Stolen Minds

by TcogArchitect

Mission Log 13: Meat, Potatoes, and Pie

Published November 15th, 2013

"Well, that was harrowing."

"What do you have to complain about?! You weren't the one who had your entire race depending on you!"

"No, but you don't know the reputations of the Admirals, either. Those two are scary, when they feel like it."

"Either way, we made it. What's our next step, Kuro?"

"First, we rest. All three of us need will need some downtime after that much stress for that long. After that, we'll probably go get you some new clothes. I'll bet you're both sick of wearing military duds, right?" Both of them nodded, and I leaned back against the wall of the elevator. When the verdict had been decided, we moved quickly, though I had gotten a good enough glance at Kulinen to see the furious look she had on at having lost. The elevator stopped, and we got off to see the rest of my squad, as well as Arnold and his squad, waiting for us.

"Hey-hey! You guys made it!" I grabbed Ron's hand as he swung it around into a handshake, then let go so he could give the ponies a hug. "So boss-man, does this mean we get to celebrate? Huh, huh?" He waggled his eyebrows at me, but I shook my head.

"Maybe tomorrow, Ron. Right now, I need some food, and I'm sure they could use the same."

"Awww, you always shoot me down on this stuff."

"Someone has to, and I am your CO." Ron started pouting, and I turned to Arnold, who had come up with the obvious intention of conversation.

"Looks like you managed not to screw this one up, Maldone. And since we are no longer needed here, my squad and I will be taking our leave. We have a few other duties to attend to while we are on Archimedes."

"No problem." Tillie came over, and gave me a goodbye hug before turning away again and walking off with the rest of her squad. I watched her leave for a few moments, then turned my attention back to Twilight and Rainbow. "Alright, before we go anywhere, I want to tell you both what to expect when we get outside. You remember all the reporters and cameras that were out front and in the courtroom?"

"Yeah."

"Of course."

"That was nothing." They both looked scared at that idea. "If the number of reporters out there before the hearing was any indication, then we'll be seeing a veritable sea of bodies outside when we leave. Many of them will support your presence, but there will probably be just as many who want you to disappear. Ignore both sides. Stay with me, and let the others deal with the crowd. They're not worth the effort." They nodded, visibly intimidated by the idea of so many people all trying to talk to them at once. "Once we're away from the main group, we can find somewhere to get lunch. There's a couple of different places I know of in Altipolis, so I'm sure we can find something you'll eat." Twilight nodded, and I could see Rainbow starting to daydream about whatever her favorite food is, apparent by the string of drool starting to dribble from her muzzle. "First, though, we need to get past the crowd." We made our way back to the entrance, and sure enough, I could see throngs of people outside, waiting in either excitement or anger for the ponies.

Well, here we go.

I had Carlton go first, and we filed out of the building. As soon as Twilight and Rainbow stepped out, the dull roar of the crowd shot up to a deafening thunder of shouts. Praise, hate, acceptance, and discrimination were all equally accounted for in the mob, and we were hard-pressed on all sides by people who wanted to get a better look, or take a picture, or hurl another threat. Carlton moved people aside as gently as possible, and the others kept them out of arm's reach as we passed. We got back to the Pangolins, and soon we were leaving the huge crowd behind. I decided on a restaurant that would suit the ponies as well as my squad, and instructed the marine driving to take us there. Along the way, I removed as much of my armor as I could, setting it in the seat next to me as Ron did the same. Twilight and Rainbow, sitting across from us, watched in confusion and mild discomfort. Finally, Twilight asked the question I had been waiting for.

"Do you guys normally change in the back of vehicles like this?" I chuckled.

"No, only when we don't have time to go back to the ship first. Technically, we aren't supposed to do it at all, but as long as we keep all of our stuff locked up tight, no one really cares." We finished shedding the heaviest parts of our armor, put them in the lockboxes under the seats, and sat back against the wall. A few minutes later, the Pangolin stopped, and we got out in front of a small diner. Good enough to have some veggie-only options for the ponies, but not so fancy that people had trouble pronouncing everything in the menu. We went in, and although the hostess at the front obviously wasn't expecting a group of our size or composition, she managed to do her job without staring dumbly at us.

"Hello. Are you all together?"

"Yep. The technicolor ones, too." She looked past me, and cocked her head to one side in surprise at seeing Twilight and Rainbow.

"Um... Okay." She grabbed menus for us, and lead us to one of the larger tables in the back. Once we were seated, she left and we all started looking through the various dishes they had. Our waitress, a cheetah splicer, came up after a moment, and we all gave her drink orders before going back to deciding what we were each going to have. After several minutes of discussion, everyone had chosen their food, and we started talking around. Unsurprisingly, Groove started it up.

"So, I've been wondering for a while now, what kind of music do you girls have, back home? Anything really good?" They both seemed a little sad, thinking about their home world, but getting them talking about anything would help them recover, even if only a little.

"Well, a lot of music on our planet was actually fueled by magic." This got my attention. "Basically, somepony, or several ponies, would feel so strongly about something that the ambient magic around them would activate, allowing them to sing about it. If other ponies nearby had something to add, the music would guide them into the song, letting them go along with it, too. Of course, some songs we sang happened on a regular basis." She turned to Rainbow with a giggle. "Hey, remember my first Winter Wrap-Up in Ponyville?" Rainbow rolled her eyes with a grin.

"Of course. You nearly killed yourself like, four times, before you finally figured out a way to be really helpful." The rest of us let them dwell in their memories for a moment before I elaborated.

"What about music that doesn't spawn from magic? Any notables there?" Groove gave me his best I-see-what-you-did-there grin, then turned his attention to the answer.

"Yes. In fact, there were a couple of ponies who lived in Ponyville that could play instruments. Lyra plays various lyres and harps, then there was Noteworthy, who did mostly composing. Oh, and Vinyl Scratch. Or DJ Pon-3, as she's known on stage. She had a cottage on the north side, as a place for her to relax every so often. I don't think she was with the group we found, though. In fact, there's a lot of ponies I know that we didn't find. I hope they're okay..." Both of them started getting depressed again at the thought, as the waitress came up with our drinks. She handed them out, and we placed our orders for our meals. After she walked off, I decided to get them talking again.

"So, you have electronic music?" Twilight nodded.

"Yeah. It's pretty new, though. Only about five or six years old, I think. And Vinyl was really good at it. I remember she played at my brother's wedding. I wound up singing a song with magic, anyway, but once that was done, she carried the party through the rest of the night. And my brother, well, he was happier on that night than anyone else I've seen, before or since. I really miss him. And Spike, and the Crusaders, and my parents..." She nearly lost it for a moment, and just as I was about to decide she needed a moment, she spoke up again. "Kuro."

"Yeah?"

"If you can find our planet. Find our friends, and our families... Will they still be the same?" She had her head down, blocking my view of her eyes. I sighed, and leaned back in my chair a bit.

"No. I'd be lying if I said I thought any of them would be unchanged after being held captive by the Emrini, but I can tell you that they'll still be who you remember. Your brother will still be your brother, your parents will still be your parents, etc, etc. All we have to do is get to them." She looked up again, and although I could see the tear marks on her fur, there was a new determination in her eyes. The determination of someone who has decided that they're going to make something happen, and woe to those who would try to stop them. The determination I had been trying to spark since I started helping them.

"Then I'm going to do everything I can to help." I grinned.

"Well, to start, you'll need to learn how to eat around humans. That means that you'll have to get comfortable around the smell of meat." She nodded once. No hesitation, no fear, no doubt. She's ready for training. She won't break, now. She might need an occasional word of encouragement, but she'll push back. I'll have to get that process started sooner than I thought, I guess. "Also, you might want to go clean your face. You've got a bunch of matted spots in your fur, now. Toyoko, you mind going with her? I don't want anyone getting any stupid ideas."

"Of course, sir." The two of them got up and left, giving Rainbow a perfect chance to glare at me.

"What's your game?" I gave her the most innocent look I could make.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"You've been a lot nicer to Twilight than you have to me. Why? Do I just piss you off? Or do you just not like my mane?" I grinned at the second part.

"Two reasons. One: you're a numbskull. You mean well, yes, and you're not stupid, not by a long shot. But you don't think things through enough. And if I have to verbally beat you into using your brain properly every time you make a mistake in order to get you to think before you act, then I will. Two: you haven't broken yet. I'm trying to make you break faster." She seemed genuinely confused by this, as did Ron. Dimitri just chuckled into his glass.

"What does that even mean? 'Make me break faster'? How is that going to help me?" I smiled over the rim of my glass as I answered.

"You saw what just happened with Twilight, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"That was her breaking. She couldn't take the emotional strain anymore, and for just a moment, her mind wanted to simply stop. Stop working, stop trying, stop doing. Just lay down, and let everything else steamroll over her. She basically threw out one last rope. She tried one last time, to make everything better, by asking me if everyone would be the same. I could have told her 'yes'. I could have said that everything and everyone would have come back, and you would all wake up one morning, and it would all be one, big, communal nightmare. But I didn't. Because that's not what she needed to hear. We could do that, if necessary. But we won't. Because that's not how life works. When you fall down, you have to learn how to pick yourself up again. She threw out one last rope, and I tied it down. I didn't pull it up, and I didn't let it fall again. And the fact that she has the ability to fix her own life herself, is what will really make her strong, now that she's aware of it. Once she gets started, she won't need my help anymore. She'll be able to go out, and save the rest of her friends and her family herself. No one will be able to stop her, once she goes through training. You haven't gone through that moment, yet. You're a defier. You can bounce back from almost anything, and deal with it in no time. It's what makes others look up to you. They see you go through something difficult, something they don't think they could do, and they instinctively know that you can be counted on. I'm sure you did something like that when you first met Twilight, right?" She looked shocked for a moment, but when she got her thoughts together again she nodded.

"Yeah. It was when we were getting ready for the Summer Sun Celebration. I was supposed to get the sky clear, but she didn't believe me when I said that I could do it whenever, and it would be done in time. I did it in ten seconds, and she pretty much never questioned me about that sort of thing again."

"Exactly. You said that the Element of Loyalty was the one you carry, right?" She nodded again. "That's because you can take so much more pressure than most can. Anyone can depend on you, and they do. But you're so accustomed to putting on a brave face for everyone else, that it's become permanent. You can't easily put it away, and let your emotions out. If you plan on properly recovering, though, you'll have to. The stress of the situation you're in right now isn't going to go away. You need to let it out sooner or later, and you'll be better off once you do. Even the strongest need an occasional moment where they can be weak." She seemed to actually absorb some of what I was saying, and we ended the conversation as Twilight and Toyoko returned. "Feel better now, Twilight?"

"Yes, much. Really hungry, too."

"Well, I'm pretty sure that's our food coming over now." Twilight turned around, and as I predicted, the waitress was indeed carrying our orders. Once the various dishes were passed out, everyone shut up for a few moments to get started eating. Obviously, Twilight and Rainbow had salads, but the rest of us had various meats in our dishes. I personally had a steak, with some cut potatoes and rice. Once we had all gotten a good way in, Twilight spoke up again.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask; do you have any idea how long rehabilitation will take for our friends? It's already been a while." I shook my head as I swallowed.

"Unfortunately, no. Most of them shouldn't take too long, but I don't have enough medical training to really give an accurate estimate. And even the doctors won't know how long it'll take Fluttershy, not until her condition starts to improve. Sorry." She nodded, and the table went quiet again. Various bits of conversation went back and forth every so often over the rest of the meal, until we all finished and it was time to leave. We each paid for our own part of the check, with me covering our guests, since they didn't have any money yet. We thanked the waitress, and headed back out into the early-summer weather. We walked down to the Pangolins, and I decided to make good on my offer of new clothes. I had the driver take us to the nearest mall, and we all piled out once more. We headed in, and I let Ron, Dimitri, and Carlton wander off while Toyoko, Groove, and I led Twilight and Rainbow to a clothing store.

"Hey, Toyoko. Since the rest of us are pretty much clueless about this sort of thing, would you mind helping them out? I doubt we'd be any use anyway." She laughed once, and nodded as Groove came up.

"Hey, I could help! I'm great at this sort of thing." Both Twilight and Rainbow blushed visibly through their fur. I just grabbed him gently by the face and started pushing him away toward the auto sport store.

"Thank you, Toyoko. Come find me when you're done." Once I managed to get Groove looking at new radio and speaker systems, I went over to the seats to see if anything caught my eye. An hour later, and I had orders for two new seats, a set of pedals, and yet another subwoofer. I looked over to the door when I heard the chime, and got Groove's attention after seeing that it was Toyoko. We walked out, and I had to agree with Groove's reflexive whistle. They looked good.

Twilight had on a short skirt, a black tank top, and a white button-down t-shirt that had the first four buttons undone. Rainbow had picked out a pair of black sport shorts with a matching sport bra, and a short-sleeved denim jacket that she left open. I didn't expect them to have anything for hooves, so I wasn't surprised to see them barefoot. Well, bare-hoofed, I guess. Either way, I approved. And so did Groove, by the way he walked around them to look at them from every angle. As soon as he came back to the front, he put his hand to his chin, like he was thinking hard about something. He suddenly nodded, and gave them his biggest grin with a simultaneous thumbs-up.

"That is sufficiently sexy for you to wear." He proclaimed.

Unsurprisingly, Rainbow decked him.

I immediately burst into laughter, while Toyoko just nodded like a teacher who is pleased with their student's progress. Which, now that I think about it, is probably what had just happened. I got myself under control, and clapped a couple times to get everyone's attention.

"Alright, now that we're done screwing around, let's go get the others and get back to the ship. Leeroy is probably wondering where we are, by now." As I expected, we found them at the game store, getting ready to leave. Each of them had their own game, so it took a good five minutes for all of them to get finished checking out. Also as I expected, Dimitri got a puzzle game, Carlton got a platformer, and Ron got an RTS. Incredibly predictable, the lot of them. After Ron got himself back under control from finding out how Groove got a fat lip, we all headed back out to the Pangolins, though not before I grabbed a couple of pretzels for the drivers. Obviously, they appreciated getting some reward for sitting out in the car for so long. We got back to the elevator without incident, and the ride up was equally uneventful, although Twilight did suddenly understand why you don't wear loose clothing - like, for example, a skirt - in zero-g. And since we were docked, the whole ship was like that. My squad and I still had our mag-boots on, fortunately, so Twilight and Rainbow just held onto me and Dimitri, respectively, to keep from floating away entirely. We headed back up to the communal area first, to check on the others. We didn't expect, however, to hear music coming down the hallway, accompanied by a menagerie of personnel walking and floating through the hall in various states of happiness. Once we reached the communal room itself, though, the reason for this was readily apparent. The entire area was being used for a party, which appeared to be in full swing, if the slightly-drunken sounds of people singing to the music and telling each other jokes was anything to go by. As I looked in wonder upon the zero-gravity celebration, I noticed a pink blur moving back and forth throughout the crowd of people and ponies floating around. The blur suddenly started getting closer, and although my instinct was to put it face-first into the floor because of how quickly it approached, I decided that probably wasn't an appropriate reaction, considering the circumstances. Sure enough, the pink blur revealed itself to be Pinkie Pie, though I only knew it was her because she was the only pony there with that much pink on her body. Her mane and tail had both turned into curly, poofy messes, and her eyes didn't have the sadness that had been present the last time I saw her.

"Hi guys! I've been waiting for you to get back! After all, what's a party without all of your best friends there, too, right?" She floated up a little, and managed to swing herself forward to hug both Twilight and Rainbow, regardless of the fact that they were both still somewhat attached to Dimitri and myself. "Come on! We're already really far in, you need to party extra-hard to make up!" She pulled the two off of us, and disappeared into the sea of people. I had the others go put their stuff away, then followed the pink pony into the crowd. I managed not to smash into anyone, and ended up on the far side of the room, where Applejack and Rarity were holding themselves against the floor and wall to keep from floating away, with Twilight and Rainbow having joined the small group of other ponies they were talking to. As I came up, Applejack greeted me.

"Hey there! So, what do ya think of the party?"

"I think I've never seen someone attempt a party without gravity, before. I take it this is Pinkie's work?" Rainbow nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh, yeah. No one can throw a party like Pinkie Pie can. That mare is a master of party-making."

"I don't know if I'd say I'm a master, Dashie." Everyone snapped their attention back to Pinkie as she appeared above us with a plate of cupcakes. "After all, there's always some way to make it better. Cupcake?" All of them instantly reached for one, and she turned the tray to me. I sighed and pulled my helmet off.

"Well, since you went to the effort, I might as well find out what you ponies can do with your cooking." I grabbed the last one on the tray, and took a small bite. I immediately had to chew it up and get it down my throat, as my body suddenly started going into convulsions of laughter. It was like I had just taken a bite of solid euphoria, but I had no idea what she put in there to make it do that. I would have been able to tell if it was drugged, and it most certainly wasn't. I doubled over, and had to put one hand against the wall for support. "Woo! Heh heh hee hee. That, uh... That is one hell of a cupcake you've got, there, you know that? Wow. I don't think I've ever eaten anything that good before. Damn."

"Really? And here I thought they weren't as good as usual. *Gasp!* Unless you've never had a cupcake before! Have you?" I nodded.

"Yeah, I have. None of them were anywhere near that level, though. Jeez. I'm gonna have to be careful around your baking, or I might get addicted." We all laughed at that. "Anyway, I'm going to go check on Fluttershy. Any of you want to come?" They all nodded, although Pinkie's mood visibly declined at the mention of her incapacitated friend. We floated around the rest of the partyers, and exited toward the infirmary. It was noticeably less occupied than before, but there was still a good number of ponies and humans lying around. They had straps laid over them now, to keep them from floating away, but they were loose enough that if a patient needed to go somewhere urgently, they could. We entered Fluttershy's room, and found it to be somewhat less grim than before. The monitors were now showing strong readings, indicating her improving condition. I left for a moment to find the doctor, and came across him administering some medication to one of the less-damaged patients.

"Hey, doc. You available?"

"Just a moment. There, that should do it. As long as the pain doesn't get any worse tomorrow, you'll be free to go, private."

"Thanks, doc."

"Of course. Now," he turned to me. "What did you need?"

"Just any status updates there may be on Fluttershy. The pony in the ICU?" He nodded.

"Yes, she's been in rather dire straits since she got here, but it looks like the zero-g is doing her good. I take it her friends are in there now?"

"Yep."

"Then let's go join them. I'll give you all the full rundown." I followed him back, and we found the ponies sitting and floating around her, looking like they were all hoping she would suddenly wake up. The doctor pulled the analysis chart off the footboard, and flipped through it for a moment. He returned to the front page, and cleared his throat so that everyone heard what he said. "Alright, I've got good news, and bad news. Good news is, she's making very good progress. In most cases where someone goes into a coma due to sexual abuse, it takes at least two months for them to regain consciousness. At the rate she's going, your friend will be awake within a week. Also, her inner organs don't seem to have any sort of damage, so she won't need any form of extraneous treatment on that front. The bad news is, her wings appear to have atrophied." All of their expressions fell at that, and I knew it was a big deal. I may not have wings, but if someone said my arms had atrophied, I certainly wouldn't be too thrilled about it. "It may still be possible to save them, but there is a very real possibility that they'll never work properly again. With some research into your wing structure, it'll be maybe a year before we have viable prosthetics, though, so although it might not be much, she could be able to fly again, even if the wings have gotten bad enough they need to be amputated." Rainbow tried her best to stomp up to him, but she forgot that there wasn't any gravity, and wound up floating toward the ceiling. I pulled her back down, and held her shoulder so she didn't float off again.

"Don't even talk about amputation, cause it's not gonna happen. She's gonna wake up, and she's gonna get better. There is no way I'm letting one of my best friends get her wings cut off. Not after everything else we've been through, and not because of what those bastard Emrini did to her." She had tears coming out of her eyes, now, and although I could tell the doctor wanted to tell her it would be alright, he did his job and shrugged.

"I just state facts. There is a very real possibility that you're right. It's entirely possible that she'll make a full recovery. But it's equally possible that she won't. And you'll need to be ready for that eventuality, if it comes to pass." Anything that Rainbow had to say in response was cut off by a weak cough coming from the bed. Everyone's attention was instantaneously drawn to the pale yellow pegasus as she coughed a couple more times, and her eyes flickered open. Rainbow was next to her before I could blink.

"Fluttershy? How you doing? You need anything?" Fluttershy turned her head just a little bit, looking up at the other pegasus for several seconds before speaking.

"Who... are you?"

Author's Note:

Told you that 'Dark' tag was there for a reason.

Comments

[Maxman19]

Amnesia? That's bad

[Twoandahalfinches]

I dislike how the ponies are acting. Why are they so demanding? It just doesn't seem like them. I hope we get to see some action soon, not just Rainbow getting angry every chapter.

[TcogArchitect]

3493655

Well, if you had been held captive, and used as both a puppet soldier and a sex toy for two years, wouldn't you be a little pissed off?

[Mecha G]

I assume the amnesia is trauma-induced?

[TcogArchitect]

3494663

Yup

[shadowgod3211]

*nukes the pony white house*

[Mecha G]

What i want to know is, when will AJ suit up?

[TcogArchitect]

3496407

Not too much longer.