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.]