Out of the Sky

by ThatGirl2147

Rating: teen
Tags: Tragedy, Main 6, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Sad, Other, Original Character, Spike, Adventure, Princess Celestia
Length: 53160

On a seemingly normal day in Ponyville, a mysterious mare falls out of the sky and disrupts the calm

Tech Specs, a mysterious Unicorn Mare, arrives in Ponyville rather unexpectedly and painfully. This story revolves around her life, her home, her friends, and more.

By the way, with reference to the character list, this does NOT involve only one OC, but I've counted 27 of them.

Published 2011-12-11 08:08:46 UTC
Last updated 2012-02-21 21:56:26 UTC

Part 2

The next morning, when Tech Specs awoke, the sunlight was beaming in through the window beside her bed, and she could smell some kind of food being cooked downstairs. She quietly walked down the stairs into the Apple Family's kitchen to see four ponies gathered around a small, round table, eating a fresh batch of apple pancakes. Two of which she knew were Applejack and Big Macintosh, but she hadn't seen the other two before; a rather old, pale green mare with a grey mane styled in a bun, and a small, light yellow filly with a rose coloured mane with a pink bow atop her head.

The little filly immediately jumped from her seat at the table and stood in front of Tech, looking up at her. "Is this her, Big Sis?" questioned she giddily, "is this the pony who fell from the sky? What's your name? What's with the goggles? Can you fly?"

"Apple Bloom!" snapped Applejack at the curious filly, "where's your manners? Don't be bombardin' our guest with questions." She stood up and trotted over to Tech Specs, getting between her and the little filly, then said, "I'm so sorry about Apple Bloom here, Tech. She's just a little excited to see somepony new around here." She then turned and glared at Apple Bloom, who looked down shamefully.

"I'm sorry, Big Sis," apologised she to Applejack.

"Don't apologise to me," said the orange mare, stepping out from between Apple Bloom and Tech. "Apologise to Tech Specs."

"I'm sorry, Tech Specs."

"It’s quite alright!" assured Tech, "you're just curious. To answer your questions: Yes, I fell from the sky yesterday. You just learned my name. I feel naked without my goggles. And no, I can't fly." Tech started to think for a second, then looked at Applejack and said to her, "I have to go see Fluttershy. Where is her house?"

"Just on the other side of Ponyville, right next to The Everfree Forest," answered Applejack. "What's the rush, Tech?"

She looked out the kitchen window at Ponyville, and turned back to reply, "I have to see if I did any damage to her house, and gather up the pieces to my wings."

"You have wings?!" asked all four ponies in the room simultaneously, confused as to what they had just heard.

"Yes. Well, sort of. It's a long story. I have to go now." The blue mare wasted no time in answering, and darted out the front door, headed to Fluttershy's cottage. Applejack followed her to the cottage, trying to get her attention, but to no avail.

The pair soon arrived at the cottage to see Fluttershy and a purple unicorn pony tending to the damage to the wall Tech hit when she landed, which had only a small crack and a few chips to the stucco exterior. The two ponies turned to look at Tech and Applejack, who were winded by the time they arrived. "Excuse me, Fluttershy," huffed Tech, still catching her breath, "I need to ask you something."

"Oh, ummm, okay," answered the pegasus nervously. "What is it you need?"

"Have either of you found a pair of metal wings, most likely broken, laying around here anywhere?" asked Tech as she regained her composure.

Fluttershy looked around and replied, "umm, I.. I think I.."

"Yes, we found something like that," interrupted the purple unicorn. She looked to the side, and her horn started to glow a light purple. As this happened, a pair of twisted, mangled metal wings, surrounded by the same purple glow, floated over to the ponies, and were gently set down between the two unicorns. "These the wings you're talking about?"

"Yes, these are indeed them," confirmed Tech, looking over them. "Thank you kindly, Miss..?"

"Twilight Sparkle," answered the purple mare. "My name is Twilight Sparkle."

Tech looked at Twilight and finished, "yes, good. Thank you, Twilight Sparkle." Tech thought for a second. She had heard that name before somewhere, but where? She kept thinking, but was interrupted by a voice coming from behind her.

"Now what in Tarnation's goin’ on here?!" asked Applejack, frustrated and confused.

"Applejack?! I didn't know you were here." The blue unicorn turned to see an annoyed looking Applejack glaring at her.

"Yeah, I've been here as long as you have. Now, y'all got some explaining to do," huffed the orange pony, "what exactly is all this?"

Tech picked up a dilapidated wing, showed it to Applejack, and then explained, "this is.. or was rather.. an invention of mine. It was supposed to enable anypony to fly about like a pegasus. I was testing this prototype, but it failed mid-flight." She turned to face Fluttershy and Twilight. "Which is why I crashed into the side of your house. Sorry for that, by the way."

"Well, I guess that makes sense," mused Applejack, "but why did you even build a contraption like this?"

Tech looked at Applejack and clarified, "I'm a mechanist; it's what I do. Now that everything's cleared up and nopony except for me is hurt, I have to get back to my shop."

"That seems fair," reasoned Twilight Sparkle. "So, where's your shop, Tech Specs?"

"Fillydelphia," answered she without missing a beat. Everypony looked directly at Tech as she replied, dumbstruck. She was a long way from home indeed.

"That's an awful long ways to walk, Tech," stated Applejack.

"Yeah," agreed Twilight Sparkle. "Let's see. I've got a balloon. We could fly and be there in a couple hours if you like."

"That would probably be best." Tech looked at her leg cast and said, "I doubt this thing will survive a trip all the way to Fillydelphia if I walked. I'm surprised it's withstood all the running I've done today." Twilight knew what the mare was referring to because Rainbow Dash had blurted out the story to everypony she possibly could the night before.

"Then it's settled!" said Twilight gleefully. She was excited because she hadn't had the chance to use her hot air balloon in quite a while. "Follow me to my place in Ponyville; I'll get it ready there," said Twilight as she started towards Ponyville with Tech Specs closely following. Behind them, they heard Applejack shout, "good luck, y'all!" at the two unicorns as they trotted away from the cottage.

When they arrived at Twilight Sparkle's library, they burst through the door without hesitation to see a startled purple baby dragon jump upon their hasty entrance. The dragon looked to see his friend Twilight, and Tech Specs. He righted himself and said, "oh, hey Twilight. What's up? Who's your friend?"

"Hey, Spike. This is.." Twilight Sparkle was about to finish when Tech interrupted.

"I'm Tech Specs," introduced Tech, who then turned to Twilight, embarrassed. "Er, sorry Twilight," she apologised.

"It's quite alright, Tech," assured Twilight, who then became serious again as she spoke. "Now, back to the task of getting you home. Spike, ready the hot air balloon, please." Spike merely saluted and exited through the front door of the library to do the task. Meanwhile, Tech Specs began looking about the vast bookcases and the many tomes kept within. She saw a particular book on the very top shelf: a red book with a gold spine, bearing a gear motif on it. She looked to Twilight Sparkle, who noticed her attention to the book, and she looked to it as well. As she did this, her horn started to glow lightly, the same glow surrounding the tome, moving it down to a table beside Tech.

"There you go. Master's Edition Clockwork and Watchmaking Technical Manual," informed Twilight in a very matter-of-fact tone. Tech looked at Twilight, rather impressed, and Twilight merely added, "I'm the librarian; librarians gotta know their own stock, right?" Tech nodded, and began looking through the massive tome.

After a few minutes of small conversation, along with Tech Specs' reading of the book in which she was utterly fascinated, Spike veered his head into the room through a nearby window and announced, "Twilight, Tech; the balloon's ready." At that, the two unicorns trotted out the front door and around to the back yard of the library, where Twilight Sparkle's hot air balloon rested, ready to take off.

Tech Specs gazed in awe at the giant machine. The basket and balloon itself were purple, intricately designed with gold borders on the basket and deeper purple, Baroque-style scrolls on the balloon. Her awestruck state was broken by Twilight, who got Tech's attention simply by saying, "hey, Tech." She looked at Twilight, who was magically holding the tome Tech was so intently reading before, asking her, "how'd you like to have this, you know, as a gift?"

"Oh, no. I couldn't accept such a wonderful piece from your personal collection, Twilight Sparkle," denied Tech, besmitten by the generous offer.

"Please? I insist. I think it will come of better use to you than me," offered Twilight still.

"After all I've done? I've caused such a great stir in this town; I think I should be the one giving everypony else gifts." Tech continued, "plus, I'm familiar with a good portion of the content of that book already."

"All you've done? You didn't hurt anypony, and you only scared a few of us," reasoned Twilight. "And, I think that the past couple days would have been extremely boring were it not for you."

"Hey, if you two are done arguing, let's go!" barked Spike impatiently as he poked his head out from the basket of the balloon.

"Alright, alright," said both ponies simultaneously as they walked up to the balloon, and hopped into the basket.

Twilight repeated her previous statement to Tech, "Please? I do insist." Without another declination, Tech Specs nodded and kindly accepted the tome, placing it beside her in the balloon’s basket.

"Thank you, Twilight Sparkle. You're very kind," thanked Tech sincerely. She loved the aged artifact of a tome. Tech had always dreamed of just seeing an original copy, and now she had one to call her own; it was a meaningful gift indeed.

"You're welcome, Tech. Maybe you'll learn a little something from it and not nearly kill yourself next time." Both ponies laughed at the joke, but stopped quickly, noticing they had a surprise guest on board. This "guest" was a pink earth pony with deeper pink, curly, puffy hair, a matching tail, light blue eyes, and three party balloons on her flank.

"Awww, that's so touching!" said the pink mare in a high, almost squeaky voice as she hugged the two unicorns and Spike. She then instantly stopped hugging them and started smiling ear to ear, saying, "this calls for a PARTY!" She then started to dance, but was stopped by Twilight.

"Pinkie Pie, what are you doing here?" asked the purple mare, amused, but confused nonetheless. "How did you get all the way up here?"

"I was here the whole time, Silly Filly!" answered she happily, still smiling. "Where are we going, Twilight?"

"We're going to Fillydelphia to take Tech Specs home," answered Twilight, motioning to the blue unicorn beside her.

"Oooh, Fillydelphia?" inquired Pinkie Pie, who then continued, "I haven't been to Fillydelphia in a while. What's it like this time of year? Where do you live in Fillydelphia?"

"I live in the mechanist's shop I own," answered Tech. "It's in a decent part of the city, so I don't complain."

"What do you do in your shop?" added Twilight to the conversation curiously.

"I'm a mechanist," replied Tech, "I build things. Ponies come into my shop with an idea for a machine, and I take about a week or two to build and test prototypes of these machines. If they work, I build a final model and sell it to them; and if not, I scrap the project. But sometimes, I get ambitious ideas myself, so I build them as well. Those wings I was testing when I fell into Ponyville were one of my ideas. I tried to build a device that allowed anypony to fly about like the Pegasus Ponies. But, it clearly has a few kinks I still need to work out."

She was about to go into something else when she looked over the edge of the balloon to the ground below. They were directly above Whitetail Wood, which was absolutely beautiful from above. They passed above the forest slowly, giving the ponies time to take Whitetail Wood's natural beauty in stride. The canopy of the forest was a perfectly constant shade of deep emerald green, and almost completely motionless, save for the rustling of leaves in the breeze. A small dirt road ran through the centre of the forest, and was just as calm. After a good while of taking in the scenery, they reached the edge of Whitetail Wood, where the trees slowly faded into flat grassland, and eventually, a large city, the city of Fillydelphia. After a while of looking about the Northwestern part of the city, Tech Specs noticed her shop, her home.

Her shop was a small, two-story building close to the corner of a non-crowded block, right across from a block with an empty lot in its centre. "Spike, we're here," she told the dragon, who then started to land the balloon in the empty lot. It wasn't dirty or unkempt, as most were; the residents of the surrounding apartments kept it clean and used it for various purposes, but today it would serve as a landing pad.

When the balloon was safely on the ground, Twilight Sparkle gave Tech Specs a pair of saddlebags in which to put her wings. Tech placed her head through the strap of the bags, lifted her head up, slid the bags comfortably onto her back, then placed her things in them. The three ponies and Spike leapt out of the basket and trotted across the street to Tech's shop. The sign on the window had a symbol that resembled Tech's Cutie Mark, three interlocked gears, and above the symbol were the words, "Tech Specs' Machines." Underneath was written a motto that said, "You Can Dream It; We Can Build It." They stood outside the building for a while, talking.

"Well, this has certainly been an eventful couple days, but I suspect all great adventures must come to an end." Tech started to say her goodbyes to the ponies. "Twilight Sparkle, I still thank you sincerely for this tome. It will be a valued piece in my personal collection. Pinkie Pie, I've only known you for a couple hours, but it's certainly been the most interesting couple of hours I’ve had throughout this ordeal. Also, please tell Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Nurse Redheart that I thank them immensely for the assistance they provided, and tell Fluttershy that I'm sorry for landing in her yard and that lot. Once again, thank you all for your help." She hugged the two other ponies and Spike.

"We'll see you around, Tech," said Twilight Sparkle as she, Pinkie Pie, and Spike headed back across the street to their balloon. Pinkie Pie stared crying two massive, cartoonish fountains of tears as they walked.

"Hey, Twilight!" called Tech right before the three entered their balloon to head back to Ponyville. The ponies and Spike turned to look at her, and Pinkie stopped crying, but still looked sad. "If you lot would like a party, come here at the end of the week; I'll take you to a music show featuring a couple bands I really like! Bring your friends! My treat!" Pinkie Pie's expression, and Twilight's, as well, quickly brightened upon hearing the offer.

Pinkie Pie then bounced across the street to Tech, and embraced her tightly, yelling, "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!!! I love parties AND music! It'll be great!" as she hugged Tech.

"My pleasure, Pinkie Pie," assured the blue mare as the pair heard Spike and Twilight call Pinkie Pie back to the balloon. Pinkie Pie gleefully said goodbye as she bounced back across the street and into the waiting balloon. As the massive balloon got airborne, it started to float away, towards Ponyville. Tech Specs waved at the ponies, and as she did, she noticed Twilight say something. Tech wasn't too great at reading lips, but she could make out the words, "See you then." being spoken. Once the balloon containing her new friends was out of sight, Tech Specs ran a hoof through her short mane, and walked back into her shop to check up on what she had missed during her absence.

“Dear Princess Celestia,

The last couple days have certainly been the most eventful of the week. Somepony fell out of the sky and crashed in Ponyville. she broke her leg, but she easily fixed that with some ingenuity and metalworking. Her name is Tech Specs, and she’s from Fillydelphia. According to her, she builds things, and a flying machine of hers was the cause of her crash. Her circumstances were unfortunate, but she was in high spirits the whole time and she got along with everypony she met. I guess that one can always find a friend in any situation if they have the right attitude.

Always your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle”

Part 4

In the dead of that same night, Blades awoke suddenly to a loud scream emanating from Tech Specs’ bed, the sound nearly scaring the dragon out of his scales. He jumped out of his bed and swtched the lights to the room on. He then looked to Tech’s bed to see the unicorn writhing in excruciating pain, with a look of agony strewn across her face. Blades climbed atop Tech’s bed and held her head, trying to comfort her. He then asked in an extremely worried tone, “wh.. what is it, Tech? What happened?”

Tech managed to hold back her screaming for a bit, and, breathing heavily, hastily uttered to Blades, “cast.. bent.. bone.. shifted.. GET IT OFF!” As she finished the command, her movements ceased and she fell unconscious.

Blades, with another show of his immense strength, managed to heave his incapacitated friend onto his shoulders, and carefully made his way out the bedroom door and down the hallway to the stairs. He descended them carefully, and entered Tech Specs’ workshop.

Blades made his way to one of the empty tables in the workshop and gently hoisted Tech onto it, carefully shifting around to avoid injury to the unicorn. He cautiously rolled the mare onto her left side, revealing the leg around which her metal cast was built. Upon looking, Blades saw that the lower portion of the cast was collapsed. the baby dragon readied his massive claws, took a deep breath, and in one swipe, cut clean through the steel leg cast. He then reached his hands into the opening, and separated the two halves, pulling the cast out from her leg as he did so, and what he saw inside made his little stomach churn. He saw that her lower leg, which was broken in two places, was bent in ways that nopony’s leg should ever be naturally bent. Blades observed his friend’s leg for a few seconds, then looked to her face, and whispered, “I’m so sorry,” into her ear. He knew what he had to do.

The dragon hopped off of the shop table, temporarily an operating table, and approached the scrap crate marked “Carbon Steel.” He rummaged through the crate and, after almost digging to the bottom of it, produced from it three steel tubes, about the length of an average pony’s rear leg. He then opened a drawer on one of the work tables, and grabbed a roll of some kind of cloth from it. With his makeshift medical tools, Blades rushed back to the unconscious unicorn’s side. He lay his tools down by Tech’s side, and took a deep breath and popped his fingers in preparation for what he was about to do.

Blades, being careful with his claws as always, took Tech’s broken leg into his hands, the break highest on her leg between them, and began his work. This part of Tech’s bone moved back into place with a loud popping, snapping sound, which made Blades cringe. Tech Specs, still unconscious, made a brief expression of pain or discomfort on her face, which quickly subsided.

Once Blades regained his composure, he moved his hands to the lower of the two breaks in the unicorn’s leg. He did the same to this break, taking care not to disturb the other. Blades watched Tech’s face, but she didn’t move or change expressions, which worried the baby dragon. He kept Tech’s leg in one arm, and grabbed one of the three steel tubes in the other, then placed it in his first hand, which was now holding the tube to Tech’s leg. He repeated this process twice so that all three tubes were in place around the mare’s broken leg to act as stents. Blades hurriedly picked up the roll of cloth, and placed the beginning of the roll under one steel tube to hold it. He then began unrolling the cloth, wrapping it around Tech’s leg and the stents. Finally, the dragon took the beginning of the cloth from under the tube holding it, and, having wrapped all of the cloth around the stents, which covered them completely and came back to where it began, tied the ends together securely. the acting doctor dragon wiped a bit of sweat from his face, for he was done with the hard part of his job.

Blades put the side of his head to Tech’s chest, listening. He gave a great sigh of relief when he heard the mare’s heart beating regularly. Relieved, he dismounted the table again, and quickly ran upstairs to their room. The light to the room was still on and the door open, so he slid in silently. Once inside, blades looked up to the photograph of the two ponies, and, his attention focused on the stallion, quietly said, “don’t worry, Uhrwerk, Tech’s alright. I’ll take care of her.” The dragon grabbed a pillow and the blanket from Tech Specs’ bed, exited the room, turning the lights off and closing the door respectfully, and headed back down to the workshop.

Blades, upon reentering the workshop, got back up on the table where his friend lay, where he carefully lifted her head and slid the pillow under it, and then did the same to the rest of her body with the blanket. He then wrapped her up in her blanket to keep her warm in the cold room on that cold table, kissed her cheek, and curled up beside her, then fell asleep, ready to respond should Tech experience more pain and wake up again.

After the horrific, late-night ordeal, morning finally arose, and Tech Specs with it. As she awoke, a delicious smell filled her nose, and confusion her head. She looked up to see that she was in her workshop, wrapped in a blanket and on one of her work tables. She also saw Blades sitting beside her, holding a bowl of the soup they had made the previous day, with a spoonful to her mouth. “Here; eat this, Tech,” said Blades as he let out a yawn.

Tech Specs accepted the spoon of warm soup, then looked to Blades and tiredly said to him, “thanks, Blades. Now, what am I doing down here and why can’t I move my leg?”

“Seriously? you don’t remember?” questioned Blades, looking a bit shocked. How could she forget waking up screaming in pain like she did? He then yawned again and answered, “your cast screwed up, which shifted your broken leg. So, I brought you down here and stented it, which is why you can’t move it.” He then offered Tech another spoon of soup, saying, “you should eat something; you’ve been out for quite a while.”

“Well, how long?” asked Tech groggily. She shook her head for a second to wake herself up a bit more.

“About 14 hours,” answered Blades, glancing at the clock on the other table. Tech Specs almost rolled off of the table in surprise, but the dragon caught her quickly, remarking, “whoah. We can’t hurt that leg of yours again, can we?”

“No, I guess not,” replied Tech worriedly, “but 14 hours? What time is it?” She looked to the clock that Blades glanced at, revealing a time of about three-and-a-half hours past Midday. The unicorn scratched her mane with her hoof, then continued, “okay, that’s not too bad. I can still get to the chemist’s shop and have plenty of time to finish the flame boxes before tomorrow.” At the moment she finished saying this, she heard the shop bell.

Blades and Tech both heard the bell, and Tech tried to hop from the table to answer, but was once again halted by the orange dragon, who said to her, “don’t worry, Tech; I got this. You just stay here and relax.” At that, he was out the front door of the workshop.

Tech Specs heard some words being exchanged, but, being behind a heavy steel door, were too muffled to be legible. Within the next minute, Tech heard the door creaking deeply as it opened, revealing Blades and their pegasus friend, Bass Beat, following behind him as they entered the workshop. The mare rushed to the table where Tech lay as they saw her, saying as she trotted, “oh my goodness! Are you alright?”

“Me? I’m fine,” answered Tech confidently, pointing to Blades as she finished, “thanks to this little guy.” The baby dragon smiled and stood proudly as Tech pointed him out.

Bass stood on her hind legs, with her front hooves rested on the table which held Tech Specs, drumming a catchy beat against the steel table. “Well, what did he do?” asked she curiously.

“last night, my cast broke, so Blades here sprung into action and fixed me up in the dead of night.” She sounded very proud as she talked about her little orange assistant.

“Awwwww, he’s adorable AND a doctor,” complimented Bass of the orange dragon and his heroic doings. “Take a bow for that five-star performance.” Blades smiled and happily bowed to Bass and Tech.

“But anyway,” interrupted Tech, “I didn’t get to finish your flame boxes. Well, we finished the boxes, but not the charges.” She motioned to the table at which they worked the day before, where the six completed flame boxes lay.

“Oh, well, given the circumstances, that’s not really my biggest concern,” replied Bass, looking worriedly at her blue friend. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Tech Specs sat up on the table and looked about the room, pausing briefly to study various things about it. She felt a tap on her flank, and directed her head toward Blades, who had poked her to get her attention. This refreshed her memory a bit, and she then replied, “ummm, you can’t really help much with my leg; I can take care of that. However, I still need to see the chemist to pick up some more spark powder for the flame boxes.”

“Say no more; I’ll get it for you,” replied the pegasus enthusiastically. Tech and Blades, and anypony who knew her, for that matter, have yet to see the time when Bass wasn’t the very first to offer her hoof in assistance. “What kind of spark powder do you need?”

By this time, Blades had already been across the workshop and back with the saddlebags which previously contained Tech’s failed wing experiment, and the notebook in which the dragon had previously scrawled notes regarding the flame boxes and their charges. Tech was about to speak, but was cut off by Blades, who informed, “the first page has everything the chemist needs to know about the powder. I think the last time we had him make some, he called it something like, ‘Mechanist’s Mix’ or something like that.” He opened and read quickly to himself part of the notes he took, and then looked back at Bass and finished, “yeah; Mechanist’s Mix. He should recognise that.”

Bass Beat looked to Tech, as to ask to confirm what the dragon had said. The blue mare nodded, giving Bass said confirmation. “Okay then,” said she, “I’ll be there and back faster than a Slipknot drum riff.” She then lifted the saddlebag onto her head, and slid it down onto her back, making sure to get her wings through the loops on the bag straps. She was almost out the workshop door when Tech got her attention.

“Oi! I almost forgot.” The blue mare tossed a small bag of coins to Bass, who, with the reflexes of a cheetah, caught them in her hooves. The yellow pegasus gave Tech a questioning look, to which she responded, “that’s about twenty bits. That should be more than enough for the powder.” Bass Beat nodded and departed from the shop, taking off promptly after exiting the small building. Tech Specs skillfully slid off of the table to a sitting position on the corresponding work bench, then said to herself, “great; now that’s stuck in my head all day. Oh well, at least it’s a good song.” She looked to Blades and requested, “can you bring me the ‘Tungsten Steel,’ and ‘Aluminum-tin’ crates, please?”

“No problem, Tech." Blades saluted to his friend, who giggled at the gesture, and then slid one crate at a time to either side of the mare’s workspace. After that, he grabbed the cast which had broken the night before, and placed it on Tech’s table as well.

“Time to work on Cast two-point-oh, eh Blades?” said Tech cheerfully to her assistant, who returned the cheerful look and nod. At that, they began their work, with Tech singing a song under her breath, by the metal band Bass mentioned before, called Slipknot. “I have screamed until my veins collapsed, I’ve waited as my time’s elapsed, now all I do is live with so much hate...”

During the pair’s session of invention and building, Tech Specs began by examining her previous cast in an extremely meticulous fashion, scanning for any imperfection that could have caused its catastrophic failure. After carefully looking over the bent part of the cast, she smacked her hoof against the steel table, which made a loud clanging noise, shouting, “aha! I found you!” at her cast, catching Blades completely off guard. The dragon’s view snapped to Tech, who saw him and, blushing, said, “sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it, Tech,” assured he, then asking the inevitable question, “what’s the problem?”

The blue unicorn tapped her hoof against a welding line in the metal of the cast, clarifying, “weak spot in the steel: this seam here. Stupid me!” Her tone became frustrated as she spoke, lightly knocking her head twice with her hoof as she asked herself, “why didn’t I notice that sooner?”

“Tech, Tech!” shouted Blades, grabbing the mare’s shoulders, careful as usual with his claws. “Relax; take a deep breath,” ordered he, trying to calm his frustrated friend. “You probably just overlooked it; no big deal. Now, on to fixing it. Any ideas?”

Tech snapped out of her frustration at Blades’ words, and confidently informed him, “without a doubt. I had you fetch these metals because they’re both incredibly strong and relatively light. I plan on making the cast in two layers this time, the inner layer being tungsten steel, and the outer being aluminum-tin, with tungsten steel braces in between them so they won’t collapse.” She held the old cast and pointed to various parts of it as she told her plans to her dragon assistant, who quickly scrawled the information down in his notebook. As he wrote the last points down, the pair heard the shop’s bell being rung.

Blades hopped down to the ground and said, “here; I’ll take care of them for you,” as he left the workshop. Tech could hear words between the dragon and somepony else being exchanged. The voice sounded familiar, and Tech tried to remember who it was. A few seconds later, Blades opened the workshop door, poking his head in and asking her, “do you have Ace’s Tennis ball machine ready?”

Tech Specs thought for a short period of time, running a hoof through her short pink mane. “Ummm, I think so. Let me check.” The mare attempted to stand, trying to avoid putting weight on her broken leg, which, after stumbling a couple times, she did successfully. Blades held the door open for his friend as she slowly walked out into the front of the shop.

Standing in front of Tech’s desk was a light tan stallion with a wavy dark-brown mane and tail, and an unusual style of brown hair upon his face. He wore a pair of yellow tennis shorts, and was tapping his front hoof on the floor impatiently. “Come on, come on. I haven’t got all day,” barked he with a tone matching his impatient stance.

Tech Specs held her head down and nervously turned around, looking into her workshop. Her current demeanour was much unlike her. She pointed a hoof to a wheeled machine at the back of the shop. “Blades, can you fetch that for us, please?” Blades quickly ran to the machine, and easily rolled it out into the shop front for the stallion to see. The box had a tube protruding from the front of it, and a crank on the side. “Here you go, Mr. Ace,” said she to the stallion. “Somepony can turn this crank to launch the balls, or you can wind it by moving the crank to the other side and cranking it. It’ll fire them automatically if you do that. I also put wheels on it to make it mobile.”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s all fine and dandy,” interrupted the stallion rudely, “but how much is this going to cost me?”

“Oh, right, sorry,” replied Tech in a sheepish tone, completely alien to anypony who knew the blue mare, who usually stood so high and took so much pride in her doings. She then shyly continued, “umm, does 250 bits sound fair?”

“Fine,” huffed the stallion, whose name is apparently Ace, taking another look at the machine. “But, if this just is a half-flank excuse for the tennis trainer I wanted, I want my money back in full!”

Ace then looked to Tech, who was standing as high as she could on three hooves, eye level with the tall stallion, with a furious look burning in her emerald eyes. “All right, that’s it!” shouted she, having completely thrown off her previous sheepish tone. “You can degrade me all you want, and mock my shop, but you DO NOT insult my work.” She then slammed her front hoof against the side of the machine, which made a loud thud, but barely made an impression on the solid steel frame. She then continued, “this thing could withstand a stick of dynamite detonating right next to it and keep ticking. I’ve been doing this for years, and not once, no Sir, NOT ONCE have I done a half-flank job.” With the words spoken, Tech hobbled to her desk, produced a small stack of papers from a drawer, and set them atop the machine. “This is everything there is to know about this thing: components, schematics, maintenence instructions, the works,” informed she, returning to her usual, calm demeanour. “250 is a fair price.”

Ace reached his head into a pocket on his shorts and produced in his teeth a sizeable bag of coins. He then dropped the bag onto Tech Specs’ desk, saying with reluctance, “fine, take it, but only because I need this thing.” Ace turned the Tennis machine in the direction of the door, and rolled it out of the shop.

Tech poured the coins out of the bag and began counting them, with a look of disdain again strewn across her face. As she finished counting the last of the coins, she slid them back into their bag and placed them into a desk drawer, which was filled with various bags of coins. “He may be an arrogant pain in the flank, but he doesn’t lie,” said she, referencing the fact that he had paid the full 250 bits the pair had “agreed” upon.

“Yeah,” agreed Blades. “But hey, at least you won’t have to deal with him again. Right, Tech?” Right as Tech started to open her mouth to answer the dragon’s question, the shop bell rung again, this time revealing Bass Beat at the door, her saddlebags full of the things she had picked up for Tech Specs.

“Welcome back, Bass!” welcomed Tech, a bit of joy in her voice. “Now we can get back in gear and knock these flame boxes out.” With a massive, joyous grin on her face, she trotted back into her workshop, with Blades following. Bass tapped her hoof on the shop’s wood floor to get Tech’s attention, which prevailed. “What is it, Bass?” asked she.

“Well,” began she, looking out the door, and making a gesture with her hoof. As she did that, two other pegasus ponies came into view of the blue unicorn. “I bumped into these two on the way back from the chemist’s, and they said they were looking for you.” The first had a cyan coat and a short, rainbow-coloured mane, and the second had a light yellow coat and a long, flowing pink mane.

“Rainbow Dash? What are you and Fluttershy doing here?” questioned Tech. “The show’s not until tomorrow.” Tech’s view moved from one pony to the other, more and more confusion becoming visible with each look.

“Oh, yeah,” answered Rainbow, “Twilight sent us here to make sure you’re okay. Y’know, check up on you.” She looked at Tech’s broken leg, wrapped up in cloth and stented, then added, “and it looks like it was a good call, too.”

“What, this?” Tech looked at her leg and said dismissively, “it’ll be fine. I made that cast with my own hooves; I can make another in no time.” She then looked into her workshop, and finished, “and I’ve got my own stuff to make it with this time. Speaking of which, shall we move into the workshop? This place seems a bit too crowded, eh?” Rainbow and Bass nodded, and followed as Tech Specs trotted into the workshop. Rainbow Dash turned to look at Flutershy, who stayed put, nervously looking down at the floor.

“Come on, Slowpoke!” Rainbow Dash bade Fluttershy go into the workshop with everypony else, but she didn’t move.

“Ummm, no thanks,” replied Fluttershy in a soft, almost silent voice. “I.. I’ll just stay out here. Umm, if that’s okay.” She stepped back a bit, towards the shop exit.

“Well, it’s not okay.” Rainbow tried to push the timid yellow mare towards the workshop, but to no avail. “Come.. on.. Fluttershy.. Don’t you want to meet Tech’s baby dragon?” As she mentioned a baby dragon, Rainbow Dash fell flat on her face, due to the absence of the mare she was attempting to push. She looked up to see the pegasus sprinting as fast as she could toward the workshop. Rainbow stayed where she was for a second, admiring the view, but then hopped to her hooves and entered the back room with everypony else.

Back in the workshop, there was socialising. “Awww, he’s so cute!” beamed Fluttershy, hugging Blades tightly. Fluttershy always loved baby dragons; Blades was no exception.

“Well, somepony’s in a good mood,” remarked Bass, looking at Rainbow Dash, who seemed zoned out, with a look on her face that could be described as either blissful or idiotic. Bass then undid her saddlebags, slid them onto Tech Specs’ work table, opened one bag, and produced a rather large aluminum can which bore a green stripe on it. She slid the can to the blue unicorn, who by this time was seated at the table’s bench. Bass Beat looked around the massive room, then asked, “anything else you need, Tech?”

Tech Specs thought for a moment, looking about the room, pausing to observe certain things, including Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who were idly conversing amongst themselves. “Umm, not really,” said she after a few seconds of silence. “All I have to do is make the charges and put them in the boxes, and then they’re yours.” Tech looked back down at the table, and opened the can of powder with her hoof. She meticulously poured the contents of the can into precisely measured amounts on six small sheets of tin foil. Once she had spark powder on each of the sheets, she picked each one up in her hooves and wrapped the foil around the powder into small balls. Blades, Bass Beat, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy were carefully observing each of Tech’s precise movements when working with the powder. They were silent, but their expressions made obvious the fact that they were utterly fascinated by the work the blue mare had done and was doing. As they watched, Tech Specs had laced a long, narrow fuse through the foil balls, connecting them to one another, and then placed them gently into each of their corresponding flame boxes. she already had the pedal and initial charge, a flintlock integrated into the first box, ready, and thus the flame box system was ready to fire. “And, that’s it,” said she, snapping the three ponies and Blades from their collective trance.

Bass Beat was the first to respond, simply asking, “is it done?”

“Aye,” confirmed Tech, “all you have to do is pull back the flintlock on the side of the first flame box, and as soon as you hit the pedal, it’ll fire.”

Rainbow Dash looked at the six boxes in confusion. “So, these do what exactly?”

“Just wait till the show; you’ll find out.” Bass Beat loaded the boxes into her saddlebags, taking care not to bother the charges or the flintlock. “Thanks a billion times over, Tech.” She hugged Tech Specs and Blades, and told the two pegasi, “it was nice meeting you pair. I look forward to seeing you at the show.” With the words spoken, Bass Beat departed, leaving Tech Specs, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Blades in the vast workshop.

After a brief silence, Fluttershy spoke. “So, umm.. now that we’ve seen that Tech’s just fine, sh.. shouldn’t we head back home and tell Twilight?” She looked to Rainbow Dash, who was staring at the portrait on Tech’s wall. She gazed into the cyan eyes of the brown stallion, which seemed to stare back. Fluttershy waited for Rainbow to respond, but she was too focused on the portrait. “Oh, ummm.. sorry. I.. I won’t bother you then.”

“Huh, what?” The blue pegasus shook her head, looking at the shy pegasus. “Oh, yeah,” said she, “I guess you’re right.” She then began walking with Fluttershy out of the workshop, turning her head to Tech Specs and telling her, “we’ll get out of your mane now. See you tomorrow, Tech.”

Tech hobbled to the ponies to bid them a proper farewell when she put too much weight on her bad leg and toppled over, releasing a piercing cry of pain that chilled the very bones of everypony in the room. The two pegasi and Blades rushed to Tech’s aid, the small dragon displaying his strength once again as he and Rainbow Dash lifted the blue unicorn to her work bench. “Tech, are you alright?” asked Blades

“Y..yeah. I’ll be fine,” replied Tech, gritting her teeth from the pain she felt. She then remarked, “the sooner I get this thing built, the better.”

“E..excuse me, Tech,” squeaked Fluttershy, “but.. is there anything that, you know, we could do to help?” Her tone was soft and timid as usual, but a hint of deep concern leaked through her voice as well as she added, “I’d like to assist you, you know, if.. that’s okay.”

“Yeah,” added Rainbow Dash, “you don’t exactly look like you’re in any shape to be working with this stuff by yorself.” She looked around at the metalworking machines, such as cutters, lathes, and other machinery that could easily kill somepony should they slip up even once.

“Look, I thank you girls for wanting to give me a hoof, I really do.” Tech motioned to her dragon friend standing beside her, and finished, “but I have Blades here to help. And, we’ve been doing this for years; we know what we’re doing. You pair also have to go tell Twilight that everything’s going to occur tomorrow as planned.”

Rainbow Dash spread her wings and brought them down lightly, getting herself airborne, and began hovering above Tech’s work table, looking down at her with her hooves crossed. She then sarcastically told Tech, “as much as I’d love to abandon a friend when she CLEARLY needs a hoof with some dangerous work, I insist that we help you however we can.” Rainbow landed beside the yellow pegasus, and asked her, “isn’t that right, Fluttershy?” Fluttershy merely nodded and smiled at Tech Specs.

The blue unicorn lay her head on her table and let out a sigh at the mare’s offer, then said, “alright; whatever you say.” She ran a hoof through her mane, and then lifted her head up, her expression as bright as Blades’ scales. She then gleefully announced, “let’s get to work then, shall we? I’ll walk you through what we’re going to do, eh?” Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy smiled at each other, then approached the unicorn’s side as Blades opened his notebook to the page containing his notes on the cast.

Part 5

Twilight Sparkle paced the floor to her library worriedly. In the room with the purple unicorn were a white unicorn with a gorgeous, violet mane, two Earth Ponies, one of whom was orange, and the other pink, and Twilight’s baby dragon, Spike. All four of them shared the same worried look that adorned the face of Twilight. “Come on, where are they?” asked she to the air. “It’s been six hours.” She looked to the window, which revealed the deep blue night sky, and tapped her hoof on the wooden library floor nervously.

“Just calm down a bit, Sug.” The orange mare finally spoke with a noticeable drawl. “We’re all worried ‘bout Rainbow and Fluttershy, but we sent them there to check on Tech, ‘member?” the orange pony put her hoof around Twilight in an attempt to calm her. She then added, “maybe she needed a hoof with some things. Who better to help a friend in need than Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash?”

Twilight Sparkle sighed, and then replied, “yeah. You’re probably right, Applejack. If there were a problem, they wouldn’t leave Tech by herself.”

“Excuse me, ladies,” requested the white mare. “I’m just as worried about Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as you are, but somepony needs her beauty sleep if we’re going to a show tomorrow.” She looked at Twilight and, with a pitiful look on her face, said to her, “you wouldn’t want me to look bad for such an occasion, do you, Twilight?”

Spike gazed at the white unicorn and, almost drooling, remarked, “I don’t think you CAN look bad, Rarity.”

“Oh, you’re too kind, Spike,” thanked the mare, apparently named Rarity. She blushed at the dragon’s compliment.

Applejack looked with concern at Twilight, and then at the two other ponies. “Well, I guess you and Pinkie Pie can go home and get some shuteye, Rarity,” said she, “but be here and ready to go first thing in the mornin’.” Rarity and Pinkie Pie nodded at Applejack and trotted out the front door, one at a time, each saying their goodbyes to Twilight, Applejack, and Spike as they left. Applejack then looked to the purple unicorn and told her, “I’ll stick ‘round here and keep an eye on you, Twilight.”

“Thanks, Applejack,” said Twilight sincerely to her friend. She then turned her attention to the purple dragon, who let out a large yawn. She lifted him up on her back and told the orange mare, “we should probably take your advice and get some sleep.” The two ponies then ascended the staircase to the library’s second floor where a trio of beds lay. Twilight placed Spike in the smallest bed, a basket much like Blades had in Fillydelphia, and then climbed into her own bed. Applejack did as Twilight did and lay down on the third bed. The two ponies and baby dragon exchanged “goodnight’s” and were soon asleep.

After the hours of night died, to be replaced by sunlight, Twilight Sparkle arose from her sleep. Twilight sat up on her bed and stretched, yawning loudly. She then smiled brightly and hopped onto her hooves, approaching Spike’s bed. She tapped it with her hoof, lightly saying to the sleeping dragon, “time to wake up, Spike. Today’s the big day.” The tone of the purple mare sounded much more optimistic today than it did the previous night.

As the baby dragon slowly opened his eyes, he murmured a few illegible words, and then asked clearly enough, “which big day?”

“The show in Fillydelphia with Tech Specs,” replied Twilight lightly. She trotted over to the third bed, where the orange Earth Pony known as Applejack lay, still fast asleep. The unicorn tapped her hoof on the hardwood frame of the bed, making a loud clacking noise at each strike. The fourth strike awoke the orange pony, who sat up and immediately donned her signature headgear, her brown Stetson.

“Huh, what?” rambled she at the sudden awakening, moving her head rapidly toward various things about the room. She then straightened her Stetson and asked her friend, “what’d I miss?" Twilight giggled at her friend’s rather sketchy awakening, with Spike joining in the laughter. “Yeah, yeah. Yuck it up,” said Applejack in a sarcastic tone. Her tone regained seriousness as she looked to Twilight and asked, “are Rarity and Pinkie Pie here yet?” Applejack slid off of the bed, and joined Twilight and Spike in standing in the centre of the bedroom.

“No, not yet, Applejack,” replied Twilight, whose horn began to glow purple. As the glow grew, the blanket, sheets, and pillow of one of the beds became surrounded by the same glow and began floating in the air. Twilight moved her head a bit, and the bed things moved into perfect position on the bed and the blanket and sheets tucked under the mattress, thus revealing a perfectly made bed. The mare’s horn ceased to glow, and she looked to the other bed, where her horn glowed again, repeating the same process as she did on the previous bed.

Spike observed Twilight’s doings and complimented, “you’re getting way better at that, Twi. Nothing at all like the last time you tried.”

“I told you, Spike, I was distracted.” The unicorn tried to dismiss the memory of accidently putting her sheets and blanket on the underside of her bed.

“Whatever you say,” slyly remarked the dragon, trying to hold back laughter. “Any idea on when Rarity and Pinkie Pie are supposed to show up?”

After a few seconds, everypony heard a knock on the library door. “Well, speak of Celestia!” announced the orange mare cheerfully. The two ponies and Spike descended to the ground floor, where Twilight opened the door, revealing one of the two ponies they were expecting: Pinkie Pie.

“Heya, Twilight!” beamed the pink mare, an ear-to-ear smile decorating her face. “I’m here; are we ready to go yet?” She hopped up and down from excitement.

“Not so fast, Pinkie,” interrupted Applejack, putting her hoof on Pinkie Pie’s shoulder in an effort to calm her down. “Rarity ain’t showed up yet. Do you know where she is?”

The pink Earth Pony nodded, her large, fluffy mane bouncing with every movement. “Mhmm, she said to pick her up at her house. Something about ‘getting her outfit dirty’ or something like that.”

“Ugh, typical Rarity,” complained Twilight. “Oh well. Let’s go get her. Spike?”

“Already on it,” said the dragon as he sprinted out the library’s front door to ready Twilight’s balloon.

As the three ponies waited on Spike, Applejack finally spoke. “So, why you so excited about the show, Pink?”

“Are you kidding me?” replied the pink mare. “Have you ever seen a music show that DIDN’T include a great party afterwards?” She began bouncing giddily again as she finished, “I’m excited just for that, and if the music’s good, that’ll make it even better!”

Everypony laughed joyously at the thought of what the show was going to hold for them. while they laughed, Spike veered his head into a window leading to the back yard of the library. “Balloon’s ready, Twilight,” said he loudly enough for the three mares to hear. Twilight and the others nodded and trotted out the front door, still chuckling lightly.

Outside stood the hot air balloon in all its glory. Its intricate design and meticulous decorations brightened the near vicinity. As the three ponies entered the basket, Spike operated the controls, lifting the massive balloon off the ground. He then steered it toward’s Carousel Boutique, where Rarity was surely waiting.

“So, what are you looking forward to, Applejack?” asked Twilight.

“Not too sure, Twi,” replied the orange pony, scratching her mane with her hoof. She thought for a few seconds before answering, “I guess the best thing’ll be havin’ a good time and enjoyin’ the music.” She then looked at the purple unicorn and asked her, “what about you, Twilight?”

“Yeah,” agreed Pinkie Pie, “what are you excited about?” She and Applejack gazed at Twilight Sparkle, smiling in anticipation for her answer.

“Hmmm,” thought the unicorn, “I’m really thrilled at the thought of hanging out and having a good time with my friends, both new and old. And the music? Well, that’s just a bonus.”

The trio conversed further for a short time until they arrived at Carousel Boutique. As Spike landed the vessel, the white unicorn emerged from the front doors of the boutique. She was dressed from horn to hoof in lavish garb. Her dress was a platinum-white colour, with deep lavender embroidery. She wore a gold band on each hoof, and a gorgeous gold and silver necklace hung gracefully from her neck. Spike almost fell out of the balloon from leaning over the edge.

“Greetings, Girls,” announced Rarity. She trotted to the balloon where Applejack and Twilight Sparkle helped her into the basket. “Thank you, Darlings. Shall we be off then?” said she. As Spike snapped out of staring at the white mare, he started the balloon flying again, this time heading Southeast to Fillydelphia.

The air was calm on the way from Ponyville to Fillydelphia, and the scenery was as beautiful as ever, the trees and all foliage sharing a perfect shade of emerald green, and all of the flowers in perfect bloom, giving one more spark of brilliance before hiding away for Fall and eventually being hidden by the Winter snow, which was immanent. Whitetail Wood was especially magnificent, as it usually is before Fall comes, but enhanced by the gleam of dew which covered the leaves and grass, shimmering as the ponies took in the scenery. Eventually though, the nature and foliage was replaced by concrete and buildings: the city of Fillydelphia.

As the balloon floated about the outskirts of the city, Twilight Sparkle carefully scanned the area. “Let’s see; if I remember correctly,” said she to herself. She then pointed her hoof towards the Downtown area of the city, telling Spike, “Tech’s shop should be that way.” As she said this, the baby dragon saluted and steered the massive vessel in the direction to which Twilight pointed. The purple mare kept her eyes fixated on the cityscape, searching for the empty lot where they had landed before. She clapped her hooves together and then pointed down to a block which contained said empty lot, and said, “there it is,” to her dragon assistant. Spike then manoeuvred the balloon to land between the two large apartment buildings where the lot was, and successfully did so with careful navigation.

Three of the four ponies and Spike quickly hopped out of the basket, but Rarity hesitated, avoiding the dirt patches and trying only to touch the grass. Eventually, Applejack grew impatient and pushed the white mare through the lot and onto the sidewalk. “Fine, I’ll do it your way,” huffed Rarity at the orange mare, but she simply shook it off and went to cross the street with her friends. The street was rather busy, but the ponies found enough space to cross safely.

“Yep, this is the place,” remarked Twilight Sparkle, observing the storefront, which bore Tech Specs’ Cutie Mark, three interlocked gears, and the name of the shop, “Tech Specs’ Machines.” The group entered the shop, ringing the bell as they opened the door. Inside, the ponies gazed at the devices, gadgets, and contraptions that adorned the shelves on either wall of the shop.

After a few seconds, the steel door on the back wall resonated the sound of a gong as it opened, revealing Tech Specs, who was wearing a cooking apron. Her left hind leg was encased in the new cast she and her friends built. The new cast was much more intricately designed and less sketchy-looking than her previous, but was still painted blue to match her coat and bore a cut-out revealing her Cutie Mark. “Welcome to Tech Specs’ Machines!” beamed she, who then opened her eyes to see Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Spike, and Rarity standing at the entrance to her shop. “Oh, hello there!” She hit her hoof against her forehead as she remarked, “I was expecting you lot; why didn’t I remember that? Oh well. You’re here now, and that’s all that matters.”

“My word!” exclaimed Rarity, galloping toward the blue unicorn. “What have you done to your mane? It’s ghastly!” said she, running her hoof through Tech’s short mane.

“Oi! It’s not that bad,” retorted Tech Specs. “I kind of like it; doesn’t get in the way that much, you know?”

“Yes, I understand that,” replied the white mare, “but you didn’t have to go about it like this. It is a crime against fabulosity!”

Tech gave Rarity a confused look as she said “fabulosity.” She then commented, “I’m afraid I didn’t have much choice. I’m Tech Specs, by the way. Rarity, I presume?”

Rarity nodded, confirming Tech’s presumption. “I see you’ve heard of me, then?” The white mare smiled in hopes that word of her work had reached so far as Fillydelphia.

“Well, kind of,” replied Tech Specs. “Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash told me all about you.” She then looked to the steel door and added, “speaking of which, what say you lot that we move to the workshop. There’s plenty of room there and this place is getting a bit too crowded.” Everypony nodded at her and followed her through the doorway into her workshop.

As Twilight and the others entered the massive room, the smell of cinnamon pastries filled their nostrils. They looked to see their pegasus friends, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, sitting at a large metal table enjoying pastries and conversing amongst themselves. “Oh, hi girls,” greeted Rainbow Dash, swallowing a bit of her breakfast. She flew over to the group and hugged them, saying, “oh my gosh; Tech has some of the funniest stories I’ve ever heard. And, she makes a delicious breakfast.”

“Oh, right, yes,” began Tech as she remembered, “would you like some strudel and a cup of hot tea? You lot must be hungry after that long trip here.” After Twilight and her friends shrugged and accepted Tech’s offer, she darted towards the staircase in the back of the room.

“I say, she is a rather odd character,” remarked Rarity to her friends, looking about the workshop. “And what’s with that silly-looking apparatus on her leg?”

Rainbow Dash flew into the white unicorn’s view and answered, “it’s the whole reason Twilight sent us here. She broke her leg, and that thing gives her the ability to walk while her leg heals.”

As Rarity nodded and spoke to the pegasus, the door flew open again, yielding Tech Specs and her orange dragon, Blades. Tech had a tray which held a plate of pastries and six cups of tea on her back. “Look who woke up just in time,” said she, motioning to Blades, who yawned and nodded. Tech strolled to an empty table and slid the plate from her back onto it. In response, everypony else in the room gathered round the table.

Everypony took in the smell of the pastries and tea. The pastries smelled strongly of cinnamon and the tea of citrus fruits. Applejack remarked, “smells awful good, Tech, but what is it?”

“Cinnamon Apple strudel and Lady Grey tea,” informed Tech. “A fine Germane recipe an old friend taught me.” The blue unicorn looked to the portrait on the far wall as she mentioned an old friend.

One by one, the four ponies and two dragons each took a piece of strudel and a cup of tea. Twilight Sparkle took a bite of the strudel and a sip of tea, then complimented, “wow, that’s delicious, Tech. who’s that old friend of yours? He must be an excellent chef.”

“Yeah,” agreed Pinkie Pie. As Rarity and Applejack agreed with Pinkie Pie, she added, smiling, “tell us about him, Tech.”

Tech Specs looked away from her friends for a second, a look of sorrow covering her face. The unicorn ran a hoof through her short mane, and managed to regain her cheerful composure. “His name is Uhrwerk,” answered she, “he taught me everything I know about everything: cooking, metalworking, watchmaking, you name it.”

“Wow, that’s a wide range of skills,” remarked Twilight Sparkle.

“Aye, he was a real Renaissance Colt.” Tech Specs looked away again, then she lifted her goggles and cleaned a tear from her eye with her hoof as she finished speaking.

“‘Was?’ I’m terribly sorry, Darling,” said Rarity tenderly to the blue unicorn, who she then embraced. Soon, everypony else in the room joined in hugging Tech Specs.

“Thank you,” said Tech, “I mean it. I sincerely thank all of you.” As the group stopped hugging her, she looked to the clock on the table, then told them, “well, the show starts in half an hour. If we walked, we’d get there in about that time.”

“This early?” questioned Applejack, “what kind’a show starts at this time in the morning?”

Tech Specs was about to answer, but was cut off by Rainbow Dash. “It’s an all-day festival,” informed she, “and it only happens once a year. Tech said about seven or eight bands are going to perform in Fillydelphia Central Park.” The blue pegasus did a flip in the air and remarked, “it’s gonna be so awesome!”

Pinkie Pie beamed a bright smile as she heard Rainbow Dash talk, and said, “all day? A whole day of music and partying? It IS going to be awesome!” At this, she began to dance with joy with her pegasus friend.

“Well, if everypony’s finished with their food,” announced Blades among the conversations, “I’ll take your cups out of here and we can be off.” Everypony politely thanked the small dragon as he collected their tea cups and placed them on the large plate that Tech Specs had brought in with the tea. Fluttershy was especially kind and gave the dragon a hug as he took her cup. “Th..thanks,” said he, blushing as the yellow pegasus hugged him.

Everypony was looking at notes, inventions, and everything else about Tech Specs’ Workshop. As Rarity looked at each of Tech’s scrap metal crates, she looked to the blue unicorn, smiling, and asked, “so, I see you work with all kinds of metals. But what about gold?”

“I don’t like gold,” replied Tech, much to the dismay of Rarity, who gasped as Tech answered. Tech Specs approached a work table and scrap crate labeled “Lead.” She then produced a small piece of the soft metal and manipulated it in her hooves, remarking, “gold’s kind of like lead. It’s malleable and very easily manipulated, but it’s too soft to be used for much more than weight. Lead’s much cheaper and more readily available, so I don’t bother with gold.”

“But Darling,” retorted the white unicorn, “gold’s not known for its strength; it’s known for its beauty.” she then thought for a second and looked to her gold necklace. Her horn then started to glow light blue, as did her necklace. her necklace gleamed as it moved off of her neck and came to rest on a work table. “Also,” continued she, “most jewelry isn’t pure gold, rather gold mixed with silver to add strength and shine.”

Tech Specs observed the necklace for a few seconds, and then smacked her hoof against her forehead, remarking, “of course! Auro-Agnious alloy. Why didn’t I think of that?” As she finished the statement, Blades had re-emerged from the door at the back of the room. “Well, we should be off then, eh?” said she to everypony, who agreed.

Rarity replaced her necklace as the seven ponies and two dragons began to exit the workshop. Tech Specs looked to Rarity as they trotted out of the front door of Tech’s shop and said, “thank you for telling me about that alloy. I’ll have to do some work with it and see what happens.”

“No trouble at all, Darling,” replied the white unicorn. “Just give me a sample when you’re done.” She and Tech giggled at the remark.

As everypony exited the shop, Rainbow Dash got airborne and began flying slowly to the East, with her friends following. As they followed, Pinkie Pie bounced ahead of everypony else, joyously stating, “this is gonna be the best party ever! I can feel it!”

Part 6

Just outside of Fillydelphia Central Park lies a large paved parking lot, each spot filled with carriages, bicycles, and all other manner of vehicles. Tech Specs led her friends through the parking lot, and soon came across a tall chain link fence, the gate of which was guarded by a rather sizeable Earth Pony. The stallion had a dark red coat and black tail, but his mane was completely shaven, save a small goatee on his face. On his flank was the image of a pair of posts connected by a red velvet rope. He wore dark sunglasses and a black shirt which bore in bright white lettering, “Security.” As Tech and her friends trotted to the gate, the guard held his hoof out to the blue unicorn, and, in a deep, demanding voice, requested of her, “you and your friends got tickets?”

As he said this, Pinkie Pie stopped hopping about and stood firm, looking at the stallion with a glint of fear in her eye. Fluttershy took a similar action and quickly hid behind the pink mare, squeaking as she did so.

Tech Specs, remaining as calm as ever, held out her hoof to the stallion, revealing the Turquoise bracelet her friend Bass Beat had given her two days before, confidently informing the guard, “Bass Beat said this will suffice.”

“Ha, like that’ll fool me,” retorted the guard, knocking the mare’s hoof away. He then said, “get outta here; we got actual paying customers to worry about.”

Then, a pair of ponies, one an Earth Mare and the other a Unicorn Stallion, approached the guard and gave him a pair of small red tickets. He politely thanked them and opened the gate for them. As the pair walked through and the guard closed the door, he looked back at Tech Specs and repeated, “I said get outta here!” As he told her this, he pushed her back into her group of friends, who caught her as she fell.

As Tech Specs regained her composure, she glared at the stallion, angrily stating, “how dare you!” as she approached him.

Rarity put her hoof on Tech Specs’ shoulder, which stopped the unicorn from advancing. The white mare then looked to her, and, with a sly grin on her face, whispered, “don’t worry, Sweetie, I’ll handle this.” With that, she strutted to the guard’s post, but was stopped by his large hoof.

“Didn’t you hear what I told your little friend?” barked he, sounding more frustrated than before. He put his hoof down and informed, “only paying customers and VIPs, that’s Very Important Ponies, are allowed in. You’re clearly not paying customers and you don’t much look like VIPs to me.”

To the guard’s words, Rarity gasped, holding a hoof over her mouth. She then asked, “did.. did you say...? You must mean..” as she spoke, she began to bawl loudly, continuing, “YOU THINK I’M OLD AND UGLY, DON’T YOU?!”

“Whoah!” The guard jumped back as the white unicorn cried, “I never said that! I don’t think that.”

“OF COURSE YOU DO!” continued the crying mare, “YOU M.. MUST THINK I’M TOO OLD AND.. AND HIDEOUS!”

“No, no, not at all!" The guard put his hooves on Rarity’s shoulders, and nervously told her, “listen, listen. If it’ll calm you down a bit, I’ll let you and all your friends in. Free of charge. That okay?”

“I.. I guess so,” sniffled the white unicorn. As the guard opened the chain link gate, Rarity beamed a large smile and cheerily told her friends, “come on, Girls. Time is of the essence.” Pinkie Pie began bouncing happily again as she hopped through the gate, everypony else following. The guard looked back to Rarity, who was trotting happily with her friends, and shook his head, muttering to himself.

There was a large number of stands selling all manner of things about the park, with various ponies of all colours and forms socialising throughout the area. The centre of attention, though, was the stage in the centre of the park. Although the equipment was being set up on stage, and nopony was scheduled to play for at least half an hour, ponies still gathered in front of the stage and were merely talking to each other.

“Ooh! What’s this?” asked Pinkie Pie as she looked at a poster on a tree. She read the poster aloud to everypony: “Welcome to Rock in Filly, the second biggest rock festival in all of Equestria! Enjoy Alternative Rock, Grunge, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Classic Rock, Thrash Metal, and Nu-Metal performances. Acts include Metallica, The Fooh Fighters, Electric Light Orchestra, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Unikorn, and many others.”

“Well, sounds like a mighty good lineup to me,” said Applejack, tapping her hoof on her chin. “I ain’t never heard of them bands, but I love me some Rock N’ Roll.”

“Amen to that, Sister,” replied Rainbow Dash. The blue Pegasus bumped her hoof against that of Applejack, and then took flight, hovering above her friends.

Twilight Sparkle thought, then added to the conversation, “I’ve grown used to classical music when I lived in Canterlot.” She then clapped her hooves together and said, “but, I’m always open to new things.”

“That’s the spirit, Twilight,” said Tech Specs. “You lot will enjoy it, I assure you.”

The ponies continued to circle the park, observing posters, merchandise booths, and fans of the bands performing. As they trotted, Pinkie Pie asked, “so when’s the show start, Tech?” The pink mare’s mane bounced as she hopped along with her friends.

Tech Specs looked to the stage, which was to the group’s right. The unicorn observed the ponies on stage and answered, “well, it appears the roadies are just finishing setting up the amps, so it should just be a few minutes.” She then looked to the other ponies and said, “in the meantime, just relax, socialise.”

“Hey, Rarity!” a female voice called from behind the group of ponies. The group turned their heads in response to see an off-white coloured unicorn mare with a spiky mane of two shades of blue, a pair of black and purple goggles over her eyes, and a double-quaver on her flank. She then embraced Rarity, happily remarking, “long time, no see.”

Rarity instantly recognised the voice and greeted the unicorn, “hello, Vinyl. It has been too long indeed, Darling. How are you?”

“Not too bad, not too bad,” replied Vinyl in a relaxed tone. She then lifted her goggles, revealing a pair of cool magenta eyes that would catch anypony’s attention. Observing Rarity and her group of friends, she asked, “so what brings you to Fillydelphia, Cos’?”

“Tech Specs invited us here for this show,” answered Rarity, motioning back to the blue unicorn in the group. “Well,” thought she out loud, “we DID meet some tension at the front gate, but I shed a few tears and the guard was clay in my hooves.” As the unicorn said this, a snicker escaped her mouth.

Vinyl laughed at the statement, and mentioned, “yeah, I’m no stranger to THAT routine, Cos’. Anyway, I remember your other friends from that fashion show a while back, but I’m not too familiar with Tech Specs.” She scratched her mane with her hoof and continued, “can you refresh my memory a bit?”

“To put a long story short,” began Tech Specs as she stepped up beside Rarity, avoiding stepping on her dress. She continued, “I crashed a flying machine of mine into Fluttershy’s house and broke my leg. After that, Rainbow Dash and a nurse from Ponyville came to Fluttershy, and the trio brought my into town to the nurse’s office. When I discovered my leg was broken, the hard way, I might add, Rainbow carried me to Applejack’s barn, where I built a cast to support the weight I put on that leg. I stayed for a night at Applejack’s house, met her family the next morning, and then proceeded to Twilight Sparkle’s library where I met her and Spike. They agreed to give me a ride home in their hot air balloon, really cool by the way. In the balloon, I met Pinkie Pie, and we talked until we got back to my place here in Fillydelphia. I promised to take them to this show, and that they could bring their friends. This morning, they did. I got to know Rarity, served everypony breakfast, brought them here, and then it was now, and I don’t know what happened after that.” Tech then took a deep breath, exhaled, and asked, “that sum it up for you?”

Vinyl nodded her head at Tech Specs, then informed her, “I see, I see. Returnin’ the favour to these ponies for their Ponyville hospitality, I take it?” Tech nodded. “Yeah, I feel that. Nice way to pay them back, bringing them here.” As the unicorn was about to say another few words, a Stallion’s loud, booming voice came through a megaphone in a balloon above the stage:

“Fillies and gentlecolts, the first act of the day will begin in three minutes. Get ready for ROCK IN FILLY!” Everypony in the park cheered, and began trotting down to the stage area.

“Well,” said Vinyl, “I better get going. Gotta get ready for my act; I’m performing with Unikorn.” As the white mare galloped off, she yelled, “later, Ladies!” to Rarity and her friends.

“She’s got the right idea,” remarked Tech Specs. She glanced at the stage to see more ponies gathering in front of the stage, then looked to her group and stated, “we should follow her example and get down there before everypony else does, eh?” At this, the ponies and pair of dragons agreed and began for the stage.

By the time Tech and her friends made their way to the stage, the crowd had grown immensely, only allowing them room at the very edge of the area. The ponies found a spot that about ten metres from the stage, granting them a decent view of the performers. Rarity, meanwhile, stayed at the very edge of the crowd on the grass. “I will NOT set hoof in dirt and ruin my dress,” asserted she to her friends.

“I think y’all can stay where you are,” replied Applejack, “I think we’re stickin’ to this spot, anyway, right Tech?” She looked to the blue unicorn, who nodded happily. “See?”

“Very well then,” said Rarity, “then let’s enjoy the show, shall we?” As the white mare finished her question, the same booming voice aloft in the balloon began again:

“Fillies and gentlecolts, introducing the first performance of the day, a band dedicated to the sound of Classical mixed with Rock. We present... the Electric Light Orchestra!”

Everypony cheered as a group of ten ponies of all kinds and colours flooded the stage, armed with various orchestral instruments: two cellists, three violinists, and five woodwind and brass players. The ensemble lined up in two rows on the right side of the stage. After this, five more ponies, two Unicorns and three Earth Ponies followed onto the stage. One unicorn took a seat at his drum kit, two Earth Ponies, male and female picked up a bass and electric guitar respectively. The other unicorn took his place behind a keyboard and synthesizer, while the last Earth Pony stood on his hind legs and leaned forward against the microphone stand, facing the crowd.

The stallion took in the cheers for a few seconds, and then began to speak, his voice resonating through the speakers about the stage. “Well, first act of the day. That’s a great honour, but I’m not going stand up here and talk about that; what say you ponies we get started?!” Everypony cheered loudly again. “This one’s called ’Don’t Bring Me Down!’”

“Wow, this is great,” said Twilight Sparkle to Tech Specs, speaking loudly against the cheers of everypony around the group, “this sounds so much closer to Classical than I was expecting!”

“That’s what ELO try to do,” replied Tech as loudly as Twilight, “and they do it quite well! Don’t worry, though; Rock covers all kinds of sounds!”

The band ended their first and quickly began playing their next song, “Sweet Talkin’ Mare.”

Twilight and Tech began conversing again, Twilight beginning, “so, how many songs is this band going to do, Tech?”

“If I’m not mistaken,” replied the blue unicorn, “each band will perform four of their own songs, followed by one cover song.”

“What’s a ‘cover song?’” asked Twilight in return.

Tech tapped her goggles and responded, “it’s when one band plays a song written by somepony else.” Twilight nodded, confirming that she understood her answer.

They finished “Sweet Talkin’ Mare,” and then played two more of their own songs, called, “So Serious” and “Shine a Little Love.”

At the end of their final song, their cover of Starship’s “We Built this City,” the crowd let out one final cheer for Electric Light Orchestra as they took a bow and left the stage. Roadies began to replace the drums and ready the stage for the next act. During this brief intermission, Tech Specs asked her friends, “so, how’d everypony like the first act of the day?”

Rainbow Dash was the first to respond. “I think they were a little slow for my taste,” said she. “I’d say they were alright, but could be cooler.”

“Well I think that they were absolutely fabulous,” contradicted Rarity. “An elegant sound and brilliant appearance. I loved it, Tech.”

“I agree with Rarity,” remarked Twilight Sparkle, her dragon companion nodding in agreement with her.

“What about you lot?” Tech Specs looked to the other three ponies, one of whom looked extremely nervous.

Pinkie Pie hopped up and down excitedly, her pink mane bouncing at each hop. “I think they were super-duper awesome!” exclaimed she, “I can’t wait for the next act!”

“Well,” reasoned Applejack, tapping her chin with her hoof, “I ain’t one to go on first impressions, but I’d say they were alright. Maybe the next band will be better. What ’bout you, Fluttershy?” She looked tot he yellow pegasus, who was standing nervously, digging her hoof into the soil.

“Oh, umm...” muttered she, “I.. I think they were good. I’d like to see the next band, I mean, if that’s okay.” Her voice lightened into barely above silence as she spoke.

“Well,” beamed Blades from Tech Specs’ back, “it looks like the roadies are done, so your wish is granted, Fluttershy.” the yellow mare giggled at the dragon’s remark.

The stallion in the balloon announced the next band, “Fillies and Gentlecolts, put your hooves together for Iron Mare!” the crowd cheered loudly as a banner dropped from behind the drum kit, revealing a wrinkly, tattered-looking Earth Stallion whose eyes were pitch black orbs with shining crystals for pupils. He was holding a Bitish Union Jack high above his head and he wore a red suit. After the banner dropped, two Earth Stallions, a Pegasus Stallion, and two unicorn Stallions, all adorned with black leather and studded garb, entered the stage. One Earth Pony and one unicorn carried a black and red Stratocaster respectively, and the Pegasus held a white Equestrian Precision Bass Guitar. One unicorn took his place behind his beautifully crafted drum kit, and the other in front of the microphone.

With a slight bit of feedback from his mic, the singer began to speak, in a rather high voice for a stallion, “well, ELO’s a tough act to follow.” He looked at his band, then back at the crowd and asked, “but do you think we can do it?” Everypony cheered. “I said DO YOU THINK WE CAN DO IT?!” The cheers were thunderous. They then played their first song, “The Trooper.” When they finished it, they played “2 Minutes to Midnight.”

“That was Awesome!” Exclaimed an ecstatic Rainbow Dash at the previous song. “I’ve never seen anypony’s hooves move that fast; it was incredible!” She did a small flip in the air and landed again.

“Well, there’s more to come,” informed Tech Specs, “and believe you me, they get heavier.”

Tech’s friends cringed at the next verse and the chorus, singing about killing feeding machines with foals and that lot. “They don’t really do that, do they, Tech?” asked Pinkie Pie, who lost her bounce and was cringing like the others.

“Of course not, Girls,” assured Tech, “it’s just a song; I highly doubt that they go about killing unborn foals and things like that.” Everypony sighed in relief and returned to enjoying the song.

The band finished the third song, “Coming Home,” and their fourth, “Wasted Years." They finished with a cover of Bitish Steel’s “Living After Midnight.”

The next act was a Thrash Metal band called Metallica, whose four songs were “Ride the Lightning,” “Battery,” “Enter Sandmare,” and “All Nightmare Long.” Their cover was from their Thrash rivals and close friends, Megadeth; the song was “Symphony of Destruction.” These songs were fast, heavy, and bore blindingly fast solos performed by their guitarist.

At the second song, the singer started a mosh pit in the center of the stage. “What’s a Mosh Pit,” asked Twilight Sparkle, baffled by the term.

“A mosh pit is when a bunch of metalhead ponies get together and slam into each other,” informed Tech, laughing at the idea.

“That sounds epic!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, “let’s go check it out.” She flew into the air and looked into the pit of ponies, smashing into one another.

“I will NOT associate myself with such ruffians,” insisted Rarity, turning her head away from the pit.

“Yeah, I gotta go with Rarity,” agreed Twilight. “Besides, somepony may get hurt.”

“Oh, I guarantee you somepony’ll get hurt,” informed the blue unicorn. “It always happens. But, what’s fun without risk, eh?”

“sounds like a good time to me,” reasoned Applejack. “You with us, Pink?” She looked to the pink mare, who was bouncing and nodding.

“You lot can go,” said Tech, “we’ll stay here.” Rainbow Dash shrugged, and the three wove through the crowd to the pit. “Have fun!”

Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Applejack enthusiastically got into the pit, and began slamming against everypony in sight, Pinkie exclaiming, “wee!’ and “woohoo!” as she did so. Applejack snorted as she laughed in the pit, and Rainbow Dash tried to keep herself upright, but was knocked down. She started screaming in fear as a big hoof almost came down on her head, but it stopped. Attached to the hoof was a large orange Pegasus Stallion who dwarfed Big Macintosh, Applejack’s brother and a sight to behold. His eyes were deep blue. His mane and tail were black, save one bang which was dyed bright red, were styled in dreadlocks, and he had a small black goatee on his face. A green megaphone wrapped in a violet ribbon adorned his flank and he wore a red band on his foreleg which bore the letters “RHCP.”

“Whoah!” exclaimed he in a voice that hardly matched his form. “I’m so sorry; I didn’t see you.” He whistled loudly and everypony around them opened a path to outside the pit. He then helped Rainbow to her hooves and walked her out of the pit, soon joined by Applejack and Pinkie Pie.

“What in Sam Hill happened, Rainbow?” asked Applejack, worried that she may be hurt.

“I got knocked down,” admitted Rainbow reluctantly. In a ditch effort to save her reputation for being tough, she added, “I would have been fine, but this stallion picked me up before I could get up.”

“Un huh, sure,” said Applejack, sarcasm clear in her scarlet drawl. She then looked to the stallion and asked, “so you got a name, Partner?”

“Name’s Mosh Pit,” replied he, offering a hoof to the orange mare.

“Nice to meet ya, Mosh Pit. I’m Applejack,” replied she, shaking his hoof.

“Hey!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. Once the three ponies looked at her, she continued, “I’m pinkie Pie. You should meet our friends, Mosh!”

Mosh nodded, looked to the pit and said, “I’d hate to leave this great pit, but I’d love to meet your buddies.”

“Then it’s settled!” said Applejack, leading the ponies through the crowd to their group. “Come on, Slowpokes!”

When the three mares and stallion got to their group, not much had changed. Tech Specs had attempted to show Twilight Sparkle how to headbang, but the purple unicorn almost knocked herself and Tech unconscious.

“Hey Girls!” greeted Twilight as her friends appeared out of the crowd. She looked to the orange stallion and asked, “who’s your friend?”

“Mosh, what are you doing here?” asked Tech Specs from behind Twilight. “Shouldn’t you be backstage getting ready for your act?”

“And miss a chance to mosh to Metallica? No, thank you,” insisted he.

“You know him?” Twilight, Applejack, And Rainbow Dash looked to Tech Specs.

“Yeah,” replied Tech, “he’s the vocalist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a band that’s performing today. A performance he should really be preparing for.” She looked to Mosh Pit again.

“Relax, Tech,” said he, almost laughing, “there’s another band between Metallica and the Chili Peppers; I’ve got time to have a little fun. Besides, Hummy’s around here somewhere too.”

“Hummy?” questioned Spike.

“Humm Bucker,” informed Tech, “the Chili Peppers’ bassist.”

The ponies introduced themselves to Mosh Pit, and he told them a the story of his band. They have been the Red Hot Chili Peppers for six years, but before that, and before they met Humm Bucker, Floyd Rose played Bass and their old friend, a pegasus stallion named Breakneck Shred, played guitar in a metal band without a name, of which Mosh was the vocalist and Bass Beat the drummer. Their band lasted for five years, until during one show, their equipment malfunctioned and caught fire. The building in which they were playing soon caught as well, and 5 ponies, including Shred, were killed. For a while, they had disbanded, until Floyd Rose met Humm Bucker in Cloudsdale. He taught Floyd how to play guitar, and they managed to get the band back together, with Floyd Rose on guitars and Humm Bucker, whom they call “Hummy,” on bass. Since then, they named themselves the Red Hot Chili Peppers and have shifted from a Metal band to an Alternative Rock sound.

By the time mosh had finished his band’s story, Metallica had finished their set and were soon replaced on stage by Unikorn. This band consisted of a unicorn stallion on lead guitar, another on vocals, and a third on drums, with a pegasus stallion on rhythm guitar, and an Earth Stallion on bass. Also joining them was a familiar white unicorn mare behind a turntable, among other functions the table served. The crowd cheered as they were announced and they took stage.

“Hello, Fillies and Gentlecolts,” sneered the singer, a rasp in his voice. “We’re pleased to have with us tonight, co-writer for our new record and honorary member of Unikorn, DJ-P0n3!” He pointed a hoof to Vinyl, who waved to the cheering audience. He then said, “this first one’s called ‘Blind.’”

“Oi! Mosh! Where are you?!” a voice called from the crowd, just within earshot of the ponies. “There you are,” said an aqua blue pegasus stallion as he approached Mosh. His mane was blue and laid back, as was his tail. a long blue goatee hung from his face and he wore a small pair of dark glasses with circular lenses. They were small enough for somepony to see his golden-coloured eyes. On his flank was a dual humbucker bass pickup wrapped in a purple ribbon. “Mosh,” said he, “save the groupies for after the show; we’re on soon.” His voice sounded as though it were normally very relaxed, and strained to sound as urgent as it did.

Mosh looked to the stallion in bewilderment. He then replied, “first, they’re not groupies. These are Tech’s friends, see?” he motioned to Tech Specs, who was giggling uncontrollably. “And second,” continued he, “I was just about to find you and go back.”

“Tech?” questioned the stallion, then saying in realisation, “oh, yeah, that Tech!”

“And you are?” asked Twilight, raising an eyebrow at the stallion.

“Humm Bucker’s the name,” answered he, for everypony to hear, “but you lot can call me Hummy.” He then looked to the orange pegasus and repeated, “now, if you please, Mosh?”

“Okay, Mom,” replied Mosh Pit, laughing as he followed Hummy. He looked to Twilight and the others and said, “hey, come see us after the show; we’ll be waiting for you,” and he was off.

“By the way,” began Rarity to Tech Specs, “what is a ‘groupie?’” The blue mare whispered something in her ear, causing her to blush and exclaim, “my word! I would never do such a thing!”

By the time Mosh and Humm Bucker had left, Unikorn had gone through another of their songs and were playing the third. The only thing the ponies really noticed about the second song was that it was called “Got the Life.” The third song they were playing was called “Here to Stay.” When they finished their third, they played a song from their newest album, which was co-written by Vinyl Scratch. The track was called ”Narcissistic Cannibal.” Their fourth and final song was a cover of Slipknot’s “Sulfur.”

“And now, fillies and gentlecolts,” again announced the stallion in the balloon, “we give you the Red Hot Chili Peppers!” By cue, Mosh Pit, Bass Beat, Humm Bucker, and a fourth pegasus pony, a mare Mosh Pit previously identified as Floyd Rose, entered the stage. Floyd Rose wore a blue electric guitar on her shoulder, and Hummy possessed a glossy black bass guitar. Bass Beat sat down at the drum kit, and Mosh took his place at the microphone.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers played their four songs: “Under the Bridge”, “Soul to Squeeze”, “Tell Me Baby,” and “Monarchy of Roses.”

“Thank you, fillies and gentlecolts,” said he, smiling brightly and looking at the crowd. “I think I’m going to show everypony here why I’m called Mosh Pit. Floyd, if I may hold Typhoon, please?” The guitarist nodded and gave her guitar to Mosh. He put it on and then focused on Humm Bucker. “And Hummy, if you’d give Floyd your bass.” He nodded and did so. “Now, would you like to lead on Breakneck Shred’s guitar.”

“It would be my pleasure, Mosh,” said Hummy close enough to the microphone to be heard, but barely.

A roadie pony came out from the side of the stage, holding a slick black and silver guitar with sharper features than Floyd’s. He gave it to Hummy, and he put it on respectfully. He nodded to Mosh, and the orange pegasus said into his microphone, “this one’s for you, Shred.” They then played the DragonForce song, “Through the Fire and Flames.”

“Now that’s more like it!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. “Let’s go mosh, Applejack!” She flew into the pit, and Applejack followed close behind on the ground.

“Don’t forget about me!” shouted Pinkie Pie, trotting to keep up with the orange mare.

After the song, an explosion went off right behind the three pegasi, causing Mosh to shout, “what the hay!” He turned around to see Bass Beat, smiling ear to ear as the chain of flame boxes detonated perfectly in sync, sending five more balls of fire into the air. Mosh turned back to face the crowd, who were still cheering at the pyrotechnics. “Wasn’t expecting that,” admitted he to the crowd. “Heck of a way to end an act, eh? We love you, Fillydelphia! Enjoy the rest of the show!” The pegasi left the stage, Bass Beat noticeably laughing as she followed step.

“YES! That was perfect!” exclaimed Tech Specs, overjoyed at her flame boxes.

“Personally, I liked their first four songs,” huffed Rarity, in clear expression of her dislike of Heavy Metal.

In time, the three ponies who had run off to join the mosh pit returned, each with a few bruises on various parts of their bodies.

Seeing her friends battered up caused Fluttershy to lash out. “Oh my goodness!” exclaimed she, looking over the bruises. “What happened?”

“I’d say a bloody good mosh pit happened,” said Tech, laughing with the three ponies.

“Darn right,” confirmed Applejack. “Some ponies left that thing ableedin’ thanks to me and Rainbow.”

“That’s awful!” exclaimed Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy and Spike simultaneously.

Pinkie Pie laughed and said, “it’s all in good fun, isn’t it?”

“Certainly,” agreed Blades from atop Tech’s back. “Now that we’re all back together, what say you that we go see the Chili Peppers?” Everypony nodded, and Tech Specs led the way through the crowd.

Part 7

The seven ponies ventured through the crowd to the edge of the stage, where a walkway was marked by security barriers. They walked around to the edge of the barriers, and followed a path that led further to behind the stage area. There, they came across a vast array of large carriages, each marked with a band name, such as “The Fooh Fighters,” and “Metallica.” Beside one of the carriages stood an Earth Stallion wearing a grey flat cap. He was leaning against Iron Mare’s carriage and looked as though he was listening to the music from the stage, which was still easily heard, despite his location.

“Well, we’ve found the tour carriage parking,” said Tech, pointing out the obvious.

“But where’s the Chili Peppers’ carriage?” asked Spike, searching the lot from atop Twilight Sparkle’s back.

The stallion by the carriage heard the purple dragon’s question, and looked to the group of mares to answer, a brogue clear in his voice as he spoke. “The Chili Peppers?” said he, “they’re on the next row, right-hoof side.” He motioned with his head to another row of carriages.

“Okay,” replied Tech Specs, “thank you, Sir.” The stallion tipped his hat and continued bobbing his head to the music.

The group followed the stallion’s directions and, like he said, on the right side of the row of carriages stood the one labeled, “The Red Hot Chili Peppers.” Tech Specs knocked her hoof on the carriage’s door, and a female voice from inside yelled, “go away! We’re not doing any interviews!”

Tech rolled her eyes and replied, “Floyd, it’s me, Tech! Open up, you fool!” After a couple seconds of silence, the door swung open, revealing a green pegasus mare, the same one who played guitar on stage. Her mane was a violet red with a streak of orange, with a matching tail. Her eyes were rose pink and freckles adorned her face just below them.

“Hey, Tech,” said she, in a raspy voice similar to that of Rainbow Dash, but a bit deeper. “Come on around the back; everypony else is chilling there.” Tech nodded and the green mare led them around the front end of their carriage, where they saw the rest of the Red Hot Chili Peppers as well as Vinyl Scratch. Each pony was sitting in the grass, talking to one another and socialising.

“Hello again, Rarity and company,” greeted Vinyl. She then looked at the bruised Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash and added, “somepony did some moshing, eh?” Everypony laughed, and the group joined the others on the grass, save Rarity, who stood firm.

“I refuse to sit; I may stain my dress,” insisted the white unicorn, turning her head away from the ponies.

“Well,” said Humm Bucker, standing up, “we’ll have to do something about that, won’t we?” rarity looked at Hummy with a disturbed look on her face. He noticed and quickly said, “no, not THAT. Just chill out a minute.” He trotted around the carriage and out of sight for a few seconds. When he returned, he was holding a small blanket in his teeth. He walked past Rarity and spread the blanket out on the grass in front of her. “There you go, Miss.”

“Such a gentlecolt,” said Rarity. After thanking Hummy, she sat down on the blanket.

“So,” began Mosh Pit, looking at the group of ponies who had just joined them, “how’d you mares like the show?” He smiled as he asked.

Twilight Sparkle and Rarity agreed that they liked the Chili Peppers’ performance, Pinkie Pie openly expressed that she loved it, and Applejack commented on the mosh pit they started.

“Yeah,” agreed Rainbow Dash with her orange friend, “first you played all that soft junk, and then you started shredding like Metallica. It was so awesome!”

“I heard you were a fan of the pits, Rainbow,” said Bass Beat. “I also heard that you almost got yourself stomped by this big lug.” She lightly punched Mosh’s arm with her hoof as she mentioned a “big lug.”

“Hey, I said I was sorry,” replied the orange stallion, laughing as he remembered.

Rainbow simply crossed her forelegs and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. That never happened.”

“Oh, come on, Dashie,” beamed the pink mare. She then stood up and started re-enacting the scene, moving about rampantly as she described Rainbow Dash moshing, and then falling, and then Mosh Pit almost stepping on her. She finished her story with, “and that’s how we met Mosh Pit!”

“What about you, Miss?” Mosh Pit looked to Fluttershy, who was sitting beside Rarity, looking away nervously.

“Umm, I.. guess it was okay,” said the yellow mare, barely above a shy whisper.

Humm Bucker jumped up in sudden realisation. “Oi! I forgot!” shouted he. He trotted around into their carriage again and re-emerged holding a rolled up piece of parchment, bound by a brilliant purple ribbon, in his teeth. He held the parchment in his hoof and was brandishing it as he said, “can you guess what a Royal Pegasus Guard delivered to our apartment yesterday afternoon?”

“A Royal Pegasus guard?” beamed Twilight, thinking about the glorious armoured stallions of Canterlot. “What was it?”

“Well,” began Hummy explaining, “when I opened the door and saw him there, he gave me this and said ‘a message for the Red Hot Chili Peppers from Canterlot.’ I showed it to Mosh, Bass and Floyd, and we all thought it was either really good or really bad, so we opened it and...”

“Just get on with it,” interrupted the impatient blue pegasus.

“Alright, alright,” replied Hummy. “I opened the letter, like this.” He opened the letter slowly and said, “and read it to everypony, like this.” He was about to continue when he was interrupted again, this time by Spike.

“Ooh, ooh,” said he happily, “can I read it? I want to read it!”

The green stallion shrugged and complied, “all right. Knock yourself out, Little Lizard.” He gave the letter to the baby dragon, who opened it with gusto.

Spike cleared his throat, and began reading, “her ye, hear ye. Her Royal Highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria, is pleased to ask that the Red Hot Chili Peppers, consisting of Bass Beat, Floyd Rose, Humm Bucker, and Mosh Pit, to serenade Her Highness’ guests at the Grand Galloping Gala in the lush capital city of Canterlot. Enclosed are four Royal Musician’s passes to the Gala.” Everypony, save the band members, were completely aghast at what the purple dragon had just read.

Humm Bucker noticed everypony’s amazement and addressed it with, “I know; can you believe it? We’re going to a gig in Canterlot!”

Twilight Sparkle stared at the ponies, mouth agape. She regained her composure and said, “that.. that’s great, Hummy! More than great; it’s fantastic!” She joyously clapped her forehooves as she added, “the six of us and Spike got invited to the Gala too; we’ll be happy to see you there!”

Rarity then looked to Tech Specs, who looked rather uncomfortable at the current conversation. “I say, Tech,” said she, “Twilight can always ask Princess Celestia for an extra ticket; you should come with us when it comes round.”

Tech Specs looked up rapidly, staring off into space in a trancelike state. She shook her head and hastily replied, “no, no. That’s not a good idea. It’s the opposite of a good idea; it’s a very very terrible idea.” The unicorn scratched her mane with her hoof and stood up nervously.

“What are you talkin’ bout, Tech?” asked Applejack, who, like everypony else, was shocked by the unicorn’s response.

Tech looked around, trembling as she answered, “umm, i-it’s nothing. I have to go.” She then ran at full gallop away from the group of ponies, Blades sprinting after her.

Rainbow Dash stared in a daze at the fleeing mare for a second, then regained her composure and, at word from Twilight Sparkle, took flight, speeding towards Tech and scooping Blades up in her hooves as she sped along.

“Hey, what’s going on?!” shouted Blades as he and Rainbow sped closer and closer to the blue unicorn.

“Hold on, Little Guy,” replied Rainbow as she manoeuvred him to her back and tackled Tech Specs. She turned the mare over to face her, and Rainbow saw that she was addled. When she came to, the blue pegasus was quick to ask her, “what was that all about, Tech?”

Tech Specs looked up at Rainbow Dash, but she began losing focus and the pegasus’ face was but a blur with the sky. Memories raced through Tech’s head: she saw a cyan filly and orange baby dragon in Princess Celestia’s quarters, a disappointed and angry look strewn across the princess’ face. She then saw a Royal Unicorn Guard looking at the same filly and dragon pair, then closing Canterlot’s city gates, locking them out of the city. The last thing she saw was the filly hiding in a cave with the baby dragon, the filly crying as rain fell heavily around her.

“Tech! Tech! Wake up!” Blades’ voice called into the unconscious mare’s ear. Her eyes slowly opened, and she saw Blades, as well as the rest of the group of ponies surrounding her. She began breathing rapidly and tried to rise, but was stopped by an orange hoof.

“Whoah there, Partner,” said Applejack, gently holding Tech back. “We don’t want y’all runnin’ off like that again.”

“Why?” asked Tech, still shaken, but her breathing slightly more calm. “What’s going on? Am I being arrested?”

“Now what in the world would make you think that, Sug?” replied the orange mare, looking utterly at a loss as to what the unicorn was talking about.

Soon, Tech Specs had entered another delirium, replaying the princess’ scornful face in hear head, and repeatedly saying aloud, “No. I can’t go back. I can’t go back to Canterlot. I can’t.”

“Tech!” The mare heard Twilight’s voice call her name. She shook her head and looked at the purple unicorn, who was just looking at her with an eyebrow raised. “Are you alright, Tech?”

“Umm, yeah,” answered the blue mare, holding a hoof to her head. “I.. I’m fine.”

“You never answered my question,” said Rarity, looking at Tech Specs with the same look as Twilight.

“What question?” replied Tech.

“I asked you if you’d like to come with us to the Gala in a few months,” informed the white unicorn, “and you said it was a terrible idea. I asked why, and you started staring into space. You were staring for a couple minutes.”

“Oh, umm, I’m sorry,” said Tech, breathing heavily and rubbing her mane. “Well, let’s just say that the princess and I aren’t exactly on even terms.”

“What ever do you mean, Darling?” The white mare looked concerned as she watched Tech bury her head in her hooves.

“Yeah,” agreed Twilight, “what do you mean by ‘even terms?’”

“She hates me, alright?!” shouted Tech, barely holding back tears. “Princess Celestia hates me, and has hated me for quite a while now!”

Twilight Sparkle took a few seconds to wrap her head around what she had just heard. Princess Celestia has never hated anypony, to Twilight’s knowledge. Why would a humble pony like Tech Specs be hated by the ruler of Equestria? The purple mare stood up and approached Tech. “Come on,“ said she gently to the mare, who seemed to have been having a breakdown. “Let’s go walk around; it’ll calm you down.” She offered a hoof to Tech, who accepted.

Tech stood on her hooves and lifted her goggles. She wiped a couple tears from her eyes and said, “okay then. If anypony can help me, it’s the princess’ star pupil.”

Tech and Twilight slowly walked away from the group, but were quickly joined by the other five ponies who were with them, along with Spike and Blades.

“Umm, Girls,” said Twilight, “I’m sorry, but I think Tech would rather not have a crowd of ponies around right now.”

“It’s fine, Twilight Sparkle,” said Tech quietly.

“Okay,” quietly replied the purple mare. She turned her head to look at the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Vinyl and said, “thanks for inviting us to hang out; It was nice.” Mosh Pit nodded at Twilight and sighed deeply.

As the ponies walked toward the edge of Central Park, Twilight looked to Tech and said, “so, umm, Tech?”

Tech Specs looked at her purple friend, anticipating what she was going to say, and answered, “yeah, Twilight?”

“Would you please tell me what happened?” She looked with worry in her eyes at the blue unicorn, who appeared to be struggling to respond.

“You’ll likely end up hating me as well.”

“I’ll take that chance; I just want to know.”

“Alright,” said Tech Specs. Taking a deep breath, she began, “I was born in Canterlot, to a family who viewed magic as an heirloom that every member had to possess. I was no exception.”

Pinkie Pie giggled lightly and whispered to Rainbow Dash, "this is where everything goes all wiggly." Rainbow just gave her a confused look and they trotted on.

Part 8: Back In Time

The year was 985 Y.C., when Tech Specs was but a filly. Her parents named her Emerald Comet when she was born. She was born to a wealthy unicorn family living in the lush capital city of Canterlot. One day, she was given news that would begin to shape her life.

“Emerald!” an elderly mare’s voice called through a gorgeously decorated hallway, covered with priceless paintings accented by rare, valuable plants in just as rare vases. “Can you come down here? I have great news for you?”

“Yes, Grandmother,” replied a young unicorn filly as she gracefully stepped into the hallway. She had cyan fur with a long, flowing pink mane and tail. Her eyes were bright green and she wore an elegantly designed blue dress, common for young fillies in the area. She trotted down the hallway to be met by an aged, lavender unicorn mare. Her mane was silver, but maintained a platinum-like shine. Her faded sky blue eyes shone as she produced a rolled up piece of parchment from a table in the room.

“Guess who just got accepted into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns,” beamed the mare, offering the parchment to Emerald.

The filly’s horn glowed a brilliant green as she looked at the parchment. After a second, the parchment was enveloped by the same glow. It unrolled itself, and Emerald read it, then smiled half-heartedly. The letter rolled up and took rest at the end table where it lay before, and ceased to glow. “You put in an application for me?” She looked up to her grandmother and tilted her head.

“Of course, Emerald!” replied the mare, still smiling. “Every member of this family has been graduated from that school. Your parents will be so proud!” She looked to the filly, and changed to a confused look as she continued, “is something wrong, Emerald?”

“Nothing’s wrong, Grandmother,” answered Emerald. “The letter says the entrance exam’s tomorrow; I had better get ready.” She turned to the hallway and walked down to her bedroom.

The next day, outside a small classroom, Emerald and her parents stood, awaiting the signal for Emerald to enter.

“Keep your chin up!” barked the filly’s mother. She held Emerald’s head up with her hoof and added, “and don’t drag your hooves.” She nervously looked over her daughter again and said, “and for Celestia’s sake, stand up straight!”

Soon, the door to the classroom opened, a dark grey unicorn stallion emerged from the door holding a clipboard with his magic. “Emerald Comet?” asked he to the trio of ponies. The filly nodded, and the stallion continued, “we’re ready when you are, Miss.”

Inside the classroom were four unicorn ponies, one of whom was the headmaster for the school himself, Spark Seeker. Three of the unicorns held clipboards and observed Emerald’s every move, but Spark Seeker merely sat in a chair and casually observed the blue filly. A wooden cart which held and egg stood in front of Emerald. The egg was orange and had large scarlet spots about it. Emerald looked at the cart for a second and then asked, “what is it I’m supposed to do?”

The three ponies scrawled a few things on their clipboards, disappointed looks on their faces. Spark Seeker answered, “whatever you wish, Miss Comet.” His voice showed his advanced age, but maintained a rather youthful spirit. "Just show us what you can do."

“Okay,” said Emerald. She took a deep breath, planted her hooves firmly on the hardwood floor, and focused her energy on the egg. Her horn and the egg glowed bright green. After a few seconds, her horn glowed brighter, and she started trembling. The wood at her hooves began to crack and splinter as a bolt of energy shot through the air to the egg, causing it to shatter. Shards of egg scattered about the room, save one piece which lay with the contents of the egg: a baby dragon. The piece of shell was beside the dragon, and he picked it up and started chewing on it. The dragon was orange, but a dim green cloud of energy resided around him. The energy was then absorbed into the dragon’s body, but he didn’t seem to notice. Emerald Comet was near the point of fainting, for she had exerted a copious amount of energy doing that.

Spark Seeker leaned forward in his chair, an expression of pure awe strewn across his face. “That.. that was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen!” exclaimed he. He looked to his colleagues, who bore similar looks of amazement. “I think it’s unanimous,” continued the headmaster, “you’ve passed with flying colours, Miss Comet! You can start next week, when the semester begins.” He shook the filly’s hoof, and she began to trot out of the room. “Allow me,” said Spark, opening the door for Emerald. “Oh,” continued he, “and don’t forget your dragon. He focused his energy on the dragon, who floated across the room and came to rest on the filly’s back.

*************************************************************************************************

“So,” began Twilight Sparkle as the group trotted about, “you’re saying that you were a student at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns?”

“Aye,” confirmed Tech, “and, according to Spark Seeker, I was one of the best practitioners of magic he’d ever seen.”

Twilight looked at Tech and thought about this. She hadn’t seen Tech use magic a single time since she’s known her, and yet she went to the same magic academy as she. “I went there too, you know,” said the purple mare, a bit of pride in her tone.

“I know,” answered Tech, “he said that the only student he’d seen who’d shown more prowess than me.." she paused for a moment before finishing, “..was you.”

Twilight placed a hoof on her chin as she tried to remember. “Emerald Comet,” whispered she to herself as she thought. “I think I remember that name. Yeah, I remember. She was in a class photo I saw once.” She then looked to Tech and inquired, “and that was you?” Tech nodded. “So what happened next?”

*************************************************************************************************

Emerald Comet’s first years at the prestigious academy went rather well; she had excelled at every lesson, and was learning from books that were issued to students at least three or four years above her. She had exceptional skill, but there was something else: she grew bored with magic. Every class she sat in bored her almost to sleep. Eventually, during her third year, she decided to start skipping class.

She snuck off campus and roamed the city when she could. During one of these sessions, she wandered into Canterlot’s market square. She observed every vendor, looking at what they sold and did. After a few minutes of wandering, she came across somepony who absolutely fascinated her. The Earth Stallion was a watchmaker. He sat at his stand, working with a fob watch that was broken. The gears and cogs inside of the small clock were strewn about the tabletop, each one a wee bit different than the previous. Emerald watched the stallion put each component back into its precise place in the watch casing. He turned one gear with a key, which turned another. As each small part turned, another moved, setting the entire device in motion. This utterly fascinated the small filly, but her fascination was cut short.

She felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned around to see a Royal Unicorn guard staring down at her. The guard said nothing, but simply focused his magic on himself and the filly. As he did so, the marketplace around them disappeared, replaced by the walls of her classroom at the academy. every student in the room and the instructor looked at the guard. It was then that the guard finally spoke. “I found your missing student, Sir,” said he to the professor, “she was playing hooky in Market Square.”

“Thank you, Sergeant,” replied the professor, “you can go about your business now.” The guard left the room, and the teacher moved his attention to Emerald. “Miss Comet,” said he, disappointment on his face and in his voice, “this is your first offense, so I’ll let you off with a warning. Sit down.” She rolled her eyes as he turned around and complied to the professor’s order.

After a couple more weeks of occasionally skipping and trying to find that watchmaker, she was caught once again. This time, she was sentenced to detention and the headmaster sent a letter to her parents, who were less than pleased with the news.

“What is wrong with you, Young Mare?!” shouted Emerald’s father, trying to control himself. He ran a hoof through his mane and told her, “in my days at that school, you’d be lucky to get expelled if you skipped one class!”

“I WOULD be lucky to get expelled,” muttered Emerald. Unfortunately, the stallion heard her.

“What?!” barked he. Emerald said nothing. “You will speak when spoken to!” shouted he as he brought his hoof across Emerald’s head. She stumbled and groaned, but still said nothing. He struck her again; still nothing. He shouted from frustration and struck her once more, with significantly more force than before. The third strike knocked Emerald to the ground. “Go!” shouted he, “and never skip class again!” He turned to a window and let out a heavy sigh.

It took Emerald a few seconds to stand again. As she walked out of the room, she started to feel a wet spot on her face. She wiped the area with her hoof and jumped as she looked at her hoof, which bore a large crimson blotch. She entered her bedroom and threw herself on her bed. She wiped a bit more blood from her nose and lay back in her bed. She lay there and thought for a couple hours, and ultimately resolved to leave Canterlot. Drop out of school, run away from home, whatever she could do; she just wanted out.

The next day, at school, Emerald raised her hoof to get the professor’s attention. “What is it, Miss Comet?” asked he in a rather annoyed tone.

“I.. I need to see the headmaster, Sir,” said she, a bit nervously.

The professor sighed and replied, “very well. Whatever you miss will be homework.”

“Yes, Sir,” said Emerald as she trotted out the door.

Emerald had to wait outside of the headmaster’s office for a few minutes, for he was busy with something else. After a while, Spark Seeker opened the door and looked to the blue filly. “Emerald Comet?” said he to her. She nodded, and he added, “you may come in now, Miss.” He held the door open for her as she entered. She slowly shut the door, and Spark turned and asked, “so what is it you wanted to see me about, Miss Comet?”

“Umm, well, Sir,” stuttered the small filly. “It’s just that, umm, I was just thinking...”

“Thinking about what, Miss Comet?” interrupted Spark Seeker, looking more curious than ever.

Emerald Comet took a deep breath and said clearly, “I want to drop out.”

The headmaster stared at Emerald for a second, astonished at what he had just heard. He tried to speak, but stopped himself, for lack of knowledge as to what to say. “Excuse me for a moment.” He headed to his desk, produced a piece of parchment and a quill, and began writing. He focused his energy on the parchment, and it rolled itself up and disappeared. “Terribly sorry, Miss,” apologised he, “I had to send a letter to someone. I.. I’ve never encountered anything like this.”

After about a minute, the air began to move and a burst of purple energy surged through the room. As the energy dissipated, its cause began to take form. A tall pony’s shape became apparent. The pony had wings, a horn, and a long, flowing mane of multiple colours; it was Princess Celestia. Spark Seeker and Emerald Comet bowed at the regal presence. The princess took a breath and spoke, “Headmaster Spark Seeker,” said she, her voice high-pitched, but booming no less, “if you could leave the two of us alone, please?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” complied Spark, hastily leaving the room.

“You may rise, Emerald Comet.” Princess Celestia looked to the blue filly, who stood as tall as a small pony like her could. “Now,” continued the princess, “what is this I heard about you wanting to drop out of my school?”

“That’s exactly it, Your Highness,” replied Emerald, looking sternly at the princess. “I would like to drop out.”

“And why is that, My Little Pony?”

“The magic your instructors teach me is far too easy,” began the filly, “and on top of that, I’m sick of magic.”

Princess Celestia’s eyes grew in surprise. “You’re what of magic?” said she, needing confirmation to what she just heard.

“You heard me, Princess,” answered Emerald, “I’m sick of magic. It’s a trivial practise and I need a greater challenge.”

“But the very ability to use magic at all is a gift,” reasoned the princess, “and there are many ponies not fortunate enough to possess such a gift.”

“A gift?” Emerald Comet scoffed and resumed, “I never asked for any gift. I’d gladly give this ‘gift’ to anypony who wants it.”

The princess, growing more and more aggravated, beat a deep sigh and said, “I have never met a subject as ungrateful and arrogant as you.”

“There’s a first time for everything, Your Highness,” retorted the filly, "and for the first time, a student here wants out."

Emerald looked to the princess, whose eyes were closed, and she seemed to be struggling to hold back emotions. Princess Celestia took another deep breath and calmly said, “then leave.”

“Excuse me, Princess?” asked Emerald, tilting her head at the princess.

“You heard me, Emerald Comet,” replied the princess, her emotional control starting to slip, “leave. And I don’t mean just my school; I mean Canterlot. Leave this glorious city and never return.” She looked to the blue filly, suppressed anger boiling through her regal eyes.

“Gladly,” replied Emerald, beginning to head out the door.

“Two guards will be waiting to escort you out of the city,” said the princess to Emerald as she left. As Emerald closed, rather slammed, the door to the headmaster’s office, Princess Celestia ran a hoof through her mane, shook her head, and teleported away, having the same effect on the room as when she appeared.

*************************************************************************************************

“Wait, wait,” said Twilight to Tech Specs, “you’re telling me that you slammed a door in Princess Celestia’s face?” The purple unicorn thought for a second. “How could you possibly bring yourself to do that?!” demanded she, sounding downright irate. The ponies following the pair whispered to each other in disbelief.

Tech Specs merely looked at Twilight and said, “wouldn’t you slam a door in the face of your boss after he fired you?”

“Well, there’s a difference between a bad employer and the ruler of Equestria!” barked Twilight, still struggling to believe what Tech Specs had told her. She inhaled deeply and exhaled, reasoning, more to herself than anypony else, “I guess everypony’s done something they regret. What happened next, Tech?”

*************************************************************************************************

As Emerald Comet exited the school building, she was met by a duo of Royal Unicorn Guards hooked to an elegant gold chariot. “Emerald Comet?” demandingly questioned one of the guards. The filly nodded. “Get in.” She did so, seeming happy to do so.

“Wait, where’s my dragon?” asked Emerald to one of the guards.

One guard turned his head to face Emerald and replied, “we’re on our way to fetch your dragon now.” As he spoke, the two unicorns headed down the road, bringing the chariot behind them.

“Umm,” began Emerald, “in case you were wondering.” one of the unicorns looked to Emerald, bearing a rather annoyed expression. “My dragon’s at my grandmother’s home, just that way.” She pointed her hoof in the general direction. Ever since Emerald started school, taking care of the dragon had become a problem, so her grandmother took responsibility for him.

“Yeah, we know,” barked a guard. “We’re paid to know these things.”

As the chariot reached its destination, the front door to the house opened, revealing the filly’s grandmother, who looked very concerned for her granddaughter. “Good day, Sirs,” said she to the guards, who silently nodded. “What are you doing here this early, Emerald? School doesn’t let out for hours.”

Emerald sheepishly looked to one of the guards, ready to ask him a question, when he spoke. “Ma’am, we’re here to pick up this filly’s dragon,” said he, “and then we’ll be out of your mane.”

“The dragon?” questioned the old mare, “why?” The guard briefly explained everything: Emerald’s dropping out of school, the princess’ orders that she leave Canterlot, the works. “Hmm, I see. Emerald, Dear, I’d like a word with you.”

“Well, what are you waiting for?” barked a guard. “Listen to your grandmother.”

Emerald sluggishly exited the chariot and walked into the house. She looked up the the mare and asked, “yes, Grandmother?”

“I just wanted to say that I love you,” began the filly’s grandmother, “and that whatever you do, no matter what anypony says about it, is okay with me. I’ll fetch your dragon.” The old mare gave her granddaughter a hug, then trotted down a hallway and left sight.

As Emerald Comet’s grandmother went into another room, the front door burst open, revealing the one character the filly dreaded seeing the most, especially on that particular day: her father. “I heard everything,” said the stallion, looking angrily at Emerald. “You’ve disgraced this family for the last time.”

Meanwhile, outside of the house, the pair of unicorn guards stood at attention, awaiting the filly to re-emerge. They began to hear noises that would make any lesser pony cringe. The pair merely blinked at each strike and shout they heard, maintaining their composure professionally. Were they worried? Did they want to step in and do something? Perhaps, but neither moved nor said a word.

After a few grueling minutes of waiting, Emerald Comet came through the door to the house, bearing her baby dragon on her back. She had bruises on either side of her body, a large hoof print on one side of her head, and her nose was dribbling blood. The guards didn’t hazard to look at the filly, but simply stood, looking dead ahead.

Emerald calmly boarded the chariot. “Get me out of here,” ordered the filly, looking straight ahead, just as the guards did.

“Right away,” replied one of the guards, trying as hard as he could to show no emotion as they trotted off.

During the ride out of the city, Emerald admired her sleeping dragon, who had grown quite a bit since she’d last seen him. It was the first time Emerald had seen her little friend in years. He did appear older, but not much. The most noticeable difference was his claws; they had grown to almost twice the length of his hand, and gleamed like silver.

When the chariot made its way to the towering city gates, its crew stopped dead, snapping to attention as an older looking Unicorn Guard trotted into view. His armour bore much more silver than that of the two lesser guards, and appeared to have various dings and dents about it.

“Greetings, Colonel,” said one of the guards to the officer. “We’re here to deliver Miss Emerald Comet and her dragon out of the city.” His comrade nodded in agreement.

“Hmm,” thought the officer, looking at the beaten, bloodied filly, “what happened to her?”

“I’m sorry,” replied the same guard, sounding a bit more tense than before, “need to know basis only, Sir.”

“I see,” reasoned the Colonel. “Carry on, Corporal.” He then walked away, towards the gleaming city wall.

The chariot carried on, eventually reaching the towering gate to the capital city. It took both of the guards’ magic to open the massive wood and steel door even slightly, barely enough for the chariot to get through. Emerald Comet dismounted her escort, taking care not to awaken her dragon counterpart. As the filly walked away, one of the guards got her attention. “Oi,” said he. As Emerald turned around, he continued, “we’re both terribly sorry, for what happened at your grandmother’s house.”

Emerald turned around to face the two unicorns, completely taken aback by what she had just heard. “You.. you are?” inquired she.

“Of course,” replied the armoured stallion. “We’re soldiers, but we’re not heartless. That was painful just to listen to. I.. I can’t imagine...”

“That’ll do,” said the other guard, putting his hoof on his comrade’s shoulder. “We’d better be off.”

“Yeah,” agreed the blue filly, “I guess I should be, too.” She began to walk away, but turned around to tell the pair, “and, thanks, for not telling that officer, and getting me out of there.”

“It’s our pleasure, Miss.” The guards surrounded the gates with an aura of their magic, and sealed them.

Emerald walked away from the gate and the city at a leisurely pace, taking in the scenery to be viewed on the side of the mountain where Canterlot lay. She could see rolling grassland for miles, the city of Cloudsdale as it hung gracefully in the sky, and she could spot the edge of a forest not too far away from the trail she was on. She decided to head for the woodland.

Eventually, she found herself at the edge of Whitetail Wood, where all of the trees stood bare in anticipation of the coming Winter. By the time she had arrived at the wood, the sun was setting, and clouds were forming just a mile or two away, the thunder roaring easily through the wood to Emerald’s ears. “Oh, perfect,” thought the filly. She began to scan the near area for anything that could provide shelter, but she saw nothing. She sighed and trotted slowly further down the dirt path into Whitetail Wood.

After a few minutes of searching to no avail, Emerald began to feel chills as the temperature dropped. She looked up, and a raindrop landed square on her forehead, followed by another, and another, until it grew to a full downpour. Emerald shivered and carried on searching, finding a small cave on the side of the mountain after a few more minutes.

The cave was rather small, but Emerald managed to manoeuvre herself and her dragon into the cave, protected at least a bit from the rain. The filly thought for a while, and everything started to set in. She had lost her home, her family, everything save the dragon who lay with her, and she didn’t have a bit to her name. As she thought more and more, tears began to form and roll down her face.

She looked at her baby dragon, who was still sleeping. “You know,” said she, “those claws of yours look a lot like swords, or maybe just blades.” She wrapped her body around the sleeping orange dragon to protect him, kissed his cheek, and said to herself, “yeah, blades.” Soon, she fell asleep as well.

Part 9

“Well,” said Tech Specs, beating a heavy sigh, “that’s my experience with the princess.”

“That makes sense,” reasoned Twilight Sparkle, who trotted alongside the blue unicorn. “No wonder you don’t want to go to Canterlot.”

“Exactly,” replied Tech, “because I can’t.”

Twilight noticed a minor change in the blue unicorn’s tone, and decided to bring it up. “Well,” said she, “you say that like it’s the only reason.” Tech gave Twilight a look of confusion, to which the purple mare replied, “as in, you’d go back if you could.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Tech, looking to the sky in thought. “I mean, I haven’t really got anything against the city, or even the Princess. She hates me; not vice versa.”

“Wait,” began a confused Rainbow Dash, who was flying just above the group of four mares trotting behind Tech and Twilight. “Not that I approve of hating the Princess, but you’re saying that after she kicked you out of your home and home city, you don’t have any problem with her?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” replied Tech Specs in a very matter-of-fact tone.

“Well, why?” asked the blue pegasus.

“Because if she hadn’t exiled me from Canterlot,” explained Tech, “then I’d never have come to Fillydelphia, I’d never have met Uhrwerk, and I’d never have discovered what I love to do.” The blue unicorn looked to Twilight and the others and added, “if I’m honest, being banished is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

After the group trotted along the sidewalk for a short time, they came to Tech’s street, where Twilight Sparkle’s balloon was waiting for her. “Well, here we are,” remarked Tech Specs, “I think you lot had better be going, eh? You’ve probably got things to do, yeah?”

“Not really,” replied Twilight, saying what Tech was hoping not to hear. “It’s the weekend; we have time to stay here for a while.”

“Oh, well, okay then,” said Tech in a disappointed tone. “Well, better come in, then.” The unicorn ran a hoof through her short mane as she approached the doors to her shop and opened them.

Fluttershy picked up on the blue unicorn’s tone, and decided to intervene. “Umm, I’m sorry,” timidly announced she, “but I have to get back to the cottage, or Angel will be so mad at me. You don’t mind, do you, Tech?”

Tech Specs, noticing the yellow mare’s plan, smiled and answered, “why, of course I don’t mind, Fluttershy. Can’t have our friends mad at us, can we?” Fluttershy sheepishly nodded.

“I gotta agree with Fluttershy, Twi,” added Applejack. “Big Macintosh and I have been planning on addin’ onto our barn tomorrow. And with what we’re expectin’ from next Applubuckin’ Season, we’ll need it.”

After Applejack, everypony else added a reason not to stay: Rarity had a big order to fill by the middle of the week, Pinkie Pie needed to help plan for a party for the Cakes’ anniversary, and Rainbow Dash said she had an appointment with the Weather Patrol.

“Oh, well,” replied Twilight, “I guess we’ll be out of your mane then.” She turned to walk toward her balloon and added, “if you like, I could visit sometime this week.”

“Yeah, that’ll be fine,” agreed Tech almost reluctantly before adding, “and I’ll write. My P.O. box is 153.” As Twilight Sparkle nodded and turned away from the group, Tech looked to the five mares before her and nodded, silently thanking them. “And, Rarity,” added she, looking to the white unicorn, “I’ll have that jewelry we discussed ready in a few days.” In response, Rarity smiled brightly and nodded.

The five ponies said their goodbyes to Tech Specs and Blades, and the pair returned the gesture. The groups parted ways, and the six mares and Spike boarded their balloon and took flight, waving to Tech and Blades as they floated slowly out of sight. At that point, the pair decided to retire to their shop.

Once inside, Tech sat down at her desk and produced from a drawer a piece of parchment and a rather odd-looking quill. The tip of the quill was a curved needle-like piece of steel which was split at the centre. Tech shook the strange device and, placing it in her mouth, began taking notes. “Request: jewelry,” wrote she, “material: Auro-Agnious alloy. Customer: Rarity of Ponyville.” As she put her quill on her desk, she thought for a second, then asked her dragon friend, “do you have any idea where I can get gold and silver?”

Blades thought about the question for a second before answering. “Umm,” said he, “I think a jeweler might have some scrap lying around. There’s a jewelry store on 5th Street, yeah?”

“I believe so,” replied Tech. The unicorn trotted into her workshop for a few seconds, and re-emerged wearing her saddlebags and smiling brightly. “Only one way to find out, Blades,” beamed she. The orange dragon nodded. Tech then opened her desk drawer containing the bags of bits and took one, putting it in her bag. “It’s only 1612 Hours; we’ve got time to pay the jeweler a visit.” Tech happily trotted out the door to her shop, with Blades closely following suit.

The pair walked down the sidewalk for a few blocks until they came to a street sign labeled “5th Street,” at which they turned and proceeded. 5th Street was a large street which bore factories, mills, and a few small shops in between the larger buildings, as well as a restaurant which was housed in an old factory building.

After a few more minutes of searching, Tech and Blades finally came across the shop they were looking for. The storefront was simple, like that of Tech’s shop, except this store had iron bars over the windows. A sign above the door was labeled, “Ruby and Jade’s.” Tech knocked on the door, and heard a female voice call from behind the door. “Yes, please, come in,” said the voice quickly, a noticeable accent present. The unicorn complied and opened the door, leading Blades in with her.

As Tech Specs entered the room, the smell of incense filled her nostrils. The room was lit by various candles and paper lanterns about the room, and the walls bore intricate designs of gold and black. Various cultural items adorned the walls as well, such as scrolls and a few small statues on shelves. In glass floor shelves lay various necklaces, earrings, and fob watches, all very intricately crafted. Tech looked about the room for a few more seconds before the same voice caught her attention. “Can we help you?” The source of the voice was an aged, dark gold-coloured Winged Ibex. She was noticeably smaller than Tech Specs, and very slender. Her eyes were a brilliant scarlet, but they were as slender as she, and a trio of hexagonal rubies adorned her flank.

“Umm, yes,” replied Tech, “are you the jeweler?”

The small Ibex nodded. “Yeah. My daughter and I are jewelers.” She then turned to a door at the back of the room and said, rather shouted a few words in what Tech could infer as a foreign language. Another female voice responded with similar words, and its source became visible as the door opened.

The ibex in the doorway had wings as well, a coat of rich silver, and stood taller than the gold Ibex. She was slender, as were her deep green eyes, and her flank was decorated with three octagonal jade stones. The ibex smiled brightly as she introduced herself to Tech Specs. “Hello, Miss. I am Jade, and this is my mother, Ruby," said she, pointing a hoof to the other ibex. “How may we help you?”

Blades’ jaw dropped at the sight of the silver ibex. Jade looked at the baby dragon, and simply giggled lightly at him. “Tech,” whispered the dragon to his friend, “she’s absolutely gorgeous.”

“Blades, behave,” whispered Tech to the dragon, nudging him with the side of her head. Tech then explained Rarity’s order to the ibex pair and told them that she needed some scrap gold and silver to use, and that she would pay.

The two ibex looked at each other, before Jade answered, “we no have scrap gold. What we can’t use, we melt down and send back home to be remade.”

“Oh, well, okay then,” replied Tech, a bit disappointed. She then thought for a second and optimistically asked, “would you pair happen to know where I could find some, then?”

Ruby looked into space for a few seconds and then suggested, “your best bet would be go to pawn shop and buy cheap gold jewelry, then melt it down yourself.”

“I see,” responded the blue mare. “Well, thank you for your troubles, Madames.” Tech bowed her head respectfully to the two ibex, who returned the gesture. Then, Tech exited the shop.

The pair walked another block down 5th Street until they noticed a strange sign protruding from a building on the other side of the road. The sign was of one gold ball hanging from a pole, with another ball on either side, connected by an arch. “I know what that is,” said Blades, looking at the sign, “It’s the universal symbol for pawn shops.”

“You’re right, Blades," Tech Specs looked rather impressed as she confirmed her dragon counterpart’s statement.

Inside, Tech Specs found exactly what she was looking for: some pieces of pure gold jewelry, and some of pure silver, all of which confirmed by a few tests Tech had run on them. Altogether, after slight haggling, she payed slightly more than 150 bits for the lot, including two silver bracelets, a gold bracelet, a set of gold beads, and a cheaply made gold necklace. With their newly acquired materials, Tech and Blades headed for home.

The pair arrived at their shop and home in half an hour with nothing eventful happening. Inside their workshop, Tech produced a thick iron pot and an iron rod just as thick from a wooden crate, and then took these things to an empty work table, where she removed her saddlebags and took a box of matches, a pair of thick leather hoof guards, and a strange steel device from a drawer at the table. The device looked like a curved steel tube with a handle, a lever, and a long rubber tube going from one end of the thing to a large tank on the floor. The mare then put all of her recently purchased jewelry into the iron pot. Blades, meanwhile, sat on the table’s bench and watched the unicorn turn a lever on the tank, turn the one on the steel tube, then strike a match. She held the match in front of the nozzle, producing an orange flame, which turned blue with a few adjustments Tech made to the lever on the torch. With the torch in one hoof and the iron rod in the other, Tech melted the gold and silver, stirring the now molten materials carefully as it bubbled and boiled.

“It’s just like making stew,” explained Tech to Blades, “you’ve got to mix it just right or else it won’t come out right.” Blades nodded and stood up on the bench to get a better look at the molten metals. “Blades,” began the unicorn again, “could you fetch me four of the bar moulds, please?”

Blades saluted to Tech and ran to another table and opened a drawer on it. From it, the dragon took four large pieces of iron, each one with a deep rectangular indentation in it. Carrying the heavy iron with ease, Blades climbed atop the work bench opposite Tech and slid the moulds onto the table.

Tech Specs turned the levers on the torch and tank again, closing the valves and snuffing the flame. “Stand back, Blades,” ordered she as she picked up the pot and held it above one mould. Blades complied, and Tech began pouring. Sparks began to fly as the molten metal filled one mould. The pair could feel the intense heat emanating from the mixture as Tech finished pouring it into each mould. The metal bubbled lightly, but not enough to pop. “Well,” announced Tech, “that should do it. We’ll have to let it cool overnight, but keep an eye on it also.”

“So,” began Blades, “what do we do now?” He looked about the workshop, not seeing anything particularly interesting to do.

Tech shrugged and replied, “same thing we do every slow day, I guess.” She then trotted up the stairs to the living quarters. After a minute or two, she returned, holding a suitcase. she placed the case on the last empty table and opened it, revealing a steel chessboard with two full sets of pieces, one of ponies, and the other of dragons.

Upon seeing the set, Blades smiled brightly. “Yes!” exclaimed he, “I love chess!”

Tech Specs and Blades proceeded to set up the chessboard and pieces, Tech taking the Ponies, and Blades the Dragons. Tech Specs began the game, sliding with her hoof a Pawn, shaped like an Earth Pony holding a sword, two places ahead. Blades retaliated by moving a Knight, resembling a Wyvern with his wings spread, in place to attack the Pawn should it move once more. The game lasted over two hours, each move by both players precisely calculated. Blades lost six Pawns, a Rook, both Bishops, and both Knights. Tech, on the other hoof, lost seven Pawns, both Bishops, her Queen, and a Knight, before being put into Checkmate by Blades’ Rook and Queen.

“Blast!” exclaimed the blue mare at the defeat. “You win, Blades.” She then knocked over her King with her hoof in defeat.

Blades smiled and threw his arms into the air. “Awesome! I won!” shouted he. “Want to play again, Tech?”

Tech looked to the clock on the other table, which marked a quarter til Nine. “Hmm,” said Tech in thought, “we should have dinner, first.” She then smiled and looked to her dragon companion before adding, “and then we can play as many matches as you like, eh?”

For their dinner, Tech Specs and Blades concocted a Bitish curry, the recipe for which was taught to Tech by Floyd Rose. The mare even added a few emeralds for Blades to enjoy, which he did.

After their meal, they returned to their workshop where they racked up games of chess, victory almost equally divided between the Unicorn and Dragon, but Blades ultimately obtaining the most wins.

“Alright!” shouted the orange dragon as he drew another mark on a piece of parchment, one side labeled, “T,” and the other “B.” “That’s 8 wins to your 5, Tech,” said he, holding the parchment in the air.

“What can I say,” responded Tech, sounding proud of her dragon companion. “You’re quite the little strategist, Blades.” She then looked to her clock, and almost jumped when she saw the clock’s hands marking 6:18 in the morning. “Well,” said she nonchalantly, “not an hour of sleep, and yet I don’t feel tired at all. Shall we play again, Blades?” She looked to the other end of the board to notice the dragon, sleeping face-down on the steel table. Tech thought for a moment and concluded that Blades had been on a rush of adrenaline when playing chess; then, when that wore off, he was overwhelmed by fatigue. “Oh, well,” muttered Tech to herself as she took her friend upstairs to put him to bed, kissing his cheek and nodding to the photo of the stallion in her room, as per usual. She then decided to get to work on Rarity’s jewelry.

The initial phase of any work Tech does is all about blueprints: contemplating, sketching, taking notes, and coming to a decision on paper as to what to do. She decided that with her four bars of gold-silver alloy, she would fashion two bracers for Rarity’s forelegs, a neckpiece, and a tiara laden with jewels corresponding to Rarity’s Cutie Mark, three four-sided diamonds, which Tech obtained from the bag of random gemstones she kept for Blades to eat. With all of her materials and a few necessary tools quite literally on the table, Tech remembered that she had mail to check at the local post office. She decided against waking Blades, figuring that she wouldn’t be gone long. With a saddlebag and a pouch of bits to pay her P.O. Box fee, she headed toward 9th Street, where the Fillydelphia Post Office stood.

The Fillydelphia Post Office was but two or three miles from her shop, and thus Tech Specs got there in little over half an hour. The inside of the office was rather plain: grey walls, almost no windows, and a large, white front counter with three receptionists’ stations, two of which were serving customers. The third receptionist, a dark red-coated Earth Mare with a bright neon-coloured mane, who looked to be at least few years younger than Tech, rested her head on one foreleg, looking as though she wanted nothing more than to not be in that building.

Tech happily trotted to the mare and greeted her. “Good day, Strobe,” said she, still smiling.

The red mare lifted her head up, looking a bit happier to see the blue unicorn. “Hey, Tech,” replied she, “what’s up?”

“I’ve just come for my mail,” replied Tech, “Box 153." In an attempt to make conversation, the unicorn added, “by the way, I didn’t know you got a job here.”

“Oh, yeah,” said the mare, named Strobe, who complained, “can you believe my folks made me get a weekend job?”

“Come, now, it can’t be all bad,” reasoned Tech. “Maybe now you could save up enough to buy that synthesiser you’ve been looking at.”

Strobe nodded at the suggestion. “Yeah,” said she, “yesterday they dropped the price on the thing, too. I’m thinking I should snatch it up before somepony else does.” Feeling quite a bit better than before, Strobe turned to a door behind the counter, saying to Tech, “I almost forgot to grab your mail,” as she trotted through the door.

After less than a minute, Strobe re-emerged from the door, holding in her teeth a stack of envelopes. The mare dropped them on the counter in front of Tech and slid them to her. “By the way,” added she, tapping a hoof on the envelope highest on the stack, “a mailmare from Ponyville brought this letter earlier this morning.”

“Right then. Thank you, Strobe,” thanked Tech, swapping the stack of mail for 10 bits on the counter. “This is for my box fee,” informed the mare. Strobe nodded and crunched the numbers into her station’s register, giving Tech a receipt. “Thank you,” repeated the unicorn as she walked out the door of the post office and headed back home.

Back at the shop, Tech Specs cast her mail onto an empty table in her workshop and was about to get to work on her jewelry project when she thought about something. “It’s kind of quiet in here,” thought Tech, “I can fix that.” She then trotted up the stairs to her storage room. Inside this small room were stacks of wooden crates and cardboard boxes, all labeled to be miscellaneous items. She opened one labeled, “music,” and produced a turntable. “Perfect,” thought she, grabbing that box and another labeled, “ELO,” and carrying them on her back downstairs.

Back in the workshop, she set up the turntable on the side of the room opposite her workspace. She placed the turntable on the table holding her clock, and revealed a few speakers from the same box. Hooking them all to the turntable, she hooked it into the wall, giving the system power. Laying the other box on the table, she produced a record: Equine Light Orchestra’s “The Ultimate Collection.” She placed the vinyl on the turntable and switched it on, causing the record to spin. She then dropped the needle on the record, and “Don’t Bring Me Down,” filled the room. “That’s better,” remarked Tech, “now we’re in business.”

With the music playing, Tech Specs got to work, removing each block of precious metal from its mould and shaping it into its designated piece of jewelry. She pounded each bar into thick sheets, and bending them into the basic shapes of their respective pieces.

After about two hours of work, Tech Specs decided to take a break; she had gained quite a bit of ground in making the jewelry, she reasoned. She sat down at the table with her saddlebags and flipped through her mail. She had a bill from her landlord, a few letters regarding her inventions and how they’ve received patents, and the letter from Ponyville. The return address was labeled, “Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville Library.”

“Curious,” thought Tech, “didn’t expect to hear from her that quickly.” She just shrugged and opened the letter to begin reading.

Part 10: Letters

“Dear Tech Specs,

I just wanted to write you to thank you for inviting us to the show; everypony had a good time. Even Fluttershy was really happy that she went, the main reason being that she got to meet Blades, who she thinks is simply adorable. Also, the Chili Peppers were really nice ponies, which I didn’t expect in the least; I thought they’d be pompous and smug due to the fact that they’re famous musicians. I’m really sorry about Breakneck Shred, though; I know I never actually met him, but based on what Mosh Pit told us about him, he was a great stallion, but I digress. Enough about what I think; how are you? Anything interesting happen on your end thus far? Also, I’d like to keep our invitation for you to come to the Grand Galloping Gala valid. I’m sure that either Princess Celestia has forgotten about you completely, or she’s gotten over it; she has had many years to worry about other things than a dropout, after all. Granted, it’s rare that somepony drops out of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, but still. Well, I had better wrap this letter up before I start rambling too much. Write soon!

Your Friend,

Twilight Sparkle”

“Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I’m sorry this letter took so long to get into your hooves; I’ve been preoccupied with a few orders of mine, not the least of which is the jewelry I’ve been making for Rarity. By the way, if you get a chance to talk to her, tell her that her order should be ready within the next couple weeks. Anyway, I’m doing rather well. Not much else has been going on here: I received a message informing me that an invention of mine has been patented, and I’ll be getting royalties for it. It’s an interesting gadget, if I do say so myself; it shoots tennis balls at predetermined intervals, speeds, and that lot. Also, I still think that going to Canterlot is a bad idea; I mean, what if she still remembers me? That would be an unpleasant experience to all parties involved. Well, I should get back to work now. Tell everypony that I said hi, if you will. Have a nice day, Twilight.

Sincerely,

Tech Specs”

“Dear Tech Specs,

Don’t worry about taking so long to write. This could be a weekly thing; you know, we write once every week? That’d be fun! it’d also be organised, and I like things to be organised. I told Rarity what you said, and she’s absolutely thrilled about it. She asked if I knew what they looked like, but I told her that it’d be better as a surprise. Oh, and congratulations on the patent; I’m so happy for you! And, about the Gala, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to; I just thought that maybe we as a team could work things out with the Princess. You know, to get that concern off of your back. Also, it could be really fun. I remember the Gala a couple years ago; Princess Celestia said that things would be far less uptight the next time around, and they really were. Oh, well. i’ll stop bothering you about it. Be sure to write next week. I’ll be looking forward to it!

Always Your Friend,

Twilight Sparkle”

“Dear Twilight Sparkle,

So, you like things organised, do you? I guess that’s not that surprising, seeing as how you’re a librarian. Good idea telling Rarity that the jewelry is a surprise; I’d never have thought of that. And, thank you for the congratulations; it means a lot. My first royalty payment came two days ago: ten thousand bits for just 160 sold! If this keeps up, I’ll be able to get the Chili Peppers a new tour carriage: a bigger one. You know, for musicians as successful as they are, it doesn’t really pay that well. Oh, well; they do it more for fun than money. Also, you do pose good reasons for me to go to the Gala; perhaps it is for the best. But, what about Blades? I can’t let him by himself for the duration of the event. Speaking of Blades, I have to take him to a doctor for a checkup in a couple hours. I’ll write you next week, My Friend.

Best Regards,

Tech Specs”

“Dear Tech Specs,

Yes, I prefer things to be sorted out and neat, that way nothing gets lost. Well, that’s not always the case. I’ve lost a few books before, but that’s only because either Spike or I didn’t put them back in their proper place. But, nopony’s perfect, you know? What?! Ten thousand bits?! That’s great for just one invention patent, Tech! Imagine getting a few more of those; you’d be set for life! I mean, the kind of things I would do with ten thousand bits; I could pay for Applejack to have her barn repaired, give the Town Hall a complete tune-up, and re-equip Carousel Boutique with new machines, and still have bits to spare! You must be so thrilled! Well, before I start rambling too much about that, what about the Gala? Oh, of course Blades can come. If one baby dragon can attend, why wouldn’t two? I can send the Princess a message asking for two tickets to the Gala for a couple friends. I could even get them to you in about a week, if you like. So, I guess it’s time to wrap up this letter. Be sure to tell me how the doctor’s visit goes. Take care, and write soon!

Always Your Friend,

Twilight Sparkle”

“Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I’m sorry I couldn’t get this written any sooner; There’s been a lot happening today. I’ve been getting more orders than usual, probably because of the whole ‘patent’ thing. Oh, well, I’m not complaining. Blades’ visit to the doctor went rather well, although the doctor was rather confused as to why he hasn’t been able to produce a flame yet. I told him that perhaps that is the tradeoff for the massive claws, sharp intellect, and incredible strength that Blades possesses, but he said that was ridiculous. I guess if Blades can join me in joining you at the Grand Galloping Gala, then I would be a fool not to accept the offer. I will attend with you lot. When is it, next month? Anyway, I’ve got a few more things to add onto Rarity’s order, and it will be ready to pick up. I’ll keep you informed on progress. I’ll write you again next week, Twilight.

Your Loving Friend,

Tech Specs”

“Dear Tech Specs,

Oh, don’t worry about it; I’ve been late in sending letters before. You took it better than I did, I might add. Anyway, I’m glad business is picking up for you. As long as you don’t get COMPLETELY swamped, more business for anypony is great. So, Blades can’t breathe fire? That’s strange, but I guess you’re right; strength, wit, and swords for claws is plenty for a young dragon like him. Maybe he’ll develop the ability later in his life, you know? I’m glad you finally came around; I’m sure the Gala will be a great experience for you and Blades alike. I’ll be sending you a pair of tickets once I obtain them. And, it’s a good thing you’re almost finished, too; Rarity’s been chomping at the bit to see the jewelry you’re making. She’s getting anxious because the Gala is so close, and she’s planning on wearing whatever you’re making to it. Well, I have to go help Pinkie Pie over at Sugarcube Corner (that’s the local confectionery, if you weren’t aware). I’ll write you the same time next week.

Always Your Loving Friend,

Twilight Sparkle”

“Dear Twilight Sparkle,

Things have really been looking up this week; The Chili Peppers are going to play a big show in Manehattan, and somepony from every big record label are going to be there looking for bands to sign. I really hope they sign them for a new record. Also, I’m officially finished with Rarity’s jewelry order; she can come pick it up any time she sees fit. I’ve never worked with gold before, but I think I did well for my first time, if I’m honest. But, I’ll let the customer be the judge of that. So, Pinkie Pie works at a confectionery, does she? Perhaps that explains her... bubbliness. Oh, well. I wouldn’t be surprised if that mare was as bouncy and bubbly now as she was when she was a lass. But, we can speculate about your friends behind their backs later; I should probably tidy this place up if I should be expecting Rarity to show up. Until I hear from you again.

Your Loving Friend,

Tech Specs”

“Dear Tech Specs,

I’m really glad things are going well on your end; things are going great here. Pinkie Pie earned a promotion to part-time manager of Sugarcube Corner; she runs the place when the Cakes aren’t around, and sometimes when they are. Rainbow Dash won a race between a couple famous race ponies, and she said it was only a matter of time before the Wonderbolts received word. She’s a dreamer, I know, but it keeps her motivated. And, Rarity gained copious amounts of publicity for making Gala dresses for twelve famous ponies from all over Equestria. Speaking, well, writing, of Rarity, she’s super excited about the jewelry. She’s still busy with the Gala dress order I mentioned, but she plans to come pick them up as soon as she can. She also insists that she make you a Gala dress, ‘as reparations for the intense labour she put into the order I placed,’ she says. Don’t you think ‘reparations’ is a bit strong of a word? I know I do. I guess that’s just Rarity for you. You know, I’m not sure if Pinkie Pie was as, well, Pinkie Pie when she was younger. Maybe I should ask her; she has an interesting story about her fillyhood, I’m sure. I guess it’s time I let you to your work. same time next week? Of course.

Always Your Loving Friend,

Twilight Sparkle”

“Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I’m glad that things are going well for you lot, as well. So, Rarity wants to make me a dress for the Gala? Quite the payment for a few pieces of jewelry, methinks. And yes, ‘reparations,’ is a bit strong a word. Germaney payed reparations to Zebrica and Equestria for the War; Rarity isn’t paying reparations for what I chose to make for her. She doesn’t even really have to give me anything in return. But, I learned many years ago not to go against a mare such as Rarity when she insists upon something. Just tell me, if you will, when she’s ready to pick her order up, and I’ll be ready. Until next time.

Your Loving Friend,

Tech Specs”

“Dear Tech Specs,

This week was really fun for us; Pinkie Pie threw a party for our friend Cheerilee. She’s a teacher at the local school, and she celebrated the tenth Anniversary of her teaching career. We are all so proud of her! Anyway, what’s happened over your week? Any new patents or inventions? So, Rarity said she’s still catching up on some important orders; she got a few more this week. I honestly think that pony gets in way over her head sometimes. But, she always pulls through somehow, not that I’m complaining or anything. As agreed before, she’ll come whenever she finds the time. I’m still excited that you and Blades will be joining us at the Gala, AND the Red Hot Chili Peppers will be playing. It’s going to be the greatest! I’d better wrap this up before I get carried away and start rambling. Have a nice week!

Always Your Loving Friend,

Twilight Sparkle”

“Dear Twilight Sparkle,

Another fun, adventurous week for you lot, I see? There seems to be quite a bit happening for such a small town, methinks. I live in a city and don’t see as much as you claim to. Oh well, perhaps Fillydelphia is just a quiet city, if that makes sense. Blades got into my record collection two days ago and played Iron Mare nonstop all day; I’m so proud of him! That little dragon is a Metalhead, no doubt. But, he also really enjoys older, Classic Rock, such as ELO, Journey, and especially CCR. as I’ve said before, I’m so extremely proud of him. As for new inventions and patents, I haven’t any yet; nopony’s really wanted anything I’ve not developed yet. They just order things I’ve already created. It gets boring after a while, but oh well. I hope you have a good week and report something interesting. Until you write again.

Your Loving Friend,

Tech Specs”

“Dear Tech Specs,

First thing’s first: Rarity is finished with her work for now and will be on her way to Fillydelphia by the time you read this letter. She’s really excited about the jewelry, and I’m sure she’ll love what you’ve made for her. Now, what else to say? Oh, yeah, Ponyville is a small town, yes, but there’s always something going on, and that’s one reason I love it here. And, I can relate to having a Metalhead dragon around; Spike has been obsessed with Unikorn, Metallica, and Iron Mare ever since the show last month. It’s actually kind of grown on me, Heavy Metal, especially the harmonics of bands like Bitish Steel and Megadeth. Am I rambling? Yeah, I am; sorry about that. Anyway, I’m sorry business hasn’t been as exciting as you’d like, but that happens sometimes, yeah? I can’t count the number of times Pinkie Pie has wished ponies would shake things up a bit at Sugarcube Corner. But then again, Pinkie wants to shake things up everywhere she goes. Oh well, that’s just one of the things that makes Pinkie Pie Pinkie Pie, I guess. I’m rambling again, aren’t I? I’m so sorry; sometimes when I’m excited, I can’t stop talking about random things. Let’s close this letter before I get carried away again, shall we?

Always Your Loving Friend,

Twilight Sparkle”

“Dear Twilight Sparkle,

Well, I shall be anticipating Rarity’s arrival. I really hope she likes the pieces I built, but I’ll bother you with worries another time. Currently, I’m just excited that she’ll finally see them. Wait, Spike’s into Heavy Metal, too? Interesting. Tell him that he made a great choice in music preference, if you will. Business indeed hasn’t been too extravagant, but at least I’m still getting paid, eh? Personally, I’d rather have the work be less monotonous than it is than be paid. Oh well, I suppose I’d be broke if that were the case. Well, I guess I had better get this letter to the post office before Rarity arrives. Next week? Same time? Have a nice week.

Your Loving Friend,

Tech Specs”

Part 11

“Good Day, Rarity,” greeted Tech Specs as she led the white unicorn mare into her shop, which Tech had cleaned and tidied in anticipation for Rarity’s arrival. “How was the trip?”

“Simply divine, Darling,” replied the mare. “The landscape is dazzling this time of year.” The pair walked casually into the workshop, where Rarity’s order was waiting for her.

“And, there we are,” said Tech, motioning with her hoof to a table.

The white mare’s sky blue eyes brightened as they came upon the contents of the table. In front were a pair of white golden hoof bracers, each engraved with baroque-style scrolls along the edges, and around a platinum-white diamond. The next piece the mare noticed was a neck piece of the same white gold, engraved in the same fashion, except an intricately carved “R” stood in place of the jewel which was on each bracer. And, finally, Rarity noticed the Pièce de résistance, a white golden tiara, with two small peaks surrounding a larger peak at the centre of the headpiece. Inside the smaller peaks were more scrolls, while the large peak bore a trio of cyan diamonds, which perfectly resembled Rarity’s Cutie Mark. “My... my word,” uttered the unicorn, a look on her face un-discernable between astonishment and appallment.

“What?” asked a worried Tech, “is there a problem?”

“There is, in fact, a problem, Dear,” replied Rarity, still looking either appalled or astonished. “This isn’t what I requested.”

“It... it’s not?” stuttered Tech Specs, at a complete loss. “But.. but...”

“Yes,” said the white mare sternly. “I requested a piece of jewelry,” explained she, “not absolute crafted PERFECTION!” She then proceeded to scoop the blue unicorn up in an enormous embrace. “Thank you thank you thank you thank you!” exclaimed she. Setting a shaken Tech Specs back on her hooves, she then went to get a closer look at the jewelry, specifically the jewels.

Tech shook her head to clear it, and then said, “well, I’m glad you like it, Rarity.” She noticed the mare’s intent examining of the jewels, and asked her, “what is it?”

Rarity simply turned to the blue mare and replied, “you really, REALLY didn’t have to do THAT much for me.” Tech gave her a confused look, to which she explained, “the Ice Sapphire, Darling. You didn’t have to break your back to find such a rare jewel.”

“Ice Sapphire?” inquired a bewildered Tech, “the diamonds?”

Rarity shook her head. “These are not but diamonds, Tech.” She then informed in a manner similar to a professor explaining a concept to their students, “these are Ice Sapphire, one of the rarest jewels in Equestria! And you found some just for me. I simply can’t thank you enough!”

Tech adjusted her goggles as she took in what she’d just heard. “I.. I’m sorry,” said she, “I had no idea these were so rare; I thought they were just diamonds.”

“Oh, no,” said Rarity, more to herself than Tech, “no, no, no. The Gala dress I have for you is simply not enough. I must improve it!”

“‘Improve it?’” questioned the blue mare, “I’m sure that whatever you’ve got already should be plenty. I wasn’t even expecting anything in return.”

“Oh, you don’t understand, Dear,” explained Rarity, “you must be repayed properly, and I will see to it that it happens.”

Tech drew a sigh and finally complied. “Right, then,” said she reluctantly, “do what you will.” Tech never liked receiving gifts, nor was she ever too fond of being payed more than her service is worth.

“You sound disappointed,” said Rarity, a look of concern for her friend clear in her expression. “Is everything alright, Tech?”

Tech nodded lightly, “I’m fine. I’ve just been thinking, I’m going to go to Canterlot with you lot in a week. I never thought that I’d enter the city again when I left. Now, after sixteen years, I’m going back.” Tech gave off a mix of emotions as she explained.

“Oh, that is simple anxiety, My Dear,” beamed Rarity, happy that she knew what to do. “I can help with that.” About that time, Blades entered the room, unnoticed by the pair of unicorns. He watched as Rarity explained, “it’s just like stagefright. Actors typically don’t suffer from stagefright if they see the stage at which they’ll be performing beforehoof; perhaps the same could be said for visiting a city." She thought for a second before she added, “the others and I were planning on going to Canterlot a few days before the Gala to help prepare, among other things. You and Blades should come with us.”

Tech Specs pondered the offer for a bit. “I don’t know; Bass Beat invited me to a party tomorrow.” One one hoof, she’d be seeing the capital city at least once before she visits for one of the biggest events in the city; and on the other hoof, she’d be abandoning her friends who’ve been her friends for well over half of her life.

Rarity’s joy faded. “I see,” said she. “You can go have fun with your friends, Tech. I’ll be out of your mane.” She then began to slowly walk out of the workshop.

“Oi!” said Tech, putting a hoof on the white mare’s shoulder. “you didn’t give me a chance to decide. I can tell the Chili Peppers that I’ve other things to do; they’ll understand. When are you lot leaving for Canterlot?”

The white unicorn drew a sly smile before she replied. “Glad you’ve come around,” beamed she. “We’re scheduled to depart as soon as I get back to Ponyville.”

“Then let’s not waste a minute!” exclaimed the blue unicorn joyously. Tech donned her saddlebags and placed Rarity’s jewelry in them. She then looked to her orange assistant. “Come on, Blades.” The little dragon hopped onto Tech’s back and the trio were off.

Outside of the shop waited a yellow carriage, being drawn by a rather sizeable Pegasus Stallion wearing black saddlebags. his coat was the same yellow as his carriage, and he had a black mane, covered by a driver’s cap. On his flank was a wheel with wings and a bit. He spoke with an accent attributed to the Easternmost region of Equestria, cities such as Stalliongrad. “Good Day, Miss,” heartily greeted he, looking to Tech, “I am Fly Wheel, and I shall be your escort today.”

“It’s a pleasure, Mr. Wheel,” politely replied the mare, shaking Fly Wheel’s hoof.

As the three boarded the cab, Fly Wheel asked, “Where to, Madames?”

“The apartment complex on 12th Street, please,” replied Tech. With the destination known, Fly Wheel began moving.

On Tech’s back, Blades was tapping a catchy beat and singing, “don’t go ‘round tonight, well it’s bound to take your life. There’s a bad moon on the rise.”

“Oi! Have you been playing my records again, Blades?” asked Tech, instantly recognising CCR when she heard it.

“What? No. What are you talking about?” Blades’ eyes darted about the interior of the cab.

Tech laughed at the nervous dragon. “I kid, I kid,” said she. “If that’s the music you listen to, then you can play my records as much as you like.”

“Yes!” exclaimed Blades, similar to when he won at chess. He then hugged the blue mare’s neck and said, “I love you!”

“I love you, too, Blades,” replied Tech in a caring tone.

“This is touching moment I am witnessing!” exclaimed Fly Wheel from outside the carriage. “And, we have also reached destination.”

Tech exited the cab with Blades, and began walking to the front of the apartment building, a rather plain-looking brown building. Before she got to the main door, she looked to the white mare in the cab and asked, “would you like to join us, Rarity?”

“Why, thank you, Tech,” said Rarity, exiting the cab. “I would love to. That Humm Bucker is quite the gentlecolt from what I remember.” The trio then entered the building.

The interior of the apartment building was as plain as the outside: bland wooden walls, a grey carpet floor, and nothing particularly interesting about the room. Tech, seeming as though instinct was leading her to her friends, followed hallways and stairwells to the fourth floor, Room 436. She knocked a hoof on the door, which was met with a familiar voice. “No interviews! Go away!” called the voice, which belonged to Floyd Rose.

Tech rolled her eyes and replied, “it’s me, Tech. Open up, you crazy mare!”

Upon hearing Tech’s voice, the door opened, revealing the green pegasus, holding her blue guitar. “Hey, Tech,” greeted she, “what’s up?” The blue unicorn was about to start talking when Floyd Rose interrupted, “what are you still doing out there? Typhoon doesn’t bite.” She then stepped out of the doorway and motioned into the room.

The mares and Blades entered, seeing the other three Red Hot Chili Peppers relaxing on a large sofa. The apartment itself was plain, but it was decorated with band posters on each door and the walls, and a large black turntable in front of the kitchen area. Humm Bucker was the first to greet the mares, standing up and bowing his head to them, a lead which Mosh Pit followed.

“It appears I was correct,” began Rarity, “you ARE a gentlecolt, Mr. Bucker.”

“Please,” replied the stallion, “call me ‘Hummy.’ Thank you kindly, by the way.”

“Not a problem at all, Hummy,“ assured Rarity. ”But, I‘ve a question, what is ‘Typhoon?’” Everypony in the room looked to the white mare as though she had just misquoted one of their songs.

Floyd, not wasting a second, held her guitar in front of the white mare’s face. “This is Typhoon,” said she, “he’s a ‘77 Stratocaster, and the greatest guitar anypony could ask for.”

“He was a gift from me,” added Hummy casually. Everypony nodded, confirming the stallion’s claim.

Rarity looked at the guitar for a moment, and then commented, “I see. Very dashing, indeed.”

“Anyway,” said Bass Beat, drumming a beat on the arm of the sofa, “why are you here, Tech? The party’s not until tomorrow.”

“That’s why I’m here,” informed the blue unicorn. She ran a hoof through her short mane and said, “I’ve got somewhere to go. It’s rather important, if I’m honest.”

Mosh Pit shrugged and replied with one word. “Okay.”

Tech gave the stallion a confused look. “Okay?” questioned she, “that’s it?”

The orange pegasus nodded, saying to the mare, “yeah. You’ve got somewhere to be; that’s not a problem.” He then looked to his bandmantes, who nodded in agreement. “It’s unanimous,” continued he, “go do what you’ve got to do.”

“Thank you, Mates,” Tech then hugged each of the Chili Peppers, and she headed out the door. Rarity followed suit, blowing Humm Bucker a kiss before she left.

The mares then exited the apartment building and boarded their cab, where Fly Wheel was waiting. “Where to next, Ladies?”

“Back to Ponyville, please, and that will be all,” was Rarity’s answer. Fly Wheel then turned around and they were off.

“So,” began Tech, looking at her white friend, “I take it you fancy Hummy, yeah?”

Rarity began to blush at the question. “Why, whatever makes you think that, Dear?”

The blue unicorn laughed lightly at this. “It wasn’t obvious at all,” said she sarcastically. “I saw how you were eyeing him, and how you reacted to his chivalry.”

“Okay,” admitted the white mare, “perhaps I rather like a polite stallion, and Hummy happens to be quite polite.” She then bit her lip and asked, “was I really that obvious?”

Tech shook her head. “Not at first. I don’t think anypony but me noticed,” explained she, “but your blowing him a kiss drove it home, methinks.”

After another hour of idle conversation, the cab arrived just outside of Ponyville. “This is far enough, Sweetie,” said Rarity to the cabbie, who stopped at the order. Rarity, Tech Specs, and Blades exited the carriage, and Rarity payed Fly Wheel 75 bits for his service, plus a 15 bit tip from Tech.

“Thank you both, Madames,” thanked Fly Wheel, putting the bits in his bag. “It was honour and privilege serving you.” He then headed off.

“You know,” thought Rarity aloud, “I’m quite famished. I know, let’s fetch a pastry at Sugarcube Corner, shall we?”

Tech noticed Rarity’s tone; she was planning something. The mare decided to go with it and agreed, saying to her friend, “sure, why not.”

As the mares and dragon walked through town, they noticed that the streets were rather un-crowded, which is unusual for Ponyville at that time of day. The trio arrived at Sugarcube Corner, a confectionery resembling a gingerbread house: a fact which Tech found rather odd. “Curious,” thought she, “no wonder Pinkie Pie works here.”

As Rarity opened the door to the confectionery, it was completely dark. “Don’t be shy. Do come inside.”

When Tech and Blades entered the shop, the door shut behind them and the lights came on, revealing a good portion of Ponyville’s residents, all shouting “SURPRISE!” A banner then dropped that read, “Welcome to Ponyville Tech Specs and Blades.”

Suddenly, a bubbly pink Earth Mare bounced from the crowd and stood directly in front of Tech, who was bewildered as to what was happening. “Hi, Tech!” greeted she. “So, what do you think? Do you love it?!”

Tech shook her head to come out of the daze she was in. “What?” questioned she, “Pinkie Pie, what is all this?”

“It’s your ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ Party, Silly Filly,” replied the pink mare, “for you and Blades." She then elaborated, “see, when you showed up the first time, I didn’t have enough time to throw you a welcome party. So, here it is. And since this is Blades’ first time here, I threw it for him, too. Pretty smart, huh?”

“I.. guess,” responded a confused Tech. “But why? I’ve not done anything for you lot.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Pinkie Pie sounded almost offended as she spoke. “You took me, Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Spike to one of the greatest shows ever: Rock in Filly!”

“I suppose,” reasoned Tech, “but I didn’t take everypony in town; I couldn’t have even if I’d have wanted to.”

The pink mare then tried to look serious and said, “oh, you think too much. Let’s just party!” Everypony then began to dance and do other party things.

Meanwhile, Tech and Blades sat at a table away from the partying, sipping punch. “What are you doing?” Pinkie Pie sounded disappointed, and continued, “it’s YOUR party; you should be partying.” Tech insisted that they were “partying,” but Pinkie wasn’t convinced. “No,” disagreed the pink mare, “everypony over there is partying; you’re sitting in a corner being boring.”

“When I lived with Uhrwerk,” explained the blue mare, “we would go to parties, and this is what we, and everypony else, did.” She then repeated, “I am ‘partying.’”

Instead of a direct reply, Pinkie Pie sat down with the mare and dragon. “You know,” said she, “you bring up U-u-uwhatever, a lot, but you never really spend a lot of time talking about him. Why is that?”

At about that time, the party died down, and most everypony left. Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike then joined Pinkie Pie and Tech at the table. “Hey, Girls,” greeted Twilight, “What’s up?”

“You’re just in time,” beamed the pink mare, “Tech was just about to tell another story.” Once everypony was comfortable, Pinkie looked back to the blue unicorn. “You were saying, Tech?”

“Right,” began Tech Specs, “Where did I let off last time? Right, being kicked out of Canterlot.”

Part 13: Back In Time 2.2

“I see,” said Twilight Sparkle to Tech Specs as she thought about the blue unicorn’s words. “So, you’ve known Bass Beat longer than you have Uhrwerk?”

“Aye,” confirmed Tech, “I learned a good lot from both of them, and love them with all of my heart.”

Everypony nodded respectfully at Tech, and then Applejack asked, “what did you learn from Uhrwerk, anyway?”

The blue mare looked to a clock on another table in the train car, and remarked, “well, we’re scheduled to arrive in a little over an hour, plenty of time for another story.” She then looked to everypony around her, each and every one smiling brightly, in anticipation for her to continue. “Right, then,” began she, “Uhrwerk’s entrance exam was simple: build a clock.”

*************************************************************************************************

Emerald Comet sat at a small, rectangular table, with Uhrwerk on the other side, and two other Earth Stallions surrounding him. Each held a clipboard and quill, with ink cans at the ready. Bass Beat was also in the room, standing casually on the other side of the room, holding Blades and watching her friend.

The stallion to Uhrwerk’s left then reached under the table and produced a small wooden box, and another small cardboard box. The wooden box had a circular clockface on one side, and a sliding panel on the other side, revealing an almost empty interior. Inside the cardboard box were various brass gears, cogs, springs, and clock hands, as well as small screws, a screwdriver, and a key for the clock.

The stallion right of Uhrwerk gave Emerald a small stack of papers. “What’s this?” asked she to the stallion.

“Schematics for the clock, Miss Comet,” replied the stallion without missing a beat.

“And finally,” began Uhrwerk. He produced a shiny gold fobwatch which resembled the old stallion’s Cutie Mark from his vest pocket, unclipped the chain, and slid it across the table to Emerald’s side. She looked at him, and he informed, “you may open this watch up and reference its mechanics for your clock, Miss Comet.” He then wrote something on his clipboard and announced, “you may begin.”

Immediately, Emerald set the screwdriver aside and emptied the rest of the contents of the cardboard box onto the table. She then began sorting the parts into stacks and piles: gears and pins of similar size, hands, and screws, among other things. She then opened to the fist page of the schematics, which detailed the first layer of the clock, the spring mechanism. She carefully examined every piece before putting it into place around the keyhole, slowly forming a spring-powered gear. At this, the filly attached the mechanism to the back panel of the clock with screws, removed the clockface, and got to work building the clock’s machinery from the inside. Before she put in another gear, she looked to the three stallions and asked not one in particular, “umm, would it be alright if I asked for a piece of parchment and quill to take notes?”

The brown stallion in the centre looked to his colleagues, who each nodded, and then looked to Emerald and said, “I don’t see why not.” He then tore a piece of paper from his clipboard and gave it to the filly, along with his quill and ink.

“Thank you, Sir,” said she gratefully. She then scrawled a few words describing each set of pieces she had, with tick marks under each name signifying how many of each part she’d used. With each component she added, she made a mark under its corresponding part name. she tried to remember the clockmaker in Canterlot, and tried to emulate how he meticulously placed each and every piece into the watch casing like a complex puzzle. After about 50 minutes, she finally finished installing all the gears, and immediately began work on the clockface, carefully securing it in place with screws. She then attached three hands onto the face, all set at the “XII“ mark. Once the hands were secured onto the face with a screw and cap, she lifted the clock on its side, revealing her completed device to the three stallions.

“Very good, Miss Comet,” complimented one of the stallions, looking at every visible component of the clock. “Now, wind it up and let’s see it go.”

“With pleasure,” replied a confident Emerald as she inserted the key into the hole and began winding. With three to four turns, she let it go. It ticked away about three seconds before everypony heard a faint pinging sound inside of the clock. When the sound subsided, the clock’s hands stopped dead. Emerald tried to wind it again, but it did nothing. The filly’s expression darkened as she lowered her head in failure. Bass followed her example, lowering her head in disappointment for her blue friend. “I failed, didn’t I?” asked Emerald, although she was sure of the answer.

“Even a broken clock is correct twice a day, Young Filly,” said Uhrwerk nonchalantly, much to everypony’s surprise. The old stallion trotted slowly around the table to Emerald’s side, and then explained, “yes, you failed, but not really. You took inventory on your parts, examined each piece carefully, and then placed them ever so gently into the body of the clock. All of these traits are usually associated with veteran watchmakers: ponies who had been doing these things for many years. I would know. And that is why you pass.”

Emerald Comet couldn’t contain her excitement, embracing the stallion in a tight hug. “Oh, thank you thank you thank you!” said she giddily, laughing in joy.

Bass Beat approached Emerald as well, saying to her friend, “congrats, Emerald.”

Uhrwerk’s two colleagues soon began clapping their forehooves slowly to congratulate the young filly as well. When celebrations were over, the two stallions departed, leaving Uhrwerk, his new student, and Bass Beat in the room.

On the table, Bass began flipping through the pages of the schematics for the clock, remarking, “you know, you had your eyes glued to these tech specs half the time, Emerald.”

Emerald laughed and replied, “yeah, I kind of did.” She then put a hoof to her chin and thought to herself for a moment, and then said, more to herself than anypony else, “that’s got a nice ring to it, ‘tech specs.’”

“What,” mocked Bass, “should we just call you ‘Tech Specs’ from now on?”

“So,” said Uhrwerk, standing next to the table with a paper of some kind under his hoof, and a quill ready to write. “What should I write as the name of my new student?”

Emerald thought once again, and then told the stallion, “I do rather like ‘Tech Specs’ as opposed to ‘Emerald Comet.’”

“Right, then,” said Uhrwerk, shrugging before he wrote upon the paper. He was intending that as a joke, but he had to agree with the filly; he liked the name “Tech Specs” better than “Emerald Comet.” He then put the quill down and offered his hoof to the blue unicorn, joyously saying to her, “wunderbar! Welcome to my school, Tech Specs.”

*************************************************************************************************

Pinkie Pie couldn’t stop herself from bursting into laughter at what Tech Specs had said. Between laughs, she managed to utter, “you.. you’re telling.. us that.. your.. name.. was.. a joke?”

Tech nodded, saying to everypony, “that’s right. Uhrwerk turned that form into City Hall, and the Fillydelphia Government recognised me as Tech Specs. The name, 'Emerald Comet’ just faded away over time. I don’t complain; I rather like the name, if I’m honest.”

“I see,” added Rarity to the conversation, “how did your enrollment in Uhrwerk’s school go, Tech, Darling?”

“Oi, it went great,” replied the blue unicorn to the white, remembering the time fondly. “He started only teaching me things about clockmaking. But, he eventually began teaching me other things: cooking, cleaning, metalworking, the works. Also, he really loved inventing.”

*************************************************************************************************

Emerald Comet, whose name was by that point officially Tech Specs, had been learning under Uhrwerk for a year. She had fixed the clock she originally built, and even carved some elegant designs into the wooden housing. Tech loved learning whatever Uhrwerk had to teach her. Eventually, though, her term had expired. Tech, not wanting to let such a fun time come to an end, had begged Uhrwerk to continue to teach her. He had initially resisted, on the grounds that other ponies wanted to be his student, as well. Eventually, though, with the help of Bass Beat, who was still working as a maid at the place, the pair had come to a compromise: Uhrwerk would take other students as they came, and Tech would work with Bass as a maid, and he would unofficially teach Tech everything he knew, such as how to properly do housework, proper dress, and, eventually, inventing.

Two months after the agreement, Uhrwerk and Tech were working on a natural gas-powered cookstove. They had taken a steel burner from an old, wood-powered stove, and basically attached a shortened Bunsen Burner to the underside of it, with a set of steel legs to keep the device upright. The burner was connected via hose to a small tank of natural gas.

“Here, put these on, Tech,” ordered Uhrwerk, holding a pair of protective goggles in his hoof. Tech took them and tried to put them on, but they were too large. “I can fix that,” said the stallion as he tightened the strap to fit the filly’s small head. Once they were secure, he donned his own goggles, smiled, and asked the filly, “are you ready?”

“Am I ready?” scoffed Tech sarcastically. “Shall I light the burner, then?” Uhrwerk nodded, and Tech struck a match, holding it to the burner. Uhrwerk opened the valve on the fuel canister, and it released a small hiss, and then engulfed the match in flame. Tech tossed the burnt out match in a trash bin, and adjusted the tube of the burner ever so slightly. The top of the invention began to heat up rapidly.

“It works,” announced the old stallion, knocking his hoof gently on the table. “Shall we test its cooking ability?” When Tech nodded enthusiastically and confirmed, Uhrwerk trotted to another table to fetch a cooking pot.

Suddenly, the hiss of the fuel tank returned. Uhrwerk turned his head to look when he was caught off guard by a loud explosion. He managed to duck just in time to avoid the fireball that came his way and dissipated on the brick wall behind him. “Mein Wort!” exclaimed he as he, as if by instinct, darted his view to the table which contained but a charred black husk of a cookstove.

On the floor beside the table lay Tech. Her fur was charred slightly, and her pink mane was all but destroyed by the flame, with only a few centimetres worth of hair, the tips of it singed almost completely black. Her tail was similar: burned off until it was extremely short, but it was still on fire, though. Uhrwerk quickly snuffed the fire with his hoof, which awoke Tech. She shouted in pain, but stopped when the stallion let his hoof off of her tail.

“Are you alright?” was all Uhrwerk asked the unicorn filly.

Dazed, Tech managed to get herself onto her hooves and groggily reply, “yeah, I’ll be fine.”

Uhrwerk, with an extremely worried look on his aged face, asked Tech, “what happened? I didn’t see.”

Tech shook her head quickly to clear some of the soot from her face and goggles. She then looked under the table where the tank lay. The fuel tank was gone, save a few shreds of smoldering metal where the tank was. She then stood up in front of her teacher and informed, “with reference to the stove itself, not much went wrong. The problem lay with the tank of fuel. The tank’s all but gone, but I have an idea as to what went wrong: it could be that a valve failed and sent a flame down the hose to the tank, igniting the gas.”

The stallion just stood where he was, astonished at his unofficial student’s explanation. He then looked to the cookstove, disassembling the valve in question. He gave it the same astonished look as he said, “you were correct, Tech.” He directed his attention to Tech and confirmed, “it was a faulty gas valve.”

“Awesome!” exclaimed the filly, thrilled that her diagnosis was accurate. She then felt a strange tingling stinging sensation all over her body. “I guess I should go wash this soot off; see how badly I’m burnt, eh?”

“That would likely be best,” answered Uhrwerk, “I shall stay here and clean up this mess.” Tech smiled and hugged the stallion as she trotted out of the room. He then sighed and began gathering up the mangled scraps of metal and sweeping up the soot.

Tech had trotted down the hallway to another door, leading up to the ground floor. There, she traversed a few modestly decorated hallways to a washroom. Inside, she found Bass Beat, standing on a chair to reach a mirror she was cleaning. “Hey, Bass,” greeted Tech.

“Hey, Te.." Bass almost fell off of the chair on which she was standing when she looked at her charred, soot-covered friend. “Oh my gosh!” exclaimed she, “are you okay?”

“I’m be fine,” replied Tech. “I got a haircut, though.” she ran her hoof through her singed mane and the pair shared a laugh. “Anyway,” began she again, “I’ve got to wash this soot off.”

Bass nodded. “I’ll go grab a couple towels from the linen closet for you,” said she, trotting across the hallway. After a few seconds, she re-entered the room, carrying a pair of towels on her back. She set them on the counter where the sink lay, and said, “there you go. I’ll not bother you, then.”

“What are you talking about, Bass?” asked Tech, giving the yellow pegasus a look of confusion. “What are you, a bloody maid?”

“Well,” reasoned Bass, “I am getting paid to clean a house, so yeah.” She then laughed with Tech. “Oh, well,” continued she, “I guess I’ve just gotten used to doing this.”

As Tech bathed, Bass Beat stood in the washroom with her, carrying on a rather idle conversation, mainly involving music, as well as joking about Bass being a maid. After a few minutes, Tech scrubbed her flank with a loofah, and gasped at what she saw. “What is it?” asked Bass, looking at Tech as she stood up, revealing on her cyan flank a trio of interlocked gears.

The pair let out loud screams of joy at the sight; tech Specs had finally gained her Cutie Mark. Tech quickly rinsed and dried of, then emptied the bathtub, and the fillies ran at full gallop down to Uhrwerk’s workshop.

When the fillies burst through the steel door to Uhrwerk’s workshop, the old stallion snapped to a military-looking stance, his front and rear legs in perfect alignment and his head staring straight forward. He blinked, and then relaxed, looking at the duo of fillies. “Oh, hello, Fillies,” greeted he, bowing his head respectfully to them. “What is the hurry?”

“Uhrwerk!” squealed Tech Specs, unable to contain herself. She turned to show her mentor her flank and said happily, “look what I got, Uhrwerk!”

Uhrwerk smiled, great pride for the filly showing in his expression. “Great job, Tech Specs,” said he, “It seems I have taught you well.” He then began out the door, saying to the fillies, “if you will, come with me, please.” The fillies nodded and followed.

*************************************************************************************************

“Wow!” beamed Rainbow Dash, who would have done a flip in the air were she not in a compact train car. “What a way to earn a Cutie Mark!” she continued, “with a large explosion!”

“Aye,” agreed Tech, laughing a bit at the memory. She then looked to the white unicorn at the table. “And now you see why I didn’t have much choice in my mane style,” said she, running a hoof through her short mane.

“I’m so terribly sorry, My Dear!” replied Rarity, “but, I suppose if you enjoy it...”

“I think it looks really cool,” chimed in Pinkie Pie, “it reminds me of, umm, I don’t know what it reminds me of; but it’s cool!”

Twilight Sparkle looked at Tech and got back on topic, saying, “so, you said Uhrwerk had something to show you?” Tech nodded. “So what was it?”

*************************************************************************************************

The stallion led Bass and Tech up to the second floor of the house, down a small hallway, and through a door into a study. Three walls of the large room were covered by bookshelves, save a door on the wall to the right. The books were in all varieties of sizes, colours, and ages; the collection rivaled small libraries. In the centre of the room stood a large desk and elegantly upholstered chair. The table contained various odds and ends, such as notepads, quills, empty ink canisters, and a few books. Uhrwerk trotted up to the desk and opened a drawer, producing a set of a few keys from it. He stored the keys in his vest pocket and left the room, motioning for the fillies to follow, which they did. His next destination was the front door, and as he walked that way, he took an overcoat from a coat rack beside the door, donned it, and opened the door, motioning for the fillies to exit as he did so.

“Umm,” began Tech to get Uhrwerk’s attention. When he looked, she continued, “should I fetch Blades? If we’ll be gone a while, I think I should take him.”

“That would be best,” replied the brown stallion, holding the door open for Tech to rush in. After a minute, she returned, carrying the baby dragon on her back. Blades was a bit larger than he was a year before, and his claws had grown proportionally. He also had learned basic speech, but rarely spoke beyond unintelligible rambling.

With the group together, Uhrwerk turned face and locked the door with one key from his vest pocket, and said to Bass and Tech, “I have something to show you on the other side of the city, Tech. I take it you are coming with us, Miss Beat?”

“Thanks, but it’s just ‘Bass,’” corrected the yellow filly humbly, “but yeah, I think I’d like to tag along.”

“Very well, then,” replied Uhrwerk, letting out a small sigh. “We should be off, then,” said he as he trotted out to the main gate, the fillies following suit.

The trip to wherever they were going was rather silent, save Uhrwerk’s occasional polite greeting to passers by. Eventually, after a bit less then an hour of walking at a leisurely pace, the trio arrived at their destination. It was in Downtown Fillydelphia, on a block with very few buildings. there was an apartment building, a Laundromat, and a general store, as well as a small two-story shop near the end of the block. The storefront was plain, with only a glass front, with a watch resembling Uhrwerk’s Cutie Mark on the window. the old stallion approached the doors to the shop, produced a key from his pocket, and unlocked the door.

The inside of the shop was just as plain, with only a few shelves on either wall of the small front room. On the other side of the room stood a wooden desk, and behind it a steel door.

Tech and Bass looked about the room in awe, especially the contents of the shelves. Clocks and watches of all shapes and sizes: some clearly expensive, and some cheap, some big, and some small, adorned the shelves. Each specimen had a tag tied to it, bearing a few words and a price. The next stop on the showing of the building was behind the steel door. A colossal workshop with steel tables and old metalworking tools, and another door on the far wall. The fillies and dragon marveled at the size of the space, but were rushed along by Uhrwerk, stepping through the door.

Through the door was a small staircase leading to the second floor. On the second floor were a few doors, the contents of which were shown by Uhrwerk to the fillies: there were two bedrooms, a washroom, a kitchen, and a small study, each room modestly decorated and furnished. “What is all this?” asked Tech, half-knowing what the answer will be.

“It is my shop,” replied Uhrwerk simply, “as well as my home away from home.” He then rest his cyan eyes on the blue filly, and as pride filled them to the brim, he announced, “and it will be yours when I’m gone, Miss Tech Specs.”

Tech Specs was completely taken aback by Uhrwerk’s answer. “What?” asked she, then adding, “what do you mean?”

Uhrwerk didn’t hesitate to answer. “Because I am old,” said he, “and a dead stallion can’t run a shop very well, can he?”

“I understand,” replied Tech, her emerald eyes welling with tears. “I won’t disappoint you when the time comes.”

The brown stallion leaked a smile, and said to his student, “I know, Tech. That is why I chose you. I knew from Day One that you were determined, more than anything else, to be the best mechanist Equestria’s ever seen. And, you have the skills to make it happen.”

Tech Specs couldn’t control herself anymore. She jumped and embraced the brown stallion in a loving hug. She giggled and said to him, “I love you, Uhrwerk.”

Uhrwerk returned the gesture of affection, and said to her, “lieb dich auch, wie eine Tochter.”

“Hmm,” said Bass Beat to herself, “tender moments aren’t really my thing, but whatever.” She then shrugged and joined in on the hug as well, bringing Blades with her.

Tech felt Bass’ hug, and said to her, “I love you, Bass. Like a sister.”

“Same to you, Tech,” replied Bass.

“And you, too, Blades,” added Tech. The dragon just smiled and hugged the ponies tighter, almost stabbing Bass Beat with his claws.

Part 14

The whistle from the Engineer’s Car sounded loudly, alerting everypony in the near vicinity that the train had arrived. “Well,” remarked Twilight Sparkle, “that was certainly an entertaining and informative four-hour train ride.”

“Four hours?” questioned Tech Specs, glancing at the large clock outside on the platform, which revealed eight and a quarter hours past Midday. “Hmm,” said she, “it has been four hours. Felt like a lot less time than that, if I’m honest.”

Applejack grinned and said, “it’s prob’ly ‘cause you been talkin’ more than Twilight on a rainy day.” With that remark, everypony burst into laughter, even Twilight managing a nervous giggle.

“Oh, lighten up, Twilight,” beamed Pinkie Pie, “we’ve all got to laugh at ourselves once in a while!”

Twilight nodded slightly and agreed, “yeah. You’re right, Pinkie.” She then happily joined in on the group’s laughter.

As the seven mares and two dragons exited the train, they happily trotted through the train station, waving kindly to everypony they passed. Outside of the station, the lush city of Canterlot shone brightly despite the late hour; the city’s buildings reflected every ounce of light that touched them, illuminating the city well.

“Beautiful,” remarked the purple unicorn, “isn’t it?” Everypony nodded and agreed, save Tech Specs, who silently stared at the bright city. “Umm, are you alright, Tech?”

This snapped Tech out of her trance. “Huh?” said she, shaking her head. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Just thinking.”

“‘Bout what, Sug?” asked Applejack.

“Too many things to name, Mate,” replied Tech nonchalantly. “Shall we be going, then?”

“Oh, right,” said Twilight, knocking her forehead with her hoof. “It slipped my mind; we’re going to see the Princess.” Her expression brightened as she mentioned her mentor.

At the mention of the princess, the blue unicorn became lost in thought again. After a few seconds, she came back to reality, took a deep breath, and exhaled, saying, “right, then.”

Rarity looked to Tech, noticing her expression change slightly. Reacting to it, she said, “if you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to, Tech.”

“No,” retorted Tech flatly, “I DO have to do this; I told myself I would, and I’m no liar.” Rarity nodded, and the mares set off for Canterlot Castle. They didn’t see many ponies on the street, save some locking up their stores or ready to enjoy the nightlife that the capital city had to offer.

With only about twenty minutes of casual strolling, the group finally came to the main gates to Canterlot Castle. Much like the city, the castle walls glowed in the night just as they do during the day. At the gate, the group was met by a duo of Royal Unicorn Guards, each one in gleaming, golden armour, which contrasted greatly with their dark brown coats. “Miss Twilight Sparkle,” said one of the guards, “are you and your friends here on business or for personal reasons?”

“Business, Sir,” answered the purple mare confidently, “we need to speak with the Princesses about the Grand Galloping Gala.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” said the guard as though he were sounding off. He and his comrade then focused their attention to the massive stone gate as it began to glow with the same gold colour as their horns. As they focused, the gates slid open ever so slowly. Both guards maintained their professional composure as they moved the massive blocks of stone. When they were open enough for two ponies to fit through, the glow ceased. “You may enter now,” informed one of the guards.

“Thank you, Sirs,” said Twilight kindly to the armoured stallions, who merely nodded with respect.

As the group entered the castle grounds, its regality and importance became apparent quickly, with Royal Guards doing routine Physical Training and patrolling the grounds. Past a unit of Royal Unicorns doing Drill was the unmistakable entrance to the main palace, their destination.

They passed the drilling guards without so much as a glance from them; the stallions were the finest trained soldiers Equestria had to offer, and weren’t going to be distracted by a few mares, most of whom they were told to pay little mind to, for they visited quite often.

Past the guards, the group ascended the massive set of white stone steps to the palace doors. Twilight Sparkle opened them, engulfing them in her purple magic and unlocking them effortlessly.

The interior of the palace was just as elegant and gorgeous as the rest of the city and then some. Expertly painted portraits of previous rulers of Equestria, as well as the current, Princesses Celestia and Luna, adorned the seemingly mile-long corridor. At the very end of the corridor was a three-way fork, the one dead ahead leading to the throne room. The seven mares looked to one another, as if to exchange thoughts silently. Finally, somepony spoke.

“Should the two of us do this alone, Tech?” asked Twilight. “I’m sorry, Girls. But, what could you do that we don’t already have taken care of?” The five mares nodded in agreement, prompting for the purple mare to look to the blue unicorn. “What do you say?”

“Should we take Spike and Blades?” asked Tech in response. Twilight agreed, and with their respective dragon companions on their backs, they headed toward the massive door, walking in perfect unison. Twilight opened the door as she did the main palace door, revealing the Princess of the Daylight herself, sitting in her throne, resting her head on her hoof.

Upon opening the door, the princess perked up to get a look at who was entering her quarters. Instantly, she recognised the faces of Twilight Sparkle and Spike, and, with that known, she looked to the other unicorn-dragon pair, and she recognised them just as quickly.

“I have nothing to say to you, Emerald comet,” said the Princess flatly as the two mares walked into the room. Twilight’s eyes went wide at what she had just heard. She then looked to her blue friend, who was standing as confidently as ever.

“I thought you may have gotten the memo,” said Tech Specs, “but my name is Tech Specs. I’ve not gone by ’Emerald Comet’ in years.”

The Princess seemed to ignore the unicorn’s statement. Her expression blank, she said, “when I said, ‘leave Canterlot and never return,’ I meant, ‘and never return.’”

“Your Highness,” began Twilight humbly, “I think that you’re overreacting a bit to Tech.”

“Pardon me, Twilight,” excused the Princess, “but, given the circumstances of this mare’s blatant disregard of a direct order from myself, I’d say this is a perfectly reasonable reaction.”

“But Princess,” pleaded the purple mare, “Tech is my friend, and you said yourself that all my friends are welcome here.”

The Princess’ expression changed very little as she retorted, “Emerald Comet is an arrogant, ungrateful traitor.”

Princess Celestia’s words seemed to trigger something in Twilight Sparkle’s brain, for she stood as tall as she could and boldly told her mentor, “I’m sorry, Princess, but Tech has been nothing but civil, grateful, and humble since the moment I met her. She is nothing like you describe her to be. Granted, she did drop out of your school, but look what she’s done with herself since then: she’s an accomplished mechanist with several pending patents for her inventions. This may be a stretch, but I think that Tech’s got it made because of her dropping out, and her determination to do what she sets her mind on.” She was about to speak again when she was interrupted by her blue friend.

“Calm down, Twilight,” said Tech, holding her head low. “I thank you for your efforts, but if Princess Celestia wants me gone, then I’ll be gone.” She then slowly turned towards the throne room door and trotted that way.

Twilight could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she heard the throne room door come to a close. “You see? Civil, grateful, and humble,” repeated she to the Princess, who looked to be gritting her teeth from repressed anger. The purple mare then turned face and left the throne room as well.

In the grand hallway, Tech was confronted by Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and the rest of Twilight’s friends. ”Oh my goodness,” said Fluttershy upon seeing Tech, “what happened?”

“All you need to know,” answered Tech, almost in tears, “is that I’m leaving.”

“Leaving?” inquired Rarity. “But wherever will you go, Darling?”

Tech shook her head and replied, “I don’t know; just somewhere that’s not here.”

“But, but,” stammered Rainbow Dash, on the brink of tears as well, “you can’t just go.”

Blades, a look on his face as heavy as on that of Tech, looked to the blue pegasus and said to her, “you didn’t see the Princess; so much anger boiling under a blank face. It’s unnerving.”

Tech began to pick up speed as she trotted faster and faster through the corridor, down to the exit. Rainbow Dash was prepared to fly after her, but was stopped by a purple hoof in front of her. “No, Rainbow,” said Twilight, the owner of said hoof, “don’t go after her yet. let’s just follow her and see where she goes.”

Rainbow had to hold herself back from chasing after the blue unicorn, but her friend’s words kept her where she was. “Fine,” complied she. “Let’s follow her, then.” Everypony nodded, and the mares trotted out of the palace.

The six mares hid themselves from sight whenever Tech would look around in between galloping through the city to the main walls. When they arrived at the gate, the same unicorn guards opened the gate for her, allowing her to leave. They didn’t notice Tech’s pursuers, and thus closed the gate.

“Great!” barked Rainbow Dash, slamming her hoof into the ground. “Now she’s sure to notice us if we go on!”

Applejack cleared her throat to get the pegasus’ attention, which it did. She motioned to her back, and Rainbow Dash looked to hers. “Oh, right,” said the pegasus, embarrassed, “I forgot I can fly over.”

“And the two of us can teleport,” added Rarity, pointing to Twilight Sparkle.

By that point, rain had begun to pour heavily, complimented by copious amounts of lightning and thunder. Tech ran into Whitetail Wood, remembering the cave she had found so many years ago. She dug away a few old branches and found said cave, but it was too small for the unicorn to enter. Instead, she slid blades into the dry cave and lay in front of it, letting the heat from her body keep the cave warm for her dragon. “Are you sure you’ll be alright out there, Tech?” asked Blades, extremely concerned for his friend.

“I’ll be fine,” replied Tech, shivering from the cold rain. She then lay her head on her forelegs and tried to fall asleep, tears streaming down her face, when she heard something.

“Tech!” called Rainbow Dash’s voice from the sky. “Tech! Where are you?!” The blue pegasus was scanning the ground below her for Tech, and barely noticed the lightning bolting mere metres away from her. Eventually, though, she saw a group of Weather Patrol Ponies frantically fleeing and avoiding lightning strikes. She was rather distracted by the fleeing pegasi, and failed to notice the massive bolt of lightning forming just above her; that is, until it was too late. The bolt exploded with a mighty crash, connecting at the very tips of the blue pegasus’ wings, but running down to their very bases. Rainbow screamed in agony, and began to fall. She tried to flap her wings and regain flight, but to no avail. Terrified, she looked to her back, only to see two charred, shriveled husks of what were her wings, beating desperately to catch air. Rainbow let out another scream as she fell through the canopy of a tree, which softened her landing, barely enough for her to survive.

Tech Specs heard the screams and crashing sound, and instantly scooped up her baby dragon and ran at full gallop toward the location from which the sounds came, and what she saw horrified her. She saw Rainbow Dash, laying in a pile of leaves and branches, with her wings all but destroyed, moaning and groaning from pain.

At that moment, Tech’s expression changed from one of worry to one of dead seriousness, and she rushed into action. “Blades!” said she to the dragon on her back, “I need you to help me get Rainbow Dash onto my back, if you will.” The dragon nodded, and the pair lifted the injured pegasus, gently placing her on the unicorn’s back.

“Tech?! Rainbow?!” called another familiar voice as Rarity and Twilight Sparkle came into view through the rain. The mares approached Tech, saying to her, “are you and rainbow okay?!”

“She’ll be fine,” replied the blue unicorn, “but only if we get her to my shop as quickly as possible.”

“Wait,” said Twilight, “we should take her back to Canterlot; a doctor could treat her.”

“And save her wings?!” barked Tech in a very commanding tone. “I’ve yet to see a doctor who could mend such severe burns and damage, and I will NOT see this happen to anypony I care about again!” She then focused her emerald eyes on those of Twilight and said sternly, “I know how to save Rainbow Dash; so, you can either help me, or stay out of my way!”

Twilight gave a heavy sigh of sorrow as she answered. “Alright,” said she, “we’ll help you. What do you need us to do?”

Without missing a beat, Tech ordered Twilight, “you should carry Blades; we’ll be faster that way.” The purple mare simply nodded and picked Blades up and set him on her back. “Now let’s go!” At that, the three mares took off towards Fillydelphia.

After about half an hour of continuous running, the trio arrived in the city of Fillydelphia. Wasting no time, they wove through street and street until they came to Tech Specs’ shop, which Tech promptly opened with a key tossed to her by Blades. She ran to her desk and, from the bottom drawer, produced a rather old, leather-bound tome, and carried it in her teeth through the steel door into her workshop. The workshop was completely empty of projects, leaving all four tables ready should they be needed, which they were.

Tech gently transferred Rainbow Dash from her back to an empty steel table. The pegasus was still conscious, and twitching from sheer agony. She set the tome on another table and looked to the other two unicorns. “Twilight,” began she as a commander would as he gave out orders to his officers, “I need you to cast some kind of spell to numb Rainbow. And Rarity, I need you to keep Rainbow calm: talk to her, hold her, do whatever you need to do. Just keep her calm.” With the orders given, the two unicorns obeyed.

“What are you going to do?” asked Twilight as she cast a spell of sensory dampening on her blue friend.”

Tech only looked to the purple unicorn and smiled, answering, “I’m going to fix Rainbow’s wings.”

“Doing what?”

”You‘ll find out,” replied the blue mare with urgency. “Just focus on keeping her body numb!” Twilight nodded and went back to work, leaving Tech to do hers. “Blades.” The dragon snapped to attention at the mention of his name. “I’ll need your claws.”

The pair sat at the bench of the table on which Rainbow Dash lay, and immediately got to work. Tech held one of Rainbow Dash’s mangled wings and pulled it tight, motioning for Blades to do something, which he did. Using his claws as both a scalpel and bone saw, he sliced through the wing, as close to the mare’s back as possible. There was very minimal blood, as the lightning strike had cauterised all blood vessels going to her wings.

Rarity and Twilight cringed, to which Tech said, “I know; just keep going!” The unicorns obeyed silently. Tech and Blades repeated the process with Rainbow’s other wing, and set the two sets of severed bone and burnt skin aside. Next, Tech grabbed a few hoofs full of steel and aluminum, and approached another table, setting the materials on it.

“Tech?!” shouted Twilight, confused, “what are you doing?!”

“Just keep the spell going, Twilight,” requested more than ordered Tech. She then continued working with the metal. After two agonising minutes, she had forged a pair of metal wings, which looked more like natural wings than Tech’s previous wing experiments: the steel made hollow supports to act as bones, and the aluminum took the place of feathers. Tech tossed the wings to Blades, who caught them with great dexterity. “Hold these on Rainbow’s back, right where her wings went.” The dragon nodded and did so. Tech then flipped open the leather-bound tome she had carried in, read a bit, and then said something under her breath as she stared at Rainbow Dash’s back.

“What are you doing?!” demanded Twilight again, “TELL ME NOW!!!”

Without looking away from the pegasus, she replied, “I’m going to cast a spell.”

Both unicorns and Blades looked to Tech in shock, taken aback by what they had just heard. The blue unicorn’s horn then started to faintly glow Emerald Green, slowly growing larger with time. After a few seconds, the green glow shot from her horn to Rainbow’s back. At that, the wings seemed to fuse themselves with the stumps of bone that connected to the pegasus’ wings.

Tech started breathing heavily, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth from pain. She then looked to the purple mare, who was straining to keep her magic flowing. “Twilight,” said she through clenched teeth, “you can release the numbing spell now.”

Twilight obeyed, and Rainbow Dash came to with a scream of pain. “Shh, shh!” beckoned Rarity, holding Rainbow’s head in her hooves to comfort her, “calm down; it’ll be alright.”

Tech managed to hold back the pain in her skull long enough to give another command. “Get Rainbow to her hooves,” said she. The two unicorns did so. Rainbow stumbled for a bit, but righted herself enough to stay upright.

Immediately, Tech began to talk to the blue pegasus. “Rainbow,” said she in a commanding voice, though it was lighter than before. “I need you to do something for me; I need you to try to spread your wings.”

“How?!” barked the pegasus, tears flowing down her face as she thought about the fact. “I don’t exactly HAVE wings to spread!”

“I know!” retorted Tech, “but I need you to THINK that you do! I need you to picture yourself spreading your wings and taking flight. Think about that repeatedly while I cast another spell.”

“Tech! Be careful!” ordered Rarity.

“Yeah!” agreed Twilight Sparkle. “You’ve not used magic in years! Trying to use too much at one time won’t end well!”

Tech Specs looked to her friends, as if to say, “I know,” but she said nothing. Instead, she focused her energy on Rainbow’s back again. She said something else to herself, and her horn glowed again, this time much brighter than before. At the same time, the green energy engulfed Rainbow Dash’s wings. Rainbow’s eyes were shut tightly as she tried to picture herself taking flight. Suddenly, all throughout the workshop, a loud, stomach-churning shattering noise could be heard, followed by Tech’s voice screaming in agony.

Everypony looked in that direction to see Tech Specs stumble back into a wall. She hit the wall, and slid down to the floor. Upon closer inspection, the ponies noticed that Tech’s horn was broken almost to the base, shards of the ultra-hard bone scattered about the workshop floor, accompanied by small spatters of blood. “OH MY GOODNESS!” exclaimed Rarity as she and Twilight sprinted to the unicorn’s side. “Somepony get a doctor!”

“On it!” shouted Blades as he sprinted out the workshop door and the shop.

“Tech?! Tech?!” pleaded Twilight as she held the blue unicorn’s head, a couple small trails of blood running from the remnant of her horn down her goggles. “Tech?! Speak to me!”

But, Tech said nothing still. Again, she focused on Rainbow Dash, and once again, her horn,or what was left of it by that point, began to glow. Rainbow Dash was still trying to picture herself flying, when, suddenly, she did. Her metal wings spread and flapped once, getting her airborne, and then began flapping consistently to keep her in the air. After a few seconds, though, she let herself down and joined Rarity and Twilight by Tech Specs’ side.

Tech groaned loudly from the pain, but slowly stopped, and began whispering to herself. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity listened, only hearing a few words: “Uhrwerk... it hurts so much... Uhrwerk... I did it... it worked... it worked...”

With her words said, Tech grew silent, the reflections in her eyes disappeared, and she exhaled one final time.

Part 15

Tech Specs lay on the ground to her workshop, and could feel everything around her: the cold cement floor under her, the breath of the mares around her, and the pain, such searing pain emanating from her skull. Past the small trails of blood on her goggles, everything she saw started to blur, and then she saw something approaching her. Slowly, the thing started to take form: it was a Pegasus Stallion with a dark grey coat, a dreadlocked mane of a blackish blue colour, and deep, dark violet eyes. Tech tried to struggle, but her body didn’t respond.

“Tech,” said the stallion’s calming, loving voice. “Tech, calm down. It’s me, Breakneck Shred.” Tech tried to blink and clear her vision, but once again, her body didn’t respond. “And, I brought a friend with me.” With the mention of “a friend,” another Pegasus Stallion began to take form. His coat was faded brown, and his mane was long, grey, and tied back with a gold band. But, the most prominent feature of this stallion was his eyes, aqua eyes that beamed nothing but love for the mare on the ground.

“Uhr.. Uhrwerk?” stuttered the blue unicorn, trying to confirm what she saw.

“Yes, Tech, it is I,” replied the stallion in a voice as calming as Shred’s.

“My head, it hurts so much,” said Tech. “Please make it stop.”

“We will,” informed Uhrwerk, “we will. But only if you let us.”

“Uhrwerk,” began Tech again, “look at Rainbow. It worked, Uhrwerk. I did it. It worked.”

“Focus, Tech,” ordered Shred, his voice still calming. He then offered his hoof to Tech, telling her, “all you have to do is take my hoof.”

“And mine, as well,” added Uhrwerk, following Shred’s example.

Tech tried one more time to move, and suddenly, all of the pain she felt disappeared. She saw her forehooves move towards the pair of stallions, who took her hooves in their own. They then pulled her up and let her hooves down. “Now, follow us, Tech,” said Shred as he and the brown stallion slowly walked away.

Tech followed, looking back, where what she saw confused her at first. She saw everything clearly: Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Rarity were all gathered around somepony. Then, it dawned on her; that pony around whom her friends were gathered was herself. “Goodbye, Girls," said the blue mare before she looked forward, lifted her goggles to clear away a few tears, and then followed the stallions away.

*************************************************************************************************

“Do not worry; we will take care of Tech,” an accented voice said from nowhere.

Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow all looked up and about, trying to identify the voice, to no avail, until Rarity spoke up. “That voice had a Germane accent,” said she calmly, “and there’s one pony we know of with such an accent.” The other two mares nodded in agreement.

About that time, everypony heard rapid hoofsteps as a dark green Earth Stallion burst through the shop and workshop doors, carrying white saddlebags and Blades on his back. He was also wearing a white jacket with a red cross on either side. “I came as quick as I could!” said he urgently. He looked at the three mares, and saw the sorrow in their expressions. He then looked to the ground and saw Tech Specs laying there, motionless. “.. And it seems as though I still wasn’t quick enough,” admitted he in defeat. “I shall go fetch the mortician, then.”

“There is no need,” said Twilight to the stallion, “I know what happened.” He looked to the purple mare questioningly, to which she replied, “she hadn’t used magic in over fifteen years. Just using any magic at all after so long results in headaches and pain; but, she cast a spell more powerful than I thought anypony could muster. These two things combined were too much for her horn to handle. I’ve yet to see a unicorn survive losing their horn.”

“I see,” said the doctor in return. “I shall fetch the undertaker, instead.” At that, he departed.

As the doctor left, Blades ran to his late friend’s side and held her, trying to wrap his head around what he’d just heard and was seeing.

“Blades?” asked Twilight to get the now crying dragon’s attention. She approached him slowly and gave him a hug, saying to him, “I need you to do something for me.”

Blades cleared his face of tears and replied, “alright, Twilight. What is it?”

“Do you know where your notebook and a quill is?” Blades nodded and walked into the front room. After a few seconds, he re-emerged holding his notebook and a strange-looking quill, with a metal tip. “May I see them?” Blades gave the unicorn the book and quill, and she tore a blank page out. Her horn started to glow purple, as did the quill. The quill lifted itself and began writing on the paper. When she was finished, she lay the quill down and rolled up the paper. “Blades,” said she to the orange dragon, “I need you to send this to Spike in Canterlot.”

“How?” asked Blades simply.

“I’ll show you,” replied Twilight. She put the rolled up letter into Blades’ hand and explained to him, “look at this letter. Now close your eyes, and imagine it moving through the air to Spike’s hands in Canterlot.” Once Blades was focused on his thoughts, Twilight told him, “now breathe on it.”

When he did so, a deep scarlet flame flew from his mouth and engulfed the letter. The ashes of the letter then flew away. “What?!” asked a bewildered Blades. “No! I didn’t mean to do that!”

“It’s alright, Blades,” assured the purple unicorn. “That’s what’s supposed to happen.”

“So, what do we do now?” asked Rarity, looking about at everypony in the room, “about Tech, that is.”

“Now, we wait for the undertaker,” replied Twilight.

Within a few seconds of Twilight’s words, another set of hoofsteps approached the workshop and came inside. The hooves belonged to a faded blue Unicorn Stallion with a shaven mane, a short white tail, and old, faded gold eyes. He was wearing a white coat like the doctor’s and was carrying a stretcher. “If you mares could assist me, please,” said he calmly.

The trio and Blades nodded, and the undertaker lay the stretcher down beside Tech. Carefully, they moved her onto the stretcher, and the undertaker and Blades lifted her up to carry her outside to the undertaker’s carriage that waited outside. The carriage resembled a large, black stagecoach, with a window in the back covered by a curtain, and a silver Baroque-style scroll decorating either side.

After they loaded Tech Specs into the carriage, Blades felt a rumbling sensation in his stomach. Then, he belched, revealing a rolled up piece of parchment that emerged from his throat. “What is that?” asked he, confused as to what happened.

“It’s Spike’s reply,” answered Twilight as she opened the letter and read it. “It says to bring Tech to Canterlot, and it’s signed by... PRINCESS CELESTIA?!” Everypony snapped their attention to the unicorn as she mentioned the princess’ name. “I need to go grab something,” excused she as she ran back into the workshop and returned holding Tech’s leather-bound tome.

“Very well, then,” said the undertaker. “Hop into my carriage, and we’ll be off.” The three mares and dragon nodded and boarded the front of the undertaker’s carriage. The undertaker stepped into the carriage as well. His horn began to glow gold, and the carriage came into motion.

The ride to Canterlot was silent, save the thunder and the rain beating against the black carriage. Twilight Sparkle was holding Blades to comfort him, and Rarity and Rainbow Dash took turns holding him as well. When the carriage finally arrived in Canterlot, they were met by two Royal Pegasus Guards and an old Unicorn stallion wearing a black pressed suit with a plaid bowtie and a tan hat, along with glasses over his hazel eyes. His fur was a faded orange colour, and his short mane and tail were faded into grey.

The mares, Blades, and the undertaker emerged to speak with the guards, when the stallion in the suit greeted them. “Good Evening,” said he, melancholy clear in his old voice. “I have been sent here to transfer Miss Tech Specs to Canterlot’s Royal Morgue.”

The undertaker nodded at his fellow undertaker, and the pair carefully carried the stretcher containing Tech to the Royal Undertaker’s carriage, which was significantly larger and fancier than the other, though it was still pitch black. The three mares and Blades looked away as the undertakers carried Tech past them.

“Thank you for your assistance, Dr. Hyde,” thanked the Royal Undertaker to the other undertaker, who nodded, approached his own carriage, and departed. “Ladies,” began he again, “you should go home and get some rest. And then, you may come by in the morning. These gentlecolts will escort you home.” He motioned to the two guards and entered his carriage, the wheels of which glowed hazel and began spinning, carrying the carriage off.

After both undertakers left in their respective carriages, the two Pegasus Guards led Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, and Blades to the suite at which they were staying on the other side of town, atop a mighty spire. There, they were met by their three friends: Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy, who all bore expressions of sorrow similar to those of the others.

“In two days,” informed one of the guards, “the Princesses would like you six to come to Canterlot Heights at Midday for Miss Specs’ funeral.” Twilight and Rarity were completely aghast at the guard’s words, recognising the name of “Canterlot Heights” instantly.

“Umm, excuse me,” stuttered Fluttershy to the unicorns, “but what is ‘Canterlot heights?’”

Twilight was the first to answer, informing everypony in the room, “Canterlot Heights is a cemetery near the Palace; only true heroes are buried there. Even King Auroros Lionheart is buried in Canterlot Heights.”

“What did you write in that letter?” asked Blades, wondering why his friend would be buried in a cemetery of heroes.

“Why not read it for yourself?” Spike grabbed the letter in question from a nearby table and gave it to the orange dragon.

“Dear Spike,

It pains me to write this, but Tech Specs is gone. Rainbow Dash lost her wings in a lightning storm while looking for her. Tech, Rarity, Blades, and I helped her to get to Tech’s shop, where she cast a spell on a pair of metal wings, apparently fusing them to Rainbow’s back, and she flew with them! Unfortunately, the spell was too powerful for Tech’s horn to take, and it shattered. Needless to say, she didn’t survive. Please, relay this message to the girls. We may or may not be back for a while. Take care, Spike. I love you.

Always Your Friend,

Twilight Sparkle”

“We were on our way to tell the Princesses where you were when I got the message,” informed Spike, “and they read it, too.”

“I tell ya,” remarked Applejack, “if anything was gonna change the Princess’ mind ‘bout Tech, it’s that there letter.”

Then, Rainbow Dash released a piercing scream of pain. She buckled and gritted her teeth as her friends came to her aid. “What’s wrong, Rainbow?” asked a very concerned Twilight.

“My... wings,” managed the blue mare to say, “it feels like they’re on fire!”

“How can your wings be hurting, Dash?” asked a confused Pinkie Pie, “they’re metal.”

“What spell did Tech cast on her?” asked Twilight, more to herself than to anypony. She produced Tech’s leather-bound tome and began flipping through the pages, searching for an answer. As she scanned each page, she learned that it was a spellbook written by a unicorn named Steelheart Seeker, an artificer and member of the Seekers of Canterlot. She found a sketch of Steelheart: His mane was brown, braided, and tied back, as was his tail, his fur was cyan, and his eyes were blue. The most unusual thing about him, though, was that one of his forelegs was metal; metal which seemed to wrap around a ball of energy at his shoulder. Under his portrait, there was a note, which she read aloud. “Steelheart Seeker lost his leg due to infection. Seeking a replacement, he concocted the ‘Living Metal’ spell (see p. 527).” With that note, Twilight went to the page and read it aloud as well. “The Living Metal spell was designed to replace lost or dead flesh with metal. First, the caster must construct a replica of the flesh to be replaced out of the metal of their choice. Then, the metal must be held in place while the spell is cast; one cast will fuse the metal to flesh and bone, and a second will assimilate it into the body.”

Rainbow Dash cringed at the description. “So,” began she, looking at her back nervously, “these metal things are my wings now?”

“That’s what the book says,” informed Twilight. “They should work; try it out.”

The blue pegasus nodded and struggled to flap her metal wings. After a few seconds of trying, her wings came to the ground and she got airborne. With adjustment, she righted herself and began floating in the air. Everypony was amazed at the sight of their friend flying with such wings.

“Why are you and Rarity surprised, Twilight?” asked Rainbow to the two unicorns. “Didn’t you see it happen earlier?”

The pair of unicorns shook their heads slowly. “No,” said Rarity, “although, I do believe Tech saw it. That is, before she...” She was then stopped by Twilight.

“No, we didn’t see, Rainbow,” interrupted the purple unicorn. “We should probably get some sleep; it’s really late. Goodnight, Girls.” She then scooped Spike up onto her back and walked to a door, which led to her room.

Everypony followed Twilight’s example, save Rarity and Blades, who stayed put for a bit, sitting on a sofa in the room. “Are you okay, Blades?” asked the white mare, concerned about the little dragon.

“Yeah,” replied Blades simply, in an effort not to worry the unicorn.

The dragon’s attempt failed, and Rarity hugged him tightly, saying to him, “just remember: if you ever need anything, you can tell myself or my friends.”

Blades returned Rarity’s hug, careful not to harm her with his claws, and began to sob into Rarity’s chest. “Thank you, Rarity,” said he gratefully. “Thank you all, so very, very much. I love all of you, and I’m certain Tech does, as well.”

Rarity leaked a smile at the dragon. “I know I’m not speaking just for myself when I say that we love you, too, Blades.” She then kissed the dragon’s forehead, and the pair fell asleep.

The next morning, everypony came into the sitting room to see Rarity and Blades, cuddled together and still asleep. “Awwww,” said Fluttershy about the pair, mainly the dragon, “so cute!”

“Yeah, right,” said Spike sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“Spike,” said Twilight, sounding disappointed, “relax. Remember what Blades saw last night. He needs somepony now more than ever.”

Spike’s eyes widened, and he lowered his head in shame. “Yeah. I’m sorry,” apologised he.

Applejack gave Rarity a nudge, saying, “rise and shine, Rarity. Time to get up.”

Rarity awoke slowly. “Good Morning, Ladies,” greeted the white mare upon seeing her friends. She then looked to Blades and remembered something as she said, “umm, I have to be somewhere this morning. Could you keep Blades company while I’m gone?” She then carefully manoeuvred herself around Blades so as not to wake him up, and then trotted into the washroom to comb her mane, wash up, and do other morning rituals.

When Rarity returned, she approached a corner of the sitting room and picked up a large white cardboard box and set it on her back. “What’s in the box, Rarity?” asked Pinkie Pie calmly.

“Just something I need the undertaker to have a look at,” replied the white mare honestly. “I shall be back in a short while.” Everypony nodded respectfully as the unicorn departed.

The walk through Canterlot was slow and steady, Rarity taking the time to admire every aspect of the glorious city: the lush buildings, the beautiful morning sky, and the inhabitants of the city strolling about leisurely, not so much as paying the mare a second glance. When she arrived at her destination, Canterlot Hospital, she took a deep breath and entered the building.

The inside of the building was modest, but still reminiscent of the brilliant city in which it resided, with bright white walls and a reception desk of the same colour. “So tacky,” thought Rarity as she looked at the carpet, the pattern of which resembled a wool blanket.

She approached the reception desk and was greeted by a pale pink Unicorn Mare with a faded green mane, tied in a bun and covered by a nurse’s tiara. “Good Morning, Miss,” greeted the nurse, smiling pleasantly. “How may I help you?”

Rarity maintained her composure and replied flatly, “I need to see the Royal Undertaker, please.”

“I see,” said the nurse with respect. “Underground Floor. The lift is four doors down that hallway to the right.” She motioned directions as she stated them. Rarity nodded and thanked the mare politely before setting off.

As she trotted down the hallway, she was courteously greeted by everypony who passed by, staff and patients alike. “So polite, these lot,” thought the white mare as she leaked a smile at the kindness. “I just hope that they’re kind to the ponies downstairs, as well.” Her expression became heavy at the thought as she boarded the lift.

When the lift door opened on the underground floor, she was greeted by the aged stallion the mares had met the night before. He was wearing aqua surgeon’s scrubs and a cap, much to the contrast of his rather dapper appearance the night before. “Oh, hello,” said he, a bit surprised, “I take it you are here about your friend?” Rarity nodded. “Right, then. Right this way; no sense in talking in the lift, is there?”

Every room of the morgue had glass walls, accented by steel supports and equipment such as tables and chairs. In one room, Rarity looked through the transparent wall to see Tech Specs, laying on a steel table, with her horn apparently intact. She was also wearing her goggles as she always did.

The undertaker saw Rarity looking at her friend. “Are you alright?” asked he, calm but worried.

“Y.. yes. I’m fine,” replied the white mare. “It’s just that she appears to be sleeping, but I know she’s not.”

The orange stallion nodded. “Yes,” said he, “then apparently I have done my job well. My job is to prepare our friend for her final appearance tomorrow.” He then began to digress as he informed, “you know, the practise of burying the departed originated hundreds of thousands of years ago in Zebrica. It started out as being more functional than traditional, but has long since adopted a more ceremonial purpose.”

“Yes, indeed,” agreed the white unicorn. “but, may I ask you how you fixed Tech’s horn?”

“Of course you may ask, Miss. Mortician’s clay is a sort of mouldable resin, mainly used for the visual effect of covering wounds and bruises.” He then gave a heavy-hearted sigh as he looked to Tech, and then to Rarity. “But, it works well for this, I suppose.”

“Now,” began the white unicorn once again, “I think it’s time to get to the main reason for my being here.” When the stallion nodded, Rarity slid the box on her back onto a steel table in the room and opened it, revealing a pile of black and dark blue cloth. She removed the cloth from the box and spread it out across the table, revealing that it was a dress. The skirt had two layers: a black, pleated, full-length underlayer, and a dark blue layer over it, gathered around mid-length by black bows. The top more closely resembled a suit than a dress, with a black vest with dark blue lace trim and a white, short-sleeved undershirt. Also in the set were leather hoof bracers, which buttoned at the front, as well as a black cloth rose barrette, designed to go in the wearer’s mane. “This is the dress I made for Tech for the Gala,” explained Rarity, holding back tears, “and.. well.. given the circumstances, I think that it would be fitting if she were buried in it.”

The Royal Undertaker nodded, saying, “I understand. You do not have to worry, Miss; your friend is in good hooves. My colleague, Mr. Palm, is at a meeting this morning, but will be back soon. When he arrives, we will get to work.”

“I see,” agreed Rarity. “Thank you, so very very much, Sir. And tell Mr. Palm that Rarity thanks him sincerely as well.” She then gave the stallion a hug, who returned the favour.

“There is no need to thank me, Milady,” assured the undertaker gently. “I’m always glad to help those who cannot help themselves.”

Epilogue

The next day, at noon, the six mares and two dragons led a procession that went through the main streets of Canterlot. Everypony there was wearing black, including the four Royal Unicorn Guards who were in their dress uniforms, carrying an open casket of the finest cherry wood available on their backs. Inside the casket lay Tech Specs, wearing the Gala dress so generously and expertly crafted for her by Rarity. Ponies on the sidewalks watched the procession, removing hats and lowering their heads in respect.

After a slow twenty minutes of going through the city, the procession came up a hill to a set of gloomy, black steel gates and fence, which contrasted immensely with the platinum city below. In lettering integrated into the steel gate was “Canterlot Heights,” and past the fence was a small dirt path, as well as tombstones of all shapes and sizes. A few metres down the main path, and to the left side was an empty space, reserved for the mare and her casket. A rectangular hole was dug out and ready, and a small stage with a podium was occupied by Bass Beat, Floyd Rose, Humm Bucker, and Mosh Pit, all of whom were wearing black, and had percussion drums strapped to them. Also on the stage were the Princesses, Celestia and Luna. Princess Luna looked much like her sister, except her coat was a deep blue, and her mane and tail looked as though it contained the entire night sky. All six ponies atop the stage had their heads bowed with respect as the four guards carrying Tech set her casket atop a platform just above the dug out space. Twilight Sparkle and her friends gathered on the stage behind the Princesses, just beside the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Everypony else in the procession stood in rows, beginning a metre or two away from the casket. Once everypony was situated, Princess Celestia approached the podium and spoke.

“It is with a heavy heart that I have gathered you here today,” said the princess, “to both mourn and honour one of my little ponies recently fallen. Her name is Emer.. umm.. Tech Specs, and she gave her life in aid for one of her friends, one of my friends, and one of the heroes who saved Equestria by defeating Nightmare Moon and Discord. She now has the floor.” She then stepped back from the podium and motioned for Rainbow Dash to approach it, which she did.

The blue pegasus took a deep breath and began, “it was only a few months ago that Tech Specs was some random pony with a wacky invention who fell from the sky into our lives. We had no idea who she was, and vice versa. But she showed us courtesy, kindness, and an honourable personality which surpasses almost everypony I’ve met.” She then cringed as she gathered her thoughts to continue. “Two days ago, I was in a terrible lightning storm which destroyed my wings, but Tech, with the help of our closest friends, sprung into action to help me, and save me. She used a spell so powerful that it drained her very life force just to assure that I could fly again, and for that I am eternally grateful. For, without my wings, I doubt I would be able to carry on living.” By that point, she teared up and lost control, shamelessly bawling her eyes out. “I owe her my life for just trying, and she gave me hers!” cried she, tears flowing freely. Princess Luna then approached Rainbow and put her wing around her to comfort her. Leading the crying mare back to her friends, the Princess motioned for Bass Beat to take the floor.

The yellow musician pegasus stood at the podium, her drum still strapped to her, and said, “I wasn’t there to see her save Rainbow Dash, which makes me feel horrible as her friend. But, Tech always knew what would come from whatever she did. I guarantee that she kew what she had to do to help Rainbow, and didn’t hesitate to do it, anyway. That determination and selflessness is something that you don’t see every day, but something that I saw everyday that I saw Tech. I love you, Sweetie.” Bass’ eyes teared up slowly as she took her drumsticks and played the Funeral March, with the other three musicians joining in.

As they played, Princess Celestia’s horn glowed magenta, as did the lid to Tech’s casket as it closed slowly. With the lid closed, the casket began to slowly lower into its resting place, with everypony throwing roses into the hole with the casket. The drummers ceased to play as the casket came to rest at the bottom of the hole, and the guests departed at word from the Princesses.

After the main ceremony, Twilight Sparkle, her five friends, Spike, Blades, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers stood on the stage, talking with the Princesses. “After I sent Tech away that night,” informed Princess Celestia, “my sister began discussing the matter with me.”

Princess Luna nodded, adding, “yes. Although I wasn’t there to see what happened so many years ago, I thought that my sister was far too harsh on the little pony. She insisted that it was fair, and told me the story.”

Completing the story, Celestia said, “when I was done with the story, you four showed up, telling me to read that letter from Twilight.” She then closed her eyes and held her head down as she said, “I.. I felt horrible. That, combined with the discussion I had with my sister, was too much. I wanted to ask Tech to forgive me, and I still do. Nevertheless, I can’t; I missed my chance.”

“Your Highness,” said Humm Bucker tenderly, “I’m one hundred percent certain that Tech forgives you. I’ve never known her to hold anything against anypony, let alone the Princess herself.”

“Yeah,” agreed Bass Beat, “I doubt that she ever even had to forgive you. Like Hummy said, she’d never hold anything against anypony.”

Everypony joined in a group hug, and the Princesses departed to the Palace to prepare for the Gala, which was only three days away by that point. Following their example, the ten ponies left as well. They walked down the streets in a group, for where the two groups were heading were very close together. Bass Beat looked to Twilight Sparkle and asked her, “Tech never told you what happened to Uhrwerk, did she?”

The purple mare shook her head slowly and answered, “she told us about him, to the point when he told you two that he was going to give Tech his shop when he was gone.”

“So,” continued Bass, “she didn’t tell you about what we learned a few weeks after?” Twilight shook her head again. “Well, then. I think you lot should know.”

*************************************************************************************************

Only four weeks after Tech Specs learned about what Uhrwerk was going to leave to her, she and Bass Beat were cleaning up the old stallion’s house. When they reached his bedroom, they came across a large wooden wardrobe. “Think we should mothball his closet?” asked Bass.

Tech nodded. “Yeah,” said she, “he’s probably got some expensive suits in there. But, we should check if there are mothballs already.” The fillies then opened the wardrobe and saw what they had expected: very proper and classy suits, ties, hats, and boots, as well as something else. There was a pair of long black boots, a pair of deep blue trousers which bore an odd-looking cross-like symbol on the flanks, a white undershirt, and a deep blue overcoat which bore stripes on the sleeves, a patch depicting a hawk carrying a circular symbol on one side, and a few ribbons and medals on the other side. Both the undershirt and overcoat had a pair of patches with matching colours stitched on the back. And finally, there was a deep blue cap with a shiny black brim, and a hawk like the one on the coat on the front of it.

“What is this?” asked Bass, to nopony in particular.

“It is my uniform,” answered Uhrwerk. Both fillies jumped and turned to see the stallion looking nonchalantly at them.

Tech and Bass lowered their heads in shame. “We’re sorry for going through your things, Uhrwerk,” apologised Tech, “but we were going to put mothballs in your wardrobe, you know, to help you out.”

“It is quite alright, Little Fillies,” assured the brown stallion, still as calm as ever. “I knew it was going to come up eventually. I think it is time you learned a bit more about your mentor.” He then motioned to his bed and said, “please, sit.” The fillies obeyed, and Uhrwerk took all parts of the uniform and lay them out across his floor. “You see, many years ago, I lived in Germaney, which borders Equestria. Back then, a war broke out between Germaney and Zebrica on one side, and Equestria, the former Hooviet Union, which was made up of Eastern Equestria, and the Ibex Empire on the other side. I was young then, and naive. Like a fool, I signed up for the Germane Military, specifically the Air Force, the Luftwaffe.”

“I remember reading about that war,” said Tech, “but I thought only Pegasus Ponies served in Germaney’s air force, or any air force, for that matter.” She bore an expression of confusion as she looked to the stallion, who appeared to be an Earth Stallion.

Uhrwerk simply nodded and replied, “that is why there are patches in my uniform; I am a Pegasus Pony, or at least I was before the War.”

Bass Beat’s eyes widened in shock and fear as she asked, “what happened?”

“My unit was shipped to Stalliongrad, in the Hooviet Union, to take the city. Like the calm before the storm, the city was quiet when we flew in. Before long, we were under attack by every able-bodied pony in that city; it was an ambush. Arrows, bombs, magical bursts, you name it; the defenders of Stalliongrad attacked us with it. Many of the stallions in my unit didn’t survive, and I would have been one of them were it not for two of my comrades, Luftzeit and Kohlfeld. My wings were hit by magical bolts, and were broken and all but destroyed. My comrades carried me to a medical outpost outside of the city. The medics were pressed for time due to the advancing Hooviet Army, and thus didn’t have time to properly save my wings.” The stallion then removed his vest and lifted up the back of his undershirt, revealing two dark brown scars on his upper back where a pegasus’ wings would be.

The fillies cringed at the sight, and Bass Beat almost fainted. “That.. that must have been awful,” stuttered the yellow filly, still feeling lightheaded.

Uhrwerk drew a heavy sigh and replied, “it still pains me to think about the day. But, it brings joy to my heart when I think about my comrades, and what we gave for each other. I feel sorry for you, fillies. War is practically extinct, and you will never experience the feeling of comradery.”

“What exactly is a ‘comrade,’ Uhrwerk?” asked Tech.

Without missing a beat, Uhrwerk explained, “a comrade is like a friend, but far stronger a bond. You see, friends make the choice to be friends, and associate with and trust each other at will. Comrades, on the other hoof, are basically forced into trusting each other. A bond so strongly forged can never be broken.” He then looked out the window and said, “the bond of comrades can even transcend the border between life and death.”

As Uhrwerk explained, Tech was thinking deeply and said to her mentor, “you’re wrong.” The stallion looked at the blue filly in surprise, to which she said, “when I first met Bass Beat, I had a baby dragon to care for and not a bit to my name, and she had just been thrown out on the street by her employer with fifty bits to live off of.”

“She’s right,” concurred Bass. “I physically couldn’t leave her and her dragon by themselves; my conscience wouldn’t let me. We took care of each other for a couple weeks until we came across you, willing to hire us.”

“I see,” remarked the brown stallion, “and, do you pair trust each other?”

The fillies looked at each other, and simultaneously replied, “with my life.”

At that answer, Uhrwerk smiled larger than the fillies had ever seen him smile, and he told them, “that is the greatest thing I have heard in many, many years, Little Fillies. Let that comradely trust thrive between you.”

*************************************************************************************************

“I take it the two of you really loved Uhrwerk, yeah?” asked Twilight Sparkle.

Bass Beat nodded, smiling at the fond memories. “Yeah,” said she, “he was the father Tech’s father and my father never were.”

“What happened after you learned about his military service, Bass?” asked Applejack, curious as to what became of the old stallion.

With that, Bass’ expression became heavy, and she replied with honesty, “two weeks after that, he lay down for a nap, and never woke up.”

“It’s alright, Bass,” assured Mosh Pit, his hoof around the yellow mare’s shoulder. “Now, Tech and Uhrwerk have each other to keep each other company.”

“And Shred,” added Floyd, smiling as she thought about their former bandmate.

“Yeah, and Shred,” confirmed Mosh. “Well,” began he, looking to the hotel in which they were staying, “I guess this is where we part ways for now.”

Everypony nodded. “Indeed,” agreed Rarity, “we will see you in a couple days at the Gala, Dears.”

“Right,” agreed Humm Bucker, “we could chill at the Gala, yeah?”

The white mare smiled at the pegasus’ offer. “That would be delightful, Hummy,” said she, batting her eyes at the stallion.

“Calm down, Rarity,” said Applejack sternly, getting between the white mare and Hummy.

“Fine,” huffed rarity in return. She then looked around her orange friend to the Chili Peppers and told them, “we would love to meet you then and ‘chill.’”

From Fluttershy’s back, Blades sheepishly asked, “umm, hey, Twilight?”

“What is it, Blades?” asked the purple unicorn in return.

“Umm, would it be alright if I stayed with the Chili Peppers today?” His eyes darted about nervously.

“Of course,” replied Twilight with a loving smile. At that, Bass Beat picked Blades up from the other yellow pegasus’ back and onto her own.

Bass Beat gave the dragon a kiss before telling the mares, “thank you lot for watching Blades during this time. I’m sure he needed it.”

“It is no trouble at all, Darling,” assured Rarity, her friends agreeing with her. “We’ll see you later, Blades,” said she to the orange dragon, giving him a hug. “And, we’ll see you lot at the Gala.”

Part 1

The day began as usual in Ponyville; everypony going about their usual business with no worries. Applejack was working with Pinkie Pie at Sugarcube Corner, making all manner of apple based pastries to sell. Rainbow Dash was keeping the midday skies clear of clouds. Rarity and Twilight Sparkle were catching up after Rarity's two week visit to Hoofdale. And finally, Fluttershy was tending to various creatures at her cottage outside of Ponyville.

Eventually, the almost silence at Fluttershy's cottage was broken by a scream. Fluttershy jumped and looked around, trying to find the source of the screaming. She looked up to see a light blue mare flying directly toward her, with the sound of metal contorting and crashing not far behind. She dove out of the way and looked to see the mare bounce off of a shrub, slam against the outside of her house, and come to rest directly below. She tried to move, but she groaned in pain and fell completely still.

Fluttershy wasted no time in running at full gallop toward Ponyville, jumping over a pile of twisted, broken metal, saying, "oh dear, oh dear, oh my goodness!" repeatedly as she ran. Although winded, she finally made her way to the Nurse's office in the town's centre. Fortunately for her, only Nurse Redheart was there, for she had no patients today, or at least not yet.

"Nurse Redheart, are you busy?" said she, still breathing heavily.

"No, not today," replied the nurse, with a curious look on her face. "What is it, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy regained her composure, and worriedly said, "something's happened, and I think somepony's hurt, badly."

Nurse Redheart quickly jumped from behind her desk when she heard this, and merely asked, "where?" She knew that nopony, especially Fluttershy, would ever lie about something so serious.

"At my cottage, just outside of Ponyville," replied she.

"Then we mustn't waste any time." Redheart grabbed a set of white saddlebags marked with her Cutie Mark, a Red Cross, and slung them over her back and was out the door in an instant, saying with urgency, "let's go!" to Fluttershy, who quickly followed.

On their way to the cottage, Nurse Redheart asked Fluttershy, "do you know who it is that may be hurt?"

Fluttershy thought for a second, and replied. "I.. I don't know. Sh.. she fell out of the sky, and from what I saw of her, I.. I think it may have been Rainbow Dash."

"What about me?" curiously asked a blue Pegasus with a rainbow coloured mane as she flew right above the two ponies, keeping up with ease. "What's the hurry?"

"Rainbow Dash?!" said Nurse Redheart and Fluttershy simultaneously upon seeing her.

"That's my name; don't wear it out," replied she.

"But.. but, if you're here, than who's..?" Fluttershy almost completed her question when she realised that the three had arrived at her cottage, where the blue pony still lay, unconscious.

Upon closer inspection, they discovered that the mare was a Unicorn with a short, messy mane, the tips of which seemed to be almost completely black, but faded into pink, with a matching tail, and she was wearing a pair of protective goggles over her eyes. Nurse Redheart put her ear against the Unicorn's chest and listened. "She's still breathing," said she worriedly, "but barely. We have to get her to my office quickly." She then opened her saddlebag and produced a few pieces, which she readily assembled into a stretcher, built for use by Pegasus Ponies, and placed it on the ground next to the unconscious pony. "Rainbow Dash, I need you to.." she was just about to finish her sentence when Rainbow interrupted.

"Already on it," replied she as she carefully rolled the Unicorn onto the stretcher. "Now what?"

"I'll need you pair to carry her to my office," responded she quickly, "it'll be much faster if we flew her there." The two Pegasi nodded and quickly hoisted the stretcher onto their backs and were ready to go when Nurse Redheart started for Ponyville. She yelled, "meet me there!" as she ran and the two Pegasi were off.

When the blue Unicorn awoke, she felt a sharp pain in her left hind leg, and was laying on some sort of bed, surrounded by three ponies; a yellow Pegasus with a pink, flowing mane, a white Earth Pony with a Nurse's tiara and a similar pink mane, and a light blue Pegasus with a short, messy, multicoloured mane. She sat up, panicked but calm, and asked, "three questions: one, where am I? Second, Why does my leg hurt? And third, who are all of you?" her eyes looking around the room at the three ponies, still confused as to who they were, and where she was.

"I'm Nurse Redheart," responded the white Pony readily. "And these two are Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash," continued she as she motioned to the yellow Pegasus, then the blue one. "You're in my office in Ponyville, and your leg is broken in two places." The Unicorn's attention snapped to Nurse Redheart as she said this.

"Wait, I'm in Ponyville?!" asked she, dumbstruck. "How did I get here?!"

"You tell us!" demanded Rainbow Dash promptly. "You dropped out of the sky and scared my friend half to death," finished she, motioning to Fluttershy as she mentioned her friend.

"Look, I'm just as confused as you lot are," responded the unicorn, looking at the slightly frustrated Rainbow Dash. She tried to remember what had happened, and explained, "all I can remember is flying about, weaving through a few clouds, something like a rainbow bolting right in front of me, losing control, and next thing I know, I'm here." She stopped and thought, and quickly said, "I have to go, now." She hopped off of the bed and onto her hooves, then buckled and screamed in pain. Rainbow and Fluttershy quickly helped her up and back onto the bed.

"you can't on that leg of yours,” Nurse Redheart authoritatively told the mare from behind the two Pegasi. “You'll have to stay here while it heals, Miss.." She thought for a second, and said, "I'm sorry; I never asked your name."

"My name is Tech Specs,” Answered she, “and I have to get back home as soon as possible. And as for my leg, I'll need a metal shop. Is there one here in Ponyville?"

"Excuse me, umm.. if you don't mind my asking, but why do you need a metal shop?" asked Fluttershy nervously.

"That's not important," replied Tech Specs, sounding frustrated. "I just need to know, do you lot have one?" She looked at each pony, as though she was out of patience.

"Umm.." pondered Rainbow Dash "I saw some metalworking equipment in our friend Applejack's shed earlier today." She noticed Tech’s impatience, and wanted to help the injured unicorn above all; she could always get an explanation later.

"That's close enough." Tech’s frustration seemed to die when she heard that. "Where is it?" asked she with anticipation.

"It's at Sweet Apple Acres, not too far from here," answered Rainbow Dash, pointing in the direction of a vast area of farmland in the near distance. "Here, I'll take you." She and Fluttershy helped Tech Specs outside, where Rainbow Dash then grabbed her front hooves and lifted her off the ground, flying towards Sweet Apple Acres.

"Are you sure you can carry me all the way there?" questioned Tech Specs as they flew, observing the great distance between the farm and where they were. "It looks like quite a long way."

"Are you kidding?" replied Rainbow Dash confidently. "I can carry a pony all the way up Dragon Mountain. This is nothing," boasted she.

When they reached the main gate to Sweet Apple Acres, a large, red Earth Stallion with a blonde mane opened the gate and greeted Rainbow Dash, "welcome back, Rainbow. Applejack ain't here right now. Who's your friend?" asked he, with a very laid-back tone.

"Hey, Big Macintosh. Can we use your shed for a bit?" Rainbow asked.

The stallion looked at the two ponies, and simply nodded, "eeyup." He then led the two mares to an old, run down looking tool shed. The paint on the outside was peeling and the shingles on the roof were falling off, but it was sound enough to stay upright.

Once there, Rainbow Dash set Tech Specs down in an old wooden chair inside the shed, and said, "here you go, Tech. What exactly do you need to do in here?" she asked, curious as to the strange unicorn's intentions.

"You'll find out when I'm done. Thanks for the lift, Rainbow Dash,"said she as she closed the two doors to the shed, which was quite a bit larger than most sheds. Rainbow Dash and Big Macintosh waited outside for a bit, hearing various sounds, such as hammers smashing against raw metal, water boiling and steaming as it touches molten steel, and the like. After about an hour, Fluttershy and Applejack, an orange Earth Mare with a blonde mane, who wore a Stetson, joined them.

"Oh, hey Girls," Rainbow Dash jumped up and greeted the two ponies. "Has Fluttershy told you what's going on yet?"

"She told me somepony got hurt and broke her leg, and y'all brought her here a little while ago," said the orange pony to Rainbow Dash, with a bit of confusion in her voice.

"Yeah; she needed a metal shop for some reason, and your shed was the closest thing we could think of. So your brother was kind enough to let us, well, let HER, borrow it." She looked at Big Macintosh, who lay in the grass, and he simply nodded and said "eeyup."

"Well what in Tarnation's she doing in there, Rainbow?" asked Applejack, still confused.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I'm not sure yet. She said we'll find out."

Soon after, Tech Specs poked her head out the door and asked the ponies, "have you got any blue paint?" She didn't seem to notice that Fluttershy and Applejack had joined them.

"What kind'a blue?" Applejack asked.

Tech Specs pointed to her hoof. "This kind," said she, still not noticing who she was talking to.

“First, tell me what’s going on here,” requested Applejack. “I’d like to know what somepony I’ve never seen before is doing in my tool shed!” Applejack began to raise her voice as she finished the statement.

“I’m sorry, Miss, but I’ll have to explain later,” replied Tech, who then added, “I promise,” a fair amount of sincerity in her voice, mixed with urgency.

"Sure; just hold on a sec." Applejack went behind the shed, and emerged a few seconds later, holding a bucket of paint and a brush. She then set the pair down in front of Tech.

Tech picked them up and then disappeared back into the shed, then looked back out and said to Applejack, "I'm Tech Specs, by the way. I'll properly introduce myself, and explain everything, in a wee bit. Just sit tight, if you will." She then went back to work.

After a few more hours, the sun was setting, and the four ponies had already fallen asleep waiting when the doors to the shed burst open. They jumped at the sound and looked to see Tech Specs on all four hooves. Her mane was messier than before, her goggles and face were smeared with some sort of black material, likely soot, and her left hind leg was encased in some kind of steel cast, painted the same light blue as her coat. "Finally," announced she, "that feels much better!"

The four ponies looked in awe at her leg cast. It began at the bottom of her hoof and extended all the way up to her flank, with joints at the knee and hip, and a spot cut out to reveal her Cutie Mark, which was three linked gears. "That's pretty cool, Tech," complimented Rainbow Dash with a nod, "but what is it?"

"It's a fake leg, well, to an extent," answered the unicorn, with a bit of uncertainty as to how to explain the thing. She then thought and continued, "it wraps around my real leg and supports my body weight while it heals, so I can still walk on it. Sorry to keep you lot waiting, by the way."

"Don't worry about it, Sugarcube. As long as you didn't steal nothin' from us, you can stay here as long as you want," assured Applejack.

"Well, there is the scrap metal I used to make this." Tech looked at her leg cast and everypony began to laugh.

The ponies were still lightly chuckling when they went their separate ways. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy went to their respective homes to retire for the night, and Applejack and Big Macintosh were trotting back to their house. "Hey, Tech," said Applejack as she turned to face Tech Specs. "How'd ya like to stay here for the night?" invited she.

"Thank you, Miss Applejack, but I should really get going," tried she to decline when rain started drizzling down upon Ponyville, getting progressively stronger.

"Oh no, Sugarcube; it's late, and the rain's pickin' up awful fast," insisted Applejack, "you should come in and get some shut eye. We got a guest room ready for ya."

"Alright, if you insist, Miss,” complied Tech. “But, first thing in the morning, I'm going to see if I did any damage to Fluttershy's house, and then I have to go." She then stepped into the Apple Family home with Applejack and her brother.

"Alrighty then, Tech Specs! And, you don't have to call me 'Miss,' it's just 'Applejack,'" corrected she humbly, before quietly adding, "Apple Bloom and Granny Smith should already be asleep, so we'll have to be quiet. I'll show you to your room." Tech Specs nodded and followed Applejack through the kitchen and up a staircase to the second floor. They reached a hallway with three doors on one side, and two on the other.

Big Macintosh entered one door and quietly told the two ponies, "night, y'all," as he slowly closed the door.

Applejack opened another door, revealing a rather simplistic but cozy looking bedroom, and looked to Tech Specs, whispering to her, "this is where you'll be sleepin' tonight, Tech. I'll be in the next room if y'all need me."

"Yeah. Thanks again, Miss..er.. Applejack," thanked Tech politely. "You're too kind."

"Ain't no trouble at all, Sugarcube," assured Applejack. She and her family always were some of the most hospitable ponies in Ponyville. "Goodnight, Tech," said Applejack, closing the door behind her. Tech Specs nodded and sat on her temporary bed. She was exhausted after a long day of crashing into houses, meeting new ponies, and building things from scrap metal. She lowered her goggles around her neck and ran a hoof through her mane before falling back on her bed, fast asleep.

Part 3

“Blades? I’m back, Blades! Where are you?” called out Tech Specs as she entered her shop. The front room of her shop was small, but didn’t have very much in it, which balanced the room out. Along the walls were shelves, filled with all manner of gadgets, machines, and a couple devices, and under each one was a notebook, containing all of the technical information and uses for their corresponding machines. In the centre of this room stood a desk, and atop it lay a gooseneck lamp and a bell, as well as some scraps of metal, a few small watchmaker’s tools, and the casing to a fob watch. Behind the desk was a steel door.

Tech approached the door and knocked upon it, making a deep, gong-like sound with each strike. At the third knock, the doorknob started to twist, and opened in, revealing a small baby dragon. His scales were deep orange, his spines were a dark shade of scarlet, and his claws were unusually long and sharp for such a young dragon. The dragon leapt towards Tech and hugged her tightly, being careful not to cut her with his massive claws.

“Tech! You’re back!” The dragon shouted happily as he embraced the blue Unicorn. “What happened? Where did you go?”

“My wings failed again, Blades,” answered Tech Specs disappointedly. She let Blades down and walked into the room, which was much larger than the front. In the room were three large metal tables, a vast array of metalworking tools, a few crates filled with scrap metal, each labeled with the exact type of metal in them, a few other boxes of various things, and a small clock standing on one of the tables. Tech Specs approached the table with the clock and placed her saddlebags atop it. she opened one bag, revealing her pair of twisted, mangled wings. “I lost control and they fell off mid-flight,” explained Tech. “That could be quite a problem if somepony’s flying at a considerable height.”

“Oh, definitely,” agreed Blades. “Are you alright?”

Tech nodded, then looked to her metal leg cast, and explained, “I broke my leg, but I built this to support my weight so I can still walk. Thus far, it’s worked rather well.”

The baby dragon examined his friend’s cast, rather impressed. “That’s really cool, Tech,” complimented he, “Where’d you get the stuff to make this?”

Tech trotted up to a bench and lay down on it, with Blades joining her, then she continued the conversation. “Somepony named Applejack was kind enough to allow me to use her tool shed. She had everything I needed there. She was also so kind as to give me a place to stay for the night. Sorry for that, by the way.”

“It’s alright, Tech,” assured Blades. “As long as nothing really bad happened to you. Then who’d feed me?” Both Tech and Blades laughed at the remark. “So, this is scrap then?” asked Blades, looking at the wings.

“This set is,” answered Tech as she tossed most of the metal from the wings in the crate labeled “Aluminum,” and the rest in the one labeled “Carbon Steel.” Tech then looked to an old photograph on the back wall of the workshop, and said, “I’ll keep trying; I promised Uhrwerk I would.” The portrait depicted an old stallion wearing formal attire. He was a light, faded brown colour, his mane was grey and tied back with a gold band, with a matching tail, and his eyes were a deep aqua colour. She looked into the eyes of the portrayed stallion, which, even though painted, seemed to look back into those of the blue mare. She then lightly said, “He would never give up. I can’t, either.” After another few minutes of talking, they heard a bell. somepony was in the front, waiting. Tech and Blades rushed to the front desk.

“Hello, welcome to Tech Specs’ Machines!” welcomed Tech gleefully. “Sorry about the wait. What can I do for you?”

“Hey, Tech.” Said the pony, a yellow Pegasus Mare with a long, curly mane, matching tail, and bright Cyan eyes. On her right front leg, she wore a large number of beaded bracelets, most of which were wooden, a few turquoise, and one was made of pearls. She looked around the shelves of the shop, tapping her hooves against the floor in a drumlike rhythm.

“Bass Beat! It’s you!” said Tech gleefully as she recognised and embraced her close friend. “What brings you here, Bass?” asked Tech curiously.

“Well,” thought Bass for a few seconds, still tapping her hooves on the ground. She then continued, “I was just thinking, I’d like to make this week’s show a bit more spectacular, you know?” She looked to Tech, who looked intently back, thinking about her friend’s inquiry.

“You mean that just having the Red Hot Chili Peppers on stage playing their music isn’t spectacular enough?” asked The Unicorn. She always loved their music, ever since Bass Beat and her friend, Mosh Pit, first formed the group so many years ago. She was starting to drift away when Bass continued.

“Of course it’s enough, Tech!” reasoned the Pegasus, “but I’d love to go just a bit higher than ‘enough.’ What do you think could help us put on a better show?”

Tech Specs thought deeply about the request. What could she make that could enhance the stage, and give the crowd a bit more than just live music? She clapped her hooves together, for she had an idea. “Pyrotechnics!” said she. “Pyrotechnics would be perfect!” She trotted over to one of the store’s walls, which was covered in shelves, searching through each one. She combed through a good lot of machines, then exclaimed, “aha! Here you are!” as she produced a small metal device. The device looked essentially like a box with a metal tube protruding from one end, and a cord on the side. “This will be perfect for you, methinks,” said she, showing the small gadget to Bass Beat. She then continued, “I built this for somepony who wanted to have some fireworks at last year’s Summer Sun Celebration.”

Bass Beat looked at the small device, thought for a second, then began, “I remember that: that kooky old stallion who shot fireballs into the air, and everypony cheered for more.” She remembered the occasion fondly. “That was your doing?”

“Yeah, that was my invention he used,” confirmed Tech. She pointed her hoof to the cord protruding out of the device, and explained, “you pull this cord, and it sets a spark that ignites powder in the chamber, here, and it creates a flame that emerges from the opening.” She pointed out each component as she mentioned them.

“That’s really cool,” complimented the yellow mare. “But is there any way I could set this off while I play, and multiple chambers in succession?” asked she as she turned the box in her hoof.

Bass’ request seemed to stump the blue Unicorn, who thought about it deeply, staring at the flame box, as it was named, almost in a trance-like state. She snapped out of her thoughts, and suggested, “I could attach it to a drum pedal, and nopony would know that it’s there until you set it off, maybe.” She thought for a bit more, and added, “and I could probably connect a fuse between four or five of these things. Would that work, Bass?”

“That’d be great!” responded Bass happily. She loved the idea; it would certainly catch her band mates, and everypony in the crowd, by complete surprise. “I’ll take it!. So, how much will this cost me, Tech?”

Tech Specs didn’t hesitate to answer her friend’s question. She knew exactly what would pay for the flame box system. “How about free admission to this week’s show?” offered she.

Bass shot a confused look at Tech, then said, “just for the two of you?” She was confused by the seemingly low price. To get into local shows was cheap, mere pocket change for most ponies. “That seems a bit cheap for such a system, don’t you think?”

“Oh, not for just us two, Bass,” began Tech to clarify. “I have a few friends visiting at the end of the week, and I’d like to treat them to the Chili Peppers. They’re nice ponies, and I think they’ll enjoy your brand of music.”

“Ah, I see,” replied Bass. She then removed one of her Turquoise bracelets, and offered it to Tech, explaining, “here. Show this to the pony at the gate; he’ll let you and all your friends in if you have this.”

“Alright. Thanks, Bass,” said Tech, placing the bracelet around her own hoof. She requested the flame box from Bass, who gave it to her. She then told Bass, “I’ll have this ready for you tomorrow. If you put it on your drum kit right when you set up the stage, they’ll never know it’s there. Thanks again.” The two ponies hugged, and Bass Beat departed from the shop, ringing the bell at the door as she opened it. Tech then retired to her workshop to get to work on her friend’s flame box system.

In the workshop, Tech Specs approached the table at which her saddlebags lay, and sat down at that bench. She opened the left pocket of the bag, and produced the tome which Twilight Sparkle had so generously given her mere hours ago. “Blades, can you do me a favour, please?”

“Sure, Tech,” said Blades, approaching Tech at her table. He stopped in front of her and asked, “what is it?”

Tech Specs slid the tome to blades, who at first struggled to pick it up, but eventually did with ease, taking care not to harm the cover with his claws. “Can you put this on the bookcase in the bedroom, please? Top Shelf?” requested Tech of her assistant.

“Top Shelf?” asked Blades curiously. Everything on the top shelf of Tech Specs’ bookcase was near and dear to Tech’s heart, and nothing less than priceless to her. Tech nodded at Blades, confirming what he thought he heard. He immediately started up the staircase to the second floor. As he stepped up the final step, he was met with a small, but long hallway. In the small hallway were two doors on each side and one at the very end. Blades stepped up the the second door on the right side of the hall, and opened the door.

The room itself had faded blue walls, and a deep green carpeting lined the floor. On the far wall was a window that looked out upon the street, which was very calm at the current hour. In the far left corner of the room lay Tech’s bed, which had a steel frame, wooden head and footboards, and two rather comfy-looking mattresses, and at the foot of this bed was Blades’ bed, a small basket, which contained a pillow and small blanket. And finally, on the wall opposite her bed stood her bookcase. The bookcase had six shelves, the bottom five of which contained a mix of notebooks, hardback books, folders, and the like. The top shelf, however, had much more diversity in it’s contents. On the left side stood a medium-sized clock with hoof-painted numerals and tick marks that was encased in beautiful stained Cherry Wood. The sound of the clock ticking away each second was the only sound in the room. Beside the clock was an old, Sepia-toned photograph of the stallion in the portrait in Tech’s workshop, only he was standing beside a young Unicorn filly. Her mane was long and curled, and so was her tail, and she was holding a pair of protective goggles which resembled those which Tech Specs wears always. And next to that even was a small fragment of something. It appeared to be a piece of an egg of some sort. The majority of it was deep orange, and on it was a fraction of a circle, which was dark scarlet. Blades looked to these highly treasured items and felt for Tech. He knew how valuable they were to her, and he knew exactly why, but he had no idea why she would request this dusty old tome a home among these treasures, but he obliged to Tech’s request no less, and leaned it against the far right end of the shelf. “Welcome to the family, you old book,” remarked Blades quietly as he left the room. As he walked down the hallway to the staircase, he was caught off guard by a loud explosion underneath his feet. Blades jumped almost out of his scales at the sudden sound, and sprinted down the stairs to Tech’s workshop.

When Blades entered the workshop, he saw Tech Specs looking toward the ceiling, her eyes wide open. He looked up as well, to see a large burn mark directly above Tech’s work table. Tech looked forward to see her assistant standing at the doorway, who at this point bore a clueless and terrified look on his face. “Mmmmaybe I should use less powder,” remarked Tech nervously, looking at Blades.

“Yeah, maybe,” replied Blades, sarcasm in his tone. “Bass Beat wants to surprise her band mates, not blow them up.” Tech and Blades began to laugh at the dragon’s remark.

After a few hours of trial and error with powder amounts, the pair finally perfected how much to put in each flame box. Blades produced a small note pad and pencil from one of the table’s drawers, and quickly wrote down the proper amount of powder for the flame box. “All right then, Blades,” said Tech, yawning. “All we have to do now is make this charge six times; one for each box.” She took her container of powder, and immediately after that, started shaking it. The powder made a light noise as it hit the inside of the canister. “No, no, no,” said she, opening the container and pouring out but a few grains of the powder.

“What’s wrong, Tech?” asked Blades, looking at the empty canister. “We’re out of powder, aren’t we?”

“Yeah, apparently,” confirmed Tech, tossing the metal canister into the “Aluminum” crate. She then laid her head on her worktable, and, running a hoof through her short mane, sighed and said, “I guess I’ll have to go to the Chemist tomorrow and have him mix me some more.”

Blades hopped onto the table and walked around Tech’s head. He then looked to her and asked, “but why can’t we go today?” He glanced at the clock on the table and added, “it’s not that late yet.”

“I can’t today, Blades,” said Tech disappointedly. “The Chemists are off teaching at an academy in Hoofdale; they won’t be back until at least midday tomorrow.”

“Well, what can we do in the meantime, Tech?” Blades approached the flame box that lay in the centre of the table, and slid it into Tech’s view. “What say you we work on what we can until we can get more powder?” Blades tapped on the mare’s goggles with his claws, in an effort to cheer her up.

“Stop it, Blades!” Tech began to giggle at Blades’ playful gesture. She then told Blades, leaking a smile, “okay, okay. We’ll begin building the rest of Bass’ flame boxes today. And later, I’ll cook you some Jade. Would you like that?” Blades nodded cheerfully at the suggestion. Jade was his favourite gemstone, so he hugged Tech for her offer, still taking care not to hurt her with his claws. “All I have to do is mention food, and you’re all for whatever I have to say,” joked Tech at the young dragon, who laughed. Blades picked up some thin steel plates and placed them in front of himself and Tech, and they began building.

Before they began construction on the flame boxes, Tech and her assistant had bounced ideas off of each other on methods of firing the boxes and hooking them together. Eventually, Tech though of something. “Blades, can you fetch that box in the corner for me, please?” requested Tech, pointing with her hoof to a large cardboard box, laying in the corner of the shop to their right. Blades nodded, walked to the box, and began to push it over to the table at which they were working. The little dragon was stronger than he appeared to be; he was able to move something four times his size with relative ease. Once the box was next to Tech’s bench, Blades saluted to Tech, who smiled and giggled lightly. He then joined Tech on the bench.

Tech opened the box, which contained various odds and ends, and began rummaging through it. “Aha! Found you!” exclaimed she, producing a pedal for a bass drum from the box of junk. She held the pedal in her hooves for a minute, examining every part of it, then set it on the table, observing the action of pressing the pedal down with her hoof. “I’ve got it!” shouted she in realisation.

In the course of another couple hours, Tech Specs cut, welded, and shaped some aluminum and steel, and fabricated a reel-looking device on the side of the bass pedal, with a thin cable attached to it. Blades’ claws were very useful in cutting the aluminum, because welding it would have melted and misshapen the soft, pliable metal. They were also excellent at marking spots on the steel to weld and cut. His claws were extremely strong for a dragon of his age; usually, it would take a dragon hundreds of years to obtain claws as strong as his were. “Well, it looks nice,” complimented Blades on Tech’s work, “but how does it work, again?”

“Here; I’ll show you,” stated Tech Specs, setting the newly-modified pedal atop their work table. She pressed the pedal down with her hoof, and as she did so the thin cable retracted into the reel. Tech explained, “When you press the pedal down lightly, the cord goes into the reel slowly. However, when Bass Beat drums, she hits the pedals on her drum kit hard, so the cord will move more quickly.” Tech then picked up one of the flame boxes they had built; along with the original, she had six. She then continued, “they’ll go with just enough force to pull the spark cord of the flame box, setting the first off. And that causes a chain reaction, which will fire the other five flame boxes, one at a time.”

Blades nodded at the explanation, rather impressed by his friend’s ingenuity. He then grew tense and nervous, and asked, “and they won’t.. hurt anypony, will they, Tech?”

Tech Specs shook her head. “No,” answered she, “we spent a lot of time on that. The small amount of powder we’re going to use will only make a lot of noise and a quick flash of light; somepony would have to be inches away from these things to get hurt by them.” Blades relaxed as he heard the answer.

Tech Specs felt her stomach growl, and then looked to her assistant. “So, now that our work’s done, what say you we get something to eat, eh?” asked she. She looked to where Blades was standing, but he wasn’t there. Almost instinctively, she knew where to look next. She directed her attention to the staircase to see Blades rushing up each step. “Not if I can help it!” said she, giggling lightly. She then playfully went after the orange dragon, lifting him onto her back as she caught up with him.

“Awww, you got me,” pouted Blades as he sat on his friend’s back. “I couldn’t beat anypony in a race.”

“Don’t be a sore loser, Blades,” said the mare to the dragon. “When you get older, I’m sure you could leave me in the dust.” She slowed down as she approached the first door on the right side of the hallway: the door to their kitchen. She pushed the door open and let Blades down.

The kitchen was a small, rather modest room, with a window overlooking the street on the far side of the room, under which was a small dining table, only big enough for at most three occupants. Tech Specs motioned for Blades to bring a chair into the kitchen, and he did. He then ascended the chair, and stood at the perfect height to have access to some cooking utensils and a cutting board.

Tech donned an apron she kept in the pantry, and gave a smaller one to Blades, who did the same. The mare then produced some fresh ingredients and a bag of gemstones and gave them to Blades. “Pick whatever you like from these, and we’ll make it,” said she to the dragon, who immediately began scouring through the bag of gems. He produced a few pieces of Jade that looked appealing, as well as a couple potatoes, some cabbage, carrots, and beets from the rest of the ingredients.

Tech began to boil a pot of water, adding salt, pepper, and spices to the pot. “Go ahead; put the Jade in,” requested she of Blades, who obliged, dropping the gems one by one into the broth. “Now, Blades.” continued she, “if you could chop up the vegetables you’ve selected, I’ll put them in as well.” Blades nodded, and the small dragon began to move his hands and claws rather artistically, slicing and dicing the various vegetables into a nice mince for the soup. He tapped Tech Specs’ goggles to get her attention, and motioned to the cutting board. At this, she took the board, and all atop it, in her hooves and slid them into the now boiling broth. She then produced a wooden spoon from a drawer and began to stir the ingredients, causing the fragrance of it to fill the room.

“That’s about all you can do, Blades,” began Tech, still stirring the soup, but looking at the dragon, who seemed in a trance from the smell of what was being prepared. “If you could have a seat at the table, I’ll have you a bowl in a bit.” Blades snapped out of his trance and nodded, hopping from the chair and pushing it back to the table, where he sat down.

After a few minutes, Tech Specs was finished cooking her and Blades’ dinner. She opened a cupboard, and produced two bowls and a ladle, which she set on the cutting board. She picked the handle of the ladle up with her teeth, and reached deep into the bottom of the pot, filled one bowl with the soup and all of the Jade stones for Blades, and filled the other as well, hold the gemstones. She picked the board up again and, on her hind legs, treaded carefully to the table, where she lay the jade soup in front of the little dragon, and the other in front of where she stood. They then began to eat.

“It tastes great, Tech,” complimented Blades, swallowing a gem and some of the broth.

“Well, you picked the ingredients, AND cut them,” retorted Tech, who humbly added, “The credit goes to you more than me.”

As they finished their dinner, Tech Specs placed the two bowls back on the cutting board and returned to the kitchen, where she covered and refrigerated the remainder of the soup, and cleaned the bowl, ladle, cutting board, and wooden spoon, placing them back in their respective places as she dried them. She looked to Blades, who was asleep at the table, which she expected, for it was rather late for a baby dragon to be up and about. Tech giggled at the scene, and she then lifted Blades onto her back and headed out the kitchen door.

Tech trotted down the hallway to her door, which she quietly opened, revealing her room. She approached Blades’ bed, and gently slid the sleeping dragon into it. She then placed the small blanket over him, kissed his forehead, and whispered, “goodnight, you adorable little dragon.” She then turned out the lights to the room, sat down on her own bed, lowered her goggles around her neck, and looked to the photo on her bookcase. She laughed slightly upon seeing the small Unicorn filly, and her heart became heavy as she looked to the stallion. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to hold back tears. She then lay back on her bed, soon falling asleep to the clock’s ticking, which soon became the only sound in the room once again.

Part 12: Back In Time 2.1

“Hey, hey,” said a soothing male voice to a sleeping Emerald Comet. “Hey, wake up.”

Eventually, Emerald groggily opened her eyes, and the voice’s owner began to take form. He was a white Unicorn Stallion, with a dark brown mane and a long, braided beard that hung from his chin. His eyes were a very light gold, and he wore a black top hat. “Wh.. what? Where am I?” nervously asked the little filly, now frightened.

“You’re in the middle of Whitetail Wood,” answered the stallion honestly. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” replied Emerald, standing up and lifting her baby dragon onto her back. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, Sir, I must get going.” She then began to walk off.

The stallion gave Emerald a concerned look. “Going? Where are you going?” questioned he, “I can give you a lift.”

Emerald stopped and turned to look at the stallion. He wore a gold-coloured vest over a high-collared black shirt and white cuff links. He also wore a white bowtie, and on his flank was a magic wand atop a 5-card hoof, specifically a Royal Flush of Clubs. “Who are you, anyway?” asked Emerald.

“Buckster’s the name,” announced the stallion, “Huckster Buckster: Traveling Magician, at your service.” He then looked somewhere and added, “now, about that lift?”

“What are you going to do?” mocked Emerald, “carry us?”

Buckster shook his head and said, “no. Follow me, and I’ll show you what I’ll do.” He then trotted around a few trees to the main road through the forest, with Emerald reluctantly following. On the road stood a mighty red carriage, decorated on the sides with stars and card suits. In large, black letters were “HB.”

“Impressive,” complimented Emerald, not looking really impressed.

“This isn’t even the best part,” boasted Buckster. He then knocked his hoof on the side of the carriage, and stepped clear as the entire side panel fell down, making an elevated stage, complete with a curtain in place of the carriage’s wall. Buckster then hopped onstage and took a deck of cards from apparently nowhere. His horn began to glow gold, and his cards glowed the same. The cards then flew out of his hoof, and flew about in the air, revolving once around Emerald Comet’s head. The cards then shot straight up and landed back in Buckster’s hoof. “That one’s called ‘52-card Pick Up,’” announced he, sounding rather proud of his own performance.

Emerald looked rather bored from the trick. “It was good,” said she blankly, “but you could work on the aerial manoeuvres with the cards, though; they seemed a bit simplistic, if I’m honest.”

“Well,” replied Buckster, “that was one of my least impressive tricks. The best ones’ll cost you.”

“I haven’t got anything with which to pay,” admitted the blue filly, “so I’ll take your word for it.”

“Daddy, who’s out there?” a small filly’s voice asked from within the carriage. The curtain soon opened to reveal the filly, a young Unicorn. She had magenta eyes and an azure coat with a long and extremely pale cyan mane. She wore a purple cape spackled with stars and fastened with a gem, and a similar wizard’s hat, but both were too big for her and almost engulfed her. “Are you performing without The Great and Powerful Trixie?” asked she, looking up to Buckster.

The boastful stallion smiled at the sight of the filly, and then said to her, “of course not, Sweetie. I was just about to get you.” He then looked to Emerald and continued, “and I’m not the only magician in this family.” Motioning to the filly on stage, he announced, “introducing the next in line to own this traveling business, my daughter, Trixie!” The filly cleared her throat, to which Buckster corrected himself. “Excuse me. I mean, The Great and Powerful Trixie!”

“Thank you, Daddy.” Trixie’s horn started to glow magenta as a series of fireworks began going off in mid-air. When the display was over, Trixie almost collapsed from exhaustion; so much magic use does a number on such a small filly. The fireworks also woke Emerald’s baby dragon, who began crying loudly.

Emerald began worrying, trying to comfort the crying dragon. She’d never heard Blades cry before, and had no idea what to do. Suddenly, another voice was heard from Buckster’s carriage. “What’s going on?!” asked the voice, belonging to a yellow Pegasus Filly with cyan eyes, a curly orange mane and tail, and two red double-quavers wrapped in a purple ribbon decorating her flank. She looked at Blades and sprung into action. She began to sing a soft, melodic song called, “Come Sail Away.” The song soothed the dragon, who then began to laugh. He then looked to the singing filly, and made a grab at her fluffy mane. The filly ceased to sing and moved her head back, remarking, “whoa; I don’t need a haircut, Little Guy.”

“That was brilliant,” said Emerald, in awe at both the song and what the song did. “I mean that was absolutely brilliant. How did you do that?”

“What, that?” humbly inquired the pegasus filly, “it’s nothing; just a song I really like.”

“What was that?!” barked Buckster, his soothing demeanour gone completely. “That was the worst thing I’d ever seen! How could you possibly enjoy that garbage as opposed to our stunning performances?!”

Emerald simply looked to the stallion and responded, “because she helped to solve a problem which you pair caused.”

Buckster let out a scream of frustration, and then shouted to the two fillies, “ah, just forget it. We’re out of here! And don’t think I’ll be giving either of you a lift anywhere!”

“What?!” questioned the pegasus. “You can’t leave me here, I work for you!” She then stomped her forehoof on the ground.

In response, Buckster produced a bag of bits from his hat and violently tossed it at the filly, hitting her in the nose and causing her to stumble. “That’s your final pay. We’re out of here!” He then slammed the folding stage back into the side of the carriage, led Trixie into the carriage, hooked himself up to it, and pulled it off.

*************************************************************************************************

“So, you knew Trixie, too?” Twilight Sparkle seemed a bit lost at the thought.

“Not really,” replied Tech Specs, "but I've encountered her that once. Why?”

After a few seconds of thought, Twilight responded with, “let’s just say we’ve crossed paths before; it wasn’t pleasant.” Tech nodded at the brief explanation.

“Whoah!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, who was looking to the clock on the wall. “We’ve been talking for a long time.”

“How long?” asked Twilight, looking to the clock as well, and jumping when she saw it. “Really?” asked she, more to herself than anypony else, “an hour?”

“My word!” Rarity chimed in on the discussion, “the train to Canterlot leaves in ten minutes!”

“Well then,” announced Applejack, “we’ll just have to haul flank to get there in time.” And “haul flank” the group did, wasting no time in trotting at full speed toward the Ponyville Train Station.

After what seemed to be an hour of sprinting at full gallop, the ponies managed to get to the train station in the nick of time. They boarded the train, all breathing heavily except Applejack, who was used to such strain.

The inside of the train car was rather plain: a few upholstered seats with wooden tables between them, and only a couple other ponies on the car. They sat down around two tables, for one table only had enough for four occupants around it. Then, everypony looked to Tech Specs. “You were saying?” inquired Twilight between breaths, as if nothing happened.

“What’s that?” asked the blue unicorn in return. “Oh, yes, right.”

*************************************************************************************************

“What a bloody jerk,” remarked Emerald. She then attended to the other filly. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” replied the filly, who, upon closer inspection, was bleeding from her nose. She wiped a bit of blood with her hoof and slung it off into the dirt. She then picked up the bag from the ground and opened it, revealing fifty bits. “Yeah,” remarked she, “that felt like about fifty.”

Emerald, a bit confused, asked the pegasus, “what do you mean, ‘felt like about fifty?’ Has this happened before?”

The filly simply answered, “being fired, no. But he has thrown my pay at me before.”

“That’s terrible!” exclaimed a shocked Emerald Comet.

“Eh, you get used to it,” said the yellow filly rather nonchalantly. “It looks like you’ve got some experience with it too, eh?”

“Yeah,” replied Emerald, thinking about what had happened the previous day, “you can say that.”

The filly saw something in Emerald Comet’s eyes. “Oh,” said she in realisation, knowing exactly what that thing in her eyes was. “I’m so sorry,” apologised she, hugging the blue filly. “It’s okay," added she before faltering. “Ummm...”

“Oh, right,” said Emerald to the air, wiping a few tears from her eyes. “How rude of me! My name is Emerald Comet.”

“I’m Bass Beat.” She then shook Emerald’s hoof heartily. “So, what now?” asked she, half-jokingly. “We’ve got fifty bits to our names and a baby dragon to take care of.”

“We?” questioned Emerald. “It’s your money, not mine. And I’ve got the dragon, not you.”

“Yes, ‘we,’” replied Bass in a very matter-of-fact tone, “I’ve got money, and you need money; I can’t just walk away from somepony who’s CLEARLY in need.”

Emerald, unphased, merely declined. “Thanks, but no thanks,” said she, “I can take care of myself, and Blades, too.”

Bass scratched her mane with her hoof before saying with frustration, “fine. if not for you, and not for Blade, or whatever his name is, then do it for me.” Emerald raised an eyebrow at the yellow filly, and she continued, “how could I sleep at night, knowing I left a homeless filly with a dragon to care for to fend for themselves, when I could, and should, lend a hoof to help them?”

“There’s no convincing you otherwise, is there?” Bass Beat shook her head at Emerald’s question. “Right, then,” agreed she reluctantly, “lead the way, Bass Beat.”

Bass laughed heartily, remarking, “you can change the lyrics,” before Emerald interrupted.

“But the song remains the same,” said she, finishing Bass Beat’s thought.

“Yes!” exclaimed the yellow pegasus, bumping her hoof with that of Emerald Comet. “Well, what cities are nearby?”

“I saw a small town that way,” answered the blue filly, pointing a hoof in a general Westerly direction.

Upon exiting the forest, Emerald pointed more precisely toward the town in the distance. “Nah,” declined Bass, “that’s Ponyville; too small a town for my taste. Wait, that means this is Whitetail Wood.” She then jumped with joy, pointing further up the road. “We could go to Canterlot; we could make it big there.”

“No,” replied Emerald flatly. Bass was about to open her mouth when she repeated, “no; we’re not going to Canterlot.”

Bass shrugged and said, “whatever.” She then turned to the East and said, “that just leaves Fillydelphia, that way.” she pointed down the road, and informed, “it’s a pretty big city; lots of job opportunities and places to go.” Emerald nodded, to which Bass beamed, “great! Let’s agitate the dirt!” Emerald gave Bass another look of confusion, to which she explained, “that means, ‘let’s go.’” Emerald nodded in realisation, and the pair trotted off.

*************************************************************************************************

“Wait, wait,” said an impatient Rainbow Dash, “so when exactly do you meet Uhrwerk?”

Twilight Sparkle nodded, adding, “yeah. I hate to ask you to speed up, but we did ask about Uhrwerk, not Bass Beat.”

“I was just getting to Uhrwerk,” replied Tech Specs, “it’s just that Bass Beat is rather big in how I met him, and why my name’s Tech Specs now instead of Emerald Comet. Now, if I may continue.” Twilight put on a look of shame at what she said as Tech continued the story.

*************************************************************************************************

When Bass Beat, Emerald Comet, and Blades arrived in the bustling city of Fillydelphia, nopony really payed any mind to them; lots of foals in the city were either homeless and/or looking for a job. Over the course of a couple days, Bass Beat had explained a few things about herself to Emerald: first, she lived in Fillydelphia when she was very young, and ran away because her parents and siblings were very abusive, in at least one instance almost beating Bass to death. When she left, she had taken a job as a roadie for hire, that being the reason she knew the geography of Equestria so well. She had been a roadie for Megadeth when they weren’t very well known; while working for them, their drummer had taught Bass how to play, earning her her Cutie Mark. Her last employer was Huckster Buckster, who payed well, but wasn’t the nicest pony to work for, losing his temper when somepony upstaged him or his daughter, and sometimes when somepony just disagreed with him.

Emerald, on the other hoof, didn’t say much about her past, except that she and blades had run away from Canterlot for “various reasons.”

After a couple days, Bass and Emerald had spent most of their money to feed themselves and Blades. Though, Bass Beat had purchased a cheap guitar and taught Emerald how to play, and they tried to earn money as street performers, to no avail. Eventually, though, they came across somepony willing to hire them.

“Hello, Little Fillies,” an aged Earth Stallion greeted Bass and Emerald, a Germane accent clear in his soft, old voice. He had a light, faded brown coat, his mane was grey and tied back with a gold band, with a matching tail, and his eyes were a deep aqua colour. He was wearing a casual-looking suit, with a dark green high-collar cape, Black boots on his rear legs, tan trousers, a green vest, and a grey shirt with the sleeves rolled up. A shiny platinum watch chain dangled from his vest pocket.

“Good Day, Sir,” greeted Bass happily in return, “would you like to hear a song? Only two bits.”

The stallion shook his head. “Nein,” replied he, “I will not beat around the bush with you; I have a school on the other side of town and it needs janitorial workers; I can not pay much in the way of bits, but I can offer you a place to stay and three square meals a day. Are you pair interested?”

“Oh, are we!” beamed Bass at the offer. She then looked to Emerald and her dragon, the latter of which was asleep on a cardboard box. “Wait,” added the yellow filly, “does that include my friend’s baby dragon?”

“Why, of course,” answered the stallion, as though the answer was obvious. “Why wouldn’t I feed him, as well?”

“Good point,” admitted Bass. “Oh, well. When can we start?”

The stallion thought for a second before responding. “I can take you to my home and give you some hot food today, and then you can start tomorrow, if you like.”

Bass and Emerald looked at each other, and Bass beamed, “that’d be great, Mister!”

“Oh, I almost forgot,” said the stallion, knocking his forehead with his hoof once, “I never properly introduced myself. My name is Uhrwerk.” The two fillies introduced themselves to Uhrwerk, telling him the dragon’s name as well. “It is a pleasure to meet the both of you. Now, if we might be off, then?”

The stallion led the fillies through the centre of the city, almost to the Eastern suburbs, to a large gated yard in front of a large house. He produced a key from his vest pocket and unlocked the gate, motioning for the fillies to enter as he opened it. The house was large, but rather plain-looking from the outside: a basic brick and wood construction with a large chimney on either side of the house.

“Wow,” admired Bass at the massive building, “if this is just your house, then your school must be huge!”

“My home and school are one and the same, Miss Beat,” informed Uhrwerk. Both fillies asked why, and he explained, “my colleagues and I all reside here, and we teach young ponies the art and trade of clock and watchmaking.”

Emerald’s ears perked at the mention of watchmaking. “Sir, did you say ‘clockmaking?’” asked she, silent until that point.

“Oh, you speak,” remarked the stallion, who was joking, but maintained a serious expression and tone. “I thought you were a mute or something. But no, I didn’t say ‘clockmaking;’ I said ‘clock and watchmaking,’ but clockmaking is understood. Why?”

Emerald laughed half-heartedly at the dry joke. “Umm, yeah. Anyway, what would somepony have to do to hypothetically get into your school?”

“Nothing too difficult,” replied Uhrwerk. “Unless, of course, one is not ready for it.”

“Well, what is ‘it?’”

“A small test of one’s capability and potential as a clockmaker,” explained Uhrwerk, “If they pass, they are accepted; if not, then better luck next time.” He then looked to Emerald, as if he knew what she was going to ask next, and said, “if you like, I will allow you to take the entrance exam.”