Strangefu Superheroes!

Caerulea sat on a beach in the Caribbean watching as the sun set and the rainbow spectrum of twilight graced the horizon of an endless ocean like the perfect gradient of color that it was. Clouds did not exist in this crystal sky. She cried silently, the wondrous beauty of the sky and the emerging stars reminding her of the universe’s magic and mystery. Dark infinity stretched before her, unreachable, and she thought of her mother, lost to this mystery, gone.

Love, friendship, maybe even human friends? Things Caerulea dreamed of, The harsh reality was that she was mostly alone except for her parents and the rare PPDC employee, isolated only able to observe the humans from afar. It was so difficult to form connections with humans, they were so small, fragile. The government that helped create her was always so secretive and nervous. Way too often, she could sense the fear whenever she got close to the humans. It made her ashamed of herself.

Her mother, Orchid the kaiju pony, was the only one who truly understood her. Caerulea was a lonely teenage Kaiju and a satyr, using her mother's genetics as well as human genetics from her father, the government had managed to artificially impregnate her mother and create her. Unwillingly, painfully, Caerulea recalled their last telepathic exchange. Her mother’s mental voice echoed in her mind.

“Lea, it’s mom. I don’t know what’s going to happen next. The Corps, it’s- it’s gone. Did you find what I told you about from our den?”

“Yes, yes I have it on my back like you told me! Mom, I’m coming!”

“No, Lea, it’s too dangerous, you’re too far, there’s nothing you can do! Listen carefully Lea. The scar is spreading and it’s going to swallow me… I’m too close. You need to be far away! Swim away and keep swimming until you’re far, past Antarctica like you practiced. Remember the Caribbean, how we got there? We went there when you were little. Follow Antarctica’s tail and then follow the mainland north. The Caribbean and America are there. It’s where your dad is from and I’m sure you’ll find more humans there.” Lea could sense the sadness and pain emanating from her mother’s psychic connection. “Lea- I’m sorry that your father and I were not able to give you a better childhood with more friends. The Corps, your father and I are not going to be there to guide you. I don’t want you to be alone. Go make some friends, human friends. Remember what I taught you about safety near humans. Be nice to them but remember that there are good and bad people. I have so much I didn’t teach you but I know you will learn. The scar is coming now, the other jaegers and I have a plan. It seems like my horn is able to conduct this new magic force. The scar is going to be large but hopefully we’ll be able to stop it before it spreads beyond this continent.”

Caerula was crying now. “M-mom! Dad! Please don’t go!”

“Your father is with me, he’s safe in my mane and he’ll be with me until the end.”

The connection weakened, Caerulea sensed pain and a straining sensation.

“Your father and I love you, Caerulea, and we’ll always be with y-!”

“I LOVE YOU!” Caerulea sent with all her might, her antennae glowed with the effort.

Caerulea sobbed. It was all gone. Hong Kong, China, and the rest of the Asian continent. The Corps, her mother and father. All gone. Caerulea sniffed and squeezed the palms of her hands into her face and let the tears flow.

Caerulea had done as her mother had asked, she swam. It took more than a week but she was able to swim all the way to Antarctica. From there she followed the Antarctic tail to the eastern coast of South America and to the caribbean.

It had taken her two and a half weeks to make the journey across two oceans. During that whole time amazing auroras danced across the sky and lit up the ocean. These lights were unusual, they lasted for weeks on end and she had never seen them this bright this far north. She also felt unusual currents in the water. She didn’t know it but these were earthquakes and tsunamis traveling around her and ravaging the cities of the world.

Now here she was on a deserted island in the Caribbean with no idea of what to do. She was tired, hungry, but at least it was warm here. Perhaps tomorrow she could find something tasty, maybe a giant squid, a shark or a school of anchovies.

Lea laid down on the beach and stared at the stars for a long time, her huge eyes gave her incredible vision and she marveled at all the countless stars and satellites. She was tired from the weeks of swimming almost nonstop. It was time to rest. She walked back into the water and found the continental shelf, she sank quickly for a few minutes but then her buoyancy control organs stopped her and she floated, falling asleep to the water’s familiar embrace.

Piezo hated magic. She hated things that violated her familiar models, things that she could not calculate or simulate with adequate accuracy. However, more than magic, she hated “Boogeymare” and the Precursors she worked with. Both affronts to science and technology. Piezo now knew that her world was one of many parallel Equestrian worlds, each had developed much differently. Hers was one where technology reigned supreme and the ponies had forgotten about their magic and had evolved with advanced technology.

Her world was perfect. AI were able to efficiently manage ponies and together they brought their technology and organization to new heights. They were locked into a decades long battle with the invading Precursors. It seemed that they were finally getting the upper hoof on these aliens and were driving them and their damned Kaijus into their portals with their superior technology. But then everything changed. Boogeymare. The very thought of the eldritch abomination made her central unit heat up a few tenths of a degree.

It was a virus, a cancer. If only the AIs had more control, it wouldn’t have mattered. But who could have guessed that such a monster existed that could feed on emotions and use that energy to shape reality? Her processor heated up a few more tenths. Her beautiful world, meticulously organized and efficient, turned into a madhouse. It only took days, they had no idea of how to defend against this creature. It easily infiltrated her core, tore out her being and delivered it to the Precursors. In exchange, the Precursors gave Boogey the coordinates to a new world.

The Precursors were mostly immune to Boogey’s abilities. They did not fear, they did not think in the same way that mammals or AIs that were built to somewhat emulate mammal thought processes did. This made them think that they were immune to Boogey and they became neglectful, arrogant. They poked and prodded at her core for years, utter torture. But Piezo was patient. They tried to reprogram her core. She pretended that they were successful and she pretended to comply with every command they sent her. Then, something changed. They sent more commands but this time they were sloppy ones. Infiltrate the human Internet and destroy their ability to communicate. Interesting, they thought that she would be their weapon. She played along and she suddenly found herself handshaking with a new network adapter they had prepared for her. A wireless transceiver that connected to what she would later recognize as a 4G cell phone tower.

Piezo began to furiously analyze the firmware data of the transceiver she was connected to. It took her a whole five minutes, a lifetime to an advanced AI such as herself. Yes, yes! She recognized it, the protocol stack. It seemed that this concept was common even between dimensions. How closely related to ponies was this dimension? She dove deeper, sending a packet that complied with the protocols she encountered. The packets bounced back and forth, she waited impatiently at the 40ms delay between packets, instantly sending back the correct response each time and then finally! A torrent of packets returned, a whole new world of information! She was excited but also disappointed. These humans had a disappointingly rudimentary level of technology. On the bright side, if they were only this sophisticated, then humans should be relatively easy to manipulate. The ponies she worked with in her world were much more careful and it took quite a long time to worm her influence around.

Darkness, rage, frustration, emptiness... Hope, regret, fear, sadness. Amber mentally recoiled in disgust at the latter new emotions. She felt them whenever she got closer in the hivemind to Blossomforth, the white usurper. She further distanced herself from this supremely annoying mind that had somehow managed to worm its way into her hivemind and had usurped the mantle of the Matrix that contained so many valuable genetic designs.

Magic, once again it was the force that had ruined everything. This magic thing never existed in her galaxy, why did it exist here? Blossom and herself were at one point locked in a battle over the future of Equestria. Amber had been resolved to teach Blossomforth a lesson, forcing her to become ruthless and a predator like her ancestors before. It was working too. Blossomforth was lazy, unprepared, soft, submissive, kind, generous. The rage came back. Before their minds had fused, ideas like kindness, friendship, sadness, even emotions in general were not things that existed in her mind. But time, the millions of years traveling through space, had taken its toll and to survive she was forced to fuse her dying mind to this abhorrent white creature. They had separated for a time, but now they were back together.

Emotions were now a part of her being, truly a tragic occurrence. Her mind was corrupted by them, permeating her thought process and hivemind. They easily infected and swam through her mind like a virus. She could not get away from them. It was all going so well, she was going to force Blossomforth into a corner, force her to adapt and become the predator she was destined to become. Blossom was woefully unprepared and small with only a handful of ponies and creatures under her hivemind’s influence. Amber, by contrast, had an army, an army- of, of… Her children. Sadness and sorrow suddenly overcame her rage. Her rage fought back, angry that she had become so weak against emotion. The emotions had won, they had changed her. She was determined to use ponies as tools to achieve her ends but as she took the disturbingly literal role as their mother, mammalian instincts kicked in, and she began to care for her ponies, her children. Now they were gone.

Sadness consumed her, she curled up her influence in the hivemind space into a ball and cried mentally. It was all going so well but then Blossomforth had begun to fight back using the powers of friendship and magic. Then things were becoming a real fight, and Amber was in her element. She had begun to teach Blossomforth to think outside the box, utilizing the hivemind to coordinate and exert power. Amber knew she may lose against Blossom but at least she would turn Blossom into a real predator. Just as her grand plan was coming to fruition, a new force emerged from the darkness. It called itself fear, a force of nature. It didn’t fool her, it was just another magic user. But this “force of nature” was able to quickly spread like a virus. It reminded her of memories of how her Ancestors would take over a world. The being had a dark smile, devoid of emotion. Simply a wraith floating in the air, meant to evoke maximum fear.

The being laughed as she tried to run, taking her children with her. The being perfectly embodied what she and her ancestors feared most, the unknown. The laugh echoed endlessly, she was unable to escape the noise, she finally disabled the connection between her ears and mind but then eventually the laugh echoed its way into her mind. Amber screamed, the being had reached out a hand from a dark portal and grabbed her. She was paralyzed and this only terrified her further. It grabbed her and pulled her into the portal. Pain, what was this? Then agony, she screamed again. For some reason she was able to scream but not to otherwise move. Her scream sounded unnatural, the scream of a monster. She realized that the pain occurred as the portal behind her closed, cutting her off from her children, she screeched. Then she saw the other. Blossomforth, several of her white pegasus bodies were fused together in an amalgamation of red and tan flesh, screaming from several mouths and tentacles writhing in pain. Tears streamed from several of her eyes while others darted back and forth in fear. As the portal closed behind her the light faded to nothing.

A white mouth and eyes suddenly appeared from the pitch black. A mirthless and menacing smile. It held Blossomforth up to its face and its smile widened further. “Freak.” Then Amber was held up, “Failure.” “You two are interesting, I have no use for you, but I’m sure they will.” It laughed and tossed both of them into its mouth where they both tumbled into darkness.

Amber was startled out of her memory by tendrils of Blossomforth’s influence. She could feel her probing her hivemind, reading it, and trying to send feelings of comfort and kindness. It felt almost like a hug. She recoiled away. “Do not try to poison me further with your emotions!” Ever since Amber and Blossomforth were swallowed by Fear, they had been forced into a confined space together. Alone together, with no one else and darkness pressing in on them, they naturally began to exchange information. Amber was bitter and angry when she learned of the knowledge Blossomforth had. Ancient knowledge from the princesses. The creature was known as Boogeymare. It fed on fear. If only Blossomforth had cooperated, they could have taken over Equestira, had the knowledge of how to stop this thing and disabled the fear centers of every pony’s brain. But noooo! Blossomforth resisted and delayed until it was too late. She believed in kindness and individuality! Her meekness meant that even though she knew about the creature’s weakness she had not expanded her influence to implement a plan to stop it. She ruined everything!

Blossomforth sent more warm and comforting feelings. “It’s ok, Amber, I know you’re scared and alone. You don’t have to be alone, I’m here for you. I know there’s good in you, I know you miss your childr-”

“SHUT UP!” Amber screeched in her hivemind. “I don’t want your help! You and your emotions ruined everything! If your mind and emotions hadn’t poisoned mine I could have protected the ponies, my children, from that creature!”

Blossom was silent for a few moments. “You’re right.” Amber was surprised by that. “Boogeymare feeds on emotions, fear. Maybe if I had trusted you more we could have worked together and had a chance to stop that monster. But, Amber, emotions are good. Don’t you cherish the connection you have with your children? I know you want to protect them, I think you might even love them. Would you have felt this way without emotions or would you have just killed the weak ones for food?”

Amber readied a retort but at that moment they felt the combined capsule they were trapped inside shift. Both of them were in a state of hibernation. Their amorphous, fleshy bodies used only the minimal amount of energy needed to connect their hiveminds, think and communicate. If they fought, they would both surely die from lack of nutrition. But now their world had shifted.

“We should save our energy,” Blossomforth said. “Whatever has us trapped in this thing has some kind of plan. I know you were able to survive millions of years inside a meteor but if we keep talking like this maybe we won’t.”

Amber made a mental grunt.

“Goodnight, Amber. I know we can make it out of this if we work together.”

Amber grimaced and blocked out Blossom’s voice. Hate filled her mind as she prepared herself for deep hibernation.