The gathered ponies and dragon stared, shocked and silent, at the yellow pegasus rubbing her metal hoof.
"...around two hundred years ago," she began hesitantly, "there was a sign of life back on Earth. The vectors decided to look into it, of course, but... the crew that went was the first infected with the Whispers. Most of them died on Earth. Some made it to the colony on Luna--Earth's moon, not our Luna. They all died. A few managed to make it back to Mars, but the Vectors were warned and killed them to keep the threat contained--but ever since then, Whisper outbreaks have been known to happen."
Twilight folded her ears back. "...Why? What are they? What do they want?"
Fluttershy shook her head. "Nobody knows. Well, TTI might, they've managed to capture one, but if they do they're keeping it secret. They don't screech or roar or even talk, they just... whisper. That's how they got their name. You have to be almost next to them to hear them--and at that point, they're probably going to kill you anyway."
Pinkie swallowed. "You said... you said your eye was clawed out by a Whisper. Back at the spa."
"Yep."
"So... that's what you're going to tell us. About how you lost your eye."
"Yep."
Rainbow Dash looked around at the worried, terrified looks on her friends' faces and groaned. "Okay, yeah, this is going to be horrible, but come on guys! We've fought changelings and dragons and parasprites, this... is scary in a different way, but we can't just back out because we're scared, right? Fluttershy's still our friend."
Fluttershy smiled faintly. "That's a nice sentiment."
"Yeah, well, I mean it." The pegasus leaned forward eagerly. "So, come on Shy. Did you charge the blood monster head on? Maybe you got a medical thing and cut its tail off... or, oo, did you fly up and try to divebomb it?"
That got a laugh out of her friend. "Dash, really? I was still pretty fresh from Ponyville. No, I did the smart thing: I ran and warned the others."
Fluttershy burst from the quarantine tent, already in the air. "WHISPER! THERE'S A WHISPER HERE!"
The others all turned their attention to her, just in time to witness the crystalline monstrosity stalk out after her. A few of them swore loudly or gave cries of terror, scrambling backwards or hopping behind crates. Alea twirled her left wrist, plates sliding aside on her forearm to reveal a long cylinder.
"Shy, call for help!" she shouted, peppering the creature with metal pellets as she charged forward. "Everyone else, guns!"
The pegasus blinked, just registering her slamming into the monster. "R-right! Votum, line to Reinhild please!"
"Opening line to Reinhild..."
Fluttershy galloped to a nearby crate, her eyes still fixated on the red creature Alea was trying to pin. The image of a fox reclining at her desk popped up on her lens.
"Hello, Fluttershy, what's--?"
"There's a Whisper out here!"
The fox sat up straight, her hand darting across the desk's glass surface. "Say again, Whisper?"
"Yes! Suchart just burst and, and Alea's holding it back, she's a cog but--"
A screech of metal and plastic signaled the red monster tearing free from the cog's grip. It tossed half her body aside, cocking its head as bullets clinked into its shoulder.
"It just tore her in half--it's going after the others, they have guns--"
"You can fly, right?" The fox made a brushing motion and walked out of her vision. "Keep out of reach, and keep on the line, I've just requisitioned a squad to your location--"
Fluttershy's eyes widened when she saw Alea's hand twitch, darting left and right before falling on a small toolbag. Without a moment's thought, she rushed over and hooked her hoof through the handles. "Votum, look up repair of critically damaged cogs please!"
"Searching, one moment."
A panicked yell caught her attention, and she looked over just as the Whisper dove into a rabbit--pouring into her mouth and horrified eyes. The girl had just enough time to clutch at her chest before she exploded, two red forms glinting in the midday sun as bullets ricocheted off their forms.
"Cog repair instructions located. Displaying blueprints."
Fluttershy swallowed, turning back to Alea and darting over. "Prepare overlay. Reinhild, are you still there?"
"Yes, we're en route. Keep telling me what's happening."
"It got a rabbit, there are two now." The pegasus rifled through the toolbag, pulling out items both strange and familiar as she tried to ignore the gunshots behind her. "Alea, are you still with us?"
The catlike ears twitched. "Shy... what....?"
"Focus on my voice, just keep listening to me." Fluttershy glanced at the image on her lens, pulling out a few tools as the flickering outline matched up with the torn form before her. "Why did you charge at that Whisper, that was dangerous!"
"Cogs can't... get infected..."
"Maybe not, but you can get torn apart." The pegasus started applying devices to the ragged metal dangling out of the torso. "I, uh, haven't done this before. Can you tell me if anything is wrong?"
Alea looked down at her wound weakly. "...how are you holding things with hooves?"
Fluttershy gave her a look. "I don't mean to be rude, but is now really the time to be asking that?"
"OH GOD MY ARM IT CUT OFF MY ARM!"
Alea gave a conceding shrug. "...point..."
Fluttershy glanced over to the rest of the crew. A badger was clutching the stump of his arm, backing away from the first Whisper as a nearby dog tried to attract its attention with a spray of bullets. The second Whisper lunged over another crate, its claws just barely missing the racoon that scampered away from it.
"Okay, Fluttershy, we're over the forest now." Her ears caught the roar of an engine, faint but growing louder. "We don't have your exact location, so if you can signal us--"
"I, uh--" The pegasus looked around. "Signal, signal--"
"Bug spray," Alea managed, pointing at a crate.
"Right! The nymph repellant grenades, they spit out big clouds when--"
"That'll work. It'll make visibility a bitch, but we can clear it out with our engines."
Fluttershy rushed over to the crate, putting her hoof to the scanner and folding her ears back. She flinched as she heard another scream, peeking over the crate just in time to see the first Whisper dive into the badger's face. The dog pointed his gun at his former comrade, shooting as soon as he saw the badger explode--one of the Whispers that emerged shattered before it could completely form, the red fluid splattering indiscriminately on the one looking over to the dog... whose gun was clicking futily.
As soon as the crate was open, Fluttershy reached in and grabbed a few orbs. "There's help coming!" she shouted, flying up into the air. "I'm throwing down a cloud signal, be ready!" Once she could see the whole camp, she threw her payload down as hard as she could.
The roar of engines was almost on top of her, and she spun in midair, quickly locating the blue-streaked heliplane. "Reinhild! I see you, I'm on your left bearing about thirty degrees!" She waved at the aircraft as it turned, gesturing downward. "The camp is right below me--"
A red figure leapt from the fog below, its clawed hand clutching at her head as gravity dragged them both back to the ground. She screamed in pain as she broke free, the motion sending her rolling backwards across the grass until she bumped into a crate. The fog she had created distorted her vision, but the glints of sunlight outlined a figure flicking something off its long fingers and turning toward her.
Fluttershy barely had time to get to her hooves before it sprung forward--
--and was intercepted mid lunge by foxboots to the shoulderblades.
Reinhild's gun fired into the Whisper's mockery of a skull four times in rapid succession, shattering the creature into a pool of red beneath her feet. The heliplane descended moments later, its propellers dispersing the fog as a small squad jumped out and aimed their guns. The last Whisper tried to deflect the stream of bullets with its blades, but the sheer mass of the metal slugs overwhelmed it quickly.
Fluttershy sagged, taking a breath--and regretting it instantly as the smell of blood almost overwhelmed her. "Oh... Oh sweet Celestia..."
Reinhild hung her gun off her hip and walked over. "Hey, it's over, it's--" She froze, grimacing for half a second, before steeling her face and putting a hand Fluttershy's shoulder. "It's going to be alright."
The pegasus took a much smaller breath, careful to keep her muzzle away from the pool of red, which led to her spotting another figure. "Alea! I tried to save her, I don't know if--"
"Right." Reinhild glanced over her shoulder. "Somebody get that cog on life support, stat!"
One of the newcomers rushed over, scooping up the metallic torso. Fluttershy managed a brief sigh of relief when a plastic arm twitched, wrapping around the officer's shoulders.
The fox turned back to her. "Just to make sure we got them all, can you tell me who got infected?"
"Right, there was... Suchart, and then the rabbit, and one of those got into the badger--"
Her hand went to her gun. "Shit, where's the third one?!"
The dog leaning against a crate held up his gun. "Shot it when it was coming out of Jeffery, ma'am. Shattered it before it could form fully."
"...Good man." Reinhild nodded, relaxing her grip. "Right. We're getting you all to the station, and--"
"Reinhild?" Fluttershy swallowed. "I don't... I think there's something wrong with my eye. I can't see out of it."
The fox took a breath, looking at her. "Yeah. There's something wrong. Your eye's gone."
Fluttershy rose a hoof, gently feeling at the still bleeding scratches on her cheek, and the odd hollow midway through them.
"...oh. That... makes sense..."
The pegasus took a few quiet steps toward the heliplane, before collapsing to her knees. She barely registered the arms wrapping around her barrel and the voice reassuring her as her vision slowly faded to darkness.
Rainbow held up a hoof. "Shy, I have a question."
"Yeah?"
"And I want to make it clear I know full well it is a stupid question."
Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "There are no stupid questions, only stupid ways to ask questions."
"Right. Fluttershy... do you ever not faint after a big fight?"
"I had just lost my eye, Dash!" The pegasus pointed at her face. "My! EYE! You know, the delicate organ responsible for translating random light rays into coherent data for the brain to process and is generally locked into place by so many tiny muscles you could form a backup Harmony squad with them?"
"Whoa, hey, no, I get that! I'm just saying, first it was the thing with the grey guys, and then it was the Whispers--"
"Discord. The changelings. Tirek. That mongoose mugger, the Venus incident, that whole thing with the pirates--who, may I remind you, took my leg?" Fluttershy managed a small, sardonic smirk. "Yes, Dash, there are plenty of times where I have managed to get through a 'big fight' and not faint."
"Oh. Well. Good!" Rainbow nodded firmly. "Shows you've got that pegasus toughness, and... also lets you check on friends and... stuff. Yeah."
Rarity cleared her throat. "Well, your replacement eye seems... lively. Is that another enhancement?"
"Oh, yes. The Utilit-i." Fluttershy chuckled. "Silly name, I know, but it's basically a built in UI lens. Reinhild managed to get Votum reinstalled on it too, and I did add a few upgrades later--"
"So, wait..." Spike tilted his head. "Does it just pop out?"
"Spike!" Twilight scolded.
"Well, no. I can remove it, but it's a bit of a hassle getting it out and in again, so I usually only do it once a week to clean the gunk off." Fluttershy giggled. "Wouldn't be a very useful eye if I could lose it easily, would it?"
"Ooo! Ooo!" Pinkie jumped up and down. "Does it do any neat tricks?"
"Pinkie!" Applejack shouted.
Fluttershy tapped her chin with a smirk. "We-eeeeeeell... Votum, access my holo-album, please."
A flicker of light spun around her iris, lancing into the air in a shimmering pattern. The gathered ponies gaped at the colorful image that emerged, slowly rotating in the center of the garden.
"That's me on Amazon station. Before I lost my wings, obviously. That's Reinhild, and Alea, and that's Kryse'is and Bat Sunrod, I met them on Venus, and that's Ko-k0ro. Reinhild and Sunrod butted heads constantly, but then again Sunrod was Spyglass raised, so that makes sense--"
"You have a light projector in your eye?" Starlight finally managed.
"Holoprojector, yes. Like I said, I installed a few upgrades."
Rainbow Dash clapped her hooves together. "You were right, Shy. That is cool, awesome, and radical."
Fluttershy giggled behind her hoof. "~Toooold ~yoooou." She winked with her other eye, and the six figures vanished. "Of course, it took me a day to get used to the original replacement, and... well, we all had to be debriefed, it being a Whisper attack and all."
She sighed, her eyes downcast. "Which, uh, was when I started figuring out that something was going on..."
"A Whisper attack in the forest? Hooooooly shit." The deer behind the desk let out a low whistle. "You're lucky you got your auntie Reins looking after you."
"Um... my who?"
"Reinhild! Hell, if you'd contacted anyone else there'd be a fifty-fifty chance they try filing the paperwork before they even got to the heliplane, but the sergeant moves fast and hard. Probably the reason she's avoiding that final star, once you get all five the paperwork demands more attention than the people."
"O...oh." Fluttershy managed a weak smile. "She's been very helpful, chief. Um... is she going to get in trouble?"
"What?"
"For not... saving everyone," Fluttershy clarified. "Not being on the scene quick enough. I mean I called her right after I warned everyone about the first Whisper--"
"Kid, nobody else could have mobilized that fast. People died, yeah, but what's more important is that we got people saved." The chief leaned into his chair heavily. "Sides, they were Whispers. Thugs, mafia, corporate warfare, hell even the palemen, I can handle all that sort of stuff. But the things TTI deals with? Best to shut it down fast, in my mind."
"TTI deals with Whispers?"
"They've got one locked up around Jupiter or something, for study purposes. Maybe one day they'll figure out how to retake Earth... still. Wouldn't like to be on that crew. Trying to make sense of what those things say..."
"What?" Fluttershy blinked. "Wouldn't it just be easy to listen to them?"
The chief laughed dryly. "Well, if they spoke english, sure. Or any language. Nobody understands Whispers, and I don't think anybody wants to get close enough to try."
Fluttershy folded her ears back, glancing at the three butterflies on her flank.
"Course, if TTI ever did find somebody who did... or hell, somebody who got what those Manifestations they use were saying... well, they're one of the big seven. There are plenty of people who've been vanished for smaller reasons, after all--is something wrong?"
The pegasus looked up, opening her mouth...
...and remembered the cat vector she'd seen torn in half, on a ship full of innocently murderous gray creatures.
"...nothing. It... it's nothing, I was just thinking."
"Yeah?" The chief nodded. "I can get that. Look, sorry, I got sidetracked. I know you gave your story at the medbay, but I have to ask, is there anything else you want to add?"
"Suchart was infected and the Whisper emerged while I was giving him a check up. I rushed out to warn everyone, Alea moved in to grapple the thing and give the rest of us time to call for help and set up a defense... and Reinhild, well, she was listening in on the rest."
"That's basically what I have here.... well, if there's nothing else." He held out the glass pane. "Hoofprint, please."
Fluttershy obediently tapped the scanner.
"And... you're free to go."
"Thank you, chief." Fluttershy hopped out of the chair with a nod and trotted out of the office. She took a deep breath as the door slid shut behind her, trotting to one of the chairs and sagging into it.
"Well well well. If it isn't the mare of the hour herself!"
Fluttershy's ears perked as she turned to the voice with a smile. "Alea! You're okay!"
"Yeah, turns out somebody's jury-rigging of a ruptured power tube lasted just long enough for me to make it to the hospital." Alea hovered over, slowly sitting down next to the pegasus. "Still getting used to the new legs, but the doctors say I should be flying high in no time."
"...Flying high?"
Alea gave her a sly smirk. "Well, with all that money my dear beloved Suchart left me, I thought it might be time for a specialization. Had some maneuvering thrusters installed into my mag-lev."
"...Um." Fluttershy frowned. "I... don't understand. I don't think you and Suchart were married."
The cog leaned in. "Well... you know that, and I know that, and anyone that wants to go through the files would figure that out pretty quick, but who's going to care to look?"
The pegasus folded her ears back. "You... you stole money from a dead man?!"
"He's dead, what's he going to use it for?"
"Fluttershy!" Reinhild walked up to the pair, glass pane in hand. "Sorry, had to file the last paperwork on the Whisper incident--oh, hello. You're AleaFaulkner, right? Last I saw you, you didn't have legs."
"And you must be the famous sargent Reinhild." The cog smirked. "Dropkicking from a heliplane into a fogbank and pinning a Whisper for a headshot?"
The fox rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, real life action vixen. It was mostly luck, really." She cleared her throat. "I was going over the records. I... I'm sorry for your loss."
"It's... not your fault." Alea's expression grew sorrowful. "Honestly, I'm still... I still can't quite believe he's gone."
Fluttershy stared at her in abject horror.
"But, I think he'd want me to... to come to terms quickly. Suchart was always such a kind soul, he--"
"You falsified a marriage document?!"
Alea blinked, looking at Fluttershy, then to Reinhild. "...I know we never brought it up, Shy, I'm--"
"I cannot believe this," the pegasus grumbled. "Suchart dies, and your reaction is to not only go through his pockets but spit on the sanctity of true romance."
Reinhild frowned. "...Something you'd like to say, miss Faulkner?"
"No."
"Really? I thought you'd like to talk about mister Faulkner. Remember all the good times."
Alea blinked. "...well... uh... there was this one time, Suchart and I went to a dance club--"
"You do know his last name is registered as Kearney, right?"
For a moment there was silence.
"...Look." Alea crossed her arms. "He's got a brother on the Quad and that is it. I only took some of the money, I left all the sentimental crap in the will alone."
"You altered his will?!"
"I was tied up in a hospital bed for three days, Fluttershy, what was I supposed to do? Watch the crap that counts as sports?"
Reinhild rubbed her forehead in exasperation. "...and that's all you did. Take the money, you didn't hurt anyone."
"Yep. Just a few hundred creds."
"...right."
Fluttershy blinked. "Reinhild, you can't be okay with this."
"I'm not. But part of being a cop is knowing how to pick your battles." The fox pointed at the cog. "This lady managed to hack a will from a hospital bed, she probably knows where to get a really good lawyer, and while I certainly could win that fight it would distract me from saving people from gunslingers and Whispers and the like. Plus," and here the sergeant sighed heavily, "she did hold back a Whisper long enough for you guys to call for help and set up a defense, so she did kind of save everyone's life. So I'm inclined to give her this one."
Her eyes narrowed and turned toward Alea. "I'm putting you on a watchlist, though."
The cog rose her hands. "Fine by me. I'm an opportunist, not a villain."
"I... that..." Fluttershy put her head in her hooves. "This place really is different from Equestria."
"Equestria?" Alea turned to her. "Never heard of that, what is it?"
"My home."
"Someplace on Venus?"
"I... don't know."
Reinhild put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm still checking the search contracts regularly, Shy. But it's a big solar system, it might take time to find."
Alea glanced between them. "What, was she in a trafficking ring?"
"If she was, at least we'd have a hint--" Reinhild paused. "...You're good with hacking?"
"...to a degree."
"About two months ago a TTI liveship showed up in orbit. I was on the investigation squad, we got in, we found corpses, manifestations, and Fluttershy. She wasn't on official files before that day, and she didn't know about MarsCo."
"Ah. Kidnapped from a grotto?"
"Maybe." Reinhild's grip on Fluttershy's shoulder tightened. "Legally, I'm not allowed to press any further than I have and check the search contracts. I am, however, entirely capable of arresting a cog for falsifying a marriage license and then opening an investigation into any and all possible forged documents she may or may not have created."
Alea smirked. "And here I thought I was going to get away clean. TTI's pretty top-notch security, sarge. And your cells are actually pretty comfortable."
"IRPF cells do have a standard of living," Reinhild allowed, "but whether the same could be said for every corp that a cog might have scammed..."
That earned a frown from the plastic woman. She turned her gaze on Fluttershy, studying her for a few moments.
"...This girl saved my life. That's why I'm doing this. Not your petty threats." Alea turned back to Reinhild, holding out her hand. "You've got yourself an investigator, fox."
Reinhild shook it. "Keep in touch."
"So... you let a known forger of documents help you?" Twilight asked, incredulous.
Fluttershy shrugged. "We forgave Luna, Discord, and apparently Starlight."
Twilight held up a hoof, paused, and slowly lowered it. "Um. Huh. When you put it like that..."
"It's not exactly like she was a villain," Rarity mused. "She did risk her life to save everyone from that dreadful Whisper creature. And... while I do find the idea of rifling through a dead man's possessions for personal profit obscene, I must admit that taking advantage of opportunity is a viable business strategy--and of course, in Vector culture--"
"Everything is about business," the ponies all chorused.
Starlight shook her head. "Twilight, I think we've found an entire race in need of some serious friendship lessons."
"Wouldn't be the first time," Rainbow grumbled.
"They're not that bad," Fluttershy insisted. "They do make friends, they do care about each other, it's just... They don't quite get the concept of something beyond value. Everything has a value, everything is a resource, and friendship is a part of that. So is justice, and love, and... a lot of things. There's no exact exchange, but...."
She trailed off at the stares.
"...I mean, they don't let people starve," she managed. "There's free food and shelter for everyone. Not quality, mind, but it keeps people alive... and, I mean, they get that keeping each other alive is important."
The stares continued.
Fluttershy's ears drooped. "They're not bad people," she mumbled. "A lot of them are really good. They just... calculate the cost of everything. That's all."
Rarity nodded. "We understand, Fluttershy, truly. But maybe a little reminder that some things are beyond value might be worth it, hmm?"
"Well, maybe." Fluttershy looked up. "And it's not like that's not there, it's just that they can't put words to it. I mean, take what Alea did--she'd been investigating my situation for a week and a half and when she stumbled on a particular file, she didn't just send it our way. She came in person."
"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Reinhild rolled her eyes, walking to the apartment door and sliding it open. "Oh. It's you."
Alea shoved her aside. "We need to get Shy out of here right fucking now."
"What?" Fluttershy looked up from the glowing set of panels on the table. "What's wrong?"
"What's wrong is there's a cap-squad five minutes away from taking you to StarThread!"
Reinhild stalked over. "StarThread? The TTI subsidiary that--"
"--that owned the liveship Fluttershy appeared on, yes, let's cut this as you know shit and get moving!"
The fox frowned. "I'd ask if you have evidence of this, but if you're right we're on a time limit." She rushed up to a wall and slid it aside, tossing a vest to each of the others before putting on her own. "You still have that gun in your arm?"
Alea put her vest on with a nod. "Yeah. Wait, were you prepared for this?"
"Not this specifically." Reinhild took a gun from the wall and checked its clip. "Random robber, maybe this place becoming a hotzone, after I picked up Shy I figured somebody might look for her."
Fluttershy clipped the final buckle on her vest before looking up. "You did?"
"That thing you did with the manifestations. That'd attract attention." The fox moved over to a window. "What's the cap-squad got?"
"Car with chameleon skin and 'spectral' resources, which is code for 'we're bringing the freaky shit' in my experience."
"No flyers?" Reinhild opened the window.
"Not that I know, could be."
"Right." She tossed a small rectangle to the cog. "Get Shy over to the Remora complex and ask for Kleitos, I'll be after you in ten."
"Got it." Alea hopped out the window, the vents on her legs springing open with a roar. "Come on, Shy, let's get moving!"
"I--" Fluttershy looked toward the fox.
Reinhild rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine, I dropkicked a Whisper, remember?"
"...stay safe."
"I should be saying that to you. Go on, they're almost here!"
The pegasus nodded, hopping out the window. "Votum, location of the Remora complex and overlay please."
"Searching, one moment."
Alea snorted, zooming after her. "You got the PDI reinstalled in your utilit-i?"
"Well, he did show me how to save your life," Fluttershy noted, her gaze flickering between the real world and projected image. "I figured he was worth keeping around--this way, if we cut under the bridge we should be able to lose them before we leave the building."
Alea managed to just dart out of the way of a skycar, and boggled as Fluttershy wove around a few dozen. "Hold up! How the hell are you doing that?! I mean I know I'm new at flying but you're just spinning around like physics is your bitch!"
"It's a pegasus thing." Fluttershy shrugged. "I'm actually a pretty weak flyer. You should meet my friend Rainbow, she can break the sound barrier unassisted."
"You call that weak flying?"
"Um." She stopped, hovering in midair--and winced as Alea went sprawling off in a direction. "Oh dear. Are you alright?"
The cog managed to set herself to a stop, glaring at her. "You grab things without hands, you fly like a goddamned hummingbird, you talk to animals as easily as people--"
With the loud sound of shattering glass, a bizarre form was sent through Reinhild's window.
"--and you've got guys with living armor trying to take you somewhere?" Alea turned to her. "Fluttershy, what the hell are you?!"
"...um, your friend?"
"Well, no, duh, I was talking in a more 'genes and abilities' sort of way."
"Oh." Fluttershy shrugged. "Just your run-of-the-mill pegasus." She winced as the brown figure started climbing up the wall. "Maaaaaybe we should get going."
"Right, lead on. And remember I'm new at this whole flying thing!"