Wandering Around
Human Inova took some breaths to calm herself. The new gravity gauntlet with the switchyard system in it was over her right arm, a boulder was in front of her, and her Equine parts were sitting with the artificers and Diamond behind a three unicorn strong shield.
“Gravity gauntlet switchyard system test number one: lift,” Pegasus Inova said.
Human Inova moved the bolt from the Safety setting to Lift and held the end of the gauntlet a few inches from the boulder. She hit the thumb button and the end lit up. Very carefully, she flexed her arm and the boulder moved up with the gauntlet. “I’m feeling a little resistance,” Human Inova said as she walked around with the boulder. “Nothing I can’t handle, though.” She gently set it down and let go. “And now for pushing it.” The push test went smoothly, aside from the boulder scraping out three feet of grass.
Earth Inova made her opinion known. “Fire next! Fire next!”
Human Inova obliged, set it to Fire, and aimed skyward. The gout of flames went up into the air and cut out when the button was let go. “25 feet upwards,” Gearbox reported. “Not bad, not bad. Go to the pool and do the shockwave next.”
Human Inova went over to the cheap kiddie pool filled to the brim with water, kneeled down, and set the gauntlet to Shockwave just over the surface. She and her equine parts were all nervous. Human Inova’s thumb was shaking over the button.
“BANG!” Diamond suddenly shouted.
Human Inova yelped in surprise, her thumb hit the trigger, and the pool exploded, sending the water all around, tearing the pool apart, and sending her flat on her back. Some of the water had gone upwards, and when it landed, it left Human Inova soaking wet. The gauntlet, to everyone's relief, didn’t do anything when it got wet.
Unicorn Inova dropped her part of the shield, along with the other two unicorns helping her. “Diamond, go get Human’s clothes and a towel.”
Diamond looked a bit hurt from the stern order. “What?”
“We got a good result from what you did, but because you were the one that startled her, you will get those things from the suite for her.”
“You know where they are, so you’ll be fine,” Pegasus added.
Diamond sighed. “Okay, I’ll be back.” She took off towards the castle entrance to get the things.
Human Inova switched the gauntlet to Safety mode, slid it off, and tossed it aside. “That’s enough for today. Unicorn? Can you go ahead and pull us back together?”
Unicorn Inova shook her head. “Not right now. I don’t want to find out if wet clothes translate to a full bladder. That would be embarrassing.”
“Or wet fur and an instant chill back home,” Pegasus added. “Remember when we got off the train?”
“Good points,” Human Inova conceded. “Maybe a trip to Ponyville is in order.” She went back to skygazing, watching the clouds drift by as Celestia’s sun shone down and gently warmed her. “This is pretty nice.”
We got on the train to Ponyville after breakfast the next day. “Are you still upset at me?” Diamond warily asked.
“Just a little,” I said as I set my partially loaded saddlebags down. “Good result, bad method.”
“I’m sorry. I acted on impulse.”
An idea crossed my mind, and just as Diamond had, I decided to act on impulse too. “As the last part of your punishment, you’ll work with Rarity and me to design some new clothes for me.”
She sighed, but couldn’t fully hide a smile. “If I must.”
Diamond was fanning herself with a forehoof after we got off the train. “It’s even warmer here than in Canterlot.”
“At least your mane and tail won’t get hot like mine do.” I remembered the heat from when I first arrived in Ponyville, and how Skyla was the one to flop over from the heat instead of me. “Let’s see if I remember how to get to Carousel Boutique.”
We hadn’t made it five steps out of the station before a familiar colt rushed up to me. “Inova, how have you been?”
“Not bad, but I’m sure you know what happened with me earlier in the year. That was an ordeal. Are your mom and dad still being weird?”
“Yeah. And Discord randomly decided to join them for their shows. I’ve just been walking around Ponyville most of the time to avoid the chaos recently.”
“Well, we’re on our way to Carousel Boutique. Want to come along?”
Lil’ Cheese shrugged. “Sure.”
The three of us walked through town. Things looked a bit more built up than before, and there were even a couple construction sites around as well.
Carousel Boutique looked about the same as before, inside and out. The mare I was looking for wasn’t in sight. “Rarity?”
“Just a moment!” A few seconds later, I faintly heard a flushing sound, and not long after, Rarity showed up. “Sorry for the delay, Inova. How have you been?”
I was distracted from the question. Rarity, like my mom, was looking a bit round. “Are you. . .” I pointed towards her body.
She looked back at her body. “Oh. I’ve got a little colt growing in there.”
Diamond was excited. “You do? Who’s the dad? Where is he?”
“Subtle Hoof is at his dojo. We got married a couple years ago and I got pregnant in. . . Oh, late November. Inova and Skyla actually helped us get there when they were here a few years ago.” I didn’t know whether she’d simply made a statement or was praising me. “But enough gossip. What can I do for you?”
I levitated my slightly damp clothes out of the saddlebag they were in. After I’d gotten them off in Canterlot, I’d found a few cuts in the clothes and on my human body from the pool blowing up. The ones on my human body were very shallow, while the clothes had it worse. “I’d like these cleaned and mended, please.”
“Is that all?” She inspected the cuts.
“And some new clothes as well.” I levitated a heavy bag out of the other saddlebag. “Aunt Celestia only gave me 200 Bits to work with.”
Rarity opened the bag and inspected the Bits. “I’ll accept this job if you do something for me.”
“Name it.”
“There’s a new Neighponese place in town called Path of Blossoms. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, so I’d like you to bring me something from there.” She levitated about 20 Bits out of the bag and in front of me. “And get yourself something too. I should have everything cleaned and fixed up in about thirty minutes, then I’ll get the templates out.”
I took the money in my magic. “Sounds good to me. Lil’ Cheese, do you know where it is?”
“It’s not far from the train station,” Lil’ Cheese said. “Follow me.”
We got back a bit later than Rarity had said to. Path of Blossoms was very busy, and we’d chosen to get the ramen bowls to go. The orange slice designs around the dark blue place felt oddly appropriate to me.
I brought the four covered bowls to the dining table and set them down. “Lil’ Cheese?”
“Yes, Inova?” Lil’ Cheese asked.
“We’re going to be talking clothes and fashion in a bit. Feel free to leave at any time if you want.”
“I’ll stay. It’s better than just roaming around town.”
“Alright, if you say so.”
“Oh, you’re back,” Rarity happily said as she came down from upstairs. “Turns out I left the templates upstairs instead of in the workshop. Oops.” She set the folder down on the table and joined us. “But first, lunch.”
As we enjoyed our lunch, a few things were brought to my attention. Twilight had picked up more magazines from wherever she’d gotten the other ones, and while I believed I was no expert, some of the swimwear looked like it was just one errant current away from getting pulled off. I definitely didn’t want anything like that.
Rarity had been productive after she left the Empire. She had a stack of design ideas for me to go through and had gone to the trouble of acquiring some more expensive and exotic materials to work with just for me. I had to toss out some of the designs due to being too small and revealing for my liking.
Lil’ Cheese, after finishing his meal, decided it really would be better if he went back to walking around outside. We wished him well as he left.
As I looked through the designs I liked, an important question came to mind. “So, am I going to have to split up to make sure this all fits? Because I’d rather not have my equine parts sitting around with nothing to do.”
“Ah, that,” Rarity said, an upbeat tone suggesting a good answer. “Twilight’s been-”
“Rarity?” Aunt Twilight’s voice called out.
“One moment, please!” Rarity turned back to Diamond and me. “Come with me.” She went out to the shop, and we followed. “Sorry about that, Twilight. I’ve got some guests.”
Aunt Twilight smiled when she saw that I was there. She was levitating a very long box behind her. “Oh, this is perfect. I just finished building a mannequin for Inova’s human part.” She opened the box to reveal the wooden mannequin and base inside. “Since she may still grow some more, and since I was working off of memory, I made this so its proportions can be adjusted to Inova’s as needed.”
“Ooh, nice!” I took one of the mannequin’s hands in my magic and began manipulating it. “This is fun.”
“Let’s put this in my private studio,” Rarity suggested.
I took the whole mannequin out and walked it to the studio. Aunt Twilight put the base down and then the box was empty. “Just put it over the base.”
I levitated it over the base and waited for something to happen. “So, is there an arm, or a stand, or something that’s supposed to come out?”
“Let go of it.”
I slowly released the mannequin and it stayed in place, the feet floating three inches above the base. “Oh, nice!”
Rarity took the mannequin in her magic and began looking around it. “How do I adjust it?”
“Unfortunately, it can’t be adjusted without Human Inova present,” Twilight explained. “Inova, if you could split for less than a minute, the mannequin can make any minute adjustments it needs to to match your shape.”
I decided to oblige, and a minute later, reunited myself. The mannequin had turned out to be a bit taller and more generously proportioned than my human part, so the adjustments were needed. “Alright, now we have something solid to work with. Let’s get to work.”
A few busy days later, Diamond and I returned to the boutique. “Uh, Rarity?”
“Yes, Inova?”
“While I do appreciate the clothes, well, don’t take this the wrong way, but. . .” I looked between each of the five very large boxes by the doorway, each one packed close to bursting and secured with copious amounts of packing tape. “Isn’t that more than 200 Bits worth of material alone?”
“It definitely is. But I had fun with you and Diamond, and that more than makes up for the rest.”
“How are we going to get this home?” Diamond asked. “That’s going to be expensive to mail, right?”
“Not at all,” Rarity assured. “The Ponyville post office has spectacularly low shipping rates, even to the Crystal Empire. Shipping all this shouldn’t be more than fifteen Bits.”
Rarity mentioning the Crystal Empire made me feel a sudden pang of homesickness and concern. I decided that, if the post office had the material available, I would write a letter home and ship it with the boxes.
Dear family,
I really should have been sending you letters like Diamond has been to her parents. Over a month and nothing from me. Making things more ironic is that I’ve been the one pushing Diamond on her letters home. I don’t know if that makes me a hypocrite, negligent, or something else, but it does make me feel bad.
However, this trip of mine hasn’t been just stage shows, talking to good nobles, and enjoying fine cuisine, though there was some of that. I’ve been productive too. If you didn’t see anything about it in the newspaper, here’s the big thing: I created a whole new artificing trick. The short version is one device, multiple functions, and a way to select a function without a logic command enchantment.
After blowing up a pool with a gravity gauntlet experiment, Diamond and I went to Ponyville to see Rarity so she could mend the clothes that got damaged in the blast. She made a bunch of human and equine clothes for me, which are in the boxes that this letter came with. Aunt Twilight made a mannequin just for making clothes for my human part as well, and Rarity seems to enjoy designing clothes for my human part. She says it’s like a foal getting a new toy.
While Rarity was at work and having her fun for a few days, Diamond and I went around Ponyville.
Applejack got creative and has a new side business on her farm, and it boils down to ponies willingly paying her so they can do farmwork under her guidance just for exercise and fitness. It’s so dumb, it’s actually brilliant. Diamond and I tried it for ourselves, though we didn’t have to pay. Applejack worked us a bit less than the other ponies there. From what I could pick up, most of those paying her were from bigger cities and had decided to move to Ponyville. After a few Tuesdays, they realized that they had to get fit to survive the craziness or leave.
Diamond decided to see some of Pinkie’s shows. While she was doing that, I flew up to Cloudsdale and surprised Rainbow Dash just by showing up. I still have quite a way to go before I feel ready to try some of the more basic tricks, like loops and rolls, but she wasn’t worried about that. She was more worried about building up my wing strength and stamina. Apparently, twelve years of not using my wings very much has left them weaker than average. Flying a bit around the Crystal Empire or Canterlot is one thing, and not too bad, but going up to Cloudsdale from ground level is another.
Fluttershy and Discord are still as kind and wacky as ever. We got to watch as Diamond struggled to get away from a big bear that was cuddling her like a teddy bear. I’m not sure if she was acting or just forgot that she had earth pony strength and hooves when she tried to get free.
We’re heading back to Canterlot, and I’m hoping I can complete my alicorn sword before coming home. It’s proving to be difficult, but with the help of Canterlot’s best artificers, I’m sure it can be done. I’ll be sure to tell you more when I get home.
Sincerely, Princess Inova
“That’s a long letter,” Diamond noted.
“Well I didn’t have time to write a short one, and we’ve been busy,” I said as I folded the letter up. “Besides, you’ve got a train to catch really soon.”
“What about you?”
I let my head drop in preemptive defeat. “I let Rainbow talk me into flying from Ponyville to Canterlot Castle. It’s not going to be pleasant for me.” I took the letter to the mailmare, signed to send off the packages, paid, and I hadn’t even made it five steps outside when Rainbow landed in front of me. “Is it that time already?”
“You bet it is, cadet!” Rainbow stated. “Now do your stretches and we’ll start flying to Canterlot.”
“I guess I’ll see you at the suite?” Diamond asked.
“Yeah,” I answered. “And if you get there before me. . . Please have a pitcher of water waiting there for me?”
“Of course, Princess.” Diamond began trotting off towards the train station, and I tried to prepare myself for the wing pain I was about to endure.
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What is in store for Innova and Skyla? The former has a potential early career path now. Will either stay in the Crystal Empire much longer?
Not entirely sure about Skyla. While she didn’t have a human in her split, I always suspected Skyla of having something similar in her background to Innova in that she’s got quite a few unexplainable quirks of her own… I could be way off, though.
Facts
It really is like that
My gods. How often does Rarity think Human Inova is gonna be around to need clothes? Girl owns more clothes than me, and she doesn't exist most of the time!
11900781 What can I say? Rarity got a little carried away. In her own words, it's like a foal with a new toy. And with the skills and magic she has, she can produce these things very quickly.