//------------------------------// // Chapter 51: The Project // Story: The First Steps of the Rest of Your Life // by Rhino //------------------------------// ***Thursday, Day 33, noonish*** Hmmm, I believe it was around here… ah, there he is. I make a beeline for my electrically inclined target I had been searching for since I got off work. The pony in question is currently enjoying a sandwich while lounging next to a machine. The machine draws my eye for a moment due to the fact that I have never really seen anything like it, but I remind myself that I have a goal and so focus back on the pony in front of me. I clear my throat lightly in case he hasn’t noticed me yet, “Hello Volt. I’m not interrupting anything am I?” My friend swallows before answering, “Its fine, I’m on my lunch break now. Though this is quite the surprise, you guys never visit me during work. The only pony that ever vists is Twi.” I nod absentmindedly, “Speaking of her, I was actually wondering if I might ask a favor of you.” Volt looks at his sandwich for a moment, “Sure, let me finish this real quick.” As he finishes the food, I look around to pass the time and notice what looks like Volt’s orders for his job at the moment. The letter is far shorter than I would expect it to be. ‘You must construct additional pylons.’ Huh… succinct… I look back up to see Volt has finished his lunch and is nodding at me to begin. I do so, “Well, I assume you know about my current book ban.” He nods, “Yes. Twilight felt it was an appropriate punishment.” I pause a moment before ignoring what he said and moving on, “Remember that journal on nimbats she finished? Well Specter and I could still really use a look at it. Unfortunately, the obvious route of just getting somepony else to borrow it for me doesn’t pan out since Hydro tried and apparently the book is not able to be borrowed currently.” His usual smile falls slightly into a more neutral expression, “Go on.” I rub the back of my head slightly from what I am about to insinuate, “Well, you are far more welcome in the library than most…” He picks up my trailing sentence, “You want me to steal one of my marefriend’s books?” I cringe from the less than moral suggestion but remind myself that I am doing it to help Specter, “I wish it couldn’t be worded that way… but yes. I need the book for a few days so I can read it when I have time in order to find out anything important it might contain to help us with Specter’s new form.” Volt looks to the ground in thought, “Hmm, I don’t know.” I quickly add a few reassurances, “Volt, I know this might be testing the trust a bit, but I need that book. Rest assured though, if anything goes wrong I will take full responsibility for it. I don’t want you getting in trouble with Twilight if consequences arise.” He thinks for a moment longer before sighing to himself and meeting my eyes, “…Okay.” I let out a sigh of relief, “Thank you, I really do appreciate this. Oh, that reminds me… later on today I wanted to go ahead and get you, Twilight, and Rarity together with myself so we could work on that project for Blue. Do you think you could let Twilight know? I’m heading over to tell Rarity in a second.” He nods, smiling now that we are off of less pleasant subjects, “Sure.” ***Later at Golden Oaks*** **3rd person** The purple librarian looks up at the sound of the door opening to reveal her sea green coltfriend. His eyes instantly focus on her, his usual carefree smile present, “Hey Twi.” Her own smile graces her face as she quickly pecks him on the cheek in greeting, “Hello to you too Volt. Did you need something? Spike and I were about to run some errands.” He chuckles lightly through the small blush from her affection, “Actually I just came by to pick up a book I need.” She nods to Volt as her dragon assistant motions to her that he will be outside when she is ready, “No problem, we’ll be back later, so grab whichever book you need and lock up when you’re done.” The stallion smiles at her trust, “Okay, see you later. Oh, by the way, Rhino wanted to go ahead and get the work done for his project for Blue this evening, is that alright?” Her smile falters slightly at the name, but she recovers quickly, “That’s fine. It’ll be fun to see what all of our combined skills can do.” Twilght heads towards the door and gives him a small wave before exiting and closing it behind her. Volt’s smile fades as he turns towards the shelf with his target book. His horn light’s up as the book floats down while being enveloped in a matching light. As the tome comes to rest, the stallion sighs deeply as he simply stares at it for a few moments before noticing a picture on top of another book. It is a picture from his and Twilight’s date last night. They had taken it at the park and it looks like Twilight had already developed it. Underneath it is a book that looks identical to the one he had retrieved, only, upon further inspection its pages are blank. Volt says to himself, “Maybe I can put this one on the shelf so Twilight doesn’t notice…” Volt then looks back at the photo for a few moments before smiling to himself and picking up the books. ***That evening, Golden Oaks basement*** **Rhino’s POV** I look around at our little unicorn group assembled before me. The laboratory setting is a bit different than what I am used to, but considering we are creating an item instead of a spell, this is the appropriate place. Twilight has been… not unwelcoming to me, but more along the lines of she just doesn’t particularly want to interact with me at the moment. It caused a bit of tension at first, but I decided to focus on the project itself and save dealing with our problems for another time. I take one more look at the three ponies before beginning, “Alright, so just to make sure everypony is on the same page: our goal is to fulfill Blue’s request of a pair of gauntlets. These gauntlets will replicate the effects of those of Torchlight’s in that they manipulate the natural magic of those wearing them. As you know, pegasi magic is mostly focused in the wings, so our plan is to somehow transfer portions of the magic from the wings into the gauntlets on his hooves to allow him to release it at his command. I discovered a rune from Atom’s sword that harnesses power from natural wind magic in all pegasi, so we can start from there. I expect this will end up as a fusion of technology as well as magical enchantment. So, let’s take a few minutes to gather our thoughts, and then we can take the best ideas and go with them.” I take Volt to one side, “If it’s not too much trouble, if you see a chance try to convince Twilight that I’m not trying to make her angry at me. I don’t expect you to solve the entire problem, but I’d be willing to take any points I can win in her favor at this point.” Volt nods, “I’ll see what I can do.” Things go smoothly as they usually do in a group project, ideas are proposed, tossed out, refined, and eventually a path is decided upon. After a time, Rarity and I begin discussing where and what materials the runes would be etched into the device in order for them to do what they must to guide and harness the magic. As we discuss details, Volt walks over to Twilight who is digging through some boxes for the materials and tools we shall need. ***Over with Volt and Twilight*** “Hey, Twi…” “Hmm?” Twilight raises her head out of the box to see Volt, “Oh, hey Volt, could you hold this for me?” She levitates a piece of machinery out from the box. “Umm, sure.” Volt grabs the metal with his own levitation as the mare starts sorting through the box again. “Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about Rhino.” “What about him?” She says as she levitates him another object to hold. As she methodically gives him more and more stuff to hold, Volt begins setting down some objects to make sure he doesn’t drop them, “Well, I know you two aren’t on the best of terms right now and I was wondering if you would think about forgiving him-“ He is cut off by Twilight otherwise occupying his lips with her own. The kiss is brief, and afterwards she giggles at him, “Don’t worry, I realize I overreacted when I asked you to stop being friends with him. He still has to face the consequences of his actions, though.” As she walks back to the work area, Volt simply blinks as he tries to recover his train of thought. ***Slightly later*** **Rhino’s POV** I continue explaining to Volt the purpose of the placement of the part we are working on as I slowly edge it into place. “So by attaching it to the clips here, but keeping the length, we should be able to make sure it doesn’t interfere when he tries to fly with these on-” I cut myself off when I glance over to Volt and notice his attention elsewhere; specifically the back half of a certain purple librarian. I tap him lightly on the back of the head with the handle of a screwdriver to get his attention, “Hey, focus on the work. I don’t think she would appreciate you ogling her in front of her friend. Now come on, this is important.” Volt gives me a sheepish grin, “Alright, alright, sorry. I guess I get distracted easily these days.” ***Over with Twilight and Rarity*** “All I’m saying is, darling, that you may have him a bit too worried about your reaction to expect him to come out and confront you about it. Rhino doesn’t exactly seem like the confrontational type.” The dressmaker states as she rearranges a few pieces on the pegasus mannequin she brought over. “Look, Rarity, I told you, when the ban is over, he’ll have to come to me to get the book. I’ll confront him about it then.” She raises an eyebrow at her alabaster friend, “And why are you so concerned about what’s going on between us anyway?” The fashionista makes a few more alterations before standing back to look at the product, “I’m just looking out for two of my friends, dear. The stallion has been nothing but pleasant in all the time I have known him, and Fluttershy has only ever said good things when we go to the spa together. I would simply hate for two ponies that seem like they could be good friends to end up avoiding each other over what could be a misunderstanding- Twilight are you paying attention?” The other mare snaps herself to focus back on her friend, “I’m sorry what was that, Rarity?” Rarity raises an eyebrow before leaning around Twilight to see what she was looking at. Seeing only Volt with his back to them, she adopts a sly smile as she asks, “Getting a bit distracted with unladylike thoughts are we?” Twilight’s face burns lightly as she focuses back on the mannequin, “L-let’s just get back to work.” ***Even later, as Twilight and Rhino work together while Volt assists Rarity with some circuit placement*** “Thank you.” Twilight’s response is curt, but not insincere as I levitate her the tool she asked for. I stay silent as she gets back to testing an aspect of the magic transference pathway. I usually enjoy silence, but the tension that accompanies this one is a bit unnerving. Twilight breaks my thoughts as she calls me, “Rhino, come over here a second.” I walk over and she points to a few different pieces she is levitating, “Could you weld these seams together? They need a bit of touching up.” I look at the pieces of metal she is floating before looking back at her, “I’m afraid I don’t know a spell for that Twilight.” “Look, it’s easy, it’s just a normal heat spell focused from the tip of your horn, run it along the seams so I can get to the next part.” I maintain my position, “I’m sorry Twilight, but no matter how much you explain the spell to me, I’m not just going to be able to cast it. My magic doesn’t work like that.” She turns away from the project to look at me with an expression somewhere between annoyance and curiosity, “What do you mean ‘it doesn’t work like that’?” I take a few steps back and start to turn towards the other group, “It’s a bit too long of a story to explain right now. I’ll just go grab Volt for a moment.” ***Around midnight*** The product of our labors lies on Rarity’s mannequin underneath a sheet. All of us are tired, but we each still retain the smiles of a job well done for creating this prototype. Tired goodbyes are said as we each retreat to the comfort of our dwellings to rest and recover. A certain blue pegasus should be pleasantly surprised tomorrow.