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."