“Stop,” demanded a blue mare with white mane. Unlike most ponies, she was fully covered in a dress, making her cutie mark impossible to see, and purple-tinted goggles covered her eyes. “I, Photo Finish, must photograph ze hero of Ponyville.”

Fluttershy and I stopped, and I set down the heavy bag of birdseed I had been carrying for her, as we turned to look at the mare. “Thanks, but I’m a bit busy. Another time perhaps?”

“Not you, ze sniper. Ze mare who single-hoofedly save all ze fillies and ze baby dragon. Not here, not now. But you simply must let Photo Finish capture your grace and beauty for all of Equestria to see,” Photo Finish, corrected.

“Eeep,” Fluttershy responded, pulling into her mane and cloak. I was surprised she didn’t activate it and vanish outright.

“Yes! Just like zat. Ve meet at ze park at noon. Do not make Photo Finish wait for you,” the mare said before turning and heading off. “But do bring some changes of clothing. Ze uniform… it is good, but it is not you.”

“Oh, my,” Fluttershy said quietly. “I guess… if she really wants me to…”

“Do you want to?” I asked.

“Well, I…” she hemmed.

“I think you should. Just for the day,” I encouraged. “Let’s stop by the boutique, I’m sure Rarity can help with the changes of clothes.”

“Umm, okay…”

“The Photo Finish?!” Rarity demanded confirmation.

“Well her flank was hidden so I can’t exactly verify her cutie mark, but that’s the name she gave,” I said. “I take it you know who that is.”

“Do I know who she is? She’s only the premiere fashion photographer of Equestria. Do you know what kind of opportunity this is?! Do you?” Rarity inquired.

“A… fashion opportunity?” I asked jokingly. “That’s why I thought of you. If she’s looking to photograph Kindness here in civilian dress, I figured it’d be a good opportunity for you to show off your stuff.”

“Not just a good opportunity. The opportunity. This is my best chance to break out of being typecast as a uniform designer. Not that there’s anything wrong with my uniforms, mind you, but a girl like me does like to be less practical and more fashionable sometimes,” Rarity said.

“Oh, well, I’m happy to show off your dresses, Rarity,” Fluttershy assured. “You make such lovely ones… like this one here,” she said, running a hoof on a nice green one.

“Oh! The Rydia look for our aspiring summoner. Good choice!” Pinkie Pie said, popping out from behind the dress.

“Well, I can see how the dress’ green would compliment the red of all those summon materia,” Rarity agreed. “Though just why do you have all of our summon materia again?”

“Oh, well, nopony else likes the parasprites, so they’ve been mine for some time now. And John de Lancie and I really hit it off after we worked together to save the Elements of Greatness, and John and Diamond Dust are dating now, so of course I couldn’t bear to keep them apart so…” Fluttershy explained. “I guess it just worked out that way? Besides, it’s always nice to be surrounded by friends.”

“Speaking of dating… how are things with you and Prince Blueblood?” I inquired. If I was going to play matchmaker, I might as well know how it turned out. It’d been a few weeks since I had seen the stallion, and Rarity had spent enough of that in the hospital she had spent the rest working hard to catch up on her orders.

Rarity frowned. “He’s gone back to Canterlot, since you broke up with him. He visited me briefly in the hospital, but I haven’t had a chance to see him since. Spike’s been kind enough to deliver my letters to him, but I haven’t gotten one back yet.”

It was my turn to frown. “If he breaks your heart, I’ll break his-”

“Now, now, I’m sure he’s just really busy,” Fluttershy interjected. “He is a Prince after all.”

“He can make time to answer a letter,” I insisted. “He made time to move to Ponyville for me, despite his obvious discomfort.”

“In all fairness, that more or less was his job at the time,” Rarity pointed out. “Now he’s probably courting some foreign diplomat as we speak. With hardly a moment’s rest to devote thought to his poor, beloved mistress.”

“Speaking of jobs… the photo shoot is tomorrow, do you need any help getting things ready now?” I inquired.

“Oh! Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes. We’d best get right on it!” Rarity said, snapping to attention. “Oh, but… with everything that’s been going on… I can’t really afford you usual rate, right now…”

“I think I can afford to help out my friends for free,” I said, waving dismissively. “Now what do you need?”

“Now children, I know it’s a bright sunny day today, but I need you to remember to get your homework done, and not just play the whole time,” Cheerilee said. “Now, class dismissed!”

Most of the foals bolted for the doors, but as was their habit, the five members of the Elements of Greatness who attended the school gathered together instead.

“Fractions. Mah worst nemesis,” Apple Bloom declared.

“I’ve never had a problem with them,” Silver Spoon stated. “I just think of it like baking. A quarter cup plus a half cup is three-quarters cups. Easy as pie.”

“Yeah, well, an apple that isn’t whole ain’t worth a bit,” Apple Bloom pointed out. “Still… maybe you could help me with it? Ah’m not lookin’ forward to bringing home another poor test score.”

“Yeah, doesn’t your grandma make you buck trees for every question you get wrong?” Scootaloo questioned.

“If’n you’re not suited ta be a scholar, you’d best prepare ta be a farmer,” Apple Bloom quoted, her legs already feeling sore at the prospect. “Though, sis does say it’s great practice fer buckin’ baddies.”

“We could probably all stand to buck a few trees every week, help build up our strength, along with everything else,” Diamond Tiara admitted. “We’ve got a long way to go to be at the level of the Elements of Harmony.”

“Do you even think we will?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I mean… we tried our best and the six of us couldn’t even match one of them.”

“Your sister got outmatched as well,” Diamond Tiara pointed out. “Look, I’m not criticizing your sister. That was a real fight, all three times, and I saw some of the damage your sister was able to inflict. We did really well too! We almost had her out of there! And if we had a summon materia we could have turned that situation around, I’m sure of it. But the older Elements are more experienced, better trained and better equipped. And that’s why they have more responsibilities. We’ll get there. By the time we’re as old as they are now, we’ll be better prepared than they are now, and no diamond dogs, or vine monsters or even dragons will be able to stand against us.”

“It doesn’t hurt we have our own dragon,” Sweetie Belle said, a bit dreamily.

“That you lo~ove~,” Scootaloo teased.

“Hey!” Sweetie Belle objected.

“You denying it?” Scootaloo asked.

“Just… don’t make it sound like a bad thing,” Sweetie Belle insisted.

“Ooo, you do love him!” the pegasus said before being forced to flee before the wrathful unicorn. The two of them ran out the front door, nearly trampling the mare that was waiting outside.

“Ooof, get away from me you common ruffians,” Spoiled Rich demanded.

“Hey, I know that voice… isn’t that your mom?” Silver Spoon asked her oldest friend.

Diamond Tiara glared at the door a moment, then turned and headed for window to let herself out a different direction.

“Oh no you don’t, little filly,” Cheerilee said, slipping her head under the younger pony and lifting her away from the window. “You haven’t seen your parents in weeks. The least you can do is see if she’s coming to apologize.”

“If she is, tell her to apologize to my friends first. When they tell me she’s sorry, I’ll hear her out,” Diamond snapped.

“I see somepony needs some lessons in forgiveness,” Cheerilee said less than cheerily. “Look, Diamond, I know she hurt you, but-”

“She made me choose between her and my friends. Well, I made my choice, and now she has to live with it,” Diamond Tiara stomped a hoof. “And honestly, it’s made me stronger for it. A leader of the Elements is always going to be able to live in a fancy house surrounded by every comfort with servants to wait on her mouth and hoof. It’s a rough, dangerous, and challenging life. But it’s my calling. You can even see the tiara on my flank to prove it, much like Cloud’s. Now, if you’ll excuse me… my friends and I have some homework to do; both the fractions you assigned, and our daily training exercises.”

With that, she gathered her strength and more than a little of her mother’s haughtiness, and walked out the front door. Her mother tried to say something as she passed, but with her chin up and her heart hardened, the words passed her unacknowledged.

“I’m sure you must have heard her, Mrs Rich,” Silver Spoon said as she followed. “Or Miss Cheerilee can fill you in, if you’re ready to hear it.”

Spoiled Rich raised a hoof to shout something at her daughter, but the words caught in her throat. She stomped the hoof and looked angry, and tried again. Then looked at the teacher who could fill her in… but didn’t need to. Silver Spoon was right, she had heard everything through the open door as she hesitated to enter to confront her daughter. To get her daughter back from those… hooligans.

“Stubbornness isn’t going to win the day here, Spoiled,” Cheerilee told her softly.

“I know,” Spoiled said softly after a few minutes, tears welling in her eyes again. “But that’s the thing about stubbornness.

“It’s stubborn.”

“Oh! Cloud! Fancy meeting you here,” Filthy Rich greeted me as I walked down the road out of town. He had a heavy sack with him and seemed to have been waiting on my usual route for some time, probably because my patrols aren’t exactly like clockwork.

“Filthy,” I acknowledged, before coming to a stop before him. “I don’t think I’ve seen you since I broke up with Prince Blueblood. No hard feelings between us, I hope? Though I can’t blame you for wanting to spend more time with your friend than his ex.”

“No, of course not. And you’re welcome to pay the wife and I a visit anytime, Miss Strife, especially with how good you’ve been to our daughter.” Daughter? Right… he was DT’s dad. “That brings me to my point though… can you keep a secret.”

“I can,” I promised, looking at the bag pointedly.

“I’ve gathered a few things… if you could slip them into her clubhouse without letting anypony know they’re from me,” he requested.

“Sure,” I said, “but I’m pretty sure she’s going to guess where they came from. Might just have to take you up on that offer sometime though; you’ve got an awfully nice pool at your estate.”

“That’s the spirit. You’re a good friend! Just promise you won’t tell anypony,” he said.
I perused the bag while we talked. There were some bits in there, and some other useful, basic supplies, but there was also a teddy bear with a tie and collar that matched his own, worn out enough it had to have been Diamond’s toy for quite some time. “I promise,” I said, which was enough to get him going down the road while I repacked the bag. “Though I’m pretty sure everypony is going to know.”

“Sssshhhh!” came a voice from the bushes.

“Pinkie Pie?” I questioned. “What are you doing in the bushes.”

“It was the best way I could come up with to deliver my line,” she said. She came out of the bushes and coughed, gargled a glass of water, and then spit. “Alright, ready:” she drew in a deep breath. “You promised Filthy you wouldn’t say anything! He trusts you. And losing a friend’s trust is the fasted way to lose a friend forever!”

“Umm… okay?” I said. “But we’re barely friends as it-”

“Forever!” she emphasized.

“Right… this is a bit strange even by your standards,” I said.

“Don’t blame me, you’re the one that broke destiny,” she countered before hopping away.

“Forever!” she added again from the distance.

It was weird to think about it. But thinking was one of the advantages and disadvantages of being in the spa. As I sat back, cucumber slices resting on my eyes for reasons I still didn’t understand, and a pair of earth ponies filing down my nails, my body relaxed enough to let my mind go wild. And once again it took the opportunity to ponder the weirdness that I found this normal now.

Accepting the physical changes didn’t seem as strange to me. I guess there was always the possibility I would lose a limb, or even be magically transformed into a frog or something even back when I worked for Shinra. If something happened, maybe you would get pissed or depressed or something for a while, but if it couldn’t be healed you just had to ultimately accept it. Being a soldier (even if I was never technically in SOLDIER), it was a fact of life.

But all the little social and personal things that shifted with it, that was weird. Why wasn’t I more of a tomboy? I certainly had a good excuse for it. Maybe ‘excuses’ was the answer. Having breasts and an ‘innie’ instead of an ‘outie’ was excuse enough that I could try tea parties and spa treatments and dating princes and not worry about how that made me look. And if I happened to like them, who was anyone to give me a hard time about it? I’m a woman now, and if I want to sit at a little table with an adorable little pony, a teddy bear and a grizzly bear and sip tea out of a dainty little cup while sharing gossip about our friends, I will, damn it!

Speaking of gossip. “How did the photo shoot go?” I asked Rarity, as she lounged in the next seat over. “It was a week ago, wasn’t it?”

“The first one, yes,” Rarity said, more angrily than I recalled hearing her before. “She’s had them every day since! She promised she would meet us at the spa, but she isn’t here either, and I’m betting she’s not coming.”

“Mmm… I guess that’s what angel bunny was trying to tell me. She missed our last tea party, and seemed a bit excessive on practicing her stealth on our last training session,” I offered.

“If not, we would probably be too swarmed with her groupies to do anything,” Rarity said. “She’s such a big, bright, shining star! I wish that star would burn out!”

“Really? And I thought Rainbow Dash had jealousy issues,” I chided. “Fluttershy is your friend. You should be happy for her.”

“I know, I know,” Rarity conceded. “But I am jealous. Please don’t tell her I feel this way. Promise me. Please, please, please, please.”

“Alright, I promise,” I said, reminded of the meeting a few days back with Filthy Rich. What was it Pinkie had shoehorned into the conversation? “Losing a friend’s trust is the fastest way to lose a friend.”

“Forever,” Pinkie’s voice floated out from the steam room.

“Quite true. Oh, I knew I could count on you, you’re absolutely the most dependable… I was going to say pony, but I’ll just say friend,” Rarity said. “Now, I really must be going.”

I took off the cucumber slices while she slipped into her dress, ready to head out. I’d developed a fair sense of equine beauty in my time in Equestria, to say nothing of a bit of a sense of fashion. And what I saw left me stunned for a moment, forgetting to breath. I was tempted for the slightest moment to ask her out, and try to win her away from Prince Blueblood, before I remembered just how disastrous dating one of the Elements could be, perhaps this time with how a jealous Blueblood and Rainbow Dash might react. Still…

“You look amazing,” I complimented.

“Fluttershy may be the one who’s getting famous, but that doesn’t mean I have to stop look fabulous,” Rarity said.

“Fit for a Prince?” I teased.

“Once I can make time to head up to Canterlot,” she said, with confidence that sounded a little forced.

“You will,” I assured. “Let me know if you need a few weeks off from training for the trip.”

“Of course, darling, now I really must be off.” She took her leave, and I sighed.

“Time for your massage, yes?” Aloe asked.

“Yes,” I agreed. Rarity came to the spa far more often than I did, so it was not uncommon for me to stay longer, partake of more of the mares’ services. Or stallions’ in this case. Before I could get to the hall to find the masseuse, however, I bumped into Fluttershy, rushing into the room.

“Rarity! I'm so sorry I'm... ” Fluttershy called out as she skidded to a halt, looking around the room. “Oh no. She's already gone, isn't she?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m afraid you just missed her.”

“Oh, I can't believe this. I am so frustrated, I could just scream,” the pegasus said. She drew in a deep breath, and then let out the cutest little squeak.

I couldn’t help but smirk at it. “Feel any better?”

“No. Can I tell you something?” she asked.

“Of course,” I said.

“You promise not to tell Rarity?” she required.

“What’s one more secret?… I promise,” I promised.

“Pinkie Pie Swear?” she asked.

“Do I have to?” I asked trepidatiously.

“Do it~” Pinkie said from the other room.

“Ugh, fine,” I conceded. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” I made a gesture like the mentioned confectionary self-injury, but unlike some of our friends I had the control to avoid injuring myself with the gesture.

Fluttershy nodded her approval. “ I don't like being a model. No, I hate being a model. All this attention is awful, just awful. And I'm only doing it because Rarity told me I must. I must! I must!” She sighed, coming down from the rant. “I must…”

“Really? Just tell her. I’m sure she’ll understand, especially since she-” a wave of steam washed over me, making me pause.

“What were you about to say?” Fluttershy asked after a moment.

“Forever!” Pinkie Pie whispered in my ear from behind. She must have been standing on her hind hooves to reach, but I didn’t look.

“Oh, for… this is ridiculous,” I said. “Just talk to Rarity. Let her know you don’t like it, and then go call it quits with Photo Finish. You’ve taken out a tribe of Diamond Dogs solo, you can stand up to a pushy photographer and get your life back. I… I miss our tea parties.”

“Aww,” Fluttershy said, before floating up to give me a hug. “I miss them too. And we really must find a way we can both hear John and Diamond Dust, so they can join us properly.”

“Then you’ll do it?” I inquired.

“We’ll see…” she said noncommittally.

I was feeling quite good after the spa treatment, despite Fluttershy’s troubles. My nails were all done, nice and short how I like them. My muscles were all beaten into a nice, relaxed state, and I smelled, in my opinion, quite nice.

So I was quite calm when Spike approached, despite his hurry, and handed me a rolled up scroll, sealed with Princess Celestia’s personal mark. “Message for you, Magic,” he said, an urgent tinge to his voice.

“What’s the trouble?” I inquired as I verified the seal was intact, and checked above me for any pegasi or others in a position to read over my shoulder, before unrolling the missive and taking a look for myself.

“I’m not sure, but it says ‘urgent’ on the outside, and it’s addressed to you… do I need to gather the others?” Spike inquired.

I frowned at the contents of the letter and nodded to him. “Yes. I’ll get Fluttershy myself, just in case there’s any trouble. Tell them to be in uniform, packed for a long trip, and at the train station within two hours. All weapons, materia, and other gear ready for combat.”

“If it’s not too much of a secret… what’s going on?” Spike asked.

“You’ll find out soon enough anyways, I’m sure,” I said, before telling him the trouble we were up against.

Spike swallowed and nodded, before saluting me. “I’ll tell the others. You tell Fluttershy, got it.”

The pegasus was in the middle of yet another photo shoot when I found her, Photo Finish continuing to bully her into different poses.

“Yes, yes. More timid. More pouty. Ze magic, Photo Finish has brought it out once again!”

“Kindness! Change into your uniform, check you gear, and get ready. We’re catching the train,” I said.

“Excuse me! Photo Finish is not finished with ze photos. I vill not allow you to take my star model from me,” the pony said.

“You’re done for the day, probably much longer,” I told the mare. “Unless you’re changing career from fashion photographer to war correspondent, you’re not going where we’re going.”

“War correspondent? Oh my! What’s happened? It’s not those Diamond Dogs is it?” Fluttershy asked.

I shook my head. “Worse. Canterlot’s under siege. By yaks.”