• Published 12th Apr 2016
  • 607 Views, 27 Comments

Nuts and Bolts - Nines



Silver Spanner is a repair pony and hobby inventor. Mjolna is her foreign roommate and a warrior. A series of lighthearted drabbles about their lives. And mishaps. Plenty of mishaps.

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Revelry

A mangled cart frame struck the cobblestones of the alley with a heavy crunch, a blue aura fading from around it. A tan, female earth pony with a thick pale blond mane wrinkled her muzzle as she looked it over. The frame was bent and twisted metal, rusted all over, and it was as big as she was. She guessed it may even be bigger. Not that size intimidated her, she'd fought all manner of beasts twice her own size after all, but this was not something to slay. It was something to carry. She glowered up through her curly mane to see her unicorn companion grinning down at her from over the edge of a dumpster.

"If you think," the earth pony started slowly, her voice thick with her northern accent, "I am carrying that all the way back to the loft, then you can go sit on an axe."

The unicorn pouted, one foreleg wiping her sweaty white mane out of her slate-gray eyes. "But Mjolna—!"

"You can go sit on an axe blade side up, Silver Spanner."

Silver Spanner snorted as she leaned her cheek on a dirty hoof. "Well that's not very nice..."

"I am not feeling very nice," Mjolna returned waspishly. "You promised me awesome revelry this night!"

Silver scowled. "But this is awesome!" she exclaimed, gesturing a hoof at the rusty cart frame.

Mjolna tongued her cheek before answering, "This could be flying, wet, and on fire, and still fail to be anywhere near 'awesome'."

Her companion grunted as she hoisted herself up on the edge of the dumpster, then from her place perched on the ledge, dropped to the alley below. Her hooves clopped soundly on the cobblestones. Her body was a rich brown and covered in dirt and grime. Just under the muck, her cutie mark was of a spanner, though some, like the northern pony, called it a wrench. When Mjolna rose up to all four hooves and stepped back to give Silver space, her tail, which had been curled along her side, moved to reveal her cutie mark—that of a hammer and a bolt of lightning streaking behind it.

"Just you wait," Silver Spanner said eagerly to her roommate. "This is just what we needed!"

"It's worthless."

Silver's face lengthened with shock. "Is not!"

Mjolna leveled a dry stare at her roommate. "Is too."

"What if I told you, this cart frame could be the start of a brand new weapon for you to impress the Royal Guard with?"

This earned her a skeptical look. "It would depend on the idea in that skrælling head of yours. What would this so-called weapon be?"

Silver Spanner hopped excitedly from hoof to hoof. "How about a self-swinging axe?"

Mjolna's ears went flat. "Windigo teeth, what a foalish idea!"

Silver paused, her head cocking to the side. "No? What about a self-swinging mace instead?"

"You cannot sever the sacred bond between a warrior and her weapon, and still call it worthwhile!" Mjolna huffed indignantly.

Silver blinked and sat on her haunch. "Not even if you could ride it?"

"Who would ride a self-swinging axe!?" Mjolna snorted and turned to start walking out of the alleyway. "This is almost as bad as your 'mechanized tank' idea!"

"Lots of ponies would love to sit on such a weapon!" Silver Spanner argued. She followed her companion, crowding behind her. "It's innovative! And cool! And—"

"Dangerous." Mjolna sent a sharp look over her shoulder. "I still remember the last time you asked me to sit on one of your 'inventions'..."

Silver slowed, her ears drooping as she let her head drop. "The explosion wasn't that big," she mumbled.

Mjolna stopped and whirled around, her body flushing hot beneath her coat. "I was launched into the air!" she half-yelled.

The unicorn pouted at her. "You didn't even clear two stories! Besides, I broke your fall with my magic, didn't I?"

"How could I forget? The nurses kept telling me that my injuries could have been far more dire had you failed to do so!"

Silver Spanner brightened, her face splitting into a grin. "See? You can trust me! I saved your life!"

Mjolna put a hoof on her face and groaned. Sweet Celestia, how did I find myself living with such a roommate?

Silver whined, her tail flicking anxiously. "Mjolna, come on! Puh-lease? Just help me take the cart frame back to the loft, and I can start making your super awesome weapon!"

The earth pony glowered at her. "Why must you drag me into your lunatic ideas?"

A wince. "Yeeah... Remember how I told you saying the word 'lunatic' is kind of not cool with ponies anymore? Princess Luna is back. They might think you're being treasonous at the Guard."

Mjolna scoffed and started to trot away. "Tartarus take you! I'm through with this farce!"

"What if it was a gauntlet with the weapon attached at the front of the hoof!?" Silver blurted. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth with a hoof.

Mjolna paused and craned her head around to squint her eyes at the unicorn. "Would it also be able to fire projectiles? I've always wanted a versatile weapon like that."

Silver made a face as she dropped her hoof from her lips. "But that would be pointless! The entire purpose of a hoof weapon is to increase close combat effectiveness without reducing mobility. Adding a firing mechanism would only encumber—"

Mjolna turned around and resumed walking.

Silver chased after her, "Okay, okay, I can make it shoot things! Knives, darts, bullets—whatever! Just help me out!"

The northern pony stopped and grinned over her shoulder. "All right, then. We've got some junk to move!"

Ten minutes later on the main thoroughfare, Mjolna could be heard wheezing from under the cart frame: "Remind me again why you couldn't levitate it to the loft?"

Silver Spanner chuckled as she trotted airily ahead of her roommate. "Are you kidding? I can't focus on your weapon designs if I'm levitating something that heavy!"

"And in that—urgh—big head of yours, you couldn't—argh—think of something to help you—hah—move heavy garbage!?"

The tinker pony shot her a look. "Mjolna, I thought you wanted a fancy-schmancy weapon!"

Mjolna just managed to flick her sweaty bangs out of her eyes, her knees shaking as she fought to take another step forward. "Yes, but—!"

"And look! See? You complained for nothing. We're already here." Silver Spanner announced. 'Here' was a two-story building with a gabled roof, its facade made of various slabs of mountain stone and cement. Their home was sandwiched between a bookstore and a perfume parlor.

Silver grinned as her horn glowed, opening the top-round blue door. Simultaneously, Mjolna felt some of the weight lessen on her throbbing back, and she sighed in relief.

"I guess I can help you the rest of the way," the unicorn said as she entered the entrance hallway, where a staircase led up to their loft. "I'm done brainstorming. Just gotta draw up the plans for your new weapon!"

"My, that was fast! And here I thought you were just an eccentric," Mjolna remarked as she carefully navigated through the doorway. She winced as she heard the cart frame scrape the walls. Their landlord would not be pleased at this latest damage to the property.

"Aw, it's nothing. It's all because you helped me!" Silver squealed as she opened the door to their home. "See? Isn't this the best?"

The northern pony snorted as she started the slow ascent up the stairs. "I, for one, cannot wait for our night of revelry to begin!"

Silver Spanner sat on her haunch and frowned down at her friend from the top of the stairs. "What do you mean?"

Mjolna glared up at her. "What do you mean, 'what do I mean'? You promised me drinking and dancing!"

Silver scrunched her muzzle, scratched her head, and squinted one eye. Then her gaze went wide. "Ohhh! That's what revelry means!"

She received a murderous stare in response.