Tanya sits by the hospital bed, holding Ruby. She’s just a teenager in pony form, pretty much thirteen or fourteen year old human equivalent. This shouldn’t have happened to her. This shouldn’t happen to anypony.

Softly Tanya strokes Ruby’s mane and cheek, looking into her eyes. “Come on girl, you can fight through this, you’re strong enough. You are safe now. Other ponies are here to take care of you.”

Running her fingers through Ruby’s fur, she wonders if this would be her fate. To end up on some hospital bed, slowly blanking out after being used.

A tap at the door signals Anthony’s entrance. “Anything?”

“She’s not responsive. I don’t know what to do.” Tanya says softly.

“We’ll check the reports when we get back. There has to be something.” Anthony says quietly, “Some kind of magic.”

“Yeah, to think we’d be considering magic.” She sighs and hugs Ruby again.

“Do you have the rape kit?”

“Right here, it’s confirmed. Send it off for DNA matching.” Tanya murmurs.

Walking over Anthony gives her hair a gentle stroke, “You look good in long pink hair. It’s definitely your color.”

“I hadn’t noticed.” Tanya says, looking down. “I’ve been so worried about her.”

“We found who did this, we think. Army Lieutenant. We are looking for him now.” Shaking his head, he gives Ruby a gentle stroke too. “A pegasus from the 520th is going to be here soon to sit with her. We’re going to try and keep a pony with her constantly, talking, singing, comforting, whatever we can do.”

“Will this be me? Will this be how I end up?” Tanya moans quietly.

“Over so many dead bodies, no one in the CID would let that happen.”

“May I come in?”

Tanya blinks, looking up and seeing the young pegasus at the door. She looks far too young be in the Air Force. She is far too young to be here. They should have sent someone else. They should have sent an adult, not another teen.

“I’m 2nd lieutenant Drizzle. They asked me to come here and sit with a patient.”

*** CMC EC ***

It is a total downpour outside. The rain is coming down heavily. The winds have picked up again, howling and whipping through the trees. They are trapped.

There is no way to safely get home for them. This kind of weather is dangerous to little ponies with their light body mass and short bodies. All they can do is wait and hope. All hopes of gaining cutie marks have been washed away for the day.

There is a flash flood warning in effect for the area. They don’t know the exact area, but it is dangerous enough. The soil has quickly turned to thick mud in some areas, bogging down trucks and other vehicles.

“Argh!” Feather huffs.

Turning her head from the rain, Cloudy looks back at the pegasus, “What?”

“I’m SOOOOO bored…” She says and starts pushing herself along the floor with just her hind legs. She lets her head and forelegs slide on the floor so only her tail end is up.

“We have books, radio, TV, internet, how can you be bored?” Candy asks.

“We have a little hot plate, kettle, soups, bread, jams, and other things including some MRE’s and P-Rats.” Cloudy adds.

Flopping down and rolling onto her back, she looks up at the ceiling… “So I’m supposed to sit in front of the TV or computer, eat junk food, and play video games? Who does that?”

A big gust of wind shakes the tree house a little, causing Cloudy to sit up, hugging her book to her chest.

“Calm down. I’ve been in worse storms.” Candy says.

“You were a storm chaser, and remember how much that concept scared me. I had nightmares of you being carried off by a tornado.” Cloudy whimpers.

“Carried off to some strange magical world and left to find my way home though forest and towns filled with strange creatures.” Candy says, then blinks, “Wait, isn’t that actually what kinda happened to us?”

“Well this doesn’t look like wonderland.” Feather says with a giggle.

“Wow, it’s so windy out there, a horse just flew by.” Candy says, looking out the window.

“What?” Feather blinks and heads over, looking out. Through the rain, she can see a pegasus flying.

“That’s horrible weather to be flying in. She probably has somewhere important to be.” Candy says.

Cloudy jumps again at the sound of the wind.

Moving over, Feather and Candy pull a blanket over the three of them. “There you go Cloudy, you’re safe with us.”

“Cutie Mark Crusader Cuddle PILE!”

*** Tanya ***

“Stop scratching it.”

“But it itches.”

“Maybe you got cursed with fleas and they came along too.”

The sound of the smack echoes throughout the halls.

Emma Watson, the CID leader for team three just can’t help but chuckle, “You earned that one.”

Anthony grumbles, rubbing the side of his face and looks at the interrogation room.

“Tanya, observation room, Anthony will be handing this interrogation.” Emma opens the door for the observation room.

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to put you in the same room as him, given your state.”

Huffing, she walks into the observation room and sits down, looking at the guy through the glass. LT Manning isn’t much to look at. He isn’t overweight or anything, just non-descript. Five foot ten, 175 pounds, no scars, just a standard military haircut, he could easily blend into most crowds and simply vanish.

She watches Anthony walk into the interrogation room, ok they are supposed to call it the interview room, less context involved. They just can’t help themselves in private.

“Why am I here?”

“Well it’s not about unpaid parking tickets.” Anthony leads off and drops the photo of Ruby.

“What’s with the animal?”

“Let’s drop the act. Drop the dancing around. We have your finger prints, DNA, we can place you at the warehouse. We are looking at sexual assault, kidnapping, and possibly murder if she doesn’t recover.” Anthony says.

“I want my lawyer.”

“So that’s the way you’re doing this?”

“It’s my right, I want my lawyer.”

Flattening her ears, Tanya walks out of observation.

Emma blinks, “Special Agent, what do you think you’re…”

“It’s okay Anthony. He’s entitled to his lawyer.” Tanya says.

“What’s with the ears?” Manning asks.

“Oh, noticed them? I have a tail too now. Apparently I’m turning into a pony.” She says, then looks back at Anthony. “It’s almost 10 pm. A jag duty lawyer won’t be available till morning.”

“Yeah, so were holding him here then?”

“I can stay with him. So yeah, apparently I’m getting my horn in a few hours.” Tanya says with a smile.

“You’re… excited about that?” Anthony blinks, confused.

“Oh heck yeah, I’ll be able to start doing magic. They say we’re supposed to start practicing right away. To avoid accidents.”

“You mean like that explosion in California?” Anthony blinks, starting to catch on.

“That… wasn’t actually an accident. That was a unicorn practicing. She blew out all the windows on both sides of the streets with that one.”

“You’re not going to leave me in here with her are you?” The lieutenant asks, looking between them nervously

“I have no idea how to channel or control magical energy, so it’s going to be fun to practice.”

“Shouldn’t you like, do that in the shooting range or maybe… you know… out in the open fields?” Anthony says looking around.

“Armored glass, reinforced door, reinforced concrete walls with sound padding. I should be fine in here.”

“Yeah but walls don’t always work with spells. Remember that energy blast that turned everyone into ponies for like 300 feet.”

“Yeah but I have to practice. And we need to keep this guy here till morning.” Tanya says.

“Look, what I did wasn’t with a human so it wasn’t…”

Tanya looks at him, “That mean anything that happens in here isn’t with a human?”

“Look I want to cut a deal. I want a lawyer to oversee it.”

“A deal?”

“Yeah, I didn’t kidnap her. I rented her.”

“You… what?” Anthony blinks, sitting up.

“Which means there are likely others.” He goes on. “So I want my lawyer.”

Getting up Tanya walks out and looks at Emma.

“That was border line.” Emma says, looking sternly at her.

“We might have a bigger problem.”

“I heard.”

The lab tech walks up, “Watson I’ve been looking for you.”

Emma blinked and looks at the tech as he jogs up. “Whatcha got?”

“I was wondering why the pony thing called the base switch board rather than 911. So I did a check with local units.”

“Let me guess.”

“We’re missing a marine admin clerk out of the embassy support group. She went missing eight days ago, a day after her birthday.”

“Let NCIS know. Have you heard any news from the hospital?” Emma says, looking at the tech, then back over at Tanya.

“Her marks and colors are still fading. Don’t expect her to last till morning.”

“There is one possibility.” Anthony says, walking out.

Tanya blinks, looking at him.

“Yeah?” Emma tilts her head.

“It would be expensive though. We would need to fly her right now, and there wouldn’t be an actual guarantee of success.”

“What is it? Some special treatment?” Tanya turns quickly to face him.

“I’m not sure, I noticed it, reading some CID cases regarding tortured ponies. A foal was brought back by a Native American. Running Thorn.” Anthony shakes his head, “We aren’t sure why, but he has a special way with the ponies. He’s called Grandfather.”

*** Ah-Pee ***

“Are you TRYING to wear a hole in the carpet?” Cipher says, “They are fine.”

“They are out there all alone in the storm.” Ah-Pee says.

“They are in the tree house. Ballad and you built that. You know they are probably safer in there than they would be anywhere else.” Cipher laughs. “Besides, we can look in on them with the computer if needed.”

“No, they deserve their alone time.” She says. “I’d just be happier with them here.”

“I know, but in an emergency I could probably teleport over there to them. The truth is, we have to remember they are still as old as we are… Even if they are in foal bodies. We have to trust them.”

“Trusting them is one thing, trusting the world with them is another.” Ah-Pee says.

“Well I’m going to my room, I need some time with that electric massager.” Cipher says and trots for her room.

“Gross, too much information, Cipher.”

Giggling softly, “Wow earth ponies have such gutter minds. I use it for my back, ponies aren’t made to sit in chairs all day.”

“I… and… YOU!” Ah-Pee huffs.

Both stop and looked at the door, hearing the knock.

Getting up, Ah-Pee walks over and opens it to see a completely soaked and shivering Fleetfoot.

“Oh Celestia! Cipher get…”

“Get her to the sofa.” Cipher says, laying out towels on the sofa and pulling more out of the closet already starting to wrap the shivering pegasus.

“What are you doing, flying in this weather!?!?” Ah-Pee says.

“I… I had to… I didn’t know where else to go… I…” Fleetfoot curls up on the sofa as they get to work drying her.

Ah-Pee brings her out some warm chicken soup with a straw.

Cipher snuggled up tight to Fleetfoot to help her with body warmth.

“Is… is James here?” Fleetfoot looks to Ah-Pee, whimpering.

“There all still in England.” Ah-Pee responds softly.

“What’s wrong?” Cipher says, looking worried.

“I… I’m… I’m pregnant.”

“What? How?!?!” Cipher’s eyes are huge in shock.

“When a mare is in heat, a stallion moves behind her and then…” Ah-Pee starts.

“Ah-Pee! I know HOW it’s… trust me I see enough of that on the internet.”

“And you write about it.” Ah-Pee says, “So who’s the father?”

“I didn’t know there were that many stallions you knew.”

Whimpering softly Fleetfoot mumbles, “The only stallion I slept with, was… James.”

*** Grandfather ***

They had been flying for over three hours. They first flight was by fast transport to New Mexico, then by Osprey for the last little bit of the trip. The Osprey is under emergency flight rules and has ignored several safety requirements.

Something about a VC-22 Osprey landing on First Nations land might seem strange. Most people would have raised an eyebrow at the concept of two marine corpsmen carrying a pony on a stretcher. The sight of a pegasus trotting with them in uniform might have raised some questions. The idea that they are taking the pony off of the Osprey into an old run down house, might have been downright confusing.

To the old man sitting on the porch however, this isn’t that weird. He’s seen stranger.

Tilting his head, Grandfather rocked slowly and begins speaking in Navajo, “Your machines have disturbed the animals and spirits. It’s noise scattering all for miles and sending the creatures of this beautiful night into hiding. Does no one know how to call first?”

“Running Thorn?” One of the marines asks.

Grandfather tilts his head, looking at the marines but keeps speaking in Navajo, “That is my name though I am rarely called by it. I am a little too old to run now. Though the spirits have been kind that I may live this long.”

Tanya moved up and kneels, bowing her head, “Grandfather please. We need your help. This young pony was abused and tortured. She didn’t deserve that and needs your help. We… I don’t know where else to take her. Her colors and marks have been fading ever since we found her.”

Standing up, Grandfather walks over to her and puts his hand on her neck. “Harmony has been taken from her. Her magic is fading.”

“Is there anything that can be done for her?” Tanya asks.

“Maybe, just maybe, little unicorn.”

“Little?” Tanya blinks, glancing up at her horn. “Oh, right. That’s grown in.”

Looking between Tanya and Drizzle, Grandfather shakes his head. “It will take a lot of energy, I do not know if you two are strong enough.”

Drizzle steps forward, “I’m not the biggest or strongest pegasus… but… I’m here.”

“She’s a pony, she didn’t deserve this. I don’t know how strong I am or what kind of a unicorn I was in Equestria, but I know in my heart, she deserves a chance.” Tanya says.

Grandfather nods, “Maybe your hearts are strong enough then. Do you know her or did you know her before the change?”

“No, but physically she’s not much older than me.” Drizzle says softly.

Tanya shakes her head slowly, “Not personally I never met her till we found her.”

“Doing this for a stranger, shows the spark of magic she will need.”

Standing, Grandfather walks into the house, collecting the herbs he needs. Walking out, he gives Drizzle a gentle rub between her ears. Turning he heads to the fire pit and begins building the fire. “The spirits may see fit to save her yet.”

*** England ***

Four Blackhawks from the 56th Rescue Squadron have landed near the castle. The SAS Major is unsure of what is going on. There is no call for this, through his command.

“Lieutenant Fisher, what’s going on?”

“Extraction team, we are bringing her out.” The LT says, looking at the SAS officer.

“Then she should be turned over to us for her crimes.”

“She’s being brought into US army custody for interrogation.” Turning, the LT runs for the helicopter. Holding up his cellphone he starts broadcasting the live footage.

A moment later Velvet and Beth appear, their horns crossed, with Henry kneeling, hands on their backs. Both girls collapse, panting and even Henry looks woozy. Without waiting for a word or orders, the airmen load the two ponies and the human onto the first helicopter. With cargo on board and before the SAS can react, the first Blackhawk is in the air.

Racing, and with trained practice, the Rangers board the second helicopter. Without waiting, it takes to the air along with the other three. Flying as close as they can, to merge signals on radar, and dropping flares and chaff, the choppers begin their run.

Air cover is provided by F-15’s. There is no fear that the British forces would try and shoot down the helicopters, but the US isn’t going to take chances. This is going to happen fast, and the fallout would be massive. It is, however, the only route to go.

Mid-route, the helicopters break into two groups. The first group, heading for the RAF base at Mildenhall, where US transport aircraft wait. The second group makes a break for Heathrow, a US diplomatic transport is sitting on the runway there, waiting. The US Foreign affairs minister, as well as a legal team has already left it there. They are on their visit to the Prime Minister’s office.

Both the primary and decoy groups are flying at full speed. The helicopters are being pushed to their limits on military power. Military power, the term used for running an engine at full power and full speed. While good for short stints, running it too long like that could damage the engines, and often required a refit of the engine after use. Ground crews are not going to be happy.

Mildenhall is still a Royal Air Force base, but the US holds a lease for it, and is allowed to operate aircraft from it. The Royal Air Force has security waiting for the helicopters, but they know they couldn’t interfere if the helicopters land near the transports.

The same goes for Heathrow. If the US gets the ponies into the diplomatic aircraft, they can’t touch it. Police have been dispatched. Though here is some question if they really wanted to stop the US Army. It might be the best just to let them escape.

“And you’re sure this will work.” The LT says.

Nodding slowly I take a breath. “Yep. But we will need to stop for a moment.”

“I know.” The LT gives me a hug. “Be careful, I don’t want to have to deal with Blaze if you get hurt, the paperwork will be a mess.”

The cellphone vibrates and the LT looks at it. “Target’s in position. You’re a go, with this, there’s no turning back Velvet.”

Nodding, I take a deep breath. “Meh, if it goes bad, just say I knocked you out.”

The helicopter slams on the brakes. Tipping its nose up and cutting power the helicopter loses all forward speed fast, then the pilot drops the nose as the helicopter hits a hover. Taking a breath i cross horns with Beth than looked down and teleport with her.

Once clear the helicopter goes to max power again, gaining speed as fast as it can.

*** Grandfather ***

Grandfather looks at the marines as they place Ruby by the fire. “This is not for your eyes. Wait at the… machine.”

Looking to each other, the marines shrug and head back to their transport.

Grandfather positions the pegasi and unicorn on either side of the stricken earth pony. Moving to the other side of the fire he begins chanting. Tapping his rattle in time, Grandfather looks to the two drummers who have joined them for this emergency.

Tanya feels the energy building behind her horn. It is an energy she hasn’t felt before, an energy she doesn’t know she has. She can feel it building and throbbing in time with the drum beats. Glancing over, Tanya sees Drizzle, her wings spread wide. There is an energy crackling between her feathers.

Drizzle stomps her hooves in time with the drums. Her eyes are closed tight, she isn’t scared though. She flicks her wingtips in time with the music and stomps her hooves. She doesn’t know why she is doing it, but she has to help Ruby. She feels it in her heart. Ruby is a pony too. There are so few of them on Earth, every one of them needs to be saved.

Tossing a handful of herbs into the fire causes the flames to roar up, the image of a stag forming in the flames. His antlers are glowing bright with energy. A ball of power forming between the antlers in the basket of his rack appears green, even though the flames are red.

Tapping the rattle, the energy of the unicorn and pegasus brings the seeds inside to life, the heart seed and zap apple seeds responded to the magic of Equestria. The love, the willingness to sacrifice for a stranger, the seeds focus it.

Strands of energy, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple flow out from the Zap apple seeds. The energy flowed through the fire up around the image of the stag gathering in its rack before diving down gain. It wrapped around the girls in streams as it intertwined and dance with Tanya’s horn, drawing her energy into the beam. The colors run through Drizzles feathers, drawing the aether from the pegasus, growing bright and true.

Arching up finally the colors come down and hit Ruby in her cutie mark, filling her body with love, safety, and pure Equestrian magic. The energy paints and washes through her colors bringing them back. The young mare is lifted off the ground as the energy wraps around her, ensuring she is fully painted again before laying her down.

Panting hard, Grandfather falls sideways into the drummer.

Tanya and Drizzle both watch the fire dim as they pass out completely drained and exhausted.

*** Velvet ***

We appear on the ground in the middle of the square. A rather large number of people look at us, shocked. Some taking pictures, others pointing. The sight of two unicorns appearing in a flash of light must not be normal here.

A large white stallion whinnies and backs up, fighting his rider. On the other side of us a white mare whinnies, shaking her head vigorously. Protesting any commands from her rider.

Looking around, I see our destination and cross horns with Beth again. With one more jump, we appear on the balcony beside the US Minister of Foreign affairs. Much to the shock of the British Prime Minister and his aid, I bow my head respectfully.

“I’m sorry for doing thing this way Prime Minister. But we need to talk to you. We are not sure how much you know about the ponies.” The foreign affairs minister starts.

“I’ve been told they are victims of a retrovirus.”

Shaking my head I sigh, “No sir, we aren’t. The situation is far more complicated. What is going on will require a lot of changes and understanding. Though, first order of business. The army and police have been trying to catch this unicorn. She’s been protecting crown land by sabotaging private contractors.”

“Yes, I know about that.”

“Prime Minister, FBI Forensic accountants as well as Cyber teams from the military have been hard at work. First, the forest area that she’s been fighting to protect is part of a scam. Certain members within the administrative branch are receiving kickbacks to give a contract to a company for a road that doesn’t need to be built. The data for the roadway uses misleading information, then the bid was awarded to the company based on bribes.”

The Minister of foreign affairs hands the Prime Minister the files.

I sit down and look at Beth. Leaning against her I cross my horn with hers again. Just to help give her strength. The minister and his aids go through the paperwork, looking at who are implicated and who the government is going to have to deal with in this scandal.

“Someponies gonna get it.” I say, noting the looks on the human’s faces in response to the information they are reading.

“Somebody.” Beth says, “You’ve gone way too native.”

“Are you ready for your part?”

“No, not in the slightest, I’m terrified.”

“It’s ok, I’ll be here with you and I’ll start it off. We will try and find a way to help all the ponies here at once.” I say, nuzzling her cheek.

“What am I going to do when you go?”

“Don’t worry, remember you are a special pony.”

Looking up, Beth takes a deep breath. “Okay, show time.”

“Honorable Prime Minister, given the situation, I think it would be best to have the Queen present in the next part of the discussion. Would it be possible?”

“An appointment was made with your Foreign Minister. I have some suspicions that that was not a coincidence.” The PM says.

“We would like to plead our case before both you and the crown. This is a serious matter that affects hundreds of lives.” I say and bow my head.

“We will go there in three hours. For now, care for some tea?”

*** USA ***

The ponies are divided up between different trucks. Shipped to different locations around the USA. Each delivery nets nearly 75,000 dollars US. The owners of each, though, are charging between 500 and 2000 dollars a pop to use. Except for those that were bought to be hunted. Those were based on how much the hunter is willing to pay, up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

There are some depraved people out there, and the chance to hunt an intelligent animal interests some. If they could hunt a dragon, that would be worth millions to some.

As to the little griffin, bidding for her has started at 250k. Be it to be used in some Chinese potions, to be hunted, or used as a sex toy, someone would need to pay big for her. The small box van she is in is traveling cross country. The auction site is New York City.