Theo could barely lift her claws as she made her way into Sleighsburg. Here the earthquake hadn’t just torn up rocks and opened random holes over nothing—here the devastation was real and extremely pronounced.
There weren’t thousands of bodies littering the streets—there weren’t even thousands of ponies in the entire village. But there was terrible damage to everything she could see. Houses had come crashing down—sections of wooden bridge over ice had collapsed, and gaps had widened. Already makeshift repairs were underway—windows being filled in with boards, or bridges made over the gaps with a few planks.
How could the earthquake have been this bad? How did it reach this far? The energies required boggled the mind, yet the results were inarguable. And worst of all was exactly what the village elder had described.
The distant docks, with their little shacks and moored boats out on the water, were gone completely. Only ragged ice remained to mark where they had gone.
She wasn’t the only one having trouble. Sharp had needed to help Emerald back onto the sledge. The pegasus didn’t respond to promptings, and barely even seemed to breathe. Seeing her home so destroyed over something she had a hoof in was obviously affecting her. “No,” she kept muttering. “Can’t be. They’re wrong.”
But while the child might’ve felt a little bad about it, Theo would have to live with the nightmares. If this was the cost of opening the Doorway home, she wasn’t sure she could ever open it again.
“Why didn’t you tell me this would happen?” she asked, as they finally made it through town and reached Sharp’s workshop. Much of the mob hadn’t returned to their homes as she had initially thought—they seemed to be surrounding the workshop. Making sure that they couldn’t leave. “I wanted to go home, but… not if this would happen. This cost is too high.”
“It didn’t do this before,” Edge responded, pulling into the open workshop and gently lowering the metal door behind them. “What happened… that wasn’t natural. Maybe that’s what happens when we try to run the spell without enough magic.”
“Wait, you’ve opened it before? I thought you said you needed a hippogriff to work the controls!”
Edge turned away from her, and obviously spoke through gritted teeth. “Later, Theo. We have until morning to get the Horizon into the air and away from this place.”
He dropped down beside Emerald, his expression softening. “Hey, sweetheart. Is there… someone else I should contact? Other family, maybe…”
She shook her head. “Mom w-was… only pony I knew. Dad was a sailor, never met him. Grandma died before I was born. J-just us…”
The weight of it all came crashing down, far worse than any breaking bridge or splintering dock. The elder had mentioned the name of a pony who had died. Their names were all so strange and unfamiliar she hadn’t realized she knew it. Oh god. Emerald Aurora’s mother.
I got her mom killed.
She dropped onto her haunches, staring blankly out into space. Everything had made so much sense before—even on the trip back from the broken Doorway, there was a path in front of her. She could talk to a diplomat, she could beg for help. That all made perfect sense. But how could she live with herself knowing that this was the result?
The world blurred in front of her. She barely felt the cold anymore. She went back inside with Sharp, and dimly felt it as he helped her down beside a fire. Meanwhile, he rushed about, doors slammed, and he seemed to be working hard. What might’ve fascinated her before, she didn’t even watch.
“Why?” squeaked a tiny voice from the couch beside the fire. Emerald. “Why was she out so late? She should’ve b-been home. Shouldn’t have been… anywhere near the distillery. Said she wouldn’t drink so much. Shouldn’t have been there.”
She’s not mad at me? Theo reached out with one wing, instincts taking over. This child looked like someone had run over her cat. But clearly her assessment was wrong, because the pegasus puffed herself up, pushing out of reach. The only sign Theo needed that her affection wasn’t wanted.
“Hey,” said a voice from behind her, maybe an hour later. Sharp Edge looked worn to the bone—his mane was slick with grease, and he smelled more like a barnyard than he had yet.
Damn do I need to find a way to thank him. He could’ve let them banish me to the snow. He pulled that sledge all the way back, and he’s still preparing everything without us.
“Sorry I can’t give you more time,” he said, lifting the goggles away from his face. “I’ve prepared all the weight we can afford, including your things. But filling the gasbag is a two-pony job. I need you out there.”
She rose, following him out through the workshop. Many of his tools were missing now, she noted. But the front of the workshop was open, and standing outside it…
There was no longer a massive snowbank on one side of the hill, which she'd taken to be safety railing to protect the townspeople using the granary from falling off. But several large tarps lay crumpled in a pile, with loose snow everywhere. Not a snowbank at all, but a structure protected from the elements.
A set of brilliant work lamps lit the space as brightly as propane camp torches, illuminating a wooden object roughly the size of two Greyhound buses in a row, with a cabin and a larger top deck. It rested atop an old wooden deck, held down with thick mooring ropes. Above it was a massive pile of cloth, obviously a balloon. A set of heavy steel barrels had been dragged out, along with a heavy box with metal filings inside it.
“What’s… this?”
“The Horizon,” he said, tapping the wooden wall with one hoof. “Best little ship north of the Empire. I knew I’d be flying home when this was over, just like I flew in.”
He settled a metal container on the ground near the side of the ship, where the cloth hung down almost like a funnel. “This is how we do it. Bought this from the alchemist three months ago. Two hundred gallons oil of vitriol. Honestly I’d be terrified to store so much if it wasn’t for the cold. But… here it is, right when we need it.”
Theo glanced past the Horizon, to where the crowd of angry ponies had only grown since they arrived back. Doesn’t look like they’re going to be giving us until dawn. Good thing you got me when you did, Sharp.
“So what do we do?”
“Easy.” He gestured. “I pour the vitriol over iron filings, and they’ll make lift gas. And lots of other things.” He reached down, tossing a heavy mask with thick goggles over to Theo. “Put this on. And don’t stand close enough that it splashes you. We just have to catch enough gas to fill the balloon. It’s already anchored pretty well, so it won’t take off.”
Theo watched him work with only a little curiosity, far too worn down from everything that had happened that day to get too invested in what she was seeing. More pony magic? It should’ve been interesting, but after so many impossible things, what was one more?
Then she saw inside the barrel, and caught the faint odor of what was inside through her mask. Holy shit. She recognized that stench from the other side of a fume hood during her only organic chemistry class. This wasn’t some airy bit of fluffy horse magic—that was high molarity sulphuric acid.
She no longer had any confusion about why Sharp wore such a thick apron, or heavy mittens over his hooves. He lowered the barrel carefully, pouring its deadly contents into the huge bowl. The metal started to melt, sending a steady stream of bubbles up towards the surface—and out into the air into the funnel.
This isn’t going to be a short process, is it? Some part of her brain wanted to start making guesses about the acid in the barrels and the amount of iron in front of her, but that part of her academic self had shriveled up and died when the earthquake cut off half of Sleighsburg.
“You do this every time you have to fly somewhere?” she asked, after several hours of standing there. Her whole body was beginning to ache, but she fought back the discomfort. The mob was large enough that she couldn’t see the hill in places, and at times it seemed like the cloud of gas and the strange “magic” they were doing was the only thing that kept them at bay.
The balloon was holding itself at full size on its own now, rather than staying crumpled on the Horizon. But it still didn’t seem to have enough lift to get off the ground. She no longer wondered why they had walked so far away from his house—this thing was massive.
“Nah. You can buy lift gas in any city with a drydock. Crystal Empire, Canterlot, Cloudsdale, Los Pegasus… basically everywhere has tanks. Making it yourself is… for emergencies.” He glanced around at the house, whistling faintly to himself. “I’ll miss this place. Spent the last few years tinkering with it, but… it probably won’t be intact if I ever visit. Not after having to threaten them to stop them from banishing you.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” she hissed, barely louder than the frothing tub between them. She knew several dozen health agencies that would be furious at what they did once they were finished with one tub—dumping the entire thing into a ditch, then starting anew. God only knew what havoc that would wreak on any plants or ponies that were exposed to it. Is iron sulfide salt dangerous? She didn’t actually know, and she wasn’t going to use precious power on her iPad to check something so stupid.
“I did,” Sharp snapped, yanking the tub away and dumping it again. He replaced the iron in the bottom, then poured again. Smooth and mechanical. “I’ve spent years of my life studying the Doorway, hoping a Traveler might use it. What happened here in Sleighsburg wasn’t your fault. None of us could’ve known what the portal would do. I was here, so I acted. It’s the pony way.”
She rolled her eyes, glancing past Sharp to the gathering of angry faces. It didn’t seem to Theo like the pony way was all that friendly, even if there were a few exceptions.
Another hour or so on, and she was beginning to see the first hints of orange in the sky. The Horizon was straining at its ropes, and the last of the barrels was empty.
“We still have one question to answer…” he said, capping off the barrel and rolling it into the poison ditch with the tray and the degenerate iron salt. Hopefully such a foul-smelling patch of ground where nothing would grow would discourage ponies from exploring it. Even if these ones had wanted to banish her to the sea. “Emerald Aurora. Apparently her mother was her only family in Sleighsburg. Not… very good at it either, even if I never would’ve wished harm on her. She’ll have to decide whether to come with us, or… depend on their charity.”
“The charity of people who wanted to drown me in the arctic, because an earthquake happened at the same time we were gone?” She rolled her eyes. “Emerald wanted to be your apprentice anyway, Sharp. She’s better off with us.”
“Only she can make that decision.” Sharp gestured, and they hurried inside. With the sun rising, she could see the urgency. The mob was tired, cold, and angry. The closer to dawn it got, the greater the chance they’d decide to act.
But the pegasus they’d come for was asleep. Sharp nudged her gently with one hoof, where she’d curled up on the pillows beside the dying fire. She yawned, pushing him away with a wing. “Mom? Can I have five more minutes?”
Sharp winced. “Emerald, sweetie. Summer and I are leaving. If you’re going to come with us… now is the time.”
She stirred, stretching her limbs one at a time before rolling to the side and going back to snoring.
“Alright, spread out,” Sharp said. “I’m making a call. She’d want to come. There’s nothing here for her.” At the shouting from outside, his eyes widened. “Maybe… we should get a move on too. Before some genius among ponies decides to take a torch near the lift-gas.
Oh good! Hydrogen gas instead of Helium!
This always ends well.
9578963
I mean, how would you collect helium?
9578990
If I didn't have access to a nobel gas I'd probably use litterally any other method of getting around, to be honest. There's a long and noble tradiition of people dying because they chose to depend on hydrogen to do a job it really shouldn't.
9578995
A fair assessment, but there's a reason people keep trying. It's plentiful and cheap.
9579017
Sure, but isn't he in the arctic? If there's one thing you don't want to do in the arctic, its get colder. Sled dogs would make way more sense, considering any reason he couldn't take sled dogs the whole way would make the hot air balloon a bad idea too.
9579027
Well, sled dogs get tired and cold as well. A floating building would keep most of the wind out, and you wouldn't risk freezing yourself with sweat when you go out to keep an eye on the heavier things. Ask yourself the same question, but with a car instead of a sled, and a plane instead of a balloon. A car is undeniably safer than a plane, but it takes longer and almost always is more expensive. On the flip side, if you crash a plane, your chances of surviving drop significantly. We also don't know how far out they are from the empire. Week long journey by air over unknown terrain is definitely faster than sled over the same terrain.
Sure, hydrogen isn't the brightest idea, but it's faster than sledding. Plus, I don't think he has dogs.
More please
The helium we have is the result of millions or billions of years of radioactive decay in the planet's crust. And once mined, will be gone for good for all intents and purposes. Think of that next time you fill a child's helium balloon.
9579269
Not entirely. We also get helium in small amounts from the solar wind, and once nuclear fusion becomes a viable energy source, one of the main byproducts will be helium.
I found this episode to be pretty exciting, it didn't have action but a mob outside gsthered for your blood, suddenly finding out your friend has a huge air vecihle that you have to float quicly, deciding wheter the orphaned child will stay alone on an untrustworthy village or comes along on a potentially lethal journey, to wander the world... quite exhilirating imo.
Oh, crap.
Yeah, there's not a lot of chance she would have a good future by staying.
Wow, the tone of this story really took a turn.
Also love how the chapter titles combine into a story summary.
Well, this is going to be an awkward flight.
9579872
I had thought that the titles were from a song or poem, but no. That would put a bit of a cap on the story length and arc, anyway.
Oof. This is the best for Emerald, but whether she'll see it that way...
Well, first they need to get out of town in one piece.
Actually, considering size of their balloons and their lifting power I pretty sure that they run on some magic bullshit rather that helium or hydrogen.
9582730
Ponyville got better, although even only three generations after its founding they had already welcomed Pegasi and Unicorns to their little Earth Pony village. Zecora was 'weird and spooky' at first, because no-pony realised she wasn't a pony, so they judged her by the wrong set of standards. The residents became a whole lot less insular after that, especially with Twilight around to explain what the visitors actually were. A little knowledge delivered the right way can reduce fear a great deal and promote understanding.
9582833 Yeah, I don't even need to do the maths on the dirigibles I've seen. They can not be hydrogen or helium balloons.
Look at the crew section of the Hindenberg, one of the biggest airships.
paper-dragon.com/fistsand45s/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/image.jpg
That tiny little two deck section was it, apart from a piloting turret. Compare to an equivalent Equestrian airship.
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/b/b0/Zeppelin_at_the_Canterlot_air_docks_S7E22.png/revision/latest?cb=20171008134147
Yeah, kinds of puts it into perspective.
I always assumed that the envelopes of Equestrian dirigibles were specially treated to retain cloudstuff. That stays in the air well enough, even if creatures stand on it.
9579911
I turned out being wrong, probably. The mysterious magic probably indicates the movie kind, which means seaponies. (Nothing against seaponies.)
But Silver Quill made a hippogriff OC before hippogriffs were introduced as a land form of seaponies in the movie. The kind that Silver Quill made had a more solid build.
9581327
I mean, I'd expect heat would be about as difficult and strange to deal with as human female cycles. Definitely annoying, but I'd think the species change would be far more difficult to deal with on a whole.
9579440
Would probably have to mine helium from the atmosphere at high altitude and would likely require expensive cryogenic fracking to separate out. Though I haven't researched it and could be blowing smoke from an orifice. Should I hold my breath for fusion?
Helium used to be a strategic material and is still vital to some industries, as carrier gas for analytics, welding, weather balloons, Goodyear blimps, etc.. And children's birthday balloons thanks to politicians being bought out.
Helium comes from atomic decay of radioactive substances. There are plenty of naturally occurring radioactive soils that can be mined to retrieve helium. That’s where we get it from.
Yes, fool's gold is very dangerous. It can ruin a fool's wallet.
Love the story. I generally don't start reading a story until it has been finished, but I read some chapters of this and it was quite difficult to break off.
Minor gripes:
Objection, your honor. "Melt" is (IMO) reserved for what happens when you heat something above its melting point, which for iron is above 1500 degrees centigrade (likewise, when you pour sugar in your coffe/tea it doesn't melt) (sorry, pet peeve).
This would be iron sulfate. Sulfides are related to sulphurous acid, which has one oxygen atom less in its molecule compared to sulphuric acid.
9578990
Just use magic and fuse the hydrogen.
Of course, that could lead to side effects--
9783466
what about hot air? use a magic fire we know those exist
9578963
fuel without air is useless
I was listening to Lullaby For a Princess and it reached the absolute climax of the song right as Summer realized she killed the filly's mom. Not gonna lie it was super cool.
9578963
*Hindenburg Flashbacks*
But to be fair, Helium is really hard to get, while Hydrogen is plenty.
Ooookay, murderponies aplenty. Apparently the ideals of racism (specism?) are alive and well. Angry mobs are commonplace and murder is encouraged by elders regarding anyone who is different. Feels like Earth in the Dark Ages.
Sleigh?
10724231
No, correct as written. The word is sledge.
cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/295473636746330113/821180911629369364/IBXl9rXfj4AAAAASUVORK5CYII.png
this reminds me of an old book, i think it was called "dragonworld", where people had airships that used "lift gas" that was somehow produced by strange crystals they mined, when those crystals were exposed to...WATER.