Titan of Prey: The Beginning.

{3rd Person}

Unbeknownst to either of the innocent, ignorant, human woman and her child.. their presence in the middle of such a dangerous situation… awakened something ancient, within the Everfree Forest.. something that was older than Equestria itself.. a Relic of an age long gone.. with it's Awakening, came a tremor in the ground as millennia old devices all whirred back to life, and then the very particles that make light.. coalesced.. to create a human figure..

“Replication systems.. destroyed… lovely.. Defenses… destroyed.. Offensive systems.. Destroyed.. Archives.. Corrupted.. AI integrity.. confirmed Metastable… well, at least one of us works around here.. Scanners… Suboptimal.. two human life signs located.. teleporters… extremely Suboptimal.. they'll only work one last time.. well… looks like I'm going..” in a brilliant flash of light, the figure was gone, as was a device that had no discernible purpose.

{Lyra's POV}
“Good morning Starburst! Do you know what today is?” I ask excitedly.

“My… birthday..?” he said, unsure.

“We’re not sure about that, but you said you remember some things from your world so you’ll be able to tell me at some point. No, today is gonna be your first day of school!” as I said that, he looked terrified, and latched onto me. “What’s wrong, Star?”

“I don't wanna! Other foals are cruel..”

“Oh dear, you can’t say that, there are so many foals you can make friends with…”

“I'm different… how will they like me..?”

“Because I’m different too, even when I was a pony, I played instruments made for creatures with hands, everypony looked at me, but a lot of others liked and respected me for being myself, in fact if I had just let the bullies scare me away, I’d never have met Bonnie.” he Still stays latched onto me, but he's calmed

“I'm scared..”

“Everypony gets scared, but I know you’re strong enough to face it.” he nodded.

“I love you, mom…”

“I love you too sweetie, now get ready while I make you breakfast… what would you like?”

“hm… Surprise me!” Suddenly, a mysterious device latched onto my arm.

“What the?” It became slimmer, and then I felt my brain tingle… then when Starburst saw it, he gasped.

“Omni-tool!” he declared, as if knowing exactly what it was..

“Omni-what?”

“Tool!” He seemed really excited that it had appeared on me.. But I just got more confused.

“oookay?”

“Hello, Human. I am Alexis.” A voice came from the device..

“Uh… hi?” I respond nervously.

“The reincarnated child is right, the device I reside in is an Omni-tool. Apologies for poking in your brain, but the Omni-tool works best when calibrated to a specific user’s nervous system. Now, your child has school, correct?”

“Yes, but not yet, I got him up early so I could make him breakfast.”

“Typically, a good bet is French Toast.”

“Well now I can’t make that, he said to surprise him and it’s not exactly a surprise if he knows what I’m making.”

“Apologies.” the voice was definitely feminine, but with a tone that was.. Synthetic. Sighing, I go out of the room to let Starburst get ready, then I gestured for Alexis to make a suggestion now that Star couldn’t hear us.

“Another preferred human breakfast dish is a 'grilled cheese’. Particularly a favorite with children. Do you need instructions on how to prepare it?”

I smile. “No need, it’s not just kids that like a good grilled cheese.” I say as I proceed to make two of them, one for me and one for Star.

“Ooh!! Grilled cheese!” Star definitely smelled it.

“yep!” he squeed to my reply as I set the table.

“Yay!! Thanks, mom!” I smile as I dig into mine and watch as he does the same.

“Mom… I'm scared to go to school..”

“I know you are sweetie, but you can’t stay home forever.” he hesitantly nodded.

“Don’t worry Star, no matter what me and Bon-Bon will keep you safe.” he hugged me appreciatively, and I hugged back.

“And so shall I.” Alexis spoke up.

“See? Now you have three mommies watching you!” he giggled.

“I.. guess I can go to school, Mom..”

“Thank you Star, I’m proud to see you being so brave.”

“Mhm! Maybe it won't be so bad!”

I hug and nuzzle him before taking him over so he wasn’t late…. What I hadn't expected, was to be called over to the schoolhouse two hours later, to find Starburst giggling, and.. swimming through the air.. as gravity seemed to have ceased existing in the area of the schoolhouse.. a weird bluish glow of a field showing where it ends.

“oh thank Celestia, you're here!! Your son made some sort of device, saying that 'he’d show them’ as he turned it on! There's no gravity!” Cheerilee explained to me.

I sighed and called out to him. “Starburst! If you don’t stop disrespecting the laws of physics right now, you won’t be getting any ice-cream for a week!” he yelped, and swam back through the air inside

“Hooves down, Everypony!” Cheerilee, who was currently floating upside down.. started to flail, realizing just what is about to happen as he said that, and once they were down I headed over to the teacher, helping her stand.

“So, could you please bring Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara here, I can tell it was them who caused all this.” Cheerilee nodded, and brought them out, and Starburst also came out, carrying a tiny little device with an improvised power plug to plug in to a wall socket…

“Now, you two, what were you bullying Starburst about, I promise if you are honest, I’ll make sure you aren’t in trouble, especially if it’s what I suspect.”

Diamond replied first.. “he's a blank flank!..... He's.. Actually kinda scary, now, too..”

“Your words hurt, Diamond.. Ponies aren't useless because they don't know their talents yet..” Starburst chimed in.

“Actually Starburst, in case of humans, it’s more of a compliment, go ahead and keep using it… you know why, Star?” he seemed confused, now... “because humans don’t get cutie marks, ever. When I became human I lost mine, because humans don’t discover their talents, they develop them. If a human is dedicated and practices on anything, that thing can become one of their talents… and you know what the best part is? There is. No. Limit.” he smiled.

“I really like building things..” he held up the device he built, which had a chunk of silvery metal in the middle.

“Good!” I replied. “And the more you practice at it, the better you’ll be, eventually even better than some of the greatest pony inventors in Equestria.” he gasped, and got very excited, then turned to Cheerilee.

“Sorry for scaring you, Miss Cheerilee..” he said, sounding a little nervous.

“Just.. please don't do it in school again, okay?”

“Or if you are going to do it, why not make something to help Cheerilee teach the class?” I suggested. He gasped, and nodded hyperactively, smiling.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were at a loss for words, and then all of a Sudden, Alexis spoke up. “I believe that chunk of metal inside that device is Element Zero. When electrically stimulated, it can increase and decrease mass in an area. Exactly how Starburst used it.” The two bullies were at a loss for words as to where the voice came from, as was Cheerilee. “In fact, the Mass Effect field generator’s very ability to function speaks highly about Starburst's aptitude for advanced practical engineering.”

“Um… thanks Alexis.”

“No problem.. I never did learn your name.”

“...okay you were in my brain before, I know that’s a lie.” I said.

“I.. tried to not intrude.. I didn't glean your name..” Alexis replied.

“Lyra.”

“Lyra? A good name..”

“Thank you!” Alexis giggled as I said that.

“So… AWESOME!!” I found it was Scootaloo that said that.. “That was amazing!! I could actually fly around through the air effortlessly!”

“Problem is we don’t have a way for it to only affect you without some portable energy source and… wait, hey Starburst!” I rush off to find him while asking Alexis. “So those weird energy constructs that idly float on around you, am I right in saying they’re generated by you and can be manipulated?”

“Not energy constructs. Hardlight constructs. And yes, they can be manipulated. However, i cannot Construct a power cell sufficient for such, and Starburst does not have the suitable materials to build a field intensifier and localizer.” she said.

I shake my head. “No, I mean your ‘Hardlight’ has its own physical presence without adding weight, while mass manipulation has its own setbacks due to bones and muscles atrophying like in null gravity, if we instead made another Omni-tool using your designs, Scootaloo could get some Hardlight wings.”

“That wouldn't solve the problem, sadly. Her wings move too fast to effectively create lift in a 1.7 G environment.”

“She can’t rely on her natural wings anyway. everypony got letters from cheerilee about it, her wings are so small because the ley-lines in her body can’t flow magic into them, without magic her wings aren’t able to generate lift for long… It’s called Feather-fade syndrome and it’s really expensive to treat, and even then the wings will be stuck at that size and it will take a lot more effort to fly because of it, she doesn’t really know yet. I’m thinking if she had some way to form larger, weightless wings, her scootering around ponyville would give her enough wingpower to flap them efficiently.”

“We can treat the condition.” Alexis declared with determination.

“But if we treat it she’ll still be stuck with small wings.”

“Negative. That would be if Ponies treated her condition. We can do better.”

“But you don’t know anything about ley-lines and proper magic channels for stabilized flight generated from wing flaps and mana ventilation to produce thrust.”

“I did not say she would be a normal Pegasus by the end of it. Element Zero can replicate the required effects. She would be the first Equestrian Biotic.”

“... if this hurts her in anyway I’m cutting my arm off and throwing it, and you with it, into the incinerator.”

“My primary directive is yours and Starburst's physical and mental health. I have determined that Starburst has formed a bond with Scootaloo. Harming her would be a direct violation of my primary directive, as it would hurt Starburst, and result in you harming yourself. And the Omni-tool is easily removable.”

“I know, but it makes a statement.” I head over to the orange pegasus. “Hey scootaloo, did you enjoy your moment of flight?” she nodded hyperactively.

“Lyra, be aware, the facilities required to help her are overgrown and require simple repairs.” Alexis warned me.

“Don’t worry, as long as you can guide me through it we should be fine… now Scoots, how would you like to fly without needing that machine?”

“That'd be awesome!” She squeed.

“Alright then, Alexis? Where do we start?” in response, she created a holographic map, with several different icons on the map, one cross icon marked with a unique, circular icon overlaid on top of it… said facility was in the whitetail wood. “Alright, let your parents know where we’re going and we’ll head out right away.” Scootaloo looked down when I mentioned parents… “what’s wrong?”

“I… my parents are.. gone..” Scootaloo started to cry, then Starburst hugged her.

“...well then I guess this is awkward… well, Scootaloo, once you feel better me and your brother are gonna go to that facility with you.” Scootaloo gasped, and hugged me and Starburst tight, crying in joy. “Welcome to the family, Scoots.”

“I-I'm ready.. Mom..” I give a soft smile, pick them both up and head off to whitetail woods. Once at the facility, I see what Alexis meant by it being overgrown.. it's literally covered in a tree. As in, the tree grew over it.

“You'll have to cut through the roots.”

“Got a knife?”

“I suggest you hold your arm out.” I nodded, putting my two children down and holding my arm out in front of me, and a glowing red transparent blade formed with only tiny spacing from my arm and hand.

“This is an Omni-blade. A minifactured micron thick blade that can cut through generally anything. It glows because it is very harmful to touch. Literally, the glow is for the user’s protection. The actual blade is invisible.”

I proceed to cut open a path inside, then came a door, and the Omni-blade disappeared. “Okay, it's definitely still working. Use the Omni-tool to interface and open the door.”

“But how? You don’t expect me to punch it, do you?”

“.. Right, you're not used to using an Omni-tool… hold your arm like you're looking at a watch.” I do so, and a screen appears on my arm, saying 'Nearby Devices’.

“Press the one titled Door.” I press it.

“Now Swipe.” I do so, and the door opens, and we head into…

The unknown…