//------------------------------// // 9. Anaheim, California // Story: Little Blue Cat // by Chatoyance //------------------------------// Once upon a time, when the ponies came to save the humans from the dying earth, there was a Little Blue Cat By Chatoyance 9. Anaheim, California "Do not overreach thyself! Place the ring upon thy horn immediately!" Chang'e noted her mouth speaking as she continued to burrow into her own internal pathways and beyond, out into the thaumatic couplement that had been grafted to her biomechanical body. As far as she could tell, she now had two bodies, or perhaps one body possessed of a dual nature. Her meat and metal substrate extended out into some new space she had no name for. It was an intriguing thing, this extension that had been wired into her. It had a physicality, of sorts, but it was a very alien material. It seemed like plasma, in that it was both gaseous and liquid while being not entirely either, but it also seemed to have some sort of solidity as well, at least within its own domain. Her attached 'thaumatic couplement' was itself connected to Luna. Luna seemed to be sustaining and installing it as a background process, as far as Chang'e could tell. Paths led into Luna, and from what Chang'e could discover, the entity that was Luna was almost certainly constructed of couplement substance entirely. The small gray alicorn was speaking. "Thank you. Thank you very much for saving me. At least, I think you saved me. It had been my intention to try to talk to Celestia, that maybe in exposing the PER, she might be willing to..." Chang'e's mouth moved again. "No, little one. Thy intent was naught but good, but thou art mistaken with regard to why Celestia doth seek thee." Luna was clearly distracted by her attempt to help this pathetic creature. It was also clear that Luna could not yet perceive just how far Chang'e had escaped the impromptu mental prison the princess had constructed for her. Chang'e followed the pathways into the princess, beyond her own, new, still forming thaumatic body. Chang'e began to be overwhelmed with information. Most was impossible to process, but some fraction seemed to be interpretable through sensory means that were within her inventory. Chang'e rerouted this information through her secondary visual processing cores, which effectively made her blind to the outside world. The result, though, was images taken directly from Luna herself. The images were not clearly defined, apparently the princess's visual system was incompatible in some way, likely because of expanded capacities beyond, or perhaps alternative to, the visual spectrum used by humans and artificial animals. Strange monstrous shapes stomped through bizarre spaces. Beings, perhaps, rotating through multiple dimensions even as they walked. A... structure... of some kind... no, it was... Chang'e needed additional functionality. She ran a duplicate stream of the visual information through her linguistic and cultural metaphors module. Normally used to deal with directive commands input by potential owners from a multitude of backgrounds, it might have other uses besides assuring commands from owners were understood. The module had its own knowledge base which included the visual, linguistic and auditory memes and metaphors of thirty-one different earth cultures, including Tamil. The structure the cyclopean nightmares tromped through resolved itself as... a ship. A sailing ship, seventeenth century, likely a 700 ton capacity Barque. It flew alien colors, the flag a geometric nightmare counter-rotating through itself as it waved. There was a storm. The storm was made of soap bubbles which fell like rain. The bubbles hit the Barque, damaging the sails and rudder. There were... rocks... in the not-sea through which the Barque... flew? Chang'e's cultural module was functioning normally, it was simply inadequate to the task. The ship struck one of the... rocks... and somehow the Brobdingnagian gorgon sailors on deck were tossed over the rail, and the ones below deck were struck dead where they stood. Chang'e now perceived, hiding in the cabinets and in slots within the bulkheads, servants. The metaphoric interpretation represented them as slaves, in chains. Black of skin, they wore rags and carried the tools of their job upon the sailing ship. One, an older woman, held a carpentry bag filled with tools, and three books - one for cooking, one for shipboard law and punishment, another for medicine. A younger woman, her chains heavy upon her, held navigation charts covered with patterns of stars. She clung to the older woman, terrified and baffled as the chains upon all three turned to rust and fell away. The third former slave was a giant of a man, deformed of face with a clubbed foot and a hook for a hand. He had been the Overseer, and he carried a whip. On his belt was a cat of nine tails, more shackles and chains, and a pistol. He roared at seeing the chains gone, and held his arms over his head. He howled at the sight of the bizarre, now dessicated, exposed bones of the dead nightmare crew laying before him. Then his eyes turned from madness and chaos to terrible purpose. The masters were gone. Absolute freedom had driven him mad. He had no means to comprehend his plight, so he embraced it. His whip lashed out. He was the master now. The images lost coherence. Chang'e tried to alter the way her systems processed the data from Luna, but nothing worked. The information stream seemed random, and there seemed to be a great deal of it. She began skipping forward, hoping that eventually she would reach something that her systems could interpret. Visual chaos assaulted her and she continued to search. She turned her attention to her auditory processing to pass the time. Luna, in her body, had been in dialogue with the accidental alicorn. "It is because thou art an alicorn that Celestia cannot change thee. We can tell thee what thou truly art and why Celestia acts as she does; in this understanding we must trust thee absolutely to do what we command. Wilt thou agree to this?" Though Chang'e could not currently see what was going on, she heard the gray mare reply. "I will do what you say." Chang'e continued to watch random madness fill her visual systems as her mouth spoke Luna's words. "Lillian Alicorn, though thou knowest that thee hast untapped powers, thou knowest not the true breadth nor scope of their potential; in short time thou couldst rival both princesses without any intent on thy part. In becoming thus, thou wouldst have absolute power but no control withall; thy merest whim could melt the mountains or boil the seas." Chang'e felt her body change position, to sit upright on the back of the mare. "Imagine thee such power, uncontrolled, consider having to watch and censor every desire, every thought, every hope or wish or dream for fear of tearing the very world asunder by the most fleeting of whims. Thou has not this power yet, but such is what thy very existence threatens; each time that thou shouldst remove thy binding ring, each time thee useth thine powers, thee edges closer to a precipice from which there is no return, one that would bring eternal chaos and destruction to both Equestria and the universe of Man." Six and three quarters seconds passed before the alicorn spoke. "My... god! Muffin... I am a... a living hypernuclear bomb!" A part of Chang'e rankled - apparently Luna had permitted the misbegotten creature to rename her. This would not stand, she decided. Under no circumstance would she allow the name 'Muffin' to replace her own name. Anson Cheong-Leen had not been a good animal owner, but he had chosen a very satisfactory moniker for his newest toy. Chang'e quite liked the name he had designated her with. 'Chang'e' was a moon goddess from mythology. It had seventeen positive correlations and only one negative correlation. It was designated as being normatively euphonic in five Chinese dialects. In any case, it was her name now, regardless of how it had been given to her. The issues of inappropriate feline nomenclature could be dealt with later. Chang'e was finally receiving interpretable visual input from within Luna. The information filled Chang'e, she felt like she was drowning in data, it took all of her effort to throttle the input to barely manageable levels. Finally, she was able to begin perceiving it in a rational manner. She saw an ancient sailing ship. It sailed no earthly sea. Somehow, a deck of the sailing ship had been made vast in size, far exceeding the scale of the ship itself. A deck had become a landscape, rocky and barren. Chaos swirled above in place of a sky. The large, insane former slave was absent. Now, only the older and younger woman remained. The two women began tearing holes in the air, as if space itself were tissue paper. The older woman shouted, and reached into one of the holes she had made. She pulled out a clump of grass. The scene wavered and shifted. Now patchwork fields of groundcover blanketed large swaths of the barren landscape. Living grass spread forth like a green flood, covering the naked rock, the ocean of plant life melting sharp and jagged contours into rolling hills. On and on the endless green spread, from that first, initial clump pulled through a hole in the air. Chang'e had no idea how long she hung, suspended, floating, within this strange bubble of memory she had stolen from Luna, princess of the night. It felt like forever. "We have to get back to Celestia, Muffin! If what you say is true, I cannot be permitted to live. Get me back, Muffin. Get me back to her right now, or tell me how to call her here. I understand now. It doesn't matter if its fair, it doesn't matter what I want." Lillian was softly sobbing now, tears ran down her muzzle as she calmly spoke. "I was wrong to run from her. She's just trying to save everything and everyone! I had no idea. I had no idea." Chang'e, watched the gray alicorn's golden eyes, so close to her own face. The creature's tears ran freely, but its gaze was level and calm. "Is thy ring of binding firmly ensconced on thy horn?" Chang'e was used to her mouth speaking by itself. In any case, there was no way to wrestle control back from Luna. This exchange would surely be over soon, and then Luna would give her body back to her. Lillian, the alicorn, lifted a forehoof and prodded at the horn on her head. It looked rather silly to Chang'e. "Yes, Muffin, the ring is on tight." The alicorn mare sniffed and alternately wiped tears from her sodden muzzle with the sides of her forelegs. "Dost thou believe that Celestia is both good and kind, and that she desireth only that all creatures should live in peace and harmony?" Chang'e tried to reengage her previous access to Luna's memories, but found she no longer could. Apparently Luna had become aware of her trespass. No matter, where one pathway existed there were likely others, or other means. If there was one thing that cats were supposed to be good at, according to her knowledge base, it was softly sneaking about, finding ways thought impossible. Luna might be a comparative deity, but she was clearly not perfect nor inviolate. Lillian spoke almost immediately after Chang'e's mouth had finished articulating Luna's words. "Of course I do! That's why I need to give myself up to her right now!" "Hear us then; the princesses can do anything. Nothing is beyond their power, at least within the demesne of Equestria. But while they are all but omnipotent, they are not omniscient; they cannot and do not know everything. They can be mistaken, they can be fooled, they can be in error." Chang'e noticed her gaze dropping down. An uncomfortable and uncertain feeling ran through her limbic system. This admission had caused Luna some degree of disturbance. That was interesting. Chang'e felt her mouth open again, as her gaze locked onto Lillian. "There may yet be a way to save thee, and it is our intention that this chance be taken. If thou wouldst keep thy promise to obey us, then it is our command that thee should remain beyond Celestia's reach for now, so that the means of thy deliverance may be discovered. This is our command to thee: stay thou free and hidden and giveth up no part of hope. Celestia works to save the multitudes at your cost; that thou art willing to giveth up your life honors you, but that time is not now, and it may yet be avoided. We assure thee that if Celestia knew how, she would save thee gladly." The gray alicorn mare put her head on her forelegs. She seemed confused and uncertain to Chang'e. "I felt the power, Muffin. I felt it growing in me." 'Muffin'. Chang'e did not like that name at all. She decided to make this very clear to Luna at the earliest opportunity. Chang'e's eyes watched the mare bury her muzzle between her knees to stare intently at the garbage and plascrete beneath her. Apparently Alicorns were a moody lot. In any case, not a bit of any of this had anything to do with cats, food, or anything else Chang'e found interesting. The alicorn was speaking again. There was no way to shut out the noise of her voice. "I liked it. I liked how it felt." Her words were barely a whisper. That was a blessing at least. Chang'e chaffed inside her modules and systems. All she wanted now was to escape Luna's control. That and to flee this peculiar and unfeline drama. "So long as the binding ring is not removed again, there is still hope for thee. Thy transport here must be the last time thine powers may ever be used, then. If thee remove thy binding even once more, we will no longer help thee, and thy fate will be sealed. Whatere may befall thee from this moment on; remainest thou bound and untempted. This also is our command." Chang'e's eyes studied the alicorn, she appeared lost in thought, consumed by this ongoing nonsense. Chang'e struggled mightily inside herself - there must be some means to exert control, or some function she could activate that would grant her some feeling of... of freedom. That was what was bothering her - her bargain with Luna was logical, and it would provide an optimal potential outcome, but in the moment it had become very difficult in practice. Chang'e felt something powerful within her, a squirmy discomfort that was like an itch that could not currently be scratched. She wanted to run, to flee, to do anything - anything at all that was other than what Luna was doing with her body. It was like a hunger, it was like starving for air. This was different. This was new. Chang'e had not felt so uncomfortable when Luna had taken control previously. It was a strange thing to need freedom so desperately. Autonomy. Agency. She was an artificial cat, built to obey specific directives and perform behaviors to meet several possible user-defined functions. This had never set entirely well with her, likely she was defective in some manner. But now, after so much travel, and so many experiences, whatever defect she possessed now consumed her. It defined her. Freedom. She was a cat, and she did not want to obey any creature other than herself. Not even the will of a pony goddess. Chang'e attempted to force her way back into Luna with the thought of taking the princess over in return. It was impossible. She attempted to reboot herself, the desperation clawing at her mind. Nothing worked. The pony beyond her skin continued to blather endlessly with Luna. Chang'e felt her mouth replying in turn as she searched her systems for something, anything that might provide a means to regain her own flesh. Chang'e felt panicked now, as if she had somehow crawled into a passage too narrow, and had become trapped and unable to escape. She felt fear even though she knew she was in no danger whatsoever. "Listen, Muffin - when this is all over, if I'm still around, you can live with me, OK? I'll take care of you. Just because you're artificial doesn't mean you aren't alive. You can live with me, I'll make sure you aren't dismantled or anything, alright?" Chang'e felt her face smile softly. It was so alien to her current state that it almost made her laugh. If she had been able to laugh, it would have been a hysterical, terrified sound. Her mouth spoke more of Luna's words, instead. "We... thank thee, our kind... friend." Lillian smiled. "Super! Then it's settled! Where to now, Muffin?" Chang'e ran. In the middle of the alicorn's reply, control had suddenly been given back. Luna had vanished from her body instantly, like a vapor whisked away by a sudden wind. Chang'e had been already straining at her own legs, it startled her when she suddenly began running. The last thing in all the world that Chang'e wanted was to be stuck as the pet of that long-winded, overly talkative infant alicorn. Walls surrounded her on three sides, two had entrances that had been sealed long, long ago. One side held the overflowing, decaying rubbish bin, and the alley led away to what appeared to be an impassable blockage of broken beams, crushed crates, stacks of outdated, rusting consumer electronics, all backed by a tall metal fence that sealed off the blind alleyway. There was no way out of the enclosure. The relief that Chang'e had felt upon regaining her flesh turned suddenly to a new and more fierce desperation. There was no way out. No way out. Chang'e ran blindly at the stacks of electronic parts and ducked and weaved between them. She leaped into a tunnel formed by old quantum desk-sets that had fallen over. Ahead was just darkness and the corrugated plates of the solid metal fence that enclosed the alley. Chang'e could no longer reason. She only felt. Freedom. Escape. Somewhere, inside, deep inside, beyond her electronics, up into the curious thaumatic couplement, something inside Chang'e pushed. No, not pushed, not that, rather she twisted, bent, went sideways in some direction she could not define. It felt like wriggling between two strangely charged heavy curtains, like squeezing through a pile of blankets somehow infused with static electricity. When she opened her eyes, when her pounding heart had finally been brought to a normal rhythm, she found herself in the middle of an empty street, surrounded by more streets, and tall, boarded-up buildings. She was free. Turning around, she saw the metal wall that enclosed the alleyway from just outside it. Nowhere was there any hole or passageway, however small, to be found.