It had been two months since Drek's defeat, and the restoration of the damaged planets, which went off without a hitch. Between that and Gadgetron releasing the anti-pollution air and sea mechas - dubbed the Sparklers by the marketing department - Veldin had actually been declared off limits to tourism just so Ratchet, Clank, and Twilight could have some peace and quiet. While Ratchet and Twilight had both wanted to live quiet, peaceful lives after defeating Drek - at least for a while - both forgot that Drek was broadcasting the destruction of Veldin live...and as a result, their work defeating Drek and restoring dozens of planets across the galaxy was also broadcast live across Solana galaxy. As a result, they were literally the big name in news for a full month afterward.
Eiken had suggested that actually making a few public appearances - and the occasional TV interview - would go a long way towards giving them the peace and quiet they desired. They had thus attended several parades, feasts, festivals, and conventions held in their honor. Twilight had only particularly enjoyed the conventions, as she got to meet and talk with adults who could actually understand some of the technical concepts she brought up. No interviews had been held yet, as Twilight had become painfully aware how things she said casually could affect things due to her sudden celebrity. 12 planets were now vegetarian due to her saying she didn't eat meat, and 20 more had gone vegan as a result of her unease at the sight of a whole cooked lamb, both at the same feast held in the heroes' honor.
Finally, much to all their reliefs, the furor had started to die down and they were able to relax again. Twilight had immediately gone to tinker with all the new toys they'd brought back from out in the galaxy. Ratchet had gone to design something he had in mind that he refused to talk about, and Clank settled for romancing the one female robot who had managed to evade the "no tourism" ban on Veldin.
One morning, however, Twilight had quite a few surprises for Ratchet and Clank regarding her tinkering.
"Wow," Ratchet said as he stared at the result. "That's...impressive."
"Isn't it though?" Twilight asked excitedly, looking up at her creation.
The device itself was rather simple, being a simple sphere of metal image projectors. However, when combined with the signal from a Pilot's Helmet and the included database and high end processor, it expanded outward to generate a complete holographic display of anything the user could think of, complete with a full 360 degree view of the generated image, which could be interacted with physically, by thought command, or by voice or text based commands.(1)
Presently, it was displaying some tweaks to Twilight's armor design, as she was trying to figure out how to expand it for more impact reduction without reducing maneuverability.
"This thing is amazing!" Ratchet praised, looking at the device. "With this, anyone could do what you do when you cause a device to expose all its component parts, or at least a simulation of it!"
"Except without the massive strain you experience when you do so," Clank pointed out.
"That's what I was thinking of when I made it," Twilight explained. "I wanted to be able to experiment like that without massive mental fatigue, so I figured a simulation would take much less energy than the actual thing, especially with the processor taking most of the strain of the computations. I made one for you, too, Daddy!" Smiling, Twilight levitated another simulator over in its compact form; a simple metal sphere on top of a simple metal box.
"Sweet!" Ratchet said happily, taking it into his hands, holding it carefully.
"Can it project things other than technical designs?" Clank asked curiously.
"It can project anything you can imagine," Twilight explained. "But what else would you use it for?"
"Depending on the individual, there are any number of unsavory things the capacity to generate any image you can imagine could be turned to," Clank explained.
"About 90% of it would probably be porn, though, given the statistical nature of people," Ratchet pointed out.
Twilight blinked. "...huh. It's a good thing I never planned to put this design on the market." Twilight shivered a bit. "Well, that's not all I have to show you! Check these out!" Turning, she posed, showing off her new footwear.
"Magnegrindboots!"(2) Twilight proclaimed happily. "After studying your magnet boots and grind boots, I was able to combine their functionality in a single set of foot wear, and use the spare set to make ones for me!" She levitated the new boots over to Ratchet. "Not only that, but the new design will actually allow you to leap off of a surface they're magnetized to without losing your orientation, as long as you maintain a straight line between the bottom of the boots and the surface they're locked onto, so you can jump over obstacles while walking up a magnetized wall!"
"That's incredible!" Ratchet said happily. "What next? Redesign the Swingshot so it can lock onto another Swingshot so you can pull yourself up somewhere after me?"
Twilight shook her head. "That won't work as long as the Swingshot uses a physical cable and hook," she countered. "However, I hear the next model will be using an energy cable! It's still in the very early stages of development, but when it comes out I'll see if I can manage that!"
"Why do you keep making those joking suggestions?" Clank asked Ratchet. "You know she always takes them seriously."
"That's why I wasn't joking this time," Ratchet replied. "Do you have any notion how many of the obstacles we faced pursuing Drek would have been easier for Twilight to clear if she could lock onto my Swingshot and drag herself after me? And vice versa?"
Clank raised a hand, and froze. "I had not thought about that," he admitted. He turned to Twilight. "And how goes converting the RYNO to energy based ammunition?"
"Already completed in theory," Twilight replied eagerly, calling up the design in question on her simulator. "I've already sent the design to Mr. Fixxit so he can see how to produce it cost effectively." She frowned. "He flat out vetoed the energy collector for rearmament on commercial models, though. Apparently, that makes it too dangerous to sell, as the one thing holding someone back from marching into a world with a RYNO model and obliterating everything is the cost of the weapon and its ammunition. If ammunition is suddenly free..."
"I see your point," Clank admitted. "Speaking of, how goes the magical formula? Have you worked out the magic stepladder yet?"
Grinning widely, Twilight called up the formula in question, and the two began discussing the various points of magical theorem and practice. Ratchet, meanwhile, took his simulator elsewhere to work on a project of his own.
Much later, when Twilight had gone into town to pick up some food for that night's dinner, Clank wandered around to find what Ratchet was up to. He found the Lombax a good ways behind their home, entirely focused on his simulator. The image of a suit in his dimensions with wings attached to the underside of the arms was visible. "Highly inefficient," Clank pointed out.
"Waagh!" Ratchet yelped, flailing as he desperately clung to the visualization. "Geeze, Clank! Can't you...I don't know, clank when you walk? I nearly lost the design!"
"The simulator auto saves whatever visualization you were working on in the event of a distraction," Clank pointed out. "As I was saying, that design for a flight suit would at best allow you to glide. It would not provide enough lift to get one of your mass airborne."
"That's where the suit comes in," Ratchet explained. "Micro-gravity generators sewn into the lining throughout the entire thing. When activated, it reduces my gravimetric profile, to the point that - as far as aerodynamics is concerned - I weigh much less than I actually do."
"Greatly reducing the amount of lift you need to generate to get airborne," Clank concluded. "But the amount of energy that would require would mean that you could not wield any weaponry while the suit is active, and you would have to hold perfectly still to maintain the balance of the field."
"Yeah, that latter part is causing problems with the wings," Ratchet muttered. "But I wasn't designing this for combat, or even for regular use. It's only meant for one thing."
"One thing?" Clank asked, confused. Then his eyes widened in understanding. "May I?" Clank asked, gesturing to the simulator. When Ratchet nodded, Clank plugged himself in. In the image, the wings separated from the suit, and extra details were added, slowly expanding. "I believe it would be a good idea to invite Al to install these in me," Clank suggested. "While the problems of energy use and stability will still be present, but I believe this will solve all other problems. Besides, I understand that various companies are currently working on creating other methods of personal flight that utilize energy platforms to charge functionality(3). Perhaps we can design the suit to tap into those for replenishing and activating this function."
Ratchet grinned as the two worked on the design further. "Not a bad idea, Clank. Not a bad idea."
Two weeks later, Al arrived on planet, surprising Twilight. "Al! What brings you here?"
"It's a surprise," Al said with a wide grin. "Ratchet, I brought everything I'll need based on the design you sent me. Rather ingenious, if somewhat inefficient, though I see why. And the suit?"
"Already completed," Ratchet replied. "I'll show it off to Twilight while you install the Pack in Clank. Come on, Twilight."
"O-okay," Twilight replied, torn between the pleasures of seeing something new Ratchet had made and seeing more robotics work. In the end, she followed Ratchet.
Ratchet was wearing a pitch black bodysuit with small white circles sewn into the lining in a pattern not unlike motion capture balls on suits used for CGI characters in films in ages past. "Like it?" Ratchet asked. "I call it the negative gravity suit. When active, it reduces my gravitational field in relation to all things around me in order to effectively reduce my effective weight as far as physics is concerned."
"That's incredible!" Twilight gasped out. "Did you make one for me?"
Ratchet chuckled. "You don't need one, Twilight," Ratchet chided gently. "The basis for this suit is what your own magic does when you spread your wings to glide. I even got the idea from reading pages of 'Flight of the Pegasus'."
"Oh," Twilight replied, frowning. She sighed sadly.
Ratchet grinned, knowing what was bugging Twilight. "Is Clank ready yet, Al?" he called out.
"Yup!" Al replied, walking Clank back. "All ready to go!"
Clank took his accustomed place on Ratchet's back. The new Wing Pack expanded, and shiny metal wings spread from his arm slots, matching in proportion to Ratchet's body the exact dimensions of Twilight's wings relative to hers.
Twilight's eyes opened wide as she realized what the purpose of this suit and Pack was. A huge smile crossed her face as tears of joy fell from her eyes.
"Ready to fly, Twilight?" Ratchet asked, going to all fours on the energy platform he'd prepared, charging the micro-gravity generators in the suit.
Twilight nodded. "Yes!" she said happily, matching Ratchet's pose.
Ratchet smiled as the Pilot's Helmet he wore linked him to Clank's circuitry for working the Wing Pack. "What's the first lesson of 'Flight of the Pegasus'?" he quizzed Twilight as they prepared to fly.
"Feel the wind currents with your feathers..." Twilight recited, as the pair prepared to reach for the clouds.
(1)The holodisplay inspired by this comment by Pinklestia.
(2) The Magnegrindboots and image are thanks to Tangent, and this comment here.
(3) This refers to things such as the Momentum Glider and the Levitator, which can only be activated on specific panels. It's not just Twilight who can come up with new tech that trumps canon availability, after all.