Daedalus' New World

It was only a few hours later that Daedalus found himself lying in the ornate bed of his lavish guestroom in the castle, staring up at the ceiling far above him. Thinking over what had happened just a short while ago, he still wasn't sure if he had made the right decision. Shortly after his acceptance, the two of them had returned to the castle. Nothing had really changed between them as they made the walk back, still joking and talking as usual. Once they had gotten back through the front gate, though, Starfall had reared up, placed her hooves on his chest, and leaned in to give him a tender nuzzle before she wished him a good night and left. He would have been lying if he had said the little display of affection hadn't been appreciated. When he returned to his room, he found himself in the position he had been in for the last few hours.

The species difference wasn't an issue to Daedalus. He wasn't even human, anyway. Technically, he wasn't even male as a virus didn't have a gender. He had just been a male before his infection and saw no reason to change that. No, it didn't matter what species he chose to be intimate with as it would also be an interspecies relationship. No other Evolved existed here in this world and he was going to ensure it remained that way. One could argue that the jump from human to pony to be a considerable jump but it meant nothing to Daedalus in the long run as he now found himself in a country dominated by them. The biggest and only real issue he saw himself facing in the future was telling Starfall the truth about the 'plagues' that had hit his home and the effect they left on him. He had some time to prepare before their attraction became serious, but he needed to do it as soon as possible.

However, Daedalus couldn't help but be excited. Even before the Outbreaks, it had been a long time since someone was so openly interested in him. Not since college had someone so confidently approached him like that and it made him, for lack of a better phrase, feel alive. It was a feeling he missed, and he found himself acting more and more like he had before his infection. He was acting more like Jay Fontenot, friendly science major raised in Cajun country and less like Daedalus, leashed monster hiding his survival from his family. With the final thought of dropping his fake name, the human-turned-Evolved allowed himself to drift off into his usual dreamless slumber.

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

He was suspended in rainbow jello. That was the only way he could describe what he saw and felt. As he turned his head side to side, he found that he couldn't see the floor, the walls, or the roof. All around him, thick and viscous gel pressed in on him from all sides and he discovered that he could move, albeit sluggishly. As he took in his surroundings, he could make out a kaleidoscope of colors. Pink, yellow, blue, green, orange, red, purple, and on and on. The colors weren't even limited to one shade each as he saw teal and cyan side by side. The shades moved with an ebb and flow, rising and sinking. Then, he became aware of a light shade of pink slowly flowing toward him. Cutting through the swathes of green and fields of orange, trickles of the color combined into streams and then again into rivers that flowed toward him, disappearing into his chest. As he stared down at his body, he began to feel warm. Not physically, as his virus confirmed his body temperature had not spiked, but emotionally. The gel coalesced inside of him until all the various shades of pink where gone from the strange fluid. Then, starting from the edge of his sight, everything began to fade to black. Within only moments naught but void surrounded him. Then that too was gone.

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

Daedalus snapped awake with a startled cry and fell out of bed. With his density still reduced from his duel with Luna, he didn't even crack the floor as he impacted it hard. He lied in place for a long moment and groaned softly as he tried to dispel a headache. Then he tried to dismiss the mimicry of panic Blacklight had produced only to freeze- the emotion didn't fade. Willing the virus to dismiss the feeling again, he began to feel nervous as it failed again. The nervousness only made the panic more intense which turned the nervousness to worry as his emotions began to run away from him. He snapped up into a sitting position and quickly shifted his arm into a blade and felt himself relax somewhat as it worked just fine. Then he quickly examined his form down to every last biological process he allowed to exist and his confusion grew as he found nothing. There was nothing that should be causing his emotions to be uncontrolled.

As a virus, he didn't actually have the biological processes that allowed emotions to naturally exist. With perfect genetic control over his own existence, nothing could happen that he didn't decide. He generally allowed his body to produce spikes in emotions as normal but it wasn't the same. The feelings were manufactured. He experienced something that would have made him feel a certain way, decided he want to feel that way, and then produced the chemical mix that created that emotion. Only then did he feel an emotion and even then, he could dismiss it at any point. It was an accurate and effective mimicry, but still mimicry. Everything he felt was decided just as much as he felt.

That was no longer how he worked. Despite the fact that he told the virus to stop synthesizing nervousness, confusion, an the traces of panic that still lingered, none of the feelings faded. His form was the same as always in its entirety. He could shift, he felt no pain, and needed nothing biologically natural except for the occasional need to consume biomass to restore his density. He could even still synthesize new emotions as the feeling of nervousness spiked before he dismissed it and left behind the bare traces he felt before. Something had changed. Part of Daedalus was terrified. He hadn't experienced real feelings in two years, not since his 'death.' Yet the rest of him was elated. He truly felt now, not just what he decided was feeling. More so, he did this without losing any of the plethora of advantages he gained by being a non-living entity. Thinking about it, he decided he would need to talk to either Celestia or Luna. Whatever had happened, he figured it was linked to his dream and while he was not unhappy with this change, he wanted to know how and why it happened.

A knock at his door dragged him out of his thoughts as he quickly rose up and hurried over to open it. Just outside was a pegasus Guard clad in the standard Solar armor. After a second, he gave a nod to Daedalus. "Good morning, sir. I was directed to escort you to the Hunter compound to meet Captain Iron. Are you ready now or should I return shortly?"

"Yes, I am. Lead the way." The Evolved responded, grateful for the timely distraction. The stallion nodded and turned around, leading him through the maze of hallways toward the compound. Thanks to his perfect memory, he would have no problem making his way back to his room or to the grounds again. Eventually, they came to a large door that didn't match the theme of the rest of the castle. Rather than pretty wood or artfully decorated marble, the large and imposing door was made entirely of metal embedded with glittering gems. A waving aura flowed across the door betraying it's obviously magical nature, though Daedalus didn't have the slightest idea on what it did. The Evolved and his escort stopped just outside the door before the stallion knocked and waited. It didn't take long for the door to slowly creak open, apparently without the pony inside opening it himself. Unlike his escort, the unicorn that stood on the other side of the door did not wear standard Guard armor in the slightest.

Sword and spear weren't this stallion's preferred weapon as a large hammer laid across his back and powerful muscles rippled under his coat despite the stereotype that unicorns were physically weaker. Shiny gold armor that barely covered the body was abandoned, replaced by heavy steel plates that covered the entire body and even hid his tail. Rather than any kind of armor to protect the gaps between the plates that allowed the armor to flex, a shining cobalt aura that flared and dimmed as he moved served to protect the weak spots. The stallion's helmet was clipped onto his side, a large and sturdy looking thing with a segment that jutted out to cover even his muzzle. With his helmet off, Daedalus was able to get a look at his dull black coat and greying mane that told him that this stallion was on the older side, likely Captain Iron himself. That thought was confirmed just a moment later when his escort spoke.

"Captain Iron, I've brought Mr. Daedalus to you as directed."

"Thank you, and that'll be all, Corporal. Daedalus, come in. I'm glad you were available this early." The Captain said and gestured for him to enter. Captain Iron's voice, with its friendly and relaxed tone, didn't quite match his foreboding, no-nonsense appearance his armor and colors gave off. When Daedalus stepped into the room, the great door behind him swung closed on its own without the unicorn's horn lighting up. Again, he pushed the thought aside and examined the interior. Just like the door itself, the theme of the place didn't match the rest of the castle. Inside was a hallway smaller than the standard ones in the castle, ten feet wide and easily a hundred feet long. Scattered unevenly on both sides of the hall, there were multiple smaller doors that were similar to the main door just without the magic. Clearly, this place was the Hunter's compound inside the castle. With that thought in mind, Captain Iron leisurely led him to the closest door on the left as the two of the entered what appeared to be a common room. It wasn't empty, either.

There were four different ponies scattered across the myriad of comfortable looking couches and plush cushions, each pony drastically different than the last. The first was an utterly massive earth pony likely bigger than Twilight. He lack of armor left his dark green coat and brown hair exposed, with the mark of an axe coming down on a wooden wolf on his flank. A nearly identical axe actually leaned against the couch he was laying on. His ashy eyes examined Daedalus with an intent gaze as Daedalus' own eyes glanced toward the next pony. On the floor right below the earth pony was a tiny unicorn mare, probably half the size of an average mare. Her pure white coat and sunshine yellow mane reminded him of Celestia, a fact that was only reinforced when he realized her horn was much longer than average- then he realized it was actually just regular sized and she was small. Her cutie mark was a bright blue dome pushing back darkness. Orange eyes glanced at him for a moment before she turned her attention back to the stallion above her and the two resumed a quiet conversation.

Immediately on his right and laying on her back on a couch was a mare that, after a moment of confusion, Daedalus identified as a thestral. Her coat was nearly the same shade as Luna's and contrasted nicely with her pure silver mane and tail. Next to her on the floor was a pile of silvery chainmail armor, most likely hers. As she idly hummed a simple tune, her teal eyes watched him with a small smirk. The final pony was a young looking pegasus stallion laying on a cushion opposite the thestral mare. Fiery orange hair clashed with his teal coat as his bright red eyes openly stared at Daedalus in unreserved curiosity. His cutie mark popped out on his coat, with a bright star shooting across a night sky as lightning bolts fell from the star.

Captain Iron gestured toward one of the open seats. As Daedalus took a seat with Captain Iron on one of the cushions across from him, the white mare spoke up. "So, what are you?"

The Evolved glanced over at the mare who had broken the silence so suddenly and noticed that her horn was alight in a blue miasma that matched the magic on her cutie mark. Most likely an effect of her magic, her previously orange eyes were now a deep red darker than the stallions. "I'm a human."

She snorted dismissively. "Yeah, I get that, but what are you? Your body is spiked all weird under thermal, one flat temperature all over. Too high, too"

"Yeah, and I don't smell any blood or hear a heartbeat, either. Or breathing, for that matter." The thestral mare added as she rolled onto her side. She idly draped a hoof off the couch and swayed it through the air as she continued. "You're not undead, either. No reek of decay, no rotting tissue. Not to mention, you would have turned to ash as soon as you walked past the front gate."

"And I'm not reading any electrical pulses in your body, either." The stallion commented from the side.

"Right. So, what are you?" The unicorn asked again as the five ponies stared at him in a mix of wariness and curiosity.

Daedalus let out a heavy sigh. Ten seconds in and they already knew something was off about him. He wasn't sure what had prompted the unicorn to check him with thermals, but it didn't matter in the long run. After a second of consideration, he shrugged. It would be better to explain what he actually was. If he was going to work with them closely and if they were going to trust him with their lives, the least he could do is be honest. Not to mention, he wasn't under any order to hide what he was so he figured it was at his own discretion who he told. But he would first fix what gave him away. Underneath his skin and invisible to the ponies, his body rapidly shifted as he created various biological processes that, while not necessary at all, would help hide him better from ponies with an eye for detail. For the first time in two years, a complete system began to form within Daedalus. Lungs took in air and exhaled slowly as a strong heartbeat started up. Blood specifically scrubbed clean of traces of the Blacklight virus began to circulate through newly formed veins. He couldn't lower his body temperature due to the natural restlessness of the virus, but the additional friction caused by organic processes would ensure he wasn't one even temperature all over. A false brain began to send nerve impulses through his body that, though they didn't actually control his viral body, would mimic the brainwaves of a mortal human.

"And now all the weirdness is gone." The mare said with an irritated frown directed at him. "Temps are a bit more normal but still too high. Get to talking."

Daedalus began as he wasted no time beating around the bush or hinting toward what he was. "I'm not undead or alive, but still sapient. I'm not going to go over the exact specifics of how I came to be, but I'm essentially a virus called Blacklight, and those like me are called Evolved though I'm the only one on Equis. Unlike any other virus that exists, I'm not inherently contagious but can be if I choose, though I swore to the Princesses of Equestria that I have no intention of doing so. As a virus, I don't need lungs, or blood, or a brain, or a nervous system, or anything else really. I have complete genetic control over my own body which is why some of the things that gave me away disappeared. I began to mimic the natural biological processes I had before I became what I am. The temperature I can't help though, that's just a part of what I am."

"If you can create all these things, then you can change other things about you, yeah?" The earth pony asked, his baritone voice laced with a heavy rumble.

"Yes. I can shapeshift provided I have a genetic sample I can mimic, or given enough time I can create my own so I don't need to copy anyone. Additionally, I can perform free-form transformations, redesigning my body however I like. With that, I can actually turn any part of my body into any type of weapon. A few other traits I have from this is I'm normally incredibly dense-"

"Naturally." The thestral interrupted with a cheeky smile. After seeing his amused look, she gestured for him to continue.

"To the point that my flesh is denser than gold and harder than steel, though I'm severely weakened from Luna obliterating half my body during our duel. I have more senses than I bother trying to explain and everything I do have is amplified to the extreme, though I normally tune it out. I'm all around fast including my reaction time and unnaturally strong as my density means I can pack far more muscle into my relatively smaller frame, and can restructure myself into a form more suited for combat. Lastly, I can absorb any organic matter with varying effects on what I absorb. If it's tissue, I gain their genetic coding and can shapeshift into them and gain any powers tied to their biology. If it's brain matter, provided that I absorb it within ten minutes of death, or preferably before brain death, I'll gain all of their memories." Daedalus explained. To his surprise, they didn't seem all that concerned about what he explained as they just nodded. A moment later, Captain Iron spoke up.

"Alright, if all that's true, you'll definitely be a great asset to the team. Whatever you are, you're clearly a natural hunter. We'll get introductions out of the way first, teach you a bit about who we are and what we do, and move on to the tour. You probably already know, but I'm Captain Wrought Iron. Unless we're somewhere formal, just call me Iron. Ain't no point with titles when you've got a manticore trying to impale you. I'm the leader of the Hunters and run my own band here in Canterlot consisting of the ponies you see around you, and you'll be joining us. I favor the hammer, though I'm capable of using just about any weapon under the sun or moon and quite a bit of magic as well."

Then he nodded to the unicorn and she picked up where he left off. "I'm Sergeant First Class Aqua Dome, but just call me Aqua. One of the newest members, my specialty is magic, but don't let my small statue fool you. If an expanding shield inside your chest cavity doesn't kill you, I can pick up just about any blade and slice you apart just fine."

The large earth pony right above her continued the introductions. "Sergeant Major Split Kindling but everypony calls me Kin. I specialize in axes, but like the Captain I can pick up just about anything heavy and use it just fine. I can handle a small blade just fine, but my strength will put something big and heavy to use easier."

"I'm Sergeant Lightning Star, newest member of the Tartarian Hunters- that's our full name, by the way- and the fastest pony on the team. 's far as I know, only pony who outclasses me is that Element of Loyalty, and even them I'm getting close to breaking the sound barrier. Wingblades are my thing, but I can manipulate electricity pretty well too. Though- I can't actually sense brainwaves like I said I did. I was mostly just adding stuff on to everypony else and just happened to get it right." The orange and blue pegasus said and gave a smirk directed to Daedalus.

"Guess I'm last," The thestral said as she gave him a small smile. "Second Lieutenant Glimmering Moonbeam, but I just go by Moon or Beam. Second in command of our little corner of the Hunters, I'm a dine and dash kinda pony. Knives and poisons are my forte and just a couple pricks can weaken or even incapacitate my foe. I've turned quite a few pitched fights into just putting down a pained animal, as I'm sure Iron can attest."

When they all turned to him, he gave a light shrug. "Daedalus, Greater Evolved. Call me Jay if you want something faster to say since that's my real name. Not really a part of the military, I don't have a rank. Skill sets are... pretty much everything. I can shapeshift to a perfect mimicry of anything whether it's my body type or not. Bladed and blunted are just fine for me, and I'm nigh unkillable with the only weakness I'm aware of is high-powered magic. Luna-level magic, since it left her exhausted for like three hours after. I can synthesize or cure basically any poison or disease I have a sample of and heal practically any physical injury as long as I understand your body on a genetic level. However, I'm unable to use even a shred of magic."

"Oh, I think we'll get along just fine, Jay." Beam said, licking her lips as she gazed at him. "I feel like you'll make things so much better around here."