After a bit of instruction in how to properly carry himself while wearing the Hoverboots, Ratchet followed Alister on the course he'd set up to fully test him with the new gadget. He discovered that the extra speed it gave him allowed him to crash through some obstacles, although the only weapon he could safely wield while using them was his wrench. There were also any number of devices that seemed designed for use with the hoverboots for added mobility, like kickpads he could leap off of. He was certain Twilight would question why such things were scattered about when only Lombaxes used Hoverboots, but he privately thought the devices might have been set up at all points by Alister himself, and ignored by those who didn't understand their purpose.
"Well done," Alister praised as Ratchet finished the course first try. "You're a faster learner than your father when it comes to these things. You must get that from your mother. Come on, I have one final test set up this way!"
The next course had flares scattered along it to test Ratchet's speed and control. Alister had just enough time to explain Ratchet had to collect them all in under a minute before Ratchet was off. Much to Alister's surprise, Ratchet accomplished it in 30 seconds. "Amazing!" he proclaimed, completely astounded. "How did you get so good at maneuvering like that?"
"When I first adopted Twilight, she was about this size and could fly and shoot lasers from her horn," Ratchet explained, demonstrating the size with his hands. "Trying to catch her when she was feeling energetic was good practice for a lot of my adventures."
"I can well imagine," Alister chuckled. "She's been a real handful growing up, then?"
"Worth every moment," Ratchet confirmed, smiling proudly. At that point, the Hoverboots shorted out, and Ratchet staggered to balance himself.
"Ion coils might be a bit rusty," Alister pointed out. "But you'll get used to them." He hesitated. "Just...how old is Twilight, exactly?"
"Well, I don't know how old she was exactly when she arrived beyond 'infant'," Ratchet replied, "but we celebrate that day as her birthday, and she's 15 now."
"But...but then you couldn't have been more than ten when you adopted her!" Alister burst out, stunned.
"Still worth it."
Alister shook his head in amazement.
"So what's our next goal?" Ratchet asked. "Storm Nefarious' fortress and hook his head up to Aphelion's Zoni-upgraded circuitry so she can strip his mind for the location of the Clock?"
Alister stared at Ratchet. "...I genuinely didn't expect such a vicious plan from you," he admitted.
"Twilight wants her Mommy back," Ratchet grunted, pounding his fist into his palm.
Alister nodded in understanding. "Still, Nefarious would be foolish to provide any means for us to extract the Clock's location from him. But we have an advantage I did not before."
"Twilight?" Ratchet offered.
"Well...her too," Alister admitted. "And you for that matter. But the real advantage...a contact inside the clock."
"You have a way to communicate with Clank?" Ratchet demanded eagerly. "Tell me how!"
"Not here, not yet," Alister cautioned. "We need to make sure it will work first." He gently tapped a device on the front of his armor. "Meet me in Axiom City, on Planet Terachnos."
As the General's ship rose - the same fighter model as Aphelion had been pre-Zoni upgrade, but plainly not an AS - Aphelion shot into the air near them, Twilight hopping out, levitating a new set of boots. "Behold, the Omniboots!" she proclaimed proudly. "By applying grinders to either side of the hover jets of the hover boots that automatically deploy in the presence of a grind rail, lining the entire boot with material that can become magnetized when properly energized, and boosting the power source to a Mark 7 micro-generator instead of the ZZX model it had which was equivalent to a Mark 5, I have incorporated the functions of all types of boot gadgets into these!" She smiled widely at Ratchet. "I can give your boots the upgrade while replacing the ion coils with fresh ones. If they're anything like the duplicates I made to study from, they've gotten a little degraded over time."
Alister stared at Twilight, completely poleaxed. "...maybe I was mistaken about the order of the new advantages..." he murmured.
"It's been ten minutes, Twilight," Ratchet joked. "What took you so long?"
As Alister turned to stare at Ratchet, his jaw somewhat hanging, Twilight replied, "I had to take a potty break in the middle, but I couldn't find it! Aphelion's too big inside now!"
"...you're not kidding?" Alister asked, stunned. "She encountered brand new tech she's never known before, fully analyzed it, and upgraded it while incorporating other kinds of tech in ten minutes...and that's not amazing?"
"Not for her," Ratchet admitted modestly. "Though I'm half surprised she hasn't upgraded it to also be a weapon-"
"And the boosters can be activated while kicking to add the force of the jets to the blow!" Twilight piped up.
"There we go!" Ratchet praised.
Alister was torn between two warring impulses in his mind. The first was to back away slowly, jump into his ship, and get as far away from the pair as possible before Twilight got ahold of the Great Clock and rewrote the laws of reality. The second impulse eventually won out, however. "...can I get those upgrades?"
You know, I'm not sure I completely trust Alister for some reason...maybe the attitude toward Ratchet's father is off-putting to say the least.
She wouldn't do that.... But she would upgrade it's defenses, and in record time learn anything and EVERYTHING There is to know about Time, the universe, reality and the laws governing each and all of them.
Your pretty good.
Yes!
6838528
Only to find the answer is 47
...... this is a pony and ratchet a clank crossover?
6838573 Indeed. If you look at other stories by this author. It's usually a video game universe, with a pony, or dragon, popping in randomly. Such as Spike in Metroid, Fluttershy in TF2, and this one has Twilight in Ratchet & Clank.
6838571 If she found that, she WOULD rewrite the laws of reality.
I just realized the biggest change between Twilight in the show an Twilight here: she's exponentially more extroverted. I guess I was distracted by all the cuteness.
6838507 Care to elaborate?
6838604 that and she dosnt have a problem killing sentients and might have a small nightmare problem that im waiting to see swing round again
Uh... The cover image is a bit... glitchy...
6838698
There have been several site notices about why that is.
Of course, if canon Twilight can accidentally weaponize parasprites, surely this Twilight can weaponize anything she gets her hooves on.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Oh, people's reactions to Twilight's mechanical Skillz never cease to amuse me!
Welp, the only pony that can match Twi and her reality-shattering shenanigans would hafta be Pinkie. Twilight can just rewrite reality on a whim as of now.
Loved the update! I betcha Allaster begins to rethink his great clock plans soon enough
Twilight: "What plans?"
Me: "Sorry but that would be spoiling it"
Twilight: *pouts cutely*
Me: "That wont work on me Twilight"
Twilight: "Well I had to try at least"
It's still a wonder why Twilight isn't the CEO of her own company yet, but I suppose it's because she's still young
6838571 Don't you mean 42?
I love Twilight in this story! I swear, this is how she would be if My Little Pony wasn't primarily intended to be a little girl's show. Great job as always Tatsurou!
6838617 It just I'm not sure if he's praising Ratchet or subtlety insulting his father...we already know that his mother knew both of them...but their still seems to be some rivalry...plus he's keeping things from Ratchet and Twilight...he didn't say anything about what he has in mind and he's leading his allies around by the string...which is pretty much what Xenohort did to Ventas and co. in that one Kingdom Hearts game...and I think by now you see where I'm going with this...
Another enjoyable chapter Good job.
Parenthood: An Adventure In Itself.
6838571
6*9=42
6838831
She's not CEO because she prefers inventing to management, and she has a sweet deal with Mr. Eiken (the name Tats gave to Gadgetron's CEO) that pretty much lets her name her own terms for how her inventions are distributed.
Nice chapter! I wonder if all the adoptive parents where to meet how would they top Ratchet raising Twilight? Batman and Tony could be the closest to be the next best.
6838726 You know, I never thought about it like that, and in hindsight, that could be an excuse for why everything she makes results in explosions. Explosions of the good kind.
6838894 an interesting observation...buy only Time will tell the answer, as well if this will end like the game or if Twi will throw another Omniwrench into reality
So she would become pinkie pie? Cool.
I just realized that this story is your longest one to date by a long shot. More than doubling any other story you have and even tripling others. Not only that, you've been working on this story for over a year now with weekly updates... You are an amazing writer, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
6838708 I know.
The thing I love most about this story is the feats of engineering. That and someone meeting Twi for the first time.
Alister was torn between two warring impulses in his mind. The first was to back away slowly, jump into his ship, and get as far away from the pair as possible before Twilight got ahold of the Great Clock and rewrote the laws of reality. The second impulse eventually won out, however. "...can I get those upgrades?" soooooooooooooooooooooo funny when i read this i laughed
6839569 Cool, yet terrifying, like the Terminator.
6838528 Everything except why there's a variable of fifty feet in regards to the Great Clock's position the centre of the universe.
6840525 indeed!
6838894 What do you think he is planning, if he is planning anything? I have played the games so I have all the answers, but it's interesting to see another perspective.
6841047 I'm not sure...but time travel is a tricky bastard and knowledge of what's to come can actually be detrimental if you don't know why it comes...and there seems to be a lot of reasons that for things that we actually don't know...and this set-up clearly has a time theme to it so yeah...I'm just a little worried right now.
6840532 well that's simple!! Trigonometry is a b!tch when your nearest reference point is several hundred light years away and moving!
With every chapter I find myself liking Twilight more and more. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
Twilight eyed Tirek as he stood over her demanding her magic. she smirked and pulled out a device and pressed a button opening a portal above the Centaurs head "And what is THAT supposed to do?" questioned Tirek with a cruel laugh..... His laugh was suddenly cut off as a tentacle sprang out of the portal and grabbed up Tirek dragging the Centaur in causing A nearby Celestia and Luna to blink. A moment later a loud belch could be heard just before the portal in the sky closed "Problem solved" Twilight chirped cheerfully earning proud nods from her her family, and stares from the Princesses.
"Tia?" Luna began slowly as she turned her head to her sister "Twilight is scary" she said earning a nod from Celestia
6851145 We simply utilized a magical EMP blast to disable the collar, which promptly fell off
6851204 teach me how to draw stuff like your icon.
6851204 Wish i'd thought of that a decade ago would have saved a bundle in cybernetics.
You know what the universe needs? More fingers.
7140596
Poor Twilight with her hoofs.
6838507 if you played the game you know whats going to happen SPOILER you have to fight him later in the game
7476562 you should put that little black line over that.
Twilight would reality with the clock, after she recovers from passing out from over-excitement and excessive drooling.
Welcome to the family.
Alister was torn between two warring impulses in his mind. The first was to back away slowly, jump into his ship, and get as far away from the pair as possible before Twilight got ahold of the Great Clock and rewrote the laws of reality
Yeah, she could do that.
Um... It's Twilight Sparkle, she was rewriting laws of Reality long before she ended up in Ratchet's care.. so that's old hat to her... silly Alister