We're a long way from home.

by RuaTheGreat

The Dragon, The A.I And The Human

Peter's POV

---

I listened to Allie intently, wanting to learn everything about what had happened. According to her: she had woken up in a sort of alley and stumbled out. Upon looking around she noticed a whole bunch of, and I quote: "pastel-shaded horses of every imaginable colour" staring at her. She stared back and did the most natural thing to her: she morphed into one of them. See, Allie being an animorphagi, she has the ability to change her appearance. While this may sound great, it is used mainly for disguise as she can only copy the look of a creature, not their abilities. Anyway, she copied the body one of them nearby, and changed it to suit more her style. She morphed into one of the normal ponies; without wings or a horn. She had given herself a navy blue mane and tail with a charcoal black coat. She had also changed her eye colour to an bright amber intend of the usual piercing green.

Once she was satisfied she looked like everyone else she just walked off. The ponies mouths were agape and some were even trembling in fear. She didn't pay that much heed until one of the ponies yelled

"CHANGELING!" then ran off screaming.
After that all hell broke loose. Ponies were screaming and running around trying to find somewhere to hide. She was mildly surprised that they could talk. But knowing "The Facility" and their ability to do the impossible, she didn’t pay it any mind and continued walking. She only got about 2 metres before a loud voice commanded her to:

"HALT!"

She turned around slowly and noticed a line of about 8 of the ponies wearing armour. The unicorns had their horns pointed to her and the others their spears. She looked at them and sighed before turning around and changing once again. This time she had become her normal form. A night fury with piercing green eyes. She glared at them before taking to the sky. She lazily glided over the city before landing in a alley taking her newly acquired pony form. She trotted out but froze. There were three of the ponies; two Pegasi and a Unicorn. They were in aggressive stances ready to pounce at the slightest movement. Allie moved to a defensive position when the unicorn spoke.

"You must be rather stupid trying to take on three fully trained royal guards, Changeling!" he spat at her. She remained silent and waited.

"You know, I'm glad I took that extra class on offensive spells, because I've always wanted to do THIS!" he shouted, before he shot a beam . It seemed to travel in slow motion in her perspective before it hit her straight in the chest. Her eyes bulged and she clutched her chest in pain. Another beam hit her in the head knocking her to the ground. She tried scrambling to her feet (hooves?) before another bolt hit her in the chest again. The last bolt did the job, sending her into unconsciousness. The last thing she heard before completely slipping away was

"Damn Changelings... They've gotten stronger..."

---

Peter's POV

"And that's pretty much my story." Allie finished. I thought it over noticing a connection between our stories rather quickly.

"The beams..." I muttered under my breath.

"What beams, Peter?" asked Allie.

"Those weird energy beams were present in all our stories," I replied.

"You see, I think you were hit by a lower power one, KITT was hit with a really powerful one and I was hit by a normal one." I said pacing backwards and forwards.

"This is all a test by 'The Facility', and we are the Lab-Rats!"
There was a brief pause while the two processed this - admittedly - profound bit of information.

"I don't know, Peter. This seems a bit much just to test a weapon." She said skeptically.

"Maybe the weapon is mind based? If it is the same one, then this might explain why we would be in a simulation. If we knew we were in a test, then our minds would resist it. I know mine would..." KITT said sadly. He didn't know his creator, or exactly how he worked. Which for an A.I is quite a difficult thing. He had just booted one day on a beach, before being shut-down by an EMP and rebooting in "The Facility".

"Come to think of it, Peter, Alliana, what are the safe-words we agreed on?"

I paused for a second to remember the word. "Totem."

"Vulture" said Allie

"Noonien Spinner" finished KITT.

We all breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing in the fact that none of us were imposters.
A short while later, KITT spoke

"I am starting to doubt that this is an experiment."
I raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"The hash-check I ran on my sensor system just finished, and it found no modifications. If this is just a simulation, then they have found a really sneaky way to spoof my sensors."
I sighed. This conversation might have cleared up a few concerns, but ultimately it added more questions to be answered.

"So, now what?"

"If this is a just civilisation, simulated or not, I guess we wait for our trial." Said Allie
I reluctantly nodded in agreement, followed by KITT.

---

? Perspective

"Computer, how much is the estimated period of active camouflage available until power levels drop below 7%?"

A synthesized voice replied "At maximum camouflage at high intensity adaptation: 10 minutes. Realistic application would be 50 minutes."

I smiled. 50 minutes should be enough to get in, look around, gather some information, and get out. I walked to the edge of the forest. So far, I was lucky. No predator had found me. Perhaps it was because the suit contained, well, my smell. (note to self: take shower ASAP).
Anyway, that is a concern for later. I was at the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres. It was evening, so Applejack and any other helpers should be heading in.

“Activate active camo - low-power mode." I whispered.
In 2 seconds, I blurred into the background; even with Pegasus eyes, you could only make out a faint blur with a slight shadow. To remove the shadow, I would have to project light over it, which would use extra power. But with just the moon and the stars lighting the ground up, it isn't worth it. On my HUD, there was a countdown timer ticking down from "00:00:49:36" with a green "LP" next to it. I moved through the apple tree plantation, with an accelerometer based map on my HUD. This was nowhere as good as LPS (Local Positioning System), as it needed to be updated every so often, and it makes teleportation EXTREMELY dangerous. If you teleported just a nanometer into the ground, the theory of relativity would ensure that you teleported into a crater. But at the moment it was the best I had. A short while later, I was at the farmhouse.

"Nice to know it hasn’t changed..." I thought to myself.

"Add to log, titled 'Dimension #10': 'Sweet Apple Acres exterior looks the same.'" I whispered to the Computer.

"Added to log: 'Dimension #10'." Said the computer out loud.

"Dammit!" I breathed, wincing at the voice.

"Reroute all notifications to HUD."A message popped up in my HUD.

"Sorry, rerouted."

I blinked. "Since when did the Computer have a personality?"

"Note to self: Investigate personalities for A.I's"

"Noted."
While I was here, I decided to check whether Apple Jack was home. I looked through a couple of windows, but saw that she wasn't inside.

"Interesting... Where could she be?" Just then I saw Big Mac walk past. I froze, hoping he wouldn’t do a double-take. He did.

"Not good..." Thankfully for me, he just did the pony equivalent of a shrug, and continued into the barn. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"That could have went wrong very fast!"

"Computer: activate Medium level camo when I come into a populated area."

"Will do."

I reset my location, and headed to the town square.
5 minutes later, the green "LP" symbol changed to an amber "MP", and the shadow that the LP camo failed to cover nearly disappeared, and the blur where I was became more transparent.The timer also shot down from "00:00:39:40" to "00:00:20:03". I frowned. 20 minutes was going to be a tight fit, even with reverting to LP camo when I leave.

"Kind of wish I finished the 'Perception Filter' module now." The difference between Active Camo and a Perception Filter is that the Active Camo, well, camouflages you. So when you move, it uses power. The Perception Filter makes people think you are not there. This is significantly harder to program and build, and the more people are looking at you, the more power it draws. It also doesn't work when people are actively looking for you. The advantages more than make up for that. When you move, the filter doesn’t have to update, and when no one is looking at you, it has very little power draw. Which would have been very useful in my situation. While I was pondering on how to make the filter, I arrived at the "Golden Oak Library". The lights were already on.

"This will make snooping a lot harder. I hope everyone in there is asleep and/or not paying attention. Otherwise the moment I the handle, I will be rumbled!"
I put my head to the door and whispered

"Amplify hearing by 12 Decibels."

"… Twilight, truth or dare?" Said a female voice.

"Ahh, so they are having a sleep-over. And playing spin-the-bottle by the sounds of it. But wasn't that Pinkie’s voice?"

"Truth." Said Twilight’s voice, although it sounded uncertain

"Did you ever..."
I decided to save Twilight the humiliation and swiftly opened the door. And just like I was expecting, everypony was looking at me. Or rather, outside the door.

"That is strange, I feel like there is someone outside there, but nothing is there..." Said Twilight. I mentally face palmed. I should have put up a shield around me to block my magical signature, but I didn't have the energy to spare.

"I feel the same. Oh well, it must be the late hour. Mind closing the door, Rainbow?" Asked Rarity.

"Aww, why do I always have to do that?" Whined Rainbow Dash.

"Because..."
While they were arguing, I slipped in.

"Just like Hearth's Warming Eve." I mentally sighed.

"GIRLS! This is just like Hearth's Warming Eve!"
I raised an eyebrow at just how similarly we thought.

"Hehe... Sorry, I'll get it." Laughed Rainbow nervously.
I moved out of her flight path, and sneaked across the room.

"Rarity, it's still here, and it’s moving..." Whispered Twilight

"I know, darling. Don't you have a spell to reveal it?"

"Ooooooh, sugar! This is not good..."
She paused.

"Yes, I do."
I saw purple light shining in my direction. I froze realizing what she had just done. Three sharp beeps came from my suit, and a warning message that the refraction field had destabilised. I sighed in annoyance able to figure out the obvious. They were all staring at me in silence. There were mixed looks of shock, disgust and anger. I slowly moved towards the door before things could escalate, but a certain prismatic pegasus noticed.

“Where do you think you’re going?” asked Rainbow dropping to a defensive position in front of the door. I tried to move to a window but they seemed to be a step ahead. They were blocking all routes of escape. I felt a twinge of sadness at how hostile my so called friends were to me. But I reminded myself that it was a alternate universe. Applejack and Twilight started advancing to me.I had to get out. The repercussions of getting captured were far too big, and fighting was out of the question. There was one plausible outcome, and I chose it.

“Out.”

“I didn’t mean to come here. I don’t mean to stay. This is just where fate blew me, one unfortunate day.”
I see Twilight cock her head in confusion. Applejack opened her mouth. Probably to ask “What d’ya mean by that?”, but I cut her off.“FORTON CONTROL!” I felt the familiar sensation and heard the same sound which indicated a teleport. For 2 seconds my body felt like it was being compressed (which in reality, is more or less true.). The compression stopped, and was replaced with a slight wave of nausea. I re-opened my eyes, and I found myself outside. I whipped my head around hearing cries of surprise and smirked in victory to myself. However a message appeared on my HUD that caused my smirk to drop. The message read:

“Power levels at 7 percent, cloak deactivating.” I cursed under my breath as my cloak slowly melted away. To make matters worse I heard the 6 inside open the door and spot me. However they froze seeing me without the destabilized camouflage, which had made me appear smaller. I used this distraction to run for the Everfree for some shelter. However they were fast to act and quickly followed. I huffed in annoyance knowing that I keep ahead of them for long. What’s worse was that RD could fly much faster than I could run. I did some quick calculations in my head and sighed knowing that this would drain even more power, but the fact that I would escape was worth it.

"Computer: Activate assisted running, 60%."

"Accelerative Forton Energy" started filling up, before it flashed green, and slowly started draining.

When I reached the border of the forest, I had lost Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity, Pinkie being Faust knows where. I started weaving through some trees, in hopes to lose them. I had night-vision, so unless I fluffed up, I wasn’t going to run into -
*SMASH*
I glanced behind me, and saw two pairs of orange legs sticking out from a tree.

“Ouch! I hope Applebuck season isn’t on for a while… ‘Cause I don’t think AJ will be up for a couple of day’s.”

"Computer: force activate cloak, front only, low power."
The electricity drainage bar turned red, showing that it was at maximum capacity. Anyone ever had half-dead batteries in a remote control and it only worked for a short distance? This is the same situation. At best, I could only stay this way for a minute before the output would be insufficient to power the cloak.As I had guessed, she turned back, and looked around. I couldn’t help but feels smug at my escape. She landed underneath me, and angrily stomped her hoof at the ground.She mumbled something about "...stupid, teleporting aliens...", and flew off.I breathed a sigh of relief, and deactivated the cloak. I waited 10 more minutes but heard nothing else. I still decided against climbing down so I re-converted all the energy I still had left to stable energy and activated the self-clean routine, selecting the shutdown option for the end of it. Before falling asleep I did one more thing.

“Computer,” I said softly

“Yes, Jonah?” It replied.

“Set an alarm for the crack of dawn.”

“Alarm set, Have a good night, Jonah.” I listened to this in confusion. This was the second time that the A.I exhibited a complex personality with feelings, and I definitely don’t remember programming them. This thought plagued my mind until a bigger one came along. Sleep. I let my eyelids droop and drifted away into the land of dreams.

---

Peter's POV The Next Day
I yawned and stretched before lazily standing up. I blinked the crust out of my eye and let my eyes adjust. It wasn't too bright being in a dungeon so it didn't take long for my eyes to adjust. I scanned the area seeing my two friends. One was sleeping while the other was in what we call ’Low Alert Mode’. I sighed and prepared a little message for them. I sent them both a telepathic message with the same words.

“ALRIGHT GET YOUR LAZY BUTTS OUT OF BED WE HAVE AN ESCAPE TO PLAN!” I yelled telepathically. They both jumped which satisfied me in a sadistic kind of way. They slowly started getting up but not without sending a glare my way. I just raised my hands in mock surrender. I heard a huff from beside me and turned to look at Allie. She was currently in her night fury form staring at me with her huge green eyes.

“Yeah, well what about our trial” She asked. I stared at her and sighed.

“What about it?” I asked

“Shouldn’t we wait for it?”

"Should things turn out pear-shaped, and there not be a trial, I would like to have a backup." I replied, with memories of the last few days flashing in my memory.Allie must have picked up those memories.
She shrugged.

"Can't see any flaws in that logic."

“Well let’s start off with some good news,”
I continued by saying

“The cuffs we all have on are all made of telerium, so actually escaping won’t be too difficult."

"And the bad news?" KITT asked

"We wouldn't get very far as we can't process the telerium and we have only critical amounts of it," I replied.

"So what's the plan?" Allie asked. We sat there discussing a plan for about an hour. There were quite a few, including digging a tunnel, and making a mad-dash during our trial. But they all relied too much on chance. After a short debate, and convincing Allie that escaping was the way to go (we didn't know what a changeling was, but it had bad implications), we all agreed on a plan.

"So once you and I distract them, we run?" Allie said

"Yeah that's right," replied Peter.

"Ok we have a plan when would be suitable to execute it?" Asked KITT. I was about to answer it when the sound of voices came from the stairs. I froze realizing they were coming back down. Then I grinned and sat back against the wall behind me.

“Now would be a suitable time,” I said to them through telepathy. They nodded before pretending to go back to “sleep.” As the voices neared I decided to mess with them lowering my voice slightly. I heard the door to my cell open and waited in the darkness. There was a distinct “clopping” sound as their hooves hit the cool stone floor. I saw them approach and reach up to undo my shackles. But instead I rose to my full height causing them to flinch . They seemed to recover rather quickly and stood up straight once again.

“Princess Celestia will see you for your trial now,” one of them said in a monotone.

“Lead the way,” I said in a voice lower than my own making them flinch again at how demonic it sounded. I heard sighs in my head as I grinned.

“We’ll keep an eye on you, Peter, just to make sure you’re safe,” I heard KITT say telepathically.

“Yes Mom,” I replied sarcastically earning a telepathic snicker from Allie. If KITT had emotions, then I would bet he would have made a quip then. This conversation took around 5 seconds in which the “Ponies” (Which KITT had pointed out during our plans for escape) were waiting for me by the door. I just followed along silently and awaited my trial.

Author's Note:

Hello readers I hope you enjoyed. Thanks to Muranuse for editing this chapter and all my previous ones. So what do you think will go down in the trial? Leave a like and a favourite if you enjoyed.
Cheers
RuaTheGreat