MLP: Technology is Magic

by Xarmar13

Exploration

Nova arrived in the nearby town an hour after her mission started. During that time she became more confident in her walking that she had started to trot her way there.

She spotted a number of the equines wandering around with the highest density being in what she figured was a marketplace where they set up stalls to sell their wares. She probably shouldn’t have been surprised that the food items appeared just like what humans grew. In fact, the general behavior of these creatures mirrored humanity in the nineteenth century.

The townsfolk didn’t seem to pay much attention to Nova at first which meant that her appearance was convincing. Of course, there were a few who gave her odd looks. She glanced at one stallion who quickly looked away and continued walking.

She received more strange looks over the next few minutes until one of them finally worked up the nerve to talk to her. “Excuse me, I’m sorry for staring. It’s just that you have such an exotic cutie mark.” The voice sounded like she was one of the females, a mare if she remembered her biology classes.

“Cutie mark?” Nova questioned. She looked at where the mare was staring and realized that she was looking at the mask icon on her flank. “What about it?”

“Does this mean that you have a talent for making masks?”

Nova really didn’t want to be placed into a role she was ill equipped to back up since there was a chance that she might make the natives suspicious. Instead, she tried to create a profile for herself that was a little closer to the truth without giving anything away. “Actually, I am talented at concealing myself. It doesn’t make me good at making masks though.”

Thankfully the mare seemed to buy the explanation as she nodded. “I see, so what brings you to Ponyville? I’ve never seen your face before.”

“Uhh, actually I just travel a lot.”

“Really? Where are your saddlebags? Surely you don’t travel without any supplies.”

“I umm…lost them in the nearby forest,” Nova lied. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable with the mare’s prodding questions. “I’m hoping to find a replacement here.”

“I can point you in the direction of a store where you can buy a replacement,” the mare offered.

“I can’t afford it I’m afraid; everything I owned was in those saddlebags.”

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry dear. I wish that I could help you retrieve your saddlebags but if they were lost in the Everfree Forest then they may be gone forever.” Nova did her best to look sad at the mare’s comment, realizing that she could lower her ears which the natives took as an expression of distress. “If you are looking to earn some bits I’ve heard that the Apple family at Sweet Apple Acres is looking for part-time help. The Apple family over there is stretched thin because of the coming harvest season and Pear Butter is still recovering from delivering her third foal. I’m sure a well-traveled earth pony like you would be a big help there.”

“Thanks for the advice, I’ll consider it an option. For now I need to get moving,” Nova offered, trying to get away from the mare.

“The farm is on the other end of town if you’re interested.” The mare then walked away.

Despite the discomfort she was feeling trying to talk with that mare, she did pick up on a number of terms that expanded her knowledge of these creatures. She learned that the currency of this country was called the bit and she learned that she was known as an earth pony. What that meant though she would have to learn as she went. They also used equine terms for their kind, such as foal when they likely referred to babies.

Nova was beginning to wonder if it was safe to assume that these creatures reflected horses, or rather ponies, from Earth, given their sizes. She had to wonder how many commonalities these ponies had with Earth equines.

With the exception of the colors and the marks on their flanks she considered that they also had a mainly vegetarian diet while requiring a minimal amount of meat for protein. She did notice one pony eating a sandwich with flowers inside.

That was when another thought occurred to her, Sophia had likely not only altered her form but she had likely also altered her dietary requirements. This meant that there was a good chance that her body was going to reject excessive consumption of meat and will find plants that her old body would have rejected to be appetizing to her new body. That was one thing she was not looking forward to.

Nova continued going over her thoughts as she explored the town.

---

Tosh was doing his own exploring of the town to pick up on the things that his partner missed. While his cloaking device was active he was confident about not being found. He was also glad that his personal suit carried its own generator so he didn’t have to maintain his invisible state with his psionic power.

Looking up, Tosh noticed the winged variants of the creatures, which he came to the same conclusion as Nova that they were ponies, flying around and physically touching clouds, even moving them around. He even spotted two of them actually standing on one and having a conversation.

He came to the conclusion that this was what the winged variants were capable of, yet for Sophia to take an interest in these creatures there had to be more to it than mere cloud manipulation.

Tosh made sure to study the other two types in town. However, he was unable to make any discoveries about the capabilities of the ones without wings or horns. Since his partner had become one of them he would leave the matter of their study to her.

The horned variants were much easier to study. After watching a young light gray filly with a deep purple mane and tail for a time he noticed that her horn glowed and objects that appeared to be in her focus also glowed the same color. He concluded that the horned variants used a basic form of telekinesis which indicated the possibility that they were naturally psychically gifted, though he would need to observe more of them before he could draw conclusions. However, like with the winged variants he couldn’t help but feel that they should be capable of more than telekinesis.

He continued looking at the scene with the filly for a little longer and saw that her parents watched as their daughter was fixing up a broken appliance for one of the townsponies. For one so young to be fixing machines like that, he could tell that she had a future in electrical engineering. It would be a useful skill to have for the future that Sophia envisioned.

Unfortunately the town seemed to be mainly inhabited by the non-appendaged variants while the winged ones had the second highest density here while the horned ones he could count with one hand, if he still had them. He would need to explore another town to find a better sample size.

For now, Tosh would have to be content with gathering what little information he could while he waited for further orders from Sophia.

---

Sophia continued racing tirelessly from town to town while planting shards for her future transit system. Sure, she could just use rifts to get around but that carried its own risks such as creating spatial distortions that she would have to repair and that would be a pain to do. Because of that she mainly used them for interplanetary or interdimensional travel. Equus, as the name of the planet she casually picked up from reading the mind of one of the ponies, was just one world and she was focused on a part of it so a warp network of crystal shards would work.

She made sure to leave the shards in places that the ponies would seldom, if ever, visit. If no safe place existed in that settlement then she would have to make the shard invisible with her power.

During her travels, Sophia’s mind drifted to Nova and Tosh. She didn’t tell them that there was another reason why she chose them for this mission.

Nova was twenty-eight years old now, not counting the centuries she spent in cryo stasis. She had spent five years in active service outside of a cryo cell after the End War against the Fallen One. She was one of the most talented and skilled ghosts in Sophia’s organization. The problem was that Nova refused to train new recruits after each mission so her unique skills were left to herself. Sophia refused to allow Nova’s skills to falter by age until she trained at least one apprentice. Given the psionic nature of some of these ponies, she had her hopes that Nova would show interest in one of them.

Sophia’s concerns for the ghost, despite her young age, also stemmed from the sadness she felt for her. The Ghost Program was a cruel one back then. Children such as Nova were forced against their will to participate in the program once the government found out that the child was gifted with psychic powers. Such people were rare so their participation was made mandatory.

Those children were robbed of their childhood and trained as deadly assassins while having implants surgically placed into them to control their powers. Some even had their eyes replaced with mechanical ones to improve their sight and receive mission data.

Nova’s soldier life left her disinterested and unable to have a normal life, not to mention the memory wipes she subjected herself to after each mission, which Sophia discontinued after the End War.

Sophia wanted Nova to experience what it’s like to live a normal life, away from the missions and the political intrigue and maybe try to make some real friends who weren’t coworkers who limited their interactions to professionalism.

On a side note, Sophia was glad that she was able to somehow curb Nova’s aggressive behavior toward spectres like Tosh. She once viewed their kind as psychotic time bombs who needed to be put down but Sophia made the two work together long enough for Nova to soften her opinion of them. The acrimony between the two had been worn down to a passive aggressive relationship at worst. She hoped that this would improve over their time here and the two would form an actual friendship.

Tosh wasn’t much better though he avoided the government longer than Nova did. He was raised on the streets by his grandmother on a world that didn’t have a training facility to hone his powers. The doll around his neck was a final gift from his grandmother. He was only a few years older than Nova. His problem was that he spent most of his life either serving the government or rebelling against it. He at least once had comrades once which he did call his friends though.

Sophia shook herself from her thoughts and continued her race all over the Equestria, which was what she learned was the name of the pony lands from overhearing a conversation. By the time the day turned to evening she had nearly finished setting up. All that remained was the city built into the mountain where the being with the high energy signature resided.

Comments

[Black--Soul]

Nova was twenty-eight years old now, not counting the centuries she spent in cryo stasis. She had spent five years in active service outside of a cryo cell after the End War against the Fallen One. She was one of the most talented and skilled ghosts in Sophia’s organization. The problem was that Nova refused to train new recruits after each mission so her unique skills were left to herself. Sophia refused to allow Nova’s skills to falter by age until she trained at least one apprentice. Given the psionic nature of some of these ponies, she had her hopes that Nova would show interest in one of them.

Pinkie Pie antics come to mind...
Especially since they will most likely stay away from S.M.I.L.E.