//------------------------------//
// Chapter 50 
// Story: The Bridge Between Worlds 
// by Artemis Orion 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 50





It had been two days since the Cloudmaker's activation, and its output was -as some had called it- sufficient. It was nothing less than what was required to sustain most of Equestria in its crippled state, yet nothing more than what Cloudsdale's weather factory could have produced in a matter of hours. It was merely enough... for the time being. On top of this, the machine was extremely delicate, almost fragile according to the mechanics. I couldn't really relate to that statement, but I doubt anypony would lie if Equestria's resources were at stake.

I spent the day after trying to help the pegasi anyway I could, just like the Mane Six. It was a difficult task, considering that nearly nopony outside of Ponyville trusted this 'bipedal beast'. I refused to believe that I looked that horrifying though. But with the help of Marrysong, that incredibly kind Earth Pony I had encountered on the night of Cloudsdale's destruction, ponies were able to accept that this two-legged thing among them was doing good. Sometimes, I spotted some of the Palace workers in Canterlot; those that had seen me partake in helping the Princesses personally, maybe even the year before. Sometimes, when they saw me, they even put in a good word for me, or at least a reason for my presence, to their friends. This, mixed with all the rumours and stories, brought many different responses from the residents, ranging from acceptance to detestation.

But today was another day. And unfortunately, I couldn't spend it helping pegasi that either liked or disliked me. Today, I wanted, and had, to see Driscoll. Before this afternoon, he stated that he had something to discuss with Rook, along with something he insisted that he show me. That was what I found primarily worrying. I had no idea what he meant by that, but his second request gave me quite a hint.

He asked me to come armed.

So there I stood, sword by my belt and crossbow holstered over my shoulder, at the door of where most of the brilliant mechanical minds of Equestria slogged over newfangled devices and inventions. At least... that's what Driscoll called it. I was just about to find out what he meant, and why some places were left offscreen of the pleasant children's cartoon of My Little Pony.

I gazed up at the towering arched wooden door of the building that looked like a mix between a thirteenth century monastery and a warehouse. Its blanched rectangular structure was topped with a strange dark shallow dish, facing directly skyward, as if a small UFO had decided to land right on top of a church. Something told me that Equestria wasn't as medieval as it seemed.

And the nutcase that opened those large doors confirmed it.

With my back towards a wide newly-mown courtyard that overlooked parts of Canterlot and a distant Ponyville, I rapped on the right side of the door in a specific rhythm, like Driscoll instructed. I assumed that anyone who did otherwise would get no response, or a bad response. The location of this building was also strange; situated along the mountainside between Canterlot and the Royal Palace, but can only be found by a diverging path, narrowly clinging onto the mountain. It was close enough to the town for convenience, yet far enough so as not to raise suspicion. And anypony of high social status and society bigwig would fine the route was too uninviting or insignificant for their liking. Unless, as Driscoll had said, they had a purpose beyond that wandering path.

The door was swung open, possibly by recognition of the knocking, to an oil stained stallion with a frayed yellow mane. It was hard to tell whether he had just woken up or whether he hadn't slept for the past few days. His smudged expression turned for the worse when his eyes met the creature that obviously wasn't a mechanic, or engineer, or even a pony for that matter.

"Good afternoon," I ignored his dirty appearance and maintained a polite tone, "I'm here to see Dri-"

"Hey! You're not one of us!" The pony hissed in immediate response.

With that, out of his side sprung a shiny yellow barrel, connected by an extendable mechanism that was hitched onto the stallion's body. The part between the mechanism and the barrel was what appeared to be a cylinder, as it spun on the barrel's axis and started to glow purple.

The polite tone gave way to fear.

"Ease off the gun, buddy. I invited him."

A young voice I knew, and thank Celestia I knew, brought the snarling Earth pony to a more composed state, giving way to his younger colleague. Driscoll came to the door with a docile grin. He nodded at his co-worker, silently conveying that there was no need to point that 'thing' at me. With a gruff grunt, the pony shrugged a greasy shoulder. Not to me, but to recoil the hand-sized barrel back in place along his body.

"You have the strangest friends, 'Coll." He huffed before trotting back into the warehouse, as if nothing happened.

For a second, I took in what just happened. I wondered, with my mouth half open, whether that thing on his side was deadly.

"So... you work here?"

"Yup. I hope that didn't give you the wrong impression." Driscoll apologized for the sudden near death experience before he invited me in.

"Woah, wait. Didn't you say you needed to see Rook?"

"Yes. Yes I did." He held the door open with a welcoming hoof.

"The palace is this way." I pointed over my shoulder back at the winding path.

"What, and waste time walking up the mountainside? Come on, this way. I know a shortcut."

My face produced an expression of disagreement, but I took a step into the madhouse anyway.

"Don't worry, not everypony is as hostile as him."

"Sure they're not!" I entered the dim building, hearing the sound of the closing door echo.





"It's great to see you again, Keith! I only wish I could have brought you here under better circumstances."

Did that pony just shoot a rebounding laser?

"Thanks for inviting me. This place is rather... interesting..." I had never seen so many weird machines in one place before in my life. But then again, Driscoll said this was the only place that catered to those who created them.

"How's Trotter?"

"Hospitalized since yesterday." I was half paying attention, half watching a mare hurriedly snatching cogs and gears that were left in a heap on a dark table. She seemed to know exactly what she was taking.

But it was true. Trotter was in a hospital. Since he activated the Cloudmaker, he could barely speak, let alone move. I had yet to check up on him, but at least he got the Cloudmaker going.

"He may not be the only one." Driscoll continued gloomily.

"I heard." I pulled my attention away from an indigo-coated pony, humming casually as he threw parchment after parchment into an undying emerald flaming orb. "The situation couldn't be that bad, could it?"

"Maybe I should have seen you sooner about this..." we stop momentarily at a blackboard at the back of the long, echoing stretch of screeching, clanging metal. It was impossible to tell how far we were into this place. According to Driscoll, it was nameless. Something about everypony being unable to agree on one name.

He swiftly turns the board over, revealing the drawings, diagrams and calculations on the other side. Out of all that mathematical jumble, the only picture I could make out was a picture of the Cloudmaker in chalk. Driscoll swiftly flicked his front forearm, which suddenly caused a metal pointer to pop out from a band around his fetlock. In the low light, I hadn't noticed what the young colt had on him.

"That's a handy little gadget."

"Thank you. It can double as a knife. Want to see-?"

"No thank you. Please carry on!"

Driscoll, landed the pointer on the drawing of the Cloudmaker. I concentrated on what the colt said, because half the time, the diagrams were unreadable to me.

"So far, Cloudmaker 2.0 has been doing its job. But as it does, it brings about a bigger problem. Were you aware that the machine had to be constantly 'fed' magic to keep pumping?"

"I thought it only needed to be activated once!" I leaned back onto a rickety wooden table, but pushed off it once I felt the base of my denim jeans getting damp.

"I thought so too. In fact, we all did! And how wrong we were!" The grey tinkerer moved his pointer over a bar graph. "After a little snooping around, we found out that, as part of the old agreement between the Unicorns and Earth ponies, the machine could not freely produce clouds over long periods of time. And there are many reasons why this is so; firstly, and most importantly, magic could not and cannot produce elemental resources directly. Sure, you can start a fire with it, or help a plant grow. But nopony can instantly shoot a vine from their horns or spout jets of water like a hose. It is defying the laws nature itself, and ultimately magic. Secondly, if the Unicorns allowed the Cloudmaker to run constantly, it wouldn't allow them remain in power over the two other races."

"Wow, the Unicorns were jerks."

"I know, right? It was like a group dictatorship back then! Anyway, this caused the machine to run in short bursts, only producing when it needed to be produced. Thirdly, and this is very important, it's been recorded that Unicorns have actually died using it."

"What?!" This sounded unbelievable. But having seen what it did to Trotter, already a very powerful unicorn, who knew what it would do to others.

"It's true. An immense amount of magic is required to perform this task. It was the closest thing to directly producing a resource in history! And now, especially with it in its old and rusty state, even more magic is required to make the same amount of output years ago! Just guess how long one cycle of production lasts."

On the board and underlined was a circled figure of '6hrs'

"Six hours?"

"Exactly!" He was too caught up in his explanation to know I just read off the board. "We've only been trusted with the Scholars of magic to supply the machine's magic. And at the rate it produces clouds right now, it's barely worth sending one after another only to get hospitalized!" He hovered his pointer over the jumbled calculations, looking over them again in hope that they might be wrong. I was sharing his frustration. It felt like Equestria was struggling to stay alive. One way or another, sacrifices had to be made, and the enemy had made the right choice to strike directly at the kingdom's foundation.

"And last, and I'll be damned if this was the least, the core of the Cloudmaker." He concluded with a sigh.

He needn't say more. We were all there when Trotter activated it. If it didn't get what it needed in magic, it would take what it was ultimately trying to save. And the magic it required produced a unique reaction. Unique, but very hazardous. It seemed rather ironic that something as small, yet skin-tearingly icy to the touch, could 'overheat'. I did not get the chance to see it, and I all I had reference to were life sized drawings of a round shard the size of a fist. As well as being a key to helping Equestria build a sustainable life, it was also a weapon.

"Can it be helped?", was my only response to his statement.

"The closest thing we can do for now is to limit what we already have limited." the tinkerer grimly pushed aside the board, beckoning me to follow him deeper into the cave-built warehouse with him. "Other than that, we're doing what we can to prevent this mountain from turning into a giant block of ice, and Canterlot isn't going to balance that well on something that melts."

I stretch a smile across my face, wanting to move on from this depressing, yet almost inevitable subject. Patting the despairing earth pony on the shoulder, I said, "Stay optimistic, Drizzy. If anything, you ponies should be able to work something up. If your races managed to thrive before the Princesses, I don't see how it should be any different. Have faith."

"Well, I guess most of these ponies here are geniuses." Driscoll shrugged. I never really found out that day how many ponies exactly were working on the Cloudmaker. The machine hadn't been left alone since it started up again, and I doubted anypony would trust it as such.

"Oh, just believe in yourself." I continued, as we entered a veranda-type area installed into the side of the mountain. "Honestly, if I didn't believe in myself, I'd be dead long ago." I found myself chuckling lightly at my own statement. But it was so true.

Despite all the intriguing displays inside the warehouse, I wasn't fully aware of its size, or how we had actually passed through a tunnel in the mountain. I later learned that from here, there was direct access to the mine shafts. But now it was behind us, concealed behind a grey stone door carved into a hollow. It was a great view, especially with multi-coloured pegasi, swimming across a skyward sea. The only thing that stopped this area from being a veranda was that instead of porch chairs and tables with lemonade, there were levers, cogs and shiny gears intertwined. It was significantly better maintained than most of the warehouse, facing out towards a wide plain of Equestria on a ridge. Green fields stretched for more miles under the worryingly cloudless sky. The measly amount produced this morning was already used and spread, and whatever remained became a shelter for any homeless pegasi. I didn't show it, but the reality of the situation was slowly sinking in, and how it could get much worse.

"Driscoll?"

"Yes?"

"How is this a shortcut?"

There was no path beyond this point, and unfortunately, we had no wings. But I was guessing that the golden lever by the edge of the ridge was going to come in handy.

"'Have faith', eh Keith?" His expression brightened immediately, realizing that he now had the chance to impress somebody with another fascinating gadget. He grinned with excitement as he pulled a lever with his front legs.

For moments on end, nothing happened. We just stood there, Driscoll staring happily into blank space and me leaning onto a low-hanging stalagmite. I was puzzled at that moment, but if there was one thing I learned from a year in Equestria was to never question the ponies. You can be surprised all you want at everything and anything they do, and doubting and questioning wouldn't change a thing. And only start panicking when everypony else starts panicking; otherwise, there's really no cause for concern.

To pass the time, I posed another question to the young tinkerer, "By the way, what was it that you actually wanted me to see?"

"Oh! Almost forgot!" Twisting his neck into his oversized saddlebag, he ruffled his snout around beneath the flap. Just as he was doing so, as if it had fallen from the sky, a golden cylinder swung itself onto the edge of the ridge! It was an open top cage with gilded bars that lined the lower half. It came out of nowhere, just sliding into place from above! I gave myself time to drop my jaw, as I found that I had been doing so frequently as of late.

"Finally, it's here!" Driscoll exclaimed after tossing something very familiar into my unready hands. We gaited forward and flicked a foreleg, lifting a catch that provided entrance to the gondola. He then turned to me with a glint in his eye, expecting some sort of fascinated reply out of me.

"What?" I shrugged, following him into the golden gondola, big enough for two. "I have nothing to say. I'm not surprised at being surprised anymore!"

"You're no fun!" He teased, jostling the leather casing I now carried. "Open it. You might like what's inside!"

As he proceeded to close the gates, I examined the exterior of the package. It was very familiar, and the casing was very similar to the one I had back at the royal suite. The fold was locked in place by a two sided button, accessible only by human fingers. From anything made by either Driscoll and his father, they agreed on that one mechanism for anything dangerous, just in case somepony decided to get a little nosy. And it was that mechanism that lead me to know what was inside, before I even opened it.

A split second jolt made my heart jump. With the one free hand I had, I instinctively gripped onto the side of the swinging gondola, scaling the mountain gradually. Above us, dual metal rails glowed a mystic hue, propelling the gondola magically upward. It was a smooth, soundless ascent, with the wind tussling our hair and manes. I returned my attention to the package, knowing already what it was.

"So you did it, huh?" I spoke up over the gusts of wind.

"I told you I would try to do it once I got the proper equipment! And I did!" Driscoll proudly grinned.

"But that means I won't need this one!" I wrapped a hand around the grip of the crossbow on my back. He knew what I meant. "So where can we find Rook?"

"I wanted you to come along for this!" His grin was almost evil, "To the barracks!"

My smile dropped down a notch when he mentioned that place. I had been avoiding it since I got here.

"The barracks? Aw, crap."

"What's the matter?" he asked. His mane looked like genuine smoke when the wind ran through it.

"Well, you know Steelheart right? The soldier with the natural gray mask?"

"Right."

"I gotta hunch that he doesn't really like me." We swung past a group of pegasi, purposefully soaring around the mountain and Canterlot. I waved at the flurry of the colour spectrum that zoomed by, followed by a pink one. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy's faces were priceless when they saw me in the little pod of a gondola.

"Well, you're going to have to try this out sooner or later. I can't fix it anymore unless it's tested." He poked at the leather casing.

"But there are all the other guards..." I felt my face flush as I looked for reasons not to go to the barracks. As far as I was concerned, every guard thought I was some wannabe fighter. It would just confirm it if I messed something up in front of them.

"It'll be eeaasyy!" Driscoll's attitude had changed entirely from a few minutes ago; now he was consoling me! "Don't you believe in yourself? And besides, why do you think I asked you to come armed?"