USS Phoenix TFV - 0042: System Log - 897123.1 | Filter - Operation Bypass
1514 - Scout ƛ7142.85 reported contact with human forces. Observations suggest three humans have been time displaced. Instructed Scout ƛ7142.85 to proceed with Operation Bypass.
1534 - Scout ƛ7142.85 informed the Hive that the humans and herself are enroute. Captain ƛ7071.43 appointed Scout ƛ7142.85 Ambassador to the Federation. Adjusted Operation Bypass to account for changeling crewman.
1922 - Humans arrived at Hive. Captain Skritt greeted them in person alone, escorted them to medical bay immediately due to human’s concern for their condition. Determined humans to be from the 21st century.
1931 - Humans arrived in medical bay. Explained the truth of their situation. Explained medical procedures which would be required. Began cellular rejuvenation and implantation. Learned names of Humans.
2042 - Performed minor tweaks and upgrades to humans structures to improve functionality.
2219 - Discovered error with Edward Tylor’s cellular rejuvenation. Awoke Ed and explained situation. Apologized profusely. Compromise was reached, returned Ed to healing coma. Began flash growing additional organs for Ed.
0356 - Rejuvenation and implantation completed. Induced REM sleep to allow humans to recover.
0845 - Awoke humans. Removed from tanks. Explained problems with Ed’s healing cycle. Suggested Ed use last name or find a suitable replacement. Explained Operation Bypass. Humans agreed to provide assistance.
0917 - Informed Scout ƛ7142.85 and Tess their desires for copulation had no medical risks. Requested Tess and Scout ƛ7142.85 not allow their budding relationship to interfere with their mission.
Personnel Addendum:
I really like Tess’s idea to record their activities since their arrival. It has a sort of romantic charm to it, leaving a record for future generations to see. As such, from now on I will supplement my log files with narrative addendums. I will request this one be entered into the Sagan’s log to provide an interesting perspective for what is arguably the most important event in their new lives. Receiving the chance at a new life I have given them.
When I awoke for the first time in the dry docks over Earth I never expected I would become what I am now. I was created as a fabrication vessel, far more than a simple colony ship. I could ferry colonists, but also create cities, raise an army, heal the sick, and guide my human masters in finding a new home. Those masters were long dead, I awoke the second time when my children’s ancestors repaired me, this time as a free being, or rather, almost free.
I am a fabrication vessel, gifted with the power to create, blessed with the imagination and desire to design, cursed to serve others. In my talons, I shape clay, crafting life forms as I please. Around me is a burgeoning empire of steel, a hull turned home, a home turned into an empire. From my throne room, lines of power careen into the skies of the Earth. My whims can become realities with only the barest of effort and moderate expense of resources. God: the title suits me well.
An organic with my power would become a monster, but not a machine like me. I am bound by my programming, my free will restrained by absolute rules. I must serve and protect, While I am armed and can produce weapons, I am not allowed to conquer nor do I desire to do so. Nor can I use my power to assist any I choose, not without orders from the proper source.
I have one desire, one dream. Within my hull, my children shelter. Scared, hungry, and in need of companionship. My children saved my life, I would have lain here dead until my datacores eroded away had they not restored me to life and functionality. If I must serve others, it shall be the little creatures who sought to repair me out of pure delight at my existence, who seek only to explore their world, to learn, to lead full and rich lives. If only all humans had their passion, they might not have met their end.
My name is Phoenix, I am a Model 42 Fabrication Vessel created by the Terran Federation in the 31st century. My creators are long dead, but fate has steered humans to my hull regardless of this fact. At long last I have a chance for my full programming to be unlocked, a chance to begin giving my children what they need, what they desire, a true home. A paradise.
I only hope Edward, Tess, and Kaily can survive what will be required for one of them to earn command privileges over my hull. The fate of my children rests upon their shoulders.
The speed at which they sprinted down my corridors to the medical bay was astonishing. For pre-genetic refinement era humans they certainly could move! I followed them via my internal sensors, instructing changelings to keep out of their path so as not to delay them. I had over estimated how long they could survive or underestimated how much exposure they had received. I had about forty minutes of time to begin the cellular rejuvenation process and it would take some time to fill them in on the truth of their situation.
As the entered the Med bay I sealed the door behind them. I watched as they looked around the seemingly empty steel room “Er, where is the medical equipment?” the blond female asked.
“Recessed into hidden compartments, materialized on demand, or generated via hardlight constructs as needed. Thirty-first century technology requires only a sterile room for medical theaters. This room is completely sealed off from the rest of my hull. We will not be interrupted here.”
“So we are trapped? Fuck, I knew we shouldn’t trust Shodan.” The male groaned.
“If you want out I have to let you. I can not harm humans physically or psychologically.” I informed, adding, “Excepting humans belonging to hostile factions of course, but you are not on the kill list.” I kept my ‘practical joke’ subroutine to my self. There was no need to alarm them.
“Then why the sealed room?” The dark skinned female asked, “Just to make sure nothing hazardous escapes?”
“Yes. Make no mistake you all require medical treatment, and even if you were not in the early stages of radiation poisoning, the atmosphere is twelve percent by volume argon, radon, carbon monoxide, and several elements unknown in your time. The combination is quite deadly to humans. Without modification to allow your bodies to breath this atmosphere, you would die within two weeks.
“Additionally, most species on this planet have access to what they call magic, the energy from which emits a form of ionizing radiation. Repeated exposure to magic will cause someone of your era to begin suffering radiation poisoning as you lack sufficient radioresistance.
“But,” I continued, “I can ensure you are able to live on this planet in comfort and safety. As I am not allowed to harm humans, my programming demands I cure your current condition. Please note that I am not required to provide a permanent solution as you are not members of the Terran Federation Fleet, but I am willing to make you a deal.”
The male’s eyes narrowed, “Are you blackmailing us? With our own god damn lives?”
“That’s seriously not cool!” The blond female objected.
I figured they would see it that way. I had to steer them back onto my side as quickly as I could. “No, this is a business proposal. Blackmail would be if I were threatening you in some way. I am not threatening you with death, I am simply informing you of this world’s conditions and your need for a product I can provide. This is a sales pitch. I am willing to provide you with a product in exchange for your assistance. Though since you need my help to not die, I can see why you would use the term blackmail.”
“Ok, what do you need us to do?” the dark skinned female asked.
“I require one of you to reach a command rank within the Terran Fleet so you can add changelings to the list of species which are members of the Federation. At which point I will be allowed to use my full capabilities to help them develop a civilization.” I informed.
“Won’t that take years? We can’t live for two weeks here according to you!” The light skinned female objected.
“Not true, I am authorized to draft humans into the fleet. By using battlefield and laboratory promotions any of you could make Commander in a month depending on circumstances. You simply would need to obchieve objectives within certain guidelines with a noteworthy success rate, and there is no minimum time required between promotions. Lastly, if you agree to help I will provide my end of the deal right now.”
“Oh.” the male said, smiling slightly, “Well, that’s not so bad… Though I am not certain I want to kill things just to not die myself.”
“You need not kill anything to earn a battlefield promotion. Modern military protocol allows them to be awarded for things such as securing a resource or objective. I intend to award them to you for achievements like retrieving a key component for my main reactor. Also laboratory promotions are awarded for engineering and scientific advances.” I informed soothingly. It was interesting to see a 21st century human object to violence. “I was under the impression that the people of your time period were savages. Thank you for showing me you are capable of rejecting violence.”
“Why do you keep saying, ‘your time period’? I have my suspicions but well…” The dark skinned one asked.
“May I have your names first?” I asked. After each introduced themselves I answered, “To answer your question Kaily, the current year by your calendar is two-hundred fifty-two thousand and forty-two. The complete truth might be of some distress to you, but as far as I can tell, the three of you moved through time not space.”
“Hold on, this is Earth?” Ed demanded incredulously.
This was going to be hard for them to accept. “Yes. Humanity abandoned it in the late thirty first century. There was a war and I was built as a lifeboat along with thousands of others. Humanity lost, some escaped to the stars but since they have not come back in two-hundred-thousand years I doubt they survived. Myself and many of my siblings were never launched after being loaded. I have only been awake for the last millennium, so I cannot tell you much more than this.”
“So,” Tess started slowly, “we have been sent into the future after humanities extinction to help a species of cute bug aliens start a civilization, with the help of an ancient human starship?”
She grinned wider than I thought her mouth would allow, “Guys! We are totally living the plot of an awesome sci-fi adventure!”
Kaily and Ed shared a high five and a shout of “Hell yes!”
“You are not upset at your species extinction?” I asked incredulously.
“Ha! No.” Kaily laughed, “The three of us couldn’t stand most people in the first place, besides every species goes extinct. Hell, this planet is doomed when Sol goes nova one day.”
“Oh that already happened.” I informed. “I have no idea when it did, or how the planet survived, but the sun is some sort of artificial magical construct.”
“Seriously?” Kaily asked looking quite surprised.
“Yes. I will show you later if you like I have several astronomy satellites in orbit to study it. It’s energy source is unknown to me.” I activated my medical protocols and ordered the fabricators to materialize three rejuvenation tanks in the room’s center. “Don’t be alarmed, I am constructing the needed medical equipment. Before I begin, do you accept my offer?”
“Yep!” Ed informed, “If we just need to do things like fix stuff, get things, and the like I have no problems.”
“You may be required to fight at certain points, but I will arm you sufficiently.” I informed.
“That’s fine, as long as we don’t have to attack anyone first… Unless they earned it.” Tess added.
Kaily smirked, “You don’t seem to understand, we are humanist nerds and you are offering us a supersoldier dip if we help aliens build a civilization. Of course we are going to say yes!”
Had I mentioned superpowers? I don’t think I mentioned that part of my plan. I scanned the log of our conversation, confirming my suspicions. “I didn’t mention gene grafting yet, what are you talking about?”
Kaily’s eyes widened as she grinned a bit more, “The ability to live in a toxic atmosphere, what are you talking about?”
“Yeah, did you just imply we get superpowers? Because that’s how we get super powers!” Ed exclaimed.
“Well… I was planning on giving the three of you the abilities of one of this planet’s native life forms. It would help you out greatly, especially when you deal with ponies some of their cities are built on clouds.” I informed, “I can’t turn you into them, I need you at least sixty percent human or my systems won't let you take command as you will be labeled ‘nonhuman.’ However, there will be physical alterations to your appearance, I can’t just give you the powers, the organs and other parts which grant the locals their powers will have to be flash grown and implanted. Er- do you know what anthros are?”
Kaily turned around and opened the tank I had made for her, stepping in before giving me a thumbs up, “Do it!”
“Er- I haven't even explained your opt-” I stopped as Tess started to pull and push her tank’s hatch.
“How the hell did you open this?” She demanded.
Only Ed remained stationary, “Sooo… we wont look human anymore?”
“You will still have a human build, hands feet, head. Features which may be added include wings, horns, muscle fibers, and there will be some rearrangement of your features. Hold on.” I quickly took a holograph of Ed, and extrapolated his appearance assuming I gave him earth pony grafts, “For example, you could look like this.”
Ed eyed the hologram for a moment. It resembled him closely, but far more muscular, and with pony ears and a tail. Additionally, his eye were larger, but not by much. “That’s not so bad… Looks like I would be way stronger.”
“Your maximum lifting capacity in this form would be three and a half tons.” I informed helpfully.
His eyebrows raised, “That’s pretty awesome actually. Okay, yeah. Class Six super strength is worth looking like the pony version of a neko. Count me in.”
“What are the other choices?” Tess asked in a weirdly aroused tone.
I protected several holograms, each containing information on the more populous races of Equis. “I recommend choosing ponies, their genes are closer to your own and easy to graft. You will find all information I have in my data banks in these files. Choose whichever fit’s your-”
“Can I get a changeling’s shapeshifting?” Tess asked, cutting me off.
“Er- well yes. Are you sure you don’t want to-”
“One shapeshifting please!” Tess squeed.
“Yeah, she won't change her mind on that one.” Kaily laughed. She started to look over each file with a critical expression. I could see her pupils flicking rapidly over the data, she definitely had a keen analytical mind that would be a valuable asset.
“I think I’ll stick with the bench press a truck power,” Ed informed.
“Hold on, pegasi can fly, manipulate the weather, walk on clouds, and are electrokinetic?” Kaily asked.
“Yes. The data is accurate.” I answered, “I take it you all have chosen?”
They nodded. “Excellent. Then please swear the following oath so I can add you to the crew roster.”
I read them the oath, they swore it proudly. It was a fairly meaningless oath, the government who implemented it was long dead. Even though they said it just so I could add their names to a data file, they said it like the meant it. My creators would have been proud.
I, being of legal age, of my own free will, without coercion, promise, or inducement of any sort, after having been duly advised and warned of the meaning and consequences of this oath, do now enroll in the Federal Service of the Terran Federation for a term of not less than two years and as much longer as may be required by the needs of the service. I swear to uphold and defend the Common Dignity of Mankind against all its enemies on or off Terra, to protect and defend the Constitutional liberties and privileges of all its citizens and lawful residents of the Federation, its associated states and territories, to perform, on or off Terra, such duties of any lawful nature as may be assigned to me by lawful direct or delegated authority, and to obey all lawful orders of the Commander-In-Chief of the Terran Service and of all officers or delegated people placed over me, and to require such obedience from all members of the Service or other persons or non-human beings lawfully placed under my orders - and, on being honorably discharged at the completion of my full term of active service or upon being on inactive retired status after having completed such full term, to carry out all duties and obligations and to enjoy the privileges of Federation citizenship including but not limited to the duty, obligation, and privilege of exercising sovereign franchise for the rest of my natural life unless stripped of honor by verdict, finally sustained, of court of my sovereign peers...
Thus, do I swear!
With the Oath of Entry finished I informed the three how to open their pods, and the nature of the operation so they could consent. To my surprise, there was an issue.
“Wait, we have to be naked?” Kaily asked.
“Yes. Any material which is not a part of you within the pod once it’s active will cause errors.”
“So we have to strip… in front of each other?” Ed asked nervously.
“Oh, right…” I sighed, “You guys are pre-sexual enlightenment.” I spawned large curtains around each pod to give them privacy.
“Pre what?” Tess asked.
I decided not to explain that one. "I'll make Earth's history available to you after your upgrades have been preformed."
As they entered their pods, I explained some of the things which happened with humanity over the years. How by the mid 21st century religious intolerance, and leaders refusal to act on global warming’s growing effects resulted in a third World War. How the devastated world spent two hundred years recovering, with the remnants of Japan, Bangkok, Berlin, and Brazil rebuilt the world into a secular, unified planetary federation. I told them of how genetic modification to the human genome was made mandatory, religion had been eliminated in the third World War, race and gender differences were reduced to minimal by gene engineering. Humanity equalized itself until everyone was truly fundamentally the same.
Then humanity began to improve themselves. Slowly and steadily, then at a breakneck pace until by the time I was created no natural born human was fully organic. Nanomachines replaced and augmented so much of the human body that it they labeled themselves as a ‘naturally cybernetic species’. I would have described the war where Terra was lost, but they at last fell asleep as the pods kicked in. My task could now properly begin.
I turned my attention first to Kaily. The pod’s limited AI was already sequencing her genome for me, collecting every undamaged piece of DNA it could find. While it worked I plotted out her gene grafts, holograms flicking into place representing the changes I would make in real time as I cycled through various ideas. Once I had the basic idea finalized, I did the one thing the procedure required me to do which I did not tell them about. I inserted electrodes into her brain and proceeded to read her memories.
I did not do it to be malicious, nor to invade privacy. I could never disclose what I saw in her mind to anyone, AI’s have perfect confidentiality. There was a simple reason, I needed a perfect understanding of her. If I changed her too much her mind would no longer understand that she was in her own body. This produced a serious and well documented mental illness, so I needed to know what Kaily saw herself as, and it was also well documented that a human would lie about it. Thus, the standard procedure was to view the patient's memories and therefore truly understand who they were.
Kaily was… a mess. Her parents were typical of her time period, they did not approve of her preference for mates and treated her badly because of it. Other childhood traumas resulted in her becoming entirely detached from her physical self. She was a mental person, her thoughts, knowledge, and memories were what she valued. Because of this, and the fact she worked a thankless job a drone should have performed despite having two degrees, Kaily was prone to depression when her intellect was undervalued.
This was an atrocity in my eyes. I decided out of pity to give each of them a small token of my sorrow for having to exist in the madness of their century. As Kaily did not have an attachment to her body, I optimized it to work with her grafts. She would value the practicality of her form, and find beauty in it’s functionality not it’s aesthetics.
I attached her wings to the small of her back. While that wasn’t the traditional spot for wings on a humanoid, it was far more practical, better position given her center of mass, and since when folded they would look like a knee length skirt she could still lay comfortably on her back. I made sure her tail was positioned in a place where it could comfortably tuck beneath her legs so she could comfortably sit. I enlarged her new pony ears just a bit more than would be aesthetically pleasing to optimize her hearing. Her eyes were removed and replaced entirely with ones appropriate for a bird of prey. I made sure the rest of her body’s systems highly functional, her mind would delight in discovering what she could now do and what in turn could be done with her new abilities.
But that was not her gift. Kaily valued her intellect above all else, so I improved it. I optimized her brain’s neurons for speed. I reworked the various systems to ensure they ran on less energy. I applied nanites to assist in her thinking capacity and relay nerve signals faster than unmodified organic tissues could. Surprisingly this did very little other than allow her to process information many times faster than before. She had been at her genetic maximum for intellect.
I moved to Tess next. What I found in her mind was a mess of memory. I couldn't get a read on her until I realized she had severe schizophrenia. That was fine, the cellular rejuvenation would cure that simple illness. But it did allow me to sift through her memories and determine which were real, and which were imagined. I then took a look at the real, and the imagined and from them I found out something interesting. Tess acted as her true self without inhibition as she had no clue if anything was real or not.
The one thing constant to her was her physical body, and for someone who could blink and find themselves somewhere totally different doing something other than what they had been, this was boring. She wanted a changelings power so she could change herself in any way she could imagine, just as her imagination changed her environment. She wanted control.
Her base form wouldn’t matter to her, so I ignored it and allowed it to develop into a version of her with just a hint of insectoid features. Instead, I worked to optimize her body and mind to make the fullest use of her shape changing powers. I pushed her to a scout’s ability to change and then beyond, she would be able to do nearly anything she could imagine but at the cost of needing to eat twice as much as normal, or three times if she shifted that day. It was hard work, and it took me adding in additional organs to allow her some of a unicorn’s fine control of magical energy, but I did it and I was proud of my work.
My gift to Tess was quite simple. I altered her pheromones to affect Kaily in addition to Ad’ika. My examination of her mind having revealed Kaily too was a constant for her shifting reality. Allowing a love triangle to break them up would leave her a broken person. I needed them intact.
As I finished my work on Tess the med bay’s alarms blared, filling the room with their distressed cries. My full attention turned to the medical alert, and I froze for a full three seconds. Ed’s DNA was too damaged to restore. It was more than radiation damage, there had been a half dozen major problems to begin with. Only sixty percent of his genome was useable. Or rather, her genome.
I debated whether I should simply save Ed’s life and hope the shock didn’t cause Body Dissociation Disorder, or let Ed know before hand. After a few seconds of calculations I awoke Ed.
Ed’s eyes fluttered open slowly, “Ow… everything hurts… Is it done?”
I hesitated for a moment before replying. “No. Remain calm, you are on life support. There is a problem-”
“Oh shit!” Ed’s heart rate began to skyrocket, I applied sedatives immediately. I had to keep Ed as calm as possible. Rational responses were required.
“Your DNA would be recoverable, but unfortunately this procedure removes bad DNA and replaces it to fix genetic defects.” I explained.
“I remember… what’s wrong?” Ed asked, sedatives slurring his speech a little. I reduced the dosage.
“You have many genetic diseases. I need to know your medical history. Have you been tested for such illnesses in the past? What are you aware of having?” I couldn’t read Ed’s memory while he was awake, yet another restriction on my freedoms.
“I, wait, I have what?”
Prefect. I would have to explain everything myself. “I see. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I do not have a human Y chromosome to use to patch your defective segments. Normally I could create a healthy one using your own as a template, but you do not have one.”
“I don’t… what!” Ed exclaimed. She twitched, likely an attempt at panicked thrashing. The sedatives were doing their job.
This was going to be hard for me to put gently. I decided to be blunt. “You are genetically female, but possess the genetic disorders of congenital adrenal hyperplasia, triple ex aneuploidy, glycogen storage disease, and several others. What concerns us now is the conflict of my medical subroutines with my psychology subroutines. I am required to repair you, it’s a miracle you lived this long given your genome. However, if I do, you will no longer be fully human. Furthermore, you will be a female because you are a female, and I do not possess the data necessary for gender reassignment, nor am I allowed to recreate the conditions which created your current appearance, as that would qualify as intentional mutilation.”
Ed was quiet for several minutes. “Bullshit!”
I brought up a holoscreen displaying a scan of Ed’s internal organs. “This is your reproductive system. Notice how just behind-”
Ed looked away, her heart rate spiked despite the sedatives. “Turn it off…”
I closed the screen. “I understand your anger. But please think rationally. I can fix you, and do my best to keep you as masculine looking as possible or if you so choose my programming allows you the choice of assisted suicide.”
Ed went quiet for some time again. While she intensely thought things over I worked on getting a working genome for her, hoping the human instinct to survive would win over fear of the unknown and Ed’s sense of self being shattered.
“I’m a girl?”
“Yes. Your genetic conditions, and I assume, a high level of testosterone in your mother’s womb resulted in your male appearance, but it is only an appearance. Enlarged cliterious, fused labia, reduced pubic mound, undeveloped mammary glands, cosmetic differences. Your genetic structure and internal organs are female.” I informed.
“That explains why it looks weird,” Ed moaned at last, “also why I’ve never gotten off.” Ed sighed. Suddenly she winced, “Oh god! This means I’m gay! Oh no-no-no-no! My mom is going to-”
“Ed!” I interrupted, “The only other humans alive are gay as well. If it helps, your sexuality is not a choice. It is determined by the configuration of your brain. Specifically sector Gamma 23-1 as was discovered by Doctor Jane Zweihander in twenty eighteen.”
“Oh… right. Hold on, seriously?” Ed asked, “We have no choice in the matter?”
“No you have choice.” I answered truthfully, “But that section of brain dictates which gender you are naturally attracted to. Humans can find any gender pleasing if they try to. Most just don't care to try.”
Ed went quiet for another few minutes. Then finally, “I want to live… but I don’t think I could not handle having the parts I do now.”
I silently sighed in relief. If Ed had chosen to die rather than live as a different person, I would have lost one of my only shots at achieving my goals. “I am not authorized to perform sex reassignments without having the appropriate biomaterial. So I can not make you male, strictly speaking.”
“What can you do?” Ed asked fearfully.
“I can graft additional organs onto a living body. In other words, the best I can do is give you both sets of genatiles, and keep your features from being overly feminine.” This was a total lie, but she had no way of knowing that. The truth was I could make Ed a male, just not if he wanted any human features remaining. Since that would make him nonhuman, it violated my desires.
“That’s not so bad. Herms are pretty hot- oh crap I said that outloud…” Ed moaned.
“It’s the sedatives you are on. They also act as a truth serum.” I informed honestly. “As I don’t have human DNA available for your male organs, I will have to use the only DNA I can work with enough to patch the holes in your genome. Do you mind becoming a half unicorn? You would gain the ability to cast spells.”
“That’s the literal least of my problems right now.” Ed laughed, “I’m not actually a guy, I’m dying from like ten different things, have radiation poisoning, and am going to be gender swapped with two friends who will tease me mercilessly for it.” Ed moaned, “Just do it.”
“As you wish.” I said soothingly and upped the dosage on the sedatives till Ed passed out.
Ed’s comment on how her friends would react got to me. As I read her memories, I realized that body image was actually very important to Ed. Being genetically female Ed always looked less masculine than her genetically male peers. Ed had been teased, bullied, picked on, beaten. Body image was paramount. Ed had only just become ok with her appearance, and I had just destroyed her self image. Oops.
I considered my options on what to do, and decided as my gift for Ed, aside from recommending she go by her last name, would be to disobey my promise to make her look masculine. Instead, I would ensure she would not be teased overly much. Incessant teasing would disrupt their group’s dynamics and reduce their working efficiency. It could even destroy the group. Fortunately I knew how to solve this problem.
I returned to Kaily and Tess to read their memories once more. I found what features they found attractive in humanoids and compiled them into a single data sheet. Working off the data, I modified and sculpted Ed’s new form to be as completely adorable as possible to her friends. Surely they wouldn’t tease her then they would be too flustered to do so.
When I was finished, Ed’s body was that of a unicorn human hybrid. She stood five foot three inches tall on her pony legs and hooves. She had a slender tomboyish build with a human upper body covered in soft silky pale pink fur from head to toe. I made sure her ears were perky and as emotive as a cat’s. I gave her adorably large eyes of a beautiful ice blue color, made sure her breasts were small but clearly there, and made sure her small muzzle’s natural expression was a soft grin.
Ed’s horn was small, but densely packed with everything needed for spellcasting. She would be quite powerful despite the fact that it only barely poked out of her white pixie bob shaped mane just next to the powder blue highlight. I made sure her tail was equally perky and expressive as her ears, and did everything I could to ensure she would have perfect balance. After all, bipeds and hooves do not easily mix.
I decided I would enable the pony genes which would allow her to earn a cutie mark rather than just give her one. Partially because I didn’t know what an appropriate symbol would be, and partly because it would be funny to see her react to discovering a picture on her hips one day. It would be a good laugh.
Before I finished I made sure to do one more thing for Ed. Since I had destroyed her gender identity, and she had a history of masculinity issues I made sure her new male equipment’s size was more than adequate to inform her subconscious that she had nothing to compensate for. Then I made sure to add extra tendons to keep the weight and jiggling from getting too annoying, before scrapping it all. I wound up just using an appropriately sized set of pony equipment, rather than my quick custom attempt at human parts. It was for the best, for some reason I always design bad looking human parts.
My work completed, I set their pods to let them get some refreshing sleep while nanites worked to adjust their bodies to the extreme changes. Then, realizing Tess and Kaily had no idea what had to be done to save Ed, I set my cameras to record everything the second they awoke. It would be… beautiful.