//------------------------------// // Welcome to the Junkyard // Story: My Little Scrapheap: Junk is Magic // by Ryvaken //------------------------------// Celestia took a step to the side and fluffed her wings. "Better?" The camerapony pulled his head from his machine and nodded silently. "In three, then. Two, one." Celestia went silent, letting the sudden thrum of bass roll over the green pasture around her. "It's a beautiful day for the Scrapheap Finals," she said cheerfully. "But it could do with a snack." A muffin landed on her head, skewering itself on her horn. She looked up at it. "That works." The camerapony swung around and zoomed in on a blue blob on the far side of the field. Luna stomped her hoof in frustration, holding a dozen muffins in her field. "We will need help to deliver all these muffins!" she boomed in the Royal Canterlot Voice. The camera swung around to Celestia, now without a muffin, who swallowed hastily. "I think we can do that," she mused. Celestia waited a second. "Cut, run credits here." Scrapheap Equestria "Welcome to my junkyard!" Celestia announced. She perched high on a pile of metal debris and mechanical refuse. "Four acres of Canterlot's finest filth. This yard services everypony from the High Circle of the College of Gifted Unicorns-" Luna cut in, walking into view from around another pile. "-to the Manehatten School of Engineering. We have gathered every possible kind of detritus, magical and mechanical, for one simple purpose." Celestia levitated a muffin into view. "To deliver this." "But first, let's meet our teams." "Our first team is an unlikely group of friends from all over Equestria, the Royal Vagabonds," Celestia introduced. The camera took in three mares wearing rich purple jumpsuits. "I'm Twilight, and I'm the leader of the Royal Vagabonds," Twilight introduced herself. "These are my teammates Rainbow and Pinkie. Rainbow's the fastest mare I know and one of the strongest, and Pinkie has a knack for finding impossible things. I'll tell them what we need and they'll deliver, no matter what." Celestia cut in again. "In the heats, the Royal Vagabonds took on the Flim Flams with their hydraulic apple picking octopus. Then in the semifinals, the Vagabonds came out ahead of the Gallant Guards with their cloud powered diving machine." "This week, they're joined by expert Cheese Sandwich." The camera shifted to an identically dressed stallion. "Cheese has traveled Equestria, leaving parties in his wake, so if anyone knows how to deliver baked goods on target, it's Cheese." Luna took over as the camera focused on another three mares. "Taking on the Vagabonds are three of their closest friends. It's a showdown of Harmony as we introduce the Diamond and the Roughs." "I'm Rarity, leader of the Diamond and the Roughs," Rarity introduced herself haughtily. "Fluttershy is such a dear with attention to detail, and Applejack provides twice the muscle as any hunky stallion. I take their quality work and turn it into something dazzling." "The Roughs blew through the heats on their hovercraft made from ridiculously exquisite fabric and a slab of plywood, leaving Trixie's Minions in the dust," Luna said. "In the semifinals they managed to survive the Cutie Mark Crusaders' rocket powered stagecoach. They've licked their wounds and are back for a challenge that, fortunately, doesn't require anything to explode." "Given their attraction to danger, we've brought in an expert on the subject, A.K. Yearling. Miss Yearling is the author of the popular Daring Do series and has studied and built a variety of contraptions in research for her books." Earlier "You're sure you can dub out all the times they call me 'Daring?'" the yellow pegasus muttered. "Of course, Miss Do," Celestia promised. "Okay then. Sounds like fun. And it's not like I have anything better to do until Ahuizotl launches his next boneheaded scheme." The diarchy of Equestria stood upon a throne of metal and ancient stone while the eight contestants gathered around them. "My little inventors," Celestia called grandly, "are you ready?" "Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmyGOSH!" Rainbow squealed. Twilight followed Rainbow's line of sight to land squarely on Daring Do. She facehoofed. "Here we go," she muttered. "Take two," Luna muttered. "My little inventors," Celestia called again. "Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!" "Take four." "My little inventors-" "Can we trade experts?" "Take seven." "My little invent-" "Can I switch teams?" "Rainbow!" Twilight screamed. "Take twelve." "My little...uhm, line?" "Oh sweet merciful you," Luna mumbled with a facehoof. "Take I've lost count plus one." "My little inventors, the scrapheap is ready!" Celestia boomed. "The challenge before you, to deliver a tasty muffin as far as you can without lifting a hoof. Royal Vagabonds, are you ready?" "Yeah!" bellowed the purple-clad team. "Diamond and the Roughs, are you ready?" Luna asked. "Yeah!" yelled the blue-clad team. Well, probably. It was hard to tell with Fluttershy sometimes. Lots of the time. All the time. "Then, by scrapheap tradition, you have until I set the sun, which should be in," Celestia glanced up and nudged the ball of fire east a bit, "ten hours." "The field of battle is open to thee and thine!" Luna bellowed. The teams ran off to their build areas. "I said ten hours," Celestia said as the cameraponies spread out, "but it's actually thirteen. First, the teams get an hour of design time so the experts can bring our little ponies up to snuff." "Additionally, both teams get an hour break for midday meal," Luna added. "The third hour we'll use to allow for interviewing the teams during the build process." "And after you raise the moon, sister, we get to deal with the paperwork explaining why today had nearly twenty hours of daylight," Celestia said. "We told you, sister, that adjusting the sunset for a game would be a decision you would regret." "Hrm, well, no help for it now. As usual, each team has been given a set of enchanted communication gems, a cart and harness, and a full suite of magical and mechanical tools. And as always, we want all of it back at the end of the day. The teams cannot take any of it apart to use in their machines." "Now let's have a look at what they're planning."