//------------------------------// // Chapter 16 // Story: My Little Pony: Isk is Magic // by keyan88 //------------------------------// Ch.16         Keyan watched Rainbow fly away, silently wishing her good luck. He stared at the multi-colored trail she left behind, he would have to get Aura to analyze that at some point. A few seconds after that thought, he realized that he was completely alone in the courtyard, all the other ponies had left.         “Well, what do I do know?” he asked himself.         The capsuleer sighed and began to walk towards the entrance to the castle, there was little else to do afterall.         A few minutes later, after an extremely arduous journey up the palace stairs, he found himself in the main entrance. There were two guards on duty, who each gave him curt nods before returning to their stoic selves, every bit as emotionless as an Amarrian Honor Guard. The capsuleer licked his lips and looked around before turning back to the guards,         “Whats there to do in this place?” he asked.         “The palace gardens are pretty nice this time of year,” one of the guards responded, his voice was about as expressive as his face.         “Errr… thank you....” Keyan responded then added after a bit of thinking, “where is that exactly?”         The guard pointed towards a corridor,         “Follow that till it ends, then take a right, should be right there.”         “Okay, thanks again,” Keyan said as he began to walk towards the corridor.         The hallway itself was rather lavishly decorated, which expensive looking vases, murals, paintings, and tapestries that would not fetch a bad price in Jita. All in all it was a rather nice walk, it was not too hot in the castle nor too cold, magic was probably used to some extent in keeping it that way.         Keyan hummed a nameless tune as his steps echoed through the hallway, his mind somewhere else at the moment.         His revelry was broken however when he collided into something with a soft thump. The something turned out to be a maid, who let out a squeal as she suddenly found herself on her rump.         “Oh crap, I’m sorry,” Keyan said as he bent down to help the mare up. For a split second his eyes roamed over her, taking in her appearance. Her fur was a light cream, and her mane a soft brown, her cutie mark, partially covered by her maid’s outfit, was that of a feather duster.         Hearing the capsuleer’s voice she looked up at him, and promptly froze as she caught sight of Keyan’s imposing figure, a trace amount of fear creeping into her eyes. This did not go unnoticed by Keyan.         “Oh come on, I’m not gonna hurt you.”         The mare blushed slightly, her fear quickly fading as the capsuleer helped her back up to her hooves.         “You okay?” he asked.         After a few seconds of stupor, the mare nodded slightly.         “Good,” Keyan responded with a smile, “I’m sorry for running into you.”         For some reason this seemed to spur her into speech,         “Oh, don’t apologize sir! It was my fault after all.”         Keyan shook his head,         “Nah, it was mine. Zoned out for a bit there.”         “Oh no sir, it was mine”         Heading this conversation tree off at the roots Keyan responded.         “Lets just say its both of our okay?”         “Okay,” the mare reluctantly agreed after a few seconds of thought. Obviously she was trained to be as courteous as possible.         “The gardens are this way right? Just want to make sure that I’m heading in the right direction before I go to far.”         The mare nodded,         “Yes sir, just take a right at the end, you can’t miss it.”         Keyan smiled,         “Thank you.”         And with that said he gave the mare a short bow and stepped around her, quickly resuming his earlier pace. Before he could go far however, the maid’s voice once again called out to him,         “Ummm… Captain?” she said hesitantly.         Keyan paused and turned around,         “Yes?”         “I just wanted to say that… ummm. the palace staff is on your side about the uhhh. “Blueblood Incident.” You may have gone a tad to far, but he did deserve it. So… we understand.”         Keyan smiled and gave her a polite nod,         “Thank you.”         With that said the mare turend around and trotted away, going off to do whatever maidly duties she had.         The capsuleer once again turned around and resumed his walk towards the garden. As both ponies had told him, the corridor he was in soon ended, and as he took a right some great glass doors came into view. His pace increased slightly as he approached them.         When he reached them he reached out and carefully opened them, a clean breeze immediately washed over him. It carried the slight scent of flowers on it, a light perfumey smell. It instantly brought a small smile on his face.         Keyan stepped outside and took a deep breath, relishing the smell of the garden. Such a scent was surprisingly difficult to come across in New Eden, it was hard to justify a garden on a space station when the area could be used for something more practical. Even expensive perfumes that the wealthy were so fond of wearing couldn’t compare, despite their millions-of-isk price tag.         He resumed his humming from earlier as he began to explore the gardens, drinking in the sight of the vibrant colors around him. Flowers of every type bloomed, and every now and then Keyan could here a small rustle that indicated something alive was scurrying about. He really didn’t have any real idea about how long he was there, but in all honesty he didn’t really care. Repeating the melody of the tune for the thousandth time that morning, Keyan turned a corner and caught sight of Fluttershy sitting under a gazebo. There was a soft smile on her face, her pink mane cascading down the side of her. Her eyes were closed, but not shut tight, almost as if she was napping. She looked at peace, completely content to spend hours in that same position, another thing rarely seen in New Eden.         Keyan coughed politely and the pegasus jumped slightly, her eyes opening wide in mild fright before she caught sight of the capsuleer. Much to Keyan’s relief, the look of fright was quickly replaced by one of mild elation.         “Oh.. hello Keyan,” she said softly, even her voice possessed a grace that Keyan was amazed at.         “Hello Fluttershy,” the capsuleer responded, “do you mind if I join you?” he said motioning towards an empty seat across from her.         “Of course not,” the mare replied, “please do take a seat.”         Smiling, Keyan sat down with a thump, sighing in relief as he took his weight off of his legs.         “So what brings you out here Fluttershy?” he asked, trying to start conversation.         The mare looked around her for a few seconds,         “I’m just.. enjoying the day out here,” she giggled slightly, “much more than the last time I was here.”         Keyan raised an eyebrow,         “Last time?”         Fluttershy blushed deeply as she recalled her gala experience,         “Well, it certainly isn’t something I’m proud about.”         “Than I won’t pry,” Keyan said.         Fluttershy sighed and gave the capsuleer a grateful smile,         “Ohh… thank you. I really don’t want to tell that story again. But I will, if you want me to that is.”         Keyan waved his hand dismissively,         “Don’t worry about it, I know not to pry when I don’t have to. That doesn’t go over well in the galaxy.”         Fluttershy nodded and the two of them relaxed into a companionable silence as they enjoyed the gardens.         After a few minutes Keyan sighed,         “I like it here, so different than New Eden.”         Fluttershy cocked her head,         “How so?”         Keyan gestured to the entirety of the garden surrounding them,         “This.. Everything here. I would be surprised to find a garden a tenth of this size on any space station save some residential ones.”         The pegasus looked positively horrified at this,         “Oh no, that sounds awful. No trees? or animals?”         Keyan shook his head,         “Last time I saw something like this was when I took a day trip to the Amarrian Home System. They have a few gardens like this, but they lack… the substance that this one does. And the only animal I have personal experience with are Slaver Hounds.”         “Slaver Hounds?” Fluttershy asked, a note of fear creeping into her voice, “they don’t sound.. nice.”         Keyan smiled,         “Don’t let the name fool you, they actually can be quite friendly. Depends on how you raise them.”         Fluttershy let out a soft “oh..”         “I actually had one a few years back, his name was Novellus, called him Novi.”         Fluttershy immediately brightened up, seemingly lighting up the area around her.         “You had a pet? what was he like?”         Keyan chuckled at his companions interest, highly amused by her sudden change in demeanor.         “Well, his name is old, apparently the word has existed since before any of the four empires did, it means “new”. Which actually made sense, because that hound had a tendency to do something new every time I saw him. One time he managed to sneak into the regular crew quarters on one of my ships, no idea how he did it considering it’s completely sealed off from my area. Was a whole production getting him back.”         Fluttershy giggled,         “He seems nice,” then her face grew concerned, “oh no, he must be waiting for you to go back. He must miss you so much.”         Keyan cringed involuntarily,         “I don’t think so Fluttershy, I said “had” for a reason. He… died, when the station he was in got destroyed.”         Faster than Keyan could have thought possible, the mare was suddenly pressed up against hi side, hugging him for all she was worth. Keyan’s first response to the physical contact was to push away, but swiftly stomped that thought out.         “I’m so so so so sorry,” Fluttershy said, “I didn’t mean to make you sad.”         Keyan sighed,         “I’m not sad Fluttershy, its been a while anyway,” he couldn’t stop the slight hitch in his voice.         “What happened?” Fluttershy asked.         Keyan heaved a deep breath,         “He was in a station owned by an alliance I was in. We were in war, and we were losing, badly. They appeared in system, and we were entirely unprepared. They rolled across us in hours, couldn’t do anything to stop them. Eventually, it turned into a rout, the only thing I really cared about in that entire system was Novi, but before I could get him, the station bought it. They decided it would be cheaper to blow it up than waste the manpower and time taking it. Saw the whole thing go, it was a pretty impressive explosion,” he chuckled dryly.         Fluttershy deepened her hug.         “But I learned something from that, don’t get attached to things,” he pointed towards his ship, the rust colored hull dominating the sky above Canterlot, “See my ship?”         “No,” Fluttershy said, surprisingly sarcastic.         Keyan turned his head and caught sight of Fluttershy’s eyes before they chuckled together.         “That ship, if it was in New Eden, has maybe a month or two more life in it before some pirate decides he wants a new killmail,” he paused, “thats the same thing as trophy.”         Fluttershy leaned back and looked at him,         “What would happen to Aura then?”         Keyan shrugged,         “Shes backed up on my personal server, so she’ll remember everything that happened..” his voice trailed off as he realized that his ship was somehow interacting with the “magic” in this system, which was sadly lacking in New Eden.         He would definitely have to figure that problem out.         ***         Little did the capsuleer know that that problem was already being solved elsewhere.         ***         “BAM BAM BAM BAM!” Scootaloo cried out as she played with the joystick of the shuttle. She had just vaporized the third pirate ship that had attacked them. Aura was kind enough to simulate the action on the front window of the shuttle, as well as a data feed on the holographic displays.         “Apple Bloom! Damage Report!” she shouted to her chief engineer, who was hunched over another HUD.         “Right side thrusters took a glancing hit, left side are clear, no hull breaches and shields are recharging now.”         Scootaloo nodded and turned to her chief communications/sensor officer Sweetie Belle.         “Do you see anything?”         “Nothing on sensors, but keep an eye out for cloaked ships.”         Scootaloo then called out to Spike, her chief weapons officer.         “What’s the status on our weapons?”         “Auto cannons reloading, only got two missiles left.”         “I’m sorry to interrupt,” Aura suddenly said, her voice sounding through the cockpit’s speakers, “but I have a question.”         The three fillies and a dragon let out a collective groan.         “Oh.. forgive me,” Aura said.         “Don’t worry about it,” Applebloom said as she waved a hoof, “we didn’t mean to sound mean. We owe you for doing these sim-ul-a-tions for us anyway.”         “Yea, sorry,” the three others quickly said.         After a few seconds Aura’s voice sounded once again,         “Can you explain ‘fun’ to me?”         The four organics looked at each other in confusion,         “What do you mean by that?” Spike asked.         “As an A.I, these… emotions are new to me, and I have searched my memory cores and discovered I have no entries for ‘fun’.  And I have found, despite diverting a majority of my processing power to it, that I am unable to understand  or create valid simulations of it.”         “Ummm.. well.. this is fun, these ‘simulations’,” Spike explained.         “Let me clarify, I am able to place the lable ‘fun’ on many activities that I have observed. But there are contradictions in my samples. Pinkie Pie considers meeting new ponies to be the most fun thing in her life, but Fluttershy is the opposite. So my question is… why? What makes a pony think something is more fun than another?”         “Its just who they are,” Sweetie Belle attempted to explain, “some ponies find some things more fun than others because their personality just fits it better.”         Aura was silent for a few seconds,         “I see the merit in that statement, and it is a valid pattern to the data, but I still do not understand the concept behind it.”         This continued for a while, and despite the fillies best efforts the A.I was no close to drawing any conclusion.         Apple Bloom eventually turned to Scootaloo, who was mostly quiet during this whole exchange.         “Scootaloo?” the farm filly asked, “what are you thinking about.”         The miniature daredevil turned to her friends with a thoughtful expression on her face,         “Okay, hear me out for a bit, okay Aura?”         “Of course Scootaloo,” the A.I responded.         “Well, you created a whole new set of wings for Rainbow Dash, and an eye, so why don’t you just like.. build a whole body for yourself?”         There was dead silence throughout cockpit.         Apple Bloom opened her mouth,         “That is--”         She was interrupted when Aura suddenly screamed out,         “Ingenious!”         The four organics looked at each other in confusion.         “I can create apparatus to simulate touch, facial structure for emotions, I have Rainbow Dash’s DNA as a template for the organic parts. There are more than enough components in the cargo bay to make a full body. This means II can actually experience fun activities!” a very real note of happiness was creeping into the A.I’s voice, “Oh wow, I feel… good! This is a good feeling! I want to feel like this more!”         The fillies giggled at the A.I’s giddiness.         “But it would be expensive! I have to ask the Captain first.”         Scootaloo smirked,         “Heres another idea, don’t. Just do it and then tell Keyan later. I think it would be better to ask for forgiveness later rather than permission now.”         Apple Bloom looked actually shocked at her friend,         “Scootaloo, thats cheatin and you know it!”         Scootaloo turned to defend herself,         “Oh come on, it not like Keyan hasn’t done anything like that before!”         “Scootaloo,” Aura interrupted, “have you ever stopped to think that Keyan may not want you to take after him? His instincts were shaped in a different world than yours, do not forget that.”         Scootaloo once again opened her mouth the protest, but soon drooped instead,         “Yea, you’re right,” she looked at Apple Bloom, “I’m sorry.”         “However, I will start development of the schematics.”         The four organics smiled once again, hopefully a new pony will be walking around soon.