Crimson absently gazed out of the back passenger window of the neon blue Volt as Loki drove it through the northern California wilderness along highway five. The setting sun put the trees against a backdrop of color. The rough untamed terrain was a welcome sight to her over the urban landscape of the Bay Area.

Anderson grew up in the backwoods of Louisiana and was more at home in rural areas. Conrad sat in front of her while reading Alexia’s tome. Tune was sitting next to Crimson and was deep in meditation, as she had been since lunch. The mother-to-be felt she had worked enough on herself to move onto fixing her foals’ itineris systems.

The thought of foals caused the pale yellow pony to absently touch her abdomen. Conrad’s latest donation to the cause had long since cooled, but the mare still remembered the feeling of it. It was a very different sensation for her. All of the other times had been when she was either not in season, or was under the effects of a contraception spell.

The Alarm Clock Disease was calmed considerably at the thought of the activity she and Conrad had partaken twice since the medic learned of her condition, but she doubted it would go away fully until she saw a positive test result or so far as needing to hold her future child.

Despite the herd’s assurances that they would do their best to make it work, Crimson still felt guilty about it. I promise you Alex, none of you will be dragged down because of me and my child. I just have nine months to figure out how to keep that from happening.

The group didn’t arrive at the new town until eight o’clock in the next morning, and everyone save Loki were pleasantly surprised by what they saw. The green mare thumbed her snout and had a self-satisfied grin as she swept the same hoof over the dashboard of the car. “Mates. I give you our new home: Trinity!”

The growing pony community was built over the remains of a town called McCloud in northern California. It had been abandoned almost a decade ago due to a military quarantine of the whole area that lasted until the winter of last year. Around the same time Conrad was hunting for a build site, the various properties of the abandoned town went up for sale and were extremely cheap.

After informing the green mare of the ideal location, the construction company Loki contracted got the utilities back on for the whole town and repaired or bulldozed any structures that couldn’t be salvaged. The car passed a sign declaring the town’s new name in grandiose print.

Conrad scanned the skies above to see dozens of pegasi in the air, while their ground bound cousins flittered to and fro as all of them worked to revive the dead town. The human contractors were still there, paving new roads and extending the waterworks and other services to the twenty three new construction sites in the downtown area alone. Trinity was nestled in a heavily wooded area and the contractors had not cut down any of the trees outside of what was necessary to complete their work. From the looks of it though I bet we’ll have to cut quite a few down or replant them.

The herd’s car was not the only one on the road, and in fact, many were lining the streets from those who did not arrive by bus or those intrepid few who decided to fly over from San Francisco under their own power.

McCloud had been a small town before it was abandoned, and Loki had originally vastly underestimated the number of ponies that would want to live there. As a result, Trinity had a severe housing problem and enough small temporary pod domicile units for two thousand people sat along the eastern light forests. Nevertheless she attempted to rectify that lack of foresight with expanding the contract to multiple companies and all of her hacking profits went straight into funding the city projects. Even then it was not enough, but there were a couple of very wealthy ponies from The Ranch who were willing to chip in for the price of having several buildings and streets be named after or by them. It had taken some strong convincing on Alexia’s part to talk them out of keeping the deed for the land or buildings built with their money. Part of that deal she negotiated with them was that Loki would forfeit all rights to the property she funded as well.

Crimson forgot her personal issues to join her mates in gazing at the site of it all. “How many ponies do you think are here?”

Alexia had her satellite smartphone out as she searched for information on the town before it was subjected to quarantine to contain a particularly nasty virus from escaping. “Far more than that one point three thousand that used to live here. There was over four thousand ponies from The Ranch alone who wanted to live in the same town as us. But I can’t imagine they’ll be able to stay here. Trinity simply can’t support a population of that size yet.”

Conrad was immensely pleased that the burgeoning town was off to such a strong start. "So long as people wish to move into town and that it remains profitable, Trinity will be able to shore up the infrastructure in no time."

The green furred driver pulled into the parking lot of the first building the crews had put together. While Loki was thinking small in terms of Trinity’s initial population, she knew the town would need to be able to scale up with ease. As such, the town hall she parked at was a three story square structure of nondescript concrete walls.

The hacker decided that the budget would be happier if functionality took precedence over aesthetics for the contract work, leaving anything decorative to be added later. As the herd exited the vehicle, the milling ponies nearby were ignorant by Alexia’s arrival as neither her arrival time nor what car she was in had been given ahead of time.

Tune’s herd entered the building without causing a ruckus from her popularity. The lobby within was crammed with ponies trying to find housing, work, tools, and other administrative requirements.

What Alexia didn’t know, was that Thompson made sure that the ponies from the other internment camps had been sent to Trinity in slightly higher numbers than those from The Ranch. The idea was to have the far more lively ponies from The Ranch could bolster the moods of those from the other camps.

Those present in the lobby who were not from The Ranch were the ones who were either mentally strong enough to carry on without her magic, or those who had seen the broadcast. Rumors about Alexia's seemingly heavenly aura spread like wildfire among the other camps and in Trinity itself.

So it was, that as soon as Tune entered the lobby and tried to make her way to what she hoped was the mayor’s office, her possession of both wings and a horn was identified by the crowd who momentarily forgot their current tasks.

The silence that formed in the lobby was deafening. The herd only managed to get half way to the visible staircase in the center of the back wall when Alexia came to a halt upon seeing so many wonder-struck eyes directed her way. She suppressed a defeated sigh. Well its not like I was going to be able to avoid this.

The silver mare cleared her throat to help focus on switching her speech back into English. “Greetings everyone. My name is Alexia Tune.” Without even realizing it, with every pony’s eyes fixed on the alicorn, Alexia sent out a wave of passive magic the moment her voice reached their ears.

Conrad jabbed the base of her neck to get her attention on the necklace. “Got to add the title too.”

Grimacing, Alexia tried again. “My apologies. I am Princess Alexia Tune.” Happy now?

Those who still did not have their cutie marks were entranced by her voice and would have swarmed the alicorn had her mates not interposed themselves between the silver princess and her overbearing subjects. With Tune a full alicorn now, her passive magic refused to relinquish its hold on the crowd until they lost sight of her for longer than a few seconds, and every time she spoke it refreshed her magic’s influence.

“Its really her, Princess Alexia!”

“I don’t remember her having wings during the press conference.”

“Can I have your autograph?”

“I love you Princess Alexia!”

Tune was harshly reminded of the time she and Loki had been swamped by human admirers at the science fair after posing as androids. She didn’t wish to sound too authoritative, but the situation demanded a quick resolution. She shouted the one word her physical training instructor loved to use at the top of her lungs to silence the crowd. “Attention!”

The instantaneous silence that followed was painful, especially to her herdmates who were suffering from ringing ears. Wow, that was louder than I wanted to be; but at least it got the job done. “I know all of you will have questions and I’ll be more than happy to set up a Q and A later. I’ll be sure there’s an announcement about it later today.”

Positive muttering of agreement filtered through the technicolored mass of ponies as the alicorn marched her way to the wide staircase and reached the mostly quiet third floor where the mayor’s office was located on the southern end of the rectangular building.

Loki was still rubbing her ears to cease the infernal ringing. “Warn us the next time you do that will ya?”

Tune craned her head to give an apologetic look at her mates. “Sorry, but I couldn’t let them swarm us. They might start pulling my feathers out or locks of hair to keep as mementos.”

Crimson cringed at the thought. “You don’t really believe they’d do that, do you?”

“If they were smart they’d wait for some hoof clippings or molted feathers,” Loki chattered as if it was common knowledge, “The ones who want hair strands are the one who probably have a shrine dedicated to you.”

Everyone gave the hacker a worried look before remembering it was par for the course as far as Loki was concerned. It still bothered the other earth pony. I thought we just file our hooves, not clip them.

The herd’s alpha centered her attention on the busy looking pegasus secretary as he tried in vain to get used to the new job that required far more tact than he possessed. Behind him were two other ponies trying to enter personnel data into the building’s network so the local government could meet federal regulations. The stallion had the desk phone to his ear while his eyes darted back and forth over the pages. “Yes, yes I understand, but Mayor East is extremely busy. I know getting a town up and running with over three thousand people isn’t exactly easy, but we have our hands full here too. Yes, fine. I can squeeze you into a fifteen minute appointment on Friday.”

Alexia’s group walked up to the pressured stallion who was about to switch to a different holding call when he noticed the silver alicorn in front of him. The pegasus fumbled the phone onto the cradle before jumping out of his seat to give a polite bow. “Your highness! I wasn’t informed of your arrival.”

Alexia waved off the other two ponies so they could get back to work. “Any chance I could speak with the mayor?”

He politely scoffed at the idea of her of all people asking permission. “Of course you can your highness. Although I must warn you that Mayor East wasn’t from The Ranch like the three of us were,” he said while gesturing behind him to the two earth ponies behind him. The pair quickly bowed to Alexia before resuming their work. “So she may not relinquish political control over to you like she should.”

That’s actually a relief. Tune mused. “East would be correct in not doing that.” Remembering her promise to her people, she swallowed her bile at constantly reminding both herself and those around her that she was American royalty. It was an idea that still sat funny with her. “I am really only a princess in name, not authority.”

The receptionist nodded. “Well it’s not my place to tell you what to do. You can go on in; former Major General East wanted to speak with you as soon as you arrived anyway.”

Former General? Fears of a repeat of Colonel Bowler in pony form filled the alicorn’s head as she pressed on into the office.

Like everything else in the building, East’s office was spartan to a fault. The windows spanned the entirely of the two exterior walls, but no drapes, potted plants, pictures, or even guest chairs were present. The desk looked like it had been pulled out of a cubical along with the black swivel chair instead of being worthy of the spacious room it found itself in. Even the walls were bare of wallpaper, and the windows still had tape on it that the construction crew forgot to remove.

If it could be called such, the only extravagant thing in the room was the headset phone currently sitting on East’s head as the predominately black unicorn mare with a painfully contrasting white mane discussed business.

East’s ears flicked towards the door and muffled clip clop of four ponies on the thin blue carpet. The unicorn looked to see who was intruding on her unannounced and zeroed in on Alexia’s horn and wings. “I’m going to have to call you back.” She ended the call with a magical press of a button.

The black mare sized the royal herd up as the silver alicorn closed the distance. “Mayor East, I’m-“

“Princess Alexia Tune,” East interjected curtly. “Formerly James Leigh Tune of Salina, Kansas. Yes I know who you are.”

Crimson spied the unicorn had two silver five pointed stars on her flanks. Well that’s just great. She already has her cutie mark, so Alex’s magic isn’t going to win her any points here.

Alexia wasn’t sure on how to approach the situation. She’s obviously a tough customer if she had made it to general. But is she naturally this abrasive? “Your secretary said you wanted to see me.”

East studied Tune’s entourage. “I did. Although you were no doubt already coming up here to see me anyway.” She walked over to sit in her chair, she knew her secretary was smart enough to hold all of her calls. “The President named you as the beginning of the first American royal family. While he wisely neutered any sort of power such a title might offer in other countries, he has been extremely tight-lipped about what authority you have over us.”

“You mean us ponies?” Loki inquired.

East nodded without looking at the green mare. “The humans may coo over having royalty, but ultimately they couldn’t give two shits about anything you have to say as a princess. But it seems everyone from your internment camp can’t stop fawning over you, and from what I’ve seen, you have real power over them.”

I think I know what the problem is. Tune thought to herself. “If you’re worried I’ll try to use that to undermine your position as mayor, I can assure you I have no aspirations for rule. The whole princess thing was their idea,” she said while sweeping a hoof to encompass the town.

East was unmoved by the answer. “So I’ve heard.”

Alexia interrupted before the mayor could speak again. “But I will say this though.” Tune’s tone of voice became laced with steel. “I will not tolerate corruption. You keep the best interests of our fellow ponies as your sole purpose while you hold this office and we will have no problems.”

East’s mouth was a pressed line as she worked her jaw to think of a quick response. “And what happens when our views as to ‘what’s best’ differs?”

“Then you had better convince me of your choice’s merits.” The silver alicorn warned. “I am well aware of the fact that I have no power as a princess, but I have a great deal as an agent of the CIA. I will always be watching.”

East leaned back in her chair with a satisfied smirk. “I think you and I will get along just fine.” The mayor’s entire demeanor warmed to friendly levels and got out of her chair to shake Tune’s hoof. “I was worried that someone from the lower middle class being given royal status might cause you to become self-serving.”

Alexia was wholly surprised by the flip in the room’s atmosphere and only reciprocated the hoofshake as an automatic gesture. She shook off the stun to speak. “At least our fears were mutual, if for different reasons.”

East went around to properly introduce herself to the rest of the herd, starting with Crimson. “Crimson Anderson, pleased to meet you.”

“You too General.”

“I’m just a mayor now. Except for the ones my flank, I don’t think I’ll ever wear those stars again.” She moved on to Conrad. The unicorn had a wiry grin. “Conrad Tune, or is it Hannar?”

The lone stallion bristled. “I was cast out of that family. I will not suffer that insult attached to my name.”

East dropped her hoof while studying the stallion’s expression. “So I’ve gathered from your personnel file. You’re fortunate the President believed the same thing when the lot of you was brought before him.”

East moved on to the green and pink earth pony. “Loki Tune, or should I say-“

“Oh no you don’t!” Loki shouted with grim fire. She knew exactly what the mayor was going to say. “My old life is done and gone. The only thing that you should care about is the pony in front of you, and my name is just Loki.”

East displayed a knowing grin. A kindred spirit. “As you wish.” The herd was not surprised by Loki’s outburst and knew she hated when it was brought up. The normally jovial mare talked about it once for the sake of opening herself fully to the herd, but refused to speak very much about her past after that.

East faced the alicorn. “I’ll be frank with you. I would prefer it if you had a hand in running local affairs, the heavier the better.”

Tune was unsure of what East truly wanted of her. “Why would you want me to undermine your position?”

“Racism,” East replied coldly. The assembled ponies could tell the unicorn’s ire was focus entirely on the idea. “Or I should say, preventing it from taking root. The mayor walked back towards the window, keeping her voice high enough to be heard. “If there is one good thing that happened to all of us, is that becoming ponies abolished the old races we used to belong to. White, Black, Asian, etcetera etcetera. None of that matters because our coat and mane colors are completely random and we all have pink skin underneath our fur.”

East turned to the herd who walked over to join her by the widow. “Yet the whole thing is a double-edged sword. The potential for racism is even stronger now than it ever was. As humans, we had insignificant physical differences. The trivial arguments over who was superior to the next could always be refuted, but now we have very distinct differences: wings, a horn, or none at all.”

Crimson caught on to what the mayor was getting at. “You’re worried that the earth tribe will be ostracized because we can’t fly or use unicorn style magic?”

Being from one of the other internment camps, East was slightly confused by her statement. “You say that like earth ponies actually do possess magic.”

Loki reared up on her back legs. “I can demonstrate earth pony magic right now if you want.”

Tune panicked and grabbed Loki’s front hooves in her own before she could slam the ground. “Not here! If you break the floor, you’re the one who has to fix it.”

The green mare was crestfallen for a moment. “Blarg, fine.” She settled down on all fours and searched in vain for a potted plant to grow. The hacker’s placation allowed Alexia to face the unicorn again.

“Earth ponies possess the most important magic any of the tribes have.” She glanced at Loki who was distracted by several dozen ponies talking with a few of the human contractors outside.

The former general mulled over the information she gleaned from the herd’s actions. “I half hoped you would prove that sentiment wrong. As you might have guessed, my ignorance is likely shared by everyone else who didn’t come from your camp. And it is exactly this reason why I want you to keep your public involvement up. Not only that, but judging from your appearance, I imagine you possess qualities of all three tribes. Is that fair to say?”

The alicorn nodded. “I was originally a unicorn, so I’m still trying to get the hang of pegasi magic and I haven’t even started trying to learn earth pony style yet.”

East didn’t care about the details. “Just the fact that you possess all three is perfect. Who better to be the leader of our people than someone who can never be insinuated to favor one tribe over the other?”

Conrad had his own concerns over East’s flip. “So you were just testing her with all that posturing back there?”

The mayor gave him a calculating stare. “Of course.” She turned her gaze to the alicorn. “I’m not fully sure what has happened to me over these past few months. I don’t know if it was part of my spirit’s transformation that made me think the way I do now, or simply how a mare’s brain works. Hell it could have just been my epiphany alone, but either way, I feel compelled to see our species thrive. I needed to make sure you wanted the same thing. With all the power and influence you have, I feared you would let personal gain take precedence over the rest of us.”

Loki interposed herself between a stoic alicorn and the stern unicorn. “Listen buddy. You can spout all that high and mighty stuff all day. But what’s stopping you from doing the same thing?”

East smiled sadly out of the window. “Because I already lived that life.” The unicorn fell silent as she watched the town be constructed right before her eyes. “I haven’t told anyone this, but I’m willing to share my story with you princess. If you want it.”

Alexia glanced at her mates who wordlessly expressed interest. “I'm listening.”

The black and white unicorn levitated a glass of water off the desk and took a sip before starting. “I used to go by the name and title of Major General Louis Jack Vanderbilt the Third of the United State’s Marine Corp.” East’s face became stony as she carried on in wistful recollection. “I cared for nothing outside of getting that third star. Needless to say, ambition dominated my life as a man ever since the day I made captain.”

“Money, family, my subordinates, hell the only reason I made friends was to advance my career. I cared for no one but myself.” The black unicorn mare felt a wave of sadness take hold, causing her ears to droop. She felt more at ease in expressing such emotions than she ever had in her fifty nine years of life. “All that mattered was my career and getting that third star.” She tapped her flank to point out the two silver stars. “So life decided to kill that dream.”

“I heard that all ponies were given the opportunity to reclaim their former jobs,” Crimson commented. “I don’t know how old you are now, but it seems everyone beyond twenty five were reset to that age.”

East chuckled darkly. “Do you honestly think the corps would allow a pony to be a general? A lieutenant maybe, a noncom sure, but not a general. In the end though, that doesn’t matter to me personally because I don’t want that life again, not anymore. Oddly enough it was my ambition that kept me alive. While all the other ponies around me slowly spiraled into crippling depression, I was still blinded by that third star.”

“I fought to prove the fact that I posed no more danger to others as a pony than any human to another. I even stumbled upon and mastered my telekinesis so I had something to leverage as an advantage to get back into uniform.”

“The first month as a pony made me forget that self-mastery was necessary for advancement. At the time I thought the real reason they kept denying me was because I was essentially a man in a mare’s body. No one wants a general officer that is conflicted by their own body. Seeing no alternative, I forced myself into fully accepting what I had become. I kept most of my name, only dropping Louis for Julie. It took another month and a few days, but I was finally able to stop fighting what had become of my body and became a mare in spirit as well. The moment I realized I had fully integrated my imposed femininity into my psyche is when I got these.” East turned away from the window to look at her cutie mark. “It broke me harder than a whimpering recruit who was in over his head at basic training.”

Crimson was confused. “Why do you say that? Every pony so far has been elated when they got their marks.”

East teared at the memory, but didn’t shed a single drop. “You don’t understand. I was the first pony in my camp to earn their brands. Consciously, I didn’t know what they were, but over the next two days I realized that these two stars were a reflection of my soul. Permanently branded on my flanks for the world to see at a glance. That was when I realized no matter how hard I fought, I would never see that third star.” East squeezed her eyes shut as the tears finally fell. “But worst of all, I saw what my life truly amounted to: two stars. A rank, a job, a little plaque on a few walls and nothing else. I had no other meaning or pursuit in life outside of my career. My ambition. My whole purpose in life, died that day. I was finally as broken as everypony else was.”

Loki eyed the black mare with suspicion. “So what made you go from sad to glad?”

East chuckled at herself before looking upon Alexia with red rimmed eyes. “You.”

Tune was taken aback. “Me?” But she already had her cutie mark. My passive magic couldn’t have affected her.

East looked out through the window to the clouds in recollection. “I was dead inside. And every day since I got these two stars I was closer to taking my own life so that I would be dead on the outside as well. Then you appeared on the news-“

Alexia was becoming rather embarrassed by the expectant praise she was about to be showered with. East took no notice as she kept speaking. “I felt nothing from you personally, only surprise that the president was holding a press conference with a unicorn. But everyone else… It was like gasoline had been poured on a few embers. The grey rot, as I called it, was lifted almost immediately after you spoke. I don’t know how your camp was run, but in mine we had forty man billets with a TV in each one. Almost everyone saw you in the broadcast.” She looked to the alicorn with a smile. “I don’t know what you did, but I really don’t care. You saved thousands that day.”

“Seeing all of people who I now consider my brethren come to life again—“ East wiped a joyful tear away as she tried to repeat herself in a clearer voice. “Seeing so many rise from their deathbeds and live again, was the first time I was truly happy to be a pony.”

I felt my ambition return, but now I wanted our species to thrive. I want to hold onto that moment we all shared that day in that billet, and make it grow.” East gazed back over the town. “That’s what I want Trinity to be. A continuation of that moment.”

“I guess I should be flattered that I created such inspiration, but then what was the cold shoulder from earlier about?”

The unicorn’s tone grew cautious. “As I said, I needed to test what kind of person you are. I don’t know if you fully understand the extent of your influence. Everyone wants to meet you, serve you, hell some of the more loopy ones wanted to worship you. I was only one of two ponies in that camp who had their brands before the broadcast and neither one of us felt that way about you. I feared that you found some kind of mind control or influence spell to enthrall the masses. Even if you had not originally planned to use it for ill, the sheer number of followers that magic grants you might cause you to follow an all too familiar path.”

Crimson knew what the former general was referring to. “You fear the corrupting effects of power.”

East nodded in both agreement and to give accolades to Anderson for identifying her concerns. “I was ruled by that corruption for the entirely of my life. It took completely destroying the man I used to be in both mind and body, and then an epiphany to free myself of that. Even then I felt that I needed to finish what my physical and mental transformation started and strip away my old persona to avoid falling back into it again so I dropped the rest of my identity and adopted the name Julie East. I’m glad you don’t currently carry the same failings I did, but you’ll have to forgive me if I keep watching you to make sure you don’t slip down the same road I once traveled.”

Alexia brooded silently over East’s story for several minutes. The room fell quiet save for the sounds of construction work outside. The herd kept their own council while the mayor waited to see what the princess would say. They knew when to give their advice, and when she needed to think things through on her own. “It can be so tempting to abuse power,” she said at length. “Julie…your old self is exactly what I fear I might become. Other ponies adore me just by seeing my face and hearing my voice. They shower me in so much praise and accolades that I shy away from it. Because I fear that fully embracing it, will turn me into who you once were.”

East studied the alicorn with renewed respect. “If you would let me. I will do what I can to help you avoid the same traps I succumbed to.”

A friendly smile creased both horned mares, with Alexia shaking Julie’s offered hoof. “I think you’re right. We will get along just fine.”

The mayor discussed her plans for the settlement and incorporated some of the royal herd’s ideas when they improved upon East’s own. Although the mayor’s ideas were mostly from the two urban planners that came from both the Montana and South Dakota camps. The talks lasted until three in the afternoon. Everyone was tired of sitting on the thin carpet and East climbed to her hooves as she put the finishing touches in her smartpad’s notes.

“As soon as we can get some more permanent housing up, we can begin opening the queue to allow more ponies to join us here.” She offered her hoof to help Alexia up.

“A sound plan. I don’t want any more of us living in pod housing than what we currently have. Trinity will degrade into little more than a failed refugee camp if that happens.”

“Agreed. I look forward to working with you in the future. In the meantime, those from the South Dakota camp have pitched in to build you a new house. Until that's done I made sure temporary accommodations in one of the old houses are ready for you to the south near the old golf course.”

Tune let go of the unicorn’s hoof, but her expression was of bemused annoyance. “Tell me they're just building houses for everyone, not just me.”

Loki bounced over to drape a foreleg around her alpha, but kept her attention fixed on Julie. “Are they adding a pool?! I always wanted a pool.”

East snickered, but responded to Alexia first. “All I can say is that the ponies from The Ranch are bound and determined to give you what they feel you deserve. And with them using their personal funds, there’s nothing I can tactfully do to stop them. As for the pool, you’ll have to ask someone else. I’m not concerned with how they spend their own money.”

Tune was about to resolve to stop it when Crimson intervened. “So its like a gift right? We all know who was primarily responsible for getting the government to give us our freedom so they want to give you something tangible as thanks.”

Conrad agreed. “Plus a large house would make it easier to raise a bunch of foals.”

Alexia saw the logic, but still didn’t like the reasoning. She huffed at the idea. “I was perfectly happy with just the necklace but—we could use the extra room for the kids. Fine, I won’t stop them. But that just means I’ll have to make it up to the public in some way.” She yawned tiredly before facing her mates. “Why don’t we go home and start from there.”

East was eager to get back to work and walked over to her desk. “I trust we’ll all see you tomorrow morning at nine for your public address?”

“We’ll be there,” replied Loki as the group departed.

The group of four road weary ponies gave their goodbyes to both Mayor East and her small administration staff on the way out. Between sitting in the car for over a day and the hours spent on the floor in East’s office, the two earth ponies were restless to go for a run while the pegasus felt the same way with his wings.

The alicorn was the only one to truly take notice of a navy blue pegasus stallion who was up on his hind legs while leaning his back on the wall next to the staircase. His blonde tail was cropped to a few centimeters beyond the end of his tail bone, but his mane was allowed a little more length than what most stallions preferred.

His cutie mark was a light red silhouette of a swept wing aircraft she could not make out. The nose of the craft was pointed to his wings’ shoulder joints. As she got closer, Alexia could tell the blue stallion was both nervous and impatient about something as his crossed forelegs and gritted teeth gnawing on a thick toothpick gave his demeanor away to the silver mare. Tune also noticed the pony had brown rimmed aviator goggles that were too small for his pony sized eyes. They were wrapped around his head and rested on his brow.

As soon as the blue pony noticed the royal herd as they walked past the secretary, he pushed off the wall to drop to all four hooves. He rolled the stick to the corner of his mouth to speak once the alicorn reached speaking distance. “Can I have a moment of your time Princess?”

Alexia halted where she stood. His tone made it difficult to tell if his use of her title was out of formality or sarcasm. “You may if you walk with us.”

He chewed a bit on his stick. “You mind if I hover instead?”

The rest of the herd eyed the pegasus carefully, while Alexia remained diplomatic. “I don’t see a problem with it.”

He rolled the stick to the other side of his mouth as he flew backwards at Alexia’s trotting pace down the stairs, always seeming to know when to turn so he didn’t run into anything as he kept his blood red eyes fixed on the alicorn. “Name’s Gill Highwind from the Montana camp.”

“Alexia Tune,” the other members of the herd identified themselves in order before the attention fell back to the silver mare. “I get the feeling you’re not here to simply see if I’m real.”

They made it to the ground floor expecting to need to fight back a second swarm. However everyone from the Montana camp knew to stay out of Gill’s way. “I only need my eyes for that. I’m here to offer you a partial solution to Trinity’s current overcrowding issue.”

Alexia was actually relieved the pegasus was parting the crowd with just his presence. “I’m listening.”

“Are you familiar with the pegasus city of Cloudsdale in Equestria?”

“In passing. Most of my studies have been focused on magic, not history.”

Highwind cast a partially toothy grin while the stick in his mouth turned up. “That’s what I was hoping for. I received a detailed book on the subject of cloudsmithing and architecture the day I started turning into the pony you see now. My camp’s warden saw no use for it so I got to keep it. I’ve got some understanding of the book’s subject matter, but what I’m failing at is the basics of mana manipulation. If I could trouble you for some tutoring in that area, I can get a crew of mine together to start making cloud homes. That’ll free up more ground space for eathers and unicorns.”

“Wouldn’t they just blow away with the wind?” Crimson asked.

Gill had to pause in his answer to open the front door. The mass of ponies who had been waiting for Alexia’s exit were pulled away by other Montana campers after one look at Highwind’s wordless command. All four members of the herd took notice of it, but Alexia made them hold their questions on the topic for later.

Gill returned to a hover two meters in front of the alicorn. “That’s the thing with cloudsmithing, so long as the house is able to draw the mana from its occupants for a total of twenty four hours every month, the innate magic of the smithing process will keep the structure from falling apart or drifting in the currents. If you can teach me the basics of active pegasus magic, I could filter that knowledge to others and we can start building homes in the sky within few weeks.”

Conrad liked the idea immensely. “I can do that actually, I’ve been reading up on that subject as of late. Plus it would be a great platform to begin plans for a weather control station.”

Alexia found the arrangement agreeable. “Sounds good.” She turned to Gill. “Would you be opposed to working with Conrad in a joint venture on this?”

The navy blue pegasus gazed at the brown one with a critical eye. “As long as he can pull his weight then I can use him.” He addressed the brown pony next. “I’ll see you at my place on forty nine Hill Street at seven AM sharp.”

“I’ll be there,” Conrad shot back. Highwind bit down on his wooden stick and gave the fellow pegasus a fierce grin before streaking off to the northwest.

Alexia moved towards the car. “Glad to see others outside The Ranch obtained their marks as well.”

“Yeah,” was all Conrad would say. He looked at the car and halted. “If its all the same to you, I want to fly to the house.”

He was not the only one to look at the Volt with trepidation. “Yeah, I’ve been sitting on my plot for too long as it is, I need to stretch my legs,” Loki complained.

Crimson felt a streak of competitive spirit hit her so she jabbed the green mare with an elbow. “How about we make it a race?”

Loki cooed at the idea. “What are the stakes?”

Crimson looked to Conrad who was hovering to warm his wings up for a sprint. “Hey studly, you want to be the stakes?”

The brown pony raised an eye brow at her. “Normally I’d have no issue with that, but if Loki wins that’ll be more time before we can try again for a foal.”

Crimson limbered up her joints and faced Loki with a competitive smirk. “Then I’ll just have to win.”

Loki jumped on her hooves to face the direction of the house. The green mare recalled East’s description and address so she knew how to get there. “Don’t think I’m going to take it easy on you Baby Boomer. Not with snu snu on the line.”

Having heard all of this, Alexia cast a simple spell and a ball of red light hovered in front of the two earth mares. “Do you want a checkered flag as well?”

With her legs at the ready, Crimson crouched to a ready position. “The light’s fine.”

Conrad knew he could outpace both of them by virtue of the lack of obstacles in the air, but that didn’t stop him from coming into a hover above the pair. Alexia giggled at the sight and let the spell turn yellow, then green. The trio of non-alicorns bolted in three different directions, all of them more or less south.

Conrad made a simple point A to point B straight line to the house while the urbanite Loki followed the roads. Crimson grew up in a semirural area and was not afraid to take shortcuts through the wooden areas. The pale yellow mare was glad that Loki had the foresight to pick a place that while it had enough trees to be considered a light forest, the terrain itself was mostly flat.

Good thing I thought to use Alex’s phone to double check the house’s actual location rather than just get an address. The earth mare saw Conrad in the distance and knew he would be headed straight for the house. Then again, I could just shadow him.

Alexia pulled into the driveway of a two story wood walled house with a gasping green mare slumped by the open front door. The front of the house had an attached single car garage with what Tune surmised to be a living room above it. The front door along with the garage was eggshell white with a small conservatory directly above the front door.

The alicorn didn’t have the garage door opener so she parked in front of it and strode over to the grumbling earth pony. The silver mare gave her an amused smirk. “I take it you lost?”

Loki rolled over on her back so she could face her tormentor. “She cheated.”

“How?”

The hacker emitted a nonverbal groan of annoyance as she climbed to her hooves. “Baby Boomer cut through the side streets and the golf course. But I didn’t study the lay of the land so I had to go by road only.”

The princess huffed in mild derisiveness. “You know how bad the Alarm Clock Disease is affecting her. You should have tried naming something else to be the stakes other than snu snu.”

“Meh, whatever.” Loki dusted herself off and walked towards the car. “While those two go at it like rabbits, how about we take stuff in.”

“Sounds like a plan. After that we should head to the store and pick up some groceries. We don’t have a mess hall to claim free food from anymore.”

“I hope they have tofu. It’s the only way I can stomach meat flavor anymore. Toss me the phone so I know where to go. I’d rather run than sit in the car again.”

The alicorn tittered at her mate’s antics and levitated the satellite phone to the green mare. Alexia gazed out to the town with a smile on her face. “We finally did it Loki. We have our freedom and a home.”

Her mate looked away from the phone as it loaded the route. “Still a little small for my liking. But yeah. I think Trinity will do well by us.”

Tune reached over and pulled Loki into a wing hug. “Why did you name the town Trinity anyway?”

Loki lovingly nuzzled her alpha. “Isn’t it obvious? There are three tribes of ponies. All in one town.”

Alexia gave her a wiry grin. “Knowing you, obvious is never what it seems.”

In one of Loki’s few lapses in seriousness, she wrapped a leg around Tune withers and hugged her tightly. “I love you Alex. I really truly do.”

The silver mare squeezed with her wing. “Loki.” Her tone became somber. “If I ever start acting like how East used to be. Please stop me.”

Loki’s ear twitched and she pulled away to smile at her alpha. “I give you my patented…” She searched her brain for the proper term. Loki’s cutie marks flickered with light for a moment and the term came to her. “Loki Promise that so long as I’m around, you’ll never fall to the dark side.”

The alicorn giggled lightheartedly. “I’ll hold you to that.”

Crimson lay on the floor of the unfurnished bedroom covered in sweat and panting heavily. She was on her belly while Conrad was on his side and facing her. “And here I thought earth ponies were the ones with superior endurance.”

The stallion grinned and spoke between breaths. “Why do you think I spend so many endurance runs on the ground for? I’ve got to be able to keep up with three mares.”

Anderson shuffled over to wrap her legs around him in a breathless embrace. The heat of a currently unairconditioned house in the middle of July combined with their recent activity made it uncomfortably hot to hug for long. The stallion set his discomfort aside to embrace his mate for as long as she desired to do so. “Have you thought about what you want your foal to be?”

Crimson rested her head on his shoulder while staring at the off-white ceiling. She mulled over the question for a couple of minutes before making up her mind. “I really don’t care what type of foal I have. Earth, pegasus, colt, or filly, it doesn’t matter. Whichever form my child takes I’ll love them regardless.”

He tried to look at her, but his position made it difficult without pushing the mare off of him. “Really? You have no preference at all?”

Crimson closed her eyes and buried her muzzle in his fur. “If I really thought about it, I probably would. But I’m not going to try entertaining such thoughts. Why would I want to set myself up for disappointment if I want something he or she ends up not being?”

“Do you at least want to guess?” he offered. “I bet you a homemade double layered carrot cake that it’ll be a pegasus filly.”

Crimson laughed at the silliness of it all. “Okay let me think.” Betting on a filly is a safe bet to be sure, but when does life ever play it safe? She rolled off of him to rest on her belly with her head up. “I bet it’ll be an earth colt.”

Giving victory to me that easily? “And if you win?”

“You have to wear a shirt that says ‘I did this to her’ on the days when Alex and I give birth.”

He chuckled at her. “And if we both lose?”

“Then you still have to wear the shirt and I’ll bake that cake,” she said with a smile as she pecked him on the cheek.

“Deal.”

They felt the ground vibrate as the garage door was opening. “I bet that’s Alex coming in with some food. We can wash up after helping them.”

It was a mild start, but the herd would have a hectic two weeks before they would return as training instructors. As the ponies started to build themselves up, other forces were at work with a very different objective.

In the skies above Vermont flew a lone transport aircraft. Whisker was heavily sedated and tightly secured within a titanium egg with his limbs firmly secured within it. The only way to actually see the Mion within was a small plexiglass viewport revealing his red skinned head.

Three soldiers stood watch over the prisoner as the aircraft made its way to a facility in Maine. One of the guards kept looking through the viewport to look at the being whose skin had turned blood red and boney protrusions pushed against the sides of the egg as they tried to fully extend.

An unintended side effect of the sedatives was that his true form was forced to reveal itself. It unnerved the corporal to no end. “So is it true this guy had some kind of magic powers or something?”

The lone second lieutenant leaned against the door leading to the cockpit. “That’s classified information.”

The private adjacent to him was a little less concerned for secrecy. “With all due respect sir, we’re looking at a freaking demon from hell here. We need to know what we’re dealing with.”

“Its not your job to know unless command says it is. Besides, he’s sedated and locked up in his own personal prison. Even if he had such abilities, we are in no danger from him.”

The corporal had had enough of the Mion’s face and took his seat.

In the cockpit, the pilot was having small talk with his counterpart. “So I says to him dead in the eye. Looks like you got a little herpes on your lip there. You’ve been kissing your wife’s ass?” He leans in close to give his best taunting expression. “After I put herpes in there?”

The copilot howled with laughter. “Tell me you didn’t actually say that.”

“Damn straight I did. Best bar fight I’ve had in months.”

He was about to go on about his brawl when the radio squawked. “CN dash one four nine, this is Burlington ANGB. Come in over.”

The pilot was not expecting to hear from anyone until they reached Maine. “This is one four nine. What can I do for you Burlington, over.”

“We have strong inclement weather brewing along your flight plan. We need to you to alter course twenty three point seven degrees south of your current heading. Over.”

“Roger aircom.”

As the transport changed course, the pilot slipped back into his stories. “So the guy tries to duck my right hook and jab me in the gut.”

As the minutes droned on, the transport’s radar picked up two stationary signals along the new flight plan and the Airborne Collision Avoidance System chirped its first alarm in a monotone female voice. “Alert. Possible collision risk detected. Suggesting alternative flight plan.”

The pilot stopped his story to check both the radar and suggested heading. “What the hell are two helicopters doing along our exact path?”

The copilot had a really bad feeling. “Think it might be because of our passenger?”

The pilot’s remaining mirth was completely washed away with dread. “I hope not.” He grabbed the control yoke to change course while the copilot informed local air traffic control of the situation. The course change was mirrored by the two bogeys that now started moving to stay in front of the transport.

Thirty seconds later, the ACAS chirped again with a three tone alarm. “Alert! Proximity warning. Aircraft within one kilometer.”

The pilot cursed the lack of maneuverability of the transport, and tried to change course again. “Are they trying to ram us?”

The copilot was tuning the radio to speak with ground control and studied the radar. “Doesn’t look like it, only that they’re currently trying to stay ahead of us. But we’ll over take them in thirty seconds.”

At that moment, the radar picked up two more signals and the cockpit’s Missile Approach Warning System blared in four droning beeps. “Warning! AAM detected. Flares deployed.”

The copilot was floored by the readouts on the radar as two missiles shot out from the helicopters only to be diverted by the flares. He returned his attention to the radio to inform the ground of the attack. “Mayday Mayday Mayday. This is CN dash one four nine. We are under missile attack by unknown bogeys bearing mark-“

He never finished his sentence as one of the helicopters knew their missiles would not succeed so it rammed the transport in the right wing before the transport could fly past them, destroying itself in the process. The aircraft was completely crippled and fell from the sky in an out of control mess of twisted metal. It landed in the forest less than a minute later, leaving behind little more than a smoking scorch mark in the Earth.

Three hours later, the first Army helicopter arrived on scene to look for survivors. They found none, and the titanium egg was torn open and empty.

Whisker blearily awoke with a splitting migraine. He found himself in a house near the Vermont/Canadian border. He was on a bed with crude bandages wrapped around his frame on a blood soaked mattress. The room itself was old and worn down. The bed springs creaked at every move, the wallpaper was torn, and one of the wooden dressers looked as if the termites were one bite away from collapsing the thing entirely.

“You had one job,” a growling angry male voice called out from the far corner of the poorly lit room. “With the gifts you were given, it should have been child’s play, and yet you get caught.” Tzadavek stepped out of the shadows. His body was already regaining the muscle mass of his old one, and the Asian features were being erased by his original appearance.

Whisker growled and spat a wad of blood laced spittle off the side of the bed. “It wasn’t my fault.”

The Overseer let off a deep belly laugh. Both Mions were high enough on the hierarchy where their memories could not be forcibly pulled from by the other, so Tzadavek had to get his answers the old fashioned way. “You’re cliché on top of everything. Give me a good reason why I should believe you.”

The scientist wanted some water, but refused to ask just yet. “Have you heard about the ponies on the news?”

The Overseer’s mirthless grin faded. “What about them?”

“The CIA recruited a few and they used some kind of ability to single my team out among the entire building’s staff. Our human appearance couldn’t hide us from them.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“The leader pointed all three of out by name.”

The half Asian Mion’s anger towards the researcher vanished as he assumed a contemplative pose. “The Herald has declared the ponies as semi-protected. Stating that the Koridost would desire to have them taken alive for study upon their arrival.”

“Can we at least eliminate those that pose an obstacle to humanity’s destruction?”

The Overseer didn’t respond at first. “I will speak with the Herald when I have the opportunity. In the meantime, tell me what you know of the ponies that identified you so we can act accordingly later. If nothing else I doubt he will forbid killing any equine military personnel or federal agents.”

Whisker nodded his compliance. Unbeknownst to him, his memory of that day was not quite accurate. “There were four of them. One I never got a good look at, but I think it was male. The leader was a male pony without wings or horn and had a purple coat and green hair. Went by the name Berkley. The next one was a female unicorn, rather small. Pink coat, mixed blue and red hair. Went by the name Valor. The last one was a unicorn as well, stallion I think they're called. All pink, with the fur a little darker than the hair. Name was Vincent.”

Alexia did not use invisibility that day, but a perception alteration spell that made people see the wrong things and hear a different name.

Tzadavek arched an disbelieving eyebrow at the oddly assorted colors, but Whisker seemed confident in his answers. “I’ll inform our brethren of the new potential threat. For now, rest. I still have need of you.”

Author's Notes:

And so concludes the end of arc one.

Never fear, a sequel will come and I will post the link in the story summary and my profile.

Hope to see you all there.

P.S. I'd be greatly appreciative of anyone who would like to do arc two's cover art. Send me a message if you're interested.