Far From Home, Nearer to the Heart.

Heavy Rivet rode in the largest, comfiest, most expensive cart she had ever seen. It was unnerving to her, how quickly this had all happened. She looked around at the gilded edges and uncomfortably white, but soft and plush, cushions all around the cabin. Adding to her nerves was the fact that she was hundreds of feet in the air, the wind rushing past the massive glass windows on either side of her.

She thought back a bit, trying to remember how this had all happened and she realized just how quickly everything had gone down. Her mind traveled in time as her body remained in the cabin to support her existence.

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"Come again dear" Grannie's disbelieving voice said.

"I said we're going to be rich mom. This letter is from Princess Celestia herself."

"You're kidding"

"Not at all mom, have a look" Rivet turned, floating the letter to her mother with her magic.

Grannie read the letter over, her eyes widening as they trailed all the way to the bottom, then finding their way to the top again and sliding down the gilded parchment once again. Grannie sat back a moment, letting her mind grasp everything she had just read. She stood again, a little more weakly this time, and gave her head a quick shake to clear it out. A smile crossed her lips.

"See Rivet. I told you that we'd catch a break" She said, stepping over to Rivet and leaning into her with a hug.

"I know mom. And to think I didn't believe you. YOU of all people!" She said giggling with a new-found spirit.

"Well go on dear get ready!" Grannie ushered

"Right!" Rivet said. "......What should I wear?"

Grannie gave a frustrated groan. "Put on your nicest dress, something blue."

"Right!" Rivet said as she turned and charged down the hallway to her room, getting halfway down the hall before she turned and sprinted back. "But mom, it's not till tomorrow." She reminded her mother.

"Hm? Oh...right." Grannie said embarrassed by her own lack of memory. "Well um.....practice?"

"More like wait. The letter wasn't very specific." She replied, walking around the coffee table to lay down on the couch.

"Right.....sounds like a plan" Grannie said, reclining back into her rocking chair.

Rivet nodded in response, levitating the letter back to herself to give it another read. just to make sure.
Her eyes fell upon the extravagant page, marking the glyphs that represented her language with scrutiny.

The letter still read as she remembered:

Dear, Heavy Rivet

It has come to the attention of the courts that a certain item of severe importance is in desperate need of repair. As the head of the court, I Princess Celestia of Equestria, have recognized that your specific set of skills are the exact set needed to accomplish the task at hand. If you'd like to discuss the terms of an agreement you may meet my personal protege at the library near you in Ponyville tomorrow at seven A.M. sharp. She will describe to you the issue in which we face. Both I, and my sister Luna dearly hope you accept our offer.

Sincerely, Princess Celestia of Equestria~

Rivet sighed deeply as she finished reading. I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow. Rivet thought as she lay her head down, letting her eyes slip close.
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Rivet woke to an especially loud snore behind her. Her ears perked first, before her entire head raised up and looked back to see her mother asleep in her rocking chair. Rivet smiled and shook her head at the elder mare, turning her head to look at the clock positioned on the bookshelf. 1:00? Rivet thought. "What do I do for seven hours?" she said, already feeling an anxious not driving itself into her core.

She lay her head back down, attempting to maybe fall asleep again, just to pass some time. After what felt like ages, Rivet turned and looked at the still-ticking clock 1:05 "Oh come on." Rivet's voice came out in an exasperated whisper. She rolled over on the couch, aggravated, laying for a few moments before she quickly became bored again. She lost herself in the patterns across the wooden ceiling of her home. following each and every intricate pattern around the ceiling, even stopping to watch a curl of dust drift across a path. It wasn't long before she felt her lids make their way to each other again, embracing sleep with open arms.
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"Rivet! Rivet wake up!" A voice called from above her somewhere.

"What? What? I'm up, I'm up" she said groggily, opening her eyes to be met with her mother, pressing hoof to her shoulder.

"Rivet! It's Six Thirty! Get up! Get up! Go on!" She beckoned.

"S-SIX THIRTY!" Rivet yelled, her eyes snapped open wide as she bolted from the couch to the bathroom. She turned the water on in her rinky old tub, not hesitating to jump into the cold water and scrub herself clean of sleep. She got out shivering, and grabbed a towel hurriedly wrapping it around herself and scrubbing furiously. She lost herself for a moment in the wonderful feeling of the towel scratching over her body, then remembered what she was doing and cast it aside without a second thought and ran across the hall to her bedroom. She flung open the closet with force and pulled out her nicest dress. It was a lovely, deep shade of blue that matched her mane and tail, flowing almost like a wave of curly fabric. Accenting it was a a little bow, of the same color.

She hurriedly slid into the dress, attaching the bow to her hair and trotting out of her room and down the hall to her grandmother. "Alright, I'm ready, bye mom!"

"Bye Rivet, make me proud, girl!" Grannie called as she watched Rivet in her beautiful dress hurry out the door and into the darkness of the on-setting morning.

Rivet dashed out into the cool morning air, the knot in her stomach relaxing slightly as the chilled wind blew through her fur and kissed her skin. She followed the same landmarks she always had, the hill, the bridge, but today it all looked different. It all felt so....Rivet couldn't think of a word to describe it. It felt dead, as if she wouldn't be coming back for a long time. She slowed her pace a bit, relishing the feeling of the smoothed out gravel that had found itself under-hoof day to day for years now. When it came time to enter the town she almost thought to turn back, but carried on.

She kept her head lowered slightly so as not to draw attention as she passed through the town, though it was a fruitless effort as nopony was even awake yet. She progressed through the streets, reaching a turn where she could see the library coming up. She gulped, and steadied her breathing, trying to keep it together for as long as possible. And yet, with every step she took, she felt her pulse increase just a bit. A little more, a little more, a little more, until she was almost at the front door and she could feel her heart booming in her chest with each and every step.

That note seemed so serious but it was SO vague. What if it's all a prank? What if I can't handle what I'm needed for? I can't go job hunting again! Her mind spoke in a rapid fire of anxiousness. She stopped for a moment, sitting down and calming herself again.

"You're going to be FINE, Rivet," she spoke to herself quietly.

On shaky legs, she rose again, crossing just a few more steps to the front door of the tree-house library. Her hoof raised, and knocked once, twice, three times, all with a hard, resounding Thunk! accompanying it. She heard some scuffling, and a voice call out.

"Spike, the door!" The voice sounded strained.

"Right!" Another voice, male this time, called out.

Rivet waited patiently as the door's handle fidgeted, and turned before the door opened. Rivet felt a bit confused for a moment, as it was not a pony who greeted her, but a cute little baby dragon. He had purple scales covering his body all the way to the green spines across his back that grew ever taller as they reached his head, his belly imitating with this color with a softer, more olive color.

"Are you Heavy Rivet?" He asked quickly.

"Um, yes." Rivet replied, smiling down at the dragon's adorable face.

The dragon, who must've been Spike beckoned to her. "Come on in, Twilight's been SO anxious to see you. better not keep her waiting."

"Right." Rivet replied, following Spike into the home, closing the door behind her with her magic.

She turned to see the source of the first voice she had heard. A purple unicorn stood over a morbidly bulging suitcase, struggling with all of her might to keep the case in it's almost-closed position. The mare's head snapped to the left to notice Rivet standing in her living room. "Oh...hi there.....You're Heavy Rivet I assume?" She said between grunts of effort. "Could you....give me a hoof here?" She asked tiredly. Rivet stared at her stupidly for a moment before her mind flickered with realization, "Oh! Um, okay," Rivet approached the suitcase slowly, weary of a clothes explosion. She pressed her hooves down cautiously, and leaned in, throwing her weight and strength into the lid of the struggling case.

The grunting of both Rivet and the mare filled the room as they both pressed down on the case with all of their might, together working up a sweat as the case's lid finally shut with an uncertain *click*. Both mares fell back with an exhausted and relieved sigh. "Whew! Thanks for that! Nice to meet you, my name is Twilight Sparkle." The mare said, holding out her hoof. Rivet took her hoof, shaking lightly with her wobbly leg. "Heavy Rivet, the pleasures mine," she said, smiling at Twilight. "So are you ready? Or...have I not even told you the issue yet?" Twilight rattled off like a machine gun. "You haven't told me yet. That letter was so vague I couldn't glean anything from it. I'll be having a little chat with the princesses about that by the way." Rivet huffed, aggravation mixing into her voice as the sentence progressed. Twilight blushed a bit in regard to one of her own letters form the princess. "Yeah, she can be pre-tty vague can't she? What do you know so far?" "That some....mystical....magical.....thingy mabobber, needs fixing"She waved her hooves about comically at each pause,"and I've been "royally called upon" to see it through."

"Right, well, the "magical thingy mabobber" is a twelve foot enchanted machine built inside a crystal that's keeping a rift in the dimensions of space and time as closed as possible. The reason we can't close it is because the machine's energy source-itself is broken, and nopony knows how to fix it."

"So what makes you think I can?" Rivet asked

"Literally nothing. But you were a machinist once weren't you? That was in the profile Celestia sent me at least."

"That's right, though I don't like that you've been poking around in my life."

"Heh, sorry. But it seems to me like you were pretty good at one time, right?"

"Up until two days ago actually. I've not been off that long." Rivet let loose a bitterness with her words.

"O-oh. I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean-" Twilight was genuinely shocked to hear this.

"It's fine." rivet let loose firmly.

"I just I didn't kn-" Twilight scrambled to make some sort of amend.

"It's....fine." Rivet said coldly, locking Twilight under a "drop it" stare.

"O-okay then." Twilight recollected herself. "From what I can tell, the princesses think you're their best bet. That's about all."

"Is there any hope I can fix it?"

"Maybe, I don't know. I've poked around at it a bit myself but it's foreign to me. Nothing like the other machines we have here in Equestria. It doesn't even seem suitable for hooves."

"Not suitable for hooves? What then? A claw?" Rivet asked, shrugging off her cold mood for true intrigue.

"No, too small and fragile for a claw. This seems like it was made for smaller digits, almost like those of a primates, but even smaller."

"So, you're telling me it was made by a miniature ape?" Rivet was incredulous.

"It seems like. The princesses are reluctant to say who or what made it."

"SO THEN. You're asking me to leave for an indeterminate amount of time, leaving my elder mother to fend for herself, and attempt to fix an alien machine that nopony knows how to fix or even IF it can be fixed?" Rivet was nearing her temper's bursting point.

"You're mother's care HAS been arranged actually, and even if you can't fix it you'll be compensated for your lost time." Twilight said cooly, understanding the anger of her new acquaintance.

Rivet stopped for a moment. Her mother would be taken care of? Not to mention she'd be compensated. Was it worth it? Rivet closed her eyes to think, taking a seat, deftly wrinkling her dress as her rump landed on it.

"You don't have to if you don't want to. The princesses made that abundantly clear. Nothing is set yet and you can always turn ba-" Twilight was cut off.

"I'll do it." Rivet said calmly.

Twilight nearly tripped on herself in surprise. "Y-you will?"

"I don't have much of a choice do I?" Rivet replied. "Where am I going to find a job for certain? This is the only certain way I can take care of my mother and myself so.....I say yes."

"Excellent! I'll call the carriages then." Twilight said, pouncing on the moment before any second thoughts could be had.

"Carriages? I don't even have a bag!"

"All toiletries and other needs will be taken care of at the work site and pay will be given in a small bonus on arrival and then bi-monthly after that." Twilight said in a rush as she swiftly scrawled something on a parchment. "SPIKE! I NEED YOU TO SEND A LETTER!"

Twilight jumped as from behind her the young dragon piped up. "Sheesh, I never even left the room." Spike grabbed the parchment out of Twilight's magical grasp and let loose a wash of green dragons fire on it.

It was Rivet's turn to jump as the parchment went up in smoke, slowly disappearing into nothing as a single trail of fire whisked around in the air, finding it's way out an open window.

"D-did he just burn that note!?" She asked incredulously.

"No, no" Twilight assured. "Spikes breath has the ability to send my letters to Celestia, just as it can receive them as well."

"Huh...funky" Rivet said, secretly amazed at the feat.

"So....are you ready?" Twilight asked.

Rivet stood up in her blue dress and shook herself mentally. "As ready as I'll ever be I suppose." The sudden sound of hooves colliding with ground, followed by the crashing of wheels startled her.

"Let's get going then. Don't want to keep the princesses waiting!" Twilight sang as she lifted her suitcase and carried it with herself out the door. Just as she disappear , her head popped in through the doorway again, "Try not to burn down the house while I'm gone spike."

"It was one book!" The little dragon cried out indignantly. Rivet giggled as she trotted out the door herself, closing it softly before turning, gasping at what she saw.

It was perhaps the most beautiful, ornate structure she had ever seen. A carriage made of wood painted a brilliant white and encrusted with gold, covered in unique designs and patterns the likes of which she almost couldn't fathom. At the open door stood Twilight, waving a hoof and calling to her. "Come on Rivet! We need to get going!"

Rivet wasted no time boarding the craft, quickly jumping up into the soft, white comfort of the carriage and settling down.
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Rivet sighed as this all blew through her head again, and she jolted as the carriage suddenly struck ground. She paled a bit as she heard a colossal ruckus coming from just outside the carriage walls. Twilight looked excited as she jumped and motioned for Rivet to open the door. Rivet slowly rose from her comfortable position, stretching her stiff legs before pressing her hoof lightly to the handle of the carriage door. The door, in turn, swung open, just as a blast of light and sound hurdled into her senses.

Authors note: I'm sorry to those of you who are reading this story. I've been on hiatus for quite a while and that's just not fair to a reader. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy.
PS: I don't know how to spell Grannie ;)