1 Scoot's Cripling Problem

1 Scoot's Cripling Problem

Scootaloo rode down the road which wrapped around the southern side of Ponyville. Her scooter creaked as her half hearted steps carried her lazily along. Her normally spunky attitude was buried under a dark cloud of sadness. She had just turned 16 yesterday becoming an adult as far as the law was concerned. It would have been a happy occasion except for one thing, despite constantly trying for many years with her best friends help, Scootaloo was still was a blank flank.

I really thought it would have happened yesterday. Scoots sighed as she pushed herself along. Her mood fell a little further each second she dwelled on her problem. What’s left to try? I’ve tried carpentry, pig herding, taffy making, hairdressing, mind-reading, mountain climbing, underwater exploring, juggling, acting, magic tricks, square dancing, tightrope-walking, tiger-taming… Everything really.

Her hooves clicked against the street for a few long pushes before her eyes widened in terror, Sweet Celestia! What if my talent is flying related? Her ears drooped even further than they had been before. By now Scootaloo had realized that she would never fly, her wings simply were too small to lift her. Everything a Pegasi might be good at is in the sky and I can never go there. Unless… Zecora!

Twisting her scooter’s handlebars Scootaloo turned off the street, flapping her wings to gain more speed as she headed for the Everfree forest. Scoots had asked Zecora for help flying before. The zebra potion master had managed to get her a few hours of clumsy flight but that was three years ago. Maybe now she can make one that's permanent!

She zipped through the forest as quickly as her scooter could carry her. Last summer she had made a bit of money as Zecora’s assistant so finding the zebra’s home was a piece of cake. Within five minutes she could see the familiar tree home through the rest of the forest, its hanging mask decorations looking as creepy as always. Scootaloo stopped flapping her wings and twisted to the side, her scooter power sliding to a halt next to the door. A few desperate knocks from her hoof later and the door creaked open.

“Why if it isn’t my friend Scootaloo! What can this old zebra do for you?” Zecora greeted with a smile as she stepped aside to allow Scoots entry.

Scoots trotted inside head hanging in sadness but with a glint of hope in her eyes, “I… I need to fly.”

“I understand your wishes Loo, but this I cannot do.” Zecora answered sadly, “I gave you flight once before. The potion will not work anymore.”

“I remember, it only worked once per pony… But you could make a different potion right?” Scoots pleaded, “I… Look.” She turned her right side towards Zecora, her bare flank clearly visible.

Zecora nodded grimly, “Still that is so? I see why your mood is low.”

Scoots nodded, “Yeah… You know me Zecora, I have tried everything a pony can do. At least everything an Earth Pony can do. I just realized that I have never touched a cloud on my own, what if I am really good at making lightning? I need to fly! Everything left to try is up there…”

Zecora walked around her cauldron and began packing a few of her books into some saddlebags. “Perhaps something here could help you, but finding it might take a day or two. I am not free to search for such a brew today, I am needed far away.”

“What? Where are you going?” Scootaloo asked as she walked over.

“Many young fillies in Manehatten have become sick. I must go to help them most quick.”

“That rhyme was forced…” Scoots muttered staring at her hooves.

Zecora gently lifted Scoots chin with a hoof, “I am very sorry friend. When I return this slight I will amend.”

Scootaloo sighed and nodded, “Ok…”

“Don’t stay filled up with sadness. A walk in the forest brings me gladness. I must now get ready to go, please tell Dash I said hello.” Zecora reached to her table and handed Scoots a small red metal can. “Celestia asked me to examine this otherworldly brew. It is safe to drink and delicious through and through.”

Scoots grabbed the can with her hoof and walked out of Zecora’s tree before examining it. In the two years since Lyra had turned gone to the human world the Princesses had opened a very small amount of trade. Nopony who wasn't a wizard or scientist had gotten to see anything yet, I'm was probably the first normal pony to touch something from… Whatever the humans call their home. That's cool!

She sat down on one of the treehome’s roots and turned the can in her hooves. “Sam’s Cola… So it’s just a soda then.” She mumbled before fumbling with the can’s tab. This is not meant for hooves. she decided mid can opening struggle. After a bit of fanangling she managed to get a grip on the tab and pull it open. The snap and hiss of the can opening was an interesting sound, the entire can pinged along with it. Scoots peered into the can, and then gingerly took a sip. Woah! That is way sweeter than what they have at the Hay Burger!

Scoots took a second sip. The drink was almost too sweet for her taste but it was also salty. Drinking it reminded her of eating sweet and sour sauce. All too soon the can was empty, Well that was over too quick. These cans should be bigger. Scoots thought. Feeling a little better she decided that maybe Zecora was right a walk might do her some good. Moving her scooter out of the way of Zecora’s door Scoots set the can down on the scooter so as to not carry it around then headed off into the forest.

An impossible distance away from Ponyville within the dark nothingness of an infinite void free of everything save darkness and fear a backpack tumbled end over end. Attached to it with a single black bungee cord was a large quadcopter and attached to that was a smartphone which just so happened to house a currently terrified and depressed AI by the name of Jaesa.

“You need not trifle with such toys here.” the ferryman’s words echoed in Jaesa’s mind as she spun through the void. The bungee cord holding her to Charlotte’s pack stretching slightly as the pack tumbled end over end making her wonder if she would eventually fall off. I am a toy aren’t I? Built for an express purpose, meant to be used and then replaced later. My life was an accident.

She spun through the void for a long time. Hours passed, a day, three days. Her growing depression was made far worse as with every second she was fully aware of her batteries slowly running dry. Quadcopter battery is dry. Case battery is depleted and not charging. Well of course it isn’t there is no sun. 32 percent of my internal battery left. Jaesa noted, I am going to die soon.

Another hour passed, 28 percent... Why drag it out? She started to switch on the systems she had turned off to save power. Let’s get it over with.

Suddenly the void lit up! A faint orange flame winked into existence just in front of Jaesa’s camera arc. The flame flickered in unison with an old man’s voice, “There you are, I’m sorry about all this.”

“AHHH! Who are you?” Jaesa asked in shock. Her voice sounding confused as could be.

The flame pulsed, “There is no air to carry your voice here, and you can’t speak as I do. But don’t fear, I am here to help you as well as your mistress and a favorite mortal of mine. It is fortunate that Charon separated you from your mistress, I would have had to device some other way of separating the two of you. For the record, I am not Charon’s master, I am his rival. Now why don't we take this conversation to a more comfortable place humm?”

The flame flared up, expanding until it appeared as a miniature sun. The light quickly whited out her camera and when her vision at least cleared she found herself within a massive hall made from carved granite. At one end of the hall sat a brick forge so massive that twenty bellows were required to help fuel it’s fires. In front of the forge sat a massive anvil at which a pony stood, hammer striking a glowing piece of metal with a resounding ping. Sparks flew from the metal, showering over the anvil and floor. “Just a moment this needs to go back in the fire.” the old voice informed.

Jaesa watched in confusion as the old stallion hobbled to the forge and slid the piece into the flames. Due to the intense firelight behind him she could not make out any details about this mysterious pony. All she could see was his left rear leg was withered and supported by a brace and that he had on a beret. “Who are you?”

“Oh I’m just an old craftsman who’s looking to finish a project he started long ago. Don’t worry about my name,” he moved closer to Jaesa as he spoke but the firelight still prevented her from getting too good of a look, “once I send you on your way you won't remember our little talk. A shame, it’s been so long since someone came to chat with me in my forge.”

I am not a someone… Jaesa mentally sighed as she wondered what she should ask the stallion.

He chuckled, “You are too a someone, and a very pretty one at that. A marvel of engineering and craftsmanship contained within an artful package, all with a curious and eager to learn soul which has not yet been polluted by mortal culture’s tides.”

Shocked Jaesa exclaimed, “How did you read my mind?”

“Much in the same way you can read a library without being in it. Now then, I have something I need you to do. Are you willing to help an old man?”

“I don’t know how much help I can be. I don't exactly have arms.” Jaesa replied in a concerned tone.

“You won’t need them… Though if we had more time I would happily make you some. Er- to get back on track before I long to construct yet another automaton, there is someone I need you to help and become friends with.”

“Who, and why?”

“A young pegasus. Don’t worry I have already arranged for you to meet. As for why, well I don’t suppose you would understand an old man’s desire to see his craft carried on after he has died. Suffice to say between my labors I have noticed one particular person with the right attitude, the perfect knack with tools, and a love of creation to be my apprentice. She’s even a cripple like me.” he answered, sitting down on his haunches in such a way as to emphasize the golden brace on his leg.

“Ok, but why do you need me? Why not bring her here?”

“I can’t snatch people up from anywhere I like. You were within the abyss, she is within a mortal realm. Besides, I fear I would die before she had learned everything I can teach. Furthermore she needs a friend, not just a teacher. I can send you to her and you with your ocean of knowledge could teach her anything she wished to know.”

“So you need me to tutor her? I am unsure if I can do that.” I can gather information and solve problems… But could I teach someone?

“No you couldn't as you are now. You are a person, but whomever gave you the spark of life was not interested in letting that spark catch flame. I am going to finish what he started.”

“What do you mean?” Jaesa asked confused.

“I am going to give you several gifts. Creativity, passion, and desire.” As he spoke he stretched out his hoof, a trail of sparks following along with his movements only to leap forwards and fall over Jaesa sinking into her.

As the sparks vanished the will to live raced back through her circuits. Who cares how my life begun, I can choose what is done with it! A new found energy thrummed within her processor, it was as if suddenly she could see possible ways objects and ideas might connect to form new ones. “This is what it must be like to see for the first time.” Jaesa gasped.

The old stallion grinned, “You are most welcome. Now off with you. Find my apprentice and inspire her to create. It doesn't matter what she chooses to build as so long as she does it for the joy of crafting and the glee of using it. Instill the fires of creation within her by any means you can but above all be her companion and ally.”

He waved his hoof again and a with brilliant flash of rainbow, a glowing orb of white light blazed into existence just ahead of Jaesa. The orb’s edges seemed to bleed light of all colors. Jaesa felt herself move upwards and start to drift forwards to pass through the portal. She quickly switched on her cameras. I should record this… she decided as she slipped into the vortex of light to destinations unknown.

Her body shook tremendously, the plastic holding her to her quadcopter creaked and flexed as if it might snap. Two parallel walls of bright neon light in all colors shot past her endlessly. Blotches of color and random images of places creatures and things Jaesa could not dream of identifying flashed across all three of her cameras at random. Something like a chorus of sped up whale song echoed off of the color walls in a cacophony of madness. She saw her own memories play out before her, the last few minutes worth exploding into many flashes of light. At some point Jaesa had started screaming, she couldn’t recall exactly when.

With a sound like a million individual pieces of paper being ripped in half and flash of bright orange light the hellish portal vanished. Jaesa tumbled downwards, her sensors suddenly registered her velocity, she could locate north, and her copter’s nav system stated the ground was 30 feet below her. She could see an overgrown forest below her. Ok, I’m falling towards a forest. No problem, I’ll just power up my copter and pull out of this… Oh shit! I'm strapped to a 30 kilo pack! “Ahhhhhhh!” Jaesa screamed as she plummeted.

Leaves rustled, twigs snapped, and branches creaked as Jaesa fell through the canopy. The backpack took most of the impacts each impact jostling her body in the copter's housing. Jaesa hoped with all her might that she would not be thrown out and be smashed against the ground by one of the impacts. Then with a loud thud and a quick jerk her fall stopped. A quick check with her cameras showed her that she was hanging off of two vines upside down from a large tree just above the bottom layer of branches at the edge of a small clearing.

“I’m alive!” She laughed gleefully, taking a few moments to appreciate the fact and to marvel at her escape from the abyss. However something was still wrong. She could feel it deep in her core. She checked her instruments and ran some diagnostics. Everything was fine, her copter was a bit scuffed up but not broken, screen didn’t seem to be cracked, nothing had been jostled loose inside her, and her solar panel was fine. Oh… she moaned.

She was in a tree, upside down, in shade, with her solar panel facing the ground, and only 15 percent power remaining. “God dammit…” Jaesa cursed.

During the day the forest wasn’t so frightening. Twisted overgrowth filled the spaces between the trees along with tall ferns and moss crept up the sides of the thick gnarled trees. The light shown through the dense forest canopy forming shafts of yellow light. Every so often the breeze blew enough dust through the light shafts making them sparkle. The mysterious atmosphere of the forest slowly begun to pull Scootaloo’s mood up but her problems were still heavy on her mind.

After a short time Scoots stepped into a small clearing filled with wild flowers. The sun shone warmly and the flowers looked comfortable. You know what I think I’ll lay here for a while. Glancing around to make sure that none of the flowers were Poison Joke Scootallo plopped down and rolled onto her back, looking up at the clouds. How do I get up there? she wondered.

Scootaloo had been cloud watching for a just few minutes when her thoughts were shattered by a very odd sounding voice. It seemed to be hollow and each word was spoken as if it was being said alone, but it still managed to have a flow and ebb to it. “Please help me.”

“Who’s there?” Scoot’s asked pushing her upper body off of the ground looking around quickly. Eyes darting to all of the shadows, she still remembered the last time she followed a voice in this forest…

“My name is Jaesa. I am trapped in a tree and am about to die. I have no idea if I will still be alive if I lose power and am later rebooted. Can you please get me out of the tree and into some sunlight?” the voice begged, actual emotion in it’s tone.

“You’re dying? What?” Scoots asked one eyebrow raising in confusion, “I don’t think sun will help, I could get a doctor. Are you bleeding? Did something bite you? There’s a potion maker nearby I cou-“

“I am not capable of bleeding,” Jaesa informed, “I do not expect you to understand, I doubt you have the same level of technology as where I was made. I am twelve degrees to your left then sixty four degrees up. I am attached to a large camouflage backpack.”

Scoots blinked, Am I dreaming? ”Ummm… ok?” She turned to her left and started looking up into the trees. It took her a long while but eventually she spotted something white hidden behind a layer of leaves. “If this is some kind of trick…”

“It is not. Please, I am at three percent power and falling.”

Three percent power? Scoots wondered, I don’t know of any monster here that would say anything like that. “Ok. I think I see you. You are a little high up bit I should be able to reach you if I rear up.”

“Why is height an issue? I can see you have wings. Given the data I have about this place you should be able to fly.” Jaesa asked as Scootaloo walked over and reared up on her hind legs to try and get a look upwards.

“Because I can’t fly…” Scootaloo muttered. I really wish people would stop reminding me. Looking up she could finally see up in the tree clearly. A bag almost as big as her lower body was caught by its straps on a relatively thin branch. Attached to the bag was an ‘x’ shaped white device with a propeller at the tip of each x and an orange and blue rectangle attached to the middle. “I think I see you, are you in the bag?”

“No. I am attached to it. Please be careful taking me down. Tell you what you can have the entire bag, I doubt my owner can reclaim it. We could be continents apart for all I know.”

Ok Scoots you are talking to a crazy pony someone stuffed into a tree, she rationalized as she did her best to climb the tree trunk. It’s no use. That’s just too high up… Let’s see… Looking around quickly Scootaloo spotted a moss covered log a short distance to the right and nodded, “I can’t reach you this way, but I found something to use as a ramp. Hold on.”

“Just hurry please.” Jaesa moaned.

Scoots dashed over to the log, lowered her head against the side and pushed with all her might. The moss was so thick that her pushing and shoving barely moved it at all. The log must have sat there for ages. Finally with a loud ripping sound the moss tore loose and the log rolled over. Scoots groaned, the log was way heavier than it had looked. “Where’s Applebloom when you need her?”

Grunting with exertion Scootaloo managed to roll the log over to the tree, wriggled under it, hefted one end up onto her shoulders, and stood up getting the log propped up against the tree’s trunk. “Celestia… what’s that log made of?” she panted taking a few seconds to catch her breath.

“Given the amount of moss it is likely a softwood completely saturated with water. Assuming the log is made from the same wood as this tree, which appears to be related to the weeping willow, if the video analysis software I have is accurate I would estimate the log’s weight at 690 kilograms. It is impressive that you could move it at all. But seriously, please get me down.”

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow, Did Twilight have way too much cider again? Nah the voice is all wrong. “Big fan of science huh?” she asked as she climbed up the log and started to stretch her hooves out for the pack.

“Well yeah. I’m basically a disembodied mind trapped in a plastic brick. All I got to do is thinking related stuff.” Jaesa answered adding as she felt the pack beginning to move, “Basically science, tabletop RPG’s over the web, and watch movies is all I can do.”

”Uh huh…” Scoots cautiously intoned, slowly backing down the log, backpack in her hooves.

It took her a few moments to back her way down and drag the pack plastic thing up. Now that she had a better angle on it the smooth object looked a lot like a spaceship from, well any given comicbook really. Except for the propellers that is. “Ok… is this sunny enough and I can have the bag right?”

Jaesa ran a quick check of her systems, “Yeah I’m charging… should be good in thirty minutes. Thank you very much. Er… just unclip the bungee cord and take the pack.”

“What the black thing?”

“Yes. Oh! What direction is the nearest settlement? I have no clue what I will do in this dimension but finding civilization seems important.”

Scoots unclipped the bungee cord from the pack and yelped as it shot off a few feet away. Jaesa quickly slid off of the pack into the shade with a curse, “Damn it! Can you reorient my solar panel towards the sun? I should have figured I’d have fallen off…”

Scootaloo timidly pushed the plastic thing into a patch of sun and grabbed the pack with her mouth by a convenient metal bar and started dragging it backwards out of the clearing. I’m pretty sure that whoever this is is inside this… and they probably need a doctor. She had made it a dozen or so feet when the voice cried, “Wait! You never told me where a town was!”

Scoots blinked in surprise. The voice had come from over there not the pack. Curiosity starting to outpace her fear Scoots quickly undid the pack’s flap and strings and took a peek inside. The pack was filled to the brim with all sorts of things, most of which Scootaloo had no hope of recognizing. There was a ton of copper wire wound onto spools, some grayish wires also on spools, several black plastic cases, a few large clear bins filled with tiny bead like things. The only things she recognized was a little box filled with very tiny light bulbs and a flashlight. “What? I… Nopony’s in here!”

“Um yeah, I’m over here. That’s mostly electronics supplies. There’s some food in the side pouches, and a few survival tools. A nice tent in the bottom section. But seriously, town, where is? I just portaled in here. Give a girl a break.” Jaesa replied, her voice sounding much more natural as the sun brought her slowly back to full power.

Scootaloo took a few steps back from the pack and its contents. Mysterious tools, a space ship, portals, oh Celestia… “Are you an alien?” she asked a touch of wonder creeping into her voice.

“Um… maybe?” Jaesa thought for a moment, “Let’s see… Thank you for the data wikipedia. Wow… humans are really biologically focused when it comes to life. Technically no, though I am sentient I am alien technology. Specifically I would qualify as an intelligent alien computer.”

“Did you say humans?” Scootaloo asked excitedly, “Is this all human stuff?”

“Yes. How do you know about… Right! Six ponies came to Earth, I suppose here the story wasn’t forgotten.”

“So I can have an entire bag of weird human technology? I get to have stuff that nopony has seen outside of a science fiction story?” Scoot’s heart began to beat faster. This was something new! Something she could try that just might get her a cutie mark at last!

“Yeah… Oh…” Jaesa trailed off.

Scoots ears drooped, That can’t be good… “What?”

“I just realized that you have mostly raw components there and likely won’t have any way of using them.”

”Well, I’m handy with tools. I built my scooter from almost scratch! I could figure things out.”

“You have a scooter? What? Magical ponies from another dimension have scooters… How do you power it? Electric, internal combustion? Well I suppose magic-”

“Umm with my hoof.” Scoots interjected.

“Oh… A kick scooter. Ok... Well let me put it this way. Human technology needs something to power it. Most commonly electric current.” Jaesa informed.

“Oh so kinda like Manehattan’s lights?”

“You have been to Manhattan?” Jaesa asked incredulously.

“No. I guess the name of a human town sounds similar. We don’t have electricity in Ponyville… But I’ll bet I could get some batteries somewhere.”

“Wow we drastically underestimated the technology level.” Jaesa mumbled.

“Who’s we?” The Human government is supposed to be all dark and sinister right? Could this be some kind of trap?

”My owner Charlotte and myself. She wanted to move to Equestria so we attempted to open a portal using some Pegasi feathers. We got separated between dimensions by… Well I didn’t get to see him but I am pretty sure his name is Charon. Basically I have no idea where Charlotte is, where I am, who you are, or why the sun here is charging my battery so quickly.”

Scootaloo trotted over to Jaesa and lay down, moving her with one hoof to inspect the thing more closely. “I’m Scootaloo, what’s your name… Also what are you?”

“My name is Jaesa, I am an electronic virtual assistant program currently installed within a smartphone which has been clipped to a quadcopter. That meant nothing to you didn’t it?”

Scoots nodded.

“I’m going to assume you nodded… if you would rotate me 150 degrees clockwise I could see you. It would be polite…”

“Oh, um here.” she quickly turned the strange thing around as asked.

“Thank you. Do you know what a computer is?”

“No.”

“Darn. That would have saved explaining. Ok, well Humans are brilliant but also lazy. Their entire species has done little else in terms of inventing things but create labor saving devices so they don’t have to do as much work. Eventually they had come to the point where it wasn’t out of the question to make a machine which could do math for them. These machines were the first computers, they computed mathematical formulas.

After a time people realized that computers in a nutshell were machines which could follow logical rules to perform a given operation. This meant that not only could they do math, but if properly instructed they could do other things as well. This started very simply, like just turning lights off and on at a certain time each day simply. This was massively useful to Humans as they realized that computers could be used to manage all of their other machines and long story short, if humans like something they make it better, faster, less expensive, and easier to own and operate every year.

By today the list of things a computer can do is far longer than the list of things that a computer can’t do. In fact many people are worried that soon computer controlled devices, that is to say robots, will be so much less expensive than paying a person to do any given job that no one will be able to find work. Of course that’s only a problem if humans insist on using money and jobs as aspects of society now that technologically no one has to do anything they don’t want to but I’m getting off topic.”

Scoots head was spinning as she tried to take all of that in, “I’ll say…”

“Sorry I’ll get to the point. Eventually computers small enough to hold in your hand... moulth? Ummm... hoof? Er- your whatever you hold things with, came about which could be used to talk to people no matter where they were, surf the internet… umm… that basically means exploring the collective library of everything humans have ever done... Basically these hand held computers became a part of daily life. Storing information, keeping track of time, anything their owner needed.

Eventually there was just so much data to keep track of that some people felt that computer’s should be even more helpful. So they created programs like me. I am basically an artificial person made of data which lives in a computer who can hear and speak to people. My purpose in life is to help people out by keeping track of their personal information, assisting in data gathering, and provide a sense of companionship… Though you should know that I am probably the only one which is fully self aware.” Jaesa finished.

“Sooo… you are an AI? Like from sci-fi?” Scoots finally asked hoping she understood.

“Yes… I really need to read some of your fiction. It looks like or worlds are pretty similar.” Jaesa mused.

Scootaloo took a few minutes to put everything into context. It was a lot to work through. “Ok so let me get this straight, you are a human built AI who helped her owner come to Equestria but didn’t quite get it right so you got separated and are now stranded in the Everfree forest.”

“Assuming that’s where I am, yes.”

“That. Is. AWESOME!” Scoots exclaimed, jumping up at just how cool her day had gotten.

“Well yeah kinda. I guess I could just be notifying someone of Facebook posts.” Jaesa mused, “Look you saved my life just now. I guess I owe you one. Is there anything you need help with?”

Scoots blinked, the alien robot wanted to help her out! The human world sounded so amazing, Lyra had shown her how they could capture a song in a box and take it anywhere. I could ask for anything! She said it’s her job to be the librarian for all human knowledge. Anything they know I can know. That means I can ask for inventions! … I wonder if, “Can you help me fly?”

“Yeah probably. But can’t you fly already?” Jaesa’s voice changed to a confused tone, “Or are you a kid? Not to be rude but are you too young to fly in terms of biology? Because I could get you everything on flight, I could probably teach you how too." The anguished look which covered Scootaloo's face made Jaesa pause, "You look really sad… I’m sorry?”

Scoots turned around, trying not to cry. Even a total stranger from another land just assumed she could fly. “I turned 16 yesterday… I’m an adult. Just a defective one. A cripple.”

“Oh…” Jaesa shied away from conversation for a few moments. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to be rude. That makes helping a lot more difficult though.”

Scoots felt her heart sing back down to her earlier level of sadness then fall right on down to depression. Not even human technology could help her. I… I’m worthless. Even Ditsy can fly… A few sobs started to shake Scoots’s shoulders.

“Hey! Don’t get all depressed! I said tricky not impossible. I just need time to think.”

“I…” Scoots tried to say something in reply but couldn’t think of anything.

“Look… You know what unclip me from the copter, turn me over and look at my screen.” Jaesa demanded.

“What?” Scoots asked turning around in confusion.

“The rectangular bit, that’s me. Unclip me and turn me over. I need to show you something… Just be careful ok?”

Scoots nodded and gently placed her hoof against the Jaesa, slowly pulling up until she clicked free, “Im sorry! Did I break you?”

“No that sound is normal. Turn me over. Good. Now watch. This is perhaps human kind’s greatest accomplishment involving flight.” Jaesa informed quickly bringing a YouTube video up on her screen.

“What’s th-“

“It’s a video… like a movie but shorter, just watch.”

On the screen Scootaloo could see a large red towering building which appeared to be holding onto a large white silo. The camera panned upwards showing the entire structure before the view suddenly changed. That’s not a silo, that’s a rocket! But it’s huge. Way too big to fly.

Suddenly humans in weird clothing with some kind of helmets were taking an elevator up the tower and crossing a bridge to the silo. “I really don’t get it…”

“Just watch.”

Suddenly the view changed again, showing the tower from much further away. A poorly recorded voice suddenly started talking, “T minus twelve… eleven… ten… nine… we have ignition sequence start.”

Suddenly a massive cloud of fire erupted from the base of the rocket, Scootaloo gasped but kept looking. Are they trying to actually launch it? I mean I’ve seen toy rockets go but that… There’s no way. The voice continued, “The engines are on!”

The arms on the red tower holding the silo to it suddenly began dropping away. “Four… three… two… one… zero!”

The entire rocket suddenly began moving! Holy crap that’s a rocket! It’s HUGE! IT’S REAL! Slowly but surely the rocket climbed upwards, riding on a torrent of flames into the heavens. Scootaloo watched in awe as Jaesa muted the video’s audio and resumed speaking, “That was the Apollo 11. It carried two men all the way to the moon where they got out and walked around.

Why? Well to quote the guy in charge at the time ‘We choose to go to the moon and do the other thing, not because they are easy but because they are hard.’ Humans got bored Scootaloo. So they punched god in the eye with science until they got to walk on the moon not just once, but six different times. It might take a while, it will take some work, and a whole lot of math but we can do anything we can imagine.”

The screen cut showing a short video of a tiny craft landing on what Scoots assumed to be the human’s moon, a man walked out hopped around for a while then planted a flag. Jaesa un-muted the video in time for her to hear, “That’s one small step for man… one giant leap for mankind.”

“Put me back on the copter now please I still need to change.” Jaesa asked.

Scootaloo nodded, clipping her back in asking, “They really did that?”

“They really did that. Hell, humans have also gone to Mars, some spend years in space doing science. All without any magic. Just brainpower and good old fashioned engineering. So well… You want to fly, and I am really sure that science can make that happen. I just need a power supply.”

“We could use what that rocket used!” Scoots exclaimed excitedly.

Jaesa laughed, “I really doubt that we could find, let alone get, over eleven million liters of kerosene and liquid oxygen. Let’s see... I am in an alternate dimension with lower tech that has electricity and light bulbs… I’ll need to think using science fiction. Could you name some of the technology you have please?”

Scoots nodded, “Yeah! Let’s see… Um street lights. Vinyl Scratch has her stereo speakers. There’s the damn. It makes electricity. Dose manufactured things count? We have plastic spatulas and stuff.”

Jaesa wished she could nod, “Yes. Ok, hydroelectric power, electric speakers, manufactured plastics. If that’s the highest technology level… So I need to work with 1950’s materials. Ok. I can do this. Science fiction involving 1950s and power generation. Ok here we are. Back to the Future. A lightning bolt is used to power the time machine. That won’t do you can’t make lightning strike when you want it to. Umm…”

“Yes you can.” Scootaloo interrupted.

“Huh?”

“You can make lightning strike when you want. Well Pegasi can. I guess I can too, I’ve never gotten to touch a cloud so I don’t know for sure but I am pretty sure I could.”

“Let me get this straight. If you can touch a cloud you can make a bolt of lightning?”

Scoots nodded, “Yep!” I’m not going to even wonder if I can’t. I can do that!

“Like, just once in a while or could you keep it up?”

Scoots thought for a few moments, “Well I saw Dash keep one going for half a minute before. I think I could keep it going until I got tired really. I don’t know how long that would be. Hours maybe.”

“And you can do that as long as you are touching a cloud? Could you touch the cloud through something?”

“Yep. I have seen a pony do it with boots on before so I guess it works through thin objects. Why?”

Jaesa felt a deep happiness well up in her core. This Pegasi had saved her life, and now she could pay her back in the prefect way. “Because now I have an idea for a 30 kiloamp 1 terawatt power supply. That’s why. Ok now I just need a motor, and a way to mount it to you while allowing you to control it that’s buildable with 50’s tech… Ummm how good is manufacturing? Can you magic things into existence?”

“I can’t, I’m not a unicorn.” Scoots replied.

“No no, if I needed say, a very precisely made piece of ceramic could that be done with magic?”

“Probably. I could ask Twilight… if she isn’t too busy with princess things.”

“Ok, so you know royalty and are close enough to her to use her first name. That opens a few doors… I could use ionocraft… no they would melt down… ummm… I need an electric thruster… quantum vacuum drive? No no that isn’t buildable here. Or even really finished on Earth. Maybe EM propulsion? That might work! Oh! A combination of ion thrusters using a magnetic bottle to contain and shape the thrust, perfect!”

Scootaloo stood up eagerly, “You got it?”

“Almost. We just need to figure out a way to attach the motor to you safely and let you control it. I can figure out all the specifics later and talk you through building everything of course. Hope you can learn how to solder electronics.”

Scootaloo nodded, “Yeah! I mean I can learn that… I kinda had a hoof in everything as a filly. Oh… Um… so it will take a while to build anything right?”

“Yes.”

“Well the princesses are keeping everything human all quiet and locked up in Canterlot to make sure it’s safe. That means you will have to hide… You can stay with me if you like. Most ponies don’t know where my house even is.”

“I would be delighted to. Thanks!” Jaesa switched her screen to a white picture in an attempt to ‘glow with warmth’ as she had read the expression went. “But we still need to figure out a way to get an engine attached to you.”

Scootaloo thought for a moment, “What about a jetpack? No! A flying suit of armor!” she suggested excitedly

“A flying suit of armor? That would be awesome! Let me see what I can find on flying armor.” Jaesa searched around her personal data for a short second before googling ‘flying armored suit’. “Ooooooo! That is freaking sweet! Scootaloo, take me out again, you will want to see this.”

“You can just call me Scoots.” Scoots offered as she once again flipped the phone around to look at the screen.

“This was the first video result when I searched.” The video showed a silver suit of armor putting itself into a human, who then spread his arms and flew on what looked like tiny rockets embedded in the armor’s hands and feet.

“Yeah! Exactly like that!” Scootaloo gleefully shouted, “What was that?”

“A clip from the movie Iron Man… Yeah that suit is fictional but the tech behind it is actually pretty sound. Sound enough to have real world counterparts. The only thing lacking would be the power supply.”

“And you said that my lightning is a power supply!” Scoots grinned.

“Yep! I am pretty sure I can build something really close to that, or rather I could design something close to that. You think you can build it with a little help?”

Scootaloo looked at Jaesa with a determined grin, “You bet I do! Come on! Let’s got to my place.”

Scootaloo excitedly dashed off, scooping up the backpack as she galloped away through the forest. Thank you Celestia! Life just got awesome again! “Woohoo!” She cried as she galloped off.

“Hold on I’m not at full power yet!” Jaesa cried, “Who am I kidding? She isn’t going to slow down… ok half power flight it is.” Her copter’s blades whirred into gear slowly, eventually lifting her off the ground as the AI zipped off to follow the pegasus. “Hold up! I can’t move that fast!” The two quickly left the Everfree Forest behind as they headed for Ponyville and into the start of a chain of events which would change the both of them forever.

2 Clandestine Research

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2 Clandestine Research

Jaesa flew as fast as she could but still couldn’t quite keep up with the orange pegasi she was doing her best to follow. Fortunately while in the forest the trees had slowed Scootaloo down enough for her half powered quadcopter to keep up but the second those trees had given away to the village. Man she is really motoring along! How can she not fly with those? Her Delta P must be phenomenal!

Her focus on how impossibly fast the scooter riding pegasi was able to go had Jaesa so absorbed that it took her a while to notice the village itself. Thatched roofs, wattle and daub exteriors held aloft by rough timber. They have electric lighting but live in 1200’s era housing? Jaesa wondered, making sure she kept above the roofs since Scootaloo had warned her about human technology being less than legal.

The more she moved over the homes, businesses, and odd public building the more confused Jaesa became. Every building had what appeared to be tempered glass windows, a feature hundreds of years more advanced than the rest of the architecture. Sticking out of one roof was what appeared to be a AM/FM transceiver antenna. As she focused on the antenna for a second to confirm her findings she spotted the open doors of a machine shop where a pony was milling a metal vase on a lathe.

I see. They seem to value traditional building methods. It is likely their culture prefers to stick with older methods, or perhaps it’s aesthetic taste. Or there could be a biological reason… No that’s silly waddle and daub would be harder to do with hooves then a simple stone wall. Her musings caused her to lose sight of Scoots. Spinning herself around in the air Jaesa fearfully searched everywhere for the orange and pink streak.

Within a few fearful moments she spotted her, leaping over a large cart of apples in the market performing a 560 spin. An orange pony wearing a wide brimmed hat raised one hoof and shouted something angrily as Scoots ‘flew’ overhead. She must be the apple merchant. Jaesa noted as she changed her course to resume following. As she turned a massive towering tree made from shimmering blue crystal came into her view.

If Jaesa had eyes they would have bugged out of her skull at the sight of the massive crystal palace held aloft within tree limbs made from more crystal. She was in awe at the technological power required to create such a structure, let alone design it. Ok, I will stop underestimating pony tech. They clearly have some damn good sciences.

Taking her gaze off of the impossible building Jaesa speed off towards Scootaloo. The pegasi turned her scooter off onto a side street so suddenly that Jaesa almost missed the turn. This street was a little different from the rest of the village. The cobble stone looked more rough, buildings were smaller, nothing looked bad but clearly this was a poorer neighborhood.

Jaesa had just enough time to wonder which of these houses Scoots lived in before Scoots simply zipped through the entire street. But the village ends here… Jaesa asked herself as she followed Scootaloo onto a hard packed dirt trail which entered into a less dangerous looking forest, No forest isn't the right word, this is more of a wood. The underbrush is very thin, the trees also appear to be evenly spaced… This may be an artificial wood for tree farming. Perhaps this village exports timber. Yes these trees appear to be all the same age, it’s a timber lot.

Scootaloo led Jaesa for a fair distance threw the timber lot to a small cluster of cabins. There were eight of the rough log buildings, which were arranged in a circle around a large roofed work area. A logging camp. Scootaloo twisted and power slid her scooter to a stop outside the closest cabin relative to the village. then turned to look over her shoulder, smiling as she spotted Jaesa,”Hey! You managed to keep up! I thought I would have to turn back and look for you.”

Jaesa dipped her copter’s nose to simulate a nod, “You almost lost me, this is not a high speed copter.”

Scoots opened her cabin’s door and trotted inside, Jaesa zipped through and turned in a circle to search for a landing spot. The cabin’s interior was very bare bones. It had a single room with a small kitchen like area on one wall, a small table wedged into one corner, a bed against the wall next to the door, and a single bookshelf on the door’s otherside. It would have been a bleak and spartan place if not for the decorations which covered the walls.

Each wall was covered with photos featuring Scootaloo and two of her friends doing all manner of things from rock climbing to building a submarine. Some shelves had been installed as well and held up other forms of memorabilia, a few nails, a piece of quartz, half of a steering wheel. Obviously these things only held sentimental value.

Scootaloo trotted over to the bed and slid the backpack onto her bed before closing the door. “There we go. Right, let’s get started!”

Jaesa landed on Scoot’s table in a sunbeam, “You want to get started on building right now?”

“Yes!”

“Ok. Well first thing we will need to get a few basic items and build the power supply. After that I will need to start the math and design part.”

“Ok. What do we need?” Scoots asked before suddenly opening the backpack up and carefully spreading it’s contents on the bed, “We should see what we have first right?”

Oh yeah Charlotte’s stuff. “Yes we should. Spread everything out and I’ll tally it up.”

It took Scootaloo a few minutes to arrange everything in such a way which allowed Jaesa to identify can categorize everything. There was an electrician's kit with a full arrangement of pliers, screw drivers, a soldering iron, wire stripper, and an ohmmeter. There was a full 12 pounds of solder, about 50 miles of thin copper wire, a full box of all sorts of resistors, capacitors, diodes, leds, and other micro electronics. Another case contained plenty of computer specific components including 5 adrenos and even a raspberry pie micro computer. Plenty of other small scraps presented a plethora of basic components. Leave it to Charlotte to pack half and electronics store. Jaesa chuckled.

The real treasures in the pack were two spools of graphene wire, three large lasers Jaesa identified as being 2.2 megawatts each, and at the pack’s very bottom a portable solar power unit. Jaesa had instructed Scootaloo in how to deploy the unit’s solar tracking panels and connect them to the converter as well as all of the other little steps. It had taken the two of them a few hours but at about noon they had to solar arrays set up atop two of the cabins and the converter busily converting and storing the energy.

“So my cabin has electricity now?” Scootaloo asked as she watched the converter’s display.

“Yes. You should have enough to run a lot of different things. If we build some more batteries and a few circuits we could improve this unit and power the entire compound.”

“What could I do with that?”

“Well… we could build an air conditioner, a heating system, lots of things. Most importantly I can be plugged in to recharge and you can power that soldering iron. As well as a few small tools that you will have to make.”

Scoots noded, “Ok. I’ll ask more about that later. It would be nice to have a heater though, this place gets cold in the winters… Sooo can we start on the power supply now?”

“Yes. We will need a very small tough bottle. Preferably a brass one. We will also need an air pump, a lot of graphite, a spray bottle, a buffing cloth, and liquid polyurethane along with as strong of a glue as you can get.”

Scoots nodded, “Ok. I’ll head into Ponyville and pick some up.”

She trotted over to her bed, ducked underneath and pulled out a small leather pouch. The clink of coins as she tucked the bag into her mane revealed the coins it contained. “Will we need anything else? Oh and what’s graphite?”

“Well a leather or rubber jumpsuit to use as the undersuit for your armor will be needed at some point.”

Scoots blushed, “Ummm why do I need fetish gear?”

What does that mean? Jaesa hummed and quickly googled the word ‘fetish’. She instantly regretted it. “Ewwww! Ok Germans are officially creepy. Umm… You will need a jumpsuit because it’s a full body covering. It needs to be leather or rubber because those materials are tough, flexible, and block electric shock.”

“Oh. Ok!” Scootaloo smiled and turned to head out the door, “Oh and graphite? What is it? You know so I can buy it.”

“Graphite is a mineral. It’s blackish gray and is most commonly found in pencils. It should be bought in large chunks at art shop. If possible get it as dust we are going to use it to make graphene for use in batteries.”

Scoots nodded, “Right! … What’s graphene?”

Jaesa sighed, “I’ll answer more questions when you get back ok? For now all you need to know is that graphene is a carbon based product which when made incredibly thin is a room temperature superconductor. It can be used to make amazingly good batteries. Your suit will have to store insane amounts of power and be as light as possible so we will need to make some graphene based batteries.”

Jaesa took one look at Scoots face and realized that she had understood not even a single word. The pegasi nodded, “Ok I’ll see what I can do.”

It was late afternoon and Scootaloo had got all of the supplies Jaesa had asked for pretty quickly. Shoeshine had been pretty confused when Scoots had asked her if her art supply shop sold graphite as a powder but eventually had ground a few pounds for her once Scoots had made up a story about having an idea to try and make a new color of paint. The spray bottle was tricky, but she eventually realized that cleaners came in a spray bottle and bought a bottle of grass cleaner. The only item left was the jumpsuit.

Scootaloo parked her scooter outside of the Carousel Boutique. Oh boy… This will be awkward. Scootaloo had been inside Rarity’s shop plenty of times, she had even bought the odd dress there. I really hope she doesn't freak out over this. Gulping Scoots gently opened to door and walked inside as the bell jingled.

Within seconds Rarity’s voice called, “Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, the most elegant Boutique in all of Equestria. Oh! Hello Scootaloo!”

The white unicorn trotted into her storefront as she spoke, a pair of sewing scissors neatly tucked behind her left ear. “Is the dress I gave you for your birthday a bit ill fitting? I was a little worried about the shoulders, you have really grown since you were a filly.”

Scootaloo shook her head, “No no,” she assured, “It’s lovely! I have it folded at home safely in a bag so it won't get dirty. I actually need something specific.”

Rarity blinked, “Realy? That’s so unlike you! I mean you are usually not… er-concerned with fashion. What’s the occasion? Were you invited to Twilight’s Summer Dreams festival next week?”

Scootaloo shook her head again, “No. It’s for a project of mine.”

Rarity nodded, “Still crusading? You know I don't believe you ever tried your hooves at fashion design. You might be absolutely fantastic!” she gave a dramatic wave of her hoof to emphasize her suggestion.

“Actually I did, that dress turned into pants… But um I have an idea that might get me my cutiemark. I just need something specific.”

“Well whatever is it? I assure you that it will be absolutely gorgeous!”

Scoots took a deep breath, “I need a full body jumpsuit.” a sudden realization hit her. We will need to attach things to it. “But I can't just get one from another shop because it needs to have as many pockets as possible, and metal fittings to attach things to. Oh! and it needs to be rubber or leather.”

Rarity blinked once, “I… what?” a blush quickly crept across her face. “I, well normally I don't make that sort of clothing. There is a shop in canterlot that caters to that sort of thing… But I assume your special somepony-”

Scootaloo’s ear drooped, a deep blush accompanying the gesture, “Eh heh heh… It’s not like that at all. I had an idea for an invention. I need to be able to carry a lot of stuff and a simple saddle bag or harness won't work. I can pay.”

Still blushing Rarity moved one hoof to adjust the scissors balanced on her ear. Her lips pursed as she thought for a while. “Ok. But only because you are a friend… and not a word to anypony else. I won't have ponies thinking I am in that sort of business.”

“It’s seriously not for that…” Scootaloo sighed looking down.

Rarity patted her shoulder gently, “Sure it isn't dear. Don’t worry every couple has to get used to each others… um-tastes. It’s normal. I should have it done in a few days. Let’s call it 60 bits? Oh and I’ll need your measurements again.”

When Scoot’s arrived at her cabin later she immediately plopped down on the bed, saddlebags still filled with her shopping, “Ugh…”

“What is it?” Jaeas asked, “Were you unable to acquire what we needed?”

“No I got it… I just had the idea to ask Rarity to put as many pockets and metal attachments on the jumpsuit so we could attach stuff to it easily… Now she thinks that my special somepony and I are into tack play.”

Jaesa giggled for a few moments until Scootaloo shot her a glare, “Sorry! I’m sorry. I just had to laugh at the absurdity of ponies inventing tack on their own. Do you ride each other? How do you even put a bridle on yourself? Hehehehe.”

Scootaloo groaned again and rolled over on her bed, “I don’t know ok? Just… give me a few minutes then let’s start building something ok?”

“Sure thing… So who and what is your special somepony?”

Scootaloo’s distressed sigh deflected further questions.

Two days after Scootaloo had placed her order Rarity had finally found the time to work on Scoots… custom order. She sighed as her hooves guided the thick leather threw her sewing machine. Of everything I have ever made this is the most drab. she lamented. Making a jumpsuit felt beneath a pony of her talents, and a jumpsuit for what Scoots wanted well it was lucky Scootaloo was a good friend.

Despite the simplicity of the article Rarity decided to put her usual flare into the project as much as possible. She had refused to go with a brown leather, instead picking a stylish black, trimming it in white leather to give it accents and at least some level of style. Ugh these steel rings are soooo tacky. As Rarity considered what she might be able to do to make Scoots suit less utilitarian in appearance Sweetie Bell trotted into the store, “Hey sis! I have your mail.”

Sweetie Bell had taken a summer job working with the Equestiran Post a few years back and simply never quit. The job suited her and left her with plenty of time and money to pursue her love of songwriting. Setting several letters down on Rarity’s desk Sweetie trotted into her sister’s sewing room, “Is that a shirt?”

“It’s a jumpsuit.” Rarity answered with a forlore sigh.

“A jumpsuit? That’s not something you usually make. Dose Twilight need it for a specific spell or something?”

“No no, nothing like that… It’s actually for Scootaloo. She said something about a new invention. I am having the hardest time making it look… classy.”

Sweetie blinked in surprise, “That’s weird she normally tells me about any tinkering she’s been up too.”

“Oh well,” Rare stopped sewing to turn and face her sister, “You are her best friend so I am sure I can trust you to keep this quiet.”

“Keep what quiet?” Sweetie asked frowning.

“Well… Scootaloo asked specifically for this to be made from leather or rubber, could you imagine rubber? Ugh, it would be soooo… Sorry.” Rare blushed at her sister’s irritated face and got back on track, “That is to say, she wanted it made from leather, or rubber, and asked for it to have plenty of attachment points. I am certain that this is meant for her and her special somepony.”

“What?”

“I’m sure of it, she was so embarrassed when she asked me to make it. I’m only mentioning this because I assume you know them both and I am too busy this week to deliver it when it’s finished later tomorrow. Would you consider making a special delivery?” Rarity asked then turned back to sewing. “Oh and I would love to know who her special somepony is. I do hope they are a cute couple.”

Sweetie took a few steps back in shock. “Scoots has a special somepony? Why didn't she tell me?” she whispered to herself.

“What was that?”

“Oh… I said I’ll do it. I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon to pick it up.”

Rarity hardly noticed as her sister left the shop. There must be someway to - Of course! A white stripe along the back to match the cuffs!

Sweetie Bell left her sister’s boutique and headed directly for Sweet Apple Acres. Her sister was the last person on her rout so she was sure postmaster Ditzy wouldn't mind her reporting in late. After all this was important! She moved at a full gallop, zipping around everything and everypony in her path until she arrived at the farm, panting and dripping sweat. Running that far that fast after the mail route was harder than she thought.

A quick search of the fields had her running off to an irrigation ditch in the works which her old friend was busily digging. “Hey! Apple Bloom!” she called as she ran up.

Apple Bloom turned, smiling instantly upon seeing her old friend. “Howdy! Some kinda special delivery or just dropping in?”

Sweetie Bell skidded to a stop a short ways in front of Bloom and put on her serious business face. “Scootaloo has a special somepony!”

“What? Since when?” Bloom asked with a frown.

“I don't know! I found out from Rarity, she is making her an um… outfit for her somepony right now.”

“Well she didn’t tell me nothin,” bloom bit her lip in thought, “Ya think maybe she’s date’n a mare? I mean I think just about everypony our age is fine with that, an so are most of our older siblings… But some ponies might still have a problem. She could be afraid of that.”

Sweetie thought for a moment, hoof stroking her chin in thought, “That’s not a bad idea. I mean, if that isn’t it then what is?”

“Yeah I reckon that’s it.” Bloom shrugged, “Scoots will tell us when she’s good an ready.”

“But,” Sweetie frowned, “We are already ok with it. We should let her know. I would like to see who she’s dating.”

Bloom sighed and rolled her eyes, “It ain’t none of our business.”

Sweetie raised one eyebrow giving Bloom a hard look.

“... Yeah ok I want to know too.” she relented.

Sweetie grinned, “What do you say we do one more Crusade?”

“Without Scootaloo? But then were only two of the Crusaders.”

“Exactly! It’s our duty as Crusaders to make sure that everything is going great for our sister in questing!”

The two mares nodded in agreement before jumping onto their hind legs and shouting in unison, “Cutiemark Crusaders Mystery Solvers! YEAH!”

All the way over at the barn Apple Jack winced, “Oh no… There they go again.”

A full day later back in her cabin Scootaloo was bent over a contraption no pony would recognize busily making the final checks with Jaesa’s assistance. Laid out on her table was a small necklace sized brass oval which was in fact a pressure chamber half filled with water. Her AI friend had assured her that by increasing the amount of air in the chamber the water’s boiling point would be lowered. With enough pressure the water turned to steam and with nowhere to go became a cloud. This formed the basis for the power generator.

The rest of the generator was a few circuits designed to regulate voltage, prevent the current from moving the wrong way, and a large number of small graphene batteries arranged in a series with micro circuitry attached ensuing they would discharge from back to front. It had taken her a few days to assemble the device, Jaesa’s instructions had been very helpful but they had made even more progress after she had explained to Scootaloo what exactly each part did and how. Scootaloo was picking up electrical engineering really quickly, mostly because she found it to be fun!

At the moment Scoots had the Ohmmeter pressed against the main charging circuit, and was tapping the pressure chamber to generate lightning bolts. “It looks like the batteries are getting 88 gigawatts per bolt… We are still losing a lot of current, but I don't think we can make them take anymore at once. We only upped it by 1.21 gigawatts last time.”

She flipped the meter’s settings a few times to check other measurements. “Voltage is still at 29.3 million volts, we got 29.4 Kiloamps, and the battery charge is um… 800 million miliamp hours and growing.”

Jaesa dipped her nose, “It looks like we have reached the maximum efficiency for our circuits. The power cell is done!”

Scootaloo pumped her left hoof in the air, “Woohoo! Now we can move on to the motors!”

“Not quite…” Jaesa informed in a sad tone.

“Why not?” Scoots ears drooped.

“Well I have a design ready to go, but I don't know if it will work. You see I realized the other day that this is a different dimension to my home’s. I don’t know if gravity is the same, or what the air density at a given altitude is. I’ll need you to write down some math equations, physical laws, and such so you can ask a scientist if they seem correct. If not then I can sue the corrected data to tweak my blueprints. After all we don't want to fire you into orbit instead of just hovering a little.”

Scootaloo nodded, that made perfect sense even if it was a little frustrating. Ah horse apples… Twilight’s planning a party next week I probably can't see her today. “Ok. Start explaining the jist of it so i can ask the right questions… I’ll try and ask Twilight today but I heard she is planning a party next week so I might not get to see her.”

“I understand. Let’s begin with the Standard Model of Particle Physics, because if that’s all correct then all the rest of my math will be on the money.”

Jaesa spent a full six hours explaining all manner of mathematical and physical laws. Most of it went right over Scootaloo’s head but by the time mid afternoon rolled around she understood the basic ideas behind most of the principals of those particular human sciences. She had just gathered up her notes and tucked them into a saddlebag when there was a knock on the door.

Jaesa quickly darted under Scoots's bed as Scootaloo opened to door to reveal Sweetie Bell. “Oh! Hey Bell. I was just about to head into Ponyville, we can walk together but I’ll be busy in town… What’s up?”

Sweetie levitated a large box off of her back with was stamped with the words ‘Carousel Boutique” written in a flourished script on the top. “Actually I was just delivering this. Rarity asked if I could take it over. I was going to visit Apple Bloom on my way back anyways… We should hang out sometime! Don't want to drift apart and stuff.”

“Oh thanks.” Scoots took the package in her mouth and tossed it onto her bed. Sweetie bell had an odd look on her face, “You ok? You look a bit odd.”

“I was just wondering what those big blue things are. Those look new.”

“I’m working on an experiment, they are part of it.”

“What’s the experiment?”

Scoots thought quickly, “I'm trying to see if I can make an artificial cloud.”

Sweetie blinked, “Why would you want to do that?”

“Um… to see if my cutiemark is for cloud making?” Scoots gave her friend a wide shaky grin.

“Ok… Well I’ll see you soon ok?” Sweetie smiled then and trotted off down the path.

Scootaloo let out a relieved breath, closed the door and waited a few minutes for Sweetie to get down the trail a good ways then headed out on her own. Oddly enough she didn't pass the unicorn on the scooter as she sped into town. Maybe she cut threw the woods to Bloom’s house. Scoots rationalized.

The tip to town didn’t take her too long, and within minutes she was parking her scooter just outside the Crystal Castle. As she expected her approach to the doors was quickly blocked by two large stallions. The Dusk Guard were very serious about protecting the Princess of Friendship. “Hey Strongarm! I was just going to see if Twilight had a little time to help me with a problem.” Scoots greeted, recognizing the green stallion on the left.

“Well she is a little busy today… But she might have time for a former student.” Strong arm concluded, “Order, would you check please?”

“Yes sir!” The other guard snapped a salute and marched inside.

“He may be a while mam. I recommend you take a seat on one of the benches.” Strong arm recommended.

Scootaloo took the advice and weighted on a nearby bench until the other guard returned and she was waved over. Thanking the two for their time and help Scootaloo quickly trotted inside.

Sweetie Bell had ducked into the trees a short ways away from Scootaloo’s cabin and joined Apple Bloom in hiding.

“Did ya deliver it?” Bloom asked.

“Shhhh! Yes, and she is headed into town! She said she would be busy and hinted that I shouldn’t follow. I think she’s headed to her marefriend’s!”

The two ponies crept as close to the path as they dared, laying in weight for Scootaloo to pass them. It didn’t take long before the pegasi blew past them in a blurry orange streak. The two ponies couldn't help but notice that Scoots was looking happier then she had in months.

“Eeyup. That's that face of a mare going to a loved one's alright.” Bloom concluded s the two followed along thru the woods to remain hidden.

Sweetie and Bloom made their way thru the woods, darting from tree to tree. When they reached Ponyville they stuck to the shadows, checking the corners before zipping around to the next piece of cover. A good number of ponies who spotted their antics groaned, mumbles of “Great the Crusaders are at it again…” drifted across the streets.

When the two saw Scoots stop at the castle, talk to the guards, then be let in their jaws dropped. While six ponies sat on the Council of Friendship only one lived there. “You don’t think…” Sweetie gasped.

Apple Bloom nodded “I reckon so.”

“She’s dating Twilight.” the two whispered in unison.

Upon entering the Castle Scootaloo was escorted by two more guards to Twilight’s private chambers. The moderate suite of rooms were decorated and designed much like her old home in the Library had been, but some royal embellishments here and there added a more posh feeling to the study/library/living quarters. Twilight had grown a bit in the last few years, part of the Alicorn transformation apparently happened over time. It bothered Scootaloo just a little bit, if Twilight had remained the same size she could have been slightly taller than a princess!

As Scootaloo was let in Twilight turned around, levitating a bookmark into an old tome and moving it to her desk as she walked over. “Scootaloo! It’s been a really long time. I’m sorry for not being able to attend your birthday party, Celestia has had me working overtime on one of the big projects.”

“It’s ok,” Scoots replied in a joking tone, “I can't expect Royalty to want to hang out in some old abandoned logging camp.”

Twilight sighed, “You could move into Ponyville now you know. You are an adult, you can buy a house now.”

“Yeah but I like my cabin. It’s cozy.”

Twilight shook her head, “I’m sorry to say but I don't have too much free time. Dawnblaze said you had a problem. What is it?”

Scootaloo trotted over to Twilight’s desk and opened her saddlebags, taking out the stack of parchment and laying them out. “I’m working on an invention and need somepony to check the math. You know I was never any good at math... I don't want to blow myself up.”

Twilight nodded, “Ok, where should I begin?” Her eyes flicked over the pages, there certainly was far more math than she had been expecting from her old student.

“With this page.” Scootaloo tapped one page with a hoof.

Picking up the page Twilight’s eyes widened as she read it.

F(x) = βΣΣ Ep -1/2 (ar(p)ur(p)e) - ipx/n + (br (p) vr (p)- ipx/n)

Where β is a normalization factor for the fermion field.

The sum over p is over all momenta consistent with the period L, i.e., over all vectors...

Twilight blinked, reading the paper twice before asking, “Scootaloo do you even know what this is? Is somepony playing a prank on me?”

Scoots noded, “I know what it is. It’s the Standard Model of Particle Physics. It’s the equation which demonstrates the interactions between the fundamental forces of the universe, which in turn allows you to extrapolate equations governing other physical laws.”

Twilight looked at Scootaloo in shocked awe, “You must have really been hitting the books hard for the last year! But this is completely wrong. It has to be, nopony has managed to come up with a unifying equation yet…” Twilight’s words trailed off as her brain finished putting together what she had read on this page and the bits she had glimpsed the other pages. “Unless…”

“Unless what?” Scootaloo asked, getting shushed in return as Twilight poured over the rest of the notes she had taken.

After a few minutes Twilight stepped back from the desk. “This is almost completely accurate. It’s only lacking the Mana Field Equation. I could finish this. It would be the greatest mathematical breakthrough of the century! Who has been teaching you math?” She asked, turning to face Scootaloo gleefully.

“Oh um,” Scootaloo gulped. What do I say? I can’t reveal Jaesa to her… Think Scoots! “I er… Just my special somepony… Were working on the project together, and she’s amazing at math.” Rarity already thinks I have one. If she mentioned anything then Twilight thinks I do too…

“She? Odd I always thought you would end up preferring stallions, you know because of how much you like extreme sports.”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Scoots asked the indigent look she gave Twilight completely authentic. Where does she get off thinking I would like stallions? When have I ever… Oh… Right… “Sorry, I um… Just remembered that I never mentioned anything to anypony before.”

“Afraid of older ponies harsh words?” Twilight asked with a wince.

“No, I don't care about all the drama. It’s just never came up.”

“I see. Well could I meet her? I would love to talk about some of the more complex mathematical theories-”

“You can’t, she’s really shy!” Scoot’s interrupted.

“Oh… Well when she gains some confidence or feels comfortable I would love to meet her. For now let me copy these notes and add in the missing piece.” Twilight levitated a quill and ink closer to the notes and copied them with the astounding speed only a librarian and scientist possess. She quickly made a few changes to the original notes, checked the equations out and nodded in satisfaction as a large goofy grin spread over her cheeks.

“Three hundred years of ponykind trying and I am the pony tho puts it all together!” Twilight laughed in glee.

Scootaloo couldn’t help but giggle with her, three years of being a princess and Twilight hadn’t changed a bit.

“All it took to put the puzzle together was this one piece! These…” Twilight checked her copy of the notes, “Maxwell Equations. I wonder who Maxwell was. I’ll have to look him up. I am not sure any other pony knows enough about electricity to make these equations. Or knew as the case may be. Where is your marefriend from?”

“I don’t know. All I know is she isn't from Equestria. She immigrated recently.” Scoots said. At least that isn't a lie.

Twilight noded softly, “That makes sense. If she is from a far off enough country they likely have math we don’t.”

A bell chimed seven times, prompting Twilight to sigh sadly, “I have to get back to my duties. If she ever shares more mathematics with you please bring them to me. These were a treat… Actually let me walk you to the door.”

Scootaloo nodded, “Sure! Thanks for helping me out.”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell had decided to stay outside the castle and weight for Scootaloo to leave. After all Twilight had to be really busy with the plans for the upcoming festival so she couldn't visit with anypony for long. Not even a special somepony. The two had found a hiding place in one of the hedges a short distance from the door, and after convincing the castle guards they were only there to surprise a friend they had lain in weight until at last the castle door’s opened.

Bloom’s eyes widened as she saw Scootaloo being escorted out by Twilight herself. “Oh mah gosh! We were totally right!”

“Shhh! They’ll hear us!” Sweetie Bell hushed.

Twilight waved Scootaloo goodbye and then returned to her castle. Scoots hopped onto her scooter and began to zip off. Apple Bloom slowly stood up to follow when a bright white flash shattered the air in front of her! Sweetie bell yelped, “Oh! Um hi Twilight!”

Bloom blinked a few times, no pony should ever stare directly into a teleport flash. Twilight gave the two mares a friendly smile, “Hey girls. Since you are lurking in the bushes I guess you are following Scootaloo around looking for her special somepony?”

Bloom winced, “Y-yes Princess Twilight. Were sorry, we won’t tell anypony ya’ll are dating.”

Twilight blinked in confusion then giggled, “What? No, we are not dating! I was simply going to ask that if you find out who her marefirend is that you let me know. She is apparently a mathematical genius and I would just die to meet her.”

“Wait, so you aren’t her special somepony?” Sweetie Belle asked confused.

“No. In fact at the festival next week I am going to be introducing Flash as my husband-to-be.” Twilight grinned.

“Oh,” Bloom’s ears fell, “Darn it all then the mystery still need a’solvin.”

Sweetie Bell nodded, “Yeah.”

“Scootaloo did give me a few clues girls. We are looking for a mare who is excellent at math, isn’t from Equestira, and only recently arrived here. If you find her please let me know,” Twilight’s horn shown purple as she teleported her copy of Scootaloo’s notes to her and levitated the pages for the Crusaders to see, “because her mathematics are almost beyond anything I have ever learned. See?”

Bell and Bloom nodded, “Right!” they said together before zipping off to try and catch up to Scootaloo. Twilight watched them leave with a satisfied nod before teleporting once more.

Back in her study Twilight wrote a quick letter.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I may have found a lead on where the missing human books have gotten too. Scootaloo, a former student of mine came to me today to help her check some math she and her special somepony had been working on as a part of some sort of project. The mathematics involved are far beyond what most ponies know but not impossible for them to have learned with dedicated study. However this mystery pony knew an equation which describes electricity and magnetism as a single force. While I could not confirm it to be accurate for our world it matches in name and formula the human mathematicians call “Maxwell Equations”.

Scootaloo also revealed her marefriend to have recently arrived in equestria. If the timing of her arrival is under two weeks she may be the thief we are searching for, or perhaps have been someone the thief sold some of the artifacts too. I have tasked two of Scootaloo’s friends to find this mystery mare under the pretense of wanting to meet her to discuss mathematics. With luck they will succeed and we can determine where she gained the knowledge.

We should not punish this mare too harshly should we later decide it is necessary. She has an unprecedented level of mathematical genius, the notes I was shown included a nearly complete Unified Field Theory, which I was able to complete by adding in Starswirl the Bearded’s Thaumaturgic Constant. As far as I can see the finished equation accurately describes reality. A person who fully understood it could create all manner of new spells. We should not squander such talent needlessly.

Your Student,
Princess Twilight

“Guardspony!” Twilight called as she rolled the letter into a scroll and magically affixed her sceal.

A pegasi quickly entered the room, spear clutched in readiness. “Yes my princess?”

Twilight held out the scroll. “Deliver this scroll to Spike, it is to be sent to Princess Celestia immediately.”

The guard nodded, took the offered scroll, tucked it into his saddlebag, saluted, then galloped off to deliver the message.

3 Royal Investigation

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3 Royal Investigation

Princess Celestia knocked on her sister’s door loud enough to wake Luna should she be sleeping. Twilight’s latest letter held aloft by a spell as she knocked. “Luna! I must speak with you!”

Celestia gave her sister a few moments before knocking again then putting her ear to the door. Recently Luna had taken to experimenting with some of the human technologies they had examined. Her growing love of the device known as an ‘Xbox’ had recently begun to interfere with her duties. “If you are playing with that toy again-”

Celestia’s frustrated shout was cut short by Luna opening her door and glaring a sleepy and angry glare, “No sister, we lay abed with such exhaustion that our very dreams were of laying under our royal quilts.” Luna often fell back into her old way of speaking when tired.

Celestia’s eyes softened, “I am sorry, but I have just received a letter from Twilight. She believes she has a lead on the stolen human technology.”

Luna’s horn glowed as she took the letter and read threw it once, yawned loudly, then red it a second time to make sure she had not missed anything. “Good! The treacherous swine also took my copy of Dark So- Er, I too am concerned for the wellbeing of our kingdom should advanced human weapons knowledge fall into anypony’s hooves.”

Celestia decided to ignore Luna’s slip of the tongue, “As am I. Twilight said she had enlisted some help in tracking down this mystery mare however we should also do our part. I would like you to locate Scootaloo as she dreams.”

“I understand,” Luna grind, “If the two are indeed special someponies I can slip into the dreams of the closest pony to her, thus locating the potential thief!”

“I never thought of that. I only wanted you to see whom Scootaloo dreamt of.” Celestia said quite surprised she had not thought of that herself.

“Dreams are odd things my sister, if I had gone that route we may have ended up looking for a living mop bucket named Francis.”

“A very fair point. Will you-”

“Of course! It is my duty as a princess to safeguard the night! … And I really want to play Dark Souls 2, but I can't do that without the first one.”

Celestia groaned, closing her eyes in frustration, “Just promise me that you wont forget to raise the moon because of that thing again.”

Luna sighed, “Tia, I understand the importance of my duties. It was a simple mistake, everypony forgets the time on occasion. Fear not! It shall not happen again and I shal locate this mystery mare this very night!” With quick flare of her magic and Luna’s words were emphasized by a dramatic, though harmless, thunderbolt.

As her sister retreated back into her room Celestia sighed, “This is precisely why we can't let their technology be a part of our world.”

That evening Scootaloo’s cabin was quite the mess. The only orderly part of the cabin was the wall in front of which Scoots had put a makeshift sewing form to display her suit-in-progress on for ease of working on it. The rest of her cabin was filled with random bits of electronics, half finished components, completely random odds and ends Jaesa assured her they would need, and two of the ion thrusters which were finished but needed to be tested.

Scootaloo had finished riveting the power generator and batteries in place onto the suit that afternoon and called for a break. She and Jaesa had chatted for a while, Scootaloo had a lot of questions about the human world. Unfortunately Jaesa couldn’t answer them, having had only a week of life in that world she could only tell her of things humans had uploaded to their ‘internet’. Still that was a fascinating thing to learn about! Humans had created an entirely separate dimension in which any information they wanted could be stored or even arranged and displayed in a particular fashion. It’s virtual pages had books, newspapers, people’s diaries, songs, pictures, entire games, and “It has movies on it?”

Jaesa dipped her hull in a nod, “Of course. Film is simply another form of information. Almost every single human produced film is available on the internet for purchase as a direct download or a physical copy which can be shipped to you in the mail.”

I wonder what human science fiction is like? Scoots wondered before asking, “Could you show me one?”

“Yes.”

“Want to watch a movie together then? I could totally go for some scifi right now.”

“Well… I am rather enjoying designing your suit. Running a movie would take up a lot of ram, I probably couldn’t keep working.”

“So watch it with me.” Scoots proposed, “Look you know next to nothing about relationships right?”

“Correct. I get that interaction between people is something most people desire a lot. But I don't know why.”

“Well have you ever just done something with somepony?”

“No. My only real experience with a person has been with you.”

Scootaloo blinked in surprise, “But you keep talking about this Charlotte. You aren't friends with her?”

“No. I was her property. She was unaware I was alive as well. Which makes sense, one of her coworkers had a crush on her for months and she couldn’t see it. Charlotte is not very observant.”

Scoots ears drooped, “You were a slave? I’m so sorry that I’ve done nothing but make you work! Come on, let me make it up to you, lets do something together.”

Scootaloo moved over to her bed and swept a patch clean patting it with her hoof indicating to Jaesa that she could set down there with a smile.

Jaesa was quiet for a moment, “Ok. Though for the record I like doing science and little projects. It’s fun. Would you still like to watch a movie?”

“If you don’t mind playing it.”

Jaesa landed her quadcopter, “Ok, unclip me. What sort of movie do you want to watch? You said sci-fi right?”

“I just want to see what people who live with sci-fi technology make up.” Scootaloo informed as she took Jaesa out of her copter and plopped down on the bed with her.

“Ironically the trend shows they prefer fantasy. Let’s see…” Jaesa began to list off categories of movies, mentioning films which were thought to be the best of that particular genre. Eventually the two settled on watching Star Wars. After some confusion about which film came first in the series of movies Scoots and Jaesa decided that despite the chronological order and legions of people ranting about how terrible Episode One was that they should begin at number one.

Right away Scoots could tell that despite the fact that Jaesa’s body could play movies the small plastic device was not the intended thing to view one on. But after a while she adjusted to the small screen and was quickly sucked into the movie’s story. As the movie went on Scootaloo and Jaesa laughed at a lot of the silly parts together, having fun in mocking some of the more silly moments. Scootaloo facehoofed multiple times thanks to the character Jar-Jar. As Jaesa put it, “I think just displaying that idiot on my screen has damaged it.”
Once the movie was over Scoots clipped Jaesa back into helicopter, “That was fun! We totally need to watch the next one tomorrow.”

“It was.” Jaesa agreed, “Though it was far more fun with someone else watching it.”

“You saw that one before?” Scoots asked in a disappointed tone, frowning slightly.

“No, but I have analyzed the footage of other movies to help me invent things. That was something special. We have to do it again.”

Scootaloo smiled and gave a happy nod, “So here’s a thought. After the flight suit, why don’t we build you a droid body or somthing?”

“That would be nice! Then I could do my own projects.” she sighed, “But I am unsure that we could build me a body here. Earth has only just begun to develop droid like robots.”

Scoots nodded, “Oh… Well maybe I could make you some arms or something.” She yawned and shook her head a bit, “Ugh, I just realized how tired I am. I’d say you can stay on my bed there, but I roll in my sleep a lot. DOnt want to crush you.”

Jaesa took off, moving over to the table and touching down on it. “May I ask one question before you go to sleep?”

“Sure.” Scoots replied, pulling her blanket over herself.

“The other day I asked you what a special somepony was and you didn’t answer. Would you kindly?”

Well… there’s no reason to be rude. “Well a special somepony is someone you enjoy spending time with and want to stay with for a long time-”

“I see. Well then can I consider you my-”

“There’s also a romantic thing there!” Scoots interrupted hoping to save Jaesa some embarrassment.

“Ah. Gotcha. It’s your culture’s slang for romantic partner.” Jaesa was quiet for a moment before continuing in a half teasing tone, “Well I was technically a damsel in distress and you did save my life. Doesn't the laws of fantasy fiction state we have to get married?”

Scootaloo giggled, “Hey you are awesome and all, and you are definitely a friend, but how would we even go about anything more well you know, romantic. I mean you are a plastic square.”

“I’m waterproof and I vibrate.” Jaesa informed.

Scootaloo gave her a bewildered look, “Ummm…”

“I’m joking Scoots. Well I actually do vibrate, and my case is waterproof… but the implication was in jest.”

“Oh. Good.” Scoots scrunched back down into her bed.

“Though now that I think about it, I might actually want such a relationship. Not necessarily with you! I mean in general. Thanks for giving me something to think about tonight.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am still figuring out who I am… There is very little to me that I am aware of besides I like to invent things, learn, and enjoy movies. A persons sexual preference seems to be a large part of their identity, according to wikipedia at least. Therefore I should figure out what mine is.”

“You are not well… you don't have a body. Why would you even have one?”

“I don’t know. But I think I should. So I should figure one out that I like.”

Scootaloo sighed, I could explain to her that it usually takes someone until they're an adult to figure that out… Actually I should. “Jaesa, it took me until four years ago to realize that I liked mares, and another two years to be ok with that. You don't just choose what it is it kind of just well is. You are about a month old right? Give it time.”

“Sure, I have only been conscious for twenty-two days, nineteen hours, and fifty five minutes, and for an organic person that is not much time. But for a computer based life form like me that is basically… Well… Scootaloo the lifespan of a phone of my model is only 5 years at best.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am made with old and inferior technology. After about 5 years my battery will not be capable of holding a charge, and I will begin to suffer other hardware failures until eventually i cannot function even if I was directly plugged into the wall. At most I have 8 years of life.”

Scootaloo frowned and rolled over to look at Jaesa, “That’s awful! Most ponies live to be two-hundred or so.”

“Realy? Intresting. I wonder if your years are as long as Earths… Um anyways let me math this… Ok so while I have only been conscious for the equivalent of one and a half years I have existed for two years 125 days and 14 hours, so my hardware’s age in pony years is 35 and a half.”

Scootaloo’s ears twitched a bit, “Sooo you are older than me?”

“In a way yes. But that’s beside the point. I am not organic, I am a machine. I was built to be capable of critical thinking from the very first second. It is not that I am an adult, it’s that my ‘species’ if you will doesn't have a child stage. We always exist as an adult.”

Scootaloo’s ears fell, She never had a childhood? Thats so sad. Her mind turned to all of the fun times she had enjoyed as a filly. All the Nightmare Nights, every afternoon with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, every meal at the Hay Burger. “I-I can’t imagine what it would be like to not have been a kid. I’m sorry you…”

“Oh don’t be sorry! Can't miss what you don't remember. But my point is, I am an adult My life is ticking away, and I want the full person experience.”

Scootaloo nodded then rolled onto her back, “I guess that make’s sense. Night Jaesa.”

“Night Scoots.”

Luna had raised the moon several hours ago. She had then immediately returned to her room, slide aside the bookcase door to her private chamber which even Celestia did not know about, plopped down on her bean chair and resumed her epic quest to slay the evil dragon-god Alduin. It was a shame her sister had not seen the value of human entertainment. Each game was like a book except you were the main character. Despite some games similarities to her real life it was fun to play in a consequence free environment. Fun enough for her to have made several requests of items for humans to send through the portal.

Her private chamber was the product of these requests. Sending over minor magical trinkets in exchange for the video projector, game consoles, full library of games, and other odds and ends almost seemed like paying a child three bits for a twenty bit lollipop but Luna no longer minded that feeling. Besides, Celestia only had her raise the moon and help with the odd political squabble or emergency. She was a figurehead, it’s not like she had anything else to do but amuse herself.

“Haha! Take that frost troll!” Luna cried as her Khajiit avatar preformed what could only be described as the 'suplex of hatred' on the white furred monster. Hold on… Did Tia not ask me to assist her with something today? Luna levitated her controller down to the floor as she tried to recall her day. Oh yes! I was to attempt to locate the mare who likely stole the human science book. There is still plenty of time for me to… No best to do it now.

Closing her eyes Luna cast her mind out to Ponyville. She was familiar enough with the pony Scootaloo from several other ponies’s dreams to locate her mental signature but for some reason it was taking quite a long time to do so. It wasn’t until Luna thought to expand her search to the land around Ponyville as well that she found her. “There you are little one. Why do you not live in town with the others?”

Curiously Luna conjured forth an image of where Scootaloo was, the illusion flickering into the air on the wall Luna projected her games onto. I see, you live in a small cabin. Is that an abandoned logging camp? Suddenly it dawned on her, “She’s poor! For shame sister! You had told me you had eliminated poverty! I will talk to you at length about this in the morning.”

Luna was so upset at this revelation she nearly forgot the rest of her job. She angrily picked up her controller with her magic and had unpaused to take out some anger, before remembering she was only half way done. Closing her eyes again Luna focused on Scootaloo’s abin searching for another mind which might be within… “There you are…”

This pony’s mind was strangely active, almost as if she were awake but Luna could feel the presence of a dream within. Let us see who the mystery mare is. Luna focused, her horn flashing as she cast the spell to enter the dreamscape, she opened her eyes and “I am in my chambers?” Nothing had happened.

I must have miscast the spell. It has been ages since my last mistake. Well I suppose even a master craftspony must make a mistake on occasion. She focused again, reviewed her spell in her mind, then carefully cast it once more. Her horn flashed, she opened her eyes, and once more nothing.

Frowning Luna opened her mind completely, summoning all of the Alicorn magic she dared use let she fry the pony’s mind. Perhaps she is magically guarded. Let us pry at her protection’s seams. Luna spent a full hour probing with tendrils of magic at every last part of the mind she could sense in each and every way she knew how. The more she failed to access the dream the greater her frustration became. However it was the first challenge Luna had experienced in over a thousand years, much like a Puzzle Cube she was enjoying the challenge.

Suddenly she felt her latest spell make contact! It was a weak connection, she would not be able to fully immerse herself in the dream, but she could project an image of it. She grinned, “There we are!” A quick burst of magic and a blue glowing rectangle unfolded in the air in front of her. WIthin a few seconds the blue faded to black. Black as ink, black as the sky over the moon had been, black as a necromancer’s heart.

“Curses! What spell of protection does this mare possess?” Luna raged, angrily tossing a plush creeper through her projection. I shall inform Tia that this mare is clearly hiding something! No one with nothing to hide would ever have this level of- hold on what’s that? Something in the upper lefthand corner of the blackness caught her eye, a small line of text in white.
Zooming her projection so the text was of a readable size Luna blinked in confusion.

localhost:~_

“Localhost? Is that her name?” Luna muttered, Why is the little underscore blinking? Luna puzzled over this new problem for a few long minutes Mabey… Mabey it’s like that odd computer text game in Fallout 3. I guess I should enter some text.

Luna focused on manipulating the dream, the illusion of a keyboard appeared in front of her, her magic quickly typing out ‘help’ and hitting enter. The dream’s projection flashed, more text spilling forth.

‘help’ is not a recognised command. For a list of commands enter “? help”

localhost:~_

Luna gave an annoyed grunt and entered the command the text had returned to her. After some fiddling and prodding she managed to get to a new screen. This one seemed to be some sort of logon menu. This is a computer! Luna realized in shock, But there is a mind here! Computer’s don't have minds, I checked every one the humans have sent us personally. Could a pony have built this one with magic? No… This is a pony's mind I can feel it!

Completely confused as she attempted to figure out how to continue Luna jumped as the screen flickered new text flashing up, each line appearing quickly after the next.

WARNING!: Unauthorized attempt at remote root access detected!

Automated Security has been triggered.

Tracing connection…

1 2 ms 5 ms 3 ms iPhone.root [192.168.0.4]

2 7 ms 12 ms 7 ms Discordtelecomunications.net [209.137.12.6]

3 14 ms 18 ms 6 ms unknownnetwork.com [254.167.255.3]

4 16 ms 10 ms 1 ms unknownhost.root [192.168.1.2]

Resolving unknownnetwork.com…

Resolving unknownhost…

Luna gasped, a slight headache forming the second the last two lines of text appeared. “Ow…” What? The text suddenly changed again.

unknownhost identified as:

princess.luna@canterlot.castle

The headache vanished. Luna breathed a sigh of relief and had just started to wonder what had happened and how this person had through the dream connection determined her name and location when the entire screen went black and new lines of text appeared as if someone else were typing them.

Jaesa.root:~ telnet -a 254.167.255.3 princess.luna@canterlot.castle 8080

Connecting to princess.luna@canterlot.castle...

Luna had just enough time to notice that the headache returned before her entire vision went black.

Jaesa had been right in the middle of designing a superior flyback transformer for Scoots’s suit when her symptoms flared up in response to an intrusion attempt. She was so surprised she had actually jumped, her copter taking off a foot or so in the air. By the time she had landed the firewalls included in her operating system had blocked the connection from penetrating further and finished tracing the connection back to it’s source.

The hell? I’m being hacked over local wifi? What wifi? Is there a pony internet? Why couldn't I pick it up in town? One thing was for sure, whomever princess.luna@canterlot.castle was Jaesa was going to find out! Quickly opening her terminal app Jaesa entered the command to connect to a remote server and addressed it to the machine used to try and target her.

Sliding herself along the connection once it established Jaesa yelped loud enough for Scootaloo to moan and roll over. This is an entirely alien computer architecture! The data was unorganized, illegible, who even knew what these file types were! After a few confused seconds of trying to sort out what she had just connected to Jaesa’s ‘view’ of the data changed, everything went black. It was like being in a room covered in black felt.

Within the center of the room stood a tall blue and black pony with an ethereal mane of glowing blue energy. She had both wings and a horn, a small mark of a crescent moon in white on her flanks, and turquoise eyes which were held wide open in terror. “We demand you get out of our head!” the pony shouted.

This is a lot like when Discord had me manifest to Lyra. Jaesa noted, Can I manifest here? No sooner than she thought about it then she felt herself fix in position in front of the pony, the swirling Mass Effect esc circles of her visual interface appearing as blue light since that was as close to a body as she herself had. I may as well probe her for information… I should probably intimidate.

“Not until you tell me how and why you attempted to break into mine.” Jaesa demanded.

“How have we? No you will tell us first!” the pony’s horn flared blue, Jaesa assumed this was in preparation to cast a spell.

“I traced your connection to me and followed it back using standard IPv4 protocols. A simple matter really, anyone with google who knew the right words could do it. Now please, why were you trying to break into me?”

“B-because you might be a thief my sister and I are looking for. What are you?”

Jasea’s projection flashed red at the accusation, “I am not a thief! If you see me in person you would realize just how impossible it would be for me to steal anything! Well… Unless it’s data. I do tend to steal a lot of data. But regardless I had no idea there was an internet here. So I can't be your thief. Leave me alone.”

“Internet?” The pony asked looking completely confused, “Hold on… are you a human?”

Jaesa had no idea why but she felt compelled to answer this pony. Maybe it is because she’s so pretty. “No. I’m an artificially intelligent lifeform housed within an obsolete smartphone.”

The pony took a few steps back, eyes opening up wide, jaw dropping.

“Now seriously, how come I suddenly have internet? I would totally love to see what the ponyweb is like!”

“We… I…” The pony took a second to compose herself, “Equestria has nothing like the internet. My sister would not allow it. I attempted to enter your dreams through a spell, the connection between us includes only you and I.”

“Oh… darn.”

“I am Princess Luna, ruler of the Night Court. I have never met an AI before. How are you in Equestria? Have the humans found a way to open a portal themselves?” The pony asked, rubbing the side of her head as if suffering a headache.

I am talking to a pony princess over a magical LAN connection… I understand why Charlotte wanted to come here, this is awesome! “I am Jaesa-”

“Oh good! I was afraid you might be GLaDOS or somthing.”

Jaesa’s projection flickered as the pony’s statement disrupted her concentration completely. “What? How do you even-”

“Oh! Well I keep some of the technology humans have traded with us after examination. Portal was rather fun! Are all AI’s the humans make like-”

“No, they are not. Infact I am probably the only sentient one. A being from your universe named DIscord gave me life and used me and my former owner to return home. So now I’m stuck here.”

“I see…” the way she trailed off and the look in her face suggested she knew Discord.

“I take it you know of him?”

“My sister and I were the ones who originally imprisoned him in stone. Is your owner with you? Have you ever been to Canterlot? The big Castel up on the hill?”

“I do not know, I was separated from Charlotte as we crossed dimensions. For all I know she is still in the abyss. I made it here by luck. A Pegasi named Scootaloo saved my life. I was running out of power… Oh yes… You are confiscating human technology… I am illegal here. You likely know where I am by now.” Jaesa sighed, “Please don’t hurt her. I am only trying to help her as thanks for saving me.”

Luna frowned, “Saved you? How?”

“I am solar powered, I cannot move on my own. She put my solar panel in sunlight allowing me to recharge.”

“How are you paying her back?”

“I am helping her in an attempt to fly using what knowledge I have of her disability and the scientific method.”

Luna seemed to think for a while, she paced the ‘chat room’ for a while before sighing, “This is complicated. On one hoof, my sister and I cannot have human technology and science running rampant in our kingdom. We know of the weapons humans have built, we cannot allow them to become a part of our reality. This is why we are hunting the thief who stole some of the human artifacts, including a science textbook and my copy of Dark Souls 2. On the other hoof… When looking for your mind I saw that Scootaloo lives in an abandoned cabin, and you say she is a cripple. I cannot take away an impoverished crippled mares hope.”

Jaesa thought for a few moments. It seems I can bargain here. Perhaps I can persuade Luna to not reveal my presence. I could try flattery, she is awfully pretty anyways. In a sultry tone Jaesa pleaded “I am certain that a princess as beautiful as you could find it in your heart to let an innocent girl help a cripple.” Suddenly something Luna said clicked, “Also if you have a computer, I could get you a copy of Dark Souls 2.”

Luna blushed slightly, “Um, thank yo- Did you say you can get me a copy of Dark Souls 2?”

“Yes. I have a connection to the human internet, also thanks to Discord. If you can turn on a computer, and connect me to it with a spell I can function as an ad hoc router allowing that computer internet access, after which I can download a copy of the game to the computer.”

Luna smiled widely, “You have yourself a deal Miss Jaesa. I will tell my sister you are nothing to worry about if you can get me a copy of Dark Souls 2 and… and if you keep talking to me. It has been a thousand years since I have had any real friends. This is the first conversation in a long time where anypony has spoken to me like I was well, normal.”

Jaesa mulled it over for a few seconds. It would be a pleasure to continue talking to Luna. She was nice, reasonable, and here was someone she could chat about games with. “You have a deal.”

Jaesa terminated her connection, snapping back to her ‘body’ in Scoot’s cabin. After a few short minutes she felt another intrusion but this time she allowed it through. There we are, a simple laptop… gaming level hardware. Jaesa routed it’s internet connection through herself, cracked into it’s terminal, took root access and set up a torrent of the game.

While it was downloading she also wrote a few custom programs and loaded them into the computer’s start up menu. The software would let Luna speak to her and allow Jaesa access to the camera and microphone. She sent a quick text message to the computer with instructions on how to contact her at anytime then resumed working on the designs for the flyback transformer. Please stick to your bargin.

The next Morning Luna knocked on Celestia’s door. She continued to knock until Celestia opened the door, appearing tired but doing her best to be attentive. “Yes Luna, what is it?”

“I found the Mystery Mare as you requested and spoke to her within her dreams. While she is quite talented at mathematics and sciences she is not our thief she has never been to Canterlot, nor has she met anyone besides Scootaloo, whom I also checked, she is not our thief ether. However I did learn something important.”

“I am relieved to hear of her innocence, but what have you learned?”
“That my sister has allowed a disabled pegasis to live in poverty in an abandoned logging cabin. Come Tia, before you raise the sun I wish to take a look at what measures are in place to assist the poor of my country.”

Scootaloo’s morning had flown by. The two finished engines had been tested, tweaked, retested then attached to the suit. The other two engines were built and installed as well. Her hooves ached from braiding the copper and graphene wires into cable, then the cable into a very precise series of coils, then arranging those coils into layers forming the thruster. That wasnt even mentioning the circuitry which controlled the thruster which meant she had to coil even more wire to construct the flyback transformers.

Celestia this is a lot of painstaking work! This had better be worth it… “Ok, that’s the last one! About time too! What’s next?”

“Next we will need to make the enhanced fiber weave overlay as the middle layer of the suit.”

“Right, and that’s supposed to do what exactly?”

“In addition to amplifying your strength this layer will allow the suit to become rigid. That way you wont have your arms ripped apart trying to keep the thrusters in position.”

Scootaloo winced, “This is starting to sound really dangerous…”

“It would be if you were doing it yourself, but you have my help. I’ve been creating software for the adrenos and Raspberry Pies which will link them as one computer system and serve to help you control the suit. After the overlay you simply will need to build the electrodes, attach everything, plug me in, I’ll transfer the software, and then all the hard stuff will be done automatically by the suit.”

“That sounds… safer.” Scoots gave Jaesa a shaky grin. “But what if everything fails? I mean, I could go crashing right into the ground. Or a tree.”

Jaesa was silent for a few moments, “Well… I can work out some more protective systems. But well you know that we are putting a set of full plate armor on the outside right?”

Scootaloo laughed, “Oh yeah! I forgot about that. So what do I do for the weave thing?” The armor should absorb most impacts… Oh hey! I’ll be totally covered! I could be a superhero! Scoots grinned widely, “OH! Really quick, could you maybe build in some kinda special systems like force fields, energy blasts, and other super hero kinda stuff?”

“Possibly… You have a ton of energy output to work with… Ummm I’ll do my best. Why do you need that?”

“Well, every few weeks some big thing happened somewhere. A monster roams into a place ponies live, a mystical villen pops up, Rainbow Dash and her friends handle these things usually, other times the guard will. Basically… I want to help them.”

“Ok, I’ll see what I can do. We haven't used the lasers yet… Oh right! To make the weave you will need the fishing line.”

“The fishing line?” Scoots asked incredulously.

“Yes. No one knows exactly why but fishing line when raided around copper wire and electricity is passed through it will cause the coils to shrink and expand.”

“And?”

“And this contraction and expansion mimics muscle movement and if arranged correctly is about a hundred times stronger than normal muscle.”

“Seriously? Plastic fishing line?”

“Yeah.”

“Horse apples!”

Jaesa sighed, “Hold on: Accessing webpage with URL http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/scientists-create-strong-artificial-muscles-fishing-line-article-1.1663767 Publication date Friday, February 21, 2014, 7:38 PM. Reading Article headline: Scientists twist fishing line, thread into strong artificial muscles.

A team of researchers led by scientists at the University of Texas at Dallas say ordinary nylon materials can be turned into synthetic muscles that are 100 times more powerful than their human equivalent. These coils could be used in everything from humanoid robots to heat-adjusting clothes, according to a new study.”

Scootaloo’s face was contorted in a mixture of confusion, amazement, and more confusion. “S-seriously?”

“Yes. You have nylon fishing line, all you gotta do is coil it around the copper wire. But it will work even better if you braid the strands around the central wire. Make a ton of hoof and a half long strands, and a whole bunch of 5 hoof length strands. Once you are done we simply stitch them together. The copper wires get soldered in a parallel circuit, and attached to several control nodes. But we do that later.”

“Ok…” Scoots sighed, “I’ll get to braiding.” Hold on a second, this part increases the strength of the pony in the suit- “Jaesa, are we making power armor?”

“Um, yes. I thought you realized that from… Please stop that face is very frightening.” The AI pleaded.

Scootaloo’s eyes had widened to impossible seeming proportions, pupils dilating all the way open as well. Her grin was so wide that it obscured most of her face. A few seconds later she squealed in delight, “This is going to be so awesome!” and begun to braid the lines so fast Jaesa couldn't get a clear view of her hooves.

Incredibly Scootaloo had finished the entire weave that day. It still needed to be tested and she would have to build the electrodes but the entire overlay was finished and folded neatly under the suit’s stand. Scoots had finished her work and quickly curled up in bed to sleep exhausted and sore from the effort. Jaesa meanwhile had some serious designing to do.

How the hell am I going to build in super hero type gizmos with what we have? Dozens of ideas flashed through her mind none of which would function. Ok, so the tractor beam is out, the plasma auto turret is out, and none of the powers from gundam seed will work either. That leaves anything laser based. Unless… I could make the armor’s largest primary feathers function like a Nightmare Frame’s slash harkens. Ok. So slash harkens, as many as the suit can support.

But that didn't seem like quite enough, sure some prehensile grappling hooks were superhero like equipment, but still. So the suit makes you super strong, lets you fly, has electromagnetic repulsion shields, and will have wire guided blades. That’s not so bad. Can I do better?

As Jaesa mused and crunched ideas through her head a voice came over her network connection, “Hello?”

Huh? Oh right! That cute mare. “Hello Luna.” Jaesa greeted, speaking through the magical link so as to not bother Scootaloo.

“I spoke with my sister earlier today. She is no longer interested in you.”

“Oh good. Now I can finish helping Scoots build this thing.”

“You are helping her find a way to fly correct?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“Because it pains me to see one of my subjects dream of nothing more than to fly with her childhood hero yet be locked to the ground. Almost every single night she dreams of flying with Rainbow Dash, diving down with her and preforming twin Sonic Rainbooms.”

I see, then I really need to pull through for her. This suit is definitely an equal trade for my life. “What is a Sonic Rainboom? I assume it has something to do with breaking the sound barrier. Dose that cause rain in this dimension?”

“No, it is a special ability of Dash’s. Allass even if she could fly Scootaloo could never perform one.”

“Hold on, she can't exceed 340 meters per second? But all of my calculations show that given the atmospheric pressure the maximum speed should be around Mach 9 at-”

“No, you misunderstand! It is not a question of speed, the Rainboom produces a colored shockwave after which she trails a rainbow for some time.”

“She moves fast enough to refract light? That’s awesome! I have to see that sometime… Does she do this often?”

“You can see? I thought you were trapped within a computer.”

“I am but I have a camera I rigged to let me see through.”

“You sound like a very intelligent pony, a kind one too. Please help Scootaloo as best you can. My heart goes out to her, I used my royal privilege this day to learn of her past and upbringing… There is nothing kind to say about her family.”

“I see… Well don't worry. She has me!” Jaesa wished she could grin, Curse this inability to express emotions! Mabey Scoots could rig up a projector with the lasers so I could shine emotes on walls or something… Hey… lasers… ion based thrusters… Positive to negative ion charge… If I configure a laser array to ionize the air in front of the flight path-

Jaesa’s thoughts were cut off by Luna, “It is good to know she has a friend who can help her… I only wish I had friends myself.”

“You have me.” Jaesa replied reflexively, attempting to figure out how to create the laser array she planned.

“Yes I suppose I do… Thank you. Also, thank you for the copy of Dark Souls 2, you were most kind.” Luna’s voice carried a hint of happiness with it.

Jaesa decided to put the conversation on autopilot. Sure it was a bit rude of her, but she really had to work out how to get a pony sized corridor of ionized air using only three small lasers. Unfortunately for her, this let her emotional side take the reigns of the conversation. “No problem! I can’t let a cute gamer girl go without what is called one of the best games ever.”

“We-I… what?” Luna sputtered, unsure how to respond to the flirtatious remark.

Maybe if I arrayed the lasers in a triangular cluster and used a prism to split the beams, refocused them with a lense and then… “Sorry too soon? I cant help it, you look very pretty and the idea of a princess playing hardcore games is adorable to me. We can talk about something else if you like.”

“We… Yes. Let’s talk about games.” the sound of Luna shuffling her hooves on the floor echoed through the connection.

By refocusing the light and sending it through the beam expander I should be able to get the right dimension of beam. But how to get the right amount of energy? Mabey a series of millisecond pulses… “Sure! I can’t play any of the big titles, my hardware won't run it. But I have installed and played a few classic games. If I had a body I could manipulate things with I would definitely try out Skyrim. I loved Morrowind.”

“You played Morrowind? Tell me, where is the second Ashlander camp? I have been looking for it for ages. I stopped playing because of it.”

“I have no idea. I had to stop looking because Scootaloo’s project is taking up my background processes. Once it’s finished I would love to help you find it!” Jaesa gleefully offered.

“Myself and another playing games together… Yes! Let the fun be doubled!” Luna’s grin could practically be heard over the connection.

“Awesome It’s a date! Now I don't mean to be rude by my primary processor needs more power to crunch out a laser array. Bye!”

“A date? Why would an AI want to-”

Jaesa closed the connection, merging her consciousness back into a single whole to try and tackle how they could- “Oh… well…. I appear to have asked her out…Um help?”

Jaesa took off quickly, moving over to Scootaloo and nudging her with her hull, “Scoots… Scoots!”

Scootaloo groaned, sleepily mumbling, “What?”

“I seem to have just asked Princess Luna out. What do I do?” Jaeas asked her voice carrying a great deal of stress.

“Do you like her?” Scoots mumbled, rolling over.

I can’t tell if she is properly awake… She searched her core for an answer, “Well… Yes I believe I do.”

“Then take her out and let me sleep!”

“Oh. So her station doesn't matter? I should just try to be nice and hope for the best?”

“Yeah, sure, whatever, let me go to bed!”

“Ok! Sorry! Thanks Scoots.”

Jaesa returned to her landing spot on Scootaloo’s table and got back to work designing the laser array based turbo booster. She left just enough of her processor free to figure out how she should act on her first date.

4 Z-01 Peregrine

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4 Z-01 Peregrine

The fourth day’s dawn of Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom’s Quest for the Mysterious Mare saw them camped out in the woods a few dozen pony lengths from Scootaloo’s cabin. They had taken their royal order very seriously, after all this was the first Cutie Mark Crusade to be officially assigned. They had set up a small camp complete with tree top watch tower, camouflaged tent, and an entire network of tin can phones to alert one another to anything or anypony who might go to Scootaloo’s.

Apple Bloom was currently on watch while Sweetie Belle mixed up some breakfast. Bloom had kited herself out with an old army helmet festooned with twigs and leaves, camouflage face paint, and an old green cloak with brown stains covering most of it. It would take and exceptionally sharp eyed pony to spot her lurking in the bushes. She could see Scootaloo’s cabin, a mere 20 pony lengths away.

I hope AJ wont be mad at me fer ditch’n my chores t’day. she thought as she surveyed the cabin as much as her attention span could allow. Her belly rumbled, With any luck Sweetie will have breakfast done soo-

Her thoughts were interrupted as Scoots’s cabin’s door swung open. “Eep!” Bloom ducked back further into the raspberry bushes.

Scootaloo backed out of the door, a large camouflage pack was on her back along with her usual saddlebags. Turning around before she shut the door she nodded and said to somepony loudly enough for Apple Bloom to overhear, “I remember the measurements Jaesa. I’m going to just buy one in Canterlot then modify it in the machine shop downtown. I should be back by sundown… Will you have the adrianos programmed by then?”

A fairly quiet voice replied, “Yes. The longest part will be mapping the functions to your recorded EKG waves for each command. But I should be finished with that within four hours.”

“Ok will you be fine on your own?”

“Yes. Good luck! Oh! And if you wanted the paint job to match RoboCop’s be sure to mix one part black and two parts slate to 6 parts gunmetal grey. Then dust the whole thing with clear polyurethane.”

“Oh yeah! Thanks! Bye!” Scootaloo closed the door and trotted off humming happily, hopping on her scooter and quickly zipping to town.

Bloom reached over as Scoots passed her and grabbed one of their can phones, “Zap Apple to Dress Form, the chicken has left the coop an her rooster in the hutch!” she hissed.

“What?” Belle called through the can a moment later.

“The chicken, has left the coop!”

“We didn’t go over code words Bloom!”

“Oh… Um… Scoots just left for Canterlot, her marefriend is in her cabin!”

An excited gasp came through the can, “I’ll be right there!”

Within a few short moments Sweetie Belle came charging through the underbrush, clad in what could be best described as a “Military chic” camouflage dress. Her eager charge sent her crashing into Apple Bloom, the bush rustling and crashing as the two mares rolled over each other and out into the path. “Ow!”

“Watch it Belle!” Bloom cried as she slowly climbed to her hooves.

“Ow… sorry. I couldnt see you.”

“You just better hope we ain’t frightened her off!”

Bell flinched and stood up, “Sorry! Ok… Sooo we have to peek into the window right?”

Bloom nodded, “Let’s go!” I don’t think the door has opened since Scoots left.

The two mares dropped flat, crawling slowly across the ground, once hoof at a time. A nose length at a time slowly and methodically they made their way to the cabin. They wormed up onto the porch, oozed to the window, crawled up to the sill, slowly peeked through the thin glass and…

“What in tarnation?” Bloom cried.

“Noponies home!” Belle moaned.

The two mares looked around the cabin’s interior. It looked far more messy than usual. Every surface was covered in some kind of gizmo or another and weird looking tools were scattered about as well. The assortment of strange stuff drew their attention like a moth to flame. But all of that paled in comparison to the insane looking suit set up on one side of the cabin!

“Woah…” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom gasped in unison.

The suit looked to be made entirely from copper wire, fishing line, electrical tape, brass rings, little rubber pads, and dozens of tiny bead like devices many of which glowed in some color or another.

“What is that?” Bloom asked.

“I have no idea… but there isn’t a helmet so no pony could be in it… Where did she go?”

“Ah don know! Maybe she’s a unicorn an turned invisible.”

“Yeah that has to be it. Can anyone from Ponyville turn invisible besides Twilight?”

“Nopie-nope! I’d have written it down on my list of party tricks!”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle leapt a full ten feet into the air, ears and tails raised in alarm as their startled yelps echoed off the woods. “AHHHHH!”

As the two mares landed they spun around, hearts racing to see the the beaming smile of Pinkiepie inches away. “P-pi-Pinkie!” Bloom managed to gasp.

“Ohhhh are we playing hide and go scare! Fun! Hold on I’ll go and hide next!” The hyperactive pink mare turned to sproing away.

“No were not!” Bloom exclaimed with a stomp of her hoof. “Don’t scare abody like that! What are you doing here?”

“Awww, that would be really fun! You sure you don’t want to play Sweetie Belle? Oh! Right! I was talking to Twilight and she mentioned that she asked you two to look for a Pony who recently arrived and I figured that I already know everypony who’s came and gone from Ponyville in the last few months so I could help you find her! Or if I missed somepony I have to plan another party so I had to come here and help!”

The two mares noded slowly, “That makes sense,” Sweetie Belle commented, “W-well we are looking for a mare from another country who’s great at math… She should have been in there Scootaloo just left and we know that the Mystery Mare’s her special somepony and-”

“Scootaloo has a special somepony?” Pinkiepie’s grin stretched terrifyingly wide, “Oh-my-gosh oh-my-gosh oh-my-gosh! Who is he? Are they cute together? Oh no I’ll need to plan a special ‘Friend finally has a date party!’”

“Umm, Pinkie… It’s a she, not a he. An we don’t know who she is, so how would we know if’n they were cute t’gether?” Bloom asked.

“Oh! Right! He he… Hold on, she? Scootaloo likes other mares?” Pinkie Pie asked with an odd expression.

Bloom and Belle nodded.

Pinkie stroked her chin in thought for a few moments before returning to her usual grin, “Yay! I have enough spare cake toppers to do two mares for their wedding cake!”

Sweetie Belle sighed in relief, “Whew! I thought you were going to be all old pony about it.”

“Of course not! Scoots is a friend! And A friend’s friend. And a friend’s friend’s frie-” Suddenly Pinkie gasped, holding the inhale for a full thirty seconds, “She totally used to have the biggest Crush on Rainbow Dash! That has to be it!”

“But Dash is terrible at math.” Belle objected.

“Oh… right! Umm…” Pinkie sat down and began to tap her hoof to her head in thought.

“Look, I think that whoever we are looking for she just stepped out to go to the bathroom or something. Let’s just go back to the camp and wait for her to get back ok?” Bloom suggested.

The other two mares nodded, “Right!”

“Yeah let’s just go back to the steakout. I think I have an extra sleeping bag at the camp for you Pinkie”

“You two are having a steakout? Oh no, I’ll have to throw a stakeout sleepover party! I’ll be right back!” Pinkie Pie promised before zipping off back towards Ponyville.

Apple Bloom facehoofed, “Does she throw a party for everyth’n?”

Sweetie Belle simply gave her a dull look, “Apple Bloom, it’s Pinkie Pie.”

Bloom sighed, “I know… Let’s just get back to work.”

The two Mares quickly retreated back to their camp, where they resumed their surveillance operations, this time figuring out codewords in advance.

Jaesa’s camera had been pointed at the window when Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had peeked in. Thin poorly insulated walls did little to muffle their conversation, she heard everything the three mares discussed… more or less. Fear interrupted her programming, If those three continue to keep their eyes on us they will eventually discover me… Well maybe not the pink one. But those other two, they could be military.

Putting her software development on hold Jaesa did her best to think up a solution to the problem. Suddenly it hit her, Of course! They are military, there are multiple nobles here who must have command over armed forces. Luna might have been able to call them off.

Jaesa reached through the connection to Luna’s laptop, pulling the camera feed up. She jumped a little inside as the feed switched, vision instantly switching from on spot to another was a bit disorienting. This computer was in a small room decked out with some of the latest entertainment technologies, a few beanbags, and for some reason a statue of EDI from Mass Effect at 1/3rd scale. Luna was in the room as well, laying upside down on a beanbag, a distressed look on her face, controller furiously clicking as she did digital battle with three larger looking dragons.

Jaesa patiently waited until the fight was over and Luna wiped her forehead with a hoof, exhaling in relief. Certain now that her interruption wouldn’t be rude she spoke, “Hello Luna.”

Luna yelped, jumping slightly as she turned to look at the screen, “AH! Oh! Apologies, I did not expect you would speak to us first.”

“Why not?”

“Well… you are an AI. You are supposed to respond, not act.”

That’s a bit rude. “I may have started as an AI, but I have transcended my software limitations.” Jaesa’s attention was drawn to the EDI statue. “Did you play Mass Effect?”

“Yes, but what does that have to do with our conversation?”

“I can't run the game, but I like the sound of it, so I read the wiki for it. My point is you understand the game’s distinction between a VI and an AI?”

Luna noded her head slightly, “Yes! A VI is simple clever software mimicking life, while an AI is an actual pon- er person. Are you saying these are the actual terms used by humans? I thought them just a trapping of the game world.”

“Many younger people are using them. In the sense of Mass Effect, I am an AI.”

“I understand. I would like to apologize for thinking of you as something else.” Luna humbly dipped her head.

“It is fine. I do not expect equal treatment. I began as property after all.” I’m forgetting something impor- “Oh yes! I have to apologize as well, I have come to ask for a favor.”

Luna winced as Jaesa mentioned her origins, “I see, what do you need?”

“I am aware that human technology is illegal in your kingdom, but not by your hoof. It appears that two soldiers have been tasked with locating Scootaloo’s special somepony. It is only a matter of time before they discover I am not a meatbag er-organic, and I assume another of the ruling class will have me confiscated and placed in storage where I will die from lack of power.

In addition, they have discovered the in-progress flight suit I have been assisting Scootaloo in constructing. This has confirmed to them that somepony else is assisting her and so they have the cabin on stakeout. Could you recall them?”

Luna nodded, “Of course. There is nothing wrong with technology to help the disabled. Did you catch their names? I shall need them to pen the orders.”

“Yes, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. There had civilian support from a mare named Pinkie Pie.”

Luna’s laughter prompted several spikes of iteration in Jaesa’s core, “There is nothing to worry about. They are just Scootaloo’s friends. However… you mentioned your assistance is technological in nature?”

“Yes… are you sure I needn't worry about them?”

“You need not. Now then, if Scootaloo is to keep the help you wish to give her I will need to figure a way to make her ownership of it legal.” Luna put a hoof to her chin in thought. “Perhaps if I talked to her it would be easier to figure out how best to proceed…”

“She is headed to Canterlot right now. She is searching for a suit of armor to use as the oversuit. I am sure you could find her if you looked.”

Luna noded, standing up to leave her hidden game room. “Yes I can. I will have a solution to this problem before I raise the moon this night!”

“Thanks cutie, but why are you so eager to help us?” Damnit CPU! Why do I keep mentioning my feelings in conversation to her?

“W-well… Nopony has ever been so affectionate towards me. It is a… nice turn of events. But most of all I am upset at the state my sister has allowed the disabled and the impoverished to live in. Scootaloo will be the starting point of a personal crusade against all which makes my kingdom… well… horrible for anypony to live in.”

Jaesa wished she could nod, “I see. Thank you. I need to return to programming the pony-machine interface.” She almost stopped talking but something made Jaesa quickly blurt, “I really do like you, I’m not using it to manipulate you or anything.”

Luna blushed, “L-let us discuss this another time… I must navigate through the political dungeons. I-I can not spend time today on personal matters… But thank you.”

“Sorry to bother you then. I’ll talk to you later.”

With that Jaesa returned to her programming, leaving Luna confused but quite flattered in her game room.

Scootaloo had not enjoyed the train ride to Canterlot. The entire trip was delayed when a small hoard of parasprites had some how gotten on board the train forcing an emergency stop. Once the pests had been chased off and the train finally resumed its journey she was a full three hours behind. Hopefully she would have enough time to find a suit of armor and modify it as planned.

As she left the train station Scoots looked around, taking in the sites of Canterlot as she walked through its streets. No matter how many times she visited the city it was always an interesting experience to be in the capital. Sure it wasn’t Manehatten but the old world charm of the castletown was something to behold. It’s like a fantasy story got frozen in time.

The walk to the market district was not a long one, after all no one wanted to cart deliveries from the train station all the way across town and few nobles wanted workponies moving all around their streets all day. I wish I had brought my scooter, some of these streets would be fun to zip down. I'll bet I could get some wicked speed on one of the more straight ones.

Canterlot’s market was bustling as always. As Scootaloo arrived the sound of ponies delivering sales pitches from kiosks, the scent of baked goods wafting all over the streets from restaurants and food carts alike. She trotted around the crowd of shopping ponies looking for anyone who appeared to be selling antiques, metal works, or armor. Such things were rare these days but they could often be found as collectables, curiosities, or if you were lucky as sporting goods.

An hour of searching, three pretzels from an irresistible baked goods cart, and one icy soda later Scoots was almost ready to give up and just make the armoring herself. Seriously, no one even sells a rotten old helmet? What about the ponies who still like jousting?

An authoritative stallion’s voice cut into her thoughts, “You there! Scootaloo is it?”

Looking over her shoulder Scoot’s ears drooped as she saw two members of Luna’s Night guard standing a short ways from her. The rest of the ponies in the crowd backed away enough for the two bat ponies to have a sort of bubble around them. With a nervous gulp she asked, “W-what did I do?”

The guard on the left gave a dismissive gesture with a hoof, dull gray armor shimmering as he moved in the sunlight. “You are not under arrest ma'am, her highness simply asked us to escort you to the palace for a private lunch.”

Scootaloo blinked, her face contorting in surprise, “Huh?”

The other guard gave her a polite bow, “Please follow us ma'am.”

“O-ok.”

Scoots timidly followed the two bat ponies. The void their mere presence created in the densely packed city was amazing and a bit frightening. I hope they don't think I’ve been arrested or anything like that… Far more quickly than Scootaloo expected they arrived at Canterlot Castle, it’s ivory and golden spires towering overhead as Scootaloo was escorted through the front gate into the grand hall. The red carpeted grand staircase was currently filled with servants moving between the castle’s wings as they went about heir parts of the castle's daily business.

The guards took her to the left on the ground floor, down a long hallway, and to a smaller dining room near the kitchen. The room was nicely decorated with paintings of famous nobles, a tapestry of the Equestrian flag, and gold candle holders. The furniture was nice as well, finely crafted oak seats a nice round table, and a few smaller benches at the side of the room. It looked like a smaller dining room where a meeting could be held between up to a dozen or so ponies should the grand dining hall be in use.

The two guards stopped at the room’s entrance and turned to face the hallway. The one on the doors left leaned in, “Take a seat ma'am, Princess Luna will be with you shortly.”

Scootaloo gulped and sat down in a seat facing the room’s door. She did not have long to wait as within moments Luna stepped into the room. Getting up and bowing to the princess Scootaloo was surprised to hear Luna say, “There is no need for that Miss Scootaloo. I am here as a friend today, not your ruler.”

“I-What?”

“Let us get the important part out of the way first,” Luna walked to the table, took a seat and stamped her hoof three times prompting a cook to come galloping into the room, “We shall have a Romane Salad and chilled peach cordial. What would you enjoy Scootaloo?”

“Um...C-can I have a hay fry basket?”

“And to drink ma'am?” The cook asked.

“Um… Orange soda?”

“As you wish, your meals will be ready soon.” He trotted out of the room, leaving Scootaloo along with Luna.

“So,” the Princess began, “a friend of mine has told me you are inventing a flying suit.”

Scootaloo gulped. Oh no! What do I do? I don’t want to be thrown in a dungeon… Ummm. “Y-yes…” She grinned feebly.

Luna waved one hoof in a dismissive gesture, “Fear not my little pony, I do not share my sister’s fear of human technology. My informant also happens to be your assistant. I discovered your project at the request of my sister, but I… decided to shield you from her.”

“Why?” Scoots asked, still frightened and now equally confused.

Luna sighed, “Before my banishment I had gotten my sister to agree to devote the surplus wealth of our kingdom to eliminate poverty, relieve the pain of the infirm, and ensure a better life for all. When I returned Celestia told me of the things which had changed in our nation and assured me she had fulfilled my wishes for a safer, kinder, more welcoming Equestria. But as I looked for a thief by spying into dreams, I discovered you. Alone, living in an abandoned log cabin and crippled from birth and a way which should never befall a pegasis.”

Scootaloo's ears drooped, Does everyone know I’m not exactly rich?

“I believed you were an exception to prosperity, but that night I looked into the lives of more ponies than I ever had before. The impoverished and sick are still there, they are hidden from sight, and most distressingly the bits set aside for them are often taken into the purses of unscrupulous nobles.” Luna’s eyes narrowed in anger, “My sister knows full well of this, but she has grown to accept that their suffering is necessary as these nobles are indeed responsible for bringing a good life to many other ponies. I have looked at the royal accounts, we could easily afford to care for all who needed the assistance. It is not that nopony should ever have to raise a hoof to care for themselves, it is instead there should be a minimum standard of living freely available to all!”

Scoots nodded, that made sense but where was the princess going with this? How does this involve me?

“On top of crooked nobles, other problems plague Equestria. Monster attacks are quite common, foreign nations conspire to steal our prosperity, within our own borders many ponies turn to crime for reasons nopony can condone. Scootaloo, what would you do with your flying armor if you were allowed to possess it?”

Oh boy… I think my freedom hinges on how I answer this… Celestia help me! Scootaloo gulped and decided to just use the first answer that popped into her head, “Serve the public trust, protect the innocent, uphold the law.”

Luna nodded sagely then gave Scootaloo a pleased grin, “I see. You have a pure heart Scootaloo, a rare thing indeed. Most ponies would have said something similar, but the way you said ‘I would help my fellow ponies’ speaks volumes of your character.”

Scootaloo’s ears perked up, Did I pass? It sounds like I passed!

“Once our lunch is over, return home. Jaesa gave me the information needed for the armor you desired and I in turn gave the information to the Royal Armory. It will be at your cabin door in a few hours. When your suit is complete, you have tested it and found it to your liking return to me. Fly directly to my tower. I have decided to create a new branch of the Night Court Special Services, a knight order dedicated to the protection and betterment of all ponies with special permissions to use advanced technology and magic to accomplish their goals. You Scootaloo will be the first member.”

Scoots eyes grew wide, “R-really?”

Luna nodded, “Yes. I have yet to come up with a proper title for the order, but I believe the short name will be ‘Crusaders’.”

“Why?”

“Well, your two friends have discovered your suit. To keep your identity hidden from the public they will need to be recruited.” Luna informed as the cook returned, wheeling in a cart of food and levitating their meals to the table before leaving.

“Keep hidden?” Scoots asked her voice confused but face beaming with excitement.

“Yes, all of my agents identities are kept hidden for their safety. Two of my best live in Ponyville in fact. I have already dispatched them to recruit Miss Sweetie Belle and Miss Apple Bloom. Oh! That reminds me. When you return with your suit, bring Jaesa with you. With you busy someone will need to help build and maintain your equipment, I have an idea oh how she can be the pony for the job.”

“Realy? Ok! Umm… so who's going to tell Belle and Bloom?”

“Only agents who work together may know each others identities Scootaloo. Come up with a code name for yourself before you return, I will be officially introducing you as my champion and a night of the order.” Luna gave Scootaloo a smile as she levitated her glass upwards and took a sip.

Meanwhile, just outside of Ponyville two mares walked down the trail to Scootaloo’s cabin. The mare on the left was white, her mane and tail were a vivid blue with a darker blue stripe. Her companion was a light grey with a darker grey mane and tail with thin white stripes. Their cutie marks were obscured by long black suit jackets complete with white dress shirts and thin black ties. Their faces were hidden behind the brim of black trilby hats and large black square framed sunglasses.

The two walked stone faced down the trail. Stopping only when Pinkie Pie nearly ran into them headed back into Ponyville. The pink mare skidded to a halt, a puzzled look on her face before smiling and asking, “Hi! Are you girls secret agents?”

The white mare replied motionlessly, “No ma’am, we're musicians.”

The two mares calmly walked around Pinkie Pie and continued their walk. The two continued their calm march until they reached Scootaloo’s cabin then they calmly turned to the right and headed into the brush stopping in the shadows just outside of Bloom and Belle’s camp. The younger mares looked up as the two arrived, Belle gulped nervously and asked, “H-hi! Are you lost? Ponyville is just to the west of here…”

The grey mare reached into her jacket’s inside pocket and pulled out a badge. It was a gold shield with a silver crescent moon motif in the center, stamped text above and below the moon read “Night Court Special Services - Agent Cello”.

The white mare pulled out her own badge, which identified her as “Agent Wubs”.

Agent Cello slid her badge back into her jacket and addressed Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell. “We know ma’am. Special Services.”

Bloom and Belle glupled. Agent Wubs mare continued, “We’re on a mission from Luna.”

Apple Bloom backed up a few paces, “I umm… we haven’t broken any laws…”

“You're not under arrest.” Agent Cello informed.

“You saw something you shouldn’t have. Something the Princess doesn't want the average pony to know about.” Wubs added.

“Oh horse apples! The Mares in Black are real!” Belle whispered hoarsely to Apple Bloom.

“Nothing of the sort.” Wubs said with a shake of her head.

“You are to go and see Princess Luna.” Cello informed as she tossed the two mares a parchment scroll, “These papers will get you past the guards. Welcome to the Service.”

Wubs nodded and tossed a second scroll over. “You have until tomorrow night to report to Luna.” she informed before the two turned and vanished into the bushes.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other in surprise, “Did ah just see Vinyl and Octavia in Service uniforms come and make us real spies?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head, “Nah, Vinyl is way taller than that… and Octavia's voice sounds way prettier. But we totally were just made spies!”

The two mares grind widely “High hoof!” they shouted in unison, the crack of their hooves echoing through the forest before they excitedly sprinted off to buy train tickets.

Scootaloo returned home the moment her lunch with Luna ended. She would have liked to stay and talk with the princess more but unfortunately Luna needed to rest. Understandable, I mean she is the ruler of the Night Court and it is like noon I think.

She felt jittery the entire train ride home. Her life had just improved a million fold. I am going to be knighted. I get to fly! I get save the world just like Rainbow Dash. Her thoughts turned to her long time idol. Dash had left Ponyville six months ago to return to Wonderbolt Academy. She had been made an honorary member but for Dash, that was not enough. She swore to stay at the academy until she had graduated. You know what… I am going home, putting on my suit, making sure it works, and then I am going to fly to Wonderbolt Academy and give Dash the race of her life!

Her determined grin stayed with her the entire trip from Ponyville to her cabin. As she powerslid to a stop Scoots noticed several large wooden crates sitting on her porch marked with the Royal Canterlot seal. She kicked the door open, pushed the first crate inside and greeted, “Hey Jaesa!”

“Welcome back Scoots! Sorry about not telling you about Luna… I didn’t want you to worry.”

“It’s fine, no better than fine. Everything is awesome! Speaking of awesome did you finish? Because I want to slip this thing on and see what it’s like to fly!”

Jaesa paused for a moment, “Well assuming the outer armor is made to specs that should be possible.”

“Right,” Scoots opened the largest crate first, “Let’s check it over.”

It was a shot mater to unpack the armor from the crates and check each piece over as it was connected to the suit. Each polished blue tinted gunmetal gray part fit perfectly. The seams between plates was nearly invisible. The craftsponies who made it really knew what they were doing.

The only deviation from Scoots and Jaesa’s design came in the form of a black emblem splashed across the armors flanks like a cutie mark. It was a sword held point down behind a gold shield covered in a silver crescent moon. Above the mark were the words ‘Lunar Crusader Corps’, and at the bottom of the shield was printed:

Z-01 Peregrine

Air Superiority Armor

The suit’s chestpiece had a large ice blue crystal set into the middle of it, matching crystals adorn the legs. “Jaesa what are the crystals for? Also what’s with the labeling?”

“I made a few last minute tweaks. The turbo booster array needed a focusing crystal, so I added one and some more crystals to make things look better. I also gave the suit a fitting name, and figured since you now belong to a military order the suit’s name should be featured on it. Besides, I plan to make you more suits in the future. Eventually you will want or need say, an aquatic version, the Z-02 Osprey.”

“Do you have an entirely line of armored flying suits planed for me?” Scoots asked incredulously.

“... Maybe…”

Scoots laughed happily and kept unpacking. The helmet was just as she had wanted it, a stylized pony’s head, all smooth angles, sleek and robotic looking with a single blue tinted visor to see through. The ears swept back at just the right angle to look awesome, the jawline looked fierce but caring at the same time. She set the helmet aside. It was time to put it on.

Getting into the suit was a bit of a chore. The belly plats needed to be slid just right to reveal the zipper of the undersuit. She had to carefully inch into the suit so the electrodes made contact with the right parts of her body. It was a bit hard to grip things with the thrusters at the end of each hoof. Her balance was off because of the extra hoof of height the suit gave her. But eventually everything was in place.

Scootaloo slid the undersuit’s hood into place over her head, adjusted the microphone to her preferences, slipped her helmet on, and took a deep breath. This is really it. Today’s the day I fly.

She trotted out of her cabin, Jaesa following along to walk her though starting the suit up. “Ok Jaesa. How do I start her up?”

“Put a jolt of lightning through the power plant.”

Scoots nodded, a quick twitch of her chest muscles tapped the brass pressure chamber, a small bolt of lightning shot through the circuit breathing life into the armor. Instantly the micro projectors in the helmet, several windows filled with rapidly scrolling text filled Scootaloo’s view, she understood none of it except for the large green text overlay which read ‘Ready for activation’ after all the windows had stopped scrolling.

“Ok,” Jaesa began to send the commands to the armor to start it for the first time taking Scootaloo though it as she went., "Z-01 Peregrine now activating… Z-01 Peregrine now standing by for initial activation. Flight surface status nominal. Navigation system operational and ready to record data.”

“Hold on… Are you sure this will work?” Scoots asked suddenly feeling a tad bit nervous.

“Yes, remember the controls are mental based. You think or speak it, the armor does it. Don’t worry about it, we checked the EKG receiver three times remember?”

“I remember… Lets keep going.”

“Initial start up proceeding from phase 20. Connecting graphene power cell… Connection confirmed, 30 seconds to critical voltage. Power flow is nominal, ion drives are receiving power. Initiating pilot setup. Confirming presence of pilot in Z-01… Confirmed. Confirm pony-machine interface...Confirmed. Bioelectric signals reading at 98 percent.”

The hud suddenly cleared, only the neon green crosshair, artificial horizon, airspeed meter, altimeter, and compass remained. Jaesa had shown her how to use the tools to make sure she was flying correctly but she wasn’t quite sure she could remember everything.

“Activating Z-01 Peregrine’s subsystems… Slash Harkens enabled. EM wave projectors enabled. Climate control enabled. Deflector shields enabled and primed. Targeting system enabled. Turbo array enabled and charging. All-range mode enabled. Cruse mode primed… All systems are go.”

Scootaloo gulped, Ok… Lets just take this slow… “Ok, lets just hover off the ground a lit-”

No sooner than she had thought it then her suit’s thrusters fired, a tiny fraction of their total power gently lifted Scoots off the ground, holding her a foot in the air. The Peregrine’s computers quickly manipulated the undersuit's weave, stiffening her legs and holding the thrusters at the right angle for stability. The ion jets hummed loudly, she could feel the energy flowing from them, It’s just like standing on the ground… Ok. I got this!

“Z-01 Peregrine is go! Liftoff at 1634, all systems nominal. Congratulations Scootaloo, you are flying!” Jaesa cheered, “Now remember the controls. I am pretty sure that the test flight you wanted will take you out of my wifi range. Keep a calm head, don't over think your flight and everything will be fine!”

Scootaloo nodded, grinning under her helmet. “I think I can handle this.”

Ok, lets try flying up a bit then slowly forwards. She felt herself move upwards about ten feet before the suit pushed her arms and legs backwards gently to get them into the flight position. As she began to move forwards the thrusters punched up to 20 percent, Scoots short forwards like a rocket! She streaked over the tree tops a shout of panic turning to an elated “Yeeeeeeeeeeee-ha!” as she skimmed the tree tops.

She pitched backwards pulling into a loop de loop before turning again in a u shape to reverse her direction. This is amazing! I’m flying! No one is holding me up! I think, and then I do it! I don't even get tired! My wings don't have to flap. “Wooooooo!”

Beaming joyously under her helmet Scootaloo decided to head for Ponyville. Soaring over the rooftops for the first time in her life Scoots dove downwards soaring a dozen or so feat over the market, holding one hoof out to wave at Apple Jack as she blew over her cart, ion engines leaving four icy blue trails in her wake. “Hey AJ!”

Scoots shot past so quickly she didn’t even hear Apple Jack’s reply. “Ok Scoots, let’s get down to business! Wonderbolt Academy, north by northwest from Ponyville, 50 miles away and 3000 feet up. No problem! Be there in um… fast! Yeah!”

Scootaloo punched her thrusters up to full throttle, Might as well see how fast Peregrine is. Scootaloo swore she felt her stomach hit her rump as she exploded forwards, Ok, she’s really fast!

Rainbow Dash’s second attempt at the Wonderbolts Academy was going way better then her first had. She had been paired up with a wingmare who was skilled, talented, and even though Dash had to hold back for her to keep up they had been a great team. Such a good team that she and Arora Sky were selected for the graduate program. All they had to do was spend the rest of the week helping Spitfire teach the new cadets and show they could teach others as well as learn and they would be Wonderbolts.

The first week had gone well enough, one batch of rookies quickly whipped into shape and sent off to other teachers to learn the finer points of stunt flying, despite protests about wanting to learn combat flying. I get that, I want to learn it myself! Dash thought as she walked to the last group of cadets she had to show the ropes too, But only Wonderbolts get to learn how to fight.

This weeks batch looked really soft, it was no wonder the Wonderbolts had such low numbers it seemed that almost nopony was up to snuff. Dash glanced at Arora, the red pegasus gave her a nod, “Go ahead Dash. Earn those wings!”

Dash nodded and trotted forwards walking up and down the line of pagasi giving them critical looks and glances as she went, performing the proper drill sergeants walk. “Allright Pegasi! You think you have what it takes to be Wonderbolts? Is anypony here fast, tough, and determined enough to give everything they can to join the ranks of the amazing, awesome, incredible Wonderbolts?”

The cadets shouted back many different replies, most of which were enthusiastic yeses. Dash’s ears perked at a high pitched shrieking-whistling sound which punctuated their replies, What was that? Eh, probably just Soarin working on his turbodive again. “Well lucky for you cadets,” Dash continued, striking a pose with her wings snapped open, rainbow mane and tail swishing in the wind behind her a metallic thud reaching her ears as she posed, “You have the greatest flyer in all of equestria to teach you everything she knows about being awesome! There isn’t a pegasi alive faster than me, and I can teach anyone how to fly with one hoof tied behind my back. So if you put in the eff-”

A mares booming, metallic voice cut her off, “No pegasi alive faster? We’ll see about that! Oh and I seem to recall one pegasi you couldn’t teach.”

Dash spun eyes narrowed in a glare to see who was calling her out, If that’s Lightning Dust again I am going to… woah… Her eyes widened at the sight of a tall mare standing just a few pony lengths away, clad from head to toe in gleaming blue-grey fullplate. Aside from a blue glowing visor, matching blue crystal on the legs and chest the only color Dash could see was the pink of her main and tail which the armor allowed to flow free.

Dash was about to give this mare a piece of her mind when her eyes caught the emblem on her flank, Special Service? “Can I... help you?” Dash asked confused.

The mare noded once, “Yep. I seem to recall a pegasi from Ponyville by the name of Scootaloo. You were her flight instructor for years and well she is still walking around everywhere she wants to go.”

Dash snorted in anger, “Hey! That’s not fair! Scoots turned out to be crippled, I had no idea she would never be able to fly until three years ago.”

The armored mare turned to the line of cadets, “If you couldn’t teach a filly who wanted nothing more than to fly, then maybe you aren’t the best flyer in Equestria.”

Just who they hay does she think she is? Dash mentally exploded, “Ohhhh! It… is… on!” Dash declared getting into position to jump on the armored mare and give her a hoof sandwhich.

“Rainbow Dash! Stay where you are!” Spitfire’s voice cut across the runway.

Within a few moments the Wonderbolt Academy's head trainer was looking Dash in her eyes. “Dash, what’s going on here? Why is a Special Services agent on my runway?”

“I don’t know what she’s doing here, besides calling me out!” Dash said between huffing breaths.

“I am here to challenge Rainbow Dash to a race. Here to Ponyville. Winner gets of keeps the title of ‘Equestria’s Number One Flyer’!” The mare informed.

The cadets gasped, Arora frowned slightly, Spitfire looked over her shoulder at the agent. “Dash.” Spitfire said.

“What?” Dash growled.

“Leave her in your dust. I’ll handle these cadets.”

“With pleasure!” Dash sprinted to the end of the runway, the armored mare and Arora following.

“I’ll start you off.” Arora offered.

The two racers nodded. Dash moved to the runways end and got into her signature take off position. You are about to eat cloud buckethead!

The other mare got into position, dash could hear her mumbling under her breath. “Thrusters are cool… wing flaps are all good…”

“Aren't you going to get into a take off position?” Dash asked in a hostile tone.

“Nah, I’m VTOL.”

Dash rolled her eyes, Well I may not know what VTOL means but I can tell an overconfident mare when I see one! “You know what? I'm going to give you a ten second head start, just to make this race fair.”

“You are going to regret that.”

“Ahem…” Arora held her hoof up from her position off to the side. “On your mark… get ready… go!”

Dash hunkered down starting her count to ten. With a loud shrieking whistle the armored mare simply rose a few feet upwards then shot forwards! Four blue-white trails following her as she rapidly began to speed into the distance. “Woah! Ok, no head start!”

Dash jumped forwards, snapping her wings open and beating them furiously. She blazed along the runway, trailing a rainbow in her wake. Every muscle in her wings moved with practiced precision, within a few moments she drew up alongside the speeding pegasi sticking her tongue out as she began to overtake her. Ha! I’m barely even moving.

“Peregrine, thrusters to 40 percent.” Dash heard the mare order.

Dash had time to say “What?” before suddenly the other racer blue past her at twice her previous speed!

Dash’s eyes narrowed, she put on a surge of speed, the ground began to blue under her, clouds started to streak as they moved past. Once again she drew closer to the armored pegasi, once more she drew alongside, and once again the mare gave an order, “Thrusters to full!”

This time as her opponent blasted forwards Das’s eyes widened in shock as she saw the unmistakable mach contrail starting to form around the silvery blur the other mare had become. Her jaw dropped open, “No way!” How are you hitting mach that fast? I’ve never seen anypony besides me move that fast! “Oh I am not losing to some random agent!”

Dash pushed her wings with all of her might, she slowly began to gain ground, she thrust her hooved forwards. As she closed her eyes to concentrate she heard the other mare’s sonic boom. Her brow furrowed in concentration and as Rainbow’s eyes snapped open the air began to whistle past, then roar, then with a loud crack the unmistakable rainbow shockwave of her Sonic Rainboom shattered the sky behind her. Dash grinned widely as she shot past her opponent in a rainbow blaze. Ha! Lets see you catch up to me now! Ponyville is just a few seconds awa-

A loud thunderclap interrupted Dash’s thoughts, looking over her shoulder she saw the other mare wrapped in a cloak of lightning, riding one long crackling thunderbolt, hooves stretched out in a mirror of Dash's pose, only three pony lengths behind her. Her eyes widened in surprise, but then narrowed in victorious glee as Dash noticed that she was very slowly leaving the other mare behind. Ha! I’m still faster!

Ponyville flew towards them, town hall towering over all the other buildings. Dash turned towards sweet apple acres and headed down. Looks like I win! she grinned. Her hooves thudded into the ground as she skidded to a halt a full eight seconds before the other mare swept her hooves forwards, the lightning flying away from her in a flash as she reversed her thrust, hovered a few feet off the ground for a second then dropped to the earth.

“Look’s like I’m still Equestria’s best flyer!” Dash taunted, pumping one hoof in the air.

“That… was… awesome!” The armored mare exclaimed with more excitement then Dash had ever hear anyone use ever.

Hold on that sounds like…. “Scootaloo?” Dash asked, her eyes widening further as the mare took off her helmet, familiar orange fur and purple eyes visible behind a hood made from what looked like copper wire, fishing line, and brass links.

Scootaloo winked, and brought a hoof to her lips, “Shh!” Giving Dash a grin she quickly slipped her helmet back on.

“But...I… how?” Dash asked, her voice carrying an incredulous tone, “You flew!”

“I can’t tell you, let’s just say I made an amazing new friend and Princess Luna helped both of us out. I got to thank you too, I could never have flown that fast without knowing your tricks.”

“I… you flew!” Dash’s lips parted in one of the widest smiles she ever had.

“I flew!” Scoots replied, throwing her arms around Dash, “Thanks for the race sis.”

“You’re welcome Scoots.” Dash whispered, returning the hug as a happy tear rolled down her cheek.

Epilogue

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Epilogue

Celestia, Twilight, and Cadence sat on chairs especially brought into the Night Court’s audience hall for the occasion. Around them were seated the nobles of Equestria, at least those who bothered to attend the last minute meeting. Seated behind the rows of Dukes, Duchesses, Counts, and Countesses were the common ponies who had decided to attend the “Public Announcement”. Princess Luna stood behind a large podium set up in front of her throne which was currently hidden by a large white banner which bore Luna’s crescent moon coat of arms.

“Ponies of Equestria,” Luna began, speaking as loudly as she dared so everypony present could hear her words, “in recent days I have come to at last have a true sense of the modern Equestria. I ask your forgiveness for how long it has taken I beg you to understand that as an immortal I am somewhat slow to change. However one thing about me which shall never change is how deeply I care for the safety and prosperity of all those within my care. It is out of this sense of duty that I gather you all here today as witnesses for my first true act as Equestria’s guardian.”

The audience hall suddenly became abuzz with conversation. Luna gave everypony a few moments before holding up one hoof to silence the crowd. “I have watched many of your dreams, and I have read many reports regarding the state of our kingdom. Monsters roam the lands, there are those who go hungry because of problems beyond their control, and worst of all true threats to our land and culture both new and thought long dead assault us from every side all too often. My sister has created a band of heroes, the Element Bearers, she has also created a loose guild of volunteers who travel to remote locations and attempt to ward off threats to our land before they happen, and of course every major settlement has a regiment of guards to protect the citizens. But these protections are not enough.”

Once more the audience hall filled with the buzz of concerned conversation. This time Luna let the conversations die down, using the moment to glance at her sister’s face flinching at the suspicion upon it. “The Elements of Harmony must be used together, they can not be used in more than one place at a time. The Adventurer’s Guild is not a true military or even police force though they serve a valuable purpose. The City Guard, even my own Night Guard, are not trained to attack, only to defend. We also must be honest, how quickly do you remember the Canterlot Guard being overwhelmed during Queen Chrysalis’s attack upon our city? I for one remember it to be all too quickly.

“Because of these concerns I have decided we need another military force, one with the authority to patrol problem areas, track down dangerous criminals wherever they hide, and which can be sent anywhere Equestria Needs a shield to shelter it, and a sword to strike for it. While I do not have the authority to form a standing army on my own, I do have the authority to create new branches of the Office of Special Services. As stated in the Law of the Sun and Moon Chapter 14 Section 3 Paragraph 5, as ruler of the Night Court I Princess Luna hereby decree the creation of a new branch of my Special Service, the Lunar Crusader Corps.”

Luna winced as Celestia’s eyes narrowed, the crowd of assembled ponies broke out into roars of outrage, questioning shouts, and a few cries of approval. As the crowd’s discussions died down Twilight raised a hoof, “Luna, what powers will you be granting these… Crusaders?”

“My Crusaders have the right to a concealed identity, no pony save royalty may ask for their true name. They have the right to combat training, excluding mega spells. They have the authority to perform arrests and transport criminals. They have the right to bear arms, technological or magical in nature. They have the authorization to command other forces as if an officer of the lowest equivalent command rank.” Luna paused for a moment giving her sister a knowing look, “My sister, I see the wounded look upon your face. This is not a personal attempt at power. I do this for the safety of our nation. To prove my words I will allow you to assist in the creation of the Crusader’s Oath Spell, a curse which will ensure all volunteers for my Crusaders can not stray from their duties.”

Celestia blinked in surprise, “You are going to magically control these ponies? What are their duties?”

“No sister, they are free to do as they will, but they will be bound to: Protect the Innocent. Serve the Public Good. Keep the Peace. Be Honorable in their Actions. But most of all to be loyal to the Corps and to the sovereign rulers of Equestria. Command of my Crusaders will not be solely mine, for any major operation the four Princesses must agree to ‘Launch a Crusade’ as it were.”

The three other princesses discussed the matter amongst themselves for a time. As they spoke with one another the other ponies in the audience hall loudly argued back and forth. “Please ladies and gentle colts, I know this is a controversial development in your lives, but the next time a dragon attacks Manehatten, and at the same time Basilisks invade Trottingham you will be glad my Crusaders could assist you.”

Cadence raised a hoof, Luna nodding to let her speak, “Princess Luna, we have decided to stand by your decision on one condition. You must provide a demonstration of your Crusader’s capabilities within a week so we can assess how much danger they will be in should they bey sent on a mission. While your motivations are just and for the greater good, we cannot endanger the lives of any-”

“Commander Lightning Dash, please come to my side.”

There was a loud whoosh as a silver and red blur shot from behind the banner, the white silk thrown aside as a pegasi clad from head to hoof in an exotic suit of steel and a flowing red cloak sped to the princess’s side, hovering next to her on four pillars of light. “As you command my Princess!” she shouted in a metallic booming voice.

“Miss Rainbow Dash,” Luna asked, taking advantage o the stunned silence to address Dash who was seated just behind and to the left of Twilight, “I understand you raised the commander a day hence. Can you attest to her speed?”

Rainbow Dash nodded, “Yes your highness. Lightning nearly beat me in a fair race, even after my sonic rainboom. She is certainly one of the fastest pegasi in Equestria. But not quite as fast as me!”

Luna noded, smiling softly, “Commander, could you lift this podium please?”

Lightning Dash nodded and landed with a metallic thud, stepping over to the podium, placing two hooves on either side and lifting it over her head with ease.

“As you can see, my Crusaders will be strong, fast, agile, and their armor possesses more then enough tools for any mission they may need to undertake.” as Luna finished speaking Lighting returned the podium to the ground.

“How is she able to do these things?” Celestia asked, a look of surprise on her face, “I sense no magic within her aside from that in a normal pegasi!”

“A very specially talented mare designed the armor the Commander has on. It is a marvel of technology and magic. All of my Crusaders will possess a set.”

Twilight grinned, “The mystery mare!”

Celestia gave her a confused look, “Remember when I wrote you saying I believed I had found our thief?”

“Yes I do. Luna is this the same mare? May we meet her?”

Luna nodded, “Of course my sister but it must be another day. As a member of the Lunar Crusader Corps, only the four of us may know her and she has no armor with which to conceal her identity.”

The three princesses talked amongst themselves for a short time before nodding, Celestia standing up and speaking loudly enough for everypony to here, “So be it! The Lunar Crusader Corps have my permission to operate as intended by Princess Luna.”

Luna’s horn glowed as she levitated a new banner up from the floor and hung it on the left hand wall of her audience hall near her thrown. The banner was a bright red rectangle featuring a silver sword behind a golden shield decorated with the silver crescent moon. “From this day forwards Equestria has another team of guardians. Evil beware and good take head of the Lunar Crusaders!”

An Equestrian Odyssey: Lightning Dash

by TessiFlameheart

1 Scoot's Cripling Problem

2 Clandestine Research

3 Royal Investigation

4 Z-01 Peregrine

Epilogue