//------------------------------// // Tests, History, and Foreign Royalty // Story: Son of Invention // by Zman537 //------------------------------// (Jenny: Twilight’s Library) Jenny gulped slightly as Twilight started leafing through a large tome at her desk. Spike was still somewhat wary of being near her, but had this grin that was unsettling her as he stood next to Twilight. “Um... Twilight? This isn’t going to cause some kind of accident is it? Like a second head... third arm...” Jenny shrank into her seat a bit and grabbed a pillow. “Please? I like me the way I am.” Twilight looked up from the book and sighed. “Jenny, for the tenth time, I’m only going to perform a scanning spell. It will do nothing to you that is permanent, and show me what your magic is like.” She went back to the book as a scroll floated over and bopped Spike on the head. “And stop messing with her Spike, I know she scared you earlier but you’re taking it too far.” Twilight paused and leaned towards the page for a moment before standing and closing the book. “Why don’t you go and play with the Crusaders? I’m sure they would like to try again at being Gem Hunters.” Spike groaned a bit at being caught as he headed for the door. “Yeah... or dragon tamers...” With Spike out of the library, Twilight looked back over to Jenny with a small, but exited smile. “Alright, now that that’s out of the way and I’ve found the spell, we can get started!” Jenny was still clutching the pillow as she looked at Twilight. “What uh... exactly is this going to do?” Twilight rolled her eyes for a moment before she started to channel her magic. “The magic scan spell is just something that broadcasts the color and type of magic that a living being has to any in the nearby vicinity by producing an aura around them that matches their magic’s color and type.” Twilight’s horn brightened briefly as Jenny continued to look at it nervously, though she did put the pillow away. “It will do nothing to harm you Jenny.” Before Jenny could respond, Twilight fired off the spell and a bolt of purple magic struck the knightess in the chest. The air around Jenny began to crackle as arcs of electricity danced across her body and through a miasma of light blue light. Twilight looked at the spectacle in slight surprise, as Jenny tried her hardest not to freak out. After thirty seconds the air around Jenny turned back to normal, and the young woman was clutching onto the couch in a death grip. Twilight hummed slightly as she pulled out the book and started to reread the section the spell was on. “That’s strange... that wasn’t any of the listed reactions. I figured it would give a similar aura as it does with elves, but...” Jenny just looked at Twilight for a moment in disbelief. “Twilight, I was just covered in lightning. Please don’t say stuff that can translate to “that wasn’t supposed to happen.” I feel like my heart’s about to explode from sheer panic.” Twilight winced slightly and gave Jenny an apologetic smile as she rubbed the back of her head. “Er... sorry about that. I may have been thinking out loud.” Twilight turned back to the book and frowned slightly. “Still though, I’m not sure what to make of the spells results.” For the next couple of minutes, Jenny took several deep breaths to calm herself as Twilight sat at her desk, leaning over a scroll and muttering to herself. When her heart finally slowed down, Jenny looked back over at Twilight. “Um.... Twilight? I know I was freaking out not long ago about this very topic... but could you explain just why the reaction was strange?” The lavender librarian perked up and looked over at Jenny. “Certainly.” She levitated the parchment over to Jenny and started going over her notes. “The spell’s effects, as I said earlier, broadcasts the color and type of magic that the target possesses. The results can also depend on the species of the target, and other variables.” Twilight trotted up and lifted one of Jenny’s hands. “With how your body was structured, I figured that it would have a similar reaction to elves and minotaurs.” She poked Jenny’s fingers slightly with her magic and furrowed her brow. “Though the aura was similar in shape to elves, any form of lightning tends to only appear when the spell is used on Pegasi and Griffons. And even then, it’s only when they show great prowess in speed flight or weather control.” Jenny blinked in confusion a few times before she glanced over at Twilight. There are elves here too? I thought this place was just filled with talking ponies and dragons. And what was that she mentioned about minotaurs and griffons? Twilight shook her head slightly. “But I’m getting off topic slightly. The results for elves normally has a nature based appearance of leaves or flowers, sometimes even dust or wind, and forms similar to how the spell reacted to your magic. But with how it formed lightning, shows that you have a similar magical structure to elves, but have an affinity for storms like most pegasi.” Jenny looked at the door for a moment, silently hoping a little that someone would come though, before she looked at Twilight again. “So... what does that mean?” Twilight gave an exasperated sigh as she slumped a little. “It means that you could probably learn how to shoot electricity from your hands with enough practice, the same way elves are known for manipulating the forests.” Jenny looked at her hands again and wiggled her fingers. “That’s... admittedly a little cool, but still kinda freaky.” Twilight hummed slightly as she nibbled at the tip of her quill. “Jenny, is it alright if I ask the princesses for help? I know they’re still tense about Invention, even though he surrendered easily, but they might be able to get us some help with you learning to use your magic.” Jenny jumped slightly in her seat, staring at Twilight yet again in disbelief. “Wait, you want me to be shooting lightning bolts from my fingertips!?” The lavender mare shook her head. “No, nothing like that. But if what you said earlier is true, and that your kind has never been able to wield magic before, it might be a good idea for you to learn how to use it so you don’t accidentally hurt somepony.” Jenny licked her lips and looked away for a moment. “Well...” With a sigh, Jenny slumped slightly and looked back at the librarian. “Alright, you have a point.” The knightess stood up and walked over to where Twilight was writing. “Let’s start writing.” (Boris and Victoria: The Gilgamesh) Both Boris and Victoria were laying on the floor of Boris’s room. The young robots each had their eyes glued to the pages of the books they held. Boris sighed as he flipped the page of the Daring Do book he was reading, causing his sister to look over for a moment from her book on world history. She rolled her eyes and started to continue to read until she found a specific entry that caught her interest. “Hey Boris?” Boris flipped his book shut and sat up to look at Victoria. “Yeah?” Victoria looked down at the pages of her book and squinted slightly as she scanned over some of the details that the specific entry held. “Do you remember there being anything called a Changeling?” “Huh?” Boris cocked his head to the side as he got up and walked over to look at the book with Victoria. As he did, Victoria pointed at one of the entries. “Right here. It says, roughly 1500 years ago, strange insect like monsters started to appear and attack Equestria and the neighboring countries. Any who were caught were never seen from again, and were replaced by the changeling taking their form. The black visage of the changelings has since been the source of nightmares for all species of the world, despite having vanished along with the Crystal Empire.” She put her finger next to the article where an image depicting a drone was displayed. “There’s even a picture of one right here.” Boris leaned back some as he scratched his head. “It sounds made up to me Vicky.” Victoria deadpanned at the wall before she looked at her brother. “Boris, this is a history book. Not a fiction novel like that Daring Do stuff Dad grabbed. Why would anything in here be made up?” Boris crossed his arms and turned away from his sister. “And that ‘Changeling’ stuff sounds like all those horror stories about vampires and zombies and doppler-what’s-its that Dad would tell us.” “It’s called a Doppelganger Boris.” Boris huffed. “You know what I mean... It sounds like a load of junk. The only one I know that could do that was Robin, and that’s because she had a spell to do that.” Victoria rolled her eyes and looked back at the book. “Well anyways, there’s more on the next page. It says during the time they existed, the changelings attacked not only the ponies, but any bipedal races thy found to the brink of extinction. While most died off, the Elves and Minotaurs managed to survive, by turning to Equestria for help, and sharing their knowledge in return.” Boris looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. “So what? Did these change-a-bugs have a thing against having two legs and being smart?” Victoria shrugged as she flipped through her book. “I don’t know. But if they did, I’d worry for the changelings. Dad wouldn’t be happy if they started attacking us.” They both were silent for a bit before Victoria smiled. “The elves sound interesting though. Want to see if the book has something on them?” Boris tapped his chin for a moment before shrugging. “Sure. I finished that Daring Do book a while ago. I got nothing better to do other than sneak into Dad’s work room again.” “You really ought to stop doing that.” Boris rolled his eyes. “It’s not my fault that Dad has lots of cool things!” Victoria flipped a page and sighed. “Nevermind...” As his sister kept flipping through the book, Boris reached under his bed and pulled out the gloves he’d found earlier and put them on. “Hey Vicky!” He stood back up and posed as Victoria looked up at him. “How do I look?” “Like an imbecile.” She flipped through her book again as Boris fumed, before she perked up. “Here’s a part about the Elves!” She looked at the pictures and blinked a few times. “Huh... they look a lot like Dad. Well, if Dad had pointy ears and narrower eyes.” Boris looked over her shoulder as he jumped onto his bed. “What’s it say?” “It says a lot of stuff about elves on this page.” She squinted her eyes and hummed. “Let’s see... They live to the west of Equestria, past the Minotaur and Griffon lands... They can use magic like Unicorns... Their home is in a large forest...” She frowned and leaned back on the bed to look at Boris. “Most of it is just the same stuff again in different words or just listings of capital cities and how elves can control nature.” Boris sat against the wall. “Well that’s boring.” “There is this bit about them having really good technology.” Victoria turned back to the book. “Apparently they gave Equestria most of it’s technology and rather recently too. They had an inventor named Steel Mind make most of it about a hundred and fifty seven years ago. They even have pic- Hey!” Victoria looked down at the pictures of the inventions made by the Elf and blinked in shock. “Half of these look like Dad’s designs!” Boris looked over and scowled. “Hey, you’re right! That looks like the oven dad made!” “And there’s his grapple gun!” “And his engine too!” Victoria folded the page and closed the book and stood up. “I think we should show this to Dad. He should definitely know about this Steel Mind guy.” Boris nodded in agreement and they both headed for the outside of the ship. Neither noticed the small white glow coming from Victoria’s hands. (Invention: 1493 years ago) In the darkness of my workroom, I continued to fiddle and tinker with my latest project as my thoughts raced. I shook my head from the distracting imagery and looked back at my workbench with a sigh. This was probably the last time I could ever build this kind of machinery without having some form of severe consequence smiting me in the arse. I had even left the eyes void of coloring to see if the crystal would have any effect on them. Reaching over to the small, red, triangular gem that sat on my desk, I picked it up gently and gazed at my reflection for a brief moment before placing the gem into the central power core. Closing up the opening on my latest addition to my family, I stood and stepped away as the power began to flow through it’s body. Unlike the siblings of this young life, I had decided that a different approach was needed to see if it was how I built their bodies that decided certain mental constructs and ideologies. Unlike the others, I had mainly given the body basic knowledge of the english language, and movement. After all, there would be no more chances after this. The small robot lit up just like Boris and Victoria did, and looked around the room with fiery eyes of amber that were filled to the brim with curiosity and confusion. The brown hair that adorned it’s head shifting as the robot’s gaze changed focus from one object to another. When it looked over at me, I smiled and offered a hand. “Hello young one. Can you tell me your name?” It opened it’s mouth hesitantly before a slow drawn out attempt at speaking reached my ears. “Come on, you can tell me.” It’s face scrunched up before a distinctly male, if high pitched, voice came from his mouth. “A...Al....Al....ex. Alex.” His face brightened and he looked up at me. “Alex. I... I... am Alex. I am Alex!” His actions seemed so childlike. It was what I had expected though, considering he was born from the remaining fragment of me. Spirit, the part of me that still had let me believe in ‘god’. The part of me that held my passions, and determination. When I had made the crystal powering young Alex, I had a sudden feeling of content... of calm. I wasn’t depressed or sullen, but I lacked the same force I once had. The same driving passion. I broke from my thoughts to find Alex looking at the various gadgets on the wall with a amazed gaze. I chuckled to myself as I cleared my throat and drew his attention back over to me. Apparently, it also held my curiosity from when I was a child. Alex reached up to me and I let him place a hand in mine before I pulled the small boy into a hug. “It is a pleasure to meet you Alex. Would you like to know who I am?” Alex nodded and smiled gently. It was a smile that I couldn’t help but return. “My name is Invention. I’m your Dad. Your Father. You got that Alex?” He loudly laughed and started hugging my stomach. “Dad!” I laughed and rubbed his head. “That’s right Alex. Dad. Now, before we do anything else today I would like to introduce you to some others you should know.” (Invention: The Gilgamesh) Four whole hours after I had asked the solar knight to gather the gems like I had asked, and I had gotten quite a bit done. In that time, I had managed to head towards the forest and cut down three trees and used the Psycho to drag them closer to the ship. I assumed that Ed do most of the lumber work once I repaired any damages on him, so I had done some work on his arm and had gotten it movable. I also had managed to get the breakfast that Steve had made me down my gullet. Boris and Victoria were both busy devouring the books I had brought as well. At the moment, however, I stood next to the machine Jonathan had arrived in as I waited for him to return. I had made sure to grab my bandoliers before coming out, just incase he decided to do something... regretful. It’s not that I have anything against the man, but he’s literally wishing for me to simply give him a piece of my son’s heart/brain/soul. Yeah, not happening. I stopped my mental ranting before sighing and looking at the sky. “Just where is that man? It’s been almost five hours, and the gems in that cave aren’t that hard to find.” I pursed my lips for a moment before a thought struck me. “Could something have held him up? If that were the case, it would need to be incredibly powerful. I have this... feeling I’ve seen that staff before today. But where?” “Run!” A faint shout came from the distance, causing me to turn and look. Jonathan was running towards the machine a few burns on his armor. “Run!” I raised an eyebrow and looked at him in confusion. “What are you...” “The Darkmoon!” I just stared at him, blinking a few times before shaking my head. “I’m sorry but.... What?” He skid to a halt next to me and brought his staff out. “Okay... I outran them... I...” He shook his head and looked at me. “Get out of here. Now. Take the ship as far as you can.” I looked at him for a moment like I would at Boris when he did something stupid. “That would be possible, if not for the gigantic hole in the side of it, broken reactor cores, and possible rot throughout the hull.” “Oh.” He hung his head. “Fine... Alright, I can use your help anyways.... How many sins have you committed?” I looked him in the eye and let my emotions fade. “Too many to count. Slaughtering millions in an instant tends to make it so.” That and killing your own child and... I drew my blade and sighed to shake the train of thought. “And judging from your burns, I’d say I’ll need this.” “Great.. Okay!” He clapped his hands. “Lack of usage to a new body gave us some time, but not a lot. Especially since something gave her magic.” He pulled out a small cloth with bits of hay in it. “Hope the ol’ miracles work...” I raised an eyebrow. “Um... her? Which “her” are you referring to?” A shout from a ways away caused him to cringe a bit. “Princess... Luna...” He growled out. “There are three ways to get rid of her. Run out her time limit, kill her, or I get close enough to banish her.” I flicked my blade a few times in my grip with a sigh. “This better not be the Luna of my dimension. Otherwise this might take a while for various reasons.” I reached into my coat and pulled out a silver pocket watch with a large lightning bolt across the front. “This might make it easier though.” “She’s from mine, and she’s the embodiment of the moon, so no worries.” He rolled his shoulders. I was mentally facepalming at his last comment. Of course she’s the embodiment of the moon you nitwit! She’s only the Lunar Princess in every dimension I’ve viewed with cosmic levels of power coming from it! I clearly had thought she was the princess of CUPCAKES! “She’s also a human.” Now that made my eyebrows shoot up enough to nearly knock my hat off. “Well, this shall be interesting to see.” “If by interesting you mean odd then yes.” He lifted his right arm in the air. “Here she comes.” I looked over and saw..... oh my. To say that I did not have a blush from seeing the size of her bust would be saying that Mount Everest was small. I did take notice however that the incarnation of Luna that was before me was becoming increasingly angry simply at the sight of Jonathan. “What exactly did you do?” “Um... Asides from fucking her I did also start an entire civil war, nearly overthrew their rule, and I also fed her bacon.” I just looked at him for a moment before I shrugged and whispered. “That doesn’t even compare to what I’ve done overall, but she doesn’t know that, now does she?” I walked slowly up towards the lunar diarch and made a polite bow. “Hello fair Princess. My name is Invention. May I inquire what it is you are here for, as we are located near my home?” “Him.” She pointed over at Jonathan, who waved. “I’ve had enough of his idiocy, and I’m stopping it now.” She started marching over. I held out a hand, politely stopping her from walking closer to Jonathan as I approached. “That will not be necessary my dear. I am currently devising a way to send him back to his own dimension, and I am sure that you may be able to travel along side him to your own along the way.” I pulled out the pocket watch and clicked the top before placing it into her hands and curling her fingers as the watch ticked away. “But for a moment, could you hold this for me? Just for a moment.” As the confused princess looked over the watch, I moved back to stand next to Jonathan before I leaned over slightly. “I’d wish I wasn’t in a metal suit if I were you.” “Nonsense. I’ll be-” The watch’s magi-electrical charge went off seconds later, sending large arcs of electricity across the nearest ten foot radius, striking Jonathan as he acted as a human lightning rod. A few stray sparks did strike me as well, but it was a great deal less painful than what Jonathan had to have been experiencing. As the shower of lightning ended, he stood there frozen for a second before groaning. “Those are third degree burns. I’m sure of it.” I chuckled slightly as I walked up to the now stunned, twitching, and unconscious Luna that lay on the ground. “But at the same time, you can now head home without her beheading you.” “I wasn’t joking.” He was lightly smoking. “I have third degree burns on eighty percent of my body.” Jonathan coughed a little and spat out blood from his helmet. “I... May need a bonfire...” More coughing, and blood came out. “Yep I need a bonfire.” He fell on his knees and weakly grabbed a sword. “Ow....” I looked at him for a moment and started to get lost in my thoughts. Here was another human, like me, who had committed atrocities on his world. I could help him, and make a bonfire. Or I could let him fend for himself. Eventually I sighed and looked over at one of the trees I had cut down earlier while waiting for him and walked over. “Give me a second.” I slashed at the branches and brought a decent about over before setting them in front of the knight. “There, some fuel.” I still have no idea how this is going to help, but I’m out of potions at the moment so I’ll just listen to the guy and hope for the best. I reached into my coat and pulled out my guns and loaded in a ruby bullet. “Stand back.” He shakily stood up and walked a ways back, and I fired a small fireball into the mass of branches, igniting them instantly. He looked at me before shrugging off his helmet and sitting down, sighing as his burns began to slowly heal. “Thanks....” I sat down next to him and simply watched the flames dance before my eyes. “Think nothing of it... It was the least I could do. I don’t like collateral damage.” He cracked his neck as his hair grew back. “This is always the odd part...” He chuckled. “Waiting for the damage to repair.” I chuckled darkly as I continued to stare at the flame. “I don’t have that luxury. If I’m wounded, I’m wounded. Only proper medical attention would fix the damage.” We both stared at the flame for a moment before I spoke up again. “Jonathan. What would you do, if you learned that the entire world you were in was made from pure consciousness, down to the very fabric of reality?” “Hmm... Consciousness can be warped, and it is within all things to warp and try to find out how long it’ll take before something finally snaps.” He chuckled darkly. “My experience anyways.” I kept my eyes on the dance of fire before looking over at him. “That is quite the experience, considering you like to break physics.” He stayed silent for a little before sighing. “I have died over one thousand times. Stabbing, burning, ghosts, having my head mounted on a pike. I’ve grown used to it....” I looked up at the sky and noticed that it was about 4 o’clock. I watched the clouds lazily drift by with a sigh. “That is quite unfortunate. If you were also one to reside in this dimension I might have been able to free you from that fate.” At a cost. I have a feeling that he'd have some objections to having his consciousness torn apart and remade in a new body. “How lovely... We’re talking about things that can’t be.” He reached over and scraped the inside of his helmet before putting it back on. “Give me time and I can hopefully fix some of what I’ve done.” He stood up and walked over to the car. “Also, nice sword. Little bit of magic from a binary star does wonders don’t you think?” I chuckled and lifted my blade, watching the flames glint and dance across the reflective surface. “That it does, but I can’t even use it’s full potential, seeing as I don’t have an ounce of magic in my soul, let alone my body.” I stood up and popped my back before looking at the knight. “But I digress. How did your gem collection go? Did you manage to find what I asked for?” "Yep." He pulled out a pouch and poured some gems out. "Gotta be careful... Still hot." He chuckled. I smiled and put the gems back into the pouch. “This will work.” Even though I was expecting something, Oh I don’t know.... bigger in size? At least this manages to hold it all. I took them back over to where I had been standing next to his machine and shouted back over to my ship. “ED! Bring me my gem grinder!” I have some work to do!