Peace In The Moment
Scootaloo walked beside me, her gaze fixated to the ground. I felt just as bad, if not worse, for dashing her hopes of a beach trip like I had promised once Cloudchaser had returned home the previous night. I didn’t want to disappoint them, but I couldn’t just say no to this. I had to shrug this off as a poorly timed event and move on, but it was hard when the one most disappointed was walking right beside me to apologize to the colt she had roughed up.
I was a bit stunned to find out who this mystery colt was. Cloudchaser had pressed for more details, and come to find out it was Rumble that had made the comment. Needless to say, this left me dreading the encounter as much as Scootaloo, for an entirely different reason.
“Ready Scoots?” I asked as we stopped in front of the door.
“Yu huh...it’s going to be weird, isn’t it?” Scootaloo sighed.
“I hope not.” I mumbled, knocking on the door.
Shortly after I had made our presence known, the door opened to a charcoal colored stallion on the other side. We stood eye level, and for a while, simply stared at one another. His familiar mane style another dead giveaway to his identity.
“Hello Thunderlane.” I said as casually as I could.
“I assume you’re here for Rumble?” the stallion asked.
“Was he sent home too?” I was surprised that he hadn’t said my name in return with a condescending tone.
Thunderlane nodded and motioned for me to enter. I was caught off guard by this gesture and was a bit skeptical, until Scootaloo followed him inside. I relented and pushed my skepticism to the side. I needed to be the example if she was to stay out of trouble and get along with others, even if they had offended her.
“Rumble!” Thunderlane shouted, stopping just in front of a staircase.
The inside of my former rival’s house was typical of brother’s living together. The wallpaper was sky blue with a few clouds painted in one corner where a bean bag chair rested against a small bookshelf. I assumed that belonged to Rumble, given the plethora of children titles that were shelved or haphazardly resting on their hard back covers, house like.
I couldn’t see well into the kitchen, but I assume it was standard, as well as the other rooms out of sight. The living room was a simple couch with what appeared to be a console of some sort. My mind found this hard to process. Games weren’t supposed to be a thing here…right?
“Something wrong?” Scootaloo whispered.
“No…” I mumbled.
I didn’t have long to ponder what I was seeing, as the sound of hooves rubbing against carpet was heard. I could tell that whoever they belonged to didn’t want to move or come down, that much was clear. It was obvious who the pony in question was though, it had to be Rumble.
Sure enough, the small pegasus looked down at us from the top of the stairs and started to trot back to his room. He was still clearly upset about being beaten by a filly.
“Rumble, get back here…” Thunderlane growled.
With a sigh the colt stopped dead in his tracks, hanging his head as he made his way down the stairs. I felt a little sympathy for him, since it was probably embarrassing to get in a fight with a filly and lose. As much as I didn’t want to be proud of bad behavior, I couldn’t help but have a little pride in Scootaloo; misplaced though it may be.
“Hey Rumble…” Scootaloo said quietly. “I’m sorry I tackled you at school.”
I smiled a little, I didn't need to use the old "Scootaloo has something to say" line. It looked like making her wait to say sorry was the best route to go. Even if Rumble didn't say sorry, at least Scootaloo had. It was now on the colt's shoulders.
Given Rumble's body language, slouched shoulders, and drooped ears and wings, I had little doubt he wouldn't. It took an encouraging nudged from Thunderlane to get the colt to speak, and even look Scootaloo in the eye.
"I'm sorry I made fun of your dad." Rumbled said, just loud enough for us to hear him.
"Why don't you take her upstairs Rumble?" Thunderlane suggested. "Show her some of your stuff?"
Rumbled nodded wordlessly and motioned for Scootaloo to follow him. She did so quietly, their level of trust having obviously been damaged.
"As for you," Thunderlane said earning my attention. "Come with me."
I found Thunderlane's sudden willingness to talk a bit unusual, but it was an improvement over him isolating himself. All he did now was weather duty and limited social interactions. It was a stark contrast to the Thunderlane most of Ponyville knew.
"A colt huh?" Thunderlane asked, derailing my thoughts.
"Yeah, rambunctious, like his mom." I chuckled nervously.
"I see," Thunderlane said sitting in a chair in the living room. His eyes were closed, head held high for a few brief seconds before letting out a long, held breath. "You were right."
I wasn't quite sure how to respond to his statement. I wasn't sure what I had been right about in Thunderlane's eyes. "What do you mean?"
"That day, when you told me you have to hit the bottom to see what you really have around you. Rumble was still there...after I had been pretty shitty." Thunderlane replied.
"I was just trying to get you to see that losing that race didn't mean things were over." I said.
"You did, and I'm sorry I was a jerk. I should have moved on after Winter Wrap Up, but I just couldn't let it go. The thing between you and Cloudchaser," Thunderlane hesitated for a moment before continuing. "I just wanted her back because she left. You actually care about her."
"Don't worry about it. That's old news, time to move on." I shrugged casually. In the privacy of my own mind, I was doing back flips.
I could finally lay the issue with Thunderlane to rest. Perhaps Scootaloo and Rumble's little outburst hadn't been for nothing. With this behind us, I felt like I could finally concentrate. My mind could move on from dwelling on a year old disagreement. Both of us could finally have that peace we wanted.
"Did you hear about Skymark?" Thunderlane asked, shifting the conversation away from the past.
"No, haven't heard from him since our last race." I replied.
"Turns out he passed away," Thunderlane said, with just barely detectable hint of disgust. "Can't say I have much sympathy."
I thought I would take this news a bit harder if I ever received it. It was sad, anypony dying was a sad occurrence, but it was hard to feel much of anything after he caused a few good ponies to nearly loose their jobs. Not to mention plant a knife in the back of one of his former racers.
"Neither can I. How did you find out?" I asked.
"His son stopped by a few days ago, asking me to race for him. I told him no for obvious reasons." Thunderlane replied.
"His son?" I tilted my head.
"Yeah, you left too soon. Impulse was always off studying something, or learning what he could." Thunderlane commented.
"Was he an obnoxious feather head like his dad?" I asked.
"Nope, an obnoxious unicorn," Thunderlane replied. "His dad gave him the shaft most of the time when I was around, probably one of those old fashioned stallions that believe in strong blood lines. Might as well mark them a bastard foal."
"That's kind of harsh." I said, my mind unable to wrap around the thought of doing something like that to either of my kids if they weren't pegasi.
"Not every family is sunshine and rainbows," Thunderlane snorted averting his gaze from me briefly before looking back at me. "Scootaloo's lucky to have you."
"Rumble's got a pretty good brother." I smiled.
"Say, if you and Scootaloo are here, who's with Stormwalker? I know Cloudchaser works today, so did you leave him with Flitter?" Thunderlane asked.
"No, Pinkie Pie offered to look after him. I didn't see a problem with her doing it." I shrugged.
---
Stormwalker looked up at the bright pink mare. She was off to a good start, that much was sure after finding his binky in two seconds flat. That was much faster than his mom had. His dad sat at a solid thirty seconds, but who was keeping score?
Stormwalker cherished the small, rubbery object between his lips at the moment. He didn't know why, but it was something of a comfort item, giving him a placebo effect acceptable for an infant.
"You're such a cutie wooty," the pink mare said, her rapid, fluid motions causing her mane to bounce and hold his attention more so than her voice. "I bet your aunty Pinkie Pie can show you a GREAT time!"
Stormwalker made subtle observations, that she didn't have wings. Meaning she couldn't fly after him like his mommy and daddy could. Somehow however; she had managed to place him back in his high-seat each time he flew out of it. It had become a game for a while, until his dad left.
He had wanted to make sure she would be okay alone with him. He still remembered his parent's scents before the left for the day. This new mare smelt...funny. Not in a bad way, but it was foreign to him. She almost smelt like the weird thing that held him the day his wings appeared, but he smelt like a lot of things.
This mare simply smelt...good. Like, the kind of good you could nibble on. The smell seemed to be strongest when her mane would jostle to and fro as she dashed around or bounced from one location to another. If it smelt good, it must taste good.
Stormwalker held up his forelegs, making the occasional soft whimper upon letting his binky slide free of his maw. The unwitting mare fell for his adorable play, and soon found her mane in his mouth. Much to the foal’s delight, it did taste good! It was the sweetest thing he had put in his mouth so far, and he began to drool as a result.
“Ew ew ew!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, pulling Stormwalker away from her mane. “No no Stormwalker, we don’t eat other ponies’ manes.”
Pinkie Pie sat the colt back down to try and clean her hair. Rather than fuss at the loss of the sweet tasting fluffy mane, Stormwalker decided to try and find something else to do.
With a little effort from his wings, he slid onto the ground from his seat, unfazed by his less than graceful landing. Stormwalker stood on shaky legs, falling backwards a few times until he managed to will his wings to his side.
He looked around a bit before spying Scootaloo’s scooter. He had seen her with it before, playing with it alongside other smaller toys. Her coat would always turn a funny color in different spots after doing so, and it made Stormwalker giggle.
He walked towards it slowly, taking careful steps as he got used to walking on a solid surface. His crib bed was a poor surface to practice on, since it caved in under his weight with each step, and often caused him to fall down after only a few steps. On the hardwood floor however; he felt a bit more secure with his steps.
“Hey, where’d you go little foal?” Pinkie Pie rhymed.
Stormwalker stopped upon hearing the high pitched voice. There was something about it that made him want to smile. The pink mare rounded the couch and found him, looking back at her with innocent eyes.
“There you are,” Pinkie Pie said, scooping Stormwalker up. “I’m going to have to keep an eye out for you huh?”
Stormwalker was expressionless for a few seconds before Pinkie Pie stuck her tongue out and shook her head from side to side, earning a stream of giggles and laughs from him. A few were belly laughs, which let the party pony know that the colt was in a fairly good mood.
Pinkie Pie was thankful for her time spent with the Cake’s twins. It made her better suited to take care of foals. Flitter had been Daniel’s first option, but when it turned out she was busy, Pinkie Pie had offered to try her hoof at taking care of him. He had given her a bit of trouble at first, but Stormwalker was pretty well behaved, if a little rambunctious.
---
“So this is what you’ve been working on?” Green Shades asked, examining the still incomplete project on the table.
The earth pony studied the odd contraption carefully, taking note of the intricate parts beneath the metal plates. Those that were lifted up revealed four dark crystals, seemingly drained of their original color. Something that could drain magic was terrifying to think about, but Impulse usually knew what he was doing when it came to things of this nature.
“Yes, it’s my claim to fame, if you will,” Impulse replied, as a metallic head was lowered, and then attached to the artificial body. “It will be a breath of fresh air into such a drab sport.”
Impulse Spark dare not tell his financial adviser what his true motives were. He was loyal, but only to a certain extent. He lacked the usual strength common to earth ponies which made Impulse able to relate to him slightly, lacking raw strength himself. If this worked, who knew what he might be able to achieve with other advancements.
“You mean to build an entire pegasus for this charity race. Do the princesses know?” Green Shades asked.
“The princesses don’t need to know yet. All they know is that a racer is registered,” Impulse replied. “Think of how beneficial it will be as a poster child for ponies with defects.”
“I can see that as a possibility, but why not simply market it as that?” the earth pony asked.
“I have my reasons. I have my plan laid out,” Impulse said firmly. “It’d be a bother to change things now after all of the work I’ve put into this.”
Impulse had no intention of giving up the opportunity to beat and humiliate Daniel, the trigger for the string of events that led him to where he was now in life. Impulse had reasoned that only a fake could beat a fake.
He would gain a reputation after running Daniel’s title into the ground. Zero would be a symbol for replacements for wings or legs for soldiers, with a little work of course. Obviously it wouldn’t be immediately ready, and no doubt a populace as fickle as Equestria wouldn't be quick warm up to the idea, but it was doable, once they saw how superior his design was to the real thing.
Impulse had found a way to have his cake and eat it too. Now all he had to do was take the cake from somepony else, and he knew just who to steal it from, as he positioned a set of wings onto the metal pony.
Impulse was no comic book villain who only had the short sighted vengeance agenda. Nor did he see himself as a villain period. He saw the obvious positive possibilities from his work, and would pursue them once he was satisfied with his current goal.
“He's almost finished.” the unicorn said, looking over Zero.
Impulse took note of the silence from his earth pony companion and pressed a button on the metal pegasus’ body. Upon doing so, four crystals ejected themselves from Zero’s ports and were replaced by shiny new ones.
“What you’re about to see stays in here, understand?” Impulse glared at Green Shades as one final crystal was loaded between the wing joints.
“Perfectly…” the stallion mumbled as he watched the unicorn work in awe.
The small crystal responsible for timed things, such as causing the eyes to ‘blink’ was still fine in terms of energy. It wasn’t as important as the others, since it was only used for lesser functions, but was needed all the same; each part making up the nearly complete ruse of a pony.
Impulse pushed forward on the controller and Zero walked forward and off of the work table with four noisy clanks. His wings unfurled with the turn of a knob, revealing their sleek design. The unicorn had taken care to mimic the feather patterns of real wings by overlapping the crafted pinions with critical attention to detail.
“How do you intend to make it fly?” Green Shades asked, finally managing to force the words free from his stupefied form.
“Pegasi are only able to defy gravity because of their magic, and wings of course. Zero already has one of the two. He just needs a little more magic in him before he’s ready to fly.” Impulse replied as Zero approached the green earth pony.
Green Shades stared into its cold, false eyes, its fake eye lids falling and rising being the only things to break the awkward gaze. The eyes shifted slightly, once every seven seconds, which made the earth pony consider the possibility that there was a real pegasus beneath all the wires and metal. The eye movement and blinking were never in sync which made the display seem more natural.
“Impressive, isn’t he?” Impulse asked, flipping two switches to kill the energy to his hind legs.
Zero instantly assumed a sitting position with a loud thud, his weighty fall dislodging a picture from the wall. The mechanical pegasus kept his focus locked on Green Shades, following him with his eyes until he could no longer bend his head to do so.
“Relax, he’s completely under control, see?” Impulse wiggled a stick on the remote, which in turn caused Zero’s head to move from side to side. “Think of him like a giant puppet.”
“A puppet…right.” Green Shades said.
“Since you’re here, I do need something from you,” Impulse smiled, levitating an envelope to the terrified earth pony. “Get this to the most skilled clothes maker you can find.”
“A clothes maker? “ Green Shades asked holding the letter up. “What’s in this exactly?”
“Zero’s measurements,” Impulse smiled. “Race regulations state that outfits can either be full body, or barrel, chest and head coverings.”
“I assume this is full body?” Green Shades chuckled nervously as Zero’s hind legs were reactivated.
“Based on your reaction to Zero, I assume him strolling out onto the track with all of his parts showing wouldn’t be the best approach. This means a more subtle introduction.” Impulse sighed as he tested Zero’s wings a bit, the light wind generated from the brief test knocking over a coffee cup and plant.
“And you’re certain he’s under control?” Green Shades gulped.
“Positive, he wasn’t made to be sentient like you or me. Beneath all those wires is just another tool to solve a problem.” Impulse shrugged nonchalantly.
The unicorn walked around to where Zero's lifeless eyes met his. They never truly focused on him, instead they continued to periodically shift to other parts of the room and occasionally land on him for a few seconds before moving on. It filled him with pride seeing his work near completion.
"You're going to defeat the champion, aren't you?" Impulse asked.
The unicorn knew that Daniel had been dethroned, but the loss was circumstantial. Whitefire, the new reigning champ, didn't even address the title topic when it was brought up, only hoping to race against him again. It made him sick how they saw his flaws but still liked him. One even went so far as to love him.
Impulse used his controller to make Zero nod his head in acknowledgement. The unicorn's smile turned evil for a split second, until he remembered he wasn't alone. He quickly recomposed himself, and sat the remote control down on his desk.
"Come, we've much to do." Impulse Spark said authoritatively, ushering Green Shades out of his work space.
"Shouldn't you get some rest first?" Green Shades asked as they left the room. "You seemed exhausted when you came to find me."
"I am, and sleep is on my to-do list." Impulse said before shutting the door to his lab, if one could call it that.
Zero now stood alone in the room, his eyes still preforming their constant shifting. A rapid ticking sound began to emit from his eyes, their gears stalling and causing them to remain still for once. His emotionless gaze had fallen on a newspaper clipping that showed three pegasi; a mare, a foal, and a stallion.
Zero's eyes remained fixed on the stallion, even as the energy drained from the crystals in his artificial body. Impulse had left the controller, and Zero himself, on by accident. Not that it mattered, he would simply be unable to move without the crystals feeding him energy, not that he could move by himself to begin with.
Sure enough, the time came when the crystals in Zero's body were completely drained. Their magic siphoned away from their shells by cords and delicately constructed devices of Impulse's own making.
What Impulse wasn't there to witness, was a green mist flowing along the copper lines through Zero's metallic skull. A barely audible hiss echoed within the confines of the enclosure that held the now drained green crystal. A sickening flicker dancing across the two glass eyes as the last sparks faded into the copper.
You're going to beat the champ...You're going to beat the champ...
---
Scootaloo threw a small rubber ball against her wall out of boredom. Being grounded stunk, and without her scooter she was just a normal, run of the mill filly. Her dad told her that it would give her time to focus on other things, like flying, since he couldn't really take that from her.
Scootaloo rolled her eyes at the thought of flying. If it had been any other pony she probably would have been upset with them, but she knew he meant well. Her wings had been getting stronger, so perhaps it wouldn't be long before she could finally keep up with her parents.
A tap at her window caught her attention. The filly felt the rubber ball make contact with her muzzle and grumbled as she rubbed the point of impact. When the tapping sound came again, Scootaloo hovered of of her bed and climbed up towards the window.
Star Sprint was outside, the metal bar of his scooter reflecting off the moonlight. While Daniel and Cloudchaser had been fairly reasonable with the punishment, barring Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom from visiting seemed like a bit much in her young mind. Seeing her friend outside of school was like a breath of fresh air to the filly.
"Hey Scootalo-" the colt started to say excitedly.
"Shh!" Scootaloo shushed him. "My parents are still up, I'm supposed to be asleep."
"Oh, sorry." Star Sprint lowered his voice. "Why are you still up then?"
"Because being grounded stinks...what are you doing up?" Scootaloo asked, hanging her forelegs out the window limply.
"I hadn't seen you all day," Star Spring replied. "I just wanted to know you're okay, and stuff."
Scootaloo could see from the remaining lights of the house and moon, that the young unicorn's cheeks held a shade of red as he spoke. He also dug his right fore hoof into the ground as she spoke, something he did when he was nervous.
The tangerine filly found this behavior strange, but not unwelcome. In fact, it was almost cute, in a weird kind of way. She had to give the colt points for creativity, coming in the middle of the night to talk with her.
"So how long are you grounded for?" Star Sprint asked.
"A week." Scootaloo sighed.
"That's no so bad." Star Sprint shrugged.
"I guess not, but it feels like forever. It's only been one day!" Scootaloo's voice briefly slipped as she waved her forelegs to exaggerate her point.
Star Sprint was the one to shush her this time. Scootaloo let out a quiet squee of embarrassment, her ears splaying back against her head before she resumed her original posture.
"So what are you going to do in the mean time?" Star Spring asked, his tail swishing silently as he spoke.
"I dunno, I guess work on my wings. It's not all bad I guess." Scootaloo replied.
"Scootaloo, lights out." her mother's voice chirped from beyond her door.
"Horse apples, I gotta go!" Scootaloo yelped, preparing to jump back to her bed. She took one last look at the colt before waving goodbye to him. "See you later!"
With that, Scootaloo quietly shut her window and dove for the bed. A few seconds later the door opened to Cloudchaser checking in on her. Through a partially cracked eye, Scootaloo watched as the mare smirked and lowered her head until she was eye level with the filly.
"I know you're awake little bit." Cloudchaser teased.
"It's hard to sleep right now." Scootaloo groaned as she caved in.
"I know, but it's easier to let things go at school, isn't it?" her mother asked.
"Yes ma'am." Scootaloo sighed.
"You know your father and I love you." Cloudchaser said, planting a kiss on the filly's forehead, stroking her mane gently a bit before.
"I know, I know, you're doing this because you love me." Scootaloo grumbled.
"When you have a family of your own, you'll understand better," Cloudchaser hugged the filly, who was eager to return the affection. "Now try to go to sleep, we'll see you in the morning."
"Goodnight mom." Scootaloo called out as Cloudchaser left the room.
"Goodnight Scootaloo." Cloudchaser smiled.
Even after Cloudchaser had left, Scootaloo lay awake a while longer. Star Sprint had run the risk of being grounded himself to come see her, he was a good friend, and the way he seemed to get nervous was kind of funny. She was glad to have a friend like him.
Zero's almost done, or is he? Hopefully he'll be well revived when he's out and about in the story. Anyways, thanks for reading 
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still calling it as pony Ultron, but i am adding in the hope you go with the classy personality that they used for the Avengers moive rather then the classic robotic "personality"
Do i sense a potential love triangle with scootaloo?!
6430838
Idk, it has been taken into consideration before though.
6430168
He will have a personality, and it won't be bland by any means. As far as pony ultron goes, this foe needed to have an edge over Daniel in some way. Being able to keep up with Rainbow Dash(since he was still unable to beat her) put him a notch above the others. This boils down to pony vs machine.
The next chapter will focus more on the conflict in the story. As well as a hint towards the Scootaloo incident.
I'm surprised, but thankful, a problem seems to have gone unnoticed so far. It'll make the "Oh that's what that was!" even better, I hope.
6433841
what you mean like how jr. has a very weak reason for blaming Daniel what with him being away and hating his father? i just figured crazy. Anyway after a second viewing i am starting to see a strong similarity between this plot and the folklore story of John Henry the steel driving man and i got to ask if you knew. personally i hope your story has a more pg outcome the folklore did.
6433911
I had to wiki it. The ending I had planned is not similar, if that puts your mind at ease.
I have not actually
Science and magic were never meant to be combined. Zero is far from lifeless, and I hope his "father" learns that before Zero learns that he is stronger than his creator.
Thunderlane just earned a whole lot of points from me. Hopefully he and Daniel can develop something of a friendship. Daniel needs more Stallion friends. Scootaloo earned points too. Like Daniel observed, apologizing without having to be prompted.
Stormwalker's developing into quite the little manipulator, isn't he? He should be glad he's adorable though.
Zero... so many flags. And Impulse needs to take off the blinders. He's not noticing all the unnerving aspects of his work that he should. He really is marching down the road of a comic book misguided villain XD
That’s not a rhyme!
That... doesn't rhyme.
9395657
its pinkie pie she defies any and all laws of words and physics