Sierra Sky

The sting was less painful than I expected, and I knew needles well. Maybe it was more machine magic. I asked the computer to give me the 'nanomachine packages' it had offered. I was nervous, but I felt there wasn't much risk. Valerie had remade my body. It was a little freaky, but she could have put these little machines into me without asking.

The little machine that had given me the injection rolled away while I simply laid against the pillows on the hammock in the common room and looked outside at unknown stars. I thought about the 'beam of light' that was supposedly pushing us to greater speeds to reach the piece of space where I could try to return us to Equus. What a fascinating way to travel. Just… five days ago, I had no concept of space travel. Now I had done it with two kinds of magic.

The computer told me that I would experience 'calibration' soon, so I decided I had nothing to do but wait. Soon after, I felt a wave of static pass over me. My vision was filled with dots of color and brightness that didn't make sense. My nose and tongue experienced… everything, I think. The same went for my ears. My sense of balance went crazy; it felt like I had both more and fewer limbs that were each in every position. I was hot and cold all over.

Then it happened all over again, except this time I felt like I was passing out of a soap bubble in a smooth transition for all of my senses. Then my thoughts clouded and fizzled.

Then it was over. The computer said, "Installation complete. Prior data has reduced installation duration by eighty-seven percent. Ready for language download."

I wasn't precisely sure what a 'download' was, but the word itself provided some clues.

"Do it," I said.

My mind went fuzzy again.

***

I don't know how long it took, but when consciousness as I knew it returned, I noticed that there was text floating in my vision, but not like the ancient magical device that I had stolen from beneath Flurry's nose. Instead, that one was a basic menu that mildly responded to thoughts to navigate it.

This was a whole other level.

The computer said in text, "If you understand this message, think of the word 'yes.' I marveled at the experience of reading a language that I was never taught. The simultaneous feeling of familiarity and unfamiliarity was entirely strange.

Just reading it prompted the thought it had asked for. The text changed and asked me to think other thoughts to confirm my understanding. Then it asked me if I wanted to try a virtual experience demonstration. I mentally agreed. Machine magic was so easy!

Suddenly, I was in a gray-white void standing on a surface that showed no detail aside from black gridlines. I felt my heartbeat pick up. The change was unexpected. I couldn't have been teleported, right? Before I could panic, I heard the computer's voice, "Please imagine an environment you would find desirable."

I certainly didn't like where I was now, so I did just that. A dark rectangle appeared in the air in front of me with a message asking if I wanted to confirm the environment change, and I mentally acknowledged it.

Then I was home.

I was standing in Fillydelphia on the ground in front of my house. My breath came faster, and my heart clenched. I walked up to the home I hadn't been to in years. I opened the door. There was nopony inside.

I was starting to see mistakes in the place. The floor plan wasn't quite right, and the sink was in the wrong part of the kitchen. I understood that I wasn't actually home, but the place I had made from my memories brought me closer to my family.

"I'll be back," I said to my imagined mother, father, and older sister. "I'll have lived for something other than my own death the next time you see me."

I decided that I wanted out. But, again, before I could say anything, my sheer desire was known to the computer, so it created a prompt that confirmed my choice. Then I was back in the common room of the spaceship. I lifted my head from the pillow supporting my head on the hammock I was on and noticed that there was a spot of moisture near where my eyes had been.

I supposed I must have at least teared up. I didn't want to feel melancholic anymore when events had already gone nearly as well as they could have in even my wildest imagination.

I decided to explore my options. Just not... that one. I wasn't so deprived as to lower myself to such activities.

Okay, maybe I was.

Valerie

The main segment of my consciousness was floating in a simulated void from where it looked down upon a grid of images that displayed the thoughts and activity of all of the other segments. Some sections monitored sensors, some consumed entertainment, and a dozen watched the mind backup process and ensured that the Damocles protocol was observed.

At some point, the computer communicated to me that Sierra had requested that the computer install a brain link. I had the opportunity to deny it, but I chose not to. It wasn't long before her presence was registered in the system. I decided not to monitor her. I didn't really care if she dug up dirt on me or humanity in general. I had no intention of deceiving her or her kind.

The segment of my mind responsible for controlling the body was doing busy work on the backup mind sitting on the desk here in the workshop while others conducted internal nanofabrication. One was coordinating with the AI to design the body that I planned to use to conduct diplomacy. Its appearance needed to be capable of sending the right message, not to mention serious self-defense capabilities. I didn't expect to run into any conflict before building up a resource economy as I would do on any other world. The new body would be ready for assembly once the parts were printed.

I closed the backup mind once the copy was finished. A small robot came to fetch it before backtracking to its tiny deployment elevator. A probe launcher was being improvised to carry my backup away. The laser sails on this ship would curl slightly to reflect the light accelerating the whole ship and push the probe back the way we came at very high acceleration.

Minutes later, a panel on the blunt nose of the ship retracted. A small chemical rocket leaped out in a blaze of fire before angling itself to fly over the edge of the sail, which was still being accelerated ‘upward’ at one G. It was almost identical, physics-wise, as a missile flying over a planet's surface. Once the fragile parts of my remaining fabrication processes were done, I could instruct the facilities on one of the other moons of the gas giant to increase their output and therefore increase our acceleration.

Shortly after that, I instructed the computer to walk my new body out of the fabrication bay. What came out wasn't me just yet. I ordered the arms to open my current body up and transfer my mind, housed in a core identical to the one just launched.

It was always a little frightening to be outside of a body that could move, but the black sphere that held my mind was carried safely from one mechanical body to another by robotic limbs. It would be my first time being a quadruped.

***

I walked out of the workshop, or should I say trotted? I had decided to go heavy on servo-style robotics for the sheer strength that modern electronics can push through such devices rather than disguise because blending in was specifically not what I wanted to do.

It was important that my hosts could relate to me while fully aware that I wasn't one of them. From the solid shell of my chassis arose artificial gray muscle and cables leading up into the reinforced white silicone that made up my equine head. My ears and face could move in all the same ways that Sierra's could.

My mouth and nose connected to lungs that served no purpose except to create natural speech and a stomach that just stored any food I ate until I had a chance to dispose of it. After all, aside from pleasing my simulated limbic system, those things were important for social activities. Besides, the senses of taste and smell were usually nice to have.

I was a redhead. I had a mane, a tail, and blue eyes. Most of my body was composed of dark metal servos and structural elements printed using advanced chemical deposition to appear roughly similar to the body plan of my pegasus guest. The hinge and rotor elements of my waist made my rear appear rather large in comparison due to their narrow nature. I also had a couple of sockets in my back designed to hold a pair of wings when they were finished.

The reaction wheels in my leg joints were not actually involved with the normal movement of my legs, but instead, I could spin them up to high speeds before hitting the brakes and transferring all of that kinetic energy into my legs.

I had mechanical hands that were usually balled up in the shape of hooves, although they were somewhat fragile. The seams between the plates that formed my hooves were all visible, but I doubted anyone would see them for what they were. I had a few tools secreted away here and there. My limbs otherwise held storage for liquid deuterium for the microfusion reactor that dominated the volume of my chest along with nanobot reserves. Suitable for repairs and reshaping the universe.

There might have been a genuine risk of true death if the situation turned out much worse than I hoped it would, but I was prepared for that. My backup mind was safe, and my current one was inside the donut-shaped reactor in my chest, not my head. Not that I would tell anyone.

I had noticed that Sierra had come 'online,' as she was now on the list of local users. She was marked as busy. She was certainly getting her first taste of a brain-machine interface. That saved the effort of trying to convince her. Score.

I sent a silent command to the computer, and the door slid into the wall with only the most gentle electric wheeze. Then, with precise control over my body, I walked silently out into the common room and spotted Sierra on the hammock. She didn't appear to notice me, so I walked up to the side she wasn't facing. I wondered what it was like for her, as a pony, to experience this for the first time, with the context she was coming from.

I leaned in close. In her language and with the most feminine voice I had used in decades, I said, "Hi!"

"Gah!" she shouted. Her eyes flew open, and she twisted to face me."

"I need you to answer a question for me, Sierra," I declared and posed. "How do I look?"

She took me in for a moment and calmed down. Then she replied with sass and in English, "That dumbbell you call a butt is too big. We don't make doors big enough for you." She blushed as shock spread across her face, and she covered her mouth with a hoof and issued a muffled, "I'm sorry!"

I laughed. The tension left her somewhat. I enjoyed friendships that included ribbing each other, so I gave it right back. "I'm glad you have such self-esteem because I modeled it after yours!"

The redness returned, but it didn't appear that I had crossed any lines.

"That's a lie, of course. Yours is bigger," I said.

She outright laughed at that and replied in her original language. "I thought you might throw me out a window."

"Maybe next time," I said. "I have a couple business items we need to talk about. First, we will need to talk more about your people over the next few days so I can limit my faux pas'. If you know anything else about this 'nightmare invasion' that's coming, I would like to know it." I thought about her for a moment and added, "also, if you want me to change anything about your body, I can. I'd rather you not ask for anything that'll be offensive to your culture unless it's something you'll have undone before we arrive, but I'm prepared to do nearly anything you might think of."

Sierra was quiet for a moment. Then she grew more intense. "Why do you share so much so freely? I can see the incredible abilities your machine magic gives you, but I would have expected you to be more jealous with them."

I replied, "There are plenty of things I don't plan to share, but I'm not a fan of the chains reality likes to place on us. Keeping such freedom from those around me is contrary to my values."

She tilted her head in thought but nodded. "Thanks. I think there is something I would like to change about my body."

She stepped closer and lowered her voice as if someone was around to keep secrets from.

"I want big wings," she whispered.

I smiled in amusement at her antics.

So I instantiated a virtual environment with a 3D copy of her body and sent her brain-machine interface an invitation to the virtual space. Her eyes focused on the air in front of her as she read invisible text.

Then I got a notification that she had joined, and she looked at her copy. I indicated a slider floating in the air with a hoof. "I don't know how much time you've spent with your interface, but just will the slider to move, and you'll see a preview of sizes that we can work with. Here," I requested that an AI make a change to the code of the program. "Now, you can ask the computer to show you what different poses will look like."

Sierra Sky

I was excited. I had gotten over the interruption that was Valerie with her new body sneaking up on me while I was busy doing… things. My blushes had absolutely nothing to do with what I was or was not doing.

Now I was using my mind to push a dot left and right and watching the wings on that other body grow and shrink. I was getting used to the computer obeying my thoughts, and I could watch from the hammock as it posed the image of my body for me.

There was a moment where it looked my way, winked at me, and stared with seductive half-lidded eyes. My ears felt hot. I didn't know that my face could look like that. I gave Valerie my best 'I know you're responsible for this' look and finished my adjustments.

Valerie said, "If you're happy with this, I can get the process started when you sleep next."

"I am," I said.

"Great, you can do that now or later. I still need to learn about your people and find your limits with my humor," she said. There was danger in that smile.

"I can tolerate a lot, I think. I don't want to get injured, but I want to see where this ride goes. I'll tell you if you go too far, but I missed out on life enough already. Maybe I'm just weird, but I've never had a relationship where I could use the humor I've picked up from the doctors," I explained.

Valerie replied, "I understand. I'll just have to see how thick your skin is."

Sahara Sun

I listened to my hoofsteps as I walked through Canterlot Castle. I wasn't happy. I knew I wouldn't have any smile wrinkles in old age, but now it has been weeks since I was last remotely happy, and the last few days were much worse.

I had been summoned from my training with the E.U.P. standing forces twice. Last time I was told that my sister had stolen an important artifact and vanished. Once I learned the particulars, I admitted that I barely knew her and didn't know she had that within her. Now, I had no idea what awaited me, but I suspected it involved her once again.

I was right.

A guard nodded at me as I approached and knocked on the door to former princess Celestia's office. A smooth yet authoritative voice said, "Enter, corporal." A yellow glow pulled the door inward, and I met her eyes.

I saluted, "Corporal Sahara Sun, reporting as ordered."

She looked at me in silence for an instant longer than expected, her eyes slightly wider as if surprised, before returning to her usual expression. Then, finally, she nodded and said, "Come in, corporal Sun. Take a seat, please." Celestia gestured with one hoof and pushed a bang behind an ear with the other.

I obeyed. I noticed that the room was very austere. I suspected Celestia was not interested in decorating the place so soon after being pulled out of retirement.

"You have been selected for training for a project you are already familiar with. You were a part of our final selection group of unicorns of considerable ability. Choosing between all of you would have been an arbitrary choice except you are already in on the secret, and your discretion has been demonstrated," she explained.

I knew what was coming, so I simply continued to listen.

"So you are being invited to join princess Flurry Heart as skilled security and assistance to the mission of finding the humans, and your sister, if possible."

I could feel my stomach twist. Guilt. Fear of the guilt to come. Fear of the unknown. I focused on maintaining my stoicism. Celestia had implicitly put the ball in my court, so I made the only choice I could. "I accept the assign… uh, invitation, ma'am."

"Good. Follow the lead of the gentlestallion outside. All matters involved with your transfer will be resolved after the meeting you will now be attending. You are dismissed," She said.

I got back on my hooves, saluted, and exited. The guard outside started moving without a word, so I followed him elsewhere in the castle. We passed columns, arches, and cartouches. Sometimes the pastels broke up the white marble with cool colors or details plated with gold foil. I did recognize one set of halls that led to the royal hospital, where the best doctors in Equestria served the princess directly. In the meantime, those doctors were tasked with helping ponies who had the most severe ailments.

Such as my sister.

Right next to the hospital were the labs, which not only performed medical research but magical as well. Thanks to the expansions made by Princess Twilight, the monarchy itself led the world in magical research. Maybe that was the reason Sierra had pulled off her little heist. It quickly became clear that the labs were our destination.

The mindless action of following another pony down hallways allowed my thoughts to direct themselves to the aches and pains of my training. My horn was experiencing a phantom buzzing sensation along with its aches. My core and my legs were also very sore. Regardless, I was strong for a unicorn. I didn't have the bulging musculature of a bodybuilder, but I was more than athletic.

We arrived at a door that I knew was the main entrance to the labs. The sign helped. The guard at the door and my escort each cast a spell. I sensed complex yet complementary patterns that created no effects. I sensed a vibrating volume outside my body via my horn where I could feel the spells twisting and adjusting, each guard matching one another in the dance of shapes.

It only took a couple of seconds until the guard stationed there nodded, broke the spell, and opened the door. The one that led me here turned and left. The one that remained gestured with their head for me to enter. As a member of the E.U.P. branch, I was glad that I did not need to worry about identity concealing enchantments.

Inside was a huge circular room. Segments of the wall were given over to lab equipment, both magical and mundane, with guards and scientists everywhere. It seemed eerily quiet until I realized that each slice of the room was sectioned off with blue magical barriers that must have maintained privacy and safety in their ways. Some were opaque. The room was dominated by a collection of six steel pillars that each held a large gem chest high off the ground in a hexagon around the room. The center had a slightly raised platform with a low cart beside it that held sixteen curved metal plates encrusted with gems and powder channels. Inspecting them were Princess Twilight Sparkle, former Princess Luna, and Princess Flurry Heart of the Crystal Principality.

Word had come from the north that the younger generation had successfully pushed a referendum through to change the name of the protectorate to reflect their modern non-imperialist ethos.

The Equestrian monarch noticed me first. She nudged Flurry to get her attention and trotted over to me with Flurry and Luna following several seconds later.

Princess Twilight said, "You are Sahara Sun, correct?"

I'll never admit that I was awestruck by the sight of my idol. This was an intimidating crowd. I saluted a bit later than I had meant to. I kept my attitude as flat as I could. "Corporal Sun reporting."

Princess Flurry cut in, "Please tell me you have more personality than sawdust. Ow!"

Without taking her eyes off me, the Equestrian princess slapped the crystal princess on the back of the head with her wing. The fact that I nearly had a heart attack from shock is another fact that I will take to my grave. I could see Luna smiling from the rear of the crowd at the shenanigans.

Princess Twilight had kept her eyes on me and said, "My niece's manners are nearly as good as her father's."

Flurry smiled impishly.

Princess Twilight exhaled through her nose in a manner that seemed to make her relax and said, "Anyway, I understand that Celestia had you first on the shortlist of candidates to help us out with our mission. Come this way."

I followed the three of them into one of the opaque barriers. Princess Twilight cast a spell on it before we entered, probably to make it permeable. I was privately excited to see what could be beyond and was disappointed by the sight of a conference room. The experience of passing through was odd. It was like approaching a wall of silence as far as my magical senses were concerned. When my horn intersected it, it seemed very loud.

If I had the time, I probably could have deciphered that noise into the patterns of spells that made it up. I could have eventually found a way to dispel it, but then the wall of silence was behind me.

We sat on pillows around a relatively small table. Then Princess Twilight said to me, "You are going to be trained to full mastery of the Ancient Magic Space Transporter by Flurry to ensure that she has some backup in case of emergency. Following that, the two of you will use the device to enter the realm of the humans. You will need to ask for their help with our troubles. We have reason to believe that they can provide immense assistance."

I said, "Yes, Princess."

"Do you have any questions, Corporal Dawn?"

I almost gave my automatic no until I remembered that this wasn't boot camp, and this was the princess asking. So I nodded and asked, "How do we know that they would, or even could, help us?"

The Princess looked away and let her gaze lose focus, probably to mull over her answer. "It's quite the story. Not even us royalty know the whole thing. Luna, you know best, do you care to share?"

Luna took a deep breath. "You need to know, I believe. Here's what I remember."

Author's Note

Here’s a diagram of the ship. I can make more renders, but this chapter has been delayed long enough.

So here’s why this chapter took so long given the fact that it was already written this entire time. I give some details in a blog post but here’s what has been going on.

To start with, the chapter was from a previous draft. I needed to change quite a lot and this chapter is not short. Going over what I wrote is just hard to concentrate on.
Otherwise, life has been coming at me fast almost the entire time since I last posted back in October. I have had a long-running allergic reaction. I really could have gotten it checked out, but it hasn’t been bad enough for me to get it done even though I have quite good insurance. This has been going on since November and even now I have new rashes. This likely made it easier for the ringworm infection to get started that I have been dealing with all month. On December 1st someone hit my car where I park it on the street. Yikes. It took over a month for me to get it into the repair shop because of the global shipping issues that have held up car parts, but that is over and done with and I have my car back. I have been trying to move to a new place since I am in short-term housing with friends. My move should be done by this Saturday. Lastly, my other hobbies distract me from this one.

So, stress. All of these issues are now solved or improving so hopefully I can neglect this story a little less. Maybe you don’t care about my excuses, but it’s important to me that I keep people in the loop if they have been waiting on me. Thanks for sticking by.

I hope you like what I’ve done with the chapter. Half the reason I do this is to improve so constructive criticism would be pretty cool. Another cool thing to have would be an editor. Someone to suggest to me if my future chapters are dumb or have nonsensical elements. I use Grammarly for proofreading so that will not be an expectation on any editor that may be interested.