Copycat: A Displaced Tale

“What is that thing?”

“Why’d it fall outta the sky?”

“You think the Princess shot down an invader from space?”

This and more mutterings occurred as the citizens of early Appleoosa finally came out of their homes to investigate the crashed ship. Now, as Anna listened around just out of sight, she never knew that Katt Monroe never had an Arwing of her own. Anna never knew exactly what ship Katt had flown, however. Now, she knew. This was no Arwing. It was, however, a space worthy fighter ship.

Discord, in a stereotypical Secret Agent outfit, whispered to Anna. “So, what’s the plan, boss? A distraction? Wait till something else happens? Let’s hear it.” he asked eagerly, like a child waiting to be told what he was getting for christmas.

“I half wonder if we shouldn’t just walk out there and see what happens. The worst thing that could happen is a sheer panic, and that’ll just give me a clear path to the ship.” Anna muttered.

“I could clear the way by taking point, if you so wish.” Timber offered. Anna waved the offer away.

“Thanks, but I’d rather not put you at risk. I think I’ll test their reaction to me first. They’re pretty focused on the ship, so they probably won’t notice me unless I make a scene. I’ll talk behind one of them and see what happens next.”

“And so the dominoes line up to get knocked down…” Timber muttered as Anna crept forth like a true cat, silent in all but breath as she slipped up to the crowd.

“Hmm. Poetic.” Discord noted.

“So… what even is it, anyway?” one pony at the back of the crowd muttered, mostly to herself.

“A spaceship, obviously. But I bet I can put a name to it.” Anna said, paws on her hips as she looked past the orange mare at the crashed ship. She began scanning it to get a name from it too.

“Oh yeah? What’s it called then?” the pony asked, not looking.

“Cat’s Paw II. Second model of its design, made by a pilot to travel space as a mercenary fighter ship. And I bet while I repair it, I can make a few upgrades.” Anna gave a smirk as she checked out the schematic her scan provided. The pony turned to question the remark, and comically provided a Metal Gear Solid alert sound when she spotted the tall, bipedal cat.

“Wh-wha?!” Immediately, every pony present turned to view the commotion. Anna chuckled.

“Excuse me, can I get to my ship, please? I’d like to give it a bit of work and repair!” Anna called out. The sea of ponies parted slowly, shuffling about nervously as they let her pass. She chuckled at how skittish they were acting. “Relax, I’m friends of your Princesses.”

Once they settled down, she began inspecting the damage on the ship with her gauntlet. For the most part, the damage was only consistent with a low-gravity planetary impact. The metal was designed to withstand a low-powered weapon shot at least; something like a handheld blaster. Really, the worst damage here was a few misaligned circuits and missing armor plates.

Anna paused to consider one particular pair of words in her assessment of the damage. “...low-gravity?” She hesitated for a second, before initiating an environmental scan.

Terrain: Small Village; Easy to navigate due to positive reputation. Low Relative Gravity makes mountainous terrain easy to scale with leaps and bounds. Disabling armor stabilizers may result in extreme collateral damage.

“Well, nice to know my armor’s keeping me relatively underpowered.” Anna muttered with half a smile. She then set her scanner to drone mode - a recent addition courtesy of Chaos - to search for materials to replace the missing armor plates and fix the wires with, and then let it fly. By this time tomorrow, it should be back to deliver results.

“So you say you can fix this thing?” a pony asked, trotting up next to her.

“Yeah, I just need a smith. Making armor plates like these oughta be a challenge for a local, but enough time should allow for a decent replacement.” Anna analyzed.

“Well, I suppose I'm up to the challenge. So long as I can get the materials, I'll make new, and even improved parts for you!” The pony eagerly stated. Anna, caught off guard by that, looked at the pony. It was an Earth pony, with a charcoal black mane and dark brown coat. He also had a strange tattoo on his flank resembling a hammer and anvil. Beyond his strikingly normal appearance, Anna had to question his reasons.

“...Why? I haven't even done you any kindness or favor yet.” Anna asked in confusion.

“Smithing is my passion. And this… this is simply an opportunity I can't pass up. The fact that it's a new challenge is enough for me to want to do this. If you'll have me, that is?” The pony answered. Anna considered it for no more than two seconds.

“Huh… well, I'd be grateful. I've got a scan going for materials and it should be done by tomorrow. I'll head out for them then, and bring the materials to you. Thank you.” Anna said, smiling.

***

“Log 3, Fifth of Winter. It's gotten around to snowing, which my armor thankfully keeps from freezing me to death. It's… been a few days, so I have several updates. To start with, I learned a lot about the ruling body, and just how much influence their names hold. Two days in the town of Apploosa taught me they are revered as deities. Logically, their tremendous power brought about this blind worship. I just hope all this praise they receive day in and day out doesn't go to their heads. I doubt it won't, however.

“Furthermore, the princesses are young and naive. On the day of my meeting with them, they were… confronted with a foe whom could warp reality on a whim named Discord. Luna and Celestia were helpless against him, since he could merely snap his fingers and their power was gone, just like that. As fearsome as he was, however, he proved to be cocky, and chose to ignore me while I followed him, allowing me to legitimately steal his powers, if only for a minute.

“This earned me two things. Discord as a follower, and the ability to upgrade whatever I pleased, however I pleased. Normally, one would be overwhelmed by this sudden influx of power, but… I don't know. Maybe it's an addition that my body came with a soldier's mind, which I suppose had enough Order to balance the Chaos. In any case, I was able to significantly improve my survivability and utility skills by adding a few upgrades. Firstly, I allowed myself the ability to respawn. Always at my current age, though I'm not Unaging like the rulers of this planet.
“Secondly, I allowed my Copy Weapon the ability to morph into a removable steel gauntlet, which now let's me handle tasks two handed. Not only that, but I added a longer distance to my Scan range by creating a modular drone, and placing the scanner within it. This allows me to stand idle while scanning, rather than needing to follow a target and keep pointing at them all day.

“And finally, I dealt with Heat… in an unconventional way. I couldn't actually remove that entirely. Funnily enough, Chaos Magic doesn't allow me to lobotomize any part of me, even pheromones. I did, however, change it from a monthly worry to a one-day problem I'll have to… prepare for, each time Valentine's Day comes around. Admittedly, this has a significant chance to prove a mistake. I'm no expert, but due to 12 months of Heat being compressed into one day, I could very well be setting myself up for a… well, very big problem. Unfortunately, Discord refuses me another scan, and refuses to change a thing. I suspect he's at the Horny Teen stage of his life, everything considered.”

“HEY!”

“The last update for today is about my new ship. It's known as the Cat's Paw II. It suffered some minor impact damage, but that was easily repaired in a day; on the Third of Winter, in fact. I worked with a local Smith who forged the missing or damaged parts with admirable skill and enthusiasm. His name is… heh… Black Smith. No kidding. He had such enthusiasm though that I got swept up in everything, and… forgot to record my logs until now. I managed to upgrade the Cat's Paw II into the Cat's Paw III, using some Thaumium Deposits Discord provided. Now, several functions of the ship replenish on their own, and have special effects based on my location. Like if someone took the Biome Blade from Terraria's Calamity Mod and turned it into a spaceship, I can draw on elemental power based on what kind of biome I am operating in. I can't seem to add this to my Copy Weapon, at least not permanently, so I suppose this is strictly for heavy artillery.

“There is a lot more to speak about, but this log has gone on long enough. I will speak more on them when they become relevant. For now, this is Captain Anna Belle signing off.”

Anna took a breath as she set the voice log into her ship’s Digital Storage. As discord sat pouting in the Co-pilot seat, Anna had to admit, she was proud of the work on this ship. She was definitely right to deny Discord’s offer to upgrade with his power alone. His introduction of Thaumium at least made him feel useful rather than left out, providing her, for a time, with a happy god of chaos.

Anna finally leaned forth and pressed on the hologram screen for a Diagnostic Report. This showed her all her current systems in working condition. Energy shields at 100%, Hull integrity at 100%, with four layers of armor, weapons systems fully functional, including her light artillery shot and her Seeker Missiles, both of which were provided the Plains effect which increases projectile piercing power and speed. There was also the Omnidirectional Engines, which were currently offline. On top of that, the ship now had an increased size, allowing her to add Living Quarters, and the necessities for living within her ship as a house. All in all, the hard work paid off, and she relished in the satisfaction of it all.

Now though… she had no idea what to do. Though she now had access to space travel, she didn't have any sort of map or coordinate system to navigate with. Likely as soon as she visited another star, she'd never find this planet again… this meant she would have to stay here for the time being, until she discovers a pony talented in astronomy. And even then, she'd have to wait until this world drafted their own spacecraft and explored with it. Part of her insisted she wouldn't allow her ship to be the cause of a massive technological leap. This meant she had to lock away the one blueprint she made for this vessel. Preferably with some odd password no creature here could guess, not even Discord.

…

Which would be a rather unreal task, Anna admitted, looking at the young amalgamate. Discord now busied himself playing Terraria, which he took from her memory to code into the ship. Anna smiled as the oddity seemed to relish in discovering the rare and powerful Arkhalis. She giggled, and then sat back in her chair to enjoy the current peace. She hoped it would last. She could get used to this. All that was left was to set up an exercise regiment so as to avoid becoming fat and lazy, and she was all set.

“Hey, Anna, it looks like the Royal Guards have come for a visit. Let's go see what's going on, shall we?” Discord notified Anna. Looking out of her cockpit windows, she saw a whole line of ponies in golden armor. Something about their faces unsettled her, however. Like there was no life behind their eyes.

Anna got up, curiously heading out to greet them. “Hello officers. What do you need?” Anna asked, her tone taking on a militant, gruff rumble.

“By order of Princess Celestia, you are under arrest.” The lead guard said. Anna raised her eyebrow.

“I have done no wrong. On what counts am I being arrested?” She asked.

“Royal Assault and Battery, fear mongering, and Theft of Magic.” The lead guard listed. “If you come quietly, we will ensure your trial comes soon so you can make your arguments.”

“Very well. Lead the way.” Anna replied. She made a gesture with her gauntlet, which activated an automatic set of orders. Her ship’s engines roared and began lifting the ship into orbit. Once it was gone, she allowed the guards to lead the way. This trial, she felt, would prove to be drastically unnecessary… or a pain in the ass.