Engineer Part 5

>You hold the copper panel over the flame.
>It heats up rapidly, changing color as it does.
>Once it reaches a nice white, you take it away from the flame and bend it into shape.
>Now of a suitable curvature, you place the panel in its place within the device.
>Your current contraption is a gauntlet of sorts.
>Using the mighty power of clockwork and steam, you intend on creating a device that will increase the strength and dexterity of your left arm sevenfold!
>With each of the fingers being extra sharp, so people know you're not messing around.
>You stifle a yawn, and rub one of your eyes.
>It's about midnight now, but you're too busy for sleep.
>You throw yourself back into your work.
>You cut tubing, bend metal, screw plates together and work on your machine in general.
>It doesn't seem like long before you notice the sun rising.
>Gazing upon your creation in the light of day shining through the holes in the walls of your shed, its beautiful.
>A mess of tubing peeks through gaps in the gauntlet's iron plating, and the whole device now extends up past the wrist all the way to the shoulder.
>You make some more adjustments here and there before trying it out.
>You slide your arm into the copper monstrosity, and then turn it on.
>It rumbles to life, before it dies down to a much more acceptable low hum.
>You wiggle your fingers, then move your arm about, testing the joints.
>It whirs slightly louder as it moves, but not too loudly.
>It's like it's hardly even there!
>You pick up a sharp bit of metal you had lying around, and throw it at the wall of your shed.
>It impales the wall with ease, leaving a jagged edge for someone to accidentally cut themselves on later.
>So the gauntlet works!
>You take it off and start tinkering with it again when Scootaloo enters the shed.
>"Hey."
"Hey."
>She puts her jetpack on an unused section of bench and you both work on your respective projects.
>A few minutes later, she looks over your shoulder, and then starts helping you with your machine.
>With Scootaloo's assistance, you replace a few makeshift mechanisms with better ones.
>You also coat the iron plates with a thin layer of copper, for looks.
>Time for another test drive!
>You stick your arm in the gauntlet once more, turn it on, and move it around.
>Practically silent, and you can hardly feel it on your arm.
>Perfect!
>You toss a piece of junk metal in the air, and shred it with your claws.
>It's split into five sections, which are flung into the ground.
>You then pluck each shard of metal out of the ground, and crumple them into a ball.
>Said ball is tossed into the garbage corner.
>Everything is working as intended.
>There's a knock on the door.
>Strange. Who in their right mind would be visiting you?
>Opening the door, you find Rainbow Dash.
"'Sup. Please, do come in."
>Cautiously stepping into your shed, Rainbow Dash looks around at the chaos that is your workshop.
>"Uhh, Hi. I was wondering if you've seen Scootaloo the past few days-"
"Yeah, she's right over there."
>You gesture towards Scootaloo, who is currently working on her jetpack.
>"Oh. What's she doing?"
"Improving a jetpack. It's pretty cool, too."
>You lead Rainbow towards the jetpack Scoots is working on.
>Rainbow gazes into the jetpack's complex internals, and you can practically see the gears turning in her head.
>She suddenly blinks a few times and steps back.
>"Hey, look at the time! I gotta go."
>And she bolts out the door. What a strange mare.
>Well, with that momentary distraction out of the way you turn your attention back to the gauntlet.
>You grab a box of spare parts and start improving the existing parts in the gauntlet.
>Switching out tiny gears for ones with better gear ratios, replacing springs with more heavy duty versions, that sort of thing.
>Some time later, you're satisfied with the device.
>Time for breakfast, you suppose.
>You walk to the door, fling it open and-
>Damn. Has the sun always been that bright?
>Need to make a dimmer switch for that someday.
>You close the door, and start digging in your piles of junk.
>You could've sworn you had a bit of tinted glass somewhere around here...
>Here it is!
>You use a claw to carve out a pair of lenses, then twist a piece of scrap metal into some frames.
>Pop each bit of glass in, and bam! Aviator shades.
>You brave the sunlight once again, eyes thus shielded from it's blinding glory.
>Now where to get breakfast?
>Considering you have no idea where anything is in this town, you guess you'll just ask Twilight.
>You walk through the streets at a solid pace, easily overtaking everypony in your way by virtue of your unusually long legs.
>A minute or so later, you arrive at Twilight's library.
>The door is slightly ajar, so you enter the building.
>There's nopony here.
>Maybe she's downstairs.
>You look around for the stairs, find them, and descend into the darkness of the basement.
>Yep, she's here.
>You stumble across Twilight Sparkle and Spike hunched over some sort of steel table.
>Both have welders masks on, and Twilight appears to be levitating a welding torch.
"Hail, and well met!"
>The two of them freak out a bit, and the welding torch gets dropped.
"So, what're you working on?"
>They calm down and look towards you as you walk towards them.
>"Oh! Anonymous!"
>You look over what they're doing, and can't make heads or tails of it.
>It seems as though they've gotten Humphrey, a foot-tall clockwork dragon you made for them, and stabbed a bunch of crystals in him.
>"I couldn't figure out how exactly he worked, so I filled in the blanks with magic. I think he's ready now."
>This should be good.
>You stand back as they reassemble Humphrey's chassis and reattach his outer shell.
>Then, Twilight's horn glows, then a spark jumps out and hits the automaton.
>Humphrey's internals glow an eerie blue light, and he sits upright.
>"Now, Humphrey. Bring me a welding torch."
>He salutes, gets up, jumps off the table, picks up the welding torch and hops back up on the table, handing Twilight the torch.
>You clap quietly.
"Quite an achievement."
>Twilight looks away and blushes, something you can see even in the darkness of her basement.
>"Oh, it was nothing. And besides, I had your contraption to work off of."
>She smiles and clicks her front hooves together in some semblance of a clap.
>"And now that I know how to do it, I'm going to be able to make all sorts of things!"
"Lovely. Now, do you know of anywhere I could get some breakfast?"
>"Hmm? It's morning?"
"Yes. Yes it is."
>"Oh. Well in that case, why don't we go out and get some now? Come along Spike. You too, Humphrey."
>The three of you exit the basement, then leave the library.
>Shielding her eyes against the sun, Twilight speaks.
>"Has the sun always been that bright? Need to make a dimmer switch for that one of these days..."
>The three of you walk to some sort of café, and have breakfast.
>No meat, though. You'll have to rectify this situation.