27 - Promises Kept
Twilight flew through the ship with a smile plastered on her face. "This is going perfectly." She cradled a strange object of unknown means to her chest. "I may not be able to tell them what to do, exactly." She pushed off a wall towards a flat platform she set the device on. "But I can fix a few of their problems, get them on the right path."
"Right path to what?" Fluttershy drifted in, carrying a stack of books in her arms, finding a place to set them down gently before coming over to rest at Twilight's side. "Oh, this is new. What is it?" She pulled the small machine closer, gazing over it with wide eyes.
"Be careful with that." Twilight gently swatted at Fluttershy's reaching hooves. "You weren't trained in its use. You wouldn't need to. The one the ship has is designed differently. This one is going down to China, to banish their power needs."
Fluttershy swirled about to stare at Twilight with an amazed expression on her face. "Really? So soon?" She squeaked as she flew through the air, running into the wall before giggling at herself. "Sorry."
Twilight breathed out slowly. "Don't get too excited. They haven't connected their entire world to a single power grid just yet." She wriggled her nose. "Remember when Equestria did?" That got a blank look. "They did, trust me on that." She tapped a few things on the device. "I think it's ready. Can you doublecheck with Rainbow that they're ready, and get the coordinates. I want to be triple sure."
Fluttershy helped Twilight carry the little machine towards the ship's central spire, where the ring sat in place. It spun faster as the two approached. Fluttershy spoke softly into her communicator. "Rainbow, are they ready for power?"
"Oh yeah! Send it on down!" Rainbow wasn't one to hide the enthusiasm in her voice. "Space is all ready and clear of anything that'd get squished."
"That's good." Fluttershy glanced at Twilight and back. "Can we have the, uh, coordinates again? Twilight wants to be extra sure."
"Fine!" Rainbow began reading out the precise measurements of where they wanted the power brick. "Now send it down! I wanna see it working at this point."
Twilight confirmed the exact location of the device with Rainbow and nodded to Fluttershy before tapping on a few controls, twisting dials, and pressing buttons. "Here it goes." She laid her hoof on a big red button, which began to glow with light. With a low kathunk, the device fell into an airlock chamber, then onwards out of the ship. With a spectral blast, it was propelled towards earth at precisely the correct angle.
The little device slipped through the atmosphere with ease, not even getting scorched from the heat of reentry as it slid to a gentle landing at the precise coordinates specified, exactly where the humans wanted it.
With a thought, the machine began to unfold itself, growing and taking in power from all around it, generating waves of energy just a moment later. The Chinese power proved enough to give it the kickstart it needed as it connected to all the provided wires and points. It almost consumed the provided battery, only its connecting wire poking out. A moment later, a gentle ding, and a little purple light.
"I think it's on," called Rainbow Dash over the communicator. "Should we be seeing something? It's glowing purple?"
Excited Mandarin chatter erupted as technicians checked the numbers coming and going. They began cheering and pumping their hands. "Yeah, sounds like they're happy about it, but they're talking about stuff so complicated even the translator's having a hard time picking through it."
Twilight cleared her throat over the communicator. "You've been in contact with Rainbow. I take it she helped with translation?"
"Rainbow Dash was a lot of help with these. She knew exactly what to look for." The head technician was speaking to Rainbow Dash, or her ear, to be specific. "Who am I talking to?"
"This is Twilight Sparkle. You can consider me Rainbow's boss." He couldn't see her, but Twilight bowed anyway. "A pleasure to meet you. If you can understand the readings, are they within tolerances? Does everything appear to be functioning properly?"
He tapped a few things on his side, scanning over the machine once more, now with added numbers from a scan. "Yes. Everything is going well. We have energy going into the battery. I've never seen such a massive load before. The battery is giving out exactly what we set it to expect. When the grid fluctuates, so does the battery. It's quite well made, ma'am. What do we need to do to keep this working?"
"An excellent question! I'll be sending a full document. Lead Rainbow to one of your computer terminals. I'll send it through her communicator. It'll handle the translation for us. Follow these steps and there shouldn't be a problem."
There was a short pause before Rainbow came back over the line. "So, that's all done." She spoke in Ponish for the moment. "What happens next?"
"If you want to return to orbit, do so. On the other hoof, there are other countries in need of your direct management. Which would you prefer? You just finished a job for me, I'll let you decide where you want to go next." Twilight considered with a hum. "You could visit Applejack? I'd love a status report on America from someone who can get around more easily and provide the bird's eye view, if you're up for that."
"Up for it? Ha!" Rainbow laughed at that, sending a bit of static through the communicator. "I'm always up for anything! Especially something that gives me a chance to explore the world. You want me to fly around someplace and make sure everyone's doing their best? I'll do it!" She spoke with gusto. "Already on the case!" There was a thump as Rainbow took off so fast, a rainboom was the only possible result.
"Good news, she finished the power, and it's working."
"Fantastic." The president of China leaned forward. "But what's the bad news?"
"She's leaving." The official pointed. "Headed East."
The president pulled back in surprise at that. "She said she was going to help us out first. That was the whole deal. She even made sure our biggest needs were met!" He crossed his arms. "This is quite unacceptable. Scramble the jets and remind her."
"Sir." They dashed off to do just that.
It was far from the first time Rainbow had jets scootching up on either side of her. "Turn around," ordered one.
"Nah." Rainbow shrugged. "You got your power. Don't be greedy. I got other things to do."
They began speaking into their communicators, as if giving reports or commands, but their words were just as lost on Rainbow as her own would have been to them. They shifted a bit closer, just to sharply decelerate. Were they giving up?
That they began firing on her was proof they weren't. That hurt! But compared to a screaming entry from space into the loving grip of the pavement of a road, it was far from lethal. Rainbow huffed. "Rude! Seriously. I thought you guys were cool." She accelerated away from them at speeds she hadn't tried out before on Earth.
She looked back at them, easily outpacing them. They stopped their chase, turning back to return to base, but Rainbow had to move faster and faster. China wasn't the only country she had promised to help. She had other countries to see to, ones that would have their own special challenges. So, she continued Eastward. With a joyous laughter of freedom, Rainbow streaked across the sky, leaving a rainbow for what few humans could watch her path to enjoy.
"Infinite power." A graph appeared with a sharply rising line. "China has announced that its citizens and industries no longer have to pay for their electricity."
A new window appeared, showing the Chinese president. "Your taxes will raise, but the amount you save on your electricity will more than cover for it. Not a single Yuan for power. This also makes China the first 100% green country for AI and Crytptocurrency."
"President Wilson made a counter-statement shortly afterwards."
Facing the first window, a second appeared. "We are close to reaching the alien goalposts. China's rush ahead has given us valuable insights on what we need, and already have, to make this happen. One of them, Rainbow Dash, is already en-route. It looks like she wants to visit her friend first." He chuckled softly. "And we're not going to stop her from doing that. She's the hardest pony on the entire planet."
"For those who don't know, Rainbow Dash is the Pegasus pony responsible for powering China with nearly unlimited electricity." The screen was split between him and the news anchor as she spoke. "For America, that's a bit more challenging, and this leads to our next question."
The screen shifted to show Applejack working on her farm. Well, it wasn't so much as a farm as it was the land of their house that she had gotten a surprising number of trees to grow bountifully on. As she worked on collecting the apples from one tree, her partner walked up behind her, touching her on the side.
The video sharply ended, returning to the main newscaster. "Exciting times are ahead, but most experts say this is largely good news. With China starting the motions to cycle down their fossil fuel plants, projections for global warming are shifting. If America could do the same, it could be night and day between the two futures we face."
The view returned to the President once more. "I will personally meet with our visitor. We don't want this alien to be illegal for too long." A soft, polite, chuckle sounded from the room. "Ponies are welcome. Now, about power. It is not a federal issue. We will leave that to states to decide how they wish to proportion, charge, and otherwise handle their power. All I'll be doing is making sure they have plenty to go around."
The screen went back to the newscaster, a pensive look on her face as she considered what she'd heard. "More tomorrow." The words came out in the same calm voice, despite her obvious concerns. "There's one question no one is asking about this supposed infinite power. What happens when it runs out?"
Angel settled onto his bed with a contented sigh. He was tired from all the homework he had to do, and now it was time to rest and recharge for the next day. His mother came over to him, planting a kiss on his forehead before flicking off the light. This didn't stop somepony else from zooming in. "Aw! Look at him!" Rainbow grabbed the cheeks of what was clearly a grown foal. "So adorable! Hi! I'm Rainbow Dash. You can call me Aunt if you'd prefer."
Angel blinked with confusion. "I don't know you, miss?" He got to his hooves and plodded a few steps away, peering at the bright and colorful stranger in his room, but the moment he moved away, she was on top of him, running her hooves over him like a prize. He wasn't sure how he should respond.
Rainbow gathered him up for a proper hug. "I'm a really good friend of AJ's, your mom? Wow, first Earth pony, right here. Love it. You are just too precious for words." She gave him another nuzzle before tumbling with him back onto his bed, where she held him close. "You're really great. Can I read you a bedtime story?"
"Mmhm." He inclined his head. "Um, how about Number the Stars?" He pointed to one of many books on a shelf in his room.
"Fitting." Or so Rainbow Dash assumed from the name. She dashed in a streak to grab the book and come back, flipping through it. "This isn't about space travel at all..."
So it was Rainbow ended up learning at least as much as Angel did that evening.
Later, she emerged from the room. "Wow."
AJ inclined her head. "You were in there a while, everythin' alright?"
"He's fine." She slumped against a wall. "But that book, wow! Humans got up to some messed up stuff."
Cindy sighed with a chuckle. "We have. Sorry. I wasn't there, but I feel compelled to apologize anyway."
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What’s number the stars about?
Also dashie needs to learn about personal space
We have free infinite power, Your taxes will rise.
We will not mandate how everyone will connect, but let you try sticking a 12 volt car battery firectly into a 600kV supergrid anyway.
You want access to this power? Build your terminal expensive enough to handle it.
I wonder if Twilight shouldve gone for a toaster sized replicator that makes AA battery sized light fission reactor generators?
And toaster sized replicators that can make AA sized lught fission reactor generators?
11909528
I tried to imply that the Chinese techs could set their battery to output at the V/W of their choosing, so the grid doesn't need to be entirely re-engineered.
Shooting at Rainbow is certainly an odd way of showing gratitude. Maybe China doesn't deserve the power source.
It would be a big red button. If it's infinite than it can't run out, but it might break, and the sun will turn into a red giant and fry the Earth. Which will happen first?
I just don't see the feasibility of the entire world on one electrical grid. First of all, Texas is very proud of having its own grid. How would you connect North America to Asia? What about Cuba, Australia, and other places that are separated from the other continents by seas or oceans? Hawaii? Japan?
I didn't even think about taxes going up to pay for the new & improved electrical grid. One of the problems with electric cars is the drivers not paying taxes on gas.
And now, the mandatory nitpick:
Poking our what?
11909738
There are already plans to electrify USA and China.
USA is already connected to Mexico and Canada. It would only take agreements between them to get them enjoying those sweet sweet volts.
China would have to reach out to include others in their grid, possibly Russia? Japan? India? The power they'd get doing so would be quite attractive to them.
11909750
I'll be more specific: Hawaii. Will Hawaii be wired into this global grid? Will it get its own battery? Or should I just say "I look forward to seeing how you deal with that"?
11909854
Counter proposal, a world where the major continents have unlimited power is infinitely superior to one where that is not true.
11909872
I agree. I look forward to seeing how you deal with that!
I'm a little surprised that, after all these years, this is the first time I've seen "Dash gets shot at by jets and easily escapes" in a fanfic. It reminds me of the early fandom days, in a good way.
Yup, that's certainly Rainbow Dash!