//------------------------------// // ...the Beginning of an Adventure // Story: Son of Invention // by Zman537 //------------------------------// (Invention: Ponyville Fields) The trio of fillies who had befriended Boris and Victoria were silent as they shared the side car. I had Scootaloo’s scooter and their wagon securely hitched to the back of my seat and they all were wearing their helmets. Scootaloo herself seemed to be getting more enjoyment out of the ride than the rest, but all three of them were looking ahead. Fence posts sped past us as we got closer towards to Ponyville proper and my worry seemed to grow. It was as if something was off. Eventually, I couldn’t drive closer towards the town without being noticed and parked my bike about half a mile from the town gate. I got up and pointed towards the ground to signal the three rambunctious mischief makers to do the same. “Alright, come on you three. Let’s get you home.” Scootaloo whined as she got out and I handed her the scooter. “Aw come on! Can’t we ride for a little longer?” Applebloom nodded. “Yeah! Wouldn’t it make more sense to just head all the way inta town?” I looked down at her and narrowed my gaze just slightly. “Trust me when I say, it’s for the best.” She seemed to be cowed just enough by the sudden change my face held as I turned to head into town. “Now come on. Let us find your families.” With the three of them following, either on hoof or slowly riding their scooter in Scootaloo’s case, we reached the town gates and saw that there were still many ponies hiding, but a few were now running about calling out the trio’s names. It seems that their families have been busy. I always have been amazed at how the Herd Mentality these ponies have presents itself. If a child were missing from town they go into a frenzy, but should even one member of the town know where the child is they’re perfectly fine. As we got closer, the townsfolk all stopped and stared at me in fear. I stopped at the very edge of the town’s gate and looked at the three fillies. “Now what have you three learned ab-” “SWEETIE BELLE!” With a small groan, I looked up at the source of the interruption and found the very same white unicorn I had robbed earlier. She was currently charging towards us with unbridled rage written across her face. “Get away from my sister you ruffian!” Of course..... It never can be easy for me, can it? I raised a hand and leaned back a little as the trio scurried back into town. Sweetie Belle ran over to the unicorn and had her ears folded down as she did so. “Now madam, I insure you that I intended no harm towards your sister or her...” I stopped mid sentence as the last thing I thought I would ever see in the Equestria I existed in was suddenly present without my calling.  My eyes felt like they were about to pop out of my head as a woman clad in a form of battle armor stood behind the white unicorn next to Twilight. Her eyes locked onto mine and she looked surprised to see me as well. I could only stare at those deep brown eyes as they stared back. “...friends.” I was dumbfounded for the first time in centuries. She held no resemblance to a phantom of any kind, nor did she seem invisible to the other ponies. Another flesh and blood human had arrived in the same Equestria as me. Why must the day I finally get to move my body be filled with so much damned excitement? Just why? I know the universe is fundamentally formed through consciousness and the happenstance of chance, but this is just ridiculous on such a fundamental level, it makes Discord look like a monotone college professor. The woman looked between Twilight and me for a moment before calmly walking up towards me, snapping me from my thoughts. The ponies gave her the same treatment they gave me, and parted whenever she got too close to them. “So... you’re this Invention I’ve heard about?” I put a hand on my sword’s hilt as I looked at her wearily. Real as she may be, that didn’t change the fact that she was an unknown in the current situation, and there’s been way too much damned excitement for one day. “That would be correct. May I ascertain who you are, madam?” She looked over at the white unicorn before whispering towards her. “He doesn’t seem all that evil. You sure about this guy?” I raised an eyebrow. “I can hear you madam. Now I believe I asked for your name?” Maybe I can get through this and not have a mob after me or be played as the bad guy immediately? That would be nice. I’m sure Victoria would like to have another girl to talk to as well. Oh! Maybe she’ll be a sort of mother figure for her, and Victoria will stop being so rule bound. Not that it’s a bad thing, but she really needs to learn to loosen up. The young woman flushed slightly before clearing her throat. “My name is Jenny Eriman, and...” Her eyes narrowed for a moment as she stared at me. “Wait a second.” She let out a small gasp before narrowing her eyes and pointing at me. “You’re one of those guys that vanished two years ago!” Well there went that idea faster than I can blink.... I stopped thinking for a moment before I couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the time gap that she announced. I had figured that with how long I had been imprisoned, time would have moved much slower to be honest. Relationary viewing of other dimensions helped me realize that time is extremely fickle and does simply what it wants when accounting the borders between worlds. Not that it mattered, considering I will never be able to leave this dimension physically. I turned my attention back to her. “While it may have been two for you my dear Jenny, I have been in this land for the past fifteen hundred and some years.” Her eyes widened as she leaned back. “Fif... Fifteen hundred!?” I gave her a small nod and tipped my hat. “That is correct.” She stumbled back and fell to the ground as she stared at me in shock, awe, and fear. “But.... but how? That shouldn’t be physically possible.” “Petrification.” My smile faded and I gazed past her with cold, emotionless eyes. The memories of the time of my imprisonment coming to the forefront of my mind. All the pain and anguish I had inflicted upon myself, just for the greater good. But even when an act is for the fate of life itself, ending the few to save the many should not include who it had. As I gazed at her, I could see the tremor of fear crawl up her body. I shook my head some to clear my mind of the thoughts and tried to smile politely again. Before I could say more though, a royal chariot could be seen in the air. Oh for the love of pete... I ASKED FOR LESS EXCITEMENT DAMN IT! I scoffed a little as Celestia and Luna both arrived in the small town. I turned towards Twilight and glared slightly. “Couldn’t resist informing your princess, could you Twilight? After all, I do recall you being a rather remarkable student of hers.” Twilight leaned back in shock and gulped as Jenny started to get up. The lavender mare stood up and looked back at me with a more determined look on her face. “Invention. Who exactly are you, and what did you do to cause such extreme measures to be used against you?” Celestia, who was still clad in battle armor, trotted up next to her and I could feel the hatred that she held for me still. “He is a madman guilty of committing atrocities upon the world and the genocide of one million ponies.” Every living being was dead silent as I looked over them. Half were paralyzed by fear and crying openly at the mere thought of killing one living being, let alone countless. The other half seemed anxious that I would do something against them or their loved ones, which I do not judge them for. If I were still that naive boy from when I first arrived, then I’d be just like them. Putting myself between them and my friends, or being like the guards and trying to be the hero of the day for protecting the princesses. But I’m not that boy, not anymore. Now I’m but a man, with the sins of ancients upon him. I pressed a little more weight on my sword’s hilt, causing it to glean slightly in the light. “While I admit to the crimes you’ve stated Celestia, Madman seems a little, unfitting to call me. Now is there a reason you’ve taken the time to come and deal with my presence personally, or is this a coincidence on a universal scale?” Celestia snorted in a very unroyal manner and her sword floated off of the chariot and hovered between the two of us. She reared her head back and glared down at me with her wings flared. “I plan on preventing you from repeating your actions, permanently.” Several of her guards surrounded me and lowered their spears. Mentally, I was actually laughing at that display. The guards were like pawns on a chessboard, easily defeated. My focus was more towards Celestia, who could probably rip me a new one after beheading me if I wasn’t careful. Luna glanced at the crowd of civilians who had just gotten extremely nervous at the display of force before she looked back to Celestia. “Sister... we know how adamantly you feel about Invention, but openly attacking him now would be a most unwise decision.” She gave her sister a small nod towards the crowd that would be unnoticeable to most, but Celestia and I both saw it and I smiled a little inside. Luna, you always know how to keep appearances.... okay, there was that incident with the whole crazed jealousy issue, but I’m ignoring that. Celestia growled before her blade lowered and set itself back into the chariot. “Very well, we’ll do this your way first Luna.” Celestia looked back at me and was glaring again. “Invention, you are hereby banished from Equestria. If you decide to remain within the borders after thirty days time, you will be hunted for the genocide you committed and will be punished in accordance to our laws.” I couldn’t help but have a wry smirk. So being imprisoned in stone wasn’t enough? I’ve already outlived any human by several generations, and suffered the mental torment of living so long throughout it’s entirety while also being immobile as well. One would believe naturally that they’d had duly suffered enough after such pain, and yet... “I agree with your choice and accept the punishment.” This shocked Celestia to the point she might have reeled back into Luna if she wasn’t so composed. Luna was equally shocked, as was the rest of the ponies, and person, staring my way. I pressed a hand to my chest and held my other arm out. “That very task was what I planned on doing upon my imprisonment ending. It is the very reason why I had left the castle without causing a scene in the first place. Everything was going fine on my way out of your nation until my ship crashed, of course.” I bowed and lifted my hat off my head. “Despite this, I will follow your commands and be forever gone from your nation by the end of the month.” In truth, I had not intention of doing any of the orders that Celestia had commanded me to do, even at risk of punishment. There were still something going on in Equestria right under her nose, and I planned on finding out what it was and stopping it. I righted myself and looked at the present to gauge the reaction I’d caused. Celestia was the closest one would ever see to being on the verge of a rage induced meltdown, Luna was conflicted about her emotions (She’s always been like this when it comes to people/ponies and things she likes. Moonpies being one), Twilight was also confused and conflicted, and Ms. Eriman... She was staring at me in a mix of confusion, disgust, and horror as if I was Hitler himself and I’d just declared I loved performing the hola in a traditional grass skirt. Celestia looked at me for a moment before she snorted and pointed out of the town. “Then begone Invention. And never return to this land.” I made a mock bow and smiled calmly. “As you wish, your majesty.” As I turned and began leaving the town, the false emotions I’d played across my face melted away instantly and my own concern from what I saw became visible. My thoughts began to move towards the things I had noticed earlier during my time in town. I didn’t like it at all. There was just too much technological improvement, in too little time and with very few errors. I had just skimmed through the book on the world's history and found no disasters that were purely technology based (A few had magic involved). The disaster I had caused wasn’t even in the book to begin with either. These thoughts continued for the entirety of my trip back to my ship, and no matter how I wish I could stop them, I knew it would be quite a while before they did stop. And worse, I just agreed to a time limit without any argument. ... ... I’m a damned idiot sometimes. (Jenny: Ponyville) Jenny continued to stare where the man had just been standing. Her head was a confliction of so many emotions that the only ones that seemed to shine through brightest were confusion, and panic. What... what had just happened? One of several people who had vanished two years ago was suddenly appearing right in front of her. Zeke Torstein was one of the most notorious cases reported, as his family had not only gone into an uproar, but both of his sisters had watched him disappear, along with several eyewitnesses that had filmed it. More so, she had met him after falling through some kind of hole into a magical world full of colorful technicolor ponies herself. A lot of people that were in the same area of his disappearance had claimed to also have been sent to other worlds and to have gone on adventures, but most initially were either ignored or crazy to begin with. Of course, that guy with a staff and tearing space apart like it was crappy paper mache certainly made scientists rethink their theories on space travel, and made some of the stories a little less hard to believe. Jenny gulped slightly as her mind suddenly snapped to a new question. Was... she like them? Did she find out where the other people who’d vanished go? No. That couldn’t have happened. Ever since the incidences two years ago there hadn’t been even one case of a missing person. All she did was accept a sword that her brother had bought her and put it on to see if it’d work well while in her costume. Swords can’t tear reality and make people fall through holes. They’re just tools of war, not starships or magic wands. She shook her head and started to back away from the scene of “Invention’s” recent appearance. That very moment began to cause more thoughts to run in her mind. Was she going to live as long as that man had? Live on for centuries and watch everything around her die? Suffer the anguish that comes from such a fate as it tears apart her mind, leaving her nothing more than a cruel tormentor that casually killed as if it were second nature? Was she going.... to become a monster? Jenny was so lost in her thoughts that she never noticed the large solar diarchs approach her. She nearly jumped out of her very skin, landing on her back as Celestia spoke while looking down at her. “And who is this? Another human?” Twilight suddenly was between Celestia and Jenny and bowed. “P-Princess Celestia, I can explain!” Celestia sighed before looking down at Twilight sadly. “Twilight, there is no need to fear. I will not harm this being simply because she is the same kind as Invention.” Her gaze moved to Jenny and the poor woman shivered. “But I will need to speak with her along side my sister.” Jenny hesitantly nodded as she started getting off the ground and following the royal sisters. (Rarity: Carousel Boutique) During all of the commotion., Rarity had taken her sister back to her boutique and was busy holding onto Sweetie Belle as the small filly tried to break out of the hug. “Oh Sweetie Belle I was so worried! That brute suddenly being in town and you not being anywhere at all, I would have been absolutely devastated if something were to happen to you!” Sweetie Belle groaned and pushed away from her sister. “Rarity, I’m fine! We were just crusading when-” Rarity clutched her tighter and started to cry worried, over dramatic tears. “He must have come by and snatched you away! Oh, that vile creature laying even a hoof on my sister!” Sweetie Belle pushed her sister off of her and looked back up at Rarity. “No he didn’t! We were just playing with our new friends!” Rarity stopped in her tracks as she registered her sister’s words. “New.... friends?” Sweetie rolled her eyes and exasperatedly shouted. “Yes! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” Sweetie started to smile as she thought about her new friends. “Their names are Boris and Vicky! They were really nice and fun to hang around!” Rarity could only blink a few times before sputtering in confusion. “B-but if that is what happened, why were you brought back by that despicable criminal?” Sweetie raised an eyebrow in confusion as she thought about Rarity’s description of Invention. “He didn’t seem that despicable. He really only acted the way dad does when the crusaders get into something we shouldn’t. Boris even said his dad was really awesome, and Vicky said so too.” Rarity’s brain finally came to a screeching halt. “Sweetie.... did you just say ‘dad’?” “Um, yes? Why?” Rarity slowly turned and started heading for the boutique’s main doors. “Nothing Sweetie... just, could you stay here and watch the boutique for a while? I need to talk with Twilight about something.” Her eye twitched as she began to walk out the doorway. “Immediately.” The moment the door closed behind her, Rarity began to gallop straight for the library.