Chapter 28
Ocellus watched Commander Blackburn, her whole body tense with energy. If ever the humans were going to spring and attack, this was probably their best chance. Their soldiers were fast, skilled, and well-armed. Was this dungeon about to turn into another WW2? She followed his emotions as best she could, though he kept them so disciplined she saw only flashes. Anger, calculation, fear, skepticism.
He sighed deeply, his shoulders slouching. “When is this going to happen?”
“Dawn,” Smolder said, grinning. “If I know Twilight, she’ll be on time.”
“Right.” Blackburn shifted uneasily. “Do I have your word that you will all remain here until that time? That there will be no more violence against any of my people, or this facility?”
“There wasn’t any to begin with,” Gallus said. “We just got mail.”
“Yes, quite.” The commander cleared his throat. “Your word, even so.” He strode forward, past the protection of his soldiers, and extended a hand towards Ocellus. She could see the courage it took, and the sincerity in his face. “You wanted compromise, so be it. Accept my terms.”
She knew the gesture—ponies had something similar, even if they didn’t have the delicate gripping fingers on the end of their hooves. Ocellus held out a hoof to him. “We agree. We’ll stay here until dawn. We won’t hurt anyone.”
“Good enough.” He touched her hoof through the thick plastic of his suit, though only for a moment. “I daresay I have some phone calls to make. I’ll see you all before dawn.”
And he left. The other soldiers filed out the way they’d come, shutting the door securely behind them.
“I can’t believe that worked,” Silverstream exclaimed. “We actually did it! We’re going home!” Then she seemed to remember something, and she turned sharply to one side. “What about Marie?”
Marie blushed, stepping slightly to the side so that Ocellus was between them. “What about me?”
The silence that followed was almost as tense as when Blackburn’s soldiers first arrived. The human filly didn’t understand, but even Sandbar seemed to see what she was thinking. But Ocellus was the one who had changed her, and so answering seemed like her responsibility.
“You’ve got magic now,” she began, her voice low. “If your own people are going to be terrified of you… keep you in some box like this… maybe you’d be happier going to Equestria with us for a bit. There are students at the friendship school as young as you. Students who aren’t going to call you a monster for looking weird.”
“And you could learn to fly!” Silverstream said. “I’ve only ever met one creature who had wings and couldn’t fly. Who would teach you if you stayed?”
Marie’s expression became a mask of tears and confusion. She glanced back to her friends, who were watching cautiously on one side of the room.
Not just hiding. Apparently they’d been listening. Helen hadn’t dared defy the humans with their guns, but now she marched out just as angrily, walking right up to Marie and wrapping one arm through hers. “Wherever she goes, I go. I don’t care who’s upset about it. Me mum’ll be bloody furious, mark if she don’t. But ein’t ‘ers already just as livid? See if she ein’t when she wakes up.”
Ocellus had to bite back a laugh at the confusion on her friends’ faces. The humans here all had accents, but Helen’s was thick enough that Gallus looked like he’d just had water dumped on his face for all the understanding he had.
Fortunately the other human was a little easier to understand. He took Marie’s other hand. Strangely, it was Ocellus he was watching most. Ocellus felt herself blushing, her ears flattening to her head. She stopped trying to read his thoughts. “I think we should go, Marie. Not just because you’re… terrifying to everyone. But because they are too. You know how we make everyone in the world not afraid? We go to their world with my camera, we go to their school, and we put it all on YouTube. Look how cute they are. People would be furious if they learned that soldiers had locked them down here and aimed guns at them.”
“Yona thinks tiny, two-legged creature should be careful with word ‘cute.’ Not wise to throw rock when own yurt have one pole.”
Helen grinned at her. “I like you. Why don’t you say more, eh?”
Yona shrugged. “Yona believes each thing said should be well chosen. Not like ponies who talk and talk and talk until everyone turns blue.”
“I, ummm…” Marie whimpered, eyes down on the floor. “I would like to see what Equestria is like. Not to stay—my mum is here, my other friends. I wanna come back. But maybe a… little trip? Long enough for the science people to stop being afraid of me?”
They didn’t have long to wait. Ocellus dozed with her friends, knowing that an hour or so would be more than enough for her to be alert. By the time human soldiers started coming back, she and Marie were the only ones who didn’t look grumpy at being woken.
To her surprise, Commander Blackburn and the others weren’t wearing their suits anymore. That made the soldiers look even more adorable and less threatening, since at least those puffy suits made them closer to a dangerous size. Without them, their thin limbs had only uniforms with strange overlapping splotches of different colors. Except for Blackburn himself, who looked like he was dressed up for a parade. There were little patches and medals on his uniform, and a funny little cap.
They all had funny little caps, but his was the cutest of the bunch.
“It’s just before dawn,” he said, as the lights came back from the dull red up to stark, eye searing white. “If you told us the truth, this is the moment.”
Ocellus sat up. Marie was already up, playing with the human machine she had been taking turns with earlier. “You’re not wearing those… suits,” she said, curious.
“Oh, yes.” Blackburn’s expression brightened a little. “That’s a bit of good news. As it happens, Biology has determined there’s no evidence of any airborne contagions that could spread between us. The doctors have… well, they have their own words to say on the subject. Apparently diseases have a hard time crossing species. Even if one of you were very sick, it’s unlikely we would be vulnerable. The same is true in the other direction. Now, as to fluid transfer…” He trailed off. “Well, we can be civilized here. No one’s going to get bitten, are they?”
“No,” Ocellus said, glancing at Marie. It was obvious what they were talking about. She shook herself out, rose to her hooves. “What happened was… the only way to save her life. I didn’t plan on biting her. But the conversion process has a way of regenerating the body, even when someone is badly hurt. I had to do something.”
“Yes, well.” He cleared his throat. “I’ve brought a negotiator with more authority than myself. I hope you don’t think it would be a terribly severe compromise to have a word with this princess before you go with her.”
Ocellus shrugged. “Fine with me. I don’t think she’s expecting for there to be any—”
She felt it then, the sudden buildup of magical energy only a few feet away. Someone was looking for them, somepony with enough magic to make the distance irrelevant. “You should back up. She’s about to get here. And… well, you’re small. Ponies aren’t.”
Commander Blackburn didn’t argue. He didn’t have nearly as many soldiers as before, six in all. Good thing too, since the sudden flash of light left behind enough ponies to nearly fill the small space.
It was exactly what Ocellus had expected—the Elements of Harmony appeared, facing out in a circle.
“Fuckin’ hell,” one of the soldiers muttered, shielding his eyes. “They really can teleport.”
Ocellus’s friends were waking now. Whatever exhaustion they might feel was unimportant.
“Oh.” Twilight was the first to land on her hooves, eyes taking in the room at a glance. “So much for covert.”
Ocellus chuckled awkwardly, pawing at the floor. “It was true when we wrote it. We, uh… got caught since then.”
“Caught is more confrontational than we would hope to be,” Blackburn said, striding forward towards the group of ponies. He stopped some distance away, as intimidated by their size as humans were of Ocellus and her group.
Yet they seemed less frightening to him than most of her group. There’s some distance between ponies and other creatures for humans. I wonder why that is.
“We discovered something that we feared might be a threat to our home,” Blackburn said. “And we took appropriate precautions. No doubt you would do the same if the situation were reversed, considering… what happened on the coast.”
Twilight’s expression was difficult to read. The others were less so, hurrying over to check on them and watching the three humans locked in here with curiosity. They started asking questions in quiet whispers, suggesting for everyone to gather in the center of the room.
“That’s one interpretation,” Twilight said. She sat on her haunches, squarely between Commander Blackburn and the rest of the group. “We’ve come to take our ponies home. We won’t do anything else.”
“That might’ve been simpler, if there weren’t certain, err… complications. There’s a member of parliament waiting to come and speak with you. She’s on the committee for… well, it scarcely matters to you. Would you wait and have a word with her?”
“That’s all you want to do?” Rainbow asked, eyebrow raised. “Just talk?”
“Just talk,” Blackburn repeated. “What happens after that rather depends on what is said.”
Twilight hesitated just a second longer. Then she grinned, extending a hoof with a smile. “I do love making new friends!”
Marie watched from the back corner of the room as the important people talked. Maybe she should’ve listened in—this was probably the closest she would ever be to a decision this big. Yet even using her newly-understood powers to seem like she was human, she couldn’t shake the impression that if she so much as looked at them, they’d call her a monster again.
She wasn’t the only one sitting on the sidelines—Ocellus and the others went from terrifying everyone in the room to sitting quietly as the pony named Twilight Sparkle talked to a military commander and a single MP. Her mother probably could’ve said exactly who it was and whose administration she belonged to—but to Marie, she was just “important.”
Ocellus settled down beside her a few seconds later, pulling over a chair. She didn’t have to look to the side to see that it had to be her—she wouldn’t have fit on the couch if she wasn’t human. There was no way for Ocellus to go anywhere near her without her noticing. And that’s probably true in reverse, too? She knows everything I’m doing. Everything I’m thinking… for the rest of my life.
“Probably not,” Ocellus answered in her mind. “There’s a range. The further you get from another changeling, the more diffuse it gets. First words are too complicated, and you can only send memories. Then those are too much, and you can only send emotions. Then you’re out of reach completely.”
Marie looked up. Ocellus had chosen to imitate her not as a human, but in the halfway-state. Her eyes were solid green, and a crooked horn emerged from her forehead. She’d even made holes for the wings in her copied clothes. “Your home in Equestria… is it far enough away for memories? Or emotions?”
“Neither,” Ocellus answered. The weight of loneliness came crashing down with it, enough that Marie almost cried too. “Changelings don’t live in Equestria, they live in the Badlands. My family isn’t there.”
“Oh.” She looked over her shoulder at the rest of the group. “What about the others?”
Ocellus shook her head. “Sandbar’s family will be there. Griffonstone is close, it might be there. The rest no for sure.”
Marie winced. “Do you think the worlds will… come apart again?” That was her biggest fear about going with them, even though she hadn’t voiced it aloud. What if they went to Equestria and they couldn’t come back again? She did want to see her mum. David and Helen had their families too, was it right of her to take the chance they wouldn’t get to go home, just so she could go to Hogwarts?
“Alright, everypony!” Twilight called, loud enough that Marie and Ocellus both jerked. “We’re going home.”
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Are the students dumb?
They are in a politic situation that was just calming down and now they are considering kidnapping minors.
Also the boys idea of video tapes would work if not for the fact that the ponies just proved their ability to do impossible things.
All his tapes will be unreliable.
Do not have the kids go!!!!!!!
I am suprised that Ocellus has not thought of the fact that ponies lack the visible weapons of other species.
Yaks have horns, hypogriffs and griffins have talons, changelings have fangs and dragons are just a whole mass of weapons shoved together.
Yona, you precious cinnamon bun. Why can’t more people be like you?
So far, things are civilised. Is Blackburn dressed just for the meeting or for offer of transfer?
9528242
Any information is better than no information. And even if the government won't trust it, if it sways public opinion it'll hold back on invasions.
9528424
Isn't this how most kids in adventure stories react?
Nicely localized proverb.
"Mostly 'blithering,' 'paranoid,' 'imbecile,' and 'zoonosis.'"
This is going to be a very interesting custody battle. Glad to see cooler heads prevail.
9528424
So similar to what the protagonists did with Norbert in the first Harry Potter book.
They're kids. The same ones who decided to skip school on the day of a surprise EEA inspection. Why does their immaturity surprise you?
The kids wanting to go on a grand adventure to a magical wonderland is natural. The Equestrians thinking there's nothing unreasonable about letting the children come, without consulting their parents, is perfectly natural by Equestrian standards.
Human adults (military and civil servants at that!) agreeing to send off 3 children, unaccompanied, to an unknown foreign land without even consulting their parents would be insane. I really wonder how the author will justify it because, let's be frank, it's inevitable that they'll go to Equestria.
I honestly feel like this story should be rated T, tbh.
But regarding the story, I’m very interested on seeing what happens with Marie.
Okey, so here's my question, what about the two agents we had earlier with the group? I could easily see them go with the group of kids including Marie, that would be the absolute minimum, as for the other two youngsters, even if they want to go, should not allowed to, yes, thats separating Marie from her human friends, but being sane, and not poke a tanker that's on fire still, unless it's explodes.
Mane six, Young six, and Marie with the 2 agents, is a compromise that would be acceptable.
She wouldn't happen to be orange with a purple mane and who worships the very ground Rainbow Dash walks on, is she?
Finally. Took you long enough to finally decide to get around to that.
I have no problem with Marie and company tagging along with the Young Six for a spell. From the first moment that was implied to be a possibility in the story several chapters back, I figured that bridge was getting crossed eventually. But yes, they should at least make sure the government types are okay with it first, or at the very least are given a heads up in advance, but I figure that'll get all covered next chapter. Given how close to disaster things got earlier just because not all parties were in the know about everything, I think everybody has caught on that being upfront on all the details is the better policy right now.
My one concern after that, then, is Marie's mother. Because if she gets a say in the matter, she's going to say no. Doesn't matter how it's explained to her, my impression is that she will say no, no matter what. So as mean as it seems to say, I almost wonder if it might be wiser to...not let her have a say in the matter, at least for now. I know how that sounds and all, but...
...the fact of the matter is that it seems clear to me that something's up with Marie's mother. I think part of the story will eventually be addressing that something, but until then, I worry Marie's mother isn't going to be reasonable about this and ultimately that isn't going to help anybody.
And that's a problem because I think the Young Six have the right idea--it undoubtedly would help to let Marie visit Equestria for awhile, both for diplomatic reasons, to show to the rest of the humans that the Equestrians are trustworthy, and as a means to help her cope with recent transformations. So much so, it seems foolish not to pursue that option while it still is an option.
So when are they going to tell Twilight they were kidnapped, imprisoned, and threatened with death for disobeying? Because I feel like that's something they should mention during negotiations.
That offhand gaslighting, practically without even thinking about it. Describing fantasy as fact and expecting everyone to just go along with it.
More interest in Ocellus from David, I'm here for it.
There's human trio visiting the friendship schools sounds like maybe a good idea, at long as the British government doesn't interpret it badly.
Dress uniforms to greet Twilight, that's a good sign.
Good.
Ooo, they brought an MP. Hopefully a useful one.
Suddenly a much better situation than a bunch of kids facing off against a bunch of soldiers. Good developments this chapter.
I can't believe how sad I feel about Scootaloo from this one sentence.
The main problem I foresee about the YouTube plan is recharging the phone's battery...
*Meanwhile, somewhere else*
: "Why are my wings suddenly twitching?"
That could actually work.
Yeah, just look at Rainbow.
Wait is that a Scootaloo disability joke
Good deal.
Yyeeeaaah...
9529238
No way!
Scootaloo would NEVER worship the ground that Rainbow Dash walks on!
That's because Rainbow Dash never walks anywhere!
Worshipping the air Rainbow Dash flies in, however, is another thing entirely....
9519169
Well I mean it is written by an American writer I assume
But according to the map the Badlands are practically next-door to the desert where Appaloosa is. So I’m kind of confused how big of a chunk was actually teleported