Unwilling Recruit
Their plan began without a hitch. They prepared their cameras, waited for Harley to leave on assignment, and watched Unity’s exterior entrances carefully. The balcony they planned to use was used by many of Unity’s winged inhabitants, or at least the ones that claimed to come from Equestria.
Sven was not excited about the part of their plan that involved being carried down to the window, but what other options did they have? They had plenty of time to practice the maneuver without a perilous drop to his death, plenty of time to learn that between Jackie and her sister they could easily carry a single person. In class, they had learned that they only needed one flyer to every passenger. But they wouldn’t be taking that much risk.
The entrance was not far from the orchard, where few but the earth ponies visited on any regular basis. Still, there were no rules against it, and nobody to stop the three of them from hanging out near the wall there. They did it for several days, forcing Jackie to wake up much earlier than she wanted. But some things were more important than sleep.
They waited until there was nobody around—not even other students friendly to their mission. They weren’t the only ones who were curious about what the ponies of Unity were hiding. But ultimately they had decided that a smaller group was better. Nobody else they’d managed to recruit had been willing to take the risk. What would they do if they got caught?
“If you drop me, I’m gonna be pissed,” Sven said, as each of them took an arm. “I’ve got a kid, you know. You’re going to make her an orphan if you drop me.”
“The clouds would catch you,” Jackie muttered, shrugging one wing dismissively.
“No they wouldn’t,” Sven and Katie said at almost the same time. “Only people with wings can walk on them.”
“Oh.” Jackie really should’ve paid more attention in class. “Well, we won’t drop you. It’s like a hundred feet to the balcony.”
They lifted up into the air. Jackie had to beat her wings much harder to stay airborne, but not harder than was comfortable. It was more like slowing down—she could’ve used the same amount of energy to fly much faster if she had wanted.
They passed over the wall, then down along the side of Unity. They started accelerating, faster than they’d planned. “Katie!” Jackie hissed, kicking out in spite of herself. It didn’t do any good, obviously—no movement of the legs did much of anything while you were flying.
“I’m trying!” her sister squeaked, her wings beating desperately. They started drooping to one side. Sven’s face went white, and he looked like he might puke—but Jackie didn’t care. She just dragged, pulling both of them towards the balcony. It was above them now, and almost impossibly distant. She kept flying anyway, ignoring the illusion that it was getting further away. They were going to make this, dammit!
She practically collapsed to the stone. There was no railing here—it was only going to be used by those with wings to begin with. She let go of Sven’s arm, rolling onto her back and panting. None of them spoke for nearly a minute, recovering their strength.
“That was… harder than when we practiced,” Katie muttered. “It shouldn’t have been so hard.”
“Harley said it’s about intention,” Jackie whispered. “You just got to feel lighter. You obviously weren’t thinking light thoughts.”
“You’re saying that?” Sven muttered, indignant. “Really? I thought you hated pony.”
“I hate how coy they are about fuckin’ everything,” Jackie muttered back. “I hate that they don’t answer our questions. I hate how girly they are. That’s not the same as just hating pony.”
She rose suddenly, brushing herself off. There was barely enough room for all three of them to stand out here. No windows, and no sign of a lock—but they wouldn’t want to be here if one of the natives came passing through. It happened about once every other hour, based on Katie’s observations. It was time to move.
“None of you are wearing patches… good. Our only chance is people not recognizing us.” She straightened, pressing the button that would turn on the GoPro in her pocket. She’d cut a little hole into the fabric, just wide enough for the lens. It was the closest thing to a spy camera she could manage.
“Don’t get distracted,” Katie muttered. “We’ll go once around the floor, stay away from the guards, then come back out here to fly to safety. Don’t stop for anything.”
Jackie nodded her agreement.
“I got it.” Sven sounded annoyed. “I helped come up with the plan. Let’s get it over with.”
They strode inside. Their fears that the door might have some lock they hadn’t been able to see from the outside proved in vain—it swung in easily. They walked into another hallway of Unity visually indistinguishable from many others they’d seen. It looked like the upper residency floors—large hallways that connected apartment bays. Each bay had room for fifty or so people, which would be further separated by sex.
They walked past the first of the open bays. Jackie chanced a peek to her left, as though looking with casual interest. She could see nobody inside though, only lots of unusually tiny beds. There were no guards waiting to arrest them, or freaky mutants.
“Furniture’s real low to the ground,” Sven whispered as they passed. “Maybe for ponies.”
“Maybe shut up,” Jackie whispered back. “If we belonged here we’d know that.” She walked a little faster, though she couldn’t see anyone to overhear them in this hallway.
If this floor was set up like the other residency areas, there would be eight bays of fifty. That would mean plenty of chances for freaky mutants to reveal themselves.
“I don’t feel like I’m dying,” Katie muttered, when they were about halfway to the next of the open bays. “Wouldn’t I feel it if there were radiation in here?”
“No.” Sven answered before she could. That was good, since Jackie wouldn’t have known how to answer. “You don’t feel it when it’s happening unless it’s really crazy. We could be getting a lethal dose right now and we wouldn’t know.”
But the staff of Unity hadn’t claimed there was radiation down here. And if there was, wouldn’t they have been in just as much danger as the humans? Except maybe the earth ponies, they could probably survive anything.
Jackie put her finger over her mouth as they hurried to the next bay. They wouldn’t be able to inspect any others before they rounded the corner into whatever mysteries were beyond.
There was more missing than the mutants so far, though. She couldn’t hear any screaming. Jackie figured if there was something nefarious going on in Unity, there would be tortured screaming for sure. And probably less working lights.
The door to this bay was open like the last—Unity wasn’t being terribly good about keeping secrets. But nobody is supposed to be down here without passing the guards. Why would they bother with more locks?
Jackie reached the open door, then stopped dead. It hadn’t been the plan—but she couldn’t help it.
There were just over a dozen creatures in the room, gathered around the center in a fairly involved circle. Jackie’s brain fuzzed, as an overwhelming wave of nausea washed over her. She stumbled back, covered her eyes, wrapped her arms as tightly around herself as she could to stop from throwing up. It didn’t work.
It was everything they had expected—everything they’d theorized about. Every nightmare all twisted into the same fearful second. Jackie had the presence of mind to keep her leg turned towards the opening, even if her eyes refused to focus on what it contained. Each time she looked up she felt the burning return, and she looked away again.
Sven screamed as something invisible gripped him by the legs, dragging him away into the open door. Katie squealed in response, trying to grab and hold him, but recoiled from his touch. Her hands turned bright red, as though she’d just plunged them in oil.
“Get out!” Sven shouted after them. “Run for you live—” His shout turned into a muffled gurgle.
They didn’t need telling twice. Jackie took her sister by the shoulder, shoving her back in the direction they’d come. Katie ran along beside her for a few steps, leaving one of her boots behind, then the other.
A few steps later and Katie went down, her screams changing from fear to real agony. And Jackie could see why—her feet were gone. At the bottom of her jumpsuit legs were only blunt stumps. Worse, the legs themselves seemed to be bending, as though her sister were clay in the hands of a cruel craftsman. She was melting before Jackie’s eyes, dissolved by the same invisible force that she could feel pouring into her own chest even now.
Her sister’s eyes met hers, and Jackie watched the color change. Never in her life had she seen such pain in someone else. “Help me!” Katie begged, all pain and desperation.
But Jackie didn’t know how. Her heartbeat raced, and she could hear the shouts of alarm from down the hall. There might not have been guards before, but there were guards now. Coming from around the bend, not the balcony.
Jackie glanced over her shoulder at the door they had left open. This was her chance—her last chance, probably. If she ran right now, she might get away.
Figures were emerging from the open doorway, creatures that weren’t even as tall as her knees, covered in bright fur. She knew them intellectually, but just now her brain refused to connect those dots.
She made her choice. Instead of letting those creatures swarm over her sister, dragging her into the room as they’d done to Sven, she dropped atop her sister. It was rather like the way she’d seen mothers shelter their children from something terrible—putting their own bodies in the path of flames, or floods.
“I don’t know how to help you,” she muttered, ignoring the pain. It was building in her, an incredible headache without a source. Her limbs had started twitching, as though seconds away from rebelling out from under her. “I’m here. I won’t let them hurt you.” Jackie wasn’t sure how she would keep that promise—but she would try.
“You fucking liars!” Jackie screamed, with every bit of terrified emotion she had. “You were monsters this whole time! People deserve to know what you’re doing to them!”
She clung to her sister, resisting the creatures all around her. She felt pressure pulling at her, trying to separate her from the pained girl underneath. Every touch brought more pain from her own body, shivers that spread away from the moment of contact. Jackie glanced briefly up and saw something touch her arm, soft gray fur spread out from that place.
One of them spoke. Somehow she could make out the words, even if the context was now completely lost on her. “You need to get away. Your heart… exposure… don’t belong…”
Jackie fought with all her might—fought like Katie’s life depended on it. She felt one of her boots connect with one of the creatures, then go flying off with nothing to hold it when she tried to swing again. Had she just lost her feet like her sister? She was too desperate, too frightened to care.
“Just leave us alone!” she squealed, her voice jumping an entire octave as she screamed. Like the squeaks that Harley had mocked her for. Please, someone. Anyone. Help us.
There was no one, no one but the little swarm of brightly colored monsters. Not monsters. Ponies. What else did I really expect to find down here?
Her world grew unsteady. She was already on the ground, yet she felt like she was falling. Falling into an ocean of fabric, falling away from the monsters. Maybe they wouldn’t be able to follow her.