Just one of those days

by Commonancestry

5

I followed Spike into the guest bedroom, which was surprisingly comfy for a guest room. Granted my perspective on what was comfy and what wasn't had been shifted rather dramatically over the past few days, so anything including a room with a bed in it would be fairly luxurious.

"So then, my little draconic amigo, what's the deal with her royal highness out there? Is she usually this catty?"

"Nah, she's usually a lot friendlier than this. It's just this big project she's been working on. It was supposed to be complete before the storm, but there's still a few bits left to do and she's been freaking out over it for days."

"What sort of Project are we talking about here? If it's big for a Princess, then hell, it's got to be pretty damn impressive."

"Yeah, it's fairly important and all, but I'm not sure I'm the one who should be talking about it. It's been kept on the down low as much as possible. I'm not sure why though."

"Well do you reckon she'd mind me having a look? I know my stuff when it comes to it." At that moment, the purple unicorn in question strode through the door. I guess there's only a few walks you can do once you're royalty.

"Have a look at what exactly?"

"How about I have a look at your machine? I'm not too shabby at fiddling with things and stuff."

"What? No offence, but you're a pegasus? Named wind chaser?"

"Yes, the irony isn't lost on me Purple. I'm good with machines and equipment, and especially good at tinkering. It's basically my special talent."

"Well that would explain the cutie mark. But this is some fairly advanced technology. I'm not sure you'll even know what half the stuff does. I'm not sure even I do at times. Oh, and it's Lavender. Not Purple."

"I could at least take a look? Think of it as a way of making it up to you for earlier today."

"I'll think about it. Maybe tomorrow morning if I've got time for more of your shenanigans."

---

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Ahh, morning. That disgustingly early time of the day, when Celestia's sun is shining through the window, accompanied by a sweet chorus of songbirds creating a melody sweet enough to give the majority of those within audible range type II diabetes. Or at least that's how it's supposed to be in these things right? The wind still howling as the rain spat itself against the walls of the tree. The odd crash of thunder rolling through the murky deep of the sky above. The almost rhythmic clanking and swearing of somepony who obviously doesn't understand proper working hours. As I hauled myself out of a ludicrously warm and comfy bed, I received a sudden and sharp reminder of my injuries from the past few days. My wing still hurt like hell, and my back ached to high heavens. So at least I could hope for some averaging out on the pain scale today.

After stretching out my sore joints, and whilst trying not to sound like an old stallion who's past his prime, I decided to investigate the mysterious banging noise. Just off the top of the stairs, was what I could only assume was Twilight's room. The language coming from within was enough to impress a sailor, but the faint smell of burning, and the light sizzling of sparks made me realise that things weren't going as planned. I knocked on the door emphatically on the door frame, but realising she wouldn't be able to hear me, entered, and was allowed a rather lovely spectacle of a 'Lavender' Unicorns rear thrust high in the air, whilst the owner of said derriere was neck deep in a large box shaped box.

"Now I could be wrong, but..." A rather satisfying thump came from within the box, followed by further mutterings and vulgarities, as the Princess jumped from my unannounced presence. "...I'm going to guess that it shouldn't be sparking and smoking quite like that. In fact smoking indoors is considered quite uncouth these days, so to do it in the presence of a Princess." The Lavender unicorn carefully removed her head from the box.

"Hilarious. And who told you, that you could come in to my room without permission?"

"Spike?" I offered as an acceptable answer.

"Of course. Entirely believable. Apart from the fact that he's still passed out over there in his bed. Care to try again?" Her face carried the look of somepony who had no issue with banishing me to the moon, and knew she'd be able to get away with it, no matter how many meddling kids got involved.

"Me?" Though honesty isn't my usual policy, a pissed off Alicorn with nothing to prove probably won't like being lied to twice in as many statements.

"Yes, I'd thought as much. And no, you're bloody well right it shouldn't be smoking like that. I can't get it to run right. Every time I hook it up, it just burns itself out completely and almost fries the entire circuit. I've had to replace pretty much everything in this circuit at least twice now."

"Well I'm not a genius when it comes to this sort of stuff-"

"No debate there."

"But," I continued firmly, "I could take a look if you want? Get a second pair of eyes on it all? You did say you might let me help out, and I do owe you one for last night."

"I'm not sure if I should be letting you take a look at this. Given you're evident run of luck of late, I can't imagine that you'll do any good." Realising I was getting nowhere fast, I resorted to a personal favourite tactic of mine. Cue the Puppy Dog eyes, and let fly the guilt.

"Well, ok then. If you're sure. I mean I was only trying to help you out." I hope that came out as pathetically as possible. I'm not pleased with some of my more underhand tactics, but by the Goddesses they get results.

"Fine, but don't do anything without asking me first, it's quite a highly sophisticated piece of equipment and exceptionally sensitive, not to mention-" My head was already halfway inside the machine before she'd finished saying the first word. I'll be honest here, it was a mess, but an organised one. True organised Chaos if ever I did see it. Though the problem with organised chaos is that it's hard for you to see your own mistakes.

"Done."

"What do you mean done? How can you possibly be done? I've been trying to make it work for three days now, and you're done in less than a minute? How?"

"Oh I just fiddled a bit and switched these two cables around, I figured you just had it connected wrong. What is it even meant to do?" Thunder rolled in the background, as the rain continued to throw itself at the window. Was it just me or did this storm feel like it was building to a head?

"How did you know that I had them connected up wrong?"

"I looked at the letters painted on them. Also, the one on the right is three times larger and has a different connection point, but that's neither here nor there. But that doesn't answer my first question. What's meant to do?"

"It's part of a control mechanism for a machine I'm using downstairs, that harnesses natural sources of energy, in this case lightning, to teleport items over medium length distances, without the use of magic. It's more of a proof of concept than anything. This part in particular makes sure the system doesn't overload itself. "

"So it's a safety mechanism then? Ensuring that it doesn't blow up."

"Yes, pretty much. Why?"

"No reason. Hypothetically speaking, what would happen if the feedback system were to be removed and the system were to activate and get hit by lightning?"

"There's no telling really. The amount Thaumaturgic materials contained within this machine is fairly high. Best case scenario, we get teleported hundred of miles away, with no knowing where or how long it would take, and end up with all our pieces in the right place. Worst case scenario, everything in the universe dies a horrific and fiery death. But that's a purely hypothetical scenario you just presented right?"

"Yes, of course. Who would do something so foolish and idiotic and downright stupid, and yes I did remove it. I've doomed us all haven't I?"

Thunder rumbled angrily in the background, steadily increasing, as if building itself up for another burst of lightning.

"YOU REMOVED IT? I DIDN'T EVEN TELL YOU TO TOUCH ANYTHING! WHY DID YOU REMOVE IT?"

"Because it was the only thing stopping it from working and I have issues with authority and pretty much zero impulse control. How have you not realised this yet? Look, can't I just put it back before-" CRACK "-that happens. Right now what?"

Lightning must have struck the weather vane again, as the two cable that I had corrected started to glow, and the entire box vibrated like it was designed to give somepony a good time. Smoke started pouring out of it, the various relays failing, whilst even two floors below us, we could hear the whine of the machine in the basement starting to overload.

"Can't we run down and shut it off? Surely that would the sensible idea right now." I'll admit, I was panicking now. I'm too pretty to die. I mean look at this chiseled jaw, how could fate let that go to waste?

"Maybe? I don't know, this was never supposed to happen. We might be alright, unless we get hit by another lightning strike. I'm going to go and see what I can do down below. Stay here. And for the love of the Goddesses, don't touch anything else!" Faster than I thought was possible, Twilight was downstairs and struggling to open the door to the basement. I limped down the stairs as fast as I could, my various aches and pains only mildly by the adrenaline running through my veins in the face of doom. I hit the door just as Twilight turned to buck the door in. *CRACK* The door barely budged. Looks like Alicorn strength is not all it's cracked up to be.

"Can't you just teleport us down there?"

"With a Thaum field this powerful and unpredictable surrounding us? Not a chance. That'd end badly. Really bucking badly. Why are you still here?"

"Yes that probably makes sense. And are you kidding? This is awesome. Almost certainty of Death, versus a slim chance of survival. How could I refuse?"

"Bucking madman. Right on three. One. Two. Thr-" *CRACK*

Remember that time I decided to remove the feedback circuit? Because I'm getting the distinct idea that I shouldn't have done that.