Unwilling Recruit

by Starscribe

Chapter 11

Jackie had half a mind to try and fight Harley’s instructions, maybe to run and find somewhere to hide. But as embarrassing as it would be to have her sister find her like this, it wouldn’t be right to try and hide from her. I’m going to Equestria to be treated. What if they never let me out? She trusted them now, mostly. But there was no way to be completely sure. Katie’s last memory of her wouldn’t be of Jackie hiding under a couch.

But Katie had her own reasons to be embarrassed. Jackie had known that from Harley’s account, but still. There was nothing like seeing her again. In a way, being completely mutated as Jackie herself had been was kinder. At least she looked like one creature, and not some hellish fusion of the two.

Katie walked with crutches, wobbling all the time on her stumpy legs. She’d shrunk a great deal as well, losing at least a foot of height compared to what Jackie was used to. Her wings looked a little less like useless accessories.

Jackie was about to say something sympathetic, right about the time that Katie herself squealed with delight, surging up to her and giggling. “Oh my gosh, Jackie!” She looked down on her from above, almost as oversized in her way as Harley. “When they told me you’d gone all the way, I didn’t realize… I didn’t think it would be like this. You’re as small as Sven. Guess that makes sense.”

“Worse off than Sven,” she muttered, scratching at the ground with one hoof. “My legs aren’t working right. The magic screwed me.” She looked up, fighting tears. Her sister might’ve changed, but she hadn’t suffered like Jackie. In a way, Jackie’s sacrifice hadn’t been in vain. She had kept her little sister safe. “Did they tell you where I was going?”

Katie tensed immediately, shaking her head. She very nearly fell over, and had to catch herself on the ledge by both arms. It kept her standing, barely. “No, but I can guess. If you have to go to Equestria, I’m going with you.”

“I’m coming back,” Jackie said, before her sister could go any further down that road. “I’m just going for treatment. Apparently there’s something they can do about the thaumic exposure. I dunno how it works… but when I get back I’ll be healed. Who knows—maybe I can get my body back, the same way they get them.”

“Oh, yeah.” Katie grinned. “That would be great.” Her expression gradually darkened. It took her some time to say what she was thinking. “Did they tell you about… did they tell you the truth? The thing they were hiding from us?”

“Everyone is ponies,” Jackie supplied. “Yeah, they did.”

A long, pained silence. Katie reached out and pulled her sister into her lap. Jackie fought and squirmed, but she had less ability to escape than a regular pony might’ve in her place. She couldn’t get away.

The warmth wasn’t bad, and there weren’t any of the other embarrassments that came when Harley did it. She didn’t fight to get away after the first few seconds were over.

“Do you believe them?” asked her little sister. She sounded genuinely curious, and maybe a little afraid of what Jackie might say.

“I wish I didn’t,” she answered. “But I think I have to. They haven’t lied to us. It feels like everything Harley said was for our own good really was. I figure there might be even more evidence waiting for me in Equestria. Though I… don’t plan on staying there.”

“Yeah,” Katie muttered. “I was afraid you’d say something like that. I don’t want to… it feels wrong. It’s like tuning in for the big game, only it ended a week ago and your team lost. It’s not like there would’ve been anything you could’ve done to affect the outcome anyway, but it still doesn’t feel right. Someone should’ve done something. Humans shouldn’t be… extinct.”

“Maybe we’re not,” Jackie said, propping herself up in Katie’s arms, trying to meet her eyes. “We were always… this. And it’s not like we killed all the humans. We just mixed with them until we were all the same species. It wasn’t a war, nobody was conquered. We’re way more humanity’s culture than this pony shit.”

Her sister reached one warm hand into her mane, messing it up with an affectionate energy. “That’s a good way to think about it. Thanks, sis.”

“Anytime,” Jackie said. “Now put me back where you found me, and try and recover yourself. Maybe you can grow your legs back.”

“Nope.” Katie did lift her back onto the counter, despite what she said. “Doctors were clear about that. The only way to get my human body back would be to let the magic take me all the way down, like Sven. Then I could go back through the portal and be 100% if I wanted to. But I’m not going to do that. Sven already put in for approval to go, but they didn’t give it to him. Just changing back isn’t an essential procedure. If your legs weren’t screwed up, you’d be stuck like that too.”

“Great,” Jackie muttered, rolling her eyes. “I’ll have to thank the Equestrians for burning me with magic badly enough that I lost everything south of my wings. I’m just overflowing with gratitude.”

Her sister stomped one hoof, and nearly fell over as a result. “You know what I mean!”

The door swung open again, a little more timidly than last time. Harley appeared in the doorway, expression solemn. “There’s just been an opening in the rotation, Jackie. We’re going now.”

---

Maybe she should’ve argued a little more—fought to remain on Earth despite her condition. But Jackie wouldn’t keep waiting another minute if that meant being able to get her proper body back sooner. Besides, no matter how angry she was with the Equestrians for creating the secret that had caused this mess—and just for interfering with their world in the first place—the truth was she was curious to see Equestria for herself. Travel to another universe was something she’d always loved in her fiction, even if she knew it would never be possible in reality. Now here she was, a real life magical girl. Or she would be, once she got her girl back.

There was nothing to carry. Instead, Harley carried her. Straight into the room she’d briefly glimpsed after her first meeting with Sunset Shimmer. The horseshoe-shaped portal, standing tall in the center of a huge cement chamber. Pony guards at the door, and some that looked human as well, wielding heavy machine-guns and glaring at Harley with intense dislike as they passed.

“What’s shoved up their ass?” Jackie whispered, when they were far enough away that she thought they wouldn’t hear. Or maybe they could hear, and she just didn’t care.

Harley shrugged. “You’re about to learn why I always make myself look like something else, Squeak. Just know that I won’t be upset when you end up as revolted as everyone else. It’s natural, it’s self-defense. Everypony acts like that around changelings their first time. I’m tough.”

But even as she said it, Jackie could hear it wasn’t true. Harley hoped things would be different this time. Jackie couldn’t use her legs, she’d lost just about everything she thought was stable in her life. But if it was possible, she would make sure that Harley’s desire came true.

There was only one pony waiting for them inside—Sunset Shimmer. She stopped Harley at the edge of the empty portal with one hand. It just looked like metal up close, metal studded with little gemstones and wired into complex machinery. This was the center of the base, that it depended on for survival? It didn’t seem like much to Jackie.

“When you step through this portal, you travel briefly through limbo. It’s a timeless space, and Star Swirl’s ancient magic is wrapped tightly around those who step through the portal. Even so, know this magic is dangerous and powerful. We travel between worlds because we must, but we wouldn’t if we had another choice. Know that you’re in danger, and respect that the process has risks.”

“Don’t have much choice, do I?” Jackie asked, shrugging one shoulder. “Unless I want to be crippled for the rest of my life, the help I need is over there.”

“That’s correct,” Sunset said. “Princess Luna. Nopony in the world is more adroit at repairing minds. I have already sent ahead, and she is expecting you. The portal is already in Canterlot—when you step through, you will be transported to the palace and meet with her at her earliest convenience.” Sunset turned to leave, apparently considering the explanation done.

“Wait!” Jackie called, her voice a tiny squeak in the vaulted chamber. “When do I get to come back? You said I wouldn’t be stuck there!”

“That… depends on what Princess Luna decides,” Sunset said, shrugging one shoulder. “If her healing is successful, she should only keep you for a few days. If it isn’t…” She trailed off. The silence was answer enough. If you aren’t healed, you will be too much of a liability to bring back.

Sunset Shimmer gestured at the ponies standing in the control room, a single wave of her hand. Jackie felt the change sweep over the room almost instantly—a charge that rolled through the floor, passing over her skin like electricity, making her ears and mane stand on end. The portal before her began to darken, as though it were at the bottom of a slope and all the light in the world was pouring into it. It drained and drained until only a surface of onyx remained before her, a hungry void that seemed to pull her towards it.

It was gravity itself, bending the wrong way. And it was hungry.

“I’ve enjoyed our time together,” Harley said, her voice nervous and frightened. “If you… even if you can’t look at me again after this, I hope it was good for you too.” Air rushed around them, billowing Harley’s uniform and making her hard to hear. But Jackie’s ears were sensitive enough to make out her words even when they were feeble squeaks.

“It was!” Jackie called back. “Nothing’s going to change when we step through that door. Except that things will get way better once we come out the other side and we’re back in the real world.”

Harley laughed. “And now the colony is the real world. Can’t say I haven’t heard that one before.” She stepped through.

Jackie felt herself falling. She was gone from Harley’s arms, adrift on a void without boundaries or light. She could hear voices—cruel laughter, distant weeping, and the footfalls of many angry feet. Everything melded and shifted together into a discordant soup.

There was no time, no hope of relief. Only the pain that wasn’t quite pain, and directionless agony. Her limbs wouldn’t work, her wings didn’t work. It was all she could do to let the currents carry her through into infinity.

Then something dumped her out on the ground, and she rolled forward like a child coming off the end of a tall slide. She bumped and scraped along the floor as she went, slowly coming to a stop.

She groaned, tried to stand up, but of course her limbs still weren’t working right. A layer of cold had formed around her eyes, and she had to scrape it off as best she could with the edge of her wings. At least nothing felt broken.

“You, changeling! Back away from the thestral. If you make any violent movements, you will be arrested and held under suspicion.”

Jackie turned to face the voice, and caught a glimpse of a figure in gold armor, standing tall and proud and brandishing a spear.

Wasn’t it supposed to be the wee hours of the morning? Why was the sun coming through the windows so damn bright? I’ve got inter-universal jetlag.

“I am not trying to hurt her,” said a familiar voice—or a voice that was almost familiar. Harley’s patterns were all there, but her voice now sounded like it was part of a chorus. It reverberated a little with every word, discordant, rubbing the wrong way against her ears.

Then she got her eyes open the rest of the way, and Jackie could finally see. Finally see what was bothering the guards so much—what had made them actually raise their weapons and come rushing in at her.

The portal’s receiving room was just as large over here as the one she’d just left behind, maybe even bigger. The walls were lined with huge windows, enough to cast the creature in front of her in clear light.

Not a giant at all, but actually shorter than she was, with a body that was black and reflective and a pair of multifaceted eyes. Tiny fangs sharper than Jackie’s, and a nervous tick in the way she moved. A few bits of clothing had dropped just behind them, leading up to the portal that was easily twice the size it had been back on Earth.

“Harley?” Jackie asked, her voice almost as timid as the changeling’s had been. Was this what she was supposed to be afraid of? Her friend wasn’t a terrifying monster, she was the sort of thing Jackie might’ve seen in a butterfly exhibit. Shimmering transparent wings, twitching ridges down her back. Almost a pony but not quite.

“You would say that,” barked one of the guards. There were twelve of them in here—most guarding the several large doors. A few lingered closer, and those were the ones threatening with their spears. “Back up against the wall and prepare to be restrained.”

“My name is Harlequin,” she said, backing away from Jackie with a pained expression. “I’ve been working in Unity for over a year. My return was expected.”

“Just following procedure,” said someone else. Another guard—a female, with cloth armor instead of polished gold. She was a unicorn, and stood taller than Jackie.

Nothing looks shrunk here, she realized. The doors had knobs at their height, the windows were low enough that she could actually look outside. They were on the top of somewhere high up, though far below were the rooftops of many little buildings. But it was hard to appreciate that when these guards were treating Harley this way.

“She’s not a threat to me,” Jackie said, trying to take a step towards Harley. Instead of succeeding, she flopped sideways and almost tripped completely. She spread her wings and flapped once, managing to keep herself standing, though her legs still dragged under her as she moved. “She’s my friend. Don’t hurt her.”

“We won’t.” That was the female again, stopping right in front of Jackie and putting out a hoof. Her coat was pale blue, with a bright orange mane cropped short like a military haircut. “You’re the injured pony I’m to escort to the palace, yes?” She looked Jackie up and down in a few seconds, apparently oblivious to her nudity.

“Yes,” Jackie answered, trying and failing to take the offered limb. Hopefully this guard didn’t think she was trying to be rude. “I’m sorry, I, uh… I can’t…”

“Right.” The pony shrugged. “My name is Captain Sigil, of the Solar Guard. I’m also Harley’s caseworker, so don’t worry about her. Just wait here until we can get a wheelchair.”

Wheelchair. She’d come to another universe, and she wouldn’t even be able to do it on her own two feet. Four I guess.

She looked across the room, watching as two of the soldiers searched Harley. She couldn’t say what they were looking for, except that Jackie wasn’t comfortable with the way they treated her. Not like a loyal servant who was fighting the same cause, but like a terrorist, just waiting to blow up a market somewhere.

But Harley wasn’t hiding bombs, she wasn’t as big or strong as they were. She wasn’t lying about her size. She really is tiny. And adorable. Maybe it would be easy to find that other pony attractive, if she wasn’t being mistreated right before her eyes.

“She isn’t going to hurt anyone,” Jackie said, voice confident. “There’s no reason for this.”

“Oh, there’s a reason,” answered a burly pegasus with a scar running all the way down his back. He had a crossbow balanced across one hoof, pointed only generally towards Harley. He wasn’t holding it ready to use, and didn’t seem to look concerned. “You know a friendly changeling. That’s like finding a friendly ghost. For every one out working for us, there’s twenty more rotting in the dungeons, who threaten to tear us apart any time we bring them supper and get revenge for their queen. Don’t let her size fool you.”

Sigil cleared her throat, a twinge of annoyance in her voice. “That’s quite enough Rowan. The newcomer doesn’t need us to frighten her with tales of an Equestria far more dangerous than the one we live in.” She raised her voice. “Let the drone join us.”

“Drone?” Jackie repeated, but she found she didn’t care what it meant. Harley walked over, taking each step slowly and deliberately. And it was clear why—the spears followed her across the room, away from the portal.

Until she was right up in front of Jackie, practically radiating shame from every little hole in her legs.

Jackie ignored all that and stumbled into a hug, holding against Harley as tightly as she could with one of her wings. She would’ve done more—except that her legs didn’t work. “I don’t know what you were afraid of,” Jackie whispered, though she knew they would be overheard. Knew, but didn’t care. “Maybe you wanted me to be the cute one. Too bad.”

The changeling protested, pushing her away with one hoof—but not very hard. There was obvious relief in her stance, her posture. Maybe she thought she was a good actor, but Jackie could see the tears.

One of the guards muttered something rude. Jackie ignored him too. Ignored everything, even though she could do little more than twitch and wasn’t sure if she would ever get her legs back. She couldn’t know if she would ever see Earth again. She couldn’t control what Equestrians would do, whether or not they’d honor their promises. But she had Harley.

“You’re supposed to hate me.”

“I’m supposed to be back in school. I’m supposed to have two legs. I’m supposed to stay out of the lower levels. I’m not supposed to like girls. Oops on all counts.” Then she kissed her.

The changeling felt pleasantly cool against her coat, and not as hard as that shiny black carapace suggested. Besides, she wasn’t a giant anymore. Jackie could get used to this.

“Excuse me.” That was Sigil again, sounding only slightly impatient. “Your wheelchair, Miss… do you have a proper name yet?”

“Just Jackie.” She finally broke away from Harley, spinning around to glare at the captain. But at least this mare wasn’t mistreating Harley. She’d have to take what she could get. “I like my name the way it is.”

There was indeed a new pony here, a timid green stallion with a uniform like a medical orderly and a wheelchair resting just in front of him. If I was the right size this would look tiny and adorable.

But she wasn’t the “right” size, she was the same size as everypony else here. “Can you, uh… Harley, help me with this.”

She couldn’t walk exactly, but she hobbled over, and with Harley’s help she was able to scramble up into the seat. But her spine didn’t want to bend the way she was used to, and stretching her legs out was uncomfortable at best. She settled for resting on her haunches, using the armrests to stop her from tumbling out sideways.

“I got it,” Harley said, settling in behind the wheelchair. “Let’s go. To the… palace, you said?”

Sigil nodded. “Carriage is waiting outside. We wanted this to be discrete. If you wouldn’t mind, Harley.”

“Right.” Harley looked momentarily deep in concentration—then there was a flash. The guards reacted with a start, except for Sigil. A few raised their weapons again, pointing them in Harley’s general direction.

Jackie’s girlfriend reappeared as an ordinary pegasus. A pegasus with a gray coat and a green shackle for a cutie mark. “I think you’ll like the city, Jackie. You’d like the nighttime scene. But you’d… have to go without me. I’m still in service. Have to have a guard with me at all times.” She lowered her voice, a timid, nervous whisper. “But not for much longer.”

“Come on now,” Sigil called, gesturing towards a now-open door. “We’ve got a shipment coming through here in two more minutes. Let’s not keep the princess waiting.”

---

Comments

[AATC Fanboy]

"Supposed to hate..." When, may I ask, are you supposed to hate anyone? I'd be totally on Jacqueline's side all the way. Just what are we supposed to be afraid of here? For an alleged spy, she's not very good at acting, and shows nothing but sincerity and class.

Given we only saw the ancient self-contained portal between worlds before that allowed the first crossing, I'm glad to see the one I know and love, and actually in use. Surely there must be somep- somebody other than Jacob and Jacqueline who actually likes this lovable chick.

Finally, a cameo from a guy with an orange coat and blue hair and his girlfriend with an aquamarine coat and cyan hair would be a nice touch. Two ponies who have an even deeper resentment to Equestrians than Jacob and Jacqueline. I don't think anyone would begrudge that.

[Neece]

Cute, I have to say! Let's hope they manage to keep together until the very end.

[djthomp]

Hug the bug, don't hate the bug.

Jackie ignored all that and stumbled into a hug, holding against Harley as tightly as she could with one of her wings. She would’ve done more—except that her legs didn’t work. “I don’t know what you were afraid of,” Jackie whispered, though she knew they would be overheard. Knew, but didn’t care. “Maybe you wanted me to be the cute one. Too bad.”

Success!

“I’m supposed to be back in school. I’m supposed to have two legs. I’m supposed to stay out of the lower levels. I’m not supposed to like girls. Oops on all counts.” Then she kissed her.

Oooo, even more success.

[Helium]

“Maybe we’re not,” Jackie said, propping herself up in Katie’s arms, trying to meet her eyes. “We were always… this. And it’s not like we killed all the humans. We just mixed with them until we were all the same species. It wasn’t a war, nobody was conquered. We’re way more humanity’s culture than this pony shit.”

Yep, i already like this story many times more then friendly fire because of jackie being the mc. I like her stance on things a lot more. She essentially mirrors one of the comments i left on friendly fire here.

At this point im going to stop quoting everytime the equestrians piss me off because they had me rolling my eyes every other paragraph. I'd be quoting half the chapter at this point
(And i dont consider that a bad thing btw.)

[Xanni]

"discrete" (separate) is a typo for "discreet" (inconspicuous).