• Published 7th Jan 2016
  • 15,467 Views, 953 Comments

Integration - Darth Link 22



Changes are coming to two different worlds, whether anypony, or anybody, is ready for them or not.

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Humans VI

What? Twilight, you’re asking for something pretty last minute.

I don’t care. We need to talk, now.

Why?

I just had a long conversation with Mom. She said some things we need to talk about. I’m coming through the portal soon. Meet me in about an hour.

Okay, fine. But this better be good.


Sonata moaned, her stomach growling. Stupid Dr. Starlight and her stupid tests. It meant no food. She wanted to eat again.

She tried to concentrate on her game. The Changelings had at least allowed her just about everything after she agreed to cooperate. The only thing that had taken from her is her shoes. Apparently after confiscating Adagio’s, they realized doing so would make it harder for any of them to get away.

She sighed. She wished Adagio would just stop resisting. It wasn’t so bad here, and it’s not like they had anywhere else to go. She really missed her sister.

It was then that the door opened and two guards came in. They were followed by two more, each pushing a dolly big enough to hold each of them.

“Come on, girls, testing time.”

Sonata paused her game and obeyed, Aria following right behind her. They allowed themselves to be strapped up, not too tight to be uncomfortable, but enough to allow herself to be taken away. After she was secure the dolly tilted back and she was wheeled out of the room, Aria just behind her.

The room was empty nearly a whole minute before it admitted a new resident.

Adagio was wheeled in, strapped up as much as the others. As the guards unstrapped her, she spoke. “Where are my sisters?”

“In testing. They’ll be done in about two hours.”

“What? But... please, I need to see them!”

“Then you should have behaved yourself sooner.”

Adagio grabbed the guard and pleaded. “Please... Please don’t leave me alone here!”

The guard pushed her down. “Would you rather go back in the room? I’m sure Dr. Starlight would love to set you up for another round...”

“No! No! I’ll be good, I promise!” She was starting to cry.

“Good. Now, your meal is being brought to you. Stay here.” That was all the guard said before he left, closing the door behind him.

Adagio lay curled on the floor, weeping. She wanted her sisters back. They hadn’t been apart this long in... ever. She had never been alone, truly alone, until Starlight had gotten them.

She lay curled in a ball, but she dried her eyes. She couldn’t let the pain get to her now. Besides, it likely would have been hard to try and talk her sisters into escaping. Their loss at Canterlot High had broken them too much. This would just make it easier. She needed to move now, while Starlight was busy and her guards thought she was broken.

She stayed curled in a ball, waiting. Then the door opened next, she made herself cry again. Not too difficult, considering how she was feeling.

“Come on, girl, lunch.”

The guard walked to the table, not bothering to kick Adagio or do anything else to provoke her. She got up, and despite her promise to walk slowly she ended up running to the table at the smell of freshly baked pizza.

“Leave the dishes in the sink, I’ll get them tonight,” the guard said. Adagio didn’t answer, she was stuffing an entire slice into her mouth. Despite a nagging voice worrying that it had been laced with something, being denied anything but the blandest food for weeks had worked up her appetite.

The entire pizza was gone in fifteen minutes, and Adagio gulped down the juice that came with it. No soda, Starlight had called it nothing but empty calories, but anything but water tasted heavenly.

Adagio sat on the couch a bit, trying to get her bearings together. The quick eating had made her feel a bit ill, which was fine. It was exactly what she needed.

She waited another ten minutes before deciding now was the time to act. She moved to the center of the room and started to stagger, falling to the floor.

“I don’t feel good,” she called.

No answer.

“I don’t feel good,” she called louder. “Please, I need help.”

“Yeah, real original,” a guard called back. “We weren’t born yesterday.”

She winced. That meant she had to do it. Still, anything was worth getting out of here. So, breathing deeply, she opened her mouth and put her finger in.

The sound of the pizza coming up finally got the two guards to come in, and immediately they wretched at the mess on the floor. “Aw, geez,” the woman said.

“What are you complaining about? You don’t have to clean it up.” The male guard started to move toward her. “Call the medical bay. That brat will throw a tantrum if one of them is even slightly sick.”

The other nodded and began reaching for her radio.

It was then Adagio started to act.

Her first move was suddenly pulling forward and punching the male directly in the groin. With a loud cry of pain he went down.

The female guard was stunned by this just long enough for Adagio to reach her. She tackled her to the ground and began punching wildly. She had managed to break her nose and blacken an eye by the time she started getting resistance. Desperate, Adagio drove both of her thumbs into her opponent’s eye.

There was a howl of pain. Adagio stopped and got up. Her stomach was still doing flips, but she worked through it. While the guards were both stunned, she acted quickly, removing their radios and keys, as well as snatching an ID from the woman.

In a flash she ran to the door, closing it behind her. She cycled through the keys, desperately finding the one to the lock. She just managed to get it locked before the female got to the door. Adagio hadn’t pressed hard enough to cause permanent damage, but she still couldn’t open her eyes all the way.

Then she ran, praying to Harmony that there were no security cameras. She knew it was a rather hypocritical prayer, given all the discord she had spread, but she did so anyway. Her mind was racing. She needed to find shoes at least, maybe a change of clothes.

Fortunately, it seemed Harmony was in a forgiving mood, as the signs leading to the guard’s locker rooms were clearly marked. Gratefully, she began to run.


“Okay, where are you having trouble?”

“I don’t get this! Look at this! There’s so much!”

Sunset looked over Apple Bloom’s textbook and smiled. “Ah, I see. This is a problem of not seeing the forest for the trees.”

“Huh?” Apple Bloom tilted her head.

“This problem looks big and scary, but it can be broken down into some basic math. It’s really just applying what you already know. For starters, we need to do something about those fractions...”

The two worked for a bit, Sunset guiding her surrogate sister along be asking her a series of leading questions. When the youngest Apple wrote her answer, she looked at Sunset with hope.

She grinned. “That’s correct.”

“Really?”

Sunset rubbed her head. “I told you it was easy once you broke it down. A few more and you’ll have the hang of this.”

“Cool! Let’s do another one!”

Apple Bloom began the next problem. While Sunset checked her phone. “I’m sorry, I need to go take care of something real quick.”

“Huh? What’s that?”

“Something I promised another friend. It shouldn’t take me more than half an hour. Just work on the problems. I’ll be back to help you.”

She gave her sister a quick hug before getting up and leaving the room. She passed by Jonathan Apple in the living room, who was reading a newspaper.

“I’m going for a walk, I’ll be right back,” she said.

Jonathan looked up. “After what happened to Twilight? I’m not sure that’s such a good idea...”

Sunset responded by holding one of her hands palm-up and summoning a ball of fire on it, then casually tossing and catching it with the other hand. “I’m scarier than anything in the dark,” she promised. “If I’m gone more than half an hour, you can send a search party.”

Jonathan gave a weak grin. “Okay.”

Sunset decided to give the man a quick hug before going.

It didn’t take her long to reach the outer fields. Looking behind a shed made for tool storage, she found her other surrogate sister. “Hey Twi........”

The stunned way the sentence ended was because Twilight was in an unusually fancy dress. The annoyed look her fellow Alicorn gave her only made the whole thing stranger.

“I didn’t change out of the dress from my date with Flash, okay?”

Sunset snickered, but regained her composure. “So you walked all the way here?”

“No. I called Flash and he gave me a ride. He’s going to Rarity’s to get my normal clothes for me. We need to talk.”

Sunset smiled. “No problem. So what’s up?”

Twilight took a deep breath. “You need to tell everyone the truth about what you’re suspecting.”

Sunset’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “What? Twilight, I can’t do that! I don’t want them to know I messed up so bad unless I have to. If I’m right about the Changelings...”

“Then it would be best if they were on their guard,” Twilight said. “And it’s only going to get worse for everyone if you keep it a secret.”

Sunset still stammered. “Please, Twilight, I can’t... what if they...” She trailed off, her words tripping over each other.

Twilight placed a hand on her shoulder. “They forgave you for the Fall Formal. They forgave the other Twilight for the Friendship Games. And you forgave them for Anon-a-Miss. Friends forgive each other. Isn’t that what you’ve been telling the other me?”

Sunset blushed. “I... I guess I have.”

“I know, it’s one thing to preach something, another thing altogether to actually follow it. But you need to be honest with your friends. Keeping secrets like this, even small ones, is just going to make things worse in the long run.”

Sunset smiled. “What brought this on? Why are you so insistent all of a sudden?”

Twilight looked to one side a moment. “I just found out someone was keeping a secret from me.”


Adagio was grateful that she found the locker room without any difficulty. Equally thankfully, these were not the kind of lockers that had locks, and many of them were open. She tore through each of them as she looked for what she needed. She eventually found one item, a grey hoodie that she could wear, as well as a pair of black pants that fit.

Relieved, she stripped of the white scrubs Starlight had forced onto her and began to change. The hoodie was a size too big, but that was for the best.

There was just the matter of the shoes. Even if she got outside, she wouldn’t make it far barefoot. She needed to find something.

Then she got the idea to see if there was any sort of employee shared clothing. Sure enough, a place to pick up and drop off uniforms was at the end of the hall. It only took a bit of looking to find some boots she could slip on.

She considered searching a bit longer for some sunglasses to further cover her face, but decided against it. Every second was another second that the Changelings could discover that she’d escaped.

She pulled the hood up. Hopefully, she’d look like any employee who had just gotten off the clock and was just going home. Grabbing a backpack from one of the lockers to complete that illusion, she made her way out.

As she expected, the locker room wasn’t far from an employee exit, and as she feared it had been guarded. She watched as a pair of employees walked through the metal detector at the exit while flashing their IDs.

That was a problem. It was why she had snatched the guard’s ID from her, but the next part of her plan relied on the guard at the front not paying the best attention. Taking one last breath, she walked forward, passing through the metal detector and flashing the ID to the guard. She took a step past him. Another. And another.

Good. The guard had only needed to see she had the ID. She fought every instinct telling her to run and walked until she was out the door. She couldn’t blow it now.


Sunset blinked. “Wow...”

Twilight nodded. “I was so angry at her, even though I understand why she did it.”

“So, are you two...”

“I forgave her,” Twilight assured. “It’s going to take more than that to make me walk away from anyone I care about. But the point is, there were a lot of hurt feelings when she lied to me, even if it was out of love. The others are just going to be angry if you keep this up.”

Sunset looked at her boots. “Yeah... I guess I have been a little silly about this whole thing, haven’t I?”

“It’s part of the whole package, Sunset. It’s easier to make rational decisions when you’re removed from them.” At that, Twilight smiled. “Now are you going to go tell the others tomorrow?”

Sunset nodded. “I will. Promise.”

“Good, because I’m going to have Flash report back to me. I’m going to find out.”

“Wow, you really are annoying, you know that?”

“Part of the whole big sister thing,” Twilight said. She gave Sunset a hug, and the other girl hugged back.

After they broke apart, Twilight spoke. “My ride should be here soon,” Twilight said. “Remember, you tell everyone, okay?”

Sunset nodded. “Okay. I promise. And thank you, I really needed that.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” she said. “You get everything taken care of. I need to get back to Equestria, okay?”

“Okay. I’ll see you.”

They shared one final hug before leaving. Sunset watched her walk out to the street, arriving just in time to meet Flash as he pulled up. She got into his car, and the two waved goodbye before they drove off.

The walk back to the farmhouse felt a little intimidating knowing what she would have to do. Still, she went. She arrived back and greeted Jonathan at the door. She could tell he was hiding his relief.

Sunset ran into Applejack in the hallway. “Hey. I thought you were helpin’ Apple Bloom with her homework.”

“I was, but I needed to take care of something. I’m just about to go in there and help her some more.”

“Alright. But what were you takin’ care of?”

“I’ll tell you tomorrow,” Sunset said. She took a deep breath. “In fact... I need to tell all of you something. We’re still meeting for breakfast tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah, of course,” Applejack said. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, but I have a hunch,” Sunset said. Seeing Applejack’s confusion at her cryptic answer, Sunset smiled. “Actually, after tomorrow I have a feeling things are going to be a little more right.”

With that, she went back into Apple Bloom’s room to help her finish her homework, leaving her sister as confused as ever.


Adagio cursed herself. Of course the parking lot to this building would be fenced off, of course there was a parking gate manned by a guard, and of course the building had to be in the middle of nowhere. The nearest town looked to be some distance away, but that meant nothing if she couldn’t even get out of the parking lot.

She followed the two that had left ahead of her, staying a distance back. They were heading toward a parking lot where all kinds of trucks, cars, and vans were parked. She briefly considered getting into a truck’s bed and waiting for the owner to come and drive it away, but that was no good. Once Starlight realized she had escaped, she would put the base on lockdown until she was found. She wasn’t about to go back into sensory deprivation.

Once she actually reached the cars, she ducked behind one and watched the two men who exited with her walk forward.

“...I’m telling you, they aren’t even placing.”

“Whatever. You take care, man.” The second one took out his keys and went into a small car, while the second went to a truck.

She grinned. If she could get in that truck without being seen... but how? She’d surely be caught in the rearview mirror if she got in.

Then she got an idea. If these two were friends, then maybe...

She pulled out the keys she had taken off the guards and looked for one that was sharp. When the car revved up, she just used the one she had. Staying low and running over to the back of the car, she shoved the key point first into the side of the rubber tire as hard as she could. It was torture, it felt like they key was cutting up her hand more than the tire itself, but she pressed anyway. This had to work.

Suddenly there was a loud popping sound as air flew out of the tire. Scared, Adagio grabbed the keys and ran, just avoiding sight as the man got out of his car.

“Aw, jeez, what the?”

“Yo, what happened?”

“My tire blew out! Damn!”

Much to her hope, the other man got out of the truck. “Must have been worn out. Here,” he reached into the bed of his truck and pulled out a key, pressing it into something. Adagio froze. He was getting a toolbox out. No, if he was getting it out of the bed, that meant it was going back into the bed, and she’d be seen when that happened.

“I have my own, just help me.”

The toolbox was put back. Harmony must truly be looking out for her.

As the other man returned to the car, Adagio ran for the bed of the truck. Glancing inside, she was relieved that there was a tarp there. Lifting it up, she saw a spare tire was resting underneath. She still crawled in, squeezing between the bed’s wall and the tire.

She lay still, listening to the men change the tire, her stomach tying up in knots every second. So many things could go wrong in the next few minutes. They could find her missing and put the base on lockdown, they could notice an unusual lump in the tarp, they could realize the tire had been deliberately flattened and get suspicious.

Harmony... oh, please, Harmony... get me out of this. I’ll never harm another soul if I’m free.

“Maybe the tire just wore out,” one of them said. “Or maybe it was that girl that was in here a few days ago. Why does Starlight insist on hiring teenagers?”

“She says that no one suspects teenagers, but I think she just doesn’t want to be the only brat working in this place.”

“Whatever. Well, it looks like I’m spending tonight at the tire place. Really didn’t want to have to do that.”

“We can carpool. You won’t have to go tonight.”

“Would you? I’m tired enough.”

“Yeah, no problem. Well, spare’s on. I’ll catch you later.”

There was an exchange in goodbyes, then the sound of a man walking toward the truck. Adagio held her breath. Then the sound of a door opening and a man getting in came. Then a door closing.

Then the car started. She silently cheered, but knew she wasn’t out of woods yet. The truck moved slowly, she could feel it turning. She felt it stop a few times. She hoped they’d get to the gate soon.

She held her breath, half expecting an alarm to spring at any minute. Then, after a long stop, the truck moved. It turned, then it moved again. Faster, much faster.

She was on the road.

She was as good as free.

All she had to do was ride the truck until it stopped and the man got out, then she was home free. It was tempting to just leap out at the next stop, but she had to wait. She couldn’t risk getting caught now, still so close to the base.

Then a thought occurred to her. If they noticed her missing, which there was a chance they could have by now, they might call in everyone who just punched out. Since she couldn’t hear inside the truck, he could turn around and take her back there without her knowing until it was too late.

Carefully, she lifted the tarp off. She poked her head out just slightly and peaked over the bed.

She could see the building getting smaller on the horizon. She would keep an eye on it. She would be ready to run.


The ride home with Flash ended up being more interesting than Twilight had intended. As soon as they had driven away from Sunset, Flash had pointed out that they were alone without Starlight, so this was the chance to tell him where she really came from.

So, Twilight found herself recounting the story again. By the time she was finished, Flash had a look on his face that was hard to read. It wasn’t complete shock, as some of her friends had had, but more like he was trying to piece together what happened.

“Wow. That’s... that’s not what I was expecting. I mean, I was expecting some weird explanation, but not that weird.”

By now, they were stopped in front of the school, and just talking.

“I know what you mean.”

“I guess you have to grow up around magic to really get it, but I can hardly wrap my mind around it. It’s so surreal.”

Twilight nodded. “It was weeks before I started to comprehend the full consequences to what I had done. There’s no telling how it affected the timeline.”

Flash was silent for a moment. “Does Starlight know the truth? I mean, about how her old self used to be?”

She shook her head. “Nothing at all. I don’t even know how to tell her, or when to tell her.” She looked out the window at the Wondercolt statue. It had finally been rebuilt to its former glory after Midnight Sparkle’s rampage. The base had been switched out, but the portal was still there, all the same.

“Flash... I’m scared. I don’t know what I’m doing with her. What if I mess up? What if I can’t give her what she needs?”

His arms were around her in a matter of moments, pulling her close. “Twilight... you’re the most amazing girl I’ve ever met. You’ll be able to handle it, I know you.”

“That’s what literally everyone’s been telling me,” she said. “All my friends in Equestria trust me too much. It’s like they forgot every time I’ve ever screwed anything up. And here... everyone has me on a pedestal. They all think I’m this great, powerful princess. Even Sunset thinks so.”

“Well, you’d have to be pretty great for them to think that, wouldn’t you?”

Twilight looked into his eyes. They leaned forward and shared a quick kiss. “Well, I made the right choice with you, at least,” she smiled. Then, much to Flash’s disappointment, she pulled apart. “I’m going inside to change out of this and back into my usual clothes. Will you wait a bit?”

“Sure,” Flash said. Twilight picked up the plastic-wrapped clothes Flash had collected from Rarity’s and left the car, heading around the back entrance to the locker rooms. They were supposed to be closed, but the entire faculty knew who she was, and upon realizing what she would have to do she asked the janitor to keep it open.

After she disappeared from sight, he turned his attention to the statue. The entrance was still in the new base. Twilight had theorized that the mirror she entered through on her side simply picked the closest surface at its point of entry, and didn’t necessarily tie it to one surface. Or at least, that was the simplified version she had given when she realized her talk of theoretical magic was going over his head.

That’s where I’ll be living in just a few months, he remembered. I won’t even be human anymore. And I’ll have to help Twilight with Starlight.

He thought it was funny that was what worried him. Not the whole “losing fingers” or “walking on four legs” thing, but actually becoming a father.

That’s what it would be. Sure, Twilight denied it, but everyone could see it. And even if their relationship wasn’t quite that, Starlight was a big part of Twilight’s life. He needed to be a part of that.

There had been a lot discussed in those journals. He’d have to give up meat to live in Equestria, he’d have to learn to live without fingers and how to fly, he’d have to learn a new set of table manners, and that was just getting into basic living. He would need to learn to fight all over again. Sure, he could wipe the floor with thugs here, it came with years of building himself up, but on four legs everything would be different. He was sure his time in the guard would be grueling, especially if the other Shining Armor was just as protective as this one.

It had been overwhelming, but he stayed the course. And that kiss at the end of their date? That had sealed the deal.

When he had first met Twilight, he had thought of her as a sweet, klutzy girl who was still brave enough to stand up to a bully who had the school under her thumb. Then, seeing everything that happened that night of the Fall Formal, she had seen her as... well, he wasn’t sure at first. All he knew was that she was totally cool on top of also being sweet.

He had gotten to know her better after getting his journal. But until today, he hadn’t seen Twilight... vulnerable, for lack of a better word. Oh sure, she had told her several stories through the journal of some less than impressive moments, the disastrous attempts at her first Grand Galloping Gala, the misjudgement of a Zebra named Zecora, getting defeated by Trixie under the Alicorn Amulet. But those were adventures that had transformed Twilight into what she was now. And her sadness at having to outlive him was a strong woman carrying a burden.

He had known, logically, that Twilight wasn’t perfect. But seeing it in practice was still a shock. It didn’t destroy his image of her, there was too much good about her for something so trivial to shake it up. But it was a new side to her, one that didn’t come out through what amounted to a magical version of an online chat.

Maybe he didn’t know Twilight all that well yet. Maybe getting to know her was just going to be another challenge.

Twilight came out back in her usual clothes, her dress sealed in the plastic baggie. As he got out of the car, she spoke. “You’ll take these back to Rarity, won’t you?”

“Of course,” he promised, setting them in the back seat. Then he turned to her again. “You sure you have to go so soon?”

“I’m afraid so, I have plans. Are you going to miss me that much?”

“I will. That other you might have your looks, but she’s not as much fun.”

Twilight smirked. “Darn right, she’s not.”

They both laughed, and brought each other into a hug.

“I’m sure there are plenty of fun women around. You sure your eyes won’t wander?”

Flash smiled at the tease. “I haven’t had much luck with women after dating Sunset.”

“Oh, why’s that? Did she sabotage you?”

“Oh no, she didn’t care. But I have to admit, even with how she was back then, I couldn’t go back to dating women that weren’t smart after her.”

Twilight smiled. The two shared another kiss, this one slightly longer, before breaking apart.

“I’ll see you around, handsome.” She gave a final wave goodbye before disappearing into the portal.

Flash stood there for a moment, getting his thoughts together. Twilight wasn’t perfect, no... but she was wonderful in so many ways. Getting to know her would be a challenge that would be fun to take on.


It seemed like forever until the truck finally stopped. Adagio waited until she heard the sounds of another door opening and closing before getting out and running off. She ran out of the residential area and into a shopping center, desperately trying to figure out what to do next. And thoughts of going to the police were tossed out. After all, it had been a “kindly officer” who had handed them to the Changelings.

She racked her brain, trying to figure out if she’d been in this town before in their hundreds of years of wandering. She came up with a blank. If she could just figure out where she was. The Changelings had drugged the three of them when they were caught for the ride from just outside Canterlot to wherever they were being held, so she had no clue where she was. They could have transported her across country, for all she knew.

Her stomach growled. Of course, there was that. She needed to busk for money soon. Then she remembered that would likely attract the attention of the Changelings, who were no doubt looking for her.

She gritted her teeth. She had escaped the Changelings, but she was totally useless. It seemed inevitable she’d either starve to death, or they’d catch her anyway. What was the point? Maybe she should just crawl back.

She kicked herself. No, no she couldn’t think that way. She couldn’t go back. She had to remain strong. She needed to save the others.

After a few moments of thinking, she knew what she had to do, and she hated it. She found a gas station and headed toward it. The Changelings were likely just now noticing she was gone, maybe she could risk busking a bit. Just enough to buy a map and a bus ticket. The alternative was hitchhiking, and she didn’t have her sisters to help her deal with creeps.

She knew where she needed to go. It was humiliating, but her only option. Those losers at Canterlot High were the only ones that could help her.