//------------------------------// // Chapter I: This is Some Serious Bull****(REVISED) // Story: The Journey of an Inventor // by Inquisitor Seigmund //------------------------------// When I had decided to become an engineer, I had some great expectations for myself. I when I was a child I was constantly keeping myself up to date with all the newest machines being released by engineers all around the world. I know for a fact that Boston Dynamic's PETMAN was what sealed the deal for me. It's almost human like movements and its ability to adapt to changes in balance inspired me to create something of equal significance, I wanted to give the world something as amazing as that, maybe even more. Come the year of my graduation I had enough scholarships to get me into any technical institute of my choosing, I was ready to start the path to my dream. For years, I spent all my time studying various forms of engineering and physics. there were periods of time where I must have gone weeks without speaking to anybody. It would often take the pleas of my friends to get me to take a break for a few days, or even just to coax me out of my dorm. But once it was all said and done, I had finally finish all my schooling. I had a master's degree in robotics engineering, along with a minor in applied physics. My family was proud, my friends were proud and I’m sure my granddad would have been proud if it hadn't been for the late onset dementia. Everything had fallen into place for me, the world was my playground... But of course, nothing is ever as easy as you hope it'll be. I began working at a technical college, conducting my research. Over the next 3 years, I had several ideas, all of which worked in theory. But the things stopping me from starting to work on any of them was a lack of funding, and people willing to work with me. I had plans to create prothetic limbs, far more sophisticated than the plastic ones limited to simple tasks. but the parts I needed to create such things were expensive, and the college isn't too keen on funding something that works only in theory. Not to mention the fact that I could not, for the life of me, find a medical consult to help me with the interfacing. Thanks to those two factors, every Idea I've come up with was shot down before it could get up in the air. From how things were going, it seemed as if this brutal cycle would continue until the institute go sick of paying for somebody that wasn't making any progress whatsoever. I was sure that I would get nothing out of my career, let alone achieve that childhood dream of mine. That is, until I was visited by... IT at work one day. It was early in the morning, and I was quietly walking down the halls of the college to my lab. I was hoping to reason with the board that day, begging them to fund one of my projects to the point I was willing to pay back the Institute if I had the great misfortune of failing. The whole thing was a reckless gambit, I know, but I was willing to do anything if it meant getting my career to at least budge, if only slightly. I was heading down to my lab to grab the presentation off the lab computer, something I had spent the last week writing up and revising, making it the perfect case to sway the board in my favor. I was taking my keys out of my pocket, when I noticed something suspicious. The door to the lab was slightly ajar, when it was supposed to have been locked. In fact, I could recall exactly what I had been thinking about while locking up my lab for the night the day before: that Stanley is a giant asswipe, and thats all I'll be going into on that subject. Trust me, It's best you never know. I thought that maybe the janitor had come in the middle of the of his nightly round to sweep up my lab, but leaving a door, not only unlocked but open too wasn't like him at all. I began wondering if anybody had broken into my lab. I quickly perished that thought, as it seemed stupid to think that someone would break into MY lab of all places. I came to regret that line of thinking once I actually stepped inside. I opened the door, darkness fooling with my vision. As I took a step inside, I heard a sound that caused me to freeze. At first, it had sounded human to me, but after my mind processed it further, it sounded like a wheezing gasp. I thought that there was some kind of wounded animal inside, and was getting ready to run; but my eyes finally adjusted and my blood ran cold. I saw IT. There was a small creature, roughly the size of a toddler, croutched atop the lab-counter. It's skin was a shade of dark brown, and it had patchy, black hair all over it's back. It's eyes were the size dinner-plates, which glowed against the light of the hallway, making it so that I could see it's tiny pupils staring straight at me. It had large, pointed ears and it's head was shaped like s human's, only malformed. Finally, the expression its face bore was that of surprise and fear and it appeared to be perspiring profusely. I could only describe this creature as being a Sweat Goblin; in fact, to this very day, I still call it that. We both stood there for what had seemed like an hour, It's eyes burrowing into my soul as we both stood paralyzed by each others gaze. just when I had snapped out of it and was about to bolt, the sweat-goblin pointed it's skinny digit at me and screamed: "OFF TO EQUESTRIA WITH YOU!" Before I could even formulate the sentence 'what the fuck' in my head, a beam of energy shot from the creature's fingers. "ZAP, MUTHAFACKAAAAAAAAAA!" I then felt as though a kangaroo wearing moutain-boots hit me in the chest. It was the last thing I remembered before I lost consciousness. ACTIVATING SELF-DIAGNOSTICS What the…. REBOOTING ALL SYSTEMS Wait what? What is all this? REACTIVATING DIRECTIONAL-SENSORY SYSTEMS A vertical compass appeared at the top of my blackened vision. REACTIVATING VISUAL-RECEPTOR In a flash, I could see again. What I saw was a clear, blue sky. REACTIVATING AUDIO-RECEPTORS I began to hear the slow crashing of ocean waves, which obviously meant I was on a beach or close to one. REACTIVATING MOTOR-SYSTEMS I could now feel my body. My first reaction to this was to raise my hands to see them. When I did, I got a bit of a surprise. What I saw were two arms, coated in metal. I sat there, silently marveling at my arms. It didn’t take me a long time to piece together the fact that I was covered in metal and the fact that- REBOOT COMPLETE -I kept getting messages about my body to come to the conclusion: “I’m a fucking robot.” ‘How in the fuck am I a fucking robot?!’ I began ranting in my head, trying to figure out what I had missed in the time I was out. However, I quickly remembered the thing in my lab. "DAMN YOU, SWEAT GOBLIN!" Realizing that the creature was probably nowhere near me, and there was now point in yelling at the accursed thing, I thought that the best course of action would be to stand up and assess my current situation. I rolled over and stood up, looking around me. My suspicions of my being on a beach were confirmed, a few feet away from the water to be exact. Looking behind me, I saw grassy knolls that block out the horizon. In addition, there were a couple of temperature and wind-speed readings flashing across my HUD……. Yeah, suppose it would be appropriate to call it that, and they all seemed to state that it was somewhere between 40 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit with 30 to 40 mile an hour winds. “Well, I now know that I’m on a northern beach, but what beach am I-“ “Oh! Hello, Sir?! Sir are you alright?!” a voice said at my right in a peculiar British-accent. ‘Oh shit, did that guy seriously drop me in England?!’ I turned around- ………………Welp, I’m on an alien planet. This became very evident when the person who called me turned out to be a beige pony with a pink mane, dressed in Victorian style grab. She had a look on her face that was quite similar to a mom whose kid just fell down and scraped his knee. “I found you just lying there a few minutes ago. I tried to get help, but the guards back at Steamport just gave me looks like I gone mad; I suppose I should have left out your appearance…...” “Oh no no no, I’m fine, I was merely……..err……..taking a nap!” I said lamely. “Really; on the beach?” “Yep…” “A few minutes before high-tide?” “… I like to take risks…” “…Rrrrrrrrright. Anyhow, I’m glad to see you ok; but, if you don’t mind me asking, what exactly are you?” Hm, that was actually a good question, now that she mentioned it. Come to think of it, I actually hadn’t gotten a chance to take a look at myself. As if on cue, a blurry shape appeared on my HUD. As it cleared up it became obvious that it was an image of my body. I was humanoid in shape, a blue lens in the middle of my face, my bodily structure resembling that of a human with a medium build, and my hull was a shade of silver. I looked down at my legs and realized I was dressed. I was wearing a pair of loose, black, baggy pants that were tucked neatly into a pair of leather boots. Further investigation of my chest revealed that I was wearing a gray vest with two rows of four, silver buttons. Around my waist was a dark red sash of some kind. ‘Well, at least little shit-boot had the courtesy of giving me some nice new duds.’ I had then realized I had left the young mare hanging whilst playing a game of “checking myself out”, so I looked back at her and simply said: “I’m not quite sure; actually…..perhaps I’m just a mere robot?” “A-a what?” Right, they probably have no concept of robots. “Oh, never you mind. Anyhow, thank you for your concern, but I really should be heading off now. If you could do me one last favor….?” “What would that be?” “You mentioned Steamport earlier; I assume that’s a nearby town?” Once again, as if on cue, my HUD threw another image in front of my face; but this time, it was a map of what appeared to be a map of the continent. Just as she was about to speak up and give me directions, I waved my hand. "Wait, never mind, I have a map, I can find it myself. Take care now, and thank you again!" I said, heading toward a path that lead off the beach. "Err...... farewell!" I heard her tentatively say before she muttered something that led me to believe I had advanced hearing. "What a strange person...." 'Now, let's have ourselves another look at this map' I thought as I brought it up on my HUD. taking another look at it pretty much confirmed the fact I was on another planet, given that there are no landmasses like what I was looking at on earth. aside from this, it had hundreds of tiny markers, representing the towns and cities. Oh good LORD the names....... 'Tailton? What kind of shit is this?' 'Manehattan? What the-' 'Stailliongrad?! Are you fucking kidding me?!' 'Canterlot... well alright, that one was sort of clever...' '...Ponyville...PONYVILLE... who the hell came up with this crap?!' Horrible horse puns aside, it was time I got a move on. I thought about how I would use the map to get to where I was going, before I thought back to every open-world game I had ever played. "Set destination for: 'Steamport'" With a quick *boop* there was now a dot with a a number above it on my compass telling me which way the town was and how far I was away from it in meters. "Well, that was easy."