CPS Chronicles: Nightmares and Wormholes

by Largefish8

Chapter 5

Authors note: Just in case of any confusion...during this chapter, when characters are tsalking to Sparks, they are really talking to matt...

MLP Fic pt 5

Matt stood outside the house...well...barn really given that most of the local houses were too small as the drones moved a crate sized device into position. "Easy...easy." he said before a voice said "Whatcha doin?" Matt turned to see Apple Bloom and Rarity's little sisters and their friend. "Just some moving-in stuff," said Matt, "You probably don't want to stand in the way."

The filly trio looked out at the dozens of boxes spread out. Given that Twilight Moons minions had more or less turned the Skyraids defences into scrap, he and Aria had decided to have Matt move into the offered accomidation, at least till repairs were done...which meant that most of the boxes had either:
a: fragile things,
b: explosive things or...
c: items from both a and b.

"Erm...maybe you should go..." began Matt.

"Hey, maybe we can help you move your stuff," said Scootaloo. "Cutie Mark Crusaider Movers, YAY!" shouted the trio heading over to some of the boxes. "Erm...please...please stop." said Matt, panicking a little. He could already imagine what the town would do to him if he accidentally exploded one of their kids. Scootaloo pulled her head out of a box and spat out a small orange sized orb. “Hey...is this supposed to beep?" she asked as a red light came on. Matt yelped and kicked it into the tree line...where the grenade proceeded to explode.

"This is...very delicate and sensitive stuff," said Matt, "You really shouldn't-" "Hey...look at this thing." interrupted Sweetie belle, levitating a riot pistol. Matt went wide eyed "Put that down before you...AAARGH!" he said, yelling as the gun went off, the beam bouncing around before shooting up and stunning a low flying bird. "Cool..." said Scootaloo, "Do it again!" Matt snatched the gun away and snapped, "It is not a toy! This is no place for young-"

Apple Blooms voice behind him said "Hey...whut in tarnation dies this tube thingy do?" Matt whimpered before slowly turning to see that the crusaders final member had managed to get the plasma cannon aiming at him. "Whyyy?" he whimpered before the cannon fired.

The fillies and the drone winced as Matt was blasted through a wall, leaving a smoking hole shaped like his silhouette
"Please...please...leave." came his pained voice. Aria, via one of the spiderdrones said "Its just as well the reality generators online now." The drone scuttled around to stare at the three fillies, again cutie mark-less and said "The captain is unconscious...can I take a message?" Matt's next visitor was Pinkie, who came hopping towards the old barn Matt was staying at.

"Hello? Anypony home?" she called through the open door before saying "Well...thats a bit weird cause a pony doesn’t live here but..." before one of the spiderdrones said in aria’s voice "Miss Pie...can I help you?" On cue there was a metallic clang from the open double doors leading to the cellar at the back of the barn. "Is Matt here?" asked Pinkie.

"He's in the basement, working on a...project that he never had the chance to finish...why he carts that overgrown junk heap around is beyond my processing capacities." said Aria, tone going darker as she went into rant. Pinkie didn't notice or didn’t care as she said "Okie dokey lokie." before bouncing towards the stars down to the basement.

...

Matt had just finished welding a circuit board when he heard someone come in. "Ah, good, hand me that screwdriver, would you?" he said, not looking up. "I dunno where it is." said Pinkie voice, making Matt jump up and bang his head. "Gah...I mean...Pinkie..." he said, deactivating the face shield on the helmet he was using for a welding mask.

"Whatcha doing?" asked Pinkie. "Uh, something delicate, and the last time someone asked me that, I got sent through a wall. So, please go away before something happens," said Matt.

Pnkie peered in and said "I wanted to invite you to look around Ponyville seeing as you were busy fighting those meanypants the last time." before saying "You crossed those wires." Matt turning to stare in shock at the spotted problem .
"Uh...thanks," said Matt before putting the wires in their proper places, "I wouldn't mind a tour, but I've been kinda busy lately."

Aria's voice said "That is correct...my last psy-scan of you showed dangerous stress levels...which is why I have just auto locked your weapons into safety mode. I am ORDERING you to go out and relax." Matt pouted and said, "You can't make me."

There was several clicks as the concealed drones activated their laser stunners "You can go out the door or the window, sir." said Aria pleasantly. Matt turned to Pinkie Pie and asked, "So, where shall we start that tour?"
...

Matts main worry about the tour was a vague memory of the nasty glares he had gotten the first time he’d left their local clinic, after echo teams; attack. "Hey...pinkie...what are the...general thoughts about me?" he asked as they walked towards the town.

"Uh, most people are wondering what you are," said Pinkie, "Some of them say you're a monkey of some kind."
Matt sighed and cut straight to the point “How many think I should be locked up?" "Uh, quite a lot," admitted Pinkie Pie, "But you won't be because Celestia said that you shouldn't be."

"That just means mobs." muttered Matt to himself in a dark tone before saying cheerfully "Well, maybe seeing me not attacking anything will make them believe I'm not hellbent on world dominaton."
...

In town, Matt found himself on the receiving end of more than one angry glare.
Pinkie didn’t seem too or didn’t care about the glares being aimed though Matt could hear a few of the muttering and was finding it harder to not react. "So, you wanna visit the library first or the Carousel Boutique?" asked Pinkie.

…

Matt looked around. "Man...nice place. Again...sorry the spiderbots trashed it first night we arrived here." he said, before seeing a persian cat. "Cool...you got kitties here." he said, kneeling. "What its name?" he said.

"Opalescense," said Rarity, "Opal for short. I'd be careful around her. She's a bit picky of who can touch her." Matt said "I dunno...Cats usually like..." before Opal hissed and jumped on his face, prompting a scream of 'GAH...FURRY FACEHUGGER...GET IT OFF!"

"Oh dear," said Rarity, "Pinkie Pie, go and fetch Fluttershy. She'll be able to get Opal off." Opal however ended it, jumping off just before Matt hit a wall, sitting down and starting to wash herself in a air of 'that'll teach him'. "Evil...cat." muttered Matt, sliding down to the floor. "Oh, never mind, Pinkie," said Rarity, "But please bring the first-aid kit."

…

Matt glanced around at the books on the shelves on the wall. "Huh, I didn't think you ponies had so many books," said Matt.
Spike said "Yeah...Twilight does like books." Matt noticed the slightly cold tone and sighed "How's Twilight been?"
"Well, her magic's been on the fritz lately," said Spike, "She needs to stop using it too much."

Matt sighed and said "As long as she’s getting better." Before seeing Twilight coming down the stairs and his gloom vanishing behind a mask. "Twilight...nice to see you up and about." he said, trying not to wince at some kind of medical covering on her horn.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Twilight, "I've forgotten how much work it is to not use magic." Matt said "I can only imagine." before looking at a few of the books. He'd need something to do without the ships VR machine to amuse him, though admittedly after the problem with the rogue AI, he'd been a bit more reluctant to play with it. Matt picked up a random book and opened it. However, the writing in it was completely illegible to him. "Hey, Aria, why can't I read this book?" asked Matt.

"I'm afraid the plasma blast wiped the database...I'm working on visual translations...maybe if you borrowed an alphabet book..." said Aria before Matt said “Don’t be a smartarse." and aria finished “...then I can upload a translation update by tomorrow." Matt rolled his eyes "I'll have died of boredom by then...maybe Twilight and co can help?" Sir...I really think thats..." began Aria only for matt to hang up.

"So, you wouldn't happen to have any language-teaching books in here, would you?" asked Matt. Twilight nodded with a smile "There is one spell I've been practising. Its sometimes used in Canterlot when ambassators visit." she said. Spike said "Twi? Is it a good idea to try a spell like that while you're recovering?" concern in his voice. Matt laughed for a second "Oh please...whats the worst that could happen?" he said before stopping and saying "Did anyone hear thunder then?" "I'd keep your mind blank for a while," said Twilight as her horn glowed, "This could get complicated."

Matt shrugged before getting a distant expression. Spike muttered "That didn’t take long." "Ok, hold it," said Twilight as her horn shot a beam at Matt's forehead. The beam suddenly seemed to hit an invisible wall, matts wrist computer starting to beep urgently.

Matt glanced at his wrist comp and said, "Huh, now what's up with that?" The spell's beam had finally compressed into an orb that finally shot through and hit Matt between the eyes. At the same time, Matts wrist computer began to crackle and spark, a small voice saying "Danger...reality field core failure imminent."

"Uh, Twilight, maybe you should stop," said Spike. Twilight had stopped the beam already, Matt getting up unsteadily and looking at his wrist computer. "Danger...solinium 12 core breach in 10 seconds. All non-indigenous lifeforms evacuate at once." Matt gulped at that and pulled a piece of it off and ran to the first window he could find before trying to throw it out.

Unfortunately, just as he was throwing his arm out to hurl it, a bright explosion suddenly flashed through the library, temporarily blinding everyone. Twilight, Pinkie and Spike were forced to turn away but they heard a thud as Matt hit the floor, hard by the sound of it.

As Twilight and Spike slowly opened their eyes, Twilight said, "Ok, no more big spells until my horn is better." Her head feeling like it was splitting.

There was a weak groan from ground level and the two turned to look. "Oh boy." said Spike after a minute. Pinkie said "Look on the bright side....nopony'll be angry at him as much."

…

Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash were all heading towards the library as fast as they could after they got the message from Twilight. "Whats the trouble, Twi?" said Rainbow dash, landing at the door. Spike appeared behind Twilight and said "Twilight...I think he’s waking..." before there was a scream from inside the library and Spike finished "...up." "Oh dear, is there a burglar in the house?" asked Rarity? "Burglar? Where?" asked Fluttershy before hiding behind Rainbow Dash.

Twilight said nervously "Not exactly." before stepping aside to let them in and see a grey coated pegasus colt with a black mane and a firework explosion cutie mark in what appeared to be full on freak out mode. "Who's that guy?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Twilight gulped at that before saying "Its...Matt." 'Matt' seemed to snap out of it at that, a worryingly unhinged tone in his voice "Yes...this is just a weird dream...or another smegging mind leech."

The ponies blinked before Rainbow Dash laughed and said, "Oh, good one. This is your best joke yet, Pinkie."
Pinkie smiled "It wasn’t me, Dash...but it would have been a great prank." 'Matt' turned to fix Dash with a stare "A prank?" he said, his left eye visibly twitching "Ok, all jokin' aside, where's Matt?" asked Applejack.

"I'm right here..." said the colt, the unstable quality vanishing from his tone before he said "I'm not dreaming, am I? I’d say the lack of pants proved it...but you guys probably haven’t heard of them." "Ok, prove you're Matt," said Applejack, "When did you first meet my little sister?"

"She and her buddies found a downed fighter that one of them got into, forcing me to chase it down...they recently almost killed me with my own gear." said Matt, promptly. The ponies' jaws dropped with an almost audible thunk. "Yeah, pretty big surprise, isn't it?" said Spike. Matt said in a matter-of-fact voice "It's not been my week really, has it?"

"Twilight, how did this happened?" asked Rarity. "He asked me to help him read the books because he can't read equestrian. I tried that translation spell I've been practising...then part of his wrist bracelet exploded." said Twilight. Matt sighed "Stupid cutprice reality shield generator overloaded." he said. "So, you turned him into a pony?" asked Fluttershy.

"No...the exploding generator did it. I'll be like this till it wears off...if it wears off." said Matt, a little bitterly. "I can just imagine how the town'll act if they think I’m a smegging shapeshifter..." "Well, nopony has to know," said Twilight, "It can be our little secret."

Matt stopped and a watcher would have almost have been able to hear his mental gears working the problem. The flash of the exploding reactor had not been that big so nobody outside would have seen it, the populace had been so busy ignoring him that nobody had seen him come in...what could go wrong? "I like that plan." he said.

Just then, Matt's wristcomp on the floor beeped as Aria's voice said, "Matt? What's going on? I could feel the reality pulse from here. You didn't do something stupid, did you?" Matt looked at it as if it had just spat acid. "She's going to laugh, I just know it." he said before going over and saying “I'm right here...If I said nothing had happened, would you believe me?" he said.

"You got tangled up in some magi energy, didn't you?" said Aria. Matt gulped and said "What makes you say that?"
"It's hanging like a thick fog around you, so obviously you allowed Miss Sparkle to perform a spell. And that presumably caused your reality generator to overload, which would explain the reality pulse," said Aria, "A moment please while I use the vidcam to ascertain the damage."

Matt looked at the wrist computer in horror as it gave a whirring noise as the camera engaged. Aria didn’t answer for a minute "Erm...Aria?" asked Matt only for Aria to break out in laughter. Matt's ears drooped as he said, "There goes my last shred of dignity."

Aria said "Oh, stop being dramatic. As if you had any to begin with." "This footage better get deleted," snapped Matt.
"Make me, pony boy." said Aria, mirth in her voice. Matt glared and switched to splitter "When this is over, Your CPU has an appointment with a fire axe." "Ooh, how will you hold it? In your teeth?" asked Aria in the same language. Matts glare intensified before Aria continued "I suggest you get used to it while I calculate how long it will take for the excess energy to bleed off."

Rainbow Dash walked over to Matt and said, "Looks like I can take you for a real tour now. How does seeing Ponyville from the air sound?" "Um, I want to, uh, be his tour guide," said Fluttershy, a blush noticeable on her face. Matt gulped a little before saying "I'm not even sure how to fly with these...I'm used to starships." "Trust me, flying with your own wings is much more fun," said Rainbow Dash, "You don't want to be cooped up all day in here, do ya?"

Matt thought to how Rainbow had outflown the grav cars in the VR simulation...if anyone could teach him how to fly in his current predicament, it was her, plus his current form seemed to have a gentle form of claustrophobia, nothing major…but enough to make him feel constrained indoors. "Not a chance. Lets go." he said "Uh, you don't mind if I came along, do you?" asked Fluttershy.

Matt, who probably at this moment, couldn’t spot a hint if it hit him from a great height, said "More the merrier."
As the pegasi went out the door, Twilight said, "Maybe I should start looking for a counterspell." The rest, including the voice of Aria from the wrist computer said "NO!" Aria adding "This may do him good...if he gets any more stressed, his heart might explode." "Besides, you really need to lay off the magic," said Spike.

"Agreed." said Aria, "Plus, this was not caused by a spell, just Matt not keeping his wrist computer up to spec." "Ah, I was wanting to see if Twilight could turn me into a woozle next," said Pinkie. "What's a woozle?" asked Rarity. "It's very confuzleing," said Pinkie.
...

Matt, Rainbow and Fluttershy walked through Ponyville, Matt feeling a bit unnerved from how...normal everyone was treating him. He hadn’t realized held gotten used to the 'alien' treatment over the past 2 years. As a matter of fact, no one was paying him any mind at all...except for some of the mares, particularly the pegasus mares. But the look he was giving was...something he can't identify.

The looks were starting to make Matt feel nervous when he walked round a corner and almost walked into two pegasi mares. "Wow...sorry about that." he said. "Oh, it's ok," said one. "More than ok," said the other. "Erm...ok." said Matt, backing up a bit. "So, what's your name?" asked one of the mares.

Matt visibly gulped. Almost everybody in town knew his name...and not in a good way. "Spark." he said, desperately. "Hi Spark.." sighed the two mares. Matt tried to pull himself together and said "Erm...whats your names?" looking pleadingly at Rainbow and Fluttershy "I'm Slipstream," said one. "I'm Cumula," said the other. "Uh, nice to meet you," said Matt. "Yeah, yeah, nice to meet you, but we've got places to be," said Rainbow Dash. "But we want to know more about Spark," said Slipstream. "We don't get enough winged stallions in Ponyvile," said Cumula.

Fluttershy said “Erm...excuse me..." only for Cumula to say over her "So...where are you from, Spark?" Matt said nervously "You wouldn’t believe me if I told you." Fluttershy tried again "Excuse me...can i say...?" before Slipstream said "Oh...will you be staying here long?"

Suddenly, Fluttershy jumped in front of Slipstream and Cumulua and snapped, "Back off, sisters!" This alone was uncharacteristic of Fluttershy, but the stern glare she was giving was even more so. The mares glared at Fluttershy for a minute before Slipstream said "Fine...come find us when you're tired of her." Matt was cowering, shocked at Fluttershys brief personality flip.

As soon as the two mares had flown off, Fluttershy turned and said as sweetly as if nothing had happened, "So, shall we continue our tour?" Matt and Rainbow Dash, who was also staring from the outburst, nodded slightly. Matt whispered to Rainbow "Remind me never to piss her off."

Eventually, the trio stopped for lunch at a small cafe. Matt wasn't very happy about the menu, particularly since it was almost exclusively vegetarian. Not to mention unusual. "Flowers in sandwiches? Now I've seen everything...and that includes that time Xander cooked for the team....the squirming." he said, shuddering at the memory.

"Well, you can't have sweets all the time," said Rainbow Dash, "You'll lose your aerodynamic figure." "I suppose...hopefully this won’t be too permanent...I miss my thumbs already." said Matt, adding the last part to himself before overhearing two familiar voices and vanishing under the table with a yelp.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy glanced over to see Slipstream and Cumula at another table, talking with some friends. "I can't believe that the princess is letting that creature live so close to town..." said Cumula. "Yeah, it might come into town and eat someone," said another. "Not to mention what it did to poor Miss Sparkle." said Slipstream to a round of agreement. Matt had slowly reappeared in his seat, a look of intense fury on his face.

"Now, now, Ma-, I mean, Spark, you shouldn't listen to what the other girls say," said Fluttershy, carefully. "Is this the smeg they're saying about me? I eat ponies?" said Matt, in a dark tone. "Oh, you know those crazy rumors," said Rainbow Dash, "You should hear what we told about Zecora."

"But...blaming me for what happened to Twilight?" said Matt, sounding furious now. "I nearly killed myself saving her butt and this town as well and thats the thanks I get?" he said, his voice raising a bit from blind fury. "Keep it down," said Fluttershy, nervously "You're not supposed to be Matt right now, remember?"

Matt closed his eyes and took a few breathes "You’re right...sticks and stones and all that." before Cumula said behind him. "Spark. How nice to see you again." Matt turned to see Cumula and Slipstream. "Oh...you two." he said, the dark tone slipping back in.

"So, you finished with whatever you're doing with them?" asked Slipstream, pointing a wing at Dash and Fluttershy. "No...but I wouldn’t go anywhere with two shallow smegheads who pass judgment on people they hardly know...good day to you." said Matt in a sub-zero tone before getting up and leaving with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.

The two mares stared after them before Cumula said, "Why do the cute ones always have to be crazy?" "Yeah, he's a lost cause," said Slipstream, "Let's go." Matt, Rainbow and Fluttershy wandered back into town. "So...apart from the cakes...everyone thinks I'm a walking talking apocalypse waiting to happen." said Matt gloomily after a few minutes.
"Oh, they'll lighten up eventually," said Rainbow Dash, "You just gotta show how nice a guy you really are."

"Its hard to do that when their mind appear to be already made up." said Matt, gloomily before a gust of dusty wind blew through the square. "That's odd, we're not supposed to get a wind from that direction today," said Rainbow Dash. The trio turned to see several ponies running the opposite way. "Oh, what now?" muttered Matt before a market stall flew into view to smash against a wall. What looked like a whirlwind with burning red eyes came into view.

"What is that?" asked Matt. "A dust devil," said Rainbow Dash, "These things are nothing but trouble." The dust devil, to prove its point, grabbed a pony and span it around before letting it spin off into a dazed heap. "Really?" said Matt sarcastically as two more dust devils came into view.

"We gotta get rid of these things before they wreck the whole town," said Rainbow Dash. "Um, maybe if we asked them really nicely, they'll leave," said Fluttershy. Several other pegasi were already arriving. "Erm...maybe I should stay here with Fluttershy? I can’t actually fly yet, remember?" said Matt, nervously. "What are you talking about? This is a perfect time to learn," said Rainbow Dash, scoldingly.

Matt watched as Rainbow Dash flew off to spin around a Dust Devil, the whirlwind collapsing into dust. He gulped "This can only end badly." he said only for Fluttershy to say reassuringly "You'll be fine." Matt closed his eyes and concentrated on flapping his wings.

Despite what most of the laws of aerodynamics and gravity would say, Matt started lifting up from the ground. "Hey...this is actually pretty co-" began matt cheerfully before a half barrel, sent flying by a dust devil impacted with him. The dust devil in question closed in on the duo. "Hurhurhur...pigeon ponies." it said in a deep, and not very intelligent voice."

Matt poked his head out of the wreckage, the way his eyes were spinning evidence to the barrels effectiveness. However, one thought was riccocheting around his scrambled brain and went 'That pigmy tornado called you a pigeon...are you gonna stand for that?' "No, mr concussion." gibbered Matt out loud before taking off again and managing to swoop at the dust devil.

Unfortunately for Matt, the dust devil saw him coming and sucked Matt into its vortex. It spun around a bit before hurling Matt out towards the fountain in the square. Fluttershy winced as the ballistic Matt hit the water with a 'ow'. The splash however went over the dust devil which made a shrieking noise and seemed to melt into a puddle of mud that said in a bubbling voice "No like water."

Fluttershy gasped and said, "Matt, that's the answer!" Matt's head popped over the side of the fountain. "What is?" he said, his voice slurred from the double whammy his skull had just endured before his gaze fell on the complaining ex-dust devil. "Part of me's happy its that easy...the other thinks its a bit anti-climatic." before he grinned, an idea blossoming in his mind. He said "I'll go get Dash...if anyone can make what I have in mind..."

"I'll go get a bucket," said Fluttershy. "Good idea. Make sure that muddy over there doesn’t try to dry off." said Matt before looking around to where the ponies were doing their best to rein in the dust devils. He finally spotted the pegasus he was looking for and with a little concentration took off towards her. "Rainbow...hold up" he called. "Matt, we don't have time to talk," said Dash. "We do if we wanna deal with these things." said Matt, before explaining what had happened with the first dust devil.

"That's all it took? Water?" said Rainbow Dash, "That's too easy." "There is a saying to go with this regarding gifts...but you might take it as an insult. Come on...I got a plan...but I need a waterspout from the fountain to do it. Doesn’t need to last long...just long enough." said Matt. Rainbow Dash looked suspicious "What are you gonna do?" Matt smirked "Use my skills."

Matt then flew over to a dust devil and said, "Hey, I hear you once lost a fight to a vacuum cleaner." The dust devils stopped what they were doing at that and turned to glare at the cheeky pegasus. "Yeah, you heard me, you windbags." called Matt. The dust devils all let out howling cries of rage before shooting after Matt, who blew a raspberry before flying off.

"I amaze myself sometimes," said Matt as he flew back to the fountain. He yelped as one of the dust devils literally sent a piece of the road at him, nearly turning him into a pancake. "...AT HOW DUMB I AM!" he finished with a scream, turning a corner to see Rainbow Dash hovering over the fountain. "Dash, start the spin cycle," said Matt.

Rainbow Dash nodded and began to do a variation of her Rainbow Spin-dry, a tornado of water rising before she stopped, sending it shooting at the dust devils as they came round the corner. "Uh oooh." said one of the dust devils gloomily before the waterspout hit dead center, causing them to join the first dust devil in mud mode.

Matt shook off the water that landed on him and said, "Well, that went well." Rainbow landed smugly and said “They don’t call me Rainbow and Dash for nothing." Matt laughed and said "No, they don't. Now we just wait for Fluttershy to get that bucket and we can dump these dufus's in the lake or something."

The ponies that had been hiding the buildings came out as soon as the dust devils were gone. "Hey, they've been defeated," said one pony. "Who did it?" asked another. "I think he did," said one pony, pointing at Matt. Matt looked over his shoulder for the person they were pointing at, completely unused to actually being thanked before his brain supplied the theory that maybe they meant him. "Me? No...but It was Rainbow Dash who..." he began.

However, the ponies apparently didn't hear him as they started cheering. "He's a hero!" yelled one. "He saved the town!" yelled another. "What's his name?" called a third. "Erm...I'm nobody...just passing through." sad Matt, nervously before wincing as someone in the crowd said “Hey...Isn’t that Spark? The new pony?" Matt, in automatic response practically shrieked "PROVE IT!"

Then the crowd started chanting, "Spark, Spark, Spark, Spark..." "Hey, wait a minute," said Rainbow Dash, but she was completely drowned out. Matt, on his part looked completely terrified before being carried off, screaming in splitter, if anypony had been able to understand, the words 'ITS THE MOOOOOB!!!"

Just then, Fluttershy trotted up to Rainbow Dash, a bucket in her mouth. She looked around and asked, "What did I miss?" Rainbow Dash glared as Matt was carried round a corner by his new adoring fans. "Just somepony getting some praise he didn;t earn." she said darkly.

...

Rainbow Dash had gone back to her cloud house to let off some steam. "I can’t believe he took the credit for stopping those dust devils. He's not even a real pegasus. I;d like to see him clear out an entire sky in 10 seconds flat." she muttered to herself before hearing a frantic knocking at the door. Rainbow Dash and said, "I'm so not in the mood for Fluttershy right now." Nevertheless, she went over to the door and opened it.

As soon as the door was open, there was a grey and blue blur that shot into the room and behind the furniture. "SHUTTHEDOOR!" screamed Matt's voice. Rainbow Dash was about to ask why when she heard a cheering throng of pegasi outside. She quickly shut the door and locked it. Though exactly how a lock would work for a door made of clouds was a bit perplexing.

"You...people can’t do anything half way...first you despise my very existence...then I can’t even get back home without being mobbed to death by admirers." said Matt in a shaking voice, peering out from behind the chair he’d taken cover behind with a wide eyed expression. "You don't deserve to be mobbed to death," said Dash in a sour tone. "Finally, somebody who shows some-" started Matt before Dash snapped, "I should be the one with the mob!"

Matt stopped himself from an annoyed reply as he thought about it. "I agree entirely. You did all the leg-hoofwor-I dunno...the something work...My head hurts." he said, moaning a bit. "I don’t like this kinda attention. People in my line of work with this kinda attention have a special nickname." Rainbow dash said unsympathetically "Showoff?" Matt turned to look at her and said darkly "No...Target practise."

"Well, you sure aren't denying of that attention," said Rainbow Dash bitterly. "Did any of what I said get through? People in my career choice do not last long with this amount of attention. We actually get relocated...6 feet below the surface of whatever planet we happen to be on." said Matt, a frantic tone entering his voice as he spoke. "You sure aren't acting like it," said Rainbow Dash. Matt frowned and said, "Is everything I'm saying just passing straight through those pointed ears?"

When no response came Matt said darkly "I've spent 2 hours trying to communicate to the town that you stopped them. They called me 'modest'." he said through gritted teeth before stopping and trying a different approach. "Who cares what they think? In a few days, 'Spark' will be long gone and that'll be that. Anyway...I probably haven’t got a patch on you." he said, in a smooth voice. "Flattery will get you nowhere," said Rainbow Dash.

Matt glared, muttering "I shoulda left you in the computer." Rainbow Dash turned and said, "Oh, so you wanna get rid of the competition, huh?" Matt jumped back a bit in shock and said "Erm...Yes?" he said, unsure of how this would go. "Well, big hot shot, how about we prove which one's the better flyer?" snapped Rainbow Dash. Matt thought about this. "Sure...why not?" he said. "Fine, the Dragonwing Pass Endurance Race, two weeks from now," said Rainbow Dash, "Be there or be square."

Now if Matt, like all mercs had one fault, it was pride...in spadefuls. "Huh...I've done my own versions of endurance. A race'll be a piece of cake. I will see you at the race..." he said before turning to leave and suddenly stopping. "Actually..." he began. "You need to wait until the cheering mass leaves, don't you," said Rainbow Dash. Matt said suspiciously "Maybe..."

...

<Internal Memo system activated...>

<Recording now...>

'I am starting to wonder if choosing Mr Lynch and his team to liberate me was a good idea. The captain is clearly unhinged. Two weeks have passed and instead of aiding me in finding the dimensional frequency to re-code him back to human form, he has been training for a stupid race.

Apparently, he had been goaded into it by the blue pegasus who appeared to be jealous of the attention Mr. Lynch had gained for his assistance with the dust devil incident. This is even more irrelevant when one considers that is so-called 'hero worship' stopped after a day or two. Except for a certain yellow pegasus.

It doesn’t take a hard drive my size to know that Miss Fluttershy seems to have formed a...whats the word?...Crush on Mr Lynchs current form. I would have thought he would have caught on to it..."

...

Aria was interrupted when Matt came in. "Matt, you do realize that this race is foolhardy and incredibly dangerous," said Aria. "Hey...I didn't start this." said Matt, trotting over to slump down on a seat. "Man, this training hurts." he said. Aria sighed. Matt had insisted that his medical nanites be disabled till the race was done, quoting that he wanted to 'win fairly'. In Aria's opinion, that was just stupid.

"Matt, you've only been a pegasus for two weeks. Which in itself is foolish. You should be helping me build the reality generator," said Aria, "And as an extension of that first observation, all the other competitors have been pegasi for all their lives. And have trained much longer and harder than you have." "...And none of them have been shot at or had to flee for their lives. I can do this." said Matt, stubbornly.

"Have you ever been in high mountainous terrain before?" asked Aria, "Are you aware of the dangers that exist there?" "Oh...its just a mountain race...They probably have plans to stop accidents." said Matt, not really listening.

Aria gave a growl of frustration, or something close enough to it. "There are blistering winds up there, barely sufficient levels of oxygen, and the frostbite will cause you hooves to fall off," she said, trying to be as blunt as possible. "Thanks...That reminds me, Rarity said something about a flight suit." said Matt, before turning to leave. Aria watched Matt go before she said, "Now I remember why I prefer the company of scientists."

...

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was going through her routine training, spinning around at high speeds before swerving through trees. She finally completed her course and landed next to Fluttershy. "How'd I do?" she asked. "Two seconds faster than last time," said Fluttershy, clicking her stopwatch. "Hah...That race is in the bag. No way he can beat me." said Rainbow in her usual cocky form.

"Uh, don't you think you're being a little harsh on Matt?" asked Fluttershy. "He's the one who started it, taking the credit for those dust devils." said Rainbow, annoyed. "It was really an accident," said Fluttershy, "I'm sure he didn't mean to take the credit." “Yeah right." said Rainbow Dash under her breath before remembering herself and saying unconvincingly "Yeah, right."

"Matt's really not a bad guy," said Fluttershy. "He's smart, kind, funny, clever, cute..." Fluttershy stopped when she saw Rainbow Dash staring at her. "What did you just say?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Oh, nothing, nothing important," said Fluttershy, a blush becoming very prominent on her face. Rainbow smirked and said "You've got a crush on him? He's not even a real pony." Fluttershy's blush became even brighter, "Uh, well, he is good-looking, and, er, he is, uh, sweet," she said.

"He's not a real pony...plus...does he even know you have a crush on him? Guys a bit dim sometimes." said Rainbow Dash. "Well, uh, I'm hoping he would have picked up a hint or two," said Fluttershy. "I wouldn’t count on it." said Rainbow Dash to herself.

...

As anyone who's ever been at a fitting knows, they tend to taking agonizingly long amounts of time, most of which the person being fitted has to stand in uncomfortable poses. "This is just a race suit...right?" said Matt, a little uncertain. "Matt, you must take pride in what you wear," said Rarity, "It's not just functional, it's fashionable." Matt rolled his eyes. "Usually, I look for energy blast protection over looks." he said to himself.

"Well, I don't know about that, but you need plenty of insulation against those dreadfully cold winds as well as streamlined to be more aerodynamic," said Rarity, "Now tell me if this is too tight." She then picked up a thread and pulled it. Matt went bug eyed as he felt like he’d just been put in a pneumatic press. "Too........tight." he gasped.

"Oh, sorry," said Rarity before loosening the thread. Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle was sitting nearby and flipping through a book about the Dragonwing Mountains. "Matt, are you certain you want to go through with this?" asked Twilight, "The race is really for professionals more than first-timers."

Matt took a few breathes as soon as the suit was looser before looking over at Twilight. "I've been in some bad situations before. How bad could this race be?" he said confidently. "Well, in the last year, plenty of ponies ended up in hospitals," said Twilight, "Lots of broken legs and wings."

Matt stopped at that. "Erm..." he said nervously before shaking his head as the usual merc pride overrode common sense. "I've been in a few scrapes...I'll be fine. I can handle one endurance race." He also added under his breath "...And I am not letting Dash beat me that easy."

"Matt, this isn't just an endurance race," said Twilight, "It requires a lifetime of experience to get through this." "And you're not a real pegasus," said Rarity, "Opalescence, could you bring the silver thread?" Matt began to glare as Opal rolled a spool of thread over to Rarity. "I am not backing down. I can do this." he said, starting to get annoyed.

Twilight sighed and said, "Matt, just don't push yourself. You're not built for this kind of endurance." Little did Matt know, but Opal was watching his swishing tail with interest and was getting into a crouching position. Matt sighed "Encodings pretty thorough...I'm exactly the same as a normal pony until..." he said before getting a strange look at the same time that Rarity and Twilight heard a 'shrik' noise from behind him.

"Rarity...does Opal often...attack customers?" asked Matt through gritted teeth. "Well, sometimes if she's feeling playful and she knows the customers well," said Rarity. "That's what I thought," said Matt before jumping twenty feet into the air with a yelp.

...

Later...

Matt looked at the finished suit before glaring at Opal who he was sure was smirking at him. "Nice suit." he said, a little impressed despite everything. "Yes, it is a fine piece of work," said Rarity, "I don't get to work on stallions too often. Apparently, there's something about tailor-work that disinterests them. I wonder what it could be?" Matt kept a neutral expression and said diplomatically "I have no idea...being an alien and all that."

"Speaking of which, you do remember that you'll be changing back to a...hoeman, right?" said Twilight. "Yeah...I need to work on retuning the reality generator at some point." said Matt, absently. "Well, good, but it's not just getting attached to your form that you should be worried about," said Twilight. "It's others getting attached to that form," said Rarity.

Matt blinked "Pardon?" he said, a little confused from the sudden subject change. "Well, er, you are aware of how much attention you attract as a stallion," said Rarity. "You mean those two idiots that I met when Fluttershy and Dash gave me that tour?" said Matt, not catching on. "Oh...fluttershy sent em packing. She's got a real temper on her when you get her going."

"Ah, well, that's pretty close," said Twilight, "But I don't suppose you've wondered why Fluttershy snapped at them like that." Matt seemed to think about it before saying. "Not really..." before noticing their expressions. "Wait...you think...I...heheh...Thats silly." he said, sounding nervous. "Well, I'm not quite sure I agree with Fluttershy's taste, but this is certainly something you should address soon," said Rarity.

Matt said with a shaking voice "But...that...I'm not even...ggnnnh." before passing out. "Perhaps we should have been more gentle," said Twilight. "Well, he needed to be told at some point," said Rarity, "I'm quite surprised he didn't figure it out himself." Matt woke up suddenly before saying nervously. "Tell me I dreamt about you telling me...I didn’t, did I."

Rarity opened a drape and said, "Have a look for yourself." Matt looked outside and saw Fluttershy, lying on the ground and plucking petals from a flower. Even Matt wasn't oblivious enough to not know what she was saying. "Ah....smeg." said Matt to himself, gloomily. "I know you'd hate to break her heart as much as the rest of us, but we all know it would never work," said Rarity.

"I know...I can only imagine how she'll take it...I'll have to think about how to break it gently to her." said Matt, gloomily. Twilight and Rarity exchanged a glance before saying at the same time, "You need some help." Matt looked at them "Help?" he said. "No offense, but you don't seem like the kind guy who knows how to be gentle," said Twilight. Matt opened his mouth to disagree before he realised they had a point.

"Yes," said Rarity, "if a lady is to be told that the stallion of her affections is not available to her, it must be done with finesse and great care. Otherwise, she'd think he was nothing but a conceited, arrogant, uncharming clod that should be trampled under a stampede of-" Matt watched politely as Rarity's look began to darken and her tone get angrier as she tiraded on before he slowly edged over to Twilight and said from the corner of his mouth. "I'm presuming she's had bad experience?" he said, in a worried voice.

"Uh, let's just say that she had her expectations dashed and not say anything more about it," said Twilight. Matt nodded slowly. "The secret dies with me." he said. Eventually, Rarity calmed herself down and said, "Also, Fluttershy is a gentle creature with delicate feelings. You'll want to be extra careful with her." Matt nodded, thinking back to when the AI on the skyraid had gone nuts. "No worries...but it might have to wait till after the race...its tomorrow and I should think about what to say." he said.

...

The race itself began early, given that the organizers didn’t want to risk any competitors not reaching the stop-over camp before nightfall. The morning sun was shining upon the Dragonwing Mountains as the pegasi prepared for the race though there were already some black clouds on the horizon. Matt was still thinking about his problem when Rainbow said behind him. "You ready to lose?" Once Matt confirmed that his heart hadn't exploded, he turned. Rainbow took a step back and looked at the flight suit Matt had, obviously of Rarity's make. It was done in the weird camoflage design Matt liked in his usual clothing with faux fur built into the collar and the hoof holes and Matt/Sparks cutie mark on the flank.

"If I'm losing, at least I'll know that you'll be behind me," said Matt. Rainbow Dash glared at that. "Oh yeah?" she said pushing forward till the two were eye to eye. Matt said "You're the one who wanted this race...you sound like you're worried the 'fake' will kick your ass." "No way a rank amateur's gonna beat me," said Rainbow Dash. Matt shrugged "We'll see." he said, calmly despite the fact his nerves were at breaking point inside.

"I see you came prepared for the cold," said Rainbow Dash. "I'm allergic to hyperthermia." said Matt, sarcastically. "Hope you know how to keep your wings warm," said Rainbow Dash, "Wouldn't want to lose any feathers." "Could say the same about you...lets just get this over with so we can put this behind us and Spark can 'leave town'." said Matt, a little annoyed. "Fine, I'll see him one last time, at the finish line," said Rainbow Dash. Matt shrugged "Yeah right." he muttered.

...

As the racers got ready though, Matt began to think that maybe he should try to extinguish a few of the metaphorical burning bridges. As the pegasus in charge began to count down to the start he turned and said "Hey...Rainbow...this is just a race...a friendly race. We don’t need to..." he said before the referee reached zero and Matt was sent spinning.

The referee pointed politely at the direction the other racers were going when Matt stopped his spinning top impression. "Erm...thanks." he said before shooting off after the others.

...

Twilight and the others watched as Matt shot off after the other racers. "Well...he’s off now." she said. "Ah sure hope he knows what he's getting into," said Applejack. Twilight nodded "I hope so too."

...

Meanwhile, Aria was working on the reality generator in Matt's absence. "Must I take care of everything around here?" she grumbled. She walked around the cube that formed her interpretation of the CPU and checked the software for the generator was writing when a new view appeared, flashing as urgent. "If it's another spyware bug, so help me..." she grumbled before selecting it.

Her fury stopped when she spotted the serial number flashing, matching to Matt's nanites. "Oh, this isn't good." she said as a voice from it said "Nano-recoding program complete. ETA to recode: 30.25 minutes."

"Are there any ways to communicate with Lynch?" asked Aria. "Negative, no communication device detected on person or in vicinity," said the voice. "Dammit...right. Despatch drone 21A to find Miss Sparkle." said Aria, annoyed. A beep and a line of code on one of the holo screens indicated compliance. All aria could do now was wait...

...

While waiting for news of how the race was going, the other ponies decided it was time for a little heart-to-heart with Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, darlin'. About..." began Applejack before noticing all the nearby ponies who might overhear before saying "...about 'Spark'." "Doesn't he look great in that racing suit?" asked Fluttershy. "Yes, I think it brought out his inner nature quite nicely," said Rarity, "And it matches his..." She paused before saying, "Er, now's not the time for personal pride."

"Fluttershy, Spark's a nice guy, but he's not going to be staying around forever," said Twilight. "Yeah, besides, there are other cute stallions out there," said Pinkie Pie. "But he said he's not going to be able to fix that ship for months. Maybe I can convince him to stay," said Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, 'member when you were takin' care of that lil' hawk?" asked Applejack. Fluttershy nodded, remembering the hawk chick she had found one summer.

"Ya'll cared for him until he was big enough to fly away, but you couldn't let him go that easy, could ya?" said Applejack. Fluttershy nodded, sniffing sadly. "But you had to let it go," said Applejack, "It didn't belong with you, it belonged out in the wild, being free." Fluttershy nodded sadly. "...and it would be wrong to make Matt stay as well." she finished, in a small voice. "Right, besides, I don't think he's your type," said Rarity.

Fluttershy smiled weakly at Raritys joke before there was a scream from the crowd, the ponies parting to reveal one of Matt's spiderdrones scuttling forward. "I thought Matt was keeping them at his camp." said Twilight. "Oh, I invited a few over to my place," said Pinkie, "They don't seem to care for milk and cookies though."

The optic on the drone flickered to the blue that showed Aria was steering it. "Miss sparkle...ladies...it is urgent I find the captain at once. Where is he?" she said, sounding panicky for once. "He's probably halfway through the course by now," said Rarity. "Oh...oh...crap." said Aria, forgetting to swear in splitter from panic. "This is extremely bad. I received a update from his internal nanites. They are preparing to recode him to human form." "What?!" shouted all five of them. "But what if he's over a chasm?" cried Fluttershy.

"Then he will fall probably a good 40 to 45 feet." said Aria, promptly before stopping. "The emergency recode will not last long...but any injuries will carry over. We must inform the officials immediately. Where is the overnight stop?" "It's too far away from here, we'll never make it there in time," said Fluttershy. "And I don't know exactly where it is so I can't teleport there," said Twilight.

Aria didn’t speak for a full minute, apparently thinking before she said "We may have a way after all. Tell me...has Mr Lynch mentioned his 'special project'?"

...

The quintet of ponies followed the spiderdrone back to the barn Matt was using. The spiderdrone went to the basement door and said, "What you are about to see is top secret. Do not tell the landlord." The old cellar doors lock didn’t provide much resistance to the drones cutting laser and soon it was wide open, revealing the ring device that Pinkie had seen Matt working on the day he;d ended up as ‘Spark’.

"Ooh, what is it? Is it some kind of portal to jump through space and time and end up in another galaxy?" asked Pinkie. "Close enough. Its the beginning of a class 6 rip engine portal. At the moment though it is only capable of short distance teleportation...about...400 miles...give or take." said Aria, steering the drones body towards several controls on the wall, its wires leading to the ring.

"So, you can use this to go anywhere in Equestria?" asked Twilight. "Yes...as long as there are Map coordinates to enter...I took the liberty of researching the race course...it should be simple enough to deposit you just outside the camp with only a 1.4% chance of catastrophic molecular failure." said Aria. "Catastrophic what now?" asked Applejack.

"Nothing you need concern yourselves with." said Aria, smoothly. The drone she was steering flicked a switch and several red crystals on the ring lit up, a humming coming from them. "Uh, has this thing been tested?" asked Twilight, a little nervously. In simulations, yes. You'll be proud to know this is the first physical test." said Aria, in a creepily cheerful voice as another voice from the ring said "Target coordinates locked...traveller DNA logged and saved...teleport in 10 seconds." "Oh, one more thing, don't hold hands, or hooves," said Aria.

The ponies as one gulped before the entire cellar was filled with a blinding light. When it faded, the only sign anyone had been there were four sets of hoofprints in the dirt. "Teleport successful." chimed the jumpgates computer.

...

Meanwhile, Matt was trying to force his way through a blizzard and had popped out of nowhere half an hour previously. He was so glad he had remembered to bring flight goggles. 'Man, Twilight wasn't joking about this. This is nasty.' he thought as he wiped snow from his goggles for what felt like the 30th time. As he cleared it away he got a surprise to see rainbow up ahead, the snowstorm, despite everything having slowed her down too. Matt, being Matt couldn’t resist a smartarse comment as he overtook. "Hey Rainbow...see ya at midway. BYEEE!" before he flew over.

"Yeah, after I get there first!" shouted Rainbow Dash. However, she wasn't able to go any faster than she currently was, what with the blizzard. Matt lost sight of her pretty fast in the blizzard, grinning to himself. He had a good idea that she'd probably win the race overall but he'd consider it a good job to beat her to the midway poi... A unexpected beep from his left front hoof got his attention to reveal his wrist computer slowly appearing. A calm voice said "Emergency recode charge ready. Engaging in T minus 30 seconds. Please stand by."

"Wait? What?" asked Matt, the idea of suddenly turning human in the middle of a blizzard about 60 feet above a mountainside filled his mind. "Uh, cancel, override, stop, desist," he said quickly. "Manual cancel disabled under NSC medical law 42-A...emergency recode in 15 seconds." said the computer smugly.

"Stuff medical laws, I command you to not change me back this-" started Matt before the computer said, "Initializing emergency recoding." Matt paused in midair and said, "Oh smeg." To any of the other racers, it would have been impossible to see the flash of or hear the electrical crackling of the recode field engaging...or hear Matt's yell.

...

The racers who had already made it to the midway point were trying to rest and regain their strength for the rest of the race when it resumed the following morning. This attempted relaxation was interrupted by a sudden blinding light. It came as a shock to see a perfect half sphere of snow in the middle of the camp appeared to have been evaporated...even more to see four half dazed ponies standing in the middle...well...three of them were dazed if we're honest. "THAT WAS SO COOL...Maybe Aria'll let us go again." said Pinkie, bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Uh, I think I'll stick to my balloon for long distances," said Twilight. A shocked pegasus with a whistle cutie mark trotted up. "Wh...Miss Sparkle? How did you...?" he began. "No time to explain," said Twilight, "We've got an emergency. Spark, uh..." "Forgot to take his vitamins today," said Fluttershy, "He has a slight potassium deficiency and he could end up losing consciousness from all the stress of the race."

"He never mentioned that on his race form." said the pegasus, confused before saying "He could be here soon. I'll brief the rescue teams to be ready to go out just in..." "What was that about rescue?" asked a voice. The ponies turned to see Rainbow Dash coming down for a landing. Twilight said urgently "Dash...did you see M...Spark? He might be in trouble." "He passed me in the pass," said Rainbow Dash as she alighted, "I thought he'd be here."

The gang looked worried at that before the pegasus official nodded "He might just be lost but no sense in taking chances. I'll get the emergency teams sent out at once." he said gravely before trotting in the direction of the tents. Rainbow Dash looked at them confused "Whats going on?" she asked. "Uh, well, you might say Matt had an inconvenient recovery," said Rarity.

Rainbow Dash almost went pale at that. "You don't mean...its freezing out there." she said, horrified. "And I doubt he was standing on solid ground at the time," said Applejack. Rainbow dash turned and got ready to take off. "I gotta go find him. If I hadn’t gotten him to enter this dumb race..." she said. "Rainbow Dash, you've been flying all day," said Twilight, "You're too tired to go search for him right now." "I can’t leave him out there. Its not like he's got a coat." said Rainbow, turning to look at Twilight.

"My racing suit probably has been torn to shreds," said Rarity, "And after all the work I put into it." The others turned to glare at Rarity at that before Rainbow shook her head and shot off into the storm. "I have to go with her," said Fluttershy, "We'll be able to cover the mountainside better." Rarity said concerned "Darling...Rainbow Dash will probably struggle in this weather. You can’t fly in this." "But Matt needs all the help he can get," said Fluttershy, "I have to try."

"Fluttershy. Its too dangerous. You won't be able to help him if you need rescuing too." said Twilight. Fluttershy sighed before suddenly flying off into the snowstorm. "Fluttershy, you fool, don't be a hero!" shouted Applejack. If Fluttershy heard them, she was ignoring them, following Rainbows already fading trademark trail.

...

Matt pulled out an adrenaline shot from his wrist computer and injected himself. The snow had been deep enough to stop him being pancaked...but he was sure he'd broken his arm and from the tightness and pain in his chest, several ribs were in a similar state.

"Ok, most important rule of being stranded in a cold area: don't fall asleep," he told himself, "If you doze off, you'll freeze off." He'd managed to drag himself into an overhang out of the worst of the storm. It was made worse that with a busted arm, he couldn't enter in the reactivation code for his medical nanites. The wrist computer said "Danger: Severe skeletal injuries detected...medical nanite network: disabled. Enter reactivation code immediately."

Matt felt a moment of relief. It would seem that staying awake through all those tedious code lessons would pay off. However, with the wrist computer on the arm that wasn't broken, punching it in was another matter entirely. He tried to lift his arm to type it in and nearly blacked out from agony. "Ok...lets not do that. Computer...audio code entry." he said. The computer buzzed before saying "Error...damage to audio recievers detected...please repeat or manually enter command."

"Oh for the love..." grumbled Matt, "I knew I should have tried to learn how to type with my nose. But no, 'as if that situation would ever come up' I said." He looked at the wrist computers temperature, now slipping into negative double figures. "Crap...not how I planned to snuff it." "Really? After all you've been through, this is how you shuffle off the mortal coil?" said a familiar voice.

Matt shot his head round to see his sister, wearing her merc uniform from the last day he'd seen her and covered in scorches and judging by the way Matt could see through her, an hallucination to boot. "Ok...now I know I'm too cold." he said, tired. "You're not going to just give up like that," said Chloe, "We made a promise, remember?" "Yeah...we'd go home together. You know...I'm still working on that portal device." said Matt, half dazed from the dropping temperature.

"Well, you can't work on anything if you're dead," said Chloe, "Believe me, I know." "You're not dead till I see a body." said Matt, stubbornly. "And you won't find me if you're dead," said Chloe. Matt just shuddered as the snow soaked into his clothing and doubled the cold effect of the wind. He looked up weakly as the cold driven hallucination of his sister seemed to dissolve into nothing with a parting shot of 'If you die on me, I'll work out a way to resurrect you so I can too..."

"Right, can't give up now, can't fall asleep," muttered Matt. His eyes slowly began to drift down before he thought he heard someone calling his name out in the snow. "Whu...wuzza?" he slurred before his eyes went wider, seeing several silhouettes in the blizzard. He managed to lift up his wrist comp, activating its flare launcher only for it to start to flicker like a bad TV signal. “No...not now.” he muttered as a voice said “Alert...emergency encode charge depleted. Encode in 30 seconds." Matt managed to hit the flare launch switch before the last of the emergency encode gave out along with his consciousness.

...

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flying through the snowstorm. Despite her lack of experience, Fluttershy's determination allowed her to keep up with Rainbow Dash. The two pegasi were buffeted by a particularly strong gust of wind for a second. "This is crazy. He could be anywhere." yelled Rainbow Dash over the wind. Fluttershy managed to turn and was about to say something before what looked like a brightly glowing ball shot between them to explode like a miniature sun for a second, bathing a good section of the canyon in red light.

"What was that?" asked Fluttershy. The two looked around to see a faint shape, just visible under a rock overhang slump down in the snow. Several other calls from further down the canyon seemed to indicate that some of the rescue teams from the midpoint had also seen the lightshow. "I think that's Matt, come on," said Rainbow Dash before flying over to the overhang.

The two landed unsteadily in the snow to see that it was Matt, trapped again in pegasus form and looking like he’d gone three rounds with a manticore and lost, one of his front legs clearly broken and one of his wings looking just as bad. "Oh man, this is not good," said Rainbow Dash. "He needs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation," said Fluttershy before bending down towards Matt's head.

Matt opened his eyes at that slowly "Am I dead?" he said, weakly. Fluttershy jumped back, her face bright pink. "Um, no, we're going to get you some help," she said. "Thats nice..." said Matt, dizzily as Rainbow Dash flew up to get the attention of the rescue team. "You know...when we get back...I'm gonna fix that reality field. I think being a pegasus...should be left...to the professionals." Matt said.

...

Matt opened his eyes to find himself in the clinic in Ponyville. "You know...I should just live here...its easier." he said under his breath. Fluttershy, who was nearby, held her breath in anticipation. "I get injured so often it'd probably save the clinic leg work." finished Matt to himself before he turned his head and saw Fluttershy. "GAH...I...how long were you there?" he said, almost jumping out of bed (and regretting it as his broken front leg objected).

"Oh, uh, just...since you were brought in," said Fluttershy meekly. Matt looked at her suspiciously before noticing a calender. "2 Days?" he said, sounding surprised before sighing. "Fluttershy...I'm sorry.....you know I can't stay here, right." he said as kindly as he could. "Well, I'm sure we can move you back to your...hideout pretty soon," said Fluttershy, sounding sad.

Matt sighed, laying back a bit. "Man, this is not how I envisioned myself last month." he said before saying "You gonna be ok, Fluttershy?" "Oh, just fine," said Fluttershy, "Though I am a little hungry." Suddenly, a large grumbling came from her stomach. Matt grinned at that. "I'll be perfectly fine. Even I can't get injured in a hospital. Go get a bite to eat." he said.

"Ok," said Fluttershy, "If you insist." She started walking out of Matt's patient room, though she seemed to be keeping an eye on him as she left. Matt said with as warm a smile as he could "I do...I'll be fine. Look after yourself. I'll almost certainly still be here." Fluttershy nodded before walking out.

...

It was a few days later...

Matt was back at his camp, human again and still wearing a few bruises that the med nanites were yet to clear up, something he also had to do in regard to the damage caused when the CMC had 'helped'. "This is gonna take a while." he muttered. "Well, you've had plenty of time to play, now it's back to work," said Aria. "Can't I even go to that 'end of the race' party?" asked Matt.

"Your reality field was half adapted when you finally let me re-code you. A few more days and you would have been a permanent resident. It is not worth the risk." said Aria, stubbornly before noticing Matt looking at a box of plasma flares and a launcher thoughtfully.

"Matt, those are for emergencies," said Aria. "We're already in an emergency...and I still have plenty in my wrist computer." said Matt, picking up the launcher and getting a few drones to grab some of the flares.

...

A small festival was going on to celebrate the end of the Dragonwing Pass race. It might not be a major celebration like the Summer Sun Celebration, but it was still fun. However, one pegasus was not feeling particularly happy. Fluttershy sighed to herself as Rainbow Dash came over. "Hey...whats up?" she said cheerfully before catching on. "Cheer up. Aria told us why 'Spark' had to leave town." she said, being careful not to mention 'Sparks' proper name given how many other pegasi were around,

"I know, he has his sister to find," said Fluttershy, "It's just...you ever wonder if you'll find the right stallion one day?" Rainbow Dash smiled and said "Mom always said there's somepony out there for everyone. You'll find him one day." "I hope so," said Fluttershy, "I just felt like Spark could have been the one."

Rainbow Dash was about to reply before the crowd were shocked to see some kind of small rocket shoot up into the sky before exploding with a green flash that caused some impressed 'ooooh's' from the watching ponies. "Wow, I didn't know we were gonna have fireworks," said Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy had jumped behind Rainbow Dash in surprise and so was able to look to see a figure in the distance waving to some familiar robotic spiders. She nudged Rainbow Dash with a smile and pointed to where Matt was loading up another salvo of flares. Rainbow Dash looked at where Matt was and smirked. "No wonder he had that firework Cutie Mark," said Rainbow Dash.

...

<Log active>

Well...talk about walking a mile in someone elses shoes...or hooves in this case. Despite any misgivings I had at first, spending some time as a pony wasn't so bad. I mean, the strict vegetarianism and the lack of arms was kinda tough, but being able to walk around in broad daylight was nice.

And, well, spending time with Fluttershy was nice. She's a nice girl and would probably make some lucky stallion happy one day, but it wouldn't have worked. I mean, she like to tend to woodland creatures, I like to blow up alien monsters. Still, the thought of settling down was pretty tempting. Can't settle down. My sis is still out there and I gotta find here...Ok, Aria? I want this log sealed away in the electronic equivilent of a bottomless pit. This is never to be read...ever."

<Log saved to secure file....>

<Log copied to ARIA personal files>