Links to the Past

After the final day of school, Hase decided to buy the Cutie Mark Crusaders some ice cream. He wanted to make sure they're allowed to eat ice cream first, but than he remembered there was no way he could contact the Mane 6 fast enough, since Spike was with them.

' I wish ponies paid more attention to phones. ' he thought, after he decided, that even if they're not allowed to eat ice cream, he'd buy them some.

After the three fillies had already eaten their ice cream, all four wondered what to do next.

" Hmm, ah really can't come up with anythin' . " Applebloom noted.

While wondering what to do, they got to the Carouselle Boutique without noticing it. However, all agreed, that there wouldn't be  able to do something more interesting inside, so they stayed out.

Since Hase was walking in front of the three fillies, while thinking what to do, his hooves eventually took on a path they knew well, and eventually the stallion and the fillies found themselves in front of Hase's laboratory.

Hase was never too good in drawing blueprints, even though it was expected from a scientist. Nopony but him could understand what was drawn on his blueprints. They could read the text and follow the arrow, but the drawn segment never resembled anything like the described part, for everypony but Hase. So when he brought the plan to the builders, somepony thought it for rubbish the next day and threw it away, thinking another plan for Hase's. As a result, the long, one storey building Hase had wished his laboratory to be stored in was never really built. What was built was a two storey traditional Ponyville house.

The inventor had some argument with the builders, but he accepted the building. Now it was equipped with various apendages, like a giant basement Hase had digged with a prototype mine drill. The basement was bigger than the house itself ( it was 3 storeys under the ground, so that it wouldn't weaken the street) and only accessible through " an elevator " , a small metal cabin, attached to cables, moved up and down by a machine, powered with electricity. However, the metal parts were too heavy for the walls, so Hase had to destroy one of the walls and rebuild it, reinforcing the concrete with metal bars. Additionally, a large counterweight structure was built outside of the building to prevent the whole mechanism from falling into the shaft. What once was a normal house now looked like some unfinished large- scale building. The strange antennas on the roof didn't improve its appearance much either. The front door was reinforced with a thick metal frame and secured with an electronic voice- recognition device, which made it look like somepony had torn the door of a bank safe and put it on the wall of his house. The building was anything but normal and good looking.

" I've got an idea! " Sweetie Belle told the other two crusaders.

" Why don't we go in and earn our cutie marks by inventing something? "

The three fillies held their breathes, than jumed in the air and clapped their hooves, yelling:

" Cutie Mark Crusaders invention squad, yay! "

" Ah, nope. " Hase crushed their enthusiasm.

" Why not? " Scootaloo complained.

" I'm sure that neither Applejack nor Rarity would ever let you go inside, and I wouldn't either! There are unstable isotopes inside! Prototype droids! Disintegration tools... " Hase stopped, realising each of those words only made the three fillies more excited. Now they were looking at him with their widest smiles and with shining eyes.

" There isn't actually anything I can do to cause you to give up this idea now, is there? " he smiled.

The cutie mark crusaders shook their heads.

The earth pony stallion sighed and continued:

" Than I guess it would be better if I let you in now, while I am with you, and not wait for you to some day sneak in. "

He stood next to the door, as a robotic sign spoke:

" Welcome to the Ponyville Laboratory. Please, identify yourself through voice recognition to proceed. "

" It's me. " the inventor said, while muzzle to muzzle with a microphone.

" Identity confirmed: Hase, director. Entrance granted. " a voice sounded from the machine again.

Streams of air were released, as the heavy door opened itself. The scientist let the three fillies pass before him and than quickly followed them. The door closed behind him.

" Wooow! " Applebloom looked in one of the flasks, containing a blue liquid.

" Wha's tha' ? " she asked Hase.

" What's what? " he turned his attention to the flask Applebloom was just going to touch. His eyes widened in shock, as he tried to stop the flask from falling down, as it was steadily falling to the floor now.

Luckily, he caught it before it hit the floor. Unluckily though, it broke.

" Did any glass stick in you? " the worried Sweetie Belle asked.

" No. " Hase got back up.

" But I couldn't let it fall down. You see, that is a superelectroconductive liquid. If even one drop falls on the floor and connects the circuit... "

Just as he was saying that, one drop of the blue liquid fell down and connected the big wet mark on the floor with the stallion's already soaked coat. Sparks went through it, up the stallion's hooves, electrocuting him. The stunned earth pony, with his mane sticking out in all directions, fell on the floor.

" Hase! Yah OK? " Applebloom asked, as she poured the glass of water Sweetie had brought over the stallion's face.

The stallion's eyelids lifted, revealing his brown eyes. The confused stallion got up. It took him a few seconds to realise what had happened. He than frowned and took the three fillies to the control room.

The control room was were Hase spent most of the time when not bringing something together. There he was calculating probabilities of success and thinking of possible uses of new inventions. There was a computer on a desk in one of the corners, some chairs, a bench and a sink and that was all. Now he was going to use it as the instruction room.

" You saw what happened back there, right? " he asked, his mane still sticking out in all directions, making the three fillies laugh, since his manecut didn't fit his serious tone. The scientist glared up, noticing his weird manecut. He smiled and tried to return his mane to its normal state - with questionable success.

" Alright, alright! " he replied with a happy voice, when the crusaders stopped laughing.

" Yes, science is funny sometimes... but what if you poured that liquid on some of the power cables and stepped into the puddle? That would have been deadly! " that explanation caused the three fillies to frown.

" But ah thought yah didn't invent deadly things! " Applebloom told him.

" Some things are not usualy deadly, but might turn out hazardous if misused. What would happen if you used a lense to start a fire? The lense isn't usually something dangerous, but it can be.

It's the same with this liquid. It is the best conductor I have ever created. It is so powerful, that it can gather static electricity from the rubber floor and zap a pony quite powerfully, as you saw. If connected to a more powerful electricity source, however, it might be deadly. Usually I use it for electricity conducting purposes in my machines.

If you want to get your cutie marks while here, you'd have to follow some rules. " Hase nodded.

" Believe me, the last thing I want for you is to get hurt. Do you agree to follow the rules? "

" We agree. " Scootaloo nodded.

" Now, hear the three main rules.

Firstly: Don't touch anything, with which you aren't absolutely familliar, without asking me what it is first. Secondly, don't go inside rooms I didn't lead you in. Three... I think we'll go without a third rule. " he smiled.

" Now, if you ever come across a second flask of this superconductive liquid, " the earth pony spoke to them.

" , keep it off your coats. It's stong enough to attract static electricity and zap you, as it did me. Also, don't pour it over machines. It will short- circuit them and make them explode. " the eyes of the three fillies widened as they heard this.

" Explode? " all three of them asked in unison.

" Not always. " this answer caused them to sigh in relief.

" But it is possible! " Hase noted.

" Now, what do you want to start with? "

" How 'bout gadgets? " Applebloom suggested.

The three fillies were waiting in front of the building. Hase said he'd pick out some machines, that he considered safe enough, and come with them to test them outside of Ponyville, preferably somewhere on the edge of the Everfree.

The door opened and revealed the earth pony, carrying what seemed like a pair of strange horseshoes, more like boots, a wheelless scooter and some strange bracelets on his forehooves.

" You ready? " he asked them.

" Yes! " the three of them replied in unison again.

Applebloom got the strange boots, Scoot got the scooter, while Sweetie Belle got one of the bracelets. However, the inventor didn't allow them to test them until they reached the edge of the Everfree. That gave them enough time to study the inventions.

Scootaloo found some strange circles on the bottom side of the wheelless scooter, but nothing special except it. The boots were coated in metal, not allowing Applebloom to see what's inside. The yellow filly wondered why they were only two, but as she asked Hase, he said she'd undertsand when he said her what they do.

The bracelet Sweetie Belle wore surely wasn't ment for fashion purposes. It was thick and a bit heavy, but the unicorn filly couldn't find anything to hint its purpose.

When the four of them reached the edge of the Everfree, Hase took the scooter from Scootaloo and pressed a hidden button she couldn't hope to find without knowing where it was. Large fans unfolded from the circle on the bottom, and as they span, the scooter hovered in the air.

The amazed pegasus filly jumped on it and tried to drive it, but apparently the controls were a bit different from the ones of the ordinary scooter.

" You move by leaning in the direction you want to move in. " Hase noted. Scootaloo leaned forward, and the hoverscooter moved forward. She leaned left and it turned. She smiled and shouted with excitement.

" The hoverscoot will only hover, not fly, but it still feels great. Now take it for a ride around here! " the filly needed no further encouragement. She immediately started doing laps of the lawn with the hovering machine.

" How does Scootaloo get the scooter and ah get some boots? " Applebloom frowned. The scientist noticed that and got the boots from her. After pressing a pair of hidden buttons, placed symmetrically in both boots, he attached them to the red- amned filly's hindhooves.

" Wha're you doin' ? " Applebloom had to sit, since standing up, while her rump was higher than her head wasn't very comfortable.

" Those are the so- called Electrobuck boots. " the stallion presented his invention.

" Not long ago your sister Applejack offered to teach me how to buck apples, so that I could help the next apple season. I have never done anything earth pony - like for my whole life, so I decided I should try. What Applejack got was a basket full of apples. What I got was an ankle almost strained. " the earth pony smiled and scratched his head.

" I seem to lack that trademark earth pony strength. Applejack assured me, that I just need some practice. But her teaching me how to buck properly would mean less time bucking apples at full efectivity, therefore, more work for you and Big Mack, " he turned to Applebloom.

" , and the last thing I want is to make your work harder. So I invented those. They increase a pony's bucking ability to incredible levels. It was ment to help me buck normally, while still teaching. However, I might have overdone it. Try to buck that dry pine. " Hase told Applebloom. The filly raised an eyebrow, stood next to the tree and bucked with all the strength she had. Her buck alone wouldn't have been strong enough. However, a second before her hindhooves hit the tree the pneumatic boots extended their bottom parts with such power, that it broke the tree and threw it a few feet away.

" Yah surely overdid it. " Applebloom noted.

" The problem is, I can't weaken the effect any more. " the inventor replied.

" Any more? " Sweetie Belle wondered what the initial version of this invention was like.

" Yes. The first time it cracked the tree to the root, while the upper part was thrown way further. that's why I only use dry, dead trees for those tests. "

" And what does this do? " while levitating the bracelet with her magic, Sweetie Belle accidentaly pressed the hidden button. The bracelet extended and fired a small dart, that stuck in the tree behind Applebloom.

" It fires different kinds of darts. " Hase replied.

" This is something like an improver version of the utility belt from earlier. That thing was heavy and bulky, and the mechanical claws did meany things I can do without them anyway. This invention is mant for emergency uses. It can fire a normal dart, if you want to distract a tenderwolf, manticore or something else, although it wouldn't hurt them much, an electric dart to stun them or a wired dart, which would allow you to use it as a rope, when you need to pass over a gorge, river or something like that.

As Scootaloo got off her scooter, Hase took the Electrobuck horseshoes from Applebloom, giving her his dart bracelet instead, and surprised them by allowing them to keep the inventions for the rest of the day. The three fillies cheered and all three got on the hoverscooter, which somehow managed to fit them all, and Scootaloo drove towards Ponyville.

The fillies and colts of Ponyville Elementary were playing  hide and seek in front of their school. However, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon constantly ruined the game by calling the pony, who found them, a cheater, and not accepting the others' hiding places for permitted in the game.

That was until the Cutie Mark Crusaders arrived on the hovverscooter and attracted all the attention. While Scootaloo was offering some of the foals to give them a ride, the two bullies approached the crusaders and spoke:

" Well, well, if those aren't nopony's favourite blank flanks, coming here to show off with something, that even isn't theirs! "

"Wah aren't showin' off! " Applebloom protested.

" But you are! " Silver Spoon spoke.

" I wonder why would anypony waste their time with you three! I'm sure my dad would be much more interesting to this inventor than you! "

" Why do you think so? " a new voice spoke. the crusaders turned around and saw, that it was Hase.

" Mr. Inventor! " Diamond Tiara put on her most sweet fake muzzle and sugarcoated her voice.

" My dad has an offer for you! "

" What would that offer be? " the stallion replied.

" He offers you cooperation! He wants you to start a new business of selling your inventions together with him! "

" I am not interested. " Hase turned his back to the annoying pink filly.

" Don't you want to be succesful? " Diamond Tiara asked.

" What does being succesful have in common with your father? " the scientist replied with a calm voice, still with his back to the filly.

" My dad knows everything! He... " Diamond Tiara couldn't finish her thought, since Hase turned around and asked:

" Does your father know what happens when you mix potassium nitrate with sodium chloride? "

" A chemical reaction occurs? " the pink filly guessed.

" No! " Hase cut her off.

" Nothing happens, since the products of the reaction would be sollutable, and it would contradict the laws of reaction between sollutions! " the earth pony noted and got away, turning around the next corner of the street.

" Your friend is a geek and a fool! Business with my dad could only bring success! " Diamond Tiara went back to the crusaders, taking her nice smile off.

" Eitherways, his inventions are too good to be used from blank flanks like you! " the filly, along with Silver Spoon, pushed Scootaloo off the scooter and tried to take the scooter for a ride. Before she could try to steer it in some way, however, a voice spoke:

" Unauthorized access. Activating catapult. "

A pneumatic mechanism pushed the entire upper part of the device up, ssending the two earth ponies flying in the air. They landed in a nearby puddle, while the Cutie Mark Crusaders got back on the scooter and flew away, turning right around the corner. Hase was there, waiting for them.

" Not bad for a geek and a fool. " Hase noted, as Sweetie belle told him what had happened before and after his arrival.

The sun was already setting, so the four ponies went to the laboratory to leave the scooter and the two bracelets, and then went back to the Caroussele Boutique. Hase left the fillies play for two more hours, and then sent them to bed.

As he lied in his own bed, he remembered all of the funny moments and smiled, but than he remembered, that the lords still hadn't given any sign of their absence. They were still there.

' Perhaps it's just paranoya. ' he thought and closed his eyes.