18 Heritage
Flintlock Rose - 1st of Leafdrop 13 EoH - Morning
Multiverse Location: Cyberquestria, Equis #3
“Hello? Can you hear me?” A mare’s voice asked politely.
It was hard to think. Everything was fuzzy, slow, and a bit…off. The feeling reminded me of when the monks put me through drug resistance training, only my teeth didn’t hurt.
“Yes,” I answered.
I was definitely on drugs of some kind. I couldn't see or feel anything other than a dull tingle and blackness. I had to get my head together. Had to fight off the effects…
“Please stop fighting the healing magic. You’re in a repair center- Er, wait… You call these hospitals, right?” The same voice asked.
“Who are you? Where am I?” I demanded.
“My name is Twilight Sparkle, you don’t need to worry. You are safe,” Twilight said soothingly, “You were exposed to Wild Magic while traveling here. You are being treated for it. Don’t worry, you are almost cured.”
“Wild Magic!?” I sputtered.
How the hay had I gotten exposed to focused background mana? Lyra used those portals before and she was fine!
The bracelet. It must protect her, and things touching her. Crap… Anything could happen to me!
Why didn’t I think about safety!? I should have gone through the portal in my armor, then I’d have shields up.
“Yes. Don’t worry, our world was ravaged by Wild Magic many years ago. We have developed a cure,” Twilight said calmly.
“Y-you cured exposure to randomly formed spells? How?” I asked, brain finally realizing how astounding that was.
"Science," Twilight replied simply.
"Yeah but how?" I asked again.
"With science." She repeated.
Yeah… That explanation simply wasn’t doing anything.
"Science isn't magic," I pointed out.
"Yes it is,” she disagreed. “There is really no difference. Through the application of complex formulas, which are incomprehensible to the common pony, I can produce anything my mind wishes to create."
"... Buck!" I grumbled. She was right…sort of. “Fine, they are similar.”
“No, they are interchangeable,” she disagreed. “You seem lucid now, may I ask a question?”
“I guess… But how long will I be blind?” I asked.
“Er, another five days at the most. You don’t exactly have eyes right no-”
“I don’t have eyes!?!” I yelped.
“Yes, you mutated into an animated soil monster. Don't worry, we had fun subduing you and nopony died,” Twilight reassured. “Don’t worry, I will put you back into hibernation shortly, and the Wild Magic is being reversed properly. Most of your original body is perfectly restored! Besides, your species seems to be shapeshifters. I imagine you can simply correct any minor errors.”
“Please tell me you have done this before…” I moaned.
“Yes. All the time. I developed the technique myself over ten years ago,” Twilight reassured. “There really is nothing to worry about. May I please ask a question now?”
“Um, I guess…” I said hesitantly.
I just really really wasn’t in the mood to talk… Because faust’s bucking blood I’d turned into a monster! At the same time, the only thing I could hear and understand was Twilight’s voice.
Wait…
Twilight’s voice? Twilight Sparkle? The First Imperial Archmage!? What the flying buck did I do last night!?
Wait… This voice was female, not male. It couldn’t be the same person… Or could it? I mean, archmage’s are archmages.
“Your bipedal friend was injured on arrival,” Twilight explained. “While we are aware of organic life, and able to repair it to a lesser degree than our own kind, we have never seen her species before. Your portal dumped you into the middle of our weekend LARP game and Chrysalis accidentally vaporized part of your friend’s er… Central support and control column?”
“Spine,” I corrected. Wait, spine!? “Oh my gosh! Is she going to be okay? How good is your healing magic here!?” I demanded.
“Thank you!” Twilight said rather happily. “And again, don’t worry. Everyone feels awful about this whole mess, so you three have been getting our best treatment. We repaired the internal damage very easily and she’s still active. Er, sorry. Alive. Her species is built very tough! But um… There’s a problem. We have no idea what her back is supposed to look like.
“So uh… We’ve had to keep her in hibernation, hoping it would just self repair like you organics do, but it’s not. So we’re going to replace it. But…”
“You don’t know what it is supposed to look like,” I said.
This had to be a dream. Or trip. Or hallucination. Heh, at least it was fun!
“Yes,” Twilight confirmed. “Do you know what her back is supposed to look like?”
“Yeah, I’ve seen her whole body. I helped heal her wounds once,” I answered.
“Oh? Perfect!”Twilight exclaimed happily. “May I read your mind?”
“What!? Wh- Oh! So you can see my memories of her?” I asked, understanding what she needed halfway through my objection.
“Yes,” Twilight confirmed. “See, I talked to her Assistant Program. It was… Not a good connection. We use very different means of data storage. Even translating what I could took a lot of uptime. Sadly this did not include the schematics for her frame…
“But it let me know that your friend was an aerial fighter. I didn’t see any wings on her during the brief look I had before she was hit, so I assumed they folded into her frame. Sort of like how a changeling’s shell can cover their wings.
“We managed to make a good set of mechanical replacements, and fit them into her frame flush with it’s apparent surface. It’s just how the surface of her back is supposed to look and feel that’s an issue right now.
“Oh! Er, she won’t be offended by our inability to produce organic components, will she? I had Dash design her wings to make up for any um… trauma, or disappointment… But it would be nice to know-”
“Uh, I don’t think she had wings…” I politely pointed out.
“She didn't?” Twilight asked, rather stunned. “Could you be mistaken? Her Assistant Program has clear memories of her flying and controlling a pair of wings… And some rather awesome engines! We uh, couldn’t figure out how to replicate those but we should have achieved a similar performance ratio to her memories-”
“You talk a lot,” I pointed out, “but I could be mistaken. I know little about her species. It’s called human, by the way. Oh, and you can read my mind, but please just take the stuff you need. You can only take stuff that will help Lyra.”
“Her name’s Lyra? Heh, I have a friend named Lyra,” Twilight mused. “Thank you for giving your consent. I will be here when you awaken- Er, one last question actually.”
“What?” I asked curiously.
“Your brain has regenerated, and carries female markers but your replication system is-”
I cut her off with a laugh. “Oh yeah, I swap body parts out occasionally. Just for fun. It’s um… A thing of mine. Sometimes I go full colt, but I’m not too good at shape changing yet and that takes forever; so usually I’ll just change the back half out if I want to style myself differently in that way on a given day.
“I also like to change my hight, wing shape, colors… Uh, do you have friends that use clothing? I kinda treat my body like clothing.”
I’m sure my dream slash hallucinatory friend understood. Hell, I’m pretty sure every shapechanger tries the same thing when they are a teen too… I just never grew out of liking it.
“I understand completely, one of my best friends is a fashionista. I was wondering if your reconstruction spell needed adjusting. It’s good to know everything is fine. I’ll see you again in a few days. Thanks again.” Twilight promised soothingly
“No problem.” I said as the blackness hit me.
Lyra Heartstrings - 6th of Leafdrop 13 EoH - Morning
Multiverse Location: Cyberquestria, Equis #3
Ow… Head… Dark...
”But mom, I never get to see you!” I sobbed.
She sighed, kneeling down to take a knee and look into my eyes. “Lyra, sweetie, mommy has…responsibilities. Grandpa takes good care of you, right? I’ll be back as soon as business is all wrapped up.”
“But you’re always on Mars! Always!” I accused.
“I just spent three whole months with you, sweetie… I should be back in a month or two. I’ll bring you something nice, just like always,” mom said, a hint of sorrow in her voice.
“Why can’t I go with you?” I whimpered.
“... Maybe one day, dear. But not anytime soon. I’m sorry,” she apologised.
My fingers curled around the harp pendant she’d brought back for me from her last trip-
Oh god, shoulders so stiff… Am I awake? Coffee… Need coffee. Or a Powerthirst.
I nodded to myself. It was a good looking card. Mom should like it. Two hours of patrol well spent.
<What’cha doing?> Bonbon asked curiously.
<Drafting up a Mother’s Day card,> I replied. <I can’t just AR over and wish her a happy day. Her colony lacks a DirectNet uplink.>
It really sucked, but that’s the way it was. Mom couldn’t tell me exactly what she did or who she worked for, but she was allowed to tell me that security concerns meant her specific colony was not allowed outside network access. But physical mail could still be sent, so that was nice.
<Mother’s Day? Oh, I see! That’s a nice sounding holiday. Humm…> Bonbon mused thoughtfully.
<Thinking about writing your programmer?> I asked jokingly.
<Heh, dear two-oh-seven dot one-six-nine dot oh-oh-five… Thank you for transcribing my code into my matrix. Nah, that won't work. That heap isn’t sentient. Or even female via the name,> Bonbon admitted sadly.
I felt my heart fall a little. She was actually sad about this! Like, genuinely sad. So sad I felt her performance drop by six percent.
<Hey, Bon, You’re my sister as far as I care. Go ahead and stick your name on there too,> I offered.
Maybe it would get mom to write back for a change.
<Sister? I-I thought we were more!> Bonbon asked, over-dramatic fake-hurt dripping from her voice.
<Heh, well, yeah. You’re not my type. Mostly because I’m not into hot landing gear action,> I teased back.
<Alas, If I am to never feel your fingers on my fuel-line, then, sisters we shall be,> Bon giggled.
The two of us shared a laugh as Bonbon added her name to the card… In hexadecimal.
<Bon, mom’s not a computer,> I reminded, still laughing.
<Oops! Heh. There we go,> she exclaimed, correcting her error. <Thanks, sis.>
<No problem,> I said, sending the card to a printer at home.
Ugh. Flashbacks… Stahp. Pleaze.
Something which sounded exactly like someone talking through a trumpet with a potato crammed into it pierced my stupor.
“Ugh…” I moaned, instantly flinching from the moan.
Everything cramp! Noooo! Why!?
The dull sort of sound-like trumpeting happened again, followed by the cramp going away with a rush of coolness, like stepping into a cool shower on a hot day.
“That seems better. Her limbs aren't locked up now,” a voice said in relief.
“Who knew she’d be hard to wake up… Sheesh,” another grumbled.
Wake up? Oh shit! I’d been shot! Was this a hospital? Please be a hospital.
“Hos- hospital?” I croaked.
Oh god, raspy dry throat. I coughed a few times, hoping to clear it. Unfortunately this prevented me from hearing the reply clearly.
“Can you understand me, Lyra? It is Lyra, isn’t it?” One of the two voices asked.
“Yeah. I hear you,” I replied, throat feeling a bit less rough.
“Does anything hurt? Are you in pain?” The same voice asked.
“Throat’s dry… Some stuff aches a bit… I got shot, right?” I asked.
“Yes. Don’t worry, we fixed you successfully. We’re just having a little trouble waking you up from hibernation. Can you open your eyes?” The voice asked.
“Um… Maybe?” I put all of my effort into opening my eyes.
The black nothingness became white eye stabbyness! An assault on the retinas so intense it deserved a theme song and an epic poem.
“AH-ha-owwww….” I whimpered, blinking my vision clear.
“Twilight… Maybe turn off your lights,” the second voice said flatly.
“Oh! Right!” The whiteness vanished, spots appearing in my eyes for a few seconds as shapes started to resolve themselves. “Is that better?”
“Yes… Why was there a light right up in my eyes?” I asked, half angrily, half sadly.
“I read that an organic’s eye response to light is a good indicator of brain activity, and I just wanted to double check the read out,” the voice, Twilight replied.
“Wait, organic?” I mumbled, vision finally clearing out to reveal-
Pony android! Holy fucking shit! Adorableness maximized!
She looked just like most other ponies, quadruped, large eyes, vivid colors… Only where there would be fur you had sleek, precision crafted metallic polymer plates fit together in a way which made her look armored, if platemail was a futuristic sculpture instead of armor.
There were some other technological features. Clear heat-exhaust vents on the sides of her rear legs, some light blue LED glow markings on plate boundaries, a painted on star-burst brand, painted on markings which resembled vector-drawn manga eyelashes, synthetic silken shiny-shimmery fibers for a mane and tail, which frankly looked completely life-like… If it were in a shampoo commercial.
In terms of color, she had a pale lavender body, very lovingly crafted violet eyes which looked lifelike despite clearly containing camera apertures, a dark violet mane and tail with a purple and bright fuchsia stripe, and the occasional scratch and scrape on her chassis showed the material beneath her paint to be a super shiny gold color.
Shape wise, she was slender, similar to Sky’s build, but far taller. Hell, she probably came up to my boobs! Impressive for a species which normally came up to my belly. She also had a horn and a pair of wings, probably just an aesthetic choice by her designer, as it made her very cute!
So cute I couldn’t help but squee a little! Must. Hug. Pone-bot! Damn you lead-filled arms! MOVE!
“Uh… Was that sound distress, pain or…what?” The other voice asked in concern.
I felt a deep blush spread across my cheeks. “I uh… I just like androids…” I explained.
The embarrassment was the only thing that spared the android a hug. I’d always loved the idea of androids. She was the first one I’d ever seen. That sort of tech was decades away for us!
Sure, we could make a human looking robot, but aside from no fur this one actually seemed just like a pony! She was even expressing concern with the appropriate facial-
“Awesome! Your plating is flexible enough to make facial expressions!” I couldn’t help but exclaim out loud.
The android blinked in surprise, wings flaring slightly. “Uh- good to know you can see. My armor is an elastic shape-memory alloy. It’s basically a metallic rubber. My name is Twilight Sparkle, I’m a synthetic lifeform, specifically an equoid. What’s your name?”
Synthetic lifeform? Cool! That meant her creators built androids to copy themselves. Kudos this universe's ponies! Cool points right off the bat.
“Lyra Heartstrings, I’m a human. It’s awesome to meet you… No offense, but are you sapient or very cleverly programmed?” I asked hopefully.
I heard the second voice snicker. “Heartstrings, and human? Ohhh boy… Lyra’s going to short if she hears about your home dimension.”
I looked over at the voice. At first, I was convinced I was looking at a normal changeling. Then I noticed this one was extra-tall. My height in fact.
She also had a somewhat longer neck than other ‘lings, mammal-like eyes which were a deep emerald green and had the same apertures as Twilight’s, and the shell on her back faded from a green to a blue.
She also possessed a somewhat twisted horn, and larger wings than normal, and her black exoskeleton was extra shiny. She had to be synthetic too. It was just way harder to tell with a changeling because, well, bugs already look a bit like robots.
“Hello!” I greeted, managing a small wave.
The changeling synth dipped her head apologetically. “Hello… My name is Chrysalis. It's my fault you’re here. I’m very sorry, your portal opened right in my line of fire.”
Oh… Well shit.
The rest of the room came into focus. Concrete floor. Stainless steel workbenches. Tools organized in neat rows on the walls…. This was a mechanic’s garage! Hehehe! The robots took me to a mechanics shop to fix me.
Wait… They actually did heal me up, I felt fine. How the bloody hell...
“Well… Random portals are random. It’s alright. I could have teleported into lava or something. Besides, I think I’m fine now,” I said gently. “Is there a war on, or something?”
My eyes widened in fear. “Bon! Is Bon alright!? Oh shit, Rose came too is she-”
“Your companions are perfectly fine,” Twilight soothed. “Rose was woken from hibernation and repairs twenty minutes ago and is refueling-”
“Eating Twilight, it’s called eating,” Chrysalis's corrected. “It hasn't been THAT long since you needed to do it.”
“Chrysalis… We both know my memory was damaged… I forget some words. It’s not my fault,” Twilight grumbled, kicking one rubber tipped hoof against the floor all adorable-pouty.
“Your adopted daughter has missed you a lot,” Chrysalis's informed me while Twilight pouted. “Fluttershy has been caring for her. As soon as you are able to stand I will happily take you to her… Also I would like to offer you my home as a place you can stay while visiting our world. It’s the least I can do for injuring you.”
Oh thank goodness she was fine! Ish. She had to miss me, poor girl. At least I was around her more than my mom was around me...
“I teleported into a battlefield, it’s not your fault,” I repeated with a relieved sigh.
Twilight’s cheeks glowed blue as if someone had turned some led’s under her cheeks on. “Um, actually… She was shooting at me… And it was a Live Action Role Playing field.”
“... What?” I asked, completely floored.
Chrysalis shared the embarrassed blush. “Well, you see, as synthetics, death is no big deal. We just get repaired and boot backup, or restore from a backup file at the worst. And well, life has been rather boring, the entire old world died, there’s little point in carrying on with traditions…”
“Some of us get very bored,” Twilight picked up. “So we set up a version of ponyville a way away from the real one and Chrissie and I, and some friends, reenact old battles. From back when she was evil,” she said, pointing a hoof casually at Chrysalis.
“Hey!” Chrysalis objected. “I wasn’t evil! I was vindictive and aggressive… And a little cruel… But I was the leader of a hive of hungry territory-less changelings… Sure I might have gone a bit too far sometimes, but I imagine you would-”
“Chrysalis, I’m only teasing,” Twilight informed, rolling her eyes. “We both know nopony cares about the pre-plague times anymore. Just let it go and have fun with the rest of us.”
“Um… If you’re going to argue in front of me, can I at least have some context so I can follow along?” I asked sarcastically, hoping the question would make them stop it so we could go back to me knowing if I was healthy or not…
Twilight turned to me and nodded. “Of course! Twelve years ago, our world experienced a Wild Magic storm which caused a plague capable of effecting all organic life, which literally killed everything on this planet, except for our savior, Doctor Trigger.
“Nopony’s sure how he survived… He hasn’t mentioned it to anypony I know, and asking outright feels…mean. He also usually busy in his lab working on upgrades and trying to bring more of us back. He’s fine now, but he was pretty insane for a few years there.
“The plague broke him, and hard. Doctor Trigger spent about six years on a mad plan to replace everypony who died with a robot and-”
“Twilight, she was being sarcastic,” Chrysalis's interrupted.
“Oh…” Twilight replied ears drooping.
I nodded. “Yeah… But that got interesting,” I admitted with an embarrassed cough.
“Ah,” Chrysalis smiled. “Long story short, the Doc makes very very good synthetics. So good that thanks to a bit of magic, some of us are the original versions of ourselves.”
I felt my face scrunch in confusion. “Excuse me?”
“Myself, Chryssie, and some of my friends are the original versions of ourselves. Restored to life via magic, but with a synthetic body as our original ones er… melted,” Twilight explained. “But other equoids whose frames are too different or who Doctor Trigger couldn’t find medical scans for, they are new people. Their personalities are based on altered and or merged versions of those of us that Doctor Trigger could resurrect.”
“Uh… My people have no idea about magic… So I really don’t know anything about it but um… Can it just bring people back to life?” I asked in shock.
Twilight nodded. “Yes. But the brain of the deceased has to be intact. And they can’t have died from old age… And the energy cost is immense. The artifact used to restore myself and the few others to life was destroyed in the process… So it’s not really a practical magic.
“Heck, I thought it was one of those ‘possible on paper only’ spells myself for a long long time. It’s conceivable that there is no means of casting another resurrection spell ever again… Unless we can somehow convert the entire power of a star directly into magic for each person revived…”
“That’s a metric shitload of power, by the way,” Chrysalis informed.
Yeah, no shit tall buggie-bot!
“Sooo… You died,” I stated.
They both nodded.
“But a scientist was able to make a robot body so good, that magic didn’t give a fuck, and let you be resurrected into it,” I summarized.
Two more nods. Right, talk about ghosts in the machine…
“Yes,” Twilight confirmed. “In laymare’s terms, a resurrection spell and an advanced synthetic body were used in conjunction with each other to bring us back as synthetic intelligences so we could be used as templates to remake the pony species.”
“As androids?” I asked.
Twilight nodded. “As synthetics, yes.”
“But… Why?” I asked.
“Think about it,” Chrysalis pointed out. “He’s a roboticist. Also, if this world was turned into a barren rock covered in a film of organic goo once…”
Ah. Yeah. Good point… “Um, that’s not likely to happen while I’m here, is it?”
Twilight shook her head firmly no. “No, not even remotely likely. Doctor Trigger is just… Very paranoid. He doesn't want Pinkie to be hurt ever again.”
I winced. Hell, I’d only known the Pinkies for a few days and I honestly felt my guts knot up at the thought of one of them being gravely injured.
“Okay… I think I’m getting it. But the new body has to be close enough to your old one to count… So uh, the plating and stuff is close how? Or did you modify yourself later? How did your creator, er, resurrector, whatever... Even figure out how to do any of that?” I asked, trying to wrap my brain around this.
Twilight smiled, and closed her eyes. The plates covering her chassis ratcheted apart and folded inwards, new plates folding out to replace them, these ones covered in soft as fuck looking fluffy synthetic fur. With the fur ‘deployed’ she was almost indistinguishable from a normal pony, especially once her wing’s ‘feathers’ deployed from their own hidden panels.
“The plates are just an armored combat mode,” Twilight explained. “I uh… I was the first success Doctor Trigger had. My fur is…substandard. It’s very very hard to clean so I keep my plating on most of the time. Besides, Dash thinks I’m sexier in metal.”
“Oh,” I said, taking a moment to look her over. “Yeah, your body is built really well. You look almost exactly like-”
Twilight shook her head. “Oh no, he made me far too tall… But I got used to it.”
“I meant you look exactly like a normal pony. I’ve never seen any version of you before,” I pointed out.
“Oh…” Twilight said, blushing again and quickly ratcheting her chassis open again to redeploy her armor.
“As for your other question,” Chrysalis began. “None of us know how the Doc worked any of this out. Not even him. He spent years mad with grief… His lab today is little more than rusting piles of prototypes attached to the factory for producing new equoids.”
I nodded, feeling up to speed now. “Alright, so this universe's Sky Trigger lost everyone, went insane, and actually managed to replace his loved ones with androids. Got it. Honestly less weird than Neighponese speaking Japanese… Although… Chrysalis, if you were hostile to ponies, why would he-”
“The Doc doesn't care about stuff like that. He wants the world back just like he remembers it. That included me,” Chrysalis answered. “... He’s actually a bit upset that I’m helping ponies now. The old world is entirely dead. There’s no point fighting over it anymore.”
“Oh… Well, alright then. I’m up to speed… Sorry for interrupting the whole medical thing, but you know… Kinda regained consciousness in a machine world. Needed some explaining,” I admitted with a small embarrassed grin.
“I understand,” Twilight giggled. “Is it okay if I ask you a few questions now? I need to know if you’re healthy.”
I think I had to agree with this ‘Dash’. Twilight was WAY cuter all metallic and shiny.
“Go ahead,” I said, giving her a thumbs up.
“Are you in any pain?” Twilight asked.
“No, I feel fine.” I answered.
“Is there any body part you can’t feel?” She asked.
I thought about it for a second, then shook my head no. “Not counting the ones I’m not supposed to be able to feel like the spleen… No.”
“Any noticeable vision or hearing problems?” She asked.
“Not to my knowledge,” I answered.
Twilight nodded in satisfaction, “Good. Can you stand up?”
I nodded and pulled the blanket draped over me back… To learn I was naked. Again. God damn it!
I needed a pants summoning spell! Someone had to have invented one.
“Where are my pants?” I asked. “My species dresses for modesty.”
Chrysalis snickered. “Uh, well, my spell did some damage to them… Rarity ripped one of my wings off in a hissy fit over me damaging organic silk. She’s fixing them. We can pick them up soon, I’ll take you to her shop.”
I gave her a horrified look. “Holy crap!”
“Oh it’s fine, we were all playing a war game,” she said with a dismissive hoof wave. “She’s not normally violent. It’s just we were already having a little fight and I pushed one of her buttons,” the changeling smirked.
“Uh, alright…” I said, slowly standing up, and trying not to be embarrassed.
I was a little wobbly on my feet at first, but I managed to get my balance after a moment. Nothing major, just that little bit of wobble you have after laying down for a long ass time.
Twilight’s horn glowed a light blue as she picked up a sheet and ripped it lengthwise into a two foot thick strip, and wound it around my hips as an improvised skirt.
“Does your culture require more covered than your replication systems?” She asked.
I shook my head no. “Nah. Thanks.”
“No problem,” she said. “Okay, your arms and legs work… Could you please stretch your wings? Those will be the tricky on-”
“Wings?” I asked, entirely baffled.
“Er, yes. We had to replace them entirely,” Twilight admitted sheepishly.
“I… I don’t have wings,” I pointed out. “What made you think humans have wings?!”
“Your Assistant Program, it told me you are an aerial warrior… So you had to have wings. Y-your friend also said you didn’t but you have distinct memories of flying using thought to control your movement implying you could fly under your own pow-” Twilight replied, equally confused as me.
I slapped a palm against my face and groaned. “I pilot a vehicle, not fly under my own-”
Lyra, she just said ‘replace’. Meaning, they gave you wings.
“-Holy fucking shit, you gave me wings!?!” I exclaimed shock-excitedly.
“Er, well yes… I can remove them of course. Sorry for the mistake, I assumed your species had changeling type folding wings-”
“Do they work?” I asked adamantly.
Chrysalis nodded. “They should. Dash and I worked on them together.”
“They stay on! How do I look, can I get a mirror?” I asked, turning to look over my shoulder and frowning at my perfectly smooth human skin normal back. “Awww… You lying dicks!”
Twilight cleared her throat. “They fold up under your back. We had to replace your whole back. Chrissie boiled the skin off with that PBW.”
Chrysalis's ears drooped. “Sorry, again.”
“How do I deploy them?” I asked, thinking about-
I watched as my back split open, making me jump in fright and shock as the two large parts of me simply, opened up into the storage compartments. Fortunately, before I could panic entirely, a pair of large minty green colored metallic pegasi-like wings unfolded from tiny hidden compartments, ratcheting outwards until they rested just behind my shoulder blades.
The two panels shut with a small click. My bionic wings twitched lightly, the individual feathers making up my fourteen feet of wingspan twitching slightly as the air ran through-
“I can actually feel things with these!” I exclaimed in awe, the fear melting away due to the sheer awesome.
“Of course, they are modeled after a pegasus' wings. And um, we built them as bionic replacements so they are hooked into your nervous system,” Twilight admitted. “They are body parts.”
“Best hospital stay, ever. Period!” I exclaimed flexing my wings to see how they could move.
It was a little tricky to move them. I sure as hell wouldn’t be flying anytime soon… But I had fucking wings!
Ooo! Could I have them hang off my back like a cape and suit look cool? Or did they have to fold away?
Sticking my tongue out in concentration I managed to fold them against my back, letting them hang as well as I could. They quickly retracted back into the storage compartments…
I tried a second time, this time thinking about keeping them out but not open instead of as ‘hanging’. The new appendages folded, covering my back in a comfortable way. Looks like it was out and in use, folded and ready, or tucked inside, and nothing else.
Ah well, still awesome!
“Well, you seem to be completely fine,” Twilight said, watching me play with the best medical accident ever. “You’re free to leave. As for our universe and you being here, we are aware of interdimensional travelers. You are welcome to stay as long as you like and we will provide accommodations… On one condition.”
“What’s that?” I asked, frowning suspiciously.
“We require you to submit to a full body scan so we can analyze your biology and use it to help develop bionic organisms,” Twilight informed. “We are trying to repair the ecosphere here, and we need all the data we can get. Unfortunately much of the old world was destroyed, including a lot of scientific and arcane information.
“Your friend Rose is the first batpony we have been able to scan, enabling us to remake batponies… While you are not a species we know to have been native here, all information has some use. Perhaps some of your intestinal flora can be adapted for other uses.”
“Oh!” I exclaimed. “Sure, go right ahead. I fully understand terraforming projects. My homeworld is a wasteland… Meteor strike. Big one.”
Twilight nodded happily. “Thank you, I’ll set up an appointment for the scans… Also, would you kindly stay until your daughter’s mutation has finished? She already let us scan her to get data on snakes, but I’d also like to be able to recreate Lamias one day. Based on my data it should be a month.”
Huh… Looks like I could have that vacation I wanted. Thanks, universe?
“Sure. I can do that… Speaking of staying or going… Where is the small computer I had on my wrist? He’s my ride,” I informed.
“Your friend Rose has it, along with your bag and your weapon,” Twilight informed. “I’m afraid I have other projects I must attend to today… But my friends and I, along with Crissie are going to the park this evening, you’re welcome to come too!”
Chrysalis nodded. “It would be a good idea to go. Dash wants to see how her work turned out, and she couldn’t wait to teach you to fly. I’d offer too, but changeling flight is very different.”
“Well… I mean, I don't have anywhere else to stay but with you… I mean that offer stands, right?” I asked.
Chrysalis nodded. “Yes. I have to make up for injuring you somehow.”
“Wings. Awesomest gift ever,” I informed pointing to my back.
“Yes, but those are mostly Rainbow Dash’s work, I need to do something of my own,” the changeling informed.
I nodded, understanding what she meant. I’d probably feel the same way too. “Alright. I understand. Let’s go pick up my daughter and pants and then we can, I don’t know, hang out or whatever.”
“I’m sure you have interesting stories to tell, it will be nice to make a new friend. That’s something of a rarity these days,” Chrysalis said as she turned to walk towards the door. “Your friend Rose is waiting outside, let’s not keep her waiting.”
I nodded and turned to follow my accidental wing-giver. A single thought filling my head as I went after her.
Bonbon would have loved to see me like this.
Fuck… I really really missed my sis…
Wait! Wait one damn minute. This was a world populated by life-like androids who could make more of themselves! And I was owed a favor by a being that claimed to be god-like, living in all realities. Plan formed!
“Er, Chrysalis… Does a god-like creature named Discord live here?” I asked hopefully.
“Yes, but I don’t recommend you seek him out,” she replied.
Score! Maybe… What if this one was evil or something? I should check.
“Any reason?” I asked.
“Well, personally, I think he’s a jerk.” She muttered. “Why would you want to talk to him?
“He sort of owes me a favor though, and I think I’ve worked out what I want,” I explained.
“Ah. I see. Well, in that case, I’ll find time to take you to canterlot in a few days,” Chrysalis said, opening the door to the hallway.
Rose jumped up, looking at me with a weirdly happy expression, before her eyes widened and she pointed to my shoulders.
“Wings,” she said.
I grinned and nodded. “Yes!”
“Awesome!” The hybrid pony exclaimed.
“Very!” I agreed as Chrysalis shook her head slowly.
“Come on you two. Fluttershy might get too attached to Lyra’s adopted nymph- er , child,” the changeling said as she continued down the hall.
I felt like I would explode with joy and anticipation. I could fly again as soon as I learned how, and after that, I could just do it whenever I wanted no vehicle needed! And in a few days… Ohhh in a few days.
A few days… A few days from now I might be flying along side my best friend again.
Good thing these ponies could make bionic organs, because if anything else awesome happened today I’d need a new heart.
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Tsk Tsk... Someone needs to sit Rose down and explain to her what science is. Help me out google?
noun: science
The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.
Thanks google.
Easy version: Science isn't a thing, its a method of studying things. By definition, if it exists, it can be scienced!
img15.deviantart.net/5470/i/2011/178/a/0/real_science___try_it____by_lvlisanthropy-d31nuow.jpg
7347851 and also like magic, Science has wizards who will mentor you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtVJdPfm0F8
I like how the "is this the real them" didn't play a part in the whole Android thing. I don't think many people realize how end-of-story "I think therefore I am" is. You being able to question your own existence is existence.
I honestly think people put too much weight on the conscious mind. There is no core, no unchangeable nugget of self. It's a system, constantly changing and warping until it is nothing like what it was before, but is still that system.
That is, if I even exists in the first place. For all we know, it's a fragile and artificial structure made by the brain in order to better communicate with others. That we don't think our own thoughts, and our mind claiming to be the master of itself is like a house claiming to be the trees it was created from, and that it was created because it wanted to be.
You should totally play Borderlands 2. It has a super fun combat system, even if it's story is mediocre. It's even more fun to play with friends.
7347913 Exactly! The only thing a mind can do when it asks "Am I me?" is to reply "Yes." If you are at pease with yourself, there is no conflict over something like that. And even if they did have issues, it's been YEARS they are over that emo shit.
Hm if they could jump to other Equestrias....
Couldn't they take their "own" DNA to produce bionic bodies for themselves :D?
7347929
Even if we don't really exist in the way we think we do, it's not like that changes anything. We just continue on as normal.
I haven't been able to stop playing Borderlands 2 halp. I'm on my third character, because the characters are just different enough to keep the styles different while still being balanced. It's been a week.
7347940 They have, and do. The problem is their magical physics is a bit different from other universes. This isn't a problem for travel (arcane physics travels with enchanted objects... it's weird, but a magical thing will work the same in any universe where magic exists. But no magic, no work... This is why the VM and Lyra's spirit blade have always worked.), they can go places, it's just very hard for them to open a portal with their owm magic.
Since they are functionally immortal due to well, posatronic brain + bionic body, they can afford to wait to develop travel technology which works for them and in the meantime simply ask Travers to help. There are some individuals capable of dimensional travel who have done things like leave and then return with an airship full of plants or other similar things.
Due to fears of another plague happening, everything they develop from organic samples is electro-mechanical and arcano-mechanical in nature, but all designs are there to emulate organic things. Example, the trees they have created are made of a crystalline mineral which gros over time, and is photovoltic, meaning the 'tree' captures sunlight as electricity. The 'tree' then A shunts power to the grin for use elsewhere and B runs Co2 scrubbers to produce oxygen.
Additionally, a Twilight did find that dimension... and from her they were able to replicate alicorn biology to make their own univerce's Twilight an alicorn (she had to be made as a unicorn before that due to a lack of data.) Unfortunately, that twilight's Travel method was a one off...
7347963 I figured I've given Chrysalis a bad rep, so she was due a 'nice version' even if it is in the realty where the world ended. Additionally a few chapters must be spent here for narrative reasons.
7347962 Then their goal should be trying to invent something like living metal or whatever happens to the Synthetics in the green ending of Mass Effect 3 where the whole Galaxy turns into a Synthesis of organic/synthetic life.
7347976 They are working on that too, right now the best thing they have is the rubberized metalic alloy they currently use. It can't self-repair, but it retains shape after deforming. Hence, it can be used for a face and look almost exactly like skin.
7347966
YAAAAAAAYYY! As I like this 'verse, and of course seeing Bon finish her transformation will be AWESOME as well! (Yep I am quite hyped obviously...)
Indeed, *le sigh* so many put her in a bad light, she deserves more of her in a good light.
*Epic happy squee of awesome*
ALL MY YES!!
ANDROID PONIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So this was a live fire LARP, where death has no meaning?
Also Lyra, Sky and the Pinks told you about this universe before, remember?
So your calling in that favor to bring back your best friend/sister? Best use of a Discord favor ever.
Now the question, what will she look like as a pony? Pegasus? Alicorn? Biped? Quadruped? Perhaps the ability to transition between Bi and Quad? This is gonna be awesome!
(also I like this Chrissy: "I'm not evil, I'm many things but not evil."
She does remember Discord saying that in all the multiverse there is only one Discord right? Guess not.
7347913
I can understand that. Still wouldn't stop me from murdering a clone or other similar type thing that replicated me if I came across it. There can be only One... In my universe anyway. If I came across a me in another universe? Well, it's their universe, they were there first and as such I have no right to murder that universes original me.
7348037
Yeah. If you frame is destroyed you are out. If you are too damaged to move, you are out. It seems realy violent, but when none of you can realy die 'violent' sports are sure to arrise. Especially if you can shut off pain.exe. If you are downed in game, it's no big deal, you're back up as soon as your repair number is up (no more than 2 hours.)
Yeah, but does Lyra remember about 2 minutes of conversation that happened just before a violent attack and the suicide of a person she thought she'd safely talked down?
Aside from infinite breadsticks...
Depends on two things. 1 what Lyra gives up to make her. 2 What Bonbon 1 herself wants.
This one did attack Canterlot, and some other places. She was a threat, but she was well justified because "we are a landless nation with no food..."
7348052
Vadelent: Prince of the Universe
7348057
Like Data can turn off his emotions during battle.
Ok, granted.
I think Clover won with infinite sandwiches.
"1" Give up? like body parts? What is Discord going to do? "2" I thought they came back after they had bodies built? so how would she have a say before hand?
So they were like refugees? Also were any other changelings brought back? or just Crissy?
7348071
More like a nomadic people, just not by choice. There was simply no land for them to start a nation in, and too few of them to fight for and hold onto a part of the world.
There are currently 200 changeling equoids. Only Chrysalis is a resurrection. Changelings are EXTREMELY hard to revive.
As for the other thing... I'll PM it.
Also, a question occurs, given what Dash apparently said about Twilight, are Twilight and Dash an item in this universe?
7348083 Yes. It's one of my favored ships.
So they Decided to Wing it on what to do I see.
Not having that bio scan must have drove them Batty until they arrived.
Also being transformed like that from wild magic? That must feel Dirty though what a well grounded idea for portal travel consequence.
Power of a star? Nuclear reactions maybe?
Looks like He bot those people a lot of time....all of it.
They are all synthetic but I GNU you wouldn't leave it at that they are magically resurrected people in synthetic bodies that's pretty neat.
What happened in this dimension was Sad I know but that line about pinkie really did RAM the point home.
So does he have robotic body guards called Ctrl, Alt, and Delete?
So they have a snake bio scan....now the robots are gonna gave to deal with Python.
with half the stuff she's been through I would just ask to go under the knife again and become semi terminator with some self repair abilities.
Doom guy's daughter and Human minded terminator....Who the hell would be the sidekick there?
Man the term grinds my gears has never been more accurate.
Really though robotic bodies that opens a lot of Windows for opportunity.
At some point Science advances to the point it is almost impossible to tell apart from magic it has become Chaotic science.
I hope nothing else can Trigger Sky to fall apart again though.
Can the robots see well I mean can they C Sharp.... :3
you gave Lyra wings? That is bucking awesome!
7348079
Is that because they don't have a centralized brain?
7348096 *Vomits out entire contents of Stomach*
...
Those Puns...
*Raises hand for high five*
Put it ther-
*Vomits again*
Put it There!
7348085 Really? Me too! This is going to be awesome!
Honestly, the sisterly relationship between Bon One and Lyra was not the direction I'd expected, but...
"Hey mister, we're sisters."
"Sisters?"
"We're close."
7348052
I never got that, why can't there be more than one? What stops there from being Vadelent_Consciousness.exe and Vadelent_Consciousness(2).exe?
It's not like there's some mystical force preventing there from being more than one "you".
Actually, since consciousness is ever-changing, the moment you and the clone split bodies, you're different people. You'll be doing different things and perceiving things that are not the same. Since you're in different bodies, the information that's processed by your brain from the environment changes, as you are in different places, ultimately changing you both into different people, as is normal.
Honestly if I met a clone of myself we'd probably just fuck. A lot. Then play video games or something.
Really? Really!? No one made the joke of "Make new friends? Isn't that Sky's job here?"
Bwahahaha!
Also: Alicorn Amulet or did he pry out the Elements of Harmony off of the organic(?) tree?
Noticed a few minor errors throughout the chapters, this is one of the more noticeable in this one
I think you meant to say "politely pointed out."
she gon git wings
called it!
the problem of not being able to update the drivers :/
that went from 0-400 real quick
6%?
s2.quickmeme.com/img/08/080e02c77fbc5df13f5398c5ba9bae4ef89e0a8e2b4970acd24e8f9eee1db3d5.jpg
[quote<Heh, well, yeah. You’re not my type. Mostly because I’m not into hot landing gear action,> I teased back.
<Alas, If I am to never feel your fingers on my fuel-line, then, sisters we shall be,> Bon giggled.]don do it meepsi, your gonna make me get into new fetishes
That is an interesting way to be pierced.
I'm sure that they'd be willing to put in a few lines of code so that you could take system independent control at will :/
Honestly, this is one of the three 'universes' I've legitimately wanted to be part of irl (assuming I'm not random person #4201337 in crowd X).
I've yet to recall one of your characters acting completely unrealistically, everything feels plausible, even if it's not... but it probably still is.
I think this is my favorite of all your stories, not putting any of your other ones down in any way, sometimes it's disappointing to see lyra leave so soon, but it's the nature of the story. :/
While I'm here messaging your ego, let me say that from a readers perspective, you're my favorite author, no one else I've seen really outwardly cares about their readers, while understandable for guys who have a huge fanbase, it's inexcusable for most, and even though you've been getting larger, so to speak, you always stop for even a small comment, (watch as I get no replies XD) and I find it nice that you spend as much time with your community as you do with actually writing. I understand part of that is because your irl situation, but you could be doing so many other things. Yet here you are, responding to "lel, ded" so thanks :D
/me confuzeledly contemplates where all this emotion came from.
Anywho, gonna get back to nursing fingers, guitar hates me.
7348096 That was horrible, HORRIBLE, an crime against humankind, and you should feel bad for doing it. Did get a thumbs up from me, though.
So Lyra is going to have to pry der daughter from flutter's comfortably warmed and caring hooves. Could have seen that coming
Now, facing her counterpart and dealing with the exploding heads (plural. She's going to take time to get it out of her system) is going to be... a blast
I regret nothing!
So, about BonSis, I bet Lyra will give up her new wings so her sister can fly again. It does sound like a valid sacrifice. Don't know how Discord will see it, though.
We needs moar, meeps. Always needs moar
7348096
This is the first bad pun from you that's just bad :c
And this one is so funny it more than makes up for it ^^
... well, now, yeah.
Clint Eastwood's Man with no name?
I have just communicated to you by wiggling my fingers, causing beams of light to move across the world and reconstitute themselves into specific shapes for anyone to see at any time and anywhere. Science is magic. Period.
7348115 Of course I did. She would have been a pegasus if she hadn't been born in the human era.
7348194 Yes, that's the exact reason. It's MUCH harder to replicate one successfully in technology than with organic materials because the system is far more complicated.
7348201 Zel does that almost every chapter. It's beautifl- ... It's something. I like it :)
7348211 Twidash is also a thing in my Sea Series, aka the Alpha timeline... But Trixie crowbared herself in there to make things a trio.
7348220 Most people would expect girlfriends. But that dosent work as Bonbon 1 isn't turned on by humans.
<Psst, Lyra, check out that shuttle's thrusters... mmmm, I'd dock with her all night!>
<Bon... uh... good for you.>
7348303 There are multiple bodies, with different experiences, but Discord is a single organism. He's the one deity to exist across the entire multiverse instead of having different lesser incarnation sof himself in each universe. This is simply because he's Chaos and thus works on different rules.
7348319
DAMMIT! The best joke ever and I didn't get to do it! ><
The entire tree was consumed in the inishal spell to create the means by which he was resurrecting people in the first place. The Alicorn Amulet is lost, it's buried in the waste somewhere under the organic gunk and sludge.
7348651 Thanks, fixed it.
7348758
<Pssst! Lyra!>
<Mmm?>
<Check out the docking ports on that station!>
<I'm not into that Bon.>
<... C-can we go dock? Please?>
<No.>
<Awww...>
Well this time she's going to be sticking arround for a bit :D
Which is dumb! You guys are the entire reason I write! I literally can't motivate myself without there being somone to tell a story TOO. FOr me, the part of the day which makes life worth living is getting to read people's thoughts on/about my stories. Every single actively commenting reader is pressious to me.
Not at all, i'd MAKE time if I had to. Because no bull, no exaduration, knowing people give a shit about something I do is one of the main reasons I haven't felt like attempting suicide again. I have found a place where people like me and I can do something that matters. I need this, and I know how badly I do need this. SO again, of course I engage my fans.
7349263
"Aunt" Flutters is in full 'care for cute thing!' mode. She diffidently liked reptiles a lot, see her reaction to spike in EP 1.
Very neat chapter and i can so see the confusion with Lyra being an aerial warrior. To the ponies that means she has to have wings not mechanically flight.. for them most means of mechanical flight are too slow or cumbersome to fight with.. Hot air balloons or air ships are sitting ducks to Pegasus or alicorns. At best they'd be observation platforms or hauling cargo depending their lift capacity
7349314 Waaaaait a minute there... Both Lyra & Rose are BIOLOGICAL life forms in a robotic world. They are those squishy, delicate things that need care and protection... Lyra won't have to pry Bonnie of her hooves, for she will be smothered in them too!
Dash will most likely be the one to beg flutters to let cary unicorn in human form go so she can teach her to fly...
Now, on weird preferences... you said Trigger wants the world "as it was before". And dash thiks plate is sexyer than fur.... So most likely the pony bots are anatomically correct. And mechanical... so will BonSis have the hots for ponydroid booty?
7349295
If Discord really is Chaos incarnate in those universes, then I weep for any sense of random those universes have. He's pretty predictable, and is extremely easy to predict compared to real chaos.
I perfectly understand the "Because chaos" part, as chaos theory is pretty much summed up by the universe going "fuck you I do what I want". I always think of chaos as this indescribable... something. Can't even think of a good noun for it. The closest I can get is "Everything, every action, and yet nothing at the same time, but maybe not. It could also be something entirely different. Or both. Or neither".
7349329 Right! In fact, ponies realy don't need personal vehicles at all. A pony can trot all day without getting tired from it, and their trot is on average between 16 and 19 km/h. They can cover a LOT of ground very quickly. So they wouldn't ever develop something like the car.
The truck on the other hand... Well, they can't exactly carry much so we would expect them to develop vehicles for transporting cargo and the like, as well as long distance personal transport... and we see that! They have trains, but still use pulled carts for 'taxies'.
7349391 We've seen how they handle the idea of a truck carts some two wheeled others four wheeled though still a little lacking on the horse power front but not nearly as much as a human trying the same
7349295
hot robo sex
...
wait, heat is bad for electronics....
It makes me think of codependency, but without the bad parts :P
I'm happy to be here for you, along with everybody else
7349357
"It's okay, everything's safe under this quilt. Now have some coco."
Yes, they are anatomicly correct and capable of everything an organic pony would be (They can even eat, not that it realy is needed or does anything other than provide something tasty). They do have sexualities, because they are people not simple robots, and they do infact have the parts for sexy times, and those parts do work for having fun (Self replication is not yet possible).
And Bonbon I, while she didn't have a sexuality before (As she sexually identified as a fighter jet :P) will upon gaining full sapience and a biological-in-form frame. And yes, she probably will prefer machines over organics.
7349405 Unless that human was...
7349408 That's why Twi has the visible heat vents :P Her marefriend's servos are overclocked
7349413 ...
god dammit
XD
7349413 BOOOHISSS BOOO HISSS sorry even he is less than 1HP physically
7349432 Sorry XD I had to.I have a bad joke quota :P
7349295 Makes sense. If she's a fighter, would that make frigates hot cougar?
7349453 Probably... THe real question is " Are battleships super stacked, or just fat?"
7349465 Have you seen the size of her cannon!?
7349483 4.6 meters! All of my yes!
wondering how a computer deals with Pinkie. You have an android body with a highly illogical brain at best if anything can explain how pinie works. Or risk permanent insanity attempting to explain it tehn again to a computer magic probably isn't the most logical of things
7349660 Well, think about it. It's Pinkie, so it works flawlessly in spite of logic and reason.