Hippogriffs were gathered, a family of them. There was a mother, a father, and three children looking about curiously at each human that passed by. They were in a government building, with plenty of other people trying to get things done to stare at.

"(Miss Stream?)" came a call. The family rose as almost one, moving towards the counter. "(Hello. Does Seaquestria really have no identification of any kind?)" The bureaucrat tapped at the form lightly. "(Surely you have something?)"

The mother tilted her head, ear tufts going up. "(We are hippogriffs. You don't need much more proof than that to be a Seaquestrian.)" She raised a hand to the dangling jewel at her neck. "(We have shards too. Only those chosen by the Queen, or by right of inheritance, would have these.)"

The woman examined the dangling jewel. "(That lets you become a fish, right?)"

The father shimmered as he became a beached seapony. "(Not a fish!)"

"(Yes, I see... Do you have a photo of yourselves, with a name? I do require that at the least.)"

The father had his legs back and stuffed his talons in a pocket, pulling out a small book. Opening it revealed many pictures, but he flipped to a specific page. "Here."

It was their wedding, the photo taken under the water, with so many other smiling sea ponies. Queen Novo was present, smiling gently at them from a position of authority as befit a queen. A banner hung over them, declaring who the wedding was for, and they were certainly dressed for the part. "(I see... Can I borrow this?)" She took the picture out and laid it on a photocopier, getting a quick copy before giving it back. "(First time I had a wedding picture submitted as identification.)"

She clucked her teeth. "(I should warning you, if you are permitted to migrate, you will be required to carry identification.)" Her eyes moved from the mother, to the father, then down at the distracted children. "(Everyone does. One will be provided to you, should you be accepted.)"

Stream, the mother, nodded quickly. "(We'll hold onto them carefully, we promise. What else is needed?)"

"(There is a matter of payment.)"

Stream began spewing numbers.

The human worker blinked in surprise. "(What are you doing?)"

"(Reciting the number.)"

"(Yes, I see that, but what number is that?)"

"(The number to the Seaquestrian wealth. Queen Novo said we could use it for this.)"

She twirled a pen lightly in place. "(Is that a bank routing number?)" Stream looked baffled. "(Credit card number?)" Her husband looked just as confused. "(Alright, let me write this down as you say it. Speak it to me clearly, but quietly.)"

She soon had a number sketched out, a long rambling series of digits, with four separate. It became clear. "(Credit card. You should be careful with how you share this number. Anyone with this information could use it and take your money.)"

Stream and her husband both gasped with shock. The husband pushed forward, a panicked look in his eyes. "Did we hurt the Queen?"

Stream gently pulled him back. "(She is warning us. We will be more careful. Thank you. Will that handle the payment?)"

There was a moment of quiet, only the sounds of typing coming from the woman as she entered in the various bits of information into the system. "(And...)" She watched things on her monitor the hopeful hippogriffs couldn't see. "(Approved.)"

Stream's face lit up with joy. "(We are Americans now?!)"

"(Oh, no, not that.)" She held up a hand wardingly. "(I meant the payment. The fees are handled. You can't apply for citizenship until you've been here for at least five years, but you're moving towards that.)" She typed determinedly, going quiet again as she worked. "(What source of income do you have, if any? What professions do you and your husband practice?)"

Stream gestured a talon at the back of the monitor. "(Queen Novo said we were permitted to use the wealth until we settled in. Does that help?)"

"(Considerably.)" She made a note in the file. "(It is... not good to allow people to migrate without support. But you have financial aid, which is good, and improves your odds.)" She looked over Stream and her husband. "(Your professions?)"

Stream's husband perked up. "(I'm an artist. I draw. Would you like to see?)"

She looked to Stream.

"(I am a... I don't know the English word. I study living things.)"

"(A biologist!)" She made some quick notes.

"(I suppose that is the word... my husband made most of the money, but my passion is the workings of life.)" She leaned over against her husband, the two looking happy with their arrangement.

"(Here, a biologist would easily make more than an artist.)" The desk worker was still busily typing. "(What accreditation do you have?)"

"(What?)"

"(If you had to prove you were good at what you do, how would you? He has drawings he could show me. What do you have?)"

Stream smiled and nodded, understanding. "(Ah, yes. I discovered two new fish.)" She held up two talons. "(And I found one that we thought was gone. Oh! I figured out how the red-spotted tuna reproduces. Really, can you imagine a fish laying eggs in oysters? That was amazing!)"

Stream's husband looked a little concerned. "(Wait, are artists not liked here? I make nice drawings.)" He pulled out a small drawing to defend his honor as a breadwinner. "(See?!)"

The lady at the computer glanced up at the drawing. "(That's... actually pretty nice, but no, most artists make less than most biologists. Now, I presume if we inquire, confirmation of your discoveries is available?)"

"(Oh, yes, certainly.)" Stream bobbed her head quickly. "(This is so exciting! They respect answer finders here.)" She hugged her husband tightly.

He didn't look nearly as happy. "But..."

"Dear, snap out of it." She kissed his cheek with a loud smack. "We will win through this, together, as a team, as we've always done." He began to soften under her affectionate hugs and nuzzles, perhaps also comforted by the language he was raised with.

"Of course, dear..." His eyes moved to the human woman. "(What else do we need?)"

"(For now, remain in the area that Seaquestrians are permitted. You are not a legal resident yet. It will take time for research to be done and a decision reached. Do you have a phone?)"

The husband lifted a phone into view, looking proud. "(I purchased one before we left.)"

"(Give me its number and we can call you when you need to come back.)"

All the information that could be swapped was swapped, and they went to their temporary home to await good news.

"(Are you sure?)" The human that had accepted responsibility for her was holding her talon. "(You like the water.)"

Mobile stuck out her tongue with a ripe raspberry. "(It's not like we're moving to a desert. We'll stay right here, next to the water. I can jump in whenever I want." She rose up onto two legs and pressed her beak to his nose. "(But I will not drag you into the water. I'll live here. Besides, I have to for a bit anyway.)"

He lowered his hand from her talon to the rounded swell of her belly, where the result of their indiscretions grew. "(Yeah... How do you feel?)"

"(I'm married to a stallion that loves me very very much, in a crazy alien city. Sounds fun to me.)" She licked his cheek before falling to all fours. "(When do we go house shopping? We need some place with enough space for a growing family.)"

He froze at that, looking unsure.

"(Tim?)" She reached to poke him in the belly. "(Tim! What's gotten into you?)"

Tim shook his head quickly. "(Growing?)

She blinked softly. "(Assuming our child isn't some crazy monster, we're going to keep doing... things couples do. That makes more kids. Kinda how that works.)" She wriggled her tail with a lash. "(Or are you done with that?)"

"(I... figured now that you knew what could happen, you'd take birth control pills?)" He looked over the sleek form of his alien wife, equine back end and avian front end. "(Right?)"

"(They have pills to control birth?! Why am I not taking those right now?! That sounds amazing!)" She clapped her talons as she reared back onto her hind legs. "(Does it make it nice and fast and painless? That's basically cheating!)"

Tim laughed at that, some of his shock broken. "(No, no, it's for not getting pregnant. So you can... do the fun stuff without the kid part.)"

It was Mobile's turn to look downright baffled. "(You do the things, kids happen. That's... how that works. You changed that? I mean, wow... You must... do the thing constantly. How do you get anything done?!)" She hopped up onto a seat and curled on it, facing Tim. "(I was just thinking we'd just... do it, when we felt like it, and kids would happen.)"

"(If that's how that works...)" Tim gently stroked along one of her ears. "(Why were you having sex at all?)"

She spread her wings suddenly. "(Hello?! You're an alien! I didn't think anything would happen. Surprise, it did.)" She folded her wings as she reached down to her belly. "(I hope they're pretty... Do you think they'll be a boy or a girl?)"

"(They'll be pretty either way.)" Tim kissed her between the eyes and she giggled joyfully at the affection. "(I figured, after your queen said I was a Seaquestrian, you'd want to move me back there.)"

"(That would be rude. I was already rude. You weren't planning any of this, and bam, suddenly you're married? That's so rude... I'm going to do the right thing with this one part at least.)" She walked her talons across a counter near her. "(Besides, I'm fine with having wings too. I was like 60% happy with water, 40% air. Just enough to side with water, but not enough to be all mad to swap.)"

"(You have to be kidding me,)" grumbled the uniformed man as he worked over some maps and figures. "(A military game with unknown nationals? I'm sure nothing could possibly go wrong.)"

"(Better than an actual military action,)" countered another military man, working on other figures with a frown. "(Besides, it will give us invaluable intelligence on how these 'dragons' operate and what we could expect if it ever did come to a military action.)"

"(Can they breathe fire? We know they can fly, and they have claws and teeth and don't appear shy about using them.)" He pulled out a pen just to twirl it agitatedly. "(The odds of some poor bastard getting hurt in this little stunt is basically 100%.)"

"(Let's focus on getting that down to 80% then, Sir.)" The other man set his papers aside and stood up. "(It's what we're here for.)"

"(Right.)"

"(Holy shit,)" exclaimed a man in a black shirt and slacks. "(Jackie, did you see this?)"

A female was lounging in a wide-bottomed chair, lazing almost, but she was also tapping busily at a tablet. "(See what?)"

"(There's a call going out for a company willing to sponsor a Seaquestrian biologist.)"

The chair toppled over, which was quite the feat with its low center of gravity. "(You're shitting me!)" Jackie picked herself up from the floor and was soon standing beside him. "(Let me see that.)" She casually snatched his tablet. There it was, with a picture included, though the picture was a whole mess of seaponies, with a circle drawn around one female. "(We have to put in a bid. A seapony willing to migrate onto land, and a biologist?)"

"(I was working on that until someone--)" He snatched his tablet back. "(--took my tablet. Let's go fishing for some talent.)" He got to typing with rapid finger presses, submitting his company's willingness to accept the sea-borne sea biologist.

Author's Notes:

I present a chapter with about 80% english dialogue. So strange...

With the immediate threat of war toning down, we can turn focus to people adjusting to the new order of things.

Surely nothing will get in the way of this!

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