, I think he just needs a night in a real bed.” I say with a smile.

Blaze sits up, looking at me wide eyed before he shakes his head, looking around. Carefully he stands up and trots over, snuggling against me tightly and putting his head over mine, “Love you.”

“Sugarberry, there’s an inn down the road a bit where the military personal are being billeted, me and Blaze are going to take a few hours to get some sleep, shower and such, when we come back we’ll take over watch, but if there’s an emergency call us. Ok?”

The girls all nodded and I smile, heading for the inn. It’s a small one, about a five minute trot from where the gate is, still inside the quarantine zone though. There are few rooms in the place, so we opted for a single, just so the larger rooms are left available. The room itself though, is not much to look at, bed, bathroom, TV, telephone, end table, and a chair. It’s a low budget room though, so what can you expect.

I take my time getting undressed, before fluffing my mane out. I give my whole body one huge shake and puff my body fur slightly. It’s been matted down by the clothing so long, that it actually feels good to be free.

Blaze had done the same thing, and groans as he stretches out, “Well, I guess that’s why ponies don’t wear clothing all the time, my fur feels like I’ve been wearing a hat for a week straight.”

I climb into the bed and stretch out, rolling on my back and squirming a bit on top of the covers with my eyes closed before looking at Blaze with a soft smile.

Looking back at me Blaze nods slowly and starts singing. It’s the song that started it all, it’s the song that ends it. It is the first song I thought of when I changed. I don’t know how he knows, or why, but I don’t ask, I just look at him as the words flow. I can’t help but smile as he sings, reaching over with my hoof to touch his cheek.