Cold Scales

by Konatra

New You

It was odd really, these new limbs. She could feel them in an odd electrical way, nothing similar to flesh and blood but a new sensation hard to pin into words. But for the lack of a batter term she could once again 'feel' the world around her and to have been denied that basic aspect of life only to restore it made her beam.

She felt the walls as she ran across the halls, taking a moment to stop and feel one of her Android's face. Spines found moving around easy to the point where she felt like she was moving around in a suit again, her legs designed for fast movements, she jumped across a gap in the floor, slid under a massive chunk of rubble and without thinking she bolted out of a gaping hole in the hull into the outside cavern under the mountain. She laughed dashing up the the curved shape of the ship, her legs strong enough to go up the steep curve with little issue, if she took a moment to think she would realize the sheer danger she was putting herself through. One fatal misstep and she would plummet without any jets, hardfall boot or reinforced exoskeleton to break her fall but even if she thought about it she would keep running, she needed to feel alive again.

At the top of the massive ship she could peer down at the dark abyss her eyes adjusted to and with a bit of zoom thanks to her eye implant she could see the Void ship and her units slowly tear the thing down bit by bit to harvest for repairs. She wanted that thing gone as soon as possible but even still it could take over 6 months at the rate and numbers her forces were in. The few remaining Void inside were being dealt with extreme prejudice, hopefully the last Void remnants on this entire planet. She let herself down a bit oddly given the sleek curve of the ship, making sure to keep her center of balance in check to not slip off. Seeing them work like ants made her smirk a little. Seeing one cut open a panels with a cutter tool and two others remove the piece and haul it off back to her ship to be melted and repurposed into all kinds of things.

She remembered what some of the techs told her about having a fully functional Void ship in their captivity. Such a things is a very rare event for Unity given the fact defeated Void ships are known to self destruct to leave no chance for them to hack their computers or steal valuable materials. According to the salvage crew there are a few highly well contained lockers that could have who knows what, for now they are to be left alone until a proper 'safe cracker' unit can be made. The techs are also excited to begin cracking down on some firewalls to learn about some highly classified Void info. Though she wondered what point would it be at this point, not like she had any plans to go out into the stars to start hunting down Void or anything, still, info is worth its weight in gemstones.

Sitting there with her thoughts she started to wonder what's next for her. She had her body back so nothing was stopping her from going back home and seeing the one's she loved. Slowly Spines inspected her right arm, hearing the servos move as she flexed her metal claws. Staring down at the thin pin legs she now had, the many scars across her body, her robotic eye. All these visible implants made her look more machine than dragon. "How can I go back home like this?" She muttered, she knew for a fact there were many Ponies who despised the unknown, could they look past this and still see her for who she was, is?

"Yeah looking like a freak of nature really has its issues when the entire population is filled with xenophobes." Hearing this voice right next to her ear caused Spines' instincts to flare up like a star, spinning around while vaulting back a step to give her some space, the palm of her claws glowed with a turquoise glow primed to fire at... Discord? "Hi Spines." The God of Chaos waved with a grin.

Spines let out a heavy sigh and felt her face flush in an odd mixture of relief and anger. "Solaris dammit Discord what in Tartarus name are you doing here?"

The slithering beast flew himself closer to the dragoness who was just putting down her arms when suddenly her eyes flared up again in new rage. It was too fast for him to react to but in that moment he found two metal claws gripping on his throat area. Unexpectedly the grip of those claws could crush diamonds with ease. "You son of a bitch! Where were you when I needed you?? When *everyone* needed you! You have any idea how easy it would of been to beat all those demons if you were just there for us!?" The draconequus could only make strained yelps as the life was being choked out of him, Spines held the grip a little longer expecting him to do something ridiculous like letting his head fall off or turning her claws into rubber...but all she could see were the noncomical frothing of the mouth and slight blue tinge that was enveloping his face, his misshapen hands writhed around wildly in panic.

Having an odd feeling about this she let out and let the snake like god slink to the floor gasping for air. "Discord what the hell? This is nothing for you."

Still he continued to gasp and grip his throat. "...my goodness Spines...you need to have permission first...before you do that..." The jokes come as expected but he still looked like he was on the verge of death. Slowly he brought himself together. "...thing is dear Spines...I *did* try to help before the whole war for Ponyville thing started, guess what, nothing I can do can do any meaningful harm to them. Do you realize you almost just killed me?" He gasped once more, letting himself coil back into a more dignified shape.

She looked at her hands. "How could that be possible? You're a god."

"And yet I was absolutely demolished by that 'Void' demon so many eons ago. Something about those things, those 'interlopers' should not belong in this dimension. The material your new fancy arms are made out of ignore the pure chaos that I am. I have no explanation for it either, those demons, your tin bots, this blasted ship, nothing. Observe." He snapped his fingers...nothing of note happened. "See I was trying to turn this ship into a massive outlet mall with an absolutely fabulous food court but-" He started banging on the hull with his tail. "Nada, so this is what it's like to feel mortal" He lightly felt his throat in a thoughtful manner. "What a sensation. You'll make a masochist out of me yet kid."

Exasperated Spines let out a gruff yell. "Shut the fuck up Discord!"

___

The two strolled down another hall inside the ship, Discord floating lazily around her. "Nice legs toots."

The General gave a low growl but answered sarcastically. "Thanks, I picked em out myself...so I could really just kill you whenever I want then right?" She gave a mixed look to him.

Discord eyed her cautiously. "Maybe, but I promise you it won't be easy..." She left it at that, anymore prodding on the topic would more than likely strain their odd friendship.

"So how does all this stuff from space make your godlike powers useless?" This she had to know.

Said being with godlike powers just waved her off. "I haven't the foggiest, well except for a theory actually. It is my belief this stuff isn't just from outer space." He picked up a shard of glass on the floor and studied it closely. "Something about this glass radiates an...'odd' sensation, almost as if it did not belong in this space to begin with."

"Meaning?"

"Another dimension, I would bet some bits that these creatures come from somewhere beyond the very confines of this world. Even further then what I am able to travel and that is just a scary thought for sure. Imagine it, possible worlds beyond our understanding, perhaps even different laws of reality that not even I could comprehend. Now *that's* chaos."

Spines was silent for awhile, such a concept made her think about some things in a new light and for some odd reason, her heart...no, something much deeper than that, ...her *soul* felt a small tremble.