Chapter 27
Marie’s changeling senses were no mercy to her as the mythical creatures got their second magical-scroll delivery she had seen.
She couldn’t read thoughts. Yet with her eyes closed, she could see thick patches of anger and fear, spreading out through the building and approaching rapidly. She clutched at her stomach, groaning with the nauseating feeling of so much anger in such a small place. If being near her friends brought color back to the world, this took it away again.
“We should back up,” Marie muttered, touching David and then Helen on the shoulder. “This is…”
“Could’a seen that from about a bloomin’ mile away,” Helen answered, rising from her chair. “Back towards the beds then. Their funeral if they wanna fight, know what I mean?”
“They won’t fight,” David said, though there was no confidence in his voice as he said it. Marie would’ve been fooled before, but now… You’re just trying to make me feel better.
Then came the soldiers, and the shouting. The one who seemed to be in charge of everything down here arrived before anyone could start shooting. “There’s no reason this has to turn into anything,” Blackburn went on. “We can be… civil. Peaceful.”
“You’re the one with weapons pointed at us,” Gallus said, rolling his eyes. “I think they’re weapons, anyway.” He glanced to the side. “Ocellus?”
“Yeah.” She nodded her confirmation. “They’re weapons.”
“Well, that’s rather unfair.” Blackburn took a few steps closer, earning himself cautious looks from the soldiers around him. But no one dared try and stop him as he selected a chair from among the fallen furniture, standing it up and putting it between himself and the creatures. “You just did… honestly we have no idea. Everything about you all is new to us. You must try and understand… imagine this was your homeland. Imagine if there were sixty-six million people right outside that door. Unknown creatures arrive one day, creatures you’ve never seen before, never dreamed about, and the first thing they do is turn a little girl into a monster. Don’t you think we’re within our—”
But Marie barely even heard him after that. She whimpered, covering her face with one arm and fighting back her tears. Commander Blackburn wasn’t wrong about that. She really was a monster. She was the reason Ocellus and her friends were in so much danger in the first place. If she hadn’t been involved, if she hadn’t been changed, then there wouldn’t be any reason for the country to fear them. Or… maybe not as much.
I should just disappear. Maybe these powers let me do that.
Her friends didn’t notice her sudden shift in emotions. They couldn’t sense them the way she could, and wouldn’t be able to hear her silent tears. Not over the tense negotiations going on right in front of them.
But someone could. “You can’t,” Ocellus thought at her. “Don’t listen to him. Ponies used to think we were monsters too, a long time ago. But then they got to know us, and they changed their minds. I’m sure your kind can too.”
Marie winced, wishing she’d been more disciplined. She didn’t want to make Ocellus deal with her when she was probably the only one keeping the peace between her friends and the dozen armed soldiers.
“Sorry,” was all she thought back. She got no response.
And it was easy to see why. The dragon now stood out in front of the others. Maybe Smolder wasn’t as afraid of their weapons. No, that’s wrong. She’s terrified. She’s been hit by them before, and she knows how much they hurt. She’s protecting them.
“We’re not here to hurt you,” Smolder was saying. “Look at how small you are. If we were bad creatures, you’d know already. We did everything you asked. We let you poke us and march us around and lock us in this stupid dungeon. Doesn’t mean we’re going to keep listening to you.”
“What did that letter say?”
Marie opened one eye. She barely dared to breathe, expecting a surge of gunfire any second. But none came, at least not yet.
“Equestria is going to rescue us. They’re coming in the morning. It’s been so long since I saw the sun, I don’t know how much longer that is.”
Marie glanced to one side, whispering. “David, is your phone working?”
He nodded. “It turns on. No service in this place, and the networks are all protected. Probably they’re using it to watch me, somehow.” He held it up, and that was enough for her to get a good look.
“It’s three AM. That means sunrise is in… maybe two hours? Or three. Dunno.”
“Too long to hold out. Probably don’t want them to show up in the middle of this. One side would get hurt.” It wasn’t clear from her voice which side she thought that would be. But Marie knew better. They both would.
“You’ve just introduced a rather confounding variable,” Blackburn said. “You say that was a message? A message you received underground, past every possible security measure.”
“Yeah.” It was mostly Smolder arguing. The others just hid behind her, either terrified of the men like Silverstream and Sandbar, or ready to tear into them like Gallus. If they started fighting… Marie could imagine how terrible it would be. She could feel the anger on both sides—intense discomfort, exhaustion, and fear from the magical creatures. Pure terror from the humans. They were so close to making it all go away. “It should tell you that magic is strong stuff. Keeping us locked up isn’t gonna work. What you really need to do is give us back to Equestria.”
“It’s in progress,” Blackburn answered, noncomittally. “Listen, I’m afraid we’ll have to separate you. Keeping you together was conditional on good behavior, and this demonstrates we just can’t count on it. Each of you needs to stand where you are, as my men remove you one at a time.”
“That’s not gonna happen,” Gallus muttered. “We came together, we’re leaving together.”
“Yeah!” the others agreed.
This is it, Marie thought. This is where they die.
For a second, she imagined her way into the future. Ocellus and her friends dead, along with tons of royal marines. Negotiations on the border break down, and then there’d be war. Magic, guns, and tons of dead people who didn’t need to be fighting.
“This isn’t a negotiation anymore,” Blackburn said, backing up a step towards his soldiers, and further out of reach of the Equestrians. “I’m giving you an instruction. We’ll execute it by force if necessary.”
Is that the future you want, Marie? Do you want to watch your new friends die? Maybe they’ll burn Hogwarts down too.
Marie rose suddenly into a standing position, taking a step forward.
“What the blazes are you doing?” Helen yanked at her ankle, far too weak to make a difference. “Bloody hell, Marie! Get away from them! Ain’t it obvious where this is going?”
That’s the problem.
Marie pulled away from her, just out of reach. “Hey!” she shouted, loud enough that several of the soldiers turned their weapons in her direction. Then they saw what they were aiming at, and they dropped suddenly out of the way. They don’t want to shoot anyone.
“You’re not involved in this, child,” Blackburn called, his voice stern. “Stay back with the others.”
She ignored him, marching straight through an opening in the line of soldiers. One of them tracked her with their rifle—but didn’t shoot. She was only ten.
“I’m involved,” she said, raising her voice almost as loud. It broke and cracked with her fear—she couldn’t stay perfectly calm like some career soldier. “You can’t talk about me like I’m not even here! I’m the reason you’re so afraid of them! If that’s what it takes for you to leave them alone, you can…” She hesitated. “You can just shoot me instead!” She stepped right in front of Smolder, shoving her back and spreading her arms wide.
Warmth exploded out from behind her, warmth that no one besides Ocellus would see. But Marie felt it, and for a second she worried she might explode. It came from each of the Equestrians, some a little more than others. Appreciation, gratitude… and awe at her bravery. It filled Marie with confidence, filled her until she wasn’t afraid of the guns anymore.
“Kid, get behind me,” the dragon whispered. “You’re as soft as a pony.”
But she ignored her too—ignored everyone, just glared out at the soldiers and Blackburn at the front.
“You haven’t offered us compromise,” Ocellus said from beside her. She wasn’t human sized or shaped anymore, yet Marie hardly even noticed. She was the easiest person to sense in the whole room, and one of the calmest. “Maybe you’re not as good at negotiating as we changelings are. But where I come from, you have to offer something when you want something. Changelings wanted love from ponies, but we weren’t going to get any until we gave some in return. All you’ve done is take since we got here.”
Commander Blackburn hesitated for another moment, looking between the two of them. He might not really understand the creatures, but at least he shared their exhaustion. “Compromise,” he repeated. “I can see how this might look bad to you. Not your country, not your people. Hard to see the risk we’re taking. It would be better for all of us here if there is no bad news to give the negotiators.”
“Yeah,” Smolder said. “You wouldn’t want to give them bad news.”
Blackburn made a gesture with one hand. It was like he’d used his own magic—every soldier in the room lowered their weapons at that moment. “Compromise. Alright. You say that was a message. I saw the recording on the way here, that was what it looked like. So tell us what it said.”
Gallus was still glaring at him, though at least he wasn’t baring his claws and beak at the soldiers anymore. “Let us decide if we want to.”
Blackburn frowned deeply at them all. There was only one section without any soldiers in it, the corner with the cots where David and Helen were still hiding. “Go on then. I’ll wait.”
Marie followed them across the room. While the Equestrians ignored her human friends, she was surprised to see they made room for her. She didn’t need to be told the little spot in the circle was for her, she could feel it with her magical senses. A little bit of gravity, pulling her into place.
“Should we?” Ocellus asked, her voice the quietest whisper Marie had ever heard. She wasn’t sure she would’ve understood it at all, except that Ocellus’s thoughts were equally open to her. “Remember, they’re listening to everything we say.”
“Not feeling much like it,” Smolder said. “Threatening us doesn’t make me feel like talking.”
“What happens if we don’t?” Silverstream asked. “When it…”
“Don’t look at me,” Gallus muttered. “I didn’t even read it.”
Their eyes settled on Marie. “These are your people,” Ocellus said. “You’re… maybe the only one here who can understand both of us.”
“How does she know?” Gallus asked, a little annoyance creeping into his voice. “Marie was on the other side of the room.”
Ocellus just tapped her head with one hoof. “She’s part changeling. I told her.”
“Oh.”
That had bought her maybe twenty seconds to think about her answer. Not much—and the longer they gathered here, the more nervous the soldiers became. Whatever goodwill she earned with her daring would not last much longer.
Do I trust people to do the right thing?
It wasn’t even a question. What would she have done? “Tell them,” she said. “You already answered their questions, you already took their tests. They can use the message as a way to prove their peaceful intentions. Good people don’t need to keep hostages. We’re good.”
She watched the moment of decision pass through the Equestrians, their feelings far easier to understand than even her friends’ were.
“I don’t see how,” Gallus said.
“If Marie thinks so,” Silverstream countered. “We should listen to her. It won’t matter soon anyway.”
“Fine.” He lowered his head. “I… agree with Silverstream.”
“Alright,” Smolder said. “One last chance.”
They didn’t have far to go—Marie followed Smolder and Ocellus, staying near the front in case she had to put herself in front of the soldiers again.
“You’ll probably need a little background,” Ocellus said. “About the letter. See, we were all… students. And the headmare of the school was the one who sent us that letter. When we arrived here in England, we were doing our capstone project.”
“That’s too much,” Smolder said dismissively. “The point is, Twilight is one of the most powerful ponies in Equestria. She’s a princess—tons of magic, probably neurotic, you know the type.”
“Uh…” Blackburn muttered. Marie didn’t have to guess at how confused he’d become. At first the humans had felt suspicious, but Ocellus’s reveal had been so confusing to them that now they were completely confounded. “Let’s say I do. Continue.”
“The letter used something called Dragonfire,” Smolder went on. “It’s pretty much the best way to get letters anywhere, because dragons are awesome. And it said…”
“She’s coming to get us,” Ocellus finished. “Tomorrow morning.”
“Is that…” The commander glanced to one side, to one of the soldiers nearby. They exchanged words Marie couldn’t hear, then, “I don’t see how that’s possible. None of your people have tried to run the NATO blockade. The Americans have made it clear they aren’t going to let that happen. If I know the Yanks for anything, it’s that they’re eager to shoot.”
“I don’t think she’ll have to ‘run’ anything,” Ocellus said. “Twilight Sparkle is a princess. I’m sure she has a way of finding us here. I know she can do long-range teleports. It might be hard to find us normally, but we’re probably the strongest source of magic in your whole country. She couldn’t miss us.”
“We’re not telling you this to ask permission,” Gallus said, raising his voice over the Commander. “We’re telling you because we’re leaving. When she gets here. So either you hold us hostage and attack one of the four ruling princesses of Equestria, or… you let her take us when she gets here.”
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Who thinks this won't end in conflict?
I don't think how much the equestrians realize that "we're students" matter. They've basically told the military they've been keeping foreign minors at gunpoint. And that said nation cares enough about them for one of their rulers to come personally to rescue them. Through a long range teleport.
Standard movie logic would degenerate that into confusion. Rational behavior would turn that into a golden opportunity for direct diplomatic contact with a ruler - and, even if they don't know it yet, the one most likely to have any idea of what the heck happened.
Let's hope it's more of the later than the former, for it most likely will be something in between.
The problem is gallus and smolder. They have been confrontational at all times.
Also twilight is being dumb she should know about the defense field being placed around them and she decides to just go right through it?
Hopefully she brings pinkie with her because twilight sucks at negotiating with other species.
She is to slow to accept that someone may know more than her.
9514297
Well twilight screwed up she is going to prove that they she can teleport to an unknown place through all the military defenses.
No matter what she says after the humans will assume that all ponies can do it.
Celestia and luna should keep twilight miles away from negotiations.
No, it's pretty fair.
Commander Blackburn, this isn't a good way to help your argument.
Changeling telepathy, now that's convenient right this moment.
Hell yeah, Marie!
Just what I was hoping would happen when the chapter opened from the perspective of one of the human kids.
Telling them is the right plan because nobody wants anyone to be surprised when Twilight teleports directly in front of an armed soldier.
Oh, yeah, human princesses are all like that too. It's very understandable.
NATO blockade, that makes sense.
Yeah, those really are the two options. Well, and maybe talk over the situation when she gets here, but it really comes down to "shoot Twilight" or "don't shoot Twilight".
You have guns pointed at minors whom you're holding prisoner in an underground prison complex. Gallus is being entirely fair for calling you out on that particular bit of hypocrisy given that none of that is either civil nor peaceful.
They don't have to imagine nothing. That's pretty much what happened between Equestria and the changelings, and with an actual invasion to boot. And after the changelings decided they didn't want to do the whole conquering thing? They were pretty much welcomed.
9514345 9514317
Yeah, at this point I'm kind of expecting Blackburn to shout "For Cobra!" and reveal his plan to take over the British government, followed by the world. Because at this point, he's not just being ridiculous, he's actually violating a number of real laws and international agreements (unless we're in a world where none of those exist). He's out of a job and in prison if any of this comes to light.
9514289
I think this will solve all problems.
Twilight will come to get them, she'll take them and Equestria back to their own dimension and they'll live happily ever after. Marie could even teleport back and forth and enjoy time with all her friends.
Hoo boy. This could go very well or very poorly indeed. Blackburn does offer some somewhat sympathetic perspective from his end... but he's still the one with the guns. Hearing that someone's going to effortlessly bypass every level of security involved in a quick back and forth...
Well, Marie put it best. Good people don't need to keep hostages. So, is Blackburn a good person? We'll see soon enough.
The comment section of the story is a completely childish echo chamber. The humans do not know what these creatures are, have zero evidence that they are children, are confronted with Powers they cannot explain nor control, caught them invading their country, are dealing with an abducted and mutated citizen, and are being met with hostility and resistance. Yet everybody in the comments section excuses this because they're only here for the ponies, interesting conflict and narritive be damned.
9514463
Hey, I'm not saying they're wrong to be cautious, but Gallus has a bulls-eye point that saying "why can't we just be civil and peaceful?" while pointing guns at them is rather hypocritical and counter-productive.
9514463
They could ask.
They could ask.
They could ask. And being a control freak isn't an excuse.
Shipwreck survivors aren't invaders.
Not abducted. Mutated in a desperate life-saving procedure. (They don't even have to ask here, because they've been already informed.)
Yes, people reading a story with the human tag where Equestria gets ISOT-ed to Earth are here "only for the ponies." That makes sense.
Interesting conflict requires convincing the reader that antagonists have believable human-like motivations and aren't just acting as cardboard-cutout villains or bumbling ignoramuses.
Noooooo, no, no, no, nonononononono--don't do that, Blackburn, that's only going to inflame things further, plus your changeling and a half kinda sorta need positive interaction with others in order to survive, and you're only inventing the false need for such tactics anyway.
I mean, sure, why not, right? Gonna destroy everything else at that point, so might as well go on and keep crushing everybody's dreams. Might as well kick a few puppies too while you're at it.
No, you would not, I wouldn't want to be in the same room as Twilight if and when she ever gets that news. And that's all before we get to either Celestia or Luna, too.
Yeah, unfortunately, that sounds pretty accurate.
So many of us are griping about how the Brits have been handling the situation, but I shudder to think what would've happened if this was all taking place on American soil instead. 
I would advise option B. For obvious reasons, both political and tactical. No, there is no option C, so don't bother trying to invent one.
Haven't needed to drag out a flip-a-table gif for the first time ever in my life yet, so there's that, but it sure got real close to that for a second there...
Though he's obviously no diplomat, I think Blackburn's a smart enough a man to recognize the need to make the right call here. Here's hoping I'm not judging him wrong.
Oohhhhhhhhh gallus issued an ultimatum
They better hope Twilights not packing a Glimmer when she arrives, cos if That Canon goes off...
Thank you Ocellus! FINALLY someone said it.
9514526
Why should they trust that the answer to that question is truthful? If they had a way to verify it, they would already know.
9514297 Yeah, but these assclowns? They'll probably decide that it's an easy way to capture one of Equestria's rulers as a hostage to negotiate a better deal. Because they are retarded idiots.
Seriously, no diplomats. No questions, just experiments and people with guns.
9514429
Were it so easy...
Marie and Ocellus are the only sane people in the room. They might have defused the Brits.
But how do you think the Yanks will act after they learn that Equestrians can teleport through the blockade? I'm actually quite curious what the first talks between the Equestrians and Earth's representatives resulted in, might have been a promise that no one will cross the border uninvited...
9514636 Depends on what they ask. Besides, if they had a skilled interrogator involved preferably one who works with children, you could verify things by asking questions again in a different way, or asking different people individually. It is hard to keep up a consitent lie in the face of questioning, and the more complex the lie, the more difficult it is to maintain. Keeping it consistent between a group that are not in contact with each other is next to impossible. Besides, even lies would tell you something.
It's the fact that they havn't even tried that really torques my shorts. This is a situation created by the military's bungling incompetence thus far. As I've said before, as soon as this comes to light,everyone involved with this clusterbuck will be crucified in the media. I'm fairly certain that our British military is marginally more competent than these 80's kids movie antagonist rejects.
Your basically doing what they are, applying Napoleonic law, 'guilty until proven innocent' and the first explanation for anything is malice or enemy action.
I'd be ready to fire if I were the guards. Their story doesn't quite add up.
Their boat arrives, mythical creatures disembark and cause a scene before fleeing into the wilderness.
3 children from various walks of life go missing.
A day later the nation arrives causing massive devastation along the coastline.
Children are recovered but one is really a shapeshifter and impersonates a child, the deception fails.
The creatures are found hiding in a house along with 3 children, 1 of which has been mutated. (without consent to boot)
They then pretend to surrender until they're taken into a secure facility where they then receive an object from outside the facility by unknown means.
The object (which appears to be a letter) is destroyed and compliance stops and threats that they'll be leaving no matter the local security forces intent.
I see advance recon botching a covert landing, taking hostages, interrogating them, attempting to insert an agent by replacing an innocent child (possibly mutilating said child in the process) before being caught and using the situation to maneuver themselves into a secure compound. They receive orders and suddenly stop playing innocent and start telling them that they have reinforcements coming and they can't be stopped just before trying to cast doubt once again on them being a real threat to stall any lethal actions.
I wouldn't just be aiming my weapon, my finger would be just outside the trigger guard and I'd be prioritizing who to shoot after the dragon.
9514713
Why shoot them? You have them in containment. Either A: they're bluffing, and their rescue can't come, in which case keeping them alive is preferable on both a security and diplomatic level, as you get more intel from a living prisoner than a corpse, and living prisoners provide better negotiating chips than dead ones (not to mention that their potential innocence means causing a diplomatic incident if you shoot them and can't provide their return later), or B: They're not bluffing, and said unstoppable reinforcements are going to arrive and find dead bodies in your containment centre. Which is not going to endear a peaceful resolution to anything and put your entire facility, if not your entire nation at risk.
9514713
And this thought process would lead you to murdering a group of innocent teenagers. Congratulations?
Okay, maybe that's a bit harsh. Sometimes you have to act while having incomplete information and sometimes the information you have will be completely off. And if you're really unlucky, maybe the information will cause you to mistake a bunch of kids for a horrific existential threat to your country.
I don't think people in this story are anywhere near this sort of situation. There are too many gaps in their knowledge and they'd have to fill the gaps in a maximally paranoid way and outright ignore some of the things they already know to reach your conclusion.
And of course, there's the annoying fact that they haven't really tried filling the gaps through the obvious path of asking the aliens questions. Besides the initial conversation with the agents all we've seen was a long stretch of waiting and then the bullshit cargo cult science routine from the last chapter. Their fears are a combination of paranoia and willful ignorance.
9515041
It would lead me to be EXTREMELY nervous and on edge about the aggressive creature twice my size that breathes fire. I would be more likely to make a mistake and panic than fighting from a place of calmness
9515167
Hopefully, if you were the guards, you'd have received training on how to not panic in a tense situation.
By the way, Smolder wouldn't be twice your size:
I might have missed something in the story, but I feel like they don't realise that a different planet can have different rules and that people have different ways of dealing with the rules. In this case it's humans dealing with races they know nothing about that could have different social morals and stuff.
This will end either very good or very bad... but certainly nothing in-between.
Good chapter!
I enjoyed reading it.
(Also, interesting comment section here.)
9516257
It’s interesting how controversial people get when a chapter comes out.
"You spent the last several hours fucking us over and treating us, a small group of literal children, like criminals. Let us go, or you're responsible for starting World War III on steroids."
You know, it's kind of weird that in the 48 hours or so since Equestria showed up Americans were able to bring significant naval assets into the North Sea, take charge of the blockade and apparently get British armed forces to defer to them.
Perhaps the "everything is always about the USA" trope is inescapable.
9514706
An explanation why they're so incompetent just occurred to me. Consider, in chapter 25 we're told:
This seems to be a case of the usual trope about a secret government department for dealing with all sorts of weird and paranormal shit. But in settings with that sort of thing, weird and paranormal stuff tends to happen all the time and the department is full of experienced veterans who can't really be surprised by anything. For you, encountering aliens, witchcraft or horrible mutated monsters would be the most exciting day of your life. For agent Mulder, it would be Tuesday.
Those guys aren't like that at all. They seem to be absolutely shocked that something magical actually happened, and tend to react like clueless randos. We also kept being told, when Ocellus or Marie has the POV, that the humans are on edge, confused, worried or outright terrified even though a group of lost horsey teenagers shouldn't score very high on a scale of paranormal threats.
So maybe this is a setting where a special unit for dealing with "the unexplained" exists for some reason even though nothing unexplained really ever happened until Equestria showed up. As a result, the whole place is a bit of a joke and nobody with skill or ambition wants to work there. It gets staffed by people who aren't the sharpest tools in the shed and who then spend their days lazing about and playing cards, confident that they'll never actually have to do their jobs.
And then disaster strikes and frickin' magical aliens show up. Maybe some not fully informed government bigwig hears about the existence of the facility, mistakenly assumes that they must be the best men for the job and gives them orders to act. Now those poor clowns have to scramble and desperately pretend that they have any idea what they're doing.
It would explain so much. This is my new headcanon.
9524428 This makes so much sense. Though considering budget cuts and austerity, I'm stunned a facility like this could get funding.
Consider that it might be a case of "Your job is to check out all these strange reports", and every one so far has turned out to be classified military activity -- just like our own Project Bluebook.
They're not dumb, or idiots. They're used to tracking down reports, cross-checking with military/classified reports, finding time and again that all of the oddball stuff is just normal.
Now, for the first time, they have an oddball thing that is an oddball thing. For the first time, data checkers / desk analysts / CSI investigation people that basically verify eyewitness reports against classified reports have to deal with something really strange.
Not incompetent, just both completely out of their league, and technically within their job description.
But at some point, someone should be able to say "This is outside of my pay scale", and escalate up.
Being told "We're students, and our princess is coming" should be such a point.
It seems that the guards are mostly concerned about the security breach and not much else. Seriously it's like they are more focused on keeping things safe from outside interference than doing anything.
9514309
You do remember that Twilight doesn’t know they’ve been captured, right. She probably thinks they’re hiding out in some cave or something.
So the commander hears something about compromise and immediately demands to know what the letter said? It doesn't seem like he understands the meaning of the word.