Engineer Part 7

>You hold another sheet of steel in place, and rivet it on.
>Then, grabbing the blowtorch beside you, you carefully heat the metal, and bend it.
>Once it's in place, you wait for it to cool before riveting that side in place as well.
>You step back and wipe the sweat from your brow.
>Standing before you is a pile of gears, scrap and springs in the vague shape of your own arm.
>Eh, it'll do.
>You pick up another slab of metal, and bend it over your shoulder using your gauntleted arm.
>A few metal straps welded on later, and you've got yourself a reasonable likeness of a pauldron.
>You carefully weld your newly created arm to it, and then strap the whole assembly onto your shoulder.
>It just sits there like the pile of scrap metal it is.
"Arm."
>It creaks slightly.
"Assist me."
>It vigorously flicks its hand up and down a few times in a way that resembles nodding.
>Good.
"I think I'll name you Boris."
>Third arm thus crafted, you sit down on a throne of very uncomfortable junk and stare at the wall for a while.
>Time passes. Eventually, you get bored.
>You rummage around in your chair for a moment before retrieving a handful of assorted bits.
>A number of tiny gears, a spool of copper wire, a few metal rods and other bits, and an adjustable wrench with a neodymium magnet stuck to it.
>Pretty good quality wrench, too. You were wondering where you left that.
>Maybe you should tell Rivets to stop bringing you stuff.
>You get up off the pile of sharp metal and put your gubbins on your workbench.
>You stare at the parts for a moment before methodically putting them together.
>This gear to that gear, that rod through this hole, the other thing to the whosawhatsit.
>A minute of trance-like building later, you have a perpetual motion machine hooked up to a Jacob's Ladder.
>You tap one gear to get the machine started, and watch it go.
>Pretty blue electricity climbs up the ladder, then ceases to be, then starts again from the bottom.
>You're pretty sure there's something poetic about that, but can't for the life of you figure out what.
>You carefully lift the assembly, your new third arm assisting you, and place it in the corner of the shed.
>You then pick up a small slab of copper, and etch some words into it with your clawed gauntlet.
"DON'T TOUCH: IT'LL PROBABLY KILL YOU"
>You put it down beside the device, and go back to the workbench.
>What to do, what to do...
>Just as you're considering making a number of miniature clockwork automatons and forcing them to fight each other, the door to your shack is opened with alarming intensity.
>Shielding your eyes from the sudden burst of sunlight, you barely make out the silhouette of a pegasus hovering outside your shed.
>"Anonymous!"
>Sounds like that blue one from yesterday, with the flamboyant hair that has too many colors.
>Rainbow Dash, that's the one.
"Yes?"
>"I challenge you to an ENGINEERING CONTEST!"
"Oh, sweet. Sure, I'm up for that."
>"Wait, really?"
"Yeah, just lemme whip up some shades and I'll be right out. When and where?"
>You start digging through your shack for some tinted glass.
>"Oh. Uhh. I hadn't thought that far ahead. Is now-ish a good time?"
>You're sure you had a pane of it lying arou- Oh, there it is.
>It's a bit shattered, though. You pick out a shard that looks like it'd make a good pair of sunglasses and inspect it.
"Yeah, now's good. Might I suggest the contest be held at the train yard? Lots of spare metal, ready-made boilers, all sorts of good stuff."
>"Um, yeah, sure. That sounds good. Meet you there?"
"Alright. Later, Dash."
>She speeds away, and you close the door behind her.
>You dig around a bit more for some heavy-duty wire, and make some quick frames for your shades.
>Sunglasses: constructed!
>You put them on, then head for the door.
>As you exit, you whistle sharply, and Rivets hops up onto your unoccupied shoulder.
>"Rivet, rivet!"
"You need to slow down a bit with the scavenging, Rivets. Having to wade through jagged metal to get from one side of the shed to the other isn't my idea of a nice living space."
>"Rivet."
>With that, you walk off in the direction of the train yard.
>A few minutes of uneventful walking later, you stand before Rainbow Dash herself.
>Also, a worrying number of paint buckets.
"I hope you don't intend on me painting what I build. Speaking of, what's the challenge? What are we building?"
>"We... are building..."
>A brief pause.
>"Giant Mechanical Robot Suits! That you ride around in and pilot and stuff. I got the idea while I was staring into that jetpack back at your, uh, house."
"And how will we judge whose is better? Trial by combat?"
>"Yeah, that sounds awesome! Just don't let anypony get hurt, alright? Especially not me."
"Sure thing. So how long do we have to build these mechs?"
>"Uhh. A few hours?"
"Fine by me. That everything sorted, then?"
>"Yeah, I guess."
>You think for a bit.
"Wait, neither of us brought our tools, did we?"
>Silence.
>"Oh horsefeathers."
>You pick up Rivets off your shoulder and hold him on your palm.
"Hey, Rivets, go get Scoots. Tell her to bring my tools. And Rainbow's too, if she can find them."
>"Rivet!"
>Rivets salutes, then hops off into the distance.
>You watch him go for a while, before turning back to your challenger.
"Guess we'd better get to planning, huh?"
>You wander off in search of some spare parts, and find a whole bunch of them just lying around in the shape of a train.
>You pull off a panel of steel and start piling parts on top of it.
>Once you've got a suitable hoard going, you drag the thing with you back to where you started.
>As you do so, you hear your handy-dandy copper claw whir slightly louder under the strain of moving about a ton of metal.
>Upon returning to your work area, you push all your scavenged parts off the slab of metal, and start to engrave a schematic upon it.
>You start off with a little scribble in the corner, just setting out how it'll go.
>This part connecting to that bit, the other thing using the excess power from this widget, that whole assembly making up for that little bit, so on and so forth.
>As you lay out a basic design, you are struck with sudden inspiration.
>You scratch out your original sketch, all of it's details already committed to memory, and start working on a much larger and more detailed design.
>You decide that the whole thing will run off a massive mainspring, like a watch.
>That should cut down on the weight that your original steam powered design had, allowing for a more agile construct.
>The mainspring itself is kind of a massive weak point, however.
>You'll just have to keep that in mind.
>From there it's easy to finalise your design, quickly scratching in the rough blueprint of a regulator for the mainspring and a few other bits and bobs.
>By the time you've finished, Scootaloo has arrived and is talking to Rainbow.
>Along with her is a pile of junk. Probably pilfered from your shack.
>You walk over to them and they stop talking.
>Scootaloo then gives you a small metal toolbox.
>You sift through it and find that it, as one would expect, is filled with tools.
>Rainbow Dash turns to you.
>"So. On the count of three, we start building. Ready?"
"Ready."
>"One. Two. Three!"
>She zips off at an absurd speed, eager to build the idea that's no doubt been bouncing around in her head all day.
>You move at a more sedate pace, pausing to pick some useful parts off the pile.
"Hey, Scootaloo."
>She looks at you expectantly.
>"Yeah?"
"Go help Rainbow Dash. Make sure her creation doesn't collapse under it's own weight."
>She grins and runs off.
>Rivets and Boris should be enough help for you.
>Speaking of, where is Rivets?
>You whistle sharply, and the metal frog bursts out of the pile of junk.
>He leaps onto your shoulder, and you amble back to your schematic.
>Well. Guess you'd better get to work.
>First of all, you need a welder of some sort.
"Hey, Rivets, go fetch me the welder."
>With a gentle click and a soft whir, Rivets leaps off your shoulder and heads off to get a welder.
>While you wait, you cut out a sheet of metal and fold it into a hat.
>You rest it on your head, covering your eyes, and lie down for a brief nap.
>A little while later, you are awoken by Rivets jumping on your face.
>You toss your origami hat aside and start actually building something.
>You briefly consider what height to make your mech.
>Deciding that a bit taller than twice your height should do, you take some steel rods and weld them into a framework for the torso.
>From there it's a matter of getting gear ratios right, using heavy enough springs in the right places, and making the controls hook up to everything right.
>An hour or so later, you've constructed the main body.
>It looks like a horrendous mess of machinery barely contained in a metal frame.
>Perfect!
>You quickly set about welding on some thick plates of iron onto it, then start work on the arms.
>Again, a steel rod framework, then the innards.
>You use a similar design to Boris for them, but instead of being capable of independent movement, they hook up to the controls in the torso.
>Once that's done, each arm gets iron plates welded onto the framework, then gets attached to the torso.
>Next, the legs.
>Thicker steel rods for them, and with more supports, so as they can support the weight of the machinery above them.
>Still might not be enough, but you'll cross that bridge when you come to it.
>Once more, you assemble the machinery in each of the limbs, then seal it off with thick slabs of iron welded to the frames.
>You carefully fasten the legs to the torso, then flip the whole mech over, revealing it's backside.
>Then, using your mighty taloned gauntlet, you carve a large, square hole into it's shell, revealing the inner workings of the contraption.
>Using a few miscellaneous gears and springs and the like, you make a basic regulator to make sure the power from the mainspring is released slowly, steadily and evenly.
>A little more tinkering, and you've also whipped up a simple mainspring.
>Hook that up to the regulator, slap a rudimentary metal box over it, and cut out a little hole so you can wind it.
>Bam! Mech constructed!
>Now all you need is a key, and that's a simple matter of just cutting one out.
>A bit of smoothing later, for looks, and your key is completed!
>With a bit of work, you manage to get your mech up on it's feet.
>Then you climb up the back of the construct and stick it's key in the back of your mech, then turn it a few times.
>The device emits a low hum and some faint, regular ticking.
>You take off your mechanical arm and enhanced gauntlet so you can take this thing for a test drive.
>Crawling into the mech's chest, you slip your arms and legs into their places.
>Smooth metal glides against your limbs as they slip into place within the construct.
>It feels almost like a full body version of your copper claw.
>You wiggle your fingers, move your arms about, then take a few tentative steps.
>It seems to be working well enough.
>You take the thing out for a little jog, getting a feel for it.
>Seeing if it's responsive enough, how much you need to move to control the mech, that sort of thing.
>After a minute or so of this, you've made a few observations.
>The mechs gait is clunky and irregular, and rather uncomfortable.
>As well, the mech's arms and legs are slow to respond, probably owing to their heavy weight.
>And in addition, the joints don't have a suitable range of motion, and need the armor plating around them cut back.
>Deciding that the manoeuvrability just isn't good enough, you take it back to your work area.
>Upon arrival, you climb out of the mech and jump back down to the ground.
>You look around for your other gadgets, and don them once more.
>Then you begin to shear the excess iron off around the joints of your mech with your trusty mechanical claw, revealing the machinery underneath.
>A quick bit of tinkering with the now-exposed mechanisms, and you think the mech is ready for another go.
>You hop back into the mech, quickly get comfortable, then go for another try-out.
>This time it's much better.
>The joints work smoothly, the limbs are just as reactive as they need to be, and you can get the full range of motion you expect out of it.
>With a bit of practise, you manage to get almost as agile in your mech as you are out of it, capable of jumping, running, stopping suddenly and even walking backwards in your mech with ease.
>Now what this thing needs is some actual weaponry!
>You sprint back to the work area and dismount.
>After slipping Boris and your mechanized gauntlet on, you turn you attention to the slab of steel you've inscribed your mech's schematics upon.
>Since you aren't going to need it anymore, having built your mech, you opt to repurpose it as a shield.
>It's a straightforward procedure to attach the huge hunk of metal to your mech's left arm, simply welding the two together.
>A mere five minutes later and you have a flat of metal welded onto your mech's left arm, schematic side out.
>You stand back from your mech and admire your handiwork, before realising that a shield is not exactly the best weapon.
>Slightly miffed by this revelation, you sprint off in search of the pile of scrap you'd salvaged to get that slab of metal in the first place.
>You tear off another piece of steel, this one about eight feet long and about a foot and a half wide, then sprint back to the mech.
>Immediately upon returning, you start to cut the steel into the shape of a sword.
>And by "sword" you mean "huge cricket bat".
>With the plank of metal now having one end cut down to form a rudimentary handle, you hop back into your mech.
>Once again your arms and legs slide down into their respective orifices and you wriggle into a more comfortable position.
>You flex your arms and fingers to get used to being in the mech, then stretch your legs.
>Suitably limbered up, you bend over and retrieve your weapon.
>The weight and balance of the blade will take a bit of getting used to, but there's naught left to do but practice.
>For the better part of half an hour you feint, dodge, sprint, skip, jump, and generally cavort about.
>You train yourself to be used to the weight of your shield and sword, and figure out the appropriate stance for when using them.
>Then you start sparing against imaginary opponents, adapting to the unwieldy nature of your weaponry.
>By the time you decide to have a break, you feel as though you've grown accustomed to the encumbrance of the mech.
>You sit down under a lone tree, still ensconced within your mech, and have a little nap.
>A couple minutes later you awaken to the sound of rapid tapping against your mech's iron shell.
>"Anonymous! Get up! Rainbow Dash finished her thing!"
>You groan, then push yourself onto your feet.
"Yeah, yeah, alright. Lead the way."
>You stomp after Scootaloo at a slow, lumbering pace.
>In no time at all she's quite a ways ahead of you.
"Oi! Slow down!"
>She stops for a little while, to let you catch up, then continues at a much slower pace.
>You keep shambling along, putting almost all your weight into each step and dragging your cricket bat in the dirt behind you.
>A good quarter-hour of plodding later, you arrive at the place where Rainbow and Scoots have been building their mech.
>It's, uh, interesting, to say the least.
>Standing at almost twice your mech's height, Dash's mech is a colossal duplicate of her, right down to the unnecessary mess of rainbow colored metal standing in for hair.
>Also, in the place where wings would be are two massive turbines, like Scootaloo's jetpack.
>You look around at the place where the two of you will be fighting and find a number of spectators.
>You wave at them and some wave back at you before you turn back to the task at hand.
>Scootaloo crawls up the side of Dashmech and climbs into a port in the side of it's body.
>A short time later you see a part of the head slide to the side, and Rainbow Dash leans out of it.
>She snickers for a short while.
>"Really? You're going to try and take me with that dinky little thing?"
>You guffaw heartily for a short while.
"Oh damn, that's a good one. Do you really think that your hunk of junk can even hit me?"
>You slowly lift your cricket bat and adopt the stance you figured out.
>"Heh. Your box of scraps couldn't walk faster than Scootaloo! How is it gonna outpace me?"
"You'll see."
>You ready your steel cricket bat with the same ponderous slowness you've been using around your opponent so far.
"First one either disabled or surrendered loses. Count of three."
>"One!"
>She gets back in Dashmech and closes the hatch she was leaning out of.
"Two!"
>You ready yourself.
>"Three!"
>Dashmech lifts her gargantuan front legs with all the grace and speed one would expect.
>You wait for the leg to come down before jumping to the side.
"Box of scraps you said. How could it possibly outpace me you said. Silly girl."
>You ready your sword-like weapon for a swing, then let loose, seriously crumpling one of Dashmech's knees.
>A few more solid bashes later, and Dashmech finally gets out of the way.
>You take this time to inspect your bat for any damage, but aside from a bit of a dent, there isn't any.
>Damn, that's good steel.
>You notice Dash leaning out of Dashmech, and wave to her.
"Ready for another go?"
>"You're on!"
>Dashmech leaps once more, and again you sidestep.
>You beat another knee with your bat for a bit, then move on to kicking.
>Once more, Dashmech gets out of the way before you can completely destroy one of the legs.
>You hear a loud, annoyed shout from inside Dashmech.
>Shortly thereafter, large swaths of armor plating start getting kicked off Dashmech from the inside.
>You politely stand back while they deconstruct their own mech from the inside.
>Once they've finished, Dashmech looks leaner, meaner, and a lot less blue.
>Still has the stupid hair and tail, though.
>You wait for your opponent to start moving again before charging towards them at top speed.
>Putting all your momentum into the blow, you manage to do some serious damage to one of the front legs.
>In fact, it looks like it's locked in place. Maybe one of the gears in it is off kilter now or something.
>For her part, Dash quickly gets used to one of her four legs being out of commission.
>She once again tries to stomp you into the dirt, and you once again dodge it. Mostly.
>Your shield is clipped as you jump, but that's fine.
>You try to swing your cricket bat at one of the legs again, but she's out of the way before you can connect.
>This puts you a bit off balance, and Dash capitalises on this by smacking you with a giant hoof.
>You roll along the ground for a bit before you stop yourself, get up, start to get your bearings, and get smacked in the other direction by another giant hoof.
>The third time around, you manage you get your bearings and brace yourself for the fourth hit.
>Unfortunately, she misses.
>An immense and uncoordinated hoof clips the back of your mech, and you feel something give way in your mech.
>The limbs of your mech suddenly move faster and with more strength than they should, and you hear it's omnipresent ticking speed up dramatically.
>From this you deduce that the regulator has been damaged, and the mainspring is releasing all of it's stored energy in one go.
>Thinking fast, you tear the shield off your mech's left arm and frisbee it at Dashmech.
>With the added power from the regulator damage you easily cleave through both the leg you broke earlier and the one opposite it.
>You charge as fast as you can towards Dashmech, then slide underneath her.
>Dropping into a crouch, you bring your mighty fist into position then jump while uppercutting her.
>You meet little resistance as you rend Dashmech asunder, though when you land on the other side of her your mech's fist is mostly melted, and lacking almost all of it's armor.
>Dashmech's ruined remains vent steam and water rapidly in your wake, and with such great damage she can't help but fall.
>Once you hear Dashmech hit the ground, you turn to face it.
>Wow. You sure did a number on that.
>There's a massive hole where you hit it, made all the larger from the explosion of steam it caused,
>You start to walk over to them to see if Scootaloo's alright, but your mainspring runs out of juice and stops halfway.
>After carefully extricating yourself from your now defunct mech you run over on foot, stumbling a bit from being used to your mech.
>You hurry over to Dashmech's head, one of the few things that wasn't completely demolished, and check for a way in.
>Scoots and Rainbow Dash seem to be stuck inside, their only exits now opening into the ground.
>You whistle sharply, and when Rivets arrives you tell him to fetch your mechanical gauntlet.
>You then tap your foot impatiently until he returns.
>Once he does, it's a simple matter to claw your way into Dashmech's cockpit and rescue the inhabitants.
>Rainbow Dash comes out first, to the relief of the spectators.
>She starts jabbering on about something no doubt unimportant while you dive back into the ruins of Dashmech to retrieve Scootaloo.
>You dig around a bit find her safely hidden in what was probably once the boiler room.
>After carving another hole through the carcass of Dashmech you plop Scoots down on the ground and go back to Rainbow Dash to gloat.
"So, guess I won that one?"
>Rainbow Dash snorts and stomps the ground.
>"I'll get you next time, Anonymous! Just you wait! My next creation will be bigger! Better! And with more ballistas!"
"Wait, more ballistas? Does that mean that Dashmech already had a ballista?"
>"Yeah, there was a big one in it's chest, but I couldn't get a chance to fire it."
"Ah well. Better luck next time, Dash."
>Your work here finished, you turn and walk back towards your shack.
>As you ignore Rainbow Dash calling after you, you whistle sharply to summon Rivets.
>"Rivet, Rivet!"
"Go get Boris and bring him to me. Also, could you take my mech to the shed? I might want to tinker with it later."
>"Rivet!"
>As he goes on his merry way, you notice a billowing tower of smoke coming from around about where your shack should be.
>In response to this revelation, you continue to walk at the same pace.
>As you walk, you consider the myriad things that could possibly cause such a large pillar of smoke, the foremost among them being that it's just a smoke signal.
>A smoke signal for "Send another blanket, this one's on fire" or something.
>Nevertheless, a couple more minutes of walking later and you happen upon a large blazing inferno around about where your shed should be.
>Oh.
>Well, can't say that was unexpected.
>Had to happen sooner or later.