MLP Fic pt 3
Living in Everfree Forest was a good thing if you wanted to keep out of the way of the equestrian public, however it also had its own share of problems...
...
"How can we be out of food? We have nano replicators that can make it on demand," moaned Matt.
"Food replication is not nearly as important as repairing the engines," said Aria, "It will have to wait until the significant repairs are made.”
"Yeah...I'll just starve to death then, ok?" said Matt, sarcastically. "There are plenty of edible sources around," said Aria. Matt looked at the forest in view outside the porthole and said, "Name one." "I believe there are wild onions that could provide adequate nutrition," said Aria.
"Yeah...instead of starvation, I can die from indigestion," said Matt, darkly. "Don't tell me you skipped the flash-training on wilderness survival," said Aria. "A little," said Matt innocently. "Then perhaps you would like to ask your 'neighbors' for nourishment," said Aria. "And if Darius pays a visit when they're here? Plus this ship’s ex-military, even I dunno what all the buttons do," said Matt.
"The way I see it, you have two options: find out which wild plants are inedible the hard way or order out," said Aria. "I hate you so much..." said Matt, darkly before saying, "Just heat up the VR machine. I'd better run another simulation in case Darius DOES drop in for dinner."
Aria sighed, "Just be aware, I will have to run an internal viral scan. It will take 8 hours and during that time, the secondary computer system will be online." "Fine, sure, do your Norton anti-virus thing," said Matt. "I do not know that program," said Aria as Matt walked off.
...
Matt blasted another Exo gene merc, the merc’s body bursting into pixels before he spun and blasted the last one in the face. "Hah...full marks again," Matt said smugly to himself before clapping twice and feeling the strange sensation of leaving the VR sim to return to his body.
Matt was taking off the visor when suddenly a pink flash appeared and an annoying voice said, "Hi Matt." Matt gave a yelp of fright and fell over. He was pretty sure that his heart skipped a few beats.
Matt got up and shook his head till his vision returned to normal to see Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash there. "What the...how did you...why...?" he said, speechless in what was half fury/half shock. Rainbow Dash said, "Pinkie thought you could use something proper to eat. Aria sent one of those drones along and said your food was all gone."
Matt glared at a camera. "Oh, really?" he said darkly. "Don't worry, we brought lots of goodies," said Pinkie Pie. Matt looked at some of the food placed on the room’s table before opening one of the sandwiches to see it had what looked like grass in it.
Fluttershy said in her usual voice, "Erm...we weren't sure what you liked." "Uh, I kinda prefer a different kind of sandwich," said Matt. "What kind would you like?" asked Rainbow Dash.
Matt turned to look at them before getting an eye twitch, hallucinating the three ponies’ heads as cheeseburgers before shaking his head to remove the vision. "Erm...you probably do not wanna know," he said carefully before looking at a box and opening it to see several cakes. "This is better,” he said to himself.
"Ooh, you'll just love these," said Pinkie, "Fresh from Sugarcube Corner." Matt looked at the cake in suspicion before taking a bite and going bug eyed and fleeing out the door. Pinkie looked confused and said "I thought he'd like hot sauce." Rainbow Dash chuckled and said, "Good prank there." Pinkie looked at Rainbow dash in shock before they both burst out laughing.
Matt came back in, his eye twitching. "Ok...what else is there?" he said in a deadly calm voice. Fluttershy pointed to the last box. "Applejack included some of her pies too," she said quietly, saying as Matt peered in. "Erm...are they alright?" Matt grinned, "They're fine."
"Oh, good, I wasn't certain if you'd want carrots or not," said Fluttershy. Matt thought about this. "Pies are good," he said after a minute. Rainbow Dash however had wandered over to the VR machine and said, "What were you doing in this?" curiously
"Uh, practicing," said Matt, "I don't suppose you guys have video games here."
The ponies just looked blank before Pinkie said cheerfully, "They sound super-duper fun. Everypony loves games." "Uh, well this is a bit more...intense than that. Uh, it's sorta like pretend, only it makes it more real, but it can simulate pain. It’s mostly for training, but I also installed a few games, mostly racing." said Matt, absently.
"Did you say racing?" asked Rainbow Dash excitedly. Matt looked confused. "Erm...yeah...mostly grav car racing sims...a few flight sims," he said. "Not sure what those are, but if it's racing, I can beat it," said Rainbow Dash.
Matt looked skeptical. "Really? Anyway, we can’t race. There's only one unit," he said. "Rats," said Rainbow Dash. Matt sighed and said, "Usually Aria sets up a 'watcher' program that can remote control one of the game AI’s. But I can help you out, if you come another day. It'll be dark soon..."
On cue a beeping was heard and a male voice said, "Danger...class 4 thunderstorm detected...conditions hazardous...estimated time to dissipation: 5 hours." "Oh yeah," said Rainbow Dash, "We had to keep a couple of extra days sunny so we'll be having a big storm today."
Matt turned on a computer and said, "No, this big one’s coming in from the forest center, more of that funky weather. Had a hailstorm yesterday..." He let loose a sigh before saying, "Well, you get that go after all." "Cool," said Rainbow Dash, "So, how does this work?"
Matt sighed and walked over to the couch, bending down to fold it into a bed shape. "Ok, just lay there," he said, pressing a few buttons on the side of the VR unit. "Uh, what are you doing?" asked Fluttershy. "It has to log the new nerves or it won’t work," said Matt, helping Rainbow Dash get on the bed. "What's that mean?" asked Pinkie.
"I don’t really know," said Matt, helping click the headset on, and seeing a needle in the back whirring into preparation. "Now, you may feel a pinch," he said cautiously before the needle shot forward into Dash’s neck. The same male voice said, "Mapping new Neural network...please stand by..." "How long will this take?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"You ok? The needle’s got anesthetic on it so you shouldn’t feel anything," said Matt concerned, as he checked a readout.
Fluttershy was peering in shock at the needle and said, "Are you sure that doesn’t hurt?"
"It's kinda like there's a horsefly on me," said Dash as her tail flicked upwards out of instinct.
Fluttershy didn't look convinced. Matt said reassuringly, "Relax...I had this done myself. It’s perfectly safe."
The machine beeped and said, "Neural mapping 100% complete. New user ID logged. Loading hub system...comms opening to 'watcher' user." At the same time, Rainbow Dash seemed to fall asleep. "It’s ok," said Matt reassuredly, clicking a few switches and saying, "Hey, Dash...you ok?"
…
When Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, she saw she was in a room that had several doors. "Whoa, how did I get here?" she asked. Matt's disembodied voice said, "Hey, Dash...you ok?" before saying "You're in the VR hub. Each door leads to a simulation. Avoid any with a skull on it, those are training sims..." "So, where do I go?" asked Rainbow Dash looking around.
"Ok...hold on," said Matt’s voice before the sound of tapping was heard and one of the hundreds of doors in the strange room hovered down and hung in the air. "That’s the program, simply go in. If you wanna leave, just say 'Game over' and the system will get you out," said Matt's voice. "Uh, ok," said Rainbow Dash before flying up to the door.
The door opened into a broad track of some kind with stands not dissimilar to the Cloudsdayle arena, except empty. On the track the stands were beside were several arrow head shaped hovering vehicles. "So what am I supposed to do?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Easy...those are your opponents," said Matt’s amused voice.
Those things?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Yeah...they go about Mach 2...have fun," said Matt’s voice, now chuckling. "I can outfly those...things easily," said Rainbow Dash. "Good...then you won’t mind that I maxed out the difficulty," said Matt’s voice. "Bring it on," said Rainbow Dash.
...
Matt sat back and called up the feed on a main viewer before turning to see that Pinkie had gotten some popcorn from somewhere. He decided not to comment on this and said, "She'll be fine...there are a thousand safety systems in place on these things." "I hope so," said Fluttershy, "I don't want to see her get hurt."
"Even though, and she probably won’t like this...I'll log her out in a hour...you shouldn’t use these too long." said Matt, seriously before turning back to watch the viewscreen. "Until then...we can watch some fresh humble pie being served...those grav-cars go at about 400mph on high difficulty." he said with a smirk. "Rainbow Dash is pretty fast," said Fluttershy, "And she doesn't quit."
Pinkie said something muffled that sprayed Matt with popcorn. "Erm...probably?" Matt said, unsure before turning back to see that Rainbow Dash was managing to stay just ahead of the grav cars. Matt said to himself "I'm not a sore loser...buuuut..." before pressing a button and a control pad folded out "Exterior control override to AI opponent 3 accepted." said the computer.
"What did you just do?" asked Fluttershy, curiously. "I'm joining in...its been months since I played against a proper opponent." said Matt, putting a headset on. Pinkie, her mouth now empty said cheerfully "Oh...this'll be great."
...
Dash finished another shot of the circuit, still in the lead, though she had to admit the computer vehicles were pretty fast to keep up as it was. Suddenly, one of the cars moved away from the others and putting on more speed. Matt's voice echoed in her ear "Thought you could use a proper challenge." as the car shot alongside and nearly got ahead. "Oh yeah?" said Rainbow Dash as she put on more speed.
"May the best pilot win." said Matts voice, smugly before the grav-car he was controlling suddenly swerved on the inside of the next corner, pulling ahead. "That'll be me," said Rainbow Dash, cockily as she zoomed around the corner. Matt was impressed. He'd heard all the gloats from the cyan pegasus about her speed and skill and while he;d seen her skills during his encounter with the mind leech, he knew better then to trust dreams. The VR, however limited a user to their physical condition so he was seeing first hand. "Very nice..." he said over the comm before adding "But how are you at surprises?" before turning on pickups.
"What kind of surprises?" asked Rainbow Dash, suspiciously. Several glowing icons appeared on the track, Matt running his vehicle over one before slowing down to get behind Rainbow Dash. "Oh, a few additions to make the game really interesting," said Matt before hitting a button, "Like this."
The nozzles on the front of his car began roaring with a 'braaak' and a few dozen yellow rounds bounced around Dash before one hit her in the wing. Immediately she slowed to a crawl for a second...a second Matt used to shoot by. "Hey! No fair!" shouted Rainbow Dash as she winged it to get back up to speed. "Alls fair in love and war...you can grab em too." said Matt over the comm, chuckling.
Dash flew over one and suddenly started flying a lot faster than she was a moment ago. "See ya at the finish line," she taunted as she passed Matt. Matt sounded impressed over the comm. "Very nice...still got ammo though..." he said before coming up behind her again for a good shot. Luckily, Dash shot over a shield symbol and a glowing orb appeared around her as a voice in her head said "Defence pickup activated."
Matt's shot bounced off the sphere. "You're gonna have to do better than that," said Rainbow Dash. "Fine..." said Matt casually before swerving into a speed pickup and finally starting to regain ground. At the same time the computer said "Final lap initiated...disabled racers will not restart." "Ok, time to get serious," said Matt as he drove over another weapon symbol. "You know that shield won't hold out forever," he said to Dash.
Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder as Matt fired. "I think you got other problems, Matt." she said smugly. Matt was confused until a missile slammed into his grav-car, spinning it out. He'd forgotten to set the pickups to only be usable by him and Dash. This left Rainbow Dash clear to speed up and soar over the finish line.
Matt put the pad down as Fluttershy and Pinkie celebrated behind him. "Nice race, Dash...next time I'll disable the AI opponents and YOU can use the control pad." he said amused before the lighting overhead began to flicker and the viewer flickered before blacking out, only the couches status monitor still working. "Alert: Power drain detected in reactor 1." said the ships computer. "For crying out loud," snapped Matt.
Fluttershy said nervously "Wh-whats going on?" Matt said "Aria said she'd fixed reactor 1...we'll be al-" he began before the lights turned off. "-right." he finished, the sound of thunder heard on cue. The red emergency lighting came back on to reveal Fluttershy looking terrified and Pinkie looking confused. "Relax, it's just a blackout, sorta," said Matt.
Matt continued, saying "Look...this is probably just a lightning strike shorting out the reactors...I can just go power it back up again." only for Fluttershy to look like she was having a heart attack from terror. "Nothings gonna happen. This ships the safest place in the whole forest." he said trying to reassure the terrified pegasus. "But...but, it's so d-d-dark," said Fluttershy nervously.
Matt sighed before walking over to the readout. "Pinkie...if any of these meters turn red...press this button." he said, seriously, pointing to a red button marked 'emergency log out' before saying "Come on, Fluttershy. I might as well give you the tour while we go." "Um...ok," said Fluttershy. "Have fun," said Pinkie before sitting down and staring intently at the meter.
...
Matt and Fluttershy walked through the red lit corridors, Matt holding a torch ahead of him. "So...this days not gone as planned." he said, awkwardly. "N-n-no," said Fluttershy, "I didn't expect to stay this long and I didn't expect it to be this d-d-dark." Matt sighed and got down on a knee to look her in the eyes. "We're fine...nothing can get into the ship. Its just a power cut, thats all." he said with a reassuring grin.
"Ok..." said Fluttershy, putting on a little smile. "Thats the spirit." said Matt cheerfully, standing up and walking onwards. The group turned the corner to see a flickering flash of light from a large heavy looking steel blastdoor with the words 'Caution...Chroniton reactor 1' on it. There was also a soulful humming...like high pitched whale song coming from the room beyond. "Oh...please not those things." muttered Matt in a tired voice.
"What is it?" asked Fluttershy. "Veridian energy eel...energy eater." said Matt, quietly and he sneaked towards the door anbd pulled a lever that made it open a crack. He pushed the door open a bit to reveal what looked like a light show. A glowing snake-like thing was circling a device in the room, two antennae shapes sticking into it, the thing making the musical noises from obvious enjoyment. It stopped as the two came in and floated over to them, circling with sounds of curiosity.
"Oh, I've never seen anything like that," said Fluttershy, "Hello, little friend." The veridian eel extended its antennae and seemed to stroke Fluttershy, little arcs of energy buzzing into it before it made a crackling noise and floated over to Matts wrist computer instead and doing the same, making the device power down. "No...bad eel...down." said Matt, waving it away, the eel making disgruntled noises before floating back towards the reactor.
"I don't see what's so bad about it," said Fluttershy. "It feeds off energy...they usually live in wormholes like the one that brought me here...sometimes they end up being caught in the ram scoop or in through a hull breach...and my ship had plenty of those when it arrived." said Matt, flapping his hand as the eel floated back over, making it float off again. "So? It might not be from here, but it's still pretty," said Fluttershy. "Thats not the main problem...its the eels unique method of defence. You see, the laws of physics are kinda...useless in a wormhole...imagine the inside of Pinkies brain...and you're close. Basically, the eel kamikaze's its enemies." said Matt, trying to work out a way to explain the eels method of charging enemies, exploding and then regenerating.
"What does kamikaze mean?" asked Fluttershy. Matt sighed before deciding to be blunt. "It charges its enemies, explodes with the force of a demolition charge and then regenerates." he said flatly, before adding "And they are VERY easily startled." "Oh, I know how to deal with shy animals," said Fluttershy. "How many can blow a hole in a mountain?" said Matt, bluntly. "Something that pretty couldn't be that dangerous, can it?" asked Fluttershy.
"It could cripple the ship permenently...luckily, if its just feeding, it'll leave in a few minutes. Energy from the lightning musta woken it...strange that its going for the reactor...it can;t be eating all that energy itself." said Matt, curiously before shrugging and walking towards the eel, making yelling noises and waving at it. "Matt, didn't you just say they're easily startled?" said Fluttershy. Matt stopped at that, looking at something underneath the grating. "Oh boy...I think I know why its so hungry." he said, backing up from the half dozen glowing orbs.
"Are those eggs?" asked Fluttershy. "I'd say so..." said Matt before both he and Fluttershy had to cover their ears in pain as the adult eel made a shrieking noise and started to turn red. "RUN!" yelled Matt, running for the door. Fluttershy made a frightened squeak and quickly followed after Matt.
Matt forced the door shut as soon as Fluttershy was through and turned "Keep running." he yelled before turning to run after her. At that moment though, the door exploded outwards, throwing matt forward and covering him in metal. Fluttershy was also thrown forward with an 'oof' noise. She turned around terrified to see electricity arcing over anything electronic as well as the yellow energy of the eels body re-gathering over the rubble covering Matt. The eel seemed satisfied before floating back into the reactor room and starting its strange song again.
"I see why it's dangerous now," said Fluttershy. "Alert: Power surge detected...alert alert...a...lert." said the voice of the machine, its voice getting slower and deeper before petering out. A groan from under the rubble was heard and a bent grating was pushed aside to show Matt pulling his way out. "And that...is why I hate eels." he said weakly.
"So, how do we get it to move?" asked Fluttershy. "We don;t...” said Matt, pushing himself up to lean against the wall "I'll have to hope Aria finished working on the reactor 2 repairs..." "Didn't you say she was taking a nap or something?" asked Fluttershy. "Yeah...but hopefully she finished the reactor 2 repairs and just didn;t bother to power it up first." Matt said, before pulling himself up to walk over to an intercom. "Pinkie...Pinkie, you there?" he said just to get nothing.
Matt tapped the side of the intercom and said, "What's wrong with this stupid thing?" Just then, the lights came back on. "Not what I had in mind, but better," said Matt. The computers voice said "Main power restored...scanning system for damages." Matt looked up "And the computers back too...nice." he said. Fluttershy wasn't sure though...the computer voice sounded colder, more logical.
"Ok, Computer," said Matt, "We've got a bit of infestation problem in Reactor 1." "Voice print not recognised. Please state name and ID number." said the computer, coldly. Matt looked at Fluttershy, confused before shrugging. "Captain Lynch, M J. CPS Code: 26249." he said. The computer made a buzzing noise "Not recognised...please try again." "Stupid computer, I'm captain of this ship," said Matt.
"ID not reqognised." said the computer before a klaxon sounded "intruder alert: Engineering section 1..." Matt and Fluttershy winced at that before Matt yelled "YOU STOP THIS RIGHT NOW...ITS MY NAME ON YOUR PINK SLIP!" "Maybe we should go to another place!" called Fluttershy, who was nearly drowned out by the alram. "Let's get out of here!" yelled Matt.
The two ran down the corridor and turned the corner to the stars, to see a sheer steel shutter in the way. "Looter status confirmed. Looting an NSC vessel during wartime conditions is a criminal offence...prepare for detainment." said the AI at the same time as a half-orb retracted from the ceiling. "Uh oh." said Matt before pushing Fluttershy round the corner just in time as the 'orb' fired. "Matt, what is going on?" asked Fluttershy. Matt got up and turned to see the scorch mark where the beam had hit. "I think the computers gone nuts." he said weakly.
"That doesn't sound good," said Fluttershy. "Thats because its not." said Matt, getting back up. "We have to get to pinkie and warn her...there's more of those turrets in the VR room." "But how can we get there?" asked Fluttershy. Matt looked up at the grating. "The vents?" he said before a red beam parted his hair. "First we run." he yelled. "Right," said Fluttershy as she took to the air.
Matt ran after Fluttershy as more of the turret orbs activated, firing on the group. However, Fluttershy was not nearly as skilled with flying around obstacles as Rainbow Dash. She frequently stopped or dropped down when a laser nearly hit her. The duo finally reached a dead end with no turrets in it and a grating at the other. "Well...least they can;t shoot us here." said Matt.
Suddenly, they heard a familiar scuttling sound. "Oh no," said Matt. Fluttershy said in a terrified voice “Wh-whats that?" Matt drew his blaster and said "Spiderbots." as several of the spider drones, with red glowing optics scuttled round the corner, cutting lasers at the ready. "But, they're friends, right?" asked Fluttershy. "Not today." said Matt as one of the spider drones leapt at them with a mechanical hiss, only for Matt to blast it out the air.
"Ok, we need to double our double time," said Matt, "Get the vent off and climb in." Fluttershy looked at the vent cover with the screws clearly meant for hands before looking at where Matt was desperately shooting at the drones. She gulped turned around and kicked at the vent as hard as she could manage.
"I think I chipped my hoof," said Fluttershy, miserably. Matt winced before being knocked over with a yell as three spiderbots jumped on his back and bore him to the ground. "Matt!" cried Fluttershy before she kicked out at the grate again. This time, her shock was enough to smash the vent in.
Fluttershy was so shocked by managing to kick the vent in that she almost fell. Matt managed to pull the last drone off and smash it in time to hear Fluttershys whimper as she put her weight on her back hooves. He looked over and saw the smashed vent before seeing where the metal grate had cut her leg. "Ouch...come on...first stop, medi-bay." he said, helping her into the vent. "Are you sure this is safe?" asked Fluttershy. "Come on...you're hurt." said Matt, stubbornly. "Well, ok," said Fluttershy as she climbed in.
Matt climbed in after her and said "Take the next left...man, I hope Pinkies ok."
...
Pinkie Pie had spent the last half an hour looking at the readout for Rainbow Dash as well as the views of Dash's games when the power suddenly came back. It seemed like dashie was unaware of the problems on the outside. A voice said "Danger...unidentified lifeforms in VR chamber." "Unidentified lifeforms? Where?" asked Pinkie, looking around. "Assessing threat..." said the voice and a orb folded down from the roof. "Ooh, shiny," said Pinkie, looking at the orb.
"Threat assessment on primary subject: Zero. Subject confined to VR machine...disable at digression. Secondary subject: Threat level at 45%. Unidentified mental processes...neutralize." said the computers voice and the orb began to glow. "Neutralize, what's that?" asked Pinkie. The orb was glowing red now. "Oh...is this a disco party? I knew matt liked to party." said Pinkie excitedly and bouncing up at the same instant that the orb turret fired, the beam missing before it attempted to shoot her as she hopped around the room, missing every time.
If the AI was capable of truly feeling emotions, it would certainly be feeling frustrations as the annoying pink one wouldn't keep still long enough. "Remain still and surrender to storage, criminal." it intoned, disguising the annoyance in its tone as more blasts bounced around. "You know, people tell me to stay still all the time, I wonder why?" said Pinkie. A blast almost hit her, instead blowing the door which glowed blue before vanishing.
...
Dash was looking around the hub for another game when a steel door materialized in front of her and fell over. "What the hay?" she said confused before shrugging and carrying on.
...
Pinkie Pie watched the door disappear with some amazement. "Ooh, neat trick. I wonder how Matt and Fluttershy are doing?" said Pinkie, "I guess I'll go look for them." She hopped out the door like nothing at all was wrong.
...
Meanwhile, the skyraids floating, orb shaped auto doc hovered around the infirmary, worrying. It remembered when D-1 had last been in charge. A vent cover in the corner glowed before exploding outwards and Matt, looking like he'd been beaten to a pulp crawled out before helping one of those strange locals out after it. “Sir, you look terrible. What is going on tonight?" it said annoyed. "We have a Veridian Eel nesting in Reactor 1 and the whole ship's gone crazy," said Matt, equally annoyed.
"I noticed that when D-1 was back online." said the auto doctor annoyed before saying "This ship saw service in the combine war...D-1 was the AI in charge...those idiot programmers must have programmed on top of him." before its optic turned towards the yellow pony cowering behind Matt. "Your friend has a injury...metal cut." he said professionally.
"Yeah, that's why we came here," said Matt, "She won't be able to move fast until her leg's treated. That and the whole tetanus thing." The auto doctor ran a light over Fluttershy and said "She's already got some...I’m not surprised...probably not even a disease here..." before a needle extended from its orb. "A shot of nanites will handle it with ease...please hold still, ma'am." it said, closing.
Fluttershy squeaked and inched away. "Uh, I really don't like needles," she said. "Ma'am...I am programmed with 32,000 medical procedures and the collective medical knowledge of 300 years. This is for your own health. You are probably already feeling effects." said the auto doctor. "What effects?" asked Fluttershy nervously. "Your injured leg probably feels stiff repeatedly as the disease effects your muscles there." said the auto doctor. scanning her injured leg again.
"Uh, it has been feeling stiff," said Fluttershy, sounding even more nervous. The auto doctor continued "You probably feel elevated body temperatures and increased heart rate." "It is getting a bit hot," said Fluttershy, sweating a bit. "Ma'am...the medical nanites can eradicate the bacteria causing this, reverse the cellular damage and then will self destruct...I understand that you have cause to distrust this needle...but it will save your life." said the auto doctor in a attempt to be reassuring.
"Fluttershy, it won't hurt that much," said Matt, "Just a quick prick and it'll be all over." Fluttershy looked upset before lifting her injured hoof up, the skin around the cut already looking red. The auto doctor said soothingly "Ok...entering...now." before the needle shot out and hit, a grey liquid flowing down the tube connecting it to the doc. Fluttershy bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut with a whimper. Finally the needle shot back into the auto doc and vanished "All done." it said. Fluttershy whimpered before looking at her hoof where the cut could be seen visibly vanishing, the reddened flesh around it turning back to normal and even the fur re-growing. Matt said over her shoulder in a cheerful voice "Cool, isn;t it."
"Uh, yeah, it is," said Fluttershy, smiling a bit. Matt grinned before looking at the auto doc. "Nice one." he said. The auto doc emitted a air of smugness. "My pleasure, sirs. Ma'am, do not worry about the nanites...they will have finished their work and self destructed by tomorrow morning." A clunk at the door made Fluttershy jump almost high enough to hit the ceiling and Matt to draw his blaster.
However, the tension dropped dramatically when Pinkie Pie hopped in. "Hey guys, watcha doing?" she asked. Matt sighed and lowered the blaster "You are one lucky person...How'd you get past the blaster turrets?" he said, sighing with relief, checking outside before shutting the door. "What blaster turrets?" asked Pinkie. "Red beams of death?" said Matt, hopefully.
"The only beams I saw were from that disco ball," said Pinkie. "That was a blaster turret...man, you're lucky." said Matt, a bit surprised. Fluttershy said horrified "We've got to get back to Rainbow Dash, as fast as we can." Matt nodded, opening the door and blasting a spiderdrone. "Why? What's the problem?" asked Pinkie.
The other two didn't answer running out. Pinkie ran after them, realising that something was very wrong. She arrived to see Matt, Fluttershy watching behind him, slamming his fist angrily on the controls of the VR machine, the words 'access denied' flashing on the screen. "What's going on?" asked Pinkie. "The AI's locked me out of the system. I can’t log dash out. All we've got is comms with her...I hope...I'm trying now..." said Matt, angrily before pressing a button.
...
Rainbow Dash had been wandering around trying to get through other program doors to no avail. She was about to go to another when what looked like a translucent window appeared in front of her, Matts, Pinkies and Fluttershy in view. "Guys? What are you doing here?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"We got a problem out here...the ships old combat AI's mutinied and took over the ship...oh and it thinks me and the girl are looters." said Matt, sarcastically cheerful. "The combat what?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Like aria...only alot nastier." said Matt, darkly. "Oh," said Rainbow Dash, "Wait, if I'm in the computer thing, what will it do to me?" "Nothing...it obviously assesses by threat...and if you're plugged in here...you can;t do anything while you're in there...hmm...unless...no, its too dangerous...no safeties and you could end up as PART of the ship." said Matt, serious. "Well, there's gotta be some way I can help in here," said Rainbow Dash.
Matt said "No...if you shut down the AI...the remains of the computer might try to make you the new one..." "Yeah, this may be a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live here," said Rainbow Dash.
Matt nodded "Ok..lets just get you out of here..." he began to say before a humming made him turn around before the translucent window flickered out. "Hey! Don't just go like that! Come back!" shouted Rainbow Dash.
...
Matt nodded "Ok..lets just get you out of here..." before a humming got his attention. He, fluttershy and Pinkie turned to see that the rooms turret, depleted earlier by trying to shoot the elusive Pinkie, had recharged before a red beam lanced out. "Move it!" shouted Matt, throwing himself out of the way.
Fluttershy gave a shriek as a beam nearly hit her before she slipped on the floor and slid to a halt. Matt watched in horror as the turret took aim. "Nonononono." he said, desperately fumbling with the blaster before the turret shot again. This time, the beam hit Fluttershy. She froze before she suddenly seemed to turn into digital chickenwire. Then she broke into many tiny pieces and got sucked into the turret.
Matt snapped and managed to get his blaster out yelling several alien swearwords and emptying the blasters entire energy cell into the turret, reducing it to wreckage. the computer said calmly "Intruder neutralized and stored in digital buffer." "Where did she go?" asked Pinkie Pie in a shocked voice. Matt walked up to where Fluttershy had been "I have no idea." he said in a sad voice before saying to himself "Digitized..."
...
Rainbow Dash was wandering through the digital corridor, saying to herself, "There's gotta be an emergency exit or something around here." She paused when she heard a crackling/humming sound. She looked up to see the frame of a winged pony with a long mane and tail forming above her. "Hey, is that-" she started before Fluttershy completely virtualized and fell with a ‘yipe’ on Rainbow Dash. The two pegasi managed to untangle themselves after a minute before Rainbow said in a surprised voice "Fluttershy? How'd you end up here?"
"I don't know," said Fluttershy, looking terrified "I got zapped by something and now I'm in here." The screen re-appeared and Matt and Pinkies faces appeared. Matt winced as Pinkie said loudly and excitedly "Fluttershy...you're ok!!!" "Uh, I guess I am," said Fluttershy, "But how did I get in here?" Matt opened his mouth to speak before Pinkie said "That disco ball started shooting and you slipped and were like 'yipe' and then the ball went 'zap' and you vanished." in a hyper tone.
Fluttershy blinked and said, "So, I'm in the computer now?" Matt thought of some way to explain it before coming up short and saying lamely "Erm...yeah." "So now how are we going to get out?" asked Rainbow Dash. Matt and Pinkie looked at each other before Matt said "Hey...this wasn’t covered in training. I've never even seen this kind of system. I don’t even know how it got fluttershy in there...Aria might be able to fix it but while sergeant psycho's in charge, not much we can do."
"Wait, you said Aria was taking a nap, right?" asked Fluttershy. Matt stopped as a lightbulb came on in his brain and he punched himself on the forehead. "I'm an idiot." he said to himself angrily "There's a reset in the core room....then again, being shot at by your own ship is very distrac-" he said starting to ramble till all three ponies yelled "MATT!"
Matt paused and said, "Wait, there's one big problem, the core room will be like a shooting range for the AI. There's no way I'll be able to get in without ending up looking like cheese." Rainbow Dash pressed up against the screen from her end, looking pretty annoyed "So you're just gonna give up?" Matt returned the glare and said smugly as a thought occurred "Why not? When Aria finishes her virus scan in a hour, she'll kick that AI out and let you two out...its not like its gonna call for help...who'd be around to hear it?"
The computer voice said "Scanning for NSC ships in system...located...callsign: Icarus." Matt stopped and said “There is no way my luck is this bad."
...
It's fairly common knowledge that anyone who's not nocturnal hates being woke up too early. And most people would label ‘1 in the morning’ as way too early. Which was precisely was on Darius' mind as he was stomping over to the bridge.
"Sergeant...this had better be good. Your future health hinges on it." he yelled, as he stomped onto the bridge. The comm sergeant said with a grin "It is, sir. We're picking up the Skyraids emergency beacon...all this verses magi is scrambling the signal...but we'll have a lock within the hour." Darius blinked and said, "Even Lynch wouldn't be stupid enough to activate his beacon while we're around."
"Maybe he sat on a button...all we know is that we're getting a signal...and its definately an emergency beacon..." said the comm sarge, showing the text readout on a computer "I took the liberty of getting echo team out their bunks and prepped...as soon as we have a lock, they can take that ship apart for the 'aria' AI." "Fine," said Darius, "But if this mission goes wrong, you'll be the one to have a rude awakening. Like a 30 foot drop in a lake."
...
Meanwhile, Matt was screaming at a readout. "ARE YOU CRAZY? Call anyone but the Icarus...I'll even accept one of Romanov's ships..." he was saying. "So, are they going to be coming really soon?" asked Pinkie Pie. "Unknown intereference has disrupted signal strength...estimate arrival within the hour." said the computers voice. Matt moaned to himself "So much for hiding..."
"Can't we shut it off?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Only the AI can do that...emergency beacons are more or less physically indestructible..." said Matt, gloomily. "Well, maybe we can turn it off from this side," said Fluttershy. Matt stopped "No...we'd have to..." before Rainbow Dash finished "...distract this creep first?"
Matt was tempted to say 'no', but then he thought of what would happen if the Icarus arrived. "Oh alright," he said, "But don't take any big risks." He sat at the controls and began to type something. The computers voice said "Warning...unidentified override detected...VR firewalls offline...danger, danger." before Matt shot the speaker. "I wish he'd shut up....Ok, I’ve unsealed the VR system...you can get into the main computer...be VERY careful....NSC cyber division are known for their nasty defence viruses." he said.
"Will we get sick?" asked Fluttershy, nervously. Matt thought about this. He;d seen some of the virus programs dealing with VR hackers before now. "Erm...probably not...but I’d avoid them all the same." he said finally. "So, how are we supposed to distract it?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I dunno...I never trained in VR hacking...annoy it...insult its parents...kick it in the face...just keep it distracted..." said Matt, a bit manically.
"Doesn't sound too hard," said Rainbow Dash. "Oh...and you remember the mind leech? The AI can mess with things alot better." said Matt, adding "Just...don’t take risks."
...
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash slowly trotted up to the black door that had materialized when Matt had unlocked the systems. A simple omega symbol adorned it. "So, just keep the creepy guy in the computer busy while Matt does...whatever he needs to do," said Rainbow Dash, "Shouldn't be too hard." Fluttershy looked at the door and said, nervously "What if there's traps? Matt said this was dangerous." "I don't think this place is built for traps," said Fluttershy, "Besides, we can fly around anything."
The door opened to reveal...nothing...the doorway appeared to be suspended in a strange void, several shapes floating around and flashes of light shooting around. "Like I said, it's a good thing we can fly," said Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy looked down nervously, was unable to see the bottom, apparently spotted something and scooted back with a 'eep'.
"Oh, don't tell me you're afraid of heights," said Rainbow Dash, rolling her eyes. On cue, a vast insectoid face peered through the doorway at them with an almost bored expression, its entire body appearing to be made from various shapes. Both pegasi jumped back with a yipe. "Whoa, that's a big computer bug," said Rainbow Dash.
The bug seemed to lose interest before kicking off from its perch and floating off. The two pegasi peered out to see various other computer insectoids or squid-like things floating around, some pulling glowing objects between the hovering shapes or standing sentry. "What are those things?" asked Fluttershy. "I have no idea..." said Rainbow Dash in a small voice. The sight, to her looked like a cliffside seabird colony. "We have to go in there...Matt and Pinkie are counting on us." she said finally in a confident voice. Fluttershy took a few calming breathes before saying “You're right...Oh, I hope they're alright."
...
Matt had expected that the trek to the core room would be difficult. But he hadn't thought that there would be this kind of complication. "Pinkie, how many times am I supposed to tell you that we're supposed to be stealthy?" he snapped. Matt looked at the 'disguise' Pinkie had put together using a box from a closet and what appeared to be a pair of false glasses and moustache. "Thats not going to fool the cameras." he said in a tired voice.
"They're looking for a pony," said Pinkie, "They won't be looking for a fellow robot." Matt rolled his eyes and said, "Please, if you're a robot, then I'm an octopus." Matt was about to explain why the plan would not work when Pinkie bounced out into the corridor to his horror and into the view of three spiderdrones in combat mode. She spoke to them in a monotonic voice, "Destroy all intruders, beep, boop, bop."
Matt whimpered to himself, gnawing on his knuckles in terror as the drones scuttled up to pinkie and gave her scrutinizing glares. Then Pinkie said, "The big computer says intruders detected in Sector 4, boop, beep."
The drones looked at each other before shrugging and scuttling past her and around the corner towards sector 4. Matt came out of his hiding place with a disbelieving look. "Thats...How?" he said. "You have to give them the right beeps," said Pinkie with a grin. Matt glared before saying "We never mention this security hole to Aria...agreed?" "Why not?" asked Pinkie. "Cause how else will I sneak out for at night?" said Matt before walking round the corner and stopping before saying nervously "Erm...beep boop?"
A somewhat dog-shaped drone was standing there, with a large head that only had a three targeting optics on it and a pair of guns extending from its side. The drone looked at Matt, its guns pointing in his direction. Pinkie peered round "Ooooh...I've never seen that one." she said, impressed...until the bots optics turned red and the two guns made a 'clack' noise. "Pinkie, I don't think we can beep our way out of this one," said Matt in a worried voice.
One cue the bot made a mechanical growling and Matt pushed Pinkie back round the corner, following just in time as the bot open fire. "RUN AWAY!" Matt screamed. The two of them ran as fast as they could as the drone bounded around the corner, guns blazing. "I hope the others are having more luck.” yelled Matt over the gunfire as they turned another corner, the drones heavy caliber blasters blowing chunks out the wall.
...
Meanwhile, the pegasi were flying through the empty space in the computer, trying to avoid all the robotic creatures hovering around. The creatures themselves seemed to shot little interest unless the two pegasi blocked their progress...in which they’d simply stop before continuing. "This is too easy...these things act like we're rocks." said Dash cockily as more of what the two thought of as 'the workers' went by.
However, Dash was focusing a bit too much on boasting and not enough on flying. This made her knock into one of the drones. The drone lost its grip on the object it was holding and immediately, its 'eyes' turned red and it began to wail like something had stabbed it. "Uh, that's probably not a good thing," said Fluttershy, backing up.
On cue, several of the squids flew into view before transfixing their optics on the pegasi. "Do you think they'll accept an apology," said Fluttershy. The ends of the squids tentacles opened into crackling pincers. "I don’t think so." answered Dash nervously before the two had to dodge a lightning bolt the two squid fired, the blast hitting one of the workers which exploded in a cloud of pixels.
"Uh, this is the part where we start dashing," said Rainbow Dash before the two ponies started flying away. The two 'squid' defence programs hissed and gave chase, firing rapidly at the two pegasi. The two flew as fast as they could, dodging more blasts until they slipped into one of the glowing objects to be met with another strange sight. A strange, almost mechanical octopus like program was in the object, surrounded by more of the 'real world' windows but focussing on one that showed the view of something chasing Matt and Pinkie through the ship corridors.
"That doesn't look good," said Rainbow Dash. "You think we can do anything?" asked Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash looked at the machine and flew in front of it. "Hey, you...stop shooting at our friends." she said angrily, before waving a hoof in front of the unresponsive program. "Hello? Anypony home?" she said, tapping the top of it.
"Uh, please stop shooting at our friends?" said Fluttershy with her usual meekness. The program stopped for a second to look at Fluttershy and at Rainbow Dash before intoning "Scanning for override clearance...alert...no clearance detected...security program summoned." "Clearance this," said Rainbow Dash in an annoyed voice before kicking the program in what could be assumed to be the head. The program was knocked back before shattering into pixels on the ground. At the same time, the screens all blanked out. "That worked," said Rainbow Dash in a smug voice.
Fluttershy looked at the blank screens and said in a worried tone. "I hope the others are ok." before the two flew out the 'room'.
...
Back in the real world, Matt prodded the inactive bot with his foot. The droid had managed to corner them and had been about to shoot when it had shuddered, spat sparks and keeled over. "What do you think happened?" asked Pinkie, "Did it get tired?" Matt said in an impressed tone. "Nah...I think two pegasi scouts just earned their hacking badges." "Oh, so you think we can go to the big core room now?" asked Pinkie. "Yeah...lets go smash it..." said Matt, a evil grin on his face. "I've had enough of my own ship trying to kill me." "But doesn't Aria need it?" asked Pinkie. "Good point...we'll only partially smash it." said Matt, still grinning.
...
Matt and pinkie peered around the corner towards the door to the server room...or rather 'vault door'. "Thats a big door." said Matt casually, looking up at the large blastdoor blocking access. "You did remember to bring the key, right?" said Pinkie. Matt lifted up his keycard. "Of course...though that all depends that that AI didn’t bother to alter the codes. Oh, well, glass half full time." he said, before walking out and cautiously approaching the door.
He slid the keycard through the slot and stepped back, expecting guns to flip out and fire. Instead a series of clunks were heard and the door began to slow slide into the wall. "See? Easy as pie." he said cheerfully. Pinkie trotted up to the door and said "I don’t know...pie can be really hard to make sometimes..." before she stopped, lifting one of her legs off the group with a yelp. "Easy...we’ve been running all over the place tonight.” Said Matt.
"No, my knee's all pinchy," said Pinkie, "That means something scary is about to happen." Matt rolled his eyes "Oh please...you just pulled a muscle, pinkie." he said cheerfully before stepping into the room, the only light being a glowing optic on the computer in the center. Pinkie followed in just in time as the door slammed shot. “That means nothing." said Matt a little defensively. "Knee's still pinchy," said Pinkie, cheerfully. "I see nothing frightening." said Matt sulkily before the lights came on to reveal two twin barrelled turrets on the roof, both aiming at Matt. "I wish I still didn’t." whimpered Matt.
"Yep, that's scary enough," said Pinkie. Matt turned and in a brief moment of insanity, said "I hate your knee." before the turrets opened fire, forcing Matt to dive for cover. Pinkie however, was somehow dodging every round without trying. Matt reached out from his cover and pulled out Pinkie out of the crossfire. "I was hoping for a good distraction about now," he said. "Don;t worry. Dashie won’t let us down." said Pinkie pie, confidently. Matt couldn;t help thinking 'I hope you're right.'
...
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew to a halt. The defence programs had finally given up, it seemed...or were reluctant to approach the huge tower that the pegasi’s flight had brought them too. "Ok, so we go into this tower and kick around this creep who's been making the computer go crazy," said Rainbow Dash, "No problem."
What looked a wingless dragonfly came into view from behind the tower, its red colour marking it as another of the security programs. It turned to glare at them, but didn;t act as the two were obviously not close enough to warrant concern. "Uh, you sure we have to go in?" asked Fluttershy. "How else are we gonna stop that creep?" said Rainbow Dash, however her voice was slightly less certain in the face of the giant security program.
"Maybe if we ask nicely it'll let us in," said Fluttershy. A passing worker program stopped at that before flickering from its green colour to a more ominous blue. "So...I seem to have underestimated what lengths some looters will go too." it said. "Uh, is that the guy who's running the computer?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Your 'stating the obvious' system seems fully functional." said the program sarcastically. "You will return to the VR program immediately." it added with a commanding tone.
"And I say you should return to the, uh, Not Cause Trouble For Anyone program," said Rainbow Dash, rudely. "This ship is a military vessel under wartime conditions...you are trespassing. This crime carries a 20 year sentence on the Kryos penal asteroid." said the computer harshly, its eyes glowing red. "If you do not comply...your companions will be destroyed...they are already pinned down in the core room." "Then they're ready to shut you down," said Rainbow Dash with a smirk.
"I do not think so...as I speak, three pulse blaster turrets have them pinned down...it would only be a short matter to reroute several drones behind their cover to tear them apart...they have already done more then enough damage to receive the death penalty." said the computer smugly, an image appearing to show Matt and Pinkie behind their cover as the turrets rounds ripped into it.
Fluttershy glared in anger at this image before she turned and shouted at the AI, "How dare you? What gives you any kind of right to treat them like that? How would you feel if someone decided to chase you around with big scary weapons for no good reason?" "I beg your pardon?" said the computers host program in a confused voice. It wasn;t every day someone tried to threaten an AI. The worker program it was controlling however wanted to get as far away as possible from the little angry pegasus.
"You're nothing but a big bully," snapped Fluttershy, "You're just pushing everyone around and being mean. And you don't even have the nerve to actually do anything yourself. You're just making all the robots do all your dirty work for you." "Warning: System error in remote systems...turret system failure detected...anti virus systems report to CPU." said the AI in a monotone voice before the worker program changed back to its normal colour and fled with a wailing noise. A square hole opened in the tower as well. "You wish to take this ship? Then by all means...try." said the AI.
"I don't try, I do," said Rainbow Dash before flying into the tower. Fluttershy looked around at that "Rainbow?" she said, watching as the hole closed behind the cyan pegasus.
...
Matt peered out to see the turrets apparently going crazy, one spinning in its housing with a 'wheee' noise before exploding. "Thats...unusual." he said before a spider drone bounced off his head as they went haywire too. "You think Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are doing this?" asked Pinkie Pie. "I can’t think of anyone else." said Matt, casually before peering out as a voice said "Alert...emergency defences now active."
"That's good, right?" said Pinkie Pie. Matt looked at her "I dunno...I haven’t been in here since I brought this ship...on hindsight...maybe I should have." he said, pinkie seeing the 'crates' in the room unfurling and standing up. "Ooh, neat trick," she said, "I wish my furniture could do that." Matt looked confused and said "Pinkie...what are you tal--" before being cut off as one of the bots picked him up by the back of the throat and rotated him to glare.
"Keep at it, Matt!" called Pinkie, "You've got him on the ropes!" The droid turned to look at the pink party pony and said "Prepare for internment." Pinkie grinned "Oh...tag? I love tag. You're it." before bouncing away just before the bot could grab her. The droid paused a bit as it tried to process the odd behavior of the pink organism. But then it switched back to its primary command and started chasing after the bouncy one.
...
Meanwhile...
Rainbow flew into the tower and turned as she heard Fluttershy call out, just in time to see the 'door' seal. "Fluttershy!" called Rainbow Dash before flying back to where the door was, but she could see no way of opening it
A blast blew a crater into the wall from behind her, causing the pegasus to spin. A human figure was standing in the middle of the room, its hand glowing from the blast. His clothes looked similar to Matts 'camoflage' except for the strange translucent glow. "So, you're the big shot who's been trying to get rid of us," said Rainbow Dash, angrily. "This is my program. You have already proven that you can get past my firewall defences with help...but you're alone this time...and I have had enough." said the AI, charging up another shot.
"You'll have to catch me first," said Rainbow Dash before zooming around the room at high speed. "That will not be a problem." said the AI, clicking its fingers and causing several shards of the wall to detach and begin chasing the pegasus around. This would have been a problem, but Rainbow Dash has had lots of experience with obstacle courses. She swooped, dived, rolled, and feinted around the shards.
The AI however, didn;t seem too worried before saying "You're no hacker...any ameteur hacker would have destroyed me by now..." before using the distraction to make a 'wall' shoot out into Rainbows path. Rainbow Dash had to break this time. Fortunately, she did so before she slammed into the wall. Several more walls shot around, trapping rainbow. The wall of the new 'cube' rippled before the AIa walked through it. "You really have no idea...thinking like you're still in the other world." said the AI smugly.
Rainbow Dash jumped towards the AI in an attempt to tackle him, but it sidestepped her easily. "Huh...if you're the best hacker this team has, then they're already dead." said the AI smugly. Rainbow growled and tried to tackle the AI again. The AI simply phased through her. "Your stress levels indicate I've pushed on a sensitive subject. Such a shame...if you'd only complied and remained in the VR machine...still." taunted the AI before readying an energy orb and throwing it into Rainbows back, tazering her.
"Either way, your companions are still doomed," said the AI, showing a video of Matt and Pinkie being chased by the drones, "They shall be eliminated and all your efforts shall be for naught." Rainbow Dash glared as the AI continued "I don't know what I'll do with the other one though...the yellow version of you...she is technically a prisoner...but she has escaped because of you..." said the AI, showing another view of Fluttershy trying to find a way into the tower. "Oh well, I'm sure the anti-virus programs will take care of her soon enough."
Rainbow Dash glared and said something, causign the AI to look over. "What was that?" it said tauntingly only to hear the cyan pegasus say "Leave my friends alone." The AI smirked cruelly "Make me." it said. Dash charged again, but this time she was moving too fast to move around the AI ended up getting heatbutted in the abdomen. The AI looked more surprised then hurt before losing concentration and causing the cube to disintegrate. "Hmm...I guess you're a fast learner. I actually felt that." it said.
"You're gonna feel a lot more if you don't leave my friends alone," said Rainbow Dash as she pawed the floor. "You are nothing but criminals...and you will be dealt with as such." answered the AI, making a blast appear and firing. Rainbow Dash jumped out of the way of the blast, but she saw it turn around go after her again. She quickly flew for it, the orb shooting after her. "Oh horse apples." she said to herself as the orb blasted through an obstacle, disintegrating it.
"You won't escape this one," said the AI, "It will follow you wherever you go." Rainbow Dash managed a glare at the smug Ai before she got an idea and the glare turned to a smirk. "Is that so?" she said before swerving to fly at the AI. "What do you think you're doing?" demanded the AI. "Giving you back this." shouted Rainbow as she flew past the AI. The AI turned back in ti8me for his own scorcher virus to hit him.
The explosion that followed was rather impressive. The aftershock rippled out of the tower and across the digital space. Rainbow Dash looked around as the lights in the room seemed to flicker and a dull voice said "Alert...AI has been deleted...emergency protocols online...suitable replacement detected in CPU hub..." "Oops, I don't this is a good thing," said Rainbow Dash before frantically searching for the door. The room started toglow brighter before there was a flash...
...
Fluttershy backed up from the approaching defence programs before she felt a tingle and everything went black.
...
By this point, the drones had managed to box Matt and Pinkie in. They all aimed their blasters at them and started charging up. Matt had a feeling his life would end like this, but the pony was a surprise. It began when the bots seemed to stagger before falling over. "Oh...we won?" said Pinkie cheerfully. Matt poked a bot with his foot. “I think so...I wonder what..." he began before a shape appeared in the air and Fluttershy fell with a yelp on his head. "Hi Fluttershy," said Pinkie. Fluttershy had a dazed look on her face before Matt said in a desperately casual voice "Fluttershy? Please get off my spine."
"Oh, sorry," said Fluttershy apologetically before moving aside. Matt got up unsteadily. "Thank god this is over...Aria...purge every little bit of that psycho out of this ship....Aria?" he said. "Matt? Matt? Is that you?" called a female voice over the intercom. Matt went rigid as a small part of his brain rebelled against reality, only giving up as Pinkie said "Dashie? Is that you?"
...
The animals of the everfree forest fled as the sound of a blood curdling scream echoed through the forest.
...
"Ooh, are we doing screaming contests now?" asked Pinkie, "I wanna go next." Matt said weakly "Rainbow? Why are you talking from the computer?" "That's why I'd like to know," said Rainbow Dash's voice, "I'm locked up in this tower thing the jerk guy was in and I don't know how to get out." "Oh no...are you sure?" said Matt, worry appearing in his voice. "I'm looking all around, but I don't see anything, just a bunch of screens," said Rainbow Dash's voice.
Matt ran up to the core, Fluttershy and Pinkie following confused. "Whats wrong?" said Pinkie, sounding worried as even she caught on that something serious was happening. Matt apparently didn’t hear her, saying to himself “I told her not to delete the AI...va tula mo tida." the last phases in splitter. "What? What's going on?" asked Fluttershy.
Matt clicked up a readout that showed a load of details that were obviously bad from the way his head fell. "No..." he said before saying "The computer thinks Rainbows the replacement A.I. "What? Me? But I don't know how any of this stuff works!" said Rainbow Dash's voice. "You don’t need too...but the computers like a business...the workers can’t do their jobs without a boss." said Matt, sighing. Rainbow said 2So? Just get it to let me out then." Matt said "I...I can’t do that...the reactor needs the computer to work...without it...boom...as in BIG boom."
The other two ponies gasped. "You mean Rainbow Dash is stuck in there?" asked Fluttershy. "Forever?" asked Pinkie Pie. Matt couldn’t bring himself to answer, instead pressing a few buttons. A second later, Rainbow Dash seemed to appear in the middle of the room. "Rainbow Dash, I was so worried," said Fluttershy as she walked towards her fellow Pegasus, "I thought you were trapped forever." She reached over to hug her, but she fell right through Dash.
Rainbow Dash looked just as upset as Fluttershy. Matt also felt as guilty as hell. "Bloody disaster.” he said to himself. "I don't wanna stay in here," said Rainbow Dash, "I wanna race and feel the wind against my mane and join the Wonderbolts..." She suddenly gasped in horror and said, "What about my body?" Matt said "Its still plugged into the VR machine..." before sighing...and then punching the screen.
Rainbow Dash looked severely shaken. "Uh, guys, I need some time...alone," she said. The hologram flicked off. The two ponies turned to look at Matt, looking stricken, Matt noticing that Pinkies hair seemed to deflate, coming flatter. "I'll...I'll do what I can." he said, turning to another control panel.
...
Rainbow sat down sadly in the tower, several screens showing illegible readouts while others seemed to show views from the security cameras and drone son the ship, a few showing static and errors. "Oh man, I don't want to be stuck in here," she moaned, "This isn't the life for me."
A voice from one of the screens said "Danger...hostile software intrusion detected...scanning...firewall override recognized...access granted." before part of the wall rippled and a human walked in, an african wearing a white lab coat and jeans. "I leave for 2 hours for a self scan and I come back to a mess." the newcomer said.
Rainbow Dash looked at the human curiously before asking, "Do I know you?" "Miss dash...I didn’t expect to see you here..." said the newcomer, walking forward. "I believe you know me...I left for one virus scan...what in the name of cyberspace happened to put you here?" "Well, I was in that racing thing when a jerk took control of the computer," said Dash. "D-1...I thought he was sealed away." said the figure, a nametag visible on her coat that said 'Dr E Aria'.
"Wait a second, Aria?" asked Dash. "Doctor Eliza Aria to be exact. Head of Cyber Research at Chimera Aerospace for 12 years." said Aria, sitting down, a seat materializing under her. "Uh, I don't know what that place is, but it sound like you are really important there," said Rainbow dash. "I was...important enough that, when I was killed in a lab accident, my mind was uploaded to the company computers...that was 400 years ago." said Aria, a wistful tone in her voice.
"Wow, that's a long time," said Rainbow Dash. "It is...it is. Its not a life for the young." said Aria, a sad tone slipping into her voice. "Yeah, speaking of which, when I got that jerk to blast himself with his own, uh, fireball thing, the computer put me in charge," said Rainbow Dash, "And I don't really want to be in charge."
"It has too...without it...the computer would crash...and the reactor would also explode...destroying everything within 20 miles. However...I am perfectly capable of assuming control..." said Aria, igniting a blue orb in her hand. "You can do that?" asked Rainbow Dash. Aria paused and said, "Then again, I could just take your vacant body and leave this computer. True, the hooves will take some time to adjust to, but I could manage."
Rainbow Dash looked horrified before Aria rolled her eyes "AI humour." she said flatly before tossing the orb at Dash. Immediately, Dash's vision began to blur, Aria's voice saying "The best of luck, Miss Dash."
...
Meanwhile, the others were in the VR room. Rainbow Dash's body showed no signs of consciousness, despite Matt's efforts. The ponies looked up as Matt slapped the machine before letting his face fall on the keyboard. "Matt, do you need any help?" asked Fluttershy. Matt sighed before saying “Maybe if I....I don’t know what to do...dammit...the one time I need Techo's help..."
"Matt, you can't give up," said Pinkie Pie, "Rainbow Dash needs you." "I've tried everything...nothings working." said Matt, angrily before looking at the screen when it began to beep, the brainwave scanner that showed if a person was plugged in starting to ripple with activity again. "Hey, something's happening," said Matt, hope in his voice.
The message 'emergency log out systems rebooted' appeared and Matt held his breath before pressing a few buttons and finally one marked with warning symbols. "Emergency ejection active...in 3...2...1...activating." said the VR's system.
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash's body jumped like something had shocked it. Matt ran over to another control and began flicking switches, muttering "Come on...don’t you dare, you hunk of metal." Fluttershy and Pinkie watched in worry before Rainbow Dash coughed twice and opened her eyes with a groan. "Man, that was the craziest dream ever," said Rainbow Dash.
Matt let out a sigh of relief as Fluttershy and Pinkie immediately hugged their friend. He walked over after a bit and carefully pulled out the interface needle. "There we go..." he said. "Yay! Dashie's back, we should throw a party," said Pinkie, her mane poofing up again.
Matt nodded in agreement before Aria's voice came over the intercom. "This is the last time I let you play without adult supervision." "What? Hey, it was not my fault," said Matt, "An energy eel made a nest in the reactor and it rebooted the ship and let that military AI take control." "Talking of which...you should come outside. You may want to see this." said Aria.
...
The group, Dash a little unsteadily, watched as the group of energy eels seemed to dance around in the sky, their musical calls filling the air. "Aw...they're so cute," said Pinkie. "And lethal." muttered Matt to himself. "Uh, they won't attack us, right?" asked Fluttershy.
"Nah...I think." said Matt, the last part a little uncertainly. The eels however, if they were still annoyed from earlier weren’t bothered as they flew into the treeline, their glow visible for a few more seconds before vanishing too. "I wonder if I'll be in trouble for introducing an invasive species to this planet," muttered Matt.
...
<Log activated>
"Ok...I nearly screwed up bad today. My ship nearly got us all killed...and then to top it off, I nearly turned Dash into a Ipad rip off. Clearly my skills as a technician needs to be improved. Of course, as Aria would put it, and has done so several times since, 'you can't improve what isn't there at all'. However, I managed to sort out the problem...and Aria is making sure nothing like this can ever happen again...I hope it doesn't."
“However, there is the small matter of the AI sending out a distress beacon. But then again, there's no way it got anywhere before it was shut down, right?"
<Log ends>
...
<Intercepted Exo Gene transmission>
Echo: This is Echo One to Home Nest.’
Icarus: Home Nest, Go ahead, Echo.’
Echo: We lost the signal about 3 minutes ago...Requesting new orders.
Icarus: Continue sweeps...we want the merc alive
Echo: Roger that.
<Transmission ends>