Penny Hawking - 749,559.69 A.H.
The Iron Tiger Cantina, Tavros Station - Fenx System, Noctae Sector
Penny remembered the Iron Tiger Cantina well. She’d first met Steele there, back in her younger more naive days before she even knew that Mina names consisting of a metal which ended with an extra vowel ment their family was Old Blood.
Mina’s Old Blood families were something to be feared. Not for reasons of violence, but for the economic might they collectively wielded. The twenty five metallic families had been the ruling elite of the Mina’s homeworld before it was destroyed during the Battle of Tilctew. The dyson swarm the Mina now lived in had been such a drain to construct that their race had done little else but create livable habitats.
Old Blood families were the only reason the Mina had a presence outside their star system these days. Before the battle destroyed their system, the Old Blood had used their genetic engineering mastery to terraform all seven planets in their system to Gaia World status. Paradise planets, created on demand by only a few families working together over a few hundred years.
A feat no one else had accomplished but the First Race, as far as the Galaxy knew.
Today, the Old Blood families dominated the Transformatives industry. Collectively, they were what allowed the Mina to be of note to the rest of the Arm.
The Iron Tiger Cantina was not a very nice looking building, but it was not rundown. Its tall gray and blue tower-like five story presence dominated the small park it had been built in. Many people believed the park was owned by the cantina, and served as outdoor dining. It wasn’t, but the cantina never bothered to correct anyone.
Inside, the Iron Tiger was large, open, a bit smokey, smelled of exotic drinks and comfort food, and packed with modified individuals.
Penny was relatively certain that no one who came here was rocking an original part in their whole body. She had no problem with their extreme lifestyle choices, but it did give the place a certain atmosphere. One which few would describe as positive.
If I don’t get Pan to understand the value of differing opinions in a community, he’ll wind up here one day. Penny sighed as she looked around the cantina at the elaborate customized, often highly sexualized, bodies of the people before her. I don’t think he would be truly happy here… These people change on a whim. Nothing is permanent about them. They are addicts, when you think about it.
Her assessment was not born of ignorance. Steele had loved the Iron Tiger so much she had purchased it to spend time with Non-Mina who enjoyed Transformatives as much as she did. She even offered free nano-injections to regulars who couldn’t otherwise afford them.
It had not surprised Penny that Steele still owned the place. They had shared one of the upstairs rooms for years.
Penny could remember hundreds of drunk people talking to her about how they still didn’t feel right, or fit in, or couldn't do what they wanted to do. If they could just get that one last shot, or treatment, or topical cream, it would all be better.
Penny’s eyes fell on a person who had gone to elaborate lengths to make themselves into a semi-humanoid cephalopod. They had dozens of tentacles which they used to get around on land, as well as manipulate their utensils, cup, data pad, and communicator. They also had a somewhat humanoid upper body with two heads and six arms. Their skin was a violent electric blue which pulsed and rippled faintly, using a chameleon-like set of color changing cells to animate ocean waves across their skin.
Penny whistled quietly. It’s a shame they’ll change that in a few days. That’s art right there. I’d love to have that skin… If it turns off.
Penny got a few looks as she walked around the Iron Tiger in search of Steele. Most casual, some fearful, and others… Well, she couldn’t help but notice some of them were very lustful. Normally, she’d flirt back with the cute ones, but that was before Pan had come aboard.
“Hey babe! How much organic is left in that thing?” Someone called in a rather aroused tone.
Penny smiled and waved in the voice’s direction. “It’s just an envirosuit. I’m Chernin.”
“Awww… Well, come back when you get some chrome, girl!”
“Chernin can't be modded you idiot!” Another patron laughed.
“The fuck is she doing here then?”
“Vicarious enjoyment?”
Penny laughed and shook her head. She knew this crowd well enough. Even if most of those who might still be alive from when she lived here would be entirely unrecognisable.
Penny looked past the host of aliens as she searched the Cantina for anyone her computer recognised. The only way to find Steele in this mess would be by biosignature. Her vision became hazy lights clustered around simple geometric shapes as her glasses focused on bioscan data.
The tables, chairs, and stools didn’t change in appearance. They were the same artsy geometric polygons they had always been. The entire place was quite intentionally plain. Soft lighting, muted colors consisting of grays, whites, and blacks. No wall art. No plants. No scultures.
‘The Iron TIger, where you are the decor’. I see they are still holding onto the old theme.
The AR overlay in Penny’s glasses drew an arrow, directing her towards a table near the center of the room. Her T-34 had found Steele.
Penny turned and walked over to the table. Her old flame appeared to be female this month, and rocking a relatively subdued look.
Penny nearly choked on her own spit in shock. Steele’s body from the waist up was her natural Mina appearance. Humanoid, creamy green skin, large slanted oval shaped eyes, all black with pale gray irises, a small nose, long black silken hair, small perky breasts. She was wearing a loose fitting white t-shirt which almost hid her body armor with it’s billowy mass, and had a tan messenger bag slung over one shoulder.
The blin is she doing going natural?! I haven't seen her like that since our second da—
Steele’s lower body was that of a quadrupedal hooved animal. She’d gone centaur. Penny frowned as she took in the fur which was a slightly darker green than Steele’s skin, and equally dark silken black hair. The coloration and general build reminded her of how Pan and Rainbow’s specific equine bodies were constructed.
Ey! There it is. That’s the cheater I partially tolerate.
Penny crossed the floor, weaving through the crowd of modified individuals to make her way to Steele’s table. The armored woman squatted down at the table across from Steele and nodded curtly. “Steele.”
Steele looked up from her datapad and plate of deep fried Kalien Bullworms, and smiled revealing her natural ‘every tooth is a fang’ teeth. “Penny! Long time no see… Still mad?”
“Let’s not do that today, blin,” Penny grunted. I called. You knew I was coming. Why the excited greeting?
The Mina woman sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “It’s been centuries. I’m on my eighth rejuvenation treatment since we broke up. You guys really do carry a grudge forever, don’t you? I’ll apologize again if you’d like.”
Penny closed her eyes and groaned. This! This is why I don’t want to be real friends with her. We do this every time. “That won’t change anything, Steele.”
Steele sighed, a frown parted her lips. “No, it won’t will it? But I am truly sorry I hurt you, so I will keep apologizing. You’ll believe me one of these centuries. I am sorry I didn’t tell you I’m polyamorous. I was young too and worried that aliens wouldn’t understand the minutia of our culture. I didn’t realize another spacer and could visit me rather than me visiting you exclusively. Your job made hiding my relationships impossible. Someone who wasn’t young and stupid would have told you. I am sorry.”
Penny reached up and rubbed her temples with her suit’s arms. The gesture would have been suicidal for a lesser mech pilot. Penny pulled it off without even ripping out hair. “Steele, I’m here to buy a ship.”
The green alien nodded once. “Yes. We’ll get to business after pleasure. I’m a different person now, Penny. I still like you. I want to be friends.”
Penny rolled her eyes and gestured to Steele’s equine half. “Da, so different. How old is this body? A week? Did you get it because you wanted to pretend you were someone else to get back into someone's life?”
Steele’s eyes appeared to turn cloudy as her secondary eyelids closed in shame. “You know that I regretted that as soon as I tried it.”
“Da… Still hurt deeper than any knife.”
Steele cleared her throat. “And for your information, Penny, this body is a gift to my wives. I let the two of them pick it out and I will be staying in it until they get bored of it. I’ve settled down.”
Penny raised a skeptical eyebrow. Steele laughed. “I may look twenty, but I’m almost as old as you. It took me a few lifetimes to mature, that’s all.”
Penny was floored. Her jaw dropped. “You? Settle down?”
“Yes. I’ve been married to them for the last twenty years. Happiest years of my life! I just wish they weren't dead set on staying on that backwater world… I’d like to visit more often. But you of all people know how business can be.”
Penny shook her head in disbelief. “Well, if that’s true, pozdravleniya, staryy drug.”
Steele’s face brightened as she smiled. “Old friend? Sounds like someone's warming back up to me.”
“In your dreams, Steele… Can we talk shuttles now?”
The Mina nodded. “Sure, you’re too distracted by that to be any fun anyways. What are you looking for? Something automated, I’d imagine. An AI cargo-hauler? Is that ancient Lada finally out of space for your toys?”
Penny’s eyes grew cold. She stared down at the table for several moments. Steele frowned. “Oh… Oh, Penny. I’m so sorry. I know how much that old thing meant to you.”
Penny closed her eyes. “The Hoatzin was like my pet, Steele. I remember when I fixed her up as a young adult. My first shuttle. My first ship.”
Steele nodded solemnly. “Did her drive coils burn out? Those couldn’t possibly have had any more life in them.”
“Nyet. She was shot down.”
Steele blinked, all four of her eyelids moving in an X pattern. “Shot down? Poachers don’t normally carry anti-ship weapons. What have you been up too?”
“I picked up a friend who wanted to travel with me,” Penny said quietly to avoid drawing in excess attention. “Some pirates decided we were too close to their ship and opened fire.”
Steele’s tail flagged in alarm. “Oh no! Is everyone alright?”
“Da, they are in a clinic across town.”
“Thank goodness!” Steele sighed and relaxed, starting to tap command sinto her pad to ready it for a company wide search of their inventory and their wholesaler’s inventories. “You’ll need a new shuttle within a week or your cash will dry up. I can try to find you another Lada-Class, but nothing that ancient will be in useable condition. Are you okay with a model six hundred? It’s visually similar to the Hoatzin’s ancient three hundred series.”
Penny pursed her lips as she thought the offer through, then shook her head. “Nyet… I.. I can’t replace it. It wouldn’t feel right. I’ll get something new.” Penny’s eyes narrowed as she looked Steele in the eye. “New, but sturdy, functional, and utilitarian focused. None of this, sleek, shiny, designer, sobach'ye!”
Steele laughed and shook her head. “Please, Penny, I know you! Give me your price range and I’ll find something you’ll enjoy owning.”
Penny’s cheeks flushed. She folded her hands in her lap and leaned closer. “I… I can’t afford more than two hundred thousand credits right now.”
Steele’s face pinched in on itself as she leaned into her left palm. “Penny, honestly, you need to stop singlehandedly funding half the bloody wildlife preserves in the Arm!”
Penny snorted and waved her left hand in dismissal. “I don’t fund half of them, blin! I fund mabey four percent.”
“Whatever! It hardly matters!” Steele exploded, jumping to her hooves. “The animals will survive without you spending the returns on your trust fund investments and most of your ad revenue on them.”
Penny sighed. “This again? It’s my money, Steele.”
Steele bit her lip, stamped a hoof, then sat back down. “Honestly, you’re the worst kind of quintillionaire. You know damn well those ‘charities’ put less than half of each credit into the actual cause! You could save just as many endangered critters if you saved up for a few decades, bought your own planet, and started your own foundation. Then you’d have enough money left over to buy ten brand new shuttles every other month!”
Penny shrugged, her T-34’s pauldrons groaning as they moved. “Why would I buy that many shuttles? I’d rather help more animals.”
Steele rolled her eyes. “They are animals, Penny! I made my own species as a fifth grade science project. You don’t need to protect them all.”
Penny’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Natural lifeforms are a natural wonder in need of preservation. Many of the most interesting scientific developments come from them. They are important, suka!”
Steele closed her eyes and raised her hands. “I know that! But you seem to want to personally protect all of them. The Arm is too big for even someone of your wealth to pull that off.”
“Da, but I can do a lot of good.”
“I’m just sayin you would do more if you invest better! Don’t spend like a commoner. Seize hold of what you like, use your power and influence. Make a REAL change.”
“I’d have to hire a manager, you know I’m bad with business practices. That’s why I’m not papa’s heir, unlike you.”
“Don’t bring my dad into this, Penny! This is about you being financially irresponsible.”
Penny took a deep breath. “Steele, I have no idea how I would untangle my finances now. I have accounts that are older than you. I have deals that are older than you. I have thousands of accounts and arrangements. I would need an AI and decades to untangle this mess…”
Steele’s cheeks puffed out and turned a rather angry shade of yellow. “Then get started this evening!”
“Suka blyad! Are you going to sell me a shuttle or lecture me on accounting?”
Steele took a deep breath to calm herself. “Those things are related, you know! I can’t give you a shuttle on credit if I know you won’t be good for it. Two hundred small ones won't get you anything like what you want, and will only cover the worst versions of what you need.”
Penny blushed sheepishly. “Oh… Well, blin.”
Steele closed her eyes. “Would you stop swearing, please?”
Penny snorted. “You speak Chernin. You know that’s not swearing.”
“You know that everyone else doesn't know what it means and you substitute it for cursing.”
The armored woman offered her ex-lover a sheepish smile. “Da, but not swearing is very hard…”
“Sure it is,” Steele slumped slightly, shook her head, and pulled a data pad out of her satchel.
She tapped a few commands into the portable computer, read the results of her search and sighed. “Penny, there isn’t a utility shuttle in your price range with shields even half as good as your old Lada.”
Penny bit her lip. “Ey, I’ll make do.”
Steel shook her head slowly. “No. You won’t. You were shot at. By a modern ship. Not some old dusty relic like the Dawn. You need better shields. Pirates don’t just leave a system they can raid. You’ll run into them again when you take your friend home.”
Penny pursed her lips. Does she think the pirates are after Pan? Maybe I should be more honest.
Penny gently stepped around the table, remaining squatted down to stay at a conversational level. Once she was next to Steele she began to speak quietly. “You have a good point. We do need good shields. Pan’s not the only one I brought with me… Nova Wing tracked our conversations, decided to see why someone kept calling a primitive world, and abducted some people. I’ve got one of their friends onboard… We’re going to try and save them if we can.”
Steele blinked, then her eyes widened. “You’re messing with prims? Penny, hon, please tell me you got permission!”
“Da, I have video of their nation’s leader giving permission. Both of them have got IDs and everything.”
Steele sighed. “Trafficking primitives is a crime. I am required by law to see their IDs before I can sell you a shuttle.”
Penny nodded and used her neural interface to send Steele a copy of the Dawn’s crew roster. The Mina’s data pad chirped as the message came in. Steele took one look at the document and sputtered.
Her eyes glowed from within as she looked at Rainbow’s ID. There was a reason few Mina kept their natural eyes. Penny knew that expression. Shock, and recognition.
Penny smirked. “Look familiar, comrade?”
Steele shook her head. “No! Just absurdly sexy. Is that rainbow hair natural?”
Penny frowned and shrugged. “I don’t know. But you know what I do know?”
Steele looked up from her pad. “What?”
“I know that Pan was able to call my ship because he had a Mina bioship’s transceiver. His homeworld is in the K3. A bit out of the woods.”
Steele nodded in agreement. “It is. And it wouldn’t be the first time one of our explorers crashed while exploring there. Wow… I don’t suppose I can get coordinates? I’d like to visit.”
Penny smirked. “I hope your wives would be okay with that.”
Steele rolled her eyes. “Not like that! These people are fascinating. I could make a fortune farming their DNA.”
Penny raised an eyebrow. “That’s still sex.”
“Technically yes, but my girls are fine with my occasional services for the National Genebank…” Steele trailed off and paused. She turned to look into Penny’s eyes with an odd look on her face. “Penny, you said you had video permission?”
Penny nodded. “Da.”
“Can I get a copy?”
Penny frowned, her stomach tightening with indignation. “To verify these aren’t forged?”
Steele nodded firmly. “Yes. I know you love people with fur and helping those in need. I can see you forging IDs for them.”
Penny gave her armor the command and a copy of the raw unedited footage of Celestia giving permission was transmitted to Steele’s datapad, along with the most up to date version of the Equestrian translation data. “There. Are we okay now?”
Steele waited a moment longer to watch the clip for herself. Her eyes sparkled with a hint of mischief. “Yes. We’re more than okay. Sorry, Penny. I can’t break the law.”
Steele tapped away on her datapad as she searched the listings for a shuttle once more. Penny could tell there was something she wasn’t saying just by looking at her. The last time Steele had that look on her face was when there had been a Legri guy in her bed when Penny boarded her ship on a whim.
“What are you up too?”
Steele kept typing, then stopped, scanned her thumbprint, and signed her pad’s screen. “I am getting you a shuttle. I’ve got one I can take two hundred for. Brand new, utility, good shields…”
Penny raised an eyebrow. “I thought there weren't any in my price range.”
“There aren’t. But this isn’t about you. This is about protecting people, Penny. People are to me what animals are to you,” she turned her pad around. “Sign here, pay me the two hundred, and I’ll have an Argas shuttle delivered to the Dawn in three days.”
Penny sputtered, stumbling backwards far enough to bump into someone at the table behind her. “An Argas! I can’t pay for a billion credit shuttle, cyka!”
Steele smirked. “You’re not. I am.”
Penny pointed to herself with both hands. “Have you forgot that I’m a civilian? I don’t have a licence to own military ships, Steele!”
“I do,” Steele said simply. “I’m buying it. The extra day will be for me to strip out the military grade weapons. At which point I can give you the title.”
Penny’s mouth opened and closed several times. “But the cost! You and I both know wealthy people don’t have all of their assets in liquid form. That billion is going to sting hard.”
Steele threw back her head and laughed. “Tax write off. Charitable donations are a thing, Penny.”
Penny froze, the wheels in her head began to turn. Steele’s lower half resembled an Equestrian. Her reaction on seeing Rainbow’s ID. The fact that the last call made from Pan’s crystal had been to the Dawn… The fact that before she had been given the Dawn as a gift she was often on it with her father.
“You know who Rainbow is,” Penny said evenly.
Steele tilted her head. “Beg pardon?”
“You were that explorer. I know Mina are visiting their homeworld still, because they know. You know who Rainbow is. You know who her friends are. That’s why you want to help.”
Steele shook her head. “No need for a conspiracy theory. I want to help because it’s the right thing to do and we both know the Star League will have a hard time tracking down a Nova Wing ship inside of a year.”
Penny smiled. “Come on, I know you. You’ve got a stake in this.”
Steele shook her head. “I don’t have any stake in this. It’s the right thing to do, and an easy way I can help people in need who can’t get Federal protection because the government can’t enter the K3.”
Penny frowned. Maybe I’m wrong… I don’t think I am, but her bullshit excuse is at least a good one.
“Okay. If you say so, ” Penny bent down and signed the papers Steele had drawn up, wincing as the money left her account.
I hope seventy five thousand is enough for some custom equipment for Rainbow… I’d make it myself but she needs an armorer, not a mechanic. For the first one, at least. Then I copy the design. Heh heh!
Steele nodded in satisfaction and finalize the sale. “We’re done here. It will be at your ship in three days. I won't be delivering it, I have to attend to some business. I am already a little late. See, I heard an old friend who kind of hates me needed my help.”
Penny nodded and held out her armored hand for Steele to shake. “Thank you, comrade.”
Steele smiled brightly at the Chernin’s words. “Is that forgiveness?”
Penny smiled. “Ey, a little. Don’t push your luck, you crazy cyka.”
The two gave each other a polite smile and headed their mutual ways. Each dead certain the other was going to do something illegal in the near future.
Twilight Sparkle - 14th of Faust, 1st year of Harmony
749,560.24 A.H.
Formicary, Subhive ruins -- Tustea, Noctae Sector
Twilight returned from a black void she couldn’t remember entering. She was on fire, within and without. The flames were invisible, the smoke intangable, the pain was not.
She opened her mouth to scream. No sound came out. The world around Twilight was blurry, fuzzy, and dim. Everything was wrong. She had to flee, and yet, she could not move.
Blind panic pulled Twilight’s mind in countless directions. As the fear peaked, a truly massive presence gently pushed into her mind.
<I’m sorry. The pain will fade now.>
Twilight felt a sharp pinch somewhere. It felt like the back of her neck, but she couldn’t tell precisely where it had come from. The pain faded away with the pinch, but her fear remained.
“What’s happening? Where am I?”
Her voice sounded off, as if the shape of her mouth had changed. Or she was missing teeth.
<I am not surprised you don’t remember. Your brain was exposed to the elements. I am glad you lived. Would you like me to replay your memories for you? I can access them for you. I’ve been using them to learn your language and sciences… I hope I am not disrupting your own access.>
Twilight felt like she should have blinked as she processed the alien thoughts. But she didn’t. She couldn’t.
“Where am I? Who are—” Faint memories, mostly fuzzy but with certain very sharp elements came flooding back to Twilight without the alien’s prompting. “Zuul! Right. Um… Hive mind. Of big, weird, saurian things. With teats for some reason.”
Within the halls of Twilight’s mind a hundred million voices laughed in unison. <We don’t have teats anymore. Havent for centuries. It’s funny, how we appeared to your mind when you arrived. You did not see us as we are.>
Twilight could see hazy shadows moving near the edges of her vision. She couldn’t turn her head to see them. It didn’t feel like her head was being held in place, she simply couldn’t move. The things at the edge of her vision were manipulating something. It looked oily, like a thick syrup, or thin taffy.
Twilight tried to frown. “Why can’t I see you? Why can’t I see anything? It’s all… Dim.”
Zuul reached into Twilight’s mind and played back her memories of their first encounter for her. Then it played back its own memories. She could feel the Hive’s own thoughts as the memories unfolded as if they were her own.
Twilight saw her pod falling through the sky through thirty eyes. She wasn’t quite used to how those eyes saw things. Blues were sharper, yellows were muted, and she was fairly certain she was also seeing heat along with a visual representation of arcane fields. It made everything look truly alien, but it was still recognisable.
It was curious about the falling object some of its drones had spotted. Falling things normally burned to nothing, this had not. It had reached out to try and catch the object, but didn’t want to destroy it. The telekinetic power it drew upon was focused through the drones to try and slow the pod’s fall.
It wasn’t quite enough.
The pod crashed into the roof of an ancient palace the Hive remembered living in, working in, despising, looting, defending, and ignoring. The decaying timber supports and crumbling clay tiles slowed the pod more, smashing it in several places. The pod continued through a wall, bounced up into the air as it struck hard stone, spun end over end, then slammed hard into the side of an ashen hill.
The hive sent a drone to investigate the pod, hoping whatever it was would be recognisable after such a horrible impact. Its fuzzy memories of a dead world indicated it was some sort of outhouse. That couldn’t be right.
Then the hatch opened, and Twilight fell out.
Twilight did her best to recoil in horror at the alien view of herself as she fell limply from the pod. She was able to very slightly thrash within the confines of whatever she was floating in.
“AAA! NO! STOP!” Twilight begged, every fiber left in her being pleading with the alien intelligence to not show her any more.
<I would, but you need to know the truth or the present will terrify you more.>
Twilight was drenched in her own blood. Jagged shards of metal from the pod had plunged into her at random points. Her face had been smashed in by the impact. Her hind leg hadn’t been broken, it had been severed. She was covered in her own sick mixed with fuel, oil, and other chemicals from the escape pod’s engines.
The mixture was extremely reactive, more so than Twilight remembered even florine being. Chunks of skin and fur slid off her body as the chemical cocktail rapidly dissolved the tissues which held them in place.
Twilight slid from the pod, and lay in a heap as her magic sparked around her. Each spark was one of the tiny scraps of magic left in her system doing their best to keep her alive. A survival reflex unicorns had evolved in the very first days of their existence. A certain sign of immediate death from grievous bodily trauma.
Twilight’s guts churned as she did her best to accept that she had survived the fall. Yet one detail nagged at her conscious mind even more than the images of her battered, dying, body.
“I… I thought you said my brain was exposed?” Twilight paused, taking a deep nervous breath. “I don’t want to… How did I survive that?”
<You were injured further later on. I am sorry… My only means of medical care is not something I would believe you would be okay with receiving. I needed you to understand you were dying.>
Twilight began to panic again.
Genuine sympathy flooded down the telepathic link from the Hive to Twilight. <I promise you will be fine. It’s a method your kind never pursued, and I have no other means of care at my disposal.>
The drone moved towards the dying alien. It crawled along on all fours, using its hands to enhance its maneuverability. Instinct compelled it to move, demanding it eat the dying meat before it went bad.
The Hive override its decision immediately, wondering if the dying alien could be saved. It picked Twilight up to check for any injuries it couldn’t see with her current angle, and found many more. The pod’s leaking fuel had found its way into her guts through a large cut made by the pod’s safety harness.
Time was of the essence. The hive extended it’s mind from the drone to the alien to determine it if could speak. It could, but it did so in sounds mapped to meanings. An interesting, fairly crude and limited system of communication, but also something new. New, and thereby fun.
The hive attempted a greeting Twilight didn't respond. The hive mind pushed itself towards her, psionically linking their minds on a deeper level. The sudden connection gave Twilight’s magic just a bit more energy to work with, and the sparks around her body intensified, keeping her stable rather than slowing her demise.
The hive spoke with the pony’s words, hoping Twilight was a drone from another intelligence such as itself. A disposable tool which could be used to greet another mind after all these years.
Zuul’s half of the conversation was as Twilight remembered it. Twilight's on the other hoof…
Twilight wanted to rest her face in her hooves and moan into them so loudly the entire world would vanish into her embarrassed/distressed scream.
“I… I just shouted butts for four minutes...minutes! To the tune of a DJ-Pone3 song. I don't even like Vinyl’s music,” Twilight muttered bitterly.
<No, you do not.> Zuul agreed.
“So… Uh, I definitely had a concussion! How did you know what I was saying? If my speech centers were that damaged I shouldn't have been capable of even thinking in words.”
The hive chuckled. <I understand feelings, ideas, and actions. I took the knowledge of words from your mind. To make communication easier. I offered friendship, and you accepted.>
Twilight frowned. “That does sound like me… Uh, question. Sometimes you think of yourself as a her, other times as nothing. What do you prefer?”
<I do not know… I am not stable. I do little as there are none for me to do things with. I may have a gender, I many not. Such things are social elements. Medically speaking, I am both several million times over. I am an amalgamation… Perhaps… That may be it.>
Twilight’s muscles twitches as they attempted to perk ears. “What may be it?” Anything is more interesting the worrying about how hurt I am right now…
Zuul debated with herself for a moment. Letting her theory brew as well as waiting several seconds to feel new minds emerge within her and others die. Her suspicions did indeed hold merit. <My drones have a slightly greater chance of being female. I may express an opinion of my gender based on the sex ratio of my currently living drones. As I have more females, more females die than males, but more are born. The numbers fluctuate between even and slightly more females. It may be worth protecting a significant number of males to swing the balance that way and see if I feel male once the ratio dips.>
Twilight wished she could nod. “That is interesting. You could write a paper on that!”
<Yes, we could! Would you enjoy doing that once you are better?”
Twilight genuinely did, but the more pressing matters came back to her. “Y— Yeah… But, let's start with something more important. Where am I?”
The drone pulled Twilight in close to it’s chest to keep her safe as it carried her away from the pod. The drone didn’t have teats like Twilight remembered, merely a fairly large bump thanks to powerful muscles which crossed its chest. The drone was very fast, able to run on its hind legs almost as fast as a train. The hive pushed it along at top speed, not caring that the drone would die from exertion at the end of the tip.
Zuul lost six drones to age alone every second. Death was nothing to her. But the alien only had one body. Such a strange concept. Fortunately, it had a way to repair her. If she survived the trip to a hive.
The drone ran along a ridge, turning south towards the closest hive’s entrance. The ground cracked, splintering amid the crack sound of splitting stone. An ancient slab of stone covering a city sewer broke beneath the drone’s weight. The drone and Twilight fell fifty feet, plunging into a bubbling pit of unknowable ooze. The drone fell face first onto a jagged piece of rock.
The last thing the drone saw was Twilight’s head hitting the side of the pit and cracking like an egg.
Zuul immediately dispatched five drones to retrieve Twilight. The pit she had fallen into was on the edge of the hive, it was meant to collect the deadly rain which fell into the hive once a week. Drones were there within mere seconds. They plunged in, fished the dead drone off Twilight, and dragged her to the surface.
The unicorn was still breathing, but barely. There was only one thing to do. The drones quickly but carefully carried Twilight through a maze of quarried stone tunnels, avoiding the toxic liquids running down the gutters cut into the tunnel floor. Their route carried them to a room the Hive had not used in centuries.
In Zuul’s youth, it had sought to undo the mutations which twisted its drones into their present shark-raptor forms. Small traces of the formerly-near-human’s original appearance remained in them. Their hind legs thighs were rather curvy. Despite their long reptilian tails, they had a bit of a bubbly rump. Their talons were reminiscent of hands and feet. Aside from their mouth, their faces resembled something between a human and a pony, but still distinctly reptilian. Twilight’s damaged brain had simply exaggerated and added to those traits. Pareidolia from a dying mare’s brain.
Zuul had not been unable to undo their mutation, but it had learned the arts of manipulating flesh to its will. Then promptly never did anything with those arts as it had been unable to make a mind using them.
But now, it finally had a use for that knowledge. The drones brought Twilight into the ancient room, set her body into an ancient clay cauldron, still filled with a glowing blue liquid, and began to immediately attend to the HIve’s directions.
The memories stopped.
<You are still in the cauldron. I would prove this to you, but seeing those injuries was more than enough distress for you for the day.>
“Why is it important for me to know how badly I was hurt? What are you doing to me right now to fix it?”
The hive hesitated. Twilight could feel its fears and worries as if they were her own. It didn’t want her to be upset or hate it, but there was only bad news to tell.
<Most of your body could not be repaired. The chemicals from the pod soaked into your tissues. I removed everything infected…>
Twilight’s heart bubbled nervously. The unnatural feeling made her feel even worse. “What… What’s left?”
<It’s best if you don’t ask me to show you. You are stable, and conscious. Your brain has a container again, and I cut part of your nervous system so you won't feel pain while I work. There has been progress! I can see your new stomach is finally producing acid instead of alcohol. You’ll be better soon.>
Twilight’s stabilized mind returned to her memories of their first encounter. While she felt those memories she had been shown were genuine, the mare still wanted to be absolutely certain she could trust Zuul. Not that she had much choice.
Twilight giggled as part of her memories stood out to her. “I thought you wanted to cuddle me.”
A small amount of embarrassment trickled down through the hive into Twilight. <I do. We don’t have to. But I would like too. I am an amalgamation of all life which once lived on this world. Plant and animal. Intelligent and innocent. Microscopic and macroscopic. I am the ghost of this world.>
Twilight frowned, her heart went out to the poor person. Why is it that every fifth friend I make wants to be romantic with me? Well… At least Zuul’s got stallions available. Maybe there’s a chance? Regardless, at least I won't have to just pretend I don’t notice they like me, like with Rainbow. Still could be pretty awkward. I guess we’ll see.
“Yeah…” Twilight sighed. “I’d want one heck of a hug myself. Maybe some cuddles, too.”
The hive buzzed with uncertainty. Twilight felt it sigh with fear. <That isn’t what I mean to say, but it is true. What I meant was this: The members of this ecosystem reproduced sexualy. I have millions of species worth of mating instincts. You are the only other person I know of. The relationship would be unhealthy, based on your species standards… I will not pursue it. We shall be friends. Unless of course, you change that. One day.>
Twilight bit her lip. “Okay…” The mare felt the desperate need to change the subject. “What are you doing to fix me?”
To Twilight’s amazement, Zull felt relieved that she had changed the subject. <I am growing symbiotic life forms which serve functions identical to your organs from memory and grafting them to you.>
Twilight wanted to get up and run, but she couldn’t. Instead she lay there, silent, as the minutes ticked by.
The hive panicked too, not wanting Twilight to injure herself by suddenly flooding its grafts with adrenaline they could not yet handle. <Remain calm! They all obey your will, for they are you! The only difference between your original parts and these is these are compartmentalized. Each is made with your arcane essence as the core. Your soul, as it were. I extract it from your old parts, and put it into new ones. Please, it’s all I can do right now.>
Twilight paused. “Wait… Is this some kind of necromancy?”
<I do not know. May I look that word up within your mind?>
“Sure.”
Twilight felt Zuul root around in her mind, sticking to one particular area .Several moments passed before Zuul stopped. <Not entirely. It is similar, but different. I believe the term is “a related field with slight overlap.”>
Then, after the panic had passed, she spoke again. “Is… Is there anything else? That you’re doing, I mean.”
<Yes. But I do not know how to do it. I have sent Drones to explore the ruins of the Clergy’s City. I remember they could attach machines to themselves to be better, or heal that which medicine could not. We will find these, learn from them, and use them to fix you too. My flesh sculpting is inelegant. It will need supplemental care… My drones are attempting to rebuild a hospital for you. With some luck, I may have a doctor’s memories I can piece together, given a few days..>
Twilight remained quiet as she did her best to process what was happening to her.
Half an hour flew by in silence, during which Zuul created a new section of functional spinal column substitute, and was able to successfully graft it to what remained of Twilight’s original skeleton. With the new section in place, a pelvis could be installed to begin work on legs.
The Hive paused as an important thought occurred to her. What if Twilight didn’t want to be just like she had been? What if she wanted to be different?
<Since we're rebuilding you body from near-scratch, would you like to change anything? I remember you wished to be taller. I’ve seen some of your memories. I needed to learn your cultural and social norms. I chose to watch. I am sorry, I did not know that was rude in your kind’s eyes at the time. I stopped once I knew.>
Twilight’s currently cornialess eyes sparkled. “I could be taller?”
<Yes. We could make you any size you like.> Flashes of memories flooded Twilight as Zuul showed her memories of various creatures it had made. Attempts to rebuild an ecosystem by an intelligent mind which knew nothing about ecosystems. It had once made many things, great, small, specialized, and general purpose. There had also been a faze where it had made everything extra fluffy for no adequate explained reason.
<Yes. We could do nearly anything you wished. I am afraid there isn’t much of you left to work with… But between you and I, we could easily restore you to the way you were.>
Twilight’s mind whirled as she came up with a plan. “Could you do more than looks? Could we make me more powerful?”
The image of Twilight easily able to crush the pirates and take her friends back burned bright and hot within her mind. Zuul took immediate notice.
<Yes. I promised I would help you find them. To that end, would you allow me to attach some non-pony-substitute organs to you? I require… What’s a good word for it? Ah! I require soul/magic/signal relays to guide my drones.>
That doesn't sound good… “What are those?”
<A percentage of my drones have a small organ on their brainstem which serves as a lens for me to focus my influence. It also links nearby drones which lack the organ to one which does have it. It is the basis for my drone networks. If we install one in you, then not only will we always be in communication, but you can serve as my right hoof and my drones can always work at your side, and even at your command.>
Twilight thought about it. “If I don’t do that, you’d need to send one of those special drones into space to help me. Would that be a problem?”
<Yes… Also no… I— I do not wish to be alone. I do not wish to keep you prisoner. I know my power is strong enough to extend a link between us as far as we wish it to extend. Think of it as a communicator, a mage’s gem. I wish to remain friends once you leave. I do not want to send more than a small number of myself off my world. I remember little of the outside world, but I believe they would end this world in a second fire if they suspected I was hostile.>
Twilight felt a few tingles of fear leak through their shared connection. “I understand… In fiction hive minds are most always evil all devouring swarms.”
<I’m too lazy to be that. The thought occurred to me that I could, but why? What do I gain from it? Everything is me? That seems very lonely. I’d rather just exist as I do now.>
Twilight hummed as she mulled the idea over for a while. She’d often wondered what it would be like to have a friend always at hoof but had always come to the same conclusion.
“How would I have privacy, if I let you do that?” she said at last.
<Ask me to leave you alone for a time, and I will. I can tune out an individual drone easily enough. I understand your concern, but only through your eyes. I can not comprehend wishing to be alone.>
It was an acceptable price to pay for the power to save her friends. If only because it would let Twilight have drones of her own. “And how many drones would I be able to take with me?”
<Not many. Perhaps a dozen. It depends on many factors. Between six and twelve. I would grow them especially for you too.>
Twilight laughed. “Hey, six like, eight meter tall dino-sharks isn’t anything to sneeze at.”
<Actually, my drones are just over twice your size… About two-point-three meters on average.>
Twilight sighed. “Imaginations are powerful things, aren’t they?”
A wave of agreement washed over Twilight as Zuul chuckled. <Indeed. I am debating making a smaller version of what you perceived my drones to be, if only as a playful joke.>
Twilight wished she could roll her eyes. “Go ahead and give me that organ. As for the rest of my body, I have a plan. Are you still reading my mind?”
<Only your emotions and communications. I believed that would be acceptable to you, and I must listen to the emotions of minds within my range. Especially as you are currently not capable of speaking. You lack a tongue.>
Twilight frowned. “But… I’m talking?”
<You are gurgling. You hear the words in your mind… Do you want me to read something in particular?>
Twilight decided to ignore how injured she had to be at the moment. “Yes. Right now I am actively thinking back to a very special book, Anatomy of an Alicorn. I know it cover to cover, reference image to reference image. Can you see it?”
The hive was quiet for several long moments. <That is a lot of information… I can give you that shape. I can give you flight. I can increase your physical power, but I can not give you the link to nature itself, nor can I boost your arcane might. Those parts would be up to you. I also imagine it will take you a great deal of time to become used to having a body this different from your original. It may delay your rescue mission.>
Twilight sighed. While time was of the essence, so was power. If she had to find a way back to Equestria to get Luna, the trail would grow even colder. But if she became an unstoppable warrior herself, that might take less time.
Especially since they would need to work out how to make an FTL drive from scratch. Or at least, find a way to radio a distress signal.
No… We won't go back to Equestria without them. I will scour the stars till I find all of my friends, or until they are avenged.
“Good enough. Let’s go for that… And I will talk you through some modifications I might like. Can we make it more durable without making it look ugly?”
The hivemind cracked its metaphysical neck. <We can try!>
"We can rebuild her. We have the squishy technology. Better than she was before. Better. Stronger. FLUFFIER!"
Steele is so the equestrian explorer. As is one of the wives, I'm sure of it.
So Penny is rich as Tartarus, but got so tangled in quagmires of donations she's bed decades of a dedicated AI to solve it it. Rather interesting, I've got to admit.
Illegal things in space. The fourth best type of things
Let's hope Twilight ends less Gieger and more pony, at the very least.
9094564
The fluff is it's own reward
9094748 I was half expecting Penny to say, "Say hi to Lyra for me," as a parting shot. Watching Steele spit-take would have been amazing.
9094748
Gieger? Why would I go that route? /me proceeds to resume gestating organs. "You put a Catalepsean Node in, you take a ventrolateral preoptic nucleus out. You put a Black Carapace in and ya shake it all about..."
9094769
In the grim darkness of the far-future, there is only war... Warhammer 40K: Space Mareine
9094769
PS: Rainbow looks like an off-brand Ultramarine
Onto more serious comments:
The image you painted of Twilight's crash-landing was visceral and unnerving, the callousness Zuul has to it's/her drones juxtaposed with the extreme care they have for Twilight certainly gave the whole section an interesting feel. My only complaint is that it mostly overshadowed the first half of the chapter, to the point that it took me a second to remember what it was about, and even that was due to how invested I was in the scene and not through any fault of yours.
The first half serves as a good rest point, but the plot advances and subtle character interactions it brings are blown out of the water by the second half's imagery and emotion.
I can honestly say that this story has pretty much ruined my ability to look forward to all the other stories I'm following, it has reignited my love for sci-fi in a magnificent way and I cannot wait to see the next chapter each and every time I finish reading.
Thank You, so very much for giving us this story.
9094862
That's not my fault, that's the fault of the United States Airforce, who's stunt flying team the Blue Angels, had their color scheme ripped off by the Ultramarines and the Wonderbolts. Seriously, tell me Dash wouldn't want her armor in WB colors. Which are also Ultramarine Colors. And Blue Angel colors... And my Middle School's colors... And my ex's faveroit colors...
Thank you :3 I worked hard to make that good. I also figured that a hive mind would likely see it's drones as cells. You wouldn't mind loosing a few skin cells to save somone's lie, would you? "Oh no, I lost 0.00000...0001% of my biomass. Aaaaa...." :P
Yeah, that's a narrative mistake on my part. I felt it would be MORE out of place if I left it for next time, and Penny's conversation with Steele has to come before Rainbow wakes up because it happens while she is out. I had two options, put the really good part first, or put the dryer stuff first. I thought it best to end with a bang :3
I was worried about that. But again, I wrote myself into a hole and had to dig myself out. At lest the plot hasn't suffered! I'll take a bump in the narrative flow over a massive plot hole or disjointed sequence of plot points any day. After all, feel is important, but having a plot that readers understand is foundational.
I am honored. As a writer, that's all I want my stories to do. I'm not here to give morals, make a statement, or anything like that. I'm here to give to others what books gave me growing up; a good time. Writing is magic to me. A few words can make a terrible day disappear, highlight a wonderful day, or make boring time fly by
If I might brag a little...I've read thousands of books. This is not an exaduration. I was Twilight Sparkle as a kid and a teen. I didn't have friends, I had books. If I had free time, I read something. (This is partially because divorced parents + joint custody + one parent living overseas = impossible to have friends for more than a few weeks.) I have awards from my middle and high schools for reading the entirety of their libraries over the course of my stay in those schools. Fiction has always been very, very important to me.
Which is why when every other one of my life ambitions crashed and burned over the years, well, all I have left is being an author and giving something back to the libraries of the world. A way of saying thank you for making the first 18 years of my life worth living. SO when I say that I am honored to be thought of so highly by you, I truly mean it. Thank you, and thank you doubly much for telling me how you feel. I hope the rest of this tale is as enjoyable to you as what you have read so far.
9095000
rotary phones would be in the era of vacuum tubes for computers. I doubt they would have internet in cannon. The cost would be tremendous.
9095626 I seem to remember ponies having hooves, and not slender fingers which could be used to operate a touch tone telephone with ease. They would likely continue using rotary phones forever due to their anatomy. They would also probably use "keyboards" like this one.
Also, we know they have flat panel LCDs thanks to several scenes in the hospital. Their tech is much higher than the adverage person admits, but they did seem to lack a means of mass communication. All they need for an internet is a communications network, and they have phones, so they have that network.
This is exciting! I'm excited. I like it. Good shit, Meep.
9095032
It's always nice to meet a fellow bibliophile, although I've gone slightly off of physical books as I've become more capable of using the internet my room is still full of them. I actually cried when I found out our high school librarian was leaving, but barely noticed classmates moving unless it was pointed out to me, or had been connected to me in some way.
Furthermore, it's nice to know that my feedback is sincerely appreciated and I look forward to what you bring us in the future, there are few stories like this on fimfic and a depressing number of them are unfinished or dead.
9095951 Personally, I see no difference between an ebook and a paper book in terms of being a book. That said I read much less now than I did back then because I prefer to spend my time writing now.
Honestly, I am starved for feedback. I started posting fanfics expressly to get it. I saw my early work here as writing exercises and hoped people would tell me what they liked and disliked so I could improve more rapidly.
9095962
Well you've got me for another few weeks at least, then college starts and my ability to give long-winded breakdowns may be impeded slightly by my crushing workload. Either way, I'll still read along and attempt to add my two bits wherever possible.
Definitely Russian! Or is that Chineighse?
Why do I think Pan is going to have some sort of super-accountant skills?
That took quite a turn for the last half. It doesn't seem to fit the previous chapter's view, but I suppose it makes sense that she would not have noticed if she was that injured. Interesting... so that's how she becomes an alicorn for this story. I hope that the hive mind IS truly good -- I suspect that link could also be used to control her, and that's bad.
I liked the parts about yelling "butts" for several minutes, and the attempt at a fluffy ecosystem. The mental images are hilarious.
I perhaps should mention that this chapter might have been more obvious to those who are genre savvy. I'm pretty sure there's a very similar one where Twilight gets turned into a changeling this way. I have it in my library, but I no longer have it bookmarked, so I can't link it easily, but I recall she was sent as an ambassador and got rezzed as a Changeling Queen because she was fatally wounded.
9052409
I would like you to direct all complaints to the Wall Of Guns situated in every direction and thick enough to absorb ship-class weapons with minimal loss of structural cohesion. Planets have broken before it has.
9066848
I have been scrolling so long I cannot remember what I was responding about or to.
Edit: Hyperlinks show through spoilers.
9095672
Well, I would think that a dial tone phone would be quite large but so would a rotary one as they have to accommodate hooves.
I would also, say that tech in cannon is very inconsistent, seeming very advanced in some places and primitive in others. likely due to lazy writing. Also, much of what we see as tech may in fact be more akin to magi-tech. What we think may be done with vacuum tubes and transistors may be done instead with magic crystals, runes of stored spells, etc. I feel we are making an awful lot of assumptions based upon a lot of unknown variables.
9096263 Say it with me now, "Technology is a tool that solves a problem. If that tool uses magic to function, it is still technology. Nothing about the tool being magic negates the fact that it is a tool that solves a problem."
At least she admits it.
So Twilight's a bit more banged up than we were first led to believe...but she's still alive, per my expectations, so that's what's important.
Question: with Twilight being in such a dire shape and having to basically be rebuilt from scratch, does this mean she lost the accidental enhancements she had gotten in her lungs from that gel stuff last chapter?
9094758
I was expecting something like that too. Because let's be honest--Steele would only be fooling herself trying to hide that detail at this point.
9096331
I think you miss my point. Technologies that occurred due to dependency on previous tech and thus led to others would lead to a different set of development if the fundamental properties of said tech are different. I think we are biasing the way we think things would go based upon human development. I think things are far less linear especially if we are replacing transistors and binary for magic.
9096428
Yes.
9096434 You have a point, but I am not basing this on human technological progress, nor use. I am basing it on simple logic. That logic is:
1. There is no difference between a transistor and a spell that allows a signal to pass sometimes but not others. Magic = Technology. There is 0 difference in function, therefore there is no difference that matters for all practical purposes.
2. Ponies are absurdly social to the point where I would be horrified if I wound up in Equestria and likely hide in the Everfree to avoid unwanted social contact.
3. Ponies have computers. (See the mainframe looking thing Twilight used to analyze Pinkie with.)
4. Ponies have a means by which information can be shared across long distances which is not mail, nor dragon fire teleportation. The telephone.
Therefore; Ponies would develop a means of utilizing computers to socialize. This would be an internet, no matter what was used to make it. Would it be anything like this internet? Probably not, but it would still be an internet.
9096464
Fair enough. Again I like that you are doing this. I am just saying that in the show it is kinda hard to make some of these conclusions. Your own argument is based on a premise that you set that cannot be proven. In your interpretation you are correct and I also do like it so I have no major problems with it. I just find it hard to be so certain with a premise that we cannot test.
9096485 Humm? Oh I've never been upset during any of this. I thought we were having a comedicly serious conversation about overthinking marshmallow colored ponies... If not, can we? That's sort of my entire thing. Ahem...
Which of my premises can't be proven? I'm quite curtain they are all very well founded.
9096520
Also, it is very hard to read tone from text only.
This is not provable. Also, I doubt they would have a spell that functions at that low of a level. It would more likely be a "transmitter spell"
A "receiver spell" Also if it were a transistor spell. How would make it billions of times within a tiny object that are all interconnected with a logical sequence. much less mass produced.
Seems more plausible they would make a general spell for communication, but if they already have that why send dragon letters. A "phone" call to Celestia would usually be better than a letter as tone could be conveyed.
Again from what we see. It would seem more like the magic would do what the caster or enchanter wanted but there would be no technical substructure to the level of a PCB using boolean logic. The spell works simply because it does and no other reason.
Thus derivative technologies like on earth would not necessarily come about because one cannot just look at a spell and design another on a whim otherwise we would have way more alicorns with "new" magic.
Also, just because a system could be designed does not mean that one would have the inspiration to do it in the first place. Ponies have a very different set of cultural norms and evolutionary development meaning that they just might not have something simply because nopony ever thought to do so in the first place.
9096564
Yes it is. It's proven by basic logic. If A=B and B=C then A=C.
A spell which causes rapid expansion of gases to create a pressure wave, cloud of shrapnel, and a fireball at a designated point is exactly the same as a hand grenade. Your argument is the two things are different because one guy flicked a finger and made some mouth-flappy sounds to cause his explosion, while the other guy pulled a pin on a device and threw it to make his explosion. That completely ignores the only important thing about both people, they wanted an explosion to occur at a specific place and so they made an explosion occur at that place.
It makes no difference at all if you are killed by a wizards fireball or a soldgier's handgrenade. You died because you were in an explosion. The results are what matter, not the manner in which they were obtained. Magic is simply a flavor of technology, akin to steam power vs solar power, or a combustion engine vs and electric engine. They preform exactly the same function, or produce exactly the same result as the other and are therefore entirely interchangeable.
In fact, I will go so far as to argue that magic in fiction is an allegory for technology, mostly usefully for stories where you want to examine the results of humanity possessing the capability to do something without getting bogged down in the technical details. There is no difference between a magical portal conjured by a wizard and a wormhole created by a scientist aside from "Do you prefer chocolate or vanilla?"
Therefore, no. My premise is solid. Magic is a form of technology within the confines of a universe as it is simply a functional equivalent to it due to being an allegory for technology.
9096624
Technology is based upon the application of fundamental laws of reality. Magic by definition breaks those rules. I do agree that as has been said before than any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, is generally true.
But I think from your grenade example there is a vast difference in using the laws of physics(the grenade) and creating something from nothing using a "mystical force" ie a fireball.
The details do matter. Not just the end result. The grenade is far more finite than a wizard's ability to cast a spell.
Also, the results really aren't equal one would leave residue of chemicals and shapnel one would not. Just calling them both explosions over simplifies this.
Thus you a=b, b=c, thus a=c is not true because it is really a=b+z+d+r, b=c+n+p thus a ≠ c
Additionally,
I still say that the cultural development and different evolution would lead to different tech or magic being developed.
9096696
I fundamentaly disagree with then entirety of that definition. Primarily because that's not what technology means.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/technology
Technology is not machinery. Technology is not tools. Technology is expressly defined as the application of knowledge for practical purposes. IT dosn't matter if that knowledge violates mathematics, physics, or any other known universal laws, assuming it works and has practical value it is technology.
Yes, the reality in which we live dosn't appear to have any alternative to the physical laws of the universe, but the definitions of technology would include things that did "violate" physics if they existed. (What's more, you can't violate a law of physics. If magic was real, it would simply be MORE physics, because physics is simply the mathematical model used to describe the reality in which we live. It's not law, it's a crude painting.)
What you have done is conflate the words technology and machinery. While there is certainly significant overlap, the actual definitions have a key difference.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/machines
As you can see there, magic absolutely can not be a machine. Magic and machines are mutually exclusive by definitions. Howeaver, magic and technology are not and in fact magic IS technology, being that it's the application of knowledge for practical purposes.
9096724
Then magic isn't magic and would not be called that. Also, this nothing more than semantics at this point. Magic is doing the impossible that violates our knowledge or the rules that scientific knowledge lay out. Even if there were an energy field that blanketed the universe that we could use to manipulate the physical world it would be physics and not magic as it would still have rules that could be derived and calculated properties. Merely applying knowledge of foundational principals is technology and not magic.
Also even if it is magic that still doesn't mean they would use it the same way.
Also going to bed getting late.
So, I may not respond again till tomorrow (you know what I mean)
9096744 You're not working form the right mindset. For the sake of this argument we need to work from the foundation that magic is a real thing that really exists in a real world, because for ponies, it is.
If magic really existed, then it would operate under certain rules. Those rules might be unique to magic and run contrary to basic physical laws, but there would still be rules. Everything that's real is governed by cause and effect, even magic (Arguably magic is the most basic form of cause/effect you could have). If that means it isn't magic to you, then I am afraid that since by your definition magic cannot be a real thing your definition must be discarded for this debate as it can not add anything meaningful to our discussion.
Heh, the origin of Twilinator 900.
So the bio data from Nova Wing's merchant front seems to have hit the local net market hard and fast. How long will the Fuzzy Craze trend last once it trickles out of bleeding edge modders and into the mainstream?
9097712 Probably quite a bit. Darn ponies and their universal adoribleness!
My favorite thing to play as in Stellaris is a friendly gestalt, prioritizing unity and resources to rush megastructures :3 This one is already one of my top favorites.
9098784 Spooky! Long time no see ^.^ I missed you.
Humm... Perhapse Twi should get distracted with building a ringworld alla this Angry Joe skit:
https://youtu.be/aorKjw71ckQ?t=6m42s
9098867 To be honest the timing of this story is crazy. I had finished reading a really good sifi fanfic and had a hankering for more. I looked for quite a while, but I just couldn’t find something satisfactory, Then you posted Dash to the Stars. Let’s just say it exactly what I was looking for along with the Meep flare of uniqueness that makes a story like this so much better and interesting.
Zuul 10/10 best hive mind, would hug.
9099051
i would very much appreciate it if you could tell me exactly what kind of lightning it is that I have on occasion managed to bottle. In truth, I have no idea what I do to make certain stories better than others. I just tell stories as I think of them XD
Oh my god, she's married to Lyra and Bon Bon.
This should be fun assuming my earlier guess was correct.
Oooo, fancy new shuttle.
The circumstantial evidence is very strong. I believe, even though Mina keeps denying.
Possibly!
Geeze, Twilight was in bad shape.
That's fairly embarrassing.
I have concerns.
I still have concerns, but fewer.
More concerns!
Well, she is friendly, so maybe it won't go terribly wrong.
Twilight's going to be pretty different before this is over. She's fit in pretty well at that bar, at least.
9099054 Your characters and their roles are always so diverse, there are rare times where it seems a little out of place but you always seem to pull it off. In nearly every story a relationship between characters heavily influences the plot without making it all about someone’s romantic endeavors. And I may or may not have a big soft spot for cuddly romance. :3 Another thing I find characteristic to you work is that it doesn’t say in one place for very long, the scene changes constantly. Yet, it isn’t distracting and contributes nicely to backstories and world building. And don’t you dare pretend to not know how fekn great the world building is and how much it affects everything.
In general the works of Meep can be a bit outlandish and uniqe and I love it.
surry for making you wait
9101275 Thanks! :3 That does help :3
Awww i caught up
Why does no one tell me when u make a new storry look at globe thing reads over 1000 oh right
9104688 I have a public Discord for this reason :3
9104808
Well then hand it over
9104813 https://discord.gg/JTg2th
Seems like the autodoc could later restore whichever parts Twilight wants.
9105369 Most deffently :3
Steele has totally been to Equestria, in fact I'm going to throw out that Lyra might be involved with her, just saying.
Also what does this new shuttle look like?
So... is Twilight becoming a Zerg Alicorn now? That would honestly be really cool.
9166726
I'm still working on that. It' smore sleek, but still industrial.
Zuul "I see no zerg, that would be copywrite infrongment. I see a what you said, but in generic terms."
Argh, that's just just wrong. Or maybe lewd. Let's just say that the name of that battle finally sunk in. Funny, I used to spell (and pronounce) words backward for fun. I should have noticed that long ago. :D
maybe
up to
overrode its decision
This was never finished, but I thought of something funny when I read the part where Zuul comments that many of the desired enhancements could not be added and would be "up to her." I'll bet that by the time the story is done that the doctor/whoever comes back with "I have both good and bad news for you. The good news is that you are now in your proper form. The bad news is that it's the same one."