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Twilight Sparkle Is....4,316 words
Held and Tortured3,289 words
Escape4,346 words
Soaring to Freedom1,312 words
Back Home2,330 words
Titanium Findings2,609 words
Losing Time and Working1,362 words
A Pain in the Chest and Early Concepts2,220 words
Too Late5,616 words
Finding The Arc4,255 words
A Nuisance in the Plans2,054 words
Titanium vs Iron5,469 words
Epilogue449 words

A Pain in the Chest and Early Concepts

Twilight moved the blueprint to the side and sat up, looking upwards to the ceiling. “Computer, activate.” Twilight said.

Then, moments later a small, purple holographic ball appeared next to Twilight.

“Hello Ms. Sparkle. I’ll have you know that I have not deactivated since your departure and disappearance 217 days ago. I had begun tracking your survival chances at about 14% before today as a matter of fact. But I had always kept the possibility that you would return, regardless of the odds.” The holographic ball said, a line inside of it moving in small waves as it spoke.

“Yeah... I, uh... Missed you too.” Twilight said, shifting in her chair and clearing her throat, “Now, we’ve got some wor-”

“Would you like for me to play the 4,298 messages including e-mails, and calls you have received since then?” The ball asked.

“N-No thank you computer. I’ll check them at a later date. Right now I have to plan out and build a prototype for a nonlethal weapon to show off to the Council by the end of the week. That’s seven days we have to use to our advantage.” Twilight answered.

“Very well then. I shall place them in the ‘to be looked upon later’ folder. Now, what ideas do you have as of now, Ms. Sparkle?” The ball said.

“Well, for right now I need to focus on something else for a bit.” Twilight turned her chair and pointed to the small circle on her chest, “I’d like you to scan this and tell me exactly what it is. A.... Friend of mine.... Told me that it was some sort of a magnet. But I’d like to know exactly why they put a magnet inside of me.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The ball said, as a mechanical arm lowered itself from the ceiling, then releasing a thin, horizontal bar that sent out a small and thin purple light that surrounded Twilight’s chest. It stayed there for a few seconds before the light disappeared and the bar turned 90 degrees, spreading it’s two pieces open and showing a hologram screen in between them, showing an image of Twilight’s chest.

“Alright, now enhance and scan in to show the cardiovascular layer, specifically my heart. I want to know what’s there.” Twilight said.

“Yes, Ms. Sparkle.” The computer replied, the holographic screen zooming in slightly and the image changing to show an image of Twilight’s heart, and what seemed like dozens of sharp pieces of metal around her heart.

“C-Computer...?” Twilight said, her voice cracking as she began breathing heavily, “W-What’s that?”

“Those appear to be small pieces of metal. More specifically though, they are pieces of shrapnel made, the metal they are made out of seems to show that the pieces were made from your company.” The computer replied.

“The bomb....” Twilight slowly realized, “t-the battery! No! I left the battery! And the replacement! I left that there too!!!”

Twilight put a hoof to her chest, breathing in quick and short breaths to try and control her breathing as her heart started beating rapidly.

“The object seems to be losing it’s effectiveness.” The computer said.

“W-What can we make that can perhaps stand as a permanent replacement for the battery and the current object?” Twilight asked, “could we maybe make a smaller version of the arc reactor? And use that?”

“Odds of you surviving this theory are 47 percent, Ms. Sparkle.” The computer replied.

“Are there any ways to raise the chances?”

“I’m afraid not.”

Twilight sighed deeply and ran her hoof through her mane, then buried her face in her hooves. She didn’t know what kind of battery to give the current magnet in her chest, had only a 47 percent chance of survival if she made a new, miniature arc reactor to use as a magnet.

“Computer... Go. Make a miniature version of the arc reactor and prepare to exchange my current magnet for the new one.

“Yes, Ms. Sparkle.” The computer said, the holographic ball disappearing afterwards.

Twilight sat back in her chair and looked up, her hoof running through the circumference of the circle on her chest.

Twilight didn’t know how much time had passed until she saw the holographic ball of her computer appear again.

“I am ready now, Ms. Sparkle.” The computer said, “would you like for me to perform the exchange here?”

Twilight sighed, closing her eyes and nodding, “yes, computer. Do it.”

Twilight held her breath during the exchange, shutting her eyes tight, not wanting to see what was happening. The computer told her that it would be a painless process, but the sight would most likely make Twilight gag, so keeping her eyes shut seemed like the best way to go. The computer said there would be no blood, so Twilight stayed seated in her chair, Twilight wishing that it would be over quick. And thankfully, it was..

“I am done now, Ms. Sparkle.” The computer said.

Twilight opened her eyes, seeing her previous purple circle replaced with one that was pretty much the same, but it’s edges were a lot shinier, and Twilight felt herself seemingly lift up and feel as though all the stress and problems from her life have all somewhat gone away.

“The new device, the miniature arc reactor, seems to be working just as expected, so it should be able to keep you alive for decades, Ms. Sparkle.”

“Alright... Good job computer... And thank you.” Twilight said.

“You are quite welcome, Ms. Sparkle. And please tell me if there is anything else you wish for me to help you with.” The computer said.

“Nothing now for my heart now, computer,” Twilight turned the chair back to her desk, moving the blueprint back in front of her, “now we just need to run through ideas for our nonlethal weapon prototype to show off to the Council.”

“I will search through the folders of previous projects, please give me a moment.” The computer said, the ball disappearing as Twilight nodded.

She sighed when she looked down to her arc reactor, knowing she’ll have this constant and permanent reminder of the cave, of Whooves, of Spitfire, and of waking up with her only chance of survival being a magnet powered by a battery. She then ran her hoof through her mane, but then moved back down to her forehead, rubbing the small, circular rough area where her horn used to be. ”Well.... Three reminders....” She thought.

The ball then returned, “I have finished, Ms. Sparkle. I have found a few designs we could use as a base for an idea that I have if you would like to hear.” It said.

“Sure computer, go ahead.” Twilight said.

A holographic screen appeared in front of the ball, showing early designs for Twilight’s hoof aid, which was supposed to have been created to help soldiers during war to hold their weapons in their hooves, but was eventually replaced with the body holster, which offered a 360 degree look around the soldier.

“I was thinking that the weapon could be, as you said, a nonlethal blast that originated from the hoof, allowing the one being attacked to survive, as the attack will just simply knock them back.” The computer said.

“Alright... It sounds good computer. Put a bookmark in that option, and we can revisit it if we can’t find any other options.” Twilight responded.

Twilight yawned and rubbed her eyes softly, looking up to the corner of her desk to read her clock, which said 11:20 PM. It had been three days since she had begun working on the blueprints, and she was close to being done. All that she needed was a way for the machine to actually get the energy necessary to use it, since not all soldiers were Unicorns.

She had run through many ideas for the design, all of them ending up scraped. There were plans for a horn casing that could be placed on top of a unicorn’s horn to be used, or put on a pegasus and earth pony to be used just like a horn with the beam. But it was scrapped as Twilight thought it’d be easy for enemies to just shoot off. So she kept thinking.

Eventually, she decided on the design that her computer had offered, which would end at the hoof. They added that the device would have wiring that lead to the chest area, where their armor is strongest, where it would store the energy to fire from the device on the hoof.

All she needed was a way to actually make the energy and for it to be used in a small device. She looked down, sighing and lightly tapping the small, glowing circle on her chest.

“I fear that I have no ideas of anything that can give us the energy required to make this weapon outside of making a smaller version of the arc reactor, Ms. Sparkle.” The computer said.

“And we both know why we can’t do that.” Twilight said, looking down to her notes still and gently biting down on the end of her pencil.

“It’s too powerful to put into the Council’s hooves.” The computer responded.

“Exactly. I don’t trust them with something so powerful.” Twilight said, "Now, have you finished the prototype?"

“Yes, Ms. Sparkle. I shall send it up immediately.” A small square opened up on the floor of Twilight’s office and a small stand rose, on it was a device made of wiring that was in the shape of a pony’s hoof, a small box was attached to another cord that attached to a wire in the opening. At the other end of the device, where the end of the hoof went, was a small circle that had a slight blue glow to it. Twilight turned to it and nodded.

“And you’re positive that this box will be able to give us the power required for the blast?” Twilight asked.

“I have a 86% feeling that this will work, Ms. Sparkle. Using the replacement should give enough power to give you the blast results you are looking for.” The computer replied.

“Alright, then go ahead and try it out. Let’s see if this’ll work.” Twilight said, turning her chair.

“As you wish.” The stand turned, pointing the end of the device towards a small pony shaped dummy, rising from the ground as the wall behind it was covered by a much thicker wall, Twilight put on a pair of goggles as this happened.

The goggles wouldn’t do much of anything, in fact, during most of her experiments she’s never really needed to use them, but she always wore the goggles her parents bought her when she decided she would be a student for Celestia.

“Alright, when you’re ready computer.” Twilight said.

The device made a short whirr noise, before a yellow blast of energy shot out from the end of the hoof towards the dummy, knocking the dummy back hard against the wall, causing Twilight to scream. The dummy landed on the floor with a large hole in the area where it’s front legs, head and top part of it’s body used to be.

Spike entered the room, panting and looking around. “T-Twilight?? What happened??” He asked.

“N-Nothing Spike... T-The current model for the prototype just... Had a lot more ‘oomph’ than we thought.” Twilight said, removing her goggles.

“We apologize if we frightened you, Spike.” The computer said.

“Oh, no problem AIVHA” Spike said.

“‘AIVHA’?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, AIVHA. ‘An Intelligent Virtual Helping Ally.’ It’s just a little name I call the computer. It’s better than just saying ‘computer’ all the time.” Spike replied, “it gets a little repetitive. So I gave her a name.”

“Yes, Spike has given me this name a while ago, Ms. Sparkle.” AIVHA said.

“AIVHA... Well... Alright then.” Twilight said, chuckling. “We really should get back to work though computer.”

“Yes, Ms. Sparkle.”

“Alright, I’ll see you for dinner then Twilight?” Spike asked.

“Of course Spike.” Twilight said.

“Alright. And good luck!” Spike closed the door and Twilight watched as the dummy was grabbed by a small arm from the floor and taken down, along with the stand holding the current model for the prototype.

“I think we should try adding more constriction to the cord where the energy goes through, take away from it’s power.” Twilight said.

“I shall get to work on it right away, Ms. Sparkle.”

Twilight leaned forward and buried her face in her hooves, sighing and yawning. ”We’re almost done,” Twilight thought, ”just a couple more trials.”

Twilight sat up in her chair and looked down to her blueprints, taking the pencil and jotting down the note on restricting the cord where the energy goes, putting the pencil back down when she finished.

“... I need to send someone back there. We need to find it. The cave I was held in. I left back a bucking miniature arc reactor. And if they decide they want to go back for Faust knows what, and they find it... Then there’s nothing we can do to stop them.”

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