The Ultimate Life Form

by EverfreeSparkle

Leaving The Everfree

...I scream as my head suddenly and unexpectedly flares with the most agonizing pain I have ever felt. It’s like somepony is squeezing my brain between two boulders, while simultaneously scooping out my eyes with a spoon. The sensation is so overwhelming that I barely notice my legs finally giving out, causing me to collapse onto the forest floor. I squeeze my eyes shut, hoping the pain will just go away. And to my surprise... it does.

Just as the agony lifted, a flurry of knowledge and memories brings itself to light. As my mind is trying to comprehend these new memories, I make out just enough to be able to tell what I am. Oh my Celestia! I didn’t even know machines could be scaled down to such a size and still function! Well, this explains how I was able to… kill… that cockatrice. I really hope I can bring this new body under control; I don’t want to accidently kill everything that moves, after all.

As the trickle of information passes, it dawns on me that the memories I get are very specific on how to control this body, but not much else. Well, at least I finally know what happened to me. Or at least the important bits. It’s going to be very weird knowing that I am now a collection of molecular machines arranged in an equine shape. I guess it’s not much weirder than being a colony of cells in an equine shape, but at least biology is something every, or at least most, ponies understand!

Rolling onto my belly, tail twitching slightly, I close my eyes and try calming myself, letting my mind settle… Or I would if my twitching tail didn’t remind me that it’s now just a collection of molecular machines arranged in the correct configuration so as to mimic an equine tail. And so, my breathing picks up and my ears clamp to my head as it dawns on me just how different I am from anything I’ve ever heard of. Everything I knew to be true about what constitutes life has just been toppled! None of what I am should even be possible, except that the knowledge in my head is telling me it is. In exquisite detail. So much detail…

My mood reverses itself in an instant as I start to realize just how good this is. “Celestia, I understand so much now! I could revolutionize Equestria with just a fraction of what I know! Oh~ I could actually get used to this!” I’m surprised to hear myself giggling like a filly who just got her cutie mark, but I can’t help it! Even though most of my new intellect pertains to how I function, it still could fill an almost endless amount of textbooks! How does it all even fit?

I immediately find myself thinking about a computation machine at the center of every cell in my body that stores and exchanges more information every second than all that has ever been written combined. This is amazing! Equestria hasn’t even figured out how to make non-magical devices that use Boolean algebra, yet this race has gone beyond what the brightest minds have even dreamed was possible, even with magic! Hang on a tick, what species could have done all this without ponies knowing about it? ...No answer is forthcoming, which means that of all the knowledge I gained, the minds behind it are not a part of it. Strange, but I really should get up, since my legs are starting to cramp.

Finally getting up, I feel my joints pop (that’s some top notch mimicry), and let out a yawn. It seems my body is happy to behave normally if I am not consciously acting to change it. That’s good to know. I really do need to find shelter, as well as figure out how to control my new body. I don’t think I even need to sleep anymore, so shelter wouldn’t technically be a problem, but I don’t know if I could stand being awake indefinitely. I could just automatically let my equine body function how it would normally; it will make everything so much simpler if I didn’t have to fake fatigue and bodily… functions. Maybe I will turn off the digestive system for convenience sake.

Now, time to test my body’s new capabilities. I glance down at one of my legs and have an idea. With but a thought, I will my left foreleg to lose cohesion, and stumble slightly as the feeling in my leg vanishes. I stare with scientific fascination as my leg turns black as can be, and starts to drip onto the ground. After a few seconds, gravity finishes its work, and there is now a black blob right under my new stump of a leg. Interesting. It seems that I won’t bleed or damage myself in any way as long as I change my flesh to its new default form before manipulating it. Explains why it was painful when my wound healed itself up before: the flesh was still an open wound. As long as I don’t lose any of my matter, I should be fine.

I will my leg to reform, and obediently the black goo extends a few fine tendrils to the stump of where my leg should be, the stump extending a few tendrils of its own, intertwining them together. As the bone and tissue form, the black mass starts to vaguely resemble a limb and I can clearly see movement beneath the skin of the developing leg where muscle is forming. Only a few seconds after the process began, my leg is completely reformed.

I flex my leg and examine it for abnormalities, and find that everything is in place. The frog of my hoof is perfectly clean, and the fur covering my leg is even shinier than the rest of the fur on my body! I guess I don’t need to bathe anymore, this is much more efficient, not to mention faster! I’ll still take baths though, too relaxing to just give up, but at least I don’t have to worry about scrubbing myself anymore.

Checking the rest of my body, I notice some sticks stuck in my mane and tail. I light my horn to remove them, only for it to sputter a weak blue spark. Great, it seems that my magic isn’t working properly. Might as well see how well I can finely control myself. I brace myself and concentrate on the hairs of my mane and tail. Much more easily than expected, I feel the individual hairs of my mane start to twitch, before widely flailing around. I calm them down easily enough and try to slowly wrap a lock of hair around a stick, yet it is a bit more difficult than I thought, considering I can’t really see…

No sooner did I think that before suddenly becoming disoriented with more splotches and blurs in my vision than I knew what to do with. I try rubbing my eyes with my hooves, but nothing changes. Squinting a bit I notice the ‘splotches’ actually become more defined, so I close my eyes completely and I can’t stop the small gasp from escaping my lips. I can now see everything on my body, as well as everything in a three hundred and sixty degree radius. It’s pretty disorienting.

Concentrating, I am able to focus on a single object at once, while ignoring the rest as an analogue to periphery vision. I also notice that focusing actually moves the nearby periphery to physically move into the focus, as well as making my skin crawl, which makes the image much sharper. Focusing on my body to try to see just what is going on, I am awed, and a little creeped out, by what I see: each of the hairs on my body has grown a spot with light sensitive cells, and the hairs move to point at whatever I focus on.

I try to look through one of my tiny spots, but when I do all I see is the vague idea of light, and the direction it comes from. Just small flashes and blurs. I guess it makes sense that I couldn’t truly see with only one, it must be all of the hairs in my coat working together. This is remarkable! It’s like a giant omni-directional compound eye. Now, time to get those sticks out of my hair. I change the focus to the fur on my back and both sides of my dock, and am able to see the sticks tangled in both my mane and tail quite clearly. Moving the long strands of hairs to wrap around the sticks, I pick them out one by one. When the final twig falls to the ground I look myself over and give a little twirl, flicking my dock once to swish my tail. Much better. Those sticks were a bit scratchy, I’m gla-

A howl pierces through the air, snapping me out of my thoughts and making me jump a bit, giving me a good reminder that I’m still the Everfree Forest. Figuring out my body can wait, I need to get out of here! Focusing my new vision behind me, I trot in the opposite direction of whatever made that noise. I assume it’s some sort of wolf, maybe even a timberwolf. I’m not actually sure if those things are alive or not. I do know that they are beings of pure chaos magic, animated to mimic the behavior of wolves, but does that make them alive? Maybe I should go back and scan one…

“What am I thinking? That’s a horrible idea!” I whisper to myself. I decide to just continue moving away from what I am now convinced is a timber wolf. It hasn’t made any other sounds since the first, though. I wonder why that is?

I notice a sudden blur of motion directly at my sides, and see two pieces of animated wood leap out of the bushes at me. I tense up and jerk out of the way faster than I thought I could, causing them to smash into my vacant spot. They snarl with rage as they struggle to recover, getting up only moments later to encircle me. My eyes widen as I suddenly realize that the first howl must have been their attempt to herd me in a specific direction so they can ambush me. I pull back my ears and try my best to growl, even going as far to curl my lips, hoping they might get the hint. They don’t, and only continue their motions.

I spin around to face them, but that is when another pair of timberwolves make themselves known, stalking out of some bushes behind my current position. I am now trapped. The newcomers bark at the first two, and then on cue they all charge. Time seems to slow as my thoughts race, attempting to come up with a way to get out of this. ...I could try rushing one to kick it in the face, then I might be able to get away from the others. Yeah, that’ll work.

With that decided, I lower my head and rush one of the first two wolves. The other three try to keep up, but the two newcomers fall behind due to being further from my target. However, the other of the first couple is getting uncomfortably close to me. I am able to speed up even more, kicking up a cloud of dirt in the process, and turn around to kick my target in the face. It is knocked to the ground and bursts into splinters from the force of the kick. I then turn around as fast as I can, intending to make use of the new opening, but instead I scream as the closest wolf takes a chunk out of my right hind leg. “Mother bucker, that hurts!” It just took a bite out of my leg! I look behind me and I swear that the Celestia damned bastard is smirking. What do these things even need meat for?! They are made of wood! I raise my hind leg to get a look at the damage and pale a bit as I notice the muscle strands barely hanging onto the bone, blood gushing out of an artery. If I wasn’t sure it would heal I think I might faint. I need the stolen flesh to fix it, though.

“You better give that back, you twig!” I scream at said twig, fully intending to get the piece of myself back. Screw running, it’s personal now. Better yet, maybe I can use this to my advantage. I just have to think about replicating what my body did to the cockatrice, and then the stupid thing will be sorry!

I glare at the wolf, and then concentrate on on the flesh to, uh, consume I guess? At my thought, the flesh suddenly bubbles and seeps into cracks lining the wooden creature’s mouth. The creature only has time for a pained yelp before the piece of flesh expands the cracks rapidly, breaking the creature’s entire head into pieces with a thundering crack. The remaining couple suddenly halt their sprint towards me, and turn to their companion just in time to see the headless body collapse and shatter upon contact with the ground. I notice the pieces of me are still attached to the flying pieces of the head, and they rapidly consume them in the air. I then will myself back together, allowing the pieces to rush towards my leg. The blood staining the ground also seeks my leg, and both meet at the damaged limb. The blood rushes back into the gaping artery, and the missing flesh returns itself to reform my arteries, veins, muscles, and skin, all in a matter of seconds.

Once the pain disappears, I lift my hind leg and flex it a bit, giving the air a little kick. Good as new. I turn to the remaining wolves and notice that they actually seem to be backing up, their wooden tails between their legs. One of them gives a whining howl, the other snapping at me with bared canines, but neither making any sudden movements. They both growl at each other for a moment, but then one of them takes a few steps back before stopping, looking at me with uncertainty. Then with another series of whines, they both turn and flee. The pieces of wood left over from the first two start to vibrate before glowing and taking off to follow the retreating wolves.

---

“Oh dear, where are the cherries? What if they are all gone?” I can't help but worry as I frantically look over all the cherry trees on the edge of the Everfree. I know at least one of these trees must have a cherry. My poor little Angel will be absolutely devastated if I can’t make his favorite dish! I know there were a few ripe ones last week; could they all have been picked already? The only other cherry trees are in the Everfree, and I really, really, do not want to go in there again.

“Maybe Angel will go without the cherry for once? He’ll understand that I couldn’t find any, and that the market was all out as well,” I hopefully whisper, but I know deep inside that it wasn’t to be. Last time I forgot an ingredient, he threw the biggest hissy fit! The poor dear was hysterical, and wouldn’t calm down until I went to the next town over to buy the type of fruit salad he wanted. It put me behind schedule on feeding all the other animals, so I cannot afford to keep all the other critters waiting just because of Angel. My ears droop as I realize I have to go into the Everfree. Oh why couldn’t cherries grow in Whitetail woods? Maybe I can ask Applejack to help grow some next time I see her? Growing cherries can’t be that different from growing apples.

I dig my hoof into the ground a bit, and glance at the barren cherry trees, silently begging them to magically bloom some fruit. As expected, nothing changes. At least the other cherry trees are not too far in the forest. I guess that makes it a bit better. I give my wings a flutter, and with a small whimper I head in the direction of the Everfree.

A few minutes later I land on the edge of the forest. However, I stop just shy of the border. I lower my head and cautiously enter the perpetually dark forest.

“T-this isn’t so bad, Fluttershy. I-it’s actually kind of n-nice during the day,” I console myself after a few minutes of walking, trying to keep myself moving in spite of my shaky legs. I glance around, trying to take in the scenery to distract myself. I notice some pretty yellow flowers, and even some bright pink ones. The cherry trees are only a minute away at a slow walk, so I should be there soon, thankfully. Last time was with Harry, I really wish he was here right now…

My ears perk up and my head jerks as a mare’s scream reverberates through the forest, directly ahead. “Somepony is out here?! That scream… that didn’t sound good. I-I have to help her!” With a burst of adrenaline, I gallop as fast as I can in her direction, completely ignoring the cherry trees I pass. Why is somepony in the forest? Maybe it’s Zecora? Oh, I hope she isn’t hurt!

My heart almost breaks free from my chest as two timberwolves sprint right past me, neither paying me any mind. This only makes me run faster, hoping I’m not too late. When I get there I’ll... I’ll... I’m not sure, but I’ll think of something! Oh I hope it isn’t a Hydra, they don’t listen to me...

As I stumble into a small clearing, a pony composed of different shades of blue comes into view, my entrance quickly gaining her attention. Was she the one who screamed? I squint, but she appears fine... Maybe something spooked her? I notice that she seems tense at my arrival, as if expecting a fight. I softly smile to her, hoping to calm her down. Her stance quickly relaxes as she realizes I’m not a danger.

“Where did you come from?” She asks with a hint of confusion, looking at me with her arctic blue eyes... Waiting for my response… Annnd, now I am reminded that I am in a forest with a strange pony that I don’t know. I try hiding behind my hair, making me feel a bit better. Why do ponies have to stare at me like that?

I take a deep breath and mumble, “Um, I heard your scream. I thought you were in trouble.”

The mare tilts her head a bit, and she flicks an ear. “Could you speak up? You are a bit quiet,” she explains. Oh, right. I guess I could try speaking louder…

“I heard your scream. I-I came to help you?,” I try to say with conviction, but I think it may have ended up sounding like a question.

Her face lights up in comprehension. “Oh, right. That. I thought I saw timberwolves, but it seems I was mistaken. I guess it startled me.” She says, rubbing her leg in apparent embarrassment. Wait, but I saw some Timberwolves on the way here? Does… does that mean she actually saw them while they were running through the forest?

“Oh my goodness! I think you may have actually seen real timberwolves. Two of them were running in the opposite direction. They didn’t seem to be in an aggressive mood, though. You’re very lucky, because timberwolves can be extremely dangerous!,” I babble out.

“Yeah, lucky.” She agrees without much enthusiasm. Her stance then changes and she gains a curious expression. “Hang on, what’s your name? You seem familiar for some reason.” Familiar? I’m pretty sure I’ve never met her before.

I give her a shy smile and tell her my name: “I’m Fluttershy.”

---

That shocked me. That’s Fluttershy?! The Element of Kindness? Her name really does suit her. She ‘came to my rescue’, but that still doesn’t explain why she’s out here in the first place. Did the guard send her to come and bring me to Canterlot? No, that doesn’t make sense. Wait, that reminds me; I just escaped from custody. I’m one hundred percent certain that’s illegal. Maybe I can make an appeal? I didn’t mean to rip a hole in the fabric of Equestria, after all… Well, I did try to, but the result was totally an accident.

Fluttershy interrupts my thoughts and quietly asks, “Um, could you tell me your name, please? ...That is, if you don’t mind?” She shrinks back a bit, hiding more of her face behind her wavy mane. I don’t see the harm in giving her my name. Maybe if I get on her good side I could get her help in appealing to the princess. She’s the element of kindness, so she’ll understand, right?

“My name is Illuminating Fabric, but you can just call me Fabric if you like. My full name is a bit of a mouthful, I admit,” I tell her.

“Okay, Fabric. So, um, why are you here, if you don’t mind me asking?,” Fluttershy asks, seeming a bit less shy after getting my name, although she still seems to be trying to hide behind her mane.

I bite my lip, trying to decide how much to tell her. Explaining what I am now would be a horrible course of action. I doubt Fluttershy would appreciate me telling her how I brutally killed and, well, devoured a cockatrice. I guess I could tell her everything except for those details. Good thing I was able to get rid of the ‘fur vision’ before she could get close enough to see me. That would have raised a few questions.

“Alright, I’ll tell you. But after we leave this forest,” I tell her. I may not be in any real danger, but Fluttershy is defenseless.

She gets nervous all of a sudden, fluttering her wings and looking around as if just noticing where she is. “Oh my, you’re right! We really should get going.” She gestures her head in a ‘follow me’ motion and turns around. “I do need to pick some cherries on the way, though. Angel will be a nightmare otherwise!”

As I turn to follow the pegasus, I can’t help but ask, “Who’s Angel?”

Comments

[ConfettiColored]

I now want to write a story with the main character having Omega's powers.

[Xzaves]

I hope she eats Angel

[EverfreeSparkle]

6874818 Trust me, if I could do that without it being too silly and random I would.

[spawnofmetroid]

I'm really glad to see this back up, I honestly that it was dead. I love the idea for the machine is abilities, some of the most versatile I have ever heard of. Either way I don't see any glaring mistakes and the pacing is alright. I know what writers block can do to anything your trying to make, glad to just see this going again. Update soonish please, if you don't mind that is..

[EverfreeSparkle]

6876605 1,100 words on the next chapter so far, so it shouldn't take nearly as long as last time. Maybe by the end of the week, maybe next week. I have a plan now, when before I only had the vaguest of ideas what direction to take the story.

[Warrior Kitten]

Great, it seems that my magic isn’t working properly.

Suddenly can't use magic. Why? Because plot!

[Lovecraftia]

7581317
Le plot has thickened