Emergency Mechanic Replacement
Only a few hours after we’d returned to Ponyville, I had decided it was finally time to break in my pick, mostly to keep my mind off of how awkward the breakfast had been. Shining had apologized for the accidental insult, and I’d apologized for reacting poorly, though I still thought my response had been relatively mellow.
Digging was a fairly odd hobby, but I already had the equipment and lived near diamond dogs—it made more sense than painting or macrame. Claiming a secluded section of tunnel, I’d quickly learned how slow digging with a pick actually was. Holding the handle hadn’t bothered my teeth, but my neck had been sore for about a week. Still, it was a surprisingly relaxing activity—easy to get into a rhythm and lose myself in the sound of a pick striking the earth. Even clearing the rubble didn’t take me out of zen.
The diamond dogs weren’t sure if they were supposed to be embarrassed that, for completely understandable reasons, their beta was the slowest-digging pack member. Well, one of the reasons was barely understandable—Pinkie could tear through the ground at a decent pace, and she’d insisted it was because she’d grown up on a rock farm and that her sisters could pulverize stone with their hooves. If that were the case, Marble, Limestone, and Maud were ponies I’d want on my side in a barfight.
After a month of semi-regular digging, swinging the pick barely bothered my neck, and the activity was little more than an excuse to get some exercise while I thought about possible avenues of research. My work on a decent shield pattern was progressing well, though the current versions of temperature shielding did next to nothing to block out the cold from the everfrost. On the plus side, it had been surprisingly easy to fit the shield to the right size once the architects had decided on the final dimensions.
A splotch of pink bounded towards me. “Gears! I haven’t seen you in forever! What’d I miss?”
I sat down my pick and pushed my goggles up. “You left yesterday, Pinkie.”
“But it felt like forever. Maybe not literally—leave my hyperboles alone, Gears. I still need to know what I missed though. It’s not like I have a secretary. Oh, that’s a good idea. Can we get secretaries?”
“Would I still have to do paperwork?” There was so much paperwork. I didn’t think Luna had been kidding when she’d mentioned it but my house contained more parchment than furniture.
“Of course! Paperwork is fun! Oh wait, I’m thinking of polo.”
“Then what’s the point? Anyway, how was Manehattan?”
“It was great! I got to pretend I worked in a sweatshop! And Rarity found a key.”
“A key to what?”
“A lock, silly. What else would you use it for?”
“What lock?”
“I think his name is pronounced ‘Matlock’.”
It was tempting to facehoof hard enough to shoot my muzzle out the back of my skull, a merciful death. “No, what lock does the key fit?”
She tilted her head. “What key?”
“You said that Rarity found a key in Manehattan. What lock does that key fit?”
“Ohh, now I get it. You really need to be more specific sometimes, Gears. I don’t know what lock it fits in. That ruins the mystery. Speaking of mysteries, I need to go hide in one of Twilight’s bookshelves before it’s too late.”
“Alright. Tell her I said ‘hello’.” I wanted to join her and see how Twilight reacted to the surprise, but I was worse at hiding than a whale covered in sequins.
As she bounded off, I rubbed my forehead, though it never eased away the pain. I’d built up a healthy resistance to Pinkie-induced headaches, but sometimes she stocked armor-piercing insanity. It was about time for me to stop digging for the day anyway—there was a paperwork fort in need of a dining hall.
Three lefts and a right brought me to the surface. Diamond dogs had great instincts for building tunnels that wouldn't collapse, and with the reinforcement on the major ones, there was even less of a chance of a cave-in. I was proud to say I hadn’t gotten the slightest bit lost in two weeks, though a lot of that may have been because we’d finally finished marking all of the major tunnels and most of the minor ones. The occasional visitor still got lost, but that was to be expected with tourists.
As my eyes readjusted to the sunlight, I noticed Daring Do walking away from my front step. “Oi, Daring, I’m over here.” I waved as she turned my way and jumped into the air. Unfortunately, she once again wasn’t wearing her pith helmet.
It wasn’t long before she landed before me. “Hello, Sterling. How are you today?”
In serious need of a painkiller, but she didn’t need to know that. I gestured towards my home and started walking. “Not bad. What brings you here?”
“There’s been an… issue with our current mechanic.”
It took a moment for the name to surface. “Smoky Sparks?”
“Yes. He’s been missing for three weeks.” The stress in her voice was plain to see.
“Well, that would explain why they haven’t shown up yet. Why am I just hearing about this now?”
Daring sighed. “Because I’ve been too busy searching everywhere for a replacement.”
“They could have sent someone else. Or a letter. I’d even take a carrier pigeon. So you’re here because you found one?”
“No. I’m here because I didn’t find one. As of right now, the expedition does not have a mechanic available for training with thaumite.”
I nodded. It wasn’t too hard to see where this was going. “And you want me to sign up.”
“Yes.”
I let her into the house first. My home did a decent job of retaining heat, so it was a little cozy when we stepped inside. Maybe some of the paperwork could be used as insulation, but come winter, I’d need to use the wood-burning furnace. “Watch your step. I might have missed a couple thaumite chunks from last night.” It still hurt to step on pointy things if they jabbed the frog.
“Wow, even I don’t let the paperwork pile up that much.”
“I don’t let it pile up. This is just the stuff that’s not worth paying attention to.” The only reasonable explanation was that the mailbox pulled stuff from some sort of parallel junk-mail universe. My e-mail account back home had received less spam.
“Most just throw it out.”
“Yeah, but I’m entertaining myself with recycling. I get to be amused and save the environment.”
“Why would you need to save the environment? It’s doing fine last I checked.”
Oh, right. Silly Equestria and its low-tech, pollution-free cities. A little smog was part of a balanced diet. “Uh, it’s never too early to start?”
“Right, I’ll take your word for it. So, about the expedition…”
I shook my head. “I can’t be away for that long.”
“It’ll only be a few days. A week at most.”
A week was far better than the month I’d expected, but it just wasn’t worth it to be away that long. Sure, the pack would probably be fine, even if Pinkie wound up going off on an adventure with the rest of the Mane Six, but something was bound to come up. “I’m sorry, I can’t. Too much to do here.”
“I know. I wouldn’t be asking you if there were any other options, but most outright refused once they heard about the extreme cold.”
“I can’t imagine freezing to death would be a good selling point, but it’s not like I was going to design a pattern that barely worked.” Honestly, it was a little insulting that they’d even think that.
“The rest were either too busy or didn’t want to learn from you for various reasons. You didn’t make a lot of friends last time you were in Canterlot.”
“Are you saying this is my fault?”
“No, I’m saying an unusual amount of mechanics are paying attention to Canterlot’s upper class.”
Canterlot was still my least favorite city, and it seemed unwilling to redeem itself. “Can’t the expedition just wait until they find another mechanic? I’ll still teach them, but I really shouldn’t be going that far from my pack.”
“Launching at the planned date is incredibly important. Weren’t you informed that launch conditions won’t be this perfect again for eighty years?”
“No, no I wasn’t.” Yet again, there was crucial information that nobody had bothered to tell me. It was finals week all over again.
“The scheduled launch date is the only time that the cold will lessen long enough for us to slip through.”
“I can probably make the spell pattern survive any amount of cold.” Even after working on it for this long, it was a little weird to think of cold as anything other than the absence of heat.
“With how little of it we can recreate for testing, nobody wants to rely on the shield until they’re sure it can hold up to the cold at its weakest.”
“Zero faith.”
“More like reasonable caution. That’s why they don’t want to go anywhere without somebody to keep an eye on the thaumite.” Bunch of lightweights. “I’ll keep looking, but we’re running out of time. Anybody we find also has to be trained in arctic survival and proper airship procedures.”
“That’s more time I can’t spare.” And a course on airship procedures sounded really boring. Monotone history professor levels of boring.
“Like I said before, I wouldn’t be asking if there were other options. If we can’t launch on the scheduled date, it will be decades before we get another chance. You and I will probably be dead.”
Growing old as a pony instead of a human—that was an interesting thought. Then again, growing old was an interesting thought in the first place, as I’d already passed my personal life expectancy with a rude comment and a flippant gesture. How far would the pack get in my lifetime? How many spell patterns would I develop? What would I have for dinner? There were so many questions I wanted to see answered.
“Sterling?”
I cleared my thoughts by shaking my head. “Sorry, lost in thought. You know, I haven’t even finished the spell pattern yet. Wouldn’t all that training further cut into its development?”
“Yes. It wouldn’t be easy, but I am confident you will succeed.”
“Let me get this straight. You want me to finish designing the spell pattern, go through not one but two training courses, manage a pack of diamond dogs, and still have time to sleep and eat?” Not to mention Ponyville was about due for another “delay.” A lot of the workers weren’t native to the area and had a lot of trouble getting back on schedule after something as little as a timberwolf sighting, which I had completely missed because it had happened the one night I was out partying with Vinyl.
“Two months is plenty of time.”
“I still can’t afford to be away for a week.” Not with the sheer amount of conmen waiting for the chance to swoop in.
“And there’s no way you can leave instructions for that time?”
“Not unless I had some sort of instant-communication device.” I groaned and buried my face in my hooves. “Like the mailbox Discord gave me.” I felt bad for constantly doubting he was just being benevolent, but it was still too convenient. He had to have known something like this was going to happen, right?
“Discord gave you a mailbox?”
“Yep, for keeping him company. Also gave me a maid’s outfit… and I’m not sure why I told you that.”
Daring smirked. “What you do in the bedroom is your own business, though I’m always up for a good story.”
“Oh, shut up.”
“It sounds like your pack would be just fine for a week, and it’s not likely it’ll even last that long. Bring that mailbox—weird item, by the way, but I’ve seen far weirder—and you’ll be able to issue instructions as needed. I’d consider it a personal favor if you signed on. While you’re training, I’ll still look for somebody else to fill the position, but—”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re running out of time. I—I’ll think about it.” She’d raised a few good points, but leaving wasn’t an option.
Sending mail could work, but it wouldn’t be the same as actually saying what I wanted done. Like she’d said, Daring wouldn’t give up looking, but if she couldn’t find anyone and the expedition fell through, it’d be my fault. Well, it wouldn’t actually be my fault, but I’d sure as hell feel like it. The journey would get pushed back eighty years because I was unwilling to trust Pinkie and the rest of the pack to not implode without my presence.
Daring frowned but didn’t protest. “It’s a big decision, but I need an answer today. I’ll be in Ponyville all day. Find me there when you decide. I’ll show myself out.” Before I could say another word, she was gone, leaving me to think. The mailbox still made that annoying noise whenever it received a letter, but I barely paid attention to it anymore.
The cold wouldn’t be a risk once the pattern was finished—this wasn’t something that I’d even consider half-assing. The chance of the thaumite failing was almost negligible, but even I’d want an expert keeping an eye on it. Where the hell could Smoky Sparks have gone? My reputation couldn’t be that bad.
It took two hours of thinking before I realized I’d already made my decision. My leg ached the entire time, as I didn’t want the painkillers to influence my choice. Some weren’t going to be happy, but I had to do it. This was not how my day was supposed to go—it was supposed to be peaceful, just me, a painkiller or two, and Fort Kickass.
Daring Do looked out of place in Sugarcube Corner, her stern look clashing with the cozy decor. A cupcake sat on a small plate in front of her, and she stared at it as if expecting it to jump into her mouth of its own accord.
Mrs. Cake watched the scene worriedly, ready to take cover behind the counter if things got too weird. She always looked weary, like she was ready to slip into a coma the moment she was sure she’d get away with it. “Oh, Sterling, Pinkie isn’t here today. She said something about a trip with family, but I couldn’t understand most of it. Can I get you anything?”
“No thanks, Mrs. Cake. I won’t be here very long.” I sat across from Daring and debated taking the cupcake just so she’d stop staring. “It doesn’t do tricks, Daring.”
She glanced up at me before returning her gaze to the cupcake. “I’m trying to figure out why it’s so delicious. Have you come to a decision?”
My nod was shaky from the last-minute doubts, but I beat them down. “I’m in.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.03 seconds
Total duration
883 users online
569,854 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
You've been featured. Congratulations
5258477 Thanks! Though the bottom three slots are reserved for updates, and I usually stick there for a few hours. Still, small victories, right?
5258483 I don't think it works like that, if you've been in that box than people must really like this story. All slots are for the best of the best.
Yay, new chapter! ^_^
than?..
5258613 Oops, got distracted by a different edit. Fixed. Thanks for catching it.
low-tech, pollution-free cities.
BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
But seriously.
Look, low-tech does not equal low pollution. In fact it means the direct opposite. Medieval cities were FILTHY. They choked on their own soot and sewage. The age of steam brought layers of coal soot, garbage, and horse leavings everywhere. The start of the 20th century, smog choked the air. But each was a vast improvement over the last. If you were to be transported to a major city of 50,100, 150 years ago, you would choke to death on the air, or waste away and die from one of the countless nasty diseases you could pick up just from walking in the street.
Modern plumbing and sewage, petroleum, diesel, and natural gas, and the introduction of the internal combustion engine reduced ground, water and air pollution to a fraction of what they once were, and gradual advances in fuel efficiency and design in the IC engine reduced it even further. The introduction of the automobile was one of the most instrumental technologies in making our cities cleaner, safer, and healthier to live in.
It is progress that made cities livable. Low tech makes cities inhospitable!
And yes, Equestrian cities would be no exception. Magitech or no, a city needs a means to shift literal TONS of water, garbage, sewage, fuel, electrical power (or it's magical equivalent), merchandise, and people every single day. Just hauling stuff up and down a single skyscraper is a massive, energy-intensive project-- which requires something a little more high tech than stairs and ponies carrying buckets.
We've seen that their trains run on coal (MMMMystery express), so we can assume that they have at least nineteenth century level mass-load tech, and some sort of electricity or electrical equivalent.... coal, steam, and hydro for their bulk power needs. Presumably they have some sort of tech/magitech for removing the coal-soot from the air before it leaves the steam engine. But if their cities are cleaner than human world cities, it's BECAUSE of their high tech level, not in spite of it.
5258660 I am aware of this. Gears is not.
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/107/432/i_hug_that_feel.png
Yay, another chapter!
Also slight wandering off in your text
Worse at hiding than what?
*now looking forward to the next chapter seconds after reading this one* :P
5258740 Someone pointed out that error earlier, and it's been fixed.
5258490
That is literally how it works, although I think I see what happened. What Lab meant was that the bottom three slots are reserved for featured updates (i.e. a story that is featured only after it has at least a second chapter published).
Sprockets in the North hit the feature box when it was first published (owing in part to the popularity of the first story in the saga), so it's not terribly surprising it ends up in the update slots when a new chapter goes up: Lab is, after all, an excellent writer and I am very jealous.
5258994 Oh... I never knew that. Thank you.
5259002
I helped!
Infi-Muffins, good job on yet another feature! Hope you're doing well!
5258994 Thank you for the clarification and the compliment, though I'll admit I'm more appreciative of the latter.
I am happy to see a new chapter to this story and after reading it I find that I am looking forward to the next one as soon as possible so keep up the good job you are doing.
Draognfox
5259323
Very jealous.
God I love this story, but I'm dying here waiting for that romance tag to pop up. I can't believe we've made it this far and Sterling still hasn't commented on the fact that they're making her jump through all these damned hoops just so they can go to a place that's going to be full of monsters... and dinosaurs... and Cadillacs. Or maybe they'll find some VIbranium.
Seriously, this is probably my favorite currently-running story on the site. Always glad to see a new chapter. Keep it up.
5258688 Well, it wouldn't hurt for one of the more technology-aware ponies, like maybe Twilight Sparkle, to go "low tech? What are you talking about?" She is a bit of a pedant, after all, and a little lecture-mode wouldn't be out of character for her.
5261119 I would assume that the clean environment is due more to the fact that ponies micromanage it. How they avoid screwing it up in the process is another issue.
5283203
Any time!
Oh, and in penitence for your trivial error (probably caused by a rewrite) you are required to write another chapter eventually. But only if you really want to.
Yes ...I hired Fluttershy to give you the "sad face" until you give in. All it took was a large bag of kibble for the stray HIEs she keeps finding wandering in from the Everfree forest.
May 2014?
... Did I literally forget to check for the sequel for more than half a year? I was waiting so hard for it!
5555932 Somewhat. It's more to touch base with the timeline than anything.
5556756 Surprisingly, the cake thing was unintentional.
I am completely surprised by this turn of events!
5560380 I know, right? What a twist!
5560653 can I ask when the next chapter is comming out lab?
5640603 When the universe stops conspiring long enough to let me finish.
5641188 meh stupid multiverse making us waait AHHHHHHH oh and just cause I can *pokes lab*
5641188 hey laab are you ok? Plz dont foget about the story and your fans
5814332 Don't worry, I haven't forgotten at all. The next chapter is nearly done despite the near-constant delays I've been having.
5814754
Prepare the sacrificial altar! We must summon a new chapter!
What sacrifice do you ask of us, O mighty Lab? We all wish to see Sterling in a parka!
Just seeing you say this is making me so happy. I hope life has given you a break though, hate to see you have a hard time.
5828883 Well, it's not that I'm having a hard time. Things could be way worse. It's just a bunch of little stuff that adds up to soak up my time.
5829019
So is that a yes on the sacrificial altar, or...?
5829119 I have cats to offer XD
I was about to ask why she doesn't just invent radio, but then I remembered that I wouldn't be able to build one without schematics and supplies from radio shack.
6526738 It might be fun to see how a dragonfire message would look, after it got through a below-zero (F) windstorm.
6526738
Are you kidding? With the sort of background she seems to have, a crystal radio isn't out of the question. Those can be made with a bit of carbon, some coils, and a spark gap. If there's grounding available, a crystal receiver can be made with a bit of quartz and more coils. Power? They have pegasi, and Leyden Jars are easy as heck to make (Or use pedal power)!
I am sure that there's some way to enchant crystals or make a Thaumite equivalent too. I never did understand why they only have dragonfire. Maybe because it's secure?
Oh, and one more thing~.
I see that you mentioned lifetimes in here. If you equate the cute and fuzzy shape with a real horse's lifetime, I will send hatemail. Just saying. :D
There are plenty that do it the other way; Ponies have 300+ year lifespans.
8935362
Well, it's more accurate to say that Sterling Gears doesn't really have a background in a broad number of technological things, only the things she needed to know to build the device that would ultimately lead to Grue entering the same universe Equestria was in—on the plus side, it did spark her interest in tinkering. Because of Grue though, there are holes in what she knows.
We already knew she would be going. I hope there is a good reason for this expedition. What do they hope to find ?