Twilight Sparkle smiled as the ~human~ let out a relieved sigh. “Now, that problem out way, we need talk. Say need calculation device, but wonder, what is being about seeing thing? Need input… to…” ~Alex~ started to say, but trailed off as he noticed the looks in the eyes of the four ponies around him, and how none of them were focused on him.

“What are… you…” he started to say, but trailed off again as he turned around to see the large, pink balloon that had somehow managed to sneak up on all of them.

In the basket beneath the balloon, Twilight could see a pink, poofy head peek out from the basket, the grin on the crazed mare's face somehow more manic than Twilight had ever seen it. Peeking over the edge alongside her was a very familiar cannon barrel, one that Twilight felt very uneasy standing in front of.

Before anyone could say anything, the cannon suddenly went off, showering the whole balcony in party hats and streamers. But even more ear-shattering than the firing of the artillery was the shout that accompanied it.

It was happy, cheerful, but at the same time filled with a terrible purpose - a purpose that had been frustrated time and time again, but she had decided that this was the moment. The ~human~ would not escape this time, she would make sure of that.

“WELCOME TO EQUESTRIA!!” Pinkie Pie shouted into the night, shattering the seriousness of the conversation that had preceded the announcement.

It’s actually pretty easy to sneak up on someone in Canterlot with a balloon when the Captain of the Royal Guard is in on your scheme.

“Thanks again, Shiny!” Pinkie said as the Prince made his way up to the snack table.

“Don't mention it, Pinkie. The boys needed something to take their minds off of everything that’s been going on lately,” Shining Armor said as he served himself up some punch.

Pinkie cocked her head to the side, a little confused. “Why is that? Is it because of the frosting explosion in the kitchens earlier?”

Shining had to put some real effort to keep a straight face. “No, it's because we've been spending the past six months preparing for war.”

This instantly brought down the mood between them. “Oh, yeah…” Pinkie said, her ears drooping.

“Don't worry about it, Pinkie. The news that we’ve actually got allies up in space has been a huge balm on the nerves of the troops.” He looked out over the crowd, noticing all the discreet, suspicious looks that some of the younger, off-duty guards were throwing towards the guest of honor, then clicked his tongue disapprovingly. “Even if a few of them are a bit suspicious of our first contact, the majority of the troops see him as a good omen. Speaking of which, I gotta go. Need to talk to Dark Seeker about a few things.”

Pinkie smiled sadly as she watched Shining join, then disappear into the crowd of ponies. Her eyes then swept over the crowd, noting how many had accepted her invitations, and how many had refused. The vast majority who had showed were off-duty guards, though a few scientists had decided to show up as well. She wasn't stupid; she already knew what many of their opinions were about the aliens in general, and ~Alex~ specifically. She also knew that they were being incredibly silly.

But at least they had put aside their silliness for the night. Or in some cases, they were still being silly, but at least they participated. As the night wore on, she noticed a shift in the mood of the crowd, where even the most untrusting of the guards were starting to actually have fun.

She personally chalked that up to the fact that the Princesses had really thrown themselves into the party. Rainbow had even managed to convince Princess Celestia to join in and play pin the tail on the pony. She was really bad at it, but to be honest, everypony was bad at pin the tail on the pony. That was rather the point of the game: Everypony was equally bad, and hopefully, everypony would laugh equally as hard when it was their turn.

However, one person wasn't quite as engaged in the festivities as everypony else. Oh, he played, he drank, he laughed, and he smiled. But Pinkie instantly recognized it for what it was: a forced smile. It wasn't a mean forced smile, though; Not one of those smiles that screamed, 'I’m not having fun, but it would be impolite to show it.’

Instead, it was a smile that whispered, 'I’m having more fun than I really should, and I feel guilty for it.’

“Hey, ~Alex!~” Pinkie shouted as she pronked up to him, a bowl of goodies balanced precariously on her head. “Why don't you hit the dance floor? Show off some of those sweet ~human~ dance moves!?”

If anything, this invitation just seemed to make him nervous. “Oh, I could not. Only know dancing is one, really. But wrong music, not right beat,” he said, his face quickly turning an odd shade of red.

“What kind of beat?” Pinkie asked, her curiosity piqued.

~Alex~ looked even more flustered at that. “Oh, don't think have kind music. Is faster, louder, more deep notes,” he said wistfully. “Sound kind of… well, like this:” he then put one of his hands to his mouth and made a series of deep-throated sounds that kind of sounded like untz untz untz.

“Not that only, but need more space, too,” he said, stopping the noise and removing his hand. “Need space move arms. Could not do in crowd. Might hurt someone.” His voice had a note of finality to it, clearly wanting that to be the last of that.

Pinkie Pie, on the other hoof, had other ideas.

“Wait right here! Don't move a muscle!” She shouted, then dashed over to where her turntables and speakers were.

If it were up to her, she would have had Vinyl Scratch here to operate the turntables. Unfortunately, her favorite DJ couldn't be here, on account of how she wasn't a part of the super-secret Equis Defense Force thing. Since seeing ~Alex~ would kind of force her to join, having her here would have been a big no-no at the moment.

Fortunately, Pinkie Pie could do the job herself. Not only that, but she had quite a few of Vinyl's greatest hits on hoof, and she knew in her mane and knees that some of those would be exactly what ~Alex~ was talking about.

With a mischievous grin, she queued up one of her favorites, then dashed back to the snack table, where the human looked like he was trying to figure out if a bowl of daisies was edible.

“~Alex!~ you got thirty seconds!” Pinkie said, grabbing his hand with both her hooves. She then began dragging him towards the center of the dance floor, all while ignoring his sputtering protests.

“What are doing you, Pink? What going on!?”

She suddenly stopped, let go, and returned to her previous, four-hoofed posture. “Clear the dance floor! ~Alex~ is going to show us some ~human~ dance moves!”

“What!?” ~Alex~ said, acutely aware of all the eyes staring at him, and the growing circle that was forming around him. “Pink One, not want this! Have not dance in long time! This bad idea! You not have right music, I rust, please not make me make-”

Before ~Alex~ could finish the thought, or someone could come and rescue the freaked-out alien, the music changed, as did ~Alex’s~ expression. In fact, ~Alex~ had completely frozen in place, his expression an odd mix of horror, confusion, and recognition.

“Pinkie Pie, let him go, he’s not ready for something like this,” Luna said, stepping forward a little, looking at the Element of Laughter disapprovingly.

Then the ~human~ began to move.

I froze. No. Freaking. Way.

It wasn't any song that I had ever listened to before, the tones of the instruments were a lot different than anything I had heard, and the strange, random lyrics were in a language I couldn't understand, but the style...

I doubt these ponies had ever heard of a synthesizer, but it was still techno.

Well, kind of.

It was still very much its own style and sound, but no one on Earth would have batted an eye had this started playing in a club. In fact, several people probably would have started screaming, “I LOVE THIS SONG!” without ever having heard it before. It was one of those songs that got into your head, rooted itself into your spine, and started pulling your strings like some kind of demented puppet.

Without even realizing when it had happened, I started to dance. My movements were methodical, structured, and a bit jerky, but that’s what they’re supposed to do when you dance the Robot.

However, I quickly noticed something… strange, about how I moved. Ever since I had seen So You Think You Can Dance, and the brilliant performance by Bryan Gaynor, I had been obsessed with the Robot. Now, I do not pretend to be able to dance with even the slightest amount of skill that that mad genius was capable of, but I had been able to get the stillness down, as well as some of the easier, precise movements of the dance.

But something was wrong. I could still hold my body still, but my limbs were another matter altogether. My arms and legs felt long, gangly and awkward, and they wouldn't stop when I wanted them to. It was almost as if I’d never danced with them before...

I tried to power through the whole song, but every mistake I made just seemed to magnify in my mind, until finally I stopped, staring down at my uncompliant hands in disbelief. As I stared at my gray flesh, a realization suddenly popped into my head as I closed my two hands into fists.

As I stood there, staring at my less than helpful arms, I felt something hard touch my shoulder. I looked up with a start, having completely forgotten that anyone else was nearby at all.

“Alex, you doing good?” Moon asked me, a worried expression on her face.

I quickly looked around, noticing that the music had stopped, and everyone was staring at me. Some looked worried, while others looked scared. “Y-Yeah, I'm fine, I just realized that I can't dance. It's cool, though, you don't have to stop the party for me.”

There was a sudden gasp down near my waist, and I looked down to see The Pink One look at me with horror. “You not dance!? Did evil space alien reach in head and take dance power!?”

I couldn't help but laugh a little at her horrified expression. “No, nothing like that. Well, sort of. It’s... kind of complicated, but I don't want to bring down the party, so I’ll explain later.” I smiled as I looked around at the crowd of ponies. “Come on, this is supposed to be a party! Shouldn't we be having fun?”

The party awkwardly started up again after that, but I couldn't help but notice the worried stares and the mutterings that would accompany them. I quickly made my way over to the snack table, determined to stuff my face with as much candy as I possibly could.

Great, Alex. That’s just great. They throw you a party, then you make it awkward by dancing terribly, then not following through and finishing what you started. Even on other planets, you’re the freaking life of the party.

I was so busy stuffing my face that I didn't notice someone sidle up next to me. I did notice the obvious, throat-clearing cough, though.

“So, why stop cold jerky dance?”

I looked to my left and saw Rainbow hovering next to me, her hooves crossed in front of her, and a look that I couldn't quite place on her face.

I finished swallowing first, then gave her an apologetic smile. “Because I wasn't doing it right.”

She cocked her eyebrow at that, her expression unamused. “Look cold to me. You do fine!”

I smiled at her again, then looked back down at the snack table. “Rainbow, you're an athlete, right?”

“How know that?”

I smiled at her, then popped another candy in my mouth. “I came to the edge of the forest every day to watch the town, remember? I saw you practice. You're quite good.”

She puffed out her chest. “Not just good. Best!”

I smiled again, then looked out over the crowd. My sharp eyes picked out the 'casual’ glances in our direction, but I ignored them, keeping my eyes locked on The Pink One as she danced crazily across the floor. “Why do you train every day?”

She made a dismissive snort. “To be best, course.”

I looked at her, then shook my head. “No, that's why you train at all. Why do you train every day?”

She looked confused. “What mean? To become best!”

I shook my head again. “No, you train to teach your muscles, to make them remember each trick, each flap of your wings, and each turn you need to make. Until you can do everything without even thinking about it.” I turned around and picked up another candy, carefully examining it from every angle before popping it into my mouth. “Back home, we called this 'muscle memory.’”

Rainbow looked bored. “So? Everyone know that. What this has do with no dance?”

I looked at her, unbuttoned the top four buttons of my shirt, then pulled it open until the spiderweb of fading grey could be seen, as well as the ragged line where the artificial arm had been surgically attached to my torso. “So, I've never danced with these arms and legs,” I said, my smile never leaving my face, even as she recoiled in horror as she realized what those marks meant. “I used to dance, and I still remember how to do it, and I was fairly decent, too. But I can't anymore. I might know how, but my muscles sure don't.”

She continued to stare at me for a while, but I ignored it as I turned back towards the table and buttoned my shirt up again. “Thanks for worrying, but it’s not that important. Dancing's never really been a part of me, just something I picked up because I thought it looked cool. It's no big deal, really.”

She looked like she wanted to say something, but seemed to think better of it. Instead, she turned around and flew off, presumably to look for someone to tell what I told her.

I looked back down, intent on getting more treats, but stopped when I spotted some wet spots on my shirt. Before I could work out the puzzle before me, the answer came when I felt something leave my chin, quickly followed by the sight of two large drops of liquid falling to the ground from my face.

“Huh…” I said intelligently, my voice catching in a way that made me feel pathetic. “I guess that got to me more than I thought it would…”

After I took some time to make myself presentable again, I tried to rejoin the party. I really did. My heart just wasn’t into it, though. Eventually, I just gave up, thanked The Pink One for a wonderful time, feigned the need for sleep, then retreated to the relative safety of my room in the castle.

Beaker watched the ~human~ retreat in silence. Once the human was completely out of sight, he leaned over and tapped his brother Bunsen on the withers. “Ugh.”

“Huh? Oh, good, I thought it’d never leave,” Bunsen Burner said as he turned around. “I tell you, Beaker, that 'dance’ it displayed had me worried. I almost thought the thing was having a seizure.”

“Ugh,” Lab Beaker said, his tone filled with exasperation.

“Don't you start that again! We already went over this, and I will not change my mind on it!” Bunsen said as he made his way over to the snack table. With the horror from beyond the stars gone, he was now free to scoop up as many goodies as he wanted. He decided to start with a rather large piece of cake, and work his way up from there.

Lab Beaker rolled his eyes, tapped his front hoof, and gave his brother an unamused stare. “Ugh.”

“No, it is dangerous. You saw what it did to the lab! And that was without even trying! Why the Princesses would ever allow it to roam around free is beyond me,” Bunsen said with a huff.

“Ugh,”

Bunsen snorted, trying to not laugh. “A chance? I don’t need to give it a chance. The thing is useful, but as soon as it stops being useful, I hope that Celestia sees reason and locks that thing up in stone. It’s a ticking time bomb!”

Beaker gave his brother a disappointed stare, looked down at the cake that he was levitating between them, lifted his hoof, and casually flipped the edge of the plate.

The cake hit the ground with a dull squish, but only Bunsen seemed to notice.

“What the hay was that for!?” He said, glaring at Beaker.

Beaker didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned, gave a little flick of his short, frizzy tail, and cantered off, leaving his brother sputtering impotently next to the ruined confection.

I stared at the ceiling of my room, just thinking about everything that had led me up to this point. It had actually been a really long time since I took a few seconds to just sit and meditate. The last time I did this was when I was soaking in my personal hot spring, if I remembered correctly.

It was kind of nice, to be honest. Sure, I still had a targeting computer to make, but the revelation that not all the bugs were trying to kill us made that a little less of a priority.

At the very least, it meant I had time to think, something that I had honestly been avoiding up to this point.

Lazily, I turned my head over and fixed my gaze towards the metal cat sitting on my desk. It was unpowered at the moment, Kazimir's storage rod lying next to it where the impatient Russian had ejected it, allowing him some sleep. I had left it where he had dropped it, wishing to be alone for a few moments to collect my scattered thoughts. I knew it wouldn’t last, but for these precious seconds I had a chance to breathe.

I found my mind wandering, jumping to the recent party, the meeting with Hazalk, and the changes that I had gone through recently. My mind jumped from idea to idea, never staying in one place for long.

The room around me was filled with moonlight, its glow a bit brighter than the light from the moon back on Earth, casting shadows across the wall from the wind billowing past the curtains at my window. My mind started playing games with those shadows, seeing things that weren’t really there, revealing friends long gone or forgotten, imagining half-seen shapes traipsing through the woods…

Revealing a huge, eight-limbed shape, holding a needle that edged closer and closer to my eye…

With a start, I shook off the half-sleep that I had been pulled into, my heart thumping wildly in my chest as I tried to get my breathing under control. I couldn't stay here in this enclosed space; I had to get out, feel the wind in my hair, smell the autumn leaves on the breeze.

I stood up and made my way to the window, fully intent on doing just that.

Sergeant Fair Weather yawned widely as he looked out over his cloud. He had been at this post ever since the ~human~ had returned to his room, and the long night was starting to get to him. True, he was nocturnal by nature, but he had already pulled half a shift, covering for a friend of his whose wife was in labor.

He was happy for the stallion, but at the moment he was just a little less favorably disposed towards him.

The Sergeant was just about to do another round around the tower when a flicker of movement caught his eye. He focused on it, his large, dragon-like eyes easily piercing the soft light of the night, to spot something that he wasn't sure he believed at first.

“Private, tell me, do you see that?” Fair Weather said, nudging the stallion on his left.

Private Heart looked over curiously, only for the look to be replaced by one of complete shock. “Is this monster descended from a freaking spider!?”

As soon as the words had left his mouth, though, he received a hearty thwack up the back of his head.

“S-Sorry, Sergeant…”

“Private, I’m going to keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't fall and kill himself. You go and get the Princess. I don’t know what he thinks he’s doing, but I’m sure that she’ll want to know about this,” Fair Weather said as he watched the ~human~ clamber up the side of the tower.

The ponies made an amazing castle, I won't deny that. However, because of certain traits shared by the majority of the species of this planet, namely hooves, certain… aspects of the castle just wouldn't have held up on Earth.

For starters, while we had made walls and buildings with flat, flush surfaces, to discourage activities such as the one I was currently engaged in, the Ponies had made no such improvements. Yes, the walls looked sheer from a distance, but once you were up against it, little abnormalities revealed themselves to you. A crevice here, a crack there, a gap in the masonry over there. You know, little things that the ponies had probably seen and said, “Ah… it’ll do.”

Any human engineer worth his salt, though, would have taken one look at it and ordered the thing spackled up properly so that no dimwit would try and climb the darn thing.

That, of course, worked in my favor. Unlike a lot of people I knew, I had no fear of heights. Yeah, I was too high up to even think about surviving this kind of fall, but I wasn't really concerned about that. The wall was strong, I wasn't a novice climber, and I had been augmented by an alien super soldier program. True, I was a dip for even thinking that this was a good idea, but being cooped up in that room for so long had made me a little bit reckless.

Red splashed across my vision, followed by the sweet, nauseating feeling of my victim’s flesh in my maw.

I shivered involuntarily as I ignored the memory, speeding up my climb, determined to keep the demons at bay through physical exertion alone. Before I knew it, I was at the top of my tower, overlooking the city below. I could see from where I was that the castle itself had been the one I could see from the forest I had made my home in. You know, the one that had jutted out the side of the mountain that seemed to defy the laws of physics.

Not that that was news to me. It's just that this was the first time I had been outside since I had been brought here. It felt kind of good to confirm with my eyes what I already knew in my mind.

A flash of green in the darkness, burning the wall behind me as I ducked and rolled, trying to make myself a smaller target. There was a flash of white as I lunged forward, my claws sinking into the bug’s carapace to find the squishy flesh beneath.

I curled up into a ball, bracing myself against the chill of the wind. Yeah, that was why I was shivering, and definitely not for any other reason.

I don't know how long I sat up there before I was found. Surprisingly enough, it was one of those bat soldiers from earlier instead of Moon. His eyes were filled with a strange mix of empathy and amusement as he came closer. He didn’t say anything; he just landed on the roof next to me and wrapped a single wing around my shoulder, a gesture I was becoming increasingly familiar with.

A comfortable silence fell over us, the whistling of the wind and our own breathing as our only companions. It was okay, though. It was the kind of silence that said far more than any language could ever put to words. It was full of sorrow for the fallen, anger at the wrongs of the past, but more importantly, it carried hope for the future.

I’m not sure when sleep finally claimed me, but I remembered thinking that it would have been rude of me to pass out right there on the roof like that.

I don't think he minded, though.

Author's Notes:

Well, here's the next chapter! Sorry that it took so long, and that I don't really have much to say, but I have stuff to go buy, and I wanted to post this before I got sidetracked.

Again, thank you so much for following, supporting, and helping me. You guys rock!

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