[Feat Achieved!]
[Whispers of the Mechanical God (Level 2 → 3) - Unique*]
I honestly couldn’t say I was all that surprised. It hadn’t been that long since I’d increased Whispers of the Mechanical God to Level 2, but as it turns out creating a motorcycle and then reinventing the way it used fuel was good enough to increase my Unique Ability again. It wasn’t even all that hard when I had Twilight to bounce around my theories and ideas with. Now, I was the owner of the first and only self-sustaining motorcycle in either world.
To the ponies of Equus, it might have been an interesting, if novel, idea to make a single — maybe two-person — vehicle. Many probably wouldn’t even see any use out of it since it was designed for human use. But on Earth? Even an idiot could see that I’d made a god-damn miracle that defied the laws of physics.
Honestly, I was making my accomplishment out to be way bigger than it actually was, since on Equus all living things were capable of miracles that defied the laws of physics; at least, how I have come to know them from Earth’s standards.
The point was that the first successful version of my motorcycle operated on a gas engine. It probably wouldn’t have mattered to anyone if I’d kept it that way, since one functioning motorcycle wouldn’t bring about a climate apocalypse when there was an alicorn goddess around and countless weather-manipulating pegasi.
I thought I could do better in a world of magic, though, so… with Twilight’s help and enough books to help a college graduate complete their PhD in Thaumatology, I built the Magic Engine. The result was a completely emission-free source of power that hilariously I had to redesign into the Magic Engine Mk. 0.5 to not kill myself while using.
Seriously, the original Magic Engine Twilight helped me build was strong enough to upgrade the train that ran through Canterlot. The first time I ran it through my motorcycle I nearly pissed my pants when I went zero to one-sixty kilometers per hour (100 in freedom units) in the span of a second. The G-forces acting on my body were one thing, the fact that I was doing the test run on a cobblestone road meant the potential for death had I hit a disagreeable bump.
The Mk. 0.5 boasted much tamer acceleration and enough power to travel at dangerous speeds. But the best part about either Magic Engine was the fact that they were self-sustained by the ambient magic that pervaded the world. In theory, they could run out of energy, but that would require maximum power loads to be sustained for hours on end, and even then it would only take another couple hours to fully recharge with the same ambient energy that powered them.
Thus, after completing a lap around the outermost streets of Canterlot on my bike, I unlocked Whispers of the Mechanical God Level 3.
On the one hand, I was pleasantly surprised by the effects despite having somewhat anticipated what they might have been from experiencing the change from Level 1 to Level 2. I’d gone from knowing about all Industrial Era (Mid 1800s) Tech to all Modern Era Tech (Early 2000s). On the other hand… I was absolutely horrified by the sheer depth not even two hundred years' worth of human progress had accomplished from all the information I’d suddenly gained.
Most of the things I learned about were great: Advances in modern medicine, modern programming techniques and applications for robotics, quantum physics know-how and rocket science…
Other things honestly scared me: Nuclear and Theoretical WMD weapons designs, recipes for Nerve Agents and Biohacking protocols… There was honestly a lot of stuff I feel I would have been better off not knowing about.
Fortunately, as the only one in possession of some of those more sinister uses of Modern Tech, I managed to convince myself there was nothing to worry about. Only I could make the worst of the knowledge I’d gained come to life and I couldn’t think up a reason for ever having an intention of doing so.
…
“What the— How many new projects are you starting?” Twilight asked as she entered my room. She’d been coming so frequently, that I’d started leaving the door open for her when I figured out she operated on a rigid routine.
“Huh?” I looked up at her from a piece of metal I was fiddling with and said, “Just two. I know this looks like a lot, but honestly, a lot of these are just part of the music studio set I’m classifying as one of those two projects.” I looked back down to keep working on the subwoofers I was trying to design.
Before I’d reached Level 3 in the Whispers of the Mechanical God, I wouldn’t have said that the quality of musical electronics on Equus was lacking. But, with what I knew now, it really couldn’t compare to state-of-the-art Modern Tech, could it? Let’s just say that there was a lot of functionality that hadn’t been developed yet.
Even before I’d finished my mystical magic-powered motorcycle, I’d decided that I would have taken some time to enjoy myself with one of my favorite pastimes on Earth; playing instruments and listening to music. But, since I’d suddenly gained knowledge on how to make some of the best versions of electrical instruments and digital audio studios…
I wasn’t not going to be working with the best things I could get my hands on.
“You’re making a music studio? And… Is that that fictional power armor stuff you once mentioned!” Twilight nearly shrieked as she looked at the other project I was going to be working on in conjunction with getting my music studio set up.
“Not quite,” I explained as I examined my work on the subwoofers. “Power Armor is like two or three degrees of complexity ahead of what I’m currently capable of making. So, I’m currently just trying to get a working mechanical exoskeleton suit.” I put the subwoofer down when I was satisfied that I was as good as I could make it.
“Anyway, you have any more questions you want to ask? I think we got through most of modern history before you left yesterday,” I said as I turned to look at her.
“No, um,” Twilight stammered, “I mean, I do have more questions, but I came to let you know that I’m going to have to leave for a few days to help with the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville. The Princess herself asked me to, so…”
“Ah, I get it,” I said as I got up and approached her. “It’s to let me know why you won’t be showing up and to not wonder why you’ve gone missing.”
“Something like that,” Twilight sighed, looking like she really didn’t want to go, but I knew from interacting with her for so long just how much Celestia’s words meant to her. “You could come with me and Spike if you want. I got permission from the Princess and everything.” She said while looking at me with hopeful eyes.
“Yeah, I’m going to have to pass on that,” I said. Even if she wasn’t looking at me so distraught, I would have explained, “You might not know since I rarely get out of my room, but many ponies don’t receive me as well as you do. To them, I’m this big scary monstrous alien. Even here at the Castle, it took weeks for all the staff to get used to me. I don’t think it’s a good idea to show up unannounced, during a celebration of all things, at a town that’s never even heard of me, Twi.”
“That’s… awful,” Twilight said as her ears flattened against her head.
“Eh,” I shrugged, “You know how I am. It doesn’t really bother me all that much. So, don’t worry about me while you’re away on your trip.”
“Ok, then. Goodbye Victor,” she said as she stood up on her hind legs and offered me a hug.
“Goodbye,” I accepted her hug and… Wow, there was a lot that I hadn’t been expecting. This had been the first time I’d hugged anything since coming to Equus and it wasn’t like I was much of an affectionate person back on Earth, but… Just, wow.
Twilight’s body was a lot lighter than I expected for a pony her size; especially after she stood up on her hind legs to nearly reach my height of 190 centimeters (~6’3). Her fur coat was also a lot softer than I’d expected from an animal. What really took the cake, though, was how she smelled. It was disconcerting how much she smelled exactly like a fusion of lavender and vanilla; not the “scent of lavender and vanilla” that things would get after washing with body wash or shampoo products that were artificially scented, but the actual products themselves.
“I’ll see you around, I guess,” I said as Twilight broke off the hug and turned to leave. She then nodded and closed the door behind her.
…
A day passed since Twilight had left. All seemed to have been going as well as it had been before I’d met the purple unicorn when the world was blindsided by an apocalypse. Pretty much everyone noticed right away as the day suddenly turned into midnight for no apparent reason.
Outside of the window from my room, I could see the streets of Canterlot devolve into sheer chaos as ponies of all the three different Races were running around, some even shouting in hysterics. Even within the castle, when I tried to get a hold of someone, anyone, to explain just what was going on, I was met with guards and the castle staff running all over the place, looking much too preoccupied to bother.
More than a little worried by everything I’d seen thus far, I thought it prudent to see if Celestia could tell me what was happening. I didn’t actually expect to make it all the way to hearing from her specifically, but there was bound to be one of her personal guards or someone else with answers for me.
Imagine my shock when on my way to the Courtroom, I found a group of pegasi carrying Celestia away on a stretcher.
“What the hell is going on?!” I barely manage to contain my spiking anxiety as there is a literal goddess that’s been struck unconscious!
“We don’t know!” One pegasi guard shouts back as he continues to hustle with the others. I decide to jog alongside them as he continues saying, “The Princess just fainted all of a sudden, and then the sun and moon were repositioned, and— and…”
“Oh shit,” I’m seriously panicking now as I calm down enough to try casting Identify on Celestia.
[Identified Status]
[Level: 500+]
[Name: Celestia
[Race: Alicorn
[Class: Goddess of the Sun]
[Details: An immortal pony… Currently suffering from the backlash of a broken Sealing Spell. Estimated time to make a natural full recovery is over a month long. This can be exponentially reduced by: being targeted with (at minimum) High Tier Healing Spells, taking Ultra Premier Grade Healing Potions, making a lifeforce sacrifice…]
I didn’t even bother considering the rest of the options as they only got more and more extreme in their cost. Moreover, Ultra Premier Grade was a standard of potion-making that I’d already achieved so all I needed to do was—
“Where do you plan on taking her?” I asked.
“To her personal doctor, where else?!” The pegasus snarked back, understandably given the uncertainty of the situation.
“I’m going to go make some medicines I think will help her recover,” and without waiting for a response I sprinted away from the group of ponies carrying the Princess and over to the alchemy lab that I was most familiar with.