The Mad Lab of Dr. Theory
“You…You…,” gasped Mad Theory, his distorted and disfigured features darkening with utter hatred. The monstrous stallion stood there, seething for several long seconds before slowly moving closer to the group, his goggled eyes fixated on Wild Theory. With each step he took, there was a loud ‘clank’ as well as a hiss coming from his hind legs that made Twilight’s insides squirm. Oil was dripping from somewhere as his lower body’s gauges began to shoot into the red. It was as if his anger was so great it was affecting his mechanical body. The fleshy side of him wasn’t looking any better as veins were nearly popping out of his throat, his teeth gritted with clear anger. Behind her, she could feel Spike’s claws holding on to her hind legs as he began to shake with fear.
Twilight had to be honest with herself, she was afraid of this stallion. Yes, she had stood up to a mare who had threatened to bring forth endless night. She had been toyed with by a god of chaos and watched her friends as they turned into the very worst versions of themselves. She had watched as a love parasite queen brainwashed her brother at his wedding and then took down Princess Celestia. And somehow, this pony scared her worse than all of them put together.
Perhaps that was just the shock of seeing him for the first time, making a powerful impression. She had never had the chance to envision what Wild’s brother would look like, but she supposed she would have thought that they looked the same. Maybe Mad wouldn’t have the crippled wing or something to that effect. Heck, she would have expected a more serious version of Wild without the triple repeats! But the sight before her felt like it belonged in a nightmare rather than in the waking world.
“Miserable cur!” spat Mad Theory. “What in the name of the Storm gives you the right to be in my lab? My lab!”
“Now Dr. Theory, you need to calm down,” said Dr. Sparks, stepping forward and raising a hoof. “You know this isn’t good for you old chap. How about you take a nice step back, take some medicine and-”
“You do not get to lecture me about staying calm!” roared Mad Theory, his voice echoing through the lad. Thestrals around them began to cower in fear, some huddled in corners with their wings covering their faces. “You know what this…this thing did to me!”
“Haha,” laughed Wild nervously. “A bit harsh to be calling me a ‘thing’, brother. Don’t you think, think, think?”
“I think, think, think yes!” screamed Mad, more veins popping out of his neck as he slammed a front hoof onto the ground. However, as he took another step, something happened in the blink of an eye surprising several of the ponies there into stunned silence. While it was brief, Twilight had just managed to see the motor belt within Mad’s hind quarters go flying across the room and hitting one of the preservation chambers. There was a short sputtering sound followed by several gears coming loose. The stallion’s anger quickly morphed into fear, an absolute panic, as he fell to the ground. Pain appeared in his eyes as veins began to poke out of his skin around where his flesh connected to the metal.
“HELP ME!” screamed Mad as he looked over at the other Tinkers, steam shooting out of his metal legs and plot. “HELP ME!” Tears were appearing in his eyes along with, much to Twilight own horror, blood. Mad began to flail about in a state, wailing and crying as if pain were now coursing through his very veins. His voice was not that of one in control, ordering others to do his bidding but rather begging for help. What had happened to him that just not having his hind legs working would cause such a thing?
“Brother I’m here. Just let me-” began Wild, only to stop as Mad regained enough of his senses to swat the air in front of him.
“Not you!” cried Mad, blood now seeping from his jaw line. “Anythestral but you! You did this to me! You did this to me! YOU DID THIS TO ME!”
“Hold on!” said Twilight as she galloped over to Mad’s side. Whatever feelings she might have had about his appearance, the impact the sight of him caused, no longer mattered to her. He was the brother of a friend of hers and, more importantly, a pony in need. As a princess…no, as a pony herself it was her duty to help out.
Dr. Sparks stepped forward, but paused when he saw Twilight’s horn aglow. As her eyes became fixated on the complex mechanism before her, the belt and gears that had gone flying not too long ago floated over to her until they were hovering around her head. Twilight’s ears then flattened, doing her best to tune out the cries of the screaming thestral as to better examine the inner workings of his legs. Though she might not have been born in this land and the technology of Equestria being slightly behind their own, she was still Twilight Sparkle! Whenever she had a moments free time she had been studying everything she could, including some of the thestral’s mechanical guides. That, paired with her own learning as well as the time she had spent with Wild Theory, had given her a decent understanding of the basics.
As such, it didn’t take her long to replace the belt back where it belonged. Using her magic, she then began to scan the hind quarters looking for where the gears went while also using that same magic to allow the gears still inside him to turn. Everypony around her watched in silence as she examined the gears that now hung within her magical hold, trying her best to figure out where they went. Even Mad Theory eventually stopped his screaming, turning his head to watch her in amazement even as a shot of oil coated her face. While cleaning that up would have taken only a moment, Twilight didn’t waste a moment’s worth of concentration on something so minor as her focus was needed on the task at hoof. Eventually, Twilight managed to get all the gears back into the rightful place, screwing them in more carefully so that they did not come undone so easily.
“There we go,” said Twilight with a sigh of relief. She then turned to look down at Mad Theory finding that he was still staring at her. With a warm smile Twilight held out a hoof to help him up. “Are you feeling better?”
Mad Theory looked at the hoof for a moment as if dumbfounded by the gesture. Like nopony had ever done anything like that for him. It was almost pitiable in Twilight’s eyes. She then watched as his gaze moved up and over to her side, seeing her feathered wings before his eyes shot up to look at her horn.
“I-I’m fine,” he stammered weakly, but managing to stand on his own while never taking his eyes off Twilight. She could see that his coat had lost some of its color becoming very pale and that the parts of him that were still flesh and bone were shaking. It was clear he was anything but fine no matter how you wanted to put it. Yet, at the same time, Twilight couldn’t help but think how much worse it could have been. The doctor could have died from the pain! So maybe in that sense, he was fine.
“That…That thing you did,” said the doctor between gulps, his voice sounding dry. “You…You were able to lift all my parts. Put me back together without touching me. Amazing.”
“It’s nothing that special,” said Twilight as she moved a wing in front of her face to hide her blush. “Nothing that any unicorn who studied properly couldn’t do.” Then she lowered her wing and took a breath. “I did my best to repair your, ah, autoparts but my skills are still somewhat amateurish. You might want to get somepony else to look at your legs.”
“Yes, very wise Princess,” said Dr. Sparks as he stood up on his own hind legs. He then clapped his hooves together before landing back on the metal floor, signaling the other Tinkers towards him. They all came, bringing with them various tools and other items that surprised Twilight. One Tinker wearing the same spider leg like harness she had seen Wild wearing when she first arrived was pushing a large metal frame: a cube like contraption that had a metal claw dangling from its center. Another was pushing a cart with very large back wheels, the cart carrying a wide variety of tools and spare parts.
Work began on the sport. As soon as the frame was moved so that Mad Theory was right in its center before the claw was slowly lowered. With how close it was, Twilight could see that there was some sort of padding on the claw’s insides before it was clamped around Mad’s barrel while being careful not to touch his wings. The doctor was then raised high enough so that his hooves dangled above the ground. From there the other Tinkers went to work, pulling out wrenches and other such tools as they began to repair Mad’s legs. Twilight was impressed by the speed of which they worked, almost as if they had done this a hundred times. Was this because they were highly skilled or just overly familiar with this project, having done it so many times.
A slight motion drew Twilight’s attention away from the working Tinkers. It was Mad. With every twist of a wrench or turning of a screw, the stallion winced in pain. His teeth were gritted tightly on his distorted muzzle with the neck veins making a reappearance. It seemed like the pain had never really left him bringing a wave of pity for this poor creature. So much so that for a moment she was about to use her magic once again in order to conjure up some water to help ease his nerves. It was only due to fear that such an act would startle the other Tinkers, surprised by her sudden act of magic, causing them to fumble in their work and harming Mad further that prevented this.
But, what surprised Twilight was the fact that Mad was doing his best to keep his gaze on Twilight. They seemed fixated on her. Maybe it was because he had never seen an alicorn before which was understandable.
Just then, Dr. Sparks cleared his throat. “Well, now that that unpleasantness is finished,” he said moving over to Mad Theory as the scared stallion was lowered back to the ground. “Esteemed guests, please allow me to introduce to you our head in the fields of auto-limbs and biology: Dr. Mad Theory. Dr. Theory, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle. The mare who might become our new queen.”
“Interesting,” wheezed Mad, his eyes focused on Twilight. Or, rather, her horn. “Very interesting.”
“Now, Dr. Theory, perhaps you would be kind enough to show our guests the new auto-limbs you have been working on,” urged Dr. Sparks. Twilight’s ears perked at this as there was something off about the stallion’s voice. Yet, what it was she could not tell. Perhaps he was just excited to show them what they had made?
“Didn’t you get the memo?” growled Mad as he turned around, the other Tinker’s around him scurrying about as if to get as far away for the doctor as possible. “Sent it with one of those urchins that this academy thinks can become a Tinker. Pah! When I find that little rat I’ll be sure to skin her ali-”
“No, I didn’t get the memo,” interrupted Dr. Sparks quickly, moving in front of the other doctor. “What did the memo say?”
“The project needs to be scrapped,” said Mad gruffly, shocking both Dr. Sparks and Blood Moon in the process.
“Y-You can’t be serious,” stammered Dr. Sparks as he looked from Mad Theory to Twilight and then back to Mad. “All the grits we poured into that project, all the hours spent on it. And you just want to scrap it?!”
“Think this makes me happy?” growled Mad Theory, taking a step closer to Dr. Sparks. It seemed like Mad Theory had either forgotten that there were other ponies in the room or just didn’t care. Twilight watched as he bared his fangs, showing off how they were also chipped and disfigured. Like someone had taken a hammer to them and only broken them halfway. She winced, the mere sight of them giving her a phantom pain. “Think I don’t know how important this is? Well I do! I wanted this to work too, or have you forgotten?”
“I haven’t,” said Dr. Sparks, puffing his cheeks a little as he spoke while his head set changed his lens to red ones. “In fact, I had believed that if there was anythestral here who was willing to make this work it would be you! Given your situation. No, you just want to go back to your original project.”
At that, Mad let out a hiss as he moved closer to Dr. Sparks face. “Has a better chance of working,” spat Dr. Theory. The two doctors were glaring daggers at the other as tensions began to build.
Then, Twilight cleared her throat. “Excuse me, Dr. Mad,” she said politely. At once, Mad Theory turned to glare at her causing Spike to topple down to the ground. “I am sure you have a good reason for wishing the project scrapped. So, instead of yelling at each other, perhaps you could explain to us why you feel it was necessary.” As she spoke, Twilight watched as the stallion’s muzzle softened a bit. Or at least his features relaxed a bit.
“Well, somepony’s asking the right questions,” he said, licking his lips as he stared at Twilight. The way he was now looking at her caused something cold to run down her spine, nearly causing her to shiver. Thankfully his gaze moved away from her alone and towards the entire group. “Yeah, I’ll show you all why. Blasted thundering blunder it was! Come on!” With that, Dr. Mad Theory began to walk away, his hind legs being a bit less noisy than before. But not before shooting one more nasty glance over at his brother showing his utter contempt. As Twilight helped get Spike back up to his feet, the party soon began to fall in line with Wild being in the back.
After several minutes of walking, they came to a sectioned off corner separated by a very thin wall. Once inside, Twilight found herself too horrified to gag. The smell hit her first, blood and bodily waste seemed to fill the air to the point where she could all but taste it on her tongue. Most likely the scent came from a shoot in one corner of the room labeled: waste. Tubes lined the floors, so much so that Twilight thought she would trip at any moment making her wonder how anypony could manage to walk around in such a place safely. Along the walls were three objects covered by a cloth being the same size and shape as the preservation chambers outside. Between these covered objects, the tools were mounted on the walls. Many of them looked familiar, things like screwdrivers and wrenches and other such things. But then there were the objects that looked more like weapons. Blades of all shapes and sizes, saws used for cutting bones, and things that made Twilight’s insides turn labeled ‘for eyes’. Then, finally, in the middle of the room, was an operating table coated with dried blood. Hanging from the ceiling above the table were chains ending with wicked hooks. Some of them were dripping oil while others had chunks of meat on them. There was something else as well, coming down from where the head would reach was a mechanical arm that ended in a bowl. Like it was meant to be placed on a pony’s head. Normally, the curious Twilight would have looked a bit closer to see if there was any more to this strange device…but spotting several locks of mane dissuaded her from that pursuit.
Turning her head, Twilight was slightly relieved to see that she wasn’t the only pony disturbed by this room. Blood Moon’s fur was looking slightly green as he pulled a handkerchief out of his vest, holding it over his nose in order to block the order. Wild Theory bit his lower lips, his good wing trembling a little while his gaze shifted towards the exit. Then there was Overkill. Out of all the ponies in the room, Twilight had expected her to handle this the best. And she did, maintaining a stoic front as she stood next to Twilight. Yet her eyes still squinted slightly perhaps as a sign that this was bothering her to some degree. Then there was Spike…
“I,” began Spike as he began to breathe heavily. “I think I’m going to wait outside.” He didn’t wait for Twilight to give him permission or to say anything. He just walked backwards out of the room, his eyes unblinking as he then closed the door.
“This is it,” said Mad Theory, ignoring Spike completely as he pointed to the thing in the back of the room that Twilight’s eyes had yet to process. At first, she thought it was a pony’s leg connected to several tubes. She would have screamed, and almost did, but then she noticed a few things. She could see several lines on the leg as well as signs of wielding. Looking up at the top she could spot several bits of metal coming out of it.
“May I?” asked Twilight. Mad Theory licked his lips before gesturing for her to proceed. She walked past the Doctor, feeling his eyes on her body every trot of the way, and even leaning forward to take a sniff of the air above her as she passed him by. Fighting the urge to shudder, Twilight continued to walk while ignoring him as she felt his gaze on her flank which only ended when she was right in front of the auto-limb. Carefully she reached forward to lift it, finding it lighter than she would have imagined given its size and what it was made of. It was still heavy, much heavier than a normal limb, but compared to the other auto-limbs she had been able to hold since arriving in Thunder Valley, it was very light.
“Did it work?” asked Twilight, bringing the leg up and down as she spoke.
“Course it worked,” grunted Mad Theory, sounding slightly insulted. “Built the damn thing myself along with help from those morons who call themselves Tinkers! Compacted everything we could and used lighter material so it won’t weigh anythestral down. Might be able to fly with that thing if not for one problem.”
“And that would be?” asked Blood Moon, his voice sounding slightly muffled through the cloth. He also sounded a little short of breath, as if he were trying his best to inhale as little oxygen as possible.
“Can’t compact a furnace in the damned thing,” growled Mad as he pointed to the leg. “At least nothing that will last longer than a match. Won’t provide the right amount of heat needed. Can’t put in the right amount of fuel to help it last long. Just won’t work right.” The scared stallion then shook his head. “Every design I’ve come up with runs into the same problem: adding the furnace to the leg would just end up adding more weight and making the damn thing off balanced. Yes it would still be lighter, but only by such an insignificant margin. Might as well not have bothered.”
“But couldn’t you just connect this to a saddle furnace?” asked Twilight as she tilted her head, thinking of something like Overkill’s weapons. They could fly with those on their sides.
“Could work if you didn’t factor in the total extra weight,” said Mad Theory, his tone softening when speaking to her. “The leg is still heavy, even with all the tinkering I’ve done. Used lighter metals, compacted what I could. Whoever puts that think on will still need some time to adjust to it, building up wing muscles in order to fly. But adding in a saddle furnace to that? Might be too much, too much without a lighter furnace!” He then looked over at Dr. Sparks. “You want this thing working right? Then send it over to somepony who has time to waste making new furnaces! Me? I have better things to do than working on pipe dreams!”
As Dr. Sparks made an aggressive noise, Twilight couldn’t help but think back to some of her first flying mistakes. Namely the time when she had carried a very large stack of books in her front hooves. Cheeks almost burning red, Twilight recalled how her front was pulled downward forcing her rear to be raised as she flew. Not the most dignified look for a princess. She also recalled the times when she had gone out with large tomes sticking out of her saddle bags, making flying all the more tiring as well as making her feel just as unbalanced as when she had carried her books by hoof.
Twilight opened her mouth to ask Dr. Sparks a question, but the only sound that came out was a shriek as she felt Mad Theory touching her wings. His hoof ran across her feathers, feeling them in a way that was supposed to be intimate for pegasi and made Twilight’s spine tingle. In the blink of an eye Overkill was on Mad, blunderbuss out and pressed right up against the stallion’s head. With one pull of the trigger, his brains would decorate the walls.
“What was that about you bloody Tinker?” Overkill demanded.
“Just curious. Just curious,” said Mad Theory swiftly, his eyes darting this way and that. “Never seen a pony with feathers before. Do you fly well?”
“I…guess,” said Twilight managed to say, feeling her wings with her hoof. “I’m still rather new to them myself so-” Twilight was cut short as Mad Theory made a loud noise. Up until now he had appeared angry, hostile even. But as soon as Twilight had begun to speak about her wings, a change had taken place. His lips curled into a twisted smile and there was an odd gleam in his eyes. His front body jumped into the air while letting out a sound that might have been joyful, all without fearing the blunderbuss still pointed in his direction.
“Those wings were grafted onto you?” he asked moving closer to Twilight again, taking her wing with his hooves before yanking her wing out. Twilight let out a loud noise, yet became suddenly silent as she watched in horror as the stallion deeply inhaled the scent of her wings. For a moment, he appeared to be in a state of complete bliss, giving Twilight a moment to pull her wing back. For a second, it seemed like Mad didn’t even notice as he stared off into nothingness without realizing that Overkill had moved between Twilight and the insane doctor. As she held onto her wing, Twilight noticed the horrified looks on both Blood Moon and Dr. Sparks. Together, they moved to the side of the doctor while Wild kept his head down.
As Mad stood there, almost drooling now, Twilight’s mind raced on what to do. A part of her, a big part, wanted to lock this crazy pony up. If not just for what he had done to her but also for his own good! Maybe even doing it herself, using her magic to drag him out of the Academy and towards the nearest Clubber Station. But she relented from such thoughts. As much as she didn’t want to, she could use this to gain some leverage with the Academy who would be more likely to comply if she didn’t press charges or throw one of their top (yet deranged) minds into a cell. That and she still held some degree of pity for the poor stallion.
“Back away from the princess,” said Overkill, her blunderbuss aimed right at the stallion’s head.
“No scars, not a one. HAHA!” cried Mad Theory, failing to notice anything around him. He then began to speak softly and rapidly with a hint of craze in his tone. “Not a trace of any sign that these aren’t her own. Oh ho ho! How? How was this achieved? I must…I must study her. I must figure out the secret! Put on the table and cut her open. Look at her insides and see what makes her cogs turn. Oh yes, oh yes. I’ll finally figure it out. The answers are here, just waiting for me to find them! The glory of the Guides is with me! Or…Or maybe I’ll use that project to just-”
“DR. THEORY!” screamed Dr. Sparks. His voice seemed to snap Mad out of his ranting as his eyes widened, darting around to see his surroundings. Seeing the blunderbuss still pointed right at him as well as Twilight’s face from behind her guard. Now he looked like he was in utter horror.
“I…I am so sorry,” he said quickly, cowering down to the ground. “Don’t know what came over me. It was so much. Right here. Right in front of me. Just wanted to know that’s all. Wouldn’t do any harm, no harm at all. Yes, no harm just wanted to know.”
Overkill looked over at Wild, who was staring at his brother with pity. “Has he always been like this?” she asked, blunderbuss still pointed at Mad despite not looking at him. The jabbering stallion moved a little to the side only to find that the blunderbuss moved in the same direction. “Because I can put him out of his misery. Probably should do it anyways for touching the princess like that and threatening to open her up.”
“Well, ah, not always,” said Theory. “Some days are worse, worse, worse than others.”
“He’s right,” said Dr. Sparks as he approached Twilight, head lowered. “I do hope you will find it in your heart to forgive him Your Grace. He is not normally like this and is truly a brilliant mind far above many who work at the Academy. I believe seeing a pony like you, saying what you said, sparked something inside of him.”
“Well, I can overlook it this once,” Twilight, still rubbing her wing with her hooves. But she did nod to Overkill who reluctantly lowered her weapon. At the same time, she heard Wild let out a sigh of relief. “But I do want to know what that was all about.”
Dr. Sparks opened his mouth, but Mad Theory beat him to the punch. “You want to know?” he asked, speaking in an excited whisper. “You really want to know my genius? Want to see what I have gleaned from The Book? It’s here, in this very lab! Let me show you.” With that last whisper, Mad turned around to grab the cloth with his jagged teeth. In one swift motion he pulled it down to reveal a horror Twilight never would have expected.
Underneath the cloth was a circular tank, filled with the same green liquid as was in the preservation tanks. And floating in the middle was the corpse of a thestral who did not look all there. There were stitches on its body, connecting parts of its body together starting from the ears all the way down to its tail. At first, Twilight thought this to be a subject used in dissection lessons, put back together so that it would be able to have a proper funeral. Only the more she looked at it the more she realized that wasn’t the case. Parts of the body clearly belonged to other ponies as the shades of its fur were different colors. Even its wings looked like they came from different ponies as one looked more dainty while the other was larger with more muscle to it.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” asked Mad Theory, failing to notice that Twilight was doing her best to hold down her bile as he spoke excitedly. “The Book spoke of a method in which one can graft body parts from one to another as well as…other things. I am working to replicate that sort of ability, starting with corpses. It might not be much to look at right now, but I believe in time I will be able to make more progress. Soon, we will be able to transplant entire limbs onto another. Wondrous, is it not? With this breakthrough, we will no longer need clanky auto-limbs that weigh us down and lack the sensation of touch. We will be able to become whole once more, taking to the skies in delightful glory! And perhaps, hahaha, we might even be able to defeat that ancient enemy we call death. For if we can easily replace our failing bodies, then it might be possible to live forever!”
“That’s…” began Twilight, however her words ended there as a dark feeling crept over her. It sounded amazing, but it also brought up memories of darkened tomes she had read about in Canterlot. Tomes that had given her nightmares as a filly and that fright had never really left her. “Is it…alive?”
“No, no,” Mad whispered as he turned to look at Twilight in the eyes, their faces suddenly so close that the princess all but jumped. She could now smell his vile breath filling her nose. “Oh, I tried to see if any life would return but my tests have not produced any real results. But the true purpose has been to see if the nerves are working properly. A jolt there and wack there. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. A little more testing and examination is required to find out why, then I can begin making the needed adjustments. Fine tuning as it were. I have discovered, however, that freshness is the key. Hence the preservation chambers. Oh, how they have truly expedited my work. The first several batches of corpses gave me so little to work with as they had been dead for far too long. Too much decay you see. So, I have to preserve them as one would fruit! Stave off as much decay as possible making the connections that much easier and effective. Just need a little more fine tuning. Then I can move onto living subjects.”
“Well if it works it would be amazing,” said Wild in a soft tone, his voice causing Mad to stiffen. Slowly the half stallion turned to look at his brother with renewed hate. “I mean, as long as you can find willing donors this could be possible. But I fear you might, might, might be stretching it a bit in thinking you’ll live forever.”
“You dare?!?” roared Mad as he moved forward, only to be blocked by Overkill as she stepped between them. While he didn’t walk around her, he managed to move his head so he could look past the mare. “You dare to come into MY LAB, question MY RESEARCH?! Research that I have gleaned from the Great Book, the glorious knowledge written within?!? You damn fool! You idiot! You incompetent lunatic!”
“I’m sure,” began Twilight and Blood Moon at the same time. The pair looked at each other before Blood Moon backed off, allowing Twilight to clear her throat before speaking again. “I’m sure that Dr. Wild Theory did not mean anything hostile towards your research. I too think that some of your ambitions might be a little out of reach at the moment.” Mad looked ready to kill with Overkill readying her blunderbuss. It seemed that any mention of Wild Theory was enough to sour even her position to him. Thinking quickly, Twilight asked the first question that came to mind. “Did the First Book mention immortality at all when you, ah, gleamed this information?”
Mad Theory looked momentarily taken aback, quickly regaining his less angry but sour attitude as he puffed out his chest. “No, it didn’t,” he said coldly. “I might be able to replace the body parts, but the mind is a different matter. Requiring a different set of reading and research that I have been looking into.”
Twilight found this answer to be…not so comforting to tell the truth. Still, she did her best to smile at the doctor. “Well, one step at a time,” she said.
Mad’s eyes narrowed before they suddenly widened for some reason. He then began to scratch the back of his neck while giving her a once over out of the corner of his eyes. “I, ah, yes,” he managed to stammer out. “One step at a time. Very wise, very wise.”
“Sooooo,” began Overkill, putting her weapon away before turning her gaze to the tube. “Where did ya get the bloody body parts for this?”
Mad shot her a nasty look. “Think I went to the morgue to plunder them?” he barked. “Think I have time for that sort of grunt work? HA! Put in a requisition and let the Academy do the searching for me.”
Twilight turned to look at Dr. Sparks. “I’d like to see those papers.”
-x-
“I don’t ever want to go there again,” said Spike. Twilight looked up from the paperwork held within her magic before looking down at the small dragon. On his seat within the carriage they had borrowed from Blue Moon, the purple dragon sat there almost curled into a ball as he stared blankly at the floor. His tiny claws were clutched to his legs, holding them tight against his stomach as his tail wrapped around him. Despite him looking downward, Twilight still managed to see the green tint on his purple scaled cheeks.
The carriage, pulled by twin black auto-ponies, was moving away from the Underbelly Academy and the center of Cogburn and towards the more run-down area. Twilight hesitated to call this part of town the slums, but the word sadly fit all too well. From what brief glances she had taken, Twilight could make out just how dingy the place was as they moved along its cobblestone streets. The many jostles of the carriage told her that there were holes in the road, not to mention the splashing they heard as they ran through puddles despite it not raining for several nights. The buildings looked like they were in disrepair, slanting left and right with wads of cloth being shoved through holes in the windows. From many, Twilight could see the warming light of a stove leaking past the grim covered windows. Yet others were completely dark, sending shivers down her spine.
“Don’t worry,” said Twilight gently, wrapping one of her wings around the little dragon and bringing him closer. Honestly, she was glad he wasn’t there to see nor had he heard the things that had happened with Mad. No telling how much worse he would feel if he did. “You won’t have to if you don’t want to.” She then let out a sigh. “I do wish they had told us what to expect.”
“Yeah, like Wild’s brother dearest,” said Overkill. Twilight looked up and over across the carriage to the only two other occupants with her. On one side was Overkill, leaning her back against both the seat and the window with her hind legs folded on top of each other on the seat. In one hoof she twirled one of her hoofheld blunderbusses, eyes glancing at the windows as a few of the townsponies got a little too close. Next to her was Wild, scrunched against the wall to make room for Twilight’s personal guard. He didn’t look like he minded this too much as he just sat there tapping his hooves together and looking up at the ceiling.
As for Blood Moon, he had stayed behind to speak to Dr. Sparks some more after the High Tinker had given Twilight all the paperwork they had regarding the procurement of the dead. He had told them that he wanted to discuss something important and that it might take some time. So he told them he could catch a public carriage to take him home where he would see them for dinner. But until then they could freely use the carriage to see the sights without him.
“Yes,” sighed Wild, still clapping his hooves together idly as he tried not to look at Overkill. “Should have warned you all he can be, well…”
“Creepy?” supplied Twilight, thinking of the gentlest word she could find.
“Er, more like a walking gore pile who really needs to be kept away from everypony before his monstrous tendencies ends up killing a whole lot of urchins,” said Overkill, earning a frown from Twilight. But again she ignored it, looking over at Wild. “Claimed he was like that because of you. Is that true?”
“I…I don’t know,” admitted Wild. “We were young then, didn’t even have our cutie marks. Working from an old abandoned warehouse we had found, experimenting long into the day in the hopes that our work would lead us to our true destiny. Thought we would do it together, brothers together like in the pulps. We…we were so innocent at the time.” Wild lowered his head a bit more, shaking it as he did so. “There was an explosion, everything, everything, everything happening so fast that I don’t remember what caused it. All I remember is waking up to find my wing crippled. And Mad, well, he fared far worse. It was only thanks to the Tinkers that he was able to, er, walk again. He’s blamed and hated me ever since.”
“Ah, well wasn’t expecting that,” said Overkill as the carriage began to slow down. “Then again, with you Tinkers, I never know what to expect. But I suppose you should both be thanking the Guides that you both survived. Believe me, I’ve seen some messed up stuff that would make what Mad-”
“Thank you, Overkill,” said Twilight quickly, interrupting her guard before she could further traumatize Spike. At that moment, the carriage came to a complete stop in front of a dark house in the middle of the block. A thin thing that looked slightly more kept up than the rest. Sighing, Twilight put on her mask and signaled the others to do the same. It was only after they had all donned their breathers that she opened the door with her magic. “Let’s go everypony. And dragon.”
Together, Twilight and Spike exited the vehicle. As soon as Spike was out and able to see the cloudy sky above them, he seemed to relax greatly. He even took in a deep breath of the seemingly poisonous air that surrounded them before letting out a sigh. Perhaps now that he was out in the open and not down there in that endless mad darkness he felt safe. Still, Twilight knew she would have to watch him. No doubt he would be having bad dreams for the foreseeable future.
Maybe she should send a letter to Princess Luna in order to have her on deck just to be on the safe side.
“So tell me again why we have to see this Midnight Oil mare again?” asked Overkill.
“Because I need to go over a few more things with her,” said Twilight as she approached the door. “The documents I have will help us to…” Twilight’s words trailed off. As she had been speaking, she had knocked on the door only to find it opening freely from the light gesture.
All four of them suddenly became alert, with Overkill moving past Twilight to take point. Slowly she peeked inside, turning her head to scan the room to see if there was any sign of danger. Not long after, Twilight saw Overkill’s ears flare before flattening against her skull as a growl left her throat. Without another sound, the guard pulled her head out of the door and closed it.
“What’s going o-”
“Spike, get in the carriage,” snapped Overkill, interrupting Spike as she glared at him. “Get in the carriage right now. Doc, make sure he gets there.”
“Hey wait a moment,” said Spike, stomping his little foot on the ground so that soot danced around it. Overkill, however, did not look impressed or interested. All she did was point at the carriage with her hoof in a commanding manner.
“Come on little guy,” said Wild as he placed a hoof on Spike’s shoulder. At first, Spike looked like he was going to resist. He looked over at Twilight who had remained silent up until that point. But rather than take his side, Twilight simply nodded. She knew that if Overkill was acting this way then it had to be for a good reason. And with the door like that…Twilight shuddered to think what might be on the other side. In the end, Spike was led away with a frown on his face.
Twilight waited until she heard the click of the carriage door before speaking. “Overkill, how bad is it?”
“Bad enough for me to want to protect that little dragon,” muttered Overkill before sighing. “Good news is that there’s no ambush waiting for us. Well, good news for you. Me? I could really use a little action right about now. Bad news, the place is a mess.”
Twilight tilted her head. “That’s it?” she asked. “It’s a mess?”
Overkill nodded. “Oh yeah, it’s a mess,” she said grimly. “Tables are knocked over, vases smashed, bit of smoke coming from the stove, glish smeared everywhere like there was a party. But, then again, most parties don’t have the host hanging from the ceiling with a rope around her neck.”
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- law abiding pony · 404k words · 461 7 · 5.8k views
- Arceaion · 25k words · 321 24 · 7.6k views
- Skarsnik · 45k words · 82 11 · 2.2k views
- Deidara21 · 21k words · 19 8 · 1.2k views
- Mystic Sunrise · 17k words · 173 31 · 3.8k views
- the7Saviors · 137k words · 154 17 · 3.7k views
- Darthvalgaav · 20k words · 187 5 · 2.4k views
- Onyourleft · 22k words · 73 1 · 1.5k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.196 seconds
Total duration
974 users online
1,448,636 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Mad Theory... needs serious help. Either Twilight helps him -- or have both those ponies, Wild and Mad, committed for atrocities. I wonder how many of those "auto-ponies" are true mechanicals... and how many might be lobotomized criminals slapped in armor...
10515088
I can understand Mad...but why Wild?
Thanks for the update
Well damn. Twilight really needs to explain the ascension bit before folks think it's a replicable thing.
New law: "Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from science. "
Makes me wonder what would have happened if Luna had come as originally intended.
Also yikes, that ending. RIP
Been waiting for an update, and was not disappointed. Now what has dear Rarity been up to?
10515088
You know I was thinking the same thing about the auto ponies in fact there was a book I read long ago that keeps popping up in my head when I read about the auto ponies can't remember what it was called but they were called something like reavers in it and in essence were dead men shoved into suits and reanimated this of course lead to cases where when they aged the machinery keeping them in check and docile would stop resulting in a whole range of unpleasant troubles the best case is they broke down is anguish and would kill themselves. Still a very good chapter as much as I hate cliffhangers.
Mad Theory is a train wreck of a person. Not only is he mentally disturbed by the injuries of his youth, which is only exacerbated by the deference others have towards him, but he has lost all respect for lives other than his own as shown by actions towards Twilight, as if he's been on top for so long he forgot there are higher powers than himself. He's going to end up being a major problem before too long.
Great character, horrible person.
Hum, I was hopping that Wild'S wing was just a born deformity for so long, but seeing it with a tragic story along with his brother to it I don't know feels a little over dramatic, but could be interesting if we could get more insights. I Think Mad's mind could really be affected by what ever is hooked up to his brain and that he is probably in constant pain with with all the implants and wounds he got, and Some how I don't think they have proper pain killers that would work properly for him. Anyway I would commend Twilight for not ordering Mad for touching royalty, assaulting her and threaten to dissect her it would have been more then good grounds for executing him and put the place in complete clock-down and would actually be a proper excuse to have a open investigation of what they actually had been up to which is why they are there in the first place Mad would have just been the perfect excuse to do it.
10515577
They should do it! Automahollow seems filled with rot (literally in the case of the pollution) and SOMETHING needs to be cut out of it. Twilight is trying, but she really need to step up and clean house.
I mean the old horse was tragic this is a bit frustrating are they gonna catch on that this wasn't suicide? and well I sure hope Twilight does tell them about how those wings weren't grafted onto her before we have her being amputated by a maniac
10515626
Yeah it's probably one of these cases were the corruption is almost bletten, but at the moment they can't only really charge Mad for anything at the moment and it's more about tracking down the sources of the bodies that will really be needed to look up to to have actually have legal grounds to make a full on investigation without making it look like she is abusing her authority, she is still in evaluation from the houses and can't just use her title to her own benefit yet as she doesn't have anywhere near the same level of worship as Celestia has as a autocrat. Plus Twilight doesn't have any military back up with her so she could certainly be overwhelmed by those tinkerers, so a lock down isn't faisable for her unless she was prepared for it from the start.
On that small detail Twilight could use her magic to fix Mad's teeth at least seeing that she might just have adapted Zekora's brews to fix Apple Bloom's chip tooth. So that would be a way to earn some trust on Mad's part.
Oh holy Horus the Younger...
This story has grown on me. I am hoping you will be able to continue with it.
A couple of things to note: You can use an hr inside brackets as a better way to mark scene breaks, and you seem to have one too many lines between paragraphs, resulting in interference with personalized formatting (it breaks indentation). There are also other times when I’ve seen missing commas, repeated words, and sometimes missing letters or missing words.
10704590
Hoping to continue it soon. Last year really kicked my ass and am still recovering
10707494
Understandable; I think last year sucked for almost everyone. I hope you’re doing okay or will be doing better soon.
Hope there will be another date again on this fic would love to do more art of that kind
10747534
Slowly getting there
just caught up and you had to give me a cliff hanger (ha!, hanger)
10515088
that's creepier than the mad pony and madder than the creepy pony.
hmm sad to see it end here right now... well ill hope for a update someday..
otherwise i have had a fantastic time reading this. 10/10
Wasn't midnight oil their contact pony?
Uh oh...I think I know where the foals are going...
Hoo boy! What a story! Hope this story gets updated soon!
NOOO! DAMNIT NOO, I REACHED THE END ALREADY? I ONLY STARTED THIS STORY A LOTTLE OVER A DAYY AGOOO
I should’ve been watching more carefully and ready to drop it when I rated the eenddd
Interesting story so far. Would like to know if/when it gets updated.
11620596
its been 3 years it is more then likly dead and the author has been offline for a year