//------------------------------// // Surprises // Story: Son of Invention // by Zman537 //------------------------------// (Invention: The Gilgamesh) I stood about two dozen feet away from Jonathan’s vehicle as he climbed in. His Luna was laying unconscious in the passenger seat and Jonathan was ready to go. “Alright Jonathan, I’ve managed to get you enough fuel to last you seven jumps. It should be more than enough to get you home.” Unless you manage to get totally lost, then it’s good luck to ya. Jonathan just waved cheerily from the driver’s seat as the engine started again and a moment later, his machine had broken the dimensional barrier. In the wake of his presence, a transparent ripple could be seen for a moment before fading from existence. I took a moment to watch the ripples, and silently hopped that Jonathan, despite what he had wanted at first, would eventually find his way back home. Maybe he could even be able to reconcile with his version of Luna. She truly was a nice companion during our time as friends, even if it was limited to only minor encounters secretly at night and multiple attempted arrests that ended in me ‘escaping’. She was one of the only two ponies who would listen to my side of things when I opened my mouth. Her sister Celestia wasn’t as fair to my side of things and was practically hellbent on ‘upholding the law’. I’m positive she was just angry that I walked in on her sister at first, then my constant evasion of the guard only pissed her off more. Of course, nowadays she has every right to be like that towards me and crave to shine sunlight and judgement down on my arse. I do deserve it. To bad for her it appears to be close to the fall seasons. But speaking of shining light. “I never did check to see what those four troublemakers did to my flashlight. I should probably check on that sometime soon.” I started to walk back over to the ship and sighed. “But first, I need to do some collecting. Rocks don’t mine themselves after all. Ed! Where’s the Gaia Hammers?” “They were put in the main hold Captain!” I heard him shout in reply. “The weapons area has a broken wall where they used to go!” A resounding clap sounded across the hills as my hand met my face in a sharp and sudden union. Of course.... what else could have broke in there besides what I need at the moment. I let out a sigh as my hand slid off my face and I headed back inside the ship. “That will be all Ed! Get some rest and watch over Boris and Victoria for me.” Not a moment later, the same two little robots came running in holding a book as if I’d said their names thrice. “Dad! Dad! Look at this!” The duo came to a halt and Victoria held up the history book I had brought back. “Dad we found something we think you should see and-” Boris grabbed the book from her and opened the book to a picture of.... bug ponies? Huh. Never seen those before. “-there are these Changathingies that were attacking ponies that sound like they’re from one of your stories and-” Victoria snatched the book back and glared at Boris. “Don’t interrupt me! I was going to tell him about the elves!” I sighed internally as they continued to bicker. I caught a glance of something from Victoria’s hands before I noticed they were... Um.... what? Boris growled slightly as his gloved hands clenched. “You interrupted me first! I was going to tell him about the Changabobs and you shoved the book in his face!” Victoria started to wave her hands above her head as she shouted back. “They’re called Changelings you dolt, and I did not!” I looked up slowly as the book that was previously in her possession slowly rose towards the ceiling while being a shade brighter. “I thought we were going to tell him about all the stuff that Steel Mind guy stole!” “Hey, I’m not a dolt!” “Yes you are!” “Am not!” “Are too!” “Am not!” “Are too!” Rolling my eyes at their fighting I clapped my hands loudly, causing them both to flinch. “Victoria. Boris. Stop fighting.” They both sighed and slumped a little with an ashamed ‘Yes dad.’ “There now, while I would love to hear what you’ve learned about the elves and changelings, there’s something else I need to ask first.” I crouched down to meet Victoria at eye level and smiled calmly. “Victoria, could you please explain how you are performing a levitation spell?” Victoria and Boris both blinked in confusion. “Huh?” I pointed to Victoria’s hands and then to the book that was pressed against the ceiling. Both of which were coated in a white glow that was occasionally pulsing softly. Victoria yelped in surprise and the glow encasing her hands, and subsequently the book, ceased causing the historical tome to fall. I caught the book as I stood back up and flipped the pages some, taking note of where she folded one in rather far. Poor book, Dog ears belong on dogs, not paper. I’ll have to remind her on the proper use of bookmarks later. Though it seems that my children’s speed reading habits got them farther in the book than I had the chance to get last night. In the meantime however, Boris was staring at Victoria with his jaw about to fall off until a large grin spread across his face that would have put most clowns to shame on size alone. “How did you do that!?” Now that I think of it, that pink pony from the town possibly could still best this grin I’m seeing. She was rather happy despite supposedly being in on the manhunt the six mares were putting out for me. Now that I think about it, the others of that group all seem familiar. Wonder why... On second thought, scratch that. The last two times I’ve heard names of theirs only brought excruciating pain. Victoria was busy looking at her hands when I snapped back to reality. “How... how did...?” I could see that she was completely flabbergasted at what had just happened, so I did what good dads are supposed to do to the best of my ability. I stood back up and put a hand on her shoulder and smiled down towards the confused young girl. “Victoria,” she looked up at me and my smile grew a little, “when I get back, I’ll help you figure out what happened just now. But for now I have to head out again, and this time I expect both you and Boris to stay on the ship. Alright?” They both gave me a quick nod. “Alright then. Just stay on the ship, and I’ll be back for dinner.” I saw Victoria raise her hand and I chuckled. “And yes, I’ll be sure to read about what you two told me. Don’t think I didn’t notice you folding the pages again young lady.” After rummaging around and finding the gaia hammers, a moment was spared on quick farewells and in Boris’s case some good luck for me as well. I was headed for the caves I had found the gems in yesterday because if my hunch was right, there should be various ores further down in the cave that are ripe for the picking. Hopefully I won’t find any Mythril while down there when I do find some ore. That was hard enough to smelt before I lost all of my equipment, and it was always in the middle of the ores I needed. (Celestia: Canterlot) As she sat in her throne, Celestia politely smiled down at the partitioner who had just finished speaking. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Any news on a possible changeling sighting is greatly appreciated. You may go, and I wish you a safe travel back to Manehatten.” The pegasus messenger bowed before leaving the throne room. When he was gone from sight, Celestia looked over to her aide, a burgundy unicorn that was seated just out of sight near the throne. “That was the last one?” Her aide flipped through a few papers she had in a stack next to her before nodding. “Yes your majesty. The next partition is not until after lunch, which I might add, was delayed just for Private Stalwart Heart.” She began to write down the last of Celestia’s response to Stalwart Heart, frowning slightly the entire time. Celestia looked over at the throne room’s various windows, each one depicting a different moment in the past. As she let herself get lost in thought, she calmly spoke. “Sapphire, send word to the head of Manehatten’s guards that there may be a changeling hive located nearby and to increase the guard patrols. Preferably in a way that won’t cause too much notice or an uproar. The last thing we’d need is a panic if there are truly changelings in the city while an investigation is being executed.” Sapphire started to write down the orders as she normally would, but stopped as she drew towards the end. “Your majesty, if I may?” Celestia looked over at the burgundy mare and gave her a curious look. “It may not be my place to say, but you seem... off. Is there something troubling you?” Celestia shook her head gently and smiled. “It is nothing to concern yourself with Sapphire Script. The increase in activity as of late has just worn me out slightly.” Sapphire raised an eyebrow, but decided not to press further. This course of action was one that, in her mind, would be crossing a boundary she shouldn’t. When Celestia reminisced, it normally would bring a smile to the diarch. Seeing the same actions bring a lost gaze and frown to the princess’s face only made Sapphire more nervous. (Jenny: Golden Oaks Library) Twilight and Jenny were both upstairs in the unicorn’s study. The lavender mare was going over the letter for Celestia for what could be considered the seventieth time, before she smiled. “Alright, it’s ready to send! Now I just have to give this to Spike an-” Twilight paused with her mouth hanging open until it slid into a deadpan. “Aaaaand I sent him off to play with the Crusaders...” Jenny smirked a little as she looked away. “And here I thought she was the smart one...” Twilight’s ear twitched slightly before she looked towards her guest with a raised eyebrow. “What was that?” “Oh, nothing.” Jenny and Twilight both sat silently for a while as the situation became a beacon to the socially awkward. “So uh... what do we do now?” Jenny asked, hoping to break the stagnant mood the room had fallen into. Twilight hummed a little as she tapped her chin. “Well... I guess we could go and introduce you to my friends. You’ve already met Rarity, if only a little bit, so that still leaves the rest...” Twilight started to brighten up at the idea of Jenny and her friends meeting. Maybe she could be a new friend in the small circle she’d made since coming to Ponyville. “I think it would be a great idea.” Jenny chuckled a little as she stood up. “I hope so. Oh and um...” Twilight paused from her musing to listen. “Could we uh... go somewhere I could get some new clothes when we do head out? I uh... only have what’s on me.” Twilight giggled some as she started to trot out of the room with Jenny in tow. “You don’t have to worry about that. Remember Rarity? She’s the town’s local dressmaker, so I’m sure that it won’t be too difficult.” As they entered the main room of the library, Twilight stopped for a moment and looked back towards the knightess. “Do overly excited ponies and rapid speaking bother you any?” Jenny just blinked a few times before her face scrunched in confusion and worry. “Um.... no?” Twilight grew a small smile as she started to look back at the open doorway, specifically the pony who had just come in. “Well-” “HI!” Jenny, in her surprise, jumped the last few steps and spun around to find an extraordinarily pink pony grinning at her from the railing she was perched upon. With a squeal of joy, the pony slid down the railing and came to a stop next to Jenny, hoof outstretched. “I’m Pinkie Pie and it’s nice to meet you!” Jenny hesitantly took the hoof and returned the greeting. “I’m Jenny... it’s nice to meet you too?” Pinkie hopped off the railing and smiled as she sat down. “Okie Dokie Loki!” For a few moments, no one moved in the silence that had filled the room. Eventually, Twilight remembered how to blink before looking at Pinkie. “Wait... that’s it?” The party planner glanced over at Twilight and pulled out a pair of swirly glasses so she could look over the top of them. “Were you expecting something long and incomprehensible?” After a bout of sputtering and trying to form words to articulate the amount of confusion that was going through her brain, Twilight just sighed and trotted to the door. “Let’s just get going...” Both Pinkie and Jenny nodded, though some more enthusiastically than others due to a massive fit of giggles, before they followed the headache suffering librarian. Jenny walked just behind Twilight and to the right of Pinkie. She couldn’t help but feel sudden worry crawl up her spine as she noticed the mischievous grin on Pinkie that was barely hidden behind her cheeriness.