Pod BOY: My Little Tony

by Krazy Stargazer

To whom it may consern

After discussing her plan with Fluttershy, and with the day off, Rainbow decided to put her plan into action. Tony would be watched over for the evening by Angel Bunny and Fluttershy's animal friends until they return. Fluttershy herself was going to head to the Ponyville Library, and Rainbow Dash had decided to further investigate the strange pod that brought Tony in the first place.

She hoped that somehow there was something on the pod that could give her answers. To be honest she had absolutely no idea what she would find. Rainbow hoped things would be easy and maybe there would be some sort of "How to Raise your Tony" book or something in the pod.

Mustering her courage she flew cautiously to the border of the Everfree forest. She gulped at the imposing tower of trees ahead of her, then she gathered her courage and entered the forest. Rainbow Dash lightly hovered off the ground, like a hummingbird progressing forward. She continued forward until she could no longer see the exit and was surrounded by the trees of the Everfree. She was now deep into the forest's embrace.

Her ear twitched at every sound, her scenes were on full alert, and to be brutally honest she was terrified. Now don't get it twisted, Rainbow Dash was one of the bravest ponies you'd ever meet, but there was just something unsettling about this odd forest. As a Pegasus she could use the magic around her to When she had wandered in here during the storm she wasn't thinking straight, but now? She could feel the eyes surrounding her, and she knew most of them weren't friendly.

"This is all for Tony, This is all for Tony" she repeated to herself.

Suddenly, she heard the crack of a twig to her left. She immediately dove to the right, got herself in a fighting pose, and puffed-out intimidatingly. From the bushes emerged a squirrel. It sniffed it's paw once or twice and then scudded away.

Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief and continued into the forest. She saw many strange things along the way, strange stone statues, a nearly destroyed bridge, and several other weird sights. Finally, she began to see some familiar territory. She could make out some of the scorch marks from the lightning, of the previous night. Then she was able to make out the pod itself! She smiled triumphantly and began to trot towards the pod.

It sort of looked different now that it was in the light of day. It was covered with so many bells and whistles Rainbow Dash just knew that whoever, or whatever made the thing was definitely an egghead.

She inwardly groaned at the thought. Eggheads just made everything way harder than they had to be. She was more of a straight shooter herself anyways.

She jogged up to it and eyed it for a couple seconds. Then she touched it. It felt smooth to the touch, yet cold. She circled the pod tracing it with her hooves, inspecting it more closely.

The top of the pod was gone and the glass that had covered it long since shattered. She couldn't help but think that such a cold metallic device was a rather "cold" way to transport a baby. Then she felt an indent in the metal. With her curiosity peaked she pressed down on it.

Suddenly there was a click, then suddenly there several whirling and twirling motions as the mechanical gears suddenly sprang to life.

Rainbow yelped and leaped back in surprise.

The pod continued to spurn, and sputter until there was a small "ding".

The contraption seemed to spit out a floating orb. It seemingly "blinked" a couple times. Then floated over to Rainbow Dash.

With what she had just witnessed it would almost have been excusable if she turned tail and ran that very moment. Yet, Rainbow was no ordinary pony. Still visibly shaken she instead stood her ground.

The orb seemed to blink a couple more times before shooting out a beam at the Pegasus. Rainbow flinched but noticed that strangely enough, it didn't hurt. The beam encompassed her body for a couple moments, the Orb blinked and "beeped" a few times. Then the orb stopped, it blinked once more and the pixel eye in its center seemed to be smiling, although Rainbow couldn't really tell if that was just her imagination or not. Then the orb floated back into the pod and seemingly "melded" back into the pod.

The orb was fully consumed except for its eye. The eye of the orb suddenly shot out another spurt of light, this time the light took a shape. Rainbow had seen a similar illusion done by unicorns called a hologram, but what really interested her was that the "light creature" looked like Tony!

Well, that wasn't accurate. He looked like an adult of the sort of creature Tony was but looked so different from him at the same time. She also noticed that the creature sported a rather unkempt goatee and matted worn hair. Offhandedly Rainbow wondered if this figure could have been Tony's Dad.

He wore what appeared to be some sort of military garments, however, they had definitely seen better days. It was clear that the poor creature had Tartarus and back. His eyes looked so incredibly sad, it was like he was on the edge of tears. However, this was undercut by a similarly strong sense of fiery resolve within those very eyes. Those eyes told the story of a creature that had seen the worst of the world and had survived, but at a cost.

One detail Rainbow definitely noticed that may have skipped over most other pony's heads, was the metals on the creatures vest. As an aspiring Wonderbolt, she knew the importance of metals, whoever this creature was Rainbow was sure he was important.

Then the hologram spoke.

~~~~

"To be honest...I don't know where to begin..."

"The incident nearly two decades ago?"

"The fact our world is dying?"

"That we are looking for hope...ANY kind of hope that someone out there can save us?"

"No that's not fair...agh! I'm rambling, so much for keeping first contact professional. Let me start again."

(Coughs)

Hello, fellow life form! ....no...this doesn't feel right. Screw it. I'm going off script."

(off screen mumblings)

"Yes, I'm going off script!"

"...humanities first contact with another species should be genuine...not masked behind false pretenses."

"Hello there. No doubt you are confused. If you're receiving this message then that means that...you are intelligent!
...Errr that is to say that you are capable of thought! Capable of reason! And...
Look...
What I mean to say is that...we are probably alike in some way.
We may be able to talk with one another."

"...my people...they are not long for this world...this message is a plea.
To any species...with a capacity for the reason...with a sense of compassion...
Please watch over the occupant in this pod. This occupant...is now the most important asset we have.
This "Pod Person" is the culmination of all our hopes and dreams."

"I don't know who...or what is receiving this message. If anyone is out there at all."

"But I choose to believe that this message will reach someone out there..."

"I choose to believe that this Pod will find a home."

"One where the inhabitants will welcome him with kindness and an open heart."

"...we have nothing now...only hope. Hope that one of us may survive."

"I implore you...to look deep within your heart..."

"Look after this Pod Child."

~~~~~

After the message, the hologram vanished and the eye of the orb closed, leaving one very confused Rainbow Dash alone in the Everfree Forrest, to contemplate just what Tony was.

Author's Note:

Okay so the Hologram part is by far my favorite part of this chapter. Think of it like Leia in Star Wars.

So we begin to get answers about Tony.

I've also got a pretty clear direction the story will take now. The reason for the long amount of time until this update has been a combination of Graduation, finding jobs and even a family member passing on.

Recommended soundtrack
https://youtu.be/X5y-Y7EumPk

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

By "Baby", you mean the villain from Dragon Ball GT, right? Because that'd be awesome!

[Krazy Stargazer]

8458862
I havent actually seen GT yet. This particular story isn't rooted in DBZ though it is an interesting idea

[Synthetic Soul]

Suddenly, she heard the crack of a twig to her left. She immediately dove to the right, got herself in a fighting pose, and puffed-out intimidatingly. From the bushes emerged a squirrel. It sniffed it's paw once or twice and then scudded away.

I'm scared of Squirrels

Because they're nuts

[Krazy Stargazer]

8463134
PUNS!!!!

[OfficerBarricade]

8463356
please make more

[Kevin Lee]

"Oh, and by the way, his name is Clark. Or you can call him Kal El. Or Bob. Or Samantha. Just not Tony--because he hates Frosted Flakes."