Personnel File 6: R&D Team Building
POV: Steam Gear
“This is the beverage dispenser. You can get any kind of beverages free of charge here. No matter if you are looking for Dr Pony, Red Minotaur, cider or a simple iced tea,” I exclaimed proudly at my next stop. It was a rather fascinating topic after all.
“It may not look like it but it has a rather complex distribution system. If the stock reaches the reorder level, or at the end of the day, it will refill itself. Like magic! Just that it is technology. The computers always know the amount of available stock, so that they send out an order for the items that need to be refilled. The order goes directly into our storage room, where machines pick and arrange the items that have to be transported. After the arranging they get settled into the transport mechanism, which is a pneumatic tube system. This system then transports the cans directly into the dispenser. You can find these beverage dispensers spread over the whole base. And that my little ponies is the gist of how the dispensers work!” I exclaimed cheerily as I was in my element just now.
“Next up is the coffee machine!” I boomed with a happy smile on my face. “Would you believe that we have a cow extra employed for that one?”
I almost didn’t see the rising hand from my little tour group. With a wave of my hand I gestured for him to speak up.
“Sir, do we really need to get over every single device that has nothing to do with our job?” Lunar Fang asked.
“Why not?” I asked slightly confused. I mean these are rather interesting topics after all! We started with the door mechanism, to the automatic lights which turn off when the R&D is empty, to the self-cleaning lavatory seats and to the point we are now with the dispenser. What’s not to like about it?
I then looked around and noticed the slightly bored looks on the faces of most of my tour group.
“My bad,” I said slightly sheepish and coughed into my hand. “Well…what to do now…” I mumbled.
“Maybe you should show them the four different bays,” came Fetch’s voice from behind me.
I hummed slightly at that. This sounds like a good idea actually.
“That might be a possibility. Let’s start with the Runner Bay!”
“Just remember. No exploding toilets this time.”
“It only happened once! ONCE!”
Fetch snickered. “Yeah, with toilets. I don’t want to think about the other ‘incidents’. You would probably build a beverage dispenser that tries to take over the base!”
I snorted at that. “Yeah, right. The time that happens is the time I have a cozy brunch with Queen Chrysalis herself!”
POV: Flare Blast
“Excuse me, Steam Gear, could you lend me that loppy?” I asked in the middle of construction.
“Sure, catch!” Steam Gear said, as he threw it in an arc towards me. I catched it midair without a problem and continued my work immediately.
“How is the welding going?” asked Steam Gear the thestral whose name I believe was Midnight Steel.
“Almost done!” she replied cheerfully.
Cheerfully. The word that described our situation the best. I never would have expected we would end up doing what we are doing now as we stepped into the SWAT Bay.
“What are we doing again?” asked a slightly confused Manual Control from the sidelines.
A rather good question to be honest.
“Less questions, more BBQ sauce!” I heard Lunar Fang say.
I smiled slightly. A rather interesting outcome.
One Hour Prior
We stepped from the R&D department into the elevator. It was rather spacious, so it could hold us all without a problem and still had some room to spare. Probably because it led to the bays.
Steam Gear and Fetch decided to introduce us first to the Runner Bay. My future working place, since I’m the one responsible for the maintenance of the Zords. Rather interesting vehicles. And extremely complicate looking. It probably would take a while to get worked in. I will gather a lot of knowledge in this place, I’m sure of it. And this in turn will help me to help others. Enough in fact to build another and improved prosthetic leg for Midnight!
I smiled at the thought. The little bundle of energy definitely needs a more durable prosthetic to keep up with her.
“Can we use the turbines to grill?”
This question formed a huge question mark over my head and I turned my head to look at Lunar Fang. Every other pair of eyes was on him too.
“What? I’m just curious since I saw that one movie,” he stated slightly excited.
Fetch hummed at that. “I say that the thruster nozzles from the Fliers at the SWAT Bay might be the better choice for the task of grilling.”
Steam Gear got a pensive look as well.
“Problem is that it gets roasted in a charred sense of the word. And holding every single grillable up from a distance can get pretty tiring. I mean we would like to have some vegetables like potatoes and peppers into the mix too, right? To hold a metal bowl of the ingredients up might be a problem when it comes to the burning finger department.”
“So a grill maybe to distribute the heat equally and to grill more than a few grillables at once?” asked Fetch next.
Steam Gear lay a hand on his chin while getting even more pensive. “What about the danger that it still might get charred if we are too slow to retrieve it?”
“An assembly line then inside the grill?”
“To automate the process? Grillables in on the one side and grilled goods out on the other? Sounds rather reasonable. I saw a pizza store once use this technique. It might work.” Steam suddenly balked. “What about the tour? We probably have not the time for such an experiment.”
“I’m more worried about the time limit we have for the order from Cruger. Problem is we need to work our team in. Maybe we could use today as a team building activity to ensure our efficiency for the future?”
“I guess,” answered Steam Gear a little unsure as he relented.
Lunar Fang seemed to beam at the news. “So, BBQ?” he asked.
“BBQ,” Fetch nodded.
I, as well as most of the others, stared at the events rather dumbfounded. Still from the drool on the snouts of some of us I could tell that they approved of this idea. But probably none could exceed the starry-eyed Lunar Fang in the point of motivation who squeed at the thought of a BBQ, R&D Style.
Which brings us back to the present. I will admit that I’m looking forward to it, and I’m also having my share of fun in this little impromptu project.
Probably a little bit of an understatement with the wide smile plastered on my beak. I honestly expected my first day to be more…dull. Just like then Steam Gear explained the beverage dispenser actually. But then suddenly all seems to turn rather cheerful and crazy!
Still, I wonder if I fit in. I mean, I don’t think I have that special brand of crazy that Steam Gear and Fetch seem to share, or Lunar Fang for that matter. But I guess I shouldn’t think too much about it. It’s the first day after all, and Steam Gear seems to be pleased with my work.
He also seems to be extremely hungry, if the excessive drooling is anything to go by. I’m only wondering why he looks at me like that. Do I have something on my wing?
And now he seems to be a bit panicky and his head jerks from left to right, as if he was in an internal argument? He really is an odd one.
Other than Midnight Steel. She is just like me rather quiet, but a lot more cheerful like the rest of us since this team activity started.
Apropos project. Seems like we are finished.
We all stepped back a few steps to admire our work. The Research staff did a good job to deliver us the plans for this grill…monster? You probably could call it that. I mean, it is rather big and can hold quite a few grillables.
Now I wonder if this thing isn’t a bit excessive for our small round. I mean, it gets fired by one of the Fliers for Griffin’s sake!
Midnight Steel seemed to have read my mind as she spoke out exactly what I thought, “Excessive much?”
Lunar Fang simply shook his head. “No. This is glorious.”
“Still…we are not that many,” said Manual Control as he threw his own two bits into the discussion.
“Let’s just get this party started!” exclaimed Lunar Fang.
From the moment he took this words into his mouth, things really started to go crazy.
POV: Steam Gear
“Let’s just get this party started!”
I hummed at that in agreement. Why discuss over such trivialities? Even though I will admit that I didn’t like the word ‘party’. Maybe more like a little get together?
I shook my head. It doesn’t matter. The grill really was something. And in my opinion, you could NEVER be too excessive. Experimentation is healthy, and this grill seemed still little compared to things we could have done additionally. I mean, what about the possibility to build a machine who turns meat into burger and sausages? I think, I’m going to talk with Fetch about this later. Might be worth to talk about.
I was just about to test the grill out, as suddenly a pink blur appeared, or more precisely jumped out of the hatch of the grill.
“DID SOMEPONY MENTION A PARTY!”
My brain stopped for a short moment as I questioned how Pinkie could possibly get into the grill, since we just finished constructing it. I just shook my head. Better not think about it. I want to keep my sanity after all.
“In a sense, this could probably be called one,” answered Fetch before I could get out of my stupor.
“But there are no streamers and balloons and party games and there are a lot of party guests missing!” said the pink mare slightly disappointed at the lack of party supplies and guests.
“The reason we are so few is that this was rather spontaneous,” said Fetch.
“Ooh! We could gather all the ponies in the base!”
My alarm bells shrilled exactly in that moment and I immediately intervened.
“I don’t think that this is such a good idea.”
“Why not?” asked Pinkie innocently.
“Just look around you. None of them seems to be overly skilled in the art of socializing, and neither am I. Filling the place with people will only make us all uncomfortable. It would be better if we keep to ourselves with this. It is a R&D introduction party after all, and even then it is more a simple BBQ than a party.”
Pinkie suddenly took a notebook out of her mane, as well as a pencil…because why should she make sense and use her trouser pockets like normal ponies do? Better not think about how she holds the stuff in her mane or what else she might have hidden in that huge pink mob. Well, it’s not like she could hide a pony in there, so at least she follows some sense of logic by pulling things out of her mane that fit inside it.
She nodded as she scribbled in a serious fashion a few notes down. The seriousness made me slightly nervous. It was slight the contrast to her normal cheerful self.
“Okie dokie lokie. A small introduction party coming right up! It might be small, but she can help with a small party too!”
I was about to question her who she meant, when she suddenly pulled…HEART out of her mane...
...
I don’t even! How is that possible?! You know what? I’m not even going to question it. Nope. I’m just drawing a blank. Not even thinking about it.
So I just turned around back to the grill. The simplest thing in this entire hangar. The one that made perfect consistent sense.
Yes, sense. Just what I need now. I could only hope that Pinkie isn’t going overboard with her party planning, but as I know her this hope might be in vain. Well, I should best not think about it and concentrate on the BBQ. We had some empty stomachs to fill after all.
Stats
Page generated in 0.046 seconds
Total duration
776 users online
1,153,624 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.®
Never question what Pinkie does...
Magnificent
*taps comm* Alert Code Pink
That totally has to happen and he shouldn't have said that, now he's gonna have to have a cozy brunch with Chrysalis and her daughter PRINCESS HEART! The beverage thing may or may not happen before or after said brunch ends. Shall we have it act up like that appliance in Ernie's Smoothie shop during Zack's birthday?
Question it Steam and HEART should give a logical explanation on how Pinkie Pie's magic works. She's chaotic like Discord so she has chaos magic in addition to her earth pony magic. As to the party that's about to go down you can bet HEART is gonna have that Happy Happy Birthday Baby song from "Happy Birthday Zack" playing just cause. Funny if it's actually someone's birthday at the time concidentally and they say you remembered randomly. XD
Blood rush: how? *staring at a X-ray of a pony belly with three whole chickens in it* there's only one possible explanation. *throws head back and yells* STEAM GEAAAAR!!!
....
Am I the only one who got this?