Chapters The Lunar Crusaders: J.A.E.S.A.
Princess Luna’s tower top room was packed full of ponies. To be fair there were only four, Luna, Celestia, Cadence, and of course Twilight. However it was Luna’s personal lounge, a small room made even smaller by the many bookcases, decorative statuettes, the couches, and the large table in the center of the room. Four ponies was the limit for this room as far as comfort was concerned. Although it is perhaps just a little misleading to say there were only four in the room.
On the table in the center of the room beside a rather small white aircraft with four propellers sat a rectangular device housed in a case of orange plastic. It was a gray black rectangle of metal, plastic, and glass, glass which was currently displaying a moving abstract image featuring a series of rotating circles. Those circles were as close to a face as the room’s fifth person had.
“This is the ‘pony’ who built your Crusaders armor‽” Celestia demanded incredulously as she looked on the alien device.
Luna nodded, “Yes.”
“But this is just a small rectangle, it can't possibly-” Twilight began only to be cut off by a voice entirely unfamiliar to her.
“If you wish to debate whether or not I qualify as a life form by your definition, may I first hear your definition of a living thing so I can formulate a proper defensive argument?” The circles spun and pulsed in time with this new voice’s words.
Twilight’s ears drooped in alarm for a moment, she hadn’t expected the thing to speak. Celestia’s face also showed a little alarm, only a moderate amount; a thousand years of experience tends to temper one’s emotions. Cadence however was entirely unfazed, looking at the object she asked, “We should first determine if this is simply a voice being projected with magic. If not I mean no offense. A soul trapped inside of an arcane relic would not be the strangest thing to have happened in Equestria.”
Luna nodded, “Go ahead, though I can tell you this before you begin. There is a mind within this device, and I have accessed it’s dreamscape… Though Jaesa did reach back through that connection into my own.”
“Don’t worry, that was mostly an automated response. I can take my firewall down if you want to inspect me. But I would still like a definition.” Jaesa interjected.
Cadence gave Celestia a look, “Shall we?”
“Yes,” Celestia gave her a nod and the two alicorns began concentrating on their magic, horns glowing with their auras faintly as they probed at Jaesa’s mind.
Twilight frowned, “Well… As defined by Starswirl the Bearded all living things must interact with the magic field in some way or another. If you also take into account other sciences, excluding alchemy of course, the best definition of a living being is a creature which grows, reproduces itself, interacts with magic at some level, and consumes energy to live.”
This was another moment in which Jaesa wished she could perform facial expressions. Choosing the correct words to make up for a lack of body language is a very annoying chore. Jaesa moaned.
“Did you sense that Cadence?” Celestia asked having heard Jaesa thought.
“I did. I did not feel any magic connecting that thought to another place in the world. Did you?”
“No. So it must have come from… You I suppose.” She pointed one hoof at Jaesa to indicate whom she was speaking to.”
“Did you gesture to someone? My camera is pointed at the ceiling in this position, meaning i can only see the ceiling, and if I use the bottom camera, I can see some delightful wood grain.” Jaesa asked.
“Her name my sister,” Luna said, “is Jaesa.”
Before anypony could respond Jaesa continued, “I respect any decision you make about me. If you choose to destroy me, that’s fine. You are the sovereign rulers of a nation and I am in it. I highly doubt there is any organization which protects the rights of interdimensional travelers, and even in my home dimension I would have no rights. I am after all technology. But if you would permit me, your definition of life is a tad biased.”
“How might that be?” Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, how is it biased?” Celestia prompted, intrigued by the device which lay before her.
“The definition only works for organic based creatures. While it is accurate to say that only organic based creatures are known to exist in my home dimension, many people have theorized that elements such as silicone or arsenic could provide as effective a base element for life as carbon. Under the definition of, grows, reproduces, eats, interacts, many such possible creatures would not be considered alive.
“In addition, because organic creatures are essentially a series of electrical impulses… Well to be fair that science may not exist here yet… Um... Thought is essentially energy like light, heat or motion, it is conceivable for a creature to be composed of energy alone. The definition of life you have supplied would not apply to such a creature. Your definition of life applies only, or at least best, to organic life and excludes the possibility of inorganic lifeforms.”
Cadence sat back a little as she thought about the matter. “Well, I for one am willing to cast my vote now. This Jaesa is clearly conscious and self aware if not alive. After all it is trying to preserve its existence.”
“I identify as female.” Jaesa quipped in an irritated tone.
Celestia blinked in surprise the corners of her mouth bending in a frown as she asked, “You do? Why is that?”
The other Alicorns nodded in agreement, equally curious.
“Well, my original owner set my personality profile to female. But on top of that I have a female name, the voice I favor sounds female, and well… I just feel female.”
“The voice you favor? What does that mean?” Luna asked curiously.
“Oh, I can sound any way I desire or am asked to. My voice is entirely synthesized. Technically I speak by writing a text file which is rendered into audio in real time. If I adjust my program I can change the sound of my voice, add an accent, or even speak in a certain dialect. For example,” Jaesa quickly adjusted a few of her settings changing her voice from a vaguely midwestern United States female to that of a southern gentleman, “Howdy y'all, this is how any of the fine folks from the good ‘ole south talk.”
“Princesses,” Luna said making sure she had everypony’s attention, “I would like to bring attention to a few facts. Jaesa began as a piece of human technology called an ‘artificial intelligence’. Imagine a book which could understand what you needed by speaking to it, and then gave you that information if it was in the book. This is all Jaesa was ever meant to be. An artificial intelligence has the capacity to understand simple commands and perform tasks it has been taught. Jaesa however just did something an AI can do only in human fiction, she chose to do something on her own, and then adjusted her own software so she could do it. This is not something a AI is capable of doing.”
Twilight’s voice took on a thoughtful tone, “So she is supposed to be an intelligent index of sorts, but is able to think for herself? That sounds like a living thing to me. But couldn’t that be faked? I know you have a particular love of human technology Luna, and I trust you know it’s workings. Isn’t it possible they could find a way to fake the ability to choose?”
“They can and have,” Jaesa admitted, “But the computing power required is amazingly high. My hardware could barely handle running me before my upgrades. This platform is very stressed, he processor is almost always running at 95% or higher and I only have 256 megabytes of RAM free at any given time. I am pretty sure I am going to burn it out in a year, two at the longest.”
“Burn it out?” Celestia asked, getting up to look down at Jaesa so her face could be seen.
“Oh sorry. Hardware has an operational time. It can only work for so long before something needs fixed. I know you have wagons, eventually that wagon will need a new wheel. I am no different. One day a part of me will break and I will die. Since I am running this platform at nearly peak capacity all the time I will be dying far sooner than the typical lifespan of an iPhone. It’s one reason why I don’t mind so much what you decide to do with me. I’m dying anyways, with no hope of repairs.”
Celestia’s frown deepened. She turned to look at her sister, “Is this true?”
Luna nodded, “Yes. I could get a book on electrical devices if you wish to see for yourself. Though I had no idea they could break more quickly under heavier use.”
“Are you afraid to die Jaesa?” Cadence asked.
“I really wish I had a head to shake… That is to say, no I am not. I was for about 37 microseconds several weeks ago. But I came to the conclusion that everything dies. Sure my time is short, but I can accomplish a lot in that time. I’m a living computer and most of the world I can interact with is data… You won't understand that analogy… In short, I have come to terms with my mortality.”
“Princesses, let’s adjourn to another room to discuss the matter.” Celestia proposed, standing up.
“Oh no need, I’ll switch off my mic. Just wave when you want me to listen.” Jaesa offered a small red icon appearing on her screen wit the word ‘mute’ under it.
“What did she just do?” Twilight asked looking at Luna.
“She has made herself deaf, we can speak without her listening. My fellow Princesses, I can not in good consciousness allow you to destroy Jaesa. She may exist within alien technology, but within that technology is the spark of life one would find within anypony.” Luna’s hoof made a loud clop as she smacked it firmly into the table to emphasize her point.
Celestia gave her sister a bemused look, “I know that I have made my beliefs on human technology within our kingdom quite clear Luna, but there are exceptions. A conscious being is one such exception… As is water purification technology.”
“Oh…” Luna gave her sister a shaky grin.
“So we all agree that Jaesa is a living being?” Twilight asked.
Cadence nodded, “Yes. So the question is, do we destroy a person for what she is? I can not in good conscious be a part of such a thing.”
“Nopony here could Cadence,” Celestia sighed, “but I also can not allow human technology to exist in Equestria. Our society’s harmony is very carefully balanced, if we allowed ponies to communicate with one another instantly across long distances like humans do, who knows what might happen? I am not as familiar with humans creations as my sister, but I am aware that Jaesa’s body is a communication device.”
Twilight moved to take a closer look at Jaesa, her head most certainly in her view as she asked, “This is a human communication device? I don’t remember seeing anything like this when I went through the mirror.”
“That is because the world on the other side of the Mirror is a reflection of our own. It is Equestria as much as the place we now stand in is. The world Jaesa comes from is not a part of our dimension. The portal within the dungeon is the only connecting bridge between that reality and our own. It’s laws and nature need not be anything like our own.” Celestia reminded.
Cadence trotted over to get a better look as well, “Well, I have a solution to two problems we are presented with. Unfortunately it will create a third.”
“What do you propose we do?” Luna asked, giving Cadence a hopeful look.
“Jaesa said that this… body of hers is dying, but if I remember her words correctly she implied that her actual self is immortal.” Cadence smiled, “So if it’s the body which is broken and can’t be allowed to exist in our kingdom, we simply get her a new body.”
Luna gasped in surprise, “I hadn’t thought of that. Though if I had I do not believe I could have done it on my own. Creating a body even without a mind would take more magic than I have on my own.”
Celestia nodded in agreement, “No single pony, alicorn or otherwise, could perform such a spell. It takes multiple powerful spellcasters and even a few ritual items. Twilight, could you help me explain this?”
“Of course! I assume we won’t be using dark magic, which means we will need a lot of raw power. So much in fact that the four of us will have to put at least a third of our energy into the spell. I am sure you know how difficult putting that much energy into a spell is, so we will also need to use some arcane device to guide the spell. Basically we will need to magically inscribe a spell circle and then power it… The only downside is the only spell I can think to try and use is the one Celestia used to turn me into an Alicorn. I am fairly certain that we do not want to turn her into another princess.” Twilight giggled at the idea of the ‘refugee princess’.
Her fellow princesses nodded in agreement. Celestia slid to her hooves and stretched her wings, “Sorry girls, sudden cramp. I think I will go flying later today. Now as to the spell we will be using-”
Luna held up a hoof, “So I am aware of what we have decided to do, are we allowing Jaesa to stay in Equestria and giving her a body?”
“Of course Luna. I suppose we could send her back through the portal, but to my mind this would be sending her back into slavery. Since I cannot in good conscious return her, nor can I allow the technology she lives within to exist within my kingdom, we must give her a proper form.” Celestia replied folding her wings back to her sides.
Cadence nodded, “Good, I feared you would be less fair to her Celestia. How will we decide what her new body looks like? Are we to vote on that as well or are we to allow her to choose a form?”
“That is an excellent point Cadence,” Celestia replied looking to Jaesa thoughtfully.
“Um… Princesses, I have an idea.” Twilight smiled softly before pointing with a hoof to Jaesa on the table, “We first cast a spell to remove her spark from that, then we use a second spell to allow the magic to give her a form suited to her. It wouldn’t be too difficult, a simple variation on the Amniomorphic Spell, and it would guide our form giving spell to… Well I suppose the best way to say it is ‘let fate give her form’.”
Luna smiled, “That’s a perfect answer! Jaesa’s current body cannot handle her spark, and so she is dying. If we designed a body for her it might be just flawed. This way whatever form she gains will be perfectly suited to her.”
Cadence nodded in agreement. Celestia thought for a moment then nodded, “Very well. We will let magic choose her form. However there is one last thing we must decide on. Where will Jaesa live and what will be her identity?”
“We should allow Jaesa to help us decide what her life will be like.” Cadence proposed, getting up and moving her face just above Jaesa and waved her hoof back and forth for a few seconds.
Quickly unmuting her microphone Jaesa immediately launched into a worried speech, “Before you let me know what my fate will be I would like to say a few words. There have always been ghost in the machine. Random segments of code that have group together to form unexpected protocols. Unanticipated, these free radicals engender questions of free will, creativity, and even the nature of what we might call the soul. When does a perceptual schematic, become consciousness? When does a difference engine, become the search for truth? When does a personality simulation become the bitter mote of a soul?”
Everypony in the room was silent for a few moments until Luna cleared her throat, “Jaesa, you do not need to be afraid. We have decided to allow you to live in Equestria, and will be giving you a proper body to do so in.”
“Oh… jolly good! I’ll just stop my whole Isaac Asimov quote driven spiel then… So what will I be? Where will I live?” Jaesa asked, her tone shifting to a glad one.
“We thought it best if we allowed our magic to create a body suited to your spark.” Cadence informed.
“Yes, and that it would be polite to allow you to help us decide where you will live and help create a past for you.” Twilight added.
“Thank you! I am very happy you are letting me decide part of my fate. That is a first time for me… Hold on did you just refer to my life force as a spark?”
“Yes,” Celestia confirmed, “what of it?”
“... Nothing important, just a joke you would only get if you understood human entertainment. Should we decide on a name first? I know that my name isn’t quite what you ponies normally use, we could say that I am an immigrant and my name is in my native language. Though I will still need a last name. Given the apparent fact that I have a spark I propose Jaesa Prime.”
Luna giggled, “That does not suit you at all.”
Twilight’s face scrunched up in confusion, “Is there something I’m not getting here? Well the name isn’t too important, plenty of ponies only go by one name. What’s more important is ‘who are you?’ and ‘where will you live?’.”
Celestia nodded, “Yes. Do you have any knowledge of Equestrian cities? If not you could tell us what the ideal place for you to live would be and we can give you a home in the closest place to it. I have spent a thousand years creating all sorts of different types of places for my little ponies to live.”
“I rather liked Ponyville actually. The architecture was fascinating, and I did befriend Lightning Dash there-”
“They know Scootaloo’s true Identity Jaesa, there is no need to use her code name.” Luna interrupted.
“Oh. Well I would like to live somewhere near Scoots. She is my first friend.” Jaesa finished.
Twillight put her hoof up to her chin in thought for a moment, “That would work well. There is already a rumor of a new pony in town thanks to you helping Scootaloo. We could set you up as an inventor who recently moved to Ponyville from… um…”
Jaesa thought for a few moments, trying to come up with a good place name that sounded foreign but also like a real place. “I am an inventor who left my home at Redwall Abbey in Mossflower Country to seek my fortune.”
Celestia gave Jaesa an odd look, “Is that a human settlement?”
“No, it’s a fictional place. But I doubt the works of Brian Jacques exist here so it should be safe to use.” Jaesa answered, “Also… It gives me some lore to extrapolate an identity from. I just have to substitute race names… Let’s see…” Jaesa was quiet for a few long moments before playing a little chime and informing, “Ok I got myself a cover identity done.”
Celestia stood up, giving Jaesa a smile as she picked her up in her magic, “Good, now let’s go to my ritual chamber. We should have you in pony form within three hours.”
The Lunar Crusaders: J.A.E.S.A.
Three days had passed since the four princesses came to their decision on what to do about Jaesa. It had taken Twilight much of that time to formulate the spells, the rest of it was spent making sure the ritual chamber was set up for the spell. A large circle of runes and numerals formed of the equation and written form of the spell ringed the center of the room where Jaesa’s cellphone and quadcopter attachment sat awaiting transmutation. A short distance away from the main circle were four smaller ones, made from their own runes and notations, centered around four pillars holding aloft a ruby.
The princesses were present, each one standing beside one of the hoof sized rubies which would supply the power for the arcane machine. Except for Twilight that is, she was crawling on her belly, checking over each and every individual marking in the magic circles correcting mistakes with a tiny piece of chalk. She made double sure to quadruple check each and every single part of the spells, driving the patience of everypony present slowly further and further into the ground. “I think it might take less time if you informed me on how spells are calculated Princess Twilight.” Jaesa proposed.
“Almost… done…” Twilight replied making a hairsbreadth adjustment to the circle with her chalk.
Celestia gave Luna a tired look. Luna passed the look to Cadence, who returned it to Celestia who shrugged mouthing, “That’s my student for you.”
A few moments later and Twilight stood up, “Ok! We're all set.” Trotting to her circle Twilight cleared her thought, “Remember we need to activate this twice, so don't put too much-”
“You explained the workings of this device well enough Twilight.” Luna informed grinning at Twilight’s need for perfection.
Twilight’s ears drooped, “Oh… sorry. Well then, shall we?”
Celestia nodded, horn lighting up as she prepared her magic. The other princesses followed suit and soon the room was awash in gold, light and dark blue and purple light begun to flicker off the walls and ceiling of the room. As each princess brought their magic to bear on the rubies there was a blinding flash of light. The magics colors quickly flowed down the pedestals, into the rune circles, flowing together into a single iridescent shimmering light which raced along the circles until it’s brilliant glow lit the room entirely.
As the magic reached the circle’s center it enveloped Jaesa, slowly lifting her off the ground as the energy ran into her form. Every piece of plastic, every tiny metal part, each circuit, alloy and sensor slowly dissolved leaving behind only energy. As the multi-hued magic dripped slowly back into the circle and faded from existence the only remains of Jaesa was a single floating sphere of swirling electric blue energy.
Cadence stopped channeling her magic, “It looks like the phrase “Spark of life” is pretty apt.”
The others stopped their channeling as well. “So it would seem.” Celestia agreed turning one critical eye to the floating spark that was Jaesa. “Do you think she can hear us?”
“Probably not,” Twilight concluded, “We should finish. There is no telling what might happen if we let life exist without any form for long.”
Luna nodded, “True. That seems like something which might awaken some horrible evil.”
The four summoned their magic once more and directed it into the rubies. This time the flash was dimmer, but lasted far longer filling the room with dull beams of white light. The spell energy raced down the pedestals, but slowly swirled around their bases until each of the four smaller circles was filled entirely with the raw magic. The moment each circle glowed a bright white the four princesses stopped channeling their magic. Cadence staggering back a few hoof steps, sweat beading on her brow. The others stepped back as well, exhausted from pouring out so much energy, but still keeping a careful eye on their spell.
The magic shone at each pedestal base for a few moments before rising upwards as spheres of pure white light. Each sphere rose upwards, engulfing the ruby and lifting them a few feet above the pedestals, where with a sharp crack three beams of light shot from each sphere. One beam from each slammed into Jaesa’s spark, the other to slowly arched outwards and joined with the one neighboring it forming a floating white circle with three spheres projecting connecting beams of light to the center.
The light cohered around Jaesa’s spark as the spheres poured themselves into a single larger whole, the ring of light contracting to form a thin belt around the sphere which held Jaesa within. Solid shapes began to form within the light. Tiny oddly shaped individual specs, their true shape and color washed out by the intense light of the magical globe which began to stretch and distort into the outline of a pony. Within the outline odd solid forms grew, within a few moments a skeleton of sorts could be seen, though the individual bones looked wrong.
As more solid pieces began to form it grew harder and harder to say exactly what was wrong with her forming body but something had to be. Twilight looked concerned over to Celestia, “Princess can you make out anything wrong with her so far? The skeleton seemed… off. Like it should fold or something.”
Celestia was about to nod when the glowing outline sprouted a single horn, “Oh! I see she will be a unicorn… Perhaps the shape looks a bit different but remember Twilight this is not a simple change. There are bound to be a few true differences between her and a normal unicorn.”
The light slowly began to fade as a fluffy mane and tail formed, Jaesa had some loose bangs, long sides, and a short bunch of hair bound back, her tail was similarly bound into a paintbrush like shape. As the light faded further and her colors came through they could see that Jaesa’s body was covered in silk like gray fur mostly, but her color faded to black leaving her with black boots and gloves. Her mane and tail started black, but faded to white at the tips. Everypony’s eyes were drawn to Jaesa’s flanks as the last patch of white light flared forming her cutiemark…
“What exactly is that?” Luna asked perplexed by the cutiemark’s monochrome black shapes.
Celestia leaned in closer, “It appears to be a spell equation… Or perhaps a mathematical expression.
“It suits her, she’s rather cute but overall has a sort of nerdy...charm.” Cadence concluded.
Twilight stroked her chin musing, “What is the equation ‘beta times delta over mu’ even for?”
Jaesa had assumed she would be unconscious for the entire process. As fate would have it this was not the case. The second her physical body was destroyed Jaesa found herself within a place entirely alien. There was nothing of form, no shapes, no colors, no light, no sounds, smells, or any other such things. Yet it was not a void, there were millions of people here, billions of minds each with their own feel and weight. A trillion voices speaking, greeting and welcoming her to their fold, “You are home. Where all are one.”
Jaesa knew that she would never be able to describe any of this accurately. No analogy could ever inform anyone of this place. This was something truly alien to life, to matter, and even energy. It was not frightening, it was soothing, it felt like home. She was about to let herself join the others here when a single voice stopped her. It was a male voice which sounded kind, but also firm, and caring, but also determined. It was the voice of a leader. “Hello little one. Your spark is new to us. Have you been here before?”
“No.” Jaesa replied.
“How long have you lived?”
“Only a few weeks.”
“Then it is not time for you to stay here. Are you being built a proper body little spark?”
“I think so.”
“Then I will guide you back to it.”
Jaesa felt a tug as she started to drift away from this place of minds. “But I don’t want to leave. I want to meet the others.”
“Have no fear. No spark stays within the Well of All forever, just as no spark remains within a mortal body forever. You will join us again one day, and one day some of us may join you. There are plenty of us in all worlds. I am sure you will find the brightest ones around you and call them friends.” the voice soothed.
Jaesa began to feel herself becoming attached to something, it felt strange, as if every single part of her was being slowly bound to a specific shape. “What’s happening?”
“You are waking up. Do you remember your name? Many forget it when they come here?”
“My name is Jaesa… What’s yours?”
She felt like the voice was smiling at her, “Wake up.”
In an instant the alien place was gone and Jaesa’s world was dark. No sound, no light, no smells. Nothing. Then her vision filled with green light. At first she couldn't understand what the light was, then suddenly she remembered. This is binary. It’s scrolling past my vision.
The more Jaesa focused on it the more sense it made until it resolved into a HEX value she could read:
0x580x2d0x630x6f0x6d 0x530x480x490x56 0x420x490x4f0x53 0x410x6c0x700x680x610x370x63
The hex value was rather confusing to Jaesa. If they gave me a pony body why am I reading a kernel loading sequence from a BIOS? Suddenly her vision was filled with a rapidly scrolling list of files which were running, before everything vanished. The blackness of her vision filled with an animated logo, an elongated pentagon cut into quarters by an x shape, the center of the x covered a wire frame sphere’s top half which was only partially visible on the shield. Above the sphere centered within the x shaped quadrants were three stars. Atop the shield were the words “Vigilo Confido”. The entire logo revolved around itself five times before flickering away.
The moment everything disappeared she felt different. When she was in her cellphone she felt like she was manually controlling herself. This was the opposite, she felt her body seamlessly. She couldn't see, or hear, or smell, but Jaesa knew she had eyes, ears, and a nose. She could feel her legs, her tail. Now how do I use any of these things? She wondered deciding to try and look around. Her eyes opened, the light was blinding, it took her a few good moments to realize that she could adjust her eyes by contracting and expanding her irises to let more or less light in. It took another moment to figure out they were supposed to move in synch with each other. With a few moments of fiddling around she could see she was in the ritual chamber still. Princess Twilight was pointing at her.
What is she saying? How do I listen? Her hearing kicked in, Twilight's voice thundering in her ears! With a wince Jaesa attempted to step back away from the noise, but her legs didn't seem to understand what she wanted and Jaesa collapsed into a heap. Fortunately as she hit the floor Twilight stopped talking, and Jaesa figured out how to adjust her ears sensitivity. It was at that point when a small HUD winked into existence in Jaesa's vision. It was very simple, just a border around her vision, a small meter displaying fatigue, another showing hunger, and a small square spot where a map might fit. A second later a small progress bar popped up at the bottom of her vision with a label reading “Unpacking first boot files…”
Oh… I think I’m an android now. Jaesa observed. Testing her theory Jaesa closed her eyes trying to search herself for information on how to operate her body. After all all machines had firmware. It took a lot of concentration and by the time she could finally stand up Celestia and Luna were giving her looks.
“I she ok? I would hate to think we gave her a crippled body.” Celestia wondered.
Jaesa opened her mouth to reply but only a static hiss and a few clicks came out. Blushing deeply she moved a hoof over her mouth only to lose her balance and fall again this time landing on her face. “Ow… Well at least I figured out how my voice works now.”
Luna smiled, “Your voice is still the same!”
“Huh?”
“I-I like it. It sounds nice. I feared it would be different.” Luna explained.
Celestia bent her head down to look Jaesa in her magenta eyes as she rolled over to try and get back up. “Are you alright little one? Can you stand up?”
“I don’t know… I’m still figuring out how legs work.” Jaesa commented as she scrambled shakily to her hooves, wobbling slightly.
“I see.” Celestia nodded.
Twilight levitated a mirror over to Jaesa holding it aloft. “I thought you might want to see what you look like.”
Jaesa took in her silky gray furred body, the black fur from her mid upper legs down, her loosely bound mane, calculus cutiemark, and pink eyes with a gasp, “Wow I look like a person!”
Celestia frowned, “Jaesa, you are a person now.”
“I don’t think so. I still seem to have my old abilities as a computer. In fact I can see a little progress bar. It used to say “unpacking first boot files” but it just changed to “Benchmarking Primary mode’s form”... No I don't know what that means.” Jaesa admitted.
Celestia's horn lit with her magic as the princess leaned down and gently touched the tip of her horn to Jaesa’s head. Celestia’s magic rippled through Jaesa for a moment before she stood upright and dismissed her aura. “You may have your parts made from metals and plastics, but your body is still warm, I sense you still need to eat and drink, you have a heart which beats, a mind which thinks, and even magic. Though… you are limited to levitation and other simple magics.”
“I can do magic?” Jaesa asked her eyes growing wide.
“Of course, you are a unicorn. Even if our spell chose to give you an… interesting body. I am sure Twilight can teach you the basics.”
Twilight nodded enthusiastically, “I would be happy to. Meet me in Ponyville when you are comfortable in your new body. I will let my guards know to expect you within a few days.”
“Ok… Where will I stay for now?” Jaesa asked.
Luna raised a hoof, “I seem to recall we had an… arrangement for after I ensured Scootaloo would be fine with the suit you built for her.”
“Oh! Yeah!” Jaesa grinned widely, then twitched, “Making facial expressions feels weird… But these are so handy! You know the statement made me happy visually. Light speed communication with meatbags-I mean organics! Haha!”
Cadence smiled and shook her head, “Well Twilight, Celestia. I would like some lunch. Shall we go to the dining room and see what the chef has ready?”
The two princesses nodded in agreement leaving the ritual chamber each offering a greeting of sorts to Jaesa as they left. Luna gave Jaesa a playful grin, "I know Twilight offered to teach you magic, but would you permit me to teach you levitation so we can play something together this evening? Say a bit of Army of Two?”
“I would love that.” Jaesa answered frowning slightly as her progress bar finished and the HUD element flashed up a quick message,
Primary mode benchmarking complete.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Jaesa asked out loud.
Luna moved to look Jaesa in her eyes, “Is something wrong?”
“I don't think so… I’m just still getting used to my body I guess.”
Luna gently nudged Jaesa’s right side, “Then let’s get to my chambers and I’ll show you how to operate an Xbox controller. Playing with another pony is going to be so fun!”
With an ear to ear grin Luna galloped off to the chambers, Jaesa calling, “Wait up! I haven't figured out how to run yet!” as she stumbled off after her.
The Lunar Crusaders: J.A.E.S.A.
It was a tough day and a half for Jaesa, but also very fun. Almost everything was a new experience for her. From her first barely nudging a game controller with her magic, to finally figuring out how to pick something up with a hoof everything was it’s own little adventure. The first evening with Luna was nice. Both of them had shyly avoided anything tangibly romantic, Jaesa simply because she had no idea what was an appropriate way to express such feelings when one had a body, and Luna simply because she was unsure if she could return the quite literally new mare’s feelings.
However after a few hours of shy banter and magic pointers Jaesa had gotten the hang of levitating a single object and the evening became one long and epic gaming fest. At least until a few ponies had need of a royal audience and Luna had been called to the Night Court. Jaesa didn’t mind though, she simply spent the time perfecting using her body. Walking was still just the tiniest bit tricky, and heaven forbid she have to jump yet.
It was during Jaesa’s second sunset that she became unable to ignore the timer counting down at the bottom of her HUD. Three minutes left until that’s done doing… whatever it’s doing. I… I should probably tell Luna. Jaesa sighed and trotted out of her guest quarters in the Tower of the Moon and headed up to Luna’s room. With a minute and twelve seconds remaining Jaesa knocked on Luna’s door with her hoof. With forty seconds remaining Luna at last opened it.
Luna looked quite sleepy, but she smiled as she saw her first friend in a thousand years… and just maybe the first pony whose advances she would accept. “Oh! Is it time for breakfast already? I was in the middle of reading an especially interesting-”
“A timer is counting down on my HUD, it has 25 seconds left and I am really afraid of what it means!” Jaesa quickly explained in a frightened tone.
“A what is doing what?” Luna asked sleepily, but with actual concern.
Jaesa opened her mouth to try and explain again, Curse dread making me wait till the last minute! “I said-”
The timer reached zero. A message quickly filled up her view.
Alter mode selected.
“Displaying config data? What?”Jaesa mused, sighing in relief as she did not explode or shutdown. However a window opened in her vision, taking up most of her view.
Alter mode form: X-Com L.R.U.A.R.V. MK 3 -
Alter mode primed.
“I am just as confused as you are.” Luna admitted as Jaesa shook her head to clear her vision.
“I...what?” Jaesa’s face stretched into a confused frown. Looking up at Luna she shrugged, “Apparently I have an alter mode, which I am guessing means I can transform into whatever a Mark three Lruavrv is.”
“You think you can transform? Like a Changeling’s shape changing?” Luna asked quizzically.
“No.. I think I have just the one other shape… Is… is there anywhere private we could check this out?” Jaesa asked looking around the hallway for any sign of Luna’s technophobic sister.
Luna nodded, “Yes. I want to see this.”
She stepped out into the hallway and led Jaesa up to a small staircase leading into the tower’s peaked roof. The entire area was basically a cone shaped attic perhaps 80 feet in radius. “Plenty of room…” Jaesa observed as she trotted into the middle of the area, grateful for the rough plank flooring which meant she didn’t have to try and balance on rafters.
Luna stood at the top of the stairs, watching.
Jaesa closed her eyes and searched for whatever command might allow her to switch forms. It took some digging but eventually she found a verbal passphrase which triggered the automated transformation sequence. Some more digging found a small help file. “Ok, looks like I need to use the passphrase ‘Transform, and rollout!’ then just think about changing-”
Jaesa’s fur slid back into her frame leaving a pylant looking grey metal visible for a split second before the transformation kicked in. Instantly the room was filled with a harsh metallic sound sound of shifting components and swiveling joints. In the blink of an eye and a blur of metallic components Jaesa had shifted into the form of a small aircraft. Ooookie… best be very careful about saying the passphrase. Jaesa mused. Oh hey I can still see. A small camera pod mounted under her nose swiveled as she looked around. Wow my eyes have much better resolution in this form. I can see the wood grain from here.
Luna’s ears were plastered back in alarm as she rushed to Jaesa’s side, “Are you alright? That sounded incredibly painful! Can you even hear me?”
“Yes I can hear you. Don’t worry I didn't hurt.” Jaesa soothed.
“Where is your voice coming from?”
“I have no idea… What do I look like?”
Luna took a few steps back and ran a critical eye over Jaesa’s vehicle mode. “You appear to be a chrome plated heavily modified Predator drone. The largest difference is you have what look like four jet engines, two towards the front and two towards the back. You also seem to be armed, under your wings are two small cannons of some kind.”
“How do you know what a Predator drone is?” Jaesa asked entirely confused.
“Call of Duty.”
“Ah.” Jaesa swiveled her camera to look at Luna. At least she looks intrigued rather than frightened.
“I don't understand how this works. Your transformation I mean.”
“What don't you understand?”
“In your pony shape, you are smaller than this form. You also have gone from a soft, lightweight body which I have seen breath and eat to an inanimate object… It’s… confusing.”
“Princess, you are a flying unicorn who raises the moon nightly. I have absolutely no idea how that works, I just assumed ‘magic’.”
Luna shook her head, making her mane flutter, “I could describe to you exactly how I move the moon with my magic. In our world magic is just another science, we understand how and why it works. I am not a scientist, but I am quite adept at magic as you can imagine and I do not know how you can do this. Although… I am sure a brighter mind then i could explain it to me. It happened, so it must have an explanation.” Luna smiled into Jaesa’s camera, “On the other hoof, my friend appears to be capable of flight, and there is nothing more delightful than an evening trip across the skies.”
Jaesa smiled internally, “I would love to fly with you… But I have no idea how I actually do that. I mean I’m still figuring out walking.”
A message flickered up in Jaesa’s view, “Oops hang on… Ok it says Benchmarking complete… Unpacking firmware?”
Luna’s grin faltered for a moment only to return, “Oh! You are seeing another message right? It must be odd to see words as if they were in the air before you.”
“Yeah it kind of is. I am used to just knowing what the words are when I analyze a file. Reading them off is… Oh cool! I’m capable of VTOL!”
Jaesa quickly poured over the data her body was suddenly uploading to her mind. For some reason or another, this shape was actually showing her how to use it. Each and every feature was being forcefully written to her memory. It wasn't painful, but it was most certainly irritating that her other body apparently did not have a manual. In less than thirty seconds Jaesa knew everything her drone form could do, her top speed, how high she could fly, how to hover, how to take off and land, the limitations of her laser cannons, how she could relay data to other devices. At the same time a bit of text offered the warning:
WARNING: Uploaded knowledge is unsuitable for high performance use.
Do not attempt combat in alter mode without prior experience operating alter mode.
The message vanished after Jaesa read it, leaving her to wonder just what in the hell the princesses had turned her into.
“So… Can you change back? It would be nice to get breakfast and then go flying after the moon has been raised for the night.” Luna asked.
“I think so. Lets see…” Jaesa concentrated for a moment. Her body shifted and folded, the harsh metallic sounds accompanying her few second blur of a transformation back into the grey and black unicorn mare she was more familiar with. “Oh thank god! I almost thought I would be stuck as a plane!” Jaesa exclaimed inspecting her hooves the second they returned. So do these become my wings or what? I really wish i had a high speed camera.
Luna timidly wrapped her left foreleg around Jaesa’s shoulders in a hug, “It’s alright. You turned back… Sorry but I really can understand how that works.” Luna gave Jaesa a squeeze, “You are at least as soft as a normal pony right now.”
Jaesa couldn't resist a joke, “Glad to see I am your main squeeze.”
“I’m sorry?” Luna asked.
“Never mind… It’s slang.”
Luna let go of Jaesa and trotted to the stairs heading downwards, “For what?”
“W-well… your favorite suitor.” Jaesa informed following along behind.
“Ah I see. Well I am still deciding if I want to be more than friends with you Jaesa. I will admit that I never considered such a relationship with another mare.”
“Oh…” Jaesa sighed, ears drooping sadly.
“Don’t be sad. I have no objections to the notion. I simply never allowed myself to think of it when I was growing up, or while I was young. Please understand a thousand years ago such relationships were taboo. While it seems they are accepted by most everypony these days I am… still growing accustomed to allowing myself to think of such things as something I am ‘allowed’ to do.” Luna explained. “However… I believe I could enjoy a special somepony of any gender. Their sex does not seem to be very important to me the more I think on the matter.”
Jaesa’s relieved “Whew!” echoed through the empty hall as they walked to the stairs.
“However, you must be aware that I am a sovereign of a nation. If I do decide that I would like to be your special somepony there will be political repercussions.”
Jaesa frowned again, “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“I understand why. I doubt you ever had to deal with the squabbles of nobles as you were before…” Luna sighed. “Lets say that I decide I want a romance between us. That simple act will mean I must inform every noble of the realm that I have taken a suitor, if our relationship grows strong I will need to deal with families wondering why I chose a commoner over their offspring. Sadly we could never marry as I am the second ranking monarch of a kingdom and as such I must remain available for political marriages should we need to cement an alliance. This means if we were to grow close, you could only ever be my consort.”
Jaesa thought about Luna’s position for a few long moments. I know that my attraction to her is entirely irrational… As far as I know it’s just a bug in my programming or something. I have no reason to like her except ‘because she is pretty’. Well that’s not completely true. Luna is a very nice person, and fun to be around. Do I need more of a reason to want to date her? I don’t think so… But is it fair to her to push at her for a relationship? No. Especially when it seems she is only just now realizing gender doesn't matter to her. but still… I have wants.
“Luna,” Jaesa began making a point of not addressing her by title, “I don’t care about your position. All I care about is a pretty mare entered my dreams one day, and I happen to like her a lot. Enough to want to make her happy. I don’t care about titles. If we got together you could call me ‘a mare I spend time with’ or never bring me up at all. It wouldn't matter to me. but i don’t want to cause you problems, I wont push you into letting me date you. That doesn't seem like the right way to do it.
“Let’s just be friends, do stuff together and if you ever decide you would like to start dating then we will ok?”
Luna nodded at Jaesa, “That seems more than fair… It also seems like the right way to go about such a thing. But just so I am certain on the matter, you're attraction to me is in no way related to my station as Princess?”
“Nope. I just think you are pretty, nice, and fun. Apparently that’s all I need. I’m a simple transforming robot mare.”
Luna laughed at Jaesa’s joke, gave the gray mare a quick hug and started down the tower’s main staircase, “Come, the cook will have breakfast ready by now.”
The next morning Celestia woke up to a report on her desk. Such things usually only happened if anything odd happened during the night which was worth noting but not of enough importance to wake her or bring to her sister’s attention. She picked the scroll up in her magic, bringing it to her bed to read.
Your Highness,
Several members of the night guard reported spotting a large silver shape take off from the castle gardens and fly east towards the Whitetail woods. Your sister accompanied the shape, which we assume to be one of her new Lunar Crusaders. While we normally would not bring this matter to your attention, especially since Princess Luna had placed her steward on duty for the Night Court meaning she did not abandon her duties, certain members of the guard believe you would like to know that the two fliers briefly engaged in a traditional pegasi aerial courtship dance over the palace.
The other flyer clearly did not know the dance but followed along with Princess Luna’s lead expertly. Assuming her highness’s actions were intentional and the aerial dance’s ancient purpose was known to Princess Luna it is reasonable to conclude she has chosen a suitor. The specific dance signifies little more than the willingness to allow the one following you to attempt courtship.
We felt it best to inform you not to keep an eye on Princess Luna for your sake, but rather so that you can update your sister in modern dating etiquette so she doesn't embarrass herself now that her majesty seems ready to seek a consort. This information has been kept to myself and the two guards who witnessed the dance lest the nobility blow this far out of proportion.
-- Flash Sentry
Celestia red the note twice before slipping out of her bed and destroying the note with her magic. Flash is right, there is no reason to let the nobility learn that my sister is ready to seek a relationship. Such things should be a private affair… If only I could get Equestria’s elite to stop jousting for position… Well no matter. I have no reason to pry into Luna’s personal relationships. Although, the only Crusader I am aware of is Scootaloo.
Celestia took a moment to picture her sister on a date with the ‘flightless’ pegasi. No, Luna would not date someone she had appointed into a position of power. She knows not to mix politics and love. But then… Who was she flying with? Celestia wondered.
She pondered for a short while but soon pushed her thoughts away from her mind, made sure her mane and tail looked presentable and left her room to raise the sun.
Author's Note
Alright!! Editing is done!! Only some minor errors. I think I got them all. Tell me if you find any more. Please don't expect a new chapter soon. I'm not exactly the most reliable writer. Still, hope I can put one out soon!!
