Chapters
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Even through the walls, James could recognize the familiar sound of quadcopter rotors spinning somewhere nearby. She rose from where she'd been studying, ignoring her racing heart as she darted to the window, and scanned the sky with acute eyes. The quality of pony eyesight in daylight was one of the many wonders James had discovered since leaving her confines of the basement, and it was an ability that came even more naturally than flight. There was no need to run outside and get the attention of the…-
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James twitched her wings one after another, shaking them against her side. But the irritation only got worse. She whimpered, and this time she was loud enough that Lightning Dust heard her. The pony hovered in the air over their house, pushing bits of cloud in her mouth. This was apparently a weekly process for ponies who lived in cloud-houses, replacing bits that had drifted away and generally giving the structure attention. But how could she question her when the results were obviously successful.…
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Lucky stared down at her hooves. “You want… me to… true things? Not lies?”“That’s what I want,” Dust said. “Whatever you tell me, I’ll listen. Doesn’t mean I’ll believe you, if it’s a pile of broken feathers and cloudless skies, but I’ll listen.” Dust was certain she’d be able to tell an honest explanation from an invention, even from a pony who could barely speak the language. She was too young to be a good liar.“Okay.” Lucky leaned back for a second, her face deep in…
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Many miles away, the Forerunner Probe was hard at work. The standard living quarters it had fabricated would not suffice for the needs of this next team, given every previous failure. But information it had gained from its last attempt, along with significant increases in the availability of resources as its infrastructure grew meant it had the power to be more ambitious.In the central hall, five biofabricators still hummed. Their occupants were far from completely formed, though much of the skeletal…
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James jerked awake with a violent start, looking up and around and blinking away the bleariness of sleep. “啊! 我醒了!” she exclaimed, pushing away from whatever had just touched her. Then her vision cleared, and she saw who was looming over her. It was Lightning Dust, her rescuer, looking concerned. She felt herself relax immediately.The pony reached down, gently prying the pages of the book away from her face, and pushing it out of the way. She said some words, most of which James couldn’t make…
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“You want to what?” Mayor Capital Ledger stared at her from across his desk, eyes widening with shock.“Exactly what it says.” Lightning Dust pushed the form a little closer to Ledger with one outstretched wing. “I’m applying to be a temporary foster parent. I know Stormshire has a pony in need.”“That’s…” Ledger glanced down at the form, flipping it over and reading over all the information she’d scribbled there. Lightning Dust had everything in order, she’d made sure of it.…
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Lightning Dust had planned to visit the hospital every few days, to make sure the ponies in charge didn’t find more ways to screw over the filly she’d rescued. At first she managed to keep this up, bringing small gifts of sweets to add a little variety to the filly’s hospital food diet. But less than a week in, wildfires far up north necessitated every available weatherpony (including her) to fly up with as much moisture as they could to stem the flames and protect Equestria’s countryside.It took…
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The next alien to open the door came in the evening. James recognized her for a nurse from the cart she was pushing.“I need to talk to someone in charge. And I need my things back. Can you return them to me?”The alien looked up from her cart, which James could now see had a metal tray of food resting on the top. "Mi bedaŭras, ĉevalidino, sed mi ne komprenas vin. Ĉu vi ne ŝatus iun manĝaĵon? Kreskantaj knabinoj kiel vi bezonas manĝaĵon."The nurse lifted the lid off her tray, showing it to…
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James slept uneasily, feeling as though she was constantly being watched. Occasionally she would wake, catching a brief glimpse of cloudy white rooms and hearing muttering voices. Everything hurt—one of her back legs so badly that she was certain it was broken. It was so much easier just to sleep.You have a mission, she could almost hear her old self saying, in that mature, deep voice. The voice of an astronaut who had trained his entire life to be an explorer, who had mastered the principles of…
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The wasteland continued as far as she could see.James had seen the maps, so she had a fair idea how long it would take to reach the alien settlement. Even so, knowing she had sixty kilometers to cross and walking that distance were two very different things.James was nowhere near as young as her body appeared. She had been fifty-three years old at the moment her training had finally been certified as complete and her Mindprint had been taken. Being changed so completely was therefore an extremely jarring…
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