Chapter 0 - Work, Work, Work.
I had been dreaming well tonight; I dreamed I had time to go to the spa. It was nice and relaxing, but sadly, all good dreams must come to an end. So when the sun hit my eyes in the morning, I didn't argue; I threw the covers off of myself and stretched. The sore joints popped as I cracked my back and slid out of bed. Except that I nearly faceplanted from tripping on that stupid lump of fluff I call my cat. I saw the ground coming and threw a hoof to catch myself, remaining upright but still in an awkward spot.
"Damnit Mel! Get up; it's time for breakfast." I pushed the cat to her paws, the Tabby cat giving me a slightly tired look before padding into the living room. I took a moment to go into my bathroom and flick on the light; looking in the mirror, I saw my usual bedraggled face. Now, I'll be the first to admit I'm not a mare that's big on "Self Care" or whatnot, but I at least take the time to brush my teeth in the morning. My face is still covered in some grime from the previous night, my hair hanging around my head in a bit of a mess. My coat of fur was somewhere in between white and gray, though you Couldn't tell with all the muck. My Silver eyes were lined with dark circles, and my Jet black tail was in far worse shape than I would admit, though I liked it being that long.
You see, my tail has gotten to the point where it's pretty big, and I don't mean like "Oh it needs to be trimmed." I mean, I have a straight-up BUSH on my rump. It's big enough that If I curled up somewhere, I could use it as a blanket, if it weren't currently filled with gunk and twigs, of course. Now usually I'd care to clean that up a bit, but today I didn't have time. So quickly after brushing my teeth, I left the bathroom, clicked off the light, and headed to the shirt I tossed on my floor. It had definitely seen better days, but sadly, I only own a few of them.
The once-white shirt has been stained and torn; heck, it doesn't even button up all the way anymore. But I slipped it on anyway. I needed to at least Look like a living creature today. So I trodded out into the kitchen area and poured Mel some food, and she gave an appreciative meow. After the cat had been fed, I went over to a cabinet to feed myself, only to wince at the sheer emptiness of the thing.
"Shit. looks like it's time for groceries again." Shaking my head, I closed the cabinet and poured myself a cup of water, downing it as I unlocked the door to the living area. The Door clicked as it opened, and Mel pushed herself past me to head downstairs, and I followed behind her. Like many places in Ponyville, where I live and work, The second floor is the living area, which is basically where the kitchen, living room, bedroom, and bathroom are. The door leads to a stairwell immediately into the main room downstairs.
The Main work area of my place was different however, Instead of the standard wooden front door with glass windows I had an open wall that had metal shutters that could drop down whenever I wanted to close up. As I yawned, I took note of the numbers and angles floating around Mel as she moved about; oh, right. Like most ponies in Equestria, I had a cutie mark. A Cutiemark represents a pony's special talent and basically what they're destined to do in life... When I got my cutie mark, I started to notice things. Turns out those floaty lines of text and such weren't a common thing ponies could just see, Personally I could see and visualize math problems and angles regarding physics. Even living things aren't free from my "Mechanical Sight," as I've dubbed it.
The Mechanic Sight basically gives me instant calculations of Velocity, Momentum, and the energy output of those around me while they move. For example, around Mel's paws, I could see the force she was outputting on the ground below herself to propel herself across the shop floor. Oh, but I'm getting off track. The shop area has shutters that I use when I close shop, and the main floor was basically what you'd expect from a Mechanic pony. Recently, I had taken on the Train Maintenence whenever it came through Ponyville, and recently, I had to take a few broken parts out and re-make some new ones. Basically, unfinished parts and metal lay strewn across the floor. The far wall consisted of tool racks and rollable tool cabinets that I could move to whatever I was working on.
I also had my own cart parked on one side of the room, small enough to fit through the front shutters. It was different from the usual kind of Cart, though. While it still had a Harness so that I could pull it, and yes, it was still primarily wood. The cart was also reinforced by metal plating and proper suspension on the wheels. In the shop's back corner was a little office where I kept most of the paperwork and bills and such. Above the Office was a sign depicting "Tinkers Tools!" Oh, right, Yeah, that's me. Tinker Forge. The office is basically where I do my paper-pushing... Speaking of which, it was time to open up and catch up on the paperwork.
So, Thats what I did. I trotted to the chain and grabbed it in my jaws, Yanking it down while the shutter raised with a loud Rattle. I winced as the sunlight came flowing in, but it was cheaper than paying for those magic lamps. A few ponies waved at me as they went along with the hustle and bustle of the morning, and... Decorations were being put up. Shit, was there another holiday today or something? Crap, I'll have to ask about that. But for now... Paperwork.
I turned and headed for my tiny little office, where I sat down in the little window. The chair was wooden and stiff, but it did its job. I grumbled and cursed, and finally, with a glare, I got to work.
Author's Note
Greetings Friends and Foes! I know this isn't my usual thing with Flare the Phoenix, but I've hit a bit of a block with our favorite bird boi. So I thought working on something else alongside that story would help me from focusing too much and just spiraling into writer's block madness. Sorry I haven't posted in so long, Life hit the fan AGAIN, and the government is giving me shit about SSI and Disability. Anywho, this is supposed to be the Authors notes.
I figured it would be interesting to see the equations of physics at work as well as just a naturally mechanically inclined mare, so I threw her together, and boom! We got Tinker. Now, I'm aware there are other OCs named the same, but I swear I had no idea of that when I first started writing this story.
Chapter 1 - The Beginning
I grumbled as I walked through town. When I got caught up on my paperwork, the sun had reached its midpoint in the sky. My stomach was complaining, and It was time for groceries, but every store was out today to help set up the "Summer Sun Festival" thing. I never really paid much attention to that sort of thing. Usually, it meant more carts in the area and more work to do. I did my best to tune out the Equations flitting about... When I noticed something odd. Applejack was tugging along her cart. I had heard that her whole family had been making food for the celebration in town, but that wasn't the odd bit... Red numbers flitted about her- SHIT.
I called out, waving my hoof. "Applejack! stop your cart!!!" But... It was too late, and the damage had been done. The overbearing weight on her cart had snapped the wooden wheel clean in half. Applejack jerked against her harness when the cart suddenly stopped, and she cursed under her breath.
"Consarnit, the darn wheel couldn't have picked a worse time."
I sighed, trotting over. I could already feel the headache coming on. "I keep telling you to bring it in. I know your family is all about fixing stuff, but carts need regular service."
This had been a common occurrence with her equipment; internally, I was annoyed with her but couldn't entirely blame her. She was a farm worker, so every piece of equipment she had worked as hard as she was, which meant down to the bone. And the Apple family couldn't always afford my Standard Fee for fixing their stuff. It was about 100 bits per fix. I couldn't charge by the hour anymore since I was too attentive, and nobody was happy with the cost.
I had her lift the cart while I replaced it with her spare. Yes, I had required her to start carrying a spare. It was on a legal sheet for me to release her cart to her since she NEVER brought it in for maintenance. I didn't wanna catch shit from legal bullshit if she got hurt because she forgot to bring it in. She's too nice to screw over me like that, but if she wasn't conscious to make the choice, the court might do it for her. She was nice enough to understand the precaution and understood that it was a reasonable requirement. Of course, I didn't charge her for the spare wheel mount on the side of her cart; she was stressing money-wise anyhow. Wait... oh shit, she's talking.
She was almost done with her tirade of apology and explanation when I tuned back in. "And I guess we just overloaded it... Sorry about this, Tinker."
I waved a hoof, pretending I had listened the whole time. "Yeah, yeah, Just hold still."
I was getting a headache... For some reason, the Equations were blurring together... instinctively, I tried to push them apart with my hooves and wobbled after trying to press my hooves to nothing. Shit, now Applejack was looking worried... I got back to work. While doing so, I tried to figure out what was happening; why were they doing that? Were my eyes failing me? Is there something wrong with my talent? Wh- Oh goddamnit.
"uhm... Tinker? I'm pretty sure you just-" I cut her off with a swipe of my hoof.
"Put it on the wrong side out? Yeah, yeah, I know... Sorry," I started taking the wheel back off, quickly reversing what I did and then putting it on properly. After that, she was just about to get back on her way when she turned and hoofed me over a shiny-looking... delicious... apple. I blinked.
"What's this?" Applejack pointed the apple at me and pointed at my stomach, which I realized was audibly growling. I started to mumble to myself, going over a few numbers.
"I could have sworn... how did I miss... No, it's been like a day since my last meal. I should still have another before this... oh, right. Train maintenance the other day." When I got done thinking out loud, Applejack stared at me, flabbergasted. She shook her head and started walking, giving me a side eye the whole time. I tuned into the cart, The structure holding it together in harmony now. Once reassured, I tuned back out... I had been getting better at tuning in and out with my mechanical sight; if I hadn't, it would have been pretty headache-inducing quickly. I could see every individual or general equation for certain things. But there was always just a little bit of numbers floating around; I could never turn it off all the way.
Unfortunately... Just before I returned to the lower end of my sight, the abject law of Chaos bounced up to me, speaking at about a billion words per second. Only to be halted mid-spout by my sudden scream of pain and my instant covering of my eyes. This resulted in everyone nearby cringing and then looking at me, realizing what was up and keeping going. Pinkie Pie instantly spoke slower and more apologetically this time. It's still fast, though.
"Oh, Goodness! I am SO sorry, Tinker!!! I saw you helping Applejack, and I was coming by to invite you to a welcome-to-Ponyville party for the new purple pony, who was going about with a clipboard! I should have realized you had your sight tuned in." She instantly deflated after finishing her tirade, which gave me another slight twinge in the back of my head as I watched numbers flick up into the infinite digits of Pie for some reason.
"No, your fine Pinkie... Accidents happen, and I'll be alright. You mentioned a party?" I didn't want to go, but apparently, ponies who didn't show up to a "Pinkie Party" were un-publically judged by everyone in town until they started going.
She skipped through another tangent of hyperwords, dropped an envelope into my main, where anyone else could easily reach up and grab it, and took off. However, my mane was still a rats' nest of grease, oil, and whatever ended up there during work. Plus, I had a LARGE mane, so I couldn't reach the letter.
"Wonderful..." So, There was a new pony in town. Maybe I should introduce myself? No, there has been too much social activity so far today. Instead, I marched towards the train station; the train was there unloading a tirade of pompous pricks who just got done getting froo-frood up for the celebration. They gave me a dirty look and were about to tirade me for getting anywhere near their hooficures with my grease when the conductor showed up and saluted me. I still don't know why they do that; maybe it's a show of respect for putting up with their engines. Whatever. I just nodded at him and climbed my way up onto the engine. No, not into the engine. On to the engine.
I tuned back in, and it was a mess. I won't get into the specifics lest I barf into the engine, creating another issue; it was flooded with red numbers. I had to tune in to each one individually to figure out what it was even describing... But, as the Train Conductor passed me the tools that I had started leaving at the station, I cracked my neck, swallowed the bile in my throat, and got to work.
The sun was going down, and I watched ponies heading towards the library; I suppose that's where the party was happening. I closed up the engine, leaving a "Do Not Drive Till I sign off on this, you dipshit" note on the controls, and headed out.
The party was packed, with Ponies dancing around to cheery party music classic of Pinkie, and I practically wanted to puke. There are too many numbers simultaneously, plus I hate social interaction on this scale. It seems the new purple pony, "Twilight" it seemed, agreed. She threw a fit and retreated into the room at the back while the new dragon seemed content to enjoy the party. It appeared he was called "Spike," and at least he had some intelligence about him. He asked about my cutie mark, my job, and my sight. After I told him about it, I explained the numbers.
It was about then that he nodded and tilted his head. "That explains why you look so green; following that many things happening is probably nauseating, right?"
I nodded, a little taken aback. "Huh, Yeah. Ponies don't usually tune into that; they think I'm antisocial because I'm a slob. While I am antisocial, I don't like talking on this scale. I also can't keep up with all that's happening in a group. Too many numbers, things flashing. And then there's Pinkie... My sight can't even comprehend her WALKING, much less her bounces and whatever the fuck she's doing right now."
I waved off towards Pinkie, and he sighed in understanding. Pinkie Pie, the Mathematical NULL Sign, was bouncing around the room after chugging a bottle of hot sauce after mistaking it for... something or other. I felt sick. I closed my eyes, tried not to puke, and Managed it for a while. Even long enough that ponies started clearing out for the celebration at town hall, Spike stayed for a minute to help me chill and claimed I could stay here If I wanted. He and Twilight cleared out to follow the others to the town hall. And then I fell asleep.
Author's Note
Woot! Here we go again. I tried to incorporate how one might feel about seeing that sort of mathematical thing ALWAYS, and there are a few other pieces of information about Tinker's character I haven't given out yet. I used a different Spellchecking method this time, so I hope I managed to get it better. Anywho, that's all from me today, folks. See you in the next chapter.
[No, I haven't forgotten about the Phoenix story; I'm just... I am stumped on where to take it next, and I'm working it out before continuing.]
