Repair and Deliver

by SleeplessScribe


Chapter 5: The Plans

Repair and Deliver
Story 6
Chapter 5: The Plans
By: SleeplessScribe

As it turns out, Rarity was not the one that needed help this time. However, the door still swung open for me and I was met with just as polite a greeting as I was last time. Though with a little addition.

“Forgive me for calling you out again so soon, dear. Uh, I’m afraid the issue doesn’t have anything to do with me, but more so with my friends. Beat and Vinyl are here, and I they wanted to surprise Sweetie with a nice musical setup before she got out of school, but I’m afraid we can’t seem to get one of these speakers to work.”

Oh boy, sound systems. I hadn’t worked on one of those in forever, so my knowledge on them was just a little rusty. Rarity took me through a door on the right, across her kitchen, and to a rather dim area with carpet on most walls. Inside was a pretty white unicorn with a somewhat swollen stomach and a two tone mane of light blue and… regular blue I guess, and another unicorn with a sandy coat, black hair, and a purple beanie. This guy had a headset around his neck as well, and the fact that the glare from his glasses hid his eyes was a little intimidating.

Both of them were messing around with one of the rectangular speakers. They had it opened up and were looking at all of the circuitry inside, though neither of them looked like they had any idea what they were doing.

Rarity first pointed to the mare. “Torque, this is Vinyl Scratch,” she then turned her attention to the stallion, “and that’s Beat Tempo. They’ve both been at this for at least an hour. Is there any chance you might be able to figure out what’s wrong?”

From the looks of things, that speaker would be very difficult to salvage. This wasn’t your average cone-coil-magnet speaker, this one had actual electronics in it. I crouched down beside Beat and looked at everything before addressing him.

“So, is it just not boosting your sound?”

He shook his head slowly. “It’s not that. It plays back, but even with everything on our soundboard as low as it can go without muting, the feedback is terrible. We don’t actually use this one when doing things live, we use it for playback when touching up our songs. You know, silencing sniffles, cutting out breaths, things like that.”

That made it a little bit easier to figure out the problem. It was unlikely that it was just blown, since they probably lowered the volume in situations where this speaker was used. However, I found quite a few shorts in the wires inside, with one wire completely fried.

However, an idea popped into my head. It may have been a silly one, but I made a mental note of it anyway. The future is indefinite, and this thing could come in very handy if the future I had in mind decided to play out.

“I have some bad news, guys. You’ve got a lot of shorts in these wires, and a few are fried altogether. Now, it is possible to repair this damage, but with the cost of the materials and the time it would take, it’d actually be cheaper to just buy a new one.”

Vinyl let out a groan. “I was afraid you’d say that. We were really hoping to get this setup ready before Sweetie came home. Thing is, this is all stuff from our personal recording studio, and Rarity has been gracious enough to let us move all of it to this room so we can do more stuff with her sister.”

The mention of Rarity’s sister being in school caught my attention. It probably didn’t help that I already had this idea related to the subject, but even if I didn’t have it, it was still worth asking.

“Say, Rarity… does Sweetie go to Cheerilee’s school?”

She slowly nodded. “Yes. Why do you ask?”

I put my foreleg around her, turning to the other unicorns. “Do you mind?”

They both shook their heads, allowing me to take Rarity into the kitchen. “Yesterday, when I first came here, Cheerilee was the first pony I helped out. She had a problem with her projector, but that’s not the point. I found out that Dinky Doo, Ditzy’s daughter, had been bullied out of her lunch for the third day in a row.”

The seamstress rolled her eyes as her mouth began to curve into a frown. “Let me guess, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon? Those two have been harassing my sister and her friends for quite some time, as well. What are you thinking?”

It was a shot in the dark, but it was a shot worth taking. “Do you think you could ask your sister to maybe… look out for her? Neither I nor her mother can be around all the time, and I’m afraid that those kids will start up again after a while. I got them to stop for one day, but you know bullies never stop completely.”

She reached over and patted my shoulder. “I’ll talk to her. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind having a new friend.”

“Thanks, Rarity.” After another nod from her, I returned to the two unicorns in the studio. “So, are you alright with having to replace it? I could try and fix it if you’d like, but I’m not sure how well that would go over.”

Beat waved his hoof from side to side. “Nah, don’t bother. If getting a new one is easier, then that’s what we’re gonna do.”

That was the response I was hoping for, and now all I needed was a second desired response. “So, do you mind if I take this one? There are still some good things in it, and I’m sure I can make use of them.”

Vinyl lifted it up with her magic and set it on my back. The great thing about speakers is that they were nowhere near as heavy as they looked. “Help yourself. It’s not like we can use it anymore, anyway.”

I was half tempted to take it straight to my house, which is what I ended up doing. Taking it to the shop would’ve been a shorter trip, but it probably would have just gotten in the way. As I made my way back to work, I started thinking about Dinky again. Hopefully Rarity’s sister would take her side and try to be friends with the little filly, but even if she did, that wouldn’t stop the teasing. However, having someone that would be with her at school would definitely make things easier.

In fact, the more I thought about her, the more I thought about her mother, too. I really had a strong desire to help her in any way I could. Her story just tugged at my heartstrings, and while some would claim that she was just lying to get attention, I knew she was being sincere. These thoughts are what ultimately led to my decision to start working on a new invention. Unfortunately, I’d have to get through the rest of the day in order to start on it.

My cousin was in the door, thrusting a tool belt onto me. “You need to get to the town hall, now. There’s been a pretty bad accident, and Sprocket is already there. Go, now!”

Well, it’s not like I could argue. I made my way to the town hall and came upon a horrifying scene. One of the big pillars supporting the building’s roof had collapsed, and there was also a massive hole in the deck at the town hall’s base. The worst part was seeing the pair of grey hooves poking out of the hole as Ditzy attempted to lift herself out. What was good about this was the fact that Sprocket was already there, and was helping Ditzy out as I rushed over to them.

“Sprocket, what happened here?”

The earth pony opened her mouth, but Ditzy shook herself up and beat her to it. “I lost my balance again…. I was the only pony not out on delivery, so I was sent to give some priority mail to the mayor, and this happened.”

We both helped her back onto her hooves, but she seemed not to want to move after that. Once the shadow was between Sprock and myself, we turned around to see the rather gruff looking colt walking over to us. He sported a light brown coat, dark brown hair, weirdly dark stubble, and what he lacked in height, he made up for in width. He wasn’t fat, but he was… big, if that makes any sense.

“Derpy, back to the office. Now.”

My friend began to nod, trotting off along with this guy. “Yes sir, Air Mail….”

Sprocket’s gaze shifted from me to the damaged building, doubling back a few times. “We’ve got supplies coming our way to fix this, but I doubt we’re going to be able to salvage anything from this mess. What do you want to do?”

With Ditzy still on my mind, I looked over all the damage before pulling out a hammer. I pulled up all the nails in every broken plank of the porch first. “We’re not just going to patch this up. Sprock, once our materials get here, I want you to start filling in the missing planks. I’ll see what I can do about the post, but I’d like your help when I’m done. We cannot start on the roof until that post is up, understood?”

She gave me some kind of salute and we both sifted through the broken debris. The young mare was right; everything was so torn up that there was no salvaging it. Luckily our new materials were coming up to us as we finished searching through all of the rubble, and we immediately got to work.

It took at least three hours for us to finish the planks, the pillar, and redo the frame for the broken section of the roof. The worst part about that was hearing the three calls we had to deny because we were already busy, but the good part about this was that we still had plenty of supplies to work with, and would probably have some left over after everything was completed.

At least another four hours passed by before we were completely done, and by then it was three o’ clock. I pressed the button on my radio, hoping that Sparkplug would respond. “Hey, cousin, do you mind if I split for a minute? I want to check on Ditzy, a crash like that had to hurt.”

There was a quick buzz from the device before her voice came on. “Sure thing. I’m a little worried too, so let me know how she’s doing.”

With that out of the way, I headed over to the post office only to find that she wasn’t there. When I asked about it, the colt I assumed to be named Air Mail told me that he sent her home for the day. Now that I knew that, I headed over to her house again, and once again, Dinky answered the door on her little stool. She had her foreleg wrapped around her puppy, and soon the other was around my own.

“Hi Mister Torque! I’ll go get momma!”

She turned to take off, but I grabbed hold of her. “Now, now, Dinky, you don’t need to do that. Just tell me where she is and I’ll go see her.”

The little unicorn pointed her hoof directly down the hallway. “Right down there and take the first right.”

I gave her a little pat on the head before setting her back down. “Thank you, sweetie.”

When I poked my head through the door, she was laying on the bed with her back to me. I knocked a few times on the door frame to get her attention before I entered. As she turned to me, I saw the streaks that stained her cheeks coming from her eyes.

“Ditzy! Is everything alright?”

She slowly shook her head as I made my way to her. After a sniffle, she tried to speak. “He took me off deliveries permanently. That eliminates and chance of getting some kind of pay bonus. Torque, I’m really afraid that without any boosts I’ll start getting behind on the house payments. I’m really, really scared.”

I pulled her into my embrace, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Hey, hey, it’s gonna be alright, Ditzy, I promise. Look, it’s Thursday now. How about I take you out somewhere Saturday to help you get your mind off of things? If you’d like, I can find a sitter for Dinky, or she can come with us if you’d like.”

The pegasus slowly began to smile at me. I felt my face heat up immensely as her lips met my cheek, though the look on her face was more than enough to cure my flustered…ness.

“Thanks, Torque. That means a lot to me.”

I couldn’t help but smile too. I stood up and patted her back before getting ready to leave. “Get some rest. Also, don’t worry about little Dinky, I think things are going to start looking up for her, too.”

Before I could leave, I felt her grab onto my leg. “Wait, Torque. I just want to know something; is there a silver lining around my cloud?”

The question caught me totally off guard, like many of the things Ditzy did. To be quite honest, I didn’t think there was an answer that wasn’t as cheesy as an all you could eat buffet for mice, but sometimes you have to be cheesy to be honest. Wait, what? That doesn’t even make sense.

“There’s always a silver lining, Ditzy. All you have to do is look, and that’s all I do. Just push through that cloud, and you’ll find the sun, I promise.”

She gave me a slow nod, and I could hear a quiet “Thank you” as I turned the corner. I waved to my little unicorn buddy as I left, and she waved back using one of Mr. Wags’ torn paws.

Now that I knew how my friend was doing, it was back to the shop for a much needed discussion with my cousin. This was going to be a gamble, but it was one I knew was worth taking. I needed all the time I could to gather up information. Luckily for me, I passed right by a newspaper stand and got myself a copy. Once I got to the shop, I kind of avoided talking to anyone while I wrote a letter to my dad. It detailed everything that had gone on since my arrival here, but also contained a big request. I just hoped that if a train could make it from Tall Tale to Ponyville in an hour and a half, a letter from Ponyville to Vanhoover would take less than a day.

Actually, that was a silly thought. As long as there was a mail carrier ready for the delivery, of course it wouldn’t take very long. I set the letter down somewhere I knew I’d find it along with my paper, briefed my cousin on how the pegasus was doing, and resumed work until quitting time. Once it was time to close up shop, I grabbed my things and made my way out. Though, I did wait for Sparkplug as well. It was just my luck that she had some mail she needed to drop off too, so we walked to the post office together.

It took a few deep breaths and little courage to finally speak, but eventually I got my words out. “Hey, Sparks, I need to ask you something crazy.”

She tilted her head at me but was smiling all the same. “Sure. I’m positive nothing you could say would be as crazy as some of the things I’ve seen in this town.”

I had a strong desire to start with “Crazier than me asking for a day off so soon?” but I didn’t. That probably would’ve made her say “no” without even thinking. “Do you mind if I take tomorrow off? I’ve got a lot I want to do, and before you ask, yes, some of it is Ditzy related. I’d like to look through a few things in that paper I got, hopefully my dad’s reply to my letter will come in the morning, and it’ll have what I need, and I’d like to start a few new designs. One of which I think would help out around the shop quite a bit. Not only that, but I’d like to ask around town for a favor.”

Her eyes lidded halfway and her brow furrowed. She wasn’t frowning, but she did look like she just got told a terrible joke. “Torque, you have got some guts to ask that after working here for two days. I’d give any other pony a big, resounding ‘no’, but I’ll make you in particular a deal. You don’t have to come into the shop tomorrow, but keep your radio on. I expect you to respond to calls if nopony else can, you hear?”

She held her hoof out to me, and I gave it a strong shake. “I can accept that. The designs aren’t at the top of my priority list, so I’ll be alright.”

Sparks nodded as we entered the post office. Thank Celestia it stayed open an hour later than the garage. “Alright, just let me ask one thing. What’s this favor you need?”

I let out a sigh of relief. There was just a little fear in me at the possibility of her asking a really difficult question. “I told Ditzy I’d take her somewhere on Saturday to help take her mind off of recent events. I’d like to find somepony to look after Dinky in the case that she wants to go with me alone.”

My cousin flashed a small grin and patted my back. “Well I’m free Saturday. If you don’t find anypony I’d be happy to look after her.”

After we both dropped off our letters, I wrapped the best cousin in the world in a tight hug. “Thanks, Sparks. That means a lot to me, you have no idea.”

She giggled softly after I let her go. “I’m happy to help, you know that.”