//------------------------------// // Ergonomically Terrific // Story: My little Short Stories 2- Paradise Edition // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// Ergonomically Terrific Salutations, readers! My nomenclature is Wind Whistler, and my function is Dream Valley's resident chief scientist and engineer. My mate is the fire stallion chief, and my daughter is the little filly, Moondream. My appearance consist of a blue coat and pink mane, along with a pair of asymmetrical wings and a three whistle cutie mark. I am normally the mare all other ponies come to with their technical problems. I'm also the mare all other ponies believe has no feelings. My upbringing was an unremarkable one. Born in Dream Castle, my father was a royal guard whose life functions had ceased before I was old enough to know him. My mother, Wind Wisher, was a former singer and celebrity from Bright Valley. If you were to dig through some old magazines from that town, I'm certain you'd see a young pink earth mare with a purple and aqua mane and pinwheel cutie mark, and wearing a stage show tiara and translucent skirt. Her star having long since faded by the time of my birth, she was determined to keep living in the spotlight through me. When it was discovered that I held the same singing talent, I was immediately put into a rigorous routine of lessons and signing practice from my third birthday. I was a different pony at that impressionable age, a singing and whistling airhead who just thought all the glitter and singing and pretty outfits and spending time with mommy was fun. I also did not realize how jealous my parental unit was of my singing voice, even as she attempted to mold me into a miniature version of herself. Still, I excelled at my special talent, making it into the Dream Valley's foals choir by the time I was five- a record bested by the only superior singer in the castle to me, Medley. That's not to say I didn't have a life outside the performances, however. There was school and friends, of course, My mother was intelligent enough to know I needed some normalcy if I was to develop properly. I was one of the ditzy girls then, and my best friends were Fizzy and Gusty. I had no concern with any sort of intellectual pursuits in those days- can you actually believe I once told my teacher 'gee, math is hard for fillies'? Urgh. My greatest concern during that time was going to the mall in bright valley with the other girls, going on a shopping spree, and getting my hooves done up in the wildest colors. Then the teenage years hit, and I discovered colts. Now, I was never the filly about town that Firefly was; but I did have my share of amorous pursuits in my youth. Most exciting was Four Speed, who would take me four rides in that big, powerful machine of his, the humans called a truck. We'd go racing across the hills and rocks at an accelerated pace, and I admired how he could control the speed and power of that awesome engine. We then experimented with ways to back the back windows of his truck fog up, and Four Speed discovered that I was far faster than that truck of his... *Ahem*, yes, well... suffice to say I was content with my life as an oblivious ditz, until the day my 'benefactors' entered my life. That day left this filly changed forever, and I abandoned the path of shallow emotion for the path of logic. To my advantage, my grades improved astronomically, and my academic progress excelled. But my personal life went to pieces around me. Where once I had been more outgoing and sympathetic when one of the girls was going though their teenage dramas, now I would simply sit back and assess the situation with analytical logic. Four Speed terminated our relationship when I was able to rebuild his engine better than he could. "I don't wanna date a computer on four legs." He told me, ignoring my extremely wordy pleas. But perhaps the most injurious occurrence was my mother's reaction, once she learned my special talent for singing was gone. My teachers said I was concentrating too much on the technical aspects of the music, and not 'putting my heart into the music' or some such sentimental nonsense. She abandoned me as I turned away from my artistic pursuits, and started reading the technical books in the castle library. Mother was never able to accept, that I had become the only pony in history to ever change special talents at the start of my adult life. Most of my friends abandoned me, declaring I had become an emotionless machine. Only Fizzy stayed with me, still acting as if I had never changed at all. Gusty, my one time best friend, felt betrayed and took every opportunity to remind me of my lack of emotions. I buried myself in my work and made many great innovations for Dream Valley. Queen Majesty was so impressed, she gave me the castle's abandoned underground lab to work in. It didn't take long for this Pegasus to get the facility up and running again, and I was soon going about the task of creating many wonders. But despite all my achievements, I still felt a gaping hole in my life, and logic dictated it was from the solitude my new enlightened state had caused me. Ergo, the solution demanded was an end to my solitude- I soon decided it was time to start a family of my own. Chief, the white earth stallion who was the chief of Dream castle's fire and Rescue, seemed like a logical candidate. So when he showed great affection towards me at a moonlight dance on the deck of Captain Barnacle's ship, I consented to a lifebond with him. The birth of our daughter heralded a series of new goals and challenges, which I was confident my intellect could overcome. Having a family has been a very rewarding and enriching experience. But there are times I worry. My voice never rises above it's boring monotone, barely reflecting the anger, or joy, or sadness I'm feeling inside. When Moondreamer was growing up, it was always her godmother Fizzy who held her, or comforted her when she cried. No instinctual maternal reaction came to me. I've heard the other mares gossiping, saying that they heard from the stallions that- that Chief has stated that when we are- when we are together... it's like kissing and making love to a machine, automatically going through the motions. I know he would never state this hypothesis, but even the suggestion has caused me undue emotional distress. Logically, it really doesn't bother an organic computer like myself, why should I care about the primitive emotional reflexes my fellow ponies are afflicted with? I am beyond such petty concerns as sentiment and love, what these walking piles of biological pulp think or feel about me is irrelevant. I don't need these lesser ponies, or their useless 'feelings' to survive. I can function autonomously without their moronic friendship, and am in fact functioning better without them. Every time I tell myself that, I almost believe it... until my heart slowly starts to break, and I hate myself for even thinking it. I love Chief, and Fizzy, and my baby more than life itself, more than any of these silly ponies could ever know. They have no idea how painful it is to see my little baby cry after she's hurt her leg from falling off the swing. And when she needs a mother's affection, the only thing that can come of of my mouth is logical statistics listing why she is not injured that badly. Those monsters... they took my ability to express my feelings, and I am unable to tell the ponies I care about how much I love them. Maybe… it's better this way. Maybe now, I really am nothing more than a biological machine.