//------------------------------// // Ch 3.19 Impossible Choices // Story: Our Girl Scootaloo 3 of 3 // by Cozy Mark IV //------------------------------// Our Girl Scootaloo Part 3 of 3 by Cozy Mark IV & Jan. McNeville Disclaimer: This is a non-profit fan-made work of prose. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the property of Hasbro. Please support the official release Chapter Three point Nineteen: Impossible Choices Since the rescue of Fluttershy and Applejack they had all been avoiding the topic, but with the arrival of Scootaloo’s stored personality, they could do so no longer. At the appointed time and in what the scientists had taken to calling the hospital ‘gate room’, a bright glow formed in mid-air, flashed, and a crystal sphere fell into the padded basket on the floor. Celestia lifted the softball sized sphere and looked it over; Luna had taken two halves of a hollow crystal ball and screwed them together with the personality stored inside. As Celestia turned to face the assembled ponies they could see the swirling magic contained in the sphere as it glowed softly, waiting to be re-united with a pony. “That’s… That’s what I used to be?” Scootaloo asked quietly as they stared. “Yes. This is the stored personality of who you were before the accident. This is the pony we came here in search of… I am sorry this did not work out as we planned.” Celestia replied with real regret. The silence stretched on. Pinkie was starting to tear up as she asked. “Isn’t there some other way to do this? Couldn’t we find a volunteer human to bring her back?” Rainbow put a hoof on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry Pinkie, but Mary and I talked about this with you, remember? Scootaloo is a pegasus like me; she’s wanted to fly all her life! Even if Scoot could find a comatose human body as a donor, and if we could do it safely, the little foal we know would never fly again.” Celestia nodded and asked the question they had all been dreading. “Have you decided whether it will be Sophie Belle or Chaya? We have several days to choose, but the personality does have to be released soon.” Scootaloo shifted her weight from hoof to hoof as she tried not to cry. David knelt down and held her close in a hug, gently squeezing her. “You know you don’t have to do this right? They’re our foals. No one has the right to do this to them.” Scootaloo’s resolve cracked as she tried to choke back a sob. “But what about their Scootaloo? How can we condemn her? I have to help her if I can…” Memories of Sophie Belle’s first words, of Chaya learning to walk flashed unbidden through her mind as tears ran down her cheeks. “Maybe I could serve as-” David shook his head and held her tighter. “We’ve been over this Scoot. We can’t subject a child to an adult’s life. Even if we gave up sex for years, you perform emergency surgery on ER patients. We couldn’t ask a child to stare unblinking at what you see on a daily basis and that’s assuming you even could operate with smooth hands while dealing with that kind of inner turmoil. But just because you can’t host your old mind” He finished through gritted teeth, “does not mean that we have to sacrifice one of our children!” “Well, how else are could we bring her back?!” Rarity asked, tears streaming down her face. “We must do what we can to save her! We can’t just leave her like this!” She added, indicating the crystal sphere. “This is wrong.” Twilight intoned forcefully, her own eyes starting to water. “We can’t destroy her daughter’s life like this!” “Well what do you want us to do?!” Rainbow yelled. “I care about Scootaloo! She was almost big enough for flight camp and I wanted to be the one to show her how to fly! We can’t just abandon her!” “I don’t know!” Twilight sobbed. “But we can’t destroy one life to save another!” “Maybe… Maybe it won’t be that bad…” Rarity suggested weakly. “Is it possible they could grow up together like sisters?” “That’s possible,” Mary conceded “but much more likely, the stronger more mature personality would simply overwhelm the younger weaker one. We would probably get an answer from both of them for the first few days, but as time went on, the younger one would learn to rely on the older personality more and more until it was absorbed. At some point we would ask to talk to Sophie Belle and… and there would be no answer.” “You can’t know that!” Rainbow accused. Mary hung her head. “You’re right, I can’t be sure. But what if I am right? Are you okay with Sophie Belle’s end if it brings back Scootaloo?” Their discussion was interrupted by the sound of tiny hooves as the twins came bounding into the room, Agent Tyler trailing behind them. Little as they were, they still had spent a lot of time in hospitals and most of the room and equipment held little interest for them. They each ran straight for the group, delighted to spend time with their new friends. “Rainbow! Can you tell me the rest of the story now?” “Yeah, did you win the race against the dragon?” Apart from the foals there was a stony silence as the two pranced in a circle around Rainbow, peppering her with questions. Scootaloo hid her face so they couldn’t see her tears, but even so they soon picked up the impression that something was very wrong when Rainbow remained silent. “Rainbow?” Chaya asked nervously. “What’s wrong?” Sophie Belle asked as her eyes widened in concern. “Are you okay?” “I’m… we’re just trying to make a hard decision, squirt.” Rainbow answered as she wiped her eyes. Chaya's face fell as she hugged the blue pegasus. "I'm sorry Rainbow..." Sophie Belle spoke up worriedly from where she had wrapped her little legs around one of Rainbow's front legs. "Can we make it better?" Even Rainbow felt like cad as she gently stroked Sophie's mane. “Maybe... How... How do you feel about having an older sister?” There was a sharp intake of breath from Fluttershy who was staring at Rainbow in shock. “NO.” Twilight interjected, forcefully this time. “This is not okay. We are not doing this.” “Is Mommy going to have another baby?” Chaya asked, somewhat confused. Rarity gently gathered up the twins in her magic and led them back out of the room. “Something like that… Come on, why don’t we go out for some ice cream?” “Yay!” Agent Tyler was standing off to one side and as she watched them go her face revealed signs of some inner turmoil, though at the moment none of them took much notice. “I know we have no good options Twilight, but I do not see any other way.” Celestia answered. “Princess, this is wrong! We can’t do this to those poor innocent foals!” Celstia hung her head. “Do you have an alternative?” “Yes.” Twilight planted her hooves and looked the princess in the eye. “We try to put her into a comatose human.” “But… She could die!” Fluttershy squeaked. “And even if she survived she’d never fly again!” Rainbow added. “How could you do that to her?!” An unexpected voice interrupted them. “Stop. Just stop.” All those assembled looked over at Agent Tyler who had finally spoken up. “There is another way… But even telling you about it is a breach of national security…” She hung her head and with great force of will straightened up and made her decision. “But there is no way I’m letting one of my best friends do this to her children.” “What are you talking about?” Twilight asked. “What other way?” “Sophie Belle and Chaya are not the only clones of Scootaloo on earth.” She let that sink in for a moment as they all gaped. “While Scootaloo has always given away all the medical information she had, there were some countries… despicable countries… who wanted access for their own studies. Studies that wouldn’t get ethics board approval.” She swallowed hard and seemed to be wrestling with something as she continued. “Almost a decade ago, one of these regimes was in financial trouble and when we found out what they were doing we stepped in and… did what we could. For the past nine years or so a small branch of the US government has had in our possession four orange ponies who have been kept asleep. They have never woken up, and their minds are blank, a perfect fit for your homeless Scootaloo” She added with a gesture to the sphere before turning to back to an astonished Scootaloo. “I am sorry I couldn’t tell you before. This may very well mean the end of my career, but I could not let you go ahead with this.” She sighed and turned from the assembled ponies as she made for the door. “I’m going to tell my superior I just betrayed classified information to a foreign national. If I’m still free in a few hours, I should be seeing you at their bedsides this afternoon.” They all watched in stunned silence as the stern agent turned and walked slowly from the room. … “Wow... they look just like me.” Scootaloo mumbled. “I'm not sure what I was expecting... but...” The others entered the hospital room after them, looking at the four foals in their hospital beds, most not sure what to make of them. The four looked identical to the pony they knew and remembered and were only a bit younger, perhaps eight or nine years old, but there the similarities ended. Each pony appeared to be sleeping but there were bandages over some of their eyes to keep out dust, and a network of tubes and IV's surrounded them to keep them fed and hydrated. Celestia alone noted that each of them had a small stuffed Rainbow Dash doll tucked under their pillow... “And you said they've never been awake?” Rarity asked with some trepidation. Agent Tyler took longer than usual to respond, and Celestia, watching from the behind couldn't help but notice she was still wearing her sunglasses despite being inside the hospital. “For all practical purposes, yes. We brought each one of them out from their comas shortly after we... acquired them. None showed any intelligence more advanced than a newborn… They should be suitable candidates for your transplanted mind.” she finished in a voice that was oddly devoid of emotion. “This is incredible!” Scootaloo replied with a smile. “Thanks to you, Sophie Belle and Chaya will be okay!” She turned and hugged Agent Tyler hard enough to strain her ribs. “Thank you so much for saving them!” Agent Tyler did not return her smile. “It was the right thing to do, but releasing classified information is no minor offense. I couldn't let you do that to your own daughters, but this could mean the end of my time protecting you.” As the princess looked at Agent Tyler, she could feel something... odd, like a terrible storm dimly heard, rumbling on the distant horizon of her mind. “Well, I, for one, will not forget what you have done today. If you need any help you have but to ask.” The others smiled and cheered as Celestia reached out and put a hoof on the agent's shoulder. -Audio link- -!- At her touch, Celestia felt an electric shock and a memory so strong it tore at her mind. Like a huge wave washing her away, her reality faded and she was looking through the agent’s eyes on that night so many years ago. They had suspected something was going on for some time but the higher-ups hadn't been interested enough to risk an international incident. Now with the lab being abandoned a defector on the inside had come to them begging for help. The building was an unassuming structure, just another government construction project no different from the others in this part of the city, its guards and security gone with the project's support. Agent Tyler strided through the deepening darkness and though front door without any trouble, but the two children waiting for her inside, perhaps eight and ten years old gave her pause. In a country were serfdom still existed and people were routine left starving to fund weapons research, she had become... familiar with the terrible blank look of starving children. These two however... there were deep black circles under their eyes and neither could have bathed or slept in days but... they were not hungry, yet they looked at her with that same blank expression she had seen too many times before. It took her a moment to translate what they were saying. “Have you come to save them?” She nodded, a lump forming in her throat as the two of them showed a little hope. “Did your father send you to wait for me?” The younger child shook her head, and it was clear from her red eyes that she had been crying. “No... Daddy sent us up here to sleep a few hours ago...” The two piles of neatly folded sleeping bags remained untouched beside them, bearing mute witness to the past several hours. The little boy stood shakily and there were tears in his eyes as he helped his sister up. “You have to help us... We've already lost so many...” His sister wrapped her arms around the startled agent, fresh tears flowing as she pleaded. “Please, I'll never ask for a pet ever again! I'll never ask for anything ever again, but we can't help them anymore! Please tell me you won't let any more of them die!” Agent Tyler tried to comfort the crying child as her fellow agents joined her in the lobby. “It will be okay now, we're here to help. Could you show us the way?” They fell in behind the sniffling children as they led the way downstairs to the laboratory, but as they passed through the last door what they saw brought the agents up cold. There were dozens of them, looking just like the little girl she had protected all these years, but they were not brimming with life and love like the girl she knew. With the change in governmental priorities had come funding cuts, and as the manpower and financial support had run out they had just been allowed to die. Their emaciated forms lay where they had been left, a few of them still struggling for breath, many obviously sick and covered in sores. The shock and rage Tyler had felt all those years ago were so strong that Celestia felt her chest tighten until it was physically painful. The defector, a low-level researcher, had been given the task of shuttering the lab and with the project over no one particularly cared what happened to the unused 'specimens'. His superior had simply provided him with a dumpster. He and his wife had been doing what they could to keep the poor things alive, but without drugs or supplies they had been fighting a losing battle. Their two young children had been cleaning and fetching water, struggling to do what they could, but the poor creatures had been waking up as the drugs that kept them comatose ran out. With the minds of infants they couldn't even eat solid food, and watered down formula could only keep a young child going for so long. As tears streamed from under the agent's glasses she knew the hard truth was they had only this one trip. One unmarked box truck and three fellow agents. That was all. They would not be coming back. With little time to spare, she worked with the researcher to find those who still had a chance and loaded them onto the truck. There had once been so many, but only a very few still had any chance at life. They did what they could, but all too soon the truck was full. The defector and his family worked hard to keep the weakest of them breathing as the other agents stood guard. Agent Tyler went back one last time. As she stepped back into the room, she could see some of the tiny forms still clinging to life, a few of them crying faintly, but most already too far gone to have the energy even for that. The Agent felt something brush against her leg, and looked down to see a little orange pony, her belly shrunken and all her ribs standing out starkly as she struggling to lift her head and feebly brushed her hoof against the agent's leg. Her once beautiful eyes were sunken, her fur and mane matted, but still, she managed to look up at the agent with something like longing. “Eomma?” The dumpster stood against the wall, a lock of purple hair trailing out from under the closed lid. The suppressor made a hollow scraping sound as it screwed onto the end of the barrel. -!- Celestia hadn't spoken for some time before the others noticed something was wrong. Now they all watched in alarm as tears ran freely from her sightless eyes as she and Agent Tyler stared blindly ahead, her hoof still gripping her shoulder tightly. They both shuddered, once, twice, then again and again and again, as a some horrible shared memory played out behind their eyes. After what seemed like a very long time indeed, the pair shuddered one last time, and whatever was holding them seemed to finally release its grip. As they came back to reality, Applejack spoke up in alarm. “Princess...? Are you all right?” As the room came back into focus through her own eyes, Celestia reached up and touched the tears on her cheek, her voice strained and barely held together. “No... No, I'm not...” Her whole body shook as she took a deep breath and looked down at the agent who had turned to face her. Tears had left two trails from under her dark glasses but her face remained as expressionless as it had been since she had learned of this. Celestia had mistaken this to be fear at doing the right thing and risking her career. She now dearly wished she had been right. “I have already cried for them.” The agent spoke softly to the silent room. “More times than you know over many years… I did all I could… In the hope that someday they could help the young woman standing before you.” Now, for the first time, the slightest trace of a smile touched her lips. “On that warm afternoon when we sat on the porch swings after her school protest… I never thought that they would one day save her children.” Celestia was still reeling from what she had seen, but she now knew just what the agent had been forced to do in her role as Scootaloo's protector. She had stood by her for decades, and dealt with impossible choices to ensure Scootaloo led her life happy and free. And now, after all that, she was worried that her superiors would simply dispose of her. Since her arrival Celestia had felt out of her depth in this strange culture, but this at least was a situation she could at once understand and fix. She put her hoof back on the Agent's shoulder, deliberately making contact again. “I have seen a small token of what you have done to protect Scootaloo. Know this. From now on you are a citizen of Equestria and you will always be welcome in our world.” Agent Tyler felt the first genuine smile in a very long time spread across her face as Celestia added. “Consider it a retirement gift.” … As the agent talked with Celestia, Twilight selected one of the comatose orange fillies and unscrewed the halves of the sphere, allowing the magic to spill out over the sleeping form before them. Like water sinking into parched ground, the magic soaked into her, and the foal before them shuddered, as it began to become her. They waited for several minutes, but as nothing else happened, Scootaloo spoke up. “Mary? Could we move her to one of the recovery rooms? This will probably take a while.” Rarity asked the obvious question. “How long should this take?” Mary tried to field that. “We don't know for sure, but I should at least be able to give you a minimum time. When Agent Tyler snuck them into our hospital,” (she made a mental note to ask the how she had pulled that off,) “she also gave us access to all their medical records. Their brains haven't really been used before, and as such they are physically smaller than they need to be, shrunken from lack of use. With luck, the new mind will begin to fix that in the next few days, after which she may be able to wake up. Her body will still be physically weak and after she wakes it will still be several days before she can take her first steps. All this is based on recovery times for similar injuries in humans of course, but if this works as Celestia has predicted then she may be in shape to play with her friends in a month or so.” The group wheeled the sleeping pony out of the room and with Mary's help, delivered her hospital bed to the area usually used for post surgical recovery. Some of them had to hang back as they maneuvered the bed into an empty double room, because even that wasn't big enough for all of them to enter at once. As Celestia and Twilight waited with Scootaloo and David in the hallway, David suddenly grinned and began laughing softly. “What is it?” Scootaloo asked her husband with an expression of mild consternation. “I guess it's just the relief that Sophie Belle and Chaya are going to be okay...” He smiled down at her. “That, and we're all going to have to call you Ms. Scott or Dr. Scott from now on.” Scootaloo looked dumbfounded for a moment, then began giggling. “I suppose you're right. It's better than being number one and number two at least.” As Twilight looked on and smiled, one of the grad students from the 'gate room' came running up with a message for Celestia. Their laughter died out as they watched her take the note and read over it. “What's going on?” “I sent my sister a note explaining what had happened and Luna has made an... unusual request. She is asking me to take over her duties so that she may come here and... revive an old friend.” “Wait, you mean she has another pony she wants to bring back to life? Who would that be?” Celestia sighed. “She did not say, but I can guess. My sister never did have an easy time making friends and when she was abruptly banished a thousand years ago she lost everyone she knew in Equestria, save only myself.” There was silence as they thought that over. “Honestly I had hoped the show got that wrong. Losing everyone you ever knew and returning to a different world... That's some dark Rip van Winkle shit.” David muttered quietly. “But if she wants to revive an old friend, this would be as good a time as any.” “Say, that begs a question.” Scootaloo added thoughtfully. “Does that mean that any pony who ever lived in Equestria could be brought back if you had a host body?” Celestia looked surprised. “I suppose... This has only ever happened a very few times during my long rein. Whenever I went looking for somepony, I could always find them.” Now it was Twilight who looked dumbfounded as she worked through what that would mean. “But... For that to be true... Why, even with compression software, the data storage capacity needed would be unimaginable!” Scootaloo smiled and put a hand on her withers. “I never imagined you would be such an able student Twi. You've known about computers for what? A week and change? And you can already understand what that would mean.” Twilight continued to stare into space, working on the problem and twitching a bit as the mental zeros piled up. “At any rate,” Scootaloo continued “you should invite Luna over. I'm sure you'll be glad to get home, and I would love to meet anypony who's a friend of Luna's.