(Present Chapter 52) Slow Change, In An Instant
In Flim Flam Brothers Fashion, their work, and my own added security in the form of dark crystals that painfully banished illusion magic, were revealed to the public in spectacle.
"That's right folks, if you liked the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy, then you'll love this! Say hello to our newest and latest project!" Flim pulls a tarp off, revealing a stunning sight. Painted in Sweet-Apple-Acres red, the Great Sacred Treasure shone and hovered proudly in standby mode.
Large barrels were strapped around the "hips" of the flying machine, and where the gigantic gun arm once was, the flying machine's two forelimbs have been replaced with simple metal hooves, serving a dual purpose as landing gear and manipulators.
The cockpit had been totally changed, now a completely enclosed chamber with two large soulful eyes plastered on. The sight was, in true Equestrian fashion, particularly cheery and shiny, like the front half of a horse with the back half of a mechanical array of crystals, cleverly hidden under giant metal tassets that draped over the hips of the machine.
Ponies didn't immediately understand what the point of the machine was, until Flam clambored up onto it, and into the cockpit using a gold staircase that slide intricately out of the machine to let him up.
"Using this marvelous machine, the Flim Flam Brothers will be taking our world-class sparkling juice worldwide, to all of Equestria and beyond! This, dear onlookers, is a flying machine!" Flim said, pulling out a small necklace, gold, with a cherry-red gemstone in the shape of an apple draped from it, like his cutie mark.
Once Flam was inside, Flim held the gem up to his mouth and spoke into it, the jewel glowing as it allowed communication between ground and air. "Alright brother, things are looking good out here, go ahead and give it a fly around, show off the work," he said.
Slowly, the giant red machine lifted into the air. The flight was utterly silent, hellfire engines replaced with telekinetic enchantments that didn't require a supply of fuel to get into the air.
Ponies ooh'd and ahh'd appropriately as the machine slowly swooped over the air, before, with a flourish, Flam made the Great Sacred Treasure do something quite interesting indeed, a pair of shimmering transparent wings sprouted from the mech's sides, and it suddenly sped up dramatically!
Impressed with the show, ponies were stomping with applause as it came down to land, and as Flam slid down off the machine, the brothers high-hoofed, before popping one of the barrels of juice mounted on the side of the machine.
I shook my head with no small surprise that they were able to pilot the machine, even if they did modify it as much as they did. Even I couldn't manage to fly the bird before, it needed raw instincts and talent to keep it in the air. That was meant to be one of its biggest bottlenecks to anyone who would steal it!
Eclipse shot me a warning look as I approached the pair, and I let out a puff of air. 'Yes, yes, threatening ponies is also apparently frowned upon, yes, I think it's bullshit if that's true, no, I won't be threatening them,' I thought, trying to mentally infuse this thought into my returning eyeroll.
The two spotted me and some of their jubilation faded. "Let me begin by saying, I have no clue how you two managed to fly the Great Sacred Treasure. It should be impossible for a normal pegasus to do it, much less a pair of unicorns," I admitted.
The two shared a look. "Well, we simply used an airship's control enchantments. It's oddly shaped, but hardly harder than a sailboat to keep in the air and more aerodynamic by far," Flim explained.
I blinked. Wow, I really did miss some equestrian development, didn't I? I made Arwings specifically because keeping odd shapes in the air was impossible, practically speaking.
Finally, I shrugged. "Whatever, good job then. I hope you kept the gun, those hooves won't do the Weapon of Light's owner any good if it's rusting in some old barn. Have fun," I finally said, turning and walking away.
When I finally left Ponyville, Eclipse in tow, she gave me a long look, before nodding.
"You managed not to cause a scene. I'm really glad," she said, sighing with relief.
I scoffed. "Look, I don't care that much if people rob me, I've long since grown desensitized to that. I already laid down the law, as long as they don't make it unusable to Rainbow Dash, it's true owner, I don't care that much about what they do. It's nice to know it will be in service outside of a combat scenario anyway. It'll make sure that there's someone to keep an eye on the automatic repair enchantments," I listed off, exasperated a bit.
Eclipse nodded at each of my points. "You could have gotten angry, though, and you didn't. You didn't threaten anyone, no property damage, no evil curses. Am I wrong to assume that the thought didn't cross your mind?"
I flinched. Damn it.
I thought for a moment. "Well, there may be one irksome problem I'll need to look into. I could sense an awful lot of Wish Magic floating around. I'm concerned Fluttershy may have maxed out the output of the Star Rod of Wishes, If she wasted all the energy on some sort of constantly empowered wish, it wouldn't be able to grant any others while it's active," I explained.
"She probably used it on some poor critter and maxed it out that way. I'll see about investigating-"
"No spying," Eclipse deadpanned. I already recalled all of my Eyerocs, what more does she want?!
I deflated. "I wasn't going to spy, just check around! Eclipse, I'm being a good little pony, cut me some slack."
"And the thought of sending one of your spy-flies over to 'check around' didn't cross your mind either?" she asked. Damn it, she's way too good at sensing malicious intent. My pride is only tempered by my annoyance at the laser-guided questions.
"Okay, fine, you may have a point. No spying, no threats, no tiny enchanted golems solving my problems in the most efficient way possible," I groaned.
I drew myself up, trying to defend myself. "Look, I'm sure if there's a problem, it's nothing I can't fix without doing anything too crazy or illegal. It isn't like the Great Sacred Treasure is just going to be a cargo plane from now on, and I'm sure that the Wishing Star is just wasting power making a rabbit huge or something."
Eclipse hemmed and hawwed.
"Can we please go send Chancellor Golden Apple directly to prison now? Have I earned enough goodboy points by not robbing stories, blowing up continents and jaywalking?" I begged.
"I've been gathering up the evidence while you've been trying to get back into the habit of not doing horrible horrible things. We can go get the police involved now, if you can keep your temper in check," Eclipse nodded, finally.
I smiled. "What do I have to be angry about?"
Meanwhile, the Flim Flam brothers were generally soaking up the crowd's attention and awe at their machine, something which made for good entertainment, a decent ego boost, and of course, profit. There was plenty of cider and juice to go around, after all, and such full wallets to empty in exchange for it...
Things went a bit odd, however, when one of the ponies approached the Great Sacred Treasure.
"Hello there! And who might you be, Ma'am?" Flam asked, noting with intrigue the pony's odd mouth, and curious-looking folded wings. Along with that, there almost seemed to be a yellow glow from the blue pegasus's chest.
She looked back at her own cutie mark before answering. "Umm, I guess call me... Shooting Star! Yeah, that sounds rad. Heck of a lot better than the other one," she said.
Flam blinked. "Well, it's good to meet you, here to admire our wonderful machine? Courtesy of Sweet Apple Acres and a gift from the illustrious Rainbow Dash, of course," he deferred.
She shrugged, and from the crowd, a griffon and a few other ponies joined her. "Yeah, I guess I wanted to see it. It's a long story, but... I guess I was made from the same stuff as this thing," Shooting Star said.
Flam was confused, until, for a brief moment, the pony seemed to change, blinking between her current self, and a heavily mechanized pony with jet engines for wings. It lasted only long enough for him to notice, before suddenly she was flesh and blood again. What he did manage to see though... The same philosophy of design went into whatever this mare is as the Great Sacred Treasure. Swooping lines, Orichalcum, and Hellfire Engines galore.
"So, uhh, yeah. We're practically siblings," the former golem admitted. The emotion in her voice was uncertain. Should it be bitter? Amused? Nostalgic for something that never was?
Flam simply winced. When it came to their earlier business dealings, everything always seemed to go very sour once family mixed into it after the fact, if this robotic pony thought this machine was 'practically siblings' with her, this could turn ugly if she didn't like what they were doing...
"Well, I assure you, we've taken care not to remove the most critical components, it's just been a refit, a few modifications to the chassis, really basic things, ma'am," he hastily assured.
Shooting Star looked at the machine that was meant to destroy her in some insane plot that would never be.
"So you're just going to be flying this thing around, delivering cider and stuff? Nothing else?" she asked.
Flam looked especially nervous, considering to his knowledge, the only 'else' the Great Sacred Treasure was meant for was blasting things apart with great prejudice.
"Yes, our primary goal is to use it to deliver Apple Family products all across Equestria, a rather laudable goal, wouldn't you agree?" he asked nervously.
Shooting Star looked at the machine quietly.
It was just a golem-powered mechsuit, after all. It didn't even have her Againte Core to make it almost perfect. What impressions the Great Sacred Treasure must have had were probably bare whispers compared to herself.
An amalgam of what must have been dozens of enchantments, from dozens of different ponies all together. Attributing it pony qualities was probably inaccurate. Simpleminded.
"Hey sis", she said quietly, and somewhat awkwardly, before walking away with the rest of her friends.
"Wait!" Flam called after her, and she paused long enough to hear the salespony's words.
"Now, perhaps this is out of line, but if what you're saying is correct, I would be remiss not to speak with you on the subject more! If you're so invested in our new... Whichever word isn't offensive to you to refer to this machine, then I would be more than happy to speak more about it, perhaps explain some of the things we did to bring it up to date with Equestrian magical technology?" He said.
In truth, he was perhaps a bit biased. The Great Sacred Treasure was an amazing piece of work, and an outdated one too. It turned out to be his two favorite qualities when it came to working on the machine, and here stood a pony who was apparently of the same make and model as it. Not trying to speak to her more about it, well, it would be a waste of a good business opportunity! Having to work with an outdated machine was enough of a chore as it is until they upgraded it. He could scarcely imagine how annoying it would be embody one.
Shooting Star considered his words. Did she really want to learn more about the machine? She really only came here to look at it because she felt odd about the entire situation, and wanted that feeling to go away or resolve itself. Unfortunately, the odd feeling had only grown stronger since she saw the Great Sacred Treasure, especially since the two brothers had apparently painstakingly anthroponyphized it to look like a big red pegasus.
Maybe it wouldn't hurt to learn about this stuff. Like learning biology in school, but infinitely weirder, and with milkshakes.
Gilda gave her a look, questioning if she needed to pull out that classic Gilda fury to get this pony to step off if he was stepping on any hooves, but she shook her head.
"Alright, meet us at Sugarcube Corner if you want to talk. Bring your brother too, if you want," she said to the mustached unicorn, who nodded eagerly.
Twilight was busy performing experiments when Spike approached her. He had been in and out of the library a lot recently, and while he still had chores, she had reduced them by a vast amount ever since he began hanging out with his new dragon friends.
A lot of it was just busywork, after all, things to do for a baby dragon who would otherwise stay in the house reading comics and scampering underhoof. It was less necessary, now that her little assistant was starting to come out of his shell more.
"Hello Spike, back so soon?" she asked, smiling gently at the baby dragon, who looked a bit shifty and nervous. A familiar sight for Twilight, who knew exactly how he looked whenever he was working up the courage to ask for something he didn't know if she'd give him.
"Well, yeah. Umm, before I ask this, just uh, try to hear me out," he said, scuffing the floor with a foot nervously.
"The guys have been talking, and well, they decided they wanted to go on a road trip to the Dragonlands, see if things have changed, see it for the first time, maybe even meet some other dragons, and..." He looked even more nervous. He hadn't ever asked for something like this before, and it was a big deal, what he was about to ask for.
This wasn't like asking to stay at Twilight's parents for a day, or Celestia babysitting him when Twilight was at the doctor's office.
Twilight waited patiently, but she had an idea of what he wanted.
"Can I go with them? Just for a little bit?" he said, his voice lilting.
Twilight gave it its due attention. She hated to say it, because she really did love Spike, but, while Dr. Real's children were stunningly polite, if a bit odd, she really didn't know them all that well. She especially didn't know the Dragonlands that well.
"How long is a 'little bit', Spike?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I dunno, a few days? A week at most. We're going to fly in an Arwing! Have you seen those things go? They're almost as fast as Rainbow Dash!" he said excitedly.
It was a hard decision, and the longer the pause before her final answer dragged on, the more Spike seemed to deflate.
She sighed. "It sounds dangerous, Spike, are you positive? I can't go with you with things like they are right now, and if something came up, I wouldn't be able to come get you, like I can when you're at the Star Sanctuary," she explained.
Spike looked down. "I know. I just really want to go. Sorry," he apologized out of habit.
Twilight pursed her lips, and finally broke. "On two conditions."
Spike's smile lit up the room as he beamed, all that lost energy flooding back into the tiny drake.
"One, you do what I say, I'm going to write a list, and I want you to follow it. Daily letters, so I know not to worry, staying out of trouble, I'm going to make a whole list, and you're going to follow it as if the princess herself signed it into law, got it?" Twilight asked firmly, and Spike nodded so fast his spines flopped around in helpless jubilation.
"Two, I'm packing for you, and you're bringing everything I pack. No 'losing' it before you go. Paper, toiletries, inkpots, books on the dragonlands, backup books, backup book protectors for your books," she continued, and this managed to suck some of the fun out of Spike's mood. If she had her way, he would be carrying a backpack larger than he was...
"Three-" she attempted, but Spike interrupted.
"Hey, you said you'd only have two conditions!" Spike whined a bit.
Twilight shook her head once. "Well, I changed my mind. I've got one more."
She leaned down and hugged Spike. "Going all the way to the Dragonlands, without me to look after you, meeting dragons? You're scaring me a bit Spike, so promise me, if something goes wrong, you come right home, alright? Even if it means it's a wasted trip. You learned how to make those portals, and I'm sure your friends know how too."
She pulled away and looked Spike right in the eyes. "If something bad happens, you come straight home."
Spike realized then that he was asking too much from Twilight. Too much that she was barely able to give to a baby dragon wanting to go somewhere on a whim. It was pretty clear right then from how her eyes had a bit too much of a wet sheen for her to have been at-all approving of this sudden road trip, but fairly helpless to actually deny it to him.
"I promise, one-hundred percent, Twilight, if anything bad happens, or anything goes wrong, I'll come home right then and there, I promise," he repeated, hugging her back.
"Fourth," she began again, making him huff with indignation.
"Make some friends! Is the trip really worth taking if you don't?" Twilight finally asked, smiling sappily.
As he grinned at the statement, Twilight couldn't help but think to herself.
'Darn it, Spike, couldn't you have gotten a bit older before growing up on me like this?' she thought with a happy sad-smile, blinking away a small tear before he could see it.
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Cute little ending
Ho boy, I could spend hours thinking and deconstructing these paragraphs.
This will sound cringy, but I always wanted a mechanical body... My fleshy one always felt like a prison of sorts, so this line of thinking and feeling...
10933484
There is no truth in flesh, only betrayal, etc.
Feels like things are starting to calm down in the present. I’m waiting for everything to violently explode at the worst possible moment.
10933608
Nah, nothing like that... Even though astra mechanicus and necrons are my favourites
Weiss is really out of the loop on what's going on with the Sacred Tresures
Am I reading into this too much or is this a ship tease?