Chapter 84

Sunset had let the proverbial cat out of the bag, and now the girls were all-a-twitter with excitement.

“YOU PONIED-UP?” they shouted, in unison.

Everyone, with the exception of me and the red-head leapt from their seats and crowded around Fluttershy, who had hidden behind her hair and was pressing her back into the couch, practically disappearing between the cushions.

“Guys…” Sunset intervened as the others bombarded the shy girl with questions. “GUYS!”

All of the girls stopped and turned their heads to face Sunset.

“Give her some space,” she ordered, waving them away from Fluttershy. “I’m sure this isn’t easy for her. She’s been through a lot, and she’s had to do some things she’s not proud of, so let’s not hound her to death, K?”

Everyone returned to their seats amidst a chorus of impatient grumbles and quiet comments.

Fluttershy relaxed a bit and used a fingertip to clear the hair from her face, revealing a shocked Rarity looking back at her with a set of wide, sapphire eyes. Remembering the horrendous things she’d done during her enhanced state, Fluttershy was unable to maintain eye contact with her girlfriend, and she quickly dropped her eyes to her lap.

“Darling…is it true?” the fashionista whispered.

Fluttershy sighed, paused, then gave a reluctant nod, keeping her eyes down.

Rarity, noticing her girlfriend’s nervousness, reached for Fluttershy’s hand and laced their delicate fingers together. “But…that’s wonderful,” she said, catching Fluttershy by surprise.

Encouraged by Rarity’s response, Fluttershy looked down at their hands and studied the alternating whites and yellows of their interwoven digits, then she brought her eyes up to meet her girlfriend’s proud gaze. Her cheeks heated up suddenly and she smiled, leaning closer to Rarity to let their heads rest together.

“Dayum,” AJ muttered, staring vacantly down at her blue pajamas. “When was the last time this happened? At the camp, right?”

“Yeah,” Dash nodded, ”when we got our powers.”

“That’s right,” Twilight confirmed. “That’s the last time it happened; there haven’t been any magical invaders or catastrophic events since then, however, so our pony-ups haven’t been triggered without the need to do so.”

Sunset nodded in agreement, folding her arms. “Yeah, pretty much.”

Me? I had no idea what the fuck was going on.

Leaning over the back of the couch, I looked down at Fluttershy. “I don’t get it. You’re telling me those fuckers were charging you rent to be held captive in there?”

The shy girl looked up at me, confused.

“For fuck sakes,” I continued, “on top of everything else they did to you in there, that’s just a dick move.”

Rainbow Dash snorted.

“No Golds,” Sunset replied, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Ponying-up doesn’t mean, like: ‘ponying-up the dough,’ it means she powered up; with her magic.”

I looked up to face Sunset, who was watching to see if I understood.

“But…I thought you guys have magic all the time?” I asked, rubbing my temple. “There’s other things you can do, too? Howcome you never told me about this?”

“I did,” Sunset replied.

“When?”

“At Rare’s; the night we told her she’d been turned,” Sunset explained. “Remember? I showed you that picture on my phone of all of us with pointy ears and long hair n’ stuff?”

It all started coming back to me when the red-head reminded me of the photo. “Oh right,” I said, rubbing my chin as I began to remember more of the details in that picture. “You guys had wings n’ shit,” —I glanced at Dash, who had been flying in the picture, then back at Fluttershy— “Wait…Flutters, you got your wings back?”

She nodded, looking up at me with eyes full of teal innocence. ”Mm-hm.”

“Wow…” I said, staring off into space. “My girlfriend is hot as fuck, has a nice ass, nice tits, and sexy wings? Angel: confirmed.”

Rarity and Fluttershy exchanged some quiet giggles as I headed to the far end of the couch, where Dash was sitting.

“Can I see that shirt?” I asked the rainbow-haired girl.

“OK guys,” Sunset continued as Dash handed me the shirt so I could study it. “Let’s get back on topic.” She paced around in front of the group, rubbing her chin. “Well, I think it’s obvious what the next question should be,” she said, facing us again.

The girls glanced back and forth at one another until finally, Applejack raised an eyebrow.

“How did it happen?” she asked, to which Sunset nodded.

“Exactly.” The red-head sat at the foot of the chaise lounge. “Listen Flutters,” she said, giving the shy girl’s socked-foot a comforting rub. “I know this is hard for you to talk about, but I…we,” —she gestured to everyone else— “would all like to know how you did it.”

Fluttershy nodded, so Sunset continued.

“It’s one of those weird things, you know? Like, the pony-ups happened for different reasons at different times, depending on the situation. So if you-”

“Like ‘Context Sensitive!’” Pinkie blurted out suddenly, prompting Sunset to look at her; half confused, half annoyed.

“I…Pinkie, what?”

“Like in ‘Conker’s Bad Fur Day!’”

“Uhhhh...I don’t get it,” Sunset replied.

“Context Sensitive; it’s…sensitive...to context,” the party-girl explained, giggling.

The red-head sighed. “Ugh, I don’t even kn-“

Pinkie cut her off again, speaking this time in a deep, gruff voice. “The light comes on, makes a ting noise!” She grunted and waved her hands around arbitrarily, then scratched her temple. “And uh…well, uh…actually, they uh…uh press B!”

“OK…just,” a frustrated Twilight cut in, pressing her fingertips to her temples. “We’re getting WAY off topic here.”

Sunset was staring vacantly at Pinkie by that point, unable to get her wits about her until Rarity nudged her elbow with her foot. “Uh…” Sunset gave her head a shake, “Jeez Pinkie, what in Tartarus…” She brought her eyes back to Fluttershy. “Alright uh, sorry Flutters. So, are you gonna be OK to talk about this with us?”

“Yeah!” Dash shouted encouragingly. “We wanna hear how you did it!”

Fluttershy hesitated, then took a deep breath. “O-OK,” she whispered and nodded, to which Sunset smiled in return. “Well, um…girls, I-I was in the middle of my escape, and...I was in the big control room, and, um, I’d just thrown some smoke bombs to keep myself hidden because my, um…grenade launcher was out of shells, and-“

By then, the others, including myself, were all looking at each other in astonishment.

AJ put her hand out, eyes closed. “Whoop! Back it up there, sugarcube; I coulda swore it sounded like ya just said ya had a grenade launcher. Did I hear that right?”

Fluttershy drew a breath, raising her eyebrows in response. “Oh! Yes,” she replied in a tone so innocent, it was downright absurd. “I used it to destroy the little control room off to the side so they couldn’t call for help, and then I destroyed the big screen they had on the wall in there. It had maps and street camera views and pictures of people on it; they were, um, using it to watch everyone, and I didn’t like it, so I-“

“OK Flutters,” Sunset cut in, waving her hand. “One thing at a time. Let’s hear about the pony-up, K?”

“Oh!” Fluttershy covered her mouth. “I’m sorry, I-I got a little sidetracked.”

“It’s OK. Go on.”

“Um, OK…so I was in there, using the fog as cover, and then a bunch of guys came out of the elevator and shot me with some kind of, um...intergalactic weapon.”

Dash interrupted next, shaking her head vigorously. “Whoa whoa, time out!” she shouted, making a T-shape with her hands. “Did you say they shot you with an…intergalactic weapon?”

Fluttershy nodded. “Mm-hm. Right in the face.”

Sunset groaned, rubbing her forehead in frustration. “Focus, Flutters! The pony-up?”

“Well, that was it,” Fluttershy replied. “That was, um…how it happened.”

The red-head looked confused. “Wait, you mean getting hit by that weapon is what caused you to pony-up?”

“Mm-hm.” Fluttershy nodded.

Sunset sat up straight, staring blankly for a moment. “Wow,” she finally said. “I gotta be honest, that was not the answer I was expecting. At all.”

I reached over the back of the couch and tapped Twilight on the shoulder, prompting her to turn and face me. “I told you there were aliens here,” I whispered.

She snickered quietly, then turned back to the conversation.

“Um…so, I don’t get it,” Sunset shook her head. “Was it the energy in the weapon that made you pony-up?”

Fluttershy shrugged. “I…I’m not sure. Maybe? But, um, it could also have been an emotional thing; I mean, I did get really upset when it hit me.”

Sunset raised a brow. “Oh?”

“Um…even compared to all the awful tests they did on me in there, that thing was far, far worse,” the shy girl explained, rubbing her arm for comfort. “It shot out some kind of red, shimmering beam, and…it blew me right across the room.” She closed her eyes tightly at the memory of it.

Rarity wrapped her arm around the shy girl’s shoulders to comfort her. “Oh, there there; not to worry, darling. You’re home with us now.”

“Oh Rare,” Fluttershy continued, facing her girlfriend. “It was awful! When that thing hit me, the sound was terrible, and the energy…” —she paused, shuddering— “I could feel it when it hit me; it was like it was trying to tear me apart, e-except it couldn’t.”

“Ohh,” Rarity said in a comforting tone, squeezing Fluttershy tightly. “You poor dear. You’ve been through so much.”

Sunset was rubbing her chin, deep in thought. “Hmm, an emotional overload might make sense. It must have been a pretty strong one, eh?”

Fluttershy turned to Sunset and nodded. “I was really upset.”

“I think I would have to agree,” Twilight interjected. “I mean, Sunset is the biggest expert on Equestrian magic here, but to me, it stands to reason that the emotional factor is the most likely cause of Fluttershy’s pony-up.” She paused to purse her lips for a second, then shook her head. “I find it highly unlikely that whatever type of energy that weapon had would have activated it; I mean, as far we know, that thing probably wasn’t of Equestrian origin, so its energy would most likely be incompatible with Fluttershy’s magic.”

“The only way ta know fer sure would be ta do it again, right?” Applejack asked, leaning back on the couch.

Twilight and Sunset nodded.

“I don’t suppose you know where that weapon is now, do you?” Sunset asked Fluttershy.

“Gone,” the pink-haired girl replied, sighing.

“Hm.” Sunset shook her head. “Figures.”

“You cannot be serious!” Rarity scolded. “None of you are shooting Fluttershy with that thing again, even if we could get our hands on it.”

“It doesn’t really matter, Rare. It’s gone,” Sunset replied. “Besides, like Twi and I said, it’s probably the emotional response that triggered it anyway.”

The fashionista sneered. “Well, you’re not going to be trying to upset her just to see if it will work again. She’s been through quite enough!”

Sunset waved Rarity off. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on it. Besides, I don’t think it’d be possible for her to hit that level of emotion anyway. We can’t get each other that upset because we all trust each other and we know we’re not a real threat to one another.” The red-head paused, then looked around the group. “Come to think of it, I’m not sure if I would want to pony-up if the way to do it is to get THAT upset. I mean, we would have to be subjected to something pretty devastating, right?”

The girls nodded in agreement, followed by a moment of silent rumination as they wondered what it must have been like to be Fluttershy; angry, homesick, terrified, facing all of those people in the base by herself, fighting for her freedom and then: BAM! Hit by an alien death ray of all things, triggering her to pony-up.

”Hmm...if they were curious about her before, I’ll bet sprouting a pair of wings really piqued their interest,” I thought to myself as I took a second look at the tattered shirt.

Twilight’s voice finally broke the silence. “What tests?”

This question got everybody’s attention, and they all looked to Fluttershy, whose eyes were darting around nervously.

Twilight felt remorseful when she saw the shy girl’s expression, knowing that her question may have roused some painful memories. “I-it’s OK, actually,” the lavender girl said, withdrawing her question. “You don’t have to talk about it if it’s too difficult.”

Fluttershy inhaled deeply. “No, Twilight; it’s OK,” she replied softly. “I should try talking about it. It, um…might help me get over it if I talk about it with you guys.”

AJ gave a comforting smile, followed by a nod. “We’re here fer ya, sugarcube. You can tell us as much er as little as yer comfortable with.”

“O-OK,” Fluttershy nodded. “Just…if it’s bothering any of you, just tell me, and, um…I’ll stop.”

Dash snorted. “Why would it bother us? You’re the one had to go through it.”

“Um…well, i-it’s kind of-“

“Shhh darling,” Rarity said, patting the shy girl’s hand. “We’ll be OK. Go ahead.”

Fluttershy took one last look into the sapphire eyes of her girlfriend, then nodded, letting her gaze drop to her lap as she began to tell her story.

“OK, um…w-well, the first thing they did was put me in a steel room with three big men —w-who were Navy Seals— and they forced me to, um…f-fight them. It...didn’t go so well; I mean, it didn’t hurt, but it was really scary. Those guys were awful. They were a lot stronger than me, and they threw me around and called me names, like: weak and useless, and they, um…said that I was only worth keeping around for...s-sexual favours.”

I clenched my fists and shook my head when I heard this. ”Ohh, those fuckers better hope they’re dead…” Looking around at the group, I could already see the looks of shock, empathy and disgust on the girls’ faces; some of them had their mouths covered, others were shaking their heads.

But her story was far from over.

“They um, made me fight like that over and over, day after day; after leaving me locked up in there all night with nowhere to sit or lay —other than the floor— and no light to see with.

“I just wanted out; whether it was going home or...just dying there alone, I didn’t care. I wanted out so bad, sometimes I would hold my breath for hours on end to see if it might finally work...” She sighed and shook her head. “But it never did.”

Heartbroken, Rarity covered her mouth.

Noticing this, Fluttershy cupped her palm over Rarity’s cheek. “Oh...I’m so sorry, Rare! I-I never wanted to leave you alone, but...I felt so hopeless in there; I thought I was never going to get out, and...if I had to choose, I would rather be dead than have to stay there forever.”

Rarity tightened her lips in an attempt to hide her emotion. “Forgive me, darling, but I am...glad, that you weren’t successful.”

Fluttershy sighed. She stroked Rarity’s cheekbone with her thumb and gave a comforting smile. “Me too.”

Looking around, the pair noticed everyone else’s eyes on them, and they cleared their throats, fidgeting bashfully.

“Um...I’m sorry everyone,” Fluttershy whispered, cheeks glowing.

“It’s OK,” Sunset nodded, patting the shy girl’s foot. “Take your time.”

“Um...so, w-where was I?” Fluttershy tapped her chin thoughtfully, then her eyes lit up. “Oh! So anyway, i-if I refused to fight or do the things they wanted, they would kill those little kittens right in front of me. Mr. Cody was the first to do it; Um...he wanted me to put my restraints on, and when I tried to reason with him, he broke the poor little guy’s neck and threw him on the floor, right in front of me.”

Rarity gasped quietly. “Oh dear, that is simply awful! So, those kittens you brought home…?”

“I rescued them w-when I escaped,” Fluttershy answered. “I couldn’t just leave the poor things there. They needed my help.”

Rainbow dash leaned back as she listened, shaking her head, appalled by her friend’s story.

“Th-that wasn’t all they, um…did to try breaking me, either,” Fluttershy continued, looking down to study her fingers as she spoke. “They put me in a room, and made me take weapons apart and put them back together and then fire them to make sure they worked properly. They made me do that for hours…HOURS on end. Oh! It felt like an eternity; I hated it!” She shook her head, eyes closed. “And they tried to fix my shyness…”

Applejack rubbed her forehead, cringing at the thought. “Oh god, how in the hell did they do that?”

“Th-they made me stand up in front of a crowd in the cafeteria —which was also like an auditorium— and they made me sing into a microphone w-without music; just my voice.”

“And you actually did it?” Pinkie asked, shocked.

“I had to,” Fluttershy replied, glancing up at her friend. “They threatened to hurt another one of the kittens if I didn’t.”

“Man…” Dash shook her head as Fluttershy continued.

“And just to make it more embarrassing, they made me sing loud songs. Like, the first one they had me sing was ‘I Will Always Love You,’ because it has a lot of long, high notes…” —the shy girl buried her face in her hands— “Oh goodness! It was awful! I sounded so bad! It was so embarrassing; I just wanted to run away, but I couldn’t because I was chained to the stage. I had no choice but to stand there and sing, with everyone looking at my p-privates, and-“

The entire group began to cry out in protest, drowning her out.

“Yer privates?” AJ exclaimed with fire in her eyes.

“Um, oh…yeah, they made me do it naked.”

AJ cocked an eyebrow, a sneer curling her lip. “They made ya stand up there, in front a’ everyone and sing…AND they made ya do it in yer birthday suit!?”

Fluttershy nodded.

Her confirmation silenced the room, and everyone, including me, stared into space, shocked and enraged by such abysmal treatment.

Dash shook her head finally, rubbing her face with her palm. “Are you fucking kidding me?” she moaned. “Should I even ask what else they made you sing?”

“Um…Bawitdaba.”

Dash’s face contorted into a combination of shock, horror and confusion. “What!? Baw-“ —she gave her head a shake— “by Kid Rock?”

Fluttershy nodded. “Mm-hm.”

Dash slapped her hands over her face, groaning with disgust. “I...I can’t even...WHAT?! They made you sing Bawitdaba? WHAT THE FUCK?! WHY!?”

“That is pretty fucked up,” Applejack agreed.

“Like,” Dash continued, “that is literally the last fucking thing I EVER expected to see happening on this planet! I can’t even fathom it: Fluttershy, singing Bawitdaba —a cappella— in front of a crowd, naked! I…I can’t...I...AAH!”

“So…wait wait,” Twilight cut in, “What was the purpose of all this? Mental conditioning?”

Fluttershy nodded. “Um, yes. Their plan was to brainwash me, weaponize me and then send me back here to try to capture more of you guys.”

This revelation infuriated Sunset, who shook her head and clenched her jaw. “Oooooh,” she growled, “now that is fucking low.”

“Darling,” Rarity said to Fluttershy, “you wouldn’t really have…attacked us, would you?”

The shy returned her girlfriend’s gaze. “Never! They had ways to condition people to do what they want; to follow orders without hesitation, but for some reason, it didn’t work on me.”

“That’s because it can’t,” I said, drawing Fluttershy’s attention. “Our minds can’t be broken, same as our bodies. We’re not subject to things like mental illness or brainwashing, no matter what kind of trauma we’re subjected to.” As I finished the sentence, I shifted my eyes onto Sunset, who I could tell was thinking of what’d she’d learned about me in the desert.

“But,” Twilight interjected, “earlier, you mentioned tests. What kind of tests?”

“Um, they wanted to see if there was any way to destroy me,” Fluttershy answered quietly.

Twilight’s eyebrows went up when the horrifying prospect dawned on her. “Oh…”

“Dang,” AJ said, shaking her head. “So, what did they do ta ya?...I-if ya don’t mind me askin.”

“It’s OK. Um, first: they tried shooting me,” Fluttershy replied. “They handcuffed me to a couple of posts so I couldn’t move, and they set up a bunch of different guns like a firing range and shot me over and over with all kinds of things.”

Rarity covered her mouth, her eyes moistening at the mental image of her girlfriend in front of what was essentially a firing squad.

“The worst one —aside from the alien weapon— was the twenty millimeter cannon,” Fluttershy continued, fidgeting idly with her skirt, sounding more like she was recapping a rough day at work.

“Twenty millimeter!?” I repeated, astonished that they would have been stupid enough to fire such a weapon in an underwater base. “That’s like…anti-aircraft shit!”

Fluttershy turned to face me over the back of the couch again. “Oh Goldie, it was awful! When they fired that one, it was SO loud, and the rounds were so big! When it hit me, it broke the handcuffs and knocked me into the wall so hard it folded me in half.”

By then, Rarity had squeezed her eyes shut, and was emitting quiet sobs from under her hand.

Fluttershy noticed her girlfriend’s tears, and leaned closer to whisper to her. “Do you want me to stop, Rare?”

The fashionista drew a shaky breath and opened her eyes to look at the shy girl. “N-no, darling,” she replied with a sniffle, wiping her eyes with her fingers. “We must get it all out into the open, that way we can get over it and move on. It is difficult, but it simply must be done.”

“OK…a-are you sure?”

Rarity nodded, forcing a reassuring smile as she sniffled again.

I reached over the back of the couch to give Rarity’s shoulder a squeeze for comfort. She responded by placing her hand on top of mine and looking up at me, her eyes surrounded by dark smudges of make-up.

“So, um…” Fluttershy continued, “aside from shooting me, they also tried to drown me, drop me, crush me, stretch me, cut me; they tried to drill holes in my head with all kinds of different bits and lasers; they tried to poison me with all kinds of different things; they tried to freeze me, burn me-“

AJ finally threw her hands up in protest. “Now wait just a dag-gum minute here! I mean, sure, yer ‘supposed’ to be indestructible, but what if you weren’t able to resist one a’ these tests? Did they not care if they killed you?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Mr. Stubz didn’t care about me at all.”

“Who?” Sunset asked.

Fluttershy looked up at the red-head. “He was my handler.”

“Handler?” Twilight replied with a disgusted sneer. “What, did they consider you a zoo animal or something?”

“Mm-hm,” Fluttershy nodded. “He was a nasty man. He was the one who did all those tests on me. To him, it was nothing; like it was just a regular job.” She sighed, remembering the endless torment the agent had brought her. “I lost my temper with him quite a few times.”

“Well, it sounds like he fucking deserved it!” Dash shouted, slamming her right fist into her left palm. “I hope you gave him the old ‘one-two’ when you escaped!”

“Oh yes,” Fluttershy nodded. “He got the, um…appropriate punishment.”

“Good!” Dash nodded. “So what did you do to him?”

“Um, w-well I…kind of ‘Pinkie promised’ he was going to lose his, um…p-penis.”

Pinkie’s eyes went wide. “Oooooh boy…” she said ominously. “No one breaks a Pinkie promise.”

Fluttershy, stone-faced, shook her head slowly. “No. They don’t.”

“Wow, Flutters,” Dash said, cringing. “That’s pretty fucked up.”

Twilight, who was staring at the floor, raised her index finger. “Wait, Rainbow Dash; she said his punishment was appropriate.” She then turned to face Fluttershy. “What did he do to you?”

Fluttershy sighed deeply, trying to build the courage to continue. Chewing her lip, she tipped her head back to face the ceiling momentarily, trying desperately to swallow her shame. Then she finally looked around at the other girls. “Mr. Stubz…touched me.”

The room fell into a space beyond silence.

I’d gotten pretty irritated already by what I’d heard so far, but this news absolutely enraged me, setting my blood on fire when the image of some random asshole touching a helpless Fluttershy popped into my head.

“Someone laid their fuckin dirty mitts on MY Flutters?”

Applejack finally broke the silence, shaking her head. “Son of a bitch,” she whispered.

I made my way around the couch, clenching my fists. “Those fuckin people are lucky I didn’t find my way into that base,” I grumbled, taking position by the foot of the chaise lounge, where Sunset was seated. “If I’d been there, I…I…” —I shook my head— “FUCK!”

“My sentiments exactly,” Rarity sobbed; a black tear ran down her cheek when she looked up at me.

“Yeah,” Dash agreed. “Cutting his dick off doesn’t seem so bad now.”

“Um, actually, I...shot it off,” Fluttershy pointed out.

Everyone on the couch cringed.

“Don’t w-worry, Goldie,” Fluttershy said, looking at me. “I made sure everyone in that place got what they deserved.”

I shook my head, sighing.

Oh, how I wished I’d gotten into the base myself to exact my own revenge; that outcome would have been much more satisfying than simply picking Fluttershy up in the desert and driving her home.

“Who in the fuck do these people think they are?” Applejack shouted, throwing her hands in the air. “They kidnap you, lock you up, humiliate you, abuse you AND sexually molest you? When the fuck did this Stubz asshole even find the time fer that?”

Surprisingly, Fluttershy answered. “It was after he tried burning me,” she replied, rubbing her neck, nervously. “The fire burned my clothes off, and I’d been strapped to a table and…that’s when he did it. I was naked, and…and…”

Rarity shook her head. She’d reached her limit. “Please stop, darling! I cannot listen to anymore!”

Remorseful for upsetting her girlfriend, Fluttershy wrapped her arms around the fashionista’s shoulders and squeezed her tightly. “I’m sorry Rare, I’ll stop! Please don’t cry anymore.”

Rarity leaned into Fluttershy’s soft, pink hair, resting her head on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry this happened to you, darling,” she sobbed, “You didn’t deserve it. You are the absolute last person to deserve such nasty treatment.”

Pinkie, with a trembling lip, darted from her seat without warning and dove on top of the shy girl, hugging her tightly and wailing like a five-year-old. “I’m super-sorry toooooo!” she sobbed into the shy girl’s shoulder.

Fluttershy, with the wind knocked out of her, reached around to pat the pink girl’s back. “Um…it’s OK Pinkie,” she grunted, “I’m sorry to upset you, b-but I’m home with you guys now, so everything’s fine.”

“I know, but…” Pinkie sobbed, hollering directly into Fluttershy’s ear, causing the shy girl to wince. “I feel super-duper sad about all the things that happened to you! Rare-bear’s right: you didn’t deserve it! IT’S NOT FA-HA-HA-HA-H-AIR!”

With a sniffle, Rarity reached out to give a comforting rub to Pinkie’s back. “There there, darling. Everything’s OK now.”

Rather than calm down and listen, the pink girl lifted her head and faced the fashionista to let out the loudest, dirtiest cry I’d ever seen, only an inch in front of Rarity’s face. “WAAAAAAAAAAAAA-HAAHAA!”

Put-off by the deafening display, Rarity recoiled and turned her head away, closing her eyes tightly. “DEAR GOD, PINKIE PIE! Get a hold of yourself!”

Taken aback by the scolding, a worried Pinkie stared at the fashionista with tears streaming down her round, pink cheeks. “B-but Rarity, you’re crying too!”

Stumped, Rarity touched a fingertip to her lower eyelid to inspect it for moisture, which she indeed found. She rubbed her thumb and fingertip together to dry the tear drop, rolling her eyes as she responded. “Well, it’s just that I…I…”

Sunset stood and took her place next to me in front of the couch, smiling as we watched the absurd, yet heartwarming scene take place. Further down the couch, Twilight and Rainbow Dash were quietly exchanging snickers.

One person was amiss, however: Applejack.

The farm girl sat motionless in the middle of the couch in her blue pajamas, staring at the floor with her mouth slightly ajar.

Sunset dipped her head to see into Applejack’s eyes, hoping to get a sense of what she might be thinking. “AJ? You OK?”

She didn’t respond.

“AJ!” Sunset repeated, louder this time.

This got Applejack’s attention, and she looked up at the red-head. “Huh?”

“Are you OK?” Sunset asked. “You were pretty spaced-out there.”

Applejack brought her hand up to rub the back of her neck, looking down at the floor. “I uh…I dunno. It’s just a lot ta take in,” —she looked up at Sunset— “ya know?”

Sunset nodded, pursing her lips. “Yeah. Some of that was...pretty disturbing.”

AJ glanced over at the party-girl, who was still piled on top of Fluttershy. Sighing, the blonde stood up to walk around the couch and headed to the table. “I’m-a grab a fritter, you guys want one?” she asked.

Sunset and I shook our heads.

“Alright, suit yerselves.”

I watched as the pajama-clad girl peeled the clear wrapper from the plate of pastries. She placed a finger on her bottom lip as she looked them over, deciding which one was going to be the most delicious. It was obvious to me and Sunset that something about the conversation with Fluttershy had bothered her, and she was now seeking comfort in one of her treats; no doubt an old family recipe that had been passed down to her, and was something that brought her mind to a more pleasant place.

Sighing, I looked down at the tattered shirt in my hand, wondering how long this ordeal would continue to affect the girls, but then another question popped into my head.

“Hey,” I said, looking at the group, “why is it that only two of you have wings?”

Twilight extracted her attention from the hug, and turned to me with three fingers in the air. “Three, actually.”

“Oh?” I replied, raising an eyebrow.

Dash nodded. “It’s because in the other world, I’m a pegasus, and so is Flutters,” she said, puffing her chest up with pride.

“A pegasus?” I replied dubiously, scrunching my nose.

“Uh, yeah,” Dash said with a bit of snark, raising an eyebrow. “You know…a horse with wings?”

I closed my eyes, nodding impatiently. “Yeah, I know what a pegasus is, Dashie. You don’t hav-” I stopped abruptly, then shifted my eyes onto Sunset, who was looking at me with a smug grin on her face.

“Wait a minute,” I said, pointing my finger at her. “In California…you told me you were a unicorn, which is also a horse…type…thing…”

“Mm-hm,” Sunset nodded, running her tongue along the inside of her bottom lip. “And you didn’t believe me.”

I put my hands up in defense. “Whoa…hey, I thought you were kidding.”

“You asked me what I was,” she replied. “And I told you.”

“Yeah, and you told me you were a unicorn,” I fired back. “Why wouldn’t I think you were kidding? We joke around like that all the time.”

Sunset shrugged, shaking her head.

I stared at her for a moment, deciding what my next move should be. Finally, I rubbed my forehead, sighing. “OK. You win,” I said, looking at her. “Sorry, Sunny. I didn’t realise you were being serious.”

The red-head raised an eyebrow.

I cocked my head, waiting for a clearer response. “Are we cool, or what?”

“I guess,” she replied, followed by a smirk. “And thanks.”

Rainbow Dash was rubbing her chin, deep in thought. “Uh, Golds actually makes a pretty good point.”

“And that is?” Rarity replied, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, if someone came out of nowhere and told me they were some kind of mythical creature, I’d probably laugh right in their face,” Dash explained.

“Of course you would, darling. You laugh at everything.”

Rainbow Dash scowled at the fashionista. “No I don-“ —she shook her head angrily— “RARITY! I DO NOT!”

Rarity’s next response was interrupted when Pinkie finally decided to roll off of Fluttershy, steam-rolling over the indigo-haired girl in the process. An exasperated grunt was squeezed from Rarity as the party-girl came to rest on the cushion next to Twilight.

“Gah!” Rarity gasped, fixing her bangs with her fingertips. “Pinkie Pie! Really darling, was that necessary?” she scolded as Pinkie giggled back.

“Thanks Dashie,” I cut in, thankful that Pinkie’s antics had stopped the argument that was obviously about to brew.

Dash looked at me, confused. “For what?”

“For seeing things from my side,” I replied, giving her a smile.

The rainbow-haired girl smiled back. “Hey, no problem, bro. Us pegasi are cool, right Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy was off in her own little world, and the sound of her name snapped her back to reality. “Hm?”

“Not like those snooty unicorns,” Dash continued, ignoring the shy girl’s absentmindedness as she cocked her head toward Rarity, who scrunched her nose and stuck her tongue out in return.

Sunset laughed, finally stepping in. “It’s OK, you guys. I wasn’t that upset about it. I was just giving Golds a hard time.”

“What else is new?” I snorted, turning to Rarity. “So…you’re a unicorn too, Rare?”

“Oh, yes darling,” she replied, pausing briefly, “well actually, I am human; I was born here. We all were, but we assume the partial form of our counterparts when we pony-up; aside from Sunset, of course. She IS the counterpart.”

Sunset nodded while the fashionista continued.

“She is the only one of us who was born there, so we must assume her human-born counterpart is somewhere in this world, but we haven’t the slightest idea where she is.”

Sunset froze suddenly; her eyes widened and then darted around nervously.

Her thoughts raced back to her mission in the CIA, where, thanks to Agent Daniels, she had learned of her other self. At the time however, she felt the need to keep it to herself; to lock it away and ignore it, more out of necessity than selfishness.

Between the stress of finding a way into one of the most secure buildings on the planet and forcing herself to swallow the uncontrolled urgency to have non-stop sex with her comrade, not to mention the constant worry for her friend, who had been locked away, abused and treated like a lab rat; she knew her stress was already at critical levels and she therefore made the decision to bottle it up until later, when she’d had some time to sort her thoughts out.

Now, however, she stood before her friends, and Rarity’s last statement had created the perfect segue for her to bring her human self to their attention. Sunset knew this, but was reluctant to do it. She’d hoped to have more time to decompress before talking about it with her friends, although she knew full-well that the longer she waited to bring it up, the harder it would be to do. If too much time passed, she would be forced to answer that inevitable question: ‘Why didn’t you tell us about this sooner?’

Drawing a breath, Sunset steeled herself. “Uh, actually, that’s not entirely true…anymore,” she finally said, facing the group.

Everyone stopped suddenly, their attention captured by Sunset’s statement.

“I…I’m sorry?” Twilight asked, confused. “Which part?”

Sunset cleared her throat, then bit her lip before continuing. “Um…about not knowing where my counterpart is.” She paused briefly, then drew another breath. “I…kind of…found her...during the rescue mission.”

The girls all gasped simultaneously.

Rainbow Dash sprang from the couch excitedly, pulling her hair. “You found your double? Where? HOW? What was she like?”

“Whoa, slow down,” Sunset replied, putting her hands out. “I didn’t actually meet her, per se; more like, I saw her file.”

By this point, my eyes were aimed at the floor; I was scowling, racking my brain to come up with a timeframe during the mission for this to happen. Unsurprisingly, I came up empty-handed, so to speak, and I looked at the red-head, confused. “Sunny,” I said, drawing her attention. “When did this happen? We were together pretty much the whole time.”

She folded her arms and put on that smart-assed smirk like she always did. “Yeah, key words there: ‘pretty much.’”

I took a few seconds to think, letting my eyes dart around the ceiling. Then it hit me, and I looked at her again. “The CIA?”

Sunset nodded. “Daniels. Remember how we didn’t think he was gonna show up with a plan that day, because he said I’d never get past the facial scanner?”

“Yeah, I wa-"

I stopped suddenly, hearing the wheels in my head begin to turn as the events of Sunset's mission slowly pieced themselves together. "Ooh...I think I see where this is going," I said, smirking as I looked over at the couch to find a group of thoroughly confused women.

Twilight was deep in thought, rubbing her forehead, but had the presence of mind to see an opening to speak when she saw me looking in their direction. “Uh, I’m sorry, I’m confused. Could you guys maybe…back up a bit and explain what happened?”

Sunset stopped to scratch her temple thoughtfully, realising that her friends had no idea what she was talking about. “Shit, sorry guys. I keep forgetting that you don’t know what happened. To me, that thing in the CIA feels like it happened ages ago.”

“That’s OK, sugarcube,” Applejack replied as she returned to the couch, licking her fingers one-by-one. “Just start at the beginnin.”

“What was the other Sunset like?” Pinkie’s shrill voice cut in. ”What does she do?”

The red-head smirked. “She’s a pilot in the US Air Force.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes lit up immediately. “Uh, that sounds pretty awesome!”

I sat on the couch next to Applejack as Sunset proceeded to tell the entire story of her infiltration into the CIA, starting with the meeting with my old comrade, Dr. Whooves. She told them about Daniels, about the plan to go in pretending to be an applicant, and about the chance meeting with Daniels’ ex-wife in the bathroom.

The girls hung on every word, especially when Sunset explained how Daniels’ ex was the one who stole the bug that ended up on the kitchen chair, only a few feet away from where we were sitting. Rainbow Dash and Applejack especially enjoyed hearing about the beatdown Sunset laid on the female agent and the subsequent exposure of her theft, which ended with Daniels getting a promotion, making him a loyal ally to Sunset.

By the time Sunset was finished, the girls were all-a-twitter, talking excitedly back and forth, emulating the upbeat mood that had started the evening off. Even I enjoyed the story, given that about eighty percent of it was all new to me.

“God damn, Sunset!” Dash shouted, leaping off the couch to high-five the red-head. “That is a fucking great story!”

“You got that right!” Applejack agreed. “And I think it’s great that ya got ta learn about yer other self, on top a’ everythin else.”

Sunset shook her head, letting out a long sigh. “I learned SO much during this whole thing, AJ; you have no idea.”

“We’ve all learned a bit more about ourselves, I’m sure,” Rarity added.

“Ha!” Dash laughed, pointing at me. “Not Golds! I bet he didn’t learn anything; he’s been through so much of this kind of thing, he probably already knows all there is to know about it.”

I furrowed my brows, reaching over my shoulder to scratch my back. “No,” I paused, letting my eyes shift to the ceiling. “I don’t know everything about everything. No one knows everything.”

“Exactly,” Twilight smiled. “Even you must have learned something during this whole ordeal. I mean, you hung out with a plucky Equestrian for five weeks, for crying out loud.”

“Yes darling, tell us some of the things you’ve learned!”

With all eyes glued on me once again, I felt a little on-the-spot, and I found myself struggling to think of something under the pressure. “Uh, well we learned about the underwater base…”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, “Hmm, that’s not really a lesson or a skill though; nor is it about you.”

“Right, I guess not. Especially since the base isn’t there anymore, it’s kind of useless information,” I said, rubbing my chin as I thought a bit more. “Uh, we found out about the leaders of the organisation,” I continued, pointing at Sunset. “What was that lady’s name again?”

“Chrysalis,” Sunset replied, “but that was actually me who found that out.”

Defeated, I sank into the couch. “Oh yeah, that’s right.” Sighing, I began to wonder if Dash was right. Was I really at this point in life? Was there nothing left for me to learn? No more mysteries to solve? Surely not...

Then I thought of something. Granted, I was grasping at straws by that point, but I was at a loss to think of anything better. Plus, I figured it might be good for a laugh. “I’ve got one!” I said, sitting up suddenly.

“Heh heh! Spill it, buddy!” Dash shouted.

“OK,” I paused to rub my hands together. “I learned that: when someone is touching themselves in front of you, you should just leave them alone and not yell at them about it.”

A deafening silence followed, accompanied by several incredulous faces staring at me, all adorned with furrowed brows.

”Hmm…not funny, or…?”

After several eternities of unbearable awkwardness, Applejack finally groaned and rubbed her forehead. “Hang on a minute, sugarcube,” she said quietly as she glared sternly from under her brows. “You…didn’t already know that?”

I drew a breath to respond, but missed my chance when Dash suddenly burst out laughing, then slid down in her seat and began to run her fingers between her legs. “Hey AJ! Look at me, I’m touching myself!”

“Heh heh!” Applejack chuckled, leaving her seat to approach the rainbow-haired girl. “Hey Dashie! What the fuck ya doin, man? You touchin yerself!?” she shouted sarcastically, laughing as she repeatedly slapped Rainbow Dash across the thigh. “Ya need me ta come over and yell at ya? Huh? How’s that? Does that help? Does that get ya fuckin hot?”

Dash shook her head, laughing heartily as she continued to stroke herself through her clothes, feigning pleasure. “No AJ! HAHAHA! I’m trying to touch myself! Leave me alone!”

The other girls were giggling at the scene while I sat quietly, staring at the ceiling as I cursed myself for telling them such a stupid thing. “Very funny, guys,” I said flatly. “HA-HA. Hilarious. No breakfast for you two.”

Applejack came back and flopped down next to me again, giving my shoulder a loud backhand slap. “Awww! We’re just messin with ya!”

“HAHA! Yeah,” Dash laughed as she sat up again. Her laughter suddenly stopped, however, and a look of confusion came over her face. “Wait a sec,” she said, looking over at me. “Who was masturbating in front of you?”

Sunset’s face went blank and her eyes darted side-to-side, rapidly. Before the others had a chance to think about it, she spoke up. “Uh…actually, we need to move onto the next subject, guys…”

Not a single one of us noticed Fluttershy.

She hadn’t moved from her spot yet, and had become increasingly agitated during the ongoing conversation. Her mind was racing and she was fidgety; her fingers twiddled incessantly and her eyes darted around the room with an expression of uneasiness and apprehension.

She hadn’t told her friends everything.

It was true that she’d told them about her pony-up, but that was all. There was still the matter of the enhancements given to her by the immortality.

On one hand, it was exciting. She’d become powerful; more powerful than she or her friends could possibly have imagined. The issue she had, however, was the things she’d done while in that state.

The extreme distress caused by her captors had filled her with rage; a boiling, seething anger, unlike anything she’d ever felt before. That, along with the surge of physical prowess that she’d been granted proved to be a very bad combination for the hapless employees that populated the base.

Tapping her fingertips together, she chewed furiously at her bottom lip, trying her best to psyche herself up to tell us what had happened. But over and over again, her fear of judgement stopped her. Even though Rarity and I had told her that we thought no differently of her, it was difficult to tell her closest friends about the suffering she’d caused, whether her opponents deserved it or not.

She kept reminding herself that she could simply tell them about the large wings and the super-strength, and that she could leave the rest out. However, the simple act of telling them carried with it the implication of the type of violence that would have been committed with such abilities. After all, they already knew she had gotten herself out of there, and telling them she’d been granted such extreme power, combined with her already precise talent for killing would certainly make it easy for them to imagine the kind of rampage she would have went on.

The pressure, however, drove her to madness. She had to tell them, and she had to do it now. No more waiting for a pause in the conversation. It was never going to come, and he knew she would have to step outside of her comfort zone and just do it; because in truth, she wasn’t comfortable anyway.

Taking a deep breath, Fluttershy finally mustered up the courage to speak.

“Um...girls?”

No one heard her.

“Girls?” she repeated, sitting up slightly.

Her voice didn’t carry far, and again, no one heard her. No one, that is, except for her loving girlfriend.

When the shy girl’s soft voice wafted into Rarity’s ear, she paused for a moment, then turned away from the conversation to find her lover on pins and needles, looking like she was about to crawl out of her own skin.

Rarity leaned in, whispering quietly. “Darling...are you alright?”

Fluttershy locked eyes with the fashionista and froze.

“What is it?” Rarity asked. “Did you want to say something?”

The shy girl held her breath for a moment, then nodded.

“You mustn’t be afraid, Fluttershy. We’re all here for you.” Rarity turned back to the group to get their attention as Fluttershy watched on in terror.

There was no turning back now.

“Oh excuse me, everyone, excuse me!” Rarity called out loud, prompting the rest of us to quiet down and pay attention. “I believe Fluttershy has something to tell us.”

Even under the protection of her hair, Fluttershy could feel every set of eyes in the room burning holes in her, causing her heart to thump like a jack-hammer.

Sunset quickly noticed the shy girl’s discomfort. “What’s up, Flutters?”

After her eyes darted around the group once more, Fluttershy drew a deep breath and looked down at her trembling fingers. “Um…I-I haven’t told you guys everything…about the, um…pony-up.”

Sunset’s expression flattened suddenly, and she shifted her stance to face the shy girl more directly. “OK?”

Fluttershy, reluctant and nervous, continued stammering. “Um…I…I, um…I-“

“Come on, Flutters!” Dash hollered. “Spit it out already!”

After glaring at the rainbow-haired girl for a second, Fluttershy placed her hands on top of her head, closed her eyes, and blurted out the next sentence. “My pony-up was way different this time!”

Unsure of what to think, the girls glanced at each other as Sunset cocked an inquiring eyebrow. “Different how?” she asked firmly.

Taking another breath, Fluttershy slowly extended her arm and pointed a shaky finger at me.

I could feel the blood drain from my face when I saw it, and my eyes began to wander around, looking at each of the girls as they turned to stare at me one-by-one. “OK...what’d I do now?”

Sunset turned back to Fluttershy and folded her arms, confused. “OK, would you care to explain a bit more? What about Golds?”

“H-his power…” Fluttershy continued, “i-it made the pony-up…um, better.”

“Better how?”

“W-well…” the shy girl stammered, rubbing her forearm, “my, um…wings were bigger.”

Sunset’s eyes grew. “How much bigger are we talking?”

“Um, bigger than Twilight’s.”

Dash cocked an eyebrow. “OK so, how big is that? What kind of wingspan would you say?”

Fluttershy, who was now gaining some courage by her friends’ interest, furrowed her brow and scratched her temple. “Um…I’m not sure…nine, maybe ten feet?”

Dash gasped loudly, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head. “WHAT? Ten feet? That’s huge!”

Sunset, after a moment of shock, gave her head a shake and focused on the shy girl again. “Wait, so...you think Golds’ power is responsible for that?”

“Well, um…why wouldn’t it be?” Fluttershy asked, shrugging. “That’s the only thing that’s changed since the last time I ponied-up. Besides, the wings weren’t the only difference. I was, um…stronger, too.”

This caught Sunset’s attention again, and she watched the shy girl intently as Rarity asked the next question.

“How much stronger, darling?”

“Strong,” Fluttershy replied, looking into the astonished eyes of her lover. “I was, um…able to rip an elevator door out of a cinder-block wall and toss it aside like a candy wrapper.”

Before anyone else had a chance to respond, Rainbow Dash threw her hands into the air and howled like a crazy person. “What the fuck; THAT IS SO CRAZY!” She quickly spun around to face Twilight and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her vigorously. “Did you hear that, Twilight? It’s like an AWESOME OVERLOAD!” Without warning, Dash zipped to the far side of the couch with a multicoloured streak trailing behind, ending up in Fluttershy’s face. “TELL US MORE!”

As Fluttershy continued to reveal more about her powers, I watched Sunset pace frantically back and forth, talking to herself.

“This is incredible…” she mumbled, eyes wide as she turned to go the other direction. “Has this ever happened before? I don’t think it has…” —she paused to shake her fists in excitement— “Equestrian magic, combining with power from another universe…” She let out a shaky breath next, pressing her fingertips to her temples. “I gotta send the princess a message…or something…I mean, this...this is HUGE!”

*****

The night wore on, and Fluttershy, a shocked Sunset and I continued to tell stories from our mission to the rest of the group.

Fluttershy ended up telling us a great deal about her escape and her newfound, but temporary power. She wasn’t overly specific about her encounters with the agents in the base, which I completely understood after her revelation in Rarity’s bathroom; and even though she hadn’t explicitly said it, the rest of us got the distinct impression that a number of people in that base left this world in a less-than-pleasant fashion.

There were other things not touched on, however; such as Rarity’s night time escapades on the rooftops of Canterlot, as well as Twilight’s still secret immortality.

The chatter went on long after midnight, and although it was a great time, the three remaining mortal girls eventually began to fall asleep one at a time, starting with Applejack, which was no surprise, considering she’d put in a full day’s work. Rainbow Dash, who worked a half-day, dozed off next, but not before making her way to Fluttershy’s bed without even changing her clothes. Pinkie Pie was last, of course; she had the most energy leftover from the day, having done nothing but hang out with Fluttershy, baking some unfortunately-named treats. After changing back into her pajamas, she made her way to the bedroom to join Dash for a good night’s sleep.

Applejack had passed out on the couch, so Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Sunset and I decided to go outside and continue our visit in the backyard.

I made a point to Twilight that if she didn’t want the others to know that she’d been turned, she should stay inside and pretend to sleep. Her response consisted of a simple shrug, informing me that ‘even though she didn’t actively plan on telling them yet, if they found out, she’d be OK with it.’

“Fair enough,” was my response.

The five of us sat in a circle around the dormant fire pit. I was facing the woods with the back of the house to my right, with Sunset directly across from me. Twilight was to my right, with Rarity seated between us, and finally, Fluttershy was sitting between Sunset and Twilight.

We were reluctant to actually start a fire in case we ran out of wood by morning, which was how I had planned on cook their breakfast. So instead, we sat in the moonlight and chatted the night away.

“So, what have you been doing with all your extra time, Twi?” I asked, glancing over at the lavender nerd.

“Um…reading, mostly,” she replied sheepishly, followed by a thoughtful rub of her chin. “Well actually, the past few weeks I’ve sort of shifted my studies to…well, me.”

“Oh?” I replied, raising an eyebrow. “Ever since your outing with Rare?”

Twilight chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of her neck as her face began to flush. “Heh…yeah. You, uh…heard about that, eh?”

“Yup,” Sunset replied. “I’m surprised, Twi. You never struck me as the Batman type.”

“Oh!” Twilight replied, pointing at Rarity with her thumb. “This girl here is more the Batman type than me; the things she did that night were absolutely amazing!”

Rarity giggled, sticking her nose in the air as she flicked her bangs with her fingertips. “T’was just another night, darling.”

“Pppfff!” Twilight smirked, shaking her head.

“I hear Rare gave you a little homework?” I said. “How’s that coming along?”

Twilight clapped her hands together excitedly. “Completely fascinating! Not only have I been busy with that, I’ve conducted a few other experiments; which reminds me…” She reached into the small satchel that she’d brought out with her and produced a small Ziploc bag. Inside the bag was a thin, white stick. “Before I get into explaining some of the things I’ve been doing, I wanted to show you guys this.”

Rarity, who was sitting beside Twilight, leaned closer, squinting as she studied the object in the dark. It wasn’t long before she figured out what it was and she squealed with excitement, bouncing in her seat and clapping her hands rapidly.

“Wait, is that a pregnancy test?” Sunset asked, her eyes lighting up with excitement.

“Indeed it is! And it’s positive! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! How wonderful, darling!” Rarity squealed. “Is it your brother and Cadance? ARE YOU GOING TO BE AN AUNTIE? OOH! When can we expect the little bundle of joy to arrive?”

Twilight’s expression lacked the excitement of her friends’. “Whoa, you guys,” she said, waving them down. “This isn’t Cadance’s. It’s mine.”

An Earth shattering silence suddenly fell over the yard, save for the noises in the forest; Sunset, Fluttershy, Rarity and I were left staring at Twilight, utterly dumfounded.

Fluttershy, wide-eyed, was the first to finally speak. “Um, w-what did you just say, Twilight?”

“Heh,” the lavender girl chuckled, reaching up to adjust her glasses, only to find yet again that they weren’t there. After a frustrated little grunt, she returned her eyes to us. “Uh, well…heh! Turns out I’m pregnant.”

Author's Notes:

Anyway...I hope you guys are having fun with this so far. This sleepover/breakfast party goes on for quite a few chapters, but I promise it gets better from here, now that the heavier topics have been tackled and we’ve gotten some closure on the first half.