The Velocity of Blood

by the dobermans

Uncertainty

The bottom of the page—the printout, Twilight had called it— was sharp to the touch. A row of tiny teeth at the edge of the slot had cut it clean and straight. There was nothing at all like that in the Dragon Lands.

“Wow, look at that! No magic!” Spike marveled. It was times like this that made him glad he lived among the ponyfolk. They had a way of tidying everything they touched. Everything was clean and bright, and just so. He couldn’t imagine where he’d be without them. Without Twilight. Sucking his thumb, still stuck inside his egg, probably.

“Let’s see what we got,” he said to the parchment, holding it in a dusty sunbeam. The block letters had bled a little into the over-bright white.

Avg. Velocity (horns/second) = 6

Uncertainty = 42

 

Nothing else was on the page. “That’s the secret, huh? Guess I better … uh … guess I better take this data upstairs and file it,” Spike muttered. “Where should it go? Medical section? Yeah, that’s probably where it should go. Would be a shame if it were to get smudged, or lost after all that hard work. Twilight said …”

What had she said?

It was evidence, he remembered. She could talk about it to other ponies, other creatures—ones without magic, even—or put it into a book so others could read about it and check to see if they could get the same numbers. But that meant any pony could read about it. Bad ones, too.

“Gosh, I hope no pony uses this for anything evil.” He looked to his left and right.

Something moved behind one of the chairs.

He turned to run. He had to get to the medical archives before whoever that was could steal the velocity and use it for their own nefarious purposes. Once it was filed, he would lose them in the maze of shelves and get Twilight’s help. Then they’d be in a world of trouble.

In his haste, his foot slipped into the Data Retrieval Slot. Like the grip of a vengeful ghost waking to its purpose, it pulled him off-balance. As his belly hit the floor, he coughed out a cloud of flame, and not the kind that sent letters to Princess Celestia. Hot air from the blast gusted into a tower of color-coded notes lying on a nearby table. It toppled over and splashed against the wall.

The printout disintegrated into a hail of soot.

“No!” Spike cried. He rolled onto his back, ready to turn his fire loose on the would-be thief who had ambushed him.

Paper floated down around him; swirling sheets of tiny black words and figures. Nobody was there.

He slammed his head against his palm. The last, last step. He’d gotten to the very end, only to be defeated by his own tired dragon brain. Twilight was going to be really, really mad.

He sank to his knees over the serrated metal groove and shouted down to her.

“Um … Twilight? Can we start over?”

She might have sung a few notes of her song. It was hard to hear over the hum of the machinery below.

“Twi?”

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading The Velocity of Blood. I hope you enjoyed it, and the foregoing poem by e.e. cummings in the author's notes.

The story was tangentially influenced by A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, and directly influenced by "Amending Fences" by M.A. Larson, as well as an event that took place in the spring of 2017.

Written between ‎September ‎10, ‎2016, ‏‎4:32:20 PM and April 6, 2019, 10:59:53 AM.

Comments

[Sigmacipher]

I really don't get it...at all.

[Raging Mouse]

It seems all I am left with is the face value... and some horrible slapstick? Just what the heck?!?

[Sejen]

9550444
Head canon: Twilight went a bit nuts after discovering she was imortal and going to outlive her friends. so she built a "suicide by science" machine.

[i_am_the_jam]

Why not just repeat the printout?

[Key frame]

Hmmm.
Like, I get it's appears to be open ended to interperetation, and possibly a suicide machine?
Her whole build up to this felt like it was something else though, with the focus on the build, frustrations and sometimes outright anger at spike over tiny things. He really felt like the butt of a joke/whipping post throughout (which admittedly the show does a lot too).

Like. Not a bad ending, it just felt like you were leading to something else/ more.

But anyway! Regardless of all that, thank you for writing this story for everyone to read :)

[ninjanaut1000]

with it being an ambiguous ending as to whether twilight is alive or dead i can't help but picture this song in regards to the darker side of it with spike dealing with her being gone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM4WsTWdCDQ

[TheBBofC]

Sometimes I don't mind an ambiguous ending. It's not really my thing. But it can be done well. That being said, I had no idea what was going on or what the goal was through the entirety of this story.

[Ri2]

I don't get it...

[Karmada]

9550831

in that case she would fail. (and go even more nuts?)
If you think she is truly immortal, then she (or Harmony?) can rebuild her body from nothing (like during her ascension). If she knows that, that may be a reason for going a "little" crazy. (And using her body as a replaceable test subject too, that would be very much in-character for her)