"...Ah dunno, Y'all. I get the feelin' Celestia was tryin' to send me some kind o' racial tolerance message with the mix o' guards she gave me." The others chuckled heartily.

The six of them were gathered together. Technically. In truth they were all separated by hundreds of miles, but it was easy to forget with Twilight's magic mirrors. They were each sprawled in front of their own double triptych of mirrors, relaxing as they chatted with their friends' reflections. It was almost like being in the same room with them.

"Well, there was that whole incident with Zecora," Rarity pointed out, almost apologetically. The fussy fashionista was wrapped in a towel, sprawled out on a massage bench while two mares-- one lavender and pink, one pink and lavender-- worked her wings and back over with a massage. "You didn't exactly come off well during that. And, well, darling, you do come from something of an, um, insular background..."

Applejack bridled at the implied slur. "Jest because ah got a farmer's accent, you think that means I'm some sort o' racist?? Who's bein' the bigot now? Ah didn't get upset 'cause Zecora was a zebra, I was skeered of her because she was dog-gone creepy! Even other zebras are jittery of her! Sides, I don't recall you all exactly covering yourselves in glory when Zecora first came a-callin'--"

"Oh calm down, Applejack," Rarity said, lifting the cucumber slice off one eye to glare at her friend. "I'm just saying that you don't exactly come from a well-traveled background, and Celestia thought having a more mixed Guard might help you adjust to exotic company. You do get on with them, don't you?"

Applejack settled down, mollified. "Fair enough, I suppose. Yeah, we do seem to be hittin' it off. Frankly I'm more at ease with them than with alla them chambermaids and what not."

Twilight suddenly looked curious. "What was that about Zecora making other zebras jittery?"

Applejack chuckled and told her about Omari and his little revelation about Zecora's social niche. Twilight tapped her chin and hmmmed, intrigued. "Fascinating. Zecora never mentioned it, but I guess it would explain why she wasn't terribly put out by ponies being skittish around her. She's probably used to it." She shook her head. "Surprising, though. I had no idea we had any zebras at all in the Guard."

"How would you know?" Pinkie asked innocently. She was sprawled on her belly in front of her mirror munching her way through an enormous tub of popcorn and, for some reason, was wearing a pair of cardboard 3-d glasses.

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well, they all wear those magic armors that change their colors, right?" Pinkie said. "so they all look white or grey. So if you can't see their stripes, how would you know?"

Twilight blinked. "She has a point."

Pinkie tapped her chin in thought. "Hey Twilight-- if a zebra doesn't have any black stripes OR any white stripes, do they turn invisible?"

"Aaaand there it went," Twilight said, deadpan. The others giggled. "So how are the rest of you getting on with your staff and guard?"

"Oh fabulously, darling, fabulously," Rarity said. "Oh, allow me to introduce my two ladies-in-waiting.." she gestured to the two masseuse ponies.

"They look like Aloe and Lotus," Fluttershy said, surprised.

"No, dear, though I did make the offer to them," Rarity said. "These are Lavender and Rosemary, Aloe and Lotus' cousins." She smiled knowingly. "Twins run in the family."

"Figures. Rarity can't go to the spa? She brings the spa with her," Rainbow Dash quipped.

Rarity pouted at the others' snickers. "I'll have you know that I provide spa services to all the ponies on my staff," she said. "Not just myself. Not that I don't deserve it."

"All of them? Your guards are going to be the most pampered ponies on the planet," Twilight chuckled.

"But of course, darling." Rarity lifted a cucumber to give Twilight a knowing look. "You treat your staff well, your staff treats you well. And they most certainly earn their keep. Why, just their service modeling my fabulous new dresses makes them worth their weight in gold. Though I do have to make modifications to them for their personal use," she mused. "I have no idea how I managed to hide fifteen stilettos and a garotte in that Little Black Dress I made for Marigold. You know the darling thing cried when I gave it to her? She said it was the nicest thing anyone ever made for her, the poor dear."

"Well..." Twilight said, at a loss for words. "That's... certainly something."

"And of course they all look fabulous in them. Like I said, worth their weight in gold, even if they hadn't karate chopped Prince Blueblood for getting fresh." She replaced the cucumber and laid back down.

"Karate chop?"

"Prince Blueblood?"

"Yes, yes," Rarity sighed. "Since my course is going to be through several foreign lands, there are a few Equestrian diplomats squirreled away on board. Prince Blueblood managed to wheedle his way into a berth. The dolt figures he can salvage his courtly influence by courting me, it seems. He got into the vin ordinaire one night and tried to make a pass at me. Marigold and Jade Blossom taught him the error of his ways of course. He was up and about the next day, though he hasn't walked the same since then.... what?" The alicorn fashionista discarded the cucumbers entirely and looked at her friends, sincerely puzzled. Her friends, for their part, were staring at Rarity with seriously disturbed expressions.

"So!" Twilight said with forced cheeriness. "How about you, Pinkie?"

"Oh, superiffic," the party alicorn said. "It's funny, though. They're all big and muscle-y like Big Macintosh. And they all talk--" she struck a muscle-pony pose. " --Lahk dees! ARRRH. GET IN DE CHOPPAH!!"

"They're all Hosstrian?"

Pinkie shrugged. "Nah, they just all talk that way. They're nice though. But Lulu is sort of having troubles because of them..."

"...And this is Hans and his brother Frans!" Pinkie said cheerfully, standing between the two at the end of the line of ponies.

"Hallo, Preencess Loona," the enormous black stallion said. "Akchooly, I am Frans--"

"Und I am Hans," his snow white brother said. "Ve ah honuhd to serve." He took Luna's hoof in his own and kissed it chivalrously.

Luna gaped as she stared up-- Up! at the massively muscular earth pony Guard. Ye gods, he was almost as tall as Celestia! Powerful muscle rippled under his gleaming white coat. His massive hoof dwarfed her own. Yet he wasn't clownishly distorted like Captain Snowflake, back on the Nature's Child. No, Hans was cut from the same cloth as Princess Applejack's older brother; carrying his powerful muscles on a frame suited to their size. His brother was no different, only he came in jet black to Hans' gleaming white.

Luna didn't stand a chance. The fierce and untamed world of a thousand years ago had conditioned her at the marrow to crave a stallion who looked like he could take a warhammer to the chest without flinching. Hans and Frans, like every other stallion in the Bouncer Brigade, fit the bill and then some.

Remember your oath, she frantically thought. No mortal stallions. No mortal stallions. No. No. You can not haz beefcake. Must wait until the Panacea is found. NO MORTAL STALLIONS.

"Woof," she said.

Hans' and Frans' eyebrows rose. Mercifully, before Luna could begin drooling, Pinkie spoke up. "I think she means 'welcome.' Welllll, maybe you and the others should go ahead and go, I'm sure you have all sorts of guardsy type stuff to do..." Pinkie ushered the guards out the door. She leaned out the door, waving goodbye to the guards. Luna galloped to her side, sticking her head out the doorway to gawk as they marched off. Pinkie looked up at her mentor. "Well, whaddya think?"

Luna whimpered faintly. An entire ship full of rugged, muscular stallions, hoof-picked by Celestia for their possibly years-long mission. "I think my sister is evil, evil, evil," she said.

"And then she sort of started crying and ran off and had three cold showers and two tubs of double fudge ripple," Pinkie finished, her eyes alarmingly sober. "Not the ice cream-- just the ripple. The dessert chef was really mad."

"Oh the poor dear," Rarity said sympathetically, between gales of laughter. "Would that we all had such troubles..."

"It sounds like Celestia's trying to pressure her into giving up that 'no mortals' dating policy of hers," Twilight said. "Oh, Celestia..." she sighed, shaking her head. She would have said more but some part of her had to agree with Celestia's motives. " She'll be fine, Pinkie Pie. She probably just needs to regain her composure. How about you, Fluttershy? Anything to report?"

"Oh, no," Fluttershy said, smiling. "Everything is going fine. My guards are all sweethearts. And so good with the animals! Oh, there was that little accident with Bishi's sparring practice, but nopony was seriously hurt and the ship's dentist says that he can fix up the guardpony's teeth good as new."

"Wait. What?"

A brief but painful description of Orange Roughy's learning experience soon had the girls rolling on the floor. Even Fluttershy couldn't help giggling at the memory of the guard's utterly stunned face when he'd regained consciousness and realized what had happened. In the midst of the merriment, Fluttershy noticed that Rainbow Dash's laughter seemed... strained. "Is something wrong, Rainbow Dash?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, not really," Dash said. "Nuthin' I can't handle. Really."

This drew Applejack's attention, as well as a raised eyebrow. "Uh huh," she said. "Pull the other one, it has bells on. What's up?"

"Indeed, Rainbow dear," Rarity said. "One doesn't need to be the alicorn of Honesty to see that something is eating at you."

"You can tell us-- we're you're friends!" Pinkie said.

Rainbow hesitated, biting her lip. "It's really nothing, it's just-- well, the Wonderbolts have been kinda, I dunno, stiff. All cold and formal and stuff around me. I dunno, I just get this vibe off them that.." she let her voice drop. " That they don't respect me. Or even like me."

"Well why ever would they not?" Rarity said. She wasn't oblivious to her friend's rougher edges, but if there was any group of ponies a pegasus-- well, former pegasus, Rarity corrected herself mentally-- like Rainbow Dash should fit in with, a bunch of daredevils like the Wonderbolts would be that group, she should think.

"They're probably just still uncertain about how to act around you, Dash," Twilight said, trying to be reassuring. "I mean, new princess and all. They're probably just trying to get used to you."

"You think that's it?" Dash said uncertainly.

"Absolutely," Twilight said, smiling confidently. "I'm sure that after you fly together at Cloudsdale tomorrow and they have a feel of what sort of pony you are, you and they will get along fine."

"I hope you're right," Rainbow Dash muttered.

"And maybe," Applejack said, "just maybe you're seein' more than is there?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, sugarcube, maybe you're just feelin' a little guilty about jumpin' ahead of 'em? I mean one day you're a cadet at their flight camp, the next day you're wearin' a crown and givin' em orders."

"Yeah there is that," Rainbow Dash murmured. "I've kinda been trying to avoid thinking about all that. If I let myself, then it gets all weird. And that's no good either..."

"Awww, don't worry, Rainbow Dash," Pinkie said. "Everything's going to be perfectly fine!" She leaned through the mirror and gave Rainbow Dash a quick hug before settling back in her seat.

The others gawked. "Gnurk?" Twilight managed to say.

Pinkie sat back down on her cushion in her own ship. Rainbow Dash carefully tapped on the mirror. Yup. Solid. "We're going to have to get used to this sort of thing, aren't we?" she said.

"Pinkie, how long have you been able to do that?" Rarity said faintly.

"About five seconds," Pinkie said.

"Please, just... just don't do it again, okay?" Twilight begged, rubbing her temples with her hooves.

Pinkie looked at the mirror, head cocked at an angle. "Eh, it's okay, Twily," she said. "It won't happen again. The Maybe Not has turned orange, so I can't do it anyway."

Twilight's mouth opened and closed a couple of times, but she made no sound. "Okay," she said finally. "Fine, great." She shook her head. "Anyway, Rainbow-- don't worry. It's just a matter of adjustment. We've all got a lot to get used to." She waved her hoof, indicating Pinkie Pie. "Case in point."

Rainbow Dash gave a hesitant laugh. "Okay. Yeah. You're probably right. I'm... sure it will work out." I hope, she added silently.

"And what about you, Twi?" Applejack said. "You gettin' along well with your bunch?"

To the other's surprise, the purple alicorn blushed. "Um, yes, of course," she said, clearing her throat. "The servants are all very professional, and I have four maidservants who help me with all the personal preparations. I'll be meeting with the staff of scholars I picked when we arrive in Manehattan tomorrow, but they seem nice enough."

"And your Guard?"

"Are... very professional," Twilight evaded. "Their captain is Flash Sentry."

"What's he like?" Pinkie asked innocently. Twilight turned very red but said nothing.

"Ohohoho," Rarity crowed. "Our little Twilight's all grown up now. She's discovered boys!" Twilight could do nothing but bury her flaming face in her cushion as her friends squealed in glee.

She surfaced for air as the teasing and giggles died down. "It's not like that," she insisted with great dignity.

A chorused "Uh huh" answered her. She buried her face again.

"Is he nice?"

"Is he cute?" This to everypony's surprise came from Fluttershy.

There was a pause. "Yes," came Twilight's muffled reply. She raised her head. "Okay, yes. He's cute." A smile dimpled her cheeks. "He's very handsome, actually. And very smart, according to his dossier he's a graduate of Wing Point."

"Ooohh," Rarity said. "I can see why that attracts you."

"And not just book smart, either," Twilight went on. "He got promoted to Captain due to his fast thinking; some heroic action in the Crystal Empire thwarting some would-be spy or saboteur." This seemed to impress the others considerably.  "I... haven't had much time to talk with him, but he seems very charming." She clip-clopped her forehooves together, beaming. "We are going to work so well together!"

The six alicorn princesses all had very specific destinations in mind, each according to a different strategy. While those itineraries at first glance were trivial and impulsive, and a thin excuse for the new royalty to indulge in a lavish vacation, there was in fact a strategy to it all. If anything, the fact that their itineraries could have passed as a royal indulgence to a casual observer was half the strategy itself. They were stalking a very timid and skittish quarry, after all, and disguising their intent till the last second was vital.

They had the alicorn detection spell, but that spell was very limited. It would see through any disguise, pierce any veiling, - but it would only indicate the general presence of a hidden alicorn or nascent alicorn within a mile or so, and it was only useful to indicate actual direction within a few hundred feet.

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash had hit on rather similar solutions. There were a lot of ponies to sort through just to find one alicorn or one potential, so they were going to go out and meet a lot of ponies.

Rainbow Dash's Wonderbolt tour was, in her eyes, a stroke of brilliance. Ponies of every tribe gathered by the thousands to watch a Wonderbolts show; she would be able to sweep crowds of tens of thousands with the 'detecto-spell' at every show as she and the others flew overhead. Cloudsdale was her first stop, and the testing ground for her theory.

Pinkie Pie's plan, while more festive, meant the same thing. She and Luna going to hit Maredi Gras, Carnival, the New Years party at Manehattan.... every big celebration on the Equestrian calendar and every little one in between, scanning the teeming crowds for the elusive nascents even as they partied down. For that matter if history was anything to go by, she was going to be at the center of the party the moment she arrived.

Applejack and Fluttershy, however, were operating under a different assumption. They were of the opinion that alicorns and nascents would be reclusive, much as Celestia and Luna had been when they first manifested. Applejack was of the mind that an alicorn would retreat to a more rural setting, where ties were close and privacy was a must.... "And let's be fair, where there ain't likely to be too many unicorn eggheads to spot 'em," she'd admitted. Her trail took her to the small towns, farming communities and hometown harvest festivals. Her first stop was Cherry Jubilee's Cherry Jubilee at Dodge Junction.

Fluttershy on the other hand felt that they would be even more reclusive, hiding out in the wilderness where few if any ponies ventured. She intended to search the remote corners of the world, nature preserves and national parks and places known for their isolation and paradise-like beauty.... and for rumors and ghost stories about strange ponies who lived therein. Winsome Falls and the Unicorn Range were her first stop,  followed by Hollow Shades. She would allegedly be visiting with the park rangers, and attending a Foal's Scouts Jamboree... but would be spending a fair amount of time exploring the hills and forests for sign of the alicorns' hidden kin.

If Fluttershy was going about her part of the search following her own biases, Rarity could be forgiven for engaging in a little projection herself. The fashionista's argument was that anypony who had become, de facto, immortal would eventually seek out the finer things in life; fine art, fine dining, fine clothing. "After all, after a few centuries one would tend to accumulate considerable wealth and influence," she had argued. "And what would be the point of that? To pile it up in a cave someplace? Ah, no offense, Spikey Wikey. No, I see an alicorn becoming quite comfortable over time-- perhaps as an eccentric millionaire recluse?"

"I can hardly argue," Celestia had said with wry amusement, "Seeing as I've lived in a palace for over a millenium."

So it seemed that Rarity would be going the more traditional route for royalty; hob-nobbing with high society and the nouvea riche,  discreetly searching for those who perhaps had a bit more to hide than mere indiscretions or family scandals. She had chosen Neigh Orleans (famous for its gentrified upper class) as the first leg of her tour, to be followed by Mareis, Prance (the city of lights, epicenter of world high fashion) and Applewood (the playground of the rich and famous, actors and moviemakers.)

As for Twilight, she was taking a more circuitous route to her goals. Rather than sweep the cities searching for alicorns or nascents, or searching the forests and hills for some hidden alicorn sanctuary, she was instead touring the facilities of knowledge and learning scattered throughout Equestria; the universities, the museums, the research laboratories. And, not so coincidentally, touching base with the various ponies scattered throughout who were conducting research at Celestia's behest into alicornism and immortality. Even if their research was currently fruitless, she might learn something that would help. And wouldn't an ascended alicorn gravitate to such places, to learn to control their new powers, in an effort to understand their own condition?

Her first port-of-call, therefore, was Manehattan, where  she would be taking an exhaustive tour of the museums and scientific institutes that called the city home-- including a small, unobtrusive hospital sitting on the very outskirts of the sprawling city, where certain types of obscure and abstract medical research were taking place...

And meanwhile, Celestia, Cadence and Shining Armor would put their own efforts towards searching both Canterlot and the Crystal Empire.

They had their magic. They had their teams. They had their loyal siblings and sidekicks. They had their fully stocked and equipped airships. They had the tools, they had the talent... they had the plan.

There's a famous saying in the military about plans. In this case there wasn't even an enemy to encounter. Next Chapter: Chapter 15 Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 8 Minutes