"Blades? I'm back, Blades! Where are you?" Tech Specs called out as she entered her shop. The front room of her shop was small, but didn't have very much in it, which balanced the room out. Along the walls were shelves, filled with all manner of gadgets, machines, and a couple devices, and under each one was a notebook, containing all of the technical information and uses for their corresponding machines. In the center of this room stood a desk, and atop it lay a gooseneck lamp and a bell, as well as some scraps of metal, a few small watchmaker's tools, and the casing to a fob watch, and behind the desk was a steel door.
Tech approached the door and knocked upon it, making a deep, gong-like sound with each strike. At the third knock, the doorknob started to twist, and opened in, revealing a small baby dragon. His scales were deep orange, his spines were a dark shade of scarlet, and his claws were unusually long and sharp for such a young dragon. The dragon leapt towards Tech and hugged her tightly, being careful not to cut her with his massive claws.
"Tech! You're back!" The dragon shouted happily as he hugged the blue Unicorn. "What happened? Where did you go?"
"My wings failed again, Blades." Tech Specs disappointedly answered. She let Blades down and walked into the room, which was much larger than the front. In this room were three large metal tables, a vast array of metalworking tools, a few crates filled with scrap metal, each labeled with the exact type of metal in them, a few other boxes of various things, and a small clock standing on one of the tables. Tech Specs approached the table with the clock and placed her saddlebags atop it. she opened one bag, revealing her pair of twisted, mangled wings. "I lost control and they fell off mid-flight." Tech began explaining. "That could be quite a problem if somepony's flying at a considerable height."
"Oh, definitely." Agreed Blades. "Are you alright?"
Tech nodded, then looked to her metal leg cast, and explained, "I broke my leg, but I built this to support my weight so I can still walk. Thus far, it's worked rather well."
The baby dragon examined his friend's cast, rather impressed. "That's really cool, Tech." He complimented, "Where'd you get the stuff to make this?"
Tech trotted up to a bench and lay down on it, with Blades joining her, then she continued the conversation. "Somepony named Applejack was kind enough to allow me to use her tool shed. She had everything I needed there. She was also so kind as to give me a place to stay for the night. Sorry for that, by the way."
"It's alright, Tech." Assured Blades. "As long as nothing really bad happened to you. Then who'd feed me?" Both Tech and Blades laughed at that remark. "So, this is scrap then?" Blades asked, looking at the wings.
"This set is." Tech answered as she tossed most of the metal from the wings in the crate labeled "Aluminum," and the rest in the one labeled "Carbon Steel." Tech then looked to an old photograph on the back wall of the workshop, and said "I'll keep trying, I promised Uhrwerk I would." The portrait depicted an old stallion wearing formal attire. He was a light, faded brown colour, his mane was grey and tied back with a gold band, with a matching tail, and his eyes were a deep aqua colour. She looked into the eyes of the portrayed stallion, which, even though painted, seemed to look back into those of the blue mare. She then lightly said, "He would never give up. I can't, either." After another few minutes of talking, they heard a bell. somepony was in the front, waiting. Tech and Blades rushed to the front desk.
"Hello, welcome to Tech Specs' Machines!" Tech gleefully welcomed her customer. "Sorry about the wait. What can I do for you?"
"Hey, Tech." Said the pony, a yellow Pegasus Mare with a long, curly mane, matching tail, and bright Cyan eyes. On her right front leg, she wore a large number of beaded bracelets, most of which were wooden, a few turquoise, and one was made of pearls. She looked around the shelves of the shop, tapping her hooves against the floor in a drumlike rhythm.
"Bass Beat! It's you!" Tech gleefully said as she recognised her close friend, and the pair hugged. "What brings you here, Bass?" Tech curiously asked.
"Well," Bass thought for a few seconds, still tapping her hooves on the ground, then explained, "I was just thinking, I'd like to make this week's show a bit more spectacular, you know?" She looked to Tech, who looked intently back, thinking about her friend's inquiry.
"You mean that just having the Red Hot Filly Peppers on stage playing their music isn't spectacular enough?" The Unicorn asked. She always loved their music, ever since Bass Beat and her friend, Mosh Pit, first formed the group so many years ago. She was starting to drift away, then Bass continued.
"Of course it's enough, Tech!" The Pegasus reasoned, "But I'd love to go just a bit higher than 'enough.' What do you think could help us put on a better show?"
Tech Specs thought deeply about this request. What could she make that could enhance the stage, and give the crowd a bit more than just live music? She clapped her hooves together, for she had an idea. "Pyrotechnics!" said she. "Pyrotechnics would be perfect!" She trotted over to one of the store's walls, which was covered in shelves, searching through each one. She combed through a good lot of machines, then exclaimed, "Aha! Here you are!" as she produced a small metal device. This device looked essentially like a box with a metal tube protruding from one end, and a cord on the side. "This will be perfect for you, methinks." She said, showing the small gadget to Bass Beat. She then continued, "I built this for somepony who wanted to have some fireworks at last year's Summer Sun Celebration."
Bass Beat looked at the small device, thought for a second, then began, "I remember that. That kooky old stallion who shot fireballs into the air, and how everypony cheered for more." She remembered the occasion fondly. "That was your doing?"
"Yeah, that was my invention he used." Agreed Tech. She pointed her hoof to the cord protruding out of the device, and explained, "You pull this cord, and it sets a spark that ignites powder in the chamber, here, and it creates a flame that emerges from the opening." She pointed out each component as she mentioned them.
"That's really cool." Complimented the yellow mare. "But is there any way I could set this off while I play, and multiple chambers in succession?" She asked as she turned the box in her hoof.
This request seemed to stump the blue Unicorn, who thought about it deeply, staring at the flame box, as it was named, almost in a trance-like state. She snapped out of her thoughts, and suggested, "I could attach it to a drum pedal, and nopony would know that it's there until you set it off, maybe." She thought for a bit more, and added, "And I could probably connect a fuse between four or five of these things. Would that work, Bass?"
"That'd be great!" Bass happily responded. She loved this idea. It would certainly catch her band mates, and everypony in the crowd, for that matter, by complete surprise. "I'll take it!. So, how much will this cost me, Tech?"
Tech Specs didn't hesitate to answer this question. She knew exactly what would pay for the flame box system. "How about free admission to this week's show?" she offered.
Bass shot a funny look at Tech, then said, "Just for the two of you?" She was confused by this seemingly low price. To get into these shows was cheap, mere pocket change for most ponies. "That seems a bit cheap for such a system, don't you think?"
"Oh, not for just us two, Bass." Tech began to clarify. "I have a few friends visiting at the end of the week, and I'd like to treat them to the Filly Peppers. They're nice ponies, and I think they'll enjoy your brand of music."
"Ah, I see." Replied Bass. She then removed one of her Turquoise bracelets, and offered it to Tech, explaining, "Here. Show this to the pony at the door. He'll let you and all your friends in if you have this."
"Alright. Thanks, Bass." Tech said, placing the bracelet around her own hoof. She requested the flame box from Bass, who gave it to her. She then told Bass, "I'll have this ready for you tomorrow. If you put it on your drum kit right when you set up the stage, they'll never know it's there. Thanks again." The two ponies hugged, and Bass Beat departed from the shop, ringing the bell at the door as she opened the front door. Tech then retired to her workshop to get to work on her Bass Beat's flame box system.
In the workshop, Tech Specs approached the table at which her saddlebags lay, and sat down at that bench. She opened the left pocket of the bag, and produced the tome which Twilight Sparkle had so generously given her mere hours ago. "Blades, can you do me a favour, please?"
"Sure, Tech." Blades said, approaching Tech at her table. He stopped in front of her and asked, "what is it?"
Tech Specs slid the tome to blades, who at first struggled to pick it up, but he eventually did so with ease, taking care not to harm the cover with his claws. "Can you put this on the bookcase in the bedroom, please? Top Shelf?" Requested she of her assistant.
"Top Shelf?" Blades asked, curiously. Everything on the top shelf of Tech Specs' bookcase was near and dear to Tech's heart, and nothing less than priceless to her. Tech nodded at Blades, confirming what he thought he heard. He immediately started up the staircase to the second floor. As he stepped up the final step, he was met with a small, but long hallway. In the small hallway were two doors on each side and one at the very end. Blades stepped up the the second door on the right side of the hall, and opened the door.
The room itself had faded blue walls, and a deep green carpeting lined the floor. On the far wall was a window that looked out upon the street, which was very calm at this hour. In the far left corner of the room lay Tech's bed, which had a steel frame, wooden head and footboards, and two rather comfy-looking mattresses, and at the foot of this bed was Blades' bed, a small basket, which contained a pillow and small blanket. And finally, on the wall opposite her bed stood her bookcase. The bookcase had six shelves, the bottom five of which contained a mix of notebooks, hardback books, folders, and the like. The top shelf, however, had much more diversity in it's contents. On the left side stood a medium-sized clock with hoof-painted numerals and tick marks that was encased in beautiful stained Cherry Wood. The sound of the clock ticking away each second was the only sound in the room. Beside the clock was an old, Sepia-toned photograph of the stallion in the portrait in Tech's workshop, only he was standing beside a young Unicorn filly. Her mane was long and curled, and so was her tail, and she was holding a pair of protective goggles which resembled those which Tech Specs wears always. And next to that even was a small fragment of something. It appeared to be a piece of an egg of some sort. The majority of it was deep orange, and on it was a fraction of a circle, which was dark scarlet. Blades looked to these highly treasured items and felt for Tech. He knew how valuable they were to her, and he knew exactly why, but he had no idea why she would request this dusty old tome a home among these treasures, but he obliged to Tech's request no less, and leaned it against the far right end of the shelf. "Welcome to the family, you old book." Blades quietly remarked as he left the room. As he walked down the hallway to the staircase, he was caught off guard by a loud explosion underneath his feet. Blades jumped almost out of his scales at the sudden sound, and sprinted down the stairs to Tech's workshop.
When Blades entered the workshop, he saw Tech Specs looking toward the ceiling, her eyes wide open. He looked up as well, to see a large burn mark directly above Tech's work table. Tech looked forward to see her assistant standing at the doorway, who at this point bore a clueless and scared look on his face. "Mmmmaybe I should use less powder." Tech nervously remarked, looking at Blades, who sarcastically replied, "Yeah, maybe. Bass Beat wants to surprise her band mates, not blow them up." Tech and Blades began to laugh at the dragon's remark.
After a few hours of trial and error with powder amounts, the pair finally perfected how much to put in each flame box. blades produced a small note pad and pencil from one of the table's drawers, and quickly wrote down the proper amount of powder for the flame box. "All right then, Blades." Tech said, yawning. "All we have to do now is make this charge six times; one for each box." She took her container of powder, and immediately after that, started shaking it. The powder made a light noise as it hit the inside of the canister. "No, no no." said she, opening the container and pouring out but a few grains of the powder.
"What's wrong, Tech?" Asked Blades, looking at the empty canister. "We're out of powder, aren't we?"
"Yeah, apparently." Tech confirmed, tossing the metal canister into the "Aluminum" crate. She then laid her head on her worktable, and, running a hoof through her short mane, sighed and said, "I guess I'll have to go to the Chemist tomorrow and have him mix me some more."
Blades hopped onto the table and walked around Tech's head. He then looked to her and asked, "But why can't we go today?" He glanced at the clock on the table and added, "It's not that late yet."
"I can't today, Blades." She disappointedly said. "The Chemists are off teaching at an academy in Hoofdale. They won't be back until at least midday tomorrow."
"Well, what can we do in the meantime, Tech?" Blades approached the flame box that lay in the center of the table, and slid it into Tech's view. "What say you we work on what we can until we can get more powder?" Blades tapped on the mare's goggles with his claws, in an effort to cheer her up.
"Stop it, Blades!" Tech began to giggle at Blades' playful gesture. She then told Blades, leaking a smile, "Okay, okay. We'll begin building the rest of Bass' flame boxes today. And later, I'll cook you some Jade. Would you like that?" Blades nodded cheerfully at this. Jade was his favourite gemstone, so he hugged Tech for her offer, still taking care not to hurt her with his claws. "All I have to do is mention food, and you're all for whatever I have to say." Tech joked at the young dragon, who laughed at this remark. Blades picked up some thin steel plates and placed them in front of himself and Tech, and at that they began building.
Before they began construction on the flame boxes, Tech and her assistant had bounced ideas off of each other on methods of firing the boxes and hooking them together. Eventually, Tech though of something. "Blades, can you fetch that box in the corner for me, please?" Tech requested, pointing with her hoof to a large cardboard box, laying in the corner of the shop to their right. Blades nodded, walked to the box, and began to push it over to the table at which they were working. That little dragon was stronger than he looked; he was able to move something four times his size with relative ease. Once the box was next to Tech's bench, Blades saluted to Tech, who smiled and laughed lightly at this. Blades then joined Tech back on the bench. Tech opened the box, which contained various odds and ends, and began rummaging through it. "Aha! Found you!" she exclaimed, producing a pedal for a bass drum from the box of junk. She held the pedal in her hooves for a minute, examining every part of it, then set it on the table, observing the action of pressing the pedal down with her hoof. "I've got it!" shouted Tech in realisation.
In the course of another couple hours, Tech Specs cut, welded, and shaped some aluminum and steel, and fabricated a reel-looking device on the side of the bass pedal, with a thin cable attached to it. Blades' claws were very useful in cutting the aluminum, because welding it would have melted and misshapen the soft, pliable metal, and marking spots on the steel to weld and cut. His claws were extremely strong for a dragon of his age. Usually, it would take a dragon hundreds of years to obtain claws as strong as his were. "Well, it looks nice," complimented Blades on Tech's work, "but how does it work, again?"
"Here, I'll show you." Tech Specs stated, setting the newly-modified pedal atop their work table. She pressed the pedal down with her hoof, and as she did so the thin cable retracted into the reel. Tech explained, "When you press the pedal down lightly, the cord goes into the reel slowly. However, when Bass Beat drums, she hits the pedals on her drum kit hard, so the cord will move more quickly." Tech then picked up one of the flame boxes they had built. Along with the original, she had six. She then continued, "They'll go with just enough force to pull the spark cord of the flame box, setting the first off. And that causes a chain reaction, which will fire the other five flame boxes, one at a time."
Blades nodded at this explanation, rather impressed by his friend's ingenuity. He then got tense and nervous, and asked, "And they won't.. hurt anypony, will they, Tech?"
Tech Specs shook her head. "No." She said, "We spent a lot of time on that. The small amount of powder we're going to use will only make a lot of noise and make a quick flash of light; somepony would have to be inches away from these things to get hurt by them." She assured Blades, who relaxed as he heard this. Tech Specs felt her stomach growl, and then looked to her assistant. "So, now that our work's done, what say you we get something to eat, eh?" She asked Blades. She looked to where Blades was standing, but he wasn't there. she almost instinctively knew where to look next. She directed her attention to the staircase, to see Blades rushing up each step. "Not if I can help it!" Tech Specs said, giggling lightly. She then playfully went after the orange dragon, lifting him onto her back as she caught up with him.
"Awww, you got me." Blades pouted as he sat on his friend's back. "I couldn't beat anypony in a race."
"Don't be a sore loser, Blades." Said she to the dragon. "When you get older, I'm sure you could leave me in the dust." She slowed down as she approached the first door on the right side of the hallway, the door to their kitchen. She then pushed the door open and let Blades down. The kitchen was a small, rather modest room, with a window overlooking the street on the far side of the room, under which was a small dining table, only big enough for at most three occupants. Tech Specs motioned for Blades to bring a chair into the kitchen, and he did this. He then ascended the chair, and was at the perfect height to have access to some cooking utensils and a cutting board. Tech donned an apron she kept in the pantry, and gave a smaller one to Blades, who did the same. The mare then produced some fresh ingredients and a bag of gemstones and handed them to Blades. "Pick whatever you like from these, and we'll make it." She told the dragon, who immediately began scouring through the bag of produced a few pieces of Jade that looked appealing, as well as a couple potatoes, some cabbage, carrots, and beets from the rest of the ingredients. Tech began to boil a pot of water, adding salt, pepper, and spices to the pot. 'Go ahead, put the Jade in." She requested to Blades, who obliged, dropping the gems one by one into the broth. "Now, Blades." she continued, "if you could chop up the vegetables you've selected, I'll put them in as well." Blades nodded, and the small dragon began to move his hands and claws rather artistically, slicing and dicing the various vegetables into a nice mince for the soup. He tapped Tech Specs' goggles to get her attention, and motioned to the cutting board. At this, she picked the board, and all atop it, up in her hooves and slid them into the now boiling broth. She produced a wooden spoon from a drawer and began to stir the ingredients, the fragrance of it filling the room. "That's about all you can do, Blades." Tech began, still stirring the soup, but looking at the dragon, who seemed in a trance from the smell of what was being prepared. "If you could have a seat at the table, I'll have you a bowl in a bit." Blades snapped out of his trance and nodded, hopping from the chair and pushing it back to the table, where he got back in the seat.
After a few minutes, Tech Specs was finished cooking her and Blades' dinner. She opened a cupboard, and produced two bowls and a ladle, which she set on the cutting board. She picked the handle of the ladle up with her teeth, and reached deep into the bottom of the pot, filled one bowl with the soup and all of the Jade stones for Blades, and filled the other as well, hold the gemstones. She picked the board up again and, on her hind legs, treaded carefully to the table, where she lay the Jade soup in front of the little dragon, and the other in front of where she stood. They then began to chow down.
"It tastes great, Tech." Complimented Blades, swallowing a gem and some of the broth.
"Well, you picked the ingredients, AND cut them." Retorted Tech, who humbly added, "The credit goes to you more than me."
As they finished their dinner, Tech Specs placed the two bowls back on the cutting board and returned to the kitchen, where she covered and refrigerated the remainder of the soup, and cleaned the bowl, ladle, cutting board, and wooden spoon, placing them back in their respective places as she dried them. She looked to Blades, who was asleep at the table, which was expected, for it was rather late for a baby dragon to be up and about. Tech giggled upon seeing this, and she then lifted Blades onto her back and headed out the kitchen door.
Tech trotted down the hallway to her door, which she quietly opened, revealing her room. She approached Blades' bed, and gently slid the sleeping dragon into it. She then placed the small blanket over him, kissed his forehead, and whispered, "Goodnight, you adorable little dragon." She then turned out the lights to the room and sat down on her own bed, lowered her goggles around her neck, and looked to the photo on her bookcase. She laughed slightly upon seeing the small Unicorn filly, and her heart became heavy as she looked to the stallion. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to hold back tears. She then lay back on her bed, soon falling asleep to the clock's ticking, which soon became the only sound in the room once again.