A Bit(e) of Hope (Private)

He felt maybe there was something to make from the situation. It took him a moment, a deep hum of thought, when he perked up to once more recall what Sky had said. "Wait...! It can still be like that for you both. It's not just you two, I'm also here after all. Share part of your responsibilities with me, I can do more than just taxi you two around after all." He figured, maybe, that they had been working together for so long that having more help along wasn't even something worth considering till recently.

lightnings face went stiff with a look of mass concentration, it was as if you had asked a random poney off the street and asked them to calculate a full set of qubit calculations all in there head, a moment passed and lightning seemed to have worked out what it was that was bugging her and she looked back to the stallion, "so, i dont need her all the time,, but thats not what she wants, a break is good but she wants me there too,," she put her thumb and fore finger on her forehead and closed her eyes. "but how would i even alleviate my tasks on you," her eyes opened and she again locked eye contact "i'm not saying your not intelligent, i would have no clue on that grounds but this stuff is very high end,, and even if i did get you to do some of my work, what would i even do with sky, talk to her about how shitty of a sister i was when she was 16 and i was 5, how when her leg started to go green the only reason i felt worried was because my aperatus didnt work,," her arm began to flair up with electricity as her emotions spiked "i'm better now but when i look at her all i see is who i was and why she is how she is." the sparks had stopped but when she removed her thumb there was a mild burn where her thumb had rested "if you want to be more than a taxi then tell me what to do.." her voice seemed defeated at this point drenched in sorrow.

Sugary was very perplexed this time. He managed to set in the right attitude, but learned how... eccentric a view on life Lightning seemed to have as she analyzed things. He looked a bit dumbfounded really. "Uuuhhh... Yes... Good... As long as you acknowledge that you feel you've changed to know what maybe not to do again... Um..." He fiddled with the controls a bit idly. "Just... Let me see what you normally work with for now. Anything I can look after in your place once in a while might give you two that free time you need. She did want this trip to be more fun, so... Splitting tasks between three instead of two might do just that... So..." He looked outside, pointing to her devices. "What else are you gonna be doing with that?"

lightning took a breath to calm her head then spoke, "for now its just needed to measure what magic is here when fine tuned it could be used to mass grow produse, later however they will be used to measure random ambient magic, with our next stop tho it will be magic based, this is not of use for us" pointed to the ground beside her and a odd gold spire grew " this will be used to focus magic to the batteries ill construct in my workshop slash office" she pointed at the devise once more and watched it vanish as if it was never there.

Sugary followed at least half of her explanation well enough. He understood magic, her explanation of it... not as much, but he tried as his expression went from blank to mild realization. "I see... Though in my experience, trying to find shortcuts to growing food tends to be... volatile." He cringed a bit at an old memory. "I was raised in a farming village and all... Still, I would love to share bad experiences I've seen, I'm sure that'd help your research some. Maybe I'll even be able to recognize some safe wavelengths if my memory is sharp enough..." He hummed, looking at the now nothing except for Sky being outside. "... But otherwise, I'd sure love to see good results from this. Never enough good food to go around if you ask me." His enthusiasm showed, looking eager to literally pluck the fruits of the labor eventually.

"maybe, but, eh we will see, if you think your up for it then, next job we do" she twiddled a dial and pressed a button on her panel "ill leave you incharge, for now tho we need to set a course to our next air stop" she tapped the nigh invisible bubble and like that is faded "take this part at your own pace maybe we could all use this time to get to know each other" she picked up her tablet and it all shrank back to its original size, "honestly we could do with some time for us all to be together" she effortlessly volted down to the door that led to the stairs bellow, where she made her way to the living quarters.

He'd get a word in as she left, speaking up even to make his point. "Don't worry about my pacing, I'll get us moving either way, we did just get started and all that. Settle things with Sky in the meantime, I'll be joining you both below shortly." And so he did, examining things as he saw fit for a while on the bridge before going down to check on them to discuss.

sky since leaving had made herself aware of the new layout, not much had changed just some rooms had been added. she had found her way to the living quarters, equipt with coffee machine and kettle. she was sat on the sofa with her hands on her cheeks and elbows on her lap. when she heard the footsteps she was rushed with anxiety, nervousness and excitement. this became more extreme when lightning stepped through the door forcing sky to sit up. lightning sighed "hey, uh so i spoke with Surgary,," "oh?,," sky replied not really surprised but more put it on for show. "yeah, um,, well, i'm not going to retrace our talk but look we spoke and ill have more free time to 'chill' with you and we can be closer again, if that's what you want" sky smiled, her cheeks becoming rosey "lighting, i know how difficult that must have been for you, thanks" and with that the gigantic mare stood and lifted up the shorter mare in a bear hug and a half.

Sugary would soon go downstairs to join them just as he intended before getting a move on again, but he did need to see what the redecorating was like. As soon as he went into the room they made for themselves, he looked rather impressed. "Wow... If I wasn't intending to keep the Black Mambo doing cargo work for quite a while longer, I'd say this is the perfect way to expand living space..." He looked to the both sheepishly, noticing their bear hug proper. "And I hope I'm not interrupting... Anyway, I just wanted to see what you did with the place before we got going again. Granted, our next location will take longer to get to, so anything you gals need from me now?"

sky turned with a gig smile, it was obvious she had gotten some uplifting news, it also seemed like she had been burnt alittle by the lightning she was hugging as her closes and armour was partly missing, and was in fact, on the ground next to the frazzled lightning who was still dealing with the hug. sky spoke up. "interrupting?, don't be silly, you, im sure are part of why i'm so happy.", she quickly approached the stallion the smile beeing and her blue eyes shining. with almost no time in the action she swiftly pulled him into a hug lifting him up, a mild crushing into her breasts, the hug lasted 5 seconds before she dropped him to his feet with an innocent smile on her face. "thank you, as for needing anything, i'm fine, how about you lightning she turned to look at the lightning still on the ground, "hehe, i guess shes not too good with hugs, i think we have all we need for now, thank you." lightning pointed in agreement to sky still shaking a little.

Having a happy Sky and seemingly content Lightning in the new living space after talks was fine and dandy for Sugary. It was also fine and dandy that friendship progress was being made already after a few talks, so maybe all it took was a little encouragement out of an old loop. It most certainly was fine and dandy that Sky picked him up and hugged him against her very supple body; That he was struggling a little to breathe while keeping a strained smile was a different matter as he was released back down, gasping for a bit of air at first, looking to both with a forced but eager grin. "... G-Great...! You ladies just relax, and I'll keep us going then... T-There is work ahead, sure, but I encourage you to take a chance and see the scenery we pass by on the way there... Hopefully, you'll s-see soothing views as well..."

With that, he let the mares be again, figuring his suggestion would do them well for reminiscing, and maybe spare one of them a loving vice grip while keeping something cheery worth talking over and admiring... And so, the airship would move to its next destination, at a less than maximum throttle to give them time to enjoy themselves, if even for a couple extra minutes, before he would have to announce the arrival to their next aerial destination...

Lightning took a moment to recover, the scene had, in the time Sugary had been gone, becoming Lightning shaking mildly on the floor and Sky lightly patting her on the shoulder. Lightning soon after swithelled her body around and lifted the front half with a shaking arms as she regained her composure. until she did so Sky had been hunched over her looking a tad worried, but with this development her face reflected relief.

Lightning looked up at her large companion with a disgruntled and distressed face as she pulled her legs and knees underneath herself to be in a sitting position "i..i know.. we are being more.. friendly.. but never Ever, do that again.." her voice still shaken and her body still mildly quivering, her voice spoke not with anger nor aggression, but in a sense, she was pleading. Sky lightly laughed in admittance of her clumsiness. "heh, I'm sorry Lightning, i got a tad too excited... you ok?" she asked censerly, a light sense of regret on her face. "I.. I'll be ok,, i just need,, a drink i think" she looked around, at Sky and recalled her interaction with Sugary. "Uh, Sky, by the way, your boobs are almost hanging out,, and i half recon you crushed our stallion companion into them" she sighed "you need to be more careful, especially when You are in control, i know you find it hard, but your naivety could put you and the rest in trouble." Sky looked down her, very blue eyes looking away from the electrically charged mare "I'm sorry Lightning..." Sky uttered in a hushed manner.

Lightning sat up and pulled herself onto her knees from Sky's shoulders to be eye level with her large comaninion. "look, don't be sorry and don't get like this, its a mistake you make sometimes sure, and that makes it your personal challenge, it may not be easy and it may be yet harder with those around you like Pink or Gold who cope so well where you do not but you'll get nowhere from giving up, you just gotta push on ok, and by doing that you'll prove you're stronger than either of, them." Lightning managed a convincing smile and patted a her larger friend on the shoulder, and with that Sky once more shon a weak grin and the both got up.

Lightning stretched and shon a sheepish grin as she realised that the high voltage exchange they had had earlier had wrecked not just the front of Sky's clothing but also her own, exposeing the edgemost of her ariolas clevige and all the way down a few inches past her naivle "heh... i recon we might both benefit from a change of clothes aye, i packed our stuff properly and added some room to our halves of our room so you should find everything ok.", Sky followed with a blush and a mild giggle "i think that may be a very good idea heheh" she said with a cheery soft tone, before tho both made there way to their rooms to change.

Back on the bridge, Sugary stretched himself out a bit with some relief as Sky's crushing hug from earlier actually did wonders for his back, though he still regarded her might with caution. "I feel great, but she could crush a boulder with that kind of muscle. Good thing I'm pretty sturdy myself... Don't think Lightning took it as well though. I hope they're settling things well... But what was up with their clothes? Singed, burned, and their bodies almost bare! Or Sky's anyway... A lovely sight, but what was that all about...!?"He would remain deeply confused, and slightly aroused, by the matter as it meant he got somewhat of a feel for Sky's natural body, odd as it may have been.

In due time, once he kept the airship in place proper up very high in the air, he would once again go back down to check on them after giving them some more time alone as well as tell them of the mission as he gently knocked on the door to their room. "Hey, ladies? We're at cruising altitude. Need anything?" His gaze seemed to have a soft glow to it, seemingly reflecting the view one would have as if staring out from the bridge to make sure there was nothing to immediately concern about at such a speed.

Lightning waved her hands as some outfits floated up from which to choose, whilst they span arounder her she began to take of what she had currently been wearing, starting with her corset that was completely ruined, and unlike before had no need to be squeezed past her breasts but simply came off with it being pulled. her shirt was next, this too was to be scrapped, but as the organised person she was she undid every button that had remained and staked the folded garment on top of her corset. she was not one for bras and this was no exception, with her torso fully exposed she stretched in the cool room with a pleased smile on her face. she let her hands flop to her side and pull down her plated trousers, they had remained unscaved but there was no point wearing them any more if she wasn't wearing the matching attire.
and there she stood in the nude, mildly chlenching her butocks to loosen her white panties, placing her two thumbs in the elastic to loosen them further and letting them ping back to send a ripple over her butocks, completely visably due to her rather tightly fitted underwear.

To describe lightnings body in one word, you'd come to but this, 'lucky' she fulfilled few specialty fetishes, but that did not mean she wasn't attractive, in all terms she was, and in fact very few could look at her and not be impressed. her buttocks were round and perky, and certainly not small, they were the sort anyone would be tempted to grope, given the chance. they were connected too her rather sizable hips and hip bone, nothing outlandish tho very characteristic of people from her homeland, almost childbearing one could say. heading down would be her thighs, soft at rest but hard as stone when tensed maybe a slight layer of soft still resting on top and large, connecting perfectly to her hips and buttocks, the left little room for such things as a high gap, these legs again quite common for her home land, but still impressive, her stature was not tall and imposing but nor was it meek at an average 5ft 6. alternately moving up her body one would find a average waist, smooth soft and supple, accompanied by a very mildly soft tummy. finally at her upper torso one would find her 2 respectable but not overbearing 32c sized breasts and torso, connected to two smooth sloping shoulders , despite the left meeting with a gap into metal and gears, this gap then became cothered by 2 petals of synthetic flesh.

it took her a moment, choosing which outfit, feeling free in her skin, and being able to take a breather. choosing her outfit wasn't hard, a white suit shirt, plum red thin tights, a coal gray skirt, a one piece sock garter belt, a pair of over the calf white lacy cotton socks, and a high collared chestless coal gray waistcoat. she first slid her tights up squeezing the tights over her butt, giving it a bit of a jiggle. next she put on her closely fitted shirt that fit around her breasts supporting them mildly well. that was when Sugar came to the door. she walked over waving her outfits away excluding what she was yet to put on of her current outfit.
she pulled the door open and smiled softly, "how about you come in, ill have to explain to you how the door works now." she walked over to her bed and bent over picking up her socks and garter belt off the floor and placing it on the bed where she then sat moving her finger pulling a chair out from under a desk and swiveling it around to face her. if he did as she said the door would close behind him.

Sugary would accept Lightning's invitation, but his gaze seemed to linger on her overall some more this time, her current attire more alluring and colorful than the last one as she walked away from him, giving him another look to her backside. He would then also look to the room curiously, still not used to the remodeling she had done in such a short time; It made him feel like there was a house within his house as he was alone in a new room with her.

He then looked back very surprised at the door closing by itself. "Oh...! Automated...? Interesting..." He then looked to her with a soft smile. "Sure, I could use some pointers with the changes. I was also hoping to know if the ride's been stable for you so far, we really are rather high up and all."

lightning giggled as she pulled up her skirt, "no, that's not what i meant, in fact i closed it there. technically this is the same room sky is in, but obviously its not, the rooms are occupying the the same sace in the form of pocket dimensions those windows behind me may look like they are normal enough but they are a projection, the door acts as a portal that relies on the user thinking of the room they want to enter, but, i cant imagine you particularly wanted to see me over sky, hmm? in this case it was likely due to be being the last to enter the room." she next picked up her garter belt, and slid its waist up to her hips she pulled up her shirt holding the bottom under her chin exposing only her tummy, and pulled the garter belt to her waist the leg straps the whole time had made there way up her legs and had tightly squeezed her calves, then thighs. this marked her tucking her shirt and buckling her skirt. "understand?"

Sugary looked to Lightning with a knowing gaze, as well as a curious glint from his eyes towards her along with a soft grin. "... Quite well, actually. It's just still a little surprising, really, how skilled at manipulating matter you are..." He looked to her clothes as she put them on, as well as seemingly more intently to her bionic parts. "But you have such an odd signature... Like magic, and yet almost not... Some kind of augmentation perhaps...? I came to check on how you were doing, but uh..." He cleared his throat a bit, chuckling softly. "I suppose discussing temporal warping in a localized environment sounds thrilling." Despite his somewhat rugged looks, he was still a unicorn in the end, and magic matters mattered to him, especially now that he looked to her with increasing interest.

she looked at him with a mild surprised look on her face, almost caught off guard, she paused for a moment then smiled, "you could pick that huh?" she smiled and unbuttoned the top button on her shirt, took a breath and looked at sugary with a stern face "look, i'm gonna show you something, its pretty big, but you have to be adult about this, got it?" her voice was flat, it wasn't like she was angry or expecting to be so, just very serious, like if you failed you would regret it more than anything ever. the question was proven to be rhetorical as she finnished undoing her shirt, it was still closed, when mild shakes came over her body, she took a breath and took the shirt off, her chest was fully out, her nigh perfect breasts hung on her chest, her garter belt visibly clinging to her body but most importantly her bionic shoulder plate was fully visible. it took a second before she opened her eyes and looked straight to her left shoulder, placing her hand on the clearly bionic part, and clicked something, she slid a pannal open and pressed a button inside, with that her arm opened in a spectacular fashion, her normal looking arm now open the realistic plates slid behind each other on the back of her arm, exposing a small box and some other compartments as well as the parts that made it work. she turned to face market fully expecting shock and horror.

Rather than any real shock, or anything resembling horror of any kind, Sugary had been carefully watching and listening to Lightning as she revealed herself to him. If anything, a little smile entered the edge of his lips and his tail swayed at all that he saw, fascinated and allured, ever more as he curiously approached her, his eyes slowly wandering from her breasts to her arm more; Well, at least she learned he found her attractive enough.

But when his entire focus was on the arm, he looked to it all rather intently, slowly reaching to touch her hand with his. "Can you... feel that? I've seen a few mechanical limbs before, but nothing like this... Not this detailed, lively, and warm..." His eyes had a certain glow to them, a way to show he likely did have a means to catch and feel there was more to her all along from the moment they met, only now realizing what it really meant.

she raised her hand meeting his and holding it aloft. "i can, this model i designed with realism in mind, i guess after 12 years of ponies gorking at me, i wanted to, i don't know, blend in i guess, maybe i should do the same with my" she coughed "eye, or rather lack thereof" she put her right hand to her fringe that partially covered her left eye and tucked the fring behind her ear, this exposed her very pure white eye patch and rather nasty scar that went from below her brow to her upper cheek, it was eventually a burn scar, and seemed to have had lacerations in the past. "your a man of the sky so i expect you've seen worse but,, don't make me regret this ok?" she reached for the eyepatch and took it off, there was not so much as a remnant of the eye, the burning ended with cracks along the eye lid and that intern led to the socket, it seemed to have been filled, a white plastic like material lined the socket making a cylindrical socket with a small devised inside "its hooked up to my optical nerve, and wirelessly decodes the info from the cameras in the eyepatch, in a way i can leave this eyepatch somewhere and use it as a security camara." she said looking at the eyepatch.

He would look to her bionic eye and scarred half with a light twitch of his own eyes, the sight reasonably unsettling in itself to him, but looked upon her afterwards as he would most; Albeit the same intrigue and curiosity as with her arm, which he lightly grasped at her hand a little just to feel it for himself, and her own grasp, more.

He began to wonder something, humming of it in mild hesitation. "... Was all this the result of your ambitious ideas, or the inspiration for it? It's tragic, but very marvelous craft." He hoped she would understand his curiosity of asking a bit about her past.

she laughed softly, thinking back on her younger years, "i was, i'm not sure, 4? i think, and i wanted to do some experiments with magnetism and its effect on magic, i had set up loads of equipment, all of which i made, being homeless at the time, in the street class,, buying it wasn't an option" she place the eyepatch on the bed and stroked through her hair "so i bet your wondering 'where did i get the power to run it all the without access to any electricity or anything' i had this idea, if i got a big enough battery, and hooked a lightning rod to it, i could used that, then pas it through an oscillator and i'm set,, well it never got that far, i was moving the rod, had a good day or 2 before the storm hit so it was all safe. i lifted it , got a winch and raised it into the sky, not this was a big pole, im en at least 3 stories tall if not taller, it was almost ready wen it started leaning, rushed to correct it when something weird happened, these bright lights in the sky, like the arora but more rainbow coloured etched across the sky, well to put it simply it seamed to act like electricity but was magic, struck the rod, i was the ground, my body tried to stop it with my internal magic, it collided my arm became white hot shrapnel and goo. woke up a day later, no one had found me, but fortunately it had quarterized itself, and i had to spend a week fixing myself up, i realised i needed an arm so it took me about a month to perfect thanks to the reatempt of my experiment, and from there i just made them better really." she sighed and flopped onto her back slipping away from markets grip as the arm closed itself up. "heh, i don't know why i'm opening up to you so much, but if you wanted something to take away from all this, today you got so see the chest of a cyborg princess so yo have that, aye"

Sugary looked to Lightning rather perplexed by the end of it all, though smiling as well as he regarded her well yet very curiously. "My goodness, all that since you were four!? Talk about prodigial ambition, no wonder your magitech is this refined... Still, a shame that Zapple season would have you harmed. At least, the way you described that lightning makes it seem like that was the season it happened..." He leaned in a bit to sniff the air close to her. "Not like apples... But still pleasant." said he softly.

He would also keep in mind what she said about being a street class, not intending to ask much about that, instead focusing on her supposed title with a smirk. "... And what's what about you being a cyborg princess? That you've made yourself a very successful mare nowadays in magitechnology, or are you just teasing me about seeing a chest worthy of Noble beauty?" For all he knew, it could be both, but he was just as interested in her accomplishments as he was in admiring her looks further.

Lightning cocked her eyebrow with a smirk, “you sir, are an ass” using magic she swiftly moved herself to a standing position left hands on her and right hand pointing at him, “what kind but a huge one, with what intelligence you have, and the experience, you think you’d know how to handle a woman such as I, but here we are, leaving you ample opportunity to compliment me and you ask in which way I meant what I said, an ass is you” her pose became hunched in defeat as if defeated every movement she made theatrical and exaggerated. She raised her head “but perhaps, sweet, charming in fact, perhaps your fondness to know my history is based in actual caring,,” she replanted her hand upon her hip and had her finger now but centre meters away from his face “ah” she exclaimed “but perhaps this was your plan, what cunning trap have you tricked me into, you are a fox, no, a brute” she jumped upon her bed now pointing down at him, “yes, you slid past my defences such a kind and caring man with such sugared words, not to shower me in sugar as to not spoil me, how I could have known this was your plan, trapping such a defenceless, beautiful, young, and kind lady, within this room, to be at your disposal, truly you are a brute, a brute I say.” This entire time, though lightnings face was convincingly emoted, there had been and air to her voice, theatrical and intestinally inaccurate. “I will have to watch this one “she said staring him down before bursting out laughing, not cripplingly so but to a hearty amount. “oh, that was very fun, I see why she does it, I must get Menacy to teach me more of this, what do you think?” she asked still giggling.

He scrunched his muzzle at the sudden and jarring change in her tone and apparent demeanor. "Huh...?" But steadily as she spoke on and his head tried to figure out what was going on, he eventually began to ease up and smile as he followed along with what she was doing and saying.

He stood up and took a bow. "Impressive! You've discovered my master plan..." He then looked up and winked. "Or have you...?" He chuckled as he stood up straight again, hands behind his back, looking to her a little bit more fondly. "... Fair lady of the machina, I would continue to delve into your genius, and doing so..." He leaned closer somewhat with a smile. "... Uncover more ways to admire your charm and true beauty..." He then grinned and cocked a brow. "But again, what's that 'Princess' thing about?" It seemed he wasn't unfamiliar with some form of theater style, having the good humor to not question her moment as he genuinely still wanted to talk to her more.