//------------------------------// // 3: A New Day // Story: Names // by Malowith //------------------------------// He awoke with a start once again. Grumbling at his restless sleep, he got up and set up shop. He turned the sign to open and went behind the counter where he tinkered for hours on a toy he was building. It was meant to be a little wind up manticore, but the balance was off and the wing motors wouldn’t function. He focused solely on his work, like the distraction it was. If he focused on his work he didn't need to think of anything else. After a couple hours he was just getting the wings to move in sync with the paws when he heard the bell over his door ring. Looking up, he smiled as he saw one of his favorite customers. “Hi Scoots!” “Hey, Mr. Screen,” replied Scootaloo, “Do you have any cool new stuff?” “I’m actually making something right now,” he said, lifting the toy in his magic, “Just let me fix something and you can have it” He quickly found the cause of the balance problem, one leg was set too high, and fixed it. Winding it up, he placed it on the floor and let it go. The plastic contraption walked forward, flapping its wings and roaring its mechanical roars, until it stopped and fell over with a clunk a minute later. Scootaloo watched from the side with fascination. “How much?” She asked, eyes wide with childhood wonder. He smiled, “For you? Let’s say… 20 bits” She beamed and reached into her saddlebags for the proper amount. Jack took the money and gave her the toy, which she happily held in her mouth and left with a muffled “Fank ou” The bell rang as she left and he turned back to the counter, but his concentration was already gone. No matter how hard he tried to fool himself, he couldn't ignore all of this forever. "What have I done?" He'd helped save everypony. He'd done good, protected the ponies he'd grown so fond of, and gotten weeks worth of feeding done to boot. "But I wasn't meant to! Things are different now! Everything could go horribly wrong in the future and it's all my fault!" But they could get better too. Besides, he couldn't leave now. Ponies would look for him. That hadn't stopped him before. He moved here because he was nearly discovered in Canterlot. He left Chicago when his parents tried to force him to stay with them. He'd learned to always be ready to leave. But, this was different. He wasn't in danger, he actually stood to gain from this experience. He hadn't done anything anyone considered wrong. Quite the opposite, actually. Those weren't the real reasons, though, the big problem was that he actually cared for these ponies. He hadn't known them long, besides being acquainted with Rainbow Dash since he moved here, but the measly twenty-six episodes he'd seen was enough to love these characters. Except, they weren't characters, not anymore. They never were, really, and every time he remembered that it shook him to the core. Jack began packing. He'd memorized his escape plan. He had to, just in case. Once he was gone everything would return to normal. Sure, he'd never get answers, and sure, they'd look for him. They'd probably be upset and - he didn't go any further. He couldn't do that to them, they didn't deserve that. They'd be hurt and that hurt might change things more than staying ever would. With a sigh, he unpacked his bags, grabbed his soldering iron, and got back to work. Why did it have to be today? "Rainbow Dash! Were you following me?" Blue Screen had been out buying wires a week later when he ran into everypony in front of Sugarcube Corner "No. I mean, yes. I mean, maybe. Look, it doesn't matter. I couldn't risk a goody-four-shoes like you giving that ticket away to just anybody" Just as he thought, the ticket. "Wait just another minute" There was Applejack, just on time. Should he leave? He didn't even want the ticket, the Gala is kinda the worst, and he knew their experiences would be even worse than his. "Applejack, were you following me too?" He could stop the argument right now, actually, before it escalated. That would mean going off script, however, and who knows what that would cause. "No. I was followin' this one to make sure she didn't try any funny business. Still trying to take my ticket." But there was no script, these were real ponies with real emotions, not just some voice actors reading off a page. He could taste their anger boiling, but Twilight's stress stung the most. They didn't need this, they were hurting themselves and he could stop it by just- "Okay, that's enough!" Everypony stopped and looked at him, no going back now. "I know you hate to hear it, but none of you are entitled to that ticket. Just look at Twilight, guys, you're stressing her out. She needs to figure this out herself and this certainly isn't helping." "But she promised-" "Did she actually, though? She can't have promised all of you. Give her some room to figure this out and I'm sure you'll all be happy in the end" He glanced at Twilight and on her face was the faintest of smiles. Blue Screen returned home late that night, golden ticket held in his magic. His little speech didn't completely stop the shenanigans that day, but when they all gathered in the library Twilight didn't seem as close to breakdown as he remembered. He placed the ticket in a nearby drawer for safekeeping. Was he always that good at diffusing a situation? Sure, he was good at problem solving, it came with being a programmer, but he always sucked at reading people. Only, he was good at reading people, it came with being a changeling, he just didn't know how to use that knowledge effectively. Interesting that his skills would combine like that. What else could he do now? Two heads are better than one, after all, it would just take some thought. Whatever force did this to him probably chose them partially because both Jack and Canthus had electronics knowledge. Unfortunately, electrical engineering was not the same as programming and that meant- "I can do both" Sure, Canthus could repair an arcade machine he found in the junkyard, but he didn't know the first thing about fixing a program and had to buy an arcade board new. Similarly, Jack could tell a computer to play Pong with only binary, but had to call someone over just to hook the computer up. Would Blue Screen be able to do both? On this realization, he ran to the storage room. Time to dig up some old memories. When he lived in Canterlot he worked in the royal science lab. He wasn't a scientist himself, but he was high up in the engineering department, fixing their most complicated machines. Being so high up brought in some perks and he managed to convince his boss to let him use the newest, top of the line calculator when doing his work. It was supposed to be returned when he quit, but he didn't exactly leave a two week's notice and the guards weren't going to give him the time. He should still have it, then. He stuffed it away because of the painful memories, but after a good twenty minutes, he found it. It looked exactly like a TI-84. Not exactly 'top of the line' nowadays, especially to human standards, but he knew these things were pretty good. If he was going to do what he was planning it would do the trick. He was going to make a handheld gaming console. Start out small, program Snake and design a controller to put in. He sat down and got to work, and no sleep was had that night. God, he missed video games. A couple weeks passed and progress was slow going, he had a job after all. He attended Applejack's ceremony and later helped pick apples when she finally accepted help. Though he enjoyed the company and the apple juice was good, he was eager to get back to work. "Thank you again for the juice, A.J., and it's been nice talking with you all, but I've gotta get going." "Are you sure? We've barely seen you all month, dear. I certainly understand wanting to do your best for your clients, but surely you can spare just a little more time," Rarity protested. "Yeah! You avoiding us or something?" asked Rainbow. He was, but he wasn't going to admit it. Hanging out with them still felt weird, he didn't belong here. Like he was messing something up that he had no business in. "No, no. I've just got this big project I'm excited about that's almost done" Pinkie jumped on the table, nimbly avoiding everyone's drinks, "Well, if you're super excited about it you should tell us so we're super excited too! Unless it's a surprise, no one wants a surprise ruined" "Heh, no, I guess I can tell you. You guys know that arcade on Main street?' A few of them nodded, Twilight spoke up, "I've passed it before. Oh! Are you working on something for them? Perhaps a new game?" "Actually, I guess I'll be working against them, you see, I'm currently building a device to play games wherever you want. They certainly won't be as good, at least to start, and a lot less cheap on the consumer's side, but i'm only getting started" "How interesting," Rarity remarked, "I know Sweetie Belle visits that arcade occasionally. I don't know how, it's not- well, let's just say it's rather sticky in there, but I'm sure she would love it" The next few hours flew by, they talked about many things as their shadows grew longer. By the time it was over, Blue Screen didn't feel quite so weird.