Of Promises and Loss - Part 2
Google Docs (for much better viewing)
Prog,
Please find attached a copy of my adapted personal records from the past few weeks, for your perusal and archival. I know I don’t need to say this, but please be careful with them. There’s a lot of personal information in here - and a lot of things we’d all rather forget.
In any case, there’s only one thing that happened before the first log here that you (or any reader) should know about: that I moved from Fillydelphia to Ponyville - just a week before the first entry in fact - to get away from everything and to start a new, peaceful life. The first of many things that didn’t quite go to plan.
Regards,
Cobalt
Thursday 5th of April 1001
Today was a good day. The weather team had done a good job making the sky spotless, so the sun shone down on Ponyville, and on the scores of ponies happily enjoying their day. I believe I was reading a book in my front garden when I noticed a teal earth pony mare regarding me rather intently from a distance. Naturally, being somewhat new to Ponyville, I walked up to her to introduce myself. Her look turned somewhat hostile as I approached.
“Yeah? What do you want, wavemane?” I believe she said, however it was at this point that an unfortunate aspect of my physiology, combined with the sun’s scorching heat, took effect. I passed out.
Fortunately I was only unconscious momentarily. The mare was still there when I awoke.
“Uhh...sorry about that...low blood pressure you see...” I apologised, before getting up and dusting myself off.
Her tone was sardonic, “Yeah. Wouldn't want to be the one to clean up the mess if you kicked the bucket on my street.” I wasn’t really sure how to respond to that.
“Uh...yeah, I suppose...well, hi, I guess!” I held out my hoof to her, “Cobalt Spark!”
Rather than the expected enthusiastic shake, she looked down at my hoof, nodded curtly and took a small step back. “What do you do here?” She asked in a neutral tone.
“Ah, I work in Fillydelphia. I'm an arcane engineer at MagiTek - I just saved up enough to afford to commute...what about you then?”
I retracted my hoof reluctantly. I was really trying my best to adhere to social protocol, which seemed to go appreciated by the other ponies in town, but she didn’t want to give me the time of day. A sharp contrast to the usual overt cheeriness of the inhabitants of Ponyville.
“I’m Ink. I’m a...I do work. Came here yesterday.” Her eyes darted around beneath her black mane. Before I could respond, she started walking slowly backwards. It was at that point that I noticed something odd - she had no cutie mark. She was at least 20, and still blank.
“I...I need to go...” she said, before disappearing behind the door of a nearby house.
For me, the whole encounter was jarring to say the least - but I tried not to let it affect me. I trotted down to the town centre to find some mid-morning refreshment. Eventually I found a café with an empty table, bought a slice of cake, and sat down there to eat it. With today’s weather, there were a number of other ponies sitting at a table behind me. Having nothing else to do, I listened in on their conversation.
Two ponies sat on the table: a tall grey unicorn stallion, and a smaller dark blue earth pony mare. They sat drinking wordlessly, until another mare’s voice broke the silence.
“There they are!” Two pegasi trotted towards the group: a grey mare with a striking blue and yellow mane, with a sort of cloud mark, and behind her a much taller stallion, with a dark brown coat and a wave of black hair atop his head, a blue trumpet adorning his flank.
“Yo!” The stallion called as he sat down. The earth pony flinched a little at the sound - fortunately the pegasus mare was there to comfort her.
“Hey, Nightshadow. Everything okay?” She said in a reassuring tone, but Nightshadow still seemed on edge.
“Oh...um...yes...” was all she could say as she sipped her drink.
“The letter sure didn’t make it seem that way...” the pegasus said, smiling.
The stallion chuckled in response, “Nightshadow - why y’always so jumpy?” He had a strong Manehattan accent.
Nightshadow looked nervously around, “Oh...um...force of habit I guess...”
“Y’shake worse then a drummer’s ride cymbal durin’ a swing,” he chuckled again. Of course, I had no clue what his analogy meant.
The scene was interrupted by the arrival of another pegasus - a blue mare, around my height, with a dark blonde mane loosely tied back. She was marked with a strange crooked line.
“Hello everypony!” She said as she approached the group.
Nightshadow almost jumped out of her skin, but the newcomer continued regardless, “Sure is nice seeing some familiar faces.”
“Yo, ‘ave we met?” The Manehattan pony said to her.
“I don’t think we have. Name’s Shatter.”
He and the other pegasus moved to sit either side of Nightshadow.
“Aight, good t’ meet cha’.” The stallion offered his hoof to Shatter, who bumped it with her own in greeting. “Name’s Brass Ballad - BB for short” Shatter then introduced herself to the mare, who identified herself as Prog.
Nightshadow looked nervously at the mare next to her, “So, um...how are you...?”
“What’s the matter, Night?” Prog replied, ignoring her question. Evidently the she saw through Nightshadow’s transparent façade.
“Um...nothing...I met somepony...” she said, smiling softly while staring into her drink.
Prog raised an eyebrow, “Oh? And who is this pony?”
“She is um...new...in Ponyville... Her name is Ink...she is, um....nice...”
Now that certainly got me interested. Both me and Nightshadow had only recently met Ink, but she had behaved very strangely towards me, while being ‘nice’ to her.
This is all very strange.
Prog smiled reassuringly, “Oh? Tell me about her.”
“I don’t, um...know much...just, um...we had tea...and she is kind of loud...”
Or maybe Ink behaved the same way to everypony after all.
“And does she like you? Tell me about her, Nightshadow!” Prog laughed, smiling broadly.
“Oh...um...” Nightshadow moved away a little, “I don’t know...”
The unicorn, who had previously remained silent, addressed the group, “I can leave you two alone, if you want.”
Prog looked up to him, “Oh no. You stay and hang a bit, Wolf. Besides - looks like we have a listener,” she said, looking in my direction. I just managed to resist the urge to bolt then and there, instead going back to my cake and pretending that I hadn’t heard anything.
“Hehe, alright then,” the unicorn replied.
Prog turned back to Nightshadow, “It’s fine, filly. I’m here for ya,” she smiled again.
Nightshadow continued to recount the events of the afternoon to Prog, while Shatter continued to talk with BB about his music.
There was a moment’s pause.
“This pony looks nervous,” Shatter intoned, “far more than most are. More than he should be.” She glanced in my direction, and I couldn’t help flinching.
Prog turned to Wolf, “So, has the listener said anything yet?” I stared down at the table, my ears burning up, knowing the inevitable conclusion to this encounter. “Nope,” I could hear Wolf’s reply.
I briefly looked up, to find Prog looking straight at me. “Do you mind? I can say something if you like.” Her eyes felt like they were boring into my skull, despite her smile.
Well, now there’s no excuse not to speak. “Oh...er...hello...Were you talking to me?”
Maybe some other pony will appear beside me and take up the gauntlet?
“Of course darling. You seemed quite intrigued by the conversation. Why don't you come sit with us?”
No such luck.
Prog smiled softly as I slowly got out of my seat. My limbs felt like lead jelly. I nervously tried to defend my actions; “Oh, well, this is a public place...I'm sure everypony could hear you...If you insist, I guess...” I said, managing to muster a weak smile towards the group.
Prog regarded me as I sat down, “So what’s your name, little colt?” Her use of that particular form of address did nothing to ease my tension.
“It’s Cobalt Spark,” I hesitantly replied, tensing a little as I followed up; “And...who might you all be?” Of course, by now I knew all their names, but I still didn’t want to admit I had been eavesdropping. Plus, it would be terribly impolite not to ask.
Prog smiled softly again, “Name’s Prog. Nice to meet you.” She was really trying hard, but I was still terrified of the lot of them.
Then Shatter spoke up. “Name’s Shatter,” she said, “I hardly know any of these ponies.” For some reason, her demeanour seemed to relax me somewhat. Maybe it was because she was new in town as well.
“Oh...well...nice to meet you too!” I replied, much more enthusiastically than before.
Prog nudged BB out of his daydream, “Yo, name’s Brass Ballad,” he said with a confident smile.
Social protocol took over. “Ah, hello there!” I said, thrusting my hoof out towards him.
He shook it firmly, “Y’don’t recognise me, do ya?”
Oh shit - am I supposed to recognise him? Is he the mayor or something - or even some national celebrity? Please don’t tell me I mortally offended somepony within seconds of meeting them...
“Oh...no, I'm sorry, I only moved in last week...”
Shatter spoke up again, “I'd say you've been here fully longer than me, to be honest.” This time however, her words only caused me to tense up again. She seemed to know everypony and had been here for less time than me.
“What is with these ponies...” he mumbled under his breath, before switching back to a confident smile. “A' play in the jazz combo, Lonely Midnight, y'know, best jazz combo this side of Equestria?”
Nope. Not a clue.
“Yeah...I...don't go out much...work, you see...” I tried to smile. It didn’t work.
“I heard that,” Prog laughed.
“Well y'still got a radio right?”
Shit, he’s right! I am officially screwed.
“Ah...well, I never really know what artist I'm listening to...” At least that wasn’t a lie. It will do.
BB shrugged, “Makes sense a’ guess.”
I was somewhat relieved that he chose not to enquire further.
Shatter turned to me once more, “So what sort of work do you do, Cobalt?”
Is she actually...?
“I work at MagiTek, arcane engineer. I have lots of...projects I like to work on at home.”
“Projects.” Even I got the implied question.
“Well, it's all very involved. I wouldn't want to bore you with the details...” I think I had a slightly sly expression.
“You're looking slightly hopeful that I'll contradict you. I think you would like to bore me with the details.” She read me like a book, which was a little embarrassing, but still, I’m sure my eyes lit up at that moment.
“Well...if you really want...” I replied, being careful not to sound too eager.
“I'm currently working on the P-cubed project, that's 'Passive Pony Power' - we're trying to drive small devices using only ponies’ natural magical aura rather than having to be charged by unicorn magic. It's really the arcane scientists who do the actual research, but they need engineers to actually make it useful in the real world, and to support them in general.”
Is she still interested? Most ponies drifted off by this point...
“Curious.” She replied simply. Was that interest or boredom?
“You said ‘projects’. Is there another one?”
I began to launch into another tirade. “Well...”
Oh...shit! Much as I hated it, I had to change the subject immediately.
“There's...other things....but they're really not interesting at all. Quite boring actually. Paperwork. Lots of that, as we all know...” I did feel slightly sad that I couldn’t tell her anything.
“I know all about paperwork, believe me,” Shatter laughed. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that.
“Oh...I see....then you'll know that it's very boring and certainly not worth discussion here...” I prayed (metaphorically) that she wouldn’t inquire further.
“Say, where did everypony go?” I looked quickly around. I hadn’t noticed that two ponies had already left.
Maybe I’ve bored them too much already.
“Prog an’ Nightshadow went t’the spa,” BB answered.
“Hm. The spa. I've never had good experiences with spas.” Shatter had a plain-spoken, but inquisitive manner. I rather liked it.
“Me neither,” BB chuckled, “Place is full ‘a stiffs.” He said as he took a sip from some alcoholic drink in his hoof.
“Well, of course they are!” Shatter replied jovially.
Wait...am I a stiff? Of course not. I don’t go to spas.
“Heh...I never feel comfortable having other ponies around me like that...” I said softly.
Shatter smiled, “Why would you pay for a massage unless you were quite, quite stiff?”
I had no idea what she meant.
“Yeah, you get it,” BB chuckled. Unfortunately, I did not.
Suddenly, I had a moment of clarity. (1)
“Oh! Haha! I see!” Around ten seconds too late. I felt rather sheepish.
“Place is full 'a people who'r too caught up doin' what they hate fr' stuff they don' need. It’s stupid.”
Well then, I’m certainly not a stiff! I love my job!
Shatter looked thoughtful, “Last time I tried going to the spa...Well, let’s just say that it ended really poorly.” She leaned back, “they had to close for at least a few days to clean up and get their PR back on track.”
BB interrupted my intense curiosity. “Aight, it was good meetin' y'all, but a' gotta go.” He stood up to leave.
“Okay, see you!” Shatter called out as BB flew away.
“Oh! Goodbye!” I meekly attempted to copy Shatter, then sank back into my seat.
Now it was just me and Shatter sitting at the table.
“So, Cobalt.” I looked up to face her. “Are you okay?”
“Okay? Oh, I'm fine! Brilliant! Couldn't be better!” I smiled broadly, but I don’t think she believed me. She looked at me curiously.
“Come on! I’m hungry!” Shatter leapt out of her seat and into the restaurant proper.
“Oh, okay!” Not knowing what else to do, I followed her like a lost dog.
She walked up to the counter. “Hello. I would like some food. Surprise me.”
Surprise me?! Who in their right mind doesn’t want to know what food they’ll be eating and paying for?(2)
“Oh, don't surprise me, please,” I affirmed, “I'll have grass and bread...not on the bread, by the side. And no sauce. Thank you.”
Nothing wrong with that. A nice, simple meal.
For some reason, Shatter decided to pay for both our meals. I guess I felt a little guilty, knowing that I have more money than I know what to do with, but the gesture still meant a lot to me.
“Oh, thank you!” I said as we both walked back to our table with the food.
“No problem.”
Shatter had been given a curry sandwich. She took a large bite of it, before panting a little while she ate.
“You know, this is really spicy,” she said with a full mouth.
This is why I never say ‘surprise me’. “It looks it...”
I levitated a pinch of grass and a chunk of bread, eating them together.
She suddenly got up, mid mouthful.
“Where are you going?” She ignored my question, moving quickly to the counter, but retaining a calm manner.
“Could I have some water please?” Even I could tell she was in pain.
I called out to her, “Milk will soothe your mouth more than water,”
“Milk then,” she said. I smiled, knowing that I’d helped her, even in this small capacity.
I could hear the cashier talking loudly, “Milk? Those poor, poor cows. How barbaric!”
Shatter returned shortly with a glass of milk balanced on her head.
“These vegans...” She took a sip from the glass.
“So, they think it’s barbaric, yet they stock it anyway...?” Yet another aspect of society to confuse and frighten me.
Shatter seemed to be happy enough though. “I haven't had this stuff in years!” She said, smiling. “I can't really drink too much though...Anyway, how is your bread?”
“Oh, it's excellent, thank you! Most of the cafes here put a load of...other things in it...I really just like the bread and grass,” I replied. Never were truer words spoken.
To my (pleasant) surprise, she nodded. “A stallion of simplicity, eh?” She said as she took the last bite of her sandwich.
Wait...no sidelong glances? No incessant questioning?
“Well...you could say that...” I smiled nervously, “Most people just think I’m strange.” Never were truer words spoken...
I had finished my meal by this point, and much as I hated to, I needed to get back home.
“Well, thank you very much...I...enjoyed spending time with you,” I said, standing up.
“I hope to see you around,” Shatter replied. She remained seated, looking contemplative.
I guess it was then that the full reality of the situation hit me. A mare has just bought me lunch. A mare who seemed to enjoy my conversation, and didn’t appear to mind my...quirks.
She...isn’t unattractive either.
But what if...no. I think I’ll see how this pans out.
I couldn’t help looking back over my shoulder as I walked slowly home.
(1) It’s a pun. Two meanings of the word ‘stiff’; the way BB uses it (which I still don’t fully understand) and...something else.
(2) In case anypony was curious, I later learned that this was due to an obscure delight in taking unnecessary risks.
Of Promises and Loss - Part 2
Google docs - proper footnotes
Friday 6th April 1001
I managed to spend the entire morning working on circuitry at home. I got a fair bit of design work done before I hit a minor snag, which quickly became a major snag.
Do you know what it feels like to design a 500+ component layout, then to find that the power rails are shorted together? You have to go through every single trace multiple times until you find the short, and every test where you get it wrong, all you get is a loud bang and a destroyed board.
Needless to say, I wasn’t feeling too impressed with myself.
I threw a board on the ground in disgust, something I quickly regretted, knowing that it was my last one. Fortunately it wasn’t damaged.
Relax, I just need to calm down. I walked outside, greeted by the afternoon breeze, and rested my hooves atop a low wall. Normally in this situation I would talk to Bill, or somepony else in MagiTek, but of course I was in Ponyville. Alone.
When you explain your problem to somepony else, the solution often comes naturally. They didn’t have to be especially knowledgeable, just mildly interested...
I set off to find Shatter’s house. I didn’t need to look for too long - I saw her flying upwards soon after I left.
I called out to her while she was still in earshot, “Er...Shatter! Hello!”
She quickly turned around and flew back towards me. I could immediately tell she was mildly intoxicated - her movements seemed fairly sluggish.
“Hi there Cobalt. What’s up?” Strangely though, her speech was perfectly clear, as if she hadn’t drunk a drop.
Suddenly my mind went blank. What am I supposed to say now?
“Oh...well...nothing much, now that I come to think about it...I guess I just needed to talk to somepony else for a while...”
Oh Goddesses, what are you doing Cobalt?
“Oh?” Good...now, um, circuitry! Circuitry and small talk, yes!
“I'm trying to get some regulation circuitry to work, but the damned thing is shorted somewhere...I know from experience that it's better to take a step back...but anyway! How are you doing?” I tried to sound cheerful. I think I pulled it off this time!
“I’m doing okay, I guess,” she replied, “Can't even write the shittiest of shitty poems today, though.”
Here we go! Cobalt to the rescue with unconditional praise and constructive criticism!
“Oh, I'm sure they can't be that bad! ...Mind if I take a look?” I couldn’t hide the hopeful tone in my voice.
“Of course I mind!”
Wait, what? Who says that? Nopony says that they do mind!
“Oh...of course...” I just about managed a feeble smile.
She must be really self conscious about her poetry...
“In any case, I was just about to go see Manehattan for the first time in a few years,” she said, smiling cheerfully, “Want to come along?”
I felt a lot happier all of a sudden. I beamed at Shatter, “Oh! Really?”
“Yep!” She replied, smiling back.
“Well, I guess I’ll just teleport there...” I began to gather my will, before Shatter interrupted me.
“Can you teleport me, too? I'm feeling lazy today. Plus it can be a bitch to find somepony in a city that big.”
I smiled, “Of course!” I had trained in long-range teleportation, so I’m fairly accurate.
“One moment...If you could stand still for a while...” It’s much harder to teleport moving targets.
I focused my energy, willing myself and Shatter to the centre of Manehattan, somewhere I had been once as a colt, so I could remember enough of the location for the spell to be successful.
Unfortunately, I didn’t quite visualise the height correctly. We ended up materialising about 20 hooves up from the ground.
Shatter swept down, catching me, wide eyed, in her hooves.
“Oh, thank you!” I said as she deposited me on the ground, “My apologies...my teleportation's a little rusty it seems...”
“Don't worry about it, it's better to be too high than in the ground,” She began to stumble, but I held on to steady her.
“So, here we are!” Shatter exclaimed.
“Yes!” I replied with similar enthusiasm. “...So...where are we going now?” A little more hesitant this time.
“I used to go to the park with my friends when I was a lot younger,” Shatter explained, “I think it's this way...” She started walking down the long street.
“You'll never believe what I found in my house!” Shatter said as we walked towards the park.
“Oh?”
“There's big red button on one of my walls. And when you press it, the floor kind of...I dunno, segments?”
That was something I certainly didn’t expect to hear! I felt rather curious already.
“It breaks up into pieces,” she continued, “Each piece goes downward, and it forms a stairwell down.” She turned to face me, excitement in her eyes, “I have no idea what's down there!”
“Remarkable!” I said, wide eyed.
“I don't even know what happens if you press the button again. Kind of scared to find out, too.”
Well, I certainly couldn’t let this one slip by! “I don't suppose, when you go to check it out, I could come along? I mean, I am very curious about this whole affair...”
“Oh sure,” Shatter replied nonchalantly. I couldn’t hold back a broad smile.
We passed a small tavern, interestingly named “The Mount and Musket”. I could hear the conversation from inside quite clearly.
“Aye, who wants to be the designated ice-getter-pony??” I stopped sharply when I heard the noise.
“Hmm!” Shatter raised her eyebrows, “There seems to be a commotion.”
You don’t say...
“Indeed, they seem quite the rowdy bunch,” I replied.
Shatter regarded the sign, “Catchy name,” she said, nodding towards it.
More drunken laughter from inside the tavern, “Might have to geet it mahseelf!”
“I'm not feeling too comfortable right here...maybe we should move on...” I really don’t like being around drunk ponies. Especially in large groups...Celestia knows what they’re about to do next, really.
“Yeah, let's keep going,” Shatter agreed.
As we trotted away, I heard a final crash and shout from the tavern: “EY! Who put this floor here?!”
I started to move a little more quickly.
We soon reached the park Shatter was talking about.
“It's strange - parks at night...” I remarked pensively.
“Yeah?”
“It feels...unusual. I quite enjoy it.” Unfortunately my reverie was shattered (no pun intended. Seriously. Don’t even think about it) by a series of whoops and cheers from somewhere further into the park.
Oh sweet sisters, no...
I looked to the source of the noise to see: a lot of ponies.
“That sounds...interesting.”
What are you doing, Cobalt??
“Come on, let's check it out!” Shatter sounded far more enthusiastic than I.
Well, as long as she’s going...
“Oh, well, if you say so...” I slowly followed Shatter over to the crowd.
She tapped a pony on the shoulder with her wing, “Pardon me. What are all these ponies here for?”
The pony turned to face us, “Only the best band in the land!” she exclaimed, “Vinyl Scratch and the Pegasi! You've heard of them, right?”
Not a clue. Not a bloody clue.
Shatter replied first, “No, can't say I have.”
Phew! I’m not completely ignorant after all!
“Yeah, I’m not really clued up about the current music scene...” I had to shout over the noise of the crowd.
“I haven't actually been in Equestria for the past few years, you see...”
I would have been incredibly curious about Shatter’s remark if my eardrums weren’t being assaulted at the present moment.
She continued, ”So, what do they play?”
Another pony elbowed his way towards us to join in the conversation, “Well, there's Vinyl Scratch on the turntable, of course...”
I squinted at the lead pony on stage, “Oh! I think I recognise her...not sure from where, though.”
Shatter shook her head, “I don't recognize her at all...”
I wasn’t sure whether to feel proud or embarrassed.
“Drumstick's on the drums,” the first pony added, “Wind Waker plays the lead guitar.”
The second pony spoke up once more, “Octavia plays the bass, of course.”
“That's not a pegasus!” Shatter interjected.
“No, but anypony can play the bass.”
I remained silent. I’m sure that the bass is a very skilled instrument.
“Heh, guess so.”
Just on a whim, I decided to ask, “...no pianists then...?”
Shatter answered me, “No. Looks like there's a keytar, though.”
Pfft. Hardly a substitute for Beethoofen’s symphonies.
“Ah! Of course...” I tried to sound happy - not wanting to make Shatter feel bad.
I could barely hear anypony over the noise from the crowd. I was not feeling terribly comfortable at that moment.
Then the band started to play. We were immediately engulfed in a wall of sound from the loudspeakers, but the cheering of the crowd was deafening on its own. I couldn’t hear a word of the actual song.
Shatter turned to speak to me, “I wonder whether this Brass Ballad kid is this popular?”
I barely had enough energy to reply; “I'm not sure. He seemed surprised when I didn't recognise him...”
I shuffled my hooves together, making myself as small as possible without curling up on the ground.
Shatter seemed to notice my discomfort. “Say, have you figured out the problem with your circuit yet?”
Yeah. I do my best work at 130 decibels, don’t you know.
“I...I'm not sure....I can't quite think straight at the moment...” My voice barely carried.
“Haha, I can imagine!” Shatter replied, “I didn't know there would be a concert in Central Park tonight!”
“Yeah...how...fortunate...”
Just at that moment I was released from my torment by the green light and fizzing sound of dragonfire, as two sealed notes appeared in front of us. Shatter cantered off away from the crowd to read hers. I was only too glad to follow.
Dear Fellow Comrades,
You have an all expenses paid vacation to the Zebra homelands. Meet your ride at the Ponyville landing pad at the rising of the sun. Look for a mare named Sunny. She will be waiting for you there.
- Wolf
“Well. Isn't that interesting,” I mused as I read the letter, “I'm fairly sure I didn't enter any competition...and what does it mean by 'comrades'?”
Shatter didn’t seem to understand straightaway. “Mine's about an all-expenses-paid vacation to the Zebra homelands. What's yours about?”
“Oh, the same thing,” I replied, “I rather expected they would be - considering they arrived simultaneously.”
“I suppose so.” She looked up at me, “Hey, did you want to go see my basement now?”
I smiled, “Absolutely! If you would just stand still for one moment...”
I teleported me and Shatter back in front of her house. Since I had only recently been there I was more accurate this time around - but unfortunately I went too far in the other direction. We materialised with our hooves buried three inches in the ground.
“Oh dear, apologies again,” I said as I wrenched my hooves out one-by-one.
Fortunately we weren’t on a pavement. That would have been nasty.
“Safe and sound, at least!” Shatter laughed.
As we proceeded into Shatter’s house, I could quite clearly see a medium length staircase going straight through the building and underground; as Shatter told me, the floor was cut cleanly across each step. On a nearby wall there was a small red button, neatly camouflaged with the wallpaper.
Noticing it was dark, I cast a Type-2 Luminescence, then proceeded down the stairway with Shatter. The room downstairs had little of its own light. I could make out what appeared to be workbenches with tools hanging on the walls, and several boxes scattered about the room.
“Some kind of workshop?” I mused,
“I guess so,” Shatter replied, ”I wonder why somepony would hide it like this, though?”
I walked forward to examine the tables, “Maybe they wanted to hide what they were building.”
“Cobalt!” Shatter spoke from behind me, “any idea what this is?”
I moved towards her to see an opened box filled with what was clearly electrical wiring. I lifted some out just in front of my nose; it was very finely made - perhaps some chromium-silver alloy, but I couldn’t be certain.
“Well, some kind of electrical wiring. I can't tell what material though...It looks very exotic.”
“Why do you say it looks exotic?” Shatter asked curiously,
“Well, we never use this kind of material in our products - not even our precision instruments...”
Whoever was building electronics here had very expensive tastes.
Shatter opened another box. I moved over to find that it was filled with small black devices, with an interface of four buttons and a light above each. Shatter moved to press a button.
“Wait!” I cried as she froze in position, “I wouldn’t do that. I have no idea what it will do. Stand back,”
I levitated the device quite far in front of me and Shatter. There was a red rocker switch to one side, which I presumed was power. Upon pressing it, a single light appeared above the first button - red for a moment, then green.
“Seems fairly normal,” I remarked, before pressing the button.
Nothing happened. Then my vision was solid white. The noise was probably the loudest I had ever heard, and the ringing in my ears persisted for a good few minutes afterward. I fell back against the wall, trying to find some support.
Some moments later, I had somewhat recovered. Shatter was standing there, looking perfectly normal.
“Are...are you okay?” I said to her,
“Yeah, basically,” she replied simply.
I’m not nearly as strong as she is. “Give me a moment...” I said, my hooves planted firmly on a wall.
After a moment, Shatter said “Was that there before?” I turned around to see a blue light on a workbench, quickly fading. I moved over to examine it.
“I don’t believe it was.” It was an ordinary magically shaped glass sphere. The light was only a glimmer by that point. “Looks like there was some magical energy in here at one point. Not much left now.”
“Curious,” Shatter remarked.
Just above where the glass orb lay, there was a small switch built into the wall. Shatter noticed it as well.
“Hm. Well, it could blow up the basement...or it could turn on the lights?” I smiled slightly. “I suggest we stand a respectable distance away this time. That is, about halfway up the stairs.”
“Okay.” We walked up the stairs far enough that I could just see the switch.
“Brace yourself...” I pressed the switch.
The lights came on. I have to admit, I felt a little disappointed.
Shatter set about opening more boxes, while I investigated the device some more. Seeing no way to open it, I took a saw from one of the workbenches and carefully cut off one side. It was clearly metallic, very rugged design. The internals came out easily - there was only the buttons and lights, connected via the wire I saw previously to a small square of ebony black wood. The wood had a curious symbol etched into it. It looked rather like this:
My pondering was interrupted by a voice to my left, “Hey, Cobalt!” Shatter was stood over another box. I trotted over to find a whole load of glass orbs. On closer inspection I found them to have a slight blue tint - the same hue as the fading one we saw earlier. Another open box was again filled with orbs, this time being filled with some sort of red smoke.
I took out one of the blue orbs, examining it closely. On a whim, I decided to fire a small amount of energy into the orb. I was rewarded with another explosion - fortunately much smaller this time.
“Luna’s teeth!” I swore, jumping back and knocking into Shatter behind me. She didn’t seem fazed at all.
“I wonder what happens if you kick one? Or throw it at a tree?” I couldn’t quite match her level of detachment - I was still a little disoriented. I examined the orb again to find that the blue tint had gone.
“Right, take two,” I said as I levitated the red orb quite far in front of me. “We’d better not take any chances with this one.” I proceeded to fire a very small amount of energy into the orb.
Nothing happened.
I slowly increased the transfer power, getting more annoyed, until the orb glowed white hot; still nothing.
I sank to my knees as my magic ceased, dropping the orb onto the stone floor with a clink. I could see a small fracture appear in the glass.
“Cobalt - why do you think they made clear ones?” I slowly walked over to see Shatter standing over two more boxes filled with orbs - one load being perfectly clear and the other having a very slight yellow tint.
“I don’t think the clear ones have any stored energy. It reckon it’s transferred before use,” I mused, “Maybe some form of non-lethal weaponry...?”
Shatter looked thoughtful for a moment, “I wonder if the black boxes are used to release the energy?”
I broke into a grin, “Yes! You’re a genius!”
Shatter smiled back, “No I’m not!” she laughed.
I nodded to her, “It’s very probable. This is why two heads are better than one!” I smiled again as I turned my attention to the other box, “Now, I wonder what this does?” I levitated the orb far away, like before. “Stand back...” I fired an energy beam. The orb glowed with a soft white light - the same colour temperature as the lighting in the room. I looked up to see what appeared to be the exact same orbs suspended from ropes. I became very curious about the origin of this technology.
“So, the blue orbs explode, the yellow ones glow, and the red ones do nothing.” I affirmed. “We could try a physical test, perhaps?”
“What do you mean?” Shatter asked, “Smash it?” I nodded. “Well, I’ve got a pretty good throwing wing,” She flexed it as if to demonstrate. “I’ll just grab one of those then...”
Just as she moved forward I noticed a small plaque on the crate. “Hold on,” I said as I moved to examine it further. It depicted a sleeping pony surrounded by small clouds.
“Ah. Well, I think that clears up its functionality,” I affirmed.
Shatter looked pleasantly surprised, “Sleeping gas? Could come in handy.” She looked thoughtful for a moment, “Wait - I think I saw some of this stuff when I came back to Equestria. They pumped it in to knock us out. Anyway, no need to go breaking that one then.” She quickly moved on to another box - not allowing me to enquire further.
This one contained a collection of the different orb types; nothing unusual, apart from a pair of brass hooves. “Evidently somepony wanted to defend their research,” I remarked, before moving on to the largest box - a huge crate only slightly shorter than us. I carefully pried off the lid and peered inside.
The crate contained a myriad of weaponry: hoof-maces, knives, and various mounting attachments for pony legs. “Look at this stuff!” I exclaimed, “You’d think the mafia was hiding out in here.”
What really caught my eye, however, was a set of two finely engraved longswords.
Shatter spoke before I could investigate further, however, “I wonder why these ponies would give me a house with an armoury in the basement?”
“Hm?” Clearly there was more to Shatter’s arrival in Ponyville than I first thought.
“I didn't have a house here, just like on the moon.” That threw me a little. They hardly let anypony go to the moon these days. “Then Wolf and what’s-his-face were all, like: whoop-de-doo, here's a house. And I said, why would I turn down a free house? So I moved in.”
I frowned slightly, “What does Wolf do for a living then?”
“I've got no idea. Pushes pencils and makes ponies' lives miserable.” Wouldn’t surprise me.
My attention returned to the swords. I lifted one out, to find that it automatically interfaced with my magic - so it was clearly designed for a unicorn. I hadn’t tried out one of these models before, so I was quite excited!
I gave the sword a few experimental swings. It felt incredible! The enchantment allowed me to perform increasingly elaborate maneuvers despite having never held a sword before. I started laughing maniacally - it was somewhat euphoric.
“Don't get carried away there, bucko. I'd like to leave this basement in one piece.” Shatter warned, just as I made a small miscalculation which sent me crashing to the floor, the blade flying across the room and embedding itself into a wooden panel.
I was soon startled back to reality when the panel creaked, swinging out. It was, in fact, a door. “We’d better take a look,” Shatter said as she moved forward.
Inside was a fairly small storage area. Biosuits hung from hooks on the walls, and suits of lightweight combat armour rested on wireframe stands. There were also combat harnesses to hold weapons in - one specifically made for the swords I used before, plus some saddlebags,travelling cloaks and other gear. A thin layer of dust covered everything.
On the armour shoulderpieces, this symbol was painted:
“Well, I think we can be fairly certain this isn’t Equestrian military gear,” I remarked, while Shatter took a closer look at the armour.
“Wait!” Shatter said, “I’ve seen this armour before. I think it’s used by Luna’s guards.”
This threw me a little, “I thought Luna’s guards wore that archaic spiky gear?”
“Were you ever on the moon?” Shatter chided, “I mean, of course they have ceremonial armour, but that's really only for drawing chariots and marching in parades. This armour is better in almost every way except aesthetics.”
Hanging from the neck of one of the armour suits, there was a small silver pendant, shaped as follows:
Unlike all the other gear, the pendant was free from dust. Shatter picked it up with a wing, “Don’t suppose you’ve ever seen this before?”
“Can’t say I have,” I responded, as Shatter lifted the pendant onto her neck. Just as it touched her coat I saw her eyes widen slightly, and she started to shiver.
“Are you okay there?” I asked, concerned.
“This pendant,” she replied hesitantly, “it makes me feel so cold.”
I frowned slightly, “Let me try it on. It doesn’t seem to be doing you any good there.”
“Okay.” I levitated the pendant over my head, and quickly felt a terrible chill spreading quickly from my core through to my extremities.
“Whoo...sweet Celestia,” I said shakily, before quickly dumping the pendant on the floor. “That...that is not nice.”
“I've honestly only ever heard of this sort of thing in myths,” Shatter remarked, “Weird shit. I'm not inclined to try on anything else in this room.”
I thought through it for a moment, “Agreed.”
The rest of the gear was pretty much standard Equestrian issue. “Nothing much else here,” I affirmed.
“Well, I guess I'd probably better get to sleep then,” Shatter replied.
I nodded, “It's been a long day. I'll take some of these orbs for further analysis if that's okay with you?”
Shatter shrugged slightly, “I don't see why not.”
“Thank you,” I said as I picked up an assortment of orbs, plus one of the trigger devices. “Well, I’d better be off now,” I said with a yawn, “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“See you!” Shatter said with a smile, and I teleported home (it being dark and cold outside).
Teleportation involves complex arcane theory that I’m not terribly familiar with, but it boils down to the conversion of matter into arcane energy - then simply willing that energy to another location, where it coalesces automatically. Perfectly safe - unless you end up embedded in rock or something.
Type-1 luminescence involves simply ‘burning off’ arcanons at the tip of the horn - very simple to perform. Type-2 releases a matrix of arcane energy which will follow the caster and remain illuminated for a long period without additional effort.
It surprises me how few earth ponies and pegasi understand the importance of levitation. As you know, magical levitation provides much greater precision and dexterity than hooves, so unicorns use it almost exclusively. Because of this, we find it far more difficult to manipulate objects with hooves. In terms of arcane theory, arcanons are manipulated in a mesh to exert a kinetic force on an object, very simple.
As a very wise pony once said: “Don’t turn it on, take it apart!”
My work is involved almost exclusively with crystalline technology. Different crystals have different effects on arcane and electrical energy, and one can exploit this to create some remarkable devices.
Standard lighting comes in two forms: arcane, which is bright and efficient, but expensive and fairly low quality. Electric lighting is cheaper and more stable, but a little dim with current technologies. These orbs corresponded to neither.
These fit on a pair of pony hooves to give more weight, pressure and energy transfer when they are used to strike.
Relatively few ponies know that the New Lunar Republic even exists. All records relating to it have been excised, along with so much else. Nopony can hide the existence of an entire race, however. Not even the government.
A crystal in the hilt provides additional positional feedback and automatic levitation - allowing greater power and dexterity.
I should point out that this is a psychological chill - physically the pendant was at room temperature. The enchantment is purely mental.
Of Promises and Loss - Part 2
Google docs - proper footnotes
Saturday 7th April 1001
After waking up promptly at 6:30, I made my bed impeccably and navigated my way through the single bedroom cottage which was my residence in Ponyville. At the front door, my saddlebags lay pre-packed with some clothing, a few essentials, spending money and the devices from Shatter’s basement, plus a few other curiosities to keep myself occupied.
I made my way to the airship landing pad on the outskirts of the town, which seemed near deserted due to the early hour. I saw a medium-sized airship docked on the first platform. It was named “Shadowchaser”. Beneath it there was a tan earth pony with a red-brown mane, lazily hoofing through a clipboard. I approached her cautiously.
“Ah, hello! It’s, er, Cobalt Spark?”
She flipped through a few sheets until she found my name. “Yes. you have been cleared to board. Your room is D2 R3S.”
“Oh, thank you.” I hesitantly moved forward a few paces before enquiring further. “Uhm, I'm really very grateful for this trip, but would you mind telling me what this is all about?”
Sunny didn’t look up from her clipboard, “Just a vacation. Have a pleasant trip.” She nodded to the ramp, and I moved forward. I was afire with curiosity, but simply too nervous to keep pushing for answers.
I found my path blocked by a foreleg. “Hold on. Do you know a mare named Shatter?”
I replied without hesitation, “I do indeed - we're meeting onboard the ship, if I recall.”
Her eyes returned to the clipboard as the leg was retracted. “Very good. Carry on.” I paused for a moment, then proceeded to board the open top deck of the ship.
As I found my way to Deck 2 Room 3 Starboard, I bumped into a mare I had met before - Ink Nib. “Ah, fainty-guy!”
Oh please Celestia, don’t let that become a nickname.
“You takin' up a lot of space here!”
I was a little surprised to see her here, “Oh! Hello! Ink, isn't it?” She nodded in response. “So you were summoned here as well?”
She replied in her classically inexpressive tone, “Yes. How long is travel time? Yes. Will there be many ponies? Are there more, that is?”
How am I supposed to know this stuff?
“Well, Shatter got a letter, so she'll be coming along soon. No idea what the travel time is - I'd check with the cabin crew.” I was trying to be as helpful as possible.
“Shatter? I know her?” It was quite clear she did not.
“Really? That's odd - it seemed that everypony knew everypony around here...”
Oh Sisters, I am a moron.
“Whatever. Got to go talk to cabin crew.” I tried to compress myself into a corner and sqeeze past, but she just barged through. Not exactly the epitome of politeness.
I soon located my cabin. It’s fairly small, but comfortable enough to live in. There are some chairs, a table, and storage - all of which are of course bolted to the floor. To sleep in I have a sort of hanging cot - some fabric with a quilt and cushions tied at four corners to the wall. It will suffice.
I noticed that the lighting in the cabin was provided by two yellow tinted orbs hung from rope slings that looked very familiar. Comparing them to the ones from Shatter’s basement, I found them to be identical. Just to the right of the door, I noticed two small grey switches, which from experimentation, I concluded operated the lighting orbs. This time I couldn’t hold back my curiosity.
I closed and deadbolted the door before unscrewing the switch from its retainer in the wall. I was pleased to find that it was almost an identical mechanism to the trigger devices I found in the basement - however the image engraved into the wood was different:
The switches were connected to the wood with the same alloy wire I saw before.
I guessed that the patterns on the block of wood must signify the function performed by that switch position. On the lightswitch, there were two solid rings - therefore a solid ring must represent a yellow orb.
Now to determine the order of the mapping of functions to switches. When I pressed the first button on the trigger device, a blue orb had detonated, not a yellow one. With the diagram there showing a solid circle in the centre and a sort of zigzag one on the outside, I concluded that as one moves from left to right with the switches, one moves towards the centre of the diagram describing the function.
However, there were still two functions that I didn’t know about, shown by a sort of smudged ring and a wavy ring on the diagram. I took out one of the red smoke orbs - knowing full well that if I pressed the wrong button I could be knocked out or worse. Once I knew this unknown function, however, the release of the sleeping gas would be performed by the only button remaining.
There were two buttons to choose from - numbers 2 and 3. 50-50, right? I pressed button number two - the smudged ring.
Suddenly, red smoke started pouring out of the orb.
I frantically rushed to the door, only to remember that I had deadbolted it. Rather than attempting to fumble with the mechanism I crashed against the window, trying to open it, only to discover that it was sealed. I kept breathing in the smoke, my limbs becoming heavier with each second.
With my last ounce of energy, I constructed an air filter around my mouth and nose. It didn’t work.
Well it would hardly be effective if every unicorn and his mother could block it, would it?
I felt strangely calm.
I regained consciousness to the feeling of hooves and wings pounding on my chest. I opened my eyes and gasped for air, to see the concerned face of a brown pegasus with a red and white mane.
“Ah, guess yer not dead after all!” He had an unusual accent - clearly Equestrian, but from a region I was unfamiliar with. Nothing like Manehattan, but nowhere near Canterlot either.
My eyes went wide as I remembered the recent incident. “Oh heavens, the gas!”
“What in holy hay were you doing messin’ with the lighting orbs?” The colt asked, a little confused and annoyed.
“Oh, the lighting orbs,” I said as I got to my hooves, “Well, erm, I was only using them to compare with my own devices. The red gas you saw was something I found elsewhere.” I sighed wistfully, “I still don’t know what that wavy ring does...”
The colt stood up, “Well, uh, if I wasn't here you'd a probably been dead. What’s this wavy ring?”
I suddenly remembered my manners, “Oh yes, thank you very much for your assistance, my apologies for any inconvenience caused. The wavy ring is the last piece! The solid is the yellow orbs, the lighting orbs, the zigzag is the blue, I call it a 'flashbang', and the smudged is the sleeping gas!”
As you can tell, my mind wasn’t quite back to normal just yet.
“You sure do talk a lot, you sure yer feelin’ okay?” He looked through the open door of my smoke-filled cabin, “A think you'd better turn that thing off before it gasses the entire ship out, you don't want to catch the captain on a bad day...”
“Turn it off? Oh, I can't do that, once they've been activated they remain so until all the energy is released, it shouldn't be long now. And it seems the gas is only effective in large concentrations. It won't affect the rest of the ship.”
I just pulled all that out of my well-educated plot!
“And really, I'm feeling fine!” I actually was. I felt brilliant! A new mystery to solve, as it were!
“Well, if you say so, I only know airships and talismans,” he started to walk along the corridor, then stopped suddenly. “I don't think we introduced each other. I'm SteelWing - I'm on maintenance while this old girl is flying. You are...?”
“Cobalt Spark, arcane engineer,” I stopped when I heard shouting from upstairs. SteelWing looked upwards.
“Yeah, that’s the ‘captain’ right there. Talk to you later.” He cantered off down the corridor and upstairs.
Having nothing better to do, and far too afraid to test the orbs’ final function, I lost myself in a good book.
For me, a toolkit comes under ‘essentials’ - and it should for you too!
In case anypony couldn’t tell, I speak with a mild Canterlot accent.