Robotic Stallion Big Lugnut

by Hooves Like Jagger

XIII: GPS

Robotic Stallion Big Lugnut
Author: HoovesLikeJagger
Chapter XIII

___________________

Big Lugnut awoke in the attic alone. His voice hadn't returned yet, but he'd noticed other things developing. His legs, upper neck, and face had developed feeling, except for the bridge of his nose. Applejack also swore she could hear a strange rattling from inside his head. Big Lugnut hadn't heard it initially, but after shaking his head enough to give himself a slight headache, he started to hear it too. He couldn't feel anything moving around, so Lugnut surmised it was in his nose where he couldn't feel it.

His growth aside, Lugnut was excited. Today was the day of Gibson's concert and his first day off in a while. Even if he didn't get fatigued, doing chores everyday wears on a stallion's brain. On top of that, he wanted to spend some time with Applejack that didn't center around work. Things had finally returned to what appear to Lugnut as "normal". She hadn't been acting exactly as she had before, what with the sleeping on his mattress, but it was a welcome change from acting distant. Lugnut knew he'd also been guilty of putting distance between Applejack and him, but now he wanted to bridge the gap. He wanted to bridge the gap they'd made and the one that existed between them the whole time.

Complicated things could wait for another day because today was just for having a good time.

Big Lugnut wandered down the stairs at his leisure. Much to his delight, Applejack was eating alone in the kitchen. Even if it was only a few hours after sunrise, it was incredibly late for an Apple to be starting the day. Applejack's internal clock wouldn't let her sleep any longer and Lugnut didn't really need to sleep in, so it made sense that they were the only two awake. When Applejack noticed Big Lugnut entering, she looked up and smiled.

"Mornin' Big Lug. Did yer voice come back yet?" Big Lugnut just shook his head in response, it was all he could do. He'd only been unable to talk for a day, but Lugnut was beginning to sympathize with Gibson.

"Well, it'll be back soon. There's somethin' I wanna talk about when it does, so hurry it up if ya'll kin help it," she joked. Lugnut couldn't be happier that Applejack's good humor was back. It turned his being a robot into something like a broken leg. It was just something he had to get over. A broken leg wasn't the greatest analogy because he didn't think being a robot was a bad thing, just limiting.

Applejack had mentioned wanting to talk about something yesterday as well. He wondered what it could be, but Applejack didn't sound all too serious about it. Whatever it was, she obviously wanted to discuss it at length if she was willing to wait until Lugnut's voice came back.

"So Big Lug," Applejack's voice pulled Lugnut from his own thoughts. "Anythin' you wanna go do today?" Big Lugnut nodded vigorously. "Well that's too bad, cause yer comin' wit me to town," Applejack chuckled. Big Lugnut couldn't be happier at that prospect. If he had the ability to voice how he'd like to spend the day, he would have said something similar.

"Applejack." Macintosh suddenly appeared in the kitchen, ignoring Lugnut and striding towards his sister. "We need to talk 'bout somethin'."

"Uh... sure Macintosh. Whaddya want to talk about?" Macintosh looked over at Lugnut.

"I'd kinda like to discuss it in private."

"Macintosh, there ain't nothin' ya'll cain't tell me that ya cain't tell Big Lug 'ere," Applejack reprimanded her brother.

"No, Applejack." Big Macintosh put his hoof down. "This is somethin' only you an' I need tah know 'bout right now," Macintosh was adamant. All Applejack or Big Lugnut could do was exchange an uneasy glance.

"I assume this is gonna take a while?" Macintosh nodded in confirmation. "Well... I guess yer on yer own fer now Big Lug. Sorry 'bout that."

"Sorry Lugnut. I promise I won't keep her all day," Macintosh apologized, bowing deeply. Lugnut nodded his head too, taking his time moving out the door. Before it shut behind him, he only heard the first few words of the conversation.

"Applejack, ah've been savin' some money fer a while now..."

The sound of the door closing cut off the rest of Big Macintosh's words. Lugnut was a bit bummed, but he'd still be able to spend time with Applejack at the concert. Perhaps now was a good time to say hello to the other ponies he knew. His first thought was the CMC, but it stood to reason the three fillies wouldn't be awake so early on a weekend. Arrow and Gibson were undoubtedly hard at work preparing for the concert tonight, so Lugnut didn't want to bother them. Aside from those ponies, Lugnut couldn't think of anypony else he'd like to visit off the top of his head, but Ponyville being Ponyville Lugnut knew if he wandered out into town he'd find somepony to spend time with. It might be a little odd without his voice, but it would sure beat hanging around Sweet Apple Acres by his lonesome.

The familiar road to Ponyville was a little different than normal. A long line of carriages rattled down the dirt road towards town. The concert had succeeded in attracting the crowd Arrow had both hoped for and feared. When Lugnut made it down into town, he found the streets of Ponyville packed from one side to the other. Lugnut had never seen streets so crowded and he doubted Ponyville even had the population to fill up even one of its streets this thick with ponies.

As Lugnut shouldered his way through the crowd, he noticed he was getting a lot of odd looks. It was understandable, being a robot and all. He was thankful that nopony was causing a panic.

Big Lugnut lumbered through town, searching for a familiar face. All around him were ponies he didn't know. He didn't even see a familiar stranger. Drenched in unfamiliar faces, the town itself felt alien. Soon enough, Lugnut came upon a landmark that held a sensitive memory for him; it was the cafe he and Applejack had gone to after minding the stand. He stopped in front of it for a moment, letting the nostalgia wash over him. He homed in on the table they'd been sitting at.

There at the table sat two ponies who should have been perfect strangers. Two ponies whose faces should have been completely foreign to Lugnut instead sparked memories of a long forgotten past. He kept telling himself he shouldn't know the mustard colored pegasus and the unkempt, purple unicorn, but he couldn't shake the familiarity of their faces. Without his consent, his mind was bombarded with a scene from a time he'd forgotten.

________________

"So... what do you make of this Daring?" Query gazed at the contraption the excavators had just pulled out of the rubble, glowing in the torchlight. The meager light illuminated only a small fraction of the destruction in the room. As Daring had said earlier, the room looked like two dragons had gone ten rounds against one another. The space was certainly big enough to accommodate such a battle, but several days of digging around the rubble had not yielded evidence of any dragons going at it. The notes and any tools that remained intact indicated that one of Mephisto's "failed" ideas may have actually worked. Daring and Query were sure validation that the iron ponies did indeed exist was only a few months of rooting through the notes away.

That is, until validation smacked them in the face today. One of the diggers had found something metal sticking up out of a rubble pile. Query and Daring were immediately called down to check it out. What they'd found was extraordinary.

"I think," Daring got up close to their find. "This is exactly what we're looking for. This may very well be a fully functioning iron pony! Query, try zapping it!"

"Daring, I can't just zap a thousand year old artifact!" Query reprimanded her. "It could explode or something!"

"You're right... somepony take a picture of it first." Daring continued insisting that Query use his magic to rouse the robot into action. Practiced in using magic on artifacts and dealing with Daring's bossy attitude, Query started out by just analyzing the robot magically. Everything looked like it was in order. There was an organic, alive feeling coming from the of power, but it didn't take much more probing to see it was surrounded by a tightly wound, restricting spell. Query spent a good while on the restricting spell, equally afraid of the thought of such an airtight spell cast to subdue his own consciousness and impressed by the ancient unicorn who managed to both invent and cast it. The notes they found claimed there was a way to weaken and break the spell, so Query tried to imagine the incredible amount of power and precision that would be required to do so.

Daring Do was antsy to see the robot move around on its own, so Query braced himself for trying to activate the sleeping giant. With an air of reluctance, Query felt out the prongs on the machine that appeared to serve as receivers for magic. He took a deep breath and began weaving his spell. The idea was simple: turn the machine on. With one arc of silver light, he felt a shift in the machine itself.

Daring's eyes lit up as the iron pony's own eyes jumped into life with a silvery glow. The eyes were all that changed though as the machine made no other movement. A few tense moments later, Daring issued her next order.

"Make it do something!" she exclaimed as her excitement bubbled over. Query was starting to get into things as well, realizing he was probably the first pony in a long time to operate one of these iron ponies. The way things looked, he might also be the last.

"Uh, walk?" Query let another bolt zap the prongs on the harness. Command Spells were as simple as levitation. It was as easy as using one's magic to impart one's will onto something else. Sure enough, only moments after the bolt struck the machine, it began to move all on its own. Everypony was too excited to speak as they watched the iron wonder walk along the dark floor. Daring had an idea to break the silence though.

"I think these machines are capable of speech. Make it talk Query!"

"Okay... uh, say something!" Query shot the command at the machine.

"Something," the robot's soulless voice droned as it continued plodding around.

"Okay, stop!" Query transferred the order and the machine came to an immediate halt. "Okay, this is pretty cool."

"You're telling me!" Daring swooped down in front of the robot. "I think Big Lugnut here is gonna be a hit on the surface."

"Big Lugnut?" Query chuckled, but Daring quickly silenced him with a glare.

"He's got a Lugnut on his flank, so it makes perfect sense. It's no different than you having a question mark and being named Query," Daring pointed out. Query glanced down at the black punctuation mark inside a black ring on his flank.

"By that logic, your name should be Compass Rose or Cardinal Direction," Query retorted. "And Digg and Dugg here should be called... um." Query noticed he didn't know what mark was on the flank of the two diggers accompanying Daring and him. He could use the excavator who discovered Big Lugnut as an example, but the image of a shovel and the name Trowel didn't help his case.

"Alright, you know what we gotta do next?" Daring flew up and onto Lugnut's back, "We've gotta break the spell and make him sentient!" Daring stared at Query expectantly. Query blinked a few times before answering.

"Uh... right now?"

"Yes, right now!" Daring flew down and smacked the back of Query's head.

"Daring, that spell is stitched tighter than anything I've ever seen. It would either take days of dedicated concentration or several more unicorns to open it up," Query complained

"We don't have several days Query," Daring scolded him. "We've got more unicorns though! Go and get them all down here and let's get this show on the road!" Daring was as impatient as ever.

"Hold on a minute!" The brother Digg stepped between Query and the exit. "Why do we need to change him?"

"Isn't he more useful as he is right now?" Dugg pointed out.

"Well, it isn't about being useful," Query pointed out.

"According to Mephisto's notes," Daring chimed in, "there's a pony in there trying to get out. He's been waiting several hundred years, so we should do him a favor and let him out."

"So, if you'll excuse me." Query shouldered past the bearded brothers and headed to the halls of the labyrinth. The brothers exchanged a glance, their expressions impossible for anypony else to read through the darkness and hair. Daring wasn't even paying attention to them though. She was far too busy examining her find.

"You, Big Lugnut, are by far one of the cooler things I've ever found."

________________

"I think he's staring right at us." Daring watched Lugnut out of her peripherals. Query had noticed, but he'd been doing his best to ignore it. Daring and Query agreed they shouldn't disturb Big Lugnut's natural habitat.

"Do you think somepony told him about us?" Query whispered. He was sure Lugnut couldn't hear them over the noise of the ponies in the street, but he had a tendency to whisper in tense situations. Daring put a tense hoof on Query's foreleg.

"He's coming over here." Both parties tensed up. They listened as Lugnut walked closer. Despite Daring and Query's silent prayers that he'd just walk on past, Big Lugnut came to a halt right beside their table. Daring and Query didn't look up at him. They simply dumbed up and stared at one another. They expected Big Lugnut to say or do something, but he didn't.

They had no way to know that Big Lugnut wasn't capable of speech at the moment. Big Lugnut wished he could speak. He had so many questions for the two ponies who had dug him out. They had answers to questions that he'd been pondering ever since he'd discovered he was a robot. Knowing what he was wasn't enough. He wanted to know why he was made, what he was made for, and if he was the only one ever made.

Query and Daring had questions too. They never had the chance to test the capabilities of Big Lugnut's strength and endurance. They never got to find out if he was really the invincible warrior Mephisto made him out to be. It wasn't until more of Mephisto's notes were unearthed that they discovered Big Lugnut himself was a bigger find than they anticipated.

Nopony moved. One party refused to talk and the other could not. Something had to give if everypony was to get what they wanted. Big Lugnut felt something welling up inside him. A tremendous force he couldn't hope to hold back. He had to let it out. There was no holding it in.

"WA-CHOOOOO!"

Query and Daring jumped as two pieces of shrapnel flew from Lugnut's nose and lodged themselves in the table.

"Gesundheit," Query gulped.

"Thank you," Lugnut answered in a voice completely unfamiliar to his ears. Any mechanical or synthetic quality in his voice was gone. The only thing unnatural about it was that it sounded slightly muffled. His new voice was surprisingly deep and just a bit twangy. His excitement caused him to start laughing. Talking and laughing even felt different now. As he laughed, he felt air flow in through his nose and fill his new lungs. Even when his laughter subsided, he felt himself breathing in and out naturally. As he breathed, smells bombarded his brain. He turned his head and sniffed about, testing his newest sense out.

The display slightly rattled Query and Daring, who didn't know what to make of it. After a moment of reveling in his new sense, Big Lugnut noted the confused stares and cleared his throat for the first time ever.

"Sorry, this is my first time talking with my new voice," he admitted.

"I... I see," Daring managed to respond. She and Query didn't know what to do. They were engaged with Big Lugnut now, and there was no turning back.

"You two... were there when I was activated, right?" Lugnut saw their faces most clearly in his pretty hazy memory of his first moments of activation. His memory extended only a brief moment beyond when Query left. Daring hung around a moment longer, but her impatience made her go after Query with Trowel. Big Lugnut was left with Digg and Dugg, who he now knew were secretly Flim and Flam. His memory phased out after that.

"Yes... we... we dug you up," Daring admitted.

"And I activated you," Query followed up Daring's confession.

"Was it my first activation... ever?" Lugnut ventured to ask. Daring and Query glanced at one another. If they answered that question, it would send them down the proverbial rabbit hole. As Query and Daring stared at one another, they saw no reluctance in the other's face. Query knew Daring was all about going into rabbit holes and Daring knew Query left no question unasked or unanswered. Perhaps they knew it all along, but they were fated to confront Big Lugnut. Daring looked up at the metal pony.

"We should go back to our room to talk," she recommended, so the three ponies did.

________________

"Well... I dunno what to say Macintosh... ya'll really thought this out," Applejack admitted.

"As it should be sis. If money weren't so tight, I woulda done this a long time ago." Big Macintosh had put a lot of thought into this. He'd come up with his plan a while ago, but he lacked the resources. Mainly due to the sudden appearance of Big Lugnut and Gibson Song, he now had the money he needed and the moment he wanted. There was something else he'd like to squeeze in, but his desire not to let his perfect opportunity pass him up allowed him to forgo the formality he'd always imagined he'd have to perform.

"Well... that's great Macintosh. I suppose... I'm rootin' fer ya," Applejack mumbled as she slowly nodded, trying to give her brother some sincere support. It was difficult, though, for her heart and her head.

"Well... we ain't got nothin' else to discuss right now, so you kin go catch up to Big Lugnut," Big Macintosh offered his sister an out, but she gave a slow shake of her head in response.

"I think ah'm gonna go... lay down... fer a spell." Applejack got up from the kitchen table and wandered into the living room. Big Macintosh didn't stop her. He just got up and went out the front door as Applejack flopped down onto the couch. With nopony around to see, she let her distressed tears flow freely into a crocheted pillow.

She'd never imagined this would happen, but it would be only a short while before her life was turned on its ear. There was nothing she could do now, or at least she wasn't desperate or heartless enough to attempt anything that could change the outcome. All she could do was cry and wish.

She wished she'd foreseen this. She wished she hadn't been so naive. She wished somepony would comfort her. She wished Big Lugnut would burst through the door right now and tell her everything was going to be okay. She wished she could be happy with the turn of events. She wished with everything she had, but none of her wishes came true.

________________

"So... where to start?" Daring had made a reluctant Query unpack partway so they could pull out Mephisto's notes. On the way to the hotel, Big Lugnut had recounted his progress in growth thus far. Both Query and Daring were glad to know Ponyville had been receptive of the iron pony. Big Lugnut's question still loomed. Coincidentally, Mephisto's notes did hold the answer Lugnut was looking for.

"You're aware that you're an iron pony built to be an unstoppable warrior, correct?" Lugnut nodded, prompting Daring to continue. "Well, you weren't the only one. Mephisto's records show he built one hundred and twenty four iron ponies in all."

"That many?" Big Lugnut had figured there were others, but he'd never considered just how many others.

"Yup. The first two he built were labeled failures, seeing as they didn't work as intended. The third was his first success," Daring explained.

"Once he knew what he was doing," Query chimed in, levitating an old, bound book before him. "Mephisto gave each successive iron pony a number and symbol. He recorded them here in this book." Query turned the book so Lugnut could see. Each page was the same: numbers and symbols listed on the left hand side with notes on each robot to the right. The pages Query was showing him listed numbers one through twelve. Instinctively, he checked the lower numbers first. Number twelve would have had a diamond with a square inside it on its flank. Number seven would have had a circle with a five-pointed star inside it on it's flank. Number three would have had a pentagon with another, inverted pentagon inside it on it's flank. Big Lugnut arrived at number one on the list.

The accompanying symbol was a hexagon with a circle on the inside; it was the exact same mark on Lugnut's flank.

"What does this mean?" Lugnut ventured to ask. Daring opened up another, tattered book.

"You were the first success, Lugnut. Not only that, Mephisto notes say that in battle, the other iron ponies treated you like a leader of sorts. In the absence of Mephisto's magic orders, they obeyed your verbal orders. Mephisto could also issue orders to the entire group by giving you an order. He never could explain the phenomenon, but the respect even translated over when the iron ponies gained sentience."

"Do the notes say how they gained sentience?" Big Lugnut interrupted. Daring and Query shook their heads.

"No explanation is given in the notes. It doesn't even detail the process of becoming flesh and blood." Query levitated another book in front of himself. "Apparently, sentient iron ponies didn't stick around Mephisto for very long. He has notes as to where most of them went, but that's about it. There is another, more interesting note he makes about them leaving, though."

"What is it?" Lugnut inched closer to Query.

"Whenever somepony tried to leave the herd... you would try and stop them."

"What? Why?" Lugnut got right up in Query's face, causing him to tumble over backwards and drop the book he was levitating.

"Mephisto's notes don't say." Daring inserted herself between Lugnut and Query. "We have our own theory about that though. Not only did the group see you as the leader, but you acknowledged everypony else as your subordinates. If somepony tried to break company, it was your perceived job to stop the insubordination."

"And... how exactly did I try and stop the insubordination?" Query and Daring fell silent for a moment before Query levitated one more book over to Lugnut. He used his magic to open it up to the correct page.

"Mephisto has a detailed accounts of the incidents, so see for yourself." Query dropped the book before Lugnut. He looked down at the open page and began to read...

__________________

"Get out of my way, One!" the metallic stallion demanded, scratching at the ground with his forehoof. His glowing, blue eyes were fixed on the pony he knew as One, who's black circles made his own eyes appear empty. The circle inside a hexagon on his flank was a symbol of superiority and leadership in the blue-eyed stallion's mind, but he had something other than loyalties to think about now.

"Fall in, Thirty Four," One commanded.

"I won't answer to a number, One. Somepony gave me a name, and that name is Fire Stamper." Fire Stamper slammed his hoof into the ground.

"Fall in, Thirty Four," One continued to drone.

"There's just no reasoning with you, is there One? I'm not yours or that unicorn's to command anymore. There's somepony I've got to go see, so I can't let anypony get in my way. Not even you, One," Fire Stamper stated his resolve. One stood silent for a moment, processing what he'd just heard.

"Fall in, Thirty Four." He came to the same conclusion. Fire Stamper didn't grace One's command with a verbal response this time around. He spun around and bucked One as hard as he could. The result was an ungodly metallic clang that would have deafened either pony if their ears weren't artificial.

The attack didn't even dent One. For whatever reason, One had always been stronger and more durable than the others. Fire Stamper remembered when Eighty Nine got his legs crushed when he attempted to stop a dragon from squashing him, but One attempted the exact same defense against the dragon and broke the beast's wrist.

As if he needed another demonstration of One's superior strength, One punished Fire Stamper's insubordination with a single jab of his front hoof. Fire Stamper's body didn't budge an inch, but he watched One's large hoof put an equally sized dent in his chest. Fire Stamper couldn't feel pain, but One was well aware of this. With a flick of his hoof, One sent Fire Stamper flying. He crashed into the ground, landing among his fellow, stagnant iron ponies. All of them stood perfectly still, not budging from their stations. Fire Stamper had once been so placated, but like several others before him he now wanted out. He remembered when Seventy Six returned to base with his yellow eyes. Before him, everypony only ever had black eyes. It wasn't long before he disobeyed orders and left. Up until recently, Fire Stamper hadn't even wondered why Seventy Six, Fifty Five, Thirty Nine, or Eleven had left. Whatever changed them had changed Fire Stamper as well. Now that he recalled their escapes more clearly, he knew what he had to do to escape.

He couldn't overpower One. He couldn't outrun One. He couldn't outsmart One. His goal was not to outdo One, but simply give him the slip. Fire Stamper would get his chance one day. It would be during a routine patrol. One would ask him to scout ahead, but Fire Stamper would never report back.

Slowly, yet surely, everypony under One's command would disappear. It got to the point where One's master stopped him from preventing his subordinates from leaving. He never questioned it. He never asked why. On the surface, he only obeyed. Deeper inside, his shield brothers abandoning him cut him like a knife.

As he read more and more accounts of the past, Big Lugnut felt the scars that the events had left on his heart. He had scars from having to turn on his own comrades. He had scars from his trusted brothers scorning him. He had scars from his master abandoning him in that dark, empty room all by himself. He had forgotten all about those scars from being alone for so long. He'd forgotten many things, but now his memories were flooding back. Big Lugnut stood in silence, just as he had done such a long time ago. The difference was this time, Big Lugnut was trying to process a great deal of information.

_________________

Applejack wept alone in the dark, empty room. There were no silhouettes surrounding her. There were no glowing eyes staring her down. She was all alone in the darkness this time.

She involuntarily looked behind her, and discovered she wasn't alone. One shadow remained, his eyes glowing points of purple. She reached out for him, but her entire world began to shake and rumble. The room began to crumble to pieces as somepony else's calls shook stones free from the walls and ceiling. She watched as the shadow was buried under a pile of rubble before opening her eyes.

"Applejack, we're gonna be late!" Applebloom roused Applejack out of her slumber. Somewhere along he line, she had fallen asleep. Applejack yawned and turned onto her side, looking over at Applebloom. Upon seeing her younger sister, she was instantly reminded of earlier events. She wanted to cry anew, but held back on Applebloom's account. She put on a false smile and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Right, the concert... is it that late already?" Applejack got up and glanced outside, confirming the sun was indeed starting to set. The start of the concert couldn't be more than an hour off.

"We gotta git goin'!" Applebloom started pulling her sister out the door.

"Alright, alright. Where's Big Lug at?"

"I dunno. He hasn't been around all day." Applebloom opened the front door and hopped outside.

"Well, I guess we'll see him there then." Applejack followed her sister outside. Applebloom hummed and bounced out the gate of Sweet Apple Acres. As Applejack walked through, she stopped. She took a longing look back towards her home.

"C'mon Applejack!" Applebloom called to her from further down the path. Applejack followed after her sister, but she didn't take her eyes off the farmhouse.

_________________

"It's been so long... I'd forgotten what had happened." Lugnut hung his head low in relief. He finally remembered exactly what he had been and what he had done. "I only wish I could remember more," he chuckled. He could only remember the events accounted in the notes. Incidents with escaping iron ponies, battles he'd participated in, and any research he'd been a part of. There were still a few holes in his memory. The motives behind why he had been fighting and the exact identity of his master.

"Are these all the notes you recovered?" Lugnut asked. Query and Daring nodded.

"This is all we managed to find. Just research notes and battle logs. We had hoped to find a personal effect of Mephisto's, but none of the chambers housed anything," Query explained. Daring flitted her wings absent mindedly.

"All the chambers we explored at least," she mumbled without meaning to be heard, but Lugnut picked up on what she was saying.

"You mean there might be more?" Lugnut got up from his seated position.

"We had to leave one area of the Labyrinth unexplored because we found booby traps in it. It's nothing Daring and I couldn't handle, but the excavation team we were working with forbid us from going somewhere so dangerous," Query explained.

"Traps like that are a cinch," Daring gloated, flaring her wings in a bout of annoyance. "But those eggheads at Canterlot University don't have the stomach for a couple of traps... well, all the eggheads besides Query."

"I tried petitioning the Board of Directors to allow me and Daring to go in alone, but those old farts are more concerned with insurance premiums than discovering the truth," Query complained.

"We've gotta search that chamber!" Big Lugnut slammed his hoof down, shaking the entire room. Query rolled his eyes and heaved a sigh.

"Well, we would have to break into the Labyrinth, sneak through a booby trapped hallway, and possibly confront an ancient evil."

"Uh... how do you know that?" Lugnut tilted his head. Daring extended her wings and let a smug smile cross her face. She looked down at Query, who was wearing the same smug expression.

"That's what always happens," the two answered in unison.

"I've gotta know what's in there," Big Lugnut declared. "Please, take me with you!" Daring and Query exchanged glances again, this time ones of concern.

"Are you sure Lugnut?" Daring asked, "You've already got a pretty good thing going on here in Ponyville. Query and I were actually planning to leave right after lunch, so if you're coming with us your coming right now."

"Then let's not wait around!" Big Lugnut jumped up and put a large pack onto his back, "The sooner, the better!"

Comments

[Thepple]

Aw, SHT is 'bout to go down

[Aegis Shield]

Hahhh, the sneeze was perfect.

I imagine Big Macintosh wants to take a trip around the world or something. I don't see him abandoning them or anything at a time like this, unless he intends to use Big Lugnut as his bodily replacement. Perhaps he wants to live on his own or something. I can't really see anything making Applejack cry like that, though. Guess I'll have to wait and see about that part.

I like that we're really shrinking the map and filling in the answers now. The organic transformation is really speeding up now, it must be close to finished.

[djthomp]

As entertaining as ever.

I'm guessing we just got the context to explain AJ's dreams?

[A mess]

oh sweet, I just get done setting up my account and figured some of the basics of how to work this place and input the address to one of the stories I am following and had checked on earlier to add it to my favorites and low and behold! it updated!.... now if I could only read it.... seems I have other stuff piled up I need to attend to first.... I wish I was a robot pony, or at least part cyborg, then I could input software to help me keep better track.

[TacoTown]

AJ's not gunna like this.

also, shrapnel for snot. that my freind, is awesome.

[Blackmouth00]

Im guessing but i think big mac wants to do something with that farm. Iether reconstruct the farm house or sell it. So if ur planning to write that let me tell u that is way out of character for big mac. But yet again im just the reader. Love it i check everyday for chapter updates.

[totallynotabrony]

It turned his being a robot into something like a broken leg. It was just something he had to get over.

"I was a robot once. I got better."

[CommanderCupcake]

666642 Win

[totallynotabrony]

Have I mentioned that the artwork on this story cracks me up?

Also, WRITE MOAR

[Hooves Like Jagger]

722713
I am literally on the precipice, threshold, and brink of releasing the next chapter.

Calm down and have a Snickers™.