Wooden Wheels
The Automobile
Load Full StoryMy name isn't as important around these parts. Not as important as any other name. It doesn't even have significance. Not certain significance. Until, I introduced something so different to this world, so extraordinary, so accelerating to anyponies' eyes.
Heh, those cheesy, fake, cheating Flim Flam brothers would never thought of this one.
It started in my office, where I do everything.
everything.
Literally, I cannot afford myself a fancy house, so all I got is this shack. I was bewildered at some damned bill I got for all the tools I bought one day. Maybe intoxicated again, hell, I have no idea. An important paper of research that belonged of me had gone missing, so I was extra stressed.
*Moped 2.3.7
3 wheeled, side car, motor,*
Had so many pictures I could never have counted them. Every angle of the "Moped 2.3.7" was spilled on those parchments that you could make it a 3- Dimensional model in a jiffy. If that existed, that is. I really need to continue my "Computer" project. Never touched that in about a month.
One of my windows were shattered, so somepony obviously stole it. Great. Now, I have a window to fix, which I could never afford on my life, and, I'll have a nice, freezing breeze blanketing me with ice for the next 2 months. Not to mention snow all on my papers, which means I'll have to move them into the drawer every time I'm done.
My prized parchment, however, was not touched at all. It had the plans for the Car on it. The car would, will save my ass for sure. I can't get any kind of job. I worked in the military for a while, but quit after around 6 years of service. Then, I worked in an office, but ended up doodling instead, which got me fired. I can't really do anything else. I'm too old to do any work in general, really. Retirement isn't really part of my agenda, I can barely even afford this crappy shed.
Maybe if I work on a farm on one of them big fancy plantations. My mind really hasn't been set for a long time. There was one about a mile down the road that maybe I could work on to get rent money. Yeah, that'd be nice, but that was for tomorrow, and had to wait.
I was just walking blindly down the gravel and dirt road. I obviously had no idea what I was doing, but I knew these people. They were a nice, mediocre family of three. Their son loved clockworks and used to always come down to my shed and bug me. I didn't really mind, so I'd rather call it poking around.
I rang the bell in the front by pulling the rope dangling there. It took a minute for them to open the door and greet me. The mother went, "Hello, how are you? Need anything?"
I was kind of nervous, really. I had never talked in a while to others. Since they were friends, I assumed I didn't have to be formal, hopefully.
"Um, I'm kind of out of cash. Maybe I can work the farm for you possibly?" I said. God, I was so tangled, scattered, all the adverbs for nervous.
"Of course! My husband is feeling under the weather, so you came in perfect time!" her face lit up after I asked. She didn't tell me anything to do. I had worked for her before, so we both knew the usual. Except, now, there was her son. He had grown up a ton since I last saw him. He even had himself a cutie mark of a grey gear and a silver gear.
"You can start tomorrow at the thirteenth hour," she said, dismissing me. I nodded, and headed out.
I set up the stand in the marketplace of town. It was bustling with people, buying all sorts of accessories, food, and everything else. I pulled out some toy mice I had made with my bare hooves. A sign dangled on the side of the stand from my last shift. It had a picture of a gear and a bit, with the number 10 over it. The key on the back was turnable to start them up, and they would run around in a random pattern. It seemed to amuse little kids for sure.
After a while of sales pony business, I emptied out the chest of bits into my saddlebag. There were only three mice left, which meant business went well today. When I closed my saddlebag of bits and my notebook, two tall, yellow ponies showed up. THey had flashy red hair and picked up one mouse with their green unicorn magic.
"Quite a contraption you've got here, I'd say so myself," one of them with a mustache said. They turned it upside down and sideways, looking at the gears under it. I was just waiting for them to pay.
"Is this a franchise of your own?" the one without a mustache asked. It would be nearly impossible to tell them apart if it weren't for the mustache. I nodded.
"Might we possibly buy it from you...?" they lay out a big bag of bits for the offer. I shook my head. If they bought the mice, then when the automobile is released, I might be called out for being a copier. I looked up at their faces, which one of theirs was bright red. They really wanted them, just for the money.
The mustache one turned the bright red one around to whisper to each other. They really sucked hard at whispering.
"Don't worry, we'll get those mice," he said to his brother. They turned around and took their hats off to bow. "Thank you for your business, have a nice day!" they said in unison. Except there was no business, really.
I packed up the last three mice and flipped the 'open' sign to say 'closed'.
When I got home, I hid the mice just in case. Those ponies seemed very, very, very, very suspicious.
I whipped up some more models of the automobile and went to bed on the couch, my only bed, really. Tomorrow I would start on the farm.
I dragged the farming rake across the field, leaving spaces in the soil for seeds. I went through the whole process for about an hour.
Then was the corn field harvesting time. I picked them off the stalks for around two hours. One fourth of the corn field was harvested, a job well done.
I hosed myself down of dirt and trudged to the big house to receive my earning. They gave me a staggering 50 bits, which meant that if I kept this up I would have a real house in no time.
In my house, I started some actual work. I made a mini- model of the automobile. It just rolled around. I drew up another moped. Obviously, I was bored, and today was not my shift for the market.
