Hail CYOA

>>30325131
Oh really? Who is it?

>>30325131
Must be important if it has to be in person.

>>30325177
>>30325206
"Who is it?"
"You don't remember Comet," Mom shakes her head, "You were only a baby last time you saw her."
"But it's got to be important if she wants it to be in person?"
"It probably is for her." Mom rocks the grub for a moment quietly, "I had mentioned you were traveling in another message. She's almost come here several times, but there's always something keeping her busy."

>>30325265
She just wants to see me grown up? I'm fine with that. We can stop by.

:snail:

>>30325276
>>30326262
"She just wants to see me grown up?"
"Comeeeet..." Mom stretches the word, which I can't help but find odd, "She wants to talk with you and Amber, now that you are adults."
"Why?" I ask immediately.
"I think it'd be fair that Comet herself explained it." She pats the grub's back a few times, making it burp, "Amber probably won't want to, there's some bad blood between them. But I don't think it's a good idea that they keep avoid each other forever."
"Like you are one to talk." I say drily, giving her a look.
"Don't you use that tone on me," She returns the look. "Comet's message alone already made me need a drink."


>Forgot to pause
Have one more update then.

Current todo list, some tasks will be done automatically if you don't, and of course more than one can be done at once:
>Visiting Coti and Amber
>Gun practicing and oiling
>Ensuring Coti can reduce his size properly
>Test-pilot Rust Bucket
Once all tasks are complete or you decide so you'll skip forward to the travel itself

>>30326458
Lets test out the Rust Bucket and then try cramming Coti in there.

>>30327786

BumpBump

>>30330981

Hoping Coti will adjust

Bunp

>>30327786
>>30332283
I tear my eyes from the grub -how is something so horrifying also so cute?-, "I got to see Coti."
"You'll test the ship?" Mom doesn't take her eyes off the grub.
"I'll go with." Ross gives a last look to the grub, as if it was ready to reveal it's secrets the moment he stops looking, and laughs awkwardly, "Got to get used to that server, right?"
"Tell the parents to get their heads in the game if you see them." Says mom just before I exit the room, "I can't babysit this forever."
I nod, and Ross walks off the room just a little faster than before.
A moment later, at the hangar, Coti lifts me and rubs his head against me, knocking the air off my chest for... I lost count of how many times he's done that.
"Can you try going smaller again?" I ask in the sweetest tone I can manage.
He grabs Rune from his head and leaves him and me on the floor, then trots away.
"I don't think that's a yes." Ventures Ross.
"Please?" I try. trotting after him.
He climbs a pair of boxes, crouching to not hit the ceiling, and makes a sound that's suspiciously similar to "No."

>>30337045
I wonder if RustBucket's AI would like to take over at the station and Ross could fly the RustBucket in between piloting the pone-drone? They hate each other anyhow, no sense having friction.

>>30337045
Coti, if you don't shrink you can't come with me. Don't you want to see some new places? Go to an actual planet? You could feel actual sunlight again.

10

Had a power.outtage midwriting.
Now back.ro bed.

>>30342586

>>30337633
>>30337544
"But Coti, don't you remember? You don't fit in the ship like that."
He shakes his head vehemently, "Noh."
"What about being on a world again? Don't you miss sunlight?" He groans in indecision. "I can't bring you with me if you are that size."
He shakes his head again, hesitating visibly, and with bothered grunts climbs and a leashing tail jumps down from the boxes.
It takes him a few minutes and much grunting, but he reduces his size... making the floor under him groan from the weight.
"Coti." Says Ross severely.
Coti makes a few grunts -is he mocking Ross? I can't ever tell just how intelligent he is- and what looks like a pimple starts forming from his chest, which he tears off it's larger than he is-- Ross said all the mass has to go somewhere, after all.
He doesn't seem pleased about being almost the size of a pony, seeing as how he crosses his arms and looks away from us.

>>30343518
A pony sized Coti? How adorable!

>>30343518
Give him a big hug. We owe him several.

>>30344174
>>30344221
"Don't be grumpy, you are adorable like that." I grab him in a hug, giving up on covering the nut on his back after a moment of trying. "Even more than usual. Can you come to the test the ship with us now?"
Coti gives a longing look to the ball and comes with us, grunting in displeasure when AI speaks up.
"Warning: Unknown species has a military type tracking device"
"You shut up." Grunts Ross, "Execute script Ross-four-three-four."
"Warning: An artificial intelligence is required to operate this ship properly"
"I am aware."
"Executing script outside intelligence data loop. Compressing central artifici--" It falls silent.
"Do you hear that, Far?" Asks Ross after a moment with a smile. "Silence."
"Did you kill Pensa?" I ask, not knowing how to react.
"What? No, I just... put it to sleep." He pauses for a moment, "D-Generations could be outwitted by animals, Far. They are just a bunch of scripts without any possibility of growth."
Coti barges into Rust Bucket and starts sniffling it loudly-- made all the stranger by the fact that it's done by breathing with his whole body and rubbing the red fruits that hang off his vines against the walls.
1/2

"Yooou do that." Ross nods to no one in particular, "The systems check is complete, let's test for teleport radiation first"
"Right." I walk to the control panel and, after a moment's hesitation, adjust the manual controls of the ship-- a bunch of dials and physical buttons from when most of the piloting was manual.
"Contacted the daemons..." Ross is silent for a moment, "Wouldn't accept my credentials. Seal the doors." I tap one of the few buttons that's clearly tagged, "Well, let's do it."
The structure of the ship clicks a few times and the temperature inside raises a degree or two, but the ship resists the teleporting without any alarm sounding.
"You forgot to turn the AC on... Do you see the orange stars up there?" He walks to your side to point at the stars outside, "That's the hearth of the honey drop galaxy. Imagine if we could ever see it closely?"
2/2

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150KB, 1000x1000px

>>30345473

>>30345782
Buh

Bump before bed.

>>30345473
You never know, we might. Anything's possible.

>>30349756
"We might just reach it." I stick my cheek against, his, "Who knows?"
"It'd be so beautiful, wouldn't it?" Ross smiles for a second, lost in thought, "But with the current technological curve... I don't think we'll be around for that long."
"Don't write it off yet."
He nods, staring at the stars distractedly.
"Stargazing?" I ask, amused.
"It's not the same with ey-- Oh, right, we probably should head back."

anything left to do here

Bump faggots.

>>30353580
>>30352151
"Yeah, let's." I move a hoof to touch the controls, but pause when I realize I can't remember which moves the ship. "Er, Ross?"
"You should learn how to pilot it manually." He gives me a look, "What if I couldn't do it for you?"
"This one time?"
"This once." His eyes turn distant for a moment when he manipulates the ship wirelessly, "Amber still hasn't talked with Terra, hasn't she?"
"Nnope." I shake my head, "I don't think there's time to make her, by now."
"A pair of walls, I swear." Ross shakes his head, "I should probably get my maintenance now, turning off will take the better part of the day." There's a certain tone to the way he says it.
"Do all AIs hate shutting down?"
"An intelligence I knew called it le petite mort." Ross seems confused for a moment, "I never did get him to explain me why did he use an odd tone of voice to call it that." He adds as we are teleported back into the station.

Jumping directly to the farewell tomorrow.

>>30355502
Uhm, I think that's a euphemism somewhere. Anyway, I'll be here the whole time.

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>>30359218
"It's an innuendo."
"Oh." Ross looks surprised for a moment. "I am bad at those, aren't I?"
"You are."
"I don't know how didn't I realize it before."
"We'll get there."
He pauses for a moment, "It's like being jerked."
"Huh?"
"Turning off. You never notice being turned off, just the jump of consciousness. It's... jerking and sudden. And a little scary."
"Don't worry, I'll be there."

And timejump.

"Are you well?"
Ross' legs twitch, "Just getting used to it." He pauses for a split second too long, "Being in a body-sized server is... so small."
Amber hops onto the ship, carrying her bags, "So we are going."
"Yeah." I say, then repeat it to myself. "Yeah."
"Guys?" Hotfix peeks into the ship, "I, er, have a favor to ask you. Me and Kub."
"I am not a guy." Says Amber plainly.
"She doesn't want to raise the kid off-world." Hotfix ignores Amber, "And the next ship going to one might take several weeks, and she's not feeling like waiting, and..." He leaves it in the air uncomfortably.


Pic related are loose Rust Bucket's above views. The green lines are doors, and all doors and walls are sound proof.

>>30360688
You guys want a lift? I'm good with that.

>>30360717
I share a look with Amber, "If you guys want a lift I wouldn't mind."
"It /is/ seventeen hours in a small ship." Says Ross, then rushes to add, "I don't mind either, but someone oughts to say it."
"I know, I know..." Hotfix whines, "But we didn't expect a kid and it hit Kub hard."
"Far?" Calls mom from outside.
"Huh?" I give a last look to the console -no red lights, so everything should be ok- and walk out of the ship. Mom is sitting near the door, holding a sandalwood box half as long as I am.
She offers it to me, and after a moment I recognize the box-- it's her shotgun's case, which I've only ever seen a few times in my life.
"Mom?" My eyes moisten.
She pushes it closer to me, nearly hitting me on the neck, "Take it before I regret this."

>>30361510
Thanks mom. Love you too.

>>30361510
Hug

>>30364500 >>30361543
"I--" I gulp, "You are giving me your shotgun?"
"It's a good gun." She nods to herself, looking at it.
I grab her in a hug, "Thanks. For everything."
"Take care of it." She pats my back, "All of it. Rust bucket, my gun and yours, even Pensa."
"They are a lot like you,"
"Too old for their own good?" She asks sarcastically.
"They don't know when to give up." I add.
"Just take care of them, will you?" She lets go of me, "Pensa's got a few tricks under the hood."
"I will."
"And oil the guns. The last person you should be unable to rely on is yourself."
"I know." I let go of her too "And I will."
"Don't forget, will you? Now get going."
"Yeah, we just have to-- Rune?"
The colt stares at me, silent as always.
"What are you doing up so early?"
He opens his mouth, and I find myself feeling expectation for it.
"Bye." It's all he says.
I blink a few times at that. "Goodbye."
He waves a hoof at Coti, who is curled into a ball inside, and turns around to walk off the room.
I kiss mom's cheek -it might be the last time we see in a while- and, once Kublai has entered the ship, take off.
There's several minutes of pregnant silence.
Then a few hours. Kublai is rocking her kid on a corner, having let Coti blanket them and Hotfix with his leafy tail after his tenth try to do so.
"So." Asks Ross after tapping a wall for a while. "What's the name?"
Hotfix gives Kublai a moment to answer, but she doesn't. "We haven't named it yet."

Oh, and paused. And sorry for the delay of course.

>>30364727
You guys going with a pony name or a changeling one? Or maybe both?

Hail Hitler

>>30366605
"Were you thinking about a changeling or a pony name?"
"We haven't chosen yet." Says Hotfix uncomfortably.
Ross is silent for a moment, deep in thought, "If I can ask, did you /want/ a kid?"
Hotfix shares a look with Kublai. She doesn't answer.

>>30368918
So no, not really. That's fine you know? You don't have to feel guilty about it.

>>30369243
"it's fine," I give a look to the others- Amber seems too uncomfortable to say anything and Ross too distracted, so I keep talking, "You didn't expect to have one."
"I didn't know 'ling pregnancy was so... sudden." Adds Ross, "It seemed to last a week and you didn't even have time to realize what it was."
Kublai starts crying.

>>30370084
Okay, looks that that subject is going to be touchy.
We should talk about something else. Put some music on, look at the stars. Maybe they could show the babu.

>>30370084
This ship have a restroom right?

The one cry is a female changeling? I really need to read up on this stuff.

>>30370122
>>30370889
"Do you want us to take care of it for a bit?"
Hotfix nods and takes the grub from an ever so slightly reticent Kublai to give it to me, then takes her to the small room at the back of the ship, her wings dragging.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7W_hiBK8Os
The sudden music jerks Amber from the surprise, and Ross gives her a small apologetic smile.
"I thought it might lighten the mood." He says.
Amber doesn't answer at first, staring at the stars outside, "Which one is Homeworld?"
"Well, it'd be around there." Ross points at a star, "Our expansion is roughly a spiral with four points, so..." Ross notices Amber's disinterest and falls silent.
I snap myself off making faces at the grub and turn to Amber, "What are you thinking about?"
"Nothing." She says all too distractedly.
"You seem thoughtful." Says Ross.
"What if I am?"
Ross makes a face, so I say the words for him, "You aren't the most contemplative pony."
Amber doesn't react at first despite Ross' obvious cringing, instead taking a moment to talk, "They've been together for as long as I remember."
"Kub and 'Fix?" I look at the star that is supposedly Homeworld, "And I still don't know how old they are."
"I know who knows." Amber bumps her flank against Ross'
"That's confidential information." He says defensively.
"I know, I know... but what if the grub's what takes them apart for good?"

Ye, Kublai is the female changeling and very recent parent. Also see >>30360688
ANd paused, of course.

Bomb

>>30372013
MILFling hon hon hon hon hon hon hon hon hon hon hon

>>30372013
Or it finally brings them together properly. I think once the shock passes they'll work it out.

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>>30373858
>>30373768
"They just need some time to think," I give her some time to answer, but she doesn't, "You know, I would've thought you'd be all over Kub right now. Didn't you think moms are hot?"
She clicks her tongue and hits my flanks with her tail, "Don't you start."

>>30376465
More teasing.
Really I hope she's alright. (Whisper) why do you think she was crying? Didn't want a kid?

>>30380051

>>30380688

>>30378585
"You do though."
"So what?" Her gaze falls slightly lower, "I hate it when people cries."
"It's fine."
"Sometimes I wish people could just be happy."
"But sadness is part of the variability of experience that characterizes sapience, and of growth." Pips in Ross.
"What?" Asks Amber.
"I..." He falls silent for a moment, "Nevermind me, I'll jut shut up."

No more updates today because of stuff

>>30382943
Bless you Ross, you try. What he ment to say Amber, is without the bad we couldn't value the good so much.

>>30382943
Hug Ross.
We movin and how long?