Chapter Nine
The Hunt for Knowledge
“It’s….I…I don’t even have any words to say at this moment.” Georgia asked as the soldier was busy analyzing Lyra.
“Yeah, that’s the same reaction I got from Lyra and Bon-Bon. Honestly, It’s no big deal when you think about it.”
“No big deal!?” Burgundy yelled. “How is being experimented on not a big deal!? If anyone in your shoes were to be in that situation you’re in…I would hate to imagine what they would do.”
“I can imagine a few things they’d do. But I would’ve burned Shinra to the ground along with the people in Deepground if allowed to do so. Not that I could give how they would’ve killed my family.” She said before looking over at Lyra. “Back to the topic at hand, so far you seem to be okay. How do the clothes I’ve given you feel?”
“They feel so soft and comfortable to move around in,” Lyra said as she staggered around the living room. “Still feels weird to have a…somewhat human form….and I love it!”
“Is there a way to turn Lyra back into a pony?” Bon-Bon asked.
“Don’t know. Again, this is a new area of a pony turning into a human due to the materia. Why do you think I’m scanning Lyra’s body?”
“Fair point.” The earth pony said as she watched Lyra staggering around the room before falling face-first onto the floor. “Though I’m worried about ponies and pokemon seeing her like this.”
“You mean because she’s human and some of the pokemon might attack her and the ponies will shun her?”
“That and Mew-Two might end up going into a fit of rage and attack her…again.”
“...Okay, two questions? Who is Mew-Two and what do you mean by going into a fit of rage and attacking her again?” Emma asked.
“I’m sure you know by now that Lyra is…well…obsessed with stuff related to humans,” Bon-Bon said as she looked over at Lyra who was giving her a sheepish smile. “Well seeing how the pokemon came to our planet, and overhearing that the humans brought here were turned into pokemon. She wanted to know more about the humans from another world. Needless to say, they either ignored her or attacked her. The worst that happened to her was when she met Mew-Two, a legendary psychic pokemon that happened to be in Canterlot a month ago. She kept bombarding him with questions upon questions about humans until he had enough and threw her out of Canterlot and into a pool of water in Ponyville.”
“...Not going to lie, but that’s pretty funny to the point where I could laugh,” Emma said as the two mares and pokemon turned human and stared at the soldier with raised eyebrows. “...I’m laughing on the inside…half of my emotions are kind of repressed or dead.”
“Because of what the humans did to you?”
“Oh no, I did this to myself to prevent being mind fucked by one of the members of the Tsviets from using her ability to alter my memories.”
“Wait, humans can use psychic powers to do that where you're from?” Burgundy asked as Emma shook her head.
“God no. It would be horrible if Shinra had people like that. No, when you’re part of the deepground you’re implanted with a device that allows you to be hooked up to the S.N.D.”
“S.N.D? What’s that?” Lyra asked.
“Synaptic Net Dive. It’s when a person's consciousness enters the Worldwide Network via virtual reality to gather information. This process is the only known way to communicate with sentient beings that reside in the deepground. But that also means that it allows those who can enter the network to alter a person’s mind. Needless to say, I almost had my mind altered without me knowing it.”
“How did you know that was happening?” Bon-Bon asked.
“Because the bitch that did that, used a visual image of my brother and made it look like a soldier to be my friend. So as a means to not let that happen, I had to…mess up my brain.” Emma said as she noticed the odd expressions on their faces. “I had to surgically damage and remove certain parts of my brain to prevent myself from getting mind fucked.”
“...How have you not gone insane!?” Georgia asked in disbelief. “More importantly, how are you not dead!? Doing something like that would be too much even for a normal person.”
“Well, I’m not normal. Remember?” She said before going back to typing on her computer. “Thanks to their experimentation done on me, I was able to make the changes I need to my brain. Granted they could still communicate with me, but they couldn’t mess with my mind ever again. Though the downside is that some of my emotions are gone or repressed…I think.”
“...You need help.”
“A bit too late for that option in my case.” She said before with a slight smirk on her face. “Okay, so far I’ve been able to figure a few things out with the books Bon-Bon gave me. Specifically traveling from planet to planet.”
“What do you mean by that?” Lyra asked.
“Well if it’s anything like how you unicorns can do when you travel just by thinking of a location and using your magic to get from here to there. Then it should apply to me as well. Though there’s a problem.” Emma said as she looked up at the group.
“You can’t use teleportation magic like us unicorns.”
“Yes. The one flaw for humans when it comes to magic is that we need materia to use magic.” She said before reaching into her bag to pull out the container filled with mako energy. ”Problem two, the prototype materia is currently out of energy. Right now I’m having it bathe in mako so that it can recharge, but for some reason, it’s not working.”
“Can’t you just pop another one of those materia things like you did before?” Bon-Bon asked as Emma shook her head.
“I have no control of what materia pops out of the mako energy. Though not impossible, I prefer to find other means to get home than do that.” She said before looking over the cracked materia. “I might need to find another source of energy to see if the materia will accept it.”
“...I get the feeling we’re going to have to go to the forbidden area of the library in Canterlot Castle,” Bon-Bon said as she noticed the human staring at her for a moment before slowly lowering her head back onto her laptop. “We are aren’t we!?”
“Well, I can go in there by myself…but I don’t know where it is, and the information I’m still downloading isn’t done. I mean seriously what sort of network are you ponies using.”
“In fairness…we just started using the whole internet thing since…what at the beginning of the year Lyra?” Bon-Bon asked as the humanoid unicorn nodded.
“Yep, and this was before the pokemon came to Equus,” Lyra answered.
“Okay, that’s fair. Can’t be that harsh on you guys seeing how this sort of thing is new to your species. But yeah, I need to make a little trip to the forbidden library to get the location of an alternative power source.”
“And you think you can just walk in and out without anypony to notice you?” Bon-Bon asked as she watched Emma press a button on her wrist she instantly turned invisible. “...Oh…right. I forgot you can do that.”
“Just guide me to where it is and I can do the rest. Shouldn’t take me that long to get in and out of there in less than an hour or so.”
“A bit overconfident, don’t you think?” Georgia said, raising an eyebrow at her.
“Perhaps, but I prefer to get this over and done with. I prefer not to stay in a place I don’t belong, nor do I prefer to draw much attention to myself.”
“I get the feeling you’re going to be invisible throughout the entire time you’re here,” Lyra asked as the soldier nodded.
“Again, trying not to draw attention to myself.” She said before closing her laptop. “I’ll be leaving tonight. During that time, I’ll be sleeping for the time being.”
“Still tired from what happened before coming to Equestria?”
“I suppose. Though I have been feeling more tired than usual.” Emma said before letting out a low yawn. “Could be a side effect of the warp materia…or something along that line.”
“We’ll wake you up when nighttime comes. For now, just relax and-” Before Georgia could finish her sentence, she watched the soldier pass out on the floor like a rag doll. “Get some sleep…I’m not the only one worried about her, am I?”
“I’m worried about what will happen if the legendary pokemon or the Princess find out about her,” Bon-Bon said as she walked over to Emma and started dragging her to the bedroom. “Even though she’s not from where you humans came from. I’m sure they would turn her into a pokemon, or worse.”
“You think Arceus would do something like that?”
“He did it to you humans. Without your consent.” Lyra said as Georgia and Burgundy looked at each other for a moment before looking back at the mare turned human. “I’m just saying. A somepony with the power to change humans into pokemon without asking them first and moving them to a different planet for the reason to escape humans would do that.”
“Fair point...You don’t think Emma has a plan to deal with something like that…do you?” Georgia asked as Lyra and Burgundy shrugged.
“I…don’t know. I mean she seems smart, but not that smart to figure out a way to take down Arceus. I mean, it’s not like she has some kind of spell that can take down…right?” Burgundy asked as there was an air of awkward silence between the three of them. Though the silence was broken by the sound of the bedroom door closing as Bon-Bon returned.
“I’m going to head off into the city. Mainly to return the books and get some food for us to eat for tonight.” Bon-Bon said before noticing the awkwardness between the three of them. “Did I miss something?”
“Oh, um. No, it was just small talk.” Lyra answered as Burgundy and Georgia nodded. “S-So what was it that you were saying?”
“...I’m going into town to get some food and return the books,” Bon-Bon said as she walked over to the pile of books she gave to Emma to read. “After tonight, we’ll be heading back to Ponyville. Mainly because I have a bad feeling something bad might happen afterward.”
“You think she will get caught?”
“Maybe…I mean this is the forbidden library we’re talking about. They might have some kind of magic security set up, booby traps, royal guards around every corner, ninja!” Bon-Bon said as she noticed deadpan expressions on Lyra, Burgundy, and Georgia’s faces. “What? It could be like that in the castle.”
“I’m pretty sure they don’t have most of that in the forbidden library. Royal guards, yes. Everything else…yeah, I doubt it.” Lyra said as Bon-Bon glared at her.
“Look, the point is that what we’re doing could get us into a lot of trouble. I just prefer to leave as soon as possible so that nopony knows it was us that caused it…especially in your case Lyra, seeing how you tend to cause trouble by asking Pokemon about humans.”
“There’s no rule saying I can’t have my questions answered. My curiosity will be answered no matter the cost!” She said which caused Bon-Bon to deadpan at her before looking over at Burgundy and Georgia.
“I shouldn’t be gone for long, but make sure she doesn’t cause or get into trouble while I’m away.” She said as the two nodded.
“Oh come on, how can I get myself into trouble when I can barely walk on two legs like a human can?”
“Knowing you…anything is possible.” With that, the earth pony made her way to the door and left the three of them alone in the room together.