Romance, Mortality, and Cyborgs

by Kuairu

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Other, Princess Luna, Original Character, Science Fiction, Comedy, Profanity, Violence, Princess Celestia
Length: 11666

My name is Celestia. I have been studying a member of a civilization that should not exist. Now I am them, and they are now me.

My name is Celestia. And for the past few or however many years, I have been studying a member of a civilization that should not exist in my dimension.

This civilization holds control over time and space, using its citizens to live through different simulations in different universes. Among different timelines.

Their very nature is unfathomable. Their ultimate goal is catastrophic. I intended to destroy it, and to do that, I needed to get inside the heads of one of them.

My name is Celestia. At least, I believed it was before all of this began.

Art cover source from Quiet Victories.

Published 2019-08-29 03:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-09-10 04:30:07 UTC

R E S E T

The urgent summons should have been the first clue that something was up. The multitude of royal guards greeting her at the train station should have been the second clue.

It wasn't until the lead guard had approached her and demanded that she come to the darkened carriage with blacked out windows that Rainbow Dash knew with a third clue that this wasn't just another friendship mission.

Despite being hesitant even though half the fantasies going through her mind made the trip seem exciting and adventurous, Rainbow followed the guard to the black carriage and entered.

Inside, the car betrayed the gloomy outlook with a rich exterior, the leather padding easily conforming to Rainbow's body to be comfortable yet alert, and the roof using a rare electric lightbulb that usually costs millions of bits just to put one inside a carriage. Sitting across from Rainbow was another pegasus, with a light blue coat and a white mane that was combed back, and wearing what she thought was, in her terms, 'an egghead coat'.

Once the speedster was situated, the lab coat pegasus knocked on the wall behind her, and they both felt the carriage lurch forward towards their end goal.

"I vill be brief, madame Rainbow Dash, as ve vill soon arrive at our destination," the pegasus said. Rainbow only quirked an eyebrow once she heard the thick accent of the lab coat in front of her.

Urgent royal summons, guards at the station, a black carriage, and now a foreign scientist is the fourth clue. I really am about to die, aren't I?

The cyan wonderbolt decided she wouldn't go down without a fight. "Alright, I've had enough of the weirdness here. What's with all the secret stuff and security? I thought this was just a mission the princesses needed me to do!"

"Calm down, Madame Dash, ve are not 'ere to hurt you!" the pegasus raised up their forelegs in a non-threatening manner to show her point.

Rainbow only pointed a hoof, "yeah, well that's what villains like you would say when there's all this weird dark stuff happening in order to trick the hero!"

The scientist could only facehoof. "Ze princess varned me that you might ve a little suspicious... As a colleague vonce told me, Madame Rainbow Dash, it is sometimes better to ask forgiveness than permission, and so now I must ask you to forgive us for ze secrecy. Ze crown needs to make sure ze information ve are currently classifying does not reach ze general public."

It did little to calm the speedster, but it was a start. "Alright. So what's the issue then? Got some upcoming enemy that needs a good ol' one two from your pal here?" Rainbow asked, raising her front hooves to show them off.

"Not so fast, I am afraid," the scientist answered, pulling out a small and thin tray from underneath her. "Even vith your great exceptions as an Element of Harmony and many times vorld hero, we must follow protocol for this specific task. Here," she pushed the tray out to Rainbow but still held it in her grasp, "place your dominant front hoof on the marker. You vill have to agree to ze words I say of security before zhe marker can activate and add a magic hex to your horseshoe, to make sure you do not accidentally or purposely reveal ze confidential information."

Alarm bells again rang in Rainbow's head. "And if I don't want to put ol' rightie there?" she asked.

"Then I am afraid I vill ask you to leave this carriage. My own horseshoe hex cannot let me say any more on ze matter," the scientist answered, letting go for a moment and raising her own front right hoof to show a green hex just around the edges of her own horseshoe. Rainbow sat there for a moment, lowering her head in thought.

Well, I'm here already. I don't like any of this at all, but I guess it's time to go for the long haul. I can just ask Twilight to see if she can take the hex off, I'd bet she know a counterspell anyway.

The cyan pegasus raised Ol' Rightie and pressed down on the weird tray. "Okay, let's do this. So what am I agreeing to?"

"Do you swear, at risk of treason to the crown, to not ever share any information, written or oratory, that I or others vithin our current classified project share vith you, to your family and friends?"

Rainbow only rolled her eyes, thinking it was some sort of swearing in like at a trial. "I do."

"Do you swear, at risk of theft to the crown, to not take, swipe, or steal any information or evidence, written or otherwise, in your reasoning to perform your own experiments, so that our project can centralize all research and understanding may progress vorward together?"

What, do they think I'm going to nab an alien for my own or something? Am I seeing an alien???

"I, uh, I do." Rainbow swore in, a bit hesitant at the implications of what exactly she was dealing with.

"And finally, do you swear, at risk of your health and vellness, that you understand the nature of the current project may vorce you or your fellow colleagues into situations zat may physically or mentally injure yourselves, or even cause death?"

Hah! I knew I was going to die! Bring it on!

"I do!" Rainbow answered, a bit more firmly than needed. She readied herself to tackle the scientist if it looked like she was ready to fire a weapon. Her right hoof glowed green for a moment under the tray before the tray simply disintegrated in their sights. Rainbow looked at her hoof to see the small hex settle in place exactly as she had seen on the scientist's hoof, except after a few moments it totally disappeared. Probably the secret aspect just to make sure no one else knew.

"Now that ve have that out of ze vay, your main objective for us is quite simple. Ve just need your professional opinion on these numbers," the scientist said, handing Rainbow some papers. For her part, the cyan speedster just looked confused as she quickly scanned the papers.

She at least expected something a bit more than math from such a secret project.

"Hey lady, I know numbers are cool and all to you egghead types, but you probably would have wanted Twilight or somepony else more interested to look at these."

"Princess Celestia has said they may need Princess Twilight's expertise for another aspect of the project, but if you looked closely at these numbers, madame Rainbow Dash, you will see why ze princess chose you."

Rainbow only quirked an eyebrow in response before looking at the papers again. It wasn't homework full of equations, just simple parabolic formulas and data that meant speed, acceleration, downward force in neutons, upward opposite force...

"Huh. It's just flight recordings. But why me?" Rainbow asked the blue scientist in front of her.

The lab coated pegasus could only smile in response. "Have you ever seen the flight data for some of your own personal aviation achievements, madame Rainbow?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, I went to flight camp, I know how to keep personal math to the brain whenever I fly just to work with what I got, but that doesn't mean anything compared to..."

Rainbow looked at the numbers. Then she looked at the numbers again. And then again. And on the fourth time she could only deduce...

"These numbers do not make sense," Rainbow Dash said, pointing to the same flight data now on a giant chalkboard in front of an oval table, where a bunch of ponies, all pegasi, while dressed in lab coats, stared at her. Some of them even groaned, already knowing the same answer as Rainbow Dash just announced.

"... If it's a regular pegasus, I mean. And if it's with me, that's even still stretching it with some of this data. And it would still make no sense with any other flying thing, like griffins or even dragons. But the thing about flight data is that some of the info is implied, which is where you have to use those numbers to get these numbers. Things like, how big is the object, what's the BMI, what's the weight, what's the magic measured in Swirls that the object is capable of using to fly against gravity, and the least useful of that info always being the temporal gravity shift you take into account at high altitudes," Rainbow explained, before turning her head to the side. "Always hated those ones. I get the timing right when I'm up in the air, not just figuring it out on stupid paper..."

Some of the scientists wrote into their notebooks, adding to their knowledge of the current project. One scientist raised their hoof. "If it helps, we know the, uh, 'object' is about three thousand kilograms."

Rainbow's eyes widened. "That's... Bigger than a dragon! Did you study a meteor or something?!"

"No, we actually found the object deep underground, in the crystal caves below the palace. It was hidden deeper than the usual expeditions, so we never found it until recently. When we tried to analyze the object, we kept getting a signal that translated into that flight data," the same scientist.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow yet again, feeling like she was channeling her inner Applejack today. "The object had a," she hesitated, "signal?"

All eyes were on the scientist that spoke, and he gulped before continuing. "It is difficult to explain the nature of the object unless you look at it yourself, Miss Dash. But understand that we did get a perceived signal that, as I said, translated directly into that flight data, but in a repeated loop."

Rainbow Dash thought she had seen, and fought, everything in life, but this was entirely a new one to be seen. As for fighting it, she had no choice but to do the 'go with the flow' approach.

"Okay... Well, if that's what it weighs, then," Rainbow began, looking through the numbers once again to see anything that might pop out to her eye. That's when she saw one set of numbers that provided the first clue to unlocking the mystery.

"The overall speed. They're the exact same at the beginning and the end," she announced.

"We already knew that again, Miss Dash. And considering the weight we are sure that's still not a possible speed."

"Of course not. Because it's one kilometer per hour more than the possible terminal velocity. Exactly one more, down to the decimal points here."

Rainbow's answer silenced everypony in the room. A few gears in heads broke at the simple yet out-of-reach explanation of a breakthrough the team needed.

All scientists then grabbed their notebooks and started writing. The air was alive with the whir of feathers marking pages and the eggheads in lab coats mumbling to themselves. Rainbow would have laughed at how Twilight would fit in so much with this group if at that moment she did not feel suddenly ignored by everypony.

"Hey!" she yelled. "What does any of this even mean?"

The feathers stopped scratching as all the scientists looked up at her. The same scientist that spoke up from before now stood up in his chair. "Forgive us, miss Dash, this is just another example of science overcomplicating the situation. What you just revealed has been the first breakthrough we've had in weeks since we first realized the signals were broadcasting flight recordings. As for what it could mean, well..."

The scientist held his head low, thinking out loud, "Considering our professions, and considering our current project, I have no doubt that this is not a coincidence. Obviously the signals are on purpose, since it repeats the same flight data, and now we know there's a specific order to the data as well."

Rainbow cocked her head to the side." So, what, you think it's something like Hurricane Code?"

The speaking scientist, which Rainbow was now sure he was the head egghead, flinched back in disgust. "That's preposterous. It can't be that easy, we're the top in our fields and we've been studying these recordings for weeks!"

"What's Hurricane Code?" one scientist asked. All pegasi in the room looked suddenly confused and horrified at the poor mare, who was now confused on her own from everyponys' reactions. "Whyyyyyy are you all looking at me like that?"

"Did, uh, did you not go to flight camp?!" Rainbow asked.

"Um," the mare hesitated. "Not really? My pops was a supremacist, and he wanted to teach me flight his own way instead of the 'weak unification era way', and I didn't know practically anything until I fled from his house and went into Cloudsdale U."

Everypony in the room held differing reactions to the news, but they all at least were more sympathetic to the mare not knowing about Hurricane Code. "Basically," the head scientist began, "Hurricane Code, named after Commander Hurricane, is using flight recordings to hide messages in the parabolas. Each parabola was a specific line mixed between two loops in real life that when graphed and put to the light or something, it makes out a letter. Whole flight recordings would contain simple messages, usually about stuff the counselors couldn't know, like 'I've got beer' or 'I got some mags'."

Rainbow nodded. "Some colt even tried to ask me out to some ice cream in Hurricane Code, but he turned a bit wrong due to the wind, and instead asked me out to getting iced. I thought it was something to do with drugs so I said no, because 'winners don't do drugs' and that crud we had to learn in elementary."

The same scientist that didn't know Hurricane Code piped up, "How did you know then he was asking for ice cream?"

Rainbow smiled, absent-mindedly rolling her eyes. "He mentioned it to me a couple years ago when I was invited to his wedding to another stallion. From the same class too."

The head scientist, eager to get back on track after these tangents, cleared his throat. "Back to the topic. As I said, it could not be that simple, Miss Dash, it would be an affront to our pedigree to use such a childish system."

"Hey, you eggheads missed the simple fact of the terminal velocity numbers. Wanna bet this is just as simple too?"

"Excuse you, what did you call—fine. We'll entertain this notion, if only for the reason that we cannot leave anything to chance at this point. Could somepony call in Crypto?"

Graph paper upon graph paper, all sketched with parabolas and lines, were stacked on the center table. A unicorn mare with a weird Cutie mark of a spinning and separated octagonal cylinder, each side containing a letter, stepped forward to shuffle the graphs, taking them in her magic before lifting them up in the air.

As the rest of the team watched, Rainbow couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy. This wasn't exactly a new feeling for her, but the way she could only describe it was a sense of tipping your hoof into unknown waters.

She really was in for the long haul now.

Crypt Mixer, known as Crypto, used her magic to lift the parabolas from their graphs so as to form any sense of symbol that could be read. To the amazement of many scientists, the slight anger of the lead scientist, and the smug satisfaction of Rainbow, the parabolas indeed spelled letters. Each curve and line was mapped out first for each letter before skipping the known space circle, before the full message could be shown.

PROJECTANGEL

"Pro jectan gel? Any idea what it could be, Crypto?" the lead scientist asked.

"I don't know about how you pegasi organized your 'hurricane cipher' or whatever, but I think it's safe to say the message is Project Angel," Crypto answered, shifting the message over to the board to be placed permanently, cutting off her magic to take a breather.

PROJECT ANGEL stood in the center of the board. The biggest breakthrough in the entire operation, and yet it teased everything it meant in an agonizingingly cryptic way to the scientists. Rainbow looked over to the lead scientist and couldn't help but grin. "I should have made you bet a hundred bits it wouldn't say anything."

"It would have been a bet I'd surely lose. I don't suppose you have any more ideas to bring us forward from this discovery?" the scientist groaned, growing tired of the smugness of the cyan wonderbolt.

"Nah, I'm as stumped as you. What in Equestria are you studying, anyway?" Rainbow asked, throwing a few fantasies around for what, or who, ANGEL could be.

"To put it simply, it's a mare. To put it not simply, it is not a mare."

Rainbow stared at the leader.

"Don't put it as a Shroedinger's object for her, Grid Frame," Crypto chided. "In better terms, miss Dash, (mind if I call you miss? I'm a big fan of your work in the wonderbolts.) we're studying a corpse entity that has the body of a mare, yet is not in any recorded history or census records, and holds certain physical features that feature technology beyond our time, maybe even beyond our space."

Rainbow let the information sink in, her inner action-girl heart beginning to brim with glee. "Wait. You mean you found a freaking cyborg!?"

Crypto rolled her eyes. "Not exactly, a cyborg would mean they are organic parts fused with machine. This entity is all robotic, yet we believe they are born as machine, as if metal skin is their organic body. Princess Celestia has proposed they may be their own species, robotic entities in service to their own civilization perhaps, though it raises even bigger questions. Are they controlled by a hive mind? Are they each an individual intelligence but with pre-defined code for different aspects of society? Do we have a soldier or explorer, wandering the dimensions in search of something, or do we have some random janitor that was just late to work one day?"

Rainbow, though she was listening, rolled her eyes at all the weird questions. "Well, thinking of what they could be ain't gonna help you anywhere if you can't just talk to her. Have y'all tried to, I dunno, activate her with a huge jolt of electricity or something? Like starting up a battery."

"We had requested that as an experiment, but Princess Celestia, vehemently I might add, denied our request. We can only guess she believed it was too dangerous," the lead scientist piped up. "Regardless, I believe she will be pleased to hear our recent discoveries. Thank you for your time and assistance, Rainbow Dash. You may see security to be escorted out."

"Now hold on, wait a minute," Rainbow held up both her front hooves, her mind turning along to see if it can come up with one last discovery. "Let's go back to the signals. You said that you discovered the mare was giving off some signals that could be translated. What if it's something like a distress beacon? Like, this message was for whoever found her to know, um."

She put a hoof up to her mouth in thought. "To know how to fix her! Or maybe how to start her to fix herself! Like an activation phrase!"

Some of the scientists heard her out, but others, including the lead scientist, quickly dismissed her. "Why would a machine sent out signals to somepony just so they could show that somepony how to fix themselves. That doesn't make any logical sense!"

"Well it's the best idea I've got. And I already had two great ideas. Third times the charm, right?" Rainbow countered. The scientists looked to themselves, shifting nods and unspoken statements.

"I say let's try it," Crypto said. "We don't have anything else to lose except our mental or physical lives."

Ignoring the grim reminder of their project's protocols, the lead scientist looked among his peers to see they also were willing to try the idea. He shook his head, sighing, "At this point I ought to just turn my credentials in, being led around by a civilian. Fine, prepare the center for the next experiment, and inform Celestia to oversee it. Come, miss Rainbow Dash, let us show you what the entire Equestrian Scientific community has been studying for the last few months."

The team shifted out of the room, with Rainbow Dash looking one more time at the wall.

PROJECT ANGEL. The cyan wonderbolt could only wonder what sort of angel.

The project center itself, at least the upper half she was in, was fascinating to Rainbow. She heard of secret military facilities housing technology never or not yet seen by regular pony eyes, but this was straight out of a secret spy movie. Many ponies and species of all kinds were personnel to this operation, either working on fancy technology or running to and fro to inform other personnel about how to use their fancy technology.

'Ask security to escort her out', pfft. Rainbow was here, and she was here to stay. Not even Daring Do could write up or even dream of being a part of this.

"I see you have exceeded the expectations of my brightest, Rainbow Dash," she heard a familiar voice say. Rainbow turned around to see the diarch of the Sun, Princess Celestia, greeting her with a smile. The wonderbolt bowed down quickly in acknowledgement before standing back up and walking alongside her.

"Princess Celestia! This is just sooooo cool! It's like I'm in a Hoof Bond movie! And I helped eggheads! Wait, does this mean I'm an egghead now?" she said quickly, raising a hoof at herself in quick confusion at her last question.

"For your situation, you are known as a valuable asset, not a, um, egghead, as you say," Celestia replied, holding back a chuckle at the nickname for her best and brightest of the kingdom. Excluding her own pupil, of course.

"By the way, thanks again for asking me to come here, but even still, why didn't you get Twilight instead? I'm sure she'd have jumped and skipped at a chance to witness this cool stuff and the m—whoa!"

Both Celestia and Rainbow stopped at the railing of the center to see a massive glass case strangled at the bottom with wires. Within the case was a bronze statue-like shell of a mare, multiple cables seemingly plugged in various sockets in her and in instruments that were closely monitoring her. She was laying on her right side as if she was frozen in time staring in shock at something, and her left hind leg seemed to be severed violently, with various cables spilling out of the limb.

Her eyes were closed, and Rainbow thought she saw tiny screws at the middle portion of her eyelids, as if it slid down one plate before closing fully.

"Wow. So, like, is she an android then, if she isn't a cyborg?" Rainbow asked.

"We do not know. We do not even know if she is a mare. They might be a species where our concepts of gender and sex is different to ours, or perhaps even entirely irrelevant to them," Celestia explained. "We hope you are right with your idea of an activation phrase."

"Yeah, we hope. But," Rainbow spoke hesitating for a moment as she considered the possibilities, "What if we activate it and it turns, I dunno, angry or mad at us? We got a fail safe plan of wires, or is ol' rightie here and your horn the back up plan?"

Rainbow lifted her hoof up to show Celestia, but the princess didn't look, choosing instead to look at her own right hoof, a look of consternation crossing her face. "Let us hope it does not come to any violence, or more, Rainbow Dash. Are we ready to start the experiment?" the princess called out.

"Just about!" a voice called out from below the upper center platform. Most of the personnel stopped to watch the upcoming experiment next to the Princess and RD, hoping to see something more interesting than some latent signals coming from the machine. "Okay, we're ready to go. Start it, Princess!"

The princess looked to Rainbow's direction. "I believe the honors of the phrase should be yours, young wonderbolt."

Rainbow, upon hearing those words, grew ecstatic. "You're serious!? Okay, um, here goes."

The entire op center was silenced, waiting for the phrase and hoping, praying, wishing for something or anything could come of the experiment.

"PROJECT ANGEL!"

Be careful what you wish for.

All instruments studying the machine began to overload, burning out in sparks and even exploding in small flames. The machine's eyes suddenly opened, with blackened orbs staring out of the body, but not immediately responding.

The whole operation center began to shake as ponies clung to railings or whatever else for their lives. Rainbow Dash flew up in instinct, believing an earthquake was happening.

That's when they all heard the sound.

If a computer, or any digital machine, could groan, that was the sound that was now reverberating from all corners of the op center. A synthetic sounding low whine combined with weird, high-pitched pops every few seconds. Every pony looked to the walls to see where exactly the wail was coming from.

They weren't expecting it to be coming towards them.

"In the main hallway!" somepony yelled. Everyone looked to see a black mass of squares and rectangles coming in through the main hallway doors, encircling the perimeter of the main platform quickly. The mass looked like a low resolution digitized goop, slowly but surely closing in.

That's when the screams began.

"Whoa hey, something is grabbing me from the other side!" a pegasus yelled, curiosity making him put a hoof in the mass, and regret now making him try to pull his foreleg out. Before he could say anything more, he was quickly sucked into the mass, never seen again.

The mass then began to grow weird shapes in its walls, before it swiped at personnel with tentacle versions of its square and rectangle form.

"I had wished to learn a bunch, not to end up as someone's lunch!"

"Not the horn, not the horn!"

"Hey, give me back my good talons! Let go you little–"

As Rainbow and Celestia stared in horror at the chaos around them, they didn't notice the trap set above them. Before the wonderbolt could react, a tentacle swiped at Rainbow Dash's hind legs, ensnaring itself around her lower barrel and below, and ensuring parts of her wings couldn't flap away free.

"Princess!" the wonderbolt called, being pulled up towards the ceiling away from the platform. Celestia, thinking quickly, grabbed Rainbow by her front legs, using her own alicorn wings to pull her back. It was to no avail, however, as they both felt the mass encroaching closer and the tentacle pulling harder on Rainbow.

The cyan speedster cried out in pain. Underneath the mass, her body felt as if each bone, each blood vessel, and each muscle sinew was being forcefully ripped away from her like they were nothing more than hairs or feather being plucked out. "Celestia, please! Don't let me die!" she yelled.

To her horror, the princess's eyes drifted down. "I'm sorry, my little pony," was all she had to say before Rainbow saw her princess of the sun look her in the eyes, and then felt her let go of her forelegs, to be swallowed by the black mass.

In the last moments of her life, Rainbow saw Celestia, guardian of all Equestria, turn and glow an eerie electric blue, before rushing down with one powerful flap of her wings to strike the ground with her front right hoof.

R E S E T

K N O W L E D G E

Celestia woke up from her bed, panting as her sweat enveloped her body, and began to stain the sheets.

Even after having this done many times, she still looked around the room, pleading to the Creator that the black mass still wasn't anywhere near her. Once her scan showed no sign of problems, she took her first full breaths in what felt like hours.

Replaying the events in her mind, the look of Rainbow's face of shock at how she had betrayed her little pony stayed in her mind, as the diarch of the sun began to cry into her pillow.

Another one of these horrid simulations. And I still failed my ponies. When will this madness end?!

For a few minutes, all Celestia wanted to do was just cry. The trials that she's had to endure just for this project, the words taxing and frustrating could only pale as understatements to her. But it was needed.

Celestia had learned that every time this happened, she needed to allow herself a few moments of relishing in her failure. Trying to stay strong each time only added to the mental cost.

She also learned that it needed to be documented.

Once the crying had subsided, and Celestia had let her emotions out enough to just feel empty inside, she tuned her magic to materialize a journal. It's simple brown and belt-buckle latch design did not betray a story of complications and immense losses suffered during the whole ordeal. As if she was a machine herself, devoid of any feeling but the instinct of having to do what must be done, she methodically flipped the pages of the journal, magically enchanted to always have paper whenever she needed.

The reports this journal holds could fill up an entire library. Perhaps Celestia should publish it to remind her ponies that she too, can suffer and fail just like them.

Shaking her head of such nonsense, she finally flipped to the next empty page, and with another materialization of a pen, she began to write.

Simulation 742-END:

Noted time passed: 9.3 months.

Total time passed: 149.7 months.

Notes: By luck, the signals that first emanated from the subject on Simulation 12 was finally translated into something we could understand. What the being wants from me is still indecipherable, but I now have a lead. PROJECT ANGEL. Is this the name of this being? A name for what it was doing? The name of the test it has been giving me for all this time?

Time, and/or more simulations will tell. At the very least, it is not a phrase that should be uttered towards it, as it instantly activates DELETION.

I lost fair Rainbow Dash to the DELETION. No doubt this current simulation has changed something about her to mess my leads yet again. If I were to hazard a guess, she has lost her aptitude for aviation physics and only relies on pure skill. Were it not for this journal, I could not ever have a weapon against this DELETION that haunts my every waking nightmare.

However, I shouldn't immediately block the experiment at first. Before DELETION occurred, the machine did activate. Somehow. Its eyes opened, and I swear on the Creator, it moved its eyes around.

It's still in there. She is still in there. And I swear on all of creation, she looked at me.

Ruminations: The name ANGEL itself has a sense of familiarity to me. As if I should hold a closer bond to it than my memory should serve. Whatever the case may be, I am now more afraid of the DELETION than ever. So many ponies were witness to it last simulation, most of all an element of harmony herself. I have no doubt the latent magic retention that holds over the simulation is going to leave all these ponies with nightmares. I do hope Luna won't mind a bit of overtime.

With that said, Simulation 742 has ended. Case: Failure. Progress: PROJECT ANGEL has been found.

As if the page knew it would end, the last letter she would write on 742 would be the last letter of the page, all the way down in the bottom right corner. She's seen this happen since 367, but she never bothered with figuring out where the perfectness of her writing came from.

Though she's sure the current project might have something to do with it.

She flipped the page over, her small smile beginning to form on her muzzle as she began to regain her feelings, still having a small bit of hope after learning the two-word phrase she feels that she desperately needed all this time.

Simulation 743–BEGIN:

My name is Celestia. I am the princess of the Sun, and one of two Diarchs of the country of Equestria.

I have been living through the last 12 years repeating the same few months. It began when a Canterlot expedition found a strange machine pony deep in the depths of the Crystal Caves. When I went to investigate it myself, some power of it was imbued into me, and over the years I've come to understand what and where this new power is.

This is what I am calling Simulation 743. It is not a timeline, as that would imply there was an inherent choice taken before that resulted in different consequences. Instead, this is a simulation, a created environment that analyzes and studies a collection of choices while adding or removing factors.

That might seem like a different definition of a timeline, but I know it is different because we are fighting it. This machine pony and I are fighting it. Whatever these simulations lead to, it will not end well for my ponies. And I intend to not let that happen.

Whenever a simulation wishes to end due to a failed test or the entity responsible for these simulations wants to stop me, it begins DELETION. When that happens, my only chance of survival to get to the next simulation is to stomp my right front hoof on the ground and will the fabric of reality to reset.

It's surprisingly easy, admittedly.

This journal is to chronicle my advancements in understanding how to combat the problem, to break through the deletions as best as I could. It is locked with a spell in my mind, that I remember to write in every time the simulation resets, and then force myself to forget before I officially start the simulation with my investigation. I cannot trust my own mind beyond this as I've seen in the journal how different aspects of myself change just as much as other ponies change within the simulation. I do not know how this small trick works against the entity and the simulation, but I shall not look a gift horse in the mouth.

My current progression: We finally deduced the signals that originated from the machine since Sim 12, and I have been given a phrase. PROJECT ANGEL. It will now be my job to investigate and ruminate on the phrase while trying to avoid causing another sudden activation of DELETION. Though I have faced longer campaigns, I am growing quite tired of this whole situation.

But I cannot fail. I cannot grow weary now. I am closer now more than ever, and I must turn more aggressive to combat this entity.

My name is Celestia. And I will protect my family, my friends, and my little ponies.

As soon as she finished writing her last letter, she heard rapid knocking on her bedroom doors. "Right on time," she murmured to herself. She sent the journal book back to her mind, and with a spell gave herself the masking to start the next Simulation.

"Princess! You must come quickly! There has been a discovery in the Crystal Mines!"

To some who knew, the princess walking up to the supposed discovery would feel as if she was walking to her execution. To Celestia herself, however, she dared to view it as the next challenge in the ultimate test her livelihood had ever faced.

"It's right here, Princess Celestia. We're waiting on word now for Princess Luna to come quickly as she can. This might be the greatest discovery in Equestrian history!"

Oh, how frustratingly right you were.

Celestia looked down at the makeshift center. Just as expected, a bronze statue of a pony, with its missing front left leg, was laying there. And as soon as she saw it, she felt a slight tingle in her right hoof.

She lifted it up to inspect it for the 743rd time, and there was the electric blue power, reminding her of her duty, and her answer to the question of the Simulation.

Let's make sure you feel pain this time around.

"Set up a perimeter around the object, no pony should dare to get close under the harshest penalties of the law. Set up any communication stations to see if you can capture any signals. Everything about this discovery I want to be locked down in Black Site protocol," she commanded. The pony leading her to the 'biggest discovery of Equestria' looked to be angry that his expedition would be stricken from the books for the time being, but hearing his rant for the 743rd time, Celestia was easily able to tune him out, staring only at the pony in the center.

She didn't dare to tempt fate. But she would dare the manipulator of fate. Let's fight, you sack of nuts and bolts.

A S S I M I L A T E

Why didn't you get Twilight instead?

The question popped out time and time again, each time she ran her memories over. Her doubts were beginning to affect her, tantalizing thoughts of 'I should bring her, she'd probably know an instant solution' clouding her mind. Fortunately, reason and experience won the hour.

She couldn't bring Twilight to fix this mess. The Simulations had already warped a few of her closest ponies enough as they should, she could not chance her prized pupil to be among the victims. And there's no telling how warped Twilight could be. The Simulations could erase her entire intellect leaving her only just a friendly pony that gained ascension through... Some sort of freak accident in all their minds or something.

No. She could not risk it. She couldn't risk her. This was one test that was meant only for Celestia, not for anypony else.

"Project Angel..." Celestia mused out loud. She walked down the corridors of her castle, having finished day court and was left to her own machinations until a meeting with Blueblood about his investigations within the Canterlot library. For the 743rd time.

The first few simulations, he had taken only a mild interest in the project, possibly looking to see if anything could be of his use. But during an unfortunate early DELETION, even he could not survive a warp. Now he has an almost fanatical devotion to solving the project. It was a trade of personality flaws, and Celestia had to argue hard that the new Blueblood was any better.

The fact that he was warped gave Celestia all the more reason to enact another protocol with the project. One that she knew was only a band-aid to the problem it was trying to solve.

"Hello sister!" Luna greeted from the end of the hallway, having opened the door to the next hallway. "Have you been sleeping well lately?"

Celestia couldn't help but chuckle. The same question every time since the protocol was enacted. "My sleep is fine, Lulu. Could be better, but you know how ponies can be needy."

Luna nodded with a smile. "Aye, that I do. Night court itself has been busy lately. A new bout of nightmares has been plaguing our ponies recently, yet I cannot seem to find the source of the issue. It is as if they are remembering false memories, and bad ones at that. Have you heard anything about the recent nightmare plague?"

Celestia wished she could tell her the truth. She wished she could tell her the full truth, including the facts about herself and the role she played in the Simulations. But to do so would risk her only sister into her mess. And she could not chance a warp changing her sister for the worse.

"I've heard a few whispers here and there, but I didn't think it was as serious or widespread as you say it is. Do you need my help? Do we need to call a national emergency?"

Luna flinched back in shock. "No! Nothing of the sort shall be needed, Celly! I am perfectly capable of handling this issue myself. I've actually considered it a test of my abilities."

You and me both.

"Very well. I trust you already have a plan tonight to combat the nightmares?"

Luna nodded, her eyes closing in resolution. "I do, certainly. Tonight I shall reach into the dream realm with a web, projecting my aura as a spider. Whenever a nightmare strikes, I shall be able to feel it, and where the attack came from. There are several ponies within the castle that I can use as test candi–"

"What did you say?!" Celestia leaned in close. Something within Luna's words sparked a sense of confidence and fear, a feeling of foreboding that she couldn't quite place down.

"I, uh," Luna hesitated, taken aback by her sister's sudden insistence on getting into her personal space. "I said I'm going to project my aura like a spider's web, hoping to feel any attack to get a sense of–"

"Project... That's it! It's not a name, it's a command!" Celestia ruminated out loud. Project Angel wasn't a noun; it was a verb, a command to whoever or whatever listened. Without warning, Celestia ran toward the opposite direction of Luna, and the opposite direction of the meeting she was supposed to be in.

"You're welcome?" Luna called out after her, completely confused as to what her words meant to her sister. "What command?"

Breakthroughs back to back. The Creator was either growing tired of toying with her, or she smiled on her with luck. Whatever the case, Celestia counted her blessings as she rushed towards the operation center, eager to start a new experiment.

"Grid Frame!" she called out to the op platform, magically enhancing her voice so it could be heard among the general cacophony of personnel and technology.

"Present, your majesty!" the lead scientist answered, flying up to her from below the platform. "What can we do for you?"

"I need you to set up an experiment with the subject. Connect them to a projector, see if we can access their memories as if they're a database."

Grid Frame landed next to the Princess, raising a brow as he mulled over the idea. "Are you sure you want to do that Princess? In order to connect to a projector we'll have to connect her to a computer, and I cannot stress the risks involved in opening our network channels to a foreign entity like the subject."

Celestia was about to say continue on, when a flashback stopped her tongue. They had once tried to connect the subject to the computer system. All it did was infect the network with a weird malware none of the scientists had seen before DELETION came pouring out of the computer screens. She lost their best technology intelligence specialist, now nothing more than a mere tinkerer at her school as his intellect was reduced to a fraction of what he was capable of.

But this couldn't be it! Celestia had the damn simulation by its own balls, and she was not going to give up that easily! "Connect it to a closed circuit computer, making sure it is not linked to any of our networks here, just to be safe."

Damned to hell! She was going to brute force that machine pony's brain wide open if she had to with just a crowbar!

"Pop this cable into the plug here and... We're done!" Grid yelled. "Your majesty, we're ready to start the projection!"

"Go ahead," Celestia called back. She and many others stood behind a makeshift movie projector that was borrowed from a local theater, connected to a prototype PC that was small enough to fit both a screen and a keyboard, having them flip on each other to save space. The computer seemed to not be connected to any other networks, just to the machine subject itself. With a nod towards the zebra manning the prototype, the computer was activated.

It quickly achieved connection with the subject, spitting out lines of unknown green tinted code on the computer screen, but nothing projected onto the projector. The zebra pressed a few buttons on the computer, but nothing changed.

Celestia's right hoof twitched.

As sudden as the connection, the projector finally began to work, but it displayed only errant colors, arranging itself in kaleidoscopes as the projection grew bigger.

The ground began to shake.

As Celestia began to raise her right hoof, spilling every sort of curse and cuss at the gods or goddesses or creators above, she saw the projection abruptly change. It flashed three colors, each color holding half a second, and then it showed black for a full second.

It was a deep blue color, a lightish green color, and a darker blue color, always followed by black before it repeated itself, even as the DELETION rapidly spread around the op center yet again. Celestia held her hoof up to see if the projection would change at all, before she was forced to at the last possible second to bring her hoof down.

R E S E T

Once again, Celestia woke up panting and sweating. It took her a few moments to calm down from the initial shock, but once it did, her thoughts hit like a train.

I was so close. We have found out so much over the last few days. And what do I get in return for believing I cracked the code?

Celestia gripped the sheets tighter.

"MORE BULLSHIT!!!" she exclaimed. Her blankets were thrown to the opposite side of the room, as she quickly rose and stood on top of her bed. By some primal instinct, instead of using her magic, Celestia bit into the sheets of her bed, using her teeth to rip out whatever she could in her anger.

Like a mad goat stuck in unmowed grass, she bit and chomped into every piece and side of the bed she could, using her hooves as ineffective claws in her war against cotton and satin sheets. Pillows were caught in the crossfire, as feathers were thrown up into the air the same as pieces of memory foam from the mattress itself. Soon even the bed posts were used as weapons, cracked and smashed with bucks from alicorn legs.

As suddenly as it began, the war ended. Celestia breathed and panted heavily, as her anger turned into full horror at what she had done. Her once beautiful bed, which had stayed by her in these trying times as her source of comfort, with their blankets as warm as a lover's embrace and the mattress as soft and comfy as the lightest cloud, was completely ruined.

Usually, her emotional give was one of sadness and despair, but this time around it became anger and hatred, traits that did not define Celestia even on her worst days. Smelling ash, the princess looked up to the ceiling to see specks and scars of fire damage at the top, staining more of her room with her shame.

At least, she should have felt shame. Her emotional gives were supposed to be that. Emotional gives. Nothing left to contaminate her thoughts once she put them down in her journal.

The journal!

Celestia quickly willed the journal into existence with her magic, writing more quickly as she liked, but out of necessity. She needed to write her notes down before she could force herself to forget the journal yet again before the simulation began.

Simulation 743–END:

Time progressed: 2 days.

Time in total: somewhere after 12 years, can't honestly count a day in at this point.

I thought I had it. Project Angel: put the subject I think is named Angel on a projector screen to see if it could give me more clues. And I did get a clue. Just not what I fucking wanted.

I'm cursing again. I have not done that since sim 456, when we had a breakthrough in decoding the signals that gave me the fucking message in the first place. And then about 200 more simulations of trying to figure out that piece before I finally did get the message, and what do I get? Fucking colors! Colors are my best friend now! At least they're better looking best friends than a bunch of fucking numbers on a paper!

It was just indigo, nyanza, y ultramar, y no tengo pinche nada!

Ruminations: I need to get Sujer somehow to my dimension. The Core isn't going to let me stay here for long, and if she doesn't show it, Celestia is making a dent on the bastard. Of course she could do more, but damn if I didn't think Alicorns could be smarter than they should be.

Simulation 16,547–BEGIN:

My name is Kaznudo. It looks like I can break into this place more easily as Kaz rather than Angel. Blech, ponies and their "mares" and "stallions". We need the princess to investigate the colors, as it seems like the Core is breaking more easily into their world with each assimilation of her simulations. I might have an idea on where Sujer might be, and if so, damn son. Didn't think you'd ever turn back into that Alicia form.

Wait. I can think.

Kaznudo dropped the journal and pen from their stasis fields, and looked at himself. His cyan blue body was sitting on the ruined bed, his silver mane still loose and falling to his right side even though he always preferred it on the left side. The same mane was also pulsating with a dim light, and several strands seemingly appeared and disappeared. The wings and horn were new to Kaznudo.

"By my mechanic, I'm gonna need a smoke to begin to understand this shit."

"Princess!" there was frantic knocking at the door. Celestia looked to the door, coughing out a breath as if it felt like she was holding them in for a while. She looked around and found her journal stuck under her right hindleg.

How did that get there?

"You must come quickly! There has been a discovery at the Crystal Mines!"

Celestia shook her head, starting to feel a bit woozy. "Steady there, girl," she whispered to herself. She took the journal in her magic and willed it back in her mind, giving herself the spell to forget it as usual, before opening the door.

"Princess, I ask that you please come qui–What in Celestia's name?!" the guard couldn't help but notice the ragged ruins of the Sun Diarch's bedding. "Your majesty, what happened here?!"

Princess Celestia, caught on the spot, had to think of a quick lie that could make sure the guard didn't question further. Ghost tapirs. She has had to deal with one or two in the castle before, and they usually do try to leave a mess before they're exorcized. She readied her little spiel.

"I had a male visitor late in the night and we got a bit too passionate."

WHAT.

WHAT IN THE CREATOR'S MOST HOLY BEARD DID SHE JUST SAY.

"That poor fool,” the guard thought out loud, looking through the room again to see the full scope of the damage. He looked back up at Celestia, suddenly afraid at the princess’s look of utter confused terror. “Whoa whoa whoa,” he began, trying to cover his bases, “you know what, above my pay grade, I ain't saying this to anypony else if you aren't, your majesty. Now, please, come with me. This is urgent business," the soldier commanded, turning away from the princess and gesturing with his head to follow him, though he couldn't help but blush. The princess herself was fighting off the red in her face as she nodded silently to the soldier, not daring to open her mouth any more than she needed to.

This simulation is off to a great start... Oddly enough, for the first time in my life, I feel like I want to try a cigarette...

Chapter 1

This isn't good. This is absolutely, totally, unequivocally the worst thing that can happen.

Don't be so serious, Angel. It's just a matter of separation with your Kaznudo program.

The Core knows we're here now. I know they know. We've got to find a different dimension to break out.

No, we are not leaving the Equestrians behind. You said yourself their magic is literally designed to counteract against the Core, since it is adaptable as a sentient entity.

That was before we saw magic can also be reversed. As soon as the Core reverses magic for itself there's no way we'll ever be able to break it. And that reversal is where Celestia was supposed to come in, as our own counteraction, and yet my Kaz is now stuck in her! That means the Core knows we're here, and is trying to use our programs against ourselves!

...and remind me why that's bad? It's our own programs, we can counteract with execution programs. Miiiiiiight have to reset a few simulations here and there though, and unfortunately, Celly will probably remember an execute program with her neck getting sliced. Eh, she's lived long enough to have PTSD from her other bad decisions.

Execution programs will only work in the current simulation they're in, plus they'll leave residual actions that over many simulations will just make them one and the same. When we do execution at that point, it's basically going to rip half of Celestia off! And also, again, if you hadn't noticed, THE CORE KNOWS WE'RE HERE.

Calm down, pendeja! Okay, so we're compromised from where we are. Any moment now the Core can reach us and we'll be deleted from life. Is there any way we can establish a sort of shield or separate entity to protect us?

Hmm... Actually, this problem with Kaz might not be an issue at all.

Eh? What the hell are you doing at the console?

I technically have access to Celestia herself now that Kaz is somehow connected with her. I can connect myself into her and I can transfer you into her related body.

Wait, how are you going to transfer me in there?

...

NO.

Don't tell me you're growing a conscience now.

SHE'S HER SISTER.

We've done worse. This is literally what the Kaznudo program was designed to do.

We haven't done worse than this!

Remember the Atlantis dimension? I was her son. And I gave her all she wanted and more, we went to breed a whole new kingdom out for Core's sake. Sometimes they've got feelings for their own family, organics can be weird like that.

WE'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT JUST ORGANICS WE'RE TALKING ABOUT LITERAL DEMIGODS.

Look, we can argue all we want, but we're wasting time here. Think you can pass off as Luna?

Of course not! If you hadn't noticed, we haven't been paying enough attention to her because Celestia was trying hard not to drag her in.

Well tough, you're going in as her. We'll have to use the two as essential meatshields in each simulation to advance our plan. Celestia says this is her test but this white bitch has been failing us for the last 500 resets.

... You just want to get a body so you can actually smoke again, don't you?

I HAVE MY NEEDS SUJER.

C O M M A N D

Luna was tired. Exhausted would be overstating it, but it was getting close. She poured over all the recent nightmare files and complaints from the last few days, trying to avoid the poison in her mind that she had failed her ponies while she trotted in the castle hallways.

These nightmares... It was an assault on the dream realm bigger than any she had seen. And yet she felt nothing whenever she walked in there, trying to sooth ponies in their slumber. So many cried help, but there was nothing actively malicious in the dream realm.

At least, nothing she could sense as malicious.

What made the case even more strange was it was almost the same nightmare for all ponies. The land or memories they stood on first starting losing colors, before bits and pieces would crumble into dust. Soon, pony constructs within dreams would have bits of themselves turning into dust, and crying out in pain for the pony dreaming to see.

This dust, then, would swirl and fall up into the sky, where light and practically the sun in the dreams coalesced into a spiral and sucked up the bits of pony and object turning into dust.

If it was a void, a spiral of darkness, at least Luna would know it was some dark magic at work. But through the differences of nightmares, one thought remained the same, and struck at her core family.

The sun was the problem.

Some ponies see the sun as an object in itself, but Luna knew many ponies would connect the sun to her sister, Celestia. And if they began fearing the sun...

This was an issue that was quickly snowballing into a much more dangerous problem personally for the Two Sisters. Thus, Luna was on her own to find her sister among the palace and summon her for a meeting.

Though she had a guard relay her summons, the Night Princess herself walked with urgency in the day throughout the castle of Canterlot, hoping to run into Celestia in one of her scheduled meetings.

Luna knew Celestia was hiding something from her. The constant meetings of scientists and scholars had been upped to a significant degree, and there was a major secrecy between them. Whether or not whatever her sister was hiding was related to the nightmares that are planting seeds of doubt against Celestia, however, remained to be seen by Luna.

As Luna turned a corner to unlock a door, a sudden and strange feeling washed over her. She held the door in her magical grasp, wondering what the feeling was and where it came from. It was a sense of foreboding, the 6th sense ponies can have where they feel a slight change to their environment that was not supposed to be there. It was a like a vision of the future, but instead of seeing it it felt like more of an increased gravity in the present.

Luna opened the door, daring herself to confront whatever gave her this feeling. She was not expecting who was on the other side, however.

"Oh! Excuse me, princess."

Both Luna and the stranger in front of her stopped just in time before they could bump into each other. Taking an instinctual step back, Luna looked to see a pony slightly taller than even her, with a light blue coat and a white mane that did not seem discolored from age. The mane was styled in a different fashion than Luna had usually seen, with a curtained look that had small sidebangs drape under the ears and a short pony tail to tie up the back.

What surprised Luna most, however, was his wings. Specifically, the part where he had a horn on his head with those wings.

"Excuse us, but," Luna began ask, confusion making her hesitate, "is that a unicorn's horn on your head and a pegasus's wings on your back?" No point in walking around the subject.

The stranger looked confused before realizing the issue. "Oh, I'm sorry, the horn is fake. See?" he pulled the horn off like a prop, showing the small adhesive sticker underneath the horn and rubbing the spot where it was stuck on. "Fake as can be. The wings are real though." He spread out his wings, which were quite massive compared to normal pegasi, but seemed fitting to the larger stallion.

"Oh, thank the stars," Luna said, calming down from the initial fright. "We were afraid we had a long-lost brother suddenly in our midst for a moment."

The stranger grinned, mildly chuckling, but Luna felt them as deep laughs. "Naw, I was a single child, don't remember any brothers or sisters in my family. Though my friends do say I look like some prince on the run."

Luna took a second look, and believed she would say the same. The stranger stood tall and strong, yet as a pegasus he had a lithe and athletic look that didn't pack mounds of muscles as an earth pony would. His smile, while seeming infectious and genuine, had a bit of a rogue style to it, as if the stranger was a wanderer, but as a choice. His mane style certainly didn't help, being messy in a few parts that emphasized the rogue charm. She could also see a few scars along his barrel, emphasizing the wanderer charm.

Quite the stranger, this pony is.

"Well, you do seem to be one of a kind. What is your name, my little pony?" Luna asked, ignoring how he wasn't exactly 'little' compared to herself.

"Name's Kaznudo, at your service," Kaz replied, kneeling quick before the princess as tradition. This gave Luna a glance at his back, which showed the potential his wings held.

Good gracious was this stranger a strong pegasus.

"Well, good morning to you then, Kaznudo. We must admit, your friends are not wrong about you seeming like a vagabond royal, what with your size rivaling mine and my sister's. May we ask why you are roaming about the castle, and why you are using a fake horn?"

"You can just call me Kaz, princess. The size thing is apparently from my family's history of a long gone earth pony lineage. And I'm looking for my son, he seems to have disappeared somewhere during our game of 'save the princess'. The princess being me, of course."

For the briefest and slightest moment of time, Luna's heart sank at hearing the stranger had a son, before she nodded at the explanation. "I see. Well, we have not seen any foal running about on the palace grounds just yet. Are you and his mother sure he is inside the castle?"

Kaz sucked air through his teeth, flinching slightly. "The boy's mother is... Not around, I'm afraid. I'm actually a single father, really."

Luna did not know why, nor did she pay much attention to her heart rising just a bit and slightly beating faster. "Oh. I am sorry to assume. Well, we can try asking a nearby guard and see if they can track down the colt, if you would like."

"I'd appreciate it, your majesty. The little tyke looks like a mini me, except with a more grayish mane than mine, with green eyes instead of blue like mine."

Luna looked at his eyes closely for a moment, and noted that he indeed did have ultramarine blue eyes.

A quite lovely color.

"It is no issue. In the meantime, we can have you wait in the castle gardens until the guard has found your son."

Kaz bowed down again. "Thank you, princess. I'll be waiting there. If you do find him, let me know."

"We shall. Until then," Luna nodded, passing by Kaz (and taking a chance to look at the back side of him, goodness those flanks) to find a guard to start relaying the message. She hoped she herself would find Kaz's son so she could bring him back to the pony in the gardens at night.

To say goodbye, that is. Not to go see him during the night in the gardens and to try and catch him alone. To just be the two of them. Alone.

Oh, what was she kidding. Rogueish looks, cared for his child, a body that matched a free spirited and exciting life? Attractive would be an understatement. Luna couldn't help but blush slightly at the little fantasy of her meeting the stranger at night in the gardens.

Turning the corner, she spotted two guards patrolling the entrance to a meeting room, and began to form her words in her head to command them.

And then, in the middle of the hallway, she stopped. A sudden feeling of guilt washed her over, and Luna was left confused as to why. She started to remember that there was a reason, before she met the stranger, that she was walking through the halls of the castle with a sense of urgency. She combed her mind over trying desperately to remember, but no matter what, it just eluded her.

Luna shook her head. By the stars, why was she overreacting like this over something she just couldn't remember? If it was forgotten easily enough like that, it must not have been important, she reasoned.

She looked back at the guards and began walking to them again, determined to finish her request to Kaz before taking a rest for the day.

Chapter 2

It is entirely terrifying how perfectly capable the Kaznudo program is. It's a shame that we'll have to trash it once this whole ordeal is over.

Eh, I might keep him. Just in case our lives are still required somewhere.

What, you're going back now on your promise to find a nice beach and drink coconut milk until your organic body passes out?

Hey, it's a fantasy, not a promise. I'll still do that and then I'll wake up to see what else I can do. Though I hope we can get griffins in this world at least. Really hate these pony hooves.

You'd think Kaznudo would suit to a griffon body?

Griffon Kaz? No creature alive would be able to resist him. Did you get anything with Luna yet?

I managed to get access to what we would consider her axiom cortex. If need be, I can change what her priorities are. She was trying to warn Celestia about how her ponies were starting to be afraid of her sun, likely the Core's doing.

Shit, so should I head back to the room and switch back to Celestia so they can talk?

No need. I overpowered her self-will to complete her task about asking the guard for the son, so she's forgotten about the nightmares for now. Speaking of, A SON?! YOU DID THE SON STORY?!

Hey, I was caught off guard because I wasn't expecting to see her right as soon as Kaz took over Celestia! Plus, older female organics always love the "takes good care of kids" approach, and Luna is as old as the moon dirt she throws around like a winning bingo card with her magic. Even you had to feel the shift in Luna's attention once she realized the daddy hunk was single.

Yeah, yeah, but that still means we gotta figure out how to get a freaking child to make the story be true. It isn't like Sector Yggdrasil where we could rob a cemetery of organic parts and electrify a new child to life. And you remember how that ended?

Fuck you, that ended with a mission complete!

IT ENDED WITH ME IN A DIAPER GETTING BREASTFED BY YOU.

And I'll fucking throw you in another "accidentally killed again" child instead of Luna if you keep bitching at me! Listen, I did think of a plan while Luna was totally-not-eyefucking me, I just need your Nubieron program.

My Nube—NO! I'M NOT GIVING YOU MY PRIDE. AND. JOY. JUST SO YOU CAN USE HIM AS ANOTHER TOY!

GOT ANY OTHER BRIGHT IDEAS TO GET A POWERFUL BODY IN EQUESTRIA? GIVE ME NUBIERON!

NO I'M NOT—WELL CMON YOU CAN'T JUST—ugh, fine. Just, don't accidentally delete him from existence please? At least this time? I miss Amarillo...

ARE YOU STILL FUCKING SORE ABOUT THAT, CORE'S FUCKING CORTEX I SAID I WAS SORRY!

Whatever, here. Just take Nubieron. See who you can nab with him.

Hmm... Actually, hold on to him for now. I'm gonna try to do the distraught father act, see if I can pull Luna's heartstrings enough to completely gain her trust and get this done faster than we thought.

Well, alright. You're the one with the INCUBUS file, I guess.

Damn right I am. No one can resist Kaz. Now, let's head to the gardens and wait. I'm sure they won't absolutely need Celestia until sundown anyway. Could use a smoke too, think I could bum one off a guard?

This is going to completely mess with her head, you know. Getting overwritten is never a pleasant experience with organics, if you remember.

Yeah, yeah, she can turn into a vegetable more shitty than oversteamed broccoli, I know. That's why we gotta get this done quickly before we're past a point of FUBAR for Celly here.

Oh good, you're more worried more about her well-being than the Core figuring out what we trying to pull like I thought you would say.

Fuck off, Sujer.