After the demonstration, I sent Silver and my recruits on a running exercise while the researchers, Twilight, and I headed to Twilight's lab so I could explain the various tech I luckily managed to bring back with us to Equus. Though when I asked Twilight on how I managed to pull that off, she believed that in this case, my teleport spell might have acted with an area of effect, based on how I even brought along the table, my old clothes, and the box full of those paste tubes. However, Twilight wasn't able to find out why that happened, which led me to start thinking that Pinkie may be rubbing off me more than I thought.
After that short discussion, we arrived at Twilight's home. As we headed downstairs to look at all the 'toys' I brought home, Twilight decided to rain on the parade. "Aether, just how much of the stuff you brought are... weapons?"
"Umm... I think a third of them are that... Light, you need to make up a name for the weapons in general, it gets tiring to not be able to have a... name for the group of them," I said.
"A third! Don't we have enough weapons based on how you and Light talk all those alien weapons we already have?"
"Twilight, here's a lesson for you, there are so many weapons, with so many different kinds of the same weapon type, that what we have is just barely scratching the surface. I’ve just gotten a few more of the basics along with a couple different kinds to help give the scientist ponies more ways to understand how the weapons work," I calmly said as we entered the lab. Looking around, I saw that most of the stuff was neatly placed at one side of the lab, while the remnants of the Xartik hunter was placed on a table at another side. "So... what do you want to know first Twilight?"
"Well..." Twilight started to say, as her eyes drifted to the remains of the Xartik for a second before snapping back on me. However, that one second was enough for me to know what was going on in her mind.
"Sometimes your curiosity is too big for your own good," I dryly commented before making my way over to the broken robot. "Well, come closer so I can answer questions that I know the both of you would have after I give you the basic explanation." At this, everypony came over in excitement, though the researchers looked at the remnants with more confusion compared to the glee Twilight had. Guess knowledge alone was enough to excite this alicorn, even if it is about something that attacked her a week ago. "To start things off, this is a... machine tha—"
"Wait, is that thing a robot?" Light asked, only for me to frown at his interruption before I tilted my head in confusion.
"Robot? Twilight, what does that word mean?"
"Well, it's science fiction... but with all things considered lately maybe it's not fiction anymore. A robot is a mechanical construct that can act like a living being and perform tasks," Twilight explained.
"Okay... that word applies quite well... so yes Light, this is a robot. Specifically a Xartik robot."
"Xartik?" Volt asked.
"That's just a name, so no translation for that. This robot belongs to the Xartik Empire, which mostly relies on robots for physical operations. Don't know what exactly controls them, so we only see Xartik robots for the most part. However, they come in different types, built for specific roles, though I don't know the name for this particular machine, though it's a word that one might use for the predators in the Everfree forest," I said as I rubbed my chin in thought.
"Oh? Maybe I can help you figure out a word for it," Twilight declared.
"Can't hurt to try, and we will need names for them in the future... though I hope not."
"Why is that Dame Aether?" Light asked.
"Well... simply put, the Xartik Empire is one of the more aggressive interdimensional forces out there. I don't know if that robot was the only one that found us or if there were others along with it. Odds are it either attacked due to... certain 'matters'—" I gave Twilight a quick glance as I said that "—or they may have spotted us and sent that robot to retrieve one of us for... study."
"Study? What kind of study do these Xartik's do?" asked the one sole researcher whose name I didn't know.
"The kind with a knife and your belly," I deadpanned, causing the three scientists to blanched at the thought.
"Aether, that was just mean of you to say," Twilight reprimanded. "These ponies are here to le—"
"I wasn't joking Twilight," I countered, causing her mouth that was previously open for the purpose of talking to just widen further as she gaped at me for a moment in shock. "For future questions that involve how aliens would study, majority of them would do it in rather painful and lethal ways, understood?" Receiving jerky nods from the group, I continued, "As I was saying earlier, Xartik robots come in different kinds, to suit different purposes. Some are built for various roles in war, some are built for chasing down aliens in cities like the one right before you all. Its specific role is finding and capturing targets."
"I'm surprised that you know this much about this Empire and their robots..." Twilight commented.
"It's more common knowledge than anything else really. One way to avoid getting stomped on is to know who the big shots are and do your best to avoid them."
"Sounds like whatever this thing is, it's like a hunter," Light mused as everypony took notes as they examined the machine.
"'Hunter'? Twilight, mind telling me what that means?"
"It means something that hunts other beings, like a predator hunts prey for food. Oh! Could that be the word you're looking for, Aether?"
"Probably, sounds close enough that it might be right. I'll look it up in a dictionary later." I stepped away from the robot, making my way to the pile of tech. This drew everypony's attention as I start rummaging through it.
"Aether, we don't need to see how some of the weapons you brought back work. I'm sure Light and the oth—" Twilight started to say before I found what I was looking for, a brace that I carried over to another part of the room. "...That doesn't look like a weapon..."
"That's because it's not a weapon Twilight," I replied as I rolled my eyes at her. After awkwardly placing the bracing around my leg, even though it's a too large for it, I held it up as a wave of blue washed over my body.
"Aether! What are you doing‽"
"Relax Twilight, it's just a personal shield."
"A personal shield! That's... amazing!" Twilight exclaimed as she and the researchers rushed over to me. Smiling in delight, she did an experimented poke at me, only for her hoof to literally poke me. "Huh?"
"The shield is designed to react to certain kind of threats. Anything energy base or coming at me with enough force would trigger the shield. For everything else, the shield doesn't activate. Let me demonstrate," I explained as I used my magic to grab a random notebook, tossing it as hard as I could at myself. The shield activated, spreading a blue barrier over my body, the blocked notebook bouncing harmlessly off it.
"Interesting, that allows ease of interaction with others in noncombat situations, but any unexpected assaults would be blocked by the shield," Light noted with awe in his voice.
Looking at Twilight, I gave her a smirk. "A third of the stuff I brought back is weapons, but another third is various shield devices." Seeing Twilight's eyes sparkle even more at my little reveal, I pressed on. "This is why I wanted to work with you on developing different kind of shield spells, to see if we can recreate the same abilities that those shields possess."
"Just how many kinds of shields can there be?" Volt asked.
Shrugging, I answered, "Oh, all sorts of shields really. Some are more geared to withstand physical forces, others are built to either handle energy-based attacks or deflecting them. Some are partial, while some are meant to cover only portions of your body. I couldn't bring in the more high end stuff though. I just hope you can use these as a basis to design something that anypony can use to shield themselves."
"So, what is the rest of the stuff you brought back?" Light asked as he looked over the rest of the pile.
"Oh, just various other objects that have differing uses. It'll be complicated to explain them all, but they're not dangerous... unless you use them in a foolish way. That and I don't know enough words to explain all their functions."
Light then looked back at me as he said, "So... beyond the shielding device and more of the prototype weapons, is there anything else you want us to come up with?"
"Hmm... yeah, can you create a trigger device that we attach to an alien weapon's trigger?"
"Why?"
"Simple, if a pony runs out of shots with their weapon, and they can get their hooves on an alien weapon that the trigger device can attach to, then the pony can use that weapon to defend themselves."
"That's ingenious!"
"Not really, it's more of a common thing that happens in battles from what I heard. Though we need the trigger since most weapons are made for creatures that have fingers or talons," I idly replied, before a thought crossed my mind that caused me to let out a chuckle.
"What's so funny Aether?" Twilight asked as everypony looked at me in confusion.
"Oh, just imagining the sight the aliens would have at small colorful ponies fighting back with ranged weaponry and magic. I mean, we all look cute and adorable compared to most alien species, and I did mention we could be seen as pets for that reason. Short of robots or the like, any hostile aliens would be absolutely shocked by that idea," I explained with a mild grin.
It was almost dusk when I left the library, after having more discussion with Twilight and the researchers along with some demonstrations of the devices that I could still use in my new body. It was amusing to see how they reacted to the magnetic boots, along with the hologram device. The latter was a non-moving one since the more complicated ones were a lot more expensive, but I did explain the existence of other kinds of holograms, to which they said that 'illusion' spells are similar to them. This caused me to wonder if Twilight could teach me to how to use an illusion spell to make a copy of me; I was already thinking of all the things I could do with such a skill.
Arriving home, I found Pinkie far more excited than usual. Curious about what could have put her in such a mood, along with the desire to avoid any Pinkie Plan that I could, I asked, "Pinkie, you're more... cheery than usual. What's going on?"
Pinkie just looked at me in confusion. "What are you talking about Aether? Don't yo—" A short gasp of shock cut her off. "I forgot to tell you!"
"Forgot to tell me what?"
Her expression of shock quickly returned to her original look of excitement, as she said, "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner, I was just so busy and excited and you were in the hospital. I can't believe that I didn't tell you about this super du—" before I stuffed a hoof in her mouth to stop her from going onto one of her usual ramblings.
"Just tell me what you forgot to tell me please," I asked as I pulled my hoof out of her mouth.
"My sister Maud is visiting tomorrow! But since you're my foster child, does that mean she's your foster au—" Pinkie blurted out before my mind tuned her out as a shocking realization came to mind.
Oh sweet Celestia, one Pie was enough, but two! I have a hard enough time not cracking from Pinkie's antics! With two Pies... I'm going to lose what's left of my sanity tomorrow...