Reaching for the Sky

Yes, life in Ponyville starts early and it's loud. The crow of the rooster was what woke me, and within seconds that sound had kickstarted life all over town. The citizens seemed to have all but forgotten me as they set about their daily tasks, pausing to regard me with curiousity and suspicion, but it only took one mention of Zecora's name by the town librarian, Twilight Sparkle, in order to silence any speculations that I might be evil. I don't know what was up with that story, but I imagine I wasn't the first outsider to be greeted by their little community, and if anypony seemed to have their head screwed on right, it was Twilight. She'd apparantly set them straight when the whole town had panicked at the sight of a local Zebra from the edge of the Everfree Forest. That was another topic of amusement, as Rainbow Dash had tried to frighten me by squatting low to the ground, even doing an adorable doglike growl as she told me: "Everypony who ever went in... has... never... come... BACK!" at which point one pony really did faint, but I just sat bolt upright, staring, incredulous before I finally collapsed in loud guffaws.

The Pegasus stubbornly waited until I was done lauging before she went on the explain why this place was so creepy. "The animals fend for themselves, the plants grow and the clouds move all on their own!" Several other ponies chanted the last bit together and they all stared at me, fully expecting me to perceive the gravity of the situation. I just lauged until it hurt and tears streamed from my eyes. SAM sat unmoving, watching the entire spectacle, probably documenting every detail to be kept in his databanks.

Luckily none of the ponies were too offended by my laughter. They were all used to it and I'd seen Rainbow Dash collapse in similar fits of laughter at the expense of other ponies, but it never seemed malicious. I'm sure Pinkie Pie could tell me a good story about laughter. Yes, I'd brushed up on enough lore to identify the Mane 6. I'm turning into a regular brony already. Of course, speaking to them in the flesh makes it somewhat easier to accept their existence.

It was by this time that my bodily functions finally caught up with me. My stomach gave a low rumble, making a few ponies give me pensive stares. Right, the incissors. Yes, the carnivore must feast. I sighed and decided to make my way to the town market. By this time my injuries were no longer hindering me, though it would take a few days before I could perform any feats of athletisism. Arriving at the brightly painted market stalls and listening to the boisterous ponies speaking in their melodic tongue, bargaining like old european merchants was quite a sight. They exchanged golden coins called Bits in return for goods and services, apparantly managing an economy much like ours. The main sellers were vegetables and yes, AJ had her apple booth set up and no, Applebloom wasn't trying to get her apple salespony Cutie Mark at this time. I'm sure she was out crusading with her friends.

"Over 'ere, stranger!" Applejack's southern drawl cut through the babble, attracting my attention. I stepped closer to the stall, still wearing just my flightsuit, having had the decency to zip up the top. Her big, green eyes peered up at me, once again briefly taken by surprise by my height. The closest anypony could compare me against was a Minotaur who had once held an assertiveness seminar in town. With that in mind, I bent to one knee, smiling at her. If she had any problems with my teeth, she didn't let it show and I wouldn't have pecked her for a good liar, so I was pretty sure we got along.

"Quite an assortment of apple foods," I remarked, looking over the selection of merchandise, recognising almost every dish as something commonly eaten in the south states, and a few items that were not familiar to me. It didn't take much more encouragement than that to make her rattle off her famous, long-winded introduction of every single product she sold and I politely sat through the whole ordeal, trying not to betray my true amusement. She was adorable when she talked about her trade. She was also the strongest pony I'd ever seen next to Big Mac, and him being her blood relative certainly didn't help soothe my fears of what either of them could do to me if I ever did cross a line with the kind hearted apple farmer.

She did insist that I sample a few dishes even when I could offer no payment. I sat back with a nice apple pie and a few candied apples. Sinking my teeth into the meal, I realised I was ravenous. AJ stared with growing wonderment, gradually pushing her stetson back further and further on her head as her eyes grew bigger the more I ate, until finally I was down to licking my fingers clean, grinning sheepishly and wiping my mouth.

Vegetarianism works well in principle and I can get behind that line of thinking, especially here in a world where the cows talk, but my body isn't cut out for the diet. Our brains consume something like a full 30% of all the energy we extract from foods, and my brain does a lot of heavy lifting ever since I had the DNI installed. Add to that the nanite hives living in my body, further speeding my metabolism and you have a body that can only truly be sustained on a high-protein diet. But AJ's apples sure hit the spot that morning and I was able to put off the problem of finding enough protein for later.

When I later found out that the ponies eat eggs and potatoes, even potato chips and other strictly human dessert items, I was relieved. With eggs and baked goods, I could get plenty of protein without ever harming anything that talks. Trust me, you don't want your dinner's relatives blaming you, you really don't.

It was like that for the first few days. I was able to sustain myself off of the kindness of the locals who would offer me a staggering variety of delicacies, all eager to see what would make my tastebuds sing. I sure wasn't complaining and by the third day, I had tasted just about every organic food that never spoke a word in protest. By this time SAM had accumulated a vast archive of knowledge on their culture and I was picking up the language needing his translations less and less with each passing day. If anypony found my accent laughable, they were gracious enough to spare my feelings. It turns out Equestrian, in spite of being unlike any language I've ever seen or heard spoken before, is surprisingly logical and straight-forward. I picked it up quicker than I would have managed chinese or other similarly complex languages. With SAM's help of course, I picked up pretty much everything in a matter of weeks rather than months and years.

It was at this time I had begun to formulate a plan to ensure my survival in this society. Everytime I had neared the outskirts of town, the Everfree had stood before me, no more ominous than any other forest I'd set foot in, but I was warned off by everypony who caught me looking. They each cautioned me that dangerous beasts lurked in those woods and the animals ate each other to survive. They spoke of this natural selection as if it were ghastly and unfamiliar to them, but the more I heard, the more that place started to sound like home. Like opportunity.

As you can imagine, I'm a fairly driven individual, willing to set aside virtually all personal safety concerns in favor of obtaining something worthwhile. I allowed them to cut into my brain to give me the DNI, I allowed them to pump my body full of nano robots, I created an Artificial Intelligence and used my DNI to merge my thoughts with it, trusting in the reality filter to keep our identities seperate. So when I see opportunity and the only danger in seeking it is to myself, there is no hesitation.

As night fell on the third day, I stood on the path leading to the Everfree and SAM's Pegasus Frame slinked up behind me, having read my thoughts. By unspoken agreement, the machine intelligence commanded the Pegasus Frame to unfold into its full biped nature, splitting the chest guard down the middle, moving behind me to envelop me as the leggings and sleeves similarly opened to pull in my limbs. Pushing my feet into the extended leggings so my heels rested paralel to the raised heels on the equine leg, my feet were held in something similar to a boot on the inside while the big 'hoof' extended a good 18 inches beyond my toes. Growing a good foot in height, feeling the mask slide into place around my head, I felt comforted by the suit hooking up with my DNI, once again giving me the sensation of having more than just four limbs. These new limbs felt as natural to me as any other part of me and the reality filter ensured that I would not suffer any mental duress from moving like this even for days at a time. As always, SAM was supporting me in the mental juggling of the many limbs and just as I was ready to take off, sprinting at speeds to rival those of a race horse (the irony is that such speed did match most atheletic ponies on the ground), I felt a presence behind me.

My wings were still folded behind me, but my tail was swaying to and fro, the bayonet occasionally catching the moonlight in a silvery shimmer. Curiously, the weapon had not frightened any of the ponies, and I guess if they weren't intimidated by Spike's or Gilda's claws, then my little tail blade shouldn't be anything to fret over.

Turning slowly to regard the pony who had come out to defy the night and stare at my retreating back, I saw that it was Fluttershy. We stood there and for a moment, neither of us said anything.

"Be safe in there," was all she spoke when she finally did dare to break the growing silence.

I nodded and gave her a thumbs up, which just made her frown adorably in confusion. I settled for a wave instead, which she returned eagerly, since the gesture required no fingers. With nothing further to say, I turned and sprinted into the Everfree forest, engaging a multitude of different visual spectrums on my HUD, settling on infrared in the end as that seemed to serve me best in the dark woods.

...

Equestria is a treasure trove! Suddenly I was thankful for SAM's silent speculation over the first three days, as he had been learning all that he could about precious minerals, gems and herbs that grew in the surrounding area. I swear, the gems are already cut, just sitting there in the ground! Who does that? Is there somepony with a treasure map Cutie Mark who partners up with another pony with a gem cutting Cutie Mark and then they set out, littering the Equestrian landscape with enough treasure to make this feel like an MMO?

Needless to say, I found wealth enough to sustain a living and more than repay everypony for their initial kindness. Of wild animals, most were too intimidated by my synthetic outer shell and the almost inaudible buzz and whirr of the powerful servo engines and artificial muscles that powered the Pegasus Frame. On the one occasion where a Manticore did attack me, I was immediately struck by the similarity between us.

Wings? Check.
Prehensile tail with a blade? Check.
Anthropomorphic hindlegs walking on raised heels? Check.
It even one-upped me on claws and razor teeth.

But it didn't have my armor and its claws raked uselessly with the keening sound of nails-on-blackboard as it tried to overpower me and rend me to pieces. All it took was the act of bracing my back against a solid tree trunk, letting the beast think it had cornered me, and as it leaned into me, I raised one hydraulic hind leg and delivered a thrust kick, extending my cybernetic hoof with an explosive piston-like release of powerful hydraulics, to send that beast flying end over end. The recoil slammed me against the tree trunk, leaving a deep impression of cracked bark. Somewhere in the darkness, the Manticore was howling with fright and agony as it slinked off in search of easier prey.

A pity you didn't kill it. Regardless, we don't have a fully staffed medlab for the autopsy, SAM's monotonous voice droned in my inner ear. Yup, that guy still didn't have much love lost for the common critter or man. I ignored his remark, knowing it to be half-jest. I was too busy crossreferencing everything I saw against my new library of Equestrian treasure.

By the time I returned the following morning, I was in the air, soaring through the skies like a bird. Albeit a bird with a 40-foot wingspan, but a bird none the less. The long, prehensile tail was unfolded in its characteristic V-shape, twisting and arching, fully extended beyond my feet. The townsponies all gathered and stared slack-jawed. Rainbow Dash jumped off her napping cloud and zoomed towards me. Yes, she trails a rainbow behind her even in this version of Equestria. I don't know how she does it, she just does. She's also much faster than me. My speed is limited by the laws of physics, something the Equestrians treat with such disdain they don't even know how severely they violate it on a daily basis. So, with her miniscule wings which should not be able to generate enough lift, even if they were to become stuck in 'hummingbee' mode, she zipped back and forth, circling me several times and she even found time to make funny faces, admiring her reflexion in the solar panels on my wings when I was gliding. We exchanged witty banter in the air and I even unfolded my visor to stick out my tongue at her, momentarily managing to make her look queasy with the way my 'face' split down the middle and unfolded. She recovered quickly though and from that point on, it became a contest in childish behaviour. Again, I was shocked by how human their faces look, especially when they animate with emotion. I think Dash won the funny faces contest. I can't lick my own nose from that many different angles.

Breaking off the little duel, I realised we'd been lazily circling Ponyville, attracting the attention of practically everypony. Just then, Dash noticed the claw marks that had peeled away the skyblue paint in long, jagged lines exposing the black chrome underneath. I chose that moment to make my descent, not eager to share tales of violence with the brash Pegasus, even if she did claim violent ancestory.

I swooped down and soared just over the rooftops of several cottages until I reached Mane Street, which cut through the centre of town. Luckily, most of the stalls were not set up yet, so the street was almost broad enough to allow for even my wingspan. As I touched down with my hooves, still going at a high velocity, the first ponies became frightened and dove for cover even though I wasn't angled anywhere near their chosen hiding place. The shockabsorbing hooves made sparks and loud keening noises against the cobblestones as I skipped across Manestreet, decelerating with each skip. Once, twice, thrice and that time I stayed grounded, already collapsing my wings, legs braced to use all the joints to absorb the impact, my body hunched low to keep my centre of gravity lowered, the balance tail swaying to and fro, adjusting my course. Finally in a shower of sparks and keening noises of steel against cobblestone, I ground to a halt, straightening my posture just as the skeletal wing frames had folded in half for the third time, sliding into place on my back.

The streets erupted with cheers as everypony finally got to see my wings in action, even if a few of them looked like the noise levels were bothering them. Honestly, if you don't like noise, move out of Ponyville. I am not the loudest thing here. Overall though, I was greeted with great enthusiasm and the Pegasi felt instantly more connected to me, having seen my feats of flight.

Slung from my waist were several satchels, or saddlebags, lent to me by Rarity with a promise of a fine gemstone in return. Really, I was the one who had kept insisting on the payment, and when I'd shown her how my onboard computer system could scan for minerals in the ground just like her magic horn, she'd been delighted, letting out one of her characteristic, ladylike squeels of delight and bouncing in place before composing herself and breezily agreeing that yes, one gemstone should suffice in return for the honor of wearing her finest accessories.

So naturally, Caroussel Boutique was my first stop. I still walked upraised on my equine legs and wore the visor, looking sufficiently ponyfied that even those few ponies who had been put off by my lack of fur and comparatively flat face, were now approaching me with ease, unintimidated even by the increased height difference. They must be well used to dealing with things bigger than themselves.

Pushing open the door to the characteristic chiming of her bell hung over the doorframe, Rarity's voice gushed, "just a moment~!"

I bowed under the doorframe and entered. Surprisingly, most pony dwellings are built spaceous enough that even in the Pegasus Frame, I could tower at full height inside. I guess the ponies don't like low ceilings. Check the show, it's true. Massive dwellings as soon as you're on the inside. They like big, airy rooms with enough clearance to allow for the occasional Pegasus visitor.

Rarity's shop was littered with all kinds of tools and equipment, a bit low tech to a technophile such as myself, but then this whole world was comparatively low-tech. They've never needed industrialization to advance their culture, since they have magic. Still, the workspace had an artistic chaos to it that I recognize in my own work. You can't find anything when it's locked away in a chest.

The pristine white Unicorn cantered into the room with what I've come to recognize as a slightly seductive stride, but it was apparantly normal behaviour coming from Rarity. She paused when she saw me, noticing sooner than anypony else, the long claw markings across my arms, chestguard and lower back from the Manticore's attempted pin. She let out a frightened high-pitched noise that sounded too heartwrenching to be called a squeel. Rushing up to me, circling me and fretting over my apparant injuries, she suddenly looked furious.

"I cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected!" she exclaimed and before I could even protest, her horn shone brightly and engulfed me in its glow. I tensed, again expecting some weird sensation from being enveloped in Unicorn magic, but it never came. Instead, as the glow faded, I looked down and saw she'd touched up on the paintjob, only it wasn't bright skyblue anymore. It was bright white with dark purple edges.

The Unicorn looked me over with an almost possesive gleam in her eyes and I swallowed. This had better not become a thing, because honestly, I'm not sure I could handle Pinkie's color scheme. I sighed in defeat and decided to get down to business. I even thanked her for touching up on the paintjob, though I wasn't particularly inclined towards either color scheme. I produced a big, purple gem from one of the saddlebags and Rarity managed to clutch it to her chest in her forehooves, keeling over backwards. SAM must've seen this reaction from his freaky knowledge of the show as he took command of my long, serpentine tail, slinging it around the closest leg of her fainting couch, pulling it over to catch her in record time.

I just stood there agape for a few seconds, watching the pony gushing over her precious gemstone. I quietly retreated from the shop, turning my back only once the door was shut between us.

Right. Next stop, lodgings. I should have more than enough resources now to barter for a decent sized plot of land.

...

Plot really doesn't mean what most fans have been led to believe. Seriously, they already have a name for it. It's called a flank.

...

Right.

...

Ponies are weird.