Getting re-integrated into life in Meliora wasn’t as simple as she would’ve thought. Only a day had gone by—but it had been a day where a massive carrier had been spotted moving towards them over the continent, surrounded by a magic field powerful enough to give unicorns headaches from miles away.
But she dealt with those concerns, explaining exactly where she’d been and what she had accomplished. “We need them on our side,” she said. “The breezies have magic so alien to everything in Mundi that they won’t have any defenses prepared. Probably Athena won’t be able to predict that we would visit, either. We’ll catch them completely unprepared.”
“I know Breezies,” said Lavender Eclipse, her rebellion liaison. “There were a few in Mundi, I think. They lived in worse conditions than us. These… terrarium things, way up high. Their magic helped grow food, but they kept getting sprayed with… something.”
“Probably anti-fertility drugs,” Jackie said. “They breed… well, like insects. They mature quickly, and they’re not helpless from birth like we are. Their numbers can get out of hand if you’re not careful.”
“But somehow inviting an entire ship full of them is a good idea?” asked Firelight. “We need magic, but… we don’t need another source of danger. What if they see us as a rival, and they want to wipe us out? They must know our cities are going to take away jungle space.”
“They’ve built a stable society of their own,” Jackie said. “I don’t know how it all works yet, but I visited and their queen was holding things together pretty well. They won’t be a threat. I stake my authority on it.”
Negotiations with Avery’s faction were another serious concern—but they would have to wait. The ship wouldn’t be arriving for a few more days—it could probably travel more quickly, but it wasn’t. I’ll take that as a favor, Avery. I need time to get these idiots ready to listen. And the most important part of that process, would be to invite more people to sit at that table.
If Mundi invaded the fledgling city-state of Meliora, they would probably lose. But if Mundi invaded the continent, they’d have far more resources to bring against this enemy. Greater numbers, yes… but the magic was more important.
Magic is all we have. Even if Athena isn’t letting them use any doomsday weapons against us, they’ve still got everything we don’t. Powered armor, smart guns, drones, fighters. All things that Meliora would lack.
Even the seaponies tried to complicate things for her. They didn’t just send a package for Liz—they sent an entire ship, with a dozen diplomats and negotiators and scholars.
“We want to observe the formation of your new state,” said the most pompous-looking fish Jackie had ever seen. “We won’t interfere in the development of a primitive society, that would be beneath our ethical standards. But we would love to observe. There is so much we might be able to learn.”
The way he presented his case left no room for actually refusing him. Jackie was tempted, just out of spite. But all the seaponies really wanted was a little space and the freedom to do interviews.
“Sure,” she said. “But, I want the gear for Liz now. And not just one suit of armor… I want replacement parts, any disposables… all sealed and protected. I want her good for centuries without refitting.”
“That… might be a problem,” Staccato said, his voice faltering. “That many replacement parts… it is against our strictest ethical guidelines to interfere. If we gave you so much… well, hard as it is to believe, some groups have tried to reverse-engineer our technology in the past. With that many spare parts…”
“I’m not asking.” Jackie lowered her voice to a growl. “Look, you’re giving it to her. You can hide it somewhere underwater, fit it with a dozen song-locks or whatever the hell you want. My people won’t touch it. You have my word.”
They stood alone in Jackie’s office, surrounded by the magic of the heartwood. The whole room was bathed in perpetual blue glow now, and had been ever since Meliora’s population had skyrocketed. City Hall had been built to handle this much magic—but her office had not.
“The word of a songless barbarian,” said the deep red fish, brushing aside a large fin from his face with a whirring servo arm. “Forgive me, but it just won’t do.”
“Then neither will you,” she said. “You can take that ship right back where it came from. Consider your docking permissions revoked.”
“Docking permission.” He turned away from her, muttering under his breath. She could hear him fiddling with his armor—subvocalized melodies that no ordinary pony would recognize. But Jackie did, he was arming the suit’s stun-gas. “We’re ‘docked’ in a grassy field in front of this tree, barbarian. We only asked as a courtesy.” He hummed the three notes that would arm the gas, as part of that last word. Seaponies sung everything they said. But that didn’t mean she would fail to notice.
Jackie crossed the room in a blur, drawing her knife from nowhere and slicing a single thin line through the thickest part of his armor. She knew this design intimately, having constructed a dream version for Liz not long ago. She cut through the central umbilical, severing data and power and everything else. Every light on the suit went out, right along with the steady whirring of the water pump.
“Try that again,” Jackie said, pulling back the knife and retreating out of reach. Not that it mattered—Staccato was clearly a scholar, confident only because his body was surrounded by armor he thought was impervious to primitive weapons.
Except that armor wasn’t moving. Without the gyros, it started to wobble, and nearly toppled sideways. Staccato’s eyes widened.
“My marines are already coming,” he sang to her, desperate and afraid. “I don’t need the radio, they can hear me.”
“Tell them to stop.”
He spat in her face. So she cut through one of the legs on the back of his suit like it wasn’t even there. Sparks flew through the air, hydraulic fluid spraying on the ground. He struggled with his forelegs, tail thrashing—then fell sideways with a thump.
“Next one is your emergency water line,” she said, spinning the knife through the air in front of him. “Then your throat. They didn’t tell you who I was, did they?”
This time he didn’t spit in her face. The suits were designed to let the pressure of breathing keep water circulating, though that wouldn’t be enough to run the scrubbers that kept it oxygenated. That was what the emergency line was for. His suit would keep him alive for an hour with that tank. If she cut the line, that time would drop to five minutes.
“You can’t… you have no idea what you’re… making an enemy…”
“I’m the one making an enemy,” she said, her voice mocking. “You came into my office and tried to attack me, asshole. If you think I don’t have cameras in every inch of this place, you’re stupider than you sound.”
There was a few seconds of silence. “I’ve told… marines to stop.”
“Good.” She backed up a step, leaving him floundering but not holding the knife against his throat anymore. “That’s good. I hate to kill someone just doing their job. But if you tried to execute a military action in my capital, I wouldn’t have a choice.”
Staccato couldn’t really stand up, but he tried anyway, righting himself on his forelegs and looking up at her with dawning horror. “What are you?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “A survivor. There have probably been thousands of ponies who figured ways to cheat aging one way or another, but none of us are really immortal. Shoot us, we die. Last I checked, less than a dozen of us are still around. My wife, even…” She shook her head. “The ones who make it are tough bastards, Staccato. So let’s start this over—if I cared about stealing your fucking copyrights or whatever you’re crying about, I could already do it. If you want me to show you just how well I know that armor, I’m happy to cut something else. Maybe the interface circuit next…”
She advanced on him a step, clutching the knife again—but she didn’t expect to use it.
“Wait, wait! You can have your spare parts! We’ll just… forget this happened. So long as I never have to sing to you ever again.”
“Sure thing.” Jackie slid the dagger back into place, lowering her head right beside Staccato. “Just, one thing. I know what you’re thinking right now, because I’ve done this dance… maybe a hundred times over the years. So think about this for your last verse. When you’re riding out of here on a stretcher for repair, you’ll be thinking of how you can get to me once I’m out of reach. Maybe you’re planning to lie to your superiors about what happened. Maybe doctor some footage, or just make the case to the governing body that I’m too dangerous to let live. Just remember this—I know where you sleep. Maybe you can kill me, maybe not. But I swear you’ll be dead long before I am. I don’t care how far you fly—all the way to Enceladus, or the Pluto colony, or even to Alpheus. I can meet you there.”
She sat up, turning her back on him. “Or, you can forget this happened, and you can keep running your study. Just get my friend her fucking parts and don’t interfere with my city.”
She walked away, right to the door into the heartwood. “Your marines can come get you now. Good day.” She left, letting the door slam closed behind her.
Jackie knew a spineless scholar when she saw one, and sure enough there was no attack. So far as she knew, there wasn’t even a complaint.
The next day Liz’s spare parts arrived, and Jackie spent the better part of a few hours helping her put a new suit together.
“I can’t believe you got them to issue me a Sorcerer model,” Liz squeaked, positively bouncing from excitement as she climbed out of the heartwood for the first time. “I didn’t think these things were into mass production yet.”
She flexed one of her back-legs, which looked convincingly like a real pony joint, without any of the obvious sign of robotics. Of course her tail was still there, and there was still a thin layer of armor over her forelegs too.
“I asked nicely,” Jackie said, and didn’t even sound like she was lying when she did.
“Apparently.” Liz rushed over, wrapping her forelegs around her in a hug. There was no crushing force this time, no sound of servos. It felt so light against her body, she could almost mistake it for an ordinary hug. “Thanks for watching out for me, Jackie.”
“Yeah… sure, kid.” She ruffled her mane, or at least her head-fins. “I’m just… making sure you’re ready for our next mission. We’re deploying tomorrow, so… I need you at your best. Make sure you know how to use that stuff, because the deer will be a lot less gentle than the breezies were.”
“Yeah, right.” Liz let go, retreating a few steps and bouncing from one hoof to the other. “I’ll be ready. I’ve always wanted to meet some actual animals. Deer… are animals, aren’t they?”
Jackie could only laugh. “Uh… kinda. But that’s a tricky line to draw. Just… don’t tell them that. I don’t know a damn thing about the ones living here in Australia, but the American deer wouldn’t like a comparison like that. They’re a civilization, with their own history and culture and traditions. So comparing them to squirrels…” She shook her head. “Oh, and don’t expect them to give us the same respect. They have a strong sexual dimorphism, and… the last few deer I’ve met were really patriarchal.”
She grinned, resting a wing on Liz’s shoulder. “You asked why it couldn’t be a king? You’re gonna love the deer then, sweetheart.”