The automatic doors whirred open and granted Twilight Sparkle access into Alex’s garage. Twilight was used to doors opening without any physical interaction, but to have them open into the walls without any magical intervention on her part – or anypony’s part for that matter – still made her giddy. Fully automatic doors that detect somepony and open for them all on their own! How could anypony not love that?
As Twilight entered the garage, she was quickly met with what she recognized as a light class domestic Liandri. “Greetings. How may I be of assistance?”
The domestic bot was easily the most bare bones of any type of Liandri Twilight had ever seen. Its body and limbs were thin, but functional, and its hands had a full set of five fingers each, as opposed to the three fingered variety on the security bots. Its head looked more human than the other Liandri, though, even if it still lacked any distinguishable mouth, nose, and ears.
“Oh, hello!” answered Twilight. “I’m looking for Alex. Is he still here?”
“Alex is currently working on a project and has asked to remain undisturbed for the time being.”
Twilight stared at the bot for a moment before sighing and looking up in exasperation. “Rose? Are you there?”
The domestic’s eyes flashed blue for a moment and it extended its hand to the side. “Right this way.”
“Thank you!” Twilight called out before following the bot.
Twilight looked around the garage absently as she followed the Liandri. From what she could see, it was devoid of any activity. Aside from a couple of security bots that stood in opposite corners of the room, it was fairly empty. There were plenty of tool boxes and racks, as well as other machines that looked like they were meant to be used on something else, but otherwise, the space was very neat and organized. The only curiosity she could spot was a something fairly large hiding underneath a white tarp.
The domestic bot led Twilight to a door near the back of the garage area. When it opened up, Twilight’s ears were assaulted with the sounds of several alien machines working in tandem, causing her to jump in surprise. While Twilight was familiar with the sound of a single welder, she wasn’t as familiar with the sound of several at once, mixed in with the whirring of countless servos, motors, and other tools she probably didn’t even know existed. It was almost as if the door was a gateway into another world – and in a way, it was.
Twilight looked around with wide eyes as the bot led her through a network of complex machines and stopped to look at one more closely. At least a dozen long robotic arms with metal claws, welders, and other unidentifiable tools were working together in perfect harmony to build something. There was not a single arm that wasn’t moving, and they always seemed like they had something to do, whether it was to install a part or just get out of the way of another arm. From what Twilight could see through all the moving machinery and flying sparks, it looked like they were building another domestic bot.
Twilight eyed the rest of the machines as she continued to follow the domestic. Unlike the first, the others weren’t building other Liandri. Several of the arms on those machines had EMCs on them that looked like they were busy making some sort of deep black fabric. Despite the fact that each machine had several EMCs working at the same time, it still looked like what they were working on was going to take a while. At least, if the current amount of it was any indicator, which wasn’t terribly much. Perhaps a few square meters, at most.
Finally, Twilight and the domestic reached the back of the noisy machinery area and passed into another room where the door was already open. It was an exceptionally large workshop area, although unlike the garage, countless tools were strewn about everywhere and several holographic projectors were showing various three dimensional designs. Most of them looked like they were for some sort of Liandri Twilight had never seen before, but one looked like a projection of a bat’s wing, or maybe even a dragon’s. They were so similar physiologically that she couldn’t quite tell.
The domestic motioned towards a table on the far wall, where Alex was sitting on a stool and hunched over something. “Sir, you have a visitor.”
“Hmm?” Alex looked over his shoulder and his expression immediately brightened up. “Oh hey! What’s up?”
Twilight just stared at him. More specifically, the tissues he had stuffed in his nose. “Uh, Alex, what happened to your nose?”
He paused for a moment and let out a long sigh.
~~~~~~~~~~
Alrighty… ASMD recoil test in three… two… one…
~~~~~~~~~~
“Let’s just say I learned the value of using surrogates to test things and leave it at that,” he said as he yanked the bloody tissues out of his nose and tossed them aside. He sniffed sharply and massaged his nose right after.
“Riiiight…” Twilight trailed off as her eyes wandered to the worktable behind him.
What Alex seemed to be working on before Twilight showed up looked like a large, metal forearm with a complete, five fingered hand. It was an unpolished silver color and had an opening with several wires connecting out of it. However, it was much larger than any other arm she had ever seen before, since it was almost twice the size of Alex’s own forearm.
“So anyway, what brings you to my little neck of the woods?” he asked.
Twilight’s eyes snapped back to his. “Oh! I just came by to remind you that the running of the leaves will be starting soon.”
Alex’s eyes widened. “Wait, what? What time is it?” He looked at his watch.
“It’s about eleven twenty,” said Twilight. “There’s still some time left, but not much. Most of the racers are registering right now.”
Alex spun around began shoving his tools back into their proper positions. “Dammit, Rose, why didn’t you tell me it was almost time?”
“The race starts in forty minutes, Alex,” Rose disembodied voice come from… somewhere. “There’s hardly any rush.”
“Fine. What about the other preparations? Cameras, projectors, screens – those already set up?”
“Everything is already in position and fully operational.”
Alex placed his hands on the table and paused. “Well, at least that saves some time.” He muttered before pushing himself up from the workbench. “Unit, clean up the tools while I’m gone.”
The domestic nodded. “Acknowledged.”
Alex picked up a smooth, padded helmet with a large reflective visor and made his way out of the workshop area, with Twilight quickly following behind. When Alex originally heard about the running of the leaves happening around mid-November, several things went through his mind. The first and foremost was the abhorrent lack of natural processes the ponies’ world seemed to have, and the second was that it would be the perfect opportunity to test his very first vehicle and the prototype engine powering it: The Scorpion.
Of course, that idea was completely thrown out the window when he was told that only ponies could participate. However, the idea was thrown back in when he employed Rose to try to convince the mayor otherwise. In the end, they offered to spruce up the whole event using the one technique humans have mastered since the dawn of American college football: televising it. Or rather, projecting it all onto large screens so that ponies who weren’t racing would be able to enjoy every exciting second of it, thanks to domestic bots armed with cameras in hot air balloons. The end result was that Alex would be able to use the Scorpion, but only as an unofficial and unranked racer, and he could only start after the lead ponies were two thirds of the way through.
“You know, Alex, I’m still surprised they’re letting you race,” Twilight yelled over the machinery.
“Yeah, me too,” he yelled back. “But hey, I’m happy. Hell, I’m really happy.”
“Are you that excited about the race?”
The door shut behind them as they made their way into the garage and they were finally able to speak normally. “Well yeah, but that’s not all of it. A whole bunch of things have been going my way, lately.”
“Really? Like what?”
Alex put his helmet down on a toolbox next to the object hiding under the white tarp and smiled back at her. “Well, aside from a few bots upgrades and the progress we’ve made on a whole bunch of different projects, I finally managed to get some contract work!”
Twilight beamed at him. “Congratulations, Alex! Who’s it for?”
“Ponyville PD, believe it or not. They said they were interested in the blues and they wanted to see if they could use them in the field, so long as I can develop a non-lethal weapon for them to use.” ‘Blue’ was the nickname given to the security bots due to the blue trim on their bodies. “You see, Rose recently developed something called ‘Sonic Incapacitation’ that’s meant to pacify large crowds, but they didn’t want something that drew too much attention. I’m still a little surprised they want to work with me, though, considering the scare I gave everyone back when we started building this place…”
Twilight tilted her head at him. “That is… surprising – Alex, I didn’t even know Ponyville had a police department.”
Alex shrugged his shoulders. “You wouldn’t think so. Turns out ponies break laws more often than you’d think. They just don’t get much attention in the paper. That’s what I find more surprising.”
“But why Ponyville? The town’s pretty small; there couldn’t be so much trouble that the police department would need your help.”
“Yeah, but it’s when fugitives from the bigger cities like Manhattan and Baltimore come in on the train that there’s a problem.”
“Manehattan and Baltimare,” Twilight corrected.
Alex pursed his lips and hung his head. “Right…”
Twilight giggled. “Anyway, I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks. Now then…” Alex bent down and grabbed the edge of the tarp. With a single arm motion, he lifted and pulled it off.
Twilight gaped at the sight before her. Alex talked to her about human cars before, but to actually see one was really something else. To her knowledge, automobiles existed in Equestria, but they were very few and incredibly far between; reserved for only the wealthiest of ponies, and even then they were more of a curiosity than a utility. And here she was, standing right next to what was probably the most advanced automobile in the entire world.
Suspended above a set of four large rubber wheels, the only thing she could even remotely compare the chassis to was what she imagined a spaceship would look like based on some science fiction novels she had read. Its frame looked jagged, yet smooth and aerodynamic at the same time. A single seat for the driver was placed in the middle of the vehicle, leaving the back end for what she assumed was whatever mechanism that was supposed to propel it. A canopy for the cockpit was positioned near the front of the vehicle, and it looked to her like it was able to slide into place to completely conceal the driver. The word Scorpion was printed on the front in bold letters.
Alex had been asked several times why the vehicle had been given the name “Scorpion,” but he refused to answer the question each time, and with good reason. The truth of the matter was that the vehicle was designed back on Earth and that the Scorpion he had actually built was a modified version of the original sketch. Like virtually all of his old vehicle designs, the Scorpion was drawn with a post-apocalyptic scenario in mind and was originally intended to be an all-terrain scouting vehicle. It got its name because of the automated gun that was mounted on the back and a set of razor sharp blades that was mounted on the front of the undercarriage that, when fully extended, looked reminiscent of a scorpion’s claws.
Of course, this “civilian” version had neither of those, but no one else needed to know that.
“Wow,” was all Twilight managed to say.
Alex chuckled at her reaction and patted the top of the vehicle. “Beautiful, isn’t it? Took me about three solids weeks to put this thing together by hand, and it was worth every second. I mean, just look at it! State of the art cockpit, four wheel drive, traction control, adaptive suspension… A couple Tarydium boosters on the back, too. This thing was built for speed and off-roading, and it is beautiful.”
Twilight tore her attention away from the Scorpion to look at him questioningly. “Tarydium? I can’t say I’m familiar with that term…”
Alex met her gaze. “I never told you about Tarydium?” She shook her head. “Oh… Well… Tarydium was one of the more recent discoveries on Earth. Only a few years ago, actually. You see, Tarydium in its natural state is a crystal, but someone determined its molecular structure and said ‘hey, this could potentially make a really good liquid fuel!’ So, about a year and billions of taxpayer dollars later, they came up with a Tarydium refining process that produced a fuel that was just as dirty as conventional ones, but way more efficient – about five times as efficient, actually.
“The only problem was that there wasn’t much Tarydium to go around. That, and the refining process produced this toxic and hellishly caustic by-product called biosludge. That stuff eats through flesh and bone like nobody’s business, and metals doesn’t fare much better, either. Turns out only a container made with a specialized tungsten-gold alloy can hold the stuff, and even then you have to swap containers after a couple of years. Because of that, Tarydium was expensive as hell and was pretty much reserved exclusively for rocket fuel.”
Twilight nodded. “I see… Wait, rocket fuel?”
“Yep.”
“As in, just for rockets?”
“That’d be it.”
“So does that mean that those are…?” Twilight waved her hoof in the direction of the boosters on the back of the Scorpion.
Alex followed where she was pointing and nodded back at her. “Mhm, yeah, they are.”
Twilight’s jaw slowly fell as she tried to make sense of things. When she did, she face-hooved. “Alex, I may not have the same experience as you, but that just screams bad idea.”
“That’s what I said,” came Rose’s voice out of nowhere.
“See?” Twilight followed up. “Even Rose agrees with me!”
Alex waved them off. “Pffffff, it’ll be fine! I mean, sure, our synthetic Tarydium isn’t as good as the real thing, but it gets the job done. They’re made to only run for a few seconds at a time, anyway. Overheating is a non-issue.”
Twilight sighed and walked around the vehicle once more to get one last good look at it. “Well alright, if you’re feeling confident about it… I’m going to go register for the race. Don’t be late!”
“Wait, are you gonna be running?”
She smiled brightly. “Yep! I even ran last year, too. Managed to get fifth place!”
Alex stared at her with wide eyes and golf clapped. “Wow. Well done. I wouldn’t have guessed you could manage that.”
Twilight chuckled to herself as she walked out the door. “Neither did Applejack and Rainbow Dash. See you there!”
Alex waved after her as the door shut, leaving him alone next to the Scorpion. The room was entirely silent except for the hum of the machines in the next room. He sighed and picked up his helmet to look at himself in the reflective visor. His black hair was only a few centimeters long, but it had grown back well in the past couple of weeks, all things considered. Alex brought the helmet closer to himself so he could get a better look at his right eye.
“Hmm…” He placed the helmet down again and tapped his fingers against it idly. “Hey, Rose?”
“Yes?” Rose’s omnipresent voice responded.
“I’ve been, uh… doing a bit of thinking, lately.”
“About what?”
Alex let out a deep breath. “I’m thinking we should…” he hesitated. “…take our time with the warrior project.”
“Really?”
“Yeah… I mean, we were kinda rushing it before Equestria. Then again, we figured we were on some kind of time crunch. I don’t think we have to do that anymore. I think it’s best we just take our time with it, and make sure we eliminate any and all assumptions and hypotheses. I mean, since we have to get it right the first time, we might as well take our time, right? After all, I’m coming up on – what? – twenty eight years old, now? It’s not like I’m gonna die of old age any time soon.”
“Alright. I’ll shift priorities, then. Your eye is glowing again, by the way.”
“What?” Alex picked the helmet back up and looked at himself. The iris of his right eye was glowing a bright, neon green. He groaned and began blinking repeatedly. “God dammit… I swear, I have no idea how I’m gonna keep this thing a surprise until Christmas…”
“I believe the saying is ‘practice makes perfect.’”
Instead of blinking, Alex opted to stare at his reflection and focus his thoughts. Finally, the glow receded and his eye looked inconspicuously like the other. “There we go… At least the BCI is doing its job. Alright, I’m off. Keep an eye out for me!”
“With the amount of cameras we have, it’ll be difficult not to.”
Alex slipped the helmet over his head and secured it before hopping into the singular seat of the Scorpion’s cockpit. Detecting his presence, the holographic dashboard automatically lit up and a small “synchronizing” message appeared on the inside of the helmet’s visor. The cockpit’s canopy slid up from the front of the vehicle and clicked into place, fully encasing him in the metal shell. Just as the engine roared to life, the surface of the inside of the canopy seemingly dematerialized, allowing him to see the area around him.
Alex simply sat back and sighed, reveling at the vibration of the Power-Core driven engine behind him, the smooth faux-leather feel of the steering wheel and–
“Don’t forget your seatbelt,” Rose chimed into his ear.
Alex groaned as he reached back for the safety device. “Yes, mother…”
Twilight walked away from the registration table with a smile on her face as she tried to stick her racing number over her cutie marks. She was vaguely hoping she’d get the same number she got last year, forty two, but she was still satisfied with the number she was given this time: sixty four.
As Twilight walked towards the starting line, where Applejack and Rainbow Dash would probably be waiting, she looked around at some of the preparations Rose and Alex had put together for the race. A couple of giant projector screens were set up in open areas with large bleachers for ponies to sit down and watch. Since the sun would obscure the projections, large, black canvases were spread out over each screen like flat umbrellas and held in place by thin steel scaffolding, giving them an almost stage-like appearance.
The images on the screens regularly cycled between different viewpoints, each one granting sight of a different location in the forest. When it cycled to a view of the crowd gathering for the race, a pink hoof shoved itself on screen and waved. The camera brought itself back over the side of the balloon’s basket and aimed at Pinkie Pie, who was sitting next to Spike with a microphone.
“Hi there, everypony!” said Pinkie, her voice echoing through speakers scattered throughout the area. “And welcome to the running of the leaves! Now with new and improved eye-in-the-sky coverage thanks to Ponyville’s resident techies: Alex Laythem and Rose!” The ponies sitting on the bleachers cheered and stomped their hooves in response. “My name is Pinkie Pie, and I’m gonna be your announcer today with help from my good friend: Spike!”
Pinkie held the microphone next to Spike, who just stared into the camera as the Liandri centered it on him. “Ummm… Can… Can ponies actually see us…?”
Pinkie poked him with her foreleg. “Of course they can, silly! In fact, everypony in Ponyville is watching us right now!”
“Umm…” Spike stared dumbly at the camera.
Noticing that the poor dragon was sweating bullets, Pinkie decided to give him a little confidence boost. “Aw, Spike, are you nervous?” She turned to the camera. “Come on, everypony! Let’s give Spike some encouragement!”
Twilight smiled as the crowd roared to support her number one assistant. The amount of excitement and activity at this year’s running of the leaves was staggering! It was really starting to look more like a festival than a race. As Twilight looked around, she had no difficult time believing that everypony in Ponyville was out to either watch the race, be a part of it, set up snack stands, or organize other activities. In fact, it even looked like plenty of ponies from out of town came, too!
“Woo-wee! Now ain’t this somethin’?” said Applejack as she trotted up next to Twilight. “I reckon everypony in town is out n’ about, today!”
“Oh hey, Applejack! Yeah, this is amazing! Last year’s race was good, but this is a major step up.”
“Isn’t it great?” Rainbow Dash swooped down and landed next to them. “We’re gonna be on a big screen! Everypony’s gonna be able to see how awesome I am!”
“Don’t let publicity get ahead of yer modesty, Rainbow,” said Applejack. “Not that ya had any to begin with.”
“Hey, I just like living big!”
Twilight giggled at them. “So are you two going to be racing head to head for first place again?”
“Nah,” said Applejack. “We put all that stuff behind us. This time, we’re just in it for a good ol’ friendly run.”
“Ahead of everypony else, of course!” Rainbow added.
“Darn tootin’!” The two athletes bumped hooves.
Twilight smirked at them. “I’m not so sure about that.”
They turned to look at her. “What do you mean by that?” Rainbow asked skeptically.
“I’m not sure if you heard, but Alex is going to be racing, too.”
Applejack also looked dubious. “Ah thought only ponies were allowed ta race.”
“Normally, yes, but this year, they made an exception because of all the cameras and screens he and Rose put up.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you think he can give us a run for our bits,” said Rainbow Dash. “He’s only got two legs, and he even admitted he wasn’t much of an athlete.”
A loud honk sounded from somewhere behind them and they turned around. As if on cue, a large metal mass with a beige and green color scheme slowly moved through the crowd towards them. Ponies backed away to clear a path for it, but curiosity made it difficult for them to keep their eyes off the alien object. Its name was plainly visible on the front for everypony to see.
Twilight briefly marveled at the fact that it was moving entirely on its own, instead of being pulled by somepony like carts or chariots. In a way, the vehicle was more impressive than the Liandri since it was, in the end, a cart that moved itself, whereas the Liandri were so natural in their movements that it was sometimes difficult to distinguish them from actual living things. She smirked at her friends. “No, but he’s got four wheels.”
The Scorpion stopped in front of them and the engine cut off. The canopy lifted and slid down the front of the vehicle, upon which Alex hoisted himself out to sit on the back, just above the seat, and took his helmet off. “Well hello there! Looks like I showed up just in time.” He looked at Rainbow’s and Applejack’s slack jawed expressions and chuckled. “Hehehe, like it?”
“Like it? What the hay is it?” asked Rainbow Dash.
Relishing the opportunity to present one of his more hard earned projects, Alex put his helmet on the seat, dropped down to walk over to them, and turned to admire his handiwork. “It’s called the Scorpion. It’s an all-terrain, four wheel drive vehicle with a six hundred horsepower engine that can get it up to speeds of two hundred and fifty kilometers an hour on a flat road. And that’s without using the Tarydium boosters on the back.” Alex chuckled to himself. When he noticed they didn’t say anything, he looked back over at them to see their reactions. They were all looking at him with flat expressions. “What?”
“Horse power?” said Rainbow Dash. “Really?”
“Well yeah, what’s wrong with– OH!” He face palmed. God dammit. “Sorry! Sorry! It’s just… That’s the way the strength of an engine is generally measured.”
“They’re compared to horses?” Rainbow prodded.
Alex held up his hands. “I have no idea! Maybe!”
“It’s just a unit of power humans used back on Earth, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight stated matter-of-factly. “Although I’m still not sure if I agree with its usage…”
Alex pointed at her. “That. That right there. What she said.”
“The race is about to start, everypony! Take your positions!” Pinkie’s voice came through the speakers, catching everyone’s attention.
Phew, saved by the pink bell… Alex thought as he pulled on his shirt to air it out.
“Well now, looks like we’ll have a chance ta see how well this fancy machine of yers works,” said Applejack as the ponies all started making their way to the starting line.
“Not quite yet, I’m afraid. Part of the deal was that I could only start once whoever’s in the lead – which I assume will be you two – gets two thirds of the way through.”
“Don’t sweat it! We won’t make you wait long!” Rainbow Dash called back.
“I’m counting on it!” Alex leaned back against the Scorpion and waved back.
Pinkie’s hot air balloon flew down and began hovering next to the starting line as the ponies all got into position. Pinkie and Spike were leaning over the side of the basket with the Liandri holding the camera over its shoulder aiming it directly between them at the racers.
“Alright, ponies! Are you ready?” Pinkie called out through her microphone.
They all took their ready positions.
“Get set!” Spike said this time.
Neither said anything as a bell rang, signifying the start of the race, and the stampede began.
Alex watched calmly from his spot as the horde of ponies stampeded through the starting line, Applejack and Rainbow Dash no doubt near the front of it all. As the slower ones started trickling away, Alex jumped back into the Scorpion and started the engine. Not even bothering to position the canopy, he slowly drove the vehicle up to the vacant starting line and killed the engine again. He took a moment to stretch and to just let the sun beat down on him. Like most days in Ponyville, the weather was lovely. Aside from the odd scheduled storm, of course.
Alex frowned as the thought crossed his mind. Who the hell schedules storms, anyway, and for what reason? Rain was understandable, since plants needed the water, by why storms? Lightning was just plain dangerous, no matter what world you lived in, and if you could control the weather, why would you even bother doing it? For the umpteenth time, Alex found himself confused by the pony weather system. He shook his head to clear the thought.
Alex decided to sit back and just listen to Pinkie’s race commentary coming through the speakers. She was talking about the history of the running of the leaves and its main purpose, about how the running of the ponies was what caused the leaves in the forest to fall in order to prepare for winter. As opposed to, you know, natural processes.
Nope, fuck that, he thought as he hopped back out of the Scorpion. I could do with fewer crimes against nature, thank you very much. Might as well make sure all the bureaucracy is over and done with before some random, uninformed jackass yells at me for driving on the trail later…
Ummm… Let’s see… Move that over there, and… no, that doesn’t work. Dammit, now I can’t move it back. Uhhh… No, can’t do that… Wait, could I…? No… wait… WAIT! Dammit, that gets me nowhere… Umm… Fuck, I’m stuck…
Alex sat back and rested his head against his arm as he looked over his virtual game of three-draw solitaire on the Scorpion’s holographic dashboard. He sighed and started a new game. That’s three loses in a row now… There’s gotta be a trick to this…
“Um, excuse me?”
Alex peered over to look at the mare standing next to the car. It was one of the race officials. “Mhm?”
“The lead racers have almost completed two thirds of the race. You should get ready.”
“Really?” Alex checked his watch. It’s been almost an hour… Shit, this isn’t a race, it’s a freaking marathon. “Alright, thank you very much. I’ll get ready. Just tell me when I can go.”
The mare nodded and walked off. Meanwhile, Alex slipped the helmet over his head and secured his seatbelt. After starting the engine, the canopy lifted into position and locked down over him, its interior screen presenting him with the outside world. Alex’s heart beat harder with the thought that he was going to drive the fastest car he’s ever driven, and in front of a dozen high flying cameras providing a live stream to everyone in the entire town, no less.
“Hey, Rose, can you hear me?” said Alex.
“Yes, I can,” came Rose’s disembodied voice through a speaker inside his helmet.
“Can you give me an ETA on how much longer I have to wait? The suspense is killing me.”
“Roughly a minute.”
Adrenaline shot through him prematurely and his voice almost cracked. “Oh goodie, that soon?”
“Yes, be prepared.”
Alex let out a breath. “Alright… I got this.” He turned his head up to see one of the hot air balloons hovering overhead. No doubt its camera was focused on him. A group of curious ponies had gathered around the vehicle to personally watch it depart, instead of seeing it through the projectors. Thankfully, they were a respectful distance away. “Shit, this is really happening.”
“I’m detecting an increase in heart rate,” said Rose. “Are you nervous, or excited?”
“I’m a little nervous… Just a bit… At least this heart is working the way it should be…”
“Don’t worry. Just don’t crash and you’ll be fine.”
“Gee, thanks. That’s really reassuring.”
“You’re welcome. Oh, and by the way: they’re all watching you right now.”
Fuck you, Rose. Fuck. You.
“Are you ready?” came a voice from somewhere outside the cockpit.
Alex let out a breath and revved the engine in response, his eyes focused entirely on the road ahead of him. Here we go…
“Get set!”
He revved the engine again and tightened his grip around the steering wheel, placing a thumb on the Tarydium booster button. For the second time that day, the starting bell rang, and Alex slammed his foot down on the accelerator and pressed the button.
He was not prepared for what came after.
Alex’s body was shoved back into the seat as the Tarydium boosters exploded to life and accelerated the Scorpion to over a hundred kilometers an hour in less than a second. His body and arms strained against the g-forces caused by the sudden acceleration, but the feeling quickly subsided when the boosters burnt out automatically after a few seconds. They could, of course, be used again, but continuous usage would surely overheat them.
Alex glanced at the speedometer on his visor, which read a hundred and sixty kilometers an hour and was increasing rapidly. He focused on the first gradual turn in the road and eased the steering wheel into it, letting the sound of the Power-Core driven engine firing on all cylinders fill his senses. Foot off the gas… You’re driving a car in a forest, not flying a plane… Control it… Control… Yeah… You got this.
Alex eyed his surroundings, finding all the blurry trees he was driving past had already been stripped bare of their colorful leaves. In fact, quite a few of said leaves littered the road. Despite the fact that the road was hardly smooth and had several bumps, holes, and other large obstacles in the way such as rocks and roots, Alex barely felt any of it. It was truly a testimony to how well the suspension was working, especially at those speeds.
As Alex came up on his first relatively sharp corner, his mind immediately shifted into a purely mechanical state. Take it wide to reduce the amount of force needed. Look where you want to go. Reduce speed. Brake. Steer. Release. Control. The steps all outlined in his mind, Alex halved his speed and approached the turn from the opposite side. Suddenly, he slammed on the brakes, turned the wheel, and then released the brakes. Controlling his orientation with the jerking wheel, he skidded around the corner, kicking up a large cloud of dust, and activated the boosters when he was clear of the trees to rocket the Scorpion in its new direction. The roar of the car’s engine only further increased his euphoria.
“Haha!” Alex cheered. “Damn, I’m a better driver than I thought I was!”
Unbeknownst to him, his right eye had been glowing neon green throughout the entire turn and reverted back to normal immediately after.
“So how are you holding up?” Twilight asked Lyra as they trotted next to each other.
“All things considered, I’m not doing too badly,” Lyra replied. “This pacing thing of yours works really well. Last year, I was already dead tired at this point.”
“Doesn’t it? Actually, I’ve been meaning to talk with you for a while, but I haven’t managed to find a break in my schedule for it…”
“Really? About what?”
“About that fossil of yours. The one you showed me and Alex?”
“Oh that! What about it?”
Twilight thought for a moment as she formulated her question. “Well, Alex is convinced it’s human, but we have no idea how that could be possible since he’s the only human to ever come to Equestria. At least, to our knowledge. We had other ideas, but we ruled those out too… Have you ever shown that fossil to an archeologist? Maybe a biologist?”
Lyra frowned at the thought. “I went to an archeologist a few years ago, yeah. He couldn’t identify it, though. He wanted to know where the rest of it was, but I told him I couldn’t remember where I found it. Then he said they were probably just funny looking rocks. Didn’t even want to bother dating them…” She scoffed. “Load of help he was…”
“What do you think? Think Alex is right?”
Lyra shrugged. “Maybe. Although I am curious to know…” Her words died in her throat as her ears began picking up something strange. “Wait, do you hear that?”
Focusing her own hearing, Twilight concentrated to figure out what Lyra was talking about. She could hear something that didn’t sound like a natural forest sound, but she had no idea what it could be. It didn’t sound like stampeding hoofsteps, but it had a deep, rumbling quality to it.
“You can hear that, right?” asked Lyra.
“Yeah, it… it sounds like it’s getting closer.”
The two ponies stood by the side of the road and listened for the sound. It was definitely getting closer as the odd sound got progressively louder and louder. When Twilight looked in the direction the sound was coming in, it suddenly all made sense. Further up the road, being trailed by a small cloud of dust, was the unmistakable sight of the Scorpion trailblazing its way towards them.
“What the hay is that…?” Lyra asked.
Before Twilight could answer her, a burst of light and sound exploded behind the Scorpion and it roared past them, kicking up a giant cloud of dust, fallen leaves, and other debris for them to choke on.
Twilight only managed to speak through coughing fits. “That *cough* was a human *cough* who is way *hack* too smart for *cough*cough* his own good!”
Meanwhile, in the Scorpion’s cockpit…
“~You’ve been… THUNDERSTRUCK!~”
Alex tapped his hands on the steering wheel to the beat of the song coming through his helmet and sang along without a single care in the world. With the Scorpion’s engine blasting behind him and the heavy guitar riff flowing through his ears, nothing could take Alex down from his high.
With the heavy rock song acting as a perfect assistant, the Scorpion tore through the forest trail with ease. Alex turned the wheel back and forth vigorously as the car glided through a more serpentine section of the road, skidding around every corner and dodging individual runners.
Exiting that section of the road, Alex noticed the portion he was coming up on was slightly elevated and, just for kicks, activated the boosters. While it wasn’t a ramp by any definition, the little hill was big enough to grant the Scorpion some flight time, launching it into the air as the song launched into another guitar solo. The engine roared at its loudest as the wheels spun freely and the boosters propelled the vehicle through the air. Alex continued his screams of joy with the guitar accompaniment, even after the Scorpion slammed back to the ground on all four wheels.
One after another, technicolor blurs whizzed past Alex as he quickly made his way up the roster. After passing a larger group of the stampeders, who graciously moved to the sides of the road at the honk of a horn, he couldn’t help but wonder just how long it would take before he caught up to the ponies in the lead.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash slowed their gallop to a trot so they could catch their breath. They had been running nonstop since the beginning of the race, something very few ponies were capable of doing, but they felt confident enough in their position to slow down just a bit. After all, without the shenanigans they pulled on each other last year, they were able to make much better time.
“I’d say we’re doing pretty well,” said Rainbow Dash between panted breaths.
“Yep!” Applejack agreed, just as breathless. “Do ya think we’ll ever see Alex and that… uh… what’d he call it?”
“Scorpion, I think.”
“Yeah, that. Think he can catch up?”
Rainbow managed a chuckle. “Are you kidding? We’re so far ahead, there’s no way he can catch up!”
“Hey! Whatcha two talking about!” came a cheery voice from on high. The two of them looked up to see Pinkie Pie waving at them from her low flying hot air balloon. Spike and the camera were also poking over the side, too.
Immediately upon seeing the camera, Rainbow Dash straightened up and eliminated any sense of looking tired. “We were talking about how we have this race in the bag!” Although she didn’t know it, that specific camera wasn’t the one connected to the live feed at that moment.
“Are you sure?” Pinkie called back. “Rose says Alex is going reeeaaally fast!”
“Pffff, there’s no way he could beat us. We’re almost at the finish line!”
The domestic put the camera aside to reveal a set of glowing blue eyes. “Even if you ran at a full sprint from here to the finish line, the Scorpion would still pass you well before you could reach it.”
“And what makes you so sure?” Applejack yelled up at them.
“Consider who you’re talking to,” the domestic said with an ever familiar female synthetic voice. “I’ve done the math. Alex is moving much faster than either of you can run, and unlike you, he doesn’t have to stop.” Applejack and Rainbow Dash shared a wide eyed look. “Outrunning a motor vehicle of this caliber simply isn’t feasible, and he’s catching up quickly.”
“Oh hey, look!” said Pinkie, pointing a hoof back up the road. “There he is!”
The runners’ heads snapped back to try to find what Pinkie was talking about. They couldn’t see it, but they could hear something loud that definitely didn’t sound like running. As if they were reading each other’s minds, they bolted in the opposite direction, barely hearing Pinkie yell out her cheerful goodbye.
“Aw hayseed!” Applejack cursed. “What’re we gonna do?”
Panted breaths were Dash’s only response before she cried out: “I got an idea! Block him!”
Applejack looked at her incredulously. “Block him?! How’re we gonna do that?!”
Dash cracked a smile. “He may be fast, but he’s big and bulky! We just have to keep him from getting around us!”
“What if he hits us?”
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off by the sound of a horn honking several times behind them and they looked back to see the Scorpion quickly closing the distance. Dash looked at her partner. “Look, do you have any better idea to keep him behind us?”
“This seems mighty dangerous…”
The honking continued.
“Don’t chicken out on me now, AJ!”
Inside the Scorpion, Alex honked the horn a few more times. He pressed on the brakes to slow his speed, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash seemed resolute to occupy as much space in the road as they could, whereas the other ponies he passed were eager to move over.
As Alex got closer, he applied the brakes more and more until he was right up against the two runners. At this point, his car was crawling at a measly thirty five kilometers per hour. Sure, they were running as fast as they could, but he knew the Scorpion could be going so much faster. Alex honked again, but they continued to ignore him. “Oh come on…” He turned to the right to try to get around Applejack, but she noticed the action and quickly moved in front of him. “What the…” He turned to the left, but this time, Rainbow Dash got in his way. “Oh you cheeky little fuckers…”
“Need some help?” came Rose’s disembodied voice.
“Not unless you’ve got something that can magically move them over,” he replied.
“Just give me the wheel and I can get you around them.”
Alex hesitated for a moment. He trusted Rose with his life and physical wellbeing, but… “Okay… Go ahead…” he said with a hint of uncertainty while taking his hands off the wheel and his foot off the accelerator.
“Thank you.” The Scorpion slowed to the point that it almost stopped. “You might want to hold onto something.”
Alex’s face sunk. “Umm… Why?”
Rose didn’t answer. Instead, the engine suddenly burst to life and the steering wheel began turning on its own. Alex gripped his seat as the vehicle accelerated down the road towards the two ponies, but more specifically, towards a grossly misshapen tree by the right side of the road.
“Rose! What are you doing!?”
Her only answer was Alex getting shoved further into his seat as she activated the boosters.
“Rose, what the fuck ARE YOU DOING?!” Alex panicked. “NO NO NO NO–”
Alex’s body jerked around as the Scorpion’s tires slammed into the trunk of the tree and began flipping the vehicle over. However, because of the shape of trunk, including the angle and position the Scorpion hit it, the car deflected off of it and barrel rolled into the air like some twisted amusement park ride. Alex couldn’t even find the sense to start screaming his head off.
His next moment felt like it passed in slow motion. As the Scorpion flew through the air, flipping right over left, Alex looked up to see the ground and sky switching between each other. At one point when the ground was in sight, for just a split second, he was able to see Applejack and Rainbow Dash looking up at him, probably just a couple meters away. The moment passed so quickly that his brain wasn’t even able to register that the car was flying over them upside down.
In the very next moment, the Scorpion continued its corkscrew and slammed back to the ground with all the grace of a fat man on a unicycle. The car began sliding along the ground on its left wheels, with its right wheels poised high into the air, threatening to flip the car over. The Scorpion skidded diagonally across the road this way until its back end smashed into another tree, which almost flipped it over completely. However, the right side of the car had dipped just enough that the hit didn’t send it flipping into the forest, but instead right back to the road in burnout. The car slid down the road, spinning around several times before realigning itself in the proper direction and continuing on its merry way.
Alex pushed against the sides of the cockpit to hold himself in place and began hyperventilating. Rose, for her part continued driving the Scorpion with the road now completely unobstructed.
“There you go,” she said nonchalantly. “No more road block. You can take the wheel now.”
Alex eagerly latched onto the steering wheel with trembling hands. “Don’t you ever, EVER do that to me again!” He let out several heavy breaths. “Scared the living shit outa me – Fuck!”
Behind him, Applejack and Rainbow Dash stared in slack jawed awe. Rainbow’s plan had certainly worked, neither of them could deny that, but they also weren’t expecting something like that to happen either.
Rainbow Dash shook her head to snap herself out of her shock and growled. “Oh no you don’t!” Her wings shot out from her sides and she leapt into the air, flying off after the Scorpion before Applejack had the chance to scold her about it.
Still trembling and disoriented from the adrenaline and tumble respectively, Alex did his best to maintain control of the Scorpion. He briefly glanced at his rear-view camera, but then did a double take to see Rainbow Dash flying after him, and quickly catching up. “Oh no you don’t…” Alex licked his lips and took a deep breath to focus himself before slamming his foot down on the accelerator and activating the boosters. It was almost a straight shot back to Ponyville at this point, and he was determined to exploit that fact for all it was worth.
“Alex, something’s wrong with the boosters,” said Rose.
“Wait, what?” Alex paused, now noticing that the boosters hadn’t shut off automatically after a few seconds like they were supposed to. “Shit, can you turn them off?”
“I just tried to. Whatever it is, it’s a mechanical failure.”
The buzz of an alarm suddenly sounded inside the Scorpion’s cockpit and a large red warning on the dashboard that read: ‘WARNING: ENGINE OVERHEAT’ began to flash. Alex’s eyes zipped towards the Tarydium fuel indicator, which said the fuel tank was still three quarters full.
Uh oh...
Without any warning, the canopy suddenly exploded off the rest of the car. Rainbow Dash, who was flying a little too close to the path the hunk of metal was taking, expertly dodged it and yelled after the car. “Hey!”
Completely taken off guard by the sudden appearance of wind, Alex instinctively brought his hands up to cover himself. “Rose! What the fuck!”
“There’s no time! I’ll control the vehicle, you get Rainbow Dash’s attention and get her to lift you out. Now!”
“Okay, okay!” Alex scrambled to unbuckle his seat belt and tossed his helmet on the floor of the vehicle. He knew he wouldn’t be able to speak to Rose by doing that, but he needed to be able to yell at Dash. He cautiously eased himself around to stand on the seat with his knees, the heat coming off the boosters hitting him head on. He could feel Rose trying to apply the brakes, but she was doing so sparingly.
Alex waved his arms frantically at Rainbow Dash as she quickly caught up thanks to Rose’s efforts. “Hey! Hold on!” he yelled over the wind and roar of the Tarydium rockets.
Dash, looking more confused than anything else, flew alongside the Scorpion and yelled back. “What’s going on?”
Alex held his hands out to her. “You have to get me out of this thing!”
“What? Why?”
Alex’s attention was caught as another alarm sounded. He looked at the dashboard to see a flashing red ‘WARNING: ENGINE CRITICAL.’ His heart sank and he turned back to Dash. “It’s going to blow! Get me out of this thing now!”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “Whoa! Alright, hold on!” Dash flew closer to him and extended her hooves for him, which he gladly latched onto with each hand. Although she had a tougher time flying up with the extra weight, she managed to lift him out as the Scorpion sped forward.
Alex, for his part, held onto Rainbow Dash’s hooves with an iron grip he never knew he had, although because of the way he had grabbed her hooves, he couldn’t see where they were going. The fact that he was a dangling slab of meat above a quickly moving dirt road never escaped his mind and he raised his legs up involuntarily. “Slowdownslowdownslowdown–”
“I’m trying!” Dash groaned. “This isn’t exactly easy, you know! You’re kinda heavy!”
Alex looked up at her. “Hey, I’ll have you know that I’m actually pretty light for my–”
A loud pop cut him off and they both let out an involuntary yelp, but she maintained her flight. Alex couldn’t see it, but Rainbow Dash watched as the Scorpion’s back end exploded into flame and began leaving a trail of fire on the road behind it. Unsurprisingly, its momentum kept the vehicle going.
Alex didn’t have to see what happened to know exactly what it was. Well, there goes the fuel tank… He looked down at the trail of fire they were flying over. Oh goodie, it’s leaking burning Tarydium all over the road… I wonder how long it’ll take before–
His thought was cut off by much, much louder explosion that completely startled him and Dash, causing her to lose focus and bring them both crashing to the ground. Thankfully, she was flying low enough and slow enough that they didn’t injure anything badly.
Alex hit the ground hard and rolled a few meters before finally coming to a stop on his back. His knees and back felt bruised and he ended up scraping his arms and hands – which made him regret wearing a short sleeve shirt that day. Despite the pain, he was at least thankful that he had the sense to cover his head. Rainbow Dash went for a good tumble herself, but all she suffered were a few minor bruises.
Alex groaned from his spot on the ground as his new injuries said their hellos. Reluctant to move for fear of irritating any bruises, he craned his neck to look at what had befallen his poor Scorpion. Just as he had expected, the entire vehicle had been obliterated into an unrecognizable hunk of metal – several, actually. The explosion had blown the vehicle completely apart, although it did have the benefit of snuffing out some of the fires. Only some of them, since a giant plume of black smoke raised into the sky from the smoldering heap. Alex let out a mixed groan and sigh as he forced his palms against his face, pushing his head against the ground. And there goes the Core…
“You alright?” he heard Dash mumble painfully from somewhere ahead of him.
“I’ve been better…” he groaned in reply. “God damn… my car…”
Rainbow Dash winced as she managed to get herself standing to survey the wreckage for herself. “Whoa… That was intense…”
“That’s one way of putting it…”
Dash began making her way towards him, although with a slight limp in her gait. “You look pretty banged up.”
Alex tried to sit up, but he abandoned the effort when a fresh bruise jabbed him in the lower back. “Ugh… Nope, nuh uh, bad idea.…”
Dash sat beside him. “Need any help?”
Alex closed his eyes, content to simply sleep on the dirt road. “Just… Just gimme a second.”
As if on cue, a bright purple flash appeared next to them as a frantic, dirt covered Twilight Sparkle materialized. “What happened?! I heard an explooooo…” Twilight’s eyes trailed over the burning wreckage of the former Scorpion. “…oooooh my gosh…”
Alex turned his head towards her. “Welcome to the party… just a tad late, though…”
Twilight deliberately ignored his ‘late’ comment and quickly came over to them. “Is everypony okay? Are either of you hurt?”
“No and yes,” Alex deadpanned.
“I’m fine,” said Dash. “Not sure about him though.”
This time, Alex made a concerted effort to sit up, groaning through the aches. “I’ll live… Nothing feels broken, so at least I have that…”
“Here, let me try to help…” Twilight aimed her horn and a light purple glow enveloped him. After a few seconds, the glow subsided and she looked at him hopefully. “There. Feel better?”
Alex breathed and nodded. “A bit. Not too much, but… thanks.”
Twilight bit her lip and looked away. “Healing magic isn’t really my forte… What happened?”
He looked over at the wreck and let out a loud sigh. “I don’t know… Something broke and prevented the boosters from shutting off. Probably a valve on the fuel line, if I had to guess… The heat buildup probably ignited the Tarydium inside the compression chamber, and from there, the fuel tank…” Alex waved in the general direction of the wreckage. “And then the Core blew up…”
“Didn’t you tell me that the damage would be catastrophic if a Core blew up?”
Alex shook his head. “No, that happens if it overloads. If a Core is destroyed traumatically - like, say, pouring burning Tarydium all over it - then it just goes boom.” He looked longingly at disfigured remains of his car. “Still don’t want to be around when that happens, though…”
As Applejack finally caught up, she slowed her pace upon spotting the source of the giant plume of thick, black smoke she saw over the tree line. Even as she approached them, she had a difficult time looking away from it. “Could somepony please tell me just what the hay happened over here?”
“Do you want the long version, or the short version?” asked Alex.
“Ah’ll take the short of it.”
“Alright. It broke and exploded. Dash pulled me out right before it did, though. Thanks for that, by the way.”
Dash bumped his shoulder with a hoof and a cocky smile. “Hey, no problem.”
They were all suddenly blinded by a bright yellow flash somewhere next to them, followed by a serene, yet anxious voice. “Is everypony alright?”
Despite the calming nature of the new arrival’s voice, it pierced Alex’s ear like a needle traveling at the speed of sound. He suddenly came to the realization of just how bad things were: his hand built Scorpion blew up, the entire town probably saw it happen, there was burning Tarydium all over the road, and on top of that, the still burning fuel and other synthetic materials were probably releasing all sorts of nasty toxins into the atmosphere.
The last thing he wanted was for her to show up, too.
“Princess Celestia!” The ponies all bowed simultaneously.
Celestia waved them off, but spoke as sincerely as ever. “Please, not right now. Is everypony alright?”
Twilight looked up at her mentor. “We’re fine, Princess. Nopony was hurt badly.”
“Speak for yourself…” said Alex as he attempted to stand. A sharp pain shot through his knee, causing him to collapse back onto the ground with a silent curse to himself.
Celestia placed a hoof on his shoulder. “It’s alright, Alexander. Help will arrive soon.”
Alex bit his lip and, for a moment, refused to look at her. He had never exactly been comfortable around the Princess, even if he could count the number of encounters he had with her on a Liandri’s hand. Of course, back then, she was the one who was ultimately funding the construction of the first Power-Core and EMC. She could have, at any moment, put a stop to it all. Now that he and Rose were fully self-sufficient, he didn’t really have much a reason to tiptoe around her like he used to. After all, she wasn’t a potentially life altering threat anymore, and Twilight was constantly assuring him that Celestia always meant well. He wanted to say something in response to her, but opted for a sigh instead.
“Tell me, what happened to your machine?”
Alex glanced at her from the corner of his eye. To him, she didn’t look angry or afraid. If anything, she looked genuinely concerned about him. Alex hated to admit it to himself, but she didn’t look malicious at all, a thought he had an oddly difficult time reconciling with. He sighed again. “Something broke and the boosters overheated. Then the fuel tank caught fire and the thing exploded.” He quickly turned to look at her. “I’m sorry, Princess, but might I inquire as to why you’re here? I can’t say we were really expecting you.”
She gave him a soft smile in response to the disguised bitterness in his voice. “Fall is one of my favorite seasons, and I often come to celebrate the running of the leaves. I was also extremely curious to see the… improvements I heard you provided.” Her face took on a somber tone. “My apologies for what happened to your machine. It was quite remarkable, and a shame it suffered such a fate.”
Alex looked back at the Scorpion. “Yeah… Yeah it is… was…”
Twilight came up to him and smiled gently, faintly hoping that she could coax something out of him. “So Alex, do you think you can draw some kind of lesson from this experience?”
“Yup,” said Alex without hesitation, nor looking back at her. “Integrate surrogate testing immediately. Frankly, I'd rather have a bot get blown up than me.”
Twilight frowned. She was hoping for something a little more friendship oriented, but then again, what else should she have expected from him?
Alex suddenly caught sight of a large group of objects moving in their direction. From their upright posture and hint of blue color, he had no difficulty figuring out what they were. “Well, here comes the cleanup crew.” He also noticed half a dozen pegasi flying alongside the Blues, each one carrying what he could only assume was a bucket of water in each of their hooves. “Well they’re in for a nasty surprise…”
Twilight looked at him curiously. “Huh what do you mean? Who is?”
“Them,” said Alex, pointing towards the pegasi. “Just watch, you’ll see what I mean.”
As the emergency response group approached them, the leading pegasus maneuvered around the column of black smoke and dumped the contents of his bucket into the largest fire. A giant fireball suddenly erupted from the flame, catching everyone off guard and causing them to yelp in surprise and step back. Even Celestia raised a hoof in alarm.
Alex, as sober as a statue, leaned over from his spot on the ground and yelled at the frightened pegasus. “Yeah, I wouldn’t do that again if I were you. Tarydium and water don’t really mix.”
“How do we put it out, then?” asked Rainbow Dash.
The group of Liandri Blues wordlessly began dividing tasks. Several of them started piling warped pieces of metal and other debris into a single pile, regardless of whether or not the piece they were picking up or dragging was still on fire. The rest ran further up the road to direct the runners that hadn’t yet arrived. One of the Liandri – which had a glowing blue eye – approached the group and answered Rainbow Dash’s question. “You’ll have to let it burn itself out, I’m afraid.” Rose’s proxy knelt next to Alex and allowed him to place his arm around its shoulders. “Are you alright?”
“My knees hurt and my arms are scraped, but yeah, I’m fine,” Alex groaned as Rose helped him to his feet.
Rose looked over at Celestia. “I don’t know why you’re here, but as long as you are, could you convince those pegasi over to stay away? They don’t listen to me, and frankly, they’ll only hurt themselves. I also don’t want them causing a forest fire while we have things contained.”
“Of course, I’ll do what I can.” Celestia nodded and turned to go ward off the well-meaning firefighters.
“Much appreciated.” Rose looked at the other three ponies. “I’m going to bring Alex back to the facility to look at his injuries. You should probably come back as well, I have things under control here.”
Before Twilight could agree, she stole a glance at her teacher. Instead, she sighed and shook her head. “Princess Celestia will probably want to speak with me. You two head back, I’ll be fine here.”
“Dash and Ah will stick around too,” said Applejack. “There’s gonna be some mighty confused ponies comin’ through soon, and they’re gonna need some friendly faces ta move ‘em along.” Rainbow Dash simply nodded in agreement.
“Alright then.” The Blue shifted the position of its arm around Alex’s back to make it more comfortable for him. “Let’s go.”
Celestia looked after the departing humanoids as she returned to the other three ponies. She sighed and spoke in a contemplative tone. “It would seem he is still highly uncomfortable around me.”
“Oh good, so I’m not the only one who noticed,” said Rainbow Dash.
“Don’t take it personally, Princess,” said Twilight. “He’s never really trusted human political figures. I guess it just translates over to you, too. Well… that, and he also really doesn’t like the fact that you raise the sun, but that’s something completely different.”
Celestia managed to crack a smile at her. “Yes, I recall that letter of yours about… Heliocentrism, I believe it was called? He certainly came from a very fascinating world. It’s simply a shame that the politically powerful have abused their power so much that he is as paranoid as he has become.”
Twilight smiled back at her. “Just give him some time, I’m sure he’ll warm up to you eventually.”
“I should hope so, Twilight. I have a feeling that he and Rose could be a source of great change in Equestria, and it troubles me that he seems so distrustful of me. I simply wish for him to realize that we are on the same side, and that I only wish to help him…”
Back up the road, Alex let most of his weight fall on the Liandri supporting him. Without any other cars, and with his knees starting to bruise, he knew it wouldn’t be a very pleasant walk back home, even if Ponyville wasn’t terribly far away.
“Are you disappointed about the Scorpion?” asked Rose.
Alex sighed and shook his head. “No, I’m not…” He paused. “Well, maybe… Okay yeah, I’m really bummed out about it, but I’m trying to be optimistic about it all. It took me weeks to build that one, but I’m sure you could always put another one together in a few hours.”
“I still don’t understand why you built it by hand in the first place.”
He shrugged. “For fun. It was therapeutic, if anything.” Alex glanced back over at Rose as a thought suddenly crossed his mind. “Hey, why did you blow the canopy off, anyway?”
“It was jammed,” Rose responded simply. “It most likely broke when the vehicle hit that tree.”
Alex nodded solemnly, then smirked. “You do realize, then, that your little stunt is probably what caused the booster malfunction, right?”
“I am aware of that.”
“Are you? Are you really?”
“Yes, I am,” she insisted.
“So you acknowledge the fact that you made a big mistake?”
“Yes,” Rose hissed.
For a moment Alex said nothing. He grinned and looked back at the bot. “So again, you’re fully aware that ya dun goofed?”
The Liandri’s eye color changed from blue to yellow.
Alex laughed. “I love you too, Rose. I love you too.”