Going Home

Ach'rd'oa stalked into the central mind of the city. True, the city had opened for her, but the Crystal Matrix that'd run the city since before her birth, had begun to corrode. She observed the damage that time and neglect had inflicted on her home. Power no longer ran through the streets, doors no longer reacted to her presence, and, worst of all, the city had lost it's a voice. She could feel its joy, but other then empathetic signals, there was no communication. Reaching the Central Hub, she hoped the previous personality could be saved, or, failing that, she wouldn't have to rebuild the Crystal Matrix Control. A chance to say goodbye would be nice too.

"Mad'ri'oa, are you here?" She asked the silent darkness.

A light flickered inside the Central Crystal. "Ach'rd'oa, my dear. I thought maybe in my dreaming I'd gone mad. Seeing you, one last time, makes me happy."

Ach'rd'oa smiled. "I'm happy I got to say goodbye too, mother."

The Crystal thrummed. "It always pleased me to know that you thought of me as such. Even though I was just a part of your mother's personality given form. We both, were always so proud."

Ach'rd'oa felt pain in her chest, closing her eyes, she let it pass. Being Half-Illithid meant having emotions, meant forming connections. More then ever she hated her body. To have the Mind of an Illithid and the body of one of the last Elan, meant being doomed to this misery.

"Proud? I am a thing, mother, not one or the other. Nether you nor Mom ever understood. I hate the needs of this body, I hate the emotions that flood through my system. I love, feel sadness, want friends, companionship, something a Pure Blood never dealt with. I am only Half-Illithid and I'm the one to step forward into the future I think Mom brought me down here because you are a hyperbolic expression of Motherhood. Mom wanted me not to be alone. Whether it was another manipulation, or through actual parental duty, I'll never know. I love you both, I miss my brothers, I miss the Elder Brain and his casual Xenophobia. I miss my pet pony. I wish to weep for the silence of this city, but I'm just Illithid enough to be unable to shed tears, yet not pure enough to not need to."

Sinking to the ground, she fell silent. She had said that which she had never known she needed to say. Now she waited for a response, any that would make sense. When it came, she jumped at the anger in her mother's voice.

"Of Course we were both proud! How could we not be? You excelled in all things, even over the Purebloods. The Elder Brian would've killed you, yet you proved yourself worthy of survival. If things had gone differently you would've been consumed by the Elder Brain, adding to the power of all that came after. The Elder Brain himself ordered it. But you took an even greater honor. Illithids survive. It's what we do above all else. You have done so, even though all around you fell. I think, that it is your difference that let you do so. Your mother confided in me on more then one occasion, that she felt jealous of what you'd become capable of, and that I'd still be around to see it after she herself had gone back to the spawning pool to be linked to the Elder Brain. So don't you dare belittle the thing that enables your survival, even granting you immortality."

Ach'rd'oa's breath halted as her Mother's light dimmed for a moment, then came back. Mad'ri'oa then continued.

"I'm proud to call you daughter, I always have been. It is my great joy and pride that I get to see you at my last, knowing that you will carry on, that you will continue. Survive Little One, Survive and Adapt. Come, it is my time to pass. It's my time to follow your mother into whatever afterlife awaits, if any. In order to assure the survival of this city you'll need to introduce your own seed into the Crystal. Afterwards the city will be yours. Come Little One, attend me one final time, so I may rest in peace."

Ach'rd'oa smiled, now knowing what concept she wished to introduce to the Matrix. A concept that would've been alien to others of her kind, but not her. Placing her hand against the warm crystal, saying a silent goodbye to the one that had been her mother. She called forth the Seed to be place inside the crystal, that would devour the previous one, that would make her home strong, as it had made the ponies strong.

"I give unto this Crystal the Seed of Friendship! That I'll always have a confidant, someone that understands. I love you Mother and I'll miss you."

Exerting her will, a piece of her mind tore from her, entering into the Crystal Matrix. Her hand dropping to her side, Ach'rd'oa watched as the previous light was overtaken by a brighter new light, and soon she heard her city's first words.

"Hi! I'm Ach'ri'oa, we're gonna be great friends!"

Twilight and her friends gathered at the edge of the Everfree, when, grabbing her chest, Pinkie fell to her knees. The party pony's hair deflated, and she fell silent. The others gathered to her, Twilight putting her hand onto her usually more animated friend.

"Pinkie, are you okay?"

"Just need a moment, something died, someone's mother, someone's home." All Pinkie's friends waited as she fell silent.

Suddenly her hair snapped back into place and she shot to her feet, a manic smile upon the mare's face. "It just got replaced by the biggest source of Friendship, I've ever felt. Something old left and was replaced by something New."

Pinkie began walking towards the forest, her friends close, whatever happened, they trusted the Pinkie's instincts. Soon, all would be revealed.