And thus, it was for time Flynn barely counted. But then, that was nothing new for anyone in St. Justin’s. Nobody counted days, since for almost all of them those days were numbered. Flynn went on many adventures, each of them more real than anything he’d played in video games before. This time, he didn’t feel like he was wasting his time. Rather, he was doing something important.
He rose through the ranks of the Broken Chain, until he was respected enough not to need an escort everywhere he went. Until he earned the right to steer the ship some nights, when the captain wanted to get some rest. It was nice to have something to do on the long nights alone. The whole crew was there to keep him company, though he didn’t get close to all of them equally.
Having a pony like him on the crew made them far more effective, since he could slip behind the lines and gather information without ponies noticing. In time, they were so successful that the Broken Chain earned itself a privateer’s license with the largest of the Free States, Griffonstone.
That license came with substantial upgrades, which would allow the ship to stand against almost anything in the Equestrian Sky-Navy, if it came to a fight. Unfortunately, it would take at least a few days to upgrade.
It wasn’t just Flynn’s emotional health that was improving. After however long playing the game, he’d recovered to the point where he could move his own wheelchair around, and no longer needed a whole hospital bed with life support. The nurses had told him why—something about remission, or his limbic system, or whatever. None of it mattered. What did matter was that he wouldn’t be able to save anyone for three whole days—an agonizing time, even if the upgrade would eventually enable him to make much more of an impact.
So, he wheeled his way down the hall, searching for where he knew he would find Caroline and Jose. They were always playing together, so it was never hard to track them down. They visited him every day, but not for as long as they once had. They had their own adventures in Equestria.
He found them in the garden, sitting with their Ponypads beside a fountain. It took Flynn a long time to roll himself over, in brief starts and stops that gave him the chance to recover his strength between each push. Those few seconds gave him a little time to get a good look at his friends.
Caroline looked about the same as she always did—but Jose didn’t. Where Flynn had recovered a little, his friend looked thin and skeletal in ways he hadn’t appreciated until right now. How much longer do you have? he wondered, but he didn’t say anything.
Caroline looked up from her Ponypad, blinking in a slight daze from the sunlight. It was now early spring—warm enough for them to sit comfortably outside all day. The Ponypad screens seemed to work fine even in direct sunlight, so they were by no means the only kids out here.
There were far fewer than he would’ve thought, though. For as deserted as the building had been, Flynn expected to see everyone out here, maybe climbing or playing games, maybe just using their Ponypads. There were perhaps a dozen patients, including the three of them.
“Hey guys.” He waved weakly with one shaking hand. “Got a minute?”
“For you?” Caroline grinned, setting her Ponypad down flat. She reached over, nudging Jose’s shoulder. “It’s Flynn. He’s come back from the wilderness.”
Jose looked up slowly, his eyes slightly glazed. Obviously he was quite medicated. “Hola.” He saluted with one hand, weak and sloppy.
“Yeah, can’t play today.” Flynn rolled to a stop a few feet away from them. “Where is everybody? The rooms were empty…”
Both tapped their Ponypads in unison. “Where do you think?”
Flynn blinked, leaning closer to try and look at their screens. Were they trying to show him a world-map? But no, it was just the ordinary play-screen, he recognized it perfectly. “I have no idea.”
“Don’t ask,” Jose said. “You don’t like it.”
Caroline ignored him. “Most everyone who can is emigrating, Flynn. The hospice tries to make it as hard as possible, but lots of kids here could come up with some distant relative or another to sign for them. The rest...” she gestured out at the garden, and what few kids were out here.
He stopped, his hands going suddenly cold. “Oh.”
“We don’t have to talk about it,” Caroline added hastily. “If you can’t play, why’d you bring your Ponypad?”
Flynn blushed, realizing he was clutching it in both hands as he sat. It wasn’t on, and he hadn’t brought the controller, but he had brought the tablet. “I bring it with me everywhere, just in case,” he admitted. “I didn’t come to use it though, for real. Our ship is in drydock, getting armor and new cannons. We can’t go do anything useful until it’s finished, three days from now.”
Jose shook his head. “What do you need cannons for?”
“Fighting ponies,” he answered. “Obviously. Their navy has cannons, so we need them too. Helping slaves like you escape from Celestia’s clutches.”
“You realize how little sense that makes, right?” Caroline said. “I don’t mean to upset you, but… it’s my duty to tell you whenever you’re saying something stupid. That’s stupid.”
“I don’t know what’s stupid about it.” He folded his arms. “The Broken Chain helps ponies escape from Equestria who don’t want to be ruled by Celestia anymore. We take them down to the free kingdoms, like Griffonstone. They can live their own lives there.”
“But Celestia’s still…” Caroline began, trailing off quickly. “No, you know what? I don’t care.”’
“I thought you were gonna play with us,” Jose said, apparently unconcerned with what Flynn had just told him. This wasn’t the first time—Flynn had been quietly hinting about how important his work was in the game world, how much better off they would be devoting their time to such a worthy cause as his.
They never got the hint.
“I can’t,” he said. “You guys are way up in Equestria.” He said its name like a curse. “I’m hundreds of miles away. By the time I got up to visit you, the ship would be out of drydock and the Broken Chain will need me again.”
Caroline shook her head. “You’re forgetting it isn’t a real place, Flynn. Just ask Celestia to put you with us for a few days! You already said you aren’t doing anything!”
She was right about that much. The crew of the Broken Chain all had things to do, and were eager for the time off. Most were catching up with family or lovers they left ashore whenever they went out to do their dangerous work. He was one of the few exceptions with no one around to spend the time with.
Well, except for Gina. She’d followed him ashore, and been a little disappointed he hadn’t wanted to spend some of their loot at one of the pirate bars in town. But beer smelled weird and fake beer didn’t smell like anything, so he hadn’t seen the point.
“I guess I could… but I don’t know what the point would be. You’re all slaves—even if you don’t know it.”
“Not in our shard,” Jose said. “It’s not like what you talk about. Celestia in ours is kind. Like the mom I never had. She doesn’t force us to keep a bedtime or tell us what to do. She only wants the best for us.”
It was Flynn’s turn to roll his eyes. “I don’t believe you. Celestia’s a tyrant. All the nice things you see are just an illusion to trick you into thinking you have it good. And for every nice pony town, there are two slave camps making all the nice things you use up. Ever wonder how ponies can have so much without working? That’s how!”
“No, it isn’t,” Caroline grunted, gritting her teeth. She sat back against the bench, clutching at her chest and taking several deep breaths before she finally spoke. “Look Flynn, instead of arguing, why don’t you roll up here with us and try for yourself. I know your Equestria is fun for you, but maybe you’d enjoy ours! It’s not just us, either.” She gestured all around them. “Almost everybody has moved into the same Fillydelphia. You can say hi to Frankie, or Skyler, or…” she trailed off, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Jose, in a few days.”
Flynn’s eyes widened, but he wasn’t the first to respond.
Jose didn’t care for subtlety, he just nodded. “Assuming my caseworker will let me go. Cuz’ it’s so much better to have me dead in the ‘real’ world than healthy in that one.”
Flynn rolled a little closer, so that he could speak to them without being overheard. “Hold on. What are you talking about?”
“Of course, you wouldn’t know,” Jose said, a little anger still in his voice. “You already had the chance to Emigrate, and you ran away. You wouldn’t know the ‘procedure,’ at St. Justin’s.”
“Don’t be mean, Jose,” Caroline urged. “If Flynn had emigrated, we never would’ve met him. And we’re not mad we got to meet him.” She said it flatly, glaring at Jose.
He nodded. “Yeah, yeah. I get you.” He waved one hand, then looked back. “Fifty other kids already left—everybody who could. I dunno how the law works… but so long as you’re dying, you just need a signature, and you can go to the Equestria Experience Center. Go in sick, never get sick again. Problem is St. Justin’s… trying to make it so hard for us to leave...”
Flynn shivered. He’d gone into one of those centers sick, but he’d come back. “What’s the point of letting Celestia kill you?”
Jose blinked, looking confused. “What?”
“Nothing,” Caroline said, loudly. She kept going like Flynn hadn’t said anything at all. “Jose has to wait, like the rest of us. Until his caseworker can sign for him. Hopefully he gets off his ass and gets it done soon.” She glanced sideways at Jose. “We’re all running out of time. We can’t just wait here forever and hope they get to us.”
“You asked too, then?” Flynn said. He didn’t wait for a response—her guilty look was all he needed. “Celestia doesn’t care about human laws—all that matters to her is that you tell her it’s okay. If you really want to go so bad, just run away.”
“Heh, yeah.” Jose said, lifting one hand. It shook so violently that Flynn couldn’t tell how he had even managed to settle himself down in the bench in the first place. “Running away sounds easy.”
“So why don’t you come with us to Equestria?” Caroline asked, looking back at Flynn. “It’s really easy.”
“Because I don’t want to die,” he said again. “Sooner than I have to, I mean. Obviously I’m dying.”
“No,” Caroline said, exasperated. “I mean to play.”
“Las pendejadas,” Jose grunted. “Come to Fillydelphia with us, you’ll see. Lots of emigrated ponies there. See if they don’t seem real to you. Talk to Skyler! You’ll see!”
At least Fillydelphia wasn’t the part of Equestria where his own family were living. Celestia had not subjected him to that particular torment.
He was still hopeful he might see them on his next breakout. Captain Blackbeak had said their next rescue was going to be a special one.
“Fine,” he said. “But I’m not letting you all confuse me. I get to bring Gina with me—she’ll see your tricks before they happen.”
Caroline rolled her eyes, then lifted her Ponypad into her arms. “Sure thing, Flynn. That’s fine. I’d love to make friends with a griffon. I’ve never met one before!”
“Don’t encourage him,” Jose said. Even so, he sounded more excited than exasperated.
My friends want me to play with them. Maybe Celestia hasn’t finished brainwashing them yet. There’s still a chance I can help them.