The Sparkle in his Eye

by Tatsurou

Tools: Allies and Enemies

Once Twilight and Talwyn stopped fighting over who was copying who - and Zephyr ran out of popcorn - Ratchet and Clank began filling Talwyn and her robot friends in on their mission and everything that had led them here. However, an unexpected revelation caught them all off guard.

"Kaden?" Talwyn gasped in shock. "You're Kaden's son?"

"Yeah," Ratchet replied. "I only learned his name recently. How do you know him?"

"He and my father were good friends," Talwyn explained. "They did a lot of research together, and he trusted Dad with a few things." She scuffed her foot against the ground. "Actually...Kaden commissioned this station from my Father as...a possible place to hide you from Tachyon. If the attack had come a few months later...we'd have probably grown up together here."

"Whoa," Twilight murmured in shock. "Talk about a bomb to drop..." She glanced between Ratchet's stupefied face and Talwyn's nervous/embarrassed one. She couldn't help but grin as she added Talwyn's name to the list of possible Mommies/Harem members. It was unfortunate that one of the major cons was 'We sound exactly alike', but Twilight was certain she could work on that one.

"Would your father's friendship with Kaden be why Tachyon thinks you have a Lombax weapon here?" Clank asked.

"Probably," Talwyn replied. "Kaden was the premiere weapons research scientist of his generation. Just about everything made by the Lombaxes in the 40 years before Tachyon went after them had Kaden's name on it somewhere."

"Guess that talent skipped a generation," Twilight teased.

"Hush," Ratchet scolded. "Just because you've invented nearly everything to come out of Gadgetron in the past decade or so is no reason to brag-"

"Wait, you're that Twilight Sparkle?" Cronk demanded in shock. "My last replacement power core is your design!" He quickly popped his chest compartment open to show it.

"Oh! That's the Regenerative Quantum Coil!" Twilight eagerly proclaimed, rushing forward. "I had a huge argument with the other techs about making the adapters for older model robots so they could upgrade themselves. There's still a debate going on about the effect on personality cores from transfers between shells, and older robots should have a choice of keeping their shell while upgrading." She suddenly gasped. "Zephyr, is that my Recoil Shield Pulse Rifle!"

Zephyr grinned. "It sure is! With my old circuits, it works real well that the recoil from firing gets diverted into a reflective energy shield, rather than tearing my arm off...again."

Talwyn couldn't help but chuckle. "And we did have a Lombax artifact here, entrusted to us by Kaden, but...we were raided by Pirates, and they took it. Dad...never came back from going after them." She gripped her left arm with her right hand.

Twilight looked up. "By any chance was the pirate Captain Slagg?"

"Yes, that was the crew," Talwyn replied. "Why?"

Twilight, Ratchet, and Clank all grinned widely.

---

As Aphelion entered orbit around Planet Ardolis, Twilight opened the comms. "This is Twilight Sparkle to Captain Slag! Twilight Sparkle to Captain Slag!"

"Twilight, what are you doing?" Talwyn demanded in shock from her own ship. "Why are you-"

Slag appeared on the comm screen. "Well, lass! Fancy meetin' ya here! How'd ya find our home base?"

"A mutual acquaintance mentioned facing off against you in a game here," Twilight replied. "Say, did your pirates ever raid Apogee station?"

Slag scratched his chin for a time. "Yeah...think we might of. Why ya ask?"

"Well, I need the artifact you took from there in order to fight Tachyon," Twilight explained. "Can I borrow it?"

"If ya need it ta fight Tachyon, you can have it!" Slag proclaimed. "Yer an honorary member of me crew, after all! The booty gets shared out at need! It's down planetside, even though I ain't just now. Me crew down there won't bug ya...but y'all still need to make your own way past the security. Can ya dance like a pirate?"

Twilight grinned. "You'll see how well I dance!"

As communications cut, Twilight turned to Talwyn. "We've got clearance to land!" she called out.

"H...How'd you become an honorary pirate?" Talwyn demanded.

"Beat Slag in a race!" Twilight proclaimed proudly.

---

The exploration of Planet Ardolis went rather smoothly. The Pirates reacted with hostility at first, until they saw Twilight in her pirate outfit. Once they recognized her, they greeted the group cordially, toasting them and offering some grog, which Twilight politely declined and Cronk and Zephyr were ordered not to drink. Clank declined as well, as the mugs were bigger than he was.

It surprised Twilight that not all the pirates were robots. In fact, most of them were either cyborgs or entirely organic, with the robotic pirates being the upper echelons of command.

It didn't take long to make their way through the security, after dancing their way past the security doors on occasion. Much to Twilight's chagrin, while she could follow the directions of the door for the steps, each door opened laughing. "My dancing's not that bad, is it?" she whimpered.

"Not bad," Talwyn reassured her. "Just adorable."

Twilight pouted as they reached the pirate vault. "When am I going to outgrow being adorable?"

"Likely never," Cronk offered helpfully.

Clank lifted the artifact off the pedestal where it was suspended. "Hmm...it appears to be gene locked," he murmured. "Either species based or bloodline based. Either only a Lombax or only someone of Kaden's bloodline can activate this."

"I guess that's up to me, then," Ratchet replied, taking the pyramid shaped object into his hand. The crystal up top immediately broadcast a star map, complete with coordinates of a particular planet.

"That's Rykan V!" Talwyn proclaimed, recognizing the planet. "That must be where the secret's hidden!"

"Send Aphelion the coordinates!" Twilight instructed. "If it's there, it's probably gene locked as well!"

Comments

[King Leoric]

excellent as always.

[TheDriderPony]

Nice chapter. Two things to note:

"Hush," Ratchet scolded. "Just because you've invented nearly everything to come out of Gadgetron in the past couple decades is no reason to brag-"

I don't think she's been retroactively inventing, and (assuming my numbers are right) I think she should be just about at her first full decade of employed inventing.
...Yep, I just checked. Ivanna Splodya got her a job at 3.5 years and she was 14 at the start of the Tools arc. So just over one decade.

"Say, did your pirates ever raid Apogee station?"
Slag scratched his chin for a time. "Yeah...think we might of. Why ya ask?"
"Well, I need it in order to fight Tachyon," Twilight explained. "Can I borrow it?"

Skipped over the line which actually mentions the particular item. Could be neatly rephrased to: "Well, there's a particular artifact you acquired there which I need it in order to fight Tachyon".

Keep up the great content! ^_^

[ArchAngelGundam]

That was fun, may I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.

[Dirty Bit]

Silly Twilight, you won't ever outgrow your inherent cuteness

[Tatsurou]

6598029
Both points addressed. Thanks for catching them./

[Dawn Flower]

"H...How'd you become an honorary pirate?" Talwyn demanded.

"Beat Slag in a race!" Twilight proclaimed proudly.

I imagine Talwyn's reaction was:
i.imgur.com/SUGVkQg.jpg

[RanmaChaos]

Another enjoyable chapter. Well done.

[the other sans]

but...we were raided by Pirates, and they took.

1. And they took it.

Damn, those doors are teasingly adorable. Quite open about it too.

[Senou Natsuru]

I am somewhat saddened over the lack of the "ARGH! ME WEE CANNON BALLS!" but the quick exchange was amusing.

[Kenshinryuu]

Twilight pouted as they reached the pirate vault. "When am I going to outgrow being adorable?"

Never, you will always be an Adorable Asskicking Alicorn!

Cute chapter, Twilight needs to learn how to weaponize her cuteness.

[Reese]

"It was unfortunate that one of the major cons was 'We sound exactly alike', but Twilight was certain she could work on that one."
Yeah, that could get... awkward.

[Pinklestia]

6598518

Thankfully she might change her voice... unless she already suffered Lombax puberty.

[SilentMech]

So I finished reading that comic. Any way, bets on it being species locked, but not blood line? We already know it's empty, but the lock is fancy. Or was it just omniwrench locked... It's been a few months. Also, Twilight really does need to try and get certified to be a roboticist again. Give her something to do that isn't shipping her dad.

[Kusac]

6598518 Think of all the pranks you can get into though

[Arcane Spectrum]

6598733 What about all the shipping thou does?

[Revan]

6598079

[Jirodyne]

Ratchet and Clank began filling Twilight Talwyn and her robot friends

Oh god, even their names are close enough that even while skimming through it I instinctively replace Talwyn's name with Twilight.

[SilentMech]

6600295 ... What shipping? *quietly shoves shipping charts behind a box* I don't do shipping.

[Arcane Spectrum]

6600405 Yes thou does
*narrows eyes*
We saw those shipping charts

[Just Sandy]

6603159 i watched the old version too

[Jake Witt]

6600368 Dang auto correct!

[proto20]

It was unfortunate that one of the major cons was 'We sound exactly alike', but Twilight was certain she could work on that one.

Still be as awkward as finding out that someone is only dating you because you look like their mom or dad.

Twilight pouted as they reached the pirate vault. "When am I going to outgrow being adorable?"

Why would you?

[Raul]

Twilight grinned. "You'll see how well I dance!"

Very badly.

[Oberon of the Nightwatch]

It didn't take long to make their way through the security, after dancing their way past the security doors on occasion. Much to Twilight's chagrin, while she could follow the directions of the door for the steps, each door opened laughing.

This came to mind.