//------------------------------// // 11 Missed it by that much/Enter the Dragon // Story: Catalyst // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle - Day 16 The Machine Shop Ruins, South Jungle - The Island Nyota and I had left The Grove as soon as we’d finished dessert. Not because we’d wanted to have dessert, but because our waitress insisted we try the lemon meringue pie. It’s difficult to say no to something very dangerous offering you something very delicious. I’d spent the entire night huddled in a way too cold sleeping bag, doing my best to catch as much sleep as I could after crudely patching up Nyota’s house with wooden wall segments. Stone would have been far, far less drafty. But to my despair, we’d lost our dodek and anky during the attack. I should have realized it sooner, but the mixture of elation, fear, and shock had definitely fogged my mind up just a little bit. I felt a bit bad about sleeping that night. Nyota didn’t. She’d finished patching her half of the house up, had me finalize my tek armor to get it outside the system, including the second chestpiece, and then vanished into her hidden workshop. Based on how long the roar of a forge, ring of a hammer, and buzz of a grinder had kept me awake, and how I’d awoken to the sounds of welding, grinding, and occasional swearing, she’d been up all night. I’d offered help, but been told to just keep out of the way. Not rudely. Very politely in fact. But Nye had asked me to stay away in the same tone of voice I’d used with my friends when I was busy with a personal project, so I’d left her alone. Which left me with nothing to do. Chip had come back with us of course, but shortly after I had woken up he’d ran off to get Nye and I breakfast from the Grove before curling up for a few hours sleep himself. I couldn’t exactly go out and explore, Charlie’s Boys held a sword over us at the moment, and Nye could be finished at any moment. All I had to entertain myself was my implant. As I flicked through the various menus and built a few simple objects just for fun, I found myself rather liking the system. If I could scan objects to learn how to make them, I’d have the best device a scientist or a mage could ever ask for. Especially since it could carry large amounts of stuff around for me. I hummed and bit my lip in thought. Aside from the ‘carry’ attribute, was there any limit to what I could carry? Could I carry five hundred kilograms worth of absolutely anything, or was there also a volume limit? If not, I could keep five hundred kilograms of air inside and deploy it all almost instantly, causing an overpressure wave capable of destroying most anything. Not that I wanted to unleash an explosion of that magnitude on anything. It would simply be cool to know if I could do it. I flicked back to my inventory screen, searching around for any indication of a ‘maximum volume’ or other limiting factors, and noticed I was still carrying Chip’s backpack. I’d never returned it to him after picking it up at the volcano DAYS ago! My cheeks burning in embarrassment, I quickly pulled the bag out to conjure it into the real world, but accidently finalized it as a sharp snap of metal echoed within Nye’s workshop. “AH BLOODY FAUST’S TAINT!” Nye roared in anger. I eeped, jumping up and knocking over the backpack by accident as I rushed over to the door. “What’s wrong?” I asked poking my head inside. Nye looked up from her workbench, a skeletal chest shaped bit of power armor frame in front of her. Nye’s left eye twitched as she looked at me. “Nothing tae worry yer head over, Twi,” she growled. “I’m working with scraps created by telling nanites to leave crudely made bits of stuff. It’s the least cooperative material ye’ll ever know. I’m almost done. Just need to get the crossbar here in a ‘won't break under load’ state. That’s all.” “Alright… If you get too angry let me know and I’ll do what I can to help,” I promised as I turned back to the empty shell of a room I’d been sitting in. That’s when I spotted it. The small black plastic box which had fallen out of Chip’s bag when I knocked it over. I crossed the room, making my way over to it, intending to slide the box back to the bag and then put the bag next to Chip so he’d wake up and see it immediately. But when I reached it, the box was open, the friction fit lid having popped off when it hit the ground. Which in turn meant as I lifted the box up, an old hand written note fell from the box. My curiosity getting the better of me I scooped up the note and read it. Max, I know we will never be able to hack into the prison’s computer network again, but it’s all worth it. Setting our tribe’s survival levels higher, spawning in all those materials, and force-taming everything we saw kept Blue busy. She has no idea I managed to get this smuggled through the network. This is a very old relic of a weapon. It dates back all the way to Earth being habitable. BEFORE we even had spaceflight. It's a Psi-Amp from the Ethereal War which is still in working order. I don’t care if you don’t believe we’ve encountered alien life before or not. This isn’t about the truth of millennia old history. This is about us escaping, and you claiming to be psychic. Maybe you are that one in ten million with some measure of extranormal power. Let’s find out. I know this works. My crew lifted it from a private collection for a psion who could actually use it. It was sealed in a stasis field for the last eight centuries. I saw it work. Put this on, and even with their dampening field your powers will work in here and if you’re truly capable of teleportation on your own, then you can get the two of us out of here. Don’t backstab me. I may be in here, but I have plenty of friends out there. Drake Psychic. Teleport. Amplifier. This was some sort of magic boosting charm! I reached into the small box and pulled out a flexible headband made of a silvery yet dull mat colored metal. The odd thing was the metal flexed and bent just like cloth, even stretching when I pulled at it. But it was metal. It felt cool to the touch, and no amount of pulling or bending left any kind of damage on the band. I frowned, weighing the headband in my left hand for a few moments. This was Chip’s, even though he did steal it. I doubted he could make any real use of it, and I was fairly certain he wouldn’t mind me trying to see if I could make use of it. After all, he was very into the whole ‘surviving’ thing and if I had access to my magic, well, that upped all of our chances by a considerable amount. Should I just slip it on and see if it worked? No. No he loved his stuff. I should ask first. I squirmed slightly, then shook my head and walked across the room to the pile of straw Chip was sleeping on. The Trodoon had curled himself up like a kitten, gently nibbling on his own tailtip while sleeping. My ears drooped sadly as I thought about waking him, but nonetheless I cleared my throat politely and asked “Chip? Hey, Chip? Can you wake up just a minute?” Chip squirmed and moaned, one eye opening. “Mnnmnmnnn?” He asked feebly. I held out the headband. “This fell out of your backpack. A note says it might let me cast spells normally here. May I have it?” I asked. “Sure. I hate that belt. It doesn't match my shirts,” Chip mumbled, rolling over to face away from me, as well as face away from the bright sunlight streaming through the gaps between the wall’s planks. “Please no wake up till the death-orb is going away…” I bit my lip to keep from laughing and nodded politely. “Thanks, Chip.” With that hurdle out of the way I reached up and slipped the headband on, carefully stretching it under my ears, but over my horn so it would stay tightly on my head. The second I let go, the headband went from pleasantly cool to noticeably warm. I felt a few sparks of energy crackle against my fur. My tail raising in alarm I reached up to take the headband off, only to stop as the band emitted a loud humm akin to a vibrating mana transducer, and then hardened, shaping itself into a perfectly fitting circlet, the section near my horn twisting and forming a socket an action which revealed a single large green jewel in the center of the parting section. The moment the jewel was revealed I felt arcane power rush through my veins! I yelped in a mixture of alarm and relief as my vision out whited out, only for my sight to fade back in complete with the faint motes of ambient thaumaturgic current visible to any unicorn. I had assumed the lack of them had been a product of the dampening field, not that my arcane senses were not functioning. I was back. Not in top form, not in full capacity. I’d say about seventy percent. But seventy percent of Twilight Sparkle is more than enough for anypony. Nyota poked her head out of her workshop. “Heard a yelp! Charlie back ye-” Nye called worriedly stopping cold as she noticed the circlet. “Where did you get a crown?” “Chip had it,” I explained with an eager grin. “According to the note, this is some kind of arcane amplification device that a prisoner smuggled in as part of an escape attempt, but Chip stole it. He said I could use it. I can FEEL my magic flowing almost normally. Want me to zap that broken crossbar back together for you?” II bounced on my heels excitedly at the offer. This was great! I’d been practicing with power efficiency for the last fifteen days every chance I got and now I had far, FAR more power to work with! If I combined my available energy with those techniques I could… “I have no idea what I should do!” I giggled. “Nye! What’s something I should try doing with magic? I want to see what happens when I cast a spell using the proper efficiency method but also feed it the amount of power I typically would!” Nye frowned worriedly. “Um, Twi… Yer eyes are glowing. Maybe ye should take that off,” she warned. I blinked and held a hand in front of my face, ears drooping as I noticed my palms were illuminated by a white light. “Woah! Okay, yea, I’m over-channeling. I shouldn’t use this for more than say, an hour,” I said quickly performing the calculations in my head. “Wait, in yer universe a pony’s eyes glow if they are using a lot of magic?” Nyota asked. I nodded. “In mine, that only happens if they are about to literally combust due to having too much energy in them at once,” she replied. I coughed into my hoof. “I um, I’ll have that happen if this lasts for more than an hour. So, seriously. Do you want me to magic anything? If not, I’m putting this in my pocket for later.” Nye nodded. “Aye, see if ye can repair that crossbar. Do that and I’ll have your armor ready in five minutes.” Nye stepped aside, allowing me to pass by her through the doorway. I wasn’t about to do that. Focusing my minds’ eye on the workshop just beyond Nyota, I closed my eyes, gave my magic a little push and teleported next to the workbench my armor stood on with a pop and a flash of lavender light. I broke out into a grin as I rematerialized. “Hehehehe! YES! Oh my gosh you have NO IDEA how much I was missing doing that!” I exclaimed exuberantly before casting a simple repair charm on the iron bar which lay atop the armor in three pieces. My magic’s lavender aura boiled around the three pieces, pulling them into position much like two magnets connecting poll to poll, only for a small flash of brighter magenta light to fuse them back into one solid piece. I heard Nyota take a deep breath behind me. “I am EXTREMELY jealous of you right now,” She admitted with a strained breath. “Now… You’ll take that off, right?” I nodded. “Of course,” I agreed, reaching up and slipping the circlet off with a slight amount of effort due to its perfect fit, then immediately rubbing my forehead as it came off and a mild headache set in. Turning the circlet over in my hands I took a look at the central jewel which was cut into the shape of a stylized shield bearing an X and three star motif and a phrase written in an odd dialect of what I believed to be an offshoot of English which my collar translated as ‘I am watchful, I am relied upon’. “Huh… Interesting motto,” I said to myself before jumping in surprise as the circlet melted back into the odd elastic metal headband. “Woah! Okay, this is cool! I’m taking this home with me! I’ll bet Sky could figure out how to make it safe to just wear as a tiara. I could use a new one. Gold doesn't look very good on me anyways.” Nyota sighed in relief. “Ye have no idea how glad I am that you could take that off,” she admitted giving me a tight hug from behind. “I was worried it was cursed or something.” I laughed. “Don’t worry, Nye. I pretty much already have all the power I’d ever want… Um, well, I do when not in a suppression field. It’s a bit hard for power to tempt me. ‘Hey, want more of that thing you already have whole mountains of?’ ‘No thanks, I’m okay. How about some sandwiches?’” Nyota snickered. “Shwarma was that good, eh?” she asked with a sly smile. I nodded. “Yes! Heh… Well, I guess I’ll let you finish up,” I said as I turned around to leave her workshop. “Wait, one question first, Twi,” Nyota said holding up one hand and giving me an urgent look. “What?” I asked. “Well, we have two options… We can either carry Chip with us and hope he doesn't fall for any reason as we will be flying very high, or we can ask him to stay here incase the rescue party finds this place, and to look for them for us,” Nyota stated simply. “I talked to him last night and he’s okay with either option. But he wanted the decision to be yers. He couldn’t decide what he’d be most useful doing.” I nodded. “That’s easy. He stays here and can tell anyone who is looking for us where we’ve been. His collar uses my translation spell. He can speak more than Zebrican. He can speak everything on Equis… Except sea pony. I never learned sea pony. Hard to learn a language that’s mostly outside your range of hearing,” I admitted with a light blush. It was Nyota’s turn to nod. The zebra’s tail flicking as she thought. “Alright. Other question. I forgot I had two, sorry. Do you want to go to the obelisk and straight to The Center, or try to make contact with the Beastfolk at the lake first?” She asked, quickly elaborating. “If we make contact with them it will take up about three hours to fly up there, and that will burn a LOT of element to do. But they may be able to save Razor, and with one of them to vouch for us it will be easier to get to Starswirl. But we’d be using a drop to travel to The Center instead of an obelisk and uh, there’s sort of a ten percent chance that the teleporter in those things just kills you. Permanently. It’s a technical fault... “Option two, we don’t have much element there’s no time to overhaul your armor to run on promethium, and we’re already in a time crunch and I’m pretty certain that if ye take off your helmet and say hello it’s pretty obvious you’re not a human so they shouldn’t shoot ya on sight. But they could, and if we die over there, we have nothing to fall back on, no way to get our armor back, and will have to abandon the quest. Also Starswirl can definitely help Razor, and it’s not like she’s in danger due to being in suspended animation while uploaded to the obelisk.” I blinked twice and frowned, my tail drooping as I weighed the options. “Um, this is actually a hard choice to make… How about I think about it while you put my suit together and we decide before we take flight?” I asked. Nyota nodded. “Alright. But I’m leaving it up to you. It’s your mission, your call.” A one in ten chance of true permanent death but a guaranteed easier time accomplishing our mission while also risking taking too long and missing out ride home, or safe passage with a significant risk of failing the mission to the point of having to abandon it entirely. Considering what was at stake if we did find Starswirl… Celestia’s mane, this was a hard one! Central Operations Facility - The Observatory Epoch 19005184019 The long warbling cry of the station’s wormhole detection alarm screeched through the facility as it had many times before. Only twice had the alarm ever been expected to sound, once when the other half of the Megalodon Pirate Fleet had announced they would be attempting to free their imprisoned comrades, and now today. Today the station stood ready to repel a potential extra dimensional invasion. The typically empty halls were packed with all manner of soldiers, human, synthetic, and cybernetic forces all packed together, ready to repel boarders. Outside, Elerium Industries defense fleet’s third and tenth wings waited in orbit around the station, ready for anything. An alien princess was held within the ARK system, and her people had said they were coming to get her. For once the board had acted in a timely fashion; mutual fear of an armada of space faring wizards having been more than sufficient to put aside rivalries and protocols to take action. The alarm screeched three times before it was switched off. “All units, systems register five minutes until alien contact. Remember the plan. Do not act outside of the operation parameters. You know the penalties,” an older woman announced over the intercom. “I am handing command of this operation over to Director Green effective immediately. Green has less tolerance for failing to follow the rules than I. Director, you have my permission to enforce corporate law to the letter. Good luck.” The assembled soldiers winced. Green’s infamous reputation permeated most branches of the company, and in a tense situation like this even the purely synthetic humans within the ranks might panic and fire first. “Thank you, Madam President,” Green’s aged voice replied evenly. “Mission Update: As a modification to the prior plan, you will be remaining on station even if the aliens send only a small force into the ARK system itself. It is conceivable they may breach a habitat and cause an escape to occur. “All forces: standby for contact. We are scanning the incoming alien force now.” The intercom crackled as it switched over to a private frequency, connecting the three directors to each other. “Blue, tell me we have good news,” Green pleaded wearily. “If this is anything like the accidental kidnapping of Leanne the Seventh-” “Scans show there are only four distinct entities within the wormhole,” Blue informed, interrupting her superior’s worried rambling. “Good! Good. A commando team. Let’s hope it’s not merely a scouting party,” Green exclaimed happily at first, finishing with a worried half-groan. “This facility was never built to withstand an attack from an organized military force…” “Well, it could be more than just the four,” Red stated with some apprehension. “These four are carrying equipment with them, much like Nyota was. One of the items is showing up as being shielded from our scans, but from what we can tell it’s dimensionally transcendent and could possibly hold any number of troops inside in a form easily carryable by a small team of scouts.” “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Green decided. “Where are they heading?” “Cluster One, The Island, within the Footpaw at coordinates seventy-nine point five, thirty point six,” Red answered immediately. “The exact point Twilight arrived. No way that’s a coincidence. This is a rescue team.” “What do we have on their biology?” Green asked next. “Anything? Can we tell if they have breathing equipment?” “Attempts to reconfigure their biology have proven impossible. Nor can we install implants,” Blue informed urgently. “They each possess a nanite colony already. My attempts to inject our own and hack theirs have been thoroughly thwarted.” “Do they have breathing equipment?” Green repeated with more urgency. “Actually, I think they do!” Red said with a relieved smile as he inspected his monitor. “They each are carrying a fairly wide array of equipment… I can’t get specific details. We don't have any frame of reference on their technology. But logic dictates commandos sent to another dimension would be equipped with the best possible survival equip-” “The female unicorn is dead!” Blue exclaimed, her voice warping in shock. “What?!” Green demanded. “Did the portal do-” “No! No she’s alive,” Blue corrected after a moment. “This is… Very odd. Several of her vital organs are vestigial, a series of symbiotic organisms have taken over their function. Red, you will find this data interesting and potentially useful.” “Do they all have this condition?” Red asked curiously. “And what are we dealing with? We know the unicorns are powerful psions.” “Agreed. If we have too many spellcasters within the habitat they would likely overwhelm the barrier. It’s millennia old technology after all. Hasn’t been much need for suppression fields and all that,” Green worried, rubbing his hands together as anxiously as the soldiers under his command fidgeted with their guns. “Negative. We have a male of a winged phenotype we have not seen before. However, it would be consistent with Subject Delta’s biology, filling in the missing twenty five percent of her anatomy and explaining why her wings are feathered, not insectoid,” Blue informed. “We also have another of the insectoid variety, though with far less energy than Subject Gamma. “The last member of the group is of the same new phenotype as the male. No, no it’s not. There is an energy field applied, warping the physical form. Similar to Subject Gamma’s disguise ability, but far more energetic. Scanning further… Field penetrated. Acquiring correct data... She is a… Uh… Calculating...” Blue trailed off, emitting a few electronic crackles in a rather terrified sounding flurry. “Blue, what is it?” Red asked, eyes widening with worry. The AI may have been annoying, but she still counted amongst his semi-work friends. “Are you malfunctioning?” Green asked. “This is NOT the time for a cognitive failure Blue!” Red spun in his chair, quickly pulling up the last file Blue had been accessing, immediately freezing. “Um… But- I, who- Ho- WAH?!” He stammered, staring at the data sheet analyzing the final member of the inbound squad. “Don’t you short out on me too, Red!” Green demanded angrily. “What is it!?” “I- I don’t understand,” Red stammered breathlessly. “This can't be! It makes NO sense at all!” “Error Code Fifty Four: This device has failed and is undergoing a reset,” Blue said without a single hint of emotion. “FOR THE LOVE OF HUMANITY! WHAT IS IT!?” Green roared, the intercom shrieking as the mic peaked. “Garbage data! It has to be garbage data,” Red dismissed. “There is no way this creature is… I can’t even describe- It’s like if a gray goo weapon glitched out and incorporated organic tissues into its own mechanism, then evolved on its own for millions of years! This data is showing technologically biological material components, into which a neural pattern identical to what I presume the pony average to be has been placed.” “She shut down over seeing a cyborg?” Green asked skeptically. Red shook his head firmly. “No, not a cyborg,” he said quickly. “This thing is showing up as inorganic organic tissue… A melding of technology and biology shaped by biological principles and organic components shaped with mechanical principles. A third ‘branch’ on the biological to technological spectrum which would be if the two extremes could exist in perfect harmony for mutual- “Eh, look, it’s garbage data. The energy field around that pony is messing with our sensors. No wonder Blue shut down, she was trying to procedurally examine this- This bullshit! We’ll have to adjust her programming to not analyze everything in full if we want her to try again.” Green sighed. “No time for that. They are emerging…” He said as she switched the intercom back to the station wide channel. “All forces: The aliens have dispatched a four man commando team. It has just arrived within Habitat One. Standby incase the habitat is breached. Reinforcements are possible at this time as this could be a wave of scouts. “Remember: Do not fire first. The aliens are allowed to retrieve their citizens and go unmolested so long as they do not breach containment, disrupt the system in a way likely to cause a prision break, or appear to be threatening critical systems. The board wishes to avoid starting an interdimensional war. If any of you fire without one of the previously mentioned justifications applying, you will be given an indefinite prison sentence within Habitat Six.” Red winced. Eternally living, unable to stay dead, within the harshest arid climate known to exist on any planet or megastructure with only the worst psychopaths in the galaxy who CHOSE to live in that habitat for company. The company was getting worse every day. “I think it’s time to look for new employment,” he mumbled to himself as he began Muffin “Derpy” Mello - 18th of Lunar Dawn, 17 EoH The Footpaw - The Island Allons~y. Why? Why did that one word catch on so well? He told me he’d only ever said it like that twice. The TV show just went nuts with it for whatever reason. Ayna rolled her eyes affectionately as Sky vanished into the portal, then raced through the air to fly through after him with a cry of “Geronimo!” Heh. I liked Ay. Always continuing her brother’s references in an adorably geeky fashion. I should use one too. Remembering that time was short I looked over my shoulder and gave the still nervous Lyra a smile. “Come along, Pond!” I called before stepping forwards to go through the gate myself. Lyra blinked in confusion. “Who's Pond?” “I’ll explain later,” I informed as the world faded out around me. WOO! Double reference. And ones he actually DID say a lot. Trigger Siblings one, Derpy two. Despite being based on D’ni books, the portal was quite disorienting. For a brief moment I felt as if gravity’s pull couldn’t make up its mind on where exactly to pull me towards. A kaleidoscope of geometric noise slid past me on all sides while haunting almost musical choruses echoed in my ears. The madness only lasted a moment, and then I was standing on a very lovely beach next to Sky and Ayna who were busy looking around themselves, and out across the water, getting oriented. Ah! First time Travelers! Nothing’s quite like the first time. All of those eager expectations for some bizarre alien landscape unknowable without having seen it dashed to pieces as you find yourself in a fairly normal looking place. They would be disappointed somewhere deep down, and not show it. Then we’d discover what made this world unique and BOOM! Suddenly it’s the best thing ever again. I smiled and shook my head happily. Preparing myself to well, live. Equis was different from a lot of worlds I’d been to before. Especially my home. Good different, but different. The majority of places I’d visited were less… Civil. I had to get ready to protect myself, and my friends. Just incase this was anything like the Wastelands. Or the Sixth World. Or any of the multiple planets I’d visited while flying with that one smuggler and his bear friend. Good times! Lyra appeared in front of me amid a pinkish flash of light accompanied by a slurping sound followed by a pop. She immediately turned her head around, looking over the beach along with Sky and Ayna. Of course, she was the first one to say anything. “It’s… It’s a normal beach,” she said, her ears drooping slightly clearly disappointed. I gave the beach a quick look myself. Yep, typical tropical beach full of nice soft looking yellow sand, rolling dunes, a cool cliff at our backs, topped by jungle full of bamboo, coconut palms, and big ‘ol banyan trees. It reminded me of the time I’d visited the Ritir Empire as a hatchling with my mom. For a heartbeat I wondered if we were on my homeworld, but the blue sky put that thought to bed almost immediately. Sort of hard for a pink sky to turn blue. I’m pretty sure mom would have written to tell me about that. Also NaN would have mentioned it. Though to be fair, I could have missed it despite having been there a half an hour ago… But the lack of any of the three moons visible in the sky proved this wasn’t home. “Yep! A nice tropical beach,” I agreed cheerfully. “This is nice. Usually I wind up in wastelands, monster filled jungles, dystopian cities, or other non-vacation feeling places.” “I was hoping for a human city,” Lyra admitted dejectedly. “Eh, we’ll probably find one. Those guys are everywhere,” I said, waving a hoof dismissively. “Throw a rock into the jungle and we’ll probably hit a human’s hut. I give it sixty three percent odds. Fifty fifty on them being nice or cruel though. The whole species is a mixed bag in every place I’ve ever been.” Lyra squeaked happily, too excited to speak, and immediately began to look along the beach for a suitable throwing rock. “I like those odds!” She declared as she combed the beach. I may have made an error... Sky nodded, still looking out across the ocean. “Are they really that common within the multiverse? Also, Derpy, you’re a Pegasus. Can you see that odd shimmer on the horizon too?” He asked, clearly trying to look at something just beyond the rather conical tree covered island to our right. I narrowed my left eye, and closed my right so I could focus on the potential far away object. “Yes, they really are. Yeah, that looks… Is that a heat shimmer over the water?” I asked with a thoughtful frown. “Maybe,” Sky agreed with a nod. “But… And this could just be the heat shimmer reflecting against the sky, or some weird cloud, but do you see it above too?” I looked upwards, part of me wishing I could dismiss my polymorph spell around my friends so I could look with a better set of eyes. Or rather eye. I’d never been able to cast a transformation spell which didn't have my lazy eye carry over. Heh. I nodded. “No, no that’s the same shimmer. But it looks curved. Which means it’s probably-” “A force field,” Sky finished for me. “Which would explain why we had such a hard time portaling into here. We had to pierce this field as well as the dimensional walls. Good thing that won't be a problem for the return trip now that I know about it!” Ayna nodded in agreement. “It’s definitely something that would mess with a portal. No wonder we had to try six different gate configurations… We should get to business. Twilight emerged on this exact spot. She was looking out across this sea at that island too. Would she go there, or head inland?” I gave the island a closer look, squinting slightly to try and make out any shapes besides the mound of trees. A closer look reveals some odd shapes within the trees, which I immediately stared at hoping to see anything more than the vague boxy outlines of what I presumed to be a building. I frowned. Buildings. Built in such a way as to be hidden as much as possible within the trees and probably camouflaged. I had to see if they were safe before going over there, or telling anypony else about them. I hoped I could still cast a clairvoyance spell. I’d been on vacation for a long time and that spell had always given me troubl- “Uh, Derpy?” Lyra called from a distance. “You’re used to hopping around universes, right? How do you tell if an alien animal is dangerous? Or um, you know, an animal and not a person?” Oh. Yes. That’s important to know information. I turned to look for Lyra, noticing Sky putting on a pair of sunglasses to shield his eyes from the rather bright glare of the sun on the water and sand. Lyra was standing maybe twenty yards down the beach to our right, whatever creature she was looking at suddenly became irrelevant. Because there was a massive black metal skyscraper floating in the sky on a beam of red light! “WOAH!” I exclaimed, ears drooping in intimidation. “That thing is HUGE! My mom would think that is huge! AND SHE IS HUGE!” Sky and Ayna snickered. “Did you just make a ‘yo momma’ joke about your own m- WOAH!” Ayna asked as she turned to face me, and saw the tower too. “Oh, well. That’s pretty cool,” Sky said, having apparently turned to look as well. “That thing is like what… A third the size of the Phoenix?” “Yeah, probably. That or a quarter. Hard to tell from this distance,” Ayna agreed. “If that’s a spacecraft, which is probably is, I mean come on, it’s got anti-grav, that’s what’s generating the force field. It would be logical to ask about Twilight there.” “Good idea. That thing definitely has the tech to detect our portal. They know we’re here, and nothing incinerated us or dispatched drones soo… I guess we pop on over and ask if they’ve seen other ponies,” Sky said as he trotted down the beach past me heading towards the towering thing, still looking up at it. “Okay, spaceship, cool,” Lyra said with a nervous laugh. “But seriously look down and to the right of the big buck off red glowing tower and please help me figure out if this thing eats meat or not!” Remembering Lyra's very valid question I looked down, searching for what she was looking at. It was very easy to spot. Because it was HUGE. A big round, elephant like creature with a lizard’s tail, a super long neck to make a giraffe jealous, and an odd turtle-like face, all covered in thick blue and green blotchy hide was calmly but slowly walking out of the jungle towards the sea, it’s long neck starting to dip down to take a drink. “No claws,” I assessed, looking at it’s stumpy feet. “Probably an herbivore. Really big for one though.” Mom would love hunting something her own size. What dragon wouldn’t? Sky turned his head, finally looking in the same direction as Lyra and I. He froze, reaching up to his face with both his forehooves, pulling his sunglasses off as his ears perked and his tail raised with an incredulous flick. "Holy bucking shit! It's a dinosaur!” Sky yelped, his voice almost sing-song in surprise. “Luna's tits, what the buck!" Ayna’s head swiveled, the changeling looking at the creature in mild surprise. “Oh, hey. It’s a brontosaurus. Neat!” She said in the same manner a pony might if they found a bag of mints in an old jacket pocket. Sky continued to stand there, jaw hanging, glasses falling from his hoof into the sand with a plop. ”Oh my bucking god! Bucking dinosaurs! Holy shit, what the BUUUU~UU~UUUCK!" He reiterated almost fancoltishly, his wings fluttering happily. I couldn’t help but smile. “There it is!” I giggled. “Sky’s discovered what he likes about Traveling. How did you recognise that creature anyways?” “Actually this is my second one,” Sky corrected with a huge grin. “This one is just really cool!” “It’s in the Phoenix's database as an extinct creature which inhabited our planet some four hundred million years ago,” Ayna explained. “A few of the games stored in the computer use dinosaurs as enemies or creatures and Sky really loves a few of the-” Sky’s wings buzzed excitedly, taking him into the air for a moment. “Oh my gosh! What if we find a lystrosaurus?” Sky exclaimed, turning to grab Ayna by her shoulders. “Promise me we are not leaving here without a adorable lizard puppy if we find one!” Ayna frowned sadly, I could tell she was about to dash Sky’s hopes and dreams before his heart got too set on them. Poor guy. “Sky, that’s a bronto over there,” Ayna said slowly, her ears drooping apologetically. “That would mean this universe is Earth, but in the late Jurassic period, and with an alien spacecraft over there. Lystrosaurus lived a hundred million years before-” Ayna’s explanation was cut short as a huge black, sort of hunched over bipedal lizard-like monster with a square head exploded from the jungle, bellowing an earsplitting roar as it raced towards the brontosaurus, slamming into it’s side as its jaws closed around its neck, tackling the massive beast to the ground with a sound like a thunderbolt splitting rock! “-never-bucking-mind!-Land-That-Time-Forgot-rules-apply.-LEG-IT!” Ayna screeched, turning around and sprinting for the cover of a group of boulders a short distance behind us on the beach. The four of us bolted for cover, not wanting the monster a mere three hundred meters away to spot us. The moment I reached the closest rock, I snapped my wings open, vaulting over the top and landing next to Ayna who was huddled close up against the side of the rock. Sky and Lyra joined us a heartbeat later, Lyra looking a little afraid, Sky expressing a mixture of terror and exhilaration. “That was so cool!” Sky exclaimed with a huge grin. “Did you see that? Shoulder checked a bronto all ‘I’m a motha-fuck’n T-Rex!’ and it was! It was a T-Rex!” “Yeah, and if you don’t shut up it will hear us and use us for dessert!” Lyra hissed urgently, her face white as can be. “Did you see those teeth?! If that thing bites me one of those is DEFINITELY finding my heart and I am REALLY SURE those would count as a steak!” Sky nodded twice. “Oh yeah, I know, that thing is super dangerous,” he said, still smiling. “I’m just still really excited. This will wear off soon. Anywho, big ass carnos everywhere. Do you know what that means?” I shook my head no. Sky reached into the survival pack he’d brought and removed a folded up blue jacket and pants made from what looked like some sort of flexible polymer and proceeded to put it on, revealing both garments to have a high-tech armored aesthetic to them, while still looking like clothing. “This means you should all reach into your bags and slide into your puncture proof armored clothing with built in shield generators. You know, since we know we won't be appearing in the middle of a town now, and actually should be walking around heavily armed,” Sky explained, reaching back into his bag and pulling out a large black case, which he immediately opened. “Then open up this box, and start assembling your plasma pistol. As soon as we find a safe area, I’ll get some equipment out of my Lab-in-a-Bag and whip up some bigger guns.” Lyra nodded instantly. “You had me at pants,” she said, trying to lighten her mood as she dug into her pack. Ayna took a deep breath to calm herself, closed her eyes, and burst into green flames as she shapeshifted, her exoskeleton becoming extremely shiny, but otherwise seemingly not changing. “Good, I can shapechange!” She exclaimed happily. “I was worried that might not work.” I could feel some kind of anti-magic field being projected around us. I had since I’d arrived here. I figured that Ayna and Lyra could feel it too. I wasn’t worried though. Marrathian sorcery is very efficient, and I doubted anything I ever learned would draw enough power for the field to matter. Equestrian magic, on the other hand, being designed by a species that were pretty much living mana funnels... “So you made yourself shiny to test?” I asked curiously tilting my head to one side. Ayna shook her head in response, causing her long mane to swish back and forth. “No. I turned my exoskeleton into ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene,” she answered. I blinked twice. “Ay doesn't need armor. She just made her outer bits into the same material inside these jackets,” Sky explained for me. “And I’m a wizard. I already have guards and wards on myself… And an implanted shield generator. Which will be doing most of the work thanks to the lower ambient thaumaturgic radiation here. Yay for tech based backups!” Ayna said flashing me a smile before frowning. “Um, but you don’t so you should put on the suit and get a gun. Heck, I can fire lasers from my horn but I’m still putting mine together.” I bit my lip, thinking things through. Normally I remained my pony self when I traveled. But these were my friends, and this place was very dangerous. I’d never seen any place with carnivores that big which could move that quietly. Except for back home. And back home, well, I could take something like that T-Rex on and have a really good chance of winning. Assuming it didn’t have any tricks up it’s tiny sleeves. With Ayna and Lyra’s magic limited, and our immediate access to technological weapons not the best case scenario, I would have to pick up the slack. Admittedly I’d been the one to suggest not going through armed incase we appeared inside someone's home or a town. So that was on me. Which meant it was only fair to use the full extent of my natural abilities. But... I’d made a lot of friends on a lot of worlds. I was always afraid of being my normal self around them. Not mentally. There was only one Derpy. I was afraid of being myself physically. Always worried they’d be afraid of me afterwards. But these three? Would they? Sometimes people weren't. I’d explained myself to Dusk once before. She’d taken it well, but well, she wasn’t exactly a normal pony herself, now as she? I closed my eyes for a moment to think. Lyra was a vampire. Even after hollow Shades was forced to go public and Lyra and her friends revealed their true natures as part of the PR campaign for redeeming that ‘rehab center for supernatural monsters’ in the public eye, she was still feared by many ponies who recognised her and remembered. She knew what it was like to be feared for no reason. I could trust her. Ayna was a changeling. Same boat there. Sky was a dick, but not an asshole. He also already knew that I was not what I appeared to be, but not exactly what. He was also smart enough to understand that one’s form is meaningless, it's the mind that matters. I mean, he had a changeling sister who I’d seen become a beanbag for her wife and yet Sky continued to hold a conversation with Ayna as if she wasn’t currently furnature. He’d understand. “Derpy?” Lyra asked curiously. “Are you okay?” I nodded. “Yes. I was just… Thinking,” I explained. “About how you’d be much safer in armored clothing?” Sky asked snarkily while flashing me a smile. “Don’t worry it resizes to you.” I shook my head. “No. About how I can trust you to not treat me any differently,” I replied, taking a nervous breath. “I- I wouldn’t do this under normal circumstances, and when we get back to Equestria or get anywhere near Twilight, I’m reapplying my polymorph spell. But… Well, I’m perfectly fine here without weapons or armor so long as I don’t live in this form, and use the one my mother gave me instead.” Ayna blinked. “I THOUGHT you had a transformation spell on you!” She declared with a triumphant smile. “But I take it it’s not an attempt to fix your eye?” I shook my head. “Nope. I’m actually a Halfdragon,” I admitted, blushing with embarrassment. “Long story short, my homeworld is called Mar’rath. Dragons there are very different from Equestria’s dragons. We can’t reproduce with other species and make hybrids. So when I say Halfdragon, that’s not biological. It’s cultural, metaphysical, and literal. “It means that half of my being is draconic, and half is not. In my case, my mind, heart and soul are a pegasus’s. The species I was born as. That’s half of my being. The other half is my body, which is a dragon’s. Specifically a Cloud Dragon’s. “I was adopted by a dragoness. I couldn’t exactly play with the village’s hatchlings safely because they’d accidentally kill me. So she used very powerful magic to transform me into the same kind of dragon as herself, permanently. This body I’m using right now via my own transformation spell is how I looked originally, just you know, grown up and not a five year old filly like I was when I got lost so hard I wound up in another reality. “Oh! Um, Mar’rathian dragons possess a very limited shapeshifting ability, this is one of the four forms I can take at will. Please think of me like this, okay? I’m not different at all in my head or heart.” Sky hummed. “This would explain your strength,” he noted with a simple nod. Lyra nodded in agreement. “Yeah! What pegasus can splinter a ceiling beam by accidently back hoofing it?” She wondered. “Sooo what do you look like ‘naturally’? Um, I mean, unnaturally? Because you were born a pegasus and then later transformed so-” I held up a hoof for her to stop, then trotted a dozen or so meters away and then closed my eyes, focused on the active spell, and canceled it. Then, at the same time, I cast a Reduce Person spell, just to make sure I didn’t scare my friends too much. I felt my body tingle as the two white rings of light flowed across me in opposite directions, first horizontally, then vertically, the change occurring in the blink of an eye. When I opened my eyes, I looked down at my friends. I stood on my four legs, standing six meters tall at my shoulder. I could feel my long tail lashing nervously behind me. My tungsten talons clenched, scoring lines in the sand below me. I could feel my metallic gray scales absorbing the extra intense sunlight, bolstering my power. This sun felt nice. Almost like home. My still feathered wings twitched nervously, as I worried about their react- Lyra grinned, her eyes dilating in glee. “Awwww! You look like someone drew the foal of a quadrupedal dragon and a pegasus! You’re adorable!” I blushed, my ears standing up as a wave of relief washed over me. “Um, yes. We do look a lot like ponies… Same sort of ears, general muzzle shapes, colors available-” “You still have your cutiemark too. I guess that sticks with you through transformation. Makes sense since it’s a manifestation of your spirit, and this is just a ‘bonus body’, kinda” Sky noted. “I guess- Wait a second… Are your scales metal?” I nodded twice. “Yes. Long complicated explanation. Let’s avoid it. We have a mission to do.” “Can you dip your head down?” Ayna asked. I complied, lowering myself to her eye level. “And for the record, while this is normal for me, I feel more at home as a pega-” Ayna squeed. “I knew it! Your mane’s color became a stripe down your back along the little spines! Okay, this is a nice surprise. Way nicer than winding up in Jurassic Park. Especially since you think you can tangle with a Rex in this body,” she said with a relieved smile. I narrowed my eyes indignantly. “I don’t think I can. I know I can. I’ll fly above it and electrocute it…” I mumbled. “Well, assuming it’s not a sapient life form and we can’t reason with it.” “You breathe lightning?” Ayna asked, clearly surprised. “Is that normal for your world?” I nodded. “For this subspecies, yes. Most dragons breathe different things. Fire is pretty common. Cloud Dragons do an electrified mist.” “Fair enough,” Sky decided. “I’m sure you were nervous about showing us this… But honestly I still see you as a transformed pegasus. You're a pegasus who knows the Dragon Soul Take-Over. You don’t have to worry. ” Lyra nodded twice. “Right. That’s what you are. I mean, sure, you spent most of you life like this, right? But you were born a pegasus, and well, I know lots of pegasus mares and you act like the nicest one ever soooo, yeah. “Oh! And don’t worry, I won't tell anypony. Pinkie Promise.” I sighed in relief. “Oh thank goodness, I was worried-” Ayna shapeshifted, giving herself mammalian eyes to roll them sarcastically at my worry before turning them back to her normal jewel-like orbs. “Derpy, seriously. You’re a pony. You started out as a pony. You ACT like a pony. You have a transformation ability given to you by your mom so you could play with friends and not get squished. You just think of yourself as a dragon because you spent most of your fillyhood in that form. But you’re clearly a pony. We know you’re not going to eat us. It’s fine. You’re fine… “Although, being raised by dragons, I’d expect some kind of cultural behaviors to have carried over. I mean, I act a LOT like a pony because I was raised by ponies. Unless… Oh, my, gosh! Do Cloud Dragons hoard muffins!?” Ayna asked, biting her lip to contain a giggle fit. I snickered and shook my head no. “No. We hoard friends, lovers, and mementos of our accomplishments. We’ve got the weirdest hoarding behavior, admittedly. I plan on bringing all of my friends back to the village one day, just so mom can be proud that I’ve made a proper hoard and am all adult now and stuff. Though I do need a permanent mate as the grand jewel before I do that. “As for muffins, well, they are just something I love a lot.” Sky’s ears stood up straight, having spent the entire time examining me. “Your talons are tungsten carbide! You’re a robot! That’s why your scales are actually metal,” he exclaimed in a mixture of surprise and delight. I shook my head quickly. “No. We’re bio-technological hybrid organisms. Naturally occurring cyborgs. The only species on Mar’rath the gods didn’t design. We’re descended from a species of lizards which were assimilated by a malfunctioning doomsday weapon. Technology and biology that co-evolved for… Well we don't know how long. “That makes parts of me are organic, parts of me are inorganic. Good luck telling which is which. Yes I know that’s weird from your perspective, but frankly, your world’s dragons being entirely organic is freakishly weird to me. Especially since they can just walk into lava to bathe... “Um, anyways, you can scan me in this shape later if you’re super curious. Right now you three should focus on finding Twilight, I’m going to focus on protecting you from other carnivores.” “Right!” Sky exclaimed, standing up and slicing his right foreleg into the bracer-grip of his plasma pistol. “Our party has its tank, and its support. Lyra, you work as the scout and sniper for the Knights of the Rampant Moon, right?” Lyra nodded. “Mhm. I’m our DPS,” she informed. “Which leaves me with battlefield control,” Ayna noted with a satisfied nod. “So, to the tower?” Sky nodded, opening his mouth to agree when a new roar split the air. This was was much more distant than the Rex had been. It also wasn’t from a monster. This was the roar of a machine. “That’s an Aston Martin Vulcan,” Sky said spinning around just in time to see a line of thick white smoke arc up into the sky, heading for the tower. I squinted at the line, my eyes focusing on the moving object and zooming in on it. Well, my good eye at least. My other eye decided to look at Lyra’s flanks. Which was weird because I didn’t find her attractive… Sky, sure. But he was married and- I blinked as the flying humanoid robot or power armor suit came into focus. “That’s a humanoid entity with a jetpack. Possibly a robot or a person in power armor,” I reported, allowing my vision to return to normal. It felt so weird to do that after being a pegasi for decades. I felt uncomfy… We needed to find Twilight so I could be a little fluffy pony again… Or maybe I’d just take this form while we explored and would change back when we reached camp for the day. I mean, I could transition almost instantly. Yes, that would do. Sky reached into his bag, took out a pair of high tech binoculars and took a look at the flying figure for himself, tracking it as it flew to the hovering tower.. “There’s two of them. I wish the sun wasn’t glaring on them so much, I can’t make out any details… Not even colors,” He grumbled. “We should find out what’s over where they came from,” Lyra mused. “They are going to the tower. Two people wouldn’t be attacking it. Obviously they live there and were out in the field doing… Stuff. If they have some project in the jungle over there, that might be a better place to meet the locals than going right to their huge, creepy, possible spaceship.” “I like that plan,” Ayna agreed with a nod. Sky hummed. “Alright. It’s close to the ship anyways. Let’s see… Rangefinder on the smoke, trace it back… Okay! Got the location,” he said triumphantly as he put the binoculars away. “Derpy? Could you protect us if we went through the jungle? It would be faster if we cut straight through.” “Well, probably. But if I have to fight something really big, I’ll have to use my breath. I also will probably lose track of you guys. Um, see how my eye is still all silly? Yeah… That’s a carryover trait. Now, you might be lightning proof, Mister Pegasi, but Ayna and Lyra are not,” I informed with a grin. “Walking along the beach till we get as close as possible it is,” Sky decided with a chuckle before taking on a deadly serious look. Lyra frowned, looking at Sky uncertainly. “Um, what-” “Is the Rex gone?” He asked. I raised my head to look over the rock, only to see the rex vanish back into the jungle, dragging the dead bronto’s carcass in by its neck. I waited a minute after it disappeared into the jungle to make sure t wasn’t coming back, then nodded. “It is now. Been gone a whole minute,” I informed. “Alright…” Sky intoned, clearly trying to do an impression of somepony. “Let’s go!” Sky wheeled around and began to trot down the beach, doing his best to imitate an adventurous tune with his voice. “Dah duh dah daah, duh duh dah DUHDAAA! DAAH-nanah nah nah, naah nananaaah…” I laughed, shook my head, and let everypony else follow after him, taking the rear position in our little adventure line. After all, the body guard needs to watch their charge. “Hey, Derpy?” Lyra asked, gently tapping my right foreleg with a hoof. “Yes?” I asked, leaning down to look at her on her eye level. “Can I ride on your back or would that be-” I gently picked the minty mare up and set her on my shoulders. “There you go,” I said with a small grin. “YES! This is just as cool as I imagined,” Lyra giggled happily as she squirmed into a comfortable place between my shoulderblades. Oh hey! We could do aerial recon together! She’d have a great shot on anything from the air. Maybe we’d even catch Twilight on the ground. ... I hope Twilight found a good cave or something.