There, the knocking was done. Like vagabond salesmen...salesponies, they waited for the door to open and introduce his friend to his parents...along with working in a talking foal in there somewhere, too. Unless she sold him out and blabbed about certain details. He rolled his eyes, figuring that was a foregone conclusion. He's faced this kind of music before, so it wouldn't be too much to weather. Civil's nostrils flared as he smelled something delectable inside.

He smiled and murmured, "My mom, she's making crepes. She loves to cook those."

Hot Pink bobbed her head, smiling. "Cool, you told her to cook for you today instead of yesterday. At least she didn't have to sit there staring at two empty places at the dinner table last night. Right?" Hot seemed very cheery at the thought of a loving mother, her lollipop stick dancing around in her mouth. Had he not been getting a horribly sick feeling just now, he would have noticed a hint of regret behind that glowing look.

As it was, Civil's eyes constricted and he slowly looked at her. She noticed the stiffening of his legs, so her eyes slid over in his direction. "What?" She asked. Noting the blood rushing from his face, her brow furrowed slightly. "You...DID message her, right?" Civil's head made the barest shakes of a 'no'. Her mouth dropped open. "Text? Call? Anything!?! CIVIL!!!"

He sputtered out, "I didn't think of it at the time!" while pulling out his phone. It was set to airplane mode. Hot leaned over to peer at it, her head very close to his. She didn't say anything and just briefly lifted her gaze to meet his, eyes displaying a mixture of disbelief and disappointment.

The lollipop stick in her mouth slowly moved over to the other side just so she could whisper, "Didn't you call me after you landed yesterday?"

He blanched. "Oh come on! After getting stuck in the ass by a needle <Liberty wailed 'Don't blame me!!!'> I was not going to get stuck again, so I turned off all notifications...and...figured airplane mode was the quickest way to do that. I didn't know if I was getting back up in the air again, so...." His voice petered off when he unchecked the mode and his phone reconnected with the cell towers.

So many texts and missed calls piled up, from relatives, friends he hadn't heard from in years, his parents...more his parents. He closed his eyes shut, hearing the individual pings for each instance of text and missed phone call go off. It was like a slot machine hitting jackpot. He did not feel like a winner right now, each sound seeming to hurt more than the last.

Hot muttered, "Just fyi, the whole need for airplane mode is a myth."

Liberty quipped from behind his head, "Idiot."

The knob turned and the door swung open. Facing the music had become Deguello, the death song played by Santa Anna's troops at the Alamo.

Karen stood there with her apron on. She had been making brunch after all. Not quite noon, so it wasn't unheard of for her to be starting later in the day, which meant she had been spending the early morning hours doing other things. Several more pings sounded from his phone with just her name attached, so it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what it was she had been doing.

"I called to find out where you were and what happened to you!" Her eyes were red, voice hoarse. He felt it was too early to make a horse joke. "Those Flying Admin people said something happened. They wouldn't tell me what, but that you were okay!?"

"Federal Aviation Administ-" he began.

"I don't care what they're called! They said you had to land because of some non-emergency critical...whatever! I tried to call you but you wouldn't answer. Why didn't you answer, Jason?? And then this morning, THANK GOD someone out there has a sense of decency! They called as a courtesy to let me know you were flying again, but with another pony." She looked at Hot Pink, not knowing what to make of it all. Before Civil could respond, the woman lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing. "Please don't ever do that again! I can't lose the two of you, you hear me?!"

He could only stand there in shock. Slowly his wings came forward to gently hug her. "I'm sorry, mom. I screwed up. There was a unicorn, two adult pegasi, needles, and a pain in the ass..."

Liberty sat up, fuming.

Hot snorted while pulling out her lollipop. She put it in its original wrapper and tucked it away in her own bag while eyeing Liberty from the side. The foal crossed her forelegs indignantly, fit to explode. Yet the diminutive creature said nothing, still not sure how to broach the topic of 'I am a talking ball of fuzz' with their mother.

After a good half minute, Karen released Civil and stepped back, wiping her eyes as she took in her two children. She noticed the foal was strapped into what appeared to be a very nicely made black leather saddle with silver accents.

She breathed, "Civil, that is the cutest thing I've ever seen! Certainly much safer looking for her than your bags." She stepped to the side as he scratched his head, still not feeling well about the whole affair. Karen nodded, "It is very handsome on you. When did you get a chance to buy that?" Liberty eyed her mother warily.

He flicked his head to the mare next to him. "She bought it for me, so Liberty could ride safely." He stepped aside and turned to Hot. "Mom, this is Hot Pink, one of the first ponies I met when I came back from Equestria. She wanted to escort us home, to make sure we got back safe. Hot, this is Karen Berringer, our mother this side of the portal."

Karen straightened, wiping her eyes with her hands, then wiping her hands off on the apron before offering one to the pony. "Oh, forgive me, I am so sorry. I wasn't ignoring you...just that, well..." She nodded to Civil and Liberty.

Hot smiled, holding out her hoof to her, "A mother's love is a mother's love. I might have mentioned it to a pony or two recently." Karen held it awkwardly and shook it, but the mare didn't mind. Civil swallowed nervously.

"Yes, well, I am truly thankful you helped them get home. I was in the middle of making brunch. After I got the phone call from those aviation people, I thought I could serve you something delicious." Glancing meaningfully at Hot, she added, "Especially for the one that helped out my babies."

She stepped into the house, leading them in.

The mare followed, leading the pony entourage in, replying, "Thankyou Mrs. Berringer, that is very sweet of you."

"Please," the woman said, "Call me Karen." They all walked into the kitchen where indeed, a plate full of crepes was piled up, along with cut fruit and different jars of jam were on the table. Two cans of whip cream stood at the ready nearby. "Help yourselves, the last of the batter is just about done."

Civil looked around and asked, "Is dad here?" Normally the man would be the first at the table.

Karen nodded, going back to the stove to finish up with the last of the batter in a skillet. "He went for a walk. You know him. Had one of his funny feelings yesterday morning and wouldn't sit still until that call came in today. By the way, what did happen up there? They were very closed lipped about your detour."

Hot Pink had the good grace of not wanting to impose in getting food first, so she sat back. She also sensed there was more to this topic and didn't want to rock the boat.

Civil, on the other hoof, looked like a deer staring down a hunter that hadn't seen him yet. What was he going to say, that he dropped his newborn mother/sister? That he nearly fell out of the sky himself!? His ears twitched while he wracked his brain for some kind of explanation.

That is when in a rare moment of absolute sibling loyalty, the little tyke on his back rang out, "Goo goo gaa gaa!" while waving her hooves over her head from his saddle.

Karen dropped the spatula in shock, staring at them, "She can talk! Her first words!" Then she swept over and gently hugged the foal. "I can't believe she can talk so soon! I thought it would be a few weeks at least." He used his wings to help her release the foal from the saddle, and once again Liberty found herself in the loving arms of her mother, cooing, though this time she was trying to ignore the quirky look Civil was giving her. Karen cooed back, "Your first words..."

He muttered, "They were more like 'stupid' and 'asshole' if I remember correctly."

Karen glanced up, perplexed, "What was that, dear?"

He winced, then looked at Liberty, who actually had a pained look on her face when she stared back at him. Finally, the foal gave him a small nod, her eyes tearing up. He growled to himself, "Dammit." He took a deep breath and looked his mother in the eye. "Mom, we have something to tell you. I need you to be calm before I tell you this. Can you do that?"

She nodded slowly, looking back and forth between the foal and her son warily. "Okay," she said slowly. Karen wasn't sure she could take more surprises from her children. The whole concept of 'surprise' was not her thing, never has been.

He continued, "All right. Well, it would seem that pony shi...stuff continues to happen. And...Liberty here...." He stumbled, feeling like he was betraying the foal, but she saved him anyway.

"Hi, mom," Liberty said quietly, bracing for the inevitable drop of a rejecting parent.

Karen stared down at her. Her gaze did harden a little, but it passed quickly. "You can talk," she said softly.

Looking up at her, Liberty nodded, "Yes."

Raising her brow, her mother asked, "When did you start talking?" Her tone was that of someone trying to get all the facts before making an appropriate emotional response. She tended to do that now and again.

"I've been talking for a little while now?" squeaked out Liberty.

"A little while. How long a little while now?" Expression unreadable. Liberty fidgeted. Under that gaze.

There was a pause as Liberty glanced away, not knowing what to do at this point. Then she wailed, "Since the beginning! At first I was scared, then I was worried you wouldn't love me anymore, and you would stop holding me and hugging me and would make me clean my room and I can't even reach the toilet and these little hooves and wings can't do anything-" She would have rambled on some more but Karen hugged her fiercely AND gently, as only mothers knew how to do.

Civil stared at them both, then looked over to Hot Pink, who he found was already spreading some jam onto a crepe at the table. She glanced up while rolling it like a thin burrito, "What? She said help ourselves, and you are dragging this out way past the interest of any self-respecting reader." He merely stared at her as she ran a line of whip cream across the top with her wing holding the can.

He turned back to the other two exasperating females in his life, only to catch Karen say, "I would hug you ANYTIME you want, my little sweety!"

"Call me your little birdy!" Liberty replied, muffled up by her mother's arms.

"Of course my little birdy! This is the best Christmas gift ever!"

Civil growled, about ready to call out Liberty for stealing his pet name, then facehooved himself. "Arg! Christmas Eve! Mom, I have to go shopping!"

Hot Pink exclaimed, "Civil! I said you don't have to get me anything!"

He held out a hoof to stop her protests while walking out of the kitchen, or attempted to, only to bump into his father who had just walked in during all the drama. "Hey, boy! You made it. You know, I had this feeling-"

"Yeah dad, I love you. Yes I know. We can talk later about the feeling." He hopped up and hugged the man, who gave him a brief hug back. When they finished, Dan saw Karen and Liberty together, with Hot Pink by the table. And the table of food.

"Sooo...what's going on?"

Civil tilted his head and said sourly, "Well, that is a friend of mine, name's Hot Pink. Liberty can talk now. Food is ready, and I have to go Christmas shopping because I got ambushed by early gifts." Hot said something but he flat out ignored her.

Dan's face lit up. "Liberty can talk? Fantastic! So the food is ready, right?" Civil's eye twitched and he walked past his father, heading for the front door.

"You people are all insane," they heard him muttered to himself before the door opened and slammed shut. Once outside, he madly searched the internet online. He knew mares liked flowers, chocolate and jewelry. But what to get somepony that has done so much for him in so little time, with so little time left to repay her. And for the record that whole 'You don't have to do anything for me' bit is a TRAP! Every stallion knows that, even Civil. Which meant he had to pull something off. Come on, think, Civil, think.

There! Those looked perfect. He checked the contact information. Damn, Florida. One glance at Google maps approximated a two hour flight there and another two back. Hoping against hope, he dialed the number. It rang several times but finally picked up. "Hello, Lost Galleon, Dante Edwards speaking." Sweet, the owner.

"Hi Dante, my name is Civil Patrol. I know this is absolutely last minute shopping, but is there any way I can make a purchase of that Athena Stater pendant? Item 3815?"

There was a minute of silence, but his ears picked up some keyboard use in the background. "Yes, it's still available, but I don't think it will get to you in time, even if we were to same-day ship it, unless you are local."

Civil grinned, bingo. "Oh I can get very local. I noticed you use a P.O. box for mailing purposes. I assume you are a .com business operating out of your home in Maitland?"

The man's reply was a little hesitant. "That is correct, but I have to assure you, we don't keep the artifacts at the house. They are secure in a bank vault-"

"Wait, hold up," Civil interrupted. He should have known asking about their business would make the owner nervous. "I'm not here to rob you or anything. I can fly there in two hours, pay you on the spot. That's all I'm asking for." He sighed and said plaintively, "Please, I need to do this. The recipient, she swooped down just like Athena and saved my ass. The very least I can do is make a physical memory of it for her to keep."

There was a very pregnant pause on the other end. Civil almost thought Dan had hung up on him, but then the man asked, "Civil Patrol is your name? You wouldn't happen to be a pony, would you?"

This again? He gritted his teeth. "Yes, does that make a difference?"

"No no, I was just thinking...this girlfriend you are buying this for-"

"She's not my girlfriend! Just a really good friend," Civil groused.

"Uh huh, this lady type friend who you are about to drop a couple thousand on, she is a winged pony? Are you both pegasus ponies?"

Civil looked around, swearing he was on Candid Camera. "Yeah...why?"

The man laughed on the other end. "I just think it's funny, like, awesome funny. A pegasus giving another pegasus an ancient coin with a pegasus on it. Hell, that just made my holiday. Look, I'll text you my address. Two hours you said? That should give me enough time to get to the vault and back. Cool?"

The pony worked his jaw a few seconds, then answered, "Yeah, I think."

"Gotcha. See you in a few hours." click.

Civil blinked at the phone and muttered, "What the fuck was that all about?" He started to doubt the man had taken him seriously until he received a text message from the phone number he had just dialed. Sure enough, it was a residential address in Maitland, Florida.

It was a quaint house in the suburbs, its lawn littered with dead leaves from barren trees in the front.

He tapped on the door tentatively with his hoof. His last few experiences with doors had been harrowing at best, so he was hoping that, third time's the charm, he wouldn't be causing someone mental trauma.

It opened, revealing a tall man with a healthy tanned physique. He had the weathered look of someone well travelled, probably late 30's.

"Hello! You must be Mr. Patrol. Do you prefer the full name? Or...?" He held out his hand, seeming friendly enough.

Civil reached out and the man shook his hoof. "Civil is fine. I hope I didn't ruin your evening over this."

The man stepped back, laughing. "Nonsense! Having a pony visitor makes it that much more special. Please, come in. I'm Dante, though you probably know that from the website."

Civil nodded and followed him into the house. They made their way down the hallway and to a side office. Civil briefly got a glimpse of the living room where the family had their own tree set up with a pile of presents underneath. He knew Dante had a family because they were sitting on the couch. A smiling wife with eyes darting nervously to two very eager young girls that were having trouble remaining seated. Obviously some words had been said before he arrived. He nodded to them before entering the office after the man.

"Are they okay in there?" Civil asked.

Dante chuckled and sat down behind an antique desk. "Yes. As you might suspect, having a pony visit for Christmas is every little girl's dream. And I have three girls in there. Two officially young, and one still young at heart. If the rumors are true and you used to be a human, I figured you wanted to continue being treated as one and not a sideshow attraction. My wife and I sat the girls down and had a short discussion. Then I had a discussion with my wife."

Civil, who had been glancing back toward the door wondering if he was going to get stormed by a girl gang, turned to see a twinkle in Dante's eye. He grimaced slightly, "Yeah, thankyou for the consideration. This whole curse crap sort of blurred the lines when it comes to discovering who you really are. Being fawned over because of your looks isn't as endearing as some might think."

The man nodded, "I can see where that would wear on someone. Just don't go being a complete recluse. Having someone dote on you has its rewards."

Rolling his eyes in disagreement, the pegasus took a minute to look around the office. It was spacious and very well decorated, as only a treasure hunter's man cave can be. Artifacts from all over the world festooned the walls and bookcases. Old weapons, manuscripts, glass cases containing objects susceptible to moisture in the air were just a few of the things Civil could identify. There was also an old picture of a sunken galleon on the wall. A couple of sharks lazily swam nearby the wreck in the underwater crevasse. Continuing his scan, he saw a couple of coins, old doubloons, framed on the mantel. He lingered on them for a time.

"You like old coins?"

Blinking, Civil turned back to Dante and shrugged. "When I was a kid, one of my favorite movies was The Goonies. I was remembering when they were using a doubloon to locate the old inn."

Shaking his head, Dante pulled out a small box and slid it across the desk to Civil. "That is an old movie. Not as old as this item, but 1980's old."

Civil chuckled as he reached for the box. "What can I say, good classics are good. I had always imagined I'd come across a cave or something...when I was flying..." He sat up and frowned, staring at the box.

"What is it? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Civil looked up, "It's weird...I was curious about exploring before I was human...and I guess when I first saw that movie play on a regular cable station as a kid, it spoke to me. The traps wouldn't have scared me, and I certainly would have stood up to the Fratellis. I guess I've always had to deal with bullies at some level." He pushed open the lid to the box and gazed at the item inside.

It was a pendant, as requested. The piece that the jewelry was centered around was a silver stater coin, a flying pegasus on one side and the head of Athena wearing a Spartan style helmet on the reverse side. He turned it back over and gently touched the pegasus with his hoof.

"I take it you like it? Check, credit card or cash, I'm set up to handle any of those. Or online if you use a particular service."

Without taking his eyes off the pendant, Civil reached into his bag at the side of the chair, fished out his credit card and put it on the desk. He hesitated, a feeling of worry coming over him. Was this too much? Certainly there were other ways to thank her for what she has done for him so far.

He thought back to that night in the bar. And the next morning. She had done a lot more for him, and he knew it. He also knew that this worry wasn't so much whether or not it was too much or enough. It was the meaning behind it all. She had told him to get back to her when he changed his mind about relationships. "Is this opening a door, or a floodgate?" He muttered to himself. Was he even ready for this?

"A bit of advice, from one treasure hunter to another. If you find something so rare and unique that you are not to see its like again, don't let it go. Keep it, cherish it." The man sat back and sighed, smiling. "Treasure it."

Civil looked up, a weak smile on his muzzle as he realized he spoke his thoughts out loud again.He tilted his head slightly, asking, "You aren't talking about the pendant...are you?"

The man glanced at a picture of his wife and daughters on the desk, then back at Civil. "No, I'm not."

The pegasus nodded. "I hear you." He gently hefted the jewelry box in one hoof as he closed it with the other, letting go of the credit card. "I try, you know? I really do." Civil considered the possibility of bringing a herd of his own into this world, since, you know, he couldn't very wall go making peggies in a world he was banished from. And yet, in the twenty five years as a human and the last couples as a pegasus, he had seen the horrible side of humanity. Dare he let something pure blossom in this dessert of reality?

He squeezed his eyes shut, a wave of pain washing over him. "I've seen things...I continue to see things, and hear them on the news, or from other people, and they make me jaded. I find more reasons to frown in this world than smile." He opened his eyes and stared at the human. "It's like...the more truths I come to understand, the more bitter I feel and one day..." He lowered his voice, "...one day, I may never smile again because I will know too much of the truth. I'm not sure bringing a herd...a...pony family, into that is for the best."

Dante stood up, a dubious expression on his face. "Here's another bit of advice. Lighten up. Sure there's going to be shit in the world, we humans have been dealing with that for centuries. Dare say you guys have too, if you are having to fight monsters and mythical horrors." Noticing Civil's surprise, he nodded. "Did some research on ponies while I was waiting for your arrival. The stories you guys have brought back are fantastic, to say the least." He stepped around the desk and lightly placed his hand over the box Civil was holding.

"You have to remember, these things take some of the bitterness out of life. Those you decide to gift them to, they make life worth living, even in this world. ESPECIALLY in this world that needs you ponies more than anything else to show us the best of humanity. I won't pretend to know what you have dealt with so far, but you seem to have a good heart. Follow it. Even if you make mistakes, you'll know you are being true to yourself. And you might just make this world less horrible, which my family will happily thank you for." Dante tapped a finger on the credit card, eyeing Civil. The pegasus nodded and placed the box into his bags. Dante picked up the card and took out his phone, which had a credit card adapter on it. He made the transaction and handed the card back.

Civil couldn't help but chuckle, pondering the man's words. That was something he might have heard Celestia saying during his early days as a guard. Dante walked over to the door and Civil took his cue to stood up as well and follow. He noticed the man's wife was still in the living room holding back their teenage daughters with everything short of calling off Santa's visit should they disobey her and rush him. Dante glanced between him and the front door and shrugged, "It's up to you. Again, we usually don't have customers show up here, and we've never had a visitor of your...heh, persuasion?"

Civil had to laugh and shook his head, "Yeah you could call it that. Taking the bitterness out of life, right?" Dante grinned and nodded. "I don't mind spending a few more minutes, but I have to get back to that lady type friend of mine."

Dante sighed in relief, hoping he hadn't insulted his first ever pony customer. Raising his voice he said, "It's okay, girls. He said only a few minutes so try not to crowd him too much-"

You'd have thought someone had brought the all-you-can-eat ice cream truck in the dead of summer to a daycare center. The two girls were over in a heartbeat, hugging and petting him while bombarding him with questions. Yes, they could pet him, after the fact. No they couldn't mess with his wings, he actually needed those to get back home. QUIT asking about the saddle! He forgot to take it off and it wasn't meant for riding anyway. Except for his mom/sister- NO he was so not getting into THAT subject. Yes ancient pegasus civilization had strong similarities to Greek culture, with some Roman here and there.

That really piqued Dante's interest. "I know you have to go, but I have a ton of questions regarding ancient pony culture. Would you email me sometime or call? I would really appreciate that. I could offer discounts for you and other ponies."

Civil pushed his head out from between the girls to regard him with surprise. "You are that interested in us?"

The man waved his arm around, taking in the decor of the house. There were less items in the living room, but Civil did spot some Greek artifacts. Remembering old cities from Equestrian history class, some of them would have fit right in with pegasus culture. "Look around. The artwork, the history. I've been treasure hunting for over twenty years. You are a living link to the past." He held up his hand to Civil's coming rebuttal, "Even if you don't remember it all, just to talk to a winged horse after, well, up until a few years ago you guys were nothing but myths and legends! Come on, who wouldn't be interested!?"

Civil nodded, letting the horse comment go. That would be the first historical correction he'd make with the man, though now would be improper, given the nature of the word and the proximity of the juveniles. "Sure, I think I can do that." He slowly extricated himself from the young mob of two. "Anything to help pony-human relations."

The flight back was not as stressful since he had accomplished his mission. He stopped off at the mall, quickly purchased a dozen roses, trotted to the Godiva store, made the outrageous request to have said roses dipped in chocolate. He had the feeling they only obliged him because he was a pony. And he claimed that his kind ate flowers so it wouldn't be against any FDA regulations they might be worried about. They didn't know whether he was serious or joking...about anything he had said up to this point. He didn't care. Getting back up in the air, it was a short hop to the house.

He got back in the early evening, closed out his flight plan and walked inside. The aromas of a fine Christmas dinner assaulted his senses. He could smell all manner of foods, like buttered carrots, cranberry sauce, corn, potatoes, melted marshmallows on mashed sweet potatoes, ham (oh shit! wait, nevermind, pork was alright), lobster (holy shit! she made lobster!!!) all of it prepared and waiting on the table, minus beef of course. Karen had kept a list of what not to serve pegasus ponies. And both his parents and said ponies were waiting expectantly for him at the table.

To his confused pause, Karen explained, "I hope you don't mind, we invited your friend to stay. We also had a long conversation while you decided to fly to Florida." Hot Pink twisted around in her seat with a surreptitious smile. The womenfolk had been talking about him again. Great. His father, sitting at the table with his own look of innocence, wasn't helpful either. Civil climbed up into his seat and hesitated.

"Wait, how did you know I went to...nevermind." Concerned mother, FAA phone calls, tracking.

"There is a flight path tracking tool I showed her, for the future, if that was okay with you-" Hot tried to explain, but he held up a hoof, then lowered it quickly. He really shouldn't be doing that quite so often with her.

"It's alright," he said quietly. "I should have said something. Had a lot on my mind and it's nopony else's fault but mine."

"I think on this evening, we can put transgressions behind us and enjoy each other's company," Karen said. She looked around at them and smiled, the stress leaving her features. "Now that we are all seated at the table, we can begin. Dear?" She turned to Dan.

He nodded and held out his hands to either side. Karen held his on her left and Liberty's hoof on her right. The foal was sitting on the table. Civil snorted to himself, making a mental note not to try and not stab her mistakenly when he went for the dish of lobster tails in front of her. He reached out to touch her hoof and held out his right to Hot's, who held his and back to Dan's hand. He gave a nice prayer, thanking the Lord for their food, their family's health and for all of them being able to share each other's company on such a prestigious evening.

Then they began to eat, with dishes being passed around and requests aplenty.

"Miss...Pink is it?" Karen asked after several minutes later.

"Hot Pink, or Hots, Pinks, Pink, or HP...but that's like a Lovecraft thing." The mare smirked slightly. Dan got the joke, but few others at the table did.

"Pink then. I know the three of you are originally from Equestria, but did you grow up as a human, like these two?"

Civil continued eating, listening while Hot replied, "Yes, I did, in Lubbock actually."

Dan asked, "Texas, Lubbock? I figured you for west coast or something." At Hot's raised eyebrow, he added, "The accent. It slips in and out."

She smirked while eyeing Civil, "West coast, best coast."

"It's not best coast," Civil muttered back, eyes rolling.

"Keep telling yourself that, hon. But, that's west coast Equestria." Turning back to Dan, she continued, "My human part is Texan. Great state to claim home away from home I suppose."

His family members nodded in agreement and seemed content with her response. Civil felt his curiosity rise and asked, "You said you were from out west, in Equestria? That's where you learned the bar trick then-"

Liberty blurted out, "Bar trick!?! You went to a real bar, Civil?" She made it sound like he had done the impossible. He grimaced at her.

Karen obligingly shushed the foal, "Hush you, I want to hear this." She scratched Liberty's head to take some of the sting off her rebuke.

Hot shrugged, "I did say out west, yes. I should have said Equestrian side back at the hotel." She began to pick at her food on the plate. "Ponies could get a little pushy out west." Her normally jovial sense of self faded as thoughts of her old home came to her.

Karen asked delicately, "If you don't mind my asking, what was the place called, in Equestria? Was it a town, or a village? Are there cities or villages there?"

Hot gave her a small smile and said, "They have all of those. My point of origin is Las Pegasus."

Civil winced. He pointedly avoided making eye contact with Hot now. Damn, she WOULD have to be from there.

Liberty piped up, "Las Pegasus? Is that like Las Vegas?"

Civil said darkly while looking out the window, "No...was like a cross between Vegas and L.A."

Hot ate quietly, watching him out of the corner of her eye.

Liberty looked between them. "Was? What, did something bad happen?" Civil wasn't giving anything away, so the foal stared at Hot.

"That depends," Hot said quietly. "Civ?"

Civil slowly turned back to Hot. He knew this was going to be hard for her, but he wasn't sure how much. So he asked, "Um...what part did you live in?"

She replied tentatively, "The upper cloud sector, but my family mostly worked on the lower cloud sector at the resort hotel, the Mareyacht. Some of them lived at the hotel."

"The Mareyacht?" He sat up. "Wow. They had hotels all over Equestria, in the most prominent sections of Manehattan, Baltimare, and Canterlot, just to name a few." So she worked at one of those hotels, Civil thought to himself...and yet...she was living in the upper cloud sector? That was posh, even for the permanent residents. Now was the rough part. "The ground level was mostly trashed by the monsters down below, but earth ponies are slowly rebuilding it. The mountain level, it remains intact and is being resettled by a mix of ponies. Well, they were starting to, once the unicorns finally untangled the hurricanes and tornadoes in the sectors above there."

Hot's face paled slightly, her jaw dropping, "...t...tornadoes...as in more than one?" She blinked and did a double-take. "HURRICANES?!?"

Civil nodded. "I'm sorry. It would appear Discord wrote his name in the sky using all the clouds and building materials up there to sustain the tornadoes. Formed into letters. With bordering counter-spinning hurricanes to frame his artwork, in case nopony noticed the tornadoes." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Guess he had his own idea of a fun loving resort in the sky." He saw the devastation on her face and smiled, "But look on the bright side, you don't have to work at a hotel anymore, right? You can shake things up here!"

She smiled slightly and wiped a tear away, murmuring, "Shake things up...shake things up." She asked in a lower voice, "Do you know if any other Mareyachts survived, anywhere?" He shook his head no, though he looked a little bewildered. Did she really want to work at those hotels that badly? Then she said, almost too imperceptible for him to pick up, "That's it then. It's all gone."

He frowned, asking, "I...don't understand. What is all gone? Just your house, right? Your work place? I mean, you can find work here, can't you?"

She shook her head, "No, Civil dear. I didn't work at the hotel or live there. My...herd had worked quite diligently to make sure I wouldn't have to work, but that I would eventually manage the hotel when they retired. You see I...well, I was to inherit the entire chain of Mareyacht hotels. The brand, the fortune. Everything." There was stunned silence around the table. She looked at them and shrugged. "My father Land Yacht was always concerned about whether or not I'd be taken care of. I kind of figured there might be something back there left behind for me, if nothing else but to help him achieve his wish. If what you say is true...well, I suppose it really is time to shake things up. I'm not so spoiled that I don't know what hard work is."

She went back to eating. After a minute, she saw they were still staring at her. She swallowed and said, "I didn't mean to upset anypony. I dealt with the possibility of it all being gone a while ago, when my memories started to come back. Now, thankyou Civil, I don't have to worry about Equestria anymore. I live on Earth."

Civil nodded, though he didn't continue eating. He knew it was going to be bad news to her when she mentioned Las Pegasus. He just didn't know it was that bad. He shouldn't have said anything, he thought darkly.

Karen smiled and said, "That is a very healthy attitude to take, Pink." She reached over and gently touched her foreleg. Hot nodded a thank you. "So, Lubbock. That is where you live now, in Lubbock?"

Hot blinked and shook her head, "No. Now I stay in Frontier, near Odessa. Granted, it's not as built up as other parts of Texas, but it has a lot of ponies there. Not to sound racially motivated, but it's a very real thing to be near other ponies and feel comfortable. A herding thing you could say. That and I'm hoping sooner or later some members of my herd swing by there. It would be nice to see a few more faces I remember."

Civil raised his brow in thought. "Frontier, is that what they are calling the town now?" He was also glad they were changing the subject.

She nodded and said, "Yep. They approved the name only a few days ago, right before you called, in fact. Had a town hall and put it to a vote. Figured everypony wanted a cross between New Beginnings and the wild west, with it being in Texas."

Civil rolled it around in his head. "The town of Frontier." He smiled. "I like it."

Just then, Liberty gave the cutest little burp, making Karen laugh and coo down at her, "Liberty, where are your manners?" The damn little thing had the gall to smile sweetly up at her while her mother dabbed the foal's mouth with a napkin. Apparently he wasn't the only one that was a messy eater.

Civil muttered, "Oh, now we are just all sorts of noises, aren't we?"

Karen perked up, "Oh yes, you did say you were talking from the beginning." She looked down again at Liberty curiously, "I know you said from the beginning but I don't remember hearing anything. Was Civil the first one to hear you?" Liberty nodded. Karen patted her head reassuringly. "So what made you start talking? Was it during the flight back? Did it bring back memories or something?"

Liberty's ears folded back and all silliness fled her like smoke on the wind. "Well...I guess on the way home I sort of found my voice." She giggled nervously, quickly glaring at Civil, "Hehehe you know how turbulence can 'throw' you around. Guess it 'dislodged' something, you know?"

He saw where this was going and put down his fork, or tried to, but it was still velcroed to his hoof. He slipped it off with some effort, grousing, "She is very articulate, isn't she?....almost like she could have been speaking from birth if she had wanted to, instead of crapping everywhere."

"Yeah? Want to hear a keening wail? I got some good practice back there when-"

"When what!?! You were learning to cloud walk on your bottom or go googoo or gaagaa-?"

"Civil, Liberty, please!" Karen realized that she basically said Liberty's full name, but she shook her head anyway. "I'm sure flying that close to each other over a two day period has you both restless with each other's company....but I don't care, I have my daughter back, and my son. I truly am glad to have you here, all of you." She looked around the table at human and ponies alike.

"So are we," Civil and Liberty answered in unison, then made faces at each other. Hot Pink couldn't stop giggling.

She asked, "Are they always like this?"

Dan leaned over, "They used to be worse when they were closer to each other's age. This is going to be something else. His mother, who could be his baby, who is his sister." Civil spread his hooves out at his father.

"Come on, dad!? Give me a break!"

"I know son! Not saying it's bad. Just...pony shi-" He grunted and shifted, as if some disapproving wife had kicked him under the stable. "STUFF! I was going to say pony stuff." Slowly he stretched, rubbing his leg while not fooling anybody at the table. "Good potatoes, dear..."

She smiled back at him primly, "Thankyou, Dan."

Civil shook his head, "I give up." He grudgingly went back to eating when Karen urged him to eat up. There was more idle talk, but he didn't feel like paying attention to it much. He started looking forward to when they would get to give each other presents later that night.

***

The chocolate roses were an obvious hit. They were sitting in the living room with a fire in the hearth and a tree decked out in blinking string lights and ornaments. While the humans waved off offers of confection covered petals, Hot had to check if she still had her hoof after Liberty snapped up the petal, sitting there on Dan's head. The foal whined about not getting more, until the older mare described in full detail what chocolate can do to a week old pony's tummy. A young foal's appetite never fled so quickly before. Dan was thankful, because THAT would be rolling downhill. Then it was time for Civil to open his present from his parents. Naturally nothing was forthcoming from Liberty. Getting ponified tended to divert one's attention from Christmas shopping.

Civil received a scarf, royal blue. The material was very soft. After nuzzling it for a minute, he looked at Karen in surprise. "This isn't cotton, is it?"

She shook her head, "No. Cashmere." He was impressed, as well he should be. "I figured they couldn't have it completely wrong in those episodes if most of the ponies were wearing scarves. I didn't know if your sense of touch would change, so I went with the softest I could find."

He let the supple material glide over his wingtips. "It's perfect mom, dad. Thankyou."

He knew he was terrible with gifts, so he had opted for the dvd collection of all the My Little Pony seasons up to this date. She turned the box over a little hesitantly. "Ah, the other episodes I didn't get to see. You know, you didn't have to get us anything," she started.

Civil groaned and whined, "Really? Why is it everypony says that?"

His father swooped in for the rescue, "Because we love it anyway and want you to feel like you didn't owe us. You have been through a lot."

His human mother countered, "And being here with us is gift enough already." He bemoaned the corniness of it, despite her reiterating it was true.

Liberty chimed in, "So what took four hours, eight minutes and nineteen seconds, Civil?" He made a face at her and hooved over the box to the lovely mare sitting next to him. She pursed her lips, knowing he remembered her words, and calmly opened the box.

Hot Pink sat there stunned as she stared at the pendant nestled inside, cradled between both hooves.

Civil slid out the certificate card from his saddlebags and stated, "According to this, during the classical Greek era, Corinth was a powerful city-state in Greece where this was minted. Mmm, coin depicts Pegasus, the Greek 'mythological flying horse'..." He and Hot Pink snorted in amusement while his parents chuckled with them. Liberty didn't quite get the humor of it, "...who set foot on Earth at Corinth." He paused in thought and both adult ponies glanced at each other. "I wonder," ventured Civil to her. "Could there be a portal somewhere in Greece?"

Hot shrugged slightly, still overwhelmed. "After all this time...?" She couldn't tear her eyes away from the coin. "If it was a block of marble, who knows what building or structure it was built into, if it wasn't pulverized by now through time and war." Then she whispered, "By the Maker, Civil..."

He nodded and continued, clearing his throat. "Athena presented Bellerophon a golden bridle which he used to capture Pegasus while he paused to drink from a spring...tamed Pegasus, rode him to defeat the Chimera and the Amazons, and on the last day of his life, Zeus transformed Pegasus into a constellation."

"Sooo, all I need is a golden bridle and you'll do whatever I say," asked Liberty.

Civil leveled a stare at her, muttering, "Not funny, and already in the creepy zone."

"Aw, come on it was sorta funny," retorted Liberty defensively. Daniel scritched her head, quieting down the foal.

Civil continued reading, "The reverse side shows Athena, wearing the Corinthian helmet. She was the Greek goddess of wisdom, peace, warfare, strategy and reason. She appears in Greek mythology as a helper of many heroes, including Odysseus, Jason and Hercules. In classical myths, she never consorts with a lo...lover." He stuttered, turning a slight red. He saw he had Hot's undivided attention, so he read the next part a touch quicker. "Uh, earned the title Athena Parthenos, meaning 'Athena the.........virgin', hence the name of her most famous temple, Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens." He quickly hooved the certificate back over to Hot, who took it gently, lest the corners get bent.

She looked back down at the pendant silently.

"Um...the whole Athena description, not that I'm implying anything, I only meant, you know," he stammered. "Not that I know anything about your vir...I'm gonna shut up now."

"Best damn decision he's made in a week," Liberty hissed in her father's ear. Daniel chuckled and hushed her anyway.

Hot Pink remained still, except for her quivering lips. "Civil...this is beautiful. You didn't need to..." She looked up at him, eyes tearing up. "This is too much."

He clenched his jaw. Why did mares, and females in general always NOT act the way he thought they would? She was supposed to be happy, not...THIS. "Well, you literally swooped in like the goddess Athena and saved us. Like I told the guy I bought it from, I wanted you to have a physical memory of what you did for us." He looked into her large eyes and added, "What you did for me." He wasn't so much mad as he was uncomfortable that he somehow upset her with his present. He was SO not thinking about that whole herd episode he had back at Dante's house.

Karen, who was somewhat knowledgeable on cultural history, especially Greece since it was near Italy, asked, "Honey, where on earth, literally, did you go to get that? I know it was Florida, but you were gone for several hours. They have things like that there?"

He turned to her and said, "Well, yeah. I saw a website online called Lostgalleon.com. I've never really gotten anypony anything, so I looked up pegasus-type stuff. That came up. The owner of the business is a modern day treasure hunter. He was set up in Florida and, um, mail takes too long."

His father was already on it, surreptitiously looking up the website on his phone. When he pulled up the Greek jewelry pendants, his eyes widened. Liberty peered down from her perch on his shoulder. "You bet your ass males take too long-" She choked on her words, wheezing out, "Holy shiii....zzzle." Looking up from the price tag on the web page, she saw Karen's frown and chose 'other' sounds to make besides swear words. Liberty was about to say more when Civil looked at her sternly. She shrugged at him. "What? Can't admire how much you are willing to invest in an awesome gal like Hot Pink?"

Civil groaned. Karen admonished her with, "Liberty, leave him alone. I think it's positively sweet. And those roses, too. You went above and beyond. I'm proud of you." He smiled back at his MATURE mom and smirked at the immature one. Liberty :P'd back at him. Then he totally forgot about the foal as he was glomped by pink fur, pink feathers and red mane.

"This is the most beautiful gift anypony...anyONE has ever given to me, Civil! I absolutely love it!" She said closely in his ear. "Even if I had nothing left in both of these worlds, this would be all I would ever need to keep me going. And you, of course."

Dealing with an onslaught of blushing, he cleared his throat and replied, "I didn't mean anything by the Athena Parthenon virgin thing, that's just what the-" Hot placed a feather tip over his muzzle, halting his rambling.

"I am not a god, Civil. I am mortal, and mortality is the greatest gift we could have to teach us the true value of life. Do you agree?" She stared into his eyes, inches away. He could only nod, briefly inhaling the scent of her feathers. She smiled, knowing exactly what he did, then sat back when she saw the others looking on with interest. She murmured, "We can talk more when we have privacy, Civ." He nodded again, not saying anything.

Liberty was having fits of giggles over on Daniel's shoulder, which broke the mood. Civil got up and stepped over to the tree in order to help hoof out more gifts and stuffed stockings.

Daniel carried Liberty into the kitchen after she asked him to make his famous grasshopper drink. It was basically a few scoops of vanilla ice cream, some milk, and a shot or three of creme de menthe in a blender. The standard recipe called for creme de cacao, but he'd been making his version since forever on special occasions and nobody ever complained. He was reasonably sure the low-proof alcohol wouldn't be too much for his daughter, but he did find a smaller glass, much to her disappointment.

Once everyone had taken a few minutes to sip their drinks, Karen spoke up. "Civil, your friend was telling us that in your other world, you celebrate a similar holiday, just not Jesus' birthday. Heart's...Warming, is it?"

Hot smiled politely, "Hearth's Warming, yes. My human parents were Christians, so I'm fond of both sets of holidays."

Civil nodded, "It happens to be a major part of Equestrian history, practically the founding of our nation since before the princesses came to rule."

While Hot nodded, used to hearing this, everyone else in the room showed very keen interest since it was new to them. Liberty piped up, "Oh! It's like a story, right? A Christmas Carol, or Twas the Night Before Christmas, only pony style? I would love a story!"

Despite Civil rolling his eyes, Hot leaned over and touched his foreleg with her wing, "It's more truth than legend, from what I remember. Maybe you could retell it, so they understand?"

He looked at her with some trepidation. "I am not very good with stories, they'll just get bored."

"No we won't, dear," Karen said. "I would be very interested to learn about this. Whatever traditions you two remember, we can work them in."

He looked around and saw nothing but eager faces from all of them. He said to Hot, "Feel free to take this one."

She grinned and tapped his shoulder with her wing. "It's your family, your role. You'll do fine."

Civil shook his head, smiling ruefully. Sure, whatever. He took a deep breath and said out loud, "This is more of a history lesson than a fairy tale. I can remember some names and events, that's about it. If you have any questions...don't expect too much."

His human mother nodded and encouraged him to continue. He drink some more from his glass and began.

***

You are familiar with the three tribes of ponies. There are the unicorns, the earth ponies, and the flying ponies, us.

"What about the griffons, manticores, centaurs, dragons, all those other guys? Do they get into the Hearth Warming spirit too?" The very inquisitive foal sitting atop her human father's head waved her hoof in the air, as if she were in a classroom.

Rubbing his temple, Civil replied, "They are not part of this story. I said, this is history and I'm not good at history."

Dan reached up to his head and tickled Liberty lightly, "Hush, sweety, let the guy talk, kay?" She muttered something and settled down. Civil eyed her, poking his head forward slightly as if asking for her permission to speak, albeit condescendingly. She waved her hoof like an orchestral director.

Ahem, before we were interrupted ("Spbptptp!")....again......There are three tribes. Today there is a nation of ponies working together in harmony, hence the magic of Harmony. In our past long ago, they also worked together. Just not in the harmony of today. Er, before the curse, I should say.

Pegasi controlled the weather, unicorns raised and lowered the sun, and earth ponies grew the-

"Raised and lowered the sun? How does that even work?!"

Civil raised his eyes slightly to stare at Liberty.

"You are going to sit on our father's head in that form and ask that?" He merely asked.

She made like she was going to argue...then by some Christmas miracle, she laid her head down on her forelegs and stared into the fire.

Hot whispered, "How did you do that?"

Civil shrugged. "I dunno, but I'm not looking a gift pony in the mouth." He quickly got back to the story.

There were three leaders at the time, Chancellor Puddinghead for the Earth ponies, Smart Cookie his go to assistant-

<stifled giggle>

<annoyed glare>

Commander Hurricane for the Pegasi, Private Pansy his second in command-

<more giggling>

<eye twitch>

-and finally Princess Platinum and her trusty but seldom listened to advisor, Clover the Clever, for the uni-

Liberty burst out laughing. Civil pointedly clenched his jaw, but relented slightly when Pink said softly, "If she has no memory at all, she is going to find our names and culture peculiar. Imagine it from her perspective as a human. Or yours before your change, for that matter."

He knew it was sound advice, but more so, he saw the looks on his parents' faces. They were thrilled that, despite all Liberty was going through (and she seemed to have the worst of the deal by far), she was taking this curse thing like she did with everything else in her life. Straight at it, laughing in the face of danger and despair. In a way, she lived up to her cutie mark holding a torch to bring hope and chase away the darkness. He supposed he could learn something from that.

He smiled slightly to himself, remembering that foal was his pony mother up on his father's head. Maybe it wasn't so bad if she was enjoying herself now, a change from the sad looks he would catch from her when she thought he wasn't looking, those many years ago. So he waited for Liberty to finally calm down. She waved a tiny hoof to continue and he nodded.

So the three tribes bartered with each other to provide for each other, though they were never happy about the arrangements. The unicorns and pegasi would accuse the earth ponies of holding back food. The earth ponies would accuse the others of timing the sun, moon, and weather to selfishly serve their interests instead of facilitating with the production of food, and we pegasi felt we were not compensated enough for the protection and excellent weather conditions we provided.

"I'm sure mistakes were made by all, was the lesson," Hot Pink murmured. Civil nodded.

As tempers grew heated, the skies grew colder. Little by little conditions got worse until they were buried with snow and blustered by blizzards. Naturally, the earth ponies could not grow anymore food under these conditions, and while the pegasi struggled with increasingly difficult skies, not to mention the monsters that would come out looking for food because the smaller animals had fled the area, the unicorns felt this was a conspiracy between the uppers and the downers.

"Um...there are drugs in this story?" Civil's human mother asked, concern on her face.

"No, those are just what the rest of us used to be called by unicorns back then," Civil explained. "See, they would live on mountains, above where the mud settled, but below the clouds where pegasi...ahem...preened all day and night doing nothing. Or 'accidentally' dropping stuff on the hornies," He felt Hot shift her wings a little, her eyes narrowing. He added hastily, "Just a misconception of the past. We don't use those disparaging terms anymore." He thought for a second. "Mostly."

When all three tribes were pushed to the brink of starvation, a summit was called by the leaders. As you can imagine, it was a shouting match of accusations and anger with nothing getting accomplished. So in a rare moment of like minded thinking, each tribe independently decided to strike out on their own to find warmer lands to thrive. And as it would happen, they all ended up in the same valley away from the snowstorms.

"Are you watching a my little pony show on your phone?" Liberty, again.

He looked up from his phone, glowering. "And?"

"And..." Liberty said dramatically, "Aren't you supposed to know all this? You were living there for at least-" (counting on two hooves....carry the one.....) "-two Warmings."

"I'm using Cliff notes. Shut up."

"Civil! Be nice to your sister, it's Christmas Eve," admonished Karen. Hot giggled.

"Sorry mom. Shut up, Sis."

Several tsk's later, from both mature ladies....

So naturally they began to argue again over who got there first and who had rights to what. At the time they were unaware of it, but what they had thought they left behind, they had unwittingly brought with them. See, unbeknownst to them, their hate and anger and pain had caused the snowstorms and ice blizzards to form above them in the lands they came from. Through their negative emotions, they had summoned...

Civil leaned forward, voice becoming ominous, "...wendigos."

His older parents, normally not ones to go for mythical nonsense, sat up a little, eyebrows raised. Afterall, they had three mythical creatures in front of them. Liberty snorted, though a tad nervously. "Wendigos? Like real wendigos? Aren't they supposed to eat human flesh...?" she started saying flippantly until her eyes went to pinpricks, realizing what Karen and Dan had realized. She WAS a mythical creature, so it stood to reason that other creatures could, and did, exist.

Civil smiled grimly, "Yes. They are real. Now that I have your attention, you might want to listen to the rest of this..."

See, wendigos in our world do not feed on human flesh. Simply put, no humans around.

(:P from Liberty, but not as much effort in it this time)

There are however, lots of beings with emotions, and dark negative emotions are what attract the denizens of the far northern wastelands. So it happened that while the three leaders argued once again over who had the right to what, those wendigos came and began to freeze over the valley. The leaders' subordinates had cooler heads on their shoulders and were able to find a cave nearby where everypony was able to shelter in. This was only a momentary respite, for the leaders began to argue once more, drawing lines in the dirt, quibbling over territory, and the cave grew colder. So cold, the ice sealed up the cave mouth and crept in to freeze Chancellor Puddinghead, Commander Hurricane, and Princess Platinum in midstream of their harshest words yet, forever to be entombed in a prison of their own making.

"Forever!?!" wailed Liberty.

Civil half smiled, "Perhaps..."

The ice continued to spread and finally reached Smart Cookie, Private Pansy, Clover the Clever, hooves locking into place on the stone floor in what looked to be a similar fate. Then, they heard the roars, high above them. A hole in the ceiling of the cave allowed them to see up into the eye of the maelstrom, and swirling in that chaos were the phantasmic forms of the wendigos, dancing on the winds of the ice storms.

The three ponies quivered, hugging each other. Private Pansy cried out 'What is that!?' Clover the Clever whined, 'Those are wendigos! My mentor, Starswirl the Bearded, taught us that they are winter spirits who feed on the emotions of fighting and hatred. The more hatred there is, the colder things become!' Smart Cookie then realized the truth. 'So, all this time, they were causing the storms. No, wait. WE were causing the storms! This is all our fault! We brought them to our home, by fighting and not trusting each other. Now this land is doomed, and us!' Clover nodded, huddling in as the ice began to creep up their bodies, the cold matching the shivers up their spine. Clover cried, 'Now we will become ice like our hearts, frozen in foolishness because of our hate.'

'I don't ate you,' Pansy said quietly. The other two ponies looked at her. 'Commander Hurricane maybe...no that's not true. I don't hate her either, just her strict dress code, especially in the mornings before we get all wet pushing clouds. Then she makes us change uniforms. More clouds, more wet.' The other ponies started laughing. The ice kept moving up their bodies, but it was slowing. Cookie said, 'Well I don't hate you guys either, though the view from below can be a bit bothersome when you don't follow dress code pushing those clouds, ya know, kibbles an bits everywhere ya look.'

"Civil!!! That's NOT how that goes!" Exclaimed Hot. Karen and Dan were chuckling to themselves.

Liberty muttered, "I had wondered...huh, have to be careful where I fly, when I learn to fly." Her tail wrapped around just a tad tighter about her rear.

Held out his hooves. "What? We're all adults here, and there are different versions out there. Besides...my MOTHER taught me that version." Liberty sat up, eyes wide. He smirked, "One time, after Dad and Grandad went to bed. They were sticklers for proper historical facts and 'properly censored stories' for their young colt. You, mom, had different ideas." He saw her lay down again, a contemplative look on her face now. He glanced at Hot Pink, who had her mouth open, then looked back at him with one eyebrow quirked.

"I think your mother and I need to get to know each other better, if THAT'S how it is with the Civils," she quipped. He cleared his throat, cheeks growing warm.

The three ponies began sharing stories about their leaders and how they truly felt, which was love, caring, and understanding for each others plights when it came to the skies, the sun and moon, and the laboring for food, and above all, how they truly loved each other as ponies. Just before the ice encapsulated them completely, it stopped. Clover's horn glowed, melting the ice back down and a beam of warm fiery love shot up into the skies, banishing the wendigos back to the furthest reaches of the north. The column of flame culminated into a heart of energy above them, before disappearing. But they could still feel the warmth. It was not coming from the air above them, but FROM them. Cookie said, 'I didn't know you could do that?'

Clover replied, 'I didn't either! But it didn't come from just me...it came from all of us. It came from friendship.' So throughout the night, they told stories and sang songs they were taught as foals. They didn't even need a fire to melt the ice and stay warm, their friendship and camaraderie were enough. And those songs became the winter carols we still sing today. Eventually, the warmth melted their leaders free, and melted their hearts. Where Commander Hurricane used to ridicule Private Pansy, now she congratulated her subordinate for courage under fire........under ice, one might say. The princess Platinum lauded Clover for her quick thinking and realization of the situation, and the chancellor Puddinghead was impressed by Cookie's stalwart character to see them all through the night. The cave mouth also melted, revealing a landscape shaking off the snows of the previous night. The leaders, understanding what needed to be done, agreed to share the land, under one flag, in harmony ever after.

Hot Pink lightly clapped her hooves together. Civil's parents nodded while Liberty tilted her head once to him. "Not bad, Civil, not bad. And considering the source, I think I would have done it differently here and there-"

Civil groaned, "Oh give over, already. You tell it next time." He stuck out his tongue. So did she. Then he got distracted by Hot Pink hugging him.

"I think it was a great telling, despite certain embellishments." Then she whispered in his ear, "That stuff is for private time, you know..."

Karen, watching them keenly, got up and smiled at him, "It was a pleasant, if interesting, story. Definitely worth listening to again." She started towards the bedroom and paused, placing a hand on Civil's shoulder on the way by, "I would make certain parts G-rated, for the little ones."

"I heard that!"

Their mother headed on into the bedroom to get ready for sleep. Dan picked up the foal on his head and placed her on the padded EZchair, who was perfectly content to stretch and roll over like a cat. He shook his head at her and followed his wife into the bedroom to get ready for bed too. "Nice story son. I'd leave the kibbles n bits in." His kids laughed as he went into the room.

The ponies sat there, thinking about times past...well, two of the three. The third bereft of pony memories thought about Christmas Eves spent in that living room when they were human, that same fire crackling, that same pipe cleaner tree with those ancient ornaments their parents refused to replace. First thing after the holidays, Liberty was getting new ornaments and a tree. This stuff was just pathetic.

Civil sat quietly, staring into the fireplace.

"You are brooding, Civ."

He looked up at the mare next to him. "No.....ah...thinking, is all."

She turned the pendant box between her hooves and lowered her gaze. "About?"

"Land Yacht. Just that, after our overly simplified conversation about names last night...."

A small smile crept onto her muzzle. "Mmm, wondering about me?"

A single nod. He saw the box stop.

"I changed my name."

His head snapped up, "Wuh? You can do that?"

"Yes. It's not taboo...unless you are a high strung east coaster."

"Hay!" He bumped her with his shoulder. She bumped back.

"Present company appreciated." It was her turn to stare into the fire. "My birth name is Pink Yacht. Being the heiress of a multibillion bit franchise caused me no end of trouble as a young filly, so when I was old enough I petitioned for the name Pink Hacht. Not too different, and it was only to be temporary." Her nose wrinkled in derision. "Some horn clerk thought I had misspelled it and entered the application as Pink, Hot. Last name, then first," she added. She shook her head and snorted. "I remember something about it being too difficult to fix it back then, so the plan was to simply put in another name change when I was ready to take the helm."

He wore a confused expression.

"The helm of the airship, the Mareyacht...? It wasn't just a name for the hotel, we actually had a flying ship too. Like the Goodyear blimp, only far more elegant."

"Ah. Hm airships." He sat back. "I forgot about those. Industry hadn't gotten back to producing those before I came back. So, have you thought about filing for a change here? I'm sure there is less likelihood you'll be harassed about the Yacht name." He winced. Might as well have thrown her loss back in her face while he was at it.

She smiled sadly and touched her hoof to his. "It's okay, Civ. New world, new beginnings."

He chuckled. "You mean, new Frontier."

"Ponies, the FINAL frontier!" Liberty couldn't contain herself anymore, and nothing on earth was going to stop her. "These are the voyages of the starship Don't-Make-Me-Vomit. Its mission, to boldly do stuff that Civil has never been bold enough to do before-"

"Hay!" He wasn't about to let her get away with this-

"To seek out new love, and new awkward situations!"

"You are making THIS awkward right now!" He groused.

Hot Pink giggled, "I think she's funny."

"NO! Don't encourage her-"

"To boldly go, where Civil was never bold enough to go....before!"

"You said that already!"

"Well, it takes you two times to figure shit out, doesn't it?"

Karen poked her head out of the bedroom doorway, dressed in a nightgown, "Liberty, language!"

"What, it's true-!"

"But language! And you are starting it this time, by the way. Kids, your father and I are going to bed. Civil, a word?"

Civil lowered his head, his ears, and his eyelids, muttering, "Great, I can already figure out what she is going to say."

Hot Pink only grinned and poked his side with her hoof, winking at Liberty, who in turn giggled back.

When he was close enough, Karen said in a low voice, "Dear, you know our rules." Her eyes flicked over to the mare on their couch.

"Mom! It's not like that, she's just a friend."

"Just a friend? With the kind of gifts you two gave each other?"

He lowered his gaze.

"Thought so. For the record, she is very sweet and considerate. You have our blessing, just not upstairs."

He groaned. He didn't care how old which mother was, this stuff just didn't sit well in any conversation with them. When he returned, his 'friend' was grinning ear to ear. Of course she heard everything.

"Is everything okay?"

"My parents are very traditional, meaning..."

"Meaning it would be best if only I went upstairs while you stayed down here."

He dropped his gaze, embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I know you wanted to talk privately-"

She stood up and placed a hoof on his cheek, "Civil, it's alright. Honestly I was hoping to save you some embarrassment anyway. Did she say anything else?"

"I'm sure you already know. She likes you and...sorta...gave us her blessing." He whispered that last part out.

Hot grinned and wrapped her wings around his neck, nuzzling him. "I like that. Your family is good people."

He turned beet red with the feeling of those too soft for word wings, but enjoyed this closeness. In a moment of bravery, he replied, "I like you."

She hummed softly, murmuring, "I know...."

He thought about moving closer, if maybe this was too soon, or did she expect him to dart in, or would that be too low brow and brash like those pushy ponies she had mentioned at the dinner table...until he saw Liberty sitting on the lounge chair, eating hoof-fuls of popcorn, eyes wide with excitement. He straightened and cleared his throat.

Hot Pink knew Liberty was there, but didn't seem to mind. She let go of Civil and smiled, "We can always pick this up in Frontier, if you are up for it." He mumbled something garbled, which was supposed to be 'goodnight'. She patted his cheek again, this time with a wingtip and sauntered up the stairs. He stood there watching her the entire way.

"Um...if you were waiting for the right moment to kiss her, that was it." She was bouncing a piece of popcorn before she hot potato'd it into her mouth.

"You don't get to quote Pirates of the Caribbean, since you kinda messed it up anyway." He wandered back over to the couch and gathered up his scarf, folding it delicately before placing it on the padded armrest. Then he hopped up into his spot again and laid against the scarf.

Liberty snorted and finished up her popcorn. "Oh come on, don't blame me for you getting cold feet-"

"Hooves."

"Whatever. Seriously, she totally wants to surrender the booty-"

"Shut Up!" He glared at her, then lowered his voice, "She is a very nice mare and she helped us get home safely. And...I think I was about to...anyway. You know."

Liberty raised a brow.

"Kiss! Alright? I was working on it. You coulda given me three whole seconds longer." Dubious look. "Okay, four."

"I'm sorry." Certainly didn't sound like an apology, but he'd take what he could get.

"You should be."

Liberty rolled her eyes and cinched her way down off the chair backwards, legs dangling. She looked so pathetic he was caught between wanting to help her and wanting to film it. Being the season for nice deeds, he started to get up, but she plopped down on her bottom, then whipped him a look reminding him of the promise they made each other up on that cloud about certain athletic failings. Her face lightened a little and she said, "Just that, she's into you and you are missing signs left and right."

Settling back down, he asked, "Oh, you read pony body language now?"

"I'm a woman. It comes naturally."

"A mare," he corrected her. He blinked, adding, "A filly." She made to respond but he held up a hoof, "No, it's not up for discussion." He lowered his voice again, "Look, if it makes you happy, I plan on visiting Frontier soon enough. I just want to get some job applications out first so I don't feel like a deadbeat when she introduces me to all the other ponies there." He thought about it, then said, "There might even be some RE-introductions, too, depending on who is living there now."

His pegasus mother stumbled over to the couch, still trying to get the hang of her legs and hooves long before any normal foal her age should. Then she scrabbled her way up the side and laid against him, a warm lump of fur and feathers against his ribs. She looked up at him and said sternly in her squeaky voice, "You are NOT a deadbeat. You are the most selfless person I know." She caught his smirk and added, "Pony. Stallion. Whatever!" when he started chuckling at her.

He covered her with his wing, her head still peeking out. "Well, thankyou, Original Mom."

She winced at his attempt at coolness. After a minute, she said, "You still suck at dating. That's why I'm trying to help."

His eyes began to close to the warm feeling of the fire in the hearth, the flames dancing counterpoint to the slowly flashing lights of the sparkling Christmas tree in the room. It was a pleasant feeling to be at home, to have family and friends nearby. Of all the things that could be going wrong in his life, this moment felt so right, even the barbed affirmation of help from his tiny mother was somehow just right, too.

"I know, and thank you anyway," he murmured. She gave a small mewl of agreement from under his wing as she slipped off into slumber. He closed his eyes, expecting to be vaulted into dreamland.

Sadly, that did not happen. With the last several days being a marathon of emotions for him, he found he was still just a tad bit jittery, as though waiting for the other horseshoe to drop. After a few minutes of reviewing all the events he and his mother/sister had been through, he glanced under his wing. She was already out like a light, making small snoring sounds. He did the best he could to move his phone into a position to surf the internet and not disturb her at the same time. His first search was back to the web pages that were being updated to advise newly changed ponies. He tried all manner of searches, especially in the foal categories. Not a single mention of complete loss of memory. Sure infants were not likely to display much since they were working on original hardware after the change, kind of like trying to read a high end solid state drive connected to an abacus for a computer. The architecture had to mature and upgrade to accommodate the memories of the human life, and a baby foal wouldn't have any pony memories because, well....baby.

He went back to one of the earliest pages that had self-help videos attached to it, the star of the videos one Corporal Twilight Velvet of the 75th Rangers. There was a support link to a forum where a pony could ask questions or get referrals, so he started a new thread:

"Hello, I have a small problem, my mother. She is my human sister who turned into my pegasus mom, who also happens to be an infant foal now. Please don't ask unless you already have information to help me out. Our main problem is she has absolutely no pony memory from her adult life as a pony, but has all of her human memory and can freely express herself, even though she is an infant pony. Anypony in the medical or science field, please contact me."

He thought for a bit. Then on a whim, he added:

"I would like to ascue some questions, I'm desperate."

He nodded, satisfied. If that doesn't generate some feedback, nothing would. He hit the submit button and reread his entry. Then he clicked off his phone and whispered to Liberty, "Happy Merry Hearth's Warming Christmas, mom." An apt wish for the end of a really screwed up year. Now he could sleep.

***

Giggling. Laughter. Squeals of happiness. These were knives that sliced jaggedly into Civil's otherwise sublime sleep. He opened his eyes, staring up at the ceiling while lying on his back, limbs splayed out in different directions.

Groaning, he twisted his head over the arm of the couch so he could just barely see into the kitchen. His human mother stood at the sink, her dingy apron on. It was armor against the splashing that his PONY mother was doing while she played in the sink. Civil's right eye twitched from grogginess...and other things such as-

"Who's my dirty bird, who's my dirty bird?" cooed Karen.

Liberty squealed in delight and laughed out, "I'm your LITTLE Dirty Bird!" Twin spouts of water erupted as Liberty, floating on her back, propelled the liquid up into the air with her wings, trying to wet Karen. Both laughed like it was the funniest thing ever.

They had stolen his pet name.

Civil slid back down, groaning to himself, "Nevermind, I hate her again." He clamped both his hooves over his ears, trying to wedge himself down into the couch as though he could escape the suffering. A light chuckle across the room caught his attention and he opened one eye to spot Hot Pink sitting on the other couch, sipping from a coffee mug held by a wing.

He made to sit up and smooth out his floof and feathers, but she tsked at him, "Oh, too late for that, Civ. I've seen you three times waking up. I'm good for now."

"Yes you are! Yes you are!" from the kitchen.

He moaned, "This is not the morning I was wanting to have. Anything left of that coffee...or food for that matter?"

She nodded towards the dining area in the kitchen. "Bacon, eggs, toast. Your mother is really on the ball with our diet."

He smiled weakly and made his way in. With it being Christmas Day, and Hearth's Warming Day, nopony ever woke up at the same time. Since the morning traditions were only among his original herd, he was willing to eat his fill and see what Santa had brought him. It wasn't so bad. Some minor gadgets, things that were more appropriate for humans than ponies. His dad said Santa had bought the stuff before his return, which Civil responded with an eye roll. The best part, though, was the bag of smooth and melty pastel mints. Like squat hershey kisses, but with white sprinkles on the bottom and mint. He loved those. Even as a human child, he would get them every year.

He hugged both parents, whispering, "Best Hearth's Warming Christmas, ever!"

And they agreed.

***

Somewhere else, another mug of coffee was reaching an eager pair of tan/orange lips. This was the strong stuff, specially made for a very special unicorn. The molten liquid slid down her throat and a moan of satisfaction came back out. "Ooooh, that's the stuff."

Despite hanging out with friends that morning, the great search must continue. The unicorn scanned her screens, processing information, scouring the net, searching for other ponies out there so she and her friends could help-

A chime sounded. That meant one of her algorithms had picked up something important. But that was a very special chime, linked to only a few words that only a VERY few ponies would have known to use, and NONE of them so stupidly on the open web.

She read the log and recognized the address, the original site that was set up by the military to help ponies. Clicking on the listed forum topic, she sat up. All her other searches ceased as the mare's magic came to an abrupt halt.

She breathed, "The Civils...you guys are alive!"

***

A week later, Civil returned home from a meeting at the Texas Workforce office. Hot Pink had said her goodbyes to them later that Hearth's Warming Day and taken to the air, with Civil staring after her long past when the dot in the sky disappeared...only to chase a tiny foal back inside after she was teasing him with 'kibbles an bits an bits an bits'........'and bits an bits an bits' throughout the better part of a week. Now he was on the hunt for a job. That meant applying for unemployment and getting his name out there.

The Texas Workforce visit consisted of a lone pegasus among a very large group of unemployed humans. His task was now to apply online and log at least five applications a day, or his unemployment pay would stop. Granted he had a fairly sizeable amount in the bank...or so he thought. His card linked to his banking account had yet to bounce, but he hadn't gotten a bank statement yet. The Air Force was SUPPOSED to reestablish that line of pay for him..

As he walked in...it was too quiet. He found his mother in the kitchen cleaning dishes. She looked up. "Hi Civil. Have you seen your mom around?"

"No, I thought she was with you."

Karen frowned. "She was, but she wanted to try her walking skills and wandered into the living room. I thought you would have seen her..." She placed the dish down slowly as not to chip it, but her walk out of the kitchen was much quicker.

Thus began another hunt. They searched each room, the garage, the upstairs, behind the stuff animals (Yeah, she remembered his hiding spot). They met in the living room.

"We searched everywhere. Could she have gotten outside?" He asked.

Karen remembered that hawks outside could carry off small pets...or foals. "Why would she do that? How? Nobody opened a door-!"

"Wait...do you hear that?" He held up a hoof, turning his head and ears to triangulate the sound.

"No," she whispered. "What is it?"

"Snoring. Very light snor-" He glanced up, stuttering to a halt.

Liberty was laying on the fan blade, asleep.

"How...she can fly now?!" Karen lowered her voice, afraid to wake her.

He paced around underneath, checking if she was completely on or hanging. Nope, completely on. "It's not unheard of for us to start this early. Two weeks is close enough."

"But she is asleep up there."

He grinned at Karen sardonically, "It's not unheard of for us to find strange places high to sleep. It's a safety thing, like cats do."

"Doesn't look safe. She could roll over and..." Karen edged over to the wall switch, not to turn it on but keep anybody else from doing that. Like, her husband who would simply waltz in and turn it on to 'fix the problem'.

"Yeah. I'll get her down," Civil said neutrally.

"There's a ladder in the garage," she advised. He shrugged and started walking to the wall, flexing his wings. "But dear, your wings will hit the ceiling. You bent your primaries when you were dusting up there last time."

"I'll be fine. Besides, Heh, I got something better," waggling his hoof at her.

He began placing his hooves on the wall and started walking up, singing, "Spider peg, spider peg, does whatever a spider peg does."

His mother twisted her mouth slightly, "That's not funny. I hope you cleaned your hooves before you get up there. I don't feel like painting the whole ceiling if you get smudge marks."

"Yes mom," he muttered.

Liberty was having the most sublime sleep in quite awhile. She sensed something nearby and slowly opened her eyes, yawning out, "Mmmm...hay big stuff."

"Hay sleepy head."

She blinked, trying to figure out what was wrong. Oh, that's what's wrong. "Why are you standing on your head?" She blinked again like an owl.

"I'm not on my head. I'm on the ceiling." Indeed. He was on the ceiling. In front of her.

"What...?" She sat up, then slammed her belly back down on the blade, shaking the fan and gripped the edges with all four hooves. "Oh shit! What the fuck!?!"

"Woh there nelly!" He stepped forward and held out a hoof to stop the fan from slowly turning.

She glared back at him. "You turd. Bet you've been saving that one ever since I changed!" She glanced down, not willing to argue much past that.

He looked up, which was down. "So...how did you get up here?"

Her head hung over the side of the fan blade, staring at the far away tiled floor. "Duh. I flew." It was odd. She seemed scared, but also fascinated with the distance down. She was either trying to figure a way down, or imagining what it would feel like to go splat. Neither would have surprised him.

"Mkay. WHY are you still up here?" He inspected one of his hooves to see if any bits of ceiling had come off.

Glowering, she looked back at him finally, then squeaked out, "because...i...forgot how to get up here....happy?"

He raised his brow. Lowered. You know what I mean.

"Oh leave me alone!" She exclaimed. "I was running around-"

"Galloping-"

"Shut it! I was RUNNING around and I felt myself lift up in the air. I kept going higher and higher...and....uh..."

He said softly, "You didn't know how to stop and ended up here."

"...yeah."

"It's okay, it happens. Mm...why didn't you call out for help?" Her face turned beet red. "You were embarrassed," he concluded.

"I don't remember any of this, okay?! I should be full grown...I AM full grown, in here," she pointed a hoof to her noggin, then gripped the blade again when she realized she had let go, "just not...enh. I hate being small. You know I finally grew taller than you a few years ago, and now I'm fucking tiny again!"

"You have a full lifetime ahead of you. In fact, you'll outlast me by a few decades-"

She blinked, the truth hitting her cold. "No! Don't say stuff like that!...I don't want to be alone." She was near to tears now.

"I swear on my mother's gra-" He stopped short and winced, then continued, "...fuuuuture grave, that will not happen." She smirked back, but she couldn't hold the expression long. He added, "You will have family and friends with you until your dying days."

"Promise?" she asked softly.

"Promise. Now, I am going to show you a ceiling flip you used to do with me all the time. Around when I was learning to cloud walk."

"...ceiling flip..." she said in a dead voice.

"You'll love it. Normally it's a cloud flip, but we can save that for later. I just need you to relax your grip on the fan when I have a hold of you. Got it?"

"Fine, but it better not involve being dumped out of a bag."

"Oh for crying out loud, give it up."

She stuck out her tongue, but she did relax her hooves, signifying him to begin. He crossed his forelegs, reached out and took hold of her. When she nodded, he let go of the ceiling and dropped. A split second later he spun laterally, unwinding his arms and held them stiff while continue to spin, now rolling her off the fan with her ending up on her back in his forelegs. He poofed out his wings and they glided to the floor, Liberty squealing all the way.

Karen shook her head, saying, "Flying ponies. If I didn't continue to see it, I STILL wouldn't believe it." She walked over to a very amped up two week old foal.

"We gotta do that AGAIN, Civil! Come on!"

He shook his head. "Oh no no no no no. First we will begin flying lessons. THEN falling lessons." Liberty hoof pumped the air after Karen had checked her for any injuries. "Mom, care to watch?"

Sensing she was being addressed, Karen shook her head. "I can't watch. Not after what you just did." To his hurt expression, she scratched his ears. "Nothing against you, dear. Just that, my heart stopped. When she can fly on her own, then I will watch."

Given their experiences so far, he nodded and smiled weakly. "I forgot. Sorry mom."

She shook her head. "Don't be sorry for being what you are. Just I'm not going to have heart attacks over it. Just catch her EVERY time, got it?" He nodded and led a very excited foal outside.

***

The office building for the company was a pretty standard affair as office buildings went. Open air lobby with a security desk, elevators, marble floors and walls. A quick ride up a few floors found Civil down the hall and walking into a rather small set of offices. They certainly weren't big on overhead, it appeared. The secretary must have been warned ahead of time because she didn't blink when she spotted him. The same couldn't be said for the three applicants in the waiting room. They stared as he walked in. They stared more as he spoke his name to the secretary and was asked to sit and wait. They stared as he sat and waited. And waited.

More staring. The same as when he went to the Texas Workforce office, and now here. He had finally gotten a hit on his job applications and this was it. A possibility of being a door to door salesman of office supplies. He supposed wearing a modified tie and suit combination like he remembered in Equestria was more weird to humans than running around naked...but he was making an honest attempt at this corporate bullshit. Seriously, he was.

After a time, he slowly turned his head to them so as to not surprise them.

"Boo."

They jumped visibly. One even cursed. That shit never got old.

"Okay, each of you gets one question and then that's it. Closest one first."

The first one did have the mental capacity to swallow before opening his mouth. "You...you're one of them!"

"Question, remember?"

"....uh...are you one of them?" Dear massive alicorn, was this the calibre he was really up against?

"If you mean 'pony' then yes, I AM...one of them. If you mean a deranged figment of some opium driven nightmare you had last night while masturbating, then sorry man, can't help you." A spray of mist from behind the desk meant he had caught the secretary mid-sip with her bottle of water, followed by a hacking laugh. "Next."

The second person took his time to think of a good question. It was obvious they weren't dealing with a dumb animal here. "Alright. I saw a lot of stuff on YouTube and a bunch of talk show specials. How much of that is real?" Ah an intelligent question.

"Barring the whole argument of if you can believe a news network these days anyway, if it looks like it was filmed by an amateur, then it was real. If someone is giving their opinion on prime time, parts of it are real. Just don't believe everything you hear." After a brief pause, the third person made to speak up, but Civil was feeling his snarkism rise. "No, I'm not a demon or angel, or some other horrible entity, I don't have mind powers. Yes, the cutie mark is a thing, no I haven't gotten mine DON'T ASK! I'm from another world, so in the strictest sense you could call me an alien, but I was also born a human, so do me the courtesy of treating me the same way you would want to be treated."

To his credit, the third person kept his face straight in reply, "Actually, I wanted to apologize on behalf of all humans." That got Civil's attention. "I also heard about some bad stuff, the experimentation that was going on. I've seen my share of alien movies and I feel bad that our one real public encounter turns out to include that kind of thing. On prior humans, no less. Forget karma and rebirth, we should treat all creatures with love and respect."

Sigh, religion. Civil snorted and tilted his head, "For the sake of being born again and salvation?"

The man shrugged, "For those that want to be saved. But at its basic level, it's just the right thing to do. A true servant of God doesn't pursue good deeds to be recognized. He does it because it is good." The other people in the room remained silent, mostly because that was a solemn statement to try and follow up on. It certainly left an impact on Civil. The pegasus gave it another minute before breaking the silence.

"Pretty powerful stuff. I take it you have a strong faith in God?" He got a nod in reply. Civil watched him thoughtfully. "I envy your conviction. As you can imagine, my faith was shaken a few years ago. Diarchy, Catholic, then Diarchy, sort of."

"How is it now?" Civil was about to remind him only one question per person, when he realized...that was his only question. Of the three questions, it was the shortest, simplest, and probably the most profound question anybody had asked him to date.

Naturally he had no answer, so he muttered, "I don't know." He was almost dreading the inevitable religion-laced pep talk he was about to get. Yet he was surprised again by the gentleman.

"I think you are going to do fine. Just don't take too long asking for help when you're ready for it. Getting out of the darkness can be quite the journey the longer you wait."

Civil stared straight ahead and enjoyed the absolute silence.

Or not.

"I know I already asked a question but I have to know! Did you get to see Chrysalis in person and is she-"

"An overrated skankasaurus who needs to wash her hair. With hydrochloric acid."

"....mm, nevermind."

Eventually he was called in, after the others, to interview with a midlevel boss. He got some typical pony specific questions, along with a 'We Are Here For You' speech and the expectations. He was also to ride with someone else in a car, a veteran who would make her rounds going to different businesses to see if they were interested in their products.

Maybe riding around with a strange human woman wouldn't be quite so bad. He only needed to do it until lunch time, grab lunch, then a couple more hours to call it a day for the orientation run.

***

Lunch didn't come fast enough. He envied salespeople only in that they had the stomach for this job. Unless he used a product, he didn't believe in it and certainly couldn't profess its value. All he had was a catalogue of office supplies. He didn't even have an office!

He and the otherwise lovely young lady sat at a table at Subway. He was opting for a chicken sub loaded with vegetables, like, ALL the vegetables, triple jalapenos. He was in a mood, and jalapenos spoke to him.

"This is so cool! I can't believe I'm actually talking to a pony! That talks! AND FLIES!!!" She was literally squealing. They had been in the car for three hours, jumping from one business district to the next, asking some places if they wanted to check out their products, outright denied by others. It was a thankless business. Again, his heart went out to those who could do this and thrive. Though this lady had been pestering him about...everything. As if to continue his torment, her voice got very low in a conspiratorial way, "I don't want to offend you but, well, I've always loved ponies, and pegasuses-"

"Pegasi-" He'd said the term a zillion times. A zillion and one, now. He went back to eating his sandwich.

"Pegasi, yes! I love you guys! I was just wondering," She slowed down and whispered, "Can I touch your wings? If you don't mind, they look so soft!" She was practically salivating, though it could have been from the untouched food in front of her. Now that he got to face her rather than sit next to her or watch her work, he noticed certain things. Her hair had split ends. Her suit was worn in places. Her shoes were also worn. Throughout the course of the day, she seemed to go about her business quite calmly, but there was a certain edge to it...like a desperation to make the sale. He hated that pressure to perform, and she embraced it like a zealot.

Civil had always tried to be a gentleman when he was growing up, and could remember exactly how many times he had been slapped by a girl in both lifetimes. Twice, as a human. Once in highschool, but she was a bitch. And a second time in college. Come to think of it, that one was just an older bitch. True he had been snarky, but it was only to have a little fun. Straight up vulgarity was left for bantering with males. Military and his own human father had taught him at least that. He didn't want to think about his experiences with mares. At least, not yet. Some of those slaps were for...different reasons. Pegasi could bet quite combative over things.

That request, as truly innocent as he should have received it, tested him in ways he was not ready for. And it showed. "Can I touch your tits?" She blinked, staring at him.

"W....what?"

"Can I touch your tits?" The day, and the past few months had been boiling up to this point, and he couldn't take it anymore. "Sorry if that comes across as wrong, in some way. It is the same as you asking to touch my wings."

She looked down then back up, realizing what she'd done. "I didn't mean to-"

He stuck out his wingtip, hovering it in front of you. "Here, by all means, go right ahead. Touch it. If I look like a sideshow to you, then you must treat me as one."

Obviously, she didn't touch it. Ignorant or not, she knew corporate policy about discrimination cases and shook her head. "I never meant to offend you. It's just that, they never told us about wings. I guess horns are off the table, too?"

He gave her a curt nod, then lowered his wing as he tried to let go of his anger. "Yeah, horns are a BIG one. Look, I'm sorry for the tits thing. I'm sorry for a lot of things. I don't think this is something for me."

She gathered up her sandwich and slowly slid out of the booth. "I sort of figured. You didn't seem into it." She stood and held out her hand, "I'll take you back to the office. If you want to report me, I'm alright with that. I do bring in a lot of accounts for them, so if they want to send their thoroughbred to the glue factory, that's on them!"

He got out of the booth and stared at her. Did she just compare herself to a horse? Hot damn, for once, a horse comment NOT directed at him!

She stared back, then slapped her own forehead. "FUCK! I am SO sorry-" She cut off when he held her hand, this time with his wingtip.

"Don't worry. Us tits and wingtips got each other's backs when it comes to overbearing authoritative figures."

Looking down at the wing touching her hand, she smiled at him. "Thankyou. You have no idea..."

He nodded as they started walking to the door. "I think I might."

The ride back to the office was not as tense as the earlier hours were, but he knew this wasn't for him, so he was no longer invested in it. After turning in his catalogues and thanking everyone involved for the opportunity to test the waters with them, he winged his way back home. And threw his tie and half suit into the trash.

Not long after...he sat in the kitchen. After the painfully awkward day with that upbeat lady, it was clear to Civil what he finally had to do. Three months. Three damn months of applications, record keeping for Texas Work Force, and petty excuses for unemployment checks that were going to be cut off soon because of a limited time deadline...it was too much for Civil.

He stared at the dark liquid in front of him. He had tried so hard not to think about it, what it would do to his insides, or what would force its way out of his mouth in the aftermath if he finally made the decision. It was something he never wanted his mother to witness, and yet, here he was on the brink of despair, in the kitchen where she would find him. Like a hideous heady cauldron, it bubbled slightly. Acidic, viscous, and deadly if taken in the proper proportion. But he no longer cared. His future was as dark as this fluid. His future was as dead as a salesman. He really hated reading that book in school, too.

Civil picked up the container and chugged it down, the room temperature liquid just barely burning his throat, it went down so quick. And chugged. And chugged. That's when his mother walked into the kitchen.

"JASON! You drank that whole thing!?! What are you thinking?!"

The last dregs of the coke left the two liter bottle and slid down his throat as his eyes widened. Before the bottle even hit the table empty, a large belch left his mouth, his mother grimacing and glancing away, only to stare back at him again sternly, "Jason Darrell Berringer, that is disgusting."

Tapping the table lightly with his hoof while he tried to get his breath back, he finally responded, "Sorry Mom." He had to take several more breaths after that.

His mother shook her head in obvious disapproval and walked over to the table. "What could possibly possess you to drink all that. You know what that stuff does to car batteries?" She drops off a manila folder on the table in front of him.

Civil passed a follow-up burp through his snout, something he learned to do as a human during his earlier coke-binging years. "I'm a pegasus now, Mom. We actually require a lot of energy, quite a bit of it in sugar, as a matter of fact." Her rolling eyes caused him to raise a hoof in defense, "Hay, I didn't make up these rules, it's a biological thing. Anyway, I needed a huge pick-me-up, and The Doctor wasn't going to cut it." He glanced derisively at the Dr. Pepper bottles Dan insisted on buying. Yeck.

She sighed in return. "Hay is for horses." Before Civil could wipe the shock off his face, she continued, "Ponies, I meant ponies." But the twinkle in her eye meant she was trolling him. It had been a while since she was able to gooch her son. Probably making up for lost time.

He let it go and looked down at the folder. "Huh, what's this?" He pulled it over and opened it up. There were a few applications inside, something he had gotten familiar with over the last few months. What wasn't familiar was the organizations those applications were to be mailed to. Austin, Department of Public Safety. Rockwall Police Department. Rowlett Police Department. Dallas Police Department. He looked up at his mother. "A police officer?"

She raised her brow. "Isn't that what you always wanted to be when growing up? A pilot or a police officer? The flying thing didn't work out..." Her mouth scrunched up as she glanced at his twitching wings. "...mostly. But how about a police officer? One door closes, another opens up."

Civil leafed through the papers, looking at the requirements. College, check. Military, check. Physical fitness requirements. The numbers were honed to human fitness standards. This wasn't a mom and pop store where they could look the other way or even a corporation that could make special accommodations to meet equal opportunity business laws. Race, color, religion, hell even sexual preference if he was a mare. After seeing some things Equestria-side of the portal, he had a new appreciation for the word 'no.'

These were venerable institutions, with cultures and customs that did not bear boat rocking very well from upstarts. Certainly not a four-legged one that could talk.

"I don't know. I'm not sure I have what it takes to be a cop."

A tsk from his mother's teeth told him he was being a dolt. He probably was.

"Look, Jason. Civil." She used his human name when she got exasperated now. "You remember when you had that game system, with the Sherlock Holmes game? With the cd's?"

"Sega CD?" Wow that was a flash from the past. Old even then.

"Yes. You and I stayed up that night and solved that game without even getting all the clues, but we had to go back and get that last clue before it would let us solve it? And then that Holmes exhibit at the Ross Perot museum? You were all over those clues. You even got the part correct about the bullet and the flight path."

He shrugged, "Yeah, but I didn't know about him being an agent and faking his death and the exploding seed pod. That other stuff was ridiculously hard to figure out."

"But but but, nothing. They just add that to make it exciting. The point is all the regular forensic stuff, you figured it out. You didn't even see all those other people watching you as you explained it, did you?" He only shook his head in response. "They were paying more attention to you than the exhibit. You have what it takes to do that job." Something occurred to him.

"How can I even drive a car, or hold a gun with these?" He held up his hooves, seeing yet another drawback to losing his fingers. He looked at the tips. He used to chew his nails all the time. Now, he had no desire to put his hooves in his mouth. He didn't want to think about food he had touched to date.

She just shook her head and sighed. Karen thought for a moment before finally speaking, "Back in the second grade, you were tested to see if you were a gifted student. Do you remember that test?"

He stared at her incredulously. "You remember that!?" She nodded her head and waited. He thought about it for a minute. "There were some word problems, some questions about what I liked. And an essay."

"You wrote about flying back then, remember that part?"

His groaning signaled that he did, indeed, remember that part. "Oh jeez, that was the stupidest essay I ever wrote! They asked me what I thought if I could have a dog with wings and I said it would be really awesome, that he could fly around and catch robbers and cats that had climbed up trees. They sent me back to homeroom, and when next week rolled around and they called me back down to the front office, I thought I was being tested again. On the way I even told the math teacher I would be a while because I was being tested again. You know what they really wanted me for? To pay them back for a lunch meal I paid from the borrow fund. Real gifted. I felt like an idiot." He leaned back, dejected. Then he mumbled, "That was the start of many times I didn't want to be 'special.' "

"Don't you dare pity who you are, Jason!" Her terse rebuke stung a little, causing him to flinch. She didn't let up. "The very first thing you wrote about was going after bad guys. I knew why you thought about them going up trees, because that's what they showed in cartoons back when you were young. And those were the same cartoons I grew up watching, so don't even tell me I don't know what I'm talking about." Jason lowered the hoof he had just raised. His mother sighed. "Dogs usually run cats up trees but can't get them. A flying dog...well, a cat wouldn't be quite so smug anymore like in the cartoons, would it? Or bad guys?"

"I'm not a dog."

"No, but you are an adult now, or at least I hope you are." She breathed in and held it for a few seconds before letting it out. Her tone lightened. "Didn't you used to be a guard in this Equestria army you were in? Didn't they do police work?"

He shook his head. "No, mom. It was the Equestrian Guard. We protected the princesses. And did guard work. You know, patrol the streets, fight off monsters...patrolled more streets. Guard type stuff."

"But didn't you do anything else besides just stand there and hold a gun?"

"We had spears, mom! Equestria doesn't do...didn't do guns. With the trade exchange they're building up, who knows now. And anyway, I sucked as a guard, too! I kept getting in trouble, 'for not following orders' or for not standing my post forever and ever. I got in trouble for asking too many questions. For being 'Civil Patrol'. Trotting off to poke my nose into other pony's affairs. Real stupid shit-"

"Language."

"Grr...stuff, stupid stuff." He rubbed his temples with his hooves. "The running joke was whenever something weird happened, they would ask 'Where's Civil?' I wasn't even a good guard."

"Honey, you have ALWAYS asked a lot of questions, that's just who you are. You were always smaller than the other kids, but that didn't stop you from standing up to bullies, even when they tricked you into pushing or punching first. The school punished the first to punch, not the bully, remember? And you always wanted to solve mysteries. You couldn't do that as a guard?"

He shook his head again.

"What do you think an INVESTIGATOR does?" She waited to let that sink in. "He investigates. He asks questions. He is never satisfied. And he doesn't quit, just like someone else I know." She stared pointedly at her son. He was far too young to be having a midlife crisis, but given what he had been through, what they as a family had all been through, she could understand his feeling dejected from the lack of accepted work applications. She wouldn't abide by it, though. "I think when one door closes, another opens up." When he didn't respond, she pulled out the big guns. "Please, do it for me? Just send in the application, see what happens."

Mother's guilt. Sometimes it was direct, even sharp. Other times, it was insidious, like a slow cabin leak where the crew didn't find out until it was too late and the windows were crusted over with ice at 30,000 feet. He could see the ice on this one.

"I'll think about it." He pulled the folder closer to him and stared at it, pointedly ignoring the pen she was already holding. When it was clear he wasn't going to write anything, she set the pen down. He got up to walk into the living room where Liberty was watching My Little Pony dvd's. Of course.

She called after him, "It's Friday, and we're still practicing Lent until next week, despite whatever they do over in Equestria." The groan she heard did not make her very happy, but she was trying. She bustled around in the fridge, "Dear, we're having shrimp creole tonight, is that okay?"

He lit up, just like she knew he would. "Shrimp creole? I love that stuff! It's one of the few meats I can still eat, too!"

His mother continued to pull out ingredients from the fridge, shallots, a bag of raw shrimp, broccoli for a vegetable side dish. "I know...Miss Pink filled us in. Anyway, I also have the internet, looked up some more stuff for ponies."

That got him a little worried. He stuck his head back into the kitchen, "Um, mom? Ponies is a very specific thing to be able to find out. Like, buried under a bunch of other...um, things."

There was a long pause as she went to chop up the shallots. She stared at the board she was chopping at, as though that were the only thing in her existence. "Mm-hmm."

Civil swallowed. "I'm not into that stuff. I mean, I don't do whatever it was they depicted. That..I wouldn't even know about-"

A quick scrape of the knife sent all the onion bits into a bowl, a deftness displaying years of practice. "Whatever you do in your spare time is none of my business. Just keep the noise down. And remember the rules."

<cough cough> "I'm going to go watch T.V. until it's ready." A very red-faced pegasus stumbled into the living room, his mother nodding as she moved to shelling the shrimp.

"I'll be in here cooking, and thinking of other things to research." A clatter in the living room meant the channel selector had been dropped, followed by Liberty arguing that she was there first. "And we ARE going to mass tonight." Another groan. This time she smiled to herself. He never did like church, but maybe church will like him.

***

"I never liked going to church." He stared out the car window. It was night time. His belly was full. And he wasn't feeling the dogma.

"I know."

"You know. So why isn't Liberty going?"

"She is too young and she might fly off into the rafters."

Opened his mouth...then closed it.

"Okay I could see that happening. Why me?"

"I think it will do you some good."

"And dad?"

"..............................he had bowling tonight."

Civil snorted. Figures.

"Feels like everywhere I turn there is some religious thing trying to make me believe something or other." He stared at the author.

>eat me<

"Look," Karen said, "if you hate it that much, you can wait in the car. I thought you might want to speak to the priest afterwards."

"Why on earth would I do that!?!"

"It's his calling to listen. Maybe he can help you find yours."

Civil stared out the window and muttered, "...my calling."

The beginning of mass was as he remembered it, with added features. Staring as they walked into the church. Staring as they walked into the main room. Staring as they found a bench to sit in. There was a priest, somewhere, though where his head was situated when walking, spotting anything through a crowd was impossible without flying, and he was NOT pulling that stunt in here.

He paused at the pew and looked up at Christ portrayed on a large cross above the altar. What would it be like, to love someone so much, even though they wanted to kill you. Even at the moment of death, he was filled with love, willing to bear all their sins. And most around the world wouldn't even know it. Well...until hundreds of years of teaching the scripture, he supposed. He sat and the murmur of the crowd continued until chimes were chimed and the organ started playing. Mass had begun. After the beginning procession, the priest welcomed everyone in the season of Lent and thus the night went, standing, sitting, kneeling, singing psalms, mouthing prayers he barely remembered, or they outright changed since he last did these routines. At length it came time for the priest to give his sermon. It was a Catholic thing.

The priest stood and walked to the altar. He looked up briefly to the crucifix of Christ, then to the audience before him and his voice range out through large speakers suspended high above.

"Believe it or not, I had a crisis of faith, mere minutes before the beginning of mass. Oh, not one of those large crisis' where I question our faith, where God is leading us. No, no. This was somewhat more disheartening. I had a rare horrible crisis of forgetting what I was going to say in this sermon."

There was a low level of chuckling that rolled through the seated assembly. Civil could already tell what this sermon would be about.

The priest raised his hands, "No, it's true. As you can tell, this is not the sermon I had memorized. I can always save it for another time, maybe next year's Lent. What replaced the words in my head were questions. Questions of where we stood in the universe. His universe. You see, it wasn't all that long ago that we discovered our world was not the center of everything. The great explorers Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, so on and so forth. They discovered we were a small, but no less vital part, of this great existence. The apostles, willing to strike out on faith and follow the Son of God, they were in their own way explorers. All of you before me...you are today's explorers, willing to take a leap of faith and believe, without needing proof in the form of science shoved in your face. And yet, we are all the same, in that we question. Question why we are here, how we fit into this existence. We question who we are...maybe...question are we worthy of His Love?"

"See, we have the Catechism, a series of questions with answers already provided, and we the church try to answer your questions even before they are asked so you won't have this crisis of faith, that maybe you can apply these things we learn of our faith into our everyday lives. I know there are those who do not believe, and that is okay! Really, it is. Blind faith is a dangerous thing, but true ignorance can be worse."

He raised his hand, pointing up, and raised his voice, "I say TRUE ignorance, coupled with arrogance that any given man, woman...or pony, knows everything they need to know and cannot learn more! That is dangerous." He lowered his voice and continued, his eyes finally coming to rest on Civil, "And yet, I am ignorant. I can admit that...I have to admit that, since I forgot my speech." He chuckled, and the crowd chuckled with him. Civil noted many of them starting to relax. He supposed a humble priest can have that effect.

"I was standing there, greeting you by hand and mouth, and the strangest thing showed up. It wasn't a pony. It wasn't even a pony that might be interested in what I had to say. It was a question. How do ponies fit into God's plan? It was a year ago that I did look into the matter. I saw the stories, read the reports. I even spoke to one or two ponies when I saw them at the grocery store, and yet, I never truly came face to face with the question of how they fit into His plan. And then it came to me, as I saw our guest walking by, coming to listen to me speak and explore the mystery of our faith with us."

He raised his voice again, "You see this question was SO BIG, it completely wiped away my speech!" The mass laughed again, as did he. "So big...it left me so very small, and ignorant, and aware of my ignorance. You see, even if we were to ignore the fact that all ponies here on Earth were human before their change, they were PONIES before they were human. They existed elsewhere, far away. So far, that only the machinations of God could account for us even knowing about them. So where do they fit in God's plan?" He paused for several seconds, then stared out among the other humans. "Where do WE fit? They love, we love. They hurt, we hurt. They fulfill their life's greatest dreams and wishes, do we not as well? To that end, what of other possible aliens out there? What of the people here, who may not practice our faith or even believe in God, are they simply not created by God? The history of our world is rife with crusades, and bloodshed, simply to force one sentient being to believe in what another does...who is the ignorant one now?"

He let that settle in for a while, then he walked back to the altar and placed his hand on the marble corner. "I have read stories where these beautiful creatures were treated less than animals. True, God gave us dominion over the animals, but when animals speak to us and have emotions far deeper than ours, now who is the animal?" His voice rang out, echoing into the high ceiling. "You may make your judgement of them as you see fit, but I believe you judge them as you do your fellow man, and if you judge them less, you will be more ignorant for it. Our guest showed great courage to come here, amongst us humans, to at least hear what we have to say. And I say, you are welcome, all of you, now and always, into the hands of God."

The priest walked back to his seat and sat down. Civil was perfectly still, attention rapt by the priest's words. He didn't even know he was crying until Karen dabbed a napkin to his cheek. He blinked away the moisture and nodded his thanks to her, taking the paper to clean himself up a little.

Later when it was time to show each other the sign of friendship by shaking hands, there were many that came over to shake his hoof. He could have been among a large herd of ponies enjoying each other's company and it would have been the same.

Once mass had ended and the priest bid they go in peace, he waited behind. Several people also stayed, hoping to speak to him, but he politely told them he wished to speak to the priest as soon as possible and apologized for not giving them the same opportunity. They were very friendly and thanked him for having mass with them.

Karen smiled, probably one of the few really good warm smiles she'd had in a long time. "See, I knew you would get something out of it."

He nodded, "Yes, mom. You were right." He caught one of the ushers' attention and asked where he could go for a private consultation and the man gave him some directions. His mother raised an eyebrow. He said, "I uh...still have some more questions."

She grinned and nodded. "Take your time, I'll wait in the car."

He shook his head. "Actually, I think I will fly home. It's not that far away."

"You sure?" She had a look of concern but he waved a wing at her.

"I got this."

She gathered her things and bid him a safe flight back. "No dropping things this time." Oh shit she found out. Sigh. Sorry God, your house, your rules.

Trying not to garner some godwrath quite so soon, he wandered around to one of the offices in the back where the usher had directed him to go. He found what looked like a lounge with a table, chairs, a pot of coffee, and a kitchenette. It also had a hat stand which held a nice shirt and slacks on a hanger. He could hear someone moving around behind the closed door. It wasn't long before the man stepped through the door as Civil contemplated the coffee. He was wearing a green chasuble, a sort of robe that could have been a table cloth with a hole in the center tossed over the head and worn on the body. Civil never understand the clothing churches used.

"Ah, my son, please have some coffee. I hope my adlib sermon did not put you to sleep. I meant what I said, you really did throw me off my game."

Civil grinned. This guy was certainly more approachable than the same man standing below a crucifix twice his size at the altar. The pegasus stepped over and got a cup. He checked with the priest, but the man shook his head. When Civil came back over to the table and hopped up onto a seat, the man sat down near him. "If you hadn't heard before, my name is Richard Bennings. Father Bennings if you wish."

The pegasus nodded. "My name is Civil Patrol. Civil, if we are to be informal."

The man lifted his head and said, "Civil it is, then. How may I help a truly wondrous being such as yourself?"

A soft snort was the answer. Along with, "I don't consider myself wondrous. And you have more faith, obviously, than I do, when it comes to how we fit in the universe." Civil adjusted his body and glanced down. "We are supposed to be as cookie cutter as it gets when it's all about 'the fit', and yet, I haven't found my cutie-mark years after I should have, or like most others of my kind. I guess what I'm trying to say is...I'm just a lost soul, along with a bunch of other lost souls. I don't know what it is I'm supposed to do."

Father Bennings sat back, thinking. He hummed softly to himself, then stated, "Yours is not a crisis of faith. Merely, a crisis of destiny, perhaps." Civil did not look convinced, or even agreeable. The priest turned one hand over, palm facing up, then the other hand. "Our two worlds may not be all that different. We need, we desire. Our journey through life is one of self discovery. Is not the journey even more important than the destination?"

"It's just that," Civil responded, "I can't help but feel I would be in the Royal Guard all over again, only working for some city or county jurisdiction. Taking orders again. Sure we don't have police in Equestria, but...I dunno. It seemed like I didn't fit in, over there in the Guard, running and screaming into battle with this quasi military that also did policing action in the cities and townships. When I was first starting, I was a crusader for the cause, to serve and protect the princesses and the land. If some innocent needed help, I ran in with such zeal, fought battles, patrolled.......stuff. Now..." He shrugged. "Now I feel my 'destiny' is me bouncing around aimlessly. A ship without a sail. My mother suggested I do police work. I just think it would be more of the same. Or...I wouldn't even be good enough for that, for people to depend on in their moment of need."

The man nodded. "Well, that is something to think about, then. I'm not sure how they do things in your world, but in the United States, police do not have a constitutional duty to serve and protect. Did you know that?" Civil sat up, blinking and shook his head. "That is according to the United States Supreme Court. We have had several mass shootings and although legally you would not be forced to help, society might think poorly of any inaction."

"That's insane! I don't give a rat's ass what the Supreme Court says! And I don't care what society thinks, either. If someone needs help, I'm helping them." He eyed the priest, "Why would you even bring that up?"

"To make sure you were making the right decision." Before Civil could even protest about making a decision, the man got up, walked over to a drawer and pulled it open. He fished out something and walked back, placing it on the table. It was a laminated card with Saint Michael, the archangel, standing atop a plummeting Satan, a spear pressed down upon the fallen angel's head. Civil pulled it over to him and picked it up with a hoof. Then he turned it over. On the reverse was the police officer's prayer.

"When you falter, question, or hesitate, read that. I have first responders come to me all the time, and we go over that prayer. There is one particular passage in the prayer, if I may. 'Make us the terror of burglars, the friend of children and law-abiding citizens, kind to strangers, polite to bores, strict with law-breakers and impervious to temptations.' So much of that emcompasses the best we can hope for from our police officers. Can you not find it in yourself to live up to some, if not all, of those things?"

The pegasus read the whole prayer, pausing on the part the priest had recited. He snorted to himself and murmured, "Polite to bores."

Father Bennings nodded. "God teaches us to love, and to be patient. While it is His business to forgive, our society can only function if laws are followed, else we all would act like animals, and I dare say you ponies would then be our masters." Civil looked up sharply, studying the man. No...he had meant every word, and knew what was at stake here.

"You brought up the Supreme Court ruling to test me?"

The man shook his head. "No. Merely for you to answer your own question. 'Am I worthy?' I also dare say, are we worthy for you to be so selfless and to run to the fight when most of us would flee."

Civil blinked, and for the second time, he had to wipe his eyes. "You're too good at your job, Father."

The man stood, having felt their meeting concluded. "I will pray that you have faith in your job. Go in peace, my son. And if you cannot find peace, then bring such war to the minions of Satan, it would make Saint Michael proud." They both shook hands to hooves, each clasped by the other, and Civil stepped out of the church far lighter than he had walking in. Hell, he felt he could take on Discord's minions all by himself. Then he remembered Luke's friend bragging to him right before he bought it in Star Wars. Yah, maybe not so much that.

The frustration he felt earlier was gone, too. True he hadn't actually decided yet what to do about the police application, yet
there was a steady feeling, something he had found himself feeling countless times when he was chasing down clues or sweating out crooked royal court members back in Canterlot. He had felt it when he made that doomed trek from Canterlot with those fillies, before Discord had caught up to him.

He felt a feeling of purpose, and he knew this was the sanest choice he had ever made in his entire life.

***

"This is insane!" An assistant chief.

"How do you figure?" Another assistant chief.

There were a few heavy hitters in the room, along with the Dallas Police Department firing range lieutenant and a representative from the academy.

"He's a pony! Not even one of those magical horned ones."

"Unicorn," pointed out the range rep.

"That."

The chief of police said, "Technically he does have magic."

"But nothing useful. He can't drive, can't hold a gun. He can't even do a sit up because he has a tail for christ sakes."

The chief replied, "I think we are missing the bigger picture here." A pause. "He has wings." Everyone else just looked around, not getting it.

"Look, what does a squad car really do? It carries a radio, computer, holds equipment, has lights and siren. He can do all of that, and since he can fly OVER traffic, he doesn't need the lights and siren."

"Unless we stick that on him." They laughed. Except the chief.

"Ma'am, you are thinking Air One, yes."

She leaned forward, slapping the desk, "Damn straight I'm thinking Air One!"

That got their attention. One chief asked, "So...like Pony One?"

"That sounds so stupid," the original dissenter said.

"Alright, how about P-1?" she asked.

"Papa one," the academy rep stated. The others started to nod.

"See? Now we're talking," the chief said.

"This is so strange. What about engagements? He can't even hold a gun."

The range rep leaned forward, clearing his throat, "That's not actually a problem. The military has already been outfitting ponies with hardware. Saw it in a news article. It's just a matter of contacting the right people, spinning up the range instructors, that sort of thing. Would take two months for our people to get it squared away, plenty of time before he hits the range."

"You're serious about this," the assistant chief said. He saw he was outnumbered.

She nodded. "Yes. Approve the application and give him the good news."

The man looked back at the other assistant chief, "Can't wait for Dallas to get 'the good news'."

The chief of Dallas Police ignored him. She had bigger things to deal with, like a press conference filled with a dozen journalists asking far worse questions than her subordinates here.

I have no affiliation or ties to any businesses mentioned. I strictly looked them up for flavor.