Sunburst walked up to an unassuming door. It was perfectly standard. He willed a perfectly standard keycard into the perfectly standard lock and with a soft click, he was allowed inside. From the outside, the perfectly standard building was just one office building among many.

He had arrived in America some time ago, a pony of no particular importance, looking for new opportunities, or so he had told them with a nervous smile and stuttering English.

But that hadn't been entirely the truth, much like the building he was in. He inserted his card into a slot beside the elevator, calling it to the lobby. A guard was watching him quietly, but did not object to his presence.

Stepping into the small room, he had to put the card in, again, and finally press his destination. Instead of rising up into the building, he went down, his stomach lifting with the acceleration until the speed evened out. There was no elevator music, just the sound of the human machinery working quietly in the background to ferry him down into the belly of the beast.

With a soft chime, the doors slid open and he was allowed to walk out into what had become his workplace some time ago. The humans were curious about magic. He was curious about humans. It was a fair trade, considering it also paid for his rent, food, and more.

"Morning, Burst." A guard nodded towards the equine visitor as if he was just a bland part of the day.

And he was, being employed there. "Morning, Ralph." He dipped his head on the way past. "Anything interesting today?"

"I work in a magic research facility, what's not interesting?" countered the guard with a bit of a smirk. "Oh yeah, they're waiting for you in #3."

"#3, got it." He turned down a hallway, heading towards the named room. While he went, he adjusted his glasses and smoothed out his mane, or tried. He was not a fastidious pony by any means, but the humans that worked there seemed to have higher standards that made him self-conscious at times.

"Good to see you." A scientist, dressed for the part, nodded at him as he entered. "We can finally start. We think we have it ready." He gestured into the big open room. "When you're ready, we want you to wander the room in the usual pattern, using minimal magic at random times. Press this when you do, but don't say anything." He held out a remote with one big button.

Sunburst could have taken it with his magic, but that would mean he was already doing more than 'minimal' magic, and constantly. That would defeat the test. He reached for it with his mouth, taking it carefully. "You got it. Think you can detect magic now?"

"We don't want to say yes until it's proven. Go ahead." He gestured towards the clean white room. "I'll be watching the monitors."

Sunburst strode into the room, following the usual pattern he had long ago learned. With concentration, he could conjure just the faintest bit of magic, not even enough to start glowing visibly. He squeezed the remote each time, going down the path as he did so.

The scientist watched the monitors. He could see the theorized levels that several sensors were detecting, wobbling faintly with background activity. He could see the button's status. That one was binary. It went green when pressed, red when not.

It went green, and the sensors did react just faintly. The ones closer to him had slightly more reaction. "Fantastic." The software was already doing the math, showing where it predicted Sunburst was standing, or, more accurately, where it thought the magic was coming from. The image of the room with little bits of static, most of the background noise filtered out, would show a faint blip where his horn was for about the same duration as the button presses.

"Alright," spoke the scientist through a microphone that connected to a loudspeaker in the room. "Enough of that. Go ahead and lift the ball."

Sunburst tucked the remote away and hurried to a small pedestal that had a simple rubber ball on it. He grabbed it in his magic and lifted it into the air. Not quickly, or very forcefully, but he had only been asked to lift it. "To the left." He followed the voice's prompting, moving the ball around faithfully. It wasn't terribly interesting work, but it had interesting results. That was the nature of research. Sunburst understood that.

"Alright, come on back."

Sunburst set the ball back where it had come from and trotted free from the room. There were three people looking at the monitors where he had left one. High-fives were being passed about. He smiled at that. High five, brohoofs, they were a universal sign of good news and solidarity. "Got it working?"

"It's perfect," explained the original scientist. "A bit oversized, but that can be fixed. It followed your movements within a millimeter of accuracy. There's plenty of refinements left to be done—"

"When isn't there?" cut in another scientist.

"But it's a result. Concrete progress." He offered a balled fist towards Sunburst.

Sunburst met it with a hoof, joining the round of celebratory gestures. "It is still amazing to me how you do so much with just electricity... You act so startled at magic, but you have one just as powerful. More powerful in a lot of ways." He ran his hoof over his beard. "Speaking of that, thanks for the help. I got in."

"Oh, congratulations." It was enough to set off a new wave of congratulatory bumps of the ends of arms, hooves in one case, hands in the others. "Was it the one you wanted?"

"Online learning with MIT," reported Sunburst with a proud puffing of his chest. "Considering their distance from here, and the awkwardness of attending, uh, physical classes with... you know... It seemed best."

"Hey, don't let it get you down." A hand came down, casually petting him. Were ponies just that pettable? Humans seemed to just love the excuse to give him a pet. "You'll be the top of your class, I bet. If you need any help, just ask. We'd love to see you with an official degree."

"Yeah," chimed in another. "Let us know if anything comes up. You're not just a subject, you're a friend."

"Exactly," agreed the third. "Besides, you're not a 'subject', god. That's so impersonal. My subjects do not usually have polite conversations."

The first raised a finger. "This is why we can't measure these things ourselves. Thank god for computers; blessedly impartial computers. Now, Sunburst, there's a new project bubbling up that I think you would be perfect for, if you're feeling it?"

Sunburst's ears perked with curiosity. He was involved in several projects already, and his upcoming classes... "What kind of project?" Curiosity demanded he at least find out.

"They're trying to decipher magic." The scientist hiked a thumb. "What makes one thing lift an object, and another change its properties, and another transport material, that sort of thing."

Sunburst winced faintly. "That is extremely fascinating and I'd love to participate... but I'd only really be able to do so on the research side of things. My ability to actually perform advanced magics is... limited." He suddenly smiled. "But, I can think of several qualified ponies you may want to extend invitations to for it."

"You are the best, Sunburst."

"Mobile."

"Stream, right?" Mobile was smiling, but the other hippogriff was not. "Is something wrong?"

Stream shook her head. "It's nothing... Welcome." She gestured at the building behind her. "Thank you for volunteering to be studied, you and your child." Her eyes moved to the bundle attached to Mobile's side. "She represents a very important facet of how our species will see one another."

Mobile blinked as she walked towards the entrance, Stream moving with her. "How so? I mean, humans seem pretty nice to me, but a bit weird sometimes, but hey who isn't strange sometimes?"

Stream took a slow breath. "Fortunately, we can occupy different niches. First, let me tell you something." She looked aside at Mobile as she walked. "Humans, they can live anywhere there is land. Cold, warm, hot, freezing, they adapt. They will live in miserable places, and learn to love it. As species go, they are frightening. There is nowhere on Equestria they could not colonize, and they will, I feel certain."

"O... kay?" Mobile perked an ear tuft. "What does that have to do with us?"

Stream put a taloned hand over her face. "It means, eventually, they will compete with most other species, including hippogriffs. Seaquestrians are safe, for now, but not forever, I feel certain." She circled in front of Mobile, cutting her off. "But if we are compatible and make viable offspring that can repeat the act, then we will spread with them instead of being eventually, some long time from now, outpaced, outcompeted, and driven extinct."

Mobile cringed back a step. "Why are you so gloomy?!" she blurted, face reddening a little. "They've been nothing but friendly. The ponies like them too. Why would you even think like that?"

"Because I am an answer seeker." Stream turned back for the building, equine tail giving an agitated twitch. "I'm looking ahead, far ahead. We'll both be gone by the time it became a thing, but that doesn't make it not a thing. Still, for today, welcome! The people who work here are very nice, and super excited to meet you both." She smiled over her shoulder as if the doom saying had never happened. "Let's go meet them!"

That was how Mobile came to become a part of that scientific community. She had been approached and joined days after Swift Swim had entered the world. They monitored the infant as she grew and developed while providing everything a young parent could want, except privacy at times. Mobile Coral was a subject of curiosity as well, her body inspected for any signs of undue stress due to the hybrid incubation and birthing, but she seemed healthy and as peppy as the day she had emerged from the water to greet people.

"In other news, the president will be leaving the country." A date came on the screen as the anchorwoman repeated it. "To attend a summit of world powers. Is that like the local equivalent of the United Nations?"

"Speaking of the United Nations," cut in a male figure. "At this point, all members of the former UN have been relocated to permanent residencies within the US. With contact with Earth seemingly impossible, there weren't a lot of other options. Other travelers who were visiting the US at the time of the move are also being given automatic asylum status upon request."

"What else would they do, deport them?" laughed the female. "Speaking of that, however, a new wave of immigrants has begun, with native species eager to join the ranks of humanity in America. A small town in Florida has become home to the first weather control facility, housing half a dozen pegasi to manage the weather over and around the town. State officials claim to be watching intently. If it goes well, the state may be the first to open a state-wide weather control initiative and department."

"What a time to be alive." The male clapped a stack of papers against his desk, eyes on the camera directly. "I wonder how much it is to get one of those pegasi to keep the rain off my car."

"Probably more than we make," laughed the female, the laughter soon joined by the male.

"In other news." The male turned to a screen that showed a gathering of people. "Protests continue in Alaska where the job market remains 'uncertain' at best. The total upheaval of the local topography leaves many with no future. Though government initiatives has some back to work, some say it's too little."

Author's Notes:

Science! This chapter has so much science going on.

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