The chairs and tables of the dining hall had been moved to an empty classroom, save for a few that were currently occupied by the various drinks and snacks Surprise had prepared for the guests. Balloons and streamers covered nearly the entire ceiling and most of the walls, while a large pair of speakers played cheerful music at a volume that was not painful nor quiet, just the right level for the guests of honor of tonight’s festival.
“Agabbagoo! He he he!” Seated on a trio of towering thrones, in the middle of the hall, two of the three foals this party was for were just fine looking around and watching the rest of the guests having fun, while the third was more focused on eating the cake in front of him.
Victorious stood in the corner, waiting with a smirk on his face. He watched the girls fuss over the babies and even had joined in with a few rounds of tail catch with his son. He saw Elane and Jane, dressed like models, talking to Grace about clothes and practical stuff babies need. He saw surprise behind a pair of turntables she had procured from Celestia-knows-where, carefully managing the music. He saw all the guests having fun, but he knew that the real fun would begin when Terrence came in and talked to Elane about...
He shook his head. Good things come to those who wait...
-------------------
The Conversion Bureau: St. George
Episode 5, part 3: Operation Blue Light, TAKE TWO!
-------------------
“GAH!”
Roll to the right, dodge the sensor probe as it tried to get a target lock.
“WOAH!!”
Regain balance, don’t step on the pressure plate. One round of voracious viruses was plenty.
“EEEP!!!”
Jump over the missiles, slide under the scanner before it can get a good look.
“WHY NOW!?!”
Operation Blue Light Take Two had not gone as smoothly as hoped. Lindie had planned to use Surprise’s computer as a node to reach the Doctor’s computer, since she knew the system well. However, the large scale systemwide security scan Surprise was running during the party had complicated things, meaning Lindie was now forced to evade all sorts of scanners and probes on top of dodging Surprise’s usual security systems.
Why did this even surprise me? Have I been getting lax?
Lindie slid to a stop in front of the large bookcase once more, quickly pulling out a horseshoe-shaped magnet and throwing it at the books. The program flew through the air, suddenly hung still for a few seconds, before attaching itself to one of the books.
“Gotcha!”
Lindie grabbed the magnet and the book it was attached to, but just as she was about to pull it from its shelf, a large robot shaped like a flying saucer approached the bookcase and started to move in her direction, various sharp-looking implements on long limbs sliding out of several concealed compartments and reaching out for her.
Ohcrapohcrapohcrap!
The book still in her hand, Lindie started shuffling through her pockets while trying to dodge the scanner probe that was currently attempting to identify her by means of dissection. Grabbing a large quill that seemed to be on fire, Lindie swiftly rewrote a few lines in the book she had grabbed before she jammed it back on the shelf. At that moment however, the probe managed to grab her with a metal claw and hoisted her up to let the glowing red eye on top get a good look at her.
{ITEM IDENTIFIED AS: G4L1ND4.USER; ITEM FOUND ON WHITELIST, COURSE OF ACTION: IGNORE.}
The device put her down and flew off to some other part of the system to harass some innocent plaintext file, while Lindie got back up on her feet. Still got it. Good.
-------------------
Ditzy grinned, cheerful over how well her day had been so far. If there was one thing she was great at, it was being a mother. That, and working with Time bubbles, as the cluster of bubbles on her flanks confirmed. Still, if anypony could have had two cutiemarks, Ditzy’s second would be about parenting, no doubt about it.
The foals took to Dinky and Pinchy with a vigor. They immediately began playing, pretending one of the playpens was a pirate ship. Pinchy had given all of them a fake sword, except for Pound and Pumpkin. They had made their own "weapons".
Ditzy chuckled to herself as Doctor Whooves trotted up and grinned as well. "Ahh, memories... That is the best thing, remembering all this. Time with family... "
Terrence walked into the room via one of the back doors, and talked shortly with Elane, causing her to chuckle and nod. She waved to the other girls before heading back out with Terrence.
"Wonder what that is about. Well, I guess I just got upgraded to acting supervisor of the party. best go tell Surprise tha-" Ditzy was suddenly interrupted by Surprise leaping up into the air, surrounded by a cloud of cloud of confetti.
“Gather ‘round, it is time for PARTY GAMES!!!”
-------------------
"TARDIS reference and schematics..." Lindie said looking at what was apparently the operator’s manual for that blasted blue box. "Huh... Well, this must be it." She had spent a few valuable minutes searching through the bookcase and had finally found what seemed to be Surprise’s direct link to the Doctor’s computer, in the form of a large dusty tome this time. She placed the book on the ground and opened in somewhere in the middle, causing a large doorway to pop out of the book.
Bracing herself for whatever traps the Doctor would have prepared for her, Lindie pushed the door open and stepped through.
Again, she found herself in the desolate representation of the Doctor’s computer. This time however, the blue box was already revealed, standing a few feet away from her "Aha! We meet again," she said to no-one in particular.
She pushed open the doors, again running into an empty wooden interior. Right. Wouldn’t make a lot of sense if doing the same thing would-
"You really should stop, you know," a voice called out. A female voice this time.
Lindie spun around, finding Colgate sitting on a wooden crate a few feet from where the door had previously opened.
Colgate continued speaking. "There are some things humans can’t see, shouldn’t see. Not yet anyway."
"So say the cowards. Besides, who is going to stop me?" Lindie said with a slightly mad grin.
"Well, I won’t. I’m just here to warn you about the consequences. And to see if you can actually find the way in of course."
-------------------
"Oh hush. You look absolutely Fabulous!" Elane said as she brushed Terrence’s hair.
"That’s exactly what I’m afraid of," he replied with his eyes closed.
"Oh come on now! You look divine! Stop acting like such a child."
"Remember, this is one time only! I just lost a bet."
"Yes, a bet with Victory, you told me a dozen times already. Anyway, you did make a bet, and are you not a man of your word?" Elane said, putting the brush down.
"Yes I am. But I did not think it would get this far... or that I would lose." Terrence said.
"Well, we all have our prices to pay from time to time. Now, stand up and look in the mirror. Tell me what you see," Elane said.
Terrence stood up, and cracked one eye open, then the other. "I see... a woman."
"Not just any woman, a beautiful woman! Well, she will be once we are finished with your eyes. Hand me the eyeshadow there, would you? The blue one please."
Terrence sighed, and wished he was swapped with Victory.
-------------------
Victorious Shield sighed, and wished he was swapped with Terrence.
It was time for the relay race. Boys vs. girls. The rules were simple: five people on each team, no less and no more.
The boys had the Doctors (both of them), Soarin’, Victorious, and Mr. Cake. The girls had Grace, Spring, Octavia, Berry, and Jane.
Doctor Tennant was currently explaining the rest of the rules to the male team. “Ok boys, the relay goes as thus: the fastest runner (henceforth known as ‘the baby’, for us that is Victorious and for the girls Jane) has to run to each of the other four stations. The first station is feeding. I and Grace have to feed the baby a jar of food (fresh apple sauce), before they can go to the next station. The second is "changing" where the station ‘attendants’ (Mr. Cake and Berry) have to pin the ‘babies’ into a single white towel, over their clothing. Then, it will be a mad dash to the third, pattycakes (Soarin’ and Octavia are stationed here), followed by a hop skip and a jump to the fourth, warming up a bottle and feeding (Done by my little pony clone and Spring.) Everyone and everypony got that?”
Victorious tried hard to suppress his groan. “Yes, we get it! Soarin’ was just being sarcastic, and that was the sixth time you explained! Can we please just get started? I want this over with as soon as possible.”
The Doctor nodded. “Very well then. Everyone and everypony to their stations!”
“You boys finally ready then?” Jane asked with a hint of annoyance on her face as the men ran to their respective places.
“Yes, we are ready,” Victorious said before the Doctor could say anything to the contrary.
"On your marks!" Surprise said, getting ready to wave the bib tied to a dowel rod to signal the start of the race.
Yeah... Maybe losing that bet would have been the best outcome for Victorious.
-------------------
"HOW THE ███ DO I GET IN?" Galinda said, giving the side of the box a solid kick. She had been trying for what felt like hours to get in. As the sign on the door had said, she had pulled the doors open, only running into the same empty interior time and again. She had tried looking for loose walls, sent thousands of searcher programs inside to look for hidden exits, even tried entering the box and then closing the door, but nothing had yielded any results.
“AAAARRRRGH!!” In her frustration, Lindie gave the door of the box a kick that would have snapped it in two if it had been actual wood.
The doors bent inward, causing a soft yellow glow to escape from the box.
"... oh."
Colgate shook her head, a sad smile on her face. "Last warning, Lindie..."
"Go ahead, stop me if you dare."
Lindie stepped into the light. When she was asked later what she saw in the blue box, she would respond with a single word: Time.
-------------------
Beyond the realm of computers and networks between them, something happened. Lindie had left her body on her bed again, resting while she tried again to break into the Doctor’s systems. Suddenly, a thin tendril of smoke rose from between her closed eyelids as her body started to twitch.
-------------------
The light was a thousand times brighter inside the box, but only served to make every single thing she saw a million times clearer, as tiny wisps of golden stardust coiled and flowed around Lindie.
"This is amazing! I wonder why he keeps all this locked away. I mean, look at that! Beautiful!" Lindie said, before stepping up to the console. She ran her hand along it, streams of thoughts and memories springing up as her hand brushed past the buttons and levers. "Such craftsmanship! Such wondrous programing... It’s like this thing is ALIVE!"
Her hand idly skimmed across a diode. Suddenly, the light burnt brighter than a thousand suns for but one moment, before leaving her in the dark as her mind became supernova.
-------------------
Lindie’s body screamed as she closed down the link. Far too much, far too soon. Her mind was no longer bound to a single moment, now spread across all of time all at once. She saw it all... All of it... But she could only keep a single thing. One moment, stretched out for all eternity, a single glimmer in a star-filled sky: her entire life, carved permanently into her very soul.
Oh god.. am I dead? She screamed. Her eyes! They burned, like someone had shoved red hot pokers into them. No, as if someone had replaced them with a pair of stars, still burning as they cooked her brain to ashes.
Suddenly, the burning stopped. A moment later, Lindie felt that her head was wet. Someone must have dunked a bucket of water over her.
"Lindie, can you hear me?" She heard a distant voice, slowly growing louder as the pain in her head lowered.
"Yes. Yes I hear you."
"Did you enter the box?" As the voice grew louder, she recognized it. That Double Damned Doctor.
"I did... and I... I touched something. I remember it all. I remember," she said, wincing. "Can someone turn on the lights? I can’t see a single thing in here!"
For a moment, nobody said anything. When the Doctor spoke again, his voice was filled with sadness. “Lindie, the lights are all on. I am sorry. I am so, so sorry.”
Fighting the fear that threatened to overwhelm her, Lindie tried to sit up. “What do you mean they are already on? It is absolutely pitch black here! Why can’t I see a damn thing then?”
"Well, you can’t see because you lost the part of the brain that controls vision. You... you have forgotten how to see, as that part of your brain was... reformatted," the Doctor said. In the background, Lindie could vaguely hear the pony Doctor give some instructions to someone else.
"Reformatted? What for? How?" Lindie asked, now struggling not to break into tears. She would rather die than show a man that kind of weakness.
"Memories. You remember everything, literally everything. It seems that my... program caused you to remember all of your life, something no human should ever have to. See, there is a reason why we forget things. Small things, like names of people we barely know, what played on the radio four weeks ago, where you left your keys last Tuesday. Because, if we had to remember it all... it would fry our brains. You were lucky, in that only your eyes got fried. So, until we can get you converted..."
Lindie felt a cane enter her hand and some glasses slide onto her face. "Doctor... thanks," she said, hoping the (probably) shades would hide her tears well.
"Don’t thank me. I don’t deserve it," he said. "Well, care to come to the baby shower now? There is not much left to do but to mingle...”
The sound of a pair of high heels echoed through the room, announcing a new arrival. "Elane? Jane?" Lindie said, hoping it was one of her friends.
"Not quite. Although I’ve been told I make quite a beautiful woman."
"T-Terrence? Why do you sound like you are wearing high heels?"
"Long story short, don’t make a bet you can’t stand losing. shall we go m'lady?" He said. Lindie could hear the grin in his voice.
"Only if I get pictures of today, for when I get my eyes back," she said as she took his hand. "...Nail polish too? Let me guess..."
"Elane," both said at the same time before walking out the door and to the party.
////////////////
Ray10k here.
Our favorite little hacker is blind now, and remembers every single thing. I hope we learn why she dislikes her own biological body so much soon...
kryxel here.
all good things come to those who wait.