Chapter 35
Jacob heard the sirens. He jerked upright, away from Katie and into a proper sitting position. He might've spun flailing from the edge of the roof, were it not for the little pegasus, who caught him with concern. "What's that?"
It didn't really surprise him Katie didn't recognize the sound. She had never been very concerned with anything outside of weather. "It means we're under attack. There could be casualties. I need to get my things." He rose, forcing his mind to clear. Despite the blaring siren, he found it much easier to do than when he had come up here. "Meet me by the doors in a minute, yeah? I can't take passengers yet."
Katie frowned, her wings spreading. She nodded. "Sure."
Jacob pictured the barracks, saw his bed and the locker he had left open that morning. He smelled the sweat of too many bodies in too small a space, the plain concrete floor. Then he stepped. Magic flashed around him, motion blurring all around him as he zipped across the most direct line between the room and the floor. Air exploded as he emerged, throwing the blankets from his cot and scattering paper from his desk.
The room was empty—even Eric was out and working somewhere, and Jackie was on assignment with Sunset and Harley. There was no need to explain himself as he dug into the dresser, searching for his vest. It hung exactly where he left it, brilliant white except for the red cross on either side. The vest was made for a pony, and so the fit was wrong—fortunately, the spindly human build of his body was actually an advantage, letting the vest sit around his arms without restricting his movement.
The red satchel resting under the bed came next, though the weight was a little hard on his shoulders. Ponies, even unicorns, were better at carrying loads than humans were, and so he couldn't carry the satchel all the time without straining his shoulders.
Jacob now had nearly six on-and-off months of pony medical training. How he had never thought to explore that path in his previous life he didn't know, but it was getting easier the more he learned. He probably knew as much as a human EMT—not enough for anything lasting, but better than just crossing his fingers and praying the magic would do what he wanted it to.
He didn't teleport back out of the barracks, though he could have. He would need every drop of magic for whatever waited.
Katie was waiting for him just outside, standing still in the sea of ponies rushing back and forth. Even as Jacob emerged he felt the ground shake under his hooves, and had to stop to catch his balance before he could keep running. He didn't fall, as he might've done a few weeks earlier. What could shake the whole cave like that?
Katie gestured urgently for him as he made his way over, letting the waves of ponies part around him. How much longer will I be taller than most everyone else? "Did you hear what's going on?"
She nodded. "Some kind of… creature. It broke in near the place they're building houses, rampaging."
Jacob gritted his teeth. "I guess they're trying to relocate ponies to the other side of the cave."
She nodded. "I pretended to leave for the guards, but came right back when I heard you coming up the stairs.
"Heard me?" Jacob blushed. "How could you…"
She grinned. "You're the only one lumbering around on just two hooves. It's easy."
"Right." He sighed. "You probably shouldn't come anyway, now that I think about it. I'm sure it's dangerous."
"Didn't I tell you about how my big sis and I were superheroes for a few months?" She spread her wings, glaring at him. "Sounds like maybe they need superheroes."
He sighed, but didn't argue. Jacob didn't know the first thing about fighting dangerous things. If Katie did, well…
They ran. Technically it was only Jacob who did the running, while Katie flew along behind him, apparently unarmed. They ran against the flow of traffic, as hundreds of ponies ran in a panic away from the direction of… something.
It was loud, whatever it was. The whole cave shook, and occasionally little bits of rock would tumble down from far above them as deadly rain. If Diamond Dogs had really dug this cavern, then they had done fantastic work, because very little of what fell was big enough to seriously hurt a pony.
Nopony tried to stop him, not with the obvious medical insignia on his vest. By the time they made it, the battle was over.
Half the apartment blocks had been crushed to rubble, and the gentle hilly slopes had been ripped up by incredible force.
There were four obvious bodies, though only one of them was flesh. Guards and medical ponies swarmed over the site, keeping back onlookers with stern looks and the butts of spears.
They let Jacob pass inside the line without a word, and he found his way to Imperium's lead doctor. Bonemender was directing several of his assistants as they erected a medical tent, which was already surrounded by the injured. He waved to Katie, hoping she would find her own way to be helpful, then hurried inside.
"Oh good, Lifeline." The medical unicorn wore a white coat and a pair of cracked glasses. All the medical ponies used that same nickname, finding it much easier than calling him by his real name. "Mostly minor compression injuries. Broken bones, that sort of thing, you're not ready." He gestured with one hoof off in the other direction, near what looked like a gigantic, deformed pony statue, crushed and ruined. He wouldn't have known what he was looking at if he hadn't watched Danni practice a week or so ago. "We only have one pony in critical condition—Earthbreaker pilot. See if you can save her—Celestia knows I couldn't."
He nodded, running off in the indicated direction. The second statue was a little further off from the first, and looked far worse. There was a crew of guards waiting around it, with a body-bag already between them. They looked sick. "What happened?"
The ruin of the Earthbreaker armor towered above him, even standing on two legs. The torso seemed obviously cracked down the center, much of it in ruins. It had fallen back open on its own, like two halves of a split shell. Only one of the guards had the stomach to speak. "Lilly. She should be dead already, but… still moving. I don't think there's anything you can do, Doctor…"
"Lifeline." He sloughed the satchel off his shoulders, and made to climb the slope of gravel and broken stone leading to the opening. He hadn't been allowed to use his mundane medical abilities, or his trained magic. But the magic of a Cutie Mark… no training was required for that.
Jacob's stomach twisted as he saw the ruin waiting inside the shell. Blood coated every surface, and numerous bones were exposed. It was almost worse than what he had seen of Elise, after her fall from altitude. Almost.
Jacob wasn't overwhelmed as he had been in the past, either by the blood or the pain. He had seen enough now in the war with humanity that it wouldn't break his concentration.
There was plenty of blood, no need to draw any from the injured pony. He ran his palm along the sharpest bit of bare rock he could find, drawing a few drops from the scarred flesh there. If he weren't already shrinking into a pony, his hand would be in very poor shape after a few years. It didn't matter now though, not when he would only have hands for a few more months at most.
There was nothing routine about the way he healed, even if the process had become familiar. Each and every life he saved was a new struggle, a contest of wills between himself and the mysterious something that dragged away the dead and dying.
You aren't going to rob me again. You wouldn't do that.
"I would," he muttered back, advancing into the rock. He had to hold onto the rock with both hands, bracing his hooves against the rough surface. He didn't dare move what was left of Lilly. It seemed as though she had been crushed within her armor—hadn't Danni said that wasn't possible?
The spell wove around him, magic filling the space and setting the stone aglow. Without really meaning to, he was pushing the ruined armor aside, giving himself more empty space to work with. The rest of the world faded away—the crowd of first responders, the guards watching from the widening opening. All were mere noise now, outside his perception.
All creation is balanced. Life cannot be given without being taken elsewhere.
Jacob ignored the thought, or voice, or whatever it was. It came to him whenever he tried to save someone who probably should've died. Only Lilly's earth pony magic had kept her around this long, just like with Elise. Just as with the traitor, it would probably be better for her if he did let her die. What kind of agony was she feeling now? He was about to find out.
Jacob had been stretched and expanded by many spells and much practice, so a single healing didn't incapacitate him for weeks as it had in the past. A full ten minutes passed in the shelter of that rock, each new word helping the destroyed earth pony to regenerate a little more of her broken flesh.
Eventually he stumbled from the opening, gesturing over his shoulder. He could barely stand up straight, but that seemed quite an improvement over the unconsciousness that had swallowed him the last time he tried a healing like this. "The pilot…" He gestured to the guards, who just stared at him. "She still needs care. Might be weeks before she can walk again on those legs…" After trying to heal so many pony legs, Jacob had a much better idea why farmers had just shot horses who broke a leg.
"You're delirious from magic," the lead guard said. "Spellburn. She can't be alive."
Jacob ignored him, gesturing over his shoulder again. "Be extremely gentle. She's holding together about as well as a hunk of rotten fruit."
One of the other guards slipped past him, and exclaimed, "He's right, sir! She's together again! The bits are still everywhere… Celestia, how is this possible?"
"I don't know." He dragged his hooves along as he made his way back to the tent. "I've never met her."
Bonemender found him as he slunk into the tent, eyes expectant. "Well?"
Jacob nodded. "Hardest since I got here. You should probably take a look at her, though."
Bonemender looked awed. "Be careful with that gift, colt." He rested a hoof briefly on his side, looking up seriously at him. "I've seen the like before. Ponies like you burn themselves out too soon."
"I won't." He looked around the medical tent. In the time since he had left, two rows of cots had been set up, with medical ponies tending to the most severely injured. "Where's the other pilot?"
Bonemender pointed at the cot on the end. He saw Eric before he recognized the pony, perched precariously on a stool and watching the bed with concern. Jacob made his way over too, and he only limped a little. He stopped by the edge of the cot. "How's the other hero?"
"She killed the dragon herself," Eric muttered, dumbfounded. "Everypony's talking about it. That's why one of the stone things looks like a person and not a pony."
"Should've… done more…" Danni whimpered from the bed. She was covered in numerous lengths of bandage, but none of the injuries looked severe. Little cuts and scrapes were to be expected from anyone who spent too much time around Earthbreaker armor, particularly if they drained their magic in one. "Lilly… she died because of me…"
Jacob pulled over another stool and sat down himself. Ordinarily he would've left it for someone else, but just now he was sure his legs would give out. "If you mean the other pilot, she's alive. As alive as anyone crushed into a pancake could be expected to be, anyway."
Danielle's eyes jerked open, fixing on him. "Your work?"
He nodded. "It's my special talent. Personally, I'd feel better if I never got the chance to use it. Maybe when the war ends, I'll never use it again."
The pony started to cry. She reached out with a feeble hoof, and Jacob took it. "Thanks. Sheltered Lilly was a good pony—she didn't deserve to die because her partner didn't know how to fight."
"Her partner shouldn't have been expected to defend Imperium at all yet," Eric muttered, annoyed.
Danni glared up at him. "Don't you dare, Eric. The guards tried to defend us! Didn't you notice all the bodies? There had to be twenty dead out there!"
"I wasn't criticizing them…" He sunk a little lower in his seat, covering himself with his wings. "Where the hell was Sunset?"
Jacob shrugged. "An important mission. Nopony will say where, but it's apparently a big deal. Over fifty ponies are up there right now, working on it. The best ones in Imperium."
Eric grunted. "I hope she blows the hell out of whoever sent that dragon-thing."
Jacob shook his head. "We know that isn't what they're up to. You saw the scientists same as I did, Eric. I don't think they're going to 'blow up' anyone."
Jacob stayed to help around the medical tent, though he wasn't trusted to do anything more than act as a nurse. That was just fine with Jacob, considering how worn he already felt. It was too much effort even to levitate small objects after helping Lilly.
A few hours went by, and Jacob was eventually relieved. By the time he made his way out of the tent, the stone corpses and the organic one had all been cleared away, one burned while the others had been dragged away by earth-pony strength. There was a wagon waiting for him and the other doctors back to the capitol building.
He found their little barracks was abuzz with activity when he arrived. Jackie and Harley had returned, and both looked as worn as he felt.
"You've got to hear this!" Katie pulled over a chair for him, and he dropped into it. Danielle and Eric were still missing, but the rest of their group was there.
He sat down. "Must have been something important, if it took our only princess away."
Katie wrinkled her nose at him. "You smell like a hospital."
"Yeah." He looked past her. "What news from the real world, Jackie?"
Jackie herself seemed too dazed to speak. Harley did instead. "We've been flying all over the place, distributing canisters of"—she gestured vaguely—"some sort of chemical. We've been spending the last few days with some of the nastiest people you could imagine."
"Was it the stuff they've been growing down in the lab?"
Harley nodded again. "A bioweapon."
"God." Jackie slumped, her head in her hands. "It's happening right now! They're… setting it off. We gave away so much of it…"
Harley wrapped one arm around Jackie, comforting her. "It's alright, Squeak. Nobody's gonna get hurt. That isn't what it does."
Jackie didn't answer, only curling up further.
"What does it do?" Stalwart asked. "I can hardly believe a princess would resort to blatant acts of terror to get our way, but…"
Harley kept holding onto Jackie, letting her rest in her lap. That seemed to bring some small comfort to the half-batpony, who stopped shaking after a little while. She still didn't speak, though. "She didn't give us the specifics. Just that it's a contagious way to strip away the human illusion spell. It's supposed to only take a few minutes."
"Damn." Jacob rose to his hooves, tense. "Did Sunset come back with you?"
Jackie nodded. "Upstairs… recording studio…"
"I'm going to have a word with her." He turned and hurried from the room, hands clenching into fists.
Fighting for their survival was one thing. Jacob accepted that as a necessity the other side has visited on them. Just today ponies had died in the war. That didn't mean it was okay to target regular people who didn't even know they existed.
It wasn't right.
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Distributing canisters?
So, is this the group responsible for what happened in Casualties?
7550143, yes, this is the group responsible for these terrorist acts. Ponies are responsible for this. Truly terryfing.
Ooooooh, shits going dooooown!!!
7550143
That was my take on it as well. And it makes perfect sense if Sunset has retained much of her personality from what we saw in the Equestria Girls movies. She would be this ruthless (at least before sure turned from the dark side). This would be totally out of character for Twilight.
The question now is, how much more closer to full-pony is Jacob going to be after this bit of magic?
7549618 A lot of factors, but I'm glad I was wrong.
I predict one MOTHER of a screaming match verrrry shortly. Sunset is going to be forking over answers that she doesn't want to, I figure.
7550223, I am actually interested in your points and would like to hear them (in P.M. maybe). From your words it seems like you've found something really solid and if it is something I haven't found or missed, then it might help me to put puzzle together. Probably.
After all, even in Casualties I saw TCB traces.
7550275 It's nothing too solid, it's just the fact that the ponies are using a bio weapon to change humans into ponies, and how this was similar to the way the ponies in TCB converted humans into ponies, even though Starscribe said it was in no way related to the TCB.
7550311 Well, there is that thing here that ponies don't really turn anyone into a pony, so that makes it seriously different from TCB. The ethical component of forcefully breaking the biggest lie in the world is debatable, of course.
Using truth as a most powerful terror weapon possible is an... interesting conflict.
7550331 that's kinda what I thought afterwards. It's definitely an interesting way of "fighting" your "enemy".
7550337 If I remember from Casualties, it eventually made ponies be accepted as humans, so the Light Tenders would have no reason to hunt down everyone who changed. So it's a way to end the part of the war that was most dangerous to random uninvolved civilians without having to fight.
7550399, well, nobody said that "Pony city" cannot be
permanent off-world relocationspecial quarantine zone...7550331
Well, ponies are not good with accepting truth themselves. Not actually sure about that, but they have encountered their true enemy twice now and both times enemy representative upbraided Equestrians saying that "their power is an illusion".
Of course, this may be just a way to demoralize Equestrian side, but these two characters definetly know more than we do, so, I think, their words are something more than a weapon.
So what is my point? There is a truth humans don't want to accept, and ponies force them to accept it. And meanwhile there is a truth that ponies don't want to accept, so... Since Starscribe wants to keep both bowls of scales equal (like "Agency destroys Unity and right after that Equestrians destroy Containment") this is kind of predictable...
7550599 Oh, that's pretty obvious that there's something ponies are yet to find out/accept (after all, in Casualties we don't see any trace of Equestrian presence). But since we don't have enough data from the other side, at this point we can only guess what it is.
The subjects of these paragraphs feels reversed; it sounds like Jacob is the one asking "What's that" and it only becomes clear in the following paragraph that it's Katie that the dialogue belongs to, not Jacob.
Well this should be interesting. A bio-weapon like that will turn humanity in on itself. Everyone will be suspicious that their next door neighbor could be some pony alien from outer space. Cause human logic.
"A person is smart, people are stupid."
These next few chapters should test your strength as a writer from how you set this up. I look forward to seeing how you dish out the next chapter.
7550337 Especially when your enemy has enough nuclear power to destroy the planet multiple times over. So when quarantine fails on one continent, whoops, looks like its time to just kill off the virus.
This is an interesting story so far, I like the Sunset Shimmer gets a big leadership role that and that she is plained rather gray on the morality scale. until I reached this chapter, and learning that the human race are actually dependents of ponies, I was just thinking that a plague that would disrupt the spell like your TF contest entry great to hear you are recycling you old idea. I am looking forward to see more.
"I should have done more." She just killed an undead dragon practically by herself and avenged her friend! I'd feel pretty damn good after that!
You mentioned at the beginning this story was in the same universe as another story of yours. Looks like we finally found what that connection was.
7550599 never forget folks that just because they are telling you all about the superiority of their "truth" it doesn't mean that it's "the truth".
7553880, and they don't tell that their truth is superior. Both times they state that ponies are given an illusion of power because of their magic and nothing more, they don't try to convince, they only state. And since at least one of them was an undead creature, living because of the magic, I think that they might have a strong point.
But this also might be a way to show ponies their place, which is "slaves" slot.
I hope that we are going to know some more detail about Equestrians too, since all the time we've seen story built anti-agency position, making Equestria "a lighter shade of gray": Agency was capturing and locking all the ponies and now they are suggested to have ties with NMM. I don't trust Equestrians, as well as Eric didn't. "This horse story is too good to be true".
So, does this make Casualties actually canon to Friendly Fire? I'm reading through FF right now(it's amazing, btw) and don't want any major spoilers, but is the ending of Casualties actually 100% compliant with how the war goes down in this story?
8294114
My thoughts exactly... Except I read casualties first, then read this
THANK YOU JACOB! About time.
minor spoilers for casualties:
Considering that a large number of the victims in casualties went through genderbend transformations as well as a large mental and biological shift....
I'd either expect that to be a separate story not in the same universe, there is something REALLY messed up with these chemicals or we still havent quite being told the real truth behind the 'illusions'.
What?
So Lifeline saving lives is all but meaningless?
That's stupid.
Frankly, I have to disagree.
Rip the band-aid off, it's better for everyone.
7550399
Yeah, honestly, I can only see this as a good thing.
It frees people from the lie, it helps cover the ones being targeted, and it helps humanity get used to the idea.
It's a master stroke, and it was a long time coming.