//------------------------------// // Chapter 48 // Story: Friendly Fire // by Starscribe //------------------------------// Time blurred. Elise couldn’t say how long it took for Harley to return, flanked by a squadron of guards in gold uniforms. They brought stretchers, one for each pony, and forced even her to lie down. They passed through a dark temple, through twisting caverns lit only by flashlights in the gloom. Mesmerizing lights flickered in front of her eyes. An hour or two of uneasy sleep on the Temple floor had done very little to overcome the fatigue of battle. Eventually, she slept. For most of her life, Special Agent Elise Avery had been focused primarily on survival. Her beds had been stiff cots, sheets rough and threadbare, when she had a bed of her own at all. Living with the ponies had not been much worse: Unity had felt like a cave, and Imperium actually was a cave. The draft was very cold at night. Elise rolled sideways, yet when she stretched she could just barely reach the edge with a hoof. The sheets were soft, and smelled faintly of sage and linen. She wasn’t sore, wasn’t hungry, wasn’t thirsty. Something was seriously wrong. Elise tensed, preparing for violence, then opened her eyes. She was in a hospital, if a hospital had a ceiling at a comfortable height, soft pastel paint with heart-shaped molding, and dated-looking equipment. An IV was wired into her left foreleg, though it seemed only to be dispensing saline water. She felt tempted to tear it out, but resisted. She didn’t actually know how to remove an IV, and didn’t fancy the idea of stitches. There were a few chairs, and a window on the wall beside her. What had happened to the others? She wouldn’t call them her friends. Fellow travelers, perhaps. This must be a pony hospital. I wonder where they put me… The IV would restrict her movement, but it was looped above her on a metal stand, so she reached up, unspooling a little more plastic tube. She rolled sideways, and looked out the window. It was like something out of the Islamic Golden Age, but grander than anything that had actually been built. A city stretched out far below her, carved primarily of the same white stone. Colorful spirals, domes, and minarets rose over buildings ranging from a few stories to a dozen. Huge stones glittered in the sun, sparkling mosaics of crystal and precious stone instead of ceramic tile. Banners flew in air lacking the smoky haze of many modern cities, just as she saw no motor vehicles in the street. But what the streets did have were ponies. Not comically small ponies, moving through a gigantic world that towered over them. Properly sized ponies, with buildings and doorways and carts all the right size. Indeed, there was no sign at all that she had ever been shrunk. Elise had traveled to Equestria. She fumbled with the window for a second, before wedging her hooves in and sliding it upward. A pleasantly chill breeze passed through her mane, carrying with it the sound of many voices and the smell of delicious meals cooking. For two years I hunted and captured ponies to save them from being eaten by a disease, she thought. But I was saving them from paradise. In exchange, I gave them squalor and captivity. Something moved behind her, a faint squeaking she only heard thanks to her improved hearing. Elise jerked to the side, facing the door, though her fear had mostly fled. The pony at the door wore a white cap with a familiar red cross, and nothing else. She jumped a little at Elise’s quick motions, eyes widening in momentary fear. She had a pastel yellow coat, along with a soft pink mane. “Oh, you’re awake! I hope I didn’t wake you, I didn’t mean…” “No trouble.” Elise sat back in bed, resting her back between the pillows. She held still, hoping it would stop the pony from leaving. It did, and the mare visibly relaxed. “I was just making sure you were okay,” the pony muttered, looking at the floor. “Hourly checkup. How long have you been awake?” “Not very long,” she admitted. “Where am I? Is the group I came with here as well?” “This hospital was set up special for Earth ponies. I, um… ponies from Earth. We had shut the wing down, but then you all showed up…” “You all?” The mare nodded, moving to the wall where a clipboard hung by a stud. She removed it with her mouth, scribbling notes. “Are any of them awake? Which room is Jacob in? He has a scissor mark on his flank with some string.” The nurse shook her head. “Both pegasi and unicorns are still asleep, and they can’t be disturbed. The others are awake, but I’d have to check a few things before you can see them.” Her expression was no longer fearful and submissive. “You can’t get out of bed until I say so.” “Okay.” She sat up a little straighter. “Just… check whatever you have to check. I want to see them.” It took nearly twenty minutes of poking and prodding for the nurse to finally let her out of bed. She took a battery of measurements, some with mundane medical tools she recognized and others with obviously magical crystals that she very much did not. She removed the IV, wrapped a length of bandage around the foreleg with a cotton ball, and gestured at the door. “You can’t leave the hospital yet, so don’t go anywhere past this hallway. Don’t open any of the closed doors, or I’ll be very cross with you. Your friends will be up and on their hooves before you know it, and the best we can do to encourage their recovery is to leave them alone. Got it?” “Got it. I won’t leave or try to visit any of the ponies who haven’t woken up yet. Promise.” “Good.” She opened the door. “This is still your room. We usually let ponies out as a group, so they don’t get separated. You’ll have to stick with us until all your friends are better.” Elise followed her out into the hall. Like the room she had been in, it was painted inoffensive colors and made of stone, though there were also electric lights high on the ceiling above. She could already hear voices, Jackie’s and Harley’s coming from a few doors down. Elise was used to her hooves by now, and she was proud of how she managed to make it all the way into the room without falling in front of the native. She froze as she crossed into the doorway, very nearly dropping sideways onto the floor. Seeing Jackie as a full-on pony wasn’t that strange, with her light blue coat and lighter mane. No, the shock came from seeing the one she recognized instantly as Princess Luna, sitting across from the bat and the changeling apparently engrossed in conversation. Her vision fuzzed a little at the edges as she took in her appearance—a mane that stretched downward into infinity, fractal stars and a curtain of misty night. She was taller than Elise even sitting, and would probably be twice her height standing up. She wore a few shards of metal regalia, a dark collar and silvery horseshoes. Her organization had known about these creatures, in the sense that they had been preparing for their arrival on Earth as the greatest danger humanity might face. Their power was suggested to be so great that only a nuclear blast, caught unexpectedly, would be enough to destroy them. Once an agent met one of them, it was said that their minds could be completely rewritten. Their intellect was unfathomable, and their ability to rewrite so complete that the victim would not even know it was happening. She wanted to run. Would’ve run, if she thought it would make a difference. But there could be no escaping from a being like this. No avoiding the judgement she richly deserved. This is for Unity, she thought. This is for all the ponies who died because I believed a lie. Elise dropped into a bow and waited for death to come. It didn’t. “Rise, pony. You are welcome to join us.” Luna turned, and for a moment the endless depths of night seemed to be examining her. That ethereal mane twisted and circled near her, though it did not burn where it touched. “You know us already, I see. Who are you?” How could she not know? Of course, Elise realized then that her ideas about Luna were based on the doctrine of her organization. Intelligence that had come from the ones the ponies called “Light Tenders,” and could not be trusted. “I’m… I’m Elise Avery.” “Ah.” Luna rose to her hooves, surprising the other two with the swiftness of her motion. “My apologies, loyal subjects. We shall continue this conversation another time. Avery and I must have words together, words meant only for her.” Friendliness and joviality were all gone from her eyes, and Elise found instead only the frigid depths of space. She does know. Elise gulped, but did not retreat. This moment had been a long time coming, and deserved. Luna strode past her to the door, obviously expecting her to follow. She did, and the princess snapped it closed behind her. “You will walk beside me, criminal. If you run, I shall drag you in irons. Is that clear?” “Yes.” She couldn’t meet those eyes, but even so she stood straight. Elise deserved whatever punishment the ponies had waiting for her. Even if she hadn’t been responsible for the fall of Unity, Elise would still deserve the wrath of this pony. She had been sworn to protect the people of the United States, but had captured and killed them instead. She had done terrible things to prevent an outbreak that had ultimately happened anyway. Despite the nurse’s admonishment that she wasn’t supposed to leave the hospital, Elise followed the pony princess down a series of spiral staircases, passing several guards in the process. “I expect only the truth from you, Special Agent Elise Avery. You will give it to me, and I will know if you are not.” “Yes.” She followed close behind, having to trot to keep up with Luna’s walking pace. The castle was lavishly decorated and luxurious. Marble floors, fine wood furnishings, and art as fine as anything on Earth. Except the figures in every piece were equine instead of humanoid. Crystal chandeliers lit flowing chambers, and uniformed servants were everywhere. “The changeling Harlequin gave me an extensive report of what has transpired on Earth. Do you assess her report as honest?” She looked away. “Harley has no reason to lie. I expect anything she told you about me is correct.” They started climbing a tower. The stairs were small enough for her to climb each one with ease, but they seemed to go on forever. There were very few windows, and Elise began to rely on Luna’s mane to see. “You worked for the Light Tenders. You willingly gave up your human form so you would be rescued by our ponies and lead them to Unity. Correct?” “I worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, not the Light Tenders. The rest is right.” “There’s a difference?” “Yes!” She tensed. “I don’t care what anyone told you, the FBI’s only job was to keep the country safe. Keeping Americans safe matters to me.” She turned slightly sideways, displaying her Cutie Mark. “This eagle here is the symbol of my country. I don’t think you ponies have any other truer statement of purpose than that.” Luna stopped in the darkness, staring at her. Elise wished there was somewhere to hide from those eyes. She stepped closer. “If this ‘FBI’ mattered so much to you, why did you betray it? I’m told the captives are all free thanks to you.” She whimpered, but didn’t look away. Elise deserved her pain. “I never doubted we should contain the spread of ‘magic’. It was a threat to our species, and our way of life. But… I learned I’d been lied to about almost anything else. Your organization most of all. Your claims to be helping and caring for the transformed were all accurate. I hate you for spreading your infection to Earth, but I don’t hate those who were infected. Protecting them is the reason I took a badge in the first place.” The princess eventually looked away, and started up the stairs again. “I see the guilt you carry. I know you sometimes lay awake at night, remembering the screams. You do everything you can to erase your mistakes, but nothing works. You’re soiled forever, and you feel it any time anyone looks at you. You see pity and contempt and you remember anew how damaged you are.” Elise felt the tears on her face, though she couldn’t remember crying. It had been a very long time since she had ever cried, let alone in front of an enemy. Basic had broken that instinct, taken away that part of humanity a long time ago. “I know ponies didn’t get out when Unity burned. I now I am responsible for their deaths. Even if my help destroying Unity was under pretenses that would not have made it wrong… I was wrong. I took lives that can’t be given back.” They reached the top of the tower. An intricate mosaic had been set into the wall, created by what seemed like the very same school of art that had created the Temple. It depicted a pony like Luna, but much darker. She crushed armies beneath her hooves. Shattered cities at the head of a dark army of bat-winged ponies. The mosaic filled the whole space, yet only in a remote corner could she find another pony, sheltering a single city of terrified ponies under her wings. Unlike the Temple, this illustration was in brilliant colors, with a single domelike window at the top of the tower to light the whole space. It was some kind of observatory, at least if all the telescopes and star maps on its various tables were any guide. “I couldn’t either. The ponies I murdered have been gone for many years. The families I stole them from are gone, and their descendants many more generations on. But still the pain remains. There is no one to tell me what I must tell you.” How had such a big pony moved so fast? Suddenly she was beside Elise, with no sign of an intervening teleport. “I forgive you. Equestria forgives you. You’ve done everything you could to repair the damage you caused… drop your burden.” Elise did cry now, embracing the pony princess and shaking all over. “I didn’t mean for it to happen! We were supposed to be killing monsters!” “I know.” To her great surprise, Luna’s form was soft and she didn’t push her away. Instead there was a wing over her, and a feeling of stability Elise had never known. “Few ponies would be evil if they could not justify their actions with imagined virtue. It doesn’t matter. You’re forgiven.” Elise didn’t speak again until her eyes had dried and her shoulders straightened again. She did feel better. Was that just the pony instincts talking? “What happens to me now?” Luna shrugged. “Equestria is a big place. I have no doubt you will find a life for yourself somewhere.