“Well,” she mutters, as she places the bag of candy on the floor. It’s not a very big bag; her budget for the excursion was only three hundred bits, after all.
… Where a subterranean machine got three hundred bits from, she doesn’t know. They’d been waiting for her, next to her seat, when she got up to perform her latest assignment.
“That was interesting,” she finally finishes. Then she glances up at the ceiling. “That being said, do you like candy?”
A gentle chuckle floats back from the same. “I might, if I had a method by which to actually taste it,” he states calmly. “As it is, I’m afraid offering it to me is fairly pointless; feel free yourself. On the other hoof, how were your findings?”
“Well, for one, the candy smells amazing; if anything, I sold the cover story a bit too well. She did baulk when I asked for one of everything, but…” She chuckles. “But at that point in the operation, I genuinely did want to try everything, so…
“Anyways, that’s when things started getting weird. The lyrist wasn’t back yet, so Bonbon- that’s the earth pony’s name- pulled them out herself. I watched, and… About five times out of every ten, her hoofgrip would falter, and she’d drop something. After the first broken jar, I offered to help, but she refused.” Sigh. “Didn’t exactly help she didn’t seem to have the strength to lift some of the heavier ones, hoofgrip problems aside, despite being an earth pony.
“Then the lyrist- her name’s Lyra- returned and screamed. She, well…”
She opens one eye, ears still flat to her head, when the scream dies away.
“What happened in here!?” the newly arrived unicorn, matching Zeus’ description of the candymaker’s partner, demands.
She cringes backwards, her other eye opening as well, while the candymaker glances up.
“Uh, nothing,” Bonbon states, just a little too innocently. “Just getting a little excited.”
The unicorn then turns to her.
She speaks immediately. “I wanted one of everything, but she wouldn’t let me help when things started falling.”
“Hey!” Bonbon complains. “She’s a customer! Don’t bother her!”
The unicorn raises an eyebrow, ignoring the candymaker. “One of everything?”
She nods. “It all smells so good…”
The unicorn tilts her head at the pouting earth pony, then nods. “Yeah, that sounds about right. Maybe we really should have made a sampler, huh, Bonnie?” Sigh. “And I thought I told you to wait for me!” Her horn glows, the matching glow scattering throughout the shop to clean up the impressive mess the candymaker had made.
And discarding half of the candies that had been successfully sorted out to be part of the sale.
“Lyra!” the earth pony complains again. “It’s my shop!”
“There’s glass in those,” the unicorn states. “You know what’d happen if you let that leave through those doors.”
The earth pony’s ears droop. “Sorry.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. It’s okay to get excited, but don’t let that get in the way of being careful, okay?” Lyra glances at the candies still on the counter, then at the shelves. “One of everything…? Yeah, we’ve got more of those in the back.” A glance at her. “I’ll be right back.” She disappears into the back room.
She walks over to the earth pony, who is sitting on the now clean floor in front of the display case. “Hey,” she begins.
The earth pony shakes her head, sniffing. “S-sorry,” she mutters. “I don’t know why I even try anymore.”
“Hey, none of that,” she states, resting one foreleg over the earth pony’s withers as she sits next to her. “Accidents happen. I bet this store wouldn’t be here without you, would it?”
“No. But it’s not like I can do anything anymore.”
“Huh-? What happened? … Actually, don’t tell me. Something tells me it’s something best shared only with your friends.”
The earth pony leans into her. “You’re a friend, right?”
She blinks for a second, then nods. “Yeah. Yeah, I can be a friend, if you like.”
“I would like.”
She shudders at the memory. “Then she showed me the bottom of her hoof. It’s…” She sighs. “She said nopony could figure out what did the damage, but that her thaumic facilities had to be removed as part of the effort to save her life.” She looks up. “At least that effort was successful… How reparable would the damage be?”
“That depends.”
“It’s the stuff in her hooves- the part that every pony has, and then the other part that’s specific to earth ponies.”
“Might an Alicorn have that other part as well?”
Blink. “Uh, I think so, but I don’t actually know.”
“Then I want to say yes. I’m not certain, though- another case of insufficient data- but everything I’ve seen in that area looks reparable… or, possibly, replaceable.”
“Replaceable?”
“Affirmative. Though, to be honest, it’ll take many times as much data to produce a viable replacement than it would to be able to simply repair it.”
“... Ahh. Then, the change, from-!”
“Go ahead and keep it.”
“What?”
“I’ve no use for it. Go ahead and keep the remaining funds.”
“But- but that’s two hundred forty bits!”
“I know.”
“That’s a lot of money!”
“I know.”
“... and you don’t need it.”
“Affirmative.”
“What happens if you do need it?”
“Remember when I mentioned Tactical, and when my pony look-alike avatars came up?”
“... Oh.”
“Yes. One of them is in the Royal Guard here in Ponyville; the other is a private investigator in Canterlot. Between the two of them, and their complete lack of food-related needs, I have at my disposal more bits than I will ever need.” He chuckles. “I’ve even got a third one approaching deployment in another few hours.”
“Huh? Isn’t that kinda a lot?”
“Yes, I’ll admit, I’m putting more of my capacity than I really need to into making avatars. But as I said earlier, I’ve already gotten myself into such a state where no known force on this planet can penetrate my defenses- and so, my priority has shifted from self restoration to the establishment of a sensor network, so as to identify a new threat as soon as it appears. At the moment, avatars are the most effective way to do that- especially if I can get them into Equestria’s existing information networks. If one of them uncovers something, of course I’ll send a drone to investigate- but at the moment? Avatars are, by far, easier to manufacture than drones. And that’s not even counting the drone’s far higher power requirements.”
“... Ahh. And that probably also doesn’t count how a pegasus might see a passing drone.”
“Actually, I’ve already confirmed their stealth is effective against ponies of all breeds; as such, that is a non-issue.”
“Oh. And, speaking of breeds, you said I had a bit of a mid-shoulder, suggesting pegasus genes?”
“Affirmative.”
“Does it so happen that you’ve had a chance to look at anypony else that doesn’t have wings?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes.”
“What?”
“I haven’t gotten any in for a medical examination, no- but I have been able to scan the various ponies working in the pit by various means; I have been able to acquire accurate depictions of their skeletons, among other things. None of the other non-winged ponies possess even the slightest development in the direction of a mid-shoulder.”
“... Oh. I wonder why…? My family’s been all Unicorn for as long as I can remember.”
“Maybe I’ll be able to figure out more once I have more data.”
“Oh! About that. Um, can we plan on getting Rainbow in here next? I worry she’ll break a wing or something soon, if we don’t get her a good healing first… and she won’t hold still long enough for me to do it.”
“You know my method relies on holding fairly still as well, right?”
“Yeah… but your method, I didn’t even notice it. My spell… Well, it wakes ‘em up- and if they move around while I’m in the middle of casting, they’ll cause it to backfire, and do even more damage to them.” She sighs. “Minimal on me, but that’s not the important part.” She looks up again. “So, since Rainbow likes to sleep a lot, I imagine it can’t be that hard to convince her to do it in here.”
“Oh, you might be surprised.”
Blink. “Come to think of it, you’ve got all those drones, and pony-avatars, and you’re apparently controlling them from afar.”
“Yes?”
“Is there some way to make it so I could talk you you- or vice versa- without coming in here, or seeking an avatar?”
“Not presently, no. But that’s a good idea; I should have something ready by tonight.”