Tape-out
by Little Kaiser
Chapters
Chapter 1
The white-coated mare switched the projector on. Being an old device, it hummed noisily as it’s fan spun around at a few hundred revolutions per minute, cooling the already super-heating lamp that pathetically spewed out what seems to be a sorry excuse for a light. And if that wasn't bad enough, the display resolution was... to say the least, disappointing. She could only sigh and wonder how management couldn’t care to replace that relic with the new model the company had developed (and started selling publicly at a discount price) a few months ago.
‘Standard video adapters are so last decade,’ she thought to herself. As she connects her portable computer with the projector, she silently prayed that her PonyPoint slides wouldn’t do something fishy, like lose color or become illegible. After making sure everything was alright, she tugged at her tie and dusted her blazer.
She cleared her throat.
"Good morning, mares and gentlecolts. I shall present to you all the latest developments on our project," she said to her audience, calmly and professionally. She moved towards the screen, stopping just before the beam of light.
"As you all are aware, project ‘Airtime’ is on schedule." She paused to change the slide. "Our team of designers have just finished specifying the entire system, and implementations are on its way."
"Wait, are you telling me that you’re not even on to the implementations yet?! Are you serious?!" a dark brown stallion blurted from amongst the audience. He was in front row, and closest to her. "When are we going to start writing the software?!"
The mare put a hoof to massage her head. ‘Not him again,’ she thought. "Yes, we aren’t at the implementations yet, but there’s a very good reason for that!" she retaliated a bit too loudly. Maybe it would shut his trap for the rest of the presentation.
"Please, both of you, calm down. Continue your report," another stallion—presumably the head engineer—said, putting the argument to a stop.
"Thank you, Mr. Box. Now where was I... ah yes. We’ve managed to procure a reference model. Requirements are met, I have to say, with a very tight fit. Power, speed, size: they’re all at optimum."
"How about cost? Are we able to sell below a hundred bits?" a mare asked. This one was surely from the board of directors. The engineer took a small breath before answering. Always be prepared when the directors ask questions.
"I can’t say for sure just yet, but judging by the complexity of the product, I’m not too sure about that," the white mare replied.
The audience started mumbling to each other. Words of optimism and skepticism found it's way to her ears. She didn't like where this was going. In engineering terms, this certainly meant trouble. "We can’t have this one at too high a cost, we won’t be able to keep up with our competitors.”
"Are there any possibilities on performance improvements?" the head engineer questioned.
"Well, I’d say that we could still manage a speed boost but I fear for the rather power-hungry technology all the microchips are using now. Besides, our intended design won’t incorporate much ventilation," the white mare replied.
"Do it. Add that speed boost," the director mare said.
"What?"
"You heard me. Do whatever you need to add that speed boost and I won’t mind selling it for whatever price it’s worth, else it's back to the drawing board for all of you," she said, pausing in order to sigh. "We’re already losing customers and if this goes on, even our shareholders are going to pack up and move over to our rivals. It’d be a shame to lose some engineers, too."
The white mare gulped. This situation had escalated quickly.
"No need to get hyped up, Marka, she knows what she’s doing," Mr. Box said, trying to calm the director down. The white mare was lucky her boss was here. What would she ever do with (or to) these (bureaucratic) director ponies if he weren’t here?
There was a brief silence. Then, the white mare continued.
"And as for implementations," she said whilst shooting a sharp glare at her interrupter, all the while changing slides, "Our partner, Hoof Inc. will handle all analog circuitry and antenna design, as well as the manufacturing of the product."
"And what exactly are we planning to contribute to this, then?" another director stallion asked. This one seemed less intimidating than... Marka, was it?
"We’re going to implement the entire digital system. Our newest chipset, the MMAP 7700 will be used in this design, with significant alterations. This effort shouldn’t compromise anything, and it will definitely distinguish us from our competitors."
There was another round of muffled chit-chat among the crowd. She started to worry. She hadn’t experienced this much scrutiny, compared to last time. There was only a question about how fast the team could get it done.
"Well, I don’t see how I could start working if my hardware isn’t even designed yet," the brown stallion shot at her again.
"If a certain somepony had been to my first assessment, he would’ve known that the reference model is software-friendly, so the software team could start development right away!" the mare retorted angrily.
The two ponies locked eyes in a virtual battle. One seemingly didn’t want to lose to the other. The mare wondered as to why this particular stallion was being such a loudmouth today.
"Do you believe that we could complete the product before the end of summer?" the head engineer asked. They both broke eye contact and turned their heads toward the stallion, their faces in utter surprise.
"That short a time? Honestly, I doubt it. I mean, there’re still tests to be done after the design stage and integration is going to be tricky."
"And software-ly speaking," the brown stallion added, receiving a bewildering look from the mare, "That new chipset she’ll be using won’t be compatible with any of our libraries, so my team’ll need some time to develop a stable kernel. Not to mention the rest of the operating system!"
The directors looked at the head engineer quizzically. The white mare noticed this. This is surely a sign of trouble. There was no doubt.
"Haven’t you told them yet, Sand?" Marka asked the head engineer.
"Not yet Marka. I’ve been out of HQ all this week.”
“Well, when are you planning to tell them that?”
"What haven’t you told us, Mr. Box?" the white mare interrupted, her voice shaking slightly. She felt her stomach suddenly churn, but she couldn’t understand why. It felt like some revelation in the next few seconds would completely blow her away.
"You see, there has been a change of plans. We’re not going to wait for next Summer Sun. Instead, we launch the product on New Year’s Day," Sand Box said with a tone of finality.
The white mare swore her heart had skipped a beat. Actually, make that three.
"WHAT!" both mare and stallion exclaimed. They were suddenly feeling so light-headed. The carpet in the room suddenly felt like a nice place to lie and faint on.
"Impossible! I mean, with her delays, the software team’ll never get the chance to even put together a-"
"What! My delays! I’m sorry for being the only systems architect around here but-"
"Silence." Sand Box’s voice was deadpanned, but it effectively shut both of them up, making them stand still. "This decision is final. It wasn’t mines to make."
"But Mr. Box, you know that it’s suicidal to even consider such a thing. There’s not even a dozen people in both competencies. And with the length of the certification process, we’ll never make it," the white mare said, feeling dejected.
"I hate to agree with her, Mr. Box," the stallion said, whilst gaining a hateful glare from the white mare besides her, "But she has a totally valid point."
"I know how both of you feel, but as I said, this decision is final. We’re just at the end of the first quarter. That means both of you have about 9 months to pull this through.” He paused in order to think something through. “I’ll try to push this project up to top-priority at the EIS, so you can count on about 3 months of certification time, and that leaves you about 6 months to produce a working product. By my experiences and calculations, it should be... doable, provided that you keep on schedule and allow OTs. Are we clear?"
"But-"
"This meeting is over, there’s nothing more to discuss. Sweetie, send me a report about the technical details later this week," said the head engineer. The audiences packed their stuff and left. Only two ponies were left standing in the room, dumbfounded, staring at each other.
"OHMYGOSH, what’re we gonna do!? There’s no bucking way we’re gonna get this done!" the white mare shouted, almost hysterical from learning her fate. "We’re dead! Button, we’re dead! They’re gonna fire us! Press charges against us for failure! I’m too young to go to jail! I haven’t even saved enough to buy my own house! NOOO!!!"
"Calm down Sweetie, we still have time before the deadline," Button replied, trying to bring her under control. "We’ll make it, don’t worry."
"I only have four ponies to work with! It's just not possible! AAAAHHHH!!!"
Unable to control her frustration, she buried her head in her hooves and screamed. Button patiently waited for her to quiet down. A minute passed, before she finally slowed down to a laborious pant.
"Had enough?"
"Oh... what ever am I gonna do with my life?"
"I don't know. All I do with my life is wait for the code to compile," Button said with a cheesy smile on his face.
Sweetie Belle looked at Button, her regard contemplative.
"And you blame me for delays? Celestia, you're so... ughhh..."
"Hey, it's a part of work too!" he exclaimed, trying to defend his pride.
"Yeah, it'll take more than that to convince me.”
"This is too much. Wanna go have some coffee?" Button said. "I’m buying. Besides, it’s almost payday."
"Thought I needed to convince you to it."
He nudged her hard on the shoulder. He was clearly displeased.
"You’re such a jerk, you know that?" Sweetie said
"Well, I’m your jerk."
Chapter 2
"Hi, I’m Nanuk. Yeah, I know, its a weird name, right? Well, that’s because I live in Inahuit. Never heard of it? It’s up north. Way up north."
"Hi, I’m Tsao. From where I am, rain and bamboos are aplenty. I live all the way far east, in Neighpon."
"Hello, I’m Fyndar. I come from the griffon town of Grymbal."
"I’m from Equestria."
"I come from Saddle Arabia."
"I’m from Mareasia."
"I’m from Zebrica."
"I’m from..."
"The world: an open and diverse place. What ever will it take for us to be united? North, south, east, west: all it really takes to close the distance, is a simple idea."
"Coming out on New Year’s Day."
"Well, that was... deep. I can’t believe Hoof Inc. made that," Button said, turning his attention away from the television. He was sitting across the table from Sweetie Belle, sipping a cup of black coffee. Sweetie hated that type of the beverage, arguing that it was raw and bland. She preferred mocha over that coarse flavor.
"I heard that their marketing department had hired a talented hoof for that. The pony got paid tons of bits for a simple 30 second ad," Sweetie said.
"Sometimes I wonder if the company pays the right people for the right amount of work," Button added, crestfallen. Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement. Engineers had quite a relatively high pay, but compared to the people in marketing, theirs paled by 40%.
"Speaking about work, Box said we’re gonna have to do OT. I sure hope PI has lots and lots of bits in their account, ‘cause if they don’t, I’m gonna pack up this instant and move over to Acorn Computers."
"Yeah, like you would," Button said lamely. He took another sip from his cup. “Your problem is that you’re too loyal to whoever or whatever you work with! Heck, you didn’t even ditch me back at university for blowing up your processor!”
“That’s different! This... This is stupid bureaucracy! We’re gonna suffer just for some stupid bucking rivalry!" Sweetie shouted. She calmed herself before drinking some of her beverage, not wanting to feel even more stressed out.
"Come to think of it, this business we’re in has always been about that. Don’t you remember in history class? It was Haydison vs. Desla, Hooper vs. Ferngel, et cetera.”
"But at least they were fighting for the good of science!" she exclaimed. "This... this isn't even science. It's just a stupid, bucking brand war!"
They took a pause on their rants, and continued to drink. The quasi-midday mood was very efficient at dissipating all the negative energy that Sweetie Belle was carrying. Ponies were relatively scarce during this time of the day, and there weren’t too much vehicles outside the road. If there had been a jazz band playing a lazy tune in the place, Sweetie swore she would've fallen asleep.
“So you’re gonna tell them the news today?” Button asked.
“We have to. The sooner, the better. I just hope that they can take this horseapple. I can’t stand a whole team of rebels.”
“Yeah, I agree. Though I think my case is not as bad as yours. Tough luck sister.”
“Screw you.”
"You know, your sister isn’t gonna like your choice of vocabulary."
At the sound of that one word, Sweetie Belle snapped her head to face Button. He had already regretted mentioning it to her. Sweetie Belle didn’t spare any mercy. She gave him the best impersonation of The Stare (and it was super effective). "Don’t you ever mention my sister in front of me," she said in the calmest yet threatening voice.
Button gulped, and nodded slowly. Added to that his frightened expression, it assured Sweetie that her message got through to him. For what seems like a long time, they stayed silent.
Button was afraid of speaking up again, for fear of being destroyed by the white mare in front of her. He had totally forgotten about that.
The silence continued, and he decided that he couldn’t put up with it anymore: he decided to reopen the conversation. "Hey, can I ask you something?”
"Fire away," Sweetie replied, not minding his inquisitive regard.
"Do you ever... you know... think about forgiving her?"
The question caught Sweetie Belle off guard. She stood still, her mug still levitating in mid-air. She had never thought about it.
Rarity got married when she finished primary school. At first, it felt awkward to live with a stranger in the boutique, but in time they both got along: her husband turned out to be a great stallion. Life went along just fine, until the day she finished high school. Rarity had done the unthinkable: she wrongly accused her of cheating on her husband, and abandoned her for Manehattan.
She hadn't been able to understand why. She had admitted that she was... attractive. The stallion even mentioned it to her several times. But she had never betrayed her sister. Neither in thought nor action. She despised Rarity for that. She didn't need her anyways. She was all grown up, and she could take care of herself. She wasn’t a small, blank-flank and helpless Crusader anymore.
Sweetie Belle kept silent.
"You know, Mom got so fed up of me that she burned my collection of games once," he said. "I hated her for having done that, but in truth, I honestly couldn't have thanked her more for it, because it made me a lot more serious in my life. Oh, I still remember her face when I received my degree. It was priceless!"
She missed home. Not her apartment in Las Pegasus. But Mom, Dad, Rar- She was trying hard to fight it, but strong feelings made her heart pound heavily. She was choking, shaking erratically.
"Sweetie Belle, are you OK-" He managed to finish his sentence before being interrupted by her wail. He quickly covered his ears, shocked from the sudden outburst.
"Hey, hey, Sweetie, Sweetie, come on, calm down," Button said, as he scrambled besides her. "Come here, I got you. No need to cry now. I’m here, alright."
Button hesitantly draped a hoof around her. Sweetie was quite defensive about hugs from him, and he feared that the unicorn would lash out at him. But seeing that she didn’t react, he pulled her into a hug.
The commotion had caught the attention of several ponies. Coffee Bits and Tea Petals had the best-selling coffee and tea recipe: hence a large crowd of customers, all of whom are looking at the two them. Sweetie Belle continued to weep, her tears staining both their coat. It wasn’t until after Button’s drink became lukewarm that she quieted down to a gentle sob.
"I’m sorry Rarity, I’m so sorry! Please, don't leave me..."
"Hey, there’s nothing to be sorry for. It’s history."
"I swear, I didn't do anything! I swear!"
Button thought hard about what to say.
"Sweetie, look at me." The mare turned her attention to him. She sniffed, her eyes glassy from all the laminating tears.
"Listen to me alright. You’re innocent. She was wrong to do that to you. But it’s alright, because I believe you. You’re the most loyal pony I’ve ever known in my life. You helped me during midterms, saved my flank during finals and assessments too many times and did most of the work during lab session. There is no way you could do what your sister accused you of having done."
He was staring straight into her eyes. Button had said what he could improvise in a short notice. She sniffed again.
"That was shameless, you know."
"Yeah I know. Could never get it right."
She chuckled. Her mood seems lifted.
"Don’t stop trying, Button."
"Not planning on giving up anytime soon." Button gave her a smile that would generally be classified as sweet.
"You two lovebirds better head back to office. That boss of yours's probably going to get cranky if he sees you two here past coffee break, all lovey-dovey," a stallion said from behind the counter.
The two ponies broke up from their rather intimate scene. The red on Sweetie Belle's face was clearly manifested, whilst it wasn't on Button's due to his coat color.
"James!" Button snarled at the barpony.
"Woah, take it easy Button. I'm just trying to save your lives here. Besides, the last time that happened he practically dragged you back into office. By the tail, if I would emphasize."
James was a relative of Joe, the renowned owner of Donut Joe in Canterlot. Unlike Joe, he prefered cookies over the ring-shaped, fluffy treat. He liked it with coffee or tea. However, realizing that the two mix didn't really get along well with the Canterlot high society, he decided to move to a place where the ponies were a lot more open. And what better place was there than the city at the edge of modernity, where the spirits were young and trendy: Las Pegasus.
"Yeah, I remember. Thanks anyway. The bill's on me, by the way," Button said. "And could you please, you know, mind your vocabulary?" he whispered.
James laughed. He loved it when the young stallion was in clear denial. "What're you so ashamed of? You two look great together!" James said. "I'll give you a sincere advice. Come here." The stallion gestured him over.
Button was hesitant about his offer of 'advice', but James was ever so convincing that he decided to go on with it. He was a businesspony after all. The baker whispered something in his ear, and without notice Button backed away from the elder and ran out of the shop, mumbling inconsistently. "THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!" James shouted from behind the counter.
Sweetie Belle, who was waiting outside the shop, caught her teammate dashing out of it. "Hey! Wait for me!"
They both galloped towards the building with a PI logo on top of it.
Chapter 3
"They're totally insane, aren't they? Six months? What are we going to achieve in SIX MONTHS?!" a blue pegasus mare exclaimed. She paced around the room, trying to calm down.
"You know, I think we could actually make it. I mean, what's there to re-invent, right?" another earth pony mare said, this one olive-green. She spun slowly on her office chair.
"Quiet now, I'm trying to make some calculations," a light-brown unicorn stallion said, scribbling down some calculations.
"We're screwed, that's what we are," a purple earth pony mare added lazily.
Back at the headquarter, Sweetie had broken the news about the change in plan. The reactions we're mixed, but Sweetie knew that the most important thing right now was to get the team to mutually agree on whatever consequences that that will bring upon them: good and bad alike, and move forward.
Now if she could just figure out how.
"Guys, I know this is bad news, and I can't agree more with you all on this subject, but it's final. Nothing can be changed, and we're gonna have to face it," Sweetie said.
"But Sweetie, you, me and Flip are the only designers in this team!" the blue one replied, in total disbelief that their boss decided on something like this.
"Please, Pos, don't make me go through what I already had this morning."
"Well, I personally think that we can pull through," the mare called Flip said, "I mean, what is there to design anyway? The MMAP is practically all-in-one. Unless you're thinking about something else," she added.
True, the MMAP 7700 has everything inside it: memory, graphics, audio, processor; it’s a one-chip-army, and it would practically only need very little circuitry. How hadn’t she thought about that?
"I agree with her, we can indeed pull this through," the light-brown unicorn spoke up. "My calculations show that we'll finish a week or three before the deadline. Chequer and I can verify your designs chop-chop. Isn't that right?" he said, turning his head to the purple mare.
Sweetie was appalled by the optimism of the two of them. She herself wasn't sure even to this moment. Yet, she's convinced that there was something off. Maybe she forgot to tell them.
Chequer shrugged. "Then again, there are only three of you guys, so I think it'll work out fine.”
Sweetie tried hard to remember why she even freaked out in the first place. Not only did she have a team of the best of Pegasus Instruments' designers, but technically the best in the whole of Las Pegasus. That shouldn't be a problem, right?
Several minutes of brain-wracking finally brought to her the answer. "See, that's not the problem," Sweetie said.
"Then what is the problem?" the stallion asked.
"MMAP is basically fresh from the oven, so we don’t have the development kit yet. Until then, it's traditional hoof-coded design, no fancy software to help us."
Like all surprising revelations, this one was followed by the classic silence with an ‘OMC!’ face plastered on all of them (except Sweetie).
"I- I think I'm going to recalculate," the stallion said with a faltering smile, surely disturbed by the new revelation.
"Save it, Jytter, you already know what it's gonna equate to," Chequer said.
"It won't change anything for the verification team, but for the designers, you're all gonna really have to work your flanks.”
"Listen, we all have got to work together on hoof-coding this design. That means, Jytter and Chequer, on top of verifying the design, you'll have to actually design as well. Pos Edge, Flip Flop and me'll try to code whatever we can manage. I'll join in on verification as well, if that makes you guys happy," Sweetie said affirmatively.
"Better yet, why don't we all verify each other's design?" Flip Flop offered.
"Normally I wouldn't agree with that idea, given the amount of experience any of you have," Jytter said. "But we're in an impossible situation here, so a helping hand would be appreciated.”
"Yep, I agree. But still... six months..." Pos Edge said before trailing off.
"Alright, so it's settled-" Sweetie said, before being cut off by Chequer, "Hold it. Jytter, run through your calculations again."
"Let's see. Five ponies... this here... add that and... wow."
"What wow?" Flip Flop asked.
"Theoretically we'll make it just in time, literally," he said.
"No margins whatsoever?" Sweetie asked.
"Nope."
She put a hoof to her face. This was going to be one Tartarus of a ride.
"Well, at least we’ve got the complete, working toolchain. That should be OK, right?" Button said, hesitant about the nature of hate he was getting from the software team.
"Yeah, we do. But that doesn’t make things any easier for us," a red earth stallion said. "For the sake of my paycheck, I hope you do realise how indescribably hard it is to write an operating system from scratch."
Button had always known that operating systems were a pain in the flank when it comes to writing one. Sadly for him, he didn’t have any choice but to try and convince his team of experts to write one in such a short timeframe.
"Assessing the situation as of right now, we won’t be able to meet the deadline unless we don’t start from scratch," another earth stallion said, this one lemon-hued.
"The MMAP has an Acorn microprocessor in it. That thing’s widely supported, right?" said a dusty-grey colored pegasus mare.
"I wouldn’t get my hopes up just yet if I were you, they don’t always have everything at hoof, you know," another yellow pegasus mare added.
Having such a diverse personality in the team was sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse. Somehow, in Pegasus Instruments, there was always a mix of skepticism and overjoyous positivism. Pony engineers were truly one of a kind.
That, or Las Pegasus just messes with their heads the day they started working here. It happened often in other companies, too.
"Alright, I admit that we’re gonna have a Tartarus-load of work to get done... but hey, at least we’re gonna become famous!" Button cheered. He tried to lift the mood up. But it wasn’t working.
"Yeah. That is, if we could somehow write a few hundred thousand lines of codes in six months," a deep-pink unicorn mare sighed.
The whole team paused for another silent individual brainstorming session. Each one was eager to find a way out of this mess.
"Wait, Boxy didn’t say what it is exactly that he wanted on this thing, did he?" the lemony stallion asked.
"Not really. He just ordered us to develop the OS, and that’s it," Button replied.
"What are you planning, Stark?" the pink mare inquired, throwing him a hostile glare. "Don’t think I’ll let you do something stupid again."
"Relax Love, I’m not going to do that again. I’m just suggesting that, since Boxy didn’t tell us what we couldn’t put on the platform, we could stick a Ponix kernel in there and work with that."
Ponix kernel: the not-so-much relic of computing’s past. Even before Button was born, Ponix was already popular. How else could the arcade machines, the JoyBoy and Twilight’s machine work? Well with Ponix, of course!
"That’s getting a bit old, Stark, Ponix kernels are everywhere!" the red stallion said. "What makes you think that will make this product better than those already on the market?"
"And again, I would like to remind you that we don’t even know if they have a version that works on the new MMAP," the yellow mare added.
"Oh, come on guys. We can just tweak the code a bit, we’re pro enough for that," the dusty-grey mare said.
"You’re always on his side, aren’t you, Elsif?" the red stallion said with a tired voice.
"I agree with Hex," Button said.
"Come on, Button! Play your role a bit here!" the yellow mare exclaimed, annoyed by the fact that the team leader was acting childishly.
"OK, OK, I got you. Look, Stark’s right. We can get this done if we don’t start from scratch, which we’re not required to. Besides, if you guys really want to start from scratch, which I don’t intend to either, then at least we could somehow... I don’t know... turn Ponix into a new OS altogether."
"That sounds... interesting," Elsif said.
"Whoah, wait a minute. Are you telling me that you want to create a rip-off of Ponix?!" the yellow mare blurted. "Nope, I’m out! I don’t want a lawsuit up my plot!"
"Wait! Lisp! Hear me out," Button said.
"What is there to hear, Button? You just suggested to us that we copy another proprietary kernel, mind you!"
"Well, yeah, but we don’t have to... like... Ctrl-C the whole thing. What I meant was make Ponix an inspiration for this new OS. Add a bit of this and that, and voila! PI’s own homebrew."
"That’s pretty risky. Legally speaking," Stark said. "But what the heck. That ‘becoming famous’ part is pretty damn convincing!"
"I’ll play along. I’m pretty much screwed, in any case," Hex said.
"Well, so long as it’s not a 100% copy, I don’t think I mind," Love said. "Though I’m keeping my eyes on you," she added whilst giving a ‘got my eye on you’ expression to Stark.
"Great, Stark Pointer, Love Lace, Elsif, Hex, everyone is more or less OK. Lisp?" Button gestured, a sheepish grin plastered on his face. She sighed.
"When we’re done with this, you’re so gonna buy me a month worth of movie tickets!" she said angrily.
"That’s the spirit! I’m starting to feel that this project is gonna be a piece of cake already!" Button said, laughing with half-hearted certainty.
Las Pegasus’ team of expert coders were assembled here in this room. What could possibly go wrong?
Chapter 4
Button turned to the right. He then walked all the way down the hall before turning left. He continued walking until he passed by a coffee machine. Although PI had more than one of these on his floor, he never liked the quality that it produced. He would prefer finishing up early for a cup at James than this.
Still, there would be times when he just couldn’t do that, and this was one of them. He pressed the ‘caffè latte’ button. The machine hummed and buzzed as it grinded the beans into tiny, fine granules and doused them with hot, filtered water. At the outlet, coffee and milk mixed together, producing a savory-looking yet not-quite-there-yet beverage.
Button was not here for this. This was only a pitstop to his final destination. He quickly gobbled the drink before continuing past the machine, arriving at a large office room. Bolted onto the wooden door, was a shiny metal plate, on which were etched the names of the members of the hardware design team.
He entered stealthily, avoiding any noises that may be caused by creaky wooden floor or rusty door hinges. Thankfully, none of those existed as the floor was concrete and carpeted; and the hinges were well-lubricated.
There were tables arranged in a rectangular formation, allowing everypony to see each other, much like in a round table. On the far right corner of the arrangement, sat a light-brown unicorn typing something on the computer.
"Hey, <psst>, Jytter."
Jytter sighed. He knew who it was, and judging by the way he opened the conversation, he was starting to feel something frivolous coming his way.
"Go away. I’ve got no time for jokes."
"<psst>, Jytter, come on."
He tried hard to ignore the other stallion (or colt, by his judgement).
"I’m not listening."
"<pssssssssst>"
"WILL YOU BE QUITE ALREADY!," the brown stallion scolded in a hushed voice, "What do you want?!"
Button loved to agitate ponies, but he’d only do it if it doesn’t tick them off till eternity. Even he knows how to respect other pony’s limits.
"Where’s Flip Flop? She's not in today?" Button asked.
"The girls are all out to deal with their anger issues at the karaoke bar, just like after every other bureaucratic ECO that happens around here," Jytter replied in an annoyed tone. "Now if you could please leave me to my random test patterns, it would be much appreciated."
"Come on, man! You didn't go with them? You're so lucky to get four mares on the team. I'm surprised you guys haven't bon-" Button said before being harshly cut by the other stallion.
"Don't you dare finish that! And for your information, I am married with 2 children," Jytter replied, his visage harboring a deep sense of anger and irk.
"Alright, alright. Sheesh, I wasn't even gonna suggest that. Can't you take a joke or something?" Button said.
"Don't you have work to do? Get to it! Chop-chop! We only have 6 months!" Jytter replied, trying his best to shoo off the other team leader.
"Of course I do. I won't be here unless there is something I really need from you guys," the darker brown stallion said, trying to put an innocent facade up.
"Well, whatever is it do you need, then?" Jytter asked, his tone returning to normal.
"Flippy is in charge of designing the whole peripheral access design, so I was wondering if we could have the documentations. Need to write the drivers, you see," Button said, before mustering a huge eye. "Pretty please?"
Jytter put a hoof to his face, sighing. He muttered something under his breath, most probably cursing or something of the sort. "Don't ever attempt that again. You're not Sweetie, and that just makes you look..." the disgusted stallion said, searching hard for a word to describe the awkward expression.
"Okay..." Button said, his voice crestfallen.
Jytter was an old stallion. By comparison, he, Hex and Chequer were the oldest of them all: around their early forties, whilst the rest of the team were at best in their late twenties. He was a well-raised pony with a proper etiquette and certainly many experiences. He would definitely be an eligible butler candidate.
"Hey, Jytter, what’s it like to be... married?" he asked.
"I’m surprised that that is coming out of you. Are you trying to make a joke out of me?”
"You know, I’m not all childish. That’s just the way I act, you know?"
"You’re going to have to try and convince me better than that."
"Yeah, yeah. But seriously. I’m asking in all my juvenile honesty. What’s it really like to be married to somepony else?" Button asked again.
"Well little one, to me, being a couple was already like being at the height of the relationship. We were practically inseparable. It shouldn’t be a big deal if we were to get married, right?"
"Looks to me like it shouldn’t.”
Jytter laughed softly. "Nope. It was a completely big deal. I remember when my wife was so sick, she became an intolerable horse. I wanted to just get up and leave right then and there. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t, because I swore to be with her in all kinds of weather. I swore to protect her. Being married is really about striving to be together in face of everything. And with every trials and tribulation, I felt my love for my wife grow stronger and stronger. I couldn’t have regretted any less being married to her. The kids are the best part."
"But isn’t it the same as saying the oath, but still not get married?"
"I can’t put it into words, but there is a sentiment that you can only feel when you do it that way. Believe me, I’ve promised my wife the same thing before we were married, and yet it felt like the first time I actually said it during the ceremony. If there’s anything I can advise you, it is to not wait for too long. Some feelings wither away if you don’t do what’s right."
Button thought about this wisdom. True, he had feelings and he had tried to express them to her before. He knew that she knew what he felt for her, but he didn’t know what she felt for him. Judging by the way she didn’t shy away when they were together all this time, he assumed that she somehow felt the same way, too. The feeling was mutually one-sided; it was incomplete. But Button wasn’t brave enough. He wasn’t like Sig Sauer.
"Thanks Jytter. That was something alright," Button said.
"Always a pleasure to share some experience," the old stallion replied.
"You and I should hang out at the karaoke bar sometimes.”
"You know what? I'll send those documents over in a minute. Now shoo," Jytter said affirmatively, raising a hoof pointed towards the exit.
"Thank you very much, Jytter," he said in a sing-song voice. "Although I still think that you should be hanging out with the girls and try to bon-"
"BEGONE WITH THEE!"
"Don't forget to lock the doors when you leave, Sweetie!" Pos Edge said.
"Wait, you’re leaving already?" Sweetie Belle asked, taken somewhat aback by the fact that one of her designers was leaving work so soon. The clock pointed to somewhere before 5 pm.
“Yeah. Something’s the matter?” the blue pegasus asked.
“But we barely did any work today. Jytter’s the only one who’s accomplished something today,” Sweetie said, trying to convince her teammate to rethink her action.
"Look, I get our ordeal, but tonight is movie night. No compromises whatsoever."
Pos Edge, Flip Flop and Lisp were best friends ever since university. They attended the University of Trottingham together. Having spent their whole undergraduate and postgraduate life in a trio, it was no wonder that they were inseparable.
But one thing to acknowledge about them was that they can be quite stubborn and persistent. The package does come with a plus, but today, it was more towards the minus. And make that two.
“Alright, fine...” Sweetie said in defeat.
“Chequer’s still here, in any case. Well, see ya tomorrow,” Pos Edge said cheerfully, before turning around and walking towards the elevator, just around the corner from the coffee machine.
“Guess I shouldn’t have suggested karaoke. Damn it!” Sweetie said.
She didn’t feel like working, too. After having poured out all her energy in a vocal form, she was exhausted. Still, she was determined to stay as late as possible today to make up for the wasted investment in trying to bring her motivation up. She decided that tea was a good way to get her up and started.
The kitchen was just behind the door next to the coffee machine. The floor was designed to be in the shape of a square ring, although the actual topology was not as ideal: what with office rooms that were out of proportion with the floor’s footprint. Upon exiting the elevator, the hardware design office was to the right, and the software design office to the other side of the building from the latter.
She trotted past some colleagues from the thermal department, saluting them. The floor was mainly responsible for all the design work. Other than them, there were packaging, ergonomics, mechanics and whatnot. Slowly making her way to the kitchen, she wondered about how lucky they were to not have to work overtime.
Finally, she arrived at the kitchen door. She pushed it open to find Hex and Chequer sat around the table, laughing over some cookies.
“And then he said ‘Cover your heads everybody!’” Hex said.
Chequer looked like she was trying hard to stifle a laugh. “Then they found out that the guy had left them all a lifetime supply of ice cream,” he continued.
“What flavor was it?” Chequer asked, failing to hide her screwed-up face big time.
“Boot to the head!” They both burst into a laughing fit.
“Hey. Sorry for butting in on your little sketch there.”
“Hey Sweetie. Not a problem. Care for some Famous Haymous?” Chequer asked.
“Thanks. I’m gonna make myself some tea first,” Sweetie replied. She strolled over to the cupboard to find some leaves and a mug.
“Had a good time singing? Chequer told me what you girls did this afternoon. I wonder how Box let you all pass just like that. He’d probably go Poninator if he caught you,” the stallion said.
“Well, there are perks to being a team leader,” Sweetie said, feeling somewhat proud.
“Better watch out then. You won’t want to be thrown out before getting paid.”
The leaves were placed inside an infuser, along with some other herbs and seeds. Sweetie put two cubes of sugar in the mug and poured some hot water. She let the mixture brew for some time. Steam slowly slithered out of the surface of the water, denoting the lazy, laid-back mood of the evening.
“I don’t plan to anyway,” she replied. “Not that I care right now,” she added lamely.
“Got something on your mind, sweetheart?” Chequer said.
“No, it’s nothing,” Sweetie said.
“You know you can talk to us, Sweetie. We’d be glad to help,” Hex said, before turning to face his wife. “Right honey?”
“Of course! Anything for our team leader,” Chequer added.
Hex and Chequer were married just before Sweetie joined Pegasus Instruments. Hex was a family stallion: he valued his family over everything else. Chequer was a well-mannered mare, but could be wild at times, especially when something piques her interests. Together, they make a nice, calm and friendly couple: the kind whom you could talk to about certain things.
“It’s kind of... complicated,” Sweetie Belle whispered, shrugging at the uneasiness of the situation she was in.
She hadn’t told much about her life with her sister in Ponyville, opting instead to keep in as much in the dark as possible. The tragedy had left a scar in her psyche: one that she wanted to hide and forget.
“Well, then try and make it simple,” Hex said.
“It’s about somepony who betrayed me, but that pony was wrong. She was wrong in every part of her accusation...” Sweetie said, before pausing. “It’s about my sister.”
“Oh, dear. I’m sorry to hear that, Sweetie,” Chequer said.
“It’s okay. Though it happened a long, long time ago. Somepony reminded me about it today,” Sweetie replied, still looking gloomy. “I’ve been feeling off the whole day because of that.”
She took a sip from her mug.
“Have you talked to her about it?” Chequer asked.
“No, I’ve never seen her ever since she left Ponyville,” Sweetie replied.
“Well, why not go and visit her?” Hex offered.
“No! I- I can’t! That’ll just make her angrier!”
“Sweetie, something’s not right. If she was wrong, and you never did what she thought you had done, why would she be angry?”
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling that if I see her again, she would be that way,” Sweetie said.
“Well, engineers never leave it up to uncertainty to guide their life. We can come with you if you want,” Hex said.
“Thanks, but I’ll think about it. Now’s just not the time for this,” Sweetie replied.
“Whenever you’re ready, Sweetie. Whenever you’re ready.”
Sweetie continued to drink her beverage. She then took a cookie. Famous Haymous wasn’t like James: it had extra chocolatey goodness and it’s texture was hard and crunchy. James was soft, sweet and the chocolate was compact: full of homemade goodness. Famous Haymous, however, was a commercial brand.
“Zhish ish not bad. Where zhid you buy zhish?” Sweetie asked while savoring the bite-sized treat.
“Oh, I bought it at the plaza. I keep some just in case Hexy gets hungry,” Chequer said.
“Aww, how thoughtful of you, sweetheart,” Hex said, returning his affection with a gentle nuzzle.
“Oh, brother, this is awkward,” Sweetie said, looking away from the public (albeit being the only other pony in the room) display of affection.
Chequer chuckled. “You’ll understand when you get married one day. Don’t forget to invite us to your ceremony,” she said.
“I’ll be sure to remember that.”
“So, do you have a special somepony?” Hex asked.
Sweetie froze. A special somepony she had, indeed. But it was a well-kept secret that not even the special somepony knew, or so it seemed. She could only guess that he felt the same way about her as she does about him.
She didn’t want to become a piece to be matched with, so she opted to digress. “Yeah, I think I’ll get back to work now,” she said, hesitant.
“Ahah! I smell something fishy,” Chequer said, “Come on, we won’t tell.”
“Nope, I’ll pass,” Sweetie replied sternly.
“Oooh, I can’t wait to tell the others about this-”
“You just said that you won’t tell anypony!” Sweetie exclaimed in disbelief.
“Sorry Sweetie but you know I love to talk about these things,” Chequer said, excited.
“Come on, honey, don’t bother her,” Hex said. “Don’t worry Sweetie, your secret is safe.”
“Thanks Hex,” Sweetie said.
“Oh I am going to figure this one out. Don’t you worry,” Chequer said with a grin. The composed mare-turned-detective was beginning to worry her. She would have to measure every actions and words after this, lest risk being exposed to the public.
But deep in a quite, lonely corner of her heart, Sweetie actually wanted that to happen.
Chapter 5
In the hardware lab, everypony was busy finishing up the code for the internal memory system. The first 2 months saw to a lot of work. Albeit having sacrificed many evenings, drunk a lot of coffee (and tea, and ate cake for some reason) and made several trips to the karaoke bar, they had made a lot of progress and had succeeded in ticking many points on their red carpet-long checklist.
However, with great programming workload, comes equally great debugging.
“Oops, wait just a second, let me correct that,” Flip Flop said. She deleted the faulty line of code and typed up the correction.
“Missed another one there. Forgot the semicolon,” Sweetie said.
“Right. Oh my gosh, there are so many mistakes!”
“If you ask me Sweetie, I think that the bus speed is unnecessarily high. We could settle for less, and that won’t hurt,” Pos Edge said. “By the way Flip, you forgot to include the EIS arithmetic package.”
“Yeah, but if we do, then we won’t be able ramp up the processor frequency as much. The directors wanted it,” Sweetie said.
“True, although I do prefer working with a much lower frequency,” Jytter added. “It makes the system less prone to instability.”
“Don’t worry. With that newly developed architecture, there’s surely gonna be less chances of that happening,” Sweetie assured the rest of the gang.
“There, all done! Now we can run this thing,” Flip Flop backed away from the keyboard and slumped onto her chair, spinning slowly. “I’m beat.”
“Great, hit the simulation button please, Pos,” Sweetie said.
Pos Edge clicked on the simulation icon, and waited. The screen flashed and readjusted itself in order to show a plot graph and some variables. The simulation started before abruptly ending a second later.
“Oh, what now?! I’m tired of going through this code all morning!” Flip Flop blurted.
“Relax, it’s probably just some little detail you forgot. I’ll take a look at it, okay?” Flip Flop stared at her with an annoyed face. She stepped away so that Pos Edge could take over the olive mare’s place and immediately she began to run through the code.
She read through the memory controller description, starting from the pre-processing directives, then going down towards the module declaration, checking for any badly formed syntax or word before moving on to the architecture description. She spent a good amount of time looking out for errors and whatnot. She found none.
Not wanting to give up, she went through the settings and checked for any funny business that could have caused this. Of course, nopony ever touches the settings once it has been set. Ever.
Well, not really.
“O... kay. I can’t find anything,” the blue pegasus said. “What did you do, Flip?”
“This may sound stupid, but have you recompiled it?” Jytter asked.
“Ohhh... stupid not-auto-compiler! Sorry guys, I forgot about that...” Flip Flop gave an embarrassed grin.
“Classic,” Pos Edge said, sighing all the while. She was not the least bit amused. Wasting no time, she recompiled the source code. The progress bar started from 0% and reached full capacity in just 10 seconds flat.
“Rerun the simulation again,” Sweetie said. The blue mare proceeded to do just that. This time, the graphs started showing metrics from the simulation. They all watched as the plot graph displayed traces indicating the processor load and memory latency. “Moving up to 400... Come on, come on...”
The basic tests were finished, and the software entered into stress test mode. Arbitrary random sequences were transacted to and from the device-under-test. The protocol checker validated thousands upon thousands of read/write requests, interruptions and data. The workings of it all was marvelously engineered. Jytter and Chequer had really outdone themselves.
After about 5 minutes, the simulation came to an end. A final result was displayed in the terminal window beneath the plot graph. “It says... optimum parameters are 48% load at about 600 megacycles. Alright guys! That’s settled. Good job.” Sweetie exclaimed. “One less for us to worry about.”
“Great work Jytter, Chequer,” Flip Flop said, congratulating the two verification engineers.
“Hey, that’s not all our credit. We all did this together,” replied the stallion.
“So what’s left on our schedule?” Pos Edge asked.
“Let’s see. We’ve got the memory system down, CPU was done ages ago, peripherals too,” Flip Flop said, squinting her eyes at the schedule pinned to the group’s billboard. “Now there’s... wait a minute,” she paused, turning around with a wide grin.
“What?”
“We’ve finished the MMAP system implementation!”
“In two months?” Chequer asked. “Exactly! Told ya we could pull it off!” Flip Flop celebrated with a dance.
“But we’re not done yet,” Sweetie exclaimed.
“Yes, we all know that,” Chequer said.
“We still have external circuitry- that’s easy, baseband, power management... oooh, what’s this? I’ve never seen this one before. Looks like this one came in this morning.”
“What is it Flip?” Pos Edge said as she made her way towards the billboard. On it, a piece of paper showing a to-do list was pinned next to the array of lists for the other components. It was a simple and short list, yet the novelty of the term used, made it somewhat intriguing.
“What’s a... touchscreen?” she asked.
“I have never heard of it,” Jytter said.
“Neither have I,” Chequer added.
“That must be the name for that secret glass screen the R&D department were making. I can’t believe we’re going to use it in this project!” Sweetie exclaimed.
“More new components? Oh boy. More fun for us,” Pos Edge sighed.
“Oh don’t you see? We’re gonna go in history! First ponies to create a device with a... touchscreen!”
“Yeah, but what’s so speacial about it? Is it there for ponies to touch?”
“See, it allows ponies to use their hoo-”
“Sweetie,” a deadpanned voice called out from the door. They all turned around in surprise to see Sand Box standing by the entrance. “Auditorium in 15 minutes. That goes for all of you too.”
Everypony nodded. Flip Flop gulped. Seeing that they all had understood his message, he left, heading towards other parts of the office.
“Auditorium? What for?” Pos Edge asked.
“Are we in trouble?” Flip Flop added.
“Nah, I don’t think so, he would never have caught us that day,” Chequer replied.
“It must be another lecture. The last time it happened, it was about the baseband,” Jytter offered. “Well, I wonder what this is going to be about.”
“Applying a low potential difference will cause the middle conductive layer to have a uniform magicostatic field...”
“Man, I don’t understand anything!” Stark Pointer blurted in a whisper. “Why do we even need to attend this lecture?”
Love Lace sat silently in her chair. Luckily for her, she had learned about some basic concepts in circuit design from another colleague, so she knew what the research ponies are talking about. Some, on the other hand, had no clue as to what a magicostatic field even was.
“They’re going to cover the basics of using this new touchscreen thing, and they’ve got codes as well,” she whispered.
“Well until that happens, I’m taking a nap. Please do me a favor and do not disturb me until somepony mentions the word ‘sample code’ or ‘API’. Thank you. Come on Sif, let’s take a nap.”
“Please, Stark, act your age for an hour. And Elsif, don’t you even think about saying yes,” she scolded.
“Don’t you worry Love, I’m actually kind of interested about all this magionics thing.”
“No, not you too! Sif! Don’t leave me!” Stark silently begged her marefriend, fearing she would turn over to the hardware side.
“Leave her alone Stark, she’d said that she wanted to listen.”
“But if she does that, she’s gonna end up working for the hardware design team! I won’t have that!” He started sobbing quietly, although it was obvious by the lame (and fake) nature of it, that he was being dramatic.
“Silly, I won’t be going anywhere Starky. And what’s up with me working for the hardware guys?”
“It’s horrible in there! You can get burned by the soldering iron! There’re risks of magic shock and that gruesome-looking MSD gun is a killer!” He pretended to convulse, as if being shocked by magic, and eventually collapsed and laid his head on Elsif’s lap, pretending to faint.
“And FYI, I don’t think you zap ponies with it. They’ve got safety precautions,” Love Lace retorted in a hush. Stark Pointer got back up again, trying to think of a comeback.
“Well, still, I don’t trust them. Hardware guys... always causing software problems. Not our fault your software didn’t comply with our ISA-”
“Can you all please be quite? I must understand this!” Jytter interrupted him in his mockery, whispering loudly from across the row.
“Well I’m sorry for inter-”
“Shush!” The brown stallion silenced the group.
“Fine, fine. Sheesh.”
“And so when a hoof or hooftip is placed onto the glass, this creates a makeshift capacitor...”
“Wow, that’s pretty intuitive. Why didn’t we think of that?” Hex said.
“If we had, then those ponies at the lab wouldn’t have their jobs now would they?” Chequer replied. She had split from the hardware design team to sit with her husband, as usual.
“Maybe next time we can come up with something like this.”
Hex and Chequer were the duo of science and technology. It was no wonder that they were one of PI’s valued staffs: they were an idea generator. Sometimes, they get called for brainstorming sessions because their ideas were quite interesting and novel.
“You know what’s better? If ponies could use some sort of glove on their hooves, and they could interact with the objects on the screen.”
“Yeah, that’ll be great! Maybe if we used magnetic bands or something that could be detected-”
“Then use magnetic field sensors in the screen or whatever-”
“And then process the data into three-dimensional movements-”
“Then we become robots! Like in Power Ponies!”
“It’ll be cool!”
The couple squeed relatively loudly. The next thing they knew, they were panting. “Ok, maybe not Power Ponies,” Chequer said, breathing heavily.
“But magnetosensors aren’t that accurate, hun,” Hex said.
“Yeah, they aren’t.” Both of them sighed, wearing a visage of dejection. Part of the downsides of their brainstorming sessions, was that half—if not more—of their ideas were unrealistic or impractical.
“Guess we’ll have to wait.”
“Or, maybe we can...”
“The newly introduced capacitance causes disturbance in the magicostatic field, thus changing the magical potential and the point of contact...”
“I still don’t agree with how A.K. Yearling finished that book though. I mean, enough with cliffhangers already! She did that last time!” Pos Edge said.
The trio were grouped together in a far corner of the array of seats, mostly to avoid being rude whilst discussing their favorite past-times. “You know her style. If she wants to get the readers hooked, she will,” Lisp said.
“Don’t worry, the movies will eventually tweak things out. Though that’ll make things weird since the story isn’t finished yet,” Flip Flop added.
“I don’t think I want to watch any movie adaptation ever again! Pony cinematography just isn’t that great. Why can’t we be like the griffons?” the blue pegasus exclaimed. The last time she watched something of the like, it was horribly interpreted. The actors were bad and stage direction was non-existent.
“There are good ones too, you know? Can’t just discard them all, silly filly!”
Equestrian cinematography was just starting to bloom in the last few years. Beforehand, there would only be plays and nothing more. During the first Global Arts Festival some few years back, ponies had met with artists from different kinds and were influenced by their expression of art. One of them was cinematography. The griffons considered themselves pioneers in this, although the dragons (mostly the oriental ones) claimed that they were first.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. But still, that doesn’t change anything. Equestrian actors need to get better. And fast.”
“The sensor grid placed below the ensemble detects the local change in magical potential, and a sensor unit detects this. A controller unit then encodes this location information and transmit it via SDI...”
“So whadda ya think? Wanna give it a shot?” Button was filled with excitement. He wished that Sweetie could at least consider giving a thought about coming with him to assist in the demonstration.
“I don’t know Button, we still got a lot of work to do.”
“Come one Sweetie, it’s just for two days. We’ll take the last train home.”
“I know, but it just feels wrong to leave the rest of the group doing work while I’m on a short break,” Sweetie said, troubled by the offer his friend had made.
Ponyville Schoolhouse was hosting the annual Family Appreciation Day, and Button Mash’s little brother, Bitly, wanted him to participate this year.
Of course, talking about programming and codes to little colts and fillies wouldn’t be so interesting, so he wanted to take Sweetie Belle along so that she could explain the circuitry as well. Heck, maybe she could smuggle some test boards and equipments from the lab, too!
“Please, pretty please? You said that you were sort of ahead of schedule. I know you don’t wanna leave your team, but please... Do it for me?” He tried the pearly-eyed approach.
“Alright... I’ll think about it okay? Now could you please stop that. It’s making me sick.”
“Heh, got a taste of your own medicine now-”
“Do you want me to come or not?” Sweetie threatened.
“Okay, okay. I’ll stop now.”
“Now, moving on to the software integration. We have developed some low-level drivers in P, mostly for conversing with the device, but as for high-level API-”
“DID SOMEONE SAY API?!” Stark Pointer shouted in full vocal strength. The entire auditorium stared at him. “Oh, heh... my bad.”