Equestria's Inventor

by Yormsky

Chapter 6: Discarded

Chapter 6: Discarded

Wow, I looked down at my still-smoking gun and couldn’t believe I had actually built it all by myself. Compared to modern firearms it was honestly garbage, but it was a freaking gun that I’d pretty much “magicked” into existence.

With Synthsize Alloy I’d even gotten away with making the compounds that would go into a working bullet, but it was only thanks to Danger Analysis that I’d forgone testing of the first… three, maybe four, versions of my gun and ammo.

As it turns out, messing around with explosive compounds had a tendency of being dangerous; this was especially true when you didn’t know the exact ratio or purity of the explosives you were working with. One wrong move and I could be looking at anything from a slightly burned hand, to becoming a one-handed cripple.

At the sound of footsteps approaching from behind me, I turned around. “Heeey…” I cringed as I found myself standing before a Changeling with my damn gun still smoking. I’d hoped I could test out the gun before disassembling it or stowing it far from any prying eyes. It’d be a nightmare if I was the reason firearms became widespread in this world.

“Care to explain what that is?” The Changeling asked me.

“This?” I waved the gun, keeping the barrel pointed at the sky, as I said, “It’s a little project I’ve been working on. It can’t compare to the guns the people where I come from use, but it’s served its purpose.”

“And what purpose would that be? From where I stand it looks like you’re carrying a weapon of sorts and weapons only serve a purpose on a battlefield.”

“You’d be right to assume the gun is a weapon, but I built it for two reasons. The first was to test myself and see if I could actually make it given the limited amount of resources I have and the second reason is to gain experience to prepare myself for working on more dangerous projects. I used the gun to learn as much as I could about keeping myself safe while experimenting with potentially dangerous compounds and objects.”

“You made a weapon to learn about safety?” I could see the Changeling's non-existant eyebrow raise in suspicion.

“Of course,” I didn’t bat an eye. “Making guns and their ammunition is dangerous. Testing an untested gun is even more dangerous. The fact that I’m standing here all in one piece is as good a sign as any that I’ve been careful enough to even try my hand at building some of the machines I’ve been wanting to get my hands on.”

“So, what are you going to do with the gun now that it’s served its purpose?”

Seizing the opportunity, I used Element Isolation to destroy the gun right in front of the Changeling and let him watch the pieces fall to the ground. “I have no use for weapons with my current position in the Hive Colony. The only times you'd even find me around here, outside, I mean, is when I’m testing new projects,” I honestly said.

He dropped the matter and walked with me back to the Hive Colony. Apparently, he had come across my path while returning from one of his spying missions in Griffon territory.

…

The days continued to pass with the human remaining as agreeable as always and Queen Chrysalis could almost start to feel the tension she felt about him start to leave when disaster struck one night.

By the time that the spy that contacted her through the hivemind was in range to warn her about the impending assault from a Company of several hundred Thestrals, she had at most a few minutes to organize a prompt relocation of the entire Hive. She had to take advantage of every second to make an entire society vanish without a trace while securing as many sources of food — the most precious resource of the Hive — as she could and unfortunately, she couldn’t see a way to do so while also moving the human.

To attempt to do so would risk compromising the entire Hive and would almost certainly require at least a full squadron’s worth of Changelings to even make an attempt. That squadron could instead almost certainly guarantee the relocation of at least ten food subjects which would go a long way when they next settled.

There wasn’t even a debate on the matter. The human, for all his usefulness, wasn’t worth the risk his attempted relocation would cost. He wasn’t worth the ten food subjects that would have to be given up, which would feed at least a hundred of her worker drones. His help up until this point had been enough to hasten her plans and was even appreciated, but Chrysalis could not jeopardize everything to secure him.

It would be a terrible loss to leave him behind. It would probably set back her plans for a couple of weeks. But overall, she would still be in a net position ahead of her original plans.

Now, even she had to physically contribute to the escape plan to relocate the Hive to another location.

At least, the absurd surplus of binding agents the human had made for her a few weeks beforehand would soon be put to use.

…

“Hey,” a voice woke me up from my sleep. This — having someone else wake me — had never happened to me before, so for a few seconds, I was stuck in a limbo of being half awake and half asleep.

When I finally regained enough consciousness to understand that I was awake, I was surprised to find my torso had been secured by a rope. “What the—” I choked on my words as I looked around the room and found myself surrounded by… uh, bat-ponies? They all looked like little horses with bat wings — a kind that looked just as impractical as the Changeling's wings only more avian and less bug-like — and all had coats of various shades of black and purple.

“So it talks,” one of the bat-ponies said.

“Uh, yeah…” I never thought I’d regret having destroyed my gun as much as I did at this very moment. I mean, despite all I’d learned during my time with the Changelings, there was still a lot I didn’t know like… what species were particularly dangerous and might try to murder or eat me. In retrospect, I’d gotten very lucky to first encounter the Changelings who didn’t even eat solid foods.

“Care to tell us why you were sleeping without a care in the world in the middle of a Changeling Hive? From everything I know, anypony caught by the Changelings would get incubated and fed on. The fact that you aren’t, suggests that you were in cahoots with them and yet for the life of me, I can’t figure out why they would just leave you behind without at least alerting you…”

“I’ll tell you about our, uh… relationship if you tell me what happened to them first,” I proposed.

“There's not much to it,” the bat-pony said with an exasperated sigh. “We were going to raid them to rescue some of our captured citizens, but they were long gone by the time we got here. Aside from some of their victims that they couldn’t carry away with them, you are the only one they left behind.”

“Oh,” I guessed they decided it pragmatic to not even try to take me with them since I’d learned that their magic didn’t work on me. It was either that or they just took advantage of this situation to at least get rid of me while it was convenient for them to do so.

“Well, they kind of just let me live here as long as I worked for them. I used my Abilities to manufacture a lot of things for them.” I didn’t bother with lying since there was no benefit in doing so, and there was a chance that this information might spare me from potential hostility. Perhaps knowing what I was capable of could dissuade them from eating me if that was their original intention.

“Is that all you have to say for yourself?” The bat-pony asked.

“I mean, that’s all there was to our arrangement,” I shrugged. “Before I met the Changelings, I’d been living in the wild alone. I didn’t have anyone to look out for me or help me survive. I only helped them because it was mutually beneficial to do so and they didn’t involve me in their business beyond what my abilities could provide.”

“Is that right? Well, why don’t you follow us back to Equestria? I’m sure if you have Abilities that were useful to the Changelings, you could find a suitable position by our Princess. It’d be better than going back to living all alone out in the middle of nowhere, wouldn’t it?”

“Probably,” I sighed as a sense of deja vu hit me like a runaway semi-truck.

The bat-pony gave me an uncanny grin as he gave a nod to someone. A moment later the rope that tied my arms to my body slid off me telekinetically. The massive conglomerate of invading bat-ponies then escorted me outside.

“Hop on,” the same bat-pony I’d been talking to this entire time said as he gave a gesture to his back.

“I can walk,” I said, unsure if I should feel offended or not. If he’d offered a few weeks prior I might have at least had to consider the distance, but all the physical work I’d done since coming into Equus had increased my Constitution to what it currently was which would probably leave me able to walk indefinitely, even through my sleep, and still not get tired.

“But can you fly?” He shook his head and snorted.

“No? But… You’re not seriously suggesting you want to fly me to wherever it is we’re going, are you? I weigh close to 90 kilos (~200 pounds).” Unsaid was the fact that I didn’t believe the bat-ponies could fly at all. The reason most things could fly was because they barely weighed anything, but these were solid, muscle-bound horses and as I gave the one before me a quick look over, I couldn’t find a jet engine attached anywhere on its body.

“Please,” he snickered, “we are trained by flying laps around the capital while strapped to half-ton weights. Even a Private fresh off of base camp could carry you to Canterlot and back without breaking a sweat.”

“If you say so,” I said as I hesitantly swung my leg over him and prepared myself for what was sure to be a nightmarish ride if he really could fly us. This wouldn’t be like taking an airplane ride. I wouldn’t have some sort of safety harness keeping me from plummeting to my death and there wouldn’t be a hull of metal protecting me from the effects of air resistance or a waning atmospheric pressure.

The bat-ponies finished whatever was left of their business at the abandoned Hive Colony… and then we were off.

I was really being flown by a horde of magical bat-ponies.

Comments

[Trent Roogna]

Well that was an interesting twist.

[mortsllaf]

I do have a few ideas about his abilities:
1. Automation might be able to skip sleep. I don’t think there are any restrictions that outlaw this.
2. The separate molecules has a 50% efficiency. I am assuming that by this you mean 50% of what is separated is what you want, this will make it so that he has to use it several time for it to be pure enough for any serious use. Or it could be 100% purity but only separating half of the available material.

[TheAbsoluteRadiance]

Nice. With the changeling invasion close it would cause quite a bit of drama with the allie to enemy dynamics.

[Hilord17]

I really hope this will not follow a cycle of 'hey the not pony has abilities that we don't! let's make use of him'. Freedom sounds nice.

[f0st3r21]

MC does not seem as interested in getting paid as he was when answering some of the starting questions. Changelings gave him room, board, and some practice materials but little else. Princesses have more expendable resources for compensation.

I wonder what he’s going to invent for the ponies as they’ve already got most of the technology the Changelings ‘acquired’ for him to tinker around with.

‘Airships’ would be for a Klugetown employee, right?

[Biglulu]

Eh, I don't believe Chrysalis would value the human so little. Especially if she wants to conquer Canterlot and she saw him produce weapons. She'd definitely be all over that and have him produce more. Even if she didn't want weapons (which would be highly illogical), he can produce things that only an advanced industrial nation can. Things way beyond the changelings' abilities. He should be valued as the 2nd most important thing in the hive behind the Queen herself. They can get another ten food subjects; they can't get another human with those abilities.

Also, the human has been living with the changelings for what, months? And yet he feels nothing at all about suddenly being kidnapped and forced to leave his home? He speaks of his relationship as only being mutually beneficial — which, sure, I imagine it was at the beginning — but it doesn't make sense that it never progressed beyond that in his time there. The changelings gave him everything he wanted and didn't harass him. He doesn't have even a little bit of loyalty? No friendships with the guards he was interacting with? Nothing at all?

[Poparakelis]

11686321
This short?

[Booster Spice]

Good thing he didnt specialise in Physics. Imagine the trouble his Skill would have anywhere below Level 10 at this progression, on meeting Pinkie.

[Poparakelis]

11686525
Changelings always have a hivemind in fics

[SethFilms]

awesome start to his abilities and story!!!!

[Pope AlexanderVII]

Didn't think I'd like this fic, but I'm happy to be wrong. Keep up the good chapters 👍

[Voltaje]

Welp, the changeling will regret leaving him behind, Chrisalys didn't capitalized on what she had, now let's see how Celestia will use him.

[Frazzle2Dazzle]

“Probably,” I sighed as a sense of deja vu hit me like a runaway semi-truck.

I wonder how often this is going to happen… Getting nicked by the next group to work for them and make whatever they want and the such.

[Derpy_DragonV1]

11686485
Eh chrysi probably realized that if she let him do what he wants he would do everything she asks, but if it was unreasonable he might stop working for her. Pretty reasonable.

Also from our perspective the chrysi of this universe is a tyrant as well and didn't hesitate to hurt our protag so I'm pretty sure he's just going with the flow rn

[deathcombo99]

Should have made the kitchen gun lol.

[GreatDragonLord]

Attention!!! Get ready to meet the book horse!!!
Honestly, I can't get to anything yet, but I can't name something particularly unique. A good story, all the actions so far look quite logical, there is no overload of descriptions, as in some other RPG stories.
I'll see what happens next.

[Genius4199]

Do we have any knowledge of an update schedule? Because so far I love this story. Also, I'm not sure if I'm hoping whether or not that Celestia also gives him a job he can't refuse.

[Alitaher003]

Does he leave all of his inventions behind as well? Or does he take them with him? Or have they been seized?

[Heretics Everywhere]

interesting

[Greenhorn]

Wow, a race of natural-born infiltrators got infiltrated? Dang, batponies are really something.

[redandready45]

There wasn’t even a debate on the matter. The human, for all his usefulness, wasn’t worth the risk his attempted relocation would cost. He wasn’t worth the ten food subjects that would have to be given up, which would feed at least a hundred of her worker drones. His help up until this point had been enough to hasten her plans and was even appreciated, but Chrysalis could not jeopardize everything to secure him.

This is the flipside of being a rational villain: they'll keep you around if it serves their purposes, but they'll dump you once you're no longer cost-effective.

[MurderP0n7]

11694538
That if he really knew the extent of his abilities, this guy has a They system, he was worth more than what Chrissy left, it's a shame he didn't really know it was a The system

[MurderP0n7]

11686531
It is an ability that seems useful to me for a species in which its greatest capacity is stealth and sabotage.

[MurderP0n7]

11686397
I would say "make a Jetpack and let it grow..." but magic can already do that, not the jetpack but flying