Unwilling Recruit

by Starscribe

Chapter 5

Unwilling Recruit

Jackie broke away from the kiss, screaming hysterical fear. She kicked and squealed as she fell, reaching out for something, anything she could use to catch herself. “Harley, save me!” she screamed, but the words were ripped away from her lips as she fell. She felt a sudden sharp pain between her shoulderblades, as though she had smacked against the rocky base of Unity on her way down. There was even the moisture of blood dribbling down her back—then she reached the clouds.

Already she’d lost track of up and down, until she hit the cloud. Suddenly she felt wet all over, like falling into a snowdrift. Her mind raced, and she expected to see the white blasting away from her as she gained speed swiftly towards her death. Yet all she saw was an explosion of white from all around her, filling her vision even in the moonlight.

Jackie stopped, surrounded in fluff. She sat up, one hand on her chest, her heart still racing from the fall. She felt, quite correctly, as though she had been about to die. But where was Harley? Hadn’t they fallen together?

Harley can fly, she reminded herself. I’m gonna strangle her.

Jackie tried to pull herself to her feet in her damp prison, but found she couldn’t really apply much force to the snowy stuff around her without crushing it to water in her hands. It really was like standing on something made of snow, except not nearly as cold. Am I standing on a cloud? Jackie hadn’t been at Unity that long—she’d heard of students claiming to do things like this. But seeing it herself?

“I didn’t see you come out the bottom,” Harley said, poking her head in above Jackie. It looked like she was about ten feet up through whatever Jackie had sunken into, backlit by the moon. She was grinning. “There you are.”

“You could’ve killed me!” Jackie screamed, before she’d really thought it through. She felt something twitch on her back—more signs of the injury she’d taken in her fall? But she dismissed that thought.

“Not really,” Harley said. “I made sure the cloud down here was big enough you couldn’t miss it. I’ve never seen a pegasus fall through twelve feet of cloud before.”

“Maybe a pegasus wouldn’t,” Jackie grunted, not trying to conceal her anger at this point. She figured she had earned at least a little outrage after nearly being killed. She could still feel the warm blood trickling down her back. “I’m not a pegasus. I can’t walk on clouds like those stories.”

Harley reached one hand down towards her. Of course she was too far away for Jackie to reach, and this became abundantly clear to her after just a few seconds. Harley shrugged, and dropped into the hole beside her. Well… more atop her, really. She slid her legs down the sides of the cloud, so that she wouldn’t smack into Jackie when she hit the bottom. Fluff filled the air like smog as she moved, taking up way more of her momentum than it had any right to. She settled down in the hole resting atop Jackie’s legs.

Jackie would’ve expected the interior of a cloud to be darker, but apparently that wasn’t the case. The light from the moon above made the whole thing glow around them. It was still damp, and she could feel her clothes starting to get wet, sticking to her skin wherever they touched it.

“Well, I knew you weren’t strong like an earth pony, and the wands haven’t done anything for you. Plus, your sister is a pegasus. Didn’t really leave many options.” Harley trailed off, staring at something past her. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, and she seemed to be struggling for words. “O-or… I guess that explains why you’re not getting all tired like everypony else.” She grinned. “Welcome to the freakshow, Jackie.”

“What are you talking about?” Jackie glanced over her shoulder, but couldn’t see anything beyond more slightly glowing cloud. Was this some kind of… practical joke? That didn’t seem right for Harley—she might be a little cynical, but she’d never been mean.

“Oh, these,” Harley said, reaching past her. Jackie felt heat pressing on her sensitive skin, yet for several seconds her mind didn’t even know how to process it. Harley’s touch was gentle, moving along a wide surface of skin that seemed to be somehow behind her.

Not only that, it moved, responding to Harley’s attention. Unfolding from her back, one half stuck against her shirt, though the half Harley was touching had emerged where her shirt had apparently been damaged in the fall.

Then everything fit into place, and she could finally see. Harley was touching a dark-skinned bat wing, one that was connected to the small of Jackie’s back. At her thought, the wing twitched and moved unevenly, partially folding and unfolding. There were a few more seconds of confusion, accompanied with the same sick feeling that always came with exposure to anything remotely magical.

Then the sickness faded, and the wings made sense. She could move them if she wanted, and she wanted them tucked up against her back. She looked up, where Harley’s face was only inches away from her own. “W-what did you do to me?” Jackie asked, voice barely a whisper. There was a little accusation in her tone, but not nearly as much as might’ve been justified.

“What did I…” Harley repeated, confused. She put her hand down, resting it on Jackie’s shoulder instead. “Nothing, really. I can’t change what you are underneath. Someone who’s going to end up an earth pony is going to be an earth pony. If you were going to be something else, then you’d be something else. Like… well, a bat. Nice fangs, by the way. Adorable.”

Jackie’s face went ever redder. She reached up towards her mouth, hoping that Harley was leading her on… but no, one finger briefly on her mouth was enough to know that she did, in fact, have a few sharper teeth than she was used to. Not really all that different from some of the people she’d seen in Unity.

“So… what,” Jackie began, struggling to put words together. To take control of the situation again. She didn’t push Harley off her, or take her hands away. Whatever anger she’d felt hadn’t lasted long. “You shoved me off the school, so I would… grow wings? You’re that into girls with wings?”

“No, that’s you.” Harley grinned back at her. “But I was trying to help you. I feel like Unity goes too easy on everyone. They think ponies are going to be as spineless as they are.”

“We’re not ponies,” Jackie pointed out, for at least the second time tonight.

“Exactly!” Harley exclaimed. “Earth is a much harder place to grow up in than Equestria! You’re tougher than they are, mentally and physically. So maybe I thought you shouldn’t have to wait around for… maybe six more months… before you learned how to fly.”

Harley pushed gently, and Jackie didn’t really have the leverage to resist. She went sliding onto her back in the moisture of the cloud with Harley atop her all the way down.

“You think I’ll be able to fly with these?” It was a stupid question—Jackie knew her sister was learning to fly with her wings, and plenty of others besides. But it gave her something to say that wasn’t just more embarrassment at their position.

Of course, she could’ve fought Harley if she really wanted to. If she was angry about the way Harley had tricked her, she probably could’ve forced her way up out of the cloud. Getting back up to Unity without Harley would be harder, but she didn’t think her friend would just abandon her like that.

But she didn’t fight, because Jackie didn’t want to be away from her right now.

“Obviously,” Harley answered, leaning a little closer. So close she could feel her breath again, rising from her lips as a little cloud of steam. It was surprisingly cold inside a cloud, and wet too. The hole they were resting in seemed to be getting progressively bigger. “I’ve got less wings than you, and I can fly on them fine. It’s just about magic, and practice.”

Jackie grunted. She wanted to be angry, or at least to look angry enough that Harley might feel bad for what she’d done. But no matter how hard she had tried in the past to trick Harley, that never seemed to work. She could always tell how she was really feeling. Secretly, the adrenaline of her near-death only made Jackie feel more interested in Harley. More excited for this time together.

Well, maybe trying to pretend was a waste of time. “I want a real kiss,” she whispered. “One that doesn’t end with falling off a cliff.”

Harley’s whole body rested against her, so close Jackie could feel her heartbeat through wet clothes. “I’m sure we can find another way to end it,” she whispered back. One hand tugged slightly on Jackie’s shirt, pulling it a little lower. There was a little more resistance than there would’ve been, given the moisture.

Then she kissed her. Jackie didn’t think much of anything after that. It had been a long time since she’d been that close with another girl—not since her last night of cheer camp, which she’d spent with Alice Munford under the bleachers.

Now, Jackie found herself wishing that she’d waited a little longer. If her first time had been inside a cloud under a secret castle, with a girl with bright, broad wings, she might’ve had more of a story to tell.

Well, there was still a little bit of a story. The hours flew by, then she was asleep beside Harley wrapped only in the soft, faintly glowing stuff of the cloud. The dampness and the chill hadn’t really bothered her—after getting used to it, that only made the time more intimate, since it gave them a reason to cling closer together.

But something else did jolt her awake, the orange glow of distant sunlight, penetrating the cloud all the way through and nearly blinding her.

The schedule at Unity was awful—Jackie knew sunrise meant that the day would be starting soon. She had fifteen minutes until the first bell, at most.

To her surprise, Harley sat up at about the same time she did. Her skin looked strangely pale, despite all the time she spent away on missions. And she had more than a few tattoos, in places Jackie hadn’t thought to look. “Guess we should be getting back,” she said, sounding as though she wanted to leave about as much as Jackie did.

“I don’t want to miss breakfast at least,” Jackie answered. “Don’t care much if I’m late to class otherwise.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Harley reached to one side, where they’d piled up their clothes several hours before—but there was nothing there but a hole through the cloud. “O-oh.” She giggled. “Oops. Forget I was wearing street-clothes and you didn’t have enchanted gear. Guess we’re… flying back like this.”

Jackie’s eyes widened. She found the new set of wings on her back spread wide against her will, expressing some of her disdain for that idea. “You’re, uh… couldn’t you fly down and get them?”

“Nah.” Harley stood up right in front of her, stretching. Jackie didn’t look away this time, though her cheeks did warm up a little. “I don’t know how far we drifted. Probably not too far, but… I still have to fly us back.” She took off, lifting out of their hole in the clouds. Her wings shed a few drops of moisture as she moved through the air, splashing down around her. “I’ll get the cloud as close to the grounds as I can, then we can sneak in through the laundry room. Nobody actually cares about us being naked, except maybe some of the new rescuees…”

“What about your boyfriend?” Jackie called after her. It was a little easier to stand herself than it had been the night before. If she kept her wings spread and didn’t put too much of her weight down on any one spot, it wouldn’t squish below her. “Don’t you think he might care that we…”

“Nah.” Harley landed flat on the cloud above her, looking down. “Apple Cinnamon knows what I am. He loves me for who I am. Knows that I’m not the sort of person who could be happy with just one partner.”

Jackie hoped her discomfort didn’t make it to her face.

“What about you?” Harley asked, apparently not as committed to getting them back on time as she had initially seemed. “Does it bother you that I’m with other people sometimes? Can we…” She gestured vaguely. “Can we do this again?”

“It’s cool,” Jackie lied. “Yeah, it’s cool. I do want to do this again. Soon.”

“Sooner if you get to go on missions with me,” Harley said. “Cinnamon stays on base all the time. It gets real lonely on those undercover nights. I could use a pretty little bat like you to keep me warm.”

Comments

[AATC Fanboy]

I think I just entertained a crossover idea: Harlequinn meets Ezri. How would these two get on with each other? Would they clash well, or not?

I suspected this was her intent to begin with, more so after another stated it, but one thing leads to another, and the implication of what we already know about ponies is made through the incident: They have no qualms whatever with going around Au Naturale, in stark contrast to humanity, or what they perceive of it.

I'm sure these two are going to have sex, but I am not interested in seeing it. I'm more intrigued in seeing Jacob go steady with her sister. It'd be nice to have an inner monologue about what Jacqueline thinks about this. Does she approve, or does she not? Is she fully supportive of them?

Also, will Harlequin officially tie the knot, in Ezri's spirit? I'd like to see they both got the kind of fulfillment they deserve. Food wise and romance wise.

[Halira]

9081225
I've seen you mention this Consequences story both in my story's comments and this one. I have to admit that I'm not clear on which story you are referencing. I tried doing a quick search just to find out what's being referenced, but there are over 17 (possibly more) pages of stories with that in the name. Can you private message me a link to that just to clear that up for me?

[djthomp]

That was a pretty good time to express one's inner batpony.

“What about you?” Harley asked, apparently not as committed to getting them back on time as she had initially seemed. “Does it bother you that I’m with other people sometimes? Can we…” She gestured vaguely. “Can we do this again?”

“It’s cool,” Jackie lied. “Yeah, it’s cool. I do want to do this again. Soon.”

It's always good to start a new relationship out with lies.

[ChaosDX1]

There is an oddly large number of changeling-dating batponies named Jackie. Is there a reason behind this? I've become rather curious.

[Alkarasu]

9088117
There's always a Jackie in every world (they use pseudonyms at times, of course). And there usually is a bug nearby. Well, as long as it's a Starscribe story.

[TieID]

9087567
I'm pretty sure they are talking about Casualties, a story by Starscribe set in the same universe as this one. It was submitted to a Transformations group contest under the name "Consequences", but the title was changed for standalone release. Hope this clears the confusion.

[Halira]

9088821
Yeah, that helps. I'm wasn't aware of the previous name.

[ChaosDX1]

9088574
Interesting, I'll have to start keeping a look out. It'll be like looking for Stan Lee in a Marvel movie.