> Reaching for the Sky
>  by kenny26
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Equestria
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Transhumanism. To transcend humanity's biological limits, taking the reigns of evolution and giving them a healthy boost, to put it mildly. The DNI (Direct Neural Interface) is really what kicked things off. We had already made functional artificial bodyparts and even gotten down that long-sought-for art of avian flight, but the drones were unwieldy and ultimately only appealed to sci-fi enthusiasts. We had to tap directly into the mind to gain enough motorfunction to create the first truly bionic replacement limbs, but we went further than that. We were in the early stages and only with corporate funding and clever legal councelling, did we manage to get as far as we had...

...

I'm lying through my teeth. It was mostly classified research, black bag projects as some are fond of calling it. We neatly sidestepped the ethical minefield of acquiring test subjects by using it on ourselves. Tensions were on the rise across the globe. Already we seemed to have doomed ourselves with our technological hubris. I'm still not sure how we survived the invention of cross-continental nuclear warheads, but that was decades ago, before my time. Our research may have been just another such act of hubris, but we were hoping it would be the tool to prevent global warfare. We had just finished work on the first prototype exosuit and as much as I hate to admit it, the thing looked almost biblical, with a healthy helping of ancient Greek mythology thrown in there for good measure. It was modeled after my body and the thing moved by linking directly into my neural network, using the DNI which had been surgically implanted in my brain.

When I say it looked biblical, I'm of course refering to the wings on the back. Yes, completely functional avian wings, big and flexible, with enough power to take off standing (though the displaced air made it about as graceful as a chopper taking off). The chestguard was bulky, mimicing the flight bone on birds, to anchor the wing muscles.

Next came the legs and the tail, because strictly speaking, you couldn't really land the thing without breaking both of your legs on impact. So we modeled these anthropomorphic hind legs where the heel rears up to the height of a human's shinbone. It fit onto the foot and the rest of the leg, with more artificial muscle fiber laced through the leg bardings, adding to the human musclepower. Anchored to the suit, situated just over the lower back, was the tail needed for steering in the air. It was built to resemble two tails, actually, fully prehensile with a membrane stretched between them. The end result was something not unlike a swallow's tail, but collapse the membrane and the tails joined together like a third limb. Mounting a blade at the end of that just sort of seemed to top it off.

Then came the rest which was essentially just armor to avoid leaving the arms and head exposed to the elements. We added some artificial muscle fiber to those arms as well, just for good measure. The helmet came with a folding visor, communications system, Heads-Up-Display and a respirator, extending the lower half of the mask into a snout, fitting with the chimera-style mixing bowl of borrowed animal parts. The whole thing split down the middle and retracted to either side of the helmet.

It only took one prank involving a quick paintjob to make the MLP reference. Even the feet were just cylinders with hydraulic shockabsorbers, and so it was known as the Pegasus Frame. While I didn't appreciate the Rainbow Dash reference (I'm not a brony, but I seemed to have some working in the RnD labs), I didn't mind the name all that much.

If you're with me this far (and I applaud you for trying, this crap sounds utterly outlandish, even to me), then you may be wondering how the human brain - that already struggles with just moving four limbs - is going to handle new legs, a tail and wings, not to mention honest to god flight. The answer is code. Lots of computer code. I'll spare you the technobabble and dumb it down a bit. Normal computing is binary, 0 or 1, On or Off. With a quantum computer, particles seem to have no problems existing in two places at once, or not at all from moment to moment, so the binary system can't really keep up when individual numbers can be 0 or 1 or both 0 and 1 at the same time. In short, it gives us immense computing power, cranking mass amounts of data on bird flight and other feats of motorcontrol.

Hook that up to the DNI and you have the brain feeding the computer lines of code at the speed of thought, and the computer can keep up without breaking a sweat. In fact, it tends to blur the borders of reality when you feel your wings are as much a part of your body as your flesh-and-blood limbs. We had to install a reality filter and it was a good thing, too. Because the next step was sort of Out There, even for us and after the stuff I've just told you about, that's something.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence. It began with uploading or copying knowledge straight from the brain (my brain in fact) to lay a baseline for human movement, to be molded into a script that could help control the wings and tail. It turns out the quantum computer does have a limit both in the number of codes it can store and the speed at which it can run that code, but I'll be damned if we didn't get close to replicating a thinking, self-amplifying intellect. One that immediately began to rewrite its own code. It might have been a fluke or maybe my morals are stronger than I've been led to believe when I look back at what we did, but the A.I. did not launch its own version of skynet or anything like that. It was based on my brain, so it came as no surprise when the thing expressed a sense of humor and even empathy. With an articulate voice (albeit still a bit of machine static, just enough to sound less than human) and even the ability to feed words and thoughts directly into my mind, I really needed that reality filter. Essentially it's just a firewall, blocking most of the machine's control, but also inhibiting its contributions, much like a real firewall does. So I stayed sane (if I still qualified at that point) and with the machine intelligence handling the mental stress of having wings and a tail, the Pegasus Frame was a monumental success.

Running with hydraulic shockabsorbing 'hooves' on extended, flexing legs with metalic muscle fiber laced through the suit, I broke 30 MPH easy and the muscle burn was reduced significantly. I coult sprint for hours if I paced myself. With a running jump, I cleared 30 feet tall obstacles like they were steps on a staircase and that meant I could take off and catch enough air to unfold my wings. The wingspan measured 40 feet fully outstretched and the whole thing was featherlight, using cutting edge carbon bindings making it stronger than steel. The membrane for the wings and tail was only possible thanks to nanotechnology and when it retracted, it fit fully inside the tail and wing frames, allowing them to fold several times and almost disappear behind my back.

The whole thing is powered by eletricity, using excess body heat, kinetic energy from my movements and solar energy. We developed a type of solar cell that could literally be applied to the membranes like a coat of paint. The final result was virtually self-sustaining energy and personal transportation to rival anything previously seen in the technological era.

These suits were going to become a production line, but just my prototype had a truly astronomical fee attached to it. Still, it was our hope that we would be able to provide an alternative, something to compete with the firepower that seemed to already engulf the globe. You will notice a few things I haven't mentioned at this point.

One is weaponry. The Pegasus Frame has none. Just staggering mobility and nigh-impenetrable armor plating, as much to protect the suit as the one wearing it.

Another is names. My name, my company, the people involved, even nationalities. You will forgive me if I won't be doing any name-dropping, since I did just admit to commiting all kinds of hubris, chiefly among them, the creation of the first ever A.I. molded after my own brain patterns.

I have mentioned we had access to quantum computers and we were not the only ones. Whatever research such a machine is applied towards is going to take great leaps forward. I have also mentioned my own moral integrity and a lack of any real firepower on the Pegasus Frame. This is no coincidence, as I am, at least in principle, a pacifist. Our task was to be the opposal of other organizations that had their own Research and Development labs. The most secretive of these were independent corporate projects, headed by monolithic business empires. Rivalries were intense and money could buy the support of local government figures. In that world, it was not so much a question of breaking the law as it was one of enforcing your own. Several big world powers had their own departments across the globe, speaking their mother tongues and structuring their departments in strict hierarchies. In certain urban areas you could go for days without hearing a single word not spoken in Japanese, Russian, German, Chinese or Korean. These foreign conglomorates would vie for control of business sectors to the point where the majority of the population in big cities were all knowingly or unknowingly on the payroll of one of these megacorps. Many of these companies were weapons manufactorers and supplied the army with cutting edge smartguns and even biological warfare. Our own company was similar to these but founded on different principles. Where we had built a suit of armor and kept the weapons technology to the level of smallarms weaponry, rivaling companies were gearing up for warfare. One of these were in the process of testing teleportation devices. Already one city had been targeted by a warhead that had mysteriously appeared out of thin air. While the media were suppressing the details of the strike, the world was still on the verge of panic. Corporate espionage had yielded information on the location of the only known working device that could have punched a whole in space to deliver the attack.


Board of Directors meeting earlier that week - Location classified


"Has the new prototype been tested yet?" the question hung in the air, the atmosphere in the room stifling. At the head of a long glass table, the CEO sat looking at the lead developer who cleared his throat nervously.

"Well not as such, no..."

"A few controlled lab tests have been made and we believe the suit is ready," a smooth voice cut in besides him. He leveled a glare at his assistent that went ignored as the CEO pressed on.

"And the pilot? Is he up to the job?" the thickset man was looking to the assistent now, his face creased with worry lines.

"Considering that the onboard AI was molded by replicating his neural structure, yes I think he is the only one qualified to pilot the thing," the slender, much younger looking assistent went on, weathering another glare from his senior.

"Have the suit and pilot prepped in 72 hours," the CEO went on. The lead developer could not help but voice his concern.

"But surely we need more-"

"You read the headlines this morning, yes?" a voice cut in from across the table. Helplessly, the increasingly nervous lead developer turned to look at the speaker.

"The delivery device on the bombing is a cover-up," the sleek haired, smooth voiced man went on. He had an ageless face, grafted for cameras. He went on, answering the unspoken question written on the lead developer's face. "To put it simply, there was no delivery device. The warhead appeared from thin air as far as we can tell-" the room then erupted into heated conversation, several voices speaking over one another.

"But teleportation technology is just a myth!"

"Did you check the surveilance-"

"- have no indication that any such thing was possible."

"Negative read-outs on road traffic-"

Finally the CEO cut through the babble. "Silence!" he looked over each of the increasingly irrate board members. "It appears teleportation is now a reality. An informant has reached out to us and brought sensitive information to us. The warhead did appear without a delivery device and our source at a suspected research site indicated that power-consumption spiked moments before detonation. Such technology must not be allowed to exist. I want the AI deployed to collect as much data as possible before destroying that device."


The night of the assault


The Pegasus Frame is fully equipped to handle a drop from the upper atmosphere. Possessing a radar and energy signature no greater than that of an eagle, such a jump was planned to drop me into the remote and hidden research site. The horrid paintjob did actually match the blue color of the sky, not that I was counting on that to help me much.

With virtually zero air resistance for the first part of the drop, my HUD and onboard A.I. - I named him SAM (Simulated Artificial Mind - he even got the joke) - both insisted that I broke the sound barrier early. For the greater part of the drop we were going somewhere around Mach II. As we descended into the atmosphere, the wings and tail did actually help, along with the rest of the suit, to reduce drag. The aerodynamic design left the helmet elongated to look like something out of Alien. With my body angled in a straight dive and my head tilted back, I cut through the air like a needle. SAM used only a fraction of the wing- and tail membranes to control my steering.

As I neared the target enemy base, heavily fortified with anti-aircraft misiles, drones and human soldiers, I should remind you that I am a pacifist in principle, but the reality goes a bit beyond that, sadly. I have combat training to the point of mastering several forms of martial arts and my tail as mentioned, came with a bayonet. I also have firearms training and with an onboard A.I. with limited control of a suit laced with artificial muscle fiber, and a HUD with a crosshair linked up to a smartgun, my accuracy is downright creepy. I have a small bullpup configuration automatic rifle (that's where the mag is situated behind the grip, diminishing recoil and shortening the weapon) strapped to my thigh. It features two barrels, one slender topside barrel for live ammo and the other, slightly thicker barrel capable of firing pellets of shockabsorbant gel (we call them gel rounds). In short, I can kill or cripple you in a staggering number of ways, up close or as far as a mile away on a clear day. Sadly the gel rounds aren't that aerodynamic so only live ammo will have a chance of scoring at hit long range.

I made it surprisingly far, already skimming over their rooftops by the time the first sharpshooters started scoring hits. The armor soaked it up beatifully. It can even sustain multiple headshots, though I do not recommend relying on that for protection. 

The enhanced physical strength of the suit's artificial muscle helped a great deal, allowing me to kick down several reinforced doors and even kick holes through thin walls to get to where SAM insisted their power consumption was off the charts. In other words, the teleportation device was still live. I'm sorry to say, this is where the memories start to break up...

SAM in conjunction with the reality filter both supply excellent psychological trauma relief, even blocking a few forms of physical stimuli, like pain. They monitor my mental and physical health at all times, ensuring that I don't succumb to fear or pain, and they keep my agression in line, allowing me to conserve ammo and only return fire when I'm sure to get a hit. That coupled with my reluctance to kill should have made an excellent case why I wouldn't go haywire, but... and there is always a but...

The same system also boosts my immune system and more importantly, adrenaline and hormones. SAM to this date has not expressed any difficulty with watching humans suffer as they die. He feels sufficiently removed from them, a different species and the machine intellect that makes up his conscience is both superior and inferior to humans in several ways. With immeasurably big databanks concerning human psychology and anatomy, he makes an effective soldier in his own right and in the event of me suffering a blackout, he takes full control of the suit, puppeteering my body. He knows however that for optimal performance, he has to get around the reality filter and 'persuade' me to take his analytical approach to things, unburdened by conscience. It's all set up very neatly so that I am absolved of the most heineous elements of the crime, retaining my own moral beliefs before and after activating what he calls Optimized Combat Performance. Basically, I snap. I go all-out, utilizing every aspect of my transhuman body to carve a sheer path of destruction straight through whatever hell I've landed myself in. Afterwards the reality filter kicks back in and my brain shuts down, blocking out certain gruesome details and I'm left remembering fragments of the events as I recover.

Why did I let them do this to me again...? Oh right, teleporting nukes. The world makes so much more sense now, thank you...

So we're coming up to the point where I fail to accurately describe what took place, but I know I reached the teleportation unit (I remember a circular configuration of black monoliths and a bright light) and presumably it activated one last time before I was able to detonate a few satchels of plastic explosives. It still boggles my mind that I remote-detonate bombs with my mind. Yeah, the DNI allows me to use wireless interface. I used it for browsing the web, too.

Well, finally we begin to reach the part many of you have been waiting for. Sorry for taking a while getting there, I'm not a brony, okay? Besides, if what I've supplied so far has failed to leave you with a big build-up, then clearly you're not all that into sci-fi, not that I blame you. But yes, I did wake up exactly where you think I did.

Equestria... I could tell right away because of the upside-down brightly colored talking head of a pony outlined against the trees filled with cute little fuzzy animals as I lay on my back, rediscovering the concept of pain.

...

Fuck...
> Waking Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, when I left off, I - a scientist/soldier too paranoid to reveal my name - had just done one last impossible deed in a whole chain of impossible deeds, the least of which being the piloting of a winged exosuit straight into a heavily fortified military structure. So I awoke in Equestria with a talking pony staring down at me, leaning over my head, asking me questions.

I was not trained to withstand this level of interrogation. First of all, I was as mentioned, rediscovering the very concept of pain. I went straight from oh-shit-I-can't-feel-my-anything to I-feel-my-everything-and-it's-on-fire-stuffed-full-of-broken-glass. It didn't help that I couldn't understand a word the pony was saying (myth debunked: Equestrian ≠ English).

Getting back to the pony, I'm sure you're expecting a vivid description... It was female and had a buttercream coat and strawberry pink hair, which I'm sure you want me to call a mane, but really, it hung like a curtain on each side of her face, like real, long, feminine hair. The eyes were teal and they seemed to be staring into the depths of my soul. Now I'm sure I didn't think anything of it then (I had other things on my mind - pain, pain and more pain), but real equestrian ponies do not look like flash animations. The texture and shape of the creature is too real, too richly detailed that this could have been a fabrication of my mind. Trust me, with quantum computer graphics feeding images, sights, scents and sounds directly into the brain, I had vast experience distinguishing a computer generated reality from the real thing, or telling when I was hallucinating. We had to run into problems that necessitated the creation of a reality filter before we could think to make such a thing. So yes, I've been tested and proven capable of knowing exactly when I've gone insane, and how severely. Even before SAM and the reality filter, we had enough access to psychological councelling that I was diagnosed as completely sane two weeks into the rehabilitation following the first mental breakdown.

So there I lay, so extremely certain of my own sanity and my capacity to experience pain. The latter kept me mostly paralyzed, unable to respond to Fluttershy's inqueries. Yes, I later learned the names of all the Mane 6. I might not be a brony, but I had wireless internet hardwired into my brain. Obviously I googled it after that paint job. Oh yeah... Fluttershy was not just looking at a human, but likely a truly surreal hybridization between her fellow pegasus and a human, and she's never seen the latter. So yes, reminding myself that the alien was probably just as scared of me, I resolved to soothe the terrified pegasus, but pain... yeah, it just wasn't going to happen.

Then something truly astonishing happened. I know, I've lost my right to use such words at least a page ago, but I'm using it anyway. Yes, astonishing, because I had not heard anything from SAM and the reality filter must not have been engaged, otherwise the pain would be very managable no matter how severe. Then the HUD comes online, feeding me data like voice pitch, facial recognicion (apparantly already adapted to reading Equestrian faces, though I knew SAM had memory banks on human expressions, but not pony faces, I checked), and Fluttershy's archaic babble of words starts to distort until I am possitive I picked up the word 'okay' replacing whatever word her real voice was saying. Before I can even respond, SAM's digital voice (he sounds like my voice speaking through radio static) breathes out the word:

"E-e-eeequestrian..."

That's why he'd been so silent. The quantom processor that housed his inhuman mind could as mentioned be tested up to a certain, albeit astronomical limit of computing power. Apparantly he'd been stressing over the communication issue. Even as I lay there helplessly watching Fluttershy recoil in a mixture of horror and fascination (and the HUD showed spikes in heartbeat, breathing and stress in general, thank you head-computer) SAM was piecing it together, the language that is. He was teaching us both Equestrian almost as quickly as Fluttershy had spoken it, but I'm assuming he did a lot of guesswork with absolutely zero knowledge to go on apart from what he was reading with his self-modified facial expression recognition software (say that five times in a row). It had to be that or the voice stress analyzer. He had nothing else to go on, except maybe the show. Actually, yeah, I'm pretty sure he'd made some snide remark about the My Little Pony show after he'd discovered the dye job on what he perceives to be his body. Was he really just imagining Fluttershy's reaction to a wounded animal? At any rate, it worked. In a matter of seconds, he was live-streaming a word-by-word translation directly into my language center (the part that allows you to think with an inner voice). I was understaning her as clearly as if I'd been watching an episode on the TV.

"Oh goodness! You look hurt, c-can you talk?" she hesitantly moved back into my field of vision, looking down at me from my head end.

"Yes and yes..." I was baffled to hear my own voice croak out, not SAM's deadpan radio chatter. I'd thought the words in english, but somewhere from thought to execution, whatever translation program SAM was coding had intercepted the message and I spoke in some approximation of Equestrian. That must also be why I was feeling the pain. The reality filter was still being supressed, to allow this communication, and as luck would have it, SAM was just informing me on the small screen projected on the inside of my visor, that he was using too much processing power to do all that, and thus couldn't handle steering the suit with me. It was all basically deadweight on my broken body, but a quick diagnostics check had assured him that I needed to quit QQ'ing and get moving. Yes, even in the chat window, he had a sense of humor.

I sucked in a big lungful of air, but only after several tries. The breath would hitch in my throat, sounding almost on the verge of breaking into a sob, but I'd be damned if I was caught crying in front of a talking pony. It turned out SAM had the right of it, I just needed to rely on my own brain to override the pain and before long, I'd flipped onto my stomach, bracing against the grass covered ground with my knees and elbows, working my way towards an undignified crawl. Fluttershy was fretting over me every step of the way.

"Oh dear, oh dear! M-maybe you shouldn't try getting up just yet... Uhm, if that's okay with you..." she seemed to retreat behind that veil of hair, terrified that her suggestion might have been too strongly worded. If only she could've known the profanities SAM was spamming my screen with to motivate me. He even screamed at me in my mind, using my own voice. Get Up! On. Your. Feet. Maggot! Are you really this weak, Samuel?! Yeah, I think I'll use that as my name. I know he shared my reluctance in giving up our true identities to just about anyone, so he'd taken to calling me Samuel, an extension of his own nickname, on the few occasions where he was forced to speak to me out loud using his synthethized replica of my voice. Funny thing is, it worked. Before SAM was created, or whatever you wanna call it, I would berate myself during exercise training, using my inner voice exactly like SAM was doing right now, to motivate myself. I graduated from a crawl to actually getting up on my knees, straightening my upper body with a groan. At least my wings were folded in when I'd landed, or I wouldn't have been able to maneuvre like that on the ground.

Wait... how high up in the air was I when I appeared? Right, that explained the pain. So yeah, on my knees facing Fluttershy, I realised ponies were ironically slightly smaller than well, ponies. What I mean is, I'd seen earth ponies (ugh, not Earth Ponies! Ponies from planet Earth, thank you!) on ranches before and their backs were chest-high to the ranchers. Fluttershy was just barely taller than I was sitting on my knees. Her torso (I guess you want me to call it barrel?) was about the same mass as a human's torso and her legs were slender, not unlike our limbs in proportion, but she was a quadruped. Assuming I could get to my feet (my real feet, the Pegasus Frame's legs were also retracted, folded up at the small of my back), her back would just fail to clear my hip.

I was thankful for the visor covering my face. Not only did the display provide a plethora of data regarding atmospheric pressure (earth norm), oxygen levels (also earth norm if not slightly higher), the position of the sun in the sky (which meant I had a working clock, estimating the time to be 14:24), as well as continuing to accumulate data on Equestrian speech, but the mask also concealed my agonized expression as I braced my hands on one knee, forcing my body to unfold and stand up fully. I didn't even stagger.

"Oh goodness...!" Fluttershy's eyes widened as she gazed upon me in my full height. I must've looked huge, especially with the exosuit which ironically gave my chest a more familiar barrel shape, like that of a horse, or so I assumed. The helmet also had the respirator integrated, giving me a snout just below my eyes which were obscured by the eliptic shapes of my toned visor. It really did look like a set of big, grey almond-shaped eyes, shockingly similar to the shape of Fluttershy's eyes, only slanted the other way so they looked more angry than droopy. Also, let me debunk another myth here: Real Equestrian ponies' eyes do not take up 60% of their faces. In reality, their eyes are huge, yes, but the cartoon did exaggerate. They're about 50-100% bigger in diameter compared against a human's eyeballs. They are also front facing and like the show, the ponies are at least partly anthropomorphic in that they have faces with cute little snouts instead of noses. Yes, the fuzzy ears also move like in the show. Fluttershy's were folded back against her skull in fear or as a submissive gesture. I'm assuming the former.

It then occured to me that I'd only spoken a few words to her. I took a breath, still trying to regain full lung capacity. I likely had a few bruised ribs from the fall (diagnostics from SAM confirmed this). After pausing just half a beat too long for it to seem natural, I managed to speak in a level voice, and again, SAM live-translated my words into Equestrian by making my lips say what his program thought I should say, instead of what I was actually trying to say.

"I'm alright, or I will be. Just give me a minute. Where's the nearest town from here? Oh, you can call me Samuel." It looked like SAM's nickname for me was going to become a thing here as well. Better that than using my real name.

Fluttershy stared pensively at me, perhaps sensing more than I was trying to show, but she nodded her head, probably reasoning with herself that she should get the alien to the hospital, if not for medical care then for quarantine and/or autopsy. Right, I am being unfair. I'd heard enough about the show to know how lovey-dovey these ponies were supposed to be.

"Ponyville is just up ahead," she gestured, using her front hoof to point. Wait, did my translater short out? Ponyville?

Fluttershy nodded her head demurely, once again averting her eyes, retreating behind the curtain of pink hair. Damn, had I said that out loud? Oh well. I managed a nod of my head and we both started walking through the lush, green woods, bypassing several forest critters, but not before Fluttershy had stopped and adressed each one.

"Shh, it's okay, he's just a big guy who needs a little Kindness..." she soothed one particularly skeptical looking squirrel. The freaky part is that the squirrel seemed to nod its head and then run along. Also, don't ask me how I heard the capitalized K in Kindness, I just did.

So we walked at a steady pace. My strides were longer than hers, but several times I would have to slow down to recover my breath, hauling the weight of the exoskeletal Pegasus Frame as well as my equipment, all of it extremely light-weigt, but still notably cumbersome in my weakened state. I had a feeling she was adjusting her pace to mine. Having four legs probably helped things moving along. Regardless, she guided my banged up body at a respectable shuffle along a well-trotten path and before long, I could see the bright splashes of color that made up Ponyville. The HUD even zoomed in on several buildings, comparing them against what SAM already knew. Somehow it did not shock me that he'd read up on MLP at some point. Unleash a newly created AI and allow it internet access (read-only, we weren't insane) and it would stock up on a staggering amount of information to the point of seizing upon any topic brought up, no matter how obscure. So now I had a plethora of information at my behest, such as floating name tags identifying this building as Carrousel Boutique and that one as Bon-bon's shop [source critic; Bon-bon is a fanon name], and that tree was apparantly Twilight Sparkle's library. I just couldn't help myself, I began to laugh. That hurt like hell and my laughter degraded into a coughing fit, once again making Fluttershy worry. Twilight Sparkle? Don't they mean Twilight vampires Sparkle? Ah, nevermind... 

You probably wanna kill me badly enough as it is.

...

Fine! I'll stop making fun of the ponies...

So yeah, I was able to see the names of the residents of all the known buildings, but there was a surprising number of unlabeled buildings. As we got closer to the outskirts of town, my handy MLP software recognized and labeled several ponies, but none of them had the Mane 6 subheading that was hovering just below Fluttershy's name (yes, she'd gotten her own label at some point). I was assuming there were 6 main characters in the show, and I'm only slightly ashamed to admit that I was finding the horse puns more and more hillarious by the minute. Everytime Fluttershy spoke, I would hear the words translated to english and the puns were included as she continued to worry.

"Oh my, I didn't know what I would find when I saw that bright flash in the sky, but I saw somepony fall and I just had to come make sure nopony was seriously hurt..." as she spoke the last half of the sentense, she turned her head to look back at me, (how does she even know where she's going?) an unspoken accusation clearly written across her adorable face; you're more hurt than you're letting on.

Thankfully we'd reached civilization and now commanded the attention of practically every passerby. They would stop and stare into my soul (but not manage to peer as deeply as Fluttershy did with a mere glance), and whisper among themselves, keeping a safe distance, wary of my biped nature and unhealthy shuffle. We arrived at what I can only assume was the hospital. SAM for whatever reason could not make a qualified guess as to the meaning of their written language. Immediately Doctor Whooves [fanon, citation needed] and Nurse Tenderheart [fanon] rushed out to see what the commotion was about, stopping when they saw what I can only assume looked like a massive, shuffling bright blue biped with a dead, expressionless, stoic face and unseeing, grey toned eyes. To their credit, they didn't run away screaming and Fluttershy took her time to explain the situation. Just as it seemed they were going to trust her opinion, nodding their heads, the world became blurry as some recess of my mind confirmed medical attention is assured, rest now. And I did. The crash must have been spectacular. I was later shown the dent my helmet had made in their doorjamb.

...

Wonderful.
> Swift Recovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Passing out from physical or psychological trauma, sadly isn't new to me. One of my great comforts is that SAM is always there, hellbent on getting me back in working condition. Hearing his voice in my mind has become oddly soothing to me. You'd think having an entity invade your thoughts like that would be uncomfortable, but SAM was created from a template of my mind. We're similar in more than a few ways and if I have to right to create sentience, then I shouldn't complain when said sentience feels a bit attached to me.

Relax, you're safe, for now, his robotic voice spoke into my mind.

Where...? I hadn't even formulated the question before memories flooded into my mind's eye. Fluttershy had found me, we'd walked to Ponyville (still getting used to that name), and I'd passed out on the doorstep to what I can only assume is the hospital. Before the absurdity of the situation could make my mind reel, I suddenly felt my emotions being contained by unseen forces; the reality filter was back on. That meant no pain, either. Sweet.

I heard voices talking over me. I felt the bedsheets, careful not to stir my body, which was apparantly no longer enveloped by the Pegasus Frame. The voices were indistinct, their meaning lost to me. I guess SAM was done playing google translate for the time being. The Equestrian language has a melodic quality to it. I imagine this was what Tolkien had attempted to do when he invented a language for magical fairytale beings, but hearing a true spoken language was much more vivid. You can't sit down one afternoon and create a language; it's shaped by trends and culture through centuries of evolution.

So even if I couldn't tune in on the subject of their conversation, the point is, the language conveyed plenty of emotion and clearly, I was the topic of their conversation. Fluttershy and the Doctor were the only speakers present, but their voices sounded guarded; they were being watched by someone, and I'd only just come to. Who else was in the room?

"Samuel, you're awake," the robotic drone cut through the conversation, adressing me in english.

Both ponies froze and Fluttershy squeeked (even I find that noise adorable). So SAM was sitting somewhere in the room, staring at them. No wonder they were a bit creeped out. I managed to raise my head off my pillow and open my eyes, squinting against the glare of the setting sun as they rays shone through the small, paned windows in the wooden structure. The gharish green curtains and the obligatory potted plant on the nightstand immediately gave off a vibe of hospital.

The two ponies were standing at the foot end of my bed, my feet dangling off the end of the too-short steel frame of the hospital bed. SAM was using the Pegasus Frame without me in it, and it's always a curious sight. He can collapse the chest guard, leggings and sleeves, compacting the entire thing, giving it a slender, almost feline look. The equine hindlegs were shortened considerably to match the length of the arms and the shoulders were pulled under the frame, supporting its weight. The overall effect was a very successful quadruped body with hoof-shaped hindlegs and claw-like frontpaws. The suit also had a spine built-in to absorb the shock that would normally be put on my spine during long drops, and without my cumbersome body to stiffen up the suit, the spine could contort and lengthen at will. It was actually part of the tail and in his quadruped form, he used that tail to balance, like a cat. With the empty mask attached to the top of the spine, SAM even had a working 'head' and as mentioned, it looked more ponylike than my face ever could. He could even make those dull, eliptic optics light up like subtley glowing eyes.

Currently, SAM was sitting in the corner, coolly regarding the ponies until his attention had turned to me. Fluttershy looked like she was about ready to faint and Doctor Whooves was trying not to look too shaken, but even the good doctor had never seen anything like us. He adjusted his spectacles and wiped his brow with a foreleg, once more making my mind reel from the way their limbs seemed to double as both hands and feet as needed.

"The good Doctor was a bit alarmed with your condition, but I assured him that the nanite hives were already repairing any internal injuries you might've suffered. He was very perplexed when he sensed the absense of a certain substance in your system. Apparantly, 'magic' saturates this entire world and everything in it. We're not on Earth anymore..." his monotonous voice droned on. I could even hear the quotation markers around the word magic.

Oh, right, he mentioned nanite hives. Time for more technobabble. Nanotechnology had allowed us to create truly miniscule robotic drones and mass fabricate these, injecting them into the bloodstream where they would form a symbiosis, living off body heat and repairing damaged cells. They even managed to surgically implant a small factory or hive if you will, producing more nanites when the old ones were expelled through bloodloss or simply ceased to function. So while the Doctor might not sense any of this magic in my body, his concerns were unnecessary. I could already feel functionality returning to my body, though it wasn't like I was granted rapid regeneration. My body's ability to repair itself just peaks when I am at rest, and judging by the position of the sun in the sky, I'd been out for a few hours.

Feeling well enough to sit up, I swung my legs off the side of the bed, putting my feet on the cold floor. I guess you're eager for a description. Well, I'm as mentioned, human, so that should give you something to go off of. I'm about 6 feet tall, caucacian. Long dark-brown hair, usually tied back in a ponytail (try not to laugh), short-trimmed beard around my muzzle, complete with a goatee that I like to twirl with my fingers when I'm feeling particularly villainous. My eyes are deep brown, my brows are thick and my body is lean and athletic. As you can imagine, I have quite a few battlescars, most of them bullet holes, but a few cuts and burns, too. Nothing extremely marring though. My face, luckily, has never been uglied up by an explosion or a blade. At the time, I was wearing my flight suit, which is made to make it easier to fit inside the Pegasus Frame. Basically, it's a set of black tights and a longsleeved top, covering me from neckline down to my toes. The top had been unzipped and pulled down around my waist, revealing my upper body and the bit of curly chest hair that failed to cover my pinkish skin or nipples. I could see the dark, blackish-blue bruises on my ribcage and abdomen, but those were already mending.

From the way the two ponies were staring, I'm lucky I didn't burst into flames. I usually don't feel too self-conscious about my body, but in this case I could definately feel the burn in my cheeks. A quick glance at my right arm confirmed that they hadn't tried to remove the black glove that covered everything up to my elbow.

The Doctor was the first to regain his composure as he spoke at length in the melodic Equestrian tongue. All I had to do was to glance over his shoulder at SAM and the Pegasus Frame. The slick, blue feline creature sat more upright, turning to face me. The visor/face split down the middle, unfolding a thin plasma screen and immediately, he began scrolling translations across the screen like subtitles. He even had different color codes for the speakers.



"Well, it seems our patient has made a swift recovery. I've never seen anything quite like it."


He sounded oddly cheerful, ignoring the scrolling translations behind him.

Fluttershy seemed more than a bit creeped out by the sight of the robotic ponyhybrid splitting its face open to write cryptic glyphs everytime either of them spoke, but she did contribute to the conversation.



"Y-yes, he seems to be doing better, but he really wasn't when I found him out there all by himself on the ground..."


She lowered her gaze, scraping cutely at the floor with one front hoof, once again retreating behind her curtain of pink hair.

The Doctor once again narrowed his eyes and his horn glowed soft gold as he apparantly used magic on me. I tensed, expecting to feel just about anything from euphoria to intense agony, but it never came, and by the look of the Doctor's face, I wasn't supposed to feel anything, either. However, his findings once again seemed to trouble him and he shook his head pensively, cupping his chin with one hoof (I tell you, it still freaks me out when they do that).



"It really does seem like the tall fellow can exist without magic. Not even a little Earth Pony magic in his bones... But I have to agree, the ape is healing right before our eyes."



Really, ape? I gave him a deadpan stare and it took him a minute before he got the impression that I was mildly offended by something he said. Fluttershy was faster on the uptake.



"Oh, yes. He's a very strong looking ape though. I think he's... nice..."


She scraped some more at the floorboards with her hoof.

I sighed in exasperation. They didn't mean any harm, and for all I knew, apes were well-regarded in this place. I decided to speak my piece then, trusting SAM to run translations for them, and sure enough, his robotic drone copied me confidently, relaying every word in Equestrian.

"Yes, clearly I'm new here. My name is Samuel and the fellow behind you is SAM. I'm glad you found me when you did and I'm sorry if we gave you a bit of a scare. I represent a species called Humans, the only sapient species in our world. My arrival here happened entirely by accident and the technology that brought me here is no more."

Well, that about summed things up. Both ponies just stood there, staring for a little while, not sure if they ought to be looking at me or my translator. Well, saying it out loud did sort of take the winds out of my sails. I hadn't realised until I'd spoken just then, but it was true. The only device that could've brought me here, blew up. Even if I'd failed the mission, they would have no way of knowing where I'd ended up. I'm certain their first guess wouldn't be Equestria...

Still, I tried not to deflate too visibly in front of the ponies. After all, I had just sort of crash landed in their world and they had every right to turn me away if they found me too dangerous.

The Doctor spoke up once more, now used to the slight delay in communication. We could toss sentenses back and forth pretty easily by that time. Summarizing things, my arrival had caused a bit of a scare in Ponyville, but the residents were mostly curious and concerned for my well-being, having no reason to suspect danger. That was sweet, if a bit naïve. After all, I did just come flying straight out of the biggest nuclear scare my world had ever seen... I kept that bit of trivia to myself though, only speaking for myself whenever the Doctor or 'Shy had questions, of which there were many.

My diet was brought up. They'd both recognized the incissors and knew right away that I wasn't a herbivore, but they weren't as terrified by this prospect as I'd feared. Turns out they have regular interactions with a whole range of omnivorious and even carnivorous beasts, all of them sapient. Even the cows could speak. That just killed my longing for steak, never to be heard from again. Moo? No thanks, I'm good...

Among other topics we touched upon, obviously they were curious about my eerie companion and his sudden aptitude with their language. Equestrians had never even heard of computers, so explaining even the most basic questions proved difficult. In the end, we had established that he was an artificial being, complete with thoughts and feelings. Curiously, they didn't think this was unethical, but they both seemed to refer to their deities and defacto rulers, wishing to consult with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna on the nature of my companion. Twilight Sparkle was also named as the local go-to guru on just about anything unexplainable.

As it turns out, the Equestrians were both very trusting and very kind spirited, greeting me with only slightly subdued cheers and greetings when I first appeared, walking under my own power out the hospital doors, with the quadrupedic Pegasus Frame piloted by SAM, trailing close behind me. Most atonishing was that with every minute of observation, he learned to mimic the bearings and mannerisms of a true Equestrian pony, even using cadences and local dialect to fit in. His otherworldly nature was not nearly as off-putting in a world where the ponies kept pets and assistants that included (but were not limited to), dogs, cats, baby aligators, dragons, owls, cows, pigs, chickens, donkeys and mules. I think the latter two were considered to be sapient beings equal to ponies, but even their livestock was treated with a kind, neighbourly cheer and the animals had no desire to free themselves of their masters.

I met with the mayor, curiously only ever refered to as Mayor Mare. Hmm, maybe I ought to run for office. I could be Mayor Man. Curious, that. The words hand, man, hell and most human profanities, simply did not translate to Equestrian. They did however use terms like girl and lady, but just as often refered to such individuals as fillies and mares. They had little trouble using their Equestrian labels to describe me and I was refered to casually as that stallion, I was somepony, I was a dude according to Spike, the baby dragon, but I was not a pony. They seemed to draw the line only when it came to classifying my actual species, but in casual speech, I was no different than they.

By this time the nanites had just about repaired my most crippling injuries and the reality filter was no longer fully supressing the pain, letting it manifest as soreness in my limbs everytime I moved. I didn't really mind. I was thouroughly occupied talking to just about every pony that dared approach either myself or the Pegasus Frame. Before we knew it, the sun had set and everyone, or should I say everypony, was ready to retreat to their houses and dwellings.

I had to politely refuse several offers to put me up with lodgings for the night. Even Fluttershy was assertive enough to approach me several times, but I just had too much on my mind and sleep was the furthest from any of my desires. Looking up at the nightsky, I was stunned into silence with the way the moon and stars would literally fly into the sky, replacing the sun in mere seconds with an entire universe of constallations, none of which looked familiar. It was both aweinspiring and eerie. We weren't just displaced through space, stranded on another planet. We were in a wholly different universe, seemingly devoid of other solar systems as this world, the only world anypony knew of, was the center of their universe. The sun and moon both revolved around Equestria and the surrounding lands and these celestial bodies were controlled by the diarchs, Luna and Celestia. It completely boggled my mind. Even the weather systems were under the dominion of the Pegasi and the Unicorns would change the seasons according to schedule and tradition. As frigtening and hierachic as this was, I couldn't help but sit spellbound by Luna's night.

I wound up sitting under a tree in the outskirts of town with SAM having unfurled the great wings on the Pegasus Frame to shelter me from the wind. I'd apparantly arrived during the spring and it wasn't very cold even with my upper body exposed. If it got any colder, I'd just shrug on the flight suit and zip up the front. After all, it was designed to endure high altitudes and freezing winds.

That was another curious topic. Wingspans and the miniscule, feathery appendages of the Pegasi compared against the sheer immensity it took for someone my size to generate lift with powerful flaps of a 40-foot wingspan. I hadn't tried taking off in town yet, to the general disappointment of everypony. Rainbow Dash had been utterly thrilled to meet us both and she was more than a little flattered with the paintjob, though she seemed a bit put off by the bullet holes that had dented the surface and peeled away the paint to reveal the dull obsidian carbon structure underneath. I suspect she had some idea of what could've caused that, and she did tell me the Pegasi were once a proud tribe of fierce warriors. Looking at her in the flesh made it much easier to believe than if I'd been watching the show. Like I said, the ponies looked utterly real and their muscles were extremely powerful. Compared against a Pegasus, I was about the most squishy thing they'd ever seen as even the frail looking Pegasi were born to shrug off collisions like the one that had nearly crippled me upon arrival.

It was all a bit much to take in and the reality filter did help me cope with my fear and anxiety, preventing me from dwelling too much on the fate of the world I left behind and how slim my chances of ever returning were starting to look. Still, I wasn't getting any rest that first night. I had to figure out what my role in all of this was to be.

So there I sat, legs curled up against my chest with SAM sitting behind me, creating a semicircle with his big, dark wings. For a long time, I did nothing but stare at the nightsky.

...

I came to the next morning, having somehow nodded off where I sat. Life in Ponyville starts early and it's loud...
> Everfree
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes, life in Ponyville starts early and it's loud. The crow of the rooster was what woke me, and within seconds that sound had kickstarted life all over town. The citizens seemed to have all but forgotten me as they set about their daily tasks, pausing to regard me with curiousity and suspicion, but it only took one mention of Zecora's name by the town librarian, Twilight Sparkle, in order to silence any speculations that I might be evil. I don't know what was up with that story, but I imagine I wasn't the first outsider to be greeted by their little community, and if anypony seemed to have their head screwed on right, it was Twilight. She'd apparantly set them straight when the whole town had panicked at the sight of a local Zebra from the edge of the Everfree Forest. That was another topic of amusement, as Rainbow Dash had tried to frighten me by squatting low to the ground, even doing an adorable doglike growl as she told me: "Everypony who ever went in... has... never... come... BACK!" at which point one pony really did faint, but I just sat bolt upright, staring, incredulous before I finally collapsed in loud guffaws.

The Pegasus stubbornly waited until I was done lauging before she went on the explain why this place was so creepy. "The animals fend for themselves, the plants grow and the clouds move all on their own!" Several other ponies chanted the last bit together and they all stared at me, fully expecting me to perceive the gravity of the situation. I just lauged until it hurt and tears streamed from my eyes. SAM sat unmoving, watching the entire spectacle, probably documenting every detail to be kept in his databanks.

Luckily none of the ponies were too offended by my laughter. They were all used to it and I'd seen Rainbow Dash collapse in similar fits of laughter at the expense of other ponies, but it never seemed malicious. I'm sure Pinkie Pie could tell me a good story about laughter. Yes, I'd brushed up on enough lore to identify the Mane 6. I'm turning into a regular brony already. Of course, speaking to them in the flesh makes it somewhat easier to accept their existence.

It was by this time that my bodily functions finally caught up with me. My stomach gave a low rumble, making a few ponies give me pensive stares. Right, the incissors. Yes, the carnivore must feast. I sighed and decided to make my way to the town market. By this time my injuries were no longer hindering me, though it would take a few days before I could perform any feats of athletisism. Arriving at the brightly painted market stalls and listening to the boisterous ponies speaking in their melodic tongue, bargaining like old european merchants was quite a sight. They exchanged golden coins called Bits in return for goods and services, apparantly managing an economy much like ours. The main sellers were vegetables and yes, AJ had her apple booth set up and no, Applebloom wasn't trying to get her apple salespony Cutie Mark at this time. I'm sure she was out crusading with her friends.

"Over 'ere, stranger!" Applejack's southern drawl cut through the babble, attracting my attention. I stepped closer to the stall, still wearing just my flightsuit, having had the decency to zip up the top. Her big, green eyes peered up at me, once again briefly taken by surprise by my height. The closest anypony could compare me against was a Minotaur who had once held an assertiveness seminar in town. With that in mind, I bent to one knee, smiling at her. If she had any problems with my teeth, she didn't let it show and I wouldn't have pecked her for a good liar, so I was pretty sure we got along.

"Quite an assortment of apple foods," I remarked, looking over the selection of merchandise, recognising almost every dish as something commonly eaten in the south states, and a few items that were not familiar to me. It didn't take much more encouragement than that to make her rattle off her famous, long-winded introduction of every single product she sold and I politely sat through the whole ordeal, trying not to betray my true amusement. She was adorable when she talked about her trade. She was also the strongest pony I'd ever seen next to Big Mac, and him being her blood relative certainly didn't help soothe my fears of what either of them could do to me if I ever did cross a line with the kind hearted apple farmer.

She did insist that I sample a few dishes even when I could offer no payment. I sat back with a nice apple pie and a few candied apples. Sinking my teeth into the meal, I realised I was ravenous. AJ stared with growing wonderment, gradually pushing her stetson back further and further on her head as her eyes grew bigger the more I ate, until finally I was down to licking my fingers clean, grinning sheepishly and wiping my mouth.

Vegetarianism works well in principle and I can get behind that line of thinking, especially here in a world where the cows talk, but my body isn't cut out for the diet. Our brains consume something like a full 30% of all the energy we extract from foods, and my brain does a lot of heavy lifting ever since I had the DNI installed. Add to that the nanite hives living in my body, further speeding my metabolism and you have a body that can only truly be sustained on a high-protein diet. But AJ's apples sure hit the spot that morning and I was able to put off the problem of finding enough protein for later.

When I later found out that the ponies eat eggs and potatoes, even potato chips and other strictly human dessert items, I was relieved. With eggs and baked goods, I could get plenty of protein without ever harming anything that talks. Trust me, you don't want your dinner's relatives blaming you, you really don't.

It was like that for the first few days. I was able to sustain myself off of the kindness of the locals who would offer me a staggering variety of delicacies, all eager to see what would make my tastebuds sing. I sure wasn't complaining and by the third day, I had tasted just about every organic food that never spoke a word in protest. By this time SAM had accumulated a vast archive of knowledge on their culture and I was picking up the language needing his translations less and less with each passing day. If anypony found my accent laughable, they were gracious enough to spare my feelings. It turns out Equestrian, in spite of being unlike any language I've ever seen or heard spoken before, is surprisingly logical and straight-forward. I picked it up quicker than I would have managed chinese or other similarly complex languages. With SAM's help of course, I picked up pretty much everything in a matter of weeks rather than months and years.

It was at this time I had begun to formulate a plan to ensure my survival in this society. Everytime I had neared the outskirts of town, the Everfree had stood before me, no more ominous than any other forest I'd set foot in, but I was warned off by everypony who caught me looking. They each cautioned me that dangerous beasts lurked in those woods and the animals ate each other to survive. They spoke of this natural selection as if it were ghastly and unfamiliar to them, but the more I heard, the more that place started to sound like home. Like opportunity.

As you can imagine, I'm a fairly driven individual, willing to set aside virtually all personal safety concerns in favor of obtaining something worthwhile. I allowed them to cut into my brain to give me the DNI, I allowed them to pump my body full of nano robots, I created an Artificial Intelligence and used my DNI to merge my thoughts with it, trusting in the reality filter to keep our identities seperate. So when I see opportunity and the only danger in seeking it is to myself, there is no hesitation.

As night fell on the third day, I stood on the path leading to the Everfree and SAM's Pegasus Frame slinked up behind me, having read my thoughts. By unspoken agreement, the machine intelligence commanded the Pegasus Frame to unfold into its full biped nature, splitting the chest guard down the middle, moving behind me to envelop me as the leggings and sleeves similarly opened to pull in my limbs. Pushing my feet into the extended leggings so my heels rested paralel to the raised heels on the equine leg, my feet were held in something similar to a boot on the inside while the big 'hoof' extended a good 18 inches beyond my toes. Growing a good foot in height, feeling the mask slide into place around my head, I felt comforted by the suit hooking up with my DNI, once again giving me the sensation of having more than just four limbs. These new limbs felt as natural to me as any other part of me and the reality filter ensured that I would not suffer any mental duress from moving like this even for days at a time. As always, SAM was supporting me in the mental juggling of the many limbs and just as I was ready to take off, sprinting at speeds to rival those of a race horse (the irony is that such speed did match most atheletic ponies on the ground), I felt a presence behind me.

My wings were still folded behind me, but my tail was swaying to and fro, the bayonet occasionally catching the moonlight in a silvery shimmer. Curiously, the weapon had not frightened any of the ponies, and I guess if they weren't intimidated by Spike's or Gilda's claws, then my little tail blade shouldn't be anything to fret over.

Turning slowly to regard the pony who had come out to defy the night and stare at my retreating back, I saw that it was Fluttershy. We stood there and for a moment, neither of us said anything.

"Be safe in there," was all she spoke when she finally did dare to break the growing silence.

I nodded and gave her a thumbs up, which just made her frown adorably in confusion. I settled for a wave instead, which she returned eagerly, since the gesture required no fingers. With nothing further to say, I turned and sprinted into the Everfree forest, engaging a multitude of different visual spectrums on my HUD, settling on infrared in the end as that seemed to serve me best in the dark woods.

...

Equestria is a treasure trove! Suddenly I was thankful for SAM's silent speculation over the first three days, as he had been learning all that he could about precious minerals, gems and herbs that grew in the surrounding area. I swear, the gems are already cut, just sitting there in the ground! Who does that? Is there somepony with a treasure map Cutie Mark who partners up with another pony with a gem cutting Cutie Mark and then they set out, littering the Equestrian landscape with enough treasure to make this feel like an MMO?

Needless to say, I found wealth enough to sustain a living and more than repay everypony for their initial kindness. Of wild animals, most were too intimidated by my synthetic outer shell and the almost inaudible buzz and whirr of the powerful servo engines and artificial muscles that powered the Pegasus Frame. On the one occasion where a Manticore did attack me, I was immediately struck by the similarity between us.

Wings? Check.
Prehensile tail with a blade? Check.
Anthropomorphic hindlegs walking on raised heels? Check.
It even one-upped me on claws and razor teeth.

But it didn't have my armor and its claws raked uselessly with the keening sound of nails-on-blackboard as it tried to overpower me and rend me to pieces. All it took was the act of bracing my back against a solid tree trunk, letting the beast think it had cornered me, and as it leaned into me, I raised one hydraulic hind leg and delivered a thrust kick, extending my cybernetic hoof with an explosive piston-like release of powerful hydraulics, to send that beast flying end over end. The recoil slammed me against the tree trunk, leaving a deep impression of cracked bark. Somewhere in the darkness, the Manticore was howling with fright and agony as it slinked off in search of easier prey.

A pity you didn't kill it. Regardless, we don't have a fully staffed medlab for the autopsy, SAM's monotonous voice droned in my inner ear. Yup, that guy still didn't have much love lost for the common critter or man. I ignored his remark, knowing it to be half-jest. I was too busy crossreferencing everything I saw against my new library of Equestrian treasure.

By the time I returned the following morning, I was in the air, soaring through the skies like a bird. Albeit a bird with a 40-foot wingspan, but a bird none the less. The long, prehensile tail was unfolded in its characteristic V-shape, twisting and arching, fully extended beyond my feet. The townsponies all gathered and stared slack-jawed. Rainbow Dash jumped off her napping cloud and zoomed towards me. Yes, she trails a rainbow behind her even in this version of Equestria. I don't know how she does it, she just does. She's also much faster than me. My speed is limited by the laws of physics, something the Equestrians treat with such disdain they don't even know how severely they violate it on a daily basis. So, with her miniscule wings which should not be able to generate enough lift, even if they were to become stuck in 'hummingbee' mode, she zipped back and forth, circling me several times and she even found time to make funny faces, admiring her reflexion in the solar panels on my wings when I was gliding. We exchanged witty banter in the air and I even unfolded my visor to stick out my tongue at her, momentarily managing to make her look queasy with the way my 'face' split down the middle and unfolded. She recovered quickly though and from that point on, it became a contest in childish behaviour. Again, I was shocked by how human their faces look, especially when they animate with emotion. I think Dash won the funny faces contest. I can't lick my own nose from that many different angles.

Breaking off the little duel, I realised we'd been lazily circling Ponyville, attracting the attention of practically everypony. Just then, Dash noticed the claw marks that had peeled away the skyblue paint in long, jagged lines exposing the black chrome underneath. I chose that moment to make my descent, not eager to share tales of violence with the brash Pegasus, even if she did claim violent ancestory.

I swooped down and soared just over the rooftops of several cottages until I reached Mane Street, which cut through the centre of town. Luckily, most of the stalls were not set up yet, so the street was almost broad enough to allow for even my wingspan. As I touched down with my hooves, still going at a high velocity, the first ponies became frightened and dove for cover even though I wasn't angled anywhere near their chosen hiding place. The shockabsorbing hooves made sparks and loud keening noises against the cobblestones as I skipped across Manestreet, decelerating with each skip. Once, twice, thrice and that time I stayed grounded, already collapsing my wings, legs braced to use all the joints to absorb the impact, my body hunched low to keep my centre of gravity lowered, the balance tail swaying to and fro, adjusting my course. Finally in a shower of sparks and keening noises of steel against cobblestone, I ground to a halt, straightening my posture just as the skeletal wing frames had folded in half for the third time, sliding into place on my back.

The streets erupted with cheers as everypony finally got to see my wings in action, even if a few of them looked like the noise levels were bothering them. Honestly, if you don't like noise, move out of Ponyville. I am not the loudest thing here. Overall though, I was greeted with great enthusiasm and the Pegasi felt instantly more connected to me, having seen my feats of flight.

Slung from my waist were several satchels, or saddlebags, lent to me by Rarity with a promise of a fine gemstone in return. Really, I was the one who had kept insisting on the payment, and when I'd shown her how my onboard computer system could scan for minerals in the ground just like her magic horn, she'd been delighted, letting out one of her characteristic, ladylike squeels of delight and bouncing in place before composing herself and breezily agreeing that yes, one gemstone should suffice in return for the honor of wearing her finest accessories.

So naturally, Caroussel Boutique was my first stop. I still walked upraised on my equine legs and wore the visor, looking sufficiently ponyfied that even those few ponies who had been put off by my lack of fur and comparatively flat face, were now approaching me with ease, unintimidated even by the increased height difference. They must be well used to dealing with things bigger than themselves.

Pushing open the door to the characteristic chiming of her bell hung over the doorframe, Rarity's voice gushed, "just a moment~!"

I bowed under the doorframe and entered. Surprisingly, most pony dwellings are built spaceous enough that even in the Pegasus Frame, I could tower at full height inside. I guess the ponies don't like low ceilings. Check the show, it's true. Massive dwellings as soon as you're on the inside. They like big, airy rooms with enough clearance to allow for the occasional Pegasus visitor.

Rarity's shop was littered with all kinds of tools and equipment, a bit low tech to a technophile such as myself, but then this whole world was comparatively low-tech. They've never needed industrialization to advance their culture, since they have magic. Still, the workspace had an artistic chaos to it that I recognize in my own work. You can't find anything when it's locked away in a chest.

The pristine white Unicorn cantered into the room with what I've come to recognize as a slightly seductive stride, but it was apparantly normal behaviour coming from Rarity. She paused when she saw me, noticing sooner than anypony else, the long claw markings across my arms, chestguard and lower back from the Manticore's attempted pin. She let out a frightened high-pitched noise that sounded too heartwrenching to be called a squeel. Rushing up to me, circling me and fretting over my apparant injuries, she suddenly looked furious.

"I cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected!" she exclaimed and before I could even protest, her horn shone brightly and engulfed me in its glow. I tensed, again expecting some weird sensation from being enveloped in Unicorn magic, but it never came. Instead, as the glow faded, I looked down and saw she'd touched up on the paintjob, only it wasn't bright skyblue anymore. It was bright white with dark purple edges.

The Unicorn looked me over with an almost possesive gleam in her eyes and I swallowed. This had better not become a thing, because honestly, I'm not sure I could handle Pinkie's color scheme. I sighed in defeat and decided to get down to business. I even thanked her for touching up on the paintjob, though I wasn't particularly inclined towards either color scheme. I produced a big, purple gem from one of the saddlebags and Rarity managed to clutch it to her chest in her forehooves, keeling over backwards. SAM must've seen this reaction from his freaky knowledge of the show as he took command of my long, serpentine tail, slinging it around the closest leg of her fainting couch, pulling it over to catch her in record time.

I just stood there agape for a few seconds, watching the pony gushing over her precious gemstone. I quietly retreated from the shop, turning my back only once the door was shut between us.

Right. Next stop, lodgings. I should have more than enough resources now to barter for a decent sized plot of land.

...

Plot really doesn't mean what most fans have been led to believe. Seriously, they already have a name for it. It's called a flank.

...

Right.

...

Ponies are weird.
> Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Following my recent triumph of braving the Everfree in search of material wealth, I became a local folk hero to the ponies of Ponyville (that name is still so reduntant to me), and suddenly everypony was bragging about who had been quickest to trust me, boasting about how they had demanded nothing in return for the food they gave. Whatever, I wasn't about to pick faves and their altruism did ring a bit hollow, as they only embraced me under the watchful eye of Twilight Sparkle, who had curiously kept her distance. I assumed she wasn't a fan of the crowding ponies, she seemed more inclined to meeting new people under more intimate circumstances.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders chose this moment to deafen me and everypony else with a cry of, "CUTIE MARK TREASURE HUNTERS! YAY!!!"

Before I could turn and stop them, to my horror they were already gone. So was a skyblue Pegasus. Down the street, just around the corner, somehow all three big sisters had materialized, working together like a well-oiled machine, lecturing the appropriately chastened Cutie Mark Crusaders. Rarity even chose this moment to reveal that I had been mangled by a Manticore on my first trip. Sweetie Belle looked about to faint just then, and so the crisis was averted, for now.

I had to later comfort a tearful Unicorn filly, assuring her again and again that my armor was indeed very sturdy, and even SAM's robotic voice piped up, reminding her that chief among his highest directives was my ensured survival, as he considered me an irreplacable component to power the Pegasus Frame. I almost became misty eyed at this camaraderie.

So Sweetie Belle's fears were asuaged and I seemed to have found a new calling as a huntsman. I spoke with Mayor Mare (still going to enter elections as Mayor Man one of these days), and with but a fraction of the wealth I'd discovered, I bought a plot of land nearby, on the side of town facing the Everfree. The land was cheap as the soil wasn't all that fertile and the proximity to the dreaded woods, coupled with the absense of a sturdy building occupying the land, had all resulted in it going unsold for years, until my arrival.

Contracting the help of AJ and Bic Mac, I had them await my arrival at the newly bought property at around 16:00 (it still made the ponies all bug-eyed when I slipped up and nailed the time down to the last minute with but a glance at my internal monitor). They'd been waiting just a few minutes, wondering where I'd gotten to, having arrived a minute early as was their habbit. They both rose from their haunches, approaching me pensively, Applejack looking floored and Bic Mac looking appropriately stoic as they spotted me emerging from the woods.

I should explain. With the enhanced muscles in the suit's arms alone, I could benchpress a small car. With the support of the artificial spinal collumn and strengthened, hydraulic legs, my back and shoulders could easily support the weight of said car as I walked around. Adding to this was the tail itself and the skeletal wing frames, both slung around in a serpentine grip, holding a bundle of fully grown, freshly chopped and stripped tree trunks. I had another bundle under each arm, and a fourth bundle balanced precariously on top of the one already clutched in my wings and tail.

The sheer weight of the tree trunks meant my hooves sunk several inched deep, even in densely packed soil, and the sheer volume of the four loads of logs meant I must've looked ridiculous as I staggered from the edge of the woods. AJ was ready to rush to my aid, but a single look from her older brother halted her in her tracks, and reluctantly, she settled back on her haunches as I fought my way to the designated plot of land, first lowering the right side load of trunks, then the left quickly thereafter, before the uneven distribution could topple me. Second, I extended my arms over my head, lifting the topmost bundle with a silent whirr of servo engines and the low whine of metalic muscled wires working to give my arms the strength needed to effortlessly sling the bundle of logs to the ground in front of me, and finally, I simply uncoiled my tail and wings, dropping the stack behind me. As the dust settled, I stood encircled in a waist-high fortification of wooden logs.

Don't worry, they weren't any of Bloomberg's cousins. These were all wild oaks from the Everfree and even without Equine Intervention, those woods would survive. I'd spaced out my wood logging so that I didn't strip any one stretch of the forest clean. I just thinned out the ranks, so to speak.

"Ready to start building a house for me?" I panted, grinning under the visor. I can't help that, I am still very expressive underneath my stoic artificial pony face, and you can actually hear a smile in the inflection of a voice, so in that way I manage to convey a lot of emotion.

"Eeeeyup," was the classic reply from the massive red stallion whose back easily stood chest high to me, matching the size of a 'real' pony. He was chewing on a straw as always, and if I didn't know any better, I'd say he was entirely unimpressed with my borrowed strength. It wouldn't surprise me if he turned out to be even stronger still.

So with the help of two of the most productive workaholics in Equestria, we had the working foundation, walls and roof all raised by nightfall, revealing a rather impressive two-bedroom house with a livingroom/kitchen and a bath. Still, it was just the exterior structure and four inner walls without doors in the frames yet, but the structure was solid and had the classic look of a cottage in the woods.

Three days later and I even had a water tower (filled curtesey of RD), supplying runing water and the house was fully furnished, though now I owed Rarity some modelling work. She was eager to cut into the fashion market for bipeds.

...

Eeeeyup.
> Darkness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A week had passed since I first came to in Equestria, leaving a whole other life behind. You don't cut ties with an entire world just like that. Especially not when you'd been as well-connected with it as I had. You probably wonder about my background, if you can believe even half of the crap I've told you.

Truth is, I left behind an Earth on the brink of a nuclear holocaust unlike any previously seen before. Even if I'd succeeded in taking down the world's first and last ever true teleportation device capabale of delivering nuclear strikes anywhere on the globe (or even other worlds as the machine had proven in the end), even if that thing was gone forever, it had still been activated successfully once, bringing the world to an uproar that swept across entire nations.

So even in the best case scenario, the stage was set for global warfare. Mankind would continue to develop terrifying technology and the Artificial Intelligence I'd spawned might not have been the last. You can understand my concerns then, perhaps. I'd lain awake many nights, worrying until SAM and the reality filter forcibly diverted my attention, turning to other avenues. Hunting in the Everfree, building a cabin by the woods, everything I did was a silent cry for home. A home that might not be there anymore. I don't even know to whom I'm writing this. I had lost all connection with Earth on that first day. I couldn't even hook up to the internet, which had consumed most of my free time.

With these feelings roiling just under the surface, I suspect Twilight kept her distance from me because she saw too much. At this point, I was trusting SAM's lore from the show unerringly. Too many times had he hit the nail on the head, successfully predicting the actions and moods of the Mane 6 for it to be coincidence. For whatever reason, MLP - FiM had delivered an almost completely accurate portrayal of these ponies. But only almost. The show is rated for children so it never showed the grim silver lining of these otherwise glorious, peaceful lives. I had seen the signs all over, how feral the ponies can behave. Nothing ever manifested fully, but more than once has an earth pony squared up with me, muscles tensed, ready to crush me, should I do something foolish enough to warrant such agressive behaviour. They may not have been agressive, but they were protective of their kin.

So if ever it did come to violence, I'm convinced Twilight Sparkle would be the most dangerous with her absolutely terrifying magical prowess. I'd never seen her do anything extreme around town, she never showed off. That's a credit to her unwavering ethics and she may easily be the most saintly of all the ponies. Compared against that, I have already sinned most egregiously on several occasions. Twilight was also desperately lonely before coming to Ponyville, so if anyone noticed the triggers early, it would be her.

I'd never suspected that such peaceful surroundings could prove more challenging to my self-control than the horrid battlefields I'd seen on Earth, but the truth is, I was getting restless. I yearned for the thrill of the fight, for that carnal desire to eat meat, and finally there were the sexual urges as well. At least on Earth I'd been able to attract a woman, sometimes just for the sake of it. Nothing cuts away your inhibitions like the prospect of your imminent death, a fate I'd seemed to face many times over. Yet I'd always lived.

Truth is, the Everfree didn't hold enough of a challenge for me. I'd never ventured very far until my HUD had flashed, indicating unharvested treasure nearby. The Manticore was the most deadly thing I'd faced in there, but I knew if I went deeper, the woods would yield and give me... something more.

That thought is perhaps what best defines humanity from my point of view, and I've lived by that creed myself for many years. More, you always need more. It wasn't enough to be clad in bulletproof armor. I had to have an exosuit. It wasn't enough to pilot an exosuit with clumpsy joypads and finite fuel reserves. It wasn't enough to use my natural strength to crush bricks with my fists or shatter bones with deadly kicks. No, I had to have the DNI. I had to have SAM. I had to have my rifle. I had to have it all, and always it was for the sake of something even more than all that.

World peace. How is that not the ultimate hubris? To force humanity to unite under a common banner of peace? A banner that I would hold?

I grew distant, not to the point of seclusion. I was just that much less boistrous, that less inclined to keep a string of insults and snide jokes bouncing back and forth with my favorite verbal sparring partner, RD. Incidently, RD knows a lot of dirty jokes. It took me a while but eventually I acclimatized to those jokes as well.

Yes, I think Twilight sensed it in me. Everytime a stallion would rudely cut me off in line at the market, she'd see the minute hesitation in me before backing down. Everytime a dirty joke sat a little too well with me, and my laughter became too loud and dark to be really soothing, she'd notice. She probably even noticed when my inhibitions lowered to the point where I'd overcome my xenophobia enough that I was watching Rarity's distinctive gait for just a little longer than I did at first.

Pinkie Pie and AJ remained oblivious. Yes, I'd met the bouncing pink ball of party incarnate. Yes, she did throw me a welcome party and yes, a house warming party, too. The only reason I've neglected to mention it is because more of these little triggers would manifest during said parties. The other reason I neglected to mention the parties is because some of the ponies do violate the child-friendly PG rating the show has.

You really didn't notice? Spike wearing a lamp shade on his head in the first episode is a classic reference to how that would indicate drunken behaviour in old movies. I wasn't there for that one and as far as I'm concerned, Spike is a righteous dude, almost to a fault, really. It is true he has a crush on a Unicorn and nopony seems to think this unnatural. Interspiecies relationships would've occured on Earth, too, if only we'd had any other sapient species to attempt it with. So yes, the ponies would occasionally party hard, under their own adult supervision and I'd mostly sit in the corner, drinking punch. Honestly, the alchohol references are numerous even in the child friendly show, thinly veiled, yes, but Applejack is the name of an alchoholic beverage and so is Appletini. Cider is also a well-known alchoholic beverage and that's the Apple family's most sought after product.

Did I ever do anything lewd at these parties? No, but I was often tempted. I held off on the cider and the spiked punch (which has nothing to do with Spike sleeping in the bowl). By the end of the week, during my housewarming party, I did get a little more drunk than I should have and honestly, it was pure luck that I didn't get in a brawl or end up abusing the trust of one of the mares. I just sat there in the corner, looking like a pimp if I have to be honest. Rarity had even designed clothes for me and I was decked out in black denims, a faux leather belt, a black tanktop and a faux leather trenchcoat that looked real enough to creep out a few ponies. I had a mare on each side, one asleep with her head in my lap, the other leaning heavily against me, and one of the stallions had watched me with growing anger, a possesive glint in his eyes everytime he looked at the sleeping mare. To tell you the truth, I was wondering how bloated the rumors of the Earth Pony's strength really were. Sure, just a few days before, I'd seen it in action and from Bic Mac no less, but I was too drunk to let such basic facts interfere with my logic. My pride told me I could crush the stallion's skull with one punch, and years of practice backed up this claim as far as solid brick walls were concerned. In the end, Twilight had looked completely oblivious to the horror about to consume the party as she'd just segued effortlessly into a Twiligt Dance (tm). Yes, the one where she stands on her backlegs and flails about. She'd parked herself like that right between the two of us as I was just working my hand under the sleeping mare's chin to gracefully get up without disturbing her rest, but that dance just made me sit back and guffaw loudly until poor Twilight had retreated in embaressment.

I was not popular that night, in spite of the party having been thrown in my honor, and I understand you completely if you want to strangle me after having blown off the Sparkle just like that. The following morning however, anytime the incident had been brought up and all the really obvious tells had been evident, like me clamming up when I was normally so verbose, or the other stallion tensing everytime anypony mentioned it, Twilight had not reacted with similar chagrin. No, she'd just fixed me with a quiet glare which finally let me review the evening with perfect clarity.

She had seen the violence about to erupt and chose to reenact her silly dance just then. I'm told she has improved it much since that garden party with Fancy Pants and Rarity. So on one of my walks back towards the Everfree, all suited up, my face hidden behind the equine mask of stoic expressions, I don't know why, but I stopped and adressed Twilight.

"I'll be gone for a few days. I've been eyeing this heat signature a few miles deeper in the forest..." I trailed off, leaving the rest unfinished. She simply regarded me with raised brows, a bit caught off-guard by the statement. Then she'd noticed my rifle strapped to my left thigh. I'd never worn the thing on my trips before and nopony suspected the true nature of the deadly firearm. Sure, it could be set to fire nonlethal gel rounds. Could.

Again, Sparkle suspected the weapon for what it was, even when I'd told nopony about the deadly tools of warfare from my home world. She regarded me pensively, but simply nodded. If she was going to alert the rest of the Mane 6, then let her. I was already sprinting headlong into the woods in search of... well, in search of bigger prey if I'm being honest. The near-brawl with the Earth Pony stallion had triggered my lust for violence. Better something big, ugly and scaly to take it out on than a pony...

So I sprinted through the darkened woods, bypassing several viable mineral signatures which SAM calmly pointed out to me, making a casual joking remark, are we finally getting something for the autopsy table? It's a shame you didn't include a secret lab for that kind of thing, like Twi-

I forcibly severed the mental connection to SAM and the reality filter. Didn't know I could do that? Yeah, it's one of the reasons why I acted the way I did at the party. SAM is great, but being around a brain voice 24/7? Yeah, even his volumes of psychology can't find an excuse to merit that kind of relationship, so he's always been adamant that I sever the connection anytime I feel his counselling is doing more harm than good. The only problem with that is that my brain would then have to handle the full mental strain of the Pegasus Frame, lest I delegate that task to SAM and let him puppeteer me. So on one hand, I need SAM and the reality filter to preserve my sense of self, lest I become unhealthily attached to the Pegasus Frame which grants me such incredible power, but on the other hand, I can't run in Co-op Mode with SAM all the time, lest he starts interfering with my sense of self. In the end, the only solution is to forego the suit entirely, just leave it in the closet for a few days, or let SAM pilot it in pony form.

Clearly, that wasn't happening tonight. I dashed towards the energy signature, now also handling the computer with nothing but my DNI. I'm quite good at that, as I've hinted at. It was my brain that wrote the code that created SAM, after all. As it turns out, the heat signature did betray the presence of an ancient underground facility that was likely part of the ruins of the "Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters" [Verified canon name]. As I approached a massive gorge cutting through a sheer, moss-overgrown cliffside, I saw the cobblestone archway of the old fortification, and it had suffered some recent damage from a creature big enough to stretch the archway with its bulk. An archway that easily allowed me entry even with the wings unfolded to the first two joints. In this configuration they're only good for gliding, but the wingspan is reduced to something like 20 feet and they're much more maneuverable, allowing me to thread the needle through gaps no bigger than 10 feet across.

So I was hunting something big. Good.

As I crept through the darkened, overgrown hallways, I saw the clear trail of destruction only a few years old from that same creature, knocking down walls and widening archways to slink deeper into the natural caverns that allowed for the creation of this fortress to begin with. Everywhere I saw traces of dust and ashes. I even saw a few husks of mostly decomposed bone. I assumed equine origins, but there wasn't much to tell, or maybe I was too driven to stop long enough to think. Yeah, probably the latter. So I ventured deeper, overcome with childish explorer's excitement and the likely prospect of facing something big.

On the way down into the bowels of the complex, I noticed a fresher kill and this one did hold my attention. It was clearly an equine form, still clad in rusty barding not unlike the royal guards of the show. Reduced to a ghastly skeleton, the pony had collapsed here in this tunnel, clutching a curiously intact halberd in his foreleg. Don't ask me how they do that, they just do. But apparantly it's all magic and this specimen was dead or dying when he clutched the weapon to his chest, using the crook of his foreleg instead of his hoof to hold the dear possesion to the end. Edged into the wall next to him was a single word, written in Equestrian. I hadn't brushed up on the literature much, but I knew enough to recognize this word:

VENGEANCE

Well, if that wasn't permission, then I don't know what was. Besides, I've pilfered bodies before. It's easier when you tell yourself that it's going to a good cause and you didn't make this particular corpse, but maybe, just maybe, you'll be the one to catch his killer. If I could do this to a dead soldier on the battlefield without any evidence of a written will, then I would do it gladly to a stallion whose last act on this Equestrian Earth was to carve the word 'vengeance' into the solid rock that was to be his undignified tombstone.

As I picked up the halberd, it felt curiously light in my hand and it was in pristine condition. It wasn't hard to imagine why that might be, and in Equestria, when in doubt, just say it: Magic.

I slung the newly acquired polearm over my shoulder where my partly unfurled wing held it in a small clamp near the joint. Yeah, with the reality filter offline it was my wing.

I could feel the heat now as the last stonework receded behind me in my journey into the bowels of the mountain. Whatever was down there had lots of energy. As I descended further, traversing chasms and other impossible obstacles with my wings and hooves, I found myself in a massive cave system with piles of ancient debris strewn about in various states of decomposal and some of the debris glittered, hinting at precious metals, but I also felt the temperature rise to sweltering degrees and I heard a voice in my mind.

No, not SAM.

No, not an hallucination, either.

Damn, you know your head is fucked up when you have to run through a list of plausible reasons for hearing a brain voice. I'd never known telepathy before, but it didn't surprise me that I'd experience it here as the rumbling, ancient voice hissed in my mind's ear.

"Curious... Very curious... Another peace lover here to inflict justice upon me? Do you know what evil you face, mortal?"

Okay, that was just as horribly cliché as befits Equestria. I wonder if Nightmare Moon would've kept up the banter if she'd been talking to me. Well, this brain voice would have to make a compelling side study.

"Evil?" I piped up, standing straight and letting out a laugh. "Oh yeah, you're so evil, leaving that adorable little pony to what, quietly bleed to death?" I mock-shuddered and then laughed again.

"What know you of evil, then?" the baritone voice rumbled in my mind.

"Well, you sure as fuck don't kill 'em off that quick. Leaves no time for misery," I chuckled. I have a dark sense of humor, I try to keep it in check, but seriously? This ridiculous overgrown thing was trying to taunt me with 90's villain monologues? Forget it. I was on a roll, striding deeper into the cave, facing the imagined location of the invisible foe.

"Rip off a Pegasus' wings, break a Unicorn's horn, destroy their spirit and leave them unable to kill themselves!" I cried, cupping my hands in front of my face to project my voice towards the imagined locale of my newly acquired target. I laughed, a dark throaty laughter and just as the cliché villain seemed shocked into silence, further convincing me that nothing really had the capacity for evil the same as humans do, it revealed the centre piece of the once-decorated dwelling.

With the shimmer of a mirrage, the illusion was shattered and in the middle of the room, not ten feet from me, I saw her. Standing on a raised stone dias, coccooned in a clear wall of magical energy was the most tragically beautiful mare I'd ever seen. A coat so white and pristine it was almost luminescant, even in the eternal twilight of the cave, and a long, golden mane carefully styled to the side so it concealed none of her face, which even drawn in a mask of silent and eternal sorrow, was heartbreakingly beautiful. Styled so that her mane revealed her broken horn pertruding from her forehead. She was naked, as most ponies and gracing her flank, there was once a beautiful silver note, but it was marred horrifically by a rending gash from a claw and her throat bore a similar scar, silencing her pathetic cries as she could only stand there, caged in a wall of force.

I staggered towards her, feeling the bile rise to my throat as I gazed upon a tragedy that so closely mirrored my earlier empty boast. My blood ran cold as I felt rather than heard the voice of the beast, this lovely Unicorn's timeless tormentor, roaring laughter and soon the physical counterpart to that voice joined in, betraying the location of the great, hulking beast as he, too appeared with a shimmer.

He was a huge, hulking dragon with slick, black scales glistening in the dimly lit cave. Sitting upon a hoard of mostly decomposed treasure with only the gleam of the unperishable gold and silver beneath his bloated body, the creature stank of rot and decay. He was still laughing when I felt the presence of SAM trying to override the reality filter. In reality, I suspect it was I who called him, because he's never broken through my control and initiated Optimized Combat Performance that quickly before. It was almost like I was denying the reality filter in favor of being reduced to the berserker.

The silent white mare could only watch with apathy like she had probably watched the other stallion before he had been allowed to crawl away and bleed to death, like so many other would-be saviours before him. Even when my left hand moved like a whip crack to my holstered gun, firing off several shots from the hip, guided by my computer system and the smartgun's crosshair in my visor, she didn't look hopeful.

The dragon obviously hadn't expected such a swift attack and with the Pegasus Frame's freakishly fast wired muscles, I've been recorded drawing and firing that gun inbetween frames of a camera rolling at normal speed. The guidance system ensured that I scored two perfect hits; two bullets - two eyeballs.

The dragon reared back, howling with such deafening agony that my eardrums would've burst if not for my helmet shielding all of my senses. Its eyes gauged out by my bullets, bleeding profusedly down his serpentine face, he let loose a massive gout of flame hot enough to melt rock, but I was already gone, having leapt with explosive force, using my hydraulic equine legs, beating my wings once to generate enough lift to carry me unerringly towards my target, leaping over the glowing white-hot mass of flame that is really more adequatedly described as plasma. If not for the protective visor, my eyeballs would have been seared from my skull just to look at it. I roared, too, I am certain, but it was drowned out by the dragon's wrath as I brought down my newly acquired halberd, just about to sink it deep into his skull, but even blind the fucking reptile proved to have earned his long life, instinctively raising a front paw to be impaled instead of his skull. His paw was big enough that I could simply land with my hooves and take off in another explosive jump, shattering bones and ripping his big paw in half as I pulled the halberd from his flesh in a torrent of blood.

Let me tell you, that kind of creature does not live to old age unless he really knows how to fight. Blind and crippled, he still managed to bring up his enourmous tail in a great, swooping arc, plucking me from the air like an insect, just before I made my second attempt at piercing his skull.

The fleshy tail connected with the force of a fully-ladden 18-wheeler, easily shattering my chestguard as well as probably collapsing a few ribs. I felt the blood spewing from my throat from the force of the impact and I lost all sense of direction, knowing only that the sickening crunch I heard next must've been my body colliding with... something.

There I lay, but SAM and the reality filter is no joke. Even in this state, I was barely slowed down. He didn't just disable the reality filter, he corrupted it to flood my system with adrenals, blocked my pain receptors completely and fueled my boiling rage. My artificial spine had snapped, sparing my real spine and my wings were done for, so was my chest guard, but the helmet and more importantly, the legs, were still intact. My left arm refused to move and my right one barely had the strength to hold the halberd aloft, but it managed somehow. The gun previously clenched in my left hand was, according to my tracking software, somewhere 43 feet away. Too far, no point. I had the halberd and one working arm and I could jump.

The dragon must've overextended on his tail sweep, because his guard was down by the time I'd lept at him for the third time in as many seconds. Finally his roar and the gout of flame had died down and I screamed at the top of my lungs as I bore down on him, staring into his bleeding eyesockets as I plunged the halberd deep into his skull, ending his life.

By this time my vitals were spiking and SAM was trying frantically to undo what he'd helped me do. Already my bleeding heart had pumped too much blood, worsening the internal bleeding and the overdose of adrenals was now ebbing, allowing me to realise how much pain I was in as the reality filter this time failed to come back online. As the beast collapsed, I was flung from its broken skull, rolling across the floor like a bloodied rag doll, and one of the last things I saw was the beautiful Unicorn descending the dias, no longer bound by the dragon's invisible cage.

I watched her through my cracked visor as she approached me with growing horror as it dawned on her that I was dying before her eyes and she couldn't even speak to me, rendered forever mute by that gash across her throat. Who the fuck does that? Her fucking 'Mark was a silver note for f-

Oh, right, dying...

...

So humane. In the end I just acted like a fucking human... Well, never let it be said that we're not good at what we do.
> The Dragon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Somewhere in Equestria, harmony does not rule. It is rare and often well-hidden, but that doesn't make the evils less real. So it was that in the deepest crevice in a forgotten part of the ruins of the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, a dragon ruled. He had been there a few years now and his twisted nature was such that he liked to watch things decompose and fall to ruin. So he'd brought his hoard with him, every last rotten bit of it. Sure, there was gold and silver as well, after all, what dragon can resist its glitter?

Truth is, this dragon had grown old and bored, a rare and dangerous combination. He'd thought to play with the most innocent victims he could find and situate himself in an accessible location, and sure enough, within just a few years, several fools and foals had ventured deep enough to be added to his hoard, and most delightful of all was the fact that he got to keep one of them, so perfectly broken that he could not bare to let her die and decompose. So he kept her in an invisible cage, her striking beauty blocked from the rest of the world. So she was allowed to stand there, once a famous singer adored by her audience, now cloaked in invisibility and rendered mute, her ridiculous 'Cutie Mark' violated by his careful claw and she could only watch and scream silently without vocal cords, unseen and unheard by the ponies that came to investigate.

She'd lost track of time. Somehow the force field even sustained her healthy luster and prevented her from starving or thirsting or even needing to breathe. So there she sat, watching the dragon's body grow bloated and fat with contentment as he watched a steady stream of would-be champions come before him. Always he would cloak himself invisible ahead of time and always he would taunt them, speaking into their minds. Some simply snapped under the pressure, robbed of their minds before he could even lay a claw on them. The brave ones fought, futilely. The smart ones tried to turn tail. They never made it far. The last one had been both brave and smart, and to the dragon's endless joy it had even forced a reaction from his little mare doll. She'd looked so hopeful, but in the end he too, died. He was left to limp away, bleeding to death within minutes. A pity he got that far. The dragon's bloated body could no longer fit through the caves. He'd have to destroy everything to get out, but then in the end that would be fun, too.

Then came along the most curious creature. Was it a pony? A minotaur? A dragonkin, even? No, none of those, though it sure liked to borrow parts from all the races, a false chimera. How droll...

But then it had spoken. My my! So few creatures dared talk back and this one actually had the right of it, wandering blindly in the right direction. Best he play his cards now before the biped stumple upon his invisible body by chance, ruining his surprise. He loved the big reveal. First, the mare, then himself and they always broke down.

But then the strange creature had plucked his eyeballs from his skull, from afar, too! Not fair! Not fair! Even so, his next leap was predictable. One does not live to see a millenia of age without learning to trust in other senses. With his hearing and sensitive scales, he felt the tremors of a great, powerful leap. A pity, once he'd released the gout of flame he couldn't really control the direction and the creature jumped so far! Right over the flame that had cooked in his guts for the last three months. He'd never be able to breathe another gout of flame in time, at least not hot enough to burn this sagely creature of foul, cheating, eye-plucking magics from a distance. Anyway, where was he? Oh, right, the creature was leaping over his flame, raise the right front paw and- AGONY!

By tartarus, his claw! His lovely claw, the very same that marred his pretty doll! All gone! The creature was already leaping again!

In a rage, he swung his entire bloated body round and his fat tail swung in an arc so wide that even the greatest leap could not carry the strange creature far enough, fast enough. Surely enough, he felt a smattering against his scaled tail and he began to settle, wondering how he would enjoy his doll without eyes. How indeed?

Then he'd heard the cry, a cry that struck fear into all dragons. It was ironic, really. They did not fear the roars of other dragons, but a certain breed of creatures so tiny and short-lived were said to be excellent at what they did, so good in fact that through ancestral wisdom, the very blood of the dragons knew to chill when they heard this cry. Species did not matter so terribly much as intent.

Dragon Slayer...

And now he's gone and gotten himself killed, all because he wanted to show off his doll. Ah well, at least the creature looked decently broken that it might not live through the injuries. Hopefully it dies painfully and his little doll won't even have a voice to ask to know the name of the Dragon Slayer. That's good. Let their legacy die here, then...
> The Mare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Silence.

Such agonizing silence. Truly this was Tartarus. She couldn't remember what she'd done to belong here, but the horrors visited upon her were such that she must have done something. The silence is only ever broken by that hideous laughter and then she is brought to the center stage, ready to face more pitying stares, more tears, more sobs that she would so gladly echo, but her voice was gone. The voice that had earned her Cutie Mark. That was gone, too.

All gone.

Tartarus. Yes, this was Tartarus and she'd forgotten what she'd even done to be here, but here she was.

She was sure of that fact after the last visitor. She'd been so foalish, allowing herself the most forbidden thing: Hope. Never have hope. It hurts too much. So she'd hoped and he'd fought, a magnificent stallion and oh joy! He'd even wounded her captor. But then she was punished for her transgression. For daring to smile and express any other emotion than sorrow.

Well, she'd been taught her lesson. She was allowed to beat futilely against her prison, granted some limited mobility only so she wouldn't forget to try now and then. She'd screamed but her voice was gone and the stallion was bleeding so much.

Gone.

Again.

All gone. This time she was resolute. She would not hope, even if she saw the impossible, most unlikely thing. She would not hope. Well, this was Tartarus and they'd heard her resolve and thought to test it not long after. Or was it very long actually? So hard to tell. But tested she had been, yes.

Such a voice, so deep and coarse, so unlike the usual, refined mannerisms of even the most hopeful contestor to her captor's throne. Such things he'd said. She thought his accent was strange, but he spoke the language well enough. The language that had once, long ago been the medium of her song, which had given her joy.

Joy was not a bad emotion, she couldn't even transgress and feel it by accident anymore. So she could safely nurture the concept of joy and keep that much hidden from Tartarus. But the strange creature, not unlike a pony, yet very different. He had said such things! Did he know she was there? Did he suspect?

Of course not, that would be hoping and she wasn't allowing that. She settled, poised to give nothing but her sorrow to the creature. It was all she had to give. He'd seen her, but his reaction had not been as strong. He didn't even flinch to look upon her, which was curious, but not worth transgressing over. She would only give her sorrow to this strange stallion. He did stagger a bit, perhaps his face was just stoic? Nevermind, now to watch him die like the others.

Ah, Tartarus was cruel indeed, tricking her into hoping, but she wouldn't. Even without eyes, her captor could still fight. Even without his claw, but that was the claw that had taken her joy. Curious, she rembered joy now. It gave her joy to watch that claw gone, even if that was the only thing the odd stallion managed to take because now her captor was actually getting up and it just went to show her what a foal she'd be to hope when her captor is so powerful that just by getting up he can manage to kill even this leaping stallion. His face might not show emotion, but he bled just as much as the rest. Maybe a bit less, but that could be armor protecting him for all she knew. Still, there he lay... and now he was getting back up. Impossible.

Truly Tartarus was cruel to her tonight, letting her see so many impossible things, just to trick her into hoping. She wouldn't, this was her cage and- that's my old stallion's weapon lodged in captor's skull. It couldn't be...

It just couldn't. Now what? Suddenly her world exploded with sensesation. Things she had not felt and done for so long. She heaved a huge breath, tasting the foul stench of rot, but even that was euphoria to her. She felt her clumsy legs stumple as she fell off her stage, but even that was glorious. To move! To breathe! To hear and see...

To see her latest stallion, dying... Just like the rest... Such a strange face, cracked like a mirror. So it really was armor, and she saw his eye just then, looking at her...

On unwieldy legs unused to walking, she shuffled towards her new stallion. He killed her captor at long last, he deserved to watch the broken wreck he fought for. Even his death was beautiful, now that she could move and see and taste and touch and smell. Smell all that decay of her previous stallions...

She crawled to his chest, so unlike the barrels of stallions, but she knew most creatures worked the same. His heart, yes, he was dying. She laid her ear against his chest, hearing the rapid palpatations of his last, stuttering heartbeats as he died gasping, watching her through the crack in his helmet until the very end.

Nothing she could do now but to explore a new world, that might not be Tartarus after all. She enjoyed using her senses, even if it was the most ghastly landscape to behold, great mounds of rot of fallen enemies and champions to the dragon who now lay dead as the crowning touch to his hoard of decay. Still, she could drag herself from here. She could maybe even drag away her latest stallion, the Dragon Slayer. She'd bring his weapon, too, giving her captor's mangled corpse one spiteful smile as she worked with her teeth to pull the weapon from his brains.

Turning and dragging the weapon in her mouth, unused to the Earth Pony way of doing things, but what was she other than a broken semblance of an Earth Pony, only able to use her mouth to toil now, no strength to speak of. She dropped the halberd as she beheld her stallion. Suddenly, there was a flickering light and a voice, his voice? No, different, a ghostly voice, as if speaking from beyond the grave, and even if that wasn't baffling enough, he had to speak in a language she did not understand.



SIMULATED ARTIFICIAL MIND

VITALS FAILING. INITIATE OVERRIDE PROTOCOL. 

CLEAR.



She was used to horror shows, but this was grim just the same. Speaking nonsense in a spectral voice, the new stallion's corpse lurged as a jolt surged through it. Then it lay still.



SIMULATED ARTIFICIAL MIND

INCREASED VOLTAGE. RELEASING ADRENAL RESERVES.

CLEAR.



The corpse continued to speak nonsense with ever greater urgency and again, it lurged with a powerful jolt and something on its foreleg close to the joint hissed and then suddenly, its back arched and he drew a great, heaving, agonized breath.



SIMULATED ARTIFICIAL MIND

VITALS STABILIZING. WELCOME BACK, SAMUEL.

POWER RESERVES DEPLETED. PLEASE RECHARGE.



Her eyes widened as she stared in mute terror, gradually giving way to wonderment and then elation as she saw that the spectral voice had not been her stallion, but it had roused her stallion from the dead. Tears of joy, so long unshed, streamed from her big, bright blue eyes as she rushed clumsily to him, wrapping her forelegs around the back of his neck, supporting his head as he continued to breathe weakly. She pressed her ear to his chest, hearing the strong, steady throb of his heart. A powerful heart. Again she saw that one, brown eye staring at her through the crack in the helmet. He looked weak, yes, but alive.

She held him until that one eye fell shut and his labored breathing became regular. Unconscious. Well, she would not leave her stallion here. She would dare to hope now and she would prove that she wasn't completely broken. Even without a horn, she could still toil away like the Earth Pony. She dragged the halberd and laid it on the Dragon Slayer's chest, moving to and fro, picking up bits and pieces of his armor. They were curiously light, but then they needed to be, to allow him to jump like that. She had thought him a pegasus of some kind, but his wings were not feathered and the wing bones broke like twigs. Still, she gathered them all together. After all, even she would have wanted to keep the pieces of her horn.

She paused and had to let the sorrow have its way with her, making her fragile frame quiver with silent sobs. Even now, she could not fully embrace hope and sorrow was too familiar to her to just let go like that. For a time, the only noise in the cave was her unsteady breathing that kept hitching in her throat, but without a voice, even her sobbing was muted. After a few minutes, she managed to crawl over to his wing pieces. These were supposed to be light and she wasn't surprised to find them so. But they were not feathered and even the bones had no flesh. Still, she gathered each piece, painstaking with her mouth, moving only one or two at a time until she had them piled on top of her new stallion. She spent a long while scouring the festering caves, making sure she left no piece behind, and then finally she set about the exhaustive task of dragging him. He was not light. He weighed as much as any stallion she could remember, if not more.

Her jaw and teeth ached, but even to feel hurt after so long was a welcome change and she embraced the feeling fully, working until her gums bled and her pristine, white coat was soiled by sweat and dirt, dragging him slowly behind her, inching her way backwards, out of the lairs of decay. She managed to drag him far, through labyrinthian corridors and winding paths, through impenetrable darkness, working herself to the bone, drenched in sweat, covered in dirt, tasting blood from her aching teeth. Yet all of it was euphoria to her, for she had not felt anything for so long. Finally there was a great chasm that her stallion would surely be able to traverse with his great, bounding leaps, assuming he would recover.

No, she could not hope, not now. But then what was all of this, if not hope? She had once thought hope a beautiful thing, but even now it did not allow her stallion to live. She could only watch in terrible silence as his labored breathing continued, threatening to stop at any moment. But even such terrible hope was worth having.

Now the sweat cooled and she felt clammy and cold, but even this was a joy. She would sit there and feel cold as she watched her new stallion, hoping against hope that his breathing did not falter. Once or twice, she thought it might, but then he settled again. She couldn't see his mouth under the helmet. She wanted to look upon him. She fumbled uselessly with the visor, unable to find purchase or release the latch that lay hidden somewhere. All she managed to do was to embaress herself, but at least her stallion was not awake to see this.

She settled, lying on her belly in the cave, watching him. Again, his breathing faltered and she had not heard anything of the spectral replica of his voice that saved him the first time. She suspected his spectral alter ego had exhausted itself saving his life the first time. Fresh tears streamed from her bright blue eyes as she could only watch him dying all over again.

No, she had dared to hope and if this wasn't Tartarus, then she was not guaranteed failure. After all, she had managed to drag him this far and even felt pride. That, Tartarus would not have allowed her, so she acted on instinct. Rearing up on her hind legs, she brought her forelegs down on the visor, fearing that she was only aiding in his swift departure from this world that might not be Tartarus after all. But the visor held fast. Again, she tried, heaving all of her desperation into the act and with a bone-chilling snap, she did destroy the visor, revealing his face beneath. She had no time to stare, rushing to press her soft lips to his, breathing life into him, teaching his lungs what they had forgotten for one fatal moment. She knew she could do this. She breathed into his mouth again, and again. Then she braced her forehooves on his chest and pressed down, feeling too little resistance from his ribcage, but this didn't matter. She pressed as hard as she dared and then went back to breathing into his mouth. She gasped when she felt him heave a ragged breath, coming back to life for the second time that night.

She felt the sorrow overwhelming her again, or maybe it was the aches of her body so long neglected. She shivered and sobbed quietly over her stallion. She felt cold and clumsily, she crawled on top of him and laid her head down on the part of his ribcage that wasn't broken, listening to his breath come and go and his heart throbbing steadily in his broken body. She slept like this for a little while. When she came to, she labored over her stallion, scraping together enough debris and not-yet-decomposed scraps of fabric to create a small bed for him, carefully dragging him by the scruff of his neck and laying over top of him. His left foreleg, (some non-ponies called it an arm?), it looked broken. She didn't know anything about this breed of creature, but she refused to give in and she sat and studied his other arm, learning how the bone was meant to sit. With exaggerated care, using her muzzle, she shifted his broken arm into position and gathered little pieces of his broken wings to be fashioned into a splint. It took an agonizing number of attempts and at times, she felt so feeble that she had to lay down and sob quietly for a time before she felt spirited enough to keep trying.

Eventually however, she did have his broken bones properly aligned and held together with a splint and some makeshift bandages from the scraps of cloth she'd found. She could not bring herself to rip up the soft wing membrane. He looked more peaceful in his sleep now, but she could just be imagining that. Still, in this world that turned out not to be Tartarus after all, she could be allowed a bit of optimism. If his previous feats were any indication, this stallion would recover. Meanwhile, she would watch over him, horn or no horn.

She watched him for a long time, learning to tell his armor from his real body. He was so lean and muscled, and when she carefully peeled away the black, skin-tight cloth and broken chest plate, she saw that his skin was very pale, like hers, but he had very little fur. She had also shed his broken helmet and marveled at the color and texture of his mane. He had nipples, which was curious. She knew stallions didn't have those, but even his strange appearance held a certain beauty. She was convinced that others of his species would find his muscled chest and small nipples very handsome to behold, and with the way he covered his body like that, she was probably lucky to have seen him like this at all. He must have felt too cold naked without fur.

A blush crept onto her cheeks as she settled on top of him again to keep him warm. She had wondered about his strange forelimbs, especially the dark cloth that covered the right side digits while he had no such thing on the left side, at least not once she'd removed the armor. There was scar tissue around the edge of the cloth and she assumed he wanted the injury concealed, so she did not remove it. She stayed there, resting her head on the healthy part of his chest, idly wondering what could be done for the other side. He was still very deeply asleep and likely would be for a while.

A soft glow alerted her senses and she raised her head, ear flicking as she searched for the disturbance. His helmet, the one piece of it anyway, it was glowing. There was a small glass pane inside which she had disregarded earlier, but now it glowed with a soft, red luminescence. Cautiously, she approached, and to her amazement, the screen flickered, scrolling strange letters, but the spectral voice was absent, perhaps still too depleted to do much more than this. The letters flickered and then suddenly translated themselves to Equestrian.



SIMULATED ARTIFICIAL MIND

DIAGNOSTICS:

LEFT RIB #1 AND #3 BROKEN. #4 DISLOCATED. RELEASING ONBOARD SURGERY KIT.



As promised, the device somehow triggered a soft, audible hiss of air from the stallion's strange leg barding and an aray of tools were revealed. Precision tools. She swallowed and cautiously approached the medkit. There were scalpels and prongs as well as gauze and little vials of unknown origins. She knew other unicorns whose talents had been for this sort of thing, but she was a broken thing whose only talent was deprived of her long ago. Who was she to speculate on Special Talents? To Tartarus with that, she would help her stallion. Working the tools with her teeth and lips, she recalled what the strange screen had informed her. Two ribs broken and one badly bent. She fussed over his unconscious form, wishing anypony could be there to help her, but eventually she worked up the courage and brought the scalpel and a pair of prongs to his side. Making three small incisions over the ribs, she wrinkled her nose in distaste at the blood and with her mouth she dug around carefully, realigning the broken ribs, ensuring they wouldn't harm any organs, and with a firm tug, she righted the bent rib. Either her stallion was very deeply asleep, or pain simply did not reach him. She marveled at his unconscious form as he seemed to be at peace with her haphazzard, inexperienced attempts at surgery, but even she had to admit, his chest looked healthier and less malformed like this. She nosed around his medkit and found some bandaids that stuck to his skin with some adhesive substance. It was no trick to cover the incissions and she prayed that his body was as strong as he had been.

Again, she settled on his chest, listening to his heart. Hours passed and she felt comforted by his warmth, and it could be her imagination playing up again, but when she lifted her head to check on his injured chest, already it looked much better. Nosing around his soft skin, feeling for any irregularities in his ribcage, she became certain that already his body had recovered. It was as if he'd spent a week in a hospital, and her heart swelled with pride as she remembered her feeble attempts to help him. Apparantly they had borne fruit and this really, truly wasn't Tartarus after all. She continued to nose around his chest, blushing but unable to cease her study of this stallion, breathing in his scent, which felt somehow enticing to her. When she felt a soft pressure against her mane, she froze, caught in the act of nuzzling his nipple, blushing furiously, but to her intense delight, his soft digits were caressing her, encouraging her.  His gloved hand was unfamiliar to her, but she enjoyed the way he stroked her blonde mane and caressed her ears. His eyes were open now and he managed a crooked smile that made her heart hammer in her chest.

For a moment, they just lay there maintaining eye contact. He seemed too weak to speak, but she sensed growing gratitude in this strange stallion's features as he hazily pieced events together, noting how far he had been moved. He looked vulnerable without the armor covering his chest and face, but at least he was no longer dying before her eyes. His eyelids grew heavy as sleep took him once more and she stayed curled up on top of him, keeping them both warm in the chilly cave.
> Cheating Death
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Haunting images besieged my mind's eye. A scaled beast, fire, the stench of decay and roiling beneath the surface, a sense of melancholy, of ever-deepening sorrow. A pristine white Unicorn stood frozen in her own personal hell. Anger welled up in me and there was blood. So much blood. I wasn't sure what was real.

Now, I know I've bragged a lot about my ability to sort hallucinations from reality, but I've had a crutch to lean on in such cases; SAM and the reality filter. For whatever reason, I couldn't feel either one of them, and that made the images all the more horrifying. My subconscious was trying to block out certain details, but I knew I needed to remember.

Troughout my troubled visions, I did catch a few glimpses of the outside world but my eyelids felt so heavy. I was being dragged at one point, then I felt a tugging sensation from my chest followed by the chill of cold air against my skin. My system must've been flooded with adrenals, because I was dazed and hardly in any pain. There was a deep ache in my chest though. That held significance, but I couldn't place it. I drifted back into unconsciousness, and blessedly, the haunting images did not return.

I don't know how much time passed, but when I came to, SAM was still silent as the grave. This continued to trouble me, but I also became aware of another presence. My chest no longer felt cold, and while the blazing agony was now only dulled slightly by the drugs, there was also a pleasant sensation rolling around my chest. Managing to pry my eyes open, I was overcome with a plethora of emotion; confusion, sadness, concern, but chiefly among them, relief.

The mare. She was still beautiful, even with her fur matted with cakes of dirt and a few crimsom stains that could only be blood. She was laying on her stomach on top of me and I could identify the soothing sensation; her soft muzzle was roaming my chest. Her snout was amazingly soft and warm, making my skin tingle with sensation. A more analytical part of my mind noted the three white strips of slap-on gauze and off to the side were a few tools from my medkit. That explained the blood stains on her white coat. She'd fixed me, I don't know how, but she'd managed, somehow.

Gratitude surged in me and I stared at the feeble mare now cast in a different light. I could see how slight she was compared to other ponies, how her muscles had weakened with disuse, and from this angle I could take in every detail of her broken horn. The solid bone protruding from her forehead had been snapped in half close to the base, the uneven jagged lines tapering off to one side, leaving maybe half an inch where the horn was shortest and two inches where it was longest, on the right side. It grated on my conscience how the uneven stub seemed to have been left there to clearly show what once was, but no more. It seemed cruel and deliberate.

How callous I must have seemed, making jokes about broken horns and amputated wings right in front of her! Yet here she was, nosing my chest in a clear sign of adoration. Yes, I might have chosen my first words more carefully, but I did destroy her tormentor, her keeper, the one who did this to her. And when the dragon had seemed certain of the fact that it would at least get to drag me kicking and screaming behind it into the depths of hell, this broken mare had intervened. There was no one else who could've performed field surgery on my broken chest. The invasive stench of decay had also receded, meaning she must've dragged me quite some distance.

I felt the darkness about to reclaim me and for a moment, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to show my gratitude. My left arm still wouldn't move and while I hated having to do things with my right hand (you're probably wondering about the glove - I'll get to it in due time), I could at least move that arm. A pity I couldn't feel her mane like this. She froze like a filly caught with her hoof in the cookie jar. I wanted to laugh at the cute display, but I only managed a dopey grin before my world turned black.

Well, it seemed I wasn't going anywhere and no matter how badly my subconscious wanted to deny me a comprehensive playback of recent events, I could make educated guesses. I know the dragon hit me hard enogh to shatter most of the Pegasus Frame and I should've died from my wounds. My chest and left arm had clearly taken the brunt of the impact and it was bad enough to necessitate surgery. That meant broken ribs and they probably ripped up my insides, causing fatal internal bleeding. I also felt cold and last I remembered, the caves had been warm, even up here, closer to the surface. I'd lost some blood, then and had god knows what organs pierced by my splintered ribs. I also recalled the dull ache deep in my chest and mentally, I shuddered as the pieces came together. I'd suffered cardiac arrest - in other words, I'd died. I've already mentioned several inhuman modifications to my body such as the nanites, already hard at work trying to fix my latest screw-up, but I'd never actually thought I would slip up this badly.

As mentioned, SAM and the reality filter were both tasked with keeping me healthy and sensing my vitals giving out completely, he had rerouted the remaining power from the Pegasus Frame, feeding concentrated bursts through these little wires that led directly to my heart. Basically, it's a cybernetic defibrilator. Coupled with a helping of adrenaline kept in reserve for just this kind of scenario, the machine had jump-started my heart, forcing it to resume beating.

The clear downside of this was as mentioned, that the Pegasus Frame and thus SAM and the reality filter by proxy, had been drained of juice. I'd need to recharge it with one of three things, preferably all:

- Body heat. Right, lost a lot of blood, so not much of that.

- Movement. Pretty much bed-ridden, so yeah.

- Solar panels. My wings were busted and I was stuck in a cave.

Perfect. Just perfect... Well, it seemed like I'd have to crawl my way out of here. Assuming I kept recovering like this, it could be days.

...

Why was I complaining again? Hello! Equestria to shit-for-brains! You just killed a dragon and had your sorry ass saved, twice! Alright, maybe things weren't so bad, all things considered. So I'd just lie here for a bit...

Might as well look on the bright side. I did pause to deliver a vaguely ominous message to Twilight Sparkle and if she'd seen my self-destructive behaviour on the upswing, then maybe she wasn't going to trust me to watch over myself for a few days. Maybe she'd search for me. I did tell her 'a few days' but I clearly wasn't going anywhere in a hurry. I didn't even know how much time had already passed. Somehow my helmet had cracked though I did recall looking through the visor just towards the end. Anyway, point is, I couldn't tell the time. I'd just cheated death and slain a dragon, so it couldn't hurt to hold out a prayer for the most magical Unicorn in Equestria to come save the day.

Meanwhile, I got to snuggle with a pony.

...

You're jealous, I know it.

Anyway, I was left to wonder about the silent mare. I was more than a little impressed with her attitude. I could tell she'd been stuck in this hell for a while and yet her spirit hadn't been broken. My left arm was fixed up quite neatly with a splint and without her horn, that must've been nightmarish. I knew enough about Unicorns to safely say that they weren't nearly as good at handling objects with their mouthes and hooves as the Earth Ponies and the Pegasi. Earth Ponies even had prehensile tails and watching AJ's rodeo routine was a little scary, to be honest. The Pegasi also used their wings to grasp objects, freeing up their hooves and mouthes for multitasking. Now, I know from personal experience that even with ten fingers, it's hard to apply bandages like that. Yet she'd kept trying until she succeeded.

Somehow her feeble nature made her seem all the more valliant. It's one thing to succeed when you're pumped full of nanomachines and lent godlike strength by futuristic tehcnology, but it's quite another to lower yourself to fumbling with clumsy hooves in the dark, humiliating yourself with each failure. I'd been around ponies long enough to know that many of them did struggle with certain daily tasks and it was a sore topic for most. Say what you will about the ponies, but they had their pride. To be caught fumbling with formal clothing was embaressing and normally only family and lovers were permitted to be in the room with a pony getting dressed.

The Unicorns were the envy of all when it came to these trivial matters, effortlessly levitating objects with their glowing horns until everything came together. They even seemed to have an easier time than me with my opposable thumbs and yet here was this pale ghost of her former self without a voice, without a Cutie Mark and without even her horn. She had clearly exhausted herself tending to me and she wasn't about to leave me behind if the way she'd curled up on top of me were any indication. Incidently, the shared body heat did help my recovery and before long, I felt comfortable poking around a bit with my right hand, trying to get a feel for how bad the damage to my Pegasus Frame was.

I was careful not to disturb her rest as I took inventory. The helmet, chestguard and left armguard were broken, as was most of the back, including the wings and the spine. That pretty much left just the leggings and the right armguard. Impressively, it seemed that she'd scoured the cave, picking up even smaller pieces of the wings and even my rifle. The more I pieced together, the more I had to give credit to her. She had not only saved my life, but she seemed to treat my worldly possessions with more respect than I could have hoped for. With any luck, the Pegasus Frame could be put fully back together. I lifted my right hand to lazily stroke the mare's back as she rested on top of me. She stirred a little, but then grew still and her breathing slowed as she seemed comforted by the gesture. We stayed like that for a while and eventually, sleep reclaimed me.


The Mare

She had no real need for sleep - she'd slept too long. The urge to move, to pace about, to enjoy her newfound freedom, it warred with her desire to protect her stallion and keep him warm. She had enjoyed it when he'd stroked her back, but he was still very weak, barely able to stay coherent for more than a few minutes at a time. A sudden draft chilled her and she tried unsuccessfully to press herself closer to her sleeping charge. Resolving to do anything she could, she reluctantly slipped out from under his hand, moving shakily on weakened legs. She began to nose about, poking at the different pieces of equipment. She wasn't used to having to touch everything physically to get some feel for the object, but this was still preferable to her eternal cocoon. She shuddered just to think about it, quickly pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind as she began to explore in earnest. She'd learned now that the strange stallion was bipedal and mostly furless. What had looked like shattered wingbones had turned out to be inanimate. If there was any magic involved, she couldn't sense it. She kept nosing around until she found a similar compartment in the leg barding on the opposite side of where she'd first seen his surgical tools. She knew the spectral entity was still not able to speak or act directly. It seemed to live in the suit. Yet somehow it had enough of a presence to know when to reveal the medical equipment and even translated instruction for her, so clearly it was cooperating.

She nosed at the section of armor where a thin line revealed a sealed compartment and then glanced towards the cracked visor. She waited but nothing happened. Beginning to feel foalish for her half-baked attempts at communing with the disembodied voice, she hesitated but brought her muzzle back to the locked compartment, poking it more firmly, even pawing at it with a hoof before turning to face the visor fully, her posture expectant.

She released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding when the screen glowed soft red. She didn't bother to read the instructions as she heard a soft hiss and saw the section of armor slide to the side, revealing another toolbelt similar to the medkit. Using her lips and teeth, she nibbled at the toolbelt, eventually managing to unfold it, revealing a crude survival kit similar to one she'd once seen carried around by an Earth Pony with a compass cutie mark. Quickly she pushed the thought to the back of her mind before the sorrow could cripple her. She was tired of crying.

She nosed through the survival kit, eventually finding what she was looking for; a flint and steel lighter. Such a tool was considered to be a luxury item. Unicorns could ignite a spark with their horns, Pegasi generally shied away from any open flame and any Earth Pony with a bit of practice could master the art of starting a fire using two dry twigs. This particular piece looked more refined than the others she had seen through shop windows. Sleek and cased in silvery steel with engravings and even a hood to protect the flint wheel. It took some effort, but she managed to wedge the lighter between her fronthooves, using her teeth to open the hood. Setting the lighter back down, she rose and took a few unsteady strides back towards the deeper reaches of the cave. Gradually, her shaky legs remembered how to walk at a brisk trot and she was glad her stallion didn't see her stumble a few times. So embaressing.

She soon returned with a few dried twigs, making the trip several times until she had stacked a little bonfire on a bare section of cave floor. Returning her attention to the abandoned lighter, she froze when she saw her stallion had turned his head to the side to look at her. Heat flushed to her face and she hesitated, but something about his expression encouraged her. It was as if he was gazing upon her with adoration, those slightly smaller eyes shimmering from their deep sockets. She swallowed, blushing profusedly as she kneeled over the lighter, picking it up with her teeth, angling her head to the side to strike the flint wheel against the cave floor, flinching when she made a spark, but the flame didn't catch. She tried again, embaressment warring with pride as she felt her stallion's gaze upon her. The third time, the flame did catch, flickering precariously in the cool air. With exaggerated care, she brought the open flame to the dry twigs and soon the bonfire caught light. She spat out the lighter and was relieved to see the flame go out. She pawed at it a few times, trying to get the hood to close, abandoning this task when embaressment finally overcame her. She settled on her haunches on the other side of the fire, reluctant to meet his gaze.


Samuel

In my dreams, I experienced the horrors I had presumably abandoned back on Earth. I ran towards the crowded city, screaming my throat sore, but nobody heard me. They all went about their lives, ignorant of the bright shimmer appearing in the middle of the most densely populated area: a big open plaza fenced in my glittering steel towers and bright glass fronts, the pinacle of our society. The skyscrapers stood tall and defiant, reaching for the skies above and the people crowded the streets below, happy to walk in the shadows of the silent giants. A child had noticed the shimmering light and cried out with glee, pointing and tugging at his mother's skirt. I kept running, trying to warn them but it was too late. The flash suddenly exploded, drowning out the world in blinding white. Somehow I was spared, the light passing through me. As my eyesight recovered, I was stranded, completely alone in a postapocalyptic landscape. The highways and skyscrapers had all collapsed, crushed under the all-powerful bomb. The wind chilled me to the bone and I could only watch as the world had seemingly disappeared before my eyes.

Coming to, I tried to ignore my spur-of-the-moment Sara Conner impersonation as I realised that I was just feeling cold. The soft weight I'd grown accustomed to was absent from my chest and I heard something scuffle about in the cave. Turning my head towards the sound, I was greeted with a heartwarming sight. The white mare, her coat still matted with dirt, was moving to and fro at an unsteady canter and I confess, she looked adorable in her clumsiness. I realised she already had the workings of a bonfire stacked up not five feet from me and she turned to search for something. Following her gaze, I noticed my zippo lighter with its hood open on the cave floor. How did she even- I dismissed the thought, watching her as she frowned cutely, pawing at the lighter with her hoof, but she was unable to pick it up. I had to assume that whatever magic allowed the ponies to grasp things in their hooves was gone along with her horn. She bent down to pick it up with her teeth, wrinking her nose in mild distaste, but then she met my gaze and froze.

Her white coat did little to hide her furious blush and for a moment, I thought she might turn and run. I did not mean to embaress her, truth be told, I was awe-struck by her dedication. Imagine waking up without hands. Would your first thought be to get on your belly and bite the dust, both figuratively and literally, casting aside your pride as you stayed focused on the task at hand? Yeah, this mare had my respect, as I've stated. So I didn't laugh or do anything to betray my pity for her. For a tense moment, we simply held each other's gaze and whatever she saw must have been good enough for her, as she handled the lighter with her mouth, making sure her mane didn't get in the way as she struck it, getting a solid flame on her third try, and soon the fire was lighted. I couldn't help myself though; as she spat out the lighter and pawed at it, trying to get the hood closed, she just looked so adorably frustrated that I couldn't help but smile.

She decided the cold stone floor on the opposite side of the newly lit campfire was the coziest spot after that. Serves me right. Why do I keep being mean to ponies...? Well, she hadn't run out on me yet, so I could still salvage this. I just hope my accent wasn't too thick. Really, even with a supercomputer/AI deciphering the language and injecting it directly into my brain, there was a limit to how quickly I could learn and it had only been a week.

...

Who the fuck was I kidding? Here I was, still belly-aching over an accent when this Unicorn had dragged my ass to safety, performed field surgery with her mouth no less, AND she'd made this awesome campfire without laughing at my overpriced zippo lighter (with zero additional practical uses to show for all that money). Right, time to say something profound.

"Thank you," I croaked. Shit, I hadn't realised how sore my throat would be. Well, maybe I ought to just keep it sweet and simple then.

She blinked, caught off-guard by my words. Her eyes were amazingly blue, almost luminescant like her coat. Her blonde mane hung like a curtain down one side of her face, vaguely reminding me of a picture SAM had shown me once, titled 'Pinkamina.' Whatever, I liked the way her mane looked, even with a few tangles from her earlier struggles. I know it was one of the first things she did, shaking her hair loose from that silly little bun that kept it out of her face. It did a nice job of obscuring her broken horn, which I suspect was the intention all along. She seemed to mole over my words, blushing again as she gave a timid smile and a nod as if to say right back at you.

"No really, thank you, for fixing my mess," I gestured to my broken arm still looking good with the splint she gave me.

She shifted a bit on her haunches, chewing on her lower lip, her blue eyes boring into mine. It was impossible not to get sucked into those deep blue pools, and I realised they were conveying such unending gratitude that they were shimmering, on the verge of tears. Well damn, I was almost getting choked up myself. She had a very expressive face.

I held out my good hand, trying to reach for her. She hesitated before getting up, shakily circling the bonfire until she stood over me. I gently placed my gloved fingers at her jawline and immediately, she leaned into the caress, inhaling suddenly in a soft gasp. Her jaw must've been very sore and she clampered on top of me, closing her eyes as she stretched her neck, rubbing against my massaging fingers. I worked my fingers in tight little circular patterns, inching my way closer to the crook of her neck and as I touched the joint of her delicate jaw, she trembled visibly. Using my thumb and forefinger, I massaged both sides and her lips parted in another gasp as I worked the tension from her muscles. Tears leaked from her tightly shut eyelids and finally, she pressed her lips to mine.

Like I'd felt before when she was nosing my chest, her lips were amazingly soft and warm. Any lingering feelings of wrongness were washed away with that fervent kiss as she poured all of her feelings into it. All of her sorrow, her shame, her loneliness from being stuck in that glass cage for god knows how long, it was all melting away as the kiss deepened and I felt her tongue dance with mine. If my teeth frightened her, she didn't show it. She wrapped her forelegs around me and I kept gently massaging her jaw and cheeks with my hand, occasionally moving it to stroke her mane from her face.

I don't know how long we spent kissing like that, but we were both breathless as she finally broke the kiss. She had cried continuously throughout the kissing, leaving stains on her cheeks. I simply wrapped my arm around her, hugging her to my chest and soon after, she fell asleep, finally feeling the rigors of an eventful night catching up with her, no matter how badly she wanted to stay awake.

I gently wiped her tears away and watched her peaceful, sleeping face for a while. I wondered what her name could be. I didn't want to pry, clearly whatever she went by before could have something to do with what she'd lost. Anyway, I didn't want to force her to spell it out, but I needed to call her something.

...

Way to draw a blank, Samuel.
> Euphoria
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Mare

She had no idea how long they'd slept. She didn't particularly care. She had seen neither sun nor moon for so long, the whole concept of time seemed to be slipping from her. All she knew was that her stallion had continued to recover at an impressive rate, but he was so hurt. Only hours before he had been literally pulled from death's door and only with the combined help of the spectral voice and her own terrifying firsthoof experience with surgical tools had he managed to stay in the world of the living.

Now he was sitting up, having fashioned a sling for his broken arm, letting it hang in front of his muscled abdomen. All the scraps of armor had been gathered together and piled into the ponymade saddlebacks that he had worn strapped to his hips, but he was barely able to sit up. She had been the one to gather all the pieces, using her muzzle and only her fervent, newfound love for the strange biped had allowed her to suffer through the humiliation. Samuel had just sat there, watching her with quiet awe and his patience seemed endless. She would drop the same piece several times, blushing and fidgeting, occasionally growing frantic with embaressment until he had extended his gloved hand and without even thinking, her body had responded, bringing her to nuzzle his hand, letting him caress her ears and her still tender jaw. He had comforted her in this way several times and each time, she would return to the task at hoof with steadily mounting confidence.

Samuel, a curious name but it had been so long since she had done any speculation on names. It was almost as forbidden as hoping had been. Knowing their names had been one of the few things that could possibly deepen her perverse misery, giving it a whole new dimension, so she had stopped thinking about their names. She had shut her ears to their words.

But this wasn't Tartarus and hope was not forbidden, so why should she shy away from his name? She could stand to contemplate one name at least. She could do that much for him, for Samuel. Being regarded with anything other than unending sorrow and pity was similarly a new experience to her. Normally she didn't have a choice; the forcefield had prevented her from hiding anything. They would all gawk at her broken horn, they would weep at the sight of her marred flanks and they would cry to the heavens for her lost voice, their pity only deepened when they had witnessed her refusal to even move her lips. She could make no sounds.

The darkness seemed to expand from the corners of the dark cave and her whole world trembled and lost focus before she felt a comforting embrace as she was pulled into a one-armed hug. She realised she had been sobbing noiselessly again, only able to vocalize with her studdering breath as it hitched in her throat. Damn it, she was crying like a foal again.

She recoiled more in self-loathing and exasperation than any intend to hurt her stallion and just like before, his patience proved endless as he sat back, watching her steel herself. She sat upright, still blushing and keeping her hair down, covering her right eye and more importantly, the broken stub of her horn. Realising her discomfort, Samuel ripped his skin-tight suit in twain with an idle thought, the powerful, sleek muscles of his upper arm flexing with the effort until he had cleanly removed the top, leaving on his pants and leg barding.

Before she could speculate further, he had draped the black shirt over her back like a skirt, once more taking her off-guard with how nimble his fingers were as he tied the sleeves together to hug her barrel. Now the black material covered her flanks and hung loosely down her backside like a black skirt.

It was simply ridiculous that she should be crying again, but there was no stopping the trickle of thick tears streaming noiselessly down her cheeks as she realised that her stallion had noticed her shyness and thought to cover up that only other truly glaring evidence of her broken nature. She hugged him and kissed him needily, shivering as she tried to still the flow of tears, managing only after a few minutes.

He wiped her face clean and helped her put on the saddlebags, lifting them effortlessly in his one good arm until they were slung over her hips. She scowled and he grinned, obviously finding her expressions adorable, which only deepened her blush as she stood on quivering legs, struggling to stay upright with the lightly ladden saddlebags.

Yes, he was definately feeling smug. He had a broken arm, a half-crushed ripcage and his naked skin was paled visibly from bloodloss, and here she was, unwounded and unencumbered safe for a pair of saddlebags, but somehow, impossibly, he seemed to have more strength than she did. She squared her jaw and silenced him with a look.

"Sorry, I can't help it, you just look so cute when you're trying to keep your balance," he choked out between chuckles.

Cute? She raised one brow, the question clearly written in her features. Then her frown turned thoughtful and she nodded, finding it preferable to pity. She did not know what she would do if he had pitied her. He continued to radiate good cheer and support for her and she shuffled a bit, finding a steady stance and finally the quivering subsided.

He looked appropriately impressed with her efforts, making her heart swell with pride. She puffed up her chest and managed a fragile smile which seemed to hold him spellbound. It was ridiculous that he should find her so beautiful, but she wouldn't question his tastes in mares. She took a few hesitant steps, finding that she could keep her balance on three hooves, moving only one leg at a time. Well, it might be slow progress, but she was still more mobile than Samuel as she inched towards the last remaining piece of his suit. The visor lay split down the middle as if it had been intended to split open like that when it was still whole. The left half was still glowing with the red glyphs that seemed to be the only manifestation the spectral alterego could manage. She bit down on the dead half of the visor, stowing it in her saddlebag. Looking to the other half, she could see it was molded to fit over the top half of Samuel's face and with the lower half broken, she acted on impulse.

She pushed her face into the concave shape of the half-visor and when she raised her head, the glowing display sat perched on her snout, the see-through panel sitting right over her left eye. She saw the world now as her stallion must have seen it when he fought the dragon. Everything was bright, banishing the shadows, showing her the world in tones of green. The red letters stood out sharply defined against the green backdrop.



SIMULATED ARTIFICIAL MIND

POWER RESERVES CRITICAL. PLEASE RECHARGE.

POWER RESERVES = 2%

ALL SUBSYSTEMS OFFLINE. POWERSAVE MODE ENABLED.

SIMULATED SENTIENCE MATRIX OFFLINE. READ-ONLY TEXT COGNITIVE PROCESSES ENABLED.

[SUBJECT ID UNKNOWN] PLEASE BE ADVISED. THE REMAINING POWER RESERVES WILL ALLOW FOR ONE JUMP TO CLEAR THE CHASM. FROM THERE, SAMUEL MUST WALK ON HIS OWN TWO LEGS. I CAN PROVIDE NO FURTHER BACKUP.



As the red letters scrolled over the screen, they seemed to flicker between a variety of random shapes until her rapidly shifting pupil seemed to dialate whenever the symbols by chance would take on the semblance of Equestrian letters, gradually replacing the alien language until the whole message was spelled out for her. She had watched her own reactions in a picture-in-picture display, able to see how her pupil shifted between each letter.

It was mind-boggling. The spectral voice known to her now as Simulated Artificial Mind was able to track the minute motions of her eye, able to see which words she was looking at, and by using that same process, he allowed her to highlight sections of text and he provided a list of words and letters to choose from so she could piece together a sentence.



SIMULATED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

[SUBJECT ID UNKNOWN] HOW DO YOU FEEL?

Q W E R T Y U I O P
A S D F G H J K L
Z X C V B N M

EUPHORIA



Her eye seemed to move over the letters in random order as quickly as she could find them, but the screen aligned them easily into the correct order. Euphoria. She could think of no other word to summarize her feelings. Turning to regard her stallion, only now realising that he was still watching her, she blinked, peering through the visor seeing him outlined against the cave wall in tones of green, smiling at her. When she wasn't looking at the letters, a small crosshair tracked the motions of her pupil, allowing her to highlight her surroundings and anything recognized was given a label. There were labels for Samuel, his armor, the halberd (curiously labeled VENGEANCE in all uppercase letters) and his Rifle. The latter she knew to be the magical tool which had taken the eyes from the dragon.

So this was how Samuel saw the world. Everything was illuminated and labeled. The device described the exact distance between herself and each object to a staggering degree of accuracy, using a type of measurement called 'feet and inches,' whatever that was. He was grinning from ear to ear, watching her wear the visor over the only eye not obscured by her blond mane.

Feeling uplifted by her sudden and unexplainable success with wearing the visor, she managed to trot over to where Samuel sat, her muscles seeming to remember some of their lost strength. She kissed him tenderly and then pulled away, gasping as he struggled to his feet. He should not be moving, yet what other reason could he have had for helping her put on the saddlebags? The visor had indicated to her that his leg bardings held enough left-over power in them for just one of his great leaps. He had not read the screen as she was now wearing it over her eye. She watched him pensively as he took his first few unsteady steps moving around the cave.

The bonfire was nothing but embers and he seemed to navigate the cave by relying on his sense of touch, trailing his gloved hand along the cave wall. He wore the halberd strapped across his back and the rifle strapped to his right thigh. They had all the other pieces of his armor in the saddlebags so he was now wearing just the leggings and the right armguard. His hair was shaken loose from its ponytail and his left arm was in a sling.

He looked haggard, yet she still found him beautiful. As he walked, she noted the extended rearhooves were still folded behind the small of his back. He would have to extend them and make one jump to get them both out of here. When she saw him fumbling in the darkness, she alerted him to her presence by clopping one hoof on the stone floor. He turned towards the sound and she led him, guided by the screen which painted everything in tones of green, banishing the shadows.

He was able to walk and keep up with her unsteady trot until they reached the gaping chasm with the ledge some 20 feet above them, according to the screen. The Simulated Artificial Mind insisted that he would be able to make the jump and she had only to replay the battle scene with the dragon in her mind's eye to confirm this. Hesitating, she blushed and the visor did little to hide the glow with her snout still exposed, as she reared up on her hindlegs, hugging Samuel with her forelegs. He understood her meaning and scooped her up, hoisting her up by her flanks, her frontlegs propped up on his good shoulder. Again, she marveled at his strength. Even half-dead, he was lifting her in one arm.

He unfolded the metallic equine legs, growing a good foot in height and running in a graceful lope, he kicked off just before they went tumbling into the deep pit, making another explosive leap, easily clearing the gaping chasm, slowing to a halt after a few strides. She was trembling in his grasp and he kissed her on the lips, instantly calming her as he set her down, laughing when she fell onto her rear with a huff.

She would have fixed him with another glare, only the visor now obscured her eye, the right one still hidden by the curtain of her mane. Instead, she turned towards the source of light and the green tones bled away as the display allowed her to see with her natural eyesight.

For the first time in Tartatus only knows how long, she gazed upon bright, golden shafts of sunlight. They were at the mouth of the cave, just a few broken cobblestone archways seperating them from Equestria. She was going to cry again, she just knew it. This time she wouldn't be able to stop bawling after just a few minutes.

...

Euphoria.
> Welcome Back
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Samuel

Finally reaching the mouth of the cave, I silently berated myself. I should have known... Idiot! But no, I had been too busy worrying that I might get the willies if we stuck around in that cave much longer. Chiefly for my own sake, I had pushed us both to leave sooner rather than later, and she had not been ready.

How long had she gone without sunlight? Just the sight of a few shimmering rays had her paralyzed with grief, awe, or some perverse combination of the two. It tore up my insides to listen to those sobs. It was just unsteady breathing, really. Hyperventilating breaths that finally started hitching in her throat, making little strangled noises. I didn't have to see her eyes to know how they looked; wide, trembling and crying. I saw the two silvery lines run down her cheeks and the more cynical part of me wondered, is she going to get permanent tearstains in her coat?

Hating myself for having allowed the thought, I tried my best not to get dragged down along with her. One of us needed to stay functional at all times, to protect the other. I only had the strength to kneel by her side and she burried her face in my good shoulder, trembling as the almost-silent sobs racked her body. This whole place looked weird without my infrared enabled.

...

Hold that thought. I wasn't wearing the visor, duh! Why the hell would I have infrared? I sat there, letting the silent mare pour it all out as I went over my own behaviour. Again and again, I kept reaching out to SAM with my mind, but with the Pegasus Frame this badly depleted, I had noted that I couldn't even get the leg frames to assist my walk, which is something that took up less power than the act of walking could generate by harvesting the kinetic energy.

Anyway, point is, I was going to go, SAM, run a mental health diagnostic, I think I might be going bonkers. Again. But yeah, SAM wasn't there anymore to inform me how batshit insane I currently was acting. I had to review my own actions. Damn, I knew I had luxury problems, but really? Forgetting to assess my own behaviour entirely?

So yeah, reviewing everything, I had most recently tried to enable my Head's-Up-Display without wearing my mask. Hell, I was looking at my new girlfr- the silent mare (I really needed to come up with a name for her), looking at her wearing what was left of the HUD. I should know instinctively not to try and enable nightvision or do a mineral repository scan.

Incidently, I could sneak-peak at her screen, watching her limited interactions with what was left of SAM with less than 2% juice left in the Pegasus Frame. It wasn't much. Normally, SAM takes up a significant portion of the energy reserves to power his quantom processor and fully utilize his intellect, but if need demands it, he can shut down his higher cognitive processes, regressing to the point where he becomes just a few lines of code in the HUD. He was currently in that state and the mare had typed just a single word so far.

Euphoria. Right, filing that away for later use, because I really needed to get a fucking grip. I was trying to perform my own version of a mental health diagnostic, and I kept getting sidetracked. So, I'd tried to use my HUD even as I was watching the mare using it. I had tried to call out to SAM even as I'd watched him power down. I sighed with exasperation at my own behaviour, idly shifting my left hoof so it wouldn't fall asleep.

...

Okay, this shit was starting to worry me. I was losing my grip on reality, or my self-perception at least. Fuck! Helloooo, genius! Who disabled the reality filter?! That's right, me! Quick, somebody award me a medal! I've figured it all out, you guys!

Yeah, not my brightest moment. I actually felt a migraine coming on, I was that furious with self-loathing. There is a reason why I always try to stop SAM's attempts to override the reality filter and this time, I'd helped him tear it down. So yeah, I was losing my ability to tell the artificial components apart from my own body. Trying to use vision modes, trying to talk to SAM in spite of staring at overwhelming amounts of evidence that he wouldn't be making an appearance anytime soon.

Hell, I'd just peeked at the HUD with my mind. Yes, I can do that. The DNI can feed images directly into my visual cortex, eliminating the need for a screen. The only downside is that it takes up a lot of cognitive processes for my real flesh brain to handle that kind of sci-fi acrobatics, and here I was doing it with the reality filter offline like a fucking moron!

I broke away from the silent mare, clutching my head with my one good hand. Yeah, I was definately feeling the pounding sensation inside my head that came with mentally over-exerting myself.


The Mare

She wasn't sure she could take much more. Over the last few days (she assumed it had been days), she had been through so many ups and downs, she was weary beyond weary. If she never had to shed another tear, it would be too soon. No, that wasn't true. In fact, it was the opposite of true. Even her misery was euphoria to her, now that she was finally free to express it. Seeing the light of Celestia's sun again had brought on a powerful sob-session and dutifully, her stallion had held her, comforting her through it. She wasn't sure he was still doing that now though. She hadn't heard his voice or felt his hand in her mane for a few minutes. Well, any crying-jack has to end sometime, no matter how well you're doing, pushing out those fat tears. She was certain her face looked disheveled from the moist tears. She didn't care.

With some effort, she managed to steady her breathing and raise her head. Throug the visor, she now saw the red glyphs dancing in thin air as the screen had otherwise cleared, becoming a glass pane to let her view the world unobstructed. Narrowing her eyes against the glare of the sun's rays, she noted the Simulated Artificial Mind once again perceived her discomfort, dimming the lens until she was able to look through the glare.

She saw her stallion doubled over, holding his head with his gloved hand as if he were in agonizing pain. Rushing to him, she pawed feebly at his arm, trying to make eyecontact in spite of the stupid visor and her hair blocking any view of either of her eyes. What had he done to calm her when she had been so lost?

Blushing, she used her forehooves to brush away his arm, gently pinning him to the ground as she climbed on top of him and kissed him deeply. He grew still underneath her and his features softened. She saw her long mane cascading down the side of his face, the strands laying over top of his black mane. She leaned down to kiss him again, this time doing it just for the sake of it, as his mind seemed to have cleared.

Therapeutic kissing. She could set up a new business, maybe? Her customer base would be small. Currently she knew only herself and Samuel who both had a habit of collapsing with mental distress. Not the most comforting of thoughts, really.


Samuel

Waves upon waves of agony and self-loathing besieged me as I took a trip to lala-land. Then suddenly all my senses were keenly focused on the soft lips locked with mine and I felt an agressive, soft tongue exploring my mouth. Letting out a soft breath, I seemed to unwind completely. I realised I was on my back, having a makeout session with the mare that I had been busy comforting only moments before. I brushed the mane from her face so I could see her right eye. The motion also revealed her broken horn, but she didn't seem to mind and I needed to look at her expressive eyes, one of them at least.

We were both breathless from our heated kissing and I began to laugh softly. She was laughing just as exuberantly, albeit silently. Her shoulders shook with laughter and she was smiling wider than I had ever seen before, so there we lay, laughing together. It was beautiful.

"Some team we make, huh?" I commented, and she laughed some more. I went on, "well, as long as we keep fixing each other, I think we might make it out of here yet. I have a cottage nearby and we need some of the stuff I keep stored there."

She seemed intrigued, her expressive blue eye radiating barely contained curiousity as she silently questioned me with a look, as if to say 'you have a home and you want to take me there?' I don't know, I might've been reading too much into that unspoken question, but I blushed and nodded. She kept smiling and I never wanted her to stop doing that, so I got to my feet, running my gloved fingers through her mane. She leaned into the gesture lovingly and after a while, we both turned our attention to the exit.

According to unspoken agreement, we both set out, matching our strides with my bipedal shuffling echoed by her soft hoofbeats. She was walking more steadily than I was, which was impressive considering she was hauling half the weight of the Pegasus Frame. She voiced no complaints, even silent ones.

We both came to a halt in front of the skeletal remains of the armor-clad pony who had wielded the halberd. She saw his self-made epitaph and I was worried she was going to cry again. I wasn't far off, myself, but instead she simply nosed around the bones, not even flinching when they collapsed. Realising what she was doing, I knelt besides her and helped gather his remains, piling them into her saddlebags, adding to her burden, but she wasn't going to leave him behind.

Our first task as we made it out into the woods was to bury the remains. I won't go into details, I haven't got much right to speak for the dead, after all. We held a respectful minute of silence, looking at the mound of freshly turned soil where we had burried him in a meadow. The afternoon sun beat down on us with its rays, but here in Equestria, the heat wasn't so stifling. For all I knew, this sun had no harmful radiation, or the ponies maintained the ozone layer with much greater care than we did back on Earth. Shoving those depressing thoughts aside, I turned to the silent mare.

"I couldn't have done it without his sacrifice. I wish I knew his name, but I suspect that might just make it more painful," I sighed.

She looked like the last part of my sentense echoed her thoughts so strongly, she was getting choked up all over again. I kissed her tenderly, but briefly and then rose to my feet unsteadily. She brushed up against my thigh, steadying me. I combed my fingers through her mane, letting her guide me onto the narrow trail we had abandoned to set up this little funeral.

Guided by the visor, she had better chances of trailing a straight path back to Ponyville, following the rough directions I gave her. I'm sure SAM's mapping data was available to her as well, albeit in a compressed 2D minimap version. When you're used to the luxuries of 3D imaging and nigh-infinate databanks, that's actually pretty rudimentary.

Making the trek back, we encountered little resistance, but without the Pegasus Frame operational, the animals seemed lured in my my shuffling gait, sensing a vulnerable animal. A lone timberwolf, wrought entirely from branches and vines, suddenly stepped onto the path straight ahead of me. My hand wanted to clutch the mare's mane, to make certain she was close by, but I closed my fingers on empty air.

Swallowing my worst fears, I hoped she had simply thought to hide. Now, I realise you've probably seen Applejack make short work of a whole pack of these things and they're ludicrously fragile in the show, if you're an Earth Pony.

These things are no joke, especially not when your skin is just a thin, pink membrane that can't even conceal the flow of blood through your veins, highlighting the arteries to make it easier for the fucker to know where to bite in order to bleed you to death in one lunge. This creature could according to legends piece itself together like the friggin' T-1000 and I wasn't feeling very Schwartzenegger-like just then.

With its foul breath, it reminded me of the cursed dragon I had just slain and I wanted to see if my enchanted halberd could kill this thing off for good, but my arm just wasn't strong enough with the deadweight of the armguard and my banged up state. I reminded myself that my insides were probably still torn up by my ribs and they needed to heal. The timberwolf growled and readied its lunge, but then wheeled about in an instant when it heard the audible snap of a twig somewhere behind it.

The silent mare, guided by her visor, had trailed a path through the underbrush getting behind the timberwolf, and very deliberately, she had brought her hoof down on the dry twig, taunting the beast. It was all the distraction I needed to unholster my weapon (it actually took a good half second) and with a dull roar of gunpowder, I shattered the timberwolf's body with a gelround.

The mare did not look frightened by the noise and I suspect she was hoping I would do just what I had done. She gave me a nod as if to say, 'nice one.' I smiled at the compliment and stepped over the already stirring remains of the timberwolf, scattering a few twigs with my boots to slow its recovery as we both began to jog back towards town, trying to put as much distance between ourselves and our pursuer.

Luckily, we had just reached the edge of the Everfree and we broke through the forestline just as the wolf howled somewhere behind us. To her credit, Twilight had indeed thought to gather the Mane 6 and they were ready to defend us, should the timber wolves decide to pursue the two of us into the edges of civilization.

The silent mare had shaken her mane loose to once again make a curtain, obscuring her right eye and broken horn. She had thought to put the visor back in the saddlebag and now she simply resembled a skinny Earth Pony. Still, we both looked like we had just been through hell and Rarity shrieked when she saw me. Fluttershy nearly fainted, but Twilight called out to them, getting them in line, ordering a sweep of the area to ensure the timberwolves wouldn't make an attack. Rainbow Dash saluted and took off, the rest formed up a defensive wall of pony, standing between Ponyville and the possible threat. Fluttershy broke off from the group, walking with us until we reached my cabin.

I was too tired to answer her inquiries and obviously, my companion wasn't going to talk back. I don't think Fluttershy noticed the scar on her throat, though. It was easy to fashion a little scarf for her to hide that detail. So, without a word, we made it past the threshold of my door and I recall shutting it before collapsing to unconsciousness.

...

Safe.
> Pony Lives
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Mane 6

Having overcome their initial shock from seeing Samuel return in such dire conditions, the six friends came together, working like a single unit. Rainbow Dash was back with a report within seconds; a pack of Timberwolves had been summoned by the howling and were headed this way, running paralel to the more hospitable path the human had traveled along.

Fluttershy had accompanied the human and the mysterious mare who clung to his side as if both of their lives depended on it, but neither had even enough spirit to acknowledge her. She had seen this behaviour only a few times before and usually only in abused animals. She feared the worst for them, but she couldn't dwell on those thoughts. Her friends needed her.

Returning to the edge of the forest, she was just in time to see a Timberwolf dashed to pieces against an incandescant magical bubble that Twilight had put up in the last moment. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were in that moment demonstrating the rarely seen protective side of the ponies. When the powerful Earth Pony rushed forward, she trambled an unfortunate Timberwolf to pieces, crushing it underhoof. Rainbow Dash had landed on top of another with enough force to daze its two packmates with the shockwave (which was amazing and showed all the hues of the rainbow), and by the time they had recovered, one received a wing buffet, disintegrating under the sheer momentum of the wingbone.

The remaining Timberwolf turned and came face to face with true madness. With the maniacal grin stretching almost beyond the boundaries of her face, Pinkie Pie pulled the string on her decorative cannon and the beast was reduced to tinder in a shower of confetti.

The only pony who did not partake in the fight was Rarity. Most would assume she was in fact doing what she appeared to be doing; refusing to risk getting a hoof chipped, instead carefully inspecting the white appendage for any imperfections. Twilight however, knew what to look for in a pony whose mind was so thouroughly preoccupied sorting things out, that her body seemed to simply run on automatic. She witnessed such tension in the white Unicorn just then.

However, the threat had abated by then and Ponyville was once again safe. More out of old habit than anything else, the ponies lined up and Twilight debriefed them in case anypony had missed the obvious. Rainbow Dash was napping in a tree branch and Applejack was giving Rarity inquisitive stares, but the white Unicorn shrugged off her concerns, claiming she was having a rough day so far. Pinkie Pie was hugging a distraught Fluttershy whose fears had finally caught up with her as she worried for the mental health of the two survivors. Twilight knew they were all paying enough attention to her however, so she went on to explain that yes, the Human known only as Samuel had indeed returned, his Pegasus Frame in pieces and the alter ego, SAM, nowhere to be seen, but she assured them that as long as the section of the suit that held his 'mind' was unharmed, then even SAM could be considered a survivor. She knew nothing of the white mare and neither did the others. It also remained unanswered what trials they had faced in the Everfree Forest, but it was obvious that Samuel had found a great adversary and nearly paid for his discovery with his life. The mare seemed to be involved and they were both resting in Samuel's cottage, not to be disturbed.

The last bit got a few reactions out of the ponies, especially from Fluttershy who got in the purple Unicorn's face, insisting that she needed to check on their injuries or at least take the mare to the hospital. Twilight looked pensive, but it was Rarity who spoke up just then, her voice catching their attention because it sounded too subdued for her usual style; something was wrong.

"They need each other, didn't you see? It was as if they were each holding on only by the strength the other had taught them," she cast a worried glance in the direction of the cottage. She took a breath to steady herself and went on, "whatever we do, seperating those two is not an option."

Any comments about reading too many cheesy romance novels died on the brash Pegasus' tongue as she reminded herself that Rarity spoke as the element of Generousity just then, always giving until it hurt. That aspect of things wasn't too different from her own view of things and honestly, if she were in their horseshoes, she wouldn't want to leave her partner either, though she didn't know what they had partnered up to accomplish other than survival.

The others all murmured assent and by unspoken agreement, they went to the treehouse library; none of them wanted to be alone just then.


The Mare

So tired. Had anypony ever truly known fatigue? It seemed she had only just understood the sensation here, today. Still, the ponies, they were so beautiful! They had worked together much like she an her stallion, though she didn't suspect they'd done it for quite the same reasons. She had flushed with foalish anticipation to be invited into Samuel's domicile, but really, who was she kidding? Samuel had already keeled over, unconscious before he hit the ground, and she wasn't far behind him.

Remembering what little strength she had, she put on the visor and immediately, the Simulated Artificial Mind had a plethora of information for her. Everything was labeled correctly and it made sense; he lived here after all. The place looked new though, and many shelves were still vacant, their items yet unpurchased. She found what she was looking for however, hidden under a bolt of cloth that she painstakingly had to move with her mouth (her jaw ached so!).

"Power Cells" [3], the visor informed her. She lay flat on her belly and squirmed out from under the saddlebags, knocking them over to spill their contents. The Pegasus Frame came out in a hundred pieces, but just as she had hoped, the visor was eager to point her towards the section of 'spine' that held an input slot for the power cells. Again working with her jaws, she had to try several times, turning the cartridge over and flipping it before she found the way to make it fit. A flashing red light indicated to her that the suit was now receiving emergency power supplies sufficient to restore full functionality. Such lengthy words the visor used to tell a simple tale; the spectral voice would be revived in time, if she left it like this.

Turning towards her stallion, she frowned as she set to work dragging him to his bed.


The Mane 6

That evening, after whiling away many hours with trivial conversation and games, having avoided the topic of Samuel and the Everfree for as long as possible, the argument finally broke out. Fluttershy was incensed, she needed to check on them. Rainbow Dash took her side and with Applejack and Rarity speaking for their privacy, Twilight finally silenced them by raising her voice above theirs. They all grew still, watching a section of her mane sticking out erratically; she was only two steps from grinding her teeth and making the twitchy eyes.

Heaving a deep breath, she calmed herself with a hoof to her chest, closing her eyes. She smoothed out her mane and promised them they would all check in on Samuel tomorrow, as visitors. That meant knocking.

So naturally, they were all 6 gathered in front of his door before the sun had rissen and Fluttershy had made the meekest sounding knock in the history of Equestria, flinching when the door creaked open; unlocked. No response and with no possible way for any of the mares to reign in their curiousity, they all crept towards the doorway.

They saw the devastating sight of the Pegasus Frame in a hundred pieces, scattered across the floor as if it had been kicked over. One section was 'alive' so to speak, glowing softly with a deep crimsom color, but they ignored this when they saw the door to the bedroom standing open. Creeping up to the doorway, heads appearing at six different and varyingly impossible angles from around the doorframe, they all grew very still at what they saw.

Never before had Samuel's body looked quite so stick-like or so long and gangly. With the armor off, wearing only his tight-fitting black flight suit, and only the lower half at that, he lay on top of the bedsheets and nothing was concealed from the sickly blackish-purple bruises on his chest to the way his body stirred minutely with his breathing. His left arm was in a splint, released from its sling to rest carefully on the matress next to his haggard body. His right arm was slung about the body of the pristine white mare who looked almost luminescant in the dark. Her blonde mane hung over her face with her muzzle pressed into the crook of Samuel's shoulder, inhaling his scent with each breath. So they slept together, their faces drawn in different expressions of subdued horror and fatigue, even in their otherwise peaceful sleep. It seemed whatever they were each dreaming about, caused them to inch closer together, needing more surface contact to soothe their fears. Yet at the same time, they looked strangely fulfilled. As if the sweetness of their success could eclipse the horrors they had lived through.

Retreating from the cabin entirely, shutting both doors on their way out, the six mares made it down the road before they had to share their reactions.

Rarity sniffled into a kerchief lent to her by Applejack who simply smiled and rolled her eyes at the mare's romantic nature. Pinkie Pie was squee'ing and already plotting her next party to be thrown in their honor. Rainbow Dash was spellbound by imagined tales of the glorious quest Samuel had gone on, complete with a damsel in distress, too. Fluttershy was relieved almost to the point of tears, saying nothing, simply pleased that they looked healthier than they did last night. As for Twilight Sparkle, she had a lot on her mind, for her analytical eye had caught things. The halberd was obviously taken from a Royal Guard and that drew frightening implications. She would have to question him on this sooner rather than later, if she were to preempt a royal hearing where the human might be held accountable for the disappearance of one of the Princess' personal entourage. She was also positive she'd caught the lingering scent of dragonfire, from a very old specimen judging by the persistance of the scent. Furthermore, that mare was mysterious to say the least. She had worn the skirt (Samuel's flight suit, also saturated with his scent), even to bed.

So many questions...
> Confessions [uncencored]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had vivid dreams that night in my little cottage. Images of my home world, everything that was and could be. My childish hopes and fears. I saw my family, coworkers and friends all leading peaceful lives as the threat of war somehow, impossibly abated. I saw that same world reduced to cinders and among the mile-wide craters, a dragon roamed, partaking in the carnage. I was stuck in a glass cage, watching all the horrors and all the joys and they could not see me. They were so close, I could almost reach them. I screamed without a voice, rotting in my own hell and I honestly can't tell you which visions plagued me more, the world coming to an end, or the idea that it would keep turning without my intervention.

I cried and at some point, I awoke to find the silent mare sharing my tears. Her soft muzzle caressed my face and with infinate tenderness, she wiped away my tears with her clumsy hooves. I noticed a telltale presence that I had not felt since the dragon; SAM was back. That comforted me, but I had no control of my emotions. He wasn't forcing the reality filter on me, respecting my privacy. Any hope I had of reigning in my emotions was lost then - the machine intelligence was respecting my privacy, letting me have this moment with the mare I'd fought so hard to bring back. The mare who had in turn saved me.

We kissed and at some point, she began pawing needily at my pants. She was still wearing my shirt tied about her waist like a human would wear a hoodie when it was too warm for long sleeves. She wanted me and she tried to press my right hand to her body, wishing I would touch her. I shook my head and unspoken communication passed between us as our eyes met after having lingered on the black glove that covered everything up to my elbow, but even that much cloth couldn't conceal the web of scar tissue originating from the appendage. Somehow, she seemed to understand me perfectly, nodding as if to say, 'that's not your hand, is it?'

It was the truth. I had lost my right hand in one of the many bloody battles that predated the Pegasus Frame and my time with the company. Even a cybernetic replacement couldn't bring back everything I'd lost - I never felt the softness of her mane or her ears all those times I'd touched her. My left hand, my good hand, well that arm had been broken since before she was released from that horrible prison. A cybernetic replacement lacks nothing in strength or manual dexterity when it comes to fighting, but for the more sensitive tasks, it doesn't measure up. That's why I started firing my rifle left-handed.

We lingered like that for a while as she pressed a kiss to the crook of my elbow, expressing her sympathy for my loss. If it had been anyone else, I'd be insulted with the gesture, but she of all people (or ponies) would know what it felt like to lose a piece of your body. I'd never willingly parted with any part of my original flesh and blood body, a concession that some found made me weak. I'd fought soldiers who had brazenly undergone fullbody prothstetics, turning themselves into bigger, badder versions of the friggin' Robocop. They were hard to kill, but they all paid the price with their sanities, not that many of them had a shred of it left to surrender before the operation.

So we sat there, trying to contend ourselves with the new limitation. I might as well have had no hands for the things she had in mind. Someone else might pity me for that, but the silent mare knew how pity could hurt. Instead, she started laughing silently and exuberantly, throwing her head back, her whole frame unquestionably shaking with the laughter as she started poking me with her hooves. Now, I don't know if that fancy pony magic that normally saturates their bodies is the thing that made their hooves look soft enough to wrinkle, but the silent mare had none of that, so to give you a comparison, it felt like she was prodding me with little anvils. I struggled, trying to fend her off, and that only made her laugh harder. That sound, just her breath coming and going in rythm with her body which knew how to laugh just as well as anybody else's, it was the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard. In my weakened condition with just one hand (which wasn't even a real hand), I was at her mercy and she could make me twitch, giggle and cry out in discomfort depending on where she poked me.

Somehow, that brought the romantic vibes back and my loss was forgotten as she began to roll her hips, teasing me through the pants. You're probably picturing a flash animation like in the show, so I can understand if you don't see the appeal, but like I've already mentioned, these ponies were very real. Straddling my waist with the shirt resting on the swell of her hips, she looked very similar to a human woman, albeit covered in the brightest, luminescant white fur and with some anthropomorphic features, but honestly, with a body as unnatural as mine, I could look past those details and even appreciate them for what they were. At some point, she managed to strip me using her mouth and unwieldy hooves. I never helped her whenever she struggled and she seemed to appreciate it, even though my apparant amusement and adoration with her clumsiness and reluctance to give up made her blush furiously.

Watching my erection stand up immediately made her just sit there and stare, but she seemed unable to restrain herself, giving the underside one long lick from root to tip before wrapping her lips around it, taking it into her warm, wet mouth. She fellated me for a while but then even that wasn't enough and she straddled me again, and as soon as she had guided me to her entrance, she sat down firmly, hilting me within her. The sensation made us both seize up and she threw back her head, parting her lips in a soundless moan, quivering as she clenched me. It must have been painful, but even the pain was euphoria to her.

Euphoria.

She stared at me, blinking. Had I said that out loud? Before I could dwell on it further, her lips were on mine, kissing me heatedly and then she started bucking her hips, riding me like a cowgirl. The irony wasn't lost on me, but I simply laid back trying not to let the ecstasy overwhelm me as I watched the feminine shape of her thighs and hips and even her barrel looked slender and more like the torso of a human girl than many of the muscled ponies I had seen. She clenched me like a vice, moaning silently as she rode me harder and faster, working up a sweat. She tossed her head and the motion flung her long, blonde hair about, adding another dimension of beauty to her already surreal perfection. I know I keep going on about that, but it's true. I don't even think Rarity could hold a candle to her in terms of sheer beauty. With matching coat colors, the silent mare's was definately the more vivid to behold as it seemed to suck up the limited light, shining subtley in the darkness. She continued to ride me hard and fast, and while she was no Earth Pony (and I am told the myths about their stamina are grounded in fact), I had seen how far she could push herself before fatigue would claim her.

It became an unspoken competition as we both tried to hold back the inevitable climax and this game only heightened the anticipation as I felt her slick, tight tunnel hugging me needily as I thrust into her. There would be no loser, regardless of the outcome. Actually, I can't even remember who did come first, but it was a close thing and breathlessly, she collapsed on top of me, bathed in sweat. She marveled at the way my furless skin looked, similarly drenched. We held each other and gradually, sleep took us.

Euphoria. That became the name I'd call her by, at least in private. It seemed to perfectly embody her being, saturating everything she did. No matter the sensation, from crippling agony to joyous glee or utter bafflement, she attacked all sensations with that same basic reaction; euphoria. No being I had ever met could treasure a moment like she could. Whenever I said that word, she seemed to understand its meaning intuitively, that it was meant only for her and it was more than just my calling out to her, it was a statement as well.

We didn't sleep long. The sun was just peeking over the horizon by the time we were both up and about, each feeling envigorated by the night's events and the long hours of exhausted sleep that had preceded that perfect moment. I felt like I'd slept for days, and sure enough, the nanites had been busy while I was gone. Most of my injuries had healed. The toughest breaks were the broken bones and the damage to my internal organs. But the bleeding had long since stopped and the contutions and bruises were fully healed so short of doing any hard labor, I felt just fine though I probably wasn't leaving the cottage for another few days.

I still had to wear the sling for my broken left arm, but with a body as unnatural as mine, it would take days rather than weeks before that had healed, too. We worked together, piecing together the Pegasus Frame and SAM even piped up now and then, speaking in that ghostly dublicate of my own voice, making a snarky remark about putting his body back together right. His Equestrian was better than mine and Euphoria would silently snicker and give me a sidelong glance everytime SAM corrected my pronunciation.

I'm not the only one with nanites and although the Pegasus Frame doesn't have a neat soup of bodily fluids for them to live in, they can be custom made to endure any environment, even the blazing heat of a blowtorch, or in this case, a deviously calculated chemical reaction between two highly reactive compounds that existed in limited quantities within the structure of the frame itself. Suffice it to say, with a neat cocktail of futuristic thermite and a suit that was designed to shield my body by breaking along intended faultlines to absorb energy, we managed to weld the pieces back together and while the carbon structure was heated to the point where it became glowing white-hot and soft like chocolate, the nanites within were driven into a hectic frenzy, absorbing the immense heat as they reforged the suit to look as if it had never really broken.

Incidently, Euphoria looks cute wearing blast goggles. She was quite dextrous with her mouth and worked with precision tools to help rewire the components that were too sensitive for the thermite treatment. As we worked, I once again felt that melancholy feeling welling up inside of me as I stared at the product of years of labor, of shared triumphs and failures between my coworkers and myself, the first human guinea pig to endure enough modifications to work with the suit.

"Just tell her already, Samuel," the robotic drone of SAM's voice cut through my quiet musings, managing to convey both encourement and exasperation, and he went on, "you need to tell somepony and I don't count, you know that. My files on psychology are extensive and even a first-year dropout can tell you it isn't healthy to keep it bottled up inside."

I'll skip right past the point where SAM chose to adress me in perfect Equestrian, right down to the ponyfication of certain words, and tell you that he'd hit the nail on the head. I sighed heavily and sat back, looking over the mostly complete Pegasus Frame to Euphoria who sat back on her haunches, still wearing my shirt as she pushed the blast goggles up to her forehead with her clumsy hooves (taking two tries to get it right) as she looked back at me.

So I told her everything. I told her of the world I had come from, of the horrors of war and the technology we had used to fuel it - no, the technology that took centurial leaps because of it. I told her of the splitting of the atom and how the doomsday device had sat dormant, launched only twice in more than fifty years (not counting the endless test firings), until one fateful day, a top-secret research fascility had been wiped from our maps in an instant. I told her of the worldwide panic that threatened to engulf the globe and of our frantic attempts to undo the teleportation device, a task for which I was sent alone, taking with me the only existing prototype of a new combat exosuit. I told her of my unlikely arrival in Equestria and I even told her of the MLP show. Somehow, being told her world was a cartoon show in my world didn't faze her even slightly, she just gave me more of that divine, exuberant laughter.

I even told her of my family and friends, by which time I was fighting a losing battle against the tears that leaked from my tightly shut eyelids and she held me, soothing me. I told her my real name, the name of my company, in short, I told her everything.

I'd never felt so drained, emotionally. SAM was refusing me the reality filter, greeting my torrential flow of tears only with silence, though he did scroll pictures across his little screen to help Euphoria see what I was describing. He was right to do it, letting me just feel as I unburdened myself and I even confessed my guilty conscience. How I had killed, how I had turned myself into something inhuman, how I had sinned against god, against all gods, practically daring any divine entity to strike me down as I encroached upon their domain and created true, thinking sentience and warped my natural body into a weapon. I could pretend to be a peacekeeper all I wanted, but my battle with the dragon had shown my true colors; I was the warrior, the soldier, the insatiable conqueror.

Throughout my tearfilled confession, Euphoria did nothing but hold me and show her unending support while her mind struggled to keep up with the volumes of information she'd been fed over the course of just a few hours. Somehow, she didn't think any less of me, even after having it all laid bare to her. Sensing that the topic had come to a close, she simply nosed me in the side and shoved me back to my unfinished work, helping me with the finishing touches as the Pegasus Frame once more lay complete before me. The paint job had seen better days, having simply evaporated from around the areas where we'd used the thermite, leaving only the legs, right arm and helmet with any traces of the white/purple color scheme, and even in those places, the paintjob was chipped and scratched. But the suit looked otherwise like it had on the first day I'd worn it, dropping from the skies straight into Equestria.

It was well into the morning by then and we were in the middle of breakfast when a knocking caused me to turn in my seat, still chewing on my fried bread and omelet. Euphoria got up and made sure her mane concealed her broken horn, still wearing my shirt over her hips as she went to answer the door, biting down carefully on the doorknob, turning her head and pulling open the door, revealing a purple librarian.

Twilight regarded Euphoria with a brief look of uncertainty, which she responded to by backing away and hiding even faster than Fluttershy had done during their first encounter. Now that caused her momentary pause, but she squared her shoulders and walked into my livingroom with a determined look in her eyes. She had questions.

...

Crap.
> Confessions [clop-free version]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had vivid dreams that night in my little cottage. Images of my home world, everything that was and could be. My childish hopes and fears. I saw my family, coworkers and friends all leading peaceful lives as the threat of war somehow, impossibly abated. I saw that same world reduced to cinders and among the mile-wide craters, a dragon roamed, partaking in the carnage. I was stuck in a glass cage, watching all the horrors and all the joys and they could not see me. They were so close, I could almost reach them. I screamed without a voice, rotting in my own hell and I honestly can't tell you which visions plagued me more, the world coming to an end, or the idea that it would keep turning without my intervention.

I cried and at some point, I awoke to find the silent mare sharing my tears. Her soft muzzle caressed my face and with infinate tenderness, she wiped away my tears with her clumsy hooves. I noticed a telltale presence that I had not felt since the dragon; SAM was back. That comforted me, but I had no control of my emotions. He wasn't forcing the reality filter on me, respecting my privacy. Any hope I had of reigning in my emotions was lost then - the machine intelligence was respecting my privacy, letting me have this moment with the mare I'd fought so hard to bring back. The mare who had in turn saved me.

We kissed and at some point, she began pawing needily at my pants. She was still wearing my shirt tied about her waist like a human would wear a hoodie when it was too warm for long sleeves. She wanted me and she tried to press my right hand to her body, wishing I would touch her. I shook my head and unspoken communication passed between us as our eyes met after having lingered on the black glove that covered everything up to my elbow, but even that much cloth couldn't conceal the web of scar tissue originating from the appendage. Somehow, she seemed to understand me perfectly, nodding as if to say, 'that's not your hand, is it?'

It was the truth. I had lost my right hand in one of the many bloody battles that predated the Pegasus Frame and my time with the company. Even a cybernetic replacement couldn't bring back everything I'd lost - I never felt the softness of her mane or her ears all those times I'd touched her. My left hand, my good hand, well that arm had been broken since before she was released from that horrible prison. A cybernetic replacement lacks nothing in strength or manual dexterity when it comes to fighting, but for the more sensitive tasks, it doesn't measure up. That's why I started firing my rifle left-handed.

We lingered like that for a while as she pressed a kiss to the crook of my elbow, expressing her sympathy for my loss. If it had been anyone else, I'd be insulted with the gesture, but she of all people (or ponies) would know what it felt like to lose a piece of your body. I'd never willingly parted with any part of my original flesh and blood body, a concession that some found made me weak. I'd fought soldiers who had brazenly undergone fullbody prothstetics, turning themselves into bigger, badder versions of the friggin' Robocop. They were hard to kill, but they all paid the price with their sanities, not that many of them had a shred of it left to surrender before the operation.

So we sat there, trying to contend ourselves with the new limitation. I might as well have had no hands for the things she had in mind. Someone else might pity me for that, but the silent mare knew how pity could hurt. Instead, she started laughing silently and exuberantly, throwing her head back, her whole frame unquestionably shaking with the laughter as she started poking me with her hooves. Now, I don't know if that fancy pony magic that normally saturates their bodies is the thing that made their hooves look soft enough to wrinkle, but the silent mare had none of that, so to give you a comparison, it felt like she was prodding me with little anvils. I struggled, trying to fend her off, and that only made her laugh harder. That sound, just her breath coming and going in rythm with her body which knew how to laugh just as well as anybody else's, it was the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard. In my weakened condition with just one hand (which wasn't even a real hand), I was at her mercy and she could make me twitch, giggle and cry out in discomfort depending on where she poked me.

Somehow, that brought the romantic vibes back and my loss was forgotten. You're probably picturing a flash animation like in the show, so I can understand if you don't see the appeal, but like I've already mentioned, these ponies were very real. Straddling my waist with the shirt resting on the swell of her hips, she looked very similar to a human woman, albeit covered in the brightest, luminescant white fur and with some anthropomorphic features, but honestly, with a body as unnatural as mine, I could look past those details and even appreciate them for what they were. She then turned her attention elsewhere, her head disappearing beneath my field of vision.

Euphoria.

She stared at me, blinking. Had I said that out loud? Before I could dwell on it further, her lips were on mine, kissing me heatedly and things took a sweaty, sensual turn as we came together passionately. Afterwards, we held each other and gradually, sleep took us.

Euphoria. That became the name I'd call her by, at least in private. It seemed to perfectly embody her being, saturating everything she did. No matter the sensation, from crippling agony to joyous glee or utter bafflement, she attacked all sensations with that same basic reaction; euphoria. No being I had ever met could treasure a moment like she could. Whenever I said that word, she seemed to understand its meaning intuitively, that it was meant only for her and it was more than just my calling out to her, it was a statement as well.

We didn't sleep long. The sun was just peeking over the horizon by the time we were both up and about, each feeling envigorated by the night's events and the long hours of exhausted sleep that had preceded that perfect moment. I felt like I'd slept for days, and sure enough, the nanites had been busy while I was gone. Most of my injuries had healed. The toughest breaks were the broken bones and the damage to my internal organs. But the bleeding had long since stopped and the contutions and bruises were fully healed so short of doing any hard labor, I felt just fine though I probably wasn't leaving the cottage for another few days.

I still had to wear the sling for my broken left arm, but with a body as unnatural as mine, it would take days rather than weeks before that had healed, too. We worked together, piecing together the Pegasus Frame and SAM even piped up now and then, speaking in that ghostly dublicate of my own voice, making a snarky remark about putting his body back together right. His Equestrian was better than mine and Euphoria would silently snicker and give me a sidelong glance everytime SAM corrected my pronunciation.

I'm not the only one with nanites and although the Pegasus Frame doesn't have a neat soup of bodily fluids for them to live in, they can be custom made to endure any environment, even the blazing heat of a blowtorch, or in this case, a deviously calculated chemical reaction between two highly reactive compounds that existed in limited quantities within the structure of the frame itself. Suffice it to say, with a neat cocktail of futuristic thermite and a suit that was designed to shield my body by breaking along intended faultlines to absorb energy, we managed to weld the pieces back together and while the carbon structure was heated to the point where it became glowing white-hot and soft like chocolate, the nanites within were driven into a hectic frenzy, absorbing the immense heat as they reforged the suit to look as if it had never really broken.

Incidently, Euphoria looks cute wearing blast goggles. She was quite dextrous with her mouth and worked with precision tools to help rewire the components that were too sensitive for the thermite treatment. As we worked, I once again felt that melancholy feeling welling up inside of me as I stared at the product of years of labor, of shared triumphs and failures between my coworkers and myself, the first human guinea pig to endure enough modifications to work with the suit.

"Just tell her already, Samuel," the robotic drone of SAM's voice cut through my quiet musings, managing to convey both encourement and exasperation, and he went on, "you need to tell somepony and I don't count, you know that. My files on psychology are extensive and even a first-year dropout can tell you it isn't healthy to keep it bottled up inside."

I'll skip right past the point where SAM chose to adress me in perfect Equestrian, right down to the ponyfication of certain words, and tell you that he'd hit the nail on the head. I sighed heavily and sat back, looking over the mostly complete Pegasus Frame to Euphoria who sat back on her haunches, still wearing my shirt as she pushed the blast goggles up to her forehead with her clumsy hooves (taking two tries to get it right) as she looked back at me.

So I told her everything. I told her of the world I had come from, of the horrors of war and the technology we had used to fuel it - no, the technology that took centurial leaps because of it. I told her of the splitting of the atom and how the doomsday device had sat dormant, launched only twice in more than fifty years (not counting the endless test firings), until one fateful day, a top-secret research fascility had been wiped from our maps in an instant. I told her of the worldwide panic that threatened to engulf the globe and of our frantic attempts to undo the teleportation device, a task for which I was sent alone, taking with me the only existing prototype of a new combat exosuit. I told her of my unlikely arrival in Equestria and I even told her of the MLP show. Somehow, being told her wolrd was a cartoon show in my world didn't faze her even slightly, she just gave me more of that divine, exuberant laughter.

I even told her of my family and friends, by which time I was fighting a losing battle against the tears that leaked from my tightly shut eyelids and she held me, soothing me. I told her my real name, the name of my company, in short, I told her everything.

I'd never felt so drained, emotionally. SAM was refusing me the reality filter, greeting my torrential flow of tears only with silence, though he did scroll pictures across his little screen to help Euphoria see what I was describing. He was right to do it, letting me just feel as I unburdened myself and I even confessed my guilty conscience. How I had killed, how I had turned myself into something inhuman, how I had sinned against god, against all gods, practically daring any divine entity to strike me down as I encroached upon their domain and created true, thinking sentience and warped my natural body into a weapon. I could pretend to be a peacekeeper all I wanted, but my battle with the dragon had shown my true colors; I was the warrior, the soldier, the insatiable conqueror.

Throughout my tearfilled confession, Euphoria did nothing but hold me and show her unending support while her mind struggled to keep up with the volumes of information she'd been fed over the course of just a few hours. Somehow, she didn't think any less of me, even after having it all laid bare to her. Sensing that the topic had come to a close, she simply nosed me in the side and shoved me back to my unfinished work, helping me with the finishing touches as the Pegasus Frame once more lay complete before me. The paint job had seen better days, having simply evaporated from around the areas where we'd used the thermite, leaving only the legs, right arm and helmet with any traces of the white/purple color scheme, and even in those places, the paintjob was chipped and scratched. But the suit looked otherwise like it had on the first day I'd worn it, dropping from the skies straight into Equestria.

It was well into the morning by then and we were in the middle of breakfast when a knocking caused me to turn in my seat, still chewing on my fried bread and omelet. Euphoria got up and made sure her mane concealed her broken horn, still wearing my shirt over her hips as she went to answer the door, biting down carefully on the doorknob, turning her head and pulling open the door, revealing a purple librarian.

Twilight regarded Euphoria with a brief look of uncertainty, which she responded to by backing away and hiding even faster than Fluttershy had done during their first encounter. Now that caused her momentary pause, but she squared her shoulders and walked into my livingroom with a determined look in her eyes. She had questions.

...

Crap.
> Answers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

One very determined looking Twilight Sparkle was now standing in my livingroom, fixing me with a look that seemed to say, 'you've got information and I'm not leaving until I get my answers.' The sight of Euphoria had thrown her off just for a moment though, but I was certain she was going to question me about my companion, too. I was still seated by the low traditional equestrian dinnertable, sitting on a floor cushion with my left arm in a sling. I motioned for her to join me.

She glanced towards Euphoria who visibly shrunk under her gaze, doing an even better job of hiding behind her hair than Fluttershy, but then she was also hiding more than Fluttershy - I knew she didn't want other ponies to see her broken horn. The pity would just kill her, so I distracted Twilight by getting straight to the point when she didn't immediately join me at the table.

"You're probably wondering what I was doing that caused this," I motioned to my still-bare chest with the three white strips of gauze taped over the incisions from Euphoria's impromptu surgery, and my broken arm. "You're probably also wondering about my new weapon," I pointed to the halberd propped up against the far wall behind the Pegasus Frame which was presently being piloted by SAM, shrunk to its more equine quadruped form.

That got her attention and Euphoria visibly unwound as the purple Unicorn turned away from her, looking first at SAM, then the halberd and finally she came to sit by the table, fixing me with a cool, calculating look as she replied, "yes, I take it you found that heat signature, then?" Her voice was level and controlled on the surface, but I'd been taught how to pick up even small traces of tension in a voice as well as how to read faces. Blame SAM for that; you can't get anything past that machine intellect.

"Yeah, it was a dragon, an old one. He'd settled in a deep cave beneath an old section of the royal castle, luring in prey by giving away his presence. He was a sadist and a monster, adding their corpses to his hoard. I killed him with that halberd, which used to belong to one of his victims," I tried to sound calm, but I could tell my anger was leaking through towards the end and I probably sounded a little too pleased when I announced his death at my hands.

Twilight frowned and nodded as it seemed my story corroborated with her theories. She cast another look towards the halberd, her thoughts on its owner, so I went on, "he was a royal guard, months dead. He'd crawled towards the exit but he must've realised he was dying, because he'd used his last strength to carve the word 'VENGEANCE' into the wall before he lost consciousness. I fulfilled his dying wish."

The purple librarian's composure was cracking by then. I could tell she'd never heard of anything so grim, or at least, she'd never personally interviewed a soldier about his bloodiest battles before. Suddenly, she seemed less eager for answers, but she needed to know, so I went on, "I would have died from my wounds if not for Euphoria. She saved my life."

Twilight followed the pristine white mare with her gaze as Euphoria made her way around to my side of the table, hiding behind me as her anxiety warred with her desire to come closer; to see and hear and touch and smell another living being. She hadn't been around other ponies for so long, I could feel her body trembling with anticipation as she leaned into my back, peeking at Twilight from under my arm.

"We burried his remains out in the Everfree. We never knew his name," I went on as it seemed Twilight was busy sorting the information I'd fed her, so I figured I might as well get it over with. "If you want to explore the cave, just ask SAM for directions. As far as I know, that dragon is still down there, lying on top of a great big heap of rotting matter," I finished, idly massaging Euphoria's jaw with my gloved hand.

Twilight just sat there, watching us. She seemed tense and I could tell she was dreading what was to come, but her anxiety wasn't centered on myself or Euphoria. She was trying a bit too hard not to look at the halberd, fearful suspicion written all over her face. I'd wondered about the weapon's magical properties myself. It didn't exactly strike me as Standard Issue for the Royal Guard to be decked out with ultra light-weight, non-corrodible weapons.

"Aren't you going to examine it?" I finally broke the silence which had been dragging on for a while. Twilight seemed to steel herself and with little more than a thought, she lit up her horn (Euphoria tensed and held her breath, witnessing Unicorn magic for the first time since captivity) and engulfed the weapon in a soft, red glow, levitating it over to the table and setting it down between us.

She hesitated minutely before casting another spell which caused her eyes to white out as she gazed upon the weapon with enchanted eyesight. She kept staring at the weapon for a few seconds before her eyes fell shut and the spell died. Twilight just sat there, eyes closed, supressing a shudder. She swallowed and when she opened her eyes again, they were their usual purple, but they looked dull.

When she spoke again, her voice was subdued, "he was a Unicorn and he cast a spell on the weapon. A forbidden spell; it takes some of your magic and transfers it to the object. The change is permanent, so whoever casts it will diminish their magical powers forever. He poured the last of his strength into the weapon..." she trailed off.

I stared at the halberd with newfound respect. It only seemed all the more fitting that I should end up killing the dragon with this weapon. Clearly, the dying stallion had prayed this would be the case. I resolved to keep it then, and use it well, to honor this unknown Unicorn. He was a righteous soul if ever I'd seen one.

I was brought back from my musings when I realised the two mares were staring at each other. Euphoria was still mostly hidden behind me, peering through the gap between my good arm and my body with her one visible blue eye, and Twilight was staring right back at her, trying to figure out who this silent mare was. I chuckled softly, shocking them from their staring contest. I gently stroked Euphoria's mane and she seemed to forget about her reservations as she stretched her neck, leaning into the caress.

"She's a rather reserved mare, as you can tell, but she's glad to meet you. I'm sure the two of you will have ample opportunity to get to know one another," I smiled and Twilight nodded her head, her curiousity abated for the time being. She probably had too much on her mind as is, or she just knew when not to pry. I was thankful for that.

"You look cute together," she giggled and I tried not to blush too deeply, but Euphoria didn't stand a chance. With a stark white coat, it was always easy to tell when she was embaressed. She hid behind me again, causing Twilight to chuckle some more. She shook her head and got up, waving as she headed for the door, calling over her shoulder, "Pinkie's probably planning a party for the two of you. I told her to hold off until you'd at least gotten back on your hooves."

I chuckled and told her goodbye. As the door clicked shut, Euphoria squirmed into my lap and I held her close. She looked rather pleased with the way the 'interrogation' had gone down and to tell you the truth, I was, too. For the rest of the morning, I entertained her with stories about Ponyville and its inhabitants. She sat spellbound as I told her about Twilight and her friends and how they'd all saved Equestria a few times over. Anytime a particular subject would make her eyes widen or draw a gasp from her, I launched into a more detailed explaination. She was easy to read, so while it might have seemed like a very one-sided conversation to an outsider, I caught every reaction to my tales and she gladly contributed her viewpoint with a plethora of expressions. After a few hours, I stifled a yawn and she caught on quickly. She got up and began to shove me with her head until I relented and retreated to the bed. She stayed with me until I fell asleep. She probably didn't need the bedrest as much as I did, though. The nanites did most of their miracle work when I was out for the count. I might as well let my body recharge so I would be more prepared for a Pinkie Pie party.

...

Who was I kidding? Nobody's ever ready for one of those.


Euphoria

She watched her stallion sleep. He'd told her so many things! About his world, about this world, about the beautiful ponies that came to their aid. She found it amusing that he casually refered to the tight-knit circle of friends as the Mane 6. They sounded very friendly, but she had her reservations about some of them. Twilight Sparkle was a Unicorn whose special talent (she didn't even burst into tears this time, she was getting better at adressing this subject already) was magic. How would she react to the sight of someone like Euphoria? Yes, Twilight seemed like she might have the strongest reaction to her broken horn, but she was just as wary of this Pinkie Pie who seemed liable to just materialize in front of you with deafening proclaimations of Party and all things related. Rarity sounded like the kind of mare who was liable to put her on a pedistal and play dress-up with her and that thought, she simply couldn't stomach.

She climbed out of bed and started pacing before her wayward thoughts could incapacitate her. She was tired of crying her eyes out. It seemed like she'd been doing a lot of that lately. Casting a glance towards her stallion, her heart swelled to see his arm groping for her on the bedsheets as soon as she'd gotten up. She liked his scent, though she was sure it wasn't appropriate to go so long without bathing, but these were exceptional circumstances. Still, taking one whiff at her own coat made her nose wrinkle so she went to the bathroom, relieved that the door was left ajar. She pushed it open with her head and looked around, finding a sponge. She soaked the sponge and squeezed it between her hooves, draining the excess water. Carrying it carefully in her teeth, she returned to the bedroom and climbed into the bed, trembling with joy as her stallion lazily wrapped his arm around her in his sleep. She spent a few minutes washing his body, paying special attention to the armpits and the area around the incisions.

By the time she had washed most of his upper body, her jaw was aching. She wanted to do a more thourough job, but she knew they could always get a proper bath together once he woke. That thought made her blush and she was happy nopony was around to see it this time. Her stupid white coat made it all too obvious when she was embaressed or aroused.

Returning to the bathroom, she squirmed her way out of the shirt, leaving the knot so she could take a quick shower. Thankfully, the nozzle was easy to work with her snout and the showerhead was already properly aligned, hung from the wall. As the hot water poured over her, she simply closed her eyes and reveled in the sensation. She wound up just standing with her face upturned, letting the rivulets of water cascade down her face, mane and body until she'd used up all the hot water. Still, even the cold water was bliss to her, but she'd best try to show some restraint so she shut off the water. Stepping out of the shower, she blushed at her own short-sightedness. How would she get dry without tracking water everywhere? There was a towel hung from the wall, low enough that she could brush her sides against it. She sat back on her haunches and used her hooves to brush the towel against her mane and then spent a minute brushing her body against the towel like a cat marking its territory.

Feeling reasonably dry or at least damp, she returned to the discarted shirt. She spent another minute worming her way through the loop made by the knotted sleeves, craning her neck back to gently grasp the fabric in her teeth, tugging at it until it fell into place over her flanks. The shirt still smelled of Samuel and truthfully, she was pleased with that.

By this time it was already noon. She tried not to dwell on just how long she'd spent doing trivial things, but some of that time had been spent under the shower. Still, she wasn't breaking any speed records. She walked back into the bedroom to check on Samuel. He was still sleeping and again, he looked the healthier for it. By this time tomorrow, he ought to be fully restored. Her ears perked as she heard something stirring in the livingroom. She'd all but forgotten about SAM, as he was called. She could hear his ghostly impersonation of Samuel's voice, speaking in perfect Equestrian; somepony was at the door and he'd answered. She crept towards the doorway to the livingroom and peered out, catching sight of the dull black metallic frame that so strongly resembled an equine. He was talking to some of the locals and by the look of things, they were well-wishers, delivering baskets of flowers and fruits. Apparantly, the whole town knew of their arrival, or at least they had heard of Samuel's return and his dire condition.

SAM dismissed the well-wishers, the latest in a steady stream of locals who had all stopped by. The livingroom was quickly running out of tablespace for the various bouquets and fruits baskets with colorful ribbons and notes attached to them. She took a moment to marvel at the sea of colors and scents, breathing in deeply.

"It baffles me that some of these were intended for me as well. Some of them were even arranged as mementos because I'd looked and sounded a bit 'dead' when we came back," the spectral voice droned on. She didn't know why, but she felt strangely at ease with this bizarre creature, wrought from steel and Samuel's own mind, so she laughed freely without a voice. SAM looked appropriately miffed that she was having fun at his expense. He even managed to turn away in a huff and that just did it; she collapsed, laughing in little breathless gasps, clutching her sides until tears streamed from her eyes.

"You seem to be doing well," he remarked once she'd regained her composure and sat wiping away the tears with a hoof. She responded by hugging the Pegasus Frame and SAM had the good grace to return the embrace; it was far from the first time anypony had thought to hug him. She did feel much better.

She glanced towards the many baskets, taking one in her teeth, bringing it to the bedroom so they could snack on the contents when Samuel awoke. Resisting the temptation to just dig in now was hard, but the only thing that could possibly make the taste sensations any sweeter would be to share them. So she curled up next to Samuel who once again embraced her in his sleep.

Such lovely ponies, brining all these gifts. She awned contentedly, soon drifting off to sleep again.
> Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Waking up in my own bed without any signs of pain, or even the reality filter blocking my pain, now that was an immense relief. To make things better, I felt a warm furcoat against my skin and I felt less disheveled than when I'd gone to bed. Euphoria was cuddling with me and before I could even think to mumble a greeting, she was pressing her lips to mine and a sweet taste assaulted my tongue; she was sharing a plump strawberry with me. We held the kiss for a few moments as my mind sort of blanked out with a sensation of bliss replacing whatever I'd thought to say to her. As we broke apart, I chewed on the bit of sweet berry (I think they're actually fruits? Nevermind), and managed a dopey smile.

Her coat was even more radiant today with the beams of sunlight seeming to bounce off of the pure white; she'd washed away any traces of blood and grime from that awful cave. Still wearing my torn flightsuit like a human would keep a hoodie knotted around the waist, again I was struck by how much this sight appealed to me. She seemed to notice my lingering gaze and blushed. For whatever reason, she'd worn the thing day and night ever since I gave it to her. Maybe it was a simple display of gratitude, or she really did like it, or she simply welcomed anything that would cover up her molested Cutie Mark. Regardless, the shirt functioned like a skirt, concealing her anatomy and drawing attention to the area at the same time. I liked the look.

I realised that once again, I was more or less trapped. Euphoria had claimed my right arm as part of her pillow and my left arm was still healing. So I could do little more than admire her and let her feed me. Not that I was complaining. The fruits were exquisite and the basket even had a Get-Well-Soon card, courtesey of Carrot Top, who in spite of the name does provide a variety of fruits and vegetables. We stayed in bed for a while, but Euphoria seemed to be getting restless. I needed to stay at home and check up on SAM and make the final repairs to the Pegasus Frame. I was still wearing a piece of his wing as a splint for my arm, but there was a growing list of other minor concerns we had to tend to. Normally, the suit is very high-maintainance and required a fully staffed lab to make tweaks and repairs, so suffice it to say, being stuck in Equestria for a week had depleted many of his emergency repair stores.

When the pristine white mare glanced towards the window for the umpteenth time that afternoon, I chuckled and told her to go explore the town. She'd be fine without me, I assured her. The locals were very friendly, after all, they had already embraced me as one of their own. This cheered her on and she pushed open the bedroom door with her nose. I could see her approach SAM's quadruped form and I laughed when she bopped him on the nose. He hesitated minutely before unfolding the screen and he started scrolling letters, using his eyetracking software to let her navigate the menus. She brought out paper and a pencil (I was more at home using those than fancy feathered quills and I'm sure Quills & Sofas would survive without my business), and with her mouth she painstakingly copied a list off of SAM's display before struggling into the harness that held the saddlebags. I couldn't help but find it adorable how she'd worm her way underneath the bags before standing up. She didn't have a horn or the neckstrength to simply hoist the bags onto her back.

She glanced over her shoulder, blushing as she caught me staring, but to my delight, she wiggled her rear teasingly and winked before stepping out. Right, that made it harder to focus for a few hours.

...

Stupid sexy Euphoria.


Euphoria

Still delighting from the way Samuel had responded to her swaying hips, she stepped out into the bright sunlit streets of Ponyville and immediately, all of her senses were assaulted by the most wonderous cocophany of sights, sounds, smells and sensations. The warmth of the Celestial Sun, the coolness of the breeze no doubt orchestrated by a skilled team of Pegasi and the firmly packed dirt of already well-trotten path between Samuel's cottage and the rest of town, it was all so beautiful!

"SURPRISE!" a cheerful voice screeched in her ear, having impossibly materialized right next to her along with an explosion of light, colors and sounds that all but knocked her from her hooves. She whirled and came face to face with eyes as big and bright blue as her own, stuck in a pink face with a maniacal grin that threatened to split the pony's head completely. The frizzy pink mane seemed to bounce almost with a life of its own and the strange Earth Pony habitually defied reason, moving faster than she could follow with her eye, careful not to displace the curtain of blonde hair that concealed her broken horn. Pinkie Pie was everywhere and nowhere at once, making faces and clearly admiring Euphoria's pristine white coat, before immediately she rematerialized right in front of the stunned mare, the last bits of confetti having settled by then (where did that even come from?).

"OhmygoshyoureallyreallyareprettyIknewwhenyoucameintotownyouwereSamuel'sgirlandyou'renewsoIgettothrowyou TWO PARTIES!" the words ran together as she seemed to just project a stream of consciousness into words all in one breath.

Euphoria was stunned. The pony was so beautiful! Such vivid colors! Such graceful, lighting-fast movements! She even smelled of sweets! That reminded her that she was still wearing the black shirt around her flanks, saturated with Samuel's body odor. Before she could blush at her shameless display, she was again stunned by the pink ball of good cheer who was presently bouncing back and forth with a sound of 'spoing' everytime her hooves touched the soil. To think she'd feared this encounter. How foalish of her. She started to laugh, even though she hated not having a voice. She shook all over with peals of silent laughter, punctuated only by her breath which came in little gasps.

Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing and started laughing right along with her, not put off in the slightest by the lack of sound to go with the motions. Things were going swimmingly when the pink pony suddenly offered a cupcake, covered in pink frosting (pulled from nowhere in particular, just materialized in her hoof, really). Euphoria was eager to have a taste and as she sank her teeth into the sweet treat, her mind whited out.

...

To a system bereft of sweets for years, Pinkie Pie's extra-sweet sugarladden cupcake had simply shortcircuited Euphoria's brain as the very emotion she was named after simply overloaded her conscious mind. She came to minutes later, resting on a soft sofa in the most incredible shop. The room was split in half by a huge counter with an aray of colorful treats lined up behind the protective glass pane, and every shelf, table and cupboard was being used to display, store or make more sweets. The very air was thick with the scents of a thousand delicacies, their siren song already pulling her from unconsciousness, straight into a sugar-rushed bout of colinary exploration. Pinkie Pie seemed to have read her mind and with that delightful, reality-defying speed of hers, she materialized next to Euphoria with a plate of different sweets whose names just ran together in her mind as once again, Pinkie Pie refused to let such formalities as punctuation and breathing interfere with her need to communicate.

...

She'd eaten until she'd just dozed off contentedly right there on the couch, coming to when more voices started to filter through her senses, making her ears perk.

"Is she alright? Pinkie Pie, you didn't ponynap her, did you?" a skeptical, scholary voice, pleasant and feminine rebuked the wonderful party pony.

"Good heavens, such a lovely complexion," a distinguished, ladylike voice cut through Twilight's concerns.

Her eyes snapped open and immediately, she was thankful that the right half of her vision was still blocked. It had been her greatest fear since setting out, that somepony would notice her broken nature and then the pitying stares would come. So she tried to remain composed as she sat up, blushing with the compliments and speculations as the two lovely Unicorns stood back, allowing her some space. Rarity looked magnificent as ever, her coat and mane styled to perfection. How did she even get her tail to coil in a helix like that? Twilight looked like she'd stepped out to get some air, but even after a whole day cooped up in her library, she still looked well-groomed and refreshed.

"Oh hi girls, isn't she great? She's my new friend and taste tester!" the pink pony bounced to her friends' side, grinning as wide as ever, but the two Unicorns suddenly looked hesitant.

"Taste tester?" they both echoed with a mounting sense of dread, as if being subjected to such delights were to be considered somehow dangerous. Well, she'd nearly passed out a few times, but then when wasn't she reacting extremely to new sensations? At least she wasn't crying with joy and/or sorrow.

The two Unicorns watched with growing horror as Pinkie Pie poured a generous helping of hot sauce onto a cupcake sprinkled with chips of chocolate. The treat was served the same as all the others, on the table right within reach of Euphoria's mouth so she didn't have to struggle with her clumsy hooves to grasp things. She licked her lips and before either of the Unicorns could protest, she sank her teeth into the treat.

Her mouth and tongue were blazing with sensation and the sweetness seemed to lance straight into her mind, nearly triggering another white-out, but she was getting better at handling those. She closed her eyes and chewed, trembling with sensation and when she drew breath, she almost started laughing as she pictured a tongue of flame leaping from her burning mouth. Why did those two watch her like they were fearing for her safety? This was delightful.

She licked her muzzle clean and leapt off the couch, nearly stumpling on her weak legs, causing the two Unicorns to almost cry out with distress, but she righted herself and dutifully, her mane stayed in place like a curtain hung over her horn and right eye. She needed to talk to Twilight. Turning and nosing at the clasp for the saddlebag, she got it open in the second try and carefully retrieved the list with her teeth, showing it to Twilight.

The purple mare immediately got down to business, scanning the list for anything she might recognize. It was a list that required a basic grasp on metalurgy, noting the composition of certain elements that were found in the carbon structure of the Pegasus Frame, but Twilight seemed to digest it eagerly, nodding her head and mumbling to herself. It seemed she would be able to fill the order.

Euphoria simply stepped up to her, embracing her quickly before exiting the store with a wave and an unspoken promise of more taste testing in the future. Pinkie Pie was delighted.


Twilight and Rarity

Their minds were still reeling from this afternoon's stories. Worried locals had reported the new mare collapsing in front of Pinkie Pie, who immediately abducted the defenseless mare and held her inside Sugarcube Corner where she was subjected to an endless list of sweets. Hardly the most dire threat to ever hit Ponyville, but with the addition of Samuel it seemed like nothing dangerous was going to get close to town, so these little emergencies were in their own way, the highlights of the day.

They'd arrived simultaneously at Sugarcube Corner and ventured inside only to see that the stories were mostly true, if a bit exaggerated. Euphoria (that's what Samuel had called her one time) was sitting peacefully on a couch, legs curled up under her. She looked heartbreakingly beautiful with a nearly luminescant white coat and a corn yellow mane and tail. Her mane hung like a curtain, mimicing Fluttershy or perhaps Pinkie Pie on a bad day, but fully obscuring her right eye. What they could see of the left eye was equally stunning, a big, expressive pool of clear blue seeming to peer at the entire world as if it were a spectacle designed to keep her permanently spellbound with its beauty.

Perhaps what was most appealing about her was her demure nature and her seeming ignorance of her own beauty. Always, her gaze would be turned outwards, admiring others around her, not knowing that even Rarity felt a pang of jealousy just to stand near the pristine mare. Even her slender build was appealing, though her muscles were too weak to support her fully when she made a small leap from the couch. Perhaps it really was for the best that Pinkie Pie give her something to nurse her back to health, because she looked like she hadn't eaten or exercised properly in years.

She was still wearing the shirt, smelling strongly of Samuel's body odor and the implication made them want to blush. So they really were a couple, those two, and she was happily wearing his scent in public. Rarity wanted to see what she'd look like in some of her new designs, but for now she needed to make sure the quiet mare was at least doing alright. She'd looked so distraught coming into town.

Then they'd noticed the mare clumsily nosing at the clasp of the saddlebag, and while she looked adorable doing it, they both knew that Earth Ponies had magic to help them grasp things dextrously with mouth, hoof or even tail. Still, she quickly produced a list for Twilight and while it looked like a complicated order, the librarian was sure she could find most of those items down in her lab or maybe a trip to Zecora's was in order.

Most amazingly, the beautiful mare had hugged Twilight and left without a word, only a wave and a cheerful smile for Pinkie. She hadn't worn a scarf today and up close, Rarity and Twilight had both seen the scar. They shared a pensive stare and Rarity looked on the verge of tears just then.

"I guess she really is a mute, then. But I think she gets by, wouldn't you agree, Pinkie?" Twilight spoke up, trying to lighten the mood.

"Oh yes, you just need to look at her eyes or her one eye," she suddenly gasped, "maybe she has a red glowy metal eye on the other side?!"

Two sets of eyes questioned her sanity before she brought herself back on track, smiling and nodding and declaring that yes, one had only look into Euphoria's eye(s) to know what she wanted, voice or no voice. They all agreed that Euphoria was a sweet name for her, and after seeing her attacking even Pinkie Pie's hot-sauce-cupcake with a voracious appetite, they knew that the name just about covered her reaction to everything; euphoria.

Never before had Pinkie Pie been faced with somepony who seemed to radiate a much glee as she did, but it seemed like this mare could match her smile for smile.

...

This week's party was going to be great!
> Relearning Friendship
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke to the sensation of an aching sensation in my left hand and elbow. SAM and the reality filter were there to dampen the pain and his diagnostic report informed me that the bones were mostly mended. I could move my arm again, but the fractures weren't completely healed. I'd have to take it easy, but at least I had a hand with tactile sensation. Euphoria wasn't there, so I took it she was still exploring quaint little Ponyville. I guess it was home to the both of us now. The equine form of the Pegasus Frame sat by the bedside as I slung my feet over the edge and sat up, carefully lifting my arm out of its sling. It was sore from being beaten, broken and then left to hang from the sling for a few days. Still, that kind of recovery rate is rather astounding. Like Rainbow Dash and her broken wing. Discharged from the hospital before she felt ready to leave.

I smiled, catching myself in another bout of brony fandom. Really, what would the guys at R&D say if they knew? But such thoughts were quickly pushed aside. It was pointless to dwell on what was lost. I went over our various physical needs with SAM. I'd need to let my arm and remaining internal lacerations heal for a while yet, but I was mobile. Able to go shopping, manage the cottage and repair the Pegasus Frame. I put the splint on a shelf and SAM told me of the list Euphoria had transcribed, no doubt with the intent of procuring those items. That would help us reforge the broken wings and even allow us to keep a stock of replacement parts to be molded into whatever we needed by SAM's nanites. There would be more thermite as well, if she could get everything on that list. Surprisingly, Equestria does have all the same substances as Earth, with a few more to boot, but the names are different. Still, in a world with magical Unicorns who possess direct hotlines to their defacto deities and rulers, procuring even precious minerals would be very doable. I owed Twilight for this and all the other things she'd done. I really hadn't been fair with her.

As if heeding my idle thoughts, there was a knocking on my front door and one glance with my inner eye, receiving video feed from a small surveilance camera through my wireless DNI, confirmed that it was the purple librarian. Surprised? I'd thought to put up a few of those, they're miniscule - about the size of a button. The Pegasus Frame has enough of them to receive effective 360 degree vision in all manner of different visual spectrums from infrared to thermographic and of course, normal color picture feed.

I told SAM to go receive her while I ducked into the bathroom, stripping off the lower half of my flightsuit which I'd worn ever since the dragon. I showered quickly and slipped on some of the black denim pants Rarity had provided for me. Another mare it turned out I owed quite a bit beyond the monetary compensation I'd offered. I shrugged on a grey tanktop as well and went into the livingroom, flexing my left hand, trying to massage some more feeling back into it. Everyone has a dominant hand and for me, it was my right hand. I held my knife with it, I fired my gun with it, I threw ball with my right hand. Until it was destroyed that is. I learned to do everything with my left hand then, but it was never as strong as my right hand. Somehow, the gentler tasks always felt easier with the left. Writing, throwing darts, handling keys and other small items. I'd come to treasure my left hand, for all of those delicate tasks, it could still perform and now it was my primary hand with the rifle, too.

Stepping into the livingroom, I saw all the gifts left by various well-wishers. Twilight Sparkle sat by the low table on a pillow, talking to SAM who was piloting the Pegasus Frame in its more equine form. He even sat on a pillow across from her, mimicing the pony way of doing things perfectly. She looked visibly relieved when she saw me - I looked much better. I was groomed, cleaned, decked out in fresh clothes and my left arm was no longer confined to a sling. I had my hair tied back and my beard wasn't so scruffy looking.

"We found Euphoria passed out at Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie loves her," Twilight cheerfully informed me. I joined her at the table and laughed as she told me about the rumors of ponynapping and forced taste testing. Somehow, it seemed completely like the white mare to enjoy even the hot-sauce cupcake. We marvelled at that for a while, but inevitably, she conversation strayed towards the grim silverlining surrounding the lovely mare.

"Just what happened to her?" Twilight asked after she'd explained hers and Rarity's initial shock upon seeing the scar on her throat. I sat back, eyes growing distant as I looked at nothing in particular. I thought about it for a while and Twilight grew impatient for an answer.

"Tartarus, that's what you call it, right?" I finally offered, and by the way Twilight's brow knotted and her lips pursed, I could tell I'd hit the mark. "That mare went through Tartarus and even after all that, she had the strength to drag the both of us back out. If you don't want to know what that was like, then you should stop asking questions about her past."

To her credit, she took my words seriously and appeared to be deep in thought before shaking herself from whatever dark place my words had sent her to. She just looked me straight in the eye and stated, "but she's out now, you both are, and she's happy, no she's euphoric. I see why you chose that name for her now," she mused with a bittersweet little smile. I could tell Rarity might not be the only pony who could appreciate the romantic and melodramatic elements of our coupling.

"She wears that shirt with your scent on it all the time," Twilight continued and I nodded. "She's at the library now. Fluttershy and Rarity are with her. Spike, too of course." She levitated the list of materials onto the table along with a wrapped bundle from one of her saddlebags. I checked the bundle, finding several small bars of metallic substances and a few vials of liquid.

Letting out a low whistle, I sat back smiling. She'd really come through for me, even procuring some of the rarer substances for the Pegasus Frame. Things were looking up for us. I thanked her for the materials but she only became embaressed. So modest. We agreed to go to the library then, walking through the streets of Ponyville, idly chatting while I waved to the many passersby who stopped to watch me. It seemed many were relieved to see me up and about, and a few even scolded their loved ones, claiming the rumors about my initial condition had been exaggerated. I looked much healthier now than I had back then.

Arriving at the treehouse, we stepped inside to find Fluttershy sitting in the couch arrangement around the small coffee table, sitting together with Euphoria who was busy reading. She was occupying both seats of the other couch, lying with her legs curled up under her body, using her nose to carefully turn the pages. It always made her look adorable when she used her snout like that. It seemed she had found a silent companion in Fluttershy as the demure Pegasus was confronted with the only pony less verbose than she was. The two mares sat in amiable silence while Spike was trying to hold Rarity's attention, talking about the gems he'd been out gathering lately. My sudden success with gem gathering had made the little dude jealous for a few days until he'd taken it upon himself to wander the safer regions outside of Ponyville, using his spade-like tail to dig up gems on his own. To his credit, he gave no indication that Rarity's beauty was in any way second to Euphoria's and I caught the fashionista blushing at his earnest compliments.

Overall, the scene looked tranquil and I was left staring with a dopey smile in the hallway as I watched Euphoria simply fitting in. Twilight rolled her eyes and strode past me, leaving me to recover from my reverie and join them at the table. Euphoria looked up from the book and clumsily leapt from the couch, falling flat on her face with a huff, but quickly picking herself back up, ignoring the other ponies' worried expression as she made her way to me. For my part, I just chuckled when she went sprawling and the embaressment made her cheeks glow, but she prefered my reaction to the thinly veiled pity she got from the others, benign as their intentions were. We embraced, Euphoria getting onto her hindlegs to wrap her forelegs around me. Her figure looked almost bipedal when she stood like that, and with her slender physique, her body was cast in a feminine shape that appealed to me on several levels. The others watched, quietly gushing at the romantic display, but Spike simply stuck out his tongue with a sound of 'blegh' which snapped everyone back to reality and we shared a brief laugh before I settled in the couch where Euphoria resumed her original pose, her head and the book now nestled in my lap.

I managed to look decently unaware even as Euphoria noted the signs of my physical attraction. It didn't help anything that I caught her inhaling my scent a few times with her head in my lap. The book she was reading was about equine fashion and I caught Rarity looking over her shoulder a few times, gushing over a particular style of dress. For my part, I was simply running the fingers of my left hand through Euphoria's mane, massaging her jaw and ears, managing to prevent her from reading half the time as she'd simply close her eyes and lean into the caress.

Whenever one of the ponies would adress Euphoria, she'd respond with a facial expression of a simple shrug. Fluttershy eventually worked up the courage to talk to her and ended up asking most of the questions.

Was it scary in the Everfree? She shrugged and smiled - she'd found it beautiful.
Where did she come from? She retreated further behind the veil of her hair and leaned into me.
Would she be staying in Ponyville with me? She smiled and nodded, looking content.

The questions kept up like that, but mostly they only learned that she was completely euphoric in her new life, loving everything for what it was. Even the subject of forest critters eating one another and dying to injury and disease in the harsh Everfree seemed beautiful to her. Luckily, nopony thought to call her out on being clumsy or in bad shape and for all I knew, they assumed she was an Earth Pony who'd led a sheltered life. When Rairty began to talk about her Special Talent and how she wanted to make a dress for Euphoria, the tension grew thick as the white mare grew oddly still in my lap. Twilight and Fluttershy both sensed her distress, and the purple librarian seemed to remember my earlier warning about how much she'd really want to hear about Euphoria's trip to Tartarus and back. She was powerless to stop Rarity's inquiries as the fashionista went on to compliment Euphoria on her complexion and how lovely she'd look wearing a dress suited for her Special Talent. At this point, I felt Euphoria struggling to contain her emotions, but outwardly she sat unmoving like a stone.

Twilight swallowed and with a look of resignation on her face, she spoke up, working to sound appropriately distraught, "speaking of dresses, I have nothing to wear for the upcoming Summer Sun celebration." This thankfully derailed Rarity completely as she turned and assaulted Twilight with questions about her perfect dress, even making arrangements for some measurements to be taken though the holiday in question would not be for several months. I mouthed the words 'Thank you' to Twilight who took it all in stride, nodding minutely to let me know she'd understood our predicamin even if she didn't know exactly why Euphoria's Cutie Mark and Special Talent was such a tender a subject.

I worked to get Euphoria to cheer up and Fluttershy excused herself, going to the kitchen, brining back a pot of hot tea. By this time the conversation was flowing freely in the library and the mood lifted with the addition of tea. Euphoria seemed to be enjoying the scent already and she looked eager to taste it, blowing away the steam rising from her cup which sat balanced on my knee. When it had cooled enough that she could drink it, she sat up on her haunches, leaning on me, freeing up both front hooves to carefully grasp the cup in her hooves. To her credit this didn't look any less practical than Fluttershy who held the cup in one hoof, being just as careful not to spill or burn her lips. The Unicorns looked oblivious to Euphoria's feat of manual dexterity as they simply levitated their cups. Spike and I exchanged glances and on cue, we gave each other a thumbs up and with extended pinky fingers, we lifted our cups and sipped. I had to hold back laughter and Spike looked just as smug. Fingers were neat.

Euphoria had warmed up to the other ponies by now, and it was her turn to question them, giving inquisitive stares that caused the recipient to segue into a whole little monologue in a particular subject until she'd nodded her head, looking satisfied. It looked adorable how her expressive eyes commanded their attention, even managing to disrupt Rarity mid-speech by sitting up and gasping when a particular anecdote seemed to impress or confuse her. The fashionista had to launch into a detailed description of everything about the particular colt she'd met in Canterlot and Euphoria was smiling, clearly picturing this stranger as something about his demeanor seemed to appeal to her. She liked intelligent and inquisitive personalities and delighted to hear of the stallion's success in setting up a deal with the fashionista to sell some of her latest designs.

When it had grown late and everypony was headed home for supper, Euphoria had fixed Twilight with a pleading look and touched the book on fashion designs with a hoof. Twilight had smiled and signed out the book for her, telling her she could bring it back whenever, and she'd added, "feel free to stop by anytime and I'll be happy to check something out for you. Don't worry about closing hours, after all, we're friends, right?"

That had done it. She'd stopped and stared at Twilight, lower lip trembling until she'd enveloped the purple librarian in a hug, sobbing silently into her shoulder. Rarity and Fluttershy had paused in the doorway, smiling with misty eyes as they watched the freely flowing emotions. Still sniffling, Euphoria had released Twilight almost reluctantly from their hug and backed away bashfully, hiding behind my legs as my hand twined into her mane, calming her with the gesture. Twilight for her part looked only mildly surprised with the emotional response, returning the smile as she allowed Euphoria to retreat behind me. She cleared her throat and called out, "Spike, take a note, please," and the little dude, who hadn't even made any gagging noises at the tender moment, was poised and ready, quill-in-claw.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

"Today I made a new friend and while she might not talk a lot, we shared a great deal about ourselves and I learned from this quiet mare that friends never take each other for granted. Even the simplest gesture can make or break a friend's happiness, and I'd never thought that small gestures could evoke such a response in a pony, but she hugged me and thanked me simply for calling her 'friend.'

"After all, it is by virtue of the bonds we make that we can keep moving forward even when it seems impossible. Taking the time to let somepony know what they truly mean to you is better than letting it go unsaid.

"Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

Aww, would you look at that? She even got a friendship report. There was no chance of stilling the flow of happy tears streaming down her cheeks as the letter was incinerated and sent on its way via draconic hotline straight to Princess Celestia herself. She'd hugged Twilight again, and even Spike, Rarity and Fluttershy, too, before they'd said their goodbyes.

As we walked down the streets of Ponyville, I was again blown away by the sight of the sun suddenly dipping below the horizon as the moon pulled a black curtain across the sky, the sparkling stars fanning out behind it as Luna's night replaced Celestia's day. Euphoria stood and watched the spectacle with me. While she was raised in this world, she had lost the sun and moon for too long that she could never come to take them for granted now.

As we made our way back to the cottage, we ate a simple meal together and lounged on the couch, reading and cuddling.

...

Friendship reports are awesome.
> Unveiled [Light clop]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the newly acquired materials, we set to work on the finishing touches to completely rebuild the Pegasus Frame. I still couldn't get over how cute Euphoria looked wearing those blast goggles. She was proving to be surprisingly dextrous with her mouth, using precision tools clenched in her teeth, rewiring delicate eletrical circuitry with the aid of SAM's directions. The only downside was that her jaw was always sore afterwards, but she enjoyed the massages I gave her.

There was a knocking on the door just as I was massaging the aching jaw muscles and Euphoria was leaning into the caress like a cat receiving chin scratches. SAM was eager to pilot the fully functional Pegasus Frame, so he went to answer the door. That proved to be almost fatal.

"SURPRISE!" Pinkie's voice squeeled over the sound of a party horn and the unmistakable explosion of her Party Cannon going off at close range. I turned my head just in time to catch sight of the Pegasus Frame being flung several yards into the livingroom and by the time SAM had righted himself, the damage was already done.

...

"Pink is not my color scheme," SAM's voice deadpanned. He did not sound amused. I was in shock, struggling to take it all in. There he stood, in his equine form that had somehow, impossibly been coated from head to tail in a flawless paintjob consisting entirely of varying shades of pink.

Euphoria collapsed in a fit of silent laughter, gasping for breath as I sat stunned, watching SAM's tail swishing back and forth as he glared at Pinkie Pie who stood utterly unrependant in the doorway, flanked by her closest friends. The Party Cannon had done more than just give SAM a makeover; it had also decorated the livingroom with streamers, balloons and decorations, and already, party music was playing from a stereo that I did not own.

The Mane 6 all filed in, volunteering their opinions on the new color scheme, apparantly not bothering to question the physics behind it.

"Really, Pinkie?" Twilight deadpanned and shook her head while RD was laughing hysterically, kicking her legs in mid-air.

"Honestly, dear, I'm not sure the good SAM can pull off your look," Rarity spoke in his defense.

"Oh goodness, that's a lot of pink..." Fluttershy spoke just above a whisper as she made her way to the corner of the livingroom, sitting near Euphoria.

Applejack just chuckled and strode past, mumbling, "glad it ain't me 'cuz ya sure as sugar ain't cut out fer pink anymore 'n I am."

As if heeding some mysterious calling, the rest of Ponyville's population seemed to gravitate towards my cottage and before we could even turn and look, we were surrounded on all sides by a cocophany of music, chatter and laughter. Euphoria looked like she could just sit there all night, watching the brightly colored ponies, listening to their peals of laughter, her slender body swaying subtley to the rythm of the music. The only concession I'd been able to make was that they wouldn't bring tons of alchohol. I was still healing, after all and getting sloshed seemed like a nice way of undoing all the hard work on my arm and ribcage the instant I keeled over or got pinned by a playful Earth Pony.

To my relief, the ponies had made good on this promise and there was only one spiked punch bowl and plenty of non-alchoholic drinks and those who were hellbent on getting drunk had brought their own supplies. The party guests mingled but as the party progressed, they had seperated into groups with the more boistrous ponies closer to the door or clustered outside. My corner was the more quiet zone with Euphoria and Fluttershy breaking the world record in non-verbal communication.

Big Mac had joined us. He fit in like a natural, seeming to tap into the telepathic communication like a pro. Aside from chewing on his straw and taking a swig of moonshine now and then, he was just hanging out, really. The stuff he drank smelled foul but he was gracious enough to keep the cask away from us after he'd offered to let me have a taste, which I'd politely declined.

Overall, everypony had a blast but the highlight of the party seemed to be when we had somehow been lured onto the dance floor with all the ponies encircling us, giving us expectant stares and barely contained squeels and d'awwws. Euphoria looked like she wanted to crawl into a hole and just ride out the party in there, but somehow, blushing furiously, she managed to rear onto her hindlegs and rest her fronthooves on my shoulders. I was torn between embaressment and breaking into guffaws over the absurdity of this situation, but I just needed to look into her eyes and lose myself in the moment, and I gotta admit, it was nice. We just circled each other languidly to the rythm of a slow song, bathed in the colored lights of the discoball (don't ask how she smuggled it in, let alone mounted it in my ceiling). The ponies cheered and a few couples joined us on the dancefloor. It didn't last long and once we'd had our moment, we retreated to the corner of the dancefloor, letting the other more boistrous souls cut loose to a more upbeat song.

It was a lovely party and Euphoria looked very happy to be celebrated and greeted so warmly. They seemed to have accepted the fact that she was a mute and conversation with her was about as smooth as it was with Big Mac and his eeeeeyup/nnnnope default replies, meaning, they were used to phrasing yes/no questions without dumbing things down to such an extend as to be seen talking down to her.

Ponyville seemed like the perfect place for her to rediscover the pony life and I was very happy I could return her to this world. As the party died down, most of the ponies were headed home late in the evening but by some unspoken agreement, the Mane 6 seemed to linger. I'm sure their intentions were pure and Euphoria was much more comfortable talking to a small group of ponies as opposed to half the town.

We sat clustered around the livingroom table and Pinkie Pie had somehow made most of the party decorations and empty bottles and garbage disappear when I wasn't looking, creating a more intimate atmosphere. Euphoria seemed at ease, perfectly mirroring the opinions she shared and listening intently anytime one of the six friends hit on a subject unfamiliar to her. She'd volunteered some information about herself. She had lived in Canterlot and seen Manehatten, both huge cities. I knew her profession had been the glamorous life of a professional singer and the other ponies knew that she'd led a life more like Rarity's as opposed to the small town life they'd settled into here. They understood it was a closed chapter in her life and they were pleased that she'd come to Ponyville.

The conversation had then shifted to the cottage itself as Fluttershy made a quiet remark about the comfortable atmosphere in the wooden structure, so like her own dwelling, but with fewer animals - though to her mind SAM made up for a lot of the lack of saids critters, with him embodying the properties of a plethora of animals, like a chimera or a manticore. She then gushed, "and such a lovely bathroom, the shower is so big, I guess because Samuel is well uhm..." the trailed off sheepishly, ears folded back against her skull.

Rainbow Dash suddenly exploded with laughter, still incredibly suspended in mid-air flapping those tiny wings without even whipping up any wind, as she pointed at me and said, "bwahaha! Because he eats, moves and snores like an ape?"

Yeah, Rainbow had found it hillarious when she'd later learned of my chagrin when The Doctor had called me an ape and Fluttershy had only made it worse by calling me a strong ape, but I was... nice. I scowled at her but it was hard with Euphoria shaking with laughter in my lap. That sound is still the most beautiful thing I've ever heard and I completely forgot to glare at RD because I sort of just zoned out, admiring the mare and her silent peals of laughter. To me no voice she once may have had could possibly sound more lovely than her demure, yet completely unshakable nature. The others caught onto the intense romantic atmosphere, but surprisingly, they didn't find it awkward to witness such intimacy. Rather, they found it endearing that I'd trust them to be so close.

Rarity and Euphoria

Rarity blushed as Samuel's casual massaging of Euphoria's ears suddenly overwhelmed the quiet mare's senses and she became puddy in his hands, quivering with pleasure at the simple caress that she had not been able to feel for so many years, even before her imprisonment. It had felt like ages ago.

"You should come to the spa," Rarity gushed, all but crooning over the beautiful mare, as the fashionista wondered how the pristine coat might glow with a healthy regimen of oils, sauna visits, massage therapy and hooficure. Then a mudbath and of course to end it all, a proper bubblebath in a pool with perfumes and massaging water currents. She had to witness the beauty that could be wrought with a make-over, not that the mare needed cosmetics, her coat was just perfect. But clothes! She had seen how Euphoria had gushed over the fashion designs in that book of classic Manehatten and Canterlot designs. She had thought to start a new line of such classicly inspired designs to bring back the glamour of those days, and here was the perfect mare to breathe life into such a vision.

To Euphoria, this spa treatment sounded like, well, like euphoria to her. That night time seemed to last almost an eternity. The sequence of events became obscured in a haze of exciting revelations and ever soaring heights of joy. She wasn't sure her behaviour had been entirely appropriate that evening, but she couldn't resist the temptation of sniffing, touching and nosing into the warmth of Samuel's soothing embrace.

SAM, Twilight and Euphoria

SAM, the icy, alien intellect wrought from synthetic computer technology, a true sentience born from Samuel's mind, proved to be another subject of irresistable curiousity. He had not been silent throughout the party and he had in most cases acted as a public ambassador previous to that, representing both Samuel and SAM, the A.I. and the incredible world they came from. An enigmatic world which Samuel seemed to refuse to speak of more than strictly necesssary. She had respected his privacy and saved him from Rarity's scrutiny of Euphoria's Cutie Mark, allowing that knowledge to remain sacred. But the A.I. proved to be more candid with information than its maker had been. That wonderful screen had been revealed behind his face and it showed the marvel that was Earth and its surrounding galaxy, which was only one in a multitude of galaxies that collectively made up the Visible Universe, not to mention speculations on this 'Dark Matter' which seemed to make up a sort of paralel plane of passive energy that was not too well understood, yet. But SAM had made strides in that field of research, leaving Twilight in awe at his visionary intellect, and more incomprehensible still, the intellect that birthed him. Research into this world and quantom technology had allowed his existance, a fact which seemed to boggle even his mind. He truly seemed to possess a soul even without magic, a thought which terrified her. He even had a sense of humor and joked about how he couldn't even measure his own intellect as the thought of contemplating his own mind had generated an infinately recursive string of introspection as he generated abstractions and used up so much processing power that even his software for measuring his processing power had been overloaded and he had been forced to shut down the string of introspection before his CPU could be damaged from overheating. Having just told the nerdiest joke she'd ever heard, SAM had laughed in that ghostly voice, so like Samuel's, even mimicing pitch and tone change so subtley as to sound like a breathing thing. Yes, he made breathing sounds with his voice synthethizer, even though he had no lungs. Speaking of voices, SAM had even been able to give Euphoria a voice! 

Well, she could write, but wasn't the written word just more perfectly suited for conveying simple facts, writing deeper, more daring thoughts than one would ever dare speak aloud? Still, her word use was a bit repetitive. 



Euphoria. 
Everything is euphoria to me. 
To breathe, to see and feel and hear, 
everything is euphoria to me.



Twilight had to supress an excited little squeel as her keen intellect allowed her to observe how the mare seemed to write in prose or even like verses of a song. Perhaps she had been a singer once? Still, she was intent on respecting the mare's privacy and as a consequence, she had been roped into a make-over to allow Rarity to create her perfect dress for the Summer Sun Celebration. Nevermind that it was still several months before the celebration, that just allowed for more time being subjected to Rarity's regimen of spa cures to make her look her best in the dress.

Well, at least SAM and his oddly named Pegasus Frame could come with them into the spa, assuring her that the moisture and heat wouldn't damage anything, though he seemed to be made of metal. It turned out he could withstand astonishing levels of heat and cold. He didn't need to even breathe so he functioned just as well bereft of oxygen, be that in the upper atmosphere or even submerged in water or mud. He'd slinked closer to her and whispered, which confused her since he could have simply written a discrete message on his screen, but he had closed the visor and those glowing eyes seemed to make eye contact with her as he chuckled and revealed, "I might even sit in the hot coals inside the spa to vaporize this awful paintjob. Seriously, this was the one color scheme I did not need," he sighed and even seemed to sag with the motion, further impressing Twilight with just how life-like he could be.

He then proceded to boast that the heat wouldn't even burn him, rather it would help him recharge his power cell as he absorbed the heat and generated electricity from it, and if he got hot enough, his nanites could even repair and modify his exterior, allowing him to choose a new color scheme. Euphoria had chuckled silently and bobbed him on the nose with a hoof, to which he jokingly responded with an 'ow' even though he felt no pain. She'd glared at him and he had sighed and unfolded his screen to allow her to stare into the soft glare of the screen as the tracking softwhere allowed her to select letters an words simply by looking at them. 



You'd look good in purple, like a Twilight sky with a few sparkling stars.



As the pristine, white mare sat giggling silently, Twilight didn't know whether she should be embaressed, flattered or mortified at the awful pun that played on her name and re-ignited this mildly posessive flirt that had been going on for over a week now. She had found it hillarious when SAM had been dyed first like Rainbow Dash, then Rarity, and now even Pinkie Pie had claimed him. Yet here Euphoria sat suggesting that Twilight might be the next one to 'claim' him. Admittedly she had been pretty close to SAM, but it was only a shared interest in her culture as the machine intellect hungrily absorbed all the knowledge she could contribute, which was a lot. It had just been so flattering how he'd be able to sit there with seemingly infinite patience, listening to her as she completely monopolized the conversation and even lectured and he just fired back a rapid succession of questions and follow-up questions as he made observations about her world.

Rainbow Dash had teased her endlessly about the relationship, laughing as she claimed to witness many 'nerdgasms' from Twilight. She blushed furiously and scowled at the pranking Pegasus, but she'd managed to get back at her by distracting her simply by keeping the argument going until the skyblue weathermare had suddenly found herself inside the spa with them. When she'd panicked and tried to flee, Twilight had held her long, manyhued tail with her magic and yanked her back down to share in the torment that was known as Rarity's little group spa trip. Fluttershy had even come to her aid, ganging up on the brash pegasus by telling her how it might help relieve muscle tension and thus help her become a better flier.

So they'd all gone to the spa, barring Applejack and Pinkie Pie who had to get up early for work, so they needed to be going home for sleep. Yes, contrary to popular belief, Pinkie Pie did sleep.

Euphoria

As the spa trip unfolded, the raw sensations had almost completely melted her mind as once again, events flowed together and she was left just remembering sensations and shared moments. One moment she was trembling with bliss under Samuel's strong hands as he had massaged her tender muscles while Aloe and Lotus worked on the other mares - the next she was pinned underneath Samuel, hidden away in some private alcove in the hot baths. She lay on her back in the shallows, her golden mane fanning out around her in the water, feeling completely vulnerable. This position was unfamiliar to her but no stranger than the way she'd been able to ride him the first time. However, this time Samuel had not been bedridden and he could feel her now, groping her with his more delicate left hand. He loomed over her, his powerful muscles tensing as he just took her and she received him, spreading her legs in wild abandon. How could it possibly be even better than that first time? Yet it was. His needs were so unlike a normal stallion's, as they normally only became this agressive when their mares were in heat. She wasn't in heat, but after years of unbearable loneliness, she couldn't resist his advances. He'd told her humans were always sexually active after a certain age and with him it seemed to hold true. She'd lost count of how many orgasms she'd endured that night.

Also weaved into the heated succession of love making, were other more chaste memories - the lovely heat in the sauna and the incredulous stares SAM had drawn when he'd vaporized Pinkie's paint job by sitting directly on the glowing coals. She knew he could take the heat, as she clearly remembered burning his joints so hard they seemed to become plasma and he'd just remolded the broken pieces back into a symetrical wholeness; a spectacular design. By comparison, this was hardly even lukewarm to the Pegasus Frame. Once he'd stepped out from the glowing embers, the nanites had made his smooth chrome black surface come alive, rippling as he made good on her earlier joking suggestion and adopted a color scheme clearly inspired by Twilight. The librarian had blushed adorably and Rainbow Dash had been in hysterics, drinking in the sight of the purple mare's embaressed pout, but she seemed to enjoy the attention on some level as she did smile and then she'd launched into more conversation about Samuel's home world. Her stallion had grown oddly still during those moments, so she tried to distract him, which was probably why they so often retreated to another corner of the spa to have more sex.

Then in the bubblebaths it had all gone horribly wrong. She'd been extremely conscious of her ruined Cutie Mark and her broken horn up to that point. She'd been so careful and thankfully the durable fabric of the flight suit took well to heat and moisture. Even during the mud bath, she'd been able strip and climb into the thick mud, able to hide her 'Cutie Scar' as her tormentor had once called it. But in the clear, sparkly waters of the baths she could hide nothing and when she'd hesitated at the edge of the pool, still wearing the skirt, Rainbow Dash had zipped down and yanked the fabric clean off her flank and thrown Euphoria into the water. The Pegasus had meant well and she'd likely thought the prank harmless enough, but Euphoria panicked. She spluttered, flailed and even kicked Samuel as he tried to reach for her, to calm her.

Scrambling onto the wet floortiles, she'd been on the verge of tears with embaressment and the only thing that could've made it worse was if she'd tripped. So of course she soon found herself sprawled on the floor, exposed under the harsh glare of one of the lamps, shivering as dread gripped her tight; everypony was staring at her and they could see everything. From her grotesque 'Cutie Scar' that once resembled a shiny silver note to signify the music her voice made, now run through by thick, angry scar tissue, to the scar on her throat that had forever silenced that voice, but worse still, they could see the jagged protution from her forehead as her wet mane did nothing to hide the ivory root of what was once the source of her magic. How could she even call herself a Unicorn without a horn? She had no magic, not even in her stupid, clumsy hooves that had just clobbered her stallion senseless.

She lay frozen as Sorrow took her, returned from Tartarus like an old friend. Her lovely face once again became a mask of infinate sadness and loneliness as she lay exposed as the wretched heap that she was. Not a Unicorn, not an Earth Pony and certainly not a Pegasus, and even her stallion had wings which was more than could be said for her.

Yes, there she lay, helpless as she watched Twilight's eyes grow huge as her pupils shrank with terror. The librarian stared at the broken horn, her jaw hanging wide open, her breath stuck in her throat. She watched as Rarity's eye twitched when she caught sight of Euphoria's 'Cutie Scar' and the fashionista gritted her teeth, then her eyes rolled back into her skull and she'd collapsed; fainted. Fluttershy sat bolt upright, still as a statue, tears streaming silently from her eyes. Rainbow Dash was preoccupied helping her wounded stallion from the pool. Samuel had a split brow and crimsom lines of blood streamed down his face, but he had few bruises otherwise. He'd somehow managed to parry her wild kicks with his right arm, the hidden synthetic steel limb absorbing the blows like armor.

Tartarus. She was back.

The illusion was dispelled as her stallion scrambled to her side, leaning over her, scooping her up on his arms, hugging her. She could move again and hid her face in his shoulder, shivering with shame. Rainbow Dash was stammering, now aware of the disaster she'd wrought, "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright, everything is perfectly fine," Samuel's baritone voice cut through everypony's voices before they could assault Euphoria with their pity. That exclaimation shocked the room into stillness as he went on, stroking her mane from her face with infinate care, "Euphoria is fine, she isn't hurt. She has been this way since I met her."

That seemed to break everypony from their initial shock as Twilight managed to heave an unsteady breath and shut her mouth, blinking her eyes. Rainbow Dash had settled next to Twilight, sitting on her haunches, looking at Euphoria for the first time with something other than remorse as she took in the sight of the broken horn and mangled Cutie Mark. She even looked curious. Fluttershy was still busy trying to revive the unconscious Rarity.

It wasn't easy to stomach all that attention, but she kept reminding herself, this isn't Tartarus, this isn't Tartarus. These ponies were her friends, they knew her. It was different from the endless succession of stallions who would weep for her and then die horribly before her uncaring visage of apathy. She was feeling fine now and her friends deserved to know the truth.

With that in mind, she squirmed free of Samuel's hold and everypony seemed to hold their breath, following her with their eyes as she neared Rainbow Dash. She stood firmly in front of the Pegasus, allowing them all to look at her marred flank and broken horn, pretending like nothing was wrong. Bending her neck, she bit down on Rainbow Dash's multichromatic tail and with her whole body, she heaved, managing to swing the squeeling weathermare in a half-circle, straight into the pool.

As the skyblue Pegasus spluttered and struggled to the surface in a near-perfect replay of Euphoria's earlier panicked reaction, the pristine white mare collapsed in a fit of silent laughter, rolling on the wet floor tiles. Samuel joined in the laughter and that seemed to dispell the horrible tension that had built up. Just like that, they were back to laughing and chatting with one another and even Rarity joined in once she'd recovered from her shock.

Without the need to hide her flank, Euphoria felt relieved as she could move about without reservation, swimming in the clear water, tossing back her blond mane, allowing her to view the world unobstructed. The only problem was the way Samuel kept ogling her flank, making her feel naked. It was true, she'd worn the skirt 24/7 since he'd first given it to her, so most of the time her intimate areas were hidden from view. Still, most of the other ponies were naked and she'd never caught Samuel ogling their flanks. She was blushing furiously, certain that the other girls had caught a glimpse of her sex now and then. That wasn't really considered taboo in normal pony society, but the added shame of having her scars put on display and the fact that she was obviously aroused served to make it that much more awkward.

Samuel had explained to her that he'd initially had some difficulty with the subject of nudity, as in his world such a display was usually a clear indication of an intent to mate. To his eyes, she wasn't just naked; she was stripped and ready to be rutted. Still, even this sexual tension was preferable to the pitying stares she had been forced to endure during her imprisonment. She tried to keep her tail tugged between her legs to avoid further exposing herself.

"Oh my, I think you'd best get dressed again, dear. I don't think poor Samuel can take much more of this," Rarity giggled and levitated the black shirt, draping it over Euphoria's flanks. She exhaled, visibly relieved to have the concealing cloth back in place and Samuel just muttered something about common decency as he adjusted his trunks.

It seemed she wasn't the only pony more relieved to see the awful scars covered up, and Rarity was probably the one who took it the hardest. Maybe Twilight as well. The way she'd just sat petrified, unable to tear her eyes from Euphoria's broken horn had sent chills down her spine. In the end, the purple Unicorn had approached her and this time, her eyes were on Euphoria's face and not her broken horn as the librarian had confessed, "I think you're incredibly brave. I wouldn't have been able to power on the way you do, not if I'd..." she averted her eyes, trailing off unable to finish the sentense.

Brave? Well, she supposed that was one way of looking at it.

...

Perhaps things wouldn't be so bad, even if a few other ponies had seen the true extend of her injuries.
> Eyes on the Horizon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a hectic night and while the four friends seemed to have gotten over their initial shock, they were still a bit shaken up about Euphoria's condition. She tried to stay cheerful and while she kept her hair down most of the time, she was no longer self-conscious about it. I stifled a yawn. It was more than just late; we'd have to hurry home if we were going to catch any sleep before sunrise.

As we left the spa, Twilight thanked the sisters for staying open so late. They insisted we think nothing of it. I suspect they did us this favor mainly due to Rarity. She'd always been their best customer. As we parted ways, Twilight told Fluttershy she'd send Spike to help out with the animals in the morning. The buttercream colored pegasus just smiled and nodded before taking off, flying gracefully back towards her cottage. The others retreated to their respective dwellings and as Euphoria, SAM and I made it back to our cottage, we headed straight for bed.

As I lay on my back, I held Euphoria's slender body in my arms. It was nice, feeling well enough to embrace her properly and she seemed to like it. I'm sure we both had a lot on our minds, but mental and physical exhaustion brought us under within seconds. 

We'd slept so soundly, the damned crowing of the rooster didn't even wake us. As I came to, the shock of the evening prior was forgotten in a sleepy haze. The pristine white mare still lay curled up in my arms, looking lovelier than ever. I was used to rough nights and even recovering from my injuries, which were mostly healed at this point, I felt fantastic. That spa cure had really hit the spot. Euphoria on the other hand was in a very different situation. Her muscles had grown weak with disuse and from the minute she'd been freed from that awful prison, she'd worked herself well past the point of exhaustion every day. She was feeling the burn, but even that seemed to please her. So naturally, she was not as quick about getting out of bed. I didn't mind, I just lay there admiring her. I'd occasionally stroke her face or mane and she'd lean into the caress in her sleep.

When she finally did wake, she looked blissful. We helped ourselves to some breakfast from one of the inumerable fruits baskets that still littered the cottage. The morning groom - if you could even call it that this late in the day - had been a bit problematic at first. Euphoria proved extremely capable of wielding tools with her mouth, but that just wouldn't do with a hairbrush or a toothbrush. At first, I'd helped her but it was demeaning for the both of us, like I was teaching a toddler how to brush. So we'd soon found a solution by fashioning a sort of glove for her front hoof, with a rubberband to hold her brush. It gave her a sense of independance, being able to groom herself.

A few minutes later and we were both ready to tackle the day. By this time, she seemed to have recalled the past night's events and she looked hesitant facing the front door. She heaved a small breath and pushed it open, revealing the bright light of a spring day with just a few clouds here and there, providing some much needed rain for the crobs.

"I've gotta stop by Rarity's and see if she can't fix my flight suit," I explained and Euphoria blushed, glancing towards the skirt she was always wearing. Even with the jagged tears where I'd ripped it from the leggings, the black cloth hung stylishly over her flanks like it was made for the mare. It had been skintight on me and while her hips were not as wide as my shoulders, the elastic material clung to her flanks like a miniskirt would hug the curves of a human woman. I knew how she treasured the thing and I wasn't about to reclaim it. It was hers.

She reared up on her hindlegs to hug me, giving me a quick peck on the cheek before dropping down, turning about with a bit of a sway in her hips as she waved and started towards the centre of town. She drew more than a few appraising stares from the local stallions who all noted the skirt. In pony society, where nudity is the norm, clothes are thought of as enticing rather than concealing. They draw the eye and the one wearing them is seen to be showing off their good looks. On earth the equivalant would be to dress revealingly rather than practically.

I chuckled to myself and shook my head as a few of the stallions gave me envious looks and one even paused to give me a hoofbump which I returned with a clenched fist. I greeted a few other acquaintances and remembered to thank them for the cards and flowers as I made my way to Carousel Boutique. Entering to the familiar bellchime, Rarity's trademark reply was slightly delayed and lacked the same musical lilt that it usually carried. As the fashionista wandered into the front of the shop, I noted she looked slightly disheveled, for Rarity's standards that is. Even on a day like today she still looked more meticulously styled and groomed than any other pony I'd met.

"Oh Samuel, just the colt I was looking for," she enthused and I could tell her mind was still on the previous night's revelations as she drew closer and spoke in a hush, "is she alright? I know it was quite a shock for her, well, for all of us, really..." she trailed off, pouting at the thought of the horrible injuries.

"She's fine, really. A bit relieved, actually. She won't have to worry about keeping her horn concealed around you anymore," I tried to soothe the depressed mare. She looked up at me with slightly raised brows, surprise warring with relief at the news as I continued, "she's been so conscious about it this whole time, being careful not to toss her hair or even turn her head too suddenly."

Rarity nodded, chewing on her lip as she struggled to appeace herself with the idea of being confronted with the grim looking injuries again in the future. "Well, she did seem very happy all this time when I didn't even know. I suppose if there's anypony who can live through such events and even thrive in spite of it, I have to respect that."

I could tell it was definitely still a sore topic with the fashionista, not that I could blame her. She'd always been adamant that everything be in order and if there was even the slightest imperfection in a dress or even a pony, anything to make it seem broken or sullied somehow, she had to fix it. But she couldn't 'fix' Euphoria. Needless to say, it would take some getting used to before she could look at Euphoria's injuries without flinching. I knew she meant well.

It seemed a welcome change of topic to the fashionista when I brought out the worn leggings of my flight suit, asking if she could repair the damage I'd caused. She threw herself into the challenge with a sense of relief, tut-tutting at the tears I'd left when I'd simply ripped the suit in half with my hands. She went on about the composition of the fabric, informing me that it was not unlike certain materials used in actual Pegasus flight suits like those worn by the famous Wonderbolts. She did keep such articles in stock and she seemed thrilled to get a chance to work with them.

I watched as she wove her magic, enveloping a roll of the stretchy fabric in her aura as she levitated shears, measuring tape and a note with my measurements all at the same time. I had always found it amusing how the fashionista seemed incapable of multitasking with her horn except when she was being creative. It only took a minute before she had merged the new article with my old flightsuit and one trip to the changing room confirmed that it was a fit. I didn't bother with removing it, opting instead to wear my grey button down shirt and black slacks over the suit in case I'd be needing it.


Euphoria

As she wandered the streets of Ponyville, it came as no shock to her that her legs had carried her unerringly to Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie was as cheerful as ever, working behind the counter. She'd somehow vanished the instant she'd caught sight of Euphoria, only to rematerialize next to her, launching into a lengthy greeting and giving a rundown of her day, all without pausing to breathe. 

She'd loved Pinkie right from the start. She was so easy to get along with and smiling felt so natural around her. Better still, there was no chance of interupting the babbling Earth Pony. She could supply her own non-verbal cues as Pinkie whipped up a storm with her words. She'd giggle wordlessly or gasp whenever the pink ball of joy said or did something funny, which was often. If the pink baker had heard anything of last night, it wasn't showing in her behaviour.

She'd insisted on paying for the treats this time and Pinkie had just grinned and replied, "okey-dokey-lokey!" and swiped the bits off the counter, making them vanish the moment Euphoria had nosed them towards her. She was in the middle of another mind-melting taste sensation, chewing on a sprinkled doughnut when Pinkie had grown oddly quiet.

"I heard what happened in the spa," she said in a low voice, no longer grinning from ear to ear. She was wearing a fragile little smile, which for Pinkie seemed the equivalant of a full-on pout, but the corners of her mouth just never dipped that far.

She'd nearly spat out the bit of pastry she was chewing, remembering to swallow before she returned the fragile smile, arching one brow slightly in silent query as if to say, 'and...?'

"You should try the ones with rasberry jam filling," Pinkie sudenly enthused, launching into the biggest non-sequitur the pristine mare had ever witnessed. She just gave the pink Earth Pony a deadpan stare which seemed to go entirely unheeded as the baker went on and on about how this particular piece of confectionary would make her tastebuds sing. She waited and waited, but the questions never came. Anxiety gave way to confusion as it dawned on her that the pink pony really wasn't going to hit on the topic any further. Finally, realisation came as she sensed the unconditional acceptance that seemed to radiate from Pinkie. It was ridiculous that she should be moved to tears, but sure enough, her vision blurred as the tears started to silently stream down her face.

This amazing, incredible pony had been told everything. She knew how horribly broken Euphoria was, that she would never sing again, never be capable of levitating even a feather. She'd learned the truth and literally come to grips with things overnight and so here today, Euphoria stood before her and she'd just treated her with the same cheer as always. Impossible as it sounded, Pinkie had grasped the full extend of her crippled nature but it didn't color her perception of her friend. To her, she was simply Euphoria. Not a broken thing but a friend and fellow pony, an equal.

She wasn't sure when the pink Earth Pony had embraced her and started to stroke her mane, and frankly she didn't care. She just sobbed quietly into the frizzy pink mane and Pinkie Pie giggled, "aww, silly pony you're supposed to laugh when you're happy."

If any of the other patrons or the Cakes found the display odd, they didn't say. Eventually, the flow of emotion had ebbed and Euphoria gradually regained her composure, sitting back on her haunches, smiling sheepishly as she sniffled. Without a word, Pinkie conjured a box of tissues and left them with her as she returned to her work station. She carefully pulled a tissue from the box using her teeth and draped it over a hoof, wiping away the tears.

Then she'd sunk her teeth into the next treat and she nearly suffered another white-out. Somewhere in the background, Pinkie giggled and supplied cheerfully, "rasberry jam filling, isn't it just scrumptious?"

...

Scrumptious indeed.

She'd waved goodbye to Pinkie, leaving the shop with a smile on her face. She really did love that pony. As she wandered the streets of ponyville, it occured to her that her stallion was getting ready for more travels like the one that had brought them together. He'd been growing restless and with his injuries fully healed and the Pegasus Frame restored, he only needed the flight suit, which he'd gone to Rarity's for. Thoughts of how the Unicorn had reacted in the baths still haunted her. In the end, the sight had been so gruesome she'd just fainted, but not before giving that twitch of the eye. That twitch that meant it had truly disturbed her on some deep level.

Pushing those thoughts aside, she went home to retrieve her saddlebags and her 'grasping sock,' which her stallion had thoughtfully provided when he'd seen her struggles with the toothbrush. She had no idea why he'd called it a 'glove' but it was the same word he'd used to describe the material covering his right hand. In the end it didn't matter. With her sock she could at least hold onto things without having to use her mouth for everything.

With her tools ready, she gave one glance to the immobile Pegasus Frame and SAM heeded her silent command as the almond shaped eyes lit up with a soft red glow. He followed her out the cottage, pausing to lock the door with his tail. If they were going to be on the road, she'd need food for the travels so she trotted up the path towards Sweet Apple Acres. The yellow Earth Pony had always seemed a bit distant, mostly because she was so caught up with work, but then again she hadn't known any of these ponies very long. Perhaps the apple farmer would turn out to be nice, like Pinkie Pie.

As she wandered between the rows of appletrees, some already bearing fruit, she wondered where the Earth Pony could be if she wasn't out applebucking. She found the energetic mare busy at work in one of the barns, taking inventory to make sure they had enough baskets for the coming harvest. She knocked on the doorframe with a hoof and the applefarmer greeted her with a cheerful, "howdy there, Euphoria, 'n SAM too. What can I do ya for?"

She smiled and stepped into the barn with SAM tracing her steps. Turning to bob him on the nose, she giggled silently when she found he'd already unfolded the screen before she could even raise her hoof. Using the eye-tracking software, she spelled out a simple list and the applefarmer peered over her shoulder, arching a brow as she read aloud, "food fer the road, survival knife 'n rope..." she seemed to think it over, idly adjusting her stetson before nodding and turning to go dig through the crates for the tools as she spoke up, "got the knife 'n rope right 'ere 'n the food's just up by the house, we'll go fetch that next."

She brought out a sleek steel blade not unlike the bayonet fastened to the end of SAM's tail and a bundle of hemp rope, placing the knife in a scabbard before putting the items in Euphoria's saddlebags. The applefarmer paused just then, seeming to stare through the saddlebag to the ruined Cutie Mark underneath. So she'd heard of that, too. Euphoria steeled herself for the barrage of questions and/or potential fainting episode, but rather than do any of that, Applejack just fixed her with a look as if asking for permission before she bit down on the straps of the saddlebags, lifting them off and then carefully, she grasped the edge of the skirt in her hoof and lifted it, revealing the thick scar that ran across the silvery musical note. Euphoria steeled herself for a reaction, but the mare just stared at her 'Cutie Scar' for a few moments before letting the skirt drop back down. She then walked around to stand facing Euphoria and again she hesitated, warning her with those bright emerald green eyes before she reached up to brush the blonde mane aside, revealing the broken horn. Again, she simply stared for a few moments before letting the curtain of hair fall into place, once again concealing the injury.

Finally, she just shook her head and exhaled, looking more bewildered than anything, really as she spoke plainly, "I had to see it to believe it, but it's really true. Broken horn, broken Cutie Mark 'n yer' a mute to boot..." she trailed off, still staring at Euphoria with something akin to awe as she searched for the words. Finally, she continued, "I can't even imagine what that must'a been like 'n to tell you the truth, I don't think I could've lived through it... You're damned strong, Euphoria. Really damned strong, to just power on like ya do. I guess Samuel's lucky to have you watchin' his back," she smiled.

She hadn't known what to expect, but it certainly wasn't this. She was floored. The applefarmer had lived up to her reputation and spoken the plain truth, letting the words pour from her mouth as soon as they'd formed in her mind. Unlike Pinkie, she'd felt a need to see the evidence with her own two eyes, and unlike any of the others, she hadn't even flinched.

...

She was starting to like Applejack. Honest to a fault and best of all, she didn't seem to pity anypony for their fate. She smiled and hugged the pony who tensed for a moment before returning the hug, reaching up to gently pat Euphoria on the back before untangling herself, blushing slightly with the show of affection.

Together they'd soon gathered some wrapped and dried food items, stashing them in the saddlebags along with the tools. Even with the rope, the knife and food for days, she wasn't overburdened. Weak as she may be, having four legs to distribute the weight over made it easier to carry. She waved as she headed back to town with SAM still tracing her steps. She easily picked out Samuel's towering figure, cantering up to him with a happy smile. He knelt to kiss her and she returned the gesture, blushing slightly as a few ponies paused to stare, but they quickly moved on when she looked their way.

"I see you're all saddled up for a trip," her remarked with a crooked smile. She knew he found the horse puns humorous and she could appreciate the jokes, too.  She marveled at the way his dark brown eyes shone from the depths of their sockets under his bushy brows as he looked her over. Other ponies found his face strange with the small, straight nose and square jaw so unlike the snouts of most other creatures, but she thought it was beautiful, in a sort of scary way. Everything about his features seemed designed to protect the delicate parts, with the way the sturdy bones of his brow protected his eyes and his chin shielded the short neck.

He rose to his full height and heeding an unspoken command, SAM slinked up to her and detached the upper left half of his visor, using his clawlike appendage to place it over her eye, once again allowing her to see the world through the machine interface. Turning to face the long road ahead, his ghostly voice spoke up, "I've looked over the maps and determined that there may be an old abandoned Unicorn settlement a day's flight from here. We can cover the first leg of the trip in the air but we'll have to land and trek through the woodlands as we search for the ruins."

Flight? She would get to see her stallion soaring through the skies. Giddy with anticipation, she watched as the Pegasus Frame unfolded and enveloped Samuel, covering him head to toe in deep purple plating. With the upper half of the visor missing, she could see his left eye which pleased her. She liked being able to read his expressions. With a soft whirr the equine hind legs extended, causing Samuel to grow even taller. The massive wings unfolded to their full wingspan, more than four times her body length. She marveled at the way the reflective surface shone in the sun, harnessing its rays to power the suit.

He had the halberd slung over his back and the rifle strapped to his thigh. Walking with dull thuds on the hoof-shaped leg frames, he approached her, towering over her. She suddenly felt very small and not for the first time, she felt a rush of excitement mixed in with the fear. Samuel looked fierce and battle-ready as he bent to scoop her up in his powerful arms. He started to run in great, bounding strides with the hooves moving like pistons to absorb the impacts and propel him further and higher with each stride. Suddenly he began to beat those titanic wings and just like that, they were soaring through the air as the lush green hills rolled away below them and the horizon grew impossibly wide. She felt the wind in her mane as he held her close to his chest, allowing her to wrap frontlegs around his forearms. They flew towards unknown lands in search of ancient lore long forgotten by any living thing.



SIMULATED ARTIFICIAL MIND

According to legend, the Unicorn sages that lived in those regions had researched dangerous magic, presumably able to conjure beings from other planes of existence, such as Tartarus. It may not be much to go on, but it is the only clue I was able to find that hinted at transdimensional travel. With this, we will be one step closer to reaching Earth.



As she read the scrolling red letters in the visor, she trembled with excitement. She knew Samuel had fought desperately to prevent his home world from being engulfed in war, and if there was any way of returning to finish what he'd started, he would take it. She only hoped she could be there to see it. The immensity of his task left her awestruck. It seemed impossible, but then again, doing the impossible appeared to be his specialty.

...

Earth. What would await them there? She could scarsely imagine. Well, first they had to get there and even SAM seemed skeptical of their chances of success.
> The Silence is Broken
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Euphoria

Such terrifying lows, such dizzying heights! It was beyond comprehension. After years of absolute stillness, solitude and worst of all silence.

Such maddening silence.

More than anything, she had longed for sound, and such sounds she'd heard. The booming bass of Samuel's voice, she felt the tremors deep in his powerful chest everytime he let out that hearty chuckle. She'd been petrified when she first heard him roaring like a beast as he bore down on the dragon. It was madness, really. He'd leaped farther than any being she'd ever seen, and even soared on gigantic wings, rivaling the proportions of the gargantuan dragon, yet infinitely more agile, so like the Pegasi she'd once envied for their flight. He'd leapt, this strange stallion, and when the dragon breathed fire, he'd dodged the white-hot flame. When the dragon had tried to crush him with its claw, he'd severed the entire terrifying appendage. She'd felt such terrifying malice and bitter joy in her heart when she watched that claw, that had taken everything from her, shatter into a thousand pieces in a crimsom explosion of blood.

Violence was terrifying to most ponies, who had never seen true life or death battle before, but she'd long since grown desensitized to the horrors of death. She'd been stuck in this glass prison in a great festering field of decay, the crowning achievement of an immortal's efforts to inflict as much malice on the world as possible. She'd been forced to watch in silence as a never ending parade of her loved ones and total strangers all came to find her.

To find her broken. To cry at the bottom of her stage, and no matter what she did, whether she cried with them or watched in apathy, it never changed the outcome.

They would die.

She would live.

In silence.

Until Samuel had come along. He'd blinded the dragon, he'd leapt at it with the enchanted weapon that carried in it the undying vigilance of an unknown, but most valiant stallion of the Royal Celestial Guard, and he'd taken the claw, and then he'd been crushed half to death by a single hit.

That had been the worst moment for certain. Because at that point, she'd given in to the siren calling that was the worst of all emotions; hope. She'd dared to hope with all of her heart and soul, because this strange stallion was doing it. 

He was winning.

Hearing the sickening smash, watching in such vivid detail how the outer layer of the unknown creature just shattered like glass as it was flung like a ragdoll. As he fell. She did not know his race, but he looked so like a giant bipedal Pegasus or perhaps a manticore or minotaur. Whatever he was, he was definitely masculine. His voice was deep and gruff, speaking Equestrian with a thick, sharp accent, like an outsider. She'd never realised how soft and melodic the voices of the Equestrians were. She'd never heard the voice of a soldier or a commanding officer, who had stood on battlefields screaming his throat raw. Giving orders, making war cries or screaming in agony.

There were no wars in Equestria. But she knew of warlike species, like the Griffons and the Dragons. This unknown champion had more in common with the dragon than she liked to admit, yet part of her loved that dark side of him. The warriors were survivors, very hard to kill as she'd seen when that nameless Royal Guard had wounded the beast with his halberd, wielded telekinetically with deadly skill. Only the skill and toughness of the dragon had been far greater.

Nopony ever truly appreciated just how much blood a creature that size contained. How much it could suffer to lose without dying. Ponies by comparison had so little vitality. The dragon's claw had only seemed to grace the stallion, yet he'd whined like a wounded animal and crawled away, surely to die within minutes. So when Samuel bled, she thought he was going the same way, but she'd been proven wrong in the most terrifying and wonderful spectacle, as her latest stallion had risen again and struck for a third time, finally ending it.

He'd fought until his heart gave out, but the machine intelligence had restarted it. When his breath gave out, she'd breathed new life into him. When his bones had been broken, she had succeeded against all odds as she nursed him back to health using tools and a delicate touch.

So he had lived, and they had formed an unbreakable bond from the life or death experience. She could almost believe that the encounter had changed him just as completely as it had changed her. She'd been returned to a familiar world, to Equestria, but she'd gained much more than that.

The only thing her ghastly tormentor had ever said that she thought insightful, was an ancient proverb that had been passed down from the ages: "If you go to Tartarus, you will most definitely lose part of yourself forever, but you will also find new things. Impossible things."

Well, she'd been stuck in Tartarus by his will and she'd smiled with such infinite glee when she looked into the empty eyesockets of his broken skull and nodded her head as she'd thought, 'impossible things indeed!'

So here she had been swept up in the most wonderful experience of her life and learned everything about Samuel and his world as he'd tearfully confessed what she already knew from the first moment - when he'd spoken of war. It was dizzying, the sheer scope of his world. Seven billion sapient beings, all belonging to the same species, all entirely bereft of magic or destiny. They did not have any Mark to signify the meaning of their lives, they had not seen one or even several gods in the flesh - at least the ones who claimed such sightings were not widely believed. All they had was their enginuity and their lust for conquest. Samuel had embodied both these traits, and so had SAM, the Artificial Intelligence.

Yet they had saved her where so many others had failed tragically. Death seemed truly meaningless to her, for those who died always went fearfully and those who came too close often grew depressed and longed for death, yet they were too fearful to approach it - or in her case, unable to.

But she'd come to Tartarus and lost that old way of life. Everything she'd once believed about herself and her world had come crashing down around her and when she'd reemerged, altered beyond recognition, she'd seen two new worlds. She'd looked at Equestria with new eyes, the eyes of an outsider, and realised just how beautiful it was and how the innocent ponies seemed to take that life for granted - not out of any malice, they were too pure for that - but out of the ignorance bred from generations of peace. She'd also caught glimses of Samuel's home world - Earth.

Now here she was, chasing down obscure clues to a solution that might not even exist, looking for a way to get Samuel back to Earth. She wanted him to succeed, even if it meant making a difficult choice and possibly saying goodbye to her new friends forever to join him in his world, getting swept up in another great struggle. It all seemed so desperately remote to her, but she did not mind taking a lengthy journey. She'd been still for too long.


Samuel

As I flew for the first time since the dragon had nearly broken my body and my Pegasus Frame beyond repair, I held Euphoria clutched to my chestguard. My grip was very steady thanks to the artificial external muscle fibres weaved into the exoskeleton. She was wearing a piece of the visor, so layered over half her vision, she saw the same Heads Up Display that I saw, and we both spoke to SAM who had been the mediator from the very beginning.

He'd taught himself the language within hours and passed his knowledge to me in days, but most impressively, he could understand Euphoria on a deeper level because he could read the minute rapid movements of her eye and even detect peaks in her emotional state when her pupils shrank or dialated suddenly. So she could work the interface almost as intuitively as I, but only almost. I had the DNI which translated eletrical impulses to and from all of my senses, linking my mind with SAM's. But Euphoria could only write a few lines of text at a time. 

As I spoke to her, I wondered what was on her mind with the way her gaze was fixed on the horizon. She looked torn between ever deepening sorrow and utter bliss. How she appreciated the world, both the one she'd lost and the one she'd gained. But did she long for my world? I had to know. Working to sound casual - and failing spectacularly according to SAM's readings of voice pitch, brain chemistry and facial expression - I'd asked her what she thought of my world now that she'd spent the past week getting to know all about it. Nothing had been kept from her, and with an inquisitive mind and powerful intuition, she'd struck at the heart of matters, interrogating SAM endlessly about the hard facts and cold truths of our society.

Just what did she think of it all? Did she condemn my society, loving me only because I had proven to be a singular, unique member of my species, cut off from the influences of war? Or did she want to be a part of it all?

"Everything for you, Samuel. You have given me everything and I'm right here with you," a feminine voice purred over the static of the simulated voice software.

I gasped and clutched her to my chest as I lost control of my wings, but before we could plumet to our deaths, SAM took over the steering and so we'd lost only a few feet of altitude and gotten away with a brief scare, but more importantly, she'd spoken to me!

Her voice was just as real as SAM's. I didn't know how, but he was able to somehow read her lips and use the computer to synthethize a voice for her in perfect synqronization with the movements of her lips. The voice was only an approximation of a typical female voice, slightly breezy because of the minute distortions that also caused SAM's voice to sound not quite human. So in the same way, her voice didn't sound quite like a pony's, but it was beautiful all the same. It was her voice.

Feeling safe enough to not look where I was flying - since SAM was actually piloting the suit at that moment - I bent my head and stared down at the mare in my arms. I saw her pristine white face, her broken horn visible as her golden mane was whipped about by the winds. I saw her right eye, so vividly bright blue, staring back at me with unending devotion. The left eye was obscured by the visor, hugging the side of her face. Curiously, her slender neck was even more luminescant than the rest of her. I realised there were several paperthin lines of weblike branch patterns extended down her throat, reflecting the sunlight like silver ribbons. The root of the web of wires sat at the base of the visor, running a thin line down her cheek not unlike a tearstain, but as soon as it reached her chin, it exploded into hundreds of little branches, spanning the width and bredth of her throat.

I'm about to have another moment of technobabble here, so bear with me. Those wires, they were part of SAM's diagnostic system, the method by which he tracked everything from my thoughts and feelings, to my physical health, detecting even minute and intricate chemical responses in everything from skin temperature, blood flow and even reading hormonal levels in the perspiration of my skin. Sounds freaky, right? Well, he was also in my brain thanks to the DNI, so the sweat-thing really didn't bother me if I could appeace myself with the fact that I needed a reality filter to seperate our very minds. This was all possible thanks to nanites, and while some of you might think such technology would lie far into the future, you might not realise how much progress SAM could make on his own.

His brain was an evolved template of my mind, powered by a quantom computer that could run more coding than my combined neural connections. Others had already succeeded in creating a normal binary computer system on par with the human brain. SAM's mind was a step beyond that. He never slept, ate or grew frustrated and tired. Every second of every minute of every hour, he was getting more work done than an entire Research and Development fascility got done in a day, fully staffed. There's a reason I keep referencing old movies, because many of our fears had become very real with SAM. When I say we were lucky when he didn't launch his own version of Skynet, I'm not joking. He could've done it.

Instead he worked on developing the field of nanotechnology. He invented the nanites that saturated my system and the Pegasus Frame. He hadn't injected them into any of the ponies; I had asked him not to. But he could use those nanites to track the minute movements of Euphoria's throat, able to mimic the vocal cords she'd lost. Her breathing wasn't emulated like SAM's; he recorded the sounds of her breath and piped them into my helmet even when the winds would've drowned out those sounds.

Then she'd laughed. Not the soft, rythmic succession of gasps I'd come to treasure; the synthethized voice really did laugh and it had just a trace of the musical lilt that her original voice must've had. SAM just kept piloting the suit as I was completely entranced with the miracle he'd wrought. Hearing Euphoria laugh and talk was truly spectacular.

"You're about to have one of my white-outs," she teased. That snapped me to attention and I stared quizzically at her, my one visible brow perched in silent inquiry; my throat was too tight to allow coherent speech. I was very emotional at that moment.

"Aww, you snapped out of it. I normally pass out from euphoria. It just hits me so hard," she explained, more than a little amused with the turn of events - now she was the one reading my expressions while she supplied the actual conversation. Well, that explained it. The whole pony-napping incident with Pinkie Pie, that is. She saw the sudden look of understanding in my eye and nodded her head, "yeah, I literally passed out due to Pinkie's mind-melting cupcake. I had no idea it was possible to pack so much sugar into one of those," she laughed.

The voice was still slightly unsteady with light background noise, making it sound artificial. She remarked on this with a sigh, "this is nice, but it isn't like my old voice. I don't think I'd like it if that were the case, though. That life is gone. I have nopony to turn to. My family were the first ones to come looking..."

She trailed off and a lone tear escaped her left eye, clinging to the silverwire as it trailed down her cheek before the wind swept it away. I held her closer and she didn't speak again for the rest of the trip. I couldn't blame her. It was true, this new voice couldn't replace what she'd lost. She had long since given up hope that it ever be replaced; she accepted life as a mute. The new synthetic voice was good for her, but also emotionally draining as we'd both get choked up within the first minute of conversation. The silence was more tranquil and could convey just as much emotion.

Words can only say so much and even I struggle with them.

...

Still, she had a voice. We both broke from our silent conversation when we noticed the ground coming up. By sheer instinct, I took back control of the Pegasus Frame, angling my body for descent, beating my wings rigorously to descelerate. My hooves impacted the mossy ground with a deep thud as the pistons compressed, absorbing the recoil and the whiplash that should have traveled through my body was absorbed by the artificial spine. Euphoria gasped as her desceleration knocked the breath from her lungs. I quickly set her down and she lay on her knees, gasping.

"I'm fine," the feminine synthetic voice spoke up, this time emanating directly from her through a little speaker in the visor. That combined with the movement of her lips shaping the actual words made it sound very real. I embraced her and we kissed. It took SAM's interfering with the reality filter to keep my hormones in check and snap me to attention. We'd arrived, having just landed in unknown territory. The thick, mossy vegetation surrounded us on all sides as we stood in a clearing somewhere in an ancient forest of yews and spruce trees, or at least something like them. A few primordial cedar trees were also in evidence, casting immense shadows, towering far above the others.

Somewhere within this forest lay the remnants of a society of sagely Unicorns, who like me had commited acts of hubris, tapping into scarsely understood powers beyond their own comprehension. Nobody knew what had wiped them out; it was assumed to be a tragic lesson as they became the architects of their own destruction, a cautionary tale.

Well, if you've sat through my story this far, then you'll know I'm not one to heed such tales. I turned and faced in the direction SAM's data estimated to be the most likely location of their structures. If any remained, they would be overgrown stone ruins and the only surviving texts would be engravings or specially preserved parchment. Euphoria to her credit stood boldly besides me, staring into the dark woods. She had access to as many visual filters as I did and she even armed herself. I chuckled as she put on her 'grasping sock' as she'd called it. She used it to hold the survival knife she'd bought, tightening the straps with her teeth, ensuring the knife wouldn't wobble in her grip.

I didn't know what she was going to do, walking on three hooves with a sharp blade extending from her fourth leg. She hobbled over to a sizeable looking branch, grasping it in her teeth, using swift strokes with the blade to strip the branch of leaves and twigs, leaving a smooth shaft. She sharpened the point and just like that, she'd fashioned herself a javelin.

She unfastened the knife from her sock and wrapped a slender cord from her saddlebags around the middle of the javelin's wooden shaft. Spinning the shaft, she rolled the cord around it like a spool and with the other end of the wire attached to her little sock, she could actually hold the damned thing. I was stunned. She'd just reinvented the javelin as it was used in Greece, ca. 500 BC. When they threw their lighter variety of javelins, the cord would unwind, imparting spin to the shaft which gave it stability and allowed for record-breaking long throws.

I watched as she grinned at me, looking rather pleased with herself as she slung the javelin over her back, sliding it into a little leather hoop in the straps of her saddlebags. I'd wondered why she had insisted on getting her own bags with that exact design. Conventionally, that model of saddlebags were used by craftsponies who carried tools in the loops like a toolbelt. Euphoria had other intentions with it and after securing the javelin, she just bit on the little strap of her grasping sock, releasing the cord to once again free up her hoof.

She practiced reaching for it, using her teeth to re-knot the string and unholster the javelin, ready to be launched. The whole reach-knot-unholster sequence took her about a second. Very impressive. I sat speechless as she set to work making more javelins, each with their own spools until she had six deadly projectile weapons strapped to her flanks, three on each side.

It was foolish of me to ever have assumed that she'd stand idly by as I went into dangerous, unexplored ruins. She wowed me time and time again with her enginuity and skill. There really wasn't anything she couldn't do. Surgery, first-aid, CPR, jurry-rigging and repairs and now she was going to provide ranged artillery support. It was a good thing too, as I checked my ammunition. I only had 3 live rounds left in my magazine and 4 gell rounds out of up to 20 live rounds per mag and 5 of the bulkier gel rounds. I had a spare mag containing another 5 gel rounds, but the live rounds were critically low. Just 3 rounds. I'd squandered too much ammo in my last battle on Earth.

Yes, having Euphoria and an infinite supply of javelins would prove useful. That mare would just keep on surprising me.

...

You might wonder why I hadn't just set my nanites to the task of making more bullets. Well, I was being cautious. I had not shared any details of my species' affinity with warfare and as far as I could tell, Equestria was a good century behind the levels of mundane Earth tech. Corporations like mine pushed the bar even farther. I shuddered to think what the common gunpowder bullet might do to Equestria. At any rate, I wasn't about to give them the chance.

For this, I was on my own. Well, I had SAM and Euphoria, but they were outsiders, too.
> Huntress
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Standing in the clearing of the mysterious woods, admiring Euphoria's latest stroke of genius, I felt SAM silently disengaging the Pegasus Frame, shrinking down to its quadruped form behind me. I rolled my shoulders and rechecked my rifle, hoping I wouldn't have to use it. At least I still had Vengeance, the magical halberd though I was wary of using such a weapon lightly. With my weapons secured I began to walk into the gloomy woods with the canopy of trees blocking out most of the sunlight.

Euphoria stood silently, scanning the surrounding. She could pierce any darkness with the visor on, though it made her look slightly cold and I could tell by the set of her jaw that she was ready for a fight if it came to that. Thankfully she wasn't silent. With the sensitive wires reading her throat movements, she could speak and if she chose to, the sound would be fed directly into my mind, bypassing the reality filter. Without the mental strain of the Pegasus Frame, it was easy to interpret the impulses through the DNI.

"Thank you for bringing me with you, and showing me your sky," her new artificial voice cut through the background noise, bypassing my ears entirely. The experience would seem otherworldly to almost anyone else, but I had 'otherworldly' experiences almost daily.

"Would you have allowed me to ditch you back in Ponyville?" I spoke aloud, silently enjoying the way her ear twitched as it angled itself to better catch my voice so I didn't need to yell across the woods.

As she walked, her lips pursed as she gave the question some thought before answering, "maybe, if you stuck me in a room full of Pinkie's treats, I'd pass out long enough."

That had me chuckling for a while. We lapsed into comfortable silence after that as we explored the ancient woods, traversing gnarly roots, overgrown rocks and briars. I was worried that the latter would prove difficult for the frail looking mare, but it turns out their fur coats were good for more than just looks. Compared against a pony, human beings really were the fragile ones. Any worries I had of Euphoria falling behind or slowing our progress were silenced when I saw her walking straight through a thick patch of briars without even slowing. The thorns stuck in her coat, never breaking the skin and her hooves paved the way for me to follow behind her.

She laughed and even with the synthetic quality to it, the peals of laughter sounded sweet and feminine. She made a show out of shaking the thorns from her coat once she was clear, leaving me staring at her backside for longer than I want to admit. When SAM brushed past me, proving equally impervious to the thorns, I came back to reality and found myself jogging to keep up.

Yeah, it was hillarious to both of them to discover that not only was I the most vulnerable of the three of us, but also the slowest. The only advantage I had on those two was my agility and later it was my turn to leave Euphoria gaping wide-eyed (at least I assumed they were wide under the hair/visor) as I traversed a chasm by balancing on a fallen tree no wider than a hoof. I was grinning smugly from my side as I looked back at her and SAM. She made an adorable snorting sound and turned, seeking a path around the chasm and SAM did likewise, breaking off to go in a third direction.

We had no problems splitting up like that since we were all wired in one way or the other. Euphoria had the visor tracking our movements on a minimap, I had the DNI which allowed me to visualize their location relative to my own and SAM's mind was the computer crunching all the data, so there was never any fear of leaving him out of the loop. Besides, we didn't even know if we'd been heading in the right direction to begin with. All we could glean from the dusty records was an approximate area where these Unicorns supposedly lived and studied ways to breach the gap between realms.

As I walked, I felt the soothing feminine voice with just a bit of a synthetic edge to it speaking into my mind, "I don't mean to sell you short, but are you not vulnerable without your Pegasus Frame?"

I chuckled inwardly, conveying these sounds to playback in Euphoria's visor. To anyone else, the act of synthethizing your own voice with nothing but your mind would be a challenge, but ever since day one I'd been verbally sparring with SAM and thus I'd picked up the skill quickly. I went on to soothe her worries, "I know my kind looks vulnerable and you sort of proved a point with the thorns back there, but I assure you that my skills in combat were never lacking."

"Good, I need you to be safe, my stallion," she spoke the title with a sense of significance which made me pause. I'd never known how she would refer to me in the quiet recess of her mind. Somehow it felt right, even if I couldn't rightly consider myself a member of the equine species.

"Don't worry, I am not planning on dying. No, dying is the most selfish thing I could possibly do," as I spoke the words, I'm sure she picked up on how strongly I felt on that topic. I'd been faced with death so many times and yet I knew very little about what awaited on the other side. As you may have guessed, I'm not a religious person, being so partial to the natural sciences. As far as I knew, all that awaited those who kicked the bucket was oblivion. No pain, no pleasure, just a lack of being.

No, you didn't hurt yourself by dying. In fact, all your worries would likely cease to be with that final act and so the only ones truly hurting would be the ones left behind. The situation was only made worse when you added responsibility to the burden. If you had fought for something important in life, then your untimely death would not only bring sorrow but also great calamity.

There was a lengthy pause before Euphoria spoke again, "yes... Dying is very selfish." She had been forced to watch so many ponies die futily before her eyes, each one only adding to her torment. If there was anyone, or anypony who could agree with me, then surely it would be her.

We lapsed into silence then, simply trekking through the woods in three different directions. I had picked an uneven path filled with ravines, ditches and gullies that my bipedal build allowed me to scale with relative ease. I sensed that both Euphoria and SAM had found more level ground and with four legs to propel them, they'd made good progress. So far, we'd seen no sign of inhabitants in these woods but there was a lot of ground yet to cover. Vegetation was quick to swallow up structures and the elements could erode stone, smoothing away any traces of artifice unless you paid close attention. Perhaps some of the structures had sunk below ground level. If that were the case, both halves of the visor had sensitive equipment that could pick up on such hidden structures.

"It is joyous to move again," Euphoria's voice broke the silence. "To run, to roll in the grass, to see and touch and taste and smell and hear," she breathed. I smiled as I tried to picture it. This was the first time she'd truly been left to her own devices with no one to watch her as she roamed the endless woods. I was glad she'd been given this opportunity and any concerns I had for her safety were dispelled the moment I consulted my mind map for her position relative to mine and SAM's. We were flanking her with SAM leading her by a few hundred yards and myself lacking behind just a bit but otherwise we were all largely going in the same direction, making a broad sweeping pattern to cover as much ground as possible. If anything jumped out at her, I was confident that SAM could intervene, and if not then I still had 3 live rounds in my rifle and strictly speaking I didn't need a clear line of sight to my target. Scary, right? With SAM's aray of hightech gear feeding information straight into my brain I could do some wicked trickshots. If he could see the target, I could shoot it dead.

Then of course, Euphoria herself was armed to the teeth. I knew she hadn't crafted those javelins just for show and even up close, well pretty much every part of her was dangerous from her four hooves to her teeth. I'd felt the impact of those hooves both in jest and in a panic. If not for my bionic right arm, I woul've fractured something by now.

So it was with relative peace of mind that I left her to free roam in the woods.


Euphoria

She was thankful for the privacy. Being self-conscious of her own clumsiness had weighed heavily upon her heart and she had so much to brush up on. She used to be, well if not downright athletic, then at least capable. She once thought it second nature to sprint and leap and traverse obstacles with relative ease. Her accursed prison had caused the muscles to waste away with disuse and she was in terrible shape, not to mention dangerously uncoordinated on the ground. But here she could make up for lost practice. At first she'd been cautious but as soon as she'd gotten past a brisk canter and broken into an earnest run, she found it impossible to stop any sooner than her surroundings absolutely demanded of her.

Working up a sweat was delightful and aside from elusive woodland creatures which she'd never felt any real bond with, she was alone. Every tree trunk presented a valid target for her newest creation and she was determined to become good at this as soon as possible. Who knew? Perhaps it would come to her as swiftly as all those other vital skills had. Prior to losing her Special Talent, she'd never considered picking up other skills, but somehow having been deprived of her destiny had perhaps made her more succeptible to learning new things?

Regardless, she wasn't going to halt this new development. It was quite a complex range of motions to unholster and throw one of the javelins. First she had to grasp it with her little black sock, using her teeth to tighten the little woven-in cord around the end of the spool and then balance the weapon atop her hoof. Then she had to throw it with enough force to build momentum and from there, the rest of the work virtually did itself. But grasping things without magic was a delicate task and the first several dozen attempts had ended in failure as she'd either stumbled, unused to walking on three legs, or she'd dropped the javelin entirely causing the carefully wrapped spool to unravel. Undoing that was a major pain and it took so long, that was actually the reason she'd thought to make six javelins, all prepared with their own spools rolled up neatly around the shafts.

Assuming she could just throw the damned thing and not waste all that preparation, she'd be free to pick up the next one and throw another in rapid succession. As it happened, instead of developing a talent for launching the misile weapons, she'd instead learned how to grasp the shaft in her teeth and re-spool it without breaking stride. That at least meant that the others would not have to deal with her lacking behind. Any time she'd wasted standing still she had to make up for by running, which was a joy in itself but it did leave her breathless.

Throwing the javelins on the move was both the most viable tactic and the least time-consuming. She'd waste none of their valuable travel time by standing still and better still, she could add her own running speed to the momentum of the javelin. But the process of grasping the cord with her sock was too troublesome. It was a wonderful tool for daily use, sure, but in a pinch it took too long to tighten a string with her teeth just to grasp something.

She pondered this problem as she walked. What would her stallion do? He liked to praise her for her ingenuity, but his own mind was leagues beyond hers when it came to creative problem solving, if she could even believe half of his tales. He was definitely not a mediocre human, but rather a prodigy that consistantly pushed the boundaries of what was possible for a species bereft of magic.

He would make it easier to launch the javelin by eliminating unnecessary movements. She'd seen how disciplined his body was in combat, how little of his movements he'd wasted. He never drew a breath or tensed a muscle unless that directly brought him closer to felling his foe. Yes, that was it. Eliminate movements. Tightening the string on her sock was unnecessary.

Blushing a bit at the thought of how silly it must've looked to an outsider, she sucked the end of the javelin's spool into her mouth and started working her tongue. Without magic in her hooves, she'd developed quite a talent with her tongue to the point where she could even knot a string just by putting it in her mouth. Moments later, she spat out the end of the spool, nodding pleased with herself as she saw the loop she'd created.

She inhaled and held her breath as she eyed a tree about a hundred yards in front of her. The visor informed her of its excact distance relative to her and she started running. During one of her strides, she reared up on her hind legs and flung her front hoof into the noose dangling neatly just in front of her face and off to the side. In one swift motion she pulled the shaft of the javelin from the hoop in her saddlebag and flung it into the air. As the spool unraveled, it imparted spin to the shaft which made it travel much farther and smoother than it would have otherwise.

She broke into a grin as she heard the heavy 'thunk' as the pointed shaft burried itself in the tree trunk, piercing much deeper than she'd anticipated. Had that been a living being, it would've been run clean through. She retrieved the javelin, having to yank quite hard to dislodge it. Soon, all six of her javelins sported a neat little loop at the end of their spools and she was practicing throwing both with her right and left hoof. A hundred yards had been a modest range to begin with. Even if she was in bad shape, she was still a pony and those were some of the fastest sprinters in Equestria. Soon she was launching deadly projectiles several hundreds of yards and with ever increasing accuracy. The visor helped a lot, calculating trajectory and wind speed among other things. SAM continued to update the visor, making it more clever at assisting her in laying down barrages on the run.

The only downside was that she had to retrace her steps and pick up the cords as she discarded them with every throw, now that they were no longer secured to her grasping sock. No matter, she would make more cords and keep a surplus in her saddlebags.

Samuel

It was growing late and we'd agreed to meet back up and make camp for the night. It was easy to coordinate as I'm sure you've caught on to by now, what with our constantly receiving updated information on each other's whereabouts, but to an outsider it must've looked uncanny as three very different creatures broke from the edge of a clearing at exactly the same time from different directions. I noted the Pegasus Frame had a few stains from grass and mud and so did Euphoria. By comparison I'd gotten off with just some muddy boots and a few smears up the lower portions of my leggings.

Rather than rush up to me and embrace me as was her habit, Euphoria approached me with a predatory slink, pausing a few yards from me. Her pristine white coat shone with its own luminescant light under the moon and the few grass stains did nothing to detract from her beauty. I still could not make eyecontact with her because her bangs concealed one eye and the visor sat resting over the other, giving her a sleek and dangerous look.

"I can hunt," she broke the silence and I looked to the six javelins strapped to her flanks, and I believed her. I sank to my knees and then finally she did embrace me. SAM made a show of watching our surroundings as we two lovers reuinited after our first day of being seperated.

"I almost feel sorry for your enemies," I chuckled and she smiled, nuzzling my face lovingly.

"Almost," she breathed.

...

Cute, sexy and dangerous. What more could I possibly want?
> Nightmares
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night had fallen over our little camp. We had opted not to light a fire seeing how one of us was covered in a fur coat, the other was completely impervious to the cold and lastly I was clad in a flightsuit designed to protect me from temperature ranges well below freezing. We had formed a loose semicircle at the edge of the clearing. I sat with my legs folded and Euphoria rested her head in my lap. SAM sat ramrod straight, the picture of a guard dog.

As my eyes moved over her slender body, I hardly recognized the sad mare I had originally come across stuck in her eternal prison. Already her weakened muscled looked more defined, no doubt a result of strenous use; she had made a habit of working herself well past the point of exhaustion on a daily basis, never complaining or displaying any signs of discomfort. As if she were making up for all that time she had lost in captivity. Furthering her transformation, the Unicorn now carried her saddlebag as a permanent accessory, laden with deadly projectile weapons and who knows what kind of survival gear stowed in her bags. She had removed the visor, keeping it close by, just in case. Her clear blue eyes shone with a quiet conviction, radiating strength.

I passed the time working my fingers in small circles over her sore muscles, relieving tension. She reveled in the attention to the point where she seemed almost comatose with glee, tongue lolling out the side of her mouth, her stoic demeanor completely dispelled. I suppressed a chuckle. She looked so adorable, the last thing I wanted to do was to call attention to it.

The stars shined brightly above us, trees hemming us in on all sides standing like dark sentinels. The forest at first seemed quiet but as I listened I picked up on more and more animal sounds. Soft hooting from an owl, a rustling in the bushes, the wind rustling in the leaves. I noticed Euphoria had fallen asleep with her head in my lap, her eyes closed. Her quiet snore told me she was in deep sleep, her body shutting down to recuperate after yet another day of nonstop activity. Her blonde mane fell limply over her head, covering one eye as usual. The billowy curtain hid her damaged horn and like this she appeared as healthy as any Equestrian.

"Your infatuation with the Equestrian is unusual," SAM's spectral voice carried across the short distance easily. The sleek, cold form of the Pegasus Frame sat bold upright like a canine. He turned his visor to face me and actually took the trouble to switch the red lights in his eyes to glare mode. "You're acting like this is some kind of impromptu vacation," he seethed. Euphoria never once stirred in her sleep, unaware of the conversation taking place. The fact that there was even a spoken conversation to begin with proved that SAM definitely had something weighing on his mind. He continued to vent.

"If this was a mission back on Earth you'd never get involved like this," his voice deepened and the synthetic quality became more pronounced as the machine worked to speak in a voice distinctly different from the one we shared. He continued to glare at me, pausing to let his words sink in. I sat very still, my hand frozen in the act of stroking Euphoria's golden hair.

"But now that we're in Equestria, an alternate dimension, suddenly you're breaking your own rules?" he never once raised his voice, keeping it only just loud enough to carry to me across a few yards of open air. Yet his voice was livid with rage, sounding more like a machine than ever. There was no trace of my voice in the synthetic drone.

It's not unusual for SAM to surprise me. Getting used to mind fucks is an absolute must if you're going to share your headspace with him. Yet not many things slip by me unnoticed. This was the first time he'd voiced discontent since our sudden emergence in this world. He was grilling me hard, speaking to me out loud rather than share in our cybernetic link. To say that this cool dismissal stung would be a bit of an understatement. I sat and pondered his words only now past the shock of his cool delivery. He was right though. I had acted very differently than I would on a mission. I furrowed my brow and tried to retort only to realise that my thoughts did not reach him. He had severed our mental link completely for this little one on one.

"Like it could have been avoided. We were completely isolated from any help and the Equestrians took us in. You seemed to be getting pretty candid with Twilight as well," he groused, cautious of waking Euphoria. She only stirred minutely in my lap before settling.

"You fool, don't even pretend for a moment that our minds are alike," the deep, metallic growl cut across the cool night air. SAM turned his entire body to face me now, tensing the synthetic muscles of his wirey limbs in yet another creepy display of human behaviour. "I could murder Twilight Sparkle with impunity if it served our purpose. I am a machine. If I detect 'affection' trying to interfere, I simply shut down that process. Unlike you, Samuel. Be wary of your own mind."

Well, now we were both angry. I took a few calming breaths and bit my tongue. The bastard was playing dirty and for whatever reason, deliberately trying to rile me up as if to prove that I was somehow emotionally compromised. It didn't help that his arguments were essentially valid. I know my claims that I am a pacifist are feeble, especially given some of the things I had done. Murder is definitely not beneath me given the right circumstances, but targetting one of these peaceful Equestrians seemed inconceivable to me. SAM was never shy when it came to admitting his deeds, either. He was built as a tool for warfare and he aimed to live up to that legacy.

"Some wonderful ambassador you're turning out to be. You're using them just as much as I am if you can be that callous. How do you shut down your apathy?" I spat back, now returning his glare in full. My body had grown tense but Euphoria never picked up on anything as she nuzzled in my lap to get comfortable. I knew my argument was feeble. Two wrongs don't make a right and all that. So what if I'd proven him to be faliable as well? That would just mean we were twice as unfit to carry on with whatever mission this was. It didn't even make me feel any better when I saw that my words had struck SAM speechless. He continued his eerie display of bodylanguage by dimming the glow of his red eyes and pretending to look somewhere else.

For a long time there was only the sound of the forest around us, and Euphoria's soft snore.

"Fine, I admit it. We share a fondness for these creatures," he finally broke the silence, this time sounding completely like his normal self, a ghostly replica of my voice. "However, our plan is to leave this place," he gestured with a hand to the surrounding area. "We mean to return to a world so alien to them that they could never hope to understand. In fact, I won't allow them to. They cannot risk being... tainted, by us. So I mean for us to abandon them when we discover a way home."

Images came to my mind unbidden. A cityscape ravaged by war, the air thick with smoke and gunpowder. Amidst the carnage of humans commiting one of the oldest sins against one another I pictured the horrorstruck faces of the Equestrians we'd met. While they had only known peace, humans had been killing each other since the dawn of our time on earth. It took me a moment to realise I was trembling. I dismissed the thoughts and turned my attention to one of those ponies lying there asleep in my lap. That only made me picture her reaction to the carnage... Would she still smile then? Her new name seemed aptly chosen because I had never seen her react with anything less than joy even when her surroundings were grim. She had spent who knows how long watching everyone she loved slowly decomposing before her eyes, but even that was overridden by the simple elation of being free. If she could stand smiling in a burrial chamber to her kin, could she look at my world and not shy away? SAM seemed to share my abstraction with the mare in question now. His attention was on her as well.

"I will grant you this much. There isn't much that could further taint that one. Still, do we even know that it's possible for her to follow? That anything worthwhile would come of it?" he mused. The likelyhood of our imminent return to earth must have seemed as slim to him as it did to me then. "But she did save your life. I really wouldn't want to fight my way out of there burdened by your corpse."

This seemed to be as close as I'd get to hearing approval of my chosen companion.

Silence returned to our camp and with it came the quiet but gradual increase in animal sounds, shy at first, having been struck silent by the unearthly quality in SAM's synthetic voice, or perhaps detecting the dark thoughts and emotions being flung like knives between the two of us; aliens stranded in their world. One man, the other a machine. I knew SAM always felt like an alien. It's one of my few hangups about the way he turned out when I first wrote the lines of code that would come alive and find a mind of its own. He always felt like an outsider, back on earth and now here as well. This was the first time I got to live with that notion myself.

I had set to watching the episodes available up to the date of my disappearence from earth. One of the handy things about quantum computers. I watch youtube videos streamed directly into my visual and auditory brain centers. No wonder I'm starting to feel alien to this world. Still, our goal here was to find clues about travels between our two worlds.

I then became aware of the absense of the soft mane under my fingers and the missing warmth in my lap. Euphoria had awoken as suddenly and inexplicably as SAM's wrath only moments before, choosing this quiet moment to sit bolt upright in the night, bright blue eyes peering into the deep shadows cast by the gnarled, old trees. SAM's response was instantaneous as he too sat ramrod straight, straining his plethora of sensory devices, perceiving the world in spectrums of light that human minds cannot even conceptualize. At least not unassisted. Needless to say, if there was anything out there no matter how hidden, SAM was bound to pick up on it.

His visor turned fractionally towards me and his head tilted ever so slightly sideways as if raising his brow in silent question to my thoughts. He had noticed my unwavering faith in his ability to see the enemy and flash it up on a Heads Up Display as conveniently as any first person shooter ever delivered. Yet I had not seen the abomination who had, for the lack of a better term, created the mare who had then taken the name Euphoria. The solid ton of malleable scale-covered flesh had sat undetected in the midst of a sea of decay, appearing to SAM and I only when he chose to.

As if underlining my fears, SAM showed no outward sign of picking up anything abnormal in the woods, yet contrary to his verdict sat Euphoria, glaring into the darkness as if willing herself to see the threat lurking there. Her ears perked, swiveling to pick up the noise, listening for something that we had missed. Her nostrils flared and to my growing horror her expression grew wooden, slipping back into the mask that I first had seen looking down on me in endless sorrow. I could hardly stand to see her like this, and if whatever she was sensing was triggering this relapse then it had to be bad. Prior to coming here the enemy had always been a known quantity. Visible, touchable. Yet this strange world filled with magic was desperately beyond our ability to fathom, and we both liked to think we were pretty clever when all things had been said and done.

Witnessing magic for the first time, sitting in that cramped little bed in a quaint hospital room in a quaint little pony town, I had responded with fear. Alertness. A heightened sense of expectation, of feeling the effect on my body the moment the unicorn doctor's horn flared to life in an eldritch light. Yet I had felt nothing and sensed nothing as the little pastel colored magical horse had swiftly and effortlessly diserned the extent of my damages and noticed the absense of magic in me. It just didn't touch the human senses, nor apparently the machine's impressive aray as SAM sat silent witness to events he could not measure against his databanks comprised of the sum total of human knowledge, the bits he had chosen anyway.

Euphoria however was a native to the world of magic, a unicorn still. Her eyes and ears were now trained on one particular patch of darkness. Curiously the animals in that area were not as vocal as the other occupants of the forest. As if that place was still not quite settled yet. Before I could respond she snapped into motion, turning and dipping her head down to slip into what had now become almost a part of her lately - the visor. Already armed with her saddlebags and their deadly cargo, she stormed off into the darkness more swiftly than either of us could respond. By the time I had gotten to my feet SAM had bolted like an overgrown mechanical hare, quickly closing the gap to Euphoria. I grapped my rifle and the halberd VENGEANCE before rushing to catch up. Already shrinking into obscurity, I sensed rather than saw Euphoria as SAM chased after her. At the same time, I was also seeing through her half of the visor, tracking everything she paid closer attention to as she bolted through the woods. She noted animals hiding even before the clop of her hooves could have spooked them. She clenched her teeth and shook her mane as if feeling a bite in the air. SAM's gas spectrometer detected no deviations in pressure or humidity. Again, whatever had spooked our resident Equestrian, human technology just wasn't catching it.

I cut across a densely wooded area that Euphoria had chosen to skirt around, loping through tight gaps between branches and roots, all eager to trip me up and impede my progress. I had caught up enough to watch Euphoria's phantom chase unfolding in three overlaying pictures, from Euphoria's visor, SAM's visor and my own eyes. The sensory overload only stressed the pointed normality of the woods, yet Euphoria's agitation was palpable. She saw and heard things that spurred her on in a mad rush through snaking paths deeper into the woods. Up ahead the trees were all very young and clustered tightly together, each vying to reach a bit higher towards the heavens. A narrow triangular gap about 2 feet wide was the only way through. Euphoria dove through and out of sight. SAM fired the pistons in his hindlegs and shot into the sky like a bullet, partly unfolding his wings to glide across the obstacle. I ran full tilt and threw myself down, sliding sideways through the gap. The flightsuit kept my skin from being shredded as I suddenly tumbled into a deep cavern. Soil and roots were replaced by sheer stone and I collided with Euphoria who was doing her own rendition of Bamby on Ice. We came down in a tangle of limbs, the noise of our graceless entry roaring in the cavernous darkness. Infrared and themorgraphic vision filters from Euphoria's visor outlined the massive stone champer. Sleek white marble laid down in careful symetry centuries ago had since become cracked and tilted slightly to one side. Of the massive pillars supporting the roof, about half still stood. A bit of light did trickle into the room from a hole in the ceiling, and with a dull thud SAM's robotic frame eclipsed the pale moon above as he landed perched on the edge of the hole. The stone structure had stood curiously shielded from the outside, somehow hidden behind a small tangle of trees, yet the structure laid out before us would have dwarfed the plants, making weeds of them in the shadow of a great temple. Whatever had masked its presence, Euphoria's natural senses had picked up on it and led us here and from the inside the spell was broken. The building was very definitely there. A massive building left to be sucked up by the forest growing around it. The trees in the temple's shadow were younger than this decayed shell. What we did see was not encouraging. The badly eroded stone sculpting lining the walls and the pillars had seen more than the ravages of time. The faces of two Alicorns had been pointedly chipped off leaving gharish, scarred masks in their place. All around them, other ponies had been erased fully or partially by careful vandalism in some forgotten time. Rotted tapestries had fallen from the walls not because of decay. Their gilded frames had been cruelly torn down by the same ones who had defaced the diarchs. In their wake, vivid red colors bleeched eerily black where the moonlight touched them, were great scrawls of graffiti, written in what appeared to be the only organic matter not decomposing in here; blood. How it had stayed fresh when the chambers had otherwise lain undisturbed was a mystery, just as the building itself. I know I've joked about pony homes seeming bigger on the inside, but that was mostly accomplished by simply having fewer walls and floor divisions. This stone temple however, really did feel bigger on the inside. It was massive and while SAM flashed cryptic images on the inside of the visor, assisted by Euohoria, I turned in a circle and surveyed the rest of the area. Towards the back was a smaller shrine, disconcertingly repurposed as a sacrificial slap complete with rusted chains hanging off the corners. There was signs of blood having seeped into the stoneworks, leaving timeless blotches of discolored stone as silent witness to the death that had taken place here.



SIMULATED ARTIFICAL MIND
Translation in progress...

OPeN tHe gaTes of Tartarus.



The red text flashed in english within my own mind and seeing double, I knew SAM's visor was feeding Euphoria with the Equestrian translation as well. My reality filter was not dealing well with the exchange of information. I am used to wearing the suit so I don't have to feed images directly into my visual cortex. This time my overstrained brain almost gave out altogether when I heard a bone-chilling laughter drowning out the artificial reality the computer had laid over my human senses. It registered not in my normal hearing, but in the sensory regions of my brain that are normally interfacing with the machine. Yet this laughter was neither the work of SAM, nor my own subconscious. It had started the moment SAM had flashed that translation and by the look of things, Euphoria had heard it as well. Her already pale coat, leeched lifeless by moonlight, shook with primal terror and I am sure I trembled, too.

SAM stood in stark contrast, sensing nothing that caused him any level of distress, and curiously not seeming to pick up on what we were hearing. The laughter resonating in my mind was a bitchy-tittery male voice with a rasping rattle towards the end, sounding almost corpselike after a few moments of sustained mocking laughter. It was joined in by other voice until my senses were pried open to a cocophany of voices echoing madly in my mind. I think I screamed, or tried to, but if I succeeded, the sound was drowned out by the babble of a thousand voices speaking in dead tongues that sounded a mockery of the melodic Equestrian speech. I was no longer able to sense Euphoria or SAM at all. Not with any of my human senses, nor through the DNI linking our senses together. The sudden isolation was smothering and I fell to my knees, trying to scream and claw at the nothingness that had enveloped me.

...

I fucking hate magic sometimes. Whatever the fuck this was, it certainly did not spring from Friendship. The illusion was partly dispelled when one of the mocking voices was cut off, pitching into a strangled cry and a dull thud as blood sprayed in my face. Something had been struck dead only inches from my face, and the momentary reprieve allowed me to realize that there were physical enemies present and I wasn't seeing them.

Another voice cut off in a deathrattle as a wooden javelin flew inches from my face, impaling the ghastly skull of an animated equine corpse to the wall next to me. I had been herded into a corner in my terror and one of the spellcasters had become visible, slain by Euphoria's javelin. Shit, she was faring better than me if she could attack them through this nightmare mirrage.

I had an idea that SAM was fighting too, if the first kill had not been by her javelin. Even blind to them, SAM was fighting as well. I noticed the corpse Euphoria had taken down, and it really did seem dead before hitting the ground. It had once been a unicorn, now marred beyond recognition with cruel scarification, tattoos and brands, all of them written in that vular, archaic, bastardized form of Equestrian. His horn was a cruel double of Euphoria's; snapped off halfway with deliberate contempt for the symetry of the protusion. These were spellcasters and by the look of things, necromancy was at play. Their constant illusion left me in purgatory. I was numb with cold and saw nothing but darkness. My mind heard only their mocking laughs and mad chants, which I am sure I was better off not fully comprehending. The only thing I could sense, not even my own body, was the halberd VENGEANCE. It hung rigid and unwavering in the nothingness and when I looked at it, I once again had eyes, a face, a body and a hand to hold it. For a moment the illusions played a trick, giving me a skeletal hand in place of the black glove covering my prosthetic hand. Then that too was gone and I was a human again. VENGEANCE shone with a silver light, cutting gashes in the illuroy tapestry, allowing me to catch glimpses of my attackers.

They wanted me mad, they wanted me scared. They wanted me to know of the profane rituals they had performed. VENGEANCE seemed to cry out in defiance of their evil and my arm moved by reflex, deflecting a scimitar blow. The notched, rusted weapon was clutched in the ghastly maw of a corpse, lips peeled back by fish hooks displaying the jagged teeth, piled to canine points. The thing slavered onto the handle clutched in its jaws as it swung again. I could only see a fraction of the creature's body through the illusion and it danced in my blindspots, but I was fighting. I could deflect his blows with the glowing Halberd, feeling it almost willing itself to move into the trajectory of the blade and trying to counter attack, but when I plunged the tip of the blade into the nothingness where the illusion had cut the equine body in two, I struck nothing. It phased through the corpse's body and the once-pony leered at me as if he could appreciate my confusion. Then VENGEANCE flared brightly, dispelling the darkness it had plunged into and when the whole of the grotesque pony body had been revealed, he has been bisected. His jaw dropped the blade and his voice laughed in that bitchy-tittery voice I had first heard as he died fully.

My path now cleared, I swung VENGEANCE in a big, swooping arc, dispersing more of the darkness. I came full circle and stood in a defensive posture, feet spread wide, the halberd extended in one direction, my left arm open in a defensive posture on my flank. I could feel the hellish creatures draw away from me, skirting the light emanating from my weapon. Whatever they were, my magical blade seemed to loathe them. Another shadow crept up behind me, but I sensed no malice from this one. The Pegasus Frame unfolded behind me and swiftly enveloped me. I grew a foot in height as I adjusted my stance, reared up on the hydraulic sabatons like a minotaur. The twilight colorjob seemed fitting for a battle against foul sorcerers and SAM's visor would perhaps help even the playing field.

The glaring red Heads Up Display was clogged with errors and faulty coding. The illusion was not just playing havoc with my head, my computer friend was being scrampled as well. Operating on limited processing power, the reality filter remained offline as it had been for too long already. To tell it plainly, my sensory experience was nightmarish. There was only death, violence and confusion as I leaped at my enemies and cut a swath into them. Their corpselike bodies seemed to remember death, seizing up in rigor mortis when VENGEANCE touched them.

My surroundings swam with torrents of blood and I saw familiar faces drowning in the thin puddles. Twilight and her friends, as well as any number of other Ponyvilleans were brought out to deepen the nightmare experience, but I could see the shape of the room and my foes and that was enough. My anthropomorphic extended leg frame crashed with a piston-like kick as it came down on one of the spellcasters, flattening his midsection to paste. In the same moment, a sweep of VENGEANCE cut three of them apart and the tail with its bladed tip ripped the head off another once-unicorn caster. My rifle crashed, aiming unassisted by SAM's targeting algorithms, but solid marksmanship sent the last of my buttlets through the brains of another three necromancers that had crowded around Euphoria.

She was down to her last javelin, having found new homes for all but two of them in her agressors. My last three live rounds cleared a path for her and she closed her eyes, seeming to inhale the putrid air. Then I saw her broken horn glowing a sickly green and her eyes snapped open, ringed by a glow of sickly gold. Her teeth were clenched and her muscles tensed as she literally drank up the darkness of the illusion. Like a minature black hole, the act of swallowing the nothingness of their spell could only be perceived by color leeching back into the world in a swirling spiral pattern from Euphoria's horn. She trembled as if she could taste the foulness of the fake visions as they were sucked into her broken horn. Not blasting magic, but sucking it up like a sponge.

My momentary distraction proved to be nearly fatal. SAM's sensory aides had not been able to see my attacker who hid in the last tendrils of darkness. The rotted form broke against me as a spear was thrust clean through my side, the momentum unbroken causing the owner to splatter himself onto my armor. The stench of death was cloying and the agony of the wound sung in tandem with the lingering visions of the illusion.

The last moments of the fight are a blur and I only remember that I kept myself going long enough to stomp every last one of the fuckers into a fine paste. Euphoria was trampling them as well, and I remember her smiling even after having aborbed the spell that broke my mind. SAM suffered in his own purgatory as the codes that made up his mind were partly undone. But we did finish the fight, all of us alive at the end of it. Well, I was once again in the maybe-zone. It was a zone I was too familiar with. Damn it, SAM had already restarted my heart once this month.

...

I fucking hate necromancy.
> Haywire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Euphoria

The fight had been gruesome and to her dismay, magic was something that pierced her stallion's defenses. At first she could only see too well what horrible darkness stole their senses, but to her fortune she had also soon discovered her broken horn's affinity with absorbing this darkness. Drinking it all up had felt like swallowing an ocean, but she had been through Tartarus and by comparison this evil felt almost feeble to her.

She had spent most of her javelins and just as she started feeling fearful, that magnificent weapon had crashed again like thunder. Samuel's aim was spectacular even though she suspected he wasn't getting any help aiming it. SAM was possibly suffering even more under the magical onslaught and she worried for him a great deal. Magic was just not something the spectral voice could get a handle on even though it seemed to absorb all other knowledge with uncanny speed. The three crashes had felled the closest of her ghastly assailants and from there she had not allowed herself to be cornered again. Her hooves might be clumsy but they served her well now, crashing into the necromantic bodies of her enemies and the fact that she was fighting and winning, elated her. No longer a feeble doll in a cage, she seemed stronger than these once-ponies.

In the end she had reveled in the destruction of her enemies, joining Samuel in stomping them into the ground until there was nothing left, except for that last ghoul who had impaled her stallion so cruelly. She had wanted to destroy that one herself, but SAM's barding accomplished that as he was brought to his doom under his own momentum.

Panting she had scanned her surroundings for any signs of their enemies, finding the dread temple devoid of any more necromancers. Rushing to Samuel's side, watching through the visor she could survey the extent of the damage to both of her allies. The red glyphs scrolled madly and most disconcertingly they made less and less sense as SAM's mind seemed to be coming apart. Only the most vital information was available: Samuel's life signs, wavering but luckily stabilizing as the things in his bloodstream kept working diligently to save his life. She wasn't sure she could endure watching his heart stop again. She crept up to him as he lay sprawled on his back amidst the carnage, his VENGEANCE still clutched tightly in his right hand. The weapon continued to illuminate the area, pulsing with a spectral light as if the soul of the brave Unicorn's spirit was crying out in defiance of this unholy place. She wanted to pull the spear from his body but she hesitated. So much blood was going to come pouring out if she did that. Samuel seemed to have lost consciousness, his tormented mind fleeing from the visions that had been plaguing him. SAM was still there, scrolling his words in both Equestrian and that other language as if he wanted to scream. She spoke to him, though her voice was gone, she hoped he could still understand her as she mouthed the words.

"Calm down, SAM. We need you," she breathed, aware that the fine threads on her throat might still be picking up on her meaning. It seemed to work to an extent, as the madly scrolling glyphs stopped for half a beat, then began to rearrange themselves into some semblance of order. He was trying to write something to her and at first he did not succeed, but a few alterations made his meaning clear: Purge. Taking the hint, she felt the diminished stump of her horn lighting up once more as she drank up the last remnants of the eerie magic that had scrampled SAM's wits. She almost panicked when this at first seemed to make things worse and for one terrifying moment, her visor was completely clouded with hectic writing but then it completely blanked, leaving the display dead before it seemed to come back to life.



Simulated Artificial Mind

System purge in progress...

Loading backup...



At first the words appeared in Samuel's tongue, but then SAM provided translations though she was not certain of the meaning. She got the eerie feeling that the icy intellect had somehow regressed back to a point before the necromantic energies hurt him. Life and death was apparently well within SAM's grasp and now she heard his spectral voice emanating from the mask which still lacked the top half through which she could see Samuel's eye, closed as he slept.

"Well, that happened," SAM breathed. "I hate this sorcery. Well, no time to dawdle. Let's get Samuel patched up."

With another hiss, the leg barding that held their ever diminishing supply of medical supplies popped open. Quickly she set to work extracting the items the visor targeted on her display: a syringe and adhesive bandages. SAM's tail lashed out, neatly cutting through the wooden shaft of the spear, leaving just a few inches protruding from the hole in Samuel's armor. Using the wings to raise his body off the floor, he repeated the gesture, cutting off the tip of the spear. Following SAM's on-screen instructions, she cradled the syringe and bandages in her forelegs and bent to bite down on the diminished spear shaft, clenching her jaw as he pulled it from her stallion's body. Fresh blood sprayed onto her muzzle and SAM opened the chest barding, allowing her access to the injury. She jabbed the syringe into the wound, cringing internally but SAM insisted that this would help. Depressing the plunger, she pumped the contents into Samuel's body before discarding the needle and slapping on the bandages, sealing the wound. SAM fully detached himself from Samuel's body and rolled him onto his side, allowing her to repeat the procedure on the exit wound.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she watched her stallion's breathing steady as the injury had been sealed. SAM sat in his equine form beside him, the empty helmet angled down to look at VENGEANCE, still clutched in Samuel's right hand. The gaping hole left by the visor she wore made the sight somewhat eerie, as she could see into the shell that made up the machine's body. She could tell SAM was busy even in stillness, somehow commanding tiny machines that lived within her stallion's body. They were the reason why he seemed to recover from his frequent injuries as quickly as any Earth Pony and she had been shown images of the insectine silver beings as they reforged the body, albeit on a scale too tiny to comprehend. She was not easily disturbed but somehow the alien procedure did worry her. The diminuative machines had looked alive when SAM had shown the images to her, and SAM himself was definitely a living being. The definitions of 'alive' seemed terribly vague, knowing that it was all lifeless matter at its core. The visionary intellect that had birthed such life had apparently deciphered the tiny building blocks of living things and replicated them. Pushing those thoughts from her mind, she was quietly thankful for their existence. Without SAM and his 'nan-ites' none of this would have been possible.

As the silence dragged on, she became aware that the thoughts scrolling on her visor were more subdued now. She could tell SAM was reading her stallion's life signs, monitoring them closely. That was the only thing he seemed to be doing and usually he could do so many things at once, she could barely keep up. For whatever reason, he was only dwelling on Samuel's physical being. Normally he would also be updating things like 'Psychological profile' and others that helped paint a picture of Samuel's mental being, but those were curiously absent now. It took a while to realise that when the ghostly intellect had blanked out, it had returned in a diminished capacity.

She got up and paced the room. SAM had carefully pulled her stallion to a cleaner corner of the building. As she pondered the machine, she began to worry that he had been damaged permanently. It had nearly driven him mad when the spells had been going off all around him and now he seemed only to exist in the world that he understood: heart rate, blood pressure, tissue damage, diagnostics. Usually he would review recent events leading up to a catastrophe such as this, but for whatever reason he now focused singlemindedly on the physical aspects. She decided to try her voice again and was pleased that this part of SAM still worked.

"Is he going to be okay?" she queried.

SAM sat ramrod straight, turning his one red eye fractionally in her direction as his own replicated voice spoke aloud, sensing her need to break the silence.

"He is going to recover. The spear missed the most vital spots and I am repairing the damages," he droned on. His tone was mirthless, detached. Usually he would work to convey some emotion when he spoke aloud.

She shallowed. "Good. Thank you for helping him, SAM. Those spells seemed to hurt him though. How is his mind?"

In that instant, the red glyphs in her visor seemed to explode with lines of chaotic ramblings until their cut off altogether, erasing themselves and starting over. SAM seemed frozen when this took place and she worried for him again. The silence dragged on and just as she was about to ask again, the ghostly voice warned her.

"Corrupted data. Files quarantined," he deadpanned, refusing to speak any further on the matter.

She was always unnerved when he spoke in these terms. She knew what the words meant individually, but the context seemed alien to her. Samuel had tried to explain it to her, but the language barrier prevented him from giving her the full details. In the end he had just told her that was how a 'computer' worked. Samuel wasn't awake now to provide his insight and near as she could guess, it seemed like SAM was isolating those parts of himself that he could not understand. In particular, anything related to magic.

Poor SAM. She wanted to comfort him but how? He usually always bounced right back, able to set his own thoughts straight whenever he got confused. Now he sat rigid, watching over Samuel's sleeping form and his good cheer had evaporated. She settled on the stone floor next to her sleeping stallion, occasionally nuzzling his cheek. His sleep had been peaceful at first, but soon he started to shiver and his breathing sometimes came out in short, distressed gasps, his eyes rolling behind their lids as if he was plagued by nightmares. When she grew increasingly distressed, trying unsuccessfully to start conversation with SAM, he seemed to notice her worries, but what he said did little to soothe her.

"I know you're worried for us. You want to help. Unfortunately what I need isn't here," he gestured with a claw to the world at large. "I am a machine. Machines need maintainance. A lab, a staff of technicians," he continued and then turned to face her with that one glaring red eye.

"I need to return to earth," he said and the detached tone of voice again unsettled her.

Earth... She had thought at first that their need to return was primarily for selfless reasons. They had many wrongs to set right and people that depended upon them. Now however, she began to realise that they had an even more urgent reason. SAM could not exist in Equestria and stay sane. Again, the alien nature of his half-life set her on edge. She chewed on her lower lip and nuzzled Samuel's cheek, praying that he would wake up soon.

Twilight Sparkle

Back in Ponyville, a studious young Unicorn was pacing back and forth in her library. Her thoughts were on their most recent visitor. Samuel had gone off again on another wild quest of his. While his companion had been candid with information, she had not been able to tease much out of him when it came to their origins. He had asked many questions and answered many in return, always steering the conversation towards safer topics, like her life in Ponyville and her friends. Their numerous adventures and all the fun they'd been having together since she had discovered the magic of friendship.

Recently however, SAM had taken to perusing her library and she got the feeling that he did most of his reading when nopony was watching. His senses were uncanny and usually she found him poring over lighter material, but she was not easily fooled. A gnawing suspicion had settled in her gut and she suspected that the diplomatic 'machine' was actually up to more than he let on. Usually she didn't indulge in her more paranoid side, but the hollow metal friend just seemed a bit too well-behaved. She would find her more advanced tomes still sitting exactly where she had left them, not a sign that they had been moved. Except, she thought, they hadn't been attracting any dust.

No, the thought was silly and surely her friends would tell her to stop obsessing over dust particles. She had actually started using a spell to count them at one point, but Rainbow Dash's laughter had put a stop to it when she had noticed this while reading more Daring Do.

"Really, Twilight? I know you have a thing for order but seriously! Dust is just dust," she had giggled, flapping about the library making the motes dance in a beam of sunlight.

Twilight had been chagrined and quickly dropped the matter. Yet later, sitting alone poring over some of these tomes, her more analytical side had refused to let this go.

I know this book is exactly where I left it, but SAM could have put it right back. He is very precise when he needs to be...

The book she was pondering was not a light read. It was archaic in its descriptions of spatial manipulation, even going into detail on things like teleportation and magical portals. It was even hypothesized that a sufficiently skilled Unicorn could, Celestia forbid, sent sompony to Tartarus! She heaved a sigh, attracting the attention of her number one assistant. Spike waddled over, holding a feather duster.

"What's on your mind, Twilight?" he tilted his scaly head slightly to one side, peering at her book with a slightly furrowed brow.

"Oh! Just thinking about our new friends, hehe..." she tried to play it off, not wanting any further teasing about her musings on dust and how these books were always in exactly the place she'd left them, as if some unerring metal creature had meant to leave no trace of his passing.

"Yeah, they're off on another trip now, aren't they?" Spike supplied, thankfully keeping the topic light.

"Yup! Didn't even say where though..." she sighed. "Lyra told me she'd seen them heading towards the edge of town this morning."

Spike just shrugged and went back to dusting shelves. She went back to her reading, yet she couldn't help but notice her assistant pausing ever so briefly as he passed the very spot Twilight had been so carefully monitoring. He let out a soft 'huh' as his duster passed over the spines of the books, but he moved on, deeming the work unncessary in the end.

"Err, Twilight, you eye is doing the thing again..." he pointed out.

Noticing her tics, she giggled and smoothed out her mane and went back to reading, making an effort not to show any 'neurotic behavior' in front of him. In her mind however, she was picturing SAM's equine form moving with total precision, waiting until nopony was in sight before carefully extracting a book, thumbing through the pages much too quickly and then neatly sliding it back into place, making one final adjustment to make sure it sat right here he'd found it, just a sixteenth of an inch deeper on the shelf than its neighbors. Unaware of her musings, Spike kept up the light conversation as he strode down another isle where he did find some dusting to do.

"You haven't written another friendship report to Celestia in a while. Not since you mentioned Euphoria though. I bet she'd be super happy that you're making friends with a guy like Samuel," he grinned. The little guy had taken to the human right from the start, finally able to socialize with somepony who was decidedly less 'girly' than most of his friends.

"You know, you're right Spike! I think she would be just as curious as we all were if she knew we had a visitor from another world," she smiled. The little dragon happily traded his duster for a quill and paper, ready to disctate another letter.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

"Recently I have been making some new friends, though not from Ponyville. Amazingly there is a species we had never even heard about, called humans..." she went on and Spike stuck out his tongue cutely, face scrunched up at he scrawled on the scroll.

Outside, the day was just winding down and her mentor was getting ready to lower the sun to make way for Luna's night. She knew her beloved teacher was less busy during this time and her letter likely wouldn't interupt anything important as she liked to stand out on her balcony as she lowered the sun. She finished her letter quickly, pleased to receive a quick response, immediately launching into a reply as she began to share what she had learned about Samuel.

Euphoria

Back in the temple, night had fallen and Euphoria kept watching her stallion's uneasy sleep and SAM's utter stillness. As promised, the injury was already healing and outwardly there were few signs of it. His sleek, muscled body still clad in the flight suit had been patched up with the bandages neatly covering the small puncture wound in his abdomen. They hadn't even needed to peel off the suit as the shot she had administered, loaded with more 'nan-ites,' had been sufficient to ward off infection, and the bandages fit over the holes in the fabric to create a tight seal. While his troubled sleep had continued, she had noticed more concerning signs. She knew SAM kept a 'program' running called the Reality Filter, one of the things needed to keep the two minds seperate. Usually she could bring up a list displaying this 'program' among others, always running to ensure that her stallion could safely access the nearly limitless library of knowledge SAM kept. However, now she noticed the absense of the Reality Filter as well as many others, like those used to track and identify local flora and fauna. She desperately wanted to bring this up, but her fear of receiving another clipped response about 'corrupted data' kept her from voicing these concerns. She did not want to contribute to SAM's burdens and only prayed that her stallion would be able to set things right once he came to.

As time passed, she busied herself by maintaining her own equipment, having retrieved her javelins and cleaned the worst of the blood from her fur. She cleaned them meticulously with a rag which she spat out, discarding it on the floor as she reholstered her projectiles. She was in the process of replacing the cord on the last javelin when Samuel suddenly gasped, eyes snapping open. She sat upright, watching him anxiously as he raised his head and scanned the surroundings. She noticed SAM moved at the same time, curiously mimicking the quick side-to-side motions with his own head as if their bodies were connected with invisible puppet strings. Before she could stop him, he sat up with a slight wince but he fought bravely past the pain in his abdomen. Again, SAM stirred at the exact same moment as if he too felt the sting.

Finally he seemed to notice her and his baritone voice rang out, sure and strong. "Euphoria," be breathed and she rushed up to him, stealing a quick kiss and smiling when he caressed her jaw, leaning in for another. She only noticed something was off a moment later, glancing down to find that it was SAM's hand on her cheek instead. Samuel kept the halberd clutched in his right hand, unwilling to let go of the luminscent blade and needing his left hand to support his body. Again, they both shifted at the same time. SAM retracted his hand and Samuel sat up on his knees, using his left hand to stroke her mane. He seemed to dismiss the oversight with a grin, getting to his feet.

"Let's get out of here," he said and suddenly SAM's prehensile tail lashed out to flip his rifle into his waiting left hand. He briefly inspected the gun, then passed it back to his counterpart where it was holstered on the left thigh. The room had gotten quite dark after the sun had set but curiously, her stallion was able to steer around the obstacles and torn bodies even though his eyesight wasn't that good in the dark. Whatever nightmare visions had been haunting his sleep seemed to have left him now and be seemed to shrug off the entire ordeal as if it hadn't fazed him in the slightest. She trailed behind him, watching through the visor as SAM paced beside him. They left the temple, striding into the night. Euphoria turned to once again behold the curious structure, wanting to get another look at the illusion that concealed the true size of the building from the outside. She paused then, craning her head back, now seeing the mammoth structure fully revealed. Apparently she had been successful in dispelling the magic that lingered in this place. Breathing a sigh of relief, she brushed off her earlier concerns about SAM's behavior as the duo walked in front of her keeping up light conversation through their mental connection. She watched them 'chatting' on her visor, SAM making a quib about how they needed to be careful not to expose the little ponies to the secrets of gunpowder if they wanted to replenish their stock.

As soon as they had reached a clearing big enough to allow takeoff, SAM unfolded the Pegasus Frame to envelop Samuel and he flexed for a moment, rolling his shoulders and twirling the tail in a circular pattern before splitting it down the middle, revealing the membrane spanning between, so like a swallow's tail. The halberd was slung over his back and he scooped up Euphoria, cradling her in his arms as he unfolded the wings, launching himself into the air in another great leap. Swift and sure wingbeats carried them into the nightsky together, setting course for Ponyville. No longer dwelling on the absense of the Reality Filter, she was simply relieved to leave the awful place they had discovered. While they hadn't lingered long enough to really study anything in detail, she knew SAM kept detailed records of everything they had seen. She was eager to contribute her own knowledge as well. Being a Unicorn, even a broken one, did afford her intimate knowledge about the magical glyphs they had encountered.

"I hope we'll be able to find a way back to your home now. I got a good look at their magic back there, and did you see? I even absorbed their spells," she boasted, enjoying her new voice. When SAM missed a wingbeat, causing them to lose a bit of altitude just as she brought up the subject of magic, she grew apprehensive once more, chewing on her lower lip, but Samuel simply chuckled.

"I saw. That was something else, damn...!" He shook his head and she was able to peer up at his face, watching his dark brown eye through the gap in the helmet. Outwardly he didn't seem fazed but there was the slightest tightening around his eye, suggesting that he was really more bothered by the memory than he wanted to let on. SAM remained curiously silent.

"Are you alright, SAM?" she asked, watching the visor for any signs of distress from the machine. Samuel paused as well, seeming to share her concern. After a lengthy silence, the ghostly voice spoke again in a deadpan.

"I really don't like magic. Most of my systems crashed and I have not been able to reboot them," he explained.

"Power down as soon as we land, buddy. I'll have to fix that code myself until we can return to earth," Samuel sighed. He sounded more determined than ever when he spoke of their mission to find a way to travel between worlds.

The rest of their journey continued in silence. Euphoria worried for her 'computer friend' as her stallion sometimes called him. She set her jaw and glared into the night, resolving to see just how much magic her broken horn might be able to channel. Surely they would need somepony with magic if they were going to make that trip and possibly, her newfound powers might serve. At any rate, she had trouble picturing another Unicorn coming to their aid in this... Perhaps Twilight?

Twilight Sparkle

She was breathing into a brown paper bag. Spike stood holding it to her muzzle, rolling his eyes. "Jeeze Twilight, you really need to calm down. The Princess said it would be just an informal visit," he tried to soothe her. Behind him on the desk lay the last in a little string of letters to have arrived as Twilight and Princess Celestia wrote each other. Usually it bothered him if he had to relay more than a few messages, but he understood the appeal. After all, not many ponies could just reach out to their mentor in spite of any distance and just receive a reply like that. So the Princess had asked questions and follow-up questions about this ape-like species until finally, she had just decided to come to Ponyville and see for herself.

Hence the brown paper bag and one very stressed Unicorn...

Having gotten her breathing somewhat under control, Twilight stood up and was just about to start pacing or running out the door. It didn't matter which. Spike placed himself squarely in her path.

"Spike! I need to-"

"Nuh-uh, you don't need to do anything, Twilight! Seriously, Princess Celestia is your friend. Friends can visit each other without upsetting the entire town." The little drake retorted and to his surprise, his mother figure seemed to relent just this once. She was moping just a bit but she did settle down. Possibly the hour had just grown too late for her to get really worked up about this. Owlicious hooted from his perch, still not certain who they were even talking about.

"You're right. I'm sure she really is just curious," Twilight smiled at her number one assistant, always there to help keep the panic attacks to a minimum. So she turned in for the night and Spike gratefully curled up in his basket at the foot of her bed. The Princess would be here tomorrow and she had asked specifically to keep things low-key. No fanfares, no parades but possibly a Pinkie Pie party because those just seemed inevitable.

Owlicious sat looking out the window as his owner slept. The owl noted the ape in question just gliding in for a landing somewhere over in the other end of town, his silhouette quickly disappearing behind the rooftops.
> Code Scramble
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Euphoria

Everything around her was glowing in neon colors, orbiting her slowly like a small universe of windows filled with symbols, diagrams, charts, pictures and sound. She was seeing the layer of techno-babble through the visor and where ever she looked, she would discover more windows, more shimmering lines of alien symbols changing so rapidly, they appeared to vibrate. More confusing still, the chaos had an eerie kind of order, once she got used to the dazzling view. The symbols would change in ripples of movement, from side to side or vertically, flowing across the brightly colored pane. The trembling illusion would occur because these changes took place with blinding speed. Trying to follow any individual movement was impossible and when she stared directly into the rippling symbols, her head began to ache fiercely after just seconds. The only safe way to look at the mayhem was to let the eye wander with only cursory interest, never lingering in one place for very long. She had plenty of options to choose from and at first, she tried to see what her stallion was paying attention to himself.

Only when she looked at him, she didn't get any indication that he was even present, though she was sitting in his lap. Eyes half-lidded, seemingly half-asleep, seeing nothing, doing nothing. Seeing him was of course somewhat impeded by the miasma of glowing neon panes. It took her several minutes to realise the reason for his vacant expression and motionless body. He was not seeing any windows. Not with his eyes at least. Somehow, impossibly, he was seeing this via telepathy.

Her own laughter surprised her, and she yelped which only made it worse. Her voice! Sounding like a female member of SAM's species, her voice generated by that same technology. Generated in fact, by the information she was staring at. One window showed the full spectrum of musical notes with bars rising and falling as her voice cut through the octaves. Her stallion seemed to finally acknowledge her presence at the sound of this - her voice. Turning to look down at her with his dark brown eyes set in their deep sockets under the shelter of his bushy eyebrows. She watched her stallion's face through stained glass like the great panes of the Palace of the Princess. Princesses plural these days. That had happened at some point during her imprisonment in Tartarus.

"You said you couldn't do magic," she accused. He only continued to look down at her innocently. "You're seeing this with your mind? she marveled. Again, her voice took her by surprise, sending shivers down her spine as it climbed two octaves, ringing out like the sweetest song. She had never heard SAM try to sing. Her stallion only shrugged, already sinking back into the fugue of sensory mayhem. His demeanor stood in stark contrast to her own world, which was vibrant colors and a cocophany of sounds. Her stallion had been quick to dampen the noise in her ear.

They were looking at what passed for SAM's mind. Alien did not even begin to describe it. These were his thoughts? Nothing stood still. How could any mind be so swift, seeming to change faster than she could follow. It was beyond her. It was vast, like a leviathan. Yet each frame was a world unto itself. Strangest of all, the activity in one window seemed to resonate with many others. More than she could fit into her field of vision.

"How do you even begin to make sense of all this?" she was incredulous. Her new voice continued to please her with how well it conveyed emotion. He began to talk her through it and at first she experienced a queer duality in his voice. Their voices. As if SAM would randomly supply half of the conversation. Samuel's lips kept moving though, somehow speaking in harmony with the machine. It made it difficult to focus on what he was actually saying. Especially because many keywords did not translate into Equestrian. At least SAM's comprehension of the language could not find any ways to translate things. Yet Samuel powered on, speaking in short bursts as individual segments would orbit her more tigtly, slowing their revolving patterns and glyphs would be highlighted. These did make sense as they were the only things not moving constantly. He would read aloud from these, or they would seem to write themselves as he spoke the words. The queer sense of duality was now both visual and auditory. Unreal. Yet he did explain and he was quite good at it, like a writer reading his own story. His creation. The Airtificial Intelligence had started out small, existing initially on a scope that was on par with, if not slightly above sapience. Yet it had grown so quickly, spreading like wildfire. Over the first few minutes of his existence, SAM had grown exponentially. Yet the physical medium of his enormous mind was tiny. No bigger than one of her stallion's digits. It was not the only physical vessel though. Samuel had another little shard of dull black and silver surgically inserted into his brain. Do all savants possess such madness? It was unclear which of the two vessels actually housed SAM. In a way they both did. Thousands of him. Each one frozen in time. In a state of suspended animation, these went by a name that could not be translated. She only knew the English word for them.

"Baccabus?" she attempted to pronounce the word.

"Backups," he chuckled. Again the queer duality. The sound of his laughter sent chills down her spine. "Use the translator program."

Furrowing her brow, she glanced into the lower left corner of her eyes, triggering one of the glyphs. "Backups. Yes, like copies. You mean to tell me each and every single one is SAM? Or that he could replace himself with them?" she asked.

"Yes, like early drafts of a manuscript. Each one contains the whole of SAM as he was at that point in time. This is necessary because he is always at risk of losing himself. How do you say...? Like he could [glitch] out. Or just go insane. Snap under pressure. The [chip] could be damaged. Overheat, shatter from an attack. When that happens, we lose all the copies stored there, which is why I also store every version of him on my [chip] or [CPU]" he pointed at his own head, then turned to regard SAM's hollow shell. Each forreign word seemed to leap onto her visor in red letters before fading.

It lay lifeless on the floor of their cabin, yet she was barely aware of her surroundings. Reality would bleed through the dazzling storm of colors and muted noise, allowing her to see through to the deep purple chrome skeleton. The shard or [chip] slash [CPU] itself was located on the inside of one of the vertebrae. She didn't even need to picture what might happen to that shard. She could simply watch the [replays] on the screen. Different physical versions of SAM getting blown to pieces, sometimes empty, sometimes with her stallion wearing the Pegasus Frame. Those were even more horrifying. She lost count of how many times SAM's shell was torn full of holes, dented, smashed, crushed, burned or simply caught in an explosion. A staggering variety of human weaponry had been used in an effort to kill one or both of them. Fortunately the examples where SAM's one crucial vertebrae was destroyed were rare. It had happened just 4 times in the past. How many times had Samuel's heart stopped? How many near-deaths for her two companions? How often was SAM forced to [load] or hit his [reset button]? She only had to count.

Rizzet badden... Madness. It was too much, but then again ever since this bizarre stallion came into her frozen nightmare and released her into dazzling light, cocophanous noise and overwhelming sensory input, just about everything was 'too much.' She had long since lost the right to think anything could ever really be excessive. She had no right to question their sanity. Not after having spent an immesurable amount of time stuck in her cage. Her saviors were likely as close to or as far from sane as she was.

"Thing is though, nothing has ever damaged the [software] before. Never so many of them. Those [MOTHERFUCKERS] scrampled thousands of SAMs!" he was suddenly furious, his dual-toned voice uttering profanities in English. 

She knew how to say that word in Equestrian, at least. But... Rizzed battoon? Hehe, if I say it out loud it's [reset button]. She was trembling in his lap, lips curled back in a grimace that was meant to be a grin. At least she was fairly certain that's what a grin was. The corners of her mouth were turned up tightly and all of her teeth were showing.

"That blasted [Unicorn BULLsHiT] corrupted thousands of him!" Samuel seethed and the vibrant windows seemed to tremble right along with her. He finally seemed to realise his own temper was getting the better of him. "Oh, right, I was working on the [rEALitY FILteR] so I'll stop [TrIPPiN' baLLs] over this shit and then I can worry about my own mind when it's just me in here," he chuckled and again the ghostly duality of his voice chilled her.

The angry words had angry red letters to represent them. They didn't look quite right, though. Usually SAM's translations were better than these unbalanced looking words. Like the corruption was spreading... That's it! Purging the magic wasn't enough. It has changed both shards on a m-malle, mullekoolar, moe-leycoolar level. She turned to face her stallion, once again glaring through the haze of wildly orbiting panels. "We have to destroy the bits of the shards they corrupted!" she spoke urgently.

"Oh that's all? Sure, they're both running so hot, overheating was becoming an issue anyhow," he chuckled, finding the whole prospect utterly laughable.

Wow, he managed a whole sentence without using aingleesh... Hehe, their words are funny. Erengrish? Oh yeah and SAM has 'died' before or hit his 'rizzut bottom' I guess. But as long as we can save a recent copy...

"I'm pretty sure I could melt only those sections by sending in a swarm of [nANiTes] to create enough friction..." he seemed to calm down once more. 

He settled back into the hallucinatory landscape of SAM, where the necromancy had tainted the [software] and was still spreading. With a task to focus on, her stallion seemed to recover some of his scattered wits. He breathed softly and Euphoria heard a soft sizzling sound. Turning to look at SAM's shell, the most recent of many rebuilds anyway, she watched the black rectangle. Little rows of silver teeth ran along the edges. When she looked closely, she could see very faint smoke as the invisible legions of impossible silver spiders swarmed within, melting the tainted pieces of the shard. Again, she didn't have to picture them. There were images of them, of course.

The tension was palpable. This might be the fifth time SAM's physical mind was obliterated and they had no spare shard. She didn't know if Samuel could forge another if this one was lost. Minutes seemed to crawl by like hours. The only other memory she had of time seeming to creep by so unbearably slowly was when she was in the glass cage.

"Right, that should take care of it..." he finally broke the silence. He released a breath and seemed to slump in his seat.

Euphoria's relief was so great, she nearly fainted. Figting to keep her eyes open, glaring into the sea of data, she immediately noticed a change. The chaos receded. Everything was still rippling like oceans of ever-changing glyphs and icons, but there was a sense of order to it once more. About a third of the windows had gone dark, before fading entirely. Dee-lee-ted... The remaining windows appeared free of the disease that had hurt SAM. All the SAMs. But so many still remained.

"I had to burn my own [chip] a bit, too," he breathed. "That's the first time that's happened... I might as well have seared a tiny piece of my brain away... Oh well, nothing the [nanites] can't rebuild," he grinned.

Feeling an immense surge of relief, she curled into a ball in his lap, nuzzling his muscular thigh. He was still wearing the lower half of the flight suit. They had landed right outside the cottage and Samuel had barely made it one step past the threshold before slamming the door shut and shedding the Pegasus Frame. There they still sat, his back against the door, Euphoria curled up in his lap.

"SAM is going to be okay then?" she asked in a quivering voice. Her throat felt tight and it no longer baffled her when the silver wires covering her damaged vocal cords managed to make her sound like she was on the verge of crying.

"Yes, I'm going to be fine," the voice was both Samuel and SAM.

She raised her head and squinted, seeing through the many panes of information, to furrow one brow at her stallion.

"Right, the [rEaLITY FilTER]," the voices spoke together and just then, one of the panes grew in size, becoming the new focal point.



rEaLITY FilTER

Data corruption detected...

23% corruption. Purging corrupt data...



As promised, about a quarter of the glyphs went dark, leaving black scars marring the otherwise pristine looking oceans of code. In response to this, several other windows, all looking similar to the bigger one, began to orbit tightly. Each window seemed to identify itself as another version of the program they were seeing now. Lines would highlight in the smaller windows and then be transported onto the most recent version of the program, filling in the black gaps.



Reality Filter

Scanning systems...

100% filtering capacity...

Reality Filter is online.



In that moment, everything changed. Like an explosion happening in reverse, the sensory chaos of glowing windows, symbols, images and sounds all receded. The panes would fly away, shrinking in size before folding sideways, thinning to horizontal two-dimensional lines. She could see both the Pegasus Frame and her stallion clearly now and they each stirred at the same time.

The skeletal frame was splayed on its back like a dead animal, the chest guard wide open allowing them to peer into his hollow body. Quickly righting himself and shutting his chestguard, affecting an air of modesty, he muttered sullenly. "Right, quit looking at my guts. Show's over," his metalic voice droned, but somehow this was the real SAM. The sarcastic machine who only pretended to be cynical.

She pounced him, pinning SAM's Pegasus Frame in a powerful hug. Behind her, Samuel chuckled. His voice was fully human now. Sounding warm and a bit husky, yet cheerful in spite of everything that had happened.

"Don't go hitting your reset button again, SAM," she chastised the pinned AI, noting to herself that even when she spoke the forreign words, they did not flow across her vision like glowing letters. She had been seeing the program in English as Samuel/SAM read aloud in a mix of both languages. She had only been able to grasp the broad whole of the context, rather than trying to understand each word individually. Things like systems, programs, code and software were all arbitrary expressions and often they were one and the same yet different. But somehow they all contributed to make up the soul of the being she was now play-wrestling with.

SAM did not look overly amused with her antics, quickly extracting himself from her deathgrip. It wasn't fair how he could change his shape like that. Almost serpentine. He composed himself, sitting upright looking very much like a certain purple pony about to give a lecture. She giggled, resisting the urge to voice her thoughts.

"Didn't you know? I'm practically immortal, like your Sun Godess," he boasted. Virtually brimming with pride, he sat bolt upright, head held high, affecting an air of regality.

Euphoria burst into laughter, collapsing on the floor of their cabin. Her new voice continued to channel her emotions and for a moment she did not understand why her vision was blurring. She was crying and laughing and in that moment, Samuel scooped her up in his strong arms and cradled her as she vented her emotions.

Immortal. Hitting his ree-zed budn doesn't even kill him. He just gets back up and starts over. I think that's what campooters do, too...

Peeling off the visor, she watched through wet lashes as the thin silver wires retracted back into the battle-hardened piece of armor. Her eyelids grew heavy and she yawned softly, allowing sleep to claim her.

Twilight Sparkle

She woke gradually as the first rays of Celestia's sun fell upon her eyelids. She yawned and rolled over, facing away from the rays. Just five more minutes... Her eyes squinted, somehow unable to block the glare of the rays, as if it were much too bright in her room. Full wakefulness crashed over her like a bucket of ice water. She sat bolt upright, throwing off her blanket as she turned to look at her balcony.

Princess Celestia!

She was resplendant, haloed by a corona of light as her long, slender horn glowed like a minature sun in its own right. She was raising the sun right there on Twilight Sparkle's balcony. Too nervous to give in to a panic attack - never mind the impossibility of such a state - the Unicorn tumbled out of bed with a yelp, quickly righting herself. Cheeks glowing bright scarlet, pretending that her mentor and Princess did not just see her fall flat on her face, she rushed to open the glass paned door. There she stood, the light receding as she finished raising her sun. Though the light never disappeared completely. Rather it seemed to soak into her pure white coat where it remained, just on the edge of perception, making Celestia look almost luminescent. Her features were unreadable, schooled into that impenetrable mask she had worn over the millenia. Twilight Sparkle however, knew her better than most, being able to count this avatar of Equestria's light among her friends. Right now her friend seemed amused by something, laughter hiding just under the surface.

"My dear student," she spoke softly, her voice and words sending a trill through the purple Unicorn. "I did not mean to startle you. Please, be calm my student," she took a measured step forward, her goldshot hooves barely making any sound as one rose to touch Twilight's face. The Princess of the sun then giggled softly and ruffled Twilight's mane but before she could grow embaressed by her bedmane, her mentor had straightened the hairs neatly somehow.

Somewhere behind her, Spike grumbled in his sleep. "Twilight, tell Celestia to lower the sun. I wasn't done sleeping..." he frowned, triggering more of those soft peals of laughter, somehow exuberant yet quiet and subdued. Spike had yet to wake in spite of the very pony he was complaining over standing not two bodylengths from his basket.

Twilight was certain this called for a panic attack. She had a schedule somewhere but her Princess had made a command - no, a request: Be calm. So the panic attack never came and she released a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. Rather than stress over her idol's sudden arrival on her balcony, she invited her friend in for tea and breakfast. They made their way past Spike's bed, Celestia smiling slyly as she scooped the still sleeping baby dragon up by lighting her horn, levitating him in a golden glow. They made their way downstairs, talking softly.

"So my student, please, I am very curious. Tell me of this... Samuel," she settled across from her student, folding herself onto the floor by the small table. Somehow Twilight should be mortified that the Princess was sprawled across half her kitchen floor without having even been offered a pillow or cushion, let alone the throne she was no doubt used to. Instead, she just smiled and poured two cups of tea, simultaneously lighting the stove and levitating a pan and ingredients, whipping up a batter of pancakes without hardly looking.

"Hmm, how to begin. I guess he's technically a species of ape, but that doesn't really describe him. Also, I think calling him 'ape' is somehow offensive, but he never complained. At least not out loud," she giggled. "Oh! I have made some rough sketches," she turned her head, her horn still lit with a pink glow as more items joined the neatly coeographied dance. A bundle of scrolls landed on the table between two plates and the growing pile of pancakes.

Celestia gently took the first scroll in her hoof, treating her notes with care. Unrolling it, she let her eyes take in the illustrations. Her first encounter with the human known only as Samuel were black and white sketches, detailing a level of anatomical accuracy usually found in medical texts. Everything seemed to be accounted for. Hair color and length, eye color, facial features, his estimated height and weight, both of which were more on par with an Alicorn or Minotaur than one of her Little Ponies. There were no comparisons to other members of his species, as he was the first one ever encountered. Other notes held details on his origins and more curious yet, something known as SAM. It looked like a construct of nothing but inanimate matter, but apparently it moved, spoke, saw and sensed in a way incomprehensible to even her protégé. Celestia was very careful not to show any outward reaction to this information, yet her brightest student detected some apprehension. Did the Princess suspect the same things about this new type of being? There were unnamed items as well, and one scroll which Twilight had kept close to herself, almost protective of it. Among the items she did see something which was clearly a weapon of their world. A halberd. No name or details. The same was true of the forreign objects that came with the "Pegasus Frame." One was always seen attached to the leg barding, never out of reach of either SAM or Samuel. It looked like an object made to be gripped by Samuel's or even SAM's extremedies. The digits were illustrated gripping the handle with the smooth length of unknown alloys extending outwards in a single regimented line. A wand? But the notes insisted that Samuel was devoid of magical powers.

Twilight had not shown the last scroll, wherein the halberd was explained. And the wand, at least what she suspected about the device. Euphoria had no mention in these notes. She knew not why, but something in her had prevented her from betraying her new friend's existence to Celestia beyond brief mention of 'a friend' in her latest report. Twilight had known Celestia nearly all her life and she was still awed by the mare. Euphoria might pass out from overexcitement if she were confronted with her diarch in the flesh.

"It says here he has bought property," Celestia mused quietly. Spike had woken without ceremony, affecting a complete lack of surprise to Celestia munching on pancakes next to Twilight and he. The smell was what had woken him and he had attacked his own serving with relish.

"Yeah he lives 5 minutes away," Spike spoke somehow managing coherence if not basic table manners with a mouthful of pancake. Twilight levitated a napkin and the baby dragon pouted as he was interupted mid-bite, leaving his face relatively clean. For about two seconds. He stuck out his tongue at Twilight, who only rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Yes, Mayor Mare saw no reason to deny this guest the right. After all, he is here as a representative of his species. But he swears coming here was a fluke," she clarified, already half-way into lecture mode.

"The dude is awesome," Spike crowed and then barely able to contain his laughter, he raised his teacup, pinky finger extended as he took a sip of the scalding liquid. Seeming quite proud of his little claws, he neatly pinched two lumps of sugar into his tea. Then two more. Then an extra three just for good measure, stirring with his spoon. The pinky finger on the claw holding the cup was still extended.

Twilight was also trying to contain bubbling laughter and before her mentor could begin to guess at their little inside joke, there was a knocking at the front door. A masculine voice called out, carrying easily through the otherwise quiet library, traveling into the adjacent kitchen.

"Twilight, you home?" he spoke with a clear accent of unknowable origins.

"Oh crap!" Two sets of eyes regarded the source of the outburst with raised brows. Twilight seemed about ready for a panic attack after all, nevermind the swearing. She would get to fretting over a breach of etiquette later.
> Old Souls
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Princess Celestia

If it is true that ponies and living creatures are the sum of their memories, then few beings were as vast as the Alicorn sisters, Equestria's newly reunited diarchs. Having lived for several thousands of years, Celestia often felt tempted to say "now I have seen everything," only to be promptly proven wrong.

This was one of those days. Of late Celestia's personal interests had been on just one little Unicorn. Twilight Sparkle, her protégé and prize pupil. Somehow this little purple filly had grown to become Equestria's savior, having bested Nightmare Moon, returned her beloved Luna to her side, re-sealed Discord himself and foiled a Changeling invasion. In that order. Within just a few years. History was repeating itself in millenial cycles and this unassuming little Unicorn had stepped forth to face each of her ancient foes and woes one at a time.

It was only a few weeks ago that she had caught herself thinking the world couldn't possibly hold any further surprises. Yet here she sat on the linoleum of Twilight's kitchen in her treehouse Library, Golden Oak in Ponyville, discussing just one of these surprises. Events once again proving her wrong, this creature was quite literally not of their world. If she was to believe the word of her protégé, this Samuel and his construct, SAM, had been inadverdently flung a distance even she could scarsely conceptualize. Somewhere in their journey from point A to B they had gotten lost and arrived at a very different destination. A complete stranger, this imposing figure spoke an alien tongue and wore a suit of armor that had a life of its own. Ponies were an easily spooked lot and certainly this Samuel had every potential to instill fear in their hearts. Only Twilight Sparkle and her six constant companions prevented this strange stallion from being rejected. Where most ponies saw only threats, she had seen a potential new friend.

The fact that she had only just now compiled a formal report on this new friendship could well mean that it was still tentative at best. Ever diligent and prone to overcommiting herself to a task, Twilight had no doubt been secretly obsessing over this new-arrival. It seemed the obsession was mutual as reports would indicate that it took only days for Samuel to display a rudementary grasp of Equestrian language. SAM was even faster at picking it up and presumably he now spoke it as well as the locals without a trace of accent. Looking across the small dinner table at her beloved student it was difficult not to feel like she was intruding upon something personal, yet the potential ramifications of this meeting of two worlds could not be ignored. Twilight had grown quite a bit from the socially awkward 'egghead' into a much more sensitive pony. She saw more in every gesture, heard more in every word, whether spoken or unspoken. She also hid her own anxiety quite well. Surely only a pony who knew her personally or one with considerable experience picking up on tells could detect the quiet waves of anxiety rolling off the lavender Unicorn. Celestia had the benefit of both those things. Somehow her student seemed reluctant to speak on behalf of her newest friends. This warred with her most ingrained personality trait; her selfless desire to give to her idol anything and everything she could. If she was shielding Samuel from royal scrutiny, she could already be well under the assumption that banishment and/or dungeons would figure in her immediate future for defying her Princess. Before she could try to forestall the ensuing panic attack, a sudden knock at the front door caused Spike to turn his head and Twilight just froze.

"Twilight, you home?" a masculine voice called out casually, though the accent was strange to her.

"Oh crap!" a feminine voice cried out softly.

Everything froze. Several millenia of intellect ground to a halt, at first refusing to comprehend what had just happened. In the ensuing silence there was much blinking and quiet staring at one purple Unicorn as both Spike and Celestia struggled with the notion that Twilight just swore in front of the Princess. The scope of the impending panic attack seemed most dire as already Twilight's mane looked disheveled and her pupils had shrunk to pinpricks.

Then Spike laughed.

He was trying and failing to contain his unending amusement at his sister figure's flustered expression. This seemed to completely dispell the fear as Twilight pouted and shot her number one assistant a look which went ignored. Spike fell off his chair and the comical way in which he tumbled over and landed perfectly on his rear, stubby little legs and tail splayed in opposite directions, only made him laugh harder and he wiped an imaginary tear of mirth from the corner of his eye.

"Spike!" Twilight whined.

Before she could scold her assistant, the doorway to the adjacent library greeting room was suddenly taken up by an imposing biped. He was taller than Celestia and his gait spoke of the grace of one comfortable in their own body and their surroundings. Samuel had dark hair and a sturdy jaw. The face between was partially hidden by an untrimmed beard though the cheeks were mooth. His snout was small and his eyes were set in deep sockets with sturdy brows to shade them. His eyes were dark brown and something in their expression made her wary. Though seemingly quite muscular, this creature had comparatively dull senses. It was only now he noticed Princess Celestia sprawled across most of the kitchen floor, looking back at him.

"Oh crap!" he cried out, freezing in the doorway.

Then Celestia laughed.

Euphoria

She was running. Galloping full tilt across verdant meadows, through dense thickets and woods, Celestia's sun on her coat and the wind playing in her mane. The lure of freedom had once again proven too sweet to resist and she found herself reveling in muscle fatigue and the pounding of her heart. It seemed impossible that it was only hours ago that she had been fearing for SAM's very life. Her hollow friend was sprinting besides her, taking one graceful leap for every half-dozen of her strides. The piston-like extension of his hind legs propelled the light Pegasus Frame into carefully calculated leaps and strides, covering an impressive distance. Euphoria got the feeling that SAM was merely keeping pace with her. He did not tire. He did not sleep. He did not eat. He always followed and always watched through an impressive aray of senses, some of which were still incomprehensible to her.

The Pegasus Frame no longer looked war-ravished and the physical medium of SAM's memories was safe and sound. She was wearing the visor once more, giving her both a voice and SAM's instructions to follow. She was getting used to the concept of picture-in-picture. Through visor she saw the world as she knew it, overalyered by opague neon frames of text, pictures and if she wanted it, sounds. Everything SAM knew a name for held a floating box with a thin line pointing directly to the encircled object. This concept was known as tagging and each tag was a veritable font of information concerning the object. Most of these objects and their connected boxes blew straight past her and she could put names to most of them herself when she thought about it. Some which were lacking in information only held questionmarks and blank spaces. She delighted in pointing these out to SAM and with a rapidity that never ceased to amaze, he updated the information as quickly as she could share it. He juggled all this information without breaking stride, which was more than could be said for her.

During one of her unfortunate moments she had gotten too caught up in the sensorium and collided with a tree. This tipped her onto her rear with a huff and SAM's metallic laughter sounded from nearby. The sleek quadruped form had bolted to a halt just a few bodylengths from the prone Euphoria. He sat ready to assist, yet he also laughed merrily at the spectacle. Blushing furiously, she righted herself and brushed back her mane to fix SAM with a look. Her bright blue eye no longer obscured by the bang of blond hair, she made her embaressment known.

"Come now, this is just me getting back at you for earlier," SAM waved a claw dismissively. His smoothly polished exterior had been redone in the most unlikely cream-color with light pink highlights. Currently he was examining his claw and although he had no face with which to show emotion, the set of his shoulders made his skepcism clear.

Her own laughter rang out, sounding more musical yet still synthetic. She had been delighted with the success of her prank, carrying on the proverbial torch of making SAM go through every color scheme of his female friends.

"You are seriously trying to tell me you didn't notice me using magic?" she asked, choosing to shift the embaressment onto her friend.

"Nnnnope," his impression of Bic Mac made her double over in laughter. SAM tried to look offended, but it was clear that he was having just as much fun just listening to her laughter. Sharing in her joy. This was far from the first time she had pressed the issue with him and he continued to indulge her, trying to put words to the earlier experience before they left Ponyville.

"I just can't see it... Magic," he spoke the word like it left a sour taste in his mouth, which was yet another testament to his ability to mimic human emotions, being bereft of said tongue though he likely could mimic having tastebuds of he so desired. He began to pace, making use of their unscheduled break to vent his frustrations, trying his best to ignore the Flutter-fied paintjob.

"I see everything," he powered on, getting well into his own brooding version of a Twilight Sparkle rant. "I see shapes and colors which can be anything from normal three-color vision to thermographic, ultra-sound, X-ray and even polarized light! I see, sense and perceive in colors you cannot even conceptualize!" he seemed to exhale, complete with a mimicry of breathing noises and a sagging of his torso. "And yet, I cannot touch magic. It is beyond my senses. It is the void, the umbra, the astral plane," again the words seemed to sour him. They were familiar words and she had attempted to coach him on the lingo, though he seemed quite well-versed in the theory already.

As he rattled off the list of senses, a small box replayed his sensorium. It was dizzying. The picture was flat and it had borders, yet it was a murial that covered a full 360 degree field of vision. The edges of the screen seemed to overlap so the fern that was cut in half on one side was picked up again on the side opposite. Seeing SAM's spherical field of vision rendered onto a flat surface induced a mild sense of vertigo, which grew as he added the layers of vision filters. One moment the forest exploded into a bizarre mix of blacks, blues, greens and yellows with only a hint of orange, red and hot-white radiating from SAM's core within the suit. The next moment the world had become black and white with only sketchy outlines marking the shape of physical objects. Then she was looking through things in shades of grey and seeing herself was like a waking nightmare. She was just a ghastly white skeleton with an opague dressing of skin and organs. The visor on her face seemed to block the invasive view with a flat black surface. Then mercifully things returned to normal and she was seeing in colors once again. SAM was butter-cream yellow and pink, the ground was brown, the leaves were green and the sky was blue. A small line of text informed her that SAM had not even been able to render a convincing translation of "polarized light."

Thus armed with such senses and a thought process so rapid as to make the world slow to a crawl around him whilst he oberved, measured, saw through and around anypony and anything that made up the physical world, SAM had proven to be even more neurotic than Twilight. She allowed herself to feel guilty for having thought of her new friend in such a way, yet it was true. Where Twilight simply wanted to know everything, SAM was in a unique position to approach such ultimate comprehension. While knowledge seemed to sustain the purple librarian, it was even more vital to SAM. When his knowledge failed him, he could lose all sense of himself and be forced to revert to an earlier version of himself.

His first encounter with hostile magic had nearly been his undoing. She had saved them all by somehow absorbing the magic through her broken horn and there she felt it linger still. A finite resource that could, as she had discovered by pranking SAM, be used to channel her own magic. So she had attempted her very first spell with a broken horn a few hours prior. They were just getting ready to leave Ponyville because something had happened. Describing it as a physical sensation would not suffice for she had felt it through the broken stub of her Unicorn horn. Somepony nearby was using powerful magic. SAM had only just stood up, returned once more from near-death. Neither he nor Samuel seemed to sense anything at all, yet Euphoria was quite certain that an exceedingly powerful Unicorn had appeared in Ponyville that very morning. The list of candidates was narrow with Discord imprissoned and Luna returned to Celestia's side. It could only be one of the diarchs. When she told them "I think Celestia is in town," she had been trying to play it off as a half-jest, but they had both responded by growing very still. This was a quirk of SAM's which had rubbed off on her stallion. They were thinking hard, sharing thoughts and suddenly they rose as one. Samuel was leaning over Euphoria, kissing her suddenly, stroking her mane. As he broke the kiss, leaving her lightly dazed, he flipped open her saddlebags, still on her hips. He added to her provisions, giving her nearly every Earth artifact he owned, including his rifle. SAM held the halberd VENGEANCE now, sliding it into place on his back between the stubs of his retracted wings. Without explanation, her stallion pressed the visor back into place on her snout. Already SAM had a map and a destination plottet out in red lines. Only the two of them would be going. Sensing a great degree of urgency and a need for stealth, Euphoria realised belatedly that the kiss had been a farewell kiss.

So they had been ready to hide from Celestia herself, leaving Ponyville in the early morning hours. Already the market was attracting early morning shoppers and they had to rush down alleys and backroads to avoid the crowd. This was when she had sprung her prank and used magic. Running behind SAM, she noticed the Twilight Sparkle paint job was showing signs of abuse. This would attract undue attention and right now with Celestia occupying Twilight's own library, the battle-scarred mockery of that same Unicorn was more than just a little unfortunate, should they attract such notice. Her horn now drew on the magic she had absorbed in the dead Unicorn settlement. Glowing a spectral green, the broken horn lit up and just like that, SAM's colors began to shift randomly through the spectrum. The shock of actually succeeding in casting the spell meant Euphoria had been unprepared to actually choose which color scheme to inflict upon her friend. That was when they had come upon their only observer - Fluttershy. It was not surprising that they would run into her on the outskirts of Ponyville, just when they were almost clear of civilization and the threat of royal scrutiny.

SAM did not even notice the monumental discovery as Euphoria used magic to dress him in Fluttershy's color scheme just moments before that same pony could say "eep!" and flinch out of the way. SAM blew right by her only to arrest his momentum so rapidly, he went from mad sprint to perfect stillness in the blink of an eye. Euphoria had to bleed her momentum, coming round in a circle to face the startled mare. Fluttershy was just getting over the shock of seeing the two dash out of a dark alleyway and now she was gaping at SAM's new colors. Shock turned to puzzlement and then suddenly she was blushing and hiding behind her long mane. Euphoria laughed and SAM looked nonplussed. When he finally noticed the paint job, he just cupped the helmet to his claw in a mock facehoof gesture. He seemed to mutter something about the running gag of pony-fying him. Fluttershy still looked flustered and very eager to be elsewhere. With a quick wave and a hello, they had resumed their mad sprint out of town, laughing and trading good-spirited insults.

Bringing them to the present and their new course. She still did not know why but both SAM and her stallion thought it best to avoid putting the two of them in a room with the ruler of Equestria. They were also carrying with them all evidence of their violent exploits. The place SAM was leading them to was yet another site of ancient lore, most of which was speculation. She did not know how or when he had armed himself with such knowledge. Most likely he had raided Twilight's library while everypony slept. So with a pressing need to be elsewhere should Celestia inquire about the two of them, they had resumed the quest of discoverying a way home. Samuel was back in Ponyville, facing Celestia's questions.

With nothing but time and miles of uncharted land ahead of them, they had fallen into conversation about magic and the enigma it posed. Progress had been halted early by SAM's nature. An artificial intelligence, his fundamental thought patterns were only possible to discuss in English, and not normal English at that, but something her stallion called techno-babble. Foreign words like Computer, Binary Systems and Quantom Processors were the stuff that made SAM. Through these concepts, he saw the world and only by applying filters could he approximate a world like theirs, consisting of five senses and all the colors of the rainbow. Seeing beyond it and giving name to those impressions had taken up the first hour of the conversation, allowing for breaks and resting periods. SAM was apparently just as concerned about her health as he was about Samuel's. So rather than let her run herself into the dirt, he dictated when they should rest and they used this time to breach the gap between their very different worlds.

Only by understanding SAM's senses and thoughts could she hope to begin her task of explaining to him the colors of magic. Something which he continued to insist did no exist to his senses. He knew all the steps involved in casting a spell and he had been overjoyed to learn that the mysterious new paint job had been her doing. Yet he had never seen her horn light up in a ghostly green nimbus. Nor had he seen this same nimbus envelop his being, altering the outer layer of his shell. Only when confronted with the physical evidence of the spell's finished product could he perceive the change. Then he had suffered system failure and been forced to revert to a version of himself from moments before casting the spell. Erasing all memory of the event, but leaving his new self with a note that magic had happened. He could then take in the evidence of the spell for the second time. All this, his metaphorical death and revival, took place with no outward signs of distress except for a brief screen flicker on the inside of the visor she wore. She had never seen a computer reboot, so to her it did not seem that much of anything had happened.

Presently they had fallen into a discussion of this so-called corrupted data. The memory of being exposed to magic was somehow cornered off, kept seperate from SAM's conscious mind. The event had been quarantined like a disease.

"So try loading the data already," she challenged. They were resting at the sight of her latest crash, somewhere in the deep woods, far from any settlements. "You know the worst thing that can happen is that you will have to reload," she spoke the English words seemlessly now with the help of the translation program.

SAM sat opposite her and made a point of groaning and hanging his head. He still looked strange with half of his face missing, but she was growing used to the sight already. Wearing the visor felt natural to her now. 

"Fine then," he groused. "I'll load the bloody corrupted data but don't blame me if I go crazy..."

Again the visor's display flickered and she could see the picture-in-picture view of SAM's senses. Aside from keeping track of virtually every event happening around him, dressing these in labels, he was now also confronted with a flashing red window in the corner of his vision, warning him that he was at risk of corrupting his data further. Clearly it grated on his nerves to have to ignore this warning. Taking on the stillness that signified deep thought, he sat there reviewing his memories. She watched along with him, seeing the memory play out from his point of view. They were moving down an alleyway and there was Euphoria, running behind him. She was grinning for some reason and then nothing happened, but she was quite certain they were seeing the moment when she had used magic. On-screen the memory was simply a disembodied field of all-around-vision traveling parallel to Euphoria.

"Wait a minute SAM, where is your body?" she had settled onto her haunches, looking at her immobile friend as they reviewed the memory.

"I filter it out because the 360-degree vision is kind of bizarre already and I am not just seeing out of my eyes," he raised a claw to touch the half of the visor he still wore, where the eye in question appeared to be just an oval of clear material. "I see through devices hidden all across my body. My eyes are as much on my legs as they are above them," he finished yet another explaination of how he sensed the world around him.

The image was simply cycling through the same event over and over, looping back to the start. They were running through the alleyway, Euphoria grinned mischievously and still the memory did not betray anything happening around her forehead. The broken horn was hidden behind her blond mane and the nimbus of color that should have been visible was not. On the subject of SAM's own body, the display now informed her that she was seeing through just one of these devices, located near the helmet. From this point of view, the world shook up and down, which was dizzying, but then she saw it. The metallic foreleg rose into the field of view, one moment deep purple, the next bright cream yellow. The memory kept looping, coming back to the moment when the change happened. It was instantaneous without origin or end. One moment he was sporting Twilight's colors, the next Fluttershy's. All the while the warning label flashed red in the corner - viewing corrupted data was apparently a health-hazzard for AIs. SAM sitting across from her was undeterred, still frozen in place as he reviewed the event. Cycling through different filters of vision, still he did nothing but solidify his belief that Euphoria's broken horn hadn't done anything. He had only her verbal account and this memory to support the idea.

"Wait, something is happening," SAM spoke at length. "Look at that static. The screen shakes and the program filters this out so you don't get nauseous watching it, but when I use the raw footage and play it slowly..." he went on and the display obeyed, replaying the memory at a snail's pace now. Euphoria was suspended in mid-stride, making very slow progress and SAM's own field of view, bobbing eratically, had likewise slowed to a crawl. Now she could see what he was refering to. What he had called static was the sensation she experienced whenever he "hit his reset button." The screen would flicker momentarily before settling once again. This time however, the flickering was localized to one area. The Euphoria still suspended mid-stride was grinning now, having just decided to prank him. The screen seemed to blur as if experiencing a faint mirrage around her forehead where her broken horn hid behind her mane. As the event played out, SAM once again switched to a point of view that showed his body partially on-screen. The mirrage again, this time shimmering like a nimbus all around SAM's body.

"Yes, that's it!" he sounded elated with the discovery. He was seeing magic for the first time.

Euphoria smiled.

Princess Celestia

"Oh crap!"

Samuel stood in the doorway to Twilight's kitchen, staring at the Alicorn taking up most of the floor space, presently reduced to helpless laughter. The table was covered in stacks of pancakes and steaming tea cups and Princess Celestia was laughing right along with Spike who still had yet to get up from his spill to the floor.

"Princess Celestia," he spoke coarsely, shaping the melodic sounds like one unused to the way it sat on his tongue. She had never heard anypony manage to sound so masculine whilst uttering such a feminine name. She simply kept chuckling as he floundered, looking to Twilight and Spike for help. The baby dragon was still snickering, finding the profanity equally amusing. Her student looked like she wanted to spring to Celestia's defense, only to remember that she was guilty of the exact same faux pass.

Celestia finally managed to contain her mirth, waving a goldshod hoof dismissively. "Please be at ease, dear Samuel," she spoke softly, making the Equestrian language come out sounding like music. Even his name sounded decidedly feminine when she spoke it. The staggering contrast made her smile, on the verge of breaking into laughter again. "I have lived a long life and heard more than a few swear words myself. I may be royalty, but please regard this as an informal visit." Her voice seemed to disarm him and he continued to gape. This gave her more time to study him.

He stood awkwardly taking up most of the doorway rubbing the back of his neck. Clad in simple yet elegant clothes, the bottoms dark and shaped to cover his legs and the top light grey, hugging his musculature. The arms were bare and there the build of his body was more pronounced. His right arm had a thin webbing of scar tissue where it met the glove.

Then all at once Samuel seemed to regain his composure and he strode casually into the kitchen, easily stepping over her prone form with his long legs and folding himself into a sitting position by the table next to Twilight and Spike. Spike seemed entirely at ease with his sudden lack of formality, pouring him a cup of tea. When Samuel raised his cup, he exchanged a glance with Spike and grinning widely they both extended their pinky fingers before taking a sip.

"Fingers are awesome," Spike crowed. Twilight facehoofed and Samuel nodded sagely. Celestia struggled not to break into fits of laughter again.

Twilight seemed to have recovered as well and she now had a look about her like she was still waiting for more unannounced visitors. Samuel lovered his cup and once again regarded Celestia. Between the two of them they were both teeming with questions but so far none of the pressing topics had been breached.

"How's SAM doing?" Twilight asked, finally voicing the question that had been on her mind.

"He's fine," Samuel assured her. "Just a little fed up with magic for the time being." The corner of his mouth twitched slightly before curling into a carefree smile.

There was the subtlest tightening around his eyes at the mention of magic. Likely Twilight and Spike did not pick up on it but Celestia knew something was troubling him. She watched him manipulating the utensils much like Spike and the little dragon was trying to copy his manner of bearing as they ate in companionable silence for a while. The mention of magic was usually all it took to trigger Twilight's enthusiasm and any skepcism towards the subject would prompt her to go on the defensive, yet this time the purple Unicorn seemed to let the statement slide.

"So your companion won't be joining us?" Celestia inquired, helping herself to another serving. She watched Samuel out the corner of her eye.

His forehead creased and his bushy brows furrowed as Samuel tried to phrase his response. "No, like I was saying SAM doesn't do well around sources of magic. The concept is completely alien to us and it seems to affect him negatively to just witness a spell being cast. I understand Alicorns are inherently magical, more so than the other pony breeds," he spoke at length.

Twilight swallowed, suddenly looking crestfallen but before the little Unicorn could begin chastising herself, Samuel was already appeasing her. "Don't worry about him, Twi'. The worst that can happen to that guy is that he'll have to 'forget' a few details about what happened. You guys never even notice it when his mind stutters," he chuckled.

"Your companion sounds very strange, please forgive me for saying. I have been listening to stories about the two of you and I confess I was most eager to meet this 'construct,'" Celestia pushed on.

Samuel heaved a sigh and his lips curled into an easy smile. "Well I knew we would attract the notice of the rulers sooner or later and I'm here to answer your questions, Princess," he settled himself, getting comfortable. Clearly he was counting on being detained for a while and it was apparent that he was already getting used to having to explain all about himself.

The hours seemed to fly by as the four of them traded stories and conversation flowed smoothly while they cleared the table and eventually moved the discussion to Twilight's balcony where they might lounge comfortably without fear of being interupted. Twilight had to step out a few times when somepony came in to peruse the library, but mostly she was able to stay a part of the conversation.

However Celestia knew she could not linger too long. She had too many duties to attend to and she sensed that one might spend years in Samuel's company and never quite manage to get a clear picture of his home world. Though he tried most valiantly to breach the gap between their worlds, each attempt only seemed to drive home the point: Earth was a very different place. All along her journey back to Canterlot, Celestia tried to picture a world ruled by technology and the endless seas of people. As she had listened her fears had only grown and though he never admitted to it outright, the implications were clear: Samuel's world was decidedly less gentle than Equestria. But he insisted that no help was coming. His people did not know of any other worlds besides their own. Should Samuel and SAM ever manage to return to Earth, they would make every attempt to prevent others from retracing their steps. On this, Samuel had given his word.

I don't know that I can trust him on his word, yet I want to do just that...