The Underscore Family

 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.”