//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Greetings // Story: Ungrounded // by Lucien Chance //------------------------------// Lyra hit Lucien square on the upper body. To say the least, it hurt. Badly. They were caught in a tangled mess on the ground, Lucien was trapped underneath her, trying desperately to get the crazed pony off him without hurting her; but that wasn't entirely out of the question. She was making some happy squealing noises, and he could make out something that sounded like, "I knew it!" somewhere in the middle. They rolled around for a short while longer, then she was suddenly stopped, enveloped in a purple glow. She was whisked off into the air, and set back on the ground by the entrance. Lucien got up slowly, never taking his eyes off of the insane, sea-green pony. She still bore the same expression; a Pinkie-sized smile that was a touch too creepy for him to find endearing. He was breathing hard, adrenaline still pumping from the surprise of being attacked. He looked over to Twilight, and saw that her horn was glowing a similar color to that which covered the crazy pony. "Some form of telekinesis, huh? Must be pretty strong to hold that one still..." His thoughts trailed off as he saw that Twilight was looking at him oddly. He then realized that he had been full-on staring at her horn, spacing out as Twilight was trying to talk to him. "Huh?" Lucien snapped out of his trance, and refocused on Twilight's eyes. "I said, this is Lyra, our local human enthusiast," she said impatiently. "Oh. Well that explains it." "I'm going to let her out now, and when I do, she will not attack you again." She directed that last part towards Lyra, legs still immobilized. She nodded furiously, and he became worried that her neck might snap from the force of it. Twilight released her, and Lyra moved so fast it seemed like she teleported in front of him. He took a large step back as she began to speak. "Oh. My. Celestia!" She shot a glance towards the goddess herself, to look if she offended; Celestia just lifted a hoof to show that she was fine. "Are you actually," she leaned in conspiratorially, "a human?" Lucien darted his eyes back and forth for a moment, then leaned in, and whispered, equally conspiratorially, "Yes." She shot up into the air, extremely giddy off of the discovery. When she came back down, she spoke excitedly, "I knew you existed! I knew! I knew! I knew!" She bounced with every "knew!" flying almost up to the ceiling. "Everyone said I was crazy, and they didn't believe me, but I'll show them now! Oh yes, they'll see; they'll all see!" She said manically, rubbing her hooves together while barely being able to balance on her back ones. Lucien put up his hands in a 'time-out.' "Whoa, whoa, whoa, time-out there. What do you mean by 'they'll see'?" She deflated a little, "They! I mean everypony who ever laughed at me or mocked me!" She was getting closer to the teary-eyed phase. He saw her emotion change drastically, and did some quick damage control. "Uh, right! Yeah... Every..." "Pony...? What could possibly go wrong?" He winced, breaking his own rule to never tempt Murphy's Law. Celestia chose that moment to intervene. She stepped between them and said to Lucien, "Before we speak of introducing you to the public; just how long are you expecting to stay on Equestria?" Lucien was a bit offended. "Well, if you put it like that..." Celestia shook her head, "No, I didn't mean it like that, I meant how long until you can figure out a way to get back home?" Pinkie bounced in. "I don't want him to go yet! He just got here!" She let off a dramatic gasp, and pulled down on her face with her hooves. "We haven't even partied yet!" Celestia smiled. "He doesn't have to leave just yet, and I'm sure he's not going to want to miss a 'Pinkie Party.'" Well. That sounded interesting. "What exactly did she mean by 'Pinkie Party'?" "I'm expecting to spend some time here, maybe a few weeks at best. I'd like to see what this new world has to offer in terms of knowledge. Celestia looked satisfied by his answer. Lyra was getting impatient. She poked at Lucien's side with a hoof, demanding his attention. He turned to face her. "May I help you?" "Well... I was hoping that you would come with me, and I could show you to Ponyville...?" She ended her statement open-ended. He looked over to Celestia for help. She intervened once again. "If you are going to stay for a few weeks, then I think the best time to introduce you to everypony else is at Pinkie's welcoming party." "An agreeable plan. That way I'll be seen as friendly, or social." "That sounds great. Besides, if 'Pinkie Parties' are what you make them out to be, then how can I say no?" Lucien decided to stick to Celestia's idea. "Then it's settled," Celestia concluded, "You'll be brought out after everypony arrives, accompanied by Lyra." Pinkie bounced in. "Woohoo!" Her eyes enlarged, and she gasped, "I need to get ready! We'll have it..." she looked at a pocketwatch that had mysteriously appeared in her hoof, "In one hour; outside of Applejack's barn!" The pony whose name was just mentioned perked up, pulled out of her thoughts. "Wait, what?" The decorations were set up unbelievably fast, thanks to Pinkie's Party Cannon. He watched with wide eyes as she shot streamers and confetti everywhere, covering the ground and hanging from trees. Celestia and Luna had left for the capital city of Canterlot not twenty minutes before it was all done. He walked through the drastically transformed area, and watched the ponies he had met just a few hours ago wrap up preparations. Twilight was standing by Applejack as she was bringing some cider up from the barn's basement. Pinkie was popping in and out from behind trees, each time holding a different kind of treat. Rarity was meticulously hanging up decorations, and making sure it was all perfect. Rainbow Dash was standing by Fluttershy as they both discussed music with tonight's DJ, Vinyl Scratch. Lucien hadn't been so sure when Vinyl was brought into the equation, but she seemed pretty cool. The shades she had were simply awesome, and her electric blue mane caused her to stand out even more than anyone "Anypony?" else. When the two were introduced, he shook her hoof, and she just said, "Cool." He watched as they all finished their preparations, and Pinkie shouted out, "EVERYPONY STOP!" They all froze, including Lucien, and looked at her. "It's perfect!" She exclaimed, and everyone sighed. "This is shaping up to be quite a party." Lucien began to think. "Judging by the looks, it'll be a little more innocent than the parties I'm used to, but we'll see. I wonder what kind of music's gonna play. He walked over to talk with Vinyl about her selection for the night. He put a hand on the table and leaned on it. He tried to look cool, and felt that he wasn't succeeding. "So..." he trailed off, "What kind of music you got?" Vinyl chuckled at the failed act he was trying to put on. She levitated up a few LP's from beneath the table. "I've got some LivingTombstone, some OmniPony... You know, the good stuff." He just looked at her blankly, not recognizing either artist. She just rolled her eyes and said, "Dubstep. Nothing too heavy though, I save that stuff for the real parties." She winked at him. He just smiled, and said smoothly, "Cool." and walked away at that. He didn't notice the DJ smiling and rolling her eyes as she put the records back. He walked to the center of the area, smiling in anticipation and worry. In the slumbering streets of Canterlot, a lone pony dashed toward Canterlot Castle. Her hoofbeats echoed down the streets, and the item in her saddle bag clanked around, smacking her repeatedly on the sides. "Ow... Ow... Ow... Ow... Her coat was bronze, and her mane was brown with an auburn streak through it. Her cutie mark was two gears interlocked. She had gotten it when she was young, the first in her class. She approached the front gates. The guards standing watch let her through immediately, recognizing her face immediately. One saluted as she flew by, and she could barely manage a nod in his direction. She ran up the staircase, taking it a few steps at a time. She ran through the open doors and into the entrance hall/royal court that the Princesses ran 24/7. They happened to be in there now, sitting at their respective thrones. Princess Celestia looked weary, like she wanted to go sleep, and Princess Luna's ears and face perked up when she noticed that someone had come to visit the night court. She slowed down to a light jog, then a walk, coming to a stop a few hooves' away from the thrones, out of respect. She bowed, still out of breath from the run over. She stood back up after a few seconds. Celestia began, "Bronze Gear, what brings you here, at this late hour?" She sounded tired. Bronze responded, still breathing hard, "I have just made... a... breakthrough... in... my experiment." She said, gasping for air. Celestia looked surprised, "Now? Well, we must see it then!" She said somewhat excitedly. Bronze managed a wheezing laugh, "I'm glad... you're eager... to see it." She lit her horn up in a copper glow and opened her right saddle bag, pulling out an object covered in cloth. She set it on the ground gently in front of her, then used her magic to take the cover off. Celestia and Luna held their breath, then released it in a huff as they saw what the bronze unicorn in front of them had produced. It was a metal glove, copper in color, and appearing to stretch up to the elbow joint. Gears and gold wires were sticking out of it haphazardly, and a sapphire was set in the back of the hoof. The gem and the wires were all glowing slightly, and one of the wires would spark occasionally. Bronze Gear stood proudly, extremely pleased by her work, and how much progress she had made that night. The Princesses looked at each other, then back at Bronze. They looked disappointed. "Bronze Gear," Celestia started, "I'm going to be frank with you. This looks... unimpressive, compared to your original drafts. And not at all like it's suited for its intended purpose." Bronze's ears folded back. "I know that it's not exactly what you expected, or what I drafted in the first place, but I was thinking of its military application!" She already looked defeated. Celestia gave her a pitying look. "I'm sorry, but we've already given you too many extensions on your 'project,' and now it's time to shut it down." Bronze Gear's face fell. Celestia continued, "I know how much this project means to you, but we just can't afford to continue funding it. These results do not meet what we needed from you, especially given the direction you've chosen to take it. This was supposed to help ponies, not act as a weapon. Not in an era of peace." Gear looked down at her hooves. "I-" she broke off. "Fine." She looked back up with fire in her eyes. "I'll scrap it. Forget the time that I spent working on this, forget my vision. Chalk it up to yet another in a line of failures you were too narrow-minded to accept!" She turned and ran as she got to the door, speeding off into the night. Luna started to give chase, but was stopped by a hoof from Celestia. "But sister!" Luna protested. "No, Luna. Let her go. It hurts to see one of my top magical engineering students upset, but she will come to soon enough. If not, then we will send some of the guards to make sure she shuts it down. Am I clear?" Celestia said firmly. Luna bowed her head. "Yes, Tia. I'm just worried." She looked back up at the door with a frown on her face. "So am I, Luna, so am I." The town took the sudden arrival of the human pretty well. That is to say, they screamed in panic when they saw him pick up Pinkie inside the barn, trying to help her hang streamers from a balcony out of range of her party cannon. Naturally, they all thought he was trying to eat her, or something. It took Twilight about 20 minutes to round everypony back up to the party and calm them down, assuring that "Lucien" wouldn't try to eat anypony. "Right?" she questioned him in front of the crowd. He responded by holding both his hands up in surrender, and said, "Of course!" They all looked a little shaken, but after a short while they got comfortable around him, and a few brave ones approached him, asking about his anatomy, home, intentions, favorite foods, etc. In all, the night went by fast. Everything became a blur, chatting with the locals and learning about the quaint little town's history. He even managed to learn about how famous Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy were around Equestria. How strange it was that he would just happen to land in their hooves, metaphorically, instead of somewhere else on the planet. "Oh yes," a blue unicorn with a mane of dark blue and white assured him, "They're our own personal celebrities." He drank, non alcoholic, obviously; he danced, he may have even sang a little, when he was prompted. All he knew was that it was an excellent party, and one that he wouldn't have missed for the world. He retreated to Twilight's library in the end to catch some sleep, wondering what would come next. Back in Canterlot, one certain pony was not going to sleep, but she was wondering what comes next. Bronze Gear fled home and rushed directly into her laboratory, ready to go to work on the gauntlet and the rest of the project. "So they think they can shut me down, huh? Just wait 'til they see what I've got in store..." With that thought, she lit up her horn to light up sets of glowing crystals throughout her spacious basement, lighting the forge and illuminating countless blueprints and prototypes, all of the same project. "They will respect me, and they will come to fear my power." The light streamed in through the open window of Twilight's living room. Lucien woke up quickly, rising out of sleep like stepping out of water, bits of it dripping off his mind swiftly. He remembered where he was this time, and was not surprised to see the thousands of books encircling his position on the couch. He stretched his arms out, and they hit the headrest of the couch. He groaned in annoyance, then tried to stretch out his legs, and met the same problem. "It's a miracle I could even sleep last night on this cramped little couch." He thought in annoyance. He stood up and stretched fully, letting loose a slight groan as several discs that made up his spine popped back into place. "I think that the first thing that needs to happen is that I can find a place to stay, that isn't borrowing off of someone else's home." A scent caught his nose, coming from the kitchen. His stomach grumbled, reminding him that the last thing he had to eat was a pink cupcake from Pinkie's party last night. He wandered into the kitchen, wondering what smelled so good. He was greeted by the sight of Twilight intensely studying a notebook at the kitchen table, and Spike with his back to him, facing the stove. A sizzling noise came from it, and he was able to identify the familiar smell as one of eggs cooking. Twilight looked up at Lucien, and said simply, "Good morning." before returning to her notebook. Spike diverted his attention away from the eggs for a moment, just long enough to meet eyes with Lucien and say, "So, how'd you sleep?" Lucien groaned. Spike looked surprised. "That bad, huh?" he questioned. Lucien walked forward to pull out a chair from the table, and then fell down into it, hard. Twilight looked up again, "What's the matter?" she asked him. "Well, I think that I'm going to need a new place to sleep." he answered. She winced. "Sorry about the couch," she said, "I know it isn't the most comfortable thing... I'll have Spike prepare you the guest be-" Lucien held up his hand, and she stopped. "It's not how comfortable it is, because it is very comfy," he half-lied between his teeth, "The problem is that all of your furniture is pony-sized, not human-sized." To prove his point, he stood up, modeling his height difference. Twilight looked a little surprised, probably realizing that she forgot to take that factor into consideration. "Well, we could try to find you a rental apartment..." she trailed off, knowing that it wouldn't make a difference. Lucien just looked on. "We'll figure it out later. For now, is that scrambled eggs you're making, Spike?" Spike grabbed the frying pan off the stove, and distributed its contents onto three plates on the counter nearby. Lucien noticed that one had a bit more than the other two. "Sure is, Lucien! Uh, you do eat eggs, right?" "Yes," he responded. "I eat everything that you eat, with the exception of grass and flowers." Spike smiled, "Good, because we just stocked up on fruits and veggies!" He grabbed the plates like a professional waiter, one resting on the inside of his elbow, other two grasped in his claws. He tossed each one down in front of a chair, then ran back to grab some bread. He tossed three slices up into the air above the table, then breathed fire across them. They all landed on different plates, perfectly toasted. The two diners applauded the feat, and Spike blushed, embarrassed by the sudden attention. Spike took his seat, and they dug in. Several minutes, and a few belches later, the three diverse occupants of the kitchen table were polishing the remnants of their artfully cooked breakfast. "So..." Spike began, while clearing the table, "What else do you eat, Lucien?" Lucien had been silently dreading this moment since the food was introduced. "Uh," he stammered, not sure what to say, "I'm, uh, an omnivore so..." Twilight turned to face him. "Well, why didn't you just say so?" She looked unsurprised, and Spike just seemed confused. Lucien was bewildered. "You're not grossed out by that at all? Even though you're all herbivores?" Twilight shook her head, "Well, it isn't common, but we do get visits from griffins occasionally, and they do eat meat." Spike heard her mention meat, and a look of realization dawned on his scaly features. "Oh! So that's what omnibore means!" Spike exclaimed. Twilight gave him a look. "It's pronounced omnivore, Spike." and then to Lucien, "Well, getting meat won't be a problem, we've had to deal with a situation like this before. You just have to know who to ask." She said slightly mysteriously. Lucien raised an eyebrow at that, but changed subjects. "Before we figure out the food issue, I need a new place to live. Know any open areas that aren't public property nearby?" Twilight seemed to ponder this for a minute. "Well... I might be able to find you some land out on the boundaries of the Everfree Forest, where you woke up. That way you would still be close to Ponyville. But, wait, why do you need land anyway?" Lucien looked a little exasperated at this. "Well, I'm gonna need land if I'm going to make a house, right?" Twilight just stared at him. "You would need money to build a house." she said bluntly. He waggled a finger. "I'm going to build a house, and it won't cost me a single cent." He walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. Twilight looked at Spike as if to ask "What's a cent?" He just shrugged, and they both followed after him. Lucien was walking up to Twilight and Spike's loft. "You do keep drafting paper up here, right?" he called down to them. "Yes, but why would you-" Twilight was cut off by Lucien exclaiming "Never mind! Found it!" She facehoofed, then started to trot up the stairs, just in time to almost be wiped out by Lucien as he ran back down excitedly. He opened up the scroll of draft paper and ran into the kitchen to set it down on the table. Twilight and Spike followed him in, and watched as he held his hand out to the side. In a green flash, a pencil appeared, eliciting a short gasp from the unicorn and drake. Lucien glanced over his shoulder, "You two aren't used to that? Tsk tsk. If you're going to see me this often, then you should get used to what I'm able to do." Twilight recovered from her brief moment of shock quickly. "It's just that you seem so... normal," she chuckled, "that when you do something so magically advanced it's a little surprising." She defended herself well. Spike was still opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water. "What's wrong with him?" Lucien asked Twilight. She waved a hoof in front of his face, "I think that may have been the first time he saw you perform magic." She said reasonably. He dismissed it with a wave of his hand, and returned his attention to the drafting paper in front of him. He began to make methodical strokes across it, making sure that none crossed in any impossible way. "Don't want any endless staircases or impossible triangles." he thought and erased a few messed-up lines. After a while, Twilight and Spike got tired of watching him draw and erase, and draw and erase, and draw and erase; so Twilight resolved to re-read a book out of Starswirl the Bearded's section of the Library, and Spike went off to visit Rarity at Carousel Boutique. Lucien stayed at the table for the rest of the morning. Bronze Gear had not left her basement since last night. She had been up at a drafting table, sketching out her continued plans. By that time, there was a mountain of crumpled up papers sitting in a corner where a trash-can used to be visible. She was mumbling to herself, "Not that. No, that won't work. Agh!" she grunted, while crumpling up another piece of paper and tossing it to the mountain. She levitated a clean sheet of paper to the table and got back to work. After a few minutes, the haze in her mind lifted, and she saw what needed to be done. She made a few more lines on the paper, and began to laugh. "Oh, this will be perfect! Time to get to work!" She ran over to the opposite wall of her laboratory, and tacked up the newly finished drawing of a high-functioning metallic gauntlet. She walked over to the prototype she had shown the Princesses, and began to take it apart, stripping it down to its bare essence, a solid chuck of pure Arcadium. Lucien was at it for a few hours, and by the time he had finished, he was alone. Twilight had finally gone out to run errands, so he decided to have a little fun. He found a spell in his notebook, one that he always kept handy, just in case of emergencies. He flipped to the page quickly, already knowing its position. He saw what he was looking for, and quickly cast it on himself. He heard the front door open, "And just in time, too." he thought. Lucien ran back over to the table, and pretended to be working. Twilight walked into the living room and called out, "Lucien, I'm back, and I brought lunch!" She walked toward the kitchen. "Are you still workin-NNGAH!" she yelped and dropped her paper bags on the floor. Lucien turned around, a scraggly white beard suddenly on his face. "Twilight!" he gasped in an ancient-sounding voice, "I thought you would never come back!" He limped over to her with the help of a cane he had just conjured up. "I waited for you!" At this point he couldn't keep a straight face over the incredulous expression she wore, and he burst into laughter. "Bwah-ha-ha-ha! You should have seen the look on your face!" He laughed in his normal voice. Lucien wiped his hand over his beard, and it disappeared as if he was shaving it. "Priceless!" he exclaimed. Twilight stood there with wide eyes, then they slowly narrowed. She scowled at his doubled-over figure, then broke into a small smile. "Well, I hope that you've at least made some progress while I was out." Lucien stood back up slowly, wiping a nonexistent tear from his eye while doing so. "Actually, yes, I'm pretty much finished." He said casually. Twilight's smile grew. "Well, let me see it!" She walked over to the table, then peered down at what the human had been working on for so long. Her eyes poured over the page, soaking in its contents. She raised a hoof and pointed to a section, "Are you sure that that's possible?" Lucien looked to where she was motioning, "Well, my dear Twilight," he said, "with IMAGINATION, anything is possible!" He made a gesture over his head, and a few dull, transparent colors appeared between his hands. He noticed her look, then glanced up. "Well, I was never good with illusion magic anyway." he said dismissively. They looked back over to the sheet on the table. "When do you want to get started?" Twilight asked him. He looked back. "How about now?"