Dove was not comfortable as she rode in the transport back to Night's Heart. There were a lot of things making her uncomfortable. For starters this entire transport was way too cramped, and she was not used to be in an enclosed space. The next thing that made her feel uncomfortable was this entire place just smelled wrong. It didn't just smell wrong, it smelled really bad, like when food was left sitting too long, but even worse than that. After that there was the fact that so many ponies in this place stared at her a lot. She didn't know these ponies at all, she didn't really know any ponies besides the ones she had spent her life with, and all these new ponies made her really uncomfortable with their stares.

The main thing that made Dove uncomfortable was the alicorn sized pony sitting across from her in the transport. Peridot seemed to be a very mean and angry pony. When Water Shadow had been talking to Peridot in the little building there had been a lot of yelling. Peridot had called them all liars, which was mean and untrue. There had been a couple times Dove was sure that Peridot was going to hit either Water Shadow or Dove's ma..mother. The big pony had never done it, but it seemed like she would. Peridot eventually said that she believed them, but it had taken a long time. So yeah, Peridot was scary.

The last thing that was bothering Dove had just started in the last few minutes. It was like an itch, and it was in a place she was told not to ever touch, but it itched a lot. It made her squirm in her seat and was driving her crazy. She has never felt something itch like this before, and definitely not there. Her aunt was giving her a weird look, like she was trying to hold back a laugh. It wasn't funny! It really was bothering her.

"What's that smell?" Her mother suddenly said lifting her head in confusion.

"Forget home sweet home stinks little alicorn?" Peridot mocked.

"No, I know what Ocid smells like, this smells different. It kind of reminds me of the breeding centers," her mother said as she sniffed at the air.

"It's Dove, don't worry about it right now, it isn't anything bad," Sweet Pea said with a smirk.

"I didn't do anything, I swear! I didn't fart or anything," Dove protested. She wasn't lying either, she really hadn't done anything.

Water Shadow sniffed the air, and so did Peridot, the had very different reactions. Water Shadow let off a sigh and a sad shake of her head at Dove. Peridot started smirking just like Sweet Pea did. Dove had another moment of anger that ponies were accusing her of being stinky.

"We know you didn't do anything on purpose, you have no control about this," Water Shadow said, and then turned to Dove's mother. "You once asked if Dove was sterile, it isn't a guaranteed no, but I guess this is a pretty good indication that answer is a likely no. Timing on realizing it is rather awkward though."

Dove silently fumed. She hadn't done anything. Why did they keep acting like she had done something? Between being mad at being told she had done something, and the unbearable itch, and dealing with all this other stuff she wanted to cry. It wasn't fair.

"Oh," her mother said with a blush. "Um, I really don't know how to deal with that. I never had that happen to me. Am I supposed to be doing something for her."

"I'll give her a talk later about it for you, don't worry. I have lots of experience dealing with that problem. We shouldn't have expected this coming with how big she is, and the fact she is about the right age for that kind of thing to start," her aunt said with a chuckle.

"If what you told me about her age is right then I actually started earlier than her. She'll be fine," Peridot said with an actual giggle. The big scary pony was giggling, and she was giggling about her, plus no pony was telling her what she had supposedly done; even though she knew she hadn't done anything.

Her mother got up and came and hugged her. Dove happily let herself be hugged. She was supposed to be acting all grown up, but right now she was getting upset and she just wanted her mama.

"My little filly is getting so big. Between this and you getting so big it is getting harder to call you my little filly anymore. You are almost as big as me. You'll always be my special giggle butt though," her mother said as she hugged her tight.

"Well, you can add stinky butt to that title now," Peridot said with a smile. Was Peridot being mean or was she being friendly? Was she making fun of her? It didn't seem like she was by the sound of her voice, but calling her a stinky butt was mean. She didn't have a stinky butt!

"You are actually being lighthearted. I don't think I have ever seen you lighthearted before," Water Shadow said to Peridot.

"The fact that the filly reminds me a bit of me brings back some more pleasant memories. This last thousand years has been anything but heartwarming for the most part," Peridot said solemnly. Dove didn't think they were much alike at all.

"She does bare a resemblance in size. She will likely be as big as you by the time she is full grown," Water Shadow said with a smile. Why were they suddenly talking so friendly to each other when they were yelling at each other earlier?

"That she would," Peridot said as she looked at Dove. Again Dove didn't like the way that mare looked at her. She also didn't like the fact Peridot said would, like it wouldn't happen.

"If we get the mirror installed here she could reach full growth in a day. Live a full life in a week without any unpleasantness. A life that many ponies could live," Water Shadow said to Peridot. This was getting back to some of the things they were arguing about earlier.

"I have to consult with..you know who. I will plead your case to her. I will not endanger all of Ocid for the sake of one filly though. I can sympathize. Really I can, but even though it is hard for me to do I have to think of the good of the many," Peridot said sternly. She was starting to look mean again even as she was saying she cared.

"Are you prepared to face your sister in the dream realm? You don't have to do this alone. I want to help you. To this point I have left too heavy a burden for you to shoulder alone. It is time for me to start making things right with you," Water Shadow said to Peridot with lowered ears.

"I..I am not ready to discuss that subject yet. Until I have heard it from the necromancer's mouth I won't believe it is her. I am not sure I will believe it even if I hear it from the demon. I won't discuss my sister again until I am ready. I stand by what I said Water Shadow. You are mistaken, and it can't be true," Peridot said quietly. Dove noticed that the big mare's ears had dropped and the anger had gone out of Peridot again. The big pony seemed sad, but Dove got the distinct impression Peridot was lying about something.

The two old ponies weren't talking anymore and her mom was still cuddling her. Dove could be happy with that arrangement. Why did all these ponies have to talk about her like she wasn't even there? If she was supposed to act all grown-up then shouldn't they treat her more like a grown-up? It really wasn't fair, not fair at all.

She glanced over at Quiet. He hadn't said anything about her in all that, not that he ever said a lot. He was looking at her weird though. It made her blush, which made her mad again because she didn't know why she was blushing. She got more fluffed as she realized she was itching more. It had to be this strange place. It was making ponies act funny, even her.

Her mother glanced at her and then at Quiet and then she blushed too. Yeah, this place was definitely getting to every pony.

"Um, Sweet Pea? Should we be keeping the two of them together unsupervised now? She just got more..pungent when she was looking at your son," her mother said to her aunt. Pungent? She didn't even know what that word meant. Now ponies were using weird made up words too!

"I don't think Quiet is old enough to even realize what she would be after, but it might be best to be safe rather than sorry," her aunt said after consideration.

"Can ponies please stop talking like I am not right here?! I am feeling weird, and ponies are acting weird, and I don't know what to do!" Dove yelled as she finally couldn't take it anymore.

Every pony then blushed, which suited her fine right then. They should all be embarrassed. Her mother looked at her aunt again with pleading eyes.

"We are sorry, Dove. You are right, we shouldn't be talking about you like you aren't here. It is just a really private subject and we are all trying to dance around it. I promise you that as soon as you and I can have some privacy I am going to tell you all about it. It is something your mom has never had to deal with, and something I am pretty sure Water Shadow has not had to deal with in a very long time. I have had to deal with it and still do on and off, so I will make sure you understand all about it. I am pretty sure you are dealing with a weird feeling in your hind area from all the squirming you have been doing, and even though you can't smell yourself the rest of us can smell you right now. It is a perfectly normal thing mares go through, and it starts about your age. It is also considered kind of rude to actually say anything directly about it in public, but we are all stressed right now. You and I will talk soon enough, just be patient with every pony," Sweet Pea said looking sympathetic.

Dove huffed and gripped her mother tighter. It seemed like a grown-up problem from what her aunt said. If she was supposed to be turning into a grown-up and this was what it was like she didn't want to.

Life wasn't fair

Eclipse was supposed to be sowing dissension and making contacts with ponies here in Sire's Hollow. Instead she was trying to take time to understand what she had become. Night Mist may be laser focused on her goals, but Eclipse needed to understand all aspects of what had happened to her.

She stepped through a security barrier of an old warehouse without it doing anything to her. It should have been zapping her with enough electricity to make her drop to the ground, instead it just failed. Different pieces of electronics failed at different times and ways around her, but she had found that in the end she could cause any to fail, not just cameras. They seemed to have to actively try to do something involving her to fail from what she could tell. Cameras were trying to transmit her image, so they failed on sight of her, other things required a little more to fail, but fail they would. She wondered if she was even capable of using a computer terminal or if the very action of using it would cause the terminal to fail. That would be very inconvenient.

There were other changes as well that Night Mist had either chosen not to mention, or was so caught up in her crusade to have bothered to notice. She was much stronger now, perhaps as strong as Peridot. Things that she could not have budged with all her strength before now moved with basically no effort on her behalf. She was pretty sure she could knock a hole through a steel wall with a good enough strike, at least one of average thickness. Ponies didn't get that strong, except for the alicorns and Peridot.

Despite being perpetually awake for at least a full twenty four hours now she wasn't tired, not in the least bit. Eclipse didn't know if this was simply adrenaline keeping her awake or some other change. Did a creature that was half metal need to sleep? She was only half metal, shouldn't her still pony parts need to rest, as should her mind? Perhaps it was just adrenaline from all that happened today, but she had a feeling that it wasn't just that.

The most dramatic change had nothing to do with newly gained powers. The biggest change was that she was filled constantly with rage. She wanted to lash out, she wanted to scream, and she wanted to hurt any that so much as looked at her wrong. Her temper had always been a very rare thing before, and this change to her temperament was far more worrisome to her than all the changes in her body and new powers combined. She wasn't sure if she was physically a pony or a monster now, but the fact she had to struggle so much to keep her rage in check made her feel like a monster.

She slammed a hoof down on top of a metal container within the warehouse in a vent of frustration, the container was crushed like it was paper instead of steel. She just stared at it for a long moment after. Her rage was hard to control and could easily be directed at ponies, if she lashed out like that at a pony she would surely kill them. Her eyes welled up with tears as she laid down on the floor. She was still enough of a decent pony that she knew she didn't want to do that.

The rage was somewhat understandable. The sudden betrayal of Peridot and the trip through the Bakery would have definitely done things to her that would cause trauma and with that rage. It was a understandable, but it was something that had to be dealt with if she really was going to help any pony. The fact that Night Mist and Spiral Swirl went through the same trauma meant their minds must be equally damaged.

She could understand Night Mist's drive to act now rather than take her time with what needed to be done. The need to do something to redirect all these feelings into was there. Night Mist was coping by directing all her anger into Peridot and the system of Ocid. Things really did need to change, but if Eclipse could take a guess Night Mist was doing this more for vengeance than desire to enact real reforms. Spiral Swirl had been in much worse shape than either of them, both before and after being put through the Bakery. He might have very little actual sanity left at this point.

It became increasingly clear to her that this was all going far too fast. There was some credit to what Night Mist said about how the timing was best now to make a move, but they were not mentally fit to be making that move yet, not until they learned to cope with what had happened to them. In their current mental state they were likely to do more harm than good for the ponies of Ocid. She couldn't be doing what Night Mist wanted her to do right now, she had to focus on trying to get herself back to where she knew her rage wasn't going to hurt some pony, get to where she could think clearly about everything.

Would Night Mist listen to reason and wait for them to get themselves back to where they could all be the good they might eventually be? It was hard to say, but it seemed unlikely. Worse Eclipse might lose control of her strenuous hold on her feelings and get into a rage filled brawl with Night Mist if she tried to reason with the older mare and failed. The only thing to do for the moment was try to get herself back in control of her own emotions.

She needed help, but had no pony to turn to. Her mistress was perhaps the only pony who could have helped. Her mistress was gone now though, perhaps dead for all Eclipse knew. It was all Peridot's fault, Peridot was to blame for all of this.

Ecipse slammed her own head against the crumpled steel container to clear it. She couldn't let herself start focusing on that, it would have her lose control of her rage. She did not want to suddenly go charging through Ocid screaming for Peridot's blood. More accurately she really wanted to do exactly that, but had enough sense at the current moment to know that was a very bad idea. It terrified her that it seemed such an easy thing to let herself fall into doing. She didn't want to be a monster.

For now she would just lay here and wait, ignoring Night Mist's directions. She would seek calm and get a hold of herself. Only after she did that would she figure out what to do next.

Midnight had never spent much time in the Spire of Crystal Heart, only visited once or twice. Everything in Ocid typically operated out of the Spire at Night's Heart. She was always impressed with the place though, it was the oldest building in Ocid, and reflected a time long gone. The oldest parts of the Spire in Crystal Heart were at least eight thousand years old, perhaps older. It had been built not long after the exile from what was now called the Lost Lands, which lay between the Dead Lands and the land of Tambelon. The history of this place spoke to her.

Unlike the Spire in Night's Heart, which was a thing of black metal, the Spire in Crystal Heart was a thing of purple and blue crystal. It would have been a rare thing of beauty in Ocid if the light and smog of the region didn't put such a sickly light upon it, and years of dust and filth had not built up upon its surface. Underneath that beauty was still there, waiting to be released, and there was something symbolic about that for all of Ocid.

As soon as they landed the group divided up to deal with different things. She, Sweet Pea, and Dove went off in a corner to have a discussion with Dove about the facts of estrus. A contingent of the guard sat nearby watching them. As they tried to get some privacy in a corner.

Quiet Word did what a considerate little colt would do and sat a little bit away from them, slightly out of earshot. He too was under guard, but being in sight of them was likely a small relief to her best friend who was nice enough to give this talk to Midnight's daughter.

There had been a bit of a commotion with explaining estrus to Dove at first, caused by one particularly poor miscommunication on Midnight's part. Midnight had told her daughter that it was okay for her to rub her personal area to sooth it, but had failed to include the part about doing it in private. Every one of the guards and Quiet Word had gotten a short view of her daughter masturbating right in front of them, before they told Dove that was something done in private by herself. Midnight was still blushing from the incident. Sweet Pea had taken full control of explaining the birds and bees to Dove after that.

Water Shadow and Peridot had gone into the Spire's inner chambers right away. Shadow had said that they were calm enough now that she trusted no pony would do anything hasty in a few minutes of absence. The two ancient ponies were going to negotiate with one another and discuss how they were going to negotiate with the Mare of Shadows.

One positive they had going for them was Peridot actually seemed to like Dove. In retrospect it wasn't too surprising. Out of all the ponies in Ocid Dove was probably the most like the Ponymother. She was going to be a big mare that was going to have a body ideally suited for two main tasks, fighting and breeding, exactly like the Ponymother. It wasn't surprising that Peridot Glow had a soft spot for this particular great grandfilly.

Water Shadow had told Midnight quietly that she needed to be prepared to defend herself and Dove very soon. Peridot would likely not do anything until after she had slept, but chances were Peridot would try to take some action against Dove at some point, regardless of whatever went down with the mirror, and despite Peridot's seeming affection for Dove, but the Ponymother was a mare committed to doing what she thought would be best for Ocid. It was that seeming affection that was giving them a little bit of time now, but that would likely not withstand another round of threats from the Mare of Shadows.

Sweet Pea was made aware as well, and the two of them were prepared to fight their way back out of Ocid if need be. If they could delay long enough before they needed to the four of them would try to make it back into the mirror when it again lighted itself. She would be able to help fend off a fair number of guards with her own blasts, they couldn't produce shields to guard against them, but Sweet Pea would have to be the one to actually get them to the mirror. Hopefully with twelve more years of training Midnight could be a bit more capable of doing things herself. If Peridot didn't break the mirror and trap them within. It was a risk, but it was all they had for a plan.

A familiar face came running out of the inner Spire and looked around at them quickly. Eyes widening as they settled on Midnight, before hurrying over to her. This was one of Peridot's secretaries. Her suit was very close to that of an acolyte's, and in practice there was very little difference between the acolytes and the secretaries, beyond the fact that the secretaries didn't stay by their mistress's side constantly. The two groups worked together with a lot of things, and there was some comradery between them. This one was a middle aged thestral mare by the name of Nighttide.

"Midnight, I am so glad to see you. I have a lot of questions for you, but those can wait. Is Sunset Shimmer here too? I heard about Water Shadow coming back, but not about your mistress," Nighttide said hurriedly, giving apprehensive glances at Midnight's wings and horn. For the first time Midnight really realized that she had grown taller than before, as she was now slightly taller than Nighttide where the opposite had been true before.

"I don't think Sunset is going to be coming back," Midnight said in a low voice. She didn't want to go into detail about what had become of Sunset right now, or think about it.

"I was afraid of that. I will ask how you ended up becoming an alicorn later, but right now I need you. The Ponymother is not taking proper interest in things that are going on, and we have a potentially big problem on our hooves. As an alicorn you have authority to order something done to take some action, it is in the bylaws of Ocid," Nighttide said in a pleading time.

"What is going on?" Midnight asked with a raise of her eyebrows. She hadn't been aware that the bylaws specifically gave alicorns in general any type of authority, she had thought they had referred only to Sunset and Shadow.

"We are dealing with widespread camera failures throughout Night's Heart, and I have reports those failures are starting to spread to Sire's Hallow and here in Crystal Heart. Worse there was some type of monster attack in Night's Heart just an hour or two ago. The thing apparently did a lot of damage to one apartment building, scared a lot of ponies, and massacred one. An actual monster attack, within the borders of the Dome! That should be impossible, but the reports are very clear, and because of the camera failures I can't even get a look at what it was!" Nighttide said in a frenzied voice.

"What?! A monster attack inside the Dome? You said you already told Peridot and she did nothing?" Midnight asked incredulously.

"She has been completely focused on your arrival back in Ocid. She refuses to even listen to any other report, no matter how urgent. She says nothing is more important than dealing with all of you right now. I don't know what went on between her and your mistress, but we have big problems going on right now that are far more important, and she won't even listen," Nighttide gave her exasperated reply.

"You are right, this is urgent. There has never been any sort of monster within the Dome. That means we must have been breached somewhere, and the fact that we are dealing with widespread camera failures at the same time can't be a coincidence," Midnight said. This was bad, really bad. Perhaps the Mare of Shadows was about to do a full scale assault on the city after all and everything else had just been a distraction. Perhaps the entire ordeal with Dove had just been some way of getting Sunset and Shadow out of the way, rather than a real care about Dove. It made her simmer with rage at the possibility.

"So what do we do? I need some pony with authority to give orders to do something. I know it might seem shaky ground to have an order come from you, but it technically is acceptable. Give me some sort of order so we can start doing something," Nighttide pleaded.

Midnight considered for a moment. She had never been in charge of anything before other than her making sure she completed her own duties. She didn't have any reason to believe she was qualified at this time to make decisions about what to do, but something had to be done now. She could at least get the obvious things taken care if right away.

"Get as many armed guards as can be spared out to Night's Heart and have them start searching the area in detail. We also need to get our eyes back in the city, get technicians out there and have them figure out what happened to the cameras and get them back online. Pull them from all jobs that can be put aside for the moment and get them working. Find out how those cameras went down and how to stop them from going down again," Midnight ordered in quick succession. These were all things that should already be happening, things that Nighttide likely could have thought to do herself if she had authority, but there was likely more that needed to be done.

"Yes alicorn, thank you for taking this seriously," Nighttide said with relief. Midnight wasn't sure she was comfortable just yet being addressed as alicorn as if it were some title, but didn't correct the mare. If she was going to make action take place she had to behave like she was to be taken seriously.

"I will do my best to get Water Shadow and Peridot to take immediate interest in this and figuring out what action next to take. I fear that we have all been duped by a big ruse on the necromancer's part. What we thought was important is going to need to take a back seat to this matter. Get to work with your tasks and I will get to work with the two ancients. Ocid survives," Midnight said quickly as she got to her hooves.

"Ocid survives. Good luck Midnight," Nighttide said with a bow of her head, before racing off to get to work on her orders.

Midnight was left to figure out how to convince Peridot of the fact they might have all been duped. She needed to go see her immediately.

"Sweet Pea, Dove, Quiet, come over here. This is urgent. Guards, I understand you are under orders to watch me and my friends. As an alicorn I invoke my right to give you orders that don't countermand Peridot's orders. Follow us, because I need to go speak with Peridot and Water Shadow now!" Midnight hoped that the guards would take her authority as an alicorn seriously. She didn't know what she would do if they questioned that authority. Bloody Tartarus, she even questioned whether she had the authority.

The guards all looked back and forth among one another, seemingly unsure if they were required to listen to her or not. That wasn't entirely bad, it meant they were at least considering it rather than laughing in her face. She didn't want to let it slip to where there was too much questioning though. She had to press that authority now.

"What's going on?" Sweet Pea asked as she hurried over to Midnight.

"We might have all been played for fools by the Mare of Shadows and Ocid might be in very real danger right now. We have to get Peridot and Water Shadow to take command and deal with this before it is possibly too late. Follow me," Midnight said as she started walking towards the inner chambers if the Spire. She turned towards the guards for a brief moment and believed with the full deafening volume of an alicorn. "Did I stutter? Follow us now. Ocid is in danger and we must act now to save it!"

The guards fell in line behind her, submitting to her authority.