Dimension 1-1: 5L4V3-1
I awoke in the same house as before. In the same forest. But little did I know, not the same dimension. "Ugh, what? Nothing happened? No, something had to have happened." I stood up and picked up the still unconscious Brutus. "Let's find out what.". I walked out of the cabin and leapt into the air, beginning my glide towards Ponyville.
---Ponyville Outskirts---
I landed at the edge of the everfree and took out a pair of binoculars I found in the cabin. Looking into Ponyville, I noticed that there weren't any ponies, but instead it was populated by humans. "What the fuck is this shit?" I asked no one in particular. I morphed my limbs and instead of just becoming blunt, they covered themselves in an artificial skin. "Huh, a new upgrade. I guess the little voice isn't such a dick after all.
I began my walk into the town and started to move with the crowds. They were most definitely humans, but they looked like a mix between modern and medieval. How peculiar. I continued my walk but everything looked normal aside from the populace. Soon I saw something unique. A building labeled 'Pony Store'. This definitely caught my attention. I opened the door and walked inside. I was shocked.
Cages. Filled with ponies. They all looked so sad, and I noticed they all had muzzles. I began walking around and noticed that each and every one of them shank to the back of their cage when I walked by. I peered into one of the cages and saw only one pony. It was a colt, but there was something special about him. He was literally missing an arm and a leg. Or I guess in this case a leg and a leg. When he realised I was looking at him he shrunk back.
"Please don't hurt me." He mumbled through the muzzle.
"Don't worry. I don't plan on it. Hold on a moment." I stood up and walked to the counter where a particularly disgruntled clerk sat. "Excuse me, I plan to buy one of these ponies and I believe I've found my pick."
He got up and walked around to face me. "I don't know what kind of bum you are to be wearing what you are, but I can tell you can't afford a slave." I was shocked by his words.
"I believe I can, and you would be wrong to judge people by their looks." I began to stare back.
"Oh yeah? Well let's see your pick kid." That's annoying. Calling me a kid.
I walked over to the cage and the owner looked very displeased. "This is your pick? He's defective. Not fit at all to be a slave. I'm not sure why they didn't put him down the minute he was born." Let's hope I get out of here soon. This is going to be one of those people that I would gladly fuck up.
"I think he's alive because all souls deserve a chance. That is why I picked him. Now how much?" I asked, trying to hide my malice.
"For him? Fifteen dollars. He ain't barely worth dirt, and I can't see your reasoning in the first place." I reached into my pocket and found exactly fifteen dollars. Still, starting to get creepy that this being is watching that closely.
"Fine, you can have em." He opened the cage and violently grabbed the foal, handing him to me. I took him into my arms carefully. "Hope you know what to feed em." He grumbled as he walked back to his station.
"What are you going to do with me?" The foal asked.
"What do you mean? I don't plan to do anything laborious or harmful if that's what you're asking. You were a cry help that needed to be answered. But what I will tell you that even though I don't appear to be, I am very unique." I smiled.
"What happened to your teeth?" He asked. I brought my hand to my mouth and felt my teeth.
'Metallic? Damnit, I guess there are still some things he can't fix.'. "Um, I guess that's part of my uniqueness." I made my way out of the store and got curious glares from the people wandering the streets. "Don't worry, they won't try anything. If they do, they will gravely regret it. I mean it." I continued to walk away from the store and to my starting point.
"Why are we here? Isn't this the everfree forest? I've heard that it's dangerous there and that nature controls itself." I paused and grumbled to myself.
"Before I go in, I have something to show you. Brutus!" I called and the cub came running towards me. Stopping at me feet to scrutinize the newcomer. "Brutus, this is our new guest, and this is Brutus. By the way, I never got your name."
The foal looked down sadly. "I never got a name. They just called me 'the defective one'. I don't know what that means, but it doesn't sound good." That hurt.
"To answer the question, defective means broken, or not functioning properly. Although you are far from that. But to give you a name, I think the title 'Tinker' would serve it's purpose." He smiled at this.
"I've never had a real name before. Thank you. Oh, and if you don't mind me asking, where are we going. And how?" I chuckled again.
"Do you remember how I said I was very unique?" He nodded. "Well now I can show you." I set him down to lie in the grass before I disengaged the disguise. Showing him my true appearance. "This is the real me. The other bits are synthetic. And we're going to get there by flying. I know what you're thinking, 'But you don't have any wings.'. But I have something better. A wingsuit." I picked up Tinker and let Brutus climb on my back. "Up up and away." I jumped into the air and opened the wingsuit. Gliding towards the cabin.
---Cabin in the center of the Everfree---
Landing, I opened the door to notice that the building had been refurbished and looked like a proper modern living space from Earth. "Well I'll be damned. He spruced up the place as well. Okay Tinker, this is your new home. Get used to it, because you're going to be here for a long time.
Dimension 1-2: 5L4V3-1
Depression. That's all I felt now. Finally realizing that I had been ripped away from my home twice now was not fairing on my shoulders.
I sat down on the couch and set Tinker next to me. "Let's get that dirty muzzle off you." I mused. Reaching for the straps, I noticed something. They had never been washed. Ever. They were caked with whatever substance he'd been eating. When the muzzle was off I tossed to the side. Tinker flexed his jaw with a pained expression. "I can guess that with what little use you've had for you jaw, it's gotten pretty out of shape. Lemme' go check something."
I got up from the couch and turned to my right. One doorway, one portal. The portal entered the kitchen while the doorway lead through the hall. Walking through the doorway I took mental notes on all of the rooms. 'Two bedrooms, one bathroom, a laundry room, and... a workshop? I'll have to check that out later.'
Walking into the bathroom I opened the glass cabinet to find an assortment of labeled bottles. I sifted through each of the unique drugs before finding the one I searched for. 'Aspirin. Perfect.' Closing the cabinet and exiting the room, I chose to look into the kitchen.
It appeared that almost everything in the house was made to improve or preserve my chance of living. I walked past the island and opened a few cabinets. I found all sorts of plates and bowls, but the final cabinet held what I seeked. Cups. Grabbing one of the smaller cups I walked over to the sink. The faucet had a water purifier which I gladly used to fill the cup. I exited the kitchen and returned to the living room where Tinker was still waiting for me.
Opening the bottle, I removed two pills. I handed the pills and water to Tinker. "Okay, those are aspirin pills. They should help with the pain. Just pop one into your mouth, take a swig of your water, and swallow. Then repeat." Tinker did as I told him to and after finishing the water, I placed it in the kitchen sink to be washed later.
Returning to Tinker once again I took note of something. On his right side was a single, underdeveloped wing. 'Pegasus. Good to know I have some more work to do.' Well, after getting out of that wretched place, I can only assume you're hungry. Correct?" Tinker nodded in agreement. "How about a bouquet sandwich?" I asked, eyeing the vase filled with a random assortment of flowers in the kitchen. Tinker nodded once again.
Removing myself from the couch, I walked into the kitchen and grabbed the loaf of sliced bread next to the toaster and removed two slices. I selected a sandwich plate from the cabinet and set the bread upon it. Turning around to the island, I grabbed the bouquet of flowers and cut them all down to a rather small length as to fit inside of the sandwich.
'Bastard. Ruining the bouquet I set out for your humble home.' I heard the voice say in the depths of my mind.
"Hey, there you are. I was beginning to get worried that you left. At least I'm not wasteful." I picked up the leftover plant stalks. "Greens is greens." I sighed as I tossed them into my mouth, chewed, savored the sweet, sour, and milky taste, and swallowed. 'Flowers ain't so bad after all.' I noted.
Picking up the sandwich, I returned to the living room and handed it to Tinker who eyed the sandwich with hungry, tearful eyes. "Enjoy. Though it won't be your last." I said nonchalantly. Tinker's eyes shot open.
"S-So you weren't lying when you said I wouldn't be working... At all?" He asked intrigued. I chuckled.
"I never said you wouldn't be working. I just said that it wouldn't be harmful. As in any form of slave work. I aim to reform you into something better than you are now. But quite different than me. I'm already too different. That's the truth." I said sadly. I stood up and turned to face Tinker. "Don't be so down. I'm going to go into my workshop to get a few things done. When you finish, just set your plate on the table. If you need anything, call me. Okay?" I received a nod. "Good." I turned around and proceeded down the hallway to the workshop.
---Workshop---
It was very unique in here. Small but obviously large scale considering the amount of utilities now at my disposal. Although, everything metal was made of that same damn dark iron. After some thought, I sat down in the metal stool in front of my workbench. Looking down at my leg I thought 'I have to get it off somehow. I guess we'll go with the ol' twist an' pull.' I grabbed my leg and twisted to the left. As I did so, it let off a healthy amount of steam, and when I pulled it came right off.
Setting the leg on the table and grabbing the toolbox to the left of me on the lip of the L shaped bench, I began removing plates from the leg until all that was left was the bar casing and internals. I reached over to the box of thin long bars, I removed a hefty amount and set to work making the awkward segments for a small pony leg. It was a tad difficult having to remember the multi jointed limb layout, but in the end the front hoof came out fine. Going over the same processes I made a casing for the rear leg. After making these casings, I grabbed the guide book at the corner of the table and began to study the inner workings of the leg mechanism. There were many things to account for. Nerves, servos, high output electrical engines. You name it, it was there. After my study session I got to work making everything for the internals, and even making some plates for the limbs. I even added a few modified items.
When I was finished I marveled at my handiwork sitting atop the bench. After the ego boost, I repaired my leg and carefully grabbed the limbs, taking them into the living room. It had taken about 3 hours to do all of this and I noticed that Tinker had fallen asleep. Thunking the limbs onto the table seemed to wake him up. First he looked at me, then my arm, then the legs. His eyes widened in fear. "Y-You're going to m-make me like you?" He asked frightened.
I gave him a sad yet sympathetic look. "Listen, it's all I can do to give you new limbs and full motor function. Trust me, it won't hurt... much. I'm not going to put them on now. You deserve a bath first. Whaddya say?"
His frown softened into a smile at hearing this. "That sounds great. Thank you." Picking up Tinker, I walked down the hall to the farthest room. Inside was the basic bathroom. Awkward multi-species toilet, a sink, towel rack, bathroom products, mirror, tub with a shower head, etc.
Placing Tinker on the counter separating the sinks, I set to work filling up the tub with decently warm water. After letting Tinker test it, gaining his approval, I lowered him into the water. 30 Minutes later I had thoroughly washed Tinker after draining the tub and refilling it once. I lifted him out of the water and onto a towel on the counter. After some drying and tidying up his mane, I went to fetch the limbs.
After returning to the bathroom, Tinker looked quite shaken. "You said it would hurt. Is it going to hurt a lot?" He asked cautiously.
"No," I replied "After attaching them you'll feel a little sore, but aside from that not really." This seemed to ease his worries. I opened one of the mirror cabinets and retrieved two needles. Tinker seemed a little shaken once again, but soon relaxed when I injected the contents into special ports on the legs, which I had added so that the attachment process didn't hurt as much. If at all.
Lifting the left foreleg up to his nub, I set it flush against the surface. "Okay, you'll feel a small prick and then numbness. That's the drug taking effect so that you aren't paralyzed by pain instead." When he felt the prick, he made a very slightly pained expression and after about ten minutes, flexed the new appendage. Smiling. During the process, my mods introduced a highly effective numbing solution, shaved the surface, skinned the surface, and connected itself to any existing essential systems. We repeated this same process for the rear leg.
I walked out of the room with Tinker following shakily behind. Looking to a nearby window I noticed that it was dark out. Checking a nearby clock confirmed my suspicions. '12:00! Well, that's a little later than I wanted.' pausing for a moment to figure out the rooms, I led Tinker to the room next to mine. "Alright Tinker, this will be your room. It doesn't have as much as mine, but what it lacks you don't need. Mostly weapons. It's twelve o' clock midnight right now and you should get a little more than just a nap today. We'll test out the legs in the morning as well as the cloaking. They should be well comfortable to sleep in. You alright for the night?" Tinker nodded.
We parted ways and I retired to my room as well. 'Tomorrow is going to be a weird day.' I thought as I drifted off to sleep.
