The next morning, when Tech Specs awoke, the sunlight was beaming in through the window beside her bed, and she could smell some kind of food being cooked downstairs. She quietly walked down the stairs into the Apple Family's kitchen to see four ponies gathered around a small, round table, eating a fresh batch of apple pancakes. Two of which she knew were Applejack and Big Macintosh, but she hadn't seen the other two before; a rather old, pale green mare with a grey mane styled in a bun, and a small, light yellow filly with a rose coloured mane with a pink bow atop her head.
The little filly immediately jumped from her seat at the table and stood in front of Tech, looking up at her. "Is this her, Big Sis?" questioned she giddily, "is this the pony who fell from the sky? What's your name? What's with the goggles? Can you fly?"
"Apple Bloom!" snapped Applejack at the curious filly, "where's your manners? Don't be bombardin' our guest with questions." She stood up and trotted over to Tech Specs, getting between her and the little filly, then said, "I'm so sorry about Apple Bloom here, Tech. She's just a little excited to see somepony new around here." She then turned and glared at Apple Bloom, who looked down shamefully.
"I'm sorry, Big Sis," apologised she to Applejack.
"Don't apologise to me," said the orange mare, stepping out from between Apple Bloom and Tech. "Apologise to Tech Specs."
"I'm sorry, Tech Specs."
"It’s quite alright!" assured Tech, "you're just curious. To answer your questions: Yes, I fell from the sky yesterday. You just learned my name. I feel naked without my goggles. And no, I can't fly." Tech started to think for a second, then looked at Applejack and said to her, "I have to go see Fluttershy. Where is her house?"
"Just on the other side of Ponyville, right next to The Everfree Forest," answered Applejack. "What's the rush, Tech?"
She looked out the kitchen window at Ponyville, and turned back to reply, "I have to see if I did any damage to her house, and gather up the pieces to my wings."
"You have wings?!" asked all four ponies in the room simultaneously, confused as to what they had just heard.
"Yes. Well, sort of. It's a long story. I have to go now." The blue mare wasted no time in answering, and darted out the front door, headed to Fluttershy's cottage. Applejack followed her to the cottage, trying to get her attention, but to no avail.
The pair soon arrived at the cottage to see Fluttershy and a purple unicorn pony tending to the damage to the wall Tech hit when she landed, which had only a small crack and a few chips to the stucco exterior. The two ponies turned to look at Tech and Applejack, who were winded by the time they arrived. "Excuse me, Fluttershy," huffed Tech, still catching her breath, "I need to ask you something."
"Oh, ummm, okay," answered the pegasus nervously. "What is it you need?"
"Have either of you found a pair of metal wings, most likely broken, laying around here anywhere?" asked Tech as she regained her composure.
Fluttershy looked around and replied, "umm, I.. I think I.."
"Yes, we found something like that," interrupted the purple unicorn. She looked to the side, and her horn started to glow a light purple. As this happened, a pair of twisted, mangled metal wings, surrounded by the same purple glow, floated over to the ponies, and were gently set down between the two unicorns. "These the wings you're talking about?"
"Yes, these are indeed them," confirmed Tech, looking over them. "Thank you kindly, Miss..?"
"Twilight Sparkle," answered the purple mare. "My name is Twilight Sparkle."
Tech looked at Twilight and finished, "yes, good. Thank you, Twilight Sparkle." Tech thought for a second. She had heard that name before somewhere, but where? She kept thinking, but was interrupted by a voice coming from behind her.
"Now what in Tarnation's goin’ on here?!" asked Applejack, frustrated and confused.
"Applejack?! I didn't know you were here." The blue unicorn turned to see an annoyed looking Applejack glaring at her.
"Yeah, I've been here as long as you have. Now, y'all got some explaining to do," huffed the orange pony, "what exactly is all this?"
Tech picked up a dilapidated wing, showed it to Applejack, and then explained, "this is.. or was rather.. an invention of mine. It was supposed to enable anypony to fly about like a pegasus. I was testing this prototype, but it failed mid-flight." She turned to face Fluttershy and Twilight. "Which is why I crashed into the side of your house. Sorry for that, by the way."
"Well, I guess that makes sense," mused Applejack, "but why did you even build a contraption like this?"
Tech looked at Applejack and clarified, "I'm a mechanist; it's what I do. Now that everything's cleared up and nopony except for me is hurt, I have to get back to my shop."
"That seems fair," reasoned Twilight Sparkle. "So, where's your shop, Tech Specs?"
"Fillydelphia," answered she without missing a beat. Everypony looked directly at Tech as she replied, dumbstruck. She was a long way from home indeed.
"That's an awful long ways to walk, Tech," stated Applejack.
"Yeah," agreed Twilight Sparkle. "Let's see. I've got a balloon. We could fly and be there in a couple hours if you like."
"That would probably be best." Tech looked at her leg cast and said, "I doubt this thing will survive a trip all the way to Fillydelphia if I walked. I'm surprised it's withstood all the running I've done today." Twilight knew what the mare was referring to because Rainbow Dash had blurted out the story to everypony she possibly could the night before.
"Then it's settled!" said Twilight gleefully. She was excited because she hadn't had the chance to use her hot air balloon in quite a while. "Follow me to my place in Ponyville; I'll get it ready there," said Twilight as she started towards Ponyville with Tech Specs closely following. Behind them, they heard Applejack shout, "good luck, y'all!" at the two unicorns as they trotted away from the cottage.
When they arrived at Twilight Sparkle's library, they burst through the door without hesitation to see a startled purple baby dragon jump upon their hasty entrance. The dragon looked to see his friend Twilight, and Tech Specs. He righted himself and said, "oh, hey Twilight. What's up? Who's your friend?"
"Hey, Spike. This is.." Twilight Sparkle was about to finish when Tech interrupted.
"I'm Tech Specs," introduced Tech, who then turned to Twilight, embarrassed. "Er, sorry Twilight," she apologised.
"It's quite alright, Tech," assured Twilight, who then became serious again as she spoke. "Now, back to the task of getting you home. Spike, ready the hot air balloon, please." Spike merely saluted and exited through the front door of the library to do the task. Meanwhile, Tech Specs began looking about the vast bookcases and the many tomes kept within. She saw a particular book on the very top shelf: a red book with a gold spine, bearing a gear motif on it. She looked to Twilight Sparkle, who noticed her attention to the book, and she looked to it as well. As she did this, her horn started to glow lightly, the same glow surrounding the tome, moving it down to a table beside Tech.
"There you go. Master's Edition Clockwork and Watchmaking Technical Manual," informed Twilight in a very matter-of-fact tone. Tech looked at Twilight, rather impressed, and Twilight merely added, "I'm the librarian; librarians gotta know their own stock, right?" Tech nodded, and began looking through the massive tome.
After a few minutes of small conversation, along with Tech Specs' reading of the book in which she was utterly fascinated, Spike veered his head into the room through a nearby window and announced, "Twilight, Tech; the balloon's ready." At that, the two unicorns trotted out the front door and around to the back yard of the library, where Twilight Sparkle's hot air balloon rested, ready to take off.
Tech Specs gazed in awe at the giant machine. The basket and balloon itself were purple, intricately designed with gold borders on the basket and deeper purple, Baroque-style scrolls on the balloon. Her awestruck state was broken by Twilight, who got Tech's attention simply by saying, "hey, Tech." She looked at Twilight, who was magically holding the tome Tech was so intently reading before, asking her, "how'd you like to have this, you know, as a gift?"
"Oh, no. I couldn't accept such a wonderful piece from your personal collection, Twilight Sparkle," denied Tech, besmitten by the generous offer.
"Please? I insist. I think it will come of better use to you than me," offered Twilight still.
"After all I've done? I've caused such a great stir in this town; I think I should be the one giving everypony else gifts." Tech continued, "plus, I'm familiar with a good portion of the content of that book already."
"All you've done? You didn't hurt anypony, and you only scared a few of us," reasoned Twilight. "And, I think that the past couple days would have been extremely boring were it not for you."
"Hey, if you two are done arguing, let's go!" barked Spike impatiently as he poked his head out from the basket of the balloon.
"Alright, alright," said both ponies simultaneously as they walked up to the balloon, and hopped into the basket.
Twilight repeated her previous statement to Tech, "Please? I do insist." Without another declination, Tech Specs nodded and kindly accepted the tome, placing it beside her in the balloon’s basket.
"Thank you, Twilight Sparkle. You're very kind," thanked Tech sincerely. She loved the aged artifact of a tome. Tech had always dreamed of just seeing an original copy, and now she had one to call her own; it was a meaningful gift indeed.
"You're welcome, Tech. Maybe you'll learn a little something from it and not nearly kill yourself next time." Both ponies laughed at the joke, but stopped quickly, noticing they had a surprise guest on board. This "guest" was a pink earth pony with deeper pink, curly, puffy hair, a matching tail, light blue eyes, and three party balloons on her flank.
"Awww, that's so touching!" said the pink mare in a high, almost squeaky voice as she hugged the two unicorns and Spike. She then instantly stopped hugging them and started smiling ear to ear, saying, "this calls for a PARTY!" She then started to dance, but was stopped by Twilight.
"Pinkie Pie, what are you doing here?" asked the purple mare, amused, but confused nonetheless. "How did you get all the way up here?"
"I was here the whole time, Silly Filly!" answered she happily, still smiling. "Where are we going, Twilight?"
"We're going to Fillydelphia to take Tech Specs home," answered Twilight, motioning to the blue unicorn beside her.
"Oooh, Fillydelphia?" inquired Pinkie Pie, who then continued, "I haven't been to Fillydelphia in a while. What's it like this time of year? Where do you live in Fillydelphia?"
"I live in the mechanist's shop I own," answered Tech. "It's in a decent part of the city, so I don't complain."
"What do you do in your shop?" added Twilight to the conversation curiously.
"I'm a mechanist," replied Tech, "I build things. Ponies come into my shop with an idea for a machine, and I take about a week or two to build and test prototypes of these machines. If they work, I build a final model and sell it to them; and if not, I scrap the project. But sometimes, I get ambitious ideas myself, so I build them as well. Those wings I was testing when I fell into Ponyville were one of my ideas. I tried to build a device that allowed anypony to fly about like the Pegasus Ponies. But, it clearly has a few kinks I still need to work out."
She was about to go into something else when she looked over the edge of the balloon to the ground below. They were directly above Whitetail Wood, which was absolutely beautiful from above. They passed above the forest slowly, giving the ponies time to take Whitetail Wood's natural beauty in stride. The canopy of the forest was a perfectly constant shade of deep emerald green, and almost completely motionless, save for the rustling of leaves in the breeze. A small dirt road ran through the centre of the forest, and was just as calm. After a good while of taking in the scenery, they reached the edge of Whitetail Wood, where the trees slowly faded into flat grassland, and eventually, a large city, the city of Fillydelphia. After a while of looking about the Northwestern part of the city, Tech Specs noticed her shop, her home.
Her shop was a small, two-story building close to the corner of a non-crowded block, right across from a block with an empty lot in its centre. "Spike, we're here," she told the dragon, who then started to land the balloon in the empty lot. It wasn't dirty or unkempt, as most were; the residents of the surrounding apartments kept it clean and used it for various purposes, but today it would serve as a landing pad.
When the balloon was safely on the ground, Twilight Sparkle gave Tech Specs a pair of saddlebags in which to put her wings. Tech placed her head through the strap of the bags, lifted her head up, slid the bags comfortably onto her back, then placed her things in them. The three ponies and Spike leapt out of the basket and trotted across the street to Tech's shop. The sign on the window had a symbol that resembled Tech's Cutie Mark, three interlocked gears, and above the symbol were the words, "Tech Specs' Machines." Underneath was written a motto that said, "You Can Dream It; We Can Build It." They stood outside the building for a while, talking.
"Well, this has certainly been an eventful couple days, but I suspect all great adventures must come to an end." Tech started to say her goodbyes to the ponies. "Twilight Sparkle, I still thank you sincerely for this tome. It will be a valued piece in my personal collection. Pinkie Pie, I've only known you for a couple hours, but it's certainly been the most interesting couple of hours I’ve had throughout this ordeal. Also, please tell Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Nurse Redheart that I thank them immensely for the assistance they provided, and tell Fluttershy that I'm sorry for landing in her yard and that lot. Once again, thank you all for your help." She hugged the two other ponies and Spike.
"We'll see you around, Tech," said Twilight Sparkle as she, Pinkie Pie, and Spike headed back across the street to their balloon. Pinkie Pie stared crying two massive, cartoonish fountains of tears as they walked.
"Hey, Twilight!" called Tech right before the three entered their balloon to head back to Ponyville. The ponies and Spike turned to look at her, and Pinkie stopped crying, but still looked sad. "If you lot would like a party, come here at the end of the week; I'll take you to a music show featuring a couple bands I really like! Bring your friends! My treat!" Pinkie Pie's expression, and Twilight's, as well, quickly brightened upon hearing the offer.
Pinkie Pie then bounced across the street to Tech, and embraced her tightly, yelling, "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!!! I love parties AND music! It'll be great!" as she hugged Tech.
"My pleasure, Pinkie Pie," assured the blue mare as the pair heard Spike and Twilight call Pinkie Pie back to the balloon. Pinkie Pie gleefully said goodbye as she bounced back across the street and into the waiting balloon. As the massive balloon got airborne, it started to float away, towards Ponyville. Tech Specs waved at the ponies, and as she did, she noticed Twilight say something. Tech wasn't too great at reading lips, but she could make out the words, "See you then." being spoken. Once the balloon containing her new friends was out of sight, Tech Specs ran a hoof through her short mane, and walked back into her shop to check up on what she had missed during her absence.
“Dear Princess Celestia,
The last couple days have certainly been the most eventful of the week. Somepony fell out of the sky and crashed in Ponyville. she broke her leg, but she easily fixed that with some ingenuity and metalworking. Her name is Tech Specs, and she’s from Fillydelphia. According to her, she builds things, and a flying machine of hers was the cause of her crash. Her circumstances were unfortunate, but she was in high spirits the whole time and she got along with everypony she met. I guess that one can always find a friend in any situation if they have the right attitude.
Always your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle”