Sky Trigger - 18th of Lunar Dawn, 17 EoHSky Trigger - 18th of Lunar Dawn, 17 EoH
Southern Jungle - The Island
“Heh heh heh, morons,” I chuckled as I looked out through the ruined wall at the small army of bandits trying to force their way through the shield I’d just erected.
It’s like they thought their sissy side arms and melee tools would drain it. I had no idea how shield technology worked here, but they would need more firepower than they had to overwhelm the microfusion plants Ayna and I had just set up.
Still smiling from my minute of watching those morons trying to literally club their way through hardlight, I shook my head and turned away from the window. We’d managed to get some of the house restored to a useable condition. I’d had plenty of materials in my bag after all.
A few prefabbed scaffolds, pipes, and pieces of sheet metal and we had a second floor on the house again. Not a good second floor, but a big enough one to slice some holes in the walls, stick plasma turrets in them, and set up some overhead plumbing for a shower.
Not a relaxing shower. An emergency shower. When we had to retake the house from those assholes outside after coming back from Chip’s tribe’s pub, several of them had tossed some sort of chemical grenades. No one got hit, but well, if we were later, it’s a good idea to rinse off after being doused in green stuff that smells like the dead.
The shield probably made all of the other defenses unnecessary though. Fifteen centimeter thick hexical plates of hardlight maintained by three fusion plants. You’d need a squad of battlemages to break enough hexes to get a pony inside. Well, within a reasonable amount of time that is.
This place was secure as we could make it. I would have liked to get Ay to inscribe some wards around the place, but magic wasn’t working well here. Also Derpy and Lyra wouldn’t make out for several hours to let Ay convert all that snogging into mana. So arcane defenses were out.
Speaking of Derpy…
“Hey Derps?” I called, looking up through a hole in the roof. “Any sign of Twilight?”
Derpy poked her head down through the hole before shaking it. “Nope. The bandits are bringing in a few more rex’s though. Think that will let them get through?”
I paused for a moment then shrugged. “Eh, maybe after a few hours? Physical force is not really usefull against this kind of shield,” I reminded.
“Sure… But Vault-Tec said their vault doors could withstand a direct nuclear strike. I’ve seen them break from sustained recoilless rifle fire in just a few minutes. Manufacturing defects happen,” she reminded with a nervous frown.
“True. But I guarantee you that the odds of a problem like that are really low when you build things via printing them at nanoscale resolutions. If they do start getting through, feel free to pop out there and eat one,” I said turning to walk towards my lab-in-a-bag.
Sometimes it’s your colthood ideas that are the best ideas. Take a messanger bag, use a space-time compression device to cram a few hundred cubic meters into the bag’s interior, build a manufacturing lab inside it. One portable lab. Inside a bag.
It made my inner ten year old so happy to have actually built something from ‘the list of really cool things that Sky needs now’.
I grabbed hold of a ladder and slipped down to the ground floor, stepping around some of the rubble I had yet to recycle as I made my way to the bag. I wasn’t about to leave here without a sample of the local wildlife… Several samples. Some for me, some for Azur.
My little brother would kill me if I told him we encountered extinct creatures and didn’t get some DNA from them. I’d have to build some containment pods for smaller live critters, a refrigeration unit for blood samples, and-
Lyra sat slumped against one wall, nervously cleaning the combat rifle I’d given her for smaller targets. She’d field stripped the weapon rather expertly. Probably thanks to Luna sending her and the other Knights of the Rampant Moon to Hound for special training. She had the rifle half reassembled, and was currently busily polishing the receiver, having tweaked it with her multitool.
It bugged me that she didn’t ask me to just make something particular in the first place. At least, until I realized she probably wanted something to work on. Lyra hadn’t exactly taken the battle well.
She wasn’t me. I never thought about hurting evil people after the fact. Willpower mixed with stubbornness pulled me through just fine. If they were willing to throw out the rules of civilized society for personal gain, pleasure, or just to watch the world burn, they didn't deserve a second thought once dealt with. Fatally or not.
Nor was Lyra, Ay. Ayna had been psychologically disqualified from Hive’s the mandatory military service due to inviting a spell she called ‘Detect Evil and Turn it into Crispy Bacon’, which she’d then attempted to install as an enchanted tread plate on every last doorway in the hive.
Or in other words, she found it objectively good to actively hunt down and kill evil things. That made sense for a changeling though. Especially one whose first taste of ‘love’ had been the emotions of a foal rapist mid hunt. It’s different when you have to taste evil if it’s nearby.
Lyra wasn’t Derpy either. Derpy was… Well, a dragon. She may have a pony’s instincts, psychology, and mannerisms, but she was still a huge meat-eating predator. Biology would prevent her from feeling bad for hurting prey. Just like it did with griffons and diamond dogs.
Lyra was a pony. Sure, not a normal pony. She was also a Vampire… But vampires don’t kill their prey. They just feed a bit. Just like vampire bats. Besides, I knew she bought synthetic stuff from hospitals, or asked a friend for a nibble. Lyra was just a pony with a dietary requirement.
You can train a pony to fight. But you can't train them to be okay with it. She probably needed a kind hoof.
I took a few steps towards Lyra before clearing my throat. “Hey. Doing alright? Need some water?” I offered with a little smile.
Lyra’s ears swiveled to face me but she didn’t look up from cleaning her new weapon.
“No, I’m okay. Thanks though,” she replied evenly.
“You sure? You look a bit tense,” I pressed.
Lyra bit her lip, then sighed and looked at me. “I guess I wasn’t holding it in that well, huh?”
I nodded.
“I’ll be okay, Sky. I’m a knight. This isn’t my first mission, it’s probably my fifteenth. I’m not messed up from killing those bandits. I’m messed up because well… The mess looked appetizing. That’s not okay. It’s still bothering me that I felt that,” she sighed, leaning her head against the wall.
I winced. “Oh. Well, I get it. I mean, you do eat blood. I’m betting any bat pony who happened to drink blood too would have felt the same. I mean, you pretty much turned those guys into jello for hemovores,” I joked hoping the dark humor would help.
Lyra cringed. “Ugh, not helping dude! That’s exactly what I was thinking…”
“Mmm, sorry. Joke miscalculation,” I said, scratching the back of my head with a hoof.
“Are you sure it’s not because they’re humans?” Ayna asked, trotting into view with a bunch of sheet metal and a welding torch suspended in her arcane grip.
Lyra giggled. A genuine giggle. “Ayna, no. I’m okay with having hurt some. I’m not naive, I’m not an idealist. There’s good and bad in every species, and they attacked US. That’s not a problem for me,” she dismissed. “I mean, well, if they were the FIRST one’s I’d met that would probably get to me. But they’re not. I have a sister, you know.”
“Good thing she’s came home to set a good first impression then,” I replied with a grin. “What the hell is she calling herself these days anyways? She’s on nickname what… Seven?”
Ayna and Lyra laughed, flashing huge grins at me for a moment.
“Yes… And she’s going by Seven now,” Lyra answered. “Seventh shot at a name that wasn’t ‘Lyra‘ as well, happens to be Seven. It’s the percent divergence of the parallel universe she grew up in.”
Ayna nodded twice. “And her marefriend changed her name to Amber. Oh! That reminds me, Amber asked if we could find a way to change her fur color some time. She doesn't want to be mistaken for our Fluttershy since the Ponyville refugees are staying with us now.
“I forgot to tell you that. We’ve been really busy with this project. Sort of took a lot of attention.”
I nodded, making a mental note to give the synthetic mare a helping hoof when we got back. “No problem,” I replied. “Welp, I’m going to get some science gear together. Once those guys outside realize they can’t break through, I’m going to catch me some dinos!”
I turned and resumed walking towards my bag, overhearing Ayna talking to Lyra very well thanks to the metal walls around us.
“If it helps you feel better, I heard a rumor that the author of the Human Memoirs is going to put a character you created into the next book,” Ayna informed casualty.
Heh. ‘Heard a rumor’. Sly bug.
“No way!” Lyra exclaimed eagerly. “I don't believe that for a second, but you’re into that series too? OH! Did you read Meep’s other series, Voyage into the Heart of Mars? I LOVE that one but I can't find anypony else who read it, not even on Equis-Net forums.”
Oh. My. Luna.
I stopped and turned around, wishing I had a bag of popcorn as I watched Ayna stand completely still giving Lyra a thousand yard stare.
“Lyra… You write the author all the time…” Ayna mumbled disbelievingly.
Lyra frowned, tiling her head for a moment. “Oh! Oh right she lives in the Emerald hive. She’s probably way more popular with you changebugs, isn’t she? Heh. You know, as a joke, I once switched my friend Meep’s mailing address with hers. It took them six years to get that fixed. Heh heh… Good times! Thanks, remembering that old prank cheered me up.”
Ayna’s left eye twitched slightly. “You… You visited me in my cabin… You saw the number and-” Ayna took a deep breath. “Okay, you’re not this dumb. You’re bucking with me. You have to be!”
Lyra frowned, genuinely confused. She actually didn’t know. Somehow.
“You know that it’s a pen name, right?” I prompted, giving Lyra an amused look.
“Um, no?” Lyra answered with a frown. “I mean, I didn’t. Sure I know that the author’s name is halfway Equish and halfway Changelish. You move ‘the to the front to fix the syntax, translate Meep to Equish and you get ‘The Silly Changeling’, but I know a different bug who is named Meep, so changelings do name their nymphs ‘Silly’. I thought it was her real name incorporated into a pun.”
Ayna groaned and rubbed her face with a hoof. “No! I use that pen name because I find my stories to be enjoyably silly!”
Lyra blinked, tilting her head to one side. “You use it?”
“YES!” Ayna snapped. “How can you not know that already!? You know my home address, you’ve been to it, you’ve seen my horn writing, I’ve signed everything you’ve ever mailed in-”
“Prove it!” Lyra demanded skeptically.
Ayna shape changed into the unicorn body she often used in order to roll her eyes. “You mailed me in a fifteen page long rambling letter asking about human mating rituals across established culture so as to better roleplay with your marefriend. And I gave you an honest factual repp-”
I made it halfway to my bag just before the epic fangirl squee hit, and I was forced to make a hasty exit through a hole in a nearby wall to save my eardrums from rupturing.
“Vampiric lung capacity has to be a thing,” I grumbled as I rubbed my left ear to get the ringing to stop.
“Yeah,” Chip agreed sadly. “She scared that compy away…”
I looked to my right, spotting the little green dino perched atop a rock at the edge of the shield, staring out into the jungle with the saddest eyes this side of Applebloom.
“Are you hungry? I think I packed some meat in the survival kits. I could make you something,” I offered.
Chip shook his head. “That’s okay. I… I have needs. I need to hunt. Twilight told me that people are afraid of dying, so I don’t like hunting them anymore. But I still need to do it. And that was a really fat red compy. The red ones are really tasty, and they run really fast! They are fun to chase.”
I couldn’t help but laugh and walk over to the little guy. I’d worked with dragons and griffons before, it’s not like I was shy around carnivores. “Really? We’re under attack by twenty or so bandits and you wanted to go outside of the shield for a meal?”
Chip nodded twice. “Yes! Because I could steal their stuff on the way back in… But the shield made it impossible, and the knew it. He just stood there, hopping around. Right in front of me. Like a poophead!” Chip grumbled, crossing his arms angrily over his chest.
I frowned, and scratched my chin, a confused humm escaping my lips. “Did I forget to tell you show my shields work?” I asked.
“You don’t have to! Nyota showed me how shield generators work and what they can do. It’s a solid wall made of light, so I can’t pass through the shield. Not unless you turn it off, I remember. It’s machines. I don’t forget machines!” Chip proclaimed proudly.
“Uh, Chip,” I said bending down to get on his eye level. “I’m sorry, but I clearly didn’t tell you how MY shields work. We’re not from this place, we don’t use their toys. We use mine.
“I scanned your biosignature into my watch so our turrets wouldn’t shoot you. The shield responds to you too. Any of the hexes you touch become permeable for as long as you touch them. That way you can move through the shield, and also stick a gun out of it to shoot. You can go in and out all you want.”
Chip blinked then hopped forwards and reached out to touch the closest neon-green hexagon, cheeping eagerly as the bright light dimmed and his talon passed through the hex.
“Cool!” He cheered, coiling his legs to jump through, landing on the other side with a plop.
An instant later he turned around and hopped back inside. Then he turned and jumped back through again, and again
“In! Out! In! Out! In! Out!” He giggled happily before coming to a stop outside the barrier, tail perking as if in realization. “Ooo! You could make really cool armor from this stuff! You could just walk into it and then tell it to be hard.”
HURK! He was like the colt Pinkie and I hadn’t had yet.
“Heck yeah you could!” I agreed, grinning ear to ear. “In fact, we should! Come on, let’s go build you some cool hardlight armor.”
Chip turned to look at me his eyes widening eagerly. “I CAN HAVE SCIENCE CLOTHES!??”
Nyrrrrgh! Okay, no, we weren't leaving him. He was mine now. I’d radio Pinkie the second we were home and tell her I found our long lost dinocolt and to get a welcome home party ready. She’d understand instantly.
“Armor,” I corrected. “But yes, I’ll make you a lab coat too. A blue one would look good on you. Come on inside.”
Chip jumped, eager to begin. “Awesome!” He exclaimed, rushing forwards to leap back through the shield.
Chip jumped, starting to fly through the air. The air which suddenly flickered.
My pegasi senses screamed a silent instinctive warning. Telling me that static electricity had just poofed into existence across… Everything! Everything outside my shield.
Chip’s nose passed through the shield.
The static swirled, the energy pooling around hundreds of small objects, including Chip. Or at least every bit of him outside the shield. Almost as if someone was setting up the world's dirtiest, most wide beam teleport of all ti-
My hoof moved of it’s own accord, launching out and grabbing Chip’s muzzle, yanking him through the shield faster than his leap would carry him.
But not fast enough.
The world outside vanished for a second, as if a massive camera flash had gone off in every conceivable angle. Chip screeched, becoming a good three kilograms lighter as the transport beam snatched away most of his tail.
I pulled the screaming Troodon close to me, avoiding the stump of his tail, my face shifting between horrified and serious. “SHIT! It will be okay! We’ll fix this. I can get a prosthetic made and-”
The sky flickered, transforming from a typical blue sky to the cold black of space as a booming yet emotionless voice filled the air.
“All prisoners are to return to their homes immediately. Lockdown is now under effect,” the vaguely female voice informed. “Prisoners still outside their homes within twenty minutes will have their sentences doubled and be transferred to Scorched Earth. Wild creatures have been put into stasis. Tamed creatures will enter stasis once dismounted. The Engram System is offline. Prisoners who die will not be able to respawn until the lockdown has been lifted.”
That didn’t bode well…
I turned to run back into the house, assuming that our intrusion had finally been detected. As I turned I saw it.
A human wouldn’t have seen it. I knew that for an absolute fact. But my pegasi eyes could just barely make it out. In the sky above, a ring of many mushroom-shaped space stations stretched out through the cosmos for as far as the eye could see. The sixth one in the line was under attack.
A small cloud of dots swarmed around it. Purple and red flashes of light streaking between the dots.
Ah. We weren't discovered. Someone was attacking. Good. That meant there was time.
“It hurts,” Chip whimpered, clinging to my barrel, his talons digging in deep enough to draw blood.
That was okay.
“It will be okay. I promise. I’ll build you a new tail right now, or we’ll see if we can’t get the medkit to make a stimpack to just grow yours back. Just hold on, we’ll get you pain killers right now. I promise,” I said as soothingly as I could as I rushed back through the hole in the wall. “Ay! Chip got partially teleported! Medkit, NOW!”
“M-make me a tail?” Chip whimpered through a pain clenched face.
Lyra rushed over, eyeing the injury before gasping in horror. “Luna! It’s not even a flush cut. What backasswards discount bin teleport are they using!?” She exclaimed in pure horror. “OH HAY NO! That’s a molecular disassembler method, you can totally tell!”
“WHAT!?” Ayna exclaimed, rushing over to look for herself. “Holy shit, it is! Barbarians! Don't’ worry Chip, we’ll fix this right up. My big brother is great with machines, he’ll make you a robotic tail you can wear till we can heal it for you. You won't even know-”
“Robot tail?” Chip asked weakly.
“... I think that’s a vote to skip the stimpack, Ay,” I said as I rushed towards my bag to get to work. “Do you just want a cybernetic tail? That’s what you call robotic parts that are permanently attached. We can do that. It could have gadgets, anything you want!”
“Please,” Chip whimpered into my shoulder.
“No problem. We’ll get you painkillers and whip up something cool for you,” I promised.
And then we’d find out how to hurt the everliving shit out of whoever did this to him.
Twilight - Day 16
Solice - The Center
“How will we get out of here in time!?” I asked as I ran forwards, keeping my eyes locked on the rapidly approaching mountainside fortress.
“We’ll have to take a drop. They stay down for an hour,” Nyota replied instantly.
“Doesn't that have a chance to just flat out kill us?” I asked, cringing at the thought.
“Yeah. But- Where the hay are they taking this?” Nyota demanded.
“Some star system far away from here. How should I know? I’ve never seen a map of this world,” Starswirl snapped. “Stop interrupting me, or I’ll botch this whole-”
Starswirl was cut off as an emotionless voice seemed to come from everywhere at once.
“All prisoners are to return to their homes immediately. Lockdown is now under effect,” the vaguely female voice informed. “Prisoners still outside their homes within twenty minutes will have their sentences doubled and be transferred to Scorched Earth. Wild creatures have been put into stasis. Tamed creatures will enter stasis once-”
The way the cold statement stopped dead for a single heartbeat unnerved me more than anything I’d ever felt before. Including the odd haze of magical energy which washed over the entirety of the land I could see as it pooled into dozens of hotspots. None of them close, all of them very distant.
A massive teleportation spell. Very crude. Very dangerous. Done over the entire station, as far as I could tell. And yet nowhere near as horrific as the voice stopping mid sentence.
“Situation update,” the voice resumed the moment the teleport concluded. “Habitat ‘The Center’ is undergoing sterilization. Prisoners may continue their activities for as long as they are able.”
I got as far as the ‘Well’ in ‘Well that can’t be good.’ before the winds sucked the air straight out of my lungs.
They were explosive. A solid wall of air. Moving so fast you could see them, the moisture in the air compressing into one massive shimmering cloudfront. The same winds swept me off my hooves, throwing me into the sky, head over tail, in an out of control spiral.
I saw Nyota fly away from me for less than a second, barely enough for her to register in my vision. Barely long enough for me to notice over the roaring winds. And my terror.
I couldn’t breathe. The air was being pulled away harder than I could hope to inhale. My vision started to go gray as I hyperventilated. I felt cold. Not the same cold as dying, or when you’re hurt very bad. The temperature was dropping rapidly.
There was no way my wings could fight the winds. Even if they could, I wasn’t skilled enough to pull myself out of the tumbling spin the winds put me in. And the air which my wings would catch was being blown away.
I was being blown out into space.
The world went from gray to white...
I was going to die.
Through all the horror I felt at that truth, one thought came to mind.
This is the worst thing ever, and I wasn’t even in space yet. Luna needs a hug. Right now.
WHITE!
I inhaled like a deflating balloon, immediately coughing like a pony who’d smoked her whole life.
“EW!” Someone's faint muffled voice exclaimed in horror and disgust. “EW! Towel! NOW!”
Why did my lungs feel like sandpaper?
“Uh… I don’t, here just some of my shirt. That bit over there should do,” someone else said. “First time someone's spat blood in your mouth during CPR?”
Huh? Who did that? That sounded super embarrassing.
“Obviously! Guh… Mammals. So fragile. Can you help the others too?” The first person asked.
“Mhm,” the other acknowledged. “Doing it now. Have to change out these implants. Director Green ordered them deactivated shortly after the rescue crew arrived… And he never had one. It’s fine, just keep them all alive until I’m done. Just like everyone else.”
“Did you really put an emergency shield over Solace? Are they actually safe?” The first voice asked hopefully.
“Yes. I did, you can check on the monitor over there. Green’s going insane… He was never meant for military command and he started this stressed out already. I was expecting something stupid. Your friends will be safe, so long as the Troodons don’t eat them all and destroy their beds. I can’t do anything about that,” the first voice signed. “If I redirected their teleports to anywhere else, they would asphyxiate and it's come to my attention that they are sapient beings.”
“I still don’t understand why you’re helping us,” a third voice grumbled.
The second voice sighed. “I was only ever in this to get to remake extinct creatures. The core idea behind this prison is sound, but it’s flawed in execution. I can’t continue working here in good conscience. I’m afraid you’ll have to trust me on that. I can’t exactly prove it.”
The world went from white to black again… This time, the blackness was punctuated by bold white text.
Elerium Industries Systems
Initializing…
Welcome to LIFE!
Wait, what?
Before I could question anything, a voice began to speak to me. Inside my head. I wasn’t imagining it, it was real. In fact, it felt almost exactly like Changeling telepathy.
<Welcome to LIFE,> the male voice said warmly. <We regret to inform you that your previous existence ended on, Wednesday, April First, Twentyfive Seventy Two at Nine Forty Six AM, following the decompression of a space habitat. However, your consciousness was uploaded to the LIFE Network by->
The voice brokedown, mangling itself in a rather terrifying way into a static hiss.
<Hello?> I asked desperately. <Who is this, are you okay?>
The voice came back with a crackle and a pop, which while frightening made me realize I was listening to some sort of telepathic recording.
<Please consult these terms and conditions to continue experiencing LI-> The recording said before dissolving in another hiss of static.
“Fucking firmware! Hold on, I think I can disable- Ah, there we go!” A male voice exclaimed triumphantly. “Sorry about that everyone, none of you actually died, I had to jerry rig some code to get consumer implants to boot up in non-human organisms. No other way to heal shredded lungs. It’s just a welcome screen. Hold on for another second, I’ll get your bodies working.”
I knew that voice.
“C-camo?” I stammered, my voice extremely raspy.
“Yes. But you can call me by my real name if you like. It’s-”
“John,” I interrupted. “I know. Nye told me.”
“Well you were wrong, Nyota. Because it’s Austin,” Austin informed loudly. “I hope her ears are working too. Seriously, what kind of scientist is named John? That’s a soldier's name. Ah! There we go.”
The world suddenly came back. Just like turning on a magelamp. From blackness to a spacious bare steel walled octagonal room lined in very angular workstations, office chairs, and large screens everywhere. The screens were flashing a bunch of different things rapidly, mostly in red. Pictures, icons, lines of text… Whatever they said or indicated, I had absolutely no idea.
I also saw that I was laying on my back. While I still felt some aches and pains, I didn’t feel hurt. That was good.
I could see my left foreleg laying on my chest. The bulky implant which had been there was gone, replaced by a small blue glowing diamond shape underneath my skin. Still there, but much more aesthetically appealing.
Like a product a corporation would market.
I quickly looked around the room. Who else had survived. I could see Nyota, she was sitting up, rubbing her neck with one hand. Her armor was gone, but the vest, pants, and equipment she kept under it was still there.
Starswirl was pushing himself to his hooves, giving the implant a critical look, his expression saying he was debating tearing it out.
“Cybernetics don't harm magic…” I said, trailing off as a flash of pain accompanied my words. “Not unless they replace the horn and frontal lobe.”
“It’s not that. I hate glowing things while I sleep,” Starswirl muttered.
Ah, there was a big hole in a door on the far side of the room. Snow and Roxie had forced their way in here… Sort of. Roxie had her head and shoulders through the hole and clearly was not getting in any further.
Clover was standing close by me, wiping the inside of her mouth out with a bit of a ruined red dress shirt.
“Oh, you can shut that off. Tap the diamond twice,” Austin said, prompting me to turn and look behind me where he was stand-
He was not standing. He was a reddish-tan skinned, black haired human with friendly looking blue eyes. Yes, he was definitely the person I’d seen under the ghillie suit when I had first arrived. Those eyes completely confirmed that.
And he was currently pulling himself around via his arms, being just a torso, trailing some clear tubing, and a thick black liquid. Seemingly in no pain whatsoever.
“OH MY CELESTIA! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR LEGS!?” I shouted in blind panic.
“I bit them off,” Roxie said simply.
Austin nodded towards her. “Yep… She uh, she didn’t understand I was in here trying to lock Blue out. Friendly fire and all that.”
“Wait bit them OFF?” Nye asked, her ears perking in alarm before she turned to look at the injured person. “How are you alive? The blood loss-”
“Eh, it’s fine. I’m not an organic human,” he dismissed. “I can build replacements later. Right now, I need to know if everyone’s alive and can move, think, do life stuff. I have some more hacking to do for those implants I handed out. Gotta make them work independent of external systems. Slower, less efficient, but you know, they’ll work back home too.”
One by one, everypony reported they were fine. Even Snow and Roxie. From what I could tell, Austin was trying to prove he was on our side… But how could he do all of this?
“How can you do all of this?” I asked after he’d finished helping Roxie adjust some settings.
“Simple. I have Directorial Authorization… For the moment. Green is trying to revoke my permissions as we speak. I probably have, eh, six more minutes. I’m sort of the current Director of the Red Sector. That’s genetics and cybernetics. I’m the scientist who designed every creature in this ARK system,” he said before clearing his throat. “And seeing as how you’re a princess, I would like to formally request political asylum.
“I don’t want to remain aboard this station and be captured by the Megalodons. As a Corporate Republic CItizen with well, my background, I’ll be seen as an enemy and likely executed or imprisoned for life within a server somewhere. I can’t say that’s not justified. My work… My work often becomes bioweapons. Against my will, I assure you.
“If I remain here, I’ll be forced to continue working an unethical job at best, or be deleted at worst. I was planning to escape in a shuttle and get a new chassis to live in, probably on some backwater world, but I won't escape with the current firefight going on outside. My only option for gaining freedom is to accompany you to your home dimension.
“I assure you that I can be a valuable-”
I held up a hoof for him to stop. “You saved my life, my marefriend’s life, and my parents lives just now. You don’t need to beg. Yes, I’ll take you with me,” I promised before smirking. “Besides, we’ve become something of a hotspot for interdimensional travelers in the last two years. One more won't make a difference. Heh.”
Starswirl and Clover’s ears raised in alarm. “It has?” Starswirl asked. “We’ll need to talk about this. There’s a major project Clover and I-”
“Save that for later and a secure location!” Clover snapped, her eyes narrowing in anger born of fear.
“Ah! Yes. Right. Sorry, dear,” Star apologized hastily.
“Wait a minute,” Nyota said before I could ask any follow up questions.
Nye frowned as she looked around. “Where’s Razor?”
“Was she with you too?” Austin asked wincing. “I’m sorry but… I pulled the data on every biosignature I could find to see if you had creatures with you. I didn’t see anything…”
Nye bit her lip and looked at the floor for a few seconds. Everyone kept quiet just giving her time.
“Goodbye old friend…” Nyota whispered to the floor.
Austin raised an eyebrow. “Uh, she was an Alpha…”
“What’s that have to do with anything?” Nyota asked bitterly.
“It means she served as a data gathering device for improving creatures,” Austin informed. “Alphas are not only the top predator, they are also software alphas. It’s a rare non-sexual double entendre. Which means we record her entire data-profile live for analysis. Let me just go ahead and.... There we go! Last recorded data, fifteen minutes ago. Annnnnd downloaded! I’ll make her a new body and upload this backup file into it first chance we get. She’s fine!”
Nye blinked twice, broke out into a huge grin, and lunged forwards, pulling the damaged android into a tight hug.
“Uh, well, moving along,” Austin said after Nyota let go, scratching the back of his head. “Thank you. Oh! I used to make a hobby out of constructing dozens of different bodies to use as the mood hit me. I’d like to do that again, I don’t suppose there’s some sort of identification spell or charm which would-”
“There is,” Clover said with a nod. “Changelings who live with ponies openly wear them so friends recognise them. That won't be a problem. What is a problem is we have minutes before you can’t get us out of here! Either the Megalodons get all their tow-cables hooked up and pull this thing out of the star system, or you get locked out. We need to go. Now.”
Oh right, we still had to get out of-
“Wait, we’re still on the Center? There are control rooms for these things?” I asked, tilting my head in confusion. “Why isn’t everything just auto-”
Austin smirked. “It is. Kinda. Organic humans don’t run these sorts of facilities. Takes too much in terms of multi-threaded thinking, and it helps to be wirelessly connected to the systems. These control rooms are here for staff use. Sometimes things fail and you need a physical hardwired terminal.”
“Is there a terminal for the teleport system here?” Nyota asked with a curious yet hopeful look around the room.
Austin shook his head. “No, this is the perimeter defenses and station systems control room. Shields, the force field, terraforming, creature control systems, that kind of thing. Transporter controls are four decks down. But I can access them wirelessly… Which I’m doing right n-
“Ah ha! I’ve got access to the teleport network. He ALMOST kept me out of it. I can transport us as close to your rescue party as the shield they erected allows.”
“Do it!” I said quickly, realizing that we could be cut off from the system at any moment.
WHITE!
White and pain!
Dear Celestia, their teleport was the single most crude thing I had ever experiencing in my entire li-
The familiar surroundings of the South Jungle snapped in around me like a picture drawn on a rubber canvas which had been stretched away from me.
“AAAA!” I screamed in blind terror.
That is NOT how a teleport should work! NOT EVEN CLOSE!
“Faust's blood, son!” Starswirl snapped, baring his teeth angrily. “What kind of transport is that!? Everypony check yourselves to see if you’re missing anything, or got any new bits.”
“The cheap kind,” Austin mumbled, looking down at the ground with a sigh. “Please don't. Clover already yelled at me…”
“Speaking of mom,” I said realizing something and turning to face the white shelled changeling.
Who, now that I thought about it, looked exactly like Jade but taller and less attractive.
“Mom, how come you weren't hurt? Or did you regenerate on your own?” I asked with a confused frown.
Clover chuckled. “It’s just space, Twilight. I’m old enough to remember what our species was designed to do,” she said with a weary smile. “That said, I never thought I’d actually wind up in a vacuum myself.”
I had several questions, but Austin beat me to it.
“Woah, wait! Are you saying your species was engineered?” He asked excitedly. “That would explain SO MUCH! I’ve spent months trying to find the natural processes which would create any of your subspecies. Who designed you?”
Clover nodded. “Yes. We’re insects, we reproduce in large numbers, making us ‘inexpensive’. Any individual can start a colony. We’re naturally industrious and want to work, and before our genetic memories were tampered with, every one of us hatched knowing how to make and use certain tools and structures.
“Our bodies are encased within a rigid exoskeleton, we can filter our vision to include specific kinds of light, we have a small internal oxygen supply, and we require only the affection of other compatible species and water to survive. We can cling to smooth surfaces we stand on, allowing us to walk on walls, ceilings, and in reduced gravity. Lastly, as insects, cosmic radiation doesn't really harm us all that much at typical levels. We are living inside what is effectively an EVA suit. We’re the perfect extraplanetary explorers, colonists, and station maintenance staff.
“We can go into details some other time. For now, we need to get out of here before your former comrades decide to depressurize this habitat too.”
Starswirl blinked twice, giving Clover a hurt look. “You never told me that.”
Clover shrugged. “It was never relevant in a medieval society. Besides, just because I know what Changelings were meant to do doesn't mean I want to do it. I’m rather happy being a wizard.”
I stood up, looking around to make sure everyone was here. After all, that teleport was very… Very newborn-foal-magical-surge in nature.
Nyota was just behind me, currently checking all of her equipment. Snow and Roxie had made it as well, at present Snow was creepily spider-climbing her way back to to the top of Roxie’s head. Ignoring that not-normalness, I nodded in satisfaction and gave the area a quick glance to see where we were.
We were right under the red Obelisk. Not on the central plateau, but on the edge of the cliff leading down to the crater-like ‘moat’ which formed a gap around the plateau. Which meant that Nyota’s house was behind me and a bit to the left.
“Okay, we’re a fifteen minute walk from freedom!” I said with a smile.
Everyone winced.
“Oh gods… She said it,” Starswirl groaned. “If I could see the future at the moment I’d have seen everything go teats up just now.”
“Aye, ye can say that again,” Nye agreed, drawing both her handguns.
“I should probably mitigate the damage…” Austin mumbled. “Emergency Interface: Authorization Director Red.”
“Voiceprint and Authentication token accepted. Emergency Interface active,” a loud, but emotionless female voice, the same one which had announced the depressurization replied from seemingly everywhere.
“Blue, kill all prisoners within The Island,” Austin ordered.
My ears stood up in alarm. “NO! Don’t commit genocide just so we can-”
“Complying….” Blue answered. “All prisoners have been killed. Would you like to end the lockdown? No one will be revived until the lockdown is lifted.”
“Oh! Right. They just come back to life,” I said with a sheepish grin and burning cheeks.
Nyota shook her head slowly. “Yer a silly pony, Twi.”
“No thanks, Blue,” Austin replied. “Just tell Green that he can take this job and cram it up his dickhole. Goodbye.”
“So, um…” I shuffled my hooves slightly. “How come she just helped you? She tried to kill us.”
“Blue’s just an AI still. The synthetic human equivalent of a child. Corporate wont let anything more developed hold that position. Blue doesn't understand ethics yet. She complies with any order given to her too. She’s still mostly just a machine, doesn't even have a proper name, just her job title.
“Blue only decided she’s female three months ago. That’s how little she’s developed. That’s why she and things like her are the only things allowed to run the Engram Sys-”
A loud piercing whine and hum split the air. I spun around, tail raising in alarm as I searched for the source of the noise. To my horror, I watched as the red pillar of light flickered and died as the tower went dark.
“Um, that can’t be good…” I squeaked.
“It’s not. Green finally locked me out,” Austin sighed, levering himself up into a better position to look at the dead obelisk. “That or Blue- Oh! Oh shit, she recognised what I said to be a resignation and revoked my position! I didn’t think she was that understanding yet. Well, I’m useless now. Sorr-”
The air around the plateau cracked and warped, visible lines of energy sliding over and around the stones, emanating from the bits of machinery poking out from the rock.
“I have two fun facts for you, Austin,” an older quite angry male voice announced over whatever intercom system Blue had used. “First, those civilian implants you gave out don’t work with our system, and don’t have any respawn point set. If they die, they will stay dead.
“Second, you never got around to deleting the software for the original Omega Creature battles. Oh, and I turned off the arena containment shield. Enjoy.”
The swirling energy formed a vortex, or perhaps an exceptionally crude summoning spell matrix, which exploded in a flash of light revealing the towering form of the Dragon standing beneath the dead obelisk.
It’s deep purple hide glistened in the sunlight, it's burning hateful eyes squinted painfully as the sunwashed over it’s face. It reared up to roar, outraged to exist where it was, clearly seeing us below it and deciding we were responsible for its current annoyance.
With a loud crack the dragon smashed it’s head into the bottom of the obelisk. A celestia sized part of the obelisk broke off under the impact striking the rocks below with a thunderous boom.
A thunderous boom that was completely drowned out by the dragon’s outraged, pain filled roar.
“LEG IT!” Nyota shouted, turning around and bolting into the jungle.
“I don't have any of those!” Austin squeaked as everyone turned to follow Nyota amid their own panicked shouts.
“That’s fine, you can borrow mine!” I yelped as I scooped him up with my magic and ran into the jungle.
I say the stupidest things when I’m terrified…
