Author's Note

In this chapter I am adding more narrative to build up to the sudden appearening in Equestria which is central to the whole Human in Equestria concept. The details of his time on earth have been expanded.

Equestria

Transhumanism. To transcend humanity's biological limits, taking the reigns of evolution and giving them a healthy boost, to put it mildly. The DNI (Direct Neural Interface) is really what kicked things off. We had already made functional artificial bodyparts and even gotten down that long-sought-for art of avian flight, but the drones were unwieldy and ultimately only appealed to sci-fi enthusiasts. We had to tap directly into the mind to gain enough motorfunction to create the first truly bionic replacement limbs, but we went further than that. We were in the early stages and only with corporate funding and clever legal councelling, did we manage to get as far as we had...

...

I'm lying through my teeth. It was mostly classified research, black bag projects as some are fond of calling it. We neatly sidestepped the ethical minefield of acquiring test subjects by using it on ourselves. Tensions were on the rise across the globe. Already we seemed to have doomed ourselves with our technological hubris. I'm still not sure how we survived the invention of cross-continental nuclear warheads, but that was decades ago, before my time. Our research may have been just another such act of hubris, but we were hoping it would be the tool to prevent global warfare. We had just finished work on the first prototype exosuit and as much as I hate to admit it, the thing looked almost biblical, with a healthy helping of ancient Greek mythology thrown in there for good measure. It was modeled after my body and the thing moved by linking directly into my neural network, using the DNI which had been surgically implanted in my brain.

When I say it looked biblical, I'm of course refering to the wings on the back. Yes, completely functional avian wings, big and flexible, with enough power to take off standing (though the displaced air made it about as graceful as a chopper taking off). The chestguard was bulky, mimicing the flight bone on birds, to anchor the wing muscles.

Next came the legs and the tail, because strictly speaking, you couldn't really land the thing without breaking both of your legs on impact. So we modeled these anthropomorphic hind legs where the heel rears up to the height of a human's shinbone. It fit onto the foot and the rest of the leg, with more artificial muscle fiber laced through the leg bardings, adding to the human musclepower. Anchored to the suit, situated just over the lower back, was the tail needed for steering in the air. It was built to resemble two tails, actually, fully prehensile with a membrane stretched between them. The end result was something not unlike a swallow's tail, but collapse the membrane and the tails joined together like a third limb. Mounting a blade at the end of that just sort of seemed to top it off.

Then came the rest which was essentially just armor to avoid leaving the arms and head exposed to the elements. We added some artificial muscle fiber to those arms as well, just for good measure. The helmet came with a folding visor, communications system, Heads-Up-Display and a respirator, extending the lower half of the mask into a snout, fitting with the chimera-style mixing bowl of borrowed animal parts. The whole thing split down the middle and retracted to either side of the helmet.

It only took one prank involving a quick paintjob to make the MLP reference. Even the feet were just cylinders with hydraulic shockabsorbers, and so it was known as the Pegasus Frame. While I didn't appreciate the Rainbow Dash reference (I'm not a brony, but I seemed to have some working in the RnD labs), I didn't mind the name all that much.

If you're with me this far (and I applaud you for trying, this crap sounds utterly outlandish, even to me), then you may be wondering how the human brain - that already struggles with just moving four limbs - is going to handle new legs, a tail and wings, not to mention honest to god flight. The answer is code. Lots of computer code. I'll spare you the technobabble and dumb it down a bit. Normal computing is binary, 0 or 1, On or Off. With a quantum computer, particles seem to have no problems existing in two places at once, or not at all from moment to moment, so the binary system can't really keep up when individual numbers can be 0 or 1 or both 0 and 1 at the same time. In short, it gives us immense computing power, cranking mass amounts of data on bird flight and other feats of motorcontrol.

Hook that up to the DNI and you have the brain feeding the computer lines of code at the speed of thought, and the computer can keep up without breaking a sweat. In fact, it tends to blur the borders of reality when you feel your wings are as much a part of your body as your flesh-and-blood limbs. We had to install a reality filter and it was a good thing, too. Because the next step was sort of Out There, even for us and after the stuff I've just told you about, that's something.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence. It began with uploading or copying knowledge straight from the brain (my brain in fact) to lay a baseline for human movement, to be molded into a script that could help control the wings and tail. It turns out the quantum computer does have a limit both in the number of codes it can store and the speed at which it can run that code, but I'll be damned if we didn't get close to replicating a thinking, self-amplifying intellect. One that immediately began to rewrite its own code. It might have been a fluke or maybe my morals are stronger than I've been led to believe when I look back at what we did, but the A.I. did not launch its own version of skynet or anything like that. It was based on my brain, so it came as no surprise when the thing expressed a sense of humor and even empathy. With an articulate voice (albeit still a bit of machine static, just enough to sound less than human) and even the ability to feed words and thoughts directly into my mind, I really needed that reality filter. Essentially it's just a firewall, blocking most of the machine's control, but also inhibiting its contributions, much like a real firewall does. So I stayed sane (if I still qualified at that point) and with the machine intelligence handling the mental stress of having wings and a tail, the Pegasus Frame was a monumental success.

Running with hydraulic shockabsorbing 'hooves' on extended, flexing legs with metalic muscle fiber laced through the suit, I broke 30 MPH easy and the muscle burn was reduced significantly. I coult sprint for hours if I paced myself. With a running jump, I cleared 30 feet tall obstacles like they were steps on a staircase and that meant I could take off and catch enough air to unfold my wings. The wingspan measured 40 feet fully outstretched and the whole thing was featherlight, using cutting edge carbon bindings making it stronger than steel. The membrane for the wings and tail was only possible thanks to nanotechnology and when it retracted, it fit fully inside the tail and wing frames, allowing them to fold several times and almost disappear behind my back.

The whole thing is powered by eletricity, using excess body heat, kinetic energy from my movements and solar energy. We developed a type of solar cell that could literally be applied to the membranes like a coat of paint. The final result was virtually self-sustaining energy and personal transportation to rival anything previously seen in the technological era.

These suits were going to become a production line, but just my prototype had a truly astronomical fee attached to it. Still, it was our hope that we would be able to provide an alternative, something to compete with the firepower that seemed to already engulf the globe. You will notice a few things I haven't mentioned at this point.

One is weaponry. The Pegasus Frame has none. Just staggering mobility and nigh-impenetrable armor plating, as much to protect the suit as the one wearing it.

Another is names. My name, my company, the people involved, even nationalities. You will forgive me if I won't be doing any name-dropping, since I did just admit to commiting all kinds of hubris, chiefly among them, the creation of the first ever A.I. molded after my own brain patterns.

I have mentioned we had access to quantum computers and we were not the only ones. Whatever research such a machine is applied towards is going to take great leaps forward. I have also mentioned my own moral integrity and a lack of any real firepower on the Pegasus Frame. This is no coincidence, as I am, at least in principle, a pacifist. Our task was to be the opposal of other organizations that had their own Research and Development labs. The most secretive of these were independent corporate projects, headed by monolithic business empires. Rivalries were intense and money could buy the support of local government figures. In that world, it was not so much a question of breaking the law as it was one of enforcing your own. Several big world powers had their own departments across the globe, speaking their mother tongues and structuring their departments in strict hierarchies. In certain urban areas you could go for days without hearing a single word not spoken in Japanese, Russian, German, Chinese or Korean. These foreign conglomorates would vie for control of business sectors to the point where the majority of the population in big cities were all knowingly or unknowingly on the payroll of one of these megacorps. Many of these companies were weapons manufactorers and supplied the army with cutting edge smartguns and even biological warfare. Our own company was similar to these but founded on different principles. Where we had built a suit of armor and kept the weapons technology to the level of smallarms weaponry, rivaling companies were gearing up for warfare. One of these were in the process of testing teleportation devices. Already one city had been targeted by a warhead that had mysteriously appeared out of thin air. While the media were suppressing the details of the strike, the world was still on the verge of panic. Corporate espionage had yielded information on the location of the only known working device that could have punched a whole in space to deliver the attack.

Board of Directors meeting earlier that week - Location classified

"Has the new prototype been tested yet?" the question hung in the air, the atmosphere in the room stifling. At the head of a long glass table, the CEO sat looking at the lead developer who cleared his throat nervously.

"Well not as such, no..."

"A few controlled lab tests have been made and we believe the suit is ready," a smooth voice cut in besides him. He leveled a glare at his assistent that went ignored as the CEO pressed on.

"And the pilot? Is he up to the job?" the thickset man was looking to the assistent now, his face creased with worry lines.

"Considering that the onboard AI was molded by replicating his neural structure, yes I think he is the only one qualified to pilot the thing," the slender, much younger looking assistent went on, weathering another glare from his senior.

"Have the suit and pilot prepped in 72 hours," the CEO went on. The lead developer could not help but voice his concern.

"But surely we need more-"

"You read the headlines this morning, yes?" a voice cut in from across the table. Helplessly, the increasingly nervous lead developer turned to look at the speaker.

"The delivery device on the bombing is a cover-up," the sleek haired, smooth voiced man went on. He had an ageless face, grafted for cameras. He went on, answering the unspoken question written on the lead developer's face. "To put it simply, there was no delivery device. The warhead appeared from thin air as far as we can tell-" the room then erupted into heated conversation, several voices speaking over one another.

"But teleportation technology is just a myth!"

"Did you check the surveilance-"

"- have no indication that any such thing was possible."

"Negative read-outs on road traffic-"

Finally the CEO cut through the babble. "Silence!" he looked over each of the increasingly irrate board members. "It appears teleportation is now a reality. An informant has reached out to us and brought sensitive information to us. The warhead did appear without a delivery device and our source at a suspected research site indicated that power-consumption spiked moments before detonation. Such technology must not be allowed to exist. I want the AI deployed to collect as much data as possible before destroying that device."

The night of the assault

The Pegasus Frame is fully equipped to handle a drop from the upper atmosphere. Possessing a radar and energy signature no greater than that of an eagle, such a jump was planned to drop me into the remote and hidden research site. The horrid paintjob did actually match the blue color of the sky, not that I was counting on that to help me much.

With virtually zero air resistance for the first part of the drop, my HUD and onboard A.I. - I named him SAM (Simulated Artificial Mind - he even got the joke) - both insisted that I broke the sound barrier early. For the greater part of the drop we were going somewhere around Mach II. As we descended into the atmosphere, the wings and tail did actually help, along with the rest of the suit, to reduce drag. The aerodynamic design left the helmet elongated to look like something out of Alien. With my body angled in a straight dive and my head tilted back, I cut through the air like a needle. SAM used only a fraction of the wing- and tail membranes to control my steering.

As I neared the target enemy base, heavily fortified with anti-aircraft misiles, drones and human soldiers, I should remind you that I am a pacifist in principle, but the reality goes a bit beyond that, sadly. I have combat training to the point of mastering several forms of martial arts and my tail as mentioned, came with a bayonet. I also have firearms training and with an onboard A.I. with limited control of a suit laced with artificial muscle fiber, and a HUD with a crosshair linked up to a smartgun, my accuracy is downright creepy. I have a small bullpup configuration automatic rifle (that's where the mag is situated behind the grip, diminishing recoil and shortening the weapon) strapped to my thigh. It features two barrels, one slender topside barrel for live ammo and the other, slightly thicker barrel capable of firing pellets of shockabsorbant gel (we call them gel rounds). In short, I can kill or cripple you in a staggering number of ways, up close or as far as a mile away on a clear day. Sadly the gel rounds aren't that aerodynamic so only live ammo will have a chance of scoring at hit long range.

I made it surprisingly far, already skimming over their rooftops by the time the first sharpshooters started scoring hits. The armor soaked it up beatifully. It can even sustain multiple headshots, though I do not recommend relying on that for protection.

The enhanced physical strength of the suit's artificial muscle helped a great deal, allowing me to kick down several reinforced doors and even kick holes through thin walls to get to where SAM insisted their power consumption was off the charts. In other words, the teleportation device was still live. I'm sorry to say, this is where the memories start to break up...

SAM in conjunction with the reality filter both supply excellent psychological trauma relief, even blocking a few forms of physical stimuli, like pain. They monitor my mental and physical health at all times, ensuring that I don't succumb to fear or pain, and they keep my agression in line, allowing me to conserve ammo and only return fire when I'm sure to get a hit. That coupled with my reluctance to kill should have made an excellent case why I wouldn't go haywire, but... and there is always a but...

The same system also boosts my immune system and more importantly, adrenaline and hormones. SAM to this date has not expressed any difficulty with watching humans suffer as they die. He feels sufficiently removed from them, a different species and the machine intellect that makes up his conscience is both superior and inferior to humans in several ways. With immeasurably big databanks concerning human psychology and anatomy, he makes an effective soldier in his own right and in the event of me suffering a blackout, he takes full control of the suit, puppeteering my body. He knows however that for optimal performance, he has to get around the reality filter and 'persuade' me to take his analytical approach to things, unburdened by conscience. It's all set up very neatly so that I am absolved of the most heineous elements of the crime, retaining my own moral beliefs before and after activating what he calls Optimized Combat Performance. Basically, I snap. I go all-out, utilizing every aspect of my transhuman body to carve a sheer path of destruction straight through whatever hell I've landed myself in. Afterwards the reality filter kicks back in and my brain shuts down, blocking out certain gruesome details and I'm left remembering fragments of the events as I recover.

Why did I let them do this to me again...? Oh right, teleporting nukes. The world makes so much more sense now, thank you...

So we're coming up to the point where I fail to accurately describe what took place, but I know I reached the teleportation unit (I remember a circular configuration of black monoliths and a bright light) and presumably it activated one last time before I was able to detonate a few satchels of plastic explosives. It still boggles my mind that I remote-detonate bombs with my mind. Yeah, the DNI allows me to use wireless interface. I used it for browsing the web, too.

Well, finally we begin to reach the part many of you have been waiting for. Sorry for taking a while getting there, I'm not a brony, okay? Besides, if what I've supplied so far has failed to leave you with a big build-up, then clearly you're not all that into sci-fi, not that I blame you. But yes, I did wake up exactly where you think I did.

Equestria... I could tell right away because of the upside-down brightly colored talking head of a pony outlined against the trees filled with cute little fuzzy animals as I lay on my back, rediscovering the concept of pain.

...

Fuck...