Engineer Part 2

>You barge back into the barn, Scootaloo hot on your heels.
>Tossing the wreckage of the jetpack in a heap nearby, you turn your attention to the schematics you carved into your table.
>They are, as expected, completely illegible.
>Your handwriting tends to look like hieroglyphics at the best of times, and you hashed these blueprints out in a few minutes, at most.
"Well, buggered if I know what I was on about when I made that thing."
>Scootaloo looks disappointed.
>That's no good.
>Whatever, you'll just wing it.
>You pick the totalled jetpack up off the floor and dump it on the workbench, and start by ripping a side of the casing off.
>Probably just needs some patching up and a quick polish.
>As you gaze into the depths of the machine, you feel the inspiration return.
>You start gathering up parts from your pile of scrap, and start replacing bits of the jetpack with them.
>No, no. Of course this design didn't work.
>All this assembly is completely redundant, that coil needs to be a bit further inside...
>What were you thinking when you built this hunk of junk?
>Scootaloo hands you parts and tools when you ask for them, and work progresses smoother that ever.
>You get about half way through rebuilding the jetpack, when you realise something.
>One of the things it was missing was a spiffy paintjob!
>You whistle, and Rivets the Clockwork Frog hops up onto the bench.
"Fetch some paint, Rivets. Red, orange and yellow."
>"Rivet, rivet!"
>Rivets hops away, and you get back to fixing this jetpack.
>A few copper tubes bent this way, through a few of these doohickeys...
>Once that particular specialised part is finished, you jam it in the jetpack.
>Doesn't quite fit. Hmm.
"Hold the jetpack still, Scoots."
>She jumps over to the other side of the table, and braces against the jetpack.
>You rear back your foot, and stomp the part in.
>Both Scootaloo and the jetpack fly off the table.
>You swing over, help Scootaloo up, then pick the jetpack back up.
>The mechanism is firmly wedged into the jetpack.
>Beautiful!
>You get a particularly sturdy looking steel plate and slap it on.
>You spot weld it on in a few places before your welder fails.
>Growling in irritation, you sweep a part of the bench clean, and start constructing a new device.
>Pulleys, cords, a fair amount of clockwork and you're done.
>One bona fide perpetual motion machine.
>You slap a magnet on one of the wheels and put a coil of copper wire around that.
>Giving the machine a quick whirl, you grab the ends of the copper wire, and bring them together.
>Electricity arcs between them, and you bring them over to the jetpack.
>You run the arced electricity around the edge of the steel plate, and the edges weld to the jetpack.
>You plant a fist into the inner workings of the perpetual motion machine, it's purpose fulfilled.
>It grinds to a halt with an ear piercing screech before it catastrophically disassembles.
>Shortly thereafter, Rivets returns with a few pots of paint and a couple paintbrushes.
>You grab the paint while Scootaloo tells Rivets that he's a good frog.
>A once over with red, then some flames on the sides with yellow and orange, and the jetpack is complete!
>Well, almost complete.
>You get a couple more scraps of metal that are about the same size, and stab them into opposite sides of the jetpack.
>Wings!
"Now it's time to take this thing for a test drive."
>You drag the refurbished jetpack to the testing field, along with what remains of your fuel mixture.
>Scootaloo straps herself into the device, and you pour the fuel in.
>Some of it spills out onto the ground and all the grass within a foot of it almost instantly shrivels up and dies.
>Huh.
>At any rate, you make sure everything is prepared.
>Jetpack? Check. Scoots? Check. Anonymous? Check. Safety goggles? Not check.
>Oh well. Probably wont need them.
>You kick the jetpack lightly, then flee to a safer viewing area.
>The jetpack rumbles ominously, then it takes off.
>Instead of the yellow-orange flame the previous version had, this jetpack outputs a much cleaner, blue flame.
>It's the difference between a safety flame and a working flame on a Bunsen burner.
>Scootaloo looks like she's having the time of her life, and after a short time in the air, she gets the hang of turning and banking and such.
>In no time at all, she's doing aileron rolls and loop de loops.
>Then the jetpack starts to run out of fuel.
>Noticing this, Scootaloo turns around and prepares to land.
>She glides down to the ground, then ploughs into it at top speed.
>She gouges a large channel in the earth before coming to a stop.
>At this point you are approached by a purple unicorn.
>You recognize her as Twilight Sparkle, local librarian.
>Now that you see her, you vaguely recall telling her that you'd let her inspect some of your contraptions today.
>As Scootaloo crawls from the ground, a bit dirty but otherwise unharmed, Twilight trots up to you and starts speaking.
>"You should've been at the library half an hour ago!"
"I was busy."
>"Busy doing what?"
"Busy building Scootaloo a jetpack."
>You walk over to where Scootaloo is and help her out of the hole she's gotten herself into.
>The jetpack is still attached to her and looks mostly unharmed.
>The wings are a bit dented, but that's it.
"So, anyway. You were talking about a library?"
>"Yes. I wanted you to come to the library earlier today so that I can see how one of your little automatons works."
>You carry Scootaloo and the jetpack with you as you follow Twilight to the library.
>She opens the door, and you enter.
>The library is, as one would expect, very clean.
>You put Scootaloo and the jetpack down on a nearby table, and get yourself a chair.
>Twilight sits opposite you, and looks at you expectantly.
"What?"
>"I'm waiting for you to present an automaton."
>There's no way this madmare is going to disassemble Rivets.
>Guess you'll just have to make another critter.
>You glance around the room and find a clock on the wall.
>It's hands don't move from their positions, yet it keeps making a tick tock sound.
>She probably just keeps it around for the noise.
>A niggling idea creeps into your head, and in short order you're inspired to create a miniature dragon thing out of clockwork.
>You will name it Humphrey.
>You get up from your chair while Scootaloo struggles with getting the jetpack off.
>You walk up to the clock on the wall, take it off, and throw it at the ground.
>It is reduced to a convenient pile of spare parts.
>You sit down and start constructing.
>Twilight tries to use magic to stop you, but Scootaloo manages to get the jetpack off and tackles her.
>Her attention thus diverted, you can work on Humphrey in relative peace.
>In a very short amount of time, you have Humphrey basically constructed.
>But, he needs a casing of some sort.
>Lacking any metal, much less the tools to work it, you make do with wood.
>A couple more minutes later, you have Humphrey completed.
>You clap your hands twice, and he springs to life.
>You look up from your contraption to find the library in disarray.
>Books everywhere, dirt everywhere and two ponies battling it out.
"Oi! Break it up!"
>Twilight and Scootaloo stop fighting suddenly, looking at you.
>Then they zip to opposite sides of the room.
"Now, Humphrey. Clean this place up."
>The miniature, wooden-shelled dragon salutes you, then gets to work.
>Twilight looks on in awe as your newest device starts picking up stacks of books twice as tall as him, then starts putting them back where they belong.
>As he works, you walk up to Twilight.
"There's your automaton. His name is Humphrey."
>She smiles and continues to watch Humphrey clean up the library.
>A minute later, Humphrey is done.
>He walks up to you, bows respectfully, and sits down on the floor.
>Twilight immediately scoops him up and takes him downstairs.
>You follow her, and Scootaloo follows you.
>The area underneath the library looks like a mad scientist's laboratory.
>There's even a Jacobs ladder in the corner, just for aesthetics.
>Twilight puts Humphrey on a steel table, and prepares some various tools.
>Then, she disassembles Humphrey, categorizing each individual part.
>She starts with a leg, then moves on to the other one.
>She works her way up, eventually taking Humphrey apart completely.
>She makes a page of notes, then starts reassembling Humphrey.
>Once she puts the last wooden plate back in, she clops her front hooves together twice.
>Humphrey fails to respond.
>"Maybe you have to do it?"
>You clap your hands twice.
>Humphrey once again fails to respond.
>"But that makes no sense! I put him back together the same way he was before!"
>You roll your eyes, then walk up to Humphrey.
>You pop one of his wooden plates off with a fingernail, then look inside.
"One of these gears is out of place."
>You touch one of the gears back where it's meant to be and put the wooden plate back.
>You clap your hands twice, and Humphrey comes to life.
>Twilight furiously writes out more notes.
>Partway through, she stops suddenly and starts ushering you and Scootaloo out.
>Once you're in the library proper, she goes back into the basement and shuts the door on you.
>Rude.