A New Friend
Silver Spanner, Journeymare
Admiral Biscuit
For the EFNW Pre-Con writing contest
The house was a complete mess.
That was to be expected: a young couple from Canterlot had bought it, and wanted it modernized before they moved in. While the construction crew was there, they were also to go over it and repair anything that was sub-par.
The only major changes were the addition of two bathrooms—one on each floor. They'd been able to eke out enough space upstairs by converting a bedroom, but there simply hadn't been enough room on the ground floor, so they built a new addition off the kitchen, where it would be close to the plumbing.
All that had been done over the last couple of weeks, and the framing, walls, and roof of the addition were in place. Once the plumber installed the pipes and fixtures, they'd be able to finish the walls and the flooring.
Of course, while that was being done, they couldn't work in either of the bathrooms. Riven Oak, the foremare, had accounted for that when she’d come up with the master plan; the crew was working at the opposite end of the house while the plumber did her business.
Ambrosia and Rough Tumble were both in the living room, standing on rough-cut boards propped up on repurposed flour barrels. A leak in the old thatching had softened and cracked the plaster along the outside wall. Yesterday, they'd been upstairs, repairing floor joists; today, they were plastering. On the other side of the room, Square Cut had a stack of casing boards and rosettes to trim out the windows. Normally, she would have waited until the plasterwork and painting was done, but they were on a tight deadline.
"Last piece of lath," Rough commented, hoofing up a thin board from their own supply.
Ambrosia nodded, fitting it into position. Once she was satisfied, Rough passed her a hammer, and she tacked it in place before going back and driving the nails home. She shook her mane to dislodge the dust and small chunks of plaster which had rained down during the process and stepped back to examine her work. Although lathing wasn't a particularly finicky job, she took pride in having a neat, regular pattern to her work—even if nopony would see it when she was done.
"Get me a bucket of water," she instructed. "Then mix the plaster in. I'll clean up the lath while you’re doing that." She braced herself on the wall as he stepped off the makeshift scaffolding. It wobbled dangerously every time they moved, but it would take too long to erect a proper platform, so they just made do. At least a fall from this height wouldn't be terribly unpleasant. Still, it was times like these she wished she had wings, like their thatcher, Hazel Broach.
She took a wire brush out of her tool pouch and began scraping all the fuzz off the laths, closing her eyes each time she touched brush to wood. She'd tried wearing safety glasses, but it felt like they just channeled crud into her eyes, and hooves weren't very good at getting sawdust out.
“Surprised Tilly hasn’t been down here yet.” Ambrosia said.
“Went back to her shop.” Square stretched a tape along the side of the window and marked a board, continuing to talk around the pencil in his mouth. “She was supposed to get in some crystal lamps from Manehattan on the afternoon train—until she gets them, she’s got nothing to do.”
“Probably just wanted to spend some time with her coltfriend.” Ambrosia turned her head as she heard Rough walk back into the living room.
"Didja see the plumber?" Rough asked as soon as he'd set the water bucket on the floor.
"Nope. Been here since before you arrived. Late."
"I'm sorry! I already told you I fell in the creek on the way here when I had to jump out of the way of a wagon."
"That would only happen to you," Ambrosia muttered, cracking open an eye to check on the laths. "Make the plaster thick." She reached back and tucked the brush in her tool belt. Then she thought about what else he'd said. "What about the plumber?"
"Go see for yourself. It's gonna take me a couple of minutes to mix this stuff, and you wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Fine." Ambrosia gracefully leapt off the scaffold. "Gotta use the little filly's room anyway." She took her hard hat and set it on Rough's head, on top of his own. "Keep it safe, huh?"
She went through the nearly-finished dining room and into the kitchen—it was the closest way to the outhouse, anyhow, so it wasn't like she was wasting her time heading in this direction.
She looked through the door into the bathroom. At first, all she saw was a mare's hindquarters, with a silvery wrench in her dark brown coat. The tool belt slung across her hips was an unconventional design, but every craftsmare had her own preference. Beside her, a length of iron pipe was propped up on a board. Nothing really remarkable—not until she saw a pipe-cutter enveloped in a silver-grey aura drift up around the pipe, and begin circling the iron.
Ambrosia trotted off to the outhouse before she was noticed, the wheels in her head turning frantically. The plumber was a unicorn. That just wasn’t right.
When she got back to the living room, that was the immediate topic of discussion.
“She’s a unicorn?” Ambrosia muttered. "Unicorns don't know how to build stuff,"
Rough spit out the stirring stick. "Riven's gonna have to check her work extra-hard."
"Yeah." Ambrosia checked the plaster. “Thicker, Roughie. This is just gonna dribble off the ceiling and make stalagmites on the floor.”
"What about Hydro Jet?" asked Square Cut. “How come he isn’t here?”
"I hear he's busy on the other side of town," Rough Tumble said. “Running pipe in the new town hall.”
"You know, Riven didn't say she was a unicorn. I bet she didn't know."
"There ought to be a law that they've gotta say," Square Cut said. "It's Riven’s mark on the job, and she's going to be the one to pay if a unicorn messes the water up."
“I hope the new owners don’t find out.” Rough sprinkled some more plaster in the bucket.
• • •
When the day's work was done, Riven and Ambrosia stayed late. After Silver Spanner had packed up her tools and left, they both went into the bathroom and checked over the unicorn's plumbing.
"It looks okay," Ambrosia grudgingly admitted.
"Yeah, but will it last? A lot of unicorn magic is more for show than durability.” Riven tapped her hoof against the pipes. "Come on, let's get to the tavern. I’m starving."
"Why'd you hire her anyway?" Ambrosia asked as they walked out of the house.
“I kinda got in a bind. I figured Hydro’d be available, but I didn’t ask him early enough, and then the mayor hired him for the town hall. I couldn’t wait, so I had to take his apprentice.”
“And you didn’t know she was a unicorn, did you?”
Riven shook her head. "Unicorns ought to stick to stuff they're good at, like spellwork and gems. Not proper hooves-on work. Next, you'll be seeing unicorn farmers." She sighed. "I'll see if Hydro can come out tomorrow and finish the job. Maybe he’s ahead of schedule on the town hall."
"Yeah." Ambrosia absently kicked a rock off the street before somepony stepped on it. She'd heard that Hydro had had a new apprentice, but it had never come up that the apprentice was a unicorn.
They walked the rest of the way to the tavern in silence.
• • •
When they got to the pub, Ambrosia held the door for Riven and the two of them went to the booth where the rest of the construction crew was waiting.
Tilly spotted her first and slid over to block the booth. Silver Spanner briefly looked at their table as she crossed the room and took a booth all to herself. It was sort of in view of Ambrosia, and she couldn't help but have her eye drawn in that direction.
"Who does she think she is?" Riven muttered, thrusting her hoof around. "Sitting at a booth all by herself—too good for us, I guess."
"Typical unicorn." Square Cut added. “Is there a plan for tomorrow?”
Riven nodded. “Plastering’s done, and the downstairs walls are painted, so Tilly can put sconces and crystal lamps around downstairs. Square, she’ll start in the living room, while you’re putting up the chair rail in the dining room. Ambrosia, you and Rough need to finish the upstairs floor. I want it done by the time Square’s got the chair rail up, so she can start on the baseboard. Hazel, I want the roof finished tomorrow. It’s going to rain in two days, and I can’t have any leaks.”
“There won’t be any from the roof.” Hazel grabbed the first plate of appetizers, beating Rough to the food. When he reached for the plate, she whacked him in the muzzle with a wing. “Now, the plumbing’s a different story. You want me to thatch the void space wherever there’s a plumbing run? Just in case?”
Riven actually considered the idea, before shaking her head. “Pipes leak, it’ll be easier to find if they waterlog the plaster right where the leak is. Rough, stop hogging the cheese.”
Ambrosia tried to focus on the conversation as they passed the food around, but her eye kept being drawn to the lone unicorn.
Before coming to the tavern, Silver Spanner had taken off her tool belt. She hadn't washed—her coat was still matted down where the straps had been. She looked down at her own tool belt, still proudly slung across her hips. It was as much a mark of pride as her cutie mark. More, even: her cutie mark just showed her potential, while her tool belt showed that she was living that potential.
The unicorn’s dinner was a bowl of stew and a slice of bread—the cheapest food the tavern had to offer. It was embarrassingly meager compared to the repast at their table. Of course, the food cost less when split a half-dozen ways. Ambrosia picked at her own plate, not really tasting it. Her appetite had fled, and she finally slid the rest of her dinner across to Rough and excused herself, hoping the outside air might clear her head.
• • •
Ambrosia was halfway home when she saw a flyer in the street. The very top was ripped off, as if the wind had torn it from its mounting. Curious, she picked it up and turned it over. It had a silhouette of a stallion at the top, but the rest of the flyer was covered in printing.
She looked around her. She had no idea where it had come from. Usually, important bulletins had both words and pictures, but aside from the drawing at the top, this one was words-only. Ambrosia squinted at it, trying to see if there were any she recognized. I could take it to the pub and have Riven read it, but if it’s something silly, I’ll feel like such a foal.
Her concentration was so intense, she didn't hear Silver Spanner come up beside her.
"Hey," Silver said. "What have you got there?"
For an instance a rude response crossed her mind, but she bit it back. Just because the unicorn was bucking the trend when it came to a job was no reason to be rude to her out in public. "I found it on the street," she said. "It's a bulletin for something."
She turned it slightly, so that Silver could see it, and see the block of text on it.
"It’s about a pony pull?" Silver looked at Ambrosia. "What's a pony pull?"
"You can read that?"
Silver nodded. "I learned how in school."
“I never went.” Ambrosia frowned at the younger mare. "I suppose you think you're smarter than me."
Silver looked honestly confused. "Why would I think that?"
"Because you can read this dumb flyer, and I can't."
"So?" Silver pointed up the street toward the house they'd been working on. "You can lay plaster, and I can't."
Ambrosia thought about that for a while. She’d formally apprenticed after getting her cutie mark, but even before that she’d been doing all sorts of construction projects on the farm—her parents had encouraged it, in fact. Silver would probably have been at a disadvantage when she got her cutie mark.
Maybe that was why Hydro had taken her on. Maybe he’d felt sorry for her. Ambrosia had felt sorry for Rough Tumble—most construction stallions were bulky, and did things like foundation work and post framing, like Rough’s father. He’d always been runty; she’d seen from the very beginning he was more suited to interior work.
Finally, she looked over at Silver with a friendly smile. "Oh, I never answered your question. A pony pull is where stallion teams try to pull a stone boat with weights on it. Whoever pulls the heaviest one wins. When is it?"
"Tomorrow night." Her eyes flicked over the paper. “It’s behind Spiral Tower.”
"I'll tell you what. Tomorrow, after work, we'll go and watch it together. How does that sound?" Ambrosia held up a hoof.
Silver broke out into a smile and returned the bump. "That sounds great."
Ambrosia set the flier back on the street for another pony to find, and the two mares began walking together. "So how'd you get your cutie mark, anyway?"
"Oh." Silver smiled. "That's a funny story—and let me tell you, my mom was mad, but you can't change destiny."
• • •
Ambrosia whistled cheerfully as she got ready for work. She’d been a filly last time there was a pony pull in Ponyville, and she was looking forward to it. Her younger self hadn’t appreciated watching straining, sweating stallions, but she did now.
She was at Sugarcube Corner just as the town clock chimed the hour. As soon as she walked through the door, Mrs. Cake poured a cup of coffee and marked another tick on Ambrosia’s tally sheet. With a friendly smile, Ambrosia picked the mug off the counter.
She walked over to the table where her team had gathered—including Rough Tumble for once. Square Cut was poking at a crystal lamp Tilly had brought, while Rough and Hazel were fighting over the last cupcake.
Ambrosia sat next to Riven, and leaned over to whisper in her foremare’s ear. "So, did you talk to Hydro last night?"
"I stopped by," Riven said, keeping her voice low as well. "He wasn't home. I'm going to check again this morning before we start work. I ought to get going, if I want to catch him."
"Don't," Ambrosia ordered. "I talked to Silver last night, and I've been thinking. She knows how to do her job—Hydro wouldn’t have offered her if she didn’t. Isn't that enough?"
"She's still a unicorn," Rough muttered. Ambrosia jerked—she hadn’t realized her apprentice was paying attention.
"And you're a stallion. And we get along just fine, don't we?"
Rough opened his mouth, and Ambrosia glared at him. He withered under her stare, and looked back in time to see Hazel finishing the cupcake.
"Tell you what, Riv. You do what you want to. It's your contract. But if she isn't there today, you won't have a plasterer, either. Not me or Rough."
"Fine." She threw her hooves up. "It'll give me more time to enjoy my coffee anyway."
• • •
The workday went smoothly enough. Ambrosia kept her ears perked for any signs of friction between the rest of the crew and Silver. Tilly, who hadn’t been privy to the conversation at Sugarcube Corner, made a snide remark while she was hanging a wall sconce, and was rewarded with a thrown trowel. Finally, when they were cleaning up, she went into the downstairs bathroom where Silver was installing bathtub faucets.
"You ready for tonight?"
Silver jerked around, the field-held screwdriver slipping off the faucet knob. When she saw it was Ambrosia, her ears went back up. "Yeah."
“Maybe we’ll get to meet some of the stallions after.” She swished her tail eagerly. “If we get there early, I bet we can find a spot in the front. Right near the action.”
Silver glanced outside and quickly judged the shadows. "Ooh, it's later than I thought. I have to get home and drop off my tool belt before dinner."
"Why?"
"Um . . . " Silver flattened her ears. "'Cause a lot of ponies here don't like seeing a unicorn construction pony."
"Well, I don't mind, and anypony who does will have to complain to me." Ambrosia said evenly. "Seems to me like a pony ought to be proud of what she is."
"Do you really think so?" Silver asked hopefully.
Ambrosia thought about it for a moment, and then smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. Come on, let's get dinner. My treat."
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You know I'd quite like a story about the pull now, I could see big Mac being a contender.
5779129
Well, we know he can pull a house if he's got the right motivation. That's hard to compete with.
5779133
I guess he just needs cheerilee at the finishing line giving him a little motivation.
I just love your Silver Spanner stories.
Of course I have to agree with Talon, now you have to write the pony pull story. :)
5779255
Thanks!
I'll consider it.
One more vote for the pony pull.
Ambrosia and Silver are walking down the street one evening, chatting. A vaguely human-shaped blur zips out from between two houses and glomps Silver away between two more, the two making nearly matching squeals.
Ambrosia wasn't entirely sure, but while standing there in shock, one hoof raised, she could have sworn she heard a strange voice cry something like, "....freaking adorable...!"
Good stuff. Love the racism, that's awesome. I mean... we're like that, why would ponies be any different?
I really enjoyed this. I'd love to read more! Was this a one-time thing (I hope not)?
5781148
There is a story about how Silver Spanner got her cutie mark, and she appears in OTTPP.
5781276 Sorry, I'm kinda new here. What does OTTPP stand for?
5781281
One of Admiral Biscuit's long form fics, On to the Pony Planet, a sequel to Celestia Sleeps in.
Also here's the other Silver Spanner fic.
Silver Spanner gets her Cutie Mark.
Looks like you're actually very new in this site, so welcome!
You might want to take a look at Admiral's library, he has several fics with similar tone to this one.
Here.
This felt...oddly flat, which is disappointing as it's a really intriguing idea.
What if unicorns are seen as inferior for such work? How would such a world look, how would ponies treat them and interact with them? How would they cope, how would they find work? Would they face discrimination?
But this...feels very lifeless. There's no heat from anyone, it's all minor snipes and jabs that Silver either doesn't hear or doesn't understand and then suddenly whoops, they're friends problem solved. Everything's done. Everyone's happy and the reader can relax. But I never got worked up to start with.
I think my starting problem is the idea that not only is Ponyville willing to allow parents to prevent their young children from learning to read and write, but that such aggressive type biases exist and it's normal. Most places tend to enforce a minimum schooling age, and in a small town where everyone tends to know each others business, it's much easier to enforce. As to the type bias, Ttis is a town where everyone has been shown to happily work together, regardless of creed and type, and the Elements of Harmony have lived for many years and continue to doso.
Unfortunately that doesn't cover up for how dead this all feels. Nobody seems to care, the characters feel like they're simply going through the motions with no passion and interest. Part of the problem may simply be the amount of technical jargon that gets casually tossed around. I've helped build houses, but I still found some parts of this confusing and telly.
I only gripe because I love this idea. I love seeing how ponies deal with each other, especially when it's someone supposedly unsuited for their work but who has the ability to doso. I love watching ponies find their place in the world. Starting from a struggle and slowly gaining friends and trust of others. By rushing through all that to fit it into a short story, you have to limit it to one or two small scenes apiece, which means you lose the ability to add emphasis and weight to the interactions.
Ahem, rant over. I can do something else now and not chew the furniture.
If it helps, it's only because I feel you can do so much more that I'm irked.
It occurs to me to point out I'm not downvoting as I don't think it's genuinely bad. Just, not very good.
5779691
Y'all really want to see this one, don't you?
5779913
Ooh, if I were there it would a toss-up whether to glomp Ambrosia or Silver Spanner first.
Eh, who am I kidding? I'd grab the first pony I saw.
5780190
Thanks! That's always kind of been my thought, too. Heck, we're only differentiated by petty things like skin color, religion, and nation of origin. They're practically three different species (or more, if you also count donkeys, mules, zebras, batponies...).
5781148
It's not exactly a one-time thing--I've used Ambrosia and Silver Spanner (along with other construction ponies) in other fics before, as 5781276 pointed out. They will appear again in other things, and there's a very high likelihood of additional one-shots starring the construction ponies, especially since so many people want a story about the pony pull.
5782178
Back when our greatest technological achievement was the steam engine most of the people alive were illiterate. Heck, only slightly over 20% of the world's population knew how to read as late as 1900.
Here: http://ourworldindata.org/data/education-knowledge/literacy/
Going into the 1800 only 54% of the people in the UK knew how to read, in 1870 that number was still only 76%, one out of every four ware illiterate.
It's got nothing to do with active denial of education, either school was not available, students would rather work than study, and people knew they could get aroud without picking up a book if they knew a trade from thousands of years of experience doing so.
As a more in-world justification, there was no school in Ponyville when the older ponies like Ambrosia were small.
2105? Don't you mean 2015? Also, I think I heard the name Admiral Biscuit from somewhere.
5782591
YES!!!!
Given that there apparently hasn't been one in Ponyville for a long time I guess it's a traveling show of some sort moving through. So I could certainly see they challenging volunteers from the audience, which could be rigged (Flim Flam brothers I'm looking at you) or fair and the show could also have other side acts to warm the crowd up (Trixie?).
5783711
Heh, oops. Correction made, thank you!
Hmm. I don't know where you might have heard it. I've came up with it 20 years ago, as a character in a RPG.
Just another day, normal is normal.
slice of life to the core!
5782679 Thanks for the link, the page is really interesting. I did know that illiteracy was pretty widespread and enforceable mandatory education is very a fairly new thing in the developed world.
My issue is more that I find that hard to believe in the show. The most powerful beings in the world raise the sun and moon. Everyone is fairly devoted to them and the idea they'd be fine with widespread illiteracy just doesn't gel for me.
n_n It's just personal opinion though, and the awesome thing about MLP:FiM is that it's such a tech mix you can argue almost whatever you want.
You do that. If that's the same stallion from her cutie mark story, he'll probably laugh in your face, then sadly shake his head, and then tell you he really has to go back to that town hall
Betcha that if she had just come to their table, they'd be all "Who does she think she is? Just coming to our table like she owns the place. We don't even know her! Typical unicorn..."
I have trouble parsing this sentence. I think that "with" shouldn't be there
Hah! I bet
5779129
You and every mare in Ponyville
5786840
Most likely. He doesn't even put up with s
from his kid.
That's exactly what would happen.
I want it done by the time Square’s got with the chair rail up, so she can start on the baseboard.
Good call! Oops!
img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110809175043/mlp/images/6/6d/Big_McIntosh_pulling_plough_in_Applejack's_imagination_S1E03.png
5787007
Wikia doesn't seem to allow hotlinking their images
But I found the pic anyway
5782178 as a tradesman, I loved this story, because the interactions between the various professions felt so true to life.
I've been on a lot of jobs, and I've been around a lot of plumbers, pipefitters, drywallers, tinbashers, etc. I know good work when I see it, even if I can't replicate it. The petty sniping and the "Jesus Christ what the fuck is he doing?" attitudes are spot on for people who suspect someone isn't pulling their weight.
As for the illiteracy and demeanour of the ponies concerning race, well, Admiral Biscuit has a far more realistic and coherent version of Equestria than canon, while still celebrating the themes of FiM, in my humble opinion.
More world-building...very nice
It's funny actually; I stumbled across your other entry some weeks earlier and now the random generater directed me here. To keep it short: I liked the story, it has cool worldbuilding and a nice message. The main critical remark I have would be that the amount of (named) characters in such a short story makes it actually hard to keep track of who's who.
5843747
Thank you!
5845868
Will such elements make a appearance in your current fic or in future ones?
5845067
The generator must like me!
Thank you!
That's a fair complaint. I assumed that the majority of people who read it would be familiar with most of them from OPP and the other Silver Spanner fic of mine.
5845872
Yes. All the stories set in the Pony Planet universe share these themes and worldbuilding elements. Also coming soon are another Sea Swirl fic, one about the pony pull, and a OPP side story about shoeing.
5845901
These will be most enjoyable I am sure.
Still waiting to see that Epiphany moment..its going to be SO good
It's simple and straightforward, but I like it. I like it a lot. The dialogue especially is snappy and believable and I always like a story that takes time to depict Equestria as a real place with real societal differences. Looks like I've got another nominee for the Everfree community choice awards!
5882614
Thank you, thank you, and thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
5845880
wonderful little story. I hope to read more about silver spanner... maybe even her perspective when she meets the human
and, while I, too found the number of characters a bit much, I have that problem virtually all the time, so I barely even notice it anymore
Nice! I feel like stories detailing tensions between the tribes tend to detail unicorns looking down on the other two significantly more. So its nice to see some stuff going the other direction. It, perhaps strangely, makes all three groups look more even.
Liked this one, needs another.
6727622
The pony pull is on my to-do list. Won't be before Christmas, but it's on the list. I even did research!
6733141
One question,
What's the meaning of this word?
LOL
~Leonzilla
6856899
A thatcher is one who thatches (I know, so helpful).
commonwealthroofing.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/thatch-being-installed-13.jpg
A historically common type of roof (and the type we see often in the show) is a thatched roof, which is a roof made of straw or some other woody plant (I believe sugarcane is used in some parts of the world). When done right, it can last a century without needing replacement, and of course it's biodegradable and renewable.
commonwealthroofing.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/thatch-being-installed-13.jpg
In the MLP world, that's a craft occupation which it makes sense would usually be done by pegasi, since there would be no need for ladders.
6859753 Thanks!
imagecache2.allposters.com/images/HPM/SM1586.jpg
Although a century is a bit of a stretch for any kind of roof.
6862900
Well, slate or tile or other roofs like that can last indefinitely . . . the thatched roof might need occasional minor repairs, but it's certainly got a longer life than simple asphalt shingles.
6862995 the weather conditions are a huge factor too. A roof that goes through the pressure of enduring heavy snows and rainy seasons is bound to wear-down sooner.
Roofs will only last indefinitely if periodically maintained. If the structure it's abandoned it would be difficult for any roof to hold 100+ years.
This story is absolutely wonderful!
I added it to the "Silver Spanner Fans" group
7036491
Thanks for adding it! It's a great story.
Author, have a like and follow!
7036491
Thank you! Signal boosted the group; I'd love to find more Silver Spanner stories.
7036635
Thanks!
7037021 no problem!