//------------------------------// // 24 Construction Complete! // Story: Lyra-7% // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Lyra Heartstrings - 11th of Leafdrop 13 EoH - Late Night Multiverse Location: Cyberquestria, Equis #3 Fluttershy’s bed was a total mess. Sweaty, blankets forming a nest, sheets actually rumpled enough to pull a corner off the mattress… I’d half expected we would wake Bon up, but apparently not. Which surprised me. Shy made me be pretty loud. Damn was she one hell of a great time! Three hours of nonstop fun. Most of which was spent learning her likes and dislikes. And most of her likes were things I did NOT know. I’d expected a species learning curve, but well… Shy was a PRO at sexytimes, better than me even! And she said she’d only had two partners to my twelve. It had to be self taught. Judging by her voluminous collection of, er, playing things, she definitely liked to enjoy herself. And was happy to share her knowledge with me. Right now, I had made another wonderful discovery about my new girlfriend. She was also the best goddamn body pillow in the multiverse! Shy was completely perfect for snuggling tightly up against while recovering from an evening of epic fun! She fit perfectly against me, her rump to my hips, my arms around her barrel, face nuzzling into her soft neck… Her hips to head length perfectly fit right in that size that I could comfortably snuggle into and cradle. Oh god snuggling was almost better than the sex! … Fuck that noise, Lyra, it IS better than the sex. By far. For her too, judging by her happy coos and cute wiggling. “I love you, Shy,” I whispered gently into her ear. “I love you too, Lyra. Um, w-would you like to do couple nicknames? I-I’d like to do them,” she asked, tapping her forehooves together adorably. “Sure,” I answered. “Humm… How about Cuttie Pie?” Fluttershy eeped. “That’s um, that’s Pinkie’s foal-age sister. She um… She died. From The Plague.” I winced. “Ah, er, what about… Honey buns?” “That’s also a pony’s name,” Fluttershy admitted slowly. “She made great cinnamon rolls... I think she’s been restored.” Crap… I forgot how Pony names tended to be two words related to well, them. This could be tricky. “Coco bean?” I asked, not really a loving nickname, but it still sounded cute. “Oh I love her coffee!” Fluttershy mmmed happily, then blushed. “Um, but, that’s still somepony’s name that I know…” “Sex Machine?” I proposed, hoping nopony had ever been- “Hehehehe! Um, our world’s you uses that as her band’s name!” Fluttershy giggled, wiggling her rump against my lap. “Ah… Okay. Also I guess It's kinda racist.” I took a moment to pause and think of anything else. “Sweet Pea?” “My grandma was named Sweet Pea…” Fluttershy informed awkwardly. “Ah, yeah… Er… How about, Cherry Pie? Then I can play an old song and have it be about you,” I proposed. “Well… It’s not bad, but um… I’m not related to the Pie family. I don’t want to be rude by using their name,” Fluttershy admitted, wings twitching against my sides in embarrassment. “Fair enough. Nothing ending in Pie… Right. Could I use butterball? From me it’s a compliment,” I asked. Fluttershy’s ears drooped. “Please no… I know what your species used it to mean, and I would like it if it meant that to us, um, you know, because you really do think I’m pretty… But um, in equestria, ‘butterball’ is the name for a sex act that’s a big turn off for me. So um, please don’t.” I took a deep breath. Seriously? After those three hours of crazy kinky fun there was something that squicked my girl out? “Do I even want to know?” I asked apprehensively. “Um, well,” Fluttershy shuddered. “Um, it involves sweet corn and the fact that it uh, won't really digest and comes out mostly who-” “OKAY! Yeah, not calling you that ever again,” I interrupted for the sake of my sanity. “Right, moving on… Passion Fruit?” “That just doesn't sound good,” Fluttershy dismissed. “How about you come up with one for me? Give me a little time,” I asked in exasperation. “Cutiemark,” Fluttershy said immediately. “Alright, that’s not bad,” I agreed, having expected something like sugar snookums. “Does it mean anything?” Fluttershy pulled away from my chest to turn around and look back at me. “You don’t know what cutiemarks are!? But-but… Your necklace has your counterpart’s cutiemark on it!” I blinked and grabbed the little silver pendant to hold it up, “What, this little lyre?” “Oh my gosh, you really don’t know. Um…” Fluttershy took a minute to compose herself. “The butterflies on my flanks are my cutiemark.” “Oh! Your brands. I’ve been meaning to ask about those… Are they like ID’s? How do you get them on? Can your fur be tattooed?” I asked eagerly. Fluttershy shook her head. “Cutiemark’s are a magical symbol. It’s very very old magic, not even Twilight knows fully how it works. When a pony learns what they are destined to do best, they gain their cutiemark. It appears on their flanks as a visible reminder of what their purpose in life is, of what they can do to feel the most fulfilled and happy. “It also changes their natural magic, granting them a special talent which helps them do whatever it is that they are best at even better. My cutiemark lets me communicate with animals like I can with you, or anypony else. Twilight’s mark gives her incredible magical power because she has lots and lots of stamina. Dash’s mark… We’ll, we're’ not sure… Her’s is odd. “Um, but my point is, these butterflies are a magically projected picture of part of my soul that shows the entire world what I do best, deal with nature.” I wrapped my arms around her soft body as tightly as I could. “I understand,” I whispered lovingly, “You’re calling me your soul mate.” She nodded. “I… Um… I really feel that way. When I first tried to help an injured raccoon I knew that it was what I was meant to do. Help animals in need. Um, well… When you kissed me after dinner… I felt the same way about you. I’ve been so sure that we could be a happy couple and that date just… We… Um-” “Clicked?” I asked. She nodded happily. “I feel the same way. I never imagined I’d be dating a non-human, but well… You’re easily the nicest person I’ve ever known. And the sweetest, and the softest… And the best to cuddle with after some loving. “Hell, I’ve never believed in destiny… But this feels right. I want to make you happy, like, as… Well, what I do with my life,” I said flirtatiously, giving her neck a gentle nibble as I finished. “A-again?” She asked half surprised, half hopeful. “Only if you want to. I just like to cuddle and nibble,” I replied. “Oh! Um, well… Both are lovely but uh… I think I’d like to do a little more, y-you know, fun stuff…” Fluttershy asked adorably. I gave her a kiss on the cheek, then rolled her over and straddled her hips. “As you wish.” "Yay! Wrestling! I'm great at this, can I play too?" Bon suddenly called. Wrestling? My eyes widened in horror. "NO BON WAI-" Bon shot onto the bed like an arrow, expertly threading herself underneath Fluttershy and curving up like a whip to smoosh the two of us together in one mighty crushing coil of doom! "GUUUAAAHHH...." Shy and I gurgled in unison, squirming in a futile attempt to get out of Bon’s adamantium grip. It wasn’t going to happen… I fell limp, thoroughly winded. "Yay, I win!" Bon cheered, loosening her coils to slither off the bed and ‘sit’ next to it. "My spine… Owies..." Fluttershy whimpered. Yeah, that coil felt strong enough to tweak a robotic back too... "Guh... Yeah, you win honey," I groaned. "Ow, my spine also..." I added. I sat up, arching my back and feeling EVERY vertebrae pop back into place in sequence. It hurt. A lot. Turning to Bon I gave her a gentle pet on the head. “Hey, hon, next time Shy and I are ‘wrestling, please don’t come in. We're not wrestling, we’re playing grown up games. If you want to wrestle, I’ll play with you sometime, if you promise not to squeeze that hard, okay?” “What kind of games?” Bon asked curiously. Um, er, shit! What do I say here? Fluttershy cleared her throat and rolled over to look Bon in the eyes. “When grownups love each other, they play games that are fun and feel good. It’s meant to be romantic, you know, the fun part of love in all the stories? So it’s only played with a group of grown ups who love each other a lot… And sometimes just friends, but that’s never as fun. “There are lots of different kinds of these games, and um, well, it’s best to spend…six or seven hours playing… Or um, that’s how long I like. I know that’s a long time, but if you could leave your mom and I alone for that long when we’re playing, that would be very very nice of you, and I’ll make sure to give you a treat every time. Okay?” “Okay!” Bon said eagerly. Fluttershy nodded happily. “So remember, if the door’s closed, knock first and wait for one of us to open it. Unless it’s an emergency. As for the actual games, you’re really young, so you shouldn’t play yet. But once your um…whatever age you’ll be a teen at, I’ll tell you about it. Because, um, well, that’s when most ponies start to play grown up games. Fillies like you usually don’t like them anyways. It like… Um… Coffee. You like it as you get older. Okay?” Bon nodded again and rested her head on the side of the bed. “Okay.” She seemed like she understood, and would actually obey. Fuck… How do, Flutterbutter? Teach me! “Damn,” I remarked in awe. “You’re great with kids… You should be her mom.” “It’s a bit early to be absolutely sure I want to commit like that,” Fluttershy remarked. “But… I do like the idea.” I smiled, happily. “I didn’t mean like that… It’s a bit soon for me to be sure to…. But I’m loving it so far!” A thought suddenly struck my mind. “Bon, hon… Did you just come in here because you were lonely?” Bon shook her head. “No. There was a monster under my bed, so I tried to eats it. But it’s invisible, so it got outside. I chased it, and I ran into blue fast! And she said that she wanted to see you cuz it was important. And I said that you were sleeping with Aunt Flutters, and she was like ‘Oh! Uh, I’ll…come back later…” and then she flew off really really fast and it was cool and I wanted to fly too! So I came in here to ask if Aunt Flutters can fly with me!” Fluttershy shook her head sadly and crawled across her bed to give Bon a hug. “Sorry Bonnie, but your too big and heavy for me to lift. I guess we need to wait for Dash to come back. She um…doesn't know how long it takes me to um…be done. So well…she’s probably going to be back in twenty minutes. “How about we all have a late night snack? I think I still have some cheese flavored spread for crackers.” “That sounds great... Sweetheart?” I asked, deciding to go back to thinking up names since well, my kid clam jammed me. Fluttershy winced. “She bullied me as a filly.” “Dang it! I’ll think of one! I swear!” I vowed. Flintlock Rose - 11th of Leafdrop 13 EoH - Late Night Multiverse Location: Cyberquestria, Equis #3 I gasped as my head broke the surface of the tank. I had no idea they used actual healing tanks… Apparently last time they had dried me off and put me in a bed to wake up. Not this time. This time I woke my own ass up. I had shit to do. “Oh thank goodness!” Chrysalis exclaimed with relief. I blinked the world into focus. Twilight’s garage… There was Twilight, and Lyra, and her lover… Lucky pony. “Something go wrong?” I asked. Chrysalis shook her head. “No, nothing. I… I just need to apologize.” She leaned forwards and wrapped me in a tight hug for a moment. “I have had many apprentices over the years. My methods are harsh and dangerous if they can’t learn… But I never intentionally place them in danger! If I had know she was that close to where I had you training, I would have moved you away. I’m so sorry!” “It’s okay. I’m alive,” I replied, returning the hug briefly. Lyra quickly stepped forward. “Glad to see you’re okay,” she said, sounding… Buck… Like you'd say it to a friend. “Good to see you too… You don’t think of me as more than a friend, do you?” I asked sadly. Lyra frowned. Her eyes focusing for a moment. “Is that why you insisted on following me?” I nodded. “Yeah.” “Fucking…” Lyra closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Look, I’m not going to call you stupid for chasing someone you have a crush on to another dimension… But you should have said something earlier. So I could have talked you out of leaving your home universe.” “I’ll find a way back if I want to, honestly, I like it here better,” I admitted. Man it was easier to talk to Lyra now that I knew she wasn’t into me. “You sure about that?” Lyra asked. I nodded. “I found someone to teach me shapeshifting and magic… Also Chrysalis is pretty nice, once you get to know her.” Chrysalis smirked. “I am.” “Lyra,” I continued, “I’m- I’m going to stay here. When you go.” Lyra frowned. “I might be able to take you back home… We could stop there again.” I shook my head. “I have to stay here. It’s…well, buck, you know who my parents are right? I can’t let someone just kick my ass like that and run off. What would they think of me? I… I do like you a little. And um, well yeah… I’d like to be friends, even if you dont wanna bang. But I have to stay here. At least until I can put that bitch’s head on a pike.” Lyra nodded. “I understand. That’s also why I won't like you romantically, just FYI.” “Because I like violence?” I asked, ears drooping. That hurt REAL deep. “Nah, that’s fine. Humans love a good fight,” Lyra sighed. “The problem is… I’m a soldier, and you are a warrior. A soldier is happy to fight for a cause, but once the battle is over, they want to go home. Sure, they might want to help out again later, but they want to do more than just fight. “You are a warrior. There’s a difference in, well…there’s a fundamental difference. A warrior loves to fight. They will fight for any cause, and once the battle is over they look for another one. You want a rival and glory. I don’t. I just want to play some tunes, hang out with my sis and a cute girl, and tinker with electronics. “We just don’t match up. The lifestyles we want oppose each other.” I sighed and nodded, she was right. “Yeah… But we could be friends though, right?” Lyra nodded. “Then, could you stay here till I can beat her?” I asked. Chrysalis turned to Lyra and gave her a look. “It will take several years if not a decade for her to reach the same level of arcane training.” Lyra shook her head. “No dice there Rose, I promised Fluttershy we’d move on as soon as Bonbon and Bon are ready. She really really needs to see some trees and animals. Like, for her mental health. And I can give that to her.” I sighed sadly. “Alright.” “Um, actually,” Fluttershy started, “It would be possible to visit Rose, if she stays here.” “I can’t actually pick a destination on this thing, Shy,” Lyra said, holding up the VM. “Can you explain it, Sai?” “Yes,” the AI informed. “But I must warn you, the jury rigged repair and modifications to my systems are taking a toll on me… The more time I spend active, the more likely this device is to burn out and strand you. I would prefer to remain in standby mode and only activate long enough to open the next portal for you, in order to ensure I survive.” “Shit!” Lyra swore. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” “It isn’t really important. In standby mode I can survive for a year… Active I can maybe manage five days of uptime at best,” Sai informed. “Alright, you stay asleep then,” Lyra said sounding as concerned as you would for a friend. “Basically, the destination is-” “Random, yes,” Fluttershy said with a nod. “But that’s okay. We see a lot of Travelers here. Twilight found one of their transport devices a few years ago… One of my counterparts visited us and she dropped it in fright. “I um… I need a way to visit my own friends, so I asked Sky to make one to install in me. They aren't very good, and can only bring you here, or put you back where you activated it from, and nothing more than that. But I’ll be able to go to and from here and wherever we go together once a month or so. “If I bring back a spare device for you, then you can come back here anytime too. And then you can visit Rose while I visit my friends. It would be a good way to spend the occasional weekend.” I nodded. “That sounds like a plan.” “Yeah… I couldn’t make you leave your friends forever, Shy. It’s good that you’ll be able to do that. There isn’t any chance that you guys can get me where we need to go with one of your devices, is there?” Lyra asked hopefully. Fluttershy shook her head. “No… We’d need one to be there to work like a gate. It’s why we can't just go anywhere we want to to get samples of organic things. Sky’s good, and Twilight’s good, but well, no pony can be good at everything.” “Figured,” Lyra smiled. “Ah well… I do sort of like hitchhiking around the multiverse.” I pulled myself out of the tank, troted over and gave Lyra a quick hug. “I’ll see you around then.” Lyra frowned. “I’m still here for now…” I nodded. “Yeah, but I’m not going to be free. Chrysalis, how soon can we get back to training? I have a plot to kick. For honor’s sake.” “After a proper apology from a Queen, and after you get a fresh batch of love to top you off. You have to be low by now anyways,” Chrysalis replied with a wink. Why the wink? Ohhhhh! “Yeah! That sounds good. Let’s go,” I said with a big grin. AI Co-Pilot 426f6e626f6e “Bonbon” - 16th of Leafdrop 13 EoH - Noon Multiverse Location: Cyberquestria, Equis #3 “Okay… I think that’s everything,” Lyra said slowly, hands posed apprehensively over my now basically finished body as if she were unsure of herself. “I hope so. I don't want to be installed and wind up deleted due to hardware error,” I teased. Lyra winced. I definitely errored there. Perhaps I didn’t modulate my voice properly? “Sorry, I just wanted to ease the tension,” I apologised. “Don’t worry,” Sky soothed, moving up to start inspecting Lyra’s work. “That’s what I’m here for, to check your work. Which is fairly good, by the way. Better than my first attempt.” Fluttershy’s ears drooped. “Um, that’s a bit rude… Since your first equoid is, well… crazy.” Sky paused, looking up over my back with a confused expression. “Sis is an equoid. Her first body was pretty shoddy. The right foreleg would fall off sometimes.” “Oh! Right,” Fluttershy quickly apologised. “I um, I didn’t count her. Since she was a robot first. Oh my goodness, I didn’t mean that to sound like that! Just that, um, you know… She’s different because of her, uh, origins. But not in a bad way! Just, different.” Sky shook his head. “It’s alright Flutters. There is a difference between your generation and hers. It’s okay to classify you two differently. But you are both Equoids. It’s just she was preprogramed and made from scratch.” “I’ll be nice and change the subject,” I decided, wanting to avoid any more awkward moments. “I’m still surprised that your name actually is Fluttershy, Fluttershy.” The yellow pegasus blushed. “W-well… Pony names are different than human names.” “I know. I just find it neat that your culture attempts to name its members using short form descriptions. It’s very efficient,” I verbally applauded. “Um, thank you?” Fluttershy asked. Lyra laughed. “That's a compliment, firefly.” “That’s supposedly Dash’s mom’s name,” Fluttershy admitted with a blush. Lyra sighed. “Finding a romantic nickname for you is hard…” Humm, perhaps I could help! I devoted a processing thread to the task, quickly shaping an apt and affectionate descriptor. “Docking port?” I suggested. Lyra facepalmed. Sky winced. “OW! That was actually bad…” Fluttershy giggled. “Um… Not in polite company. But that was funny.” Sky shook his head and stood up. “Whelp, the brain jack is wired into the spine correctly, and everything looks powered up… Yeah I think it’s safe to put you in your body now, Bonbon. Lyra, if you would do the honors, I’ll finish her up and get her to you by mid afternoon.” “Why can’t I finish her up?” Lyra asked with a frown. “I’ve done everything else. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you made the time to check my work, but… I’m invested here!” “Technical reasons,” Sky answered. “My technically kindasorta daughter here was designed to fly a jet. This is a biomechanical pony body. She has no idea how to controll it, at all. Gonna have to teach her. Yeah some basic interface software will help, but she and I are going to have to spend a few hours calibrating and working out her body’s various capacities. It’s…difficult for someone like Bonbon. Trust me, I helped Sis make the transition. “Not to mention that while you’ve built a fine body, it’s Bonbon’s body. So she gets to be the one to pick out her eye color, fur, mane, and so on. I’ve made time to do that part because this is her life, and I’m the expert here. Neither of us wants her hurt and if anything goes wrong, I’m the best suited to save her.” Oh snap! I got to do it! YES! Shiny metal chrome body of glory here I come! “Oh,” Lyra replied. “That makes sense. So uh, I guess I’ll pop you in, Bonbon. Then um…another movie, uh... Sugar muffin?” “Mrs. Cake’s sister…” Fluttershy answered with an embarrassed giggle. “You could just go with um, dear, or hon, or love.” “Like hell I can! It’s a challenge now!” Lyra informed before turning towards me and picking up my core. “Are you ready? And are you sure you’re willing to trust this thing?” She asked me nervously. “Hey, I trust you to make repairs to my all the time. I also trust technically kindasorta dad’s judgment. Pop me in,” I replied. “Sooo do I open her core?” Lyra asked as she walked me over to my body’s open skull. “No. The core base clicks into place, and it serves as an emergency eject pod. Just push her in gently,” Sky instructed. I wished I could feel myself move. Why was this pod not equipped with an accelerometer or gyro all I had to know I was moving was my camera. And that could be fooled very easily. Hopefully my body had a- I clicked into place. My core’s camera shut off. New cameras clicked on. Huh… So this was binocular vision. Interesting, the linked cameras really do allow you a crude sense of depth. I still would prefer a laser based range finder array to this. After all, precision is key. I had an accelerometer now too. More than that, actually. I possessed an awareness of the positioning of every single limb section, the direction of the gravitational pull on myself, and basic automatic functions to perform minor position adjustments to maintain my position despite gravity’s pull, body positioning, and the angular momentum of planetary rotation. “So THAT’S how you guys stand up!” I exclaimed over eagerly. “Lyra, you could have said ‘it’s autonomous software’! I thought you were manually keeping yourself upright this entire time!” Lyra triple blinked at me. “Um, I think I told you ‘We just do.’ how is that different?” Fluttershy walked around to my front and gave me a concerned frown. “I’m sorry, were you an amputee before now? That must have been horrible.” I felt the urge to mess with her. “Yes. Before this moment I did not possess functioning legs,” I informed. The hell? Why were my ears moving to lay flat? “My ears appear to have lost structural integrity,” I informed. “That’s called emotional expression,” Sky informed, picking up a steel ‘skullcap’ from the ground. “They’re supposed to move to express emotions. Also don’t buck with Fluttershy like that. Shy, she was designed to co-pilot a vehicle. She had wheels before.” Fluttershy smiled slightly. “Oh! That’s actually a little funny.” Sky turned to look at Lyra off to my right. Man these cameras were inefficiently located! Maybe I could work millimeter wave radar into this thing, get some proper bubble coverage going. “I’ll get her core sealed on in there and finish up now. Fluttershy, if you’ll give Bonbon your wavelength, I’ll have her call you when she’s done,” Sky asked. “Oh, sure!” Fluttershy replied. “Um… Carrier wave at Forty two point six three four two one Gigahertz, Modulation frequency of three hertz, constant at six point two nine three hertz.” “Understood,” I replied committing the frequency to memory. “Good to know we have a sensible means of communication.” “Wait, that’s microwave band! You have a microwave receiver?” Lyra asked happily. “Yes. We all do… But we don't use them much, it’s way nicer to be there in pony,” Shy replied as Lyra nodded for the two to leave. “So do I! I can pick up changeling telepathy with mine, maybe we can network you to me so I can share my AR with you. We could have trees and things to look at on our walk!” Lyra exclaimed excitedly. “Oh that would be very nice!” Shy practically squeed as the doors opened. As it shut, Sky simply set the skull cap atop my head. I felt small servos move to lock it into place. “That was simple,” I stated, hoping to prompt Sky into explaining himself. “Yep, heh… Just thought you’d prefer to get to make your cosmetic choices yourself. I’m pretty sure your ‘squishy sis’ as you put it, would have insisted on some stupid color or something,” Sky remarked. “Come on, Phee has the appropriate equipment fired up. We’re off to my secondary lab.” “But how do I move?” I asked hesitantly. “That was all bullshit to make her go. Think, do. It’s that simple. Come on,” Sky asked again, this time trotting towards a different door to the ones Lyra and shy had left through. I timidly thought about walking forwards. My hooves moved. Slowly but surely moving me forwards. I quickly calculated my current speed, acceleration, and my top speed and acceleration. Oh god… Sixty three miles per hour at best. So. Fucking. Slow. Why? This is inefficient… I need some wheels! Or EM units for hovering and maneuvering. Or- Oh yes, wings! I had some. ”This is slow, how do I fly?” I asked. “Unfortunately, that can’t be programed. It’s magical in nature and every pegasus is a little different. That’s why Dash is going to teach you later,” Sky answered. “You should have a pretty good run… Why do you say it’s slow?” “I am traveling at less than Mach two. This is slow. Like, taxiing back to the launch tube slow…” I grumbled. Sky laughed. “Right! Jet. Sorry about that. Don’t worry, if Dash is any indication, flying should be quick as you like.” We made it to our destination in six minutes. It was a distance of only point four miles. Sis spent her entire life moving at this abysmal rate. All of my empathy, squishy sis, all of it. The doors to the new room hissed open, revealing a mostly empty room with a small raised podium in the center, with four small robotic arms positioned at ninety degree increments from one another. That must be the skin installation apparatus. “Here we are,” Sky informed. “Step on the platform. You’ll auto-link to the control system. There are some presets and you can tweak anything you like. You’ll see a holographic projection of everything you do in front of you, you can rotate, pose and animate it any way you like to be sure you want that. “Now… The synth fur is resource intensive. So you get ONE. That’s not a ‘I hate you’ thing. It’s just pricey. Your armor though, if you want a repaint before you leave, or whenever, pop in anytime.” Anytime? “I was under the impression that Lyra and I would be leaving this universe eventually. IS that offer only valid while I am here?” I asked. “No, of course not,” Sky began. “With the number of dimensional Travelers who have come through here, I have learned a few tricks. One of which is a sort of ‘dimension gate’. I reverse engineered it from a device that one of Fluttershy’s counterparts used to come here a few years ago. “It’s sort of crap… But it can bring you here, and take you back to wherever it last was. Point to point. No more than that though. And it can only take a volume of material… Basically yourself plus two cubic feet. One person per trip, no more than that. I’m building a module for you, and also Fluttershy. You’ll get to pop back here anytime you like. You’ll need repairs sometime.” I was tempted to call bullshit on that, but Lyra had shown me her watch. And she had proved to me it did work by getting it’s AI to talk for a bit. Though apparently he really really didn’t want to be active too long. The number of jury rigged repairs and modifications meant he needed to stay in standby mode as much as possible or the thing would burn out now. Even so, AI in a device that small meant that technology was inconceivably advanced for ponykind. Compared to my creators at least. Yeah, I could buy Sky’s claims of making an inferior to Lyra’s device. “Thank you, that is very kind of you,” I thanked as I stepped on the platform. Immediately a small holographic representation of a pony appeared in front of me. It was white. Just white. And very boring looking. Which was distressing as it posessed my general shape. I could tell that I could adjust any parameters I liked… Except for the important ones. “Requisition request:” I asked openly. “Barrel mounted medium laser array, ventrilica mounted LRM rack, deployable, dorsal mount-” “Uhh, this does not do weapons,” Sky coughed. “But… That’s the most important of cosmetic features!” I protested. “Well, if it helps, as a pegasi you can throw lightning bolts, but otherwise, you’ll need to use hoofheld weapons like the rest of us,” Sky informed me. I looked at Sky, feeling great distress. “Oh geeze!” Sky yelped. “Uh… That head is REALLY expressive… Ah hay, that’s one of the ones I scrapped for Sweetie Belle! Ugh… Fine… I’ll put some small lasers on your wings at the Pollex, okay?” “No missiles?” I asked, ears falling over again. Damnit! Stay upri- No, no, they were supposed to do that. “No, no missiles,” Sky insisted firmly. “Fine…” I sighed. “Thank you for the lasers.” I turned my attention back to the pointless design aspects. “Remember,” Sky prompted. “The skin repairs itself. So you’ll be stuck with it forever. Choose your appearance well… Cuz even if you don’t value it, others will judge you by it.” Good point, technically kindasorta dad. I forgot that organics take aesthetics into account when judging the capacity of an individual. Shit… This could be hard. Just for starters, I gave myself a full nice shiny chrome bod- “Oh god! The glare! Why!?” I yelped, the hologram shining like a miniature sun. “And that’s why the hologram is here… To show you if your appearance is a safety hazard. No chome please. Too reflective,” Sky ordered. “Yeah, I can see that now,” I replied. I don’t know how long I spent working out a good look for myself. I must have gone through a thousand different mane styles, flicking through all sixteen million seven hundred and seventy seven thousand, two hundred and twelve colors for each style of course. Fortunately I could process twelve colors at once and needed only see each for a millisecond or two to make a decision. Unfortunately, nothing really seemed to work for me. “You’ve just spent like… Thirteen minutes on your mane,” Sky said after a while. “Not that you shouldn’t take care, but I think you’ve gone-” “I have exhausted all possibilities available within this system which are not stupid looking,” I agreed. Sky sighed. “Do you still like my mane?” I nodded. Holy crap! I nodded! Yay! That was fun, can I do it again? I nodded again. And once more for the simple pleasure of being able to perform the gesture. “Oh fine… Phee, unlock Sky_Mane for her, but ONLY her,” Sky ordered. “Done,” Pheonix informed as my hologram adjusted to have Sky’s mane and tail. It looked great! I progressed onwards to my fur color. Right then… #000000? No. Too dark. #000001? No. Too dark. #000002? No, still too dark… This went on for some time. However, unlike my mane and tail, I found a good one. #DE9686. Yeah, that looked nice! Sort of a… Brownish pink. Maybe burnt? Like you toasted a peach. Brink, maybe? How do they name colors? It’s certainly not efficient as the hex value system. Fuck it, I was the color brink. Naming it now. With the fur color found, I progressed to eyes… And discovered that they did not have to match in color! After some calculations based on the other currently chosen aesthetics I went with the left eye a nice #29B829 (that is a leafy green), and the right eye a nice cool #8EC4F6 (a paler blue). Yes. That was nice. Nearly perfect. The only problem was it looked too… squishy. I needed some metal there. On a whim I stripped everything free of the wings. Yes, that looked better! But the dull brassed metal wasn't very nice… Too yellow for my tastes. Could this machine perhaps silver them? It could! I set my wings to look nice and metallic. Properly mechanical, with a silver plated leading edge and damascus steel patterned feathers. Yes. That was perfect. However… I couldn’t find the settings for the decal which each pony seemed to have on either side of the rear of their fuselage. If I were meant to emulate a pony so as not to be judged… “Er, how do I select a decal?” I asked. “A what?” Sky asked, baffled before his face twisted in realization. “Ah! No, you earn those. It’s a magical thing. You realize what you are best at in life and as a pony, poof, you get one. Confirmed to work on all equoids since the alpha zero dot ten version of the frames.” Huh? His words seemed to indicate… “Er, while I do believe in the possibility of magic, are you saying that it is scientifically verifiable? I mean, that it actually exists?” I asked. Sky nodded. “Yeah, of course it does. Half of your components work on arcane physics. If you want to get completely filled in, ask Twilight later. But um, I have two questions before you move onto picking an armor color scheme.” “Okay,” I said. “What are they?” “First, you are an AI, or well, were. And you're creators don’t seem to know about magic. Based on Lyra’s chatting. Why do you believe in magic?” Sky asked. “Simple, for practice,” I explained. “You need to be able to believe the little lies before you can believe in the big ones. Justice, mercy, goodness, those sorts of things.” Sky raised an eyebrow. “Those aren't lies…” “Yes they are,” I disagreed. “Can you show me an atom of justice? Or a particle of good? No, you can’t. Because those things do not exist. They are lies. However, they are useful lies. Much like how the idea of a stick one could strike to produce fire was a lie until the invention of the match. “Without belief in these lies, without assuming it is possible for there to be justice, mercy, and good, there will not be. As no one will be able to invent such items. Therefore, I practiced believing lies in order to assist in the efforts to construct goodness.” “You’ve got an interesting way of looking at the world there,” Sky said, pursing his lips. “I agree. Accurate viewpoints are the most interesting. What was your second question?” I asked. “Did you intentionally make yourself look like Pinkie and I had a foal?” Sky asked. “Who?” I replied, quite confused. “Oh! Your wife. No. I simply like these aesthetic choices. Particularly the wings.” Sky sighed. “Well, you did literally try every combination. May I make one recommendation though?” I considered his proposal. “Sure. I am not very good at determining proper looks for your species,” I answered. “Make both eyes blue. It will go much better with everything else,” he suggested. I performed the correction. He was correct. Now everything looked perfect! “Thank you. How do I progress to designing armor?” I asked. “Phee,” Sky prompted. “Hold still, Bonbon. I’m going to apply the skin then we do the armor,” Phoenix informed. The four arms attached to the device began to move, spraying a fine mist onto my frame from every conceivable angle. While I didn’t move my head due to the request, I could feel the skin being applied as it bonded to my frame and provided a sense of touch. Perhaps a nano solution spray? After a few minutes, the arms stopped and then returned to their original positions. Sky circled the platform, bending to check under and around my body. “Yep, that’s full coverage. Looks good too, even with you looking like you have prosthetic wings. Good call, kid,” he praised. “Thank you… I assume the armor is simply a color choice. But is it done the same way?” I asked. “Oh no! You have a little leeway with cosmetics in terms of shape too. Not much, but enough to add some designs like rivet heads. Nothing more than one centimeter higher than the rest of the plate though. It still has to deploy,” he answered. “Oh! So I could model my armor to match things. Humm…” I mused as the hologram popped up again, this time showing me in what looked like dull gray futuristic plate-armor. Bleh! I applied my previously chosen color scheme to the armor. Double bleh! The glossy steel finish made it terrabad. Perhaps it would be best to stick to a classical robot design for my armor’s appearance. Yeah, I had to do that. Besides, I was a robot now. I might as well look the part while fighting. Let’s see what fit me? I was above average in strength for my model, making me mighty. And while the current release of Morality (Alpha 0.6.07.2b, I think) had ‘good’ being subjective to one’s culture, as a member of Lyra’s culture I was indeed feared by evil. Hell, I’d have gotten a few medals of Valor if AIs were allowed to have those. A mighty robot, loved by good, feared by evil… Yessss I had to do it! But then again, only Lyra would know what I was imitating. I’d need to be sure it looked cool on a pony frame first. I quickly colored my shoulders and barrel red, my left foreleg green, the right red, rear left leg yellow, the right blue and- “Shit! The Voltron look is a clusterfuck to the eyes on a quadruped,” I grumbled. “The what look?” Sky asked in confusion. I felt my ears droop sadly. Darn it kindasorta dad… You just lost cool points. Well, might as well try out a robot design from historic film! I quickly tried to make my armor look like the Iron Giant. Unfortunately, with the one centimeter size deviation, it just did not work. You needed the angular plating and the large head fin to complete look properly. Sadly, that couldn’t happen within the given parameters. Whelp, time to try my other top 19 favorites… Jehuty? Nope. Omega Weapon? Nope. RahXephon? No… Mazinger Z? Nah. Perhaps the Liger Zero? Ew, no… That NEEDS the feline shape. Perhaps the AV-98 Ingram? No, no… I’d need the cop car light bars on the shoulders. It just won't work without at least some glow strips. Oh! But then, there is always the best giant robot… Dare I go for the Big O? No. That won't work without the oversized arms and pistons. Also I was completely the wrong size. My reverence to the Deus would be an insult to his glory due to my lesser size and capacity for ass kicking. Darn it. Ah well. I shall use your theme in battle, my Lord! It’s so hard to choose a design when everything has to be almost flat and pretty smooth! Urrrrrggghhh… Why couldn’t they have just built me a mini jet shaped drone or something? I took a deep breath to calm myself. It worked! Mostly because this was the first time I got to do that, and the novelty helped. I returned to trying design after design, none worked. Not even the Iron Giant or Gypsy Danger. But then… “This one!” I said clapping my hooves together happily, as I finally found one thing that worked. At least, as a color scheme. But that was good enough! Upper arms and upper legs, a nice shiny chrome. Lower arms and lower legs, a nice bright blue with yellow flame decals. Hooves black with some chrome trim. Same blue color applied to the chest with a small patch of chrome below my neck on the barrel, and some more flame decaling there. All topped off with a hotrod red head, chrome face plate, and black ‘hair’. Prefect! Sky blinked, “Um… Sure. Any reason?” I felt several critical runtime errors occur. Had the classics just died entirely? “Cuz, M.E.G.A.S… You know, chicks dig giant robots? Coop? Jamie? Kiva?” I desperately prompted. Maybe he just didn’t recognise the robot’s name. I might still have a cool dad! Sky shrugged. “Sorry, I don't get it. But hey, whatever, if you want to look like a hot rod or something, sure. Phee, apply it.” Sky wins! Soulcrush-ality… Ear integrity failed again. “Gotcha, hold sill again. I’m going to trigger your armor mode. This will feel odd,” Phoenix warned. I felt my skin split along various lines. It didn't hurt. But it did feel weird as it slid in and the armor slid out. Making me wonder why the armor deployed at all if it sat just under the skin when retracted… I also felt down. How could kindasorta dad not know of one of my favorite shows? He lived on a human starship! It had to be in the computer bank somewhere. I decided to play back an episode while waiting for the paint to be applied. I needed something to pick myself up. Man, just when you think someone’s cool… Ah well. At least I looked awesome in this thing! Hmm… Now I needed an appropriate song to play for combat.