Jessie awoke early the day after Thanksgiving. When she turned over in her bed she felt soreness in her legs. She was a good runner, but yesterday was more running than she was used to doing. The fact that she'd put that much effort into winning and had come out in third place still stung a little, but it wasn't enough to have ruined her day. Yesterday had been a really special day on the whole.

She didn't feel like getting up just yet. There was no school today because of the holiday. She had the beginning of next week off as well. There really wasn't any need to get up early. Yes, she had some reading to do, but she didn't need to get up early to do that.

Instead she rolled on her back and stared upwards at the papier-mâché planets hanging by strings from her ceiling and the various little stickers of stars that were plastered all over her ceiling. Her dad had put all those up for her and she loved looking at them. He'd even tried mixing in some constellations in the way he arranged the stars; they were all in the wrong places in relation to one another, but that was alright.

It was really going to be happening. Because of Phobia Remedy taking notice of her notebook NASA was going to notice her and she'd be helping bring people to the stars. She could help figure out the best ways of getting people out to those planets and to solar systems beyond. Surely planets like Mars could be colonized now. The world didn't have earth pony and pegasus magic at its disposal before, but it did now. With those magics they could really terraform Mars into a planet hospitable for life, maybe even Venus too. She'd didn't know a lot about magic, but she knew numbers. She'd be doing her part by figuring out how to get them there to do it. Maybe she'd even get her own chance to visit those far away worlds. This was her destiny, this was her purpose.

She frowned and pulled off her blanket. Her flank was still blank. Why didn't the universe agree with her? There should be a cutie mark on her flank. All the requirements for a cutie mark had been met. She knew what her talents were. She knew what she wanted to do in life. She even knew how those two things worked together. Yes, she was young, but it wasn't unheard of for a foal her age to get a cutie mark. It was uncommon, but it wasn't unheard of. It was understandable that most foals her age didn't have their marks, but most foals her age weren't her.

What was she doing wrong? Something had to be wrong for her not to have her cutie mark. Everything that happened or didn't happen had clear definite reasons for why they happened or didn't happen, that was basic science. If she didn't have her mark yet and there were some foals her age that did there was a definite reason why she didn't. Most adults, even her parents, would tell her not to be concerned about it. They'd tell her that she was just six and it would come in time. She wanted to be taken seriously, and ponies rarely took you seriously if you didn't have your mark.

Terrible thoughts entered into her head. What if there were ponies at NASA and they treated her like she didn't know what she was talking about because she didn't have her mark? What if Twilight Sparkle didn't treat her seriously because she didn't have her mark? All her hopes and dreams could turn into one big nightmare.

There was a chance they would still treat her seriously. Wild Growth seemed to treat her seriously, and Wild Growth was a very important pony that everyone respected. Even the people that badmouthed Wild Growth still admitted that Wild Growth was a great pony that did a lot of good things for everyone. If she had Wild Growth's respect that had to count for something, right?

As she looked at her stars she thought of another important pony that seemed to treat her with respect. Phobia Remedy was the one that said her work was important. The Dreamwarden had always been one of her brother's heroes, not hers, and she never really gave Phobia Remedy much thought. The Dreamwardens mattered mainly to night ponies. Yeah, people that weren't night ponies complained about them, but people could just be stupid. Dreamwardens dealt with dreamwalkers, and most people couldn't dreamwalk. Not even all the night ponies could do it, there were some rare ones that couldn't.

That brought up a very interesting question though. Why was a Dreamwarden so interested in her work? Why would a Dreamwarden care so much about her equations? It seemed weird somehow. Things being weird meant there were things she just needed to study more to understand.

She turned over and got out of bed. Robby had spent the night with Ms. Rosetta and Phobia Remedy, since Grandmare Nocte was out of town with her marefriend in Brooks. Her dad would be going to pick him up from there soon. If she tagged along she could get a chance to talk to the Dreamwarden, and maybe find out why Phobia Remedy had taken an interest in her work.

The yellow earth pony left her room and headed to the kitchen. Her dad was up and cooking on the stove. When she walked in he looked down at her and gave her a big smile.

"Morning, I wasn't expecting you or your mother to be awake yet, it's barely after dawn. Would you like some breakfast? I'm cooking some eggs and black bean sausage."

That did sound good. She loved black bean sausage. Her dad had cooked actual sausage one time, and just the smell of it made her feel sick, but sausage made out of black beans didn't have the same smell. Her parents swore it smelled the same, but she found that hard to believe. She knew human sense of smell and pony sense of smell were really different, but the smell of cooking meat was one of the most disgusting things ever. She didn't know how her parents could stand it, or how they could think black bean sausage smelled anything like meat.

Eggs were alright. They tasted a little bland without something on them, tasteless really. If she put a lot of pepper and jam on them then that at least gave them some taste. They were best used just as an ingredient in baking. She never understood why her dad thought they were a good breakfast food. Just straight baking flour by itself had more taste than eggs.

"I'd like some black bean sausage," she said with a smile. Then turned her head slightly as she looked up at her dad. "Dad? Can I go with you when you go pick up Robby?"

Her dad looked down at her with a straight face. "Sure, I don't see why not. You need to get out and about more anyway. Is this you wanting to see the other foals, or is this you wanting to see Phobia Remedy about your notebook?"

She looked down and her ears sagged, knowing that she was going to be giving the answer he didn't want to hear. "It's about Phobia Remedy." She raised her head up to see him frowning slightly. "I just want to understand why she took an interest. I'm happy, but I don't understand it. I don't like not understanding things."

"You should be concerning yourself with trying to understand how to get along with others better, hun," her dad said in a tired voice.

"Isn't trying to understand why someone did something and going to talk to them about it part of doing that?" She asked, confident that she had a good argument.

"It is..."

"And I normally don't take initiative to try to talk to anyone, right?"

Her dad chuckled and shook his head. "Alright, you win. I'd like you to at least try talking to the other foals while we're there though."

She nodded. She wasn't sure if she had anything really in common with the three demons, so she couldn't make any promises she was going to be successful. She found that even though Jordan wasn't anywhere near as good a reader as her the unicorn filly at least loved reading too, and Jordan was a little uncertain around others as well. Those were things to get along with her about. The three demons didn't seem like they'd really be into reading, math, or science and they definitely were very outgoing and high energy--unlike her.

As her dad finished cooking she hurried back to her room and put her Pony Strap on and gathered up her accessories. She had her own Pony Wand, spoon, pen, toothbrush and brushes for everything else, some safety scissors, and a flashlight. She then went to the bathroom to get ready.

When she returned she found her dad had set a plate down for her at the foal table and he was sitting at the human table. They had separate tables because the regular table was just too high for her and tables meant for ponies were much too low for her parents.

She also noticed that he had given her eggs in addition to the black bean sausage. The coloration said that they had cheese in them, but that only helped a little.

He seemed to notice her looking at the eggs. "Sorry, hun, but we're out of jam. I'll go shopping for some later today. You're a growing filly and need as much protein as you can get. Wild Growth ate two big spiders yesterday; you can eat some eggs."

Her idol had some admittedly weird tastes in food. Just because Wild ate something didn't mean she wanted to eat the same things.

That brought to mind her conversation with the great earth pony yesterday. She couldn't believe she'd ever do the things that her mom, dad, and Wild seemed concerned about. Wild was right though. She didn't have all those hormones racing through her brain yet. With all the reading she'd done she knew about how they could impact the brain, and a lot of the stories she read had implied that she could go kind of crazy.

She also had her brother to look to, and she knew that he had started looking at all those flirty night pony mares lately where he hadn't before. They used to annoy him a lot, but now he seemed more annoyed their parents chased those mares off. He also spent weirdly long times in the bathroom sometimes making strange noises. She hadn't put it together with what she'd read in books until she'd asked her mom why he was spending so much time in the bathroom making weird noises and her mom had blushed and told her she'd tell her when she was older. That was like a code phrase in a lot of the stories she read. Her mom sometimes seemed to forget how much Jessie read.

Her brother was definitely under the sinister influence of the dreaded teenage hormones. If they could drug her big brother's brain, and make him act all weird, then they could drug hers too when she got to that age. She couldn't allow herself to let her brain get scrambled just like these eggs.

Maybe she could stop puberty from ever happening? There were medications she read about that could do that. That wasn't going to work though. She wanted to grow up. The idea of being an eternal filly might preserve her brain, but it meant she'd never be taken seriously. It was so frustrating. Why did growing up have to come with the side effect of becoming dumb? Her life might as well be over by the time she turned thirteen.

"Jessie, you've got that look where you're lost in thought again," her dad said in a concerned tone. "You haven't even touched your food."

She blinked and then fished into her saddlebag to get her spoon out. After finding it she quickly clipped it onto her strap and started eating the bland eggs. If she ate the eggs first she could follow after with the black bean sausage and have some actual taste in her mouth.

After she got over to Ms. Rosetta and Phobia Remedy's house she was going to have to be social with the demons. Her mom, her dad, Wild, even Phobia Remedy all wanted her to be more social, and made it clear that was how she was going to avoid ruining everything when she got older. She didn't know how to be more social. She wasn't like anyone else. There was no math equation to figure this out, no book to read, no advice had really been given. Just go out there and try. What was she supposed to try? There weren't any instructions for this. She was going to fail and everything would be ruined.

"Hey!" Her dad said loudly. "Slow down. You're going to choke on your food. What's gotten into you this morning? You're not acting like yourself."

She stopped shoveling food into her mouth and stared down at her plate. Without knowing why she started crying.

Her dad immediately grabbed her and stood up. Holding her tight while rubbing her back. "Baby girl, what's wrong? Why are you upset? I can try to help you, but I need you to talk to me."

Why was she crying? She didn't know. Not knowing made her more upset and she cried some more. Maybe she was already getting older and getting crazy.

"Come on," her dad said soothingly. "Talk to me. Tell me what you've been thinking about. I love you, and you'll get no judgment from me. You can tell me anything."

The crying didn't stop. The shame that the crying didn't stop intensified it.

Her dad didn't give up. "Okay, how about this. I want you to take some deep breaths and count to ten slowly in your head. Focus just on the numbers. Then count backwards from ten slowly in your head while still taking slow deep breaths. Actually...I think in your case you should start listing off in your head all the digits of pi going out the first ten decimal places and then do them backwards again. Can you do that for me?"

List the first ten decimal places of pi? Of course she could list the first ten decimal places of pi. She could list way more than that; she was a math genius after all and pi was a really important number. And saying them again backwards was simple too, she just said them forward after all. She proceeded to sit and try to think about what number series to use to try to calculate pi; Chudnovsky brothers or Ramanujan. She decided to take the Ramanujan series because she was particularly fond of it and started mapping the equation in her head, picturing it like it was being written out on a giant whiteboard.

After a moment her dad spoke up. "There, you're doing better now." He sat her back down on the ground. "Now, care to talk to me about what's on your mind? It's not like you to get so upset out of the blue. You haven't done this since you were two."

She wanted to organize her thoughts, so she could give them in a calm and mature way.

What came out was not organized at all and in a rush. "Robby makes weird noises in the bathroom and looks at mares! Phobia Remedy is interested in my work and it doesn't make sense! Mom thinks I'm going to have lots of sex when I get older! Wild says that hormones are going to make me go crazy! I don't know how to socialize right and it's going to ruin everything! The people at NASA are going to laugh at me because I'm a filly! Eggs don't have taste!"

Her dad blinked a few times. "Okay... let's try to tackle a few of those things. First thing was Robby, right?"

She wasn't sure what she had listed off in what order so she just nodded.

Her dad sat down on the floor next to her. "Your brother is getting older and he's at a stage where certain feelings...sorry, I shouldn't feel squeamish about talking to you about these things because I know you understand a lot of these concepts, but I do. Anyway, he's at a stage where his hormones are turning on his adult desires. Believe me, it gets hard for me and your mother to accept he's getting older too. We worry about him too. He has his own list of baggage that we're concerned about. This is just part of growing up though. We'll be worried about you too when you reach that stage."

She laid her ears back. "You act like you're already worried about it with me, more than you do Robby."

Her dad sighed. "Sweetie, this might sound mean, but it's not meant to be. You aren't our only focus. You and your brother share an equal amount of concern from us. We keep our talks about Robby private from you, and sometimes from him. He's turning fourteen next year and that's a huge deal because of certain laws, and we're worried sick about some things that might happen. Two years after that he turns sixteen and there's another set of laws that kick in then that make us even more worried. We worry about your development too, but to be honest he probably needs our more immediate concern."

Hold it, laws?

"What do you mean?" She asked as she started getting upset again. "What's wrong with Robby?"

Her dad shook his head. "Nothing's wrong with him. Don't worry about it. I shouldn't have even mentioned it."

She stomped her hoof. "But you did mention it, and you said you're worried. I heard you! What's wrong with Robby!"

Her dad let off an exasperated breath. "Your mother is going to kill me for talking to you about this. You don't say a word to her or your brother--especially your brother. Got it?"

She didn't answer, she just stared at her dad. All that mattered was her brother had a problem. A big enough problem her parents were worried about it.

Her dad glanced at the hallway like he was looking for her mom. He then turned back to her. "When he turns fourteen he starts falling under a certain set of laws called age of consent. You know how those night pony mares are always trying to get to him? They're trying to get him interested in them in a very adult way, even though they're not allowed to yet. Next year they are still not allowed to do anything, but the night pony fillies that go to high school with you legally can, and he'll be starting high school too. Those fillies aren't stupid. They've been watching the mares and know that mating is an all out war for them, and he'll be open season. Two years after that the full grown mares get to start trying."

"Robby won't let those fillies or mares do that," she asserted.

That statement earned her a flat look. "He's a teenager, he's got hormones running through his system, and he's got all the girls...fillies...eager to get in bed with him. I trust Robby, but everyone has their limits, and he's going to be under a lot of pressure."

Uncertainty crept in. "Well...you won't let him, and all those fillies' moms and dads won't let them."

"We won't," her dad agreed. "I'm not so sure about those fillies' parents though. Those parents are worried about their foals too. Only they have an entirely different set of worries. Being a night pony mare is a very tough thing to be. The biggest problem is mating, and there's a huge stigma on unmated night pony mares without marks on their wings. Those fillies' have a two year window of opportunity where the full grown mares can't fight them for Robby. If I was in those parents' position I can't say I wouldn't encourage them to take their chance while they have an advantage, because after those two years are up they'll never have an advantage like that again."

Her ears fell. She felt guilty now. Here she was worrying about all her problems and Robby had big problems too. They were even kind of the same problems Wild Growth had told her that she could have when she got older if she wasn't careful. The big difference was it seemed like everything was out to get her big brother in trouble. Wild had told her that kind of stuff could ruin everything, and her brother was going to be facing it much sooner than her.

Her dad touched the side of her face gently with his hand. "Hey, don't fret. What's going to go on with Robby is at least a year out still, and we're going to be watching and taking care. I'm sure you'll keep your brother on the straight and narrow with those fillies too. Now finish your breakfast. We'll talk with Phobia in a while about why she's so interested in your work, and as for the rest you still have plenty of time."

"But the socializing..."

"You'll learn in time if you try," her dad said as he looked her in the eyes. "It might not come as naturally to you as academic things, but that doesn't mean you're destined to be bad at it. It's just something you'll have to learn at a pace similar to everyone else. You'll mess up sometimes, but it won't be the end of the world because you'll have more chances. You don't have to be a master of everything, but you can't give up on something just because you can't be perfect at it."

She wasn't so sure of all that. Her dad must have been able to tell.

"I'll want to tell you something important," he whispered. "If your brother ends up messing up with those fillies in the next few years his life isn't going to be over either. He might wish it was when your mom and I are done yelling at him, but he'll still have plenty of life left to live and it isn't ruined. Failing means you've been challenged, and if you're challenged you'll find that you can find ways of doing things you never thought you could."

Phobia Remedy seemed to believe everything was ruined forever for the Dreamwardens because of a mistake. The advice her dad was giving her seemed to clash with what she had heard from the night pony. Maybe it was just certain mistakes that could ruin everything, but how were you supposed to know what mistakes could ruin everything and which wouldn't? She needed a book, a guide, a pamphlet, anything that could tell her which were which.

What was clear was that her future was on the line. Some mistakes she might be able to recover from, but others would doom her. Everyone seemed to think it all depended on her learning to socialize better, that was at least a small guide. Hopefully her mistakes trying to learn to socialize were the ones she could still be okay after.

She was so stressed she felt like she might get sick. She wanted to cry more, but didn't want to seem like a little filly again. Instead she just gave a weak nod and quietly turned back to finish her food.

---

Wild hopped out of her limo and her security closed the door behind her. She gave a quick glance around the area in front of the Bastion; there were a few protesters on the other side of the street, but they seemed to be respecting the zones they were confined to. Several police officers were nearby just keeping patrol around the area in case trouble broke out. The crowd seemed small at the moment due to the early hours, and it typically took a larger crowd to really get the mob mentality going.

Sunset Blessing was awake untypically early, and was waiting for her at the entrance with a few security officers standing close by. She walked up to the red unicorn and Sunset smiled in greeting at her as she approached.

"Good morning," the red unicorn said while smiling. "I hope these misguided souls didn't give you any problems on your way here."

Wild shook her head. "It's a bit early, and I'm sure they're still sleeping off Thanksgiving dinner."

Sunset smiled wider. "I would hope so. I was told that it was quite the turnout at the kitchens. No one goes hungry in Riverview on Thanksgiving, even those that curse us. The Lord took care of everyone he came in contact with. He put no conditions on it."

Wild scowled. "Seeing that everyone is well taken care of is one of the things we see eye to eye on, but I would have appreciated it if you hadn't let those protesters so close to your house yesterday. The foals didn't need to be hearing that stuff."

"The side of the street there is public property and they have their rights," Sunset replied as her smile slipped. "We cannot force them to be silent or keep them from where they have a right to be. This is the United States, not China, and valuing free speech means we accept that sometimes people are going to say things we don't like or agree with. All we can do is endure what they shout. The foals are better off having seeing that we can do this, and that the day still goes on no matter what is said."

It was ironic that China was the closest thing to being a Shimmerist nation there was, but the Shimmerist preacher would spend just as much time anymore condemning it as she did Equestria. Sunset Blessing may be a Shimmerist, but she was also highly patriotic to the United States--almost fanatically patriotic. Her patriotism could often be heard reflected in her sermons and was one of the things the helped draw her a large following. It also earned her a great deal of trust from the government.

Wild gestured at the small crowd. "With the exception of Robby they're too young to understand all that. Even Jessie with how smart she is shouldn't have to try to understand why crowds of people are shouting hateful things at her."

Sunset sighed. "It's the reality that we live in though. We do them no favors trying to hide that reality from them. We might want to shelter them from it, but we can't effectively guard them from it. It's better to expose them to it and give them our example."

"I can guard them," Wild asserted.

"Really?" Sunset said with a skeptical eyebrow. "So you'll stay with them as they go off to school and their teachers have to explain why there is security posted? And you'll guard them on the playgrounds when the children and foals confront them? Oh, and they don't all attend the same classes; do you have some magic power to be in multiple places at once that I was unaware of that we need to report to the government? What about what they see on TV or read on the internet or papers? My daughter and her cohorts once tried to control all information people knew about certain subjects. You know how that worked out."

Said the unicorn who ran who knew how many secret labs and had Tonya use compulsions to ensure secrecy.

"Speaking of information we control; let's get inside so we can get this done with. I want to see what I've been funding," Wild said as she started walking to the door. "I plan on going to see my mother after this, and I want to be confident that what I am trying to convince her to do is safe."

Sunset turned and followed with a security officer close behind. "Of course, you have full rights to see our work and to feel that it's safe."

They entered into the front lobby of the Bastion. The room had a large domed ceiling and hallways going to the left and right. There were an information desk and kiosks for buying tickets to the various events that were held here. Shimmerist iconography was present in abundance; inlaid Shimmerist suns in the walls behind the lights, to a massive painted two-tone sun with cross in the middle that was displayed above the doors to enter into the church. Sunset Blessing made no attempts to hide what she was or what she preached. There was no more blatant a monument to Shimmerism in the world. Wild felt uncomfortable even being in here, but the lab was below this place.

She allowed Sunset to take the lead as the unicorn led them down the hall to the right. They passed by several doors that led into meeting rooms, as well as a few stalls for food vendors--all unattended at the moment. They went through a door at the end of the hall that led into another hallway with a much lower ceiling. This one also had doors going off to the side that assumedly went into meeting rooms. The hall curved around and they now started to have doors on either side.

When they reached the end if this hall they were greeted by another door. This door did not enter into a new hallway, but instead a stairwell going up and down. They headed downward and went through a door there.

This door entered into a new hall way that went to the left and right, with more meeting room doors down the halls. Directly in front of them when they exited out the door was another of those Shimmerist' suns painted boldly over the wall across from the stairway door. Sunset immediately started walking to the right again down the hallway.

As they walked they passed by a janitor that was mopping the tile floor of the hallway, even though the hallway seemed perfectly clean. Most of the doors along the hallway were open and she could see other cleaning staff vacuuming rooms and scrubbing down desks.

Sunset stopped and turned to the security guard who had been following them. "You may leave now. We are perfectly safe down here."

The guard gave no verbal replay. He just did a quick nod and walked back the way they came. Wild wondered why Sunset had waited this long to dismiss him if she was going to do so. Seemed pointless to just make him walk through all the hallways just to make him walk back.

The unicorn started walking again and made a right turn as the hallway made a bend; more of the meeting rooms, more janitorial staff. Halfway down each hall was another sun drawn on the wall. It became evident after another two turns and walking past the stairway again that they went in a full circle. Wild counted the cleaning staff as they went. There were at least six people on staff down on this floor. This was a large cleaning staff for a single floor that didn't seem much used or particularly dirty. She counted two humans, a crystal pony, a night pony, and two unicorns; and it was pretty evident none of them were there to clean.

As Sunset came up again to the human that was mopping she stopped. "See that we're not disturbed, Mordecai. I'm not sure how long we'll be. Make sure all staff is on alert in case some protester gets daring and tries to come down here. Try to deal with things calmly though."

"Yes, ma'am," the human said without looking up from his mopping.

The unicorn turned to Wild. "Mordecai here is head of security. He's an ex-black ops navy seal, a true hardened professional. Aside from a few cleaning staff members who get restricted strictly to cleaning vendor stalls every person on staff in this building is highly trained security, and armed. I like to make my rounds before heading all the way down to ensure I know who is currently on duty."

"I kind of caught that when there were so many people cleaning spotless rooms on this floor," Wild replied dryly. "It's a little too obvious if you ask me."

Sunset shrugged. "It fools the average dope who just wanders around where they don't belong. Anyone coming here with more direct intention we have no need to fool. We just need enough security available to stop them."

"So where is the actual lab?" Wild asked. "We've walked in circles and I haven't seen much but meeting rooms."

"One more lap," Sunset said as she started walking again at a brisker pace.

Wild shook her head in frustration before following. Did they really need to go around one more time?

This time when going around Sunset lit her horn briefly as they passed each of the suns. There was no obvious sign anything was done, and Sunset's magic was far to weak for her ever to really feel, though normally it would take some massively powered spell to feel it anyway. Sunset wasn't capable of strong power spells. The unicorn could manage slightly above average power when enraged, but when calm she couldn't even overpower most foals who were just coming into using their magic properly.

Powerful unicorns made her nervous anyway. While she could take most direct magic blasts used on her, teleports were an effective way of fighting her. One of the only times an attack had almost been successful against her a unicorn had teleported her far above the ocean to fall. If her hooves weren't on something solid she couldn't do much more than brace for impact. The high fall had made her go unconscious and unable to harden her body for the impact with the water.

She'd survived thanks to her security, but that had left her hospitalized for days. Thankfully, the attack had been kept from the media so others didn't learn an effective tactic against her. Even her family hadn't been told. She was also thankful most unicorns couldn't pull something like that. The fact they'd never caught him left her feeling nervous whenever she traveled to that part of the world.

She'd never even learned what had pissed that unicorn off enough to attack her. It had been out in Thailand, so maybe some religious nut or someone mad about the United States and she was a perfect target for his anger. She had no idea why she in particular had such a huge target on her when she traveled overseas. There were plenty of actual government officials people could be attacking instead. Her going theory was that she had so many connections to so many things while being so powerful herself that it made her a symbol of a changing world, the holy grail of assassination targets. Most people liked her, but those that didn't had a special hatred for her; a special hatred they liked to express with bullets, knives, bombs, and magic blasts.

The unicorn stopped in front of the third sun and lit her horn again. This time the sun rolled away revealing an entrance to another stairwell leading down. Without a word Sunset turned and went down the stairs, and Wild followed. As they were descending the stairs she heard the sun swing shut again.

"It's on a timer," Sunset explained as they paused on the stairwell. "You have to hit buttons on each sun in a certain period of time and the door will only stay open for a moment or two after."

"Like a puzzle in Legend of Zelda," Wild noted. When Sunset looked at her in confusion Wild raised an eyebrow. "What? You never played Legend of Zelda? You must have been a kid when the first few games in that series came out. This is exactly like something out of that."

"I never really played video games," Sunset said as she started going down the stairs again.

"That's a shame," Wild said as she followed. "I used to enjoy them when I was much younger, before my brothers completely took over the systems. Now all I can do with hooves is a few motion control games and things I can do swiping a Pony Wand. They don't really match up to the old stuff. You're a unicorn and can actually use a regular video game controller. You should try Zelda out sometime. I've thought about introducing my nieces and nephew to video games, they're pretty nimble with those wing thumbs of theirs and could probably manage it. All you need for the older ones is a good set of thumbs."

"Why would you want to introduce them to such a mind numbing human activity?" Sunset asked as they reached the lower floor door.

Wild shrugged. "It seems better than them going on a fighting rampage through their house. It's an activity to channel some aggression into that doesn't involve damaged property or damaging each other. I actually think I'll talk to my brothers about trying to introduce the foals to some simple video games. They could have a two sets of twins plus one Mario Party marathon, it'd be a good bonding experience."

"Are you really sure that will be a proper outlet for their aggression?" Sunset asked skeptically. "I heard Rosetta was trying to arrange some sort of foal fight club with the other night ponies with foals, that seems more in line with how night ponies are."

"You've clearly never been witness to a large group game of Mario Party," Wild said with a chuckle. "What did you play with as a kid, Bible toys?"

"Rainbow Brite, Cabbage Patch Kids, and Transformers," Sunset replied with a hint of nostalgia before lighting her horn again to open the door.

"I don't even know what those first two are," Wild replied. "Didn't take you for the type to be playing with boys toys like Transformers though."

"I had a fairly liberal upbringing, and my parents didn't believe in segregation of toys by gender. Definitely not Bible toys; I never set foot into a church till I was eighteen, and my hippie parents were into New Age mysticism," Sunset replied as she gestured for Wild to go through the door.

Wild chose not to comment. It was easiest just to say it wasn't what she imagined the preacher's childhood to have been like.

Beyond the door was a very short hallway with a security desk and a large metal door at the end.

"Did you really need another layer of security after the Zelda puzzle?" Wild asked as they walked into the hallway.

"Yes, and there is even more security within the lab itself. This particular hall can be sealed, gassed, and set on fire if need be," Sunset explained, then glanced at her. "You'll actually be bypassing some of the security. Typically before you can go beyond the next door Tonya has to lay a compulsion down on you for secrecy."

"Christ.." Wild groaned.

"Don't take our Lord's name in vain. We're in a church, if you haven't forgotten," Sunset scolded with an angry flick of her tail.

They went up to the security desk that had a well-armed human sitting at it. There was a computer terminal and multiple surveillance monitors. The guard did something to dim the monitors as they walked up, making it hard to see what was going on in the images if you didn't know what you were looking at or for. The guard reached into the desk and started pulling out some paperwork, but Sunset held up a hoof.

"Those won't be needed this time. Wild Growth is one of our patrons and Tonya won't be using any compulsions on her," the unicorn explained.

The guard ceased his task and nodded. "As you wish. Do you want me to let you through now?"

"Please."

He did a few clicks on the keyboard then turned a key on a nearby console. After that the great metal door split into two parts and separated to either side, allowing entrance. The two of them walked through the door into yet another hallway, this one straight white--white floors, white walls, white ceiling, white light.

The only things that were not the same flat shade of white were the occasional human in army fatigues or pony that would walk by. She had never seen anyone from Fort Torres enter the Bastion, so if they were here that must mean that the army was using their own entrance. Could there be a tunnel passing under the city? The base had begun construction specifically because of the lab not long after the Bastion had started to be built, it made sense they could have began their own secure route of entry at the same time.

"Making everything white in the hallways makes things stand out more," Sunset explained. "Don't want things going out of the lab where they don't belong."

"Things?" Wild asked. "Do you have things living down here?"

"Normally, no," Sunset said as she led them down the hallway. "One of the researchers does live down here though, and we don't want them getting out either. Last thing we had down here that almost got out was those damn parasprites."

Wild flicked her ear. "What's a parasprite, and did you just imply you are holding researchers prisoner down here?"

"Parasprites are the Equestrian equivalent of a tribble. Had to set them all on fire to get rid of the damned things before they could ruin anything or get out," Sunset explained. Wild just stared and Sunset turned to her and cocked her head. "You know, tribbles, like in Star Trek? I thought you were a nerd."

"Star Trek isn't my thing," Wild replied slowly. "You had Equestrian animals down here? That is all kinds of illegal. How did you even get them on this side of the portal and to Riverview unnoticed?"

Sunset scowled. "I had a contact, and I thought it was a great break to have someone able to smuggle things through. As I said, the things were far more trouble than they were worth. I think my supplier had a good laugh giving me one of them, and I wouldn't be surprised if those damn Equestrians got word I was trying to find ways of getting black market goods from Equestria and deliberately gave me something that would cause chaos in my lab. They like to teach lessons, and have a warped sense of humor. I won't be dealing with them again after that."

Wild was familiar with the Equestrians propensity to try to make everything a teachable moment. They were ruled over by immortals so it made some sense. It was like parents dealing with their foals.

There was an issue that had been glossed over though. "You didn't answer me about whether you're holding researchers against their wills down here."

Sunset frowned. "Let's take a quick detour so you can meet one of our most brilliant researchers, the most brilliant I have as a matter of fact. He's also the one we don't let leave. You'll understand after meeting him why he doesn't get to go out and play."

Sunset led them through the white hallways past many doors. The hallway actually sloped downward slightly and Wild could feel they were actually getting deeper underground. Sunset went through a door marked simply as 9A, and this led into what would seem like a stairwell only it was more a ramp going down another floor. How much had Sunset's unicorns and earth ponies carved out down here? The area above them had been a bomb shelter at some point in the past, but all of this was new construction over the last few years.

They exited out the rampwell into a new hallway that was white as the floor above and went down it for about a minute till they came upon a room that had several crystal pony guards standing outside.

Sunset went over to one of these guards. "How has Poly Glot been doing today?"

The crystal pony frowned. "He's in full on crazy mode. You haven't given him any work to do for a few days so he is just in there muttering about I want to tell you a secret. We had an incident yesterday and a guard got hurt. You've got the full report sitting in your office ready for review."

Sunset laid her ears back. "Give me the brief rundown of what happened."

The guard sighed. "We had a newer guy on duty yesterday. The ones who've been here forever were given priority to actually take the holiday off. Poly Glot started crying and whimpering about how he just wanted to tell someone a secret. The idiot fell for it and went in there with him and let that crazy unicorn get close to his ear to whisper, even though the other guards told him not to. Poly Glot bit down on his ear, ripped it off, and then swallowed it whole. We managed to save the ear because he vomited it back up a moment later. Got our newbie to the hospital and got it stitched back on before the nerves of the ear died."

"Let me tell you a secret! Just one little secret!" A voice rang out from the other side of the door.

Sunset sighed. "I should dismiss that guard for breaking protocol and such a severe lapse in judgment. I'll be kind though. It's the holiday season, and I think having an ear ripped off teaches him never to do it again. I'm going to reassign him elsewhere in the lab though. I don't want him getting vengeful with our resident psychopath."

Wild grit her teeth as she walked up to the door and gestured at it. "Maybe if you didn't keep him locked up you wouldn't have him attacking people. A person will do a lot to gain freedom."

Sunset shook her head. "You misunderstand. Poly Glot is locked up specifically because he is a danger to everyone around him. He was transferred here from a high security psych ward as a favor from the government. No one knows who he was as a human, but as a pony he has been a true monster. When he was first found it was after a string of missing foal reports in Houston. They found him dissecting them...some of them were still alive."

Wild backed away from the door, feeling sick to her stomach. "Why is this pony here then?"

"Because, despite his very obvious shortcomings, he is extremely brilliant. He has insights into unifying physics theory and magic theory that no one else has. The stallion is a genius...a mad genius, but a genius none the less. Every pony has their uses, and I put his brain to use."

"Sunset Blessing...I know you're out there," came the voice from the other side of the door again, this time in a singsong manner. "I have a secret. You don't get to know my secret, because it's a secret." The voice started giggling loudly.

Sunset shook her head with disgust. "Let's move on. I can only stomach being in earshot of him for so long."

They continued on and Wild gave a wary glance at the door as they walked by. Psychopath on staff, Equestrian animals, the failed version of the transformation spell, and all this security; it all made her feel troubled by what went on down here.

They passed on through another door to descend yet another floor and out into another hallway. They weren't in this one long before Sunset opened a side door and led them through to a very large room. The first thing that stood out about this room was the large device in the center. It was easily the size of a human and she could feel magic within it. Several unicorns and crystal ponies were also in the room on computer consoles, with the exception of one crystal pony mare who seemed to be monitoring the device in the center.

"This is called the Chorus," Sunset said as they walked through the room. "It's one of our prouder achievements. It stores a large amount of magical energy that we are trying to convert to electrical power. One day we hope to use this to power the whole city, but work still needs to be done with it. If we can get this working we can have a source of seemingly endless clean electric power."

Now this was something that Wild could get behind. Promoting clean power sources was one of her various causes that she championed. There had been speculation about the possibility of converting magic to clean renewable energy, but this looked well beyond the speculation stage.

Sunset continued to explain without pausing in her walk. "We've determined we can use magic to generate electricity, but reliably transferring it in an efficient manner from the thaumatic material to wires and cables has been a challenge. The magic in this does dissipate with time, but we have it keyed to Tonya's singing on the stage up top at the moment--hence the name Chorus. Her song recharges it. As a side effect it seems to fight control of anyone else trying to channel it's magic. It's not impossible to charge it other ways or to have someone else channel it, but it is difficult."

The fact Wild could feel the magic in this device from where she was standing meant that the power was enormous. "How much magic do you have stored in that thing?"

Sunset stood at a door on the opposite end of the room and gestured for her to follow. "Rough estimate? Maybe about the equivalent of ten of you."

Wild followed to the door. "How? You said Tonya charges that thing. She isn't anywhere near powerful enough to generate that much magic, even if it has been stored up over time. She only sings at the church once a month so that shouldn't have even a fraction of that power. Ten times as powerful me is getting into alicorn level power."

Sunset opened the door. "That may be an exaggeration. We haven't actually confirmed how powerful an alicorn is, or you for that matter. Not enough data points to really get hard figures with considering you're in a league of your own with magic and all we can confirm about alicorns is they are even stronger than you. Let's just go with it's a lot of magic."

Her magic power levels were a thing of debate. When she listed off at least an eight that was the safe bet when comparing to an alicorn at nine or ten, but the PREQUES scale of one to ten might have been flawed from the start--with alicorns being well beyond that ten designation if using a consistent scale. Her magic levels had led her to some nasty confrontations with the more radical Harmonists who wanted to prop her up as an alicorn-to-be. Most Harmonists didn't do that, of course, and she had many friends who were Harmonists, but the radicals set her teeth on edge.

She had no interest in being an alicorn, but for entirely different reasons than most would expect. The Pentagon had questioned her before about whether she thought she could take an alicorn in a fight. It was a laughable question. Sure she could...if the alicorn had their ability to cast spells taken out of the equation, but if they couldn't cast spells there really was no need her to fight an alicorn. Phobia had told her the Pentagon had asked the same thing out of the Dreamwardens. The generals had been pretty mad when the Dreamwardens said they just flat out wouldn't get in a fight with an alicorn--they'd never said whether they could defeat an alicorn or not.

If she was an alicorn two things would happen. They'd start plotting on how she could be killed due to their paranoia about alicorns, and start trying to pressure her into being a weapon. They pressured her enough as it was. That power might in theory let her do a lot of good, but she had no intention of being anyone's weapon.

"Again, how did you generate that much magic with Tonya?" Wild repeated. "Tonya is like a four on the PREQUES scale, maybe a high four, but nowhere near strong enough to be doing that."

Sunset gestured for Wild to go through the door. "We can't reveal all our trade secrets, even to you. You're one of our financial patrons, but not the only one. No one gets free access to every secret we have here, including you. We've got some projects we're working on that go beyond what we believe the Equestrians or Chinese are capable of doing with magic. What goes on down here is a matter of US national security. If the United States ever goes to war with Equestria or China it's important that they don't know what we're actually capable of. It's a magical arms race, and this is lab is equivalent of Area Fifty-One."

A chill ran across her spine as she stopped at the door. "I'm not funding weapons, am I? I want to help people, not finding new ways of killing them."

"Some things we develop here can be utilized in an offensive way. That is not their direct intent. Everything we develop we hope to make peaceful use of, but if conflict should arise we can repurpose some of this to military applications," Sunset said with an emotionless expression.

"There is nothing here that is meant strictly for hurting anyone?" Wild asked again.

Sunset shook her head. "Nothing of the sort. I am not a weapons manufacturer, and this is not a weapons lab. How our work is used is not determined by me though. I have faith in our country that it won't use what we do for warmongering."

Wild's own faith in such things was not as high. She'd seen too many weapons manufactured by American companies in the hands of other countries' militaries and terrorists. The conflicts weren't done directly by the US, but the US exported more weapons than any other country and wherever there was conflict there was usually US weapons. If there were magical weapons made by the US then sooner or later they'd start spilling blood all around the globe. To be fair, she expected the same out of Russia and China as well, who were number two and three on the weapon export list. One way or another there was going to be death by magic coming to millions if things were already this far along, and it made her sick to think her funding could in any shape or form be attached to it.

"Just show me what you need to show me," she finally replied in a level voice. After Sunday there would be no need to fund Sunset in broad terms. The temporary transformation project would be public, and available for public funding that had to be carefully accounted for and not going to any side projects.

Sunset nodded and led her through the door. This new hallway had wood paneling and a few potted plants, which meant it was likely management and bookkeeping offices rather than a lab area. The hallway was short with only about half a dozen doors. Sunset led them to the office at the very end and entered it.

Inside was what looked like a study. There were lots of bookshelves, two reading stands, a simple work desk, and a computer. There was also a small area with tankards and wine glasses. Despite the fact she knew she shouldn't she was very tempted to ask for a drink to put herself more at ease.

"Welcome to my lab office. I try to keep it tidy and welcoming," Sunset said as she went over to a bookshelf.

The unicorn removed three books from it. Wild caught sight of the titles; The Bible, The Art of War and On the Origin of Species. The unicorn then set the Bible on the desk and set the other two out on the two reading stands. Immediately after setting the last book down there was a clicking sound and one of the bookshelves swung out slightly to reveal a hidden door.

"Are you sure you never played video games? Is this all really necessary?" Wild asked.

"I'm sure, on both counts," Sunset replied as she walked over to the newly opened bookshelf. "Come on, it's time to go down to the vaults."

Behind the bookshelf was one last slope downward. The walls here looked like reinforced concrete and metal like the old bomb shelter area above. A single metal door was at the end of the ramp.

She wondered what trick there was to opening this door after everything before. To her shock the unicorn just walked up to the door and pushed the handle down with her hooves, causing it to easily swing open.

"No extra security here?" Wild asked.

Sunset shrugged after settling back to four hooves. "If they made it this far there's no keeping them out."

The two walked into the vaults. Inside was a large room with various alcoves in the walls containing laptop computers, flash drives, notebooks, what looked like small stone and wood carved statues, and a few vials of unknown substances. A large computer terminal was at the far end of the room with a few smaller devices attached. There was a monitor that showed camera feeds for the last hallway, the Chorus room, and Sunset's office. In the middle of the room was a jet-black sphere about the size of a beach ball that simply hovered in the air with no visible method of doing so.

As Wild was glancing around she decided to ask some more questions. "So, why don't the Equestrians have the kinds of problems with their temporary transformation spell we've been having?"

Sunset walked through the room and gave the black sphere plenty of space as she walked around it. "Because their temporary transformation spell has worse flaws. I have already learned their spell, and have learned it is of no use to us. We had to turn to other spells."

That was completely new information to her. It also made her a little angry. How long had Sunset had the Equestrians' spell and not said a word about it? The unicorn would need to explain why it wouldn't work.

Wild followed after and glanced at the contents of each alcove as she passed by. As she passed the black sphere she stopped and gave it a careful examination from a few steps back. There were no visible markings of any sort on it, no sense of magic, and no sound coming from it that indicated any sort of motor. Looking at the floor and ceiling she saw nothing there that was aiding the sphere in just floating in the air. There was something unsettling about the sphere she couldn't put her hoof on.

"I don't recommend spending too much time with that thing," Sunset said as she removed what looked like a snow globe from an alcove. "It will just make you feel steadily more uncomfortable and you won't learn anything."

"What is it?" Wild asked as she stepped away from the sphere with her eyes still on it.

"Don't ask me. I don't know. I made the damn thing, following my instructions to the letter, and I don't even have a clue what it is or what it does. It just floats there, and you get the impression it's hungry for you if you spend too much time with it, crazy as that sounds," Sunset replied with a shiver. "Come over here, we're not here for that thing."

Wild turned away from the floating sphere and walked over to where Sunset was holding the snow globe in her hooves.

"So what's that, and why did we come down here to get it?" Wild asked.

Sunset held the item up in one hoof to display it. Within it could be seen some mane clippings that matched the unicorn's colors. "The Equestrians' temporary transformation spell is a dead end. Trying to use it as we intend could end up seriously hurting or even killing the subjects with enough repeated use, and we can all agree that is unacceptable. Here is what we are using for our foundation to our spell to resolve those problems. This is a live sample of the ETS flu strain. I have studied it extensively for two years now, and still have much to learn about it. Our superior version of temporary transformation spell is a product of that research."

---

Tonya leapt from her front porch and took to the air. She had the paperwork for Velvet to sign in order to be referred to a psychologist and was ready to discuss the doctor and why she felt he was most qualified to help the poor night pony out. Velvet just had to sign and agree, all costs would be covered for her. Velvet had been hurt by what had been done, mentally and emotionally, and it was SPEC's duty and responsibility to see to it that Velvet was properly taken care of.

The night pony didn't live too far away, but Tonya still took the chance to gain what altitude she could. She didn't get much flying in yesterday and was in need of a little workout. She climbed into the air till she could see the entire city and she did a slow circle in the air as she admired it.

It was something out of a storybook, but it was real and she lived here. Riverview was a one of a kind place, and if someone had told her seven years ago that she'd be living in such a place today she'd laugh at them for being crazy. She'd have said places like this weren't real, yet here she was. It gave her a great deal of pride knowing that she had played some part in making this fantasy a reality.

She couldn't stay up here all day just enjoying the air and the view though. There was work to be done. With a touch of regret she went into a dive down towards the pony residential houses and pulled up from her dive a few dozen yards above them. She counted streets and looked for appropriate landmarks to situate herself and found her destination. A moment later she landed in a stretch of green that had a very small flower patch and a pair of trees giving shade over the entrance to the house below. On the door was a picture of a red ribbon wrapped around a purple flower, Velvet's cutie mark.

Tonya rang the doorbell and did a few quick knocks on the door before sitting and waiting.

The edges of her mouth dropped as she began to grow concerned that there was no reply. She glanced up at a small intercom above the door. Even if Velvet was well away from the door she would have heard the bell anywhere in the house, and could give a reply over the intercom that she was on her way. The night pony knew Tonya was coming this morning.

Tonya pushed the bell again and waited. There was still no reply. After that she raised her leg up and spoke at it. "Alexa, call contact Velvet Nightshade."

"Calling Velvet Nightshade," her leg band answered.

The phone started to ring and she waited for an answer. It continued ringing for some time and her ears were able to pick up its twin somewhere below her; Velvet's phone was definitely in her house.

"Alexa, end call," she instructed.

She stared at the door. If it weren't for the state Velvet had been in after the experiment she wouldn't be so worried about it, but Velvet had been in very bad shape. The night pony had tried to hurt herself when she was in her temporary human form, and they still didn't know what the lasting side effects were.

She put a wing on the handle of Velvet's door and took a deep breath. If Velvet was just away and had left her phone at home by accident the night pony could charge her for breaking and entering, even if most ponies left their doors unlocked. If the night pony wasn't just away her entering on her own could be critical to saving Velvet from harm.

"Velvet, if you're in there, I'm letting you know I'm coming in," Tonya called out. There was no answer back.

She opened the door and stepped through. There was a light switch for the ramp down, but when she pressed it there didn't seem to be any effect. That was frustrating, but it wasn't uncommon for night ponies to fail to replace light bulbs. That also meant walking through the house was going to be much the same. She paused and started going through her saddlebag to find a flashlight. After finding it she attached it to her Pony Strap with it facing to where she could see while walking.

After making her way carefully down the ramp she reached the living room. She raised her leg up so she could get a good look around the room. There wasn't much for furniture in the room. There were some small area rugs, a couple pillows, a small couch, and a small table that had a pony optimized laptop computer sitting open on it. There were also some pictures hung with care of who Tonya assumed were Velvet's relatives; she noted that they were all humans rather than ponies. Velvet hadn't mentioned that in her interview, but it wasn't surprising to see.

"Alexa, call contact Velvet Nightshade," she instructed her phone again.

"Calling Velvet Nightshade."

The phone started ringing again. "Alexa, mute call."

"Muting call."

The phone was still ringing, but it wasn't coming from her leg anymore. She could hear the phone ringing further below somewhere.

She carefully made her way through the living area to where the stairs led down to the next floor, phone ringing in the background the entire time. She tried a few more light switches on walls but was met with much the same result as at the entrance. Velvet clearly never had non-night pony guests over. Actually, with the amount of dust that was in the house it might be that she never had anyone over to visit.

The next floor down was the bedrooms and hallway between them. She did another stop at this point and got her bearings. The light switch again didn't work. No real decoration here other than the sconces, and they did have unlit candles in them, but Tonya had nothing to light them with and didn't see anything in the hallway to do that with either. Two of the three doors had a good layer of dust on their handles, showing they were never used. The master bedroom door handle was dust free. The sound of the ringing was still coming from below though, not the bedroom.

After a moment of indecision she went and checked the bedroom, just to be sure. She opened the door to the room and stepped just within the doorway and held her leg up to give some illumination to the room. The room was rather plain. There was a bed, a nightstand, a small fan, and a small table a pony could sit on the ground with a mirror propped up on the wall. The bed had one side that was littered with trash and one side that had an unkempt blanket. She tried the light switch and the fan rather than a light turned on. She flipped it off again; at least she could confirm Velvet had paid her power bill now. There was no sign of Velvet in here. The phone still rang downstairs somewhere.

She left the room and closed the door behind her using a wing. It was time to go down to the kitchen. The phone ringing was really close. She carefully made her way to the stairs and cursed night ponies and their love of the dark as yet another light switch did absolutely nothing.

As she reached the kitchen the light caught sight of black fur and a blue tail. She gasped as she saw Velvet sprawled at on the floor, a tankard of something spilled across the kitchen, and a bottle of spilled prescription pills.

"Alexa, call 911!" Tonya shouted as she ran over to the fallen night pony.

The ringing stopped. "Calling emergency services."

Tonya put her head down against Velvet to listen for breathing. She could just make it out, barely. The heartbeat was very weak as well.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"This is Tonya Blessing, I'm at...I don't actually know the address..."

"We can locate you by GPS. What's the emergency?"

She started crying. "I'm with a night pony named Velvet Nightshade. I think she overdosed on medication. She's unconscious, barely breathing, and her heartbeat is weak."

"Do you know CPR?"

Tonya shook her head and sobbed. "No."

"We are picking up on the GPS that you are in the pony residential district. Are you in a house?"

"Yes."

"What part of the house are you in?"

"The kitchen."

"Do you know how long it has been since she ingested the medication?"

Tonya shook her head. "No. Her phone has been ringing for several minutes without being answered and is on her leg."

"We are dispatching unicorn paramedics by teleport right now. Is there any obstructions on the roof that they need to be made aware of before teleportation?"

Tonya shook her head again.

"Ma'am, are there any obstructions on the roof the paramedics need to be aware of?"

"No. It was clear when I arrived," Tonya replied as she sniffled. "The house has no lights."

"Can you identify the medication she has ingested?"

She turned the light to the spilled bottle of pills and pulled them towards her with a hoof. "It says imipramine slash Tofranil, ten milligrams, count sixty. Take one pill twice daily. The bottle is empty and there are only a few pills on the floor. It says it was filled yesterday."

She recognized the type of medication. It was an antidepressant. It was very effective on ponies, but overdoses of it were really bad. Velvet hadn't been to the referral yet, so that meant this was already prescribed before the experiment. Velvet had denied being on medication when questioned before the experiment.

"Paramedics should already be on the roof of the house, ma'am. Just stay where you are and they'll get your friend to the hospital."

Tonya laid her head down on Velvet and cried.

Next Chapter: Chapter 5: The Psychology of Night Ponies Estimated time remaining: 17 Hours, 54 Minutes