//------------------------------// // Double Agent // Story: Changeling Doll: White Lie // by PiercingSight //------------------------------// "I trusted you!" Damascus yelled. "Damascus!" Shining Armor held him from jumping off the bed to attack Stately Writ. "I'm sorry," State said, blood dripping from his muzzle. "Well, sorry doesn't resurrect ponies, State!" "Damascus! Sparrows!" Shining Armor gave Damascus a serious look, which he understood, and begrudgingly held his mouth shut. But Damascus had already said all he'd needed to. State knew that because of him, ponies had died. Ponies that both he and Damascus had known. The door opened and a flustered Angel quickly trotted in. "What's all the yelling? Why-" She stopped when she saw Stately Writ crouched over a tiny puddle of blood. "State!" She swiftly moved to assist him, but he held a hoof up to stop her. "I'm okay. I deserved that. Go help Damascus." "What do you mean?" She tried once more to move in and help, but was again stopped. "Just go help Damascus." She seemed to have understood, because she stood up and went over to Damascus' bed. "So uh... now that you're awake, is there any pain anywhere except your head?" Stately looked up to see Damascus' glaring at him, apparently not hearing her question. "Damascus, you need to answer her," Shining Armor commanded. "I'm thirsty... and my back left leg aches," he said without taking his eyes off of Stately Writ. "Okay, uh... well, I'll get you some water. And we'll take a look at your leg when I get back, okay?" She was clearly unsure what to make of the situation, but seemed to sense the seriousness of it and decided to leave. Once the door was closed, Shining Armor turned back to Damascus. "State's identity does not leave this room. Do you understand?" "You trust him?! He's a changeling! He's the reason Jasper and Rusty were killed, and I almost went with them!" "Sparrows, Damascus!" "I don't care if anypony else hears! He's dangerous!" "Damascus!" "I should have let her kill him." "DAMASCUS!!" Stately Writ walked out and closed the door behind him. Blood drips left a trail as he hobbled away from the door. Seeing Angel up the hall talking with an assistant medic, he decided to go the opposite direction. It didn't matter where he went really, so long as it wasn't there. Unfortunately, his vision blurred up again, making it difficult to avoid the walls. He bumped into one and stepped on something slippery, causing him to fall onto his side with a cough. Thinking about it, he probably slipped on his own blood. Thankfully it was far enough away from the medical room that he felt comfortable just laying there. His worst fears had been realized. Ponies were dead. Ponies were in danger. He'd lost all trust, and now... ...now he was hated by one of the ponies he cared about the most. Bleeding to death in the hallway was at least better than being tortured to death by Chrysalis. Gentle beeping woke White Lie from his sleep. He tried to open his eyes, but the light of the room overwhelmed them, so he closed them again, submitting to baser senses. Touch told him he was on a bed. A strange pressure pushed in on the side of his face. The smell of sterilization and iron reminded him of why he was unconscious. "Ungh..." "It-... It's okay. Just don't move." Angel's voice was unmistakable. However, there was something wrong with it. It was laced with... uncertainty? Fear? Some complicated emotion between those two. "Is he awake?" Shining Armor asked from a short distance behind Angel. "It appears-..." White Lie's eyes shot open. This was his changeling voice. Looking down he found that in his unconsciousness, his disguise had deactivated, revealing his chitin armor and changeling form. He turned toward Angel and Shining Armor to see her pulling away while Shining stepped forward. "You are lucky Angel found your blood trail and followed it. A little longer and you'd have been gone," Shining stated simply, his professionalism framing everything as dry facts, something he did when he was working hard to hide his emotions. "However, we don't know how to treat wounds in changelings, so if you can change back, it would be much easier to help you." White Lie was in too much shock to do anything but comply. "Yes sir." A green wave of flame and he was once again Stately Writ. As soon as he transformed, a strong wave of complicated emotions flooded the room. It wasn't difficult to find the source. "Alright, Angel, you may work now," Shining said, just as dry as before. Turning to Angel, he found her frozen in place, her entire body shaking, with tears streaming down her face. "Angel?" No response. "Angel, I need your help right now. Can you do this?" Closing her eyes, she nodded her head. "Thank you. Please work quickly, we need to speak with State when you're done." And with that, he removed himself to the opposite end of the room and stood next to another bed in which Damascus lay, looking on. Angel approached hesitantly. State lay still, not wanting to risk breaking her currently delicate courage. She reach towards his cheek and pulled up a bandage that had been taped over a large gash. State inhaled as the pain shoot through his jaw, causing Angel to pause and take a quick look into his eyes. He realized that she had been avoiding eye contact until then. She slowly continued to inspect the wound. "The suture on the artery needs redone, but other than that it appears fine." Angel reached over and pulled out a small scalpel, and proceeded to operate. As she went through the procedure, talking herself through each step, every once in a while commanding Stately to hold still or turn his head, which he did. The emotion that had before flowed from her entire being was nowhere to be felt. Only the cold calculation of a doctor performing a delicate surgery. White Lie had always been amazed by the ability of ponies to turn off their emotions in a moment of need, and now as Stately Writ, he had seen both Shining Armor and Angel Touch demonstrate that ability to an extreme degree, a testament to both their skill and professionalism. After some time, Angel pulled out fresh gauze, re-covering the now shut wound. "You can talk now, though be very careful because you don't want to disturb anything too much before it has time to grow back together." "I'm sorry," State said gently. And that broke it. Her mask of steel shattered and the emotions returned. She turned to leave quickly. "Thank you, Angel. Go rest up now," Shining said with clear compassion in his tone. Angel paused at the door before turning around and speaking to State. "And it needs to heal s-so... so don't be a... don't become... don't transform." And with that, she swiftly shut the door behind her and left. Angel deserved so much more than just an apology, and State feared he would never have the chance to correct that. "State." Shining snapped Stately's eye from the door back to the captain. "Something concerns me about Chrysalis being with you in the dungeon." Shaking his head, he responded. "I'll tell you everything I know." Nodding, Shining continued, "How did Chrysalis know to find you in the dungeons?"