38 - Little Gray Mare
I could still feel the strange energies that had erupted from the gun Desi fired. Plasma cells are warm to the touch, and their emissions burn like the sun on a hot day. Lasers shimmer and sizzle, making the very air glow like old office lights only without the tubes. Desi’s gun… It was cold.
The bolts flashed, sizzled, and… fizzed. Yes, it had burnt when my flesh sizzled and my chassis began to melt, and everything in my body screamed as I’d burned… But everything in my soul felt frigid. The weapon was… cold. Impersonal.
A bullet, a laser bolt, a plasma ball… You could feel the hate in them when they hit you. The vengeance and wrath of the creator imbued into their work. A faint arcane signature of a tool intended to destroy something one despises.
Not Desi’s blaster. It was the opposite. As if its creator had sat down intending to make a weapon, but not because they felt an overwhelming need to destroy something. Instead they had been filled with a calm resolve, and an understanding that sometimes, things had to be destroyed. A sort of frigid, impersonal, objectifying wisdom. Pragmatic. Terrifying.
It was nice to have something to focus on. A little mystery. A part of reality to cling to. Without it, dying would be much more painful, much more quickly.
Chaos. It surrounded me, and I was it, surrounding myself. The Spirit Realm, a place one could only describe as what happens when the coffin hits the last nail into the hammer for logic and reason. I’d hoped being bonded to Jasmine would keep me from returning here…
<Pretty sure I’m keeping us from dispersing into it, actually,> Jasmine whispered to me, her mental voice sounding quite pained.
Jasmine? I gasped silently.
<It’s taking everything I have to hold onto you. They’re trying to fix us.> Jasmine hissed, and I could feel her presence burning brightly.
And as they say, the candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long...
How long will it take? Will we make it?
<I don’t know… Just… focus on your energy! It’s harder for me… when you’re changing what you’re focusing on.>
Understood. There was everything and nothing everywhere and nowhere. All of space, time, and their antithesis, all swirling, stationary, and interbound, yet separate.
A very easy thing to ignore. Yes. Simple. Like eating a pie. Can do. Slash sarcasm.
I should at least try…
I closed my nonexistent eyes, a thing which was quite literally possible in this realm of orderly chaos and chaotic order, and felt around for the essence of that strange energy.
Ah, there it was. So cold… So impersonal. Why? The weapon it came from killed so well. So many sensed evil in the very nature of weapons. As if they wanted nothing more than to destroy.
I felt myself smile as I realized something. Part of slipping into hell was becoming omnipresent. I was everywhere and everywhen that gun had ever been, from construction to destruction. Maybe, if I focused, I could trace its path. Know it’s history, and learn where it came from and why it was built.
I focused every last ounce of my draining, vanishing power and essence, and compressed everything into a single demand. Show me where this weapon came from!
The null-space around me burned away, leaving nothing but a white fog through which I flew, or perhaps fell, but only to my left. Or perhaps it was down. A pool of water emerged from the everything which was the fog, and slid by beneath me. Its rippling expanse was occupied by a small sandy island with two palm trees, like a cartoon, only real, and also made from flesh and bone. In the distance a pair of monolithic creatures hovered over the water, frozen in time.
Somewhere, somepony played the panpipes with far too much enthusiasm.
The water vanished as the world rotated, permitting a large aquatic creature to jump from the water and become the new center of the universe as the water rotated around it, permitting the creature to jump out of the water, then fall straight down into a flat image of water as I feel through space into a marble floored hallway.
The walls were pure white light, almost nonexistent. The floors were perfectly smooth, a single layer of atoms thick, composing a sheet of marble. I flew through the hall, sliding without thought around a host of creatures and things which either moved through the hall, or were on display in it.
A tortoise. A brass diving helmet upon a white pedestal. A tiger, a fox, a bear, and a planet, all the same size, and all simply existing within this space as if that is how it had always been.
A parrot flew up from the other side of the floor, nearly hitting me in the face just before I rounded a corner. The moment the bird moved, I was blinded by a flash of white light. As the light cleared, I could see it emanating from a massive crystal shard set within a stone pedestal. A rainbow was running into one side of the crystal, becoming the ray of white light. The beam of light moved backwards, entering the crystal, only for the rainbow itself to retract as I moved forwards through the chaos.
The rainbow vanished into an abstract painting of a rampaging modern art which hung on the luminous walls next to a painting of a strange eye which blinked as I fell into it.
There was more museum hallway inside of the eye. But the janitor clearly hadn’t been here in a while, because everything was dusty as heck.
This part of the hallway was occupied by a strange flat cloudship, the back of which ignited as large rocket engines propelled it forwards, casting the hallway in… no light at all in spite of the simple fact everything should have glowed a bright blue. The ship sped ahead of me, and we plunged into an aquarium filled with fish the size of mountains. Then, the ship vanished into a hallway full of stars located inside the other hallway, and I began to fall up.
I broke the surface of the water and rotated at the whim of the universe. As I fell, I passed upwards through a circular room with a domed glass roof. The room contained a planet and its moon. A bluegreen marble, floating within the center of what looked like a museum’s gallery. Then I passed through the ceiling into an infinite white void. Below me, the planet room remained, with everything else vanishing into the flat white void.
“Thanks, universe! Really helpful!” I grumbled as I folded my legs over my chest.
At least the panpipes faded out to nothing.
Alien runes formed within the void, framing the room with three words I couldn’t read in an alphabet I had never seen before.
“Still not helpful…” I grumbled as what appeared to be a random anatomical chart of a species I’d never seen before floated past in the distance, accompanied by a heart with wings on it and a big glass of water. All while somepony delivered a lecture in an alien tongue.
“You’ve got a really bad definition of helpful…” I sighed.
At least things hadn’t changed much here at not-home… By which I mean they constantly changed everything at all places and times. Ironically, changing nothing at all.
<For the love of Celestia… The BUCK was that?!> Jasmine screamed with more fear, terror, and panic, than I had felt in a long, long time.
Or maybe just a few seconds? Time was always right now. Oh no… this is what Mom feels all the time!
Oh, that’s just what it’s like here. I replied.
<Okay, yeah, we need to never ever come here again…>
I rolled my eyes and tried again to force the spirit realm to tell me what I actually wanted to know. This time, I reached out for that cold indifferent feeling and held onto it for dear life while pushing at the everything around me to become the when I wished it to be.
The white void melted, twisted and crumpled. In the span of an aeon it formed into a vast desert of red sands and biting winds. Rusted metal spines jutted up from the ground like the decaying bones of some great beast, their placement held a logic to it… A grid pattern, reminiscent of a planned and orderly city.
The skeletal settlement on this dead world of black skies and acid air was at my back. Before me two colossal alien legs sculpted from black marble stood, half buried by the sands. A statue… one whose top had fallen over and was buried in the sand such that only a few jagged lumps of broken stone could be seen beneath the thick crust of stand.
Yet the statue’s base remained clear of the endless rusty dunes. A corroded copper plaque sat on the base, displaying a message for all to see in stamped letters each three times the size of a pony. I squinted at the letters. I was everywhere and nowhere. The onladge of this language was at once within me and beyond my reach.
If I could just… get started reading it...
My name is ⍑𝙹ᒲ𝙹 ᓭᔑ!¡╎ᒷリᓭ, ⍑𝙹ᒲ╎リ╎↸ of ⍑𝙹ᒲ╎リ╎↸ᓭ. Look upon the cradle of my birth, ye mighty, and despair.
A second message rested upon the statue, carved into the black marble quite crudely. I had to will the sands to move so I could see the second message in detail.
I hate how arrogant this makes us sound. I’m sorry they chose those words. We could not defeat them. Not with all our toys and tricks. I hope you fare better when they come for you. Hell, you’re reading this. You probably worked something out. Maybe we will too. Maybe some of us escaped. If we did, just maybe, there will be stars you don’t need to fear. Cheers, mate.
I didn’t understand. Obviously, this was the remains of some dead civilization somewhere, but why did the essence of Desi’s blaster take me here? Why not to the time and place of its creation?
This had to be the start of a trail. The beginning of something more… I closed my eyes and focused on the sense, deciding to go where it pulled me.
The desert fell away as I ascended to orbit and raced towards the world’s sun. Countless metal things surrounded the barren world. Ancient fortresses, massive ships, an infinity of debris and detritus from some terrible battle. All linked by a crystalized ring of blood.
In a way, it was beautiful.
In another way, I didn’t want to think of how many beings would have to die for their blood to form a cosmic-scale formation around a planet. Nor what foul magics were used to make such a thing, nor what purpose it served.
The blaster’s essence led me to the sun. A strange thing. It flickered and oozed as things slid and writhed across its surface, as if the sun itself was deathly ill. I squinted and focused on one of the spots as I raced towards it.
They weren't on the sun, but above it! A huge mass of large island-like structures all orbiting in an elaborate harmony around the star. Small threads of light anchored each island to its neighbors, and ships sailed between them, riding the light on silver sails which—
My very being was wrenched back from the vision and slammed into a corporeal vessel in a manner similar to dropping a tool chest down a flight of stairs onto my face.
“Owwww….” I whimpered into the orderly world around me, adding a few sniffling wimpers afterwards.
My everything hurt so bad…
“NO! BAD!” Desi’s voice scolded someone viciously.
I heard what sounded like a newspaper smacking somepony across the nose followed by a large mare’s pained yelp. “OW!”
“Thirteen too big! ” Desi snapped. “Now she hurts!”
“Well let’s see you try to make 10 volts with two seven volt batteries and a one kilo—”
“MAGIC!” Desi snapped.
“Turn me off…” I whimpered. “Was close to finding out a thing… also… pain…”
I didn’t even know those parts could hurt, but they did. What the buck did they do?!
I felt a small hoof on my left leg. “I… turn you on? Oh no!”
“That’s not what she meant,” the mare laughed. “We need to work on your syntax and grammar more. Besides, you said you think having one partner is silly. Why should her liking you upset you? She’s nice!”
I tried to move, but nothing happened. My chassis must be shot… how had I been anchored to it? Maybe I had just enough power to force my eyes to work.
A quick attempt showed me that no. No I did not.
“Gears is… not acceptable partner,” Desi murmured quietly. “She’s awake. Now need explain.”
I snorted in amusement. If I couldn't see, I could at least participate in the convocation. “No need to explain. Not everypony likes robots and that’s okay.”
Then I frowned as I remember she’d cuddled up with one of Moondancer’s big robot mares. “Wait… you do like Robots.”
“Yeah, she’s a good cuddler,” the big mare agreed, presumably remembering the same thing I jst had.
ALso I completely forgot her name…
Desi cleared her throat. “Uh…” she stated with genuine terror.
Then something in my core clicked into place. “Wait. A. Minute.” I said slowly. “Your too old to be a second gen alicorn, but you have to be because you’re not a dipped alicorn, you have a computer for a mom, and access to a type of Star Blaster Dash hasn’t seen, and when I traced its essence just now I was shown some random world with a dead civilization… Is… Is there some kind of alien culture thing with not being allowed to like zebras or something?”
I heard the sound of a small hoof smacking into a face. “Not an alien!” Desi protested. Then after a moment’s hesitation. “Technically.”
“Uh, Gears just made some good points. You are an adult, just small. Like Pip, but more so, I think. Soo, you can't be an alicorn. What are you? A mutant?” the big mare asked oddly politely.
“Can you shush please so she can explain the technically?” I asked Miss Big McLargeHuge.
You all sound the same, which one are you?!
Desi cleared her throat. “Words… bad. Too many meanings. Alien, can mean foreigner, person from another place on a world. Can mean unknowable thing. Can mean coming from or existing outside the planet. I am, and am not, an alien, depending on word meanings you choose to use.”
Oh god. That stupid mortal thing of intentionaly complciating languages… Just make up a new sound for each concept!
“Okay, um… So are you from another continent on Equis?” I asked.
“No… Also yes,” Desi groaned. “Hard talk! Mom not good at teaching talk with ponies.”
“Right, because she’s from… I don’t know, Xarcon, or something,” the big mare said politely.
“Gah!” Desi yelped in frustration. “No! All places… word for all places, please!”
I thought for a moment. “Universe?”
“Yes!” Desi said seemingly excitedly. “Many universes. Starswirl-Clover bridge… gravity… slingshot. Um…”
She trailed off and let out the most frustrated of all sighs. “Gears died twenty minutes past,” she said slowly.
“Yeah, thanks for bringing me back,” I said with what I hoped was sincere smile. “I owe you big.”
“No! Not… you,” Desi growled in frustration before slamming her hoof against something hard.
Well, now I was just confused.
“Gears, died.” Desi murmured. “Tainted… won. Ruled world. Stars came. Destroyed world. Again. Mom survived. Real mom. No computer mom. Real mom mad. Not angry. Mad. Crazy. But smart. Real mom learned Gears died here. Learned Tainted could have been stopped. Learned Tainted called the Stars. No Tainted, no Stars kill all people.”
She paused for a split second, during which my brain processed things a little.
“Wait…” I Said slowly. “Do you mean you’re—”
“Mom found… box?” Desi interrupted uncertainly. “Learned trick from box. Time… can go in. Permeable. Once per pony, without… proper matrix… Twilight Sparkle… used once. Never developed. Mom did. Experimented. Pony can go, pony can’t stay, one time forever. Time you are born is anchor. Always pulled back. Three days, longest time away. But… things say forever. Can send objects. Mom make machine. Send it back. Machine make me from not-living-samples. Machine raise me. Tell me mission. I fix Gears. Maybe world not die now.”
The room grew deadly silently for a few long moments.
I heard Desi scratch her head gently. “Uh… Gears is big sister… Not okay to adult fun with… yes. Also… made in space. Sun orbit… needed for— So, kind of… alien. Many universes, came from not here, also not planet, but still Equus sapenius...”
The sound of a little hoof scuffing a floor filled the room.
“You could have just said you’re from the future,” the big mare said after a few moments.
I cleared my throat. “Sooo uh… The world is going to end again?”
“No…” Desi groaned.
“No to which?” I asked.
“All!” Desi sighed irritably. “Mom wrong! Gravity sling required to send ship-scale mass back. But breaks space coordinate. I checked. Very bored many years. Nopony to play with. Only math. Only learn. Checked! Mom’s future…” Desi trailed off for a moment then asked “bucked?”
“Huh?” Big mare and I asked together.
“Word mean broken too bad to fix is bucked?” Desi asked.
“Yes,” I confirmed with a nod.
“Mom’s future bucked,” Desi continued. “This universe beside that universe. Can’t change the future of own universe. Not possible. Physics say no.”
“Ohhh, multiverse theory is a bastard,” 343’s voice hissed faintly.
I was very tired of not being able to see.
I assume Desi nodded before she said, “Yes… But Gears alive. Can help Dash with thing. Maybe save world. Also got hugs and cuddles. Mission Successful! I, Designation, can now do what want do.”
“So, let me get this straight,” I said with a little frown of concentration. “You’re a cloned pony created by mom in a parallel universe’s future, sent back in time, but to this universe by mistake, to save me, so the Tainted don’t win, and you’ve just done that?”
“Confirmed,” Desi reported happily.
“And now you feel free to do anything you want?” I asked just for clarity’s sake.
“Yes.”
“Okay… Can you please fix my eyes and ability to move first please?” I begged. “Also… uh, if you don’t want to go back home I’ve always wanted to have a little sister.”
“Can’t go back. One way,” Desi said. “Also air is fluorine…”
“Wait, what?” 343 asked in horror.
“Teraformers make efficient weapons,” Desi said in non-explanation.
I had a sister. Sort of. Kinda. Is this why ponies always insisted time travel stories were confusing when the concept of time travel really isn’t that hard to understand? Yes. It had to be.
Wait… if she was my sister… “Wait, but you’re a flesh and bone pony. How could mom have made you? She’s a roboticist.”
“Biology is just carbon based robotics,” Desi reapplied calmly. “Also… Mom bad at it. Think brain didn’t turn out good. Probably autistic… Can’t understand most social… ques? Language hard too. Math good. Science good… Self diagnostics unreliable for organics. Can you help?”
“Oh, you probably are. But that’s okay. Everypony’s special somehow,” 343 said, amid the sound of fur on fur, implying a hug was given.
“Please state the integer representing the probability,” Desi asked with apparent confusion.
“... At least 60 percent now,” 343 giggled awkwardly.
“And the range’s maximum is…” Desi asked, trailing off impatiently.
“Excuse me,” I said as firmly as I could manage while everything still hurt like tartarus. “I would like to move please… Or see. Preferably both.”
“Oh! Um,” the big mare said as she took a step closer to me. “Desi did you say plug this in or unplug it?”
“... plug it in,” Desi sighed.
Something clinked, then clicked, and all of the pain flowed away like water pouring out of a bucket. My vision came back just as I sighed in relief. I was laying on my back, atop a mostly intact workbench, in a very much not intact workshop.
Every surface was battered, most walls were cracked, and the tools which once hung on walls were strewn about all over the place. And a lot of them were smashed to bits. Revealing them to be painted styrofoam props.
I triple blinked and moved one leg to point to a fake wrench. My leg hummed loudly. Electrical servos, not hydraulics like usual. I glanced down, then yelped. My foreleg had been replaced with the leg from a Steel Ranger power armor suit.
Desi squeaked in alarm, and gently took my hoof. “Status normal!”
“Nothing about this is normal!” I snapped.
The big mare, who was the peachish-lavandery one, stood over me and cleared her throat. “She means “it’s okay”.”
I frowned. “What happened to my leg?”
“Legs,” 343 corrected as she trotted over to the workbench from the doorway. “The left two were too damaged for us to repair your outer casing, and Desi insisted all four match… So we rigged up your endoskeleton to interface with the armor. Don't worry, once we fix everything up from the raid we’ll repair you properly.”
I turned my head to look at each of my legs. My forelegs were replaced entirely. MY hindlegs had been replaced from the knee down. I whimpered. “But… But this looks so bad.”
Desi shrugged. “Yes, but you should be able to throw autowagon.”
The big mare nodded in agreement. “Mhm. We beefed up your servos and hydros too. Ya know, cuz they were just… there. ANd not properly hot rodded.”
My ears perked. “Throw an auto-wagon you say?”
343 nodded. “Yes, and that ability will almost certainly come in handy for you within a few hours. Dash told me what she needs you to help her with… I promised I’d say nothing so I wouldn’t misinform you in any way but… Let’s just say you may need to shift a lot of stuff out of the way.”
I felt a large hoof close an access port at the base of my neck. “There. All closed up! By the way, Miss Gears… Nice turboencabulator. Are you single?”
My core skipped a cycle as I envisioned Wander vanishing into the fireball the meteor strike left behind. “P— Probably… I hope not.”
“Owch…” she said quietly before patting me gently on the shoulder. “I— I think I’ll see if Moondancer’s been re-embodied yet. If she is I’ll uh, see about getting help for whatever Rainbow needs to stop armageddon. You know, since someone literally came back in time to stop that.”
She trotted off, her heavy footfalls rapidly fading into the distance as she half-galloped away.
“Anyways,” I said as I sat up and pointed to the fake tools again. “Why are those not real tools?”
343 blushed. “Well, the attack damaged a lot of rooms, and this was one of the few rooms with a workbench that could fit you. They used to film commercials in here. It’s a set.”
“Oh,” I frowned a little and slid of the bench to stand up.
My legs felt slow and clunky… but quite strong. It was like I weighed nothing at all. Too bad if Wander was alive she would only have hard steel to hold… Wait!
“Um, could we coat my hooves in silicone or something?” I asked hopefully.
Dessi shook her head and gently tapped my right foreleg, which popped open, revealing not only my endoskeleton, but a hidden compartment containing a small plasma pistol.
“No. I put holsters in them,” she reported.
“Because of the future?” I asked with a worried grimace.
“Because it is cool.” Desi corrected.
I raised my hoof to get a look at the weapon. It automatically slid out of the holster for easy drawing, and I noticed the power pack had been modified to tap into my own power core and recharge when holstered.
By the sisters! You’re alive! HAHA— Dad’s voice gasped in my mind before practically squeeing. Oh my, Luna! Not only is my little filly still alive she’s got a working Robo Sheriff costume, and your mom figured out that it’s not the Last Day still. This is the best day!
I shook my head slowly. One day, I’d work out how I was able to make up Dad’s random references with no idea of what in even the hay they were. Actually that was probably Jasmine’s doing.
“Fair enough.” I said to Desi with a smile as I re-holstered and concealed the weapon.
343 Cleared her throat. “Well um, Rainbow has been super insistent that you guys need to go ASAP, so she’s getting some supplies. I’d help, but since now I know there’s a megaspell that can summon meteors, I’m going to try and get some last minute practice done with shield spells. I might have the juice to deflect or diminish a strike… if it’s small. So I’m best spent there.”
The robomare reached into a saddlebag with her telekenesis and held a map out to me. “Dash will meet you in room 103. Good luck! And don’t worry, if you fail, I think that I may have a backup plan… It’s too half baked to talk about now, but I’ll get back to you via radio in say… an hour! Bye!”
343 waved the map. I took it with a hoof. She immediately ran off.
Time must have really been short. I took a glance at the map and sighed in relief. The room was near the top of the Sparkle Cola factory. I knew where it was.
I cleared my throat and looked sidelong at Desi. The little mare was gathering up a small amount of tools and putting them in her bags.
“So… Um… Why didn’t you tell me we’re siblings earlier?” I asked as politely as I could.
Desi looked up and frowned. “Incapable. Language hard.”
“We could speak via modems,” I reminded as I flicked my tail in irritation.
“This requires external tools to accomplish. You should learn binary,” Desi advised as she continued to pack her tools. “Apology. Was worried you died early in present time-space unit. Didn’t think to explain previously.”
I bit my lip and nodded slowly. That made sense. “Well… Come on then, sis. We need to meet up with Rainbow.”
The two of us trotted down the hall silently, an awkward silence hanging over our heads the whole way. The facility was at least a distraction from the awkward. The damage was extreme, but also oddly cosmetic. The place had been built to take a beating and survive, and also clearly to be easily repaired.
Everywhere I looked I could see Sparkle-Bots working to fix and mend everything from curtains, to walls, to furniture. None of them seemed upset about what had happened, nor traumatized. They simply set things right and talked about how well they kept in character for the event.
I winced as I realized that the simple AI on display was what must have raised Desi… All alone up in some pod above the sky with something this singly minded to train her to… well, fix me. Once.
Oh… Oh no!
My tail stood up in alarm as an inescapable conclusion hit me like a brick. I turned towards Desi and broke the silence. “Hey so… you’re not disposable, are you?”
Desi looked at me with obvious confusion. She had no idea what I meant at all.
“I mean, you’ve done what you were made for. You’re not going to just… die are you?”
Desi shook he rhead. “Negative. Why query? Um, ask.”
“Well…” I sighed and pointed briefly to the robot mares mending a railing next to us. “You had to have been raised by something like them, right? They have just their one goal and nothing else. So, I worried you might be intended to do this one thing, which only happens once.”
Desi nodded to show she understood, then offered me a smile. “I have a projected natural lifespan of a number I do not know the name of. It is very big.”
“How big?” I asked worriedly.
Desi stopped walking to pull you there translation book and flip through it for a moment. Then she looked at me to begin her explanation. “My bioform’s self repair and maintenance systems should be good for a number of replications of each cell before errors begin to occur equal to a number so massive I cannot write it down without utilising up arrow notation… Do you have formal education in mathematics comparable to a doctorate degree?”
I shook my head. “No.”
Desi’s ears drooped sadly. “Cannot explain number in a way you will understand. Will attempt to simplify later.” she walked along behind me flipping through her book for a better explanation, presumably, until she piped up. “Cells normally divide 50 to 70 times before dying. Mine divide very many more times before dying so that the cycle is much slower for me, or I would become a single mass of tumours instantly. When injured, the rate limit is reduced so I may heal expediently. I should be capable of lasting until the last star dies. Longer if less time is spent being injured than being not injured.”
I blinked. “Uh, you could have just said “I don't age”.”
“I do though?” Desi asked with a cute little frown. “Many organisms not die from age. Mom built the feature into me. Computer-mom say mom hates biomachines. She corrected many flaws.”
“But you’re worried she messed up your brain?” I asked sympathetically. “I get it. Trust me. She didn’t even give me a brain at all. So, she’s got no experience before yours.”
“Correct,” Desi whimpered. “Want speak right. Do faces good… Have friends.”
“You’re better than me at math though, and I am an actual living computer.”
“Correct…” Desi’s ears drooped, her eyes teared up a little. “Nopony appreciates math.”
Ack. Heart. Pain… Don’t even have actual heart.
Yeeeep. Yep she is my sister. For sure. Little sister hurts. It hurts me back. Must fix.
“You could tell me something cool about math. I’ll try to learn and appreciate it,” I promised with my best sincere smile.
Desi’s eyes practically sparkled. “I proved that for the equation x to the nth power plus y to the nth power equals z to the nth power, there is no solution where n is greater to or equal to three!”
I frowned slightly. “Okay, why is that cool?”
Desi blushed slightly. “... math people called it law that no solution greater or equal to two existed… Found one for two. Proved never gets higher than two.”
“Oh!” I said with what I hoped was a good fake smile. “Well, cool beans! What can the math do? Like, when you apply it?”
“Make math people excited,” Desi mumbled shyly at the floor.
I nodded once and took a few steps along the hall. Our rendezvous with Rainbow wasn’t too much further. She was probably going to be there already… Didn’t leave much time to try and find some sort of common interest.
“Umm… Well, what about practical math? Have you done anything there?” I said with a polite smile.
Desi nodded. “Correct. Have possible solution to Raymaree hypothesis… Need pony to check it. Might be wrong.”
“Okay, and that’s useful for?” I asked while tilting my head curiously.
“If correct, data on distribution of prime numbers. Useful for many things. Cryptography. Also proved P vs NP… but nopony is making computers now. So, useless,” Desi mumbled while scuffing the floor with one hoof.
I stopped walking and gave her a little side hug. “I’m sorry… I’m sure somepony will find it useful later. Do you like anything aside from math?”
We arrived at the room as I finished my question. We trotted inside, and surprisingly, Rainbow wasn’t there yet. The room was empty, just four walls and a floor. The discolored carpet indicated this had been holding crates or something. Those supplies were probably in use for repairs right now.
I took a seat on the floor and patted the floor next to me to indicate to Desi to sit down. Instead she tilted her head.
“Do floors enjoy pets?” She asked while giving the floor a tentative pat.
I giggled. “No, silly! I meant you should sit down.”
Desi’s ears drooped slightly, but she plopped down next to me happily enough.
“What having organic mom like?” She asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Mom’s barely organic, and also mostly crazy… I took care of her more than she took care of me.”
“We have a commonality then,” Desi said with a sage nod. “Fixed computer-mom lots.”
I winced and shivered. “So… future-mom really just... Stuck you in a tube in space to be raised by an AI? But… she’s horrible at programming.”
“Yes,” Desi agreed instantly.
“How… How did that work anyways?” I asked slowly. “You, I mean. I think you said something about not being able to send a living pony back forever? You can use your book. I’ll wait.”
Desi nodded and started flipping through her translation guide. After a few minutes she tapped on my shoulder for attention. “If you send a being with a soul, or spirit, back in time, it is pulled back to its time of origin naturally. The longest time a being can be gone is three days. After this point, it would require infinite energy to remain in the past. Objects and information can travel freely. Mom did not trust machines to fix you properly. Mom’s solution, as she cannot make a person level AI, was to engineer me as a pair of gamete cells.”
Desi shifted slightly and sighed. “Cells were killed, to not be living, then reanimated as part of the process. Cloudship utilized for hull. Built cloning chamber inside. Arrived in past, gestated and grew me in tank. Mom included instruction manuals for how to do pony things. Do not think she knows how to raise foals. Always wanted hugs… care… never got them. Still want… Also want more adult things. No data on puberty onboard. Understand what concept is, how to deal with… Because… put together, from other sources. Most time was spent learning your systems. How to repair specific damage.”
I gave Desi the best side hug I could. “Specific damage?”
She nodded. “Correct. How you hurt just now. Phased plasma overload explosion.”
“Is… Is that how I died in the other timeline?” I asked curiously.
Desi nodded.
“So, some random plasma weapon exploded and I died…”
Desi shook her head. “Negative. Pony weapons not use phased plasma. Computer-mom salvaged crafts adrift in system. Material gathering repair subroutine. Weapon came from wrecked craft. Presumably, they got it from a store.”
I held up one hoof. “Excuse me, but do you mean that only a Star Blaster could have damaged me in that specific way?”
Desi nodded. “Confirmed.”
“Sooo… were… were you created to save me from yet another timeline’s you messing up saving me?” I asked as I stroked my muzzle thoughtfully.
Yes. This was why poneis thought time travel was hard.
Desi opened her mouth then shut it, frowned, and shrugged.
Maybe a new topic was needed?
“So… What are you going to do now that your mission is complete?” I asked with a cheerful twinge to my voice. “Also, thank you. Again.”
“Locate someone who can check my solution to Raymaree Hypothesis.” Desi replied like that meant something.
“What?”
“Math stuff.”
“Okay.” I thought for a moment then decided to shift gears a little bit. “What about not-math-stuff?”
Desi thought for a few minutes then grinned. “Science!”
“What kind of science?”
“All of it?” Desi asked with a confused little frown that made me want to just give her the biggest hug.
“Okay,” I hummed and thought for a moment. “What about recreation? You know, hobbies or stuff. Is there anything you like to do for that?”
“Math,” Desi said with a happy grin.
“I like to read, particularly comicbooks,” I commented.
“Fiction is nice… but I don’t have much,” Desi murmured quietly.
“Oh, well… Mom’s library has a lot! I read it all so you won't have to worry about me borrowing anything you want to read!” I explained happily. “What kind of fiction do you like?”
“Science fiction. Arcane fiction.” Desi commented. “Like to make the spells work.”
I blinked several times. Desi perked up and fluttered her wings. “Like torpedo spell! Science fiction gave concept. Made it go! … Got grounded… Exploded septic tank… Heh.” Desi looked down sadly. “Don’t meet mission requirements… Not social good enough. Never passed. Only let down because time ran out. Glad didn’t fail.”
I winced. Desi definitely needed a few ponies to show her she mattered and was good, even if she were a bit undeveloped. She was way better at socializing than lots of ponies I could name. Or even changelings. There was that one poor bug who always shapechanged into inanimate objects when others were around due to extreme scopophobia, for instance.
Come to think of it, how the hay had she not starved to death years ago?
No, bad Gears. That’s off topic. Let’s see… Desi was my sister via shared creator. That meant I needed to do the usual big sister stuff. Which was… Um…
Dang it. Why didn’t mom give me a manual of sister things to do? Uhhh… What do pony sisters do?
Uh… Give relationship advice? Maybe?
Great. I suck at that. Oh well...
I cleared my throat and turned to look at my actually little little sis. “Sooo um… You’re dating that big robomare and Dash?”
Desi shook her head. “No. Neither.”
I raised an eyebrow. “But, you cuddled with the big one… What’s her name?”
“Apricot. She’s not capable of loving other ponies. Only Moondancer. I asked,” Desi sighed. “Like big ponies! Math shows big ponies are best ponies. See datapoint, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence. Size clearly correlates to niceness and lovingness, and also is very um… lots of thermal energy containing. Lastly, larger muscle volume means more hug power. Desired power is maximum!”
I giggled a little and resisted the urge to tossle Desi’s mane. “Well, everypony has their type. I’m into ponies that like me.”
“That is a good type to enjoy,” Desi said with a sage nod. “Don't… Like Dash more than… 8? Yes. 8. Calculations indicated she might let me ride on her back while she goes fast if I offered sexual favors.”
The distinct sound of hoof meeting face made my ears twitch. I turned around to see Rainbow had just trotted into the room with three large duffle bags slung over her back.
“Uh, Desi, you could have just asked me for a ride,” Rainbow snorted in amusement, her voice coming from behind us. “I gave fillies rides all the time, you can’t be much heavier than one. You can have rides.”
Desi’s face morphed between joy and pure confusion. “YAY-but why? Also, YAY!”
Rainbow stared at her for several seconds then shook herself lightly. “Because… Asking for things is polite. You… you don’t have to— Look you really weirded me out with that offer, okay? I only said yes because— Well, dry spells suck. Just… Just ask ponies things next time okay?”
Desi nodded and smiled. “Okay!”
“Sooo… Into big mares, huh?” I said to continue the convocation… then winced. “Too bad the only one I know is currently trying to kill us.”
Rainbow frowned. “What, Loom? … She’s a good soldier. Heart of gold though. I’m willing to bet it tore her up inside to follow those orders. We can probably convince her to break off, especially since I’ll be present. I’m reasonably certain the Tainted are claiming authority as her COs by the whole, you know, Enclave is the government continued thing. But, well… Yeah I’m alive and all that. Should be able to give her an order she’ll accept if I do it in person and she believes I am me.”
I nodded once. “I hope so. She seemed nice… Unlike my Uncle she probably can be convinced to switch sides. Or at least not hurt us.”
“Loom is tank-pony?” Desi asked with a shy flutter of her wings.
I nodded. “Yes. Why?”
“She pushed me out of explosion,” Desi said cheerfully. “Thought was foal. Protected. Liked that.”
“Oh,” Rainbow said sagely. “Well, good. That gives us an opening, also she’s not being controlled via combat stims. I was worried they might do that.”
“So, we really can just ask her to not hurt us?” I asked Rainbow as I tried to process Loom’s logic.
I… really couldn’t.
“Did you ask her not to?” Desi asked hopefully. “Require snuggles, care. Things did not get. I understand the standard social transaction for obtaining a regular snuggling and caring friend is an adult relationship.”
She paused and looked curiously over to Dash. Dash nodded once. “Yep. That is true. A Special Somepony is the most reliable source of that.”
“Yeah!” I agreed happily. “And— “
I blinked. Rainbow had asked me to politely ask Ribbon Loom to not kill us. Did I? It was hard to remember… lots of damage had occurred.
“You know, I don’t think I did ask her that, Desi… and I was asked to do exactly that. Well, buck…” I grumbled and slumped down slightly. “Now I need to file a missed delivery notice… Where do we even keep those?”
Desi’s ears perked up. “I’ll ask next time. Apricot informed small is cute. Cute is statistically more likely to persuade success.”
Rainbow smiled and shook her head. “Hey, Loom, how about instead of killing us you go out on a date with our tiny friend. No she’s an adult actually. Heh, if that works… It will be a laugh I’ll need,” Rainbow’s smile faded into a serious look.
She set down her duffle bags and unzipped them, then began to hand out armor and weapons. Nothing she had was very good, just some combat vests with plate carriers and ballistic plates, but she did have a single shot break action grenade launcher which I hooked into my battle saddle immediately.
It wasn’t even a branded one, just something some gunsmith had turned out a long time ago. The poor little thing was even dusty on top of having a lackluster origin. No matter. I’d make her feel important and loved just as much as any other little cannon I ever found.
I gave the weapon an affectionate pat before glaring at the “armor” I'd been given. I didn’t feel confident that it would stop more than the smallest of pistols. It looked like police armor, for strippers.
Rainbow sighed as she finished passing out the gear, which included ropes, hooks, and some demolition tools. She also gave me back my saddlebags, which she said she hadn’t looked in, but I was pretty sure she had, for spy reasons.
“Unfortunately, this is all they could lend me right now,” Rainbow murmured bitterly. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
I nodded. “Right. We need to break into the old Headquarters here and turn off Star Drop station. I remember.”
Rainbow nodded slowly. “Yeah, but there’s um… A small detail.”
I nodded again. “Right, I’ll have to go in alone because of the shield.”
“Noooo,” Rainbow said with a wince. “That’s not what I meant. I meant um…”
She cleared her throat. “Your pelt is a real zebra one. If you tried to enter right now, it would disintegrate like anything else organic that touched it. I’m pretty sure that you could shield yourself from the effect if you had enough spiritual power. I mean, I know what Warlocks can do. But I’m pretty sure you almost dying means you’re bone dry.”
“Oh,” I winced and nodded in agreement.
“Sooo, how do we charge you up?” Rainbow asked curiously. “I know how undeath powered warlocks work… Not machine ones.”
“Well, normally, sompony offers the spirit something they value greatly to eat in exchange for something,” I explained very briefly and very simply. “If you have anything on you that you cherish, and it has to be like, something you really, truly cherish, I can consume it for power.”
Rainbow whimpered, reached into her left saddlebag, and removed an old, faded, very much lovingly repaired countless times, body pillow, with a picture of Daring Doo on it. I was able to recognise the picture because my dad had kept a Daring Doo costume for some reason, and was able to portray the character almost perfectly.
No mare forgets their dad’s geeky side.
My ears drooped. “I um… That would work.”
Rainbow sighed and rummaged through her saddlebags more. “Actually… you’ll want maximum power.” She fished a small framed photograph out of her saddlebag.
It was black and white, one of the very first photos ever, maybe. It was of Rainbow and five other mares in some rural town. They looked like young adults, college age perhaps. Everypony looked so happy.
I could feel Rainbow’s love for the photo and apprehension of its destruction. Normally this only happened once the item was formally offered. Her sentimental attachment to the photo was amazingly strong.
I took a deep breath. “Yeah… I might need that much power. Are, are you sure though? We can probably use the pillow.”
“We can’t afford to fail,” Rainbow murmured before holding out the photo while looking away. “Do it… Wait, do I say anything in particular? Is there a ritual?”
I took the photo form her hoof and focused my attention on its essence, the mortal love and attachment bestowed upon it over centuries. Mmm, tasty!
“Nope,” I said while the photo, frame, and glass, disintegrated in my grasp.
Oh… Oh the power… She’d loved this so much! No. No even better. She loved what it represented so much. Every fiber of her being wanted to return to that time and place, wherever it had been.
The dull aches and pains in my chassis vanished, tossed aside by the influx of spiritual energy. I felt like I was glowing. My legs stopped being heavy. Everything felt wonderful. The traces of genuine happiness left in the photo’s essence swirled within my being, lingering for a time.
“Oh wow…” I whispered to myself. “You… You loved them. Who were they?”
“My friends. Pre-ministries,” Rainbow reapplied quietly.
I blinked. “Really? But… But I’ve been looking at Twilight all day and—”
Rainbow snorted. “They copied her older, sterner, ruler look. That’s not my Twilight,” a thoughtful look crossed her face. “343 might be though… She’s at least some fragment of memories leftover somehow… Moon was right. If she’s not Twilight, it doesn't matter. She might as well be. But not the MAS Twilight. My Twilight. It threw me off guard…”
Desi cleared her throat for attention. “Where translocate on spheroid?”
“Uh, what?” Rainbow and I asked in unison.
Desi grumbled to herself, took a deep breath, then repeated. “Where are we going now?”
Rainbow nodded and started walking towards the door. “Oh. You said it in geometry. We’re heading to the old Lyra Machine and Tool factory. The MoA HQ is under it. Let’s move out. There’s no more time to waste.”
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yay... update
Rainbow's sacrifice must've hurt like no tomorrow. Centuries of caring and loving, a memory kept, a memento like no other, gone. Given as an offering for the sake of the world.
They'd approve though, I'm sure.
Yay, your back in action!
10355324
I expect The Pinkness has arranged for a replacement picture.
Seems like something a sees-through-time Pinkie would do.
So... Basically installing a software-based accoustic coupling modem, most likely operating in half-duplex?
Actually, I bet something like that could be made for use with computers' sound cards, either using aux cables from line-out(1) to line-in(2) and line-in(1) to line-out(2) for full-duplex, or using a mic and speaker on each computer and dropping to half-duplex mode... I mean, something similar is already used for radio packet modem and some SSTV software IIRC, could probably do something similar but compatible with dialup modems I'd think... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9dpXHnJXaE (the simplest, most basic of modems) seems like it would be possible to emulate in software instead of hardware, at least.
Quite the trippy place
That she is
From an alternate future... and it's very possible that she's your younger sister from that future
Umhmm
Whew, and here I was starting to worry it was gonna be complicated
As long as the enemy can't leave the planet, yeah they do
I am Gears in this scene
The rule of cool is important after all
You know what would make this day better, finding out you have a second daughter who came from the future
...maybe
I know right
Yeah I suspect they might be using those on Gale, not sure though
Just gotta love the knots that multiverse theory can tie into causality and relationships/families. Travel between universes gets some wonderful setups, though.
All in all, thanks for the chapter, meep!
10355540
Now that you mention it, I hope so!
10337117
Heehee.
Great clip!
10355607 I once found a program that would convert text to binary audio pulses liike a modem did, but I lost it and I wish I could find it again for other creative projects.
10355628 Don't make the guy worry his Robo Sherif vs The Termareator crossover fanfic came true!
Now that was a blast from the past...
10355816 Holy shit, someone actually got it. You win +100 Internets :D Wrong season tho. You want the one from Human Machine specifically.
Yay we're back in action, now we're off to fight the BBFG, but something tells me we will run into other shenanigans on the way.
So they go up and disable the weapon, I feel like that will deffently NOT be the end, there will be something else that comes up, it always does with these quest lines.
Weird, Im sure Ive seen that sequence somewhere before.. or at least its style.
The Twilight bunker withstood a given meteor strike? that s a Long way down.
The only way that time travel dimentional complexity would be any worse, is if Desi needed to use a Spork to assist?
As for the Text To Audio thing that aws so commonplace decades ago, the reason its so difficult to find these days, is because of all the companies starting up new and exiting IP protected systems that use Acoustic Modems, to communicate through the Water. One value I saw was 64 Bits per second. If designed badly enough thats equivalent to a decent Morse code keyer.If coded using all the old patent expired stuff, its enough for real time speech. As an equivalent example, Voyager still communicates at 100 bits per second, and Unicorn Horn ELF trancievers can hit 1 kilobaud through the ocean.
That, is an awful lot of temporal spiritual energy, powered by centuaries of The Element Of Loyalty, backed by Harmony itself.
If there was a shrine with a cupcake in it, that thing would have enough energy to crack the planet apart.
10358667
I now have this image in my head...
"Uh... Bill... why are you adding that feature?"
"Because fuck ponies and their wife stealing magnum dongs, lets see how much they like railing those cheating whores with this shit, how do you like dem apples, huh..."
Also im re reading this again so I may be asking questions like this and taking less piss, so look forward to that
10358697 I enjoy questions, ask away :3
10358912
I'm also going to steal Dash's healing factor because I think our little fandom could use a Preacher-esque group of Hayseed swamp dwellers futzing around with balefire
10358917 Take anything you like :3 Also if you want to write it more grousomly, PReacher is a good source, but I always thought more like Akira's technogore scene if that was somhow creating a body rather than... uh... a meat monster. So like, if it happened backwards, starting from a gore pile.
10358939
I was thinking something along the lines of Raiders with Religion. Like there's a reason beyond being obnoxious sweat goblins. Oh sure, they like being that way, but have the extra benefit of working towards some goal.
It should be fun. I'm the guy whose made Kkat's abominations in the hospital somehow worse. Wanna know how?
10358953 Plz
10359113
Well, I suppose you are familiar with the processes of reproduction the abominations employ, so we'll skip over that to the meat and potatoes of the matter as per one of my characters
"Contrary to popular belief, abominations do not reproduce with a ovipositor nor are eggs, at least on the part of the abomination ((hereby referenced as Equus Nefas) involved at all. Instead they appear first put the subject into a receptive state via various excretions, ones which one should note do not alter the brain chemistry of the subject, and upon insemination, partially rewrites the dna and rna of its partners egg, turning it into a member of its own kind."
"Most fascinating. It appears, based on both the notes of the brutes calling themselves researchers of this nations past days and on my own research that while the offsprings maternal line changes from mare to mare, the paternal one does not, suggesting that despite these creatures have willfully maintained, essentially making all of its lineage the same with no noticeable degradation of the offsprings genes, in short, aside from being a mutant, their are no alterations or further mutations outside of the genetic override of initial breeding."
-Journal Excerpt of Dr. Volodmyr Koval
That was a very interesting spiritual trip through time and space to see where the alien weapon came from, though it definitely raised more questions than it answered.
Questions that have been pending for a while, aside from the zebra bit at the end.
Oh, I see where this is going.
Hopefully not.
Aside from the dimensional bit, this was pretty much Mom's plan last chapter. Well, the time traveler didn't show up on command, but sometimes the time traveler really needs to be somewhere else and can't make the meeting.
That seems useful.
Yes, hopefully some day you will figure it out.
That would be very helpful.
Oh wow, that should be a powerful artifact.
And it was.
So it's what, a mining laser with the knob turned all the way up past 11 to "doomsday" on the dial?
I guess you could do that if you don't want to play twenty questions about it.
Easy. If a pony approaches, she'd turn into an object that pony would love, but not stare at.
So, a chef pony would find themselves with the absolutely nicest, sharpest, cutty-est knife ever, and spend all their time staring at the food they were cutting instead of the knife. A doctor pony would find an awesome self-heating, self-filling coffee mug. A college student pony would probably find the same thing. Maybe a gamer pony would find an awesome game cartridge and spend all their time staring at a game screen. Etc.
Actually, it's impressive she's not overweight when you consider how successful such a strategy could be for a lovebug, and how sedentary it might make them?
So Meeps, since I'm rereading this, would you be interested in hearing further thoughts from the good doctor on the various creatures and persons throughout this verse in a similar fashion to the hospital horrors?
10361764 It's not impressive she's not overweight. Due to exoskeletons, insects can never look overweight. They do build fat, however, but it precise inwards, compacting organs and stuff. So there are no "fat" changelings.
10363385
Wouldn't that make weight gain even more dangerous?
Oh boy. Time travel.
10363513 You would think so, but it only seems to make them get sleepy faster.
Hey! Great updates! Glad to see you back. I understand about depression, been having a bad bout with it for the last few months. Hope things will get better.
10355324
Two centuries later, and the Mane Six are still helping save the world.
Painful to lose, but a momentous occasion nonetheless.
Oops. CRAP!
I am so sorry--I forgot about this site for a while (I've been busy with... everything, basically)--and haven't read any of my updates. I'll be fixing this shortly!
Obligatory list of typos:
fell through space?
I cannot find a definition for "onladge." What does that mean? Or is this one of those things where her mind is a bit squodgy because she's barely holding onto life/coherence?
whimpers
Also
You're
intentionally complicating
I'm aware this is intentionally in broken English, but that should probably be changed to "stay" just for the sake of reading it properly.
Please either lowercase the N or uppercase the d in "ANd".
ponies
Also yes. Self-instantiating time loops are a pain. Worse when they're cross-dimension...
she was a bit
tousle (man, that is a WEIRD spelling)
Actual Comments:
...
I bet I guessed how. Ewww!
I really hope that they get a chance to fix up as much as possible once the threat of the world ending is taken care of...