Stellar stepped out of the beach-house into the light of the rising sun. The day was fresh and going to be a good one, she could tell. It hadn’t been easy, sliding out from around Thunderlane without waking him, but she’d managed it with a little help from her magic. She stretched out, riding her back legs up as she stretched her front ones before her, her huge wings stretching out to her sides. She could tell she was finished changing now. She'd become a good deal bigger than the others were, as an alicorn should be. Her horn was also almost a foot long now, so she considered that her full growth for her age. She finished her stretches by stretching out one rear leg at a time, feeling the muscles in them obey her commands. Stellar chuckled. She wanted to run, she wanted to fly! Something about her returned body just felt so good! She bounced a couple of times in place, little flutters of her wings holding her in the air for a minute or more before she drifted slowly down to the ground.

"Wow!" She heard a voice behind her say. Stellar turned to see Thunderlane's finished form walking towards her, a little unsteady on his four legs.

"Good morning, Curtis... or should I just call you Thunderlane permanently, now?" Stellar asked.

Thunderlane chuckled. "Yeah, you might as well, I guess." He answered. "I guess it suits. But look at you!" He said, eyeing Stellar's completed transformation. "Damn if you don't look really incredible... Stellar, you said to call you now?"

Stellar nodded. "Stellar Light Sparkle, yes." She confirmed. "And you are as handsome as the comics made you out to be, my buff stallion." She lowered her head to his and nuzzled him.

"Mmm... that feels... good." He replied.

"Stellar and Thunderlane, sitting in a tree-ee, K-I-double-S-I-N-Gee-ee!" Came a young male voice from somewhere above them. They looked up to see a completed Rumble, sitting up on the roof, watching them with a massive grin.

Stellar giggled as Thunderlane just smiled at his brother. "Heya Little Dude. Looking good."

"Thanks, Big Bro!" Rumble replied, and he jumped off the roof. Thunderlane was about to rush to catch him, when Stellar stopped him. As they watched, Rumble's wings flapped, dropping him slowly down to the ground, where he furled them easily and grinned. "I can fly!" He almost shouted.

Stellar almost couldn't stop herself breaking out into full laughter, as Thunderlane nodded at Rumble. "Yeah, so you can." He agreed. "But you're a pegasus, Little Dude. It kinda comes naturally."

"Aww! Way to steal my thunder, Bro Dude." Rumble grumbled back.

Thunderlane chuckled. "I call it as I see it, Rumble Bro." He told Rumble, ruffling his black-grey slicked-back mane.

There was a scuffle from inside the beach-house, and eventually Sharrah-CloudChaser emerged, looking unsteady on her hoofs and half-asleep. Sarah-Flitter came out a little later, a cup of coffee held in her mouth with a clip that had a big enough handle on it to hold in her mouth. She put it down on the verandah table and slipped the clip off the cup, then lapped carefully at the coffee. "Oww... could somepony tell Celestia to turn the sun down a notch?" CloudChaser asked.

Stellar looked at Thunderlane, then all three of them broke up in laughter, Rumble rolling on the ground on his back.

"What?" CloudChaser inquired, in a grumbly voice.

"Now THAT was a ponyism and a half!" Thunderlane said, as Flitter lapped at her coffee.

CloudChaser snorted, then turned around, barely escaped tangling her legs up, and went for coffee. Stellar and Thunderlane joined Flitter as Rumble ran and bounced around the parklands. "Rumble!" Stellar called out. "Don't let the humans see you. Okay?"

"Okay, Stellar!" Rumble replied and ran off.

Thunderlane chuckled. "He's a ten-year-old, all right." He commented.

Stellar nodded. “I have a few ideas about securing our little compound here from casual sightings, but we’ll have to leave that until I can teach you all a few things... and that will have to wait until I re-learn them myself. But there is a way ponies can hold things with their front hoofs. And yes, it has something to do with our innate magic, since all ponies can do it.” She explained a little more.

“Right. So we won’t be without hands, then.” Flitter said.

“Exactly. If you watch the videos, you can see ponies holding things with their forehoofs, including Octavia playing the cello, and Vinyl Scratch holding records.” She told them. “We have... we have...” Then she closed her eyes... “Kinetics.” Stellar finally said.

“Kinetics?” CloudChaser asked, before anypony else did.

Stellar opened her eyes. “Yeah. I call them that for short, since the name is, in full, Magical-effect Telekinetic Manipulators.” She revealed. “They’re the origin of the magic that unicorns use to hold objects with their horn-magic, but all ponies have it in one form or another. Normally, it takes the form of invisible fingers that you can use to hold and manipulate objects. Ponies normally have three fingers and a thumb, but some, like Octavia, have four fingers and a thumb, while some others have only two fingers and a thumb. It all depends.” Stellar said.

“So, how do they work?” CloudChaser asked.

“I might be able to show you...” Stellar said, as her horn lit up. She held her horn down near to her forehoof, and the light showed five extensions of her hoofs, one smaller than the other four. “Can you see them?”

“Yeah...” CloudChaser said, as the others looked as well.

“So, we all have these?” Flitter asked.

“You should.” Stellar affirmed. “I think they’re universal. Part of our adaptation to being quadrupedal all the time.”

“So, are we quadrupedal all the time?” Flitter asked. “Can we actually stand on our hind legs?”

Stellar nodded. “Yes, we can. Some ponies are better at it than others.” Stellar said. “But most ponies can’t stand upright for more than five minutes at a time. There are exceptions, but that’s due to rigorous training.”

CloudChaser was concentrating on her coffee cup, trying to grip it with her ‘kinetics’. She managed to move it as the others talked. Then, she felt it get gripped and she lifted it up off the table. “I got it!” She cried out, grinning as she took a sip from the cup.

The others cheered and applauded. “Congrats, CloudChaser. I told you you could do it.” Stellar said. The others spent half-an-hour trying to grip objects, with all of them eventually being successful, Thunderlane even opening a can of soft drink with his kinetics. Everypony was fascinated as they learned to use their kinetic digits.

A little later, Flitter brought out breakfast for everypony, balancing on her hind-hoofs as she carried a tray with her front ones. “You’re right, Stellar. I can balance, it’s just a little tricky.”

“Keep practising. It’ll get easier, or you’ll be able to do it for longer.” Stellar told Flitter. She nodded as she put breakfast before everypony there. Rumble disdained to use a spoon and buried his muzzle in the bowl, while the others practised using spoons.

“These puffed oats are really good now.” CloudChaser commented. “I mean, I’ve had them before, but they’ve never tasted as good as they do now.” She told the others.

“That’s our equine tastes coming out.” Stellar told CloudChaser. “When you were feeling queasy inside yesterday, that was your digestive system changing back to pony-mode.” She explained. “Don’t eat too much. We’ll be going flying after breakfast, and you don’t want to be too full when maneuvering. You’ll get sick.” Stellar warned.

“Okay!” The Twins said with enthusiasm, as Thunderlane chuckled.

Ater breakfast, Stellar had the four pegasi line up along the front of the cliff, to the side of the beach-houses. "Okay... if I remember right, the first step to successful flying is to energise your wings." She told them all, holding her own out away from her body. "Inside you all is a network of pathways for an energy called Mana. Mana is what allows us to do magic. For a pegasus, we focus the mana through our wings. It's what allows us to manipulate gravity, momentum and inertia, which gives us our speed and flight characteristics. You all saw what happened when my own system fully-initiated yesterday, but my system is a lot more powerful than yours' are, so you shouldn't faint afterwards." Stellar explained to them. "Now, feel inside yourselves for that energy, and try to direct it out into your wings."

The four pegasi stretched their wings out, Rumble between Thunderlane and Flitter. Thunderlane turned his sight inwards and as he saw, out of the corner of his eye, Rumble's eyes light up as whitish-grey energy flowed through his wing-feathers, he felt it himself. A surge of energy flowed through him and into his wings, and he felt himself get lighter, his hoofs barely staying on the ground.

"That's it... feel it, control it." Stellar said as all four pegasi were almost floating now. "The energy is at your beck and call, not the other way around." She told them. Her wings glowed as well as they all floated there. "Now, one large flap!" She commanded, and she gave a massive single flap and shot upwards.

Rumble didn't hesitate. Even with his small wings, he shot upwards at a good pace. As Thunderlane shot up with him, Rumble flapped a little more and reached where Stellar was hovering. The Twins shot upwards together and reached the hover level about the same time Thunderlane did.

"Good!" Stellar said. "Now, follow me and watch as I do!" Stellar said to them, and led them through the sky over the beach and the bay. Stellar led them through the exercises she'd learned in the past as they circled through the sky.

Thunderlane found more and more memories coming alive inside him, at least in regards to flight. Every minute spent in the skies renewed his skills.

CloudChaser and Flitter squealed with delight and laughter as they maneuvered around each other, playing and soaring around each other. They'd never felt anything as good as being able to fly...

Stellar was soaring along with Rumble, keeping an eye on the younger pegasus. He was laughing with joy as he raced along, his small body being very fast in the air. Stellar kept up with him, giving him little tips as they flew together.

Below, on the beach, the few there looked up to see large winged creatures flying overhead. "What the hell?" One of the men said, attracting the attention of his wife.

"What, David?" She asked.

"What's that, up there?" He asked her, pointing to the pegasi flying overhead.

The woman looked up, squinting in the bright morning sunlight. "Pretty big birds." She said, retreating under the canopy of the large beach unbrella they'd set up.

"They don't look like any birds I've ever seen before, Kirsty." David replied as he watched them soar and wheel overhead. David shook his head. "I'd swear they've got four legs." He said with a frown.

"Don't be silly, David. Now, come here and get yourself sunscreened." Kirsty said, holding out a spray-bottle of sunscreen lotion. "You'll burn and turn into an old prune otherwise.

David humphed, but went to Kirsty as he watched the winged shapes disappear over the cliffs. "Still pretty bloody strange, if you ask me." He said softly as he crouched down before his wife and she started spraying him with the sunscreen lotion.

As the ponies landed easily again, Stellar caught Rumble as he nearly collapsed onto the gound. "Easy, Rumble. A slow landing is a good landing."

"Uh, yeah, okay." Rumble replied as Stellar put him down.

Stellar ruffled Rumble's hair with a wingtip, then grinned at the others. "A good first flight, my friends. We're doing well." She told them.

"Now, let us go over some of the other flight lessons I still remember." Stellar said, leading them back to the main beach-house.

Later,Thunderlane looked at Stellar as they lay on the main beach-house's verandah, looking out over the ocean. "So, what now?" He asked Stellar. "We've got our bodies completed; we know we can fly, and fly well. Where do we go from here?"

Stellar was looking thoughtful. "I know what my mission here is, but most of my memories are still suppressed." She sighed. "Discord said that all my memories and belongings would be returned to me, if I managed to work out a way to do so... and that one of my belongings would be accessible, regardless." She told Thunderlane.

"Maybe it was meant to trigger a memory, or maybe all of them." Thunderlane suggested, as they watched Rumble being fussed over by Flitter and CloudChaser.

"Maybe, but I have a feeling there was a lot more to it, in order to defeat the bad Discord's spell." Stellar said back. "My Discord knew the power of his other self's spell. He knew I'd have to put my memories somewhere safe..." Then Stellar's eyes and horn began to glow a soft white.

Thunderlane jerked to his hoofs and moved back. "Uh, Stellar, you okay?" He asked.

Then Stellar said softly:

Thunderlane didn't know that much about being an alicorn, but even he knew a spell when he heard it. Then there was a tearing sound, and a glowing line slid open before Stellar. The line opened to reveal a space, and an object with silver-and-gold covers slid out into the air, glowing with Mana energy. It set itself down before Stellar and the space became a line again, then faded.

Stellar's horn and eyes stopped glowing and she shook her head, her mane and bangs flying around and settling again. "Woah!" She said. "That was such a rush!" She looked at Thunderlane, who was moving closer again. "Did I just do magic? Real magic? Not the simple stuff I did earlier?" She asked.

"Uh, yeah, I think that's what it was." Thunderlane answered.

Stellar grinned. "Totally awesome!" She laughed. Then she noticed the metal case before her. On the top of it, reproduced in precious stones, was her cutie-mark, with a large, smooth, round gem in the middle of the star. "Oh, this has to be mine." Stellar stated.

Thunderlane chuckled as he sat down before Stellar again, the case between them. "With that cover embellishment, I can't see it being anyone else's." He agreed.

Stellar put her right front hoof on the gem in the center of the star, and it glowed a soft purple. She shivered slightly. "Oh yeah... there's real power in here, more than I've felt before, ever." She told Thunderlane. She looked the case over and instantly saw the old-fashioned strap-lock to the right side. "Okay, this looks like my old diary's lock." She said.

"There's no keyhole, though." Thunderlane pointed out.

"Yeah... I don't think it opens with a key. That would have been way too easy to lose over time." Stellar surmised. She touched it with a hoof and it glowed softly. "Open." She said and the glow faded, but nothing happened.

"Wrong word?" Thunderlane asked.

"Probably." Stellar agreed. She took her hoof off the lock and put it back, and the lock glowed again. Stellar tried "Unlock." and the glow didn't fade, but the lock remained shut.

"Okay, that's a bit better, but not completely right." Thunderlane commented.

Stellar took her hoof off the lock and the glow faded. “Yeah..." She tried a few other words, but the glow completely faded each time. "Okay, so 'unlock' seems to be the right word, but the lock's not completely recognising it." Stellar said.

"Maybe you're not saying it right." Came a younger voice from beside them. Stellar and Thunderlane looked up to see Rumble standing there beside them, watching what they were doing.

"Hey, Little Dude." Thunderlane smiled warmly at his younger brother, and they hoof-bumped together.

"What do you mean, Rumble, that I'm not 'saying’ it right?" Stellar asked as Rumble sat down.

"You said it in English." Rumble elaborated. "Did you know English when you had this before?" He asked.

Stellar blinked in surprise, as Thunderlane chuckled. "Little Dude's still got all of Rusty's know-how up here in his hard head." He said as he grabbed Rumble and noogied him gently.

"Hey! Stop!" Rumble said, then giggled as Thunderlane tickled him, then drew him into a hug. The brothers nuzzled one another, the closeness between them obvious.

Stellar grinned, then her face fell into a thoughtful look. "Not in English..." She thought. "Maybe... Equestrian?" She placed her hoof on the lock again, and thought really hard. "Ku... Ku..." Stellar dredged up anything she felt would be right. Then, as Thunderlane and Rumble watched, Stellar said "Ku'shadt!"

There was a flash of light and the lock fell open.

Stellar quickly removed her hoof as the cover flew open, revealing a book built inside the metal covers. Pages flipped over with a magenta magic, until a hard divider fell open near the front of the book. Then there was a flicker in the air that solidified into a full-sized image of Stellar herself, looking out at her real counterpart.

"Whoa!!" Rumble exclaimed. "Totally cool! They got holograms!"

Thunderlane chuckled at that, as Stellar got to her hoofs and looked the image over. Then she noticed it was tapping with a hoof at a section of glowing text on the page opposite the hard divider.

"What's that?" Flitter said as she walked up with CloudChaser.

"Stellar's got a book!" Rumble told them.

"A book?" CloudChaser asked.

"It's actually a Tome of magic." Stellar replied, as more little things came to the fore in her memories. "It's my personal tome."

"Oh, cool!" CloudChaser exclaimed as they looked on.

Stellar started reading out phonetically the glowing words on the page, and as she did so, her horn lit up in its magenta field. All of them found a halo of the magenta magic hovering around their ears and they all slowly closed their eyes as Stellar finished reading. The magic flashed and sunk into their heads, and they all opened their eyes again, the Twins shaking their heads.

"Shuv te hov tro eda?"(What the hay was that?) Flitter asked.

"Shuv te hov dub yhu jisd ess?" (What the hay did you just say?) CloudChaser replied, then they both blinked, as Stellar chuckled.

"<Okay... what you just said wasn't in English, but Equestrian.>" Stellar told them.

"<Wow.>" Thunderlane also said in Equestrian. "<So, how did we end up speaking our pony language?>"

"<From what I can tell now, that was a spell that teaches Equestrian, both written and spoken forms.>" Stellar explained.

"<Exactly.>" Said the image of Stellar. "<Now that you can understand me, I welcome you back to yourself, Knight-Commander Stellar Light Sparkle.>" The image told Stellar.

"<Thank you.>" Stellar replied. "<So, how do I go about regaining my memories from you? I assume that's what your function is.>" She told the image.

"<Affirmative. You downloaded all your memories into this database for security before attempting to approach Discord-Thirteen. Now that your physical transformation back to yourself is complete, and your magic has grown strong enough, it activated the retrieval spell. Your knowledge of Equestrian enabled you to open me and now I can return all your memories to you.>" The image explained.

A pair of rings made of magic light appeared between Stellar and her image, and dozens of tiny characters appeared between the rings. "<This array will restore your memories to you, Princess. Just place your horn in the array and download will begin.>" The image instructed.

Stellar turned back to the others and said "This may take a while. Maybe you should have lunch while I do this."

"Okay." The twins shrugged, and headed back into the beach-house.

"You gonna be okay, Stellar?" Rumble asked her.

Stellar smiled down at Rumble, and gently nuzzled him. "I'll be okay, Little Dude." She answered, calling him by his pet name. "Look after the others for me while I'm busy."

Rumble grinned widely. "Sure thing... Knight-Commander!" He said, and actually marched off inside.

Thunderlane was half-chuckling, half-looking-on with pride in his little brother. "You just made his day, you know." He commented to Stellar.

Stellar had a soft smile on her face. "Mmm-hmm." She replied. "I'll see you when this is done." She turned and nuzzled Thunderlane with a lot more affection.

He returned the nuzzle with as much affection. "Stay safe." Thunderlane said, and headed inside.

Stellar sighed happily and turned to the image and the array. Lying down, she slid her long horn into the array, which lit up brilliantly, as did her horn...

Two bowls of alfalfa, four carrots and an apple later, Thunderlane pushed his bowl back and burped softly. "Damn. I don't know why this stuff tastes so good, but it does." He said.

CloudChaser nodded, as Rumble continued munching on his third bowl of the alfalfa plants. "I know." She agreed. "I guess our tastes really have changed for good."

"Well, we can still have fish." Flitter grinned as she brought out four big fillets of barramundi and placed the plates before each of them.

"FISH!" was the cry from the other three, and they tucked in, cutting the fish into small pieces and eating them carefully, the lemon and tartare sauce even improving the flavor. Flitter sat down and joined her sister in munching out on the delicious fish she'd cooked.

"Oh Celestia above! This tastes even better than usual, Sis." CloudChaser told Flitter.

Flitter chuckled as she sat back, licking the juices of the fish off her lips. "Ah, there's nothing like a good meal after a flight." She told the others.

"Yeah, have to agree." Thunderlane replied. "A great lunch, Flitter. Thanks."

"So... what do you think Stellar plans to do next?" CloudChaser asked them.

"Frankly... I'm not sure, and I'm not sure she does, either." Thunderlane answered. "She was never completely sure without all her memories. Hopefully, once she is complete, she'll know what to do."

"Hopefully." Flitter agreed.

"She'll know." Rumble butted in. "She always know what to do." He told them with the confidence of a foal.

Thunderlane nodded. "Hopefully, you're right, Bro." He said to Rumble.

"So... what are we gonna do, if we can go back to Equestria?" Flitter asked. "Do we go, or do we stay here?" She asked.

"Yeah, I mean, we are from Equestria originally, but we're also from here, now." CloudChaser added. "Do we go there or not?"

"I'm staying." Thunderlane answered. "You girls can go back, if you like, but Stellar needs others to help her, and I am going to stay and do just that."

"Me too!" Rumble agreed. "I'm staying with my Bro!"

Thunderlane chuckled. "Wouldn't expect anything less of you, Little Dude." He gave Rumble a wing-hug.

The girls looked at each other, then nodded. "We're staying, too... at least for now." CloudChaser said.

"Unless there's a reason for us to return." Flitter said. "But it will have to be a very good one." She added.

Then the doors on the front of the beach-house opened, revealing a figure in metal. It walked in, revealing the metal to be a suit of armor around a pony; a suit made in white and gold with symbols on the chestplate and the flank-plates. The figure stopped before them, and the visor and face-guard opened to reveal Stellar’s face.

The Twins almost cringed back at the stern look on her face, so very different to her smile or the countenance she had shown before. Her entire stance had changed, to be much more disciplined and rigid. Then she smiled, and her face completely changed again as they watched. “Heya ponies.” She said.

“Wow! Totally cool!” Rumble yelled as he jumped off his chair and raced around to her. “Where did you get the armor from?” He asked.

“It’s always been with me. I just had to learn how to access it.” Stellar answered. “This is my Royal Guard armor, as a Knight-Commander in the service.” She told Rumble. Stellar closed her eyes and her armor glowed, then opened up and seemingly retracted into the helmet.

"Whoah..." Rumble said, impressed, as Thunderlane blinked with surprise.

Stellar giggled a little. "Now then, I have good news." She told them all. "I now have access to my own funds reserve, besides my bank account and credit card. So we're good for funds." She told them.

"Cool!" CloudChaser replied. "I was getting a little worried."

Stellar nodded. "I also plan to sell my ute off as well." She said. "I no longer need it, and with Thunderlane's troopcarrier, we can go anywhere we want to, anyway."

Thunderlane frowned. "I'd keep it, if I were you. Never know when we might need a second vehicle."

Stellar considered this. "I guess you're right." She agreed. She took her helmet off and put it on the table. "Now, I'm going to make us some equipment to carry our radio beacons and headsets." Stellar told them. "That way we can communicate in the air a lot more easily and Traffic Control will be able to track us, as if we were aircraft. That way, we can fly through their radar without them suspecting we're not aircraft at all."

"Are you sure about that?" Flitter asked. "Do you think it'll really fool them?"

Stellar shrugged. "Well, I'm hoping so. But I'm going to test the systems first, of course. I'm going to get mine working properly, then move to Noosa's airfield, 'take off' from there and fly over Brisbane, to 'land' at the Gold Coast airport. I can teleport back to here from there fairly easily." Stellar explained.

"That does sound a bit risky." Thunderlane gave his opinion. "But if you do fool them, then it'll prove pretty much that the system can be fooled."

Stellar nodded. "The big thing is going to be the take-off and landing." She said back. "But I have a plan for that, too. I'm going to cast an image of an aircraft around me, so they'll 'see' an actual aircraft seemingly take off and land at either end. As long as I stick to approximately the proper speed for the aircraft of the type, then they shouldn't pick up on the fact it's not really there."

"Oh, I see." Said CloudChaser. "You'll be hidden in the illusion, your transponder broadcasting as if it was real, so they shouldn't see a pony flying out or landing or think it's anything unusual." She said with a grin.

"That's the plan, anyway." Stellar confirmed. "And with the radio, I can talk with Traffic Control as if things were as normal as can be." She grinned. "I've already registered one of the transponders with a proper registration and aircraft type with C.A.S.A., so the beacon should be recognised by the system when I start the flight. I can also log my flight plan via the Internet before I take off, so that shouldn't be a problem, either. I just have to watch for the guide beacons and make sure I stay at altitude for the flight. Hopefully, I won't get any nasty questions from the traffic controllers."

"Here's hoping." Thunderlane said.

Stellar smiled at him. "Okay, do we have any complaints about anything so far?" She asked them all.

"Uh..." Flitter looked at CloudChaser. "Not really... we would like to know a bit more about what it means to be ponies, really..."

"Yeah, like... physical stuff, you know." CloudChaser added.

Stellar nodded. "I do appreciate the problem, believe me. I'll talk to you two later about that." She told the Twins. "As for you two," She looked at Thunderlane and Rumble, "I'll tell you what I know also later on. While I'm not as familiar with being a stallion as I am a mare, I do know some of the problems males have to deal with in their lives. Comes from having a brother." She grinned.

Thunderlane nodded. "It'd be appreciated."

Stellar relaxed a bit more. "Thanks, guys. Believe me, it's not going to be an easy trip, but we'll work things out together. I know there's a lot more ponies out there, we just have to find them."

The Twins grinned as they sat there, while Thunderlane just nodded and Rumble bounced in his seat. "When are we going?" He asked.

"When I think it's safe." Stellar replied. "I am grateful you've all accepted me as your leader in this, but I'm not taking it for granted. Any feedback from any of you... even you, Rumble, will be graciously received."

They all smiled at Stellar. "Considering, as a Princess, you could just order us to do anything and we'd probably obey it... Thanks for considering our feelings, Stellar." Thunderlane said for the group.

Stellar nodded. "It's a foolish leader who ignores her followers. Celestia, Luna and my time in the Royal Guards taught me that." She said to them. "We're together now, and I'd like to keep us together, if you want to remain that way. I think we make a great team and I think we'll make an even better team in the future."

Thunderlane smiled and nodded to Stellar. "Well... I might as well tell you..." He then said, as his face dropped and he sounded a little sad.

Stellar noticed the others looked sad as well. "You've... decided something?" She asked. Thunderlane, Flitter and CloudChaser all nodded, while Rumble hid himself under Thunderlane's wing. Stellar had the most dreadful feeling about what they'd decided.

Then Thunderlane told Stellar "We've all decided... that we're staying with you." He grinned at her, as did the Twins, then Rumble leaped out and hugged Stellar, who's spirits lifted ten thousand miles at their happy expressions.

She laughed as they all hugged her. "You bloody fakers! You really had me going there for a minute!"

"Takes a lot to prank a Princess!" Flitter replied.

"Yeah! But it worked!" Cloudchaser added, giggling.

"We gotcha!" Rumble said, from his perch on Stellar's back.

"Yeah, okay. I'll admit it, you got me good." Stellar admitted. "I'll think of another prank to get you back another time."

"Gonna have to be a beauty of a prank to out-do that one." Thunderlane said.

"I'll think of something." Stellar replied, grinning. "But thanks, my friends. You don't know how much it's appreciated."

"You're always welcome, Stellar." Thunderlane said, as they all snuggled together.

As the others were resting in the heat of the day, while Rumble played in the air over the national park, Stellar was working with metal. Using her magic, she'd began to take bars of titanium-infused aluminium, she used her power to make the metal as pliable as modelling clay and shaped chunks of it into helmets for the other ponies, as well as chest-guards that would contain the rest of their communications equipment, as well as individual aircraft beacons, GPS systems and other navigation equipment, just in case they got separated.

She'd originally purchased the metal to make a new suit of armor, in case she'd not been able to access her old suits and, while they were inferior to her Equestrian armor, they still would have stopped most personal and assault weapons-fire with the magic enhancements she would have added to the metal. While that wasn't necessary now, her fellow pegasi would benefit from the equipment... if her idea worked and it disguised them as an aircraft. She'd seen how paranoid the Americans and others were becoming, and she hoped this would allow them to fly without anyone shooting them down when they headed for America.

By the time the sun was slowly setting in the west, Stellar had completed two sets of the 'armor' for the twins, and started in Rumble's. She'd also fitted her own armor with the transponder/radio/GPS kit, and relaxed a little. Tonight and tomorrow would be the big test. If she could fly from Noosa to Coolangatta without being questioned, they'd make it all the way to America with the same result... hopefully. If not, she had a few contingency plans. With five beacons, they had five possible disguises to use. Hopefully, they wouldn't have to use them all.

Picking up the pair of armor sets, Stellar headed inside. It was time for Dinner, and she didn't want Rumble to eat her fish. "That little bugger of a colt has hollow legs when it comes to consuming fish." She said to herself as she headed inside.

Thunderlane looked over Stellar's shoulder that evening as she filed her flight plan for the morning. He could see she was filing a standard flight from Noosa to Gold Coast Airport, using common beacons and following a well-flown path. "Not doing any fancy flying, I see." He commented.

Stellar chuckled. "Not likely. I want this to be as unnoteworthy a flight as is possible." She reminded Thunderlane. "I'm just checking out their responses to my transponder and radio communications. If I pass as an aircraft, then we can see about doing other flights and making our way to the States."

Thunderlane frowned. "You're still sure that's where we need to go, then?" He asked.

"I am almost positive that's where my sister and the other princesses are." Stellar answered Thunderlane. "I can just feel Twilight's magic presence, now my own magic's back again and I know what to feel for. She's there. And the rest of Team Harmony will be there, too."

"They will?" Thunderlane asked.

Stellar nodded. "You might think it's strange, but the bond they have is impossibly strong. Not even Death can forever truly sever the bond they have." She told Thunderlane. "Whatever happened to them; whomever they became, they'll gravitate towards each other by the power of that bond. I've seen it before, and it'll be happening now."

Thunderlane smiled and nodded. "I trust you, Stellar. You'll get us there." He said.

Stellar smiled as her kinetic fingers typed away on the computer. "There." She said. "Flight plan and aircraft identification filled out and ready for the morning."

Thunderlane nodded as he looked over Stellar's shoulder. "Hopefully, it all goes smoothly."

"I hope so, too. If we can pose as aircraft, then hopefully the American military systems aren't going to query us as we cross the coastline." She told Thunderlane.

"So, which way are we going to go?" He asked. "Straight across the Pacific?"

Stellar shook her head. "I thought about that, but we can't project too big an image with the transponders we have." She said. "The biggest aircraft we can impersonate are the smaller business jets, and they have a limited range. So we need to put 'stops' in where they'd have to land, and that means travelling over land. We can skip the stops once we reach them, as if we'd landed before, but we have to file the proper flight plan first, or the authorities will suspect something and take a closer look at our 'flight'. So we'll head over Asia, India and the Middle East, then Europe before we head to America."

Thunderlane nodded, looking thoughtful. "You've really thought about this, havent you?"

"It's in my nature." Stellar explained. "I'm a military commander. Tactical and strategic thinking are part of my forte. I always expect trouble and try to plan for it, to either circumvent it, go through it or simply get rid of it." She told Thunderlane.

"And supplies?" He asked.

"Muesli bars and granola trail mix." Stellar replied with a grin. "We can carry a lot of the more 'natural' ones in our saddlebags, plus water as well. Since we can land on clouds for a rest, we can do so and simply carry on when we need to."

"Hopefully, that doesn't make the humans suspicious when we stop to rest." Thunderlane pointed out.

"Yeah, I realise this, but we just can't fly there straight." Stellar pointed out. "There are routes to fly over areas that civilian traffic takes, and we can't impersonate military aircraft. We can fly past the bigger airports, and if we do things right, they'll lose us in the traffic at the ones without more modern equipment. Also, the war-torn areas will also be good, as they'll not expect us to land and their equipment is still either old, portable systems or are still in the process of being replaced. We might also be able to catch a ride on some older aircraft as well, which will get us through much more easily, as long as we do it right and use really big aircraft. They won't really notice the weight that much."

"What about the height factor?" Thunderlane asked.

Stellar chuckled. "You've really forgotten a lot about being a pegasus, haven't you?" Stellar asked him. "Okay. Pegasi have no trouble breathing the air up to heights that would make lesser creatures die. I've flown at over sixty-thousand feet before with no complications. And we don't feel the cold that much, either, as long as we stay dry, so we avoid flying through clouds at anything over twenty-thousand, save for staying out of sight."

Thunderlane looked impressed. "Over sixty-thou without complications? That's impressive."

"Yeah. If we all had armor like mine, then we'd be able to go even higher. But finding the right materials without raising suspicions is hard, even for a cop." She explained. "As it is, I was able to get enough for one full suit... or four helmets and chest-pieces for four pegasi." Stellar informed Thunderlane with a grin. "I had two of the sets completed this afternoon. I can do the rest tomorrow evening, after I get back."

Thunderlane chuckled. "You really are inventive. Where do you get the time to sleep?"

Stellar chuckled. "Celestia and Luna really are a little lazy, you know. I've found that an alicorn can survive on two hours of sleep a night for up to three weeks before we really start to feel it. We can cycle our magic to remove fatigue and the effects of long days as we take those two hours." Stellar explained "I slept for two days straight at the end of the three weeks, but I proved it could be done." She sighed. "Then again, they do a lot in their day, and raising the Sun and Moon takes a lot out of even an alicorn." She admitted. "I've done it a few times for practise, as has Twilight, just in case one of the pair was incapacitated. It was a thrill, I can tell you. The feeling of sheer power that flows back through you as you do it... I think that's why it's easier for a single alicorn to do it, rather than the old methods of using unicorns in teams. They probably burned out on the feedback." She told Thunderlane.

Thunderlane nodded his head in amazement. "I still can't believe that's true." He said. "That the sun revolves around... Equis, you called our homeworld?"

"Yeah, I know it goes against every scientific principle we were taught in school. But there's reasons for it, even if I can't go into them at the moment." Stellar answered.

"Fair enough." Thunderlane replied. "So, when are you leaving?"

"About Four AM." Stellar said. "I can be at the airfield by Five without attracting attention that way, and get on the field and disguise myself, ready for them to start operations for the day."

Thundelane smiled. "Sounds like a plan. Like some company tonight?"

Stellar grinned a soft grin. "I would enjoy that very much." She told Thunderlane, giving him a soft kiss as they hugged.

"Then let us ajourn, my Princess, and enjoy the closeness of good friends." Thunderlane said, as Stellar shut down her computer and got up, to join Thunderlane as they walked towards Stellar's bedroom...

It was just before Five AM that Stellar arrived at Noosa Airfield. The security there was fairly good, with motion-sensing cameras and live guards.

"Hmm..." Stellar said softly to herself, her Lunar Guard armor concealing her in the shadows. "How to get around those cameras?" She stretched out with her senses and found the area was covered in morning dew. Smiling, she said "Perfect."

Stellar moved out into the open, the darkness still mostly concealing her since the airfield wasn't open this early in the morning. She stretched out her wings, calling forth her pegasus weather magic with a soft voice, and she used the dew around the area to create an early morning fog, a very thick one...

The two guards met up in small electric quads near the terminal, as the fog rolled down the from the small heights behind the airfield. "Brrr! Dammit, that's gettin' cold." One said to the other.

"Yeah. You got your jacket with you?" The other asked.

"Not on me. It was such a nice night..." The first one said.

"Go back and get the bloody thing, then. I'll stay here and keep an eye-out." The second one said. The first guard needed no further encouragement, and headed for their shack. The second guard stayed as alert as he could, as the fog thickened...

Smiling at her inventiveness, Stellar leaped over the fence and glided down over the grass, to land where her magic senses told her the flight line was. As she reached where the other light aircraft were parked, she brought forth her magic and an illusion wrapped around her in the fog. Soon, another non-descript light aircraft sat at the end of a line of them. Stellar, invisible inside the illusion, left the illusion being fed by the magic of her armor and curled up for a nap. She knew it'd be safe enough, since even if someone blundered into it, it would feel real... at least while it was on the ground and not moving through the air.

The second guard was starting to feel the chill himself, even in his jacket, when his comerade returned, also buttoned up in his cold-weather jacket. "First real sign of Autumn's chill." He told his friend. "Maybe I should bring my cold-weather pants tomorrow too."

"Couldn't hurt, if we're gonna get more of these rolling in." The second guard said.

"Got you some coffee." The first guard said, handing a thermos to his comerade, who sighed happily.

"I knew there was a reason I liked working shift with you, Burke." He said.

Burke chuckled. "That was four sugars in that thermos, wasn't it, King?"

"Hey! You remembered for once." King replied. He sipped at the coffee and moaned. "Ah, nectar of the gods, my friend. You got it perfect."

Burke nodded, smiling. "I got mine here, too. See you at sun-up."

"Yeah, damn right, you will." King replied, as he slowly moved off on patrol.

Burke took a long sip at his own, before he stood it up beside him and headed off on his own patrol route. He frowned as he reached the end of the flight line parking. "Could've sworn there wasn't this many planes here... Eh, must be the fog." He said to himself as he rolled past them, checking the tie-down lines. Once he was sure they were still tied down, he headed off around the small line of hangars beside the fence line.

The fog lifted as the sun rose over the east coast of Australia, and the little airport woke up. Personnel arrived for the first of the day's landings and take-offs. Stellar woke up at about Ten and stretched inside the illusion she'd created. After having something to eat, she turned on her headset and listened to the chatter, getting a feel for the way the system worked, beyond the information she already had. After getting herself ready, she 'powered up' her systems and contacted Traffic Control. "Control, this is Victor-Hotel-dash-Papa-Oscar-November, requesting Flight number and permission to taxi, over."

The reply was fairly quick in coming. "Rojer that, Victor-Hotel-dash-Papa-Oscar-November. Your flight assignment is Flight Seven, you have permission to taxi to Strip Zero-One-South along Taxiway Two and wait at Bay Two. Over."

"Control, this is Flight Seven light. Rojer taxi to Strip Zero-One-South along Taxiway Two and wait at Bay Two. Out." Stellar replied as her illusion sat there, its propeller gaining speed as she opened her wings and slowly trotted along at a decent rolling pace across the apron and onto Taxiway Two.

In the control tower, The controller on duty looked at his back-up for the morning and said "Hey, Allan, have a look at that new model."

Allan walked over and looked out the windows at Stellar's illusion. "Hey, nice. A bit more streamlined than the usual Cessnas or Beechcraft." He commented. "Do we know what model it is, Jake?"

"Registration says it's a modified Embraer Super Tucano." Jake replied.

"Must be customised for more streamlining." Allan suggested. He watched as it stopped at Bay Two and waited as a Cessna 172 landed. "Flight Seven light, you are go for taxiing onto Strip Zero-One-South. Over."

"Control, this is Flight Seven light. Rojer taxi onto Strip Zero-One-South. Over." Came the reply.

"I don't know that voice." Jake said.

"Meh. Printout says it's a delivery flight." Allan replied. "Probably a company-hired pilot."

Jake watched as the aircraft moved smoothly onto the grass strip and lined up. "Control, this is Flight Seven light. Requesting permission to take-off on Strip Zero-One-South. Over" The female pilot asked.

"Flight Seven light, you are go for take-off onto Strip Zero-One-South." Allan said back to the pilot, and Jake watched as the aircraft's propeller speeded up and the aircraft started racing down the grass strip, lifting off smoothly and heading into the sky.

Stellar had started trotting down the runway, then sped up to a very fast gallop as she began flapping her wings, her feet lifting off from the ground as she flapped her wings powerfully and 'lifted off', heading up into the sky. "Control, this is Flight Seven light, thank you for the quick service and I hope you have a great day. Flight Seven light, Out."

"And thank you, Flight Seven light. Have a safe flight. Noosa Control, Out." Allan said, looking for any other aircraft inbound. There wasn't another take-off scheduled for an hour, and Jake was monitoring several light aircraft crossing through their airspace.

Stellar grinned as she slid through the air at just over seven hundred KPH. It was a speed she could easily keep up for the time it would take to reach Coolangatta. It felt so good to be able to stretch her wings like this again. She was starting to feel a little cramped sitting around for so long. A good long flight would do her the world of good. The visor on her armor was showing her the flight path and the navigation beacons, as well as the new GPS readouts. Her magic senses were showing her the other aircraft in the air around her as she reached her flight altitude and settled into the short hop. She passed through Brisbane's International Airport's airspace without any real comments or questioning, something that pleased her greatly.

Gold Coast Airport was a lot busier than Noosa was, but that meant they were less likely to have the time to give her more than the attention she needed to land safely. "Gold Coast Control, this is Flight Seven light, coming into your approach zone. Over." Stellar said, holding steady.

"Flight Seven Light, this is Gold Coast Control; we have you on our scopes. Be advised, there is a queue at this time. Do you have any issues that we need to be aware of? Over."

"Control, this is Flight Seven light. No issues at this stage, can hold for over an hour if necessary at this stage. Over." Stellar replied.

"Flight Seven light, good to know. Take up outer beacon three at one-zero-zero and wait for landing clearance. Wind is one knot from the east at present. Over."

"Control, this is Flight Seven light, rojer that. Holding at outer beacon three at one-zero-zero. Out." Stellar acknowledged her orders, then slipped into the beacon pattern at ten-thousand feet. Having read up on procedures, they'd probably shift her to inner beacon one at a lower altitude before letting her come in to land.

Sure enough, within fifteen minutes she heard "Flight Seven light, proceed to inner beacon one at five-zero. Over."

"Control, this is Flight Seven light. Rojer that. Proceeding to inner beacon one at five-zero. Out." Stellar replied and slowly descended to five thousand feet, before settling into the holding pattern around the inner beacon. She could see passenger jets and other types of aircraft making landings at the medium-sized airport. "Control, this is Flight Seven light. At inner beacon one and five-zero altitude. Over."

"Copy that Flight Seven light. Hold for further instructions. Control, out."

Stellar held her position in the queue expertly. Her formation training from the Wonderbolts was holding her in good stead.

The Tower manager was slowly circling through the pit, watching the controllers there. He noticed on the board of one of them was a light aircraft. "What's this one?" He asked the controller.

"A light aircraft out of Noosa, sir." The controller answered.

"What's her callsign?" He asked.

The controller activated his mike. "Flight Seven light, what's your callsign? Over."

Stellar heard the request, and answered. "Control, this is Flight Seven light. My callsign is Victor-Hotel-dash-Papa-Oscar-November. Over." She answered.

The manager frowned. "Okay..."

"Anything wrong, sir?" The controller asked.

The manager checked up on the registration. "Huh. It's been reassigned. No, it's okay. I just swore that registration belonged to another aircraft, that's all." He explained. "It probably did at one time, but it was transferred yesterday." He took a deep breath. "Probably for a transfer flight." He thought out loud.

"Do you want me to hold them?" The controller asked.

"No, it's fine." The manager said. "Let them come down when they're lined up to. We'll send someone to check them out." He said.

"Rojer that, Sir." The controller said.

Stellar waited patiently as she circled for another fifteen minutes, then heard "Flight Seven light, proceed to runway Three-five North. Wind is from the south-east at two knots. After you land, cross Main runway and head for taxiway one-four-eight and proceed to parking area four-five. Over."

"Control this is Flight Seven light. Rojer that. Land on runway Three-five north, cross main runway to taxiway one-four-eight, and proceed to parking area four-five. Flight Seven light, Out."

Stellar knew the layout of the airport's runways. They'd asked her to land on the smaller cross-runway, then cross the main runway and go down a long taxiway at the end of the smaller runway to a light aircraft parking area. She'd seen a couple of other small aircraft land on the smaller runway, so she followed the beacon in, watched for anything moving on the main runway as she floated down easily. The 'landing' gear' on the image she was surrounded by then deployed and locked, and she touched down smoothly, keeping her legs up inside the illusion as she crossed the main runway and slowly headed off the end of the runway.

There was a small car there, and she followed it up the taxiway to the parking area. Her legs touched down as she trotted along the rows of other aircraft, and she parked where she was told to, 'shutting down' her 'engine' once she was parked. Stellar took a minute to breathe deeply for a little while and relax. She'd made it down to the ground again, and successfully at that. They'd not challenged her once. Whether that was because she'd fooled them or just down to sheer luck, that was to be determined. But as she stretched and waited, there was no reaction at all to her arrival and landing, now that the ground crew had moved on to assist the next light aircraft arrival.

She activated her mobile phone and called Thunderlane.

Thunderlane had been trying to keep his cool as the day had progressed. Stellar had been gone before dawn, and there had been a small influx of people heading down to the beach at the bay below the cliffs, but none had approached the beach-houses. Rumble had been watching them from a perch in one of the few big trees in the park, but he'd reported no-one took the track leading up to the cliff-top.

He'd heard Stellar take-off over the radio in one of the helmets Stellar had made. There seemed to be no reaction to her taking off or moving out of the range of the radio, but he'd started to worry as the day progressed, and there was no word from her.

Then his phone rang.

Thunderlane jumped, but grabbed it and brought it to him. They'd practised using their kinetics on smartphones by ringing each other a few times, and discovered how to use the tricky smartphones with their kinetics. He had already unlocked it, so he answered "Curtis here, what'cha got?"

"Hey, Partner. How's it hanging?" Stellar's voice came out of his phone, and Thunderlane started breathing easy again.

"Much better now you've called in." Thunderlane replied. "I take it you're down?" He asked.

"Yep." Stellar confirmed. "And there didn't seem to be any trouble, either." She told him.

"That's good to hear." Thunderlane told Stellar. "You going to come home, then?" He asked.

"In a bit. I just don't want the plane to vanish until there's as few people around to see it fade as there can be." Stellar answered. "How's things there?"

"We have a few parties headed down to the beach, but we're watching them, and no-one's seemed to want to head up here." Thunderlane reported.

"Good, good." Stellar said back. "I won't be much longer. Try to hold out until I get back, okay?"

"Okay, Stellar. Just stay safe." Thundelane told Stellar.

"Safer than anyone, Lane." She replied, then signed off.

Thunderlane relaxed back on the couch and dropped the phone to one side. He stretched, feeling the tension in his wings slowly dissipate. Then the phone rang again...

Author's Notes:

G'day again!
Okay, next chapter. I've broken the 30,000 word limit, I think. I have more, if I haven't here yet (but it's bloody close). Hopefully, publishing all three chapters at the same time means the mods won't nerf this story. I certainly hope not, or I'll have to submit them as one giant chapter, and I really wouldn't like to have to do that.

See you for Chapter Four!