//------------------------------// // Towns, Ponies, Robots and Pasts // Story: Son of Invention // by Zman537 //------------------------------// (Invention) As I sped past the rolling hills and valleys, I reveled in the feeling of the wind going through my hair. The village was still only about four miles away now, and every time I had to crest a hill I could catch a glimpse of it’s thatched roofs. It was a nice and rural town from the looks of it, and it reminded me of how everything was in Canterlot before I was turned to stone. Of course, with that large city all those years ago there wasn’t this kind of charm coming off of it. While they both had the same kinds of buildings, this town was warmer, and much cleaner. That was just from me looking from a distance. I came over another hill and saw that there was a pair of ponies arguing off into the distance next to something that looked like a large cart that sat in the middle of a dirt path. I chuckled a little to see that I had managed to completely ignore the roads and was making the trip harder on myself. I slowed down and headed to the dirt path before I had came to an obstruction that denied me passage. “Dang it.” I sighed as I got off the bike and climbed over the fence that was blocking my easy access. “Picket fenced. I guess I’ll have to go the rest of the way on foot.” I walked for a good forty minutes before I could see the town again, and this time I could see a large arch over the main entrance that lead into the town. “Ponyville, huh?” I laughed and shook my head. “Oh the puns have yet to end. I’d have thought they’d run out of the buggers after the first five hundred years.” I kept looking at the various kinds of ponies that littered the town streets and soared through the air. It seemed like something that Robin would have dreamed of all those years ago when we were running through the world side by side. A place where all the ponies truly got along, and could live happy. I could only chuckle sadly as the thoughts passed through my mind. “Oh Robin. If only you could see the world now. You’d have loved it.” The peaceful scene was cut short however, when a pegasus that was flying overhead shrieked and pointed at me. “DRAGON!” I stared blankly ahead for a moment as the streets were cleared in less than five minutes. I facepalmed as the wind blew down the now deserted streets. I dragged my hand down my face and groaned before continuing down the main road through the town. “That figures...” I started moving through the deserted town and took in the local builds. The building codes seemed to have improved more than I thought they would over the centuries. Most were nearly on par with standard housing back on Earth, and the time gap it took was less than half of how long it took humanity to get out of the dark ages. Well... all but the literal gingerbread house, but that’s one that I had to resist taking a good bite out of it so I’ll let it slide away from my mental and verbal rants. It smelled good too, and probably was a bakery judging from said smell. I kept walking through the town’s roads, finding nothing but boarded windows and doors before sighing and stopping to look around. “How hard can it be to find one blacksmith? Is it something that’s a dying art now?” I hummed and closed my eyes. “Alright... where could I go to find this out... AH!” I perked up and snapped my fingers. “A library... well that or some form of town hall... whichever I find first. Assuming that there are any public libraries developed by now, which from what I’ve seen through the past century they most definitely were.” I kept muttering to myself as I walked through the streets lost in thought. I’d find something.... eventually. “I hope my sense of direction hasn’t gotten too poor.” (Applebloom: 1 hour ago) Applebloom hummed happily as she skipped down the dirt path that lead to the main gate to Sweet Apple Acres. She and her fellow crusaders had decided that after meeting with each other at Sweetie Belle’s house they’d try again at getting their cutie marks in exploration. The fields outside of Ponyville were rather large, and would be perfect for running around grabbing whatever they could find as treasure. While they had originally planned on going into the Everfree, much to the chagrin of their respective guardians, Granny Smith had managed to convince the mischievous trio not to go into the hazardous woods in their stead. When Applebloom got to the gate, she stopped at the sound of frantic buzzing suddenly coming from down the road. “What in the?” She looked down the road for a moment before she had to jump back to avoid getting run over by her friend Scootaloo, who had brought Sweetie Belle with her. Applebloom scowled a little as the pegasus panted against the handlebars of her scooter. “Scootaloo! What’s the big idea tryin’ ta run me over?” Scootaloo raised a hoof and panted a little more before managing to catch her breath. “Sorry... AB... but I... saw something awesome.” Applebloom raised an eyebrow and looked over at Sweetie Belle, who was clutching the side of the small red wagon for dear life. “Sweetie, ya’ll have any idea what she’s talkin’ about?” Sweetie shook her head and started to ease her grip on the wagon. “N-no. I was waiting for the both of you when Scootaloo came over and brought me over here.” Sweetie let out a breath as she calmed her nerves further. “She said something about an-” “I saw an entire airship crash!” Scootaloo semi-shouted from her handlebars before pointing off into the distance. “When I was getting ready at my house, there was something flickering in the sky towards the fields outside of town.” Scootaloo grinned as she continued her tale. “I ran inside and grabbed a pair of binoculars from my mom’s stuff and then ran up to my bedroom’s window to see what it was. The next thing I knew, I watched an entire airship crash into the ground as it kept disappearing and reappearing!” Scootaloo was grinning broadly as she looked at her friends. “It was so, awesome!” Applebloom gave her friend a deadpan stare as she raised an eyebrow. “Ya saw an airship... that could disappear?” Applebloom shook her head and sighed. “Scoots, are ya sure ya didn’t hit your head on the way ta Sweetie’s doin’ some fancy trick?” Scootaloo groaned and face-hoofed before buzzing her wings and getting back on her scooter. “No, and I’m not making this up! I would have told Rainbow so we could all go check it out, but she’s in Canterlot right now.” Scootaloo smirked a little as Applebloom climbed into the wagon. “Besides, it crashed in the fields. Where we were heading in the first place.” Sweetie tried to say something as she raised a hoof. “Couldn’t we-” Applebloom interrupted her. “Then could ya get goin’ so we can show ya that ya didn’t see anything, and then keep crusadin’?” Again, Sweetie tried to speak. “But what if-” Scootaloo leaned back and glared at Applebloom. “Alright, let’s go so I can show you I did see something.” Sweetie Belle huffed a little as Scootaloo began buzzing her wings and Applebloom put on her helmet. “If an airship might have crashed at all, shouldn’t we tell somepo-” Scootaloo sped off like a bullet and the wagon started getting pulled behind it, “-NYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!?” (Boris and Victoria) Boris laid down on his bed, staring at his room’s ceiling fan as it spun slowly due to the lack of power on the ship. “I’m bored.” He rolled over and started staring at his foot board, poking a little knot of wood that was trying to fall out. Victoria was in her room, right next to Boris’ room, and spoke up through the wall as she laid sprawled on her bed. “Same.” Victoria sighed and swung her feet off the edge of her bed. “I already read all the books back home, and on the ship.” Boris paused his poking and looked at the wall separating the two of them. “Seriously? Every book?” “Yep. Fifty times each.” She sat up and scootched back to the wall to lean against it. “I would have gone out and gotten more... but I was afraid of getting everyone found.” Boris nodded, despite Victoria not being able to see, and rubbed his chin. “True... I mean... Dad did kinda steal a lot of stuff... even if it was to help us.” Boris frowned a little and started tapping the side of his head. “I’m not sure what we did to get me stuck as his necklace again, or stuck as a statue though.” He leaned back and pressed against the wall. “You remember Vicky?” Victoria stared at the far wall of her room. Her hands gripped the sheets of her bed and she shook her head before she could speak again. “N-no. I don’t.” Victoria looked at the wall that separated her and Boris and frowned nervously. “But uh, why don’t we try and come up with something to do.” Boris hummed a little before he beamed. “Hey! I got an idea!” He stood up on his bed and pumped one of his fists into the air. “Let’s go exploring!” Victoria blinked a few times in confusion. “Wha?” Boris had already ran up to her room’s door and barged inside. “Exploring Vicky! We can still stay with the ship like Dad wanted, and we can stave off this boredom with something other than tic-tac-toe!” Victoria sighed, both from Boris' irritable behavior and the relief of not talking about what had happened, before responding. “Maybe we should talk to Steve or Ed first. Dad did put them in charge.” Boris groaned and leaned back a little. “Fiiiiine. But I’m still exploring even if they say no.” They both headed out of the room and began to head for the engine, where Ed had run off to. With a quick trip down the hall, and down the ladder in Invention’s workshop, the duo had managed to find Ed cutting away at the crystals that were sticking out of the reactor with a small saw. Each chunk that was cut off landed on the ground with a thud and was quickly put into a jar-like container that resembled the reactor slightly. Ed looked over at the as they got closer before putting the saw down. “Hey you two, what are you doing down here?” Boris spoke up first. “Do you mind if me and Vicky go and explore around the ship?” Ed was about to say something when Boris cut him off. “We promise not to wander too far!” Ed chuckled and waved them off. “I don’t see the harm.” Boris pumped a fist into the air and grinned. “Yesssss!” Ed got up and the three of them headed for the workshop. When they got up there, he walked over to some of the shelves and started rummaging. “Now where was the... ah! Here they are.” He pulled out a pair of small metal radios and handed them to Boris and Victoria. “Here’s something to help the two of you not get lost. While the Captain may have put one in me and Steve’s ears, those should let you talk with either of us and each other. Just move the little dial on the side.” Boris looked at the side and grinned when he saw a small black dial that had five notches on it. One had a B, then a V, S, E, I, all around it. He looked at the back and saw a B engraved on it. “Cool!” He frowned a little. “Why are there five?” Victoria rolled her eyes and pointed to the I. “That one’s probably Dad, and I think they turn off when you have it set to itself.” Ed nodded. "That's right." Boris made the universal face of sudden understanding, the ‘oh’ face, before he grinned and ran out of the room laughing as he stuffed the radio in his pocket. “H-hey! Wait for me!” Victoria quickly put her radio in a pocket herself before chasing after Boris, leaving Ed alone in the workshop. Ed shook his head before he started heading back down the ladder. “Those two confuse me with how many illogical decisions they make. What could we be gaining from running around a forest?” He shrugged and began to clean out the reactor again when he reached it. “Eh, it’s not my place to dwell. I’ll leave that to the Captain.” Meanwhile, Boris and Victoria had left the ship and climbed up the first hill they could find. Boris was posing as he looked over the hills randomly before addressing his sister. “Alright Vicky, any ideas on where to first?” Victoria squinted as she looked over the rolling hills of the plains before seeing Canterlot off in the distance. “Let’s head that way, I think that’s where Dad went off to, so if anything happens we can get to him faster.” Boris grinned. “That makes sense! You know, for a know-it-all you’re pretty smart Vicky!” Boris began marching while humming a tune as Victoria facepalmed. (Invention: 1495 years ago) I grumbled a little in the small workshop I had tinkered away at the last of a series of metal joints. “Aaaaaaaaaaaand......” I gave the supporting screw that was meant to hold it in place, yet allow movement one last turn and gave the limb a few test bends. “Done.” I got up and looked at the small robot with a grin. Sure at the moment, all it was was a skeleton made from brass and a few iron bolts, but as soon as I put a crystal in there, it’d come to life... sort of anyway. The BOR-14 was just meant to run around and clean, but would save me from Robin berating me for leaving messes everywhere. “And those moments of ear grating nagging will end as soon as I put a crystal in that there power chamber.” I got up and headed for my supplies shelf and hummed. “Let’s see.... where did I put it again...?” I kept searching for about another five hours, and a ten minute pause as Robin yelled at me to get out of my shop and actually eat something, before I let out a frustrated groan. “Oh for pete’s sake where is it!?” The necklace I had been wearing since I arrived in Equestria started to glow and pull towards the robot before I looked down and noticed it. “Huh?” I took it off and the pull started to get stronger until it had managed to pull me all the way to the machine’s main panel, the one in it’s chest that lead to it’s fuel core, before stopping and glowing a faint green. I looked between the two and hummed for a moment. “I wonder...” I opened the panel, revealing the small reactor chamber I had built, and put the crystal inside. It hovered in place before I closed it and backed away. The robot’s eyes eventually flickered to life, and two green lights turned on in the pupils. The machine’s head rotated around and looked at the room until it’s eyes fell on me. It’s eyes closed and I nearly had a heart attack at what happened next. “HI DAD!” This model was never meant to have voice functions, or be able to close it’s eyes to begin with, so I let out a startled yelp and crashed into my workshop’s wall, knocking down several experimental grappling hooks and giving myself one heck of a knot to deal with later. Robin burst through the door soon after and looked around. “Invention! Are you alri-” “HI ROBIN!” The robot looked over and waved enthusiastically. “I think I broke my dad.” Robin stared at him for a moment before she fainted in the doorway. “Ah! Not you too!” I moaned from under the pile of metal. “Ow...” (Four months later) I wiped my forehead free of sweat as I stood up and looked at the improved body I had made for Boris. I had decided on calling him that about two months into him living with me and Robin, simply because it’s all I could think of after looking at his serial tag that I had put on his chest. About a month in, the kitchen helper I built to help Robin, the 56-EVE, with cooking and my FM-32 recording drone started acting up as well. The 56-EVE had somehow activated in the middle of the night and made both me and Robin breakfast without being given any orders, and I found my Recording drone trying to remove itself from my workshop’s workbench with an incredible amount of gusto and headbutting. I had a hard time not laughing at it, since I had modeled the thing to look like Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist during some of those “poorly drawn” sections. Antennae and all. I had decided around then that it was probably the crystal that was powering Boris was the most likely cause of this, after Robin had told me that she could feel magic overflowing from the metal body’s limbs constantly. I had decided to see if I could build a new one that didn’t need so much magical energy poured into it to achieve movement. So I started building a new model about a month ago and had been working non-stop ever since. I had finished the body’s skeleton easily, but that’s where Boris’ current body ended in it’s similarities with this one. Along with the modified skeleton, I had made several hundred metal cables that relayed over each segment of limb, copying a human muscle in it’s shape and maneuverability. I gave the body of the machine more bend as well, by adding a large pivot ball near the abdomen, smaller pivots in every joint, and moving the power core up to the middle of the chest. The head was given the biggest makeover of all though. Completely redesigned to copy the shape of a human skull, plus metal wires and reels to copy the muscles. The neck was now made of several segments that ended at about the middle of the shoulders and was on it’s own track ball. The chest itself was also made from rib-like segments that would allow for some bend, but not too much, protecting the power core easily. I had modified the hands and feet as well. Okay, modify isn’t the right word as completely scrapped and remade would fit better. The original blocky, clanky feet now had a more proper look towards a human bone structure, and had the same metallic muscles as the hands did. Building was the hands and feet and every last damned reel however was the most painstakingly tedious and finger pricking task I had ever assigned myself. Ever. What was important about all that metal muscle in the end though, was that each reel that was in the body was powered by the crystal reactor inside. Diverting the magic on the inside of Boris from waving around aimlessly and bending reality to move, to instead fueling the reels and pulling each limb to move within its physical limits. I had also added a speaker, and microphone into his mouth and ears respectively, and improved his eyes so they wouldn’t be so darn creepy. Now his speech and hearing wouldn’t have any of that residual magic effect either, and his eyes would not give me nightmares anymore. So all the electrical burns and pinholes in my fingers were either going to be worth it in the end, or I’d have to cry myself to sleep for wasting the past month. I shook away the thoughts and walked over to the shelf to pull out a jar of the PRS gel. I had accidentally made this stuff ages ago when I was experimenting with the crystal reactor by seeing if I could liquidate the crystals in some way and then tried to find out what the liquid was composed of through electrolysis. Let’s just say that Liquid crystal, plus Electricity, equals incredibly skin-like Silly Putty when it finished drying. I looked at the gel, then the robot before I hummed in thought. “I think I’ve just found a use for this crap.” After half an hour of painting, unevenness and cursing, then repainting and adding a nose and ears, and the body I had made, the BOR-15, was finished. I would have mistook it for a real person if I hadn't built it myself and just walked in on it. I walked over to the door and closed it behind me before looking down the hall. “Hey Boris, Come here! I’ve got a surprise for you!”