Technical Difficulties

Chapters

Meet the Criminal Genius
Discords' Game Begins
When Good students go Bad, and Bad students get hurt

Meet the Criminal Genius

“So… you still don’t wanna say anything” the man grinned.

“That’s fine with me… I love it when they act tough”
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“AAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHH!” a young man screamed as he sat bolt upright in his bed. His hands shot to all four of his limbs. He sighed when he realised it was just a dream.

“Tech… get dressed and come down for breakfast!” a woman’s voice called from down the stairs. Tech groaned as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. He stood up shakily. His pyjamas were just a pair of boxers, as it was summer. He made careful consideration to step over the cat that was lying in the middle of his carpet.

“C’mon Kim. Let’s get some grub” Tech said as he opened his closet. The cat on his floor meowed in response and stretched. All of a sudden it began to transform. Within a matter of seconds, a completely naked woman with deep red hair was standing behind Tech.

“Could you pass me the blue dress?” Kim asked, tapping Tech on the shoulder.

“Sure…” he said. He reached into the closet and pulled out a blue sundress. He also went into one of the 6 drawers that were in the closet and pulled out a bra and a pair of panties. He handed them back along with the dress. He then grabbed a black shirt and pulled it over his head. He turned around to the now underwear-clad woman.

“It’s been 12 years, and I’m still not used to the fact that I own a Chimera…” Tech said, as he walked over to and opened the door. He heard Kim giggle as he closed the door behind him and walked downstairs. Tech scratched the area on his head around his black horn and then ran his hand through his dirty blonde hair that stopped halfway down his neck. He sighed as he rounded the corner at the bottom of the stairs. He saw his mother, a unicorn with a light blue horn and dark brown hair, sitting at the table in her practitioners smock. To her left sat his father, a unicorn with a green horn and jet black hair, wearing a suit and reading a newspaper. Where Tech got his horn and hair colour was anyone’s guess.

“Mornin’” he grumbled as he sat down at the table and started to eat the scrambled eggs and toast that was set out in front of him.

“Good morning, sweetie. How did you sleep?” his mother asked. She got a grunt in response as Tech’s mouth was full. Kim trotted down the stairs happily. She hopped around the corner and sat down next to Tech.

“Good morning Fox, Good morning Lilac” she grinned as she began to eat. Fox Fire, Tech’s father looked up from his paper.

“Ah, good morning Kim” he grinned. He reached across and petted Tech on the head, which was met with a growl.

“Honey, you know he doesn’t like to be touched when he’s eating…” Lilac Shore, Tech’s mother, lectured gently. Fox laughed.

“I know. It’s just funny to hear him growl” Fox smiled as he turned to Tech.

“One day I’m going to bite you and make it look like an accident” Tech grinned. His father gulped and Kim and Lilac laughed.

“Oh dear… You start school tomorrow, so enjoy your last day of freedom!” his mother calmed down. Tech nodded as he took his empty plate to the sink. He poured himself a cup of coffee and began to drink it.

“Don’t spend all your time in the basement like you normally do… Go out, make some friends, get a girlfriend or two…” his dad laughed. The last part made Tech spit up his mouthful of coffee.

“DAD!” he cried out, turning around. Fox was in hysterics and Lilac was shaking her head, ashamed of her husband. Kim was completely emotionless as she ate her breakfast.

“Ahaha… It’ll be good for you, trust me” Fox grinned as he finished his cup of coffee and stood up.

“Now, remember. Your mother and I will be gone for about a week. She has to get her clinic set up, and I have some things to go through at the office. Don’t throw any wild parties while we’re gone” Fox was still grinning.

“But if I don’t throw wild parties, does that mean I have to get drunk and trash the house alone?” Tech asked sarcastically. Both his mum and dad laughed. His mum stood up and kissed him on the cheek.

“Your father is right about one thing, though. Don’t spend all your time in the basement. It’s not good for you” his mother rubbed his back. Tech nodded.

“I’ll see you guys in a week” he swallowed the rest of his coffee and put the cup in the sink. He waved them off as they walked out the front door into the blazing Equestrian sun. As soon as the door closed, Tech turned and walked towards a black door in contrast to the grey and white of the lounge room.

“Hey, didn’t they tell you not to spend all of your time in the basement?” a female voice called out. Tech laughed and turned around. A life sized green projection of a girl was standing behind him.

“And I won’t, Lily. I like to sleep in my own bed” Tech grinned as he started to head down the stairs behind the door. Lily the projection disappeared. As Tech made it to the bottom of the stairs, a large vault door came into view. There was a keyboard, keypad and a Magic Recognition Device all sitting at the entrance. He typed in a code on the keypad, typed a password in on the keyboard, poured a little bit of his magic into the MRD. As he did the last step he took a step back.

“Darkened sky” he said. The door hissed and began to open. Tech grinned at the security system he had designed. He walked into the room behind the vault door, which seemed to be more like a warehouse than a room. The vault door closed behind him, but not before a solitary cat managed to slink its way in. Tech walked past rows of objects covered in cloth. He sat down at a work bench at the far end of the underground warehouse. He turned on the monitors and stood back.

“How are they looking today, Lily?” he asked. Lily reappeared, but smaller, standing on the table top.

“Your vitals are normal, and the functionality of your arms and legs are beyond optimal. However, your eyes are a completely different matter. Something has gone wrong, but I can’t pinpoint it. You might want to plug directly into the computer so you can determine what’s wrong” Lily said, as though she was reading off a sheet.

“I suppose” Tech grimaced as he pulled a cord out from under the bench. He plugged one end into the desktop tower, and the other end had an electrode. He stuck it to the back of his neck, and blue lines spread out like a spiders’ web. All of a sudden, the world became a lot clearer to Tech. Literally.

“Ok… I always hate this part…” Tech groaned as he pulled a small grey metal tube out from one of the drawers. He held it up to his left eye, and pushed the small red button on the end. Immediately, he felt a stinging sensation as the eye was removed. He grimaced as he set it down. He looked at the intricate circuitry.

“You’re augmentations are… amazing… I’m not sure how you made them” Kim said as she hopped up onto the counter, still as a cat.

“With lots of help. Now shush, this needs my total concentration” Tech said concentrating. He had a small pair of pliers, and a very small needle. He leaned down and started to move wires around in the cybernetic eye. Tech found a loose wire.

“Gotcha… I hope it’s the same with the other one” he grimaced as he started to slowly move the needle and pliers towards the wires. He moved one half of the wire towards the other, and quickly touched the connecting point with the needle. With a small zap, the wires fused back together. He closed the small plate in the eye and picked it back up. He put it back into the metal tube and held open the eye socket. He held the eye back up to the socket and pushed the button. The eye was quickly inserted back into his head, and he blinked a few times to make sure it was working.

“The other one, Tech?” Lily asked.

“Yeah. Can you sign me onto the computer please? I’ve got some things to do before I get onto the actual building” Tech nodded as he removed the other eye, and began to do the same thing.

“Sure. System Login. ID: Tech Shift” Lily said out loud. The computer made a noise and instantly logged onto Tech’s account. He quickly looked up at the Homura Akemi background and then went back to re-inserting the eye. He blinked a few times.

“Ok check the eyes again” he said. After a three second silence, Lily beeped.

“Back to optimal performance. You have a deadline to meet soon” she said in her informative tone.

“I know, that’s what I was going to do now” he splayed his right hand and a light blue holographic keyboard appeared. He began to type on it, the keys lighting up as he hit them and turning off when he released.

“Alright, that finishes the blueprint. Go ahead and send it. Kim, come with me” he said, dismissing the keyboard with a wave of his hand. Lily nodded and Kim jumped off the desk. As Tech stepped away he forgot he was still connected. The wire on his neck went taught, and he jerked backwards.

“Ow…” he groaned, lying on the floor. Kim and Lily were laughing.

“That was the most graceful thing I’ve ever seen” Lily was laughing so hard that if she had lungs, she would be gasping.

“That has to be the least sexy thing you’ve ever done…” Kim groaned as she turned back into a girl and unplugged him. He sat up and looked at both the girls.

“Oh thanks, I love you girls too” he said as he stood. As both girls were still laughing, he walked over to a large sheet closest to the left of the computer. He pulled the sheet off to reveal what looked like a large chunk of machinery.

“Could you bring me a mask, a welding torch, and my rod?” Tech asked. Kim, who was still recovering from laughing, wheeled over the welding torch from near the desk. The mask was already with it, and she went back to the desk to grab a small silver rod with a black orb on top. She passed it to Tech, who quickly put it in his waistband.

“You are the epitome of safety…” Kim sighed as she observed Tech in his boxers, thin t-shirt, and now welders mask.

“I know, right?” his laugh was muffled under the mask. He welded a small sheet of black metal to another, before removing his mask. He put the mask and the torch together on the tank, and Kim wheeled it away. He pulled the rod out of his belt and held the newly welded armour up to the machine. He put the rod against the two connecting parts and pushed a button on it. This caused it to glow a dark blue, and Tech slowly moved it down the connection. It fused the armour to the machine at the point where it touched. As he reached the bottom, he let go of the button and put the rod back into his waistband.

“Tech, there’s someone on the front lawn” Lily said. Tech turned to her.

“Are they coming to the front door?” he asked. Lily shook her head.

“Then… what? Why are they there?” he tilted his head.

“They don’t appear to be moving…” Lily said. Tech groaned and began to walk back towards the door. The door opened when it saw him walking towards it, and it closed with a hiss behind Kim, who was running behind him. Tech walked up the stairs, closed the door and walked to the front door. When he opened it, he saw a girl with rainbow hair lying on the front lawn.

“For Celestia’s sake…” Tech groaned.

“Kim, can I get some help over here?” he called out. Kim trotted over and poked the girls’ cheek. She was met with a groan. She rolled over.

She’s… not bad looking.

I agree.

She tried to stand up, but collapsed. Tech sighed and walked over.

“Need some help?” he asked. The rainbow headed girl shook her head.
“N-no… I can do this” she grunted in a Tomboy-ish voice. Tech helped her stand up. The girl put her arm over his shoulder and he put his arm around her waist. He helped her shuffle inside. Kim closed the door behind them. They shuffled to the living room, and Tech dropped her onto the couch. She repositioned herself so she was lying down, and passed out.

“Great… Kim, get her a glass of water for when she wakes up. Lily, perform a scan. Find out who she is. I’ll be… grabbing something, I guess…” Tech said, looking around the room. He walked off to his room, and Kim danced off to the kitchen. When Tech got to his room, he opened his desk drawer and pulled out what appeared to be a scanner gun from a super market, but supercharged. He walked back downstairs to see Kim placing the glass of water on the little table next to the girl and Lily was standing on the couch.

“Thanks. What did you get, Lily?” Tech asked as he pointed the scanner at the girl and pulled the trigger.

“Her name is Rainbow Dash. She’s 18 years old, is currently in her second last year at Ponyville High School and works as the Weather Manager for Ponyville. She’s 5 foot 8 inches tall and weighs 53kg. Her IQ is 110” Lily said as she finished reading off what she found.

Tech was still pointing the scanner at her when Rainbow Dash opened her eyes. It seems she wasn’t paying attention when Tech brought her inside, because she screamed and tried to back up.

“W-where am I? Who are you?” she asked looking around the room. Tech noticed she seemed to be frightened by the scanner, so when it beeped he put it down on the table.

“Tech Shift. You’re in my house because you crash landed on my lawn. Looks like you’ve broken your left wing and dislocated your right knee” Tech said, taking a quick glace down at the small screen on the scanner. Rainbow Dash went to move and grimaced in pain.

“Lay still, leave your leg straight. I’ll… uh… see what I’ve got here” Tech said as he turned to and walked back towards the kitchen. He stopped.

“Kim, could you pop her knee back in place?” he said turning around quickly and nodding to Kim. She grinned.

“Sure. On 3, miss” Kim said, walking over to Rainbow Dash. Tech walked into the kitchen and opened a door next to the fridge on the other side of the room.

“1, 2…” he heard Kim count. Then came the shriek.

“3” Kim finished. Tech chuckled. He poked his head into the room and found 4 wooden slats and some elastic to keep her leg and wing straight. He also pulled an ice pack out of the fridge on the way back. He entered the lounge room and saw Rainbow Dash wiping tears out of her eyes.

“This might help somewhat” he said, putting the ice pack on her knee. She winced, but immediately relaxed. He placed the slats on either side of her leg, and tied them together. He made sure to have them hold the ice pack in place. He put the other two on either side of the top bone of her wing. And tied them together with elastic.

“T-thanks for helping me” Rainbow Dash looked up at me.
“Eh, It’d be a bother for both of us if I left you there” Tech shrugged. His horn glowed black and a black hue encased Rainbow Dash’s wing.

“What are you...” she asked, but immediately felt the bone in her wing start to reform.

“Basic healing spell” Tech said, his eyes shifting around the room. He found what he was looking for. He walked over to the coffee table and picked up a book. He began to read it while his magic was healing Rainbow Dash’s wing.

“So, uh… I never told you my name. It’s Rainbow Dash” she grinned. Tech looked up from his book.

“Charmed” he smiled back quickly, and went back to reading. Rainbow Dash looked around the room.

“You new here? Haven’t seen your face around” she asked he closed the book and put it back on the table.

“Yeah, moved here about a week ago” he said. He walked over to the armchair near Rainbow Dash and flopped down into it. As Dash was trying to find a way to continue to conversation, something from one of her pockets made a noise.

“What was that? Sounds like some dying animal?” Tech asked. He looked confused. Rainbow Dash quickly pulled out her phone.

“It looks like someone hit it with a hammer. Repeatedly” Tech said, looking slightly horrified. He took the broken phone out of her hand and walked up to his room. He connected it with one of the many cables he had to his desktop computer, and opened the top drawer of his desk. He rummaged around the contents until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a large touch screen phone and connected it to the computer as well. He quickly moved everything from the broken phone over to the new phone. He unplugged them both when they were done and brought them downstairs. He tossed the new phone at the girl, whose eyes bulged when she caught it.

“T-t-this is Universe 7 Touch… These haven’t been released yet…” she gawked and looked up at Tech.

“Actually, it’s the Universe 9 HC” He said, sitting back down in the chair. Her eyes bulged even more.

“W-w-w-what? That hasn’t even been announced yet” Rainbow Dash stammered.

“It’s a modified U7. It’ll be announced… late next year, maybe?” Tech said, thinking out loud. Rainbow Dash was looking at the phone, and Tech chuckled.

“I don’t know how to work this thing” Dash looked at him. Tech stood up and took the phone off her.

“It’s already on. Lock button is here, swipe to unlock at the moment. Set your passcode in the settings menu. It’ll have a tutorial on how to use it” Tech said, showing her how to unlock the phone.

“What does ‘HC’ mean?” she asked, starting to play around with her phone.

“Hand Computer” Tech shrugged. He walked into the kitchen and took his off the breakfast table, where he left it the night before. He tapped in a 13-digit code and it went straight to his messages.

Empty as usual. Ah, this is the life.

You are a sad, strange little man.

Who are you?

Tech walked back in to the living room. He closed his messages and locked his phone. He threw it on the couch.

“I’m gonna go get changed. You… don’t move” he pointed at her. She made a noise to let him know she heard him, and continued to play with her phone. Tech stopped his spell and walked up stairs. He walked into his room and closed the door. He opened his wardrobe. He opened the first drawer and took out a pair of underwear. He closed the draw, and grabbed a pair of dark blue jeans which were hanging in the alcove next to the set of drawers. He changed quickly, and put his boxers into the hamper by his door. He heard laughing from downstairs. He turned to the clock on his wall. It read 10am.

“Oh Celestia no!” he cried. He swung his door open and bolted out. He vaulted the railing, bypassing the stairs completely. He landed and quickly dashed forward. He grabbed his phone and stopped the alarm

“Smooth song. You and Twilight would get along great” Rainbow Dash was wiping tears out of her eyes. Tech went red.

“It gets me up in the morning, so yeah” he said, quickly turning his phone to silent mode. All of a sudden Rainbow Dash’s phone starts ringing. She went red.

“With a song like that, I don’t think you can judge me” Tech smirked.

"I-I'm allowed to have a secret or two..." she mumbled, embarrassed. She answered the phone.

“Hey Twi. No, I crash landed in some guy’s front yard and hurt myself. Nah, he’s taking care of me, so he’s pretty cool. Uh yeah. Hey, where is this place?” Rainbow Dash turned to Tech. Tech thought for a second.

“It’s the big white house near the edge of the town heading towards Canterlot. Your friend can’t miss it. You didn’t” Tech grinned. Dash giggled.

“You catch that, Twi? Yeah? Ok, see you then” Dash hung up.

“Twilight will be here in about 5 minutes” she said. Tech nodded and started playing around with his phone. He was playing Simpsons Tapped Out, when there was a knock on the door. He put his phone to the side and wandered over to the front door. He looked out the little hole and saw a girl with long purple hair with a pink streak. He also noticed that she had a purple horn sprouting from her forehead. He opened the door.

“You must be Twilight” he said, stepping to the side.

“And you must be the guy” Twilight smiled as she walked past him. The first thing Twilight had noticed about the house was the sheer size. She forgot about that when she saw Tech. The only thing that was on her mind now was his eyes.

A deep blood red… Very interesting…

She walked through to the lounge room and saw her friend lying on the couch.

“Heya Twi” Dash grinned. Twilight sighed.

“Look at you” she chuckled. Her horn glowed with a purple hue, which also encased Rainbow Dash’s wing and leg.

“I’ll get you to the new clinic in town. Although I must say… this first aid work is incredible, almost like a professional. And the spell you used seems to be simple but effective” Twilight turned to Tech.

“I usually keep my spells basic. If anyone can think of a way to change them in any way so that their easier to cast but still keep their effect, you can bet your flank I’m already three steps ahead of them” Tech said shrugging. Twilight laughed.

“Teleporting?” she began to quiz him

“Beacon network”

“Fire spells?”

“Flint rings”

“Electric spells”

“Lightning conduction bracelets”

“You’re alright…” Twilight smirked.

“Cheers, you seem to know a lot too. When you get to the new clinic, tell them Tech sent you. You’ll get quick service” he said. Twilight helped Dash stand. Dash whispered something into Twilight’s ear, and Twilight giggled and nodded. She helped Dash hobble over to Tech, who was just standing there, staring off into space.

“Tech, was it?” Dash said, catching his attention. He looked at her properly. She was a little shorter than he was, the top of her head coming to his nose. As he turned to look at her, she quickly raised her head and pecked him on the cheek.

“Thanks for helping me” she smiled mischievously. Neither of the girls failed to notice the slight pink tinge that crawled its way across Tech’s cheeks.

“Heh, see you later” Twilight grinned, and Dash waved.

“Yeah, see you around” Tech said, still thinking about the peck. He walked both the girls to the door, and waved them off as they slowly made their way down the road back into town. He sighed as he closed the door. He re-entered the living room to the laughter of both the girls.

“That was adorable!” Lily cried.

“You should have seen your face!” Kim wiped tears from her eyes.

“It’s really easy to entertain you girls, isn’t it?” he asked. They both nodded as best they could with the amount of laughter they were producing.
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Tech was down in the workshop working on something large, when he heard the doorbell being broadcast over the PA he had installed. He sighed, removed his gloves and headed upstairs again. He looked out the peephole, only to be greeted by no-one standing there. He raised an eyebrow and opened the door slowly. He looked around and didn’t see anyone, until he looked down. Standing on the doorstep were 3 small girls. One had deep red hair, one had light pink and dull purple hair, and the final one had pinky-purple hair. They had a large wagon behind them filled with boxes.

“Cookies for sale, mister” the one with red hair smiled sweetly. She had a southern accent.

I am a sucker for cookies…

Tech took a pouch from his belt loop and opened it.

“How much is a box?” he asked. The girl with the pink and dull purple hair raised 3 fingers.

“3 bits” she smiled. Tech took 6 bits out of the pouch.

“Just one box, thanks” he said, handing the girl with the pinky-purple hair the coins.

“Then take 3 of these back” the girl offered the coins back. Tech shook his head.

“You’re pulling that cart in the sun, you deserve a bit extra” he smiled half-heartedly. The girls all looked excited, and the girl with red hair handed him a box.

“Wow, thanks mister!” she cried happily. Tech was about to laugh, when he heard someone shouting from down the road.

“APPLEBLOOM! WHERE ARE YOU?!” another female southern accent echoed in the nothingness. A girl with long blonde hair, a red and white checked shirt tied up in the middle that revealed her toned stomach, blue jeans that looked worn out from work, and a Stetson was jogging along the road. She spied the girls at Tech’s door and jogged over.

“There you are… Big Mac got worried when he saw you run off like a mad woman, and ah just spent two hours tryin’ to find you” the girl sighed, looking at the red head. The girl looked Tech up and down, sizing him up.

“C-can I help you?” he asked, slightly disturbed.

“Oh, sorry. Ah just didn’t recognise you” the girl smiled sweetly. Tech noticed the faint smell of apples. He visibly relaxed.

“Yeah, probably because I just moved here. The name’s Tech Shift” he smiled. The girl reached over and put her hand on his shoulder.

“Ahm Applejack. This is mah sister, Applebloom, and her friends Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle” Applejack pointed at the smaller girls respectively and patted Tech on the shoulder. He felt the girls’ abnormal strength and almost buckled because he wasn’t prepared.

“Nice to meet you…” Tech said, recovering from the Attack on Shoulder.

“We live up at Sweet Apple Acres over there. Feel free to come by any time ya like, and ah’ll introduce you to the other Apples” Applejack grinned sweetly. Tech smiled weakly.

“Sure, that sounds pretty nice. I know barely anyone in town…” Tech said, putting the box of cookies on the stand next to the door. Applejack removed her hand from his shoulder.

“Well, head into town some time. You’ll meet plenty of people willing to be your friend. Ahm already your friend, ‘cause you seem like a nice guy” she said. Applebloom tugged on her sisters jeans.

“Did Big Macintosh need us for anything in particular?” she asked, causing Applejack to look down.

“Actually, yes. He needed a bit of help cleaning up the farm house” Applejack said, causing Applebloom to groan.

“That’s tirin’ work, sis…” she complained. Before Applejack was able to counter, Tech spoke up.

“Cleaning is a lazy Sunday… Lugging machinery around is tiring” he smirked. Applebloom looked up at him in awe.

“You mean to say you worked with machinery?” she asked, her eyes as big as saucers.

“Yeah. While they make the workload easier, they’re extremely hard to move around without magic… and that could ruin the circuitry, so we moved it by hand” Tech grinned. All 4 girls in front of him looked at him. Scootaloo was the first to speak.

“Do ya need any help with the cleaning, Applebloom?” she asked, and Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement. Applebloom nodded, and the three younger girls ran towards the acres.

“Ahm not sure how you got them excited for work, but I may need you to do that again in the future…” Applejack stared at Tech in disbelief. He laughed.

“Just a goal” he said. Applejack laughed and turned around to start walking back.

“Catch ya later, Tech” she grinned as she started walking. She stopped at the end of the gate and reached into the bag that was hanging on her shoulder. She pulled out an apple and threw it at Tech. It hit him in the side of the head, and he caught it.

“Ow” he said flatly. Applejack went pink.

“Sorry. Ah was just thinkin’ that you were new to town, and that means you’ve never tried the greatest apples in Equestria” she grinned sheepishly. Tech looked down at the apple, then back up to the smiling girl and grinned back.

“Thanks, I was just starting to get hungry” he almost laughed. Applejack laughed and waved, and Tech returned the wave. He closed the door as she exited the property and started to walk back towards the kitchen, box of cookies in one hand, and apple in the other. He bit in to the apple and was rewarded with a satisfyingly loud crunch and a large amount of juice that sprayed into his mouth. He chewed the sweet flesh of the apple before swallowing.

“Damn, that’s good” he chuckled. Tech walked into the kitchen and put the box of cookies on his shelf in the pantry. He closed the door and went back to the living room. He flicked his wrist at the 80 inch TV in the living room and was about to sit down and take another bite of the apple when he heard a loud crash from upstairs. Kim walked out from the downstairs bathroom.

“I think she’s awake…” she sighed. Tech groaned.

“For Celestia’s sake, Lavender! Can’t you be a bit quieter?!” Tech shouted. After a few moments, another unicorn with a sky blue horn and milk chocolate brown hair walked down the stairs. She was wearing shorts that ended loosely just under her butt, and a top that cut off at her stomach. As she walked past Tech, she flipped him off and walked straight into the kitchen. Tech sighed.

“Rude child” he groaned. Lavenders’ voice called out from the kitchen.

“Don’t talk about yourself like that. That’s my job” she giggled.

“You’re adopted” Tech said. He rolled his wrist to the right and the volume on the TV went up. Lavender came in to the lounge room with a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee and sat down on the long couch. Tech was sitting in one of the arm chairs.

“So, are you gonna do anything useful today?” Lavender smirked at Tech. He shrugged.

“Are you?” he shot back. Lavender bit her lip.

“You win this round” she growled. Tech laughed.

“I’ve won every round so far” he grinned. Lavender flicked her wrist and the channel changed to a fashion show. Tech shuddered and flicked his wrist again and it changed back to Batman.

“I can go at this all day” Lavender smirked, and changed the channel back. Tech sighed.

“I actually don’t have time for this…” he stood up. All of a sudden his eyes lit up with an evil idea. Kim knew.

“You aren’t…” she said, pointing at Tech.

“I am” he nodded, He turned around.

“System Login. ID: Tech Shift. Master commands enabled. Lock out user ID: Lavender. Access code B1722E3. Account level to access Command Override: Master Account” Tech called out. Lavender turned to him with an angry look on her face.

“You didn’t…” she glared at him. Suddenly, Lily’s voice echoed around the house.

“Command acknowledged. User ID: Lavender has been locked out. Command Override access set at Master Account level. Accounts that can unlock: Tech Shift. Command finalized and carried out” the voice called out. Lavender went pale white.

“D-d-dear brother… I’m sorry for how I acted towards you… It was uncouth and rude and I’ll never do it again” she said quickly. Tech turned around, grinning like a bond villain, and stroked his chin.

“Hmmm… I suppose I might be inclined to remove the lock if I were to receive something of equal value. Alchemy’s first law” he smirked. Lavender glared at him.

“Fine. I won’t tell our parents if you spend all your time down in the basement” she said.

“Can I get that in writing?” Tech pushed. Lavender just glared harder.

“Can you go fuck yourself?” she said out of habit. As soon as she realised her eyes went wide.

“Hope you like Batman. I hear it’s a marathon today” Tech laughed as he ran to the door and opened it. He took the stairs leading down 4 at a time, and quickened his pace after hearing his sister get up.

“Lily! Command override! Door locking sequence E!” he shouted. He heard the vault door hiss open and he ran inside. The door closed behind him, and he sighed in relief knowing that Lavender couldn’t get in. He could still hear her though.

“I swear to Celestia if you don’t override that command I will kick your ass when you come out of there!” she shouted, banging on the door.

“You didn’t really lock her out, did you?” Lily asked with a knowing smile.

“Only for 30 minutes. She might be an annoying little shit, but she’s my younger sister” he smiled. Lily giggled as Tech sat down at his desk, put his glasses on, and started to read through some engineering problems he had with his latest work.

Author's Note

Hello everyone who made it this far! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Technical Dificulties!

I thought the ringtone for Dash would be a funny contradiction to her personality. You know how we all have our hidden vices. (I totally don't collect naughty figurines...)

I'd love to hear what you guys think about this new story.

I'd also like to thank the people on this site for being so helpful and inspirational. You're all amazing and all deserve to be hugged by *insert favorite pony here*!

Discords' Game Begins

Four hours had passed since Tech had locked himself in his workshop to protect him from the Sisterly Wrath. He was now working on a small black box that was sitting on the table after completing some other additions for his latest creation

“Tech… It’s been an hour. You can’t do any more on that today” Lily said, putting her hand on the table. Tech put down the tools he had been using. He took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and sighed.

“I suppose… I’m starving. I’m gonna head out and get some grub” he said, standing up. He raised his arms above his head and stretched, cracking his shoulders. Lily nodded and disappeared. Tech walked over to the vault door, and it opened. He proceeded up the stairs. When he was halfway up he heard the tell-tale hiss of the door, and continued. He poked his head out of the door to check if Lavender was still around. Sure enough, she was sitting in front of the TV, watching her shows. Tech sighed and walked out. He continued quickly up the stairs. Tech realised it was probably his smartest move, asking them to put the door under the stairs. It was hidden if you weren’t looking for it, and easy for him to access. He got changed out of his now stained clothes and into a new set. This time he was wearing black jeans with a dark blue shirt. He walked over to his bedside table and picked up the necklace. At the end was a black sword that looked like it was disintegrating. Tech always felt uncomfortable and vulnerable when he didn’t have it with him.

“At least it doesn’t look terrible” he chuckled to himself as he hung it from his neck. He put a smaller phone in his pocket, and took his bit pouch from his desk and put it in his other pocket. He left his room, closing the door behind him, and walked slowly down the stairs. He made it to the hallway leading to the front door before he heard a sound he didn’t want to.

“Hold it” Lavender called from the lounge room. Tech poked his head out of the hall.

“What?” he said, trying to indicate that he wanted to leave.

“If you ever do that again, I’m throwing you down the stairs” she glowered at him. Tech laughed.

“You can’t even lift me” he grinned.

She doesn’t even lift, bro.

Unless you count face lifts…

OH SHIT, SHE’D BETTER KNOW SOME ICE SPELLS FOR THAT BURN!

Lavender threw the bag of chips at Tech, who didn’t manage to dodge. It hit him in the face, and he stared at Lavender.

“Really? Really?” he sighed.

“Guess what I’m not picking up…” Tech said. He quickly ran out the door before she could throw the can of coke she had.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A short walk later, Tech was in the middle of Ponyville. He sighed as he looked around for a place to eat. He spotted a café, with a sweets shop and café next to it.

Perfect, I’ll get something at this café, then jump over to Sugarcube Corner for dessert.

Tech walked in. It seemed like a quiet little café, with a few people sitting at tables around. They weren’t there alone, and they were all talking to their partners. Tech smiled as he sat down at a table in the corner and started to look around. He really liked the vines growing on the outside and all the plants on the inside. It reminded him of the greenhouse back at his previous school. It also reminded him of natural things, and he felt a pang of sadness. This was quickly replaced when his stomach growled. He began to read through the menu and a server came up.

“Welcome, sir. Can I get you a drink while you wait?” the server asked, smiling warmly. Tech looked up at him and smiled weakly.

“Uhm, yes. Can I please get a cup of coffee with milk?” he asked. The server nodded.

“Of course sir” the server grinned and walked off. Tech finished reading through the menu by the time the server had made it to the kitchen. When he came back with the coffee, Tech ordered an Avocado melt. Tech sipped his coffee as he waited, and 10 minutes later the server came out holding a plate with two thick, square pieces of toast with avocado on top and Jack cheese melted on top of that. The smell gently wafted into Tech’s nose and he grinned. The server put it down in front of him, and Tech said his thanks. He cut the corner off and put it in his mouth. The different flavours mixed around in his mouth as he chewed. He swallowed and sighed. His mouth curled into a grin as he started to eat the rest of it. Within 10 minutes, he had eaten the entire thing and his coffee. He walked up to the counter and left the exact change with the server, who smiled.

“Have a good day, sir” he grinned. Tech smiled and waved back.

“You too” he said as he left. The door closed behind him as he walked over to Sugarcube Corner.

“I wonder what I should get…” he thought out loud before walking up to the door, and being assaulted by something pink and poofy.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Well… I never thought I’d actually see the day that Tech would send someone to me… He wasn’t the one that hurt you, was he?” Lilac asked, looking at the Cyan wing in front of her.

“No, he was actually to one to patch me up like this” Dash said, looking to the side. Twilight was sitting next to Dash, and staring intently.

She’s absolutely gorgeous! I wonder how Tech knows her… He could be into older women, that perv…

“Well, my guess on this situation was that he sent you to me for a check-up. It looks like you’ll be completely healed within the hour, so you can take those things off and relax. I would rely on your friend here to help you walk for at least an hour, or just stay off your feet” Lilac smiled, standing up. She was about 5 foot 6 and slender despite having two kids, but the two girls didn’t know that. She was 38, but Twilight had assumed she was in her early 20’s. She brushed her light brown hair away back, and started to help Dash undo that wooden slats that were strapped to her wing.

“I’m sorry Dr Lilac, but I have to ask. How do you know Tech? Are you his girlfriend or his sister?” Twilight asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. Lilac smiled sweetly.

“It makes me happy that you think I could be his girlfriend or sister, but no. And I really thought you would remember, Twilight” she chuckled, not stopping her work on the slats.

“So, how do you know him? And me, for that matter?” Twilight asked again, extremely curious.

“I’m his mother” Lilac said bluntly. Both girls wore looks of shock on their faces.

“WHAT?!” they both shouted together.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Oh my! Are you alright sir? Pinkie, why were you jumping around like a kid?” Tech heard a female voice call out. He tried to sit up, but there was a weight on his chest. He looked around, but couldn’t see anything.

Damn it! I’ve gone blind! Did that knock some wires loose or something?

Or you could try opening your eyes.

Tech took a moment before opening his eyes, slightly embarrassed at himself. The first thing he saw was pink poofy hair. His eyes scanned his surroundings.

Outside a sweets shop and café called Sugarcube corner, many onlookers, woman who looks to be a baker seeing as she is covered in flour.

His eyes turned to the weight on his chest. The hair definitely stood out, but his eyes slowly drifted down. They glided over the pink and white t-shirt that looked way too tight and stopped on the jean shorts, the back of which were facing him. He went a light shade of crimson when the person stood up.

“Whoopsie! I’m sorry, mister” the girl who was previously sitting on his chest turned around, revealing a huge grin. Tech sat up and brought his hand to his head. He rolled his shoulder forwards and backwards twice and shook his legs, just to make sure everything was still connected right.

I’m sure I fixed that problem after last time… but I can’t be too careful

You looked like a sack of meat

He looked at the hand the girl had offered to him. He made sure to only grasp it gently and she helped him up. He brushed himself off. Tech raised his arms above his head, grasped his left wrist with his right hand, and brought his arms down behind his head. His shoulders creaked, and the baker looked like she winced.

“Are you alright, sir?” the baker asked again. Tech noticed the blue shirt under the flour. A man came running out.

“I heard a bang, what happened, Cup?” he asked. He seemed to be directing his question to the flour covered woman.

“Pinkie was frolicking again, and she knocked over this poor man” Cup said turning to the man. The man turned to the girl in pink.

“Pinkie, what did we tell you about that?” he said, obviously frustrated. Tech laughed nervously.

“I’m fine, really. She’s not that heavy, and I didn’t hit my head” Tech said. He quickly performed a full body check with his hands to make sure nothing was injured. He put his hand on right side of his ribcage and winced slightly.

Shit.

He shook his head and grinned.

“Well, talk about a way to make an entrance… I’m new in town. The name’s Tech Shift” his smile seemed to be infectious. The male baker, who was wearing an expression of anger, seemed to calm down. Tech even noticed a small grin forming.

“Welcome to Ponyville. I’m Carrot Cake, and this is my wife, Cup Cake. You’ve already met Pinkie Pie” he smiled, pointing to the flour-covered baker, and then the pink girl who fell on him.

“I see. Charmed to meet you all” Tech chuckled. He held out his hand. The energetic Pinkie jumped forward and took it. She started to shake it vigorously. Tech was a bit alarmed at her strength.

“Pleased to meet you, Tech! Oh! I’m gonna start working on a welcome party for you!” she cried out before racing off.

“Hold it, Pinkie! You’ve still got work!” Cup Cake called out and as fast as she had left, the pink blur was back again. She ran into the kitchen, and they heard clattering.

“Oh boy… Anyway, I’m Cup Cake, co-owner of this establishment” the baker quickly shook Tech’s hand, and ran into the kitchen. They heard “Put that down and get back to work” several times before things quietened down. Carrot Cake approached Tech.

“Man, things can get rough around here…” Tech chucked as he took Carrot’s extended hand. Carrot squeezed down on Tech’s hand.

‘Zis guy serious?

Do it.

Doin’ it!

Tech’s mouth twisted into a slightly evil grin as he gently squeezed down on Carrot’s hand, causing his eyes to go wide. Tech stopped short of causing him any lasting damage.

“Whoa, that’s one heck of a grip you got there, buddy” Carrot laughed, patting Tech on the shoulder. Tech grinned.

“Anyway, sorry about Pinkie. She tends to be a bit… hyperactive” Carrot chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. Tech was looking this man up and down.

Orange hair. Green eyes. Slim build. Threat level: 3.

“Nah it’s cool. Definitely one of the better things to have on you, am I right?” Tech grinned, and both of the men laughed. Carrot lead Tech over to a table.

“Whatever you order is on the house today. It’s our way of apologizing” Carrot grinned as Tech sat down. He looked up.

“I’m not one to turn down kindness like that” Tech smiled, and started to browse the menu. After deciding on waffles, he sat back and smiled to himself. He remembered the soft, squishy feeling in Pinkies rump on his chest. He must have lost track of time, because a giggling girl snapped him out of it.

“Here you are, Tech” Pinkie giggled as she placed the plate of waffles in front of him. She looked around the store, and then quickly sat opposite him. Tech was slightly confused, but it didn’t stop him from cutting the corner off his waffle and putting it in his mouth. It was soft and warm, and the melted chocolate was sweet and oozing.

“So I heard Carrot Cake tell Cup Cake about what you told him earlier” Pinkie said with a sly grin.

“Oh?” Tech said, not quite understanding where she was leading this conversation.

“And I’ve just gotta say, you’re one of the most attractive people I’ve ever bumped into” she winked at him and laughed.

“First time I’ve ever had a girl literally fall for me” Tech chuckled as he finished off his first waffle. Pinkie laughed.

“That was horrible” she wiped away a tear and stood up. As she walked away, she gave a little wave over her shoulder and disappeared back into the kitchen. Tech chuckled as he started on his second waffle and a few minutes later he had finished the waffle. Tech stood up and took 12 bits out of his pouch and put them on the table. He had memorised the price when he read the menu. As he was leaving, he saw Cup Cake manning the front counter. He waved good bye, and was met with the same. He opened the door to the blinding sunlight.

“Ahhh… Where to now?” he thought out loud, stretching his arms above his head. He walked away from Sugarcube Corner to the fountain in the Town Square. He sat down on a bench.

“Come to think of it… Mum’s clinic is close by, isn’t it?” Tech asked himself. He glanced around. His eyes came to rest on a sign.

“Lilac’s General Health Clinic. There’s it is” he grinned. He turned at the right time because at that moment the front door opened, revealing Twilight supporting a slightly limping Rainbow Dash. He chuckled, as Twilight spotted him. Lilac walked out.

“Ok, Just reminding you: If you keep off the leg for a bit longer, It should heal nicely” she smiled sweetly. Before Dash or Twilight could respond, she turned towards Tech.

“Wait a second… I’d recognise that horn anywhere. TECH!!!” Lilac shouted, causing Tech to jump in surprise.

“W-WHAT?!” he shouted back. He stood up and walked over to the small gathering.

“For Celestia’s sake, did you have to scare the hell out of me?” Tech walked over, slightly frustrated but still wearing a smirk.

“Heh, sorry honey. I saw you over there and-” Lilac started, but Tech interrupted her by laughing.

“And you decided to act like Dad, I understand” he laughed. Lilacs’ face went dead straight before curling into a grin and laughing.

“Is he really having that kind of effect on me?” she laughed.

“It’s the same with his clients. Only difference is the amount of time you spend with him voluntarily” Tech smirked.

“Hi Tech” Twilight smiled. Tech turned his head to the purple haired unicorn.

“Hey Twi. How was the service here?” he chuckled.

“It was great. I didn’t think anyone this young could BE a mother…” Twilight turned to Lilac.

“Oh dear. I’m 38” Lilac said with the same grin she was wearing before. Twilight’s and Dash’s mouths dropped open.

“Yeah, dad’s been aging for the both of them” Tech laughed. The three girls in front of him started to laugh.

“So, I take it he let you girls inside the house?” Lilac turned to the girls. Both nodded.

“Twilight I can understand him letting in, but you…” she turned to Dash who went rigid.

“Actually… he brought me into the house” Dash said, somewhat proudly. Lilac’s face went dead straight.

“He… brought someone into the house… My son is growing up to fast… his first girlfriend…” she wiped a tear away. Dash went bright red, and Tech shouted for the both of them.

“NO! THAT ISN’T THE CASE AND YOU KNOW THAT!!!” Tech shouted, drawing the attention of everyone around the square. Pinkie’s head poked out of Sugarcube Corner and, upon seeing her friends talking with her new friend, promptly ran over to greet them. She jumped onto Tech’s back.

“Heya Twi, Heya Dashie! How do you know Techie here?” she grinned, squeezing her arms around his neck. Lilac saw Tech’s eyes narrow and quickly grabbed his right wrist.

“No Tech. Friend” she said sternly, earning looks from everyone in the small group. Tech visibly relaxed.

“I know…” he sighed. Pinkie looked slightly concerned.

“Hey, are you ok Techie?” she asked. She jumped off his back and walked next to him, still holding his arm. Within a few seconds, Tech’s head shot up with its normal grin.

“Yeah, I’m just not used to being surprised” he chuckled. Everyone sighed, slightly confused at how fast his personality changed back.

“Anyway, since he let you into the house, Miss Dash, he probably knows everything about you” Lilac smirked. Tech grinned. Rainbow Dash turned to look at the Doctor.

“No way” she smiled with an air of confidence.

“Oh-hoh?” Lilac scoffed and turned to Tech.

“Go ahead, dear” she giggled. Tech straightened up his posture.

““Name: Rainbow Dash. Age: 18 years old. Is currently in her second last year at Ponyville High School and works as the Weather Manager for Ponyville. She’s 5 foot 8 inches tall and weighs 53kg. Her IQ is 110. Three sizes: 74, 38, 58. Favourite Book: Daring Do. Favourite movie: Wonderbolts Documentary. Is secretly extremely girly. Need I continue?” he grinned smugly at Dash who was bright red.

“O-Okay, I get it already!” she cried out, embarrassed. Twilight and Pinkie giggled.

“What about me?” Twilight laughed. Lilac looked slightly confused.

“You both already know everything about each other… Wait, did BOTH of you forget?!” Lilacs’ jaw dropped. Tech and Twilight both looked at her confused. Rainbow Dash was still reeling, and Pinkie was barely paying attention.

“Well… Your dad’s won’t be happy about this…” Lilac said, slightly worried.

“Wait, you know my dad?” Twilight asked, even more confused. Tech was still trying to assess the situation.

“I think that’s a story for your parents to tell you, dear. Oh, and Tech, Lu called. She said they were picking up some residual energy near Ponyville and that they were both going to be coming very soon” Lilac turned to tech, snapping him out of his trance.

“How soon?” Tech turned to her. As soon as he finished speaking, there was a slight crackling behind him. All of a sudden there was a bright yellow flash, followed in quick succession by a dark blue flash.

“Right now” a female voice called from behind him. He turned slowly, his eyes wide. Twilight, Dash and Pinkie gasped. Behind Tech, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were standing tall. Both had swords strapped to belts on their hips. Luna’s hilt had a crescent moon on it, while Celestia’s had a sun.

“What is it with people and scaring me today?!” Tech cried out and collapsed to his knees.

“Get up, you big baby” Lilac sighed. Tech stood up almost instantly, frightening the younger girls.

“It’s good to see you all again” Celestia smiled warmly.

“P-Princess’… what are you doing here?” Twilight asked, seeming slightly on edge.

“I’m not sure we’re able to tell anyone that isn’t involved quite yet, Twilight Sparkle” Luna said, looking up at Celestia, who simply raised a hand.

“They’re elements. They need to know” Celestia said in a serious tone, causing almost everyone to worry. Without another word, Pinkie zoomed off. Within a minute, Pinkie had gathered the rest of the girls. Tech recognised one.

“Hey, it’s… Uh… Applejack, right?” Tech said, pointing at the blonde cowgirl. She nodded and smiled.

“And you’re Tech, right?” she smiled. Tech grinned.

“Wow… he’s meeting girls left and right…” Lilac said to herself, biting her bottom lip.

“It seems you’ve met most of the rest. These two are Fluttershy and Rarity” Twilight said, pointing at a girl with pink hair who seemed to be extremely shy, hiding behind a girl who had a proud air around her and purple hair.

“Hello darling. My name is Rarity” the purple haired girl extended her hand. Tech took the hand and remembered how his mother had taught him to greet girls who exuded pride. He brought her hand up to his face and kissed it. Most of the girls went bright red.

“Pleasure to meet you. My name is Tech Shift” he smiled as warmly as he could. Rarity was caught a bit off guard, but quickly regained her composure.

“Such a gentleman in this day and age. Your mother must be so proud of you” Rarity smiled, attempting to hide her blush.

“I am” Lilac smiled, patting Tech on the shoulder. This caused Rarity to go even redder. The other girls chuckled.

“I’m Fluttershy” the Pink haired girl whispered. It was almost inaudible.

“Uhm… Hi Fluttershy” Tech waved. He didn’t hear her introduce herself, but he put two and two together and assumed she was the last name he didn’t recognise.

“These are the Elements of Harmony, Tech” Luna said, drawing Tech’s attention.

“I see. I’ve heard plenty about them” Tech said, nodding. Dash spoke up.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but how do you know the Princess’, Tech?” she asked. Before anyone could speak, Celestia quickly replied.

“He used to play with Luna all the time when he was young” she smiled slyly. The elements jaws all dropped.

“You just keep surprising them” Lilac was laughing.

“Did you have to go and say that so abruptly, sister?” Luna said, sighing. Tech put his hand on her shoulder.

“It’s fine, Lu. It’s not like it’s a huge secret or anything” he said. She nodded in agreement, and Tech removed his hand. Celestia straightened up and started speaking again.

“Anyway, the reason we are here today is because we are hunting special beings. Everywhere there is light, there must also be a shadow. You girls represent the light, so there must be equal beings of shadow. We have called them the Elements of Despair. We’ve been following an unusual magic signature, which we are assuming to be one of them” Celestia explained. Twilight was taking in as much information as she could, and the rest of the girls were just taking the basic understanding.

“So, who does the signature lead to?” Tech asked.

“We’re not sure. It just showed that it was in Ponyville” Celestia shook her head.

“I can try and set up a tracking spell, but I’d need permissions from you” Tech stroked his chin.

“Whatever you need” Celestia said. Tech closed his eyes and raised his left arm. He displayed his palm towards the sun. His entire body started to glow a dark grey hue. A dark grey magic circle appeared, covering the sun. Tech opened his eyes, and in left iris was the exact same magic circle.

“Ugh… This is so draining… The residual energy hasn’t left Ponyville. It’s… in the square now. That’s as far as I can narrow it down” Tech grunted. The magic circle disappeared from the sun and Tech’s eyes, and Tech stumbled forward.

“That took too much energy…” Tech groaned. He regained his composure and stretched.

“That was amazing, Tech! I have to admit… I have trouble with magic circles and seal magic…” Twilight stared at Tech, who turned to her.

“Seal magic? You mean with these things?” Tech snapped his fingers and a large rectangular piece of paper with symbols and markings appeared in his hand. Twilight nodded enthusiastically. Tech let go of the seal, and it disappeared.

“I have a basic knowledge of that kind of magic, but circles are my forte” he shrugged. Before Twilight could react, Tech was hit with a sky blue magic bolt.

“Lavender! What did I tell you about attacking your brother?!” Lilac yelled, as the young unicorn walked up to the group, laughing.

“That I take my life into my own ha-” Lavender never got to finish her sentence. She was sent flying back into a wall. Purple chains came out of magic circles on the walls and bound her in place.

“That’s right…” Lilac sighed. Tech was grinning like a madman.

“What should I do to you now…”Tech chuckled. He turned back to the princesses.

“Hey bro… you can let me down now…” Lavender called out.

“So, how are you gonna continue looking for it?” Tech asked the princess’, completely ignoring his sister.

“We don’t know…” Luna said, shaking her head.

“Maybe I could be of some assistance” a male voice called out from no-where. Everyone looked around for the source of the voice. Fluttershy’s eyes settled on one spot. Tech noticed and focused on that spot as well. His eyes scanned the area and picked up a spatial disturbance.

“There” Tech pointed at the spot. As he did, a man wearing a suit appeared. His hair was a mix of black and white, and his smile seemed a might creepy.

“Discord” Fluttershy said. This time Tech had actually heard her speak. Tech looked around the square.

“Is it just me… or is this place extremely empty…” he observed. Everyone looked around.

“That’s because I only gathered most of the key players in my game of chess” Discord smirked. He turned to Tech.

“You might not remember me, but I certainly remember you. I see you like my present” Discord placed his hand on Tech’s chest. When he removed it, he was holding Tech’s necklace.

“What the hell?” Tech’s eyes went wide and his hands shot to his chest.

Gone.

“Give that back. Now” Tech said. He held out his hand, to which Discord promptly popped out his eye and placed it in his hand.

“You need it, right?” he chuckled. Techs’ face went dead straight. Before anyone was aware of what happened, Luna had drawn her sword and now had it against Discords’ throat.

“Choose your next words VERY carefully” Luna growled. Discord chuckled and snapped his fingers. His eye disappeared from Tech’s hand and reappeared back in Discord’s eye socket.

“I wanted to offer my help in your search for the Elements of Despair. One is right here” he held up the amulet, which Tech snatched back.

“What are you talking about…?” Luna sheathed her sword and glared at Discord. Celestia thought for a moment, then her eyes widened and she turned to Tech.

“Heh… Your sister understood” Discord chuckled. He created a small pink cloud, which he gave to Pinkie. She enthusiastically bit into it. Tech raised one eyebrow in concern.

“Tech… can’t be…” Celestia said. Discord just laughed.

“Madness is closer than you think, dear Celestia” he stretched.

“You say something, Tia?” Tech turned his head towards her.

“He’s saying… You’re an Element of Despair…” Celestia looked at Tech, horrified.

“Ding ding ding!!! Welcome to the party, Element of Madness!” Discord started clapping and a banner appeared above Tech’s head. It read.

‘THE ELEMENT OF MADNESS APPEARS! HUZZAH!’

“What… the… fuck…” Tech said glaring at Discord. The banner disappeared.

“Tch, so rude. It’s simple really. You’re the Element of Madness. You can figure out what that means by yourself!” Discord laughed. Before he could disappear, Fluttershy walked up to him and stared at him.

“Or… I could explain it now…” he said, slightly dejected. Everyone chuckled under their breath.

“You’re powers are simple Tech. They’re not inherently evil, like people might imagine from hearing what the user is called. However… the first time it was used was for evil, so some people might assume they are. Your powers allow you to drain the madness out of people if you’re touching them directly. There are some other things you can do like moulding the madness you drain into tendrils or whatever, but that part is up to you to figure out” Discord explained. He sounded kind of reluctant. Tech sat there, taking this all in.

“What…” Tech couldn’t think of anything to say to that. No-one could. Everyone just sat around.

“Don’t worry too much about it. As long as you’re not evil, you don’t have to worry about them turning the Elements of Harmony on you” Discord laughed.

“Unfortunately for me, your powers haven’t started showing yet. They should start showing themselves when the others do. And believe me… You’ll know when they do” Discord said seriously. This is the first time anyone had seen him so serious. He snapped his fingers and disappeared. Everyone was dumbfounded.

“No-one is to pursue anything to do with this power. Tech, we’ll study all we can about it and let you know if we find anything. In the meantime… Just try to live normally, and ignore what Discord said” Celestia broke the silence. Tech nodded, realising it was the best plan of action. The princesses had the Royal Archives. Something must be in there that can help him.

“Nothing else we can do…” Tech sighed. He snapped his fingers and his sister, who was in shock and still chained to the wall, dropped to the ground like a block of cement. Everyone else nodded while Lavender stood up and brushed herself off.

“Twilight, you should take Dash home. I think everyone needs a bit of a rest right now” Lilac stroked her chin.

“Right. C’mon Dash” Twilight supported Dash as they hobbled away. Everyone else said their goodbyes, and went their separate ways. All that were left standing in the square were Tech, Lilac, Lavender, Luna, and Celestia.

“Can we really just leave this alone, Celestia?” Lilac asked seriously. Celestia nodded with a grim expression.

“There’s nothing else we can do at the moment. Once we find something, we’ll contact you immediately” she said. Lilac and Lavender nodded, but something was on Tech’s mind.

“Hold on. He said “the first time it was used”… That means we’re not the first Elements of Despair. This would also mean… They aren’t the first Elements of Harmony… That might be a good place to start” Tech thought out loud. The Princess’ turned to him.

“Now we have a more paths to the truth…” Luna said with a slight grin.

“But how do you know that you’re not the only Element of Despair” Celestia asked. Tech turned to face the sisters.

“You said so yourself: “you girls represent the light, so there must be equal beings of shadow”. It’s a completely equal trade. Plus, Discord did say "when the others do". That should be enough proof” Tech said, his face emotionless.

“There are 5 more elements of Despair” he said plainly. He turned around and started walking back home without waiting for a response.

When Good students go Bad, and Bad students get hurt

Tech opened his eyes, looking at the dark ceiling. He blinked a couple of times, changing his view mode to night vision. He swung his legs out from the bed, but stopped before putting them down. He moved them out a little further before dropping his feet to the ground.

"You really need to stop sleeping there, Kim. I'm gonna step on you one day" He groaned as he stood up and stretched. He heard a small yawn and heard the patter of tiny paws. He looked down to see a small black cat rubbing up against his leg.

"I've been fine these past 8 years" She said smugly, turning back into the red headed woman. She was sitting on the floor in front of Tech. He sighed and stepped around her, opening his wardrobe and pulling out the school uniform which was hanging on a hook.

"Mum's always so efficient with these things" he chuckled, as he laid them out on his bed. A quick glance at the clock told him it was 5:37 am. He snapped his fingers and the ceiling light turned on, flooding the room in a dim light that slowly got brighter. Tech cringed as the light hurt his eyes, which were still in night vision mode. He turned it off and blinked a few times to make sure his eyes adjusted.

"Now's as good a time as any" he said, opening the door next to his bed. His room layout was simple. When you entered, the door was on the up against the right wall, and the room extended to the left. His bed was right in front of the door at the other side of the room, with the bottom pointing left and the bedhead up against the right wall with a window that stretched a little further then the bed. Also against the right wall, but a little closer to the door entering his room, was a desk with 3 computer monitors on it, a few stacks of paper, a coffee cup, and a lot of external hard drives which were piled up and labeled according to what was on them. His wardrobe was in the left wall, it's sliding doors sporting floor to ceiling mirrors. The door next to his bed opened up into an en suite bathroom. He flicked the light switch next to the door and turned on the light. the shower and bath were separate, leaving enough room for a toilet and a large sink and mirror in between them. The bathroom was quite large, as even with those furnishings, there was enough wall space to warrant several paintings and a 50" TV, If the steam wouldn't ruin them. The shower on the right back corner when you entered was easily big enough for three people, but Tech was the only one that used it, if you didn't count Kim. He shut the door and locked it. He took off his boxers and threw them into the hamper next to the door.

"Best part of the morning" Tech grinned, as he walked over to the shower and opened a small panel in the right wall just beside it. On it was a touch screen interface, into which he input the temperature he wanted the water. A display came up showing a small square with black holes. A small circle of those squares in the middle were bright blue, while the rest were a dull grey. He shrugged and tapped the middle twice, causing the blue to cover the entire square. He tapped the middle once more and the screen displayed a large red button, which he pressed. Immediately after, steaming water started to fall from the ceiling in the shower. The shower head was installed in the roof, and Tech made it big enough to cover the entire shower. He stepped in and a glass panel slid into place behind him, sealing the shower except for a few air slots at the top to let the steam escape. As the hot water streamed over his body, Tech sighed and ran his hands through his now wet hair. He looked down at his body. The hot water was making the scars on his body much more noticeable, but none more so then the ones on his shoulders and hips, which were now an angry red. He sighed, and continued to stand under the water for around 10 minutes, washing his hair and his body. He clapped twice, which caused the water to stop running and the glass panel to slide back into the floor, letting him out.

He grabbed a towel from the rack to his left, next to the panel, and started to dry off his entire body. He started with his arms, then his legs, then his torso, and finally his head. He wrapped the towel around his waist, and walked over to the sink. He began to brush his teeth, when Kim called out to him from his room.

"Are we gonna have breakfast before everyone, or are we gonna wait?" She asked in a whiny tone. Tech chuckled at the hungry Chimera.

"Jusht gif me a minute" he said, trying not to spray toothpaste foam everywhere. He heard the soft plodding of feet, before hearing something collapse onto his bed. He laughed, spraying toothpaste foam onto the mirror in front of him.

'Damn it' he thought. He wiped it off with a face cloth that was sitting on the sink, spat out the remaining toothpaste, and rinsed out his mouth. He unlocked the door, and flicked off the light. As he walked back into his room, Kim sat up on his bed.

"Me likey" she purred, causing Tech to laugh. He did a quick pose where he outstretched one arm and flexed the other, causing Kim to fall backwards onto his bed laughing. He walked over to her and pulled his uniform out from under the now underwear-clad woman. He grabbed a pair of boxers from the drawer in his wardrobe and put them on under his towel, before dropping it. He quickly got dressed in the uniform and looked at himself in the mirror. The uniform was quite plain, navy blue pants, a white shirt with the school emblem on the pocket, and Tech had chosen to wear their dark blue Blazer, which was a lighter blue then the pants, but still sported the school emblem on the breast pocket.

"Damn this is a boring uniform. Wonder if i can modify it..." he thought out loud. Kim laughed behind him. A magic circle appeared above his head and began to lower. It quickly passed over his body, and as it did, it changed his uniform. It kept the same colour scheme, since the school would probably get annoyed if he changed it too much, but the cuffs and collar on his blazer now had a gun-metal grey trim, and his pants didn't seem like they had changed. Unseen, however, the pockets had gotten deeper, and the entire uniform had been modified to fit his body perfectly. Tech took the Tie that was still on his bed. After taking a look at it, a frown formed on his face and he shook his head.

"Oh this will not do at all" he sighed at the navy blue tie. He held it upright with one hand, and a magic circle appeared. Like with the rest of his uniform, the circle passed over the tie, changing it. Tech made the tie nearly black, but you could still see it was blue. At the end of the tie was the Roman numeral XIII, with the letter C tilted at a 45 degree angle above it with a line going through the top and bottom of the letter.

"Much better" he smirked as he quickly put his tie on. Kim quickly stood up and barreled out the his door. Tech looked confused and followed her. He heard the Chimera growling at the front door.

"Down girl" he said sternly. He went back up to his room and grabbed his phone of his bedside table. He opened it and hit an app with a security camera for an icon. His screen showed the front of the house, and someone standing at the door. Tech sighed as he closed the app and left his room. He went three doors to his left into his father's study. He opened the top drawer of the large desk in the middle of the room and took out a hand gun. He ejected the clip and saw there was live ammunition in it. He slid it back in and went back downstairs to the front door. He raised the gun with his right hand and steadied his aim with his left.

"Whoever's there, It's rude to come to someone's house this early in the morning. What do you want, and mind you I'm armed if I don't like your answer" Tech said in a commanding voice. He heard a small whimper, to which he looked at Kim, who was just as confused as he was. He opened the door a small amount with his left hand, while still holding the gun with his right. He was caught off guard by the familiar pink hair from yesterday. He closed the door and undid the latch. He slowly opened the door, while not letting go of the gun.

"Fluttershy, right? What are you doing here at 6 in the morning?" he said, cocking his eyebrow. She spoke quietly.

"Uhm... Angel ran off and I followed him here" Fluttershy said almost inaudibly. Before Tech could say something, he heard a voice from behind him.

"You mean this little guy?" The voice caused Tech to spin and stare in disbelief at his pajama-clad mother, holding a small white rabbit.

"Oh! Thank you! Angel, don't ever run away from Mummy again. I was so worried" Fluttershy gasped, shooting past Tech and gently taking hold of the small rabbit, who looked a little angry. When she turned around, she was met with the curious gaze of the man, and immediately hid in her hair, but not before noticing his uniform. She softly said 'good bye' and rocketed out the door.

"Odd..." Tech muttered. His mother tutted at him.

"Are you really one to talk?" she smirked, earning a light shrug from the man. She walked over to him and took the gun out of his hands.

"What have I told you about getting your father's gun?" she said sternly,glaring at the man. Tech stood upright and looked his mother in the eyes.

"I could have gotten one of mine, if you'd have preferred" he said flatly, causing his mother to look off to the side.

"It's tough having a son who can weaponise almost anything" she sighed dramatically, causing Tech to laugh. Lilac walked back upstairs, and Tech went into the kitchen. He made himself and Kim a simple breakfast of waffles and coffee. They took their breakfast and sat down on the couch to watch morning cartoons.

It was at least two hours before the two were joined downstairs by anyone else. They heard slow thuds descending the staircase, and a deep yawn.

"Morning, you two" Fox said after his yawn.

"Morning Fox" Kim said, while Tech just grunted. His father plodded into the kitchen. A few minutes later his mother came down the stairs, dressed in her surgeons smock.

"Morning!" she chirped cheerfully. Kim turned and smiled.

"Morning mum!" she said, while Tech stood up and grabbed both the coffee cups that were on the table in front of him.

"Morning mum" he said. He heard his father mumble something about "Bullshit" from the kitchen, and started to laugh. Kim and Tech followed Lilac into the kitchen and Tech placed the cups in the sink to join the bowls that were already there. His mother started to make coffee for herself and her husband, while he was reading the paper. Usually, he gave Tech the bits he was done with, and today he handed Tech the stocks He started to read through them at lighting speed as Kim sat down.

"Looks like the company's are doing well. The other stocks are doing just as I predicted" he said, folding the paper that his dad gave him. Fox looked up from his paper and grinned.

"Listening to you about this stuff is always the best choice, I find" he chuckled.

"I don't know how you made it in business, honey..." Lilac said, sighing.

"I'm good at negotiating" Fox grinned. Tech smirked.

"He was supposed to fail negotiator school, but he talked his way out of it" Tech said. His father laughed and reached across the table with a closed fist, which Tech hit with his own.

"Tech, for the love of the creator, don't inflate your father's ego. Honey, don't encourage bad jokes" his mother said, turning around and glaring at the both of them. Both men at the table laughed, while Kim read the cartoons. His mother sat down with both the coffees and placed one in front of Fox.

"Are you all ready for today?" she asked Tech who sighed, stood up and went upstairs. He heard the sound of the shower running, before going into his room and grabbing his satchel from next to his desk. He went back downstairs. He walked into the kitchen and placed his bag on the table.

"Everything I need. Laptop, notebook, pen, tablet, rod, phone. I know there's something else in here..." he said, rummaging around the bag. His eyes lit up.

"Ah yeah, I've also got Horace!" he said, pulling out a large hunting knife wrapped in a leather sheath. His mother slammed the table with both her hands, startling both the men and Kim.

"NO!" she shouted. His father stood up and walked past Tech into the hallway.

"Your mother is right! What have I always said!" he yelled. A painting in the hallway slid to the side, and a small indent in the wall opened. A hydraulic stand on two arms extended from the wall, holding a shotgun. His father took the shotgun off the stand.

"If you want to defend yourself, take Sebastian!" he said sternly. Before anyone could say anything, he was hit in the head by a flying frying pan. His mother was growling, so Tech picked up the shotgun and placed it back on the stand, which receded back into the wall. His father crawled back into the kitchen, whimpering.

"No Horace, no Sebastian, no weapons!" she said sternly. Tech spoke up.

"Fine, if something happens, I'll just have to beat them to death and explain why I can punch through concrete. That or I could get Akane" he shrugged, his mother going white as she remembered the last time he used that.

"Oh come on, mum. I'm not gonna get Akane out. That's only for emergencies, such as the house gets raided, we're caught in the middle of a war, or the god damn Apocalypse. Even then, I think it might be overkill" he said, putting Horace back in his bag. His mother sighed, defeated.

"Fine... But Lu's not gonna be happy about your uniform" she sighed at her son, who shrugged.

"I'll deal with Lu, mum. It's fine" Tech smiled, patting her shoulder. They heard a groan at the door. They turned and saw Lavender standing in the doorway, her tie tied wrong. Lilac sighed and fixed her daughters tie.

"You ready for school?" she asked. Lavender shrugged.

"As i'll ever be, I guess" she sighed, her bag hanging off her shoulder. Tech looked over at the clock, which read 8.

"Welp time to get going, I guess" he said, putting on his satchel. Lavender groaned as she Turned around and went to trudge out the door.

"Now remember, your father and I won't be home for the week. Please don't level the house this time" Lilac sighed. Lavender snickered.

"That was one time!" Tech yelled back, causing his Mum and Dad to start laughing in the kitchen. As Tech and Lavender closed the front door behind them, they realised what they were doing.

"I don't even need to go to school..." Tech said, looking at his sister.

"I can just leech off of you..." Lavender said, looking at her brother. They both stood there in silence for a few seconds before bursting out laughing at the ridiculousness of what they just said. Techs' face suddenly went dead straight.

"Seriously though, why the hell am I going to school again?" he said as he started to walk away from the house. Lavender shrugged and followed her brother outside and down the street. They could see the school in the distance; the largest building in the rather small town. It stuck out like a sore thumb in the rustic town. It took the siblings five minutes to walk into the centre of the town, where they saw a whole bunch of teenagers, some older and some younger then them, all wearing the same uniform. Some where getting coffee, and others were just talking. Two students in particular caught the eyes of the two.

"Oh not that ass hat..." Tech sighed. Lavender just dropped her head and pretended not to notice the blonde man and his pompous douche-y voice.

".., And then I said I could buy out his company. Oh ho ho ho" Blueblood laughed to his friend, a young man with jet black hair who also had an air of asshole around him.

"Maybe if we're quiet, he won't notice us" Tech said. His sister nodded and they quickly made their way through the town square and continued on their way to school. The two of them walked in silence until they reached the school, where they were greeted by a familiar face who was waiting for them outside the gate.

"Hello you two" Princess Luna smiled. She took a look at Tech and her smile curved into a frown.

"Really?" she sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Tech just laughed.

"Yes" he grinned. Luna just shook her head.

"Whatever. It's not that noticeable, so I guess I can let you off this time" she said, turning on her heel. She started to walk towards the school building, and the siblings followed. They walked through the halls of students talking, and went up a flight of stairs. After a bit more walking they made it to a door that said "Principal". Luna opened the door and walked in. She sat at the desk and motioned for the two teenagers to sit down. Lavender walked in first, and Tech behind her. He shut the door and took his phone out of his pocket. He placed it on the desk in front of them.

"Just a precaution" he said. He sat back in the chair next to his sister.

"Right. Well, no-one here knows who you two really are or what happened in your pasts. So please just try and relax, make some friends, have some fun" Luna said with a smile. Tech smirked.

"We can only hope" Lavender said, looking at her brother. When he smirked like that, it was one of the few things in the world that scared her. His smirk was just... empty, and his eyes lost all their shine. They became lifeless orbs of metal and circuitry.

"These are your timetables. Tech I was able to get you into her class, so you'll be a bit more comfortable. Lavender, you're in the gifted class. We know you're smart, but this won't be as easy as before. And Tech, please don't do anything like before. It cost more then fifty thousand bits in property damage" Luna sighed, handing both students pieces of paper.They took it, and Tech laughed.

"Please, Lu. I paid for that myself" he said picking up his phone. He tapped the screen a few times and the timetable's information was input on his phone.

"The map on the back will help you get around the school. Please, please don't do anything rash..." Luna said, standing up. The two teenagers stood up as well. Before they made their way to the door, Luna stepped out from behind her desk and pulled both of them into a hug, which they gingerly returned.

"We'll try" Lavender said with a gentle smile.

"I PROMISE NOTHING!" Tech said loudly with determination, earning a sigh from the Princess of the Night.

"Seeing as that's probably the best I'm going to get out of you, you two should be on your way, class is going to start soon" Luna said as she let go of the siblings, who followed suit.

"Off you go, shoo" she said as she ushered them out of her office.

Tech had already memorised the schools' layout and his timetable, so he helped Lavender find her class before slowly walking to his. It took him five minutes to get from the junior section of the building to the senior, but he finally arrived outside his class. He heard chattering, and the sounds of the teacher talking. He rapped his knuckles on the door softly, causing more whispering.

"Ooo he's here" a girl whispered.

"I wonder if he's cute" another one responded.

"Now now, everyone. Calm down. He's new, so I expect a warm welcome" a familiar, comforting female voice quietly calmed the class. The person whom the voice belonged to opened the door and greeted Tech with a large smile, which he involuntarily returned.

"It's been a long time, Cady" he grinned, which caused the princess in front of him to nod.

"You were only up to my hip the last time I saw you, and now you're all grown up" Princess Cadence smiled and patted him on the shoulder, which was now at her eye level. Tech noticed that she hadn't changed her hair at all, as it was still it's a long pink, purple and white ponytail tied back neatly. She blinked, and stared into Techs eyes with her pink ones.

"You kept their original colour, eh?" she whispered, earning a chuckle.

"What would be the point in hiding them if they were suddenly blue, or something?" he smiled, causing Cadence to laugh as she walked back into the room and stood at her desk at the front of the class.

"Alright everyone. This is Tech Shift. He'll be joining us from Canterlot High" She smiled and waved him in, He walked in and took his place next to Cadence. When he did, some of the girls in the class gasped and the guys groaned. He expected something like that. What he did not expect, however, was what came next.

"YOU!" Two girls shouted at once, standing up behind their desks. Tech's eyes went wide as he recognised the purple horn and rainbow hair.

"Twilight? Rainbow Dash?" he said in complete shock. All of a sudden he realised. He realised what Luna had said, and he realised the double meaning. He turned around and slammed his head into the blackboard behind him.

"Idiot!" he said loudly, causing everyone to wonder if he was alright. Cadence softly grasped his shoulder.

"Come on... Introduce yourself" she said, turning the man to face her. She stifled a laugh when she saw that he had chalk dust on his forehead. She started to wipe it away, which caused Tech to back up and scrunch up his face.

"I'm not four years old, Cady" he said, wiping his own forehead. Cadence laughed.

"That's Professor Cadence, or Miss when we're in class" she said, stading tall. She still only came to his shoulder, but she liked to think she was taller. Tech turned to the class, all of whom were watching with interest and amusement.

"As you heard, my name's Tech Shift. I'm 17 and I've come here from Canterlot High. Moved here about a week ago, yes we all know the song, with my parents and my younger sister. That's all I really gotta say about myself" he said, scratching the back of his head. people started to whisper, and gingerly a girl raised her hand.

"Y-yes, my name's R-Roseluck, and I was wonder why you d-decided to move here" the girl asked, brushing her dark pink hair out of her eyes. Without warning, a distant stare made it's way onto Tech's face as he heard explosions and a high pitched 'MY SPLEEN'. After a minute of staring blankly into space, he slowly responded.

"Work" he said quietly, still sporting the vacant expression. Cadence piped up.

"I heard what happened, and it wasn't that bad, Tech" she said, casuing the man to turn around with a look of shock on his face.

"You weren't there, Cadence. The bananas... Oh Creator the bananas..." he whispered just loudly enough for her to hear. Twilight piped up, immediately interested.

"Any details you can give on it?" she asked, leaning forward. Dash spoke up.

"You aren't a reporter, Twi" she laughed, the class laughing with her. Twilight sat down. Another girl raised her hand, this time it was a girl with orange hair.

"My name's Carrot Top. What do you do for work?" she asked with a smile, eliciting a scoff from a girl across from her.

"Why, you wanna stalk him?" she asked snidely, brushing her light blue hair to the side as the gaggle of girls around her started to laugh. Carrot Top went bright red. Tech frowned and pulled out his phone. He tapped it a few times and the empty smirk appeared on his face.

"Sapphire Spray, 18 years old. Weight: 74 kg, height: 5'6. Currently unemployed, but your father works in the Research and Development Division of Silver Steel Corp. Junior Engineer. Born into money, since your mother was a prominent Noble and-" he rattled off, causing the girl to stand bolt upright and with wide lapis-blue eyes.

"STOP! HOW DO YO KNOW ALL THAT?" she screamed loudly, causing everyone to wince, Tech looked into her eyes, unflinching. She took a step back.

"Technology is a scary thing, my dear" he waved his phone slowly at chest height, his smirk unwavering. Angry and scared, Sapphire sat down quietly, causing everyone to start murmuring. Cadence coughed.

"Don't do that again, please. Your seat's at the back, by the window" she said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Tech put his phone away and quickly walked over to the seat. He took his laptop out and opened it. It turned on silently, and as he quickly typed in his password, the keys made no sound.

"Ok... now that introductions are out of the way, we can get back to class. Everyone take out your essays" Cadence said as she stood up and levitated a piece of chalk.

As the bell that signified the beginning of recess rang, Tech stretched his arms back. He loved the fact that there was no-one behind him. He didn't like the fact that the person in front of him was sitting a little too far back in his chair to allow Tech to stretch out his legs, but he made do with pushing his chair back. His back cracked loudly, causing the girl sitting next to him to look over. he muttered a weak 'ow', as he slowly relaxed into a slumped position. Quickly, though, his desk was surrounded by the students in his class.

"Are you smart?"

"Are you good at sports?"

"What kind of things do you like?"

"What music do you listen to?"

Tech was barely keeping up with all the questions that were being asked.

"You're smothering him, slow down!" a male voice called out, causing everyone to stop. they parted, and revealed a young man with brown hair.

"An Earthian" Tech said under his breath. The man walked forward and held out his hand, which Tech took gently.

"I'm Rock, nice to meet you" he smiled formally.

"Likewise" Tech said, putting on his business face. after the two had introduced themselves, Rock spoke up.

"One at a time, Otherwise he won't be able to answer all of you" he said before walking out of the group.

Tech spent 10 minutes answering questions before people were satisfied. Sapphire was quiet through the whole thing, only playing with her phone. Tech got up to go out and get something from a vending machine in the hall. After he got a Kit Kat, he turned around and found himself confronted by a familiar Lavender unicorn, and a rainbow haired pegasus.

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming to this school?" Twilight asked, seeming slightly annoyed.

"It never came up in conversation" he shrugged, unrapping the large chocolate bar, before offering some to the two girls in front of him. They both took a finger, and Tech snapped his own one off before biting into the chocolate covered wafers. The girls slowly nibbled on theirs.

"So, you mentioned something about work, is that where you got the phone you gave me?" Dash asked.

"Yep. How's the phone treating you, Rainbow Dash?" he replied, finishing off his recess.

"Great, man. Just call me Dash" she said with a smile. Twilight coughed.

"So why did you have to move here? I want specifics" she asked, eyeing him up.

"Why? It's not like they'll be of any use to you. Kinda wierd how you wanna know, though" he said, turning his attention to Twilight, who went bright red.

"I-It's nothing like that!" she fretted, waving her hands in front of her face.

"Twilight's the kind of girl who needs to know everything" Dash said with a shrug, causing Twilight to give her the evil eye.

"Well... I promised myself I wouldn't go into too much detail, but what I can tell you is..." he began. Twilight leaned in close, and even Dash looked interested.

"It involved a Rubber Duck, an Inflatable Bouncing Castle, and Weaponised Bananas. Twi, I can tell you're a woman of Science. As a man of science, let me give you some advice" he leaned in and grabbed her by the shoulders. She jolted to attention.

"We're always so concerned with 'could we', that we never stop to think 'should we'" he aid grimly, staring into her lavender eyes.

"I thought multiple times 'There is a line that we should have stopped at, and we've clearly passed it. Let's keep going and see what happens'. I've seen what happens. It's messy" he said in a deathly serious tone. Dash started laughing as if it were a joke.

"This is no joke. Myself and about 40 other people are lucky to be alive" Tech stared at Dash. She took one look at him and saw he was telling the truth. The bell that sounded signalled the end of recess.

The next two sessions passed without any trouble. However, the last session before lunch break was PE Practical. Everyone in the class was changed and waiting. Tech was sitting on the stand in the Gym, waiting for the PE teacher. A young man with dull grey-blue hair walked in.

"Alright,I'm Coach Soarin, and Today well be playing something easy: Basketball. You can play in teams, or just shoot hoops, so long as you aren't sitting on your butts. Balls are in the storage room, so go and have fun" he said with a grin. Tech noticed that there were two other classes joining them, and a junior class on the other side of the gym. He saw his sister chatting with a group of girls. He got up and started to walk towards the storage room, when he heard a voice call out to him. As he turned his attention to the source of the voice, he was hit by a basketball in the chest. He grunted as the ball struck, nearly knocking the wind out of him, but he stayed standing. A girl he recognised form the day before ran up to him.

"Oh dear, are you ok? I told them not to, but they wouldn't listen, and-" she was frantically trying to apologise. Tech raised his hand slightly.

"Fluttershy, right? Don't worry about it, i'm much stronger then I look. Besides, Revenge is sweet" he smiled as he leaned over and rolled the ball towards the Rainbow haired girl who threw it. She was talking to a girl with long blonde hair and a Stetson. Tech recognised her as the apple girl from the day before. before anyone could say anything, Dash took a step and the ball rolled under her foot. There was a loud thud as she fell backwards and hit the ground. Tech started laughing, and so did Fluttershy and the girl who was standing next to her.

"Ya deserved that one, Sugar" the blonde woman chuckled as she helped her friend up. She had a scowl on her face. Fluttershy immediately stopped laughing and turned to Tech.

"That wasn't very nice" she said softly. Tech looked at her with a gentle expression.

"Of course it wasn't. It was revenge. Don't worry, she won't be hurt by something like that" he smiled, as the two girls walked over to him.

"I'll admit, that was pretty good" Dash said, still wearing her scowl. The blonde girl smiled.

"Howdy. How've you been, Tech?" she asked with a grin.

"Not too bad, Applejack. Did your sister and her friends finish the work they were supposed to?" he aske, smiling back.

"All of it and more. Not sure how you did it" she smiled as she patted him on the shoulder. This time he was prepared and braced himself for her immense strength. Dash was still holding the basket ball. They were joined by Twilight and the two other girls Tech remembered meeting yesterday.

"The crew's all here" Tech laughed, causing Pinkie to laugh. He smiled at the girls, who were all wearing light blue shorts and a white t-shirt, much like everyone else in the class. The only difference was all of them had certain marks on their shirts, which he assumed were their Cutie Marks.

"Wanna shoot some hoops?" Dash asked, passing Tech the ball a little gentler this time.

"Sure, Coach will probably bitch at us if we don't" he sighed. He lazily threw the ball at the hoop about 10 meters behind Dash. They heard the sound of the ball hitting net before turning around.

"Did you just..." Dash said as she turned back to Tech.

"Yeah. I used to play basketball as a part of my physical therapy" he shrugged. He began to jog towards to ball.

"Physical Therapy? Were you in some sort of accident?" Rarity asked. He turned around after picking up the ball.

"Rarity, right? There are some secrets in this world that you're better off not knowing. Are you willing to put your life on the line to learn mine?" he spoke slowly, as if to hammer the words in. The unicorn swallowed loudly, and quickly regained her composure.

"I suppose everyone is allowed their secrets, darling" she coughed, eliciting a smile from the young man.

"I appreciate that, thanks" he said. His return to the group was cut short by a loud bang as a basketball hit him in the back of the head, causing him to fall forward and slam into the floor. He rolled over, blood pouring out of his nose.

"Fuck, that hurts..." he hissed, as he sat up and gingerly started to wipe his nose. People started to run towards him, to check if he was ok. He ignored everyone and located whoever threw the ball. It was a tall unicorn with a blue horn, and black hair. The first thing he actually noticed, was the sneering face of Sapphire Spray, right next to him. The smirk appeared on his face again.

"Oh my god, he's bleeding badly!" a girl yelled.

"Move! Move!" Soarin yelled, running through with a paper towel and holding it to Techs' face.

"You ok?" he asked, wiping the blood away gingerly.

"Perfect" Tech chuckled. He raised both his hands to his nose and jerked to the left. the resulting crack made everyone wince as he cracked his nose back into place. He took the paper towel from Soarin and wiped the rest of the blood away. Soarin and Applejack helped him stand up. Luna rushed in to the Gym and teleported over to him.

"Oh Dear, are you alright?" she asked, fretting over the young man. She noticed his smirk and her face drained of all colour.

"No, don't do it..." she said quickly, but it was too late. Tech picked up the ball and faced the man who threw it and the sneering girl.

"Sapphire, right? That your boyfriend? What's your name, dude?" he asked calmly. Luna started shivering, while everyone watched intently.

"I'm Star Shield, and maybe now you'll think twice about doing what you did earlier" the man sneered. Tech grinned.

"That's a hell of an arm you've got there" he said loudly enough for them to hear. He passed the ball into his right hand.

"But mine's better" he growled, he reeled back and threw the ball with all his strength. A loud bang echoed throughout the gym as the ball met it's target. It slammed into Star Shields chest and lifted him off his feet, knocking him back several feet. He landed with a thud, and groaned.

"I wouldn't get up" Tech snarled. Star Shield coughed, and tasted blood.

"And you" he turned to Sapphire, who fell over and looked at Tech with horror.

"Please try to be a little nicer to everyone. And don't get your boyfriend to assault me. That's just rude" he smiled. Everyone was confused. Soarin and Luna had run over to Star Shield, who was now coughing up blood.

"Shit, looks like at least four broken ribs" Soarin said, taking out his phone. He called for an ambulance, as everyone stared at the young man that threw the ball.

"What? I said mine was better" he grinned evilly.

"I will not apologise to anyone" Tech said defiantly, crossing his arms. Luna sighed.

"Look, you know I can make this all disappear" he relaxed and looked at the woman across from him. They were sitting in the library.

"I know, but some day you won't be able to" Luna said, looking up. Tech gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I know, and I'll face it when that day comes" he smiled as he rubbed her shoulder, which caused her to sigh loudly.

"Fine. I'm still going to have to give you detention, though. Just stay here until I come get you" she stood up and pulled out her phone.

"Are you sure you don't need me to call your mother? I'm pretty sure your nose was broken earlier" she asked, as she unlocked her phone.

"It's fine," Tech moved his hand and revealed a seal under it, "It's healing just fine"

"If you insist. I'll come get you in a few hours, just read something until then. No phone or computer" Luna turned around and walked out of the library. Tech stood up and walked over to a shelf. He grabbed a random book off the shelf and sat down. He flicked his wrist and a pair of glasses appeared in a small flash of grey magic. He put them on and began to read. He read uninterrupted for a while, before he noticed someone sit across form him. He looked up and saw the purple haired scholar, accompanied by the blonde haired farmer and rainbow haired athlete.

"Wouldn't have thought you'd be into that kind of stuff" Twilight remarked as she opened the book she was holding. You looked down and re-read the cover of the book you were reading.

"'Mysteries of Ponyville High'. What can I say, it's pretty interesting stuff" he shrugged as he went back to reading. He was soon interrupted again.

"Solid effort, bro. You've succeeded in gaining the attention of all the girls in my class" Lavender sighed as she sat down at the table. he closed the book and smiled at her.

"You say that like it's my fault, when we all saw who started it" Lavender stared into her brothers' eyes as he smiled. She hung her head and stopped talking. Tech opened his book again and kept reading.

"Hmm... Would be nice if a few of these were true. Seven girls with different abilities on top of their normal magic, strength or flight would make this school so much more interesting. Plus, this whole 'school after dark' crap might actually be kinda fun" he sighed, resigning himself to the fact that the chance that these held some merit of truth was practically zero. Lavender looked up at him.

"What 'school after dark' crap?" she asked. Tech shrugged.

"The usual: Hauntings, Murders, Kidnappings, Crazy Teachers, people who failed one too many tests. What I was talking about was the schools underground. Apparently the school has a massive underground, and that's where it's said that Sombra hid his Soul Stone" he explained. Lavender perked up.

"Soul Stone, you say? Aren't they worth, like, billions?" she said, her eyes shining.

"Actually, they're priceless. Not because they're worthless, but even if the entire world banded together and pooled every bit we had, we couldn't afford 1/10th of a Soul Stone" Tech took off his glasses.

"By the creators luxurious, flowing beard" Dash said, her mouth wide open.

"And apparently, the entrance to the underground can only be found by following the shadow of a Lunar Eclipse. But, one of those isn't coming around for another 127 years, 2 months, 15 days, 6 hours, and 34 minutes" Tech sighed, and Lavenders shoulders drooped. Twilight looked at the young man.

"How do you know specifically when the next Lunar Eclipse is going to be?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"How do you not? You know Lu as well" he looked over with a cocked eyebrow. The sound of the door opening caught all their attentions as Luna walked in. She stopped to see that there were more people then when she left, and groaned.

"He was supposed to be serving detention" she said, causing Twilight to go bright red, and Applejack and Rainbow Dash laughed. Lavender got up to pat her back.

"When's the last time anything went the way it was supposed to with him around?" she asked, getting a 'Fair enough' shrug from the Princess.

"Well, since he didn't heed my warning earlier in the day..." Luna began.

"I promised nothing!" Tech interjected loudly.

"I remember, but as I was saying... I spoke to your mother, and she said to tell you that you weren't allowed to go into your workshop for three days" Luna said with a small smile. A look of pure horror washed over Tech's face.

"OH THAT'S BULLSHIT AND YOU KNOW IT!" he screamed, causing the girls around him to back away.

"Tech, you always seem to forget... I'M LOUDER!" Luna shouted in her Royal Canterlot Voice, causing the young man to fall backwards.

"We all know that punishment won't stick! I'll be in my workshop by the end of tonight!" he proclaimed from his lying down position on the floor, raising his arm. Applejack, who remained quiet for most of the time, finally piped up.

"Workshop? What in the hell are you talking about, sugar?" she asked, tilting her head. Tech sat up.

"Maybe one day. Maybe one day..." he smiled at her. Dash pointed at him.

"It's where you built my phone, right?!" she exclaimed, to which Tech shook his head.

"Nope, that was done in a factory. But you could say it's where you phone was... 'created', I suppose" he scratched his chin as he tried to think of the right word. His phone started to ring, playing a familiar song.

"'This is Halloween', huh?" Luna smirked, which Tech returned quickly before answering.

"Yep, this is him... I see... Have you tried upping the price?... No dice... I see... I'll go personally tomorrow afternoon... Yes, I'll be bringing them as well, they're my team... Right, Catch you later" he ended the call with a grim look on his face.

"Creator fucking damn it... Knew it wouldn't work, but a part of me had hoped" he muttered, putting his phone back into his pocket. Luna put a hand on his shoulder.

"Detention's over, Tech, you can head on home. All of you should" she said. Tech nodded and slung his satchel over his shoulder. He took out his phone again as everyone else got up. He tapped a few keys, and held the phone up to his ear.

"Yeah, Lily. Unlock the workshop... No I don't care what mum said, It's my workshop, paid for by me... Seriously, I have to override it myself? That's a pain in the ass, though... Ugh fine, I'll do it when I get home. Oh, and can you send a message to the team telling them to meet me tomorrow at Cold Steel Enterprises main building in Canterlot?... Thanks, see you soon" he hung up and smirked at Luna.

"Told you it wouldn't stick" he poked his tongue out at the Princess who facepalmed.

The five students left the school, and Lavender was chatting with the girls, while Tech was silent. Twilight tapped him on the shoulder.

"You're really thinking hard about something. What's wrong?" she asked, concerned. He smiled.

"Don't worry about it, It's nothing really. Just not getting my hands on something I really needed, you know" he said, going back to thinking.

"You ain't tellin' us the whole truth there, partner" Applejack said sternly. Tech just turned to her and smiled.

"I don't think this is something you need to know. Hypothetically, if I did tell you, I think that once you knew, you wouldn't want to" he said sternly, but with a sweet smile on his face.

"Ah still wanna know. We're friends, so we're worried about you" Applejack said, catching Tech off guard.

"Alright... I was wondering what a Krabby Patty actually tasted like... I mean, I've been watching Spongebob since I was a kid, and I've always seen Krabby Patties... So what to they actually taste like... Normal burgers? Fishy burgers? I don't know, but I want to" He said seriously, causing all four girls to start laughing. When they finally stopped, they saw his face was dead serious, causing them to laugh even harder.

"You still watch Spongebob at your age?" Lavender said, wiping tears out of her eyes.

"Spongebob is the shit, Lavender" he looked at his sister. Dash, who had recovered, slid next to Tech and held her hand out to the side, which Tech promptly high-fived. Everyone started laughing again.

"Where were you all?" a posh voice called out. Everyone looked in the direction of the voice, and saw another three familiar girls.

"Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie!" Twilight smiled. Dash Applejack and Twilight jogged over to them and hugged, while Tech and Lavender just stood there.

"You just up and disappeared, where did you go? Rarity asked when all the hugging stopped.

"There was a book I wanted, so I went to the library to get it. I saw Dash and AJ waiting outside the library, and when I went in, I saw Tech sitting there, reading. And now we're all leaving together" she explained. Everyone turned to Dash and AJ.

"So why were you outside the library?" Pinkie asked with a huge grin.

"Well, Dash and I were walking past and the door was open. She was trying to drag me in cause she didn't want Te-" Applejack began, but Dash shut her up with a quick hand over her mouth.

"I wanted to see if they had the new Daring Doo book, but they didn't. What a shame" she said quickly, trying to move the conversation on. Applejack looked at her with a confused look, while Rarity had a knowing smile on her face.

"Oh darling, It's not a good idea to lie" she whispered to Dash, who went bright red.

"Well, I'm gonna head home now. Commands aren't gonna override themselves. Not this time, anyway" Tech said, as he waved to the girls.

"You're making dinner tonight, bro" Lavender said, as she walked towards the girls.

"I hope you like starving, then" he shrugged, causing her to laugh. He waved goodbye one last time to the girls before walking home, with a grim look on his face.

Author's Note

By the Creators Luxurious Flowing Beard! It's been how long since I've updated this thing?!

I could give you a myriad of reasons as to why it's been so long, but we all know you're not here for those. And by now, they'd all seem like excuses, so I'll just let you 'hopefully' enjoy the story.

I'm hoping that all the problems I've been having are sorted out, so here we go again!