//------------------------------// // Chapter 16 // Story: Unwilling Recruit // by Starscribe //------------------------------// Chapter 16 Jackie stumbled out the other end of the portal, feeling a little less like she’d just had her insides scrambled than she had the last time. She passed a mounted gun before she realized that she was walking on two legs again. She couldn’t help herself—the sound that escaped her lips certainly wasn’t a word, or even close to one, and it made her blush the instant she realized what she’d done. She leapt up into the air, hanging there for several full seconds. Wait, what? No sooner had she realized it than she dropped back onto the ground with a painful thump, and nearly fell over. She learned forward, expecting her forelegs to be there to catch her—and they didn’t exist anymore. Harley caught her instead, grip firm on her shoulder through the fabric of her hoodie. Which… shouldn’t have fit anymore. “You okay there, Squeak? Looked like you might be about to break something.” “I’m… fine…” she muttered, though in reality she was grateful that Harley hadn’t just let go. She probably would’ve fallen over. “Just… let me hold onto you… I dunno why you’re so good at switching.” There was a young woman standing near the open doorway, one Jackie hadn’t seen before. Except… those gold eyes were familiar. And her outfit resembled the informal guard stuff she’d been wearing before. Except now it was a dress and a coat, with high boots and gold-rimmed glasses. She looked like she might be in even worse shape than Jackie, but she was prepared. Sigil kept her hand on the wall, using it to guide her towards the door. Even if her legs looked like they might rebel on her at a moment’s notice, she didn’t fall over. “Move along,” said a voice from behind them—a pony guard, one Jackie didn’t recognize. “You’ll have time to adjust in one of the lobbies there. Ponies are still coming through.” How are some of them ponies and some of them not. Maybe it was the cream… then she remembered her jump, and stretched her wings. They responded, extending from her back. It was exactly the way she’d remembered, except that they seemed smaller on a human then they had been for a pony. She obeyed, thanks to Harley’s help. “I don’t understand… why do I have wings?” The changeling looked as confused as she felt. “You told me you wanted to fly.” At Jackie’s nod, she continued. “How else would you fly? Did you see anypony in Equestria flying without wings?” She’d seen unicorns make items fly. But now that she thought about it… of course it made sense. There were plenty of equestrians who kept their pony features, wings most of all. She had thought they were silly fashion once, before she really looked. But now she knew. “I guess that’s what the cream was for?” Harley nodded. “Unicorns can use wands, but they haven’t come up with a replacement wing yet. And since I’m the only shapeshifter here, you basically have to get the spell right the first time.” They wandered into a room Jackie hadn’t seen before, with various racks and hangers mounted to one wall. And she could see why—several of the newcomers had come back with the strangest outfits. Mutli-layered dresses set with gemstones, strange jackets and coats that did little for modesty. She immediately stiffened, glancing down to see if she’d suffered the same fate. But no—she was now wearing a black and gray skirt, with layers of wispy material making it look a little longer, along with her hoodie. Which was… person sized now, instead of pony sized. And it still had holes for her wings, which was both great and also unhelpful. An official-looking pony stood by one wall, where the room seemed to split into men and women. “Alright, everypony. If you’re new, go to one of the red booths. Everypony else, get yourselves squared away and report to me when you’re ready not to trip over yourself. There’s a list of banned subjects on the wall in case you forget. Unicorns will not be issued wands until they can demonstrate proper thaumic safety with humans around.” And on, and on, with a tone like she’d given this lecture a thousand times. Jackie didn’t have much to do, and at a glance she could see that Harley didn’t either. She’d come through already dressed, tonight in something tight with green and black throughout. “So this skirt…” Jackie muttered, finding that walking came more naturally to her after the first few steps. “It isn’t gonna disappear on me, is it? Like… I don’t think the super-secret agent is supposed to have her clothes disappear before seducing the femme-fatale. It’s supposed to be organic.” “We can bicker about who seduces who later,” Harley whispered back. “After we find out where we’re going.” She walked right up to the one who’d been issuing orders, pausing only to wave politely to Sigil as she disappeared into one of the red changing stalls. “Lieutenant Amethyst Star, ma’am,” she said, without saluting. “Harlequin returning from Equestria with the injured Jackie Kessler. Treatment was completed successfully. We’re both ready to report for duty. Maybe… together?” “No.” There was no anger as she said it. It was only the voice of the mailman telling her that she didn’t have a package today. But even so, Jackie felt her wings fluff up behind her, making her look a little bigger. Her ears didn’t move anymore though, and she didn’t even have a tail. Thank God. “You’re going to Colorado with the Elements and everypony else with live-fire training. Your, uh… friend here, doesn’t have the qualifications.” She skimmed down the clipboard in her hand. “Jacqueline, here you are. Suspended sentence for attempted sabotage. Looks like I’m to hold you the instant you arrive and make sure you never get the chance to mix with Unity’s population. Straight onto transport and out of here.” She lowered her clipboard. “What in Celestia’s name did you do to get a note like that?” Attempted sabotage, huh? She’d known she was getting banished for it. At least they weren’t going to lock her in a cell. “So… what happens to me then? I don’t get to see Harley again?” She wrapped her arm through Harley’s at that, holding her close. “That isn’t okay.” “No…” Amethyst looked a little taken-aback. “I don’t care what you do, so long as you don’t give me trouble. They aren’t feeding you to those ECU guys or anything. Looks like the regent doesn’t want you living here.” She flipped a few pages back in the clipboard. “Here we go. Transit papers. You’re going to a safehouse in Seattle. They’re pretty good. Not the Canterlot Suites or anything, but not much worse than here. You’ll live. What you decide to do with your time off is on you. But for now, if you could just stay where I can see you until I get an escort, that would be great. I don’t know what you did, but so long as you don’t try to escape or anything…” “Nope.” Jackie turned out her empty hands, though she wasn’t sure the gesture meant the same thing to the ponies. She moved her fingers up and down through a full cycle of motion, touching thumb to each in turn. It was so good to be able to move them again. “See? Nothing up my sleeve.” They walked together to a nearby chair on the ladies’ side of the divider, mostly so she wouldn’t have to see the various distinctly human junk hanging out across the way. These ponies might look like her, but they had no more modesty because of it. They must teach them quick. I never saw anyone walking around Unity naked. Except her, but that had been Harley’s fault. “How much time off do you get, anyways?” she asked, once they were out of Amethyst’s earshot. “Do you think maybe… you could come visit? Or I could visit you?” “Easier for me than you,” Harley answered. “I deploy pretty deep sometimes. Spend weeks without support out in the world. Earth is… kinda fun. Easier for me than ponies, since I can be whatever I want. I’ll give you my number. You should be able to find a cheap phone somewhere. Just don’t say anything secret over the line—never know who might be listening. No proper nouns. And maybe get a new disposable every few weeks just to be sure. “That does sound like some secret-agent shit,” Jackie said, leaning against her in her seat. Harley’s human shape had gray wings, just like she had in Equestria. And she was a little cooler against Jackie’s skin. Like her shell was under there somewhere—or at least Jackie could imagine it. They did exchange numbers, or she got Harley’s anyway. There was no time to do more, because a pair of guards showed up moments later—wearing guns instead of spears and bronze breastplates. “My name is Captain Greaves,” said one of them, extending a hand to shake in a decent simulation of politeness. “I hear you’ve been cooperative so far. Is that how this is going to go?” “Yeah.” Jackie slumped forward, resting her arms on her legs. “I’ll do whatever you say. I’m not going to try and spill your secrets anymore.” “Princess Luna set you straight, then,” said the other guard. Jackie vaguely recognized his face, but she couldn’t place it. “Pretty typical. She does that to everypony.” No, I just don’t want anyone else to go through what I did. Now that I know you guys aren’t lying about Equestria and stuff… Come to think of it, just what could they still be lying about? The government being evil, maybe. The ponies could still have a culture that was good while fighting an unjust war, couldn’t they? An unjust war by rescuing people the government wants to kill? That rang a little hollow. “We need to get going then,” said Greaves. “Your possessions are already waiting for you in the safehouse. The three of us will travel with the field team, and one of the support planes will continue on to deliver you along the way. You good to airdrop with those wings?” She nodded. “I am so up on the secret agent shit, you have no idea.” But she didn’t get up. Instead she leaned sideways, wrapping her arms around Harley one last time. “Maybe if I hold on tight enough… they won’t make me go,” she whispered. She expected the guard to interfere at any moment—probably to yell, if not worse. But they didn’t. “Sorry, Squeak.” Harley hugged her back. “That isn’t how this works. Even if you hadn’t done anything, we’d still have to go different ways sometimes. I have missions, and you would too soon enough. They wouldn’t always be the same ones.” “I know…” Jackie grumbled one last time, then finally let go. She let the guards lead her away. They took more of Unity’s underground passages to the airfield, not letting her above the surface until the helicopter was already roaring with sound. She could’ve screamed the truth about Unity with all her lungs and no one would’ve heard. She rode along at the back of the business helicopter, with only Greaves as her escort. But he relaxed the instant they were aboard. He didn’t follow her to the bathroom or the bar, or stop her from chatting with the ponies aboard. This was the same mission as Harley, though she was on a different plane. Something about a college, and the ECU getting rid of whole groups of bronies before any of them manifested any abilities. They were going to preempt the preempters. They landed atop a warehouse in the middle of the night, unloading crew and cargo while Jackie stared out the window at an American city by night. It was a pleasant sight, in its way, from the amber streetlights to the scent of exhaust. Equestria was beautiful, but her home was beautiful too. To her. I could call my parents again. Let them know I’m back in the country. I bet Katie already did. They would want to know where they were, want to visit. But that probably wasn’t a good idea. There was no way in hell the ponies would let her take visitors at a secret safehouse. And if the government is disappearing people with connections to Equestria, visiting would put them in danger too. So probably not that. Jackie reclined her seat and slept as dawn came and they took off again for parts unknown. Then they arrived, and it was time for the jump. She leapt over Seattle with nothing more than a map of her destination and twenty dollars in cash to catch a cab. It was worth it. By the time she finally arrived, it was to a squealing Katie. “I can’t believe you’re back!” she exclaimed, once she’d finally let go. They stood in the entryway of what could’ve been any apartment, if you were willing to climb through two floors of abandoned building and get past a solid steel door two inches thick. Her sister didn’t seem to be looking at that, though. Katie’s eyes widened, and she nudged Jackie’s legs with one of her own. Katie didn’t have shoes anymore, because she didn’t have feet. It was all fur down there, and hooves. Exactly that way Jackie remembered. Katie no longer looked freakish and mutated to her—just two different types of cute melted together, and looking quite cross. “What the hell, sis? Where’d you get your parts back? Nobody gave us ours…” “My… parts?” She raised an eyebrow. “I got them the same place you did. Mom—” Katie shoved her a little harder this time—though Jackie still barely felt it. Her sister wasn’t very strong, and being not quite four feet probably didn’t help with that. “Don’t be stupid. Sven, get over here! You need to see this!” A pony emerged from the hall a moment later, wearing nothing but an annoyed expression at being woken. “I told you, don’t call me that anymore. I’m a damn pony, so I get a damn pony name. It’s Stalwart.” The little earth pony looked up, taking her in. “Oh. Damn, you’re you again. There’s no fuckin’ justice.” He turned around. “Back to bed. I don’t want to deal with this right now.” “I wish you could’ve come,” Jackie muttered, her voice nervous. “It’s… incredible. Everything they told us, Kat. Cities in the clouds? Those are real. Castles with princesses? Real too. It’s like a whole country that’s never even heard of war.” Katie turned away from her. “That sounds amazing, Jackie. All those places from the show… it would’ve been cool to visit a few. But that stuff doesn’t matter as much as you being okay. I guess Princess Luna knows how to fix ponies after all.” “Yeah.” Jackie hadn’t felt comfortable talking about the specifics, even with Harley. Even thinking about it brought back some of the ache to her spine, along with a distant fear that she might somehow undo the repair and relapse again. “Well, come on. I was just starting on breakfast anyway…” Katie latched onto her wrist, dragging her into the kitchen. There was indeed a skillet warming up, with several of the usual breakfast preparations piled up nearby. “No bacon?” “Not anymore.” Katie sounded momentarily queasy. “Believe me, you don’t want to smell it, let alone taste it.” Jackie wasn’t sure she believed that—she’d eaten some things in Equestria she thought might be meat. “I had some giant moths that were pretty good the day before I left. Harley thought maybe I was trying to intimidate her.” “Now you’re just screwing with me.” Katie hopped up on a stool to work, glaring over her shoulder at Jackie. “You’re a bat pony. That doesn’t mean you would eat bugs.” “Well I wouldn’t catch them myself,” Jackie admitted. “But if you’ve got any…” Jackie pulled up a chair, chatting with her sister about nothing in particular while she worked. She learned that Katie had indeed taken steps to contact their parents, and had a disposable phone she could use when she felt better. They didn’t really have much of a mission here, other than to maintain the place and keep an eye on the city for ponies about to change. “But ‘Stalwart’ and I are pretty garbage at it, since I can only go out in public looking like a little kid and he can’t go out at all. So I guess that will be your job.” “Great.” Jackie didn’t even pretend to sound enthusiastic. “Nerd clubs. I can’t wait.” Eventually the sun rose over Seattle, casting splintered orange and red through the curtained window. Jackie could still see the buildings outlined against it, and felt more at home than she ever had in Equestria. Earth wasn’t as pretty, or as perfect. But it was still her home. “So, one last thing before you sleep,” Katie muttered, when they were done washing up. “Stalwart would ask too, but he’ll be cranky all day since I woke him up. So I’ve got to be the one to ask.” “Shoot.” “After visiting their world—do you think we’re on the right side?” She gestured out the window with a wing. “We’re basically on our own here. If we wanted to go turncoat, we could. Reveal all their evil secrets.” “No!” Jackie tensed, wings spreading defensively. “I mean… yes. We’re on the right side. I met one of their princesses. That’s like… the president. I dunno everything about this war, but I know Princess Luna was sincere. She really wanted to help us. She did everything she could to give me my legs back, and I’m just one stupid girl. Maybe they’re not perfect, but they’re better than the ones trying to kill us.” “Good.” Katie leaned forward briefly, embracing her in a loose sisterly hug. “I’m glad. Because… I think I’ve got a plan, and secretly being evil would really screw it up. We can talk more about it when you wake up.” “A plan?” I guess you have been here for a week all alone with nothing to do. “Like what?” “I think I wanna be a superhero.”