You Bring Who You Are with You
Dan's Comments
DISCLAIMER: My Little Pony is the property of Hasbro, Inc., Harry Dresden is the property of Jim Butcher, Carl Kolchak is the property of ABC/Universal Television, Ranma Saotome is the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Sailor Jupiter is the property of Naoko Takeuchi.

Rarity had sweated the information out of Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, and pursued the team into the area of the Crusader's clubhouse. The run to that location would require a spa visit earlier that her usual schedule but matters need as they must. She'd even accept a drenching in tree sap, as long as the alien heroes were all right.

She arrived to less of a disaster than she'd feared. She settled in a bush to watch. Black-and-Red had positioned himself in front of the four bronicorns, who were chained to the ground. The horrified looks and desperate scrabbling at the ground by the four miscreants made her think of how to rescue them.

Then she stopped and really looked and listened. Red-and-Black held up a small sharp tool she recognized.

"Dental pick?" one of the bronicorns whimpered.

That's where I know it from, Rarity realized as Red-and-Black made small motions with it, demonstrating its use, What's so scary about dental tools? Yes it's uncomfortable, but it isn't as bad as their reaction implies.

Red-and-Black held up another small tool, similar to the screwdriver she used to fix her glasses or change out the needles in her sewing machines. And his gestures mirrored the motions she herself would put it through.

"Removing tiny parts?" another bronicorn mewled, then fainted.

Rarity stared at the scene in utter confusion, until it hit her. He could be giving the same speech to Cheerilee's class, and they'd be watching in fascination, Rarity thought, But to these monsters, they see only harm and evil, in even so innocent a demonstration as this. Red-and-Black knows it too. They are bringing the evil and terror to the party, he's just letting their imaginations run wild. The Crusaders would think about building for their next Crusade, but these, they only see implements of torture.

She sat down to watch. Part Schadenfreude, part enjoying an artist at work, and part as backup if needed.
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Ranma thought he'd softened up the four 'alicorns' and was confident that the locals would have little problem with them. He saw Patrick and Makoto returning. There were a few grass stains on his clothes, but he was smiling. She had a few bits of bracken in her hair and a serene grin as she rested her head on Patrick's shoulder, and held his hand on her stomach, while her other arm encircled his waist.

Utterly happy and 'MINE!!!' all rolled up into one package, Ranma thought, and was worried about a feeling of jealousy, It would be all right if I was just jealous of Patrick, Makoto is wonderful, but why the heck am I jealous of Makoto? Heck, why am I jealous at all? All I have to do is walk within reach and they'll gather me in. The only reason it isn't a threesome, or shudder a foursome, is because I haven't decided I want it to be, and they respect that.

He sighed and stood up. The desires were getting troublesome, and they were new, not counting the dream.

Wait a second, he thought, That dream, that's where all this started. Patrick couldn't have, nor could Carl or Makoto, Harry's a clever howitzer, that leaves . . . , he let the thought trail off, because he was the only one who could confront their other ally.

He patted the unicorn mare on the head, making her scream and jump out of the bush she thought she'd been hiding in. She launched into a blistering tirade. Ranma just looked at Patrick and Makoto and sighed with dewy eyes, then tapped his fist on his head. The unicorn's tone changed from angry to frantic explanations. The switch back to the whole scenario being his fault never came, which was a surprise.

I wonder if not blaming me for everything is a pony-thing, or if other people act like that? he wondered as Patrick collected the cowed to comatose alicorns in a force bubble, and headed back to town.

The unicorn trotted along behind, trying to make herself understood. Ranma wasn't quite sure if she was talking about his clothes or his skin. Since she seemed to be implying she'd change it, he was hoping clothes. For once, he treasured his inability to speak to someone.
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Patrick had gathered Harry and Carl in the library. He checked the heavy door before closing it behind him. "I know you both say you hail from Chicago, well so do I originally, I am curious to see if it's the same or similar Chicagoes." He cleared the sheet music off the piano's bench.

"How are you going to do that?" Harry asked as they approached the piano and Patrick sat down in front of it.

"A quantum resonance scan would be the first choice, but if we were transferred here, then we'd read as locals, not ourselves," Patrick explained as he tested that the piano was in tune and he could actually play it, "The bimorphic field distortion is useless without a zero point to start with, so that's out, so I'm going to go old school. Just imagine this as an 88-string guitar." He started playing.

"Music?" Carl asked.

"The street lamps are on in Chicago tonight, and lovers are gazin' at stars," Patrick sang.

"The store are all closin', and Daley is dozin'," Carl joined in.

"And the fat man's countin' the cars," Harry reluctantly joined in.
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Makoto had been walking around town trying to lift the spirits of those whose homes and businesses had been damaged. The native wings-and-horns group had arrived, but Makoto could see that the events of the past were beginning to wear on the locals.

She'd used her muscle and lightning powers to help as much a she could. But it isn't enough, she thought as she glanced at Ranma who was showing off to a pack of youngsters, he was juggling, not just with his hands, but with his feet, kicking objects into the air to join the ones he was tossing about. Even the really alien creature was trying to assist, helping mainly with the wounded.

When everypony in the area suddenly stopped and stiffened, Makoto got the urge to run. Both Ranma and the Elder Thing picked up on it as quickly as she had. Before she could turn and run, two ponies grabbed her arms and dragged her over to one of the unicorns who'd been on the assault team. They'd dragged Ranma and the Elder Thing over as well. Makoto glanced around for a moment looking for outside threats. She didn't want to believe that after all they'd done for the ponies that she and the others were going to be murdered out of hand.

Then one of them tied a silk scarf around her hair like a bandana. Another tied a long, thin scarf around her waist, then shorter ones at the elbows and knees. She glanced over at the Elder Thing who'd been provided a hat adorned with a skull and crossed bones, and three eye patches.

Someone sat a small pegasus in a parrot costume on her shoulder. The pegasus began taking pictures of the assembly of pirate-clad ponies who'd surrounded them. Makoto glanced at Ranma who was fending off the orange, Stetson-wearer who was trying to thrust a hook into his hand, but while Orange had him distracted, the pink neither not only thrust one in his other hand, but duct taped it on. A tricorn hat completed the ensemble.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Ranma asked.

Makoto grimaced and nodded. "Don't sing around ponies," Makoto warned as the line of pirate ponies belted out the song as they gathered every loose wagon and cart around the library.

"Be it Edsel or Chevy," they sang as a red stallion lifted a cart over his head and carried it after the others, "There's no car too heavy."

The song slipped out of phase for a moment, with Orange holding up a pick axe, Hairbow hold a sledge hammer. The Pink pulled the hockey mask over her face and gunned the chainsaw she was wielding. Makoto and Ranma stared at the spectacle and only jumped when the ruler of ponies stuck her head between them and announced, "But little care I for the law!"

The ponies who owned the flower shop, and seemed to have fainting as their primary vocation extolled their good manners, then while the pile of wagons and carts around the library grew these same shop ponies displayed any number of tattoos and improvised weapons.

"I wonder if this 'Joilet' charm school is like Furiken is supposed to be a High School," Ranma said.

"Sometimes I wondered about Juuban High the same way," Makoto replied.

The Elder Thing looked at them with its two, non-patched eyestalks. Ranma shrugged. The Elder Thing replied with a five-tentacle near equivalent. All three of them returned to watching the spectacle, and moving closer to the library which seemed to be the epicenter.

They paused as all three in the wings-and-horn brigade dragged a large, blue shed with a blinking light on top towards the assembly of carts.

"Police?" Ranma asked, "Or my English isn't working."

"One of my friends spent time in England, they're sheds for the police to store stuff in, but they've been gone for years," Makoto said, and watched it vanish, "I hope I didn't do that."

The little dragon, in pirate regalia, stood atop a pile of carts, wagons, and other implements. "And when I've collected the ransom," the dragon sang, waving his sword in the air, "And sunk all the ones that won't yield," the dragon sang and drove his sword into the wagon he stood on, to cheers from the entire crowd.

Makoto and Ranma wormed their way through the maze of assembled carts to the door of the library. They entered and raced through the small corridors.

"Let's tow the bum out of town," Harry, Carl and Patrick sang. And froze as Makoto slammed the door open.

"What did we agree on about singing around ponies?" Makoto asked.

Carl proved his own skills by leaving a windowless room whose only door Makoto was blocking. Ranma looked at the vent which would have been too small for him or her, and watched the seersucker disappear in the distance.

"This room is soundproofed," Patrick said, stared at her adjusted costume, "What are they doing?"

"Just look!" she told him.

He jogged to the front door and looked around. "What? Walking around, maybe smiling a bit?"

Makoto and Ranma rushed to the door. The pile of carts, the piratical ponies, and even the scuff-marks on the turf were gone. The only vestige was the Elder Thing with the three eye patches, and Ranma's taped on hook.

"They - they - !?" Makoto insisted as she waved her arms around.

"I believe you," Patrick told her, "I also think it's less dangerous than we originally thought."

"Thank you," Makoto said, then realized Patrick was still staring at her, "What?"

"That's a good look for you," Patrick said, "Very Pirates of Penzance." He bowed. "Your majesty."

"No singing," she warned.

"Yes it is a glorious thing to be a Pirate King, hurrah!" several ponies belted out.

"How can we understand their songs?" Harry asked.

Patrick sighed. "The man has no sense of the absurd. Because it's funny. That's how this place works. It's like a children's cartoon, certain things just work. Who pays for all the Acme stuff? Why do sentients try to eat each other? When are fur and feathers clothes or costume, and when are they skin? Depends on what's funny."

"Those alicorns aren't funny," Makoto pointed out.

"Fragments of unicorn horn?" Harry asked.

"Their name for the horns-and-wings brigade," Makoto said, "Is that what alicorn means in English?"

Harry nodded.

"How come he doesn't drop into lectures, like you do?" Makoto asked.

Patrick mimed being stabbed in the heart.

"So, aside from them having Busby Berkely as their patron saint, what did you learn," Harry asked.

"I'll get the yellow book notes later," Makoto said, "Hey, Ranma, you've got a good voice, want to help cheer up some kids?"

"As long as you aren't going to alternate me in water so we can do three part," Ranma said, "So, alto or baritone?"

"We'll decide when we get there. Do you think this song stuff works with Japanese?" Makoto asked.

Ranma froze. "Yes, I - oh sh- no, I remember the theme from Sailor Moon."

Makoto had him by the arm and was sprinting towards the hospital before he could escape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF3q7o8Yjrg