Technology
The sound of a bell ringing throughout the ship alerted all on board that it was time to get up. Maria would already be making breakfast. "The most important meal of the day, serving it up, Griffin's way." Gilda got up as well, and we headed up to the mess hall to get something to eat. Geirmund was there, with a maniac look in his eye.
'Ah crap, he stayed up all night inspecting the ship, didn't he?'
"Ah! Captain! So good to see you!" The steampunk pony called.
"Yeah. Breakfast."
"When you claimed to live on board ze finest piece of craftsmanship 'zis side of ze multiverse' you weren't exaggerating! Also.... I was wondering, what did you mean by multiverse?" And here it comes.
"Well, there are limitless universes. According to Murphey's law, if it's possible, it will at one point occur, and so, it is reasonable to believe that for every decision made, as well as for any works of fiction, a universe exists containing said....."
"I know what ze theory is. I want to know what you MEANT by it." He interrupted.
"Oh that. Imma alien."
"Pardon? Could you repeat zat? I believe you just claimed to be an..." He said while poking in his ears.
"Alien. That is correct. I'm actually from this planet, but another universe's version of it."
"How did you cross over? There is an impossible to break boundary between ze realms."
"Beats me, although it happened on the same day Discord busted out."
"Ah, well, zat explains it then. It also proves that you are undoubtedly INSANE. Multiple personality disorder perhaps? I don't know, mein brother Sigmund was ze psychologist."
"Geirmund, one day, I'll show you something unbelievable. And on that day, you'll eat your words, followed by choking on them."
"Ha! Zat I would like to see!"
"Well Freud, I've answered your question, mind answering a few of mine?"
"Well, I don't see why not."
"One, you have a horn, as well as wings. But, both are smaller than they should be. I can see you have the base of wings under the metal. What's up with that?"
"Ah, I was wondering when you might ask. When I was a child, most who did not know me bowed, believing me to me royalty of some kind. No. Zat is not ze case. I am a winged unicorn, or, perhaps a horned pegasus. I have both traits, but can use neither. I cannot fly without ze metal wings, und I cannot use magic without ze amplifyer. I have not earth pony strength, unicorn magic, nor pegasus flight und weather control. I was deemed useless, unable to function properly in society without any of these traits. Mein parents coddled me, to the point zat any whim of mein would be met, und they allowed me anything I wished. Some say it spoiled me... maybe, but in time, my desire to fit in brought me to machines. I built wings to let me fly, und an amplifier so zat I may at least use basic levitation spells."
"I see. Then, we are more alike then we believed, except, you had the fortune of having those who cared for you. I took care of myself."
"Is there anything else you wish to ask?"
"At your workshop, you spoke of your 'Beloved'. What were you talking about?" His eyes shot wide.
"There will be another time to speak of zat. Now it is time to begin the challenge. I look forward to my new fortune." He said hurriedly, trying to avoid the topic. And then he walked out.
"He's hiding something. I want to know what. Nadene, take Maria and go back to his shop. Figure out what he's keeping from us about his 'Beloved'. Frauline Furnace may or may not be there. If she is, it would probably be best to avoid her, although she has been forthcoming with us, so if you don't have any other options, ask her up front."
"Got it." And then the bipedal cat found her ride, and flew out over the city.
"Alright you two. You are well enough acquainted with the facilities, and you have taken the measurements of Trixie's leg. You have three hours. Bow, shake, then head to your stations. Trixie and I will be leaving, so that we cannot tell who built what, by a reasonable degree anyways." The pair bowed to each other, then the minotaur held out his hand, and surprisingly, a metal arm with three small pincers sprouted from Geirmund's chassis in order to meet it.
"And, begin!" Both contestants started working, Steelhorn hammering, two small welding torch popping up from each of Freud's wings to seal joints held by a set no less than six of the previous little arms deftly manipulated the small pieces. Trixie went to her room to practice her magic. I walked away and Gilda followed.
"So, what do we do while we wait?" She asked.
"Well, pretty much everybody is either watching the show in the engineering room, or is in the town getting supplies. The entire dormitory area is empty, except for Trixie who is on the other side of the ship." I gave her a lecherous grin.
"Oh you." She elbowed me, making me stop on the spot.
"Well? Come on! Don't leave me hanging, or I might just have to interrupt Trixie's training session." She winked and turned, then flicked her tail in my face and leapt down the stairs.
"Feisty."
Both of us stretching and groaning, our joints popping, (she had long since gotten over it and started doing it too) we gave each other a bit of a nuzzle then got out of bed.
"Well, by the clock, we've got another half hour left."
"I'm hungry, want to make me a sandwich?" She asked. We just did it, and now she's telling me to go to the kitchen to make a sandwich. I almost miss memebase. Almost.
"Sure, but you might as well come with. No point in sticking around here." We walked side by side through the bowels of the ship before reaching the mess hall, where we went to go make ourselves something.
"All you have to do is take a cup of flour, add it to the mix."
We ate slowly, which took up about twenty minutes, so it was time for us to head up to the deck, and wait for the two engineers to bring out their creations. I put on my gear then went up. We sat in lounge chairs, alongside Trixie, Etch, Growl, and a few others who were waiting. Nadene and Maria were there, and they just winked at me.
'How the hell am I supposed to know what that means? Did they hear us below decks, did their job go well? I'm not a telepath!'
The minotaur and mecha-pony walked up the set of stairs, two carts behind them being lifted by a pair of cats each. There were white cloths draped over them, hiding the objects under them.
"You two, no doubt you have worked very hard these past three hours, but it's time for your work to be put to the test. Trixie, come forward." The pair of competitors walked up.
"Now, no doubt you've both examined her existing fitting extensively, and set your designs to interact with it properly?" They both gave a nod and a huff.
"Well then, let's get this started. Eeny meeny mino mo, catch a griffin by the toe, if he hollers, don't let go or he'll cut your head off. That one." The cart on the left was brought forward, and out of it came a shining steel limb. It was attached to Trixie's stump easily enough with a slight click, she moved it around a bit, put weight on it, then trotted around a bit.
"Well?"
"Feels good."
"Alright, hop on." I lowered myself for the unicorn to get on, and she strapped her back legs in. Now then, um, how do we use this thing anyways?" One of the cats came forward, then handed us a set of instructions that had been hastily made.
"Right, so, channel your magic through it." She did as instructed, and four panels on the side folded out, which began to glow a hazy blue, same colour as her horn. Soon, the glow spread between the prongs and there was a bluish diamond shield on her leg.
"Right, and the weapon.... ah, ammunition cartridges?" I saw that there was already one loaded in it, and several more were on the table next to where it had been sitting.
"Okay, so, try and roll your hoof." She did so, and the entire unit rotated, instead of just the end. I noticed there were numbers on the inside of each. An empty glass vial shot out of a hole in the end and shattered on the deck of the ship.
"Okay then, so, it fires vials through an iris that closes when it's not in use. Four panels, a different ammo type in each, yes, I can see it. A small shield, powered by magic, and a spring loaded firing mechanism that works with the natural movement of the hoof." Clearly Steelhorn's work. I flew around for a bit while she popped off harmless shots at the ship and crew, testing for accuracy. We landed, and cat thrust his spear at it. It didn't bounce of, but was redirected upwards, out of striking range. Strike after strike, all went high and to the left, regardless of how the shield was rotated. It wouldn't do to have her block strikes only for them to hit me in the face or back.
"Alright, pretty good, next?" I landed and let her off. She stopped channeling, it folded back up nicely, and a cat placed it back on it's table. The second piece.... it was.... well, pretty big. It wasn't just a leg. It went all the way up to the shoulder, and connected to a steel chest plate. It looked just as sleek as Steelhorn's. Geirmund had obviously pulled out all the stops. His own stuff had exposed parts, but none of that was present on this piece.
"Alright, let's put it on." We had to remove Trixie's dragon armor to put it on, but once we did, it was a little loose.
"Alright, now walk around a bit." She began to, then screamed in pain. We moved to take it off.
"No, wait. This is supposed to happen, just wait a moment." Geirmund stated. The armor coiled itself, shrank slightly to fit her form, then let out a hiss. She stopped crying, and just looked at it in wonder.
"I.... I.... I can feel it." She tapped her fake left hoof with her right.
"I can feel it!"
"Zat is because of ze gem. I studied the form of the ghastly apparatus they called a fitting, und decided to completely bypass it. Ze armor performs a slight surgery when you put it on, locating your nerves and attaching them to a gem inside of the device, which then interprets ze signals and sends them to the micro motors. That is the pain you felt. The armor is merely to support und unsure it doesn't move while you have it on. It is controlled entirely by thought as natural as moving . It also interprets contact to allow responses, with pain being present but brought to a minimum. It can be worn at all times. It draws on your innate magic, meaning you do not need to channel it at all. It is an improvement to my own design." I walked up to the doctor and poked him on his metal wing.
"You mean you can feel this?" I touched it over and over again.
"Yes, now STOP POKING ME!" He pulled his wing back. Trixie began running around in circles excitedly, laughing.
"Okay okay, settle down Trix. Get on my back." I let her on again, and once we were ready, she asked the all important question.
"So, how does it work?"
"Just know what you want to do. Attack, defend."
"Um, okay." She pointed her hoof forward, and large shield came out. You know toy lightsabers, how they have the various parts that fit inside one another? Like that, but flat. It was curved at the bottom to coincide with the natural shape of my body, and could rest on my armor behind the wing bone, pressed against my side, without impeding my movement. In the same manner as the shield folded out, a long, thin blade came from her hoof. It was a shield and lance, rolled into one, except the lance was flattened into a horizontal blade, so it could do sweeping attacks. It extended about a meter and a half in front of me. This also meant that if she swung it to the side, the shield would come in contact with me if it was pointed too low, so it was impossible to cut me. We flew around for a bit, letting her get used to it. Talking with Trixie while we were out there, we both could tell we had a clear winner.
"Well?" The two competitors asked.
"This one. The other had merits, but the shield was a deflector, not a blocker, and she already has her explosion bubble spell for deflecting. This has impressive melee capabilities, and while the other has the advantage of range, it needs her to focus on it. With this one, that isn't required, so she's free to levitate the vials instead of needing to shoot them, as well as cast other spells, and this one doesn't put a constant drain on her when used." I explained.
"Both were excellent pieces of work, but this one is the winner. It efficiently rolls both offense and defense together, without any concentration needed, and has the added bonus of letting me feel things again. It was kind of strange, bringing out the shield and lance, it felt like my arm was being reformed, but it didn't hurt." Steelhorn seemed a bit down, while Geirmund jumped for joy, his wings opening up and letting small fireworks launch from them, which exploded around him in a shower of multicoloured sparks.
"Ha! I am ze winner!" He chided.
"I hafta admit, yoo beat meh. I jus din't know enuf about makin fake legs and how ta control them to make one properly."
"Well, I am ze finest surgeon in Equestria, even if I lost my medical license."
"And now I owe a certain Geirmund Freud a ridiculous sum of bits. Well, I suppose we can call it payment for the new limb. Extremely overpriced, but, I did promise her I'd spare no expense, even if I was drunk at the time." I watched Nadene sneak off. I wonder where she's going?
"Ah, yes, my winnings from this wager. I give you until nightfall to deliver it to my workshop. Well? Get to work!"
"Father!" Furnace called excitedly as she came up from within the ship.
"Frauline? What are you doing here? Come to see your father win? I told you I am a genius, not an eccentric, and now we have a million bits. We can get your mother proper medical care and..... WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? You should be home with Cable!" He was suddenly fuming.
"Father, I have for you a pleasant surprise." And a pure white, lime maned unicorn with a bronze right rear leg and a pulley for a cutie mark came out onto the top deck, leaning on Nadene who held her up gently. It looked like Rarity dyed her mane green, let it grow out, and had it in a mix between Twilight and Rainbow Dash's styles. Long and straight, but scruffy.
"Cable...... are you? You are.... awake.... und walking? But I..... how? I....." She put her hoof to his lips.
"Not now darling." And then she embraced him. A tear fell down his cheek as he wrapped his front hooves around her, sobbing in both misery and joy, soaking her mane.
"But how? Why are you out of your stasis?"
"Simple." She pointed to Nadene, who had a shy smile on her face.
"This darling cat is a skilled apothecary. She found a way to treat my disease."
"She has a degenerative nerve disorder. I've only seen one other case like this, back home. The sacred grove has a very rare herb which not only prevents, but can actually reverse nerve damage. I found out from Furnace what her disease was, and that there was no treatment or cure in Equestria. She was in that stasis chamber for six years, and Freud spent every bit he had trying to get medical help for her, but, they were too poor to afford the expensive care she would need, which had an almost nonexistent chance of working. I came back, whipped up a potion, took her out of being frozen, gave her a few doses, and she recovered almost immediately. She's not back to normal just yet, but, given enough time and doses, she should recover fully. It's really no big deal." At which point Geirmund tackled the cat in a hug, much the same way Nadene herself scooped up Fluttershy, except that Freud was smaller.
"I can never thank you enough. You have given my wife her life back. She was.... always in pain. The nerve degradation.... and then she fell asleep, and never woke up, but always twisted and turned and screamed while she slumbered." The cat just awkwardly pet the robo-pony on the top of his head.
"Now then, Geirmund, I believe there is the matter of the fee for our services? A mere.... one million bits should suffice." Furnace and Cable looked horrified, but Freud looked amused.
"A small price to pay."
"But father, how can we afford....."
"You forget, by winning this wager, I earned myself exactly that amount. Now, we don't owe each other anything."
"Then, it has already been paid?"
"Yes, we are free to live our lives once again. We can go wherever we wish, and make our wonderful machines to help those who need it." The father, mother, and daughter all smiled at one another. Nadene coughed and interrupted them.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there is a problem with that. As I said once before, the only place I know of that the herb grows in is the sacred grove, in my homeland. She'll need a monthly dose in order to maintain herself."
"Well, then simply prepare the medication for us."
"It's not that simple. While the herb keeps almost indefinitely when it's whole, once ground and mixed into a potion, it is only good for a week, and if prepared improperly, it is poisonous."
"I do not understand...." Furnace stated.
"Basically, either I have to gather an incredibly large amount of it and simultaneously discover the reason behind why it grows so well in the sacred grove, something my people have been trying to figure out for generations, followed by me staying here in Bitsburg so I can make the potions properly, or....."
"Or?"
"Or, if she wants to continue to live, unless she goes back into stasis, I'm afraid Cable will have to come with us."
Well, here's my crappy paintshop drawing of what the shield and lance look like.
And here's some art by izcheezyponeh which he admits looks terrible.
