Chapter 1: Grinding gears.
In the dimly lit back room of the Nuts and Bolts workshop, in the town of Hoofington, the sound of clanking metal could be heard. Spread across the floor were gears, cogs, mechanical odds and ends, and a heap of tools. Sitting at the back wall was a mare hard at work, with some rectangular mechanism sitting on a workbench. Across the way a red and black tail was peeking put from under a tarp, this is where the sound originated.
The mare at the work bench had just finshed putting the final piece in to her rectangular mechanism. She wiped the sweat from here brow, her hoof passing under her messy mane. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she looked at her work in satisfaction,
"Phew, it's finally done." She said turning around in her stool. Suddenly a scowl appeared across her face as she noticed fidgeting under the tarp.
Hopping down from the stool, she casually walked to the other end of the room. Looking at the tail of the pony under the tarp, her face went from an angry expression to one that looked annoyed. She gently tapped the rear of the tails owner. A loud thud was heard as the stallion hit his head on whatever he was working on.
"What the hay?" He said coming from under the tarp, looking at the one who had surprised him. Right away he saw his sister Gizmo Tinker standing there face to face with him. He easily recognized her, for she was the only green unicorn with half a horn he knew. Also the only one with a messy, blue mane and gear cutie mark.
"Rusty, what's taking so long?" She inquired of him. She spoke of her brother who was standing in front of her. Rust Bucket was his name, but most ponies just called him Rusty. He, As his nickname would imply, is a rust colored unicorn with a Crimson and black striped spiky mane. He wore round wire frame glasses and a beige work vest, though some would say he doesn't need the glasses since they are so small and only rest on his nose. His cutie mark is a wrench and a screwdriver crossed.
"Some of them gears ain't fittin' right." He had a tired look in his eyes as he glared at his sister. "Ya need ta learn some durn patience."
"Well, sorry. I just want to get this project done." An apologetic look appeared across Gizmos face. She loved her brother very much and didn't wish to make him angry, but he was right, she could use a little patience. Gizmo was always impatient, ever since she was a little filly.
"Ah'll try ta find some smaller on the floor here." He smiled back at his sister. "Just you wait darlin', we're gonna get this done tonight." His horn glowed as he lifted a couple of gears off the floor.
"Theses oughta fit." He said disappearing under the tarp once again. Almost instantly the sound of clanking metal rang out from where he stood. Rusty poked his head out from under the tarp, smiling at Gizmo.
"They fit, Giz." He said as a huge grin ran across his sisters face.
At once she ran over to him and removed the tarp, and there it stood. Next to Rusty was a marvel of machinery, a mechanical pony that Gizmo had named Sprocket. At the moment it was just a shell of overlapping copper plates and gears on the inside. It also sported a suave black mane and tail.
"Now all that's left is the heart drive." She pointed at the rectangular mechanism. "Could you please go charge it with your magic Rusty?"
He smiled and walked over to the work bench. The "Heart Drive", as Gizmo called it, was designed to allow Sprocket to gain his own personality, special talent, and cutie mark. It was a wonderous device that came to her after a flower pot had hit her on the head, which happened, surprisingly, after a pink pony she had met on a trip to ponyville had a twitchy tail.
Rusty readied his horn and touched it against the Heart Drive. A crimson spark set off and the machine made a little whirring sound. He used his magic once again to lift the device and carry it over to his sister.
"Great," She said "Now we just need to install it."
Using her own magic, which is weaker then most unicorns because of her broken horn, she took the Heart Drive from her brother and placed it in her hooves. She gently reached inside the open copper shell and placed the Heart Drive in side. Upon shutting the copper plating she stepped back. From the copper body Grinding gears could be heard.
Sprocket opened his eyes and gizmo spoke. "Welcome, to Equestria."
"H-hello." Sprocket replied, his voice was childlike in essence. He stood there, looking all around him, taking in the sights of the tiny room. It all had amazed him, which was no surprise seeing as he had just been 'born'. He then looked back to the duo that had just given him life, and spoke again.
"Wh-who are you?" He inquired of the siblings. "Where am I? And why is it so filthy in here?"
Rust bucket rolled his eyes. "Well, at least we know he understands speech just fine. T'would do him some good to learn manners though." He said in his lazy southern drawl.
Gizmo shushed her brother and prepared an answer for Sprocket. "Well, my dear Sprocket, I am Gizmo Tinker," She said "and that's my brother, Rust Bucket, or as I call him, Pet monkey replacement."
"Ah' heard that." Rusty frowned at his sister. "Anywho, This place we're in, is the Nuts and Bolts Workshop. This is where me an' Giz here created you."
The robot looked around again, and stopped when he came back to Gizmo. "You called me 'sprocket', is that my name?" he asked the green mare.
"Yes it is, I go you that name when you were just a blueprint. I thought it would suit a robot pony such as yourself." She smiled at the copper coated automaton. "Now, I think that's enough question for now. I want to see if your legs work, walk with me while i show you around the shop."
Sprocket did as he was told and walked into the front room with gizmo. The room had shelves stacked with little doo-dads, gadgets, and other machinery. Each item on the shelves had labels in front of it, one labeled automatic bread butterer had caught Sprockets eye; probably because it had a tag hanging from it that said "currently out of stock". On top of the counter they were standing behind was a log book of Rusty's mechanic jobs and a small cash register.
"This is where the magic happens, Sprocket. Here is where I sell my inventions to those willing to buy them, and where Rusty gets contracts to go play Mr. Fix-it around town." Gizmo explained. "The most popular invention is the bread butterer, I can't seem to make enough to keep up with demand. " She smiled at sprocket, while he looked in awe at his surroundings.
"Okay, sprocket. Enough gawking time to show you the upstairs." Gizmo said as she trotted to the other side of the counter. He followed her to the staircase which was located to the right of the cash register.
At the top of the stairs there were four doors, two on the right, one on the left and one at the end of the hall. Gizmo stopped at the first door on the right and turned to Sprocket. "This room right here belongs to Rusty. Go ahead and look inside if you wish."
Sprocket did what she said and opened the door. The first thing he noticed was a pile of novels scattered acroos the floor, printed on each one were big red letters that read "Daring Do.", though they all had a different picture. Next thing he saw was the CD player sitting on the nightstand. The CD case in front of it Had a grey earth pony playing a Double bass on the front of it. Lastly, above the bed, were two pictures. The first one was a poster for the Carousel boutique, it featured a white mare with purple mane wearing a stunningly beautiful dress. The second pictures was an autographed pictured of the aforementioned gray mare, it read "To: Rust Bucket, Sincerely Octavia.".
Gizmo laughed as she saw him looking at the signed photograph. "Rusty sure does love her music. He is a real big fan of anything classical actually, but Octavia is by far his favorite," She giggled. "And the poster there is just because he has a huge crush on the unicorn from ponyville."
Sprocket looked towards her and smiled. "May I see your room next?"
"Sure," She smiled back "But it's nothing special." She walked to the door at th end of the hall as Sprocket followed closely behind. The door creaked as Gizmo opened it.
In the room there was the typical bedroom except for the desk, which was covered in blueprints. There were all sorts of them. Blueprints for juicers, squeezers, the bread butterer, muffin cannons, and all sorts of other things. But smack dab in the middle of all of them, was his blueprint, Labeled "Sprocket".
Gizmo walked up to the desk and pointed the blueprint. "That's you." she said "Just last year, all you were was a drawing on a piece of paper. Now you're a fully functional robot earth pony."
Sprocket trotted over to the desk and stared at the blueprint. He stood there for a good ten minutes until Gizmo spoke again.
"You want to see the room we prepared for you?" She asked with a pleasant smile on her face,
He answered her with another question. "I have a room?" A puzzled look showing across his metallic face. This bewildered the 'newborn' robot.
"Of course, you didn't think we'd make you sleep on the floor, did you?" She chuckled walking past him and out into the hall. "It's right next to Rusty's room."
Sprocket followed her out the door and into the hall. She opened the bedroom door and allowed him to look inside.
It was just a plain bedroom, only consisting of a bed, a window, and a night stand. But sprocket loved it all the same. He turned a back around and smiled at the mare with the broken horn. He wrapped his front legs arund her and gave her big hug, whispering two words into her ear.
"Thank you."
