//------------------------------// // Stories and Jams // Story: Jammin' Gemini // by Aragem //------------------------------// Noa Laotaner stared at the glass on the bedside stand. It was empty save for a straw that helped her drink without having to lift the glass. However, since she was a unicorn type pony, lifting things shouldn’t be a problem. She had studied the footage of unicorns lifting various items with their telekinesis. If she was to pass herself off as one of them, it would be something she would need to master. Shockingly, it was far easier than she ever anticipated. Her horn glowed silver and the glass risen off the surface. She was able to move it as easily as if she was holding it in her hand. She experimented, holding the glass with her ability and levitating the straw out and twirling it. Then she was able to lift the datapad, the pillow, various medical tools around the medbay, and then Mikala. The aqua pony hovered in the air still asleep while Noa raised her eyebrows genuinely surprised at how easy this was. One less worry for her. She let gravity carry Mikala back to bed. The yeoman pony jerked, her limbs failing as she suffered a great shock of falling in her dream and then waking up to discover she was actually falling. She sat up, her chest heaving with wide eyes, “What the hell happened!?” “Just an experiment.” Noa turned her face away to hide her grin. She waved the tools around above their heads which Mikala watched with stunned eyes. Noa neatly put the items back where they belong, setting the glass on her bed stand. “Come over here and try to lift this glass with your mind.” “What?” Mikala rolled onto her stomach, and noticed that she was no longer sore. She was able to easily scoot off the bed, her hooves clopping on the smooth floor. “How?” “Just look at it and concentrate. It's like moving a hand to grasp an item. Just think it and it'll happen.” Noa watched the glass, waiting for it to be lifted. It didn’t move. “Well?” “I... I'm trying.” Mikala focused hard on the glass, imagining it moving. “I don’t know how you did it.” “Watch. It’s really simple.” Noa demonstrated by lifting the glass and setting it upside down. “Now turn it right side.” Mikala tried. She furrowed her brow and concentrated with her hooves braced on the floor and her body taut. Beads of sweat appeared on her brow and finally, the glass twitched. Mikala was so happy she stomped her hooves on the floor in delight. “I did it!” “You did nothing,” Noa said with aggravated heat in her tone. “You didn’t even move it, just rocked it. Now try again!” The excitement and pride at her small accomplishment died as quickly as it came. She shied back, her ears flat against her mane. “S...sure. I can do it.” For the next hour, she tried until she developed a migraine and had to summon Dr. Tibbs for more painkillers. By the time she had to stop, lest she start bleeding out of the eyes, she was able to slide the glass on the table. She was able to lift the straw, but it wobbled in mid-air as she struggled to maintain it. Noa snorted something under her breath that Mikala was certain it was better that she couldn’t hear. She returned to bed with a throbbing in her temples and her spirit stamped on. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mikala felt certain that they could have done with a bit more sleep before heading off. Unfortunately, Noa Laotaner had this idea that whatever she could do, anyone else can do also. So she doubtlessly believed that Mikala could get by with as little sleep as she received and had them packed off in the side car of a speeder manned by Winter and carried half a mile to the road where they will walk the rest of the way. When he dropped them off, he took the time to remove his helmet and wink at them. “Good luck my little ponies.” That wink and that face came together in a way which made her stomach perform flips and rolls. And unknowingly to her, her blush glowed hotly on her cheeks. It was a surreal feeling moving, speaking, eating, and breathing with a different body. Her human habits were nulled by her new body. When she wanted to touch her face, and moved to do so instead of fingers and nails, a smooth hard hoof touched her furry face. By God, how was she going to do anything without her hands and fingers? She was very surprised by how flexible her limbs were. She had expected them to have the mobility of horses, but she was able to touch her face and hair with her fore legs and was even able to stretch and move her legs in angles that no horse could easily do without breaking a limb. Their things and supplies were packed in bags that hung around their necks to rest against their right shoulders. Laotaner was given a taser that could easily be fitted in her mouth which with a single bite would through an electrical current strong enough to bring down an elephant. It would be their only weapon to use if things went wrong. It was mid-morning by the time they found the road and along it toward the town. The road was dry and dust kicked up from their hooves as they traveled in the quick pace set by Noa. They didn’t say much, Laotaner leading the way and Mikala following her lead. She welcomed the silence as it gave her time to process her new body and the situation. The soreness of her change had long since passed, but had made it hard to sleep. She was still tired and wanted nothing more than to lie down and get more sleep. As they plodded along, she let her mind wonder and she smiled as she remembered her favorite story when she was a little girl. “Hey, commander,” she spoke up. “Yes, Briggs.” The commander's voice held a note of surprise that Briggs was speaking up after acting demure since the change. “We’re like Amalthea, except opposite. We're not unicorns changed into women, but women changed into unicorns.” Mikala trotted forward, moving up beside Noa. The older woman, or unicorn mare, stared back at her, slowing her brisk pace to a slow walk. Mikala slowed her pace as well, suddenly feeling silly for bringing it up. “Ya know? The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagel.” Noa paused, staring at her with hard eyes. The eyes were larger than a humans and held more expression, which made her actually feel the stare. Mikala wished the ground would open and swallow her whole. What the hell was she thinking bring up something so ridiculous and childish to a celebrated commander with three decade career in military? She braced herself for the oncoming chew out. “I am full of tears and hunger and the fear of death, though I cannot weep, and I want nothing, and I cannot die. I am not like the others now, for no unicorn was ever born who could regret, but I do. I regret.” The words of Peter S. Beagel’s unicorn flowed from the pony commander's mouth causing Mikala's jaw to drop. “Wow, so did you read it or study it in school?” Mikala clung to this bit of similarity between them. “I read it.” Noa's voice wasn't edged with anger or annoyance, it sounded far as if her mouth was working on auto-pilot. She wasn’t looking at Mikala, but away, toward the sky. “When you were a kid? A lot of girls I know say it's their favorite novel from the Old World. I've read it five times when I was in middle school. And uh, two more times in high school.” “Did you bring the book with you onto the ship?” Noa asked turning her head to give Mikala a sour glance. The smaller unicorn was silent for a moment then, “Yes ma’am.” “And is it in your bag?” “No ma’am.” Noa arched an eyebrow. “You have it on your datapad, don’t you?” “....yes....” Noa looked as if she would have faced palmed if she had her hands. Mikala wanted to change the subject quick before the fragile camaraderie was broken, “So what story would you recommend?” “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.” Noa continued along the road, her hooves plodding along. “Oh, by Harlan Ellison. I’ve read that as part of a literature course for science fiction history.” Mikala had to trot a bit to catch up. For some reason “I remember it was pretty dark.” “It was supposed to be dark,” Noa replied, her eyes on the road ahead. “It reflects mankind’s mistakes coming back to bite it in the ass.” “I just lean toward more optimistic stuff.” Mikala shuddered when she remembered reading I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. It was a dark tale of the super powered AI, calling itself AM, destroying the world and killing mankind save for five souls which it kept to torture and punish for over a century. AM kept the humans from killing themselves to escape their agony, but at the end of the story, the humans discovered that they could kill each other and kill each other they did. AM was able to stop one, the narrator of the story, and changed him to into a jelly like creature all soft with no limbs so he was not able to kill himself. He ended the story with the title about his predicament, ‘I have no mouth and I must scream.’ “I can see a bit of myself in that story. Just as you see a bit of yourself in your story.” Noa strayed to the right, away from Mikala to avoid a large stone in the road. The walked on opposite sides of the stone which may have well been a great wall between them. “If we’re going to talk, let’s speak of the mission.” Noa slowed down again to look Mikala in the eye. “I do the talking. You can speak if one of them talk to you, but keep it short, preferably to one syllable words. Our cover is that I’m your aunt and you are my nieces and we are on a trip to visit relatives.” “Yes ma’am.” “Check your watch. It should reach 9:33.” “It does.” “If something goes wrong and we separate, we meet at where Winter dropped us off.” “Yes ma’am.” “So basically follow my lead and keep your mouth shut.” “Yes ma’am.” “Better yet, don’t breath and try not to exist.” “Yes ma’am.” Oh, this bitch was actually enjoying this. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Further up the road, a large cart was traveling along the road, rocking as it hit a bump or ditch. Applejack held the reins by looping them over her fetlocks and sat with her tail curled around curled against her flank and leg. The tied end bobbed over the buckboard’s edge as the cart rolled along. Sitting beside her with her forelegs crossed over her chest, orange eyes narrowed, and lip pouty was Apple Bloom. “Apple Bloom, cheer up, in a few days will be the Winter Welcome and ya get to help out.” Applejack nudged his sister, hoping to draw a smile from her. “But Ah wanna play the games and see the shows,” Apple Bloom muttered. “And ya will. Once things slow down, Ah’ll go with ya around the festival.” “But I wanna go with my friends! You didn’t mind me goin’ by myself durin’ Winter Wrap Up or Nightmare Night last year!” Apple Bloom threw her hooves up, her voice rising in volume. “That was before all the trouble we had,” Applejack said firmly. “Until Ah am sure that ya ain’t gonna go missin’ again, then ya ain’t goin’ outta my sight.” “But it wasn’t muh fault!” “How do Ah know that? Ya can’t even tell me where ya been.” “That’s not muh fault either! Ah miss muh friends!” Apple Bloom felt her eyes start to water. She struggled against them. The last thing she wanted was to cry like a foal around her sister. “Ya saw ‘em last night.” “Ah wanna do Cutie Mark Crusaders stuff again. Ah’ll never get my cutie mark at this rate!” Applejack adjusted her hat to hide her eye roll. With Apple Bloom the subject always came around to her desire for a cutie mark. “Apple Bloom, you’ll get yer cutie mark, Ah promise. Everyone gets theirs when it’s time.” Then an idea dawned on her, “Apple Bloom, have ya ever saw an adult pony without a cutie mark?” “N-no,” Apple Bloom murmured thoughtfully. It was true, she had never seen an adult pony without a cutie mark, all the adult ponies she had seen all had cutie marks. “So you’ll get yers before you grow up.” “Ah guess so,” Apple Bloom muttered conceding the argument. But she was still miserable about her constant supervision. Applejack resumed directing Big Macintosh, who was towing the card behind him away from a large stone in the road. Someone really ought to tend to this road. Then she saw two figures standing in the road up ahead. As Big Machintosh drew the cart along, she could see that it was two unicorns she hadn’t seen before. One was taller with a pale blue coat, with a brighter blue colored mane with a single silver street through her mane and tail. She had a rather sharp looking horn and at her flank was a cutie mark of a drop of water. The mare was older, not quick as old as Granny Smith, but a quite a bit older than Applejack herself. Her companion was a younger aqua colored unicorn mare with a teal male and tail. And . . .oh no . . . . there was no cutie mark on her flank. The orange farm mare kept her eyes firmly on their faces, refusing to stare. But at her side her sister was staring in horror at an adult pony without a cutie mark. So much for Applejack’s argument. Applejack gave the filly a firm poke to stop her staring and warmly greeted the newcomers, “Howdy, ya’ll headin’ ta Ponyville.” The unicorns looked at her as if she was coming at them with a club. They were silent and Applejack began to believe that maybe they were dead and why the younger one looked as if she was trying not to breath. The elder spoke up rather loudly. “Yes, we are going to the town.” There was. . something about the way she spoke. It was an accent, but it wasn’t one that she recognized. It wasn’t the cultured Canterlot speech nor was it Appleloosa drawl. “Where are ya from if ya don’t mind mah askin’.” Noa froze and Mikala eyes widen. They didn’t think this through enough. They were going to get caught before the mission had even begun. Oh god. “North,” Noa managed to pull out of her ass. “Well, how be! Ah suppose school might start tomorrow then,” the overly friendly pony beamed at them. Noa paused wondering what the hell school had to do with this. “I s-suppose so.” “Ah’m Applejack and this is Apple Bloom, my little sis. She’ll be going to school tomorrow. Say hello, Apple Bloom.” The orange pony cajoled a small yellow one that kept stealing glances at Mikala. “Hey,” the pony said sullenly. Mikala recognized her little pony and had finally learned her name. She was so excited that she stomped her hooves in delight startling them all. “Apple Bloom! That is a beautiful name!” So many questions bored through her mind as she just now recognized the orange mare from the drawings left behind. They were sisters, that is so cute and was the big red pony their brother or father? Did she remember their time together? Then she noticed that dirty look she was getting from Noa and drew back. Crap, she broke a rule and spoke. She supposed it shouldn’t be too bad since she was just being polite and friendly. They were supposed to blend in after all. “Oh and that is Big Macintosh.” The orange mare called Applejack pointed at the big red hitched to the cart. “We’re on our way to Ponyville to get ready for Winter Welcome. Ya wanna lift Mrs. . .” Names, oh shit bricks. Mikala laid her ears back in panic. Of all the plans, scheming, plotting, and lectures, they forgot something so simple and important. Their pony names. Oh shit. Oh shit. Think of something Noa. Think, think, think. “My name is. . . Victory . . . AM. Victory AM,” Noa muttered, her eyes switching back and forth as she pulled the name out of the air. She was naming herself after a maniacal sadistic AI from a science fiction story. This did not bode well for the mission at all. Noa held a hoof awkwardly toward Mikala. “And this is. . . is my. . . “ “Daughter,” Mikala blurted out and instantly regretted it when Noa gave her a searing glare that could melt paint. “Her name is . . . Jelly.” Noa nearly growled the name. Ah yes, AM the terrible AI turned the narrator, the last survivor who defied AM by killing his fellow prisoners to let them escape the torture, into a jelly like creature with no way of committing suicide. It was a promise of a severe and dire punishment to follow when Noa had the chance. Well, since Mikala stepped into it, she might as well go in all the way. “Jelly Jam. We’re Victory Jam and Jelly Jam.” “Well, Victory Jam and Jelly Jam, welcome to Ponyville.”