The TexRAP 4300 · 2:24am Dec 17th, 2012
This is a little excerpt from the upcoming chapter. Expect a few changes between here and there
* * *
"We're almost done! Just one last thing. Are you ready for this, Fluttershy?"
"I... Um, I think so." she smiled.
"That doesn't sound very enthusiastic. Come on, let's hear some excitement!" Trent clapped his hands together.
"Oh, um. Yaay?"
"That's the spirit! Now you’re going to love this. I swear, this will knock your socks off! If you have socks, that is."
Fluttershy's eyes grew wide in sudden shock.
"But... What? Why? Why would it do that? What would happen to my socks?"
"We can rebuild them. Longer, warmer, fuzzier. We have the technology." Trent grinned.
The canary yellow pegasus prepared to deliver an exasperated retort, but she paused suddenly. Her head cocked to the side and her ears folded down in confusion.
"Trent? That wasn't a joke.. was it?"
"No. Not this time. Allow me to present to you, the pinnacle of rapid sock prototyping technology. Behold! The TexRAP 4300!" He gestured to a black circular platform in the corner of the room.
She rolled her eyes slightly, regarding the squat uninspiring obect. The surface was inset with tiny spheres arranged like the cells of a honeycomb. Curiously, she tapped at the surface, feeling her hoof slip effortlessly across the rolling beads.
"And, this is how you make socks?"
Trent chuckled, shaking his head.
"No. This is just where you get measured for them."
"Ohh. Um. I guess... I mean, it seems like a lot of trouble just to make socks."
"No trouble at all," Trent said, tapping at the squat grey console next to the platform. "And it's not just for socks. Sometimes it makes gloves too."
“What?”
“They’re like socks for your hands!”
She lifted her hoof, waving it rhetorically.
"Is there anything else it makes?"
"Just clothes. But a certain type of clothes."
“What kind?”
“Well, you want to fly a space plane, right?”
She nodded.
“Then you need a space suit. Those are the rules. No exceptions.”
“But..”
“No exceptions.”
“But what does it actually do?” she said through gritted teeth.
“Well, hop up there and we’ll find out.”
She hopped and hovered, flying over the center of the pad at a deliberately casual pace. The beaded surface remained firm as her hooves made contact, and she stood tall.
“Like many semi-autonomous artificial intelligence systems, the TexRAP 4300 began life as an automated sewing machine.”
“What?”
Trent tapped a button at the console, and the surface of the pad sank into a shallow bowl shape. The beads rolled freely, and the wide-eyed bright yellow pegasus squealed as she slid around like a slab of butter in a hot frying pan.
“Trent!” she screamed, as she tried to gallop away from the suddenly surprisingly slippery surface.
“You’re doing great!”
“TRENT!”
She spread her wings and lifted off from the pad, turning mid-air to glare at him.
“That’s very good too, but we still need to map out your locomotive biometrics. Oh, and could I ask you to stick this in your mouth?” he thrust a pair of clear plastic hoses that terminated into a single mouthpiece within inches of her lips.
“What is that?” she demanded, with what modicum of patience she had left.
“This tube gives you air, and this tube takes it away. Together, they can tell how much air you need, how fast you need it, and what partial pressure of which atmospheric component contributes to your metabolic activity.”
“...Why?”
“Because if it’s going to make a space suit, it has to be as functional as it is unfashionable. It acts as a life support system, which means that in order to support your life,” he tapped one finger against her scrunched nose, “it needs to know what keeps you alive.”
“Well, okay. Um. What happens now?”
"The TexRAP 4300 will perform a mostly non-invasive scan of your body and bone structure. If all goes well, it may call back for a second date."
Her hoof shot to her forehead, yet her cheeks reddened slightly.
“Don’t worry. I was only half joking. Now, put the tube back in your mouth, and look at the screen on the back wall.”
“MmmmMph?”
“The screen,” he pointed. “It’s like a giant picture frame that shows moving images.”
“Mmmf. Mpphaaay.”
She turned. Her jaw dropped.
Stretching across the wall was a modestly enormous display. The sort of screen that was meant for displaying major league sports games, decorating corporate lobbies, or serving as an impressively expensive prop in a thrilling high tech procedural drama television show. Of all the ways to describe it, ‘overcompensating’ would be somewhere in the top three.
The size of the screen did not startle Fluttershy. It was the life sized image of her from multiple angles, as a bizarre and grotesque splatch of false colors. Her hooves were a ghostly blue, fading into a light greenish yellow that ran up her legs into the nebulous reds and yellows of her body. She stared into a reflection of her face, blazing white and red in an unnervingly demonic clown-like visage.
“T.. Trent?” she stammered, as the mouthpiece fell from her hanging jaw.
“Don’t be scared now. It’s nothing to worry about. Do you remember earlier when we talked about heat, light, and radio being the same thing, but occupying different frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum?”
She nodded slowly, not taking her eyes off of the false color reflection.
“This is what you look like in visible light.”
He tapped at the console, and the image turned to an exact replica of her, down to the ridges of her pinion feathers and the fluffy yellow fur of her chest.
“Oh...” she turned and looked around, failing to see the cameras that apparently surrounded her.
“And this is infrared, which shows the heat that your body gives off. In other words, it’s how hot you look.”
Her ears twitched at the casually implied double entendre, as the image reverted to the splotchy false color representation. She felt a slight blush creep over her face, and watched in abrupt horror as her face blazed in white luminance.
“And this is what you look like in radio.”
Trent tapped the console again, and the vibrantly colored visible embarrassment disappeared, replaced by a ghostly grey translucence. The skin and fur and feathers were nowhere to be seen. Only a pulsating mass of organs suspended between spindly white bone. Two wide empty eye sockets staring back at her.
She raised her wings, stretching them to their full range. On the screen, a nightmarish rendition stood, experimentally flapping the stubby bones tipped with piercing claws.
“Ohh... My.”
“Now before you ask, the radio-magnetic field is generated elsewhere on the ship, and is simply allowed to manifest in the exact location of your body. That’s why every metallic object in the room isn’t hurtling towards you at terminal velocity. It’s also why objects like this tablet can be suspended mid-air,” he waved the matchbook sized computer at her before dropping it at arms length, letting it float upon unseen forces.
The screen went blank, save for a green dot.
“Okay now. Do you see the light on the screen? I want you to walk towards it. Put the tube back in your mouth first, though.”
She nodded, huffing through the plastic tube as she began to trot in the shallow depression. Her hooves slid effortlessly across the surface, with just enough resistance to mimic pushing off against the ground.
“Now do you see that red dot on the screen? Walk towards the green dot, but point your head at the red one.”
She stepped forth at a measured pace, as the red dot raced around all four corners of the screen.
"Very good. Now trot. Gallup. Back to trotting. Attempt to walk to the left slightly. Follow the light. Good. Now more to the left. Now back to the right. More... Good. Now dance. Dance for the TexRAP 4300!”
Fluttershy twisted her neck around and glared.
“Right. Moving on. Let’s see your range of motion for inclined planes.”
The surface of the platform fluidly transformed into flat tilted disc. The rollers gently began to spin again, and she had to walk to avoid sliding off. The walk became a trot, and eventually an uphill gallup. Slowly, the surface tilted forward, until she was forced to backpedal to remain in place.
“Very good. Almost done with this portion.”
The surface separated into a raised bands, rolling forward like an escalator in an alternate non-symmetrical dimension. She clopped up the temporary staircase, watching the smaller version of herself march upward in the corner of the screen.
“Now for the fun part.”
The surface returned to a flat configuration, and the rolling beads became firm and fixed.
“What now?” she asked, letting the hose slip from her mouth and retract back into the box mounted overhead.
“Well now it knows what you look like. But if it’s going to make you a suit, it needs to know what you feel like, as well.”
“Feel like..? How does it.. EEEEK!” she jumped backwards, recoiling at the sudden sight of a robotic armature inching towards her foreleg.
“It’s perfectly fine! Jeez, I’ve known cats that make better friends with vacuum cleaners. Now, all you have to do, is put your hoof down, and let the TexRAP 4300 do it’s magic.”
“It has magic?” she asked incredulously.
“Sufficiently advanced technology.”
“Trent!”
“It’s fine. Just stand in the middle of the platform. Trust me.”
“...Okay.”
The robotic prong gently clamped around one canary yellow hoof. Slowly and deliberately, the prong raised itself by several inches, gently squeezing her ankle between the green plastic rollers. It rose until it met her shoulder, pressed firmly against the underside of her ribcage.
“Oh. Um.. Eeep! Sorry. That kind of tickles.”
“You’re doing good.”
The armature split apart, pressing the rollers against her back and sides. It made several passes, fluidly tilting to remain in contact as it traced the contours from her neck down to her rear hooves.
“Phase two is finished.”
The armature returned back to the base of her front hoof.
“Phase two?..”
The two skinny rollers exploded into fat inflated cylinders, squeezing the volume of space once occupied by Fluttershy’s ankle. There was a flash of pink and a blur of yellow.
Trent looked up to see her clinging to the conduit raceway overhead.
“Um, yes. And that would be phase three. Sorry. I forgot that it might be surprising like that. It’s been a little while since I’ve used one of these.”
She sighed, gently bashing her forehead against the steel pipe from which she hung.
“I’m sorry if that frightened you.”
“No. It’s perfectly all right,” she asserted, dropping from the overhead and flipping upright as she fell. “Let’s just get this over with.”
“Are you sure?”
“Well, I’ve come this far, haven’t I?” She stated hotly, staring at the far wall, avoiding eye contact.
Her hoof stomped on the platform in front of the robotic arm, daring it to approach.
Trent tapped at the console, freezing the armature in place.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“You seem a little upset.”
She sucked in a deep breath through gritted teeth, before sighing loudly.
“I can’t do this,” she whispered.
“Are you so sure about that?”
She turned back to look at Trent, nodding weakly.
“You said I would need to be brave. I can’t be brave. You saw me. Why do you think I can do this, if I’m frightened by something that you barely noticed?”
“Are you still frightened by that, now that you’ve seen it?”
“Well... No.”
“But you’re afraid that you’ll never stop being frightened? Of the unknown?”
One foreleg pressed across her face as she stifled a sob.
“Yes.”
Trent walked around the console and sat down next to the weeping pegasus.
“And right now, you’re expecting me to say that you can do it, right? Give you enough of a morale boost to overcome this little obstacle, until you run into something else that gives you another scare, and then we’re back to where we started. An endless circle that you can’t break. Is that why you’re frustrated? Why you’re angry at yourself? Not because you were frightened, but because you think you’ll always be frightened?”
Her voice cracked and the answer died in her throat, but it was understood clearly enough.
“It’s okay.”
“No. I’m not like you, Trent. I’m not even like other ponies. I...”
“Shhh. It’s okay to be scared sometimes. Do you think it never happens to me either?”
“I.. No. I don’t think you would be scared of things like me.”
“There are things that scare me, Fluttershy. Things you haven’t seen before, but they terrify me just the same. Just the same as you. And I can’t always run away from those things, because they can run faster. It’s okay to be scared sometimes. But.. sometimes, there’s more at stake than just me.”
Her head nestled gently in his lap, her mane stroked by idle fingertips.
“Trent?” she asked softly. “What kind of things?”
“Eggs, eggs. Kinetic kill inbound. Relevant naught five. Singularity containment failure. Mass decoupled from trap. Drive failure in interstellar space. Major fuel oil leak amidships. Fire, fire, fire. Fire in bay two charlie. Explosive decompression on main deck starboard passage. Away the flying squad. All hands to assigned stations. Message received as follows; Ambush Ambush...”
Fluttershy shivered. Trent’s hands shook.
“Trent?”
“Yes?”
“There’s more, isn’t there?”
“...Yes.”
“I’m sorry for being frightened. About this,” she waved her hoof at the whole ship.
“No... No. It’s okay. It will keep you alive when it counts. Just like me.”
She sat up, turning to look Trent straight in the eyes.
“That’s not what you meant.”
“Hmm?”
“When you said just like me.. you meant more than just yourself. A lot more.”
“Other people, you mean?”
She nodded.
“Then, now you know. Even when you’re scared, and even when you don’t understand what you’re facing. You know why to press forward, even when you’re terrified. Because others may depend on your actions.”
Her head hung low, bobbing as she nodded.
“That is what you really fear. The reason you’re angry with yourself. You don’t think that you will make a difference when given the opportunity, and others will suffer for it.”
“Yes,” she whimpered.
Trent’s hand cupped under her chin, lifting it upright.
“A million pictures may tell of your past, and a mirror will only show the present. That cannot be changed. But, the future is unknown, and yet unmade. I can show you what you may become, but you will have to choose if that is what you want to be.”
A pair of yellow legs encircled his neck, squeezing tightly. Her head laid heavily across one shoulder.
“Okay,” she said firmly.
“That’s the spirit. Are you ready to continue?”
“Yes.”
“You can do it, Fluttershy. Remember that.”
Trent returned to the console, and Fluttershy stood at the center of the pad, offering her hoof to the robotic arm.
“Fluttershy?”
“Yes?”
“Do you remember how I said this was going to be massively exciting and epicly adventuresome?”
“Um, well. Kind of.”
“I lied. This part is boring as hell.”
The rollers inflated with a sharp pop around Fluttershy’s ankle, and slowly began to work their way upwards. This time there was the sensation of dozens of fingertips pressing and prodding her skin from just beneath the inflated cylinder, and an electric tingle that shot all the way down to her bone. A second set of rollers began working their sufficiently advanced technology on her right hoof, while a third arm descended to press a mat of tiny plastic beads on long silvery needles against the crown of her head and the base of her neck.
"The TexRAP 4300 is not a licensed massage therapist, nor chiropractic practitioner. However, we hope that someday, these arbitrary and unfair prejudices may be set aside."
Her eyes rolled, but the corners of her mouth tugged upward.
The armature split as it met her shoulder, pressing her body from both sides. The pressure was firm, but the invasive incessant prodding tickled every single sensation of every single spot on her skin. Her eyes gently drifted back in her head as waves of pleasure steamrolled across her torso at a geological pace. Her thoughts drifted, as if floating upon the gently lapping waves of a tropical beach.
“In case you’re wondering, the beads on your neck and forehead are actually recording every single simulation applied to your skin. That way, it can use sensors in the exterior of the suit to translate signals directly into your central nervous system. You will be able to feel a wide swath of the EM spectrum exactly as if you were able to feel it with your own body, and you’ll know where it’s coming from too. Also, the heat mapping of your body lets the TexRAP 4300 design the cooling system within the inner suit to match up exactly to where it’s needed.”
She nodded, not having listened to a single word.
The rollers clamped around both of her outstretched wings simultaneously, pressing firmly as they traced all the way from the base of her wing to the tips of her stiff feathers.
A soft husky groan escaped her lips. Her wings flapped involuntarily.
“Oh, careful about that. It needs to restart that segment. Please try not to move, otherwise it has to start over.”
“Ohh. Okay,” she squeaked, as the rollers returned to the base of her wings.
"Now this next sequence might feel a bit uncomfortable, but it is necessary. But don't worry! The TexRAP 4300 is a professional, and has seen.. um.. orifices from one rim of the galaxy to.. er, I’ll stop right there.”
Her eyes widened as both sets of rollers clamped around the middle of her torso, slowly squeezing and prodding their way along her flanks.
"While a disturbingly high percentage of space pilots end up contracting.. ah.. intimately communicable diseases within their first deployment, none of them have even been traced to the TexRAP 4300," Trent deadpanned.
“That was a joke, right?”
“God I hope so.”
The rollers clamped around both of Fluttershy’s rear hooves, and began to slowly inch upwards.
“Now I have to run and get something, but I should be back in about ten minutes. Please just wait here after you’re finished, okay?”
“O... Okay.”
“You’re doing great! Keep it up.”
She was already past paying attention.
* * *
He returned shortly, cradling the dense composite helmet under his arm. It was a triumph of technology, borne from the skills and craftsmanship of dozens of alien races. Embedded spiderwebs of algorithmically designed structural supports surrounded by nanoscale pathways for regenerative microscaffolding repairs. A simple and unassuming faceplate that melded seamlessly within a frame of vanadium steel alloy, bearing invisible lines of circuitry and variably refractive multi-spectrum cavities. A rim of quartzite glass concealing a crown of eyes that maintained a constant vigil in all directions. A one of a kind piece, crafted and shaped to fit snugly upon a one of a kind face. Still slightly warm from the AutoFab’s cavernous cavities.
The door flicked open at the twitch of his fingers.
“Fluttershy?”
“Yes, Captain?” she moaned softly.
“...What?”
She stood frozen upon the platform, two wide eyes locked nervously on Trent. A set of green inflatable cylinders clamped around her thighs.
“Jeez, is that thing still running?” He set the helmet down and approached the console. “Ah, I see what happened. Looks like it had to restart a certain segment about fifteen times... Oh...”
Their eyes locked, but their faces remained stoically chiseled.
“I think it’s seen enough,” he said, stabbing a finger at the console.
The robotic arms retracted.
“Um...” she squeaked.
“And now we wait! It’s designing a suit for you as we speak. Perfect timing too, because I need to step out again for a moment. There’s a set of kitchen implements in the galley that should be perfect for gouging my eyes out.”
“Does it make the suit too?” she asked quietly, trying to change the subject.
“Yes. Or it will, shortly.”
“I have a friend in Ponyville that designs and crafts dresses. I think she would love to see this.”
Trent cocked his head at Fluttershy.
“To see how it makes suits, I mean.”
His hand slapped over his face.
“I don’t suppose she’s made you a dress before?”
“Well, yes. Several times in fact!”
“That’s nice of her.”
“She is the Element of Generosity, after all.”
“The what now?”
“Umm. Magic?”
“Right...”
He tapped at the console, his finger hovering over the display.
“Would you trust her to make you a suit?”
Fluttershy looked from side to side, before nodding.
“Yes. But... Um, I thought this was going to make the suit?”
“It will make all the pieces. Then you can see how it gets put together. Won’t that be fun?”
“...I guess so.”
Trent tapped the console several times, and stepped aside. There was a low but distinct hum within the recesses of the ship. Several minutes later, a shiny aluminum suitcase rolled out from a recessed chute and settled in the middle of the workbench.
“What is her name, by the way?”
“Rarity.”
“Splendid. Let’s go meet her!”
Trent pointed a finger at the suitcase and it lofted itself into the air, trailing behind him as he pranced towards the door.
Love it? Hate it?
Glorious. There's a perfect balance between comedy and sexual tension in this, not too much of the former to make it seem forced, and just enough of the latter so it isn't too awkward (if at all). Can't wait to read the full chapter.
Bahahahaha! You'd think Trent would have anticipated that particular reaction
Extremely enjoyable to read mate. Still haven't had a chance to edit/proof that one scene you sent me, but it's my weekend now, so I should be able to get to it.
620870
There's no shortage of comedy and sexual tension in the rest of Fluttershy's arc. Unfortunately, she's probably going to take it out on somepony when the time arises.
620883
Fluttershy's reaction, and the ensuing pep talk pretty much just came out of nowhere. Not necessarily a bad thing, because it helps define what actually compels her to continue later.
I was planning to go nuts with the science-fiction details behind the TexRAP 4300, but I can save the useful bits for later when Rarity/Trent are trying to put the suit together. This leads us to Trent meeting Sweetie Belle, which is going to be a very interesting scene.
Awesome as always, Shalrath - can't wait for the final version of the chapter! Just a heads up... it's 'gallop.' Gallup is the poll.
620774
You call that a little excerpt? No way I'm reading that; it's practically a spoiler. I love your story too much to spoil it.
621395
I left out the real spoilers.
621413
It's still something from a future chapter, so I'll gladly wait thank you very much
Even I was blushing after that bit.
623124
It's going to get worse!
623310
Honestly, I hope not. As amusing and awkward as this tiny portion of the scene was (and it was both amusing and awkward), I simply can't see Fluttershy allowing that to happen. She might be naive enough to allow this "segment" to begin, but as soon as she realized what it was going to do, her timidity would have taken over instantly. Yes, this Fluttershy is far less timid than she tends to be in canon (thanks to Trent, mostly), but every pony has a line, and this most definitely crosses Fluttershy's. If it got any "worse" than this and 'Shy didn't have an extremely averse reaction to it (and keep in-mind that by "averse" I mean poor Fluttershy would lock herself in her cottage afterwards, and the others would need to drag her to therapy), my suspension of disbelief would be ruined for her character for the rest of the story. Put Dash or Pinkie in 'Shy's place here, and you could get away with it. Put Twilight or Rarity in there, and you still might get away with it. But put Fluttershy in an extremely unfamiliar and "intimate" situation like this, and it just doesn't work.
That said, here's how if could work. Spend some time earlier in the story allowing Fluttershy to change her underlying character. By this, I mean she needs to face situations like the ones she's already experienced in the story, but she needs to change at least twice as much from them. Essentially, keep her pace of change the same, but she'll need to spend twice as much story-time doing it. You've been doing a great job moulding her into a pony who's less timid, more adventurous, and more open than the canon Fluttershy. But with this bit and chapter 15, you've accelerated that change by a lot. It's like you were in a car going 50 kph, and then you suddenly (for no apparent reason) floored the gas and sped up to 100 kph and acted like nothing happened.
I liked it, but I hope this isn't like half of the next chapter because then it will feel even shorter than they already do
624057
Ahh. I didn't quite mean "worse" in this particular line of dirty humor. It's something different that happens a bit later.
If it got any "worse" than this and 'Shy didn't have an extremely averse reaction to it (and keep in-mind that by "averse" I mean poor Fluttershy would lock herself in her cottage afterwards, and the others would need to drag her to therapy)
Spoilers...
That said, here's how if could work. Spend some time earlier in the story allowing Fluttershy to change her underlying character. By this, I mean she needs to face situations like the ones she's already experienced in the story, but she needs to change at least twice as much from them. Essentially, keep her pace of change the same, but she'll need to spend twice as much story-time doing it. You've been doing a great job moulding her into a pony who's less timid, more adventurous, and more open than the canon Fluttershy. But with this bit and chapter 15, you've accelerated that change by a lot. It's like you were in a car going 50 kph, and then you suddenly (for no apparent reason) floored the gas and sped up to 100 kph and acted like nothing happened.
There is a major scene that takes place just prior to this. That might explain why she is in higher spirits, and ready to keep adventuring forward - and why she gets angry with herself for still being frightened.
I'm currently hopping back and forth between writing that, and the SB/Rarity/Trent scene that's coming up. Also, poor Fluttershy does get a bit of a shock when she gets back to Equestria.
624590
long chapter is long
624861
Eeexcellent!
oh god oh god oh god oh god
more. for the love of all things holy and right in the world, morrrreeeee