The Underscore Family

Chapters

Family by Zoroark
Don't Need a Dispenser Here by Robin
Don't Knock Till You Try It by Doug_
Rebooted Toaster

Family by Zoroark

It was the evening time. The streets of Canterlot was quiet. and in the backyard of a home, where five small figurines of strange eldritch abominations. They stood about a mere five inches and all bore the look of a radiated victim.

There was rustling in the bushes and a young unicorn filly rush out of the bushes she had a gray coat with a bright brown mane. Her tail swishes in the wind as she ran, levitating a small foam pistol in her telekinetic grip.

"You'll never take Lily alive, zombies!" She shouts and fires at the figurines.

Lily knocks some over before turning around, she gave a fake exaggerated gasp as one of the figurines was behind her. "Oh no you don't!" she exclaimed with excitement.

"Left hind buck!" Lily shouts before she rears her legs and kicks the figurine away, it spirals into the air and soon crashes through a nearby window of a small manor.

Lily’s body froze up. "Uh-oh..." She turned to look at the ruined window.

Suddenly frightened, the little filly heard a shout. "Lily Underscore Pip!" shouted a male voice. "Come here this instant."

Lily Pip gulps, her ears folded back. "Uh oh... Middle name."

Mustering up her courage, she uses her magic to gather her toys and trots towards her home. When she did, she seen a tall green coated earth stallion with a red mane. His cutie mark a glimmering hourglass. Lily Pip knew this stallion as one of her parents, Doug Underscore. He is not her biological parent, more of an adoptive one. Her father works as a horologist, making clocks for a living.

Doug looked at Lily with a face full of disappointment. "Mind telling me why one of your wee toys burst through th’ window?" He asked Lily Pip.

She looked down and refused to speak.

Doug sighs, he trots a bit closer to Lily, "Lily Pip... Ya know being silent will only make matters worse."

Even with the ultimatum, Lily refused to speak, she even didn't made eye contact.

Doug gave an agitated whinny. "Fine, until Viewpoint Robin gets here, ya will not leave your room nor will you be celebrating this year's Nightmare Night." He said, ruling out his punishment.

Lily Pip snorts angrily at Doug before she muttered something quiet to him. Doug looked at her, "Do you mind speaking up?" he asked.

Lily Pip gave Doug an infuriating glare before uttering. "I hate you..."

Doug gave a gasp of shock at what Lily Pip said.

Lily Pip then clenched her eyes and shouted. "I hate you! Why can't you be like Viewpoint, huh?! At least he understands me way better than some earth pony does!"

If Lily Pip would've opened her eyes, she would of noticed Doug's eyes welling up with tears, he steeled himself and sighs, blinking the tears out. "Well... Thank you for the colorful words... I believe I should be off to go hire a carpenter to fix this window..." He began walking off towards the living room.

Doug heard the scurrying hoofsteps of Lily Pip run upstairs to her room. Once he was certain Lily Pip wasn't nearby, he let out a huge sigh.

A voice called out to him, "She's yelling at you again, isn't she?"

The voice caused Doug to jump a bit, he turned to look at a purple unicorn stallion with a black mane, his cutie mark a four pointed star in a circle. Doug ran towards the unicorn.

"Viewpoint!" He then wrapped his hooves around Viewpoint. "I just don't get it... How is it you are doing so well with Lily Pip and yet I'm having trouble." Doug sobbed a bit as Viewpoint hugged him.

"It's okay, Dougie. What if I tell you my secret?"

The question Viewpoint asked made Doug look at him with curiousness.

Viewpoint continued, "If you really want to understand Lily... Just be yourself. You should stop trying to act like a parent and just be her parent."

Doug blinks and then looks at his hooves. "Sometimes Viewpoint... Your point of views always confuses me." Doug then looked at Viewpoint before giving him a peck on the cheek. "But I still love you."

Viewpoint gently rubbed Doug’s chin, "Go talk to Lily Pip." He said and walked into the kitchen.. "Why is the window destroyed?"

Doug smiled and looked at Viewpoint. "Viewy, be a dear and hire a carpenter. I need to talk our Pip." he said and ran up the stairs.

Viewpoint blinks and then looks at the window, seeing the giant fractures on the window.

Behind the closed doors of Lily Pip's room, was the filly herself. She laid in her bed crying, holding a wrench close to her. Her room filled with various gadgets and gimmicks she made in her free time.

"Stupid dad... Does every earth pony father always talk down to their kids..." She sniffles and held her wrench tighter. "At least you don't hate me."

There were some knocks on her door. "Lily Pip?" asked the voice of Doug. "Can I come in?"

Lily Pip let's out a flare of her nostrils and refuses to speak. "Hmph!" she looks away from the door.

On the other side of the door, Doug sat on his haunches. "I... I know you are frustrated at me, dear. I need to stop being rough on you when you make mistakes... It's just…” he paused for a bit. “I want to be a good parent to you..."

Lily Pip closed her eyes and seethed in anger when Doug said that.

Doug continued, "And I was so caught up in trying to be a good parent that I wasn't being 'your' parent..."

Lily Pip's ears flickered and she turned to the door.

Doug then continued. "I just didn't want your memories of me be some 'cranky clockwork maker' or some 'Hotheaded Father'."

Lily Pip listened to Doug and focused her magic on the knob. With a twist, the door opens and Lily could see Doug on the other side of the door. He looked back at her, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

Lily Pip took a deep breath before asking her father. "Dad... Why are you always giving me punishments?"

Doug looks down a bit before back at Lily Pip. "Because you need to take responsibilities of your actions... cause if you don't, there could be a tragedy you won't be able to take back."

Lily Pip looked at Doug and walked towards him. "Dad... Did something happen to you?"

Doug shook his head.. "Not to me, but a fictional character like you.” He pulls Lily closer to him.

“Before I tell you, have you ever noticed you have a name similar to the character Littlepip... You look like her too, except your mane isn’t brown."

Lily Pip nods her head. "I'm aware of that... I do know that she came from Fallout, I was reenacting the scene where she fought mutants while rushing to safety."

Doug smiles for a bit, but then sighs. "I guess I was afraid that you might meet a similar fate like her.” He paused before resuming. “You see, before me and Viewpoint adopted you, I could read my favorite novel 'Fallout' and look at the various fan art, and animations of the great Littlepip. I could watch her blow a mutants to smithereens." he said as he slightly tickled Lily Pip.

Lily giggled and squirmed for a bit, but then Doug stops. His seemingly happy expression faltering.

"But then something happened…” His voice got soft, slightly breaking up. “When a ruffian snagged Littlepip and had her bound and gagged in chains... all of a sudden I didn't see Littlepip... I saw you." A few tears left his face.

Lily Pip looked surprised. Her father truly cared for her. "Father…”

Doug rubbed his eyes. "After I had that, shocking revelation, I couldn't sleep well. I was always afraid of what happened to Littlepip would happen to you…” He paused to take a big sniffle. “I know that this world has yet to succumb to the same dark fate like Fallout's... But I do not want anything to happen to you."

He took another pause. "I don't want my Lily Pip to become Littlepip." Doug then felt a hoof be placed on his nose. He saw Lily giving her nose a boop.

Lily stared deeply at him, giving Doug a happy smile.. "You know what Dad, all I want is to know that you don’t hate me." She leaned onto him. “I thought that the reason why you gave me punishments for misbehaving was because you hate me.”

Doug gave Lily a warm hug. “No. It’s because I was trying to keep you safe like a parent should, but I wasn’t trying to be ‘your parent’.”

Lily cuddled closer. “Dad, you are my parent. Sure we get into tiffs and boo-boos like this, but that is included with the hardship of parenthood.”

Doug smirks and let’s Lily go, he gave her a pat on the head. “I suppose you are right, Lily. I’m sorry for being too rough on you with the punishments.”

Lily lightly hops. “Does that mean I’m not grounded?”

“Oh no.” Doug looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “Ya broke me bloody window. You’re not getting off th’ hook that easily.”

“Darn… What’s with the pirate talk all of the sudden?”

Doug chuckled and hugged Lily. “I love you Lily Pip.”

“And I love you too, father.” she replied.

Don't Need a Dispenser Here by Robin

Clank! Clank! Clank!

The sharp sound of metal hitting metal was heard in the shed. Lily Pip was in there building a tall device. The device stood on three metallic looking table legs, it sort of looked like a cannon. She stops and sets down her wrench, getting a rag to wipe the sweat off her face.

“Well, I suppose that will do…” she gazed at what she had built before looking at her blueprints. “It’s kind of odd looking for a dispenser.” Lily said and then looked back at her ‘dispenser’.

“But it will be worth it when I need to grab a quick snack.” she then opens the lid of the dispenser and began to load a few apples into the machine. Lily closes the lid and steps away.

“Now to see if it works.” she said and levitated a small remote for it. She pressed a button, there was a beep indicating the signal went through, but nothing happened.

“That’s odd…” she pondered and pressed the button again, yet nothing happened. “Is it the apple?”

She heard the shed doors open. Lily turned to and saw her father, Doug.

“Hey Lily.” he said to her. “Robin told me to come get you. It’s lunch time.”

Lily smiled at Doug. “Oh, okay dad. Just let me test this one last time.”

She pressed the button on the remote. The ‘dispenser’ beeps and began moving a bit. A red light focused on Doug and soon the ‘dispenser’ fired an apple at Doug.

Doug gave a grunt as the fruit impacted onto his face. “Oi! Lily what th’ heck?”

“Oh sorry dad.” Lily exclaimed. “It wasn’t supposed to do that.”

The ‘dispenser’ beeps again and fires another apple. Doug saw it coming and sidesteps out of the way.

“Are ya plotting some wicked plan t’ be rid of me!?” he yelled.

“I swear it’s not me! The machine’s gone haywire!”

The ‘dispenser’ fired another apple again. Doug bobbed and weaved out from the machine’s assault. He got close to the ‘dispenser’ and gave it a powerful buck to it.

The machine began emitting sounds. It spun around rapidly from Doug’s kick to it.

Lily looked at her wrecked creation malfunction, her ears folded back as she pondered what her punishment would be…

Doug looked at it as well, he seemed mesmerized by how his daughter built some sort of evil machine.

The machine then stops spinning and spewed oil onto Doug’s face before falling apart.

Lily took this opportunity to hide under her bed.

Doug stood there in shock, his face covered in slick sticky oil. He then quietly snickers before giving a heartily laugh.

Lily peered out of her bed. “D… Dad? You’re not mad?”

“No.” he said calmly. “Well technically I am, but this was just one minor malfunction. I’m not going to get my tail in a knot for a simple mistake.” Doug then carefully grabbed a rag and began to wiped his face clean of the gunky oil.

“I don’t get it.” she said and went to her workbench. “This is a dispenser…” Lily overlooked the blueprints. “What did I do wrong?”

Doug walked over and smiled. “Actually Lily, you got your blueprints mixed up.” he points to the disorganized shelf. “You got the one from your ‘sentry’ cabinet.”

Lily snickers and rubs the back of her head. “S-sorry dad.”

“Let’s just go get lunch, then we can talk about your punishment chores.”

Lily whined, grumbling to herself as she began to pick up the scraps of her destroyed creation. “Maybe it’s my wrench, dang thing is rusting up on the teeth…” she said and tossed her wrench and the scraps into a bin.

After that, Lily ran out the shed and to the kitchen. There she saw Viewpoint Robin using his magic to levitate a knife to chop up bananas, strawberries, lettuce and daffodil.

Robin was wearing a lavish pink apron to prevent any stains from ruining his coat, his tail swished left and right to further express his positive mood.

Doug walked towards the table, his eyes focused on Robin’s swishing tail. “Hey there, my ticking time clock, what are you chopping?”

Robin was focused on chopping the various produce. “Oh, I’m making a Daffodil Fruit Salad.”

Doug’s mouth slightly watered, if there was anything Doug loved during lunch, it was seeing Robin in an apron. Forget the food, his eyes were focused on the backside of his lovely unicorn.

“Ew!” Lily said, disgusted by Doug’s drooling muzzle. “Dad you’re drooling!”

Doug snapped out of his trance, he quickly noticed the trace of spit dripping down his mouth. Quickly wiping his mouth free from the saliva, Doug exclaimed. “Wait, Lily! I can explain!”

“I get it, you’re hungry, I’m hungry, and perhaps Robin’s hungry.” she said, clearly not getting it.

Robin raises an eyebrow. “What has you in a sour mood?” he asked, putting the chopped produce in a bowl before bringing it towards the kitchen table. “Usually you are excited for lunchtime.”

Lily frowns and looks away for a bit, seems as though she doesn’t really want to talk about a mistake she made.

Doug then went to answer for Lily. “One of her creations malfunctioned, I guess she is busy trying to find her talent.”

Robin chuckles. “Don’t feel bad Lily, sometimes you have to make mistakes to advance further in life.”

“I don’t think it is that.” Lily muttered. “I think it is my tools.”

“Your tools?” Robin asked, telekinetically getting salad tongs to dispense the salad onto their plates.

Lily nods. “Yeah, my trusty wrench is rusting up on the teeth. Maybe I need a new one.”

Robin gave a smirk. “You know, it’s never the tools that are the problem.”

“I think it is.” Lily rebuttled. “I need a new wrench…” She gave a small gasp. “Oh! I know what wrench I want!”

Robin shook his head at Lily faulting her tools, he then continued to distribute the salad onto their plates.

Doug looked at Lily, he had a curious look on his face. “Well, tell me what type of wrench you want, I’m sure I can afford it.”

Lily took in a deep breath. “I want a hyperdynamic wrench with port and starboard attachments, coated in the bloody ichor of the Ancient Demon Lord, and then forged in the furnace of the Lost Kingdom!”

Doug was speechless, where in Equestria was he supposed to get THAT. The sheer impossibility his mind could take in was thrown out of the window and eradicated in just seconds.

“Uhm Lily…” Doug stated. “How am I supposed to get that? I mean I am no elements of harmony, and I am pretty sure not even they could get that wrench? A wrench coated in the blood of demon lord would smell like rubbish. Why would you want to build with a foul stinky wrench? And what the hay port and starboard attachments doing on a wrench anyways? They belong on a boat! ”

Robin, on the other hoof, was smiling. He then bursts into a fit of laughter before saying. “I can get you a wrench like that.”

Lily’s expression gleamed with happiness. “You can!”

Doug’s eyes went wide. “Wait, you can actually get that!?”

Robin smirked. “Better yet, I can have you conjure up your very own magical wrench. Just come to my study room once we finish lunch.”

Lily’s happy expression changed from happy to an awestruck smile. “I get to see your study room too!” Not wanting to wait, she proceeded to scarf her food down, taking huge bites of the salad.

Doug looked at her and cleared his throat. “There is no need to eat rapidly.”

Lily realizes and slowly swallows her food. “Sorry dad.” she levitated a napkin and gently wipes it against her mouth.

“I know you are excited for Robin to get you a new wrench, but that is no excuse to misbehave.” Doug continued.

Lily replied with a nod and resumed to eating her food. She knew that after this, Lily would have Robin create her the wrench of her dreams.

After lunch, Lily was restraining herself with immense difficulty from bursting with excitement. She trotted besides Robin, trying to keep up with his pace and not trot ahead.

Robin chuckled and looked down at his eager filly. “Something on your mind?”

Lily looked at Robin, her muzzle scrunched up into a smile. “No.” she said in a high pitched voice.

“Lily. I know you’re excited, you can tell me.” Robin replied.

Lily grins and then began to bounce. “I’m going to see your study room for the first time and get my wrench! Oh I hope you have a forge from Tartarus!”

“You really need to stop reading fantasy history for kids. You know the information in there is colorful on purpose.” Robin pointed out.

“Yeah, but the pictures and the comics are so awesome! It’s like,” she reared up onto her hind legs and hoof punches the air. “Pow, in your face!” Lily yelled.

“That sounds painful.” Robin stated, he stops trotting as he points to the middle of the hallway wall. “Here we are, the door to my study room.”

Lily got a look at, well nothing to be frank. She pouted and looked at her father. “A wall? Robin this isn’t funny…” A scowled plastered onto her face.

Robin focused his magic on the wall and flicked his horn upwards. A section of the wallpaper was flipped up and a door revealed itself. “It’s hidden behind some wallpaper. It was Doug’s idea to give me more privacy.”

“So you mean to tell me this is where you be when I can’t find you in the house?” Lily asked.

Robin nods and opens the door. “Take a look inside what I be studying.”

Lily trots inside and looks around, her eyes were mixed with shock and awe as she gazed upon Robin’s study room.

At the northern part of the room was a pedestal holding a snowglobe, inside the globe was a gathering of magic. There was a billboard littered with notes and had a variety of yarn string colors on it. Most likely to make it easier to cross reference.

She looked towards the west and saw a desk with several libraries around it. Some of these books had a firm layer of dust, indicating that how long they were unread. While towards the east, stood a few storage chests and a fridge.

The center is what caught Lily’s eyes. She seen a big magical sigil drawn out on the ground, this had her on cautious. Lily looked up to Robin’s smiling face, yet could not picture him as a witch.

Clearing her throat, she then spoke. “So Robin… What is it you are going to do?”

“Why magically create you a wrench, of course.” He hums lightly and heads towards one of the chests. “First we would need to pick out a base material.” Suddenly realizing something, he turned to Lily. “Oh and can you close the door?”

Lily shuts the door behind them. When she did, the room became ominously darker. Lily saw glowing eyes of various colors revealed in the shadows, she looked back to Robin. A hint of worry was on her face. “Uhm… Robin? What are those things?”

Robin looks towards Lily, following her gaze to a small collection of glowing eyes. “Oh! Those are Minilings. They are like Changelings except littler, I found out that the little ones make great pets and assistants. They are very harmless unless threatened, that is how Doug lost his moustache.”

“If you say so, Robin…” she muttered, deciding not to pursue the fact there were many glowing eyes looking at her from the darkness.

A miniling pokes it’s head out of the storage chest, Robin looked at it with confusion. “Junpei, no!” Robin taps his hoof against the chest, causing Junpei to fly away. “It’s filthy in there.”

Lily ducked as the miniling flew overhead to join the other colony of minilings, she looked towards Robin, who only gave a soft chuckle.

“Minilings.”

Robin then pulled a plain sapphire from his chest and began to gently charge it with magic. “As you know, I have experience with magic and not many gems can survive being magically enchanted but-” unfortunately his chat was interrupted with a loud bang. The gem he was just charging had skyrockets out of his hand and impacted into one of the minilings.

Lily jumps a bit, the noise putting her in a state of shock, she frantically searched around for the source of the noise. Only spotting Robin’s dusty face. “What was that noise?”

Robin’s face contorted into a curious smirk. “That is the sound of progress, my dear.” he said and then walked to the fridge, his magic enveloped around the handle and he pulls it open. “Hmm…” Robin said and searched inside the contents of the fridge. “Ooh, this gem will do nicely.” Robin focused his magic to levitate a big blue crystal out of the fridge.

“Give me some sugar!” spoke a high pitched two-toned voice from inside the fridge.

Lily looked towards the fridge and seen a miniling royal resting on a small stand, a machine was connected to the stand. Her eyes went wide from seeing this.

“Later.” Robin said and closed the fridge.

“Robin… What was that?” her eyes still wide from what she had saw.

“A Grand Sapphire.” he said, “If you mean the miniling in the fridge, the queen. She likes the fridge.”

Robin began to pulse magic deep into the sapphire, the gem throbbing in the magic. The sapphire began to shine a blinding light. Robin’s lips twisted into a wicked smile as he began to chuckle a bit before laughing.

Lily backs up, looking at the magical phenomenon take place. She could feel the area around her distort. The huge feeling of magic she sensed from him.

“R-robin… Do you know what you are doing?” she asked out of fear.

Robin laughed in response. “Not a single clue!”

This worried Lily as she desperately tried to leave Robin’s study room, yet when she reached for the door, a wisp of magic careened into the door and emitted sparks. Lily gave a yelp, backing away from the door.

The magic then ceased and Robin looked at the result. “Behold… The ‘Llave Maldito’ wrench.” He held a medium sized wrench in his magic, it had a screw-based coach wrench design in which the jaw width was set with a spinning ring fixed under the sliding lower jaw, above the handle. The wrench had a translucent blue hue in it, magic was tracing around the teeth.

Lily looked upon the Llave Maldito, it was everything she wanted. Using her magic to lift it towards her. “Thank you Robin.”

“This wrench will help you craft what you want.” he said calmly, walking over towards her. He suddenly wore a serious expression. “But know this, this new tool will never obey you. Everything it builds will not be under your control and you shall bear this curse until you realize that a true crafts-pony never blames their... ”

He stops in mid sentence when he noticed his study room door had been open and Lily was no longer in front of him. “Hey where’d you go?”

Robin shrugged and left his study room. “Oh well, I hope Lily learns from all this.” He stops and thinks for a bit. “And it would be funny seeing how the results would be… anything to teach Lily not to blame her tools. Probably through in a bonus for ancient artifact lessons, I must say that lightshow was very convincing.”

Realizing he was talking to himself, Robin began to close up his study room.

While Robin was busy closing up his study room, Lily was stampeding her way out her home door and to her shed, she had an excited grin on her face.

“Oh yeah!” she shouted. Her magic held her new wrench in her magical grip. “Just think of the amazing wonders I can do with the lava… Uhh… heck whatever name Robin gave to you.”

She held it up. “Time to build a dispenser!”

“Dispenser.” mimicked a mysterious voice.

Lily’s eyes went wide. She looked around in her shed to find the voice. “Who said that?” her search led her to her new wrench. “Was it you?”

“Dispenser.” the voice was heard again.

Lily could now confirm that the voice came from the wrench Robin had created for her, she watched her new wrench glow with a life on it’s own and floats towards the scrap bin.

“Dispenser.” It said and fired a beam of magic at the bin.

Lily watched the scrap metal slowly levitate out of the bin, molding the metallic bits into what Lily had wanted to build, a snack dispenser. She gave a small grin as her success had fully been accomplished.

Lily trots over to her dispenser. “Time to see if it really works.” she said and sat down in front of it. Lily pressed her hoof onto the machine, hoping it would spit out an apple. She could hear the turning and grinding of the gears and gyros inside the dispenser. With a ‘ka-chink’, Lily waited with wide eyes to receive… a blast of an apple into her face.

The force sent her back a bit as she shook off the apple residue off her face.

“Hey! Okay this is not cool!” she angrily muttered and looked at her animate wrench. “You didn’t build what I wanted!”

“Dispenser!” the wrench spookily said, with a pulse of magic from the wrench, another dispenser appeared. This time the machine had wheels on it.

Lily backed up a bit, her ears folding backwards. “Oh this can’t be good…” she sidesteps a barrage of apples before making a quick escape out the shed door.

“What the hay just happened!” Lily muttered to herself, she tried to make sense on what just happened, but couldn’t due to a crashing noise. Lily seen the Llave Maldito float besides the dispensers it created.

Doug stepped outside to the backyard, his first glance was to the mechanical machine before his eyes, and then Lily. “Nice machine you built, Lily. Think it can dispense me some snacks?”

“Dispenser!” the ghastly wrench said, it illuminated again, causing the dispenser to rumble a bit.

Doug tilted his head in confusion, this strange machination that Lily built did seem odd. His curiosity went towards the glowing wrench. “Is that your new wrench? It looks, spooky.”

A mechanical tentacle sprouts from the dispenser’s back, lashing out towards Doug. His eyes went wide as he saw the metal limb careening towards him. Doug quickly side stepped out of the way.

“Lily! What in the name of the seas have you built?” he yelled out.

He did not notice the metal appendage slowly wriggle to constrict around his neck. Doug gagged as the tentacle lifted him up into the air.Lily watched in horror as her possessed machine strangles her father by the neck.

“Doug!” Lily yells out, watching the machine asphyxiate Doug

He desperately tries to reach for the appendage constricting around his neck, but found it useless. The air being physically heaved out of his lungs.

Lily’s eyes were soon full of tears due to how she had released this monstrosity. “Stop it!” she cries out to the Llave Maldito. “I don’t want this!”

The machine only tightened it’s grip. Doug’s cries of help were muffled out by the constant squeezing on his neck, his struggling slowing down to a halt. The tentacle then tossed Doug away. He impacted into the ground and tumbled into the shed with a loud crash.

Lily screams in horror and ran into the shed, she saw Doug’s body near the scrap bin. Tears dripped from her eyes as she saw her adoptive parent in such a hurt condition.

“What have I done…” she asked herself. Lily wept over Doug’s injured body, she tried her best to withhold her sniffles.

There was a soft rattle coming from the scrap bin, the noise got Lily’s attention to see Junpei. The miniling had Lily’s former wrench in it’s mouth and dropped it near Lily.

“Junpei…” she muttered before looking at the wrench. “But… This wrench won’t work.”

Junpei points to the blueprints, then the wrench and then to the dispenser that was slowly approaching.

Lily thought for a moment before realizing. “Of course… I built this…” She said and held her wrench in her telekinetic grip. “And I can take it down!”

The Dispenser was at the door with the Llave Maldito floating beside it.

Lily stood her ground and looked upon it. “I don’t even know why did I agree to have a wrench like that. It wasn’t the one to make this mistake. I was!” She stamps her hooves and neighs aggressively at the machine.

The dispenser began to make erroneous beeps before spiraling around in a circle and dismantling itself. The Llave Maldito losing the glow and just falling down into the ground, the Llave Maldito soon implodes into magic particles and then vanished.

Her eyes went wide, she could no longer comprehend what just happened. Lily couldn’t make heads or tails of what just took place. However her thoughts were put on hold as she heard Doug cough. Turning her attention to Doug, she watched him stagger up to his hooves.

He had a nasty bruise around his neck, his breathing was rapid to further indicate his recovery from nearly being choked out.

“Doug!” Lily cried out and ran to hug his leg. “I’m so sorry.” she cried into his leg.

Doug returned the hug to Lily. “It’s okay Lily…” he coughs again. “You’re safe now… but that doesn’t mean that you are safe from a severe punishment… Ngh.” he winced a bit, the pain still sharp in his neck.

“I know…” she frowned. “I should of never accepted the wrench from Robin if it was going to do this.”

Doug scowled, remembering that it was basically Robin who enabled this to happened. “Come… Let’s go have a chat with Viewpoint Robin.”

Lily nods and looks at the scrap bin, she didn’t seen Junpei there, he probably left the scrap bin to go in another storage place.

Doug trots slowly with Lily by her side, the two walked through the door of their home where they seen Robin slathering peanut butter on toast.

Robin looked at the two. “Hey Dougie and Lily. Did you seen that killer robot and that haunted wrench. It was a sight to see.”

Doug stamps his hooves. “Dang it Robin! Do you have any common sense in that mind of yours?”

“Yes I do. What’s the problem this time?” he asked.

Doug snorts, flaring his nostrils. “You know dang well what’s the problem ya wicca.”

Lily glared at Robin. “You gave me an evil wrench!”

Robin looked at the two, a grin plastered across his face.

“That bloody wrench could of killed me!” Doug exclaimed. “Do ya realize just how foolish you are for creating something like this!?”

“Actually, the wrench was never cursed. It was all just a light show and honeyed words.” Robin said. “What really happened was that due to Lily’s excitement for building the dispenser. She let herself get over confident in building it, that her excitement manifested into the wrench and the dispenser, causing the two to go haywire.”

Doug’s nostrils flared again, he huffed through them and gritted his teeth.

Lily looked confused at this whole ordeal but still maintained her angriest glare on Robin. “But how is that supposed to ‘teach me a lesson.”

Robin heartily laughs. “Lesson one was to never blame your tools for your mistakes. And lesson two was; ‘If you really were going to obtain an ancient artifact, make sure you know what it does and do not leave at mid sentence of an explanation.’” he then looked back at the two of them, his lips coiled into a sadistic smirk. “But then again, not everyone is willing to look at different viewpoints.”

Lily looked down, and twiddled with her hooves. He was right, she did leave when Robin was explaining the wrench to her and this really could've been avoided if she had been more calm.

Robin patted Lily on the head and then levitated his toast towards his mouth. Before he had a chance to bite down on it, Doug slapped the toast out of Robin’s telekinetic grip.

Robin looked towards his snack that’s now on the floor and then back to Doug. He seen the fire in Doug’s eyes. “Well, someone’s mad.” Robin chuckled.

Doug stood over Robin. “Don’t ya muddle th’ point around with ya fancy hogwash logic.” he spoke in a thick accent. “Tis is no bloody excuse fer ya, no matter the reason!” he huffed through his nostrils and pressed his head against Robin’s. “Ya can ferget aboot sleepin’ in the bedroom ya two-timin’ wicca! This could of been one of ye bloodiest mistakes ever.”

Robin gazed back at Doug moved away from him. Lily trotted besides Doug as the two left Robin alone in the kitchin.

Robin muttered softly to himself. “One of many Doug… One of many.” He said and went to clean the toast off the floor and poof away the mess. He has a whole lot to make it up to Doug. Even though Robin has a fine point, Doug’s words still held a strong impact to Robin like a steel dagger to the heart.

Doug and Lily were back at the shed, gathering up the metal scrap from the terrorizing dispenser. Lily gathered the pieces and placed it inside her scrap bin.

Doug was still peeved, he trotted heavily as he pushed the scrap metal to the bin. His nostrils flared heavily as he thought about Robin’s foolishly decision to make that accursed wrench. He grits his teeth, wanting to punish Robin. A slow sinister grin formed on his face as nasty thoughts began to form in his mind.

Lily pouts and looked at Doug. “Doug? Is everything alright?”

Her voice had soothed away those vile rubbish thoughts of his, snapping back into reality, Doug looked over towards Lily. Her smile really soothing himself.

“Y-yeah. I am…” he paused and looked down. “It’s just that how could Robin be so stupid. And for what, because you couldn’t make a dispenser?”

Lily looks down before looking back at the scrap bin, an idea forming in her mind. “Actually… Robin did teach me something!”

She uses her magic to lift up the scraps, carefully straining to recycle the metal. Placing them on the ground, Lily uses her magic levitation to bring her wrench towards the scrap pile.

“Building a dispenser.” she said and began to carefully start with a small stand. After that, she shaped the metal up, still banging her wrench on it.

Doug watched Lily build a dispenser, he was hoping that this time it wouldn’t attack him again.

Lily lifted up a final piece of metal and attached it to the dispenser, a burst of magic occurred and Lily looks at her finished creation. “Well, that out to do it.”

Doug trots closer to Lily’s dispenser, it was compact. The machine began to rumble a bit, making Doug flinch in the process. With a light ‘cha’chnk’ noise, the Dispenser opens up a compartment. A single red apple in it.

Doug eyes it for a bit and takes it out. “Hey Lily! You made it!”

Lily beamed with happiness, she built her first non malfunctioning safe dispenser. Lily looks behind her, hoping her cutie mark is there… but alas, no mark.

Doug trots towards her. “Don’t worry, it will come.”

Lily shrugged and held Doug close, the two shared a warm hug. “Thanks Doug.”

Doug pats Lily on the head, smiling. “No problem Lily… You best make sure everything in the shed is cleaned up. I’ll have Robin repair the shed, while I give him a stern talking to.”

Don't Knock Till You Try It by Doug_

It was a beautiful day. Celestia's sun shinned, there was barely a cloud in the sky, the music in the radio was relaxing, and the Underscore Family eat their breakfast blissfully. All except one, though. Lily Pip rested her head upon her hoof with a face that could only express boredom as she stared at her food, seemingly uninterested.

"Lily, what is wrong?" asked Doug when he noticed this.

"It's... it's nothing." Lily hesitated. Doug raised an eyebrow at this.

"Lily, I know something is wrong. Just tell me, I am sure it would be fine!" he said to her.

"Well, it's just..."

"Yeah...?"

"It's just..."

"Yes, what?"

"It's..." Lily shut her eyes as she finally got the words out, "It's just that your music is so boring!"

“'Boring'?" Doug exclaimed with a brief laugh, "What's so 'boring' about it?" he asked.

"It's classical music, dad! Classical music is boring!" Lily spat out with a fold of her little hooves.

"Now, I would not say that classical music is ‘boring’, Lily, it is just more… relaxing."

"Dad, it's nothing but a bunch of boring violins!" Lily argued with her hooves spread and raised as a gesture for effect, "Why can't we play some real music?” she grinned towards her father, “Why not pop music, dad?"

"Pop music?! Nonsense! It is nothing but a bunch of those techno sounds and mindlessly repeating the same lyrics over and over! Not to mention the lack of any real meaning in the lyrics, it is nothing but... something we can talk about when you are older."

"Nonsense?!" Lily exclaimed with a slam upon the table, "Dad, this isn't the 800's, this is the 1,000th year!"

"Lily,” Doug paused. “You should not slam the table like that."

"Sorry..." she replied as she shrank under her seat.

"It is okay, Lily Pip." Doug replied with a smile, "Just don't slam the table like that, Robin and I can discuss your punishment chores later."

"Speaking of Robin... where is he?" Lily asked. Doug looked up with a thoughtful expression, making it clear that he did not have an immediate answer.

"I... do not know, Lily. I had not seen him recently..." Doug said aloud as he noticed his room mate's empty chair. He looked about the room for any signs of him, when suddenly he noticed the clock. "Oh, how forgetful of me, I have to get to work! I will find a daycare… about time we do, it seems." he said before he left. Then, the door suddenly opened again. "You are coming with me until I find one, okay? I’m sure there’s one somewhere."

"Yeah, I guess..." she droned before she got up from the table.

"Lily?"

"Yes?"

"Do finish your food, I prefer not to waste."

She rolled her eyes as she turned back around for the table.

Once the two had left the home, there was a small explosive rumble. A small section of the wallpaper opens up, revealing the door to Robin’s Study room. The door slowly opens and he steps out, covering in sparkling soot. “Ack… how embarrassing, I leave my miniling in charge of handling the jewels and they blow up… bad Junpei!” Robin scolded, then looked towards the empty room before him. “Where is everypony…?”

---[({x})]---

The streets of Canterlot, as always, was busy with traffic. They were of high class unicorns, their muzzles held high and their outfits exactly in the latest fashion trend, which was what made a clock-tinkering earthpony and a wrench wielding filly stick out like black sheep. The ponies around them usually try their best to ignore them with a huff, but Doug and Lily never minded it none of the less. It was a rather beautiful city, which slightly justifies the unicorns' pride.

Every building was adorable by it's décor, every shop carefully designed by every detail. "'The Remarkable Flower', 'Trender Hooves'', 'By Day One Way'... how come I only find boutiques that sound like titles of novels?! Seriously, where is a daycare when one needs one...?" Doug slowly asked as he continued to ponder.

"So then I said, 'is that really a dress? Why, I believe it appears to be more of a piece of cloth that survived a hurricane'!" said one of the said high class ponies---a dark purple stallion with a wavy-jelled blond mane and tail, his mane topped with a hat with a orange stripe, and was adorned with a black suit with an orange ascot and yellow sleeve and collar buckles, his cutiemark a yellow six-pointed star with four smaller ones surrounding it---which earned a laugh from his mare-friend.

"Well, if that's a cloth that can survive a natural disaster, then I would want one!" Doug said as he budded into the conversation. The two sighed with recognition and bothersome of the very pony they did recall.

"And what do you want, Underscore?" he asked with a raised eyebrow and unamused green eyes.

"Oh, nothing much Gold Star, just the hurricane-proof cloth and a daycare. I heard you take your children there, right?" Doug asked with a friendly smile.

"Yes, quite so," Gold Star's mare friend replied---an earthpony mare with the same colour coat as her colt-friend's, only a few shades lighter, with a puffy, curly blond mane with three feathers sticking out of the small purple flower pin, two of them yellow and the centre one orange, and a well-groomed, long tail, her neck covered by a white scarf with a rose sticking out, along with a pearly-bead necklace above, and two purple leaf earrings upon her ear, her cutiemark a golden harp---with unamused blue eyes. "All six of them. Or, really, use to with the first three, since they are older now."

"Can you please point the way to one, then, please?" he asked as politely as he could. She gave her love a look, and in a brief moment they nodded. "I suppose. Passed the 'Canterlot Boutique'; on a left turn, you will find Baker Street. There, on the left as the fourth building, is the 'Sunshine Daycare'."

"Thank you, Miss Harp." Doug thanked with a small, polite bow. She rolled her eyes, looked back up with a huff, then the couple walked hoof and hoof together away from the Hearths Warming coloured clockwork lunatic. "Well, that went well." Doug stated with a grin.

"Let's just go, dad..." Lily groaned.

"Allons-y?" he asked in fancy talk.

"Sure."

---[{(x})]---

The door opened with the sound of a bell jingling. “Good morning.” the receptionist mare greeted with a cheery smile.

“It’s 1300,” Doug replied, “And I’m here to drop off my daughter, Lily Pip.”

Lily pronked in place, then giggled happily. The receptionist beamed. “How long would you be dropping her off? A whole day, a few hours, or one?” she asked with a tilted head, her effort to be friendly unfortunately came as a bit scary, making Doug unsure of rather or not he wanted to drop her off.

“The rest of the day, maybe,” Doug answered before he paused as he gently stroked his chin. “I left a note at home for my roommate to receive if he returns home,” he then smiled. “Therefore, he’ll probably pick up Lily before the end of the day.”

“What note?” Lily asked, “We just left the house.”

Doug face hoofed at this. “Of course I didn’t… when I’ll write a note, my roommate should find it.”

The receptionist nodded. “That would still be 15 bits an hour.”

Doug’s eyes snapped open. “Robin’s gonna kill me…” he muttered before he nodded. “You have fun now, Lily Pip.” Doug said with a smile. Lily looked back at the mare’s forced smile.

“... yeah…” Lily replied with unease. One sign-up through paperwork later, Doug was officially ready to open his shop. Lily gulped as he left the doors. “This is gonna be a long day…”

---[({x})]---

It was quiet for a time. Clocks everywhere ticked about, making it impossible to not know exactly what time it was. There were grandfather clocks, wall clocks, hoof watches, pocket watches, cuckoo clocks, alarm clocks, and more clocks than one never even thought existed. Doug would be immune to the old water torture, for he had faced worse. In a way, it made him more tolerant and patient. But, not even he could tolerate it for an eternity, so he always had his relaxing classical music to help. The radio played Luigi’s String Quintet in E Minor, a favorite piece of his.

As stated before, it was a quiet evening, but not until the door opened with the familiar jingle that always made Doug feel excited and joyful. “Ah, hello, welcome to Doug’s Clock Shop, ‘where every clock ticks and shapes in every form’, how can I help you today?” he recited with a smile. Who entered was a mare and her foal, the mare a tan unicorn with a green scarf, and her daughter a dark blue little one with a horn just like her mother. What made Doug surprised by their appearance was a big headphone set the filly wore, her expression clearly zoned out by the bobbing of her head.

“Ah, yes; my clock broke, so I want a new one.” The mare stated as she seemed to have already begun inspecting and analysing every clock.

“Have you by any chance spared your broken clock?” Doug asked.

“No, I threw it away.” she answered.

“Well, that is a bummer, for you could have brought it to me so I could fix it; the price depending on the clock and it's damage. But if it were to be a donation, then you would earn a 25% discount instead; the things I am willing to do to keep a perfectly good clock alive, you know. But, as much as it hurts me, I suppose it is already too late. What kind of clock did you have originally, if I may ask?”

The mare looked around for a brief second before she pointed a hoof at the clock that resembled the most to her own. “That one, I think.” she said.

“Oh, a grandfather clock...! Tragic, those are the best kind, but what’s done is done. Would you like that one,” he said as he gestured to the one she pointed at, “To take it’s place, since it resembles?”

“No, I think I’d like something more… different. I always wanted a new clock, anyway.” the mare answered.

“I understand, nothing like something new to brighten every home. Let me know when you come to a decision.”

The mare nodded, then began her search. She searched around for longer than he thought, inspecting every clock and mumbling ‘too big’, ‘too small’, ‘too noisy’, ‘too quiet’, ‘not the right colour’, ‘no, not that one’, ‘maybe this one’, ‘no, this one looks better’, making time stretch further and further. Doug was a patient stallion, though, and could wait for all of eternity. But that didn't seem to be the case, for the burning curiosity in his mind of what music the filly listened to started to bother him. It made him feel slightly hurt, with the filly preferring the headphones over his music, and made him wonder why that was so.

And so, with energy to get up and move his tired body fueled by curiosity, he walked over to the foal while her mother continued to ponder on the perfect clock. “If I may ask, what music are you listening to?” he asked. The filly continued to bob her head about, quietly humming a particular tune that Doug failed to recognize. He tapped her on the shoulder, which made her look over and up to him with ruby coloured eyes that was slightly covered by a deeper, darker blue messy mane, which made Doug almost cringe with adorableness due to her little lighter blue sweatshirt.

“What do you want?” the filly asked with a bratty look, which made Doug step back a bit.

“Oh, um…” he failed to say anything Equestrian, which made him clear his throat to fix that in order restore his composure. “What music are you listening too?” he asked again as he pointed at her head phones. She popped the bubble gum in her mouth he failed to notice earlier before.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t like it.” she replied with a roll of her eyes.

“I’m sure I would.” Doug replied, which earned a huff.

“Fine!” she groaned as she handed him her headphones. Doug had known that his daughter tends to be a bit sarcastic, but he was certainly glad that she wasn’t as sassy as the sea-coloured foal before him. Doug placed on the headphones, and in came a techno sound. He at first hated it, but then thought he should give it a moment, since it would be awhile before the foal’s mother made up her mind. His head slightly moved as a auto-toned voice spoke of razzling and dazzling, which was mostly the same statement over and over. The beat gave him the irresistible urge to bob his head a bit harder.

Then came a long note of the singer’s voice that sounded more like it was played from a keyboard then an actual voice, and right on the strike note after that, he found himself sway a slight bit in the rhythm. As the mare sang some more lyrics, he found himself stepping around in a slight, waltzy dance. Then suddenly, Doug felt the headphones and music suddenly ripped away.

“I said, give it back!” the blue filly yelled once again after the fifth time, the head phones floated between him and her in a red magic aura, with her horn glowing in the same aura. Doug looked at her with an embarrassed smile and a slight blush.

“Oh… sorry, I suppose I had been carried away…”

“Ya think?” she spat. Doug sighed before he walked back to his desk where he awaited for the foal’s mother to turn in her desired clock. He started to feel the urge to doze as time passed, his classical music like a lullaby to him as he weakly fought the urge to unprofessionally fall asleep on his desk. In what felt like an eternity, the mare finally turned in a wall-clock that was half yellow with Celestia and her sun on the one side, and the other a darker blue with Luna and her moon on it, with roman numerals to make it fancy. “I would like to buy this clock.” the mare stated.

“Oh, ‘The Dusk Till Dawn Wall Clock’, that’s one of my most proud pieces!” Doug beamed with recognition. “That would be 25 bits.”

The mare passed her bits, then tapped her filly’s shoulder as a gesture to leave. Doug sighed with relief as the doors shut, with the snappy little filly gone. The next thing that came to mind upon thinking of the filly was her music that he fell in love with. But wait a second, wasn’t it the exact music Lilly and he argued about, he wondered. His eyes widen at the realization.

“Ah oh...”

---[({x})]---

The doors of the daycare closed as Doug left. Lily sighed, and looked down with an uncomforted look. “Oh boy…” she said aloud to herself.

“Okay, wittle cutey, wutey, putity, come right this way~!” the receptionist said in a forced sing song voice, her big smile creeping the little hairs out of Lily.

“Here we go…”

The receptionist lead her down a hall towards an extremely colourful room with a colorfully painted landscape painted on the walls with a big, smiling sun. The room was stuffed with running, screaming foals, all yelling random things as they all played their silly games, such as chase-each-other-around, get-under-covers-and-scream-when-found, and do-a-bunch-of-stupid-stuff, all also known as ‘tag’, ‘hide-and-seek’, and ‘double-dog daring’. Lily looked in horror at what she was about to endure. With a slight shove, Lily was pushed into the room. She immediately turned to address the receptionist. “Is this the wrong room?”

“Nope” The door closed. Lily gulped, and slowly turned back to what she would have to suffer with for the rest of the day. She stood still for awhile until, suddenly, she was tackled by a colt.

“TAG!!! YOU’RE IT!!!” the raspy colt yelled with giddy excitement.

“I’m not even playing!” Lily spat back, but the colt ran away anyway in hope that she’ll chase him; she rolled her eyes at this. Since this was going to be the rest of the day, she decided to test the waters as she treeded through the room, her monkey wrench held up and ready in case of another attack, and in hope that there would be something in the room she could bare to busy herself with. After a full scan of the room, she managed to find something worthwhile.

There seemed to be a blanket tent, protected by a wall of pillows, and a few pieces of a build-it-yourself plastic playground set pieces used as pillars for its support. She decided to check it out in hope that whatever lies in that room was something better than-- Lily’s thoughts was interrupted when a dodge ball hit her head. ‘Well… that.’ she thought to herself. Without another moment’s delay, she trotted her way to the strange new tent. There were three foals inside, each with a different expression of Lily’s arrival.

“P-please leave… we don’t wanna play…” said a shy little brown coated unicorn filly, her mane long and ginger, and her cutie mark a purple book.

“‘Play’? I don’t wanna play.” Lily objected.

“Of course not.” sarcastically replied a puce coloured earth pony filly with a plainly cut blond mane, her cutie mark a file with three folders inside.

“But you guys let me in when I said that!” said a cream coloured pegasus colt with a spiky electric blue mane, who didn’t yet have a cutie mark.

“Fine,” the puce filly replied, “Come in.”

Lily happily crawled in, almost free of the sound of screaming foals. The cream coloured colt immediately closed the tent the moment she went in.

“What is this place?” Lily asked as she gazed around, but quickly found herself bored due to the lack of detail from having nothing but blue cloth to cover their surroundings.

“The quiet tent.” the puce filly replied.

“It’s the quietest place in the entire room you’ll get!” the cream coloured colt added. Lily nodded.

“Thank you, I seriously needed a place more… well, less loud!” she replied. The three other foals nodded in reply.

“I’m Index Form.” said the puce filly.

“I’m Upside!” said the cream coloured colt with a bright smile.

“I’m… I’m Novelist…” said the ginger one.

“But we call her ‘Bookworm’.” Upside added with a friendly hoof around Novelist.

“You do.” corrected Index Form. Lily giggled at this.

“I’m Lily Pip.”

“Welcome to the club!” said Upside with his hooves spread, “Hope you like it here!”

“We have books.” Index informed Lily, then pushed a few to her with with her nose. Lily smiled at this.

“Hey, why do you have a wrench?” asked Upside.

“For protection.” she proudly answered, then levitated it up for all to see. Upside beamed at this.

“That should help us fight off the taggers!” he exclaimed with an excited gasp.

“‘Taggers’?” Lily inquired.

“Don’t ask.” Index told her.

“Um… alright.” she said with a weirded shrug. So, with that said, she began to read the first thing she found with all the concentration she could muster, trying in vain to ignore the screaming foals around her. But, it seemed a bit more peaceful due to her not being able to see any of them, making it a bit more easy to pretend that they weren’t there. The other foals, including the seemingly loud mouthed colt, were all quiet as well, all quietly reading as well. “That’s funny,” Lily said aloud after a long moment of silence, besides the yelling and screaming in the background, “I think I actually… like this.”

“Reading?” asked Index.

“No, just... quiet, I guess; I dunno.” Lily replied with an unsure shrug.

“It is nice.” Index Form agreed.

“Yeah, some quiet time is nice every once and awhile. I learned that when I first got here!” Upside replied, then gestured to the tent around him.

“Yeah… I guess there is a little too much excitement sometimes…” Lily slowly realized, “Something relaxing, like… like…”

“Classical music?” Index Form suggested.

“Yeah… like classical music…” Lily replied with a smile, but then next came a frown. “Ah oh…”

“W-what?” asked Novelist. Lily opened her mouth to say something before the same colt who tackled Lily earlier entered the tent. Before anything was done about it, he rushed for poor little Novelist and tagged her.

“TAG! YOUR ‘IT’!!!” The colt left as everypony except Lily gasped.

“Oh no…” Index said with terror.

“Novelist, don’t do it!” Upside warned.

“B-but… I’m ‘it’!”

“Who cares!” Upside said as he grabbed Novelist, “He’ll just find another pony to tag, then they’ll chase him! You don’t have to do this!”

“B-but… I must…” Novelist slowly said with a hypnotic, zombie, terrified, tearful look in her eyes. Then suddenly, she got up, and ran out the tent to chase after the energetic, tackling colt. Lily face hoofed in response to this.

“That was a ‘tagger’, wasn’t it?”

“Yep, it was.”

---[({x})]---

“No, no, no, NO!!!” Robin yelled before an explosion of smoke erupted. “Dang it Junpei, I said not to go there!” he scolded. The door to his lab slammed open, then he escaped from the dangerously thick smoke. He coughed as he waved it off with his hoof, then used a Fog-Clearing spell to make all the smoke go away. Junpei walked out with an oblivious, innocent, clearly unaware of the damage it made. “Junpei, I swear to never trust you with anything ever again.” Robin declared to the little miniling. It whimpered under Robin’s scold. Robin coughed before he noticed something on the table. “Oh, look, a note…” he said before he levitated close to his eyes to read.

Dear Robin,

I left Lily Pip in the daycare. Pick her up anytime you want. I wrote down the address behind this note.

All My Best,

- Doug

Robin crumbled the note in his amber magic aura with an angry growl. “Maldición!” Robin sweared. “Doug, don’t you know how much it cost per hour?!” he exclaimed. With a hurry, he ran out of the door towards the address Doug left for him as quick as he could before another expensive hour passed. Once when he made it into Baker Street, he tried his best to calm himself down as much as possible, bringing his best composer before he opened the door.

“Hello.” he said in a very slight dark voice, his angry only showing by a slight bit.

“Hello!” cheerily replied the receptionist.

‘I always hated that smile…’ Robin thought to himself, but chose not to say so aloud. “I’m here to pick up Doug's daughter, Lily Pip.” he said instead.

“Oh, your room mate told me you would be here.” she happily replied. “I’ll go get her right away…” and with that said, she slowly backed away, the smile still there. Robin raised an eyebrow at how scary it looked when she made her way to a dark shadow when she almost turned for the hall way.

“Damn, that’s creepy…”

Meanwhile, Lily Pip suddenly heard her name called the fourth time, with the first three were muted under the sound of screaming foals.

“Oh, gotta go.” Lily said to her comrades.

“Your free.” Index Form said with a slight twinge of envy.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to go to…” Upside empathized, “But at least we get to read… I guess…”

“Hey,” said Lily with a smile, “We can hang sometime, you know.” she suggested. Upside beamed at this.

“Really?!”

“Yeah, sure, maybe we can meet at the park!” Lily proposed.

“Maybe on Thursday?” Index Form suggested.

“Sure, I guess that works.” Lily agreed.

“LILY PIP~!” came the call once again.

“See ya!” she said before she left.

“Lily, come here,” said the receptionist, then whistled a few times and made a few ‘tisk, tisk’ sounds as if she was a puppy, “Come little Pip!”

“Yeah, yeah, coming…” she said in an annoyed tone. One quick trip down the hall later, Lily found Robin. “Oh thank Celestia you’re here!” Lily exclaimed when she saw him. “That daycare was a night--” she stopped, and saw the receptionist smile harder, her eyes staring daggers sharper then the edges of her muzzle. Lily pause, and coward down at the stare with a cringe.

“I know,” Robin whispered to her with a pat on her back, “I know…” they both made to the door, but stopped when the receptionist cleared her throat.

“That would be one hundred and thirty five bits, please.”

Robin’s eyes immediately twisted in anger, but then spun around with a forced polite smile. ‘I’m going to killhim...’

---[({x})]---

“Come on… come on… where is it…?” Doug asked as he twisted the dial through channel after channel on the radio. “Come on… it’s got to be… ah, here it is!” he said in triumph. The techno sounds commenced, and he found himself smiling like a little colt. The lyrics were mindless, none of the sounds came from any wooden instruments, and the singing was completely auto tuned. But as Countess Coloratura began to sing her words, Doug found himself carried away by the beat. He stepped about in the beat as he did before at first, but then it's increase in beat and energy demanded more. He found himself moving with a little more hop to it, as if there were balls in his hooves.

Then, there not only came stepping and slightly prance, but eventually shaking his body about. There was no choreography planned what so ever, just moving his body for the sake of the enjoyment of the Countess. The entire world faded around him, and soon he found himself lost in the energizing melody. And then the bell jingled. His eyes popped open, reality flashed back before him, and in panic he ran for the radio and pulled the plug.

“Ah, h-hello, welcome t' Doge’s Clock Shoe, where every clock tickingling and shapes in ever… e-ever… every form...!” he stammered in an accent, then breathed, then reformed his composer. “How can I help you today?”

Robin snickered at this. “This is why I love you, Doug…”

“What?”

“Nothing!”

“Oh, wait a second, it’s only you guys. Sorry, I was… um… busy.” Doug explained.

“Were you listening to Countess Coloratura…?” Lily asked.

“No!” Doug replied, but then realized something. “Wait… who is Countess Coloratura...?”

Lily face hoofed. Robin looked amused as his horn glowed. Doug looked back, and saw the plug lift to the out lit.

“No, don’t!” he exclaimed, but was too late as the music turned back on. He froze as the music played loudly through the room. “Oh, um… dang it, the foals must of messed with the radio channel again…”

“Doug, you're the only one who touched it!” Robin said with a stomp of his hoof. “You know I have a Truth Detection spell and a Hoofprint Detection spell, I know it was you.”

Doug bit his lip.

“Dad…? Didn’t you say you didn’t like pop…?” Lilly asked. Doug sighed in reply.

“Robin, please turn it off…” he told his roommate, which earned him a nod and sudden silence from the radio. “Okay, okay, I admit it… I… might of tried it long after our argument, Lily…”

“And you liked it?” she asked. Doug hesitated for a long moment, until suddenly the radio boomed back on again.

“OKAY! OKAY! OKAY! I do like it! Just turn it off already!” Doug exclaimed. The radio silenced once again, and Doug fell to the floor in shame. “I… I suppose the classical does make one a bit… tired, and unable to focus… I admit, pop really is… good, I dare say.”

Lily smiled in reply. “Hey, it’s cool. At the daycare, it was really loud there, and, if I had head phones… well… I guess classical would of helped, because it’s… well… relaxing.” Lily admitted. The two shared an awkward silence for a time.

“So…” Doug finally said.

“So…” Lily echoed.

“Want something to… get the mood back up?” he asked, then gestured at the radio.

“Nah, I think I need to relax a little first…” Lily replied. The two of them then beamed once when the same idea both popped into their heads.

“Techno Trance Music!!!” they both exclaimed in perfect unison, then both laughed. Every drop of fear and regret was gone as he laughed… but then it changed the moment he found himself frozen in an amber aura.

“Oh Doug~!” Robin addressed him in sing song with a sly grin, “Guess who had to pay one hundred and thirty five bits, today…?”

Doug gulped. “Faust have mercy…”

Rebooted Toaster

The Underscore Family; Rebooted Toaster

By Zoroark

{~*~}

“One hundred thirty-three, one hundred thirty-four… And one hundred thirty-five.” Doug said with a small hint of glum in his voice as he handed his room mate the money he owes him.

“There,” Robin levitated the bits to a bag and the turned his attention towards Doug. “Now was that so hard?”

Doug frowned. “That was twenty percent of my earnings…”

“Suck it up you clock maker.” Robin rudely remarks as he trots towards the door, but stops. “And by the way, next time you take Lily to the daycare.” He turns towards Doug. “Let me know up front and not by a note, if you’ll excuse me I’ll be just up at the restaurant.”

As Robin left a now glum Doug and a confused Lily behind, Lily went to pat Doug on the back, gently tapping her hoof on his barrel.

“It’s okay dad, I understand you and Robin be fighting sometimes.” Lily stated the obvious.

“Thanks Lily… How’s about we continue with my clock shop?” Doug said, giving Lily an encouraging push with his hoof.

Lily did not need any encouragement, she was always eager to help Doug out ever since he got a booming start on his clock shop, customers in Canterlot came in and browsed the many varieties of clocks Doug had made. Some even came to get their old antique clocks refurbished while some others came in to trade in a clock for a different one.

With Lily handling the customers and Doug handling the clocks, the business stayed at a steady calm pace.

Until near closing time, one customer came in with a strange looking clock in the shape of a bird house, an old pegasus stallion walked up to the counter and placed the clock on the counter.

“S’cuse me young lass…” The pegasus spoke towards Lily.

Lily looked over to the old pony and smiled. “Good day sir, how can I help you?”

“Yes, there seems to be a problem with my clock here, darn thing doesn’t work right when the alarm goes off.” he said.

Lily looked at the clock and was almost confused about it’s overall design. “Uhm…” She stammers a bit and then looks towards Doug, who was busy with several clocks.

She shrugs and looks at the clock again. Lily carefully examined its exterior and noticed that the small doors were jammed “Oh I see what is wrong, the door is jammed.”

“What? Jam? You telling me my clock is a sandwich?” The old pegasus put a hoof to his ear.

“No, it’s just that there is a bit of gunk on the doors,” Lily levitated a screwdriver and carefully pressed the tip between the doors. “Once I pry this open and-”

Lily couldn’t complete the sentence as the doors on the clock swung open, causing a tiny animatronic chicken to rocket out and impact on her horn.

The physical strike on her horn caused Lily to double over in pain, her magic died out and the screwdriver fell to the floor.

Sensing his little angel in trouble, Doug immediately ceased working on the clock and trotted over to Lily. “Lily!” his voice full of concern. “What happened?”

Lily slowly stood up, looking at Doug. “I think something hit me on the horn…”

Doug looked at his daughter’s horn, carefully examining it to see if a bruise has formed. After confirming there was no bruise, he let’s out a sigh of relief and held Lily close. “Don’t scare me like that.”

“A’hem.” the old pegasus cleared his throat. “Is my clock fixed?”

Doug glared at the pegasus, he wanted to express his rage on the old horse but decided it wasn’t the right thing to do. “Listen here… You are going to take your clock and leave… My daughter was hurt trying to fix one of your clocks and I would appreciate it if you were to have a nice day and go.”

The old pegasus shrugged and carried his clock out of Doug’s store, leaving the two alone.

Doug went to the door and flipped the sign to closed. “I don’t think I should let you keep on working here.”

“Doug, it was one small accident.” Lily reassured. “I’ll be fine,” she took a pause and rubbed her head. “despite the burning I feel on my horn and the stinging headache.”

“That’s how it starts Lily.” He trots over to her. He took a pause as he reached for a small first aid kit.

“One small accident, and soon you will be missing an eye!” Doug exclaimed as he began to apply a bandage wrapping around his daughter’s horn.

Lily scowled, looking at him with an unimpressed face. “Really Doug? I’m going to lose an eye from an accident involving clocks…” she clicked her tongue. “Yeah, that’s something I’ve never heard before.”

“Lily, I’m being serious, I don’t want you being my assistant.” Doug then stamps him forehoof. “For now, I just want you to be on the sidelines and I’ll see what I can do about hiring another pony.”

Lily huffs, looking at Doug with an angry face. She then sighs and smiles. “Alright dad… I’ll do this for you.” Lily then trots close to him and gave Doug a hug.

Doug returned the hug, giving Lily a soft pat on the back.

The heartwarming moment was soon interrupted by some knocking on the door, this caused Doug to angrily stomp towards the door and open it.

“I thought I told you to take your bloody junk contraption of a clock and scram!”

“Oh wow, that’s a nice thing to say to me.”

Doug froze in the spot, instead of the old scruffy voice of the pegasus, he heard the voice of Robin.

He looked at Doug with an agitated look in his eyes. “Should I come back at a later time or something?”

Doug quickly shook his head. “No! No.” He exclaimed. “Lily and I were just temporarily closing up shop and about to find an assistant.”

“Uh-huh… I guess that explains the sudden outburst?”

“Well… Lily minorly injured her horn-”

“What?” Robin glared.

Doug backed up and held a hoof out. “It’s nothing serious, she is okay.” He tried to reassure his indignant roommate.

Lily came up beside Doug and Robin. “No need to get your socks in a twist, Robin. It will take more than a horn shot to take me down.”

Robin slightly ruffled her mane. “Alright, let’s head home and call it a day.”

Doug and Lily steps outside of the shop, in which he began to lock up his shop.

Lily hops up on her father’s back. “So, are you going to hire a different assistant?”

“If I have to,” Doug nodded, he then slowly trots alongside Robin. “I will have to make a few fliers and figure out what I am looking for in an assistant.”

Lily kept her balance on Doug’s back. “I am sure you got it, Dad!” he then looks at Robin. “Right Robin?”

Robin nods. “Doug is adamant in the goals he has in mind.” he then looks at Lily. “I am sure he will find one soon, he has all evening to find someone.”

Doug nods in agreement. “Yeah, and I know you two will help in making judgements.”

{~*~}

“So… What makes you think you would be right for the job?” Doug asked.

“Muffins!” exclaimed a grey coated blond maned pegasus.

“Uhh…” Doug stammered before clearing his throat. “Ah here’s a question. What do you know about clocks, Ms. Muffins.”

“I bought a muffin shaped clocked from you before and it’s doing great.” Muffins clapped her hooves in excitement.

Doug looked towards Robin and raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t look at me,” Robin said and then points at Lily. “She invited her.”

“She’s nice.”

Doug sighs and wrote down on his notepad. “Next.”

{~*~}

“So… Tell me, Lightning Dust was it?” Doug said.

Lightning Dust sat in her chair, shades over her eyes and a she was wearing a black jacket decorated with a silver lightning bolt badge on it. “You got that right.”

“What makes you the right candidate for the job?”

“Before I answer that question, I have one for you…” She then pointed to Robin who was trembling and doing his best to hide his face behind a book. “Who is that unicorn stallion… He looks so familiar.”

Robin tensed up a bit and scooched away.

“Oh that’s Robin, though I don’t know what is wrong with him.”

Lightning Dust grined before giving a soft sultry chuckle. “Robin you say?” she grins before getting up from her seat.. “Look, I think I’ll keep in touch. I just want something on the sidelines for when I’m not on duty.”

“But you didn’t get to answer my question.” Doug let’s out a disatisfied whinny.

“See ya, Doug.” She got up and hovered near Robin. “And nice to see you again, Robbie~.”

Robin let’s out a soft squeak and cowered behind his book

Lily looked at the shivering unicorn. “Robin doesn’t look too good.”

“Robin, do you know Lightning Dust?”

“Nope! Next! Call in the next pony!” Robin exclaimed, completely dodging Doug’s question.

{~*~}

Okay, um... 'Vinyl Scratch', tell me about yourself."

A white unicorn with a punk blue mane simply bobbed her head with her headphones.

"Um... ahem, Vinyl? I'm interviewing you, do you mind?"

Vinyl only continued to space out to her music.

"Excuse me!"

Vinyl snapped into attention, sliding her headphones down her neck to make her ears available.

"Good. Now, Vinyl, what makes you want to work in a clock shop?"

Vinyl Scratch shrugged.

"Next."

{~*~}

Doug, Robin and Lily had been busy on trying to find the best assistant for Doug, but to no avail. Doug let’s out a whinny of disappointment, he made no progress and wasn’t too keen on hiring Ms. Muffins or Lightning Dust.

Lily could see how much it meant to Doug on finding somepony else to help him. She trotted towards her father and gently pats his barrel. “Don’t worry Doug, it’s not over yet until the game over text appears.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Doug asked, confused by Lily’s phrase.

“It means you still have a chance to find an assistant, and I bet she will be the most mind blowing pony ever.”

Ding-a-ling!

Lily and Doug’s ears perked up, their attention turned towards the door.

A grey coated, brown mane unicorn mare had trotted inside, she wore a strange gadget on her left hoof, a faint green glow illuminated from its screen. The mare lifts her hoof up to look at the device and nods.

“Hey chucklenuts,” the mare spoke in a hasty Manehattan accent as she looked towards Doug and Lily. “Which one of you two is in charge of this place?”

Doug stared at the mare, he began to rub his eyes. “That can’t be who I think it is…”

Lily let’s out a fan girlish scream and faints back in excitement.

The mare scrunched her face and scoffs. “Ugh can you believe this girl, purples?” She gently tapped Robin.

Robin blinks and raised an eyebrow. “I think I’m going to call it a day… I’m starting to see things…” He then went to trot out through the door.

Doug trots to the mare. “No way, You are Little Pip!”

The mare snickered. “Not necessarily.” She then sat on her haunches and folded her hooves. “ The name’s Stable Toast, I used to play as her for the live action series Fallout: Equestria…” she took a heavy pause and closed her eyes. “But some stuff went down, I threw in some colorful words and decided to split from the studio..”

Doug’s grin got wider, he claps his hooves together as he was eager to hear the voice actor of his favorite character, but he stops as his thought process began to function.

“Wait a second…” Doug then points a hoof at Stable Toast. “How do I know you are Little Pip and not some wonky cosplayer of her.”

Before Stable Toast even got a chance to speak, Doug began to barrage her with questions.

“In the Book of Little Pip, the following chapters one through six focused on her concern for who?”

Stable Toast was going to answer, but Doug whinnied out.

“In the IronshodFireArms she began to loot the place, what gun did she found?”

“It was the-

Stable once again tried to answer the question, but Doug whinnied again.

“I’d say you be a bloody spy or a changeling!” He huffs through his nose. “Chapters ten through twelve are known as the ‘What’ Arc ?”

Stable closed her eyes, a chuckle escaping her lips. “Celestia’s sweaty plot you are just like the studio fanboys at the conventions.”

“Aha! So you do ad- HRK!?” Doug’s words were cut off short when a green aura clasps his lips shut.

Stable Toast scowls and glared at the incompetent stallion. “Good Goddess Celestia, what will it take to get it through your thick skull?” she asked before pushing Doug on the ground. “ I swear by Celestia’s solar-heated libido you barely gave me a damn chance to answer the fucking questions, you headshotted earth pony! I’d rather eat a roadkill skunk and down it with beer than to be bothered by you!”

Stable Toast finished her tantrum. Panting in frustration, She then turns her head and there was a crack noise. “Oh for the love of Luna that felt good.”

Doug looked up from the floor, eyeing Stable Toast with glee.

She looked at Doug and removed the aura from his lips. “Now what?”

Doug shot up quickly, beaming with excitement. “Well, you proved me right. Only one mare I know from Fallout Equestria has that colorful choice of words.” He then looks at her cutie mark, spotting a shiny toaster. “But why isn’t your cutie mark a pip buck?”

“Because I couldn’t get the design artist to change my cutie mark, said it would wash out in the showers.” she sighs. “Anyways, I have experience in the field of mechanics, mainly toasters.”

“Welcome aboard, Stable Toast.” he then shook her hoof. “I am sure you will enjoy your time here.”

“Yeah yeah, sluggah.” she mumbles. “So Greenie, what will I be doing with these…” she motions her hoof. “clocks.”

Doug cleared his throat. “I am a clock tinkerer, I make clocks of various shapes and sizes. I even repair a few here and there.”

“Hey dummy, I was referring about me.” Stable Toast blurted out.

Doug blushed nervously and nods. “Right, right... “ He cleared his throat again. “You will be helping the customers out with any questions they need about clocks… And since you have experience in repairing stuff…” He rubbed the back of his head. “You can give me a hoof in repairing them.

“Alright, no problem here.” Stable trots closer to Doug and raised her hoof up. “We good on the matter?”

Doug looked at the hoof and shook it. “Yes yes, you can start tomorrow.”

“Alright, so it’s cool if I bring my stuff over right?”

“What?”

“Cool, see ya next day boss.” before Stable Toast got up, she looked over to Lily and points at her. “Is she alright?”

Doug trots over to Lily and picks her up, carefully setting his daughter on his back. “She’s fine, just over excited her idol is here.”

Then suddenly realization kicked in and Doug stared indignantly at Stable.

“You realized you just cursed around my daughter, right?” Doug pointed out.

“Well if somepony gave me a chance at answering the questions… I wouldn't lose my fu-” she quickly covered her mouth with her hoof.

“What was that?”

“Nothing…”

Lily slowly woke up from her state of excitement, she turns her attention towards Doug. “Oh dad, you wouldn’t believe it!” she pronks up on to her hooves. “I had a dream that LittlePip had came to you and wanted a job, and-”

“It’s no dream, toots.” Stable Toast pointed out.

Lily looked at Stable Toast, she held an even wider grin. “It really is you.”

“Yeah, yeah. How many times are we going to go through this, sh-” she quickly covers her mouth.

Lily tilted her head from Stable’s odd behavior while Doug eyed her cautiously.

“Uhm…” Stable’s eyes looked left and right, before she cleared her throat and began to ruffle Lily’s mane. “Don’t get too excited, toots.”

Doug spoke up. “Now that all has been settled, I would like to see you first thing in the morning.”

“Yeah yeah…” Stable uttered and left the store.

Lily turned towards Doug and asked. “Why do you think she left the studio?”

Doug shrugged. “I don’t know, I never bothered to ask her.” He then trotted out of his store and began to lock it up.

“What if she left the studio due to it’s fandom?”

“While I will admit it is a valid reason, it’s not a good one.” Doug responded back to Lily. “Because most franchises have those crazy adored fans that tend to exaggerate their loyalty towards it.”

“Like how you barraged Stable with those questions to see if she was the authentic actor and not some ‘wonky cosplayer’.”

Doug froze up in the spot and glared at his daughter. “I would prefer if I wasn’t the example, thank you.”

“Oh come on Doug, you are a perfect candidate. Especially with your weird guttural whinnies.” Lily chuckled.

“Looks like someone wants a-”

Unfortunately, Doug could not complete his sentence as Lily made a guttural whinny for the purpose of cutting Doug off.

Doug huffs through his nostrils. “Lily, I am being-”

Neigh!

“Would you please-”

Neigh!

“Lily!”

Neigh!

Doug sighs as he trotted down to his house, Lily’s incompetent neighing only irritated him more. Although his thoughts were mainly clouded with agitation, he was curious to Stable’s motives upon leaving her previous job. He had difficulty coming up with reasons and thought this is something he could learn another time.

When he opened the door, Robin had been standing in front of the door. “Hey Doug, got a minute?”

“Uh, sure…” He trotted in his home and stood near his roommate. “What’s the problem?”

“It involves Stable Toast, I found something out about her.”

Doug rubbed his chin. “Continue.”

“Wait!” shouted Lily as she got off Doug and sat down. “Okay! Tell us.”

“Well if you were to look in the newspaper, you would find an interesting headline.” Robin said, his horn shined as his magic conjures in front of him and out appeared the newspaper. “Give it a look.”

Doug looks at the levitating article. “‘Rainbow Crash dashes her way into the Wonderbolts…’ I think you got your mares mixed up.”

“Wrong article, it’s the one below that.”

“‘Renown actress tells off Director for reboot decision.’ Well that sounds interesting.” Doug remarked and then continued. “Last week there has been a rumbling disturbance happening in Canterlot Entertainment Studios. Stable Toast has called it quits and left the studio after the director decided to reboot a series. Stable Toast was a prop maker and an actress, with the latter being well known. She played the role of ‘Little Pip’ in the live action series, Fallout: Equestria. Stable Toast was greatly opposed of rebooting the series to make it appeal to the younger demographic. This ‘reboot’ was going to be named; ‘Fallout: Equestria Go!’”

Doug looked at that phrase again… and mutters it. “Fallout: Equestria Go…” He scrunches up his face and shudders. “Even the name sounds awful.”

“I thought the series had a kid friendly version with most of the bad words and filler removed.” Lily said.

Doug turned his attention to Robin, “So why did you bring this to my attention?”

“Doug, I wanted to let you know so that you can deal with those ponies with only left handed arguments.”

“What do you mean?”

“You may receive some aggression towards your store… because a lot of ponies are against Stable’s decision. The studio even banned her from the place and she lost her job as a prop maker too.”

“I see…” Doug nods. “But I am still going to hire her, regardless of the past.”

“Just be careful okay.”

Doug nods and gave Robin a hug, he then went to trot towards the couch to rest on it. Tomorrow will be a new day for him.

{~*~}

Stable Toast had been trotting down to her apartment, she entered in her home and fell on the bed. “I gave up the joy of being an actress, for refusing to join the series reboot and I’m now back at the bottom.” She muttered to no one in particular.

“But now it seems like I’ve done nothing but reboot myself…” Letting out a long sigh, she rolled over to get comfy on her bed. “What fun life that will be…”

She took a long pause, before a smile came to her face. “But then again… I’m glad someone was willing to overlook my decision and give me a chance… Thank you, Doug.”

no capping after three periods, it technically counts as a kind of coma, like a semicolon.

This is a paste tense story, like most are. Keep it that way.