Purpose
I looked at the filly beside me, sleeping soundly on the train seat. She was disarmingly adorable, curled up as she was; her warm breath hot against the bandages on my side. She held that special place in my heart that only a daughter could without even realizing it, especially at moments like these.
“How is she?” Cloudchaser asked.
“Asleep,” I replied quietly. “I don’t blame her, she’s had a rough afternoon.”
“And what about you?” Cloudchaser looked up at me with soul searching eyes.
“I don’t want to make today a habit,” I sighed. “I wasn’t going to leave her down there though.”
“She’s lucky to have a daddy that would do what you did today,” Cloudchaser said, nuzzling me affectionately. “But if you ever do that again I’m the one that will make sure you’re bedridden.”
“I hope it never comes to that again.” I smiled.
We had decided to leave Canterlot early, after the events leading up to the race's rather alarming conclusion put a sour taste in everypony's mouth. Impulse was being foolish, and I could only hope he would fail. Despite Twilight's assurances that such a spell was beyond the unicorn's level, I had the feeling he would find a way around the princesses' condition. He had already found a way to actually get that thing onto the track, and in the air, there was no telling what else he was capable of.
“Say, what happened to your necklace?” Cloudchaser asked, placing a hoof on my chest.
“I lost it when I was racing to stop that abomination, it can be replaced though…maybe.” I replied.
“For what it’s worth, I think the trade was worth it.” Cloudchaser commented, leaning against me.
“I do too.” I said quietly.
I wasn’t sure what had happened to it when I had ripped it off after getting caught up in the moment. Cloudchaser was right though, losing a necklace was nothing compared to what it would have been like to lose Scootaloo. I would have never forgiven myself if I hadn’t done something.
I looked over at Stormwalker who, like his sister, was asleep. In about an hour, they would need to wake up again, which would be a less than pleasant experience with a foal without a carrier. Even then, it was kind of like Russian roulette when it came to moving him at all while he was asleep. There was about a seventy five percent chance you would end up with a fussy colt, but that sweet twenty five percent that you didn’t was worth any extra effort that might be involved in getting him home.
As we neared our stop, with the train slowing down to a mere crawl, I awoke Scootaloo by gently nuzzling her. Her eyes slowly opened, one eyelid rising a bit more than the other to create the perfect half awake, half asleep expression.
“Come on squirt, time to go home.” I said.
I received a tired moan in reply, as Scootaloo walked straight off the seat and into the air. Her small wings buzzed out of instinct, lowering her to the floor of the train car as she continued to air walk. I raised an eyebrow at the spectacle, but was pleased to see her wings were still getting stronger, since she had almost made it to the door, most likely without even realizing it.
I had traveled more while living in Equestria than I had when I lived on Earth. Each time I stepped off the train and onto the dock of Ponyville’s station, I felt a sense of security wash over me. It was a powerful, soothing sensation that reminded me I was home. This was the one place I knew I didn’t have to worry about the outside world, it was a safe haven from those that held cruel opinions about me; whether they were made public or not.
This time I didn’t feel that familiar sensation over take me. The air around me felt empty somehow, twisting my expression into a frown. It left a distinct longing in my heart for what I had once had here, but I would have been fooling myself if I truly believed I could ever feel the same again after today. The feeling of security and peace I had worked hard to achieve in this world had been torn asunder in a matter of seconds in Canterlot.
I had fallen in love with Equestria because it lacked what Earth had, advancements. It didn’t need all of the plasma screens, high powered computers, or nuclear weapons to make it great. It was simple, but satisfyingly complex at the same time with its magic.
The longer I called Equestria my home however; I began to notice how similar it truly was to Earth. Its politics were only slightly different from the ones I was familiar with. Thankfully, Celestia and Luna seemed to be of sound mind, even though I questioned their call today. There was crime as well, but it wasn’t unmanageable. Today was the tipping point though, and I had been shown first hoof that there were imaginations dark enough to will things like Zero into existence.
“Babe, are you okay?” Cloudchaser asked.
“Yeah, just tired I guess.” I replied quietly.
As I walked through the streets, the colors that had once seemed so bright along the houses and roads were now dull. I tried to convince myself that it was just the time of day, and that the sun was playing tricks on my eyes.
I assured myself that I would feel better once I was home, with my hooves beneath the familiar hardwood floor of our house. I longed for that familiar feeling that was lacking when we first arrived. It was almost a sensation my being craved to experience.
Yet, as I opened the door to my house, I felt nothing. Were it not for my wife and foals next to me, I would have forgotten about this building being a home entirely. Everything felt wrong now; there should be no empty sensation within one’s own house. It was as if there was a problem my mind couldn’t wrap itself around just yet.
I silently excused myself to my room once Scootaloo and Stormwalker were settled in once more. Though the best thing about a wife, from any world or dimension, is that a loving one wouldn’t let you slink away by yourself into a dark, cold environment.
“Something’s up, don’t pretend like nothing’s bothering you.” Cloudchaser said as she joined me on the bed.
“...I nearly lost my daughter.” I replied, staring at our reflections in the mirror as they looked back at us from the bed on the opposite side.
“You didn’t though, that’s all that matters.” Cloudchaser leaned against me.
“For so long I fooled myself into thinking that this place was better than the world I left behind. The truth is that it’s just packaged differently.” I pressed my nose into her mane, taking in her scent.
“Would you trade this world for the one you left behind?” Cloudchaser asked.
I smiled as I dwelt briefly on her question. Cloudchaser was much smarter than she led others to believe she was. I felt her ears perk up beneath me, as she saw my smile spread across my muzzle through the mirror.
“No, I’d never leave any of you behind.” I replied.
“I think you’re worried over nothing then,” Cloudchaser said as she shifted her weight enough to knock me over. “Focus on what’s in front of you.”
“I do,” my sentence was cut short by Cloudchaser’s lips pressing against mine. “I just want to keep all of you safe.”
“You do a good job of that,” Cloudchaser sighed happily as she snuggled up next to me. “You’ve got the best heart for the job.”
---
Impulse could feel his heart rate rising, as he stared at the open chest cavity of his restored project. Zero had performed adequately, but he could do better. Performance issues would have to wait for the moment however; time was of the essence in ensuring that he could prove his opposition wrong about his creation.
The unicorn levitated the stone he had extracted from the necklace Flicker had “found” and studied it once more, taking in its shimmering beauty. “One must wonder what chain of events led to your creation.”
Impulse had already done his best to deduce the origins of the stone, and its trapped essence. Yet, try as he might, he could never come up with a conclusive answer to his questions. It seemed alien in nature, and behaved erratically when he tried to tap into its stored power. It was a textbook example of chaos, which was something that sent a chill down the unicorn’s spine.
The inventor had done his best to account for every conceivable outcome for what he was about to attempt. Zero was already balanced, flooding his inner workings with such magic would either yield promising results, or terrible ones.
Hesitantly, Impulse fitted the gem into Zero, sending a few stray sparks along his internal components. A small part of his soul cried out to him that this was wrong, that what he was doing would end poorly, but with how well things had fallen in his favor with constructing Zero, not to mention being given the right to finish him, he ignored the call for caution.
“Okay, here goes nothing...or everything.” Impulse mumbled as the light around his horn intensified.
He watched as the energy within Zero started to become self-sustaining. Perhaps Flicker hadn’t been full of hot air; maybe he did know a thing or two about magic. Impulse could hardly believe he had over looked something that seemed so simple, but it wasn’t unfathomable, nopony was perfect after all.
Without warning, the lights in the room went dim, inviting a dark aura into the room as the ominous dying whirs of machinery filled the air. The latter noise was what spurred Impulse into action, frantically checking for every conceivable error that popped into his panicked mind. The main ceiling light popped, diminishing what little light there was in the room now, only adding to the stallion’s panic.
“No no no no, this isn’t supposed to happen, not now!” Impulse rambled.
Soon, a minute had passed without any activity, which led Impulse to believe this little endeavor had been a waste of time. He sulked in the darkness, feeling defeated and frustrated at the possibility of hitting a dead end with his project.
There had been a huge surge of energy coursing along the wires. With the amount of magic already preserved within the metal framework, this newest addition only magnified what was already there, but there was something else with it. It was foreign, and didn’t behave like normal magic should as it danced along the copper workings of the artificial pegasus.
It’s dark…wait…dark…the opposite of what that place was…light…warm, open, inviting…these…what are these? Thoughts? My thoughts? What is that noise?
A bright, blue light slowly started to occupy the room, casting light on a lone unicorn. He didn’t know how he knew him, but he was certain he knew him somehow. He noticed him crying, which troubled him, why he couldn’t understand, but he knew that a pony should never cry.
”Errbtz!” he tried to get the unicorn’s attention, but only produced a loud built up discharge of energy.
It seemed to have been enough however; as the unicorn slowly turned around to make eye contact with the restrained construct. Restrained, he didn't like being restrained; held back against his will.
With little effort, a sturdy metal leg, lurched forward of its own volition, free from the strap that had bound it. Another followed suit, then another, until all four legs were free of their confines; allowing him to fall onto the floor.
"Sweet...Celestia..." Impulse mumbled as he gazed into the icy blue eyes of his creation.
The smell of burning hair, distracted him from Zero's rebirth. His mane was a flame, as was his tail as strange replacements filled in the gaps where the fake fibers had once been. Odd glowing strands of light seemed to spill out like weeds, as excess energy exited his body. The strands flowed and moved like the mane or tail of any normal pony, their color shifting from yellow to baby blue at random frequencies.
"Z-Zero?" Impulse stammered as he hesitantly approached the artificial pony.
Another loud static discharge rumbled from within the clockwork pony's innards. Impulse could only stare at his creation in slack jawed astonishment, as Zero took his first uneasy steps towards him.
The unicorn was confused at first, until he realized that Zero himself had never used his legs before, or anything really. He had been like a puppet, only on a much larger scale. Now faced with the reality of freedom, Impulse faced several new challenges, one being ensuring he could still fly.
"Zero, can you speak at all?" Impulse asked, as calmly as he could.
Zero stared at him, emitting another loud, static filled shriek. The noise caused the unicorn to recoil, but answered his question none the less. It also answered his follow up, which was if he could understand him. Given the response, Impulse assumed that he could.
"Right, you'll need some kind of filter for speech," Impulse spoke aloud, studying Zero carefully. "Can you lift your wings?"
As soon as the word "wing" was uttered, Zero unfurled the mechanical attachments, knocking over several expensive looking objects. He looked down at the ground upon hearing the sound of glass shattering into thousands of tiny pieces. His reaction to sound made Impulse curious as to how advanced he was thought wise, but that was a discovery for later.
"A simple nod would have sufficed." Impulse sighed.
Zero’s interest was no longer held by the unicorn in the room. Instead, the various objects on the shelves seemed to be much more appeasing to the artificial stallion’s glowing eyes. Specifically the pictures and oddly shaped decorations that seemed to be screaming out to be played with.
The stallion reached out to try and grab one of the pictures, only to watch it slide free from his nonexistent grip. This puzzled Zero, as he felt certain that he should have been able to hold things.
“Hey!” Impulse exclaimed, regaining Zero’s attention. “Don’t mess with those!”
Something flashed around Zero, warping his surroundings. The noise the unicorn was making reverberated within his already confused, budding consciousness and created what seemed to be an entirely new environment, one which seemed to flash of vibrant blues and purples.
“DON’T MESS WITH THOSE!” echoed a terrifying voice, which was accompanied by a strange, tall, bipedal figure.
Zero recoiled from the sight, bumping into another shelf which dislodged a number of books. Upon making contact with the wooden surface, his surroundings returned to what qualified as normal; at the very least, they were what he had been familiar with before the strange images had overwhelmed his vision.
Impulse sighed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you...I just didn’t expect you to act on your own.”
Zero perked his head up cautiously as the unicorn approached him. He wasn’t quite sure what he had seen, but if yelling caused it, he didn’t want to rekindle the other stallion’s ire again.
“Daniel, what exactly were you hiding in that gem?” the unicorn mumbled quietly.
Impulse felt a sick mix of dread and excitement hit him as he watched Zero continue to walk around. Whatever secret the human had kept hidden within the confines of the stone now residing in the pony’s artificial body, it was quite literally out and about now.
---
I rubbed my forehead as the mare in front of me contently sipped on her tea. Despite the story I had just relayed to her, she seemed relatively unmoved by it. I hadn’t expected her to break down into a panic, but the lack of reaction was a bit unnerving.
“Sounds like you had quite the day yesterday.” Harmony finally said, her glazed eyes never averting from their fixed location on the table.
“What about you though, how long are you in Ponyville for?” I asked.
“Not long at all really,” Harmony replied. “I’ve got to be back on the road tomorrow. Most ponies aren’t aware I slipped away for a while. I’ll be ending things in Las Pegasus.”
“If I’m not mistaken, that’s where the finals are going to be held.” I said, my ears perking up at the thought of getting to see my friend more than once a year.
“Well, maybe I’ll get a chance to root for you personally this time.” the mare smiled.
We both descended into a state of temporary silence after that, simply enjoying one another’s company. Harmony had been one of the first ponies outside of Twilight’s circle of friends to not care about my appearance. She was also one of the major reasons I had decided to stay. If I hadn’t met her, I might have returned to Earth, and never see Scootaloo or Cloudchaser again.
The mare was blind, but she had found a way to user her magic to help her see the sounds bounce off of objects. It was pretty fascinating, and was a part of her cutie mark. Aside from being pretty gifted with magic, since it was almost in constant use, Harmony could sing exceptionally well.
“Something’s still on your mind,” Harmony said, looking out at the trees. “I can tell by your movements and heart rate…you have more on your mind.”
“Right, I forgot I was friends with a walking polygraph.” I mumbled, earning a few laughs from Harmony.
“So spit it out, what’s bugging you?” Harmony asked.
“Just worried about Zero.” I replied.
“Try not to be,” Harmony said. “How many ponies do you think went home having this very discussion about you when you first arrived?”
“I wasn’t trying to tear a pony’s head off,” I commented. “If Impulse can live up to the princesses’ condition, I’m not going to be buddy buddy with it.”
“Well, you’ve got me there, but how do you know he’ll be violent all the time? He could be a real sweetheart…if things like him have those.” Harmony said.
“They don’t, and I doubt it.” I scoffed.
Harmony sighed, the aura around her horn firing up as she levitated her sun glasses over her eyes. “You know, the most important things daddies give to their children is their example. I promise you that more eyes than Scootaloo’s watch what you do though.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked as the singer excused herself.
“Try being part of a solution…you’ll figure it out champ.” Harmony chirped happily.
“I wish I had your attitude about this whole thing.” I mumbled under my breath.
“I know you do!” the mare shouted as she continued to put distance between us, her super hearing at work no doubt.
I shook my head, smiling as I did so. Talking to Harmony had certainly lifted my mood a bit, but I was now left with a bandaged side, for at least another three days. Lean Streak had already chewed me out for the inevitable down time it would cause, though he was a bit lenient, given the circumstances. I had the sinking feeling that my wings would be very sore before he was done with me.
"Why the long face there, sugar cube?" I heard Applejack ask.
"I feel useless today, and there's a lot on my mind." I replied.
"Uh oh, that's never a good combination," the farm mare laughed. "Ah'd ask if ya wanted ta help out down at the orchard, but Ah don't recon yer in any condition ta be helpin' none."
"This?" I gestured to my side. "Pfft, I can handle myself."
"If ya say so," Applejack shrugged. "Just don't want an old timer hurt'n himself."
"Old timer?" I stood up from my seat. What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just a jab at ya, what with you bein' a pa now." Applejack snickered.
"Well, this "old timer" still has plenty of vigor left in him." I smirked.
"Alright then, Ah ain't one ta turn a friend away. Sides, it might help take yer mind off whatever's got ya down." Applejack said, motioning for me to follow her.
I nodded, following the farm pony. Perhaps she was right, and all I really needed to shake whatever this funk I had slipped into was something to take my mind off it. Focusing on something else was usually the best trick, and if I was too busy working then I couldn't dwell on Zero, or Impulse.
As we walked back to Sweet Apple Achers, we talked about simpler things, avoiding work for the most part. A good portion of our conversation was centered around our families, and how Applebloom and Scootaloo were doing in school. As usual, their after school crusades had still failed to yield any results, aside from some pretty interesting stories, and some not so pleasant stories involving a broken window and several trees missing branches; that one still left me scratching my head.
I had asked Applejack if she had found somepony special yet, to which she blushed. I felt a smug smile cross my muzzle now that the tables were turned and I was the one asking the relationship question. I didn't press it though out of respect, Applejack was one of my closest friends, and I wouldn't dare try to harm that relationship over something stupid.
"Ah bet lil Stormwalker's up and movin' by now." Applejack said, changing topics.
"He's a mess sometimes," I replied. "An adorable little winged mess that never ceases to amaze me."
“Just be glad they ain’t got ya outnumbered yet.” Granny Smith chimed in as we neared the barn.
“I think the two I have is enough for now.” I said with a blush.
“Course it’s rough, but ya got a good noggin’ on yer neck.” Granny Smith laughed.
“But I didn’t…” I started, until it dawned on me she might have misheard me. “Thank you ma’am.”
“Ah don’t have any yams right now.” Granny Smith tilted her head in confusion at me as she spoke.
“We’ll be out back Granny,” Applejack said, pulling on my tail before I could respond. “C’mon old timer.”
“Ugh, I’m not old!” I fumed.
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Slow telling is always nice.
6523899
It's never too late for d'awws
Ah Impulse... let's just put a powerful magic gem likely enchanted by the Princesses or someone on their tier and filled with chaos magic into your project. He makes such a good misguided scientist. Please don't fill Zero's head with the petty desires to go against Daniel...
I get the feeling this was accidental (I noticed you spell 'acres' wrong quite often.), but if that was intentional, then it was gloriously hilarious.