Space Ponies
By Boss Hoss
Chapter 10, Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3…
Part I
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*knockknock!*
…”Hey in there! Here’s the towels you asked for! Try not to run out the hot water in there, Okay? The town kinda got mad about that when… somebody did that before.”…
Teeth chattering, Scott managed to reply “I-i-i-I… D-d-d-d-donttt… Th-th-think… Th-th-that’s… A-a-a-a-a.. Puh-p-problem... Suh-sus-spike!...”
It took Scott a moment to catch the back-handed admission by spike on who ran out the hot water before. “Party of One” confession, confimed.
Outside, the Master Bathroom door creaked open and the slap of bare feet on wood came over the sound of the water. The shower curtain opened a crack “What? What’s wrong?.. Holy Guacamole!”
Scott stared back, square pony teeth chattering, his entire body a pale, frigid blue. Spike quickly turned off the water and dragged him out onto the bath mat with a stiff clatter like he was a carousel horse. -Even the pupils of his eyes appeared as ice cubes.
Thinking quickly, Spike rapidly rubbed the stallion down with towels to dry the cold water off, then blew a flame puff into the air to heat the room. “Are you crazy? What the heck are ‘ya doing?!”
No longer blue and regaining his warmer colors, the stallion shook his head “T-thanks… Y-you’ll understand when you hit puberty, Spike. That’s the only cure H-humans have f-found for… that kind of discomfort.”
Spike sat back, thinking it through as the former human stared back sheepishly, thinking to himself. ‘I wish I could be sure how a stallion can control this at will.
I really don’t want to “drop” in front of the girls other than “special” moments, and my sheath was getting too bulgy for comfort…’
The grinding, smoking wheels of spike’s brain finally bumped, clattered and clunked into place, and he suddenly glared at Scott, fangs bared. “Waaait a minute! Were you gonna’ do something to TWILIGHT?!”
Quickly, Scott raised his forehooves and scootched back against the wall using his rump and hocks. “No, no, I haven’t even been on a date with anypony! –Yet. Really, I’m an honorable stallion! THAT is why I was freezing my tail off just now!
Besides, it wasn’t Twilight that set me off!”
Spike reeled in confusion. “Wait? What? What are you talking about? Set you off?”
Sighing, Scott shook his head. “Ask Twilight to explain it in great detail when she thinks the time is right for you to understand. Guys kinda’ get like this when some girl, er, mare flashes them…”
Spike walked up, stood on his lap and grabbed his ears to stare into his eyes. “Say what?! What’s “flashing” mean?! Is it something to do with Twilight?!”
Nervous about the stone-cutting claws standing on his sheath, he coughed and sweated bullets “Spike, just calm down willya! It was Dash! I got an accidental close-up and intimate, view of her… um, “hoo-hoo” and her…”donut”!” he finished, remembering he was talking to a child.
Suddenly spike fell back onto the floor, laughing and rolling “Oh, Nooo! You got all worked up over that? BWA-HA-HAAA!!!”
Scott shot him a look that made him laugh even more. “Oh wait! You’re serious! Let me laugh louder! AHH-HAA-HAAAAA!!! I-I See those up close all the time! I’m THAT short! I got six mares around me all the time! GYAHH-HAA-HAA!”
Fuming, Scott crossed his hooved arms “Enjoy it while you can, short-stuff! There’s men and women back home who would sell their souls for the up-the-plot views you get daily. When you’ll most want it in the future, you’ll be way too tall to see it.”
Wiping his eyes and standing back up, he waddled over to push Scott back onto his hooves. “Yeah, whatever! That’s Future Spike’s problem. Now get down to the basement. Twilight’s waiting on you!”
Scott’s exit was sped up with a rolled up towel being snapped on his rump…
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Down in the basement, Twilight wore goggles and an apron as she topped off the water tank for the tiny, magic-heated steam engine that ran the large device while it settled into a rhythmic, once-a-second tooting from a combination steam whistle/pressure release valve.
Off to the side, Rainbow Dash lounged against a root sticking out of the wall. “So what is this doohickey anyway?”
Pushing the goggles up from her eyes, Twilight smirked “It’s... complicated. I’ll wait for Scott so I don’t have to say it twice.”
Rainbow smirked wickedly and guffawed as she elbowed Twilight. “Speaking of, didja’ see that bulge he was sporting running up the stairs? Seriously, I thought he was gonna’ have a stroke when he saw me on the table like that!”
Blushing, Twilight covered her mouth as she giggled with Rainbow. “Dash! You are just awful!”
In reply, the cyan Pegasus giggled and stuck out her tongue. Before she could tease Twilight any further, the basement door opened.
Looking up to the basement door, Twilight smiled as Scott shook his damp mane and gingerly made his way down the stairs “Getting better at that, huh?”
Chuckling nervously, Scott finally made it to the basement floor. “It’s so much easier going up stairs. I feel so front-heavy going down, I feel like I’m going to fall.”
Shaking her head, Dash snorted “That’s so weird! Aren’t you more likely to fall just working two legs like you and Pinkie say you had? Seriously dude, that sounds really unstable! I mean, I can see spike doing that ‘cause his legs are so short, and his tail balances him, right?”
Clattering his hooves onto the wooden floor carved from the tree itself, he gave a quick shake of his damp body and stretched. He gave a look around the basement laboratory, which seemed much bigger than it felt from the other side of the screen. “Huh, So far I’ve found myself in a Branch Library today. I wonder if this is the Root cellar…”
Twilight groaned and shook her head with a wry smile, while Dash giggled and lay back against the rugged wall “Oh! Good one!” She stuck out a hoof for him to bump.
Grinning as he bumped hooves, he smirked “I try…”
As he looked around at the equipment that looked like it came from a 1950s laboratory, he finally answered Dash’s question “As for your question Miss Dash… With a biped, all the weight is centered in a straight line up and down. Going up or down stairs does not change that. Suddenly all my weight is up front and throwing me off balance when it’s pointing down.”
Rubbing her chin, Dash finally shrugged. “Makes sense, I guess.”
Twilight’s quill was scribbling away as she heard this. So far her plan with Rainbow Dash was working.
“Fascinating! Oh, yes. Scott, can you put your fore-hooves on this podium? This will read your pulse and any energy you send to those hooves and feed it back to the Evaluator.”
Nodding, he sat on his haunches as she set a metal dish on his head loaded with various tiny lights. “By the way Twilight, where did these things come from? It seems a bit complicated to create on the spot just for Pinkie Pie.”
Some bulbs appeared to Scott to be Christmas tree lights, others looked like they came from an electronic parts store. He started to wonder if this was a repurposed colander on his head.
Giving him another reassuring smile, she clicked the restraints closed on his wrists “Oh some of this was already here. The rest was shipped down later in case I had to investigate anything coming out of the Everfree. This Thaumic Potential Evaluator for example was being replaced in the main Canterlot Hospital over in Solstice Heights. I was lucky I managed to get my hooves on it.”
Pausing a moment, she arched her neck to read a pressure gauge before putting her attention back on Scott.
“By the way, I’m sorry it took a while to get going. Since it’s so old, it runs on Magitech Steam power and not the town’s Thaumelectric grid.”
Smirking, she tapped on his reddish-brown horn protruding from the blinking dome “Anyway, this will read what parts of your mind and horn are using or generating magic and how much.”
Scott’s look was one of wonder “Cool! You can read how much magic I have with this? Don’t worry, I know steam takes a while to get going…”
Suddenly, his eyebrows raised as part of the information caught his attention “Wait..? The town has an electric grid? Where’s the power lines? Back on my world we suspend them overhead on wooden poles, and I haven’t seen any here.”
To his surprise, Rainbow Dash laughed. “Are you serious? Us Pegasi would probably kill ourselves hitting hanging wires at high speed!
Oh, let’s not forget all the accidental shorts we might cause bumping tiny thunderclouds into them while making a weather delivery. Not cool dude!”
After shaking her head, she suddenly looked at him “Wait a minute, what do your Pegasi do about those things?”
Blushing sheepishly, he looked at the mares. “We don’t have any. No Unicorns either. Both are legends from our age of classical mythology about three or four thousand years back. Legends of unicorns finally stopped a few centuries ago.”
He paused and shook his head “…And before you ask, we do have Horses and Ponies. Unfortunately, they only look a little like you and are not considered sentient, even though I’ve met some who are a strong argument against that view. Their brains are built around social interaction as complex as office politics, even if they can’t count things. I can say they are smart enough to open doors, though.”
His ears twitched under the dome, unseen, as he decided to tell Twilight all about humans and their relationship with horses much later… Preferably after getting the both of them very drunk.
Twilight’s quill scratched rapidly. “Hmmm, so about as bright as the feral horses out in the wastes! Simply amazing!”
The magical mare lifted the last wires “Before we get too far off-topic, Scott. The town has a limited grid powered by the relatively new dam nearby. It’s run by underground cable to small substations in the basements of public buildings, and transmitted wirelessly from Thaumic Field crystals in those substations. Neat, huh?”
Smiling at his stunned nod, she plugged in the final wires to start the paper graph rolling. Lines were moving steadily with slow jiggles as his brainwaves and magic use was “at rest”. The lights on the headgear flashed showing what parts of his brain were active.
She flashed him her best reassuring “Adorkable” smile. “Okay now, let’s see you make these crystals work Scott. I want you to push yourself now.”
The smooth-edged crystals were slightly different in color from the ones at the hospital but otherwise felt the same to his horn. “Here goes…”
He focused on the first crystal in line, trying to control his breathing and focus.
Jagged spikes were appearing on the graph as sparks sputtered on his horn again.
Just before he would have given out from the strain, a soft, baby blue glow came from the crystal.
Twilight watched eagerly as the spikes on the graph were trying to steady “The color is okay. It’s just an older crystal, a hoof-me-down like the others. Go ahead and try the next one.”
Panting and nodding, he focused on the next crystal as the light faded on the first.
Sparks were flying and lighting the room in flashes like a strobe light as he tried to coax sound from it.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was getting bored and began to check out the gadgets lining the walls and shelves. “Woah! A net launcher crossbow! This could work for awesome pranks!”
Sighing, Twilight looked over at the Pegasus, lifting the device out of her hooves with her magic “Sorry Rainbow, it’s not ready for testing yet, and it’s too dangerous to play with in here.”
Fuming, Rainbow Dash hovered in place “I’m getting boooored! He can’t answer anything while he’s concentrating. I wanna’ see him squirm with some of the questions I have!”
Giggling, Twilight set the net launcher in a cabinet. “Patience Dash. He’ll need to take a break real soon. He had a big breakfast so he’s got some more energy to work with this time, but it’s still a tough job for somepony who’s never done it before.
Even you would have an easier time of suddenly being a unicorn than he will, you’ve had Pegasus magic coursing through you all your life.”
Rainbow Dash was silent for a moment as she thought this over, then smirked teasingly. “So, like I could be the most awesome Unicorn ever?”
Giggling, Twilight played along “Oh, maybe, if your hide turned lilac, and your mane went a dark blue with a pink and purple streak…”
Further teasing was interrupted at the sound of the tune that was so well known it was the unofficial Equestrian Anthem.
A quick glance at the graph reel showed the energy spikes were slowly getting more uniform in their peaks and valleys. “Good job Scott! See if you can get the sound level to even out while it plays through once. Think how loud I made the hospital crystal play that tune, and see if you can keep it that high.”
Visibly sweating with effort, the stallion nodded “Y-yes Twilight…”
While Twilight’s back was turned, Rainbow Dash fluttered over to the metal column built into the countertop right behind Scott and inspected the insulating ring fins traveling up its length. She moved closer to see the twin silvery ducting running up into the ceiling from its base.
“Hey, Twi! You said every public building has a substation for the power grid, right? Is this it?”
Quickly turning, Twilight raised a hoof “Yes, that’s it. Careful Dash! That’s like touching a lightn…” *BANG!*
There was a bright pink flash with the bang as a smoking Rainbow Dash was thrown across the room to land in some of the projecting roots.
“DASH! OHMIGOSH!” Twilight teleported right over to help the Pegasus, who’s eyes were spinning in loops, and wiped some of the soot off of the mare as she checked for injuries. “Are you all right? Can you still feel this? Or this?”
Coughing out a couple of smoke rings, the Pegasus shook her head with the sound of a cowbell as soot fell away. “I-I’m fine… I’ve had worse from running through misbehaving thunderstorms.” She raised her head to look at the flickering lights “What’s up with the lighting?”
Twilight’s eyes went wide as she felt the itch of wild magic running over her from tail to horn and knew what she might see before she turned around…
“T-TWILIGHT! H-HELP! WHAT’S HAPPENING!?!”
Scott was trembling, muscles locked like he was being electrocuted as his eyes shone with an unearthly light. He was experiencing a foal’s Panic Surge with all the power of an adult to draw on.
Instantly, Twilight threw a magenta colored shield bubble around herself, hoping to protect Rainbow Dash as she advanced on him in a straight line between him and Dash.
Unfortunately, one of the wild bolts skated off the edge of the bubble and struck the Pegasus, transforming her into a cyan-and-rainbow painted wooden Carousel Pegasus, complete with a spiral brass pole running through the Poll of the saddle that had appeared on her, and out her chest into the floor.
Wild bolts were still lashing out from Scott’s horn as she pushed through the waves of magic to reach him. Some of the equipment had grown legs and were running around the room while a bunch of roots had become tentacles flailing around.
A fly on the wall suddenly became a six inch long dragon with fly wings, buzzing around and burping up tiny gouts of flame as it tried to figure itself out until Twilight swatted it out of the air with her tail.
Finally reaching the stallion, she wrapped her magic around his like smothering a fire while she grabbed him in a tight, comforting hug to help him calm down. She finally ended the surge, clamping tight on his horn’s field with her own magic as she touched her horn to his.
Glancing around, Twilight was relieved to find everything had gone back to normal as it was supposed to happen with a Panic Surge. Rainbow Dash was wobbling dizzily on her hooves, but was otherwise all right.
With the crisis now over, the magical mare blushed as she removed her horn from his, hoping he was unaware that horn-touches could be considered quite intimate in non-emergencies…
As it was, she continued her soothing hug as he broke down and cried on her shoulder, sobbing “I’m sorry!” over and over.
The basement door banged open as Spike scampered in “TWILIGHT! What was THAT!” First the power went crazy, then the whole tree was shaking!”
Twilight looked up at the baby dragon and sighed “Remember the story about how you were hatched? He just had his first Power Surge, a Panic Surge to be precise.”
She patted Scott’s back “Shhh, shhh! It’s all right, you have no control when it happens. Nopony does at your skill level! It took Princess Celestia herself to break me from mine when I was no older than Sweetie Bell. I promise if you study hard, you will be able to control yourself, okay?”
Sniffling, he nodded, still ashamed for losing all control like that. It felt something like having a rushing river pouring through him and out his horn and locking up his muscles like an electric shock in the process.
Seeing his nod, she flashed him a bright, Adorkable smile and ruffled his mane with a hoof, while she unfastened his restraints “I think that’s enough with this test for now. Lets get you ready for the Hospital, okay?” He nodded numbly, blushing slightly as he heard an owl’s forlorn hoot again.
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash raised her voice in a sarcastic tone “Um, I’m okay. I’m glad somepony was there to check me out or anything after that freaky wierdness!...” Her voice suddenly sounded puzzled “Uh, wait, why do I have this strange urge to fly in circles?”
Both unicorns instantly broke down in laughter.