Far Beyond Different

by Motion Reflux

2 - Far Beyond Memory

Chapter 2
As a life slowly whisks away, so too will the curse break off your form.
There will be thoughts
where memories collide,
But think'eth naught,
Irrelivance aside.

---

It was day two as I woke up from the extra bed that was still there for me inside of Twilight Sparkle's library in her room. Today I'm supposed to be hanging out with Twilight and supposedly it'll help me retrieve some of my memories. I still had a question to ask her, something that's been plaguing my mind ever since I could thnk for myself once more.

I rolled out of bed and fixed it up, it felt familiar...
I shrugged it off and then looked around for that purple alicorn, it seems she'd already woken up. Wait... why am I even sleeping anyways?
More questions needed to be answered now so I walked out of the room and down the staircase to see Twilight Sparkle having a chat with her friends. Although I didn't see that rainbow pegasus here which kind of worried me. I scratched the left side of my face and moved on.

The pink one then immediately approached me as I stood still and said, "So I get to hang out with Flow after Rarity? Coolios!~" she pressed her nose against mine and was really getting too far into my personal space. She said to me, "We're going to have such an awesome party for you on that day! I always gotta throw welcoming parties for new ponies here in Ponyville!"
She flipped backwards and smiled in front of me.

Twilight Sparkle walked up to me and said, "I was just telling the others about the schedule and how we'll being dealing with you for this week and most of them understand."
I saw her gaze sadly out the nearby window and she said to me, "But I'm not sure if Rainbow Dash really understands, she is a bit stubborn sometimes..."

I gave her a forced smile and patted her side as I said, "I'm sure she will, she is your friend right?"

Then I saw Twilight Sparkle give a small smile in return and to my surprise, I saw a sparkle in her eye. She gave me a small hug; from what I could see past her were happy smiles from the other four as if I did something right. My ears drooped down and I felt a rush a gratification, a feeling I've forgotten the feeling of for a long time...

---

"N-no... you can't die..." I looked at my friend whom was bloodied from the mid-section down and laying back against a tree, "...we haven't even found our cutie marks..."
She looked at me and pulled me into a weak embrace, she then said to me, "Flow... we've been at this for a few years now, even after graduating from elementary. Blitz found his cutie mark with your help and you should be so proud of that... even though he stopped hanging out with us as much..."

She coughed out a bit of blood, my best friend in the world and I had been attacked by wild timberwolves out of nowhere in the forest we adventured in a lot. I held her tighter and cried harder; normally this forest was tame... but a darkness was beginning to seep its grasp over it...

I looked at her one more time and she gave me such a tear-filled smile. She had protected me with her life but I felt I should've been the one to protect her. I choked out, "D-Don't die... please don't..."
She gave my cheek a small nuzzle and said, "You made my life so much more brighter, Flow... you and Blitz stuck by me even though you both were pegasi and I'm just an earth pony... You still stood by me when Blitz stopped hanging with us, and I thank you for that."

From what I could tell, her time was beginning to run out. She stopped me from trying to pick her up and I didn't want to have her feel any more pain that she needs to now...
Then her cutie mark appeared just on her brink of no return, this was her fate? Such a cruel irony... What appeared on her flank was a brightly lit pink heart with a ribbon that wrapped itself around. Symbolic of herself... I cried even more... she truly loved every pony she met, even if they hated her, and whenever I was with her she always had this bright starlight-like aura.
The pink heart was her love, how it was so bright and the ribbon was the soft embrace she'd gractiously had. Maybe it was supposed to happen some other way... but destiny ended up like this and revealing it through this sad moment.

She pulled me close once more and said, "Flow, you're like a little sister that I never had... I'd do anything to protect you because you're family to me... You protected me before, y-you could call this repayment..."
My tears of sadness were occluded by my expression of surprise and then once more she hugged me with the last of her energy and said, "Thank you for everything, I love you like a sister and I hope you'll always cherish our memories together..."
Her voice was slowly lowering in volume... she repeated, "Thank you... thank you... t-thank y-you-"
Her eyes closed and she finally succumbed to her blood loss. My eyes watered as I cried for her, but behind that grief I felt a small ounce of gratitude from her words... How she thanked me... She found her cutie mark that day and I will always remember her... I spent a whole night there, embracing her lifeless corpse, crying.
In some way I helped her see who she really was in the end, which I felt happy for... but the only thing left now in my mind of grief as I was left with a broken-heart and covered in the blood of my bestest friend in the world.

---

Twilight's friends had left already by the time I was talking to Twilight Sparkle about this. She was teary-eyed when I looked at her face after I finished telling the whole story.
"I regret not being able to remember those memories, Twilight." I truthfully said, "Even if I now just remember this one."
Twilight Sparkle looked at me with this sad expression and said, "I never knew that deaths like that could happen in Equestria anymore..."

Then I recalled one crucial point, "...i-it was my fault...!"
Twilight Sparkle tilted her head and questioned, "It was...?"
"I don't remember the details right now... but I know that it was..." I covered my face with my forelegs. I didn't want to cry, I really didn't.

The purple alicorn moved closer to me and wrapped a foreleg around me, saying, "It must just be a misunderstanding, Flow..."
"It can't be!" I shouted, even if I was acting stubborn I felt Twilight trying to calm me even though she was teary-eyed as well.

She pulled me up as she stood up and said, "Hey... Let's go visit Pinkie Pie and see if she can cheer you up."
That's right, that pink earth pony is the element of laughter. I nodded and wiped my eyes and cheeks as dry as I could with my forehooves and Twilight did the same with hers except with a small cloth.
She then motioned me to follow and then we both exited the library.

---

We arrived at a place called Sugarcube Corner, it looked like it was made of edible materials! Twilight Sparkle and I entered the establishment and there I saw Pinkie Pie handling the front desk.
She smiled and with such a cheerful tone she said, "Heya Twi! Hiya Flow! What can I get'cha?~"

You know, being around that pink pony really does brighten up the mood a bit from that dreary atmosphere from before. Twilight Sparkle giggled and I saw her give a motion with her forehoof to Pinkie Pie. After that I saw her whispering into Pinkie's ear and Pinkie Pie nodding.
My face was kind of stuck in an expression of anxiousness and I shyly looked down, then I saw the pink earth pony appear in front of me with a cupake on a plate.
"Don't worry, I got the payment covered." Twilight said to me kindly.
Pinkie Pie smiled and said, "I hope you like this cupcake because I baked it especially for you!~"
Baked it in only a few seconds? I don't believe it, but I took the cupcake and took a few bites.
"Mmm, Delish." I said with my mouth kinda full and then I stuffed the rest of the cupcake in my mouth and gave Pinkie a worthwhile smile showing that I did like it.

Pinkie Pie clapped her hooves together happily in front of me. I looked towards the purple alicorn and said, "So what'll we do next?"
Twilight Sparkle gave me a pretty mischiveous smile and said, "I kinda want to see you fly, especially since I know about your wings being special."

I nodded, especially since I did feel a need to fly as of recent. We said our goodbyes to Pinkie and left Sugarcube Corner, what a strange place.
Then Twilight and I arrived at this large clearing and to my surprise, I saw a certain Rainbow pegasus napping on a nearby cloud with my enhanced vision.
I said to Twilight, "Hey Twilight, is that Rainbow Dash up there?"
As I told her this she focussed her vision on the cloud I pointed towards and she then hovered upwards to her friend. I followed behind her and watched as she plucked a feather off my fake wing and tickled Rainbow Dash's nose.
Also before I even saw it, Twilight Sparkle had scraped a cupcakes icing that I presume she got from Pinkie beforehand onto Rainbow Dash's forehoof that was then lifted and immediately covered all over Dash's face.
"H-heh-..." I chuckled and then choked it back and Twilight giggled silently to herself. I didn't see this purple alicorn as a prankster-type as well but I guess you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover...
Never judge a book by it's cover...
It reminds me of how I met her...

Rainbow Dash immediately got up surprised and she looked at Twilight almost unamused from what I could tell behind my slight trance.
I don't even...
Then I felt Rainbow Dash immediately pounce on me, snapping me out of my slight trace. I shook my head and said, "Eh...?"
"Don't get going psycho on us again." she stated to me.
I nodded even though I didn't know why. I looked at Twilight with a confused look and Twilight walked up to me and said, "It's no problem, Flow, don't worry. Now remember I still want to see you fly with those specilized wings of yours."
Rainbow Dash got off me and smiled, "Pfft. I bet I could still beat her."
I looked down and felt hurt by that, even if I had technilogically advanced wings I was sure I'd still be pretty fast without them. Then I saw Twilight Sparkle roll her eyes at Rainbow Dash and then give me a little nod as she said to me, "Just quickly fly over to that tree there-" she pointed at the tree that seemed around 400 meters away and then continued, "-and immediately turn and dash right back here."

Twilight Sparkle looked at Rainbow Dash and I heard her say, "Rainbow, you can go ahead and start her off."
Rainbow Dash sat down on the cloud and said, "Fine, Twi."
The multicolored pegasus looked towards me and asked, "You ready, Flow?"
"Yeah." I nodded as a changed my stance into something a professional racing pegasus would do.
"3... 2... 1..." Rainbow Dash said, "GO!"
I kicked off the cloud and spread my wings, starting off with a quick glide. I then flapped them a few times and gained much more speed.
Faster.
My vision was occluded with a status pop-up that read...
Faster.
The feather from my wings fell off fully revealing my steel-plated, magically glowing wings from what I could see from the corner of my eye.
Faster!
My speed increased even further, why did it keep telling me this word?
Faster!
I was about to hit the tree in only a few seconds now with the speed I've accumulated.
FASTER!
I hit the tree and bounced off it, doing a full 180 degree flip immediately. When I hit the tree I could feel it break when I made the turn.
FASTER!!!
My speed now was so quick that I felt the explosion of a sonic boom right behind me, I looked forward to the two ponies that I was slowly closing in on.
Exec... Offline Safety Mode...
Then in only a fraction of a second I stopped right in front of Rainbow Dash and landed. I felt my wings burning with an overwhelming heat as if they had overheated because of that.
I panted from the slight heat that transferred from my wings to all over my body, my normal body acted as a coolant.
Then I looked at Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash whom I saw were in shock.

"Huh?" I asked and Rainbow Dash shook her head and snapped out first.
She then shouted, "That... was... awesome!" she then looked at me and then showed a surprised look and said, "N-not that I..." she stuttered and then I could almost see a blush and then she shouted "I-It could be twenty-percent cooler!" and then Rainbow Dash turned away.
Twilight Sparkle snapped out of her trance last and said, "Woah, those wings of yours are amazin-..." she looked at me and recoiled backwards and said, "F-Flow! Your eye is starting to glow again!"
It was...?
"It's glowing blue..." the purple alicorn in front of me inspected closer.
Blue? It's never done that before...
...!

---

What's going on...? I thought to myself as I looked over the bush to see little fillies in a playground playing. Then I stopped a familiar looking face hovering towards another familiar looking form.
"Hey there! What's your name?" the dark blue pegasus landed in front of and asked the soft rose colored earth pony.
She looked away for a second and then responded, "I-I'm... My n-name is... Blush Embrace..."
Remember...?

I looked and listened closer and then saw another figure coming into view.
"Yo Flow! Gettin' with the'mares already? Heh!" a cyan blue pegasus hovered beside the dark blue pegasus.
"I-It's not like that, Blitz!" the dark blue pegasus shouted in protest.
"Yeah right, Flow, come on we gotta practice for the race." the cyan blue pegasus said. He then looked over at the soft rose colored earth pony and said, "Sorry about that, My name's Blitz and maybe we all can hang out some time later but me and Flow have gotta practice!"
The soft rose earth pony nodded and said, "Okay..." and had only a small smile on her face.
Remember how we met...?

I could see the dark blue pegasus look back and I saw her face slightly cringe. Then I turned my attention to the soft rose earth pony to see her in conflict with the two school bullies. I held back to see what would happen...
The dark blue pegasus immediately turned around and stood in front of Blush Embrace with a fierce growl.
The two guys responded with a laugh and one said, "What're you going to try?"
"Going to try and fight us?" the other one said.
The dark blue pegasus said in response, "Of course I am if ya'll are going to try and bully'er!"
The two bullies laughed but one was met with a swift knockout punch to the face by the dark blue pegasus. The one that was still conscious reared back, he was only an earth pony from what could be seen and he made a leap towards the small dark blue pegasus filly.
Then he was intercepted by a ramming force to his side.
I saw the cyan blue pegasus kid dash and hit that other kid out of the air and it seemed he put in a lot of force into that hit.
The cyan blue pegasus landed in front of the dark blue one and with a smirk he said, "Already gettin' into fights, Flow?"
"Just trying to protect my friends, Blitz." the dark blue pegasus responded, she turned towards the cowering soft rose earth pony and said, "We are friends though, right?"
The soft rose earth pony stood back up and smiled happily, "Y-Yes we are! T-Thank you so much for helping m-me... Flow... and you too, Blitz..."
She looked directly into the eyes of the dark blue pegasus and said, "I-I promise... on my life I p-promise... that someday... I'll repay your protection this day..."

I looked to my side to notice my long deceased friend, in spectral form, looking at me and I jumped back in surprise.
Do you remember now...?
I nodded, I couldn't speak for some reason even though I wanted to; tears were beginning to flow from my eyes... real tears... I've never felt this way in a long time... Why did I shut it out...?
I promised... that on my life I'd protect you... and I did... but it seems it didn't work in the end... but now... even in this state... I promise I still will...
Then I felt her hug me, it was an embrace that I haven't felt in such a long time too, she was so soft with her hugs...
Look to the Rainbow... my dearest friend... that will be the closest to salvation...
The Rainbow...?
I've been... been by your side since I... since I died... I've seen your struggles... your pain... I looked for the answer... I gave you the best answer I can...
I held her tighter and didn't want to let her go...
But... I took on most of the curse to protect you... but soon even I will decay... We share one mind together since that time... but... but only now... only now could I respond to you...
I wanted to return every word but my mouth was sealed shut by some sort of magic.
You are far beyond different... you left everything behind... you ran away...
The curse must be what she is talking about again...
...you need to remember... your memories will show you the path... I can only talk to you... this one time... before I help hold back the curse's strength once more... find your memories, Flow... then you will find the light past the unknown path...
Her embrace began to fade to the point until she dissappeared from my grasp. Soon the world around me began to glow red and then finally I was blinded by a white light.

---

It felt like some pony was watching me and when I woke up, I saw a multicolored pegasus pony looking down at me. She didn't look too amused but she did look slightly worried past that expression.
I looked around to see I was in a hospital bed and I looked towards the door to see the purple alicorn talking to a nurse pony. Twilight Sparkle then walked back up to me and said in surprise, "Oh! Thank goodness you're awake..."
"Eh...?" I replied while groaning. I felt like I was in a slight bit of pain now as my senses were finally coming back online.
Twilight Sparkle said, "You passed out after your eye began to glow blue! Not only that but it seemed all your processes had been shut down and you literally fell through the cloud we were on!"
"You're pretty heavy, ya know." Rainbow Dash complained in the background.
I tried to get up but immediately my muscles seized and I was grounded back down onto the hospital bed underneath me.
Rainbow Dash immediately turned to me with a worried expression and said, "T-The doc said d-don't move!"
"She's right." Twilight responded, "It seemed that you were just a lifeless corpse when we brought you but I guess that wasn't true. I almost forgot about that fact your partially a cyborg because I was so worried!"
I tried to move again which caused Rainbow Dash to jump ontop of me and hold all my legs down with each of hers and I heard her cringe as she said to me, "Stop... moving..."
I didn't want to, I wanted to get up and move freely, so I struggled to move past the pain and past her hold.

Twilight Sparkle came up beside the bed and looked at me closely, I heard her tell me, "I think the main reason you can't move is because most of the processes are still offline. Most likely the one requiring you to move."
She lifted me up with her magic as well as lifting away Rainbow Dash from me while going off on a tangent and saying, "I'll be taking you back to my place and I'll see what I can do there. I probably need to actually access your inner mechanisms if I'm unable to get you walking without doing so! Oooh! It'll be so fun!"
I saw he clap her hooves together as she took me with her and Rainbow Dash landed on the floor and followed behind. From the corner of my eye I could see a very tiny blush coming from her. I wonder why though...

We then arrived Twilight's library and she took me into her room and laid me carefully on the ground. You know, being carried around by magic isn't really fun. The multicolored pegasus had left midway on the walk so I presume she went back home. It was getting dark already so I can understand why.
Then I felt my fake fur being removed from underneath my wings. Wait... how does that alicorn even know that my control module is located right there exactly? Had she been inspecting me while I was unconscious?

I looked over at her from the corner of my eye and heard her say to me, "Hm... there's a small screen here that says..." she stopped and I think she inspected it closer and finally she continued, "...executing offline safety mode...?"
Oh dear, Offline Safety Mode was enabled? That's not good...
I said to Twilight Sparkle, "Offline safety mode is a... failsafe..."
"A failsafe, huh?" she responded to me, "Coming from an external source from whoever had programmed you?"
I nodded very slightly, trying to avoid too much pain now as I said, "It probably means that they have disabled most of my processes like movement because I've gone 'absence without leave' or something."
I sighed and continued, "They're not going to retrieve me, but from my internal manual it says that it activates when I overheat and will shut down such processes so everything can cool without effort..."
Although I lied a bit there... I did tell the truth right? I mean, the mode is also enabled from enhanced emotions being experienced and by now I should be able to walk.
But why is it still enabled?
I saw a nearby mirror and stared at it closely to see my cheeks slightly pink. W-Was I blushing?! Am I even capable of that?! That must be why I can't move still... I need to think of something else and figure out why I was blushing in the first place.
Suddenly I felt my muscles loosening up and I managed to stand back up. I really need to start being careful if that mode is going to activate.

Although...
It still hasn't answered my question of why my cursed eye was glowing blue rather than red. I turned and looked towards Twilight Sparkle and then without fear I explained to her what I experienced while I was unconscious.

In the end after I told her that story, I think that she was in deep thought so I left her alone and walked up to that spare bed that was still in her room. Tomorrow was going to be a different day where I'd be hanging out with that rainbow pegasus and I wonder how that'll play out.
It felt like she was trying to avoid me the whole time but couldn't.
I laid down on the soft bed and tucked myself in, it still felt good to wrap myself up like this even though I didn't need to. Finally I closed my eyes and fell asleep...
Wait... could I even sleep? Do I even need to sleep...?
I also still haven't answered my long awaited question...
Do robots dream...?

---

Seeking past such sadness
that forms in your thoughts;
Believe in happiness,
let it be for 'naught.