Scarlet Mane's Diary, Entry 2: The Party for Blasting Boom

by Madame Minty

Exasperation

Moonbeam wasn't pleased. In fact, she was incredibly angry at herself.

How could I not count the required parts first? she thought.

Her pet goat, Chewie, trotted besides her on her way to Malachite Glint's place and appeared interested in what Moon has to say.

She noticed how he looks at her and said, "I know, I know, I really should just count, not try to save a few minutes."

"Hidley Ho, Malachite!" said Moonbeam as she finally got there.

"Hello there honey," with a very soulful, dark, smoky timbre spoke the asphalt black earthpony of light blonde mane. She gave Moon a shot glance with just one of her appropriately malachite green eyes, the other one still looking through an enormous magnifying glass on an arm lamp. "What brings you here?" her slightly nasal voice sounded again.

"I need exactly one 44 cogged wheel, diameter 60."

"Didn't count the parts needed... again?"

"Yes," said Moon with embarrassment, "do you have the part up here?"

"No, I'm afraid not, dear," Malachite Glint said as she walked into an elevator to the storage hall and Moonbeam followed. "I suppose you're in a hurry?" she added as the machinery started its work.

"Yes, I am," said the unicorn and paused for a second. "You are going, aren't you?"

"I sure am! Hopefully Blasting Boom is going too, she always forgets her own birthday, even when she actually can celebrate it," said Malachite. We have to make it count, she added in thought.

The accelerating mechanism's pulleys and ropes started to produce crackle and rattle so loud it wasn't really possible to talk. The elevator finally stopped and the wooden door opened to reveal a sight that was nothing like Moonbeam experienced ever before. The chamber was immense.

I've got to get one of these, she thought and already began to imagine the entire operation. I need to talk with Blasting Boom about that.

The lights turned on only near the entrance. Story-high shelves seemed to go on forever, and yet, faded into the darkness. Thousands of crates, chests and boxes on them, each one with a cryptic label no one but the owner could possibly understand and recognize.

"You visit me workshop almost every day, but you're down there for the first time, right honey?" Malachite Glint asked.

Moon couldn't reply for several seconds as she stood there in awe. Malachite's hoof pushed her muzzle shut.

"Yes," she finally managed.

"Don't forget to breath, sweetie. Let's go find that... 42 cogged wheel, diameter 60, yes?"

"Yes, diameter 60," said Moon absentmindedly as she trotted along.

"Okay, here you go then," said Malachite Glint, giving her the part.

Moonbeam just couldn't resist looking around and just hid it inside her pouch. "Thanks," she just said. Only when the elevator's door closed, she shook that feeling off.

"That," she said, "is a really impressive repository."

#

"Oh, hi Scarlet," said Jelly Joy, considered to be the most yellow and dangerous pony in Maretown, "what's up?"

"Hello Joy, I just want to know if I can be of some use," said Scarlet Mane, "I mean, maybe I can help with party preparations?"

"Not if you want to keep your mane," Joy replied, tossing hers, not very long one and even more yellow than her coat, from side to side. Scarlet Mane couldn't control herself enough not to frown. Joy noticed and felt sad for her. She took off her protective goggles.

"Oh, well, let's see what you could do," she said, looking around her oversized workshop. "Mixing compounds... nope. Primers... no way. Shells," she said as she got her violet eyes on a blackboard with some designs.

She walked towards it, full of thought, her hooves clicking noisily on the stone slab that acted as a makeshift floor, as the rest of the workshop's bottom was just uneven dirt.

"Nah... it won't do."

"Oh, rockets!" Scarlet Mane yelled almost to Jelly Joy's ear. She got startled and her heart rate appropriately skyrocketed, but she didn't even flinch. She blinked slowly, very slowly, stepped sideways with a couple of clicks and turned her head towards Scarlet.

"Yes, rockets," she said. "Oh, I've got it! You must know some magic, being unicorn and all?"

"Well, actually..."

"You can make rockets magically bigger! Or turn them into missiles!"

"I don't do magic, I can't perform an enchantment even as simple as that," she said with embarrassment, "I've never learned a single spell."

"But, but, big missiles!..."

"Well, I don't want to sound rude, and I guess you get that a lot, uh..." Scarlet mumbled as she began to loudly tap the floor with her hoof, like trying to dig. She hoped to dodge the topic.

She does make sounds with her hooves after all, Joy thought. Scarlet seemed to read those thoughts and instead of digging she started to silently drill a hole in the stone.

"Well, I don't want to sound rude, but relax and just say it," Jelly Joy said.

"It seems a bit ironic, your name and Blasting Boom's," Scarlet Mane managed.

"Oh, I really do enjoy jelly!" Joy said, "but seriously, Boom makes booms too, just other kind. I guess now isn't the season, that's all. So, about those bigger rockets..."

"I'm so sorry, I'm really unable to do magic," Scarlet replied, "but you could use shaped charges to change the explosions and auxiliary thrusters, like that," she said, picking up a piece of chalk with her teeth and drawing a schematic along with writing complex equations on a side of the blackboard. "Sho you shee, you han mwhake ''em more shpecthacular withouth mwhaking them bwigger," she said and after a second put the beslobbered piece of chalk away and smiled awkwardly.

"Most unicorns do that by magic," Joy said, which caused Scarlet to blush scarlet.

"But I..." she started, but she just sighed and quickly got to the table where Joy was mixing something that looked like dough. She picked up several pieces of some kind of thick foil and made cones and cylinders out of them, then hastily applied to an almost finished firework. "There, just try to detonate this."

"Oh-kay, it won't be very big though, it's the smallest charge," Joy said as she put her goggles on again and attached the fuse. She looked at Carrie, expecting her to light it magically.

"Um, why are you staring at me? Should I take cover?" Scarlet said, quickly backing up. Joy sighed in resignation and used a flint lighter.

"No need," she said, "it's a really small cha—?"

An unexpectedly loud explosion cut her off.

"Aaah!" she yelled, noticing a streak of her hair on fire. She smacked her head onto a pile of wet clay to put it out, then slowly raised herself to see a small circular hole in her heavy, oak table and scowled at Scarlet Mane through her dirty goggles.

"Uh... I, um..." Scarlet stuttered, nervously trying to wipe the mud off, but then she saw the eye expression behind the lenses.

"I'm sorry!" she said and then ran away crying.