Firestorm let out a long, tired sigh and leaned back in his seat as he stared at the latest reports from ‘the incident’, as some had taken to call it. His private office was a small, unassuming place, with walls lined to the brim with his favorite books, hardwood floors, and a modest desk that none but the highest class of caster would so much as suspect held anything suspicious.

Sitting across from the one armed stallion sat a rather plain looking bat mare. Her fur was pitch black while her mane and tail were a stark white. She’d arrived not too long ago, butt naked as per direction; less conspicuous that way. She sat with a ladylike grace while enjoying the tea her boss had brewed for her.

“Something wrong, sir?” It was a question she was expected to ask. Firestorm was unlikely to divulge anything, otherwise.

Firestorm clucked his tongue and held up an open folder. “It’s just my agents got this report to me in record time.”

The bat mare furrowed her brow. “Is that not a good thing?”

“Yes and no. Yes in that it expedites our work by leaps and bounds,” Firestorm explained. “No in that it’s a sign of the sad state of things when Canterlot Castle’s defenses could be so easily circumvented.”

The mare frowned. “Perhaps somepony should inform them as much?”

“Yeah. somepony should,” he agreed. “But for now,” he tapped his finger to the papers. “Tell me, do you know of tonal magic?”

The mare straightened in her seat, shuffling her wings to get comfortable. Now the meeting was beginning in earnest. “I imagine everypony does, sir.”

“Like asking if you know the Princesses’ names, right?” he asked rhetorically. He smiled at his little joke, but the mare gave no response. “Elaborate,” he said, continuing to smile.

The mare nodded. “It is the phenomenon wherein ponies, sometimes individuals but usually larger groups, will break out into impromptu song and dance while performing some sort of task.” That had been a fairly textbook definition, but Firestorm looked like he wanted more. “I understand tonal events have been happening quite frequently in Ponyville as of late.”

“Have they now?” Firestorm asked, although his tone showed that he’d wanted the conversation steered this way. “Why is that, I wonder?”

The mare stared back at her boss; curious what he wanted her to say. “The papers seem to believe that Ponyville itself is to blame, that the use of the Elements of Harmony has triggered some shift in the region’s etheric energy.”

Firestorm snorted dismissively. That had not been the right answer.

“More likely,” she continued, “it is the element bearers who are the cause. Their connection to the Elements has-”

Firestorm cleared his throat.

The mare blinked and rethought what she was about to say. She was on the right track, but her answer was incomplete. “No. Not the connection,” she realized. “It is the Element Bearers themselves who are the cause. The increase in tonal events is a side effect of an unusually profound destiny shared by these mares; one that made them worthy of wielding the Elements long before laying a hoof upon them.”

Firestorm nodded. “Glad at least somepony’s paying attention,” he huffed. His annoyance stemmed from reading the mainstream news. So-called ‘experts’ had gotten it in their heads that the use of the Elements had turned Ponyville into some sort of holy ground. Mares from all over had gotten it in their heads to make the trek to the town just to have their foals, thinking being born in the town would somehow imbue said foals with profound destinies comparable to Twilight. One of the more annoying aspects of that particular myth had been how everypony had conveniently forgotten that the Elements had been used at the old castle in the Everfree, making the premise behind these pilgrimages flawed right down to the core. It was only after the especially stupid petition to get the ‘mane six’, as the papers liked to call them, to start blasting the sacred weapon of immense power into population centers that Celestia put had her hoof down and brought a swift, decisive end to the madness. Many a journalist was left without work after the purge, a reminder to all information brokers to better check their sources.

“However,” the mare continued, “I cannot say that I am familiar with instances of tonal magic ever being used to inflict harm as described in the incident at the lunar wing.”

“And why do you think that is?” Firestorm asked, flipping through his papers.

The mare’s ears flicked as she thought. “I can think of two likely reasons. Either incidents of tonal magic inflicting harm are so rare that there is almost no recordings of it actually happening, or-”

“Or?”

“… or the crowns deliberately keep such phenomenon opaque.”

“Both,” Firestorm affirmed. “Princesses think it best if the ignorant masses stay ignorant about all the monsters that lurk in the darkness, waiting, itching for a chance to pounce and rip us to pieces,” he said disinterestedly. “That’s at least one thing we agree on.”

“Sir?”

“We ponies are a skittish lot by nature. It takes months, even years of specialized training just so recruits even have the nerve to hold their ground and not run away the moment something frightens them. If the masses knew about even half the stuff I’d seen, they’d all freeze up and civilization would come to a swift and decisive end. That’s how the Princesses can claim to hold the moral high ground while keeping most news outlets on such a tight leash. They’re doing it for our own good,” he said with an odd smile on his lips.

The mare took another sip of her tea. “Then it’s a good thing our agents acted as quickly as they did, before the guards could be sworn to secrecy.”

“No, bad,” Firestorm countered gruffly. “If scoundrels like us could get in without being detected, then who knows what other villains might be afoot.”

“Afoot, sir?”

“Sorry. Still playing with these human words. After a while they just sort of roll off the tongue, ya know,” he said, waving his hand whimsically. He then sat up in his chair, now looking directly at his subordinate. “Anyway, ponies being swept up by tonal magic in the aftermath of some big battle is pretty par for the course. It’s like the spirit of Harmony itself is celebrating, acting through the ponies as avatars of its will. However, there’s not so much intel on tonal magic taking place during a battle.”

“Sir,” the mare affirmed.

“CEI’s been experimenting with ways of triggering such phenomenon consciously, but with minimal success.” He took a sip of his own tea, using his hand instead of his magic. “Don’t get me wrong, though. Those few successes have been quite impressive, to say the least. However, there’s a shit ton of factors involved and a mistake anywhere could leak to a collapse of the whole spell matrix.”

“It’s only natural they’d latch onto the incident in the castle,” the mare inferred.

“Yes, but there something those old farts aren’t seeing,” Firestorm continued, sounding more serious than before. “All this time listening to dearest Thomas has led me to view his kind in a way even the Princesses might not see.” He popped his lips. “I’ve studied his body language and manner of speech even more closely than those mares of his. He doesn’t like to talk about it often, but there’s a dark, terrifying side to humanity. I can hear it in some of the stories he tells. There’s an excitement to the conflict, and I don’t mean Daring Do grade punch a few baddies in self-defense and then fly off. I mean heroes and villains beating the ever-loving shit out of each other, each giving their all in a desperate bid just to survive.”

The mare tilted her head. “I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t think I understand.”

“He’s a civilian, Black,” Firestorm stressed. “He tries to hide it, but I can tell. He’s a civilian from a culture that practically fetishizes war. Have a look for yourself.” He tore a page from the report and slid it across the table. It was the one with the lyrics of the song that had started this whole mess.

Black read as ordered. As she did, her chest began to swell with each breath. She was mouthing the words like a filly on her first day of class. The song… With the lyrics at her fingertips, it was almost like she could hear the very music as her heart increased in tempo.

“There,” Firestorm said, snatching the paper from Black’s hands. “You felt it, didn’t you? You felt the power, the thrill behind the words.”

Black blinked and worked to get her breathing back under control. She nodded nervously as the realization set in. “S-sir.”

“Tonal magic affects ponies differently. Most anypony’ll pick up a hoe and start tilling if they hear a farming song, so long as doing so falls into their area of expertise or was their intent from the start. But a song about fighting,” Firestorm trailed off to collect his thoughts. “The mares of the harem just thought it was a neat little ditty that got their blood pumping. But for you, for those guards, it was a call to action. No doubt that’s what Gemini was going for. When you combine that with the actual need for action, you’ve got instant muscle memory, virtually living choreography that wills all parties present to follow each and every step, be it a well-timed backflip or charging face first into your enemy’s fist.

“That’s the secret our little human has cracked, the one the CEI and so many others have been struggling with for centuries,” he continued, speaking softly. “Ponies. Hate. War.” He leaned back in his seat. “It’s so obvious. Ponies hate war. Sure, our ancestors used to invade and slaughter each other a lot, but it was never viewed as anything good. Even the pegasi – with their centuries of military tradition – have been more about the protocol than the fighting. Hell, even minotaurs and griffons might be more open to a good fight, but they’ve always avoided full scale conflict whenever possible.”

“And the dragons, sir?” Black asked. It was, after all, just common sense that dragons were the most aggressive sentient race to call Equestria home. How did they fit into all this?

Firestorm paused. “Dragons have historically been, to put it politely, tone-deaf. Their version of singing is just roaring, without any obvious rhythm behind it. Tonal magic, it seems, is particular about the music, as well as the emotion behind it.” Firestorm didn’t say anything for a while. He just tapped his fingers against his desk as his brow scrunched in thought. “Humans, by contrast, seem to hit the sweet spot of both intent and ability. They don’t suck at singing and, at least on an abstract level, have a liking for war.”

“Then… shouldn’t we act?” Black asked. She stood up, ready to take action. “If this human is so dangerous, why do we not seize him for ourselves?”

“Because it isn’t that simple,” Firestorm growled in warning until Black sat back down. “Tonal magic has been studied for centuries and, while there are certainly contributing factors at work; it’s basically like a wild storm, wind sweeping of its own accord and causing storms only specialist weather teams can handle. If I’m right, and I usually am, the spirit behind the song is only part of the equation. You still need circumstance to actually make something happen. If those thugs hadn’t picked that exact moment to stumble in, we’d all be none the wiser. Besides that, what few instances the CEI’s had in triggering tonal conflict consciously has involved a shit ton of power behind it. In this case, it was the music being played by an alicorn’s magic and channeled by the most powerful simulacrum in the known world that made it all possible.”

“That still leaves the danger of the human walking free,” Black insisted. “Even if he doesn’t know, somepony else might figure it out and snatch him up before we can.”

“You honestly think I haven’t considered that?” Firestorm asked, his tone contemptuous of his subordinate. “I’ve been monitoring him and his security for months now. What happened last night was a freak among coincidences where those thugs picked the best time to exploit a hole in regular castle security, but they weren’t so ready for the irregular wards. My money’s on a security leak that’s bound to be plugged inside a week. They also picked the absolute worst time to break in, meeting up with a patrol that had Shining – Faust damned – Armor with them, on top of the Faust damned tonal magic. After last night, security around the chimp’ll only tighten. There’s nothing we could do even if we wanted to,” he informed flatly.

Black scowled, not liking this situation one bit.

“But if you insist, by all means,” Firestorm offered.

“Sir?”

“Go ahead. Test the defenses and the Princess’ temper by trying to steal her favorite buck buddy.” He chuckled and took another sip of his drink. “They’ll probably have to dust off the chopping block, though.” The stallion then made a slicing motion under his chin, complete with a *shing* sound effect.

Black gulped and ran her hand over her neck, suddenly looking less gung-ho.

“Speaking of heads, I do believe a certain someone is due for a checkup.” With a swish of his fingers and a flick of his magic, Firestorm’s desk began to unfold and open around the middle. The crystal ball that emerged was pale blue, but otherwise perfectly ordinary to the untrained eyed.

Black knew better, though. This crystal ball was layered with top tier enchantments, allowing for scrying into places that would otherwise be impenetrable.

“Let’s see what our little friend is up to, shall we?”

**********

“Nervous?” Moonlight asked.

“Kinda,” Thomas admitted, hating how childish it made him sound. He and Moonlight were sitting in the waiting room of the castle’s infirmary. “It’s kinda like going to the dentist. They lay you down, poke and prod, and the best thing you can hope for is that they have nothing to say.”

Moonlight pursed her lips. There wasn’t much chance of the doctors having nothing to say. Him being the only one of his kind in the land and this being his first major checkup in months basically made ‘nothing’ a virtual impossibility. She decided not to voice these thoughts, though. Instead, she took his hand in hers and gave it a good squeeze. He squeezed back, and she smiled.

The door opened and a white and brown mare poked her head out. The tag on her coat read Nurse Easy Check. “Mr. Thomas. The doctor is ready to see you now.”

Thomas nodded, took in a quick breath, and let it out slowly. “Alright then.” He stood and followed the nurse down the hall, Moonlight trailing him like a shadow every step of the way.

**********

“That’s quite the image,” Black noted as she observed the 3D projection from the crystal ball. It was like there was a real life pony and human walking right along Firestorm’s desk, only miniaturized. “Remarkable detail.”

“Just wait,” Firestorm cautioned.

**********

The first stage of the examination was pretty standard stuff. Nurse Check took his weight and height, stuck a tongue depressant in his mouth while looking down his throat, and then asked him to sit while she took his blood pressure.

“Alright. All seems normal,” Check said.

Thomas straightened up a bit in hope. “That basically means unchanged from last time, right?”

Nurse Check nodded. “So far, yes. The doctor will be in shortly to-”

“Ah! There he is!” The stallion that Thomas recognized as Doctor Feelgood came through the door with his arms outstretched in welcome. While normally terrible with names, the man was able to recognize the stallion by the large spot of white fir on his face. It contrasted distinctly with the solid red fur on the rest of his body. “The man of the hour.”

“Been a while,” Thomas said and offered his hand to the old stallion.

“Too long, I say,” Feelgood replied enthusiastically as he shook Thomas’ hand. “So how’s my favorite human patient doing? Anything scientifically groundbreaking happen recently? Odd bumps, unexplained lactation, spontaneous color changes?”

Moonlight’s face scrunched in disgust at what she was hearing. It sounded as though this quack was just using her stallion to advance his own career. Most of those symptoms didn’t even sound real. No wonder Thomas didn’t like going to the doctor.

“No. No. Aaand… if I say no a third time, would that stop you from checking for those things anyway?” Thomas asked rhetorically.

Moonlight’s ear flicked. Thomas sounded more annoyed than threatened, so she relaxed just a bit.

“My good sir. I’m afraid it would be criminally irresponsible of me not to run each and every medical checkup at my disposal. As your head doctor, I am not only responsible for your wellbeing, but also the foremost expert on human physiology in all of Equestria,” Feelgood crowed, straightening out his white coat. “The Princesses themselves have imparted onto me this most sacred of duties, so take heed, young human, for I shall do all in my power to ensure that you live a long and healthy life!”

Moonlight blinked, having not previously considered him being personally assigned by the Princesses. If they trusted him, the who was she to question?

“Speaking of which…” Doctor Feelgood began fishing around in his coat pocket and pulled out a painted stick with two triangles on the end. “Kindly balance this on your finger.”

Frowning uncertainly, Thomas held up his hand and pointed his index finger out. The doctor grinned and set the stick into place. It wobbled a bit, but was short enough that he had little trouble keeping it from tipping.

“What sort of test is this?” Moonlight asked. The stick looked to be just an ordinary stick made of ordinary wood; no discernable active or passive magic, either.

“My friend’s latest invention,” Feelgood said, staring with absolute focus down on the balancing stick. “It’s supposed to test for digestive problems.” He frowned. “Or was this the one that caused the erectile dysfunction?”

Without thinking, Moonlight immediately slapped the stick off of Thomas’ finger.

“Thanks,” Thomas muttered in relief, rubbing his finger.

“Oh that’s right!” Feelgood exclaimed. “My sincerest apologies,” he said, going to fetch the stick across the floor. “This is the one that tests for pregnancy, parasites, and other related maladies.” He held the stick up to his face and examined it carefully. “Nope. All good on that front.”

As the good doctor began taking notes, the nurse saw fit to step in. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Not as sorry as he’s about to be,” Moonlight growled.

“Doctor Feelgood can be a little… scatterbrained sometimes, but he really is a brilliant physician.”

“And astrologist,” Feelgood insistently added over his shoulder. “Don’t forget astrologist.”

“Yes, astrologist,” nurse Check sighed her exasperation. “He’s just been waiting for the chance to see Thomas again for so long, he’s a little overeager.”

“Speaking of which.” Doctor Feelgood spun around and tapped a pen at his notes. His horn glowed and cast a wide field of light over Thomas, what Moonlight recognized as a medical grade low tier scan. When the scan ended, the doctor resumed taking notes. “Improved muscle mass overall, steadier pulse, cholesterol unchanged, brainwaves unchanged, da da daaa,” he trailed off, marking checks in his notes. “All in all, no notable changes, except in areas which, if you were a pony, I’d have to say were signs of good health. Human skin grows paler if not sufficiently exposed to the sun, yes?”

“A little, yeah,” Thomas admitted. “I’ve gone out in the sun a bit more, like you suggested, but not that much.”

“Hmm.” Doctor Feelgood resumed tapping idly at his notes. “You said previously that humans are normally diurnal, suggesting a relatively high need for Vitamin D. That’s high compared to bat ponies, but probably closer to the needs of the other tribes,” he explained, voicing his thoughts as they came. “Your D levels are about the same as last time, so presumably you’re consuming a sufficient amount of eggs, fish, and milk to compensate for the lack of sun, yes?”

Thomas nodded.

“Yet there is no observable change in skin tone.” Feelgood slapped the back of his pen to the papers. “Why is that, I wonder?”

Thomas shrugged and looked up at the glass dome on the ceiling, illuminating the room. “Maybe magic light is close enough to natural sunlight?”

Feelgood frowned. “If that’s the case, then how would any human ever go pale?”

“Our lights don’t work like that, remember?”

“Oh! Oh yes, that’s right,” Feelgood smiled as he recalled. “You lack magic. So where as ponies prefer magical lighting whenever possible, crystals and unicorn lamps and the like, humans rely almost exclusively on florescent lighting, yes?”

Thomas nodded again.

“Hmm.” Feelgood scribbled more notes onto his papers. These questions and more followed as the good doctor recorded everything. Most of his conclusions were drawn from a mixture of data collected from their last session, Thomas’ speculation, comparisons to the physiology of whichever of the pony tribes seemed most applicable, and things that may or may not have been pulled from Feelgood’s own ass.

Moonlight frowned as the interrogation continued and wrapped an arm protectively around Thomas’ shoulder. She hated how much of her stallion’s health was dependent on a guessing game. More so, she hated how powerless it made her feel to know that there was nothing she could do about it. A mare who couldn’t protect her stallion was no mare at all.

Feelgood stood. “Alright then. If you’ll come with me, we can begin the more in-depth examination.” He pushed the door open and gestured for Thomas to walk ahead.

“Sure,” he agreed, nodding as he left. His mare followed, practically glued to his side as they walked. She felt tense against him, so he tried wrapping his arm around her waist. It helped, but not by much.

The nurse accompanied them the whole way.

The room Doctor Feelgood directed them to was quite the large one. The walls were the standard stale white of any medical facility, but the machine in the center was another story. It was truly a massive and imposing thing that touched the ceiling and filled up more than half the room. It looked to be made of a combination of metal, wood, finely cut crystal, and some parts might have even been flesh. It almost looked alive the way pumps and tubes sent various substances throughout the machine’s body. Bulbs sparked to life in odd patterns and… was that a xylophone in the back?

Feelgood smiled. “Like it? We’ve made some improvements since last time.”

“Apparently,” Moonlight noted apprehensively. The base machine looked like a fairly standard magical scanner, the same that was present in just about every worthwhile hospital in the country. No two machines were exactly the same, with many being given custom modifications depending on that hospital’s needs. However, it looked like the modifications on this machine seemed to border on the… extra-legal side of things.

Thomas stared up near the top of the machine and pointed. “Is that why that part there looks like a smiley face?”

Feelgood looked up at the indicated area. The electricity perpetually sparking between two tesla coils was arching downwards, resembling a smile. The exhaust port belching out green smoke, which was thankfully sucked in by one of many vents stationed around the room, seemed to make for an adequate nose. Lastly, just above the exhaust port were two sets of crystals that were arranged in just such a way that – as Feelgood finally recognized – resembled a pair of red, beaming eyes. “Ah. I see. That’s quite the eye you have there, Mr. Thomas.”

Thomas cared little for the praise. “Does it… talk?” He wasn’t sure if he was ready to learn that it did.

“Not yet, but we’re getting there,” assured Feelgood with a chipper grin. “Anyway, would you be so kind as to come around here so we may begin?”

Thomas moved to the seat Feelgood had indicated, directly below the face. It was an open glass cylinder with a curved seat in the middle.

“Ah ah!” Feelgood snapped. “The loincloth.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Thomas slipped out of his uniform, the one thing he’d been wearing, and handed it to Moonlight. It didn’t feel quite so awkward being naked going to see the doctor. He sat down and the seat shifted, tightening around his waist as it conformed to his particular shape. It was actually rather cozy.

Nodding his approval, Feelgood went around to the front corner of the machine. The primary control station, covered in numerous knobs and gauges, was situated so that the doctor could maintain eye contact with the patient at all times. Nurse Check took her position on the opposite corner with the support station. “Alright then. Shall we begin?”

Thomas nodded. “May as well.”

Feelgood flipped a switch and the machine began to thrum and churn with its many moving parts. “You know the procedure. Just try not to move unless I say otherwise,” he reminded.

“Yeah. I know.”

Moonlight tightened her grip around the loincloth as she watched. It hadn’t been so long ago that she’d been asked to sit on one of these machines, herself. It was all perfectly mundane and ordinary. Even Thomas seemed perfectly at ease as he sat and waited for the machine to get to work. However, there was a strange niggling in the back of her head, a sense of foreboding that she couldn’t quite explain.

Twin beams of green and blue light shown down from the top of the cylinder. When the mechanisms started turning the light sources, the beams bent as they were moved along. In time they resembled a double helix as they encircled and passed through Thomas like he wasn’t even there. Thomas rubbed the back of his hands against his seat. He was careful not to move too much, but the itching still demanded his attention. Other than that, he felt nothing.

“What exactly are you scanning for?” Moonlight asked.

Doctor Feelgood clucked his tongue. “First time it was for everything, but with a special emphasis on bacteria and viruses. We were dealing with an alien, after all,” he informed plainly.

Moonlight tensed and pursed her lips. It made sense that Thomas’ crown appointed physician would be in on his origins, but she felt dumb for not thinking to ask earlier. Given the lack of reaction from the nurse, it seemed she also knew. Just how many ponies knew about this secret anyway?

“We took various samples, but there was nothing that proved harmful one way or the other,” Feelgood continued. “Kept him in a quarantine bubble for a while anyway, just to be on the safe side. Just the standard fare, not even a centimeter off his skin, so he was still free to move around when not being tested.”

Moonlight frowned. “Quarantine bubble? Luna still insists on casting defensive wards on him every day. Is the quarantine still in effect?”

“What? No,” Feelgood said and waved his hand dismissively. “Well, not really. The Princess, for reasons that seem pretty obvious in hindsight,” he chuckled, “was being a little overprotective. Things like temperature insulation and foot guards didn’t interfere with any of our scans, so we allowed it.”

“I’m not complaining,” Thomas chimed in. “It’s nice to be able to go wherever I like without shoes.”

But Moonlight didn’t look satisfied. “Don’t such wards build on themselves, though? And aren’t all standard wards just weaker versions of an isolation shield?”

“That’s a little oversimplified, but you’re not too far off,” Feelgood answered while keeping his attention on the machine’s readings. “They’re all derived from the same matrix structure, like how ponies and horses all share the same ancestor way back when, so the base function is pretty similar for each ward. So yes, the similar core matrices of each ward spell will overlap and build on one another so that insulation against harsh weather is amplified by the foot shield.”

**********

“Learning anything new?” Firestorm asked.

Black said nothing, but continued to watch and listen.

**********

“Which reminds me of something else I’ve been meaning to ask,” Feelgood continued with no overt change in tone or body language. “Human hair and surface skin cells are already lifeless, yes?”

“As far as I know,” Thomas affirmed.

“With that in mind, how long does it take for live cells to die?”

Thomas blinked and frowned at the doctor. “I don’t think I follow.”

“When we took those original samples, hair, urine, blood, and so on, we kept most of them frozen and under isolation spells, as is standard. We unfroze them for study, but still kept them under the wards. However, whenever we dispelled the wards on one of the samples, the cells seemed to die much faster than we’re used to. Even those in otherwise airtight and isolated containers didn’t last more than about thirty days, only a few hours in complete exposure.”

Thomas involuntarily shrugged. “Sounds pretty normal to me. Things meant to live in the body don’t last too long outside. If you just left a petri dish out in the open, yeah. I don’t see any amount of blood lasting for more than a few hours.” He licked his dry lips. “I’m guessing it’s different with ponies.”

“By quite the margin,” Feelgood affirmed, smiling excitedly at this revelation. “Under the condition you described, a petri dish left out in the open, I’d give a pony cell culture no less than five days. Full wards would bring it up to fifty. Full wards and frozen, well, that’d probably last a lifetime. And human cells are different?”

“I guess so.” Thomas could only shrug. His medical knowledge didn’t go much further than watching a handful of hospital shows, so he was about as much in the dark as Feelgood.

“What does that mean, exactly?” Moonlight asked. “Is that a problem?”

“What? No. No problem,” Feelgood informed excitedly. “It just means his discarded cells don’t live as long as those of a pony. At worst, it just means we’ll need to take a little extra blood for our reserves, you know, just in case.”

Moonlight frowned as she reached a rather upsetting conclusion. “If cells don’t last long after leaving the body, does that include sperm cells?”

Thomas tensed. He knew what that meant.

Moonlight, however, saw his apprehension. “Not now, of course!” she assured. “We’re both still too young. I’d like to get a little further in my career before I’m ready for a foal. Besides, it’d be better if our herd was a bit bigger, you know.” She cursed internally. What she’d said was common sense by pony standards, so it was rude to assume he’d have picked up on something like that, especially for something they’d never really discussed before.

Thomas sighed his relief and nodded. Waiting sounded good. Then again, he was prone to procrastination in general. He looked at the doctor. “You tested for that before, right? I remember you saying the results were… inconclusive?”

“I did,” Feelgood said with a nod, “and it still is. Your cells die quicker, sure, but in a matter of hours as we’ve observed. It only takes minutes for the little buggers to make the journey to the ovaries, so no problems on that front; at least as far as I can tell.”

“But?” Moonlight asked.

Feelgood sighed. “It’s tricky because that sort of thing isn’t easily tested. We’d need you to donate some live eggs during your next heat. If the test ends up being positive and the egg is successfully inseminated, it’s recognized by law as a life and you just said you don’t want to be a dame yet.”

Moonlight tensed, but noted Thomas’ confusion and explained. Contrary to many nations on Earth, Equestrian law recognized that life began at conception. If a live embryo was created, the doctors would be legally obligated to ensure its survival, the same as any newborn. The simplest scenario would be to freeze the hybrid embryo until such time as Moonlight and Thomas both agreed they wanted to be parents, at which point the embryo would be unfrozen and implanted in Moonlight’s womb at her next heat. To put the embryo up for adoption, so to speak, was out of the question as far as she was concerned. While she wasn’t ready yet, she still dreamed of one day being a dame to some adorable foal, the product of love shared between her and her beloved stallion.

Thomas just nodded along and agreed with what Moonlight said. He’d all but given up on even having a serious girlfriend back on Earth, so the idea of being a father was especially difficult to process. Thankfully Moonlight didn’t press the issue. In the end, all this meant was that they’d have to be like everyone else in heat season and make the decision to play it safe with protection or take their chances.

**********

“Would they actually allow a hybrid to be born?” Black asked.

Firestorm shrugged. “Probably. Celestia likes to hold them up as symbols of peace between races. I don’t see Luna disagreeing too much, especially with dearest Thomas. Love sick mare’s just itching to be an aunt again.” He smirked to himself at the thought that, had he spoken so disrespectfully of the Princess in any of the temples, even Celestia’s, he’d probably have to run faster than he’d ever had to before.

“Would we allow it?”

Firestorm clucked his tongue. “That, my dear, is an excellent question.”

**********

Feelgood hummed to himself as he continued taking in the machine’s readings. “All else seems good so far. There’s still an issue of unusually concentrated ambient magic, both around Mr. Thomas and his samples, but I doubt it’ll be a problem. Did you have any other questions?”

“Were there any indications of the recent tonal magic incident having any adverse effects?” Moonlight asked. That had been the crux of everypony’s concerns, after all.

Feelgood shook his head. “As far as our scans could tell, the magic just did its thing and left, barely leaving a trace. Like I said, there was the slight buildup in ambient magic, but you can probably just get rid of that with some extra strength shampoos.”

“Shampoo gets rid of magic?” Thomas asked.

“Standard hygiene,” Feelgood replied. “Unicorns get the stuff concentrated around their horns when they cast too much, but it’s not just the caster who can be affected. Even just being levitated can leave behind a faint trace. A little isn’t too bad, but let it build up too much and it could cause some interference. Most shampoos and soaps take care of this, scrubbing away the ambient crud without interfering with structured magic, but you might need to get the extra strong stuff, just in case.”

“Then I guess we’ll just do that,” Thomas conceded. He thought of bringing up the occasional pain in his wrists, but if the scans didn’t show anything then he didn’t see a need to bother.

When there were no more questions forthcoming, Feelgood flipped a few more switches and the machine sounded like it was sighing as it powered down. “All that’s left is to ask for a resupply of our samples. Their lifespan is inconveniently short and we’ve got plenty more tests to run.”

“Sure thing,” Thomas agreed. The double helix lights finally went out and he stood, running his hands over his body. Never hurt to check if everything was where it should be after visiting the doctor.

Moonlight, even more relieved than him, embraced her stallion and looked back at the doctor. “You’ll let us know if there’s any cause for alarm, right?”

Feelgood saluted. “You have my word.”

**********

“There. Happy?” Firestorm asked as they watched Thomas and the others move to the next room where samples would be taken. “Clean bill of health, as far as anypony can tell, with no apparent side effects from the tonal magic.”

“Maybe, but I still don’t like it,” Black admitted. “There’s still so much we don’t know about him.”

Firestorm nodded. “You’re wary. Good. It’s only natural to fear what we don’t understand. It’s that readiness to fight or flee that keeps us alive. However, be mindful of how this affects your behavior. Irrational fear could mean the loss of a valuable asset or the provocation of an enemy before we can prepare. Don’t want a bomb going off in Canterlot Castle. Think of the blow to property values.”

Black allowed herself a soft smile. “Ever vigilant,” she vowed and held up her tea in a toast.

“Ever vigilant,” Firestorm repeated, holding up his cup in return.

And thus we have the return of Firestorm, and he’s as ominous as ever. We get a bit more insight into his motivations while introducing his accomplice in whatever it is he’s doing. The trip to the doctor, by contrast, was perfectly ordinary. Yep. And that whole thing about short cell life and magical build up… Don’t read too much into that. It’s probably nothing.