Equestrian Christmas
Winter.
A time of cold and dealing with snow, but also a time of staying indoors and enjoying the presence of friends and family over a few cups of hot chocolate. It may have been a different world, but even then, the winter holidays don’t change.
When Twilight and her friends offered to bring Alex and Rose to Canterlot to watch a play about the founding of Equestria during what was essentially Christmas, Alex gladly accepted. Rose, on the other hand, was less than enthusiastic but eventually relented. Although she did insist that if she was going to go to a foreign city normally devoid of humanoids, she should at least go incognito.
Unfortunately, her idea of incognito wasn’t exactly perfect.
Alex clapped his hands as he entered the changing room of Canterlot’s theatre, a long winter coat draped over his right arm. “Well done, everyone, well done! An excellent performance!”
All six of the ponies he had become most familiar with turned away from their conversation to welcome him. “Why thank you, Alex!” said Rarity. “I hope you enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed performing it. The same goes to you as well, Rose.”
The hairless, silver colored pony with glowing blue eyes standing next to Alex waved a hoof. “It was alright.”
Alex nudged Rose. “Well I enjoyed it. It was a nice way to spend an afternoon, if anything.”
“I’m glad you thought so!” said Twilight. “Personally, I just feel honored that Princess Celestia wanted us to play the roles. She must really feel that we exemplify what good friends–”
A bitterly cold wind suddenly howled through an open window, whipping cold air around the room and derailing Twilight’s train of thought.
“Applejack, I thought you closed all the windows!” Rarity complained.
“Don’t blame me!” Applejack retorted. “Rainbow Dash should’ve flown up there and shut it. After all, she’s got wings.”
“Why do I always have to do all the high-up chores?” said Dash, who was already hovering above them. “Why can’t Twilight use her magic for a change?”
“I’ll get it,” interrupted Alex, who immediately went to go shut the offending window. “It’s just a window, no big deal.” He shut the window and locked the latch. “There, done. Geez, what was all that about?”
Applejack rubbed the back of her head. “Sorry, Ah guess we just got a little carried away…”
“Be that as it may,” said Rose with a roll of a hoof, “are you six almost ready to go yet?”
“What’s the hurry?” asked Rarity as she magically packed her costume into one of her bags. “I understand it’s getting late, but don’t you want to take in a few more of the sights before we go back to Ponyville?”
“I feel no such desire. But what I do feel is that Alex and I are drawing too much attention as it is.”
Alex walked up to Rose and rubbed her perfectly smooth, metallic pony head. “She just has a thing about being too far away from home, that’s all.” Rose glared up at him in response.
Pinkie Pie zoomed up and wrapped a foreleg around Rose’s neck. “Don’t worry! We’ll be done here and be back home lickety-split!”
Rose gave her a flat expression, desperately trying to not throw Pinkie off. “Could you please not do that?”
Pinkie let go and bounced off to go do her own packing, still as cheery as ever. “Okie dokie lokie, grumpy gus!”
Rose suddenly noticed one of the other actors staring at her and Alex and glared daggers at him. “What are you looking at?”
The poor stallion jumped up in surprise and quickly went back to what he was previously doing… on the other side of the room.
Alex blinked at the display. “Yeeeeaaaah… Rose, I think you need to work just a biiiit more on your people skills…”
Alex stepped off the train at Ponyville station with Rose close behind him. The other six ponies and Spike, each with their respective bags, quickly followed suit. As the group walked around to the front of the station, everypony chatting amongst themselves, they came face to face with one of the newest machines to roll out of the garage.
Supported on four massive wheels with heavy-duty treads was a much larger vehicle than the Scorpion. While it hardly looked like any conventional cars from Earth, the closest thing to it would be an oversized pickup truck. Heavy metal plating covered the entirety of the vehicle, especially the engine compartment and cockpit, bringing into question how a driver was even supposed to see. Of course, the vehicle used a similar viewing system as the Scorpion, making sight a mystery for everyone except those in the driver’s seat. A large snow plow was also mounted on the front.
Named the Hellbender, the former urban support vehicle originally held a mounted turret on the back of the truck, with little room for anything else. Since coming to Equestria, Alex modified the design by removing the turret and elongating the back end, effectively turning it into a big pickup truck.
Alex nudged Rose’s shoulder with a smile. “Haha! Got us a ride already! Hey, mind if I drive?”
“Go ahead,” said Rose.
A grin spread across his face as he entered through the driver’s side, the previous Liandri driver having already shifted to the passenger seat. To Alex’s pleasure, the heating system was already turned on. Rose hopped into the back of the truck and motioned for everypony else to do the same. Soon enough, the Hellbender rumbled off to home.
During the train ride back from Canterlot, Alex asked everypony if they would be willing to come by his garage when they got back to Ponyville, despite how late in the day it was getting. When asked why, his answer was simple.
“You see, today also happens to be a human holiday too. It’s called Christmas. Now, Christmas is a time where people get together with friends and family to exchange presents and pretty much be happy, kinda like Hearth’s Warming Eve, too. And I’m not sure if you guys remember this, but way back when, I told you all that I wanted to make some Thank You gifts for welcoming me to Equestria like you did. Well… they’re all done! And I’d like to present them to you tonight!”
While everypony insisted that no such gifts were necessary, especially Rarity and Applejack, none of them wanted to turn him down. They also couldn’t deny how curious they were to at least see what he had put together.
Alex parked the Hellbender near the front door of his home and shut the engine off before stepping out onto the freshly shoveled walkway. The sun had already gone down, but a couple of Blues were still busy shoveling snow out of the way, forming giant piles by the side of the building. That was one thing Alex loved about having a robotic workforce: not having to shovel snow anymore. A trio of domestic bots quickly emerged from the building to pick up the ponies’ bags and place them indoors.
“Right this way, everyone!” Alex said with a small bow. “The domestics are just going to place your bags inside, you don’t have to worry about them.”
“Wow, they’re very efficient,” commented Twilight as a domestic grabbed several of Rarity’s many travel bags at once and quickly carried them inside.
“That’s the point,” Rose called over her shoulder, who was already making her way inside ahead of everyone else.
Alex stepped inside and wiped his shoes on the brown welcome mat that, in all honesty, looked out of place in the clean, pristinely white garage. At the same time, one of the domestics came up from behind him and slipped his coat off his shoulders to go store it. He turned around and ushered the others in.
“Oh my, this is certainly something!” said Rarity as she came through the door. “In all the time that this place has been here, I can’t say I’ve ever actually been inside before!”
“Me neither,” said Fluttershy with an equally wondrous expression.
“It has a certain quality to it…” Rarity continued. “It’s different from any home style I’ve ever seen, but I’m not quite I’m a fan of it, though… It seems rather… um… industrious?”
“This is just a work area,” said Alex. “My actual living space is upstairs, but I don’t really spend that much time in there, to be honest.”
“Does that have anything to do with the fact that you tend to stay up for thirty six hours at a time?” asked Spike with smirk.
Alex shrugged. “Probably. Now then, could I interest any of you in a cup of hot chocolate?”
The six ponies and one dragon eagerly accepted.
Alex turned to a nearby domestic. “Unit, get me eight cups of hot chocolate in the rear workshop.” The domestic acknowledged the command and walked off. Alex grinned and rubbed his hands together. “Oh, I love being able to do that! Anyway, right this way, everyone.”
“Hey, what’s that over there?” asked Pinkie, who was pointing at a large object hidden underneath a white tarp near the main garage door.
Alex glanced at what she was pointing at and looked back at her with a smirk. “A surprise.”
“Really?! I love surprises!”
“I know you do. Now come on, this way.” Alex led the group to the back of the garage and through the manufacturing area, where each of the machines sat silently, simply waiting to build something at a moment’s notice. As they passed the manufacturing area and entered into the rear workshop, a holographic projector lit up and presented the image of a female human with light blue skin and shoulder length hair that was just a slightly darker shade of blue.
“Wow, back in the seat already?” said Alex. “That was fast.”
“Did you really expect anything else?” said Rose’s projection, although her voice echoed throughout the entire room.
“No, not really.” Alex turned back towards his visitors. “We’ll just wait for the hot chocolate to show up before I show you guys what I made you. So, since I know some of you haven’t seen this place before, tell me: What do you think?”
They each glanced around the workshop. To say that there was a lot going on would have been an understatement. Aside from the expected worktable, which was surprisingly large and intricate with robotic arms mounted on the adjacent wall, there were several other large containers and stations, each one supposedly serving a different purpose. At least a dozen visible cameras were mounted on the pure white walls, which easily reached twenty feet in height.
“Is this the sort of thing you did on your world?” asked Rarity.
Alex nodded. “Yep. I mean, not on this scale, but yeah, pretty much.”
Rarity continued looking around, vainly attempting to take it all in. “I must say, this all does seem rather alien. All these machines capable of doing goodness knows what… carts made of metal that can move of their own accord… It’s a little overwhelming.”
“I think it’s amazing!” said Twilight. “Once you come to terms with the fact that all of this is done purely without magic, it becomes even more mind blowing! Just take that for instance.” She pointed at Rose’s hologram. “There is zero magic responsible for putting that together! All of this is manipulating the laws of physics to produce something incredible. It’s pure science that looks like magic!”
“Ah, for one, think it’s pretty neat,” said Applejack. “Ah don’t really know much about magic, and math ain’t never really been mah strong suit, but Ah can appreciate somepony who works hard to build somethin’ like this.”
Alex coughed and scratched the back of his head. “Well, to be honest, Rose did pretty much all the work to build this place… But yeah, I guess that works too.”
Rainbow Dash stepped forward. “Well I think this place is missing something.”
Alex raised a brow. “And that is?”
“Just look around! There’s no color!”
Each of them – including one of the cameras – looked around the room. White, silver, and grey seemed to be the dominant color scheme, with only the blue from the few security bots present to break it up.
“Why Rainbow Dash, I do believe you’re right!” said Rarity. “This place could certainly use a splash of paint.”
“Yeah, it needs way more pizzazz,” said Pinkie Pie. “Don’t get me wrong, the robots are super-duper cool and all, but it’s kinda like a cupcake with no frosting. It’s still delicious, but it could be even better!”
Alex blinked at them. “Huh… I never really thought about it… I mean, we keep things white just to keep light bouncing around, but I guess a bit of color here and there couldn’t hurt…” Alex abandoned his train of thought when a domestic walked in with a tray supporting eight cups. “Hey, guess what just showed up!”
Everyone helped themselves to the offered hot chocolate and secured their own little spots to sit and enjoy it.
“Hey, this is pretty good!” said Pinkie.
Alex bobbed his head in agreement after taking his own sip. A wave of warmth and energy instantly washed over him. “Yeah, it is! Hey, Rose, did you help make this?”
“I didn’t, actually.”
Alex gave his best “not bad” face and nodded. “Good job with the programming, then. This stuff’s awesome.” He took one last careful sip before placing his cup on his workbench and clasping his hands together. “Alrighty, let’s get this show on the road. Rainbow Dash, you’re up first.”
Dash set her cup aside and trotted towards him with a grin. “So, what awesome thing did you make for me?”
Alex smiled and moved towards a wide metal storage locker. “Dash, let me just start by saying that coming up with something for you was the easiest out of all of them. Putting it together was something else entirely, but in the end, I think it was well worth it.” With a few deft finger movements over the locker’s keypad, the front rolled up and revealed…
A Wonderbolt uniform on a ponyquin.
Dash blinked at it for a few seconds before speaking. “It’s… a Wonderbolt costume?” She rubbed her foreleg. “I… uh… kind of already have one…”
Alex’s face lit up and he held out his hands as if to stop her. “Ah! That’s what it looks like! But this isn’t an ordinary flight suit!” He briefly waved at the domestic. “Unit, go get me my tool belt. – You see, I know that speed is very important for you, so I asked myself something: How can I make something fly faster without strapping jets to it? The answer was either increase thrust, or reduce air resistance. Since thrust was out of the picture, I–” The domestic handed him his tool belt. “– Oh, thank you. – I decided to go the air resistance route. So how do you reduce air resistance aside from giving something a more aerodynamic shape?”
Alex strapped the tool belt around his waist, fished a narrow object out of one of the pouches and ushered Rainbow Dash to come closer. When she did, he shined a light on the flight suit, which revealed a circuit board like pattern along its surface that was previously invisible.
“Whoa…” Dash murmured. “What did you do to it?”
Alex’s grin grew wider. “You see, I borrowed a concept that other human engineers used to make torpedoes move faster in water. What they do is they create bubbles around themselves to thin the water out, making them go faster than if they were just going through ordinary water. So I asked myself: What if I could produce something that could generate a field that thinned air in the same way? How could I even power such a thing?” He patted the ponyquin on the back. “Well, this is the result. Powered by friction with the air, this suit will generate a specialized electromagnetic field that will constantly thin out the air as far as five millimeters directly out from its surface.
“But here’s the kicker: the suit is powered by the very thing it tries to eliminate, so there’s only so much so much air resistance it can reduce. At one point, it reaches an equilibrium and it just can’t keep up with all the air being thrown at it. Now I don’t want to bore you with the specifics, but based on the tests we ran, this thing can help you accelerate up to fifteen to twenty percent of your maximum speed before it reaches its functional equilibrium.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes grew wide. “Wait, so you’re saying I can go twenty percent faster with this thing on?”
Alex nodded his head. “In a nutshell, yes. But I just want you to keep something in mind: this does not affect your velocity. It affects your acceleration. You speed up faster, but you slow down more slowly, too. Turning, more likely than not, will also be more difficult. Just so you know.”
Dash placed a hoof on the modified Wonderbolt flight suit, taking in the texture. “This… is… awesome…” she said breathlessly.
“I hoped you would think so.” Alex chuckled and moved back to his workbench to go take another sip of hot chocolate. “Ah, that’s good stuff… Alright. Rarity, you’re up next.”
Rarity set her cup aside and walked over to him. “Oh I sincerely hope it’s nothing as complicated as Rainbow Dash’s gift. I certainly wouldn’t want it to have been a burden to you.”
Alex waved her off. “Nah, yours was simpler. Still a pain in the neck, though.” He walked over to the side of the worktable, fished out a long rectangular box, and placed it in front of her. “Here you go. Open it up!”
Curiosity pecking at her, Rarity unfolded the top of the box with her magic and let out a quiet gasp. “Oh my!” She slowly levitated a bolt of unnaturally black fabric from the box, one of the four present, and examined it with exponential interest. “This is exquisite! I’ve never seen anything like this! This fabric, it’s so… dark!” She rubbed a hoof against an unspooled portion of it briefly before gleefully rubbing part of it against her cheek. “And that texture! Oh, this is simply divine! What is this made of?”
Alex chuckled. “It’s funny you should ask that while you’re rubbing it against your face. It’s made of carbon.”
Rarity looked up at him with confusion. “I beg your pardon?”
“Carbon! You know, the same stuff that coal is made of?”
Rarity’s eyes grew wide and she quickly put the bolt back in the box. “Gah!”
The others laughed at her reaction as Alex picked the bolt back up. “Hehehe. Don’t worry, this stuff is perfectly clean. I’ll have you know that diamonds are made of carbon, too. In fact, it’s for that very reason that I put this together.” He unspooled a portion of the bolt. “Rarity, allow me to introduce to you: Nanofibre. It’s woven with specially designed carbon nanotubes, making it finer than any other textile material you could ever get a hold of. It also makes it virtually impossible to cut, which is why I included these…” Alex poked his hand back in the box and fished out a pair of scissors. “Diamond edged scissors. Do not – I repeat – do not lose these. They’re the only things that are gonna be able to cut through this stuff, and they weren’t easy to make. I also included some diamond tipped threading needles and some Nanofibre thread, and if you want, I can even have your sewing machines upgraded to accommodate everything, too.”
Suddenly more trusting of the fabric, Rarity picked it up with her magic again and more closely inspected it. “This is very impressive, Alex… How long did it take you to make all of this?”
“You saw those machines in the other room, right?”
“Yes, what about them?”
“Those are my most advanced manufacturing machines, with an imperfection rate of about point zero eight percent. It took all of them a little over two months to produce everything you see in his box.”
Rarity smiled. “Well then, I can assure you that I shall put this gift to the best of use.”
Alex nodded and returned to his hot chocolate. “Good. And hey, if you need more, just let me know in advance. As in, way in advance.”
“I appreciate it, thank you very much.”
“You’re welcome.” Alex took a much larger sip of his hot chocolate that was starting to grow cold from neglect. “Now then. Twilight, Spike, please step forward.” The two of them shared a bright-eyed look before getting up and walking over to him. Alex reached over the workbench and picked up what looked like a flat rectangular device. “Yours took a bit of thinking, but once I got the right idea, everything just made complete sense. So here you go.” He handed the device to Spike.
They both stared at it curiously, but its function escaped them. “So… what is it?” asked Spike.
Alex smiled. “Part one of your Christmas present.” He suddenly raised his hands up to the ceiling. “Rose! Bring in Grand Master Google!”
Rose sighed. “You like that name far too much.”
Alex never dropped his pose. “Yes I do, now shut up and do it.”
Twilight’s eyes grew wide as all of her memories of Alex’s descriptions of the internet resurfaced to the front of her mind. “Wait, did you just say Google?!”
Alex grinned and pointed a hand towards the door. “That I did.”
Everypony looked to where he was pointing. Standing in the doorway was a Liandri that was distinct from either the domestics or the Blues. Its form looked strong, yet elegant, with complete five fingered hands which it kept clasped together with the utmost delicacy. Golden ornaments trimmed its snow white body along its entirety, with similar pieces streaming down from its back in long, clinking strands, giving the impression that it was wearing a magnificent golden robe. Its head and neck made it look even more alien, however, as it was almost cobra-like in appearance. Its curved neck began wide at the shoulders and narrowed into a single pure, brilliant white eye at the end of its head.
Everypony stared at it in slack jawed silence. Everypony except, of course, for Pinkie. “Wow, he’s shiny.”
The Liandri reverently moved around the others until it reached the trio near the workbench and gave a small bow towards Twilight and Spike, observing them in complete silence.
“Twilight, Spike, allow me to introduce to you: Grand Master Google,” said Alex. “Yes, I named him after that Google, and before you ask, I titled him Grand Master just for kicks. You see, what you’re holding right now, Spike, is called a tablet, but more specifically, it’s an e-reader. Google’s job is to read every page of every book in your library so that you can not only read them all on one handy little device later, but if you need to look up a specific piece of information from a book he’s read, then–”
“Then I could just Google it!” Twilight interrupted. She squealed to herself and did a short prance on the spot. “Oh my gosh! This is amazing!”
The others looked at Twilight’s display curiously. “Uhh… Am Ah missin’ somethin’ here?” said Applejack.
Alex chuckled at Twilight’s reaction before turning his attention back to the others. “Allow me to explain. Back on Earth, we had something called the internet, which was a world-wide communication network that allowed people all over the entire world to share all sorts of things with each other. There was a company called Google that started a search engine of the same name. What it did was fairly straightforward. All you had to do was enter in a few key words and this search engine would scour the entire internet to find any and all information about what you’re looking for. You could also ask it a question and it would give you a whole bunch of different sources that would essentially answer that question for you. This Google is based on the same idea.”
“Oh yeah, that’s definitely Twilight’s thing,” said Rainbow Dash, who was busy caressing her new Wonderbolts costume.
Twilight reared up on her back hooves and crushed Alex in a hug. “I love it! Quick, Spike, let me see that tablet!”
Alex laughed as Twilight let go of him to experiment with her new toy and bent down to whisper to Spike. “By the way, Google doubles as an organizer. Saves you some work.”
“Thanks,” replied Spike. He was about to follow Twilight back, but quickly spoke back up to Alex. “Hey, he’s not going to try to become her personal assistant or anything, is he?”
“Not unless you want him to. Why?”
“No reason…” Spike finished before going back to Twilight’s side.
“Alright, then…” Alex finally finished off his hot chocolate before calling Fluttershy forward.
“Oh, you didn’t have to do anything for me,” she said, although the smile on her face betrayed her own eagerness.
Alex leaned back against his workbench, clasped his hands together near his chest, and gave her a stone cold look. “Fluttershy… Yours was one of the most difficult to come up with. I originally thought to put together an automated animal feeder, but I knew how much you like to do that yourself. I realized that in the end, you want nothing, and you need nothing. So what could I do? You see, Fluttershy, I didn’t just make these presents as simple ‘Thank You’s. I wanted to challenge myself too, and possibly produce new technology in the process – which I did – and you were probably the greatest challenge.”
He motioned towards a long metal container sitting on a shelf just above the workbench with his fingers. As if on cue, the robotic arms mounted on the wall directly beneath it reached up and slowly lowered it down to the table. Alex placed a hand on the container and lightly tapped his fingers against it. “I realized that for you, I actually had to think a little outside the box. You see, some time ago I learned that you were extremely afraid of dragons…” Fluttershy’s smile dropped at the word. “So I sent out a bot to go observe and document them because somebody lacked information on them.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault Ponies haven’t done much research on dragons!” cried Twilight, although her attention was still largely fixated on the e-reader.
Alex waved her off with his hand. “Be that as it may, that bot I sent out eventually came back with some pretty good stuff, including the general physiology of an actual dragon. It wasn’t a hundred percent complete, but Rose was able to guess and fill in most of the gaps. I then used that information to put this together…”
Fluttershy almost took a tentative step back as Alex unfolded the container flat against the table, but stopped upon getting a better look at it. Inside was the elongated form of what looked like a sleeping red dragon. Its relatively large wings were folded up along its back, though they lacked any sort of visible webbing that it would need to fly. In terms of size, it was no bigger than Spike, although its body shape looked a lot more like the adult dragon it no doubt represented. Aside from the beautifully sculpted horns and fins around its head and the thin, rigid snout, it looked like any other large lizard with wings and dark red scales. Of course, it wasn’t completely perfect. Many of the joints, especially those in the wings, still looked mechanical in nature, although Alex had done a pretty good job of disguising them. Unless they looked carefully, nopony would’ve been able to tell the difference.
Alex brushed a finger against the spines running down its neck. “I call him Garry. He’s easily one of my better creations. Frankly, even I’m impressed he came out looking this natural. Still working on a proper wing material that’ll let him fly, though…” He looked at Fluttershy. “Anyway, with any luck, hopefully this little guy can help you overcome your fear of Dragons. So, what do you say? Would you be willing to adopt him?”
Fluttershy carefully stepped forward to inspect the ‘sleeping dragon.’ “He wouldn’t behave like all those other dragons, right? Mean and fire-breathing?”
“Actually…” Alex shared a look with Rose’s hologram, who shrugged back at him. “We’re not entirely sure.”
Fluttershy’s pupils shrank dramatically. “Y-y-you don’t know…?”
Alex waved his hands in front of himself and spoke calmly. “He’s not gonna breath fire, and I doubt he’ll be mean, but I really can’t tell you how he’s going to behave. He’s using experimental programming that we’ve never used before, so… I mean, we did install some basic behavior patterns and program responses, but... I dunno, I wouldn’t call it a virtual intelligence, but I’m not sure if I’d go all the way and call it an artificial intelligence, either…”
“I don’t know what that means…”
Alex shrugged. “Sad part is, neither do we.” He extracted a pen-like tool from his belt and put in a smile. “Let’s find out then, shall we?”
Fluttershy’s ears pinned themselves to her skull and her hooves froze in place as Alex hovered the device over the machine’s/dragon’s head. He held it there for a few seconds before putting it back on his belt and backing away.
Agonizingly slowly, the dragon’s eyes opened to reveal a faintly glowing set of yellow eyes. Although unlike the actual dragon in the room, these eyes had round “pupils,” as opposed to slit ones. Garry slowly raised his head and glanced around the room, eventually settling his gaze on Fluttershy as if he recognized her from somewhere. The rest of his body came to life as Garry stood up on all fours and continued to stare at her with a tilted head. Fluttershy, however, stood as still as a statue.
As stealthy as ever, Pinkie Pie crawled up, poked Fluttershy from behind with a hoof and whispered, “Say something!”
Fluttershy flinched herself into motion. “Um… hello?”
Garry regarded her for a few more seconds before hopping to the floor with light metal taps and slowly approaching Fluttershy. This time, instead of backing away, Fluttershy let her own curiosity overtake her and leaned towards him.
Spike nudged Twilight with his elbow. “Twilight, come on! You’re missing everything!”
Twilight wave him off. “Mhm… Hey did you know he included this neat little pen that you can use to write on the screen?”
Spike face palmed and shook her shoulder. “Just look! He built a dragon!”
Twilight’s eyes immediately zipped up. “What!?”
Twilight looked up just in time to see Garry’s snout lightly touch Fluttershy’s extended hoof, almost like a dog sniffing someone for the first time. “Aww, you’re not a mean dragon, are you?” Garry nuzzled her hoof in response.
Alex smiled at the display, yet his only prevailing thought was: Well, at least that function is working.
“Hold on a second,” Twilight interrupted. She handed the e-reader to Spike and approached Garry, who stared back at her with a tilted head. “Alex, do you know what kind of dragon this is based off of?”
Alex scratched his head. “Uh… No?”
“Was the dragon you based it on also red? With these specific horn patterns?”
“Yes…?”
Twilight rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Hmmm… I’m not sure, but I think Princess Celestia told me about this kind of dragon before…”
“Really?” said Fluttershy.
Twilight nodded. “She called it a ‘Royal Red.’ Apparently, they get that name because the horns on their head look like some sort of weird, pointy crown, that distinguishes them from other dragons. According to her, they’re revered amongst dragons because of their wisdom and leadership. Alex, how did you say you built this again?”
“I sent a bot out North-West-ish, where you said I might be able to find something dragon related. It came back after a couple of weeks with enough physiological information that I was able to build Garry as a replica.”
“Okay, now here’s my question: How did it manage to do all of that without getting torn to pieces?” Twilight’s question caught everypony else’s attention. If that bot was able to retrieve enough information to build a physiologically accurate model, something which would normally require some sort of autopsy, how did it manage to do that without getting trashed by the dragon it was undoubtedly intruding on?
Alex rubbed his own chin. “That’s… a very good question, actually… Hey, Rose, could you go digging around in that unit’s memory to see what happened?”
Rose’s hologram gave him an uneasy look. “There’s a bit of a problem with that…”
“Okay, what is it?”
Rose hesitated, but eventually answered. “Unfortunately, I… may have recycled that particular unit to construct an Axon…”
Everybody immediately expressed their dismay with a simultaneous “aww come on!”
Alex held out his hands. “Alright, alright, calm down. I know it sucks, but that’s just one mystery that won’t get solved…”
Garry looked between them all and their conversations curiously, though he didn’t provide any indication that he understood what was going on. Fluttershy suddenly ran a hoof along the spines of his neck to draw his attention and said “Come on, little guy. I can give you a good home.” The mechanical dragon obediently followed.
Alex sighed and rubbed his hands together. “Okay, so… moving on from that unfortunate piece of information… Applejack, you’re next.”
Applejack sat up from her spot and planted her hooves in front of him. “Alex, normally Ah’d respectfully decline your gift since it was just for somethin’ Ah’d do for anypony. But seein’ all the effort you and Rose put into everypony else’s gifts, Ah believe it’d be much too disrespectful to do that. Ah also understand that Ah may have been a little… less than inspirin’ for ya…”
“Yes, AJ, you were,” Alex said with a nod. “Your gift, like Fluttershy’s, was incredibly tough to come up with. The only thing you want is the love and respect of your friends, and that of your family even more so, especially after a hard day’s work with them. Beyond that, you need nothing else, and I can fully respect that.” He paused for a moment to think. “That said, I… I have gone so far out of the box with this one… Everyone, follow me, please. You can just leave your empty cups where they are, a domestic will pick them up.”
Everypony briefly shared curious glances before following Alex to the other side of the workshop in front of what was easily the biggest storage container in the room. A long metal ramp led up to the container itself, which looked like a giant, chrome plated can with a single line splitting it down the middle. Everypony stared at it in awe, wondering what mystery lay behind the mirror-like doors.
Alex walked over to a computer terminal beside the ramp and indicated that Applejack stand at the base. “Applejack, I’ll be honest with you. When I originally came up with this idea, Rose was completely against it, and for a very good reason. It took a bit of tweaking and a whole lot of careful planning, but I eventually got her to agree to a set project. In the end, I personally hand built something that ranks way up on the list of things that I am most proud of, and is it this that I pass on to you. I understand your appreciation of family and hard work and have never overlooked that while building this.”
Applejack gave him an awkward smile. “Ah appreciate the speech, Alex, but maybe you can just show me what it is now.”
“Right, right…” Alex cleared his throat and began typing at the terminal. “Everyone, allow me to introduce to you: measuring almost ten feet in height; weighing in at nearly five metric tons; with enough power in his body to carry more than twice his own weight; the very first Liandri of his class—the very first super-heavy; I present to you the newest member of the Apple family…”
Alex looked up at them with a proud smile. “Guy!”
At that instant, the curved doors at the top of the ramp slowly groaned open. A hazy mist backed by a bright, white light spilled out from the newly opened crevice as if heaven itself lay beyond the breach. Everypony covered their eyes for the next few seconds until the light died down to a tolerable level. When it did, everypony gasped.
Standing before them was a true metal giant. Unlike other Liandri, its body more closely resembled a muscular human, with thick arms and legs, with a broad waist and shoulders, yet it retained enough mechanical features to remind anyone present of its true nature. However, it lacked any sort of visible face or ears, possessing only a smooth, black surface where someone would expect to see eyes, a nose, or a mouth. The rest of its body was a consistent silvery grey with a slight shine in it, broken up only by the single red apple in the middle of its chest. Various tubes and hoses still connected ports in its body to whatever machine it was stored in.
In another world, “Guy” might have been considered a work of art, although Alex probably already considered him as such.
Applejack’s eyes remained transfixed on titan standing before her, she almost didn’t notice when Alex started speaking again.
“Applejack,” he began, “the thing you have to know about Guy is that he isn’t just another Liandri. He’s unique; an individual. You see, AJ, the Liandri operate on a network. Each bot is interconnected and can instantly share information between each other, while still maintaining individual control. Rose, or more specifically, the facility's super computer, acts as the head of this network. It’s a type of Hub, or Nexus, if you will. Or, if you prefer, the Liandri act as a hive mind, and Rose is the queen.
“Guy is not a part of that network. In fact, I deliberately left out the hardware that could make that possible. The only way Guy can communicate with anyone is verbally, just like us. Which brings me to my next point. Right now, his programming is similar to that of a Virtual Intelligence. However, I also incorporated machine learning algorithms that I pulled straight from Rose. Which means that, by rough estimate, in a few weeks–”
“He’ll become an AI…” Twilight breathlessly interrupted.
Alex smiled and nodded. “That is correct. Guy will become an artificial intelligence and a true individual like you or me.” He walked around the terminal and knelt down next to Applejack so that they were both facing Guy. “You didn’t want a machine, AJ. So instead, I’m offering you a brother.”
Applejack’s jaw refused to close as she continued to stare at Guy, her eyes unusually drawn to the image of the single bright red apple on his chest, not unlike the ones on her very own cutie mark. Applejack let out a shaky breath she didn’t realize she was even holding in. “Alex, this is…” She forced herself to inhale and look at him. “Will he be like Rose?”
Alex gave her a single pat on the back, stood up, and walked back to the terminal. “Truth be told, no one knows. AIs aren’t exactly a field with a lot of available information. There’s only one AI that anyone, or at least I have ever seen develop, and that’s Rose.” He leaned against the terminal on his elbows. “Unfortunately, one does not a pattern make. On the other hand, I can tell you that we have some ideas, but they don’t really extend any further than that.”
“And those are?”
Deciding the terminal wasn’t the most comfortable spot to rest, Alex sat on a nearby stool instead. “Well, truth be told, Rose behaves a lot like me. At least, back when I originally started out with all this—the Liandri.” He counted the words on his fingers. “Focused… Disciplined… Highly prioritized… Cynical… Paranoid… Rightfully so, mind you, but… Uh…” He cleared his throat.
“Alex, that’s not exactly the most appropriate thing to say about somepony,” Rarity cut in. “Especially when in their presence.”
Rose’s female hologram appeared above the computer terminal. “I don’t deny any of it. Besides, we both agree that it’s good I possess such qualities.”
Alex held his hand towards the hologram. “As you can see, we’ve had this discussion before. Anyway, the point is, we think that an AI’s personality will develop based on the people it spends the most time around during its early learning period. Just like any child would, except, you know… way faster. So to answer your question, AJ… No, I don’t think he’ll be like Rose.”
“Question!” Pinkie Pie yelled, raising a hoof.
“Yes, Pinkie?”
“How do you know Guy is a guy?” She followed up with a giggle.
“Because he built him, duh!” said Rainbow Dash. “Also, what kind of name is ‘Guy,’ anyway?”
“A legitimate one,” answered Alex simply. “At least where I’m from.”
“Actually, Pinkie Pie had a good question,” said Fluttershy. “Guy’s body is a machine, right? Does he even have a gender?”
Alex laughed. “Let’s throw something else into the mix. How do you know that Rose is a ‘she’?”
The ponies looked between each other thoughtfully, as if the answer was written on one of their foreheads. “I guess we always just assumed that because that’s what you told us when we met you,” said Twilight.
Alex chuckled and moved to stand by the terminal again. “Alright, let me ask you this: What does Rose look like?”
“Like that!” said Pinkie, pointing at the female hologram next to him.
Alex smirked. “She might. Or she could look like this…” He entered a few commands into the computer and the hologram was suddenly replaced with the image of the super-computer hanging in the prototype lab. “That’s the physical computer she’s in right now, right? Or maybe, she looks like this…” The super-computer was replaced with the image of a laptop. “She looked like that for a good few months. Maybe Rose looks like that? Or maybe, she looks like this…”
The hologram changed to what could only be described as data, countless lines of words and numbers streaming down from an unseen source and disappearing into thin air. Alex crossed his arms and continued. “The simple fact is: Rose is neither male, nor female. So that begs the question: Why do we refer to Rose as ‘she’? Why do we regard Rose as female, when she could change her voice in every way possible and use any type of mechanical body she wants? This is a question that I’m sure tons of human or pony philosophers would be asking, but because I’m not a philosopher, I have an actual answer for you.”
Alex held his hands out wide with an equally wide grin. “It’s arbitrary! The only reason we consider Rose female is because her original voice synthesizer sounded female. ‘Rose’ was actually a name my mother gave her for that very reason. In fact, ‘Rose’ would’ve been the name of my sister if I actually had one, and the only reason she keeps the female persona is for the sake of consistency. That’s it; that’s all. So to answer your original question, Pinkie: Rainbow Dash is right. Guy looks like a male and he’ll sound like a male, therefore I deem him male.”
“Well, I suppose that’s one way to answer a question about the very nature of one’s being…” said Rarity.
“It’s an irrelevant question to ask anyway,” said Rose. “The answer isn’t particularly important to me, and I doubt Guy will consider it any more than I will. Or maybe he might. Who can really say?”
“Exactly.” Alex looked back at Applejack. “Now AJ, I need to make this especially clear to you. If we activate Guy, there’s no going back. He doesn’t have an off button, and he will consider himself to be a part of your family. So what do you say? Could the Apple family use an extra brother?”
Applejack looked back up at the apple on Guy’s chest. Thoughts and worries flew past her mind’s eye at a million miles a second, leaving her grasping for anything, but ultimately turning up blank. “Ah… Ah don’t know…”
Applejack flinched when she felt a hoof touch her shoulder. It was Twilight. “Whatever decision you make, Applejack, just remember that we’re here and we support you either way.”
Applejack turned to her. “Thanks, Twi. It’s just… Ah’m not sure Ah’m the right pony to make a decision like this… especially without talkin’ to everypony else first…”
“I can’t imagine anypony more qualified than you, Applejack,” said Fluttershy. The others chorused their agreements.
Applejack smiled solemnly. As nice as the idea seemed, she wasn’t sure if Guy could ever really become family. Apple on his chest or not, he would always be a Liandri; a machine. If she brought him back to the farm, the most he could probably be was a farmhand, and that was most likely how she’d have to introduce him to Big Mac, Applebloom, and Granny Smith.
But what if what Alex was saying was true? If AIs really are as special as Alex and Twilight claimed, was it really impossible to think that Guy couldn’t become a member of the Apple family by earning their respect, trust, and love? Rose was always clearly different from the other Liandri, and she was obviously more than just a bunch of information. Is Guy really just a machine, or is there something more to him, too?
Applejack looked up at Guy’s face. Pure black. Completely empty, yet full of potential. It… No, he wasn’t just a machine to help around the farm, but a potential new brother! To her, to Big Macintosh, to Applebloom… Pony or not, he could be shaped by the very things they valued most, and maybe, just maybe, could become one of the biggest positive influences in their lives.
So much potential.
Applejack inhaled and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she looked Alex square in the eye. “Do it.”
Alex’s fingers hovered over the keyboard. “You’re absolutely sure?”
She nodded.
“Alright…” Alex began typing. “Initiating activation sequence now.”
A light hum began emitting from the machine holding Guy, and the hoses that connected to him shook back and forth from some unfelt vibration. All of Applejack’s friends gathered around her as the apple on Guy’s chest lit up and shone a brilliant, vibrant red, with just the right amount of green from the leaves above it. Guy’s black face suddenly began flashing every color of the rainbow, as if it wasn’t quite sure what color to settle on. Before anyone could question the strangeness of it, his face became pitch black once more, with two bright yellow circles where his eyes would be. Going from the bottom up, the tubes connected to his body popped off, each one sounding like a miniature explosion that caused everypony to jump. The new openings in Guy’s body immediately whirred closed like sentient pores, barring his insides from the outside world.
Alex waved his hand at the clustered ponies, though his eyes refused to stray from Guy. “Everybody get back—Not you AJ, you stay there.” Everypony complied.
Guy remained stock still for several long seconds, seemingly staring at the opposite wall. Suddenly, Guy’s head—and only his head—angled down to stare at Applejack, who simply stared back. After what seemed like an eternity, Guy raised one foot and…
*WHUM*
The weight of Guy’s massive step impacted the ramp and let out a resounding vibration across the entire room. Guy took another step forward, achieving the same result. Everypony, including Applejack, instinctively backed up as Guy slowly thundered his way down. Now off the ramp and standing on the much thicker, less noisy floor, Guy stared directly down at Applejack, towering over the pony who was only as tall as his upper thigh.
“Do you think we made him a bit too big now?” Rose whispered to Alex via a domestic leaning over his shoulder.
“Yeah, maybe a bit…” he whispered back. “Seems kinda stiff, though.”
“I was like that too, if you’ll recall.”
“Good point…”
Applejack gulped and held out a hoof. “Uh… Hi there, Guy.”
Guy dropped to his right knee with a heavy metallic thud, keeping his “eyes” focused on Applejack’s face. His face then dropped to stare at her extended hoof. Ever so slowly, Guy extended his open right hand towards her hoof to grab it.
Then he stopped. The giant pulled his hand back and slightly curled his fingers, as if he wasn’t quite sure what to do. He extended his hand out again, though this time, only holding out a finger to tap Applejack’s hoof. However yet again, Guy pulled his hand back and began staring at it. This time, he formed his hand into a fist and looked back at Applejack’s hoof. For the final time, Guy’s clenched fist approached Applejack’s hoof and eased into it, emitting a light tap as they touched. Guy looked back up at Applejack’s face as if seeking her approval, and for the first time, spoke in a deep, monotone voice that sounded just as natural as Rose’s, though still held a synthetic hint. “Greetings, Applejack.”
Applejack brought her eyes back up from Guy’s fist to his face and smiled at him, unable to find appropriate words.
Meanwhile, behind the terminal, Alex began clapping his hands and giggling like a schoolgirl with the dumbest grin on his face. Upon noticing that the others were starting to give him funny looks, he cleared his throat loudly. “Yes, well… *ahem* It seems to me that things will turn out just fine for you two.” Alex walked around the terminal and gave Guy a firm pat on his gigantic shoulder. “Now look, if anything’s wrong with Guy, like if something breaks down, you bring him straight to me, okay? Just consider me his personal physician.” He looked at Guy and smiled. “You be good, okay?”
Guy’s circular eyes flattened and widened at him in a simulated blink.
Alex patted him on the shoulder one last time and walked off. “So, now that all that is said and done,” he called over his shoulder, “there’s only one beast left to be released. Pinkie, that means you.”
Pinkie Pie immediately jumped an easy three feet in the air and beamed. “Oh boy, my turn! Are they laser vision goggles? That would be so cool; having goggles that shoot lasers out of my eyes! Pew pew! Or maybe just heat vision goggles! I always wanted a pair of those to go with my other ones!”
Alex stopped and shook his head at her, chuckling with his hands on his hips. “Sorry, Pinkie it isn’t that. Funny thing, though. We don’t actually have any wearable technology like that. The closest thing we have would involve extensive surgery. Hell, I’ve even had it done!”
Everypony stopped in their tracks and stared at him. Once Guy stopped moving, everyone became fully aware of just how silent they were, letting Alex’s words sink in.
“Wait… you’ve had surgery?” asked Twilight. “As in… you’ve had it recently?
“Relatively speaking, yeah.” Alex said without a moment’s hesitation. “I had my heart replaced a couple of months ago.” He emphasized it by beating his chest with a fist twice. “After all, it was either that or wait for the eventual heart failure to do me in. Thought I’d even throw in an eye, too. Or throw out, depending on how you see things. I tell ya, Rose is one heck of a surgeon.”
Twilight frowned in thought. “Rose told me you were recovering from something on Nightmare Night. Is that what you were recovering from? The surgery?”
“Oh right, I had Rose keep it a secret…” he muttered. “Yeah, Twilight, that’s why I wasn’t out and about on Nightmare Night.”
“So that’s why you had that funny looking eye patch and exo-thingy!” cried Pinkie.
“It is! Oh! Here, watch this…” Alex closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. When he opened them a few seconds later, the iris of right eye was glowing a bright, neon green.
Everypony let out expressions of astonishment. While the idea of willingly replacing a perfectly good eye didn’t exactly sit well with anypony, the fact that Alex wasn’t bothered by it at all, and even seemed excited about it, helped ease them.
Alex chuckled. “It know, right? It’s awesome! Not only is this eye better than the original in terms of being able to see things, but I can even see light outside the visible light spectrum, too! It even has built-in magnification!”
“So could it see things in infrared?” asked Twilight with wide eyes.
“It can!” Alex was beaming at this point. “I can actually filter what kind of information it detects to send to my brain. The end result feels kinda weird, but it’s so cool!”
“Wait, what’s infrared?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Heat!” Alex immediately responded. “It even has built in night and EMF vision, too! I can see all sorts of things using this eye! It processes and sends all its information directly to the visual centers of my brain, and I can control it using a BCI implant.”
“I have no idea what a BCI is…”
Alex rubbed his scalp with his fingers, though kept his eyes focused on her. “BCI stands for Brain-Computer Interface. It’s a partially invasive device I had implanted in my head that sits between my brain and my skull that reads my brain activity. Oh! Here, watch this…” Alex waved to a nearby Blue and called it over. “I can even use it to give orders to bots using just my mind!”
“That sounds awesome!” Pinkie yelled.
“It is! Just watch: I’m going to order this Blue to give me a salute using just the BCI.” Alex squinted at the blue and began rubbing his hands together. For almost half a minute, nothing happened.
Spike nudged Twilight. “Is he actually doing anything?”
Twilight shrugged in response.
Alex held a finger out to them. “Just gimme a second here… I got this…” He bit his upper lip and visibly strained himself, forcing his face to turn red. It was almost as if he desperately needed to go to the bathroom.
Suddenly, the fingers on the Blue’s right hand snapped straight outward. Everybody, including Alex, yelped as the Blue’s arm shot up towards its head and its fingers smashed through its central eye, sending bits of glass and other small broken pieces spilling to the floor.
Everyone gaped at the Blue with its fingers still stuck in its face. The only movement between them was when Fluttershy brought a hoof up over her mouth. A viscous, purple fluid oozed out of the Liandri’s broken eye socket, with electric sparks dancing around it. After a few seconds, the Blue fell backwards and landed with a loud crash, its hand still lodged in its head.
Alex blinked down at the bot, his eye now back to its original color. “I, um… uh… huh…”
“You may find this hard to believe, but that was actually a lot better than what happened the last time he attempted to do that,” came Rose’s voice with a slightly amused tone. “Last time, the test subject pulled its own head off. Now that was a rather messy affair.”
Alex slowly rubbed the back of his head, his eyes still glued to the bot he just mentally ordered to smash in its own face. “I, uh… think we may have gone a bit off topic… Pinkie’s present is in the garage. Let’s… Let’s just go in there…”
“I concur…” said Rarity, carefully making her way around the bot lying on the ground. She wanted to look away, but found that simple task surprisingly difficult to do.
The large group traveled back into the garage in eerie silence. Of course, after watching a Blue practically commit suicide, it wasn’t terribly difficult to understand why. Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, seemed completely unfazed. “Oh, I wonder what my present is! Everypony got something that suits them great, which means that I’ll probably get something that suits me great, too! I wonder if it’s an automatic cupcake froster! Or maybe it’s a balloon blower! Or maaaaaaybe–”
“Pinkie!”
“Yes?” Pinkie Pie instantly stood straight up and grinned at Alex.
Alex chuckled with his arms crossed and his head angled towards the ground before looking back up at her. “Remember that surprise?”
“You mean that thing?” Pinkie pointed at the exceptionally large object hidden beneath the tarp. “Is that my present?”
Alex nodded. “That’s your present. Rose, would you do the honors?”
Rose didn’t respond. Instead, a pair of Blues approached the tarp from the side opposite the garage door and carefully pulled it away. As the hidden object was gradually unveiled, everypony’s jaws dropped more and more, especially Pinkie Pie’s. When it was fully revealed, nopony moved except Pinkie, who took slow, albeit shaky and uncertain steps towards it.
Before them was the biggest of all the Christmas presents Alex had produced. Supported by two massive wheels in the front and a pair of trapezoidal treads in the back, was a long, armored vehicle that was painted a hot pink, with Pinkie Pie’s cutie mark printed on the hubcaps of the front wheels. The vehicle was almost as big as Alex was tall, and the front and rear ends were the same height, making it fairly level, but it was the cornerstone that it was carrying along its metal back that drew everypony’s immediate attention. There, mounted on the back end of the vehicle and extending all the way along its entire length, was the unmistakeable sight of an obscenely massive party cannon, painted the same baby blue as the original.
Pinkie Pie slowly approached the beast, her neck craning up as she tried to take in the sight. Pinkie never said a word, letting shaky breaths do all the speaking for her.
Alex leaned against a nearby toolbox. “It’s pretty much an exact replica of your party cannon, Pinkie, just scaled up and rewired so it fires from the driver’s seat. Although the stabilizers on the back and sides need to be deployed first as a safety protocol. Personally, I like to call it the Self Propelled Mobile Party Artillery Cannon, but what you call it is entirely up to you. If you want, I can teach you how to drive it as early as tomorrow.”
“I… I…” Pinkie slowly ran a hoof along one of the hubcaps. Her breathing refused to steady itself as she turned her gaze up to the familiar looking cannon towering above her, so fresh and new that it was still glinting in the fluorescent light. Pinkie let out a sob as she did her best to hug the entirety of the large wheel. “It’s beautifu-u-ul…”
“Wait a minute!” Twilight called out. “Alex, you built a functioning replica of Pinkie’s party cannon?”
Alex looked over at her with a neutral expression and nodded.
Twilight’s eyes widened. “Then you know how it works!”
Alex nodded again. “Yes, I do. But Twilight, I’m gonna have to stop you right there. I know what you’re gonna ask, but I’m sorry to say: I’ve been sworn to secrecy.”
Twilight’s expression instantly dropped and she landed on her haunches. The look of dashed hopes and dreams that she wore was almost too painful for Alex to look at. “Was it a Pinkie Promise…?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Ooohhh…” Twilight closed her eyes and allowed her head to thump against the floor in defeat.
Applejack clicked her tongue. “Better luck next time, Twi.”
Alex pursed his lips at the display when his thoughts were torn away by a sudden hug from Pinkie Pie who wrapped her forelegs around his neck. It was a comfortable hug, though, and nothing overly tight like Pinkie’s usual hugs. “Thank you,” she murmured into his ear. “Thank you so much…”
While initially surprised, Alex eventually smiled and returned her hug. “You’re welcome, Pinkie. Merry Christmas…”
Everypony remained at the garage talking excitedly amongst each other for quite a while before Rose pointed out to them that the time was bordering on one in the morning; an unfortunate side effect of leaving Canterlot by train late, arriving in Ponyville even later, and then getting sidetracked by the prospect of presents. Funny enough, none of them felt tired whatsoever, which most likely contributed to their losing track of time.
While most of the topics discussed were about their new gifts, the subject of Winter Wrap Up did come up, something that caught Alex’s attention. Unlike previous instances of directly interfering with nature, Alex actually welcomed the idea of “cleaning up winter.” Although that was most likely due to the fact that, despite being a Canadian his entire life, he never really appreciated snow and the cold that came with it. Either that, or he was becoming shockingly used to these crimes against nature. Either way, having an opportunity to get even with the white menace seemed all too good to be true.
After arranging for bots to help carry bags to their respective households with their owners, Alex waved everypony off. Knowing that his friends were on their way home for the night, Alex let out a content sigh and made his way over to the elevator.
Alex stopped in front of the elevator and paused. He frowned and looked around as if something wasn’t quite right. Alex placed a finger against his neck, held up his watch, and counted his heart beats.
One forty… a tad high… “Hey, Rose?” Alex called out as the elevator arrived and he stepped into it.
“Yes?”
Alex pushed the button to bring the elevator down to the prototype lab. “Did that domestic put stimulants in my hot chocolate?”
“Yes, yes it did.”
Alex nodded his head. “Good, good…” After a brief moment of thought, he frowned and added “Okay, quick question: did that domestic put stimulants in their hot chocolates?”
Rose spoke again after a few seconds, her tone highly unamused. “Yes… Yes it did…”
Alex slowly brought his hand up and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Ooohhh for fuck’s sake… Well, looks like no one’s getting any sleep tonight! Oh well… Hey, Rose, fire up the drawing room. Start a new project and title it ‘BioMech Mark Two.’ I’ve got a twisted little idea for this whole Winter Wrap Up business.”
So I've had this chapter finished for about two months now, and only just posted it... Yeah, I'm lazy that way. I'll just blame mid-terms, that's always a viable excuse, right?
Right? 
On a much more serious note, I'm excited about this chapter because it introduces a character I've been thinking about for about a year now: Guy. Now some of you are probably thinking: What kind of name is Guy? Well, it was originally a placeholder name, but I used it so much that I just couldn't imagine calling him anything else. So the name stuck. In any event, I have a few plans for him, and I hope you guys are eager to see how he fits in to everything.
One final note: I've written a little thing on the side called "Model Hall," where I go over all the Liandri and vehicles that appear in the story in more detail. It's something that's completely optional and won't be necessary for the story itself, but it does provide some neat information that otherwise wouldn't normally be mentioned, like what happened to the robot timberwolf after Nightmare Night. I'll also make an effort to include images if they're available. Of course, people could always try to make artwork, and I'll gladly accept it, but that's probably asking for too much 
. Each update of Model Hall will also be a separate Google Doc, and not just one document that's simply updated, so the chance of potential spoilers will be exactly 0.
Anyway, the first issue of Model Hall can be found HERE.
This is just an experiment, so tell me what you guys think! Is Model Hall something worth continuing?
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Hay, you're alive!
I like the model hall idea please continue it.
I like the sound of that last part...
the model hall is a great idea but it could use more pictures. I always have trouble visualizing what a character is suppose to look like without a picture for reference. especially if the premise is a sci-fi one. take guy or google for example. I am using the domestic bot as a reference, imagining guy looking like the domestic bot only more bulky like the description said.
great fic by the way. looking forward for more..
4385696 I am!
Although I'm a little disappointed that I had this chapter finished for the better part of two months now, and never got around to uploading it until now. Right now I feel like I have a big heaping help of no progress. 
I trust you're doing much better in that regard than I am...
4387706 I completely agree, and I would love to add more photos. The only problem is... they need to exist first.
Characters like Guy and Google are original, so they have no actual visual representation except in my head. Sadly, I can't draw worth a damn. 
Of course, if anyone wanted to do artwork for them, I wouldn't object, but like I said in the author's notes, that's probably asking for too much. 
4388687
have you tried asking for commission? there is one fic here called "a midsummer night's dream" check out one chapter called "oh boy we got trouble..." and look straight down to the author's note. basically, the robots being introduce in this chapter has their own art commission by the author. good thing too, otherwise, I (and the rest of the readers) would have a very hard time trying to visualized how these original robots are suppose to even look like.
Fun chapter.
Once he gets a personality, I really want to see Guy fab himself a gangly-looking colt frame to transfer himself to when he's not working. He can't even go in houses as he is, and I think it'd be funny if he decided he was her son.
4388931 Oh, I've certainly considered it, although I don't know anyone who would be able to do it. If you have recommendations, I'll seriously think about it.
4389232 He's not going up stairs any time soon, that's for sure! The thing about Guy, though, is that I have big plans for him. Hell, I could write another story centered entirely around him (the chapter after the next will feature him). Unfortunately, those plans don't include extra bodies to transfer into. I want him to be a sore-thumb character; one who, no matter how much he tries to fit in, will always stand out. This includes him using the same body all the time since I also want to emphasize his individuality, like us, who only have the one body, and unlike Rose, who can literally be in multiple places and occupying multiple bodies at once. Is Guy going to receive unjust friction from others who see him as just a machine? Of course! But that's the basis of a good story.
I enjoyed the chapter, keep it up!!
I reread this story because I forgot a lot of it while waiting for a new chapter
>Nano-fibre
Why did you spell this with the 're' ending instead of 'er'?
>I’m going to order this Blue to give me a solute
More chemistry, eh?
4428560 So there I was last night, it's one in the morning, and I had just finished playing a game of Age of Mythology. Now imagine my surprise when I came on fimfiction to suddenly find 13 new comments. I've had many a facepalm reading them, with the words "Oh god dammit!" coming up more than a few times. Especially with the solute thing.
Thanks for finding those slips in the cracks, even if I feel stupid about it. As for the fibre vs fiber thing... I live in Quebec. 'Nuff said.
4430054 :DDDd
Butt you use 'center' and 'color'
Your location shudn't be important anyway
4430364 Who ever said I was perfect?
4431353 Your parents
4431961 Touché.
4432916 Danke for the cute acute
4439241 Reading each of your comments brought joy to my heart.
And to hear that my story was recommended to you by someone else?
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I hope you enjoy what's to come! Hopefully, the next chapter will be coming out within the week, so keep an eye out for that.
Also, I moved my neck a little further to the left than I should have and it cracked. That's how I pulled it.
4442049 I'm a couple chapters in and I still didn't get my well deserved cookies for that one author's note.
You... Gave Pinkie... A Mechanized Party Artillery Cannon?
She will wage war on equestria, laying siege to all major towns and sowing
death and destructionfun and parties everywhere she goes.You're insane.
I ship the two techies so hard...
FIRE ZE ARTILLERY
Actually, "Guy" is a legitimate given name, derived from "Guido", meaning "forest" or "guide". Alternatively, "Guy" can be a derivation of the Hebrew word for "Ravine". And while "Guy" is an archaic (or French) name, there are still people named "Guy" in the last and current centuries.
I did have a problem with this story though: A Manufacturing precision rate of 0.08% is still pretty large for something that is a large conglomeration of tiny things. I found graphene nanotubes can be grown with zero imperfections up to one gram at a time! (Graphene nanotubes are your standard carbon nanotubes grown from a surface of graphene. They have amazing capacitance properties). Finally, in the manufacturing world, you'll hear of things like "5-sigma", referring to the chance a product will be free of defects. A perfection rate of 99.99966% is the six-sigma value. Even so, if a manufacturing plant were building CPUs to this value, almost every CPU coming out would be defective. Therefore, your value of 0.08% is atrociously large for such a delicate process. While entirely unrelated, I toured LIGO and they said that the mirrors used, which are maybe a foot in diameter (and many inches thick), must be so perfect that the best manufacturing plants in the world take about 2~3 years to build them with a 50% success rate.
Oh my. Words cannot describe the combination of glee and terror. YOU GAVE PINKIE A WORKING PARTY TANK?!
Heh. I do think that he should share his tech someday... and more importantly, persuade Pinkie to share too, assuming she doesn't have similar reasons/ some fear of exposure as a genius. Twilight's mental health would probably be much safer, and QS would be awesome to actually widely use.