I had a bunch of parts. I knew how they had to be arranged, but first... First... Naked copper wasn't going to do it. Still, Miss Smith had done a great job. I just needed that copper insulated and I'd be there... One search turned up a surprising answer. Paper. They had paper. Paper insulated just fine so long as it wasn't running that hot or too much electricity, which I wasn't planning.

I brought Easy over. "I could do this myself, but I'd actually like as much of this to be done by pony hands as we can."

"Yeah?" She glanced between me and the random assortment of parts. "What are you doing, exactly?"

"Science!" I gently picked up the coil of copper wire. "But right now, we're going to cheat with a little magic. Can you wrap this wire in paper?"

"Wrap it in... paper?" She hiked a brow high. "You have strange ways of thinking, Boss. You'll need to get me a bunch of paper first, then some kinda wrapping spell. For some reason, I didn't really thing that'd be needed."

I was about to be disheartened, but a thought hit me. "Ask your dad. I bet he uses something to wrap pipes, keep them watertight and insulated. He'd know for sure."

Her ears perked in a little dance. "Oh, good idea. That sounds like something he'd know. Alright, I'll go ask him. You get the paper." She trotted off without another word.

The paper was a straight forward thing. I went to the library where they keep writing tools, which included a nice stack of writing paper. "Can I have some of this?" I asked the librarian mare that sat behind a counter.

She leaned over the counter to see what I was pointing at. "If you're writing something for the council, certainly." She nodded with self-satisfaction. "It's what it's there for. You're Langerman, aren't you? Ponies are talking about you." Her eyes wandered over me. "Up to interesting things. Go on, have some parchment."

Wait, was parchment the same as paper? "What is this made of?"

She frowned at me then. "We have books on parchment, made of parchment." She snorted then, looking amused at her own joke as she pointed the way. "If you're that interested. A little learning's good for a pony."

While tempting, I had things to do. I could check that later. I thanked her and hurried back to my room with several sheets of parchment. A quick search said parchment was leather, and leather insulated. Great! I wouldn't want to use it for a house power line, or much anything larger than the little motor I had in mind, but for that, it would be 'good enough', and sometimes that just had to do.

The door opened and more than one pony entered. You get used to their gait, and two sets of hooves did not sound like one. "Where is this?" asked a familiar male voice. Tight Fit was with Easy, approaching quickly. "Ah, Mister Langerman, nice to see you. Daughter here says you need something sealed?"

"That wasn't exactly what I asked." I picked up the copper wire. "I need this coated in something that can insulate against electricity. I got some parchment for the job. Can you do that?"

"Parchment." He looked at the small stack of paper. "Well, sure, you could do that, but parchment breaks. What you want is wax!" His horn glowed as several bottles emerged in a line. "I have a special blend I use on little pipes I need to be nice and snug. No water in, no water out. Except the ends, of course."

I was ready to argue, but that was a pony solution. If it was made of things they could easily get, that was even better. "Do you know if it resists electricity?"

"I never tested that," he admitted with a shrug. "Put out one of your hands."

Oh that could go in so many directions. "I trust this won't do anything I'll regret?"

"What are you talkin' about? You're my meal ticket and a chance for a huge project. I won't hurt a hair on your body." He waved it off like it was nothing. "Getting wax off a pony isn't so tough, and you have less fur to get in the way, so you're perfect."

Nothing for it. I presented my left hand. His horn flared brightly as the bottles shook in place. Suddenly my hand was coated in hot wax. Just as the pain of that was starting to appear, it was already cooled down. My hand was perfectly encased in some kind of wax-mixture. "There you are. Now, Easy, my girl, if you would?"

Easy stepped up, her horn crackling. "How much electricity do you need? Big zap? Fill the room zap?"

Actually... "Just keep your horn crackling. No zaps." I brought my hand over and brushed against her still sparking horn. I was not jolted, even with the direct contact. "Wow, pretty good mixture you have there. Do you have a recipe for it?"

He inclined his head softly. "Only in my head. I don't need other ponies taking my secrets, Sir."

That attitude had to change... But how? "You should still pen it down. If you trust me with it, I'll pay you for it, to start, and keep it secure."

"Well, paying for it is a different story." He waved a hoof and his magic banished the wax, making it crack and part, falling free of my hand. "You plan to have other unicorns sealing the pipes? Eh... it is a big job. I suppose a helping horn or two might be a good idea..." He tapped at his chin softly. "Alright... but I expect to be paid for all the time I'm saving you."

It meant a bit of pony ingenuity would be saved instead of fading when the pony that had it passed away. It was a step in the right direction. How many other little technological steps burst into being just to fade back into the swamp they emerged from, the world none the wiser for what it had lost? "It's a deal. For now, please, coat this." I gestured at the wire. "I need the length coated, not all of it. I should still be able to move each bit of the wire."

"Well, then first..." His magic unwound the coil and stretched it wide. It went around the room once. "We need it nice and straight as can be. Then..." Tight made a grand sweep of a hoof, his bottles jiggling as they dipped in volume each, drained to coat that wire all along with the waxy residue. He drew a sudden sharp breath and what seemed to be dripping pulled in tight, hugging firmly to the metal. "And... there we go." He began coiling the wire back up carefully in his magic, still covered in that insulator.

I had insulated copper! "Fantastic. Now I need a magnet."

Easy inclined her head. "Magnet. How big?" She held up her hooves. "This? This?" She spread them further apart. "The bigger, the more expensive, of course."

Magnets were on the market? "They sell them?"

Easy shrugged softly. "I've used lodestone in acts before. They make compasses out of them, and you can do funny things with them. How big?"

"Great!" I held out a flat hand. "About as big as my hand?"

"Huh, alright." She turned but vanished rather than walking away, a soft pop of magic.

Tight shook his head. "That's my girl... lately. She didn't used to do that. Now, you, Sir. What is it you're making?" He was eyeing the collection of parts. "It looks delightfully intricate. I must know more."

"It's more electric than water," I warned.

"I am capable of enjoying all kinds-a complicated things. Don't you go judgin' me, Sir." He sat down in front of the bed, his eyes wandering over the pieces as his mouth moved in subvocalizations. "With a magnet... and the coated wire," he said a bit more loudly. "I don't get it. What are you making?"

"It will show that electricity can do more than look pretty, or zap ponies." I sat on the bed and started assembling it as it needed to be, which mostly involved coiling that wire. Around and around and around... I'd be there a while, but the tighter the coil, the better, so I kept at it.

He was watching my fingers as I worked the coated wire around and around. "You're going to zap that wire, and you don't want the wire to zap the wire." He tapped at his chin. "I still don't understand why."

"I don't even know how you got that far." That was an impressive leap of logic. "But I am amazed. That's exactly what the wax is for, to stop electricity in the wire from jumping to the next part of the wire, which it would do if it was easier than just moving along the wire."

"Electricity is... lazy, Sir?" He raised a brow. "I didn't know electricity had thoughts."

"It doesn't, exactly." The coiling continued. I was making good progress, but it took time. "But water won't flow uphill if downhill is an option. Electricity takes the easy way too. Most things in nature prefer the easy way if at all possible."

"That makes sense," he said as if it actually did click with him. "But you haven't said what this does."

"You'll see when I get it all put together. Since you helped, you can be the first one, besides maybe me, to see it in action." Around and around went the wire. I'd be there for--

His magic suddenly appeared on the wire, coiling it quickly. "Well, I want to see this, whatever it is." As great as human fingers were, unicorn magic was just cheating, and he soon had it nice and tightly coiled. Oh, the look on his face as I undid the last few coils. "What did you do that for? I thought you wanted it all bound up like that."

"Most of it. I need the ends free to get the electricity in and out." Mmm. "You have something to keep this all firmly in place?"

Pop, wax slathered over the mixture, glueing it down to the metal beneath. "Huh, that stuff has a lot of uses."

"It isn't the strongest glue, but for little delicate things, it can work." He lifted his shoulders in a soft shrug. "Alright, so what's next?"

I hadn't expected to get assistance of that sort, but it was good, I decided. Ponies needed to be involved. The more closely, the better. I began to explain what needed to be where and we worked together to fashion the motor-to-be. For a plumber, he was a handy pony. He had it mounted on a slab of wood without difficulty. We mounted another bit of metal to the other metal. I won't bore you with the specifics, but we had it together well enough that we didn't technically need the magnet... if we had alternating current electricity.

I wasn't sure if unicorn-created electricity was AC, DC, both? Maybe they could do it if they tried either way. I didn't know. There was one way to find out...

"I'm back!" sang Easy. "And I brought company."

Just behind her, Water Lily came trotting in. "Hello, betrothed. Easy says you..." She trailed off, eyes on the strange little contraption we had on my bed. "What manner of... What is that?"

Easy clopped her hooves with a smile. "You built it while I was gone! Dad, were you helping?"

Tight nodded with a smug look of confidence. "We did it together, with a little practiced hornwork. Now, I still got no clue what it does."

"We're about to find out... Right away if you can do alternating current electricity. In a bit if you brought that magnet."

Easy blinked at me as if I had just spoken a foreign language, which I suppose I might have just done.

Author's Note

Time for that electromagnet motor I built in junior high! What fun! Also I didn't mean to spend the whole chapter on this... and yet here we are. Are you mad? It's alright to admit it.

Written early for patreons who got this ahead of everyone else. Want to get early chapters, or even your own story written? atreon!

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