As the group was settling into breakfast, Azure and Cathy joined them. They'd obviously had a shower, and Cathy was smiling like the cat that ate the canary. Azure also looked a lot more relaxed and sat beside Rumble, ruffling the colt's mane and chatting with him openly.

Stellar was beside Cecelia in the kitchen, helping to make breakfast for all the hungry ponies. "Cathy looks a lot more relaxed.” She commented.

“Yeah... are those pony ears she has now?” Cecelia asked.

Stellar looked. “Yep. Another stage done. And her hoofs are complete as well.”

“I thought you said it’d take a while for her to change.” Cecelia reminded Stellar.

“Well, it is only her second day, I’ll grant you that. But I think it might have something to do with her interacting with Azure.” Stellar alluded. “It’s possible the jolt of mana energy she got from him when he absorbed all that mana back at Mount Isa may be pushing her along at a slightly-greater rate. After all, look at what happened to you when you got a taste of mana.” She grinned at Cecelia.

“Don’t remind me.” Cecelia replied. “I can’t believe I have a cutie mark as a human, not a pony.” She told Stellar.

“Yeah.” Stellar agreed. “I’m finding it fascinating, too.” She said back. “But getting back to Cathy, I think the reason why there’s such a gap between when we get our cutie marks and we start changing is the body has to not only adapt, but it has to accumulate enough mana to force the transition. Since Cathy already had a lot of mana stored in her from the incident at Mount Isa, her body only needed to stabilise before she started changing. I am sure that’s why she only needed three hours, not over sixteen, for her hair to start becoming her mane.”

“Do you think she’ll speed through the changes now?” Cecelia asked.

“It depends on how much mana she has inside her.” Stellar answered. “If she only absorbs it at the usual rate, she’ll probably be more like the rest of us were. And while I could boost her mana supply, I don’t think it’s a good idea.” Stellar said. “Too much change too quickly, and it could have serious mental ramifications. But at least she’s fully accepting of what’s happening and is actually looking forward to it.” Stellar added. “I am sure that’s going to help in the long run. She won’t suffer the mental confusion a lot of ponies will do when they change.”

Cecelia chuckled. “Okay, so what are we going to do today, you and I? You said something about teaching me how Earth Ponies do magic?”

Stellar nodded. “I did some research last night, while Thunderlane was snoozing. I have a number of older geomancer spells as well as Earth Pony general and specific magic. But we’ll start with the basics first, I think. We’ll get you aware of your new senses, teach you how to tap into the earth and the vast mana supply within it, and maybe see what you can do with what you’ve got.” Stellar grinned. “I remember making an entire orchard grow one time when Applejack was teaching me how to use my Earth Pony magic. As I told someone recently, Twilight and I can both do Earth Pony magic, but we do it differently. Twilight is finesse and detail, I’m power and brute force. She could produce the most beautiful blossoms and fruits, while I can summon the power to bring an orchard to life and to harvest in an hour.”

Cecelia looked at Stellar with her eyes wide. “You can do that? Make trees and plants grow so fast?” She asked.

Stellar nodded. “The major thing is, it requires a lot of water. The rest is all about balance. The pegasi and I will bring some rain in to help get the soil here ready, and then I’ll teach you how to tap into the mana under the land.” She explained to Cecelia.

Cecelia shook her head. “I can hardly wait...” She responded, then her attention was shifted by Mark sliding his arms around her waist and kissing her. Stellar grinned, and took the plates of flapjacks/pancakes they’d made out to the hungry ponies and human.

Thunderlane looked at Azure as he sat beside Rumble. The other stallion looked more relaxed than at any time he’d ever seen him. He laughed and grinned, and the happiness radiated out from Azure so hard even Thunderlane could almost feel it. Thunderlane moved Rumble to the other side of him, then shifted to sit with Azure. “So, friend Azure...” Thunderlane asked him as he attracted Azure’s attention, “Did you and yours have a good night?” He asked, being a little subtle.

Azure looked surprised, then he smiled and nodded. “Actually... yeah, we did.” Azure answered. “A lot better than I thought it was going to be, to be honest.” He actually told Thunderlane. “There’s still aspects to this body I’m not sure about yet.” Azure admitted. “Last night... we worked a few of them out.”

Thunderlane nodded. “I know the feeling.” He agreed. “Stellar and I have been... working on that problem as well.” He grinned at Azure, who nodded understandingly. “I think your lady has got a big thing going for you, my friend.”

“Yeah, I know.” Azure replied. “Almost as big as the thing the Princess has going for you.” He pointed out, getting a chuckle from Thunderlane. “How did that happen, anyway?” He asked.

“Like you, Stellar and I were partners in the Police Service here in Queensland before we changed.” Thunderlane explained. “We knew each other well, but it took becoming ponies for us to ‘Click’ properly.”

Azure nodded. “Yeah. Cathy was there all through my change.” He told Thunderlane. “She kept me from freaking out, kept me from racing off, kept me from... well, going out of my mind.” He sighed. “We spent the entire time in a room, watching over a bunch of jihadists who were targeting Sydneyites, and busted them at the end, when I was a pony. Then the boss made a fateful decision: He made Cathy responsible for me and assigned us to Durrach, one of the CIA bunch the Yanks sent over, to go chase down a cadre of ponies up in Queensland. Never found them, if they existed, and we found you guys instead at Longreach. That’s how we came to be following you.”

Thunderlane nodded. “Right. So it was coincidence that you found us?”

Azure looked down at his plate. “I thought so, at first... now, I’m not so sure.” He looked back at Thunderlane.

“You think Fate drew you two to us, to get you away from that spook?” Thunderlane asked.

“I have a feeling something did, yeah.” Azure said honestly. “We were fucking lost, slowly running down back-country roads. We nearly got badly stuck twice, and Durrach was driving us on and on to find ponies... and then we managed to get to Longreach, and there you guys were. Ponies, out and driving about in that fucking Landcruiser... What the hell do you have in that thing? When we saw it pass that road-train like the truck was going backwards, with a trailer behind it AND up a hill at that... You had the boys in suits really wowed, jaw-drops and all.” He almost laughed.

Thunderlane grinned back. “It’s got a six-point-five litre Chevy diesel Vee-eight with twin turbos on it.” Thunderlane listed off for Azure. “Add a heavy-duty six-speed box with manual-gear-tipping, and she can tear the ass out of a super-tanker and still take down smart-assed ricers at traffic lights.”

“Holy shit.” Came from behind them, as Mark stuck his head down between the two stallions. “So that’s what you’ve got hidden under the bonnet of that ‘Cruiser.” He said, grinning.

“Yep.” Thunderlane confirmed. “My dream car, mate. Some might like Lambourghinis, some might like Mustangs and other Fords, some like Holdens, but give me a big brute of a four-by-four any weekend.”

The three males laughed together as Stellar sat down beside Cathy, the Twins further down the table. “Ah, boys and their toys.” Stellar said to Cathy.

Cathy giggled. “Yeah. It seems it’s still universal for bragging rights.” She agreed.

“And for us girls, it’s comparing colt-friends.” Stellar said. “And having said that, how did you and Azure get along last night?” Stellar asked. Cathy gave Stellar an askance look, then just grinned. Stellar nodded. “Ah, good then.” She said. “Good to see you worked something out.”

“Mmm... yeah, we did.” Cathy admitted. “I mean... well, you know what a stallion is like. Azure was such a gentle.. gentle-colt?” She asked. Stellar nodded. “Okay. He was very gentle and caring of me, especially when it came to his hoofs. It took us a while to figure things out, but in the end, it wasn’t that much different, and we really enjoyed the time together.” Cathy gave Stellar a satisfied smile.

“Excellent.” Stellar replied, grinning. “I’m so glad you two are compatible, and in more ways than one. I think he really has something big for you.” Stellar told Cathy.

“Mmm... yeah, I think you’re right. Funny thing is... he’s still himself. Even after the ponyfication. His mannerisms, to a degree; his voice inflections, his manner of speech. It’s still him... or maybe it should be that he was always Azure under the surface, and parts of him showed it.”

“That’s a very good way of looking at it.” Stellar agreed. “Out of all of us, apparently the one who’s changed the most is Rumble... then again, going from a twenty-five-year-old back to a ten-year-old again is bound to place some big changes in one’s mentality.”

“Your little... cuddle-colt I think you called him, used to be twenty-five years old?” Cathy asked as Cecelia sat down on the other side of Stellar.

Stellar nodded. “Yep. He used to be Thunderlane’s twin brother. Now he’s the age he was when Discord sent him here. You see, all the transformations come about exactly on a human-pony’s twenty-fifth birthday, even if they were old or young back on Equestria before he sent them here.”

“Right, so that’s why the Twins changed when they did.” Cecelia said.

“So, does that mean that we’re the first wave of transformees?” Cathy asked.

Stellar nodded. “Yep. Depending on when we get back home and stop him, there’s going to be at least twenty-five years here on Earth for people to turn into ponies and others, before it stops. It’ll fade away, though. I’d say that, most of those changing here will take place within May and maybe June, then it’ll taper off as Discord finds less and less ponies to transform. Most will have fled after he attacked Canterlot and Ponyville, then the Empire. Who knows what he did after that, though. Attack Griffonia or the Dragon-lands? Who knows how far he went? I guess we’ll find out, eventually.”

Cathy and Cecelia nodded their heads and returned to eating breakfast, just as Stellar did after them. Cold pancakes were not as tasty as hot ones...

Stellar looked out over the house paddock and the rest of the station that she could see, as she stood beside Mark. "Are you excavating something over there?" She asked him.

"Oh that?" Mark replied. "We're putting in five twenty-thousand-litre water bladders. They'll help see us through the dry months out here with drinking water instead of us using distilled bore water." He explained. "That's going to be eventually lined with concrete to help carry the bladders when they're full."

"I see." Stellar said. "And that... hole, over there?" She pointed to something that looked like a large in-ground pool left to fester.

"Well... that 'used' to be the House dam. Unfortunately... the big drought's left it a bit worse for wear." Mark told Stellar. "It's hardly worth saving, with all the algae and toxic plant life that's taken root."

"Hmmm..." Stellar said, rubbing one fetlock over her chin. "Maybe we can do something about that." She said. "But first things first: We need to get some clouds here to make some rain and deliver some moisture to the land, before I start teaching Cecelia how to use her new abilities." She told Mark. "You said one of the rivers through here is rather high at the moment?" She asked.

Mark nodded. "Yeah. One of the tributaries of the Darling River flows right through here, about ten kilometres away, and it's pretty much in-flood at the moment. It's a rare occurence, but with the cyclones actually getting through this year, we've got plenty of water... just no way to purify it and nowhere to store it."

Stellar thought on that, then smiled a grin that showed she had an idea. "Don't worry about that for the moment." She said. "We'll get things started with Cee-cee, and then your water problems might be fixed a little faster than you might think they will be." She gave Mark a wink.

Mark was surprised, but replied "Ooo-kay. You seem to be the one who knows what's going on." He acknowledged.

"At least some of the time." Stellar admitted.

Mark chuckled. "That's better than most do." He told Stellar. "So, what's first?"

"We make rain." Stellar answered.

Mark nodded. "That's going to be something to see." He commented.

"Then come out with us and watch." Stellar said back as she turned and headed back to the house.

Mark grinned and followed. "I will, don't worry." He said as he jogged along with her.

Stellar called the other pegasi to her. "Okay... you all have served time in the Weather Service... except you, Rumble, of course." Stellar ruffled his mane as he stood beside her. "But you do know how to push clouds, right?" She asked the colt.

"Uh-huh." He answered.

"Good." Stellar smiled down at Rumble. "Now, I'm going to start making clouds over the river. I need you all to push them up here to the house paddock. We're going to need a lot of water when I start teaching Cee-cee how to tap her magic." Stellar explained. Thunderlane nodded, as did the Twins. Rumble was almost bouncing with eagerness, then they took to the skies.

Mark, Cecelia, Cathy and Azure followed along on the ground, using Thunderlane's Landcruiser. "Whoa!" Mark said as the Landcruiser roared off, almost lifting the front wheels off the ground, before he stopped and switched to Four-wheel-drive, before heading out again.

The ponies reached the river first, travelling as the crow flies. They chose a section of the river that was wide and deep, leaving the shallow sections alone. The four pegasi waited above as Stellar cast a huge array over the section of river, then started to fly in circles above the water. As Mark and the others pulled up, Stellar went faster and faster, almost in a blur of purple, as water started lifting from the river's surface and hit the array. As the water hit the array, it vaporised and started forming into clouds. "My god! They are making clouds..." Mark said, as he looked upwards. The four pegasi were starting to gather the small clouds together into larger clumps, and as the Twins started pushing the big clouds back to the house. Rumble assisted his big brother in pushing the smaller clouds into big, heavy clumps.

Stellar was circling with her eyes closed. She didn't need to see where she was going to stay in her pattern, her magic kept her rolling exactly around a certain point in the river. Her magic was flaring out through the vortex she'd created, holding it together and funneling a small, steady stream of water up into the array, making clouds using a process that somewhat copied the process they used in the Weather Factory of Cloudsdale... but in a crude manner, barely controlled only by her power.

Thunderlane shook his head as he watched. He knew the wing-power that it took to lift water like that. It showed how powerful an alicorn could be, the amount of power one of them could funnel through themselves if they wanted to. He continued to move the cloud-fragments together with Rumble as Flitter and CloudChaser raced the completed, rain-heavy clouds back to the house paddock.

Eventually a bank of heavy rain-clouds sat over the house and for a five-kilometre diameter around the house paddock. Thunderlane fired a flare down into the water below Stellar and she shot off to one side, curving around in a wide arc back to the river as the array collapsed. Thunderlane and the other pegasi landed, and as Stellar drifted down, he saw how exhausted she was. Stellar was panting, her head drooping a little as she recovered her wind. She moved to Thunderlane and let herself lean against him as she recovered. Even Rumble could see the mana flowing out of the ground into Stellar's hoofs, bolstering her energy levels again. Rumble jumped up into the Landcruiser and got Stellar out a bottle of fresh water, which she gave him a grin for as he hoofed it to her. "Thank you, my cuddle-colt." Stellar said to Rumble, then she leaned down and kissed his forehead. Rumble's little tail wagged as Stellar downed the entire bottle in one long swallow. Eventually, she was able to stand on her hoofs, and Stellar shook herself out. "Okay, let's head back." She said. As they took to the wing, the Landcruiser raced along behind them. Thunderlane kept a close eye on Stellar as they flew along...

"You're exhausted, Beloved." Thunderlane said to Stellar as they landed by the house.

Stellar nodded. "I know, Love, I know." She admitted. "But it doesn't matter. Soon, I'll be overflowing with enough energy to change this country... at least temporarily. You have NO idea about the power the Land can hold..." She smiled at him as she walked slowly over to Cecelia. "Ready, my honorary earth pony?" Stellar asked.

Cecelia chuckled. "As I'll ever be, I guess." She replied, as they walked together off into the start of the rain. Stellar felt the warmed rain fall over her, her coat absorbing it and washing her clean as she walked along. Cecelia didn't bother trying to stay dry, either. "Gods, it's so rare we get rain out here..." She said, as she tilted her head back and threw her arms out.

Stellar laughed. "Enjoy it while it lasts. It won't last for very long, an hour or so, I'd say."

Cecelia nodded and slipped her shoes off, feeling the wet earth beneath her feet. She moaned softly. "What is this?" She asked, as she saw her cutie mark glowing gently.

Stellar smiled. "Seems there's not much I need to teach you. You're already feeling the power of the Earth." She gestured back, and Cecelia saw that her bare footprints were being filled with short grass and budding flowers. "That's you, working unconsciously." Stellar told Cecelia. "Imagine what you'll do with your full power and will behind it..."

"Wonders..." Cecelia said to herself.

"Wonders indeed." Stellar agreed. "This is as good a place as any." She said, turning to face Cecelia as they both stopped. "All right. Crouch down. Touch the Earth with your hands as well as your feet." She instructed.

Cecelia nodded and did so, her fingers sliding into the softened ground.

Stellar nodded. "There are three layers to what we feel in the Earth below us." She told Cecelia. "The upper layer, where things grow; The middle layer, where the life-essence of plants throbs and circulates; and the lower layer, where the full strength of the Earth resides. Each affects the other, the life of the planet seeping up into the life-layer of the plants and even the animals, and that, in turn, is brought to the surface by the plants that grow under it, where they take in the sun and rain, and return life to the middle layer." Stellar explained. "You can bring life into the middle layer from the lower layer, and then to the surface layer. But you can also drain life from the upper layer as well, or funnel it back down into the middle or even the lower layer. What we can give, we can also take away."

Cecelia nodded. "I think I understand." She said.

Stellar nodded. "Now, feel the Life in the earth. Feel the seeds and plants waiting under the surface. You need to focus the life-essence from the middle layer into the plants and make them bloom. But do it gently, softly. Too fast at first and they will wilt. Too slow and they will refuse to bloom. Feel for how I do it." Stellar said as she closed her eyes.

Cecelia did the same, and she could feel Stellar's connection to the earth, just as her own. She felt Stellar pull Life from the layer below the surface and gently spread it up through the ground to the plants...

Mark's eyes widened as he saw the ground around Stellar and Cecelia start to grow grass at an accelerated rate. It very slowly spread out from Stellar to about a three-metre-wide circle from her, then it slowed dramatically.

Stellar halted her efforts. "Could you feel that?" Stellar asked Cecelia.

"I... I think so." Ce-cee said as she concentrated down through the upper layer to the middle. The ground around her throbbed as the Life-essence flowed into her, then out through her. She moaned softly as the Life spread out from her, surpassing Stellar's circle and flowing out faster, and faster, as Cecelia felt her control strengthen.

"That's it... control the pace, do not let yourself be drained as you drain the Life out of yourself." Stellar warned Cee-cee. "Make sure what comes in first is at least as equal as to what goes out."

Cee-cee nodded as the area of effect spread. Mark could see large gum seedlings slowly coming up out of the ground at the edges of the house paddocks and further. They looked as if to have a minute do a years' worth of their normally-slow growth. The grass was stopping just around the house, though. Stellar had put a barrier there, to stop the house being swamped in grass.

Stellar grinned. "Wonderful." She said to Cee-cee. "Now, delve deep with me. We shall tap the lower layer, and really cause this area to bloom!"

Cee-cee nodded and joined her efforts with Stellar, as they plunged their power down to the layer below. Both Stellar and Cee-cee gasped as the power flooded them, their cutie-marks and eyes glowing with life-energy as they sent it shooting across the land. The flood of growing grass raced out and reached the river, where all manner of plants shot up above the landscape. Saplings became mature trees within minutes. Flowers blossomed and grew, the grass around them becoming tall, thick and luscious, especially in the feed lots.

Mark looked at Thunderlane and the others. "Come on! The cattle will be coming, once they smell this!" He said, and as the pegasi took to the sky, he raced out on a farm bike, sticking to the few trails that remained with low grass on them. Azure clung to the back of Mike's bike like a cattle-dog. Eventually, the sound of thunder could be heard in the distance as the group reached the other side of the enormous feed lots, which were knee-deep in rich grass. As they reached the huge gates, Mark stopped and let Azure off. "Open up the gates and wait. Once a yard gets about three-quarters full, close the gates." He told Azure.

"Right!" Azure replied, and started doing just as he was asked.

Mark raced off, following the pegasi now, as they headed for a huge cloud of dust in the near-distance.

"How many cattle are we talking about here?" Thunderlane asked.

"Only forty-thousand." Mark yelled back.

"Oh, right. ONLY forty thousand!" Thunderlane echoed disbelievingly.

"Don't worry." Mark said. "Look for the leaders of each herd. They have their horns still and radio-tracking collars on them. You can direct them by tapping the sides of their heads with your front hoofs to steer them. They're used to having dogs on their backs, so they shouldn't try and throw you. Get each herd leader into one of the yards, and the rest should follow." He explained to the pegasi matching his speed above him.

"Right! You all heard that?" Thunderlane asked, to nods from the others. "Then let's get these bullocks rounded up!" He grinned. "Celestia, what I wouldn't give to have Applejack and her kin here right now." He said as they spread out away from Mark, who started circling around.

"Damnit! This wasn't supposed to start until next week!" Mark said, then he chuckled. "Oh well, I guess Smokey and his boys will just have to miss out this season.

Stellar and Cecelia could literally feel the thunder of the stampeding herd heading for the feed lots. 'That's not good.' Stellar sent to Cecelia through the Earth.

'It's not too bad. A little early and maybe somewhat uncontrolled, but it's what we were looking to do a week from now, anyway.' Cecelia replied.

'So you're ready for this, then?' Stellar asked.

'Pretty much, although the roustabouts we normally hire aren't here yet. But with the feed lots so full of the rich grass, the cattle will be fatter than they would have been, and we can make the market that much earlier.' Cecelia explained.

'Glad we haven't made things difficult for you, then.' Stellar said, smiling as she reached out and started influencing the cattle. Cecelia 'watched' as Stellar started to make them slow down and change from a full gallop to a canter, making the job of sorting them out a little easier.

'How did you do that?' Cecelia asked.

'Having four legs makes it a little easier to influence them.' Stellar said. 'I just made it seem like there was less urgency and more reason to be cautious, like tickling their own mana field... almost all animals have a mana field, just as Humans and Ponies do. Their fields aren't anything like ours, but we can influence them if you know what you're doing.' Stellar explained. She smiled at the look Cecelia was giving her.

'I can't believe that it's possible... but then again, with all I've done today... why not?' Cecelia asked. 'Can you contact anyone else through the earth?' She asked.

'If they're interacting with it like we are, yes.' Stellar answered. 'But I don't feel anypony close to us that I could interact with at the moment.' She added.

'Can we stand up? My legs feel funny.' Cecelia said.

"Sure." Stellar said out-loud, as she lifted her hoofs, breaking the deep contact. Cecelia followed suit and stretched. Stellar spread her wings out and did similarly. "Oooh... I haven't gone that deep for ages." Stellar said. "I can't believe how much I remembered. And it felt so good..." She sighed happily as the rain lightened a little.

Cecelia laughed. "I am so soaked... but I hardly feel it. I am so brimming with energy right now, it's not funny."

"Me too." Stellar replied. "All the energy I used up making those clouds is all replaced with fresh, clean mana that tastes so good." She stretched out her back legs.

"Mana has taste?" Cecelia asked.

Stellar nodded. "As you get used to it, you'll find the mana from different places does taste different. The mana from the plains here tastes different from that in a forest, or near a waterfall, or out at sea. And it's very different from air-borne mana, which is very wispy and light, as you can imagine." She grinned at Cecelia.

Cecelia nodded. "So, I can draw Mana out of things other than the earth?"

Stellar nodded. "Sure. It's the same energy, no matter where it comes from." She told her as they headed out further from the house. Stellar looked beyond Cecelia and saw their horses were gorging on the rich, delicious grass. She leaned down and snapped a bit off with her teeth and chewed, nickering with delight. "Oh yeah, you got this right." She told Cecelia. "It tastes almost as good as the grass in Applejack's orchard."

"So, ponies do eat grass?" Cecelia asked.

"Sure we can. It's just considered something those without incomes do, rather than eat what can be provided." Stellar answered, trying to be tactful. "But there's generally nothing wrong with snacking out if you feel hungry, if you're an Earth Pony. Normally, Unicorns are too prissy and uppity to ever be caught snacking on mere grass... but flowers, that's a different matter." She grinned.

"Flowers?" Cecelia asked.

"Sure. A daisy and watercress sandwich is a fave of my sister. She also loves munching on roses." Stellar revealed.

"Roses? Why?" Cee-cee asked.

Stellar giggled. "Because they taste like Turkish Delight." She revealed.

"Really?"

"Mmmm-hmmm." Stellar looked very smug.

"Wow... never even contemplated that..." Cecelia asked.

Mark watched as the pegasi flew down over the approaching herd, the enormous body of cattle making the newbies nervous, but detemined to help. Rumble was the first to find one of the leaders. He landed on the back of the bullock, his natural balance keeping him stable as the huge herbivore cantered along, the entirety of the herd slowing down for some reason. But Rumble found it made things easier. He moved to the bullock's neck and dropped his rear legs around it, using the radio collar as a seat, then grabbed the horns. "Come on, Bruno! Turn!" He said, and turned the bullock's head by his horns. The bullock gave a bellow, but he did turn to the left, as did a large number of the others following 'Bruno', and Rumble steered him towards the far left feed lot gates.

Thunderlane shook his head. "My little brother is crazy." He commented to himself as he found another herd leader. He did much the same in the end, and steered the lead bullock to the right, heading for the feed lot at that end, and another quarter of the herd followed.

Mark grinned and chuckled. "Okay, Ponies, that's the way." He snorted a laugh at that. "I'd never thought I'd be saying that... EVER!" and he rode out to make sure there were no stragglers.

Flitter and CloudChaser had been around cattle almost all their lives, even riding as roustabouts themselves when they were old enough. They may have become a lot smaller, and weren't riding horses, but they didn't feel any real fear at racing over the herd. They dropped onto the shoulders of the remaining two herd leaders and steered them, grabbing the horns as well when gentle taps to the sides of the head didn't seem to have much effect. They split the remaining herd and headed for the two center gates.

Mark was racing back and forth, keeping the four mini-herds moving as they entered the feed lots. Azure had managed to climb up onto a walkway that ran over the central section of the lots, over the inner gates. Once Mark had managed to force the stragglers into each section, Azure closed the outer gates and moved to another section.

Thunderlane and his fellow pegasi, now that their charges were in the lots, flew off and helped force the herds further into the lots, out of the gate corridors. As they each managed to clear the corridors between the outer and inner gates, Azure closed and secured the gates properly. Soon, the herds had all settled down and were munching on the long, rich grass under them, not even looking at the hay in the feed troughs yet. Mark joined Azure on the walkway, as the pegasi hovered around, looking for problems. Mark chuckled. "Maybe I should hire you lot every year about this time." He said. "It's never been that easy before."

"Just remember that when it's time to pay us." Azure replied, grinning.

Mark snorted, then chuckled. "Yeah, I should really do that, and before the others leave, too."

Azure looked up at Mark. "So... what's going to happen, once they leave?" He asked, sounding a little concerned.

Mark got down on one knee next to Azure, making them roughly the same height. Then he reached forward and gently scritched Azure between his ears, making the unicorn close his eyes and whicker in bliss. "That's up to you and Cathy." Mark said. "Cee-cee and I wouldn't be adverse to having you stick around, really. You're mighty handy ponies to know." He answered. "And we wouldn't just shove you out onto a fairly indifferent and possible hostile world without a lot of support, Azure. You and your mare will be welcome to stay here as long as you can stand us." He grinned.

Azure dropped his rump to the wooden decking and sighed happily. "Thank you." He simply said in reply.

Stellar and Cecelia had reached the old dam about then. The smell was atrocious, the stench of rotting vegetation and fetid water enough to keep anyone away from it. "So, what are we doing here?" Cee-cee asked.

"I'm going to teach you the nasty side of the Life-drain ability." Stellar answered. "Once you get competent in using it, you could literally kill off weeds amongst crops without killing off the veges you've raised.” She explained. “Since all of the plants in this man-made swamp aren’t needed, and they’re pretty much isolated from the rest of the land by the dam’s liner, we can use it here without endangering anything else.”

Stellar showed Cecelia where to stand, and she grimaced as she pushed her fingers into the soil of the dam wall. “Gods, that even feels horrible.” She told Stellar.

Stellar nodded. “Yes. I’ll teach you a special spell to use to get rid of such nastiness once we’ve killed off all the plants in there. But for now, let’s do this.” Stellar said. “Remember how it felt to drain life from the earth, but this time, we’re going to drain it from the plants in the dam.” Stellar said. “If you feel the mana turn nasty, if it tastes funny, then hold it out from you and stop. You don’t want to be taking that into you at all.” Stellar warned.

Cecelia nodded. “Okay.” She said, and started reaching for the plants in the dam, as Stellar supervised. Cee-cee could feel the nastiness, the poison in the water, as she slowly drained the Life-essence from the plant-life. She kept her eyes open this time, and watched the plants turn brown and then black, wilting and curling up as they died and slowly dropped into the water, which was turning murky and brown. Cee-cee shuddered as the Life-essence filled her, still pure for a time, then she stopped as she felt something that tasted awful slowly oozing towards her. She lifted her hands off the ground before it could reach her, and Stellar nodded approvingly.

“Well done.” Stellar said, as they observed the dam, now a dead, festering hole in the land.

“So now what?” Cecelia asked.

“Now, we cleanse it.” Stellar said. “I’m going to teach you a very powerful magic spell... a Rune spell.” Stellar said. “It’s not a hard spell, mind you, it just takes a lot of power to do... but seeing you’re so full of mana, I think you can do it.” She grinned at Cee-cee.

Cecelia nodded. “Okay, so, how do we start?” She asked.

“Do you know much about calligraphy?” Stellar asked.

“The art of special writing?” Cecelia asked, “Uh, yeah, a little.”

Stellar nodded. “Good.” She said. “A Rune is a free-standing energy form that has the shape of a letter. It’s more like a japanese or chinese character in how it’s formed, but that’s how the name translates from Equish to English.” Stellar explained. She spread her wings and held them out in front of her. “Now, hold out your hands, and focus the mana in you down to the index fingers.” Stellar began the lesson.

Cee-cee did so, and as she did so, her index fingers started to glow with power, Stellar’s two longest Primary feathers doing the same.

“Now, lift one finger and make a starting dot, like this.” And Stellar demonstrated. Cee-cee nodded and did the same. “Okay, now, sweep along and up like this... to here.” And Stellar swept one feather up and along, to make a curving line of light. Cee-cee did the same, trying to copy Stellar, and managed a mostly-smooth curve. “Very good!” Stellar grinned. “Now, we continue down and back, like this...”

Over the course of three minutes, Stellar and Cecelia traced two beautiful glowing characters before them, and they hung in the air once they’d finished. Cee-cee moved aside as Stellar checked her rune out, and Stellar nodded. “It’s a little shakey, but it’s complete and the magic’s giving out the right signature... so you did it.” Stellar grinned at Cee-cee, as the woman breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank the goddess.” She said. “So, now what?”

“Give it a shove towards the pool.” Stellar told Cee-cee.

Cecelia put her fingers to the rune, aimed, then shoved. The rune went sailing forward in the air until it hit the center of the dead zone. There was a brilliant flash of light, and when it faded, the dam was empty. The water and dead plants were gone, and even the walls were now white, not the dark brown of the earth. “Wow! Talk about clean!” Cee-cee commented as Stellar drew her rune back into herself.

“That’s what Purification does.” Stellar explained. “I remember once using it on a creature that was made out of corrupted matter. Nothing else I used on it worked, but the instant Purification touched it, it screamed to high heaven and fell apart, disappearing as the corruption was destroyed. It may be one of the easiest runes to create, but never underestimate its power.” Stellar advised Cecelia.

Cecelia nodded. “So.. what now?” She asked.

“I’m going to see if your elemental powers are as I think they are.” Stellar answered. “According to the testing array, you have powers over Earth and Stone. Those are Earth Pony abilities, although some unicorns have power over Stone as well. There was a stone-carver by the name of Salacious Curves that I remember well. He had abilities to carve and smooth stone that very few unicorns had, and he was a master at the art of carving stone into the most beautiful statues ever seen since Marechaeangelo, the stone-mason who helped design and build Canterlot.” Stellar gave Cee-cee a little story. “Now,” Stellar brought out her tome, “I’m going to help you learn a few Earth elemental spells, such as ‘Earth-to-Stone’, a very useful one.” She told Cecelia.

Cecelia smiled. “Okay.” She agreed.

Stellar read a spell to herself then touched Cee-cee’s forehead with her glowing horn. Cecelia gasped as an entirely new language downloaded itself into her mind and ordered itself within her knowledge. Stellar did it twice, then waited for Cecelia to order heself.

When Cecelia rocked back on her haunches, She looked overwhelmed, a little. “What the bloody hell was that?” She asked Stellar.

“I used a spell that teaches languages on you.” Stellar explained. “You now know Equish, most ponies’ native language, as well as Equussese, the language of modern magic.” Stellar smiled. “I will leave you with a small tome before we go. In it I will place the spells I think you’ll find very handy, as well as some others I hope you’ll never have to use. Since I doubt that there’s any other humans that will know Equussese, I think it should be safe in your hands.”

“Do you think some might?” Cecelia asked.

“If they’re like you are, it might be possible.” Stellar admitted. “But it’s highly unlikely they have the learning spells I used on you.”

Cecelia nodded. “Okay, then.”

Stellar nodded back. “Okay. Now, I want you to put your hands back again on the dam wall. We’re going to convert the earth it’s made of into a very impervious and waterproof stone. If you can do that, then we’ll do it on a larger scale.” Stellar told Cee-cee. Cee-cee nodded and did as she was directed. As Stellar placed her hoofs where she’d had them, they both felt the power from the Earth below swell around and through them again, then out into the wall surrounding the Dam. Cecelia moaned as the power flowed through her, then she heard Stellar’s voice in her mind again. As she heard it, she repeated the spell Stellar was feeding her, and felt her inner power flare.

As she watched, the white soil that had been cleaned seemed to change, becoming almost fluid, and it changed its form as it flowed. The damaged walls flowed together and smoothed, becoming a much deeper shape with steeper walls and stairs appeared as well on all four sides. The section that lay above the land’s level grew and changed into a wall that had a gateway in it, sealing off the land around it until it looked like a deep swimming pool, not exactly a dam. The stone it was made of was a brilliant white now, as were the walls of the surrounding protective fence. Then Cecelia looked as, in the center of the pool, the Purification rune appeared in the floor, as if it was carving itself into that floor. It glowed for a minute, then faded to reveal it sunken into the floor. Eventually she reigned her power back in, as the dam-cum-pool was completed, and looked beautiful.

Stellar looked at the thick, solid wall behind them and at the pool before them. “You’ve changed it.” She accused Cecelia, who was grinning.

“I always wanted a swimming pool.” She explained. “So.. I took the chance. We can still use it as a dam, after all, the purification rune will keep the water perfectly clean, no matter what.”

“Very true.” Stellar agreed. “Well, it’s your station, so if you want a pool, I’m not going to argue.” She grinned.

Cee-cee grinned as she got to her feet. “Now... how to fill it?” She asked.

Stellar chuckled. “That’s up to you.” She replied as she headed for the gateway.

“Hey! I can’t manipulate water, you know.” Cecelia said loudly as she ran to catch Stellar.

“Are you asking me to help fill your pool for you?” Stellar asked as she trotted out the gate.

“That would be a great help!” Cecelia replied.

Stellar laughed. “Of course.” She said back. “I want to go for a swim, too.” She told Cecelia.

Cecelia got out of the pool area, then gave a loud whistle. A minute later, a horse came trotting up to Cecelia. She neighed and whickered at Cecelia as Cee-cee gently handled her head. Stellar turned and walked up to the taller mare and looked at her. Cecelia moved aside as the mare moved to Stellar and lowered her head, actually giving Stellar what looked like a bow. Cecelia was amazed at this, but then Stellar walked up to the mare and gently nuzzled her, the mare returning the nuzzle with a nicker. “Damn...” Cecelia said. “This is Mandy. I raised her from a foal.” She told Stellar.

Stellar looked into Mandy’s eyes and nodded. “She’s quite intelligent.” Stellar said. Mandy nickered in a long string of sounds, and Stellar answered, to Cecelia’s surprise.

“Do you understand her?” Cecelia asked.

“A little.” Stellar admitted. “She’s... the noises she’s making are similar to an old dialect of a language that used to be spoken in the western part of what’s now Equestria.” Stellar told Cecelia. “While it’s not exactly the same, it’s close enough that I can make some sense out of it.” Stellar looked at Cecelia. “If I got what she said right, she just welcomed me to the herd.”

Mandy nodded her head and said the same thing again. “Yep, that’s what she’s trying to convey.” Stellar confirmed.

“That’s amazing.” Cecelia looked at Mandy, who rubbed her head against Cecelia’s chest.

Stellar chuckled. “And she added that she loves you.” Stellar told Cecelia.

Cecelia chuckled. “I can tell that, even without being able to speak Horse." Cecelia told Stellar. She jumped lightly onto Mandy's back, who accepted this without any argument. "Come on, Mandy. Follow Stellar!" She yelled, and as Stellar galloped off, Mandy raced after her...

Mark saw Stellar and Cecelia racing down to the river from the top of the walkway. "I wonder what they're up to now?" He asked Azure, sort-of rhetorically.

Azure chuckled. "I have no idea." He replied. "But I bet it's going to be good."

"Define 'Good'." Mark said back, as the pegasi landed around them, Rumble sitting on the railing of the walkway.

Azure chuckled. "That's the trick, isn't it?" He asked. "Hopefully, it means good for all of us." He said as he got to his hoofs. "So, what's next?" He asked.

"Well, these big boys can eat to their heart's content now, until the roustabouts we usually hire get here in a week's time." Mark said as he got to his feet. "I guess we wait and see what Stellar and Cee-cee are up to."

"I'll go ask them." Rumble said, and he was off like a shot, dodging Mark and Thunderlane, then racing off towards the river.

"Damn, that colt is fast!" Azure commented.

Thunderlane chuckled. "Like his big brother." He said with a happy sigh. "I am so glad we got stuck here together. I'd hate to be worrying about where he'd been put once we changed back."

"Yo're lucky there." Azure agreed. "I left a wife behind on Equestria. I hope she got away." He sighed sadly.

Thunderlane put a hoof on Azure's shoulders. "I'm sure we'll find her if she got sent here." He told Azure.

Azure nodded. "Yeah, I bet we will, too." He admitted.

Rumble found Stellar and Cee-cee down by the river again. He hovered as Stellar was lifting spheres of water and teleporting them somewhere. "See... that would be so handy to be able to do..." Cee-cee was saying to Stellar as she moved the water.

Stellar chuckled. "Sorry, this is a unicorn ability. Don't stop trying, though. Since you're actually human, you never know what you might actually develop the ability to do, if you keep trying." She told Cecelia. "You are the start of an entirely new class of human... or the revival of a possibly-much older one, Cee-cee. You have legends of mages and magic-wielders in your culture. Usually myths don't develop in a vacuum; they have to have some basis in fact for legends to be made, and to devolve into myths." She gestured to Cecelia's cutie-mark. "That alone, and what we've done this morning, is proof enough that humans can do magic. Now, all we have to do is find some others, and survive the probable backlash against you from the rest of the idiots that make up a good deal of Humanity."

Rumble washed his hoofs off in the water before he landed gently on Stellar's back. "What'cha doin'?" He asked.

"Filling Cecelia's swimming pool." Stellar replied.

"A pool? Awesome!" Rumble stated, grinning widely. "Can we go for a swim later?"

Cecelia laughed as Stellar just smiled. "Yeah, I think we can swing that, Cuddle-colt." Stellar answered.

Rumble looked up as Mandy moved to inspect him, snuffling all over him. Then she nickered and whuffled out something at Stellar. Rumble sniffed at Mandy's nose, then nuzzled her, a gesture that Mandy returned. "Did she say something?" Rumble asked Stellar.

Stellar grinned as another big ball of water disappeared. "Yes. She said you're cute." Rumble's eyes opened wide at that, then he gagged as Cecelia and Stellar laughed. "What, Rumble?" Stellar asked. "I can call you cute, but if a horse does the same, you gag like it was a filly of the same age as you who said it?" Stellar looked back at him.

Rumble poked his tongue out at Stellar, then carefully lifted off from her back. He hovered near Mandy's head as she looked him over, then she nuzzled him so hard it shoved him a foot sideways. "Whoa!" he said as he held onto Mandy's head to steady himself. "Uh, hi." He said to Mandy, who just nickered softly and nuzzled the ten-year-old colt.

Stellar looked at Cecelia, and they both giggled. "I think she likes you, Rumble." Cecelia told him. "Her name is Mandy."

"Hiya Mandy." Rumble said to the mare, who seemed to like Rumble a great deal. She actually scooped him up with her head and slid him down onto her withers. "Whoa!" Rumble said as she did so, then he grinned as he sat on the much-bigger mare.

"Yep. She likes you." Cecelia confirmed. "If she didn't, you'd never get on her back, let alone her actually putting you there."

"Cool." Rumble said as he looked at Mandy as she looked back at him. "Thanks, Mandy." He said to her, and she nodded her head at him, then walked off a little way and started munching out. Rumble just moved back and settled down on her back, stretching out and relaxing.

Cee-cee giggled as she watched another huge ball of water rise out of the river and vanish. She noticed they were about ten metres in diameter before they vanished, and she could see Stellar concentrating hard as she made them vanish. "You're not over-straining yourself again, are you?" She asked.

"Just... making sure I don't... drop them into the pool, rather than letting them settle gently." Stellar answered. "I don't want them swamping everything around it."

"Ah." Cee-cee nodded. "Understandable. So, is it almost full?" She asked.

"I'm not sure." Stellar said. She sent one last ball of water off, let it settle, then took to the sky, heading up. A few minutes later, she settled again and sent three more balls off, then nodded. "It's full." She told Cee-cee.

"Wonderful." Cecelia grinned, and moved to mount Mandy again. "Come on, Cuddle-colt. Time to get going again." Cecelia said as she shoved a dozing Rumble forward, making him yelp, then mounted Mandy. They cantered off as Rumble found his balance, then they headed for the pool, with Stellar cruising along beside them at head-height.

Ten minutes later they were at the pool, Mark and the others there as well. Cathy was walking along on her hoofs, wearing a very short pair of shorts and a halter top, and she was showing a touch of fur at her ankles, and below her curled hair was the beginnings of a horn. "Looks like I'm a unicorn like Azure." Cathy told them as Stellar landed and Cee-cee and Rumble got off Mandy, who trotted off to her yard.

"Congrats, Cathy." Cee-cee said, giving her a hug.

"Yes, congratulations." Stellar agreed as she moved to Cathy and stood up, hugging her as well.

"Thanks, People." Cathy replied as she got down on her haunches and hugged Azure to her. He nuzzled Cathy tenderly as they snuggled. Then Rumble's yell broke the silence as he dive-bombed into the pool. That broke the ice, and soon everyone was enjoying the water as they relaxed. Stellar took a lot of the heat out of the water, bringing its temperature down to just above thirty-three degrees, where it cooled everyone down a good bit.

"Ah, that feels better." Stellar said, as she floated in the water, using her wings to support herself.

Mark smiled at her. "So, you taught Cee-cee how to make stone?"

Stellar nodded. "Yep. She took to it like a pony to water." She giggled, watching Rumble splashing Thunderlane.

Mark gave a chuckle at that. "So... we won't need filtration equipment, if I understand what Cecelia told me about this pool?"

"Nope." Stellar confirmed. "Actually, we'll probably come out of this cleaner than when we went in. But you will need to set up some system to refill it as the water evaporates." She informed Mark. "Also, if you wanted to, when you get those big bladders set up, pump the water through the pool first, then pump it into the bladders. The water will be so pure you'll probably find it could exceed distilled water for its cleanliness."

"Wow." Mark replied. "Thanks, then. I see you like making one solution into many solutions."

"It's more efficient, true. And much less costly. But Magic has a tendency to do that if you use it properly." Stellar explained.

"Right..." Mark shook his head. "Any more suggestions?"

"Get Cee-cee to turn that excavation you made from soil to stone. That way you won't need concrete to line it." Stellar answered. "If you're good enough, you might even be able to form a roof for it to keep the water cool by making a form over the bladders, then pouring soil into the form. Have Cee-cee turn the soil to stone, and you have a roof over the pit." She suggested.

"Hey, not a bad idea at that." Mark agreed. "It'll probably have to be strongly supported and braced, but it'd hardly cost anything compared to concrete or a few other methods."

"And you can use the soil you dug out of the hole to do it with, too, if you didn't have any other plans for it." Stellar pointed out, before she flipped her wings shut and dived down, coming up again a little bit later, soaked again and with her wings open. "Ohh, that feels so nice." She commented, sweeping her mane off her face with a hoof.

"Hmm... Maybe I could make some money off this." Mark then speculated.

"How so?" Stellar asked.

"Well... I could bottle the water and sell it as 'purified' water." Mark suggested.

"I guess it would be the truth." Stellar agreed.

"Do you think this pool would be good for burns victims and those with skin conditions?" He then asked.

"It's very probable." Stellar agreed. "But if you had a healing rune or circle carved into the floor as well, that would be even better." She suggested. "Are you thinking about going into the faith-healing business?" She asked, sounding sceptical.

"No. Not 'faith' healing. I mean real healing." Mark replied. "Mankind have been using natural mineral springs for treatment for millenia. Imagine what could be done if you combined a natural spring with pools that have that rune and a circle carved into them." He told Stellar. "There's so many people we could help treat, especially those with conditions like flesh-eating bacteria and such. They've got barely anything that works against things like that. This could be something that could benefit anyone who could make it here." He said.

"And how would you charge for it?" Stellar asked, not truly liking where this was going...

"Well... for those that really needed it, we wouldn't." Mark answered, easing Stellar's concerns a little. "But for the general public that wanted to come and just 'take the waters', as the term was known, then we'd charge them no more than, say a public swimming pool would. Plus we wouldn't use the more powerful healing magic on the general pools, just maybe the purification rune. That way people would go away feeling better, even if they're not truly being 'healed' as such."

Stellar nodded. "That's a better way of doing things." She agreed. "You do realise you'd have people lined up around the block, like Lourdes in France, once word got out you have a real cure for things here." She reminded Mark.

Mark chuckled. "Our isolation would help a bit about that." He said. "But we'd work out how we're going to do things first, before we start selling healing to the public. Make pools for the adult population they can stand up in, with their heads out of the water, and smaller pools for kids. Then specialist tubs with the healing circle in the bottom of them for those who really need healing in a separate section."

Stellar thought on this as they floated there. "It could work... as long as you don't get greedy with it." She told Mark. "Cee-cee won't let you abuse anything we give you, you know that." She pointed out.

"Yeah, I kinda figured on that." Mark said. "But... we need something to make our station a going concern for the long-term... or we might be forced off here eventually. We owe a lot of people a lot of money, and they do not have infinite patience."

Stellar winced. "Okay, I can understand that." She commiserated with Mark. "How bad are things?"

"Could be worse." Mark admitted. "With the cattle on that incredible feed you made for us, and the market getting a little better, we should pull things off this year and keep them off our backs for a while... but one bad season could make or break things, especially now that the Twins are leaving." He sighed as Stellar winced again. "Then again, with Cee-cee's new abilities... if we can pull off three good seasons in a row, it will makes things a hell of a lot better. Without needing to buy feed, that'll take a massive burden off our finances. Not buying water, too, will help once we get the bladders in place and filled. We might even be able to sell drinking water to others around here, which brings in a pretty penny, especially really pure water. The other stations in the area have to have big filtration plants for really good drinking water, and some of them just can't afford the equipment." He thought on about things.

Stellar nodded. "I guess we could help you there, before we leave." She agreed. "And there's nothing saying we can't come back for a visit, now that I know where you are and have been here for a bit. I can teleport back here from anywhere in the world."

"Really? You know you're always welcome here, Stellar. You and yours." Mark gently stroked the side of Stellar's neck. "With what you've done for us, you're as good as Family, Pony-girl." He grinned at her. "We owe you a debt that can't be repaid."

Stellar sighed happily as she was stroked. It felt so good, for some strange reason. "Then let's agree to say you owe me." She said. "Whether or not we get around to payment... that's for another day."

"Agreed." Mark stated to Stellar, as he moved closer and started stroking her on both sides of her neck and down her long mane. "Do you mind your horn being touched?" He asked as Stellar whickered softly.

"Not really. It's just a horn. We often get them filed and shaped as they grow and wear a bit." She explained to Mark. "Using magic through them often makes the outer layer turn a little brittle and grow out-of-true, so we have them filed and shaped to get rid of the 'dead' layer. Ponyville had a spa that specialised in treating ponies to the best care we could hope for. Canterlot had spas too, but Ponyville's just seemed to be more popular."

Mark chuckled. "Maybe we could set a spa up here, too." He suggested.

Stellar looked at Mark with a sly smile. "Trying to get the pony tourist dollar, too?" She asked.

"Whatever works." Mark said as he shrugged. "In business, it doesn't pay to limit your horizons."

"Very true." Stellar had to agree.

Eventually, shifting outdoor furniture around the pool area and a bit of work had Lunch served, big folding umbrellas keeping the sun off. With a bit of work, Mark had used an old rotary-drum hand-pushed lawn-mower to shave the top off the grass in the house paddock where it was richest (the spot where Stellar had made it grow), and the ponies all enjoyed a grass salad with extra vegetables tossed in, as well as dressings and sauces.

"Now this is how grass SHOULD be served!" Thunderlane commented, and just about everyone laughed with him.

Even Cathy was trying out some of the salad, and she found it quite sweet, as well as palatable. "I suppose I'm going to end up eating stuff like this full-time eventually. I might as well see if I have the taste for it yet." She said.

Azure was concerned about Cathy, but as Lunch went on and she showed no signs of bringing the grass back up again, his worry faded a bit and he enjoyed sharing lunch with Cathy very much.

Stellar looked at the other ponies, as well as Cee-cee and Mark, then nodded. They all nodded back and kept on eating...

Author's Notes:

Another chapter. This one is full of personal interaction between the humans and ponies, as Cecelia comes to learn how her new-found powers work. Plus the day is only half-done. What happens in the afternoon? Stay tuned and find out...