Taking a deep breath, Feather looks at the computer and camera. She needs to say it, ask it, but she doesn’t know whom to call. She doesn’t know who to talk to. Her mom is away and she can’t bother Ah-Pee or the Unicorn Club.

Wiping tears from her eyes, she takes a deep breath, and starts the recording.

“Dear Celestia, Luna, Lighting Dust, I don’t know, whoever can help. My name is Feather Pinch. You probably never heard of me. I was just a background pony in two episodes of the show. I was the little blank flank that put a flower necklace around Luna’s neck after she returned from being Nightmare Moon.”

“I was cursed with the Five Score Curse, and grew up as a human in New Mexico. I wasn’t well educated, didn’t get to go to college. My family never had much money, so when I was 17 I had to get a job.”

Looking down at her legs, she fights back the tears as hard as she can. “The only work I could find was at a horse slaughter house that killed and butchered horses and ponies for export and or use in pet food and zoos. I don’t know how many ponies I helped kill.”

Shaking her head so hard her ears flap, she takes a deep breath. “A friend of mine, Henry has the best heart in the world, he deserves to be a pony so much more than I do. He went to Equestria to fight and was a unicorn there. He so much more deserves to be a pony then me.”

“If there is some way he could be one again.” Feather looks up, her ears flat against her head. Tears filling her eyes as she looks back at her wing. "How about my wings? There must be a lot of magic in them from when Henry fixed them. I would give up my wings if it would let Henry be a unicorn again."

“Every day I wake up and think of what I’ve done. Every day I have to find an excuse to go on… not to give up. Not to let myself blank. I couldn’t go back to Equestria because I couldn’t bring the taint of all the ponies I killed back there. If this one thing can help, in some way repair the damage I’ve done… Give a human who deserves to be a pony a chance. Please… help.”

“Feather! Dinners ready.” Ah-Pee calls out.

Looking over her shoulder, Feather turns off the camera and sends the file out. In some ways it feels better just to get that off her chest. Forcing a smile, she gets up and heads back out to the living room.

***

Drizzle isn’t the oldest of pegasi, a teenager in physical age. Yet she was still Stop-lossed. She knows she isn’t the strongest flyer. She isn’t a Wonderbolt, in the Air Force she was a cargo plane second officer. Not even the pilot.

She has her saddle bag packed, and is heading out. But she has one stop to do before she returns to base. With a foreleg, she knocked on Dusts office door at her company, Lightning Electric.

Opening the door Dust looks down at her and blinks. “Yes?”

“I’ve been stop-lossed, I’m heading in today. I’m just so scared.”

“There’s nothing to be scared of. You’re going to be helping other pegasi.”

Sighing, she looks down, “I just. Everyone I know that’s been stop-lossed has been sent to Afghanistan or worse, and most of them ended up crippled or dead.”

“That’s not going to happen. You’re going to be a police officer for ponies.”

“Just in case, can I get you to hold something for me?”

“Sure what is it?”

Carefully she removes a single flight feather from her pack, tied with several strands of tail fur that have been braided. “If I don’t come back, find my mom and give it to her.”

Turning, the little pegasus heads outside the shop, Dust watches her through the window as she takes flight, heading to the base.

Looking down at the feather Dust sits down hard. The image of her mom’s feather… sitting abandoned in her locker in Equestria fills her mind. Oh Celestia… What have I done?

*** Velvet ***

“You’re a unicorn.”

“Yes my lady.” I say softly, lets calm everything down.

“These are my woods to protect.” She said firmly, putting her hoof down.

Gulping, I sit down. “I’m Twilight Velvet, US Rangers. This is Henry, he’s got unicorn blood in him too… do you know your name?”

“Beth Abbot.” She says firmly and sits down on her haunches.

“I mean your unicorn name. It’s the name that’s in your heart, and your cutie mark?” I ask, hoping to keep her calm.

The blank stare says it all.

“Ever hear of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic?”

“Is that anything like that stupid CGI show Filly Funtasia?”

“Bozhe moy.” Henry says, sitting down.

“Ok, this is going take a bit, and please trust me. You’re going to need to keep an open mind for this.” I smile and light my horn, opening my saddle bag. Carefully I draw out some bottled water and offer her one. More curious to see how she reacts to magic.

Nodding slowly Beth takes the bottle with her magic, opening it and taking a sniff.

“It’s safe. Well as safe as bottled water off a plane can be. I see you’ve figured out some of your magic. Don’t worry I can help you remember or learn some more, later.”

“I guess. So why are you here?” Beth says, nervously.

Taking a deep breath, I smile. “First off is your name. I do recognize you, you may not remember but we met before, twice. The armor you’re wearing threw me for a second until I remembered.”

“You remember me?”

“Have you had dreams? Flashbacks? Probably with running… a misshapen creature named Discord… Five score divided by four.”

Yes, that send shivers up both our spines, but it needs to be said. Watching, she nods slowly back to me as I see in her eyes the images flooding back to her again.

“That’s when Discord caught you, cursed you. Your real name is…”

“All sections radio check, call in.” I hear the LT over the radio, causing me to cringe.

“Velvet here…” I key my radio and reply.

“Henry here.” Henry calls out, his hand over his ear.

“Are you ok down there?”

“We’re fine, I have to do a full education though. It’s going to take some time. Don’t hang around the door, I don’t want the SAS deciding to try and force their way in.”

“Roger, LT out.”

I turn and look at the unicorn, I smile, “Now, where were we?”

*** Dust ***

I’m starting to get depressed myself, if it isn’t one problem it’s another. Now Feather, I had heard about her torture and recovery at the farm, but I didn’t know she was that depressed. She looked so happy on the Oreo Cookie video she sent.

Dodging a flock of birds, I drop down on the base. Mindy had tracked the email from this address. It is a transient barracks, not usually used for family housing except in emergencies, it is mostly adults.

Taking a deep breath, I walk inside and tap on the unit door.

The door opens, “Yes? Oh hello there Lightning Dust, I haven’t seen you since the portal.” The unicorn says, smiling. The only problem is, I can’t remember her name.

“Hi, is there a place we can talk, in private?”

Thinking for a second, the unicorn nods, “The kids aren’t here right now, we have some time.” Turning she leads me in to a living room and sits down.

Sitting down I take a moment to look around. These barracks are tiny, smaller then my first house. Living here with a family of five plus must be hard on everypony. Carefully taking out my tablet, I show her the video message from Feather Pinch. Like me, it brings tears to her eyes.

“Velvet and Blaze are gone for now for about four weeks. Normally she’d talk with Velvet. Though even then, she doesn’t talk much about her past. I didn’t know she was hurting this bad.”

“Henry?”

“He’s become her pet project. She thinks he should be a pony… I guess she thinks him becoming a unicorn will... redeem herself.” Sugarberry sighs, looking down.

“What’s her story?”

“The tape doesn’t quite cover it. She came to us barely alive. She had been tortured by humans, her wings were plucked and she was left hanging and near death from a fence. We weren’t sure she would make it. It took everything we had, and then some, to get her back to health. But she still carries the mental scars. She’s just starting to fly again. I think there’s a mental or emotional block there too though.”

“Mind if I talk to her? Since she asked for my help?” I say, looking down.

“Sure, they are probably at their tree house.” Pulling out her cellphone, she shows me the location.

Standing up I give her a quick hug before heading out. It’s not far from the barracks as the pegasus flies, or even as the pony trots I guess. Even with short legs pony foals move faster than humans and for longer distances.

Landing in front of their club house I can’t help but smile. In some ways it really does look like the CMC tree house from the show, there are differences but the concept, colors, size, and style are generally the same. With a bit of a wing jump, I land on the front porch and tap on the door.

Cotton Candy opens the door, looking up. “Oh wow, Lighting Dust, can I get your autograph?”

“Cutie Mark Crusader Autograph Collectors!” Cloudy calls out and bounds up with a pen and some papers.

Chuckling softly, I sign the papers then blink as they quickly check their flanks… “Well we can cross that one off the list.”

“I’m here to talk with…” was about all I get out before Feather hugs my leg and looks up with her huge eyes.

“You’re here about my request?”

“Sort of, want to come with me for a bit? I’d like to talk with you.”

“Ok Ms. Dust.” She says and sits on her haunches.

Gently picking her up with my forelegs, I take to the sky, circling up till I found a nice cloud and land on it. Gently I set her down, ready to catch her if she falls but instead, she snuggles down in the cloud fluff, gathering it around her.

Lying down nose to nose with her I sigh softly. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Make Henry a unicorn again?” She asks sadly.

“It doesn’t work that way, and I think you know that. I want to know if there’s anything I could do to help you?” I ask gently.

“I… I don’t know… I just don’t know what to do. Sometimes I just wish I could forget my entire human life.” She says, whimpering.

Moving over, I put my wing over her and hug her tight to my side like my mom used to do to me. “It’s hard sometimes, bad things happen. When I got kicked out of the Wonderbolts, I went to a very bad place. It was very dark in my life. My dreams were gone, my life seemed to have no meaning. It was so hard.”

Feather lays her head over my foreleg, snuggling tighter and whimpering.

“I know what it means to wake up every morning and try and find a reason to go on. Trust me though, it gets better, you have so much here right now, friends, family. The past doesn’t make you a victim. It doesn’t make you a bad person. You need to put somethings behind you and be happy. Live for the day and for the future, because you’re so young. You have so much ahead of you.”

She looks up at me with tears in her eyes but she nods.

“I know you won’t get over this in a week, or a month. But any time you feel down… please… talk to someone… if not Velvet or Blaze, the unicorn that’s taking care of you.” I really wish I could remember her name. There are just so many background ponies. “If you can’t find them, can’t talk to them, then give me a call or Moon Shadow, or Mindy. Promise me?”

“Yes Ms. Dust.”

Smiling gently, I hug her tighter with my wing. “That’s my little Wonderbolt. Now, let’s just talk. Tell me about what you’ve tried for your cutie mark.”

*** Ah-Pee ***

Trotting into the grocery store, Ah-Pee bites a shopping cart and backs up slowly with it, before letting go. “Blah, reminder to self, never bite those again, I’m going to be tasting that for a week.”

Rearing up on her hind legs, she hooks her forelegs over the handle and starts walking. This actually works quite well. The cart holds her weight, so she can walk around on two legs, though it probably looks a bit silly.

The only problem is the looks she is getting are not all nice. She is starting to regret using an off base grocery store but the PX’s just doesn’t have enough of a selection of vegetables so she’s gone to a bigger market.

“Why would they let animals in the store?”

“Shouldn’t it be wearing a diaper or something?”

“I wonder where its owner is.”

“Mommy look, can I keep it?”

Giggling, she looks over at the little girl.

“No dear, it’s probably some publicity stunt.”

“Shouldn’t it be wearing a diaper or something so it doesn’t make a mess all over the floor?”

Shaking her head, she stops at the produce section and begins loading her cart. There are tons of fruits and vegetables available at most well stocked markets, the problem is the majority of people don’t know how to use or cook them properly. Or they think, one mushroom is like another.

Her nose is quick to pick out the best and freshest choices. She is a chef and takes pride in her work. It is more than just her cutie mark. It is more than her family name. It is because every time she cooks, she shares her love of food with those who eat it.

Glancing down at her cutie mark she muses. Okay, maybe it is her mark. There is an emotional bond between food and family. Food brings everypony together.

Stopping at the apple section she is in total love. This isn’t just plastic bags full of small apples. She has choices here. Selections. She has apples here for everything. And there is just something instinctual about it, she could see, smell, sense the best ones. Generations of apple family instincts are in her. The foals will eat well tonight.

Even though Feather is a pegasus, she almost never eats meat. Ah-Pee wonders while choosing the right apples if it is because of Feather’s human past. Maybe she can’t bring herself to eat meat after working at, well, a meat plant.

She wondered if she could ever look Moolisa in the eyes after all the barbeques she has done. Or Iron Will. Ok Iron Will, yes, she could look him in the eyes easily. That guy doesn’t deserve respect. Thinking of Iron Will she considers a moment, was he cursed too?

All of a sudden she has a vision of Iron Will in a suit running some kind of crime syndicate.

“There it is officer.”

Shaking her head vigorously, she notices the police officers and Animal Control officers standing, looking at her. The animal control officer is smiling, but the police officer is looking nervous with his hand on his gun.

“Draw the gun and I’ll break your wrist, Jerry.”

“Are you sure it’s not going to charge us or something.”

“I’m sure if you draw the gun it will HAVE you charged. And it’s a she, not an it.”

“Really?” The officer says, and leans over, looking at her tail area.

Blinking Ah-Pee puts her tail down more. “Excuse me?”

The officer goes for his gun, only to have his arm locked behind him by the Animal Control officer.

“What did I say about you gun, Jerry.”

“That you’d break my wrist if I drew it… But it talked.”

“And does her talking mean you need to draw your gun?”

Dropping to all fours, Ah-Pee turns and sits, watching the show. “Damn, I should have brought popcorn for this.”

“I’m sorry about Jerry here, no kids and too much of a jock. I’m Patty, you can call me Pat. You’re part of the Apple Family aren’t you?”

“I’m an earth pony with an apple based cutie mark. Though given how far the Apple tree’s roots have spread I’m surprised that most earth ponies aren’t part of the family. I’m Apple Pie, I lived in Canterlot but traveled a lot.”

“I know, I have a daughter.” She smiles, “She keeps asking me if I ever find one of you guys to bring them home as a pet.”

“Um, no thank you, I’m not the pet type.” Ah-Pee says, smiling.

“Oh don’t worry, I wouldn’t. I heard rumors from friends on base.”

“Yeah, my Military ID is in my saddle bag.” Ah-Pee says and nuzzles it open, searching through. Taking out her ID wallet, out she opens it with her forelegs and holds it out for Patty.

“Now Jerry, I’m going to let go of your arm. If you try for your gun again, I will break your wrist and arm.” She says sternly.

“Yes Ma’am.”

“Let me guess, old friends?” Ah-Pee asks.

“Nope, worse. Brother-in-law.” Letting go of his arm she took the ID card and shows Jerry. “There, see.”

“Ok, so… what is… she?” Jerry asks.

“I’m a pony, though an alien pony. We are from another world. Pat knows about us because her daughter watches a show based on us.” Ah-Pee says, “I’m just here trying to buy some fresh groceries, the stuff at the PX and BX are okay, but not really fresh. I could order online, but again, doing that I can’t choose.”

“And of course, being an Apple Family baker, she has to choose the best of the best. Don’t grow your own stuff?”

“I just moved here a week ago, even I can’t grow things that fast.” Ah-Pee chuckles. “Besides, I can’t get the selection of apples on base even if I did grow my own food.”

“Feel free to go shopping.” She turns and looks at the police officer, “Jerry, I’ll stay with her, keep people calm. You, go find a donut shop.”

Giggling Ah-Pee shakes her head, “Ouch.”

Jerry grumbles and heads out.

“That’s a lot of groceries.”

“Yeah, but I cook for friends, three foals, and often three adults. They all chip in though, or the food bills would be murder.”

“Big family?”

“Not so big, just lots of friends who prefer to eat real food than mess hall stuff.” She says as she picked up the last of the things she needed.

Stopping by a large stack of cans, Ah-Pee looks up, “Wow, canned asparagus, really? I know some people would use it for emergency food stores but really?”

The gunshot causes both of them to flinch and duck. Peeking over the cans, they can see two humans with ski masks. One is holding a shotgun, the other has a pistol in the air, yelling.

“This is a hold up.” The guy with the shotgun calls out.

“Empty the cash, and I might chose not to put a bullet in your head.”

Turning her back to the can’s Ah-Pee rears back and bucked her hind legs in rapid kicks. Watching over her side to aim, she sends several cans flying at the robbers. The cans are pretty deformed by the kick alone, but the kinetic energy imparted on impact is still incredible.

One can misses and hits the wooden wall, punching through it. The next hits the man with the shotgun full force in the shoulder. The third and fourth cans strike the guy with the pistol, catching him in the side of the chest and hip. Two cans blow through the window, rending into a car’s door leaving ripped holes in the side paneling. The last two cans though, find home again on the robbers. One catches the thug with the shotgun in the knee, and the last hitting the guy with the shot gun full force in the elbow.

Both men go down, screaming in pain. Blood flowing and bone showing from the impacts. Both men will need critical medical treatment, and fast. Ah-Pee cringes, seeing the damage she’d done and looks up.

“Call an ambulance for them. Tell them to hurry!” Ah-Pee shouts.

“Calm down Ah-Pee, you saved the people here.”

“I wasn’t trying to kill them, just stop them.” Ah-Pee whimpers.

“Police and ambulance are on the way.” The store clerk calls out.

“Thank you.” The manager says, shaking Ah-Pee’s hoof. “We’ve been held up twice this month, and last time they hurt a teller pretty badly.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt them so bad though.”

Pat puts her hand on Ah-Pee’s back gently. “Calm down. Relax.”

Jerry comes back in with the medic’s. The two medics get to work right way, soon they call for a second ambulance immediately, trying to stabilize both patients.

The one who took the hit to his chest is in the worst condition. “Crushed ribs, internal bleeding, I think he’s got a pierced lung!”

“This one’s got several breaks in arm and leg, we’ll need to watch him for shock.”

Ah-Pee is escorted out of the store by Pat and sits down. Carefully Pat gives her water to drink to help her relax. “You’re not one for seeing blood like that are you?”

Ah-Pee shakes her head and drinks the water.

“I thought you were Army.”

“I’m an army cook. Not a pony that’s actually seen real combat. Trust me, there are police officers that have never fired a gun their entire career.”

Jerry comes over, looking firmly at Ah-Pee. “I’m going to need your ID and information including contact number and place of residence.”

Taking out her wallet again, she offers her ID to Jerry to write it down.

“Jerry what are you doing?” Pat says.

“My job. I need this in case the men, or the DA’s office decide they want to press charges.”

“WHAT!” Pat’s dander is up now.

“They are both likely to have permanent injuries from this. That could end in civil lawsuits, and this could be construed as an animal attack.” Jerry says.

“Do it and you’ll be eating through a straw for the rest of your life. She’s a hero, and every person in that store knows so.”

“I still have to follow the law.”

The store owner comes out of the shop with Ah-Pee’s groceries already bagged. “Here you go.”

Looking back Ah-Pee blinks, “I didn’t pay for them yet.”

“Don’t worry, this time it’s on the house. He threatened to shoot my daughter in the head. You saved her life. That’s worth a cart load of groceries. My insurance will cover the damaged window and damage to the car in are parking lot. Thank you.”

Looking between Ah-Pee and the owner, Pat turns to face Jerry. “There, protecting lives in immediate danger.”

Jerry hands Ah-Pee her wallet back. “This is just going to be too much paperwork.”

*** Velvet ***

“You can read that?” Beth asks, sitting beside me.

Moving over a touch I press my side against hers, just so she has some physical contact. “A bit, its older script, isn’t the best.”

“What does it mean?” Henry asks sitting, looking up at the chalk board.

“It means things have gotten a lot more complicated and confusing. Star Swirl was a great wizard, he created many spells. He’s famous for the Amniomorphic spell.” I say softly.

“Ok, so what does that spell do?” Henry asks.

“I have no idea. But it was something he was big on researching.”

“The amnion is a membrane that forms over an egg, covering the embryo. It fills with the amniotic fluid which causes the amnion to expand and become the amniotic sac which serves to provide a protective environment for the developing embryo.” Henry said. “Morphic is alterations or transformations of or through. So if just by naming alone, it might be a spell to detect or alter the status of an unborn child.”

I blink looking at Henry, “Darn medical unicorns.”

“So what’s on the board then?”

“It’s a spell, a formula to guard against chaos magic.” I run my hoof along one of the lines. “It’s to create a stabilization bubble to prevent chaos magic from affecting those within.”

“We could have really used that in Equestria.” Henry huffs.

“It looks like he was simplifying it. Making it so most unicorns could cast it with only a little practice.” I say and hum, “So simple even you could cast it Henry.”

“There are a lot of things from Equestria here.” Henry says, looking around. “Lots of old stuff from Earth too, but really this place is a treasure trove for ponies.”

“By law it all belongs to the British government though.” Beth says. “We’ve tried to keep this place a secret but that’s a crime too.”

Henry blinks, “Should I call the hospital now and alert the military?”

“What?” I blink, looking at Henry.

“I know that look. That usually means you are about to do something that’s going to end our careers or worse.”

“Ok, this stuff is part of our home land. Part of our world, this is like say, Russia trying to claim documents and letters from George Washington, from an American.” I say. “She found them, and I wholeheartedly believe she should be in charge of them.”

“I think the government will have something to say about that. Considering they just want to lock her in a cage.” Henry points out.

“Yeah, we need to think about this. This is going to be a team effort.” Tapping my coms, “LT, can you set up the SatCom system, I need a secure back to JSOC and Cipher.”

“Set up use channel 3.” Blaze calls back.

Turning on my tablet I giggle, “Oh if only I could figure out Ciphers superscreen spell.”

“She hasn’t taught you?” Henry chuckles

“She says I don’t have the security clearance.”

After a few moments, the General pops up on my screen, I clear my throat, “General, sir, I think we have found ourselves in a total mess. I know why they couldn’t get their own unicorns to do things. Local ponies have no rights here. They are locked up in detentions centers. Given that, there is probably a fear to reveal themselves.”

Cipher steps in, “I’m showing some fourteen detention centers scattered around the country. They list them as quarantine centers, special case animal. Hard to tell, but I can estimate from paper trails they might be holding forty or fifty ponies.”

Sugarberry is sitting next to the General. She hums, “I went through the records and paperwork, the roadwork project doesn’t make practical sense. The only thing I can think of is it a kickback scam. The paperwork uses percentages everywhere, but didn’t give base figures. When you find the estimated base figures from outside sources you find out there assumptions they make are fabricated. We might be able to use that to apply political pressure.”

The General blinks, looking between the screens.

“The unicorn here, is sitting on a huge cache of Equestrian artifacts, including spells, armor, and how-to guides. There is some question if the UK Government will try and seize it for themselves.” I say. “I don’t think they know it is here, but it will just compound the problem.”

“Oh is that her? Hi!” Sugarberry waves at Beth.

Cipher giggles and waves too. “Hi, pleased to meet you, so you’re the one huh? Wow, you look exactly like you do in the show. So cool.”

“Maybe we can use this, use her.” The General muses. “It might give us some ground to work with, I’ll see what I can find out from friends in NATO. It’s going to take work but we should have enough for our president to take to their prime minister.”

“Remember team, you’re in a country that eats horses and ponies. Keep your ears up and your tails down.” Sugarberry says. Then all screens go dark.