//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 - Library part 1 // Story: Fred Walsh's Adventures in Equestria // by Baguettedood //------------------------------// Chapter 7 “There are obviously better ways to charge a battery, but they’re not particularly available at the moment. Obviously, there’s the option of the charger, but I don’t have that with me, nor is there a power outlet anywhere on the planet, so that’s kinda useless. “I once came up with some crazy idea on an IRC channel where you use the display as a solar panel, so it powers itself as you use it. It wouldn’t be very effective, almost to the level of troll science, *chuckle* but it might extend the battery by a small amount. Another idea I had was a modified geothermal generator, where it uses the heat of the components to power the computer. Not sure how well that would work either, but as before, it could extend battery life. I think I read an article on those later. “…I suddenly want to cook bacon on the underside of a laptop.” After about an hour, Fred Walsh had finally charged his wrist computer to 100% battery, which should last him a good while, even without energy conservation. Fred checked the time, but it seemed a little off. He strapped it back on his left wrist, leaving the makeshift charger on the table/dresser. He walked over to the balcony to check if he could see a clock tower. It wasn’t a very good view, due to the balcony’s orientation west, but he could make out the time on a clock tower to the south. At the time, it was 7:44am. Fred’s watch was only fifteen minutes behind, but that was quickly rectified. ‘Wait, wasn’t I going to do some research at the library? Better get on that.’ Fred remembered he was going to look up Equestria’s crime rates and the enchantments on the Royal Guard’s armour. ‘Now, where to find the library…’ Fred began his journey to find a library in the castle, assuming there even was one. He searched casually throughout the castle, passing many guards who took notice of him, but were informed that he was friendly. Sometime later, Fred had given up on finding the library on his own and thought it best to actually ask somepony to point him in the correct direction. He decided to ask somepony approachable for the library’s location, and met Jenga again. Fred was about to start the conversation, but was pre-emptively interrupted: “Fred! I wanted to talk to you, but you weren’t at your room,” she began. “I was trying to find the library, if there even is one here.” “Doing some research?” “Pretty much,” Fred replied. “Yeah, it isn’t part of the main building. I’ll lead you there.” Jenga started walking down the hall and motioned with her right hoof for Fred to follow. “You said you were looking for me?” “I wanted to confirm the analysis data when we scanned you earlier.” “That just doesn’t sound right,” Fred muttered to himself. “Anyway, what needs confirming?” “Let’s see…” she opened up her left wing to take a look at some parchment with writing on it. “Humans have two lungs, compared to ponies’ single lung.” “Yeah, but if you’re wondering, it’s not an organ redundancy thing. I think we can get a lung surgically removed for whatever reason, but that puts us at a disadvantage. A lung injury will probably kill us, though,” he wasn’t quite sure on the specifics, but Fred believed he was mostly correct. “Also two kidneys, I take it a similar story?” “I haven’t heard of kidney injuries, but transplants happen fairly often. It’s possible to survive on a single kidney as long as you watch your toxin intake. “If you’re going to continue with organ questions, which are a bit unsettling,” Fred continued, “did you find the appendix?” “I don’t think Doctor Green mentioned that in his report,” she looked at the parchment under her wing again. “It’s a pointless organ anyway, except for self-destruct appendicitis.” “Self-destruct appendicitis?” “Well, appendicitis. It’s a disease that I made self-explanatory.” He looked up, “Now can we please move away from bodily organs?” “Alright, I also wanted to learn more about that wrist thing - You called it a computer?” Jenga said as she and Fred exited out onto the castle grounds. “Essentially, I hacked it together from broken phone parts – phones being a technological communication method – plus some other parts, such as a walkie-talkie and an AM/FM Radio.” “That didn’t make much sense to me.” “Sorry, this is a bit too advanced if you’ve never seen a computer before… It just occurred to me that I still haven’t found a decent name for it yet. My childhood fantasy of it was ‘superwatch.’ ‘Smartwatch’ would make more sense, but that sounds tacky.” “Scavenger Watch?” Fred pondered this for a moment. “That works, it fits the method I built it from, and I can probably influence its connotation if it ever comes up.” “What does it actually do, specifically, anyway?” “Good question. Lately I’ve been using it to record video, talking about what’s going on here,” Fred unlocked the watch and started the camera. “Smile!” Jenga spent a few seconds stunned before smiling at the device pointed at her. He snapped a picture with a click emanating from the speaker. “Although, there aren’t many practical uses for the Scavenger Watch that would work in this universe, without the infrastructure that took decades to build. Although, I remember wiring in a part of Trevor’s broken neuroheadset. He smashed it in rage and it wasn’t covered by warranty. Alas, I have no idea how to get it to work.” The library was just a few steps ahead. Fred recognised it as the library he saw in the first episode, albeit a bit less shiny. It was still primarily stone, but the gold that he remembered contrasting it was missing. ‘It must’ve been added on later.’ The two ascended the staircase. Jenga knew she should wrap up the conversation. “What were you going research, anyway?” “It’ll probably turn into an information freefall, but I’m starting by checking the crime rates – I noticed that the dungeons are empty compared to Earth – and also the guard armour.” “That’s always a bit confusing to someone who hasn’t seen the guards before. They’re smithed with an enchantment to preserve anonymity, but still be able to differentiate between guards.” “Guess that makes sense, thanks.” They reached the top of the stairs and Fred walked in to begin his research.