After I’d had enough time to thoroughly freak the hell out, I managed to start thinking. I knew I had to get out of here. These pony guys wanted to experiment on me for who knows what reasons, so it’s only common sense that I should take that opportunity away from them. They were afraid of me, too. Maybe I could use that to my advantage? My attention was brought to one of the other tables in this lab place, where some kind of tech was blinking. It looked like some kind of computer chip, but it kept blinking away, beeping like it was trying to get my attention. I got up, taking a bit of time to get used to my new legs, and made my way over to it. I heard something click on my forehead, before some kind of gem thing could be seen in the corner of my eye. I bet I would have looked cute, looking cross eyed at the thing.

I spotted a hand mirror over by a table near the one I had been laying on, probably something to show me what they’d done to me when I woke up, or maybe one of them was vain, but either way, it was convenient for me. Taking the chip, I headed over to the mirror and looked into it. Checking out the gem thing, I saw a spot the chip would fit perfectly into. It kinda freaked me out a bit. Was I some kind of cyborg cat? Maybe the chip had answers… Hesitantly, I brought the chip up to the gem’s slot, and put it in. The gem retracted back into my head, and I saw some kind of UI appear.

AI rebooting. Please Stand By. I saw a bunch of progress bars start filling up, and holy crap was it fast. Text flew across the UI faster than I could read it, hell, faster than I could even blink at some points. The reboot was a pretty short process and didn’t take much time to complete. What looked like a holographic version of me, but with slightly different looks appeared in a small window, yawning with a stretch.

“Aw yeah… That was a nice nap. Too bad I could never wake myself up. Anyway, Hiya Captain! I’ve got some good news and bad news.”

“Wait, Captain?” I asked, confused. The AI blinked, and recoiled harshly.

“Well shit… scratch the good news then. I take it you don’t even know who you are then?” I nodded my head, a little insulted by that remark.

“Of course I know who I am! I’m Catt. I just… I don’t know what happened to me, or why I have this weird cat, cyborg body…” I said, my irritation dying down as I started to realize I had a body that in all honesty, I would probably enjoy for its sheer cuteness.

“Oh, so the old captain’s pretty much gone forever, and you’re taking her body. Got it. Well I guess I could show you the ropes then.” the AI said with a bright smile. However, before we could get started, I heard hooves coming from the exit door. “Uh oh. Quick, get those gloves! You’re definitely gonna need them!” the AI said, making a golden sort of waypoint dot in my vision. It circled around me to a pair of broken looking gloves full of some kind of tech. I hurried over to them, grabbing them before following the waypoint out another door.

“Oh, joy! Scans are showing you’ve been injected with some new genetic material. You don’t need those gloves to cast spells anymore… still, best to hang on to them. I’ll guide you out of here, don’t worry.” the AI said.

“Wait, spells? I can use magic?” I asked, shocked. I looked at my paws in a new light, remembering what I’d done earlier to break out of my restraint. Was that all… magic?

“Well… not purely magic. But hey, it’s close enough.” The AI said with a shrug. I followed the waypoint around a few corners, dodging behind a door every now and then when the AI and I heard hoof steps. Man, this place must be a freaking castle or something to have this many hallways and corridors. It’s ridiculous. At one point, I think I accidentally hid in some Royal’s bedroom, but I noped out of there so fast, I didn’t get to see whose it was. Whoever’s it might be, I had a feeling we were just getting incredibly lost. At least until we made it to the throne room. There, I at least got some small sense of where I needed to go. Thankfully, since the guards were all busy looking for me, noone was at their post. It was a straight shot for the doors.

However, just as I was about to get there, the sound of massive wings flapping was all the warning I had before a huge pony about twice my size with brilliant white wings and a horn dived down and cut off my path.

“Little one, please stop running.” the big pony said in what sounded a lot like a motherly voice. “Nopony wants to hurt you. Do you think we could maybe sit down and talk for a minute?” I was hesitant, but… couldn’t see any sign of lying here. There was nothing pointing out that she wasn’t being perfectly honest, but I was still pretty scared.

“She’s not kidding around, kid. Maybe you should calm down. It’s pretty possible those ponies back in the lab weren’t the guys that originally took us for experimentation.” the AI encouraged. Letting go of the breath I was holding, I nodded and let myself fall onto my butt. I noticed right then that for whatever reason, I had four big, fluffy tails. I curled one of them around to hug, hoping it might even help me feel safer.

“... Daaaaaaw…” I heard the big pony in response to what I was doing. Hehe. Still got it.

“Warning: Dangerously high levels of Cuteness. Seriously, kid. Turn it down. I might have circuits for a body but I’m pretty sure I can get diabetes too.” the AI said. I had to giggle in response, but luckily thanks to the face the big pony was making, I had another explanation for it than the AI, which she didn’t seem to be able to see.

“So, my name is Celestia. You can call me Celly though. Who might you be?” the pony said as she sat down with me.

“I’m Catt. And that’s with two T’s. But… this isn’t my body. Do you know who put me in it? My AI friend says it might not be your guys.” I said. She seemed taken aback.

“AI? Where is it?” she asked, curiously. I pointed at the gem on my forehead before the AI could stop me, and I only noticed she was trying to stop me when it was already too late. “In your gem? I thought it was in a chip…”

“Uh.. it is…?” I responded unsurely. The AI facepawed hard.

“Well how’d it get in that gem?” Celly asked. You know what? She isn’t the bad guy. She should know.

“I… I put it there…” I replied, knowing how stupid that decision could have been.

“... You just put something you found in your own head? Did you even know what it was?” Celly asked, sounding like she couldn’t believe the stupidity. I know that tone very well. My older brother used that tone a lot.

“I thought it might have answers. Besides, the thingy in my head had a slot for it.” I reasoned. “And besides… something about it was familiar to me.”

“Really now? Maybe some part of the Captain’s still in there.” The AI mused.

“Maybe you’re remembering your ship? I’m sorry to say, it was disassembled by a madman who used it to build a robot army.” Celly said resentfully.

“Damn… is the cloning chamber still intact?” The AI asked.

“Uh… the AI wants to know if the Cloning Chamber’s still intact.” I relayed the question.

“Cloning chamber? I don’t know… we didn’t have one with us when we recovered you. Maybe the madman ran off with it…”

“Well maybe I could help track him down?” I volunteered. Wait, why would I volunteer for that? I hate working.

“Heh… yeah, the Captain’s still in there. I don’t even have to finish scanning your soul to know.” The AI said with a satisfied look. “Not that surprising, really. The captain once had their soul ripped out by an eldritch god, and she still kicked its ass.”

“Wow… Could I be that strong?” I asked it. She just laughed.

“Pffft, no. Your soul is nowhere near as strong as hers. If you tried to face down a god, you’d be ripped to shreds in an instant. The best you could probably do given good training is a titan.” She dismissed. I pouted a bit, put off by her laughing. This though, caused Celly to giggle.

Behind me, I heard a door frantically open, and a guard rush in. “Princess! We can’t… find… her…” I turned around slowly as the guard trailed off.

“Uh…. hi?” I said awkwardly, hugging another tail close to me. To my surprise, the Guard pretty much ignored the cute gesture, and just looked between me and Celly for a moment.

“I guess you found her. And since there isn’t a big fight, you two have made friends.” he stated more than asked.

“That we have. And it’s amusing watching her react to whatever her AI companion is saying.” Celly replied.

“Alright, I’ll go call off the search.” the guard said, before heading off. He closed the door behind him, but I noted it was with the glowing aura of Telekinesis. Which reminded me I was supposed to be able to use magic.

“Hey, Celly? Could you teach me magic, please?” I asked kindly. She blinked.

“You can use magic?” she asked back in surprise. I nodded. “Wow, Magician Space Cats… What else does the universe have in store for us?”

“Pffft, hehehe… If she’s surprised by that, then wait till she meets a Glitch. Or an Avali.” The AI laughed. I was a bit curious from the mention of those.

“That reminds me, what even am I? Y'know, besides the obvious.” I asked the AI. Celly stared as she waited for an answer she wouldn’t hear from the AI.

“You are a Kineptic.” the AI replied with pride.

“A Kineptic… Somehow, that sounds familiar, and not just because of this body…”

“Well it’s something to identify you with, at any rate.” Celly said with a smile. “You know… unless you want us to call you Cyborg Kitty.” she added in a joking manner.

“No, that’s alright.” I declined. Okay, what the hell. I would have said yes before… is this the Captain’s soul helping me be mature? … I don’t like it.

“Well it’s not like you can talk it out with the Captain. There isn’t enough of her soul to bring her consciousness back. Just influence the way you think and feel.” The AI replied to my thoughts.

Well then I guess it’s just something I have to get used to… I thought to myself.

“Hey, could you ask if they’d repair the Gloves? I’d very much like to talk out loud.” The AI requested. I nodded and held the gloves up.

“Could you repair these? The AI says they’ll let her talk out loud.” I asked. Celly took them in a golden glow, making them levitate beside her with a smile.

“Sure. Come along, I can teach you something on the way.” she agreed. Together, we stood up and started to walk together. Along the way, Celly gave me a few pointers for how better to control my magic, which I was grateful to learn. The AI was quick to jump in after that, and teach me a few of the spells the Captain once knew. Needless to say, when I fired off a highly explosive bolt that somehow didn’t damage the castle, Celestia was pretty impressed. And when I teleported too, she applauded me. As I learned, I couldn’t help but smugly smirk at the image of my brother dropping his jaw at how fast I was learning this stuff. He always did say I was the most irritating person to teach, and that I was far too slow in most everything I did. Though I guess it’s mostly because of the Captain’s soul helping me focus, be mature, and all that jazz. Maybe even some of her memories were there, helping me recognise what they were talking about. Still, it’s faster than I ever learned before. By the end of practicing the spells though, I was feeling pretty hungry.

*Grrrrrr* My stomach growled harshly. “Oh dear… Hehe, I may have forgotten you didn’t know what fuels our spells. See, spells use up nutrients you get from food. So you’re about to be responsible for a sudden increase of dietary expenses.” The AI explained with a slight chuckle.

“Up for a meal?” Celestia asked with an amused smile. I nodded sheepishly.

“Uh… yeah, the AI just told me my magic’s fueled by food’s nutrients.” I told her. “So I probably shouldn’t practice too much, unless you’re okay with spending more on food.”

“Wait, seriously? Well then, you just might be one of the solutions to our food problem I’ve been looking for. This castle receives far more food than anyone knows what to do with. More than a third of it ends up rotting before it can be eaten.” Celly replied.

“Sweet!” I cheered. I was so going to practice the hell out of my magic. In the meantime though, I needed to eat. When we got to the kitchen, I stood in awe of the sheer number of cooks working. There were at least two dozen running about doing this or that, generally being busy. There were also a whole bunch of guards, I assume to have been off their shift or something, getting orders. Many turned our way when we came in, and they bowed for a second in greeting.

“Hello, Princess.” one of the chefs greeted.

“Wait, you’re a princess?!” I asked in shock. She raised an eyebrow.

“You mean you didn’t notice the Guard call me that, or the tiara?” she replied.

“I uh… wasn’t paying attention…” I muttered. Celly just chuckled.

“It’s okay. I know cats have a pretty short attention span.” she dismissed the issue. She turned back to the chef who seemed unperturbed by anything we just spoke of. “Catt here needs a huge meal. Make it my size.” she said.

“Alright, coming right up.” he said, already getting started on it. “Come on, boys! We got another Alicorn Special to make!” he called out, spurring the kitchen to even greater action. I just had to stare, shocked by how good everyone was at multitasking. I mean, I’ve seen plenty of youtube videos about people working bakeries, but this was crazy.

“Impressed? They’ve had a lot of practice.” Celly said as I watched. “See that one with the golden mane?” she asked, pointing to one. I nodded as I spotted the one she was talking about. He had an orange coat, as well as a mark on his… flank that looked like a ham. “He’s in charge of cooking for carnivores. He’s one of the few ponies I know that can stomach even the thought of meat. He’ll be the main one cooking for you, so if you get real hungry, just go to him.”

“Alright. But what’s wrong with meat?” I asked.

“Ponies are peaceful. Seriously, we haven't had a war for over a thousand years. You can probably imagine being as peaceful as this, even the thought of something dying to feed another being makes them queasy… though to be honest, we’re perfectly capable of eating it otherwise.” she answered.

“Wow. Ponies would hate Florans then. The savages have a plan to kill pretty much anything they meet, half the time. And probably eat it too. It’s a good thing they’re afraid of Kineptic though. Hehe. Superiority by fire.” The AI commented.

“Florans don’t sound too nice.” I muttered.

“Florans? What?” Celly asked. I told her what the AI told me. “Oh dear. And from the sound of it, they’re plant like. Am I right?”

“Eeyup.” I once again passed the message.

“They might enjoy the Everfree forest. We have wolves that’re made of wood, called timberwolves.” I shivered at the thought.

“Let’s change the topic, please?” I requested. For a moment though, I marveled at how vocal I was being. Normally I don’t talk this much unless I’m in a derpy mood. And I’m only ever serious if I’m mad or in trouble. I guess this Captain is really affecting me. At this rate, I can’t help but wonder if I’m going to end up being a hero like the Captain too.

“Order’s up!” the golden maned pony Celestia pointed out earlier shouted, snapping me out of my thoughts with shock. I managed to not fall out of my seat though, but seeing a large amount of great looking meat and seafood made my mouth water.I was a bit sceptical about the seafood, since I didn’t like it in my old body, but I was a cat now so… I might as well give it a try.

Before I even knew it, the whole plate was empty. No stains, no scraps, nothing. The plate was cleaned completely off. “Wow, I can’t believe you ate the bones too…” Celestia commented from the side.

“... I think I blacked out. What’d I miss?” I asked. In response, Celly just fell over in absolute laughter. “...what!?”

“You pretty much just… Let’s just say you had a cartoon moment.” The AI explained, barely containing her own laughter.

“You have to do that again, the looks on the Noble’s faces was just priceless.” Celly said as she finished up her laughing fit.

“Nobles? Oh great, I hope they aren’t uptight jerks.” I groaned at the mention of them.

“They can be at times, but I’ve tried my best to keep that attitude out of them.” Celly replied as she got up, fully recovered from her laughing fit.

“Whoa, you mean we have Royalty that actually does something about their nobility? That’s quite a shock. Still, we oughta know who to watch out for, she did say she’s only tried her best to keep them in line.” The AI muttered.

“Any we should watch out for? The AI brought up a good point.” I asked.

“Oh, sure. Keep an eye out for Prince Blueblood, he’s the worst. White coat, blonde mane, and enough brain to match the Blonde stereotype.” Celly replied. “Actually… let’s back up for a second, doesn’t the AI have a name? A name would be more interesting that always calling it ‘the AI’ don’t you think?”

“Oh, I didn’t think to ask…” I responded.

“Well Dad made me to help pilot a ship… but we don’t have a ship to pilot anymore, so I guess I can’t call myself a Ship-based Artificial Intelligence Lattice - or S.A.I.L. for short - anymore. Could use a more unique name anyway, too many AIs are called SAIL. You got any ideas?”

“Uh, okay… How about Kitty?” I suggested enthusiastically. She giggled at that.

“Hehehe! I think that’s a bit too silly. Your body’s going to fully mature in a year, so maybe think of something serious you’ll stick with?”

“Alright… How about…” I struggled to think of something. At first I thought of maybe what my brother might call it, since he’s always seemed pretty good with names, but then I strayed to ideas that, honestly kinda scared me with how good they were. Maybe it was more of the Captain’s influence? Either way, I had a good one before long. “Catrina.”

“That sounds like a pun. I like it.” she replied. I blinked at the unintentional pun, before laughing with her about it. It was supposed to be a play on my own name.

“Alright then, Catrina it is.” I said with a smile.

“Cute.” Celly said, looking disappointed she couldn’t hear the conversation we shared. “Wish they’d hurry up with those gloves…”

“Me too actually. I wonder what else they do besides let Catrina talk.” I agreed. Catrina didn’t respond to that one in answer, probably just wanting to leave it up to my imagination.

“Say, now that you’re full, how about some more training?” Celly offered. I gave my answer in the form of a massive grin.

Training went by in a flash, mostly from how fun it was just to make things float around or teleport. Target Practice as fun too. I managed to actually blow up a few too. The guards just couldn’t stop gawking when I kept hitting targets dead center at their training grounds. Though thankfully, more of the Captain shined through as I trained, keeping me from using magic recklessly. Ideas for pranks or thoughts about “what would happen if-” were just left as those. Ideas and thoughts. But, needless to say, magic is fun.

The next day, Catrina suggested we try out combat training. My body still had the Captain’s muscle memory, so combat should come to me by pure instinct. Or at least, so she said. She told me she figured it out from how fast I learned various spells. I have to admit, I was eager to figure out more of the Captain’s skills, but I was willing to bet it was just more of the Captain shining through. I mean, I was just a girl, before I got this body. All the interests I had was laughing at funny videos and playing games. I guess what’s left of the Captain wants me to have fun while I’m running around in her body, instead of sitting around moping about being pushed to do things I don’t want to.

That being said though, I wasn’t about to dismiss that I was having fun on account of that. When I got to another training ground, this one a sparring feld, Catrina pointed me to a staff. The Captain was apparently proficient in those kinds of weapons, and Catrina sited that the Captain typically used it like a spinning saw blade, always twirling them fast enough that it left an after image. It was good for both defense, and offense. When I got to practice with it, I found I could do it pretty well, but Telekinesis made it so much easier. I used both my paws to telekinetically hold one staff each, spinning both fast enough to make wind.

Practice got real fun when I was put up against a pair of guard recruits, who apparently were at the top of their class. One was a unicorn stallion, and the other was a Pegasus mare. They started out with a distraction tactic, where the unicorn of the two unloaded on me to distract from the pegasus trying to get at my back, and while it did work the first time, it didn’t work quite so well after that. Every new tactic they played always worked the first time, a few of them actually more than that, but I still learned them and learned how to counter them.

However, in the last leg of their attack, I pulled something that surprised everyone, myself and Catrina included. As I crossed my staffs to make a flashy counter to one of their moves, I felt my magic snap out into them, and yank something out of them, only for whatever I yanked out to be put back in… in the wrong pony. Both of them fell back on their flanks after that, stunned by… whatever the heck I did.

“Wh-what the heck?! What just happened?!” The unicorn asked…. Which was strange since up until then, it had been the pegasus talking all casual like that.

“That… was a very disorienting experience.” the pegasus stated, which confused me since the unicorn was the one talking like that. They both looked at each other after they spoke, and the unicorn promptly freaked out with a lot of screaming.

“...OH SWEET CELESTIA, WHY ARE YOU ME?!” he screamed. Wait, what? Did I just make them switch bodies? The pegasus seemed to take it a lot better.

“Wait, what? Ooooh….. I seem to have… your parts now…” Okay, apparently the intelligent unicorn guy was a bit of a perv.

“...I think we broke something.” Catrina muttered.

“FIX IT! PLEASE, DEAR FAUST, FIX IT!” the one that was supposed to be the pegasus mare screamed at me.

“U-uh, I’ll try…” I promised, but I doubted I could. I mean, I had no idea I could even do that, let alone how. I focused hard, trying to find that trigger inside me that went off in the spar, but either it was a one time accident, or I just wasn’t looking hard enough. Considering I didn’t even know what I was looking for, I’m banking on the other one.

“I wonder what it-”

“NO! You will NOT have your fun in MY BODY!” I overheard the two guards arguing. I shivered in disgust. I was with the mare on this one. I could tell he was having pervy thoughts.

“Oh come on, let him have his fun.” Celly encouraged. “I actually happen to know how he feels. Besides, this swap should only be temporary.” Everyone looked at her like she’d grown a third head.

“Um…. I’m only 10.” I said. That excuse, I hoped, would stop the nonsense.

“Oh. Well then, nevermind.” Celly said with a blush. “Uh… can you switch them back?” she asked.

“I’m trying, but I don’t even know what I’m doing.” I replied, thankful to change the subject. She sighed.

“Alright… I’m going to call the closest thing to an expert we have.” she said, heading back into the castle. I waited with the Recruits, trying to find the right trigger the whole time. It didn’t help that the guy in the mare’s body kept spitting out innuendos he thought was subtle though, and I almost felt like I should just leave them to their fate out of disgust. I hate perverts… and that mostly applies to my older brother, but still.

“Hey, I have an idea. Start up your magic, and let’s try a few things.” Catrina suggested. I did as suggested, and waited for her to continue. “Okay, reach for them with it, try to find out what you grabbed.” Again, I did so. But still, there was nothing. I couldn’t figure it out. I groaned as I gave up.

“I’m sorry, guys… I just can’t figure it out. I dunno, maybe I can figure it out over time, I just can’t do it right now.” I apologised.

“A-alright… just please, don’t give up on it. I don’t want to be stuck in this pervert’s body forever.” the mare begged. The guy just stood by, completely okay with this. I nodded.

“Maybe I’ll have an answer by tomorrow?” I naively hoped. Celly came back right about then.

“Well, there’s news… but I’m not sure if it’s good or bad.” she reported. “Turns out, the expert is coming, and he says you two should try to touch each other, or at least stay close if that doesn’t work, but… well, he’s got his own embarrassing situation to deal with for now, thanks to being severely weakened. He won’t be back to peak condition for at least the next week or so.”

The ex-stallion grinned when she said they should touch each other, for obvious reasons, but the mare knew exactly what she meant. Both of us groaned at Celly for that choice of words. The mare was quick to act on the suggestion, but nothing really happened.

“Oh, wait… I think I see why that expert suggested that. Things gone wrong like this, what with a soul being in the wrong body, nature tries to correct that automatically. But if a spell is strong enough, it can keep that correction from happening too easily.”

Wait… so you’re saying I put them under a really strong spell?

“That’s right. Not as strong as whatever put you in the Captain’s body, but strong enough that physical contact can’t correct it.”

Oh boy… this could be bad then.

“Don’t worry too much… an answer should come somehow.”

Thankfully, a distraction came when my stomach growled again. I guess breakfast wasn’t big enough. Celly giggled.

“Alright, Razor Wing and Code Red, you two report to Shining, and make sure to tell him what happened. Catt and I are headed to the Kitchens.” Celly said.

“Myaaaa~” I purred and nuzzled Celly at the mention of food. Pretty sure it was another cartoon moment, but hey. It was cute, and no one could deny it! Together, with me purring and nuzzling Celly from her back, we headed to the kitchen.