Chapter 18: The Missing Link
Perspective: Edgar Worthington
Location: Southern United States
Date: October 27, 2025
10 minutes after Mike’s departure
“Make sure the plating is ¼ inch, or we’ll never hear the end of it from Eddy,” I relayed over the radio to Mike.
“Guys, I’ve told you a billion times; if it’s not ¼ inch, it won’t fit. If it won’t fit, it’s useless. And if it’s useless, that’s wasted effort, blah blah blah,” came Mike’s impression of Eddy ranting over the radio. We shared a quick laugh, at poor Eddy’s expense. “Don’t worry, I triple-checked the thickness; we’re not getting chewed out tonight. Is that everything?”
“I believe so. If anything else turns up, I’ll go and get it myself. See you when you get back.”
“You bet.” With that, I clipped the radio to my belt, and returned my attention to the task at hand. Mainly, trying to convince a very stubborn princess…
“Celestia, you really should take it easy; you’re not even fully recovered yet,” I told the princess, rubbing my temples as I did so. While the others had retired to their rooms or elsewhere (with the exception of Twilight), Celestia had been insistent on following Jonathon and me around, trying to help. *Sigh* I could feel a headache coming on.
In response, Celestia just continued smiling, and followed us out of the room. “You know, the way you keep worrying about me, you sound just like a Royal Guard,” she replied mirthfully.
“Honestly…” Realizing I wasn’t going to convince her otherwise, I resigned myself to leading her around. As we exited from the Master Bedroom, Jonathon and I caught a glimpse of Eddy heading for the back door, Twilight in tow.
“Hey Eddy, what’s the verdict on the power situation?” Jonathon asked. To our surprise, it didn’t even seem like Eddy had heard us, the man staying silent as he slipped through the back door. Twilight thankfully, seemed to have heard us, and turned to address us.
“Almost fixed,” she said. “Just have to replace one of the cells that got damaged on the way over from Equestria. Eddy says there are spares in the workshop.” She turned around, and I think it’s at this point that she realized Eddy had already left. “Eddy? Hey, wait up!” And like that she’s gone too.
“Well that was…interesting,” I said. “Wonder why Eddy ignored you.”
“Think he’s ‘distracted’?” Jon replied with a smirk, wiggling his eyebrows in a suggestive manner. ‘I get it.’
“You don’t possibly think-”
“One way to find out.” I quickly directed my attention back towards Celestia.
“You think you’re well enough to sneak around with us?” I asked. The Solar Princess put on a mischievous grin.
“I think I can manage,” she replied. We set off quickly for the back door. Peering out of it, we saw Twilight and Eddy disappearing into his old workshop. Confirming that the coast was clear, we stepped out of the house and made our way over as quickly as we could without giving ourselves away. I crouched low at the entrance and carefully peered around the corner, Jonathon doing the same right above me, and Celestia above him. The building we were peeking into was a very simple one; only four walls in a rectangle, a roof, a small door, and a very large door. As we peered in from the small door we found Eddy groping around in the darkness.
“Where’s that blasted switch?” he muttered, before a dim glow materialized right next to him. He looked at Twilight, but not for long, turning quickly away with a mumbled “thank you Twi”.
“Did you see the red on his face?” Jon asked quietly, but excitedly. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so flustered!”
“Your friend must be getting very close to my student if she told him to call her Twi; only her close friends call her that,” Celestia added, grinning all the while. “Well well Twilight, you’ve got your first admirer.”
“I don’t know guys,” I said. “I think we’re reading too much into this-” I stopped when I saw their barely-contained glee. “And I think two certain individuals are having too much fun with the idea,” I deadpanned.
*Click. BUZZZZZZ.*
We ceased whispering and returned to the scene inside to find Eddy at the light switch. A buzz filled the room as the old bulbs started glowing weakly; they would get stronger as they warmed up. Twilight immediately started looking around, as strange machines were everywhere.
For the rest of us humans though, what hit us wasn’t curiosity, but rather a huge wave of nostalgia.
“What are these?” Twilight asked, spinning slowly in place as she took everything in.
“Remnants of the past,” Eddy replied simply. “Once, back when the guys and I were still in school, we found a lot of common ground in wanting to build projects like these. Through building these things, we got to know each other better, and became practically inseparable in our friendship.” He looked at her, noticing her obvious curiosity. “I-If you want, I could point out a few of them on our way to the spare cells.” Her delighted expression told him all he needed to know, so into the workshop they went.
“Still think we’re reading too much into it?” Jonathon asked with a playful jab at my ribs.
“Yes I do,” I stated matter-of-factly. “There’s nothing solid here. Not yet anyways.”
“Well you’re no fun.” Jonathon pouted.
“This is a spud gun, or a potato launcher,” Eddy’s voice carried through from deeper inside the building.
“We’ll need to move to get a better angle,” Celestia whispered. Nodding, I moved in, the others following behind.
As we snuck our way over to get a better look, Eddy continued to talk, answering Twilight’s questions. “Why we built it? Why not? It’s fun as all Hell to shoot, and the ammo is just regular potatoes. Back before the Infection, potatoes were super common and dirt cheap, and they’re biodegradable too.”
“I see,” Twilight responded, before directing her attention to the right of the potato cannon. “What about those wheeled contraptions?”
“Haha, I remember those! The ones with four wheels are called go-karts, and the ones with two wheels are minibikes. The easiest explanation I can give is they’re very rudimentary vehicles, like our cars, but less powerful and designed for fun.” As they went deeper into the large workshop, Eddy listed off and briefly explained more projects. The jet engine (made with a large truck turbo), the air engine (based off a two-stroke), rudimentary land mines, R/C vehicles, our Pneumatic Rifles, and many, many more. Finally, they came to the end of the building. Several shelves lined one end of the space, and in the other, was the skeleton of our once greatest project-to-be.
“And what’s that one?” Twilight asked excitedly. Several seconds went by, but no answer ever came. “Eddy?” She spun to find him in a melancholy state, staring up at the structure of welded steel with a sad smile.
“That,” he started, “was the project we were working on when the world went to Hell.”
“I’m…Sorry.”
“Don’t be. No reason to be. For your information, it was supposed to be a plane, a very simple aircraft called an Ultralight that would take one person into the air. We started work on it, but as you can see, we never finished. It’s been sitting here ever since. It’s funny though, I thought it was a pile of parts, but it actually resembles a plane; even the engine and propeller were mounted. Edgar, were we really this far into the Ultralight?”
“Yes we were,” I said…wait. ‘Shit.’
“You can stop sneaking around behind my back. Jon, Celestia, you too.” We bashfully came out from the box we had hidden behind.
“What gave us away?” I asked.
“You guys suck at hiding. I turned around once to see if I had missed something cool and saw your faces and Celestia’s horn. Mainly Celestia’s horn; you should be more mindful about that if you’re going to secretly tail someone.”
Meanwhile, it seemed that Twilight finally came out of her stupor, and directed her attention towards Celestia. “Princess, why were you following us?” she asked bewildered.
Celestia blushed a little. “I couldn’t help myself; I had to see if a little rumor floating around was true.”
“What rumor?”
“That-”
“Heeeeey,” Jonathon thankfully interrupted. “So, Eddy, what are you doing in here? With Twilight. Alone.”
Eddy glared at Jonathon, either getting what he was hinting at, or angry for interrupting Celestia revealing why we were following them. He let it go quickly though, and reached for one of the many boxes under a shelf labeled ‘Spares-Electrical System’. He reached inside and lifted out a large blue cylinder by the ends. Attached to the top was a small circuit board, and text adorned the other side. On each threaded end, a large nut was screwed into position.
“I was fetching one of these for the System, a spare Ultracapacitor,” Eddy replied, showing the cylinder to everyone present. “This one is rated for three volts, at…gah, the label’s smudged! Anyways, very large capacity, but three volts is safe to handle, which is why I’m grabbing it by the terminals. It’s also empty.” He showed us the circuit board, explaining that lights would be on in the board if the capacitor had any charge.
“Is this one of those electrical energy storage devices you mentioned in your letter Twilight?” Celestia asked, curiously eyeing the cylinder.
“Yes it is,” Twilight replied. “It’s part of an array that powers everything in their house. There are a huge number of these in the attic.”
“If you want Celestia, you can carry it back to the attic, and examine it along the way,” Eddy offered.
“Celestia, you really shouldn’t be carrying anything around,” I warned. “It’s a miracle you’re still standing considering how tired you were yesterday, and I already foolishly let you walk around, so…Are you even listening to me?”
“Yes my loyal guard, I’m always listening,” she teased with a wink in my direction. The rest of the group chuckled a bit as they exited the building, leaving me for a second with a single thought.
‘Such a stubborn princess!’
“Hey, if you’re not going to listen, at least wait up!” I called out, running to catch up. She didn’t even notice when I fell into step with her. The look of fascination on her face was priceless as she thoroughly examined the futuristic energy storage device in her hands.
“Imagine what our worlds could accomplish together if we combined our knowledge,” Celestia said. “Things would change forever, for both worlds.”
“I’m not sure everything would come together as easily as you think it will,” I warned. “I’m sure there are bad ponies, like there are bad people, that will wish to exploit these new advances.”
“There will always be challenges and obstacles on the road to something grand Edgar, but I believe our races could create something awe-inspiring together if given the ch…chance.”
“Are you ok?” I asked. I watched her waver a little, before recovering.
“I’m fine…I…”
I was already moving by the time she started falling. I was thankful for the reflexes I didn’t know I had, for she landed safely in my arms rather than hit the floor.
“Guys, situation!” I yelled, grabbing their attention immediately. I was already picking her up princess-style by the time they ran back.
“What happened!?” Twilight yelled.
“I don’t know!” I replied. “We were talking, then she started wavering, and fell. Listen, I’m taking her inside to a bed. Someone go fetch Luna, or whoever can diagnose her.” With that, I sprinted for the back door a fast as I could. The others ran ahead, Twilight and Eddy continuing into the house, while Jon held the door open. “Thanks man.”
“Are you going to take her to her room?”
“No way in Hell; I’m not chancing the stairs,” I said as I blew past the aforementioned structure, instead heading into the corridor that led into the Master Bedroom. As I ran into the room, Jon ran back to direct the others here. Not a second after laying her down, Luna and all three guards burst into the room.
“What happened here?” Luna asked, trying to remain calm.
“She was walking back from the workshop when she lost consciousness,” I answered quickly. “Can you fix this?”
“Let me see.” A blue glow enveloped her horn a moment later. The Lunar Princess closed her eyes in concentration, and lowered her head gently until her horn made contact with Celestia’s. The contact caused the glow to expand, covering Celestia in a faint blue glow as well. Time seemed to tick by agonizingly slowly; every second felt like an hour as everyone present waited with bated breath for Luna’s verdict. Finally, after a minute that felt more like an eternity, the glow disappeared and Luna raised her head.
“Is she ok?” Luna opened her eyes, fixing them on me.
“Yes Edgar, she will be alright; she merely fainted. With so little magic currently within her, she is more susceptible to physical exhaustion, and can faint from excessive physical activity. Basically, the lack of magic is making her physically weak as well.”
“Damnit, I knew I shouldn’t have let her run around with us!” I swore. “I’m so sorry Luna; she insisted on following us outside, and I should have done more to keep her from straining herself.” Rather than angry though, Luna wore a knowing grin on her face.
“And your increased protests would have accomplished nothing dear Edgar; my sister can be very stubborn, believing she’s fine when she really isn’t. She’s not used to taking breaks, so you’ll have to forgive her if she tries to be continuously busy.”
“Well, glad that’s settled,” Eddy said from across the room. “I really need to get the power on though, so if you’ll excuse me…” He turned, and took one step before stopping again. “Also, Edgar, I had no idea you were that strong.”
“What do you mean?”
“You literally sprinted into the house while carrying Celestia in. That takes some strength.”
“Heheh, what can I say? Adrenaline does some crazy things.”
“I’ll say. Anyways, I’m heading out. You guys coming?” I looked between Eddy and Celestia’s sleeping form. I quickly made a decision.
“Nah, you guys go ahead. I’ll stay right here.”
Perspective: Jonathon Burley
Location: Southern United States
Date: October 27, 2025
After excusing ourselves, Eddy and I left the room to retrieve the Ultracapacitor that had fallen from Celestia’s grip when she fainted.
“You think it’s still usable?” I asked.
“It better be,” Eddy replied. “I don’t have an unlimited number of these things, and they were damn expensive too. Manufacturer claimed they were very robust though, so if it’s broken, I want a refund!”
We shared a quick laugh at the absurdity of the situation. As we were about to reach the back door, the front door opened. Guess Mike was back.
“So, how’d it go?” I asked him as he came into view.
“Pretty good, Phoenix and I left the materials we gathered in the garage, and the food stored out in the freezer.”
“And the ‘favor’?”
“He wants me to teach the princesses to shoot as well so they can defend themselves if worst comes to worst. He even gave me these guns.”
“Well, looks like you got your work cut out for you.”
“Tell me about it. *Looks at Eddy* Speaking of work, where’s your favorite assistant Eddy?”
“Ok, that’s it!” he cried, dragging me, and for some reason Mike as well, out the back door. ‘I think I’m in trouble!’ He released his grip on both of us, wheeling around quickly as he did so.
“In the workshop, you, Edgar, and Celestia were stalking Twilight and me, and now Mike is talking about my ‘favorite assistant’. *Points at me* Why the Hell were you guys stalking me *points to Mike* and what are you trying to imply?”
I looked at Mike for a second before returning my attention to Eddy. “Don’t worry Mike; I got this. Eddy, I’m going to be straight with you. How do you feel about Twilight?” He stared at us. He stared at us for a while. His face changed from confusion to realization; he probably figured out where this was heading. Several times his mouth opened to respond, but nothing came out. Looking between us several times, he finally answered.
“Is…is that what this is about? Really? Twilight and I are friends Jon, nothing else!”
“But you spend an awful lot of time with her,” Mike pressed.
“And when you came down, you were completely out of it,” I continued with Mike. “In fact, you ignored Edgar outright when you came downstairs. And in the shop, you acted all flustered around Twilight. And since when did you start calling her ‘Twi’? Celestia said only close friends called her that.”
“Wha-no! Ok, firstly, what the Hell did you think you were going to find us doing in the workshop? Seriously? I would have taken her to my room if I was doing something that private.”
“Oh? Already considering taking her to your room Eddy?” Mike teased with a huge shit-eating grin.
“I-no…Will you let me finish damnit!?” We laughed as Eddy went bright red. “Secondly, I might be getting along with ponies, but I’m certainly not a Pony Lover. And thirdly, Twilight and I are just friends, did I mention that enough?”
“Oh come now Eddy, you’re being a bit racist there now, don’t you think?” I countered. “Besides, why couldn’t you like Twilight?”
“Because she’s a pony.”
“Other than that. You’ve never really shown an interest in anyone before; maybe all you needed was an extra special girl to come steal your heart away. And if being a pony is the only reason you’re against dating her-”
“I told you I don’t like her that way, ok!? Look guys, we’re trying to literally save the world here. I don’t have time for foolish endeavors like love. Nothing is going on between us, so you can tell Edgar and whoever else is in your little entourage that it ain’t happening.” He quickly wheeled around, facing towards the Ultracapacitor. “Now, unless you want all that food we just got to spoil, I suggest you let me finish fixing that stupid System. It’s given me enough trouble already.”
Once Eddy was out of earshot, I leaned in towards Mike and whispered. “Damn, I was sure we’d get him to come clean.”
“It’s Eddy we’re talking about,” Mike said. “Remember how long it took him to open up to us?”
“Yea, he was rather reserved. Still is, apparently. But I know he likes her, and if you’d had been there with Edgar and me, you would’ve seen it also.”
“Now that you mention it, Twilight has been clinging to Eddy a lot too. She’s been with him most of the day, and asked to follow him up to the attic as well.”
“Hold this.” Out of nowhere an object was thrust into my chest, the force Eddy used causing me to stagger a bit. “Can you save this for another time?” Eddy asked, annoyed. “We’ve got shit to do.”
“Why don’t you ask for your lovely assistant then?” I teased.
“Alright, I’ve had just about enough of…” Something was amiss. All the anger in his expression evaporated in an instant. He was examining something on me, though I couldn’t figure out what. His expression was unadulterated surprise, as a million things flew through his head but not one came out, judging by how much his mouth was moving. I chanced a look at the capacitor I was carrying, but couldn’t find anything wrong with it. Mike started to notice this weird change too.
“Eddy, you ok?” Mike asked. “Look, we’re sorry about teasing you so much.”
“It’s not that you nitwit,” Eddy snapped. “Jonathon…the Ultracap had no charge in it when we pulled it out, right?”
“Well, yea.” I answered. “You went on and on about the ‘monitoring circuits’ and such.”
“Wait a minute,” Mike interjected. Confusion was written all over his face now as he stepped closer to the Ultracap. “I don’t get it, you said it was empty?”
“Spin it around Jon.”
“What? Why would I-”
“Just do it already!”
“Ok ok, sheesh.” Grabbing the cylinder by the ends, I spun it 180 degrees. And I saw it. I saw what had everyone confused. As I stared at what couldn’t possibly be right, the others crowded around me. “What the Hell?” was all I could say. The others, either thinking the same thing, or unable to come up with something to say at all, remained silent.
On the monitoring circuit, which was once devoid of life, four LEDs were glowing brightly, defying all kinds of logic.