Off Duty

by awf

Chapter 40

It was utterly unfair! The worst news found her in the best place of all - the steam room. Celestia had been having a wonderful, relaxing time, when Rawsthorne came to knock on the glass. One look at his expression and the mare knew something was very wrong. Despite the heat, she felt a chill run down her spine. The pony hurriedly stepped out of the small room and turned it off. Maybe, if whatever her human was about to say wasn't quite as dreadful as it appeared, she could get back inside later.

"What's wrong?" she asked as casually as she could. That was the source of her fear. It was nearly ten in the evening. Nothing should be wrong.

Rawsthorne looked past her with an ashen expression. "You need to leave, right now. As soon as possible. Back home, if you can, but out of the house."

The alicorn wasn't quite aware of her rump hitting the floor as her hind legs gave way. All she could focus on was her heart, which had nearly stopped. "What?! Why?!" She was already shaking her head in denial, even before the human could explain. "Not a chance! I'm not leaving you, and especially not like this! Whatever you think has happened, we will solve it together!"

She saw that the human was gripping his phone in a white-knuckled hand. He held it up as proof. "Mrs. Adams just called me. Bad news," was all he could say. The man was still looking at the wall behind her, as if unwilling - or unable - to meet her eyes.

Celestia tilted his face toward her with a feather. His expression was really starting to unsettle her. "W-what was it?" She tried to imagine. What news could Miriam bring them that was this urgent? Even if the case suddenly turned completely around, surely the woman wouldn't find out herself until morning. Sure, she would rush right over to find a way to fix it, but she certainly wouldn't call in the middle of the night. Nor would it need Celestia to leave Rawsthorne's house.

The human wasn't quite answering, the mare noticed. "Rawsthorne, what was it about? Do we need to go see her? Is it about the case?" Had the mare not been looking very carefully at her human lover, she would not have seen the slight shake of his head. Whatever it was, Rawsthorne seemed to be stuck in some horrible place. The mare laid her wing around his shoulders and carefully nudged him toward the door. "Come on. Let's go to the living room. I'll get us a cup of tea and we'll talk. I'm sure we can solve this, Rawsthorne."

He didn't resist as she led him away, but he stopped in the entrance hall. "N-no, there's no time. You have to pack and go."

The mare was a little exasperated by his vague insistence. She heaved a tired sigh. "Why, Greg? You keep saying that, but you've given me no reason."

The man took a grip on himself and turned to face her. His hand came to brush her cheek, more for his own comfort than hers. "Federal agents," he said at last. "Mrs. Adams only heard about it because she's a friend of the division counsel. He called to ask about you personally."

Her stomach sank. She didn't know too much about the nebulous and sometimes mysterious branch of the human special police, but she had read about some of their jurisdiction and activities as she researched past court cases. Them taking a special interest in her was a sign that they had recognized her. The human government was aware that the leader of Equestria was in their land. Unauthorized. The punishment would be dire! More than that - the consequences for her people, her efforts to bring them justice, even the very court case she had put so much time into - it would all fall apart!

She needed more information. "What about them? Where are they? What do they know?!" If there was a touch of panic in her voice, Celestia couldn't help it. She could keep her head in a crisis, but couldn't help feeling fear. She sat on the tiles and stared anxiously at the human as he explained all that he knew.

"Mrs. Adams didn't say much. You are not to come into work tomorrow, because they will be there, asking about you. I don't think we can keep it a secret. After that, they'll probably come here. They are to capture you, but I don't know what for, or where they'll take you."

"How in the world did they find me?!" Even as it came out, Celestia realized how stupid the question was. She answered her own question at the same time as Rawsthorne:

"Facebook."

"Facebook, yeah."

The mare sighed and her ears drooped in misery. "Is that thing ever going to stop haunting me?!"

Her human put his arms around her neck in sympathy. "I'm sorry, Celestia. I really should have mentioned it to you when I gave you the iPad. It's supposed to be basic online safety."

She gave him a kiss. It was sweet of Rawsthorne to take some of the blame, but the bad judgement was hers entirely. Maybe, if she had trusted the human from the start, he would have cautioned her. "It's my fault. I decided to go into your office without a disguise. That is where the first picture came from. Wendy." She couldn't be angry with the woman, though.

"And there was that birthday at Christine's. You couldn't have kept hiding from all the neighbors forever."

Celestia shook her head miserably. "Probably not, but it's done. Maybes and could-have-beens won't help me right now. What do we do?"

Her mind was already racing. She couldn't stay in Rawsthorne's house, that was certain. Rawsthorne was right. She understood why he had been so distraught. Perhaps one of her pony friends could take her in? What could the agents really know? She considered how much contact she'd had with all her friends. Glitter Dust was probably out of the question, and she had chatted quite a lot with the others, too. Could the humans see her chats with her friends?

The thought made her blush. Could they see her... activities with Heavy Hoof?! It was a scary and very embarrassing notion!

She had an idea! "Silent Brook!"

Rawsthorne looked up with a touch of confusion before he remembered the stallion. "Why him?"

"He doesn't have a computer. I can't go to any of the others. If the agents could see Facebook, they could maybe see my Skype, but Silent Brook doesn't use Skype. We only ever met in person!"

Rawsthorne smiled a little and bopped her nose with a finger. "Smart girl, but how do we get in touch?"

There was only one possible way. "Through Glitter Dust. She sees him sometimes in the store. Maybe she knows where he lives." The alicorn would need to vanish, for a few days. Long enough to... The pony sighed. "We need to call the number Mr. Plain gave me, so he can send someone to pick me up and take me home. It'll be a day or two, he said. Oh, and can you call Miriam back? I need to speak with her before... I go."

A course of action - a beginning of a plan - made them both feel a bit better. It allowed the mare and the human both to push through their fear and uncertainty.

"Come on. Living room, and I'll bring us a cup of tea. We have to talk. We need a plan."

The man just nodded, hugged her again and kissed her muzzle. "We'll figure it out."

She just nodded, her mind already ablaze with planning and scheming. If the humans wanted a battle of wits, Celestia could certainly oblige. 'Sol Invictus' was not just a fancy nickname. However close it might have come in the past, Equestria had not yet been conquered. The mare always put her hopes in her friends and they had never let her down. This time her faith was in people like Rawsthorne and Miriam Adams and, yes, even Mr. Plain. Unfortunately, she would all but disappear from the lives of her ponies on Earth, but they would undoubtedly understand. It also meant she couldn't do very much to offer them a return home, not until she spoke with Mr. Plain about possible arrangements. The mare put a pot of water on the stove and absentmindedly jabbed the button for heat as she thought.

It was a stressful situation and they were both uneasy, but that just made it doubly important to share some comfort and closeness. Celestia had made Rawsthorne lie back in the couch and placed herself right in his lap while they sipped the 'Earl Gray'. Every now and then, the mare nuzzled the human or licked his bare arm. There was something showing on the TV, but it was quiet and neither paid the movie much attention.

"We need to make sure you are clear of all blame, Gregory. I will not have you in trouble because of myself!"

There was another option - her human could simply go with her, but that thought was a selfish one, especially since Rawsthorne had not yet decided what to do. The alicorn would not force his hoof!

"Well, I can always claim I never knew who you were. It was true for most of the time. Just a rather unique and pricey pony," he said slowly. They both chuckled at it.

"That much is true. No one in the office knows, either. Miriam Adams does, but she is obviously on our side. The ponies, but they will not say anything. It's not quite as bad as I first feared, Greg."

She felt the human nod. "Then what? I claim I was tricked? They'll just go after Mr. Plain."

The auctioneer was smart. There were things in the contracts which lessened his liability, and the alicorn wasn't particularly worried about that particular man. He had undoubtedly considered the possibility and covered himself, somehow. "I wouldn't worry too much about him. I mentioned to him that it might happen, but he said he would take steps. A forged paper trail, I believe."

Rawsthorne nodded again. "So that's me and everyone at the office. Undoubtedly they'll also ask Christine, since you were at her party when those photos were taken, but none of them know everything. I will call her and say it's a simple mixup of your papers and that she should answer truthfully."

It sounded quite reasonable. With luck, the kind woman and her family would not get into too much trouble. That just left one thing. "That leaves us, Greg. What do we do?"

He slid his hand down her mane and patted her barrel gently. "What do you propose?"

She wanted to say it.

She absolutely didn't want to say it.

It could so easily be construed as some kind of coercion and Celestia was wary of that particular trap for their relationship. She decided to try a gentler hoof.

"In time, I do hope you will visit. The job will be waiting for you, if you decide. Whenever that might be...?" The mare raised the inflection at the end, strongly hinting that he could decide sooner, rather than later. "Of course, if you become a wanted criminal, I will extend asylum. It is the least I could do, really."

"Yeah, the least!" They both laughed at it, but Celestia hoped it wouldn't actually come to that. It would look bad for her human adviser to be a wanted criminal on Earth. "So, I'm guessing you should leave tonight?"

It wasn't a pleasant thought, but the mare had to face up to it. "Yes. Could you call Maggie? I don't really want to use Skype anymore. In fact, I'll leave the iPad behind, just in case."

The fingers on her barrel scratched, making her sigh with pleasure. Such a small touch, yet so satisfying. "Okay. Give me a few minutes," Rawsthorne said. Celestia realized he also wanted to enjoy the moment for a while longer. His reluctance, while making her feel warm inside, compounded her own worry and sadness.

"Please don't let it end. Us. Not yet." She didn't say the next part, but it was there in her mind. She would outlive Rawsthorne, of course. There was no avoiding it, but at least she wanted a few more decades with the human. It shouldn't be over tonight. The alicorn tried not to think about such things, but it was a night for saying uncertain goodbyes and the knowledge crept in unbidden. "I hope Silent Brook can take me in for a while. Otherwise, I will just hide out in the woods."

The human chuckled a little. "Nibbling on sprouts and bark?"

"Yes!" Lighthearted, that was the key. Dwelling on the bad would just make them both sad.

After a few more minutes of stroking her fur and playing with her mane, Rawsthorne sighed and fished his phone out of a pocket.

"Wait." There was one more thing. "A kiss, please. Before I go."

He obliged and made it last a while. The mare put all her longing and sorrow and fear into it as she clung to the warm human. By the time it was done, a solitary tear slipped from her eye and dropped on Rawsthorne's shirt.

"I will go get my things."

There wasn't much, really. The hoofguards and the peytral with the emblem, but she would also take the toothbrush and the shampoo Rawsthorne had bought her. She liked the smell, now that she had gotten used to its slight chemical undertones. It would take about five minutes to pack in a small bag, just enough time for Rawsthorne to arrange matters with Maggie. Then it would be a car ride, a brief last kiss and then...

Hopefully Celestia would see him again before she left, but she might not. Best to act as if it was their farewell. Leaving things unspoken, unfinished would tear her up inside over the years.

The pony slipped out of the embrace, stood up and fixed the human with a glare. "Promise you will at least visit once this thing with the agents is over. Promise me, Gregory!"

The human did so. "I promise, Celestia."

"And think about my offer!"

"I will."

She forced a slight, impossibly hopeful smile, then left the room. 'Fled' might have been a better word. Looking at the human any longer would just end with tears. It didn't help that she heard Rawsthorne heave a sad, miserable sigh when he thought she was out of the room. Still he misjudged her hearing. A moment later he was already tapping his phone and Celestia walked up the stairs with her head held low.

And there it was. Not even an hour later and the alicorn was hugging Rawsthorne, hopefully not for the last time. They shared a kiss, then it was time to go.

"You do remember Mr. Plain's number, right?" the human asked for the fourth time.

"Yes! I told you, my memory is good. I'll call him from Maggie's phone. You make sure you are safe as well, okay?"

Rawsthorne brushed her mane. "I'll tell them you escaped tonight. The timing is a little suspicious, but I think I'll be fine."

There was a moment of silence, then the mare pulled away. Her friend was already waiting on the sidewalk. They had no more time left. "Let me know as soon as you decide, please."

"I promise."

Celestia tried not to beg Rawsthorne to come to Equestria. She didn't even plead, but it was a close thing. Now that their little affair had begun, she wasn't sure she could give the human up. Not yet! Once things calmed down a bit he would visit. Rawsthorne had promised that much, at least, and they could stay in touch through Mr. Plain. The auctioneer would just have to become a courier as well. She already owed him a lot of precious metals and gems. A few more wouldn't matter. The pony made herself smile as she dropped down to the ground. In her Supple Branch guise, she had had to stand on her hind legs to reach the human in the car.

"Love you."

The human thought about it, but only for a second. "You too," he replied. Then he got back into his car and drove away. Once the car was moving, Celestia heard the clop of Glitter Dust's hooves on the road behind her.

"Why couldn't you have stayed as Supple Branch, again? If they were looking for an alicorn, you could have pretended you weren't one. You said Rawsthorne has all the right papers, no?"

The Princess shook her head sadly. "They probably know I can change. Miriam Adams said I shouldn't risk it. Get home while I still can."

"Probably a good idea," the pegasus commented. "Don't want to have the Princess captured for real." She laid a gentle, comforting wing over the alicorn. "Come on. We can stay in the Den for tonight. Maggie will take us to Silent Brook's tomorrow morning," Glitter said.

The alicorn frowned slightly in confusion. "What about the phone? I need to call Mr. Plain to come and smuggle me back."

The pegasus patted a small bag around her neck. "I have it here. Maggie loaned it to me."

"Is that a good idea?"

Glitter didn't understand at first, but when she saw Celestia smiling a little, she bumped her with a wing joint. "Joker. I'm not gonna play games on it, so you can wipe that smirk off your face!"

The mood lightened and the two began to walk. She would have been fine alone, but Glitter Dust insisted that she would stay with the Princess, just in case. In case of what, Celestia couldn't fathom. Hopefully, the pegasus was just being paranoid and nopony would find them. Maybe she had some reason to be, though. The FBI were quite powerful, Celestia knew. They could very likely see her chats on Skype - which would have given her 'Supple Branch' guise away and they could undoubtedly see whom Rawsthorne had called with his phone but they probably couldn't listen in just like that.

That was why it was important he didn't call Mr. Plain directly. Miriam Adams was okay - she was employing his law firm for a case, so that call made sense, and Maggie - they had spent a few minutes thinking about it until Celestia came up with the solution. After she had 'escaped' - inconveniently just a day before the authorities managed to track her down - Rawsthorne would have called another human he knew with a pony to ask if maybe Celestia was hiding at their place, or if Glitter Dust knew anything about the escape. He would also have driven to the town to see if he could find his missing pony. After stopping at Maggie's, Rawsthorne would go and drive around the pony meeting place, then around his office - all the places Celestia knew. His search would have proven fruitless, of course, and the mare would be safely away with Silent Brook's owner, who had never even met Rawsthorne.

It was the safest way. Once Mr. Plain collected her, Glitter Dust would tell her other friends what had happened and why she had had to disappear so quickly. Not the greatest plan ever, Celestia knew, but the best one she and Rawsthorne could come up with on such a short notice. It hinged on Silent Brook being willing to house her for a day or so, until her 'rescue' came, but the alicorn didn't worry too much about that. Even if the stallion refused to help the Princess - which was in itself unthinkable - she could hide out in the forest like she had told Rawsthorne.

Then all that was left to do would be to wait at Mr. Plain's auction until he forged some papers - an expired contract - and smuggled her back home. Simplicity itself. The mares arrived in the Den. Douglas Wilder had gone back to his college, so the room was empty. There was the couch - Glitter Dust said it unfolded into a makeshift bed and Celestia trusted her word. There were blankets and with two of them, the ponies wouldn't be too cold. A sleepover, even if it wasn't under the best of circumstances.

Her goodbye with Rawsthorne had been so sudden. It hadn't really had time to sink in. Only a couple of hours ago the mare had been looking forward to getting out of her relaxing steam, joining her human on the couch and letting him work his finger magic on her back and her wings and - she had quietly hoped - his hands would again stray to the more 'naughty' places, which would result in a vigorous and thoroughly enjoyable... 'romping'. The night would have concluded with the two lying exhausted in Rawsthorne's bed, sweaty, but pleased. The alicorn sighed sadly as she imagined the events which wouldn't now come to pass.

"Don't worry, give him a few days without you and he'll be begging to come to Equestria," Glitter Dust said, guessing her thoughts.

The mare's words reminded the Princess about her other unresolved questions. One in particular. "I wish I could take all the ponies back with me. Those who wished to go. I never even asked Rock Lichen and Lake Frond."

The pegasus was silent for a moment. Then she began fiddling with the couch as she spoke: "Those two might actually have said yes, you know?"

It was a surprise. If they did, they would have been the first ponies to do so. "Oh? How come? The rest of you seem to like it here."

Glitter Dust stared at the alicorn for a moment, then pushed the couch backrest with a hoof until it fell down. Together with the seat, it formed a small but serviceable bed. "The rest of us have good owners. Yeah, even Heavy Hoof. His previous human was a sicko and wanted to make a quick buck off him, but Peter and Deborah are kind to him." Celestia opened her mouth to point out the whole 'sex' thing, but Glitter forestalled her with a raised hoof. "Yeah, I know they make him watch when they fuck, but it's only because he secretly likes it. Also, he gets with the Mistress often enough. It's not what you'd call a 'conventional' family, but there's love, trust me."

The alicorn shook her head in dismay. "He's making Belle Hop sad."

Glitter Dust barked a laugh. "So? That filly needs to grow a backbone, hoof that colt across his face and tell him to love her. It's as simple as that, really, but she never really says it, so Heavy Hoof probably doesn't even know."

It was a different story than Lake Frond had told her, so Celestia didn't know what to believe. She wished she could speak with Belle Hop and Heavy Hoof herself. Maybe. "You think you could get them to visit Silent Brook? I want to sort this out before I leave."

The pegasus shrugged. "I'll try."

Seeing that their bed was set and the door was locked, Celestia dropped her saddlebags, released her spell and became herself again. She sat on the couch and watched Glitter rummage in a drawer underneath for blankets. "You never answered me about Lake Frond and Rock Lichen."

The pegasus pulled out a few colorful pieces of fabric. They looked nice and thick and warm. They stank a little of tobacco and weed, but the room had been empty for the past week so it wasn't unbearable. Pulling the blankets up on the couch, Glitter sat down beside Celestia and leaned on her. At any other time, such closeness would have lifted the Princess' heart. "They didn't tell you, right? I don't know if I should," she hesitated.

"What if I order you?"

That made the pegasus laugh. "Yeah, sure. Since you put it that way, lemme bow and scrape a little first."

The alicorn nudged the pegasus with a wing. "Please?"

Asking politely, that did the trick. Glitter drew a breath, folded her ears down and explained: "They want foals and their owners won't let them. Lake Frond knows she's getting older. There's still time, but the way it looks the Williamses will never allow them to have children."

Celestia snorted a little. A stallion and a mare together, how could the humans stop it? "So? Why do they not just wait for a heat and do it? Even mares have a hard time telling exactly when they will go into heat, the humans wouldn't know until it was too late!"

The pegasus wouldn't meet her gaze. "Yeah, Lake Frond said that to her owners. Threatened them, you might say, but they just said if she did that, they'd take her to a vet and..."

Her blood ran cold and Celestia was afraid of what came next, but she couldn't stop listening.

"... have her abort," Glitter Dust finished in a broken voice. "You can see why they are careful. I can't imagine what that'd do to a mare..."

Celestia couldn't either. She made a decision. "I'm taking them with me. Mr. Plain will just have to get papers for three ponies, instead of one. Get the word to them." She did a quick mental calculation. "It's Thursday. I'll hide at Silent Brook's until Tuesday and have Mr. Plain come pick me up on Wednesday. You'll all get together for the pony meetup - Lake Frond and Rock Lichen always come, right? The owners are shut in their little room, so they can just walk out. Then you'll bring them to Silent Brook's house, where Mr. Plain or one of his men will be waiting to take us away."

The pegasus watched the princess incredulously. "Really?! You'd risk that for them?"

Celestia snorted. "Of course! I've risked more than that for my ponies, you know that! I can see the rest of you like your owners, but the Williamses sound horrible. I am going to save Lake Frond and Rock Lichen from them, and that is final. If Silent Brook's owner complains - Gregory gave me some money."

A course of action, a plan. It made it easier to bear what she had heard. Maybe enough so that she could sleep. The alicorn lay down and patted the bed. "I miss my human, so you'll have to do for cuddles. Come on."

It made Glitter Dust smile a little as she joined her monarch and pulled the blanket over them with a wing. "Good night, Princess."

"Sweet dreams."

Comments

[PonyDragon]

"What's wrong?" she asked as casually as she could. That was the source of her fear. It was nearly ten in the evening. Nothing should be wrong.
Rawsthorne looked past her with an ashen expression. "You need to leave, right now. As soon as possible. Back home, if you can, but out of the house."

I have a bad feeling about this.
Like, really bad...

The human chuckled a little. "Nibbling on sprouts and bark?"
"Yes!" Lighthearted, that was the key. Dwelling on the bad would just make them both sad.

Yay for optimism!

[Kadigan]

they probably couldn't listen in just like that

... I'm sorry to say, but no law enforcement agency moves on a whim. If they're moving - and so overtly, I might add - then they already have a solid case. And if they already have a solid case, it's likely they already have either a judge court order, or that piece of paper that allows them to listen in while 'awaiting' a court order (on the idea that if it proves accurate, they'll get a retroactive 'yea' on it).

Also, would it have been the FBI? You'd think that this would be more a political security matter, so - maybe incorrectly - I would rather expect the CIA to be moving in on this.