Episode 2.3: New Friend
Sunset led her away from the festival, back up the hill and along the route she'd come. Jackie made no effort to resist; what could she do against an Alicorn? Flying away wouldn't do any good, not when traveling too far would bring her into a frozen wasteland. No soldiers followed them, and Sunset didn't cast any spells, so she hardly felt restrained. If this pony was one of Alex's friends, she could probably trust her.
"You're the first to wake," Sunset said as they walked. "The other two were in worse shape—it might be weeks more before your friends are conscious."
"Friends," Jackie repeated. "One of them is a changeling drone?"
Sunset nodded, climbing the last of the stairs and through the castle gates. "Alex's adopted daughter, Ezri. Your wife, at least according to what Alex told me."
"Alex... told you about us?" She blushed, hopping onto the chair. She wasn't embarrassed by Ezri, more by the idea that an immortal princess she had never even heard of knew about her.
"Alex and I spoke quite regularly. I couldn't answer most of her questions, so more often than not we just talked about life." She made her way back through the hall, the way Jackie had come when she escaped the castle in the first place. Somewhere in her, a little voice whispered that she was being taken to be locked back up, exactly where she had been. Her more logical side didn't care, so long as she got to see her wife. "There is a more urgent subject, however. Otherwise you'd be better off enjoying the festival."
"Are you going to tell me how we got here? Ezri, me, and... is the third one Alex? You said she wasn't doing well, so... her body? Waiting for her to respawn?"
The Alicorn looked a little uncomfortable at the mention of Alex, but that didn't stop her from answering. "It's all about how you got here, actually. You broke the rules, rules that ponies don't usually survive breaking. Now we've got to deal with the consequences."
They returned to the hallway she had started. There were still no doctors or other medical ponies around, though. "What did... What did we do?"
"Did Alex ever teach you planar geography?"
Her stupefied expression seemed the only answer Sunset needed, because she continued. "So, we live in the Phenomenal world. The 'real' world. When ponies leave it, things get dangerous. Demons you've heard of, right? Alex is always stressed about fighting Charybdis, so I assume you've at least heard of them."
Jackie nearly retched, remembering her nightmares and the little pond near Paradise Crater. The water had been so foul that it killed the grass all around it. So far as she knew, life still hadn't come back even after two decades. "I know a little. Alex didn't like the idea of us helping her fight them. Said they were too dangerous."
Sunset nodded. "If the world is neutral, you can think of the Void they come from as low energy. You and me and everything up here has far more energy, so it gets passed to them. It's horrific to see and worse to experience."
"But that isn't how we got here!" Jackie might not be able to remember anything recent, but she knew she would never have screwed with any of that. Unless Sunset meant that she and Ezri had fought and lost against a demon. If that was true, she supposed losing her memory was probably for the best.
"It's not," Sunset agreed. "What you did was probably a first in pony history. Or at least the first ponies I know of who survived. As the Void is to us, so we are to the world above. The Supernal, some ponies call it. It's the place Alicorns are born, the place magic comes from. Regular ponies aren't supposed to be able to get there. The few who tried have always been destroyed. Until you." Sunset leaned across the table toward Jackie, eyes intense. "Three weeks ago, I felt an Alicorn being born. When I finally arrived to greet her... I found you instead. And not just you. You were impossible, but not even the most impossible thing I found." Sunset strode past Jackie's open door to another just like it on the other side, and levitated it open with her magic.
There wasn't too much light, somebody had drawn the curtains near the ceiling. Yet there was light, and in it she could see a room just like her own. Just like her own, except for the unmistakably human figure resting in bed. "W-what?" Jackie stepped through the doorway, staring in absolute wonder. "How is that possible?"
Jackie felt it now, the shadow of a memory that lacked meaningful context in the world around her. Symbols that were somehow more, a city that wasn't really a city. Multi-limbed gods that felt more like creations of her imagination than beings that actually lived. But how had she gotten there? "I couldn't— Why didn't I remember?" Jackie noticed something else, just then.
Sunset's horn was glowing. She was good—Jackie barely felt the touch of her magic. "If we could reproduce this--" she shook her head in wonder. "If Luna had known this was possible and we couldn't find it..." she muttered something, and for a second Jackie felt a surge of heat around her, the crystals all along the walls glowing brilliantly under the force. It didn't last.
Jackie closed her eyes, and tried not to distract Sunset as she worked. The rest came back. Much of what she remembered no longer made sense; somehow, she had understood the world in ways she couldn't anymore. There were some parts of her memory she did understand, though.
Sunset's horn stopped glowing. Jackie felt the magic fade, and began to whisper. "They kidnapped us... beat us... dragged us into the bottom of the city. Alex..." She trailed off, seeing the fight in her mind. An impossible fight, between a magicless pony and three centurions. Only it hadn't been. "Isaac was there. I don't know how. He fought, helped Alex. She... did... something." How could she even explain it? Jackie gestured with her wings. "Opened the air. Not like a teleport. I'd never seen anything—never felt anything like it. Like there was sunlight coming in. We escaped—"
Then she had been on the other side, through a portal into a place she never should've seen. Her mate had lost consciousness, but Jackie hadn't. She had watched from within, watched as— "She did— She was like a unicorn, her head glowing. So much magic, even the field couldn't stop her. She took Isaac, sent him through. I pulled... got him inside. She was going to follow." She saw a monster's face, heard the gunshots. "Killed her." She whimpered, looking down at her hooves. "Said she'd save us, and she did."
She forced herself to meet Sunset's eyes. "Princess, they—the director, Salazar, she said—said that if they killed her in the anti-magic, Alex would be dead for good. Is that... Was she telling the truth?"
Princess or not, Jackie could still see the way Sunset's ears flattened to her head, and smell the changes in her scent. "I'm not—" she shook her head. "No, it couldn't." She reached out, resting her wing on Jackie's shoulder. It had been a long time since she had gotten a hug like that from a bigger pony. It felt good. "Jackie, you saw Alex's magic break through the field. Magic like that can't be stopped by a machine, only suppressed. They couldn't stop her from coming back. All they've done is slowed it down."
It didn't seem so dark in the hallway anymore. The sunlight outside had always been pale and weak. Now, though—now Jackie could feel the warmth. Waves of heat rose from Sunset's mane like a sidewalk in summer, and her eyes shone. "She was my friend too. Three centuries she's been trying to figure out what it meant to be an Alicorn, and they bucking kill her." Sunset pulled back her wing, which was just as well considering how warm Jackie had started to feel in her presence. The hug no longer brought her comfort.
It didn't last. Sunset seemed as though she were about to leave, turning towards the stairwell. Then she seemed to see Jackie standing there, and she stopped. The light faded from around her, the heat retreated, and her mane fell flat again. "That can wait. Planning, diplomacy—" She gestured at the hospital rooms. "Take care of them, first."
"You still didn't— I'm not sure I understand where she came from." Jackie gestured to where the golem stood, her expression glassy and her face impassive. She had been standing in place listening to their conversation and not reacted once to the emotions, almost as though she couldn't even hear it. "Shouldn't you send her back to the dream she came from?"
Sunset shook her head. She didn't actually look at the golem. Now that Jackie was watching, she could see the way Sunset avoided meeting her eyes, almost seeming not to see her. Well, it was more willful than that. She was trying not to see her. "That's not one of my powers. Luna could do it, but... I don't have enough connection to the night for magic like that."
"I didn't do anything," Jackie answered without thinking. "I'd know if I had done magic, wouldn't I? I'd feel it."
"You'd feel drained—weak—but not much more." Sunset advanced, closing to within a foot of her. She made no effort to avoid looking at Jackie as she had with Mercy. "Jackie, going Above changes ponies. Ezri didn't get love to eat, and she didn't starve. The human—Isaac, you said his name was? He's standing a few feet away and magic isn't killing him. What do you think it did to you?"
She didn't give Jackie time to reply. "You were already on the path, or else it would have done something else. It isn't like the Void, stripping away everything you are. The Supernal can only take what you are and make it better: give you more of it, improve it. You must have made your magic a priority, because that's what it gave you. Like the ponies of old, before time dulled our blood." She looked briefly up at Mercy, then away again. "The old stories—ponies had power like yours once. It didn't take Alicorns to move the sun, a few regular unicorns could do it. Earth ponies weren't just strong, they could move mountains."
Sunset continued: "What you saw should've been Archive's ascension. She saw Truth, followed the magic calling her, and stabilized the chaos waiting for her so completely that her vision kept you three alive. You've brought some of that magic back with you." She flicked her tail towards Mercy. "Princess Luna would've known how to send her back, I don't. Just... try and see it the way you saw your magic before. It's not different, there's just more of it."
Jackie saw, and she understood. "I'll visit soon, Mercy. I can't worry about your mission until I get my mate back."
That snapped her back. Though apparently uninterested in their previous conversation, even in her own creator's death, the figment came alive at the mention of her mission. The color came back into her coat, which shone like crystal all over. "I understand, Jackie. Please come soon."
Jackie couldn't say exactly how she did it. The shining pony—figment, whatever she was—vanished.
"I have to get back to the festival." Sunset did turn this time, though she no longer looked upset. "You should come too. Midnight Sun is our most important celebration. You could probably use a little fun after what happened. Your Ezri and the human will be fine. You've been stable for weeks, and there are medical spells on those beds. You should come and enjoy yourself."
"No." Jackie didn't even hesitate. "She might wake up today—I did. I'm going to be here when she does."
"I don't think—" The Alicorn sighed. "Alright. I'll have someone bring some food for you. If you change your mind, the festival goes until midnight. That's sorta the point, I guess." She left, walking solemnly up the steps, leaving Jackie alone.
* * *
Aside from Princess Sunset's promised food delivery, Jackie experienced no interruptions that evening. Faint as it was, the sunlight coming in through the little windows didn't fade as it should have. Night never came.
What Sunset Shimmer had said about this being a "Midnight Sun" festival proved true. That cut down the number of places they could be to very few indeed. Considering what she had seen of the snow beyond the village and the magic keeping it at bay, Jackie knew where they had to be. For some reason, Princess Sunset Shimmer had chosen to build her little city in the dead center of the most inhospitable land in all the world. They were in Antarctica.
Knowing where she was in relation to the rest of the world brought Jackie little comfort when her mate was still unconscious. She spent the hours cleaning her, or dripping sugar water from a sponge into her mouth so she could "eat". How she didn't look more starved, given what she knew about the way these ponies cared for her, Jackie couldn't imagine.
Would time alone be enough to bring her mate back? Jackie was left alone with her thoughts in the perpetual daylight, and think she did. She had somehow been to a part of the universe she had no right to visit. All who had gone had been marked by that passage, somehow. The human didn't burn around magic, her mate didn't starve without emotions to eat, and Jackie's own dream magic seemed enhanced in ways she didn't yet understand. What would've happened, had that power gone exclusively to the one it had apparently been for in the first place?
Ultimately, when it had come down to the decision, Archive had chosen to die instead of leave them behind. In the end, she had taken the time to save Isaac, a human she barely even knew. Could Jackie make things right?
She considered her predicament. If Sunset told her the truth, her friend would be delayed by the anti-magic that kept the humans of the Initiative from dying. Did that mean if she could somehow deactivate that spell, that Alex would be able to come back sooner? Maybe flooding the reactor area with magic would do it, the sort of magic that had been there before. She could run that suggestion past Sunset when next they met.
Jackie couldn't stay up forever. In a land of perpetual daylight, it was her exhaustion and not any natural rhythm that dictated when she ought to sleep. True, the sun came remarkably close to the horizon sometimes, skirting it to within a few inches at times. Yet never did it quite vanish. Pity she hadn't visited during the other part of the year, when the world slept in perpetual night. She guessed Ezri would have enjoyed that too.
Sunset Shimmer did not come for her the next day. The regular nursing staff woke her at some point, showing her to a place she could draw a bath, as well as examining all of her wounds. A few dressings she hadn't even noticed before had to be changed, and more than one of her tired muscles had to be massaged back to life. The nurses might be naked, but she recognized the hesitation in their touch and step, as though they were afraid of some contagion only a bat could spread.
The bias might not've been as strong as it was in Motherlode, but it was still there, prominent enough that Jackie couldn't miss it. She grumbled to them, but her captors refused to let her see Sunset. Evidently the princess had suggested they wait a few more days for her friends to wake, thinking that if she had returned they wouldn't be far behind.
A few days passed. With nothing else to do, Jackie spent her time beside Ezri's bed, reading to her from some ancient human books the doctors had brought at her request. The pages were positively crumbling under her touch, yet still they survived. Survived enough for her to read them. Ezri had always liked being read to, even though she had been perfectly capable of reading on her own. Probably she ate the words or something.
Ezri wasn't the one who woke, though. The change came a few days later, during the period the doctors called night. None actually slept with them in the rooms, trusting in their medical magic to alert them if anything went wrong. Unfortunately for Jackie, their spells only worked if something went wrong. If a bed's occupant decided in perfect health they were going to get up, there wasn't anything the magic would do to stop them.
She heard the motion in the room beside theirs somewhere in that fitful state just out of reach of sleep, and tensed. It wasn't as though she expected attack in the castle of a princess. Even so, she hopped out of the cot she slept in, on the ground beside Ezri's bed. She didn't land, but took to the air in a hover.
Other tribes sometimes had trouble with indoor flight, at least when there weren't windows nearby. Jackie didn't need strong magic to overcome this weakness—she just flew. Her wings made little sound on the air, as silent as any owl. She took to the highest corner of the room, hovering just above the door and watching. She waited, teeth bared for anyone who might come to hurt her mate.
She wasn't waiting long. They came with lumbering footsteps, a creature far larger than any pony. The door banged open, almost blinding Jackie with the light of the sun from the hallway beyond (the hospital rooms had curtains that could be closed). She saw only a vague shape, outlined in the doorway. If it entered, Jackie would attack.
The figure sighed. "Is this the reward faith gets you, Ezri? You don't look good." His voice was familiar to her, familiar from a dozen dinners and social outings and visits. Ezri had a single human friend in all the HPI. His name was Isaac Rommel, and he was standing a few feet away.
Jackie landed between him and Ezri's bed. She wasn't angry. After all, this human had saved their lives. Even so, she was still a little possessive. "You're awake."
Isaac stumbled back from her, raising one hand to his face. As though it could've shielded him. Of course it had no effect against the magic, which would've been blasting into his body from all around at this exact moment. He still didn't cross the threshold, and in fact stumbled away from it. "This place—there's thaumic shielding in that medical room, isn't there?"
She shook her head, stepping towards the doorway. With each step she made, Isaac retreated two, until she was against the door and he up by the far wall. "There's no shield. I don't know what kind of technology Sunset's ponies have, but it isn't impressive. They don't even seem to use electric lights. Everything uses magic."
He glanced down at his hands, pale and undamaged despite what she said. "That isn't possible. There's a shield here somewhere. I'd..." He relaxed. "It's not just that room, or I'd be burning out here too." He glanced down the hallway. "Where is this place, Jackie? The ceiling is so low." Indeed, he had to stoop a little not to hit his head on it. The first floor of the castle had been built bigger, but not this little medical room. It was not a place built for humans.
"I think we're in Antarctica." She followed him out of the room. Ezri wasn't going to wake up just because she had a conversation with a human. "I never really learned the layout of things here. I guess the old bases are probably buried under three hundred years of ice. Sunset's ponies used their weather magic to change the climate. There's a big shield protecting her village and the farmland around it. If you wanna go up to the surface with me, I could show you."
Isaac shivered, glancing once more at Ezri's room. He didn't seem convinced by what she had said, but he didn't object openly. The two of them hadn't been close—Ezri was his friend, not her. Still, they had shared two loyalties, not just one. The other, their loyalty to Archive, was what had put them both here. "I should've died. I remember..." He squeezed both hands into fists. "Fire. It was melting... melting everything. A voice laughing in the dark, getting closer..."
Jackie twitched once, trying not to think of what happened to humans when they died in magic. She had never seen it herself, or even been allowed to see videos of it. All she knew was what Athena had told her: when the bodies finally died, something else took the place that a mind had used. Something that would hunt and kill anything living until every part of it was physically destroyed.
That end had been coming for Isaac. Hadn't come, thanks to Archive and thanks to her. "That didn't happen. Alex saved you. She didn't—didn't want you to die. She sent you ahead of her through—through to here. Something changed you on the way. You're immune to magic now."
Or immune to dying from it. According to Sunset, magic was still passing through him, as it passed through all things. It just wasn't killing him anymore. She didn't think it would help him much to complicate the issue still further by explaining in any greater detail. "I don't see how that's possible," he answered. "If there was a way to make humans immune, we would've found it by now. Or Archive would've given it to us."
Jackie lifted into the air beside him. Most humans knew that ponies couldn't fly without magic, and he appeared to be no exception. His eyes widened, and he continued to stumble back as she took one of the glowing crystals from its bracket on the wall in her teeth. She landed in front of him, and shoved the crystal into his hand. It tasted like dust, and she spluttered for a second, spitting until the taste was gone. "If you're in a shield, explain that."
Isaac turned the crystal over in his hands, inspecting it. He brushed away the dust. "There's a circuit on here somewhere. An integrated battery, maybe an LED..." It wasn't all that large a rock, maybe the size of a human fist. It had been made of clear quartz, slightly salty in her mouth.
Isaac would have no trouble seeing what he said wasn't supported by the evidence. There were no circuits hidden inside, only five or six symbols etched into a rough circle on its surface. The symbols, of course, were runes, and together they made the illumination spell that all of Sunset's Equestrians liked to use.
Isaac dropped to his knees, holding the glowing crystal to his chest. He lowered his head in obvious reverence, body shaking. "Ancestors above, thank you for this holy gift!" He dropped the glowing light crystal, lowering his voice in a muttered prayer.
Jackie rolled her eyes, shoving the man's shoulder with one hoof. "Shut up, Isaac! You look like an idiot."
He looked up, indignant. "Are you saying the Ancestors didn't heal me?"
She moaned exasperatedly. "The 'ancestors' didn't heal you. The ancestors were regular people. If anything, they knew even less than you did. Having the good judgement to plan didn't make them gods. Didn't make 'us' gods." She nodded empathetically. "I was there, remember. All refugees were. They'll tell you the same story. The 'ancestors' didn't have a damn thing to do with why you're not dead."
Isaac's face twisted into an unreadable mask. He did stand though, picking up the crystal and replacing it in the empty bracket. "I know you don't agree with our faith." He didn't look down on her, not exactly. "Let's focus on something more relevant." He glanced down at one wrist, as though searching for something there. Of course, he didn't find it. He hadn't had a gauntlet in the strange world "Above," and so he didn't have one here. "Suppose the rest of what you said is true. We're in... Antarctica."
She nodded. "Sunset Shimmer—the princess Equestria sent to Earth—she's the one who saved us. That's how we ended up here."
"It wasn't the Honored Memory?" He raised an eyebrow, walking past her down the hall. He found her now-empty room, pushing it open. Of course the bed didn't even have sheets anymore, and there were no other signs of occupation. He trailed off, as though speaking more to himself than to her. "I felt her touch. When I was dying, she was there. Standing beside me... keeping me from giving in."
Jackie took a deep breath. "Ale— Archive died saving you. She took the time to get you through the portal with us, then that goddamn director shot her a dozen fucking times." She ground her teeth together, forcing back even unkinder language.
Isaac seemed to relax at her words, turning to face her. He was even smiling a little. "Well, that's not so bad. Athena thought they might be able to really hurt her if they could catch her and bring her to their master. If all they did was shoot her, then it's no big deal. She can't die while humans live."
Jackie wasn't sure she liked the sound of that logic, but she didn't object. Just now, Ezri was her first concern. Alex was immortal, and even if she hadn't been there wasn't much she could do to help her. Ezri, though... "You're right." It was a lie. Jackie didn't believe his religious crap for a second. But she tried to sound like she did, leading him back towards Ezri's room.
"She's not the one we have to worry about," Jackie continued, stopping beside Ezri's bed. "Ezri isn't doing too great." She might not be wasting away as fast as Jackie expected, but she was wearing down. The life support magic wasn't advanced enough to keep her body fed, and signs of starvation were starting to appear. Jackie couldn't be sure what kind of food she needed, but she wasn't getting either one.
"I can see that." Isaac dropped to one knee, this time not in worship. He reached out, setting one hand on Ezri's shoulder. There were few Jackie would've allowed even this much. Isaac was one, if only because she knew it was what Ezri herself would've wanted. "This 'Sunset' person doesn't know how to care for a changeling?"
"No." Jackie frowned. "I don't think any ponies do. They're really ignorant. The doctors didn't even seem to realize she didn't have a skeleton." She rolled her eyes. "Apparently they didn't bring home books about 'obscure species' like her back with them from Equestria. Idiots."
Isaac lifted his hand, then rose. "So they could help a human but not a species from their own planet?"
"You didn't need much help. Something about, uh, what happened between here and there. All the damage the magic caused got erased when you became immune. Ezri and I were the only ones with real injuries. From... before Alex came." She shivered at the painful memory, but didn't stop. "She might still wake up. You did, obviously. I did. Maybe they don't have anything special to do."
"You sound skeptical."
"Yeah." She brushed her resting mate with one wing, then turned to face him again. "It doesn't feel right. Drones heal way faster than regular ponies. Once, when we were learning to fly... she fell from way higher than I thought someone could survive. Like, it must've been at least thirty feet. She was cracked right down the middle, it seemed like. Nastyness everywhere... few weeks later though, and she was back on her hooves. It took me three weeks to wake up. Should've taken her one."
"She's wasting away."
Jackie winced to hear it put so bluntly, but it wasn't as though she could object to the truth of what he said. "I don't think she will get better. Sunset gave us her best doctors, but it wasn't enough. I think— Or, I guess I've been thinking." She swallowed. "I think we need to take her back to her own kind. Ezri talked about the hive where she came from, sometimes. I think mostly she told me what Alex told her about it, since she was so young at the time... but that's not the point. Her hive is still around. Maybe her queen is too. If Sunset's doctors can't help her, maybe a changeling queen can."
Isaac didn't say anything for a long time, looking between her and the resting Ezri, then out the little window. "If we're really in Antarctica... we're a long way from her home. Ezri was from Alexandria, that's in Illinois. We can't exactly swim there. I suppose if you know what happened to my gauntlet, we could try and contact Athena. She could probably arrange a ride for us."
"No luck. Apparently we didn't bring anything with us. That robe they put on you they had to get a tailor to sew custom, based on designs they use for diamond dogs."
Isaac shuffled a little in the loose garment, pulling the hood up experimentally. It wasn't a flattering garment, not from the way his skin was obviously bare underneath, not from the way it bunched strangely in some places and hug too loose in others. At least they had given him more than the shirt that was often all diamond dogs wore.
He reached back, tossing the hood aside and feeling at the highest part of his spine. "I thought so. My implants are still here. I bet the doctors had a hell of a time with those."
Jackie's eyebrows went up again. "You couldn't feel a piece of metal bolted into your back without using your hands? Doesn't that stuff go all down your spine or something?"
"You grow up with something and you get used to it. Ancestors only know how I'm gonna keep the damn thing charged." He sighed. "You think this Equestrian princess could give us a ride? Supposedly she can teleport anywhere on the planet. In the early days... the records say she used to just be on call whenever someone got exposed to magic. She could appear when we needed her, no matter where she was. It's been hundreds of years, she can probably still do it."
Jackie turned away, glancing briefly back at her mate. Ezri still rested, deceptively peacefully. Jackie knew better: the changeling wasn't dreaming. Otherwise, she would've been able to find her. It was a sleep of death. "I wouldn't be surprised. The real question is whether she’ll be willing.”
* * *
Energy burned around Jackie as she tumbled through the void. She had exhaled and closed her eyes at Sunset's suggestion, but still she felt smothered. There was no air in the void, neither space nor time. It was only the void, and a distant memory that she would one day find herself on solid ground. Her body felt freezing, yet she couldn't move to shiver.
The moment ended with a bang. Light and space exploded into being around her, along with a rush of air. Frost did briefly form on her body, particularly over her closed eyes. She had to rub at them a moment before she could open them, inhaling with a rush of relief. She just stood there a moment, not really seeing anything as her mind adjusted to being back in a world she understood.
"Neither of you threw up." From beside her, Sunset Shimmer sounded almost impressed. The princess wore a simple brown robe, covering up her wings but leaving her head exposed. "Impressive for a trip that long."
"How is... How is Ezri?" Jackie ignored the remark, looking instead up at Isaac. The human towered over her, and stood higher even than the tip of Sunset's horn.
Isaac's clothing was by far the most elaborate. Somehow, Sunset had managed to dig up some real human clothes, in the form of a worn-looking white synthetic jumpsuit. Over this he wore a robe of his own, though it was not all. Isaac wasn't just another pony, and his appearance would be on file with the HPI. He had wrapped his face with cloth as well, leaving an opening only for his eyes. With thick gloves on his hands and his unusual hood up, it was almost possible to imagine he was a diamond dog and not a man.
Isaac's harness probably helped too. Ezri was still unconscious, and Jackie just wasn't strong enough to carry her far. Isaac had no such weakness: between his muscular build, a lifetime of training as a Centurion, and his implants, Isaac had strength even an earth pony could respect. Enough strength to hold a sleeping changeling on his back without slowing down. "Unchanged."
"She will not stay that way." Sunset sighed, and did not move from where she stood. "The life support spell might not have been quite enough, but it was stopping her from slipping too fast. Removing her from it even for a day will cost her weeks she might've lived."
"Not lived." Jackie clenched her teeth. They had waited a full week since Isaac woke, and the poor drone had only gotten worse. She really did look starved now, despite all her hard work. "Sleeping so deep you don't even dream isn't a life. Alex... Alex said good things about her mother when I asked. If Riley's half as enlightened as she said, I'm sure she'll help."
"If she's still alive."
"I thought you said you didn't know what'd happened to her." Jackie couldn't feel intimidated, not even by the power of an Alicorn. Not where her mate was concerned. "You would've mentioned anything like that before we came, right?"
To her credit, Sunset remained impassive. "We never knew very much about changelings. When they invaded, we did learn one thing: queens don't live forever. The older they get, the more food they need. Eventually, their hunger can drive them crazy. Be careful."
"We will be." Around them trees grew thickly, concealing them from the road. Yet in the distance, Jackie could make out something glittering, a tower made of sculpted crystal. It was easily taller than anything in Sunset's village, probably more than two hundred feet. It was hard to be sure from this far away. "Back here tomorrow, right?"
Sunset nodded. "If you aren't here, I'll send somepony in a week. If you aren't back then, I'll assume you aren't coming back." She stepped forward, clasping Jackie briefly on the shoulder. "Good luck. I know how much Day cared about you two. She'd be proud." She let go, and only looked up towards Isaac's face. "And you. Don't die."
He shrugged. "I've got another eight days." He twisted his head a little, looking back towards his implants. "When those batteries die, so do I."
"While you're gone, I'll pay Bountiful a visit." Sunset frowned. "I don't know why Athena has been ignoring me... but I will find out. Find out, and bring whatever human machines you need to survive."
"You may not have much luck there. Athena ignoring your messages..." He shook his head. "We all knew something like this would happen if the director tried anything to hurt the Memory. There's probably a war going on right now. A war—"
"A war you're too important to die in." Sunset cut him off, glaring at him as she hadn't ever looked at Jackie. "You claim to worship the 'Honored Memory.' You must see how important you would be to her. If the magic that keeps you alive can be shared..." She turned away. "Just don't die." Light gathered briefly around the Alicorn. It didn't last long. Another second, and it dispersed with another harsh crack, leaving them alone.
Jackie didn't wait, not even for a second. She pushed forward through the underbrush, making their way to the road. Despite the freezing cold that waited outside Sunset's shield, winter in the more temperate north seemed far kinder. There was a little snow on the ground, but none on the roads or obstructing any of the lights. A few more steps and she had made her way onto a surface of paved asphalt, with packed earth running alongside it.
There was no traffic on the road just then, at least not that was watching her. In the other direction, she could see dozens of ponies moving up the road in small groups towards the walled city. She longed to visit Alexandria, to see the growing metropolis Alex had so frequently talked about. Not today, though. Maybe in time, when Ezri was awake again. If she couldn't live in Paradise Crater anymore, Alexandria would probably be more familiar than Sunset's little village.
She forced herself to turn away, down the road in the opposite direction. "All we have to do is head this way for a few miles," she said, more to herself than to Isaac. "Her hive is this way. Her... queen."
Isaac started walking, moving briskly down the path. Despite the bulky robe, he didn't move anything like a diamond dog. Dogs had a sort of hunchbacked lope, with their bulky arms swinging and upsetting their balance. Despite his load, Isaac walked with an erect balance no dog could've matched.
Jackie hurried to catch up, having to trot to keep up with him. For the first time since coming back from that strange otherworld, Jackie found herself missing being human. Watching him from what would've been lower than her own waist-height before the Event, Jackie found her mood souring. She made well sure nobody was watching them, then looked up. "I hope you realize how fucking unfair this is."
Isaac slowed, but only a little. "Unfair that..." He looked down at her, but seemed confused.
"Unfair that you're fucking human right now." She couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice. "Look around you. Whole world's gone to shit—" She flicked one hoof backwards, towards the city with its fence made of rusting metal. Metal whose shapes vaguely suggested cars. "And all because humans 'can't live' in magic."
Isaac raised one hand indignantly, but Jackie cut him off. "I know it's real. I saw what happened to you when Alex went all 'avatar' down in Paradise. That's not what I'm talking about."
The forest wasn't very big. It wasn't long before the land they passed was filled with farms instead, great round fields with irrigation pipes on giant rubber wheels. The level of sophistication actually impressed Jackie, since it implied running water and vulcanization. She's been dead a month, and I'm already thinking like her. Jackie ground her teeth together.
"Alright. What are you talking about?"
"Well... you." She flicked a wing towards him. Unlike him, Jackie wore almost nothing, only a pair of tinted sunglasses to help a little with the brightness of full sunlight. Bat ponies didn't actually need glasses, but she sure as hell felt better to be out here with them. Glasses, and a satchel for a few trade goods. Sunset had given her those too, in the hopes she could use them to convince Riley if mere generosity wasn't enough. "We knew humans could live in magic. Those freaks who sold their souls to Charybdis, grew gills, and now they're swimming around the South China Sea."
"Those aren't human." Isaac's voice was cold. "Not anymore."
"No," she agreed. "They aren't. But you are. Two arms, two legs... no freaky gills, no fins, no tentacles. An Alicorn teleported you here, and you don't even look sunburned." They reached the fork Jackie had been expecting. Sunset had described it as a place where paved roads ended, but that wasn't what she saw. Instead, the road actually widened here, with fresh asphalt and brightly painted lines. They weren't the same patterns from pre-Event Earth, but that didn't matter. There was still an unpaved section in the center, running between two paved lanes and packed to make for comfortable pressure on pony hooves.
Even so, she could tell at a glance this was the right place. Tell, from the hundreds of changelings she saw in the distance. There were more here than ever she had imagined, moving in little clouds in the air, or pulling carts along the road, or simply reclining beneath the trees and relaxing in the sun. It seemed a little strange to her that so many wore clothes, though not as much as ponies wore in Paradise. It was more the way Sunset's ponies wore them, as accessories or accents to make them stand out. Good thing too, since aside from their colors there was little to tell these changelings apart.
"Sunset was right about one thing." Isaac seemed less impressed by the activity, though he still stopped beside her. "I am what the Honored Memory was looking for. The Ancestors could see far into the future. Maybe she intended what happened. Her own death to spur the populace to action, and to solve the great question of how our species could survive."
Jackie shook her head. She knew the HPI's religion was nothing more than the crap the first generation had invented to keep their successors focused on the organization's goals. Could she really say for sure that Alex hadn't planned the events of her final day? Letting herself die to serve some higher purpose wouldn't be all that strange. "Whatever. Once we get Ezri on her hooves again, we can rescue her. Alex can tell you herself how bullshit that is."
They were being noticed. More than a few changelings further up the path had turned to watch them, black insect eyes curious. They didn't look like guards... she couldn't see any of those. But not far down this road was another wall, and past it another gate. It wasn't a few old houses, as Sunset had described. It was a second city.
"When Ezri is better... if it's possible to rescue the Honored Memory, she'll have my sword." He lowered his hand to the belt around his waist, and the not-at-all-inconspicuous blade hanging there. Apparently it was the largest in Sunset's armory, yet still it looked a little short for him. Needless to say, Sunset Shimmer's little village hadn't had a stock of magnetic accelerator rifles. "Hopefully I can give her a better sword than this."
Jackie chuckled, then started walking up the path towards the city that shouldn't have been there. "We'll see. Once Ezri's back." She kept a slow pace, much slower than they had been near Alexandria. She tried to look like she belonged, like someone who was expected and welcome. Jackie even tried to feel those things, not just look it. She would soon learn how good a job she could do.
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I can't fault Sunset for thinking Luna may feel guilty after learning there was a way to make humans resistant to magic; however, it isn't like thay had the time to make a full rerearch.
(... though now that I think of it, if the events of the Equestria Girls movie happened -Sunset suggested so- then Luna should know there are some humans who can survive in a magic environment... I'll throw that to "didn't have tie to research" folder)
Now to meet Blacklight (or not). With her last conversation with Day I wasn't actually expecting Riley to appear again.
a vary interesting chapter so much to think about.
I am hoping they can save Ezri as I have a feeling she will be playing a huge part in this story ark.
Why is there a strange scenario playing out in my head?
That: With Archive death at the hand of the Dark god worshippers, those humans who are loyal to Archive will start praying to her like one might do to God while they start purging the "heretics"...And for some reasons, they do receive blessings. As in, their prayers are answered when truly needed...
Hey! They are already pretty religious...So it is not ridiculous, just strange.
7023045 plus it wouldn't have worked. The portal only opened when an Alicorn had awakened, and that wasn't what saved him, it was something from a higher being. It's not something they could copy, manufacture, create, or anything like that.
Issac is one of a kind, for now. Till another human stumbles into that world, and a higher being decides to change his fate instead of killing him like they originally planned.
I've noticed that Alex's revival time is relative somewhat to the amount of physical damage she receives. With the severe injuries she got from the gun and the field, is it safe to assume she may not be coming back during this generation of ponies? Also, will she be able to open the other-worldy portal again to ascend properly when she does? So many questions and no answers in the near future.
So, Jackie can bring figments into reality? That is such a neat idea. Should be interesting to see how she puts that to use.
Every human killed by magic turns into Charybdis-humans. So, if Equestria hadn't interfered, there'd have been seven billion of them. Creepy.
The ones that are there ended up in the South China Sea. Because it's reasonably deep for being nearby to a lot of land, I'm guessing? I seem to remember their settlements closer to the surface tended to get blown up by the HPI...
We finally get a chance to see what Riley's been up to with the results of the Ezri experiment... and it looks like a lot of the changelings they can see are reasonably intelligent if they're wearing decorative clothing and relaxing and so on. Sounds like whatever she attempted is working!
South China Sea. So the no longer humans there are buildig R'yleth
...Well, I have no idea where this is going.
Should be 'stairs'?
hung
I wonder if if Isaac is ultimately the source of the humans we see Much much later from this; humans that have inherited his resistance to magic.
7023347
There. I fixed that for you.
That last paragraph is interesting.
What if Alex wakes up soo far in the future she sees three major species dominating the planet? Regular humans, magic-resistant humans, and Equestrian fauna?
You get an ascention! You get an ascention!! And You get an ascention!!!!
Time to meet the in-laws.
And it all comes full circle. Back to Alexandria.
So, is the Supernal world supposed to be Heaven then??? After all, you said that mortals aren't supposed to be able to reach it and the few that have been able to have died in the process with Jackie, Ezri, and Isaac being the only exception. I don't remember which book or which verse it's from, but I think I remember it saying somewhere in the Bible (and I'm paraphrasing) that if any man were to be in the presence of God, they would basically denigrate. So I'd think something similar would be true for the place God calls his home.
And it all comes full circle. Back to Alexandria.
You... You just had to do this, hadn't you? Make us like the before secondary characters, make us want to see what happens to them, see how their story goes... Damn you Starscribe, damn youuuuuu!!
So, when's the new chapter?
we need more!!
How does one describe this story? How do you describe a work that transcends the typical fanfiction, and becomes a work that could stand on its own. If the show which we all have come to love had never been, this whole series could stand on its own, no changes. It is that well written.
It is also a powerful story, with a tone and feel that is almost akin to a religious experience. There are VERY few stories that can make the same claim.
7023129 While that is indeed what happened in Isaac's case, it doesn't necessarily mean that similar results can't be reverse-engineered by looking at an irreproducible outcome.
In any case, certainly Twilight et al. can't be blamed for failing to apply that particular solution. I think Jackie knows that, but isn't in a philosophical mood.
Well, I'm officially pissed. Cockblocked for so long, and finally, finally, Alex was about to become an alicorn -- then she doesn't. This series frustrates me so much but I cannot stop reading, no matter how horrible it makes me feel.
Honestly, I just wish Alex became an alicorn at that moment. Everything was leading up to it. This entire part feels like it exists just to make us, and Alex. I think convoluted is the perfect word to describe the way the plot is going.
Still, I can't stop reading. Even though I want to. Even though I dislike pretty much half of the current concepts.
So, you have a Rommel in this universe? His relatives went a different way, as chronicled in Donna Barr's Afterdead strip (they have several equine-based species there, as well)... 7@=Q
MHM Looking at you Scribe. Even if it was good for more story, like, that's so rough