A Week Delay
The dawn was gray as the grease gray earth pony walked out into the dreary day. He looked up and sighed "Looks like rain, that will create a delay for the Golden Flame, huh, the one thing I can't fight is the weather, and if it rains it will slow down production to at least thirty percent"
"Its alright brother, you can do this, if you can't no mechanic can" A green earth pony walked up beside the gray one "After all Grease Mane you're the best mechanic in all of Germane."
"You know I don't like bragging Sonic Wrench, I am just like any other mechanic pony in Germane" Grease looked up at the gray clouds again before he continued "Sonic call up the workers and let them know they have the day off, and you too brother have the day off so enjoy your day"
"Alright brother I will, but you should take a day off too, your exhausted and Silver Match could use a day with you too" Sonic Wrench moved towards the radio connected to every worker pony's own radio.
"Sorry but no, I am going to work even in the rain brother, the Golden Flame shouldn't be left alone in this dreary weather" Grease was still upset from the accident that had happened six days ago, due to that accident the deadline had been delayed for the families to grieve.
Grease Mane walked out into the cold day without looking back where a young white and silver unicorn stood watching him walk off. She shook her head and dashed after him but still kept her distance. Grease Mane knew she followed him but he didn't care at the moment for his mind was focused on what he was going to do this day, and that was fine tuning the propulsion system and attaching it to the frame work of the ship. He felt the first rain drop hit his face as his warehouse came into view and the hanger that was for the use of all the mechanics in the town of Gearmane.
He looked back when the young unicorn cried out. She had tripped over a lose pipe and landed on her face. He chuckled remembering his first accident on this road only he had fallen in the river that ran through the town. He trotted over to her and helped her up.
"Silver, you know your too young to be in a warehouse darling" He smiled at his new adoptive daughter before he put her up on his back "Without an experienced mechanic with you, so would you like to help me today?"
"Yes Papa Grease, I want to help you finish mama's airship" Silver snuggled into Grease's mane as he walked the last block to his warehouse.
Sonic Wrench was radioing all of the workers with the message that they had the day off. He was worried his brother would work himself to death. "Oh you fool Grease Mane, would Golden Flame want you to work yourself to death for your and her dream, huh I am not taking this day off, I am going to you my brother"
Sonic Wrench rushed out of the house and into the biggest down pour he had ever seen. He was glad to be wearing his goggles at the time. As he took the short cut that would be the fastest route to the warehouse knowing he couldn't use the vacuum tubes without the key that always hung around Grease's neck. He would gladly have taken the day off if his brother would have too.
Grease smiled as he placed Silver Match on the empty work table in his warehouse as he moved over to the jet propulsion system. It was in working order but it still had some bugs in it when it reached mock five. He pulled out a wrench and loosened the bolt on one of the propulsion engines to check again the electrical current in the system.
"Hmm now what could be causing the bugs" Grease Mane looked the entire electrical system over before he stood back up with a splotches of oil all over his mane and face "Hmm I think I know what's wrong there's a small short in the wires, hay Silver could you toss me that roll of copper wire"
The young unicorn tried to levitate the copper wire over to her new papa "Here you go., aww I am so sorry papa" Silver cried as the wire fell and hit the floor with a big bang.
Grease just laughed as he stood and walked to the wire "Don't apologize it was just an accident, Silver, accidents happen and it's a learning experience for you and teaches you your limits like me, I may be able to build a boiler but I make mistakes every time life is all about mistakes and learning from them"
He unwound the wire and cut a six inch length of it to fix the electrical system. He lied back down on his back and slide back under the propulsion engine. He found the shorted out wire and cut it loose with deft hooves and smiled as he tied the new length of wire to the cut section.
"Alright that should fix it or hopefully fix it" Grease slide back out and smiled to Silver Match "Alright get behind the protection barricade and I'll let you throw the on switch"
Silver Match squealed in joy and rushed behind the metal barricade while Grease calmly walked behind it as well. He hand her the switch and Silver threw it into the on position. The turbines in the propulsion system began to whirl.
The propulsion system was now at mock three and the bugs only affected it at mock five so all Grease had to do was get the system to mock three and see how it did. Silver Match was excited as she bounced up and down trying to see what was happening. Grease shook his head in a slightly annoyed manner as he turned up the speed sending the system into mock four and soon into mock five.
"Alright Silver enough bouncing just in case something goes wrong, I want you to be down so you will not get hurt" Grease placed a hoof on her head and stopped the bouncing just as the turbines hit the max power mark and none of the bugs happened "Yep it was that shorted wire, alright turn it off Silver and go to the hanger and open it up"
"Yes papa, I'll go right away but shouldn't you have some other ponies helping you move the thingy" She turned off the machine and rushed to the door only to bump into her uncle "Oh Hi uncky Wrench"
She didn't stay for him to ask where she was going so he just walked over to his now busy big brother. He looked at the propulsion system with a raised eye wondering how in Germane his brother was going to move it into the hanger alone or with his help; after all it was huge and weighed at the least a ton. He looked back at Grease as he came in from the back area of the warehouse in a metallic jacket with wires and small gears worked into the metal.
"Oh do not tell me you're going to use that brother, it's still in the experimental stage Grease" Sonic Wrench was truly worried at the sight of the jacket.
"Well we will count this as test one of the Juggernaut Jacket" Grease smiled as he threw the small on switch on the jacket "Goldie worked a lot on this and I am going to see that her last invention works"
He walked over to the machine he needed to move and placed his fore hooves on it and gave a gentle push. At first nothing happened but as he continued to push on the machine it started to move, slow but surely towards the exit.
"There's another jacket in the storage room if you want to help my little brother" Grease pushed a little harder making the machine move faster.
"Huh fine Grease I will help you, but I still think the Juggernaut is to experimental to be of any use plus if anything goes wrong with it then we can't fix it, after all it's a unicorn's project only a unicorn can fix it"
Grease just shrugged and continued to push the machine out into the rain. He knew the rain would be a problem but it had increased to a mighty down pour from what he had seen before he reached the warehouse this morning with Silver Match. Another set of hooves was placed beside his and he looked up at the pony next to him and smiled at his little brother as they both pushed the machine at a faster pace. Grease looked up into the down pour.
"Well this is going to put a delay on the outside test so we can make final adjustments hmm, this is the last thing to attach to the ship then we can test fly it, if we have time." Grease was always prepared for delays even the long ones.
"Oh this down pour looks like it will not last that long Grease, I say it will last at least a day or two" Sonic Wrench said as the pushed the propulsion system into the hanger.
Grease looked at the steel and wood ship he had built from scratch, well mostly from scratch, the wood frame had already been built by a different worker but they had quit so he took it on himself to build the entire ship frame work on his own while the others worked on the cannons boilers and the propulsion system until his hooves were free from the frame of the airship.
The airship was almost complete save for the flight test and the cannon calibration so that the cannons wouldn't fire off the fireworks into the crowd by accident. He looked over at the now visible and extremely excited Silver Match as she bounced in and out of his vision while she moved about the hanger. Grease moved away from the machine and tackled the playful young filly in the tightest hug he could give her.
"Oh you rambunctious scamp you, we need to finish this first then I will spend the rest of this day with you my sweet girl" Grease snuggled her close to him as he looked back at Sonic Wrench "Hey Wrench you get the crane ready while I attach the system to the cables then raise it up and we'll be attaching the system to the ship."
Silver giggled as Grease placed her out of the way and jumped up onto the machine with chain cables in his mouth. Grease attached the cables and signaled for Sonic Wrench to raise the machine. As the crane raised the system up Grease jumped from it onto the deck of the ship.
"Alright that's high enough, get that grease stained tail up here right now Sonic Wrench you don't expect me to attach it on my own do you." Grease laughed in the first real laugh he had had since the accident that tore Golden Flame from him forever.
Sonic Wrench sighed as he climbed the ladder up to the deck and proceeded to help his big brother with the attachment process. Grease connected the cables to side and pressed a button that separated the machine into two parts and slide into place on both sides of the airship. Grease jumped from the deck and grabbed a bolt drill from his work bench. He attached the system with titanium bolts to the underbelly of the ship and finally he placed the drill down.
"Alright its time to go home, so Silver you ready to have some fun in the rain?" Grease smiled as he head for the door and stopped in his tracks as a sheet of heavy rain stopped his path "Alright to the vacuum tubes and it the rain keeps up like this I doubt it would stop in two days, it seems like we might have a week of delays"
With this Grease took the two ponies with him to the towns vacuum transport system where only a head mechanic had access to them and those with the head mechanics. He smiled and looked at them "Ready for a long day indoors you two?" Without waiting for them to answer he pushed them through a door and into a hydraulic pod big enough for three fully grown ponies. Neither had been in the vacuum system much only on days Grease needed to be somewhere faster than his own four hooves could take him.
Grease pulled a leaver and jumped into the pod pressing the switch to close the glass roof just before the pod shot off at mock four taking them towards their destination and he spoke out "This is shouldn't take long at all"
To be continued
Author's Note: Well here is the next chapter in The Making of the Architect; the next will be filled with some fun and a small and very exciting surprise that will tie this little story into my pony cousin story. Please tell me what I can improve on and how the story is so far.