//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Search // Story: Secret Search // by computerneek //------------------------------// Three mares, under cover of both darkness and a perception filter, enjoy a meal together.  A really nice meal, actually. “So,” Bonbon begins.  “What brings you here?” The unicorn across the table from her and Lyra scowls.  “Right. Um…” She glances at Lyra. “They’ve found… something in the desert.” “Oh?  Did the Secret Searcher strike again?” “Uh, we think, but it’s different this time.  Daring said she was supposed to find some giant metal thing in the ground, which she might need help moving or exploring…  Only, what she found was a cave-in…  and the wrong kind of rock.” She tilts her head.  “Wrong kind…?” “It was a great big lump of what looked like normal Equestrian bedrock, they said, instead of the metal thing.  They said they think the rock came from the Ponyville area- they want you to come out to verify.” Bonbon nods slowly.  “Ahh… um, I’m not sure if my cover will survive that right now, though.” Lyra shakes her head slightly- but neither other mare notices.  “Actually, my projection spell should work on other ponies too. You can leave a projection behind to take care of the shop.” The blue unicorn raises an eyebrow.  “A projection…?” “Yes…  it’s a bit heavy of a spell to kick off alongside all these others, though.” “Ahh.” “What about your cover, Candy Stripes?” Bonbon inserts. “My cover?  Whatever in Equestria are you talking about?” “I mean what you use that projection thing for.” She waves a hoof.  “It’s effortless to maintain, only costly to create.” Bonbon sighs.  “I know you want to help, but wouldn’t a more powerful unicorn-” she gestures towards the blue mare sitting across from them- “be able to help better?” Lyra smiles back at Bonbon.  “Well of course,” she states.  “If you don’t want my help, you don’t have to take it.” The blue unicorn bursts out in laughter, and nearly falls out of her chair.  Both the other two turn to look at her- though Lyra’s expression suggests she’d expected something of the sort. “What’s so funny?” Bonbon asks. “Oh…  haha… No, it’s just…”  She takes a minute to continue calming herself down.  “It’s just… You think I’m more powerful?” A fresh burst of giggles breaks through.  “While I certainly appreciate the compliment, it’s wildly inaccurate!” “What?” “This perception filter of hers is far stronger than the military grade ones the RIA uses, for one.  For two, she’s the first unicorn, RIA or not, I’ve ever seen able to cut through the Fog without the counterspell.” “Without the counterspell?” Bonbon turns to Lyra.  “Really?” “It’s a simple sensory augmentation spell,” Lyra answers.  “Honestly, even a low-powered unicorn could do that.” “Sensory aug-  … oh.” The unicorn stares at the table, thinking.  “That… That would do it.” Bonbon blinks.  “Wait. Isn’t this a grade A Fog?”  The unicorn nods.  “The one that acts as a magic inhibitor?” The unicorn nods.  “And we all know that very powerful unicorns can burn right through those.” “But…”  Bonbon looks between the two.  “But…” Lyra chuckles.  “It seems my chosen facade- that of a weak unicorn- stands the test of fact.”  She looks across the table.  “Probably helps that I use that projection spell- I call it an alibi- all of the time.” The unicorn tilts her head.  “How would that…? It used magic too.” She smiles.  “More accurately, I used magic through it.  It can only channel a very low flow rate- so little, in fact, it can’t drain my reserves, no matter how hard I try.”  She glances towards the counters. “It’s restricted to weak unicorn power levels, so I’ve kept myself down to that expense level, when out in public without it.” “Doesn’t your horn ache, then?” “Nah.  I use that alibi so much because I want to take myself someplace else- maybe on a trip, maybe in the basement- where I go ahead and release my power.  As a result, I never get the restraint aches… Though, if I hold the alibi for too long, it does get tired.” “Oh?  How long is too long?” “A month and a half or so,” she mutters.  “It’s annoying.” Both mares’ eyes go wide; unbeknownst to Lyra, that puts her well ahead of Twilight in terms of endurance, even post-ascension. Bonbon changes the subject.  “So, uh, which desert was it in…?” “Which desert?  Oh, they wanted to meet you at the Palomino Desert post.  Do you…?” “Know where that is?  Yep.” “Ahh…  I guess I’m done here?” “Uh, yes, it would seem so.  Until next time, then.” “Wait!” Lyra states.  “If we’re going to be seeing each other again, do you have an, um, ‘name’?  Like how she’s Sweetie Drops and I’m Candy Stripes?” “Uh…  No, actually, I don’t.  The contact corps aren’t given codenames.” “Ahh…”  She looks at Bonbon.  “So we can come up with a nickname on our own time for whenever we see her next, right?” “Uh…  Sure, why not?” Repairs Complete:  Databank 1: 100% Integrity Resuming Damage Review…  7.03% FAILED --DAMAGE REPORT-- PREVIOUS: Fusion Systems: 20.93% Integrity (2.77% Operable, OFFLINE) Power Banks: 2.55% Integrity (INOPERABLE) Survival Centers:  36.96% Integrity (0.01% Operable) Medvats:  0.10% Integrity (INOPERABLE) Command Decks:  4.67% Integrity (3.96% Operable) Databank 1:  97.31% Integrity (OFFLINE) Databank 2:  99.27% Integrity (OFFLINE) Databank 3:  37.4% Processed (Detected:  98.31% Integrity, OFFLINE) UPDATES: Databank 1:  100% Integrity Databank 3:  96.93% Integrity (OFFLINE) Databank 4:  73.41% Processed (Detected:  42.91% Integrity, INOPERABLE) --ERROR:  DCC OFFLINE-- Lyra gazes at this information for a few seconds.  Presumably, that ‘Databank 1’ is working now- so perhaps she can access it…  after all, it’s no longer marked ‘offline’. She presses the enter key- and is met by its Enter Command: prompt once again.  She repeats the command that had worked last time. Repair --ERROR:  DCC OFFLINE-- Enter Command: She tries some gibberish- but gets the (quite predictable) Invalid Command response out of it.  So, it recognized the command, but was unable to comply…  Okay. Maybe… Turn on Invalid Command Enable Specify System To Enable or ‘All’: DCC Enabling Damage Control Central... ERROR:  DCC System Failure:  All Facilities INOPERABLE She issues it another scowl.  Whatever this DCC is… no, ‘Damage Control Central’ thing, it must not only be central to its repair activities…  but broken. A quick restoration spell, she figures, should be sufficient to restore it to function- but where is this thing?  Oh, wait… Where is DCC? Invalid Command Location Invalid Command Map Invalid Command A third scowl.  She hadn’t expected the first one to work…  Wait. What if this prompt indicates a different command system than that other prompt…?  And how might she get back to that other one…? Hmm… Prompt Invalid Command Start Attempting System Start… Unit XXXVII/G-0013(e) EVE of the Line, Initializing… WARNING:  Main Survival Center Offline WARNING:  Backup Survival Center 0.02% Operable Loading Personality Core…  ERROR: Personality Files Not Found Attempting Restore from Backup…  ERROR: Backups Inaccessible Attempting Partial Initialization…  ERROR: Hardware Inoperable Aborting... Done. Enter Command: She stares at it for a few seconds.  Those lines had flashed up onto the screen, one after another, with blinding speed- finally terminating with that command prompt once again.  So, what does it mean by ‘personality files’ not found…? Too bad she hasn’t a clue how to pronounce this language- nor what half of these words mean.  There’s so many of them her book never used.  If not for that, she might have asked Bonbon.  Discreetly, of course- or, at least, as discreetly as the kitchen gets; it’s been close to three days since Bonbon had been sent into the desert, and Bonbon tells her they’re going to go on-site tomorrow.  As a matter of fact, Bonbon’s alibi is upstairs right now, cooking the shop’s next set of candies. As it turns out, that alibi- drawing on her magic and Bonbon’s mind- is completely incapable of magic… and thence incapable of using even an earth pony kitchen.  Which only made her electric one convenient. Her own alibi is, of course, helping out upstairs, since neither of them have figured out exactly how to use the electric kitchen; they’re used to controlling them directly with their magic.  Rather fortunate that her alibi’s ability to use magic extends to the use of unicorn appliances. Oh- and it would seem Bonbon has decided to discuss something today.  She’s been mostly occupied with managing both herself and her alibi at once, absent Lyra’s experience, but has reportedly been getting better.  She just called her by name, after all, rather than that ‘Candy Stripes’ codename. “Yes?” “So you do have another basement.” “Huh?  Oh, no- that’s not to another basement, just another room.” Bonbon raises an eyebrow.  “That pathway sloped downwards.  And to the side.” She sighs.  “It’s still not to another basement.  Rather, it goes much deeper than that- down deep enough even Princess Twilight should have trouble detecting even the most powerful spells I can throw around down there…  when she’s looking for them.” “You’re down there right now, aren’t you?” “Yep.  It’s become my playroom.”  She tilts her head. “You know how the controls in my second basement kitchen work?” “Kinda.” She smirks.  “What if you were to find another such control panel…  except this one could talk to you, and only in that strange written language?” Bonbon raises an eyebrow, and pauses for a second- presumably making sure her real self didn’t mirror the motion.  “How would it know what you were saying?” “The input would be more verbose, of course.  One key for every symbol.” “Ahh…  So, what would this…  panel be doing?” “Wanting commands.  What might you tell it…?” “Well, what’s it attached to?” She shrugs.  “No clue.” “Ask it for help?” “Oh?  Uh…” Help ERROR:  Help Directory Not Found Enter Command: “Uh, and if that… didn’t work.” “Ask it for identification?” She shakes her head.  “Also a no-go.” It’s rather clear Bonbon knows it’s not a hypothetical question by now. “How…  lenient is it?” “Not very.  It seems to require word-perfect commands.” “Hmm…  Try asking it to list its commands?” “Ooh, good idea.” List commands Invalid Command Commands Invalid Command List Invalid Command Enter Command: “Uh…  not working.” “Did it work before?” “Yes…  but it’s different right now, and I’m not sure what I did.” “Try turning it off and back on.” She winces.  “That’d take forever…  Maybe I can convince it to reset.” “Maybe close down and reopen?” “Mm, good idea.” Close Invalid Command Exit Exiting Damage Control Central Direct Terminal. > “That worked!  I told it to close, and it went straight back to the old prompt.  Let’s see… Oh, yes, it can do math once again. Oh, wait- maybe this will…” >Commands Command Not Recognized:  Commands >List DCC | SYS | Patterns >Patterns Patterns/> “It will…” Patterns/>List She blinks as the screen fills with an enormous list of names…  which seem to be food items, unless she misses her guess.  “Um… it seems to know about a lot of food…” “Oh?  Maybe it knows how to use that kitchen downstairs.” She smiles.  “Maybe.” Eight hours and three batches of sold candies later, Lyra levitates the pan out of the electric oven, setting it on the table in the middle of the room, on a normal potholder they’d brought from upstairs.  It smells heavenly. “I really hope you got the translation right,” Bonbon states.  “It’d be a pity if we couldn’t reproduce this because of a translation problem.” “Well, let’s see how it tastes.  I think it’s called ‘Vegetable Lasagna’.” “You think?” She scowls at the pan.  “It’s so hard to translate.  But the first three recipes I looked at had meat in them.” “What.” “Not pony meat, no- but two had chicken…  and one beef.” “Uhhh…” She smiles.  “No, I’m pretty sure it can’t cook anything itself, like a cookbook.  So long as I never try to make one of those recipes, it won’t hurt for them to stay until I can figure out how to erase them, right?” “Uhh…  Okay. As long as you never make them.” “Nah, I’m an herbivore- and I don’t cook for, say, griffins.  If they want meat, they can find it elsewhere.” “Okay.” “So then…”  Her horn flares, and a few plates appear around the table.  It takes a second’s glow to produce the chairs, also from her kitchen upstairs. Once she finishes setting the table, her horn glows brightly once again, as if she were launching her alibi…  and nothing happens for a few seconds. Then, Bonbon flashes suddenly with white light- and stumbles slightly, breathing hard.  “What the-?” Lyra smiles.  “Something else my alibi lets me do- switch places with it.  Takes a bit of power, mind, but you were in bed anyways- and now, you can enjoy this with me rather than next week!” So two mares, neither represented by an alibi, sit down to enjoy a meal unlike any other.  It truly is as delicious as it smelled. Bonbon finally returns home- officially, at least; she’s been teleporting home through the alibi at least once daily- after a full two weeks of brand new meals.  Most of them were tasty, but there were three they weren’t particularly fond of and one that Lyra made twice because she burned it the first time through. Finally, though, Bonbon’s alibi disintegrates into golden mist next to Lyra as the real one walks in the door. “Finally,” Bonbon states.  “I don’t know how you deal with that so much.” “Practice,” she answers, “and lots of it.  I’ve been using it since before I built the second-level basement, so it’s almost second nature by now.” “Ahh…”  She sniffs the air; she’d refrained from asking about the smell before she got back.  “What’s that I smell…?” “This one?  I think it’s a kind of casserole.”  They’d had to classify many of the dishes after making them, thanks to the lingual difference. “Sounds good, I’ve been missing one of those…  Though, this terminal of yours, it is more than a cookbook, right?” “Uh, yes.  It has some kind of repair system, but it broke a couple weeks ago, and I haven’t been able to find it.  I got the place pretty well lit up, though… Wait.” >DCC --Damage Control Central Direct Console-- System Idle Enter Command:  Repair Specify Repair Target: “It’s working again…” “Sounds like it’s only barely working…  Can it fix the repair system?” “Ohh, good idea.” Repair Confirm Repair Target:  All Damage Control Systems (Y/N) “Uhh…”  Y Command Acknowledged > “Well, it took the command…  Oh, and our food is ready.” The two mares turn to head for the living room.  “Wait… If you’re down there and up here, how…?” She smiles.  “While you were gone, I’ve been experimenting with two alibis myself.  It is certainly confusing, but not unmanageable.” “So which one’s the real you?” “Uh, that’d be the one down there.  I recharged the generators about half an hour ago, and my alibis can’t handle that.” “Generators?”  She exaggerates the plural. “Oh, right.  My… terminal.  Since I found it, and made everything else, I put it on a separate generator.”  She smiles at her friend. “When I hooked it up, I didn’t know how much it might draw…  and since that kitchen downstairs relies on a minimum current, I decided to play it safe and use another generator.” “Doesn’t it require recharging too, then?” “Yep.  It only takes a minute every week or so, though, so I don’t worry about it.” The door to the second-floor basement opens as they approach, rather than requiring the normal tile tap pattern.  The reason for this aberrant behavior is very quickly revealed to be Lyra, standing on the staircase below. Bonbon glances only momentarily between the two of them; she’s used to this by now.  “You still won’t let me see it, though?” The one standing on the stairs shakes its head gently, the other disintegrating into arcane mist.  “Nope, sorry. Can’t risk contaminating my discovery with official nonsense, can I?” She smirks. Bonbon chuckles.  “Anything interesting on it?” “There’s this one construct on it.  It’s made of metal, but it has some arcane-inhibiting material built into it, like a bottle- so much I can only barely get my scan in.  Sometimes.” “It’s not someone’s attempt at machine-based magic, is it?” She shakes her head.  “I don’t think so- none of the pipes going in and out of it had that material in them, only the main bottle part itself.  I’m wondering if it’s supposed to be something like a gemstone- but capable of holding greater densities.” Bonbon raises an eyebrow.  “That would make sense, if it’s a Unicorn thing- but haven’t you not found anything magic-related in it?” Shrug.  “Until that, no.  Maybe it’s somepony’s attempt to allow an earth pony to use a unicorn kitchen?  Or the other way around… That would be useful.” “Unicorn use an earth pony kitchen?  Oh yes. Then we could truly work together in the same kitchen!” She tilts her head before she hops into her chair.  “Well, technically we can do that here.” Bonbon snorts.  “Sure we can. We just can’t stop burning everything not specifically made for it.” “Hey, it’s hard to make earth pony recipes in a unicorn kitchen!” “And the other way around too, I assure you.  But at least we can.  Everything we’ve tried down here, save the recipes designed for it, just burns.” “I’m sure we’ll figure it out sooner or later.”  The pan lands on the potholder between them, and Lyra’s other alibi- standing next to the oven- also disintegrates. Bonbon watches Lyra’s precision manipulation of the spatula for a second.  “Maybe. How close are you?” She scowls.  “Still trying to find a recipe for something even related to Equestrian cuisine.  That’s why we’ve had something new every day.” “Ahh.  How’s that… bottle thing doing, then?” “It’s a little decayed.  It’ll take some pretty significant power to restore it- we’ll want Twilight out of town, but it should be below everypony else’s perception threshold.” “And if it works?” “Then I’ll drag you down to tell me if it’s safe to charge.” She nods, receiving a generous helping of…  Yes, it does look like a casserole, but she doesn’t recognize it.  “How much warning will you need?” “I can charge the spell beforehand- it’ll take a week or so- and release it once she leaves.  We can probably wait for something to crop up someplace.”  She serves herself as she speaks, and they both dig in.