In Space, We Don't Abandon Innocence

by David Silver

5 - Episode 2: Space Jam

Something beyond the reach of a sound wave was trembling. Beyond human hearing, it sent waves of compression through the nothingness and swept across space. Something picked up on that faint signal, that trembling of space itself. A single sensor on the ship flipped from a zero to a one.

It would have been quite easy to ignore it, writing it off more as a glitch than anything worth caring about.

Rainbow Dash was not the average pony, or sensor monitor.

Her eyes popped open as the change in readings registered on her database. She tilted her head to the side, considering the location and time it occurred. With a curious chirp, she twirled over her controls. She focused the sensors in the location that had been, straining as if cocking the ear of the ship. Another faint twinge rippled over the sensor array, striking several at once.

Rainbow grinned with triumph and quickly sent the report onwards to the human operator to decide on. "Another case, solved by the Dash!"

In the less digital world, the human operator hummed at the sudden report and flashing box on his screen. "Captain, we're picking up a curious reading. It's faint, but there's a pattern. It doesn't match any known source."

"Send it over." Captain Roger leaned forward, head on his clasped hands. "If it has a visual, send it to main screen."

"No visual." The operator tapped away. "It's audio."

"Play it," ordered Roger without a moment's hesitation.

Static rolled across the screen. The noise wasn't really a sound, but it could be approximated, and soon began to sound like someone beating a drum in a slow, sullen pace. An odd pause occurred in the signal as the pitch changed. "Got something." The man shook his head. "Playing the full signal."

A slow, steady noise rolled across the bridge. It sounded like two crystals being slowly struck together. "This isn't what it actually 'sounds' like, captain. It's space."

"And there is no sound in space, got it." Roger directed a finger at the readings. "But we have something making new vibrations of some kind that you're picking up?"

"Very faint, Sir, but yes. I have a heading." He sent that over for Roger to see.

Roger studied it for a moment. "Captain to Rainbow Dash. Do you know what that was?"

Rainbow appeared in her place at the helm. "No, sir, but it's super cool, and I've been tracking it since we first got it." She waved up at the readings, ear quivering at each noise. "We should check it out!"

Twilight appeared abruptly. "Rainbow. Roger can and will arrive at his own conclusions." She leaned towards Rainbow Dash. "Until then, try to control yourself."

Rainbow glared at Twilight. "Oh, sure, like I should listen to you, Miss Perfect!" She thrust her head in the air with a snort. She vanished, presumably back into the computer systems.

Twilight smiled sheepishly at Roger. "As I was saying, this is entirely your call. We stand ready to assist." She vanished just as quietly.

Roger hummed as he tapped away at his own console, bringing up more information on the source of the signal. He paused, as if frozen in thought. After a long moment, he lifted his head to address his crew. "While I'm sure some of you would rather we speed home as quickly as possible, our mission has not elapsed. We are to explore and investigate, and this is worth examination."

He gestured to the navigation officer. "Set a course. If we can arrive within five hours, do so. We're in the dark out here, and may as well pursue some adventure." The crew murmured their approval at that. The soft chatter seemed in agreement that they wanted to get home, but also wanted to bring home more than tale of their abrupt shove away from home to bring with them.

Roger nodded to himself. "Also, set yellow alert. Let's keep our guard up." He smiled to himself. "While I don't expect it to be hostile, it's best to be safe about these things." He settled into his chair to watch the stars ahead.

Casey looked over her shoulder at Roger. "If we encounter another stargate, do we even consider daring to try activating it?"

"Maybe," answered Roger with a smile. "That could be key to getting home far faster than the years we're looking at right now. If this is a test by this aliens, finding and activating the other gate could very well be a passing grade."

He tapped a fist against his armrest. "One step at a time. Let's investigate this signal, see what it is, then go from there."

Twilight appeared briefly, nodding her head. "Removing audio." With a wave, she banished it. "I will continue monitoring it for any changes." She vanished just as quietly.

The ship turned towards its goal, continuing on its journey into the unknown.

---

Sunset approached the door with her hands clasped together as it slid open. "I'm already running, so forgive me for not saying my usual line, but hey!"

Susan's expression brightened. "I was hoping you'd be here."

Sunset rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Where else, exactly, would I be?"

Susan considered that with perhaps more gravity than the question deserved. "I'm not sure, but I have questions I feel only you could hope to answer." She made a motion as if handing a book back. "I finished the last one."

With a chime, the file was deleted from Susan's datapad. The book was successfully returned, insomuch as any digital file could be borrowed or returned.

Sunset smiled to herself and plopped down on the floor in front of Susan, crossing her legs. "Alright, I'll bite. What do you want to know?"

"The other day, I was reading that book." She waved at where the fake book exterior had been resting. "Twilight helped. I learned a lot, and got a million more questions to go with it. I know how ponies came, that's taught to basically everyone in school." She huffed, as if mildly offended it was implied she didn't know. "But you." She pointed at Sunset. "Were you part of the original set? I don't remember your name."

Sunset winked. "That's because I didn't have one back then." She spun up into a quick walk and twirl. "I've gone by many names since then, but now I'm just 'Sunset Shimmer'." She leaned back against an aisle of shelves, twiddling her fingers in her lap. "And I hadn't arrived yet. I came later. It's a complicated story."

Susan sank to sit in front of Sunset. "You have my complete attention."

"I got lucky, actually." Sunset settled back, brushing a stray lock of hair from her face. "Okay, well, sorta lucky." She grimaced briefly. "Alright, let's call it 'had some extra resources available'." She narrowed her brows down. "And that resource was time. I had lots of it. Twilight had fled her home, and I meant to find her. Jerk thought she could lose me just by skipping a few lightyears away! Ha! As if." She crossed her arms under her chest. "I found her, eventually."

"Found her?" Susan glanced aside, as if trying to work something out. "I thought you were living on Earth? Back then?"

Sunset made a flourish with one hand. "Well, not exactly." She laughed tensely. "I'm not human, even now."

Susan looked over the very-human looking Sunset. "Could have fooled me."

Sunset waved a finger. "That's my secret, thanks. Either way, I came later. That's also why I volunteered to join this digital experiment. I was already pretty used to hopping into the unknown, and it beat the alternative."

"The alternative?" Susan blinked, taking in a slow breath. "Wait, is this going to be something strange?"

"Probably." Sunset laughed at the absurdity of her own situation. "Then again, it's also pretty simple. If you go to the great ever-after, whatever it is, you stop being here." She tapped at the floor. "So I had a choice, to keep going, or hope for the best. I picked to keep going, so there are Sunsets all over the place. Good going, past me." She huffed with some indignance. "Still beats that alternative."

Susan furrowed her brows together. "You're talking about death. You don't want to die?"

"Yeah, that was that alternative." Sunset made a motion of drawing a line in the air. "The big finale." Her eyes wandered over Susan. "What, you looking forward to it?"

"No!" Susan drew up at that. "Who is? Um." She shuffled in place. "All the ponies are living ponies? Used to be living ponies?"

"No! No..." Sunset crossed a hand over her neck. "That's what most people assume, but most people don't bother asking me. They ask, if they ask anyone, they ask one of the others, or Twilight, who just nod and move on to other topics."

Susan put a finger to her chin. "Are you not the same Sunset Shimmer, or all the same Sunset Shimmer, or something different?"

Sunset closed her eyes and grimaced. "That's a tricky question. I'm as much Sunset Shimmer as there is these days. I feel like Sunset, and have all her memories. Good enough? Either way, not really what you're pecking for, I can tell." She poked Susan in the center of his chest. "The others started as memories. Only Twilight and her closest friends, and me, actually agreed to be digitized. The rest? All memories of Twilight. They were hollow and empty to start, but the longer they were alive and the more they had a chance to build a store of personality, the more 'alive' they became, in their own way. Don't rub that in, by the way. It'll make them upset."

"Why don't you tell anyone about this?" Susan reached over to tug at Sunset's ponytail. "That would settle a lot of people's questions."

Sunset nodded with an intent smile. "Most aren't asking those questions. Susan, don't assume everyone's thinking like you do." She swatted the next attempt to grab at her hair. "And cut that out. Anyway! I think that answers the question you had. Any others?"

Susan glared at her. "I've got a few." She brushed a hand over her arm. "If I asked something silly, like 'What's your favorite food', would you even have an answer?"

Sunset stood up with a laugh. "Now you're testing me. Do you have any real questions or are you hoping I don't vanish and turn off on you?"

"Of course I want you to stick around!" Susan shot back. "Just like how all the ponies want to stick around! That's why we brought them on board. For you guys to stick around." She stood up to be closer to eye level with Sunset. "You seem like a nice woman. I want to get to know you."

Sunset held her hands up, slightly surprised by the sudden sincerity. "Alright, you've got me." She took a step back and folded her arms under her chest. "Then yes, I would have an answer. I have favorite things, and least favorite things." She stepped in place. "For one, I like having two legs and nice shoes. Having hooves? Meh. If I had it my way, I'd never have hooves, but the main computer, that's Twilight, imposes pony forms on all programs. I just managed to carve out a little island of safety in this library."

Susan watched with great interest as Sunset spoke, eyes widening. "Really?" She poked at the carpet. "What's wrong with being a pony?"

"Aside from having hooves, no fingers, and a tail you can't rid of?" Sunset chuckled softly. "Oh, and the itches. Ponies can itch like a human doesn't even know. You'd think being digital avoids that. You'd be wrong." She turned back to her collection of books. "So, looking for any other books?"

Author's Note:

Come on and slam, and welcome to the jam!
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Comments

[dlambchic]

If the title is a clue, that sound is a dribbling basketball. I hope there is a Bug's Bunny.
Opps, sorry, wrong space jam.

Sunset goes deep, escape from digital pony land.

[Okie Brony]

I get strong Kathryn Janeway vibes from the captain in this chapter. Sunset answered most of the questions that I had about the ponies.

Another nice chapter.

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

Interesting that this story functions as a sequel to Universal Language, and continues the philosophical thoughts about infinitely digitally cloning the ponies.

Sunset has proven herself quite unique, both in her general preference for human-ness and her talkativeness.

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

Sunset closed her eyes and grimaced. "That's a tricky question. I'm as much Sunset Shimmer as there is these days. I feel like Sunset, and have all her memories. Good enough? Either way, not really what you're pecking for, I can tell." She poked Susan in the center of his chest. "The others started as memories. Only Twilight and her closest friends, and me, actually agreed to be digitized. The rest? All memories of Twilight. They were hallow and empty to start, but the longer they were alive and the more they had a chance to build a store of personality, the more 'alive' they became, in their own way. Don't rub that in, by the way. It'll make them upset."

Should be
They were hollow and empty

[David Silver]

11921991
Fixed!

[Booster Spice]

Robot computer itching? Floating point sensor quantisation mismatching?

Pinkie in the NANs?