//------------------------------// // February 21st // Story: Closet Pony // by DouglasTrotter //------------------------------// >>>Date: February 21st, Time: 11:15 AM<<< My job applications, should say my failures have started to pile up. Time and time again they all give that stupid, monotone reply "thank you for your interest but we're sorry to inform you that we have nothing available at the time" to me in those emails. I'm just grateful to not be pinching pennies right now. Two weeks have passed since the arrival of the third house guest. All of us had a hard scare when Scootaloo came down with a cold. It sucks when you have to step up to the plate and be the adult in a group. Sure, I'm thirty something, but there are times when I feel like I'm treated like a child. I'm just glad it turned out to be a simple cold. A few days of bed rest got the filly back to her usual silent self. I do find myself concerned at the prospect of a foreign disease. Last thing we need is some "Xenopathenogenic substance" or whatever those scientists would call it. In my spare time, I've managed to tinker with the headset. Days came when I wanted to take this thing out to the car, place it under the back tire, run over it in reverse, and then run over it after putting into drive, repeating things a few times. A bittersweet moment came by accident when I left the headset alone three days ago. The three fillies were examining it when I was out getting a spare part. Sweetie Belle must have been startled when I came home, seeing her levitate it into the air. It felt like I was blinded by the flash of a camera when whatever happened ended. After a couple of moments for my vision to return, the headset floated to the ground. Though intact, it wasn't the same. To my amazement, when I turned the device on with my word program opened on my laptop, Scootaloo whispered something into the microphone and her words appeared on screen. No matter how many times I fiddled with the thing, I couldn't understand how it worked. Yesterday I gave it a mini-test. Today was a full test, Scootaloo being the first guinea pig/filly. Scootaloo came to me rather easily but backed away when stood up. She gave a nervous look to me then came to the laptop. Part of me laughed at the situation while another understood how she felt, probably being scared. With the device on her head, I nodded at the filly. *Note: Copy and paste for my personal entry* "So it's really ok? I can give it a try? Those words are mine? Hey, they're appearing as I speak. This is awesome. Can't I try it out for a bit longer? Let me try it out a bit longer. Please. PPPPLLEEEAAAASSSEEE!" *End copy and paste* Scootaloo bounced around when she saw the words appear on screen. She hovered in the air for a couple of seconds before giving a rather elated smile. The smile faded when I came closer to her. Her headshake was firm, telling me there was no way she would give up the headset. I had to harden my heart a bit, receiving a puppy-dog eyed look, to get the headset back. I wasn't sure if I could explain it well enough to Apple Bloom for her to translate. Scootaloo let out a loud groan, followed by a grunt when the headset was taken. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a wing reached for the headset on my desk. I moved it away further. Apple Bloom's eyes widened as Scootaloo muttered something in an incomprehensible language. I raised an eyebrow at the pegasus filly. She giggled at me. Scootaloo darted toward the family room. If I knew anything about children, it had to be some swear word. "Sorry bout that, heh heh." Apple Bloom said, giggling much like Scootaloo. "Scoot is just a might tired of being unable to heard round here. Not to mean she isn't grateful for the free room and board." "It's alright, Apple Bloom." I said. I gave Apple Bloom a swift pat on the head. "I'm set if you want to return to the family room. I'll do a few minor tweaks to the headset, and Sweetie Belle will be next." Apple Bloom rolled her eyes at me then headed towards the family room. The charge indicator gave me consistent false readings. Despite the 80% reading, I knew it had to be more like 25%. I've put a fresh battery into it, and I'm lucky enough to get ten minutes out of the thing before a recharge. Recharges are the worst since it takes close to three hours. If it were plausible to convert this thing to work off regular batteries, I'm not sure how long it would last. That could be a big money waster there. "Avez-vous besoin de moi?" Sweetie Belle said. I pointed at the device. She shook her head. Apple Bloom came behind her. Both of us locked our eyes on Sweetie Belle. With some words of encouragement from Apple Bloom, I placed the device on Sweetie Belle's head. *Note: Copy and paste translation for Sweetie Belle's words." "Hey! Don't mess up my mane. Wow, it really does work like Apple Bloom said. Are those words mine? This is so neat. Where do I even begin. Don't take it --" *End Note* "Je veux me voir parler un peu plus." Sweetie Belle said, the headset's power cutting off before I took it from her. Her little huff is kind of cute. She tried to use Apple Bloom's puppy dog eye routine, much like Scootaloo tried, but I shut it out. This device will have to aid Scootaloo since Sweetie Belle can speak. Sweetie Belle's newfound skill is quite interesting. It took less than a week to gain control over the languages at her disposal. The reason she picked French is beyond me, but I guess it's personal tastes. Still, she can't seem to speak anything remotely near English. Sweetie Belle shouted from the family room, "Ce est tellement ennuyeux!" It seems, much to my own chagrin, magic has played a role in this device's current form. Another thing I find myself perplexed at is the headset refusing to work with the cord plugged into the laptop. It only seems to work with the batteries -- "Hey! Stop takin the shortcut. We agreed to a fair race on that rainbow road." Apple Bloom said. Now I sit here, trying to tinker with this blasted thing. The more I hear from the family room, the more I regret letting those three play that racing game. Still, it's best for them to have some entertainment. I can't risk them being out during the daytime. "Que sommes-nous en train de manger pour le déjeuner?" Sweetie Belle said. Apple Bloom helped with the translation, saying Sweetie Belle wondered about lunch. "Well, I do have a coupon for some pizza. I think we can squeeze some money out of the food budget to have some delivered." I said. That was my first mistake, being bombarded by questions. My second mistake was saying, out loud, I would order myself some wings. Poor Scootaloo looked at me then bolted toward the back door. I had to stifle my snickering while I explained to Apple Bloom what I meant while she translated it for Scootaloo. The moment stuck in my mind since the word "wings" appeared to be one of the few words Scootaloo could understand. O well, no wings for me. ----End Entry---- >>>Date: February 21st, Time: 3:25 PM<<< This is so awesome. I get write on this thing. Should I say speak? Whatever, this weird stallion thing is giving me a nod with two "thumbs" up as Apple Bloom says he calls them. All of this wouldn't have happened if Apple Bloom had calmed down. So Applejack and Big Macintosh didn't want to use her potion, big deal. She didn't have to storm off to Twilight's library. I'm not sure if the others even know we're gone. Babs is watching the machine for us. Sucks her vacation to Ponyville has to be guardin some machine. Sweetie Belle I can barely understand with that weird crystal messing her up. All I know is that stupid rope got cut. Now I'm stuck here. It's kinda weird. This place hasn't felt right ever since I got here. I can fly. I can really fly, but it takes way more energy. Thought I was going to pass out after I got back down after flying for the first time. Hey, come on. Can't I talk for a bit more? ----End Entry---- >>>Date: February 21st, Time: 3:34 PM<<< The charge didn't last as long as I had hoped. Scootaloo is beyond PO'd right now. It took two minutes to prove the thing's power was drained. Are these new batteries junk, or does it take a lot of juice for this thing to translate? Still, at least we had our pizza. It was funny when the delivery driver came. The three stared curiously stared out the window at the front of the house. When I came back inside, Apple Bloom said, "Can we go outside?" I had to be stern with them. Of course, being stern in my mind and actually being stern in real life are two different things. I'm just glad I had my pepperoni pizza to sedate my appetite. Closet thing I could order for them was some kind of weird amalgamation veggies and extra cheese along with three orders of breadsticks. Four pizzas, sticks, and dessert, all for the low, low, LOW price of fifty-five bucks, coupon included. Had to hand over sixty bucks, telling the driver to keep the change. He wasn't too thrilled with that notion. O well, we won't be doing this anytime soon again. Time for an experiment to see the charge times makes a difference. ----End Entry---- >>>Date: February 21st, Time: 10:35 PM<<< Now I'm starting to see things. This is beyond weird. The three were excited to have some time in the pool around 9 pm. With it being so late, the neighbors were in bed. I had the towels laid out, I got me a drink, and sat outside. Fifteen minutes passed by and I had to come inside to relieve myself. With my business finished, I turned toward my room to see one of the ropes moving. The thing started wiggling around. Each time my hand neared the rope it would wriggle away from it. Out of caution, perhaps paranoia, I put on a heavy welding glove to grasp the thing. It continued to jump around. I tugged on the rope. The rope didn't budge. I pulled harder and found myself being dragged toward night stand. With the rope let go, it stopped flailing about. Apple Bloom came inside, followed by Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Clutched in her teeth, Apple Bloom gave a massive tug to the rope. "What are ya goin on about? There's nothin on the other end?" Apple Bloom said before she left. Sweetie Belle shook her head at me before leaving with Scootaloo. I tried to talk to Apple Bloom, but I received a stern gaze. Her voice matched the previous gaze when she said, "That ain't funny. Ah got mah hopes up for nothin!" No words could undo what I had done. I didn't lie. There was something firm on the other end. It refused to wriggle when I neared it with the gloves a second time, trying several more times on my own. Those successive times were failed attempts as the rope behaved like a normal length of rope. I'm sorry Apple Bloom. I didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't mean to hurt Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo either. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. ----End Journal----