Daedalus' New World

The return to Canterlot passed quickly enough. After collecting his swords from where they had been launched during his metamorphosis, the party of four made their way back to Ponyville uneventfully. Jay was sure that Rainbow, Applejack, and Twilight had wanted to wait for them to return but it had taken several hours to find and then kill the hydra and it was now nearing sunrise. Instead, it seemed that Rarity and Pinkie Pie were waiting for them with Aqua and Star, apparently having a very early picnic. From the amusement his squadmates felt he figured it was more Pinkie's idea than Rarity's.

When the four Hunters approached the rest of their group and the two waiting mares, Rarity looked up and gave a tired smile. "I'm so very relieved to see everypony okay. Miss Aqua already told us that the timberwolves and hydra have been taken care of."

"Yes ma'am." Iron said as he gave the pretty unicorn a smile. "The wolves won't be coming for the two Bearers who were bit earlier and, hopefully, predator incursions will drop in this region now that the hydra is gone."

Rarity nodded happily as he explained the results. Idly, Jay picked up the sound of Pinkie talking Star's ear off and glanced over, seeing the brightly colored pegasus giving him a pleading look. Jay just smirked and shook his head before looking back to Rarity as she spoke sheepishly. "I'd offer you all tea but, in truth, I just want to go home and get back to sleep."

"That's perfectly fine, ma'am. A lady as brilliant as you must keep up with her beauty sleep." Jay almost laughed as Iron shamelessly flirted with the mare who had to be at least ten years younger than him. In his arms, Beam gave a quiet giggle as Jay started to walk away and toward the carriage as Star took the opportunity to follow him and leave Pinkie behind. For her part, Pinkie took his sudden departure well and instead turned to Aqua as Jay tuned them out.

"Go ahead and let me down, Jay. Me and Star need to get hooked up to the carriage." Beam groaned softly, clearly reluctant to be let down. While she had halfheartedly protested on and off through the walk back to Ponyville, she had quickly come to accept that he was carrying her and just made herself comfortable.

"Nah, you stay comfortable there, Beam." Star chuckled as he walked past the two of them. "I heard you almost took a pretty nasty hit and got hurt getting out the way. You just rest easy on the way back and just buy me a cider next time we all go to a bar."

The young thestral gave Star an ineffective glare, the slightly red fur on her muzzle ruining the effect as Kin helped Star hook up to the carriage. Jay climbed into the carriage and took his previous seat as Beam wiggled in place and got comfortable, resting her head on his legs as she stretched out on the bench next to him. Jay gently ran his hand through her moonlit mane as she sighed in relief, happy to be on her way back to Canterlot. "Feeling better, Beam?"

"I'd say she is!" Aqua cut in with a smirk as the tiny unicorn climbed into the carriage and gave her companion a cheeky smirk. "I've never seen her look so relaxed and comfortable."

Beam just cracked one eye open and frowned at the foal-sized mare, huffing softly. "Mm, 'onna beat you up."

"Naw, you'd have to get off Jay to do that." Aqua continued as Kin and Iron climbed into the carriage just behind her. Jay couldn't help but notice the almost imperceptible blush Iron had as he removed his helmet and smirked, wondering if just maybe the flirting had gone somewhere. At Aqua's tease, Beam just groaned in annoyance and turned her head, subsequently snuggling further into Jay as he chuckled softly.

"Teasing Beam aside, everypony did very well tonight." Iron said as he looked around his Hunters. "Aqua and Star handled a large pack of timberwolves without a single injury or issue to show for it and the rest of us took on an ancient hydra with only one minor injury. Most of it was thanks to Jay, our newest Hunter. I'd say he's definitely earned himself the title of Master Hunter and a place among us. Any complaints?"

Unsurprisingly, no one disagreed with Iron's statement as all the ponies in the carriage nodded. "Good. Then let's get back to Canterlot and show Jay a true welcome. Star, take us off!"

That got smiles from everypony as the carriage started to pull forward before it lifted off and took to the air, easily carried by just Star. Jay leaned back in his seat as he realized he was looking forward to being back home. Home. It's been a while since I've had a place I called that. Though, with Starfall and all my friends there I don't think I could call anywhere else home.

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They arrived back into Canterlot just after the sun cleared the horizon, landing in the sky docks and leaving the carriage for the Guards there to check in and store. To Beam's silent happiness, Jay had opted to just pick her up and continue to carry her the rest of the way home. After a bit of teasing, the six Hunters made their way to their compound in silence, tired but excited to celebrate another successful hunt. When they opened the door to the compound and entered, only Jay was surprised to find Luna waiting for them. When the alicorn saw him holding the little thestral, her smile widened as she gave Jay an approving look. "Ah, young Beam and friend Jay. That is most certainly a wondrous way to celebrate a successful hunt. Perhaps I should delay the celebration until the two of you have had your fun?"

Beam's muzzle erupted into a bright red blush and Jay couldn't help but find it amusing that the little pony who had teased and flirted with him on his first day in the Hunters was now the target of the same teasing. The rest of the Hunters found it amusing as well, chuckling and giggling as Beam couldn't find the words to defend herself. Eventually, she just huffed at her boss and buried her muzzle back into Jay's arms. Luna giggled as well and Jay couldn't help but smile as he gave the little thestral a teasing squeeze before Luna continued. "Teasing my little thestral aside, I've taken the liberty to ensure that plenty of good food and good drink are waiting for you all. Of course, I'll be joining you as well."

Aqua snickered as she entered, playfully bumping Luna's leg. "Of course the Mistress of the Night won't pass up some good food."

Smiling warmly at the little unicorn, Luna agreed. "And good company. Now, let us make way to the dining room and fill our bellies with food and cider!"

The ponies cheered as they all moved to the kitchen. When Jay started to go with them, Beam bapped his face with her wing. "Hold on."

The little thestral gave Luna a look and she nodded with a small smile, continuing on into the kitchen and dining room combo. Once only Jay and Beam were left in the room, Beam hopped out of his arms and stood in front of him, gesturing for him to kneel down. The Evolved did, getting down on his knees to be about the same height as the pony. Beam gave him a warm smile with her teal eyes glimmering in gratitude. Stepping close, she wrapped her hooves and wings around him and gave him a tight hug. Her voice, heavy with emotion, spoke quietly as she gently nuzzled his cheek. "Thank you for saving my life, Jay."

"You're welcome, Beam." Jay said softly as he wrapped one arm around the thestral and cupped her muzzle with the other, gently holding her. "I couldn't let my favorite thestral die, now could I?"

She giggled softly, leaning into his touch. "I'm the only thestral you know."

"That makes you the favorite." Jay said with a small smile, pulling back to gently touch his nose to her muzzle.

Beam blinked in surprise for a second then smiled wider. A second later she leaned in and pressed her soft muzzle to his cheek, giving him a gentle kiss. Pulling back with a red tinted muzzle, she quickly hurried into the kitchen with a soft "Thanks, Jay."

Blinking in surprise, Jay reached up and touched his cheek as he stared at where she had been in front of him. He wasn't sure how long he was there but soon felt a wing drape itself over his shoulder. Looking to his side, he saw Luna smiling down at him as her wing gave him a little squeeze. "Enjoying yourself?"

"I, uh... I don't really know what to think." Jay said honestly. The lunar alicorn just gave him a knowing look.

"Then don't. Just come on and have a good meal with your friends."

Slowly, Jay nodded in agreement as he rose to his feet with Luna before following her into the kitchen. When they entered, Beam quickly glanced away with uncharacteristic shyness. Though to her credit, Luna hadn't been kidding when she mentioned good food and good drink. The counters were full to the brim of platters and bowls of various dishes. Everything from breads and salads to soups and cakes lined the counters in a buffet-style spread. Set up on the far back counter was a series of labeled kegs, no doubt various kinds of alcohol. Kin and Beam were both at the counters filling up plates of the offered meals with the large earth pony piling his plate up as much as he could. Iron and Star had already broken into one of the kegs and sat together drinking just as much as they were eating. Finally, Aqua sat in front of a bowl of stew almost as large as her. In front of the seat next to her was a set of bowls and plates holding a little bit of everything and he watched as Luna quickly hurried back to her food.

Jay smiled softly as he made his way over to the counters full of food and began to follow Luna's example, picking up a little bit of everything. He was sure the castle chefs had made this food and, as he usually shared a meal with Celestia and Luna in the evenings, knew that it would all be good whether it was something he was familiar with or not. Taking a seat on the other side of Luna, the two of them shared a small smile. A second later and Beam sat next to him with a warm smile that he happily returned as they all began to eat- not that Kin, Iron, Aqua, or Star had waited for them. Yeah, I could definitely call this place home.

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The celebration had lasted three hours well into the morning. Everyone had ate, drank, and celebrated to their heart's content. Luna had drank Star under the table with ease just to turn around and do the same to Iron back to back. Aqua had eaten enough that she was noticeably more round than before much to Jay's amusement as he poked her distended stomach several times throughout the night. Kin had spent most of the night just eating as much as he could and, in the end, had been the one to beat Luna at her drinking game and downed an entire keg himself. The only two who had been somewhat reserved in their drinking or eating had been Jay and Beam, who had never really left his side. Jay couldn't lie to himself and say he didn't enjoy the cute thestral sticking close to him but her actions had done nothing to help with his cultural shock.

Eventually, the Hunters had retired for the night to catch up on the sleep they had missed out on and returned to their various rooms- though Jay and Kin had needed to carry Star and Iron to their respective rooms on the stallion's side. At first, Jay had been considering carrying Luna back to her room as she dozed on the giant cushion with a half empty keg next to her. In the end it hadn't be necessary as several Lunar Guards had arrived to take care of the Princess of the Night, teleporting her back to her room so the average pony didn't see her passed out drunk.

Finally, Jay had retired to his own room to examine the genetic samples he had received from Applejack, Rainbow, and Beam. The Evolved lied down on his bed and relaxed, sighing softly. Before he began to examine the genetics, he began to fix something that Starfall had called out a little over a week ago. "I could sleep all day if I'm not careful, even if you are a little hard to lay on."

Though she hadn't know why, she was absolutely correct. At the time, he had only changed his body to have a heart and lungs and nothing else. His 'skin' was incredibly dense and tough with no give to it, pretty much the equivalent of laying on a block of steel. He figured it was about time to fix that. Jay could argue that making his body less dense and heavy was a good move to retain his mostly undercover status, the truth was that it was purely for Starfall's sake. Being lighter would just outright be safer day to day. As it was, if something did manage to knock him over and onto a pony then there was a very high chance that the pony would no longer be among the living. On the other hand, reducing his density would be a defensive downgrade as his flesh would be far easier to pierce or rip out but, in Jay's opinion, it wasn't as bad of a risk as he expected. Even if something was tearing off his biomass, the hydra's upgrade to his own production would potentially offset it.

In the end, being less dense and lighter would make Starfall more comfortable. That was worth it all risks aside.

I know you said you don't care what I do in the room as long as its clean but I doubt this is what you meant when you said that.

Opening the small closet door, the Greater Evolved sat down and crossed his legs as he prepared to offload a very large portion of his biomass. If he was going to do this, he supposed that the hardest to infiltrate place he had access to do was the place to do it. Thick, black tendrils extended from his back as they weaved over the ground and into the corner of the closest. There, the tendrils formed the frame of a large, thick oval shaped vaguely like a giant egg as the growths thickened. Then red light pulsed along the lengths of the tendrils as biomass began to accumulate inside the 'egg.' As the object continued to fill with biomass, Jay's own weight and density began to reduce rapidly until he was slightly denser than a normal human, weighing about two hundred fifty pounds where the average for his frame would be two hundred. Then he disconnected the tendrils from his back and left the frame behind, opening his eyes soon after.

The 'egg,' which he decided to simply call a biomass cell, was about five feet tall with the solid, thick black frame of viral tendrils. Inside the frame, black organic matter filled about a fifth of the volume as bioluminescent orange light pulsed within. Jay placed a hand against the frame, giving a few command and deactivation sequences to the virus within and rendering it completely inert as the glow died out. Technically, this cell was alive in the same way that a hunter or warper was and, as such, was connected to his Hivemind. Completely inert as it was, he couldn't do anything more than sense that it existed and whether or not it had been tampered with but Jay considered that pretty good. In the event that he felt the biomass cell being tampered with, he could send an 'activation code' to it and it would react, repelling whatever was messing with it non-lethally and then burrow through the earth to reunite with him. Even if this compound was as safe as could be, there was no such thing as 'too much security' when it came to keeping Blacklight contained. Though, being that it was his own strain, it could never go rampant without another Evolved causing it.

That settled, Jay moved back to his bed and settled in before undergoing one more biological shift. If he wanted to be as 'normal' as possible, he was going to go the full route. Rather than his entire system being made of perfectly identical cells, his body now began to specialize just as living organisms did. 'Skin' and 'muscle' were no longer made of the same material and served the same function, now they were different. Instead of psuedo-nerve receptors on his external layer of virus, he now had a fully functional nervous system, brain included, that was responsible for controlling his muscles. More changes came as his body restructured itself into an identical replica of how he had been before his infection. He was still Blacklight- that was impossible to change with a simple shapeshift- but he was the closest to 'alive' he was ever going to get too. Lastly, he created a form of faux-cloth over his body then disconnected it from the rest of him, creating a fake set of clothing that was no longer attached directly to him- though he would need to see about getting some actual clothes.

Finally, nearly an hour after getting into his room, he set to do what he had planned. Mentally reaching inside his system, he found the isolated sequences he had obtained from the three samples and began to examine them. It was precisely what he expected. For some reason, the strange DNA obscuring effect that had prevented him from examining Starfall's genetics was unique to her and her alone. He supposed he could argue that the result was possibly caused by the increased magic inside a unicorn, but he now had samples of a thestral, earth pony, and pegasus and hadn't experienced a slight symptom of what he had come to call genetic blindness. If magic was the cause then surely the other three tribes would show at least a little of it.

Additionally, he found that he couldn't identify any traces of genes that spoke of 'magic.' It wasn't that he couldn't see them but that they weren't there at all. Honestly, that didn't surprise Jay at all. He had assumed from the get go that magic was something either mental or spiritual, not physical, and that there wouldn't be any genetics that simply 'made' magic. Sure, he had found the genetic composition of the bone-like material called alicorn that made up a unicorn's horn, the recessive genes lying dormant inside Beam's DNA from an old ancestor. Sure, he had found traces of that same alicorn inside the sequences for a pegasus' wings or an earth pony's hooves, but he hadn't found the coding for magic itself simply because it wasn't biological in nature.

Resting his head back on his bed, Jay let his thoughts stray. For better or for worse, it seemed as if the genetic blindness was specific to Starfall alone. Magical disease? Curse? Alchemical effect? He had seen and experienced so much in this world that he wasn't even sure where to begin identifying the underlying cause. He was going to see her tomorrow anyway. It was one of her days off and she had asked him to come do something with her in the afternoon though she hadn't said what. Jay had readily agreed, of course, but it now provided an opportunity to try examining her genetics again. If ponies were anything then they were predictable about wanting to cuddle- not that Jay minded. Starfall was as easy on the eyes as she was friendly and charming.

As Jay's mind wandered he couldn't help but keep coming back to the same thought. He really hoped she wasn't afflicted with some magical disease or curse.