Okay. This chapter was a tad harder to write. I had to get some explaining out of the way as well as starting certain threads but I hope its not too boring...
I do also have to apologize as the chapters are, less frequent. Though I hope y'all will bear with me :) But I'm really excited to introduce the next chapter. It ought to be more exciting than this one. I hope, We'll see c:
Anyway, thanks for giving my story a chance :D
As always: I do not own My Little Pony nor the characters contained within. They belong to Hasbro and their respective companies.
"Alright, your device can see quantum fluctuations. But how do we tell the difference between Fluttershy's dimensional connector's fluctuations and naturally existing ones?" Twilight was talking, asking a question to the light blue pegasus.
"That's why we need a lot of readings. We can't get close enough to negate that interference. We'll need to take a sample of the fluctuations in the area to calculate the actual fluctuations we are after," The pegasus replied.
"Sure, but that's another scanner! Won't we run out of power? We already have so little space to work with…" Twilight responded.
Rarity smiled, looking at the dress she had slaved over for the last few months. It was a beautiful white and blue dress. While it may have the resemblance of a fancy wedding dress, the ruffles along the hem suggesting that, it wasn't built for such an occasion. Though the ruffles hid ribbons of blue fabric that were only visible when she was in motion. The seam between the hem and the bodice was flawless, something that took her some time to accomplish, so it seemed like a single piece. The neckline wasn't as well attached to the bodice as the hem but that was intentional. The seam was visible but in the form of a stark collar that she tried to portray a sense of elegance a peytral would without the heavy piece of metal. Its folds and patterns of lace conveyed it pretty well in her mind. Though it was made out of a different material than the base, that too was intentional.
The base material of the dress was silk. Which gave the dress a smooth elegant finish. Along that gleam was sections of white satin that didn't have nearly as much gloss. But if one were to follow the pattern, an experienced eye could see an illusion of armor. This one took some doing, and some chats with the Wonderbolts, day and night guard, and even Shining offered some input. While she got advice for the full armor, she only put the illusion on the bodice and the sleeves. The bodice remained mostly white, though the sleeves had a splash of blue running from the fetlock, up to the shoulder, and then ran along the bodice to form an open wing. It got a little covered up by the armor, but not enough to damper either of the illusions she was trying to create.
The front of the dress she tampered with the illusion a bit. Rather than a plain pattern of lace attempting to mimic armor, she morphed the armor to form a large heart. It wasn't very prominent or puffed out but rather laid like an etching on metal. The flat lace conveying a 3D shape without restricting the motion of her front legs.
She called it the Battle swan. She was also very proud of it. She was also prepared to fully take it apart to implement whatever device Glyph and Twilight were working on. She sighed, imagining her hair all done with the blue flower nocked next to her ear. Pinkie had even offered to make her mane resemble a swan. While she allowed Pinkie to let her see it in her mane, she decided it was a little too much. She rather just stick to the large bun she had been planning.
Her face quickly adopted a thinking pose, "Twilight. I suppose we could put something in my hair if necessary."
Glyph quickly shook her head, "No, trust me. This thing spins. We'll have a protective cover for the dress, but hair is a whole other mess."
Rarity frowned, remembering her hair getting caught in a spinning apparatus before, "Ah yes. That is terribly unpleasant."
Glyph nodded, "Yeah. Motors and hair do not mix."
Twilight frowned and Rarity could see curiosity forming on her face.
Rarity smiled, "You remember when I tried to curl your hair?"
The alicorn nodded.
"Now imagine that twisting not stopping, and starting to tug on your scalp," Rarity said with a painful smile.
Twilight's expression morphed to a simulation of pain, "Oh."
"Yeah. It's more painful in experience," Glyph said putting a hoof to her hair.
Twilight nodded, "Alright, good to know."
"But with the dress, just tell me where you need room and I can make room." Rarity said.
Glyph shook her head, "No that's not the problem. I don't want to make something that relies on the dress for support. If you jump or do something vigorous then it might rip your dress."
Rarity frowned with that image.
Glyph nodded, "So I say we make something that goes under the dress to hold the equipment. That way it's anchored to you rather than the dress." She then walked over to the harness's desk and pulled a little device off the desk. This item was already revealed to Rarity. It was the scanner device Glyph had mentioned at the throne room. It wrapped around one ear and hung on the side of the skull. When activated, it deployed a little green glass that went in front of the eye. Or so she was told.
"Could you put this on and jump in the harness?" Glyph asked, looking at the white unicorn. She held out the device which Rarity levitated to her.
She gently lifted it to her head where she placed the top spiral around her ear. Letting the device rest on her head, she felt its weight settle on the top. She felt it put a tad bit of pressure along the side of her head but it was very subtle. Though the device seemed to weigh as much as a large crown it wasn't too bad to wear. She'd worn much heavier adornments. She nodded, feeling the device cling to her head though it shook slightly.
She looked at Glyph, "Is there a way to tighten it a bit?"
Glyph nodded and reached to the top to fiddle with the spring-like apparatus. After a few moments of fiddling, Rarity felt the band shrink effectively stiffening its grip.
"Thank you," She said, giving her head a small shake to test its firmness. She then turned to the harness and paused. She shook off the fear since Twilight and Pinkie had gotten into the machine without harm. She'd be no different.
So she walked into the territory of the rings and put her hooves into the little rings on the device. They tightened and soon she was surrounded by spinning rings with a device laying on her back. Though part of the device that was on her neck extended a piece out to the device on her head. It clicked, then the rectangle snapped upwards, covering her eye. Though the action made her flinch, it didn't scare her. Glyph had already told her about the little device.
Though she didn't say what she'd see through it. It was a green material probably made of glass or some other composite she'd had no experience with. Though, somehow there was light trapped inside the thin pane. It formed itself into words that made short sentences before zooming upwards beyond the material. Then, a small reticle filled the pane. It was aimed at Glyph with how she was looking. The pony was outlined in red, but words were flashing below the reticle.
No Quantum fluctuations detected.
Error! No storage medium installed. Please install a usable medium to store scan data.
"Uh, it needs a storage medium?" Rarity said hesitantly, wondering what a medium was. She was imagining a box for electricity to go into. That would be very hard to implement into her dress.
Glyph nodded, "We can get to that later," She said but her attention was aimed towards the monitors. Each had pictures and icons that were foreign to her. She saw things that looked like folders. A plethora of pictures lumped together served some purpose. And lots of lines of writing. Lots.
"What's a storage medium?" Twilight asked, taking a step towards the monitors.
Though as Rarity instinctively turned to Twilight, she got highlighted in red but new words formed along the bottom of her vision.
Quantum resonance detected!
Error! Unable to store scan data because of incorrect Storage medium set up. Please install an appropriate Storage medium to continue.
"Uh, Glyph?" Rarity as hesitantly.
"Yeah?" The blue pegasus responded, still typing away.
"The scanner is detecting a Quantum resonance on Twilight."
That got the pony to pause, then slowly turn to Rarity, "Is Twilight highlighted in red?"
Rarity nodded.
"Does that mean I am part machine?!" Twilight asked with both annoyance and fear.
Glyph shook her head rapidly, "No. The harness would have been able to detect such devices. It didn't see any."
Twilight seemed unconvinced, "Then why are there quantum fluctuations around me?! We've only seen that in Electromagical devices, right?"
Glyph shrugged, "Yes you are correct. But I also have very limited data on Alicorns. Maybe you have a natural one."
Twilight frowned, calming a bit, "Yeah, I suppose."
"There's also your new power form remember?" Rarity said, "Perhaps it's from that?"
Glyph nodded, "True. All that power has to come from somewhere. Maybe it's coming from the quantum realm? Parallel dimensions?"
Twilight frowned, "I hope not. I don't want to steal power from other me's."
"It doesn't necessarily have to be another you," Glyph said, turning back to the computer, "A parallel dimension is just a dimension that runs alongside our own, thence the name. You could just be pulling power from a dimension void of life and filled to the brim with unending energy."
Twilight shrugged and nodded, "Yeah, I suppose. Later, could you help me figure out where it comes from? Such knowledge may give me insight into where my new abilities come from."
"Sure."
Rarity wasn't sure what to say. A dimension filled with energy? And nothing to use that energy?
"Surely such a, dimension," Rarity said slowly, "Wouldn't have nothing to use such an energy pool. I mean, even lightning comes from clouds. Which are built by other creatures. Sure, it doesn't have to be ponies or even a living creature. But if it was just electricity, surely it wouldn't be the only thing? It'd have to come from something. Something that isn't made up of energy?"
Glyph smiled, "Technically, our dimension is filled with energy. Matter is merely massive batteries for energy. Break the atom and you get a massive explosion. Break it calmly, and methodically, you get nuclear energy. But then you have to deal with radiation." She waved her hoof at that, displaying her distaste, "That stuff will stay around for years. Probably be as old as Celestia. Crazy deadly too. Well, sort of."
"Oh." Rarity said, feeling very different about the world around her.
"Yeah, that's why we use much cleaner sources of energy. Magic makes solar panels much more effective; it can also make certain objects frictionless so wind energy is much more effective. Damns are also very good at supplying power. And such mechanics provide us with enough power to run our cities and such. We really don't need more power than a nuclear reactor would provide. It would just be more annoying to deal with the radiation and potential breakdowns. Which could cause damage that would last long enough to cripple cities for generations. Though," She paused, "We really haven't done too much with the way of radiation. Maybe there is a spell that could erase it? Maybe accelerate the half-life of an atom? Without the dangers of course."
Twilight grinned, "Yeah, technically there is but it's quite a difficult spell. It's much easier to block it rather than stop it at the source. That's why we have X-ray technology! Its radiation in small bursts to unveil broken bones without breaking the skin!"
"Yep! Though I've figured out that our cutie mark energy will form different patterns in different parts of the body. You can then make that energy glow to use as an x-ray."
"Really?!" Twilight said with elation, "Well, actually that makes sense since there is a spell that can highlight your bones."
"True," Glyph replied, moving the little disks on the desk to create more words on the screen, "But if the cuite mark energy is hit with a certain level of separated cuite mark energy, visible patterns will form. Using that you can essentially map out more than bones! Like Organs!"
"Really?"
"Though again, it uses a lot of power to function. Harnessing cutie mark energy is easy. Using it is the power-hungry part."
"But that's not a problem with your cutie mark generator right?" Twilight said with an eagerness.
Glyph smiled, "Nope, not at all. Here, let me show you after the firmware is updated."
The rings spinning around Rarity slowed when Glyph hit a button on her console. Once they fully stopped, she felt the rings around her hooves loosen, the back piece lift from her back, and the little scanner retreat out of her vision. She nodded and stepped out of the device to follow the pegasus to the back of the room. Twilight followed suit.
When the group had assembled next to the pegasus she tapped the floor with her metal leg. The section of the floor clicked and a large circular hole appeared on the floor. It lowered slowly into the floor till it stopped with a loud thunk. Glyph motioned to follow as she jumped into the dark room below. Rarity followed and found a large drop. It wasn't too large of a drop to alarm her. Such heights had been conquered on her multiple adventures. She wasn't worried about getting up either as Twilight could just teleport her up. So she focused on the dimly lit room around her.
It was dark, but not dark enough to where she couldn't see. Low-level lights kept the made the room maneuverable but not light enough to make everything visible. Though she could see several thousand wires running through the ceiling. Each wire was neatly arranged into rows with its brothers and sisters. Large wires the thickness of her hoof ran along with the little ones that were the size of a hair. Hundreds of different sizes were present and she'd go insane trying to understand where they all led.
Though many of the thicker wires seemed to run out from large crystals on the ground. They seemed to outline the edges of a path towards a large device.
Glyph started to walk towards the device while Rarity took a moment to look at it. It was like a large fridge. A very large one that was shaped more like a cylinder. On the front of the cylinder was a large porthole that contained blackness behind it. Several wires the width of her barrel extended out from the bottom like a resting octopus, each one running away towards the crystals in front of it. Though that was the bottom portion, the top part of the cylinder was smaller in width than its neighbor. With much smaller wires coming from the top.
"This is the Cuite mark Generator Mark 3. The latest edition of cuite mark magic to pure electrical energy," Glyph said, gesturing to it proudly.
Twilight nodded and took careful steps, "It's not that big. I was expecting it to be massive!"
Glyph nodded, "What it doesn't make up for in size, it makes up for in weight," She frowned, "It's probably as heavy as this house…"
Twilight's eyes widened along with Rarity's, "Really?"
Glyph nodded, "Indeed. That's why it's really hard to move around. Its core needs heavy metals and the cuite mark energy needs to be contained without using power so elements that can block it have to make up the casing."
"And the only elements that can naturally block raw cuite mark energy are extremely heavy," Twilight said with a nod.
"Yep. Though the crystalline generation rings are made up of crystal and have elements built into their formations. Like gold, copper, etc. Each ring is the size of a small hula-hoop yet weighs as much as a loaded wagon. But it's necessary to convert the cuite mark energy into usable electricity."
Twilight smiled, "I'd love to get a rundown on how it works but we really ought to get back to the outfit," She paused, "Though, what are the crystals for?"
Glyph smiled, "I wanted to show you for the outfit." She walked towards the large generator, causing a panel to light up with words and symbols.
She reached to the side of the panel and grabbed a small harness-looking device. It looked like a large rock climbing harness with several large wires coming out of it. Rarity frowned. It was all black.
Though Glyph had no issues placing the harness on her shoulders and threading her wings between the gaps. Though two large net-looking disks were placed on her flank, just above either side of her cuite mark.
"This is the connector to the pony that would supply the generator. Simply, it acts as a net to the cuite mark energy a pony would naturally emit. You can also directly feed the pony's energy into the generator for more power but that would require another device."
"Do you think Fluttershy has such a device?" Twilight asked with a frown.
Glyph nodded, "It's probable."
She then reached over to the panel and tapped its surface. The harness Glyph was wearing suddenly hummed to life and the nets on her cuite marks became obscured as inner components began to spin. A light pink light began to spill out from the nets and the wires. It followed the wires along a dotted line that revealed itself, showing the energy rushing to the generator. Once it had entered through the cables in the top, the whole room filled with loud thrum that echoed throughout the walls. The porthole filled with the light pink light and stayed that way for several seconds. Then, the white slowly turned white and the six crystals began to glow. Their glow intensified until Rarity could see the room in more detail.
The generator slowly lowered its voice till the room became silent once more. Though the crystals remained glowing. Their purple color tinging the whole room in purple light.
"And that's how it works!" Glyph said with a triumphant smile, "Now we just need to do something similar with the scanning device."
Twilight nodded, "Okay, but what are these crystals for? Do you want to include them in the design?"
Glyph nodded, "Those are batteries. They store massive amounts of electricity. The only downside is their unique glow. They slowly lose their power over time even if they are shielded."
"How big of a gem would I need to fit in the dress?" Rarity asked with a frown. The gem could comfortably fit half her body inside. Trying to fit that into a dress was simply not going to work. Unless she wanted to roll everywhere.
"Each of these gems could run the entirety of Manhatten, on maximum load, for a day. We'll only need a crystal the size of an earring gem." Glyph replied.
Twilight looked at the pony and the gem, "Wait, there is that much power inside these things?"
Glyph nodded, "Yeah."
"Why aren't we using them? Such technology would be instrumental in solving energy issues there! Wait, can this stuff make cords?"
Glyph nodded with a smile, "Yeah. The reason is that my technology has many corporations' attention. Like the Silver Swords? Such energy storage would make them a huge problem to society."
Twilight frowned, "I understand I suppose. Though, if the times were right, would you share your technology?"
Glyph nodded, "Of course! I'm just scared my technology would be used to make another Flutterbyte situation. Though if the time were to arise, I'd share this tech in a heartbeat."
Twilight nodded with a smile, "Good."
Rarity shared the smile but changed the conversation, "Alright, this dress? What needs to be added?"
Glyph pointed to the nets on her flank, "These. These with catch the cutie mark energy and channel it to converters which the scanning device then could use."
"May I take a look?"
Glyph nodded, allowing the unicorn to walk over.
Rarity then examined the little disks in more detail. It was like a hollow pancake with a little spinning piece in the center. A very flat fan of sorts. She lifted it to see the thickness of the piece before setting it down.
"So, here's what I'm thinking," Rarity said after a moment of pondering, "I can make a jumpsuit of sorts that those things can be sewn into. Everything should fit under the dress provided it's towards my flank as the ruffles would hide them pretty well. Then you could also sew in wires along this jumpsuit to wherever you needed. My only concern at those crystals. It might need a housing to keep them in place. Fabric style attaching may not hold them for very long and I doubt glue would work."
Glyph nodded, "Yeah. If they were to come loose it would likely break the system. Though I have an idea. Have you ever worn a horn adornment?"
Rarity frowned, "On occasion, though not very often."
"Well, I can make a crystal one, which we could then use to…" Glyph's eyes lit up, "Oh! That would work much better!"
"What will work better?" Rarity asked.
"I forgot you're a unicorn!" Glyph said excitedly.
"Yeah?" Rarity said giving the pegasus an odd look.
"Your horn will work as a medium! We might be able to completely skip the transfusion process!" Glyph frowned as she got a confused look and a curious look, "Uh, remember how I said that cuite mark energy takes a while to infiltrate materials? Like being able to feel a prosthetic leg?"
The others nodded.
"It's the same here. You have to essentially boil it down to a level that the reactor can accept."
"Reactor? Wait, you're not planning on putting that into my dress?" Rarity asked with concern, pointing to the Cuite Mark generator.
Glyph shook her head, "Oh no. We could never do that. No, we are going to make a little cousin of it. It's a small device, relatively speaking, that can turn cuite mark magic directly into electricity. It's not nearly as efficient as the Cutie mark generator but it'll work for this situation."
"Okay," Rarity said cautiously, "So I just need to wear an adornment?"
Glyph teeter tottered her head, "Yea but that's not the only thing. You will need to carry the control module, power clasp, and controlling CPU. We also will have to work on your hair to be able to hide the scanner."
"Oh," Rarity said ruffling her hair subconsciously with a small smile, "So we still have a lot to do?"
"Yeah," Glyph nodded, taking off the harness, "Though not nearly as much as we would have had to do. With my original setup, we would have had to cover you in electronics!"
"Really?" Twilight asked as Rarity tried to visualize herself covered in metal.
"Oh yeah," Glyph replied, "There are the collection nets for the cuite mark, then the mag-icity matrix, and then it can go into the power clasp which in turn would power the CPU, module, and scanner," She lifted the harness and pointed to the net device that was over her cuite mark, "This is the collection net. You would have needed two of them to collect enough residual energy to power the device."
"But a unicorn's horn already has a major magic line through it so you wouldn't need to siphon energy naturally given off," Twilight said with a grin only the scientifically inclined could understand.
Glyph smiled, "You got it."
Twilight nodded but thoughtfully frowned, "Though if you disrupt that flow the unicorn loses their ability to do magic," She nodded, "That's probably how Flutterbyte was blocking our magic earlier with her hair," She shook her head, "Though I mean to say is: wouldn't Rarity lose her magic when the scanner is equipped?"
Glyph frowned and nodded a second later, "Technically yes…"
Rarity mimicked the frown, "That might be a problem. If I'm trying to act on the down-low then a unicorn not using her magic might be a dead giveaway."
Glyph shrugged, "I say we go for it and try to make an on and off switch so Rarity can use her magic. It's a much easier way to power the scanner."
Twilight nodded.
Rarity nodded as well, "I've learned a thing or two from AJ and Pinkie about non-magic manipulation. I'll live."
Glyph smiled and placed the harness on the hook it had come from, "Alright, let's head back up and get this project started."
Rarity looked behind her to the exit finding it out of her reach, "Twilight dear? Could I get a lift?"
Twilight nodded and Rarity felt a familiar pressure as her friend's magic encompassed her from all sides. It gently lifted her up through the hole in the floor and she followed soon after.
"Thanks darling," Rarity said with a smile and got a gentle nod in reply.
Glyph stayed in the hole for a moment to tap the floor once more with her metal leg. Another click echoed through the little room as the floor rose to become a single floor once more.
"Okay, let's do a little test first," Glyph said walking over to where they had found her earlier that day. It was the table next to the device that made the sparking noises.
"What is that device? The one that was sparking earlier?" Rarity asked as she followed the pony to the table.
Glyph followed her gaze, "Oh the welding station? That's a device to make two pieces of metal, one. It's useful for repairing or making larger plates with smaller ones. It can also solder."
"Solder?"
Twilight perked up, "It's a process where you join two metal points together to form a bridge that electricity can flow through."
"So like welding?" Rarity asked, looking at the alicorn.
"I suppose," Glyph responded, "Just in a lower energy environment. You'll just get a burn from a soldering pencil, though a welder will leave a burning gash."
Rarity frowned, "Do you know by personal experience?"
Glyph shook her head, "No I've only seen it. It wasn't pretty…"
Twilight nodded, "I can assume. That thing needs to get extremely hot. Pony doesn't really stand much of a chance."
"Yeah," Glyph said a little distracted as she fiddled with some buttons on her leg, "Alright. Rarity would you stand close?" She asked as she pulled a cable from underneath the table. It looked like a large flat rectangle with the cords coming out of one end and several hundred little circles of exposed metal on the other. Though Rarity was a tad concerned about what it was for, it melted when she watched the pegasus plug the device into her leg. It beeped twice.
"Right, what would you like me to do now?" Rarity asked.
"Just sit down for me," Glyph said, reaching under her leg to pull another small device out of her leg. This one was a small ring that was connected to a thin but sturdy cable.
Rarity nodded and sat down, allowing the pegasus to place the device around her horn. It settled down till it reached her forehead.
"Okay, just hold still the best you can," Glyph looking at her leg with some concentration. It clicked and the frog and sole retreated inward on the leg. It didn't go too far as it was still visible. Though a light blue glow obscured it soon after.
Two little prongs emerged from the wall of the metal hoof. Each had a glowing blue tip. And looked rather sharp.
"Glyph. What are you doing?" Rarity said firmly.
Glyph smiled reassuringly but Rarity could feel the sadness that was coming from the pony. Though she didn't immediately reply. Rather she sat close to Rarity and lifted her biological leg. She brought her metal one close and adopted a face of concentration.
Her leg began to hum and the two prongs reached for each other but didn't touch. From that point spawned a little bit of crystal. Carefully, and expertly, she created more crystal along her leg. Till there was a little lizard approximation on her blue coat. She showed her leg with a little bit of pride on her face.
"This device creates crystal. Well, it's not true crystals since those are held together by covalent bonds and such. This is just cutie mark magic." Glyph said with a smile.
"May I take a closer look?" Twilight asked. Rarity smiled as she heard her friend's eagerness.
Rarity watched as Glyph nodded and pulled it off her leg. She then proffered it towards the Princess. It glowed purple and quickly brought to the alicorn's scrutiny.
Rarity's smile grew but faded a touch when she looked a Glyph, "Didn't that hurt? I can only imagine pulling my coat out of a chunk of crystal."
Glyph chuckled, "No, your cutie mark magic is a natural repellant to this stuff. It's not a super-strong repulsion but it's enough to make sure the coat doesn't get stuck in it. Though," Glyph said strongly, her eyes remembering an old pain, "It's a whole other story for your mane. Ugh…"
"What do you mean?"
"Well if you are creating the crystal and your hair gets in the formation, you have to break the crystal to get it out."
"That sounds like a pain," Rarity replied.
Glyph nodded, "Not really? I mean it's more frustrating more than anything."
Rarity nodded understanding, "It doesn't take too much effort, but you've got to start over. Same way with dyeing clothing. You mess up the color and it's a process to get it out. It's not too difficult with magic but you've got to scrap your color bath completely."
Glyph nodded.
Rarity smiled, "Well now that you've shown me that device of yours is not Fluttershy's plasma launcher, feel free to do what you were going to do."
Glyph nodded with a sad smile, "I'm sorry about that. I didn't think that my leg looked like the DPM." She said as she put her normal hoof into the side of her artificial fetlock. It clicked as she rotated her hoof and Rarity saw the blue glow fade to white.
"The DPM? That's what it's called?" Rarity asked, holding still as the pegasus began to cover her horn in a white crystal. Its surface glowed ever so gently.
"Defensive Plasma Manipulator," Glyph replied, wrapping the horn in a candy cane pattern.
"Ah that's right, you've said that. I'm sorry," Rarity replied. Her horn was completely covered but it didn't alarm her. She rather watched in interest as the pony began to make a small bird head at the top of the crystal cover.
"Don't worry about it. There are so many acronyms it's hard to remember them all," Glyph said, a hint of a smile emerging from her focus.
"Oh tell me about it," Rarity replied with a smile. Many such acronyms existed in the fashion industry. Though with time they became natural.
The two prongs on Glyph hoof separated and created a line of crystal in between them. Glyph placed that line along Rarity's horn and began to pull away. A sheet of crystal began to emerge, slowly creating a wing. The prongs slowly reached for each other as Glyph pulled the leg away, gently tampering the edge to a large triangle.
Rarity admired the ability to create such a piece. Sure, it wasn't very detailed. She couldn't see feathers along the assumed wing, nor could she see any facial features along its face. Though its head shape and beak were plenty enough to see a bird-style adornment on her horn. And it was created in such little time.
Glyph didn't say anything as she created the other side's wing. Though when she was done, she plucked it off of Rarity's forehead and proffered it to her.
"Now I can do much, much better. I'm very proud of my crystal sculptures," Glyph said with a smile full of pride, "But that's a base. We can work with that to power the scanner. It'll be a lot easier if we don't have to use the nets."
Rarity nodded, still admiring the smooth crystal, "This is quite interesting. Though I must ask, you like birds a lot, don't you?"
Glyph gave her a confused look, "What do you mean? You called your dress the Battle Swan, right? I thought a swan-style adornment would fit pretty well.
Rarity paused a moment looking at the crystal, "Oh that makes sense. Sorry,"
Glyph shook her head, "Don't worry about it. I can understand the confusion. My logo is based off a silver bird anyway…"
"Even though your cutie mark is a wrench and a gear," Rarity replied with a smile.
Glyph shrugged, "The ponies I gave the tech to really liked my image on a bird. So, it became a silver bird,"
"Holding a wrench right? Flying upwards?" Rarity said admiring the crystal.
Glyph gave her a questioning look, "How do you know that?"
"I saw your inscription on Fluttershy's eye when it was broken. Though it makes sense as you made it right?"
Glyph frowned, "Not really," her frown morphed into a thinking face, "Though I put my inscription in all my plans. So, you could get the symbol if you followed them to the letter."
"Which means Noah isn't modifying your plans in the slightest," Twilight perked up, looking up from the crude crystal lizard.
"That info may come in handy. The software was pretty much the same so I'm assuming he just got my plans he wanted and stuffed them into Fluttershy."
Twilight nodded, "Though we still don't know the extent of Fluttershy's gadgets. Noah could create more as you said he was your partner."
Glyph nodded, "Agreed."
Rarity frowned, unsure how to continue, "Uh, is this fragile?"
Glyph shook her head, "Not in the slightest. Throw it on the ground, as hard as you can."
Rarity gave the pony an incredulous look, "Okay?"
She then raised the little crystal bird high and brought it down as hard as she could. Her brain reminded her of the sharp corners on the wings and instinctively flinched.
Though, unlike her expectation, it didn't bounce. It merely landed on the floor with a thud and stayed there. She looked closer, worried she had buried the sharp edges into the floor but found the sharp edges weren't.
"Huh? I know crystals don't bounce but they bounce a little," Rarity said picking up the piece once more.
Glyph smiled, her pride returning, "That's because it can absorb energy. Tons of it. You won't be able to break it even if you dropped it from the outer atmosphere. It'd survive re-entry as well."
"Wait," Twilight said, her face serious, "This is the same stuff that Celestia was trapped in. Only, the other stuff was golden," She looked between the light blue lizard and the white bird, "And I can see it can change colors."
"Trapped? What do you mean?" Glyph asked with curiosity.
"Well," she paused, "Fluttershy launched a black rocket thing that when it hit Celestia; she was enveloped in a golden crystal and brought to the ground. It was also used on me."
Glyph's eyes lit up, "Wait right there." She rushed off but the cable on Rarity's forehead was still connected to her leg. Though it didn't seem she cared as it was pulled right out of her leg.
"Uh, Glyph?" Rarity said making eye contact with the pegasus and then looking at the wire dangling between her eyes.
"Could you just put it on the table?" Glyph asked apologetically.
Rarity nodded and levitated it off her forehead.
Glyph disappeared by the shelves in the corner of the room. The two magic users heard metal and shuffling of materials in great quantities before the pegasus returned. Though when she did, the two adopted faces of worry and concern.
Glyph's face had a smile of pride that washed away the moment she looked at the others, "Oh," She said, "Well, at least I know I grabbed the right thing…"
Twilight nodded as Rarity looked at the device Glyph was holding with her metal leg.
It was the black missile that she had seen used on Twilight and Celestia. Its smooth black surface told of a very slick one. Its domed head paired sharply with its little air stabilization fins. Though now that it wasn't moving, she could make out a silver ring in the case just near the top.
"What did Noah do with this now?" Glyph said glumly.
Twilight frowned, "Well, why don't you tell us what it is?"
Glyph's smile partly returned, "Well, it's a fall recovery device."
"FRD?" Rarity asked with a smile.
That got the pony to smile more, "I suppose. Though I normally just call it a Fall recovery device. It's designed to be launched at a falling victim and encases them in crystal," Glyph put a hoof on the top and swiveled it up. She then pulled out a small rectangle that snapped out into a mask.
"Wait, what's the mask for then?" Twilight asked, looking closing at the device.
Glyph nodded, "Yeah. It's for oxygen. You can't breathe in the crystal so it's equipped with an oxygen tank that will supply the user with enough oxygen to reach the ground. When that happens, the missile will shatter the crystal."
"How?" Twilight asked.
"Using sound. The crystal will reverberate fatally when exposed to a certain frequency."
"Fatally?!" Rarity said in shock.
Twilight shook her head and grabbed her attention, "No she means for the crystal. She just means when the crystal is exposed to certain sound waves it'll break."
Rarity felt worry flow out like aches in a relaxing bubble bath, "Oh good."
Glyph smiled, "Yeah sorry."
Twilight nodded, "Well, Noah used it to bring Celestia to the ground so Flutterbyte could capture her. He also had her use it on me to sever my magic connection to the quantum portal," Twilight frowned in frustration, "I tried to use my magic to break it, but it took all the magic I gave it!"
Glyph nodded, "This stuff is especially magic absorbent. Though, you must be careful. Add too much power and you get those crystal bombs. Remember the ones at the Crystal Empire?"
Twilight frowned, this time in concern, "Really? This stuff can be turned into explosives?"
Rarity shared the frown, feeling like she shouldn't be holding the crystal swan. Much less have it on something that could feed it more magic.
Glyph shook her head at the concern, "Yes and no. Yes, it can be turned into a bomb after it's made but it requires a lot more energy. You can infuse its bonds with more magic as it's made and it stabilizes after it crystallizes. That's how its explosive cousin is made. With this stuff, the energy would get trapped and bounce around it for a while. Unless you supercharge it, it would just give off the excess energy as light."
Twilight frown, "I pumped a lot of energy into that crystal…"
Glyph shrugged, "It could be that you can't make it into a bomb after it's made. It's only theoretical. I don't try to make these bombs regularly. I've only used them to cause a precautionary avalanche and when I lost my leg."
"You blew off your leg?"
Glyph shook her head with a smile, "Oh no. The joint got stabbed when I was stopping a Silver Sword's activity. I was only packing them."
"Oh? What happened?" Twilight paused. A frown formed on her face, and she backpedaled on her words, "Or, well. I mean if you don't mind telling. I don't know too much about the Silver Swords..."
Glyph shrugged and was about to talk when the door echoed with a knock.
"Come in!" Glyph said moving forward to look at the door.
It glided open to reveal Spike. He smiled, "Hey Glyph! How do you feel about food down here?"
Glyph frowned, "That's a no, unfortunately. Let's eat upstairs," She turned her head to Twilight, I can answer your question up there."
Twilight nodded and looked satisfied.
Rarity was a tad worried about learning the loss of limbs while eating but followed the group upstairs.
Once in the dining room, the group soon was seated at the table to a nice lunch prepared by Twilight's number one assistant. It wasn't the fanciest; simple sandwiches laid on the dishes accompanied with cucumbers and Spike's cauliflower bites.
Glyph smiled swallowing a bite, "These bites are really good! You'll have to give me the recipe!"
Spike smiled, "Certainly! Though you'll have to try Twilight's sweet potato muffins!"
Glyph smiled and looked to Twilight, "Oh really? I didn't take you for a baker."
Rarity chuckled, "She really isn't but they do bake-offs with each other now and again."
Twilight smiled, "Yeah! Baking can be a hassle at times, but it really makes a fun competition!"
"Except when the experiments get too exotic," Spike said, a look of disgust appearing on his face.
Twilight shuddered, "Oh yeah."
Glyph chuckled, "I know the experience. My mother was really keen on teaching me to cook. I can but electricity is more my thing."
Twilight smiled, "I feel the same about magic but it's good to branch out," she said, taking a bite of her sandwich.
Glyph smiled, "True." She took a bite of her sandwich.
It was quiet though as the group worked on their lunch. Rarity was enjoying the food but it didn't settle well with the curiosity about Glyph's leg. She said it had been stabbed. Such interactions rarely happened in Equestria. Were the Silver Swords still resorting to such tactics?
It made her worry. Would she have to fight the Silver Swords to save her friend?
She would of course. Fluttershy was her friend! And she was going through an experience that she could barely even dream about. Though certain precautions would have to be taken if she were to fight.
The time came as they finished their lunch. Spike went to collect the dishes, but Glyph shook her head.
"Watch," she said with a smile. She reached the edge of the table and clicked a hidden button. The table suddenly began to whirr and they heard several mechanical clicks.
Then the dishes began to move! On their own!
Rarity wasn't too surprised though. Her mother would use magic to clear the table all the time. Though those dishes would glow. These dishes were not as they glided along the smooth tabletop.
Each plate moved on its own accord towards Glyph. The pegasus picked up each plate and stacked them. Once she had them all in the stack, she picked them up and walked over to the sink. Rather than putting them in the sink; she placed them on the countertop next to it. She pressed a hidden button on the front of the counter. It clunked and a portion of the counter sunk downwards, taking the dishes to a hidden compartment.
Glyph smiled and returned to the table, "My mother was really impudent about me doing the dishes. I made a device to wash them pretty quickly. But let's talk about my leg!" She said cheerfully raising the appendage, "But first I've got to tell you about my wing."
"Your wing?" Twilight asked with a frown.
Glyph smiled, "Well I was born with a defective wing," She replied, motioning to her back, "When I was young it became a burden and because it had formed improperly as an embryo, it started to grow improperly as a foal. When I was merely 3 years old, my defective wing developed cancer and had to be removed."
Rarity frowned, "Oh my. I can only imagine the trauma! Losing your wing when you are so young…"
Glyph shrugged, "You don't miss something you never had. At least," She frowned, "Until you realized that you could have had it."
Twilight frowned, looking at her own wings, "I know the feeling. I never really wanted to be able to fly. Though I can't imagine losing the ability now."
Glyph nodded, "Yeah. Personally, I didn't mind not being able to fly. Though, when I entered school," her face turned painful, "I was incredibly ridiculed. I gained a new nickname: Clip. They called me Clip because I was clipped."
Rarity frowned.
Glyph however smiled, "Though I honestly am grateful, kinda. I hated the abuse they did, but I was turned that into strength to make my first metal wing!"
Rarity smiled, "Good on you for not letting those barbarians get you down!"
Glyph smiled, "Yeah the attention turned around quickly after that. Though I was never really a social butterfly. I tended to stick to myself. So, they started to call me Hieroglyph cause no pony could really understand me."
"That's much better than Clip," Spike replied.
Glyph nodded, "Much better. Though I still had my leg back then, so it wasn't a focus. Though I continued to work on my wing designs, getting them sturdier and faster. More accurate with my thoughts and gestures. Till I got to my current design! My most powerful and accurate model yet."
"Though I lost my wing when I was too young to remember having it," Glyph continued, "I lost my leg due to an infection from a stab wound."
Rarity frowned, "A stab wound? You said it was from the Silver Swords right? Would we have to fight those, creatures?" She asked with the race-neutral word.
Glyph shared her frown, "I suppose it's a probability. Though they really don't expose themselves after I revealed them. They hate me," Her face turned into a sour, hopeless expression, "That's why my Silver birds have to be careful. I've lost several to the Swords."
She pounded the table with her metal hoof, "Just because they wanted my tech! They went after them because I refused to give them my plans!"
Twilight grabbed Glyph's attention with a stern look, "I'm sure many more would be affected had you given them your electromagical creations."
Glyph seemed to depress, "Sure, but it doomed several lives. My tech still bolstered their ranks and abilities. Whether I wanted it or not…"
Twilight shrugged, "I suppose. Though I'm sure if Noah didn't blackmail you, you could have been a great help!" Though she seemed to regret her statement a moment later.
Glyph deflated, "I let him blackmail me…"
Rarity gave Twilight a small smile, then turned to Glyph, "Darling. You really need to stop beating up yourself. That's in the past. Right now, you need to realize you've got friends to help you stand up! Not to mention you need to help another friend."
Glyph scoffed, "I doubt Fluttershy would want to be my friend when I tell her I made pretty much everything that went into her?"
Twilight chuckled, "Glyph. She'd probably forgive you even if you had put it into her. As long as you don't destroy nature, or hurt her animal friends, you can earn back her trust and friendship."
Glyph shrugged.
"Well let's stop dwelling on that. You were going to tell us how you lost your leg?" Rarity said, pulling the conversation back on track, "That is if you still want us to know."
Glyph nodded, "I do. The less secrets between us the better."
Rarity nodded, having an idea, "Well why don't you tell us while we work? I think that may help you."
Glyph shrugged, "Sure."
So, Rarity led the way back to the lab. And soon she had the pegasus tinkering with an electronics board while she marked up a piece of cloth with some chalk. She wanted to indicate where the other two could place their gadgets without messing up the design of her dress.
Glyph grunted as a bolt refused to come loose, "Well, to start. I had gotten some intel that somepony was going to break into the Canterlot Vault. Its location wasn't hidden very well at the time. With Celestia herself enchanting the vault, it was seen as impregnable. A fortress hidden in the wall of Canterlot. Though the electromagical field was blooming at that point. Many ponies were trying their hoof at it. You may know the Flim Flam brothers?"
Rarity felt her face droop at the name, and she could feel Twilight doing the same. The two had gotten better. Though they had never truly gotten away from their old habits.
"They were like me. Though, much more flamboyant and pursed money rather than helping others." Glyph said, "Though there were others that realized such methods were capable of not only taking the pretty penny off ponies but also able to circumvent magic."
Twilight looked interested at this, "In what way?"
Glyph smiled, "While the field wasn't quite to that point yet, it was able to create loopholes in certain things. Take for example enchanted metal. While it blocks magic quite well, it wasn't designed to handle corrosion by electricity."
"Huh," Twilight said, "So the enchanter didn't take into account that corrosion could be accelerated by electricity as such a process would require magic. So, it would be easier to make it harder for the magic to get into the metal."
Glyph nodded, "Exactly. Though they communicated through radio waves. So somepony like me could pick up on those waves and intercept their plans."
Twilight frowned, "Why didn't you tell the guards?"
Glyph shrugged unhappily but took a moment to fiddle with the piece she was working on before responding, "They didn't believe me. They thought only Celestia herself could open the vault. They didn't even pass on my warning."
Twilight frowned, "Why would they do that?"
"Well, when your understanding of the world is challenged, you tend to push back. If something new comes up it's harder to accept. Though because of the events that night those rules changed."
Twilight nodded understanding, "Ooh! That's makes more sense. The royal guards' rules and standards are much more allowing of anonymous tips."
Glyph shook her head, separating the device into two parts and connecting various wires to her metal leg, "Oh I didn't submit it nameless. I went there myself and when I was rejected; I decided to handle it myself."
"In what way?" Rarity asked.
Glyph smiled, "I had developed a self-defense method using my metal wing. I was too young to realize others may be more trained than I was and get the higher ground. Though I knew electromagical devices like the top of my muzzle. I was positive I could put a stop to their device before they gained access."
Glyph was in a tree. The trees that had the best position were not the softest, unfortunately. She shifted her front legs, feeling the branches scrape along her coat. She wasn't too worried about her looks but was worried about potential splinters. She had to be quiet.
And she was sure a splinter entering her leg would definitely give her away.
"How long were you waiting there?" Rarity asked feeling disgust crawling up her neck.
Glyph shrugged, "An hour? Their original time they had set over the radio wasn't followed. So, I was off. Though I had a coat! But that was to hide my hair," She motioned to her bright-colored hair.
A slight breeze flowed past her face and found its way into her jacket, filling the warm area with abnormally cold air. She instinctually shivered and pulled her jacket tighter together. She also did a double-take on her hair. Making sure not even a single strand was able to leave her hood. She loved her bright pink and red hair but it didn't help her keep hidden. She had already committed to dyeing her coat a darker green, well most of it. Mainly her legs and face. She didn't have enough time to fully cover herself. That's what the jacket was for.
"You dyed your coat?! Green?!" Rarity said aghast.
Twilight gave her an annoyed look but remained silent.
Glyph shrugged, "I didn't mind it. It wasn't permanent and it was a small price to pay to prevent Canterlot's vault from being breached."
She shifted her wings once more, double-checking her metal surfaces weren't glinting in the moonlight. Though she froze when she heard a loud commotion.
Well, sort of loud. To her trained ears it sounded like electricity, then somepony getting zapped. She also heard a cry of pain after several metal thunks.
Then silence.
She remained vigilant. Her body now ignored the feeling of the sharp bark rubbing against her coat. Using her hooves, she gently pushed the branches aside to see below her. There were two ponies in mostly black garments, loose-fitting capes with hoods. One was definitely thinner than the other, but the other didn't have fat. Rather, he had a muscular frame that was supporting a large device they were carrying. Glyph couldn't see much more as their hoods covered them well. However, she could make out their brown muzzles.
"They really didn't put up much of a fight, did they?" One complained in a masculine voice, "And here I was prepped for carnage!"
The other laughed. A deep booming laugh, "You are always like that. But I'm sure that one wasn't expecting several thousand joules to the face!"
"Joules? Don't you mean ohms?"
The one shrugged, making the device on his back bump, "Eh, I don't know the device. I just know it can stun from a distance. They didn't even know what hit em."
"Eh," The other complained, "I wished it could end them. I'm worried about them waking up and short-sighting us!"
The deep voice carried distaste, "You know the boss said not to. He'd dock our pay by half if we killed any of the guards."
"If they come back and attack?" The other said annoyed.
A frustrated voice now, "Do you even listen? He told us to not kill the guards. Though you're free to deal with any pony who isn't a royal guard, any way you'd like."
The responding voice seemed to light up, "And you'll let me?"
"As long as I don't have to see it, I don't care," The gruff voice said as he removed the device from his pack. He lifted up the block-like device and placed it on the vault. It made a metallic clang as it snapped to the metal vault door. It then snapped outward with another clang and made a larger rectangle. A small screen lit up into existence on the bottom right of the device and the pony began to tap it.
"What do you mean?" The thin one complained.
"You know what I mean," The other responded gruffly. The device began to hum gently.
Glyph frowned. That device was designed to used electricity to pull the metal out of the door, making it weaker. She gently pulled back from the branches and began to slide down the tree. She had to get to it before it fully warmed up. It would easily break down the door enough to allow those two to get in.
"Break it down? What do you mean?" Twilight asked.
Glyph frowned, "Well you can use electricity to pull certain metals to other certain metals. By using that, they could make the door more fragile and prone to shattering."
"The whole door?"
Glyph shook her head, "No. Think of a door like a sponge. Metal fills it and makes it solid right? But the device can pull pockets out and replace it with weaker material. It becomes much easier to make a hole large enough for a pony to fit through."
Twilight frowned, "How would they carry the loot through? Surely they had some idea to get all the stuff out!"
Glyph nodded, "I was curious about that as well, but they found a Portation scroll in their belongings. It was small so I guess the plan was to get in, put all the loot through the scroll and get out."
"Huh," Twilight replied simply.
Glyph slowly got to the bottom of the tree, gently crouching down onto the ground. She made sure to avoid leaves or twigs as she slinked around the two ponies.
The thin framed pony was silent for a moment as he contemplated what his partner said, "No, I don't know what you mean…"
The other pony turned away from his device with a sigh of exasperation, "Yes, you do," he stated firmly.
"I'm pretty sure I'd know what you mean if I knew."
The now annoyed pony took a few steps towards his comrade, "Remember the forest? Where we got attacked by the locals?"
Glyph didn't stop to listen to their conversation but slowly took step after step towards the device. She just needed to plug in her gauntlet. It shouldn't be too hard to disable it.
"We've been in a lot of forests!" The thin one complained.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me," The annoyed voice said.
"I'm not!" He complained.
Glyph smiled as she now had reached the device. She had to be very gentle about the vault door though. Her metal wing would surely alert them if it rubbed metal against metal. Though she froze as one of the two ponies gave the device a sideways glance. Though her insides turned to ice in that moment, it didn't seem they noticed her. She turned back to her work, grateful for her disguise.
"The forest with the purple fruit? The ones that almost killed you?"
"Nope, still nothing," the other one said in a confused voice.
"Oh for Celestia's sake! Is your brain filled with nothing but death and mold?" The annoyed voice was now an angry one.
"Hey!" The other complained though there was confusion in the pony's voice, "I'm good at doing the death thing and you know it! Though why the mold?"
Glyph smiled as she heard the two bickering. She had found the port she was looking for and was testing connections for a data line.
"Cause it's rotting, duh."
It was clear the pony was insulted by his tone, though Glyph could only imagine his face, "I'm not that old!"
"I didn't say you were old."
"Oh please!" The tone reminded Glyph of an angry customer who refused to be in the wrong.
"I wasn't calling you old." The deeper voice replied. His voice carried a hint of smugness that gave away his true meaning.
"Oh?! And what exactly were you referring to then?"
Glyph's smile had faded due to concentration. She had successfully gotten into the device's program. And the change she needed to make was very simple.
She simply had to disconnect the screen's data connection to the software. That would render it useless unless the two others had another CPU. Which she very much doubted. Her frown deepened as she typed the incorrect character.
"Did you have a whole computer thing with you? With the dialing knobs and such?" Twilight asked with a smile.
"Dialing knobs?" Rarity asked confused.
Glyph nodded and walked to the table next to the harness. She picked up a flat rectangular box that had two circular indents on the top. She faced the top face towards the unicorn and put her hoof in one of them.
"It's a way to input characters into the computer. If you move your hoof in a certain direction you input a certain character."
Rarity frowned, "How do you know which character is what position? It's not marked."
Glyph smiled, "Years upon years of typing has made me memorize the positions. Years more practice has gifted me speed."
Twilight frowned, "Did you carry one of those things on you?"
Glyph shook her head, "Nope. I had a gauntlet that had a singular knob. It's much more difficult to type on but it's good on saving space."
"So, you were using your gauntlet to type?"
Glyph nodded again, "Yep! Had my front legs just like this," She lifted her front legs to make a four.
"I could be referring to a lot of things," The bigger pony replied and Glyph could feel the smugness coming off of him.
The thinner pony growled as he tried to compute what his partner was referring to.
Though Glyph had long finished her task of disabling the device. It was now no longer humming and the little screen was now black. Her smile was on her face until she removed her wires.
Cause once she did, it made a single, loud, beep.
Instantly the two ponies whirled around to look at their device.
"Hey! What do you think you are doing!" The gruff pony said in his deep voice. He rushed forward with an obvious intent to attack.
Glyph didn't respond but lifted her hoof that had the gauntlet. She clicked a button with her free hoof and the device lit up the area in front of her with a blinding white light.
The pony stumbled to a stop rubbing his eyes with a shout of complaint.
Glyph put her gauntleted hoof to the ground while she reached under her leg to pull the little handle that was wrapped behind her shoulder. With a hiss, her metal wing shot out and deployed to a flying position. She then spun on her front hooves and whirled her metal appendage towards the offending pony's face.
It made contact with a dull thunk and the pony went down, groaning.
"Wait," The thinner one said barely sounding afraid, "You aren't a royal guard!"
Glyph frowned as her mind recalled their previous bickering. She again lifted her gauntlet and flashed her little beacon. Though she didn't attack as the pony chuckled.
"You aren't the first to attack me with light!" He said gleefully and produced a small knife from underneath his cloak. Though the little knife telescopically extended into a spear that that pony wielded with their front legs. He whirled it around, showing off his experience.
Glyph frowned, using her wing to block. She did push against the spear as the attacker thrust it in her direction, yet the mechanism didn't retract as she had expected it to. Though it was probably designed that way since using it ought to make it return to a knife.
The other pony she had struck earlier shook their head and got up. He smiled as she was locked in combat and pointed a device at her.
It was a Lightning-milli.
"A Lightning-milli?" Rarity asked.
"It's a hoof-held device that can deliver the force of a thunderbolt! It can stun most ponies with a single shot." Glyph replied.
"How?" Twilight asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
Glyph smiled, "Well it's a limited use since the power is stored in a battery. But the front end has retractable wires that are connected to prongs. When activated, it shoots the prongs out with the wire trailing behind. Once it hits a victim or metal, it will deliver the electrical charge. The prongs are barbed but have a quick-release mechanism for removal."
"Ow…" Twilight merely said.
Glyph nodded, "Yes, it's quite unpleasant. But if it comes to letting somepony attack you or causing them a bit of pain, I'd rather the latter."
Twilight nodded, "Fair."
The larger pony activated the little device wrapped around his foreleg, firing the two prongs with a little click.
Glyph used her wing to intercept the prongs and focused on the pony wielding the spear. The prongs latched onto her wings and fused because of their current. However, Glyph had already experienced being electrified without her insulating skin. So, her wing was able to handle the charge just fine. So, she ignored the current and continued to block the spear. She even used the wires to manipulate the spear as well.
There was just one issue.
Any attack she deployed was completely disregarded by the enemy pony. Hits from her metal wing, even when she did a complete spin to utilize all of her muscles, only made the pony smile.
She was in a losing battle. She'd have to disengage or risk getting killed. But where would she go? The two would likely pursue since she was a witness now. Not to mention she had tampered with their device; they'd surely come after her for that alone.
Though her thoughts ran cold as she felt a sharp pull on her wing. It was the wires from the Lightning-milli. They were being pulled on by the other pony, pulling her wing away. Her only shield against the razor-sharp surface that was aimed at her chest.
At that moment she had to choose. Lose her life or gain a burden for the rest of her life.
She shifted her barrel to the left as the spear was thrust forward. It ran home into her shoulder, cutting through everything in its path till it split the joint apart and buried itself into her bone.
The pain was nothing she had ever experienced before. She'd remember the searing pain for the rest of her life. It throbbed with every heartbeat, and she could feel two layers of pain harmonizing in a song of agony. Her flesh screamed as it lay torn, and her bones groaned as the spear twitched with other pony's movements.
She allowed herself to scream with her pain. But not for too long. Just long enough for somepony to hear, not long enough for her to lose herself in her pain. She needed a clear head to think. To act.
Though she subconsciously gripped her shoulder as the pony grabbed the spear towards the blade. He then grunted as he lifted her up and over his head. He then continued her arc till she met the ground with a solid thud.
Her shoulder responded with a loud crack that reverberated within her with vibrations and pain. She didn't allow herself to cry out this time. But she couldn't help a high-pitched squeak before she cut it off.
Her wing had also snapped, breaking free from the artificial joint that was spliced into her back. Luckily, it was designed that way. Otherwise, the joint may have been ripped from her premature wing joint. Maybe she should make the wing be able to go limp from trama to reduce the leverage an extended wing would have during said trauma.
"You're pretty good if you aren't screaming," The thin one said with a grin Glyph had only seen in movies and plays.
Glyph merely grunted in response. She could feel the pain running through her body. It felt as if there was a pressurized tube running from her should directly to her brain. She could feel it throbbing and she was starting to get a headache.
"Who trained ya? The guards? Perhaps you a retired fellow?"
"She's too young to be retired you, idiot," The larger pony said, "She's probably some vigilante who just wanted some attention."
"She already has attention," The thin one countered, "She has a metal wing!"
Glyph felt herself breathing heavily. Constant streams of oxygen were flowing into her mind, feeding her anxiety. Though she channeled that energy into thinking about her situation.
She wasn't dead yet, so the main artery that ran close to her neck was probably fine. She wasn't in immediate danger of bleeding out. Though the blade in her shoulder was hurting terribly, it was probably helping with that fact.
The larger pony rolled his eyes, his blue eyes not hidden by shades. He said nothing more but walked over to the device.
The thin one smiled, "He turned away, do you know what that means?!" His voice betrayed excitement. Glyph tightened her face into a mix of pain and frustration.
The grin only grew. He then braced against her shoulder and wrenched on the spear. She exclaimed in pain as her bones refused to allow the spear to release. It took two more tugs before the weapon came loose with another crack.
Her pain tripled and she was now whimpering trying to contain her sanity.
"Oh, don't worry," The pony said lifting the spear up, "I'll send ya right off to a land of sunshine and rainbows!"
The moon was behind the pony at that moment, making him look like the Mare in the moon cloaked in a robe of shadow was in front of her. For a moment, she could imagine the pony holding a large scythe.
"Wait!" The other screamed in a silent but urgent matter, "She did something to this thing! It's not working!"
The thin one's displeasure was plain to see on his face despite his sunglasses, but he stopped his attack to look at his partner.
"What do you mean?" He asked, his displeasure mirrored in his face.
"Like I said it's not working!"
"Let me see," The thin one said, leaving the crippled pegasus behind. He walked over to the device and started to fiddle with it.
Glyph grimaced with the pain echoing through her body. She wanted to get up and run. Though she knew she wouldn't get far, especially with her leading leg out of commission. She shook with another wave of pain as she reached for her bag. She gasped after the wave and continued to go for her bag. It took her a bit longer, but she grabbed a syringe from her bag.
It was a tube filled with a light grey ooze. She removed the cap with her teeth and gently applied the contents onto her wound. It stung like, well, Glyph couldn't compare the pain to any sort of sting she ever had. It was much more potent than a bee sting. Though this pain was familiar. The gel was an antiseptic that was designed to stop heavy bleeding. She had created it herself, and she always tested her gadgets on herself.
The gel became clear and the pain was subdued ever so slightly. She put the syringe back into her pack and rummaged for a moment.
"I have no idea why it's not working now," The thin one said in frustration, "Did you turn it on properly?"
"Of course, I did! It was just working a minute ago!" The large one replied with anger.
Glyph frowned, knowing where the conversation was going. She didn't have much time. Her rummaging became desperate, but relief filled her mind as she found the object she was looking for. She pulled it out to reveal another syringe. Though this one had a razor-sharp needle covered by a protective cap.
This was a dose of anesthetics. A dose that should knock her out for about an hour with her weight. She ripped off the cap and gently poked the needle into her injured leg. It complained but soon the feeling around the area started to go numb. It was the best sensation she had felt to have the searing pain be flattened away. Though she made sure to not move. It wasn't a miracle cure, she was still hurt, and moving more than necessary would only give her future self more pain. She quickly replaced the cap and hurriedly pushed the needle back into her bag.
The feeling of numbness was beginning to climb up her leg, but she gently started to push herself away from the two arguing ponies. She needed to act the part for this next bit.
"Then what happened? Nothing happened except…" The thin one said, his anger trailing off. The two ponies then came barreling towards the pegasus. She had expected as much and placed a defiant expression on her face.
"What did you do!?" The larger pony said, his voice booming.
"Quiet!" The thin one complained, "You'll alert the others!"
The larger one's neck seemed to snap as he turned to his partner, "You already did that when you made her scream." His voice was deathly deep and deathly serious.
His partner frowned, realizing.
The larger pony turned back to Glyph, "Now, you'll fix the device. Or you'll only get more pain, understand?" He placed a hoof on her shoulder for emphasis, but Glyph didn't even twitch.
Glyph's head was swimming. The pain was now forgotten as a shining numbness seemed to blossom from her barrel, numbing everything it touched, "No, I. won't…" She said semi-coherently.
The pony's face immediately turned to concern, he looked at her shoulder then at his partner, "What did you do?!"
"I just stabbed her in the shoulder!" He complained, "I didn't kill her yet!"
It was starting to get hard to hold her eyes open. Glyph's eyes seemed to be dried out as the sensation to blink became nearly unbearable. She twitched with effort but allowed her eyes to slowly close. Her world become a comfortable blackness that she willingly fell into.
"So," Twilight started, "you drugged yourself to act like that one pony had killed you?"
Glyph nodded.
"And used that gel stuff to make sure you didn't bleed out in your sleep?" Rarity asked.
Another nod.
"So that the two ponies would have believed you died?" Twilight asked with confusion, "Though it would be easy to tell if you were still awake by checking your pulse or even seeing you breathe."
Glyph nodded, "Of course. Though I was guessing that those two weren't the brightest bulbs in the room. So, I took a gamble. I sincerely doubt I could take any torture back then. I was inexperienced and waaay in over my head. I had underestimated the skills of the outer world and quite nearly paid the price for it."
The blanket that was smoothing her consciousness slowly peeled itself off, allowing her mind to start waking up. First came her senses. Though all she could see was light and a lot of bright colors.
"-"
She felt her face frown. She was experiencing something, yet her mind was trying to understand. What was it?
It then smacked her in the face. It was her hearing. Some pony was talking to her.
"Hello?" A gentle voice said. It was painfully familiar.
Though Glyph's mind was still trying to focus on the image in front of her. It was just a mess of color that was speaking to her. She tried blinking but that didn't help. She then felt her mind un-fog a bit more and she felt her eyes move a bit. The mess of color combined together to reveal a pony with a white coat and rainbow hair. Her eyes were stern, but Glyph still couldn't remember who she was.
"Hello? Can you understand me?" The pony asked again gently.
Glyph didn't respond. Her mind still felt like a sponge that had been left out after the dishes.
Glyph frowned at the stimulus and rather looked around. It was still dark out and she could see a very big metal door and a few trees that edged the path to said door. There were a lot of ponies around. Many were wearing armor. Though there were two wearing capes.
"She's not quite coherent yet," the pony said, "Be sure to keep those two here. I'm sure she's injured because of them."
"No! She attacked us!" One of the ponies with a cape said.
The other growled in response.
"Oh? Is that so?" The white pony said, turning around, "I know that you are not among my Royal guards stationed here."
The two ponies seemed to recoil with fright.
The pony turned back to Glyph, "You able to talk?"
Talk? Could she talk? Glyph frowned and opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
The pony smiled, "I guess not," She sighed and shifted her wings, betraying her impatience, "Even with magically metabolizing the anesthetics, it still takes a while for them to wake up."
So, Glyph remained there, trying to remember how to talk. Furthermore, why she should be talking was still a question. So, she stared at the pony in front of her. She was white and she had wings. Her hair was also flowing in the wind. Was there wind? Her skin didn't report any. Or at least she wasn't sure it wasn't.
It took her a couple of minutes, but it finally dawned on her that she was staring at an alicorn. And there was only one white alicorn.
Celestia.
"I uh," Glyph suddenly sputtered, trying to get herself into a bow as soon as she could. Though she found she couldn't move her right leg. She looked at it to find it smothered in a golden glow. She again tried to move it, but it wouldn't budge even a little bit.
The Princess of the Sun laughed, "I see you've found your voice!"
"Uh, yeah." Glyph said, still trying to understand why the Princess was standing right in front of her.
Though she frowned as the Princess's face darkened, "So can you tell me what you are doing next to the Canterlot Vault?"
Glyph gulped, "I, uh," She started trying to find her dictionary in her mind. Though Celestia stood patiently but slightly extended her wings.
Glyph swallowed again, "Intercepted a radio signal that warned me of a break-in. I was here to stop it."
The Princess said nothing for a moment, looking at the two ponies that had attacked her. She turned back to the pegasus, "Why did you not alert the Royal Guard?"
Glyph frowned, "I did. I uh, got laughed at."
The Princess's face curled into an unpleasant frown, "Hmm. Provided you are correct, I'll personally see to that."
Glyph shrunk with the sudden thoughts of an angry Princess, "Don't punish them too badly. I mean, it did sound ridiculous; breaking into the vault that you yourself enchanted."
Celestia gave the pony an odd look, not a bad one but an amused one, "Given time, any defense will fall. Regardless of my magic."
Glyph merely nodded.
Celestia nodded as well, "Now, prove your story to me," She said with a frown, "These two claimed you attacked them when they were trying to prevent an attack."
Glyph frowned feeling uncomfortable, "Uh, how would you like me to do so?"
Celestia didn't respond immediately but looked to the sky for advice. After a moment she smiled and turned back to Glyph, "Well, tell me what you saw. What did you do after you got that, radio signal?"
Glyph blinked, "Well, I dyed my coat and braided up my hair to hide in that tree over there," She replied pointing to the tree she was in.
Glyph felt her hood magically lift itself off her head. Celestia frowned, "You went through great lengths to conceal yourself. Why?"
Glyph wanted to shrink down into the ground under the Princess's scrutiny. But she knew that wouldn't help her much, "I'm not the best fighter. I never really trained in the art…"
"Okay," Celestia replied plainly, "Then why did you come to stop the attack?"
"Cause she was the attacker! Obviously!" One of the caped ponies cried out indignantly.
He might as well as not have said anything with Celestia's reaction. The only indication that she heard him was the slight rise of the eyebrow, motioning Glyph to continue.
Glyph swallowed again, "Cause it's the Canterlot Vault! Lots of important things have to be stored in there since it has your protection! I couldn't just stand idly by!"
"You went to stop an attack when you aren't experienced and have only one wing? Did you plan for that?"
One wing? Glyph frowned and looked to her back. Her frown faded a bit when she saw blood obscuring her wing's port. Perhaps the joint got pulled a lot harder than she realized.
Celestia's frown increased, "Did you lose your wing?"
Glyph nodded nonchalantly, much to the Princess's surprise. Glyph ignored it as she looked for her wing. She found it almost immediately as it had just been buried a little under dust and her back. She picked it up to find it bent in awkward places. The wing sections were at gravity's will and hung limply. Glyph frowned as she lifted the end section upwards and let it go. She watched it fall back down as it made a small click.
Great. The pneumatics had lost pressure. Some sort of micro leak, she was sure.
Though it glowed golden and floated forward towards the Princess. She brought it close and gently extended it outwards, making the wing more apparent. She gave Glyph an incredulous look.
"This is your wing?"
Glyph nodded slowly, "Yes. I made it myself!" She frowned, "Though it's broken now."
"How did you connect it to yourself? Your saddlebags?" Celestia asked curiously.
Glyph shook her head, relaxing a little, "No, I had a connection point placed where my wing socket was. It's a little busted too," she said turning once more to look at her back.
Celestia nodded and smiled. She placed the metal wing at Glyph's forehooves and turned to the vault door, "So it seems that you are familiar with electromagical devices. So, you'll know what this thing is right?" The device that was on the vault door glowed with a bright golden hue. It remained that way for a moment before coming off the door sharply. It was brought to Glyph where her metal wing snapped to the back of the device.
Celestia gave it a curious look but turned to the pegasus when she spoke.
"It's magnetic."
"Oh really? That's interesting. It doesn't look like a magnet; this looks like a large piece of metal," she said pointing to the large circular disk on the back of the device. Now that Glyph could look at it plainly, it looked much like a porthole. A very thick one that kinda reminded her of a doughnut.
Glyph nodded, "It's likely an electromagnet. It's powered by electricity."
"Fascinating," Celestia said, putting her hoof to the magnet. It glowed for a moment, then the metal wing fell off due to gravity.
Glyph picked up the appendage with a confused look. Did the Princess know how to stop the device?
Celestia smiled, "Anti-magnetism spell."
Glyph's confusion washed away, "Ah," she replied.
"Now," Celestia said after a pause, "Do you know how this device works?"
Glyph wanted to become as small as possible, "Not entirely. I just know it was supposed to allow entrance into the vault."
"And how did you know that?" Celestia asked in a carefree tone.
"I heard it over the radio," Glyph replied simply.
Celestia chuckled, "So what was your plan then? You stated that you weren't trained with fighting though you made that wing of yours. Surely you have some sort of cognitive planning?"
"Oh, for, your sake!" The thin caped pony shouted with a slight pause and exasperation, "She's the one that attacked us!" Though no pony even looked at him.
Glyph frowned and took a moment to respond, "Well I'm pretty good with programming. I would just need a port to get into the CPU and I figured I'd be able to go from there."
Celestia didn't respond but her horn glowed brighter and a sheet of metal materialized in a golden glow next to her. She then placed the device on it where it attached with a resounding clang.
"Can you turn it back on?" Celestia asked gently but with a firm tone.
Glyph frowned and looked at her injured leg, "That could be a problem…"
Celestia frowned, "Do your best. Let me know what I can do to help you."
Glyph nodded and with the Princess's help reconnected the gauntlet to the device's port. The tiny screen on the gauntlet lit up with now-familiar characters. It took her a few minutes but soon the device the two caped ponies had brought lit back up and started to hum.
Though it didn't last long.
Even as Celestia lifted the device to look at it, it stopped humming and beeped twice. Celestia frowned and put a hoof to the plate that was exposed from the device.
It cracked and crumbled beneath her touch.
"Electrolysis…" She muttered.
Glyph was about to respond with delight that the Princess knew of such process but she turned to her before she could even open her mouth.
"Alright, last question," Celestia said laying the device gently on the path. Her Royal guard approached and started to load it onto a wagon.
"What injured you?" Celestia asked looking Glyph in the eye, "Not who, what."
Glyph frowned combing through her memories, "It looked like a spear? Though it did start out that way; it was like a small knife…"
Celestia's eyes lit up like a detective getting something right, but also had the eyes of a mama bear whose cub was just punted, "A K-ear?"
Glyph felt her head tilt of its own accord, "A, what?"
"A K-ear. It's a small knife blade that has a telescopic handle that can extend it into a spear."
Glyph nodded.
"Oh, that clears things right up," Celestia said turning towards the two caped ponies, "Not only was she able to turn back on the device, implying that she was the one to turn it off, but the weapon she described was identical to the weapon used by a very certain somepony."
The thin pony's hood glowed as it was pulled off. His shaded glasses also glowed but were flung aside instead. Beneath them were two eyes, though only one saw. A light red scar ran up from the left to the right and continued to the pony's ear. He was also missing a chunk of hair on that side as well. The remaining stark blue eye was filled with fear.
"KaKarem, was it?" Celestia said with distaste.
The pony nodded hesitantly but was like a bunny to a wolf as the alicorn approached.
"KaKarem! You and your partner are hereby placed under custody!" She proclaimed. She then placed her hoof on the pony's chest and left a glowing magic rune when she pulled it away. It glowed bright and lines of light shot around the pony's body, covering him in a fine web. He then clunked into a laying position as the spell nullified his resistance until not even his ears could move.
Once he was restrained, she lowered her head to his level and spoke in a deathly serious tone, "And you won't escape me this time."
The fear was plain to see in the pony's eye and it made Glyph suddenly more conscious about the magic surrounding her injury.
Celestia turned to the last caped pony, "Do I need to restrain you as well?"
The pony shook his head and followed his now floating companion as several of the royal guards escorted them off the grounds, taking the device with them.
Glyph gulped as she watched the pony get restrained, then asked as she watched the group disappear into the darkness, "What did he do?"
Celestia was still watching the group go but spoke with a restrained calm, "He murdered an entire group of locals in the forest. He was a robber that was using the forest as cover when he and his partner ran into them. When my guards found him, his coat was stained with the blood of those locals and a big smile on his face. One of the locals managed to take out his eye. Though they won't be able to see the light of my day ever again."
Glyph frowned and turned back to where the pony was taken away. She started to relax about the magic surrounding her shoulder though it turned back to panic when the Princess turned back to her.
"Now it's your turn," She said firmly, "You aren't supposed to be around these grounds either, regardless of your heroics or not."
Glyph swallowed but nodded, "I understand your Highness."
The guards started to walk forward but stopped with a signal of the alicorn's wings, "That won't be necessary. I will waive this intrusion this once as you helped stop an unknown threat. Though they wouldn't have gotten away with anything, you were willing to sacrifice quite a bit to save something viewed as important."
Glyph's face curled in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"Do you want a punishment?" Celestia asked with a smile.
Glyph shook her head sharply, "No, no... I mean, what do you mean they would have gotten away with nothing?"
Celestia's smile became merely more prominent on her face, "I can't tell you that. Though it's like you said. Anypony would believe something important is behind a door Celestia herself protects."
Glyph frowned incredulously.
Celestia chuckled, "You learn from experience my little pony, and I've got quite a lot of it. Though," she paused, looking curious now, "This new electromagical area is fascinating but I don't fully understand it quite yet. I am aware of what a radio is though have never seen one. May I take a look at yours?"
Glyph merely blinked at the sudden turn of attention but figured she might want to go through with the Princess's request, and not just because she was the Princess. So, she nodded.
"Wonderful," Celestia said and turned to her attentive guards, "Can you take the injureds' post?" The two nodded and marched towards the door and stood at attention in front of it.
The alicorn turned back to the pegasus, "Now, where do you live?"
Glyph relayed the information to her. Then she saw her environment change with a flash of golden light. Once she removed the blinding light from her eyes, she found she was in front of her house.
"Can you stand?" Celestia asked ignorant of Glyph's awe at the teleportation and lifted her up with her magic.
Glyph put her damaged wing in her mouth and settled three legs on the ground. She took a hobbled step forward but managed to guide the Princess to her door. She hesitantly welcomed the alicorn in, wishing she had cleaned up. Though it wasn't too bad. Several projects were on the floor in a multitude of places, but it wasn't junk and dust thrown about. Though she would have put them away had she'd known the Princess would be visiting.
But that didn't quite matter now. The Princess was here and there was nothing she could do about it. The Princess, however, seemed to be interested in the piles of miscellaneous circuit boards and metal pieces.
"What are you working on here?" The princess asked, "Those are transformers and, pneumatics?"
Glyph nodded with delight and placed her broken wing on one of the piles, "Yep! I was working on increasing the effectiveness of my wing's movements. The less power it consumes, the lighter I can make it."
"That does make sense. Batteries are heavy. Especially when they need to hold a lot of power."
Glyph frowned, "Um, if I may; how do you know so much about this stuff?"
Celestia smiled and waved her wing dismissively, "Electromagical devices are powerful creations. And with that power, comes those who want to use it to get more power. A good ruler must be aware of posing threats to her kingdom."
Glyph nodded, "That makes sense."
Celestia smiled, "I'm glad you understand but let's get to the subject at hoof. It is still quite late."
Glyph frowned, "Oh, I'm so sorry! Uh," She looked around her room as her panic made her forget where the radio actually was.
Celestia laughed, "Oh do not worry too much. You are the one that ought to be more tired than I. You've been up nearly all night!"
Glyph didn't feel the need to respond but rather focused and remembered where her radio was at. It dawned on her as she ran to the kitchen on the other side of the stairs. There on the side of the stair was another door. Though it posed a problem.
It led to her basement that she had been turning into a workshop. It would allow her house to be a house and not a workstation. Though the hallway fit a pony just fine, a full-grown alicorn was a different story.
"Is it down there?" Celestia asked but something was different about her voice. It was at her level.
Glyph turned to the alicorn to see the pony now just a tad taller than she was. Glyph found herself staring at the solar princess in shock.
Celestia gave an apologetic smile, "If I had known I would have grown to my height, I would have made all the doors in the castle larger when it was built. Though I had to add extra clearance to them in the more recent past. However, I am not able to do such with other pony's homes. A simple spell was all that was required."
Glyph nodded, accepted the explanation, and led the alicorn down the short flight of stairs. The basement's stone walls were still plainly visible, and dirt had to be swept away from time to time. Several mostly empty shelves occupied a corner directly from the stairs. A few tables were present but were covered in tools for woodworking and other such room design equipment.
The radio was also there though Glyph had to move a few wooden boards to get to the receiver.
"Hmm, it's a lot larger than I expected," Celestia said looking at the device. It was like a large box, a suitcase-sized box. Several dials marked with an up and down arrow, lined up on the front of the box-like device. Above those dials was a large circle that had light trapped inside. A single number also was trapped with the letters H,t, and z. Next to it was another circle that looked like a piece of foam with a plastic grating on top.
Glyph smiled, "I could make it much smaller but I made this one before circuit boards were a thing," she explained picturing the nest of wires hidden by the cosmetic box.
"If I'm not mistaken, that stands for Hertz, correct?" Celestia asked, pointing towards the glowing screen.
Glyph nodded, "You can send data on radio waves and there are many types of radio waves. Using these dials, you can change the hertz of the wave to tune into a signal."
Celestia nodded with fascination and opened her mouth to speak but the radio crackled to life.
"Team Codebreaker do you copy?" The mystery voice said making Celestia perk up to its words.
"Can they hear us?" Celestia asked quietly.
Glyph shook her head and picked up the receiver. Another small box that had a curling wire reaching into the side of the radio, "You have to speak into this thing when it's on to transmit a signal."
"How do you turn it on?" Celestia asked with her normal voice.
"KaKarem! You are behind schedule! What is your location!" The voice angrily shouted.
Glyph frowned but answered the alicorn's question, "Uh, there's a panel inside you reach in and pull it down." Normally such radios were meant to be two hoofed but she had wanted to make it a single hoofed device. So, she had reversed the normal button, pulling to activate it instead of pushing.
Celestia picked up the small receiver with her hoof and looked at it curiously.
Glyph pointed to the lit-up screen, "A ring will light up around those numbers when it's transmitting."
Celestia nodded and Glyph noted that her neck started to glow a bit.
Then, when the alicorn started to speak, she had a different voice, "Ugh, I'm in the middle of something! Hang on a minute!" She replied in a much deeper voice, speaking into the little device. It was the same voice of the pony who had stabbed her.
"Why are you behind schedule!?" The voice angrily demanded.
"We ran into some issues," Celestia said with her modified voice, "Or, rather, someponies."
"I swear on Celestia's mane… If you killed a guard—"
Celestia chuckled, her neck no longer glowing, "My mane? Sheesh, I really don't understand why everypony swears on it."
There was no response.
Celestia chuckled, "Good choice. Though it's no use now. I know your voice."
Celestia put down the receiver and smiled, "Fascinating little piece of equipment. I would love to talk to you about this subject further if you are able to."
Glyph nodded with a small smile, still processing what had happened.
"So she responded to the Silver swords? Why?" Twilight asked.
Rarity shared her curiosity as she sat as still as she could. Glyph was working on making the horn decoration that would serve as a bridge between her magic and the electromagical device.
Glyph took a moment to respond, "I'm not sure. I never got the chance to ask. Nor did I think about it later.
"Wonderful! Though that will have to be after you recover." Celestia said with a smile.
Glyph frowned taking a look at the golden glow no dubitably muting the pain on her shoulder.
"Let's go back up and lock your door. Then straight to the hospital." Celestia said with a smile, walking towards the door.
Glyph frowned but nodded. She followed the Princess back up the stairs, noticing her go back to her normal height in the process. Glyph then walked to her front door and quickly locked the door. The next thing she knew she was in a hospital lobby room with a golden flash. She didn't even have time to lower her hoof.
"Celestia!" Glyph heard a pony said exclaim in shock.
"Hello!" Celestia said cheerfully, "Will you be able to check in a patient for me?"
The pony seemed to be in shock, but she nodded, "Who am I checking in?"
Celestia turned to Glyph, "One pegasus."
"Glyph," Glyph added.
The receptionist nodded, "Okay, and what are we in for today?" Her question was shaky as she talked to the alicorn.
Celestia replied with a warm smile, "A stab wound on her shoulder. Pretty deep, caused by a k-ear."
The receptionist gave the Princess a blank stare, "Uh, is this a code blue?"
The alicorn shook her head, "No I've got her wound secured by magic, but it will need medical attention to heal."
The receptionist blinked, looking at the golden glow surrounding the pegasus's shoulder, "Uh, alright. I'll get a doctor to come look at that right away."
"Thank you," Celestia replied but Glyph barely had a moment to sit down before the doctor arrived.
The pony in a lab coat was slightly out of breath but spoke evenly, "How may help you, your Highness?"
Celestia smiled and pointed to Glyph, "She's the one that needs the medical attention Doctor."
Glyph smiled and held still as the doctor examined the wound. Though it was hard to see through glow originally, it became largely clear as he looked.
It was mostly red as the blood had had time to coagulate. Though the amount was alarming.
"How long ago did this happen?" The Doctor asked. His voice was no longer filled with anxiousness with the Princess was around but with concern.
"Hmm," Celestia frowned, "I'm not entirely sure. She was unconscious when I placed the spell. But it's been about 20 minutes since then."
"We are going to have to take a closer look," He turned to the receptionist, "Have them clear operating room 4. It may be just a wound to the surrounding tissue but I'm not taking any chances."
Glyph frowned at the word operation but realized that it was probably necessary, "The blade went into my shoulder," she said, "I'm pretty sure it went either into my ball joint or at least in between the joint."
The doctor smiled, though not of joy nor ill intent, "It's helpful when the patient is awake! Are you in much pain?"
The alicorn shook her head, "No. The spell is blocking any sort of pain at the moment. Though it's blocking quite a bit."
Glyph seemed to shrink, suddenly very grateful for magic.
The Doctor nodded, "Understood. I'll be sure to get an Anesthesiologist to meet us here," He turned to the receptionist, "Can you ask them to bring a stretcher?"
The pony nodded.
The Doctor then turned back to Glyph then paled. He pointed to her back, "Have you always been missing a wing?"
"Yes," Glyph said, "Though the connector may be out of position."
"What type of connector? We can fix it while you're under," the Doctor said with a smile.
"It's the standard model. Just the Generation 4 with computer connections."
The Doctor nodded, "Understood. I'll have the surgeon take a look."
Glyph nodded with gratitude.
It took little time for the stretcher to be brought, floating along the ground. Two ponies accompanied the stretcher, one was holding the stretcher while the other was holding a small bag. They recoiled with a little shock at the alicorn but recovered quickly.
Glyph hesitantly clambered onto the stretcher when she was asked to, lying down as she did.
"I'll leave your bags at your house for you," Celestia said with a smile and Glyph felt the bags lift off her back.
Glyph frowned, "Just be careful with them."
Celestia nodded, "Of course." She replied with seriousness, but it dissolved to a chipper tone a moment later, "Though when you are awake and able, I would like to talk more about your Electromagical creations."
"I'd love to!" Glyph said with a smile. She then rolled onto her said per the Doctor's direction and allowed the stretcher to hold her weight.
"Is there anything else you need to talk to her about?" One pony asked, pulling a small needle from their bag.
Celestia shook her head, "No. I wish you good health Glyph."
Glyph nodded with a smile.
Celestia returned it and turned back to the pony, "Be sure to tell me when she's under before I release the spell."
The pony nodded and injected the needle into Glyph's uninjured foreleg.
Glyph once more felt the blossoming light envelop her consciousness and passed out into darkness moments later.
"I woke up after a successful surgery but because KaKarem never really cleaned his blade, my shoulder became infected. It wasn't fun dealing with that," Glyph said pausing with her work on the crystal piece.
Rarity was in awe of the crystal adornment. A large swan seemed to envelop her horn and blossom upward with a cry of jubilance. Its extended wings were covered with tiny lines depicting feathers that covered them. Its body was a translucent white, looking much like glass rather than a piece of crystal.
Though it wasn't too large. Only just a few centimeters past her horn and two or three for the wings. Then again, she was glad the piece wasn't large, or moving her head around could be dangerous and cumbersome.
"But the infection spread downwards and dug into my bone," Glyph paused to grab another wire from Twilight's magic, "Though it was contained mostly to my bone, the doctors were worried that it may spread from there. If that bacterium got into my liver, I was done for. So, they opted to remove it. I agreed and made my first metal leg a week later."
"Wow!" Twilight said watching Glyph's work while several parts hovered in her magic around her, "I'm glad you're okay! And am amazed at how fast you made your leg!"
"Well, when you've made one artificial limb, it's not hard to make another," Glyph said with a smile, "Though it's more amazing that we finished! Before midnight!"
Rarity smiled. She was now wearing a dark purple jumpsuit with several electromagical devices stitched in on her flank. They were connected by wires to a few devices along the back of her neck. Those were connected to the scanner device on the side of her head and the crystal adornment.
"Well, we still have to test it, do we not?" Rarity asked standing up, "We aren't quite done yet."
Glyph nodded, "Of course. Though I wasn't expecting to be able to test till past midnight."
Rarity frowned. Midnight? She shrugged, remembering the numerous late nights she had endured for the sake of fashion.
"Alright, you can still use your magic, right?" Glyph asked proffering a tool.
Rarity lit her horn, causing the swan to glow with a light blue glow, and extended her magic to the tool. Gently, she picked it up and spun around a bit.
"Yep," Rarity replied, "I do love how this adornment looks though! Is there any way I can use it for my other outfits?"
Glyph frowned and shook her head, "Unfortunately these crystals don't last very long. It'll dissolve in about a week."
Rarity shared Glyph's frown, "A week? That's it?"
Glyph nodded, "Yeah… It's a characteristic of the lower-powered crystals. The explosive variety doesn't decay. Though," She paused with a thinking face, "We might be able to keep it solid with charge. Though it may have to be made differently…"
"Oh, I would love that! Though not now of course," she said looking at Twilight's lost face.
Twilight shrugged, "Eh, I'm just trying to think of how many swan-themed dresses you could make."
Rarity smiled, "Oh dear the swan is an elegant bird! It can go with many types of dresses or outfits! Regal occasions, white dresses, water themes, or even a bird theme!"
Twilight smiled, "Is there going to be a Swan theme for your boutique?"
Rarity returned the smile, "Potentially."
Glyph chuckled, "Let's test this thing before we go onto more dresses. We still need to make sure your dress will fit with all this equipment."
"Of course," Rarity said and reached her magic to her adornment. Gently, she pulled the wings down. The tool she was holding fell to the ground as the adornment started to glow and emit a light blue aura. Rarity made sure to keep her horn lit by using the horn light spell, on low power of course.
She felt the little devices on her back rev up and whirr and she could feel the devices on her flank warm up ever so slightly.
The scanner flipped outwards and covered her left eye with a small plastic screen. This time, the reticle was already in place and was scanning Glyph for any Quantum Fluctuations.
No Quantum Fluctuations detected.
It was no longer fussing about storage medium this time.
"It looks to be functioning," Rarity said with a smile.
Glyph's wings extended as she gave a little cheer, "First try!"
"Here, test it on me," Twilight said, walking into Rarity's vision.
Rarity nodded and aimed the reticle at her friend.
Quantum resonance detected!
Error!
Device is currently set to scan for Quantum fluctuations and not Quantum Resonances. Please resolve in the device settings.
Rarity frowned not understanding, "Glyph? I've got an error here."
Glyph deflated a bit, "Ah there's a problem. There's always one…" She shook her head, "What's it saying?"
She relayed the error which made Glyph's head bounce.
"Ah, that's not a problem. Quantum resonance is different than a fluctuation. Fluttershy's connectors emit fluctuations and not resonances. I didn't want it to accidentally scan something else Noah may have added."
Rarity nodded but still had a frown, "What's the difference?"
"A resonance happens when a Quantum event could appear," Twilight replied, "A Quantum fluctuation happens when a Quantum event is occurring."
Rarity nodded understanding. Though Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought.
"Though I'm concerned about the Quantum resonance detected on me. I'm not thinking about teleporting and that's the only thing I can think of that would cause a Quantum event…"
"Perhaps it's the elements?" Rarity suggested, "Our harmony forms do allow us to transfer energies, right?"
Twilight nodded but frowned.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, I was hoping it was my alicorn power form," Twilight said with a sigh, "I was hoping it would help me figure out what it is and then control it," She shivered, "I really don't like the idea of suddenly turning into a powerful being just because I'm mad or some other trigger I'm unaware of."
Rarity chuckled, "Darling, we all can turn into powerful beings when we are mad. Remember Fluttershy at the Gala?"
That got her friend to chuckle.
"It's something we all have to control, not just you."
Glyph nodded, "Yep. Agreed on all ports here."
Twilight smiled, "Thanks."
Rarity nodded and used her hoof to lift the wings on the adornment.
Device powering down…
The device on her head then retreated from her vision and the devices on her body slowly whirled to silence. She then lifted her dress from her mannequin and slowly put it on. She was very gentle and made sure to resolve any snaps before they caused a rip. Though it went smoothly. Once she had pulled her hair from the depths of the dress she stood and looked at herself.
Everything was snug. It was slightly tight around the collar, but it was bearable. She walked in a few circles feeling the devices weigh down her steps a little but it wasn't unlike saddlebags. She looked to Glyph and Twilight with a proud smile.
"It all works! I may adjust the collar a bit but that's just preference."
Twilight clapped her hooves a few times, "Wonderful! Oh, I can not wait to make the others! I've got a few ideas about the batteries we could use to make it smaller."
Glyph nodded, "Sounds good! Though let's not do them tonight. Let's write them down, help Rarity get out of the jumpsuit, and call it a night. We can continue in the morning."
Rarity nodded with a smile and began to use her magic to gently remove the dress, "Wonderful. I was hoping to get it down before the event. I originally canceled some plans, but I may be able to now go through with them!"
Glyph nodded, "Just be careful about liquids. It should be okay with a little bit of water but don't go swimming with it."
Rarity huffed, "Why would I go swimming in a dress?"
Glyph blinked, "Hmm, Fair point."
