The meteorite XJ-29 was wreathed in flame as it collided with Earth’s atmosphere. The mile wide mountain burned a path to the waiting ocean below. Bits and pieces of it fell away, reduced to ash. Unfortunately for those living along the coast and islands, the majority of the meteorite survived to smash through the pristine blue waters. In the process it displaced enough water to create a tsunami that experts would later measure out to a maximum of twenty seven feet.

Upon contact with the saline waters the burnt exterior cracked and fell apart to sink in various directions. Buried deep below the surface of the rock burst forth dozens of machines. With the meteorite arriving at its target, they quickly self-destructed. The center of the meteorite revealed itself to be a near perfect sphere of reflective silver colored alloys that remained intact. The fifty foot diameter core sank so rapidly it hit the seafloor in the space of half an hour. From there it sat inert for several minutes before movement within stirred the sphere to life.

Arrival at system 5618-C complete. Scanning…coordinates indicate arrival in aqueous body 397 successful. Initiating primary directive.

Two panels opened on the sides to intake an enormous amount of water. The machine took the broke the impurities into subatomic particles while leaving the water itself intact. With the stripped particles, it reformed them into usable elements, then to workable molecules, all the way up until it fashioned viruses and specialized microscopic packets to carry them.

The sphere cycled the water continuously to take more impurities out of it to make more viral packets until it could fit no more within itself. Without ceremony, the packets were dumped into the latest batch of sea water and then flushed out of the machine.

Cycle one complete. . . .Initiating relocation protocol. XJ-29 would move several miles away in a random direction before it would repeat the process, over and over again until it could function no more.

The packets were extremely buoyant and accelerated to the surface over the course of two days. Even though they were tossed about by the underwater currents, the packets were capable of staying in a dense area no matter how the currents tried to toss them about. Upon finally reaching the surface, the first layer of the packets ruptured violently with the air and pushed the inner pocket full of viral particles into the air. Had anyone been watching, they would have noticed the patch of water was bubbling forth brown gas that refused to disperse, but was instead carried as a whole at the whims of the wind into the upper atmosphere over the course of a day. Halfway through the stratosphere, the second layer of the packets burst and the last layer was too heavy and sank back down to the Earth’s surface.

Once the cluster returned to the troposphere, the last layer of the packets broke and the contents were released as a heavy cloud that continued to sink until it became a hanging fog roughly a square mile in size. Because of the completely random location of the delivery system, the first cloud landed back in open water; this time in the Atlantic. Many others would find similar resting places, and the viruses fully decayed after the fogs fell to the ground and dissipated. However not all clouds would land in uninhabited areas.

Four days later in a small subsistence farming community northeast of Trinidad, Bolivia; a brown cloud fell upon the thirty inhabitants during a celebratory festival. It was after dark so no one noticed the dense cloud until the starlight became obscured, even then the people had no reason to fear a cloud and continued on their merriment.

It was only when the cloud became a choking fog that smothered everything did people start to panic and blame an industrial complex many miles away for the pollution. All mirth was forgotten and they retreated to their homes with windows and doors barred to keep the cloud at bay. Upon taking their first breath of the cloud, each victim begins coughing almost uncontrollably. Barely an hour after infection each host began to lose lucidity and collapse where they stood. Those that stayed in longer collapsed sooner.

Hours later, they awoke to a singular commanding voice heard only within their minds. “Awake my children and heed The Herald of the Koridost.” As a whole, the community rose to their feet. Outwardly they looked as they did before, save for the slightly wild look in their eyes. The voice was pleased. “Good my Mions. All of you will serve me well, and through me you will earn favor among the Gods.” The baritone voice selected the physically weaker individuals to speak to alone, the old, young, or infirm. “You will stay here. Tend to the crops and prepare for expansion.” At the same time, the voice called out to the strong members of the community. “Gather weapons and vehicles. You must find more to convert.”

As one, the people shouted. “By the power of our faith, your will be done.” There was no hesitation, no question, and no dissent. There was no defying the Herald, and no one wanted to.

“And by my will, may the light of the Koridost shine across your world.” The voice echoed back. “Prepare a meal and gather your strength. We have much work to do.”

The ground was covered in a film of brown harmless dust, the remains of the viruses had decayed and died after falling to the ground. That was none of the Mions’ concern. The community gathered for a last meal before collecting any and all firearms, ammunition, fuel and vehicles. Shortly thereafter those singled out by the Herald drove off towards a nearby small community to bring more into the fold.

One week after the XJ-29 fell to Earth, Alexia was whistling happily while scrubbing herself in the shower. The shampoo quickly ate away Conrad’s scent off of her. The previous hour had marked another round of sex. That was only half the reason she whistled happily to herself. The mental wall had been sundered badly, and could only muster weak waves of revulsion at Alexia’s cheerfulness.

“The last time almost felt good. Before I could only stand it because it was with him and doing damage to the wall. The last time though…” She closed her eyes as she magiced the sudsy sponge over her face and washed it off in the running water before musing aloud again. “That time I felt nothing. As if that was like a midpoint for me.” She grins savagely. “I might be able to get some pleasure out of the next round.”

With every last inch of her cleaned, she stepped out and dried off, and combed her mane, tail, and fur to a rough but clean appearance. As she performed all of this, she summoned the tome and opened it to her latest and currently most interested study. The page had a spell array that differed greatly from that of the crystal conjuration ones. Instead of sharp angles and a few runes within a perimeter circle, the interior of the circle had long arcing lines in a spiral pattern where none of the lines touched each other. The center of the array was a second circle three inches in diameter with a single large rune in the center. The rune was shaped roughly like a lowercase N. The top line was straight with the bend into the right leg being a perfect ninety degree angle on the outside, and a curved arch on the interior. The rest of the right leg of the rune was straight and plain, but the left leg of the rune was a silhouette of a jagged cutlass that lacked a hilt and the blade curved inward.

Tune studied every last detail of the array and gathered a piece of paper from the counter and a pen off the sink. She traced the diagram onto the paper and closed the tome while keeping the paper in front of her. Once outside in the clear afternoon weather she silently grabbed several pieces of white chalk of various sizes and a bucket of water with a scrub brush. A patch of wood on the back deck was losing its finish from all the times Alexia had drawn and cleaned off the variety of arrays.

She took a few deep breathes to center herself before letting the biggest piece of chalk going to action recreating the circle of the array as the unicorn kept looking back and forth from the paper to the deck. As needed, she switched chalk pieces to the required width. She would curse under her breath every time she made a mistake and had to scrub the problem and then blast the water away with a blow drier attached to an extension cord.

As soon as she was satisfied that the array was complete, Alexia put her tools away and stepped inside, careful to avoid disturbing the lines. Her horn activated and the array pulsed to life with a golden light along its lines. “Good its working as intended.”

She deactivated the array and stepped outside to scrub it all down and dry the wood off to redraw it all over again. This process repeated itself from just after lunch until when Conrad emerged from the house after dark.

“Alexia, dinner…” He stopped to watch the unicorn as she just finished drying off her latest attempt and had seven pieces of fresh chalk active at once. He took to the air to get a better look and saw the array be perfectly finished in less than a minute. Before she could test it he came into a hover a few inches off the ground to the left of her array. “That was very impressive work. I don’t think even the greatest artists could match that.”

Tune chuckled lightly at the compliment. “Well, they don’t have telekinesis either. I think most do a good job with what they’ve got.”

“Is this another gem array?” He asked while studying it carefully. “It looks very different than your other ones.”

“That’s because it’s not a conjuration array.” She began joyfully explaining her passion for magic. Conrad always made it a point to listen when she would regal about the topic. “It’s for divination. According to the book, the larger this particular array is, the larger the radius of detection it can produce. At the cost of reduced accuracy anyway.”

“Detecting what exactly?” He inquired having never moved his gaze from the array.

A conniving grin creased her face. “Step inside and give it a try.”

Conrad gave her a puzzled look. “I thought only you could use arrays.”

She shook her head. “Nope. Anyone of us can use arrays and gemstones, the thing that sets unicorns apart is that we can cast a wide assortment of active spells without needing arrays or enchanted crystals to do so. The patterns work for the other tribes, but they require a much larger amount of your magic as most arrays are designed for unicorns by default. But as I said, you can activate the pattern just as I can, provided you give it enough magic to function. Without that its just graffiti on the ground.”

He hummed contemplatively. His curiosity was piqued and he stepped inside. “So umm. How exactly do I give it magic?”

Alexia almost summoned the tome, but realized she already knew the answer. “As a pegasus, you have to flare your wings and think about flying. Don’t actually fly because you’ll do just that and you need to maintain contact with the array.”

“That simple?” The brown pegasus did as instructed and the array came to life in a faint red glimmer. Alexia probed the array with her magic. “You need to give it more power. Try thinking about flying higher and faster.”

“Okay.” The array flared with renewed vigor and Conrad’s eyes dilated to the side of dinner plates. “Oh wow…”

Alexia was on her hoof tips in the excitement of sharing her practical knowledge of magic and had to suppress a squeal of delight. “Well? What do you see?”

Conrad’s gaze remained fixed ahead, but saw nothing around him. “It’s like I’m hovering a mile in the sky and looking down on a green night vision tinted world.”

“Notice anything standing out?” She asked with amusement.

It took him several seconds to reconcile having disembodied vision. “No…wait. There’s a collection of three red dots in the center of my field of vision.”

Alexia jumped for joy at her rapidly drawn array working perfectly. “Great success!”

Conrad stopped thinking of flying and the array died away along with his out of body experience. “Were those three dots us?”

She nodded happily. “Yup. That array was specially crafted to find ponies after disasters or who are lost in rough terrain. I’m hoping we can use it to find other ponies on Earth.”

Conrad stepped out of the array to stand next to Alexia. “What will we do then?”

She looked away in mild embarrassment while digging a hoof in the wood. “Well, if we gathered enough we could…” She looked back at him with a searching gaze. “Maybe start a community?” She shook her head to clear her mind of the loathing fog her subconscious was imposing on her from Conrad’s proximity. “I’ll bring it up in more detail while we eat so I don’t have to explain it again to Loki.”

It was as he suspected. I knew she had higher aspirations than just sitting in the manor for the rest of our lives. He draped a wing over her withers. “Sounds like we’d be leaving all of this behind if we do that.”

“I know.” She said with mild melancholy. The personal touch from Conrad soothed her anxiety, while also sending her subconscious further off kilter. Her brow furrowed in concentration to keep calm with his wing on her. “But we need to move forward.” She said both to him and herself.

An approving grin came over him. “I wholeheartedly agree.” He guided her with his wing towards the house. “For now though, dinner’s getting cold.”

She looked up at him as he removed his wing to the door. “What’s on the menu tonight?”

“Salad.” He deadpanned. It was his most commonly prepared meal as he little experience cooking which was compounded by Loki’s inability or unwillingness to order the groceries he asks for. “I have some grilled salmon for myself and you if you want any.”

“Does Loki not get any?” She asked wondering if Conrad was pissed at the prankster.

The mare in question strode out of the kitchen with a mix between resentment and dismissiveness. “I would if the stuff tasted good anymore.” The bowl on her head was stuffed with greens with not a spec of fish in it.

“What about that sub sandwich was last week.” Alexia called out as she gathered her food in a bowl.

Loki stopped between the den and the dining room. “The chicken tasted horrible and you remember I ended up puking it back up an hour later.”

“Maybe it was a bad sandwich or the meat was expired.” She called out to the dining room as she pulled a beer from the fridge. Alcohol made it difficult to use her magic so Alexia refrained from it except for dinner.

By the time Alexia gathered her meal and stepped into the dining room, Loki was already a fourth of the way done with her salad. She didn’t bother with utensils and simply dug her muzzle in the bowl. Tune took her seat and gave her friend a curious look. “Couldn’t find the silverware?”

Loki shrugged and finished chewing. “I don’t see the point anymore. With a muzzle it’s a lot easier to eat this way. Sides, its not like your using silverware either.”

The wad of salad in Tune’s magic halted its path to her mouth. “Well that’s because I don’t need it unless I’m eating a steak or something.”

“Let me ask you this.” Loki said between bites. “Do you even want steak anymore? Or just enough meat to keep your magic reserves high?”

“Umm.” Alexia mulled over the question, absently chewing her salad. “I could live without it.” But I’d rather not. This salmon is to die for.

“Then we have something else in common.” She waved a hoof at Conrad. “He may be the only real omnivore of the group anymore. You just eat it cause you keep casting magic all the time. Does the fish actually taste good to you?”

Conrad ignored the attention to his less than perfect cooking, and grumbled at her. “Maybe if you bought the damn spices I ask for.”

Alexia inspected the fish in her bowl. “Well, I’ll admit it has some of its appeal, given that vegetables taste way better now. But meat still tastes well enough. And I haven’t noticed any digestion problems from eating the stuff.”

I don’t mind not having a stupid horn or itchy wings, but me being the only one who can’t enjoy meat anymore!? Loki growled at finding herself to be the only real herbivore in the group.

Conrad sighed in expectant irritation. Great. Now she’s going to blow up about this now. Last time it was a sudden nostalgia for hands, before that it was that she’s shorter now and has to climb on the counter to reach the shelves. With Alexia present he couldn’t punch Loki into unconsciousness so he distracted himself with his meal.

Tune tried desperately to calm her friend down by waving her hooves at her. “Ah come on Loki, its not so bad. I mean, you can a lot of stuff now that you couldn’t as a human.” It had no effect on Loki’s impending blow up. “Stuff like tree leaves, grass…Okay not really good examples.” Loki’s right eye was becoming bloodshot and Alexia could feel a buildup of Loki’s magic in her forelegs as she pushed down on the table. The furniture was starting to creak under the force of Loki’s strength. Alexia didn’t want to resort to magical manipulation again and kept pleading with her. “What about flowers?”

Loki’s face blanked and the table stopped groaning. Ever so slowly, she turned to face the unicorn with the same vacant stare. “What did you say?”

Alexia let her hooves hang in the air and glanced at Conrad who only shrugged and tried to finish his meal before the table snapped. Sweat rolled down Tune’s face as she put her hooves down. “I ahh… I said flowers. I believe we can eat flowers now.”

Loki’s brain was misfiring more so than usual. “You mean those colorful things men try to woo women with?”

Conrad snorted. I’d hate to see the kind of man you reel in.

Tune wasn’t sure how to proceed. “Um. Yeah.”

A hoof came to Loki’s chin. “So now instead of them wasting space on my dashboard I can use them as a snack?”

Seeing she was making progress, Alexia sighed in relief. “I’m sure of it.”

“How interesting.” Loki’s expression returned to her snarky self. “I’m going to have to try that.” She stood up in her chair, grabbed her drink, and held it up high. “A toast! To eating decorations.”

Whew. Disaster averted. Alexia levitated her beer over to clink on Loki’s glass.

Loki brought her glass around to Conrad who had a look of supreme disinterest. Damn she needs some meds. With no desire to be petty, he grabbed his drink and clinked her glass.

All three took a swig form their respective drinks and the meal lapsed into silence for several minutes. Alexia spent the time mulling over her long term plans and how to sell her housemates on the idea. Conrad eventually broke it with a question directed at Alexia. “So when do you want to get started on your search?”

“What search?” Loki asked after pulling her face out of the bowl.

Alexia chewed on a celery stalk in the corner of her mouth as she gave her answer. “I’ve been working on divination lately Loki. Sort of like a magic version of GPS to find other ponies across large distances.”

“So you were serious about all that?” The green mare inquired.

Alexia had mentioned the goal to her offhandedly before she began her studies into divination and had not taken it as seriously before. “I was and still am.”

“Well I’m all for it.” Loki announced. I’m getting tired of listening to you two jump each other’s bones. I want to find my own stallion. Fun sticks can only go for so long.

“When do you want to leave?” Conrad asked the unicorn.

“Well to be perfectly honest, I want to be over this mental barrier before then. I don’t want it holding me back anymore. Plus I still owe Qubert a light show.”

Loki scratched her left ear whenever she was thinking creatively. “Well that’ll give me time to order some travel supplies.”

“Some saddlebags would be useful.” Conrad pointed out only to receive questioning glances. “Well we have the body type for them, and they’d be more comfortable than normal backpacks.”

Loki’s ears fell flat. “Why do I get the feeling you're thinking of leaving the car behind.”

Alexia shook her head to ease Loki’s reservations. “I don’t think we should. We can do a repeat of what we did at that fair. Use it to travel close to cities and whatnot, and then leave it behind when we actually enter the urban areas or rough terrain.”

Conrad was still against it. “What about refueling?” That caught the mares up short for a moment. “Between the failures of stopping XJ-29 from hitting the planet and the aftermath of the tsunami I haven’t seen a peep of your unveiling at the science fair. People will still react unpredictably if we try going to a gas station, they keep cameras all over those places now.”

Loki was loath to leave the car behind, but was forced to agree. “The samurai’s right about that. The net is buzzing about the whole scandal, Billy Granger’s latest divorce, and new console wars. I haven’t seen us on any websites save for a few low traffic ones. Unless I’m looking in all the wrong places; as far as the world at large is concerned, we still don’t exist. I think if there had been more than just the two of us at the fair, we’d have caused a big enough of a stir to get noticed.”

“Buggery.” Alexia looked down at her nearly empty plate contemplating a solution. A gleam in her eye and determination etched her features. “Well so what? We’re not trying to hide our existence, right?” She received nonverbal responses to the negative. “So why should we hide ourselves just because we’ll get caught on camera. I say let the cameras see us. The more people that know about us, the more we won’t come across as a hoax.”

Conrad’s wings rustled with worry. “Remember how you met me? There are still people out there that will want to use or kill us, if at the very least because we’re a curiosity.”

Alexia was not to be dissuaded. “I understand your concern, and I’ll make some more invisibility crystals to protect us if need be; but I don’t want to live in hiding from humanity.” Loki nodded in agreement, already wishing to be back in a public setting. Conrad chided himself to egging Alexia on like that, but he found it hot when she talked about grandiose plans. “I hate to sound egotistical here. But we’re a gift to humanity.”

Loki gave her a strange look that was mirrored in Conrad. “No, no. That’s the most humble thing I’ve ever heard.”

Alexia ignored Loki’s sarcasm. “I don’t mean us personally, but in what we are is the gift.” She turned to Loki. “You may not like farming, but I’m sure you’re not the only earth pony out there. Even a handful of your tribe could bring about a new revolution in agriculture.” She faced Conrad next. “Twilight stated pegasi are the stewards of the weather. That alone would put your tribe in an equally high demand worldwide, maybe going so far as to reverse desertification. We can offer humankind our talents in exchange for acceptance and comradery.” She knew there was no need to speak of the unicorns as she had already demonstrated many applications as to what they could offer already. “And that’s only what a book solely revolving around magic says. There’s no telling what else we could do.”

Loki leaned back in her chair idly chewing on a carrot. “I never thought of it like that. I mean, the way the world works, those with rare and highly useful skills are worth their weight in gold. But what it sounds like to me is that you want us to proliferate.” She ended her observation with a few winks in Conrad’s direction.

Tune’s cheeks reddened and scratched the back her head in embarrassment. “I’d rather start with finding any other ponies out there and found a settlement for ourselves before going into that. Give our kind a home before we start branching out.”

Conrad tapped a hoof in contemplation. She’s been leaning this way for the past few days, but never voiced it so well before. I knew she wouldn’t want to stay here forever, but to have such a wild dream? “Do you have a plan of action?”

The corner of Alexia’s mouth turned downward. “Only a basic outline. I was thinking we need a whole new place to live, somewhere away from it all, and yet close to a major urban area.”

Loki tittered lightly. “Isn’t that an oxymoron?”

“You might be surprised.” Conrad countered. “If you let me use your phone I can find a suitable spot.” Alexia brightened at the acceptance of her plan. “What do we do with the land when we find it?”

“That depends on the next part.” Tune addressed Loki next. “Would you be averse to spending a mill or two to set up some construction contractors to get the basics of the town built? If we have the tools already in place for when we start arriving in mass that’ll make it all the easier to get it off the ground.”

Loki’s expression became unreadable as she fell into silence. When did she take me for a philanthropist? I mean, yes I donated one point three million to the first relief fund for the tsunami victims. But outside of that I earned that money with honest theftery and now she wants me to give it all up for this? She wrestled with the idea for several minutes. Tune knew it was a lot to ask for so she let the mare war with herself in peace.

Conrad didn’t know what to expect of her. She only gives one thing freely: grief. But she’s unstable enough that she might agree to it in spite of it all.

The meal carried on in silence until Loki slammed a hoof down on the table, rattling the plates and denting the wood in the process. “I’ll do it. It’ll take some time to gather that kind of bread, but I’ll do it.” She announced with a serious tone. “But I get to name the colony.”

A massive grin was plastered over Alexia’s face. “Deal!”

Conrad winced at the evil gleam in Loki’s eyes. “I swear if you give it a shitty name I’m not living there.”

Loki tutted and waved her hoof dismissively at him. “I’m not going to come up with name for it right away. I have to focus my mojo to think of a bitchin name.” She waved her forelegs in the air in a grandiose manner. “Its going to be so awesome that the US will have no choice but to make it the new capital.”

Conrad buried his face in his hooves. I swear if it’s a pony pun I’m going to kill her, and I’ll probably have help.

Alexia didn’t care what name she made it, provided it wasn’t obscene. “We have our funding, Conrad can find the colony location, and I’ll finish manufacturing a few more gems along with improving my knowledge on divination.”

Loki clapped cheerfully. Yes! More company. She pumped a hoof in the air. “As one, the three ponyteers will give all ponykind a new home! Ho!” She only received blank stares. Meh, I tried. Without another word and a deft bit of hoofwork, she took her empty bowl and flung it through the air and the plastic dish clattered loudly into the sink. “Score!” She hopped down and started off to her room. “I’ve got some research on construction companies to do. See you later.”

Conrad groaned at the noisy clattering, fully expecting he would have to clean up broken glass somewhere. “Did you have to do that?”

“Yes.” Loki replied matter-of-factly as she trotted upstairs.

Conrad grumbled as he went about clean up after dinner. With Loki bringing in money and supplies along with Alexia constantly studying magic and producing enchanted gems and learning other useful spells to the table, Conrad had wordlessly volunteered to take care of everything else, from cooking to putting the shipments away from Loki’s orders. There was a large pile of boxes in the garage labeled “Deranged” which Conrad assumed was part of Loki’s eccentric shopping habits. At present he was cleaning up after diner while Alexia assisted.

“So how is your…wall today?” He still wasn’t totally sure about the label she gave it.

“Getting weaker.” She replied truthfully. “I’m hoping I’ll be able to enjoy our next romp.”

He was aware of what the mental barrier did to her, so the proclamation sounded encouraging. Even though he knew she desired help in that fashion, he still felt dirty for being able to experience real pleasure from the act when she was fighting herself just to stand there and take him. “Truly?”

“Well I won’t know for sure until we go again.” The mere thought of Conrad in that light caused a surge of hatred leveled at herself and him. She gritted her teeth to force it back down, but she did note that it was much easier to do so than several days ago. You don’t control me. This is my mind, my body. She glanced at Conrad who was pouring detergent in the dishwasher. I hate using him to break this wall down; but as he said, he does like it.

Forcing her disgust down as low as possible, she walked over to nuzzle him. The feel of his coat and his scent helped quell the outrage of her subconscious. With her on his neck, he had to use a wing to finish setting the dishwasher before give her, her wanted attention. He reciprocated the nuzzle and didn’t detect any sign of her flinching or cowing to his touch. I hope she’s right. For all her trouble she deserves it.

After a while the bile in her gut was getting too strong to suppress for much longer and she separated from him. “Conrad. Have you had troubled women in your life before?”

“Ha! Plenty.” He gave her a gentle look. “But you’re the only one I know that wants to cure herself.”

“Speaking of curing myself.” She lit her horn and presented it to him.

“What if Loki comes down to snack?”

Alexia pulled her head back up. “Then we can go to the master bedroom.” He nodded and they started walking.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you Alexia. Do you ever want to try something other than standing during sex? You tend to collapse afterwards.”

“Truth be told, I prefer to stand. You may not know it, but when you mount me while I’m on all fours, it helps to clear up a lot of the noise my subconscious raises. I don’t know about Loki, but when I was still using the dongs, I couldn’t get off without standing and putting some weight on my back.”

“Fascinating.” He replied in a mildly curious tone. Alexia closed the door behind them while Conrad drew the curtains. The room fell into darkness until Tune activated a light spell. She left the artificial lights off and cantered over to the awaiting stallion. If what she said is true, then I won’t rest tonight until she can experience real pleasure. I stake my honor on that.

Meanwhile, Loki kept an ear in the hallway and waited for the lovers to sequester themselves away. That was the door. Damn it, I shouldn’t have been such an ass to Conrad, he’s the only stallion around and he’d never give me a quick fix. All the more reason to make sure this trip to find more of us goes well.

Loki waiting for the couple to become preoccupied, and now that they were, she left her computer harness behind and snuck her way out of the house through the front door. Trying to be as light on her hooves as possible, she tiptoed until she was in the grass and then took off on a dead run up the tree lined driveway. Galloping through the vast open fields was one of Loki’s recently discovered guilty pleasures. As a human, she had never been out of shape, which was mostly due to a moderately good diet and living a transient lifestyle.

She reached the edge of the main road and took the sharp ninety degree turn and ran along the side of the road tearing at the dirt beneath her hooves. She ran a full mile with ease. She only started breathing heavily when she was nearing the third mile and it wasn’t until the fourth mile when she started to sweat. Still she ate away at the distance galloping along with a stupid grin on her face and loving the exhilaration of how fast she could go.

Loki laughed manically at the wind against her face. “It's like I’m sticking my head out of the car window. Why is running so damn fun?!”

Her path was not random as she found the river she was looking for at the bridge in the road. Loki banked slightly to get off the side of the road and down to the river bank. She skidded to a halt a few inches shy of the drop off into the water. The moon was barely a crescent in the sky, but with the large eyes ponies possessed they had strong night vision, which Loki took full advantage of in the dead of night. Here was her second guilty pleasure. One she never wanted to give Alexia the satisfaction of knowing about. Loki did not waste time with cooling down from her run as she was dead set on getting to the brown tarp off to the side and pulled it off to reveal a solar rechargeable battery pack and a sunlamp. She pulled the battery pack off the recharge dock and stuck it in the lamp before walking over to a short row of budding tulips growing along the edge of the river bank.

Loki covered her eyes with a leg and flipped the light on and waited for her vision to adjust to the brightness before placing the lamp near the tulips. With it in place, Loki crouched low to the ground next to her plants. Gathering magic in her right hoof made no visual cue like Alexia’s horn, but Loki could feel the pooling magic all the same. She picked the first tulip to her left and stomped her hoof on the dirt next to the flower. The ten inch plant seemed to jump to seventeen and the bud started to crack open. Another dose of magic and the plant shot up to twenty inches and the yellow flower was in full bloom.

Loki studied the plant intensely. “Screw miracle grow, my hoof is all I need for this.” The flower swayed in a light breeze making Loki wish to finish blooming the rest of the eight flowers and did so with the help of her lamp. At last she angled the lamp to shine on all eight to see them all. “This really is kind of nice.” She sniffed the flower. “Feels a little like cheating though.” Heh, I’m all for that.

She sat there for several minutes in a sudden appreciation for the simplistic beauty that small row of flowers could bring. Not as beautiful as cracking into fat cat’s bank account, but this has its merits.

Eventually Alexia’s earlier statement came to mind and Loki stood up and walked over to one end of the flowerbed. “I have created you all! And now, I will devour you all!” With an evil laugh she bent down to bite the stem of the flower off near the ground and promptly ate the flower.

She left off a hum of culinary delight. “Holy moly, Alex was right! This stuff tastes like candy.” She ate three more. Damn these things are good. In went another. Trading meat for flowers and grass… Well the flowers make up for it, and I don’t even have to cook them.

With the last of the tulips polished off, Loki turned the lamp off and tucked it away under the tarp while making sure the solar cells were left exposed. With her secret garden safe, she cantered away from the riverbank and assumed a runner’s starting position on the side of the road. With a fierce grin at the anticipation of running again, Loki thundered back home.