//------------------------------// // Explosions? // Story: My Little Engineer // by Soren Mercer //------------------------------// Pilot’s Log Date: 02/03/2406 11:45 I hesitantly stepped out through the airlock to my abode, the hissing of the air exchangers doing their job sounding like the two words I absolutely did not want to hear today. This event was for me, and me alone to celebrate and I did not want the party pony that was Pinkie Pie getting wind of it. I crossed over the front half of my shack and approached the entrance to the mine to get a good view of the major work that was being done within. The cavern had been opened up into the mountainside considerably, allowing for more than enough daylight to get inside and illuminate the four storey’s worth of scaffolding that went into mining out the various ores within. Those ores in of themselves wouldn’t be nearly sufficient for the purpose of building the Dry-dock, but they’d certainly help with the shipments now coming in from beyond Equestria’s borders. “How’s it looking in there?” Luna’s digital voice inquired as she approached from behind me. She’d taken to moving into a place nearby to my own on the premise that she’d be the princess to help oversee the new town and it’s workings, but I knew it was just to spend time with me; she wasn’t a very good liar. “Progress is being made, certainly.” I remarked as I crossed my arms over my chest and stood stock still at the middle of the opening in the ground. My own voice was being synthesized and automatically translated into the Griffic Language by use of a throat mic set up. Luna had a similar set up around her own throat and a pairing earpiece in her ear like me. “We’re acquiring hundreds of thousands of pounds of raw resources everyday and the fourteen Refineries haven’t had a chance to just process what they’ve got. There is an immense backlog of raw ore waiting to be processed sitting in storage containers which should be used for storing the manufactured parts.” “So what do you suggest?” Luna stopped her approach next to me, watching the same scene with me; one of ponies working hard to pull the ore from the walls and ceiling. “I suggest we stop work for today and let the Processing catch up. Let everypony take a day off for the first time in nearly a month.” “I will agree to that.” Luna nodded and went to make the announcement by blowing a large whistle, however I held her short upon noticing the time on my wrist computer. “What?” “Let’s wait fifteen minutes, give them the second half of the day off at noon.” I requested and turned back towards my shelter. “Then they can have a day and a half off with tomorrow.” “Why, what’s tomorrow?” the princess eyed me over curiously as she followed me into the airlock and applied the magic around her muzzle to let her breath. “Nothing’s tomorrow, I just know that the refineries won’t be able to finish up their work in half a day. It’ll also let the workers get some time with their families.” I shrugged back and entered into the main room with Luna at my side, aiming for a couch against the left hand wall. I sat down with Luna laying herself out on another entire couch coloured blue across from me, sprawling out in doing so. “If you’ll excuse me a few minutes.” “Take your time.” Luna nodded with a yawn and settled down for a nap. I stood again and entered into my room, locking the door behind me and sat down at my desk once i’d unsuited. Making a couple menu selections, “Hey, happy birthday!” my dad announced through the holographics, looking jovial with the rest of the family behind him. “Tara couldn’t be here because she’s currently busy with university, but she’s sends her best.” “Thanks for your best. It’s alright that Tara couldn’t be there, I understand she’d be pretty busy being the next genius of the family.” I sighed and rested my chin in my hand, resting the elbow on the desk with my free hand acting as a buffer between the edge of the desk and my stomach. “I suppose she’s been growing well, how old is she now?” “She’ll be going on twenty-eight in a few weeks. Can’t forget to send your own happy birthday’s back home to Tara for her big day!” Dad sat forward and winked then sat back again. “Oh, mom wants me to remind you that we’re going to be out of touch for a while. We’re being relocated to ensure that we’re kept safe while under the Trump Administration.” “Yeah, I’ll get right on that…” I sighed to myself and paused the video to sit back and stare off into space. It hurt to be constantly reminded that all the contact i’d ever get with my family would be through these videos, but given that they and the following generation were all long dead by now… “Happy fucking birthday to me…” “What?” Luna’s voice demanded from across the metal walls. “It’s your birthday?” the sound of her trying to run off to tell everyone was halted when I remotely locked the airlock out to prevent her from escaping before I could catch and calm her. Exiting out of my room, “Yes, it’s my birthday according to Earth Standard Time.” I announced sorrowfully. “But I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone about it. It’s not exactly my favourite occasion to celebrate.” “Why not?” Luna inquired as she stepped out of the locked down airlock, looking confused but concerned. “What could be so bad about celebrating the day you were brought into the world?” “Given that it’s also the day I said my final good-bye’s to my family…” I collapsed on my green couch and flopped backwards onto my back to drape my arm over my face and create darkness. “But can’t you just talk to them on your desk?” Luna’s voice suggested that she grew nearer even if the hoofsteps on metal didn’t. They quickly vanished which suggested that she was laid out on her own couch. “No, I can’t. They’re already dead, those’re just recorded messages they sent me.” I explained and rolled onto my side, facing the back of the couch and away from the world around me. “They were recorded before I left and uploaded to my ship's computer for me to go over while I was awake and the date suggested which video I watched. They were scripted so that I could feel like I was actually talking with them.” “But you’re not, the illusion is gone.” Luna concluded somberly, dropping her head to rest it on her hooves. “Yep, nothing but a failed illusion.” I mumbled back before turning to silence. The sound of the couch behind me shifting under Luna’s weight, followed by the sound of Luna landing on her hooves, alerted me to the advancement of the Princess as she grew near to me. Suddenly, I found myself being nudged closer to the back rest before being spun around in place to face her. Once I was in a position that she deemed correct, still somewhat curled up defiantly, she crawled up onto the couch with me and cuddled in close as she could to wrap her hooves around my back. “Then tell me, is today an illusion? Am I an illusion?” Luna whispered given the proximity of her mouth to my face. “What are you getting on about?” I demanded and tried to turn myself back over to face the back of the couch. Luna allowed me to do so but kept her hooves wrapped around me and held me tight. “Aren’t I now your family? At least a friend whom you may confide in and trust? Am I not given allowance to celebrate your birthday because without it you would not be here, saving my race?” Luna demanded and she nestled me in closer to her body and refused to release me. “You may not want to celebrate your own birthday because it was also the last day you saw your human family, but do not disallow your friends to celebrate you joining our lives.” “You sound like my mother.” I half groaned, half whined in protest before going silent to contemplate her words. Even with the automatic translations, the pair of us could pick up on the intended reflections through the simple act of listening to the inflections of our voice before the translation ruined it. “Then you know i’m probably right.” Luna chuckled half-heartedly before releasing me to roll off the couch and land on her hooves. “Come, let us celebrate you arriving on our planet as our saviour.” “Don’t really feel like much of a savior if my plans take two months more than we’ve been allowed.” I grumbled back but sat up regardless. Luna floated my white on black Urban suit out to me, suggesting I wouldn’t need the heavier-duty worker suit I’d grown accustomed too. With her helping to streamline the suiting process with her magic, the pair of us stepped into the airlock once i’d been properly dressed and I unlocked the functions of the door. Changing through scenery and I once against stepped out into the afternoon sunlight. “You are every much a savior if you’ve pledged to save our race with the Colony ship.” Luna announced and gave me a nudge forward to exit the airlock. I did so, reluctantly, and instead of following Luna I instead stomped my way to the air horn that would signal the workers to stop working. An explosion in the mine had me rush for the horn that much quicker, considering that no blasting materials were being used in mining in the first place, and pulled hard on the cord. The whistle’s shrill noise rang out into the air, piercing through the sounds of ponies shouting and the stampede of worker’s evacuating the mine. Then the shaking began. “Earthquake! Evacuate the mines!” Luna shouted in what was established as her Royal Voice though my own translation kept itself at a moderate volume. It was already unnecessary for her to yell such a command since the ponies were already high-tailing it out of there, but I suppose she felt that in doing so she was helping. The quake continued on, knocking loose stones from the ceiling until larger and larger pieces began to rain down. Eventually massive stones and chunks of ores began breaking off until the entire mouth of the mine collapsed, trapping in a good dozen ponies inside. “We have to save them!” somepony shouted as the workers turned about face and armed themselves with whatever they could use to begin digging out the trapped miners, despite the continuing tremors. “If this continues, I can’t have the mining project remain on the ground.” I mumbled to myself as I armed myself with my own drill and began blasting away debris to assist with the work effort. “Stop! Stop! You’re making it worse in here!” The muffled yellings of a pony sounded from beyond the collapse, just barely loud enough for the translation to pick it up. Everyone ceased their efforts and backed away, looking confused about what to do next. “We’ll be fine, we’ve got supplies in here! You just focus on trying to get us out of here safely!” “Can you teleport out?” Luna called back, staring down the rocks as though trying to scare them away from the opening. “No, of the…” the voice went silent for a minute before coming back. “Of the thirty of us in here, only four of us aren’t hurt. Unfortunately, none of us are unicorns!” “Then can my sister and I teleport in there?” Luna called back again, looking distressed. I was already working on plans for something big that would serve all our problems and was browsing through my completed ship blueprints for something that could help. “Sorry Princess, it’s not safe in here. Most of the floor has given way into massive chasms that we’re not entirely sure where they are; it’s too dark to be able to see completely and we don’t want to risk your lives or the lives of the ponies in here! Just see if you can find some way to dig us out without moving the rock!” the pony explained quite unhelpfully. “Can you use that Seal to get them?” I suggested, looking over to the princess. “I cannot, I cannot create a seal large enough to destroy all that rock without moving the rest. We have to be able to destroy all the rock at once.” Luna sighed in defeat as Twilight and Sunset popped into place nearby and ran up. “What happened here?” Twilight demanded before her eyes settled on the fallen debris closing off the mine. “What happened? I thought that the mine was supposed to be completely sound, even in an earthquake!” “It was, then something blew up.” I remarked and continued going through my lists of available ships. “I’m already working on something to try and help the ponies in there but it’s going to require a ton of effort from everyone to build.” “What is it? Can we afford to build it with the supplies we have?” Sunset looked up at me hopefully. I selected the craft I planned to retrofit for the purpose of mining from above and projected it from my wrist computer. “That…” “That’s big.” Luna gawked at the tiny ship, even though her mind was already converting it into it’s real sized counterpart. “How’s that supposed to help us?” “I’m going to put some mining lasers on the bottom of it and have it burrow a hole in from above.” I explained with a smirk, though it went off without being seen. “Laser’s can’t mine, they’re just light particles that’ll just bounce off the surface of the mountain.” Twilight protested before both Luna and Sunset reminded her of the Wyvern’s capabilities, among other examples of previously impossible stuff. “I would use a nano-factory but that’d just take to long.” I shrugged back. “I just really need some way of building this thing quickly.” A beep on my computer alerted me to something having been uploaded to my blueprints and welder pattern lists. I looked over the newcomer with a cautiously raised eyebrow, wondering how it had uploaded without the Internet connection. Turns out it was just something trying to upload, but without an antenna network it couldn’t do so. “What is it?” Luna attempted to look over my shoulder at the notification but since she couldn’t read it very well given that it was in Advanced Galactic English, she stepped back with a hopeful smile. “Is it something that’ll help?” “I ‘unno, I can’t download it without an antenna system.” I shrugged back and closed all notifications down. “At least that’s something simple we can set up.” “So, we’ve got work to do then!” Twilight shouted, aiming a small selection of workforce to the nearby Wyverns being packed with materials. “Let’s build a massive ship, thing!”