Sudden Third Person
Although the smithy was technically closed for business and her apprentices had gone home, Landshark was still at work, hammering the blade of a splitting maul into shape. As far as tools went, it wasn't a very great departure from the weapons she had crafted in the past. Certainly more familiar than the various agricultural implements and other miscellaneous items in demand in Ponyville and its surroundings. While working, she was wearing a large apron and little else. No sense risking damage to her clothing.
Whenever she didn't have plans to spend an evening with friends, Landshark was trying hard to fall into the habit of working a little beyond regular closing time, doing whatever tasks that were easily completed by herself. Apparently this was a thing small business owners sometimes did. She generally avoided working late into the night, however. No sense risking noise complaints from the nearest neighbors.
She heard the tinny ring of the bell at the front door. Apparently somebody had disregarded the opening hours sign. To be expected, considering work was audibly still in progress, she supposed.
"It's past closing time! You'll have to wait until I can put the work aside or step on through!"
Between the blows of her hammer, she heard hooves approaching the connecting doorway from the front office. Briefly, she wondered how ponies ever snuck up on anyone on harder floors. "Let's hear what you need, then, but don't think I'll get started on it tonight." She turned her head briefly. Seeing a unicorn covered by an oddly conspicuous cloak, her gaze snapped back onto her work. "Name's Landshark, I run this place. My workers already went home."
She thought she heard a small gasp, but considering she was making a racket herself, it was difficult to be sure. After a moment, the visitor spoke up. "The Great and Powerful Trixie requires your services, menial!" The follow-up was slightly less grand. "Trixie requires new horseshoes to weather the hardships of the road!"
This was a type of grandstanding that Landshark hadn't previously encountered among ponies, and it did make her a little curious about the mare in question. Primarily though she found it difficult to resist to play along in a similar way.
"Menial? Hah. I am steel and clay given purpose, little mortal. I've forged the weapons by which a divine realm was plunged into chaos. Its order fell upon entropy's blade, its chains broken." She kept hammering a steady rythm as she turned her head again. "And you want horseshoes? I just got my farrier's license, see Shod-in-Brass across town if you want someone with more experience."
The customer was perhaps not quite sure what to make of the construct, but continued talking sooner than Landshark might have expected from other ponies. "Unfortunately, Trixie's bits are no good in many of the local establishments. Trixie had hoped to find what she needed here."
Landshark inspected her work carefully. It appeared to be in good shape to be set aside and finished the next morning. "I can do horseshoes, I've got nails, and I finally got squared away with the guild, with a little help from Princess Twilight." She paused. "My work passed muster, she just helped me past some red tape." Shoeing a pony wasn't really all that difficult to Landshark, who generally moved with the sort of precision other people obtained by long experience.
"Since you're a unicorn you'll probably want screw-in studs and maybe a couple different types of them, I suppose? I've got studs for all sorts of ground." Landshark honestly hadn't planned to make shoeing a particularly great part of her business, but forging shoes for her friends was still something she planned to do, and being able to do everything in-house would be cheaper. Besides, the princesses were already dealing with the Metalworkers and Farriers guild to make sure No-Toes could continue his education, so it seemed convenient to mention her need for a license to Twilight.
"I can't get started on this until tomorrow after lunch, so there's still plenty of time for you to change your mind and see the pony with more experience."
"Trixie has not left the best of impressions in Ponyville. She will wait! Besides, Princess Twilight is not the sort to abide shoddy work. If you are licensed now, then you are no worse than other freshly licensed farriers, Trixie assumes!" After a short break that allowed Landshark to wonder about the slightly annoyed tone with which Trixie had mentioned Twilight, the unicorn pressed on. "In any other situation, Trixie would, of course, only accept the best and most experienced to tend to her needs!"
"Hey now, I never did hear Twilight say anything about Shoddy Brass's work one way or the other."
Trixie frowned. "That was terrible and you know it." She paused, giving the construct a calculating look. "So, are you some creation of Twilight's? It'd be just like her to casually exceed expectations while nopony is looking! First she proves herself more powerful, then she defeats Trixie at her own game without using much magic, Trixie fails to take over Ponyville," she paused, lowering her head. "Which is good, Trixie regrets this and was not herself. But then Twilight becomes an alicorn and her palace looms over the town. It would be just like her to create autonomous synthetic life and not make a big thing out of it!" Her horn started to glow.
Landshark abandoned any pretense of being alive. She hadn't resorted to the old droning monotone in some time. "Keep your magic to yourself or I bite your horn off." She snapped her jaws as punctuation. "I'm not Twilight's creation. What I told you was true, with embellishments, of course." She suddenly sounded amused again. "I'm so glad somebody finally calls that thing a Palace. Everyone around here calls it a castle, but where I'm from a castle is a fortification."
She snorted with contempt. "Ponies wouldn't know a properly fortified position if they saw it, apparently. Maybe you could stuff all of Ponyville's noncombatants in there, but it doesn't even have an outer wall for protection! Anyone with a grudge and some high explosives could topple that top-heavy monstrosity like a chopped tree. Even if it didn't fall down, I doubt the walls inside have spall liners. You hit that thing hard enough and every room close to the impact site turns into a charnel house from the crystal fragments."
Of course, Landshark knew absolutely nothing about the actual composition and durability of Twilight's home. She paused and tilted her head. "We are trading bizarre rants, right?"
Trixie laughed, perhaps nervously. She had immediately stopped preparing her spell after being warned off. "Well, Trixie is convinced. She doubts Twilight would create somepony with an imagination like that. Trixie was merely curious about the magic powering you. She prefers to keep her horn."
"Right. Well, what brings you to town if you're worried that no one likes you?" She started tidying up the room while carrying on the conversation. "Nothing I'd have to kill you over, I hope."
Trixie appeared to shy away at the casual threat. "Trixie feels she is quite done with Ponyville. She is merely passing through on the way to Canterlot. She has been contracted to create stage effects for a local theater on rather short notice." She sounded proud. "After all, few match Trixie's talent for illusions and bedazzlement!"
"Nice to see a unicorn using their magic like that, I guess. Most of your lot make having magic look pretty mundane, with some exceptions, of course." Landshark hung up her apron and started dressing herself. "You don't strike me as a backstage sort of personality."
"Perhaps not! But Trixie is no fool. During the cold season, she will not turn down employment that demands her talents but is safely indoors." A shiver passed through the unicorn despite the warmth. The room would not be truly cold until long after the forge went out. "The Great and Powerful Trixie's true calling is, of course, that of the showmare, stage magician and professional teller of tall tales!"
"Hmm." Landshark wondered if this had stopped being a business visit and had become a visit to her home. In any case, some hospitality seemed to be in order. "You want something to drink? I got water, grain alcohol and cigarettes."
The construct brushed past Trixie into the front office. The place was poorly equipped for hospitality. Her friends usually brought their own snacks and drinks, but Landshark had somewhat recently purchased a still from Berry Punch.
"Trixie is not averse to a drink, considering the cold. But please, tell her how much the horseshoes will cost before she is under the influence." The unicorn finally doffed the hood of her cloak as she positioned herself in front of the desk.
Landshark poured a small quantity of liquid into a small tin cup from an earthenware jug. "Try not to breathe it in." Landshark didn't think that even Berry Punch had been in the habit of drinking neutral spirits undiluted. The construct really didn't have a good reason to produce the stuff beyond nostalgia, but she supposed it might make a good gift for Applejack and Rainbow Dash in case they ever wanted to turn their next drinking contest into a suicide pact.
Trixie didn't appear to be very good at following instructions. The cup nearly slipped from her magic grasp. "I think it's eating my nose!" She seemed distressed. "Are you trying to kill Trixie?"
"70 Bits for a good set of steel shoes and a proper selection of studs. Last you a long time." Landshark steepled her fingers. "Shoddy would take just as much. More, probably, if you're right and he doesn't like you."
"Oh. Trixie appreciates the alcohol now." The unicorn choked down her drink before eyeing the construct despondently. "Trixie has never been truly aware of her tonsils before." She shook her head. "You're lucky Trixie knows how expensive the same thing would be in Canterlot." She didn't sound happy. "This is going to do terrible things to Trixie's budget."
"You'll want a good set of shoes either way once you hit Canterlot streets, I imagine." Landshark pulled out a ledger from a cabinet behind her desk. "So, how does being a stage magician work in Equestria? Is that strictly a unicorn job?"
"Trixie can't deny that being a unicorn is helpful. But magic is so common in Equestria that true wonderment can, sometimes must, be caused by other means. A crowd of unicorns might regard illusion spells as mundane, but might be awed by sleight of hoof and other tricks that would make them check for a horn on an earth pony!" Trixie gestured grandly, speaking with real passion for her work. "Stage magic must amaze and astound. The means are secondary, and best kept secret to keep the mystery alive."
The unicorn frowned. "Knowing Trixie's audience is necessary as well. Perhaps Trixie must perform far to the west, where frontier populations may view unicorns with disdain? Why, she would simply limit herself to tricks and stage effects that do not require unicorn magic, so the audience may yet be baffled instead of disdainful of a glowing horn." She shrugged. "Trixie has not read all of her audiences correctly, you can be sure of that."
Landshark had been inspecting the contents of her ledger as Trixie had talked, but now the construct looked up. "You can do stage effects without magic?"
Trixie reacted with a haughty "Hmpf." After a moment, she deigned to explain. "Trixie is Great and Powerful because unlike so many graduating from the School for Gifted Unicorns, she is not so eager to reduce herself to nothing but the capabilities of her own horn! There are many clever devices and techniques she can employ. Likely invented by crafty earth ponies or pegasi, she imagines. Trixie is not an expert in pyrotechnics, but knows their value!"
Landshark nodded slowly before pouring Trixie another drink. "I might be willing to cut you a deal on those horseshoes. I know two young unicorns who love to learn how to solve problems without magic, like the stage effects." She shrugged. "I guess they wouldn't hate learning some flashy spells either. But I'd like to know more about your supposed poor reputation."
Trixe seemed to freeze up briefly, then narrowed her eyes. "Colts or fillies?"
"Fillies." Landshark made sure to sound confused by the question. "Maybe there'll be an adult unicorn too, not related. I'm considering making this offer because the girls don't have unicorn parents and would probably like to expand their horizons a little bit."
"Ah, good. Trixie would rather not face the colts that ruined her life!" She seemed to deflate briefly before pounding down the second drink. "The Great and Powerful Trixie graced this town with her presence before! Alas, she was too boastful in performing her wonders and telling tall tales, so she made enemies of Twilight's friends. Then, when two idiotic colts decided to lure a beast from the Everfree to see Trixie defeat it, she failed, naturally. Twilight Sparkle had to save the day, but not before Trixie's belongings were destroyed by the beast." She stared into her empty cup morosely. "I ... Trixie really tried to defend the town, too. Trixie was driven out after Twilight took care of the beast. Her former audience had not been in the mood to wait for explanations."
"My condolences. Ponies seem to get pretty nasty when you have enough of them who think you're a danger to them." Landshark got up and locked the jug of alcohol up in a cupboard. "I wouldn't be alive today if I was made of meat. Got beaten pretty bad." She snapped her jaws. "Was only a handful of ponies, though. I don't think this is a bad town, or particularly loathe to give second chances."
Trixie shrugged. "Perhaps the proximity of the Everfree makes the ponies here twitchy. In any case, of course rumor spread that Trixie had deliberately caused Ponyville to be attacked, and the region became considerably less receptive to her shows. Trixie was forced to work on a distant rock farm to make ends meet and earn bits to replace all she had lost."
"Huh. I suppose I sort of assumed rock farms were something Pinkie had made up." The construct rubbed the back of her head. One of the many tasks of the denizens of the Underfoot had been to seed mineral resources in mortal planes with close connections to that divine realm. Perhaps rocks were a replenishable resource in this world as well. "I guess that was premature. Anyway, I can probably talk my friends into giving you a chance, and also to keep their mouths shut about you being here. They don't gossip."
Trixie shifted awkwardly and avoided eye contact with Landshark. "Trixie is afraid it won't be that easy. I ... She eventually purchased an artifact of power to try and duel Twilight. Sadly, the artifact corrupted Trixie and she ruled over Ponyville with a crazed, iron hoof. Then Twilight defeated her with the sort of clever tricks that used to be Trixie's specialty. Trixie is grateful to be free of the artifact's influence, and Twilight forgave her, but most ponies are rather less kind than her, Trixie knows that." She sighed. "At least it served as a reminder that the greatest unicorns are more than their horn."
Landshark nodded along. "Yes, I can see how that could leave a poor impression." She snapped her jaws again. "I don't think Twilight administrates this area with a firm enough ... hoof, I guess, to keep the townsfolk from being trouble for you, even if she did personally forgive you." She paused. "I suppose she would scold them severely in case they ended up lynching you."
"You're not very good at comforting ponies, are you?" Trixie shook her head, then glowered at the construct. "Yes, Trixie admits it, coming back here was foolish, but she was curious to meet you."
"Hmpf. It feels rather annoying, but I suppose I'd rather have ponies assume that I'm some weird magical project by Twilight Sparkle than an alien. Setting the record straight would probably cause more annoyance than do good." Landshark chuckled. "I was about to question whether you really needed new shoes so badly you had to hit Ponyville for them rather than some other village."
After a moment of thought, she added, "I really hope all her Princess business keeps Twilight from coming up with the idiotic idea of building another one like me." She twitched her jaw. "Ugh, that'd be just what I need, her deciding I have a friendship problem because there's just the one of me."
"I suppose ... Trixie thinks you don't much care for the company of your own kind?" It seemed that a bit of alcohol made it a little more challenging to maintain the third person gimmick.
"That's a stupid question and you haven't even had that much to drink." Landshark sounded amused. "How'd you react if someone decided you need a friend, but instead of letting you just make friends, they'd buy a big ol' pile of red meat, built an approximation of a pony out of it and animated it with magic?"
Landshark wasn't really sure Twilight would want to try such a thing, but rumor had it that in the past, her curiosity sometimes ran away with her. "Look, my sisters and I aren't defined by the type of magic clay we're shaped from, and I'm not the steel I was reinforced with. There's history and something almost like a culture there."
"Hmm. That does make sense to Trixie. While Great and Powerful, she is a bit rusty when it comes to the more, pardon her Prench, outré theories. I suppose a newly crafted synthetic intelligence would mature rather differently from you, keenly aware that it is very different from everypony else." The unicorn started pacing, seemingly game for the thought experiment. "Trixie thinks that much would depend on Twilight's power or skill. With skill she could design a type of ... simulated intelligence, which would be able to interact with ponies convincingly without truly being sapient. That would be the least morally dubious choice."
The unicorn stopped and rubbed her forehead. "The complexity of enchantments required for such a thing boggles the mind. I don't expect a Princess has the idle time to complete such a project swiftly. On the other hoof, with raw power, there might be ... other options. There are, after all, fully intelligent entities largely based on magic. Calling into being an intelligent mind and binding it to the body might work, but you'd still condemn a thinking, feeling entity to forever be Other. Depending on the initial emotional maturity, this could be very cruel indeed."
"Yeah. My self-image was pretty solid by the time I lost my home. We were created by a literal god, and our souls were shaped to fit our bodies. I do not really feel any envy because I lack a sense of taste, or do not have a cutie mark. My mind was not shaped by a culture in which those things existed." The conversation was unexpected, but Landshark thought that as long as an eccentric like Trixie was dubious about the idea of attempting to create a sapient construct, Twilight would probably also realize that it might be a bad idea. That, at least, was reassuring.
"Speaking of souls, Trixie is sure the mighty alicorns have access to the forbidden sections of the Canterlot library. Although she is the greatest of the 'lesser mortals', Trixie only knows the forbidden magics contained there-in by rumor and reputation." The airquotes around 'lesser mortals' were clearly audible. Landshark briefly wondered if she sounded similar, talking about alicorns.
"Trixie would not be surprised if it were possible to bind a soul originally belonging to a pony, or any other mortal being, to a construct body." She snorted in disgust. "That would be the most reprehensible means of imbuing a machine with a mind. Even at her worst, Trixie did not allow herself to sink so low."
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we can rule that one out even if Twilight were to go science-crazy. Honestly, she's been pretty low-key around me, most of the time. Maybe what I heard was all from a more immature period?" Landshark shrugged. "In any case, I can probably talk my friends into giving you a chance anyway. Despite your indiscretions. And you did say you were corrupted, I guess we shouldn't fully hold that against you."
"Trixie thinks you may be overestimating your friendships. You're new here, do you really think they would take your word over their impression of events that they have witnessed?"
Landshark wasn't entirely sure if Trixie was just being contrary, or if she was actively disdainful of the idea. The construct snickered. "Haven't you heard? Friendship is Magic!" Her voice became cold and clipped. "Let's not mince words. Most of my adult friends are flawed, one way or the other. We'll put up with a lot, including your third person gimmick. But if you're up to no good, you'll wish just about anyone else had caught on first."
"The Great and Powerful Trixie has turned over a new leaf!" The unicorn bristled, presumably with indignation. She might have meant to say more, but Landshark interrupted her.
"Good. I'll set something up for tomorrow afternoon or something. Don't talk down to the fillies, they're smart and eager. Don't hold us responsible for anything that happens as a result of Pinkie Pie." Landshark had switched back to a much friendlier tone seamlessly. Now she closed the ledger she had been checking and put it back into the proper cabinet. "Lucky for you the budget allows for this bit of generosity. You show those fillies some tools of the trade or spells or whatever, I only charge you 35 bits. Considering I'm holding all the cards, I'm being more than fair."
Landshark hadn't gotten a real precise read on Trixie's personality, but considering she obviously hadn't tried to contact Twilight, she probably wasn't going to try and buy horseshoes from a pony who might not want to deal with her unless convinced to by the Princess of Friendship. If nothing else, Landshark understood pride. "I'd be interested too, of course."
Trixie nodded glumly, but didn't seem sufficiently unhappy with the deal to just pack up and find a farrier in a neighboring town. She looked about the room. "Trixie is curious. Do you live in this building, or do you have a home better suited to entertaining guests?"
"This is it. Before I ran this joint, I used to sleep outside or at a friend's place. Honestly I just do this to project a bit of normalcy. This is mostly an earth pony town, and earth ponies tend to like their work and tend to appreciate people who do work." She shrugged. "My impression only, of course. For a tireless construct, my work ethic really doesn't hold a candle to that of most ponies." The construct emitted a chuckle.
"Well, it was worth asking. Trixie will spend the night in her wagon."
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6697819
Thanks for the comments. I'm always feeling worried when I write one of the Mane 6. I was hoping that it would seem kind of understandable that AJ might have difficulties dealing with a machine she can't get a read on and that she wouldn't seem like a jerk for no reason.
6697984
Hah, yes, but as you mentioned in an earlier comment, we are far enough along in the timeline that all of Ponyville doesn't shut down because an equine...IN A CLOAK (DUN DUN DUN) comes to shop at the market.
On the other hand, Landshark is clearly a machine, which is a little different than a foreign looking person, so I had to throw in a small number of xenophobes.
6697984
Maybe Ponyville is just full of complete rubes. Like, yeah, Trixie was being kind of a jerk in her first appearance but she was clearly just putting on a show. Like, who gets mad about obvious tall tales? Why would Spike tell Snips and Snails "don't believe her until you see it" instead of "Come on this is like theater, don't be silly."
I guess being Twilight's servant didn't teach Spike about public entertainment either.
You know I first pictured Shark as this one robot (I think it was from a game?) I'll try and describe it because I can't find a picture on google images. It was copper coloured, oval headed, the mouth was what looked like a closed bear trap and it took the whole bottom half of it's head, and its limbs were very thin like copper tubes. I can't remember what the torso was like, though. I hope you've seen the thing before. I don't think it would be from WoW, because "bear trap mouth robot world of warcraft" should have brought it up! I remember the creature from years ago, so I might just have imagined it. I hope I'm not nuts and it's an actual thing!
Edit: the head oval was horizontal. Kinda like Hey Arnold!.
I just binged this instead of sleeping, now I just have to wait for new chapters.
6700218
Hm, that doesn't sound familiar to me right now.
Honestly, Landshark looks pretty human as long as she keeps her mouth shut. I never could find any good action shots of bellikos attacking with their bites on GIS.
i.imgur.com/88AtpMH.png
Having those human lips painted on when the actual mouth basically splits open their cheeks has always amused me.
Obviously I'm taking some creative liberties here - the backstory in the Underfoot as told by Landshark is basically 1:1 true to the game or as near as I could get, but in terms of construction the game doesn't really offer much info except that they're magically animated constructs, some sacred clay native to the setting is involved in the construction, and they look mostly human and attack with freaky teeth, which is their default attack animation. And even during that animation, their facial expression is static except for the jaw, which by the time these creatures were introduced was no longer due to graphic engine limitations.
Oh, and there's a quest for players to collect bodyparts from destroyed bellikos and put them together, which is the quest that explicitly established that mortals can't just magic up a new one, they have to use the parts of one that had already been imbued with the magic of their creator.
6700251
Glad you enjoyed it!
6700831 I really hope I didn't just imagine the things I'm trying to describe up. Yeah though, I figured out what Shark was to look like after getting a closer look at the cover art, soon after starting to read the story.
Meeting Trixie... this will either turn into a magnificent friendship, or they will blow up half of Ponyvile...
Maybe both.
Loved the story so far, great work, keep it up.
6701011
Now you've got me racking my brain if I've seen what you described somewhere before, haha.
6701940 The teeth were large and there weren't any lips. I honestly have no idea what it's from. I remember it being like WoW, or maybe PS2 graphics... One day I'll come across a picture of the thing, I'll start for a moment, but then I'll stop and wonder why the picture's important; and there will be no answer.
6701722
I'm still doctoring around with the next chapter. Glad people seem to have a good time reading the story.
6702001 You do a very good job, really well written and good plot-line.
Frankly I'm quite surprised this hasn't gotten more attention, it's a good story...
6700218 Based on description, I would say it might be one of the HK model droids from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. And yes, I realize this is an old comment and you have no memory of what it is about, just wanted to inform you.