Dakota Jones leaned in over her instruments, humming quietly to herself as she worked on the module recovered from the downed ship. "Another lost in time." She smiled as she soldered a few wires. "Come on baby, work for momma."

The wires were not from inside the strange crystal, but from other parts attaching to it. "Let's have a peek at what wonders you contain. Pretty things."

She watched the panel on her computer. It displayed all sorts of data, most of which was the things she didn't care about. "And the numbers look good so far. Let's just pull you out of there, piece by piece." She quickly did just that, careful not to break anything that would lead to her losing her progress.

What comprised a person, pony or human, was chock full of, for lack of better term, junk. She laughed at the idea. "So's our DNA." Her thoughts wandered towards the instructions living in all her cells, much of it not explaining concrete bits, but all vital in different ways, or just remnants of ancient battles.

"This file looks intact." Dakota pressed the hovering buttons rapidly, prompting her computer to extract that information. "Let's see what fuzzy critter comes out of it."

The console showed a loading bar, filling agonizingly slowly. "So far, so good." She listened to the sounds around her. A gentle hiss from the ship's airflow system. The constant tapping of ponies and humans alike moving about, some chatting quietly. "Best and worst part of the job, waiting."

After what felt like an hour, though was really just a minute or so, it completed and prompted for a file name. Dakota checked over it briefly, then typed in 'Deceased.RenamePLZ'. "That'll do for now."

She smacked the enter key, the computer flickered before showing a successful save. "Great, let's get this running." She moved the file over to the great pile of aides already operating. "Welcome to the crew, lost pony."

The files ran all on their own, using the ship's resources to awaken. This world was their home, just as much as any other pony aboard. She could see them moving about on her console, playing back what their data contained. Abruptly, a pony's head popped up from below. "Is this machine done yet? It takes a long time."

The pony was glittering, as if made of crystals instead of fur. "Your Highness?" The pony looked around, clearly confused. "Are we done?"

Dakota nodded at that. "Sure are." She snapped her fingers. "Over here. You were synced a long time ago. This is your copy. Which is you, the only you."

The glittering pony turned towards her. "That's right! But, there's a small problem."

"Hm?" Dakota's head perked. "Something not make it to backup? Let me see."

"No, not that." The stallion sat on his haunches, facing Dakota. "I don't know where I am, or who you are, or even what you are. Is the princess safe?"

Dakota checked over the code and numbers on her computer. Everything was running smoothly. "Princess? Oh, right. Her. Uh, well, she's fine. Probably better than you are." She cleared her throat. "Hrm, if I had to guess, this is what happens when a pony isn't copied as fast as possible after death. You don't remember any of that, I imagine. You accompanied your princess to a distant world."

"That is what I volunteered for." The crystal pony sat up with clear pride. "Was it a success?"

Dakota rubbed the back of her head nervously. "It, uh, didn't go well. Everyone died. The princess is the only survivor. And you, I guess. Hm, speaking of, hang on." She typed a few commands, bringing up another screen. She gestured at it. There was Princess Cadance, in her room, reading something. "She's fine. But I have a question before I send you off to say hello to her. Do you remember your trip with her, at all?"

The crystal pony sat back and considered it. "No, I do not. Not even what we were doing on this distant world." He looked down at his hooves, raising them slowly. "This is... Am I a ghost?!"

"In a matter of speaking." Dakota tapped gently at her console. "You are a digitized version of your old self, as close to real as we can get, and there isn't another you to compete with, so you, are you. Welcome back to life. Hm, that does imply they synced you before you got on the ship and then never again."

He sat quietly for a moment, staring off into the distance. It was an uncomfortable length of time. Then he tipped his head. "It feels like I've been asleep for a long time. That's the best way I can describe it."

"That isn't a bad way to describe it. Would you like to see Princess Cadance now?" She gestured at the other screen. "I can send you over."

He nodded slowly. "If she is the only one left, then she must be suffering terribly. I wish to help her, in any way I can."

"Okay. First though, it's okay to feel disoriented right now. Don't feel bad. You're basically waking up from a coma, so don't be too hard on yourself." She pressed a new button. "Cadance? Ma'am? I have recovered one of your crew. Mind if I send them to say hello?"

Cadance perked up from her book and smiled warmly. "Please do!"

Dakota hit the last button, the last piece of code being run, the copy of the pony going straight to Cadance's room.

They materialized, a holographic pony. "Ma'am!" He bowed to Cadance with a silly smile. "It's so good to see you. Where are we? What happened?!"

Cadance surged forward, holding the pony tightly in her forehooves. "Crystal!" She closed her eyes as she hugged him, the tears rolling down her cheeks. "It's been so long. You were very brave, so brave. But the mission ended in abject failure." She sighed gently. "Despite that, you and the others did your absolute best. It's why I'm still here."

He touched a hoof to Cadance's cheek. "You do appear to, um, be alive." He glanced down at himself and the faint flicker of the hologram he was. "Unlike me."

Cadance sniffled at that. "No no! No, I promise. There are many ponies here just like you, and most would get irate if you called them 'not alive'." She chuckled at the very idea. "Not organic, yes, but you are alive, and can even be organic, later. It's a little complicated."

Crystal smiled up at Cadance. "It seems you've been having some interesting adventures without me."

Cadance bowed her head and let out a sigh. "That is quite an understatement." She hugged Crystal gently. "But we made it. The humans, that's the creature you just saw, are working as hard as they can to recover other ponies from their last sync."

Crystal bounced on his hooves. "You mean I can come back? For real? That's so exciting!" He turned around in place. "You're sure this is safe?"

"I'm certain." Cadance stood up and slowly walked the room. "They do it here all the time, with ponies living as their digital selves joyfully. In fact, since you are one of them, I insist you meet your fellow digital ponies. Make some friends."

Crystal cleared his throat nervously. "If you think it's a good idea, ma'am."

Cadance smiled at that. "You are not under my command anymore. We have a whole new world to explore. It isn't Equestria, but they call it Earth. What do you think?"

Crystal's eyes went wide. "Earth? Like dirt?" He laughed gently. "I suppose I can't complain. We called ours 'horse-world'. Perhaps it's just natural that we call it something simple and close at hoof."

Cadance tipped her head slightly. "Twilight hasn't explained much about the humans yet, has she?"

Crystal's ears perked. "Oh! You mean your sister-in-law? She's here?!" He looked around quickly. "Where?"

Cadance let out a warm chuckle. "She isn't here in the room with us, of course. She is literally the ship we are on." She tapped the ground and waved about. "She can probably hear us even now, but she's also very busy, so she's unlikely to respond unless we call her specifically."

Crystal bounced his hooves, holding his tail in excitement. "The entire ship is Princess Twilight?!" He put a hoof to his chest. "But that would mean... the, um, vessel we rode here in?"

Cadance winced at that. "That was broken apart for bits and pieces to build a colony for ourselves, then it was all shattered into uselessness when the sun became angry. I speak poetically, but it is what happened, basically."

Crystal sat down hard. "Oh. I see."

Cadance blinked in surprise. "Crystal? Are you alright?"

He looked up at her slowly. "I just found out I'm dead, as well as losing the only home I've ever known." He sighed gently. "But I do have my princess, and she says there's a new home, if I can just be brave. I suppose I can do that."

"Very brave!" Cadance leaned down and hugged Crystal. "You've always been brave. I have missed you so much. There were times I worried I'd forget what your voice sounded like, or how silly you could be when trying to cheer me up." She touched her head to his. "Now, go on. Talk with the other ponies on this ship. I bet they're eager to meet you."

Crystal gave a few snorts as he stood back up. "Eager to meet somepony who doesn't know the lay of the land?" He looked over his shoulder at Cadance. "I'll try. Um, how do I do that?"

Pinkie appeared as if summoned. "Ooo!" She bounced over to Crystal, circling around them. "A new pony! Are you from one of those syncs we found? I have never seen one of you before. You're sparkly!"

Crystal sat down quickly. "Pinkie Pie?!" He grabbed at his chest, panting for breath. "One of the Elements, friend of Twilight Sparkle?"

"That's me!" sang out Pinkie, jumping into Crystal in a pouncing hug. "Welcome! I have such sights to show you." Just as suddenly, both of them vanished.

Cadance shook her head at where the two had been. "Have fun."

Twilight appeared at that moment. "Pinkie got him?"

Cadance gave a firm nod. "He's a little disoriented, but very much eager to see new things." She looked up at Twilight. "If they rescued Crystal, maybe they'll get the others. Crystal doesn't seem to remember the journey at all. Will Shining Armor be pushed that far back?"

Twilight came over and nuzzled up against Cadance... "It is a possibility." She looked about with clear worry. "But I can't decide if that's good or bad. It would mean he never made it this far."

"And won't have suffered." Cadance sighed at the thought. "But he was so brave, and wonderful. I would rather he not lose even a second of the life he led." She put a hoof to her chin. "Impossible, I realize. He couldn't have synced once we landed, even under the best of circumstances."

Twilight nodded at that. "Even still, there is a chance he will come back, in one form or another."

Cadance hugged Twilight close. "I hope so."

The two held each other as they shared the pain of the moment. Twilight licked behind Cadance's ear gently. "We'll make it. The humans are working hard on it."

She stood up. "But, my jobs are not yet done. Back to being a ship. You can call for me any time, Cadance."

"Of course." Cadance watched as Twilight vanished again. "At least I am not alone anymore."

Author's Note

One rescued. Better than none, I dare say. This one had no syncs while on the ship, and thus remembers not one bit of it.

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