The concerned stallion looked at the map held in his violet field of magic as he compared the landmarks of his surroundings with the ones on his map.
“... Aye coulda’ swarn this is where tha lass said it’d be…” the light brown pony said quietly to himself in his mild Trottish accent. His stomach growled for attention as his violet eyes scanned the small town in front of him. “Migh’t as well grab som’n ta ea't while ay’m ‘ere.” he thought aloud as he reached into his saddlebag with his magic and brought out his bit-bag, careful not to damage the scrolls that were in there too. He blew a lock of his dark brown hair out of his face as he mentally weighed the bag. He suspected he would be alright to eat just about anywhere this tiny village had to offer. As the stallion thought about what he would have for his late lunch an idea came to him that he thought would hit the spot. “Aye wond’r if this place ‘as a bak’ry…” he said to no pony in particular as he made his way into the town.
vvv vvv vvv
Pinkie Pie was just pulling a fresh batch of a new type of muffin she had created when her body started twitching like it only did when something was coming to Ponyville. She mumbled to herself to keep track of the body spasms.
“... Left leg twitch… back itch… double tail twitch-” Pinkie suddenly gasped, “There’s sompony new!!” She dropped the tray in her excitement only to stop mid-jump, regardless of what the laws of physics kept telling her, and look at the slightly soiled confections. She put on her best ‘Pinkie stern face’ and spoke to the muffins, “Allright. I’ll be right back when I find this new pony so NONE OF YOU MOVE A CRUMB!” she yelled while pointing a hoof to the sweets. One of the unfortunate ones chose just at that moment to roll three eighths and a fifteenth of an inch to the right and Pinkie glared at it. “ESPECIALLY YOU!” she said to the muffin. It rolled right back to its original position right to the last millimeter, she smiled and replied with her usual cheerful tone “Thank you! I’ll be right baaa~ck.” Pinkie bounced away to greet the poor unsuspecting pony.
vvv vvv vvv
The stallion that had entered the town was taking the sights the little place had. He had learned from a passerby that its name was Ponyville, which confirmed his previous thoughts about his destination. This litt’l place shure seems a migh’ bigger when ya go in. He thought as he continued to stroll along and look around. He had decided to do so for little bit longer before he headed to the sweet shop called Sugar Cube Corner which apparently had the best sweets in Equestria. He was a little optimistic of that claim but trusted that the light, mint green mare would not say so without good reason. Well this place does ‘ave quite tha good lookin’ lasses around, aye’ll give it tha’t. That train of thought had placed itself in his mind after he saw nopony but some cute mares in the first few steps he had made into town. He paused that thought and searched in his bag with his purple aura for the instructions he had been given when he took this job.
Sprocket,
By taking this job you will need to meet with a pony in the town of Ponyville to be adequately provided with the means to complete the task we ask of you. The pony you are to meet is one Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess of friendship and ruler of Ponyville and surrounding area. You will find her at the Friendship Rainbow Kingdom castle in Ponyville and she will situate you with the materials you need to complete the production of the N.I.G.H.T.- “Gah!” Sprocket shouted as a pink mass filled the space between him and his scroll. He fell onto his flank in shock as the offender spoke to him, rather loudly.
“HI THERE! Are you new here? Cause I haven’t seen you around before and I know everypony in this town! What’s your name? Mine’s Pinkie Pie! But my friends just call me Pinkie. Where did you come from? Do you know anypony here? Well now you I guess, hee hee, cause you know me! So does that mean you aren’t new anymore?!?” The mare gasped, “does that mean I can’t throw my famous ‘New Pony In Ponyville’ party?” her hair suddenly deflated and went straighter than some mares could every want their hair to be and she started to tear up. This all confused Sprocket to no end but his confusion suddenly turned to slight concern as the mare in front of him, whose name was Pinkie Pie if he caught it correctly, started to cry.
“Woah there lassie,” he said as he started to get up, “aye mean no offence when aye say tha’t aye’m no’t big of a party pony myself. Though if it’d make ya feel better aye’d love ta come to this party of yours. New or no’t.” Pinkie looked up at the brown stallion.
“R-really?” she croaked out,
“Absolutlay,” he replied genuinely concerned, mostly about the mental well being of the mare in front of him. Suddenly her mane poofed up, again contradictory to what physics told her, and she bounced into the air cheering.
“YAY! Yay yay yay yay,” Pinkie announced to nopony in particular. Sprocket on the other hand had completely given up on being concerned about Pinkie’s antics and started worrying about his own mental health. He was deep in concern when she stopped bouncing and regarded him again.
“Oh! I never got you name. What is it by the way?” she asked. Sprocket pulled himself out of his thoughts and spoke his usual polite greeting,
“My name is Sprocket, young lass, and ‘tis ah pleasure to meet ya.” he said while bowing his head slightly,
“Oooh so if your name is Sprocket and your cutie mark is a gear with a wrench,” Pinkie pointed out which, was met with a confused stare as to how she noticed that by now, “does that mean you are good with machines? Cause I have this flying one that I made to visit my friend, Rainbow Dash, who’s a pegasus and it always banks slightly to the left and I tried to adjust the rotor mast but it didn’t do anything. Can you help?” while she explained her predicament Sprocket wondered how this mare had managed to make a personal flying machine with such ease. After being lost in his thoughts he realized that he had been asked a question,
“Did ya try ta calibrate tha’ stabalizer on the main rotor? If tha doesn’t work try ta adjust tha rotation speed. Does it ‘ave a tail rotor?” he asked, Pinkie didn’t respond right away but instead hummed to herself.
“Yes but the rotor on it always shakes too much,” she replied, this time it was his turn to hum until he realized the problem.
“Oh! Aye go’t it. Pu’t a damper in between tha blades an’ tha base, also on top of tha rotor as well. Tha’t should fix your problem.”
“I hadn’t thought of that! I’ll try that. Thank you very much!” Pinkie said happily. Sprocket was impressed by the knowledge that this mare had, and as an inventor and mechanic he was curious to know if this mare had more to know. His stomach growled again with great volume and he chuckled.
“Sorry ta cu’t this shor’t bu’t aye was jus’t headin’ ta a swee’t shop called Sugar Cube Corner ta grab a bite. Ya wouldn’t happen ta know tha place would ya lass?” he explained. Pinkie just giggled at this.
“Course I do silly. I work there! I live there with the Cake’s too!” she said back to him. He smiled and was happy he didn’t have to ask for directions and waste time.
“Lead tha way lass!” he said, motioning a hoof while putting the scroll he had been holding back into his bag.
“Okie lokie lokie! It’s not far at all.” Pinkie told him while starting to bounce down the street. Sprocket followed the mare and thought to himself. After aye ea’t aye’ll head ta tha’t castle.
While Pinkie and Sprocket continued to their destination a silhouette crept out of sight. The two ponies had no idea they had been watched.
Author's Note
Thank you for reading! I haven't had anyone edit this yet so feel free to in the comments. If you didnt happen to read the description I'll put some important in here. The main character's dialogue is in a Scottish accent to it was fairly weird to type. I know there are some spelling mistakes in the dialogue but they are on purpose. Another thing I tried to do while typing his lines was adding soft T's so if you see things like "Shor't" or "bu't" those are me trying to type the soft T's.
Lunch at Sugar Cube Corner had been nothing short of pleasant for Sprocket. While eating a few of the selections there he quickly agreed that this was indeed the best sweet shop in Equestria. During his lunch he was able to pick Pinkie’s brain to see how much she knew about mechanics and the like. It turned out that Pinkie knew a fair amount about the subject, and even showed him her trademark party cannons. He was impressed that she was able to launch all that confetti and plastic without a fire, but he chalked it all up to compressed air.
Shortly after he had left Sugar Cube Corner he headed to the castle aforementioned in the letter. It wasn’t a long walk to the base of the structure, but he took his time to admire what the little town had to offer. Soon he had reached the large double doors that lead into the tree. Castle. Thing. He grabbed one of the large handles in the middle of the door with his magic and knocked solidly a few times. At first he heard nothing and thought that maybe they were understaffed. It had only been a few weeks since the castle appeared, he guessed, so it was possible. After only a little bit of waiting he heard movement on the other side of the door and it finally opened.
“Good aftarnoon, my name is Sprocket…” he stopped his greeting when he saw no one at the door. He heard a small noise below him that sounded like a cough. He looked in the direction to see a small green and purple drake standing in the doorway. “Ah forgive me. Didn’t notice ya there litt’l lad,” he chuckled
“It’s alright,” the drake responded, “I assume you’re here to see Twilight?”
“Aye lad, I’m here ta see tha lass abou’t a job.” Sprocket said, “what’s your name litt’l one?”
“The name’s Spike,” he held out a claw and Sprocket took it, “you don’t sound like you’re from around here.”
“Very nice ta mee’t ya Spike, an no aye’m no’t. I’m from Trotland,” he replied. Before Spike could respond another voice came from behind him.
“Ah perfect! You’re just in time. I have a gap in my schedule right now. Please, come in.” The voice belonged to an elegant looking mare. She had a horn and a pair of regal looking wings which let Sprocket know that she was the mare he was looking for. He bowed and spoke.
“It’d be my honor, Princess.” Sprocket said. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a faint blush on the alicorn’s cheeks.
“Please, just Twilight is fine,” she said back to him, “I still haven’t gotten used to the title and I prefer when people talk to me as just Twilight.” She scuffed a hoof on the ground nervously. Sprocket smiled a little bit and replied in good nature,
“Aye understand lass. Aye’m no’t a fan of formalities myself.” Twilight smiled back.
“I couldn’t help but hear you’re from Trotland. We don’t get many ponies from there around here. Might I ask, how long have you know the Princesses?” she asked, “they seemed to know you quite well from the letter I received.”
“Ah, well aye’v known ‘em since aye was startin’ my career. Celly saw my talen’t an immediately wanted me ta be taugh’t properly. So she ‘ad me pu’t in one of ‘er schools. Aye’v only recently gotten ta know Luna, bu’t she’s quite tha trickster.” he said while laughing at the things he remembered. Twilight blanched when she heard her mentor being referred to as Celly.
“Uh.. by Celly you mean P-Princess Celestia right?” she asked quite confused.
“Ah righ’t. Just a nickname, lass. Aye’v know ‘er long enough tha’t she doesn’t mind,” Sprocket explained. Twilight couldn’t wrap her head around the concept and decided to write to the princess about it later. There was a small moment of silence before Twilight spoke up.
“Well we should get to business. If you’d just follow me.”
“Aye. We’ve a lo’t to discuss.” Sprocket followed her through the door before he asked a question, “So, Twiligh’t, do ya know much abou’t automatons?” Twilight looked back at the stallion quizzically.
“No not much I’m afraid. I know they are a type of machine and involve powerful magic, but not much more than that.” she answered. Sprocket put on his mental teaching cap and started his explanation.
“Righ’t. So you we’re correc’t on both accounts bu’t missin’ ah few things. Automatons are the closes’t thing ta wha’t can be called ‘sentien’t machines’ they require a solid an’ workin’ frame. They also need magic ta provide power an’ programmin’. This magical elemen’t requires both an outle’t an’ somthin’ ta hold it in. Tha outle’t could be anyhin’ from walkin’, ta shootin’ rainbow lasors. Tha place where tha magic is stored has ta be able ta supply tha’t outle’t or the automaton will burn ou’t an’ die. You followin’ so far?” he asked to make sure his temporary student wasn’t lost.
“I think I follow. So when you build the body and add magic, how do you direct the magic without constantly controlling it?” Twilight asked, “also you mentioned ‘programming’ what did you mean by that?” Sprocket smiled. He had hoped that she would ask questions like this. It made presenting the material a lot easier.
“Aye’m glad ya asked lass. So when you are preparin’ ta put your energy into tha body you etch runes an’ add conductive wirin’ to direc’t tha flow of magic to where ya want it ta be. Those runes ac’t as tha programmin’ an’ allow ya tell it wha’t ya want it ta do.” It all made perfect sense in Twilight’s head except for one thing.
“If the concept is that simple, how come we don’t have them all around Equestria yet?” she asked. Sprocket knew the answer to that question, but wasn’t sure Twilight would understand.
“Well ya see lass, Celestia wasn’t very fond of tha idea when aye had brough’t it up. She though’t tha’t tha idea migh’t be used wrong, an’ trus’t me Twiligh’t you do no’t wan’t these in tha wrong hands. As for how she managed ta keep i’t secre’t. She banned tha use of these kind of runes. An’ she se’t up a way ta le’t her know if they are bein’ used. No’t ta mention tha’t learnin’ an’ applyin’ them is bloody difficul’t.” He explained laughing slightly. Twilight thought about his answer as they continued to the room where they would talk about his housing and warehouse arrangements in Ponyville. She wasn't sure why Celestia had kept that information secret from her, and she would include this in her letter.
After two and a half hours had passed Twilight had shown Sprocket which houses he would be able to purchase, paid for by the princesses, and where he would be able to set up a workshop. Maps were scattered on the table and so were a few plates and two empty cups of coffee. Between the discussions of where Sprocket would stay Twilight had managed to get more information from the inventor about his job and what kinds of things he had accomplished.
“So you’re telling me you’ve built working horseless carriages?” she asked in surprise. Sprocket smiled proudly and answered the question,
“Aye lass. One for Luna, an’ from wha’t aye hear she has her own track!” he laughed imagining the princess of the night in full racing outfit. Twilight, on the other hoof, could only wonder what a horseless carriage would look like.
Soon stories had been exchanged and Celestia’s sun was setting. Sprocket mentioned something to Twilight about finding an inn, but she wouldn’t have it. Partly because there wasn’t one in Ponyville, and she also insisted that he was her guest and that he should use one of the many spare beds in the castle.
“This one here will be your room until we can get you a place. There are clean sheets on the bed, and the bathroom is just down the hall to the right,” Twilight stopped and hummed to herself, “Did I miss anything?” she asked.
“Aye don’t think so lass. Thank ya very much for this all.” Sprocket smiled. Twilight just smiled back and started to head back to her room.
“No problem! Goodnight Sprocket. See you in the morning.” Sprocket waved a hoof,
“Goodnigh’t Twilight. See ya in tha mornin’.” Sprocket closed the door and pulled a chair over to the desk that was by the head of the comfortable looking bed. He floated his saddle-bag onto the desk and pulled several scrolls and measuring tools. He grabbed two small weights, spreading one of the large scrolls onto the desk. Cautiously he took a glance around the room and out the window, then looked back to the scroll.
AUTHORIZED EYES ONLY - PROTOCOL 578/883 ECLIPSE
PROJECT DESIGNATION : N.I.G.H.T. FORCE
-NEAR-LIVING
-IMPLEMENTED
-GUARD &
-HELION
-TASK FORCE
Sprocket frowned. Aye’ll need ta make sure tha workshop is secure. Tartarus… Celly why do ya always ge’t me inta things like this… Sprocket spent the next few hours going over the documents and making lists for the materials he needed to get the project started. After he had gone over everything twice to make sure it all in order he grabbed his saddle-bag once more. He pulled a small bottle with burning green flame out and held the documents over it. He uncorked the bottle and the papers went up in a blaze. The smoke from the small fire traveled out the window and towards Canterlot where the Princesses were waiting. Sprocket took a moment to stare out over the small town that would soon be his home for a while. He just smiled and spoke softly to himself,
“Aye could ge’t used ta this.” He closed the window and laid on his bed. Sleep soon overtook him.
Author's Note
Again thank you for reading and I accept any constructive comments! 
