Chapter One: Arrivals
“It’s closing time Blitzen. Ya know the drill, ya don’t have to go home but ya can’t stay here.” The gruff stallion tending the bar said to the mare at the end of it.

“Alright, I hear you. Just gimme one for the road and I’ll be out of your mane,” Blitzen replied.

“Ya know I can’t do that,” said the bartender.

“Stupid bucking laws. A mare ought to be able to get drunk at any hour of the night," she said, pushing her glass and the empty salt bowl back across the bar.

“Ya say the same thing every night Blitz. Doesn’t change a thing.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going. See you at the usual time tomorrow."

Blitzen took a moment to look at herself in the bar mirror. Her dark blue coat looked a bit ragged, her light blue mane more so. Her electric blue eyes were bloodshot and had a weary look to them.

Meh, good enough, not like I'm trying to pick anypony up at this hour anyway.

She walked out of the Salt Cove and onto the empty streets. As busy as the city could be, at 2 am, the only ones out were the guards and the few barflies like her that stayed till last call.

Despite her drunken state, she had no problem navigating the maze of streets in Fillydelphia, and soon she was near her home. Another turn and the duplex she lived in came into view. Blitzen squinted at the window to her living room, seeing a faint blue light coming from inside.

"The buck? Somepony burgling the place? Not like I've got anything worth stealing," she said to herself.

Cautiously she approached the front door, and with a quick kick from her forehoof, knocked it open.

Her jaw dropped open at the sight before her. A glowing blue pattern of gears and wires was emanating from a figure on her floor. Her living room floor had been changed to have a circle of some kind of blue crystal in the center of it, wiping out what had been there before.

Finally rid of that ugly rug. Pity about the coffee table though.

The figure on the floor tried to stand, and she saw that it clearly wasn't a pony. In fact she had just seen a picture of a similar form in the recent newspaper.

A human? But I thought they only lived in in Ponyville?

The human looked to be having trouble standing, and something was evidently happening to it, because as Blitzen stared she saw bits of wire and metal move on the human's skin. Then the human opened its eyes and Blitzen's world stopped.

There are moments in life that one knows will change everything. Blitzen had one when she woke up in the hospital and was told there was nothing the doctors could do to save her wings. Every night she tried with diminishing success to drink away the memory of the accident that brought her there.

Now looking into the glowing eyes of the human in her living room, she knew somehow that this was another such moment, though she couldn't tell if the change to come would be for good or ill. All she knew is that whatever she decided to do would mark the rest of her life.

"H-help me," came the voice of the strange glowing human. Her voice (it was a her, she decided) had a weird mechanical tone to it.

Blitzen stood stunned, her salt addled brain trying to process everything going through it. The human fell to the floor unconscious and the glow subsided, though some of the wires in her skin still had a faint luminescence.

So here was the point of decision. She could just let this go, get someone to take the human to the hospital and wash her hooves of the matter. Nopony would blame her for not wanting to get involved. After all, she didn't know anything about humans. But that would just be running away from things again. Just like she had run away from her life after the accident. And she felt a sickening certainty that if she ran from this, she'd keep running from life until she found her grave.

Her mind made up, she turned away from the human.

"I'll get help, just stay there. I'll be right back," she told the unconscious human.

A moment later she was knocking on the other door of the duplex.

"Blitzen, do you have any idea what time it is? This better be important or by Celestia I don't know what I'll do," said the dark gray unicorn that answered the door.

"I know it's late, Nightingale, but I need your help," Blitzen pleaded.

Nightingale sighed, "What is it?"

"You'll have to see it. Come on." Blitzen turned to go.

Another exasperated sigh and Nightingale stepped out and followed Blitzen.

Once on her side of the duplex, Blitzen threw open the door and stepped aside, taking a look at Nightingale so she could relish the stunned expression on the unicorn’s face.

"Th-thats one of those Humans, like in the papers! But I thought they were a Ponyville thing?" Nightingale said after a few seconds of shock.

"That's what I thought too. But here she is. I just need your help getting her to the hospital. Something seems to be wrong with her, and I can't carry her by myself." Blitzen told her neighbor.

"Well, I'm always glad to help. As I've told you several times before," Nightingale replied with a pointed look at Blitzen.

"Yeah, I know, no need to bust my chops over it, let's just get my friend here to the hospital before she gets any worse," Blitzen grumbled as she picked up her saddlebags and put the items that appeared with the human into them.

Nightingale nodded and her horn lit with orange light. A similar hued light appeared around the human lifting her body from the crystalline floor.

Matthew Brennan paced back and forth in the hallway, "She's a Borg. We have to put her down before she wakes up. One bolt right between the eyes. Quick and painless.”

Alex Roberts grimaced "I agree, she sure looks like a Borg, or one on the way to that end. But, I have a rebuttal made up of three words: Seven Of Nine."

Matt stopped pacing and thought for a moment, "... okay, maybe. But do we want to take that chance?"

"If we're lucky, the Enterprise is someplace close. I mean the original series or Next Gen, not the last-" Alex started to say as Emerald gave them both an unamused look.

"Gentlemen, if you're both quite finished. And Matthew, I will assume you're jesting in poor taste. Now let me see," Emerald said as he looked over the medical records, "They call themselves doctors, this is scant and paltry information at best. Well, when you want the job done right, eh?" He continued to scan the chart, one note pad making written notes, the other drawing very detailed diagrams. "By Luna! Machines implanted into a body for purposes of maintaining and/or enhancing functioning!” He was wide eyed as he continued to read. “Hm... this is not good. It would seem none of the implants can be safely removed. They are quite integrated into her system, and not just physically."

"I noticed that too, the field of magic around her runs through those implants. In fact it seems to be what's making them grow through her like that." Trace added. "It looks like some kind of magitek, but it's beyond anything I'm familiar with."

"I think the main concern should be what state her mind is in. If she's still human, we've got to help her. If she isn't..." Alex let that thought trail off, with a look to Matt.

"Until she wakes up, the state of her mind is a moot point. But I do believe her metamorphosis is near completion, perhaps that will rouse her. I think it might be best if we had her things with us, give her something familiar to focus on. We do want to try to make her comfortable if we're expecting to find out anything. Waking up restrained and surrounded by strangers is likely going to alarm her." With that, Emerald turned to go to the room the human's things had been taken to.

The first thing I noticed was light behind my eyelids. The second thing I noticed by its absence. I'd broken my knee as a child and even though long since healed, it still had a dull ache in the joint that had become a kind background noise I'd grown accustomed to, along with a couple other small aches and pains. But now they were gone. I felt better than I have in my life, and if it weren't for the memory of why that is I would have been happy. But I remembered all too well.

The third thing I noticed was another absence. Since I'd been tossed through the cosmos I'd had a sense, like a pressure somewhere behind my eyes that would give me an idea of when the next time I'd be tossed somewhere. It was gone. Whatever gods forsaken hell I was in, I'd likely spend the rest of my life here.

Deciding to get up, I turned my focus outward, and realized I was in a bed. And I had restraints on my arms and legs. And to make things more fun, someone has chained me to the bed. Wonderful... Given what I must have looked like, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised, but the rapid beating of my heart, and the sudden chill down my spine reminded me how much I hated being restrained. I knew I had to stay calm, try to be reasonable...

"Get me out of this!" I screamed as I open my eyes.

Quickly I took in details of where I was. It seemed I was in a hospital room with three men. They didn't look like government types. Old guy looked like some kind of hard case, but something in his eyes told me if I didn't look like a Borg I might have been able to pull the innocent girl act and get him on my side. The next one was younger, near the age I was when I was first tossed from world to world. His bearing and high tech armor just screamed soldier, and I've no doubt he'd use that gun if he thought I was a threat. The third one reminded me a bit of the elves I met on Krynn, especially with that long hair. He was wearing a long dark coat and had a pointed hat resting on a chair near him. I’d bet some kind of mage. Which told me nothing about where I was. I just hoped that since they didn’t look like doctors meant that I wasn’t the guest of honor at a vivisection. In an idle moment I realized I was gathering these impressions and processing them faster than I could before. As if being chained to a bed with roomful of strangers wasn’t bad enough, I couldn’t trust my own brain.

"That'll depend on the answers to a few questions ma'am," the old guy said.

I let out a heavy sigh and prepared to resort to my old standby, snarkiness.

I feel my throat tingling as I open my larynx to sound as deep voiced as possible and with a bad Austrian accent I said "I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle."

I grinned inwardly at the look of shock, and pondered what seemed to be recognition on the faces of two of the men. Could they actually have recognized the line? I'd been to alternate versions of Earth, but there were usually major differences, especially in popular culture. Time to experiment.

I tried my best monotone. "You will be assimilated. Resistance is Futile." More of that recognition. Though not from the elf. Hardly a surprise I supposed.

I finished with an even deeper voice, which caused my throat to feel like something was changing inside it. "We are your salvation through destruction. You exist because we allow it, you will end because we demand it." That was weird, I could hear my voice making that weird layered voice effect that I remembered from the original source of that quote. I knew I was supposed to have nifty awesome powers now, but I had no idea how I was doing this.

"If you're done joking around?" growled the armored guy. Spoilsport.

"I figured you guys were expecting me to say something like that. Figured I shouldn't disappoint. Now get me out of these damned restraints. I hate being tied up," I snarled.

"In good time. We're not going to hurt you, but we do need to be sure you're not a threat to us or our friends," said the elf. That sounded reasonable, but I wasn’t interested in reason.

"Screw that. In the name of Luna, Incarna of the Moon, I invoke her blessing, and redeem her boon." It seemed a bit wasteful to use Luna's gift so soon on arriving in a new world after holding on to it for so long, but I was really starting to lose it being restrained like that.

From my wrist came a flash of silver light, and light started to move around the room, swirling into a multicolored pattern and forming into the semblance of a human child with green skin and pink hair. She wore a red and white dress, patent leather buckle shoes, and had pink antennae poking out of her hair. Her eyes glowed with soft bluish silver light. I felt the blood drain from my face at the sight of her.

-'Spect appears-

"'Spect? What the? Luna's gift was you!?" Incoherence my old friend, how've you been?

"Yep yep yep! Miss Luna said I was supposed to help you when you called, Aren't you happy to see me?" the childlike spirit said, bouncing with every other word like a manic pixie.

Now the guys in the room seemed disturbed. The armored one put his hand his hand on his gun, the old guy was fingering a knife handle, and the elf had a brow raised as though mildly surprised. Still at this point none of them were as dangerous as what I'd summoned.

"The last time I saw you, you were trying to crush me with a giant hammer!" I accused.

"Only because I ran out of marshmallows for the mallow cannon. And besides, you were trying to break into Miss Luna's facility without authorization," she replied innocently.

"I had authorization. I showed it to you. Twice. You said it looked good." In my defense, 'Spect scares the crap out of me, so three armed men in the room had become an afterthought.

"Looked good isn't the same as being good. Besides I said I was sorry. And Miss Luna said we're friends now, so shouldn't you let that little mistake go?" 'Spect said while trying to look like an angelic green cherub.

“Argh, whatever, just get me out of these restraints,” I demanded.

‘Spect reached behind herself and pulled out a running chainsaw.

“Not with that!” I cried in alarm.

She put the chainsaw back from wherever she got it from. “Want me to try some C-4?”

“No!” I shot a pleading look at the soldier. “I’ve changed my mind. Just shoot me, please.”

“I wouldn’t recommend that,” ‘Spect said as she reached behind herself again. “Miss Luna said if anyone tries to hurt you I’m supposed to eliminate them with extreme prejudice.” She pulled out a hammer more massive than her own childlike form. Along the side of the hammer's head the words ‘Extreme Prejudice’ were written in multicolored crayon.

The guy in the armor pulled out his gun and seemed to be trying to decide whether to point it at 'Spect or me.

I had to say something before somebody got squashed or shot. “Shining Lunar Aspect! Put that away right now. Look, just go find Luna and tell her what’s going on. She’ll get me out of this.”

‘Spect and her hammer vanished with a popping sound and I looked at my captors with a small sigh of relief. “That should keep her busy for a while since Luna’s in a different universe."

The three men look at each other, a small hint of worry evident. The younger man said, with trepidation, "You don't suppose..."

The older man answered with confidence, "Don't worry. The Princess is a grade A badass. She can take care of herself." A look of worry returned as soon as he faced away from the younger man.

"I suppose I'm stuck till she gets back, so... introductions? I'm Eleanor. Eleanor Asher, of Earth. Please don't kill me." Oh yes, this situation is going ever so well, now I'm begging for my life.

"We're not going to kill you. We're a bit more concerned about it being the other way around. From your little joke earlier, I gather you know what you look like," the old guy said.

"I know what Alchemical Exalted tend to look like, and I can see enough even with the blanket to tell I look like some kind of cyborg. I'm guessing I was still changing when I was brought here, which must have looked really bad. Look, I'm sorry, I just got betrayed by people I trusted, and had this done to me, and I let my mouth run away with me," I said sheepishly.

"It's ok ma'am, I've been known to let my mouth do the same. Now, you were wanting introductions. My name's Alex Roberts. I'm also known as one of Luna's Paladins of Redemption," Replied Alex. I was a bit confused. The Luna I knew had little interest in redemption. Maybe this world had a Luna too?

"I'm Matt," the soldier said gruffly as he holstered his gun.

"And I am Trace Reinhart. And perhaps we should start our questions with some more details about how you came by such... modifications?" the elf asked.

I let out a sigh. "Long story. Short version is, I started a damn war, then when time came for me to leave, my own side decided to stab me in the back and use me as a guinea pig. Lucky for me the thing worked. You'd have liked me a lot less if I turned into one of the biomech monstrosities that are the usual result of the process." I shuddered, remembering the one failed Alchemical I saw. I'd pray for a bullet if that were me.

“Thinking of my arrival here, there was someone, a woman dressed in blue with bright blue hair. I asked her for help. Is she ok? I wouldn’t want her to be in trouble because of me,” I said after a flash of memory.

“A woman?" Matt said looking puzzled for a moment. "Oh, yeah she’s just sleeping in the waiting room.”

“That’s good, I suppose. I just...” Why was I concerned about her? I mean I just saw a glimpse of her when I arrived, but she was somehow stuck in my mind.

Just then my train of thought derailed as the door opened, and in flew the most colorful thing I'd seen so far. And I realized what had been ticking at the back of my mind about the room, that even for a hospital room, it was too clean and bright. And now I knew why. This universe was one that echoed an animated program back home. I'd been in a few animated universes, and I recognized the look. Thankfully the new arrival at least reassured me this one wasn't one of the freaky ones with the tentacle monsters. Meanwhile I'd zoned out and my mouth took over again...

"Rainbow Dash!" I squeed.

"Are you bucking kidding me?" The rainbow maned pegasus asked, giving an annoyed look at Alex. "Has every human from your world watched that stupid creepy show?"

"Rainbow Dash," I repeated in a darker tone as a realization hit me. "Rainbow. Dash. Rain. Bow. Dash."

"Uh, is there something wrong with her? She's starting to creep me out," the pegasus said, backing away from me.

"Here I am, chained to a bed with three creeps interrogating me, and I'm thinking we're waiting for the chief torturer to come, or some doctor to vivisect me, and I've been in Equestria this whole damn time??" I snarled.

I'd like to thank Techogre both for his wonderful story and the encouragement to make my own story. And the wonderful friends I've met in the memverse group who've helped with editing, suggestions, and encouragement. (and delightful helpings of random insanity. :) )
Tosety, Discord's Advocate, KMCA, Genosaber, and Warpd: Thank you so much for all the help you've been!

Alex Roberts is from The Memoirs of a Reality Jumper by Techogre
Matthew Brennan is from Jumper by KMCA
And Trace Reinhart is from The Mage's Jump by Genosaber
All used with permission. Their stories are great reads and I highly recommend them!