Crystaline Twilight

by Dragon Angel Knight

Brazen Tongue

Brazen Tongue

The next time Twilight saw Clovis I, it was at their family home near the Chicago facility the pony first appeared at. As usual, Clovis was more about the science side of things and less about legitimately caring for his son and the damage the old man had caused him. Clovis II was NOT alright with this… but allowed Clovis I to explain the solution and how it would work.

“You’ll be uploaded into an Exomind body,” the elder Clovis began, “To help make the transition as easy as possible, your body has been designed to mimic the human form as closely as possible, right down to the ability to eat and drink if you so choose. The last couple of Exomind volunteers have complained about the lack of taste, however, so that is something I have been trying to work on.”

“...But I’ll survive this mess you made, right?” Clovis the younger asked in a deadpan tone, “You know, because my body has refused all other treatments because of your tampering.”

Biting back a scowl at his son’s impertinence, Clovis nodded and replied ,”You will live, I promise you that.”

Twilight chose that moment to speak up, an uncomfortably familiar icy tone in her voice as she said, “Pinkie Promise.”

“Excuse me?” Clovis I said, taken aback.

“Cross your heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in your eye,” Twilight said, her eyes glowing a dark blue, “Pinkie promise that Dad will make it out of this alright.”

Realizing that Twilight was serious about the odd promise, Clovis I complied.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my e-OUCH!”

Clovis had actually stuffed his finger in his eye as he finished the ritual, making the rest of the family crack a small smile, though Twilight eyed Clovis I with more than a healthy amount of distrust.

“I’m going to trust you, Clovis the First,” the pony said, relenting a little bit, “...Save my father…”

“You have my word,” Clovis said as Twilight walked away with everyone else. As they left, Clovis looked down at his research into the strange Crystal Twilight had left behind during their last meeting and closed the file after saving the data. He opened up a new file, this one becoming the program to create the Exomind body for his son.

`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~

Several weeks later, true to his word, Clovis I had everything ready for the transfer of his son’s mind into his new Exo body. Sylvie had some trepidation about the entire procedure, but wanted her husband to be able to live in one way or another. Ana and Elsie were both there as well, with Twilight right next to them. Elsie was starting to show the same symptoms their father had and was hoping beyond hope that this worked. Barb was watching from the shadows as well, Twilight’s antsy feelings making her wary of the building.

“I’m ready,” Clovis II said from the other room. The Deep Stone facility had apparently been built for this express purpose. To grant humanity the immortality that they had sought for so long… Twilight’s entire body STILL itched with how wrong the entire moon of Europa felt, but stuck with it to make sure her father had at least some familiar faces when he woke back up.

“We’ll be here when you wake back up, Dad,” Ana said, a hand on Twilight’s withers.

“Yes,” Twilight said, Barb close by for support.

“We’ll begin the process now,” Clovis I said from his terminal, “Godspeed, son.”

“I’m not your son,” Clovis II said softly, but loudly enough for the speakers to pick up, “You made sure of that. Just get this over with…”

Stunned, Clovis nodded, “Radiolaria transfer commencing… complete.”

The process was something Clovis I had kept incredibly close to his chest. Even his closest advisors never knew how the process of transferring a human mind into an Exo body worked. But, work it did and the results were promising.

After being digitized and uploaded into the Exomind, a person could theoretically be redownloaded into a new body indefinitely. Provided there were enough bodies to be downloaded into, that is. The idea was that, for deep space missions and other more harrowing adventures too dangerous for a human body, Exos would do the heavy lifting and hard work, thus sparing the human body any damage or pain. The few Exos that Sylvie had interracted with, however, had been… human-like, but still had issues with twitchy, jerky movements. Almost as if the consciousness inside of the body was instinctively trying to reject the idea of being a human mind in a machine body.

She prayed to whatever gods existed before the Traveller and all of those that would come after that her husband was spared the same fate.

`~`~`~`~`~`~

Some time later, Clovis the Exo woke up. His optic sensors showing the concerned faces of his family as he attempted to adjust to his new body.

“This… feels weird…” he said slowly.

Twilight looked the newly minted Exo up and down, as if searching for something that only she knew about, then nodded, turning to Clovis I and saying, “He’s all there…”

“Yes. The transfer was flawless,” Clovis I replied haughtily, “I assume this means my promise was kept, correct?”

Sylvie reached a hand up to Clovis II’s face with sorrow etched on her features and said softly, “I’m so sorry this had to happen…”

Reaching his own hand up to touch Sylvie’s, Clovis II was shocked to find that he couldn’t feel her warmth anymore.

“It isn’t your fault,” he said in reply, “And it never will be.”

Sitting on her haunches, Twilight leaned heavily on Ana’s leg while Barb nuzzled the pony as best as she could with the odd configuration of her head.

In the dark corners of Twilight’s subconscious mind, whispers started to come forth, “You grasp for something once held, but now lost, Child… Your hooves will create power from nothing…”

And then, there was silence, but for the Howl of the Storm outside. Europa’s cold seeping into the room, in spite of the heaters in the building.

Author's Note:

https://open.spotify.com/track/1bsluIDUWDnoFb3GxzFYpT?si=b696f177e79b4491

I'm going to skip over the more... body horror aspect of what happens to Clovis II in the next chapter. Clovis Bray the first was an absolute ASS in his first life, as shown by the interactions between the Player Guardian and the Clovis AI on Europa in game, but... looking into the lore for this story and Iron Sunset makes me have a whole new hatred for Clovis and a more profaound appreciation for the writers of Destiny's lore as a whole, as... incomplete as it can be at times.

That said, I'm always open to constructive critiscism and enjoy comments and suggestions! This story is a little more tricky than Iron Sunset since it happens BEFORE the Collapse and lore from that area of history in game is... less than clear.

I hope you enjoy this next chapter and happy reading!

Comments

[Dragon Angel Knight]

11317254
No idea, but I'm glad you like it! Some people may just hope I'll give up the ghost with this story for some reason if it gets enough downvotes.

I'm not doing it for anyone, really. I have a story I want to tell, so, imma tell it to the best of my ability!