Techno Blue's Travels

Over the next few days I worked to getting my science lab cleaned up, progress could only be described as ‘Slow’. I needed to be ready to start my project when my equipment turned up and I had nothing better to do. I took breaks and visited Poppy a couple of times and she stopped by as well. I had noticed Luscious never stopped by which was peculiar. Since I had very little I could do, I would have welcomed the distraction for once. Rocky had also been absent, he was problem cursing me over the bill from the guilds and didn’t want to see me, even for business.

I checked on my mysterious orb in the basement, all of my instruments told me the thing wasn’t there. I did my best to make sure they were working, but they kept saying the container is empty. I wanted to do something about it but I couldn’t in my current state. “A few more days” I told myself looking deeply into the orb.

Brick Beak returned three days later after she had left with the Octarine, filled into a bundle of canisters. I didn’t need one gallon but Octarine will do some random things and be lost forever even if you follow procedure, pure magic didn’t follow the rules of physics all the time.

Brick Beak seemed quite pleased with her trip to Cloudsdale and even found time to do some souvenir shopping. She gave me an hour glass that had a mixture of rainbow liquid and water in it, when turned upside down the water flowed down and the rainbow stuff went up, I found it relaxing to watch from time to time. I figured after the sixteenth time that it worked for forty two seconds, I won’t be using that to help cook anything, but I used it again and again for fun.

Brick Beak had fixed the door back on, she said she was tired of seeing children gawk through the field of magic, she even got a handle put on so I could open the door, pulling it was a bit difficult. I then asked Brick Beak to visit the mine and collect a lot of money to pay Dr Stone, when she returned she told me Rocky had said ‘To take the money and get out’.

I had Brick Beak place one of the Blaze Diamonds onto a pedestal and fire an energy laser at it. The Diamond started powering up and when it I was ready, it would take two days to have one days’ worth of energy. I’ve wanted to toy with finding a faster way of energising it more, but it would have to wait. Everything was coming together and soon I wouldn’t have to depend on others to keep helping me.

-_-_-_-_-

“This is it BB.” I said to Brick Beak sitting at her desk behind me. “It’s the final day, X hour is upon us, destiny…pause for dramatic effect, awaits! We go towards a new direction after this coming moment in history.”

“Sir, its only 9:06 am, the guild won’t deliver whatever it is until at least one pm.” Brick Beak replied as I stared intently at the mail flap on the door, thinking wouldn’t be great if it came through now, of course it would be too big to fit through.

“It matters not, we build upon this day.” I sat just close enough for the door to miss me if it opened, I was flapping my tail side to side like a dog wanting for his owner to come home. I hadn’t told Brick Beak about the operation, I thought that she may be needed as a sea-arm or an assistant to Dr Stone, she probably won’t be happy when I did tell her. A minute passed, then a second, my mind couldn’t focus on the negatives I had found myself in after the accident, I was just constantly replaying how this would all go down; the operation, the construction, the magic implementation. “I’m so nervicited.”

After an hour my constant state of alert had worn me down and I was feeling exhausted. Brick Beak forced me to go lie down and leave her alone as she finished her paperwork. After seven minutes exactly, I knew from watching my new hour glass ten times I felt better and got up. I couldn’t wait anymore “I am going to get Dr Stone” I said as I rushed out the door. I’m pretty sure I heard Brick Beak say “Huh?” as I left.

I raced down to Dr Stone’s flat, when I arrived I was tired once again especially after climbing all the stairs up to his room. Just when I was about to knock, I thought about last time and how I didn’t want to see that again. I knocked anyway and the door opened immediately, Dr Stone was dressed in a fine work vest with a lab coat on. “Are we ready?” he asked, I was grinning excitedly “I think we’re ready,” he sighed, he went over to a table, a very unique saddle bag was on it, it has a picture of a caduceus on both sides. “There are a few more supplies in my garage. And since you seem to be bursting with energy you can pull the cart.”

We went down to the ground floor and Dr Stone attached me to his cart, it was made out of wood and had many odd shaped items in it, but I couldn’t tell what they were due to a cloak over the top. I was rearing with energy again and now fully strapped in. I pulled and the cart didn’t budge, I pulled harder and nothing, it was very heavy. In the end Dr Stone helped push the cart until we got it rolling, after that it was all up to me. It was heavy but momentum help drag it along…slowly.

It was only a few blocks but an hour later we arrived at my house. I was just about to collapse on the street when we got to the front door. Dr Stone knocked on the door and Brick Beak opened it and was startled to see the rude pony. “Oi, cart puller!” Stone yelled at me “I’m not paid for heavy labour, get that stuff into the room we’re doing this in.” Brick Beak cautiously let him in and then assisted me getting out of the straps. When I reached for the contents in the cart, Brick Beak pushed me out of the way and took everything in a few trips up to the science lab.

We -I use that term loosely, I really mean ‘they’- then set the equipment up. Machines like; heart monitor, defibrillator, some sort of suction machine, magic thread, a machine that went 'ping' and other operating devices. But none of them scared me like the items in Dr Stones saddle bag; many different types of knives, needles galore, some items I couldn’t described without feeling ill and a very sharp looking bone-saw, I had to leave the room and breathe deeply after seeing that.

I returned with the colour in my face returning. “Shouldn’t you have some assistant for this?” Brick Beak asked as she slid a device into a corner. Dr Stone and I looked at each other then back at Brick Beak, “Oh no. Not happening, I’m not doing it,” She barked back, her feathers ruffling.

“I’ll get you a 1st class trip on a pony air ship, there and back for your vacation.” I replied quickly. She mulled it over.

“You owe me big time after this.” She points at me. That was surprisingly an easy win.

Its 12.59pm, nothing is happening. We have set up the operating table, it’s just a matter of when the final part arrives. Its 1pm, nothing is happening. “WHERE ON TATORUS ARE THEY!” I yell “They’re late, it’s just like them to do this! I’ll sue them for everything they’re worth!” Brick Beak gives me a weak slap behind the ears, I shut up.

Its 1:01pm, I’m getting really annoyed now. “Ding.” I opened the door, “Dong”. A female pony in a casual business suit hands me something and walks off, I am balancing it carefully on my hoof. “What was that?” asked Brick Beak.

“She was handing out free samples of shampoo,” I moped dropping the bottle in a corner.
Back to waiting.

Thirty four frustrating minutes later, they arrived. The delivery cart is made out of metal, my order is in four metal brief cases of varying sizes; two of them are over two meters long. When the items were inside the main hall, I made sure the delivery ponies would not go any further one of them asked me what I was doing. Knowing they were after my project I looked at him and said “Raising a barn.” and I closed the door on him.

“Sweet Semen of Celestia, do we need all of this for the op?” Asked Dr Stone looking at all the boxes, was it really necessary to swear like that.

“No.” I say as I walk to the smallest box, “just this one.” Brick Beak opens the box for me, inside is a small cylinder with tiny discs on the middle section, it has two hollow sections on the ends but they don’t go all the way through, they are designed to hold magic thread and when one particular side clamps down it doesn’t come off, this is where the thread in my spine will go. “Ready when you are.” I looked at Dr Stone confidently, he was not sharing my enthusiasm.

A few minutes later, I was losing my nerve. I was strapped down to an operating table, facing downward, I couldn’t see much but I could hear Dr Stone testing a couple of his cutting machines. My mane and coat were shaved off on my shoulders and up, I got one look at myself before I went on the table. I have a lighter blue skin that my coat and my stump stood out annoyingly without my mane. I was grateful Dr Stone had some Zebra hair tonic with him, that stuff works in seconds. Dr Stone was scrubbing himself clean and Brick Beak was placing a mask over my face through a hole in the table. “Last chance to get out of this.” Brick Beak said trying her softest voice to get me to stop.

I shook my head and she turned on the gas. “If I don’t do this, I’d rather be dead. Oh, I never wrote a will.” the gas from the mask started to affect me already. I had to say something that meant something quickly. “If something…happens, give Rocky…the…m.” I blacked out and the world disappeared.

-_-_-_-_-

I dreamt of the things I should have done, saying goodbye to Poppy, apologising to Rocky for how I treat him. I still have questions about Brick Beak as blurred version of her flew by.

I thought of Luscious, she appeared in my dream she was the only thing in a black void. I didn’t know what I wanted to say to her and she was waiting there patiently for me to say something. Eventually I turned around away from her and she disappeared completely.

The small child from the train appeared “What is it like to become more than you, to add something that shouldn’t be there?” He asked without moving his lips. I couldn’t answer, I didn’t know.

I saw others, Sparking Thought drenched in water. Zippy climbing, racing the other Diamond Dog to the top a mountain as black as the world around me. I could see Dr Stone working with Dr Mort and those nurses, every second their scene changed, they would be laughing together and then Stone would be drinking and the others were talking behind his back.

Finally I saw my own head, thousands of time bigger than me. I had my horn but then it exploded and my face leaned down in sorrow, Octarine poured out of my wound life a waterfall, rushing towards me. It swept me up and carried me down some kind of river, I was struggling to stay afloat.

Eventually the coloured stream moved ahead of me and I was standing again as the Octarine spiralled into the air and turned into a giant sphere. It changed into my mysterious orb in the basement still larger than it should be. I approached it and noticed many other versions of me approached it, hundreds upon thousands copies, some had a horn and others didn’t, some were missing a leg, or had an eye patch and some had their cutie mark. I tried to see what it was but it was always blurry, just out of reach. We approached the orb in a perfect circle, the four next to me were very odd, the two on my left; one looked like he was dead, one was angry, the two on my right; one was overly happy and the last was a girl and yet still me.

The orb flittered through its colours and turned an icy grey, we all stopped and looked. The orb began to crack and at the point of collapse the orb imploded, sucking all of us into darkness.

-_-_-_-_-

I awoke, or at least I think I was awake. My vision was blurry and a shadowy figure appeared over me, turning its head and peered at me with its glowing yellow eye. “I know you,” I breathed wearily.

“Doc, he’s awake. Get over here!” yelled Brick Beak in a panic.

My vision improved and so did my sense of awareness, I was lying on the operating bed, on my back and could tell my mane had been regrown. I wanted to sit up but Brick Beak wouldn’t let me, she pushed me down. “How did it go?” I asked Dr Stone.

“By all accounts you should be dead, you’re a real freak.” He replied, that was not the answer I expected. “I got the thread in and started finishing up when an unknown problem sent your heart skyrocketing and your nervous system started having a fit. You died on the table, I tried the defibrillator but it didn’t work and several other approaches. We gave up, we were exhausted. Then you started your body back up without any help. I struggled through and finished the surgery, I wanted to remove the thread but the risk of you dying again was too great. Even by magic standards you should be dead.” He was scratching his head in wonder.

I didn’t know how to take the news, so I just ignored it, it didn’t seem to matter anymore. “Uh, Cool."

"Cool is not the word I would use. my side of the operation went perfectly, whatever happened wasn't natural. Nopony just lies down dead and then gets better."

"Well...What do you want me to do about it exactly?"

"You could act a bit concerned, maybe ponder your fleeting existence and all that crap. Just do something."

"Can I get up then?” I asked trying to sit up, Brick Beak pushed me back down.

Stone blew out a sigh “Stay there for at least another hour, I need to keep an eye on your vitals.” Stone started checking on all the beeping and blinking machines

I looked at Brick Beak “Hey BB.” was all I could say.

“Hey yourself.” she replied, she realised how she acted just then “Sir. Please don’t do that again.”

“I shouldn’t need to now.” I tried sitting up again and Brick Beak pushed me down again and left her claw on me applying pressure. I would have to wait.

An hour later I could stand up and look into a mirror to see the result, success. There was a small plug just above my shoulder blades, I could barely feel it. “I am so ready for stage two.” I collected the charged Blaze diamond from its pedestal, it had power in it but not much. I’ve read that the Guild of Science charged a Blaze diamond for a year, at the end it had a microscopic sized light generated in it, mine had equal levels of power but would run out tomorrow if all went well. It didn’t matter, it was all part of the test.

I took my jewel downstairs to the lounge room, Brick Beak and Dr Stone followed me down. I asked Brick Beak to open the second box, larger than the first. Inside was a harness, it would loop around my back, chest, neck and forelegs. Before I could put it on, the harness needed magic thread inserted through the straps, round to the front. At the chest piece was a small round groove, when we had the magic thread in, I inserted the Blaze diamond with my mouth.

Next up was the Octarine, we used a small -magic resistant- funnel and filled the same holes the magic thread was in. It took slightly longer than it should, some of the Octarine decided it wanted to be a cloud during the pouring phase. Once it was filled we closed the air tight plug to seal all of it inside.

The square box also had eighteen attachable joints which joined together and required the same treatment as the harness. When put together, they created six bendable pieces. It was fortunate that once contained, liquid Octarine doesn’t evaporate and the magic thread ensured that it wouldn’t transform into anything else.

It was all coming together at last. The last two boxes were very long, it was a long metal pole that was made up of multiple pieces of metal, they were both very heavy but we did our best. When lying down and stuck in the box, they were about one and a half metres long but I knew they could each stretch to just over three metres. Once again, magic string goes in and connect it to the ends and fill with Octarine.

The Octarine took longer this time as it decided it didn’t like gravity anymore and went upwards and changed my lounge room from a cream colour to orange and not the colour, the walls and ceiling now had hundreds of pictures of the fruit as a new wallpaper. I wasn’t sure if I hated the new layout or not. Dr Stone examined the wall closely, he touched it “It feels like hard cheese.” he proclaimed. He licked and then quickly spat out his saliva “Tastes like coffee, I hate coffee.”

The six bendable pieces connected on to the one end of each pole. They were placed around the ends at thirty three degree intervals. Once it was all done, we attached the poles to the harness. We were all sweating, the work was exhausting. “Okay now can rubbed on the Magic Lifter solution.” I said after we caught our breaths.

“What!?” yelled Stone, “That’s what’s in those boxes. Why didn’t do that from the start and save time?”

“Because it must cover the entire exterior. This stuff sinks in what is attached to…even metal. After that you sprinkle on the magic powder and WA LA, you have a super light, super strong piece of metal. If you rub it into the interior it absorbs outwards it causes all kinds of problems.”

“That-That doesn’t make any sense.” replies Brick Beak.

I closed my eyes and said “All those with a certificate in advanced magic, raise your hoof.” I raised my hoof up and then opened my eyes. The others did not have their limbs up “Oh, just me then. Plus this way it affects the Octarine inside without mixing with it. Magic is as magic does and not even the magic thread will protect the octarine from another magical source.”

We pushed the boxes of Magic Lifter closer to where we needed it and on inspection we found the Guild of Magic really hates me and why I had so many boxes. The boxes were filled with Eternal Magic Lifter alright but in small jars with screwed on lids, it would usually be in a large tub. This would take hours, we all sighed in unison.

Brick Beak spent her time undoing the lids, her mind must have been racing with excitement, she wasn’t even looking at the jars. She just picked up, opened and moved to the next one. Dr Stone and I dipped our hooves into cream coloured gel and started rubbing all over the device.

It was getting late and the moon started to rise, Brick Beak had technically finished for the day but volunteered to stay. Stone said he would charge by the hour but I think it was in jest, he had a decent idea of what was going to happen but he wanted to see it. The gel had to coat the device completely so that it had a thick layer of ooze. We managed to get most of the machine off the floor using metal frames from the labs, so it remained off the carpet. We were finally done with the rubbing and just two steps remained. Our hooves were slimy all the way to our elbows, so we scrubbed up before moving on or we would end up with super light limbs.

Brick Beak was now suffering from claw cramp, all those lids took their toll on her. The final touch for the lifter to work was to use the magic powder, just a sprinkle and the entire gelled area is affected. So it was really annoying that I now have more powder that I could ever use, Stone put a lot of it into a bucket and then flung it all over the goo. The powder settled onto the slime and the lifter bubbled and evaporated, it looked like it sunk into the device.

“Did it work?” asked Brick Beak.

I walked over, the powder that didn’t hit the gel now covered my floor. I pushed one of the long poles upwards, I barely touched it and the whole contraption moved. I smiled “Oh yeah, it worked,” I said marvelling at our progress.

“Please help me put it on.” I asked. They came over to me and lifted it up, I stuck my front hooves and head through the loops. “Thanks, now I just have to connect the spinal piece to the harness.” I had to wiggle around slightly, this is the great thing about mind extraction. The measurements are done both consciously and subconsciously so when it comes to your body it’s hard to get it wrong.

CLICK

I was hooked up. “Stand back, I don’t know what will happen.” I ordered. They moved back focused thinking of my telekinesis magic, the metal frame rattled slightly, suddenly the poles expanded so quickly we didn’t have time to see it happen. One of the poles went through a wall destroying a picture of an orange, the other nearly took out my couch. The poles then loosened and now started bending, curving and twisting around and now became my arms. The joints at the end snapped and clicked against each other I as tried to adapt this new feeling.

Occasionally a limb would swing wildly around the room, one claw picked up a chair and threw it towards Stone who quickly jumped out the way. “Are you controlling them or what!?” he yelled.

“I can feel some control, I can feel them but it’s like their numb. Don’t worry I’m getting better every second.” I replied.

“Doesn’t look like it to me,” Stone shouted from behind a wall, not like that would protect him from my mech arms. Brick Beak was sidestepping every flailing attack towards her, it looked like she wasn’t even trying to dodge them.

I thought ‘Remove a sense to enhance others,’ I closed my eyes. I could feel the robotic limbs more now. They slowed down and eventually came to a halt above my head creating a double helix upwards. I thought on how I wanted them to move, I wanted them out straight to my sides like a Pegasus’s wings and they did. I contracted them slowly and they stiffened and shrunk back to one and a half meters.

I then expanded them slowly, they went away from me, one went into the doorway to the kitchen and the other arm reached the window before it fully expanded. If I pushed harder it would go through the glass, but I controlled the strength of the arm and moved it to the latch and opened the window, pushing it up and then sliding the arm fully out. My eyes still fully closed, I was doing all this by touch.

The window though was not properly wedged up and slammed on the arm, I retracted it of fear of pain from the arm, but I didn’t think rationally and pulled the window with. The frame splinted and glass shattered towards me. I instinctively put the arms in the way of the flying glass and protected myself perfectly. I uncoiled the arms from around my side and opened my eyes.

I wasn’t focusing anymore on controlling them anymore, I was just doing. I placed the arms on the ground and pushed down, lifting me up. The finger joints bended to accept the load, I was going up and my legs started to gravitate down. I reached a comfortable height, Brick Beak and Stone stared up at me.

“Oh yeah, this is going to work!” I grinned.

To be continued.

http://imgur.com/HN6bLl5

(Note: This image was done way before I started writing this story, I can’t draw and had this commissioned.
As the story goes on I have more pics to show.)