Unsurprisingly, the first of the projects I was working on that I managed to complete was the creation of my music studio. It hadn’t been far from completion before I decided to power load myself with a bunch of new abilities whose presence only hasten its eventual realization. Reverse Engineer in particular was an Ability that would exponentially cut down the time it took me to complete all projects subsequent to its acquisition.
With the music studio present, I was only a few hours away from recreating some of my favorite music which would go a long way in keeping me entertained while I worked on my other projects. I didn’t really need the music, seeing as I’d gotten this far without it — and I could technically hear any of my favorite songs whenever thanks to the Mind Palace like function of Whispers of the Mechanical God. But there was just something about hearing your favorite song while working towards your goals that really motivated me to keep grinding away.
On Earth, despite having chosen to be a software engineer and businessman as my professions, my true passions lied in more artistic ventures. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely played my fair share of games and browsed the internet in a way that most would call “excessively.” But my hobbies, where I spent most of my free time, centered around creating pieces of art.
To be more specific, I enjoyed re-creating the art that I enjoyed. If I found a song I liked, I tried to remake it digitally. If I found an impressive enough illustration, I either tried to redraw it or find similar art pieces on the internet. I had a history of making fan games for some of my favorite video game series. I followed the recipes of my favorite celebrity chefs, etc.
The one thing that was beyond me — until recently… — was going out of my way to make something new. Looking back, I can confidently say that the reason had everything to do with the fact that I placed my work on a pedestal. I poured every ounce of my creativity into coding day-to-day, and though the results showed in the end, it also left me running on fumes for pretty much everything else.
All the way until the day I was brought over to Equus, I’d never had the chance to divert most of my energy away from my job. Even with all my accomplishments and success, it wasn’t like I got anywhere close to being the best at what I did. I made my money and built my companies, but there was always more I could have had.
Now, as a royal alchemist in Equestria, I was in the complete opposite situation. On Earth, I was one of the millions of millionaires worldwide, but in Equestria, I was one of the royal alchemists whose cumulated total members hadn’t reached the four-digit mark since the founding of the country.
When I created the Magic Engine with Twilight, the two of us literally became the founding experts of an entirely new branch of engineering. Moreover, I had access to pretty much any resource that could be bought and produced on the planet with what I was being paid. So, there wasn’t anything but continued innovation for me to work towards.
The point was, that while my new purpose in life might as well have been to create and improve my own pieces of tech. The fact that I could do so on my own time, mostly free from any external pressures, meant that I took small breaks every once in a while to indulge in my favorite pastimes.
Which leads me to the current zugzwang of a situation I managed to stumble into. I was on my way to confirm the results of the completion of my exoskeleton suit and the third goal I’d been striving for — pushing all my Stats to at least a minimum of 50 — when it happened.
“Are you alright?” I was genuinely very worried for several reasons, when for seemingly no reason, Princess Luna who had asked to listen to some of my music became catatonic after donning the headphones I had connected to my music player. Worry turned to fear after she remained unresponsive for several seconds.
…Then tears started streaming uncontrollably down her face.
“Tis… Tis a most emotionally charged piece,” she muttered as she telekinetically handed over the headphones and music player.
The first thing I did when I received them was to check what could have possibly invoked such a reaction out of her.
[Now Playing: Dysphoria - Sewerslvt]
What? I can only imagine the expression I must have been showing as incomprehension flooded my thoughts. I mean, yes, of course, it was a good song — why else would I have gone through the effort of remaking it otherwise? But, like… Really?
It was very, very likely that this was the first introduction Princess Luna had to electronic music and it was aggressive EDM Hardcore music, at that. I could understand her being impressed at best or finding it distasteful at worst. But there weren’t even any lyrics to the song! For what reason could she have possibly reacted like that?!
“Are you going to be alright?” I asked her as she dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief she had conjured out of thin air.
“Yes. Let us… continue to our destination,” she said before a flash of light was cast eliminating any evidence of the handkerchief she’d just used.
I dropped the matter at that, content with neither myself nor the lunar princess having come out of the exchange damaged in any truly meaningful way. It was great that she quickly recovered from whatever it was that made her emotional and I was happy to find that turning her into such an emotional wreck hadn't landed me in any trouble. But I would be damned if I let something like this happen again.
I had to be more careful with who I let listen to my music. At least until I figured out who and why it was capable of effecting.
…
“Alright, I guess we should start by establishing a baseline for what I can do without any augmentations,” I said after Princess Luna announced that we had reached our destination, far and away from anyone who might potentially get caught up in my tests.
“Let’s start with speed,” I suggested. When she nodded, I took off in a sprint until I felt myself incapable of going any faster before I took a lapping route to bleed off my momentum until I came around by her side.
“A maximal velocity of 39 kilometers per hour (~24 mph). Most impressive for a plantigrade species of thine size,” she said.
“Thanks?” I shrugged, “It’s definitely significantly better than what I was capable of a few weeks ago, yet still inferior against, well, pretty much anyone here… Let's try again with Ability augmentations.”
I redid the test with Bypass Acceleration and Double Time in effect and the results were more or less in line with what I expected. Bypass Acceleration didn’t make me any faster than I was capable of, it just let me reach my top speed twice as quickly — and didn’t that have horrifying implications regarding how hard I could throw a punch or kick… But Double Time made me about 1.5 times faster.
“A new maximal velocity approaching 58 kilometers per hour. Tis always a marvel to see thine non-magical Abilities in action,” Princess Luna commented. By her measurement, I didn’t manage the full 50% increase that Double Time was supposed to give me but rarely did anyone manage to squeeze out a full 100% of their effort even when they tried to.
“Oh, this is nothing. I’m just getting warmed up,” I said.
I then put on my exoskeleton suit and redid the test a third time.
“88 kilometers per hour? By what mechanism could thine swiftness increase after donning extra weight?” Princess Luna asked.
“The suit is being powered by a smaller version of the Magic Engine. The Magic Engine Mk. 1.25 is about twice as powerful as the one that currently powers the train that runs through Canterlot and a small enough to fit in this chest slot. It powers all the servos that facilitate my movements.”
“That diminutive chest piece has double the power of the train’s engine?” Princess Luna looked like she very much doubted my statements.
“I know it doesn’t look like it, but this exoskeleton suit is extremely heavy; like three tons heavy. I made it with a magically enriched hyperdense tungsten alloy. It requires a lot of power to move, though, and even then, if not for the various safety mechanisms I put in place to suppress the Magic Engine’s power I could theoretically push the movement capabilities of the suit to an additional 40% to 50% of what they currently are.
“I’m just not comfortable with running what’s essentially a magical reactor in my chest anywhere near its maximum output. Especially not when I can just do this,” I said before taking off again while using Bypass Acceleration and Double Time.
Again, my maximum speed rose by around 50% twice as quickly as before. Apparently, the “Game Logic” that ran my Abilities, seemed to treat anything I wore or any weapon I used as part of my Equipment. Truly, the idea that I was an RPG character was being affirmed at every turn.
“Now, if this also works, then I think we might both be very surprised,” I said as I activated the Ability “Metaphysical Link” in preparation for bringing out the Runes I had prepared beforehand into the physical world.
It was subtle but I could feel the newfound sense I had in connection with the Magic I’d created as well as the Magic that existed in everything in the world.
I looked within myself and brought out the Rune I’d created for “simple” Body Strengthening. After feeling the Rune take effect, I ran for what was probably going to be my last time — for the purpose of these tests, I mean — and—
“Holy fu—” I don’t know how fast I went, but before I could approach my absolute limit, I stopped in fear of losing control and crashing head-first into the tree… which had to have been hundreds of meters away from where I’d started running from; a distance I’d crossed in seconds.
“Unbelievable,” Princess Luna said, showing no effort in having crossed the same distance before I could even react. “Such speed is a rarity even for the average diving pegasus. To think thou could replicate it on land with such expeditious acceleration is nothing short of impossible; especially so for a—” She stopped herself and leaned her head closer to me while looking intently at something on my face.
“Wh— Hast thou manifested a Cutie Mark?!” She cried out as she continued to stare right above my eyes.
“I don’t think that’s possible,” I dismissed her concerns after I managed to catch my breath. “It’s probably…” I brought up the arm and looked at the polished, reflective metal that made up the plating of the exoskeleton suit, “Yeah, that’s just Runesmithing script. It’s not a Cutie Mark. It’ll probably go away the moment I stop channeling the power of the Rune. See?”
She calmed down after the tattoo-like archaic script of the Runesmithing language faded away from my forehead. She did not remain calm as we continued on to test the rest of my physical strength and then the extent of the Runes I’d created.
“Simple” Body Strengthening Rune aside, I apparently had the magic of a decent combat mage with the rudimentary Elemental Runes I’d made for Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. Seperately, Princess Luna said that I’d just barely be competent enough to try out for the royal guard. But, together?
Well… I had the speed of a Pegasus, the strength of an Earth Pony, and the magic of a Unicorn. Average I may be, but by technicality that was almost word for word the definition of an Alicorn, and though I was nowhere even remotely close to being “average” for an alicorn, by virtue of the versatility I was capable of, I would be worth a lot if I was turned into a military asset. If I wanted to become one, that is. I didn’t, but it was nice to know how I measured up in terms of this world’s power hierarchy.