//------------------------------// // A Different Perspective // Story: Technicalities // by BionicBrony //------------------------------// Two weeks later…   “Everything looks beautiful,” said Alex. “You’ve done a fantastic job as always. So, are you excited to get back in the seat?”                  “I’d want to do it right now if you didn’t want to delay further,” I said.                  “Patience, Rose. We’ve waited a long time for this, I think we can wait just a little bit longer.” Alex put me down on the exterior table he set up for the laptop – which is admittedly better than the side of the road – while I was busy building the new research facility, or as he now likes to call it, the ‘Prototype Lab.’ He didn’t want to keep the computer on the middle of the construction site, which is understandable to a certain degree, but I would only fully agree with him if it concerned non-Liandri workers.                  “I still don’t see the logic in this line of reasoning,” I told him honestly. “A delay is a delay, and frankly, I think we’ve had enough of those. And why you’re delaying because of them is beyond me.”                  “Think of it this way: by the end of the day, we’ll get right back to business as usual. And hey, I just want our pony friends to be around when we set up power.”                  I frowned at him. “I still don’t see why, and you know just how many protocols this goes against.”                  He hung his head and sighed. “Look, something like this is only going to happen once, and I feel that they deserve to see it! After all, this is our crowning moment! Hell, it’s your crowning moment! Don’t you feel like sharing it?”                  “I don’t feel any such desire.”                  “It’s called being proud of your accomplishments, Rose. You may not understand it now, but I’m sure you will later. Trust me, you won’t regret letting them in on this.”                  “I should hope not…”                  Alex gave me a smile. “That’s the spirit! Now then, I’m gonna go get them. Hopefully I run into Dash first and she can help get the others.”                  “Fine. In the meantime, I’ll just start working on the garage frame.”                  “Thanks Rose! Be back in a bit.” And with that, Alex walked off in search of our Ponyville acquaintances.                  As far as “friends” go, I would only go so far as to call Twilight Sparkle one. I still don’t understand why Alex trusted her to begin with, but she has certainly proved her worth in recent months. As for the others, they don’t seem smart enough to be worth my time. Alex assures me that will eventually change if I spend more time with them, however I seriously doubt that.                  I organized the dozen Liandri above ground to get into position around the building’s foundation. With all of them ready and awaiting further orders, I have them start generating the steel frame for the building. As of right now, the only distinguishable semblance of a building is the single cylindrical white elevator shaft in the middle of the foundation. I never thought about it before, but I realize now it looks rather out of place. I find it odd that I would realize such a thing in the first place. In the world of science and engineering, aesthetics don’t matter.                  Equestria has certainly done a number on me… Or at least, so Alex claims. He calls it “development,” but I call it corruption. “Well roundedness” is only an illusion of good. I don’t want to be “well rounded,” I want to remain focused on what’s important. Physics and the natural world don’t just stop working because something doesn’t look pretty. After all, Alex’s exact words were “The universe doesn’t stop trying to kill us and time doesn’t stop for anything. Most people don’t realize just how small and unimportant they are with respect to reality.” True words of wisdom if I’ve ever heard any.                  Although now that we’re stuck having to live among a society of Ponies, it would seem Alex’s priorities may have shifted. I suppose it is just simply adaptation. Humans evolved to survive in groups, after all, and we certainly had to rely on them for quite some time. Although now that is no longer necessary. Yet he still seems insistent on interacting with them… There must me some sort of reasoning behind this…                  Perhaps Alex has a point. Perhaps I should be more accepting of this… development… I haven’t lost any of my previous ability, and Alex believes I have even improved upon other areas. Maybe… Maybe there is something to this friendship business that could be useful after all. Alright, Ponies, I’ll play your little game.                  Adapt and survive.                  I suddenly found my attention directed towards the front of the laptop as I detected something getting uncomfortably close to it. I shifted my central view to the laptop’s camera to find something that, admittedly, caught me off guard.                  A white rabbit.                  For some reason, a rather animated rabbit managed to climb up on the table and started examining the laptop.                  I don’t have time to deal with this.                  “Go away,” I said out of the laptop’s speakers. “Shoo!”                  The rabbit sat up straight and eyed me with an arched brow. I didn’t know they were capable of even doing that. It then reached a paw out and poked the screen.                  “Don’t you dare touch me, you little furball!”                  It retracted its paw but then crossed its arms and frowned at me. What kind of rabbit is this thing? It stomped its foot for a few seconds, then something possessed it to start tapping random buttons on the keyboard.                  “Hey! Stop that!”                  Naturally, the little runt didn’t follow my instructions. I did the only sensible thing and emitted a loud, high pitched burst of sound. Much to my delight, it recoiled away, holding its ears flat against its head.                  Then it did the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen from any animal by tying its ears in a knot below its chin. As soon as it did that, it decided to irritate and anger me even further by slamming the laptop closed, blocking my vision.                  Anger turns to worry, however, when the laptop’s gyroscope told me it was being flipped over.                  My vision returned to me as I manually controlled the Liandri closest to the computer. I immediately halted its current operation and focused my attention on the laptop, where I saw that damn rabbit messing with its underside.                  “Get away from that!” I yelled as loud as the Liandri was capable of doing. The rabbit, however, completely ignored me.                  Having enough of this, I started walking as fast as I could in its direction. Thankfully, the Liandri’s weighty steps were enough to catch its attention, even at a distance. Unfortunately, it was an unbelievably ballsy rabbit and it continued to do something to the underside of the laptop. As I approached, I started to focus on the component the rabbit was messing with.                  The battery! Why the hell did Alex have to make that thing stand out?!                  “I said get away from that, you pathetic, miserable, little–”