A Blue Blaze against the Shadows

by Lyrin

Chapter 5 - Secrets

"SAPPHIRE!" Spitfire screamed out as she shot past Twilight and Soarin like a speeding bullet, faint evidence of a colored trail following close behind her as she dove for the mare.
The manticore launched itself at Sapphire as she just stood there as if waiting to be kill, but time seemed to slow due to what happened within the split second between the mares life and death.

Out of Spitfires view, Sapphires Iris's grew to their full size and changed color from her Crimson Red to a Luminescent Green and fixated on the Manticores gaping mouth. She pushed herself forward and spread her forelegs out, causing her hooves to intercept the Manticores bite via the teeth.

Spitfire stopped her dive a few meters away from Sapphire and gawked at the sight of her holding the manticore back with her hooves. "What..." was all she could say as she stared at the sight before her.

"Elevate User privileges to Administrative level. User to elevate, Sapphire. Authorization by Shifty." Sapphire said in a quiet but firm voice that didn't belong to her. It was still the voice of a mare, but the tone it carried was one that held Spitfire used when she spoke to her trainees at the academy or giving orders to her fellow Wonderbolts.

"Privileges elevated and DNA profile recorded." Steel announced into her ear with the same monotone voice as before. "Awaiting Command..."

"Override all automatic control and switch to manual. Resume AI program." Sapphire ordered.

"Sapphire? What are you doing? I told you to run!" Steel yelled into her ear as the program resumed.

"Your warning came a little too late Blaze."

"Wait... Blaze... You're not Sapphire, are you?"

'Sapphire' grinned as she extended the armours fingers and gripped the Manticores teeth as it tried harder to close its jaw over the pony between it. "Nope. It would be-“ She grunted as the manticore tried closing its mouth on her but she was able to keep it open. “Wise for you to take note of my eye color Blaze. That will be my way of identification."

"Wait... Lyrin?! I thought you died during the fall."

The manticore had waited long enough for its meal and extended both its arms, claws ready to attack. "We'll talk about this later Blaze. However, don't mention any of this to Sapphire, she doesn’t need to know about any of this... not yet at least. Just act like this was all you’re doing."

She grunted as the fingers opened for a split second, the tips of her hooves rotated to reposition the metal digits and took hold of the Manticore again while using two of the AMG’s to block the attack path of both claws.

She then twisted her back half and cast a spell on her rear hooves, rooting them to the ground as two rune circles formed under them.

Spitfire, Soarin and Twilights jaw dropped as not only did they see a crimson aura cover Sapphires gold pinions or the brightening glow between the two rotating disks which had increased their speed, but they saw the small blue Pegasus flip the manticore three times her size on its back like it was nothing, stopping its attack and causing it to let out a yelp with a sickening crack echoing through the forest.

The other manticores that once saw the pony as their prey, instead saw it as a predator and forced them to turn tail and run away. They were smart creatures to realise what has become of their pack member within a mere few seconds. The one that laid still on the ground breathed heavily and its eyes stared widely at Sapphire.

"I will let you go. The pain will only last for a short time, but if you pose a threat against me or my kind again, I will ensure you feel unending agony." Her voice gave off venom and her eyes had the glint of a pure killer behind them, portraying the message to the beast. She released the Manticores mouth, retracted her fingers and moved away from it, showing she was being true to her word.

The manticore in front of her stared at her for a moment before hesitantly getting up on all four limbs, turn and limp away with her in the corner of its vision.

"I will talk to you later Blaze. Until then... " She began to feel drowsy as her adrenalin levels dropped. "Look... after her..." She breathed out before her eyes rolled back under her eyelids and falling on her side in a cloud of dust. The disks on her forelegs spun down to their idle rotation after kicking up some dusts, creating an impression in the dirt.

Soarin was the only one out of the three that snapped out of it and flew down to ensure Sapphire was alright. Spitfire and Twilights however had many thoughts rush through their minds. Spitfire was now sure Sapphire was Neon, while Twilight was just baffled by what happened, but something seemed familiar to her.

“Sapphire!” Soarin flew down and landed next to her body. He placed his front hooves against her and tried to shake her awake. “Sapphire! Wake up!”

“Calm down Soarin. She is fine. Everything is okay.” Steel said to try and reassure him.

“Okay? How is this okay?” He shouted. “We almost got attacked by manticores, she forgot she can’t fly, we almost left her behind to get eaten-“

“And see that she pulled through regardless what happened.” Steel butted in. “I said I was here to aid her. Part of that aid is to protect her, which is exactly what I just did.”

Steels words made Soarin pause and what he had seen replayed through his mind. “Wait… protect? You mean you’re the one who did all that?”

“You could say that, Yes.” Steel lied, but with reason. “I tapped into Sapphires passive magic and used it to protect her in a way I saw fit.”

“Passive magic? A Pegasi’s magic much lower compared to a Unicorn. It wouldn’t be impossible for her to have enough to even allow you to do what you just did… I think.” Soarin looked down at the ground, thinking if he knew what he was talking about or not. He didn’t but he did know one thing. He looked back to Steel. “Did the Doctor do a magic reading with her?”

“He did. Said he was impressed.” Steel shifted Sapphires forelegs around and was able to lift up her top half, her head hung down low since nothing was holding it up.

“What was the number?” He asked with wide eyes as he just saw Sapphires forelegs being manipulated as if she were a puppet.

“Not an accurate reading, but the lowest reading was seventeen.” Steel was able to reposition and start up the AMG’s, dust began to fly outwards from the spot directly under each unit as they were able to manipulate the air around them.

“Suh suhsuh suh Seventeen?!” he stuttered with a dumbfounded look on his face, not realizing that sapphires body was beginning to float in the air by the four glowing pillars surrounding her. “How is that possible?!” He looked down to find an imprint of Sapphires body before looking up to her floating limply.

“I don’t know… Magic?” Steel answered simply, followed by the noise of what sounded like two snorts after they said the word ‘magic’.

“Uh…” Soarin straightened his face and raised an eyebrow at Steel. “What was that?”

“What was what?” Steel asked with a tone of confusion.

“That snorting.” He squinted his eyes.

“A bad comedy attempt. Now can you snap those two out of their trance? There isn’t much time before I exhaust her magic and can no longer keep her flying, and it would be nice to at least have a place to stay for the night, mainly for Sapphire." Steel tucked Sapphires forelegs up against herself and locked them in place with a hiss.

Soarin, after watching the mare being somewhat puppeted, looked up to the sky and noticed it had gotten darker. "You take her straight to the edge of town, we'll catch up with you both shortly."

Steel turned them towards the town and began to float forward as the Heads of the AMGs angled forward. "Wait." Soarin called out, causing Steel to stop. "What are you? Gender wise?"

"Specifically, I don't have a gender.... anymore. But previously, Sapphire called me a mare due to my voice, so that would probably be more fitting to know." Steel began to float forward again before the AMGs tilted to a ninety-degree angle and sent both her and Sapphire into the night sky. Despite nothing moving on them apart from those new additions, Soarin was amazed he could feel a wind blowing against him as she flew away.

He looked up at the two mares who were still staring at where Sapphire once was and couldn't help but roll his eyes at the two. "How these two can zone out just like that and keep afloat in the air, I will never know." He shook his head for a moment before looking around. "Now, how am I going to bring them back..."

A shift in his body reminded him that he was still wearing his saddlebags, which would most likely contain something that would do the trick. He reaches his head around and flipped the bag open before poking his head in it for a moment and pulling out a whistle . "Thith'll do."

He launched himself up and approached the mares. Looking at the two, he rolled his eyes one more time before taking a deep breath. "Sorry you two." he thought before blowing the whistle. His method had an immediate effect as they both locked up, fell a few meters, regained themselves and and flapped their way back up. Everything was silent for a moment before both gave out a gasp and looked at each other.

"Did you see that?”

"Did you see that?”

“How did she do that?”

“How did she do that?”

“I don’t know, but it…”

“I don’t know, but it…”

Both went silent for a moment as they stared at each other for a number of seconds. Twilight was the one to break it. “Did what we just see really happen? It can be possible-“

Spitfire interrupted Twilight. “For a Pegasus to do that. That was-“

It was Twilights turn. “Magic that she used, but how is-“

“Girls…” Soarin tried to get their attention.

“There is no way. That had to be-“ Spitfire was too

“Something that can be used by a full grown unicorn. And to flip-”

“Something three times larger than her-“

“There can only be one thing to explain this.” Spitfire finished with a sure look on her face and a huge smile.

“Hey!” Soarin shouted, but was still ignored.

“She’s Neon Guardian!” Spitfire only smiled more and more.

Many bits of knowledge of what she had recently been reading, what she heard at the castle, and what she just saw all began to connect to each other. Her eyes went wide as she stared at the Captain in front of her. “You’re right. She is Neon Guardian. The Magic, the aura, the unique feathers: She has all of those, so it can only mean that is her.

Both mares looked as though they made a big discovery, which didn’t last long as they turned to where Sapphire was supposed to be and noticed she was gone.

“Where did she go?!”

“Where did she go?!”

“Can I talk now?!” Soarin literally shouted into their ears, causing them to flip down from the outburst. Both almost stopped flapping from the shout and turned to Soarin who was eyeing them both.

Thankfully, neither said anything, which Soarin took as an invitation to speak. “Thank you. Now. As amazing as it sounds that what Sapphire had matches what Neon had and could do, I must break it to you that she is NOT, Neon Guardian.”

Spitfires look changed from a silent stare to a glare she flew closer to Soarin and hit him in the chest with a hoof. “Don’t bucking say that wasn’t her. You saw with your own eyes what she did!”

Soarin winced at the hit, but he took on his calm expression. “I did, but while you two were in your own little world, I went down to help Sapphire after she had fallen down.”

“Wait, she fell down? Is she alright?” Twilight gasped.

“She’s fine, just passed out. Steel has taken her to town though and will be waiting for us by the edge of it.” He then looked at Spitfire with narrowed eyes. “SHE was the one who did all of that, Not Sapphire. And in case you’re going to ask how I know this: She told me.”

Spitfire just looked at him, eyes constantly searching his face for anything to show he was lying, but had no luck. He then narrowed his eyes a little more. “So drop the Neon Guardian thing, alright? She doesn’t need all of this pinned against her, not especially after only just waking up a few hours ago with no idea where she is or what is around her.”

He turned his back to them both, more to Spitfire than Twilight. “I’m going to meet up with them. Whether you would like to join me, it’s up to you.” He turned his head slightly and looked at Spitfire from the corner of his eye. “She needs friends, she needs help, not a false identity, or pressure.”

Twilight knew Soarin was right and couldn’t help but picture herself in Sapphires horseshoes. It’d be tough to readjust to life with all this pressure of a fake identity being pressed against her. Then her thoughts went back to when she first entered Ponyville, she had been in Sapphires position before, but just starting the journey a different way and with a different train of thought.

Spitfire however, took his words in a different manner. He was giving her a decision, which was his intention. It was either go with him and do the right thing by becoming her friend and seeing her as who she is, or leave while holding onto her speculation.

Twilight nodded after her thoughts. “I’ll come with you, I think she could use a helping hoof from somepony who knows what she is going through.”

Soarin turned his head a little more and looked at Twilight with a raised corner of his lips for her to see. He gave Spitfire a final glance before turning to fly away with Twilight back to the town, leaving Spitfire behind to think about her decision.

Spitfire sighed as she watched the two fly away before flying up a little higher to one of the stray clouds and made herself comfortable on it. “What ever happened to the pie-loving lug I used to fly with?” she asked herself before laying her head down against her forehooves.

---

As Twilight and Soarin flew over the edge of the Everfree, Twilight couldn’t help but glance back at the forest which was bathes in the moonlight of the night. “Is she going to be alright?”

“She’ll be fine, she just needs to make a decision.” Soarin responded calmly.

“About what?” she asked as she slowed down a little.

Soarin noticed and slowed down to her speed. “She’s taking the whole ‘Neon’ thing a lot differently than you are. She doesn’t want to let go of the idea that Neon could very much be alive to this day. I’m sure you’ve noticed her change of behaviour?”

Twilight nodded. “I did. Why is she like that? She seemed in the right place the other night at the castle.”

“It’s because of Sapphire. It’s because of that splitting image both her and Neon have, the fact that Neon is seen as a Hero of our race, and that the mare is Spittys personal Idol that is making her step out of her usual line.” He began to look around for Sapphire and Steel after sighing.

“You can’t really blame her though. Seeing what Sapphire and Steel did back there, It just makes it easier to jump to the conclusion like she did.” Twilight tried.

“I suppose.” Soarin was able to pick out a glint of moonlight shining from the ground below and flew down towards it with Twilight close in tow.

As they got close, they could tell Sapphire was still unconscious by the way her head hung down and how her back legs look like they were dragged forward a little bit. The cores of the AMGs they saw earlier were now firmly attached to the armor which him and Twilight assumed was where they sat when not being used..

"How is she?" Twilight asked as she and Soarin landed either side of the two.

"She's fine, Just exhausted. With a bit of rest, she should be alright.” Steel reassured them both.

Twilight then perked up. “Speaking of which, you two need a place to stay, don’t you?”

Soarin nodded. “I’d offer my place but I don’t think Steel can go flying any more.”

“Pretty much spot on there, soarin. Couldn’t hold her up any longer and touched down here.” Then Steel sighed. “Although if I didn’t lose the bottom half of this armor, I would probably be able to walk her the rest of the way.”

“Bottom half?” Soarin asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Mmhm. I used to be a full set until the crash.”

“Speaking of crash.” Twilight spoke up. “What happened to get you both into that position?”

If Steel had eyes, they’d be wide and her pupils small, quickly looking around while listening to her hasting heartbeat, but she didn’t have any of those. “I’m… not too sure myself. Give me a little while and I might…. remember.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at Steel for a moment before nodding. “Now, since you two need a place to stay, I should have some room at the Library that can act as a temporary home for you both if you'd like." Twilight offered with a smile.

"If we won't be a burden for you." Steel said before both her and sapphire were lifted up by Twilights magic.

“You won’t. Hope you don’t mind being levitated.” Twilight looked at the two with a smile. She was eager to help them fit into society and make friends with them, just like her friends did when she first came to town.

“I think we can manage.” Steel had no need to go against Twilights levitation and just let Sapphires body go limp.

Twilight turned to Soarin, still keeping her smile. “Would you like to join us, or do you have somewhere to be?”

“Thanks for the offer Twilight, but I should be getting back to the Academy for a debrief with the other instructors.” He stretched out his wings and power flapped them a few times lifting him into the air. “You make sure to listen to Twilight, alright Steel?” He then gave them a final smile before flying off into the crystal clear night.

---

After arriving at the library, Twilight carefully placed Sapphire and Steel on the couch in the main room but couldn’t help but laugh a little at the unlady like snoring coming from the pegasus which almost rivaled Spikes who was in the same room before yawning and going to bed early. She had spent the last three days and nights calming the populace of Canterlot which turned out to be much more frustrating than what her and the other princesses expected it to be, she deserved a rest after living through that.

It was late into the night when the pegasus awoke, got up and silently made her way to the front door to sit on the porch, looking up at the stars with her luminescent green eyes.

"Lyrin?" Steel asked cautiously.

The pegasus took in a deep breath and held it for a moment before releasing it. "I've missed this place.... so much..." She whispered to herself.

"So I guess this is your home world?" Steel questioned which caused the mare to laugh softly.

"Indeed. And I can see so much has changed..." she trailed off for a moment before sighing and looking down at the ground in front of her. "Gone for a thousand years, and here I am again... I don't know whether to feel happy, depressed, scared, nervous..."

"Why can't you decide?"

"Because..." She began to think about her answer as she stared at the ground. She then looked up and looked at all the stars. She missed how beautiful the nights here were. All her previous worlds didn't have a night that could even match what she currently saw.

"Because of many reasons. I will tell you those reasons in due time." She decided her answer. "Until then, I believe I owe you some answers."

"You don't owe me anything, Lyrin." Steel assured her, but she wasn't going to have any of it.

"I do actually. You said you thought I died, right?" She asked with a small smirk.

"I did." Steel answered.

"Well I have a few things to say to that line. One: You've changed. By the sounds of it, you're no longer acting like just a computer program that can learn and adapt.” She cast her gaze up onto a tall mountain in the distance with a castle sitting on the tip.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Machines and computers don’t ‘think’, they just ‘do'. You on the other hoof, have been ‘thinking’. Another thing is you lied-” She was then interrupted by Steel.

“You told me to act like I did it.” Steel retorted, which only made ‘Lyrin’ smile even more.

“I know I did, but I didn’t expect you to actually do it. Programs can’t lie, you did.” She then looked back at the door behind her. “You’re now more like a pony than what you started off with. Which is what I intended to happen when I started working on you back on Earth.”

“You intended this to happen?” Steel puppeted Lyrins foreleg, causing her to point to herself, but she knew what Steel meant with the gesture.

“I did.” She nodded and looked back at the sky. She had always loved Lunas nights, and being away for all these years only just made the experience worth the wait. “But the rest of that conversation will be for another time. Now the second thing. Did I die during that fall?”

She paused as her mind ventured back to what happened. “I did… but at the same time… I didn’t.” She then laid down on the ground and ejected the AMGs without proper activation and rolled onto her back, stretching out her wings before letting them rest against the ground, tucking her forelegs up. “Although I sort of wish I didn’t.”

“I guess it’s because of what happened to him?” Lyrin nodded slightly and sighed as the memories of her previous self went through her mind. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything to save him.”

“It’s fine Blaze. I think being in love with a pony is one thing, but turning into one is a completely different platter of the serve all together. I don’t mind it so much because I started off as one, but Chris…” She trailed off for a moment as more memories and emotions went through her, bringing a few tears to her eyes.

Steel decided they had spoken on the topic long enough and put the conversation back on track. “Anyway, you said you did die, but at the same time, you didn’t… What do you mean by that?”

Lyrin raised her head a little to look at the armor on her and smiled slightly for a few seconds before resting her head back on the ground. “Technically… I’m dead to this world. Have been for a thousand years, but when I was in there, thought on what might happen if this world found out I live once again… who knows what would happen.”

She turned one of her hooves over and thought about the metal fingers on them, causing them to extend out. She then moved them around a little to test the flexibility and dexterity. “Because I didn’t want to cause any mayhem of my return, I cast the spell I use every time I got sent to a new world to fragment my soul once again and let that take over the body.”

“Which is how Sapphire same to be?” Steel tried.

Lyrin just nodded before continuing. “This is her life now, Blaze. Not mine. I’ve cut myself from her as much as I can so hopefully she doesn’t have to live through my pain…. Hopefully, but I will help her from time to time.”

“Hopefully?”

Lyrin retracted the fingers and rolled onto her stomach, tucking in her wings through the roll before standing up on all fours and recalling the AMGs back to where they idly rested. “The spell I cast… I couldn’t complete it. There is bound to be many loopholes and I have to constantly ensure nothing gets through them.”

“What are you trying to say Lyrin?” The visor lit up and a wireframe of a pony head looked at her with a concerned expression.

“The spell that I cast to fragment my soul… It was just a random spell I came up with, so I’ve never been sure of the side effects. So far, nothing too bad has happened, but I can’t help but feel that something will happen, and thats what I’m worried about.” She turned and looked back at the mountain castle in the distance.

“I understand.” Steel’s wireframe head shrunk and turned into a full wireframe pony. “I will try to keep her safe on this side, and you do what is needed where you reside.”

A corner of her lips lifted as a few tears welled in her eyes. “Thank you, Blaze. Hearing that means much to me. I want her to be able to live the life I never had the chance to get, and i will do the best I can to ensure nothing stops her.”

Lyrin used her thoughts to open Steels core software and started up a file marked as ‘SMAP-089’. “What did you just do?” Blaze asked as the wireframe looked at the box of scrolling text. “‘Survival Maintenance Adaption Program’, This program will allow you to maintain yourself. It carries all data in regards to what plans I had and the appropriate information you will need to manage your platform. Simply put, you’re now a pony in a metal body now. So that lie you made before about you being a pony, is now the truth.”

As the box closed, the wireframe pony glitches for a moment before taking on a proper virtual body with a generated maroon coat, grey/dark grey mane which was spiked up a little and pulled back, with a long, rough looking tail and dark green iris’s. Steel looked over her virtualised body for a moment before smiling at Lyrin.

Lyrin turned to the door and walked into the library, softly closing and locking the door behind her. “Also, if you ever need to, you can project your body holographically so the other ponies have an idea on what you used to look like if they ask.”

“Thank you Lyrin. If I may ask though, how often will you take control if that body?” Steel canted her head to the side.

“When Sapphire is asleep, or when she is in danger, I can or will take over if I feel I need to do so. Those will be the only times.” She hopped on the couch which a few springs creaked under the weight of them and laid down. The glow in her eyes began to fade as she slowly shut her eyes. “Look after Sapphire the best you can Steel, be her friend, and help each other learn how to be a pony.” her voice trailed off as her eyes closed.

Steel looked at the now sleeping mare for a moment on the screen before smiling and shutting off the visor, plunging the area around them into darkness. “I promise.”

Author's Note:

Yay! Finally did a short chapter!

Had some music help me out with writing this one out and get me what you just read, I think it's helped me a little more with my writing and ideas! Click here for the song.

Anyway, I'd like to thank my Editor for going through and fixing up my mistakes and I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.

Again, likes, dislikes, comments, suggestions, be honest! I'll take anything!