Chapters
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Whenever Lucky needed to relax, she went to the beach. It was easy now that she could fly, and she remembered the way.That was where the message found her—on her back in the sand with her computation surface beside her. She could ignore the steady hum of security drones as they buzzed through the jungle, but she couldn’t ignore the incessant beeping of the ‘new message’ notification on her tablet.Lucky’s mind had been drifting. Right then she wondered what attending Celestia’s school might’ve…-
515.2 K •
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Lightning Dust stared down at something she had no words to describe. Such experiences had been a near-daily occurrence during her first days in Othar. Yet over time, she had felt as though she were getting to know its ponies. Their strange customs and constant clumsiness didn’t make them all that unusual, really.Yet this—this was like something out of those stories of the changeling invasion, only in reverse. Hundreds, maybe thousands of drawers full of half-formed ponies, all just a few floors down…
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515.2 K •
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Olivia flexed her limbs one at a time, feeling the slight sluggishness of the exoskeleton. As she planned this mission, Olivia had started out in despair, fearing that she would have to go into danger with no more protection than her skin.But then she’d found this design in the computer, as though the hands of God had put it there. It had taken the Forerunner pointing it out for her to even see it—all this time she’d been waiting for military hardware, and it had been sitting in the system. All she…
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515.2 K •
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Olivia wandered through the cavernous tunnels. She hadn’t been walking for very long, really, just a few minutes. There was still blood on her armor, and one of her legs jerked and twitched whenever she put weight on it. Her disguise was in shambles, and unfortunately the nature of her exoskeleton meant that she couldn’t remove it without help. There were horror stories in the ISMU about soldiers who had died wearing suits like this, unable to get out of them to see to their basic needs once power…
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515.2 K •
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Act 3Despite the massive proportions of the Cyclops, it had very few big rooms. The observation deck was the largest, and even it would have a hard time fitting twenty people. That was where they went, with Olivia’s brute squad explaining nothing and practically dragging Melody along with the rest of their team.“I don’t understand,” Deadlight was saying, as they made their way into the lounge. “The best parts of the Caravan festival happen at night! We shouldn’t leave now.”They stumbled into…
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515.2 K •
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Lucky Break realized they must be going down again as the Reikon began rocking gently from one side to the other, probably dealing with low-altitude turbulence. She sat up, blinking away the tiredness of sleep. However long she had been resting, it didn’t feel like nearly long enough. Lightning Dust was still curled up on the ground against the seats. Across the plane, Martin rested alone.Nothing at all wrong with that from a human point of view. But Lucky had spent long enough with ponies that it…
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515.2 K •
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I always did my work out on the plateau. It didn’t matter that the major considered it a security risk, didn’t matter that she actively complained loudly to me whenever I got back. Dr. Nolan was in charge, not her. Dr. Nolan didn’t care where I worked, so long as I worked.I watched the rain on the distant horizon, wishing, calling out to it. As though I could bring it here through a force of will. I picked one of the dozen computation surfaces from around me—most of them were just left out here at…
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515.2 K •
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The screen went black.“That was it,” Forerunner said. “Dr. James Irwin Generation Two tried to treat his injuries, but you know better than most his medical training wasn’t sufficient for an intestinal wound. Without robotic assistance, he passed away a day later. His final instructions were a single command.”Again the recording, though only audio this time. Lucky shivered as she heard her old human voice one last time, shaking with agony. “I order you, Forerunner… don’t… make another…
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515.2 K •
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It might be the last meeting of Lucky’s civilization.This time, it wasn’t the major leading them—there were no higher authority figures for her to go begging to. The success or failure of this entire mission rested squarely on her shoulders.They used the same conference room they had before, where Olivia had lied to them about their mission to Dragon’s Folly. The same gathering was here now—every soldier, every native pony, everyone still alive.Lei made them some refreshments—muffins this time,…
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515.2 K •
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Melody felt useless.This wasn’t the first time—feeling useless had been the basic state of her existence since her first breath in her new body. She felt more useless than usual, this time.They had named the massive zeppelin the Speed of Thought, after nothing Melody could guess at. Its sleek shape still would’ve dwarfed the Cyclops, were it not fading into the sunrise. Melody wasn’t the only pony up here on the tarmac—the other members of Othar’s “human” population were here to see off the…
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515.2 K •
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