The Burdens of Engineering
Author's Note
This story is based on an image on the Derpibooru site. I likely need permission to show it here; and since I don’t have it, I won’t show it. But, the link is right here:
https://derpibooru org/1121039
The Chief Engineer
It had been her idea to build a giant mechanized pony. She had drawn up the plans, and was pleased when Princess Celestia gave her permission to build the machine, and didn't mind that her condition was that only one would be built. She'd even played a role in building the machine. The materials, the assembly, she'd been in charge of the whole thing. And, now that it was complete, after she'd had a tour of the machine and found it fully measured up to her standards, she was honored to accept the position of chief engineer, as long as she could be alone.
She was a cream-colored unicorn mare with mane and tail of two shades of blue and eyes of lighter blue than those of the captain.
Speaking of which, the captain, appointed by Princess Celestia, had hired some two or three dozen ponies to help with functions, to work in shifts, as needed. He was a mature pegasus who had no compunctions about hiring earth ponies and unicorns as well as other pegasi. A former member of the royal guard, he was dark-gray in color, with mane and tail of slightly-lighter gray, blue eyes, and what could only be described as a bird's-eye view of a pirate's hat as a cutie mark. Yet, in spite of such an odd, foreboding mark, he'd earned his reputation as a stallion that treated those under him fairly.
The captain and crew, dressed in comfortable uniforms of various shades of gray, boarded the enormous, equine vessel, and took their positions. The captain and a chosen subordinate took their positions in the pony's head, the chief engineer took her position in engineering, literally and figuratively in the belly of the beast; and the rest of the crew took their positions in the quarters prepared for them. Once all were in position, the machine set off on it's test run.
At first, the chief engineer was excited to see the various animated pictures on the monitors, some showing her the joints of each of the limbs as they flexed forward, then backward, propelling the mechanical pony forward. One monitor showed where this machine was going, another showed a view from behind, showing where it had been. And, thus far, everything was working perfectly.
An hour passed, and the condition of the machine didn't change. And, oddly, that started to become a problem. The novelty was wearing off, and the unicorn was starting to feel profoundly unoccupied. In fact, so much so that she started to doze off.
It was a change in one of the monitors that kept her from completely falling asleep, and she looked up to see that it was a heat warning. More curious than concerned, she pushed a few buttons to find out what part of the machine could be overheating. But, she found that the cause of the warning was a joint that was every now and then being exposed to the sun. It was still in good condition, and wasn't starting to glow or anything.
She decided to ignore the warning, especially when she started sensing a need of her own, her body warning her that her bladder needed to empty.
As much as she welcomed the relief from boredom, and the bathroom wasn't far away, she was still unsure she wanted to leave her position at the controls, just in case the warning became more of a threat. But, how was she going to relieve herself without leaving her post?
And, there was another problem. As comfortable as her new uniform was, it was also starting to get a little too warm for her. But then, on the other hoof, she wasn't sure she wanted to pee in her uniform. What if the captain were to call for her afterward? Could she really explain the odor and wetness as perspiration? Highly unlikely. Still, she needed to do something.
Even though she already knew she was alone in the room, still she swiveled her ears around, listening for any indication of another creature with her in the room. Then, when she was satisfied, she unzipped her jacket, removed it, and set it over the back of her chair. The good news was she was starting to cool off. The bad news was she still felt the need to urinate, just more than before.
She didn't want to wet her uniform pants, but she didn't want to wet her chair either.
The warning hadn't changed, and the joint that was the source of the warning wasn't changing either.
The unicorn mare pushed away from the computer console, looked underneath, and saw more electrical and electronic equipment just at her rear hooves. If she was going to pee, she couldn't aim it under the console, not so long as she was going to pee on those computers. Then, she noticed something about her chair: a lever with a square-shaped handle. Could she? Well, why not? If she pointed herself away from the wall nearby, and away from any electrical equipment, maybe she could target that handle, pee where she was sitting, and still keep an eye on that warning, just in case it got worse.
So, making her choice, she unzipped her uniform pants, stood up just long enough to remove them, set them on top of her jacket, then sat back down again. Propping herself so that she'd be resting on her tail, her anus pointing at a right angle from the chair, she settled against the chair's back and relaxed, allowing her bladder to empty.
In his chair in the head of the mechanical pony, the captain and another pony, a young unicorn stallion at the controls, watched through the windows, which, to complete the effect, were rounded so that they looked, to those outside of the machine, like eyes. As fortunate as they felt that their chief engineer had designed the machine with computers that communicated with each other, they were also concerned that a heat warning had apparently gone unattended.
The captain pony pushed a button or two on his chair, causing a flexible monitor to lower in between the eye windows. As soon as it was in full view, the image of the engineering room appeared, and with it, an image that left the captain in disbelief. Instead of taking care of the heat warning, his chief engineer was sitting in full view of the camera, completely out of uniform, her nakedness fully exposed, urinating off of her chair.
The first thing the captain pony wanted to do was call his chief engineer and ask her what she was doing. But, the only problem was there was no communications link to engineering. Another thing that left him in disbelief. Still, he needed some way to communicate with his chief engineer, to find out what she was doing in there.
Ultimately, the captain pounded on another button on his chair, one that lead to general crews' quarters, and called out, “Anypony who can hear me, I need a volunteer to go to engineering and check on our chief engineer!”
Autumn Flier, an orange earth stallion with yellow spots, green mane and tail, brown eyes, and a picture-frame cutie mark, answering the call from his captain, pushed the button to the communicator on the wall and answered, “Yes, Captain.” He then left his quarters, wondering if the chief engineer had gotten herself into some kind of trouble.
The good news was engineering was not far from his quarters, just down the hall, in fact. The bad news? He'd discover that when he opened the door to the engineering room.
The first thing that struck him was the strong scent of warm ammonia as he opened the door. Then, he saw, as he stumbled through the door, the chief engineer, out of uniform, nakedness fully exposed, peeing into the handle to the latch in her chair. He slammed the door closed behind him and called out, “What are you doing?”
The unicorn looked up slowly, evidently in enough of a sleep that she didn't realize she was no longer the only one in the room. Looking at the door, she had to take a few seconds to focus before she realized a stallion was looking at her. Again she looked down, more quickly this time, and realized she was still peeing. It took her looking around a few times to realize she couldn't quite place where her uniform had gone to. Not wanting her visitor to watch her pee anymore, she quickly covered her crotch with her front hooves, diverting her urine stream from its course to the latch handle, and into the seat of the chair she was sitting in.
As awake as she was, she made it clear she wasn't fully alert. All she could think to say was, “I, uh, …”
Autumn Flier then turned to the monitor and the “Heat Warning” displayed there and, pointing to it, continued, “You should be taking care of that warning, not peeing all over your chair.”
The unicorn mare, keeping one front hoof over her crotch, used the other front hoof, still dripping with her urine, to push buttons on the control surface until the “Heat Warning” disappeared from the monitor.
Seeing the signal gone from the screen, Autumn Flier said, “Now, get back into uniform. I have a report to make to the captain. But, next time you need to pee, please use the bathroom instead of peeing in your chair.” And, he proceeded to back out of the room. Running into the door with his behind, he turned and opened it before continuing to back out. But, before he closed the door, he concluded, “Oh, and if you need to poop, please use the bathroom and not your chair. And, get that puddle cleaned up. And, in case you're wondering what I'm doing in here, remember, you had a camera installed above the door to keep an eye on whoever was in engineering. I wasn't called specifically, but the captain likely saw what you were doing, and called for somepony to find out about it.” And, he closed the door.
The unicorn mare turned away from the computer and looked up above the door, and saw the camera staring back at her. She then turned back to the computer, closed her eyes, and tapped her head with her free front hoof. How could I be so foolish? she wondered. After a few seconds, she stopped tapping her head and looked down at her crotch, still covered by her other front hoof. The good news? Well, she wasn't peeing anymore. The bad news? Not only did she have a puddle on the floor to clean up, she was also sitting in one in her chair. Plus, she was still out of uniform, and she needed to poop now.
As he made his way through the belly of the mechanical pony, up the neck and to the head, Autumn Flier was still fuming with disappointment over what he'd discovered the chief engineer doing. While he'd gotten her to do what she was supposed to do, how was he going to explain to his captain that he'd found the unicorn mare trying to pee into a latch of her chair? Then again, that may have been the reason he, or somepony anyway, had been called to engineering in the first place. After all, like he'd said to the unicorn mare, she had had a camera installed over the door; and it was likely because of that that the captain had known what she was doing. So, that part of the report was likely not all that necessary. And, if it was, it shouldn't require any detailed explanation.
As he entered the head, he heard his captain say, “Please, come in and give your report.”
The earth stallion inhaled deeply, then exhaled slowly, then approached his captain. Stopping not far from the pegasus, he said, “Autumn Flier, here to give my report on the chief engineer, sir. As you ordered, I went to engineering. I found the chief engineer out of uniform in her chair, trying to pee into the latch handle. I asked her what she was doing, but she didn't have an answer. I got her to take care of the heat warning, then told her to use the bathroom if she needed to pee or poop, to get the puddle she made cleaned up, and to get back into uniform.”
The captain nodded and said, “Well done, Mr. Flier. You're dismissed.” Then, as Autumn started to head back to the door, he heard his captain say, “Our chief engineer designed this thing, even helped build it.” The earth stallion stopped and turned to his captain as the pegasus asked, “What, did she want a mechanical pony so she could have a trotting toilet?”
Autumn Flier wasn't sure how to answer, or even if he should. After a few seconds, he made his decision, and turned back to the door, ambled to it, and exited the room.
As he was making his way back to his room, he met up with the chief engineer, now once again dressed in her uniform.
The two exchanged looks, but said nothing. After a few seconds, the earth stallion made his way back to his quarters; and the unicorn mare made her way to and entered the door into the head and approached her captain to make her own report.
In the mean time, Autumn Flier made his way back to his quarters. As he passed the engineering room, he found himself wondering if he ever wanted to go back in there again, especially after what he'd smelled and seen the first time he'd been called to go in there.
In the mean time, as the engineer pony stood in front of her captain, she suddenly found herself unable to think of what she'd wanted to say.
Fortunately, or perhaps not, the captain pony had no such problems. After a few seconds, he asked, concern coloring his voice, “What were you thinking?”
The unicorn mare, not wanting to look up at her captain, opened her mouth to answer, then closed it again and collapsed into a canine-style sitting position instead.
The captain sighed, then continued, “You were the one that planned this machine. You helped in its construction. And, that's why you were made the chief engineer. Then, the first time an emergency comes up, I turn on the camera to find you out of uniform, urinating in your chair? Is that why you had this machine built? For your own ponial toilet?”
Finally, the unicorn mare looked up at her captain and pleaded, “No!” She then looked down as she continued, “I, … I, …” After sighing, she restarted, “There's no excuse for what I did. I should've been more attentive to my job.”
Again the captain sighed before continuing, “Part of your job as engineer is to hire a team to help you with your job. And, I didn't see another pony in there with you, not until I called in other ponies to see what you were doing in there.” He then asked, “Did you think you could do the job you were given on your own? Do you not like being around other ponies?”
Again the chief engineer looked down at the floor at her captain's feet, at least while he was talking. When he finished asking his questions, she looked up at him again and opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again and looked back down at the ground.
This time, the captain groaned before asking, “Why, when I turned on the camera to engineering, did I see you out of uniform, huh? Why were you urinating in your chair? Were you bored and alone?”
The unicorn collapsed into a sphinx-style position. And that's when she realized how much she was vibrating, almost uncontrollably. She'd already felt as though she'd disappointed her captain, and was worried about what that meant for her future employment. Too scared to think clearly, she kept silent.
The captain pony continued, “If this experience should've taught you anything, it's that you need a team to work with, at the very least so that you're not bored and alone. And, you have plenty of ponies to choose from. All you need to do is select the members you want, then approach me with your list of choices, and I'll approve it.” He then pushed a button close to his chair and said, “Autumn Flier, please come to the head. I have a new assignment for you.”
Over the intercom, the earth stallion's voice responded, “Yes, sir.”
The unicorn mare's deep inhale, then slow exhale, were equally unsteady. Finally, without looking up at her captain, she asked, “Wh-what are y-you g-g-gonna d-do?”
The captain answered, “I'm assigning you the first member of your team.”
The chief engineer rose so quickly to all fours, she just about jumped off of the floor. Looking the pegasus in the face, she asked, “C-captain?”
The captain continued, “In an emergency, I can't have you falling asleep, or seeking to entertain yourself by stripping and eliminating in your chair. Autumn Flier has proven helpful to both of us in this incident, and he may prove helpful as part of your team.”
At this point, the door to the mechanical pony's head opened, and the earth stallion entered, asking, “You called for me, Captain?”
The pegasus turned to Autumn and answered, “Come. I'm assigning you to assist our chief engineer.”
The earth stallion froze in his spot and, uncertainly, asked, “Sir?”
The captain continued, “Maybe with somepony to work with, she'll be less likely to take off her uniform and eliminate in her chair at the first sign of an emergency.”
At first the unicorn mare opened her mouth to protest, then she closed it again. While he was making it sound as though she was expecting to become incontinent with fear at the first sign of trouble, she found herself understanding that what she'd heard wasn't what her captain meant. Then again, considering how it must've looked from the perspective of the camera in engineering, it could've been worse. Maybe it was time for her to organize a team. With more ponies in the room, she wouldn't get bored so easily, wouldn't bet worn down or burned out. She could assign jobs to members of her team, shifts for different time intervals, and somepony from one shift to communicate to somepony in the next shift what had happened, what needed to be done.
In the mean time, Autumn Flier said, “Captain, I'm not sure I should be assigned to engineering.”
Tilting his head, the pegasus asked, “Why?”
The earth stallion answered, “The first time I went in there, I saw a mare, completely out of uniform, peeing in the chair she was sitting in. I saw parts of her I shouldn't've been able to see, saw her doing something she shouldn't've been doing. I don't know if I dare go in there again. I don't know if I can respect her after that.”
The captain didn't say anything, just turned to the unicorn mare.
The chief engineer nodded to the captain, then turned to the earth stallion and said, “You're right, I shouldn't have been doing what you saw me doing, and I shouldn't have taken off my uniform. I've cleaned up the mess I made, and I could use somepony to keep an eye on me. And, I promise you won't be the only one on my team. I'm not going to hold it against you for what happened.” She then settled into a sphinx-style position and asked, resting her head between her front hooves not unlike a submissive dog, “So, will you join my team?”
This was one of the most confusing situations Autumn Flier had ever been in. A mare abasing herself, begging a stallion to be her subordinate? And, he was the stallion being begged to.
On the one hoof, this was an assignment from his captain. Considering he'd been the first, evidently the only one, to look in on the chief engineer, and got her to do the job she'd been assigned to do, it made sense for him to be assigned to her. On the other hoof, she's begging for him to work for her? Of course, somewhere in there, somehow, in some bizarre way, it made sense. Then again, he'd already seen her unclothed, her nakedness fully exposed. Could he respect her after that? Maybe, if she kept her clothes on, and used the designated bathroom from now on. And, who better to keep her in line than him?
While he was thinking about that last question, his captain continued, “I want you to report to me on what she's doing. Let me know if she's organizing a team, who she's assigning to her team. And, most importantly, I want you to make sure she stays in uniform, and doesn't urinate or defecate outside the bathroom for the time she's in engineering. Will you do that for me?”
Autumn Flier turned to the unicorn mare stretched out on the floor, knowing he wouldn't be able to forget or unsee her nakedness. He then looked up at his captain, knowing how much he, Autumn Flier, respected the pegasus. Again he looked down at the unicorn mare, this time thinking that this was the chief engineer, the one that had planned and, at least in part, built the mechanical pony he was in right now. If he could help keep this mare in line, maybe he could learn to respect her after all. One last time, he looked up at his captain, and, saluting, answered, “Yes, sir.”
The pegasus looked down at the unicorn mare and said, “On your hooves, chief engineer. You will select a team from those on board. But, that team will include Mr. Autumn Flier. You are dismissed.”
Obedient to her captain, the unicorn mare rose to all fours as he spoke. And, when he dismissed her, she saluted, said, “Yes, sir,” and made her way out of the door to see about organizing an engineering team.
Autumn Flier turned around to follow his new boss, until the pegasus said, “I have more for you before you leave.”
The earth stallion paused and, looking at his captain, asked, “Yes, sir?”
The captain continued, “I just want you to know that you aren't the only one who saw our chief engineer … the way she was … in her chair. I don't know that any of us will be able to forget what we saw, but I still believe she deserves another chance to succeed at being chief engineer. Just because somepony makes a mistake, that doesn't mean that pony doesn't deserve any respect. After all, none of us is perfect.”
Autumn Flier nodded to his captain and answered, “Yes, sir.”
The pegasus concluded, “You are dismissed.”
The earth stallion took only a moment to say, “Thank you, sir,” before following the chief engineer out of the head and to crew quarters.
If the unicorn mare took anything from the experience, it was that she wasn't as alone as she felt she was. With the help of Autumn Flier, she organized a team, assigned jobs and shifts, and managed to keep things working smoothly. With other ponies to keep an eye on, and to keep an eye on her, she learned to respect and enjoy her job more, and only took her uniform off when she was in her quarters and sure she wouldn't be receiving any unexpected company. While she was working her shift, if she ever needed to urinate or defecate, she'd assign another pony to temporarily take over the controls while she emptied her bladder or bowels in the bathroom, then returned soon afterward, back in uniform, to resume her job. Outside of her shift, well, she was more relaxed; but, at the same time, she was always ready to get into her uniform when she was needed. Beyond sleep and having her meals, only she knows what she did with her free time.
Autumn Flier, like his captain, never did forget what he'd seen the first time he'd seen the chief engineer in that room. But, he did learn to respect her, in spite of that memory. He just learned to compare the unclothed unicorn with the one wearing clothes, and found her more pleasant in appearance, more worthy of respect, while she was wearing her uniform.